Happy Birthday Aydon!!!

Today Aydon is 10! That is double digits. This is the first birthday that I can honestly say I have been on the verge of tears. Aydon can't be 10, I just had him yesterday. Atleast that is how I feel. I fought through and we had a great day.
Lindsey and I got up early to make Aydon his birthday breakast. We had poached eggs, smokies, grapes, chocolate and crumb doughnuts and OJ. I took Aydon shopping yesterday and that is what he picked out. We all woke up Aydon by singing Happy Birthday to him. During breakfast Danny and I told the kids all the memories we have of the day they were born. We laughed as we told all the funny stories of how I went to the hospital thinking my water had broke but Aydon had just kicked my bladder really hard and made me pee my pants! He thought that was hilarious! Then it was off to school. I brought Aydon lunch and Danny spent recess at school with him and had all the kids around him on the play ground sing Happy Birthday to him. Then my Mom and I brought cup cakes in the his class where we sang again. He is so sweet, even with all of his friends around, Aydon always gives me a kiss and hug goodbye and thanked me for bringing him lunch and cupcakes. Then I went to the store and picked up the gift he has been wanting for a long time. I got the last Wii that target had this week. Now we have been putting off buying this because for one I thought it was rediculously expensive and he already has a PS2. I don't think he needs more than one gaming system. So after alot of negotiating on Aydon's part, we agreed that if he could come up with half, we would match it. He also said he would sell his PS2 on craigslist, DEAL! We had the family over tonight for Pizza (of course) and cake. Aydon opened all his cards and was excited to get money to out towards the wii. After he was done we pretended that was all there was and he went to play with the kids. Danny called him into the kitchen and suprised him. It is so fun to see Aydon get so excited! Needless to say we have been playing wii sports all night. Very fun. Even my Grandma got in on the bowling.


Singing Happy Birthday, AGAIN. Aydon said "It is nice that everyone wants to sing to me Mom but everytime I answer the phone people are singing, everywhere I go people are singing, it has to stop." He is too funny!


Aydon excited when he saw the Wii.

FINALLY! !!! He can sleep well tonight! He gave me the money for the half of the Wii, which was honestly hard for me to do because alot of it was from his birthday but he is understanding concepts of money that is important.

Aydon is such a sweet boy. He is ALWAYS concerned about his siblings almost paranoid about them being safe. On Halloween he took Jake up to every door instead of running ahead with the older kids. He said he wanted to make sure Jake was ok and didn't get scared. The other kids decided to stay with Aydon and walk up with Jake and Lindsey too! Aydon teaches me something new everyday. I love watching him grow and become the wonderful boy that he is but at the same time it makes me sad to think about how quickly time is going by. However, Aydon did promise that he would never move away from home, I just need to get that in writing! We love you so much Aydon and there is no greater blessing in this world than being your Mom and Dad. Happy Birthday!

The Halloween with no Pictures!

I am so bummed I forgot my camera last night. I don't have any pictures of my kiddos lookin so cute. Aydon was GI Joe. He was in all camo and we pianted his face camo. Very cool. Lauren was a 50's girl in her cute poodle skirt all dolled up. Lindsey FINALLY picked her costume after going through 3 of them. She first was Barbie and the 3 musketeers, then she was a ballerina and then she decided to be a little bunny rabbit. She was so cute with her fluffy white tail and cute pink nose. Jakers was BATMAN he was adorable. We painted a bat around his eyes under his mask. We headed to my sisters as we do each year and it always is a blast. Really fun neighborhood. Warm and yummy soup and salad and lots of other goodies. Great food, great company. Wish I had my camera.

We moved...

Well we finally found a house we can settle in after year of not knowing if we were coming or going. We love it! It is so similar to our old house and the kids really like it. We just have to put the yard in. I am taking a break in between unpacking and hanging pictures. It has been so much fun to see all of the things that have been packed up for a year. The kids think is is Christmas. Maybe I should of waited until then and just unpacked their old toys. We found some of our old journals and loved reading all of the funny things we wrote about the kids so that inspired me yet again to be more diligent about writing things down. I will have to post pictures later.

The months in the life of a blog slacker.

I say months because that is how long it has been since I have posted. I was looking at my kids today and in disbelief of how big they are. I have felt the need to be better at journaling because I don't want to forget all of the fun memories we make on a daily basis. There fore I am committed to catching up on my blogging as well. Slowly but surely I will get there.

