Community Helper

Today in school Harleigh talked about community helpers. She was so proud that her Dad was a community helper. Here is the picture she drew. "My community helper is my Dad".

Tonight when I took a picture of her drawing she said "you know Mom you're a community helper too since you work at the police department, but I wanted to draw Dad". Why am I not surprised I mean Todd did take his garbage truck for show and tell earlier this year and he let the kids sit in it. In her first grade class, he is WAY cooler than her Mom.

Men Are...

Kim sent me this joke and it made me LAUGH so I thought I should share the laughter, well unless you are a man who reads my blog!

1. Men are like Laxatives . They irritate the crap out of you.
2. Men are like Bananas. The older they get, the less firm they are.
3. Men are like Weather. Nothing can be done to change them.
4. Men are like Blenders. You need one, but you're not quite sure why.
5. Men are like Chocolate Bars. Sweet, smooth, and they usually head right for your hips.
6. Men are like Commercials . You can't believe a word they say.
7. Men are like Department Stores. Their clothes are always 1/2 off!
8. Men are like Government Bonds. They take soooooooo long to mature.
9. Men are like Mascara . They usually run at the first sign of emotion.
10. Men are like Popcorn . They satisfy you but only for a little while.
11. Men are like Snowstorms . You never know when they're coming, how many inches you'll get, or how long it will last.
12. Men are like Lava Lamps . Fun to look at, but not very bright.
13. Men are like Parking Spots. All the good ones are taken, the rest are handicapped.

Hope it gives you a laugh too!

Two Wolves

I saw this on another blog and since I liked it I thought I would share it with you:

Two Wolves

One evening an elderly Cherokee Indian told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, "My son, the battle is between two "wolves" inside us all.

One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority and ego.

The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: "Which wolf wins?"

The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."

A New Addition to the Family

Today I went to the hospital to meet my new "great niece" Emma Jean Arnold. Emma was born last night at about 11:30. Kim was so excited that she might have her new granddaughter for a birthday present. Kim was also getting a little nervous that her new granddaughter might be a little stubborn and not come on her birthday. HUM, I wonder where she could get that stubbornness from? Kim really wanted Emma to be born on her birthday because Kim was also born on her grandmother's birthday. Thanks Emma, well actually Courtnie, okay and Tyson too, for giving Kim such a wonderful birthday present.

She is a beautiful baby. I had to sneak up and see her because Harleigh has been so excited for Emma's arrival but now Harleigh has a sore throat, cold, and bad ear infection. I told her she wouldn't be able to see Emma until she felt better. She took one look at Emma's picture and asked for more medicine. "I've got to get feeling better Mom!"

Congratulations Courtnie and Tyson on "a new addition to the family". She's beautiful!

Happy Birthday Kim

Tomorrow is my sister-in-law Kim's birthday. HAPPY 38TH BIRTHDAY KIM! We hope that you have a great day!

Happy Birthday Big Brother!

Today is was my brother, Todd's 51st birthday. I hope that you have a great day, even though you NEVER read my blog I thought I'd wish you a happy birthday! Since Todd lives in California we don't get to see him as often. Last year we sent a "black over the hill" birthday package for the BIG 50! Probably was a good thing that we didn't live TOO close.

Since you are in California and don't read the blog as often, I thought I dare post a couple of your "best" photographs!

I hope you had a great day!

My Character Jayce

Since my last post and thinking about how much my boys have grown I came across some pictures of Jayce that made me laugh so I decided to post them on the blog. He is the character in our house and ALWAYS keeps us laughing.


I always find my cell phone and camera with "self portraits" that he has left me.

He'll dress up in about anything. Although I did crop the picture to protect the innocent.

He does an impersonation of "Alvin Ostermeyer" that he learned from one of the officers I work with. Only Jayce has practiced his impersonation quite a bit and added his own "character" to Alvin! His favorite thing to do in town during tax season is to act like Alvin and wave at the Lady Liberty that walks up and down 2nd East in front of Liberty Tax Service. One year I was behind on laundry and decided to catch up at the laundry mat on 2nd East. Little did I know that Jayce and his friend Jake kept going out and talking to Lady Liberty. Jayce was impersonating Alvin. I went outside only to see her talking to this "poor challenged boy" that Jayce was impersonating.

After going to church and bottling up three hours of energy he usually is full of it after church! He and his friends simply couldn't resist dressing up to ride bikes uptown one summer. They put on wigs and headed out. Jayce was wearing Harleigh's Sleeping Beauty wig that she had just got from Disneyland. She was NOT happy, especially when I just laughed at him when I saw him! Jayce's friend's Dad thought he'd get them by putting their picture in the newspaper. I had people calling me telling me what a cute little girl I had.
Thanks Jayce for always making us laugh. WE LOVE YOU!

Celebrating Valentine's Day All Week Long

Wow I feel like we have been celebrating all week long. Wednesday Harleigh and I made Valentine's Day cards for her to take to her school class and also for her to take to a party at Sheila's. We've usually just purchased them at the store and had her write them out but I must say I think that both of us had fun putting these together and spending some time together. I think we'll have to do it again next year.

Now in the other room, in the background of this picture, Todd was working on getting things together for taxes. I don't think he was feeling a lot of LOVE at the time.

