Amy's Family Blog...

{G}

Amy N — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 03:21:00 +0000

...is for 6 more weeks of winter thanks to a little GROUNDHOG :( I don't know if we can take anymore snow days. Yup school was cancelled again today. Jacey asked me if she was ever going to get to go to school again...HAHA poor thing has been stuck home with us and she is going crazy.

G is also for GEOMETRY Jacey is starting advanced math early, she just doesn't know it. This GIRL from the time she was little has been lining things up. I can't find the popcorn image, but when she was about 18 months she dumped a bowl of popcorn up and lined every piece up before she would eat it. She has always lined up her toys before playing, and don't get me started on how straight her clothes have to be-it is our every morning challenge, and now her lunch meat has to be in a perfect line with the edge of the bread. It was so cute to watch her make her sandwich for lunch today. She was still making it as I cleared my empty plate up. First she has to spread her "white stuff" in a thin but very even layer with none on the edges then she very carefully takes her round piece of lunchmeat and folds it until she has the edges she needs to line up with the bread. Notice the curve line on the curved side of the bread too. Then I have to cut it into squares or triangles depending on her mood for the day...what a NUT, but we love her for it!

So as I was watching Jacey make her sandwich I noticed something...The sun is getting higher in the sky, and you know what that means right...Spring is just around the corner! It used to be that when I sat down for lunch I had the sun shining right in my eyes, not today though...YAY!

So my National Heart Awareness Month tid bit...

Almost 80 percent of cardiac arrests occur at home and are witnessed by a family member. Currently the survival rate of cardiac arrest victims is approximately 6.4 percent. CPR can double a victim's chance of survival by maintaining vital blood flow to the heart and brain until more advanced care can be given.

I know that sounds scary/harsh, but most communities offer CPR classes and it would be a good idea for all of us to take advantage of those classes and stay up to date.

Hope all is well with you all-thanks for stopping by.

{F}

Amy N — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 01:37:00 +0000

...is for lots of things today. Church had to be cancelled today on account of the FREEZING weather so we had a very nice FAMILY day with lots of FUN in the kitchen and our FAVORITE FOODS.

Some of our FAVORITE FOODS-French Dip and Guacamole (Jacey LOVES this yummy stuff as long as mom doesn't make it too spicy)

Had to add these cute bare FEET

Like most FOOTBALL games sometimes the cheerleaders are more fun to watch than the actual game Skye stole the show with her cheerleading skills, she did this anytime someone would yell YAY!

Our FAMILY portrait

So my National Heart Awareness Month tid bit...

Did you know-One in three female adults has some form of heart disease-kinda high odds coming from an immediate family of 6 women. Did you also know that women can experience symptoms of a heart attack much different than the *typical* TV symptoms such as chest pain, arm pain and pressure? Some other symptoms can include jaw pain, pain in the upper back (shoulder blades area) and fatigue-some of us might just brush that off as a piece of gum and a stressful day.

{E}

Amy N — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 02:26:00 +0000

...is for EATING of course, something this family LOVES to do and Skye is quickly learning that real food is so much more ENJOYABLE than baby food. She will not go near baby food peas, she gags like crazy, but will eat the real ones like nothing else.

This is a photography trick to ENLARGE the house, or shrink the kids and because it is {E} day Skye's ELMO had to be included in the picture, but she wanted nothing to do with my fun pictures :) oh and yes that is an ELF on top of the clock. This is the longest I have EVER left a Christmas decoration up. He is sticking around to keep an eye out for Santa.

So my National Heart Awareness Month tid bit...

Did you know that if when you gain weight it is in your mid section (tummy) you are at a higher risk of having heart disease?

{D}

Amy N — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 21:35:00 +0000

...The most devoted DAXTON!
This is his favorite meal-breakfast, lunch or dinner-it doesn't matter. Give this kid some cereal, yogurt, and milk and he is set, sadly not the most round meal but I don't think I need to worry about his calcium level.

