Portland or bust!

I did it. I just booked my ticket to Portland! Me and my girls are having a girls weekend! I can't wait! I will be there November 20-23. I have a few people who want me to take their family pictures, so if anyone else is interested, let me know. Sarah is planning some fun girls nights, so if you want in, email me, or Sarah, so you get the invite! CAN'T WAIT! It's been almost 2 1/2 years! YIKES!

Dasterdly Duo

Okay, Makenna and Haley are the best of friends. Seriously, they LOVE each other. They are about 3 weeks apart in age. Kenna older. They play pretty well together, unless there is only one stroller between the two of them. They also manage to get into things together too. A few weeks ago, I caught them in the bathroom. They had gone to all the bathrooms for stools, and then managed to play in the water. Oh yeah, did I mention with ALL the measuring cups and spoons from the kitchen drawer?This morning takes the cake though. It was almost as bad as thePurple Paint Catastrophe of 2006. I was downstairs working on the computer. The girls were a mere few feet away, playing in the playroom. Totally normal. Well, since Haley is potty training, she was butt naked. She just can't seem to understand that the panties need to come off. Most times, she sits on the potty, pees, and then realizes her panties are on...anyways, she was playing in the buff (all of you potty training mom's will understand...those who don't...don't judge til you're in my shoes). Well, they both came running to me to show me what they had done...Well, pictures are worth a thousand words, right?
So, at first I thought Haley just had a good time by herself. THEN, she turned around, and I KNEW it was a team effort.It looks like they tried to draw on Makenna, but realized it was MUCH easier to draw on Haley. Those silly girls.
My clean up effort. She still has red markings all over. Uh oh. Why couldn't they have gotten into a blue marker? Someone may think she's a Utah fan.

How come I have a feeling we have many more years of trouble with those two?

The week in review...

Oh man...where to start? Last weekend, my parents took all my kids out to Myton - to visit my grandparents. They all had a blast! I'm really sad I didn't get out there. The weather and my schedule just don't cooperate. I may have to take a road trip by myself out there when the kids are off track in a few weeks. I made Kristin promise me that she would give a hug to my grandpa from me, and she swore she did. I miss my grandparents. Seeing them more. Life is too busy, and I know I don't take time for the things that are most important. I'm grateful for my parents for at least doing some of it for me. I'm glad my kids have relationships with my grandparents - I just wish I was there to see it and document it. They took Haley this time. Usually they would take the older kids, but we were in charge of the amazing race for Donnarae, that we asked them to take her too. She's almost 2, and I thought she would love it. She did pretty good, but she's not a fan of animals. Of any kind. Not even tiny newborn kittens. Wonder where she gets that from? I think she likes them from afar, and when they are on a leash - where they can't get her.

The Amazing Race went well. I am glad it is over and I can't wait for the one next year.

I was sick for pretty much the whole week - which really thwarted my exercise/swimming routine. I worked out all of 1 day last week. I'm anxious to get back on the horse this week.

My dad quit his job this week. It's a great story, actually. His work was downsizing, and had to lay off 1 person. The company tried to be fair about who they laid off, so they just chose the last person hired. Which, happened to be a guy supporting his young family. He is friends with my dad, and called my dad the night it happened to tell him. My dad got to thinking, and decided to write his bosses a letter, explaining why it would be beneficial to keep this young guy, and lay off my dad. It's now a done deal. This is my dad's last week of work. Then, he will travel with my mom. I am so happy! My parents are both really happy, this young guy is really happy, and my kids are so happy to think that they get to go walk the dogs with papa all the time now! He was out of town so much before! My kids go off track for pretty much the whole month of November...so, watch out dad...your phone is going to be ringing off the hook!

Haley's potty training has gone pretty good. As of yet, she has not had any pooping accidents (LOUDLY KNOCKING ON WOOD). I was kind of discouraged yesterday. She hasn't gotten the pee exactly down - especially when she has clothes on. I was wondering last night if I should give up. Then...this morning, she went pee by herself - without having to be asked to sit on the potty, or if she had to go - TWICE. I was really sad I had to put a diaper on her for church. So, it has given me hope to go another day. She's just so tiny. The smallest panties they sell are big on her. They're cute...hoping to get a picture in the morning...

