Easter 2014...

It was Easter time again!  The Winchester egg hunt was a smash, as always, everyone receiving tons of candy and prizes.

Mikayla was one of 5 kids in her age group.  Last year she only picked up 4 eggs, because she was 1, slow, and didn't really get what was going on.  This year, she killed it, filling her entire bucket.

Jack won this humongous bunny!!  It's about as tall as he is!  Good times!

At our house, there was kind of a lot of yelling as we started out because the older 3 kept trying to steal eggs from the much slower, Mikayla girl.  Ok, not Maxine, she's old enough to hold back when Mikayla is going for an egg. But Jack and Juliet kept smashing Mikayla in order to get an egg that she was making a move towards.  Then Julie tripped outside and landed in the rocks (ouch) and ran inside crying.  We stopped the egg hunt until she calmed down and came back outside.   

Look at her eyeing the other kids as if to say, "Back off buddy, these are mine."

 This year, I decided to try for a little less candy in the buckets and filled plastic eggs with teddy grahams and cheddar bunny crackers.  Everyone said it was way better than candy.  Totally doing it again next year.

Science Fair 2014!

All 3 kids wanted to enter the science fair this year.  Oi.  I'm a huge fan of science experiments and having the kids develop a hypothesis and then try it out.  I just hate putting together boards.  I'm not a scrapbooker and I want the kids to do as much of the board as possible with it still being legible.  We planned ahead and got to work and finished in the afternoon the day before the fair!  I've been known to be up at 10:00 p.m., still taping stuff to the board but not this year!!

Juliet tested whether white or wheat bread molds faster.  (It's white, btw.)  She won 3rd place in her grade!

Maxine tested old-fashioned fire methods and which one works best.  (Flint and steel, rubbing sticks together, etc.)  She won 1st in her grade and it going to district.  She also did the entire board by herself, typing and all!  I just printed the pictures.

Jack tested hot and cold water and which one freezes the fastest.  He taped everything on his board and cut it out.  He won 3rd in his grade!

I'm pleased with all their hard effort and it's nice when they get to win too.

This last picture is Juliet releasing her butterfly that she's raised from a caterpillar.  It was fun.

Walk-a-thon for school...

This year the walk-a-thon at the school was a lot less work because we signed up with a fund-raising company.  I'm not sure if we made more money but it was definitely a lot less work.  I was able to get a shirt for Mikayla and she was able to run laps with the kids.  

Jack ran at the very end of the day and I forgot to snap a picture of him.  He ran the most laps of all my kids and capped out at 35 laps.  Julie ran 22 and Maxine ran 26.  Mikayla even ran 10 laps with her little legs.

Mikayla was kind of in a bad mood because she fell down and bit her tongue at the very start of the day.  Merril ended up picking her up and taking her home for a nap.  Mark napped and hung out in the stroller for the day.

Speaking of Mark, check out the bumbo I found on the side of the freeway.  It was about 15 feet from the road, upside down and kind of under a bush.  I spotted it and pulled over to investigate.  It's in really good shape, with only a little crack on the inside by one of the buckles.  He's been sitting in it a lot!  Wahoo!  They're like $40 but I wasn't going to buy one because he's my last kid and I already got rid of the bumbo we had a long time ago.  Total score!

Mark cut 2 teeth...

Mark is 5 1/2 months old and such a sweetie!  He seemed to be chewing on everything and cut 2 teeth this week.  He wasn't hardly fussy, just seemed intent on chewing something all the time.  

During conference, I snapped a few pics of him on the hardwood floor.  I'm debating on just printing them for a new portrait or trying again outside.

I've been so pleased with him.  He's such an easy-going baby and makes my life easier.  With so many things going on with all the kids, it's wonderful that he just tags along happily.  He keeps cracking me up with so many looks that remind me of my Dad.  I love this little boy!

Jack's 1st Pinewood Derby...

Jack's 1st Pinewood Derby was last night and coincidentally, mine as well.  No brothers and whatnot.  When Merril and Jack got there at 5:30 for weigh in, the track had been doubled booked and our scout troop didn't have one.  Merril remembered a friend of his Dad's who had one and made a call and off he went to get a track.

Jack's car was cute but not very fast.  We were seriously finishing his car moments before he left for weigh in!

Merril and the track were back to the church about a half hour after the derby was supposed to start.  But it all worked out.  I don't know what we would've done if Merril hadn't known someone with an old track.

Autocross 2014...

