♥

This Blog is no longer active...have you noticed!?

2009-10-14T14:55:00.003-05:00

Our blog will be officially moving by the end of October. The new site has been up (not necessarily running) for several months now, I just haven't had the time (or a camera) to give the much needed attention.

The NEW blog is not yet password protected, but will be...please email me at robynkrieger at yahoo dot com and I will send you the link and password info when it's time!

Thanks family and friends!

After Dinner...

2009-08-14T18:55:00.002-05:00

Tonight the kids finished their dinner and begged to swim. I agreed and told them to get their suits on. Meanwhile Morgan and I are still chatting at the table when Jocelyn comes in asking where Beckton is?! Imagine that Beckton...MiSsInG? After a frantic search of the house and the street Morgan spotted his little arm! We've been remolding and apparently Beckton thought cuddling with the carpet pad in the corner was a good idea...this is how we found him...sound asleep! Silly boy...at least he stayed in the house today!

For Mema & Poppy....

2009-07-07T12:07:00.005-05:00

Today Jocelyn wanted to wear the sundress you brought her back from your cruise! She is very happy and is dancing around like a ballerina right now!

Beckton wanted some attention too, he grabbed the "silly knock-knock joke card" you send and wanted his picture taken too!

Silly Kids!

CuTe KiDs...

2009-05-25T11:09:00.003-05:00

We've been swimming lots, lots and lots lately and just thought I'd post a pic of how CUTE my kiddos are...this is mostly for the grandparents....and because I'm still working on the new site...hope everyone can see this (even if just for a few seconds)! Yes, the picture is a little fuzzy... I still NEED a new camera....

Spring Break 2009

2009-03-26T13:09:00.012-05:00

Spring break has come and gone and throughout the week we traveled through five states (including Texas)! Below is a map of said trip! We traveled about 2,000 miles total (so glad we rented a car) and packed many sites and much fun into our week! We were lucky; the kids were pretty well behaved for the hours spent in the car, even without a DVD player (Beckton, our pyro, melted it up with the space heater). Beckton came down with a light cold which allowed him to sleep the majority of the time...Although my camera has decided to slowly retire on me, I was able to capture much of our adventures... although some are a bit fuzzy!

I STILL HAVE FOUR (4) DAYS LEFT TO EDIT, SO CHECK BACK FOR THE REST OF OUR
SPRING BREAK ADVENTURES!

Friday, March 13th (N.Texas to Hot Springs, Arkansas)
Weather was rainy...We pulled Jocelyn from school early and pounded the road. We traveled from North Texas to Hot Springs, Arkansas. We checked into a historic downtown Hot Springs Hotel, The Springs, nestled against the beautiful mountains. We dined at local restaurant, Fusions, then hit the sack after a long day!

Saturday, March 14th (Hot Springs, AR to Siloam Springs)
Weather was decent, overcast but no rain... Morgan enjoyed a hot mineral soak at the Quapaw Bath House while the kids and I enjoyed a chance to sleep in. We checked out of our historic hotel and ventured through town eying all the horse racing fans, very entertaining, so many people for the horses. We had a lite lunch at a local eatery, Dixie Cafe, then returned to downtown to tour and hike! We hike in Hot Springs National Park, which was beautiful. We climbed all 300+ stairs at the Mountain Tower, it was decided the munchkins should earn the privilege of a view from the tower, although reluctant (and begging to take the elevator) they climbed and were humbled (from exhaustion and the view)! We filled our water bottles with the free Hot Springs water. It was so neat; there were people coming from all over...hours away...with pickups full of empty gallon jugs, filling them up and taking them home. It was GOOD water! We walked bathhouse row and toured and old bathhouse turned museum, Fordyce Bathhouse/Museum, such a neat tour. Everything was preserved and you could really picture how things worked!

FYI-This is a good website for pictures of everything we saw, there are numbered links (1-5) just under the header of different attractions: http://www.terragalleria.com/parks/np.hot-springs.html

On our way out of town we stopped at a rock/crystal shop, Boxers Crystals and the we picked out: a Mexican geode, some crystal, fiber optic crystal wands (selenite), polished coral and Beckton picked three mini-marble puppies...they kids were thrilled. We made it to Siloam Springs (OK and AR, it's on the boarder)!

Hot Springs National Park, Historic Downtown Hot Springs and Mountain Tower:

The Hot Springs Water and Fordyce Bathhouse:

Sunday, March 15th (W. Siloam Springs, OK & Siloam Springs, Ar)

Weather was nice, fairly warm... The kids woke up and begged to swim! We met Morgans good friend from the Philippines, Boyet (Fernando), and he treated us to a special Filipino lunch! We met two of Boyet's sisters, Linda and Maria (Bheng) and got to spend a lot of time with Bheng's family; husband and three of her boys! We headed to Natural Falls State Park (on the Oklahoma side) and hiked to Dripping Springs...it was so beautiful and the weather was great! We took a short drive and entered the Wild-Wilderness Drive Through Safari, 180 + acres of exotic animals. We loved it, we saw so many animals and the kids had fun in the petting zoo. We captured a pygmy goat jumping and played with kangaroos!

Natural Falls and Dripping Springs:

The Animals:

Kangaroos:

Monday, March 16th (Siloam Springs to Bentonville, AR to Branson, MO)

We said our Goodbyes to Boyet and thanked him for the fun! We had local Mexican food for lunch! We hit the Little Debbie Snack Shop, an outlet for the McKee Foods(Little Debbie and Sunbelt) where Boyet works. The kids were allowed one treat each; cosmic brownies for Jocelyn and creme filled chocolate cupcakes for Beckton. Morgan grabbed a few boxes of granola bars and some 50¢ granola cereal. I-proudly, didn't give in and picked nothing! We headed towards Bentonville, AR and excitedly picked up Nana Kathi at XNA airport (just 30 minutes from Bentonville). We met up with Morgan's childhood friend, Robin, and his family.We drove by the Walmart headquarters and checked out the original Walmart, now a museum, Walton's 5-10 (they are closed on Monday so we just peeked)! The kids played at the Bentonville town square in the fountain and enjoyed the sun. We took a very rare family photo, I prefer to be behind the camera instead of infront of it! This picture shows the worst of my cameras issure, sorry Kathi!

Bentonville Square and Waltons 5-10:

After a beautiful day in the state of Arkansas, we headed to Missouri...BRANSON! We had a fun filled dinner at Lambert's, home of throwed rolls...yep it's throwed! They actually throw rolls at you...BIG hot rolls too...the kids loved it and Nana got her chicken livers so everyone was happy, Beckton enjoyed the car ride and snoozed!

Lambert's:

What happens when the kids spend too much time in the car:

Spring break CONTINUED...and very very LATE...

2009-03-23T19:53:00.063-05:00

Better LATE than never...

OUR SPRING BREAK CONTINUED...

Tuesday, March 17th (Branson, MO)
Our only real day in Branson was BUSY! We toured the Titanic Museum Attraction, a monstrous museum dedicated to all things Titanic. A plethora of information on the building & structure, the people on board and their accommodations, replicas, artifacts and a whole bunch more. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside so I only have photos in front of the museum. We learned many things and it was an interesting attraction. I for one, had no idea that there was a twin sister ship, the Olympic (I think). And in all actuality we'd probably never even know about the Titanic if it hadn't sunk! We all received passports for someone who was actually on the Titanic when it sunk and at the end of the tour we found out if our character survived the disaster!

The Titanic Museum Attraction:

After the Titanic Museum we had a quick lunch and then headed over to ride the ducks....no, not the bird, but a DUKW: an amphibious truck designed by GM during World War II. It was a blast. We toured different parts of Branson, Tablerock Dam, saw and learned about military vehicles then rode straight into the lake. Beckton even got to drive! Our driver was a hoot; he has so many witty jokes about everything!

Ride the Duck (and everything we saw):

We had a yummy BBQ and catfish dinner at Danna's BBQ then headed over to the Hamner and Barber variety show! We had 3rd row, center isle seats and loved the show. It was filled with awesome magic, ventriloquists, singing and dancing. It was great and kept the kids interested the entire time. (Again no pictures, so I got one of the sign!) We were plum tired after such a busy day!

Wednesday, March 18th (Branson to Independence/Kansas City, MO)

We spent our last couple hours in Branson devouring a $4 breakfast buffet and indulging in Krispy Kremes (all for the kids of course)! Jocelyn was pretty impressed with the doughnut making equipment! Just outside Branson (on our way to Independence) we hit Springfield, MO where we toured the Fantastic Caverns. An hour long, drive through journey in an underground cave! Very neat and educational! Next stop Kansas city, MO. We stopped at the LDS visitor center in Independence and picked up some additional info about the nearby church sites. We made a quick journey through town in an effort to see some of the original LDS church sites, temple plots, homes and other historical points of interest.

(Visitor Center and kids enjoying the pioneer-play area)

Thursday, March 19th, (MO to Kansas)

Jocelyn, Kathi and I hit TJMaxx for a brief shopping fix while Beckton and Morgan caught up on some much needed ZZZ's. Liberty jail was next on the agenda and what a wonderful spiritual experience that was. We had a personal tour and the sister missionary was exceptional. Jocelyn really participated in the Q & A and we were all touched. After Liberty Jail we headed north and drove off the beaten path to visit a grave site of Hiram Page. We had a rather odd lunch this day...at a family diner...won't recommend it! We next visited Adam-Ondi-Ahman and the cornerstones at Farwest. We ate dinner at Texas Roadhouse and stayed at the Hampton Inn in Olathe!

Friday march, 20th (Kansas to Oklahoma to Texas)

Not a whole lot to report on this day...drive drive drive...burn the road 7+ hours and arrive HOME. We made it home in time for dinner and took Nana Kathi to a favorite seafood joint...FRILLY's...she loved the craw-fish platter!

Morgan and I have done much conversing about the opportunities while we're living in Texas and we've decided to venture out and see, tour, experience... all that we can while we're here. So we picked this trip first and soon we'll do Houston (NASA Space Center) and the Gulf (already experienced San Antonio; Alamo, river walk, shopping and Witte Museum..all fun probably do again) and hope to get many other southern states in soon including a trip to Disney World. We'd like to make sure our kids get to see all 50 states before leaving our nest, hopefully learning something of historical value and having fun too.

Jocelyn's Science Fair Project

2009-03-15T09:18:00.004-05:00

Fruity Snack Attack: Jocelyn chose to participate in her school science fair project and it was a hit! As a kindergartner it was a little tough to explain to her the scientific process, but she got the idea and chose to do an experiment about fruit snacks and their taste. Her school was really strict about no allowing students to simply create a volcano or model of some sort; they actually had to present a problem, hypothesis, experiment and conclusion. Jocelyn presented the idea of fruit snack varieties and wondered if the character (name brand) snacks tasted better than store brand snacks. So we selected eight kinds of fruit snack, Kellogg's, Betty Crocker, Sunkist, Welch's , Kroger, Target, Walmart and Annie's organics. She invited eight friends over... blind folded them and had them rate the fruit snacks; very bad, bad, OK, good and very good. It was interesting; the Annie's organics won by a landslide. Of course we aided Jocelyn through the entire process, but we're so proud of her ambition and excitement about the entire thing. She was presented a blue ribbon for the most comprehensive project research of kindergartner thru 2nd graders. She was thrilled...

(pic #1 the fruit snacks, #2 Jocelyn testing her experiment, #3 & 4 the finished project, #5 K-2nd grade blue ribbon awards, #6 J with her certificate of participation and blue ribbon and #7 at the fair!)

Plethora of Parsley...

2009-03-06T17:18:00.007-06:00

Today was produce day...YAY! What a lovely bunch of freshness we received, however I am wondering "What on earth am I to do with all this parsley? Five large bunches to be exact?" Any suggestions? Tonight we are having baked chicken with black beans & barley so fresh parsley will be a nice garnish... I am thinking I might dry most of it...there is no way I can use it all before it gets soggy... any recipe ideas or tips on drying the parsley?

