We Arrived

We arrived at our destination of Thatcher, AZ about 4 p.m. today! Phew! We survived the car ride. I have no complaints about the girls. They did EXCELLENT in the car. Even Nicole did great!

Instead of staying in Flagstaff yesterday, we continued on to Show Low, AZ, which was another two hours. We arrived in Flagstaff about 1 p.m. and decided to continue due to the fact that it was time for Nicole and Ashley to nap, which they did and made the additional two hours go well.

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express due to the fact that it was the first one we found with an indoor swimming pool (a must according to the girls). Show Low seemed comparable to Park City. It actually did have snow on the ground and I guess people travel here for skiing. However, it was relatively warm. Dave and I went shopping at Walmart (because I forgot to put Nicole's diapers and wipes in the car. They are currently still in Mendon......good thing I had some extras in the van) and we had short sleeve shirts on with jeans and no jackets.

The Walmart at Show Low made me appreciate the Walmart in Logan. There were SOOOO many people. It made the one in Logan look great. Even on a Saturday night!

The room was on the expensive side but when you don't make reservations I guess this is what you get. When we tried to get a room they said all of the double queen rooms were taken but we could get the double queen "suite", which had the jacuzzi tub and fireplace. We were desperate at this point so we went ahead and took it.

We had fun swimming with the girls last night after a pizza party in the hotel room. We also enjoyed swimming this morning after breakfast and before needing to check out from the motel. Our girls have turned into fish. Nicole did not come in the pool because I did not have a swim suit pulled out for her and at this point in her life she's not keen on the bathtub at home so imagine how she's be in a "really big" tub....yeah, not worth the effort. She did sit on the side this morning with Grandma Welker to watch. She didn't like the idea that Dave and I were in the pool but she quickly got over it and kept taking the girls goggles from the side of the pool.

We left Show Low about 11:30 and arrived in Thatcher about 4 p.m. The drive was pretty much uneventful accept for the bought of car sickness. Not far from Show Low we ended up going through the most windy pass I have ever experienced. The speed limit was between 25 and 30 and you kept going around and around and around. Little did we know we were about out of it when Hannah started crying in the back because she "had to pee". Well after we pulled off a trail road and unloaded everyone and had Hannah try to go potty it was brought to the attention that she was car sick. Poor girl has her mom's curse! Ashley said she was sick too but I think it was more for sympathy. Everyone was given time to stretch legs and get some air, drugged with Benedryl, given a "barf" bag and back in the car we went.

We kept telling the girls we would stop in a bit to get some lunch but the towns were so tiny and we were "so close" that we pushed through to arrive at Aunt Wendy's. By the time we had dinner they were starving to say the least. Thanks to Aunt Wendy we had yummy Hawaiian haystacks. One of my FAVS!!!!

Just as we were finishing up dinner, Uncle Glade and Grandpa Welker arrived. They left American Fork this morning at 5:20 and pushed through to arrive here at 6:30. I guess you can go much faster without kids! We are glad they are here with us and arrived safely. We will be awaiting for Aunt Erin to fly in sometime tomorrow!

Thatcher is not a very big place. Much smaller than I anticipated but they do have a Walmart in the next town, which is about five minutes from Wendy's house. I'm not sure what will be on the docket for entertainment but we'll go with the flow and enjoy the down time.

O yeah, the weather here got up to 63 degrees today! Sure hope it's like this tomorrow too! I'm going outside for a tan!!!!!

The Welkers are Going to Arizona

We are loaded up in the car and are on our way to visit Dave's sister in Thatcher, Arizona.

We left yesterday afternoon after church and lunch and headed to Dave's sister's in American Fork. We got up at 4 a.m. this morning, loaded the sleeping girls in the car, drove to Dave's other sister's in Lehi and picked up his mom and nephew, Landon, and we're on our way.

The girls slept to Beaver where we stopped for a potty break and gas. Can you believe we just paid $1.89 for gas in Beaver. What's going on. We drove past the next two exits and saw that we could have gotten it for $1.43. How can this be?

