RUSH in Vegas

Anyone who knows Gordon well, knows that he is a huge RUSH fan. He was beyond excited when he found out they were touring this summer. Since I have been to 2 RUSH concerts in my lifetime (which is plenty for me) I volunteered to stay home with the kids. Gordon went to the Salt Lake show with his friend Jason Parker and they enjoyed the show from the 14th row. He loved the concert so much he followed them to Vegas on August 14th. We made a little weekend out of it. We stayed at Ryan and Kristy's and helped them clear out the basement on Saturday, did a little shopping, Gordon took off for Vegas around 5:00 pm (once again I volunteered to stay with the kids) and we went and saw "Despicable Me" again. Sunday we went to church, ate a yummy lunch and snuck in a visit to Kip and Amy to see their new baby before heading home. We love little weekend getaway's to St. George.

Gordon was happy to scalp some "floor" seats to the Vegas show, thank goodness he doesn't mind going alone!! And of course he loved the Vegas show too. On our drive home be figured that he has seen about 15 RUSH concerts, that's crazy!

A Few Bad Nights

Taeya looks so innocent while she sleeps in this photo but what you can't tell by looking at this sleeping beauty was that the 2 nights previous to this she was so aweful. I don't know what gets into her sometimes but she had a few bad nights. Both night we would put her to sleep and read her a few stories, she got mad because she wanted more stories so we gave her a stack of books and told her to read them on her own. So she reads for a while than she starts coming out of her room. The first time we put her back in and tell her if she comes out again we will turn her lamp off, she comes out again so we turn the lamp off. She comes out again and we tell her she will go to time out if she comes out again, she comes out again so I stick her in the dark basement with no lights on, she comes out of time out before the timer goes off laughing. We try putting her outside for time out, she goes onto the grass and starts dancing and laughing. We got mad and put her back in bed and she started kicking us, and that's when we got really mad. After the 2nd night of this escapade I was livid. I had tried being nice and patient, I had tried being mean I tried taking away priviledges like books at bedtime, or snacks at bedtime, or playing with friends, but that didn't seem to work either. Amongst her kicking and thrashing in the attempts to keep her in her bed she somehow got hurt and started to cry. This seems to be the moment when we get her attention and we start talking. I told her she has lost all the toys and books in her room, I start packing them up as Gordon is talking to her and she finally calms down. We told her if she doesn't start acting nicer and go to bed we will take away her swim suits - she got really sad about that and then finally went to sleep. (She really loves her swimsuits.)

We told her that each night she went to bed like a good girl she would earn something back. So the third night she goes to bed somewhat happily with no stories, no water, no snacks and no toys - at least I didn't think there were toys in her room. Gord and I checked on her before we went to bed and apparently we forgot about the tall tall barbie, a baby, and 1 stuffed animal.

But don't worry, she had tucked them all into bed nicely!! And thank goodness we haven't had bad nights like that since.....anyone have any good ideas on how to raise a "spirited" child?!!

Rocker Party

A few guys that Gordon works with host this "rocker" party once a year. They get a little band together, play 80's music and rock out in their best "rocker" attire. Gordon didn't go to the party last year and he has been hearing about it ever since. So this year he couldn't miss out. He got dressed up in his best duds and we made an appearance. Gord looked pretty awesome - I was a bit underdressed with my jeans, Led Zeppelin t-shirt and a side ponytail. It was pretty entertaining to see all of the "rockers." I haven't seen that much spandex and crimped hair since elementary school. Man I wish I would have kept that crimper, it would have come in handy!!

Girls Camp

The last week of July was girls camp at Mutual Dell. Originally I was just going to go Thursday and Friday but thanks to Gordon' mom who came and watched the girls I was able to go the whole time. She watched the girls Tuesday and Wednesday, Amy Tippetts watched them Thursday and Alyson watched them Friday morning til I got home. Since I am still nursing Anastyn I did come home at night with the exception of Thursday night to Friday. I had a great time, it was so much fun to be with the awesome girls in my ward. They were so much fun and it was fun to see their true personalities come through.

The whole gang Tuesday morning before we headed to Mutual Dell.

I went on the 5 mile hike with the 2nd years Kenzie, Jenikah and McKenna - it actually ended up being a 3.5 mile hike because of some miscommunication but it was a great morning for hiking and it was so beautiful.

Such cute girls - Emma, McKenna, Lindsey, Julia, Carlie, Noelle and Lizzy

Our ward got a little frustrated with the tardiness of other wards - especially on the morning of the hike, so for our reward Sister Redd let us borrow the snow cone maker and brought us a gallon of ice cream and flavoring, we had our very own "snowasis" at camp!

