The Fish Family

Introducing Maximus Laine Fish

2011-01-04T11:51:00.000-08:00

This is a little late (about 6 weeks!), but I figured since we sent out our Christmas cards with a note saying to check out our blog, I'd at least better post about Maximus' birth!

Here's the story:

After 24 hours of labor, we welcomed sweet little Maximus Laine Fish into our family on November 23, 2010. He had the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck three times but everything was okay! Thank heaven. He weighed 7 lbs. 6 oz. and was 20 1/2 inches long. He is such a sweet baby and we love having him in our home. It's been quite an adjustment to say the least (especially with the holidays) so that's why I haven't been posting. I will try to be better! I promise!

Wishing you all a Happy New Year - can't believe it's 2011 already!

Here are some pictures of our new little cutie (these were taken when he was a few days old - I'll try to put up some more since he's bigger now):

Baking Bread with Grandma Anne

2010-09-08T16:19:00.001-07:00

My mom has been coming and helping me clean my house (bless her soul!) and one time a couple weeks ago she came and made homemade bread! Katelyn and I had a fun time helping her. And the whole family enjoyed the fruits of our labor.

Thanks, Grandma Anne!

Baby Ultrasound & Prego pics

2010-09-08T13:42:00.000-07:00

We had an ultrasound yesterday (29 weeks) and got some really good pictures of our baby boy:

Baby sucking his hand in 4D

Here you can see his tongue sticking out

We've definitely got a thumb-sucker on our hands!

Sweet baby feet!

Some of my family has been asking to see pics of my prego belly - so here they are!

I've gotten really big in the past couple weeks so I'm glad I took some pictures before that! These are from a couple weeks ago...

Pony ride

2010-08-19T17:13:00.000-07:00

One of Cole's friends had a bday party recently with a cowboy/girl theme. As a surprise, one of her friends parents brought a pony and let the kids ride it. Here are some cute pics!

1st day of preschool & 1st grade

2010-08-19T17:06:00.001-07:00

We have year-round schedule here so the kids recently started the school year.

Cute kiddos!

Love that Cole's teacher had an apple on each student's desk when they walked in.

Beehive in the back yard

2010-08-19T16:59:00.000-07:00

Trevor & Steph came over for a BBQ in July (Trev always does the BBQ-ing when he comes because he's the best). We hadn't been out in the back yard for about a month or so (hello, we live in AZ and it's bloody hot outside!) - I'm a sissy about heat especially when I'm pregnant.

Trevor comes in and says, "I think there's a beehive in your tree!"

Ryan goes and checks it out and heads to the store to pick up some wasp & hornet spray. You can spray it from 20 feet away. It was quite comical (and a little scary) - I'm glad I wasn't the one doing the exterminating - watching Ryan spray from as far away as possible and then running at top speed for the safety of the back door!

Here's a before picture of the beehive:

It did the trick, though. Within a few minutes, most of the bees were lying on the grass, dead. Phew! That was scary!

The Big Camping Trip

2010-08-18T10:26:00.001-07:00

We had such a good time camping! Ryan found a pop up trailer on Craigslist for $250 - it was from 1975 but it was in pretty good shape! So we fixed it up (Ryan) and cleaned it out (me and my mom) and it worked out great! It didn't rain the whole time we were camping so we don't know if/where there are leaks.

Here are some fun memories:

Making pudding cones

Laying in the hammock

Watching Bella turn from a white lab to a brown lab (she loved rolling and digging in the dirt!)

Fishing at the lake - we didn't catch anything, but it was fun anyway!

Crafts & coloring

Using the hatchet

Ryan made the kids a swing with some rope and a log - I think Katelyn spent most of her time in there!

Papa Fish went with us and was so nice to take the kids on hikes and tell them stories every day. They especially liked his "Pioneers and Indians" game!

Getting dirty! Our trailer does not have a shower/bathtub, but it does have a sink. Every night Ryan would heat up some water on the stove and wipe the kids down so they would be clean to sleep. Only to start it all over the next day! :)

Our favorite part was just being able to hang out without any of the distractions we have at home - work, school, phone, tv, etc... just spending quality time together!!

Summer 2010 Fun

2010-08-18T09:18:00.001-07:00

Here are some random pics of fun stuff that we did or that happened this summer:

Jeepers Indoor Amusement park

Swimming at Papa Fish's house

Water slide in the back yard

Cole lost his first tooth!!

Just a cute pic of Katelyn wearing my big sunglasses

Love this shot of Cole blowing bubbles

Fun with friends

We also went camping for 5 days at Reservation Lake - I'll do a separate post about that in a little while.

Cole's 6th Birthday!

2010-08-18T08:44:00.000-07:00

Cole turned the big SIX in June - I really can't believe it! How did he go from this tiny sweet baby

to THIS big boy so fast?

We had a fun day - Cole got a new, bigger bike to ride

Katelyn and I took him out to lunch at Serrano's (yum!).

His cousins came over to play on the water slide and do the traditional Fish family ring toss game.

I stayed up late the night before making him a Ben 10 Omnitrix cake (If you don't know what that is, ask Cole and he'll explain the whole alien transformation process to you). I think he loved it!

The next day we went with Cole and Katelyn's best buddies, Quinn & Parker, to see Toy Story 3 in 3-D.

What a fun time!!!

My twin sister comes to visit...finally!

2010-08-17T22:53:00.000-07:00

In June, my twin sister, Glenda, came to visit with her family. Since they moved to Indiana we don't get to see them much, so it was so nice! Her kiddos are all so grown up! And we got to see their youngest for the first time as well.

Our kids really hit it off, and my kids are still talking about their cousins who came to visit and asking when they are going to see them again.

Hint, hint: You guys need to move back to AZ! Here are some pics of their visit and fun times we had:

Katelyn & Faith

My kids & Glenda's kids - so hard to sit still!!!

If you can't tell, Rudolph and Santa (aka Wes & Cole)

Me, Glenda, Preston, & Rose

One night we met for dinner and then went to the park to let the kiddos play (this includes Joel's girls) - what a bunch of hams!

Cole's Graduation (from Kindergarten)

2010-08-17T22:43:00.001-07:00

I can't say much about this, other than, holy cow, we now have a 1st grader! Cole's first year of school just flew by it seemed. He is such a smart kid - already reading 1st grade stuff and counting to 100. I think his teacher's hardest job was keeping him occupied so he wasn't too bored! If he's bored, he will either goof off or day dream.

I didn't get very many good pictures of the day because there were just so many people! But here are a couple I managed to snap:

Just after receiving his diploma

Cole & Quinn (best bud)

Father & Son campout

2010-08-17T22:29:00.001-07:00

Ryan and Cole went on the Father & Son camp out in May. There aren't many pictures since that is usually my department, but here are a couple:

Enjoying the s'mores

Riding back home with friends (we miss you Papa family!)

So grown up!

2010-08-17T22:22:00.000-07:00

Katelyn is getting so big! Wasn't she just my little baby a short while ago?
For those of you who know me, I am a ponytail type of girl, not much fuss. So Ryan has kind of taken charge of making sure Katelyn's hair isn't always just in a ponytail like mine. He's actually pretty good! Check out these pics of my big girl:

He also paints her nails and toenails for her quite often. I think it's very sweet!! He's only painted mine a couple times - the last time, I fell asleep while he was painting away, and awoke to purple toenails with black tips and super sparkly fingernails. How fun! (No pics of them - sorry, my feet aren't that cute!)

Soccer Season

2010-08-17T18:33:00.001-07:00

We decided to put Cole in soccer this year - he ended up having a lot of fun! We had to bribe him a quarter every time he kicked the ball in a game (he had lots of quarters by the end of the season). He is a daydreamer sometimes, so that helped him to focus. He was so cute in his little soccer uniform and cleats! I could just see Ryan looking the same way when he was Cole's age. :)

Easter

2010-08-17T15:58:00.000-07:00

The traditional dying of the Easter eggs with the Fish clan is always so much fun! All the cousins come and it's a big party!

