The Marker Family

Silly Face

2010-01-11T09:18:00.000-08:00

Mally and four of her besties. This was pretty much and accident and they are all perfectly themselves.

Sydney- goofy girl
Mally-a total nut
Gracie-queen of the spaz's
Anthony-born comedians

They had kindergarten together and now first grade. I hope they always stay together and stay as silly and crazy and fun as they are now!

It's what we do

2010-01-11T08:47:00.001-08:00

And pretty much, it's all we do. I sometimes think of how life changing our holidays would be without the Nutcracker. I'm sure we'd get to enjoy our traditions more, sleep more, do more for others, just to name a few, but for now, Nutcracker- it's what we do. Lex performed for her 5th consecutive year, Blake's 3rd, and Mallory's second.

A BonBon, Fritz and a Party Girl

Blake was beyond happy to graduate out of the sailor costume! This was Lexa's 2nd year in this dress and she was so happy to still be the smallest so she could wear "the prettiest one".

Mally made the cutest BonBon ever and I was more than happy that BonBons wear buns and not ringlets! Although, I did twirl hundreds of ringlets this year as I became the Party Girl Hair Do'er of all the girls!

This is what much of the time backstage looks like. Waiting. The kids set up camp somewhere out of the way (like under a table) and watch, and play, and color all they brought from home.

Someday I know this will end. Even though this 3 month venture near kills me, I always cry on the last day as our 43 different practices, meetings, dress rehearsals, and shows come to and end. For now, It wouldn't be Christmas without the Nutcracker.

Our Halloween pictures!

2009-11-06T15:52:00.000-08:00

Forgot to give some major props to our photographer! You can find her at: http://www.shandimariephotography.com/

We loved all of the pictures!!

Halloween 2009

2009-11-05T20:20:00.000-08:00

A true bunch of characters!!!

I still laugh when I see Brittan.

Oh Alice! Why you gotta be so grown?

What a dashing Mad Hatter!

The Queen of Hearst let us all keep our heads!

Britty with her Flava Flav slash White Rabbit Clock.

This year will go down as one of my favorite Halloween years yet! We had a mostly pain free time deciding what to be this year. I have wanted Mallory to be the Queen of Hearts for two years now. I first tried to get Lexa and all her friends to be little old ladies, but It was her idea to be Alice, so I was all to happy to commit to the Alice in Wonderland theme! I did have to beg Blake for a few weeks to agree to join his sisters, and as we were walking up to take our photos, he said, "Mom, I'm glad you talked me into this!". Whew! At least it won't go down in his memory as the year his Mom made him match his sisters! We had tons of fun putting our costumes together. Lex lived for her fittings with the AMAZING Debbie, Blake totally rolled with the fact that his pants were purchased in the girl department, Mally was so excited when her flamingo arrived and Brittan cheered me on the whole time as I made her costume one Saturday. I'm fairly certain I will not get them to do a them in the coming years, so this Halloween I will treasure forever!

Mally's 7th Birthday

2009-10-12T13:00:00.000-07:00

This year Mally (or I, depending on who your askin') decided to do a cupcake party. Mally was super excited to have her friends over to decorate cupcakes. The party details were a moms very worst nightmare and are still painfully fresh, but just know they involve chasing a delivery guy two city's away to get the party goods three hours before the party started. If it weren't for the help of my Mom and my good friend Diane, it would not have come together. The kids arrived home from school and knew nothing of the mornings events and the party was a blast!

Mallory and the 80 cupcakes I made. Oh, and her cute cupcake shirt that my friend Angie made for her!
Eating a quick slice of pizza.

Now the work began. They each got to decorate 4 cupcakes and they had specific ways they had to do them. A flower design, a face, a pattern, and then one to decorate however they want. I was amazed at the creativity of the kids! It was fun to see their personalities come through in their cupcakes.

Brittan with her pattern cupcake.

Lexa decorated probably every last cupcake she could. So into her work!

All the beautiful cupcakes!

Lexa's "person" cupcake.

Mally has a best friend named Anthony. His mom slipped a framed picture in the gift of Anthony and both he and Mallory thought it was pretty funny.

One of my best friends, Gracie Love, got to come to Mallory's party. If she's around ( at school, the movies, or anywhere else), this is where Brittan likes to sit. She likes the free rides Gracie gives her.

Mallory with her adorable cupcake cake.

So hard to believe she is seven years old already. She is such a fun person to be around and kind to everyone. Mally is so special to us and we are blessed beyond measure to have her in our family. We love you Mallorcat!

Ca-razy

2009-09-02T15:33:00.000-07:00

Two seconds into school, and we're already doing this! It's a little soon for my brain to come up with any ideas! Geeeez, give us a minute, is what I'd like to say, but then I'm super happy it's over til next year. Here is what we came up with....Ca-razy bunch.

Britty loved her Pink hair.

I left Mally at school crying cause her head hurt so bad! When I picked her up, she said the day was fine and she got used to it.

The back of Blake's hair said "wipe out" in white.

This was her own idea, an apple orchard!
I am happy my kids go to such an amazing school, so full of spirit!

Back at it....

2009-08-28T20:44:00.000-07:00

We're back to it. The daily grind. Waking up when it's still dark. All the homework. Schedules galore. Summer is over. Do I sound sad, bitter, completely unenthusiastic? That's because I am. I really love our summers. It is a time that all schedules end and we are free do what we want, go where we want and sleep as late as we can. I love it. Life is just easier, even with everyone home. I just love it. K, now that my tantrum is over, on to real life! As much as I hate to see it come too quickly, there is an excitement in the air when it is back to school season. The kids were very happy to start and were very much looking forward to their teachers and seeing their long lost friends. Alexa started 5Th grade with Mr. Garza. I went to high school with him and he is one of the most motivational teachers I have ever come across. We are soooo happy to have him. She will also spend all of her reading/writing time with the other 5Th grade teacher Mrs. Harp. She is a family friend so we are double happy with that! Blake is stating 4Th grade and has the wonderful Mrs. Thompson (Alexa's last year teacher). Mallory is starting 1st grade with the legendary Mrs. Ross. We love her so much! This year couldn't get any better for my kids! They are getting some of the best of Hickman's best. And that is saying a whole lot!

First day, August 12

Poor Brittan. She was going to be with out her "guys".
The twins.

Lex didn't make the group shot. She wanted curly hair, so I was still doing it while Todd was taking Blake and Mally's pictures. She looked cute, I just had no idea what I was getting myself into curling her hair that way cause she's wanted it curly at least half of the days so far.

Another curly hair day.

And another.

Going Private.......

2009-06-22T22:13:00.000-07:00

I'm thinkin' it's time. Leave me your e-mail so I can add you to my list! I'm off for a little breaky-break for the summer, so it won't be for a bit.

Easter

2009-04-23T10:54:00.001-07:00

This was right after a long 3 hrs at church. We headed right over to my Mom's for our Easter celebration and as the girls are running in to change I thought, yikes, I hadn't taken one picture in their dresses. Do you like Blake? He was too fast for me and had already changed. Oh well.

Too sunny, too hot, too squinty, still they were cute.
Might be my last year getting them to match, or maybe Lex and Mallory will stay the same size for years to come. Who knows.

Manny Bananny and Britty

All the kids. We missed Kyle!

Out of order, but this was the night before. The Elders stopped by so they joined the kids.

The Easter Bunny always hides the baskets in Mimi's backyard and we hunt for those first, then eat a yummy dinner, then hunt for eggs.

Brittan got the Thumbelina movie in her basket and a little doll set with it. She had been obsessed ever since.

All the kids got new goggles. Britty was cracking me up with them. She felt so cool to be like the big kids.

