Congratulations Tyler!

I am so darn proud of my Husband. He applied for the Lead Pilot position and GOT IT!! Wahoo! It's always nice to have a pay raise.
Thank you Tyler for working so hard for your family. We appreciate you so much!

Slacking, or trying to find the time?

Definitely a little of both! I have not been good at keeping up on the blog lately so here it goes.
Waaay back on my Birthday both of the kids were sick. Shay was able to go to school but Britton stayed home. I got to spend my whole Birthday with a sick boy. Before Shay left for school I got to open my present. The kids worked so hard on wrapping it. They colored the wrapping paper and wrapped it all by themselves.

Inside the package was a homemade envelope with money and a bracelet inside. The money is for a new swimming suit as you can see from the clue on the envelope that Shay drew.

Chopper also turned 11 weeks old on my Birthday. Isn't he the cutest little thing you have ever seen. He looks cute and innocent but trust me, he is not.

Friday both of the kids ended up staying home sick. Britton was so sick. He had crazy fevers and just slept all day. He NEVER does that. Even though the kids were sick and couldn't really enjoy it. Uncle Jonny and his wife came to stay with us over the weekend. He was in town for a soccer tournament. The kids were sick the entire long weekend. And Shayna even missed school on Tuesday. We never left the house. Poor Chopper was going crazy. Shayna ended up missing two of her swim practices which was really bad timing because she had her first swim meet coming up.
Both of the kids were able to return to school on Wednesday and Thursday my parents came in town for a visit so they could watch Shay at her first swim meet.
Of course shortly after they arrived Brittons bird, Hedwig, died. It was awful. Britton was so sad but he was trying so hard to be tough about it. He cried of course but he pulled it together to go to his soccer practice. I was so proud of him for taking it so well, I know it was very hard on him. He misses her pretty bad. Also the same day they arrived Copper turned 12 weeks. I can't believe how fast he is growing. I love how he tilts his head the same direction in every picture. He makes me smile.

Friday was Shayna's big day!! Her very first swim meet. She was so nervous but she ended up doing really well. Actually, I was shocked at how well. She was entered in two events. The freestyle and the butterfly. In her first heat (freestyle) she took FIRST place! In her second heat (butterfly) she took FIRST place! She swam against 7 other girls.

The way it works is you swim in your heat, then you get placed overall. Overall means where you place after all of the heats are done. So even though she took first in her heat she took 9th place overall in the freestyle and 6th place overall in the butterfly.  You only get a placement ribbon for 1st -8th place after that you get an honorable mention ribbon. She wasn't very happy with that. She thought she did terrible and was pretty disappointed. I thought she did amazing for her first time and can not wait until she goes to the meet next month. Now that she knows what to expect and how the placing works I think she can do better. I guess we will see, but out of a total of 20 swimmers 9th and 6th place isn't too bad....

And since she did so awesome we all went to MY favorite place......Yogurt Land!!

Another lost tooth

Shayna just lost tooth number 7!! She made another 2 bucks! If she keeps losing teeth like this she is going to catch up to Britton. He has lost 8 teeth and he is two years older....CRAZY!

Shooting the new gun

We love to go out on pic-nics and shoot our guns. Britton is actually very good at it and Shayna is doing so much better. I still suck and of course Tyler is awesome. We were a little nervous how Chopper would do but he was great. He never even flinched at the sound of the guns. He is going to fit in this family perfectly.

It was a beautiful day. The weather here is amazing. I am truly loving it!

So you would think that since we were going out to shoot the new gun I would have gotten a picture of it, but nope, no picture.

New Years Eve!

Unfortunately we had to cut our vacation about 6 days early. Every body was sick, the dog was driving me crazy, I had major lack of sleep and we wanted to be able to see Tyler and spend New Years with him. We had so much stuff to bring home that the Tahoe was too crowded to let Chopper ride in his kennel. I was nervous about how he was going to do but he just slept the whole way.

We only had to make two stops to let him go potty. He was such a good dog and the kids were perfect. I love traveling with the kids they are so much fun and never complain.

I'm sad that we had to cut our stay a little early. I didn't get to see any of my Friends but hopefully we can make another trip soon.....

