The Wilder's

3rd Grade

2011-08-01T22:10:00.001-06:00

I really don't think I am being selfish when I say that it isn't fair that Cole is already in 3rd Grade! Where did my little boy go? He shouldn't be reading big chapter books, negotiating, playing baseball, going on long bike rides, learning cursive writing, and getting a little attitude :) I should still be able to cuddle him and carry him from the couch to his bed if he falls asleep. I should still be able to ask him to do something without "Why?" following my request. I should be able to give him a hug in front of his friends. I should be able to pick out his clothes for school and comb his hair any way I want. 3rd grade, really? I love the little man he is turning into, but I do miss my little boy, too!

Cole is in year round school on track A so he is already back to school. He has Mrs. Turner this year and loves her so far...especially because the classroom is in a portable. Just like last year. He is super excited because his friend Trae switched to track A and he gets to carpool with him. He always gets so sad for summer to end, but loves school so he gets over it pretty quick. I hope he loves all his 3rd grade experiences :)

Fireworks and all the fun that comes with them!

2011-07-25T00:14:00.004-06:00

I love July....birthdays, BBQ's, fireworks, swimming, no work, no school :) This year has been great. We've kept super busy and have been having lots of fun! Last night we got together with some of our neighbors to let the kids play and light a few fireworks. We had a great time and even finished with a nice finale of our own!

Luke loves his big brother! He wants to do everything Cole does. Well, last night Luke saw Cole lick his fingers and put out the last of the sparks on the sparkler. Not to be outdone, Luke decided that he would do the same thing as Cole. He didn't realize that Cole had done it below the sparkler where it wasn't very hot and he licked his index finger and thumb and then decided to put out the flame on a very hot new burning sparkler. That was then followed by lots of crying and screaming and running around to find the sink and cold water. Yes, he burned himself pretty bad. We also got to take care of Cole who was crying and worried about Luke because he felt like it was his fault since Luke was copying him :( So sad! We were lucky that our neighbors the Kendrick's were outside. Jeremy is a doctor and helped us make sure everything was okay. He said the burns are 2nd degree but so deep that they are pretty close to 3rd degree burns. He also prescribed some medicine that will help prevent infection and numbs the pain. We've even had some house calls and phone calls to check up on his little patient :) He said Luke will probably have some nice scars to remind him not to mess with sparklers. I wonder what his fingerprints will look like??? I guess this is one of those situations that Luke has definitely learned a lesson...I don't see him touching sparklers again.

We are so lucky to have awesome neighbors who doctor my kids, get us bandaids, help babysit, carry bikes home,cook us food, etc. That would have been crazy if we had been alone! Thanks much Hansen's, Kendrick's, White's, and Berrett's!

Ellee's Lost Her 1st Tooth

2011-07-19T16:37:00.000-06:00

Ellee lost her first tooth today! She was so nervous about getting it pulled but then was brave enough to let Damon get a washcloth and pull it out. She did cry a little but with a smirk on her face :) She gave Damon a big hug and then told us she had to call Ashlyn to tell her.

Ellee's Dance 2011

2011-07-18T22:43:00.011-06:00

Ellee loves dancing! She is such a diva on stage. Her dance this year was to "Dancing Queen". It will be interesting to see how she does this coming fall when she will now be in the older class and have 2 dances to prepare for. I think she will be fine though. Every time she goes in her room to play she is either singing or dancing in there. So funny. The boys will just walk into my room laughing because she is belting out a song or watching herself dance in the mirror. Here are some of my favorite pics of the recital. I'm still trying to figure out the best way to post the video.

Baseball 2011

2011-07-18T21:54:00.007-06:00

Ok....quick updates since I am so far behind in blogging. Baseball season was awesome this year. Cole actually had to try out and was picked to be on one of the travel teams for Herriman Baseball. Since he is 8 years old it was the first year of kid pitch baseball. Kid pitch makes for a long baseball game, with super high scores. Plus it was kind of boring to watch. It did get better as the season went on. The boys all got so much better that by the end of the season it actually looked like a baseball game. Cole did great, just like last year. It was fun watching him work his butt off to show the coaches that he was the best first baseman. He worked super hard, and by the end of the season, he was consistently playing first base. He really wanted to try pitching, but they never practiced it with him so that is something we will have to practice over the summer and get him ready for next year.Luke was on the Grasshoppers team. I was worried at the beginning of the season. He is in machine pitch and I didn't know how he'd do. It took a couple weeks to figure out how to stand at the plate and the rhythm of the pitches, but he finally got it all down. He usually ended up getting a hit on the first or second pitch. He was fun to watch whenever he hit or threw the ball because he always had the biggest grin on his face. All the parents would just start laughing because he was so happy to be playing. And we all know how his smile just makes everyone else smile as well :) He still has a goofy little throw. He exaggerates stepping with the opposite foot so it goes up really high in the air...we'll work on that this summer, too.
It was fun and crazy spending 2-3 hours at the ball park every night this spring, but so worth it. I love watching the boys and seeing how much they learn and improve. Haha...how's that for an update?

Welcome Back

2011-04-27T22:06:00.001-06:00

Ok...I am horrible. I am going to begin blogging again. Just bare with me while I try to update things :) Let's see how it goes.

Cole's Hernia

2010-08-14T20:07:00.003-06:00

When playing first base at his baseball game, Cole stretched out to catch a ball while keeping his foot on the base and the runner ran right through him. He went to school the next day and kept complaining that his "boys" hurt so Damon checked and they were swollen. We took him to the doctor where he had an ultrasound and found out that he had a hernia with hydrosel. We scheduled the surgery and he ended up taking 2 weeks off from baseball. He was so nervous for his surgery but they do such a great job at Primary Children's. It is so nice that the Riverton Hospital is now another Primary Children's surgical center. He was able to play video games, blow bubbles, color a surgery buddy and read books all in the time he was waiting for surgery. He was so goofy when he woke up from surgery. He loved having everyone waiting on him...he milked it for all it was worth, asking for slushies, cookies, etc. It was cute. He was ready to start playing hard the day after surgery so we had to be very inventive to come up with different ways to keep him occupied.

Baseball Season

2010-08-14T19:40:00.003-06:00

Baseball was awesome this year! Luke played for Herriman baseball like Cole this year. He was on the Mudcats team. He loved his uniform and thought it was so much fun. He couldn't wait for his games and practice. He liked throwing the grass around as much as playing ball, but at least he had fun and got better each game. He was so excited every time we left for practice and games. He also wants to wear his Mudcats hat and uniform all the time.
Cole had to tryout this year. He was put on the Oakland A's team and he thought that was pretty cool. Since he is now seven he got to start learning all the rules of baseball instead of just the tee ball rules. He picked it up quickly and had an awesome season...with one little break in the middle when he had to have surgery. He took two weeks off to recover and then was back at it. He loves playing first base and did a really good job there. He also only struck out 5 times all season. He had a few doubles and lots of singles. We were a little surprised when he was picked to be on the all star team after missing two weeks of the season.
It was great for him to be on the all star team. He got to practice for 2 weeks after season ended and then played in a tournament where his team took 2nd place. It was really frustrating for him because his all star coach didn't know what positions the kids normally played so he just played them all over. Other than Cole not playing tons on first base he had a blast. Way to go, Cole!

Make Over

2010-07-30T00:10:00.001-06:00

Ellee is obsessed with combing my hair. She comes into my room with 20 bows, her brush, headbands, bobby pins. Whatever she thinks will be pretty in my hair. She then spends 30 minutes making my hair beautiful and then trying to make hers look the same. This is one of my favorite looks she's given me.

Fun at the zoo

2010-07-29T23:42:00.004-06:00

We decided to buy a zoo pass this year. It's been nice to have. We've been to the zoo 4 times this year and the kids absolutely love it. I keep thinking they'll get bored with it but they always find something new. Cole's favorite thing at the zoo is the bird show. He wants to run over to watch it every time he hears it start. Ellee loves the baby elephant and the peacocks walking around. Luke loves the gorillas and rhinos.Ashlyn and Alyssa stayed with us while Teresa and Chase were in Italy for their 10 year anniversary. We decided to meet up with Sarah and go to the zoo. It was crazy! It was cute watching them find their buddy and stick together. I was asked 2 different times if all those kids were mine :)

Easter

2010-07-28T23:55:00.006-06:00

Okay...catch up time. Easter was great. I had a hard time deciding between different Easter outfits, so decided to get them each a couple :)

The kids loved coloring eggs this year. They had fun trying to color designs all over the eggs...and we only broke 4 eggs by dropping them (at least they were hard boiled).

The Easter egg hunt at the Bell's was lots of fun. The kids loved it. The weather was not great so we had the egg hunt inside. Needless to say we had to be pretty creative with our hiding spots...and ended up just throwing some out in the middle of the floor because there weren't enough good spots to hide the eggs but the kids didn't mind. It was pure chaos.
Our Easter morning was good. It was conference Sunday so we were able to sleep in and spend the morning going through the Easter baskets and looking for the eggs. We also got to watch conference in our living room in our PJ's...I could handle having church at home every week.

4 years old!!!

2010-05-28T20:48:00.006-06:00

Wow...what a slacker I've been. I can't believe I haven't updated anything in 3 months. So, now I am just going to post the main events. Ellee and Luke are now four years old. I can't believe how fast the time has gone. It's crazy! Ellee was completely set on having a Little Mermaid birthday cake. She's obsessed with that movie and loves Ariel. Luke couldn't decide between a shark cake and a Ben 10 cake. He finally decided that he needed a Ben 10 cake. Jaimie saved the day once again and made both cakes for us. They were awesome! They turned out exactly like the twins wanted.This year we had a big family party instead of a friend party. It was lots of fun. They absolutely love being the center of attention. All Luke wanted for his birthday was little Ben 10 action figures. He got a whole bunch and a new Ben 10 omnitrix (he calls it a watch). Ellee couldn't make up her mind. She wanted barbie stuff and dress ups and anything girlie. She ended up getting a doll house. She also picked out all the colors she wanted us to paint it. It is bright yellow with different colors in each room. I can't believe they are already 4 years old!!!

Lego Fun

2010-04-06T08:51:00.007-06:00

Ok-I know, I'm horrible. I haven't blogged in months and now I get to play the catch up game. Fun, fun, fun! Cole is now 7 years old. How that happened I'll never know. This past year has been fun watching how he's changed. He has now informed me that he is old enough to: make his own breakfast, comb his own hair-which he now wants shaggy (we're ok with that for now, might not be when he gets to be a teenager), pick out his own clothes (my favorite is when he goes Napolean Dynamite and wears his winter boots with sweat pants and no snow in sight), play outside with his friends and mom not following him everywhere, work all the electronic stuff in our house without needing any help, walk down to get the mail by himself :) , read his books silently, take showers instead of baths, etc. The list goes on and on----where did my little boy go?
Cole's birthday was on a Wednesday this year so we celebrated as a family on his birthday. He got to choose what he wanted to eat for his birthday and he chose to eat at Wingers. We opened his presents and just spent time as a family.

He decided that he wanted a Lego Party for his birthday. We had a blast. He invited 11 other boys to his party and they all had a blast. Cole, Luke and Ellee built different Lego creations for the decorations. We had tower building contests, played "Guess what I built", ate pizza-cake and ice cream, played "Pin the Dot on the Lego Block" and just ran around having fun. It was 2 1/2 hours of pure chaos and tons of fun. My really good friend, Jaimie, offered to make the cake for Cole's party. I was thrilled to have her make it. She is amazing. She made two cakes to look like Lego blocks and it was absolutely delicious!!! Plus it was the hit of the party! Thanks Jaimie!
It was cute watching how happy he was the whole time. Opening presents was great...he didn't hold anything back and got so excited! I am so glad Cole wanted to have a Lego party. We had a great time and he will definitely remember this party.

Winter Fun!

2010-01-25T20:51:00.005-07:00

I love winter. Especially when there is fresh snow on the ground. Damon, not so much. He would much rather live somewhere that snow was obsolete. The boys are more like me in the snow...Ellee loves to stay warm. We decided to venture out in the cold and get some sledding in.
Cole could hardly wait for the truck to park before he was running up the hill with his sled. He had a blast. He loved it...but he also got worn out pretty fast since every time he made it down the hill he immediately jumped up and ran straight back up the hill. As soon as his cousins Jake and River got to the park he decided to venture over to a little jump where he was loving it til he landed wrong and hurt himself. The combination of already sledding for over an hour plus his crash and burn made us think he was done. But he just rested for a few minutes and then was back at it and even trying to make it down the hill on his feet.
Luke was a little scared to go down the hill at first. He just wanted to go down with either Damon or me and was to frightened to venture it by himself. We knew he would love it by himself so we told him to get on the sled first and that we would go down with him but then just let go of the sled instead. Good mommy moment, huh? Well, it worked. He giggled the whole way down and then didn't hesitate again. He wasn't running up the hill like Cole, he could barely drag the sled back up the hill. He didn't let that stop him. He even decided to go off the jump Cole was going off.