For some reason the girls were really into painting their faces - this is Jenika looking a little scary.

As a stake, Thursday afternoon was spend tieing quits that were taken to Guademala the next day with our Bishop Redd. We tied 92 quilts total. I helped Kira, Noelle, and Madison tie this one.

Our ward at devotional Thursday night.

The Birthday That Never Ended Part 4 (Final)

Taeya's actual birthday was on a Sunday. We got home really late Saturday night because of the drive inn and I was worried that Taeya would be really angry when I woke her up for church so I brought her breakfast in bed consisting of cereal, toast, and a sippy cup with ice water in it - since that is what she usually asks for for breakfast. It worked and she happily woke up and got ready for church. On Saturday we were talked to her and we told her since it was her special day she could eat anything she wanted for dinner. Of all things, she chose "Gumbo." (She has been watching alot of "Princess and the Frog" lately so I guess we shouldn't be too surprised!) Thank goodness Gordon has become a little chef lately, he made some delicious Gumbo, which we ate in the backyard with the Milligan's, Lyman's, and Bailey's.

After Gumbo we had cake and ice cream which was also delicious.

When it got a little darker we lit of sparklers. I think Taeya had a great birthday celebration and I am so glad that it's over!!

The Birthday That Never Ended Part 3

Taeya really did have the birthday that never ended. I called this post "The Birthday That Never Ended part 3," because she has had so many parties and I still have 1 more post after this one!! The first party was the family party on July 3rd, that should have been called "part 1," her princess birthday party on July 23rd should have been called "part 2," this post, July 24th is part 3, and her actual birthday, July 25th, will be part 4. Let me tell you all about Part 3 of her birthday:

Saturday, July 24th, began by Gordon going on a long bike ride, and me weeding in the backyard all morning. After all our hard work in the yard (Alyson helped me), I wanted to take Taeya to get a little manicure and pedicure and all the gang had to come too of course. (Minus Heather and Lawni who were busy with their own projects - we did take their girls though).

All the cute girls - Brielle, Brynn, Olivia, Kira and Taeya. These girls waited so patiently for their turn. Alyson and I got pedicure also and they did our feet first - so the girls waited a long time to have just 2 little ladies work on them. It was cute watching them, they were all really good. Afterward we went and got snow cones.

Next we stopped at Cafe Rio for a late lunch before heading to Chuck E. Cheese. Since Taeya and baby McCoy share a birthday the Lyman's and the Bailey's joined in the fun. I think all the kids had a great time.

Looks like the Big Boys had fun too!

Taeya choose these fun green teeth for her prize!

After Chuck E. Cheese we went to Baskin Robbins and got ice cream. I love ice cream, thankfully Taeya does too!

After the ice cream we headed to the Drive in.

Before the movie started we passed the time by throwing "pops" on the ground. The movie finally started around 9:30 - Despicable Me! We all loved it! I loved it even more when Anastyn finally fell asleep! We got home really late, but it was sure a fun day. Taeya is one spoiled girl!

Princess Birthday Party

We had Taeya's 1st friend birthday party this year, and of course we had to have a princess party! Since her birthday was on sunday and saturday was pioneer day we had the party friday July 23rd. She is such a little princess so it was so much fun. I bought her a new princess dress (thank goodness dad got in on over her cast), and as a present from me and Gordon we got her a little bistro table and chairs that we used during the party. I took pictures of each princess as the arrived.

Princess Taeya

Princess Laeklan

The 2 cousins together - these 2 cuties are only 4 weeks apart.

Princess Rachel

Princess Brynn

Prince Cohen - or should I say Superman?

Princess Kira

Princess Olivia

Prince Cache - better known as "Buzz"

First thing we did was decorate princess crowns. Sadly I never got a picture of all the princesses with their crowns on cause we used glitter glue that took way too long to dry. At least it seemed like the kids had fun decorating them.

Laeklan, Taeya, and Olivia

Brielle, Brynn, and Kira

Cache and Rachel

The Whole Group

Next we had a little tea party. We had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in the shape of flowers, chocolate covered strawberries, pretzels and carrots and of course tea (pink lemonaide in cute little teacups, they looked cute but it was really annoying when the kids kept needing refils!!)

After the tea party we played pin the horn on the unicorn (I had a small window of time to find a game at Party Land and the unicorn game was the closes I found to a princess game, other than bingo!) Then we gave each of the kids a wand and we practiced our wand waving skills, while singing silly songs!

Opening presents was next. She got so many fun things, she is such a spoiled little girl!!

And last we ate mini cupcakes, and ice cream cones with pink ice cream of course.

Gordon had the day off work (July 23rd) and I couldn't have done the party without him! And doesn't he look great in his princess crown!!