Funny girl

Goggle pictures are the best.

Blake was ready to dive in! Too cold still, and Sunday!

Blake tried the whole week leading up to Easter to get me to take him to Target with his own $5 to buy this Star Wars Lego set. Little did he know how good the Easter bunny would be to him!

We go a little overboard with the hunt. I guess we are used to more kids being there cause usually there are, but this year it was just Holly's kids and mine so they all got to hunt for a million eggs. All the big kids got 45 and the 4 youngest got 25 each! Dang!

We all put small bills in them too. Britty was happy to find a dollar. Madelyn got $29! We all tell her where the $5 eggs are though. She might use it better than Brittan.

Blake found the biggest candy egg! Easter was fun!

Newport Beach

2009-04-23T09:35:00.001-07:00

Ahh, the beach! This was such a great day. I was sicker than a dog and the warm beach air felt so good! The kids were so excited to be there, a nice break from Disneyland!

Beach Bums!

Can you hear hear her squeals of delight?

We beached close to these rocks so of course Blake had to explore! He watched the waves for ever and this one caught him a little off guard! Kinda big.

Brittty was pretty brave!

Only for a sec though.....She would go right to the edge of the water and RUN! as soon as a new wave would come.

Don't worry, this is just my 10yr old- Alexa, and my sister in law-Molly, who recently had a baby!, doing front walk overs.

Lex thought Molly was pretty bomb!

So did I! Wow!

Mally collected seaweed the whole time. She only set it down when I told her that it was whale barf. I did tell her I was joking, and then it was right back in her hands.

Blake being the only big boy meant he was nominated for the beach burial!

Ben (Val's husband) and Lex were pretty serious about their sand castle. It had moats, underground tunnels, different levels, until the little girls decided to help.

Diggin' away

Mallory was probably trying to convince Brittan to leave, it didn't work.

All the little helpers!

We stayed for a good part of the day. We had tons of fun and the kids already want to go back. We left and went back to the hotel pool to de-sand and then got showered and ready in two seconds and met Ben and Val for a yummy dinner.

Surprise trip!

2009-04-22T20:44:00.000-07:00

I literally decided 4 days before going, it was so thrown together, but off to Disneyland again! We weren't going to get to go this spring. Valerie and Nic's families were going, my friend Ashleigh's family was going, so I couldn't resist. This was against a lot of Disney rules I have, the most important one being that I will not go past Feb. Too many crowds and could be too hot. I'm a wimp and spoiled cause once you go when no one is there and your kids walk on rides and stay on them to go a second round cause no one is in line, it is very painful going when the whole world goes too. Oh well, I had to do it. I told the kids the night before we left that they needed to pack and they were leaving the second school got out at 12:45 the next day. Hysterical screaming, laughing, hugs of joy, and then they packed themselves. I was having a regular bow day the next day and really did not have time to pack so they did! They would hold an outfit iver the banister and I would yes or no it and they would chuck it over if it was a yes. My bow room looked like a bomb went off, but all I had to do was fold and put the stuff in. They were great. The best part was that I didn't tell Nic or Val we were coming, only Ashleigh cause we were gonna be in the same hotel, our favorite one. So off we went. We got up so early, not quite Dave Rawe early, but we made it to Disneyland at 8:30 for our early entry. I new the fam wouldn't get there quite so early so we got to hang with Ash and fam for a while. Oh, my kids didn't know their cousins were coming either. I decided to text Nic a secret msg saying that we were there and to text me back when they got there and tell me where they were. My kids were so confused and not to happy when a couple hours in we were leaving Ashleigh's family for no reason. I just kept saying I forgot something in Fantasy Land. We hid out in a cove by Pinocchio, my kids thought I was crazy, but I had to wait til the merry go round stopped and the fam was getting off. I even made my kids line up to get "bee lip" (Burts Beeswax) on. I had to keep them out of sight from the ride! So as soon as it stopped, I said k, lets go! We walked around and headed straight into them! It was so much fun! Everyone was surprised! Literally as this was happening, I hear someone yell my name and I look over and it is a college room mate from my freshman year at BYU, 16 years ago! Kirsten is from Colorado so the chance meeting at this very moment was crazy! It was great to catch up with her for a few (while the kids went on Dumbo with the fam) and see her cute kids. Our trip was great. It was waaaaay too crowded, won't break Disney rule #1 again. Only down fall was Todd wasn't there, and I got strep throat day 3 of our trip, and the on call doctor wouldnt call me in anything! Other than that, it was a blast!

My sweet kids

Blake and Lex are so good at helping me when Todds not with us. Britty sometimes choses them over me!

All the cute princesses-

Jessica, Jordan, Brittan and Addison

I'm so glad my girls love seeing the princesses still. Note the absence of Blake-

not so cool to him

This was Britty's new obsession this time. She has recently gotten hooked on the

Toy Story movies so in every store it was a hunt to find and hold Jessie, Woody and help

one of them ride Bullseye. She got all three for her treat. This was the first time Lex couldn't

find anything she wanted, that's ok, as long as she still wants to go!

It's Dress Party Time Again!!!!!!!!!!

2009-03-03T14:50:00.000-08:00

For all of you who have come before, and for those of you who want to for the first time, it is time for The Dress Party. Deanne will be blazing through town on

Monday, March 16

from 12pm to 3pm

for my semi-annual dress party.

She will bring dresses for the spring and summer, Eastery type dresses, as well as some more casual ones too. The prices are amazing, $20-$40, and these are boutique style (brand) dresses. You can call me with any questions you have. There might even be a prize for bringing someone who has never come before, and it may have to do with a bow :)

Hope to see you there!

Girl Trip!

2009-02-20T11:45:00.000-08:00

This past weekend, the girls and I set off to the coast for a fun trip with our friends Christy, Breanna and Ryan. We has Fri. and Mon. off for Presidents Day so we left on Friday morning and headed to Santa Cruz first to visit the mission there. Alexa and Breanna chose that one to do their 4th grade mission project on, so this is kinda the purpose of our trip. We had fun exploring the church for all of 20 seconds cause it was so small! Good thing I asked the little lady who volunteers at the gift shop if we had done everything that we could do (we had already told her we were a 4th grade family, doing a project) and she says, "Well I guess you could go over and see the mission". Good to know. Thanks for being so helpful. Kinda thought we were already there. Didn't know the church and mission were at two different locations and we were about to leave thinking, wow, sure thought there would be more! We laughed at how dumb we were and how not helpful our sweet lady was.

After going over to the actual mission for a while, we headed up to Capitola to walk around a bit. Brittan screamed hysterically when she saw the ocean! Then we headed up to Salinas to eat dinner at Chili's and then go see Confessions of a Shopaholic. It was cute but I was kinda disappointed. We were supposed to stay at Nic's that night but Brittan started running a high fever so we shacked up with Christy in her hotel room so we wouldn't give what ever Brittan had to Nic's kids. She was sort of better the next day, with motrin.

Saturday, Molly met us at the Monterey Bay Aquarium and got us in for free! Thanks Molly! The kids had so much fun. The only bad part was that it was soooo crowded! We hit a triple bummer weekend with it being a Sat., Pres. Day weekend and it was Valentines Day. Oh well, we still had fun and the kids loved playing together! I love their faces here!
Britty in one of the kid areas.

