Why I hate fish...

As long as I can remember I have hated fish. Why you ask? I believe it all stems back to this point in my childhood when my dad stuck this disgusting fish in my face. Probably not. But, honestly that fish is so gross.

I hate swimming in open water because I'm afraid that a fish will touch me. The night before a triathlon I have nightmares about fish in the water, not wrecking my bike or tripping on the run, or missing the race all together, just that there are fish lurking below me in the dark water waiting to nibble on my toes. YUCK!

I have been to some beautiful places and snorkeled with amazing tropical fish and all I can think of when I'm in the water is that I hope a fish doesn't touch me. I have even gotten mad at Todd for making the fish "attack" me when they swim towards me. Yes I realize this is silly and the fish aren't going to do anything to me but I really am freaked out by them.

Don't you love my dad's sweet glasses in this picture? And honestly I had no hair when I was a kid, I'm probably 2 years old in this picture and still not enough for a pig tail. Sad. At least my sweet Claire has hair and doesn't take after her mom.

This video is great. I got it on my friend Kyla's blog and I agree that it says it all with the whole New Moon Edward/Bella/Jacob love triangle. Take my poll on who you would rather Bella be with Edward or Jacob.

Shopping with Heidi and Kami: During lunch one day this week we met at the mall to get Heidi some new clothes. It was so much fun and Heidi got some great new items.

Last week of School: I can't believe it's here but school is out now for Tayson. I love how excited Tayson is about being finished.

4 Day Work Week: What else do I have to say? This week has flown by thanks to Memorial Day on Monday.

1 Kid in Diapers: Yes I am elated that Luke only wears diapers to bed now and has only had 1 accident this week (and it was when I was at work). And Claire is still very excited and interested in the potty.

My Calling: Last week Todd and I substituted in Primary and holy cow am I glad that I don't teach Primary right now. :) One of the little boys kept trying to see my baby by looking up my dress and I missed being with the women in RS.

Forgiving Kids: I'm not the most patient person to start with and when you tag on 8 months of pregnancy and a husband working late a few nights my patience is pretty much non-existent. Sadly for my beautiful children they are the first ones to feel my temper when it's all too much. Luckily for me they are so forgiving and never stay mad at me when I snap at them. Even after a bad night together they will give me a huge hug and kiss at the end of the day and tell me how much they love me. I swear I don't deserve the kids I have because they are so sweet and loving even when I'm grumpy. Tayson will even say things like "it's ok mom it's just the baby". This week I am so grateful for my kids and the fact that they love me just the way I am and can forgive within a minute. I hope I can be as loving as they are when someone is mean to me.

I can't believe Tayson is finished with Kindergarten! The year has gone by so fast and he has learned so much. I'm excited for our new school next year but I have loved Westridge and his teacher was so great. We got his final report yesterday and he meets expectations in everything and he can even rhyme (this was a challenge the first half of the year for him). Not everyday was easy, most mornings he didn't want to get dressed, eat breakfast and leave the house. He wanted to hang out in his pj's and play Lego Starwars. But once we got him moving he was always excited to leave for the bus stop and had fun while he was at school.

Today was field day and he was so excited for school. I actually had to keep him busy so that he didn't go to the bus stop 30 minutes early today. He wanted to wear his "racing" clothes so he wore his special number shirt from last Thanksgiving and his running shoes. This morning we did stretches to get him ready and he even had to drink gatorade with his breakfast. He was cracking me up. I can't believe my little boy is so grown up and is about to turn six.


Tayson's First Day of School

Yesterday I got a package from my SIL Amy with a bag of hair bows that she and her friend made (I'm so jealous...I have no skills for crafts!!!) Claire was so excited this morning when I showed her the bag of bows. She carried them around all morning then when Chelsea got to our house she had Chelsea put one in her hair then continued giving her all the bows until she had every one of them in her hair. She is so funny.

Thanks for the sweet hair bows Amy they were a big hit!

After reading The Host by Stephenie Meyers I was in need of a Twilight fix so I thought it would be a good time to re-read the series in preparation for Breaking Dawn coming August 2nd. Yes, I did this every time a new Harry Potter book came out too. I have to re-read all previous books to make sure I'm in the right mode before starting a new one in a series (possible OCD).

Sadly, I finished all 3 books last week because once again I couldn't put them down even though I've already read them all twice before. I'm sure Todd thinks I'm a bit crazy. But, now I can't find anything I want to read and I really need a new book. Any suggestions?