The goal for the morning is to get to Kanab, which is another 60 miles and stop for breakfast. We are trying to get to Flagstaff, AZ today and stop for the night at a hotel with an indoor swimming pool. This is a must according to Hannah and Ashley. We will then head the rest of the way to Thatcher tomorrow.

We did have a good Christmas at our house. It was a busy one and so I'll have to post about this later. I did remember to bring the camera but not the card reader to upload pictures. Oh well, I'll do multiple posts when we get home of Christmas and our trip.

Wish us luck in the car with the girls! The two oldest will be entertained by Landon and movies.....the concern will be Nicole.

Here we go!!!!

This is my life.....

The house was sparkling clean on Saturday and then we had Sunday. We tried making a new treat to pass out for our neighbor gifts this year and the girls had a good time entertaining themselves. As Dave and I went to bed last night, I noticed all of the "little things" scattered on the floor. I made the comment that raising three kids is quite interesting.

I was searching for a little saying to put on my neighbor gifts and I came across this saying that I want to hang up in my house. It fits my life perfectly so I thought I'd share:

"Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing is like shoveling the walk while it's still snowing!"

Enough said.

Decorating the Tree

Who me????

Yes you! Thus, no decorations on the bottom 1/3 of the tree!

Let It Snow!!!

After we got home from work and school today, the girls bundled up in their winter clothes and went outside to play in the first real snow of the year! They stayed outside for about an hour. I didn't get a picture of them on the golf cart but Hannah was ecstatic that it can go in the snow!

One's making a snowman and one's making a snow angel....

More of Princess Ashley

Here's Princess Ashley in her new Christmas dress.....we can't get it off her!!

First of Three TaVaci Performances

On Thursday, Hannah had her first of three TaVaci performances this month. It was for the Petersboro Relief Society Enrichment night. Hannah is so amazing when it comes to wanting to perform infront of a crowd. She did tell me she didn't do the moves too big because there were "thousands" of people watching. She did great though.

The lightinging was terrible in the cultural hall of the church. My pictures with the flash were dark and my pictures without the flash were blurry. Dave informed me that there was too much lighting for the flash but we were too far away to not use the flash. Oh well, at least she has two more peformances that I can get pictures of!

Don't forget Ashley.....she wants to be a princess too.....

O Christmas Tree

Tonight we loaded everyone in Dave's truck and headed in search of the perfect Christmas Tree. For the past four or five years, we have gotten our tree from the Merrill Family Christmas Tree stand. They have always had a good selection at a reasonable price.

This year it took us awhile to find the "right" tree. Everything seemed to be a bit on the scrawny side. After much searching, we were able to find one to bring home. Hannah and Ashley started getting a little too much energy by the time the tree was paid for. They were ready to go home and decorate it right away. They didn't understand that it needs to sit in the garage for a couple of days so the branches can unfold.

After picking the tree, Dave surprised us by taking us to dinner at Pier 49 Pizza. This is the first time I have eaten at the Providence location. Dave has been there a couple of times for lunch. Sad to say, we were not impressed. We had to wait 25 minutes for our pizza. They packaged it to go instead of to stay. The guy was suppose to bring us plates but Dave finally had to go ask for them. Our bread sticks came out after the pizza and the guy tried to take them away from us to give them to the table located behind us. Yea, not impressed. The price was outrageous too. We should have gone to Firehouse. Oh, well. Lesson learned. I'm pretty sure we won't be going here again.

Even though it ended on a bummer note with dinner, we still had fun. We came home and got the girls in their PJs and then went in the garage and cut the bottom off the tree and took some quick pictures before heading to bed.

All-in-all, it turned out to be a fun family home evening. This week is jam packed with activities, dentist, and night working for Dave so today was the only day we could go get the Christmas tree. I have to say the weather was wonderful. I'm use to picking out the tree in either the rain or snow accompanied by the cold wind. Tonight was rather pleasant.