Our main goal of this day was to get Brittan to the beach! She has been obsessed with it lately and I owe it all to Calliou. Apparently the kid must go there a lot cause Brittian talks about all his trips there constantly! She wanted to fly kites, look for crabs, dig in the sand, and much more. Sad thing for her was that it was like 2 degrees in Monterey that weekend, and raining too. Even still, we had to go! So Nic met up with us at that point and took us to the end of Cannery Row down to a beach. We stayed for one hour. It was all we could handle cause it was so cold. Didn't seem to bother Lex, Mally, Breanna and Ryan. They rolled up there sweats and got in the water! Crazy kids, their legs were so red! Poor Ryan got knocked over by a wave and fell completely in the water!

Brittan, Jessica and Jordan loved digging in the sand the whole time. Brittan was not about to touch the water. After stripping Ryan down, we could only take the cold a minute more so we packed up and headed back to Nic and Molly's house for some warm baths!

We have promised Brittan that the beach is way more fun than that, and that it really does get warm, and that we'll go back there soon with Jessica and Jordy! We had a super fun time!

Lex, is that you?

2009-02-09T08:37:00.000-08:00

This is how Lex came out of the bathroom after her shower. Should I be worried?

2009-01-19T18:36:00.000-08:00

Our traditional nativity scene is the best. The kids love choosing their costumes and playing their parts. The irreverence is a little out of control (with so many kids and all, and it doesn't help when kids try to play the donkey and Mary rides it until the donkey is about to die-thanks London!), but it wouldn't be Christmas Eve with out it!

Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus

Mally and Audrey, the angels.

Lex and Bria, two of the wisemen.

Brittan was and angel too.

This sight is what caused me to have the hardest laugh of the entire Holiday season! Addison jumped into to room (she thought she was a bunny) and was so proud of herself! I could not stop laughing (honking) for a long time. She was soooo cute.

2009-01-19T18:15:00.000-08:00

Mally shocked at Santa's appetite!

Britty shocked at everything!

Blakie an the new Webkinz.

A stocking tradition for Lex, press on nails to wear during break.

(Thy last about a day and a half.)

Blakie trying out the doderant he got in his stocking. He was shocked with this amazing gift! He's never got anything cooler in his life!

Christmas 2008!

2009-01-19T17:38:00.001-08:00

Waiting to come around the corner to see if Santa left anything.

Britty in full concert mode.

Mally has asked for some time now for some LTOO undies like Lexa's. She always tries to raid Lexa's drawer.

Seriouly jazzed about his games!

Lex with her new LTOO suite

This year was a great Christmas. All of our kids got the whole process. Brittan fully understood the shopping and buying gift thing and asking for everything she saw, "Mom, can I buy this?", and then was reminded that she had to ask Santa. She thought of what she wanted pretty early on and she stuck to it the whole season. Her three main "wants" were, a baby bilalin (a violin she saw at Mallory's violin teachers house that plays songs as soon as you put the bow to the strings), a sing like Fabulous (a microphone to sing in like Sharpay, who she thinks is named Fabulous), and drums. I informed her every time that she would not be getting the last one. Mally wanted a DS and the American Girl doll Ruthie. Blake wanted 500 things, a DS, nerf gun Wii game, tons of DS games, gutar hero, Webkins, and the list goes on. Lex wanted a camera and the American Girl doll Kit. Santa granted their wishes and more. I love Christmas morning as their faces light up with all their cool stuff and I love that they are so happy for each other too. We were lucky this year to have Kelley's family stay with us. It really only ends up being the parents who stay at the same house cause all the kids, Holly's, Kelley's, mine, and who ever else is here play musical houses each night. They have so much fun together and are completely exhausted from party after party the whole Christmas break. We wouldn't have it any other way!

Why I've been a lame blogger.........

2009-01-18T20:16:00.000-08:00

This is it, the reason I've been such a lame blogger. This is what caused all other things to go by the wayside, Christmas prep, Christmas cards, cooking, sleep, haircuts (Blake had to have hair long enough to comb over, so we grow it out starting in Sept., and the girls had to be as long as possible too), time with friends, probably some school work, and barely clinging on to my new calling I got right in the middle of this whirlwind! The Nutcracker has become a holiday standard for our family. This is Alexa's fourth year in a row trying out and making it. She was a gingerbread cookie, mouse, mouse again, and now the ever so desired (by us) party girl. Blake was a party boy last year and loved it, but this year he wasn't 100% positive he wanted to try out until the day came, and then he really wanted to. This year he was cast as the roll of Fritz for the party scene. We just cracked up, as he is the only boy who tried out who does not take any dance! He was so excited. I was just happy that he and Lex would be going to most of the same practices because this year Mally got asked to be a gingerbread cookie! You can not try out for the Nutcracker until you are 7, so the cookie part is an invited part. This may be our only year to have three kids in it so it was kinda special for me. Next year Mally may miss the try outs by a few days because her birthday falls right before they usually do them, and who knows how many years Blake will want to try out. To say it was a major undertaking is a major understatement! From the first of October to the final performance, we had 39 scheduled events (practices, dresses rehearsals, shows, parties, etc.) to be at for the Nutcracker! And then there was normal life on top of that. We love being backstage, so I sign up for as many "helping mom" duties as possible. Oh, I forgot, with each child you have in the Nutcracker, you have to perform 10 service hours or be billed for them at $10 an hr. Some people have thought this sounds crazy, but it really takes a "village" to run the show. I did most of my hours as a backstage mom and Todd even helped out with some parking lot patrol hours. (Making sure everyone was safe and our cars we not broken into on those dark, rainy nights) We really had to live and breathe it this year with three kids in it! I think the experience they get, working with such professionals, is priceless! Lexa as a mouse for two years and now joining Blake in the party scene means they get to work with all the company members of Central West Ballet. It doesn't get better than that for them. These kids are so great to them and I am in awe of how much fun they make it for my kids. It is so fun to hear them come home with the crazy stories of interacting with all the older kids and the directors Renee and Leslie. Miss Debbie, the director of Julines School of Dance, was Mallory's cookie teacher, and Miss Kirsten was Blake and Alexa's. They were also so great with the kids. Here are just a few of our pics....oh, warning-stage makeup makes them look so scary everywhere but on stage!

Alexa was thrilled to get the "brown dress". She has been eyeing them for years now and knows her favorites. This was her #1 choice.

Mally was such a cute little cookie! It was so cute when she found us in the audience , while performing, and gave us some extra big kisses. Her cookie costume was new this year. Miss Kirsten designed and made them all her self and they were so beautiful! This pic does not do them justice and the Mother Ginger skirt that they come out from underneath was taller than me. Three adults were under the skirt pushing her on a rolling platform. Central West's production got a few really cool upgrades this year!

Blakie was so cute as Fritz. He was so animated on stage and stayed in character so well. My favorite Blake story of the season was when I picked him up from practice one of the 39 times, and it was one of the first that the party girls and boys had merged into one practice. I asked Lex how he was doing and she said he was doing really well. Then Blake butted in saying, "but I only had to make a few changes to my part". Ok, so immediately I was worried, and asked what he meant. He told me that when the other party boys start leaving the party at the end of it, instead of waving or shaking hand, he decided to "rock" one of them and another throw up a "hang ten" sign! I was horrified and asked if Renee or Leslie (who are a husband and wife team who danced with Salt Lakes Ballet Co. for years) saw any of this! He thought that they hadn't and I made him promise to never, ever do it again, or change anything on his own. I am still not sure if he got why it was a bad idea. I tried to explain to him that in a Victorian setting, this would never happen. He still looked at me like I was the crazy one.

Blake was also kinda ticked at his costume this year. Mostly because it was the same as last year and he thought is was so babyish last year (with the sailor bib and all), and so this year being Fritz, he dreamed up a much better one in his head. The day he came home from costume fittings, he came in looking so sad and when he told me why I felt bad for him. Carrie the costume designer tried to make him feel better by telling him that in those days, sailor things were considered good luck. He didn't care.