...The most DESIRABLE curls around

...The most beautiful DAUGHTERS

...The most DEFENSIVE when it comes to his trains. He is the best big brother in the worlk to Skye, as long as she stays away from his trains. You know that saying "they want most what they can't have" totally true!

...DWELLER-Jacey BEGGED me to let this poor kitty come inside from the cold...I fell for that once and wont again-I like animals as much as the next guy, but let them take strays into their house. I let them live in the garage.

...is for DAXTON of course, but I had to include my beautiful DAUGHTERS, and our roof DWELLER, oh and yes it is still snowing, look how high up the snow goes only a couple feet from the roof...So how was that for making up the non-kid posts :) my chest/back is feeling a little better today I was actually able to sleep a bit last night and the IBP is actually working today as long as I don't move fast or do too much of one thing.

Hey did you all know that February is National Heart Awareness Month? Since it is, and because of the issues I have had with my heart I thought I would add a couple of tid bits that you may not know...

Did you know...
Heart Disease is the #1 killer in women and it will kill more people then the next 6leading causes combined!

{C}

Amy N — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 01:54:00 +0000

Remind me why I hang this thing every year

This guy is facing the street the snow is swirling out there

This is our front door yes even snow on the door knob

This is our carpet in the front room and the snow is drifting up against the door, reminds me of South Weber.

...the most common word used to discribe the weather this week COLD! I would dare say it is the most common word used to discrbe the high end of the baromater. It is more than just COLD. Of all the days to cancel school today would have been a good one. I drove to the bus stop (which is only one house and an intersection away) because I thought I would blow away and I knew Jacey would. Many times today I would look out the window and could not see the house across the street, it was a white out for most of the day, you know those pictures I posted in Dec. it was like that x 5. We were planning to come crash the super bowl party this weekend, but that wont be happening...so enjoy it without us and know that we wanted to come.

I have to mention to those not familar with this house the pictures are of our COVERED (another C word) porch, and the horseshoe guy is facing the street. The first 3 pictures were taken around noon. We are all betting that school and work will be CANCELED tomorrow!

I don't want any of you to be worried about us, we are safe and sound and warm. The nice thing about wood burning stoves is that even if the power goes out we still have our main source of heat and hey I have even cooked on the stove before so we will be able to eat still...but we are hoping the power stays on!

So my other C word today is CHEST pain. I am not sure what I did, but man oh man does it HURT!! Working for 9+ years in an orthopedic clinic I am sure it is stemming from my thoracic spine/neck and is a skeletal (bone) problem but I could be wrong so if there are any medical professionals out there that would like to take a stab at diagnosing me, and prescribing a treatment plan other than IBP and ice (already doing that without results) I would be oh so grateful. It is not in my character to go see an actual dr. but if it persists I might just do that! I have rendered myself useless yesterday and today my house and pile of laundry can't take much more neglect. I have to applogize for the lack of kid pictures, but it hurts to hold my camera (I was wondering today if that is what caused the pain) and in order to take pictures of the kids I have to chase them around and get down on the ground holding the camera and I would not be able to get back up afterwards. Okay I am done COMPLAINING (hey it was a C word so it was okay to post) and we all know I could go on but it hurts too much ;)

good night and I hope you guys are all safe and warm too. I hear these storms we are getting are hitting Utah too.

PS) my spell check is not working with blogger so excuse the spelling

{B}

Amy N — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 03:20:00 +0000

...The most commonly read books in our house. You are probably wondering where the kids books are (besides the cook books that they are so often fighting over), in my defence they are in the kids room and they are going to sleep and I didn't want to disturb them.

Jacey is learning to read and is doing so well. It amazes me every night when we read The Book of Mormon how many more words she can pick out.

Dax is not far behind he knows almost all his ABC's, he still gets confused with the Bb, Pp and a couple others but he is doing so good for his age. He knows how to spell and read DAX, JACEY and JACELYNN, SKYE, MOM and DAD.

