Devanie.com

June Irish Feis (Fesh) Competition with over 400 dancers!

My Irish Dancers!!! Both Danced 6 dances
Hailey medaled 5th of 18 in 1 and 2 Honorable Mentions.
Sierra Got 1 2nd 2-3rd place and 1 HM. They danced beautifully!

About 2 weeks ago Nathan spoiled me on our trip to Las Vegas with the fancy Stratosphere Dinner, Cirque Di Soilel show “O”, nice meals, lovely hotel, and time all alone no kids (and 2 bags of ice to stick on me for the HOT drive home since the AC in the Jeep busted! =)  it was such a fun trip!

My main gift was that fun trip to Vegas just Nathan and I. Then today I pretty much did whatever I wanted (with 4 sick kids-2 home from school) Went to Olive Garden with the family for dinner, Shopped at the Mall 75% off deals at Bath and body Works, had my diamonds inspected-6mo check up, HOME!!!

3yr old Zach heard it was my birthday this morning. His little body shook with excitedly and ha said, “I’m so Happy to eat your cake!!!” with fists clinched in excitement.

As we were driving home from Dinner and the mall for my birthday daddy tried to get the whole family to sing happy Birthday for me, this is about how it went Daddy sang, Hailey quietly mumbled it, Sierra coughed thru it, Zach had headphones on and watched TV and said, “What?” when it finished, Aurora stared at the TV oblivious and 1/2 snoring. WHAT HAVE I RAISED, and. . .will I remember this on their next birthday?? Probably not, thanks to my old age and forgetfulness!

I’m pretty Spoiled.  I did pick 8 more pounds of strawberries from our patch, de-stemmed and froze them, Making our total 30 pounds - and I only got through 3/4 the patch before the baskets were overflowing and kids were screaming, took care of 4 sick kids, some stinky messes, picked up junk played on my computer, got to go to Olive garden for dinner Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo, Bread sticks, Salad, raspberry lemonade!! m mm m. Since yesterday’s cake from Hailey’s birthday wasn’t gone, didn’t think we needed another cake, we we went out to McDonald’s for Ice creams and enjoyed.  I also purchase a new Sonicare Toothbrush for Thomas =) for my birthday for something fun to do.  Accidentally won a bad auction on eBay, and came home to one of my good friends with a small cheesecake and a nice card in her hands for me.  Thanks Tana! Got a commission check in the mail from Cookie Lee jewelry sales=), Considered having a bunch of friends come play pool with me. didn’t.  Got calls from Molly, Thomas, Janika, and Happy birthday wishes from about 15 people on facebook including my awesome sis in law KIM!! oh and just now. . .Nathan brought that little cheesecake with a #3 candle and 1 regular candle next to it to make 31!

SOOOO CUTE!

Time o celebrate Again!!!

Hailey, another birthday and you’re a year older. Your father and I wanted to capture some important things that happened this year so we don’t forget them!  Here are some fun and important things to remember from the past year…

• You danced in the Irish Day parade in Salt Lake City with your sister
• You have read over 100 books this year
• Your favorite books are Fablehaven, Leven Thumps and The Eyes of Want, and Little House on the Prairie
• You got baptized and confirmed
• You finally started riding your bike without training wheels!
• You ran a 5K race
• You were the only one in school that got a T-shirt for having a birthday on the same day as the Fablehaven book release
• You got your own laptop this year, and lost it, and got it back, and lost it, and got it back again
• You’re very quiet and don’t say much; you prefer to read a book quietly
• You and your sister are inseparable
• You planted a garden
• You were accepted to a school for the talented after receiving extraordinary marks on their entrance test; but we did not want to have you and your sister in separate schools
• You still love Pokemon, but the Littlest Pet Shop is now squeezing that out of your life
• You have a fantastic imagination, and frequently write long stories at school (sometimes TOO long)
• You received a candy award at a school drawing because your read so many books

You are very special to us, and our family would be incomplete without you! You are unique in our family, and we are very proud of who you are!

