the maui's

it was really fun making this, it was probably the best i could do. but i'm not sure if it's the best i can do. i bet i could do better but here's the picture thank you love Roxy

Nixon at 14 months is now master of the stairs. I would say it happened at 13 months, because it has easily been 3 weeks since this photo was taken. So we put up this bench at the top of the steps to block the stairs, because our 2 posts are not lined up, so the baby get did not work very well. The bench did the job just fine until mid July when Nixy would try so hard to get over the bench to follow whomever down the stairs. Finally one day he got over. And then several more times that day. Brian and I watched him climb down the steps one time that day (still dumbfounded that he could get over- alive) I think he was retrieving his toy that he had thrown down the stairs, any ways we watched make his way down the steps and then over to the front door- where I kid you not, he pulled the handle and popped the door open. We laughed and went to go get him. It was the first time he had opened the door, and I was hoping it was a fluke. But of course it wasn't. The 2 easiest doors to open a

little roxy aint so little anymore, she has finally started kindergarten. it has been a long time coming... she has been ready for this for about 2 years. roxy has always been exceptionally bright and confident. so school is going to be cake for her. she did say, and i quote "this is a dream come true!" this was said the day before school, when she realized it was only 1 more day away. i don't want to completely mislead you, roxy has had several "dreams come true" but she was and still is very excited for this. enjoy these photos... posing by the climbing rock sitting with riley and elise while waiting for the bus. about to board bus, with no reservations whatsoever. cute little kid who has no pants... me trying to sneak on the bus- i am like a flipping papparazzi we returned to the porch and riley was noticeably quiet. as we were climbing the steps, with slumped shoulders she said, "well, i guess its just us now."

the first week we moved back to EM i ran into my old running buddy and we scheduled to start running together again. we did this through all of may, usually running 3-4 miles a night. around the first of june we did a practice run for our neighborhood 5K, the gals we went with were fast.... and so we heard tales of a half marathon from them. needless to say, i thought "i could do that." valerie and i immediately started training for the provo river 1/2 marathon. 10 weeks later, the furthest we had ran was 11 miles, and we were averaging 20-25 miles a week in training. we had a pretty good pace, not fast by any means, but not slow. we were both feeling very confident in the 13.1 miles that awaited us. the race was nearly fun, it started out with us meeting at the riverbottoms in provo at 5AM. it was dark and cold, and crazy crowded. finally we were able to load a bus, and we were bussed up to vivian park, and then all the way up south fork (according to maui) where w

before awhile ago my friend allison posted some photos of her toddler car seat that she had re-covered. she did an awesome job! and it is just like me to think "i could do that" i finally did it. fortunately a car seat is something you use all the time, so i actually had to finish this project. amazing. the car seat cover looks decent from far away, that is all i am gonna say. riley appreciated it, she referred to her car seat as a boy car seat, so almost anything would have been an improvment. after

a couple weeks ago we loaded up the car and drove 20 minutes to the af canyon. we had loads of fun, well everyone except for me... i was busy worrying about running into a cougar, bear, or anything on four legs. i spent most of the night listening for noises by the river. somehow we survived the night, and here i am to tell the tale. mid week camping is the way to go. thanks am-ex for laying off my husband, otherwise we would not be able to take these wonderful mid week excursions.... on our way home we decided to do the timp cave. we had a 90 minute wait, so we ate lunch, and used the bathrooms (running water is a treat even after 1 mear night of camping). so i did not know what to expect with the cave, all i had heard was that it was a steep hike. i did not link steep to paved... so i was pleasently suprised to see a paved trail. it was kind of tiring, especially caring a 1 year old in the baby bjorn. maui ended up carrying riley (3) about half of the way. it is only a mi

nixy boy is now 1, and life for him is looking sweet. him at the zoo, 2 days before his b-day. that is a large stick pretzel that he is working on he is: walking, babbling, grabbing toys, practically saying "mine", laughing all the time, going up stairs - but no guarantee on getting back down, turning down cheerios in the hopes of something better, and all around a fun little kid! he loves his big sisters and is always trying to keep up with them and their many friends who constantly fill this house. luckily all the little friends and of course his sisters like him too. his favorite food is watermelon or strawberries. following behind those would be cheetos ( i know i am a really good mom). he just recently became acquainted with apple juice, and he definitely digs it. he is not way into tv, but when we put on yo gabba gabba he will tune in. he really likes the awesome music the show plays, and will naturally go into a squat like dance movement while listening to the go

Well at first I was so excited when Roxy's training wheels came off. However something seems to happen when you get the feeling of the wind flowing through your hair, something about the open road that just calls to you. Unfortunately Roxy seems to have taken to that a little too quickly... She's moved on and left us, she's joined up with the Hell's Satans bicycle gang!! Sure these little girls look innocent enough but man I'll tell you they are trouble so watch out! If your swing set is tipped over, or you have hearts and skulls spray painted on your monkey bars it's a sure sign the Hell's Satans have paid you a visit. Roxy if you see this we just want you to know we still love you, no matter what things you have done, or how many little boys you have pushed down in the mud. We miss you and you are always welcome back home.