Cole & Katelyn finding their eggs - the Easter bunny decided to do real eggs (instead of plastic ones) this year. Cole said he wants plastic ones with candy inside next year - Katelyn really didn't care because she still got tons of candy in her basket!

The Easter bunny also brought Cole some skates and me some roller blades (Katelyn and Ryan already have some). I guess the Easter bunny didn't realize I'm pregnant and clumsy and it's dangerous combination! I attempted it once that day, but since I really am awful at it, decided to wait until after the baby comes to try it again!

Spring Break

2010-08-16T14:30:00.001-07:00

Ryan's brother Nate has a huge backyard, complete with chickens, goats, and sheep (and a duck too I think). The kids love going over there and petting the animals! His brother is quite the character and gave us two baby roosters for Christmas along with a survival book. Ryan said we're going to give him a puppy with a seeing-eye dog training manual one of these days to pay him back. I don't have any pictures of them because our dog Bella ate one of them for dinner one rainy night, and so Ryan gave the other one back so it wouldn't suffer the same fate.

On Spring Break the kids and I made the trek out to Superstition Springs Mall to ride the carousel and have some fun.

We spent a lot of time visiting Ryan's mom this spring before she passed away in May - this is one of favorites of Ryan and his mom. Even though she was in a lot of pain and suffering, she always smiled and never complained! I don't think I would be like that in the same situation.

My 30th Birthday

2010-08-16T13:45:00.000-07:00

In March it was my 30th birthday - I know, I know, the BIG 3-0!! In some ways I still feel like I'm a teenager - but then I realize I have two kids already! Where does the time go?

I had a really fun birthday - Ryan got me a bike! I hadn't ridden a bike in 15 years or so, so it took a little getting used to. I finally got the hang of it. But then a couple days after my bday we found out we were expecting babe #3 and so I opted to not risk the bike-riding since I'm a klutz to begin with and even more so when I'm prego!

My mom took me and the kiddos to the Phoenix Symphony for my birthday present - it was a Star Wars Extravaganza! The characters were all there on stage, fighting just like in the movies! At one point, the conductor even fought Darth Vader. It was so much fun - we really enjoyed it!

It's hard to see, but the characters are on stage with the symphony.

One of my friends was turning 30 as well, so we decided to have a combined birthday party for the adults. We wore princess hats, had a princess pinata, a princess cake, played Rock Band and had a lot of fun! Hey, you only turn 30 once, right?

My friend and I both found out we were pregnant within days of each other - our due dates are 4 days apart! Her son is one week older than Katelyn, and now our next babies will be pretty close in age too. How fun!!

Snow Trip

2010-08-16T13:18:00.000-07:00

One weekend in February we decided to go visit the snow. We were planning on staying at Ryan's parent's land in Heber/Overgaard but when we got on the dirt road that leads to the land at 9pm, it was so muddy! We ended up getting stuck in the mud (makes me wish we had our black truck still)!! What a nightmare!

We didn't have snow chains, but Ryan tried for quite awhile to get us out. Finally, a big truck came up behind us and we thought they were going to stop and help us, but NO! They kept on going!! A couple hundred feet ahead of us, they ended up getting stuck too. Ryan went to see if he could help them get un-stuck so they could help us in return. Well, a couple hours later they were still stuck, it was almost midnight, and the kids and I had been stuck in the Durango the whole time (thank heavens we had a portable DVD player and a heater or we would have gone crazy). We decided that maybe the mud had frozen a little so we tried to get out and we finally did. The poor big truck was still stuck but there was no way we could help them. We left our big spotlight and tow rope with them - I'm sure they got out eventually.

Ryan wanted to just drive home at this point but I talked him into getting a hotel in Heber so the trip wouldn't be a total waste. All sleeping in one bed was fun, let me tell you! The next day we played in the snow and then headed home. What an adventure!!

I didn't get any pictures of us stuck in the mud, but here are some fun pics of snow play-ing:

(Note the modge-podge of snow clothes - We borrowed a lot of it from friends/family since we live in AZ and don't go that often.)

40th Wedding Anniversary

2010-08-16T12:44:00.000-07:00

Ryan's parents had their 40th wedding anniversary in January! Not many people can say that nowadays, huh? Since Ryan's mom passed away at the end of May, these pictures are even more dear to me. We had a family photo shoot (thanks to Ruth and Lexi for doing that for us) and then all the grown ups went to the Landmark Restaurant for a delicious lunch and fun time reminiscing about growing up in the Fish Fam. It was so fun to hear all the stories and memories everyone shared. I'm very blessed to have married into this amazing family! Here are some pics:

We also had our family pictures taken that day (see the new one in our blog header). Fun times!!

January Fun

2010-07-21T22:29:00.001-07:00

Ryan's sister Mo and her fam gave the kids a butterfly garden for Christmas. It was so fun to watch the caterpillars grow big and at and turn into chrysallis' and then butterflies, all right before our very eyes! We were all mesmerized by the miracle of transformation these creatures underwent.

Ryan also celebrated his 32nd birthday in January! We love you Ryan!

One Sunday we took our Rock Band game over and played with Ryan's parents. Super fun - his mom was really good! And his dad loved to do the singing, especially with the Beatles.

The kids took to climbing trees to keep themselves busy while the grown-ups were playing.

My first time on the drums - I'm not half bad!

Snuggling with the kids on the front porch swing - does life get any better?

Cute pic of some of the cousins with my kiddos.

7 year wedding anniversary!

2010-07-21T22:17:00.000-07:00

Can't believe we've been married 7 years! We celebrated our 7 year anniversary at the end of December, 2 days after Christmas. What were we thinking, getting married 2 days after Christmas? We never have time or energy to go out and celebrate (not to mention money since we just spent it all on Christmas stuff), but this year we made the effort. Ryan took me to Maggiano's in Scottsdale (the awesomest place around, even though it is quite a trek out there).

The picture at the top is one of our wedding pictures - don't we look so young?

Two and 2/3 kids (yes, we're expecting baby #3 - a boy - in November) and 7 years later, I love this man even more than I ever thought I could. He takes such good care of our family and knows how to make me smile and laugh everyday. He is a fantastic daddy and the kids always run to give him a big hug when when comes home. Thanks for the best years (so far) of my life, and more to come!!

Christmas - posting a little late I know!

2010-07-21T20:53:00.001-07:00

Here are some pictures from Christmas - I am way late I know! I am trying to catch up now. :)

Ryan's parents came and spent the night with us so they could be closer to make the "rounds" the next morning (and because we're the favorites, of course). :)

The kids loved to lay under the Christmas tree and look at the lights. I remember doing that when I was a kid, too!

Playing with their fun new toys (they were spoiled as usual)!

Team Edward

2010-01-07T12:16:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the influx of posts! I am on a roll and I'm afraid to stop or I won't get started again for a long time!

For any of you who know me, you probably know that I love the Twilight book series by Stephenie Meyer. That is a preface to this story...

Ryan hated the picture on the December page of my calendar - he said the baby was not cute at all. So one day I caught him coloring on the picture!! I was kind of mad that he wrecked my calendar! So he quickly pulled Cole over and had him help finish what he was doing...

He turned the baby into a vampire baby! And wrote "Team Edward" on it! I guess he knew that I wouldn't be made after that. So funny!! Gotta love Ryan's sense of humor! Did you notice the drip of blood coming from the baby's mouth?

Putting up the tree

2010-01-07T12:11:00.001-08:00

The kids had so much fun decorating the tree for Christmas! Here are some fun pics of the process:

This is seriously what some of the branches looked like with the kiddos' help! So cute! I "spread out" the ornaments a little after they went to bed...

