Taylor is stubborn

So today I spend $25 on some different types of crackers Taylor can eat. And he says he won't try them! So aggravating! On the positive side I mad yummy banana bread and chocolate chunk cookies that are delicious and Taylor approved...and he won't eat the, either. One of these days he will be hungry enough to eat. I hope.:). Life is moving forward. Thank heavens for ground flax seed. That is my grateful item of the day.

Life is full of changes

It has been just over one month since Taylor was diagnosed with food allergies(we always suspected he had them, we were able to control his symptoms(reflux) with meds until he had his lip swell and hives after eating a granola bar). He is allergic to egg, soy, coconut, tree nuts, sesame seeds, and no peanuts for now too. It has been a challenge to try and figure out what I can feed him that he will actually eat and that is not just full of sugar. He is a picky eater to begin with, and so unfortunately he is eating a lot more sugar than I would like. I almost never buy fruit snacks, and now they are a staple. He's not big on veggies, and fruit gets old quick when you only like two kinds! Most crackers don't work or he just refuses to try them. I think that in time he will give up some of this stubbornness and try new things. I think that I have been more affected by this than him. I think I spend more time crying or wishing I could sit down and cry because I can't think of what to make for dinner that he would actually like and that is not one of the five things I know I can make for him. So I think that I will start blogging more about my recipes and my successes and failures in trying to provide fun, healthy, and Taylor approved food.:) Other than this news, soccer season has begun and I am busy with Ashlee, Joshua, and Lydia all doing soccer. They love their coaches and teams and are having such a good time. Ashlee is also on an intermediate clogging team and at her St. George competition, her team took first and qualified for Nationals. They won't be able to go to nationals because not everyone can go that day. That is okay though, because they were so excited about their two trophies! Ashlee and Joshua will be going to a new school in the Fall. It's a charter school and it is right on the way to Mark's work. This will be a great thing for both of them as it will provide a more challenging environment than they are currently getting. Lydia is staying at the local elementary school because she is in the dual-immersion Chinese program and LOVES it. Taylor will begin preschool in the Fall too. Poor Jared and I will not know what to do with ourselves! I love this spring weather and try really hard to justify spending many hours digging in my flower beds and pruning so that I don't have to clean my house! I would much rather be outside than inside any day! I am grateful for the rainy days too because I can't remember to water my plants for the life of me.:) We are finally going to chop down our box elder tree in the front so all the neighbor children will be glad not to have bugs flying at their faces. It's always hard to cut down a large tree, but seven years of bugs always crawling in my house and all over my front door is enough. Mark loves his shorter commute now that his company moved 15 minutes away. It is really nice when the kids want to run over and visit for a few minutes and check out his latest gadgets. Well, hopefully I will be better at updating on our family. We sure love all our family and friends that help us through life!