We had our Primary Program today. Whew...it's exhausting, and I don't even have to do a lot of the work. The kids were SO WOUND UP for classes, it was almost unbearable. Tonight we went to Raquel's house to carve pumpkins. Which, we didn't carve - our kids wanted to carve their pumpkins at home...but how convenient of our garden to produce 4 pumpkins for us? One for each kid! SWEET! That is tomorrow nights activity...can't wait for the mess!

Gotta get to bed...the gym beckens...

Poop Update...

The day went...well...it just went. Haley successfully used her potty 3 times. She had 3 accidents. She's learning. I was thinking tonight, that I want to give up. I won't, but I'm pretty sure that - with all of my kids - after the first day, I wanted to give up. I know if I do, that will make it harder the next time...but I HATE POTTY TRAINING! I have gotten so much more patient than I was when Kyle was potty training - sorry bud...

Wish me luck tomorrow...

POOP!

Haley just pooped in the potty! (I will spare you a photo - no, I didn't take one). WAHOO! She came to me, told me she had to go poop. I put her on her potty (which has all been done before) but this time - SHE POOED! WAHOO! She got the biggest sucker, and now it looks like I'm holed up for the next few days...sigh...I hate potty training...I wait until they're ready...but still...if you need me, you'll know where I'll be...

Overheard from the kitchen table..

Jake: You're a girl
Kristin: I am not a girl, I'm a woman. Haley's a woman too. And mom's just a lady.


Hmmmm???? Anyone know the requirements of being a woman or a lady?

Family Photo Shoot, up for Auction

I decided to auction off a family photo shoot for Trent. It includes:
Family Photo Shoot
High Res disc of images
Free Christmas Card
Free 11x14

The value of this is about $500.

You can bid on this at the silent auction at Chick-Fil-A at the District until 7 pm tonight. If you want to bid, but can't make it there, send me an email with the amount you would like to bid by 6:00pm tonight, and I will mark your name down. Last I checked, the bidding was at $150. THANKS!

A Day for Trent

Some of you know Trent, some of you don't....Trent is a little boy that lives down the street from us... He is 8 years old. He is losing his battle with Leukemia after fighting hard for the past 15 months. The following is an excerpt from his blog:

"Thank everyone for everything!! My family and I feel your prayers every minute of the day. We have been having so much fun doing things as a family. I have eaten the fast food I have wanted for so so long. It is good but I only handle a little. I am not in pain and still am making my family laugh. Dad and Grandpa gave me a blessing last night, it was beautiful. I know all will be well. I will not be in anymore pain or hurt, my family will also be ok. I will miss them terribly but they tell me time is different so I will have faith in that. To all my little friends please know I will miss you and await the time I can see you again. I have sure missed playing and having fun with each of you. I know everyone has to work through many feelings but please promise me not to be angry with Heavenly Father. He loves each and everyone of you and knows what is best for each of us. It is in his plan that I return to him, my time is over and I am ready to go. Please know I did not give up I would continue to fight if it was what the Lord wanted please be at peace all will be well. Love you all

Trent"

A Day for Trent

Fund Raiser on Monday, October 13th
For the last 15 months, 8-year-old Trent has been bravely battling AML Leukemia.

To help Trent's family with the tremendous financial burden from medical expenses,
Chick-fil-A of South Jordan will be donating 20% of the day's revenue on
Monday, October 13th to Trent's family.
Cash donations will also be accepted, and anyone making a donation of $10 or more will receive a coupon for a free Chick-fil-A chicken sandwich to be used on their next visit.
In addition, Chick-fil-A of South Jordan will hold a silent auction from 12:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Auctioned items have been donated by local businesses and community members.
All proceeds will go to Trent's family.
Please help us in supporting Trent and his family!
Call Chick-fil-A of South Jordan with any questions at (801) 727-2697.