Pictures, Papers, Projects...What to Do?

2009-03-02T08:10:00.005-06:00

If you know Jocelyn, you're highly aware that she L♥VES school! She loves the attention, friends, learning and especially the art projects. With good intentions, we weed through her paintings, projects and pictures as they arrive home each day...intending to keep the very best and most creative for a scrapbook...yet we have still managed to accumulate hundreds of trees worth of projects and drawings from this wee kindergartner! Although we confined them to a file, there were many too large to actually scrapbook, some 3D and simply TOO MANY! What to do? Well, I recalled an article in a parents magazine about taking pictures with your kids and the plethora of school projects they acquire so we did...awesome way to cut down the clutter and still remember those FUN projects!

Did you get a FREE Quiznos sub?

2009-02-26T13:52:00.004-06:00

We did...and they were Yummy! Morgan came across an advertisement yesterday afternoon telling that Quiznos giving away one million subs. We quickly located the site, gave our e-mails and each got a coupon for a free sub. There weren't any catches about "buy one get one free" or anything. So last night before we headed to YW and Scouts we stopped at Quiznos and each had a free sub... The kids each had a sammie sub for $1.99 and we were stuffed for nearly FREE...so yummy...who doesn't like a good promotion, especially when it's free? We're all about FREE, yep we're cheap...no we're BARGAIN HUNTERS! Unfortunately for anyone who missed out they've given away their 1,000,000 subs, as of this morning...so no more freebies...I did try to tell everyone I came in contact with last night, so hopefully some of you were able to get a coupon!

These are the subs we devoured for FREE, okay these aren't the actual subs....got the pics off google, but the same flavors...only we had whole wheat bread and subs where halved!

FiNaLlY...

2009-02-24T09:18:00.003-06:00

Finally Sir Beckton is potty trained....It has been a very long road, over a year of training, but he has finally mastered the task. It amazes me how different girls and boys are; Jocelyn picked up so quickly and actually wanted to wear underwear...Beckton refused and refused and refused...until just recently when he decided those pull-ups gathering dust in his closet were "cool". The pull-ups didn't last long when he re-discovered the Spiderman underwear in his top drawer...I'm so happy to say YAY for potty training, yet so sad to admit my baby is a BIG BOY now!

Who wants to PLAY?

2009-02-20T08:22:00.004-06:00

I came across this post on my friend, Crystal's blog and thought that it would be kind of fun to try so here it is... I know ya all are very excited.... remember it is only the first 5 people to respond and you HAVE to post it on your blog. If you don't put it on your blog then you don't count!

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice, my gift...To you. This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!

2. What I create will be just for you.

3. It'll be done this year (might take a while).

4. You have no clue what it's going to be. It may be a story. It may be poetry or an article. I may draw or paint something. I may bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows? (Not you, that's for sure!)

5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same. The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a FABULOUS homemade gift by me! Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it! Good luck!

Fishing at the Lake....

2009-02-16T16:35:00.005-06:00

The kiddos, mostly Jocelyn, have been pleading with Morgan to take them fishing! Although today was a bit chilly Jocelyn was out of school, Presidents Day, and we took the opportunity to have some family fun. Jocelyn was so eager; she urged Beckton to get dressed, got herself all warm and simply couldn't wait! We recently purchased two lots on a gated, private lake with 18-hole golf course, fishing, tennis...etc and wanted to enjoy the amenities our investments provide. It was a beautiful day... and regardless of wind chill we had fun. They stock a private child's fishing pond... and because it's private...no licenses needed! Beckton and I caught the first fish... Jocelyn never caught any...but she's been fishing before and has caught plenty...this was the first real time Beck had been fishing. He was all geared up and ready to go with his $3 Bob-the-builder pole...we only brought one fish home, other were too small, but we stopped for ice cream treats and fries at DQ and the kiddos were thrilled! We're looking forward to our projects at the Lake and are excited to spend more time there as we build this spring, the best part is it's only about 40 minutes from our house to our very own lake/cabin getaway! Morgan and I have committed to take up golf (included) and hopefully we'll have one house completed by early summer!

View from one of the many many docs/fishing spots...

Kiddos playing on the fort...

Children's Fishing Hole...

Fishing...

Enjoying a DQ treat on the way home..

SIX YEARS OLD

2009-02-10T23:24:00.000-06:00

Today we celebrated Miss Jocelyn's 6th BIRTHDAY! BIG DAY... She has been looking forward to turning SIX since she turned five!! We've had a busy day; homemade french toast for breakfast, Morgan, Beckton and I met Jocelyn for lunch (played at recess where Morgan was harassed by gobs of grade-schoolers), delivered double chocolate cupcakes to her classmates, hosted a super fun girl scout meeting (we made valentines, bracelets, had cupcakes....), then opened presents as a family and had pumpkin cake and ice cream! And apparently the fun's just begun, Jocelyn insists we have a party for all her friends...we'll see!

A look at Miss Jocelyn's special day...

French toast breakfast...

Off to school...

Chocolate-chocolate cupcakes...

Enjoying lunch together (about to devour the cupcakes)...

Recess...(notice the fun both Beck & Morgan are having)...

The Girls scout meeting...

The presents...

The cake & ice cream...

Valentine Presentation...

2009-02-06T21:07:00.004-06:00

Jocelyn's kindergarten had a cute Valentine Presentation this afternoon:

Lots of cute funny songs where sung...

This brought my attention to the fact that I never posted her Thanksgiving Presentation last FALL:

This weeks produce...

2009-02-06T20:50:00.004-06:00

We are still loving the fresh produce....

Finished Projects...

2009-02-02T11:38:00.002-06:00

I finally finished the projects I started last Wednesday when Jocelyn was home from school because of the ice! Beckton's free bookshelf is perfect for getting all the books out of his closet and I love the color we chose!

Jocelyn room is nearly complete (after a year) the shelves are perfect and the toy chest matches great and hides the hundreds of stuffed animals she insists on keeping!

YAY for finally completing some things!

Preschool outing...Cabela's...

2009-01-30T15:34:00.005-06:00

Last Friday we took a FIELD TRIP for Beckton's preschool. We went to the HUGE Cabela's in Fort Worth and had a blast! It was a stroller safari with the mums (and Morgan), babes and toddlers touring their 230,000 sq feet of fun (and retail too of course, we were just after the fun)!

There were museum quality animals on display (even an elephant), an airplane, huge aquariums, a shooting range (lazer I think) where the kiddos demonstrated their best at aims on the targets, and a talking lion and rhino! Although there was so much to see; it seems the kiddos adored the wooden pop-guns most (and trying to shoot down the elephant with them)!

After the outing we all scurried over to Sonny Bryans Smokehouse for some original Dallas BBQ!

(FYI Beckton's in the BLACK blazer, Morgan's with him in a few pics and I am playing photographer...)

Check out this link for better pics of the attractions!

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/content/community/aboutus/retail/retail_stores/fortworth/fortworthphotogallery.html

Tongan Afghan

2009-01-28T21:31:00.000-06:00

Morgans Aunt gave us a beautiful Tongan Afghan a few Sundays ago. His aunt and uncle gave their mission farewell and had some of their Tongan friends up from Euless! These Afghans are beautiful and super thick. Their family already has a bunch and she asked if we wanted one. It fits great on our king bed and keeps us nice and warm!

ICE ICE BABY...

2009-01-28T12:28:00.005-06:00

So North Texas has been hit with ICE...apparently there are known to be a number of hail storms and bad ice storms. Roads have been shut down, schools closed, businesses delayed....I have yet to venture on the road; but Morgan has been out and around and doesn't understand what the big deal is. I'm thinking people just don't have the experience with COLD weather and panic when it shows up. Hence the number of wrecks..... Last year when it snowed, Morgan and I laughed a lot. It was March and snowing in Texas. Texans will drive like madmen in the sheets of rain, but snow...they clam up.

We've been aggressively using all our free firewood and scrapwood in the fire...and I'm convinced that Beckton is a PYRO!

Jocelyn has been home from school the last to days and this provided Morgan and I the opportunity to accomplish somethings while Beckton was entertained. We increased our attic storage! I assumed this would be a HUGE undertaking, but Morgan found snatched some free maple, Ash and oak slabs off Craigslist and we used those as the flooring and spent a good part of the day laying and securing them! I am very happy to be able to organize the stuff in the attic and get all the luggage, seasonal and baby things out of Becktons closet and off my floor!

And we found hidden treasures; solar screen for our windows (huge asset) and a neat chess set in a fancy box!

I sorted through gift wrap, b-day presents, maternity clothes and have started on the baby totes. I also painted Jocelyn toy box and two wall shelves and began sanding and painting a bookshelf for Becktons room (free off Craigslist)!

Jocelyn even cleaned her room and has put together a dozen puzzles!

YAY for bad weather!!

BuSy CrAzY dAy...

2009-01-24T21:54:00.004-06:00

What a busy day...we had three birthday parties and a dinner date today! WHOA!

We started the morning by hitting Target for a last minute gift for Jocelyn friend (there was a mix-up on the date so we were unprepared).

PLAN
First party at 11:30
Second party at 1:00
Third party at 3:00
Dinner at 5:00

The kiddos and I hit party no. 1 for a bit, left Beckton to enjoy the gift opening and cake, while I rushed Jocelyn over to the mall for party no. 2 her friends party...LuNaR gOlF!
Rushed back for the end of the first party... (got news of dinner moved to Medieval Times)...headed back to the mall and let Beck play with a few friends at the play area while we waited for Jocelyn...Dashed to party no. 3 (25 miles out of town)! Beckton slept through the entire third party, poor kid was exhausted... Morgans aunt was visiting from Idaho and made plans for Medieval Times...so we rushed back to the house, picked up Morgan and headed south. We missed all the opening hoopla at Medieval times and were feeling a tiny-bit rushed... But it was a fun event and worth the RUSHING... Morgan had wanted to take the kids around Christmas anyway! I was completely exhausted during dinner and not much fun to be around...but we survived the CrAzY DaY... but now I'm wondering....how do people do it with more kids?

More Christmas Pictures and Christmas Break in Idaho...

2009-01-23T15:20:00.000-06:00

I am finally getting around to typing this lengthy post about Christmas and our quick trip to Idaho. I've procrastinated uploading my photos but I need to clear my camera out so here goes...

Christmas Eve (click)...

Christmas Day...

We took a quick but wonderful week long trip to Idaho just after Christmas. We flew...and unfortunately spent many unanticipated hours in the Salt Lake airport. Our flight from Dallas to Salt Lake was delayed due to mechanical issues so we missed our connecting flight into Twin Falls (last flight of the night too). Fortunately the delay was mechanical so we were given a hotel room at the Hilton and two meals each. We later learned that the flight we were suppose to be on wasn't able to make it to Twin Falls due to high winds and was sent back to SL. Since that was a weather related issue no one on that flight received comps...we were very blessed. We were booked on the earliest flight the next morning; so we got up at 5am and headed to the airport and waited all day...our flight was delayed over and over and eventually canceled about 1pm. We heard many excuses; the airport was closed, high winds, inches of ice on the runway....we tried to catch a flight to Pocatello (thought we'd take the chance to see Kacy and Ashley and Morgans Aunt) Morgans parents agreed to come and get us...but then they started sending flights to Twin again...unfortunately they were all full...and then the roads between Pocatello and Twin Falls were closed...we finally lucked out when the Sunvalley airport closed down and all SV flights were redirected to Twin Falls (then bused to Sunvalley) . So we finally caught a Sunvalley flight heading to Twin Falls...our bags were lost...or on a bus...no one knew...not surprising after the many times our destination changed?! We were exhausted when we finally made it to Idaho...it's tough to fly with kids and all their stuff....but to sit in an airport all day with only four hours of sleep...and no extra clothes....we did eventually get the lost bags.....

