Monday, December 30, 2013

Christmas 2014

I love how Santa wraps his presents for our house these days!
We had a really low key Christmas this year (wait do I say that every year?) which was really good because I was feeling really stressed out.  Christmas Eve the kids got their pajamas (probably my favorite tradition, I love pj's!)  As per usual Christmas morning started extremely early.  I think Chris, being the trickster he is, may have conspired with Santa this year.  The last present the kids opened was a Wii-U, something Dalin has been asking for almost everyday for over a year.  The excitement was short lived, because when the kids opened the Wii-U box it was full of lotion.  Santa was trying to be tricky, but he also showed some kindness because after some investigating the kids found that the Wii-U was already set up and ready to play.  Silly Santa!  We went to my parents house for breakfast and more presents.  My grandma Haynes was visiting and it was really nice to have her there.  We decided to have Christmas dinner by ourselves, but I didn't want to cook.  I figured we could find some Chinese restaurant that was open (you know like in the Christmas Story movie) but no.  We ended up going to Buffalo Wild Wings.  Not to fancy, but we have fun when we are together:)  MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

We're Crazy Like That

I found an organization called smiles change lives that works with local orthodontists to offer braces at a huge discount.  I sent in applications for Kaylee and Ashton, and part of the application asked for several up close pictures of their teeth.  Our dentist was kind enough to loan us a cheek retractor so we could get better pictures and it was so funny we all had to give it a try.  Do you remember Two Face from the batman cartoons?  It looked a lot like that.  Hilarious, and slightly crazy!  Don't worry, we thoroughly washed and disinfected it before it got passed to the next person.
I know, super creepy, but I can't stop laughing!

Thursday, December 5, 2013

Shark Reef Field Trip

Dalin has had more field trips at this school than all of my did kids last year combined.  Lucky!  I got to be a chaperon and it was lots of fun.
Top: There is a diver in the tank behind Dalin.  Wearing a chain mail glove.  Ready to feed the sharks?
Bottom:  Petting the stingrays...or trying.  Dalin was afraid to look away to get his picture taken.  He didn't want those things to sneak up on him.

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

A Few Projects (or paint is my friend)

I'm terrible at taking real before pictures so we'll call this during
After.  I painted the bathroom at our last house this color and I LOVE it!  I extra love it because I had enough left from when I used it at the old house to paint the entire kids bathroom.  It's Behr's Coastal Mist from Home Depot (it's the bottom left picture).  Paired with white it feels like a spa to me.  My dad and I (ok mostly my dad) built the shelf for the towels.  I don't love the shelf over the toilet but it came with the house and will be replaced one day.   So did the bronze shower hooks.  I'm trying to decide if I want to paint them silver.

I found this stool on the curb (yes a fancy way to say somebody's trash).   I used Rustoleum oil rubbed bronze spray paint for the frame and reupholstered the seat. My kids are little worried that my next step is dumpster diving  If the results are this good, why not?  LOVE IT! 

 I was itching for a project but it needed to be cheap-o.  These chairs came with the house and spray paint is my friend.  This color is currently my favorite.  I have lots of projects I would love to make this color.  Chris isn't so sure.

Friday, November 29, 2013

What a difference a couple months makes

You know that dog we got?  Yeah, Ferb (I hate that name) that's the one.  I had myself convinced that he was only going to be like ten pounds.  I mean he was only 3.5 pounds when we got him at two months old so that was a completely reasonable thought right?  Well now he's closer to 15 and still growing.  I know, I know that is still small, just not as small as I was hoping.  He's figured out how to win Aiden over.  Any time Aiden comes close to him, Ferb will roll over on his back so Aiden will give him tummy rubs.  I'm thinking he's going to be closer to the 20 pound range.  He's still really well behaved and cute, I guess we can keep him.


Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Bittersweet reunion

I had an awesome time in college.  My grades might say I had a little too much fun, but whatever.  A few weeks ago I found out that one of my dear sweet roommate Jeni has cancer for the third time.  I believe she was only 28 the first time she was diagnosed with breast cancer.  She had two children but after she finished her treatment they felt like their family wasn't complete and they wanted another child.  They decided to go the adoption route because with cancer treatments her body had been through they didn't think Jeni would be able to get pregnant.  Then they had their miracle baby.  She was beautiful and amazing.  Shortly after she was born Jeni was told she had cancer for a second time.  She made it through a double mastectomy, cancer treatments and breast reconstruction surgeries like a champion.  She really is amazing.  But the cancer is back and has spread to her liver.  They started a treatment plan but it wasn't working so Jeni and her family have decided to let this stupid disease take its course.  The roommates that were close enough decided to get together for a visit (we really missed you Sarah!).  I really have an awesome husband because when I found out the news he went into action to make the trip happen.  I couldn't really talk about it without sobbing so he took care phone calls and arranging everything.  He had taken Friday off for our anniversary, but he didn't even hesitate to give that up to drive to Utah with me.  I know, I got a good one.  We met up with Shauna and Natalie for lunch (who came from Idaho) to catch up and get some crying out of the way so we wouldn't be sobbing for the entirety of our visit with Jeni.  I thought we would spend most of our visit with Jeni lying down but she got up, gave us a tour of her home and visited at the kitchen table for a goo hour before she had to lie down.  She looked really good.  We visited for about four hours and I was really worried we were wearing her out and she was just to nice to kick us out but later she wrote on her blog ,
"My wonderful college roommates came and we talked forever. I started to fall asleep while they were talking. It reminded me of staying up late talking in college and the same thing would happen."
I haven't seen most of these ladies for 16 years and it was such a fantastic visit.  I am terrible at keeping in touch with people but it really did feel like we were college girls again.  While we were there Jeni's aunt and uncle were painting the front room and before they left they came to say goodbye and commented how nice it was to hear us laughing so much.  I agreed.  It was a really sad reason to finally get us together but it was so wonderful to be together again.

I sure love these girls!

Friday, November 8, 2013

Halloween 2013

Poor Dalin, when the other kids were his age I was totally gung-ho when it came to Halloween and making costumes.  I would spend up to a month getting everything made.  Now I can hardly be bothered and it makes me cranky.  I mean what happened to the days where you put on some dirty clothes and called yourself a hobo?  I love how my kids think that I can create what ever costume they can think up (or do I?) So less than a week before Halloween  I begrudgingly started these costumes. Lucky for my kids I really like how they turned out and a few years of experience have made costume making less frustrating so I may be willing to to it all again next year.  There is a neighborhood close by that goes all out for Halloween and Chris wanted to check it out.  It was like a street party!  The street was blocked off and there were cars parked up to a half mile down the road. The kids spent the bulk of their time waiting in line for snow cones, but they had a lot of fun.

*Aiden wanted to be a castle so he could connect his bucket to the drawbridge then dump the candy into a bag hidden inside the castle.  People would then see his empty bucket and feel bad for him and give him extra candy.  It was a good plan in theory, but I wasn't willing to figure out how to connect the bucket so the plan fell apart.
Kaylee: Waldo, Ashton: the Tardis from Dr. Who, Aiden: a Castle, Dalin: Knight
Happy Halloween!

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Teeth

Dalin has been walking around with these Euro-teeth for about three weeks now and we finally got them out!  Hooray! Unfortunately I only got a picture of the first one that came out.  At least you can actually see the hole this time.  When he lost his first two teeth the big teeth had already completely grown in.

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Aiden turns 11


In honor of our favorite 11 year old, here are 11 of my favorite things about Aiden
1. He is kind
2. He is all about being fair
3. He loves building things
4. He loves origami
5. He spent most of the summer watching Steve Spangler science projects
6. He is an awesome fan (have you seen him cheer for a team or performance? Awsome!)
7. Even though he DID NOT want to get a dog he's been really good about dealing with it
8. He is a great student (his teachers love him)
9. He is very smart
10. He loves to be involved
11. He always tries his best!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KIDDO!
This was my first attempt at using fondant.  There is definitely room for improvement, but not to shabby for a first try:)
Now that he is 11 he is officially a Boy Scout.  Even better, Chris is one of the leaders!

