She said Short

Matayia said she wanted it short... And that is what she got! I think her new haircut is really cute. I know she likes it too, I keep catching her looking in the mirror with a big huge smile!!

I told you so...

We have been dealing with a lingering cough in our house the last couple of weeks. Usually Kaitlyn is the one with the cough but this time it is Matayia. She runs around all day and acts just fine, but as soon as we put her to bed she just can't stop. I can sleep through this little disturbance, but Greg cannot. So Monday morning Greg insisted that I take Matayia to the doctor. I didn't want to cause a fight about this, but told him I was sure the doctor was going to say "tis the season, just deal with a cough" hand me some cough medicine and send me on my way. He insisted it was worth the $20 copay to get uninterrupted sleep at night. So off we went to the doctors.

When we got tho the doctors office is was the usual with Matayia, she played with all the toys and acted like everything was just fine. But I know secretly she was excited to be skipping school. When the doctor came in to check Matayia she first checked her ears. And then asked Matayia if her ears hurt? Matayia quickly answered "no, not really" She then asked her again "are you sure your ears don't hurt?" Matayia then pointed to her earrings and said "they kinda hurt right here" The doctor and I both had a good laugh at that one. The doctor then looked in her throat and asked if her throat hurt?? She swallowed real hard and replied "uuh no." With a puzzled look on her face the doctor looked at me and said she looks like she has strep throat, and has a double ear infection. She then asked one more time "are you sure you feel OK" and Matayia replied with a smile on her face "ya". So after getting swabbed for strep, and that coming back negative, the doctor sent us on our way with a handful of prescriptions. As we walked out the door I asked "should I take her back to school?" She replied "if she feels like it" I looked at Matayia with her little smile on her face and took her back to school. Matayia loves being checked in or out of school, she thinks it is so cool. She keeps a tally on how many times other kids have been checked in or out, so she was really excited to go back to school and get "checked in"

I then ran over to the paharmacy to fill our prescriptions so Matayia could start taking them when she got home. And boy was she surprised to see this waiting on the counter for her when she got home


Matayia hates medicine and as soon as she saw this collection of medicine the tears began to flow. The funny thing is while we were in the store Kaitlyn started to cry because none of the medicines were for her. Matayia hates medicine and Kaitlyn can't get enough of it. So I devised a plan to help this medicine thing go over well for the whole family. I told Kaitlyn that she needed to help Matayia be brave and take her medicine. Now every time the medicine comes out Kaitlyn is right there cheering Matayia on, telling her to be brave and that the medicine is good. The plan seems to be working though we still see a few tears from Matayia.

The worst part of this all is that I had to admit to Greg that I was wrong about Matayia being sick. This is not the first time this has happened with Matayia. SHe seem to have a high tolerance for pain. The doctor has told me before if Matayia complains that she is not feeling well take her serious and bring her in. But the only problem is she never complained that she wasn't feeling well. But Greg promised not to say "I told you so"

Sunday Spirit

To the members of the church everywhere, I say, live honest sincere lives! Be honest with yourselves, honest with your brethren, honest with your families, honest with those with whom you deal- always honest. Then very foundation of all character rests upon the principles of honesty and sincerity.

-David O McKay-

Summer Preview

We are grateful for cute neighbor boys who are always up for a little "Hot Dog Roast"

Breaking out the bikes

So we decide that the weather was good enough to break out the bikes. Last year I decided to start biking with the "die hard bikers in my ward" I actually ended up really loving the bike rides. I would of never thought I could pull Kaitlyn up some of the hills that we did. But after a long hard bike ride I always felt good. So I was actually really excited when Candace suggested we break out the bikes in March this year.

Last year I was the new be of the group and so I think they probably took it a little easy on me. But no favors this year, day one we decided to conquer one of the hills that took me 2 months to work into last year. And even when we did this hill last year the first couple of times I ended up walking my bike up half of the hill. So when Candace suggested we head up the hill I said "no way!!! I am not ready for that" She looked at me and said "Well I am going up that hill" She knew I would follow. I am so grateful for friends who push and sometimes pull me along. We headed up the hill and it was easier than I remembered, I never had to walk my bike, and I wasn't even the last one to the top. (I was the last one to the top almost every time last year)

Though no pictures will ever do this hill justice for me I tried to take a few pictures to remind myself on a bad day that I can make it up a daunting hill if I only just think I can. For those who are familiar with the area I am standing at the mouth of American Fork canyon, and then looking South. This trail takes you up to the top of Cedar hill. Notice in the picture you can't even see the top of the hill. The first two corners are the hardest and then the rest is all a mind game. (so they tell me, but for a mind game my legs sure hurt when I get to the top.)
Also please remember that we are all pulling our bike buggy's with our kids in it. I am one of the luck ones with just one kid. But she has definitely gotten a little heavier than last year.(26lbs plus the buggy)


Kaitlyn love this morning ride just as much as I do (at times she may like it more than me) She was so excited to go on a bike ride in the buggy. Often times when we are driving around town Kaitlyn will blurt out "hey mom, this is where we ride our bikes" I would have to say that he favorite part is the tunnels. On the way down we go through two tunnels the kids think this is so fun. and of course we yell and make as much noise in the tunnels as we can. The all time favorite is a loud long "CHOO CHOO" hopefully lasting the whole tunnel. Often times after we race through the tunnel yelling Choo Choo I hear "come on mom let's do that again" And i say "maybe tomorrow"

Sunday Spirit

I taught a lesson on honoring your parents and sustaining your family members. I was probably not the best one to teach this lesson. I explained that it is really easy to honor your parents when you don't live with them and don't have to follow their rules anymore. It is also quite easy to sustain your siblings when you don't see them everyday. But as I thought about back when I was a kid, it was definitely hard to do both of these. So maybe a few apologies are in order here. Miranda I am sorry for almost suffocating you in the sleeping bag box, and breaking your nose with the door knob to your own door. Melissa, sorry about ratting on you alot. Stacey sorry about just being mean to you almost all of the time. And Bubba, sorry about pestering you endlessly.

