Carson, the artist

So I am recognizing a "phase" that I wasn't sure until now that there really must be such a thing. Kaeleigh went through it as well. I don't know what to call it, but it's when your kindergartner figures out how to draw any and everything. Carson goes through about 10-20 sheets of paper in a day! Whether it is making paper airplanes, drawing and cutting out swords and bow and arrows, or coloring dinosaurs, etc, Carson is always busy creating his newest design. Now he even illustrates his jokes on paper as he's telling the joke (which takes longer).


I posted about Carson's dedication to his Mommy...he is going to be the best hubby! Here's my latest favorite picture: I asked Carson the "who and what's" of the picture. He says it is a picture of he and I. I noticed the little squares and asked what they were-PRESENTS from Carson to Mom, of course (bow included!) I asked what was in the presents...he said, "one has a candy hearts in it and the other one has jewelry." I guarantee you Ryan had nothing to do with this...what a thoughtful little guy! Ryan saw how excited I got over the picture and had to comment that if only it were that easy...that he could just draw me whatever I wanted or he thought of then he could save money!


Check out those stars! I spent an evening practicing those with Carson and now they make a cameo in every picture.

What happens in Vegas...

...doesn't always have to stay in Vegas! So, my pictures aren't working, so I am posting my sister Jenny's post (her pictures turned out better too). Cheating, I know! Why re-do something that doesn't need re-doing? Anyhow, I thought her post was cute... Thanks Jen! (It's not copyrighted, hopefully...don't sue me, please!!!)


After spending all day at Disneyland with the kiddos, it was time for a girl's weekend. We left the next day and headed to...Las Vegas! Now don't get the wrong idea, we went to a Time Out For Women!!

We got there early in hopes that we could get good seats. (no assigned seats) Shannon was the only one that had been to one of these before, and warned us that these cute Mormon women can get pretty vicious when it comes to getting the seats they want. She told us that when the doors opened, we needed to be ready to run! No joke, we had to sprint!! Sounds so lame, I know, but I wasn't about to waste the time we had waited to be in the front of the line to let some crazy ladies out run me and take a better seat! Maybe that's just my competitive side coming out..it was kind of fun though!

Here we are waiting outside the Cashman Center...

The first night we were entertained by Jason Deere and his band. He wrote all the music for the "Joseph" and "Trek" albums. They were great, and even nicer in person. We were able to talk with them, take pictures, and they were signing every ones CD's.

With Jason...

Then we headed off to the Stratosphere, where they have a great 50's restaurant called Roxy's Diner where the waiters entertain you while you eat. We've made it a tradition to go when we are in Vegas.

The next day we woke up very early, trying to get at the front of the line again, and despite being there much later than we planned, we were still able to get great seats. We we entertained by Hilary Weeks. She is amazing. I thinks she should leave her music gig and become a stand up comic, she really is so hilarious!! We were also lucky to have Virginia Hinckley Pierce speak to us too. One of the ladies that were supposed to speak was sick, so she filled in. Kind of ironic, this conference was originally scheduled for February, but was rescheduled due to the passing of the Prophet. She was great and so friendly.

Even though the conference was canceled in Feb, we still went to Vegas since we had already booked our stay. We all laughed as Shannon devoured as many peanut butter treats as she could. (Her son is allergic to peanuts) Well, shortly after that trip we discovered that Porter has the same allergy, and I have since realized her torture. I must say that after months of no peanut paraphernalia in the house, the highlight of the trip, for me at least, was to have as many of these as I could.....

Isn't she cute? I just love my sisters and mom! We really do have so much fun together...especially when we can let our hair down and just be us, with no kiddos. I had a ton of fun with you gals...Jenny, someday you will figure out how to show your emotions with tears like the rest of us. Just don't keep laughing at us when we are in the middle of a "moment"!

Addition to our family!!!

Last night, Ryan and I finally decided that our family wasn't complete. Yes, you read that right! Not so much in the way your face is showing the shock...or humor of reading that simple sentence though.

