December Summary

I just keep getting further behind in posting, so let's take a quick run through the month so I won't be that much more behind! :)

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Kacey had her Christmas Preschool Program.  She looks so sweet and shy, well-behaved... trust me people-- she's not!

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Then came my birthday!  With a girls' night to:

and yummy dinner at:

Where my husband surprised my girls night with the girls' husbands- a triple date night- and we had a mini celebration with fabulous food and decadent dessert!

My girlies!!!  With our matching scarves :)  I love these girls.  They truly know me inside and out, know my quirks, know what bugs me... loves me for everything that makes me ME!  I'm so lucky to have such awesome, fun friends.

And my dear friend Kaylan sent BEAUTIFUL roses, candy, a card and some fun spending money for my big 29+1 birthday!  (i will not say 30).  Kaylan the flowers were beautiful.  In fact Matthew's comment was (direct quote), "Come on Kaylan, you're making me look bad!"  I love and miss you Kaylan, you are one of a kind and I'm so grateful to have you as a friend for life!!!  No matter how far away you are, one conversation brings us back to as if we've had no time apart.

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My birthday present, was some fabulous home decor from Rod Works.  Bless my husband's sweet heart... don't buy me something, I don't want to pretend to like it.  I want to go out, I want to shop, I want to find it on my own.  I've had like 4 different Mommy nights out over a short while. :)  Eating, spending money, having a great time just relaxing and not being Mommy for a few hours.  He knows what works, happy wife happy life. 

Although we went out, had a fabulous lunch at Red Lobster... (can you tell all I've done lately is EAT?!?!?)  We did a bunch of running around and shopping, childless (thank you Yaya)... we actually got to hold hands as we went about our afternoon.  Go figure!!!  It's amazing how little we hold hands- given the phase of life we are in, usually we are holding little ones' hands... making sure know one runs in the street, making sure every little person is accounted for.  It was nice to just go out- him and me.  Still love you Matthew :)

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And I've discovered a new love.... I'm not sure where these have been all my life... pomegrantes!  WOW!  Love them.  I love delving into the nooks and crannies and pulling out every last juicy, delicious kernal of bitter yumminess!  These are huge, home-grown, and super healthy for you.  It takes me an hour to eat one!  And my hands get all wet and sticky... they're slightly stained too.  Love it!!!

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We received Matthew's transcripts in the mail today.  I'm not sure I mentioned this on the blog, but he's offically graduated from the University of Phoenix "With Honors" with a Bachelor's Degree in Business Management.

I'm not sure which degree was more difficult for ME to endure, mine from BYU where I did the work... or HIS where I didn't have to do the work.  Two weeks after Kacey was born, he decided to go back to school to finish his degree.  He had little to nothing transfer from previous credits.  He's trudged along, slowly but surely starting from nothing... endless late nights of class, with crappy teachers that he felt he was smarter than ****funny story--- he ended up, through the grapevine of life and business canals, being sent a resume of one of his former teachers!  Haha, Matthew didn't even give him an interview.  Anyways, he's trudged through so many papers, so many loser fellow students he had to put up with in group work... many times re-doing their work so he'd get a better grade... 4 years later... 4 loooong years later, 2 more kids later, a highly busy church calling, a tired wife... and HE DID IT!  Finally, he did it.  Although I do feel like my enduring makes me deserving of part of it!  So I guess I now have 1.5 degrees.  LOL.  Super proud of his accomplishments.  He graduated with honors, getting all A's  and one C... his last class, it was a joke!!!  Seriously the topic (it was to fill a general elective), a complete joke.  So we just ignore that one. :)

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I will get to the Christmas pictures next!

Merry Christmas!

Updates and Pancake Breakfast

This past Saturday was Kylie's school's Pancake Breakfast w/Santa.  I had to be there at 7 am for PTA so Matthew was left with all 4 girls and getting them ready himself.  He did a really good job, they were there and dressed nicely- promptly when the activity started!  (And he did hair, which is impressive.)

Me, my girls, and my money box! :)

The girls had a nice time.  It's always such a fun activity, and I look forward to it every year.  I usually have to spend all my time at the door handling all the money, so it ends up being something fun the girls do with Daddy... and they come over every now and again to say hi to me :)

Individual pictures taken with Santa... taken with the cell phone so they are a little blurry.

Kadyn was not so thrilled!

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UPDATES: Kloey's most recent ultrasound show that her kidneys were getting smaller, more closer to the normal size.  She is showing ZERO sign/symptoms for any future problems.  We're quite hopeful, and it's very likely, that the excess fluid in her kidneys will diminish and work it's way to normal as she grows up.  We just have routine ultrasounds to make sure all is well.

Kylie was sick right after our Disneyland trip.  The first day back to school, the nurse's office called and said she'd thrown up.  She continued to vomit all day; we went to the dr and got the magic meds and she recovered VERY quickly.... Kylie's first grade picture... she's adorable!!!  Love that little thing!  And she got her first report card... STRAIGHT A's!!!!!!!!!