Ellee is our big scaredy-cat! We tried the same trick we did with Luke but even though she was grinning the whole way down, she pretended that it scared her. It took a few times down before she relaxed and just went after it. She even went down the hill head first and said that was her favorite. She just needed to warm up to the idea and then went off on her own with an occasional "Watch this, Daddy" or "Look how far I can go!" She also started making snow angels and drawing in the snow. Even though Damon hates the snow, he looked like he had fun. All of his sisters were there with their kids so we got to hang out and watch all the cousins together. I hope we get another big snow storm soon because I can't wait to go sledding again!

Christmas 2009

2010-01-02T19:42:00.026-07:00

These past two weeks have just flown by. We've gone to so many Christmas parties and been so busy...I hope I'll be able to catch up. Christmas was a lot of fun this year. We had a Christmas party with Damon's siblings and mom the Sunday before Christmas and that really got things going. We had another party on Christmas Eve at Damon's dad's place. And a third party on Christmas night at my parents home. Busy, busy, busy!
Damon got stuck working Christmas Eve and Christmas night. I guess it was just luck of the draw. We still had our annual Christmas Eve present of pajamas. The kids loved them and even held still long enough to take a pic and send it to Damon at work. Damon got off work at 6:00 am on Christmas morning so when he got home we woke the kids up (except Cole who woke up when he heard the garage) and did the Christmas morning thing. I guess all three kids were good this year because they all got what they asked for from Santa. Ellee asked for a new baby doll and crib for the baby. Santa did one better and even got her a high chair and stroller for her baby doll as well. She also got another doll for Christmas that is almost as big as her. She sleeps with it and dresses it up in her old clothes that she has outgrown. She was so fun to watch this year. I didn't realize that it is protocol to squeal every time you open a present, but apparantely I've been doing it wrong. She got so excited with each present, even new socks. It was hilarious! Luke asked for a dragon castle and dragons to go with it. He ran right to his present and immediately started playing with it. He didn't even want to go through the stocking, he just wanted to play with his new castle. He is so fun to watch with the toys. He makes sure to play with all his toys. It's almost like he's worried about hurting their feelings if he doesn't play with them. He loves all of them! When I checked on him in bed on Christmas night I couldn't help but giggle when I saw that he had just about all his presents in bed with him. He couldn't even move because they were all around him. He's still been sleeping with a firetruck garage that his cousin River gave him for Christmas. Cole asked for a Nintendo DS, a game for the DS, and a bag of bells (???) He got all three. He must've been really good this year. At the Romig Christmas party everyone kept talking about how quiet Cole was being, and that they've never heard him so quiet. He wouldn't put the DS down. Mama and Papa made his night by giving him Super Mario Brothers...he wanted it so bad but somehow Santa had not realized that he really wanted that game. We are definitely going to need to put some restrictions on how often he is allowed to play. That will be a fun battle! Cole was so cute opening presents. He would close his eyes until the wrapping paper was just about gone so he would be able to see the entire present...not just a corner of it :) My highlight this year was opening a present from Cole. He took money with him to school because the PTA offers a store the students can go to and purchase gifts for their families without any help. He bought me a silver necklace that said #1 Mom on it :) He got Damon a package of football cards and a pen that went with a globe pen holder. He bought Ellee a big ring and Luke a pull back truck. It was fun to see what he picked out for each of us on his own. After all the presents were opened and the house looked like a tornado hit it, Damon went to sleep to get ready for another graveyard shift Christmas night and the kids spent all day breaking in their new toys.

As a family we got a kitten this year for Christmas. We've named her Kit or as Luke lovingly calls her Kit Kat. She is super cute. There are a few allergy issues right now so we'll see if this is a permanent thing or a fun little visit. We'll see if things get better or worse. She is awfully cute and a cat is definitely the kind of pet that fits our lifestyle and home. We'll see what happens.

This was the first year that all the kids really understood what it meant to give presents to others as well as getting new presents for themselves. It was fun to watch how excited they got as they watched others open their gifts. It was good to see! We had a great Christmas and have really enjoyed the time off together.

Temple Square

2009-12-15T21:11:00.004-07:00

We decided to venture out in the freezing temperature and head down to Temple Square for family home evening last Monday. It was soooooo cold-or as the kids would say Cold-Daddio. We got up there before the lights were turned on so went through the visitor's center and over to the conference center. Damon had a great idea to take hot chocolate in a thermos with us. The twins didn't know what to think of the hot chocolate...except the marshmallows...which they loved. Cole, Damon and I couldn't get enough of the hot cocoa! The lights were awesome as usual. We had lots of fun, despite the cold temperature.

Time to Play Catch Up-Halloween

2009-12-08T23:03:00.007-07:00

So, our computer died on us so I've been unable to post any blogs. Sorry...it's time to catch up.
Halloween was lots of fun this year. Cole decided he was going to be a zombie for Halloween all the way back last spring. He never changed his mind and stuck to it. Papa came to his Halloween parade at school and it was fun to watch him play it up and drag his foot and make his "dead" look.
Ellee and Luke went back and forth changing their minds. Ellee originally decided on being a witch, but then went with Teresa and Ashlyn to look for butterfly wings for Ash to wear on Halloween and the final decision was made. She was going to be a butterfly...just like Ashlyn.
Ellee also got to dress up for dance the week of Halloween so she felt extra special since she got to wear her costume before the boys.
Luke was dead set on being a shark for Halloween. I tried and tried and tried to find a cute and inexpensive shark costume but had no luck. So we started helping him think of different ideas...Frankenstein, a monster, a dinosaur...but the minute we got out our old costumes he saw the Spiderman costume and he had his answer. Luke and Ellee had a parade at their preschool. They got to hold Mama's hands and lead the parade around. They were so happy and thought it was fun that all the mom's and dad's were gathered to watch them march around the school.
Damon got stuck working Halloween this year. No fun for us! I decided that since I didn't have his help maybe it would be a fun chance to head down to Cedar City and spend Halloween with the Williams. Ashlyn, of course, was a butterfly like Ellee and Alyssa was a dancin' monkey. The kids were so cute together. Plus, you can't help but smile when you see Chase going hippie.
The cousins get along so well and had never been together on Halloween so I kind of invited myself and luckily Teresa said that sounded like fun. We had a blast. Teresa and Chase even talked me into going to a couples party with them...even though my hubby was at work. She even found a lovely hot dog costume for me to wear :) It really was a lot of fun. We did the trunk or treat thing at the church and took the kids around trick or treating in the neighborhood.
Teresa and I even made time to work on some crafts that we've been wanting to get done. It was lots of fun for me and the kids. The only downfall was that Damon was at work instead of with us. Thanks for letting us invade, T!

Jack-o-lanterns!

2009-11-01T21:37:00.005-07:00

Okay-my only excuse is that volleyball has been all consuming. It is now over so now it is time to play catch up with my blog. We had a great Halloween week. We loved carving pumpkins on Wednesday night. The kids had been asking every day about when we would carve pumpkins and we finally couldn't put it off any longer. Cole went through a book and found a fun fiery face that he wanted on his pumpkin...he traced it onto his pumpkin...and cut quite a bit of it-just needed a little bit of help. We gave Ellee and Luke a marker and let them draw their faces on and then we cut out a face with most of the characteristics they wanted. The funnest part of that was trying to make eyelashes for Ellee's princess pumpkin and make googly eyes for Luke's silly monster pumpkin. I loved that they came up with ideas on their own for what type of pumpkins they wanted. Cole was a trooper this year. He dug right into the pumpkin guts and cleaned his out really well. It took a little bit of prodding to get Luke going, but once he got started he just kept going and cleaned most of his out by himself. Ellee was a little diva the entire time. We got her to reach into her pumpkin maybe a handful of times. We got big scoops probably twice and then daintly little pinches the other times. She wouldn't even attempt to finish so we got to help take care of that. It was much better than last year when we had to clean out all the pumpkins and did not enjoy it much at all. I was very proud of the final result. We had a good time as a family and got some super cute pumpkins.

Splash Park

2009-09-20T11:53:00.005-06:00

There is a splash pad in the park by our house. The kids absolutely love it. The water is super cold but that doesn't bother the boys. They run around the whole time. Ellee walks daintily around the side and once in a while gets a little adventurous and puts her hand in the water or her hair. It is so fun having places like the splash pad and pool close to our house. The kids really enjoy it when we go with cousins and friends. Here are some of my favorite pics from the splash pad.

Summer Fun at the Pool

2009-09-20T10:53:00.006-06:00

So, I decided that since summer is clearly over I should probably post some of the fun things we did over the summer. We spent part of almost every day at the pool, even if only for an hour. It is so nice having a pool that we can head to whenever we want. Plus, we figured out the schedule when it wasn't too busy and made sure to get over there during that time. We also had a fun time at the pool with Sarah and Brody. They were at the pool with us just about every time we went.Ellee was a little hesitant at the beginning of the summer to get in the pool, after her incident at Dimple Dell last winter. It only took her a couple weeks to be comfortable floating around in the pool again. She started with her water wings, but then fell in love with her pink tube and just climbed right in and floated around the pool.
Luke was completely different this summer from last summer. He started out in his green tube. He loves jumping right into the water and floating around. He also discovered that he can reach in the three foot area and was so proud of the fact that he didn't have to stay in the "baby" section of the pool. Luke is quite the swimmer underwater. He loves swimming under the water and would even swim to the side after doing cannon balls into the deeper water.
Cole is our little fish. He LOVES the water. He is fun to watch, doing somersaults under water, handstands, playing tag, etc. He can go anywhere in the pool because he's really gotten pretty good at swimming. We didn't sign him up for lessons this year but he is still picking it up pretty well. Damon has been working with him on using big arms and swimming on top of the water instead of just underneath and floating on his back.

It's Beautiful!

2009-09-19T21:30:00.002-06:00

We made our own pizza for dinner tonight. When Damon is at work I try to keep the kids busy so spending time making pizza and cookies is a good, fun way to keep them occupied. The kids love helping put the cheese and pepperoni on. While it was cooking they went upstairs to clean up their rooms. Ellee finished first and came running downstairs to check on our pizza. She looked in the oven and immediately said "Mommy, it's beautiful!" I never considered pizza to be beautiful but maybe that is how I'll have to explain it from now on. It was so cute. Had to write it down so I wouldn't forget.

Preschool

2009-09-07T15:48:00.004-06:00

Luke and Ellee in preschool? They can't be old enough already! The twins started preschool a couple weeks ago. They are going to Learning Dynamics where Mama is the director. I don't even think they know the name of their school. They just call it Mama's school. It fits.Their teacher's name is Mrs. Chester and they absolutely love her-even when they don't get their way. At the end of the first week of school they were rotating the toy buckets and getting new toys in their room. Luke was really excited to play with the new toys, but Mrs. Chester explained that they had just rotated them and that toy time was over but they would be able to play with the new toys the following week. My little stinker decided that wasn't the answer he wanted and told Mrs. Chester "I want a new teacher". Luckily, Mrs. Chester has a good sense of humor and just thought it was cute-and of course everyone at the school now knows Luke's logic :)
They've been reviewing and learning colors at school. The kids are supposed to wear the color they are learning for the day to school. You all know Ellee's nickname-Pinky---well imagine trying to get the girl in any color other than pink. We did just fine with purple, red, and green (because it was a dress with green and pink flowers on it) but when we got to blue-she had a complete meltdown. The nerve Mommy has to dress her in BLUE!!! What was I thinking? She absolutely refused until we searched through all her drawers and found a blue skirt (so she could be a princess) and put pink bows in her hair. We are looking forward to this week when they are learning black and brown. Fun times for me. She has lots of pink and brown outfits, but not much black---looks like I might head to the store to find some black and pink clothes.

Luke doesn't have any purple clothes so we didn't have any issues with his clothes. He was all too happy that he didn't have to wear purple--he doesn't have pink either, maybe I should try to find him something pink-that would go over well.

