Great To Be 8!

Daycee Dawn turned 8 years old on the 18th. She started out her birthday by opening a few presents...of course it was a new outfit to wear to school for her special day!

All ready for school. She also took two packs of "double stuff" Oreo's to share with her class!


Daycee had her first Activity Days, so after that we went to Goob's Pizza for her birthday dinner.

Afterwards we came home and sang "Happy Birthday" and opened the rest of her presents.

We have made it a tradition to give our 8 year olds a BB gun for their birthday. She was so excited that it was pink!

Later that night she showered and got ready for her baptism interview with the Bishop. She was so nervous, but did a great job!

Daycee has always been my soft spoken, extra nice, organized and good listener girl! She loves to share and clean her room. She is also the best bed maker I have. When Daycee was 3 weeks old she almost died. She had RSV and stopped breathing many times. She spent two weeks in the hospital and ever since does not like the doctors office. She would fight me every time we would step foot in the room. I guess all the needles and strangers would do it to you....even when your only a month old.

Happy Birthday Daycee! I can't wait until your baptism!

Flagstaff with Mom

For the last 2 1/2 years I have been going to Flagstaff for Head Start. I have been on the NACDAB (Northern Arizona Child Developement Administering Board) Governing Board. This year I was elected the Chairperson. This means that I run the meetings...I even get to use a gavel. I got special permission to bring my older boys to watch the meeting. Because they are Boy Scouts and earn many different badges, I'm always looking for ways to help them out. Clayton and Carson have been working on their "Citizenship in the Community". They only requirement left was to witness a school board meeting. So what better way than to go with mom to Flagstaff. They have been looking forward to this trip. I get to go the night before and stay in a hotel. This part they were excited about the most. A few days before the meeting we learned that Clayton would have his first basketball game in St. John's. So I let him choose, Flagstaff or Basketball...of course he chose basketball. So just Carson went with me. It was fun to have him be there and get to see what I've been doing in Flagstaff for the last 2 1/2 years. This was a fun experience we will never forget. This is a picture of the NACDAB members. I am at the head of the table with my vice chairperson and secretary.

Everyone at the meeting was excited to see Carson and to know that he is working hard at Boy Scouts. Thanks Carson for coming with me and making my time away from home a lot more enjoyable!

Next Chapter

Last Friday I was out of diapers and didn't want to purchase anymore ever again...so I decided it was time to do the dreaded "potty train". I had a feeling Adam was ready when he brought me a diaper and wipes and said "I poopy" and there was nothing in his diaper. So I put him on the toilet and of course he freaked out and cried that it was too scary. I bribed him with m&m's, toys and whatever else I could think of. He never went and so we went to Alco to get him some new undies and he was so proud of them. We were on our way to the Dome to watch the wrestling matches and he had to carry his underwear everywhere he went and show them to everyone. He even had to pat his front bottom to let everyone know he was wearing underwear. But he was still afraid of the toilet. While at the dome I could tell he had to go pee, so we rushed down the stairs and into the bathroom. Of course he cried and didn't want to do it, but I wouldn't get him down and he couldn't hold it in any longer and out came the pee. He was so proud of himself and he has done so good ever since. Since Sunday he hasn't had any accidents and tells me everytime he has to go. Yeah!

I can't believe I am finally done with diapers. After 13 years of changing diapers I figured that on average I have changed 38,325 diapers. That is 5,475 diapers per kid for the three years each. That is about $16,000 in diapers , that I have spent over the last 13 years. That's a lot of money to just throw away in the trash.

Adam made up his own gang sign and wanted to do it for the picture. He thinks he is so cool now that he wears underwear!

Next Chapter!

