Easter

The easter bunny came to visit our house and he kind of looked like Rick! Don't you love how Mallory is doing the "bunny ears" behind his head!





At Grammy's we had fun egg hunt in the yard. Lindsie found the golden egg. They all got new webkinz at the end of the hunt!!!



Everyone wonders who Mallory looks like ..... this is my cousin's little boy. They could be twins

Mallory swimming

Wouldn't you think it would be a little scary at age 2 to go to swim lessons with a total stranger who dunks you in the water and makes you float on your back??? Not Mallory. She couldn't wait to get in that water. She is definately my adventureous child. She loves the water and is so much fun to watch. She gets so excited to go every day. I have been taking my kids to Pam, the swimming teacher for years now. She is so amazing and she teaches the kids the skills they need to be safe in the water. Troy and Lindsie are now swiming like little olympians. I'm sure Mallory is not far behind them. Thanks Pam!

That's my Boy.....

Check out that air! We took a trip down to Moab for the 1/2 marathon and decided to bring the bikes along. Troy was in heaven. We found out that he is an amazing biker. We found these jumps off a trail and needless to say, we spent hours there watching Troy get air. It was funny because he was the youngest kid there and was getting just as much air as the big kids.

Scentsy

I love going into Holly's house because it always smells sooooo good. I want mine to smell like that too!! Holly's sister, Misty, sells scentsy products. I think it is about time I find out more about this Scentsy stuff. You can find Misty at www.Scentsy.com/Mistybarry or www.ToddMistyBarry.wordpress.com By posting this on my blog, I get to be in a free drawing, and apparently she has given away lots of stuff!

Tagged

Okay --here I go. My friend, Jenn, tagged me. I enjoyed reading her tag so much that I had to accept her tag!

Ten years ago....

It was 1998. Rick and I were living in our first home in West Jordan in a neighborhood called "Wheatridge Estates." I loved it there because we were close to a High School that had a fun track to run on. I had just graduated with my Masters Degree from BYU in Social Work; and I was just about to become pregnant with Lindsie. We had no idea the freedom we had. Our neighbors across the street would laugh at us because they said every time they looked out their window we were either loading up our mountain bikes, going to play tennis, going snow skiing, going camping, or going to play golf. We rarely sat still. I think we were just about to buy our first ski boat too -- the awesome purple and pink Ski Centurion (which we still have). We had no idea that a move to Saratoga Springs was just around the corner (in 1999).

Five Places I've visited....
1. Kaui, Hawaii. We spent our honeymoon for 10 days in our friend's, the Haroldsen's, 2nd home on the golf course. It was a gorgeous home within walking distance to the beach. They gave us their convertible, mountain bikes, and kyaks to use. We lived the life of the rich and famous!

2. Alaska. Rick and I took a trip there right after he graduated from Physical Therapy School. My Aunt and Uncle lived there and took us in their huge Motor Home (much like the Kehoe's) touring all over Alaska for ten days. We even deep sea fished and caught huge Halibut. We also fly fished all night long because it never got dark. It was a little scary when we noticed fresh bear prints close to us. I've never seen so much wild life everywhere we looked.

3. Lucky Lowes Waterski Camp in Florida with Chris Culley, Brandon, and the Jeppsons. This was a trip to remember. Lucky Lowe is a very interesting personality. He does not win any awards for bedside manner. He does not mince words. If he thought you skied like crap, he would tell you that, and then some. My favorite line he yelled at me was, "If you would just listen and do what I tell you, you MIGHT become a good skier." He was known to leave people in the middle of the lake if they weren't doing what he said and tell them to swim back. Oh, and there were alligators that lived in this lake. I've never been yelled at so much in my life. To this day when I am skiing, I hear his voice blasting "reach" "turn"! We basically bunked in "tough sheds" and lived on his private lake for one week. I learned a ton and in a warped way, had the time of my life. Waterskiing three sets a day and hanging out with professional skiers was pretty fun! I would do it again in a heart beat.

4. The Caribbean. We have been on four cruises in the Caribbean. Three Western and one Eastern. There is nothing like vacationing there -- total relaxation and pure bliss. It is definately my "happy place."

5. Lake Powell. Nothing like the red rocks, warm water, and scorching sun at Lake Powell. I love the feeling after skiing all day long in the sun, eating a great meal, and going to sleep on top of the house boat looking up at all the stars!

I enjoy....

