Walk with the Dinosaurs

Today, my sister-in-law, Kristin, and I took our kids to the Arizona Museum of Natural History (used to be known as the Mesa Southwest Museum). There are huge dinosaur skeletons and all kinds of fossils and even some gold panning opportunities for the kids! Blake especially loved our outing today. He's not quite a dinosaur nut, but he likes to learn about them! :)

How do you size up? A HUGE Mammoth!

Blake with the T-Rex (Night at the Museum, anyone?)

My pictures pretty much all turned out wretched because once again, I decided to take our little camera instead of the SLR. When am I gonna learn that I regret that EVERY time!! As big and bulky as it is (moreso than a compact camera anyway), the picture quality is a gazillion times better! So please, don't laugh at my mediocre pictures, with poor lighting and awful red eye! I'm embarrassed. *hanging my head in shame*

This is a dinosaur femur!

Gavin playing with the dinos in the activity center
Brooklyn doing dinosaur rubbings

Outside to pan for gold! So hilarious- Brooklyn was the only one that actually cared about finding gold! The boys just scooped up sand and water, dumped it back in and ended up soaking wet! Brooklyn complained about her flip-flops being dirty afterward! LOL!

Three gold-diggers!

This was waaaay cool and funny! The kids could go back behind this tv, stand against a blue screen and they'd appear on the tv!! All three were being silly!

Movie stars!

We had a dino-mite time!!! ;)

Thanksgiving Weekend - Part Deux

After our yummy Thanksgiving meal, we headed a little northeast (3.5 hours) from the valley to Springerville, where my sister Becky's husband's parents have a cabin. We spent the rest of the weekend there with my family. It was FREEZING!!!! Highs in the 40s during the day, dipping into the teens during the night! I don't know how anyone can live in the cold permanently! Two days was about all I could handle!!! We had the kids all bundled up in layers and big puffy jackets and gloves/mittens and beanies - CRAZY!! They sure were cute though! ;)

Friday, we spent a good majority of the day riding quads. I never have really ridden quads except when Matt and I were engaged and we went to Mexico for Spring Break. Taylor and his family brought up quads, a Jeep, a buggy and a Rhino. The kids absolutely loved riding! And I mean LOVED it!!!! Anyone that took Brooklyn for a ride came back saying all she told them to do was go faster!! LOL! Gavin simply wouldn't get off the quad without pitching a massive fit! Blake was just happy to go with whoever would take him. I really enjoyed riding the quads, although I didn't get too adventurous over any hills or drive at breakneck speeds. I left that to the crazies! Matt even took the opportunity to teach me how to drive a stick-shift in the buggy! I feel like such an accomplished woman!! :) Some pictures - ok, a LOT of pictures!

Matt's great picture of the trip! Lots of wildlife!
My bean wearing a beanieBrooklyn all bundled up!
Ready to ride with Grandpa (my dad)
Blake buckled up in the Rhino
Brooklyn with Taylor in the buggy
Who is that masked man with my baby?? ;)
This is what happens when you try to take Gavin off the quad!Becky and I about to take off
I love this picture of Dalton (nephew, front) and Joshua (brother, back)!
Tada! Here I am!!
Blake's turn with Taylor!
Brooklyn and Mommy! See? I told you she couldn't get enough!!
Becky and her wild hubby!! Yeehaw!

We had an awesome time and I can't wait to go again!

Thanksgiving Weekend - Part One

MY TURKEYS!

This year, we did our Thanksgiving meal with Matt's family, which means at Grandma & Grandpa LeBaron's house. All the aunt, uncles, cousins and cousins' kids make for a very large crowd! But that's the best way to spend Thanksgiving- with family we love! There was a bounce house for the kids, golf toss and Brooklyn and Blake even got in on a little ping-pong action! After eating, we were provided with gingerbread houses to decorate! It was so fun to watch Brooklyn and Blake decide how to arrange the candy on their houses.

Look at that concentration!

Brooklyn working on her masterpiece
Gavin swiping the goodies!
Andrew (nephew) "helping" his mommy, Kristin
Josh (nephew) - I think more candy went in his mouth than on the house! ;)
Emily (niece) is more interested in eating the frosting than decorating!

The GOOD and BAD about our new apartment

GOOD :)

We have TWO bathrooms!!!! Both bathrooms have these massive Roman tubs, which the kids love bathing in because there is enough room for all three of them! Rub-a-dub-dub!!

BAD :(

While it's nice to have my own laundry room, it's NOT nice that I have to run the dryer two or three times to get the clothes dry!!
GOOD :)

The kids' bedroom is hugemongous (I think I made that word up!), with plenty of floor space to play! They also have a large walk-in closet that I love! Please ignore the boxes and un-decorated-ness.