Katelyn thinks her stocking works well as a purse, too!

Rock Band with the Wagenmans

2010-01-06T10:06:00.000-08:00

We had my family over for dinner in November and afterwards, we played Rock Band. Even my mom played along! It was a lot of fun! We need to do it again soon!

Halloween

2010-01-06T09:54:00.000-08:00

The kids had so much fun at Halloween time. We had a ward trunk or treat and then on Halloween night, Ryan's parents invited us over for chili (a Fish tradition) and then all of the cousins went trick-or-treating together. It was so cute to see the kiddos all lined up with their costumes! Cole was a G.I. Joe (I don't think he knows who that is; he only knows that Ryan loved them when he was young). Katelyn was Minnie Mouse. She is getting so big -I think she was wearing a 4t and it was already getting snug, not to mention short! Ryan's brother and his wife were Mickey and Minnie - nice to see grown-ups get into the mood, too!

Seth's fam visits

2010-01-06T09:45:00.000-08:00

One of my big brothers, Seth and his fam came to visit in October. It was great to see him and his wife and girls - they're getting so big! We all got together at my brother Joel's house. The kiddos had the best time playing together. Can't wait to see them again!

I love the look of pure bliss on Katelyn's face in this one!

Field Trip to Schnepf Farms

2009-11-04T21:39:00.000-08:00

At the beginning of October, I was able to go with Cole's school on their field trip to Schnepf Farms as a parent chaperone. It was so much fun! We did a lot of walking and got a little sunburned, but it was still a blast! The kids got to go on rides, go to the petting zoo, watch frisbee dogs and pig races, etc. Here are some pics of the fun we had:

Katelyn is 3!!

2009-11-03T18:25:00.000-08:00

Katelyn's b-day was back on October 25th - I am the worst blogger ever! I'm trying to catch up now, though.

I took Katelyn to Build a Bear for her b-day and she had so much fun!

Putting the stuffing in her bear! So exciting!

Giving "Princess" her first bath!
So happy with her new friend!

Her b-day was on a Sunday, so she woke up and had her first present (Fish family tradition) - breakfast treat - muffins!
Her birthday fell on a Sunday, so of course she got a new dress to wear.

How did my kids get so big?!

I love when I catch my kids being nice!

Katelyn requested a pink pony cake for her birthday so this is what I came up with.

Make a Wish!!

She had to try her new jammies on even though it wasn't bedtime yet.

I can't believe she's already three! Time goes by way too fast!

A boy and his dog

2009-10-11T11:21:00.000-07:00

Bella, our dog, really loves to look out the front window of our house! In fact, she jumps up on the couch and perches there, just waiting for someone to come over or drive by (which, whenever happens, she barks! Any suggestions to curb that habit?). She looks so cute just chillin' and waitin'. If anyone ever wonders why that front window is always dirty, it's because she presses her little nose up to the glass! I could seriously clean those windows all day and they would still be dirty!

Cole loves to look out the window too, especially since we and our neighbors have put up our Halloween decorations. Ryan put a huge picture of a skull in the window and in one of our upstairs windows too. Pretty creepy!

But it's fun to finally be fall-time and cooling off a little bit! I think today was the first day we didn't have the air conditioning on at all and the kids even went out to play in the backyard and I had to tell them to come in! Usually after ten minutes, they're so hot they want to come in themselves.

Date Night!

2009-10-10T11:06:00.000-07:00

Our friends Ryan and Alleen invited us to go out with them last weekend. It was so much fun! He had gotten a limo ride as a bonus for his work and asked us to go along (we're so lucky!).

Anyhew, we went to Maggiano's (the best Italian restaurant I have ever eaten at). Although I do still love my Olive Garden, this is way better I do have to admit!!

Afterward, we came back to the Fish Bowl (aka our house) and played Rock Band. It was Ryan and Alleen's first time but they rocked the house!

Thanks for inviting us out, you guys! We had the best time!!

Cole's 1st report card!

2009-10-09T11:22:00.000-07:00

I have uploaded and uploaded this picture and it keeps going the wrong direction for some reason! Very frustrating! Anyways, you get the idea, right? :)

This is Cole's first progress report - ever! It's so weird to think that I'll be getting these every quarter for the next 12 years! He is doing really well in kindergarten. He caught on fast to blending sounds to make words and is reading as well! He has gotten 100% on all his spelling tests so far (maybe he got that from me?). I'm so proud of my Cole-y!

Our first parent teacher conference was the other day (unfortunately I didn't get to go, but Ryan went instead). Ryan said it was nice to hear from his teacher how he's doing and she gave us the art book he has been working on in class to keep! I'll post pics of that later, but it is so cool!!

Crashing on the Couch!

2009-10-08T09:00:00.000-07:00

I snapped these sweet pics of Ryan and Katelyn a week ago. Katelyn has given up her afternoon naps (much to my chagrin) but sometimes she will crash on the couch around 7pm or so.

Why do they look so dang cute when they're sleeping? I love it!

I sewed!

2009-10-07T16:42:00.000-07:00

I know for many of you, sewing is super easy, but for me, that's not the case! I was doing a challenge for the Project Runway scrapbooking challenge I'm part of, and it involved making a fun beach accessory. So, I had been wanting to try to make this bag for awhile, and finally decided to do it.

I'm embarrassed to say, I had to ask Ryan for help on this! He is a much better sewer than I am. (He defends his manliness by saying it's just like welding.) I was just glad he was there to help! He is so amazing and knows how or can figure out how to do pretty much anything!

He was helping me thread the machine and I kept getting it wrong and he just cut the thread so I had to keep doing it over and over till I got it right! I can definitely say I know how to do that now. :) That's why he's so good for me - he doesn't let me give up and he pushes me to be better. :)

Anyways, it was such a shocking sight while I was sewing that both of the kids were just sitting on top of their little Tikes cars watching me. Ryan had to come take a picture of me sewing in case it never happens again!

Here's a picture of the bag I made, in case you're interested. I used my die-cutting machine, the Sizzix Big Shot for Stampin' Up to cut out the butterflies and the Top Notes which I sewed together to make the bag! I was very happy with how it turned out, and now I can show my customers that the Big Shot can be used for sewing and other projects too! It's amazing all the different materials you can cut with this machine! Anyhew, that's all! :)

A little of what we've been up to lately

2009-10-07T14:30:00.000-07:00

building fun forts

wearing scary masks Daddy made

painting Ryan's office

Just bein' silly - Cole and Katelyn both wearing Ryan's shirt at the same time!

laying in the grass - yes, it really was that high!

Sweet Cotton Candy

2009-09-29T11:50:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago it was one of my niece's b-days and she had a super fun party! Complete with a water slide and other water games, yummy food (including cotton candy - they rented a machine and we got to see it being made right in front of us like at the fair!) and TONS of fun!

The kiddos probably ate 3 or 4 helpings each of the cotton candy. They were in pure heaven! I do have to say, I tried some too, and it was fabulous!

Here are some pics of the kiddos enjoying themselves:

Ryan's Wish Jar

2009-08-31T14:21:00.000-07:00

If any of you know Ryan, this won't surprise you in the least! It was pretty darn funny, I have to say!

So you know how I have my baby wish jar that I'm saving $$ for a baby, right? Well, the other day, Ryan was rummaging through the cabinets looking for something, and I asked if I could help him find it - he said, "No, I got it." He pulled out a jar, then a picture from his back pocket. He proceeded to duct tape it onto the jar, along with various Christmas ribbons/bows, and more duct tape. If you can't tell, it's a picture of a flat screen television (Upon first glance, I thought - you want to save for a trip to the mountains? Then I saw the platform at the bottom of the picture.) He put in all the money and change from his pocket, which was under $5. I am totally beating him!! HaHa! :)

Then, the other day, we went through the drive-thru and he usually hands me the change, but instead, he looked at me, then the money, and then he put it into his own pocket! Silly boy!! He really makes life interesting for me! And keeps us all laughing!

