YEE-HA!

What a cute little girl in a cowboy hat.

Until Tyson taught her how to say yee ha - which for some reason, she could only say while making an ugly face.

A REALLY ugly face!

See..... I told you!

Tyson is falling more and more in love with his sister- the new one-not so much the old one. This is the point where I believe the 'transaction' took place. Within a day of taking this picture...child #3 had contracted pink eye from child #2, who had it passed on to her from child #1. Luckily and strangely enough, the pink eye only lasted a day and a half for each child.

** No babies were harmed while photographing these pictures**

Jaisa woke up from her nap yesterday with her continued nasty- snotty nose. She was grabbing her ear saying "ear". Obviously, to me, that meant she has a 100% chance of an ear infection. I called her Dr. and was able to schedule her for later. What do I do in the meantime to keep her mind off her pain?

Drug her up and cross my fingers? Oh..... What's that? The sun is shining and it is not snowing outside? This calls for a celebration! I decided to take the kids on a short walk. By short walk, we are talking 4 houses down. Jaisa got tired-wanted me to hold her- while pushing the stroller. We turned around and made the "long" journey home. Just as we were coming into the home stretch (the house next door), she trips-starts crying-and wants me to hold her again. Total walk time = maybe 10 minutes- at best! The first 5 minutes were great. The kids had fun pushing the stroller and running around.

Then , Jaisa took off and was running ahead with Tyson, still laughing and having fun.

*This is the point where I think the Advil must have kicked in.*

Tired already- and heading back.

I think Shawni got the better end of the deal. She slept the whole time .

Jaisa and I headed to the Dr. couple hours later, where surprise surprise I was told she had a double ear infection. Both ears? She is already showing signs of improvement with just 3 doses of antibiotics.

WOW! I'm good.

My favorite part of visiting my parents is learning the art of baking from my mom (the best). This time, she taught my sister and I how to make the perfect pie crust. I made 2 all by myself and I must admit, they turned out...well...perfect. *if you close your eyes and go strictly on taste. I need to work on the presentation a little bit * The kids had fun watching and helping us make homemade bread....

sugar cookies

and the art of the perfect banana cream pie filling. *I guess it has to be stirred constantly and just before it boils, take it off the heat- or something like that. I didn't actually get that part down, so I'll have to work on that next time.* The kids favorite part is....

The extra large jetted tub......that I would give my first born to have in my house.

**I only mean that a little bit. **

THOUGHTS IN JAISA'S MIND

"Oh....... you thought that you were welcome to share my cheetos?""Ya, I don't think so buddy." "Maybe if I hold onto the bag, he'll get the point". *Notice Jaisa doesn't even touch the pizza (yet), because she is so concerned with finishing off her cheetos (by shoveling them in her mouth)* **Note to self..... "Don't EVER let your daughter leave the house again, without combing her hair first."**

MULTI TASKING AT IT'S BEST! * I asked Todd to hold the baby just for a minute so that I could get something done. He didn't want to put his book down, so he just held her in the other arm. No rocking or cuddling or shhhhing needed. She was happy and fell asleep just staring at her dad.*

MORE FUN IN IDAHO FALLS

Good thing Grandma is still in good shape. She was elected to pull the kids around her street on a sled. I had just had a baby (that was my excuse) and Carlie is almost in her 3rd trimester with baby number 2. They had so much fun.......

Until Jaisa got going too fast around a corner and went flying off. Good thing she was wearing her crocs (cuz her mom was too lazy to put on her other shoes), and got to feel the snow on her toes-which was probably the reason she was crying.

Keep a close eye on your daughter when she is left alone with Grandma.

I guess this is to be expected when there are only 3 granddaughters and 9 grandsons. Jaisa loves putting makeup on, so my mom took advantage. Jai thought she looked so "pretty". We decided she looks "prettiest" when only wearing lipstick.

IDAHO FALLS "VACATION" PART 1

Last week I had the "pleasure" of driving with my 3 kids up to Idaho to visit my mom and dad for a week. I say pleasure, because it was actually a quite enjoyable 3 hours. I picked up my little sister Carlie and her 1 year old son, who flew in from Arizona at the airport on the way out of town. We chatted and laughed the whole way, while sipping back ice cold diet cokes. Honestly, honestly, does it get ANY better than that?) The kids were great and just sat in the back watching movies the whole way. Shawni didn't make a peep until we were pulling up to my parents house. I had 3 hours free of not having to chase Jaisa up and down the stairs at home. Not breaking up fights between my two kids. Not arguing with my 5 year old about who's turn it is to watch t.v. (the arguing only ensues when I really really really can't stand to watch another kid show and need some me-time.....which is all but extinct around here...Crazy how it always seems to be around the same time as The Hills or some other smutty show). All was well until we opened the car door to get out and WHAM!!! It had to be the coldest weather I have ever been in. I think it was only a couple degrees colder than Salt Lake, but it was painfully cold. *Mental note: Rochester is supposedly wayyyy colder....whah!How will we ever survive? Especially me being from Las Vegas?* We hustled in the house and the kids "got the party started". It was fun to show the baby off to my dad, who had not seen her. The kids were in heaven running around the house until bed time. The best part was that it was having the whole evening to sit around and talk without the kids to interrupt us. The next day, we just hung around the house. By Monday, we all had cabin fever and decided to take the kids to the local hang out...Arctic Circle. Who knew that a fast food restaurant would be fun enough to frequent just about every day, for hours at a time? Between the climbing wall, candy machines ( Jaisa and Dane spent much time trying to figure out how to break into them), slides, ice cream cones and monkey bars the kids enjoyed every minute and went crazy! No surprise that she couldn't even lift her own body weight off the ground (must take after her mother). *a little mishap with her lemonade made her pantless for awhile....but it didn't slow her down*

This straw was tortured by Jaisa who though she was soooo funny!No judging the hairstyles in this post. I wasn't feeling great and Jaisa's hair would not cooperate. The difference in how my two children eat ice cream cones.....

Shawni got to stay home and cuddle with Grandma.

HAPPY ONE MONTH BIRTHDAY SHAWNI

Tyson built this strong guy all by himself. He came running down the stairs to show me and wanted to know if his dad would be proud. I think he would!!

I have no idea how my kids end up with the weirdest hairlines. It has progressively gotten worse with each child. My brother lovingly suggested Rogaine-but I think that we are just going to have to wait this one out. My girls are cursed with a mullet from birth. I did want to post this cute picture of Shawni hugging what will be her favorite toy that was given to us by one of our best friends. This was their first meeting and I think it was love at first sight.