Saturday, September 7, 2013

Somebody loves us, and cookie Friday

As a "good job for making it through the first week of school" I decided to start a cookie Friday tradition.  Pretty much exactly what it sounds like...we have cookies on Fridays:)  It's been a fun tradition so far and gives me a reason to try all those Pinterest recipes I have.  Also we got a sweet surprise from our super special cousins!
Don't let Kaylee's face fool you, she's pretty much loving this new tradition

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

First day of school 2013

I know I've said this already, but this move has been pretty emotionally tough for our kids so no one was looking forward to the first day of school.  But everyone got up and ready without any hassle (day two was a different story) Kaylee was even up and ready to get to 6:00 am seminary on time.  It was rough for me too.  I'm pretty sure I didn't have seminary on the first day when I was in high school.  One day down only 177 to go.
I didn't get a picture of Kaylee on the first day (*see 6am seminary) but trust me she is attending;)
This is how the kids really felt about starting at a new school.  Aiden was kind enough to oblige me with an actual smile

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Haynes Reunion

I am really blessed to live so close to most of my family and sometimes I forget that my mom has spent most of her adult life living far away from hers.  I think the last time a majority of my mom's side of the family was together was for my grandpa's funeral six years ago.  My cousin Tiffany started the wheels of a reunion in motion and it all came to fruition this past weekend.  I wasn't sure we would be able to make it but I am so glad we did.  We started Friday night by meeting at a park for cookies, kickball and catching up. Then Saturday was filled with memories, pictures with grandma, a rock wall, bounce house, water slide, swimming, water rockets and a small program.  Tiffany did a fantastic job!
"Memory Lane"  Some old clothes that belonged to my mom and her siblings.  It was such a cute way to display the memories, and for my grand ma to clean out her storage;)
Kaylee and Emily with Grandma great and her cute hats
Rock wall Ashton, Dalin(I think) and Aiden.  I didn't get a picture of Kaylee:(
After church we visited the Provo temple.  My parents were married here, and I used to work across the street at the MTC bookstore when I was in college.  It was fun to see the excitement of the missionaries spending the sabbath on the grounds:)

We had dinner with Uncle Jeff, Aunt MaryLou, Josh, Jason and Austin at a water park.  Jeff was kind enough to challenge the kids to make it across the water part of the park while balancing a cup on their head.

Dalin's pants got pretty wet while we were at the park so Austin let us put them in the dryer and let him borrow these shorts.  It was a picture to send to Chris, the ultimate BYU fan.

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

And then this happened

Like I said before, our kids have had a really hard time with this move.  They have also been asking to get a dog for a really long time.  They would beg to go to the pet store so they could play with the puppies.  My excuse before was that our house was to small for any sort of animals.  With almost twice the space Chris decided that was no longer a valid excuse.  He found a dog through petfinder.com that was going to be up for adoption at a local Petsmart, but when he called the lady told him there was a lot of interest in this particular dog so if he wanted it he would have to get there early.  The adoptions started at 11 am and I don't know if he forgot or if he just thought he had no chance (especially because I was still pretty much against it) but he and Ashton didn't go over until about 2:00.  The dog was still there and after playing with him for about 30 min, he texted me a picture and told me to come over and see him.  I was pretty sure we couldn't afford it and I wasn't going to give in, but I loaded up the rest of the kids to go see the dog.  Kaylee was in love the second she saw the dog and I was sunk!  Aiden is even more opposed to a dog than I am, but we both got overruled.  I'm calling him our therapy dog because so far he has helped our really sad kids (except for Aiden, he spends most of his day hopping from couch to couch so the dog can't touch him.  Poor kid)  He was found with his brother and the adoption place named them Phineas and Ferb.  We got Ferb and I wanted to change his name (because as my mom pointed out he shouldn't have to live with pound name) but I got outvoted so Ferb it is.  I don't know if it was sad or scared, probably both, but his first night home it actually sounded like he was crying most of the night.  He's sleeping in a crate so we don't have to worry about accidents, so Chris ended up sleeping on the floor next to the crate to help comfort the dog and take him outside (several times) to do his business.  I spent more than my fair share of nights awake with babies so it was fun to see Chris have his turn...kind of;)


The adoption people told us he was a stray and they think he is a mix of yorkie and shih tzu.  He's about eight weeks old, and okay even I will admit he is stinkin cute.