Vote for Me!!

2009-08-28T22:12:00.000-07:00

I don't know how many of you follow the show Project Runway, but I am involved with a group of cool girls who decided it would be fun to do scrapbooking challenges based on their challenges each week. Their challenge was to design some clothes for a celebrity to wear on the red carpet. To make it work for scrapbooking, we decided to have our challenge be to scrapbook our "Red Carpet Moment." Glitz Design graciously donated to our challenge, so we used some paper, stickers, and rub-ons from them (they rock, by the way!!!) and created kits for all the participants. The only rule is that you had to use something from the kit in your layout. We posted the layouts on the Project Scrapbook '09 blog here, so go check them out! They are all amazing. :)

Oh yeah, you can vote for your favorite (pick me, pick me!!) - the winner will be treated to some more amazing goodies that Glitz Design generously gave to us to give away!! To vote on the Project Scrapbook '09 blog, click here. Voting closes Thurs. Sept. 3rd at 9pm MST, so don't delay!!

The red carpet moment I chose to capture was my wedding day - I felt like a princess marrying my prince (still do - I'm so lucky!), the weather was beautiful, I loved my dress, my flowers, and especially my guy!! It truly was a perfect day!

It was so fun to try out Glitz Designs' products - their rubons are amazingly easy to use! And I love their paper! Gorgeous! I hope I win the prize! One of my brother's friends from when we were kids is actually one of the girls that started the company so I was able to hit her up for some donations - it's awesome to have connections, sometimes, huh?

The Baby Wish Jar

2009-08-12T21:19:00.000-07:00

First off, no, I am not pregnant!! I wish I was, but unfortunately, I'm not. :)

Ryan and I have been talking for a long time about whether or not to have another child. Correction: Actually, I've been doing most of the talking - he's been trying to give away all our baby stuff! I tend to have difficult pregnancies, and so most of the workload falls on him unfortunately when I'm prego. Not to mention the economy, etc., etc.... Well, the other day, he said, "If you can save $2000, we can talk about having another baby."

So, I went out and bought this big jar and decorated it and stuck it in my kitchen. My friend Wendy and I figured out that if I put in $50 each week, I will have the $2000 in about 10 months. I am really motivated! I'm going to be clipping coupons and putting any money saved in the jar. Every time I pay with cash, I'm going to be putting the change in. If I have any part-time daycare jobs, I am going to put the money in there too. I am very excited and hope that Ryan will hold up his end of the bargain when I finally save up enough money (i.e.: seriously talking about having another child )!!

On another note, isn't it a cute jar? I made it yellow and brown since if we do have another one, I don't know if it'll be a boy or a girl, obviously. I love looking at it and dreaming of the future!! I am so baby hungry it is crazy!! You can make fun of me if you want to - I don't care!! :)

Wendy says I should take it with me to my Stampin' Up workshops and classes and ask for donations. How hilarious would that be??

My Stampin' Blog

2009-07-31T22:20:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!

Just wanted to let you know that I just started a Stampin' blog so I can put my papercrafting and scrapbooking projects on there! Here's the blog address: http://stampinlucinda.blogspot.com/ if you want to take a look! I'm also putting it on my sidebar in case the link doesn't work for some reason.

Later!

Cole's First Day of Kindergarten!

2009-07-31T21:39:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Cole's first day of kindergarten! He was so excited! His teacher is super nice. Here's some pictures of him sitting at his desk and in his new classroom.

He is so big!! I got a little teary-eyed as I was leaving, but he was not even sad or scared, just super excited! I cannot believe he is in school already - where have these past 5 years gone? It makes me sad that my little Cole is not little anymore, but I'm also excited to see him growing up and learning so much! Is that weird?

Father Daughter Princess Party

2009-07-31T21:18:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago our ward had a Father/Daughter Princess Party. Katelyn and Ryan had so much fun! Katelyn got to get all dressed up in her princess dress, shoes, and crown (the dads didn't have to).

There was dinner, dancing, story time with princesses, and even a ride in a Hummer limo!

One of the people who was in charge took some pictures at the event, so as soon as I get those, I'll post some more!

My Awesome Craft Room

2009-07-31T20:30:00.000-07:00

Ryan is awesome at making stuff, I have to say! He has been wanting to trade offices with me for awhile now and said he would build me some shelves for all my Stampin' Up stuff if I would agree to trade him. I said yes, and he literally started and finished building all this in a day! It took me longer to paint the room and shelves than it did for him to do the building. He is so amazing! Here's a picture of the shelving unit (I was still doing touch-ups at this point).

Did I mention that he also made me a table? Yeah, who knew you could buy fold up legs at Lowe's and make your own table? Super cool! My sister-in-law Kristin came and helped us paint and stain one night (thanks a ton Shorty!) which was so nice! She is way faster at painting than I am!

Another awesome feature of the table is that it hooks up to the shelving unit and rolls up for storing (kind of like those fold down beds). Here's a picture of the table put away. I told him I still wanted to have some room for guests or a playpen if I needed it (since I do daycare), so he thought of this idea all by himself - brilliant!

Okay, I am a ribbon and punch addict, so he made me some bars to hang all my punches on and some shelves for my ribbon. He also made some holders for my ink pads and markers. He really went all out to make this room the way I wanted it to be (without even asking)! I am so happy with it! I knew it would be nice, but I wasn't expecting it to be this nice!

I am seriously lucky to have a hubby like Ryan who knows how to do all this stuff! If everything he already did was not enough, he went ahead and made me some drawers to store my stamps in that I can pull out and see them all (and they're not stacked on top of each other anymore!). All my friends have been saying they need to have him come help their hubbies do the same thing for them at their house.

Here's a picture of the (mostly) finished room. I still have some decorations and stuff I need to hang up on my blank walls, but it is sooooo wonderful to not have to carry all my supplies up and down the stairs for classes, clubs, and workshops! I love being able to see all my supplies and have them organized in one central place (rather than in bins like I used to have them).

Thanks so much, Ryan! You are the best!!

07-08-09 at 10:11:12 pm

2009-07-08T22:13:00.000-07:00

Elizabeth Kartchner is having a contest on her blog - all you have to do is take a picture of what you are doing on 07-08-09 at 10:11:12 am or pm. Easy enough that I can do it! :)

I don't know about you, but I get the munchies at night! This is what I was getting ready to do at 10:11 pm today - I know, so bad to eat sweets so late at night!!! Every once in awhile I give in to the urge. Anyways, I was going to have this Cherry Chocolate Chip ice cream, but unfortunately, Ryan ate it all!!! I guess I'm going to have to dish up the Rocky Road (still one of my faves). I'm off to enjoy my special treat now! Ta Ta!

Random Pics from the last couple months

2009-07-05T11:23:00.001-07:00

Here are some random pics from the past couple months (you can click on the image to make it bigger). A little disclaimer: Cole is drinking ROOT beer in the picture! We've been busy having fun - sorry I have been such a nonexistent blogger! I will try to be better, I promise!

Cole turns 5!

2009-07-05T10:53:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe Cole turned 5 on June 17th! It's true that time really does fly when you're having fun! This is him about 10 days old:

And here's a picture of him on his b-day! He has grown so much!

We had a family party on his actual birthday that his cousins, aunts & uncles, and grandparents came to. My big brother Ben was in town doing some training for his new job, so we were glad he got to come!

On the Saturday after his b-day, we had a friend party with his friends from preschool and church. It was a lot of work, but Cole and his friends had a good time, I think! Thanks to all his friends who came - you made his day! Ryan found an awesome water slide on Craig's list. Of course, he had to set it up inside the house for the kids and test it out (without the water, thankfully). They had a blast and thought it was so funny to have a huge slide inside the house!

