Matty's New Glasses

Today I took Matty to a new eye doctor. She did an awesome job during the exam. She was so cooperative and I could tell she won the heart of the doctor. During the exam I mentioned that her glasses didn't stay up on her nose very well. The doctor told Matty that she thought she had the perfect pair of glasses for her. We couldn't wait to see what she had!

When she seated Matty in front of the mirror she slipped these beauties on! The look on Matty's face was priceless! She did her signature eye-roll and said, "Ummmmmm..... NO." Too funny!

She chose an adorable pair of pink glasses that we should be able to pick up next week!

Later, I decided to share this picture on Facebook. Matty was mad at me. Then I started teasing her that I had ordered the "ugly" glasses for her instead of the pretty ones.

I ordered pizza for dinner. Matty was so excited about it she said, "You're the best mom ever!" and immediately added, "but you're not." When I asked why I wasn't the best mom, she said, "because you said we order those glasses."

A while later, Kyle and I were teasing her again that we had ordered the "ugly" glasses. Without missing a beat, she put her hands on her hips and said, "WHAT KIND OF PARENTS ARE YOU???" We laughed and laughed. What a funny girl!

Five Already!

Mason - or as I like to call him, The Best Boy Ever - had a birthday. He is five whole years old! Man, that went fast. What an awesome little guy he is. I remember when I found out I was expecting him. I wasn't ready...and I panicked a little bit. His sisters were such a handful and I wasn't sure I could handle another one at that time. But he has been such a blessing, and our family would not have been complete without him. The moment we saw him, we were all smitten...and have been ever since. Right now, Mason loves all things trucks. Trucks are the BOMB!! He loves to work with Grandpa Tippetts, loves digging holes, and he's really got a talent for building things in Minecraft. Man, he's cute.

Idaho 2015

At the end of May 2015, we decided to take a trip to Idaho to meet up with our friends, the Adams family, and go to Bear World! We had so much fun! We got to drive through Yellowstone on the way there and back, which is always wonderful. We saw license plates from every state except two!

Mason petting the buffalo:

 We went to Idaho Falls and saw the Falls and went to the zoo. The kids had a great time.

We stayed at a hotel in Rexburg and swam in their pool.  (The side story with that: They had waaaaaaay too much chlorine in that pool. We all got out with stinging eyes and burning skin! And I'm pretty sure I ruined my hair - like fried it!)

Bear World was AWESOME! There were tons of bears, of course! Wolves, elk, and deer also. We fed the ducks, and they had a petting zoo that the kids loved. There was a little amusement park with rides for the kids. They went on several of them over and over again. I even got to feed the bear cubs...that was the highlight for me! They were adorable!

The best picture of the trip was caught by Alexis of herself on her mom's iPad. The bears were getting really close to the vehicles. She was trying to take a picture of the bears and took a picture of her face instead! Lol! Priceless!!

Anastyn's Special Birthday

What a beautiful girl. Absolutely beautiful! And so excited to be baptized and confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! She was baptized on her birthday by her Daddy at the stake building in Lovell. Many, many loved ones came to support her on this special day.  Uncle Kaleb and our dear friend, Kylee Thormahlen, both spoke to her about baptism, the holy ghost and repentance. Afterward, we enjoyed a yummy chili dinner and, of course, a beautiful and delicious cake made by Aletha Durtsche. I love this girl beyond words and am so grateful that she chose to make covenants with her Heavenly Father on this important day.

Disneyland!

February 2013

Ah! Disneyland! The happiest place on Earth!!! We sold firewood and saved all our pennies so we could take the kids to California to visit Aunt Chelsea and Mickey Mouse. We had a wonderful time. Mom and Dad went with, and we also celebrated Dad's 60th birthday while we were there!

We spent time at a couple beaches, spent 3 days at Disney and California Adventure, went to the zoo, visited the Griffith Observatory, saw the Space Shuttle Endeavor exhibit at the California ScienCenter, ate out a lot, and Kyle and Kage got to go to a Clippers/Jazz game! The kids even loved the plane rides there and back. We had so much fun! I can't wait to take the kids back again someday (when we save up a whole lot of pennies again!)

Six is Sweet!!

Anastyn turned six this year! She is so sweet that we decided to have a Candyland birthday party! It was her very first "friend" party! The house was overflowing with giggling girls. I think she enjoyed it! We had a life size Candyland game through the house. We played pin the sucker on the game board. And we had a candy buffet!! I think we succeeded in making her feel pretty special. We love this little lady so very much! What a blessing she is to us!!

 We also had a family birthday party in Lovell. Party, party, party! That's what we do!!