We are currently looking for that train book "I think I can I think I can" if you see it around please let us know so we can get it for Dax.

Skye LOVE LOVE LOVES her books too. In church she goes from person to person checking out everyone's books. The Hymn Book has got to be her favorite one, as soon as the music starts she starts rocking back and forth and if she is on our laps she will start patting the book to the beat.

So I am editing this, yesterday I was in a lot of pain and wanted to put this in but spaced it in my hast to get off the computer chair...
I am very grateful for The Book of Mormon Greg and I would not be where we are in our life, marriage or parenthood without it, it has been a great source of comfort and a great resource for answers.

So there is B...oh yeah speaking of B-Jacey got to go watch the big kids play Basket Ball (gym class) today because they had a gas leak which was fixed tonight...and tomorrow she will eat breakfast there because of another gas leak...good thing I can tell in the future and know that everything turned out just fine, the leaks were repaired and the kids thought they were getting special treatment :) ...okay now I am off to do tomorrow which is today's entry

{A}

Amy N — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 02:59:00 +0000

The most requested movie for quiet time. Dax and Jacey LOVE Annie and it cracks me up to watch them crack up at the same parts every time.

The best part is listening to Dax (and Jacey when she thinks no one is listening) sing "The sun will come out tomorrow bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow there 'ill be sun...and the rest of the song" at the top of their lungs. I love it! These kids could take their show to Broadway too, they can act out the entire movie and do quite often while playing.

You know the hardest part about blogging every day...

Amy N — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 02:55:00 +0000

...is coming up with new stuff. So for the next 26 days we are going to do "The Most...ABC" If you guys have any ideas for posts I am all ears!

Snow Day...

Amy N — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 02:05:00 +0000

...Greg got a call this morning from his boss saying that schools were closed, roads were a mess and they were not going into work today. So we had a snow day and made brownies.

picking out the egg shells...

Greg gets as giddy as a child on Christmas Eve when he gets to make brownies

Caught ya all sneaking licks of the batter...except for Greg he goes for a spoon full right out of the pan.

This is what happens when you leave the brownies in reach of the kids, and we were so pleased that they were playing so nicely together in Skye's room.

and this is what our snow day looked like...did you also notice the nice sunshine coming in the windows while we were making the brownies? Honestly though the roads were pure ice sheets. We got the rain and then very cold temperatures the bit of snow was just for looks.

Happy Sunday...

Amy N — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 02:36:00 +0000

...This is probably Skye's favorite day of the week. She gets so much attention from people other than Mom. She is for sure a handful and hams it up for all the little old (and young) ladies in church. This dress was made by my wonderful Aunt Debbie. She gave it to Jacey and Jacey gave it to Skye. She gets so many compliments and all the ladies were gushing over it so impressed with the talent!

Jacey told me tonight as we were putting her to bed that today was a "Happy Sunday" I agreed with her but asked her why she said because we all got to go to church as a family and no one was sick (last week the kids had tummy aches). Kinda cool when your kids remind you of the real happy moments in life.

So Greg and I both got callings today, we were starting to wonder if we ever would. Greg is an instructor in Elders Quorum, and I am back with the beloved Bears and Cub Scouts. I am actually very excited to be able to be back in scouts and to have the opportunity to be more involved in this great community.

Last week the couple that spoke had lived in the ward for 2 years and this was the first time they had spoken, so I came home and told Greg that we could probably relax because we wouldn't need to speak at least for 2 years. Well guess what we were wrong. We are speaking on 2/24 so anyone that wants to come up and hear these GREAT talks are more than welcome.

I hope that you all had a Happy Sunday and hope your week is happy as well! Enjoy the snow we are going to be sending your way. We were hoping to come down this weekend, but it doesn't look like it...bummer!

Did you know...