Airport Adventures and free hotel...

So our trip started out a little rough but that didn't last long. We stayed with Morgan's parents and had a great time. We were able to spend a decent amount of time with each of our parents and grandparents. The kids had so much fun opening all of the presents and playing in the snow (crusty as it was). We had some yummy meals, went to Miracle Hot Springs, watched Morgan freeze on skis and ate lots of yummy food.

Christmas at Nana Kathi and Grandpa's...

Snow and fun at Nana and Grandpa's...

Christmas at Nana and Pop's...

Christmas at Mema and Poppy's...

Christmas at Grandma M's...

Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa K's...

Thanks for all the wonderful Christmas fun and great memories!

Fruit and Veggie Co-op...

2009-01-07T18:07:00.009-06:00

We recently joined a fruit and vegetable co-op and are really enjoying the items we get each time. We pay $10 every other week and receive a generous box full of misc. fresh fruits and vegetables. This is our 3rd week of receiving a box and each time we get different items; which makes our meals really fun... we assessed the goods these last few weeks and it averages that our $10 gets us about $25-$40 worth of produce each time... I took a few pictures this last time (not of everything) but our carrots were huge I had to document them. Everything is fresh and some of it is locally grown and organic! This last time we received the following items:
8 large onions
8 HUGE carrots
8 large apples
4 large Bartlett pears
3 zucchini
4 ears corn
3 bags radishes
1 carton mushrooms
2 heads broccoli

Here's some of what we received the time previous...

Freeze on Skis- New Years Day 2009

2009-01-06T21:46:00.001-06:00

We rang in the new year in Idaho and what better way than to water ski? Morgan thought so! He participated in the 22nd annual Freeze on Skis at Shoshone Falls on the Snake River. It wasn't snowing this year (I guess it was last year) but it was still cold... Morgan decided last minute that he wanted to do it and rounded up some donations (it's a fundraiser for the Make a Wish Foundation, which I though was appropriate my brother having just battled cancer). Morgan borrowed a semi-dry suit from his uncles ice-diving gear and eagerly braved the cold water with 13 other crazy folks. Morgan's a great skier so it was a cake walk for him, although his landing was hilarious...they flung him onto the edge of the water (ridiculously fast) and he flew out of his skis and hit the snow...we should have video taped it! Morgan had so much fun my brother Kory thought he should give it a try; so he put the suit on (fully clothed underneath) and went skiing too...

Christmas 2008

2008-12-30T21:36:00.004-06:00

Christmas 2008 came and went... Luckily for the kiddos our Christmas lasted over a two week period. With so much family in Idaho we received a few gifts before Christmas, had our Christmas here in Texas and then headed to Idaho where it was Christmas every day. We all had a wonderful Christmas, many excellent surprises and great family bonding. The kids were spoiled (by grandparent especially). Jocelyn and Beckton got a really nice double-sided wooden play kitchen, a fish,and so many fun fun games and clothes. Morgan and I treated ourselves to new windows...YAY...(BIG expense, but worth it). Jocelyn was so cute and eager to remind everyone that Santa Clause is pretend (and played by mommy) and the true reason we receive gifts is because of our Lord Jesus Christ and the great gift he gave us...LIFE!
Yes she really says it like that and she was very quick to catch on to the Santa thing, her decision to know...at first I was very sad (she was three) but I really like that the commercialism is out the door and the focus is Christ. It makes things more enjoyable and spiritual, plus the kids still know there are surprises.

Christmas Eve Gift Exchange:

The kiddos opened gifts from mom and dad (P.J's), "grandma" sally and gifts from each other!

I'll add more pictures soon... I hope!

Holiday Activities...

2008-12-24T16:31:00.016-06:00

We've been celebrating this wonderful season all week. With Jocelyn out of school and a little time before we head for the snowy cold in Idaho, we've committed to have some fun together.... here's a glimpse...

Santa's helper:

Beckton dressed himself! He even wore this to dinner Saturday night...glasses and all! He received the TEXAS shirt from aunt Sally last Christmas and it almost fits him..he likes 'em baggy though!

Making stockings:

My grandparents sent Christmas packages last year with stocking kits. Between our moving and their return from Georgia we never got around to making the stocking, so the kiddos enjoyed making them this year!

Gingerbread house:

Jocelyn insisted that we do a gingerbread house this year. I've put her off the last two years, due to laziness, but gave in this year. Although Jocelyn wanted to bake all the pieces I bought a kit. It was so easy and everyone had fun-even Morgan. I tried to talk them into leaving the house until Christmas but it's been nearly demolished! Although the gingerbread would have tasted better if we'd made our own, the kids didn't seem to mind the bitter frosting because of the many candies for them to devour!

Christmas Eve Eve:

We had a Christmas Eve Eve party at John and Jill's. Lot's of food, fun and Family. We played Aunt Sally's annual CASH BINGO and everyone walked away with extra money in hand. We also had a gift exchange and we gave party bags to all the kids, Jocelyn picked the treats!

Holiday shirts:

I found these cute Holiday "light-up" shirts at Walmart. Yes, I went to Walmart. I hate Walmart but needed a few things and gave in. The shirts were worth the trip there if nothing else. Beckton has refused to take his off since I brought it home. The kids were cute in them have loved dancing around to make the lights blink!

Going bonkers:

Jocelyn was sad after we went to Going Bonkers with Beckton's preschool friends, so we took both kids today since Jocelyn was out of school. We even got half off admission because the kiddos were wearing their holiday shirts. Morgan had a lot of fun chasing Beckton around, playing on the zip line and digging for quarters in all the token machines! Jocelyn took off so fast I had a hard time getting her in any pictures!

First tooth...

2008-12-22T22:06:00.005-06:00

Jocelyn lost her first tooth today! It was a surprise!! She'd been telling us "it's loose" for about 6 months; we've been hesitant to believe, until a week ago when it actually felt loose! She came to me this afternoon and handed me a tooth. I thought it was a piece of candy cane; her teeth are so tiny. She was very excited and happy to tell me that Beckton hit her in the mouth with the corner of a book and her tooth fell out! Easiest tooth pulling I've ever had to deal with, no drama, that is unless the tooth fairy forgets to come!

Jocelyn is very proud of the little hole between her bottom front teeth but very sad that she doesn't have school "until next year," of course because this means none of her friends can see it! She also secretively told me that she's so happy it fell out, and I quote "now I can taste the blood better with my tongue." CrAzY GiRl...

Holiday Card 2008...

2008-12-17T14:49:00.015-06:00

Well, I am finally getting around to sending out Holiday cards to everyone; the first batch went out today so if you are family or close friends expect to see them soon (hopefully before Christmas)! I'm a little slow this year. We were planning on doing a "family picture" for our card instead of just the kiddos, but never got around to it so I settled for just the kids. They make for better scenery anyway, Morgan and I look the same as we have the past five years! We're not big on holiday letters, newsletters, brag letters....whatever you call them (and I've heard plenty of titles). We keep it sweet and simple with photos. This is what I came up with this year... I did them...and Walgreens printed them... (I don't like working with the templates the photo places provide)!

Review...

2008-12-17T07:56:00.007-06:00

So much has happened in the last 10 days and I've only had time to blog about the really exciting stuff. Here's just a bit of what we've been up to:

Saturday Dec 13-Busy day; I didn't work out because Morgan took off to the annual Ward Turkey shoot. He had fun but ended up locking his keys in the car. I was just shuffling Jocelyn and Beckton out the door to a birthday party when he called. So I rushed Jocelyn over to Hero's for the b-day party; met the mother and left Jocelyn, went to hunt down Morgan and then chauffeured him one town over, onto a ranch to get his car. An hour later I was anxious because I intended to get a few errands run before picking Jocelyn up. The errands didn't happen but I did talk Morgan into checking out a wholesale furniture store close by the b-day party and guess what... I finally found the perfect sectional. We didn't have the truck and needed to make sure it would fit so we put off on buying at that moment, but I was completely relieved and excited! I've been aggressively searching for the perfect sectional; the right amount of traditional, modern, practicality and price. Prayed for leather but knew the odds of finding something that matched our current leather was slim, hoped for a gorgeous microfiber but everything I found was too modern and uncomfortable. We found a beautiful chenille with a very low tight pile, it cleans like microfiber and the style and color match wonderfully with the brown leather we already have! Yay! Okay back to our day; We participated in the last 30 minutes of the b-day party and Beckton was so sad that he wasn't invited. Jocelyn had a blast and has declared that her 6th b-day with be at Hero's. We rushed home so Morgan could shower, still greasy from the shooting activity, and he ran off to work the concessions at the college graduation (pool board fundraiser)! He came home 7ish and we rushed to the furniture store, closing at 8, to buy the sofa, beg for a cash discount and carry it home.
Sunday Dec 14- Lots of church and lessons... We planned on attending the Stake Christmas concert, didn't happen. It was at 7:30 which would have worked, but Mondays are always hard and if the kids don't get to bed early on Sunday the whole week is a bust! We'd have liked to go and support those singing, I'm sure it was gorgeous. We have some awesome musical talents in our ward!
Monday Dec 15- Jocelyn was sent home from school, again! This time she threw up after lunch. No fever, headache...nothing. Just threw up. Felt fine once she was home. Jocelyn throws up more than anyone I've ever met. I remember was a disaster her car seats were when she was younger. I'm starting to wonder if maybe she has food allergies? She whinned herself out of Karate too!
Tuesday Dec 16 - Daisy scouts was at our house this night. The girls have all learned/memorized their promise (On my honor, I will try: To serve God and my country, To help people at all times, And to live by the Girl Scout Law) and have earned their center daisy petal by doing so. Jocelyn is loving girl scouts and all the new friends she's made. We had a gift exchange (Beckton cried because he didn't get a gift to unwrap) and worked on earning our green petal, considerate and caring, by bringing food donations for the local food pantry.
Wednesday Dec 17- Beckton had preschool. We focused on the letter "E" and the color pink. The created egg shell elephants and got to wear "slinky" elephant noses. Beck is really enjoying preschool, all the kids seem to look forward to it and have a lot of fun. We went caroling again for YW, this time we went to a nursing/rehab home. Again Jocelyn loved being with the "big" girls and talking their legs off! Morgan's scouts were working on knots and had pizza and ice cream, so Beckton was in heaven!

FRISCO

2008-12-13T10:09:00.016-06:00

Last night we headed over to Frisco to see the synchronized lights. The weather was great and we visited the square where they had lots of fun activities for the kiddos; bounces houses, model trains, fake snow....they had lots of fancy crafts and carriage rides too. Ironically, of all the fun things to do, the kids wanted to throw coins in the fountain most! We even wandered over to Pizza Hut Park and were lucky enough to catch the last hour of an NCAA Men's soccer game, for free! Jocelyn was so excited to watch and Morgan was telling me in the car that he'd love to watch a soccer game there, so it was perfect! We had a great time and were glad to get out of the house!

The Lights...

Bouncing...

Model Train, Carriage Rides and The Fountain...

Pizza Hut Park...

Our recording of the lights from the stoplight behind the square, not the greatest! We didn't get the cool snowflakes on the buildings...

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

This is last years presentation at the Frisco Square, we saw/heard the same thing. Their recording is much better than ours from the car!

Had to add this; I'm hooked on TSO (thanks Dad) and I'm sad to miss them is Dallas this year; we'll be in Idaho! The guy who synchronizes the square also does his own house! Again his recording and from last Christmas (the last minute is the best)!

gOiNg BoNkErS...