ME, been a whirlwind.  Found a lump on a place that a woman doesn't want to find a lump.  I went to the dermatologist- freaked everyone around me out.  I go from normal to freak out mode in less than 2 seconds.  Let's face it... I can't die of breast cancer, Matthew can do the girls' hair... but that's about it!  The girls would eat him alive- 4 little hurricanes we call them!  Lol.  And my mom for that matter.  BUT the doctor removed the lump and the results came back just fine.  Done, over. 

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Disneyland pictures to be posted after I get the Christmas cards done!!!  Pictures to be taken this weekend, fingers crossed I get them in the mail next week!

It's Beginning to Look Alot Like Christmas...

And we're decorating!  First off, huge thank you again this year to my sweet and talented sister-in-law, Rose.  I look at these and am amazed that she made them!  I just love them!

Maggie is getting into the Christmas Spirit also!

With a little help :)

Sweet girl... notice anything odd?  

Stocking in our house has a literal meaning, and K2 and K3 call them "sockings."  I spent 45 minutes trying to find this one! (not a joke)

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It's been a big month for Kloey... Solid Foods!

This is actually one of the things that is "only Kloey's."  Our other highchair was a little too beat up, we tried to give it some love... but hey, Kloey's got something that's only hers!  Love it babe, these small gifts may be few and far between :)

Notice the double chin, our goal is 3!

Love her toesies!

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Okay some randoms...

I couldn't bring myself to chop Matthew out of this one... the things you do to make your baby smile!

Took us a while to get this one...

But I like this one better :)

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I'll do more... I've got not one, but two Disneyland trips to post from!!!

Trunk or Treat

(**Mental note to me- we went to Disneyland last week, and I need to post pictures from our trip!**)

Now onto Halloween-

I tried to have the girls be different fairies- Silver Mist (she wears blue), Vidia (purple), etc... but they fought over who could be Tinkerbell... SO guess what?  To make my life easier, everyone's Tinkerbell this year!!!

 Family shot...

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention with the girls being Tinkerbell that meant that Matthew was Peter Pan!

The trunk or treat at church was awesome.  I didn't get a chance to take too many pictures, but the girls did get oodles of candy and had a blast at the cake walk and got quite a few cupcakes... the haunted house wasn't the highlight for them.  Kylie was the only one who went and she stayed behind my dad the whole time, although he said it was pretty impressive.

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And one of sweet Kloey.  It's definitely different, the first child to the fourth.  Poor baby, we have so few pictures of her.  I need to try to be better.  She's nearly 3 months old, getting SO big, she giggles and smiles.  Such a preciousness!

Sunday Morning Pictures

And so starts the dresses in 4's...

That's a whole lot of argyle...

Check out all our boots!

See this is why I had 4 girls, nothing could put a bigger smile on my face :)

Tinkerbells and the Homecoming Game

SO!  Apparently we have some fun connections with Legacy High School, and Matthew was asked to drive a fancy vehicle for the Homecoming Court.... AND the school theme this year (which they decorated their floats all with) was Disney movies and Disney princesses... SO our said connections let us dress the girls up and be in the Homecoming Parade at the high school football game on Friday night!

Us gearing up to go!

 Did not plan on it being so cold.  Kylie and Kacey were gone getting ready to be a part of the parade, I had Kloey bundled in my arms, guarding my purse with the hoodlums to either side of me (ready to tell them to watch their language), with camera in hand... poor Kadyn was struggling.  It was late, naptime wasn't too good that day, but James stepped up to the plate and filled in and kept Kadyn warm.  Matthew's less than thrilled, but me and his mom are good friends so it's okay... for now :)

The vehicle line up... Ferrari, Prowler, and Lamborghini

It's hard to see, but the girls are in the front seat waving to the crowd... Matthew's driving.  AND James' dad announces at the games and gave a huge SHOUT OUT to the girls... super cool! :)

Matthew's coveted vehicle... but Andrew owned the shop, so he gets the fanciest car... only fair :)

Fun night, gotta say I was exhausted by the time we got home.  AND it made me feel old.  No details, but looking around while I was there... I'm getting old.  Not cool.

Sunday Morning Pictures

Finally back up and running again!

We woke up at 7:30 (yes we have 9 am church).  Matthew didn't have meetings this morning, it threw me off.  Usually I sleep while hearing him shower and knowing I need to get up soon.  Not today, all of a sudden it was late.  We recouped on time though, amazing how much faster things get going in the morning with another adult on my side!

I keep saying that I need to grab my camera and just take pictures of Kloey, otherwise I'll have gaps in my pictures and I'll miss all her cute stages.  Love this picture though, notice the dress pulled up so you can see all those rolley polley thighs.

