This is post nap and leaving for Grandma & Grandpa's house for dinner. I had taken off Sophie's tights and black church shoes but left her dress on for her nap. Her hairdo didn't make it through the nap and of course she has food on her face. But we started gathering our stuff to go so she hurried and grabbed her boots. Those are her "go to" shoes. She loves them and always wants to wear them. Then she grabbed the first pink coat she could find (Claire's of course) and was ready to go. I couldn't resist taking a picture. She is so classic.


On a side note: She did great in nursery again. No tears. Hooray! When I picked her up her teacher said "she growled at us today". They said it was very cute and funny. She also made a sweet little necklace out of yarn with a few pictures they colored. When I picked her up she had it on and then when she realized it was time to go she tore off the pictures, crumpled them and threw them in the trash. Her teachers were cracking up at her. She is a silly silly girl.

Last year for her b-day Claire got a barbie wig. On Saturday she busted it out and put it on upside-down. Hilarious.

This picture is freaky. The shadows were crazy and you can't see us. We only had Todd's phone to take a picture for today so this is how it turned out.

We had a great time going to the Temple to do sealings with the family then to Training Table for some dinner.

Just finished bath time and we still have a few minutes before bedtime. The boys of course are playing Lego Star Wars in their Bakugon pj bottoms (for some reason shirts aren't necessary) and the girls are wearing their sweet princess jammies while watching youtube on my phone. At least no-one is fighting or crying.

I was looking at the pictures on my phone and I saw this picture. Totally made me smile. This was a Saturday when Todd had stayed up late the night before so I decided to take all 4 kids to the grocery store with me. It was snowing outside so they all wanted to get bundled up in boots, coats, hats and gloves. I thought they were so cute I snapped a quick picture.

I also remember how bad shopping with all 4 of them was that day. I put the girls in one race car shopping cart and Luke in another race car cart that Tayson was pushing. We ran into things, the kids yelled a lot, I bought way more than I meant to because they kept things in the cart (especially Tayson). By the end of shopping I finally made Luke get out of the cart when I was checking out and go stand by the wall where he couldn't touch anyone. At that point the checker said "so what do you think works the best with kids? time outs? spanks?" I am pretty sure I just looked at him like "really you think I know....can you see my kids right now?" but I answered "well it really depends on the kid and the age."

I'm so glad that I can look back at this picture and smile and remember how funny my kiddos were that morning before we went shopping.

Tonight for YW we went ice skating. I haven't ice skated in at least 15 years. I was a little wobbly at first but then my shins and feet stopped aching and I had a lot of fun with my super cute adviser (Tina) and all the girls. I even tried a few "moves" and didn't fall. Good times.

When I was little (probably about 5) my mom put Sherry and I in ice skating lessons. Sherry was a natural and I was rather awkward. I had really short hair and my mom had me use an old pair of black skates that we had. I still remember to this day the instructor asking me if I was a boy. Ouch.

I don't know if I can write this without crying...but when I came home from Orlando on Saturday I left my external hard drive on the plane in the seat back pocket. It has my last 3 years of pictures on it and most of them that is the only place where they are. When I realized I forgot it (Sunday morning) I totally freaked out. It was so hard to maintain enough composure to call the airlines and ask them to help me get in touch with lost and found. I still haven't heard from the airport so I'm starting to assume it's gone. Gone forever. I can't believe it. Why oh why did I take my hard drive with me on the trip? So I could watch shows on the plane. So not worth it. Why didn't I back up my pictures on CD?

WHY WHY WHY??????

Today during lunch I got my nails filled. And I will tell you something...the people at the nail place at the mall are crazy. I like to go there because it's fast and easy but the guy is always on his phone speaking another language 100 mph, he hits my hand with his nail file if I'm not paying attention and when he pushes my skin back with his sharp thumb nails it hurts (and I have a high pain tolerance .... 4 kids no drugs but this hurts). Oh well...I really like having my nails look nice so it's worth it.