2008-12-10T21:26:00.000-06:00

Every Wednesday is Preschool for Beckton and a gaggle of his Nursery friends. We usually have preschool at our house but decided we should have an occasional and inexpensive field trip/outing! Today was our first outing; we intended to do something geared more to Christmas but couldn't settle on anything so we decided to go to GOING BONKERS. We all had a blast, even the mommies! Morgan and I have been a few times with the kids, but never actually played with them, just watched! Today I crawled around with Beckton and his friends and literally had the time of my life. The slides were my favorite, I even have "slide burns" on my elbows from all the fun! This turned out to be a good choice for an outing; most of the kids hadn't been, it was really slow today and it was freezing outside; 27 ° this morning. We took a plethora of photos...check it out!

Santa

2008-12-06T16:43:00.003-06:00

We took the kids to the Wells Fargo downtown yesterday to see Santa! There was some promotion going on and they had free cookies, punch and popcorn along with photos with Santa and candy canes. We stopped by because we love free entrainment and figured it would be easier than standing in line at the mall! I'm glad we did; we had fun and this guy was the most authentic looking Santa I've ever seen. I'm pretty sure the beard was real? We stayed only a short while and really liked the gorgeous decorations they had! They kids loved the punch and popcorn and Morgan had a handful of cookies!

Reindeer Romp...

2008-12-06T15:47:00.009-06:00

If you haven't heard I am running a marathon; ridiculous yes. It's only a half but nonetheless a marathon and a huge deal for me since I have never been a runner. I have hated running with a passion my entire life. I loved volleyball for that fact that the running was minimal. I tried track but didn't last long and settled for doing the shot-put! I have blamed my lack of running on my poor lungs and a miserable bout of whooping cough; it really screwed me up! The years have come and gone and my body has been to hell and back; between two c-sections, serious thyroid problems, colon problems, appendectomy...etc. I am determined to enjoy running and get my lungs up to par. So I decided some day I'd like to run a marathon. Now I can exactly show up one day and run 26 miles, no way! So I'm working my way into it and with great friends to help and encourage! I've been working with my lungs and taking supplements and love that I can actually breath without panting! The marathon is the very end of February and I am determined to do it. The training hasn't been easy but I feel great (aside for the fact that one leg is an inch longer than the other- it calls for some painful days).
Last night the Parks and Rec held a reindeer romp at the park/green belt across the street. A 2.5 mile walk or 4.2 mile run. Well Becca and I signed up for the run and I was freaking out yesterday. I have been fighting a terrible cold for over two weeks and my lungs are probably at the worst they've been in the past year. It was ridiculously cold (at 7:53 we read: 35° feels like 30°)! So, I was tired, cold, full of mucus and coughing like crazy and I wanted to give up less than half way through. Luckily for me Becca wouldn't let me stop and stayed with me the entire time. I slowed down to a quick walk a few times (to hack, spit and catch my breath) but never stopped and I made it to the finish line and wasn't last. Morgan and the kids came for support and said we finish in the first 40%, I don't know we didn't stick around to see who won. Yay, and a huge thanks to Becca for persevering and pushing me; I needed that! Of course it's beautiful today and I am very sore; running on the treadmill and elliptical is very different than the course! I am convinced the course was longer, we've done 5 mile runs and they sure seemed shorter; must have been the weather and this everlasting cold!

Getting ready to start and Freezing!

All Finished, still freezing and ready to die of pneumonia or bronchitis!

The kids playing and freezing, they had there faces painted while they waited!

Christmas Tree

2008-12-06T08:26:00.012-06:00

We finally have a tree up!! We pulled out the Christmas decorations on Sunday evening and attempted to put them up, but Morgan and I debated on a tree. Real or Fake? We have had a fake tree since we've been married (with the exception of the one year, I was having a crisis, I staples ribbon to wall in the shape of a tree, still fake but weird)! I hate taking an hour or two to fluff the fake branches on the tree; so we discussed a real tree. We haven't heard good reviews about having real Christmas trees in Texas, I guess they just don't fare well. We saw an ad at the local nursery last week for small potted Christmas trees and we decided this could be fun. We'll decorate a real tree then plant it in the yard. We headed to the Nursery the other night and weren't impressed with the potted trees and they were pricey! So we browsed the selection of cut trees. They had some very gorgeous trees; big and bigger, fluffy and priced well into the hundred and thousands. For a tree! I was recalling my childhood when we'd go to the tree lot and they were priced $15-$20 in this corner and $30-$50 in the that corner! Morgan kindly reminded me that the trees were trucked in so obviously they'd be pricier plus we were at a nursery; a little different trees, quality and pricing than the local grocery store. We looked and looked again at all the trees, the kids were enjoying the spray on snow many of the trees had and Jocelyn begged to get a white tree, unfortunately we will never have that, my house would be a disaster. Being the bargain hunter I am I found the only tree in the nursery that had been discounted and at half price. It's perfect, not to big but not scrawny and I can get around it to string lights! I was even happier with the service we received; a nice stand(the tree was already in) and our tree was shook out, bagged and carried to the truck! So I am very happy to have a fluffy Douglas Fir, with soft needles, sitting in my living room!I really like our tree this year and it smells wonderful! Beckton and Jocelyn have really enjoyed decorating too, Beckton thought his sippy cups and juice boxes were great ornaments!

"See, I can cook too!"

2008-12-03T21:19:00.004-06:00

Jocelyn really loves to be in the kitchen, she's repeatedly trying to convince me that she knows how to cook or that she's old enough to cook! Tonight was no exception she created a very fine appetizer for Morgan and I. Avocado Pie! She used the leftover avocados from lunch, spread raw brownie mix on them and then added peas to one and tortilla chips to another! yum...yum... Being a proud chef she encouraged Morgan to try her delicacy and I taunted ... that was until my taunting backfired and Morgan actually ate it. "It's great Jocelyn, mommy would really like it!" So I indulged; with Jocelyn's big blues excitedly awaiting my critique. I only nibbled on each ingredient separately, although that seemed to satisfy her. Jocelyn was so proud of her success...avocado pie anyone!

COLDPLAY...

2008-11-26T16:50:00.004-06:00

Last Wednesday night was the big Coldplay concert at the American Airlines Center.We struggled to find a babysitter, and quite frankly I was very upset that Morgan waited until the last minute to start asking people! Luckily my wonderful Young Women's class volunteered to watch Jocelyn and Beckton as a service project! So the class president came over earlier and stayed later. We were so grateful for them and the kids had a lot of fun with them too!

The concert was set to start at 7:30, we were late getting there and hadn't reserved a parking spot so we were a little anxious as we drove around the center, there weren't very many open spaces. We drove around a few blocks and were offered some Platinum Parking Passes from a guy on the street corner! Of course I was hesitant and thought it was a scam, Morgan bought the pass and it turned out to be amazing. They were in fact Platinum Passes that took us to a very private, one level underground parking garages with only about 50 spaces. Our Ford, as nice as it is, was out of place with all Luxury cars. We had VIP entrance to the concert, VIP elevators and attendants. It was great; no crowds to hassle with and hardly and walking! When we left the concert there was a Maserati parked next to us, ahhhh... so gorgeous!

The concert was a lot of fun, I'm glad we went. Morgan has very happy to have the opportunity to see them live. He had the chance to see them in Boise (Idaho) years ago when they were hardly known in the US and couldn't go. He was afraid that he missed his chance... But not to worry he finally saw COLDPLAY! We had fun watching the spotlight guys climb the audio/light tower, I though we were at the circus for a minute! There was a local band from El Past, sleepercar, that opened (not bad, nor our taste and their bass was too loud couldn't hear the vocals). A second guy, Jon Hopkins, did some really great trance mixes. Morgan oogled over his very fancy keyboard. Then the concert started, after 9pm and we were nervous about our baby sitter. Coldplay is pretty awesome live, they played most of their popular songs and even ventured into the audience to play. We had great seats, in the first section and pretty close to the stage (we watched Chris Martin sweat like a monkey, and dance like one too). He is a very talented man (and lucky to have the beautiful Gweneth), he played the guitar, piano, then keyboard and harmonica!

All in all it was a great night, although I was disappointed that I left my camera at home (being a good and sometimes timid person, I obeyed the "no cameras or recording devices allowed" rule, apparently no one else did). So I tried to get some footage with Morgans phone, I have no idea how it turned out because I can't figure out how to retrieve it!

Until I figure out the phone here's just a taste of what we saw, all from youtube (the lights were awesome to watch, not so awesome for recording apparently), it was so much better LIVE too! Most of these recordings are pretty far away from the stage, but the sound is better/vice versa!

In the crowd,"The Scientist" acoustic, awesome and Chris plays the harmonica! We were on the same side as them too just closer to the stage!

CLOCKS

VIVA LA VIDA

Husband Tag

2008-11-23T14:06:00.012-06:00

Marni recently posted this TAG and although she didn't technically TAG me, I felt inclined to take her up on the "whomever has a husband and wants to do it" invite and it's a good opportunity to blog about my Morgan since the majority of this blog is about the kids and me (plus he won't update his blog)!

HuSBanD TaG

1. WHAT IS YOUR HUSBAND'S FULL NAME ? Morgan John Meyers
2. HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN MARRIED? Almost five years
3. HOW LONG DID YOU DATE? Met late August, proposed October 7th, Married January 14th!
4. HOW OLD IS HE? Nearly 32
5. WHO IS TALLER? Morgan
6. WHO CAN SING BEST? Definitely not me, Morgan is definitely more talented than me, I can't even remember how to read music (and that's after years and years of piano lessons)!
7. WHO IS SMARTER? Common sense and people smart: ME. Book smart: Morgan
8. WHO DOES LAUNDRY? I don't think I've ever seen Morgan do laundry!
9. WHO PAYS BILLS? Me, although Morgan should he has more knowledge and training!
10. WHO SLEEPS ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE BED? Currently me (when lying in bed), it changes depending on where the door is!
11. WHO MOWS THE LAWN? Now, usually Morgan but in Idaho I generally did!
12. WHO COOKS DINNER? Me, Morgan's idea of "making" dinner is Wendy's! (He does know how to cook, and wonderfully might I ad, he just doesn't and I wish he would)
13. WHO IS THE FIRST TO ADMIT THEY ARE WRONG? We're never wrong!
14. WHO KISSED WHO FIRST? Not sure it was really a kiss, but Morgan!
15. WHO WEARS THE PANTS? I think we're both strutting around in shorts....

Sunday...

2008-11-15T22:46:00.002-06:00

Morgan flew back from Idaho last night. We picked him up from the airport and went straight to the pool to check out the donations! We didn't get to bed until late and had a busy day today. Morgan had to be at the pool about 6:30 and I followed shortly after with the kids. We set up all the donations/sale items and Morgan put up the signs. Unfortunately the weather was terrible; windy, cold and not a good day for a yard sale. There weren't many sale goers until around noon when the sun came out. They made a profit and sold things really cheap; but there were a lot of items left over. Hopefully come spring the weather will be better and they can host a better sale.

I sold Beckton's old bed this morning, we finally got bunk beds and the old bed has been sitting in the living room for a week or so. Morgan was sad to see it go, he really liked sleeping on it (silly man, we have a Tempurpedic and he liked the cheap mattress better)! Anyway I was happy because I doubled what I paid for it, so it turned out to be a good investment for six short months!

Jocelyn had a Girls Scout outing at 1pm, we went on a short nature hike! We looked at a few animal tracks, saw an armadillo (up close) and froze in the chilly wind. The girls had a lot of fun chasing each other and getting to know each other better! They all piled in the bed of a pickup for snacks. Beckton tagged along and was so excited to hang out with the big girls.

Jocelyn and I had the opportunity to see Jenny Phillips, a singer/songwriter. She did a presentation for our stake Relief Society and Young Women. She and her husband sang and did a very touching presentation. It was really fun and Jocelyn enjoyed the singing and attention she got for being so young and cute. It was fun to watch our wards YW sing one of Jenny Phillips songs! Morgan, being the 11-year old scout leader, was a part of the Priesthood Preview last night and enjoyed every minute if it!