View from the doorway Stepping into the room
The glorious closet!! Yes, my kids have a lot of clothes and toys!

BAD :(

My pantry space got cut in half and them some! I've have to be creative in organizing things!

From this (plus another shelf above and two shelves below)-

To this (single wide, less deep)-

A few more GOODS :)

New carpet, new paint, 9+ foot ceilings, our own "backyard" (Haha! patio) as the kids call it, and a little playground in the middle of our complex!! No fun pics of these at the moment, but I'll see if I can get a couple added soon.

And the final BAD :(

The dishwasher!!! To make a long story short, our first dishwasher was leaking underneath and consequently, soaking the carpet in the hallway behind the kitchen wall! Eek!! Repairman comes, finally figures it IS the dishwasher causing the leaking (DUH!! Didn't I tell you that?!) and brings in a new dishwasher. Ok, my first dishwasher was already painfully small. Mr. Repair Guy tells me that the top rack in this new dishwasher is really small, BUT it IS a new dishwasher!! :) I'm thinking, how can this one be smaller than the last?? OH!!! WHO has EVER seen the top rack of a dishwasher looking like THIS?!???!? You can't fit jack poop on this! What happened to the other half?? You can't put anything back there taller than the tiny half-side because the top of the actual dishwasher drops down in the back! Seriously, whoever came up with this design should be FIRED! I'll deal with it, but I have to run the dishwasher twice in a row, just to be able to wash all our top-rack dishwasher items! Hmmm, sounds mysteriously like another appliance in this house! ;)

Seriously, though. Our apartment is great and suits our needs just fine right now. We're still in the process of unpacking and finding places for all this junk, *ahem*, stuff we have. The walls are still bare, but we'll get around to decorating soon. Since we're in a new place, I feel the need for all new decor! ;) Too bad we don't have a JOB yet! We went to our new ward for the first time last week (baby blessing week 1, sick kids week 2) and I think we'll really enjoy being here for the time being.

A Brooklyn Christmas funny

Today, on our way to Costco, Brooklyn asked me, "Mom, why does Santa spank his reindeer?" I don't know where she got this idea, maybe she saw something on tv where Santa whipped his reindeer, but I just about died laughing!!!!!!!! Kids are hilarious sometimes! I love when they come up with random stuff like this!

A fire destroyed my parents' stake center

A picture that my dad took-

This is the same church building that my little brother was just baptized in a couple weeks ago. It's a total loss, so sad! The cool thing (mentioned in the article) is that the steeple remained straight up, even though it fell!

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/102359

Adventures in Organic Shopping

or otherwise titled
"Why These Three Stores Will Save My Sanity"

1.


2.


3.

In the last week, the kids and I have browsed each of these stores, looking for food items (specifically snacks) without corn starch or corn syrup. Thankfully, we've been successful at finding replacements for several of the snacks Blake enjoys. Most meals I make, it's easy to steer clear of corn if I don't use prepackaged products. I never thought I'd have so much organic food in my pantry and fridge! We have organic cereal, instant oatmeal, spaghetti sauce, salad dressing, granola bars, cereal bars, animal crackers, fruit leather, vanilla wafers, peanut butter crackers, "Teddy Grahams," pretzels, applesauce and yogurt.

Blake is really getting into this whole not-eating-corn-syrup deal. It's gotten quite hilarious, actually! Before eating something, Blake asks, "Does this have corn syrup in it?" At Whole Foods today, he hands me a box and says, "We have to read the ingredients on the back, Mom!" If he asks for something that he normally would eat "back then" that is questionable, all I have to say is, "Sorry, it has corn syrup in it," and he's fine! I was imagining tantrums and fits about not being able to eat certain things, but he's handling it incredibly well. The funniest part of the day was as we set foot in Whole Foods, Brooklyn announces loudly, "It stinks in here!" LOL!

And in good news, Blake's second test for Celiac disease came back negative. The first one was also barely positive. The only way to rule it out for certain is to have a biopsy of the small intestine. At this point, I don't think it's necessary, but we'll certainly keep that in the back of our minds and watch for signs in the future.

Be-Mean-To-Your-Family Day

Did anyone else know that it was a holiday today? Well at least it seemed like this "holiday" at our house today!!!!!!!!

We're having some issues here. And most of them seem to start with Blake. His behavior has been off the wall, out of control. He hits his siblings for no reason. I'm beginning to think his ears must be broken because he just doesn't listen. I started teasing him this morning, asking if it was be-mean-to-your-family day today. Every time he started up with something else, I reminded him that it was this special holiday and that we were supposed to be mean to our families. He kept telling me, "No, mom, families are supposed to be NICE to each other!" Then I explained that he needed to SHOW me that he was going to be nice, not just TELL me.

