It's Me!

Hey guys!  This week has been CRAZY!!  It was dead week at school, and man I felt dead!  I've had a ton of papers and assignments due, so I was up late and back up early!  Oh, how I love college:)

This week was State contests for FFA, and they are held in Logan every year.  So, me and one of my friends from the Provo FFA, Ari, met up (we met when we both ran for State office 2 years ago and have been friends ever since).  She was chaperoning, so she couldn't leave the hotel.  So, I brought some Panda and we hung out there for a few hours, then went to the Antique mall that I didn't even know existed.  Then I went with her whole chapter to Angies and her and I cleaned the sink.  After that, her chapter went to the dance, and we went to Warm Bodies.  It was so much fun to get to see her again, and we had a blast:)

On Saturday, Kiley and her Boyfriend Brett, Caleb and I went to SUPERCROSS!! We bought the tickets well over 2 months ago, and have been so excited ever since.  While it wasn't as fun as last year when I went with 3 boys, we still had a blast!!! When we got there, we went to the pit party and met some of the riders, then we watched practice.  It was really hot and we all got sunburnt!  While our favorite riders didn't do as well as we would have liked, we still had fun cheering for them! After the races, we went to In and Out and Brett was really tired when we stopped, so I drove the rest of the way home.  We had been on the freeway for a total of 5 minutes when all three of them were asleep, leaving me to drive by myself for and hour and a half!!  It was definitely worth the wait though.  Can't wait for next year:)

Love you all!!
Emmy:)

Bringing the Heat.

Things are really starting to heat up around here.  It's been around 100 all week and yesterday it was 104.  The next few days it looks like 106, 109, and 106.  Yesterday while my wife was shopping the kids were watching a show except Levi who wanted to play outside. I went to check on him and found him asleep under the table.  At first I got real scared because I thought he might have gotten too hot and passed out, but under the table in the shade it was cooler and he had just fallen asleep.  To cool, off we decided to go to the lake yesterday afternoon.  It was a lot of fun even though the water wasn't as warm as it gets in July but still warmer than Rigby lake.  Today Taylor got called to be second counselor in the presidency of the Deacons quorum.  He was really excited. This is his first church calling.  He also made a double batch of brownies- some for us and some to take to the youth fireside.  It's nice to have someone else who can make treats.  Now I understand why mom and dad wanted us kids to make treats when we were younger.

Celia sent a gift for Ryder and this name tag was attached. 
Jen took a picture because she thought it was cute.

Sleepy boy

High temps with my cute wifey in the background

Levi taking a nap outside under the table.

Taylor dressed up as a Wrestling Coach for career day at school



First outing to the Lake to go swimming this year

 

 

P.S.

I think the blog is now private. Let me know if you have any problems posting.
mel

California Radfords

We got back from California on Thursday and we are definitely convinced we could live there. we had 7 amazing days there and got to see sooo much. Dan's sister that lives there hasn't even seen some of the places we went. We don't have all of our pictures because dan is working on them of course-but here are some iPhone pics. I will also do a post on my blog about what we did each day because we are making a book. (and I don't want to bore you with that fun stuff :) ).
Just a few of our weeks highlights:

-first time flying with Dan, and first time flying for stori rose

She was an angel on the flights. This is on the way home. she slept until we started to land

-dan learning to surf

 Malibu beach

-spending time at our friends home and having them show us all the local spots. Claremont is the perfect town.

on friday morning she went to hug this little doggie just as he moved and she hit the corner of a chair, which gave her a huge black eye for our whole vacation

-staying at Dan's sisters house on the beach in San Clemente.
-whale watching in Newport (Balboa island)

Saw 5 whales, ton's of sea lions, and about 1,000 dolphins

-seeing the Father of the Bride house in the most ADORABLE town of Pasadena.

-Going to the Hollywood sign, to all the movie/tv studios, LA temple, and seeing all the beaches along the way. (Newport was our favorite, and where we said goodbye to our best friends the Thompsons). Oh and spending time at a park in Beverly Hills-that town is beautiful. 

-an of course---going to Disneyland for 2 days and Stori getting to meet her crush....FLYNN RYDER!