Merry Christmas 2012

This year has flown by as each year seems to. We have had a great year and are so grateful that we have been blessed with so many things…especially the blessing and knowledge that Jesus Christ was born so that one day we may return and be with Him and our Heavenly Father. Ashlee will be twelve next month! She is transforming into a beautiful young lady right before our eyes! It seems not long ago that we brought her home from the hospital thinking the people at the hospital must be crazy to let us take her home when we didn’t have a clue what to do with such a sweet baby. She loves to make jewelry, play soccer, clog on an intermediate team, play the piano, and read. Joshua is turning out to be a great soccer player. He has a great team this year and loves it. He is a reading machine and is currently reading Eragon which weighs at least 5 lbs! He loves to play outside with his friends. Mark and a neighbor took him shooting this year and he loved it (Emma was scared to death and was so glad when they came back  ). He is also playing the piano. He loves Legos and playing games on the ipad. Lydia will be 7 in February and is very excited because that means she can get her ears pierced! She is taking ballet and is trying her foot(he-he) at soccer too. She is having a great time because she is a very social person and thinks that soccer is mostly about talking to everyone on the field and less about scoring a goal. She loves to color and draw. She is always drawing us pictures. She has lost several teeth this year and now loves to ask Emma to wiggle her teeth just to see if one might be loose. Lydia began the Chinese immersion program at her school this year. Taylor is our sweet boy. He will be 4 on January 9th. He loves his little neighborhood preschool. He loves everything green. The top drawer of his dresser is currently dedicated to all things green and yellow! We thought he had grown out of his reflux, but alas, not yet. He is making good progress on growing and is finally on the chart for height! He is about 0% on weight, so we are sooo close to being on the chart.  He loves his little brother and is constantly hugging him and trying to give him kisses. Jared is 18 months and is VERY active! Emma is finding it hard to deal with a child who likes to climb everything, unplug everything, push every button in the house, and dump out all the toys! He loves to dance and watch Baby Einstein’s Farm movie. He also really, really loves chocolate cake. The day after Mark’s birthday, he snuck into the kitchen, climbed on the counter, and proceeded to eat and ruin the left over cake! Mark is busy working as always. The great news is that his company is moving closer to our home this month! His commute will be about 20 minutes less! He made some great progress on our playhouse and it might actually get finished next summer. He stays busy helping keep our house in order. He was able to take Taylor on a trip to Lake Powell this fall with his parents and a sister/brother-in-law. They had so much fun and had some good daddy-son bonding time. Mark also got LASIK in August. He really enjoys not wearing glasses. Emma is crazy like always trying to keep track of everyone. If her ipod didn’t beep at her, then she wouldn’t remember anything. She only ran one 5K this year, but plans to do better next year. One of her best accomplishments was she actually got green peppers to grow in her garden this year! We love you all so much and wish you the warmest blessings and feelings of peace this year. Love, Mark, Emma, Ashlee, Joshua, Lydia, Taylor, & Jared

I added a few pictures of what we've been up to the past few months. I feel like much more time than just three and a half months has gone by in 2012. We have enjoyed four birthdays, science fair, class parties, soccer practice, school musical, piano practicing, dancing, Jared crawling and now walking. So many things. I am excited to only have a few more weeks of school and then hopefully we'll go into a less structured schedule where the kids can have more time to play. I need to go to bed, so I'll try to expand more on our lives these past few months.

Jared is walking!

Time certainly flies when you're having fun. Jared has been so fun to watch grow and learn. I thought I would post a few pictures of him walking. He will be one in one month! It is hard to think that my baby is growing up so fast.

Merry Christmas 2011

Wow! I can't believe I haven't made a post for a whole year! I have got to do better....
This has been such a busy year for our family. Most of note, the addition of our fifth child born on May 20th…Jared Bryan Drennan. He is such a joy and blessing. He rushed into this world 14 minutes after we got to the hospital!

Mark has been busy like always with building our children’s amazing playhouse, working on his company’s catalog as the product manager, taking the kids on “dates” and helping me with the yard and house. Mark also took a business trip to Germany in February and was gone on Lydia’s birthday. He made up for being gone by bringing back lots of chocolate and playmobil!

Emma stays busy with all the kids. She is so grateful for a baby without reflux! Our first one! She loves staying outside in the summer, and each year dreads the cold winter that follows. She talked Mark into training and running a 5K on October 15th. It was a great feeling of accomplishment for Emma as she has never run before. For some reason she is also a room mom!

Ashlee(10-5th grade) is reading well above grade level and super excited for the science fair again! She loves to do crafts, read, hang out with her friends, and has just taken up clogging. Also, she got to move into her own bedroom this Fall. Emma couldn’t survive without all the help Ashlee gives. Ashlee also takes piano and is doing so well.

Joshua(8-3rd grade) loves math and science and reading too. He is one of the top math students in his class. He also turned 8 in July, and was baptized in August. We had a great day with all our family. He loves Legos, playing strategy games like Ticket to Ride and Stone Age. He is definitely taking after his father! He played soccer in the Fall and participated in a basketball camp at the rec center too. He loves being with his friends and would play all day long if he could. Joshua also started piano lessons in the Fall, and scouts—he just earned his Wolf.