BUSY DAY...LOTS ACCOMPLISHED

Banana Nut Muffins

2008-11-12T08:47:00.011-06:00

Since Jocelyn was home from school yesterday, we took the opportunity to bake some muffins. The kiddos always love cooking and baking. They were big helpers and really enjoyed the muffins. We made banana nut muffins from scratch (all natural and hormone free too)! Beckton couldn't wait for them to come out of the oven and both he and Jocelyn ate three right off the bat. They were yummy, which is a great accomplishment because I am not a great baker. I can cook all day long, but baking is tough (I hate recipes). They were fluffy and tasty. We'll definitely use this recipe again and it's really simple!

Banana Nut Muffins
4 ripe bananas
1/3 c. vanilla/plain soy milk
1/2 c. pure honey
1/2 c. turbinado sugar (molasses would probably be just as good)
2/3 c. oil (safflower, coconut or canola)
1 tb. pure vanilla
3 c. ww flour
1 tb baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 c. chopped walnuts ( we used more)
cinnamon and nutmeg to taste

Mash and mix all ingredients, bake at 325 for 15-20 minutes...yummy!

Sick again

2008-11-11T13:34:00.003-06:00

Jocelyn is sick again, well kind of. She came home yesterday about 10:30 because she threw up and complained of an ear ache...no fever though. She gets this terrible cough anytime she catches a little could or gets allergies. We wrestled with several doctors over it being chronic and they insisted a simple dose of amoxicillin would take care of it. After nearly a year of no relief we moved to Texas and found a doctor who did a very thorough exam, sinus tests and x-ray. She has seasonal allergies and conditional asthma that acts up when it's allergy season, but the cough last forever and the mucus drainage gags her, hence the throwing up! And she snores...She was so whiny yesterday and we tried to get a doctor appointment, got one for today! I'm wondering if it's time to remove the tonsils and adenoids?!

Garage Sale

2008-11-11T13:13:00.002-06:00

So you all know, or have at least heard, that I love garage sales. Normally I love to frequent them more than host my own, but Texas has changed that. Garage sales are probably not as exciting for others, they weren't very popular in Idaho and kind of frowned upon, but it's a completely different story here in Texas. There are some huge sales with great stuff! I held one this last Saturday and it was a success. Morgan is on the pool board and is in charge of fundraising, so he is heading a pool garage sale next weekend and this was my chance to make some cash and donate the rest! All my girl friends brought over things and we had a ton of stuff. Morgan was headed to Idaho so it was just me, the kids and friends! The kids played and we sold; well friend Becca did most of the selling, but the rest of us watched her haggle (it was very entertaining)! I had several miscellaneous pieces that I wanted to get rid of and we finally got a bunk bed set for Beckton's room so his mismatched furniture had to go. All in all I sold just short of $500 worth of junk we didn't need. What a relief and so fun to have the cash. I cleaned out all of our closet previous to the sale and got rid of a ton of clothes. They were flying off the hangers at 50¢ and a $1.00 and the furniture went quick also. We even had lots left over to donate to the pool board next week! I tried to sell one of the bounce houses and didn't have any takers on Saturday but posted it on craigslist yesterday and have someone coming over in just a few to get it. Yay! Now I just need to sell the piano (Morgan has decided to get a fancy fancy keyboard and we don't need both)!

Piggy Party...OINK...OINK

2008-11-06T21:00:00.005-06:00

We threw a piggy birthday party for Beckton today. He turned three on the 1st but with Halloween the day before and the election just after it was hard to get together until now. We invited his playgroup/preschool and Nursery friends. It was a lot of fun. Hard to keep three year-olds attention, but that's why we got the bounce houses! We had piggy cupcakes, pigs-in-a-blanket, watermelon, sang, played pin-the-apple on the piggy, handed out treat bags and bounced and bounced and bounced! All the kids had a lot of fun and Beckton loved the attention and gifts, thanks friends!

As you can wee by the many pictures, there was a lot of fun chaos. Jocelyn of course thought she was in charge and took it upon herself to head the party! Happy Birthday Beck!

A week in review...

2008-11-03T18:59:00.008-06:00

I have been very lazy about posting recently, so I'll try to sum up the exciting events we've participated in as of late...

Saturday November 25th- Morgan attended EdgeFest at the Pizza Hut Park in Frisco. It was an all day event featuring some familiar and some not so familiar rock bands, it wasn't necessarily Morgans favorite music but it was a concert nonetheless and he enjoyed it. Some of the featured bands; Stone Temple Pilots, Offspring, Stanind, Rise Against, Toadies, Seether, AlkalineTrio and others! The kids and I searched for Beck's Halloween costume and attended a Costume party at a friends house that night. Jocelyn went as a Pirate and Beckton was a very cute frog. We also received a birthday package from Nana Kathi!

Monday- Jocelyn had Karate and we had a joint FHE night with Becca, Roxy and Maggie.

Tuesday- Jocelyn had her first official Daisy scout meeting. We had a Halloween meet-and-greet. The girls had a lot of fun getting to know each other and playing games.

Wednesday- Jocelyn was sent home from school due to a fever of 102. Her school has a very strict policy for sick/ill kids. She wasn't able to go back to school until she had been fever free for at least 24 hours.

Thursday- Jocelyn's fever broke in the middle of the night, but she was still unable to attend school, so we ran errands instead. We had been planning a birthday party for Beckton and wanted to rent an obstacle course bounce house. We had the opportunity purchase some bounce houses so we did. For the same price as renting we were able to buy three Little Tikes bounce houses, they aren't as big as the commercial bouncers but really fun and the right size! The kids have been having a lot of fun on them. I think we'll keep all three until after the birthday party and then sell one or two of them, they take up a lot of room!

Friday October 31- Happy Halloween! Jocelyn was able to be at school for the candy hunt. Morgan worked on getting the truck and his car inspected and registered (waited unless the last minute as usual). Beckton and I dropped off invitations for his birthday party. We made yummy chili and went to the Ward trunk-or-treat! We tricked in the trunks for along time and then hit a few houses on the way home! We were thrilled to get gas a Kroger for $1.94. Yay.. gas prices keep mov'n down!

Saturday November 1- Beckton turns 3, our baby is three! I ran in the morning and hit a few garage sales with the gals. Beckton got a package from grandma Moulton and was so excited to wear his new Dino P.J.'s. He tore his clothes of immediately and wore the P.J.'s the entire day! Morgan and I cleaned the garage, washed both cars and amazingly parked them both in the garage. We raked some leaves and trimmed a few trees and picked cantaloupe and watermelon n the garden! We had pizza and rented a movie, Beckton's pick. He picked a Diego movie so he and Jocelyn watched it! Happy Birthday Beck!

Happy Halloween 2008

2008-10-31T22:08:00.003-05:00

Jasmine Jocelyn and Froggy Beckton

Halloween has officially come and gone for our family. The children were thrilled with the amount of goods they brought home and all the fun they had. Jocelyn was Jasmine (sans the black wig, "it smelled bad") and Beckton was a frog (which he likes so much he'd be sleeping in it right now if it weren't for the chili and candy all over it). We made chili and went over to the church for the chili feed and trunk-or-treat. The weather is so nice that it was all outside and people actually decorated their trunks! There was oodles of yummy chili, some games, a lot of cool costumes and trunks. Our Bishop even brought his school bus and did a haunted bus tour! It was a lot of fun, probably one of the best ward trunk-or-treats we've been to (although I'll admit it's probably that the weather is fairly warm and not freezing)! We even did a little house-to-house trick-or-treating on the way home. Morgan and I are convinced that Beckton would be a great door-to-door salesman. There was no hesitation coming from him about knocking on peoples door. He was very polite too and charmed them with his "tank too", smile and "haddy haaoween" wave goodbye. Jocelyn crashed within 10 minuted of getting home it was a long day for her. She had a candy hunt at school and played really hard after school.Morgan, as usual, decided that he loves Halloween and would have liked to dress up (this of course after seeing all our friends and the other adults having fun in costume). I think he does this every year, I ask what he'd like to be, he says Halloween is more for the kids and then regrets no getting into costume and being involved...so frustrating!
Happy Halloween 2008

Costume Drama

2008-10-26T18:51:00.012-05:00

Halloween is nearly upon us and our family has already been to several Halloween parties, however this doesn't mean all has been pleasant in the costume department- there has been drama! Jocelyn knew she wanted to be Jasmine for Halloween...long story short she wanted to be Jasmine last year and I boldly told her "NO" then followed with something like "maybe next year" (yes, it was a put-off because I didn't want to buy a ridiculous Disney Costume that every other 3-6 year old girl would be wearing)! Well, I should have known better- Jocelyn forgets nothing (except how to clean her room)! She politely reminded me several weeks ago when I asked what she wanted to be for Halloween "you already told me I could be Jasmine this year...remember mom?" After trying to convince her of something more traditional and less trendy she won the battle. What could I do I had already told her "next year!" So the search was on to find the most unique Jasmine costume. I searched most of the costumes stores in town, searched Craigslist, online shops and finally resorted to Ebay and I found several genie costumes I liked. It took some convincing to get Jocelyn to agree on a little different Jasmine costume, different than the Disney ones she'd seen in the store. We finally found a cute purple and blue one that was a great price, bought it, it came and it fits great. Next was the search for Beckton's costume. He wanted to be "a new puppy" , I guess because he's been listening to Jocelyn talk about all of her friends getting new puppies at their houses, Beckton thought this would be a great opportunity to get Jocelyn's attention? I really have no idea, but he as adamant about being a new puppy! Of course he didn't like any of the puppy costumes we found so we opted to go for a family themed Halloween...Aladdin. Jocelyn as Jasmine, Beckton as Raja the tiger and Daddy will be the big blue genie (Mommy is simply the photographer)! Would you believe how difficult it is to find a Tiger costume for a little boy. The only ones I could find were Tiger (from Winnie the Pooh). I could find tiger's everywhere in Adult sizes but not children's. Finally found two stores that had a tiger costume but the first was a 5T and drowned Beckton the second was a "coming soon" item! We finally found this neat costume store with a $5 kids trunk and Beckton fell in love with a frog costume. So Beckton is a frog, was I frustrated? Yes and no! After Jocelyn's insistence on being Jasmine she hasn't worn the Jasmine costume to any of the Party's we've been to and kindly informed me that she would only be wearing "that costume" on Halloween day. So Jocelyn has been a cheerleader and a pirate (very adorable pirate too) but no Jasmine yet. I think the costume dilemma has worked itself out okay...plus Morgan had no desire to wear a blue muscleman suit and parade around as a Genie! But next year someone please remind me that we have plenty of dress-up outfits that haven't been worn for Halloween, it'll save me the drama!

Fall Festival

2008-10-24T20:34:00.011-05:00

Jocelyn and Beckton Fall Festival 2008...hair coloring and face painting!

Bounce house Cake Walk prize

Jocelyn's school had their annual PTA fundraiser tonight; The Fall Festival. Luckily it was fairly warm (no jackets needed). We bought 50 tickets for $10 at the beginning of the week and agreed, as a family, that when the tickets run out we leave! I was suppose to help with the tattoo booth but the traffic at 5:30 was slow so I played with the kids instead. As usual, there were many activities to choose from; bounces houses, bean bag tosses, face painting, hair coloring, pencil pulls, tattoos, auctions, cake walks, hayrides and all the other great carnival activities! Of course the kids favorite activities were the bounce houses, but were also ticket hogs! We all liked the booths that took only 1 ticket, they seemed to have the best prizes too; pencils, homemade cookies, stickers and whistles. Most of the activities didn't have prizes which was disappointing for Beckton, he thought we were tick-or-treating! Jocelyn got her hair colored...purple and Beckton got his face painted...a rainbow (don't ask). And we won a dozen Halloween cupcakes at the cake walk! Yay!for more fun in Texas.