They love school and are doing really well with their work. We couldn't be happier for them. It's fun watching how excited they get every time they get ready for school.

1st Grade

2009-08-11T14:33:00.003-06:00

Well-it's official!!! Cole is now a first grader. It makes me so sad. I can't believe I have a six year old and that he is now in school all day. I've had a harder time with first grade than I did with kindergarten. I think it's because he is in school from 8:50-3:50. That seems like such a long time for him to be away from us. His teacher is Mrs. Bennight. It was so cute--when Damon dropped him off at school yesterday he said "Dad-I like school... but I miss my family, too." Ohhhhh! That just about broke my heart. He had a rough time adjusting to 1st grade and came home a little bit sad for the first couple weeks. Damon and I have been stressing out and trying to figure out what we can do to make him enjoy school and to want to be there, even though we are really wanting him home with us. It was such a relief to pick him up yesterday and to see his huge grin and happy face. He got in the car and told me how much fun he had at school. I am so glad that he's used to the full day, has made friends and is now enjoying it a little bit more!!! Luke and Ellee obviously miss Cole and talk about him all day long. They start preschool soon and ask almost every day when they will get to go to "Mama's school". They are so excited....we'll see how that goes.

Our little lady

2009-08-07T10:15:00.003-06:00

I had volleyball camp down in St. George a couple weeks ago. My sister Teresa stepped it up and helped watch the twins for almost a week while I was coaching. While the twins were with her she took her daughter Alyssa to get her ears pierced. It was so cute. I immediately started working on Damon. He wanted it to be Ellee's choice about getting earrings. Ellee is the girliest girl I know and she started in with asking Damon, too. I know we could have waited, but it was innevitable that it would happen sooner rather than later. We ended up taking Ellee to get her ears pierced while down in St. George. She got to pick which earrings she wanted-pink flowers, of course. I was surprised-she actually asked for purple first. My daughter who cries when I dress her in anything but pink? Well, they didn't have purple so she went for the pink flower earrings. She only cried long enough for us to open a sucker and pop it in her mouth. She is so proud of her earrings. It is one of the first things she shows off to people when we are out or when we have people come to our house.

The Manti Pageant

2009-08-06T20:03:00.003-06:00

We went down to the Manti Pageant last month. We went down with Sarah, Adam, and Brody. The first attempt we decided not to brave the weather and ended up just staying at Adam's parents house playing games and watching movies. We decided to try again and actually made it to the pageant. We had lots of fun while we were waiting. Damon and the kids had an awesome wrestling match. I think Damon ended up winning-I really think the kids almost had him beat for a little bit though. It was fun to watch the kids' reactions to the pageant. Ellee stayed awake through the whole pageant. Cole and Luke both fell asleep about halfway through. I think we might wait a few more years before we attempt it again. At least until the kids are a little older to be able to appreciate it.

The Tigers

2009-06-29T17:34:00.003-06:00

Yes-It's finally Luke's turn to get involved in sports. He is on the Detroit Tigers with the county tee ball program. Every morning when he wakes up he asks if it is a tee ball day and if he can go to play baseball. I don't have many pictures yet since he has only had one game but I will get some more posted as soon as I get them. He loves having Joel on his team and can't wait to play some more! It is fun watching them practice running bases. When Luke gets to a base he get super excited and jumps onto the base instead of just tagging it-sooooo cute! He thinks he is the coolest thing ever! We especially love the too big hats-with the ears poking out the side---he loves it so much he even slept with his baseball hat :-)

The Yellow Jackets

2009-06-29T17:25:00.003-06:00

I know-we keep Cole busy. Cole brought home a flier to play county soccer and we figured it would be good for him, so why not? He loved it! He practiced once a week and had games every Saturday. It has been fun watching him in all his sports because he is so aggressive. It was especially fun watching how quickly he picked it up and how he improved from the first practice to the last game. So much fun! The highlight of his season was scoring a goal-he still talks about it. It was cute watching him keep score during the game-and how excited he got when his team scored or won a game.

The Sidewinders

2009-06-18T13:53:00.006-06:00

Cole had so much fun playing baseball again this year. His team was the Sidewinders. Even though it was a very bright color he was thrilled to have a cool snake across the uniform. He got a new coach this year-he was coaching two separate teams and so the dads got to help out a lot. Cole's friend Jackson was on his team again this year and they had tons of fun together. He is getting really good at baseball. His favorite position to play is first base, and he did a pretty good job there-especially since he is actually able to catch the ball.
He is really understanding the game and will definitely be ready to move up to the big boy league next year. He's ready for a few more rules and structure. This was Cole's third year playing and he thinks baseball is "cool". That's the only thing he'd say about it. Last year he couldn't stop talking about it-now he's Mr. Cool Guy. Fun times! He did tell me that his favorite thing from baseball was when he hit a homerun. Usually the kids hit the ball and only run one base. Cole had such a good hit that the first base coach told him to keep running and he decided that meant it was a homerun and ran around all the bases. It was so cute!

Dancing Ellee!

2009-06-09T23:26:00.004-06:00

We signed Ellee up for dance about two months ago. I swore I would push sports with my daughters instead of dance but the way she moves and is all girl had me jumping at the chance to get her going with dance. She absolutely loves it!!!! Her teacher's name is Miss Brittany-she is so outgoing at dance but gets shy every time she sees Miss Brittany at church. It's super cute. I am bummed because there is no dance for the month of June and she is missing it already. It has been fun watching her doing chasse's and plie's around the house. Yes, I am learning my jazz and ballet terms-can you imagine? It really is lots of fun to see her doing well and enjoying it so much.

Universal Studios

2009-04-29T22:54:00.002-06:00

On Thursday, our last day in Anaheim we had plans to go to Universal Studios. Ellee and Luke were done with all the lines and really needed some down time-plus they'd been begging to go swimming, so Damon and Cole went to Universal Studios for about half the day while the twins and I went swimming and took a much needed nap :)

Cole loved it. We especially love the Jaws video-Cole had no idea what to expect-too funny!

Ellee and Daddy's Disneyland Date

2009-04-29T22:25:00.005-06:00

Ellee and Damon were able to go on a little date while we were at Disneyland. There is a restaurant over at California Adventure called Ariel's Grotto. When you walk in to the restaurant you immediately see Ariel there. I guess Ellee got really shy and walked up to Ariel but wouldn't talk to her. Throughout the brunch Ellee and Damon were visited by Ariel, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty-Aurora, Cinderella, and Belle. Ellee was in heaven. She loved it and asks to see her princess pictures all the time. We then got to hear about it for the rest of the day-and she insisted that she was a princess too-since she was given a crown while there. We all know she is the princess (or diva-depending on the day) of our family!

Disneyland

2009-04-29T22:24:00.003-06:00

I finally got the rest of the Disneyland pictures up! I took way too many pictures. We were so excited when we got to Disneyland. We got the opportunity to teach the kids a little patience right from the start. The kids really struggled with the lines the first day we were there, but by the third day they were great while we waited-sometimes more patient than Mom and Dad. We had so much fun-there's no way I'm going to get everything written down-so I'll just highlight a few things. The first day we were in Anaheim we went to California Adventure. We wanted to save Disneyland for Ellee and Luke's birthday. Luke and Ellee were treated so well on their birthday-they gave them badges that said their name and that it was their birthday so every worker at Disneyland and each character we saw made sure to wish them a Happy Birthday. They didn't realize it was because of their badge and thought everyone just new it was their birthday. It was so fun to watch. Cole's badge said "1st Time at Disneyland" so he was treated just as well. He also loved playing the part of big brother and making sure that everyone knew that not only was it Luke and Ellee's birthday but that they were also twins. He was so proud of them.

It was so fun to walk down Disneyland Main Street and to see the castle and Mickey Mouse statue. The kids were so excited-it was all we could do to keep them with us-they just wanted to run in every direction and to do everything at once.

I hadn't been to Disneyland since I went with my family when I was really young. I didn't remember anything except for Small World and that was the one ride that I really wanted to make sure we went on-and I absolutely loved it this time around as well. We made it there on our last day-we were the very first people on it that morning and got a whole boat for just our family. The kids thought it was fun looking for all the Disney characters hidden throughout the ride. Ellee danced the whole time we were on the ride-and YES, the song was in my head for the rest of the day.

Damon hadn't been since he was younger either but seemed to know his way around better than I did. We got some good advice to make sure we used the stroller pass and fast pass tickets to get through the lines faster. Lucky Cole! He got to go on each ride twice. We really liked the stroller pass-Damon and Cole would wait in line and I would get a ticket to go with Cole after they waited in line-the twins and I would go on different rides while the big boys waited in line and then Damon and I would switch. It worked out pretty well. We even got some stroller passes without having to wait in line :)

We loved Toon Town and all the characters up there. I am still shocked at just how busy everything was. The kids walked around with the biggest eyes all throughout Toon Town-they couldn't believe all the characters we were seeing. Pluto was the first character we ran into-the boys were thrilled-Ellee was a little nervous and wouldn't take her eyes off Pluto. After seeing Pluto that was all Luke would talk about-he even picked a Pluto t-shirt when we let the kids choose a t-shirt the last day. We also ran into Goofy while in Toon Town. We didn't wait in line to see Mickey or Minnie because we knew the kids would see them at the birthday party later.

The two rides the kids enjoyed the most were the Buzz Lightyear Ride and the Finding Nemo ride. Ellee and Luke still tell everyone we see about the Nemo Ride-and they remember it play by play-every little detail. They especially liked when we were eaten by a whale.

We tried to go through the Haunted Mansion-but once they got us in the room right before they closed the doors Cole decided it was too much for him and started crying and bolted out the door-so we followed him out. He was so upset we didn't even bother trying again.

We made it to all the rides that were open there. Damon and I both loved the Pirates of the Caribbean Ride-Ellee was nervous-Luke kind of giggled at some parts but then would get really serious when we would pass the pirates shooting back and forth. Damon and Cole had fun trying to find Jack Sparrow throughout the ride-I still don't know how many they counted.

The Jungle Cruise was so funny. The whole time we were at Sea World Cole kept asking to see Piranhas and we had to keep telling him that there weren't any there. Our guide on the Jungle Cruise was so funny-at one point he said "Say hello to the piranhas." Cole was so excited he leaned forward and right then the piranha's jumped out of the water. His reaction was so funny-I still laugh at how high he jumped and how he covered his face so they wouldn't get him-so cute!

So I can't write about every ride-all I will say is that they were all tons of fun! And the kids remember them all and can still tell us about them.

We went to the fireworks show the last night we were there. It was so cool. They had little mini shows that went along with music for all the different rides, movies, and characters. Tinkerbell flew across the castle and sprinkled fairy dust. Luke was a little nervous during the fireworks. He loved part of it-and hated other parts. Cole and Ellee just loved it-they both got a little scared during the Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean fireworks. I am so glad that we decided to stay for the fireworks. It was awesome-a good conclusion to our Disneyland vacation.

Disneyland Birthday

2009-04-26T22:52:00.007-06:00

Luke and Ellee were so excited to celebrate their birthday at Disneyland. We found out that you could reserve a spot to go to a birthday party with Mickey and Minnie Mouse-we decided that since we weren't at home and it was their birthday it would be a really fun way to celebrate their birthdays. It was so cute. Patrick A. Cake (Pat-A-Cake) was the host of the party. He sang some songs to everyone that was having a birthday and played games with the kids.
We each got our own small Mickey Mouse cake to decorate and eat. They had a cake decorating contest and guess what? We all won-because all the cakes were perfect-isn't that amazing? :-)
After we finished decorating cakes we found out that a surprise visitor was coming to see all the birthday kids. The twins were so excited when Mickey and Minnie walked into the party-Damon and I were excited because that meant we wouldn't have to wait in the 45 minute line to get a picture with Mickey and the 30 minute line to get a picture with Minnie! Mickey and Minnie danced and sang songs with the kids and then we all got to get pictures with them.

Disneyland Street Party

2009-04-26T22:14:00.003-06:00

We were able to go to a huge street party and parade that went down main street in Disneyland. It was so fun! We saw all the characters and the kids loved it. It was on Ellee and Luke's birthday so everyone there was making them feel like they were the coolest kids around and Cole had on his "First Time at Disneyland" Badge so he felt equally special. They even pulled all three kids out in the street to dance with them and the characters. It was so fun to watch. Ellee and Cole danced but Luke just played Mr. Cool Guy and walked around with a little smirk on his face. We really had a blast!