Why is it that New Years is never exciting for us. I am going to make sure that next year is different. This is ridiculous. Tyler had to go to bed early because he had to get up at 4:30am for work. I wanted to make it special for the kids so we made some treats and planned our evening. By 9:00 I fell asleep on the couch. I woke up at 11:30 and Shayna was asleep on the other couch, Chopper was asleep on the floor and after searching for Britton I found that he had tucked himself into bed and was sound asleep. I woke Britton up and asked him if he wanted to stay up for a half hour to ring in the new year but he wasn't interested he said we should make our own New Year party tomorrow night....I agreed. I carried Shayna into bed and I couldn't get her to give me an answer so I took that as there was no way she could stay up. I took Chopper out to go potty then put him in his kennel and got myself ready for bed. I crawled in bed at 11:45 and could not sleep. So while everybody was sleeping I laid in bed and listened to my neighbors scream and yell and blow horns, I heard all of the fireworks and said Happy New Year to myself.....then fell fast asleep.

The next night........
We tried again to celebrate New Years. We had every intention to stay up until midnight because Ty didn't have to work the next day........We were asleep by 10:00.......We are so lame.

Shay loses a tooth!

Shay just lost tooth number 6!

The Tooth Fairy brought her $2.

Lucky girl!

Playing in Utah

Chopper took up most of our time. We couldn't leave him much because he needs to go potty constantly and I feel guilty leaving him in his kennel for too long. I did get a little time to myself to get my hair done. Thanks Mom for helping out with the kids and Chopper so I could do this.

It doesn't look too different in these photos, but I cut off 7 inches and got blond highlights. I really like it. It feels soooo healthy.
When I got home I found out Britton threw up so I wouldn't let him go play with friends. Shayna wasn't feeling very well either so we stayed home and played with Chops.

Funny dog. He sleeps in the strangest positions. And when he sleeps, NOTHING wakes him.

Uncle Roger sent both of the kids some really neat art sets for Christmas. These are the pictures they have painted so far.

Merry Christmas!!!

It's insane how much stuff Santa brought this year! Christmas makes me so HAPPY. I seriously love it.
Grandma Donna said Santa crashed his sleigh and all of the presents fell out at our house...I think she might be right.

Best gift ever for Shane. He got an MP3 player fully loaded with music and coloring books. Plus a lot, lot more.

Tyler had to leave Christmas day so he could get back to Vegas for work. It was sad to see him go. It was awful not getting to spend all of Christmas day with him. I had to take him to the airport at 1:00 but at least we got that much time with him. After Tyler left we did our best to keep the kids entertained so they wouldn't be so sad. Shayna made red velvet cupcakes in her cupcake maker and later she made pretzels in her pretzel maker.

Britton kept himself busy with the millions of toys that he got. I didn't post pictures of every thing, it would take way to much space and time.

Tyler and I got super spoiled too. I got a juicer and a slicer/shredder attachment for my kitchenaid mixer. The cutest little popcorn maker, clothes, earrings, money and much much more.
Tyler got a new gun, clothes, money and a lot more. He was pretty upset that he had to fly home and couldn't take his gun. That wouldn't have worked out well.

We all agree that it was the BEST CHRISTMAS EVER!!

I think we say that every year!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve Day was an amazing day. The kids were busy helping Grandma get things set up for our Christmas Eve party when there was a knock on the door.....

This is Chopper. Santa had bring him a little early so he wouldn't get cold on the sleigh ride. If you listen to the video closely you can hear Britton read the letter Santa left. Britton got huge tears in his eyes. He has been wanting a dog for so long. It was the best gift ever! Chopper was born on November 1st so he really is just a baby. I can't believe how fast we became attached to this little guy!

Shane and Doc just couldn't handle the excitement.....

This picture was taken a little later in the day. Chopper loves the snow.

Christmas Eve.....Opening PJ's.

I got another nut cracker to add to my collection....yay!

My three kids. Seriously!

My cute PJ's. I think they go great with the socks Grandma Donna gave me. I love them!

Tyler and I both got Redneck wine glasses.....HILARIOUS!

Christmas Eve was low key and relaxed this year. It was actually really nice. Of course we all got spoiled and it's not even Christmas yet.