Katelyn was too little and kind of scared of the big slide, but she went on her little slide just fine! It's weird that it fit inside our house!

We're so glad to have Cole in our family! We love you tons!

Father & Son Camp Out

2009-07-05T09:53:00.000-07:00

May was a busy month! Ryan and Cole went on our ward's Father & Son camp out and had a lot of fun! When I saw the pictures of Cole on the cliff I almost fainted, but I know Ryan was right there with him. They had a great time hanging out together and with the other dads and sons that were there. Cole keeps talking about camping all the time, so I guess we'll have to go as a family soon!!

Cole's Pre-K Graduation

2009-07-05T09:34:00.000-07:00

Wow, I can't believe Cole has graduated from preschool and will be going to kindergarten in a couple weeks (the end of July)! His class put together a cute little program about the United States of America, and also showed all they learned this year (letters/sounds, numbers, days of the week, months, etc.). It was so adorable! Cole looked so handsome with his little grad cap on! We're so proud of you, buddy! Good job! We love you lots!

Disneyland!

2009-07-05T08:52:00.000-07:00

I know, I've been such a slacker about blogging lately! I'm finally getting around to posting pictures of our Disneyland trip from May!

We got to go for 5 days - they had an amazing promotion going on, so we took advantage of it!

We had the best time! Since we were there for so long, we got to go on every ride we wanted to, and we had the layout of the park memorized by the time we left. The kids loved the Buzz Lightyear ride, Mr. Toad's wild ride, and Dumbo the best I think. Ryan and I went on the Tower of Terror (separately, of course) - weren't we brave? Too bad there's no pictures of our faces on that one! HaHa!

This time Cole wasn't as shy of the characters - Katelyn was. She likes to look at the pictures of her with them but was literally hanging onto me with a death grip!

I tried doing a photo collage in Picasa for the first time - hope it turned out alright!

We stayed at a hotel near the park (within walking distance) and took our double stroller with us. The kids are sure getting heavy (Along with all the food and supplies we brought with us each day)...I still have blisters that are healing from all the walking we did! Cole keeps talking about how he wants to go back to Disneyland. I told him we have to fill up our coin jar again before we can go back! :)

Here are some more pictures of all the fun we had - of course we had to take a picture in front of the "F" of California Adventure.

I'm so glad we got to go! We had an amazing time and hopefully built a lot of good memories for Cole & Katelyn!

I'll be back in a little bit to post some pics of Cole's preschool graduation and 5th B-day party (I know, crazy that he's 5 already, right?).

Easter Traditions

2009-04-17T20:41:00.000-07:00

Every year, the Fish Fam gets together to color Easter eggs. This year was no exception! Papa & Grandma had the whole clan over (and believe me, it was packed!). The operation took place in the garage, with lots of newspaper covered tables. Each of the kiddos got to color TWO dozen eggs, so that was a lot of eggs for Papa to hard boil before everyone came!

Cole had such fun (his mom forgot an old shirt, so Papa supplied one for him)!

Katelyn opted to use her hands instead of the egg-holder contraption. It worked better for her, but the dye didn't come out for a couple days!

Afterward, all the cousins had fun playing dress-up and messing up Grandma and Papa's house!

Here they are having an impromptu "tea party" using the play dishes and Papa's water cooler. Yep, that got nipped in the bud pretty fast! :)

On Easter Saturday (that's when the Easter bunny visits our house - so we don't take away from Easter Sunday, the true celebration), the kids awoke to their Easter baskets in their rooms and lots of eggs to find throughout the house! They had so much fun finding them in all the places they were hidden! They also got some play chicks that chirp when you put them in your hand. Super neat!

Katelyn's favorite thing was the chocolate in her Easter basket and inside all the plastic eggs. I think she pounded every single one of hers before lunchtime! No, she didn't get sick - thank goodness! :)

Cole liked pretending he was the Easter bunny and hopped around all day!

On Easter Sunday, we celebrated the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior - we went to church and worshipped and spent time together as a family. Hope you all had a wonderful Easter too! :)

On another note, Tax season is over! Hurray!! It's been so nice to have Ryan back home more often! We're glad you're back, Ryan! We missed having you around more than you know. :)

Rock Band!

2009-04-08T17:17:00.000-07:00

The kids' new favorite game is Rock Band! They even have their own log in so the points for Ryan don't get messed up. Here are some pics of the kids playing the coolest game ever!

Once in awhile, they will let Ryan play.....

Krispy Kreme FiElD tRiP

2009-04-08T17:13:00.000-07:00

Just a couple quick pics of Cole's preschool field trip to Krispy Kreme...

The kids got a tour and were able to go in the back with the machine, touch some dough, and everything! They had a ton of fun! And afterwards, they got to have some yummy donuts!

My 29th B-day

2009-04-08T16:54:00.000-07:00

I had an awesome birthday, thanks mostly to Ryan! He told me to take the day off from childcare because he had something special planned. So he arranged for a sitter for Katelyn & Cole (thanks Shorty!) while he sent me to Arizona Hair Co. where he had set up an appointment for me to get my hair cut and highlighted. I didn't do anything drastic like Ryan wanted (he wanted me to dye it black or bleach it platinum blonde or something), but it felt nice to have all the split ends trimmed off and the way-overgrown roots to be touched up!

Next, he had set up an appointment for me to get a pedicure! Now, if you have never had a pedicure, you need to do it soon! Especially if you live in AZ and wear flip flops all the time like me. It is literally pure heaven! Thanks Ryan for all you did to make my b-day so amazing! You spoil me and I love you so much!

Later that night some family came over for cake and ice cream. The kids loved helping me open my presents and blow out the candles on the cake.

I got a lot of messages from friends and family on Facebook and my twin sister, Glenda, did a really sweet post on her blog too. It was such a great birthday! I still can't believe I'm 29, though. I still feel like I'm 20 for some reason. :)

Okay, now what mischief has little Katelyn been up to? Let's see...

2009-04-08T16:43:00.000-07:00

Katelyn is very mischievous! Here are a few "pickles" I've found her in lately...

She is in a toddler bed now and she snuck out of bed during naptime without my knowledge and went into my bedroom. A little while later, I had a feeling to check on her, so I found her in a playpen I have in my bedroom for my childcare kids. Apparently, she had gotten into Ryan's bedside table drawer where he keeps his cough drops. There were probably about ten cough drops that she had opened and then spit out because they didn't taste good. (They were the Halls regular menthol ones.) Maybe she thought if she kept trying, one of them would taste good? Then, when she gave up that, she got a pen out of Ryan's drawer and drew all over her arms and legs. That is how I found her. It was so funny I couldn't really get mad at her. I wish I had thought to get a pic of the playpen with the cough drops all stuck to the blanket, but I just cleaned it up before I thought about it. Here's her "artwork" all over her body (she's so proud!):

One morning, Katelyn woke up super early and came in our bed. Ryan and I were definitely not ready to get up for the day, so we told her to go play. A little while later, I found her in the bathroom like this:

She had found the BandAids and put them all over her leg and fingers, too! It was so funny!

Katelyn does not like to wear clothes! Especially if they get wet or dirty. She is always taking them off (she even tried to take them off at church one week). So this is a typical picture of Katelyn:

Another example here - she took off her pants because she spilled water on them.

So those are just a couple funny stories about Katelyn's mischievous deeds lately. I'm sure there will be more to come soon! :)

What has Katelyn been up to lately?

2009-04-08T16:31:00.001-07:00

Katelyn has been a busy little girl lately! Here she is
helping me with the laundry....

Coloring (she does this while Cole does his homework - that way she doesn't feel left out)...

Going potty - she would probably be completely potty trained if I would commit to it. It's hard to do with all the other kids running around. I know, she likes to sit backwards on the potty! Funny, huh? It makes her feel like she's not going to fall in, I guess.