Oh Beckton...

2008-10-23T20:52:00.004-05:00

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I love to read BIG BOOKS...

2008-10-23T15:45:00.007-05:00

Of course both Morgan and I love to read (I don't know about big books though), Jocelyn too loves to read and luckily Beckton is really into books! We have this ridiculously huge animal book that my grandmother gave us for Christmas three or four years ago and Beckton has decided that he loves it. It's fun both because it's huge, but it shows animals from around the world. To watch Beckton read it is wonderful. The pictures of the animals are in no way childlike or simple; it's pretty wordy too (more like an encyclopedia of animals) but the colors are great and Beckton is very entertained. I watched him for over an hour the other day; he pointed at the monkeys and birds then he was creating some story about the sea snake (big eel) and that was really cute. He was so animated and vocal. I attempted to video tape the story he was telling, but as soon as he spotted the camera...SILENCE. It was a big highlight of my day to see him so content especially with a book!

Brrrrrrrr... It's COLD!

2008-10-23T08:14:00.004-05:00

Okay it's cold- in Texas. The past few weeks have been absolutely beautiful; perfect Fall, sleep with your windows open, weather. We woke this morning to frost on the roof top and it's freezing (well, close enough for Texas)! Kara, Becca and I tried to do our morning run which tapered to a slow jog and then a walk, it was way to cold to run (it was so cold the bridges on the greenbelt had ice-I almost fell)! I got online when I came inside and the forecast said 35 F, but feels like 29 F. Again Brrrrr. I'm not ready for the COLD!

Lewisville Lake...

2008-10-22T08:20:00.006-05:00

Sunday evening was so beautiful! Morgan suggested we get out of the house and go to the lake. We chose Lewisville Lake; we drive past it several times a week and never stop and look around so it seemed appropriate. Morgan found a little marina in the Lake Dallas area. We had lots of fun just wandering around, the kids found sticks and wrote in the sand, they got all muddy and played on a really fun nautical playground. The lake water was kind of mucky, Morgan says Lake Ray Roberts is much cleaner water, but it was really beautiful as the sun was setting and there weren't very many people around. It was a perfect evening for our family (except Morgan informed me a picnic would have made it exceptional)!

A Little of this and a little of that....

2008-10-19T16:22:00.013-05:00

*I love Sunday (especially Stake Conference). We get to sleep in a little (church is at 11am) and have a great meal. But the best of of my Sunday is our afternoon Nap. We all pile on the bed and get some rest!

*Gas prices are receding... Morgan and I were thrilled to pay $2.439 at Kroger yesterday. The prices keep falling here, let's pray that this is a good sign! I was even more excited when I did a gas buddy check and saw that Twin Falls gas prices were at $3.36, and that was Costco where it's usually the cheapest.

*Jocelyn and Beckton love getting mail. Friday they got a package from Nana Kathi; Halloween cards that sing and a really fun color wonder sprayer. We haven't figured out how to make the sprayer work, but the kids have had fun with it nonetheless. Thanks Nana Kathi!

(Beckton dancing to "The Monster Mash")

*Last Sunday we got together with Morgan's Cousins; Meg, Scyler & kids, John, Jill & kids and aunt Sally. We had sloppy-joes at the park and cupcakes for little Tasha who was turning two. The kids had more fun playing in the sand than on the playground, Jocelyn even buried her shoes (which we never found). I love that there are so many parks here, we're finding new ones all the time. This one was close to Meg's house, it's really great to keep the scenery fresh!

*Robot Jocelyn is back. I already posted photos from our trip to Idaho this past July, but I just came across this video of Jocelyn and couldn't resist adding it here. She is so imaginative!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Ants...

2008-10-18T19:51:00.009-05:00

I never thought I would blog about ants, but this is something the kids (and Morgan) found interesting. Since moving to Texas ants have become a large part of our lives. They are everywhere, fire ants and sugar ants, and they like to bite. We have found a couple trails in the house and since sprayed so gone were the household ants (or so we thought). Tonight Morgan beckons me to the kitchen where I find him feeding ants on the kitchen counter. He watched them burrow a small hole in the caulk of the granite back-splash then decided crumbling crackers for them to try and haul back threw the hole was a fun activity for Saturday night. I must admit it was interesting to watch them pick up the cracker pieces but ants on my counters...not a good thing!

Bat World...

2008-10-18T19:40:00.006-05:00

Bat World...sounds thrilling huh? Well, kind of-but not Halloween thriller. The Parks and Rec put on a bat show this afternoon, we thought it would be an exciting event for the kiddos. Beckton fell asleep in the car, so his participation was null and Jocelyn kept saying she was bored. There were so many people there that it was really difficult to get a good seat or see! Needless to say we didn't stay long. It was fun to see the property though. They have about 2,700 leased acres, most undeveloped and some a nature preserve with lots of trails and rivers and streams leading to the lake. We did get to see an endangered bat, can't remember what kind though.

Family Science Night...

2008-10-17T09:53:00.006-05:00

Jocelyn making Rattlesnake Babies

Jocelyn's school had a very fun interactive Family Science Night last night. All of the teachers grouped together to do fun activities- all geared towards science. There were bubbles, balloons, lava lamps, glue, airplanes, bridges and lots more. Jocelyn had a blast. We really tried to see all of the booths, but missed a few since Morgan had to leave early. He scheduled splits with the Missionaries during the same time, and didn't bother telling us. Unfortunately, he was only able to spend the first 15 minutes at the school and we had to run him home. The kids and I headed back to the school though and participated in the rest of the activities. I forgot to take the camera and grabbed it when dropped Morgan home, so we only have a couple pictures (and not of the best activities either). It was a fun night, Beckton really enjoyed "being a big kid" and we're glad Jocelyn is loving school!

TAG again...

2008-10-15T07:30:00.010-05:00

I've been tagged again, this time by Evynn. This tag sounds pretty simple, but I've had a hard time with it (I guess I don't know myself very well). I get to share 7 fun facts or quirks about myself, just so ya know I am not a very exciting person!

1. I love to shop the clearance racks, something about a great bargain drives me wild (I'm pretty sure I inherited this from my paternal grandmother). I'm not just talking about perusing the clearance section, it's lethal. I rarely buy anything unless it's on clearance and if I have to purchase something at regular price, I get all wound up! It's so not about the money either, just a crazy habit about getting the most for the least, maybe bragging rights too! I also love a good garage sale, the ones here in Texas are awesome!
2. I love to soak in the bath, I could be in the tub for hours, but the water has to be HOT. Same goes for a nice shower, HOT water too. Drove my brothers and dad nuts growing up, I'd use all the hot water and hog the bathrooms!
3. I am afraid of heights, wasn't always this way (hey, I did the bungee jump tower at Lagoon when it first opened). I had ambitions of skydiving, but kids sure changed that for me. I guess now I fear the the what ifs...
4. One of my biggest pet peeves is when driving...I'm in the turn lane and there are two lanes ahead. The car behind me turns to the outside/far lane (instead of the inside, like they should) and prevents me getting in the outside lane, ahhhhhh!
5. I hate it when people, mostly Morgan, chomps ice (or chips) too close to me. Drives me insane. But I admit, I'm an ice chewer too, ironic huh(it's done a number on my teeth though, they're starting to show cracks)!
6. I have a shoe collection, it's not as vast as it used to be. But I really like to buy shoes, usually on sale and really cute. Most of them don't get worn, but at one point I had over 500 pairs, I've had to scale that number down, a lot, but I still like to buy shoes!
7. I like my refrigerator organized. Things need to be put back in their proper places, it just messes everything up if they're not. Plus I don't like the fridge to look like a nasty bachelor pad
8. Okay, I know I was only suppose to do seven, but this is a very interesting fact/quirk and I'll probably regret sharing it later. I don't think many people can say this; my husband and I wear the same size of shoes. Morgan has small feet for a guy and I have huge feet for a girl, well not huge, but a size 10. Mine are much more narrow than his, but still we swap shoes a lot (no, he doesn't wear my heels). We swap pants too, but he has shorter legs than me and a longer torso, so shorts more often than not!

Who to TAG...
Kara
Laurel
Ashley
Zan C. (Suzi)
Marni
Morgan
Naomi

Thanks for humoring me!

Fall is Here...we're busy...

2008-10-14T13:18:00.007-05:00

Jocelyn's school had Parent Teacher Conferences this past week, it's been six weeks, so she was out at 1:00 each day. It was fun to have her home a few hours earlier each day. We thought this was a great chance to do some fun things with her.

Monday- I attended Girl Scout training, Jocelyn was determined to join Girls Scouts and they needed additional leaders, so I signed up and I get to be a Girl Scout leader, assistant troop leader! There's lots of training involved, but I am grateful to have a say in all the activities and be there to participate with Jocelyn, she's thrilled to be a Daisy Scout and yes, she'll get to sell cookies!

Tuesday- We took Jocelyn and Beckton to the 50¢ movie in Lewisville, we saw Space Chimps. Cute movie and only $2.00 for the whole family. I let Jocelyn and Beckton pay for their tickets and they really liked being in control!

Wednesday- We went to the pumpkin patch. There are many many pumpkin patches around here, we chose to go to the free one and we could hardly believe it was free- there was so much to do! They had several bounce houses (even a jack-o-lantern), a pumpkin cottage, a jail house, hay-bail towers, hay mazes, tons of wooden characters, a playground and of course pumpkins. We all had some much fun, took a bunch of pictures. It was a chore to tear the kiddos away from bounce houses, I think Jocelyn's favorite was the hay mazes. We bought snow cones and had a fabulous afternoon.

Thursday- Our parent meeting with Mrs. Martin Jocelyn's teacher. Jocelyn loved showing her little brother her school and classroom. Jocelyn is excelling in school and is right on tack. She already has so many books and artwork that have made their way home. It was great to know that she is truly a good student and excited to be at school!

Saturday- Busy, busy day... Morgan took off to the Temple first thing in the morning and we ran over to Megan and Scyler's for a quick yard sale. Jocelyn and Beckton had fun playing with the girls and I sold a couple things. The Fire Department held a Fall Safety Festival at one of the seven fire Departments. There were hot dogs, cotton candy, popcorn, tattoo (fake of course), balloon characters and the kids got cute firemen helmets. They also gave tours of the fire department and the museum, had a bounce house, a dunk tank and drawings for freebies. And of course it was all free. Morgan even won a set of smoke detectors, a mini flashlight and a free tote bag. Saturday night was Girls Night, we planned to go to Grapevine and go ice skating, but only five of us showed up so we settled for dinner at El Guapo's, Shopping and Ice cream. I drove and it was lots of fun to get away and chit-chat! Morgan took the kids to a farewell party for one of his Home Teaching families, the father is headed to Iraq for his second tour.

Sunday- Morgan tried to make it to choir practice, but we slept in! Beckton is finally excited about going to Nursery, he actually asked to go play with his friends this Sunday. I was so excited, he has despised Nursery from the beginning, so yeah, no more crying! Morgan taught his Primary class and the Priesthood lesson and I had the Laurel lesson. We all love Sundays; we get to sleep in, be uplifted, usually get a nap and get free bread! We haven't had to purchase bread since we moved to Texas. Each Sunday we come home with 2 0r 3 loaves of bread and it's usually whole wheat. I think the entire ward loves the bread-man. His van is full each Sunday and open for the ward to dig through, we are lucky to have extra loaves in our freezer and really appreciate the free bread. The kiddos usually get to pick which loaves we grab and who gets to carry them to the car, I thinks its tradition for them...go to Church get a loaf of bread.

Do you have a strange mind?

2008-10-03T18:34:00.002-05:00

This is weird, but interesting! fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid too. Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can. i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! if you can raed tihs psot it on yuor own bolg!!!