I couldn't resist putting Ellee's dancing video in here-she was so funny-every single time she heard music she would start wiggling her hips. She did not want the street party to end.

Swimming and California Adventure

2009-04-24T21:05:00.006-06:00

Hanging out at the pool :)

It really wasn't all that warm while we were in San Diego-I think it got up in the mid 60's while we were there. But that couldn't stop us. The sun came out in full force and after a day of walking around Sea World we couldn't resist the pool. The kids had a blast and it was nice to relax a little bit.
The kids all slept in the same bed for the trip. The first couple nights were hard because they wanted to play together-but they finally got used to it and loved sleeping sideways on the bed.

California Adventure

So everybody told us that the kids would absolutely LOVE the Bugs' Life area at California adventure. I guess we shouldn't have started with the 3-D movie they have "It's Tough Being a Bug". This is a picture of the kids before the movie-do you see how happy they are?
Here is the picture after we had to leave the movie after about 6 minutes . I guess they were not ready for the 3-D effects. They did not like the bugs flying toward them or the spiders coming down from the ceiling or the getting splattered with "acid" as the bugs fought each other. Cole thought it was pretty funny until the spiders looked like they were going to land on his head and then he completely freaked out just like Luke and Ellee. I know Damon and I shouldn't have thought it was funny-our kids being tormented-but we laughed so hard we were crying. I still have a grin on my face thinking about their reactions. It was so funny-Damon and I really enjoyed the first 6 minutes of the movie.

Needless to say, the kids were a little hesitant to try anything after that. We went on some rides in the Bugs' Life area and they finally relaxed and started enjoying themselves.Another big highlight at California Adventure was finding Lightning McQueen and Mater--the kids were so excited they wouldn't hold still for a picture.
I love this picture-look what a good big brother he is. Luke was in Damon's arms, still a little freaked out by the Bug's Life movie :-)
We were a little hesitant to try the Toy Story ride because it was also 3-D but we decided to brave it and see how the kids would like it. It was a long line but such a fun ride! The kids all loved it and wouldn't stop talking about Mr. Potato Head, Woody, Buzz, and Jesse. Fun, fun, fun!
OK-Cole, Damon, and I all agree that our favorite ride from the vacation was definitely Screamin. It's the big roller coaster. It was awesome! We also loved the one where you fly over all of California-even if it did test my fear of heights a little bit :-)

Sea World

2009-04-19T15:21:00.005-06:00

We went to Sea World on Sunday. We were thinking it would be another overcast cold day like Saturday but it ended up being really warm and sunny! It was awesome! We did all the usual things-Shamu, the dolphin show, and sea lion show. Plus, there is a Sesame Street playground with rides and shows that the kids loved.Cole was definitely the bravest of the kids. He loved the sting ray and even picked up the star fish. Luke would reach in the water and the squeal before he even got close to the sting ray or star fish. Ellee wouldn't even put her hand near the water.

We loved the shark aquarium. The kids were all a little bit nervous when the sharks would swim over our heads or towards us. It was so funny.Cole was so bummed that we were not sitting in the splash zone for the Shamu show so when we went to the dolphin show he went down closer than we were and he got soaked-and loved every second of it!

San Diego Zoo and the beach

2009-04-18T21:39:00.007-06:00

I decided that I couldn't do one blog entry to cover the entire vacation so I will do an entry for each of the major things we did. Sorry for the play by play entry-but then I will remember everything better :) We left here on Thursday of last week right after I got off work and headed down to Cedar City to stay with Teresa and Chase and to help cut down on the drive time the next day. They had dinner all ready for us when we got there and it was fun having Teresa teach me how to make strawberry jam :) But the best was Teresa's home made wheat bread-yummy!
We got an early start on Friday morning for San Diego. The kids were awesome in the car-we got through a lot of movies and a nice long nap from them. It was actually a pretty pleasant drive-except the chaos of Las Vegas traffic. We went to the beach once we got to San Diego. It wasn't very warm so we just walked along the beach, found sea shells, watched the sea lions and ate sandwiches. Cole had fun letting the waves come over his feet and Luke wanted to be just like big brother but was not quite as fast and ended up falling in the water-oops! He and Ellee also had a hard time getting used to the sand going between their toes-they were not happy with it.
Saturday was spent at San Diego Zoo. I love the zoo and it was lots of fun-and lots of walking! That zoo is huge!!! It was kinda cold so there were a lot of animals not coming out-so we were a little bummed that we didn't see all the animals. The kids loved the sky ride and the bus tour around the zoo. It was fun looking for "Alex, Gloria, Moto-Moto, Melman, and Marty" and we were successful finding each one of them. It was lots of fun! We especially loved the baby gorilla-I think Ellee would have stayed there watching it all day if we would have let her. We were completely spent when finished up at the zoo.

TINK

2009-03-31T21:55:00.004-06:00

I love animals-and especially dogs! I've wanted a new dog for quite awhile and things just kinda fell into place and we found ourselves with a new puppy. We tossed around names but in the end Ellee's choice of names stuck, Tink. It seems to fit her personality. She is just a little fluff ball. She is a havachon (a havanese, bichon frise mix). Damon and I have always had big-very big-dogs and this is our first attempt with a little one. We'll see how it goes. She is seven weeks old and has stolen everyone's hearts around here. We've had to remind Cole a few times not to maul her. He wants to carry her everywhere and he really is her favorite. She loves him just as much as he loves her. It has been fun to watch Ellee and Luke go from screaming and running away to cuddling her and rubbing her belly. We'll have to see how this all plays out. Yay!

St. Patty's Day

2009-03-21T10:55:00.004-06:00

We had a fun St. Patrick's Day. Cole had so much fun at school and seeing everyone wearing green. He thought it was so silly. The real highlight for him turned out to be our St. Patrick's Day dinner. I got all the kids together in the kitchen and we made green pancakes, green eggs, green applesauce, and green milk. It was so funny. Luke was in heaven-since his favorite color is green. Cole still asks for green applesauce each time we have applesauce.
Ellee was a little freaked out at first. She didn't know what to think. She said "ewwwww", in which Cole responded by telling her that he's had green eggs and ham at school and that the food still tastes the same-"It's just green!" It was lots of fun-and they all ate their whole dinner!

Cole is the Man!

2009-02-25T21:17:00.006-07:00

Can you believe it? I don't have a six year old---no way! We had so much fun on Cole's birthday. His party is not until Friday but we wanted to make his birthday special so we asked him what he wanted to do and what special meal he wanted a couple days before his birthday so we could be prepared. I was expecting something like his pigs in a blanket request like last year, but he really thought about it for a couple hours and then decided that he would like us to make our own pizzas for dinner. Ummm-okay, we can do that. He told us that he wanted bacon, pepperoni, and ham on the pizzas. He was so excited about his pizza meal he kept telling everyone about it.
When he got home from school he walked into the living room where his brand new bike sat, ran over to it and said "Sweet, present time!" He opened all the presents (the whole time telling Luke that they were his new toys and that he couldn't have a turn yet). Right when he got done opening presents he wanted to make the pizza. With Damon's expertise and his beautiful pizza making skills we managed to turn out some pretty yummy pizzas! The kids had tons of fun and it is definitely an activity we will do regularly. We also made rice krispy treats since we will do the cake at Cole's birthday party. He didn't expect us to put candles in the rice krispies-his reaction was so fun-he LOVED it! We had a really good day-even if it means that I have a six year old!

Wrestle Mania at our house!

2009-02-22T20:33:00.007-07:00

I love watching the kids wrestle with Damon. It has become a daily game-they love it!

Valentine's Day

2009-02-15T18:07:00.003-07:00

We've had lots of fun this Valentine's Day weekend. The week actually started out pretty yucky. We all spent the week sick as can be in bed. I had to call in sick to work 3 days in a row because we were all feeling so crappy. I think Luke had it the worst-he threw up probably 7 or 8 times. Poor kid.

Once we were feeling better we had fun making valentine's and sugar cookies. The kids had a ball. I especially loved the twins valentine scribbles and Cole's smiley face sugar cookies. ---Just ignore Ellee in her pajamas-her Snow White dress up was dirty so she put the pj's on over her jeans since it was a dress. Silly girl!

Tagged by Sarah

2009-01-25T21:16:00.003-07:00

Thanks so much Sarah! It took me forever!

8 THINGS ABOUT ME
here are the rules

1)POST RULES ON YOUR BLOG
2)ANSWER THE SIX "8" ITEMS
3)LET EACH PERSON KNOW BY LEAVING THEM A COMMENT
P.S THESE ARE NOT IN ORDER

8 FAVORITE TV SHOWS
1- The Office
2- House
3- Grey's Anatomy
4- ER
5- American Idol
6- So You Think You Can Dance
7- Heroes
8- Lost

THINGS I DID YESTERDAY
1. Dinner at Chili's with Damon, Treg, and Lisa
2. Went to Cole's Jr. Jazz game
3. Laundry
4. Played darts with Damon
5. Went for a walk with the kids since the inversion finally lifted
6. Took down Christmas lights off the deck-snow melted enough to get to them
7. Watched Damon getting tased about 50 times- and laughed every time
8. Read Junie B. Jones with Cole

THINGS TO LOOK FORWARD TO
1. Spring Break & then summer break
2. Reaching my weight loss goals
3. Alone time with Damon
4. A day when I can sleep in and not have to wake up to the alarm clock
5. Going on a nice vacation with the whole family
6. New clothes
7. Warm days to take the kids to the park--or snowy days to take them sledding-anything but the weather now
8. One on one time with each of the kids

FAVORITE RESTURANTS
1. Olive Garden
2. Cafe Rio
3. Chili's
4. TGIF
5. Applebees
6. Papa John's Pizza
7. Los Hermanos
8. Training Table

THINGS ON MY WISH LIST
1. Lose more weight
2. Get my hair done
3. Date night with Damon
4. Go on one big vacation a year with my whole family
5. Go to Hawaii
6. More patience
7. Get some sort of pet-preferably a dog--sorry Damon :)
8. Getting my entire family to church on time for 9 o'clock meetings

Cole lost his first tooth!

2009-01-13T23:02:00.005-07:00

We are so excited at our house. Cole lost his first tooth tonight! He's been playing with it for so long we were wondering if it would ever fall out! After we brushed his teeth at bedtime he told me that he thought it was time for the tooth to come out. So I flossed it for him and could tell it was really close. He played with it for awhile and then it started bleeding and he told me he needed to get a washcloth so he could pull it out. He gave a couple half-hearted yanks on it and then immediately ran to our magnifying mirror so he could get a better look. After he looked at it he said "Whoa-it's really loose!" He then gave one really good yank and yelled "I got it!" He was so excited. It took a good half hour to calm him down enough to convince him that it was time to go to sleep. He has a bunk bed and was really concerned that the tooth fairy wouldn't be able to find the tooth since he was up high so he decided that we should put the tooth in a baggy and tape it to the bed next to his head. He also informed us that the tooth fairy only brings gold dollars--good to know! Yay for Cole!!! Do I really have a child old enough to be losing teeth? I love his toothless grin!!!

Christmas Pictures 2008

2009-01-11T21:40:00.008-07:00

Christmas 2008

2009-01-11T20:52:00.009-07:00

Isn't it funny how we are so excited for a nice break from work and then don't get half the things done we hoped to? I thoroughly enjoyed my Christmas break but it went way too fast! We had lots of parties and activities and we are all completely worn out. We started out the season at the Wilder Christmas party with all of Damon's cousins and aunt's and uncle's on his Dad's side of the family. It is always chaotic but the kids really enjoyed the marshmallow snowball fight. We then had the Christmas party with Damon's siblings and Mom at Tani's house. It is always lots of fun and the kids love seeing Santa. Santa gave the kids a warning that we are in a recession this year so they might not get exactly what they wanted. He was really funny this year! This year Grandma Janet made each of her granddaughters a nightgown. The girls were so cute in their matching nightgowns. Ellee loves hers and hates it when it is not clean for bedtime.
Damon had to work Christmas Eve this year so we were all pretty bummed out. We decided that it would be a fun tradition to start going to Temple Square on Christmas Eve. Mama, Papa, Ashley, Jed, Ruby and Emma all went with us. It was lots of fun. The kids loved riding on trax and seeing all the fun lights at Temple Square. We were also able to stop at the courthouse to see Damon and visit for a little while. The kids love going to Damon's work and made themselves right at home-asking for drinks and wanting to look at all the tv/computer screens in the control room. It was good to be able to stop and see him since he was stuck at work on Christmas Eve.
Christmas morning was lots of fun! Damon woke the kids up when he got home from work and they were so excited to see if Santa brought them anything. They came running down the stairs and didn't look back. It was so fun to watch them get excited over everything-whether it was new underwear or a new toy. Luke loved that he has started getting some of the same big boy toys as Cole and Ellee just squealed every time she opened a present.
We went to Papa Larry's for Christmas morning breakfast and to see the cousins and family. I was so surprised that the kids weren't tired. They were wired pretty much all day long. After Papa Larry's we headed to Papa and Mama's house for the Romig Christmas party-where the kids got loaded up on even more sugar and toys-and enjoyed every moment!
Needless to say-the kids slept like rocks Christmas night! We had a great Christmas season.