One of the funnest parts of the Nutcracker is doing it with our friends! This year Lindsey, a BonBon, got to share a dressing room with Alexa, the party girl. Of course they all like to do what ever they can to torture Blake and he loves every minute of it!

This picture is to simply show Alexa's hair. I had to so some serious ringlets this year. I knew when Alexa was cast a party girl that I would be doing "party girl hair", but then I got hit with a double whammy because they decided to let the cookies have ringlets instead of a bun. Wow, to say the very least we were so, so, so happy to be done with those. After doing it nine times between two girls (Mally had a school performance that the party scene was not in, so Lex got out of one time), even I, who loves doing hair was sick of it!

I guess some may think we are crazy for putting ourselves through this during our Holiday season. I, on the other hand, can't imagine the Holidays with out it. I cry every time my kids walk off stage for the last time, probably due to partially to exhaustion :), but I am really sad it is over. And believe it or not, so are they. Will we try out again next year? Absolutely. We'll take the opportunity any time we get it.

School pictures

2008-11-14T15:13:00.000-08:00

We finally got the kids school pictures back. They missed the first pictures because I was in Vegas for them and I am too crazy to let them do it with out me there. By the way, I'm not the only Mom who stands over the computer and tells them if it is a natural smile or not. At our school, that is the norm for lots of us. Still a little OCD, I know. All in all they turned out great, except for Blake's background was supposed to be the same as the girls, and I hate the dum arm crossing thing. It was that or hunched over your knees, which looked even more lame. I tried to let them do it with out their arms folded but the lady said, nope, that was the pose. Oh well, they look great!

Lex 10yrs. Fourth Grade

Blake 8yrs. Third Grade
Mallory 6yrs. Kindergarten

Why me............

2008-11-12T17:24:00.000-08:00

Yep, you see it right. Brittan has a new do. It is quite possibly the worst child haircut I have ever seen, and I've fixed a lot over the years being a hairdresser and all. This one takes the cake though. My two older girls have done it several times to themselves. Alexa has cut her own hair at least 5 or six times, but never to where anyone could notice, a little snip here, a little snip there and then I would find it when I went to do her hair the next day. Mallory gave herself a pretty bad haircut two years ago, but it was totally still do-able and no one noticed unless they saw her at night after a bath. Both girls were around 4 to 6 in their haircutting years. Brittan is only two! The fact that she maneuvered the scissors so well around her ear, I'm surprised she still has one! The top 3 inches back is about a half an inch. The side has parts that show skin! It is so bad! We were having a quiet Friday night. Blake and Lex were at my friend Christy's house spending the night. Todd was changing the break pads on my car and Mally and I were watching Kit Kitridge in the family room while Brittan was on my bed watching a movie. She does this all the time and never gets into things. It had been a while since I heard her singing along to her princess movie so I called out to her and heard a very distant answer. I told her to come out and eat her "yoggies" (her orange cream yogurt). She came around the corner and sat just barely inside the kitchen, very far away from us. I looked at her and then looked harder. As I called her over and saw the chunks of hair covering her jammies, I just screamed. She was hysterically crying instantly saying "I'm sorry Mom, I'm sorry Mom". Mallory was crying, so was I. It wasn't a pretty scene. I put her on my bed and left her in there until Todd got home. I couldn't really assess the situation yet. When he got home, we went in. Hair EVERYWHERE!!!!!!!!!!! So sad. I told her it was hideous and that she looked like a boy. Probably mean, I know, but I thought I was being pretty calm at this point. She just cried and cried. She didn't stop until she fell asleep. The next morning I was hoping it was a bad dream, it wasn't. It was even more scary with a little bed head mixed in. It has taken me several days to take the pictures. I just couldn't do it right away. I was too sad. Now, everywhere we go everyone wants to see it. Word travels fast in our small community, and the gasps, the "oh Allison's", and the laughing my friends have bestowed upon me tells me how bad and funny it is. Here is my mullet, punk, W.T. kid...........

Right behind the ear is the worst, oh and on the very top, oh and I guess everywhere is pretty sick too. This wet pic shows just how many cuts there were, tons!
The look on her face says it all. She new we weren't taking happy cute pictures. It might not have helped the million times I said how sick it was. She apologized to me many, many times on Saturday. Especially when I was showing someone her beautiful work.

So now we are back to this. Baby headbands for the next two years. Oh, I also cut the back of her hair off. It helps a tiny bit with the mullet look.

I guess we still love her.

If I didn't do every hair accessory imaginable, I would not know what to do. Megan rushed tons of crochet headbands over and luckily I still have tons of lycra ones. Deb's fabric bands are really cute on her too. Thank goodness! I guess there are a trillion things worse in the world and in the big picture this is really quite funny. I do still think silly, bald girl is adorable!

Happy Halloween!!

2008-11-10T20:31:00.001-08:00

We love Halloween! We pick costumes fairly early, (doesn't mean I have them ready early), but we decide what they will all be as soon as possible. I say "we", but I really mean that I talk all my kids into their costumes each year. Maybe someday I will give up all control and actually let Blake be the Star Wars guy he has wanted to be for years. Pretty sad, I know. The girls are usually pretty easy, and Blake really did pick this costume ( out of the 3 choices I gave him) so he felt great about it :). I made Lexa and Mallory's costumes, ordered Blakes and Brittans was a snap! Still, I am very glad it is over! After getting them all ready for 3 events in a row, I was done!!! Thanks to our personal make-up artist, Joc, the girls were fab, and she even does gladiator make-up! I am infamous for a billion props so the girls carried cool feather brooms, cauldrons, and they each had a pet spider, Candycorn and Peppermint! Brittan did not like anyone putting candy in her bucket, so that made for an interesting night. Maybe she'll get the concept next year. We had a blast and here are a few thousand pics to prove it!!

Lex was such a pretty witch. Can witches be pretty? I loved the spider earrings I made her!

Blake had no problem pulling off the tough guy look!

Cute little Mally
Britty was a funny little kitty. She was mistaken for Minnie Mouse more than once because I made her ears so ginormous!

After the school parade.

Mallory loved her vampire teeth.

Super Girl Gracie and Mally the Witch.

Brittan twirled and twirled all day in her "dancey dancey".

Lex at her class party.

Blake and his friend Roni looked like they planned their costumes to match!

At the school carnival the night before Halloween.

Lex and her friend Madison

The pouring rain was horrible on carnival night!

Lex and Emi, so cute at the ward party.

And the cool boys!

The best treat ever!

So amazed with her good fortune!

All the treats at the party were so fun.

I'm looking forward to the year long break until next Halloween!

Saturday Morning Fun

2008-11-10T20:14:00.000-08:00

One Saturday morning, I was woken up to some seriously screaming and laughing kids! It was the first day of cold weather, sort of, and they were all bundled up like they were at the North Pole! I guess a science enthusiast would half to explain to me the whole static hair thing. I think it was a combo of the tramp and the crazy windy weather! They were having so much fun!

Britty and Faith
The whole gang.

Britty mid air!

Loving the hair!

Double Digits!!

2008-11-10T19:34:00.000-08:00

Lex hit the big 10 this year. We basically did a repeat of Mally's birthday and went to the movies to see High School Musical 3, and the whole pizza thing too. These pics are from her actual birthday, October 11. We went to the mall to have Joc do our make-up. Well really mine, but Joc said she would to Alexa's for fun. Here she is getting her presents from her family.
A Nintendo DS from Mom and Dad. (Do you love Mallory's crimped hair?)