 All 4, I didn't have matching for Kloey but it's brown and polka dot so I considered it a success.  No worries, I have dresses in 4's.  Just not fitting Kloey this young, they grow so fast right now.  Wait until she's about a year, you'll see matching in 4's I promise... I REALLY look forward to it.

 Silly!

Kadyn's facial expressions crack me up.

FAMILY UPDATE:  Need to take Kloey in soon for another ultrasound on her kidneys.  Both were enlarged, and we're monitoring it.  They keep asking me if she has good wet diapers, and she does.  She has no problems at all, hopefully we'll be done with this soon.  Next item, Disneyland is very soon in our future... we are VERY excited!  Personally, I'm just thrilled to go and NOT be pregnant.   I got a new calling, Primary Secretary... I'm thrilled to be doing it, we have a wonderful group of girls in the presidency and I could not be happier.  We get together for meetings and just have a blast!  AND one last final update, Halloween is soon and the family theme is Tinkerbell.  I tried to do variations, but all the girls wanted to be Tinkerbell so that's what we did.  On that note, Matthew will be dressing up as Peter Pan.  Stay tuned for the tights :)

GIRLS JUST WANNA HAVE FUN... and daddy was there too!

So Saturday morning, I woke up and decided I wanted to do something fun... something out of the ordinary, something on a day which we had NO plans.  I was thinking, "Well we live in VEGAS... let's go downtown, maybe do Circus Circus, the AdventureDome, go see the Lions at MGM, hit the M&M factory, get some lunch and be home for naps."  So I give my plan to Matthew, who one ups me!  "Let's go up to St. George!"  I think it's a bad joke, "Hmmm, where to Las Vegans go to vacation... Utah."  :)  Haha.  Anyway, we packed up our Traverse and traversed ourselves out of NV, through AZ and to UT.

Surprisingly, it's a quick drive.  Our family theme song played on the radio, yes GIRLS JUST WANNA HAVE FUN is the family theme song (sorry dear to out us...) when Cyndi Lauper comes on we all get very excited!!!

So we're driving, and Kylie's fascinated with rocks... she's fascinated with science in general (so not my child) and she wants to be a scientist.  She even gives them names, not like Betty or John, but calls them by their scientific name... I don't even know or remember what she calls them, but she's a smartie.  So we stopped the car and got out and took pictures of the canyon.

 Hop, skip, and a jump away and we were in St. George.  We went to the Wildlife Museum, which was fun.  Not the highlight for Matthew and I, but when I ask the girls what their favorite part of the day was... they say the animals... so I'm glad we went!

 This one was on purpose, someone is in denial about his bald spot.  He doesn't seem to think it exists.  His response to this picture when he reads the blog is that his hair is cut short.  Ummm, yeah... so next picture :)

 It's a bit dark, every so often the lights go out and you hear thunder... but they are standing in front of a waterfall. 

 Up we go....

 They had a little kiddy area, for the girls to climb and touch stuff which was fun for them.

 So we finished with the Museum and went to lunch... we parked, got out of the car and yes... this is what kids from Las Vegas do when they see grass.  We have rocks, concrete, and a pool in our backyard.  Grass is foreign to us.

 Oh, did I forget to mention where we went for lunch?!?!?  Holy cow, this was worth the drive alone.  And secretly, this was Matthew and my favorite part of the whole day!!!!  CRACKER BARREL, surprisingly there aren't any in Vegas.

I mean, do you see those desserts!?!?  I'm pouring hot carmelly goodness onto mine.  Notice Kadyn's face, she's just as excited as I am intent to get it perfect!  Yeah, best part about the day....

Then, we went to the St. George Temple.  We've passed it so many times on the road from here to Salt Lake, but we've never stopped.

 We went into the Visitor's Center, which was lots of fun.  The girls enjoyed it, we saw a nice movie, and they took home cotton and Kylie got a special white rock from Elder Sheffeld.  She LOVES it, apparently it's gypsum which was used in building the Temple.

 Beautiful day, gorgeous weather to be on Temple Grounds.

 And we learned that upon completion of building the Temple, President Brigham Young was not satisfied with the tower and dome on the very top.  He thought it looked too much like a government building, but the Saints were so excited to have a Temple he didn't push for them to rebuild it.  A few months I think after he died, a lightning bolt struck the very top... only the top, and the Saints had to reconstruct it.  They did it making it taller and less "squatty" the way Brigham Young had preferred... interesting :)

After that, we hit Deseret Book (since they all closed here in Vegas) and got the girls new scripture bags.  Then we went to the outlets but found the 3 younger girls all asleep when we pulled in.  So I ran into Down East (fun fun!!!) and we decided to head home since it was getting dark.

SUCH a fun day!!!!  It was so fun to pick up and just go.  Amazing how we had no plans, no clue what the day would hold for us, and it was such a fun day that I know the girls will remember... and look forward to the next time we say, "Hey... wanna spend the day (and maybe even night) in St. George!!!?!" :)