Lydia(5-Kindergarten) graduated preschool one week after her baby brother was born--we only held up the whole event by 15 minutes! It’s hard to get places on time with a one week old. She had a great summer of swim lessons and playing with friends. Kindergarten has been SO fun for her. She loves learning and is becoming quite a good reader. She is a good little mother to Jared too. She is also enjoying a tap/ballet class and can’t wait for the recital.

Taylor is almost three--on January 9th. He is such an exuberant child and loves life. We are finally getting his reflux under control and he is on the growth chart now! He can’t wait until he is bigger and can participate in soccer and go to school. He is very sweet with Jared and loves to give him kisses. His favorite color is green and he must always have his cup, plate, etc green or it is a very sad day. He loves his Dad and follows him constantly especially if it involves riding in the truck.

Jared is now 7 months old! He loves his baby food, and is scooting on his bottom. Emma now realizes baby proofing needed to have already happened! He is always happy, takes good naps, but can’t manage sleeping through the night. He has the cutest laugh and we are constantly tickling him just to hear it. He loves to give slobber kisses on anyone’s cheek.

Our hearts are overflowing with gratitude to our Heavenly Father for our abundance of blessings. We celebrate the miracle of the birth of Jesus Christ whom this season is all about. May each of you be blessed in your homes with an added measure of love and peace.

Happy Holidays from the Drennan Family

Seasons greetings to all! We have had a great year enjoying family that visited throughout the year and enjoyed a fun vacation to St. George in April. Mark made great progress on our kid’s mansion of a playhouse and we were able to get some new windows for the kids’ bedroom and our shutters, front door, and garage door painted a lovely red! A touch of color was just what this little old house needed. We had to give our dog away, much to the sadness of the children, because Emma couldn’t stand his barking anymore. So, then we adopted Ashlee’s cute class pet, Bella the bunny, and the kids adore her. Emma adores her because she is a very quiet pet and lives outside. :)

Ashlee will be 10 on Jan 21st and continues to do well in school and reads well above grade level. She also excels in Math and science which she loves. She has done very well in her piano lessons and just played Ukrainian Bell Carol for her recital. She loves to sing and got a very nice solo this year in her singing group. She loves playing with her friends and having “late nights” with them and sleepover’s with her cousins. She is getting quite tall and likes to remind Emma that she is almost as tall as her already.

Joshua is seven, and also is doing well in school and is reading above grade level as well. His mind loves math too and his teacher was impressed with his understanding of numbers. Joshua played soccer in the spring and flag football in the fall. He really enjoyed flag football and scored some awesome touchdowns too! He loves to play with his friends and would be gone all day if I let him. He loves to play so much that on Saturday he is always the first one done with his chores! He is a great older brother to Taylor and loves to take good care of him.

Lydia is almost five and loves every second of preschool and seems to be quite the social butterfly! She loves to tell me all about the friends she plays with at preschool. She enjoyed dancing for the first part of the year and we are taking a break while our budget affords preschool. She loves to tell Emma that as soon as preschool is over she can dance again. She is such a beautiful girl with big blue eyes, but has the temper to match her red hair(which is turning more strawberry blond to Emma’s sadness). She is a really big helper to Emma and loves to remind her to rest.

Taylor is into everything. He will be two on January 9th. He has just figured out how to throw a temper tantrum thanks to Lydia.:) He is really talking so much now and is just so happy. He loves trains(choo-choos) and playing outside. He cries almost every time Emma brings him in from playing. Taylor loves the Christmas tree and says “cuuute” when he turns on the lights. He still struggles with reflux, but we are hopeful this year he’ll grow out of it.