Nicole was too busy checking out things in the garage and wouldn't hold still by the tree for a picture. This is why there's only Hannah and Ashley in the photos.

Here's a couple of pictures to enjoy......

Using the hand saw is for sissies......we go for the "real" saw.....

Doesn't Hannah look so sad? The Christmas tree stand gave each of the girls a glass heart ornament. Hannah's fell on the bathroom tile floor and shattered. It was a traumatic moment.

I'll post more as the events of the week pan out!

Thanksgiving

Each Thanksgiving brings two feasts for us. One with my side and one with Dave's side. Thursday is spent having dinner with my family and Friday is spend having dinner with the Welkers.

This Thanksgiving Thursday was celebrated in Mendon with Grandma Peterson. The dinner was yummy and the girls loved having Grandma here with us for most of the day. She even stayed with the girls for an hour while Dave and I ran to Logan to get a movie. We should have left her with the girls in Mendon and we could have gone to her house in North Logan for the night! Can you imagine the partying that would have gone on in Mendon!?!

As Dave and I were in Logan, we drove by the Staples and Best Buy shopping center and were amazed at the crazy people lined up outside of Best Buy. There was probably 20-30 of them. Crazy! Nothing is a good enough buy for me to stand outside all night waiting in line for Black Friday! We were in town about 6:30 p.m. They had a long night ahead of them. There was only one poor lonely guy sitting outside Staples. Best Buy must have had the better deal!

Friday, we headed to the Welker Ranch to be there by 1 p.m. for the opening of Grandma and Grandpa Welker's mission call. All of the Welkers were there either in person or via phone. And the call is......drum roll please.....Albuquerque, New Mexico serving with the LDS Family Services. From my understanding this is old stomping grounds for G'ma and G'pa Welker. In the early years of their marriage, they lived in Albuquerque, New Mexico where G'pa Welker taught seminary. They traveled many times to the reservations in this area. I believe they will feel right at home and they know the Lord is sending them to this place for a reason. They will report for their mission on February 2, 2009. The mission will be for 18 months.

Dinner with the Welkers was yummy and Hannah and Ashley enjoyed their time with cousins. G'ma Welker coordinated for everyone to go to the church to play dodge ball. Dave and the girls went for this activity and I headed home to give Nicole a much needed nap.

After dodge ball, everyone headed to Mendon for "movie night". The adults stayed downstairs chatting while kids were either up watching the movie with the surround sound and projector or they were outside taking advantage of the golf cart.

Ashley was so exhausted from the day's activities that she fell asleep during the movie. Hannah kept right on a chugging and finally crashed after everyone left at 9:15 p.m. Nicole stole the show with the adults with her teasing personality and when I mentioned it was time for night-night, she told everyone bye, blew them a kiss, and walked to her bed. Pretty impressive.

Saturday brought Dave helping his Dad at Ken's house (Dave's brother), me and Nicole taking a shopping trip with G'ma Peterson, and Hannah and Ashley enjoying more cousin time at the Welker Ranch. Again, the girls were exhausted by nights end and crashed until Sunday morning.

Sunday has brought a sick baby. Nicole has been struggling with a cold and today it's hit full force. She's been toting a 102.7 fever and wanting LOTS of snuggle time, which tells me that she does not feel good. I've been keeping her medicated and crossing my fingers that it passes quickly. Why do they always get sick when it's been a long weekend and now it's time to head back to work? Oh well, what do you do? They come first. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

I am really terrible at taking pictures at Thanksgiving. I have no pictures of the Welker day and I remember just before my mom left on Thursday to take some pictures. I guess I'll have to try harder next year!!!

I did get one......G'ma Peterson and the girls.......

Scrapbook Night

A co-worker had a watch party Friday night and all of us girls were invited. We decided to take advantage of "being away from the kids" and turned it into a scrapbook night. Oh, what fun we have on these nights! It's filled with food, fun, and scrapbooking!! Who could ask for more?