Playing with Bella in the backyard. She loves to throw the ball for Bella. She also loves to pick the tall strands of grass and bring them to me to put in water so they can have a drink.

Cole's friend's b-day party

2009-04-08T16:21:00.000-07:00

Cole's friend Alex had his birthday party at a gymnastics school. The place was awesome, with floor trampolines, big pits with foam blocks in them, lots of places to run, etc. The parents were not allowed on the floor where the kids were playing (probably to avoid distractions), but we could view them in a viewing room. I was a little worried that Cole would be too shy to go out and play with mostly strangers (Alex lives quite far away from us, so we don't see his fam too often), but he sure proved me wrong! He had the best time!

The highlight for all the kids was the parachute. I can totally remember doing the parachute in P.E. in elementary school. Here they are doing waves for the kids while they're running on top of the parachute.

And here they are hiding under the parachute, making a mushroom! How fun!

Unfortunately, Cole got carsick on the way home, so that part was not fun. Thanks to Alex's mom, we had some clothes in our car that we were able to change Cole into. We had forgotten his sunglasses, so I let him borrow mine. He finally fell asleep when we were almost home. I couldn't resist taking this pic of him in the car.

The Zoo w/Cole's preschool

2009-04-06T22:43:00.000-07:00

Also in February, Cole's preschool took a field trip to the Phoenix Zoo. I took the day off from watching kids (other than my own, of course) and got to go along! The kids had so much fun!

Posing for a quick pic on a turtle statue.

The carousel was probably their favorite thing!

Looking at the tiger!

The giraffes

The zebras

Okay, I'm to March now. Look for more updates coming soon!

SnOw tRiP

2009-04-06T22:15:00.001-07:00

At the end of February, the kids and I had the chance to go up to Flagstaff with Papa & Lainey Fish to play in the snow for a few days. Ryan had to stay and work, but we called him everyday and took lots of pictures. My sis-in-law Shorty and her girls joined in the fun too. We had such a fun time making snowmen, sledding, eating snow, and just hanging out with you guys! Thanks for having us! You're the best!

Okay, how cute is Katelyn's snow bib here. It makes her look so chubby!
Really she's not at all! :)

Ken & Mo visit AZ

2009-04-06T21:58:00.000-07:00

In February, Ken and Mo came to visit AZ. We had a fun time hanging out with
them and their kiddos!
Miss you guys!

This last pic is just a random one of the kids and Ryan taken around that time. Ryan set up the hammock in the living room and the kids had a blast playing on it!

Jan. Snow Trip

2009-04-06T21:21:00.000-07:00

We decided to take a day and go to the snow in January. We had to go all the way to Strawberry before there was any real snow, but the kids and Bella had "snow" much fun! Ryan was cursing the Durango when we got stuck in some ice. He was a champ and got us out of there with a crowbar to chip away the ice and a chain dog leash we found for traction. "I miss black truck!" he kept saying, over and over. I miss it too! We never got stuck anywhere with that thing.

Bella is getting so big! She'll be a year old at the end of April.

The kids loved to eat the snow. Ryan told them "Make sure you don't eat yellow
snow, just white snow!" :)

My little snow angels!

Brrr! It's cold, Mom!

More eating snow

Cole is so happy to be in the snow!

I love this pic of Katelyn showing me her snowball. :)

Sledding down the hill!

Right by where we parked there was this huge pile of snow (probably from the snowplow) and someone had made a little snow cave. Cole just had to try it out!

Katelyn crashed out on the way home with her June doll (from Little Einsteins).

All in all, a very fun trip!

Ryan's 31st b-day!

2009-04-06T21:06:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, I have been such a slacker when it comes to blogging for the past couple months! It's tax season, so Ryan is super busy and gone a lot, so I've been pulling double duty with the kids, etc.

Anyways, I'll try to be better from now on. Here are some updates for ya!

Ryan's 31st birthday was in January! We had some family over for cake and ice cream and fun. Happy Birthday Ryan - we love you!

The kids got skates for Christmas and we were trying to teach them how to use them one day. We also had our nieces over with their skates/rollerblades to play, so Ryan pulled out his old rollerblades from way back when.

My OW! Katelyn says this a lot! :)
She is very tall for her age and falls down a lot even when she's not trying to skate.

Ryan helping Cole, Sydney helping Katelyn.

Brooke, Katelyn, and Cole

Ryan with the kids. As you can see the whole neighborhood was out that day!

Christmas (a little late, I know)

2009-01-15T05:50:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it's been a month since I posted last! Crazy. Well, here's a little catch up on Christmas, etc. We had my family over Christmas Eve for a yummy dinner and to tell the Christmas story from the Bible, play games, and make gingerbread houses. The kids had a lot of fun together!

I think the adults liked "helping" with the gingerbread houses. It brought back good memories of when we used to do the same thing as kids (not to mention we got to sample the candy!). Here's my brother Joel helping his daughters with theirs.

Hailey liked to eat the yummy frosting.

Cole & JoLynn proudly displaying their creations!

Katelyn had aunt Lisa helping her - as you can see by the pile of wrappers in front of her, she really likes chocolate!

Katelyn (with her dirty chocolate covered face) loved holding baby Shae! Shae doesn't look too sure about it though. :)

Ryan's parents stayed with us Christmas Eve and then opened their presents with us Christmas morning. Ryan's brother Trevor stayed with us too! Poor guy had to sleep in Cole's room. I guess Cole was up coughing half the night. He's such a good uncle - he rubbed some Vicks on his chest and helped him get back to sleep. Ryan & I had no idea! Cole woke up about 4am but Trevor and him had a talk and decided it was too risky to go downstairs because it was still dark and Santa might not have come to our house yet. Thanks Trevor for letting us get a little extra sleep!

Cole got a digger for his sandbox. He loves it!

Katelyn got a Princess kitchen and loves to pretend cooking with it. So cute!

Well, there are more pictures of Christmas, but they're on the new camera Ryan got me! Yep, I love it! I've taken a ton of pics, but haven't figured out (or should I say, I haven't had Ryan show me how) to upload them to the computer so I can post them/print them. So once I can talk him into showing me how (or I break down and read the manual myself - haha, yeah right) you'll have to be patient.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year! We love you all!

I have an amazing hubbie!

2008-12-12T18:36:00.000-08:00

So once upon a time (6 years ago), Ryan and Lucinda got a new t.v. Since they were too cheap to get a new entertainment center, Ryan re-configured our current one - if you've been to our house, I'm sure you've seen it (if you haven't, it's in the background of this picture).

So then, finally, 6 long years later, Ryan decided to make a new entertainment center himself. Again, because we (and I mean Ryan) are too cheap to buy one when Ryan can make one himself that is custom-made. I seriously don't know how he knows how to do all this stuff when he's never done it before! He is a man of many talents, that's for sure.

Here he is hard at work!

And the almost-finished product! Santa's going to bring us the rest of the cabinets for Christmas if we're good. :)

I know, I know, I have way too many nativity sets for one person, but I just love to collect them!

Catch Up!

2008-12-12T18:11:00.000-08:00

Our ward put on a Polar Express party last weekend and it was so much fun! The kids loved it! Here are some pics from that night:

The kids got to wear their pj's (Ryan wanted to but I told him no). :)

They got a bell necklace to help them remember to Believe!

Pictures with Santa - Cole loved it!

Katelyn, not so much...

And on to...
GINGERBREAD HOUSE-MAKING!!!

I think more candy made it into our kids' tummies than actually made it onto the house!

Ryan is wearing my apron since he says I never wear it (how could I? It's been in a box for almost the whole year!)

It turned out so cute, don't ya think?

This is what I found Cole doing the other day!

