What a "SPAcial" Birthday!

Happy Birthday Emily! She is now into the double digits! That's right, 10 years old. Can you believe it? Emily decided she wanted to have a spa night for her party and it was so much fun! The girls had manicures, pedicures and facials done. Below is the girls relaxing with their mud masks and cucumbers. Too cute!

Here is Emily's Top 10 for 2009. In no particular order......

1. Listening to music- Right now her favorite is Taylor Swift

2. Dancing- her favorite style of dance is Lyrical

3. Playing with friends, anytime anywhere

4. Clothes

5. Flip flops

6. Swimming

7. Reading

8. Drawing- she bought a new easel at a yard sale

9. Shopping

10. SWEETS!

Happy 10th Birthday Emily! We love you!

Michael's Mission 2009

Yes, Michael is only 16 and yes, he went on a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints - for the period of one week! Along with everyone else, he and another youth were paried up with 2 full time missionaries and lived and taught as missioaries for 7 days. Michael was a little nervous knowing he would be teaching and tracting, but when we picked him up a week later, he was wanting to stay longer! He loved it so much! They worked hard everyday, ate crappy food (his words) walked a ton, and didn't get much sleep, but the rewards he felt within his spirit, the things he learned and the experiences he had were worth it all! Now he can't wait to go on his own mission. He will get to do this a few more times before he actually goes. I am so grateful to our stake leaders for their inspiration in this program. The impact is immeasurable! I've included a few pictures below.

"Before"

"After"

Even though it was only a week between the 2 pictures I saw a difference in him. I dont' know how to explain it other than he was glowing.....

Everyone who participated in the "mini mission" experience. This is our future and I am so excited for it!

A Week with the Ohio Trauntveins!

This month Leonard and Myrna were able to come and play with us for a week and boy did we have a ball! Here are just a few thing we did in 6 days.....

This is at a place called "Old Man's Cave" the most beautiful area in Ohio. And a fun place to hike/walk around!

They were able to go to Emily's dance recital and see one of her Lyrical routines.

I just had to add this cute picture in. That day we had not only been to Emily's dance recital, but then we went to see some ancient earth mounds and then went to a place called Dawes Arboretum. Inside there, there is an old pioneer cemetery which is wehere this picture was taken. By then Hailey was just a little tired and ornery. Can you tell?

Columbus Zoo. The petting zoo was Hailey's favorite part. She loved brushing the animals! I thought this also was a fun picture. Grandpa "rode" the warthog with Hailey.

Thanks Leonard and Myrna for coming and spending a week with us. I hope we didn't wear you out too much. We, on the other hand had a lot of fun! Come again soon!

Michael's Ordination

Michael was ordained a Priest on June11th by his dad. It was wonderful not only because he became a priest and can now bless the sacrament (among other things), but his Grandma and Grandpa Trauntvein were able to be here for it also. They came and spent a week with us and we wore them out. Will post more about that next. Congrats Mike!

Happy 16th Birthday Michael!

Yes! Can you believe Michael is 16 years old? And what's more, can you believe I am old enough to have a 16 year old!?! Here's a picture of Mike on his 16th birthday blowing out the candles on his sad little cake. It's his favorite cake, but alas, I messed it up and forgot the vinegar and baking soda which makes it rise. It felt and tasted like a brick!
Michael also celebrated with his friends by giong out to a movie and pizza and all night party. I didn't get any pictures because we were to make ourselves scarce for the festivities.
Here is Michaels "Top 10" for 2009- in no particular order....
1. Xbox 360 (he is actually saving up for this, almost there!)
2. Wii
3. Nintendo DS
4. Computer games (are you seeing a pattern here?)
5. Playing the piano
6. Drawing and sketching
7. Sword fighting (he calls it exercise)
8. Visiting family in Utah
9. Travelling- he's been to 39 of the 50 states
10. Eating
Happy birthday Michael! We love you and hope you had a great day!

New Post! What?!?

Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm sure everyone has quit reading my blog since it's seems as if I've forgot about it myself! I am always thinking about what to post next and even take a picture or 2, but then I get home, (when I am home, which is not all that often) and my life takes over. I am not complaining, just very busy! Especially at this time of year. You, who have kids in school know what I'm talking about! End of year projects, rehearsals, awards programs, recitals, concerts, softball/baseball season, etc. And now I've thrown in being called as the Relief Society President of our ward. Last week alone we had 2 funerals, 2 days in a row. One of them being the same day I had my yard sale. Luckily, I've got an awesome husband who took the day off to help with the first funeral and then (the very next day) held down the fort at the house doing my yard sale AND watching 9 kids while I did the 2nd funeral. What a man! I am very lucky!