**Southtowne, Ogden & Layton will be giving a % of sales as well,
but only the District Location will have an auction and coupons for donations.


Visit his blog www.trentduval.blogspot.com

Nora Grace Cartier

Hanging out with us on Halloween - $0
A wedding dress - $600
9 months of vomitting and having vertigo on top of morning sickness - $1000 in copays
Letting your crazy sister-in-law with a camera, record your child's birth - Priceless















My newest niece. She's so cute! I was there for her birth. I documented it all on camera, and I have to say, I LOVED how the photos turned out. I WISH I had that of one of my kids! If I thought a doc would allow an extra person in the operating room, I just might consider having another baby! Miss Nora Grace Cartier was born on October 2, 2008 at 2:21 pm. She weighed 7 lbs 6 oz and was 20 inches. She has the greatest parents - who are probably scared to death! I hope they realize that is normal! Love you guys! Thanks for letting me crash your day! I get to take more pictures of her later today...stay tuned!

Family Photo Shoot, 2008

Well, it's that time again. Much to everyone's disbelief, we really only get a family photo done once a year. (Although, after President Monson's talk yesterday, we will now :Follow the Prophet - and get them done twice a year!) Erin and I have to plan a vacation - on one side or the other - just in order to get it done. I take their family photos, she takes mine, then we edit our own photos. This year, we decided to do it at The Gateway in downtown SLC.

Our kids were HORRIBLE. Well, really, they had the hardest time ever! Neither of us managed to get a photo where everyone was looking at the camera. Which, in my opinion is fine. I just have to view it as a candid photo shoot. Now that I have that in mind, I LOVE them! I would rather get the real smiles, or laughs, and have those documented than fake smiles. Which, my kids are spectacular at. Too bad that their fake smiles are horrible. I'm really happy to have candid photos. I can't wait to make prints! Thanks Erin! If you want to see ALL of them, you can visit my website: jenkorthphotography.com, go to the proofing section, and the password is: korth. Let me know what you think!

I have to say, I don't think I look all that great in these photos. My butt is still a bit large...BUT (no pun intended) I think EVERYONE should have family photos taken, regardless of whether they think they're too fat, pregnant, post pregnancy, have a rash - whatever. Get them taken! You never know what will happen in life, or when (heaven forbid) it will be your last family photo. Everyone complains about the time, place, clothing, and whatever else to get them taken, but I don't think anyone ever complains once they see the final result (unless you have a crappy photographer). I know my grandma still cherishes the last family photo we have of my dad's side of the family, which, unfortunately was taken back in...oh, I don't know, guessing the early 90's. My grandpa didn't die until 1999, so we should have had a more recent one. Ladies, if you need to convince your husband...it's all about following the prophet...

Here's a sneak peak!






See, isn't that first photo of the boys with real smiles a ton better than their fake smiles in the other photos?

Baby Cartier

I'm not telling you what the sex is. That's for Beau and Allisun to divulge! Watch their blog!

The thoroughly AMAZING race!

This weekend was our Amazing Race - which we dubbed, "The Thoroughly Amazing Race"! I have been wanting to do this for FOREVER! I talked to Cherice about it, and then we asked Jon and Donnarae if they would organize for us, and then we would organize one for their friends! Yesterday was our big race day. We teamed up in teams of 4 (basically 2 couples per team). We had 6 teams and 24 people! 12 people included us and friends we invited, and 12 people made up Kenny and Cherice and their friends(which pretty much all of them, I consider my friend too). Each team was given a color. We were teamed up with the Braithwaite's and were the blue team(we all decided to wear our BYU shirts, cause we already had them, and they were blue. Turned out backfiring a bit, cause we raced in downtown SLC on a home gameday for the U. We had lots of people cursing at us - literally.) Jon and Donnarae did an AMAZING job! I'm going to type out what we did, mainly for my journaling purposes, but I'm telling you, if you want to have the GREATEST days ever, you'll want to get some people together and plan one of these(I would LOVE to be invited, also!). Seriously, if there was anybody who played that didn't have a good time, it was their own faults!