Monday, July 22, 2013

We bought a house!

Our house has always been small, which was fine when the kids were small, but they refused to stop growing and the house wasn't growing along with them.  We've been looking for a new place for over a year and finally we found one!  Chris and I are very happy,(it's almost twice the size of our last house) the kids on the other hand feel as though we've ruined their lives.  We tried really hard to find something in our area (I'm serious when I say we looked for a year) but we ended up about ten miles south.  It is still in Henderson, but a different ward, different stake and different schools.  It has been a really hard adjustment, but we're still working on it.  Speaking of working on things, we've actually been living here for a couple of months but I wanted to wait until I had decorated a little before I put up pictures buuut, buying a house takes mucho dinero!  There is a very slim budget for decor so fancy shmancy pictures will have to wait.  Luckily for us the house is in really good shape (just not my preferred color scheme) so it's ok to leave it how it is for a while.  Through the power (and inexpensiveness) of paint spray I have been able to make a couple of small changes.  It's not much, but I kind of love it.  Chris thinks my new mantra of "I can paint that" is amusing, but it's really kind of amazing the difference paint can make:)



I'm pretty sure these light fixtures were originally oil rubbed bronze, but after years of weather they looked pink.  I washed them down, cleaned the glass and gave them a couple of coats of oil rubbed bronze spray paint.  They look brand new and I love them!

This is still a work in progress. I want to stain the doors a darker color and I haven't figured out how to remove the middle part and peep hole to paint them and I want to stain the doors darker, but it already looks so much better. The previous owners left the doormat, but it's a good fit for us;)


Tuesday, July 9, 2013

#PINNING

You like that title?  I'm so out of date reference cool like that!  What do you do when you're facing outside temperatures of 115* and up?  Well you don't go out side if you can help it, that's for sure.  If you're me you spend a fair amount of time on Pinterest, sorry to all those who have to see all of my pins.  I probably only try like 10% (okay, okay 1%.  Sheesh call me out why don't ya) but it's free to look and I can do it inside.  Here are  few of the tip, tricks and recipes I've tried recently.

No Bake Watermelon Cake
from isavea2z.com
You all know Dalin loves watermelon, and lucky for him he has a summer birthday so he usually gets a watermelon "cake".  I found this way to fancy it up a little and it looked like it could actually be cake.  I only had strawberries on hand and he doesn't like almonds so it's not a fancy as the the picture, but it was a hit.
from mmmmisformommy.com
When Chris saw I was doing a post about pinterest he requested I add this recipe.  It is his FAV-O-RITE and he requests it for dinner weekly.  They are delicious but unfortunately for him when I made it for his birthday I was sick. Now it reminds me how blah I felt and it's hard for me to want to make them anymore.
from menumusings.blogspot.com
My family thought they were tasty (well the ones that will try stuff) but I wish they were a little crispier.  It calls for diced chicken, but I had some ground turkey and figured it would be faster.  The recipe says you can fry them, which would help with the crispiness but not so much with the healthy.
from happyhecticlife.com

This is probably my favorite pin ever!  This is my actual floor.   I was amazed at the results of this idea.  Just spray the cleaner on your grout lines then let it sit for a few minutes, scrub, then wipe it off with a wet cloth or mop.   I used a toothbrush and also a scrub brush on a pole so I didn't have to bend over.  The toothbrush fits just right in the grout lines so the results were much better, but they both worked great  We recently had an estimate for professional grout cleaning and it was about $350.  The can of Woolite...less than $5 and the results were better.  It sprays out in a stream, perfect for the grout line.  Make sure you shake it once and a while to keep the spray foamy.  We have maybe 300 sq ft of tile and I used 1 1/2 cans to clean it all.  And the Woolite smells good too.  I will admit that I don't know if this grout had been pre-treated with anything but I'm on week two after cleaning and it still looks great.