Running -- the longer the better
Waterskiing on glass water with six bouys in the water
Mountain biking -- best kept secret is Brian Head. I love the work out of the up hill and then going down hill makes me laugh like I'm on a roller coaster!
snowskiing on a fresh powder day. There is nothing like fresh powder
desserts, desserts, and more desserts (my favorite new find was the cheese cake at Sun and Moon Cafe up emigration canyon. It makes me want to cuss it is so good.)
Cafe Rio
Tepanyaki
laughing my head off with friends
Girls night out
When my kid's friends come over to play
watching Troy "get air" on his bike
When Lindsie brings me her newest creative art project
Hearing Mallory say "I love you mom" and "I just went pee pee in the potty"
Date night on Wednesday nights with my good looking husband
Kicking rick's butt up the mountain on a bike (it's the only thing I'm better at than him)
Watching movies in our home theater
The change from season to season (I love them all for different reasons)
When all my kids go to bed and the house is quiet
Baths before bed every night
Chocolate
Neighborhood cruises

Three bad habits<
1. eating too many desserts at once
2. Putting off doing laundry
3. forgetfulness

Five things you may not know about me
I think everyone knows everything about me since we can't stop playing the "I have never game." This is going to be a hard one.
1. I hide chocolate in my underwear drawer and eat one piece every night right after my kids go to bed. It is my unwind time.
2. I love to get very cold at night and then get into my very hot hot bath tub. I sometimes step out on my deck off my bedroom to freeze myself. (SORRY NEIGHBORS)
3. I got suspended from school when I was in 7th grade for "protesting for Peace" instead of attending my classes.
4. I am secretly terrified of being murdered. (some people do know about this one)
5. Right before "that time of the month" I get really excited, but I don't know why. Kind of like the feeling you have just before going on vacation.

Five jobs I've had...
1. My very first job was at 14 years old at Taco Time just down the street from my house.
2. Working at Combe Insurance Agency through High School
3. Medical Secretary and Group therapy co-leader at Primary Children's Outpatient Psychiatry through College.
4. Therapist at Youth Care -- A residential treatment facility for troubled youth.
5. Therapist at Primary Care family therapy doing therapy with kids, couples, groups,and families.

Okay- I hope I didn't bore you all to death. Now I want to tag Lisa and Holly. Let's see what you've got girls!

More Cruise Pictures

Costco Photo Center: Photo Album

Costco Photo Center: Photo Album. Here are a lot of pictures from the Erskine's camera. I was trying to move one photo over, and I got the whole album. I'm not the best blogger around.

2008 Neighborhood Cruise

(Why do I always get these small pictures??? Holly, I can hear you laughing!237:=3:8=444=XROQDF>232426243;28:wp1lsi.jpg"> I'm not sure what I did again.) ha ha ha. I'm an idiot!
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Words cannot describe our 7 day experience on the Liberty of the Seas. We went with 17 couples in the neighborhood -- what a fun group of people! I don't think I have laughed so hard in my life. One night, my jaw was hurting from laughing so hard. We stayed up late; slept in; had no responsibilities; got lots of sunshine; ate until we couldn't eat anymore; took naps; danced; played air guitar on Rick's shoulders to ACDC Shook Me All Night Long; sang kareoke; were entertained by Ryan and Jodi's Love Shack performance; stole watermelons; enjoyed Eric's air guitar; hot tubbed; saw more of Troy Wride's body than we wanted to; watched Troy and Jason dress up like women in front of the whole crowd; rented out the surf pool (flow rider); zip lined across the ocean; lost the Culley's in Jamaica; found the Culley's again on the ship at our favorite pizza joint; frequented Johnny Rockets and the crossiant/pastry place; watched the Saratoga men win the dodge ball tournament; spinning class all by myself; ran on the treadmill every day overlooking the ocean; spent the day with Rick in Grand Cayman; Dune Buggy ride on the beach with the Culleys; took a picture with Jenn in the Sand on the beach :);dressed up all fancy for two formal nights, attempted to wear high heels; drank pina coladas by the pool; found more triple chocolate cookies "in the back"; took over the ship as the "Saratoga Springs group." The only reason I came home was to see my darling kids.

I'm not sure what I did with the pictures -- it looks like I figured out how to post our costco group pictures on my blog. Opps, sometimes I have no idea what I am doing -- actually most of the time!

Costco Photo Center: Photos

Costco Photo Center: Photos

Costco Photo Center: Photos

Costco Photo Center: Photos

Happy Valentines Day!

We had such a fun Valentines Day. Rick and I were supposed to have a date the night before, but he got caught in that horrible storm. Needless to say, he never made it home that night. He ended up staying at his parents house in Sandy after he realized Redwood Rd was closed and so was the point of the mountain. My Valentine did make it home on Valentines morning to wish me a happy one!!! Then he had to go to work until later that evening. The kids and I had a great day. We started the morning off right, with heart shaped pancakes. After schoool, the kids loved delivering valentines to friends around the neighborhood. It was so suspensful to see who caught us driving away and who never saw us at all! We even got chased by Zach and Austin! Then, we came home and made a gourmet heart shaped pizza (with pineapple for mom and Lindsie on one half), which we devoured in about 2 seconds. It actually tasted pretty good -- much to my surprise! Strawberry shortcake dessert cups were the perfect way to end the celebration!!! Lindsie and Harlee could hardly walk they were so full. I love my family. Lindsie, Troy, and Mallory are getting to be at such great ages -- I really enjoy being around them (most of the time). I sure hope they have fun childhood memories to remember in years to come.