She met so many characters, but kept asking for Ryder until we got to meet him, then continued to ask for him haha

That was just a tiny glimpse of our trip. Dan has SOOO MANY pictures and I can't wait to get them all up. Stori is going through Disneyland withdrawals. On the night we got home she was talking in her crib saying, "Ryderrrrr, where areeee youuu? Oh home? Come here!!" it was adorable. She still asks for 'Ryder/ and then answers her own question by telling us he's at home. We had a blast this last week and can't wait to go back. Our hotel was right across the street from the park, had free breakfast , free parking, a heated outside pool/hot tub, and offered discount tickets to disneyland, so we will stay there again for sure. Let's all go there together! :)

OH and I finally finished my spring wreath yesterday while stori took a 4 hour nap (she is still catching up on those zzzz's).

Love you all

Partial Goal attained!

Once again, another week has flown by.  Chris was gone until Friday, so I was the main cook and bottlewasher. ( not really very different from most days  :)  )  The romodel on the basement at the shop is almost finished....it will include more ovens, sink ,cabinets, counter space, washer, dryer, storage, and a five speaker system with internet radio.!  There will also be an elevator.  :)  We will be moving the choc dipping machine and the packaging down as well.  Chris came back from Utah with a commercial mixer that two men struggled to carry downstairs....can't wait to try that monster!  Sure hope it makes a huge difference in how much we are able to accomplish! I, for one, am looking forward to working downstairs in the peace and quiet.  My years of growing up in the public eye has made me so I don't really enjoy working up front.  :{  But, to be fair, most people are really very nice....the rare rude and clueless ones tend to send me over the edge though....... :)

Amber Aullman Andrews came on monday ....she will be staying with me for a short time until she can move into the house on the Lewisville highway that she will be renting.  It has been really fun to have her here ( for the short amount of time she spends here......mostly just to sleep ) .  Having her here does have it's perks...one night she brought home take out salad bar and lobster bisque from Jakers, and last night she brought enchiladas.  Nice.

Leo Selman passed away on Tuesday afternoon...Gary Walker stopped by to visit, and  found him sitting on his porch.  It has been just a year and a half since Darlene passed away.  Leo had been having problems....while I was in AZ, he had a heart attack at church.  He had heart surgery and was in intensive care for quite a while.  One funny note.....they had to take a stionary bike into ICU so he could ride.  I would bet that was a first.  :)  He was used to riding twenty miles a day on his bike at home.  So sad to have them both gone.

Now to get to accomplishing my goals..... my plan was to rake and mow my yard, and wash my windows.....well, what I actally accomplished was slightly less.... :)  I spent ten hours raking and hauling leaves and branches....on just the front and part of the side yard  :(   It sure looks a lot better though!   And, since I don't ever add pictures, I will give you a little visual image.... I wore my black comfy pants, and a black longsleeved t shirt.  By the time I was finished, I was covered head to toe in dust and sweat !  another image I want you to see is the heaping burn pile out in the field.  It feels really good to have that much done.  One annoying thing... for most of the day, I was using the lawn mower with the wagon to haul out to the field....then some part fell off of the mower and it quit working.....don't have a clue what it is......I really, really dislike that mower!  Good thing I have a wheelbarrow.   :)

One last thing I have to tell you....... a quote from Ephraim.  We were in the car, and I was sitting next to him.   Ephraim..... " can you do this? "   he then puffs air in to his cheeks and makes the air go back and forth.....I dutifully demonstrate that I can indeed do that.  Ephraim immediately says with great sympathy in his voice..... "It's really hard when your face is all squishy and cracky."   It caught me so off guard, that I laughed until I couldn'y breathe!   You've gotta love kids!   :)

I am so grateful Aleisa got good news this week! 
Wishing you all a happy and productive week!    Love to all of you!

Call me maybe....

Hey all, I'm posting mid-week so I can tell Mom to look on here to see the video the girls did at Maizy's party. They literally planned for 10 second and then we shot it. You can tell but it is fun to see the different personalities! I hope you can make it big enough to see Lily's face on her few seconds because it is my favorite. It may seem like annoyingness but they were so cute!  A few things to notice: Miles wanted to be included but was NOT okay with how loud we were being, Tommy trying to get Josephine to dance with him during it (I have never seen a more girl crazy toddler in my life!), can you guess which one is the one we think is so funny but gets bullied? She is a sweet heart.