roxy got her bike at age 3, it was a bit big, but hey it was free. she quickly learned to ride with training wheels, but never very well. not anymore... there was a teeny weeny bike laying around at the park, with no training wheels. roxy's friend picked it up and started riding it, so when she finished, i told roxy to give it a try. i also bribed her with a dollar, she needed a little motivation. i helped her by holding the bike upright while she peddled around the b-ball court. after about a minute or two, she was off on her own. a few minutes later maui's tool kit was spread out all over the garage floor and roxy and her friends had taken off her training wheels.

when we go to the zoo we always take a few minutes in front of the cougar cage. i stare in amazement at those cats and know that they would love the chance to break out of that cage and attack us. they are powerful animals, and like all animals i do not like them. several years ago, when we first moved out here to Eagle Mtn. there were plenty rumors of cougars, and even a few spottings. i have always been quite certain i would stumble accross one while jogging through the neighborhoods or up by the golf course. i have basically been waiting for this inevitable (that is really how i feel) meeting. now, don't get ahead of me, i have not come face to face with a cougar yet. but my neighbor did. saturday afternoon one of roxy's friends house had 3 cop cars in front of it, and a little crowd of neighbors as well. roxy was begging to go over there and see what the trouble was. being the secretly nosy person that i am, i said no. but we continued to stare out the window. turns ou

Nixon is now 10.5 months!!! after much deliberation it is decided that nixon is officially walking. yesterday at our park he was cruising around in the wood chips, he would take a little stumble, but get right back up and continue on with the exploring. i was surprised at how well he did, with the uneven and new texture. pretty cool. and in our opinion this makes him "officially walking." roxy started walking like a champ between 10 and 10.5 months old as well. if memory serves correctly riley was walking at 11 months. pictures will come soon! our computer is having problems up the wazoo.

brian's high school sweet heart, tyson apostle stole the show on survivor season 18. he was recently voted off the show, which makes it less entertaining, however for our first season watching, we are now fans. tyson played it cool, and a little blunt on the show, but now that the possibility of being voted off has passed he has put down his guard, and the "life at ponderosa" clips on the survivor web site are hilarious and show how funny he is. so, any fans of the show, go check out these clips, and tyson can win over your love. just like he did brian so many years ago.....

for those of you who opted to not take high school spanish, you have no idea (well you probably do know..)what this post is about. i need to tell dona maria (my high school spanish teacher) thanks, for teaching me such phrases as: mi casa es su casa, me llamo david vargas. and that is all that i remember, since it was nothing short of a miracle that i passed 2 years of spanish, whithout being able to speak more than 2 sentences.... we finally "closed" on our house!!! it now feels appropriate to tell everyone about it. as brian and i were both pretty certain it was not going to work out, for various reasons. well it did. and i could not be more elated. the mauis are moving back to the Ranches, hopefully in the next 2 weeks. our 3 kids who all share a room, here at my moms, will now all have their own room! we will be excited for friends and family to come and see us at our new house, and of course please feel right at home.... and since our company might not be enough incenti

You may notice that Desi hasn't been posting pics in the last few entries, well that's my fault. You see I recently had to play musical chairs with my hard drives, as one of them was failing. So during this process I ended up loosing a few files from my computers, luckily not our pictures, movies, TV shows, or music. You know just the boring stuff, budgets, work documents, etc... Well one of the tragic losses was all the original blog layout photoshop files, brushes, illustrator vector art, cool picture frames with the tape on them, and so forth. I had some big plans for the layout when I started most of it worked really well, some things I never got to work like custom video frames, and video in the Polaroid frames in the header. I also had a lot of new ideas to spice up the ever changing header, so now the question is do I try to recreate this layout from scratch again so I can keep updating the banners etc, or do I go in a completely new direction. I welcome reader (a

Nixon had a birthday too. we did not celebrate or even really acknowledge it, but 9 months is a great milestone. he and riley had a joint Dr.'s visit. lucky nixon he did not need any shots! weighing in at 17.9 pounds 10th % measuring 27.5 inches 21st % nixon is still crawling, but he now loves to stand. on his own. for maybe 10-15 seconds at a time. he is itching to walk, and crawls on his feet about half the time. however, when he needs to get somewhere quick, he goes back to the regular crawling method and can get to his destination like a bolt of lightening. he is such a little guy, and his growth chart proves it. but he is built solidly and still has an enjoyable amount of chub on the legs, arms, and cheeks. according to the developmental survey he could be talking more, but he only says da-da, and of course the high pitched squeeling. he could also possibly know to hand over a toy, when i put my hand out. we have yet to try this, but i am very confident he