Two of us headed to Lewiston to the watch party. It has been quite awhile since I've journeyed to Lewiston and had to find the egg farm. I use to head this way a bit in my earlier days of going to Brooke's. Not only has it been awhile since I've been to Lewiston but we're heading there in the black of night. Needless-to-say, Jen and I did get lost. Not too bad though. After we figured out where the egg farm really was, we were on our way. How could we have missed it?!? The smell should have been the sign.

After the watch party, Jen and I headed to Bridgerland and met up with two others and we scrapbooked until 1 a.m.! Every girl needs to make sure and have "outs" like this. It's rejuvenating and tons of fun and yes, the time flies!!!

The only time I can scrapbook is when we have these get togethers. Hopefully this changes when we do get a computer here at home. I can't load my software on Dave's computer (oh yea, we digiscrap) so I'm limited of when I can scrapbook and I have to refresh my knowledge with the software each time so it seems as though I do not get alot done.

I haven't been going in any order for scrapbooking. Some here, some there. I have done a couple of pages of my Dad's funeral and a couple of pages for 2008.

Here's a little sample of what I did last night:

2008 book....

Page 2 of this layout is still under construction.....

My Dad's book.....

I can't wait until I scrapbook again!!! It's so addicting!

We've Been Out of Commission

Last Monday while I was using Dave's computer to type some recipes for a class I was teaching on Friday, the computer crashed. When we moved to Mendon, we were unable to bring a computer with us and we've been using Dave's laptop from work. It is amazing how useless you feel when you do not have a computer or the internet. Dave got his computer back today and so now I feel like we can get back in touch again. This has brought to life that I REALLY want a laptop for Christmas. It's been on the list for awhile and we've been looking. After this experience, I think it's at the TOP of the list!

Last week was pretty mellow. In fact, I didn't even take one picture! The only thing planned for was Dave heading to U of U for the Mountain Crest semi-final playoff football game and me teaching a 30-minute meal class for Fabulos Friday (enrichment night). Even though Mountain Crest lost by two, Dave said the game was really good to watch. My cooking class went alright. I was EXTREMELY nervous. I had 30 minutes to teach the class and I had some samples to try. I got nervous and talked really fast and was done in 15 minutes and ready to sample! Oh well! At least I'm new enough in the ward that if they didn't enjoy it, they'll never ask me to do it again! Always looking for the positive.

One sad event did happen during the week. A long time friend of the Welker family, a guy that served in the Bishopric with Dave's Dad, and a guy that lived on Hollow Road where we lived for the past 2 1/2 years was out walking Wednesday night with his daughter when he was hit by a truck. Arlin was critically injured in the accident and I'm sad to say that he passed away Saturday morning from the trauma to his body.

Both Arlin and his daugher were wearing emergency relector jackets but the driver did not see them. The daughter was not hurt in the accident. Its times like this when it reminds you to live life to the fullest each and every day for you never know when it will be someone you love's time to leave earth. Tonight as I was looking around my house you would never know that it was sparkling clean on Saturday. Now, it is a cluttered mess. I have three little tornados. However, I look at it and am very thankful for my girls and I'm very thankful for the opportunity to have the toys on the floor because it means that they are in my life. I am also very thankful for an amazing husband sitting here next to me on the couch while I am typing.

Dave's Dad has been asked to speak at Arlin's funeral. I'm sure he will do an amazing job. I'm sure he is honored to be considered for this task.

I cannot believe it is already November 17! Where has this month gone? Next week is Thanksgiving and then comes the craziness of Christmas shopping! Dave was hoping to not put up Christmas lights this year but Hannah has been asking for the past two days when we're putting up the lights! I do love the holiday seasons and the feelings it brings inside. It's fun to now see excitement through a child's eyes. The weather has been and is suppose to be amazing for the entire week. As soon as we're ready to put up the lights it will be freezing cold. Isn't this how it's suppose to be?