Side note: That isn't my wedding ring. It's in the shop getting the setting tightened, buffed, cleaned and plated so it will look brand new again. This ring was an awesome gift given to me a few Valentines ago from Todd as a right hand ring. He's so sweet.

My dad got tickets to the circus at UVU. It is a crazy circus and I just can't get over how weird circus life would be. We had a great time and I always love spending time as a family.

Circus Tickets: $36
Nachos, Hot dogs & Churros: $32
Foot juggler in a flesh colored bodysuit: Priceless


I'm not going to lie to you...this was like a train wreck. I couldn't look away but it was so disturbing to watch.

taken pictures of the following today:

When I went in to get Sophie out of bed she was leaning over the crib railing pointing and grunting like she wanted something....her binkies, violet (her puppy) and her footed jammies were laying there on the floor. Silly girl.

Sophie on the potty. She sat on the potty several times grunting and pushing and trying so hard to go potty. She is so funny. She wants so badly to be a big kid. Todd even went out in the garage to get the baby potty seat for her since she is showing interest and she wanted nothing to do with it unless it was the big potty.

Sophie eating powdered donuts. Oh I know...she should eat healthy food but I took the girls to the grocery store right after they woke up since I was home for a few hours with them and we were in a hurry to get it done while Luke was at school. So on the way home I gave the girls powdered donuts. Sophie would put the whole thing in her mouth at once, she was covered in white powder and she kept opening her mouth and showing Claire and I her mouth full of donuts. It was seriously hilarious.

She is the silliest thing.

A big part of FHE for us are the treats. We don't have desert very often so Monday nights are always a good night for the kids. It's amazing how well they eat their dinner knowing there will be treats IF they eat their dinner. Usually I take the easy route and buy the pre-made cookies and we throw them in the oven during FHE then eat them still warm at the end. But I decided last night to bake them from scratch...this rarely works out for me. They are always flat. But Todd spent some time on google and found lots of good tips so I tried it out. I didn't use melted butter (softened but not warm), I added extra flour so that when I touched the dough it wasn't sticky, I refrigerated the dough after I put it on the cookie sheet and used cool cookie sheets instead of the warm one over and over again. The dough looked perfect and it was DELICIOUS. But my cookies were flat, flat, flat. So depressing. The only thought I have is that my baking soda is too old. I don't even know if this gets old and causes flat cookies but I'm going to try to replace it and see if I can make cookies that aren't nasty flat.

As you can see from today's picture the kids still ate them and loved them. They LOVE to dip them in milk and they are sooooo messy. (not a great, or even good, picture - but I had to use my phone and the kids were being crazy so it was hard to capture the moment)

This girl is so funny at bedtime. She is very picky about which pj's she'll wear. Only she can pick them out. She has to have her lamp on all night. She tells us she sees "scary movies in her eyes" if her light is off. She has to have her silky pillowcase and her silky blanket (silks for short). She sleeps with random toys and books, she likes to have her door locked (from the outside), she goes to bed without a fight at 8:30 and falls asleep around 10:00.

She came in my room last night and the following conversation took place:

Claire: I need to cuddle
Me: Get one of your dolls or stuffed animals
Claire: Paige doesn't have clothes on
Todd: Who's Paige?
Claire: ignores Todd
Me: OK sweetie you can come cuddle with me (there is plenty of room in the bed between Todd and I)
Claire: I can't dad's in there
Todd: OK I'll leave
Claire: thanks
.....
Claire: Mama, go get my silky pillow
Me: No. If you want it go get it yourself
Claire: I can't go to sleep without it
Me: OK go get it
after a long pause and several dirty looks she went to get it then fell sound asleep in my bed not cuddling.

When I saw this in Orlando I had to go. I convinced the group to go there for dinner tonight and it didn't disappoint. The food was yummy and cheap. I just wish there was one closer to Utah.

I'll be honest I had no idea who this was when I saw him (I didn't giggle like I did when I saw Ian Zeiring) but hey why not get another picture with an actor since I have to get a picture everyday. This is Kin Shriner from General Hospital. I've never watched GH but I read online he was the one who caught the bouquet at Luke and Laura's wedding on the show - so that's cool I guess.