And no folks, this is not a joke. She has wanted a Swiffer Wet Jet for forever!!!!!!!! Every time we are in Target she begs for one. I always say no and thought she would really die to get one on her birthday. ( Although this was not the original plan, I just didn't want one!) So this was Mallory's gift to her and she was so happy! By the way, she has used it regularly!

Brittan gave her a Webkinz pug and a huge stack of her favorite underwear from LTOO. This was the best gift ever for Brittan to give, as she just started wearing her own undies a month earlier!

Lex and Faith after getting their make-up done, thanks Joc! We did get a few waitresses talking about them when we went to Chillis for dinner. I'm sure they thought I was crazy for letting such young girls wear full, and I mean full cause Joc is very thorough, make-up! Oh well, they must not have any cool aunts! They do look way too old, scary!

We did Alexa's friend/movie party on October 25th. So she kinda got a month long of birthday celebrations! How fun! We love you Lex and we would like you to please stay right here at 10!

Happy Birthday Mallory!

2008-11-10T18:47:00.000-08:00

Sometimes it is hard to think of Mallory as only six! She seems more like 16 a lot of the time. We had about 24 of her friends to see the movie Beverly Hills Chihuahua. It was really cute and the perfect movie to keep all of those kids entertained. After the movie we went to Round Table to eat and open presents. Her dreams came true, she got a pet. With my permission, of course, my friend Sheridi and her girls Mallory, Kelsey and Kendal, got my Mallory a hermit crab. They know of my true desire to not have any pets, but they sure feel sorry for my kids! So I guess a hermit crab is the way to go cause we hardly know it is here! Mallory named it Ruby. My other kids feel jipped that Mallory being the 3rd oldest got the first pet, oh well. Here she is, so excited to get Ruby! Some of our party guests.
Megan gave Mallory 20, one dollar bills. She actually forgot about Ruby for a while and this became the coolest gift ever!
Jackpot!!
And now, squeezing Megan to death!

Mally's birthday was lots of fun. We were happy to celebrate her six, most entertaining, years of life!! We love you Mallory!

So if you think if you can Dance, Dance, Dance!!

2008-11-07T22:08:00.000-08:00

We are obsessed with this show at our house! We have watched it since the very first season and we still give Mallory a hard time for adding the "IFs" in the title of the show. Season one, she was only 3 years old, so we have been teasing her for a while now. We try and get everyone we know to watch it each season as if we are solely reasponsible for the ratings. We have held many a "watching parties". The kids learn there favorite dances and do them over and over. (Blake doing Travis' part, (season 3), in the final four "Sexy Back" dance was priceless!) We have even met Nick Lazarinni, the winner of season one! We love this show! This was our second year going to the tour and it did not dissapoint! We got to go with our adopted fam, the Sinclairs. We love them almost as much as the show, just kidding, we love them 100 times more. We started the night by going to a yummy dinner at The Cheesecake Factory and then we were off to Oakland! This pic was before the show as we sat with anticipation, waiting to see if they would do our favorite dances. And they did, every single one of them! Here are Mally, Makenzie and Lex...

I was so happy to see my "Boo" dance in person. Joshua and Katie were my favs from the beginning, but by the third show when they did the samba to Baila Baila, I was hooked! I loved every dance they did. They never got it wrong! One fav for sure was Bollywood, so good!

They made us wait until almost the very end for the briefcase dance. It was worth the wait! Chelsea and Mark were amazing in this!

Almost the whole gang!Mallory was so excited to be here. She kept saying, "Oh my gosh, I bet it is so late right now!", and when Kherington did her solo she yelled out, "This place is on fire!". But she almost lost it when Mark and Courtney Gerianno, (as she says it), did The Garden. It was her very favorite dance. She has watched it over and over as we can't seem to erase them from our tivo! Her dreams came true when this music started, she just started screaming!

We had such a fun night, even if we missed getting cheesecake to go by 5 min.! We will most likely be counting down the days until next may when So If You Think If You Can Dance starts again!

Dress Party!

2008-11-07T22:01:00.000-08:00

This Monday, Nov. 10th, I am having my dress party. For all those interested you may call for info or directions. Hours are 10am-1pm! Come early for the best selections on these dresses priced $20-37.00!!!

Seriously?

2008-10-10T11:37:00.000-07:00

Here is the conversation Mallory and I had today while I did her hair.......

Mally: "Mom, do you know what I do mostly everyday at recess?"

Allison: "No, what?"

Mally: "I spin around on the bars. I hold a class for it, three people come."

Allison: " Really, who comes?"

Mally: "Well Gracie, but she's almost a teacher like me, she just needs a little more work, and J.C. comes, and Allison (a girl in her class), and Sydney comes too. Gracie is almost as good as me so that's why she's almost a teacher."

She was completely serious. Where does she come from?

How Exciting!

2008-10-10T11:33:00.000-07:00

Take the Quiz and Share Your Results!

Thanks Andrea!

Year of A Million Dreams!!!

2008-09-26T21:16:00.000-07:00

This is the picture that was taken right after we won. At this point we didn't really know how cool our prize was. We just thought , neat, a dinner at Nemo. So let me back track to how we won. We were on the Monsters Inc. ride in Disney California. When we got off there were 4 people standing there waiting for us. They first started talking to Brittan, asking how old she was and if she was having fun. Then they asked if I was her Mom and if I had any photo I.D. with me. I said I did and they told me that we won a really cool prize and that they needed us to follow them to their office. The whole way they were saying things like, "this is huge, you guys are really lucky". We Got into the office and William and Jeri (our two prize deliverers) said "how should we tell them, let's act it out!". So William starts saying things like "I can't find my Dad" and Jeri says "Ok Fabio, I'll help you". Of course they were acting out Nemo and they told us that we won a special dinner at the finding Nemo ride once the Disney parks were closed! We were excited and a little shocked. The kids didn't really know what was going on. We were told that we would start with a private meeting at Turtle Talk with Crush, which is something my kids love! So I had to fill out all kinds of paperwork. Even if I would have not accepted the prize I would have had to fill stuff out. The papers were release forms for the chance of them using any photos from the event and such. When I was done they told me that the value was $500 and I thought , Wow!, I had never had a $500 dollar dinner before! (more on this $ later). So they asked if anyone has any food allergies and if the kids had any major dislikes and Alexa speaks up and says "Well I like steak". Everyone started cracking up. So I asked how they chose us and it is pretty amazing! In the three park areas, Disneyland, California and Downtown Disney, there are 8,000 locations that a third party outside of Disney chooses from. So on this day they choose Monsters Inc. car 5, row 3, seat 1, at 10:21, which was Brittan's seat!!!!!! Of all the luck! We were also given the Disney Dream Fast Pass necklaces to use during our trip! We were sent on our way with the instructions to meet at City Hall in Disneyland at 7:15pm. So the rest of the day we went on ride after ride, giving Brittan a nap and just being excited about our night ahead.

This was the big moment. I guess after they took this picture, it went into many hands because when we meat at City Hall, they knew us each by name! We meat Shannon and Wade (the big "kid") and they took us over to California which closed at 6pm, so we were the only ones there!
This is Wade chatting it up with the big winner! Each time someone asked Brittan "Are you the winner?", she threw her hands up in the air and said "I'm a princess!". She fell into her winning role nicely. They weren't quite ready for us to start so the kids got to play and dance all over while photographers followed them. Some of these pics are mine, some are the professional ones they gave to us on a CD! There was 103 professional pictures on it!
Posing with Wade and Shannon.
The photographers had us do some of the typical pictures that they take when you walk into the parks and the photographers always try and stop you.
Checking out the Halloween displays.
The lights were so cool, I think it makes the pictures even more fun!
This was the sign up in front of the Animation Station.
It read - Disneyland Resort Would Like to Welcome The Marker Family 2008 Diney Dreams Giveaway!
On our way in they asked us if we had ever been in the Animation Station before. When I told them yes , they said good then you know what it normally looks like.Here we are on our way in. The looks on our faces say it all!