Tricky Trickerton

Here it is, March. In fact, we just celebrated St. Patrick's day. Well, I guess that's what we did. If you call realizing it was St. Patty's Day at 1:00 in the afternoon and reminding everyone that I will pinch them if they aren't wearing some sort of green 'celebrating'. We weren't even visited by any leprechauns. What can I say, we're not Irish.

What I'm getting at is that I kind of forgot to record for posterity our visit from Trick the Elf this past Christmas. He's kind of like a leprechaun.

If you recall, Anastyn had a couple run-ins with 'Santa Clause' at Christmastime. She had some issues with his authenticity. But never once did she doubt in her trusty elf, Trick. Not even the time or two that she found him in the same exact location as the morning before. (Which brings to mind her first encounter with the Tooth Fairy recently. Another story for another day.) Sometimes these magical creatures can be a bit ditzy. Kind of like me. Odd. :)

Anyways, we enjoyed our elf this year. As you can imagine, he caused some mischief and mayhem. But at times, he was a perfect example of what the Christmas Season is all about. He will always be welcome in our home.

Trick roasted tiny marshmallows on a candle, dressed up like a shepherd, gave us friendly advice when needed (like 'Santa's watching - you might want to remember to clean your room!'), hung the girls' underwear on the Christmas tree, admired pictures of Baby Jesus, left us magic candy cane seeds, got sick, made messes, and even made out with Tinkerbelle. My, my, my! Can't wait til next year!

P.S. - The Tooth Fairy - Anastyn lost her 1st tooth and guess what? Her little tooth fairy didn't show up. Can you believe that??? Me either. The nerve! She did come the next night, though. She paid up (with interest) and left a note with some sorry excuse of having a dentist appointment the night before. 

Adventures of Matty and Anastyn (thought they'd outgrown those? nope.)

Do you know how long it's been since I blogged about the crazy things my kids do? They are always doing crazy things. But I usually post the doozies. There haven't been any doozies for quite awhile.

For the record, I never keep sleeping after the kids have woken up. It's just not smart when you are the mother of my children. But my girls are 8 and 6. Eight and six. 2nd grade. Kindergarten. And we've been sick. I've been sick. I was so tired. So I thought to myself....they'll be fine! Guess what? I don't think I will be sleeping in again until they are grown up and out of my house.

I had to call poison control. 1-800-222-1222.

Ya. I crawled out of bed. Went to the cupboard to get my medicine. Something wasn't right. Chair pushed up to the cabinet. Pill bottles all over the floor. Empty bottle of gummy vitamins. Oh crap, oh crap. What happens if someone eats an entire bottle of vitamins???

I had no idea who did it. Nobody was talking. I automatically assumed it was Mason. I don't know why. I guess because he didn't understand why I was freaking out and wasn't denying anything? Or because he's 2 and the only one who might not know better? Who knows. But I'm pretty sure he didn't appreciate me sticking my finger down his throat trying to get him to throw up. Which didn't work anyways.

Finally, Matty started talking. She said it was her and Mason. Okay, so they shared the vitamins. That's a little better right? So I called poison control, confirmed that there wasn't any iron in the vitamins, and the lady assured me that my children weren't going to die. Worst case scenario they get upset stomachs and a little diarrhea. Even if they did eat the entire bottle. Which, come to find out, is exactly what Matty did. Mason had no part in it. He just couldn't defend himself. I'm sure glad I didn't make him puke. Sorry little dude! It's been a few days. So far no tummy aches or runny poop for Matty. Wow.

Same morning. Same stupid mom sleeping in:

I know Anastyn is younger than Matty. But I usually expect more from her. She might as well be the big sister. She helps me make her instant oatmeal in the mornings. She practically does it by herself. But I'm always supervising. And so when she came in and asked for some, I told her she needed to wait til I got up. Apparently she was starving and couldn't wait. So she proceeded to burn two packets of oatmeal in the microwave. We're lucky she didn't burn the dang house down!

Love my kids. These are the kinds of things I can only laugh about later. They are shaving years off my life, I tell you. And, yes, I learned a lesson - I still can't trust them. :)

Not Buyin' It!

Look at this little girl. She is hanging out with Santa!! Or is she??

Well, according to her, that is not Santa Clause. And neither was the guy at our church Christmas party.

She is not impressed or fooled by these imposters. At all. I'm not sure what gave it away. The obvious lack of interest in what she wanted for Christmas? Maybe. The string holding his fake beard on his face? Possibly.

The point is, this is a very observant 5 year old we have here. She doesn't know who those guys were. She just knows that they were not the real deal.