Yay!

Hi Everyone,
Just a quick note--I got a call from my Dr. today and the path results came back clear! The best case scenario! I still have some moles that look highly suspicious to me that we will be looking at Friday but for now we're good. I took today off because the last two days at work totally wiped me out (who would've thought? Seriously, it wasn't major surgery or anything...) and it was just what the doctor ordered. Just pretty much wasted the day away and spent the afternoon and this evening watching movies with the family. Perfect day and I'm feeling ever so much better! Hope this is the end of my scary detour. Anyway, just to update you all!

My flesh wound and Bron's rabbits

Oh my gosh! Nori, I really like you too! How cute is she!
Well--I don't have much to add this week since I texted all of my big news. Thanks so much to all of you for your love and support and prayers. I seriously have the greatest family on earth. It was fun to have Mom here even though I was in pain. We went shopping, got take-out and a movie, read, looked at recipes, and spent a lot of time on pinterest and a little time creeping on acquaintances on facebook. All fun activities! :) I finally got a first look at my wound when I had to change the dressing today. Convinced me I was right to refuse to look at it in the office! It hurts a bit today, but MUCH better than yesterday. I'm really glad I got a sub for tomorrow (and we have no school on Tuesday).
Some sad news today: both of Bronwyn's beloved rabbits are laying dead in the pen. So sad. She loves those little things and brought them inside to play all the time. She bought them special treats and ordered special nail clippers on-line for them... She was so upset she threw up and sobbed for an hour. I feel so bad. Caleb and Em think maybe the feed went bad and they were accidentally poisoned. We can't think of any other reason they would both die. They look totally fine. So sad.
Well, that's all I've got for you this week!
Love you all!

This is Kristie.  Good post Corey, you are funny. And also intelligent according to Ephraim.  This week during scriptures (early in the morning) Corey was expounding on what we had just read, and after he got done talking it was very quiet for a few seconds (because many were probably sleeping) Ephraim said calmly and matter of fact, "Dad's a smart guy."  It even makes us laugh to read about it.  It was so cute.
Maddie had a campout this weekend with YW.  They camped in someone's backyard and passed off all camp requirements including a hike which was on the road through a neighborhood 5 miles:/ Wonder what girls camp will actually be like:)  Aside from someone throwing up in the tent during the night, she had so much fun.  
 I took Isaac on a date to see Jurassic Park.  He LOVED it!  He remembers Cole and Caleb watching it at Grandma's years ago and they were super scared. I worried that he wouldn't be impressed because the great thing about that show back then was how REAL they made the dinosaurs look.  But everything looks real now.  He was still impressed and we were both gripping our armrest pretty tightly.   I was loving how high the girl's pants were on her waist and how cheesy some of the acting was.  I was surprised how much I still loved that show.  It was very intense:)
Hope Aleisa is feeling well.  We are grateful you kept us informed so we could pray for you.  When I was on my date with Nori, she out of the blue sighed and said, "I feel bad for Aunt Aleisa.  I hope she's ok, I really like her."
Love you all, have a great week!

This week it's just pictures, y'all.

Clara's art was chosen to be in an art show at the high school.  We are so proud of her.

Sunday walks are fun.

You guys doing this yet in Idaho/Utah/Oregon?  (Arizona assumed to be in step with TX)

Watching a Mormon Message for FHE.

the sky

Gramma Faylene took this picture at the library.  Its a reading nook that looks like a tree with a tire swing.

Mom and me at the first mall in America.

Sup?

I love Ephraim.  He loves me.  

We are a happy family.

Clara had a field trip and Kristie got to chaperone.  Lucky kids!

Nori finally got a date with Mom.  She dolled up and they had a great time.

See, a great time.

"and if you lay like this and suck in your gut, you don't look as fat."

SIX Years Later.....