Merril decided to race in an Autocross event up at the old airport.  He has a Ford Contour SVT that he was fixing up to sell and he wanted to race it.  There was a race course set up and he had 4 runs to try and get his best time.  So he went as fast as he could!  

It was a little cold and windy, so the kids and I ended up sitting in the Tahoe, just outside the fence, by the runway.  They even sat on the roof for a better view.

The kids and I had to sign a waiver to be near the course and then we got these bracelets that said 'Pit Pass.'  I thought they were fun.

(Mine was strapped on upside down so I took the picture and then rotated 180 degrees and now my arm looks a little funny.  Just so you know.)

Merril's 1st run didn't look that fast but he improved as the day continued.  The kids and I stayed for the morning session and then just came home.  It was good times.  :)

Spring Break 2014!

Spring Break arrived and thankfully, no one was sick.  Juliet proposed we create a list of things we wanted to do.  Because of the list, we banged through a lot of fun activities.

In case you can't quite read it, we found Easter dresses for the girls, went on a picnic to a park, roasted marshmallows, played with friends, went rock climbing, made treats, library, got some shoes, went to the pool, and tickled Juliet.  We didn't end up going to Fiesta Fun or planting the garden.  And I didn't really take pictures of much.  But we had a good time.

Mark can roll over...

Mark is just about 4 1/2 months old and has learned to roll from his back to his tummy.  Since I find him on his tummy a lot, I thought it was the perfect time to snap a few shots.  

He cracks me up.

After I'd taken a dozen, I thought I should get him out of his pajamas.  Unfortunately, by then the magic was gone and he was tired of being on his tummy and wouldn't smile anymore.  Now you know how he's dressed when we hang out at the house.  He's such a happy baby.  Yay!  I'm still a little afraid to eat a piece of chocolate or eat a bowl of ice cream.  Dairy and chocolate made Mikayla and Juliet so sad.  It's so wonderful to eat whatever I want and still have a happy baby!  *sigh*  I never thought it would happen again.

A little about me...

I was thinking about writing a journal entry that would share information about me.  I decided to blog it instead because I type so much faster than I write.  So this is about me:

*I love to drive in the rain!  Something about the water washing over the windshield while I'm protected inside with the heater going makes me feel grateful.  When I think about how cold it would've been for pioneers to ride a horse in the rain to get where they needed to go, I feel lucky to be born in this wonderful age!

*I feel the Lord's love through fruit trees and vegetable gardening.  Is that weird?  I feel such gratitude that the Lord would put trees and plants on the Earth that bring forth such bounty.  I'm amazed at how plants grow and produce food.  Love it!

*I'm a procrastinator.  I wish it wasn't the case and I try hard to change but if I have a big project, I tend to put things off.  Especially if it involves calling people to ask them for a favor.

*I love food!  Cheesecake, sushi, orange juice, chicken wings.  All.Good.Things.

*I'm fiercely loyal to my husband.  Outside of church, I avoid men I know from the ward because I don't want to build any sort of chummy relationship with a man that's not Merril.  There's an amazing optometrist in our ward but I won't be seeing him any time soon because I can't be in a dark room with another man so close to my face.  Not gonna happen.

*I love water.  Soda burns my throat and makes me so thirsty!  I don't know how anyone drinks a lot of soda.  It's just not my thing.

*I love traveling!  I haven't been anywhere lately but I yearn to walk the streets in other countries.  I have a goal to visit all 7 continents before I die.  So far I've been Australia, Europe and North America.  I have serious desires to see Egypt, China, Russia, Mayan Central America, Japan, Thailand, well, the list could go on and on.

*I wear a ponytail most days because I don't like the feeling of hair on my face.  Also because I have stuff to do and I don't want my hair in the way.  I wear it down on Sundays and dates.

*I'm a saver, not a spender.  Merril tends to be the spender.  However, we both love getting the best deal possible for what we want.  He just finds a lot of deals.  I mainly spend on things like case lots sales.  ;)  I really dislike paying more than I have to.

*I fell in love with my babies instantly.  From the moment they placed that slimy newborn on my tummy, I felt an overwhelming sensation of joy and love!  I love being a mother.  I'm not saying it's not hard, because it is.  Motherhood has also brought me so much happiness!  Nursing and cuddling my babies is one of the sweetest experiences of my life.

*I feel the Lord guides my life for good.  There are always times when we feel like life is kicking us in the teeth, but no matter what, I can still feel the Lord's love and everything always turns out for the best.  I am grateful for this knowledge!!