Senior year 1990. Need I say more? I've put in all three outfit changes too just for even more laughs.


The serious look with sweet MC Hammer pants and nice big hair.


Check out the bracelets, swatch watch, shoulder pads, crazy earrings, and the sweet CTR ring on my pinkie finger (yep the green one)and it's not pictured but I had on sweet acid wash Guess Jeans with the zippers at the bottom.


And of course the dressy picture. The best part about this picture is that once again I'm wearing hand-me-downs as you can see from Sherry's senior picture below. The best part is that at my Grandpa Schultz's house he had both of our dressy pictures hanging up side by side.


Sherry's senior picture 1988.

The title doesn't fit this week because it has been so much more than "small" things that have made me smile.

Tayson's Field Trip: Last week Tayson brought home a paper from school asking for volunteers for his field trip to the Bean Museum or Field Day and told me that since I never help at his school like all the other mom's I HAD to volunteer. Well the guilt trip worked like a charm and I emailed his teacher and got to go to the Bean Museum with his Kindergarten class Monday morning. I can't say the Bean Museum is my favorite place (it's a bunch of dead, stuffed animals - kinda creepy) but Tayson loved it and it was good to help his class. I was in charge of 5 kids and didn't lose any of them. :)

Luke Going Potty: I already did a post about this earlier, but I have to say it's for real now and we're at almost a week of him going strong. Yesterday he didn't have any accidents at all. I am sooooo excited!!!

Luke's Performance: This is Luke's last week of pre-school. I love his pre-school, My Smart World. It is the same one we sent Tayson too and Luke will be going there again next year. Last night they did their end of year program and it was so cute watching him sing and say the Pledge of Allegiance. I'll post pictures later.

My Sweet Boys: This morning Tayson really wanted to get Luke dressed without any help from me (sounds good to me!) after they finished Luke walked over to Tayson and gave him a big hug and said "I love you Tayson". It was so sincere. I love how much they love each other. It could be the pregnancy hormones, but I almost cried because it was so sweet. Thank goodness I was sitting on the floor next to both of them during this exchange so they both gave me a hug and told me they loved me too, then kissed my belly and said they love our baby no matter if it's a girl or boy.

Tender Mercies: I have felt the Lord's hand so strong in my life this past week. As Todd and I have discussed different needs in our lives right now the answers and blessings have come so quickly. I am so grateful the Lord is always looking after me and my family.

Getting Fit: Todd came home with a Wii Fit yesterday and it is so much fun. The first thing you do is stand on the balance board and it does a fitness assessment - you put in your age and height then it weighs you and does a balance check. It calculates your BMI and core strength. Then it changes your MII to either be thinner or fatter depending on your results. Sadly, for the first time in my entire life I am "overweight" and have very poor balance. Thank goodness that will end after the baby is born. I couldn't keep a center of balance for anything with this huge belly in front of me. Then it has all these fitness games you can play. There are strength, aerobic, balance, and yoga. The kids did a few of the games and Tayson was totally sweating after his "long run" and Todd was laughing so hard at his strength workouts I had to come see what he was doing. The best part is that Todd is sore this morning from his "workout".

Holly, Sandy and Lacey

I got the chance to go cheer on my friends in the Women of Steel Triathlon last weekend. I love going to races and it was so fun to see them out there racing. This was Sandy and Lacey's first tri and they did so great and Holly kicked butt and took 2nd in her age group. Maybe they will get addicted and keep going so we can do one together next year when I'm back in shape. I love having so many great workout buddies. You gals are such an inspiration to me. Way to go - you really are women of steel!

What would make Luke twenty-six firty (30) thousand happy? Going potty of course! I'm not sure when the crazy numbers started for him, but if he strings together a few big numbers it shows just how big something is. He really has no concept of what he's saying most of the time but since Tayson says big numbers he has to do it too. So this morning after going potty he told me he was twenty-six firty thousand happy (yesterday it was fifty-five six hundred) and let me tell you I am way happier than he is. Last Friday he decided it was time to wear "undeywear" (he's still having issues with the "r" sound) and he has had a few accidents along the way but way more successes!

We couldn't be happier as a family. Tayson is always there cheering him on and telling him how proud he is then quickly telling him which toy he should pick as his reward. And this morning the first thing Claire said to me was "Bubba so happy go potty". And trust me I am completely overjoyed at the thought of having him out of diapers before this baby comes.