Amy N — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 03:41:00 +0000

...the TV was invented in Idaho? Funny that until we moved here Grandma's house only knew one channel...which goes to show how slow they progress :) HAHA I crack myself up

Okay I am having a hard time coming up with a blog entry today, but couldn't skip. Sorry there are no pictures today, camera needed a day off. We went to Twin Falls again today and Greg had a second interview with Sears today. They were very impressed with his application and skills. He meets with the Regional Manager on Tuesday and basically will then have a pick of 3-4 jobs. YAYAY!!

Well I am off to bed! Love ya all!

Oh yeah I sent my very first digital painting in to be printed...kinda excited to get it and give it away :o)

No one has guessed all the pictures from yesterday...comeon and play! OK now I am going to bed!

How many can you name...

Amy N — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 02:42:00 +0000

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

#7

#8

#9

#10

...All of these objects are native to Grandma's house and have been for as long as I can remember. How many can you name? There is a prize for the first person to name them all.

Sorry for all my blog fans that have never been in Grandma's house, but there is a prize for every one you guess correctly :)

So what is new with us? Not a whole lot. Greg is going to go meet with Sears tomorrow, hopefully that will work out!

We all seem to be healthy after Jacey and Dax's bout of pink eye/tummy bug.

Other than that I think life it the same as usual, I am ok with that! Hopefully tomorrows blog will be full of fun exciting news.

My Little Buddy...

Amy N — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 02:07:00 +0000

...This kid and his trains are the ultimate pick-me-up! Not very wordy tonight, just wanted to share my supper cute, nutty buddy. Hope you all are well.

Choose your favorite before reading the rest...

Amy N — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 03:03:00 +0000

...do you have your favorite one? If not go back up and don't come back down until you have it.

I am putting together a lesson for beginning photographers (I have taken on a couple mentees in my spare time) and thought it would be fun to experiment on you all.

I will bet that "centered" was NOT your favorite...was I right? Do you want to know how I know that or just continue to think I am amazing and must have psychic powers? The eye does not rest well in the center of an image, and since this image is centered your eye was fighting to leave her cute face and because you didn't want to you found the image uneasy to look at. While the other images are off centered and let your eye rest easily in the image. AMAZING huh?!

Now just for fun and because once you learn the rules of photography you can learn to break them here is a centered image that does work. Because of the empty/blank space around her it brings your eye back to her to rest easily.

Now if you really want to have some fun with this kind of stuff go measure your TV. Divide the height and length by 3. Cut a piece of paper to that size (1/3) your TV) now fold that piece of paper in half and put it dead center of the TV. Turn on a movie or show (it doesn't work well with commercials, but I wont go into the reason for that now. That is a different lesson) you will not miss anything important, as the creators know that the eye rests on the edges and corners of the screen easier. No one would watch TV if it were not easy to watch.

Are you amazed?

Oh yeah...the picture of Jacey is the same picture and size ratio just cropped to a different composition.

Okay the nerdy photographer is done boring you, at least she had some cute pictures to look at right?!

I dedicate this song to all of you...

Amy N — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 03:20:00 +0000

...From the movie American Tales: Fievel Goes West-haven't seen that movie in forever, but it is oh so sweet.

Somewhere Out There
Somewhere out there,
Beneath the pale moonlight,
Someone's thinking of me,
And loving me tonight.

Somewhere out there,
Someone's saying a prayer,
That we'll find one another,
In that big somewhere out there.

And even though I know how very far apart we are,
It helps to think we might be wishing on the same bright star,
And when the night wind starts to sing a lonesome lullaby,
It helps to think we're sleeping underneath the same big sky!

Somewhere out there,
If love can see us through,
Then we'll be together,
Somewhere out there,
Out where dreams
Come true...

You pregnant women still with me ;)

And for fun a cute picture of Greg (yes those kids are supposed to be in bed. I caught them sneaking :)

Good night to you all...thanks for reading this it makes it worth doing every day :) Love ya!

Jacey's Original Paintings...

