Halloween Town

In downtown disney they had this holiday shop. There was the coolest Christmas town I had ever seen. You know how they are always the New Englad style buildings and all that. Well this one was a trailer park. Not just a trailer park but a 1950's trailer park. I was in love. I don't know why I didn't take a picture of it. How about this Halloween town though. If only I had money to burn. Enjoy.

Disneyland Hotel

Being a Pest Control Advisor has it's perks. For one you have to complete X amount of credit hours every year. It's a continuing education type thing in order to keep your license. It's really kind of a sad little system they have because more often than not Ian ends up listening to lectures that having absolutely nothing to do with his field. So he just files his new knowledge about ornamental shrubbery, golf course maintenance or a pest we will never see in our area under U for useless. Although it's not a total loss. Yeah that doesn't sound like a perk does it. Well here is the perk. These meetings are often in cool places. We went to one not too long ago in Vegas and this last one was at the Disneyland Hotel. We left after church on the 19th and came home on Tuesday.


We use these trips as a free couples getaway. The room and most of the food is paid for by his work because these meetings are something he is required to do. While he is in meetings I will rest up, go to a movie, shop, explore. I really enjoy the time by myself during the day. Ian is almost always available in the evenings. We will find some place nice for dinner, hit a movie and then enjoy our nice private room the rest of the night. These meetings seem to come along just when we really need them. I had a really hard time leaving the kids this time. We had just been through so much hardship as a family lately I didn't want to part with them but I did knowing my husband has been through a lot as well and could use my full attention for a bit.



We didn't go to Disneyland. Teagan would have missed two days of school. Jade wouldn't have remembered it and we would have had to pull from savings to pay for it. We did get to enjoy downtown disney though. I found it when I was out for a walk. They had so many cool shops. I really only took pictures of the things I thought Teagan would be interested in. At the shop with the airplanes they stopped me and told me I couldn't take pictures. My response, "Seriously?". The lady looked annoyed and pointed to a sign. Oh well I snapped a few before I was tossed out. They had a Sephora where I spent a good part of one afternoon. So many shops the kids would love. I took a lot of pictures at the lego store for Teagan.


I got some pictures of our room. We stayed in the Wonder tower. The room was nice but we've stayed in nicer for a lot less. The details were really the best part though. There were waterfalls and coi ponds right outside our tower. There was a restaurant that was apparently run by Goofy. We were walking by and heard screaming. Then we see Goofy in a chef hat serving food. Too cute! Teagan would have loved the pool. It was Peter Pan themed. There were alligators and Captain Hook's ship with a water slide. We didn't have time to go enjoy it but it looked awesome. Even though the price was higher than I would have liked the location and the little details were pretty cool. I'm sure we will stay there when we do finally take the family to Disneyland. I should start saving now.

Cupcake Mania

Between class parties, birthday parties and Halloween I've made a lot of cupcakes lately. This is apparently Jades favorite food. If there is a cupcake in the house she will sniff it out. All day long she will guide us to the kitchen and point, grunt and scream for a cupcake. Mostly she just eats the frosting and tears up the cake. Ian called me in the other day and told me to grab the camera. So here are some pictures of her enjoying one.




Saturday mornings are always difficult. Every Saturday something goes wrong in the morning and we are late. The Saturday after Teagan's birthday I just knew we were going to be on time. I got Jade dressed early. Switching off between her and I. Jade is dressed, Mommy gets dressed. Jade gets her shoes on, Mommy gets her shoes on. You get the idea. So we were down to me doing my hair. That is it and we are out the door. I'm doing my hair and I shut off the blow dryer. It's so quiet. Hmmm I should check on Jade. Check out the video to see what I found. Excuse the mess we through everything from Teagan's party on the table.



I would like to thank Ian for leaving the cupcakes out and Teagan for leaving out his chair. I do have to take some blame though. I really should have check on her sooner. I thought she was innocently watching the three stooges. My bad! Oh and just kind tilt your head when I turn the camera. I often forget I can't just flip video right side up.

Jade loves this...

I really couldn't capture the moment with a camera. These are pictures of Jade playing. There is a small wall on the right side of the arch that goes from the livingroom to Teagan's room. Jade loves to play peek a boo around that wall. Ian and I both will get on our hands and knees and chase her around it. She will try to fake us our going left when we expect her to go right or we wil sneak up on her. She just squels and laughs. It's so much fun.

Teagan's Halloween Birthday Party!

Check out the picture of Teagan from his first birthday party. We love a party! Most especially a birthday party! Not just our own but everyone else's too. Your kid having a party? Can we make it? Umm let me think???...Heck yeah! I know some people are not big on parties. I guess we are just big kids. Last year after Teagan's birthday party we asked him what he wanted to do for his next one. His response, "I want to have a Halloween party and everyone can dress up in their costumes!" Yeah I can make that happen! I would love to make that happen!

