Happenings

A few pics of the kiddos...
Our happy grizzly bear!


Best buddies!







Our garden is still kickin'...we will see what happens now that we are topping 100 degrees!


My blackberry bush!


Chili Pepper...reminds me of home!






And finally...Yard Sale Finds. We were on our way to the Ward Activity this morning, and were a few minutes early, so we decided to stop at a yard sale in the neighborhood. I WAS SO EXCITED TO FIND THESE!!!





Grand total: $14!!!!!

Well I was going to do a update...

I had grand plans for this post, and sat down with the laptop, and quickly realized that our lap top doesn't have a memory card slot....yes I could just go to the desktop, but it is clear in the other room..I know pathetic. So just a quick up date, and pictures to come later.
Today is picture day at Preschool. Kyra was really excited. Kyle and I are headed over to story time in a few minutes. Then Karl is coming home for lunch. Its topping a 100 degrees here lately, so after naps the kiddos and I will probably inflate the little kiddy pool and soak our toes..maybe head to the splash park tomorrow! We are gearing up to head to Wyoming next week. Kyra is bummed that she will miss the last week of preschool, but is SOOOO excited to go to Wyoming. We are stopping at Karls parents house on the way up, overnight, then will probably stop in Denver for one night...does anyone know if the Dever zoo, of if the Childens museum is better? Then we are driving the rest of the way the next morning, and will get to stay for 5 or 6 days, with a overnight trip to South Dakota to see the sites. We are pretty excited (except for the 20 hour car trip, each way). Then we will be home for a whopping 12 hours or so, and then Karl leaves on a Raytheon trip for a week...Ugh! And we won't even have preschool anymore! We will be hitting up the sites of Tucson! I can't actually complain, this is the first buisness trip in a really long time.
Well that is the update for the day. Have a great day!

The things she say...

Usually, the silly things Kyra says I just put on my little side bar, but the last two days she has just been on a roll. :)

Converstation #1:
This morning, I had Kyra REALLY wash her hands well a couple times. When she asked why we were washing our hands so much, I decided to try and explain the swine flu. (Okay, I had a moment of insanity).

Mommy: Kyra there is a flu bug that is going around and making people super sick. And the best thing we can do to not get sick is wash our hands really well.

Kyra: A flu bug?

Mommy: Yep.

Kyra: (She starts looking around in the air.) Where is it?

Mommy: Oh well, its super tiny, almost invisible.

I kid you not, she started ducking and covering from the invisible flu bug. For the rest of the morning, every couple of minutes she would look up and around in the air, and then dive on the floor. Although it was so stinkin' funny, I did feel a little bad about what she must be visulizing.



Converstation #2:
I recently made Kyra a chore chart. I was having a really hard time getting her to get ready in the morning. She would fight me on everything, in that passive aggressive way that 3 year olds are so good at...you know...laying on the floor...refusing to open their mouth..etc. Well it got to the point that I would just have to do it for her. So I made this little chore chart for her, for about $5.Every night I put pictures in the little pockets, so she knows what chores she needs to get done for the day. Most of them are the same every day...set the table, clear your dishes, take a bath, make your bed, do you hair, brush your teeth, say your prayers, read scriptures, and clean her room. Then every day there is usually one extra job, like folding her clothes, sweeping, wiping down the bathroom counter, helping mommy cook, or dusting.


Then once she completes the job, she has to find the tag with the same picture on it out of the envelope and hang it on the pictures.


If she completes her morning chores quick enough before preschool, she gets to watch a cartoon. Then in the afternoon before she gets to do something special, like an art project, or play on the computer, or play outside the rest of her jobs have to be done. Well, we have been doing this for about 2 or 3 weeks now and this has been the best thing I have ever done. SHE LOVES IT! She does all of her morning jobs without being asked, she doesn't fight me at all. It is fantastic!!!

Well today she really wanted to watch a Dora video that we checked out from the library (I know..another laspe in judgement.) I told her to go check her chart and make sure she finished all of her chores, and then she could. After she finished her chores she came to me and said "Mommy thank you for making me a chore chart, so that I know exactly what your expectations are." I swear she is 3 going on 17!!!