In other news....tonight we ate at this small hole in the wall bar/grill that came highly recommended. I ate fried cajun gator (yummy, chewy and tastes like chicken), some sweet $2 nachos (very similar to gas station nachos with chili - also very yummy) and had buffalo wings with their very own homemade blue cheese dressing. It was a crazy meal and very fun and yummy. I was so full I couldn't finish my wings no matter how hard I tried.

Today I left for the airport at 8:00 am to head to Orlando for more kickoff meetings for Nu Skin. We flew to the Cincinnati airport where I had Outback for lunch and almost missed my flight. Oops. Then we flew into Orlando, checked into our hotels and had an hour before setting up. I hurried and got a run in (3.5 miles) then took a quick shower and we to the ballroom to set up. We hauled boxes, moved tables, set up our work areas and finally I got back to my room at 1:06 am.

This is Luke and I at the County Health Building waiting for him to get a shot. He really is all caught up on his shots....but the records at my doctor's office are all messed up so he has had to repeat several shots. Thank goodness Luke is tough and doesn't mind getting shots. I got a paper sent home from the school nurse that said he was due for another hep b shot or he couldn't go to school anymore so we made a date of it.

Todd brought him to Nu Skin to meet me for lunch after school. Todd was joining some of his friends and former co-workers there too so Luke and I joined them. Then Luke and I walked over to get his shot. I should have put him on my lap but he never cries when he gets shots so I just let him sit alone....mistake. He grabbed the needle when she poked him and pulled it out of his arm and made it hurt twice as bad. Then I put him on my lap and had to hold down his hands (which was hard...he's very strong when he is about to get a shot) and he had to get poked in the other arm. Poor kid. Then we went and got ice cream and he came back to work with me for an hour so I could finish working. He colored and had fun just hanging out with mom. He is such a sweet and fun kid. I sure do love my Lukey!

On my way home from the airport Sunday afternoon 1 mile from home I was driving too fast and I got pulled over. I deserved the ticket, I was speeding....but I was also tired, ready to be home and 2 of my co-workers were in the car. DANG IT!

My picture for today. I have been reading the Percy Jackson series and finished book 4 today. We are starting to read the first book to Tayson now. Someday I hope he loves reading as much as I do.

This is turning out to be harder than I thought it would be...I've managed to take a picture everyday but finding the time to post them has been a challenge. So here I am catching up again.

January 8. Todd and I went out on a date so it was pizza night for the kids. Sophie and Claire are smiling it up...but Luke looks like he was crying. I think he must have just gotten in trouble for something.


January 9. I was back cleaning like I usually do on Saturday morning and when I walked into the kitchen I found this mess. Sophie had gotten into the pantry (someone forgot to shut the door completely) and pulled out a box of instant oatmeal, she had all the packets on the ground and had bitten a hole into one of the packs and dumped it all over. When I got there she was getting ready to start on the 2nd packet. Silly girl.


January 10. It was a big day at church for us today. Sophie's first day of nursery, Claire's first week as a Sunbeam, and Tayson had his baptism fireside today. It was so great to send Sophie to the nursery and she loved it. Not a tear. Claire loves Sunbeams - she keeps singing the song and telling me she needs to do things "because she's a sunbeam". It's very cute. Then at the fireside the lady talking said "When you get baptized you get wet" but Tayson thought she said what instead of wet and he shot his hand into the air and said "the Holy Ghost". It was so dang cute and funny. I can't believe he is getting baptized this year.


January 11. I found Sophie in the pantry again...this time with a box of granola bars. I'm not sure if she is chewing the box to get the granola bars out or just because she's obviously hungry enough to eat cardboard. On a side note: when we went grocery shopping on Saturday she chewed 2 huge holes in boxes - I was laughing so hard when I gave them to the checker. :)





January 12. This is how my Sophie looks the sweetest. She can be such a handful since she has SOOOOOO much energy and obviously loves to chew on stuff. When she goes to bed she has her binky, her bottle, and her new puppy Violet that she got for Christmas. It is a cool dog - we hooked it up to the computer and put her name, favorite animal (dog), picked songs and colors on it. So when she goes to bed I hit the paw that has the moon on it and it says "cuddle up Sophie" then it plays 2 minutes of lullaby's. She loves it.