2008-12-12T17:43:00.000-08:00

This is what I found Cole doing the other day - I noticed that our chalkboard countdown to Christmas had been colored on and wondered how...

I couldn't resist taking some pictures of this just to show him how mischievous and smart he is when he's older.

He's just so proud of himself! I love my little Cole!

My sister's visit to AZ

2008-12-12T14:07:00.000-08:00

My twin sister, Glenda, and her family got to come visit AZ during Thanksgiving. It was so good to see them - we haven't seen them in over a year and a half! Her kids are so much bigger now. And Glenda's pregnant and so cute! We all got together a couple times, and the kids got to play. It was so much fun! We miss you guys - come visit more often -k- (or talk my hubbie into leaving the state for once)!

Wes, Hailey, Faith, Cole

The cousins all together (minus Ben & Seth's kids)

At least someone's getting some exercise!

2008-12-12T14:04:00.000-08:00

Cole is such a strong little 4 year old boy! He pulls Katelyn and friends around with his bike! So adorable! He did mention how he was soooo tired afterward, but hey, he slept great that night!

Happy Thanksgiving from a modern day Pilgrim!

2008-11-25T09:50:00.001-08:00

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Gobble-Gobble! :)

Halloween!

2008-11-25T09:26:00.001-08:00

This year some friends loaned us a green dragon costume for Cole to use - he was so happy with it, and every house we went to people were saying how cool it was. Thanks, Geoff & Wendy!

We got Katelyn a Belle costume (since it's her fave movie), but she would never try it on! Maybe because of the petticoat underneath? Anyways, we were relieved she wore it on Halloween, and she was so adorable! She was so excited to ring all the doorbells and say "Treat-Treat" to everyone and get candy!

Ryan and I didn't really dress up - we just had on jack-o-lantern shirts. But here's a pic of the whole fam together for once (Thanks Papa for taking the pic for us):

We had a lot of fun! And we still have Halloween candy left-over!

Katelyn's 2nd B-day

2008-11-25T08:33:00.000-08:00

Here are some highlights of Katelyn's 2nd Birthday!

Ryan made her this awesome Ariel cake (since I wasn't feeling well - you're awesome, Ryan!), which was the first thing she saw in the morning after coming downstairs. She was soooo excited, and guess which movie we had to watch? You guessed it, "The Little Mermaid."

Then, she opened her first b-day present, which in the Fish family is traditionally cold cereal/pop tarts, or a combination of the two. She got Barbie cold cereal and Barbie pop tarts, lucky girl!

Here are some more pics of her enjoying her presents - a princess backpack, new little magnadoodle, lots of bracelets, a noisemaker, ....

A vacuum just like Mom's!

Later that day, we had a little party with the Fish cousins and played Ring Toss (another Fish tradition). Basically, you make a circle with a rope and put all kinds of candy and other prizes inside it. Then the kids take turn tossing a ring and whatever it lands on, they get to put in their goodie bag! It is so much fun, and I actually remember playing it when Ryan turned 23 with his family!

During ring toss, all Katelyn wanted to get was the pretty rings. So at the end, all her cousins brought her the ones they had won and gave them to her! She was soooo happy - she has such nice cousins!

Later that night, we were heading to our niece JoLynn's b-day party (they have the same b-day, just a couple years apart) when Katelyn threw up in the car (not sure if she was carsick or what), so we had to turn around and come back home, clean her, the car/carseat up, etc. Ryan ended up staying with Katelyn while I took Cole for a little while to the party. Katelyn was kind of sad until I came home with this awesome present from her cousins:

And then we just let her "chill" in her new princess sleeping bag with her new Baby Belle from Aunt Mo & Uncle Ken.

She ended up having a great b-day, even with the little carsickness incident.

We're so glad to have you in our family, Katelyn, and can't believe how much you've grown!
From this sweet little baby (3 days old):

To this big beautiful 2 year old girl:

We love you so much, sweet girl!

A whole month to catch up on!

2008-11-20T13:57:00.000-08:00

I know, I know, I've been a slacker about posting! Sorry, this post will probably be long, but here's what we've been up to:

Ryan's sister and her family came to visit, and we got to do a "field trip" with their family to Superstition Farms where the kids got to pet a very tame bunny,feed goats and a horse, and hold a rooster (though neither of my kids would - they were being sissies that day)! It was pretty fun, and it was great to see Mo & Ken!

Petting the bunny - they're still talking about that!

Katelyn & Ryan

I just couldn't help snapping this cute pics of the kids excitedly
waiting their turn to feed the goats!

Our kids really got into Halloween this year - for the whole month beforehand, Cole kept dressing up in costumes he made up. These are just a couple:

A Spiderman flower!

I think he put on every item of clothing in his closet for this one!

Here's Katelyn all ready to go trick-or-treating with her 6 treat buckets (it's 2 weeks before Halloween here). I think she's a little too excited about all that candy!

I still have a ton of stuff to post, like Katelyn's b-day, Halloween, etc., but I have to go get ready to see Twilight (the midnight showing)! Some of my gal pals and I are going together - I'm so excited! I know, I'm officially a nerd! Those of you who know me already knew that though.

I promise I'll post the rest of our happenings soon! I know you're all wanting to see pics of the kiddos at Halloween and Katelyn's b-day, so I'll try not to keep you waiting too long -k-?

I Don't Want to Be Five!

2008-10-13T21:29:00.000-07:00

The other night I awoke at about 3am to Cole knocking on our door and crying - "Hello? Hello?" I think he was still asleep because our door was not locked and he didn't come in. Anyways, I ran over to him and asked him what was wrong. He said, crying, "I don't want to be five! Is there any way you can make me four again? I don't want to be five!" I assured him that he was still four and that he was only having a bad dream, and not to worry. He finally calmed down and then I had him come and sleep in our bed until it was time to really get up.

In the morning, Ryan asked him what he had been crying about and he said "I don't want to be five!" Ryan asked why and Cole answered, "Because then I have to go to kindergarten! I don't know what they do in kindergarten!"

Ryan assured him that he still had lots of time left to be four and that he would know what to do in kindergarten when he did turn five since he has been going to preschool and learning his letters, etc.

I would never have thought that Cole would have nightmares about going to kindergarten! Now that he's brought it up, I don't think I'm ready for him to go next year...I'm glad he has time to still be four too!

Trip to San Diego

2008-09-18T22:55:00.000-07:00

Ryan's parents rented a beach house in San Diego for a week for the whole family to go and hang out. It was amazing! Literally, you could walk into the backyard and there was the beach! We had so much fun playing in the sand and the waves. I even tried boogie-boarding, believe it or not. The kids had so much fun playing with all their cousins that they didn't want to come home! It was nice to get away from all the everyday stresses like work/school, etc. and just hang out with everyone. Thanks to Papa and Lainey for inviting us to the beach house - you guys are great and we're so glad we got to spend some quality time with the fam in such an awesome place!

While we were there, we got to take family pictures on the beach, which was so neat! Our kids were having meltdowns, so we were lucky to get one with everyone smiling and looking towards the camera! So now we have a better pic for the blog instead of last year's Christmas picture. Thanks to Ken's cousin for taking the pictures for us! We got to take pictures as an extended family as well, which was quite crazy with about 16 little ones to corral.

Since we got back things have been pretty regular, getting back into the routine and what-not. Ryan came home a couple days ago with some buckets of paint and started painting the rooms of the house! Now we have all of the downstairs painted except the office - it looks way better! Thanks, Ryan!

A little update...

2008-08-31T17:23:00.000-07:00

So Cole started preschool a couple of weeks ago - I am so proud of him! He goes three times a week for a couple hours. He's doing really well and so far it's mostly review for him. It's great for him to get used to the classroom environment and following directions, etc. He's so excited to do his homework! (Yeah, wait till he has REAL homework; then he probably won't like it so much!)