Amy N — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 01:50:00 +0000

...one day when she is famous these are going to be worth a lot! Jacey is a wiz at the computer and can do more things than most adults on the computer, and is always wanting to learn more things. I am learning to digitally paint (see a small portion of mine I will show the whole thing when it is all done) and she asked me to teach her how so I taught her the basics of it and set her free to do her own thing. These are her masterpieces. This painting stuff is totally addicting and surprisingly relaxing. This is what entertained Jacey for an hour or so today, she is so happy to be going back to school tomorrow. Pink eye is cleared up and tummy bug seems to have passed as well.

This one is mine :)

5 min. in the life of Skye...

Amy N — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 02:26:00 +0000

...OK that was a bit of an exaggeration it was more like 3 min. This girl was on the move today.
Her roles included:
Dish Washing Supervisor
Menu Extraordinaire
Sunday Nap Rooster
Toy Inspector (Greg tried to pick up the toys she crawled right over and dumped the bucket)
Floor Sweeper
and mostly just being herself!

She had Greg and I rolling, too bad Jacey and Dax were feeling a bit under the weather cause they would have been rolling too :)

Twin Falls: and the beauty of it...

Amy N — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 03:26:00 +0000

Beauty #1

This is what you see from the freeway...wide open flat land, there are mountains in the very far distance.

And then this bridge comes out of no where with quite the view! Look how small the semi truck is. You can't really see it in these pictures, but there is a house/building down there.

Beauty #2

yes there are houses right on the cliff...

Skye loved every min. of our adventure-actuall all 3 kids did they were so amazed with the cliff. Jacey kind of scared us when she said "mom I don't think I will be able to jump off of it, it is too big" AAAHHH!!

...Not a whole lot of words today...but look at the beauty around us!

We are so excited to have a temple closer than Ogden or Boise (both 2.5 hours away this one is only about 45 min. away) Twin Falls Temple is supposed to be dedicated in March.

Twin falls is quite similar to Layton or Ogden, but with this wondrous canyon in the middle of the city. You really do have to see this for yourself, it is AMAZING and will take your breath away! The colors are amazing the water is so green even the frozen waterfall is green. These pictures were taken just off the parking lot of Old Navy, Michales, Famous Footwear and Sportsman's Warehouse strip mall, across the street from Twin Fall Mall, which is just like the malls in Utah...go figure-civilization has progressed all the way up here in Idaho :)

We are really enjoying it up here, and although Greg said he could never call himself an Idahoan it is growing on him too...shh don't tell him I said that out loud for him :)

Greg has a job interview for Sears on Tuesday-Xing our fingers that it all works out, he really has learned a lot with his heating and AC job, but it just isn't what he wants to do and it will not fund the rest of his schooling so we have known it wouldn't be long term. We are very grateful for the job though as he quit his job in Utah on faith alone that everything would be alright and because of the people in our ward paying attention to the Spirit he had a job right away to get us by.

So my post that was not supposed to be very wordy turned out to be very wordy...but you knew coming into this post that I like to talk so you only have yourself to blame for your boredom...

Home Schooling...

Amy N — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 02:38:00 +0000

Innocently working on writing as many words as she could come up with that had a long A with a silent E...

"NNOOOO"

"MMMOOOOMMM!" Oh it is okay Skye look Dax has the bum medicine to make it all better

...probably isn't for me full time! Thank goodness for the public school system and a GREAT school with an AWESOME teacher for Jacey. Jacey had to stay home from school today and half a day yesterday because of the dreaded pink eye. Poor thing wanted so bad to go to school so I told her we would just do school at home today. She thought that was a good enough idea, but I guess we should have waited for Skye's nap time. Usually I just let the images speak for themselves, but these ones deserved commentary :)

Jacey's eyes seem to be clearing up so hopefully she can go back to school Monday but we will see!

PS) It appears in these images that my kids never change their clothes, but I promise they do! :)

First the training...

