5 Things

5 things I was doing 5 years ago
1. finishing the remodel of my house
2. getting ready for my wedding
3. working at Discover Card
4. getting ready to go to Hawaii for the 1st time
5. driving a Jeep Grand Cherokee

5 things on my to do list today
1. clean my floors
2. set up a new appointment for NuSkin
3. help Mike with his website design
4. go to the gym
5. play with Emma and Sam

5 things I would do with a million dollars
1. pay off my house
2. buy a house in Hawaii
3. take my family on a European vacation
4. put money away for all my kids to attend college
5. give to charity

5 places I've lived
1. Phoenix, AZ
2. Kemmerer, WY
3. Grand Junction, CO
4. Quinnesec, MI
5. Maine (can't remember the town)

5 jobs I've had
1. grocery store clerk when I was 13
2. busser at a buffet
3. Little Caesar's Pizza
4. Video Shark
5. Discover Card

5 things I want to be doing in 5 years
1. visiting my son at college
2. enjoying all of my kids being in school
3. getting excited to be turning 40
4. taking pictures professionally
5. relaxing at my cabin

5 people I tag (on whatever interface you choose....blog, facebook, etc.)
1. Rushell
2. Tiffany
3. Becca
4. Staci
5. Donna

NuSkin

In the middle of all of the birthday parties and my new business, I have started selling an awesome new product from NuSkin. I am having so much fun doing mini facials with people. I guess the reason it is so fun is that almost everyone goes into it thinking that this is just another gimmick and that they aren't going to see a difference. I have not seen a single person that the Galvanic Spa did not work on. It's funny that although they seem to see the same results they still want to wait on buying the product. The transition they feel overnight is amazing and they are calling Donna or I the next day so they can get the Spa for themselves.
I laugh because when I did the facial on my mom she was so amazed at the results she did not want to go home with only half of her face done. We have had some husbands telling their wives that they need to go back and get the other half of their face done. At that point they are calling us back wanting to get the product NOW! I have created a blog for more information on NuSkin or my business. Please visit them both.....SmartSkin2.blogspot.com or Simplysaidhome.blogspot.com

Just arrived

Our newest family member has finally arrived! It seems like it took forever for her to get here but now she's here and I can't believe it! Nora is so cute! She definitely looks like her dad.

I took all of the kids to see her today. You don't realize how quiet everything is at a hospital until you take 4 kids into one. All of them were really good for about the first 30 minutes and then the glamour of the hospital started to wear off. Sara was so excited to see her new baby sister. She didn't want for anyone else to touch her. She is definitely the protector of her brother and sister. I think she is going to be the strength in the family; the strongest willed at the very least.

Sam, Emma and Tyler all took turns holding the baby too. It's amazing to me how they naturally have a calm and ease holding her. I think is not so secretly wishing for a baby of her own. I don't think the boys would mind a new addition to much either. I am happy with 3. I don't think I could handle a 2-1 ratio.

Zane came to the hospital after he got home from school. He was more interested in seeing his mom and eating the edible arrangement we got than in holding the baby. (I love the edible arrangments- they are so fun and you can eat them rather than watch them die like flowers do)After a while he did warm up to the idea of holding Nora. That lasted all of about a minute and then he was ready to go to Emma's house.

What an exciting day for Becca and Blair! They have now entered the land of imbalance between kids and parents. It is always a scary thing when your kids out number you!

Lauren's 1st Bday

I can't believe that Lauren is already 1. She has had so many struggles throughout her first year of life and yet she is all smiles and is rarely anything but happy. What a road it has been. We had a birthday party at our house since Keith and Rushell are still looking for a house and are currently living in an apartment. They were going to keep things small but I insisted that we needed to celebrate the momentous occasion of Lauren's 1st birthday.
I can't help but think back to Emma turning 1....it seems like it was yesterday. Then I think back to Sam and Ty turning 1. In the moment you don't feel like it's going by that fast but then you turn around and they are turning 14. I am trying very hard these days to stay in the moment and appreciate every little bit of my kids even if it is the teenage "I know everything" moment or the elementary school "Who, What, Where, When, Why and How...I must know everything about everything" moments or the preschooler who is 4 going on 13 and wants to be a part of every "adult" moment possible. It can be exhausting but the most satisfying thing I have done in my life. I am so excited for Keith and Rushell to have the same adventures with Lauren.