Mark has almost finished another catalog season and somehow we have survived his late nights again. He was able to take a very fun backpacking trip with his boss and the other managers in August and relax before the catalog long hours began. Mark is serving in the Elder’s Quorum presidency now too.

Emma stays very busy with the kids. She was glad to plant an apple tree and very happy when Mark planted a locust tree to help with shade in the yard. She is expecting our fifth child and due May 19th. We will find out just before Christmas whether it’s a boy or girl! Emma’s just been released from her church callings, so we’ll see what comes next.

We had the opportunity to take the kids to a live nativity this year and the children loved it. They had a real camel, several goats, cows, chickens, a donkey, and best of all- the most beautiful baby representing our Savior, Jesus Christ. Taylor cried when we had to leave “the baby”. It was nice to start off this season remembering the true reason we are so filled with hope and love for all.

We love you all and wish a new year full of joy and happiness! The Drennan Family

September Here and Gone

Once school began I thought that life would become more organized with a daily schedule, and it did to a certain extent but also the days became filled with many activities and getting ready for them. Trying to enterain a four year old who has most of her friends in school now is my constant challenge.:)

All of the kids love their teachers and that is great. Ashlee made it on student council and was thrilled because several of her friends made it too and they are having lots of fun together planning activities.

Mark is emmersed in catalog season and the children are missing him. We are thankful that he has a job though and that I am lucky enough to stay home with the children.

Joshua has started flag football and is really enjoying it. He was as proud as could be when Mark took him to get his very own football.:)

Taylor is such a joy and is learning to say random words and he gets so excited about it. Today he brought me something purple and said "purple" wow! I was impressed. Ashlee and her friend Emily and Lydia taught him that a couple days ago. He also really loves to say "quirkle" and "potatoe". He loves the reaction we give when he says a new word. He is eating better and continuing to grow so I am pleased. He is also making progress on being away from me when a babysitter comes, so that is good too.

Mark is making good progress on the playhouse and the kids are getting excited. It should be finished in the spring. I just needs a little more rock, little more siding, a rail, a couple of slides, and wa-la! The fanciest playhouse ever(well when the inside upstairs is complete then it will be) will be in our backyard!

I am enjoying my two days a week with only one child at home. I am even taking piano lessons again and am really enjoying it. Didn't can much this season, just pears, and will do grape juice this weekend. Grew a lot of cucumbers and gave them away. I will I could grow things my kids actually liked.:)

I hope life is finding you all doing well...until next time.

Warm weather has finally begun

June is here and already on it's way! How quickly the time goes. Ashlee & Joshua have just a few weeks left of school and then our summer will really begin. We will be going to a traditional school year in the Fall. I am somewhat disappointed because there goes any plans for a Disneyland trip "off-season". But we'll make the best of it. I think kids tend to get to bored over the summer, forget half of what they learned, and drive their mother crazy! I will definately have to have a game plan.

Taylor hasn't refluxed enough to choke for several weeks now! Yeah! I think his reflux medicine is working, although he just finished another round of antibiotics for another nasal infection. That would be number five since January! We meet with the pediatric GI specialist next monday and I am so looking forward to that.

Mark and I will be married 11 yrs at the end of the month. I think I'm starting to feel old! It has been a challenge for Mark to live with a crazy woman like me, but I'm glad he has stuck with me all these years.

Lydia tells me every day we need to get a pool and swim. The problem is the weather can't decide what it's doing. It's supposed to be in the 60s this weekend, and then warm up again, so I told her next week would probably be good. I just hope I can get a cool enough pool to satisfy the older kids without me worrying about Taylor drownding!

Life is good and I hope all you are having a wonderful summer.:)

May has begun!

