Doll House

This doll house is the girls' main Christmas gift. Santa left it at our house while we were in UT, so they woke up this morning to a fun surprise!

Do I Look Like My Daughters?

These pics are hilarious. Tucker draped the girl's hair over his. I think I like him best with his dark brown hair!! ha ha

Tucker as Lexi

Tucker as Jordyn

Christmas Day

We woke up this morning at Gam and Pa's house and Santa Claus brought the girls some fun presents! We hung out for the morning and then in the afternoon we visited Tucker's Grandma and Grandpa for a bit, and then made our way out to Jeff and Lynda Ann's house for dinner and more games.

Christmas Eve!

We had quite the full Christmas Eve day. Our first event was the blessing of Tiffany's baby Eliza. Tiffany asked Tucker to bless her, and he was honored to do so. Then we came back to have a wonderful Christmas dinner with Tucker's family (thanks to Jeannine for another great dinner!), and afterwards some games and presents! It's always a full house (with 15 kids under the age of 10) and lots of fun.

It was so cold and windy!

The girls in their cute Christmas dresses (thanks Grandma Blasco!)

Me with Tiff and Eliza

Action shot of Christmas dinner!

Baby Cousins

This is Peyton with her cousin Brock (Maren and Greg's newest baby). They are 2 1/2 months old and just got to meet for the first time! They've both got red hair and cute big cheeks.

Grandma and Grandpa Sealy

We had fun stopping off in St. George last night to see Tucker's Grandma and Grandpa Sealy. We don't get to see them often and are glad the girls get a chance to get to know their great-grandparents. Thanks for the great food Grandma Shirl!!

Yummy Treat!

Today Lexi helped me make some treats for Jordyn's preschool teachers (while she was at preschool today). They are called Tollhouse Marble Squares and are SO yummy! Here's the recipe in case you want to try them!

1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup softened butter or margarine
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp water
2 cups quick oats
2 eggs
1 12 oz pkg chocolate chips

Mix butter, sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, water and eggs in a mixing bowl. Add flour, baking soda and salt. Stir in oats. Spread in a greased 13X9 pan. Sprinkle chocolate chips over dough. Bake @ 375. Put in oven for two minutes, then run a knife through it to marbleize. Return to oven and bake for 18-20 minutes. Cool and cut into squares.

Christmas Festivities

It's fun to have friends who feel like family. That is how the Thurston's are for us. We had a little get-together with them last night and it was lots of fun!!!

The kids!

Dane and Tucker playing with a car jack

Me, Beth and the babes

Holiday Cheer

I am trying to maintain a positive attitude of Holiday Cheer, but I haven't been very successful. I'm letting the stress of preparing for our trip/long drive get the best of me. I actually want to cry at the thought of all that has to be done before we go.

Speaking of crying, this one just about did it to me too: I got a new cell phone on Saturday, finally - I've put up with cell phone probs forever. We renewed our contract, so we got the $250 phone for only $50. Well, today one of my children (to remain nameless) accidentally dropped it in the toilet (and let's just say what was in the toilet wasn't #1). Mmm hmmm, yep, that's right. So now I don't have a cell phone and they don't cover that under warranty So to get a new one again would cost the full $250. Yep, now you understand why I want to cry.

Merry Christmas.

Birthday, etc

Lyric turned 2 on Thursday! We had a pizza party for her - Aunt Jamie did her Elmo cake!

My girls this morning, in their jammies - so cute!

Ode to Derek

Tucker's long lost (not really, but sort of!) younger brother Derek is living across the world in China, and has been for nearly a year. He is an incredible high diver and is part of a show in China doing stunt dives. He loves it there so much that it doesn't seem like he'll be coming home anytime soon! We miss him a lot! But we're glad he's loving what he does and showing off his talent of diving. Here are some pics of him...

Pirate Derek on a dive

Derek on the side of a bus in an ad for his show

Derek does dives from 80+ feet high, and sometimes into water as shallow as 10 ft deep! He might be crazy!!!!

Sheep, Sick Baby and Piano Recital

Things have seemed extra busy lately. Mostly good things though....