While attending the Draper Temple Open House, we watched a little video in the church while waiting to be bused to the temple. In the video Jeffrey R Holland talked about Heaven and the celestial kingdom. He said he could not imagine heaven without his wife. I loved what he said, but think I would add, I could not imagine heaven without my sisters and parents. I love my family. I love to spend time with them and love to just talk to them on the phone. I love the things they teach me, they help me be a better person. I can't think of anything better than an eternal family. I am thankful for my little family along with my sisters and mom and dad.

Ending the Ski Season

We had a couple of free passes to Powder mountain that we need to use so we decided to go skiing one last time this year. We decided that it would cost us the same amount to pay for a babysitter for the whole day or just drive to grandma's and let Kaitlyn play with Grandma all day. So off to Logan we went, and once we get to Logan we are reminded that it is still winter.



We were planning on skiing with Derek, Seth and Jacie but last minute Seth got sick. We decided we would still take Jacie with us, and I am really glad we did. Sometimes when we get in a big group Jacie sits back and watches a little, it was nice to see Jacie come out of her shell. The day went well, the girls skied really good. I think they both did better then the last time we took them skiing. They both seem to be getting more and more confidence. I really love watching their little relationship, they really seem to have a good time together. I think there was a litte competition to see who got to the bottom of the hill the fastest, it was cute to watch.

Usually at lunch time we would leave the resort for lunch. But we decided to stay and make a little peanut butter and Jelly. Matayia thought this was really fun, maybe funner than the skiing.

All and all the day went well, we ended the ski season on a good note.

Signs of Spring

Matayia and Kaitlyn have been so excited to see the tulips pop out of the ground.

The kids love to "hunt" through the flower beds to see who can

"spy" the new green leaves coming up.


We think spring, is right around the corner.

Temple Open House, Take Two

I was so excited to take my little girls to the Draper temple open house. We had a great night, and everything was as nice as I had hoped for. We (the young women leaders) got tickets to take our young women girls to the open house. I was really excited to see my girls in the temple, I had been looking forward to this night for a couple of months. I wonder how my temple experience may have been different if i had had the opportunity to go to a temple open house as a Laurel. Would I have asked my leaders all about the temple, I wonder if it may have calmed some of my fears of going to the temple the first time. I was hoping to answer any questions the girls had, and wondered if they would dare ask me.



The night was great, filled with many conversations and lots and lots of questions. I love being in the young womens for this reason, the girls teach me more than I could ever try to teach them. What another great night at the temple.

School Notes

Matayia brought home her writing notebook from school the other day. Before we go to bed we try to read a few pages from it. Here are a few of my favorites....

I know I better keep this one, I might need to show Matayia someday

that she said I was her friend!!

When I read this one it reminds me that Matayia does really like her sister.

Not so fast, look what was on the next page...

I love that Matayia says "she has to live with it" I can just hear that phrase

coming out of my mouth when she complains.

Greg's turn

So I have invited Greg to contribute to our blog many times. I think I may be wearing him down, I even think he is on the verge of accepting the invitation to blog. Maybe this will push him over the edge, posting some of his pictures, without any explanation. Hopefully Greg will fill you all in on his pictures. Now everyone please cross your fingers with me!!!

Glue?? Come on

So today I decided that I needed to buy some new running shoes. I went to the 26.2 shoe store, I thought the salespeople would be really knowledgeable. And they did not disappoint, the guy that was working there really knew his stuff. But what I wondered was, how smart is this guy really. He asked me the funniest question. I had Kaitlyn with me at the store, and after we had been there awhile trying on shoes, he looked at me and said. "I just have to ask you, how do you get that "thing" to stay on her head, did you glue it?" I gave him a look of, "are you serious?" and to my surprise he was serious. I looked at him, started to laughed, and then gave him, a single guy (maybe not as smart as I first thought) a lesson on doing little girls hair!!!!

801-WHAT

This new phone number thing is really throwing me off my game. I have had to redial every phone call I have made today. I tried to explain to Matayia that we now have to dial 801 before every call.... She was confused saying she already memorized her phone number once!! I tried to tell her to just add 801, she was still confused..... I guess I am a little confused too. Do we really have that many people living in Utah??

Sunday Spirit

So Greg got on "our" blog tonight to see what I had posted, and was shocked that I hadn't blogged all week!! He asked me why I hadn't posted and I said that nothing exciting had happened. So here we are at the Sunday post again. I am feeling quite spiritual these days on my blog, don't get the wrong idea about me. I am not as righteous as this blog would make me out to be. For those who really know me I have alot of work to do in the spiritual area.

“To be a righteous woman is a glorious thing in any age. To be a righteous woman during the winding up scenes on this earth, before the second coming of our Savior, is an especially noble calling. The righteous woman’s strength and influence today can be tenfold what it might be in more tranquil times. She has been placed here to help to enrich, to protect, and to guard the home—which is society’s basic and most noble institution”

Brother Giles taught our lesson today. He asked me if i could bear my testimony on the importance of being a wife. I had to think about this for a few minutes. Sometimes after you become a mom you forget about being a wife. Being a mother trumps being a wife at times. This got me excited once again about our European trip coming up. I realized, Greg and I will be together for two whole weeks as husband and wife not mom and dad. I am excited to travel and experience new things with my best friend, And to just be his wife...