Picture Time

2008-12-24T14:22:00.005-07:00

I hate getting family pictures taken. It is always such a long process and usually ends up bad. We haven't had professional family pics done since the twins were born so we felt it was about time to attempt it. Unfortunately-we had to go two different times since the first time was horrible!!! Our photographer was horrible, our kids didn't cooperate and we were trying to force it, so we walked away and said we'll try this again in a year or two. I don't know what we were thinking but we decided to attempt the picture thing again. I was prepared this time though. I requested a photographer that I worked with when I worked at Kiddie Kandids and I knew she was good-we had everything ready, we didn't go during or immediately after nap time and it was so much better. We love the pictures!!!

Thanksgiving and more

2008-12-13T16:52:00.009-07:00

We had a super busy Thanksgiving holiday. We went to my parents for a Thanksgiving at 1:00. It was fun-and very busy-we played games, colored, made turkeys-played basketball. We were so worn out!

Thank you Grandma Ruth for the matching Hawaiian shirts. So fun! I'm just glad they were for the guys this year!

All of our activities burned off enough calories so that we were ready for our next Thanksgiving dinner at 6:00 at Damon's dad. We did a lot of visiting and hanging out while the kids ran around with their cousins-plus lots more yummy turkey.

We then went back over to my parents church for Emma's first birthday party. Needless to say, the kids slept so well that night!

We also celebrated Thanksgiving with Damon's mom that weekend. We had the traditional Thanksgiving meal-plus a little karaoke as dessert-it was so much fun watching Damon, Cole and Ellee(who mostly danced) doing the karaoke thing. Luke would dance every once in awhile but really just wanted to run around playing with the toys.

We had a fun Saturday today. Cole started Jr. Jazz. He is in the kindergarten league. That means the teams practice for about 30 minutes right before each game to help the kids learn the skills. He was so excited choosing out his jersey-he's # 34. I was so proud of him. He listened to the coach and shadowed what the coach was telling them to do so when it was his turn he knew exactly how to do it. It was fun watching Luke and Ellee cheering him on from the side. Every time he'd run past they'd yell "Go COLEY!" He would just grin at them and give us a little smirk. So fun!

The Christmas break countdown has begun! Can't wait---I love being home with my family!

Slowing Down

2008-11-25T22:27:00.003-07:00

Volleyball is over and I can't believe how much slower the pace is around our house. We are still busy with the normal stuff-Damon still watches the kids in the morning while I'm at work and I watch them in the evenings while he's at work. I just don't have to stay late for practices and games anymore. I'm usually home by about 2:30 every day. It's nice being able to take the kids to the park and really enjoy the time with them. Damon is still not getting lots of sleep but more than he was. It is so nice! We've just been enjoying the time together.

Last weekend, Sarah and Adam watched the kids overnight so Damon and I could head up to Park City for a little time away. It was good to have some time just the two of us. Thanks Sarah and Adam!!!

We also had some of Damon's work friends and Sarah and Adam over for the Utah-BYU game on Saturday. We were stressed when we turned on the t.v. and no cable. I guess someone had cut the main cable to Riverton and Herriman so nobody was able to get the game. We turned the radio on and listened to the first quarter-they got it fixed and back on a few seconds into the second quarter. Go Utes! It was lots of fun having friends over-I told Damon we'd have to have another party soon. Who knew? I like having people over. I certainly didn't realize how much fun it could be. Maybe again for a BCS bowl game?

Happy Halloween!

2008-11-03T22:14:00.005-07:00

The kids were so grossed out carving pumpkins. Cole actually dry-heaved a little bit at first when he had to grab the pumpkin guts. Ellee daintily touched the pumpkin with her spoon and thought she was done. Luke actually started crying when we told him to scoop the insides out. It ended up taking a little longer than we had planned since Damon and I got to clean everyone's pumpkins out and carve them. Cole did his and then drew a picture on it so we could cut it out for him. Ellee just kept telling us that she wanted a princess pumpkin and Luke wanted a Shrek pumpkin. We finally just asked them which shapes they wanted on the pumpkin. It was crazy, but lots of fun.

Halloween was tons of fun this year. Cole wanted to be a mummy so bad-I am still impressed with what Damon and I came up with for a costume-even if it was a pain in the butt. Luke was so excited to be a ghost. He kept walking around with his arms out saying "ooooooooooo". He had lots of fun trying to scare people. Ellee was a black cat. She loved meowing and crawling around like a kitty.

I took the day off at West. Our volleyball season ended on Thursday night and so I was ready for a break, plus I wanted to watch Cole in his kindergarten Halloween parade. It was fun. All the kids came into the gym and walked around it twice, proud as can be. We were all there cheering on Cole. Mama surprised him and came over from work to watch. He thought that was pretty cool.

When Cole got home from school we started getting ready for our Halloween night. Damon's dad and Tonya stopped by to see the kids and visit. After they left we went to make the rounds. We stopped at my parents' first. Some of the cousins were there. It was fun to watch them play with each other and giggle at each other's costumes. Ellee immediately began following Whitney (Belle) and Ruby (Cinderella) around. She thought they were so pretty. She wouldn't let us call Whitney or Ruby by their names-they were Belle and Cinderella. Luke and Cole just got a kick out of roaming around and trying to scare everyone. Luke and Ellee were both a little scared of Courtney's scary costume. All the cousins trick-or-treated around the circle before we headed out.

After visiting Mama and Papa, we headed up to the Bell's home. We got there and immediately headed out the door to go trick or treating. Ellee latched on to Teagan, wanting only her. Cole and Luke were all about the candy. They ran from door to door. Poor Luke kept tripping over his ghost costume on all the big steps, so I ended up tying knots in it to help hold it up a little higher. They were doing great until the rain started, so I headed back to the Bell's house while Damon finished up with Cole. We now have so much candy I get sick just looking at it. It was a fun Halloween and the kids were so worn out they didn't even fight us at bed time.

2008-10-15T23:06:00.006-06:00

A couple weeks ago we decided to go up Big Cottonwood Canyon for a picnic and some outdoor time. It was so much fun. The kids had a blast. We barbecued hot dogs and chicken and then went exploring. It was fun watching the kids trying to climb trees and getting dirty. They loved running through the tall grass and playing hide and seek.

Daddy, Daddy, Hi Daddy!

2008-10-08T23:29:00.002-06:00

I got pulled over tonight. When the officer walked up to the window Ellee immediately started saying "Daddy? Daddy? Is that Daddy? Hi Daddy!" The officer couldn't help but hear her and started smiling. I told her "No, it's not Daddy." The officer then asked "Who's her dad?" I explained that he's an officer at the courthouse. Needless to say, I was able to get a "Professional Courtesy". Thank you Ellee! I think I'm going to train all the kids to start talking about Daddy whenever a police officer wants to give me a ticket.

Hello Gorgeous!

2008-09-25T21:52:00.002-06:00

Some Pictures-Finally!

2008-09-22T22:40:00.009-06:00

WWOP(worhtless without pics)-okay-okay-here are your pics. I guess I have not been doing a good enough job getting pictures posted on my blog. Here are just some random pictures of the kids that we love.

Mount Olympus Lagoon Day-I forgot my camera at home so took some pics on my cell phone since it was Luke and Ellee's first time there. This was Cole's third time this year-and he loves it. His favorite rides are Wicked and Colossus.

Ellee finally got her first haircut. She had a pretty awesome mullet going so we decided it was time to even it out and see if we could get it to grow in a little bit thicker.

One quick update-we found out that Damon is not going to be able to get the afternoon shift so he is stuck on graves at least until January when he re-bids.

Volleyball Season is here

2008-09-15T21:38:00.002-06:00

We are still here, just super busy with volleyball season! I am at work all day, then volleyball practice, then want to spend the rest of the day with my kids-not on a computer. Damon is getting about 2 hours sleep Monday-Wednesday and working non-stop. There might be an end in sight though! There is an opening for an afternoon shift at Damon's work. If he is able to get that shift he will work Monday through Friday noon to nine. It would work better for us-now we have to wait to see if he has seniority over anyone else trying to get the shift.

Cole is doing everything 5 year olds do. He loves school, even though he does get a little bored. He is learning about safety at school and we are really enjoying his safety lessons at home as well. Sometimes I feel like we have Lou and Lou's safety patrol in our house (sorry if you don't watch Disney Channel).

Ellee and Luke are busy, busy, busy! They are going non-stop! How would it be to have that much energy again? They love volleyball and run around the gym the entire time, making up games, climbing on the bleachers, exploring---they just go, go, go! They haven't been getting a nap every day because they are at volleyball with me so they sleep pretty well at night.

I hope I will get more free time this weekend so I can post some pics and better update.

Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'

2008-08-27T21:55:00.004-06:00

Ellee and Luke's new favorite thing to do is roll down the hill at the park. Luke loved doing it at all of Cole's baseball practices, but hadn't done it since. When we were at the park yesterday he said "Come on Ellee, roll a hill." They then spent the rest of the time rolling down the hill. They didn't want anything to do with the slides or other toys-just that big hill. Cole was a little disappointed because we still have to be careful with his hand so he no rolling for him. He decided to go looking for bugs. On a good note-Cole went to the doctor today and he only has to wear his splint to school so he won't be tempted to play on the monkey bars. He is so excited!

A little freedom!

2008-08-20T17:26:00.007-06:00

Cole was able to take a real shower for the first time in a month! He was so excited-he got his cast off last week and is loving his newfound freedom. Last Tuesday the doctor took off Cole's cast and replaced it with a splint. He is still pretty confined in the splint but at least now he can move his elbow and take it off for showers. He was disappointed when the doctor told him he still couldn't go swimming or take baths. He had been associating getting his cast off with going swimming and it was a big let down. He will have the splint for two weeks total-as long as the finger is healing well. It has been one week since the cast came off and we are already seeing lots of improvement. He can now almost straighten the finger which he had surgery on. It is still too soon to tell if the surgery was completely successful because it is too swollen to bend or make a fist-and the doctor doesn't want to strain it that much. In order to hold the tendon in place the doctor had to attach it to a wire, drill a hole through his fingernail into the tip of his finger, and pull the wire through the hole-he then tied a knot in the wire and tendon on the outside of his finger to hold it in place.

Gross-I know but if it works we won't care how he did it. Cole is a little bit freaked out by the fact that his fingernail is gone, but is also very intrigued by it. He loves checking it out and trying to figure out exactly what happened to his finger.

Kindergarten update: Cole loves kindergarten. It has been pretty slow moving and lots of review but he is still enjoying it. We hope it will start to pick up soon. He's also pretty proud of himself because he has no problems reading the books-no words-no letters-in class. They haven't gotten into books yet, so I think we will just start supplementing a little bit more at home. I told him that this time of year is for the teacher to figure out what the kids really know and to review all the letters and things he learned in preschool. Luke has also adjusted to Cole going to school, no more crying. Ellee and Luke go down for naps right after Cole gets dropped off so that helps the time go a little bit faster for them without Cole here. Ellee and Luke have also been coming to volleyball with me whenever possible. They absolutely love it! Thank goodness-last year was a struggle the whole time-they did not like volleyball. Ellee just copies the girls jumping and running around and Luke follows me around with a stop watch around his neck and yells at the girls when I do. I remember when Cole used to do that. It makes me sad that he is in kindergarten and is not my little shadow anymore. Everyone at West has been asking for Cole, it seems he has stolen all their hearts and they don't know what to do without him there. I guess Luke and Ellee have a lot to live up to-but the two little flirts should have everyone wrapped around their finger in no time.