We started off meeting at a park. There was MUCH trash talking going on! It was awesome. We were already having a blast, and it hadn't even started yet! When we told people the teams, and the colors, I put on the instructions that they could dress, or do whatever to unify their team. The outfits were great! Long socks, crazy sunglasses, spandex on a man, the works. It was awesome. Jon greeted us, and told us the rules, gave us clues and some money, and then said we would be starting the first task! He asked us if we had played sudoku. Very few people had played before. (which surprised me). He asked 2 of us to be writers, and the other 2 would help. Once we decided who the writers would be, he then told us that the writers would be blind-folded. Then the game was on! We ran up a huge hill. I was blindfolded, and Troy was guiding me. They had made HUGE sudoku puzzles on tarps. I got on my knees, and while Troy figured out the puzzle, he would put my hand somewhere and tell me to write. It was crazy. It was maddening not being able to see the puzzle - I did 4 of these particular puzzles on the airplane last week! We finally got it finished, and there were already 3 teams gone! AUGHH!!! We raced down the hill, and into the car.

The next clue told us that we would be going to the Alpine Slide. Steven read the clue, and we started heading up to Park City. Luckily, we asked Steven to re-read the clue, and realized we were to go to the Alpine Slide at SNOWBIRD not Park City! Good thing we read it when we did! We turned, and headed up to Snowbird - in Little Cottonwood Canyon.

We got up there, and saw all the teams that had been ahead of us. It was a great feeling to catch up and know you're not that far behind! We parked at the top of the Alpine Slide, had to run down for the tickets, then took the tram back up to the top. We went down, it was so fun - short, but fun. Then, we made Troy and Steven head up to get the car, while we went and got the next clue. We met them on the main road.

Our next clue took us to the downtown SLC Library Children's section which also told us that would be the last time we saw our cars during the race. It seemed we all got to the Library at once, TEARING through the library! It was so fun - racing to the stairs, while you see other teams all running at you also. I seriously, laughed the whole day. We got our clue, which made us find a book, and bring it back to a person. We did that, and the next clue sent us to the Devoreaux Mansion for our mandatory rest period aka lunch.

One team didn't follow the clue, and drove to lunch. They were penalized (after much debate - in the Amazing Race - unfair things happen, also, if you don't read the clue, or follow the clue, you should be penalized). My only sad part of the day was that anyone would be rude to my brother-in-law over a fun little race - when it was their fault that they didn't follow the clue. Whether it was spelled out well enough in their minds is besides the point, it was supposed to be for fun - definitely NOT a million dollars on the line, and Jon was not getting paid! He had spent tons of time, energy, and his whole Saturday on this. THANK YOU JON! Anyways, Jon didn't want to argue with the team anymore than he had, and gave them the clue without having to finish out their penalty.

Lunch was fun. We had to stay there for 20 minutes after we arrived there. After lunch, we headed to Liberty Park. It took forever to get there. We had to wait for Trax, and then it was quite the run/walk. We seriously, did so much running from the Library on! I was wearing jeans, and was sweating so bad! It felt like I was trying to run with an additional 30 lbs!

At Liberty Park, we had to do 2 tasks. Walk across a rope (more like a strap) that was tied between 2 trees, and then they gave us a photo of something in the park. We had to go find it, take a photo, and then go back to the guide to show them the pictures. We were all pretty much here at the same time. Except for the black team, who was about 15 minutes behind us at the pit stop, who took a taxi to Libery Park! Brilliant! They beat everyone to Liberty Park. There's definitely advantages to not being in a pack! Apparently they all rushed through the tight rope (not it's technical name, but I can't remember what it is). Jon and Donnarae told us later, that if they had made the other teams stick to the level of going over the rope as the black team, we would have been there for hours!