All you with picky little eaters will appreciate that our family has been lacking. Our children have been pulled to the dark side long enough, and we have finally won! We purchased our LONG WAITED for Vita-mix last night from our favorite Costco store.

We knew the road show was back and had already decided we wanted one, but truly we went with the intent to work on our food storage for FHE. Well, first stop just had to be the vita-mix man...after a wholesome pizza dinner at the food court, of course!

We sat through his demo which started with a smoothie (banana, pineapple, cantaloupe-with seeds(the seeds have the healthiest nutrients in them of all fruit), orange-including the white stuff, carrot, cabbage, strawberries-stems and leaves included, grapes, and who knows what else...) which was tasty. Next he made us celery cabbage sorbet (celery, cabbage, lemon, little bit of frozen juice concentrate, ice, honey and some protein powder). He took the lid off, turned it upside down and it didn't move a bit. All less than a minute-kid you not! It was also a hit with the kiddos. Then he proceeded to make us tortilla soup(the base had tomato, carrot, celery, red pepper w/ seeds, seasoning mix and cheese (for creaminess) and honestly, by now Deegan was being true to form, and I was distracted hoping that Ryan would just continue to enjoy his sales pitch enough to not change his mind! So, I don't know what else was in the base) including rice, black beans, corn and tortillas. The soup was so yummy...you should have seen the steam coming out of the blender when the lid came off! I was so full, but seriously, the soup was made in less than 4 minutes and to think how long we waited for our pizza and it wasn't even that good for our bodies-tasted great though. So not only were we sold before we even got there, but the demo man sold my hubby who only had lovingly agreed to it because he got sick of me begging for one for the last 8 years. A good friend of ours made him a smoothie a couple months back and she had him pretty baited for me, but the demo man closed the deal for me last night! Thanks demo-man, I owe you! And thanks Ryan for finally getting around to my b-day present (that's how you make your b-day last a little longer folks, we're still celebrating!)

So now, our family will enjoy our daily allowance of fruits and veggies, and we might even succeed at the 5-a-day challenge our know it all dietitians tell us about. Not only that, but this blender will also serve as my wheat grinder. It will make my bread dough from grinding whole wheat to kneading the dough. All I need do then is dump it in a pan and bake! Yeah for me and all that partake of our yumminess. We may need to start a BYOF&V policy (bring your own fruits and veggies...ha ha!)

If you are a nerd like me, you can watch the videos of them doing demos on vitamix.com...truly amazing!

I've Been Tagged

Lengthy, but I thought a good history opportunity. I never journal anything down about MY life, so maybe for once I will see if there is anything noteworthy of my boring life.

There needs to be 5 answers for each question. So here it goes:



What was I doing 10 years ago?

1. Newly wed...9 months into this gig!

2. 5 months Pregnant with Kaeleigh.

3. Getting settled into our first apartment

4. Watching our first home get built

5. Working at a conference call center



What are 5 things on my To-Do list today?

1. Watch Kaeleigh sing in her first Chorus performance at the school assembly

2. Babysit the co-op kids

3. Watch Carson's swim lesson

4. Clean the house

5. Enjoy my family...yeah for weekends!



What are my 5 favorite snacks?

1. Chocolate...any and all (the meltier, the better)

2. Cookies

3. yogurt nutri-grain bars

4. Dark chocolate chex mix

5. yogurt



What 5 things would I do if I was a millionaire? (I will make a Ryan's list, and then I will make my list...opposites attract!)

Ryan's list:

1. Pay off our house.

2. Put money away for retirement

3. Put money into children's IRA's and college funds...probaby their "marriage and mission match" accounts too.

4. Help pay for a couple missions

5. Take his cute little wife somewhere special



My list:

1. Buy a different house...nothing wrong with this one, but wouldn't it be fun?

2. Major shopping sprees where I come home and am not allowed to get lectured for my frivolous ways.

3. Buy a non-mom-car for me that isn't allowed to have car seats in it...EVER! No cheerios, no spilled milk, no pencil drawings on the ceiling, no broken cup holders that "someone" stepped on, no missing visors that saved my child's life when "he" was falling to his death out of the car. One that the check engine light isn't always on...one that doesn't always tell me something is wrong with my tire pressure...one that the gas gauge actually works so I don't have to set the good ole' TRIP A every time I gas up...one that the windshield wipers actually work. I promise I'm not totally ungrateful. If you look at my car from the outside, it's a pretty piece of machinery...when it's freshly car washed.