Amy N — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 03:13:00 +0000

...then the results. Yes that is Rachel Ray they are so intently watching. I am tempted to send this to her-what young fans she has :) I promise my kids don't sit in front of the TV all day, but when Rachel Ray comes on at 4:00 time stops for 30 Min. Meals. The other day I was a little late turning it on (shame on me) Jacey told me "Mom it is okay at least we didn't miss it all, and we got to see the really yummy food at the end" I am not kidding she really did say that. I was forgiven for my tardiness because she didn't miss it all and got to see the end results.

Jacey made dinner almost all by herself today. I turned on the stove and drained the pasta. You know there are studies that show the benefit of getting the kids into the kitchen cooking:

1) they are more likely to try new foods if they helped cook it
2) they feel like they are accomplishing something and contributing to the family
3) parents get to spend time with them
4) kids aren't spending time in front of the TV (except Rachel Ray)
5) they learn to cook
6) positive cooking expeirences can help build self-confidence
7) kids that cook with their parents are less likely to abuse drugs

And that is why my kids are in the kitchen as soon as they stand on a chair. It is my favorite time of the day-I know that I have said quite time or bed time is my favorite time of the day, but this really is my favorite time of the day!

Clingy Day...

Amy N — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 02:56:00 +0000

...Poor Skye...and Poor Mom! This sweet little girl of mine was not about to let me put her down for anything today and holding her while sitting was just not good enough so we walked around and around and around and around...when my arm thought it was going to break off I found this little contraption and it saved my arm, but killed my neck! This is what we looked like ALL day except for when she napped (thankfully she did do that) I got the craziest looks when I pulled out the camera, it was like she was saying "you can still pull that thing out and get pictures of me even if you are holding me...dang!" As you can see from the pictures :)

Sorry for the downer post but I blogging every day there are bound to be a couple of bad days occasionally.

Bath Night...

Amy N — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 01:18:00 +0000

...So I had originally thought about taking pictures of my *real* life at 5:00 but I thought it better to keep that angelic image of my kids in your minds :) 5:00 is by far the hardest time of the day. Actually from the time Jacey was tiny we set our clocks to her 5:00 fussy time. A lot of people are shocked to hear that my kids are in bed by 6:30-7:00, but once we have survived that hour we are all drained and ready for bed, and if we miss bed time by much we pay for it ten fold the next day at 5:00.

So enjoy the bath pictures. Skye is teething but still loves her bath! When she first gets in she splashes non stop for about 5 min. then she starts to play other games :)

PS) Sorry you lost Crystal...how long before Carrie is out too?

Pay Day...

Amy N — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 02:43:00 +0000

...Yeah we are going to be poor as long as we have kids that are good enough for their allowance. I am sorry that this one is kinda boring but that is to be expected once in a while right?! Jacey gets one sticker every time she brushes her teeth and does her reading. Dax gets a sticker every time he goes all day without an accident...oh did I mention that he is mostly potty trained, YAY...and every time he brushes his teeth. For every sticker the kids get 1 nickle.

PS) can you see our elf sitting on the clock still, can you all believe that I still have a Christmas decoration up? He sits up there and watches the kids, if they are bad he goes and tells Santa :)

PS again) I love my magnet board. Thanks Mom!

Sunday Mornings...

Amy N — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 23:34:00 +0000

...Thankfully we have the 11:00-2:00 session (My FAVORITE!) so we have time for this kind of stuff :0)
This is what I hear (whispered and I pretend not to hear it)
DAD: Hey Dax let go surprise mom by getting all ready for church
DAX: OK!
15 min. later
DAX: TADA!! I'm ready for church!

I was so not expecting to look up and see this! What a couple of NUTS, but hey it made today's entry pretty easy.

Grand Central Station...

Amy N — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 04:34:00 +0000

...er I mean Skye's room. I know you guys have seen a little bit of this room already but here is the full effect (although my camera lens is not quite wide enough to get much in the shot at once). This also serves as the playroom but Skye is the boss and will knock down the highrise if she does not get her way :) unless of course she is stuck in her pen. It was hard to take the bed out of this room as it was "Mom's" room, but the train station just wouldn't work on the bed and the toys didn't all fit in the room.