The computer made it through the whole post! Yeah! We're on the right track! Hopefully, I'll get some pictures this week! Until next time.....

Oh, The Life of a Three Year Old

You play hard all day......then crash!

A History Making Moment

I am using my blog as a form of a "journal" and because of this, I wanted to make an entry regarding the historical event that has occurred with the recent election of the 44 President of the United States.

As everyone is well aware, Barak Obama is the President-elect. He will become the 44 President of the United States of America in January 2009. Obama will be the first black president of the United States. Whether Obama or McCain were to win the election it was going to be a history making event. We would either end up with the first black President or the first woman Vice President.

As the elections were coming to a close, either way when I would think about the next president I would get an eerie feeling in my stomach. I wasn't particularly impressed with either candidate. The US is in a very interesting state. The next few years will be an interesting ride. I can only hope that as a whole, America will stand together and we will survive!

Rootbeer Floats...the Best Treat Ever

Tonight we had rootbeer floats for our Sunday treat. YUMMMM. We pulled out the "cool" glasses as Hannah called them.

Here's some pictures of the event!

Ashley, can you try to keep your eyes open? Yep!

Nicole enjoyed them too. She's asking for more.

A Pirate, Snow White and a Cow, Oh My!

I think the girls had a Happy Halloween this year. It was a busy one and by the time the night was over, everyone was exhausted.

The Halloween festivities began with all three girls getting ready to go Trick or Treating at Traci's house after I got off work. We headed to Lee's Marketplace for some Trick or Treating at 3:45. Lee's does an annual Trick or Treat that usually ends around 6 p.m. Of course this year they had to change it and it ended at 4 p.m., so we were rushed to get there. I did see that going at the end was the best! The girls were getting handfuls of candy put in their buckets. They were in heaven!

After Lee's we headed to the Logan Nursing & Rehab Center to meet up with Traci and some of the other daycare kids. It is a tradition of Traci's to take the daycare kids trick or treating at the nursing home. This is the first year I have been able to tag along. I love the thought that the older people do not scare my kids. To them it is fun to go there and trick or treat and I'm sure the older people love having the kids come to see them. We did have one little incident.....one of the residents was coming home with me. In fact, she had her purse and was following me right out the door. When I asked her where she was going, she looked at me and said she was coming with me. I politely said that I didn't bring her here so she couldn't come with. She said OK and headed back inside. This isn't the first time this has happened to me at a nursing home. I guess this is why I have a bit of a phobia of going to them.

From the nursing home we were off to Grandma Nana's. Trick or Treating at Nana's does not result in a treat from the treat bucket.....you get a "bag" of treats premade by grandma. In the bag this year was some chocolate chip cookies, small candy bars, a can of apple juice, and a dollar. Score!! The girls love going to Nana's to visit. Her house is not "child proof" so it's a little nerve racking for me with an active baby. It was a good visit though.

I love how innocent kids are. Ashley asked Nana why here arms were wrinkled. We also trick or treated to Nana's neighbor. She's a cute little 90+ year old lady. She probably only stands about four feet tall. She answers the door and Ashley says, "Why are you so short?" Gotta love them!!!

After Nana's it was time to do a little trick or treating around Grandma Peterson's neighborhood. The girls went to four houses that they love visiting.

Now it's time to head to Mendon to trick or treat our neighborhood.....and trick or treat we did.....Welker style. Dave was home waiting for us. He had the golf cart all ready to go with the strobe red light on top. They girls were in heaven using the golf cart to get around. The highlight was going to the bishop's house and not getting candy but roasting a hotdog over a bon fire. They also were roasting marshmallows and had hot chocolate. It was fun taking some time to chat with some of the other ward members. After all was said and done, I forgot to take a picture of us in the golf cart. Oops! Maybe next year.