So for starters we went to Utah this summer for a fabulous Torgersen Family Reunion. We were there for 10 days and camped for 3 of them. The camping spot was gorgeous, the food was delicious but the company was the best of all. It was so much fun to catch up with family members we hadn't seen in years. We spent the rest of the time at Mom and Dad's and did what we do best, laughed, played, took several trips to Richfield and cooked. It was so nice to take a break from the presures of life and relax on the farm. The kids ran and played with cousins all day and night. It was honestly so much fun. It never lasts long enough.



Ok I don't know what this thing is called but it should be called the human sling shot. It was fun for kids and adults.

Daddy and Lindsey snuggling.

Danny kicking off the festivities. We raffeled off some awesome baskets and told stories, some true, some not so sure. But we had the best time and can't wait for the next one.

Group picture. This was only a 1/4 of the people who were there.

They had crafts and games to play. These kids had non stop fun.

We are missing 4 girls but here are a few of us. I love these ladies.

Mom and I playing one of the games. We were laughing so hard that Mom sprayed me with black licorice spit. Fun Fun. Hey atleast neither of us wet our pants. I was surprised.

Grandmelinda and Lauren. Just before this picture Lauren was telling on someone and needed Grandma to save the day. She knows she can count on her Grandma.

This was the view from our tent. Awesome spot. Good job Danny and Dad.

Lindsey and Benjamin played in the sprinkles while Jen and I brought in groceries from Richfield. Never mind that it was raining and we were in the middle of a thunder storm. They had a blast and we loved watching them squeal and giggle.

These 2 love eachother.

We love Grandpa Bob.

Aunt Jaris and the kiddos. Aydon can't get enough of wrestling with Aunt Jaris. He tries to tackle her every chance he gets. And she is such a fun Aunt that she takes him down every time.

The whole family after Gavin's Baptism. That was a fun day. Accept when Matt and Lindy left.

Launi and my Little EVIE! I want to bite this little girl every time I see her. She shakes her little bum when she walks and does the CUTEST things. I love love love her. When Lauren see's Evie's picture on the computer she says " Mom turn it off, I just can't take it, she is so dang cute." She and I feel the same way about this little munchkin.

What else can I say but they are too cute not to post.

These boys had so much fun together. Aydon loves his cousins.

It was so fun to see the Pace fam. I didn't know they were going to make it to the baptism but so glad they did. It's fun to catch up with old friends. Beautifuls girls! Lindsey and Leah loved playing with Lydia, Addison and Averi.

Lindsey and Megan summed up how we all felt when it is time to say goodbye. They were both crying and it broke my heart. These 2 were inseperable the whole time. We can't wait for October so we can see everyone again.

Sleep overs and hurt kids!! Not a good combo.

Last night we had a fun sleep over with a couple of the kids friends. The girls rocked out to music, made up dance moves to the songs, played with makeup and dressed up. The boys were boys, wrestling, video games and teasing the girls. Danny and I took 6 kids "night swimming." The kids love to go after dark, we scare away the other adults that come at night to try and avoid all of the crazy kids that are there during the day. The kids stayed up way to late and fell asleep watching movies. Today we met at this great water park in Rocklin to swap kiddos. We meet once a week to let the kids play and Mom's chat. We were all having a great time the kids were soaked and happy and then Brayden (Aydon's friend) came to tell me that Aydon had a bloody nose. So I grabbed a towel and was helping him and I saw Jake climbing up a ladder to get to the second level on the play structure. Now as Mom's I know you have all experianced that gut feeling when you know something bad is going to happen. Jake is a climber and is really stable but I just felt like he was going to fall so I started to run towards him and down he came. He was up about 4 or 5 feet and landed on his feet and then his bum. He was screaming and shaking and he could not get up. My friend Lisa came over and we were moving his legs around and checking everything out. From the way he fell I thought he broke his leg, but then I looked and his ankles and the right one was already completely swollen. Needless to say we were done at the park and called our Doctor. He sprained his ankle. He is a trooper though, he is letting us ice it and taking motrin, but he gets frusterated because everytime he tries to walk it hurts so he is back to crawling. We are going to go back to the Doc in 3 days to check and make sure everything is healing ok. I am carrying him to go potty and the other kids bring him all of his toys and read to him so he is in good hands. It just stinks when your kids are hurt. Still can't find my cord, so no pictures. It's around here somewhere. Happy summer days!

Happy Father's Day! and some catch up....