Even Brittan could tell it was so cool!
This is what the inside looked like. The big thing in the center was a giant balloon structure that looked like something in the ocean. They had it set up like a lounge. Little tables that were lit underneath had gorgeous floral center pieces on them. Big strings of white balloons were everywhere! As we came in they told us to sit and relax for a while, enjoying the horsd'oeuvres.
Brittan loved the balloons. In the back you can see a waitress (there were several) giving us the yummiest food.
Oops! Same picture. They served us peanut butter and jellyfish sandwiches, chicken skewers and watermelon shooters. The peanut butter and jelly fish were so cute. The heads were sandwiches with blueberry eyes and the tentacles were twizzlers.
Wade was so nice to the kids. He taught Blake the "lawnmower". Blake is happy to demonstrate next time you see him!

Mallory of course had 500 stories to tell to everyone.
After a while they asked if we would like to do all of the activities in the Animation Station. My kids are very familiar with this place so they love them all! Here they are looking at this amazing Toy Story display that comes to life.
Wade and Lex. I'm sad there is not a good picture of the girl that was assigned to us too. Her name was Katy and the girls loved her! They thought it was so cool that she taught them some phrases in French!
Here we are down in Belle's library where you can find out which Disney character you are. I was Lady from Lady and the Tramp. Brittan pushed any button she wanted and it turned out she was Maleficent, the mean queen from Sleeping Beauty! Too funny.
Blake was so excited because he was Captain Hook! After this we went to Ursula's Grotto where she steals your voice and you can record a Disney song or a part of a movie, then they play it back for you. I didn't even realize that they were just trying to get us out of the room where we first came in because they needed to get our next surprise in.

When we came back in this is who we found! Brittan was freaking out! They did a whole skit for us about how we need to help look for Marlin's son. The Dory lady was hilarious!
Brittan kept screaming "Hi Nemo, Hi" not realizing that it was Marlin, not Nemo yet.
They lead us over to do our session with Crush.
Here they are asking Brittan to ask Crush if he knows where Nemo is. Our talk with Crush was really fun. Brittan kept wanting to talk on the microphone. Crush was super nice and let all the kids ask anything they wanted.
After we came out, Marlin and Dory were there again waiting to take us to our next stop. We walked out of the Animation station and we freaked out again!

Me freaking out! Oh, there were several people who were there just watching our every move. They just stood back and watched. I am assuming it is the people who planned this event. So I have no idea who these two are behind me!
That is Katy directly behind Alexa.
We walked out to this! A "blue" carpet event! (everything ocean themed) This was the pathway to our car that awaited us to drive us over to Disneyland.
This is very hard to see, but Brittan is staring straight up looking at the "seaweed"guys on stilts. They are the same ones for the parade! They were just dancing and moving around, guiding us to our car!
Dory telling the kids to get in the Disneyland Hybrid Yukon. They even had a car seat for Brittan. As we drove through California, they told us that we were getting to do what very few people get to do, drive in the parks! We went out a California gate and into a back Disneyland gate. The kids thought it was so cool to see the behind the scenes stuff like a elephant from the Jungle Cruise and lots of cars from the rides and where they do the fireworks! We drove into the gate by Small World and then over to the side of The Matterhorn and parked. We were told to walk over to the Nemo ride and walk up the stairs to the Monorail. This was our reaction there......

Mallory, the first one up there to see Mickey and Minnie waiting for us!
Brittan took forever to climb up the stairs! She saw Mickey and Minnie from pretty far away and then she screamed every step she took! She ran into their waiting arms.
All of the kids could feel the magic in the air. By this point we all knew this was no $500 dinner!
Mickey and Mally looking out into the logoon where the Finding Nemo Subs are.
The three of them could not get enough of each other! Brittan kept telling Minnie, "I love your lips", because she had lipstick on.

We had a 3 piece band there playing for us all night. Mickey and Minnie danced with us for about a half an hour!
Even Blake could not resist Mickey and Minnie's dancing!
All of us before they had to go.
At this piont they asked us to take our seats at our gorgous table overlooking the lagoon.
This was so pretty!

Each of us had our own waitor! They came and sat this plate in front of us and I thought , oh know, how will I get the kids to eat sushi?
This is our chef and he came out ot tell us that it was frushi. Every thing was made out of white rice and fruit!
Blake didn't like it very much.
Alexa was a good sport and tried everything!
It really did look like sushi!

Brittan was in heaven just playing with her plate.
The girls were in awe of our cool party!
Britty loved her big chair.
The wators gave us anything we wanted!
This was our amazing dinner! It was filet mignon over tiny pasta balls that looked like bubbles. On the side of the plate was "clown fish " raviolis with a blue "water" creamsauce. It all tasted so yummy! Brittan and Mallory had chicken strips instead of the filet mignon.

These guys were our musicians. They played all kinds of music but it all sounded very tropical because of the instuments! When we first got up there they were playing Mickey Mouse Club music to dance with Mickey and Minnie.
They interacted with the kids singing directly to and with them.
They even made fish faces with them!
Our beautiful center pieces, there were 8 of them along the table.
The Nemo ride right below us. The "snow" like dots you see were bubbles that they had going all around our party.

Then Marlin and Dory were back for another skit. Over the sound system we hear "Dad, Dad, I',m right here!" Down in the logoon was Nemo, (or a lady sitting in a boat dressed like the other two holding Nemo). Marlin and Dory got us to follow them down the stairs to get on the submarine ride to finally "Find Nemo"!
When we got off the ride, there was all three of them together, Nemo, Dory and Marlin.
Brittan was so happy to see Nemo.
We did some more dancing and singing down at the last party.
What you see here is truly unbelievable! Thse guys are the desert chefs, I am assuming because we never got tot meet them. I think this picture must have been taken while we were on the submarine ride. But what you see here looks like a sculpture! I really though it was when we got off the ride, but nope, this was out desert!

This is the close up. Every thing you see here is chocolate! Mallory and Lexa's even had little birthday cakes because we told them that Mally's birthday was Thursday, and Lexa's was in three weeks!
Everyone sang them Happy Birthday!
Mally bitting off Nemo's tail!
Look how huge they are!
This was a night we will never forget. The only downfall was that Todd wasn't there with us. We couldn't believe how fancy it was and how special we felt! Everyone was so nice to us, meeting our every need. I can't belive this was all for just us! We will always hold a special place in our hearts for Disney's Dream Squad!It was amazing!!!
The next day we were told to pick up our photo CD at City Hall. The guy that came out to give it to us said that his dinner had never been done before and would never be done again. It really was a one in a million chance! He said that they have spent months and months in preparation for this and they sit with such anticipation as to who will be chosen for the prize. He said it would have been a very different dinner if it was a young couple chosen or a family reunion. He said the whole office had been takling all morning about how perfect our family was for this occasion. He said that they have done other "character" prizes before when the family and kids don't interact with the characters at all and it is very akward! They thought the kids were great and it was fun to hear that they loved us as much as we loved them!
Oh, and about the $ , a little bird along the way said that they had no idea where the $500 amount comes from because the budget for this party was $20,000!!!!!!!!! I about died! It was the best party ever!

The Happiest Place on Earth!