Wow, huh? So I read this and didn't really realize that the words were all mumbled until half way through. I think I was actually able to read it faster than I normally do. I must be really STRANGE!

Jocelyn sings....

2008-10-02T10:26:00.003-05:00

As most children do, Jocelyn loves to sing...she shared two new songs she just learned in music class with us...enjoy (oh and sorry about the hammering and drilling in the first video, my pantry was getting a makeover)!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Glenn Beck Photos

2008-10-01T16:24:00.004-05:00

So Morgan finally found the SD card that had the pictures of he and Glenn Beck on them. I have posted them to the related blog entry (6-15-08) for those who were interested (or didn't really believe he met Glenn). They're there for the looking now, and surprisingly Glenn is taller that I thought, Morgan looks really short!

Fall Festival

2008-09-28T21:19:00.005-05:00

Well, It's officially Fall now and North Texas has so much to offer. It seems like every day this past week Jocelyn has come home with a flier announcing an upcoming event. The best part is that they are mostly free. Just Yesterday we attended a Fall Festival at a local home for children. They had about 20 acres and provided the public with free tours of Fire engines, fighter plane cockpits, fancy Peterbilt semis, a petting zoo, hay rides, face painting, and balloon characters, there was also a bounce house, a pumpkin patch and lots of crafts. We went and were very glad we did, the kids had a blast and did a lot of activities. I think they liked the bounce house the best. Although Jocelyn and Beckton had a lot of fun getting their faces painted (Jocelyn and butterfly and Beckton a sun) and decorating their pumpkins. They were sad when Beckton's balloon sword popped in the grass, and Jocelyn's balloon doggy barely made it home. Jocelyn made a really cute bracelet too. It was really hot, being fall, but that's Texas for ya. Next week the city is putting on a festival.

Beckton...

2008-09-26T22:09:00.006-05:00

So Sweet and so unruly! Last night Beckton painted me a picture...very sweet you're thinking? Well, unfortunately for me it was on my kitchen floor, the entire floor -slate- and in pink fingernail polish. I don't know that I have ever been more upset at him. I was able to get about 70% off the floor, after an hour of wiping, scrubbing, scrubbing wiping and an entire bottle of finger nail polish remover. Unfortunately for my floor; there is still paint in the "character cracks" of the slate that I have not been able to get out and some of the slate was scarred. Luckily it is slate and you can't really tell unless you are laying on the floor, which I don't anticipate many people will be doing! So sorry I didn't get a photo I was WAY too upset to even think about taking one.

This would be a great time to show Beckton's many personalities; usually he is very tender hearted...however there are a few things that set him off; the wrong shoes, his toys and the biggest, his P.J's and favorite shirt (mostly when he's told he can't ear them out of the house). We've captured both the sweet and terrible.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I apologize, the sound in the first one is awful. Jocelyn was watching an infomercial, sad I know and it's only public TV- we don't even have satellite anymore, but it's her favorite channel (she has the pancake puff pitch down pat)- well Morgan didn't think to turn off the TV...and the echo is terrible.

Jocelyn is Fabulous

2008-09-25T21:30:00.005-05:00

Okay, what to say... I think the two pictures above say it all...she's unique. This is Jocelyn's fabulous idea of a way cool outfit. What is she trying to portray? I have no idea, I think that if I allowed her to "pick" her own clothes this is how she would leave the house each day. I have to admit that I really thought she wasn't going to hit this stage, I assumed this was mostly a toddler thing, but no-my five year old has decided to be a stylish independent. Let me just make it clear that this is not the only time she has done this creative dressing, just the only picture I have taken as of recently, although my sister Roxy took this one below of Jocelyn this summer...again her idea of fabulous!

Bedtime the other night - Jocelyn thought it was so "cool" that she was wearing a Hello Kitty nightgown and also had a Hello Kitty water bottle. Now I simply despise the character trends; Dora, Elmo, Disney Princesses... you get the idea. I simply think it's all over priced and too materialistic, so I rarely cave to any sort of characterized paraphernalia; unless of course it's on extreme clearance, hand-me-downs or a gift (the night gown was given to us and the water bottle was a $1.00, yeah for Target). I will admit that we've purchased a Dora Backpack (clearance T.J. Maxx and a Barbie and Diego Lunch box-clearance $2.00/ea Target) and these were okay purchases. Jocelyn used the Backpack for two and a half years and the lunch box fits right in with all the other Barbie, Tinkerbell, Bratz and Princess lunch boxes that her school companions parade around, plus it was a huge saving. I priced the same lunch box just recently at Target and they're $14.99, for a lunch box in season.

Grandparents Day at Sam Houston

2008-09-25T17:43:00.005-05:00

THE TEXANS OUT TO PLAY...

Jocelyn's school supported Grandparents Day on Friday, September 12 (I know it's two weeks later, I've been busy). All of the student were asked to invite their grandparents for lunch or to the classroom for a short period during the day. Jocelyn invited Beckton and I for lunch, because we now live in Texas and all the grandparents are in Idaho, we had a blast pretending to e Jocelyn's grandparents. Beckton was so thrilled to be "at" Jocelyn's school (I think he gets jealous when Jocelyn does the "big girl" stuff...IE primary and school). We got to wear fun green visitor passes (Beckton's favorite part), then waited for Jocelyn's class to come down the hall and we walked to the lunchroom with her. Hot lunch was double stuffed cheese pizza, cheesy broccoli, peach cup, milk and corn (this is the featured item every Friday). Jocelyn looks forward to this lunch every week because we pack cold lunches the majority of the time and Friday she wants the pizza! Beckton loved the pizza, and I'm serious here, when this boy finds a food he's interested in it's major chow time. So after watching Jocelyn and Beckton "snarf" down pizza and corn they had cake (to celebrate grandparents day) and we went outside for playtime/recess. Beckton loved all the playing and climbing and watching the different kids. Jocelyn was very proud to show off her little brother to all of her new friends. We even lined up with her class at the end of recess, what a fun day!

Quick Trip to ID...

2008-09-16T21:48:00.022-05:00

Back: Ashley(SIL), Kacy, baby Kathryn, Mom (Pam), Dad (Perry), Kody, Roxanne, Robyn,
Front: Kory, Jocelyn, Beckton (not looking at the camera) and Morgan
We just made a quick trip to Idaho and have been home for a week now. We are finally recovering...recovering from the time change and jet lag, oh and the plane ride with two obnoxious kiddos! Morgan and Beckton headed early early Wednesday (the 3rd) and surprised his parents. Jocelyn and I caught a plane Thursday night and got into Twin Falls about 10:30. We stayed at the "castle" with Morgans family. We didn't tell anyone we planned to come so I think it was a good surprise for our families! Morgan wanted to be in Idaho to help his dad recover from surgery (detached retina) and my grandparents were having their 50th wedding anniversary. Morgan had to be in Orange County the following week and wanted to be able to spend a little time with his dad so we figured it would be a fantastic surprise to drop in. We got the see my family and take lots of family pictures, the entire Krieger clan (aunts, uncles & cousins-all but Trevor who was in India) and we spent some time with Morgan's family as well, plus I was anxious to see how my little brother Kody was coping with the chemotherapy. After the busy weekend, Monday(the 8th) came, Morgan flew on to O.C. and I flew home with Jocelyn and Beckton, oh yeah and 200lbs of potato's(sounded great when we talked about it, but I don't recommend it unless you have a big strong man there and a car waiting, it was a disaster to drag both kids and the luggage around the airport, at 11pm, while searching for the car). A quick trip, but well worth it!

More Pictures from Idaho...

Having fun at Nana's Castle...

Nana's beautiful Garden and Beckton thrilled about Uncle Marty's corn (yes he is wearing his P.j's in the middle of the day)

Nana & Pop...

Grandma Moulton...

Beckton and Grandma Moutlon.....Beckton, Jocelyn & Cousin Kathryn

Grandparents 50th

My Cousins (some of them)

Just a few of my cousins (and Roxy) at the 50th Reunion (the ones in the kitchen eating all the cream puff filling). I am the 3rd oldest grandchild (of 16) so most of my cousins are not married and still in High School, but aren't they cute!

A day in the life...TAG

2008-09-09T13:39:00.031-05:00

I'm sure that all of our Family and Friends have been hoping for a candid look into our lives (and if not, well, I don't blame you -we aren't very exciting people). After arriving home very late last night, alone with both kids, I crashed. But after grudgingly getting Jocelyn to school this morning one of the first things I did was get online, and now I am wishing I wouldn't have. So here's to Kara...thanks for TAGGING me. I have to honestly admit that I was going to put this off until later (like next week or maybe just forget), but I new that wouldn't be very fair, but lucky for me we haven't been home long enough to make any huge messes and I just washed my sheets so the bed is of course made! I'm not terribly excited for this and don't want to do this again, I hate these kind of things...but apparently this is how it goes...you have to take pictures of the following things, and you have to do it right away. No straightening, cleaning or wiping your child's nose. Then you tag five others (I'm skipping this rule though, I think this is a cruel game)

1. The Kitchen Sink

Just this mornings dishes and some fresh fruit. The fruit was soaking because Morgan thought it a grand idea to send me home with suitcases full of spuds, corn and fruit. Needless to say the spuds did great but the suitcases now smell like corn and rotten fruit. The peaches and pears were really smashed and needed to be cleaned! (I don't recommend this)

2. Refrigerator

Okay, I admit that I like to clean my refrigerator and I am a mad women about putting things back in "the right places" (just ask Morgan, I'm sure he'll roll his eyes).

3. The Laundry Room

This is as good as the laundry room gets, it's kind of a catch all for the misc. things I have no idea where to put. Luckily the camera does a fabulous job hiding all the "stuff"

4. Toilets

Our lovely toilets. Who really wants to see our toilets? So Morgan's/the office is first, then the powder room, the kids Jack-n-Jill and then our master! These are pretty clean. This is Morgan's only chore (he would rather clean the toilets than do the dishes) So I feel pretty lucky there, I hate cleaning these, plus he makes most of the messes he should clean them...right?

5. Favorite Room & 6. Bedroom

Our Master bedroom. Also my favorite room, mostly because of the awesome bed (it's a Tempur-Pedic) and that generally there are not any kids there, just peace and quiet and a good book!

7. Closet

I have to say that I really think the closet looks much better in person than in photo, everything looks overly cluttered via photo, but hey it's a closet!

8. Favorite Shoes

My favorite shoes; two very sexy Italian leather heels, that I rarely wear, and my favorite BORN flip flops!

9. Kids or spouse..NOW

Well, Beckton is the only one at home (bedsides me) Jocelyn is at school and Morgan is in California!

10. Self Portrait

Okay, it stinks to do a self portrait. I look awful, somehow when I get a closeup I get squirrel checks, go figure! At least I was somewhat ready for the day!

Yeah for getting tagged!

Mischievous Beckton...Yeah for Toddlers!!!

2008-09-02T12:09:00.028-05:00

As you can see by the previous post, Beckton enjoys getting his hands in, on and around things. The "terrible two's" or a curious little boy? Whatever it is he is constantly into everything. As it happens, I just went to see what he was doing (since he was extremely quiet) and I found him on the kitchen counter "chopping" the loaves of banana bread we just pulled out of the oven. Apparently he was eager to enjoy the yumminess he helped create; only now we have mushy blobs of banana bread instead of beautiful loaves. Doesn't seem to bother Beckton or Morgan, they are chowing down!

And here's what I found Beckton doing just a little while ago... climbing the pantry shelves. (Morgan is building me some additional ones and Beckton just couldn't resist)

More excitement from Beckton; I came home Saturday morning (after a good workout) and found Beckton literally thrashing the house! Where was Morgan? Well he apparently didn't want to deal with the mess and went back to bed, but he was kind enough to take some pictures of what he found Beckton doing earlier... decorating the kitchen with Popsicles! (and these are just the cute pictures, the next ones showed the wrappers all over the floor and the Popsicles all broken in half and everywhere, he looks so innocent...and pleased with his activity!)