Well, May might usually bring flowers, but so far the snow has made them look a little sad...at least it has to my tulips. We hardly got to enjoy them before the snow came.:(

Our trip last week to St. George was so nice and relaxing. It was full of playing together all day long, a little relaxing and lots of laughter. The first day we drove down, had dinner in our condo, and went swimming, and had baths. The kids especially liked the bathroom connected to "our" room because the tub was very deep and large. The next day we hiked in Snow Canyon, had a picnic lunch, and played in the natural "sand box". Then we went back to the condo so Taylor could nap--or so we thought, but he couldn't sleep, so we took the kids to the pool again. Taylor got a little chilled so, I took him back and got him to sleep. We had an early dinner and then took the kids to a park. Ashlee wasn't feeling well, and there was no swings, so we went back to the condo. The third day was a little cooler, and worked out okay because we had planned to go to a dinosaur museum. It was a lot smaller than I expected and the kids were gripy at first, but then they had a great time. We went home for some lunch and Taylor had a nap while Mark took the kids swimming. It was kind-of cool, so they didn't stay too long. We watched movies and just hung out. After dinner, we went to the park at the condo and had a great time...that one had swings etc. Thursday we packed up and headed home. It didn't take too long after leaving St. George to run into the winter storm that the north was experiencing. It was making it's way south. So, the drive home was rainy and snowy. We got home around 4pm and it was so nice to be back home eventhough it was snowing. We're grateful Mark has a nice job so that we can take a trip like this every few years.

Taylor started a different reflux medicine because after three weeks on the other stuff, he was still choking after he fell asleep. This one is making him "squirmy" after he takes it, but it might be helping with the relux..he's only been on it three days, so we'll see if it works. His appointment with the pediatric GI specialist isn't until June, so I hope this other medicine works.

Joshua loves his soccer coach and team and was sad when due to weather, his game was canceled on Saturday.

Ashlee sang a beautiful song with two other people in Young Women's two Sundays ago. It was about "the three white dresses"...blessing, baptism, wedding. It was so beautiful. She wore her baptism dress and just sang like an angel. She made Mark and I cry.

Lydia loves playing with friends and wishes she could play every minute of the day. She has had me put sponge curlers in her hair three times in the past two weeks. She loves looking "beautiful".

We hope this email finds all our friends and family doing well. We love you all.

new blog

I started a new blog www.knotsofhugs.blogspot.com ...check it out if you want.:)

April Update

Well, hunting for eggs with cousins & barbequing hambergers on the Friday before Easter was so much fun. Then Saturday was spent relaxing and watching general conference. Sunday morning was so fun as the kids really enjoyed finding their baskets and the few pieces of candy hidden in the room. We watched conference again, the movie the kids got that morning, watched more conference, had turkey dinner, and relaxed some more. It was a great weekend. Monday, the kids had off too and we celebrated with lunch at McDonald's with good friends, and then went to their house later.

I took Taylor to the doctor again because he had another cold and I wanted to make sure we weren't getting another sinus infection. He didn't have one, but hasn't grown as much as the Doctor would like, and he still is struggling with his reflux at night, so we now have an appointment with a pediatric gastroenterologist. Taylor is also taking prevacid again. Poor guy. I think that he looks perfectly healthy, he's just small. It does scare me however when he chokes on his reflux at night. So, I hope that without spending an arm & a leg at the specialist, that we can find a simple solution.

We are enjoying my brother, Hyram, living with us. It will be really nice when we take a short vacation this month because he'll take care of the dog!

We hope all of our friends are happy & healthy and enjoying hopefully some warmer weather to come.:)

April is almost here

Well, as usual time continues to move too quickly. March seemed like a busy month, but full of fun things. Ashlee has been practicing two days a week in a school musical and finally they got to show us all their hard work. It was a funny musical about Lewis and Clark. Ashlee got to dress up like an Indian, and learned many fun and beautiful songs. Now, her life will seem less busy, she can focus back on piano and singing classes. Ashlee also got glasses for the first time and looks quite grown up now.:)

Joshua is doing really well in school and is quite popular with all the other kids because he is such a happy-go-lucky kid. He loves his teacher and for my pickiest eater, actually likes more of the school lunch choices than I would have guessed. He is going to be doing soccer again starting next month, and then wants to try his hand at basketball in the Fall. I've held out on basketball for so long because he's so short, so we'll see how it goes! He also continues to wish for a loose tooth.:)

Lydia is trying to hard to grow up. She asks me all the time when she's going to start preschool for real. We've been trying to learn the alphabet a couple days a week and she seems to enjoy that. She loves to be like Ashlee, and is constantly choosing an outfit because it "looks like Ashlee's". She is a wonderful big sister to Taylor and loves him dearly.