What a celebration!

It’s not even 10Am and we have already opened tons of presents, made breakfast in bed, (French Toast, Scrambled Eggs, Grape Juice) I actually did a HUGE load of dishes (which if you know me I don’t have to do ever) and made hard boiled eggs (a treat for Hailey).

FathersDay 2009 Daddy got 4 Pairs Dockers pants, 1 pair shorts, Candy from England (his fav), Nilla Wafers for one of his treats he enjoyed since childhood with milk, Chocolate covered orange & raspberry sticks - from our trip to Sweets Candy Factory, A beaded Football keychain(Hailey) in Denver Broncos Colors, A checkerboard you play with Hershey’s kisses (Sierra)  A card that made him laugh from Hailey that looked like it said, “He can’t do it! No one Can”  the IF in front was hard to read =) A nicely Colored DAD card from Sierra, TURTLES candy, Breakfast in bed and Tickles. oh and some time OFF!

For Hailey’s Birthday she got;

a 60 Card pack of POKEMON - one of her favorite characters,

2 Littlest Pet Shop pets a pink panda bear and a fish

3 Bras, 3 pair Little pet shop pants

Salt Water Taffy, Recess PB Cups, Rock looking candy-like jellybeans, A Best Friends Cookie lee Necklace to share with her best friend Melissa it makes a heart. a Mr Squirmy Fuzzy worm to play tricks with, And I told her I’d take her on a trip to Sweets candy factory for tour and treats sometime.

Later She will get Spaghettios with Meatballs- her fav! and Hard boiled or deviled eggs

Later he will get Chicken Cordon bleu with mashed potatoes, gravy and peas -his fav

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I have to run there are tons more things to do. I will post Haileys YEAR achievemnts as soon as I can.

With pink eye and ear infections Zach Aurora andI have been in the house this week a lot more than usual it feels.  Sometimes I have let them out in the back yard to play in the mini pool and on the swingset.

I was in the kitchen yesterday. Zach went out the front door.  I started to follow he said he wanted to go to the neighbors pool. He jetted for the neighbors house leaving the door open for Aurora to escape. I walked to the door, calling them to come back Aurora was already at the curb on the main street and Zach was alreay around the next corner asking Karen if he could swim.  I started after the nightbors house with Aurora (both in swimsuits). Knowing that Karen would say no, that’s what I was doing in the kitchen. . .calling to see if they could go over. She had said no and I knew he would be coming back our way - (intuition) however when he finally reached me he got a spank right there and a scolding for getting out AND letting Aurora out.  I’m hoping he learned his lesson but we got a lock for the top of the front door(needs to be installed) so this doesn’t happen anymore.  Aurora has no concept of pavement since we have a cul-du-sac and she can play on it ALMOST anytime.

Zach was so cute last night. He’s got a stuffy nose and is under the weather. I put him to bed and he said, “Stay with me for Humongous.” I said, “What?” he said, “stay here humongous.”(as he scooted over making room on his bed for me to sit.) It means, stay with me for a LONG TIME. I got to watch him fall asleep within minutes

Poor Aurora has double ear infections and pink eye!! Thus the lack of posts about working out and our big loser weigh in. =( Gotta keep it away from our friends! Love ya, but can’t get near ya, at least until the antibiotics kick in.

21 pounds of strawberries from our LITTLE patch!!! all de-stemmed and frozen except the 1-2 pounds dipped in chocolate and shared with neighbors! and we always enjoy Strawberry Smoothies Zach’s empty cup - he wanted me to take a picture of it.

Had a great trip to Sweet’s Candy Factory http://sweetcandy.com/ and a great time catching up with a friend I met before Hailey was born 10 years ago!! Andrea Rasmussen.  Zach and Aurora came along they ended up having candy for lunch this day! =)

One day I spent just makin balloon flowers, hats, swords 4 “Zachy takky”. thaqt’s what Zach Calls himself.