Well-I am back to work full time now. It is so hard for me. I love coaching and teaching but it is so hard leaving the kids at home and watching Damon adjust to the no-sleep thing again. On Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays he gets about 2 hours of undisturbed sleep-and that's only if the twins take a good nap. We tried looking into daycare for just Mondays and Tuesdays, but most of the daycare places by our house are either full time 5 days a week or full time 3 days a week. They won't add any kids who are just part-time because they want to fill it with full time kids. Plus, daycare is expensive-especially when there are two kids to pay for. I feel so bad for Damon-I've been looking for solutions, but don't know what to do. Volleyball season is even harder because I can't come home at 2:30 because there is practice after school. I would love any suggestions!!!

Kindergarten Already?

2008-08-05T17:18:00.006-06:00

I can't believe it-Cole started kindergarten today. I will say this-I handled the testing last week and all the preparations for today with ease-but I had such a hard time watching him walk into that classroom!

For the last week he's been counting down for kindergarten. It has been fun watching how excited he's been. I am just struggling with the fact that Cole is already old enough to start kindergarten. Time has gone way too fast!

When we got to his school he ran over to his teacher and said "You're my teacher, right?" She said "Yes, I am. How are you Cole?" He was so thrilled that she remembered his name. Way to go Miss Bell! He then blew us a kiss- said "Bye, guys" and went to play on the kindergarten playground while he waited for class to start. He was oblivious to everything else-he just wanted to be at school.

The minute he walked away Luke got so sad. Luke started sobbing, reaching out his hand and calling "Coley, Coley, Coley!" All the other parents thought it was so cute that he was so sad about Cole going to school. I really was doing fine up until that point-then I got sad-I got watery eyes, but didn't let anything slip out. Little stinkers!

When I picked him up from school he was so distraught. I was so worried that he didn't have a good time. When I asked him what was wrong he said "I want to ride the bus!" We don't live far enough away from the school for a bus ride and when I tried explaining that he told me that we should just buy our own bus. It was all I could do to not laugh at the idea-he really was upset-so with my good mothering skills-I quickly changed the subject. I asked how school was and he said good. He told me that they had a chart to tell how they are feeling and that they got to put their names in the area describing how they felt. He told me that he put his name in the nervous area because he missed Damon and me. But then he said he thinks he might be in the happy area tomorrow because he likes school. Whew! Damon and I were so worried about how he would handle school-but I think all his emotions have been pretty normal. He loved his first day-hopefully he continues to love school.

2008-07-26T14:50:00.007-06:00

We were super busy this month. Here are some pictures from some of the things we did but haven't blogged about. On the 4th of July we went to Papa Larry's for a birthday BBQ. Here is a picture of all the Wilder cousins together.

After the BBQ we headed home for fireworks. We had my brother's family and the Maio's over to watch fireworks from our deck. We were able to see South Jordan, Riverton, Sandy, Thanksgiving Point and a couple other shows. It was fun watching all the different fireworks-we may not have been right under the fireworks but we didn't have to battle traffic and had a place to cool down while we waited. We also set some fireworks off in our front yard while waiting for the big shows to start.

We had a big family get together with my family the next day. We were so busy the next day I didn't take many pictures. It was lots of fun hanging out with the whole Brent Romig family and watching all the kids together. It was non-stop fun chaotic time. Cole was especially excited to get to spend some time with his cousins Ben, Brady and Toby who were here visiting before their big move to Hawaii. I was especially excited to spend time with my sister, Angie, and to meet my new niece, Molly.

The next week I headed down to St. George with my volleyball team for a team camp. We had 5-6 matches a day and were so busy I barely had time to think. Teresa took Ellee to Cedar City with her to make my first day in St. George lots easier. Ellee and Ashlyn had so much fun they were just like sisters the whole time. Damon kept the boys home with him until Wednesday when they came down to St. George to join us. When the volleyball camp was over we headed to Teresa and Chase's house for a couple days. While there I got to see what a great dentist Chase is. This is a picture of Ellee, Ashlyn, and Alyssa wearing their new matching nightgowns.

When we got back Cole had his surgery. We took Cole in for his follow up and have some good news. He will probably only have to keep the cast on for four weeks instead of six. We'll keep crossing our fingers. He's been pretty sad because he wants to go swimming and really misses riding his bike.

This week we went to the Maio's house to celebrate the 24th. We had a BBQ, played croquet, and set off fireworks. The kids were so fun. They watched the fireworks really well for awhile but then discovered that the fireworks made their shadows huge and started dancing around in the firework lights. They were giggling and having a ball.

Damon and I love going on drives in the canyons and hiking. We went up Butterfield Canyon to the summit where you can see Salt Lake, Tooele, Utah, and Davis counties. It was such a pretty drive. We could also see down into the copper mines. It was awesome! We have both been up in Big Cottonwood and Little Cottonwood canyons quite a bit but had never gone up Butterfield Canyon. On the way up there we passed the wild horses and burros. The kids loved seeing all the horses scattered across the mountain. We also got to wait in the road for five deer to cross. Cole was so excited!

Cole's Summer is Done

2008-07-17T11:03:00.008-06:00

Well, it looks like Cole's summer fun is over. A couple weeks ago Damon took Cole swimming at our community pool. Cole saw another boy playing with a cap that is at the bottom of the handrail going from the kiddie area to the deeper water-he thought it would be fun to play with it after the other boy was done. He didn't know that it had sharp edges all the way around and ended up cutting all four fingers on his right hand.

We cleaned and bandaged the cuts up. After they healed we noticed that he couldn't bend the tip of his ring finger. That's when we felt like horrible for not taking him to the doctor right when it happened.

On Monday, we took him to our pediatrician and he told us that Cole would need to go see a hand surgeon because it looked like he cut the tendon. He also said it would have been hard to detect the cut tendon until the wounds healed. That made us feel a little better. We found out that there are only a handful of doctors who specialize in hand surgery and even less who would work on a 5 year old's hand. Throw in who is covered under our insurance we really began to panic. We ended up calling Damon's friend, Oscar-who is an orthopedic surgeon and with his help we were able to find someone.

The doctor wanted to get him in for surgery the very next day. He said you don't want to delay anything-especially with young kids. We were there early for prep time and they gave Cole some "silly juice" to help him relax. It was both funny and sad to watch how he started acting once it kicked in.

We were told the surgery would last about an hour. 3 1/2 hours later the doctor came out and told us that it was a difficult surgery but went well. Cole's cast is huge! He didn't like it at first because it covered his fingers and went above his elbow.

POTTY TRAINING!!!

2008-07-13T21:53:00.005-06:00

I don't want to jinx myself, but I think we've got this potty thing under control. I really wanted to try to get the twins potty trained before I had to go back to teaching in August. I didn't know how realistic it would be to try potty training with me at work and Damon barely able to stay awake after a long graveyard shift. Luke has been great right from the start with his potty training. He wanted to go potty in the toilet and never looked back. He did start out going potty 40 times a day and now we're probably down to about 20 times a day-and he goes every time. He has been the easiest to potty train out of all three kids. It has been so nice. We even go to the store in big boys now and I don't get worried because he asks every time he feels the urge (which is usually in every store). Every one I have talked to has told me that girls are so much easier to potty train than boys-not in our case! Cole and Luke were so much easier than Ellee. I think it just depends on when they are ready and how stubborn they are.
Ellee is definitely our stubborn child-I didn't think we would ever master the task. If there is one thing I've learned about Ellee it is that she does things when she wants to. We've had a few conflicts because of how independent she is-little stinker. For the first two weeks of potty training Ellee had no problem going pee in the potty but wanted nothing to do with that other business. She would cry and say "I scared, Mommy!" We tried rewards like toys and sticker, tried buying her new panties at the store, tried letting her watch her brothers, tried guessing what color it might be (sounds gross, but she has an obsession with the color pink-she was determined for awhile that she would have pink poop)-nothing was working. We decided to just back off, and then Damon had the brilliant idea of painting one fingernail or toenail each time she pooped in the potty. She now has 17 purple and pink fingernails and toenails. It worked like a charm. Some days she even made herself go three or four times so that she would get her fingernails painted. Now that we are so close to having all of them done she points to the fingers that need touch up every time she does her deed and we get the nail polish out.
Ellee and Luke also loved Aunt Teresa's blue water in her toilet and keep asking for blue water now that we are back home-thanks T-I will have to make a trip to the store to buy some stuff to turn our water blue so they can have fun changing the color. I had to put the video of Luke and Ellee's potty dance on here-makes me laugh every time they do it. Especially when I see Cole dancing and singing with them. He loves to tell them that when he was learning to go potty in the toilet he used to sing that song too. I know I am a dork, but you do what you have to do-and we are almost there!

We Might Be Related to Rednecks!

2008-06-21T16:12:00.010-06:00

We spent the last couple days in Roosevelt visiting Damon's mom.

You might be a redneck if...

...you have a backhoe in your front yard.---Jay put Damon to work filling in holes on the property.

...Grandma knows how to ride a 4-wheeler better than you.

...you can step out your back door and shoot things up without any neighbors complaining.---Every time we visit Damon and Jay have target practice out back.

We had lots of fun-especially the kids. It was nice to be able to spend time time outside doing things that get you dirty.

We were also able to go have a picnic up in the Uintah's-only 20 minutes away from Janet's house. The kids were so bummed when we started packing up-they could've spent the entire day throwing rocks and sticks into the creek.

We were also able to go visit Great Grandma aka Granny.

FUN IN THE SUN

2008-06-16T23:13:00.009-06:00

Wow! I have been out of school for a little over a week now and I can't believe all that we've been doing. It seems like there is really never any down time-we are constantly moving-and I LOVE IT! Cole finished up his baseball season on the same day as my last day of school.

His coach then decided to have a big water party to hand out trophies and let the team play as just friends instead of baseball team-mates. They invited all the players' families so we all went and had a great time-with sunburns the next day.

Cole's friend Jackson was on his baseball team and in his preschool class-he is already having a hard time not seeing him everyday. They were inseparable at the water party.

Luke and Ellee play really well with Joel, Jackson's little brother.

Ellee was the only little girl at the water party-it was so cute to see the total difference between her and the boys. They all loved the water and she just screamed every time she would get splashed with water or if the boys got too close to her. It was so funny.

Since I have been on summer break we've been constantly on the move-our favorite things to do are: swimming-at the pool in our neighborhood as well as out back on our deck, riding bikes and trikes, bubbles, slides and swings at the park, going for walks with Mom-Cole riding his bike alongside, and climbing in bed with Mom and Dad every morning. It's a good thing we have a king size bed because it gets a little crowded with five of us in there.

This is the kids out on our deck in our little wading pool-it has a slide and they absolutely love it.

What typically happens on our long days? We have lots of really good naps! The twins will just fall asleep wherever-one day they even ran away to hide from the vacuum while I was cleaning and I found them asleep together-hiding-wish I would've thought to get the camera out!

I forgot to put this picture of the Wilder cousins on the blog after our get together at the park-we had such a fun time. I just think this is such a cute picture with the cousins together.

1 More Day!!!!

2008-06-04T20:25:00.002-06:00

One more day left of school! Yay! I am so excited. There were no students today-it was yearbook day and I will only get a handful of students there tomorrow since it is graduation. All I can say is that I am sooooo ready for a break. Plus I am ready to be home with Damon and the kids. Damon will now be able to sleep right when he gets home from work and we will actually get to see each other. I don't know if we have any real huge plans for the summer-just time to relax and have a good time with family. I think we will spend lots of time at the pool, park, riding bikes or hanging out on the deck. I have taken some really cute pics of the kids and will have to get them on here soon.

We had lots of fun last weekend. Sarah, Adam, Jed, Ashley, Ruby, and Emma came over to our house for a BBQ and swimming. Damon went in the morning to help Grandma Romig move and talked to everyone and arranged everything. We tried to get more people over but spur of the moment doesn't always work out. It was lots of fun-I really enjoyed having people over-not something I've done in any of our other homes. It was nice to relax out on the deck and then head to the pool. Cole, Ellee, Ruby, and Emma absolutely loved the pool. They had so much fun! Luke-not so much. I had given up on getting him away from the step where he was firmly planted and then right when we were packing up to go he finally got brave and came in the pool with me and giggled the entire time. That was the first time at the pool for the twins so we'll see if things get better. I promise to post some new pics soon. Sorry!

Marriage Tag

2008-05-20T21:31:00.006-06:00

Thanks Sarah-I don't know if you wanted this much information, but you got it.