After those tasks were finished, we were to head to Gil Gal Gardens. Where is that you ask? Good question! Most people on the streets didn't know where that was! It's on 500 S. and 700 E for those of you who are interested in going! That was the final leg of the race. The black team won - by a bit! Then the red team and then US! THIRD! Wahoo! The prize was a garden gnome. (You know, the travelocity roaming gnome that frequents the Amazing Race?) It was such a fun day! Seriously, super fun! I would advise ANYONE to do this! Cherice and I are putting together Jon and Donnarae's Thoroughly Amazing Race in a few weeks. We will then be on the other side of it, to see how hard it is to put on. We want this to be an annual thing - with the gnome, literally roaming, year after year. I can't wait for Jon and Donnarae's! We have so many things up our sleeves! Here we are at the end!

I had my video camera on me for most of the race, but not my camera (point and shoot). I am waiting to get some before photos of the racers from Jon! At church today, everyone kept talking about how sore we were. It was great, and as an added bonus, burned calories! WAHOO!

WAY TO GO BLUE!

Greatest Day...

Friday was a great day for me! I dropped the boys off to Grandpa, and off they went on their trip. I then took the girls to Gardner Village for lunch, and some photos. My mom joined us. It was such a fun girls day. We browsed a few shops. My mom bought Haley some squeeky shoes, that squeek everytime she takes a step. (You can remove the little squeeker - for church or whatever). For Haley, it was love at first site! She walked around, taking short little steps, hopping up and down, just to hear the squeeks. We were laughing, just watching her. I thought other people would think they were the most annoying things, but for the rest of the day, all we got were compliments about how cute she was, and how cute the shoes were. It was really funny! After Gardner Village, we hit the mall, for Kristin to ride the carousel - her reward for taking some pictures. I wanted to go to the Hello Kitty store, to see if I could find the cutest necklaces that a few of the girl models in AZ had worn(no luck - anybody know where I can find those?). As I was standing in Hello Kitty, I started smelling a few things. I remember when my grandma, took me and my cuz, Katie, to the mall when we were little, and we got to pick something from the Hello Kitty store. It still smells the same! It was very nostalgic. I was happy that I was having a fun day with my girls! We dropped my mom off, and headed home. Both girls fell asleep on the way home. Troy came home, we went to the grocery store to get stuff to make a salad (I copied one that I had at a yummy restaurant in AZ, BRAVI) It turned out good, thanks to Heidi. We watched the debate, and then I fell asleep on the couch watching a movie with Troy. It was such a fun day. I loved it...Here are a few photos I got of the girls...

Boys Only!

This weekend is our Amazing Race. Troy's dad is taking the boys, Kyle, Jake, and Daxton to Bear Lake by himself for the weekend. All the boys are SO excited that it's no girls. Doug is leaving on Friday afternoon, because he needs to get something recorded (guessing???) at the court house. Cherice and I were thinking, have you taken them to the grocery store? Are you SURE you want to take them to the court house? So, on the way home from FHE Sunday night, I told the boys, that if they're naughty in a court house, that judges can throw them in jail, etc...etc... Well, before bed, Jake told Troy that he didn't want to go to Bear Lake, Kyle chimed in with, "Yeah, it will be scary going to the court house".

Talking with Cherice the next day, Kenny had given Daxton the same talk. So, yesterday after school, Daxton told Kyle, "I think I'll just stay in the car with Grandma". Kyle broke the news that Grandma wasn't going...At least they're thinking about being good, right?

I think they will be perfect angels! (Depending on how long it takes.) If it takes too long, they may realize that nobody is going to throw them in jail!

Thanks Grandpa, for taking the boys on a boys weekend! I have to give them a countdown every morning! Good luck at the courthouse! )

It's time for a pedicure when...

I am sitting in the Phoenix airport. It's SO awesome they have free wireless internet. Sitting cross-legged holding my laptop, trying to get things done. I'm barefoot, easier to sit cross-legged that way. I'm listening to my ipod. Over my shoulder, I hear a little girl, 2 probably. She is commenting on everything around her, just like they do. She points out my TV in my lap. Then she notices my toes under the laptop. Then she tells her mom, in that cute little 2 year old, squeeky voice, "Mom, toes." Her mom is half listening, just agreeing, like we all do. Then I hear it..."Mom, toes. Her toes are icky." I just started laughing. I turned around, and told her, you are RIGHT! My toes are icky. Her mom realized what she said when I started talking to her and started apologizing...oh, no need! They are icky! She's just honest...anyone up for a pedi?

