Disneyland Pictures

Hey Y'all (tribute to the time we spent in the South)! Here are the pictures of Disneyland. I have tried to upload them to the original post about 5 times and it keeps kicking me out. Frustrating to say the least. So here we go...


Kobie, Cole and Me on Splash Mountain!!!

Kai going on the slide in Goofy's Playhouse.

Kobie and Cole in line for Pirates of the Caribbean.

Corey and me in line for Pirates of the Caribbean.
Kai is asleep on my shoulder that is why he is not pictured here.

The Barker Boys in the Pirates line.

Kai and me in line for the Nemo Sub ride.
I'm not closterphobic but I was a little uncomfortable in there.

The boys in the hotel room watching Cars 2. Kai was seriously enthralled.

Septmeber and turning 30

Well I joined the adult world this month and turned 30. I don't know why but I just felt like I was still looked at as a kid even though I have been working for years and I have 3 children, both of which scream not a kid. No I don't feel old but I have noticed some changes with my body, maybe it is subconscious but still there are changes. I had a wonderful birthday with many birthday wishes. I'm a little goofy and I love to make cakes and decorate them, So I told Corey that I was going to make my cake. It was a chocolate cake with raspberry creme in the middle with a lavender fondant on top with small little white flowers. My big helper Kai tried to taste it before it was time or done but it gave the cake character. I have loved spending time with my family and they made me feel special.

So since I did turn 30 this year I made a goal to get back in shape. Yes part of it was that we just had Kai last year and the other part is people always say the older you get the hard it is to lose that unwanted fluff. I am happy to report some great progress. Yes I have little more that I would love to tone up but if not I am happy with what I have. So since January I have lost 26 pounds and a total of 13 inches on my body. I was surprised this morning when I added it all up. But since President Uchtdorf's talk on Saturday night I have decided to be patience with myself and celebrate my successes, since "Heavenly Father is proud of our successes no matter how small."

California and Disneyland

For Memorial Day we decided to take the kids down to California for the weekend and we made a little stop at Disneyland. We didn't tell the kids till they came home from school, wahaha (that was my being sneaky laugh) and saw all the bags. We were a little worried it was going to be a long ride there because of a forest fire that California was having. The HP closed the major freeway going through Cajon Pass but it had opened back up by the time we got there. We were however escorted by an officer, well us and a bunch of other cars.

We stayed in Costa Mesa and the hotel was wonderful. On Saturday when we got to Disneyland we had to park in the remote parking lot due to the marathon that was going on that weekend. But it was not a problem at all, by the time we left the park most of the people parked by us had left. The park was open from 9 am to midnight that day and we were hard core and stayed the WHOLE time. Corey and I were a bit surprised that we were a little sore the next morning but I guess 15 hours of walking will do that to a body. All of us had a great time. Kai even rode on some rides. I would have to say the most memorable experience was when we all went on The Teacups. We all squeezed into one cup and Corey and the boys had that thing going very fast. Kai put both of his hands in the air and was yelling Woo Hoo! He loved it and the big boys loved it. The mom didn't love it so much. I was kind of "green" for a little while but recovered nicely.

Sunday night we ordered a movie in the hotel room. It was Cars 2 and it was super fun and cute. Kobie, Cole and Kai were glued to the TV. We have a great picture of Kobie laughing, his head is back with his mouth wide open. Unfortunately it is on Corey's phone and he is not home right now to email it to me. But I will post of the 3 glued to the tube.

Monday we went to the beach in the morning before we left to go home. It was overcast and very cold, needless to say Kai and I did not get in the water. Corey got out there long enough to take pictures of Kobie and Cole but Kobie and Cole had a wonderful time. As we were walking back to the car I noticed a family and I thought the husband looked familiar. As I looked again he recognized me and asked, "Is that a Shupe?" The family was the Allred family I babysat for them in Las Vegas as a child. They now live in Arizona but were visiting his sister. Mom and Dad thought that was fun when we told them. It really is a small world after all! : )

(Yet again I will have to post pictures separate. My email has not received them yet. Argh!)

 Cole on the 1st day of First Grade.

 Kobie on the 1st day of Fifth Grade.

 Getting ready to walk to school for the first time ever!

(we rode the bus in Georgia)

Oh the bright sun!

First Days of School 2011

So school has been in session going on the 3rd week, but its better late than never. Right?

Kobie started 5th grade this year. The way that the school is doing 5th this year is that all the classes rotate to all of the 5th grade teachers. The thinking behind this is to get them ready for middle school next year. :/ (that is a I can't believe it face) So Kobie has 5 teachers; one for math, one for reading, one for writing, one for Social Studies and one that does everything, she is kind of like the study hall teacher. It's been okay so far but there is one teacher that we will be keeping a close watch on. Nothing terrible but there have been a couple situations between Kobie and our friend across the street that makes us a little weary. Now that sounds bad, the teacher seems to be on a power trip, that's all. Kobie is learning how to manage his time with homework and being able to go outside and play. It has been really good for him. All in all he is still enjoying school.