It's a Potty Party!

Princess Mallory is getting closer to being independently potty trained! She still needs help wiping -- as you can see sometimes the toilet paper becomes a "tail" as Mallory would describe it.

We had one whole week without an accident so we partied at Jungle Jim's Playland! Mallory wanted to share this occasion with Emery, and they had a blast running from ride to ride.

Mallory and Emery crack me up. They have had such a great time growing up together. Emery calls Mallory "nanny." At first, it bothered Mallory and she would correct Emery, "no, my name is not Nanny, it's Mallory!" Now, she sometimes calls herself "Nanny." We love Emery!

Last Chance Lakes

Well, I can't believe the lake is really under construction. This has been our life dream. I guess after this we can just enjoy. I can't think of any more goals I want to accomplish. It is going to be amazing to have our own private waterski lake. Glass water 24/7. What more could we ask for? Rick amazes me with his ability to do the "impossible." He has never given up through out this entire project (I know it's not done yet!) I think back to all the hurdles and hoops we have had to jump through. It all started with the "testimony meeting" (Chris,Jason,Brent, and Rick's parents experienced this with us) at the Tooele County Town meeting with farmers who wanted to hang Rick -- until he won them over and made them his friends (lunch at the Silver Sage every week), water rights engineers who were not easy to deal with, environmentalists who wanted to protect the green speckled frogs and June sucker fish (yea--I thought the June sucker fish only lived in Utah lake -- apparently not. I think they use that excuse for everything). Rick has figured out how to be a developer -- who knows how to do that without some sort of training? That is just a few of the mountains we have had to conquer. I would have given up long ago, but Rick has a gift that keeps him going -- he has incredible mental strength. I'm not kidding when I say he works on this project from the minute he wakes up in the morning (6:00 am) until he goes to bed at night (3:00 am) The lake is going to have 19 home lots, each with a private dock and boat lift, lights on the lake for night skiing, wake boarding rails, volleyball and tennis courts, a pavilion/logde, separate fishing pond, horse stables, and a motorcross track. Pretty fun! Ohhhh, I love to waterski. I get butterflies just thinking about it.
Troy is helping with the excavation!

Mallory is doing so great with her potty training -- despite the daily poop accidents. But, she is trying very hard. I wish someone would start a company for potty training children. They could take your child away for a week or whatever it takes, and bring them back fully potty trained. I just have to keep reminding myself that this stage will pass and someday I will miss having small children around the house. Each day she makes me laugh, and that is what keeps me loving being a mom. The other day, she saw a picture of me on my wedding day. She said, "Mom, were you a Princess." I said, "Yes, Mallory, I guess I was a princess. That was the day I married dad." She said, "Oh, mom, you are the best princess in the whole world." Mallory is a princess every day. She will not stay in her clothes. She has to have some fancy princess dress on at all times. Usually, with high heels, a matching purse, and crown. She also has a fun, crazy side about her. She is always singing, talking to anyone she can find who will listen, and when she runs full force into a brick wall, she quickly gets up and says, "I'm okay mom, I'm okay." She hardly ever cries.

Cousins!

Camping at Starvation with the cousins
Ouch, Janessa had a sunburn! Guess she had a little too much fun learning to wakeboard.
Oops, how do I keep the cereal in the bowl? (I can't figure out how to rotate this picture now that I have saved it)

At the Zoo with Grammy and Grampy! All the grandkids got white alligator stuffed animals.

Disney Cruise

I wanted to post some pictures of the Disney Cruise we went on with Grammy and Grampy in 2006. We had such a great time all together.
Pirate night was a great time. We will never forget pirate Grammy and Grampy!
The disney island "Castaway Cay" was so pretty, with bright blue water and white sandy beaches.

Christmas 2007

Mallory was a little tired after a long day of opening presents and playing!! What a great Christmas! I wish we could keep her at this age forever. She had such a blast.

Lindsie, our artist, got a new art easel. The favorite present of the day was the Nintendo WII. We had a great time playing tennis, baseball, and bowling. Troy wins at baseball, mom wins at tennis, and Lindsie at bowling!! I think it is more fun watching the kids than the game. It is hillarious!

Mallory loved her new doll house that Santa brought her. She didn't want to open any other her other presents!

Troy was so excited -- he got his own set of golf clubs. He can't wait to start golfing this summer!