| Kelsey and Mylee Playing with our new dollhouse puzzle |
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Mylee's 4th Birthday
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Where's Your Shoe
I should also note that Blake had asked her to change her clothes before we went to the party. I knew that was going to be trouble, but sort of ignored his request and finished packing the car with the items we needed for the party. As I got in the car I looked back and Mylee and wasn't surprised to see her wearing something that looked worse then what she had on before Blake asked her to change. I didn't have enough time to go have her change before the party, so I let her be. Oh, how I've relaxed on some things.
BYU vs. UT
Last weekend we went to Austin, Texas as a family to cheer on the cougars at the University of Texas. We left early in the afternoon on Saturday and arrived with just enough time to drop the girls off at a babysitter we had arranged and make it to the game. Blake's brother Trevor and his wife Amy flew in for the occasion and met us at the game. Trevor and Amy had been staying at a friend's house. We utilized their teenage daughter to watch our girls. It worked out perfectly.
We lost unfortunately, but it was still a good experience and we are glad we went. It was a 7 hour drive for us and the tickets and babysitter weren't cheap, but I'm learning that great memories often come with a price, whether it be expense, time, energy, etc. and I'm okay with that--phew that's a big breakthrough for me! Plus I was studying in the Proclamation to the Family that successful marriages and families participate in wholesome recreational activities. The drive wasn't bad at all and our girls behaved, yea! After the game Trevor and Amy came with us to pick up our girls and together we drove back home to Lubbock. It took us a little over 7.5 hours and we didn't get home until 5:30AM in the morning! The drive was a little nerve racking with countless deer sightings along the highway, but Blake and Trevor kept us safe. Amy and I had intentions of sleeping, but ended up with our eyes glued to the road after a close encounter with a deer. We went straight to bed when we got home and woke up around 10:30AM in the morning. We got ready for church and went to a different ward at 1:30PM.Max our Pet Turtle
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Our Weekend

Monday, August 29, 2011
Summer Comes to a Close at Palo Duro
We closed our summer this year by going camping once again to Palo Duro Canyon. It's only 2 hours away and it's the best that this landscape here in West Texas offers within that time frame. It reminds me a lot of Moab, but Moab is WAY better--I'm spoiled. Palo Duro is the 2nd largest canyon in the United States (that was very surprising to me; it seems a little wimpy to me!!) and is considered the Grand Canyon of Texas. The largest canyon in the US is of course The Grand Canyon in Arizona. Overall we made a lot of memories. There were some hick-ups with "attack of the fire ants, flies, bees, and spiders," but we (or I should say I) did our (my) best to smile and laugh through it all. 
When we arrived at the canyon, we went to hike to a small cave and let our pet lizard Molly go where we originally found her 3 months prior. It was an exciting day for all of us--I think especially for me!! No more trips to the pet store for crickets!!! Molly was really reluctant when we first let her out. She stuck around for about 10 minutes until she finally ran off. It was as though she had gotten used to us. While she was lingering, Kelsey even caught her again which we were all very surprised and excited about. See the video below to see her in action!!
Monday, August 22, 2011
Kelsey's First Day of 1st Grade!
Today was Kelsey's first day of 1st Grade and of course she LOVED it!! The morning was a little rough when I dropped her off because of some mix-ups of where she was supposed to sit. She went directly to the place her teacher had her information on back-to-school night and took the breakfast ticket at that spot (the school provides free breakfast to all the students). Well, come to find out it was another little boy's spot and she took his breakfast ticket--opps. We eventually found her spot and I got her school supplies put away in a bag that her teacher provided us. The little boy showed up and I gave him Kelsey's ticket so he could get breakfast. The next hang up came when Kelsey came back with her breakfast. Lanaea saw the cheese stick Kelsey got and stole it. Kelsey then grabbed it back and Lanaea screamed. I then took the cheese stick back because I couldn't control the screaming and was still helping unload all of Kelsey's school supplies. Then Lanaea was biting through the plastic into the cheese stick and Kelsey wasn't happy about that so grabbed it back, then Lanaea screamed again. Ahhhh!! By that time I had finished helping Kelsey and got out of there really quick. I was so embarressed that Lanaea was making such a scene! Little stinker.
After school Kelsey told me they sorted all of the school supplies all day and worked on a workbook. She also got to go to PE after lunch and had a good time. Once again she has her clothes set out just right. Kelsey's a keeper for sure!!

Before our walk to school with a picture Kelsey drew for her teacher.

This is her breakfast--a breakfast pizza, looks like pizza with saugage, whatever!

