Happy, Happy Eleven Years!

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday to you!

You dance like a Pirate.....

And you smell like one to!!

Today at 10:17 am Tyler officially turned 11years of age!

He came into this world weighing 7 pounds and 3 ounces.

He also had a full head of blond, sticky-up hair and perfectly formed eyebrows.

This is kind-of a crummy picture,

(What do you expect?

We where only married for 11 months and 15 days at that point.

Digital cameras where the least of our worries.)

But the adorable baby makes up for it.

Since then Ty has grown 41 inches. (He's now 5' 1'')

And has gained 80 pounds and 7 ounces. (He's 88lbs now)

All of his baby teeth are gone and 12 year old molars are commin' in.

We even had to sit through maturation classes...uughh!

My first baby is no longer a baby. (But he'll always be my baby)

To celebrate today,

we had frosting and a little bit of carrot cake

(provided by Grandma Beep-Beep...she always puts too much frosting)

And Napoleon ice cream.

We also decided a Spanking Machine was in order.

3 Spanks from Blake, Kaden, and Sydney. 2 from me with a pinch to grow an inch!

Kaden and Syd where a little to short for Ty to go under, and Syd ended up getting a ride.

All in all, it was fun, but the real birthday party with everyone and presents will be Saturday.

Some pictures for your enjoyment!

All 11 candles, one candle is already blown out.

Ty in all his B-day glory

(Holy nostrils kid!)

The post-Spanking Machine ride.

I think I have a frosting head-ache........

Funny Guy!!

Last summer, in August, we went to East Carbon Utah to take care of some family business.

After all was said and done, we went out to eat on the way home in Price.

The tradition when we go out is to get Ice cream for dessert.

I forgot to take pictures of everything,

but I did happen to take pictures of our time in the restaurant.

I told Blake,

"Act like you REALLY like your Ice Cream."

This is what I got!

This is totally how he is!

Since then, I've noticed, he really does make this face when he's super excited.

This boy totally entertains me.

Another funny story. We went to a Taco Time near our house a couple weeks ago.

We got there during a little bit of a rush. So quite a few people where in the building.

We just sat down to eat and since our family is getting bigger,

two of the kids where across the isle in their own booth.

When out of nowhere, a very LOUD fart echoed through the restaurant.

We looked to see where the noise came from, and low and behold....

It was Blake.

He actually was leaning over to let it flow a little better and he had a look on his face that said,

"Did I do that?"

And because of the MAGNITUDE, I'm sure the fry-cook in the back even heard.

What do you do?

Justin and I looked at each other...

and we couldn't help but laugh.

We didn't want to seem rude but we couldn't help it.

I was already Slap-happy, and I laughed till I cried.

A dude on the other side of the half-wall slowly peeked his head over to see who could have produced such a noise, all we could do was apologise.

Later in the truck Blake asked if that was embarrassing.......

YES!!

Our sad, sad backyard...

When we decided on the house we're in, the only thing I HATED was the back yard.

The good thing about yards......they can be fixed!

Still, as you can see by the pictures, it will take some work.

You really can't tell in the pictures, but the majority of the yard has wood chips.

And the wood chips have had weeds and wild grass growing up through them,so it's nasty!

The good news is....

Our landlord has agreed to pay for a sprinkling system to be put in!

Since we have been working on sprinkling systems for a long time, we told him we are willing to put it in, if he pays for parts. Of course he jumped on that offer.

Justin and I have been plotting the yard, designing a layout,

and pricing parts so we can send him estimates.

(It sounds awful and not so fun, but it's actually my thing)

That was the easy part.

Now, we'll have to clean up and get rid of ALL the wood chips.

We have to decide if we want to break our backs for a weekend and rake it by hand or rent a Skid-turn and be done in a few hours.

(I say, rent the Skid-turn. I just have to convince Justin that it's a good idea.)

All I want to know is, who's the genius who thought of WOOD CHIPS?!

This is looking at the back yard from our porch....From left to right.

We have no shed. So our little trailers are loaded.

We do have a patch of grass for the doggies to do their business,

as you can see.

I'm sure the neighbors behind us will be excited
when we finally have the weed patch
taken care of.

We are on a corner lot so our backyard ugliness is shared with the neighborhood.

When the good weather hits, you'll never have to guess what we are up to!

Day-dreaming about Summer

I am soo ready for Spring and Summer.

When we have a few hours or minutes of sun, my mind always tends to wander to

long lazy days, warm starry nights, and flowers in the garden.

Spring, I need you. Visit soon please!

These are flowers from our garden at our little house.

This year will take a little longer to have flowers......and lawn.

So, old pictures will have to sustain me until the day-dreams become reality.

Laundry....ughhh!

Okay, everyone has to do it but, do we like doing it?

It's one thing to only have to do it for two or three people, but SIX!!

Plus doing towels, sheets, blankets, comforters, rugs, or anything else washable that a kid touches.

Here's a picture of our laundry room now. As you can see, it is VERY small!

We decided to stack the washer and dryer to give us a little more room.

Here's the laundry room we had at our last house.

Even though it was unfinished, it had great potential and was HUGE!

After seeing both Laundry rooms, which one would you like the most?

A laundry room is a laundry room and you do the same thing both places, but one is better than the other (in my opinion)!!

The new one is small, finished, and upstairs. The old one is large, unfinished, and downstairs.

My favorite one is..... the small one, and not for obvious reasons.

Yes, it's nice not having to do laundry with the spiders and on a cold cement floor, but
I did laundry with the spiders for most of my life.... it was nice having help.

But, I like my smaller laundry room because it's small.

When I had a big laundry room it was easy to let the laundry pile up and get overwhelming. Plus it was hard to haul up that much laundry once it was clean.

With my little laundry room I have to keep on top of it so, I can reach my washer and dryer.

And I walk by it a million times a day. So, I'm reminded to do it a million times.

Plus I'm less likely to forget a load in the washer or dryer.

That's why I like my little laundry room!!
***

This is my mountain of Laundry that I was always doing when I was at the other house.

Soooo crazy!!!

It makes me have anxiety just looking at that huge pile.

My piles NEVER look like that since moving, and I'm very glad!!

Now I just need to train my kids to put their laundry away NICELY.