Ok, that's good for now.      

Maxine's window well...

Maxine was talking about how her window well was ugly and full of weeds and leaves.  So we talked about some ways to spruce it up a little.  She jumped in and cleaned the leaves and garbage out.  Then we bought rocks and fake flowers.  We toyed with the idea of planting some real flowers down there but I thought it would be a challenge to keep it watered and looking nice.  Also, the dirt is terrible down there.  

Maxine did most of the work herself and even thought I'm not a huge fan of fake flowers, I think it improves the look of the window well a lot.

Jamie's birthday weekend...

I love having my birthday fall on President's Day weekend.  It's like a special 3-day weekend just for me.  It doesn't happen all the time but often enough!  I love it!  We started the weekend with the kids doing a fun run.  It was for charity and the kids all received a shirt.  It's a nice shirt, kind of silky and quick drying.  The kids lived in them for the whole weekend, sleeping and wearing them, except for church.  Jack is fast and won 3rd in his division.

On Monday, I went to lunch with my Mom and Dad.  Yummy!  Just as I got home, Merril called to tell me he'd been in another car accident!  He was in a rental car given him from the motorcycle accident he was in a few weeks ago.  Sheesh!  He stopped and a lady behind him didn't and ran into the back of him.  They weren't going that fast so that's good.  It just seems ridiculous that he was in another accident!  On with life!  Then the whole family loaded in the Tahoe for a little hike to the Warner Valley dinosaur tracks.  It was a super teeny hike, the perfect size for Mikayla. There was dirt to play in and rocks to climb.  

See what I mean about the shirts.  They've been in them for 3 days straight.

Mark was the good kid he always is and rode happily in the backpack.  It was his first hike.

Afterwards, we got Chinese take-out.  It doesn't happen very often because it's so greasy and we usually get Japanese or Thai food because it's so much lighter.  But I still love greasy Chinese and I got to pick for my birthday dinner!  Then Mikayla helped me blow out candles on a cheesecake sampler.

I had a great weekend!  Monday night, Mark slept from 9:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. so I also got a full night's rest as a present!  Ahh, that feels so great!  I've already done 2 loads of laundry and the dishes this morning.  Feeling great at 34!

Mikayla's 2nd birthday!

Wow Mikayla!  I can't believe that she's 2.  She was born 2 years ago and somehow it seems longer than that.  Not in a bad way, really.  We've just done a lot during those years, namely making another human and finishing the basement.  Mikayla is such a crazy kid.  As an example, I had to clean pen swirls off the computer monitor to blog today.  She is into my buckets of flour, sugar and oatmeal all the time.  She grabbed my nail polish yesterday and spilled a bunch on my bathroom floor.  But she's also so sweet, often saying please, thank you, and I'm sorry.  It's hard to stay mad at that blonde sweetie pie.

The grandparents came over for pizza and cupcakes.  Juliet was kind of being a stinker and photo bombing constantly.  I think she still misses the attention of being the baby of the family.

Mikayla got some clothes, Color wonder coloring pages, a book, and a tricycle.  She loves to climb on the kids' bikes and pretends to drive everything.  She's going to wear the tires out this summer!

Mark is 3 months old...

Markie is 3 months old and started to fall asleep unassisted this week. Now I can lay him down for a nap and he will fuss for less than 5 minutes, and then fall asleep. It has been so nice to be able to lay him down instead of walk around to get him and a binkie to fall asleep!  He also rolled over from his tummy to his back today while he was doing tummy time. I don't really know if it's a skill or if it was just a coincidence. He is such a good boy!  I've been able to eat pretty much anything lately including milk products and chocolate and he seems fine. He does seem to spit up more, but acts just the same.  He has also started sleeping pretty well this week too. He slept one night from 9:30 p.m. until 6 a.m. We still can't seem to figure out who he looks like, but I get glimpses of my Dad. He cracks me up with his goofy grin!

On a side note, Juliet has a top tooth that cut a few days ago!  She hasn't had any front teeth for 6 months, since they were pulled by the dentist.  I'm excited for some front teeth on that girl.  At one point, she'd lost 2 bottom teeth and was left with a huge hole where 4 teeth should be.  

New portraits for the kids...

So I had to break out the camera for portraits of the little kiddos.  I got a news 50mm prime lens for my camera for Christmas and I hadn't really played with it much.  I don't love doing portraits, mainly because it's a lot of work, but I got some super cute shots.  Mark is 2 1/2 months.  What a good boy!