June rose delivery

Just a little note.  I am still getting my year supply of roses from my hubby! June was Red Roses.  they died the next day, so I’m getting a Bonsi plant instead.  next month will be roses again.  Thanks for talking to the flower company to get the replacement for the dying roses Nathan.  I love you Sorry you have a UTI, even more sorry you won’t go to the doctor or take any medicine for it!!!

Well year round school kids don’t really get a summer.  and even if we did. . .This summer has been a wash out so far!  Rain Rain Rain in the eveings and sometimes scattered thru the day.  So if we could go to a theme park.. . . it would be too rainy to ride rides and enjoy them or float on a lazy river.  Just wondering when things won’t  be so wet.

We have collected about 20 pounds of strawberries from our patch this year!!! including stems =)  The bugs probably collected 5 pounds of their own.  I just freeze them right away for delectable smoothies if I want to make jam at a later date just defrost and mash.  MMMMmmm.  They are getting soggy with the constant rain though and the sun doesn’t shine a bunch so they don’t get red as fast as they normally would.  But it is a bumper crop compared to last year!!!  We are so grateful!!

We have been doing a lot of rearranging in the house.

Hailey and Sierra are chronic LIARS and we cannot trust them to go to bed and stay there.  or go to bed and sleep in their bed, or go to bed and stop talking.  Sierra throws terrible tantrums crying fits that are very hard to stop in any tone of voice when she is tired.  so we have to put a stop to late nights.  Therefore they are sleeping in Aurora’s room on the bunks.  It’s taken 4 nights to get things to be quieter from Aurora, but I think she’s getting the picture.

We have been cleaning out the Dance Studio-bedroom to function as an Art room and dance Room to practice Irish Dance.  It’s still has a ways to go.

Nathan is re-moving his office back to the “Man Cave”  and he’s making it a much cooler place to be he will miss bunches of sunlight.  He can pace upstairs on his calls from time to time.  He’s moved the 3 main computers (heat sources) out of the room and has them linked thru the wall. That will give him a lot more space.

I think it will be good for the kids that want to talk, run and play upstairs all day long so they don’t have to always be told to be quiet.  And Zach can have proper naps in his bed.

Anyone have suggestions on getting kids to STOP lying after it has become habit?

Nathan and I got to have a Lovely vacation together.  My parents and brother Uncle Thomas were able to come over Friday June 5th thru Tuesday 9th  and help with the 4 kiddos.

We stayed Friday and Saturday nights and headed back on Sunday morning.  It was a fun whirlwind trip.  We tried to see the “Pirate Show” at Treasure Island casino.  There were warnings of “High Wind”- there was a little breeze and they cancelled the show so we didn’t get to see it.  We did watch the “Volcano Show” from behind and it was still good.

Saturday we did the tourist thing, wandered shops and casinos.  Played at Circus Circus, watched a juggling act and acrobat on a high triangle bar.  We got a few toys for the kids.  We played the “Put the Chicken in the Pot” game.  My first attempt I whacked so hard and totally missed the peg =).  My hands stung for the rest of our game there =)  It was so Funny!  Nathan won 2 toys.  Went to the opposite side of the strip rode the monorail from one casino to another, went people watching and had ice cream and root beer floats.  We also enjoyed 3 4D Motion Theatre rides at the Excalibur.

Headed to the hotel to relax and change into our evening clothes for the Grande Evening, Nathan prepared.  we went to the “Top of the World” restaurant on the STRATOSPHERE and had a nice 1:40 rotating fancy dinner.  We were pressed for time to get our tickets to see the Cirque Du Soleil show “O”  so we packed our Dessert, To Go and hit the LV strip traffic all the way across town.  We made it!,  a little early even.  The show was “Osome” Awesome.  Very interesting to watch.  The clowns were hilarious, the show was jaw dropping and I couldn’t pick a better person to go see it with.  Nathan had to remind me to clap.  I guess it’s been a while since I’ve had to clap for something I wasn’t videotaping (kids), Nathan thought I hated it because I wasn’t clapping.  I just have no memory so I totally forgot to clap until he reminded me.  That was funny too!  I guess I was just amazed at the show and too intently watching it.