How long have you been married? Almost 9 years
How old is your spouse? 31
Who eats more? Damon
Who said I love you first? I honestly don't know-I remember the exact moment we felt that love, but who said it ?????

Who is taller? Damon
Who sings better? I think Damon does, because he isn't shy about it-that is one of my favorite things about him-he knows the lyrics to just about every song there is and loves to sing for all of us. We sometimes just sit in the car singing even though we are home-he is so fun to watch. I love to sing but only let loose when nobody else is around or the music is up so loud nobody else can hear.

Who is smarter? I am more book smart-Damon is more street smart-we make a good pair-even though we tease each other nonstop.
Who controls the T.V. remote? Damon, but we do have contests to see who is better at stopping the DVR at the right time.
Whose temper is worse? Damon-hands down.

Who does the laundry? I do...Damon still likes to use the excuse that he doesn't really know how and that he doesn't want to ruin the clothes-I am on to his trick though-wish I would've thought of it first.
Who does the dishes? I do---Damon has gotten pretty good at rinsing off his dishes and putting them in the sink (much better than when we first got married) but I get all the loading and unloading.
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Damon
Who cooks dinner? Both of us-unfortunately we aren't the best in the kitchen except for a certain couple meals. We work opposite shifts so whoever is home is in charge of the kitchen at that time.
Who is more stubborn? Damon-but I am stubborn, he just doesn't always know until I pester him enough.
Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? I am definitely the peace maker in the family-Damon likes to cool down before we figure out a solution. Sometimes I tease him because I don't remember the last time he admitted he was wrong. He will say that's because it hasn't happened.
Whose parents do you see the most? Probably my parents, with our crazy work schedules we just don't get out much-Cole goes to my mom's preschool so we see her at least three days a week.
Who has more friends? We both have a lot of friends at work, but when we get home we really don't get out much-we like our family time. I would say it is sixes-pretty even.
Who has more siblings? Damon does-he has 4 siblings and 7-10? step-siblings. I have 5 siblings.
Who wears the pants in the family? Such a funny question-that would definitely be Damon-we both make decisions and talk things through but when it really comes down to it Damon usually has the final say. I get teased quite a bit from him because he would like me to make some decisions but I have a really hard time. He won't go shopping with me anymore because I just take too long-I can admit it-I am lousy at decision making!

Summer, Summer, Summer

2008-05-14T22:16:00.003-06:00

That title was for all the High School Musical Fans-that is exactly how I feel-14 days and counting!!!! I only have 14 school days left and 4 of those are graduation week with only about 10 students coming to each class! You have no idea how excited I am to get a break. It has been so fun having warm weather lately and playing outside with the kids, but I am just so exhausted after working all day (outside) and then playing with the kids outside for a couple hours-I can't wait to crawl into bed. Yes, Damon is still working 12 hour shifts and getting only 2-3 hours sleep before having to go back to work so I definitely have no room f0r complaint-I am just shocked at how exhausting it is to chase 3 kids around outside, all of whom seem to run in opposite directions.
Cole has now mastered starting and stopping on his bike without any help. He made up a game today on his bike-seeing how far he could go before he had to stop, then adding turning around and coming back, then adding starting from the top of our driveway. He is loving the bike. Our driveway is not steep, you can barely see a slope in it, but he thinks it is a huge hill and screamed the first couple times he rode his bike down it. Too funny! He also got a pair of heelies (I have no idea how to spell it). It is fun to watch him try to roll around on his heels and get better and better each time he gives them a try.
Luke loves dirt-he is definitely all boy! He really could care less about his trike right now-the darn thing is still too big for him and he will not give it the time of day anymore, so now he will plop right down in the dirt and play. He really knows what he's doing because every night I have to spend forever giving Luke a shower (there's too much dirt in his hair for a bath) and getting the dirt out of his fingernails, earlobes, and anywhere else dirt likes to hide.
Ellee has discovered the little basket on the front of her trike. Every time we go out to play she spends forever choosing which one of her babies, care bears, or little ponies will get to go for a ride with her. It is so cute. She has also started lining all of her babies up and telling them to go "Night, night", or putting them on time out.
She and Luke also like to tell each other to go on time out whenever they are fighting over a toy or don't like what the other one is doing. I just like to sit back and laugh-they usually work it out themselves, Luke usually throws the toy at Ellee to get her to stop her fit, she then drops it within 15 seconds because she got her way, after which Luke grabs it and runs to the tent to play with his treasure where she can't find it. If he is not in the mood to share and humor her he climbs into the toy box with the toy and tells her to go on time out and that "It's mine!" Sometimes I am really not in the mood-and then other times I just sit back and watch them figure things out, it is so funny. I have noticed that Cole is very much a mediator between the two of them, trying to find different toys that they love so that they can both have something they love. When he really doesn't want them to get something of his that they are begging for he will climb onto his bunk bed to play where they can't reach him.

TaaDaa!!!!

2008-05-05T22:25:00.002-06:00

Luke is so silly! He will do the simplest things like jumping off the bottom step or climbing onto our bed and then yell out TaaaaDaaaa and stick his arms out like he just did the coolest trick. It is hilarious. He probably does it 20-25 times a day-no exaggeration! He makes me laugh so much. He is a social bug-he loves attention and wants everyone to listen when he is talking or doing something funny. He will come over to us, grab our cheeks, turn our heads to face him, and then give us a big smooch, giggling the whole time (and don't forget the big TaaaDaaa afterwards).

BASEBALL SEASON!

2008-05-03T11:54:00.004-06:00

I am shocked at just how busy we seem to be. Cole is now three weeks into his baseball season and we are nonstop at games and practices. Ellee and Luke love going to practices because they get to play on the playground the entire time. They are at the playground so often they are becoming possessive of certain toys there-Ellee will not let anybody ride on the yellow bouncy horse-watch out cause she will throw the biggest fit if you get in her way. Luke likes the brown horse-but really loves the swings-he likes one in particular so if it gets open he runs straight over to it for his turn. Cole is the one in the jacket. This season has been extremely cold-we were wrapped in blankets and huddled together on the sideline during this game. Cole's friend Jackson is on his team so it is fun to get to hang out with Jaimie (Jackson's mom) during games and practices. Cole is doing so well with baseball. He is consistently hitting it off the pitching machine and is now hitting left handed. Last year he couldn't make up his mind whether he preferred to hit right or left. It is so fun to watch. Every time he gets a hit, he runs to first base, turns to us, and gives us a thumbs up. Too cute! He loves to get the ball when his team is outfield so he has a tendency of tackling the other boys to get to the ball so he can be the one to throw it to first base. Somehow he must have baseball and football confused-he doesn't really understand the team effort concept-he just knows that he wants to get the ball. I know I shouldn't laugh about it but it is so funny to watch-we'll see if he continues to tackle his teammates. Damon talked to him about sharing the ball and playing as a team-who knows. Damon and I are just hanging in there. The countdown has begun 3 1/2 weeks until school is out. We all need some time off. I love summers-one BIG bonus of being a teacher! Damon likes my time off too because he will get to sleep!

Our Little Diva

2008-04-23T15:50:00.002-06:00

Showing off our little girl. We got the red shoes in Vegas as dress up for her, but she wants to wear them everywhere. We try to hide them from her, somehow after we put her to bed she finds them and wears them all night. We gotta love her.

Teresa and Kat

2008-04-22T04:16:00.006-06:00

Every time Mindy and I watch 'til Death Steph (Kat Foster) reminds me of Teresa. Not only do I think that they look alike but I also think they have similar mannerisms. So for those who know Teresa and also have seen 'til Death let me know what you think.

Our Batty Neighbor

2008-04-17T16:11:00.005-06:00

We found out that we have a new neighbor living in the corner of our front porch-who Cole has now named Dave. Dave is a bat!!! I am completely serious. Cole really wants us to catch it so it can be our pet-like that's gonna happen. I told him it is just visiting because it needs to go back to it's real home soon (I hope!). Cole is still determined that he is ours and is in his room making it a bed right now.

Terrible Two's Here We Come

2008-04-14T22:30:00.006-06:00

So, I am a firm believer that the three year old stage was definitely harder with Cole than two years old-we'll have to see if it goes for the twins also. Happy Birthday, Ellee and Luke! Can they really already be two years old? Where did all the time go? We didn't have a big huge party this year for the twin's birthday. The Wilder family has started throwing monthly birthday parties for everyone who has a birthday in each month. The family is getting so big we were constantly at birthday parties and it was getting pretty hectic, so we were happy with one BIG party.

It just happened that Damon and I were in charge of the April Birthday party. We ended up renting the clubhouse here for the party. The clubhouse has a huge theatre room, a game room with air hockey and arcade games and a huge kitchen/common room. Plus, if you go out the back door you walk into the playground. It is ideal for big parties. We had lots of fun, and all the kids loved it!

The Romig side is having a party next week to celebrate April and May birthdays as well as to see Josh before he leaves for Kuwait. It is at Papa and Mama's house so the kids will have a blast, I'm sure.

Today we really wanted to celebrate the twins' birthday as a family. It was a little tricky since Damon worked last night and I had to work until noon today. Needless to say, Damon didn't get a whole lot of sleep. Luke and Ellee had a great day! When I got home from work, Damon took the kids out on the deck to play while I brought in the big wheels for Luke and Ellee. They were so excited when they saw them-they hopped right on and threw a fit when we made them stop playing to take a nap.

We spent the day after their nap outside-practicing on the new big wheels, playing at the park, and attempting to fly Cole's kite he got for Easter.
Ellee was really good at pushing herself along with her feet, but couldn't reach the pedals well enough to pedal around-she did figure out which button on the trike played music-she was dancing and bouncing around while she pushed herself everywhere.
Luke got frustrated because he can reach the pedals better than Ellee but he couldn't get his legs to do the right thing-he was so upset that he couldn't speed around like Cole. It was funny watching his reaction every time his foot slipped off the pedals. Too cute!

I wasn't going to do a cake for them because they had already had the cake and ice cream thing at the Wilder party, but I really wanted them to have their own cake so I decided at the last minute to make them birthday cakes. Damon had taken the car to work so I couldn't just go buy one. I am pretty proud of my ingenuity!

They love Elmo and Cookie Monster so I decided to make a cake of each. I just had fun with it and loved the results-especially the raisins for the eyes and mouth. They were soooo excited-it was lots of fun!

Belated Birthday

2008-04-14T21:37:00.006-06:00

I was just getting ready to blog about the twins birthday and I realized that I never put anything about Cole's birthday on here. It was before we had the Internet and I guess I never went back and added anything, my bad! I am still having a hard time comprehending the fact that my oldest is now five years old. I can't believe he will be starting Kindergarten next year. Scary!

He was so excited about his birthday. He was thrilled when he saw that his cake was a Transformers one-with Optimus Prime on it. He can't decide whether Optimus Prime or Bumble Bee is his favorite.
It was fun watching Cole open his presents. I can't believe how grown up he is! He is at the point where we don't have to remind him to say thank you or hope he has a good reaction. It was so fun to watch!

When we asked Cole what kind of party he wanted, he immediately said "I want a swim party!" We just smiled knowing that it probably wouldn't happen in February, but then Damon had the idea of having the party at Dimple Dell. Cole invited his cousins Jake and River and his friend Jackson to the party. We did not want a huge party since we were now going swimming. Dimple Dell has a huge slide and big water playground so the boys had lots of fun. Cole told us it was the "Best Party Ever!"
Cole got a VTech learning game system for his birthday with a couple different games. His favorite game is Shrek-because he gets to help Shrek skateboard around trying to spell different words. It is so cute watching him play and look for different letters to spell the words. He gets so excited-he totally looks like Damon when he concentrates-he bites his lip and plays with his tongue. I love watching him with Damon. He has so many of the same mannerisms and body language. I love it!

Our Crib

2008-04-07T18:58:00.010-06:00

We absolutely love our kitchen!!! I still don't know what to do with all the cupboard space-we have empty cupboards because we don't have anything to put in them.

Our master bedroom-I especially like the view out our back window! Plus, who wouldn't love two sinks in the bathroom-so we don't get in each other's way anymore-I hate to say it but the kids use the big tub more than Damon or I do.

The laundry room is upstairs right next to our bedroom. It is so nice not having to haul the laundry all over the house up and down stairs-it is so simple now. I thought it was appropriate that Cole chose to have a jungle shower curtain in the kids bathroom. You really are walking into the danger zone with a 5 year old boy and potty training two year olds!