Taylor is getting closer to walking and talking. He really only wants to walk for my brother Hyram who has recently moved in. He can even say "Hyram". He loves his uncle. He is finally making good progress on his weight gain and is almost 17 1/2 lbs. We go in for a weight check at the doctors in a couple weeks. He got another haircut recently and suffered a blood blister on his lip from trying to fight me as I cut his hair. He bonked his mouth on the bath seat he was sitting in.

I enjoyed a most wonderful three days in sunny LA with my sisters. We did a lot of shopping, relaxing, and talking, and a little bit of cooking. It was great. Mark survived being a single dad for those three days/two nights. He did great. Taylor didn't even want me to hold him when I came home. He would just cry and reach for Mark or my brother Hyram. That made me sad. But he warmed up to me a couple hours later. I also planted a golden delicious tree in the back yard a couple weeks ago, and it's buds are starting to open already. I also planted bulbs last fall, and they are looking great. I can't wait to see what color they are since I got them for free.:)

Mark is staying busy at work because they've put a freeze on over-time, so since he's salary, he gets all the extra work.:( We are excited to hopefully finish the playhouse this summer. Mark is hoping to start a new business this summer so cross your fingers for him.

We hope you are all doing well and life is treating you good. Until next time...

February at the Drennan's

It has been too long since I have posted. Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years were wonderful. We've had five out of our six birthday's in the past two & a half months, and we're back on track at school. We are enjoying the sunshine that we've had on several days this month, but today is cloudy & gloomy. But as Mark reminds me, we need the rain and snow.

Taylor is one and doing well on finally trying to gain weight. He has been pulling himself up onto everything and pushing laundry baskets around the house. I think walking will be coming soon. He can say mama, dada, ow(when he's hurt), nigh-nigh(night-night), moo, ba-ba(bottle). He still scoots on his bum all over which has been very enjoyable to watch.:)

Lydia is now 4 yrs old and likes to ask, "Now that I am four, I can do...". Sometimes she can do whatever, but sometimes she can't and my response is, you're not big enough yet, but she says but I'm a big girl now.:) She is so excited for preschool in the fall that she asks me nearly every day if it's almost time to go. She loves her little dance class and is excited for another recital to happen soon.

Joshua is six & a half and can't wait until he will have a loose tooth. He loves to spend all his free time with his friends. He is doing very well in school this year and has a great teacher. He loves doing anything with Mark still. His latest thing is the play "Halo" with Mark on the xbox. I'm not so sure I like that, but he enjoys the time with his Dad.

Ashlee is blossoming into a young lady. She is now nine going on 12. She loves to be involved in many activities. She is doing a musical with her school, she has piano lessons, and singing group. She love the arts. She is a very good artist too. She is always drawing. I love it. She definately didn't get that talent from me.

Mark has finished another catalog and we both managed to survive. We feel truly blessed to have a job still in this uncertain economy. We pray that others who are searching may soon find the job they need. Life is good and I'll try to update more frequently.

Halloween was so fun!

Eventhough our kids still had fevers, we went out. I took them for an hour and then Mark took them for an hour because Taylor needed the eat.:) I just thought I'd post a few phots. Hopefully our fevers will go away soon. This is day 15!!! Luckily their very low grade fevers. Hopefully you all had a great night too.