January 13. Technically this picture was taken really late on the 12th...but I thought it should count for the 13th. Since I was leaving for 5 days for work we decided to go out (on a weeknight). We went up to the imax and saw Avatar in 3D. Here we are after the movie in our sweet 3D glasses taking a self portrait. Man I love that guy!


January 14. For our work meetings we came to Anaheim and are staying at the Disneyland hotel for 5 days. I saw Minnie Mouse in the cafe when I was going from my room to the ballroom where our meetings were so I thought I'd snap a shot for the kids.


January 15. So today I was working and I was helping the girl on the left of the picture when I asked my coworker if he had something I saw Ian Ziering (Steve Sanders) with him and I actually giggled when I saw him because I wasn't expecting to see him. Then after I finished helping the girl I asked him if I could get my picture with him and she wanted hers with him too. ha ha. It was so funny. In case you don't know who he is - he was on a VERY popular TV show when I was in high school and college (Beverly Hills 90210). It was so funny, because I honestly made a total fool out of myself and I'm pretty sure I was acting like I was about 15 years old. Oh well...it made for a great picture of the day.

Yesterday the boys were playing the wii and the batteries went out so Todd told Tayson to go find more batteries in the junk drawer. Tayson knew which drawer we were talking about but then when he opened it and started looking for the batteries he kept pulling things out and saying "is this junk?" each time in a very sarcastic tone showing us things like Claire's hair bow, their small Book of Mormon, or pencils. Then Luke and Claire joined in. We were cracking up because they were so offended that we would call the precious items in the drawer "junk".

On Saturday I had to take the Durango in to get a leak on the back tire fixed so I took Luke and Claire with me to drop it off then over to the mall. On our drive there Luke told me how much cooler the minivan is than the Durango. Claire of course chimed in saying how much she loves the minivan too. When I asked them why Luke said "it's smaller so it goes faster" and "it's just a cool car mom". Claire said "it has lots of movies and I like the doors". So there you have it minivans are cool.

Then on our drive back Luke wanted to turn on the map in the car and he was pointing out the water (Utah Lake) to Claire and showing her how the arrow was the Durango. Then the following conversation happened:

Me: those are parks
Claire: we have a park at our house
Luke: no we have a garage at our house
Claire: oh yea
Luke: the parks have lines you have to stay in
Luke: mom, what happens if you go over the line?
Me: you run into another car

I still laugh when I think of how funny it is that they thought the green was parking lots. Obviously we need spring to come fast so my kids can get outside and play at the park soon.

Part of Tayson's prayer last night.

"thank you for our freedom so we can do what we want. please bless the people in other countries who don't have freedom so they can get it."

Tayson's set new years resolutions in class last week and for his family resolution he said "I want have more fun with my family". When we asked him how we could have more fun he said we just need to do things like go bowling more.

I'm not really one to sit down and set a bunch of New Year's Resolutions. They just don't work for me that way so instead I like to come up with some overarching theme's or goals. Last year my motto was - embrace your crazy.

For the past few weeks I've been thinking about what I want the new year and decade to start with and I've decided that I want to be better about enjoying the small things and documenting them. One of my goals is to take a picture everyday to document what my life is like right now. I also want to try to have 1 of the pictures each week have me and at least 1 of my kids in it. Motherhood is where I am right now and I want my kids to be able to look back at how we are right now. My theme to go along with this is - enjoy the journey.

Here are my pictures so far this year:


January 2. I love just hanging out with my family. I love that Timmy and Mark have on their Schultz shirts. A few thanksgivings ago we all got shirts made with our family number on them and I love that when ever you catch us together someone is wearing theirs.

January 3. Me sad to be off the cruise and wearing my Schultz shirt with pride. I love my family so much and I am so glad that I got to spend so much time hanging out with 7 of my siblings, my awesome hubby and my rockin' in-laws.