Conversation #3:
Yeserday she did something naughty, and was put in time out. When her 3 mintures were up and I asked for an apology she said "I'm sorry I acted like Laman and Lemuel. I will try and be like Nephi next time."

Conversation #4
This afternoon, with a huge smile on her face, she said "Mommy, the Holy Ghost just told me I'm a rock star! As a Mom, that just made my day.

Old Tucson

Last Friday, we headed out to Old Tucson Studios.For those of you who are unfamilar with Old Tucson, it is basically an old west town/set that they call "Hollywood in the desert". They filmed a lot of John Waynes westerns there, the Three Amigos, some episodes of Little House on the Prairie, and about a million other movies. We luckily squeezed this outing in before it got to incredibly hot! Our first stop was the saloon, for a quick show performed by the bar maids (it sounds a lot more risque then it is. Here are the kiddos with the performers afterwards.

As we were watching, the ladies did a couple dances moves that I was hoping Kyra wouldn't pick up on....but OF COURSE she did! Oh well.

Then was an "Old West Gun Fight" Show, featuring Billy the Kid and his gang. The actors fall from the roofs of the building, shoot at each other (their are blanks in their guns),collapse on the ground, and do a pretty decent old time fight. We were worried about taking the kiddos to this one, hoping they wouldn't get scared, or we wouldn't have to answer a lot of questions about why they are fighting etc. The kids couldn't of cared less. They each had a baggy of trail mix to eat while we watched. The only thing they noticed was that Kyra had an extra red M&M in her baggies. Whew...I think WE dodge that bullet on that one. Here are the kiddos with the actors after the show. The one holding Kyle is "Billy". I just love Kyra little face in this picture! So silly.


Then the kiddos got to pan for gold! They were given a metal plate, to scoop dirt into their pan with, then as they swirl it around in the water, the gold separates from the dirt, and the gold stays in the pan. They gave each little kid a container to take their fools gold home in. Kyra is convinced that if she sprinkles it over there flower garden it will help they bloom!



The highlight of the day for Kyle was the train ride that took you around the entire studio. I wish I had gotten a picture of his face on the ride...you know, usually he is crazy wanting to run around, he just sat there, letting the wind hit his face, like it was his little patch of heaven, and he was trying to soak it in. So cute!


After the train we head to the stable, where Kyra got to go on a pony ride, her very first one. She loved it!!! We kept asking Kyle if he wanted to go, and he would very quickly say "NO THANKS, NO THANKS, NO THANKS!". I kept asking to make sure, and he got to the point that when ever I looked at him, before asking he would say "NO THANKS!" Here is Kyra on Buck.


Then we rode the carousel quite a few times, and then Kyra started getting fussy so we head to the Sheriffs office. :)



We were only there for just over three hours, but it was a fun family day!

My sweet girl

I just had to post some pictures of my sweet, happy, beautiful, little girl. I finally embraced her curls, and thanks to Jo-Anne, found a new way to do her hair. I thought she was just too cute today!

SO PROUD!!!

I'm so stinkin' proud of Karl, I'm about to explode. Karl got his white paper today and found out that he made E3 (Engineering 3rd Level), and was made lead IE over his area!!! He has really been going beyond the call of duty at work this year, and hasn't really been getting recongnized for this hard work. But it finally paid off! I'm so grateful for a husband that not only does everything he can at work to ensure we are finacially okay, but then comes home and instantly jumps into dad mode for the rest of the night! Great job babe! WE LOVE YOU!

Kyles the winner!

After 3 and a half years, and 2 children, Kyle is the FIRST to put something up his nose! This time it was a peanut! He was FREAKING out. I couldn't see it, but he was crying and crying, and everytime I touched his nose he would just flip. I thought it was a crusty booger (oh come on now..you know how those can sometimes hurt), so I put some saline solution up his nose, to liquify it (still thinking it was a booger). He continued to flip out, so I got the booger sucker thing, and it popped right out! I think Karl's response sums it up..."I'm honestly surprised it took him this long to stick something up there".