Gettin excited for Halloween

Wow! It's hard to believe that Halloween is in two days. My kids are so excited! I just hope we can get better soon--you see we have had what our doctor assumes is the swine flu. Unfortunately, my kids still have a low-grade fever and this is day 11 for Lydia and day 10 for Ashlee & Joshua. We are all tired of being couped up, so going out for Halloween will be a blessed event.:)

Ashlee & Joshua are off-track now, so hopefully they'll get well soon so that we can do some fun things. They are doing well in school as I went the their parent/teacher conferences last week. Ashlee is a grade level ahead on her reading and is doing well in math and spelling. Joshua has made a lot of progress in his reading too and loves math and spelling. He loves having a bonus word on his spelling tests so that he can get 110%.

Ashlee started a pony bead business where she makes the lizards out of boondoggle and beads and sells them to classmates for 25 cents. She loves it and I am proud of her entreprenuarship. Thanks to Grandma Cannon & myself for donating the beads, she has made just over $3. So fun.

Taylor got his first tooth in last Tuesday and he is working on another one right now. He is very grumpy, so I am looking forward to them coming in quickly. Taylor is almost 10 month old now. At his 9 month check up he weighed a wopping 14 lbs 6 oz. And he was 25 1/4 inches long. A very small baby. But the doctor was somewhat happy because he made good weigh and head circumfrance gains, but unhappy because he didn't really grow lengthwise. Hopefully at the next checkup the length will catch up. He is very happy and loves to scoot on his bum all around the living room. He should be everywhere soon when he figures out he can go around the couches out of the living room.

We're looking forward to getting three new windows put in our home on the west facing side. A new master bedroom window, sliding door, and kitchen window. I was also blessed to have a wonderful husband let me get some laminate flooring in the kitchen. He and a friend will put that in after the windows. That's my early christmas present.:)

Mark is working many hours now and we all miss him a lot. It's just not the same when he's not around very much. He was able to come home for pumpkin carving two nights ago. He kept Taylor happy while I helped carve. Mark hates the "pumpkin guts" and I love it, so it works great.:)

We hope all our friends and well and happy. Happy Halloween in two days!

September's Update

Well, Ashlee & Joshua have been in school for several weeks now, and Lydia and I quite like the quietness the house brings when there's no one to argue with.:) Joshua & Ashlee both love their teachers and being with friends again.

Lydia is loving her dance class. She is learning tap, ballet, and tumbling. She gets dressed immediately Weds. morning in her dance clothes, and all morning asks me "Is it time yet?" It's so cute.

Ashlee is taking singing class, and piano too. She is really enjoying both. Joshua is taking an all boys tumbling class again. He loves tumbling, and dive rolls are his favorite.

Mark has begun catalog season again. The long nights are beginning. He is also trying to get the playhouse ready to weather another winter before being completed. He spent one night, a couple nights ago, staying up until 11pm stainig the wood beams. They look pretty good. I'll post a picture soon.

Taylor is 8 months today. Wow, where does the time go??? He sits up so well now. He still hasn't broken a tooth in yet though. One of these days...He loves walking the kids to and from school, especially now that he can sit up straight in the stroller and see everything that goes on.

I am volunteering at school once a week--twice a month for Ashlee/twice for Joshua. Mark is kind enough to go to work late Thursdays. I figured when he stays at work until 8 or 9 pm, what does it matter if he goes to work late once a week? I love walking to and from school--that's the only exercise I get. And I really need some exercise. I've canned two batches of salsa, and hope to do one more. I am getting peaches from Brigham this weekend and will enjoy eating tonz of fresh peaches, and canning some. I love Fall--all the good stuff to eat.

Our garden hasn't done too well, but we did have some corn turn out that was fabulous!

We hope you all are doing well. We love our family & friends!!!:)

Fun with Emma's family

We just had a fun filled week with my(Emma's) family. Everyone in my family was in town and we had some fun filled days. We went to the cute and lovely Willow Park in Logan, had many meals together, went to Wheeler Farm in Murray, babysat my brother's two boys, and just plain hung out. It was great!