2008-09-26T10:07:00.000-07:00

For my family, this really is the happiest place on earth! We are true Disneyland fans. We go at least twice a year and we wish it was more. This trip was so spur of the moment. We had a trip planned later in October with Val & Ben and the kids a made The Nutcracker so we had to go now or never. This meant two changes, Todd could not come this quickly, and neither could Val's family. We were really bummed at both of those things :( , but we kinda didn't have a choice. So off we went alone, me and four kids! We had such a good time. My only complaint was that it was too hot Tue.-Thurs. We really did it all. Here are the pics, sorry there are so many, they are almost all for Addibuns!

Brittan really got into the princesses. She knew them all and had lots to say to them.

This is one of Brittan's favorites.

Stealing candy corn from a display.

Blake would not take pics with the princesses. The photographer tricked him into sitting with Jasmine and she even kissed him on the cheek! He almost died.

Mrs. Incredible

I think it must be a guy, (look at those thighs!)

Mator!

Tato Head, as Brittan says.

Boo!

Lighting Mc Queen!

Mad Hatter and Alice

Belle, this girl has been Belle for years! She is the best one!

Not so sure of the this Snow White.

This was the best Ariel! She was so cute. The kids told her story after story and she played right along and spent so much time with them.

Still talking.....

......and still talking. Finally they all just moved to the ground. I was feeling bad for the line we were holding up. Ariel was great!

Minnie in her Cali gear.

Breaking displays.

The Year of A Million Dreams Mickey

Britty dancing before the parade.

Brittan could not remember Mulan's name for the life of her. She kept pointing to her saying, "what's that" ?

Blake's dream, fighting Darth Maul

Britty's saddest moment at Disneyland. I wish I remembered what it was about.

Brittan loved this! These guys look like regular workers until they pull out their sticks and start playing! She was the lone dancer.

Blakie at Tarzan's tree house

The Tea Cups

As many times a day as possible!

Bug 3-D show in California
Cinderella

Brittan loves Casey Jr. Train! She is obsessed with Dumbo!

And for the grand finally for Addibuns, her favorite, Aladdin and Jasmine!!!!!!

Tales from kindergarten.....

2008-09-19T22:59:00.000-07:00

So I guess I was right, I need to keep a running log of Mallory's stories in kindergarten. I had a sneaky hunch that the others were not a fluke thing and I could some how foresee more in the near future. Looks like I know her pretty well. So this week Mallory was chosen a special person. She was so happy to have a turn! One of the activities Mrs. Bombgardener does during this is ask the child lots of questions about their life. Mally is to tell about her family, her favorite foods, colors, thing to do at home (which I knew would be "watch TV" , she is the worst couch potato and I actually have to make her turn it off!), etc. All of that was fairly normal and accurate. Here are some of her best ones though. When asked if she has any pets, she said no cause her Mom was "fearful" of poop. My poor deprived kids will I'm sure hate me some day for not letting them have any pets. When one little boy asked her if she likes kittens she said yes and that her Mimi's cat had kittens and Mallory was the only one not to get to take a kitten home. Then she put her hand up to her mouth and whispered to her teacher, "you know why, cause of my Mom's phobia". It must be noted that no one got to take kittens home. She was asked if she could go anywhere in the whole world were would it be, "TEXAS!", she said, (I didn't know she even knew there was a Texas). And then when asked who she would take and what would they do, "My 26 cousins, and we would eat burritos cause we are burrito lovers!". Really Mallory, to Texas to eat burritos? Wow. Mallory also shared with the class that we grow special rose bushes at our house that don't have any thorns. We don't grow anything here but kids. Her newest one this week was when she told the class that she speaks Spanish so well because she was born in a Spanish hospital. Do you think I should be worried?

Mallory on Alligator Pie day. They did a whole parade around the school making sure to go to each older sibs class for a picture. Then they ate Alligator pie. So cute.

Crazy Hair Day!!!!

2008-09-19T22:36:00.000-07:00

Each year at Hickman, pretty close to the begining of the year, we do crazy hair day. It is quite the ordeal with all of the creative people there. We try and think of new and different things year after year and that gets hard with 3 ideas needed every time! We loved how every thing turned out this year. I am so happy that my kids have an adventerous spirit and pretty much let me coax them in to alomst anything. At school there were volcanos, an ocean wave, an artists palet, worms crawling in dirt, tons of color spray, pippy braids, and more ratting than is probably good for any head of hair! But we all have a blast and look forward to seeing everyone at school!Mallory's hair was a rose garden. I loved all the butterflys!
Anything green you see is her actual hair.
Gracie and Mally. This was Gracie's own idea to be a "cloud", rainbow was inspired by all the hours on the phone with the moms! I love how Mally had the flowers down her dress too. Thank you Target for there adorable denim dresses!

Blake loved his hair! It was a bed of grass with every kind of bug in it!

The spiders down the face were cool too.

2008-09-19T22:25:00.000-07:00

Lexa's hair was so cool! We had feathers, twigs, eggs, birds, you name it!
Side view. All of the small colorful things are baby birds flying around her head. The twigs were pretty gianorm, so she was kinda happy for the moment she could take it all down.
This is Megan. We joked with her last year about doing it, and this year it was just crazy enough!
Faith's hair was a beehive. It was so cute! You can't really tell from the pic, but the bee on her nose was perfect! Crazy hair day was tons of fun this year, but now I have to start thinking of next year!

What do you think?

2008-09-16T09:25:00.000-07:00

What Allison Means

You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection.
You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive.
You have the classic "Type A" personality.

You are relaxed, chill, and very likely to go with the flow.
You are light hearted and accepting. You don't get worked up easily.
Well adjusted and incredibly happy, many people wonder what your secret to life is.

You tend to be pretty tightly wound. It's easy to get you excited... which can be a good or bad thing.
You have a lot of enthusiasm, but it fades rather quickly. You don't stick with any one thing for very long.
You have the drive to accomplish a lot in a short amount of time. Your biggest problem is making sure you finish the projects you start.

You are the total package - suave, sexy, smart, and strong.
You have the whole world under your spell, and you can influence almost everyone you know.
You don't always resist your urges to crush the weak. Just remember, they don't have as much going for them as you do.

You are well rounded, with a complete perspective on life.
You are solid and dependable. You are loyal, and people can count on you.
At times, you can be a bit too serious. You tend to put too much pressure on yourself.

You are very intuitive and wise. You understand the world better than most people.
You also have a very active imagination. You often get carried away with your thoughts.
You are prone to a little paranoia and jealousy. You sometimes go overboard in interpreting signals.

What's" Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

Mallory starts Kindergarten!!!!!!!

2008-08-31T22:47:00.001-07:00

I can't believe my little Mally started Kindergarten! I use the word little loosely being as how she is the tallest kinder known to man. No joke, were talking Amazon and Sasquatch all rolled into one! She could have started last year but with her late Sept. birthday, she falls under my "must be 5 by kindergarten rule", so she will be 6 very soon. Still she is sooo tall. She and Lex wear the same size, both an eight. (And yes, Alexa will be ten soon) And Mallory is almost as tall as Blake! Anyways, she is very ready for this. Her teacher this year is Mrs. Bomgardener and we call her Mrs. Bomb! She is the legend kinder teacher at Hickman, so it should be a fun year! This photo was taken 2 days before school started at our visit the class and teacher night. Mallory has owned this class room for 3 years now. She stared coming with me to help in Blake's kinder class and even when Blake was on to 1st, and 2nd grade, every time I turned around and she was gone, I would always find her in kindergarten classroom sitting as though she was one of them, and they always let her! So finally, it is really her room! This is the reading loft that they have to climb up in. Blake and Faith are reliving their glory days there and Mallory, Gracie and Brittan think it's the coolest place ever!

