This year has been crazy. Props to all of you who are organized and got Christmas cards out. Lets face it. If I haven't sent them by now, I will never get around to doing it.  But I did have great intentions.  

Merry Christmas from the Vance's

My kid is the red head with the tie. Can't miss him. 

i forgot

I had forgotten how much of the day it takes to feed an infant. In addition to nursing, feeding baby food is ridiculously time consuming. That's not including the cleanup of the babies face, hands, hair, high chair, mom's shirt and sometimes mom's pants too. Yep the process pretty much takes up the majority of my day. Good thing she is so cute.

Brothers

So this past week has been horrible. Sick children, no sleep for mom, kids staying home from school, constant bickering. When the kids are awake, they are grouchy and I am grouchy from lack of sleep. I even considered changing the name of my blog to "my kids are driving me nuts.blogspot" or "reasons i am grateful for birth control". Scott thought that might be a little harsh. Then today the stars aligned for me everyone took a nap at the same time. Wonder of wonders, miracles of miracles. So this picture is to remind me of the good moments of motherhood and my prayers to have them more often. Or at least realize the good moments.

TKD

If I had extra resources and extra hours in the day I would love to have my kids be 100% involved in martial arts. Take a look at the pictures and the determination on those faces.

Doesn't this face just say it all!

Pictures are worth a thousand words. The boys loved every minute of their trial of Tae Kwon Doe. What little boy doesn't like to yell and run and punch and kick, and not get into trouble when they do so. Who knows maybe they can be the next "karate kid".

Revenge

Its been 5 days of over 100 degree heat. We are pretty housebound. Parks are too hot. Pools are too hot and no shade and my kids are driving me nuts. Having three young kids is harder than I bargained for. So today while watering my shriveled plants I unleashed my frustration of the past 5 exhausting days. I unleashed my frustration with a garden hose. I am amazed how satisfying it was to spray my children with a hose. The best parental therapy I've come across to date. The kids were laughing the entire time, even when I got their faces. It was great. We will probably make this a regular occurrence.

Clone Trooper

I'm desperate to find things to do to keep the crazies busy during the last very hot summer days. So one day, I came up with this. Its a clone trooper. Be impressed. The gun is a stick covered in white duct tape. The Armor is that tube that comes out from a dryer to let the hot air out. I spray painted it white and added tape to the ends, to make it soft. Last but not least, the helmet is cardstock with a hairband taped on to make it a mask. I'm pretty impressed with myself. The crazies thought I was the coolest mom ever.

Preschool Graduation

Now that school is about to start, I thought I should post about Carson's preschool. He had the coolest teacher, Mrs. Fuji. Look how proud he is.

Way to go Carson. Now you'll be in school for the rest of your life.

mixed messages

Should I be concerned that my boy really likes "shiny chapstick"? I'm not really that worried but this moment was too cute it needed to be captured on film.

The Odd Couple

I love how creative my boys are. Check this out. Who would have thought lobsters can attack knights. I'm not sure who won the battle. I'm pretty sure it was the lobsters.

trek

The LDS faith is sometimes described as a "peculiar people". Well even among those people my hubby and I are considered "crazy". We voluntarily agreed to go on a pioneer trek for 3 days with our 5 month old daughter. I thought it would be a very "authentic" experience, and it was.

This is our pioneer family. We represented a real pioneer family who was pregnant and the couple came by handcart, they had their baby on the trail and everyone made it to the Salt Lake Valley. Likewise we too made it through our trials and all survived for the better.

We pulled and pushed handcarts. We barely made it up testimony mountain.

We did everything very authentic except our sleeping arrangements, we had a tent for our little family. Mj did great. She was carried for 3 days and thought she was in baby heaven. She did spit up in my sleeping bag though. I would go again in a second.

I'm not a fan of really long posts, so I'll keep this one brief. We had an amazing experience and I'd be happy to tell anyone about it. The pioneer were amazing individuals I hope I can be like them.

Techno toys

The Ipad is a very cool techno device, that can do many things, however, we have found a new app. Grandma app. The Ipad can now replace grandma reading bedtime stories. Its a sad sad day for grandmas. Don't worry grandma Jean and Janny, we will still skype with you online.

p.s. We do not own this coveted ipad. Atleast not yet.

4th

Happy 4th of July!!!

Family Picture

We finally have a family picture worth sharing and putting in a frame on our wall. Everyone is almost looking at the camera, and we are all kind of smiling. After 5 years we now have a picture that will do.

Blessing day

It was McKayla's blessing day. Her extended family came from Utah, Idaho, and California to show their support and love.

I had a spiritual experience watching her surrounded by a circle of the Priesthood. She was safe and protected from all the evil influences of the world. Just like we can be kept safe as we surround ourselves in the mantle of the spirit. I hope this was a maternal premonition that she will stay close to the Lord throughout her life.

Hard Life

It must be hard to be 5 months old. So many demands, so many things to do. She's just exhausted.

Hunter

My husband is a hunter, yet while we live here its been a sacrifice for him, not being able to go. So to substitute his desire he traded down from deer and elk to varmints and rabbits that terrorize Grandpa's yard and garden. No worries, I won't be mounting this on our wall. It becomes coyote food. We leave it out on a special rock, and the coyotes come and eat it at night.

Roses

Is this a calander picture or some nursery advertisement?

Nope, its a rose that I grew and my hubby captured on film. Impressive huh. I'm proud of myself. Its amazing what a little fertilizer can do. Even when I'm not changing diapers I'm still dealing with poo, I never would have imagined my life turned into this. :)

Last Day of Mom School

This was the last day of mom school. Z for zoo and "zee end" Look at those faces concetrating. One of the best parenting decisions I have participated in thus far of my mom career was mom school. We got together 2x a week with these four little boys.

On our last day I hosted an alphabet egg hunt. With a different letter on each egg. Do these boys look excited or what?

They all ended up with full bags and a knowledge of the alphabet.