We've rearranged our living room a few different times trying to figure out what is going to be best for us-it doesn't look like this right now so if we ever figure out how we want it I will put up a picture. It is nice having a living room where there are no toys-a place to just relax. This is our deck off the kitchen. It is huge and I can't wait until we get a BBQ for this summer.

Yes, this is the basement. It acts as a family room, toy room and workout room. It is nice because the kids can be playing on one side while Damon and I are working out on the other. It is so nice to have a room for the toys so we don't find them all over the house.

Our Neighbors

2008-03-30T12:01:00.005-06:00

Check out our neighbors that live behind us. They used to run away when all of us would go out onto the deck, but now they stay where they are as long as the kids aren't too loud.

Going back to Cali

2008-03-28T13:44:00.009-06:00

Wow, we have had a super busy spring break! I am still trying to unwind and I have to go back to work on Monday. We had so much fun in California visiting the Campbell's. I have to be honest in saying that I didn't really help Ang get ready for the baby at all, except maybe taking her mind off the waiting a little bit. It really ended up being a super fun vacation for the whole family.
I was really surprised at how well the kids did on the drive there and back. We heard the question "Are we almost there, yet?" so many times from Cole we lost count. Damon finally had the brilliant (yes, brilliant) idea of drawing a little car on a scrap of paper. We put it on the dash board and moved it closer to the California side of the dash every little bit. It worked like a charm, and even when we were still 300 miles away Cole got so excited at how close the car was getting to California. We didn't have to hear that lovely question, he just watched that little picture move ever so slowly. The best was when he fell asleep on the way home and woke up just as we entered the valley. He looked at that car and got so excited that we were so close to home. It was so cute! Ellee and Luke were happy as long as there was good snacks, music and cows to look for. Luke especially loved the cows! He would yell "COWS" as loud as he could and repeat it until we acknowledged what he said, only then for us to hear him "mooing" nonstop until they were out of sight. Every time we been in the car since we returned he is on the search for cows. We discovered just how much of a chatterbox Ellee is. She just babbled away in the backseat. It was fun to hear her repeating everything we said and making no sense in one moment and then have a complete sentence come out of that mouth which we completely understood. Too cute!
We got to Cali on Friday afternoon, dropped our stuff at the hotel and then immediately went over to Angie's. I know the kids were so excited, but not nearly as excited as I was. We just hung out and let the kids go crazy outside. Wow, it was so nice to see Angie. Plus, the minute we got there Cole and Brady were stuck like glue for the rest of the weekend. I really don't remember them being apart whenever our two families were together. They played so well. Damon and I could tell that they were both just that much older that there really wasn't the bickering or fighting that we used to deal with. I am still shocked at how old Ben is. That really surprised me. He is so mature and GREAT with the younger kids. Toby was asleep when we got there, and not happy to wake up-but then started relaxing and showing off all his toys to Luke and Ellee. Well Luke at least, Ellee discovered a little car that she could climb in and push herself around. She immediately claimed it as her own and wouldn't let anybody else near it. Willy was still at work so we didn't get to see him that first night.
On Saturday we headed to an Easter Egg Hunt for their community. There were so many people, it was a chaotic mess-that the kids absolutely LOVED! They put grass down in a parking lot for the hunt and had it all organized so the kids would only have to hunt for eggs with other kids the same age. Ellee, Luke, and Toby were all in the same group-and they all made out like bandits. Cole was in the same group as Brady and after they said go to begin the egg hunt, I would guess that it lasted a total of 90 seconds before all the eggs were picked up. They both had fun, starting on different sides of the grassy area so they wouldn't have to compete with each other. Poor Ben, if we thought Cole and Brady's group was bad you should've seen Ben's. I bet those eggs didn't last more than 30 seconds. Wow, it was crazy! The kids all had a blast. I think that Damon and Willy got the raw end of the deal. Inside each egg was a ticket for prizes. To claim the prizes you had to wait in line-and what a line it was. They had to have been in line for 45 minutes while Angie and I tried to entertain the kids. At least we got to walk around, Damon and Willy just had to sit there in line. By the time they got to the front of the line all the good prizes were pretty much gone, so we got a ton of coupons for food. We ended up hanging out at Angie and Willy's all day (except nap time). It was a really fun day.
On Sunday, we drove down to San Fransisco. I absolutely hate crossing all the bridges down there but Cole thought it was so cool. Damon wanted to show us a different side of San Francisco so he took us across the Golden Gate Bridge to Santaquin (don't know about spelling, sorry). We went hiking and ended up at an old lighthouse. It was so pretty. Plus the view of San Fransisco was amazing. The kids all did pretty well, especially when they were getting rides on Daddy and Mommy's shoulders. Ellee loved all the pretty flowers. Everything was green and in bloom. After our hike we went down to Santaquin Beach. It was probably my favorite time of the whole trip. We played in the sand and waves. It was a pretty nice day so we threw a blanket on the beach and just relaxed. Cole and Damon had lots of fun out walking along the shore, trying not to get too wet when bigger waves came in. Luke was all about throwing the sand-I don't know what it was but he thought it was the funnest game around. Ellee wanted nothing to do with the sand at first-she stood there absolutely paralyzed when the sand got between her toes. So we put her on the blanket. She finally relaxed and started playing in the sand. She loved putting the sand on my legs and rubbing it around (bonus, my right leg got a pretty nice exfoliation). It started getting colder so we decided to wrap up the beach scene. We crossed back over to San Francisco and did the Pier 39 tourist stuff. The kids loved imitating the sea lions for us. We didn't get back to Roseville until after bed time. So we gave the kids a bath and got them in bed, then I went over to hang out with Angie and Willy while Damon stayed with the kids at the hotel.Monday was all about the swimming. Cole had been begging to have Ben and Brady come over to go swimming with him so we all got together and went swimming. It was fun to watch all the kids in the water. The older kids just did their own thing having fun. The twins and Toby liked sitting on the edge of the pool kicking and splashing in the water. I think Ellee was the bravest of them. She wanted us to throw her in the air, to jump into us, and even let us help her float on her back. After swimming we made it another day at the Campbell's. We made spaghetti and Angie made her yummy Alfredo sauce and had a good pasta dinner-with no complaints about food from the kids. We hung out and watched the kids wrestling and playing together. I absolutely loved this vacation. I only wish I could have seen baby girl Campbell, but I am the only one from my family who has seen Angie and her baby belly! Since we've been home I have felt like calling Angie every day, it made me realize how much I miss having them close! At least it won't be too long until their visit in June.

Gotta love 'em!

2008-03-18T23:20:00.005-06:00

We are counting down the days left until spring break-only 3 days left! We all desperately need a break! Plus, we get to leave for Cali on Friday right after work. Yay- I am so excited to see Angie, Willy, and the boys-it has been way too long. I hope I will be able to help Angie get ready for the new baby. I only wish I could be there when the baby is born! I am so jealous that Mom will be there. The whole family is going and Cole asks every day how many more days till he gets to see Ben, Brady, and Toby. He is so excited. Damon and I are excited about the 10-hour drive with the kids-good luck!

Today was such a fun day-these kids make me laugh so hard. I love listening to Cole read! He is really turning into quite the reader. He gets new books almost each time he goes to school. When we sit down to read them he is bored with me reviewing all the new words. All he wants to do is start reading. While he was reading today I couldn't help but smile. I love the way he sounds out his words. I really hope he enjoys school this much when he gets older-he is totally bummed when it is not a school day. He also loves to see Mama at school and is so frustrated when Mama drops him off at our house instead of taking him to see Papa.

Luke was so funny today. I was in helping Ellee go potty and when I came out I saw Luke's legs sticking out of the blanket with him leaning against the bed. I thought he was just teasing me so I went over to tickle his toes. When I got there I noticed that he had a box of cereal on his lap. The little stinker climbed up on the chair-climbed across the counter-and got the cereal-then climbed down and went and hid under the covers. It was all I could do to keep a straight face. Teresa and Chase’s nickname for him “Hoover” might just stick. He loves to eat anything.

We were then watching a movie together and Ellee climbed on my lap so I started rocking her like a baby. I was teasing her and talking to her like a baby. She looked up at me and instead of giggling said; “I am not a baby” with so much attitude. She said it so clear. Cole looked at me with a shock on his face-my face probably mirrored his. She had so much attitude-watch out boys-we've got a little diva on our hands.

It was so fun to just sit back and watch how different each personality is in this house-at least we know that life will never be boring!

2008-03-10T18:37:00.003-06:00

We love our home! I think our favorite part of the home is the view from the deck. Love it!!! I don't think I realized what a stress it was renting and living with parents. It is so nice to know that we are in a home we are purchasing and that we have made our first payment.
We have been so busy the last few weeks I don't know if I can even remember all we've done. We owe Teresa and Chase a big huge thanks for watching the kids while Damon and I went to Las Vegas for a coaching clinic. That is the first time we've left them overnight for more than one night. I was so stressed the whole time. I didn't realize how much I was going to miss those little stinkers. Teresa told me that she found out exactly how we do things at home because Cole was so persistent with "our way". I have now found out how Teresa does things in her house that Cole liked. I have heard "That's not how Teresa does it" so many times I've lost count. It has been fun. I also noticed how much Teresa and I are alike in the way we manage behavior and our kids so that has been fun. Ellee and Luke seemed to be just fine while we were gone. It was almost as if they didn't think about it until we got back. Luke wouldn't leave my lap and just whined and cried for a couple hours. It was so sad. Talk about feeling guilty.
Damon and I are doing well. We have both adjusted pretty well to Damon's new schedule. There are still those restless nights when I have a hard time without him there, but I am getting used to it. His body has gotten used to the new schedule, but he is extremely tired when he works. We LOVE his days off!

Jack Bauer vs Jack Burton

2008-03-05T20:14:00.003-07:00

In my opinion "24's" Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) has nothing on "Big Trouble in Little China's". Jack Burton (Kurt Russell). Last weekend Chase and Teresa watched our kids for two nights so Mindy and I could go to Las Vegas for a coaching clinic. We decided to spend the last night at Chase and Teresa's, and we watched "Big Trouble in Little China". The Ladies weren't excited but they watched with us anyways. I forgot how funny the show is. I highly recommend it. It was a good way to cap off the weekend.

Thank you again Chase and Teresa!

2008-02-18T17:33:00.002-07:00

It has been awhile since adding anything to the blog-sorry! I have one word to sum up everything that has happened in the last couple weeks-Moving. I am so glad that we absolutely love this house because I would be happy if we never have to move again. It has been crazy. The first week we could barely see what color the carpet is because of all the boxes. I will say that we are doing pretty well now. All the boxes are unpacked and the kitchen is organized. We are still working on decorating and organizing the rest of the house. Fun for us! I think the first room we got completely organized was the basement toy room/family room-that way we were able to unpack everything else while the kids stayed busy.
We love the house-it has been a lot of work, but well worth it. Cole can't wait for friends and family to come over so he can show off his room and the toy room. Luke and Ellee love having their own beds, they are sleeping so well-even if we do find them in the same bed when we go in after naptime or bedtime.
I will try to keep things updated more often-we'll see how it goes.

2008-02-02T18:25:00.000-07:00

Right after we had made the last post about not knowing when we would close on the house we got a phone call from the title company asking us if we could come in and close. Yay! Everything went great-plus bonus for us the payment ended up being about a hundred less than we expected. We should get the keys on Monday and start moving next week. Fun, Fun, Fun.

2008-02-01T16:10:00.000-07:00

Well, we are getting the run around on the house. We've had three different closing dates and nothing has happened yet. There was some sort of dispute between the builder and lender, then the title companies name listed on the documents was incorrect so we had to wait for them to fix it. I don't know, we will see what happens.
The family is good. We are all on the mend after our bout with the flu, ear infections, and throat infections. It was actually nice to have everyone mellow out for a bit. Now that everyone is good we've had a fun time listening to Luke and Ellee talking together. They seem to have a language all their own. We will sit and watch them talk to each other, telling each other what to do and playing games using words they can only understand. We do like their version of each other's names. Ellee calls Luke El-luke and Luke calls Ellee Luk-ee. No matter how many times we correct them they just smile and use their own version.
One more story about Cole. He was mesmerized watching all the specials this week about President Hinkley. A couple nights ago in his prayers he said "I am thankful President Hinkley came to live with you and that he will get his body again." How cute is that?