I hope that all of the great Dad's out there that I know and love had a wonderful day! We spent the afternoon at my parents house. We had great food, great company and a great time. I wish we could do it more often. Life has been busy for everyone lately and it was nice to take a break, relax and celebrate with the fam. My kids LOVE their cousins so much, I wish we could live a little closer so we could spend more time together. I have alot of things to catch up on in the blogging arena. I can't find my cord to down load pictures. Still searching for things in boxes. However we have had a fun begining to our summer and enjoying being together. Aydon finished scout camp last week and had a great time. I love going with him too. They have alot of fun things for the boys to do. We have spent alot of time swimming the past couple of weeks. The water is a little cold for me but the kids love it. We went to see the movie UP last night, I loved it. However can anyone tell me why in almost every Disney movie they kill the Mom off or in this case the wife. Someone at Disney doesn't like Mom's very much. What is the deal with that. It was a cute movie though, very sweet. Jake is doing fabulous on his potty training. He lets me come in the bathroom with him but he tells me to look in the mirror until he is done. He only wears and diaper at night, we are still working on that part. He loves all of his character underware and changes constantly. Which is fine with me just as long as he wants to wear them. He LOVES Buzz Light Year just as much as Aydon did. We can't wait for Toy Story 3 to come out next summer. Lindsey is cute as ever she is really enjoying learning to spell things and writing her alphabet. She will write and letter and then draw a picture to match the letter. Between her and Lauren they could go through a stack of paper in one day. Lauren is becoming interested in music alot more lately. She lays on her bed in her room with her head phones on and rocks out to all of the old 80's cd's that Danny has given her. Too funny. Aydon is into speaking with an accent. When we are driving in the car he with tell me which accent we are going to use (he has a great english and Australian accent) and then we all speak that way to each other. He is hilarious. I will have to get some pictures up soon!

Silly Saturday

I found this a while ago on my friend Cami's blog. I needed to hear it then and I remembered it again today so I thought I would borrow it and share.....

"What can . . . young mother[s] [do] . . . to reduce the pressure [of raising young children] and enjoy [their families] more? . . ."Recognize that the joy of motherhood comes in moments. There will be hard times and frustrating times. But amid the challenges, there are shining moments of joy and satisfaction."Author Anna Quindlen reminds us not to rush past the fleeting moments. She said: 'The biggest mistake I made [as a parent] is the one that most of us make. . . . I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of [my three children] sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages six, four, and one. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less' (Loud and Clear [1004], 10-11)."M. Russell Ballard, "Daughters of God," Ensign, May 2008, 109

I feel like that there are times I have been good at this and times where I am wishing the time away hoping to get to an easier less stressful time in my life. Lately I have definately been wishing the time to pass quickly so we can finish all of this moving around business and get settled in. Today was a rainy Saturday, Danny was gone and I was not looking forward to the day. However I decided that I was not going to do any laundry or any cleaning but just simply relax with my children. I needed some one on one time with each of them so I took it. Let me tell you what a difference it made. We laughed and played games, we made mess and left them for later, we all climbed in bed and watched the old VHS Winnie The Pooh movies and wrestled and danced and we were just silly all day. Danny surprised us and came home early and things got even more silly, we had a great day. Each one of my children are a blessing and a joy to be with and I am so greatful for the little reminder to slow down and enjoy the moment.

My baby turned 2! 25 Things I Adore about Jakey!

Why do kids have to grow so fast? I love each and every stage that I have been through with my kids, yes even the terrible 2's! It has all gone by so quickly and I miss them being tiny!! Jake had a fun birthday. For some reason in our family birthday's are celebrated atleast twice if not 3 times. We celebrated on St. Patricks day and again on his actual birthday! If I could figure out what file the pictures got put in I would post them but until then, here is Jake playing and biting as many bubbles as he can.

So here we go with the 25 things I love about Jake:


1. Jake is ALL boy! He wants to fight and wrestle at all times.

2. He LOVES his Daddy. He gets so excited when Danny gets home. That is when WWF smack down begins. Danny loves it too!

3. Whenever he gets caught doing something he puts his arms out for a hug and very sweetly says "MOMMY". It is very difficult to be mad after that.

4. He has the best kisses. Although they are a longer process than most. When ever Jake kisses me, he kisses both checks first and then I have to kiss both of his cheeks and any owee's he can find on his body and then finally a real smooch. I LOVE IT!

5. Jake likes to lip sync. It is so funny. Whenever he hears music he starts mouthing the words, (even though he doesn't have a clue) he is pretty convincing too.