I wish I could say something great about my parenting that made the difference with potty training him (trust me we tried every trick in the book). But, I don't know what finally made him decide he was ready. Nothing we did could get him motivated until he finally thought he would just do it and now he's unstoppable! Way to go Luke!!!

And the good news is Claire is feeding off the excitement and I think she'll follow quickly. Life is good!!!

This was in the 8th grade - my first year on drill team. Our school had 3 different groups; cheerleaders, drill team and flag team. The drill team danced at half time of football games and basketball games. This is the one thing all 4 of us sisters did the same during high school. Heidi posted a picture in a flashback too.

I thought it would be fun to add the team picture too - just to show how popular big hair was. Holy cow! I can't imagine how much aqua net went into the preparation of this picture. As you can see at this point in my life I was one of the shortest on the team - I think there were only 2 girls shorter than me. Now at 5'9 that really makes me laugh. :)

Alice had this on her blog and it looked like fun so I gave it a shot and since it came up with my favorite superhero I thought I'd post it! Your results:You are Wonder Woman
	You are a beautiful princess with great strength of character.
Wonder Woman		75%
Supergirl		65%
The Flash		65%
Superman		55%
Spider-Man		50%
Robin		50%
Green Lantern		50%
Iron Man		45%
Hulk		40%
Batman		25%
Catwoman		25%

Click here to take the "Which Superhero am I?" quiz...

Another week is over already and as usual I have lots to be thankful for.

Motherhood: Last weekend reminded me how much I love Todd and my kids. I am so grateful to have been blessed with the kids I have and to have such a supportive husband helping me every step of the way. We might not be perfect in our family but I wouldn't change a thing.

The Book of Mormon: I finished reading the BoM again last week. I did a 100 day challenge and it is amazing how much reading everyday affects my life. Even after reading it so many times throughout my life I learn something new every time I read. This time I was amazed how many times I was thinking about something throughout the day and that night when I was reading there it was a small simple statement answering me.

Talking to Mark: We got to talk to Mark on mother's day and it was so fun to talk to him. I love getting his emails every week, but talking to him for a half hour on speaker phone was so much fun. He has so many funny biking and tracting stories.

Spring: I can now say it is officially here. Yea!! I have had spring fever for months now and it's nice to know it finally here to stay. I'm sure it will end all to fast and it will be 100 degrees and I'll be complaining about how hot it is. But I'm going to enjoy spring while it lasts.

Cold Stone Cake: I realize this is small and silly compared to other things, but we got a cold stone cake for Todd's birthday last week and it was so yummy. It made me happy the entire time I was eating it and I didn't have to do any preparation for it.

58 Days: I am excited that I have less than 60 days left until my due date. I realize this is still a long time (just under 2 months) but I am ready to not be prego anymore. I am not ready to have 4 kids (especially with 3 in diapers) but I am very excited to be able to tie my shoes. So it makes me smile that this week I hit the less than 2 months to go mark.

Last week when I was at Motherhood I saw this book and had to buy it. It has 50 fun ways to find out if you're having a boy or girl. So far I have done 33 of the tests.

Girl: 21
Boy:12

Some of the tests are hilarious and can't mean a thing (i.e. which way does your pillow face? North or South?) I'm going to try to do all 50 before the baby is born just for some fun.

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Family reunion - Roots

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebrities - Collage - Morph

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity - Collage - Morph

I finally ventured into the world of digiscrapping. First, let me say I didn't do any of the work. My friend Traci did it all, but I watched and learned while she did all the work. And I did buy the kit online so that has to count for something.

It was so much fun to do and really it looked so easy. We (well Traci) put it together in Photoshop, I uploaded the image to Costco printed the invitations in an hour and they were done. What a great way to do an invitation - and a very cute one at that (thanks to Traci). All I need now is Traci's mad photoshop skills and some serious creative juices then I'm ready to start scrap booking my kids lives again.

I hope everyone had as great of a Mother's Day as I did yesterday. Here are the highlights...I slept in until a little after 9:00 with no kids coming in the room to bother me the whole morning. When I came out Claire had just woken up, the boys were playing computer and Todd was sound asleep on the couch with the end of "Enchanted" playing on the TV - it was so cute. Then Todd fixed a nice brunch for us to eat before church and wouldn't let me touch the dishes. The boys went up on the stand with the Primary and sang to me. All day he kept reminding the kids it was my special day and they were so well behaved and sweet to me. Tayson drew me 2 pictures - both of me as a stick person with a huge circle belly. Mark called from his mission and it was so fun to talk to him. Todd fixed a delicious steak dinner for all of us and we ate on paper plates so that no-one would have to do dishes. Kami made us yummy homemade ice cream. Then Todd put all the kids to bed and let me read my book. At the end of the day he came in before I was going to sleep and after I thanked him for the best mother's day I've ever had he said "I'm tired, I don't know how you do it all the time." And that just made my day even better. I can't think of a time I have felt so loved and appreciated as a wife and mother as I did yesterday. Thanks Todd - I love you!