april first came and went, and riley turned 3!!! our little april fools day baby has gown so quickly. it all began with chubby cheeks, a smidgen of black hair, blue eyes, and olive (jaundice-ish) skin. she quickly developed a contagious smile, and maintained a very happy and playful disposition. about the time riley entered nursery (18 months) she quickly learned how to not share, maybe even hit if she did not get her way, and that crying usually got what she wanted. by 2 she was good at the above mentioned and being the good parent that i am, i let it slide..... now that she is 3, she will magically become more accountable for her actions, and will quickly learn that the "golden rule" will always provide the best outcome. at age 3: riley loves to sing, twirl, and be princess. she always wants to brush her own teeth, (even though her big sis will still let us do her teeth), she says sweet prayers to heavenly father, and never wants any help (when we try to help she will s

I woke from my sunday afternoon nap to go and retrieve my crying baby, before he woke the whole family from their afternoon slumber. I stood up next to my bed and decided to teleport myself about 5 or 6 paces into the landing of the basement. My teleportation was running smoothly til I got to my exit point, and our stupid wood step stool got into my way, and I stumbled all over it. The sharp edges jabbed me quite well. Being the old fart that I am, I needed to show off my battle wound. here is the step stool, which caused me so much pain... My story might seem a little confusing, and truth be told, I am confused too. And teleporting was the only logical explanation... I woke from my nap to retrieve nixon from his room. I remember standing up next to the bed, and the next thing I knew I was in excruciating pain and laying on top of the step stool just outside my room. I just don't remember moving away from the bed... Either I was drunk (not likely), sleep walking (although

"Da- Da" this wonderful word has been rolling off of nixon's tongue for the past few days. and, it seems like he knows what he is saying. he certainly doesn't say "da-da" to me. he says when he sees his papa. it is so adorable. Since nixon is talking he decided to grow some teeth too. well a tooth. he is 8.5 months old, and he has a tooth, both girls did not get teeth until they were 1. this unexpected tooth might be forcing some big changes in nixon's "diet" we shall see.

Nixon is now 8 months and 4 days old. he is still cruising around the house on hands and knees. yesterday he pulled himself to standing from the fabric on my jeans, not my leg, just the jeans. he loves standing, and taking a few steps with his walker. he can walk about 4 or 5 steps with the walker/pusher thing, before he falls backwards. here is a funny picture of one of his adventures. can you see the huge grin behind the binky? needless to say, he did take a pretty good fall about 30 seconds later. instead of helping him get off the guitar case i video taped him. and of course i did not hit the record button- so i missed it! nixon had his 6 month check up about 2 weeks ago. when the doctor asked how he was sleeping, she all but laughed when i told her his sleeping habits: - swaddling - nursing (at least 2 times per night) - rocking to sleep - needs the binky- essentially all night - wakes up at least 4 times per night he is such a stinker.... she said he needs to be sleeping th

doing my girls hair is such a chore, and a crappy one at that. whenever i would put in the time, it was a total waste of time. b/c in a few short hours, what i managed to do with their hair had fallen out or simply looked redic (as quoted by kim-from kath and kim ) to begin with. in eagle mountain there were plenty of moms who magically made their little girls hair style look flawless. and now here in south jordan i see it too. i think it is actually a prerequisite for moms in utah....i'll look into that. i didn't know how it was done, i guess i can barley do my own hair (so this might be where the problem began). my girls would not even sit still for pig tails, they hated having their hair combed, and frankly i hated doing it. usually by 11 am, we would venture down that road. anyhow, i think i finally asked my friend Natalie how she did her daughters hair (or maybe she told me, b/c she felt so sorry at my pathetic attempts) she referenced me to the awesome blog about doin

after working on her music, roxy takes a little chill time. notice riley's eye color- hazel/green. right? (i hope your computer justifies this) the same as me, the same as roxy. the last time i checked (maybe 4 or 5 months ago) she still had blue, blue, blue eyes. i know that kids eye color can change, but i thought that was more like when they were 1-1.5. roxy's changed from blue to green when she was about 1.5. WEIRD nixon is just chillin here, he has his signature drool all over his face, and is looking like a stud.

maui went shredding this past saturday with his buddies matt and mark. he of course had loads of fun. they took some awesome pictures that i wanted to share. side note: we had our 8 year anniversary last week. brian got some new diggs. something neutral that allows him to blend in on the slopes.... see what i mean, you almost did not even notice him. right? below is matt's backside, they took a 45 minute hike to get to some sweet powder. pictures above and below of this alleged sweet powder run. matt cruising down the mountain side And speaking of all things sweet and anniversaries..... I got this awesome new snow jacket as well. technically it was not my anniversary present, it came just a few days ago. but we had to get it, it was an awesome deal from brosociety.com i can't wait for a chance to try it out. It looks and feels like old worn out leather, but would hold up just fine in possible rain showers, thanks to the 15K waterproofing and