Cole our sweet little 1st grader has been enjoying school so far. When we went to open house his teacher Ms. Williamson was excited to have him in her class. She said she thought that they would get along well from what she could see of him. She loved his personality. He does have a fun personality if I say so myself. He has been enjoying all of his specials: art, p.e., science, music, library, and technology. This week his homework started and he comes straight home and does his math. It is fun helping both of them with their homework.

Starting at the new school was a little hard for both of the boys. Each of them came home the first week, on separate days thank goodness, sad because they didn't have a friend to play with at recess. It's a sad day when your child comes home and says that they have no one to play with. But Corey and I talked to them and said if no one is playing with you find someone you want to play with and ask if you can play or be their friend. Since then we've not had anymore of those sad after school talks. I know that may change down the road in a few years but right now we are good.

Kai and I have been having fun playing, cleaning the house and running errands while the big kids are at school. I will admit that there are days that I have a nap with Kai, hey it is hard work being a mom but I love it! We walk to school in the mornings and walk home in the afternoon. This week has been rainy so they have gotten rides to school but in the afternoon the rain has stopped so we walk to get them. Kai cries in the morning when the kids go into the school, he loves his brothers so much! Then when we get them in the afternoon he giggles when he see them coming toward us. I have enjoyed the walking. It is about 30-35 mins to and from the school and we do that twice a day. My only complaint is the traffic on Durango but that will get better with time. There was a police man out there today and had someone pulled over. A couple more days of that and maybe people will acknowledge that we are in the crosswalk.

We did have a fun summer and I loved having an extended one because of moving from Georgia but I am happy that the kids are back in school. I will add pictures later it is not letting me do it now.

Clean garage, vomit, the Big Shot and more vomit...

Great title right? Well that is pretty much my week in a nutshell. I've been wanting to clean the garage, well put the rest of the boxes away, for a while so that we could put Corey's car in the garage, there just hasn't been time till now. So on Monday I was determined to get it done. At one point it looked like it would have to wait for another day but I finally was able to get it done. So when Corey opened the garage to come in from work he had a little surprise and was able to pull right in and dinner was about ready to boot.

But the bliss of the clean garage was short lived. Monday night/ Tuesday morning Kai starting throwing up. This has gone on the last 5 days, needless to say we are taking a visit to the pediatrian tomorrow. He has been fine all day, playing, more or less happy and then in the evening he'll have his little episode and then be jumping around right after it is done. But the past two days he has been a little more irritable so we are going to find out what it going on.

On Friday it was our ward's Fathers and Sons and they were camping out at the church, behind the church. Well Corey wanted to do something special so he took the big boys (Kobie and Cole) to the Stratosphere Hotel to ride the Big Shot. For anyone who doesn't know it is a big space needle looking building with some thrill rides on top. The Big Shot does exactly what it sounds like, it shoots you up in the air about 45 MPH then you free fall and shoot back up a little bit. This goes on for a minute until you get back to the platform. Corey got the picture of the three of them and it is priceless. Yes both boys were scared but they did enjoy their time with Daddy.

Friday night/Saturday morning Cole started his round of sickness but Cole's lasted all night. The poor thing had broken blood vessels under his eye and was so pale Saturday morning. But his sickness seems to be over. YAY! Having sick kids is the worst but they are all my little troopers.

Kobie and I were the only ones that went to church today. We didn't think that people would appreciate us sharing our "cooties". Nursery is going well. As the summer winds down we are getting more and more kids. Today we had 8 but some of those 8 weren't here at the beginning of the summer when we were put in and some of the other regulars weren't there today. So it will be interesting to see how many we will have at the end of summer when school starts back up.

Last night Corey and I got to go have dinner together, ALONE. We had a wonderful time together and it is always fun to go on a date with my wonderful husband. He said that we were officially "pretty people" because of where they sat us in the restaurant. I thought that was kinds of funny and fun at the same time because I don't think of myself that way, but I do about Corey : ).

This is a silly picture from when we took family pictures.

Another year's gone by...

We have had some changes this year. The biggest was a new job for Corey which required a cross country move back home to Las Vegas. We are happy to be back in the dry heat with family but we do miss our Georgia "family". Since it has been a year I will recap on at least the last six months.

With change there are always new challenges and new things learn from and grow from. May the Lord bless me with the knowledge and understanding that I need to face the new challenges. Not that anything major is happening, because those last two sentences make it sound that way, but moving and being "new" so to speak always takes some adjustment time; not to mention reaclimating the family together since we were apart for 6 months. even though those months of being apart were tough, I wouldn't do it again in the future, I am grateful for what I learn and would not give that up.

Right now I am a full-time stay at home mom. While it does have the normal every day child rearing challenges there is no greater joy than seeing all my little people play and have fun together all day. And at this moment in time I am fighting to keep Kai happy so I will being the year follow up when he is in bed. I love my little shadow, Kai.