The icing on the cake for the day:

In the car on the way home from running errands tonight, he was having problems. Blake's carseat sits in between Brooklyn's and Gavin's. First he was slapping Gavin's leg for who knows what reason. Then he reaches over the other side and whacks Brooklyn! Matt warned him that if we had to tell him to keep his hands or feet to himself one more time, that he was going in the back (third row) by himself. Just seconds later, he did something else (I can't even remember what!!!) and Matt veered off the road into a Checker Auto Parts parking lot. I proceeded to un-install Brooklyn and Blake's carseats, move Blake's to the back seat and put Brooklyn's back in the second row. I lifted Blake back into his carseat and he started screaming, "I DON'T WANT TO SIT IN THE BACK!!!!!!!!," full-throttle, like give-you-a-headache type of screaming. This ranting went on for probably 10 minutes before he calmed down enough for Matt and I to explain to him that this was his consequence for not leaving Brooklyn and Gavin alone. He was pretty upset! We told him that if he made the rest of the ride home in silence that we'd move his carseat back up to the second row with his brother and sister, but if he does it again, he'll be back there ALONE permanently. Hopefully he'll get it through his head that he cannot act like this!!!

I've been losing my patience, yelling at the kids WAY more than I should be since this move. I know we're all still trying to adjust, but it's been much more difficult that I anticipated. I don't want to be a mean mom, but I feel like I just can't get it together. The kids have been super needy, which I'm not used to. They've always been so good to play on their own, but it's constantly, "I need this, I want this, can you play with me, can you read to me," and I AM doing those things with them, I just need more than a few minutes to myself every once in awhile!! It's my goal to do better this week.

Okay, vent over. Off to watch Evan Almighty with my honey!

Goodbye, Hello!

We've arrived in Arizona, safe and sound! It's only been a week, but somehow, it already feels like it's been a LOT longer than that. We're getting settled into our new apartment, but there are still boxes everywhere! I'm about ready to just throw them all into the dumpster!!! We got rid of four big pieces of furniture prior to our move so we just need to find new places to house the "stuff" that resided upon those pieces of furniture. This would mean shopping for a new computer desk, bookshelf and a BED for Matt and I!!! Hooray for shopping!

In true Lindsay fashion, here's a photo journal of our last couple days in California:

Here's just a smidgen of the load!!

The 24 foot trailer I was afraid would be too small! HA! We had ample amount of space to fill and no, we didn't fill it all!

My sister, Becky, and her husband came out to California to help us move. We offered to pay the gas if they brought the trailer! I seriously don't think we (or should I say I!) would have survived the move had they not been there to help us! The packing, the cleaning - they were SO much help! Thanks a million, guys!! Also a BIG thank you to Jessica Mortensen and Lisa Smith for helping watch the kids for a bit in those last days before the move.

Blake meeting his new cousin Lexi

Brooklyn's turn! Notice Lexi's little painted fingernails!!

Becky gave her a pedicure while she was sleeping! Haha!

Even though we were packing up on Halloween Day, Jennie and I decided to take the kids out Trick-or-Treating that night, just up and down the street. It got all our minds off of packing for a bit!

Sydney and Brooklyn, matching Sleeping Beauties!
Macey and Gavin share a rideSorry Blake! I guess I didn't get any pictures of him on Halloween night!

THE BIG DAY!!!

Breaking child labor laws - J/K! What a good helper!Saying our last goodbyes to our CA apartmentThe awesome freeway sign for Matt's school!!!
(Check out the trash on the side of the road! Ghetto!)

This is a billboard on the I-10 East out of California. Matt and I just say, "Psssst!" anytime we see these signs for Gentleman's clubs! LOL! There are SO many of them along this stretch!The ugliest, most unflattering picture of Matt and I, but hey, that's what moving and going a couple days without showering will do to you!!!!

The windmills in Palm Springs. These will forever remind me of driving to/from California!! I always wonder how long those propeller things actually are. They are HUGE and there are a ton of them!How appropriate!!! We saw this semi truck hauling who knows what to who knows where!Entering the Grand Canyon state!!!Matt attempts to hit 100 mph!!!!!!!! (the governor kicks in right before, darn!)And what is the speed limit, dear???!?!?!Snoozin' twins!Almost there...... the TUNNEL!!! It's a tradition that you hold your breath as you pass through this tunnel. I remember it being a monumental task when I was younger. Now, it's just a bit easier. ;) You still have to let your breath out like it was the toughest thing in the world to hold it for one whole minute!!We're here!!! This is seriously the street we live on - "Lightning McQueen" Road!!! LOL!

Honestly, we're happy to be back in Arizona. Back near our families, who we've already seen lots of! My youngest brother, Joshua, was baptized and my little niece, Lexi, was blessed the weekend we got home! As much as we were excited to leave California, we are really missing our friends already!! I'm about ready to start planning our first family vacation back to California!!! :)