We have decided that Santa is extremely busy this time of year and simply cannot be everywhere at once. He must have some helpers. Some very poor excuses for helpers. But when you're desperate and up against the most important deadline of the year, well, I guess you can't be too picky. :)

The Elf on the Shelf named Trick - now that's a different story. We will talk about him later....

Merry, Merry, Merry Chirstmas to you!

Cabin Fever!!

According to Wikipedia (unreliable sometimes, I know - but in this case I believe it is quite correct), Cabin fever is an idiomatic term for a claustrophobic reaction that takes place when a person or group is isolated and/or shut in a small space, with nothing to do, for an extended period (as in a simple country vacation cottage during a long rain or snow). Symptoms include restlessness, irritability, paranoia, irrational frustration with everyday objects, forgetfulness, laughter, excessive sleeping, distrust of anyone they are with, and an urge to go outside even in the rain, snow, dark or hail.

Hmmmmmm. I think we have it. We have cabin fever.

For those of you who aren't familiar with our current situation, we are living in a cabin. You see, the house we were renting sold. This house sat empty for three years on the market, until we begged to rent it. Then we begged to fix the big problems with it. And then it sold. Sarcastic smiley face.

We started panicking when we were unable to find a new place to rent. But of course it all worked out...kind of.  Another sarcastic smiley face.

We found another place to rent. Unfortunately it wouldn't be available soon enough. So we had to find a temporary solution. A place to call home for one month. And so began our Oasis Cabin Retreat!

We are living in a campground! Five of us (three of which are small children that bounce off walls and make lots of noise and go crazy when couped up) are jammed into this one-bedroom joint. And we are having so much fun! At least that's what we are trying to tell ourselves! The kids bounce from bed to bed. We find them under the bed. They watch the same movies over and over. They yell and scream and giggle. When we are all here, I would say it's pretty much pandemonium and we all want out, out, out!!!

There are some strange things about living in this little cabin. For some reason, the part of the night I should be sleeping just drags on for me. I wake up a lot. I wonder if it has anything to do with the four other people sleeping in the same room? And then, I am so tired in the afternoon I end up taking a nap (which isn't something I normally do). And a couple times I have woken up in a panic. One night it was because my entire arm had fallen asleep. I was so out of it I thought I was having a heart attack! I woke Kyle up and got him upset. And I couldn't let myself fall asleep the rest of the night because I thought I would die if I did! It took me clear until late the next morning to snap out of it!

Another night I woke up sure that I could smell a gas leak and that we were all going to die. Anyways...I don't usually act quite so crazy!  One morning I was making our bed and found a huge, nasty spider with a great big egg sac attached to it in our sheets!!!! Freaked out just a little bit.

And then, the other day I was speaking to the man that lived in this cabin just before us. He told me all about the ghost he saw one night at the foot of the bed. The freaking guy says he saw a ghost in this cabin! Holy crap, if I couldn't sleep before.....

Anyways: Claustrophobia, check. Isolated/shut in a small space with nothing to do, check. Restlessness, check. Irritability, check, check, check!  Paranoia, yep. Laughter, check. Excessive sleep, check. It all fits, really. Cabin fever it is.

On the bright side of things, the kids are enjoying it here. They think it is an adventure - and they are right!

We are looking forward to moving on. Soon, Cabin 29 will be just a memory. A good memory, but one we probably wouldn't want to repeat!

The Escape Artist

In my last post, I shared the most terrifying of Matty's escapes...but there have been other incidents. Plenty of them. Enough to have shaved years off of my life, I am sure. Here are a couple that come to mind...

Before the Great Escape of 2010 (previous post) she ran away several times. One day she came up missing and I ran up and down the street calling for her, panicking, the whole routine....couldn't find her anywhere! I was yelling and running and panting and running and yelling. I knocked on doors. I knocked on the door of a particular next-door-neighbor who didn't answer. A little while later I tried her door one more time. She answered this time and informed me that Matty was in her house. Holy Crap!!!! I guess she had gone in their back yard and let herself into their house through the back door. What a little stinker.

While we were living out here on Sand Cliffs Road in Meeteetse we woke up early one morning to find that Matty was not anywhere in the house. We looked everywhere and yelled and yelled for her. So, naturally we figured she had gone out. It was quite chilly outside. We went out and finally did find her in the back of the house. She was in her pajamas and a jacket and shoes. I grabbed her and carried her inside and gave her the whole 'you can't go outside without telling Mommy' lecture. Later, she brought up the subject on her own and I just listened to what she had to say. It was a pretty amazing story. She talked about walking around and doing this and that...and then in her own very simple language, she said the Holy Ghost told her to 'go home'.