Thursday night we made sugar cookies to take to her school party. I was helping with the party and we took plain sugar cookies for the kids to decorate. On Friday I took some time off of work to help with her party. I think the kids had a lot of fun. Harleigh loves when I come to her class and begs me to help with her parties. This was the first one that I have helped with this year though. I've been too slow to volunteer in the past and other moms have already volunteered. Harleigh reminded me quite a bit about volunteering for the Valentine's Day party.

Todd and the kids surprised me with flowers on Friday. I was really surprised. They are so beautiful. Harleigh told Todd that they also needed to buy me a balloon to go with the flowers.Todd and I used a gift card that I got at Christmas to Applebees and went out to dinner for Valentine's Day. We decided we better go on Friday night, when it wasn't so crowded. We don't go out often for a nice dinner so it was definitely a nice treat. We got the kids McDonalds and took them to Grandma and Grandpa Bagleys house. I know some would think they are old enough to stay home by themselves but if I want all three alive I CANNOT leave Harleigh home with the boys. Jayce felt a little jipped that he got chicken nuggets and we got steak. I didn't even feel guilty! Besides he was pretty much teasing. They love to go down and play games and hang out with Grandma and Grandpa. It was nice two hour break for Todd and I.

Saturday morning Harleigh and I "heart attacked" the house. She had fun putting hearts everywhere. I usually do it the night before but once we got home from dinner I completely spaced it so she helped and thought it was fun. She made sure she got hearts EVERYWHERE, this is just a small portion of the hearts throughout the house.

We made "heart french toast". The boys were not too sure about the red food coloring that I added but everyone still ate up.
We had Brentlie come over on Valentine's Day and her and Harleigh had fun decorating sugar cookies left over from the party. They also colored in some Valentine's coloring books I made them and then played with some play dough that we made.

They also hung out in Harleigh's play house. These two pictures cracked me up. One of them reading and the other of Brentlie being Harleigh's baby. I'm not sure how Brentlie even fit in that little doll crib.

I've been promising Harleigh that we would go to Arctic Circle and play in their new Play Zone. We spent a LITTLE, actually a LOT, of time there.

It was rather difficult to get the two of them to pose for a picture, but I tried. They were just too busy playing to stop for the camera. Actually every time I tried to take a picture of them another little girl would come up and smile. She really wanted her picture taken too. It was kind of funny, but VERY, VERY annoying to Harleigh. Harleigh didn't appreciate the little girl trying to play with HER cousin, Brentlie.

It is a good thing that Harleigh and Brentlie will pose for pictures. The boys weren't around much so I have no pictures of them this weekend. I did get a picture of the treats that I gave the kids. CHOCOLATE isn't that what every kid wants. Jayce was gone most of the day snow boarding with a friend and Brodie had to work at Craigo's.

I'm glad that I had a lot of fun with Harleigh, and Brentlie too, but I realize how much my boys have grown up it makes me a little sad that they aren't little any more.

Anyhow, I hope that all of you had a good Valentine's Day/Week and this week is a good one too. We have tomorrow off work for President's Day so it is starting off good!!!

Dance Performances

Last Saturday night and again last night Harleigh has performed at the half time of ball games. Last week they performed at a South Fremont ball game, which is Todd's old high school. So Todd and I discussed the good old Madison/South Fremont rival that existed when we were in high school while we drove to St. Anthony. Then last night she performed at the Madison/Rigby ball game, which is always a rival. It was such a good game. The kids talked me into staying for the whole game and I was glad that we did.

She did such a good job at both performances. Her brothers, including Jayce, even told her how good she did. She was so proud that they thought she did good.

She dances to the song "Stay Beautiful" by Taylor Swift.

I may be prejudiced, but I think she looked BEAUTIFUL! She was so cute because there were several officers that I work with at the Madison/Rigby game, just in case the rivalry turned into fighting, and she was so excited that they got to see her dance. To their surprise she even gave out a few hugs last night! She is finally coming out of her shyness with them. Many have known her since she was a baby.

Now some parents might worry when they walk out into the lobby and their son is talking to four police officers, Jayce was surrounded. WHEW! They were just teasing him and he was teasing them right back!

Crisis

Last night we had a crisis at our house. The microwave, of almost 20 years, DIED! Yup it went out with fireworks, shooting sparks. Now not only is this a crisis because we don't have a microwave but it was MOSTLY a crisis because Harleigh MUST have this...
on a nightly basis! Microwave popcorn. It's like her bedtime snack! I think she was ready to cry but at 8:30 at night I wasn't about to run out and buy a new microwave. We do have an air popper so I told her we'd get some popcorn for that today and she could make popcorn in it tonight. Dang, I just thought about that and I can't even melt the butter in the microwave, it'll have to be on the stove. Oh, we are spoiled in this day and age! Looks like we better go microwave shopping SOON!

Snowfest 2009

Yesterday we went to Smith Park to Rexburg's annual Snowfest. The weather wasn't too bad. The nicest thing was everything was FREE! They had a coin hunt in the snow, snow bowling, snow sculptures, sledding, horse wagon rides, waffle ball throw, snow graffiti and LOTS of hot chocolate to warm up. They also had the Polar Bear Swim where you can jump into FREEZING cold water and if you are one of the first 50 CRAZY people to jump in you can win a Snowfest stocking cap. NO THANKS!

Harleigh saw lots of her friends there and had a lot of fun. Jayce and his friend, Braydon, came over later. They were a little disappointed that there wasn't a huge sledding hill like in the years past. Brodie, he decided he was going to stay home with his Dad where it was warm. They missed out on the fun, but they definitely kept warmer than we did.

It was a fun day for the kids.