6. The child is 2 and STILL loves his bottle! Now, I don't know that I love that part, but he has this routine in the morning, he will find me or Danny and with his tired face, asks for his bottle , then goes and turns on the T.V. grabs a blanket and waits on the couch. And we had better get it in timely matter or we will hear about it.

7. "P" seems to be the hardest letter for him to say. Some of his favorite things start with this letter. He loves popcorn, popsicles and pickles. He can't say the word without spitting.

8. Jake is Hudini. He can get out of everything, the stroller, his car seat!! He just wiggles and wiggles until he gets out.

9. His favorite movies are "HoHo" that means anything with Santa Claus! Toy Story, Buzz Light Year is his idol. He acts out the beginning and runs around the house with arms up and pretends he is flying. Aydon used to do the same thing. And last but not least " Donkey". My 2 year old loves Shrek. Not the best choice and hopefully he never repeats anything that they say.

10. He copies everything you say. This can be good and bad.

11. When ever Jake gets scared he runs and finds a blanket to put over his head. Then he usually comes out swinging because he gets mad that some one or thing scared him. He says "that Scawy".

12.. He Says "meam" instead of mean. I get that alot for being a "Meam Momma".

13. He is very smart. He can work anything electronic. He is starting to get the sounds down for his letter and when I start to count to 3 because I want one of the kids to get there bums over here, he usually finishes counting for me and keeps going.

14. He loves his brother and sisters. He calls Lauren "LoLo", and she calls him "JoJo". He likes to torture Lindsey. He takes her things and runs as fast as he can.

15. He steals Aydon's Nintendo DS any chance he gets and hides hoping that Aydon won't find him. Some how he figures out a way to delete Aydon's saved files. Not good.

16. He is a happy boy. He always has a little bounce in his step. But don't get on his bad side.

17. If Jake see's anyone kiss or say I love you on cartoons he says "EEEWWWW". How he figured that out already I don't know.


18. Jake makes more sound affects than Jim Carey. He comes up with the funniest noises.


19. Jake loves motorcycles. He would ride on Aydon's 50 any chance he could ( with Danny or I) and now he tries to ride Grandpas Harley. He climbs up and starts in with motorcycle noises and he pushes every button possible.


20. "Hurwe, big mess". Hurry, means Jake has broke or spilled something and he has come to tell on himself. It is truly hard to be mad at this child because he says and does the cutest things, especially sense he is confessing.


21. Jake loves to be outside! He would stay out all day if he could. I think I need to send him back to Papa Don's farm where he can run free like the wild animal he really is. He definately takes after his Daddy and I love it.


22. He loves anything to do with a ball. He wants to play basketball, baseball, golf anything that involves sports. He likes to watch golf on T.V. with Grandpa. BORING!!!!!


23. Jake loves bath time. Bubbles, bubbles and more bubbles. He wants to stay in until he turns into a prune.


24. Jake loves to snuggle before bed time. He wraps one arm around your neck and puts his forehead on yours and starts to whisper. He loves to whisper gibberish in our ear.


25. And last but not least, the child is so dang cute and knows how to work the system. His big blue eyes and dimples melt my heart. He is our true blondie. I am so grateful for the sweet spirit he has brought to our family and that Heavenly Father knew better than us and sent him regardless of us thinking we were done. He completes our family so perfectly. We love you Jakey!

Things kids say....

There have been so many things that my kids have said lately that I don't want to forget. Some hilarious and some just sweet things that remind me of their innocense. Last night the kids and I were waiting in the car for Danny to come out of the store. This older lady walk by with a cart full of her belongings, blankets, clothes in garbage bags etc. She sat down under a street light on the bench near our car and looked so sad. Aydon asked me if I thought she had a home to go to. I said it didn't look like it. He didn't say anything else. So when I looked back at him he had tears streaming down his face. It killed me. He can be such a sensitive little guy. He thinks about things like that for days and then he will come to me with ideas as to how we can help that person. He wanted to pack a sack lunch and try to find her. I wish I had better answers for my children as to why people experiance the things they do. The only thing I can say is that we have so much to be thankful for!!!!!

Here are some random others.

Me: Lindsey put your arms back in your seat belt or the police will give me a ticket.
Lindsey: well Mom, if you see the police drive faster so they can't catch us.


Lauren: Mom, I saw this girl at school today and she was wearing a BRA.
Me: Well hunny girls start wearing training bra's about that age.
Lauren: What is she training?

On the way to school each morning I put the seat warmers on in the car and Aydon said to me, "Mom, the rest of my body is freezing but my butt feels like it is summertime."
That is great Aydon!