Sunday we cruised home.  The 1st part of the car trip was so HOT.  The air conditioning in the car was broken and I was sitting in the sun.  Nathan says I started wilting.  I was getting sleepy and when we got to Mesquite, we HAD to pull over to cool down.  I grabbed an ice cream cone and Nathan ran to the gas station for 2 BAGS of ice!  It was SOOOO funny.  I placed them on my legs, hugged it put my feet on one and so on they were great conversation pieces.  I was very lively and happy after that. Even when it dripped all over my shorts!

Monday my mom took Zach and Aurora to Idaho to see great Grandma.  The girls went to school, Grandpa went to the genealogy library.  Uncle Thomas, Nathan, Uncle Joe and I went to see “Land of the Lost”.  That was funny too!

Monday night we had Chicken Parmesan - Thomas request.  We played basketball and Pool. we also watched a drenching hail and rain storm from the inside of our comfy house.

This morning Tuesday, the company packed up and left, but only after we headed to the boutique to see my booths since it was on their way home anyways.

Back to life in the real world.  After all the junk food, no exercise and spoiling I have a weigh in tomorrow and it’s not going to be a pretty sight.

Zach is not as obsessed  with Thomas the Train these days.  it’s a nice break, but I hope he doesn’t grow out of the train phase yet!

He’s potty training not quite perfect yet, but when he has to go  he really lets everyone know ” I have to go pee pee on the poddy!” over and over as he runs to the bathroom.  We have had a fair share of accidents, and only see many more in the future.

For saying prayers, he would keep saying “Dear” ” What comes next?”, and then we would help him, and add to it, and help some more every time he’d say “What comes next?”  He has been the 1st to volunteer to say the prayer for weeks, months.  Lately I have been telling him to help me say the prayer,  So he helps me like I would help him but his lists go on and on.  Things like “thank you daddy has hard work”, and “thank you daddy could make Sierra happy by telling her to knock it off”, and thank you for the pictures, the fish toy, his sippy cup, out friends that came over for lunch, and tonight he kept going on and on and on. but i had to repeat him. 

His swim suit is “SWIMSOUP”

I am a “Poopy Head”

Ther are tonsmore,but I’m exhausted and my “retarded memory” doesn’t work

Aurora is a happy little 2 year old that gets into mischief ALL THE TIME.  She’s almost always got messy hands, there are always crumbs of food under her chair at the dinner table.  She likes torturing Zach at the dinner table since they sit so close to each other.  Last night it was Aurora trying to take away his cup.  They are always nudging, moving, tuggingand even hitting each other. and it always becomes a screaming match.

When I go to the church gym to workout Aurora will wander toward me if she has nothing better to do and she becomes my weights or she holds my hand and we do the step aerobics together.  Usually she is on my back laughing as she takes a ride.

Aurora will sit in her car sweat and when the AC cold air comes on and i turn it up she screams HOT HOT HOT.  I think she’s confused, it’s either WINDY WINDY or COLD COLD, but definitely NOT HOT!

For the past week or so, if she gets hurt, a tumble, a bump, Zach grabbing her wrist a little too tightly, she will come running up to Daddy or I and say OUCH or fuss and cry, then before we think to kiss her better, SHE KISSES IT HERSELF and runs her little red-haired round belly body off to her next adventure.  Sometimes I can cuddle her and get a kiss of my own in. Then she’s off and running a few moments later.

Every time the van door opens she jumps in and runs to the farthest corner of the back seat where it’s hard for me to reach her.  She doesn’t want to get in her chair right away and would love a ridein the big girls seats.  She doesn’t get away with it EVER, but she sure tries.