The summer heat is just getting started so stay tuned, I'll have more pins to post soon:)

Friday, July 5, 2013

Portland

Chris loves to travel, and he's always up for an adventure so when his sister needed someone to drive her car to Oregon, he quickly volunteered.  I have always wanted to see Oregon, and I like to hang out with Chris so I decided to tag along.  His sister and her husband paid for the gas, hotel and flight home so it was like a free mini vacation.  Aaaand it was still less expensive then if they had hired some one to do it.  It was a long drive, but Chris is good at driving and I am good at staying awake and thinking of stuff to talk to Chris about to keep him awake.  We had one day to hang out with Lindsay and her family and be tourists.  I think the thing Chris was looking forward to the most was visiting the food trucks.  He is a food truck fan and there are a few spots where several of them" park" (as in stay there all the time and don't drive around and use the truck feature of their food truck).  I couldn't believe it but Chris only ended up getting stuff from three places!  He might be losing his edge.  It was really short but a lot of fun!
Portland Temple.  It is so beautiful!  You can see it from the freeway and the neighborhood it is in is gorgeous.  Unfortunately the power was out in the area so we only got to see the outside.


Voodoo doughnuts.  It is pretty popular, I think this was on a food network show or something.  All the sites we looked up about Portland told us to visit.  It's open 24 hours, and there was a constant line.

The rose garden was beautiful.  It was pretty hot (for Portland) while we were there so the flowers were a little wilty, but it was still so pretty

I tried to be a photographer, but I was totally showed up by my niece.  This was the best shot I got .  I like it but I may have to get some copies of the ones she took

Chris and the Visentine crew.  They are pretty practiced in the art of the crazy face picture:)

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Old Mormon Fort

I really don't want to be held hostage by the heat this summer so I'm trying to find things for us to do.  Chris works across the street from the Old Mormon Fort, but we have never been.  I decided to remedy that and we took a little field trip. It was more like an hour thing rather than all day, but it was interesting.  The Mormons who came lasted less than two years before they left due to heat and discontent but they paved the way for others to settle the area and the beginnings of, well, much more than the Las Vegas strip.
My grandma used to make us line up according to age for pictures.  It makes me laugh when my kids just do it on their own
We couldn't see the temple from the fort, just wanted to remind you that there really is so much more than the strip.


Saturday, June 15, 2013

And Kaylee is 14!

It's interesting to have my oldest and my youngest's birthdays just a few days apart.  All of their birthdays kind of hit me hard.  With Kaylee everything is a first time and with Dalin it's the last.  Either way I feel old:)  Kaylee's birthday started out much the same as Dalin's, Chris and I being greeted by a little bum shaking.  For those of you who know Kaylee you may know that she is obsessed with very interested in Dr. Who.  This was a very Whovian birthday for sure.  She started with some family gifts which included Dr. Who t-shirt, converse, tardis cookie jar and her door decorated to look like a tardis.  She then went for a hair cut and style to look fabulous for her birthday lunch with friends.  After much laughing and eating she and said friends wandered the mall for a while before coming back to our house to "hang out".  (14 year olds do not have play dates.)
The case on my phone was causing my camera to have a red hue on all of the pictures...lame

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Dalin is 7!

We have this unspoken rule (or maybe it's been spoken often and loudly) about birthdays and holidays.  Do not wake mom and dad up before 7:00.  Yes Christmas is the exception.  Dalin followed this rule for his birthday, but he and Kaylee were up early enough to make a plan that included some booty shaking when Chris and I came out in the morning.  Dalin is a great kid and of all our children his personality is the most like Chris.  I think that might be why he had to come last, to give his siblings, or most likely his mom,  a fighting chance.  He started with presents in the morning, then a play date and lunch with his bestie cousin Scott, then ended with a birthday celebration for all the June birthday's in my family.

Here's the 7.0 version of the favorite's

Food:  Watermelon
Restaurant:  McDonalds
Movie:  Despicable Me 2
Show: Gravity Falls
Toy: Magnets/ Legos
Place: The pool
Thing to do at school:  Recess
Rachel (11) Dalin(7) and Kaylee (14 in 4 days)