4. Go on a nice vacation with the family...probably get the kids the passes to Disneyland finally that you have to be a millionaire to purchase in the first place.

5. Go to Europe with just Ryan and I.



5 Places I have lived:

1. Ontario, CA (until 1985 or 1986?)

2. Apple Valley, CA (until Sept. 1997)

3. Spanish Fork, UT (while engaged, Sept. 1997-December 1997)

4. "Denver", CO (Broomfield, Westminster, and Thornton CO) (December 1997-April 2000)

5. Avondale (April 2000-May 2004)/Goodyear, AZ (June 2004-present) ***thanks to Ryan's parents for letting us crash their place until our house was done...I still owe them, big time!



5 Jobs I have had: (I'll just list all of them...there's not that many)

1. My first work experience was for Colleen King. I did whatever she needed me to around the house and for her business she owned. I would put all the itty-bitty micro chips together and sodder(sp?) the pieces together for computers or something like that. I would help her Christmas shop and wrap presents. I would help her with her holiday baking and really anything she wanted or needed. This was my all-time favorite job! She struggled with her health during my high school years, and she knew she was helping me earn money for all the Choir tours and costumes, etc., as much as I was helping her. I really thought of it more as a friendship than an employee/boss relationship. She was kind of like a second mom, really. Really-a very nice lady!

2. Sister King's daughter had a short stint with some kind of gaming magazine. I stuffed magazines and playing cards into the plastic bags like The Friend and the Ensign magazines come in and then sealed them. Those were some crazy nights...not a care in the world and goofing off and getting paid for it!

3.. I placed the gold fountain nozzles for the fountain for the King Fahd Airport in Saudi Arabia. This was for WET design...the guys who do Bellagio and they are doing the Volcano on the strip as well. I should be clear that I did this out of a warehouse in Apple Valley, CA...not in Saudi Arabia.

4. I worked as a hostess of the mostess (couldn't resist! Sorry) at the Red Pepper Restaurant. Can I just say that since they went out of business, I have yet to find a Mexican restaurant anything close...do people not make Flautas with flour tortillas? Every time I ask for a Flauta, I get a taquito! Ryan has insisted that I am not allowed to tell the waiters how to make them anymore when I order. It's a good thing I like taquitos, but in the resurrection, Pepe will be the first to offer me his yummy Flautas!

5. I worked for John Hulterstom, CPA!!! That was a nice job. Great hours for the single adult schedule! I actually learned a lot about computers while working there, and the ladies I worked with were total sweethearts! I answered the phones and typed quarterly reports, filed, data entry, mailed lots of tax stuff...made lots of appts. for tax returns and always looked forward to April 15th! It really should be a mandatory holiday on April 16th for these professionals. They really earn it.

6. I worked 2 full-time jobs while Ryan and I were engaged, living in Utah. I was a secretary for the Utah county emissions office by day, and by night, I was a stocker at Macey's grocery store.

7. I worked at Frontier-Confertech: I was an operator and conference moderator. I led the question and answer sessions of all the quarterly reports and whatever-the-reason conference calls. I had fun at this job. I worked this one in CO after getting married. Strange people and nice ones. This was really my first experience out in the "REAL" world. Some of the people that would call in for the calls were total jerks. It was my first and only time dealing with people who thought they had status. I missed the memo that said my world was suppose to revolve around them. The scary thing is that they didn't get the memo about the kind of people that they were trusting their ever important phone calls too...whenever I am on hold for a call center employee, it makes me laugh to relax and imagine what they're workplace is like, and I can imagine all the drama...SO HIGH SCHOOL!