I used to take a lot of time to hand make really cute birthday invitations for Teagan's parties. With our big family and close friends that means a whole lot of invitations. I decided to do myself a favor and start doing them on the computer. Some clip art and some text adjusting and wha la! Here is Teagan's invitation this year. He loved it! With his approval it was sent off. Another great thing was with life being crazy I was able to just email it as an attachment to those I didn't get it sent to in time.

So the date was set we got the invitations out. We are all set right? Well maybe not. Teagan wanted to invite his whole class and the class next to his to his party. Well gosh that is a whole lot of kids. We already have tons of kids with his cousins and close friends. So we compromised with me taking cupcakes to all his classmates. It worked out perfectly because they were having a pizza party anyway for the two classes he wanted to invite kids from.

I made about 40 cupcakes and took them to the kids. I sat there after passing them out feeling a little yucky and sweating. I passed it off as needing to eat and it just being hot in the classroom. After school Teagan and I stopped off at the store for a few more things for his party. I felt a little unsafe driving home because I felt so bad. I was sure my blood sugar must be at some really bad level. We get home and I make a sandwich. After about 1/4 of it I knew that was not the problem. I sat the sandwich aside and took my temperature. Yep it was high and 5 minutes later it was higher.

I just fell over on the couch and got sicker by the minute. All I could think about was Teagan's party was tomorrow. Then oh my gosh I just took cupcakes to a bunch of kids. Luckily I have some slightly OCD issues that cause me to wash my hands about 50 times when I make things. I simply can't stand anything on my hands so you can imagine what happens when I deal with frosting. Jade had just gotten over a fever but it was coming back and Teagan's temp was slightly higher than usual. There is no way we can invite people over to get the plague from us. I talk to Teagan and he was amazing. He had no problem rescheduling.

The actual party ended up being the 17th. By then everyone was well and Teagan was craving hot dogs. Well good because we are serving hot dogs and chips for his birthday dinner. We had fun preparing for the party. Teagan was such a big help making the goody bags. He really loved doing that because they were a gift for his friends. He made the lollipop ghosts we hung in the trees. Then he and his daddy decorated for the party. They put a skeleton and Frankenstein around the trees, put up streamers, hung the ghosts with fishing line, put out the table covers. They did an awesome job!

We made cupcakes instead of a cake because they are cute and I just love the ease of plopping them on a plate with some ice cream. No cutting, no fuss. Kelsey came over early and was my official sprinkler. Mitchell was my official sprinkle eater. They both did an awesome job. For some reason we didn't get pictures of the cupcakes. It occurred to me six candles on a cupcake could be an issue. I asked Teagan if he wanted a cupcake or small cake. He chose the small cake. No problem. I had some small chocolate cakes in the freezer. Took that out and put the cake together in about ten minutes. It turned out really cute. He especially loved the little spider in the middle. When we lit the candles his spider caught on fire. Teagan got a good laugh from that. We all did.

All the kids were so cute in their costumes. They played for a while. Then we served the food. After they were done eating we started the games. We started with pass the pumpkin which is a variation of hot potato. After that we made mummies. The kids were split into 3 teams. The team that used all their mummy wrap first won. They giggled so much. It was great. The last game was monster dancing which is freeze dancing. Although there was much movement after the music was off no one thought they were out. So I just kept letting them dance like crazy. After the games they all got vampire teeth for their efforts.

The only little hiccup was Teagan not being able to find his light saber to go with his Darth Vader costume. He was so sad. As the party was starting he and I were inside looking every where for it. As soon as he started playing with his friends he forgot all about it. Cute little Raider cheerleader Jade never got any shoes. I tried to put them on her and she was fussing. I got distracted and she ended up bare foot the whole party. Thank you to all those that kept an eye on her, Kelsey, Olivia, Denise. There is an adorable picture of Gracie pushing Jade on the swing. Jade is totally loving it.

Teagan says his favorite part of the party was the presents. Sadly we have no idea who got him what. He had a lot of help opening the presents so the cards got all mixed up. I never saw what came out of what bag. He is loving it all though. Please forgive us if you get a very generic thank you. I hope everyone had as much fun as we did! Happy 6th Birthday Teagan! We love you! Here are the pictures. There are a lot of pictures of other peoples children here so I wanted to point out my blog is not searchable. Only friends and family have the address. I know all the moms there are super easy going but just for peace of mind. If you want me to email you any of these let me know.

Why Dads Are So Great!