I'll tell you what, I believe in the whisperings of the Spirit. And I have no doubt in my mind that that little girl heard a voice telling her she needed to go home. I am so grateful to know that our Father in Heaven is mindful of each one of us and will warn us when we need help. I am so glad that Matty was listening.

More recently, she had another sneaky break-out. At least it wasn't so scary this time...but made me nervous about the things this little girl will do! I couldn't find her one afternoon and automatically opened the front door to look for her (even though I had just been in the kitchen and never saw or heard the front door open or shut). Sure enough, there she was playing outside. But I couldn't for the life of me figure out how she had gotten past me without seeing or hearing her. Later, I went downstairs to do something and saw how she had accomplished her escape. She had somehow gotten the window in the family room open (it is way out of her reach, but she must have pushed something over there to climb up on) and crawled out into the dog kennel with the dog and somehow got herself out of the kennel too!!! She never ceases to amaze me!

I hope she is finally outgrowing this escape artist routine. I am so tired of it. :)

A Blast From The Past - "I Was Running"

I thought that I had posted this story about Matty running away, but I couldn't find it anywhere on my blog. Must have been one of those posts that I composed in my mind but never got around to typing. She has run off quite a few times and each time it scared me to death. In fact, I am still to this day careful about doors being locked, and on occasion when I get a 'feeling', I even barricade the doors at night!  But she really out-did herself this particular time. It was a couple years ago, spring 2010 I believe when we were living on 10th Street in Lovell, but I wanted to make sure I had it recorded...

I had been at a Young Women activity on a Wednesday night and was just getting in my car to go home when I got a phone call from Kyle. "Matty is missing." It was almost 9:00 at night. It was dark and it was cold. I raced home and called 9-1-1 on my way.

Kyle had put the girls to bed earlier. They had been fast asleep. So he went out to the backyard to work on our pump. He went back inside to check on them and they were still fine so he went back outside. About ten minutes later he went to check again and saw that our front door was open. Assuming that I had gotten home from my meeting, he started looking for me in the house. When he didn't find me, he looked outside and saw that my car wasn't home and automatically realized that Matty must have gotten out. He went to her bedroom, and sure enough, there was no Matty. He looked up and down our street and couldn't see any sign of her. That's when he called me and I called the police.

My heart was pounding on the way home. Once I got there, I started helping Kyle look all around the neighborhood. I was really pregnant at the time and was having a hard time running and yelling and I was really starting to panic! So many people showed up - almost immediately. Police, Sheriff, Fire Department, family members, neighbors. Everyone was combing the area. It was so cold outside and all I could think about was the fact that they had let the water into the canals and I didn't think she was in anything but a t-shirt and pajama pants. I was so afraid that she had wandered somewhere dangerous or was freezing. I was f-r-e-a-k-i-n-g out! And I wasn't the only one. Even Miss Anastyn as little as she was was terribly upset and wanted to find her Matty. Finally, after we were searching and yelling and crying for what seemed like an eternity, I got a phone call from a lady wondering if I was "missing someone". I said, "yes! do you have her???". And thank goodness she did!

My little Matty had wandered clear down the street, all the way down the hill, past a canal full of water (which typically she would have been curious about because she loves water), to a house that she had never been to before. Apparently she had tried to jump on their trampoline and eventually ended up at their back door. She knocked and they didn't hear her, so she just walked right into their house! Luckily they knew who she was!!! The fire chief and her Uncle Tyler drove down and picked her up for me. I was so happy to see that little girl's face. So happy!!! As soon as I had her in my arms I asked her where she had been. She matter-of-factly stated, "I was running!" like it was no big deal!

Come to find out, she was at least smart enough to put some shoes on and one of my coats! (They found those on the ground by the trampoline the next morning!) Oh, Matty. You almost gave Daddy a heart attack and dang near sent Mommy into pre-term labor!!!! I am certain she had some guardian angels looking out for her that night...

A Blast From The Past Part III: Christmas!

We had a great Christmas Season! It started off with a visit from Aunt Chelsea mid-December. She only got to stay for a couple days, but we sure enjoyed her!!

 We attempted a family photo for Christmas cards. It was soooo cold outside, and not a single member of the family was in the mood for picture taking. Not even myself. But I was not about to let another year pass by without a dang card. I got my tripod and camera all set up, got everybody situated, realized the sun was in everybody's eyes, set the timer, ran to position, the camera captured what you see here, and everyone was DONE. Nobody wanted to cooperate with me. Nobody wanted to move to a different spot. Nobody wanted me to try again. It made me grumpy. I think a few unkind words were said and we packed it in. Needless to say, it was another Christmas-cardless year. 

I give up.