8. I worked from home for a company called DEIS (don't remember what it stands for-data entry something or other) I typed medical claims so they could send bills. I just plugged in the date, names, addresses, Doctor and a code. Totally thoughtless and easy. I did this for a couple years until Carson was born. I didn't want to give up the money, but didn't want to do it either. When I was on maternity leave, I got a phone call saying I was laid off (they lost the contract). We celebrated by going out to dinner!

9. Full-time mom to 4...no holidays, breaks or sick days...but the best, most rewarding job I have had.



The 5 people I tag are:

1. Sommer

2. Adrienne

3. Beckaroo...you know who!!!!

4. Tiffany

5. Dana

More words for Ashlyn (14 1/2 months)

So I haven't really kept up on my wee one's list of words. I am ready to add quite a few to "the list".

Duck, go, dog, owee, Mommy (different from "Mom"-totally different word!), Please, thank you (...our personal favorite-it really is the cutest word she has and also the most used...other than "mine"), pop, papa (grandpa) eye, mine, more, yes, and Dad. Does E.I.E.I.O. count as a word?...add that to the previous list (Mom, milk, yeah!, no, hi, baby, ball, and yep...she still knows POOP!) and would you believe it, we just may have a wonder child on our hands. That's 23 (counting eieio, which could score some bonus...) I bet if I consulted Ryan, he would think of something I missed. This babe is a repeating sponge. I love that she copies us. She would be great at Simon says...until Simon didn't "say", that is.

Thanks to Ashlyn for making Mommy and Daddy's lives a little easier "after the storm". Probably not the nicest way to label a time of our lives, but the boys will understand later when they hear stories when they are older. If that doesn't work, I am sure they will have little boys just like themselves and THEN they will understand. I should start writing my apology letters to their future wives. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love and adore my boys. They, like other little boys, are just a little different than the female species.

Look at my HAIR! (Slowly, but surely...)

Today, (ok, yesterday, Sunday...I'm always a day or so late posting-) after two chocolate cookies...the soft ones, loaded with not only chocolate chips, but white chocolate chips as well, Mommy was able to trick Ashlyn into her first ponytail! I can't stand the ponytails on babies when they stick straight up. I, of course, decided this after doing it to my first baby girl, Kaeleigh. What was I thinking? I gave her the double ones...and all it looked like was devil horns! So, now that I have a few tricks up my sleeve, and more years under my belt with girl hair...look how much cuter:

(Que the music...) "It's the most wonderful time of the year"-KICK OFF!

Ryan can finally relax...Cougar football is back!

Every preparation in place...including our new DirectTv, installed in the nick of time, and we are ready to roll! Of course, nothing is ever how we imagine, and so our first Cougar Central party happened to be a partial bummer. Due to our beautiful monsoon weather, our satellite went out (only on a few channels, the Mtn. just had to be one of them) after the game started, so the fans ended up watching the Utah game instead. We're just grateful they all still call us friends after such a let down. Thank goodness we had such yummy food to save the day. The tech guy is scheduled to come fix the satellite to ensure this will not damper another football moment.

We have to thank Ted Finch, who spent his b-day (at the time, I swear I didn't know it or I would have made someone else do it!) outside, braving the storm to try and adjust the satellite into place. Poor guy got soaked...happy birthday man! Only the Vehar's give the best gifts. This is after he already spent an hour of his morning fixing it before the game started. (We lost the channel Friday night, so there was warning disaster may strike.)

Regardless of the semi-disaster (depending on how big a Y fan you are) we still had fun, as mentioned. The kids and Mommy even got excited for the big game and decided to put the cute little Y cookie cutter to use. My great friend Angie Ashton has the most fantastic sugar cookie recipe, so thanks to her for the delicious treats! The cookies were a hit. Maybe a tradition in the making...

The kids helped decorate Cougar Central...The boys were so excited to offer up their bedroom decorations. We had their Cosmo pillows and bedspreads, football beanbag, and you can't have a party without Cosmo (providing the fight song for us...)! We may have to do this every game: The kids even made their own "flags" and welcome signs...another good use of the cookie cutter. Ryan should be a proud cougar father!

Proverbs 22:6

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.