Her birthday was so much fun. She was dressed in the cutest outfit with black and white polka dots, lady bug shoes and a lady bug sweater. It is quite fitting that Keith and Rushell call her "Bug" because she is quite the little cutie bug . She had fun sitting on her dad's lap playing with his cell phone. She is on the path to becoming Emma (the most proficient 4 year old IPhone user going....far better at using it than I am) Rushell stripped Lauren down for the tradition of the 1 year old cake dive. We all sang happy birthday to her and then sat her on the floor to blow out her candles and dive into her cake. Everyone crowded around in anticipation of the event but as with any 1 year old with a mind of her own, she would have nothing to do with it. She just sat there looking at the cake like "What am I supposed to do with this?" Rushell tried getting her started but she just gave her a dirty look and wanted to be done. It was funny!

The craziest thing happened at the end of the party. Everything was winding down and we looked up to see a bug crawling on the ceiling in my kitchen. We could not believe it, it was a lady bug. How weird that on "BUG's" birthday there would be a lady bug on my ceiling. I have never seen lady bugs in the middle of winter but there it was right before our eyes. Maybe just a coincidence or maybe some strange aligning of the universe...either way it was pretty cool! Happy Birthday Lauren!

Doctor Doctor

We have been winding down from Emma's birthday party although it hasn't really felt like much of a wind down. We had our third birthday celebration today at Emma's pre-school and I have to admit I am thankful to be done with the celebrating. It's not that it wasn't a lot of fun but it was exhausting. We celebrated with family on Sunday, had a friend party on Monday, and then wrapped it up with an ice cream celebration at school on Tuesday.

When we got home from school, Sara came over to play while her mom went to her doctor's appointment. Emma loves it when Sara comes over. I love it that the two of them are best friends. They fight like sisters one minute and then you turn around and they are the best of friends the next minute.

They didn't have much time to play so they headed straight for the dresses to change into costume. They started out by dressing up as Snow White (Sara) and a bride (Emma). It's funny to watch them play because they will rarely pretend to be the characters they are dressed up as. They usually go on with whatever game they have started or they will play house in their costumes as though they are in their regular clothes. Today they decided to play doctor. Sara was the doctor for the My Little Pony and Emma was the doctor for her Baby go By By. Emma had her stethoscope from her new doctor's kit and was checking everyone's heartbeat. Sara used her kaleidoscope as a "stethoscope" for her pony. Emma checked her baby, then herself and then she tried to listen to Sara's heart beat but it tickled a little too much. It was funny to watch.

Birthday Party

Emma had her birthday party this week and she had so much fun. She had all of her favorite people there to celebrate. She had a princess and pirate party so that both boys and girls would want to join in the fun. Emma, to my surprise, wanted to be a pirate rather than a princess. In the end, I talked her into being a pirate princess so she would wear her princess dress. I had a picture in my head of how everything would go at the party. I set up stations for the kids to rotate between to keep them active and having fun. I had face painting, crown and pirate hat decorating, ice cream cone cupcakes to decorate and a game of pin the crown/patch on the princess.(Mike's brother Tom drew the princess for me and it was amazing! He is so talented!) Tyler, Brandon and Sam were all on hand to help the little kids with the stations. The older two disappeared quickly but Sam was a trooper helping every little kid he could find to help! I couldn't believe how fast they got through everything and the it was chaos. I had kids running in circles around my house, half of the kids went down stairs to play in the kitchen, Isaac got into the books and started reading and Livie and Canyon got out some puzzles to put together. I had forgotten how quickly things change when you are dealing with 4 year olds. I can't even say it was controlled chaos...just CHAOS! We finally got to the presents just before everyone left. Everything seemed pretty calm at that point UNTIL Zane, Rya and Arden had a chain reaction break down over the presents. None of them understood why they couldn't have the presents. It was so sad to see them cry. Emma, who was getting all of the presents, didn't understand what was wrong with them. She ended up offering to share her presents with them until they left. What a fun day for Emma!!!

In attendance: Rya, Arden, Abbie, Finn, Megan, Isaac, Zane, Sara, Tyler, Sam, Brandon, Olivia, Canyon, Lauren, Keith, Rushell, Misha, Tom, Bama Pam, Grandma Kaye, Grandpa Tom, Aunt Staci, Aaron, Dad and Mom,