My amazing husband is 32 years old. Our family tribute to Todd is 32 things we love about him.

Claire:
1 - Daddy takes care of me during the night when I wake up.
2 - I love daddy's fish (especially nemo)


Todd helping Claire with her new scooter on her birthday

Luke:
3 - I love to play with Daddy
4 - Daddy loves Lego's
5 - He plays Lego's with me
6 - He lays down with me at night and usually falls asleep before me


Todd taking care of Luke in the morning when he was a baby

Tayson:
7 - Daddy plays Lego star wars with me
8 - I love to wrestle with Daddy
9 - He plays warcraft with me
10 - He was my soccer coach
11 - He always gets me special movies


Tayson and Todd - December 2002

Me:
12 - I love that he takes me to musicals
13 - I love his legs (see basketball picture below)
14 - He is so sweet and patient with me (even when I'm moody and pregnant)
15 - He is always supportive of my goals
16 - He takes me on lots of dates
17 - He makes me laugh everyday
18 - He loves me


On our Cruise last year

From the whole family:
19 - He is so great with the kids (obviously he plays with them all the time)
20 - He is hilarious and makes us all laugh
21 - He is a strong priesthood leader in our home
22 - He is a hard worker and a good provider
23 - He loves to play games
24 - Excellent chef at the grill
25 - Todd is very patient
26 - He loves gadgets and always has something fun for the kids to play with
27 - He loves movies
28 - We love to watch him play sports (basketball, volleyball, softball, you name it)
29 - Todd makes the best treats for FHE (homemade donuts, carmel apples, yummy!)
30 - He always has great music on his iPod
31 - He makes the best grilled cheese sandwiches
32 - He always brings home fun treats from the grocery store


Todd and his mom


Todd in High school playing basketball

My 5th Grade school picture.

Talk about a perm gone bad! I obviously didn't know how to fix my hair and my mom stopped trying to fix my hair for me at this point in life. I do remember that I wanted to pull my hair back so I could show off my brand new pierced ears. I have horrible teeth and tons of freckles too.

But the best part of this picture is the fact that I am wearing hand-me downs. I wore them my entire life being the second girl and exactly 2 years apart made the situation perfect. Here is proof that I have on hand-me-downs....Sherry's 6th grade school picture.

A few things that made me smile this week:

Small Potty Training Success: It was short-lived, but the 2 times Luke did go potty were enough to make me smile.

Tayson's Journal: I have journals for each of the kids that I write milestones or funny things they do in (this has slowed down considerably since I joined the world of blogging since I write most of it here instead). Last night, Tayson came in my room and wanted to read from his journal about when he was born. Then we read other fun stories from the past 6 years and he was so excited to hear stories about himself and it was fun to remember all the silly things he did.

Todd's Sleeping Habits: Most of the time I complain about how late Todd stays up (usually between 1:00 am and 3:00 am). But last night when Claire was up until 3:00 and I slept straight through the whole thing because he kept her with him I was so grateful for his crazy sleeping habits.

A Bike Ride: I was helping some friends get their bikes ready for their big race in a few weeks and I couldn't remember exactly how the gears worked so I took the bike for a 2 block spin...it made me miss riding but it made me happy to ride.

Open Windows: We have been sleeping with one of our bedroom windows open for a week now, except the rainy nights. I love the breeze and the smell of sleeping with the windows open. Very soon it will be too hot at night to sleep if the A/C isn't on full blast - so I'm enjoying it while I can.

So we decided to get serious about potty training and Luke and Claire have both been spending a lot of time in shirts only. Of course the first day Tayson joined in the fun of naked time - don't worry Todd and I didn't!!! Luke was doing great and was accident free, had gone potty a few times and was smiling from ear to ear when you asked him about it until this morning. When he got up this morning I grabbed a shirt and went out to get him dressed. I took off his jammies and diaper and put him in a shirt and he freaked out. He wanted a diaper and pants SO bad. But I felt like we were so close so I didn't give in to him and made him stay naked. He screamed and cried and peed on the floor and then sat on my lap totally sad that he had to be naked begging me to let him wear a diaper. I think I have ruined my child and someday when he's an adult he's going to have issues and it will all stem back to today. I feel horrible as a mom and I have no idea where to draw the lines with forcing the potty training and letting him make his own decisions. All I can say is I HATE POTTY TRAINING!!!