Kyle-ism - something about a man in uniform...

Part 1

On Monday night, right after Kyle's first flag football practice, I ran to the grocery store. Kyle came with me. He had on his jersey, and cleats. As we were walking out of the store, two girls, roughly ages 7 and 9, looked at Kyle, and said to one another, "LOOK! He's so hot! AND he's a football player!"(7 and 9 year old girls aren't very nonchalant) I looked at Kyle with a smirk, and asked him what he thought about that? He said, "WHAT? You want me to wear this jersey to school tomorrow?" I just laughed. Although I did tease him about it for the rest of the night.

Part 2
Kyle's second practice was tonight, and Troy took him, and his friend, Thomas who were both wearing their football jerseys. They were chatting in the car on the way there, and this was the conversation Troy heard:

Kyle: Be careful. If you have to go to the grocery store, you better take your jersey off. Some girls told me I was hot. You wouldn't want that to happen.

Thomas: I wouldn't mind if the girls were attractive.

Kyle: Yeah, they were attractive.

Watch out Michael Phelps...

here I am, posting a blog in the front yard, sitting on my DI green chair in the driveway (trying to fit in with my white trash neighbors). Troy is playing volleyball, and then I get to go play in an hour. I can't wait. I LOVE volleyball. Really, the kids have been begging to ride their bikes, and I have been gone 90% of the day, so I get to relax in the chair, while they play in the circle. Unfortunately, I can't let my kids play out front without me around. At least I have a nice cushy green chair to hang out in. I'm seriously considering having it re-upholstered. Marinda, how much does your mom charge (seriously). I LOVE this green chair, because my feet reach the ground. It swivels, and it rocks. That is my criteria for a good chair. I may need to go see if I can find it's match. I've had numerous people SWEAR it was theirs at one time.

Anyways, I decided to do a mini-triathlon in November. I am quite excited, nervous, and nauseous, about it all at the same time. After I said I'd do it, I thought, remember how I felt at the top of the half? I seriously don't EVER want to feel that way again! Details of a mini-tri: 3 mile run, 10 mile bike ride, and 350 meters in a pool. I am driving the course on Saturday. It's in Provo. If anyone wants to join Cherice and I, you are definitely welcome! Google: telos tri and you will find details. It's on November 8.

So, last night, in order to prepare, I went to the pool with Annette(previous CHHS - Go Grizzlies - Swim coach), Cherice, and Lindsay. Annette taught us how to swim. We actually didn't even get to actual swimming. I didn't realize how many different steps there are to learning to swim the correct way. We all wore goggles and some of us swim caps. We joked that we needed a camera. We went back and forth doing different things. We started out finding our point of buoyancy and then learning to breathe. We were in the pool for over an hour, and didn't get to the actual swimming part. We are going back next Monday, and I'm excited to learn how to do it. I have a LOT more respect for Michael Phelps now. It has taught me that I need to pay for a REAL instructor to teach my own kids the correct way to swim. I took lessons for as long as I can remember, and I'm not doing it right. So, wish me luck. Oh, another thing I learned is that when you have goggles on, keep your eyes opened. I was so dizzy and lightheaded everytime I would finish a lap. On the way home, I thought I would die. I went to bed at 9 last night, and I'm still a bit dizzy tonight. Apparently you get vertigo if you close your eyes. It's just such a habit. I have NEVER worn goggles. I will really try harder next time to keep my eyes open. As for the race, I am worried about my foot not holding up. I am hoping if I can get my foot healthy, I can last 3 miles on it. Biking and swimming don't hurt it. So, crazy as it sounds, I am most worried about the running. The biking and swimming - while I'm sure will be challenging doing them right after each other - I am not worried about.

I feel like I've accomplished quite a bit this past year. This would be icing. It's on our anniversary. Pretty sure 11 years ago, I couldn't have done all this!