Next year I have decided that we are not going trick or treating, we are going to stay home so the girls can have the thrill of handing out candy. I really think Hannah had more fun doing this than she did getting the candy. She had a stool pulled over to the front door and she would hold the bowl while looking out the side window and waiting for someone to come. Her excitement when someone was coming up the driveway was so fun to see.

We fed Nicole a little dinner and then decided to head to Grandma and Grandpa Welker's to trick or treat. On our way to the Welker Ranch, we stopped by a house of a lady Dave works with at Mt. Crest. Her yard was totally decked out with decorations and the girls thought that was great. She had been waiting for them and again they SCORED! They left with candy, a glow in the dark wand, a glow in the dark necklace, and a glow in the dark bracelet.

The visit with Grandma and Grandpa Welker was fun but towards the end everyone was exhausted. Nicole finally layed on the floor with her blanket and you could see in her eyes that she was saying, "come one guys.....I'm so tired!" We got back to Mendon at 9 p.m. and it was lights out!!!

Good thing it only comes once a year!!!!!

I had to add this picture......I couldn't get Nicole to hold still long enough to get a group picture so Hannah decided to hold her by the tail. I think the saying usually is "Grab the bull by the horns.....not Grab the cow by the tail."

Pumpkin Carving

We're a little slow this year but we finally took the time last night to carve and paint pumpkins. It really turned out to be a fun evening with the girls. We celebrated with homemade pizza for dinner and a bath!

Let the painting begin.....(take note that it's still daylight out the window)

Ashley, my little Picaso......(take note that it is now dark out the window)....she painted her pumpkin for over 45 minutes. She kept asking if I LOVED her pumpkin. She was super proud!

The final product.......

Nicole, Where Are You?

Wednesday night I was in the bedroom helping Hannah and Ashley was at the counter finishing her treat. I knew Nicole had walked into the bathroom but I was aware that the toilet lid was down so what trouble could she get in? I remember hearing a bit of a thud but no crying followed so I fluffed it off. After finishing with Hannah, I went searching for Nicole and this is where I found her.......

Completely proud of herself......but......it doesn't end here......

I finished taking pictures of her, left her in the tub to play with the toys, and walked to the kitchen to put the camera in the cabinet. I was gone no more than 30 seconds. Upon my return, she was out of the tub! I turned to Hannah and asked if she'd gotten Nicole out. NO....she was getting ready for bed. Ashley was in her room getting ready for bed. THE LITTLE STINKER CLIMBED OUT!! Oh dear, I think we're in trouble!!

Tagged by Jen T......

7 THINGS I CAN DO:
*bake
*cook (yes, baking and cooking are different!!)
*ride a bike
*scrapbook
*read
*make people laugh
*love my kids and husband

7 THINGS I CAN'T DO:
*ice skate (tried to learn at 18.....bad move)
*snow ski
*gleek
*sing (I think I'm pretty good in the shower though)
*text (it's much easier for me to just dial the number and chat)
*I can never find the picture inside the 3D/4D pictures.....totally bugs me!!
*drive a motorcycle

7 THINGS THAT ATTRACT ME TO MY HUBBY:
*his optimism
*his laid back attitude
*his ability to be a good dad to our three girls
*his ability to fix most anything
*his looks
*his big heart
*his willingness to serve others

7 THINGS I ALWAYS SAY:
*get your clothes changed!
*we're leaving in five minutes!
*don't talk, touch, or look at each other!
*Ashley, take your finger out of your mouth
*Are you kidding me?
*Whatever
*Bless it and Release it (you have to see the hand and foot movement with this one)

7 THINGS I LOVE TO EAT:
*chocolate chip cookie dough
*Grandma Nana's famous homemade fudge (I have some now...it's so good!)
*pizza
*paprika chicken from Copper Mill
*scrambled eggs with cheese
*Utah truffle from El Sol
*chicken alfredo
*diet coke

7 FRIENDS I TAG:
*Emily Snow
*Jessie H
*Risa A
*Heather E
*Kendal
*Brianne
*Pat

Another Week Gone By

It has been a week since I last posted. Last week was a busy week but nothing major or exciting occured. I can't really think of what to post, so I'll go ahead and give a recap of the days.