Lindsey: Mom can I have some sprite?
Me: No Lindsey, you don't need to have any soda.
Lindsey: Mom can I tell you a secret?
Me: Sure Lindz
Lindsey: I really like to Grandma Debbies diet coke and when I am a Mom I am going to drink it all the time.


I was in the shower and Lindsey came in and asked "Mom where did you get thoughs?' I am sure you can imagine what "thoughs" means. Me: well Lindsey you get them when your bigger. I looked over and she has her shirt pulled up and asked. "When am I gonna get mine?"

Aydon came home from school last week and told me there was a girl at school named alyssa that wants to be his girlfriend. I told him that he is too young for girlfriends and he could tell her his Mom said NO! The next day he came home and asked if he could work out with weights because he needed to work on building his muscles. WHAT. I am not ready for these things.

My kids make me laugh, make me cry and sometimes they make me crazy but they are my most valuable treasures and I love them so much.

Potty Training and growing kids!

This is how I usually find Jake these days! He can strip in 10 seconds! He decided he no longer likes diapers so whenever I am not looking the child gets naked. Now most parents might be excited about this but I am not so sure! He has not got the idea of #2 and goes in the diaper and then takes it off and hands it to me or my Mom. Yesterday he took one off and there was just a little pebble size poop in there and it fell out on the bathroom floor. So he proceeds to pick it up and had it to Grandma! My Mom screamed and was laughing her gusts out and I started the bath water. Then the other day he had taken his daiper off and was headed for the potty but he started peeing befor he got there. He was trying to hold it in with his hand as I picked him up and went running for the bathroom. He left a trail from the family room to the bath room. Fun stuff! In church on Sunday my Mom tapped me on the shoulder and pointed out to me that Jake was at the end of the row with his pants down to his ankles. I am sure the people behind us thought that was great. So..... am I ready for this, not really, but I guess he is. I thought I would try this spring after he turned 2!
Yes he is sitting backwards! That is the way we had Aydon do it until he could learn how the aim a little better. So I clean pee off the tiolet and not me!!!

He is getting so BIG! I can't stand it. I feel like it was yesterday that I about died when I found out I was pregnant with this little guy. Little did we know that he would be the best surprise we have ever had! We love our little Jakey.

Jake runs to Aydon and Lauren every morning before school to give them hugs and kisses. He wraps his entire body around them. It looks like Aydon is struggling to hold the little tank. Then he stands ot the window blowing kisses to them.

The weather has been FABULOUS and we have taken the opportunity to use my parents spa in the evenings. I have to have one of my own. It feels wonderful to get in there and relax. Even with the kids splashing around. Jake loves the jets! he humms as they hit his back. I didn't get in this time, I got to be the towel girl.

Our Little Sunbeam and other Randomness

Little Lindsey is now a sunbeam! I can hardly believe it. I feel like I had her yesterday, but that is how I feel abou all of our kids. She loves it BUT only if I stay with her the entire time! Church is now from 1-4 which is nap time for Jake. Danny stays in nursrey with Jake or brings him to the car because he is so tired and I stay in Primary with Lindsey. WE LOVE IT!!!! But with a little more encouragement I think Lindsey will be fine! Her teacher is wonderful and Lindsey can't wait to see her each week. So we are crossing our fingers!

We have had a great couple of weeks with beautiful weather, lot's of fun park days with friends and over all just a feeling of gratitude for our blessings, namely the four little munchkins. One of my friends Raimi has alot of great quotes on her blog, I especially like this one:

"The happiest people don't have the best of everything, they just make the best of everything they have." Those certainly are word worth aspiring for. We have such wonderful family and friends and we truely are so blessed. Have a Fabulous week!

A Joke I found on Sugardoodle.... I thought it was pretty funny.

Once upon a time there was a non-conforming sparrow who decided not to fly south for the winter. However, soon the weather turned so cold that he reluctantly started to fly south. In a short time ice began to form on his wings and he fell to earth in a barnyard, almost frozen. A cow passed by and pooped on the little sparrow. The sparrow thought it was the end. But, the manure warmed him and defrosted his wings. Warm and happy, able to breathe, he started to sing. Just then a large cat came by and hearing the chirping, investigated the sounds. The cat cleared away the manure, found the chirping bird and promptly ate him.

The moral of the story:

1. Everyone who craps on you is not necessarily your enemy.

2. Everyone who gets you out of the crap, is not necessarily your friend.

3. And, if you are warm and happy in a pile of crap, keep your mouth shut - much like life.