January 4. I love this picture of the boys in their luchador masks. Tayson requested that we buy him an official wrestling outfit to wear with his mask and we told him that all they need to do is wear stretchy pants. He decided that as long as they don't have a shirt on sweats or shorts will do for now.

January 4. I couldn't pick just one for this day since I wanted to get the girls showing off their presents from Mexico too. We got them matching swimsuit cover ups (which they both put on as soon as they got them) and Claire got maracas (or raca's as she calls them) and Sophie got a tambourine. Claire loves to shake the tambourine and hit it on her bum. It's so cute.


January 5. I forgot my phone at home today so Todd brought it to me at work. When I went out to the car to meet him I saw Shadow in the backseat and asked Todd why he was in the car (we never take him anywhere except PetSmart to get his haircut) and Todd said "I thought he'd like a ride". It made me laugh so of course I snapped a picture.

January 6. I realized after everyone was in bed that I hadn't taken a picture yet for the day so I thought I'd get one of the boys and how they are every night. Sitting at their computers playing WoW. They usually sit like this playing until around 2:00 am.

January 7. Today we made another trip to the doctors. We have been there way too much the past 5 weeks. Sophie started with strep 5 weeks ago, then Meggan got it, then I got it, then Claire got it and now Sophie has it again. UGH. When I took this picture Sophie was saying cheese but she was crying at the same time. Such a funny girl.

Todd and I got up early on Sunday ... too early on accident so we walked up to the top to watch the boat dock in Long Beach. Then we met everyone for some breakfast before waiting for our deck to be called so we could get off the boat. We had to wait about an hour or so before we could get in line to get off. Once we got there things went smooth and fast and we were back on shore. (I still had sea legs for a few days after we got off).

The last day of the cruise was another day at sea. It was too cold to go outside and soak in any last bit of sunshine so we found other ways to entertain ourselves. We slept in then had "bathrobe breakfast". We were laughing about how people would walk around the ship in their Carnival robes so we decided to have some fun and eat breakfast in our robes. After having breakfast on the Lido deck in our robes I went to the gym with Mark, Danny and Emily. We lifted a little weights, Mark led us in some crazy circuit training that kicked my butt then we rode the bikes for a half hour.


After lunch we decided to play sardines (hide-n-seek where you have to hide with the person when you find them). We set up a few rules (no bathrooms, age restricted areas, no leaving the deck, etc) then started playing. If you couldn't find the person in 10 minutes we had a meeting zone where we would regroup. I was it 2nd and I hid under a table that had t-shirts for sale behind some boxes. Only Sherry, Brandon and Todd found me. Woo Hoo. And I had some fun talking while people were buying shirts.

Then it was time for our last dinner and show. In order to make sure we had good seats for the show we went to the Spectacular theater right after dinner. They were playing battle of the sexes. Guys vs. Girls....and the battle was intense. The guys were beating us when the question was asked "In dungeons and dragons what is the name of the person who holds the secret maps?" I used this is as my chance to have some fun and yelled out "I know my husband (pointing to Todd) plays this and he's the dungeon master!" It was hilarious and the entire row of guys by Todd were laughing so hard. Thank goodness Todd thought it was funny too.

The show was the special "Carnival Legends" show. All week they were doing tryouts at karaoke for different singers. Our very own Trent was singing the part of Elton John. The show was hilarious and so much fun. We were in the front row so we could cheer extra loud.






It was so sad to head back to my room and pack after such a fun day.

After Cabo we had some good times on the boat. Dinner as usual was crazy and fun. Everyone ordered too much food and we were the last ones out just like every night. Then we went to the show. The singers and dancers on the boat performed several different shows and I really enjoyed the performances. Of course I have always loved dance.


While we were waiting for the comedy show to start there wasn't anything going on in the El Morocco lounge so we just sat around and talked and laughed and took pictures. We decided to say an emotion and have the person make the face associated with that emotion. Everyone did a few different emotions...but I just picked a few of my favorite ones.