Happy Birthday to Claire. I can't believe my sweet little girl is 2 years old today. The last year has flown by. We had a big family party for her on Sunday and of course since she was almost born on the cinco de mayo we always celebrate with yummy Mexican food and a pinata. I let the boys pick out their own presents for her so Tayson got her a little baby Cinderella doll and Luke got her a piggy bank (for all their potty money). She got a sweet princess scooter too so she can keep up with the boys playing outside. So far she just stands on it and expects people to push her around. She got more presents that she needed and is very lucky to have so many people who love her so much. I posted all the pictures on kodak gallery.

I thought it would be fun to ask everyone their favorite 2 things about Claire.

Luke:
1 - I love to play with her
2 - I just love her

Tayson:
1 - She has babies (her dolls) and it's fun to play with them and I like to play with her fox too
2 - She says funny things

Todd:
1 - Her run (Claire doesn't walk anywhere she runs at all times and she is very cute when she runs...very girlie with her arms up at her side and her hands flopping around)
2 - I love that she laughs at gas (whether she toots or the boys do or the ketchup bottle makes the noise she giggles)

Me:
1 - Her voice - I love her sweet voice and the things she says. She talks non-stop and can communicate with us so well and just says such funny things.
2 - Her personality. Claire is so well natured and funny. I love the way she ignores people (she hates strangers), she is just so funny and bratty.


Claire's Blessing


Claire's 1st B-day


Claire didn't smile for any pictures (typical of her) and you can see I bought her a princess cake I don't have amazing cake baking skills like Kris.

What girl doesn't love to get flowers? I know I love it especially when it's for no reason at all....but my kids have taken this to a whole new level. All three of them pick me wild flowers on a daily basis. I have more weeds in cups in my kitchen than I know what to do with, and I am constantly throwing them away when they aren't looking. They think dandelions are my FAVORITE flower ever since I try to be appreciative of the gifts they bring me. A couple of weeks ago I was at my parent's house with the kids and Tayson and Luke both came in the house beaming to show me the flowers they picked for me and they both picked a beautiful tulip right out of grandma's flower bed. Thank goodness my parents don't get annoyed when kids are kids. We just had to explain to them what flowers they are allowed to pick and which ones they aren't. I love that they see something they think is pretty and pick it to bring into me. They are so sweet!

This is my 4th grade school picture (1981). I have the ugly buck teeth of course and lots and lots of freckles. We didn't ever use sunscreen growing up. I remember my mom fixing my hair that day with her fancy comb blow dryer - who needs a round brush and a blow dryer when you can combine them into one fancy contraption?

This week I've decided that instead of "Thankful Thursday" I will do a post on things I will miss when I'm not prego anymore...and of course that list can't exist without things I won't miss when this all comes to an end.

Maybe I'll look back at some point and miss this, but honestly right now I'm pretty much ready to not be pregnant anymore. Too bad I still have 2 1/2 months left to go.

Also, this is the first time in 4 pregnancies that I have posed for a picture to show my big ol' belly. I'm not loving the picture but there you have it. Blogging makes us do things we'd never do otherwise. :)

Things I will miss:

Not having to suck in my tummy

Having boobs again!

Eating whatever I want whenever I want and having a great excuse

My hair and nails growing fast

Not feeling the baby move

Having to pack a diaper bag and carry the car seat in order to run into the store instead of just packing my big belly in there with me

Being able to go to bed as early as I want and not feeling silly (or having Todd make fun of me for being worn out by 8:00 pm)

Wondering what my baby will look like (and if it’s a boy or girl)

Rock hard abs (only when I’m having a contraction – but it’s better than never)

Things I won’t miss:

The constant heartburn

The back pain

Not being able to turn around enough to see when I’m backing the car out

Not being able to tie my shoes

My bellybutton sticking out

My skin being so bad … eczema, pimples and blotchy skin

Leg cramps

Feeling fat

Not wearing normal clothes – I can’t wait to button a pair of pants again

Being woken up in the middle of the night to pee or because the baby is kicking me (of course this might be better than waking up every few hours for the baby to eat)