So, if you get tired of checking my blog and there (once again) is nothing new to see, just know I am running around serving my own family and my ward family. I will post things when I can get to it..... or I actually think about it! Love to you all, and bear with me. :-D

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter to you all! I know this is a little late, but at least I've got it up now, OK? Easter was great, and as you can see, we had a couple visitors with us to help celebrate. My mom and my sister, Rachael came here a week before to play with the kids while Todd and I spent 6 days in Las Vegas for a much needed (on my part) break. Todd had a conference there, and I went along for the ride. The kids were on spring break so mom and Rachael spoiled them plenty by taking them somewhere different every day and playing from dawn til dusk. Our kids didn't miss us a bit, which is how I had hoped it would be. If you want to see all that they did, just go to Rachaels blog on my list called "Thd Space Of Rach". She's done a whole slide show of their week here in Ohio. Thanks, mom and Rach for coming out and letting us (Todd and I) leave you with a house full of kids! You guys are the best!

Tyler's 5th Grade Camp

Ah, 5th grade camp! Such memories for me.....Bunking with my friends, making new friends, nature hikes, crafts, cute counselors....oh wait. We're not talking about MY 5th grade camp here, we're talking about TYLER'S! Sorry! Tyler's grade went to camp a few weeks ago and had the BEST time! They ate a lot of good food (yes, it was actually good!)

Played with fire....

Made cool crafts (that's a dream catcher)......

Touched icky animals.......

And had lots of fun! And no it wasn't just because I was there too! Next time you see Tyler, make sure and ask him about his mighty adventures at 5th grade camp!

Gold!!!

Emily and Alex competed in their first ever dance competition yesterday and they did awesome! Let me give a little background for you all....

The girls were scheduled to be one of the first to dance which meant there was not much time to practice once we were supposed to get there when to doors opened. Keeping true to form, I got her there 15 minutes late which meant they had about 15 minutes to practice. When we got there, the practice CD wouldn't work, the girls' dance coach, Nikki, wasn't there because she was really sick, and then the company announced that they were going to start 20 minutes early. Now remember, these 2 little girls had never been to a competition before. Now they were to go on stage, without practicing and no coach to allay their fears.

They went on stage, with smiles on their faces and danced beautifully (in my humble opinion)! When receiving their trophy and "gold" ribbons, the company chair asked them to come to the front, congratulated them and let everyone know that they did this without their dance coach's support. Way to go Emily and Alex!!!

We hope Nikki is feeling better, and we get to do this all over again in 2 weeks!

Aarrgghh!!! Pirates!!!

You probably can't tell from the picture above, but Tyler was in the 5th grade play "Pirates!" He wasn't actually on stage, but was the "sound man" up in the AV box. He wanted to be on the technical side of things and applied for a stage crew position in which only 6 were chosen.

He did a great job with the sound! We heard everything that was said on stage, well except for one kid, he forgot to turn his microphone on. Job well done, Tyler!

Somewhere Over the Rainbow.....

Here are some pictures of Emily's dress rehearsal for her first dance competition at the end of this month. Her partner is her best friend and neighbor Alex. They are dancing to Katherine McFee's rendition of "Somewhere over the rainbow". It's on my playlist here. It was fun to see them all dressed up and dancing (even though we had to sit behind them). Good luck Emily and Alex! We'll be in the audience rooting for you!

Bunco Anyone?

Here are some fun pics of our latest Bunco Nite! These ladies are awesome and I love going each month to get together with other "moms", eat good food, play a mindless dice game and chat with each other the whole time. Notice the pink tiara in the first photo.....She just rolled a "bunco"!
Thanks for taking these pictures Kim (she's the only one missing from the photos) And also for hosting January! It was a lot of fun as always!

Olivia?!? I thought her name was Hailey!!

This is a picture of Hailey, Oops! I mean Olivia the piglet. If you have read any of the "Olivia" books, you recognize the picture above. Let me quote a portion for you and then explain.

"In the morning, after she gets up, and moves the cat, and brushes her teeth, and combs her ears, and moves the cat, Olivia gets dressed." This portion of the book describes Hailey to a "T"! Let me show you....

Ok, I got these pictures in one morning, in about 2 minutes. This is what she does, she "moves the cat". Luckily we have 2 of them so they share "moving" responsibilities and they have also learned to just go limp when they see her coming because they know it's not worth the fight and it will be over soon.

Happy Birthday Hailey!

Hailey celebrated the big 3 on December 5th! I can't believe how time flies! She is officially no longer a baby even though her nickname for us is "baby". I still am in awe that she is here and is ours. You know, I always thought that miracles happened to other people, not me.

Hailey is so much fun at this age. She totally tells me everything that's going on in her little head. These are currently Hailey's "favorites" (not in any particular order)......