I was busy working on a monthly menu (which I've been avoiding) and Teagan wanted to ride his bike. I really didn't want to leave my little project so Ian volunteers to go out with the kids. Thank you! They are out there playing for a while and I get a tap on the window. Here is what I see...



This is the trailer for my bike. It's been sitting out in the sun since I got pregnant with Jade. It was sitting in the yard and I asked Ian to toss it out. Mostly to dipose of my guilt for letting it get in an unusuable condition. Ian hadn't gotten to throwing it out yet. While they were out playing he got the idea to hook it to Teagan's bike. Honestly I think he was tired of pushing Jade around in the car. Who cares the reason. It's just cool and it made us all laugh.

I've been tagged! All about my sweetie!

Fun it's my turn! I'm been enjoying reading this as it went from person to person.

1. Where did we meet? Umm we met at church but we were in separate wards. Yes Blythe once had two wards. He started dating my friend. They broke up. He let me put make-up on him at mutual. The rest is history. Honestly I always had my eye on him.

2. How long did we date? 6 months in high school. Then about two years before we got married. Here is our engagement picture. I know scary tan. I was taking advantage of living near the beach.


3. How long have you been married? 10 years.

4. What does he do that surprises you? When he uses big words. He never used to. In fact he would make fun of me when I did. Claiming I was making up the word. In the past five years he has really expanded his vocabulary. It's goes something like this. We are talking and he says,"____________". I say, "Where did you hear that word?" He says, "What it's a word!" I say, "Yes I know it's a word but not a word you normally use." I love it. The man I've know for 16 years comes up with new tricks all the time.

5. What is your favorite feature of his? Oh there are many but I would say my very favorite is his shoulders. They are huge!


6. What is your favorite quality of his? He is so sweet!

7. Does he have a nickname for you? Babe, Mama, Hun, Sweetie.

8. What is his favorite color? Green

9. What is his favorite food? A good steak and carne asada. Yes that is two different things. Sort of.

10. What is his favorite sport? Wrestling for sure. Next football and hockey.

11. When and where was your first kiss? Prom while we were dancing to "Love Is" by Vanessa Williams and Brian McKnight. They were playing the video on a big screen and I was watching it so I didn't see the kiss coming. What a great surprise!



12. Favorite thing to do as a couple? Get a hotel out of town, alone! I'll say no more.

13. Does he have a hidden talent? Best mac & cheese maker.

14. How old is he? 32

15. Who said "I love you" first? Ian in high school when we were between classes. I was a bit shocked because I thought it was a little early but I see now I definitely loved him then too.

16. What is his favorite type of music? It's always been rap, a little country, house music, then odds and ends like Ozzy & Areosmith. Oh and R&B. Okay lots of stuff.

17. What do you admire most about him? Umm first that he puts up with me. He is sweet and kind. Rarely complains even when he should. Does so much for me. He is fun. He makes me laugh. He is always there to talk to. He is my best friend.

18. Do you think he will read this? Yeah he is reading over my shoulder right now...oh wait he left.

I tag Kelsey! Have fun!

Playing in the driveway!

With the weather cooling off Teagan is finally able to really enjoy his bike. This is what we've been doing a lot of our evenings lately. The first couple of days Jade was just running around with nothing to do. We got out Teagan's old tricycle but she didn't want to pedal. We would have to push her around on it and lift it onto the two back wheels to turn. Luckily she didn't fall off. After a few days I told Ian we should get her a little red car like Teagan used to have. Ian disapears into the garage and comes out with Teagan's little red car. Umm yeah that works! Where the heck did that come from? I pay no attention to what is in the garage. Most of it's not ours so apparently a good sized red car can just disappear in there. Lucky find! What have you been doing since it's cooled off?

Happy Birthday Teagan!

It's really hard to believe that our sweet boy is six years old. He so big now and so different. So grown up already. Sometimes it seems his babyhood got away from us. We did our best to slow it down, take our time, enjoy it but time marches on. Sometimes I miss my baby boy but I couldn't bear to give up the boy he is today to have that time of life back again. I'm know that same feeling will continue as he grows and grows.


A comfort to me is each and everytime I look into those big brown eyes I'm instantly transported back in time. All of the sudden it's 2002. We live in the house on Michigan avenue and I'm rocking Teagan. He is up in the middle of the night. I'm wishing he would sleep but loving looking into those eyes. He just lays in my arms, smiles and stares with those eyes. His daddy's eyes.


I love that memory and I love that I get to revisit it so often and so clearly. I searched my pictures thinking there was one of exactly what I'm describing. There is. Ian is holding Teagan in the middle of the night trying not to fall asleep. Who are we kidding he was asleep but luckily still holding Teagan. Teagan is happily playing with a pacifier. So sweet.