I am so grateful for my family. I wish we had had more time together. The time always flies to quickly when a week's time is up. Hope you enjoy the photos.

July is half way through already

No matter how much I try, life still seems to speed by and I don't get very much accomplished. We started the month celebrating Joshua's sixth birthday. Joshua got a new bike, and some fun toys--especially loved the Bakugan's from Grandma & Grandpa Cannon. He also received a check from Grandma & Grandpa Drennan, who are in Russia, and thought that was so fun!!! He got to buy more Bakugan's--he thought picking out his present was so fun that he asked for us to give him a check new year.:) We invited some neighbors over for cake & ice cream and a pinata. Joshua had a light-saber cake(two light-sabers dueling--green for Yoda & red for Darth Sidius(I can't spell it)). It was great fun.

Taylor hasn't been sleeping well all month, I think he had an ear infection & then moved on to teething again. He has been teething since he was 2 1/2 months. Every so often the teeth seem to move a little & bother him. I really wish they would come in so we could get back to sleeping at night. He had his six month check up last week. It's hard to believe he is already that old. He has started green beans now and a tiny bit of apricots mixed with his rice cereal.

One funny thing about Ashlee is that she was saving her money for a new bike because Joshua was getting one & she wanted one. We told her we didn't just buy bikes--only for birthdays or Christmas. So we told her if she saved for half of the bike, we would break the rule & pitch in for the other half. But then last week, Ashlee said, "Well, it's getting close to Christmas and my birthday, so I'm not going to save for a bike anymore, I'll just wait until then." What an intelligent young lady she is! Why pay for it- if you wait a little, mom & dad will!

Lydia has decided that throwing fits should be a multiple times a day event lately. I've decided I don't like the terrible three's at all!!!!! She can also be very sweet though and loves her little brother. She is very good at entertaining him for me. She also has started thinking that she needs to play with friends every day. It is a little harder to coordinate playing for her because she wants to play with five year olds, not three year olds. Some of the other three year olds can't talk as good as she can, so she gets annoyed that they can't pronounce her name correctly. I think she's three going on 14!

Mark is gearing up for another work convention and the start of another catalog season. I am trying to gear up too. We hope to work on the playhouse a little more, take a vacation, and get some new windows on the back side of our house before winter comes again. We'll see how far we get.

We feel so blessed to live where we do. We feel that we live in the best neighborhood in all the world. We are well cared for and our children feel happy and safe as they play. We are grateful for this great country that we live it. God Bless America.

We hope this update finds all our friends healthy and happy.

June is here already!

I can't believe May is over! It flew by so quickly. Taylor is almost five months now. That is very crazy. He has been on medicine for two weeks now, and has doubled the chubbiness of his thighs and arms. I think the medicine to help keep his milk in his tummy is working.:)

We are enjoying watching our garden begin to grow. Nothing seems to fascinate kids more that watching things grow. They also really enjoyed watching 1500 lady bugs crawl out of a container onto our tree in our backyard. The aphids were enjoying the leaves a bit to much, so it was time for reinforcements. My children fully believe that the way to tell how old a ladybug is, is to count its spots. So, when one crawled out of the container with no spots, they knew it had just been born.:)

Mark has officially run power out to our back garage. He hired a neighbor boy to dig a trench 18 inches deep, running under some sidewalk from our house to the back garage. He also had an electrician neighbor help with the wiring. An he even put up a light on the back garage to help light up our back yard for all our nightly activities--maybe once the kids are out of school we can have a sleep over in a tent since the play house isn't finished yet. Mark also got most of the tar paper on the playhouse up with the help of his brother Kirk. Progress is coming.

Ashlee and Joshua have one more month of 2nd grade & kindergarten. I think we are all burned out already. It is very hard to do homework when we could be outside playing!

Well, I need to actually do stuff besides type on the computer, so I better go. We love all of our family & friends. Take care!