Interesting thought...is there a sport short people can excel at? Seriously? I have been thinking about this all day. Sure seems you have to be tall. I asked Kenny and Cherice. I told Kenny that I realize gymnastics is one, but it's not like I can say, "Troy, I'm headed out to do gymnastics tonight". Kenny offered that I could be a jockey. Once again, not something just a normal person could do. I realize that short people can do anything they set their mind to, but seriously, no advantage!

Well, gotta go gear up for volleyball. I can't wait...we've been on hiatus all summer.

The week at large...

Last week was a fun, busy week. Prepare for a long post. This is my kids last week off track. Jake was given an off-track packet to complete. We finally had to get around to getting it done! Here is Jake, hard at work. To answer Laura's question about Year Round School: I've had my kids in year round, and in traditional. I don't mind year round at all. Sometimes they miss holidays at school if they're off track, which really isn't a big deal. It's nice to have breaks during the year to do things, instead of just summer. My one HUGE irritation, is that we didn't find out what track our kids were going to be on for the next year, until the middle of June. So, we found out our kids were on C Track, which started July 27. SO, our kids got out on July 3, and started the next grade July 27. It's kinda hard to plan vacations/swimming lessons, etc. when you don't find out what track you're on until later. I wish they would put you on the same track for 2 years, so at least 1 summer you could plan accordingly, ahead of time.

Back to my week.

I froze corn. I don't know the "technical" term for this. I'm thinking, "put up corn"? Whatever, we shucked, blanched, and cut corn, put it in freezer bags, and we'll have good corn for the winter. YEA! Cherice and Heidi did this with me. Out of 9 dozen ears of corn, we each ended up getting 9 - 4 cup bags of corn. Not too shabby. Each of us paid $11.50 for this. It's SO YUMMY! Tip: We used a bundt pan (with the hole in the middle) to put the corn in, then we used an electric knife to cut the corn off the cob. It went so fast. It took us 1.5 hours to finish it from start to finish. I wish I would have taken pics of the kids shucking corn, but I was manning the pots inside the house. Next time. I would say this was totally worth it. Here is Cherice and Heidi, just finishing up the last few cobs...

On Friday, it was my friend's Bday. We got together at my house, and did lunch. I forgot that I had scheduled eye appointments for Troy and the kids (mine was the previous week). I asked Troy if he could leave work early and take the kids, so I didn't have to cancel my lunch. He agreed. I was so excited he was taking the kids. Just recently I had a breakdown (when I had all my cardiologist appts) about how hard it is to figure out where the kids are going, just so I could go to an appointment. Dad's make an appointment, and don't have to think twice. So, I was excited he was getting to "experience" 3 kids at the doctor. (I had Haley, so technically it wasn't AS difficult as normal.) The doctor dialated all of their eyes, and they came home like this: After an hour, their eyes were still crazy looking. All four of them are my blued eyed kids, so it was trippy to see black eyes. Here's a close-up of Kyle so you can see how they looked, crazy, huh?

Oh, I need to answer the rest of Laura's questions...
About Haley being potty trained...Kristin was potty trained before she was 2, my boys were all potty trained right after their 2nd Birthdays. I have definitely LUCKED out when it has come to potty training my kids. Once they start recognizing the poop part, (telling me they have to poop, before they do it in their diaper, I start. Haley is definitely getting to that point. I'm just waiting until my kids are in school, and I have less commotion here at home to deal with.

AND - I have always been hooked on Tigers Blood only, this summer I tried a bit of Blue Raspberry with it, and I'm hooked. You should try it...

My favorite girls...

Here is the famous chair I got at the DI for a whopping $15.00. I got the girls up early this morning, and got them ready and stuck them in the car with the chair. We were at a location (just on the side of a back road - nothing spectacular) by 8:15 am. I had to play volleyball at 9am, and had a babyshower at 11am. I didn't have much time, and I was ITCHING to use this chair. I LOVE these girls. So easy going. I just had to paint their fingernails and toenails and promise them a doughnut when we were done, and they cooperated. I LOVE when my own kids cooperate. More can be seen on my photography blog.