To celebrate Teagan's birthday I thought we would do the six things we love about Teagan. This picture was taken the morning of his birthday. You gotta love that he made me wait while he made a poster of a 6.


1. How loving he is. Not only to us in our family but to everyone he meets. He always has a hug, smile or kind word.

2. His perfectionism. It sometimes makes me worry but it's commendable how he really wants to do everything exactly the right way. He is already learning to deal with it by letting it be okay if something is not exactly perfect.

3. His laugh. Most especially when it's mixed with his sister's. Always because he is making her laugh.

4. His willingness to share. I've mentioned it before. Not only is he willing to share but he gives his best. When he was about three I told him the story of the little girl who shared her shoes with another little girl. It's a story we heard in young women's. She didn't give her old shoes she gave her new shoes. He was having trouble with someone only being willing to share their toys they felt were junky enough and keeping the best ones for themselves. Because of the story and his expierence with the person that shared only their worst he always gets out his newest toys when he has a friend over and makes sure they have those. He even gives his new cars to his sister to play with knowing she might bite or scratch them.

5. How he is a stickler to the rules. Often he doesn't even need an explaination behind the rules. He just understands that rules are in place for good reason. If it's something we are suppose to do we do it and that is that. The very best part is he finds joy in following the rules.

6. This one is my very own as his mom. He lets me read to him. Not only does he let me but he prefers I read to him over his daddy. He says it's because daddy changes the words but more than that I think it's because I love doing it. Teagan had no interest in books for what seemed for the longest time. Last year he let me start reading him chapter books. The Mouse and the Motorcycle series to be exact. We had so much fun with that. Now he is upset if he has to go to bed without reading. We love going to the library to find new books and especially love finding ones that make us laugh. The latest one was Skippy John Jones. A story about a siamese cat who thinks he is a chiwahwah.

We Love You Teagan!

You'll shoot your eye out, kid!

We had to postpone Teagan's party due to family illness. He was such a sweetheart about it. Ian and I offered to take him to pick out a cake. He always wants a cake from Albertsons but he said he wasn't feeling good. Anytime I'm sick he gets a mysterious sympathetic illness for an hour or so. We decided to at least give him our present. Oh and I'm going to make him a cake tomorrow. Shhh! It's a surprise.


He opened it and was really excited. Ian wanted to get him a bb gun to prepare him for hunting. That way he could start teaching him the proper way to handle a gun and to shoot. Well I don't think teaching him to shoot will be a problem. It must be in his genes. Both Ian and I are not a bad shot and Teagan took to it no problem. They had just gotten started and Ian came in to tell us Teagan got four in a row (meaning targets).


Ian said that Teagan would take a really long time at first to aim. Careful as always. Once he got into it though he was having fun pretending the target was an alligator. Jade and I came out for a bit. Teagan was so happy to show us how good he was. Teagan let me shoot the gun a few times. He was cute running up after I shot to check the new hole that was made in the can. Of course careful, thoughtful Teagan would tell me to put the gun down before he ran up to check.

Now I love the movie A Christmas Carol. It cracks me up so when Ian wanted to get Teagan a Red Rider BB Gun I giggled a little. Ian had not seen the movie until last year and didn't really think it was funny. I guess it's one of those things you acquire a taste for. When Ian suggested the gun after my giggle I said, "But he'll shoot his eye out!". He didn't think that was funny either. It's just not as good when you have to explain the joke. If you have no idea what I'm talking about check this out.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1023352983490450390

First School Picture

As if getting an award today wasn't enough(see post below). Teagan also came home with his school pictures. Cute!

Great Job Teagan!

Look who got student of the month for Kindergarten! We are so proud. Funny thing is I was just telling Ian yesterday that I was a little bit nervous about the parent/teacher conferences coming. We know what a great little guy Teagan is but I wondered if the teacher could see it. Well question answered.

Every Wednesday Appleby has an assembly. Today I dropped Teagan off a little bit late. I had him line up with his class while I dropped off his backpack. As I was rushing off to make sure we were at the park to meet little Emily Reid I heard Teagan's name called. He looked so excited running up to get his award.

I stopped and stood over with his class so he could see I was still there. His teacher then told me how he was such a good student and so nice to the other kids. I really had no reason to be concerned. Teagan is such a great kid! With his award he gets a free meal at Sizzler. Fun!

Happy Birthday Alyssa!

Thanks for the invite. We had so much fun! Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of the birthday girl. I was too busy chasing Jade around once she got out of the water. She thought she could just jump back in by herself. It was so nice to see everyone. The party was at Cookie's sister's house. They just had to pool put in. It looked great! Alyssa turned the big 5. We love you Alyssa. What a sweet girl!