Sunday night Jordyn had a Christmas program with her pre-school, where she dressed up as a sheep and sang songs. It was cute.


On a not-so-good note, Peyton has been sick for over a week. She's got a bad cold and we've been worried it could be RSV. I took her to the dr today and the test came back negative for RSV, but she's on antibiotics and so we hope that will do the trick. It's extra scary when they get sick at 6 weeks old. But she hasn't' slowed down her eating and today weighed in at 14 lbs! Nearly doubled her weight! She's a chunk!


Tonight was Jordyn's first piano recital. She was sooooo nervous. She did a group song with her class, and then played Mary Had A Little Lamb by herself. We were so proud of her! My mom, dad, Kristy and Ryan came with us to support her, which was very nice and helped her through it.



Whew, and that's just a few highlights of the past few days! If only I could get decent night sleep! I'm sure it will happen sometime in the next year, right?

Silly Aunt Kristy

My kids just adore and idolize their Aunt Kristy (my 17 year old sister). She is so fun and so good with them! The other day Jordyn said "Mom, when Lexi is big, she will be Kristy because she has blonde hair, right?". I thought that was funny. It's always fun to have Kristy around and we'll be sad when she leaves for college next year!!

First Smiles!

Peyton has been smiling occasionally the past few weeks, but the past couple days she has started to smile on-demand! Here are her first smiles captured on camera!

thinkin' about it...

ok, here I go!

Yeah, I know I'm cute stuff!

I sure love my daddy!

Christmas in the Summer?

You might think that we celebrate Christmas in the summertime with how my kids are dressed in this picture. But no, this is how they insist on dressing, even now that its cold! I've given up fighting it when we're just at home, but its like pulling teeth to get them dressed decently when we have to actually go somewhere.

It was a little embarrassing the other day - we were putting up our Christmas lights outside and our neighbor commented "My, you sure have warm blooded kids!" as they were running around in swimsuits! I just told her that I pick my battles (as my mother taught me to do), and I wasn't picking that one today!

What is Life Like With Three Kids?

I've had a few of my friends who are near having #3 child as me this question. Here is my answer for today:

With two kids I felt busy, but like I could still stay "on top" of things. I still felt like I could be organized most (not all, but most) of the time, and, for my personality, this helped me feel sane. Well, I can no longer say that I feel "on top of" anything! Having this third child to care for, wash clothes for, feed, bathe, be up all night with, etc. has pushed me beyond the point of staying organized (mentally or physically!). It's been hard for me to constantly feel behind. I'm late everywhere and feel frazzled everywhere I go! I know SOME of this can be attributed to having a 6 week old. But I'm also trying to learn to have more patience and flexibility because there is no way for every single aspect of my life to feel perfectly organized the way I would like it to be with three children. With all their love and sweetness, they also bring with them lots of opinions, tantrums, fights, messes, etc! I've really been running the quote in my mind over and over "Life's a journey, not a destination"!!!

edited to add: This is what I mean...here are some pics of things that happened just TODAY - by both of my children! ugh. And I'm hardly ever farther than 10 feet from them. They are lightning fast.

Harmony Performance Time

I posted about Harmony last year at this time (here) and it's that time of year again! We have our performances (11 of them) during these few weeks. It always adds some extra busy-ness to my schedule to add this in! I wasn't able to perform last season (in May) because I was so sick and pregnant, but this season I joined back in. It's hard for me to believe that this season completes the fourth year I've been in Harmony. My mom was in it most of my life, so it's still strange sometimes to think I am doing the same thing she did for so many years. I'm by no means a great singer, but I enjoy it still.

Here's a video clip (very short) of one of our songs. Remember to turn off the music below to hear it!

How it Is

Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos

Elmer's Glue

I knew Elmer's glue was versitile, but I'd never thought it could be used for a baby's hair bow! I have been wanting to put little bows in Peyton's hair because the headband kind don't always stay on or fit well. I remember when Kristy was a baby, my mom used KY Jelly for her hairbows, but I didn't have any so I looked online to see what else people used. Anothe suggestion was Karo Syrup, but someone said their favorite was Elmer's glue!! So I tried it, and it works great! You just get it wet when you want to take the bow out and it comes right off.