Ryder turned ONE month old on Monday.  We took him in for his check-up and he weighs 13.1 pounds! He weighs more than our friends' baby who was born in October!!  I've already had to put some of the smaller 0-3 month clothes away and get out the 3-6 month clothes.  What a little chunk!!  He's still got the goopy eye thing going on and the doctor said if it's not cleared up by 4 months then they might have to go in and open up his tear ducts.  Hopefully it clears up by then though!!

The middle of our week was pretty un-eventful, but last night Tyler and I went out to dinner at Chili's (Ryder in tow) to celebrate our 6th Anniversary which is today. 

It's hard to believe that it's been that long! 

Taylor was 6 and Jon was 4 (Max's age now). 
I don't know why, but Jon in this picture reminds me
sooooo much of what Levi's like right now :)

Three more kids and five homes later, here we are in Lake Havasu! Who would have thought?  I wonder what the next 6 years will bring!?!?!?

Here are a few more pictures from our week:

Taking a nap with Daddy

A few of my favorite people :) 
Not sure where Taylor and Levi were....

I have been working so much lately......I went in at eight Monday through Thursday, kind of thinking I would be able to get off early....turned out to be quite the oppisite.  Luckily, I had made arrangements to be off Friday to take Aleisa in for her appointment. I was so glad I was able to do that.  It was fun to see everyone....even if just for a few minutes.

My shoulder has been giving me fits....too much stirring in deep pots and scooping hundreds of cake bites every day.  I hope it starts to feel better on it's own.  Such a pain! 

The wind has been doing it's best to make a big mess of my yard....that is one of the main reasons I don't want to work such long hours....no time to putter around in my yard.  ( not to mention do a little deep cleaning in my house)  Don't get me wrong, I am so very grateful for my job! 

Hope everyone has a good week!  I was thinking about it, and I think being able to visit all of you only makes me miss you more.  Sure wish I could be at all of the important events coming up....:(   Love to all of you!  Stay strong, and be safe!    (  Moms are such worriers  :) )

Peterson's update

Hello everyone! Soooo....we had a pretty quiet uneventful week. I got to see my Mother for a few minutes, that is always fun! Since apparently Aleisa and I can't see each other for more than 5 minutes a week, I couldn't stay at her house long enough to visit long. The power went out in the two upstairs bedrooms and it wasn't a big deal until T got sick. Getting up in the middle of the night and changing crib bedding three times with a flashlight isn't fun! We got flatwork done Friday morning, not the best timing. He told us it would be fine if the rain would just hold out until 4:00....well....at 1:30 it started raining. They covered it up with tarps and I peaked yesterday and the beautifully glassy surface doesn't look so smooth anymore. I guess we will have to see what it looks like tomorrow when they uncover it.
          The most exciting thing EVER happened on Wednesday! We were at Maizy's school about a month ago and I told Joel that learning to hula hoop was on my bucket list. I had never been able to do it and I was determined to learn! My Mother IS a hula hooping champion so I should be able too right? On the way out we happened upon  a cart of hula hoops, PERFECT! Well I grabbed one and Joel kept walking because he has learned to just avoid situations with me that he sees as a high probability of being embarrassing. Well I tried a could of times and I was given encouragement by a little boy who was walking down the hall and decided I needed some moral support. He told me he thought it was really hard too. Well when I caught back up with Joel I told him I was never going to learn. He laughed that I had just put it on my bucket list (the only item on my bucket list) and had already given up. I told him it was just impossible for me. Then Wednesday I was in Walmart with my kids and there was a big display of hula hoops. I ran and grabbed one and tried it in the isle again. I asked Maizy to show me how to start it, she showed me and then put hers away and tried to walk away but....I did it!! I screamed a few times in delight and Maizy actually said "Oh my gosh" under her breath and tried to act like she wasn't with me! Isn't she too young to get embarrassed at something as cool as hula hooping in the isle at Walmart? Now I need to buy one so I can keep practicing! :)
         Joel is going for an 8 day shift (UGH!) and it is Maizy's birthday party on Friday. She is SO excited to have her birthday! We have heard about it for weeks! Maybe next week we will have some pictures!

We are a little late posting, but we were waiting for some pics. Saturday Grace went to Spring (Mormon) Prom. She had a lot of fun. as you can tell from the pictures. They had dinner at the Nelson's, Todd made it  easy for the guys. So of course Grace got embarrassed a lot by everyone. We found her a dress that was totally a Grace dress and she looked so beautiful!