Katelyn was sick a couple days ago with a phantom illness - not sure what it was, but
she had a super high fever and vomited one time. I felt so bad for her! I stayed up with her on the couch and we both finally fell asleep sometime in the middle of the night. She's doing much better now, thankfully! Now she's back to her sweet little self - giving lots of kisses and hugs (to us and the dog, Bella) and doing girly things!

Yesterday we went to Tucson for Ryan's niece, Ann's, baptism. It was so beautiful and you could really feel the Spirit there. We got to hang out with Norm's family afterwards for awhile and it was so much fun! They have six kids so they have plenty to keep them busy outside in their backyard. Luckily it wasn't too hot (there was a storm rolling in which cooled things off quite a bit) so they could enjoy it. I forgot the camera, but the kids had a lot of fun on the see-saw, jungle gym, and playhouse.

Tomorrow's Labor Day, so that means a day off from watching kids (besides my own). Don't get me wrong, I love all the kids I watch, but sometimes it's nice to have a little break!

Hope you all have a wonderful Labor Day! -Lucinda :)

P.S. - I'm doing a little scrapbook challenge on my friend Ruth's blog: Go here to vote! http://www.tinybabybubbles.blogspot.com/ or click on the Ruth and Joel link on the right.

This challenge was to scrapbook a layout in teams of a high-powered woman in your life. I immediately thought of Lainey, my mother-in-law. She's my hero in so many ways! So that's what my layout is of. My layout is #5 - there's only 2 more days to vote!

My New "Rig" - courtesy of Ryan

2008-08-19T23:04:00.000-07:00

So I watch a little boy named Mark before and after school and drop him off/pick him up at the bus stop as well. I was mentioning how it was getting really hard to get all the kids to the bus stop one day to Ryan, and a couple hours later, he came home with another double stroller. He used conduit pipe, bolts, screws, washers, etc. to hook two double strollers together. Now I can fit up to 6 kids in the big stroller if I need to! It's so awesome! It's a really good workout, too!

He took the above picture of me pushing it back from the bus stop for the first time (loaded with 6 kids, I might add). Do I look tired? I was sweating buckets, I'm sure!

I've gotten the strangest looks from people as I'm walking to the bus stop. One guy said, "You have to be babysitting - no way can all those kids be yours!" Another said, "You've sure got your hands full!" All the moms at the bus stop want Ryan to make one for them too!

Anyways, those of you who know Ryan will appreciate this "rig" and those of you who don't will probably just laugh because I'm sure it looks quite ridiculous. Either way, Ryan rocks for doing this for me!

Our newest niece!

2008-08-11T22:31:00.000-07:00

My brother Joel and his wife Lisa had their 3rd little girl a couple weeks ago - her name is Shae Margaret and she is soooo adorable! I can't wait to see her again - if I can ever get out of the house, that is!

Stampin' Up Convention

2008-08-09T23:14:00.001-07:00

Last week I had the opportunity to go to the Stampin' Up Convention in Salt Lake City, Utah (without the family). It was the first time I'd been on a trip without the fam coming along, so it was a little different! Ryan and the kids survived with help from friends and family (thanks so much, by the way!) and I had so much fun!

I went with my upline Kresta and sideline demonstrators Chris and Michelle. We all shared one hotel room, so it was like a slumber party every night!

The convention took place at the Salt Palace Convention Center in downtown Salt Lake, where some Winter Olympics events were held - it was massively huge! The first day of convention, we got to go to Memento Mall (where they have lots of cool Stampin' Up logo merchandise).

This is us waiting in line to get into Memento Mall.

We also checked in and received our bags with lots of FREEBIES! We got 3 brand-new stamp sets and the new catalog! It won't even be released to the public until Aug. 11th. It is so amazing with so many fun new stamps and accessories! Can't wait for my workshops so I can show my customers all the new stuff!

Another highlight was going to the Salt Lake Temple with my demo friend Lisa. I don't have a cell phone and I hadn't been there since I was 12, so trying to meet up with her for a temple session was a little tough. We finally found each other and were able to attend the temple together. That temple is sooooo beautiful! All of the intricate woodwork and painting was breathtaking. I only wish Ryan could've been there with me as well. My camera wouldn't take any good pics of me in front of the temple because it was too dark, but Lisa is supposed to send me a pic from her camera, so when she does, I'll post it here.

We also got to go to Stampin' Up's head office in Riverton. It was an amazing building - when you walked in there was this huge rock formation with a waterfall and everything. We got to go to the Idea Room where all the head honchos come up with their amazing ideas. It was this huge room with comfy couches and bean bags with a great view of the Wasatch mountains and there was ping pong and air hockey tables also. This is a pic of me and my friends chillin' on a couch in the Idea Room.

In the same building is the shipping warehouse where all of our orders are filled. We got to see the "picking" line - it was pretty hi-tech!

We also had lots of fun classes and presentations to attend where we all got some great new ideas. One of my favorite classes was the Make n Takes. They had 6-7 projects for us to do with the new stamp sets that were freebies to us, with some new techniques, too.

Another fun thing to do was swapping. Basically, everyone brings card fronts and sometimes 3-D items to swap with other demonstrators. I made about 100 cards to swap, but some people made up to 500! People were swapping everywhere...in the elevator, in the hall, walking to classes, in the lunch line...basically anywhere you could find someone who was swapping! I got to meet some really neat people. One of them was a gal from Canada named Gerry. She was traveling by herself and was staying at our hotel, so we kind of "adopted" her into our little group. She is so smart with her business and had lots of tips she didn't mind sharing. She was also super nice. Here's a pic of Gerry with our group on the last day of convention.
So basically I came home tired from having a slumber party every night, but bursting with new ideas and excitement for all the new products, etc. I'm glad to be back home in my own bed and I really did miss the kids and Ryan so much!

Sleepyheads!

2008-08-09T22:53:00.000-07:00

We have a bunch of sleepyheads at our house! I think the only person who hasn't taken a nap on the couch with the dog is Katelyn, because she will ONLY sleep in her crib (or sometimes the car).

Cole & Bella having a little siesta. It was so cute I just had to take a picture! I went to take Cole upstairs to his bed and when I came down, I saw this:

Bella didn't waste any time taking over the couch and pillow after Cole was gone!

Ryan taking a snooze with Bella.

Becca's Visit to AZ

2008-08-09T21:58:00.000-07:00

Okay, get a snack and get ready to look at lots of pictures!
My friend Becca (we go way back - we worked at Nielsen's Frozen Custard together for 4 years and were even roommates for awhile!) and her kids came to visit us last month. She's the one who helped me set up my blog - she's awesome. Anyways, we had a ton of fun and I'm sorry I'm just now getting around to posting about it!

Becca's son Case stealing treats from Bella - quite entertaining! :)

Justin & Cole - buddies forever

Ryan wrestling with Justin, Cole, and Bella

We had planned on going to a splash park but decided to have a water play day in our backyard instead. Becca's sister Katie who lives near me came with her kids as well and we all had a lot of fun in the pool, slip-n-slide, and sprinklers.

How many kids can fit in one pool? A lot more, apparently!

Me, Cole & wiggly Katelyn :)

Katelyn & our neighbor Alma, who is great with the kiddos

Cole with his cool sunglasses

Becca with Justin & Case

Slip N Slide!

One of the reasons I love my husband

2008-07-16T23:11:00.000-07:00

One of the many reasons I love my husband is that he has so much fun with the kids! Whether it's playing dress-up with them, making puppets, gardening, rough-housing, or just chillin' on the couch, they have so much fun together! They love when daddy comes home from work or studying and always have a big hug and kiss for him when he walks in the door. You're awesome, Ryan, and we appreciate all you do for our family!

My First Post!

2008-07-13T21:59:00.000-07:00

So Becca is in town and she finally got me set up on a blog! I've joined the 21st century!