By the way, this baby is growing at rapid speeds! I can hardly keep up with her milk demands and every morning when I look at her, I hardly recognize her - she is changing so fast! She is so sweet and cuddly and fun to have around. I am pleasantly surprised what a big helper Jordyn is. I even let her feed her a bottle the other day and she did great! Lexi is cute with her too, giving her little hugs and kisses as she walks by. I love my three girls!

Babies - Inside and Out!

Just thought I'd post these "before and after" pics of my really close friend, Beth, and I. She was such a lifesaver to me during our pregnancies and now that our babies are less than three weeks apart, she continues to be a sanity saver for me! We can pick up the phone and have tired zombie-like conversations and we both understand exactly what the other is going through. It's great! I love her so much and it amazes me that you can meet someone in your late 20's and have them be a sister-like friend - as if you've known them forever. That's how she is to me. Thanks Beth! I wish you luck sleeping tonight....ha ha ha, ya right!

Lexi's Birthday, etc.

We had a nice Thanksgiving. We all got together at our house, and it would have been a wonderful occasion had I not been hit with the 24 hour flu! Ugh, it hit right before dinner and I was miserable and had to crawl into bed! What a hostess, huh? But it was still fun to have the whole family together for most of the weekend. (Notice Alyson's "Indian Hat"? I thought it was interesting to learn that at school she was taught to call it a "Native American Hat" - I guess to be more politically correct...)

Lexi turned 3 years old the day after Thanksgiving. We had a little party for her at my parents' house and, per her request, I made her an Little Mermaid doll cake. She is such a cutie and little ray of sunshine bouncing around. Happy Birthday Lexi!

We grabbed our Christmas tree tonight. Since we're not going to be home for Christmas this year, we wanted to enjoy the tree and decorations as much as possible! We put up the tree tonight and then we'll decorate it tomorrow. It's fun to see how much the kids love special times like this more and more as they get older. They thought it was so fun to pick out a tree, even though it was only at Home Depot!!

Passing the Baton....

This is Lindy with Lyric and Peyton, but the baby-in-arms look will be a permanent fixture for her come next summer!!

Since I've officially retired as the "pregnant one" in the family, I thought I'd officially announce who I've passed the baton to! Lindy is the next one to take over the title of "pregnant one"! She is due in July! She's already begun to feel some of the yucky symptoms pregnancy can bring! I wish her luck on this journey - since it will all be (too) fresh in my memory, I hope I can be of some help to her as she was to me!! Congrats to Lindy and Mike! This will be #6 grandbaby...will it be a 6th girl? or will Lindy break the pink-streak???

My Little Photographer

I just love the pictures Jordyn takes! Many times there are surprises on my camera when I download my pics to the computer. Here are a few cute ones she took today (even the one of herself - she knows how to use the timer!).

Sour Cream?

I got a kick out of this one:

I was changing the baby's diaper and her bottom was a little red, so I put some creamy Desitin on it. Jordyn walked up right then and said "Mom, why are you using sour cream on her bottom?"

Oh, what the world must be like from the perspective of a child!!! :-)

Family of Five

This is our little family this past weekend. It's wierd to see a picture and realize we have THREE kids! Sounds like a strange thing to say, but it's still taking a while to sink in!

Tiffany and Eliza

It finally happened! Tiffany is in China with Eliza in her arms!!!! Yay!! I don't know much more than that, but their beautiful first picture together is posted on her site, here. I am SOOOOOOO excited for her and I can't wait to meet little Eliza!!! Congrats Tiff!!!

More Peyton!

Another Peyton post...here's a little video clip. Not that she does any fun tricks yet, but it shows her awake. You can see her cute dimple in her left cheek, and I love how she moves her little hands constantly. She's already two weeks old tomorrow! (turn off music at the bottom to watch this)

More Pics

I keep trying to capture EXACTLY what Peyton looks like in a photo...but I think the problem is you can't capture the sweet baby-ness of a newborn in a still photo! Here are a few pics from tonight. Some of these show her cute red hair next to Jordyn's and mine.