Mikayla is almost 2 years old.

She looks sweet and innocent but really she was just trying to escape off the bench and run away.

Merril's motorcycle crash...

Merril was down in Vegas at the Consumer Electronics Show.  He'd taken his motorcycle, a Triumph Tiger, on a trailer because he was going to California right after and wanted to ride down there.  He'd unloaded his motorcycle to make parking easier at CES.  He had a green light through an intersection and a lady coming the opposite direction turned left in front of him.  His bike went down and so did he.  He had on a helmet but not his riding jacket.  He said he was going probably 30 mph when it happened and he had a really hard time catching his breath afterwards.  His chest hit something in the crash.  So they called the police and it took over an hour for them to arrive.  Meanwhile, an ambulance arrived to check out Merril.  They checked his ribs and said he was in no immediate danger but should probably head to an E.R. to be checked out.  So after the police came and Merril gave his statement, he got his bike loaded on the trailer and came home.  I met him at the E.R. here and he looked tired and worn but o.k.  It was a little after midnight.

We waited for a bit and he was admitted.  He got a chest and knee x-ray, both of which came back fine.  His arm was cleaned up and he was given a prescription for pain.  We were home by 2:30 a.m.  The next day he had some pretty bad whiplash and a bunch of bruises up his right side, ankle, calf, side and shoulder.  He's slow but should be just fine!

Update:  Merril went to a spine specialist and a massage therapist.  The spine specialist prescribed steroids and muscle relaxers.  They made Merril wake up at night sweating like crazy so he quit taking them.  After a week his neck was feeling better.  After 2 weeks, he was the same as always.  Merril's Mom asked if he'd "learned his lesson."  It'd take a lot more than some bruises and scratches for Merril to give up riding.  Hopefully it never comes to that.  :)

Mark's heart murmur...

I took Mark to his 2 month appointment and the doctor paused while listening to his heart for a while.  He looked up and said Mark had a heart murmur.  He didn't think it was anything serious but wanted to get it checked out.  The pediatrician didn't think it was anything serious, especially with as much weight as he was gaining.  ;)  So we went to the hospital to get a echo cardiogram (heart ultrasound).  

So he got hooked up to wires and had his echo.  It took around 45 minutes and he did pretty good the whole time.  Towards the end he started wiggling and woke up but it worked out.  

Turns out he has 2 little holes in his atrial wall.  The ultrasound technician said they're very common and didn't think they were anything to worry about.  Primary Children's confirmed the diagnosis.  It's an innocent murmur, which means he'll never need surgery and will live a totally normal life.  90% of this kind of murmur close on their own within the first year of life anyway.  *sigh*  Good to know!  I was scared for a little bit with this one!  The thought of surgeries or special considerations for the rest of his life was frightening.

Jack's first scout badge...

Since Jack is 8, he can start going to cub scouts.  I think he is so cute in his scout uniform!  Is that dumb?  His leaders are really dedicated and he's been having a great time.

We went to our first pack meeting and Jack got a badge.  Scouts is a whole new world to me, with it's own language and culture.  One day I'll know what it all means but for now, it's serious gibberish.  :)

Epic snow storm!!!

Wow!  We got a crazy amount of snow, probably 7+ inches.  I let the kids play in it but they still had to go to school because it wasn't cancelled.  Oh well.  Mikayla had a great time!

Jack was using the wheelbarrow to bring up snow from the back yard.

The crazy thing about the snow was how long it stayed around.  It was so cold, staying the in the 20s-30s during the day and dipping into the teens at night.  That is so unlike our area.  It will snow once or twice but melt off by the afternoon.  The snow was still around a week later!  It made me glad that I don't live in this weather all the time.  Brrrr!

 

Jack is amazing 8!

Jack turned 8 and made the choice to be baptized.  We bought Merril and Jack matching ties for the baptism day.  They look so sharp!

And I was distracted with little Mark and can you believe that I didn't get one shot of Merril and Jack in their baptism whites!?  I didn't remember until they were all changed and leaving the stake center.  Dang.  We all had new outfits and had a great little party at our house after the baptism.  We snagged this shot.

The Campbell grandparents were out of town for Jack's baptism on Saturday so we held off on the confirmation until the following day on Sunday.  Janet made Jack a tie and vest for the occasion.  Baby Mark was blessed on the same day.  I can't believe how they are growing up!