1. Storytime at the library

2. Her "best" friends Abigail and Alex

3. Pretty dresses

4. Hawaii and the beach (she still talks about it almost daily)

5. Barbies with pretty dresses

6. Her new Easy Link for the computer

7. Reading books with mom on the rocking chair

8. Music (any kind, anywhere)

9. Dancing to music

10. Going to church, because she gets to wear a pretty dress AND play with toys and sing songs

Love you, Baby!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I know this is a bit late, but I, myself haven't been on my own blog for over a week. Got a bit of catching up to do.

Todd's sister and her family came from Massachusetts for Thanksgiving weekend. This is everyone just sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner. It was a lot of fun to be with some family for the holiday. We actually take turns for Thanksgiving each year so we can be together. Thanks for coming Howard and Melanie, it was a blast!

Twilight

Opening Night for "Twilight"! There were 20 of us that went together for a "Girl's Night Out". It was so much fun to go together to the movie and out for dinner/dessert afterwards. Even though we all had some pretty high expectations of the movie, we all enjoyed it very much! I've got some of the best girlfriends around! Thanks you guys for a great evening! We need to do it again, soon!

Can you tell we are diehard fans? We were the only 3 in the building with t-shirts and all the teenagers were jealous!

We just got back from the kid's piano recital. We stopped them from dashing to their rooms to change out of their church clothes and had them record their presentations for you. They are all getting quite good.

Tyler

Emily

Michael

The kids really like their new teacher and we like not having to drive 20 miles to go the one we had before Mr. B.. We wish you could have all been here to see it, but this will have to do.

Trick-Or-Treat!!!!

Halloween is my favorite holiday! Don't get me wrong, I enjoy Christmas (everyone else's favorite). But there's just something about carving pumpkins, corn mazes, apple cider, costumes and of course trick-or-treating that just makes me giddy with excitement! Not to mention it's my dad's birthday,too. Happy Birthday Dad! I, myself don't dress up anymore, but love taking the kids out for Beggar's Night (that's what they call it here). The picture above (compliments of my photographer neighbor, Toni) is Hailey trying to keep up with big sister trick-or-treating. She absolutely loved it this year, and asked me for about a month when she would be going trick-or-treating. She is not yet 3 years old, and would not let me go with her to the porches. She made me stay out on the sidewalk while she went up herself, and told me to "stay right there". For those of you who know Hailey's personality, this is quite an accomplishment as she is painfully shy with those she doesn't know very well. The boys were too old to hang around the "little kids" and went off on their own, with the rule that they didn't leave the subdivision. Todd stayed at our house handing out goodies, a job he prefers to do which is fine with me because I like going with the kids. It was a cold one this year, but we still got the loot, hitting EVERY house with a light on in our neighborhood. Happy Halloween everybody!

Hawaii is no longer on my "Really don't care to see it list."

Anyone who knows me knows that I don't like big tourist spots. Disney--you can have it. Although, my family really enjoys the place, so I go, I really would rather be somewhere else like North Dakota, Maine, Oregon, etc. The only reason I wanted to go to Hawaii is because it was one of the places I had to visit on my 50 by 50 goal. So, when the opportunity was there, I had to do it. It was there, or Alaska because I've hit all the others.

On the October 14th, Amy, the kids and I went to Hawaii. We visited the island of Oahu for the seven days we were there and never ran out of things to do. This first picture was our first day there and we are at the world renouned Waikiki beach. It was beautiful and the water was so clear that you could see the bottom in 12 feet of water.


The only real negative item we encountered the whole trip was the jet-lag. These pictures were taken at 3am Hawaii time, with the kids wide awake because body time was 9am. We watched cartoons for 4 hours, until the sun came up (no daylight savings time in Hawaii). Even little Hailey was wide awake. She kept the early-bird thing going all week long. It didn't matter what time we put her to bed, she was up by 5am local time. Normally, since it was Amy's vacation too, that meant that Dad got to get up with her to watch cartoons.

Some of the fun things we did in Hawaii? We swam, we ate, we swam some more, we went to the Polynesian Cultural Center, BYU Hawaii, the Temple, swam some more, had shaved ice, swam, visted Pearl Harbor, swam, hiked a trail to Manoa Falls, fell down in the mud, swam some more, tried to drive the rental into the ocean, swam some more, snorkeled, visited Lanikai beach, swam some more, climbed a crater, visited some world war two sites and swam some more. It was one of the most fun vacations I have had and I have had some fun ones.

We ate Malasadas. If you don't know what those are, there is a place in Waikiki that is famous for them called Leonard's Bakery. I gained 10 pounds just eating those. You can find their recipe on the foodnetwork.com.

I really enjoyed myself there. I would not want to live in Hawaii, but a prolonged stay would definitely be nice. By the way, we grabbed the phone book to find a church building, almost like being in Idaho, or Colorado, there were four buildings right in Honalulu and 10 Stakes on the island we were visited.

So, would I go back? Yes!