Monday
Nicole had her one year check up on Monday. She ended up with a clean bill of health and six shots. Yes, six shots. Five vaccines and a flu shot. Poor girl. She actually handled it quite well. She was upset with the shot idea and made sure I heard about it all the way back to Traci's from the doctor's office. As far as soreness, oneryness, or fever, she had nothing. What a champ.


Nicole weighs 19 pounds 13 ounces (25%), she's 28 1/2 inches long (25%), and her head circumference is 45 (40%). She's doing great!


Tuesday
This day ended up having Dave find someone to cover his Peer Court so I could go to an Enrichment Committee meeting. Well, after driving around trying to find the house that the meeting was at, I came home to contact the leader. Yea, the meeting was changed to Thursday night. Oops! They forgot to call and let me know.



Wednesday
This is a busy night of the week. This night is gymnastics for Ashley and TaVaci (singing/performing group) for Hannah. After work, I met Dave at the Sheriff's Office so I could get a flu short. How bizarre is it that the jail nurse gave me my flu shot? I actually had to walk to the medical area of the jail. I did see some inmates fixing dinner and I remember one lying in a cell. A little freaky!!!


Dave decided to tag along for the running around of kids so we were off to pick up Ashley and Nicole from Traci's to get Ashley over to the Sports Academy for gymnastics. We watched her for 20 minutes and then ran back to Traci's to pick up Hannah and take her to TaVaci. Hannah's treat on Wednesday is getting out of school at 1 p.m. instead of 3 p.m. and getting to stay longer at Traci's while Ashley is taken to gymnastics.


Grandma Peterson gets off work early on Wednesdays to pick Ashley up from gymnastics (4:45) while I run Hannah to TaVaci which begins at 4:50. We loves grandma!!! After dropping Hannah off, Dave, Nicole, and I met Grandma P and Ashley at Albertson's for a few groceries. Once that was done we picked up Hannah at 5:45 and headed home.


Phew! Wednesdays are crazy!!


Thursday
Dave had a Mt Crest football game Thursday at 7 p.m. and Hannah and Ashley were scheduled for flu shots at 5:10. After work, I picked up the girls from Traci's and we went shopping for clothes for Hannah. Some shopping was done with no luck in finding pants for Hannah that she will wear. We went for flu shots and then to dinner with Grandma P at Chili's (the girls favorite). After dinner, we went to DI looking for clothes for Hannah. She is going through a hard stage right now where she won't wear any clothes. There is something wrong with EVERYTHING! We actually found her a bunch of winter shirts, two skirts, and a pair of pants. She was in heaven! She loves her new shirts, wore one of her new skirts to church on Sunday and actually wore her new pair of pants to school today with out bocking at anything. Small miracles do happen!


Friday
Dave had to work this night doing shoulder tap, which is where they get young kids (decoys) to try and get adults to purchase alcohol for them. So, with Dave going to work us girls decided to play!


Thursday while at Grandma P's Hannah saw a commerical for High School Musical 3. It came to the theatre on Friday. She so badly wanted to go. She asked if Grandma could take her Friday night. I told her that I would check online to see if there were still seats available but I was thinking that it would be sold out where it was opening day.


Friday while dropping Hannah off for school, she reminded me to check online for tickets. While looking for tickets and chatting with my mom we decided to take both Hannah and Ashley to the movie for a "girls date" and we had Grandpa Welker watch Nicole.


The movie was interesting. I think I left a total of four times to take kids to the bathroom (note to self.....don't share the big drinks with the kids......bad idea!). Hannah even got to the point that she went three times by herself! Ashley had ants in her pants. She could not hold still. I think through it all we got the jest of the movie and Hannah seemed to love it.