The girls dictated their letters to Santa to me. I wrote them in pencil and then had them trace the letters with their markers. They had writer's cramp by the time they were done, but they were pretty proud!

This one is Matty's:

 And this one is Anastyn's:

We had lots of fun decorating for the holidays this year. We have an artificial tree, but we did make a trip up the Wood River to the mountains and cut a fresh one for the girls to decorate downstairs. They loved decorating their own tree!! We had fun wrapping presents for each other and we even made snowflakes to decorate the windows with! There were Christmas parties and programs. We listened to a LOT of Christmas music. I finally had to hide all the Christmas cd's downstairs just this month because the girls were still asking to listen to them!

We spent Christmas Eve here at home in Meeteetse with my mom and dad. We had a very delicious prime rib dinner, which will definitely have to become a tradition! It was so fun to have Grandma and Grandpa here Christmas morning to witness Santa's sleigh wreck! The kids enjoyed every second of discovering their treasures and unwrapping all their gifts. Mason had a blast tearing the paper off his packages! We had cinnamon rolls for breakfast (Pilsbury, of course. No over-achieving here!) Then in was off to church. I actually love it when Christmas falls on a Sunday. After all, Jesus really is the reason for the season!! After church, we drove to Lovell for more present opening at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Whew...who knew opening gift after gift could be so exhausting!! :) Next stop: Grandpa Leithead's! We had a yummy dinner and the highlight of our Christmas this year was talking to Kaleb (a.k.a. Elder Leithead) via skype! We got to listen to all of his amazing missionary experiences and his strong testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ! What a blessing to be able to see him and talk to him! We are so proud of what he is doing!

And last, but not least, we mustn't forget the very special and unforgettable visitor we had in our home for the month of December. We heard a knock at the door the first evening of the month and were surprised to find a package had been left on our doorstep! The girls opened it and found this little guy! They named him 'Trick the Elf'. He provided much entertainment for our family while he was here. Some of his shenanigans included helping himself to the candy jar, fishing for "goldfish", making snow angels in the flour, messing around with our camera, toilet papering the girls' bathroom, providing a movie night for our family, fraternizing with the Barbie dolls, leaving notes, painting Rudolph noses on the girls in their sleep, and many, many more silly pranks! The girls looked forward to finding him every morning. He even took a few trips with us! We will miss him terribly until he returns next year!!!

A Blast From The Past: Part I

So since I did some serious slacking over the last few months as far as blogging goes, I am going to try to catch you up to speed. Nothing major happened....just the girls first hunting trip with their dad, Halloween, and Christmas.

Now, since I missed some pretty big things that deserve their own posts, I am going to split this up into parts.

Part I: Matty and Anastyn's Antelope Adventure!!!

 I should probably make Kyle write this post since he was there and I was not....but he's not that into blogging. :) I really don't know what all went down on this little hunting trip. Here's what I do know: According to the photographic evidence, my children had their hands all over a dead animal. And since I didn't see the photographic evidence until a little later...I'm not quite sure I washed their hands well enough when they got home! Another thing I know is that the girls had a Fantastic time. I figured they would get very bored driving around looking for animals. I thought they might be a bit sad to watch their dad kill an animal. I even thought they may get a little sick to their stomachs watching it die. Well I was wrong. They were unbelievably excited about the whole entire experience. They were right out there with their dad trying to help him gut the thing! Couldn't believe it...but I'm glad they can make these memories with their daddy. And it is looking like they will be going along every chance they get!

All Kinds of Things to Tell You About!...

Roasting S'Mores in our back yard...

 A couple weeks ago I found this nasty critter snackin' on Anastyn! She must have some tasty blood because this is not the first time we have had to pull a tick out of her skin!!! Still makes my stomach churn to look at these pictures! As usual, she was a brave little trooper. I couldn't get the dang thing out so she had to wait for Daddy to get home from work to save the day!!

 This here is what happens when Daddy refuses to let you leave the table before you eat your dinner and Anastyn refuses to eat! There are a few stubborn people in this little family of ours...

 Mason at the Mustang Days Parade rockin' the sweet Beatles t-shirt Aunt Chels gave him for his birthday!

 The girls collecting a ridiculous amount of candy at the parade. Thank goodness for Aunt Kacee, or Matty wouldn't have gotten any. She wasn't quite as fast as the other kids! ;)

 While Chels and KJ were here, we all went up to 5 Springs to kill some time. This is me with anxiety because the creek was running so high and fast. I wasn't about to let these kids out of my sight!!!

 Our little "Rambino"!

 Dad kickin' it on the picnic table!

 Kyle came home from work yesterday with these beautiful wildflower arrangements for his girls! I think he would make a dang good florist!