So, YES, Beckton is a handful (and he wears me out) but he is so precious too. I love to watch him mimics everything Jocelyn does, try and pack a lunch for school and wear her princess heals around. Of course how he insists on dressing himself is always fun and wanting to be like daddy! Yeah for toddlers!!

YUM YUM...

2008-08-31T21:21:00.004-05:00

Morgan, Jocelyn and Beckton get so excited about the making brownies or cookies. However, there seems to be a reoccurring problem at our house, the brownies and cookies never make it into the oven! We all love to "taste" the batter so much that it all gets eaten before we get it in the pan, let alone the oven. So, a while back, we resolved to leave out the eggs and just enjoy the batter! Yummy...Yum...Yum

OOPS...

2008-08-28T12:45:00.002-05:00

Well I am figuring this out, kind of. Things are great except I'm having a heck of a time changing the layout of the photos from vertical to horizontal. I read that it is set on vertical as a default and can be changed to horizontal, but I can't figure it out. I somehow deleted half of the blog school monkeys...WHY?...and THE SHIRT. So if your wondering why that entry doesn't make sense, please skip it until I can find where it went!

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

2008-08-27T18:42:00.002-05:00

So sorry for the messy layout, trying to figure out how to read the HTML and get this the way I'd like it! Bear with me please! Thanks

School Monkeys...

2008-08-27T14:21:00.016-05:00

School Monkeys
Jocelyn’s first day of school was a blast for her. She had a lot of fun and loves her teacher. She was so excited and wanted Morgan to take her for a swim right after school, and they did, then she crashed for a few hours. I don’t think I've ever seen her fall asleep so quickly. I’m sure it’s a shock to her body to be going and going from 8am to 3pm all day. Needless to say Jocelyn had a hard time getting up this morning, but she made it and was still excited and cute as ever. She is so excited about school and appropriately her class mascot is a monkey, Ms. Martin’s Monkey’s. She even has a cute name tag she gets to wear each day!

Beckton really misses Jocleyn when she's at school

First Day Of School (KINDERGARTEN)

2008-08-26T08:24:00.005-05:00

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

Well, Jocelyn officially started school 25 minutes ago today! She's a Kindergartner! Yeah, she's sooo excited, and we're thrilled that she is passionate about learning! I was amazed at how simple it was to get her up (at 6:30), have breakfast, dressed, pack lunch and get there with 10 minutes to spare. We've been practicing getting up and getting ready the past few days, but she always complains and wants to go back to bed, not today! Morgan walked her into the school and Jocelyn was ready for the day!

MS. MARTIN'S CLASS MEET-N-GREET

We met her teacher last night, Ms. Martin, and took a quick tour of the classroom, she has a great window view of the school garden! We took some cute pictures too. Oh, Jocelyn also started Karate last night, right after her met-and-greet with her teacher. I'm not sure if she's more excited about Karate or school, probably a tie! So we've had a busy night and morning!

KARATE

Fair....Swim....Luau

2008-08-25T19:27:00.008-05:00

We've had an exciting past few days. In a hurried effort to have some much needed fun before Jocelyn begins KINDERGARTEN, we have been busy.

Thursday night we went to the North Texas Fairgrounds and wandered around. This wasn't as hustle and bustle as the Twin Falls County Fair, but there was plenty for the kids to do and see. We watched a Pee-Wee rodeo (tried to get Jocelyn to participate, but she wouldn't have it) the kids took a choo-choo train ride, saw the animals at the petting zoo and played on an enormous bounce house...all for free (yeah). Then they rode some rides; Jocelyn picked the twirling tea cups and Beckton about got sick, then Beckton picked the BIG dragon roller coaster and was wishing he hadn't. We came home and made snow cones (Jocelyn's idea).

THE FAIR

Friday we went to John and Jill's for a BBQ and swimming, the kids had a lot of fun (well Morgan may have had more fun, he raced and chased Alex, Kate and Jocelyn around for hours and they were thrilled for the attention). I had fun too, Kate thought I was a great target for the mega-sized water gun (I got her back though).

SWIMMING

Saturday we headed to Carrollton for a luau. Sally and Willy's ward threw a big feast to end their 40 days of fasting and did a luau. Since Willy is Tongan and Jared lives in a Tongan community, members from their wards got together to cook some yummy food, they also had a great show, Lost of dancing and drums, it was great. Jocelyn was thrilled and excited to watch and Morgan loved all the food, of course we had to bring lots of chicken and beef home.

Jocelyn the Robot

2008-08-08T22:07:00.009-05:00

I've been looking through the pictures from our Idaho trip & found these cute ones w/ Jocelyn as a "Robot". My brother Kody came home early from Chile, to do chemo & have surgery, & Jocleyn really had a lot of fun with him. I never knew how great Kody was w/kids, it was a lot of fun watching them interact!

2008-07-31T21:52:00.017-05:00

We just returned last night from our visit to Idaho. We didn’t have regular Internet access while we were there so I’m a little late on getting the details out here. We pulled in on the 2nd and left the 29th. We stayed almost four weeks. We were able to spend time with each of family members and have a little fun too.

Some of the things we did:

* Attended Dalton’s Pirate birthday Bash, Jocelyn searched for Treasure
*Went to 4th of July Parade in Buhl, Jocelyn and Beckton got way too much candy
*Enjoyed Pop’s fried Chicken
*Watched CSI’s firework show
* Morgan cooked steaks for my Dads b-day
*Went boating with our good friends Steve and Autumn
*Morgan got to water ski with Kory
*Morgan talked us into an evening at Jackpot
* Morgan and the kids walked potato and corn fields and took a tractor ride
*Took a family picture at the Twin Falls with my family (didn’t turn out great)
*Swam at Banbury’s hot Springs
*Ate Alligator
*Saw the big trout and huge sturgeon in Buhl
*Toured the Hydro-power plant and saw the waterfall
*Swam at Dierkes Lake with Roxy and Kody
*Toured the Twin Falls Temple during open house
*Floated/tubed the river at Lava (Jocelyn’s new favorite activity, Morgan lost his glasses)
*Morgan bought new "stylish" glasses and sunglasses
*Spent a weekend at Bear Lake (where I got hooked on the Twilight Saga)
*Visited relatives in the Buhl cemetery and Dayton cemetery
*Watched the Blue Angles fly (from distance)
* Jocelyn had a camp-out with Poppy and Roxy, a slumber party with Dante and a slumber party with Nana Kathi
*Attended a fish-fry
*Experienced a Japanese steakhouse (excellent grub, everyone should try this)
*Attended Dante’s Scooby-Do/Swim Party
*Listened to my brother Kody give his homecoming talk (from Chile), then watched him start Chemotherapy
I’m sure we did much more, but I can’t remember anything else. It was a busy trip, however we found ourselves bored on occasion, so we bought a Wii, (I’m an excellent bowler and tennis player). It was great to see all of our family and friends, but we are very happy to be in the comfort of our own home.

Re-Cap of this Week...

2008-06-15T19:40:00.004-05:00

So I'm not the best at routinely doing this blog (I should write here at least a few times a week if this is to be a substitute for my journal, which I am terrible at).

Well, last Sunday Jocelyn got to give a talk in Primary. She was so nervous, but very cute. We practiced it over and over and she had it down and as soon as she stood up she said " I don't want to say anything!" so it was a very short talk on Temples!

Morgan has been keeping busy, he's been taking some classes on being a better stock trader and really enjoyed it. We hardly saw him the last ten days. He really is accomplishing some of the dreams/goals he has had and I am thrilled for him to have some real excitement in his life. I can't believe how many famous and influential people he has met over the past 6 months. He had the opportunity to see Tiesto perform last week, we like trance/dance/techno and Tiesto is huge. It was a good opportunity for him but the clubbing atmosphere isn't Morgan, just the music. He met Glenn Beck yesterday... finally. I don't know how many times over the past 3 years I have heard "I'll meet him someday, I want to meet him!" He got a photo so we have proof! Yey for Morgan.

Morgan and Glenn, Glenn's Wife and Morgan, Glenn speaking

The kids are great, Beckton talks all the time. He has a very soft and whiny voice for the rough boy he is. Happy Fathers Day! We took Morgan to dinner at a Brazilian restaurant last night, yummy and he wanted citrus trees. So tomorrow we are going to pick up some orange and lemon trees and some ripe grape vines. I'm excited that he suggested that, we will all enjoy that gift and for years to come. We are headed to Idaho the first of July to see all our family and friends and go boating! We are driving, 24 hours in the car...sounds fun huh!

Last Day of Gymnastics...Little Gym

2008-06-07T17:44:00.010-05:00

THE LITTLE GYM

Jocelyn and Beckton had their last day of gymnastics (well, tumbling and play-time for Beckton)on Friday! We took lots of pictures...and they had tons of fun! The kids have these cute matching tye-dyed shirts and wore them for the big finale...See Beckton picked a shirt thinking it was way cool, then Jocelyn -who has never been a girly girl- refused to wear a leotard and decided if Beckton had one she definitely needed one also).

Since school was out I guess a lot of people took vacations, both of their classes usually have between 7 & 10 kids and there was only one other child in both classes, so they got a lot of 'SPOTLIGHT'! Jocelyn is really tall but she's really coordinated. In the fall Jocelyn will take a karate class and she is so excited. Jocelyn and Beckton aren't going to take any additional classes this summer because we're going to Idaho for 5 or 6 weeks!

Memorial Day Weekend

2008-05-28T14:21:00.004-05:00

Morgan arrived home from Vegas safe and sound, we picked him up at noon on Monday and went to lunch! We didn't do anything exciting for the weekend...I went to a few garage sales (they are huge in here in Texas, tons every weekend and great stuff too... like new) and I finally found a patio table and chairs (6 chairs). I have looked for a long time, lots of CraigsList searching, but most people want just as much as new. These things can get pretty pricing too, I was amazed at how expensive they can be. So we are all excited to actually eat on the back patio! Remembering the troops past and present!

Long Day

2008-05-23T23:14:00.003-05:00

Friday.23.may.2008

We had a long day today...we took Morgan to the airport @ 5:30 this morning, then tried to catch a few more hours of sleep before Beckton and Jocelyn had gymnastics. Beckton refused to participate in gymnastics class, so we left early. Beckton's stubbornness provided the opportunity to get some things at the store (yeah). Morgan missed his flight by 5 or 10 minutes and got bumped to stand-by so we waited in limbo to see if he'd make it to Vegas for his meetings tonight (he finally got there around 9pm, long day for him). Jocelyn has a blast at gymnastics (always does) and is excited to take Karate this summer. Jocelyn and I are suffering from all the sun we got yesterday...TOO MUCH! The kids and I are enjoying the movie pass at Blockbuster that Morgan got us since he's been traveling so much. We never go to the movies so this a a great chance to catch up on all the ones we've missed in the last year or so. So, I get to pick one and the kids too (everyday)! Ciao

Swimming

2008-05-20T22:53:00.006-05:00

THE POOL

Took the kids to the pool last Friday while Morgan was in L.A. Beckton is still really reserved about getting all wet! It was great, there wasn't anyone else there so Jocelyn, Beckton and I had both pools to ourselves. I pushed the kids in the chariot and they loved seeing the neighborhood! Jocelyn is like a fish...but Beckton prefers to play in the sand and throw the balls in the pool!

First Post!

2008-05-20T22:12:00.000-05:00

Well, I have really wanted to start a blog starring our little family for a long while now and have finally decided IT'S TIME! So here we go...here's for keeping in touch with our family: Morgan, Robyn, Jocelyn and Beckton!