After picking up Nicole from the Welker's, we headed to Paradise for dinner at the Cracker Barrell. Again, Ashley could not hold still but we survived. We lost Nicole's binki in the car on the ride to drop Grandma P off at her car. We still couldn't find it and had to drive from Providence to Mendon with Nicole hysterically crying in the car because she was tired and wanted the binki. We survived....barely!


Saturday
Dave headed south with his brother to a snowmobile show in Salt Lake. The girls and I headed to town after Nicole's morning nap and went shopping to get Grandma P a new cell phone and to Sam's club for a few household things. The rest of the afternoon/night was spent at home. HURRAY!


Sunday
This was the regular church day and then Hannah and Ashley were picked up by Grandma P to spend the afternoon with her. Me, Dave, and Nicole had our Sunday afternoon naps and then headed to Grandma P's for a yummy steak dinner and to pick up the two girls. It's always fun having a nice relaxing and lazy Sunday afternoon.


Monday
Here we are to Monday again. I woke up this morning with a head cold so that's a bummer. All four of us (me, Dave, Hannah, and Ashley) went to the dentist after work and school today. I am happy to report that there were no cavities! Hurray!!!! They do want Hannah to go back and have a sealer put on her permanent molars. I need to check into it with the insurance company and then decide if it's a good thing to do. I guess it's for preventative measures. Has anyone done it with your kids? I'd love to hear your thoughts.


Here we go with another week. We'll keep you posted!

Some other fun weekend things.....

Here's a few other fun things I captured with the camera over the weekend.

Dave and I have been trying to break Ashley from her finger sucking habit. Thursday night I put some oregano spice on her finger nails so she wouldn't put them in her mouth. Outside the bedroom door was some of Nicole's socks on the floor that needed to be put away. When Dave and I went to bed this is how we found Ashley:

I guess she didn't want to take any chances of putting her fingers in her mouth!

Dave changed the oil in the van on Friday afternoon. Nothing like starting them young with learning how to maintain the car!

Happy Birthday Nicole

Nicole turned one on Friday! I cannot believe how quickly this past year has gone. Thursday and Friday was UEA (Fall Break) so me, Dave, and Hannah were all out of school. Even though Friday was Nicole's official birthday we didn't celebrate until today. She did do a few fun things on Friday. She went for rides with Hannah in the golf cart. Dave strapped the car seat in the golf cart for safety. She had her first day of walking outside with shoes and no walker. She played in her car seat, which was out of the van while I vaccuumed, fell out and received her first scraped nose. She also got to spend the night at Grandma Peterson's so Dave and I could have a date night (Ashley and Hannah were at Grandma and Grandpa Welker's with cousins). What a big day for just turning one.

Golf Cart Fun

Notice the scraped Nose and bonk on the forehead....

Tonight was the official birthday party. What a treat it was to have Great Grandma Nana come for the celebration. We had her with us for dinner and for the cake and ice cream celebration. Grandma Peterson, Grandma Welker, and Grandpa Welker were also here to celebrate.

Me, Hannah and Ashley baked and decorated Nicole's cake.

Nicole wasn't too sure about having her own piece of birthday cake. It took her a few minutes but then she got the hang of "digging in". Her favorite part was putting the frosting in her hand and squishing it between her fingers.

I believe Hannah and Ashley had more fun playing with her new toys than Nicole did. She got a piano caterpillar from Grandma Peterson, some fun playing balls from Grandma Nana, and a ball slide from Mom, Dad, and the girls. The theme for this year must have been balls!

For just turning one, Nicole is a goer. She has been walking now for three weeks. Give her three more and she'll probably be running. Hannah taught her how to climb the stairs on Friday so we now have to watch her. She can go up but she can't come down.....well, she can it's just much quicker than it should be. She can say a few words.....ought oh, dad, mom, kitty, and hi. She can sign for more and all done.

Nicole is such a fun baby. She can bring a smile to anyone's face. We love having her in our family. I can't imagine life without her.

We love you Nicole! Happy Birthday!