2010 At A Glance

January

1. Daycee and Adam's Birthdays
2. Mom started working at the bank.
3. Clayton, Carson and Harly played basketball.

February

1. Bought our new house!

March

1. Organzied our new house

April

1. Harly's rockin Birthday party! (put on by Aunt Rachelle)

May

1. Science Fair projects
2. School's out!

June

1. Mom and Dad go on the Trek
2. MacKenzie's birthday

July

1. The kids stay home while mom works (not a good idea)

August

1. Drive to Disneyland, Idaho and back home to Arizona

September

1. Clayton's birthday
2. Football!
3. Football!
4. Football!

October

1. Harly's kills her first monster buck!

November

1. Carson's 12th Birthday:
2. Priesthood, Baptisms and passing the Sacrament!

December

1. Aarron turns 5!
2. Mom go's to Virginia for 7 days
3. Dad is AWESOME and takes care of everything!

Christmas Vacation

Over Chirstmas break we had a Trek Family Christmas party. Most of the kids were able to attend. We had bisquits and gravy and played the white elephant gift exchange. We also watched the video I made and I gave a copy to each of the kids for Christmas. Dayson and Ryan played the guitar and everyone hung around to visit. It was a fun evening and it had been a while since we did something as a family.

Christmas Eve we had our traditional "open one present from mom and dad" and it's always a pair of pajamas. I've enjoyed this tradition since I was a little girl and have carried it on with my family. This year the boys got matching super hero's. Clayton and Adam were Batman and Carson and Aarron were Superman. I tried to do matching for the girls but they didn't have a "Hello Kitty" in Daycee's size so she had to get Disney. This is the first step to Santa Clause coming so the kids get very excited and can't wait to shower and put on their new pajamas.

After getting our pajamas on we headed over to Aunt Becky and Uncle Jeremy's house. There was a nice buffet of finger foods and the kids performed the Nativity for us all.

Daycee was the Shepard, Harly was Mary, Carson was Joseph (he didn't want to be a part of it, but noone else was available so he did it for me); Aarron, Jagger and Adam were the 3 Wiseman; and MacKenzie and Jersy were the Angels. Everyone played their part very well and it was really cute.

We finally made it home so everyone can go to sleep before Santa came. All of the kids slept in the same bedroom. Another tradition of mine when I was a little girl.

Adam didn't have a nap all day and crashed as soon as we got home.

Christmas morning: Everyone enjoying their new gifts.

Harly was excited for Clayton to open the present she got him.

The "superhero's" playing Wii

The week after Christmas we went to the valley to visit the Merrill's and Wellman's. While we were gone there was a bad snow storm at home. We even had to stay and extra day with Adam and Kristie. That was a lot of fun and our kids had a really good time.

We came home to lots of snow in our yard. New Year's Day MacKenzie and Aarron decided to make snowman out back.

Aarron making a snow angel in the yard.

The New Year always brings new primary classes. Aarron received his first CTR ring and was very proud of it.

Adam didn't want to be left out, so I had to take his picture too!

Happy New Year's!

Ward Christmas Party

Our ward put together a "Polar Express" Christmas party. It was such a cute idea. I was asked to help with the youth part. They were reinacting the "hot chocolate" song from the movie. They did such a good job with their excitement and dancing.
They passed out hot chocolate and Krispy Kreme's.

Daycee, Kate and Kenzie enjoying their donuts.

Adam, Dayson and Aarron watching the entertainment.

Since Clayton and Carson are in young men's they got to help pass out the dessert.

There was also a very cute Polar Express play and Harly had a part in that too.

Everytime the train would blow it's whistle, Adam would start to cry and he wanted to get in the car. I had to hold him to comfort him and let him know it was okay.

He decided to hide in the ticket booth at the back of the cultral hall. He is such a wimp when it comes to loud noises.

After the play was over, Santa came to see the kids.

Harly was the first one on his lap.

Aarron didn't know what to say.

Kenzie asked for a nintendo DS

Adam wouldn't say anything at all

my niece Kate

and Daycee being undecisive

It's been a long time since we had our family picture taken so I took advantage of the background and it turned out pretty cute!