Kelsey after school.
1st Grade School Supply List:
2-Crayola Crayons 24 Ct.
1 Crayola Markers Thick Classic 8 Ct. Washable
1 Binder View Hardback Vinyl 1" Asst.
1 Folder Pocket and Brad Blue
1 Folder Pocket and Brad Red
1 Folder Pocket and Brad Green
1 Folder Pocket and Brad Yellow
10 Glue Stick .21 Elmer's Washable 1 Cnt.
2 Facial Tissue 160 Ct.
2 Clorox Antibacterial Wipes 35 Ct.
1 Index Cards 4x6 unruled 100 Ct.
1 Reclosable Slide Bags 22ct.
1 School Box 8.5 x 5.5 x 2.5 Space Maker
1 Scissors 5" Sharp Fiskars Left/Right Handed
2 Pencils #2 Wood 10pk
2 Eraser Pink Bevel
2 Hi-Liter Pen Style Fluorescent Yellow
1 Expo Dry Erase Chisel Asst. 4 Pk.
1 Story Tablet
1- 1/2 inch ruled tablet
2 composition books.
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Kelsey All Ready for School!!
Unwelcome Residents
Mom: "WHAT?!!" I then went running
Mom: "Blake!!"
I won't say what Blake wanted to do with them, but I completely disagreed with his method! So I took the matter into my own hands. I'm sorry for you cat lovers out there, they are not my cup of tea and they aren't welcome in my backyard! I have to admit though, this cat was pretty--she had beautiful blue eyes as did her adorable kittens.
The next day I called animal services. They said I would need to come pick up a cat cage and then once I caught the cats they would come pick them up and take them back to the animal shelter and be put up for adoption. This was all a FREE service by the way, phew!!
I picked up the cage and was hoping that Blake would take initiative to set the trap up--I was a little intimidated by this whole process and he was LOVING every bit of how I was dealing with this "situation". I think he didn't help because he loved seeing me do it--he thought it was hilarious! So I set the trap up and put some tuna fish at the end of the cage. Within 5 minutes I had one kitten caught. I was hoping I could get all three in the cage at one time and the people at the animal shelter were optimistic that I could, but I chickened out in trying to catch the other two and just called animal services to have them come pick up the cat. They were there within 30 minutes. They left the trap for me to catch the other two. Later that evening I caught the mother and then I caught her last kitten the next afternoon. I felt horrible that I hadn't been able to catch all three of them at once and that these sweet kittens were separated from their Mother, but it was a necessary evil.
That evening I looked at Blake and smiled saying, "LOOK who took care of the problem by herself!!". We both laughed.
On August 16th, Mylee had her final dance class. Her teacher had put together a cute program for us parents to watch. Mylee isn't one to show much expression when preforming in front of others, but she did enjoy it. At the beginning of the class her teacher had the kids to stretches and do different dance steps across the floor. Mylee was very good!! Then they preformed a tap, ballet and jazz dance for us. It was really cute. The class ended with the kids dancing with a ribbon however they wanted. Mylee got a balloon and some candy at the end of class--that made her day!!
Last Day of Cheer!!
On August 11th, Kelsey had her last day of cheerleading. The class was two hours rather then the normal 1 hour. The first hour they stretched and did some stunts, cheers, and tumbling.
The second hour her teacher had filled a bunch of water balloons up for the kids to have a waterballon fight. The teacher didn't anticipate how quickly kiddos can go through those things! The kids had a lot of fun though. At the end the kids did a little performance with all of the cheers they had learned over the summer. It was really sweet!!
Neighborhood Party
Monday, August 8, 2011
Precious Moments
Gapalee
"I Want Some Mama"
"My Mylee"
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Serving at the Food Bank
This service project was only a small portion of a much larger service project our stake puts on every year. This year our goal is to collect 300,000 pounds of food to donate. As a family we participated in this effort by inviting our neighbors to bring a bag a food to donate to the South Plains Food Bank to a neighborhood party I helped plan. As a family we collected 20 bags of food and many others said they would use the recyclable bags we gave them and drop the food off at drop boxes for the food bank in our local grocery stores. Kelsey and Mylee felt so proud and good when they were able to bring all that food to primary the day after our party—they have been working hard as a primary to collect food for the food bank.
At Least our grass is growing somewhere!!
Thursday, June 30, 2011
"We're Number #1!!!!"
This summer we put Kelsey in cheerleading and she’s loving it!! I can’t believe how much she has improved too!! Her cartwheels were horrible before, but now they are PERFECT!! She can even do a backbend over on her own!! The other day she came home (we run a carpool) and she told me she could do a bridge from standing up, I didn’t believe she could really do it, then sure enough she did it perfectly. I was shocked, proud, and impressed!! It’s fun for me to see her grow this way. It reminds me of when I was a child. I would do gymnastics all day every day—maybe she will be the same. The other night she was crying because her head her so bad from falling on her head too much from practicing her backbends—poor thing. IB Profen did the trick.
My favorite cheer she has learned is: “We’re number 1, we’re not number 2, we’re gonna beat the whospie out of you.” Mylee does it with her, it so adorable. Her teacher also taught her a cheer that used a word we don’t say in our home (stupid). After class that day Kelsey and I talked and Kelsey decided that next time they did that cheer she would raise her hand and ask her teacher if they could use a different word like silly. A couple of classes later they did that cheer (I wasn’t there that day) and she did just want she told me she was going to do. My friend Kristy who took her to class that day, told me she did it as though it wasn’t hard to do at all. Kelsey knew it was wrong and wasn’t afraid to stand up for what was right. I was a PROUD Momma!!
Sunday, June 26, 2011
This is What Happens When....
You leave your 3 year old and 1.5 year old alone together!! I about had a heart attack when I saw it!! Thank goodness Blake was home or I may have rushed to the hospital to meet him there so he could check her out. I had never seen so much blood on a little kid, nonetheless my child!!! She was just fine though, no concussion, no permanent damage. The funny thing too was that Lanaea acted as though nothing happened just minutes after the accident. Once the bleeding stopped I was able to examine her cut and I was surprised at how small it was. Mylee and Lanaea are no longer allowed to be alone together anymore and Mylee was reminded AGAIN NOT to carry her sister.
Friday, June 24, 2011
Correction: MOLLY the Lizzard
I noticed that our lizard was being a little strange last night. She was huddled to one corner and would stand on her hind legs and just fall back and then catch herself before she fell on her back. I had never seen anything like it. She also seemed to be highly agitated. I had put some crickets in her cage and she was having nothing to do with them—unusual. In fact she was doing all she could to get away from them. Blake and I got her out and cleaned her home out, taking all the crickets out.
The next morning I went outside to check on Wally and there were 5 EGGS in HER cage!!! I couldn’t believe it!! We left them in for a couple of days but ended up taking them out because they shriveled up, I’m not sure what happens differently in nature. It was a great learning experience for our girls. My mom suggested we rename her Molly, Kelsey agreed so we did.