 Tate did his Tae Kwan do test today and earned his yellow belt. he was so excited! he even got to break 2 boards as you see in the video .

 not a whole lot of anything else happened. but it was a fun filled week :) Maybe next week we will have pictures of our other kids!
I loved reading everyone's posts! I was also wondering where Josh is!!
Love the Durst's

This week at the Peterson's

I really love reading all these posts! I always want to go back and comment but before I know it, another week has passed and it is time to read new posts! Well there will be no pictures from us this week because my computer got a virus that totally destroyed it! When you get an alert that McAfee is needs to be updated and you have to pay to update it, just update it! Joel told me not to because I was getting a new computer anyway. Well that didn't work out so good. It almost put me into a depression thinking of all the pictures and movies and music that wasn't backed up anywhere since the external hard drive was stolen! Luckily his friend got it out safe and sound! It only cost us a banana cream strawberry pie! Which by the was was SO so good! If I do say so myself! (I made two of them). Well we got our foundation done....that was about it. We had to let it sit for five days before backfilling so I guess we will get back filled tomorrow. Joel tore all of the siding off the house on that side right down to the boards which was a LOT of work but at least it is done! We finally got our gas on after a very cold day and a lot of  girl trying to figure out guy stuff. I had to "illegally" turn our gas on. It said you had to have a licensed professional turn on a valve. I didn't know it had just been spray painted though and got grey spray paint on everything I had on as we were headed to town. Eventually I got everything figured out and all the right valves facing the right directions and we had heat! Good thing because we are now VERY out of wood. Saturday Lily and Bron came over and spent the night. It was fun having cousins over! It feels like forever since they have come. Today after church we went to Joel's grandmas and his parents came and we took Sunday diner over. It is always fun to go to her house and spend time. As soon as we got home Joel took my dead computer to his friends and called with the joyous news! Hope everyone has a fun week! I love you all!

A Proud Mom

Well, it seemed like I just got home from AZ and I was off again....this time to TX.   I enjoyed being in Rockwall and seeing where Corey, Kristie, and family live, work and play.  I had such a great time! 

I have had a chance to spend time in all of your homes, and I must say how much it touches me to watch as you pray together,  read scriptures together, and try so hard to be the best parents you can be..... 

I thought I had the whole day yesterday to do a little cleaning....I even got a good start in my bedroom before I got the phone call....Chris's daughter Tessa was in surgery.  So much for my day at home working.  I did do a couple of difficult things before I had to leave.  I took all of Kent's shoes out of the closet.....And I put his to do list that I had left sitting on his bedside table away.  Baby steps

We've Got a One Month Old! (almost)

Our week mainly consisted of a lovely stomach bug making it's way through everyone in the family except Max and Ryder- some getting it worse than others.   Soooo glad everyone's all better and things are getting back to normal.  I finally gave everyone much needed haircuts lastnight so they would all look nice for church today.  It's been a while (a little over a month) since our whole family has been to church together.  It was nice to be back even though we were a few minutes late and had to sit on the hard chairs in the overflow.  Last Sunday we watched a new show on BYU-TV called Granite Flats.  It was really good :)  There is a new episode on today and we're all looking forward to it.  It's nice to have an enjoyable show the whole family can watch without having to worry about foul language or questionable scenes/themes. Wish there were more shows like that! 

It's hard to believe, but Little Spider Ryder is going to be ONE MONTH OLD tomorrow!!  This past month has gone by soooo fast.  He is such a little chunk and is still loved on all the time by everyone :) 

LOVE those chubby little cheekers!

Is it me, or do these two look about the same size???  :)

A couple weeks ago Tyler took the boys to the Elementary School G.R.E.A.T. graduation. 
Afterwards they got to sit in the back of a cop car and see a parent who volunteered get tazered (sp?) by a police officer.

One of my counselors took pictures of all the Primary kids for our bulletin board in the hall at the Church. 
This is the only picture she could get of Max-- awesome!

 

I went grocery shopping the other night and I guess this is how Tyler spent the time while I was gone :) 
What a good Daddy!