Mally looked just perfect for kindergarten! With her little school girl apple vest and her red salt water sandals she was too cute.
Mallory chose her backpack at Gap. She loved the hook on lunch bag and so do I cause it leaves so much space for all her projects that come home. I though the polka dots fit her fun personality!
A "Mom making you stand there moment".
This is Gracie Masellis, Mallory's best friend in kindergarten. It has to be said that Gracie is really tall for her age. Her birthday is 3 weeks after Mallory's. See what I mean about Mallory!?!
So we are officially done with the first 3 weeks. Mallory is for sure one of those kids that you really worry about what she might say out in the world. Not shy,or reserved, or calm in any way. Just one story after another for this chick. So, on day 3 of school, Mrs Bomb meets me with, "I have to tell you what Mallory told a parent helper today". Oh, no. I am seriously worried. Apparently she shared another mom that she has Short Term Memory Loss. Her teacher was laughing so hard asking where she could have gotten this from and I'm sure it is from Finding Nemo although, we haven't watched that in 5 or six months. A good laugh at least. Well there have been several more things like how her teacher says that she doesn't know Spanish at all and she has these 3 silly boys that she has learned "sientese" for. (meaning sit down) So her teacher tells these three boys this all day long and the other day she turns around to Mallory pointing to the floor saying "sientese, sientese, boys". Or,she now has the kids convinced that her and Gracie are real sisters. One little girl in class tried to test it out at lunch by getting Mallory to bite a chip and then give it to Gracie because a sister would be the only one to share like that and Mallory just said "That's gross, we don't do that in our family." And I think she has the start of a little crush. She tells me "Mom, do you know what Cole says? He holds the door open and says, ladies first", and then she cracks up. But this kid Cole is seriously cute and when he got chosen as special child last week and was asked if he could go anywhere, where would it be and with who and he said to the mountains with Mallory. So she has a fan too. This year will be super fun for her. Hickman Kindergarten is out of control and she is going to love every minute of it.

P.S. I may keep a running log of the crazy Mallory kindergarten quotes, stories, etc. There may be so many I will forget them if I don't write them down!!!!!!!

1st Day of School!

2008-08-31T21:59:00.000-07:00

Blakie started 3rd grade this year. He always feels great on the first day of school. At our school, the younger sibs follow the older ones with the same teacher so there were no surprises for him, he knew he would be in Mrs. Belew's class because Lex had her last year. Mrs. Belew was such a great teacher for Lex and Blake heard Lex say nothing but good things about her so he was excited! Also, all of his best guy friends are in there and Faithy too! He chose to were a Quicksilver shirt and for some reason his choice all centered around wearing his new GAP undershirt. I choose is new shoes, Vans, and he loved them. So did I!

While in Utah, we do all our school shopping. Blake chose this Quicksilver backpack at the outlet in Provo. He was only bothered that it didn't have a matching lunch bag, so we just bought a black one at Target. He looked pretty cute his first day of 3rd grade!
Lex stared 4th grade!!!!! I hear this the beginning of "real school". She will now have homework everyday, and multiple tests every Friday. I know I am more scared than she is. Her teacher is Mrs. Thompson and she has all but two of her girlfriends in her class so she is so excited! She is so funny on the first day, wanting to pick out the perfect outfit. We had tons of fun shopping for everything so the possibilities were many. This is what she chose, very "school girl" with the plaid and all.
Her backpack hunt was quite the ordeal this year. Ragamuffin (a store I sell to) had this adorable Roxy one that we put on hold before we left for Utah. Luckily, they were fine with us doing 3 week search in Utah, and we did. We looked EVERYWHERE!!!! Many were almost the one for her but she kept coming back to the Roxy one at Ragamuffin because of the cute lunch bag that was like a purse, and the matching binder, which was on her list of things she needed. So that is really what made her finally choose the Roxy one. She was so happy to find that it even came with a matching wallet! I don't know why we make such a big deal of the backpack hunt each year, we just do!
Lex at her desk in Mrs. Thompson's class. Brittan in the background not realizing how sad and boring her life was about to get. This was Alexa's best start yet. She has a tendency to be timid in new situations. This year I really felt her confidence. She seemed ready for more responsibility and I know this is because she had such a great year with Mrs. Belew who prepared her well. We love the school our kids go to. We feel very fortunate to have accidentally landed at Hickman!

Liberty Land

2008-08-23T20:32:00.000-07:00

THis was a mini amuesment park that just opened right by Val's house. Again, bitter at all there is to do in Utah that is so fun for the kids! We bought $16 wrist bands and boom, a day of fun. There was alot to do so it was worth it.

Bummper boats with Andrew and Avery.

Watch out, Mally's driving!

I wish this picture was up close. Brittan was in between Lexa and Emily and loving the roller coaster! She wanted to do it over and over. Liberty Land sits right along the freeway and every time we went by it, Brittan went phsyco. "Inna go rollercoaster"

Airplane ride with Avery

Lexa is a champ at this. We hasd a blast at Liberty Land!

oopps!

2008-08-23T20:18:00.000-07:00

As you can see, I posted in the wrong order. I'll get the hang of this sooner or later.

2008-08-23T20:01:00.000-07:00

Just an impromptu cheer stunt while breaking for lunch!
After lunch, Blake hit the clocks again to build his own home in the construction zone.
At the fountains.
We ran into our friends/ward members here at the Gateway fountains. It was fun seeing Shawn and Mackenzie!
Brittan the recording artist.

Discovery Museum

2008-08-23T19:27:00.000-07:00

The kids love this place! There is so much to do here for every age. We can spend hours here and the only thing that makes us leave is hungry kids. We always top it off with a trip to the fountains they built for the Winter Olympics in SLC.

These two created quite a stir at the museum! Everyone always thinks they are twins because we dress them alike whenever we can. But this time it was the dresses people dying over. They did look pretty cute.
Planting their very own garden.
Now using the produce they planted to build a sandwich. Brittan did this for so long. I love her version of an egg sandwich. Yum.
Mallory loves to deliver the mail. I am pretty grossed out that she put on the hat.
This might be the funnest job of all. To stand at a real cash register and ring everything up is heaven to them. They take the jobs so seriously.

The Farm

2008-08-14T21:19:00.001-07:00

Next up, Thanksgiving Point Farm. Not jail. This is a kid size replica of a "country jail". Mallory does look pretty convinced that she's staying for a while though.

At the farm the kids can milk cows, feed all kinds of animals, ride a horse, go on a wagon ride, see bunnies, ducks, goats and lots more! The highlight is for sure the pony ride. They all want to do it over and over but each time you enter, you only get one ticket to ride.
Blakie gets mad that Lexa always demands the tallest horse cause she's the tallest of my kids. (Probably not for long though.)Maybe only a few short years left until pony rides are not magical. That will be sad!
Here is Mallory trying to be such a nice big sister to Brittan by helping her feed the cows. They love this corn you buy out of little gumball type machines and the kids go through tons of quarters each time we go. As Mallory was standing there, one of the cows attacked Mallory's shirt leaving her like this.......
She was all slobbered on. Poor thing, Valerie and I could not stop laughing at her description of the cow attacking her shirt. She really had to yank it out of the cows mouth and it left her shirt covered in cow juice. Her face really says it all. We still had tons of fun!

592 pictures later................

2008-08-14T19:38:00.000-07:00

Wow, where to begin. Each summer we invade my sister Valerie's house for a really long time. She has yet to say "please don't come", so we just press our luck year after year by heading to Utah for our summer vacation. This is no small feat for her family to put up with. Adding five more people to one house is a lot, not to mention that we kind of stay forever. Last year it was four weeks and a day, this year a mere three weeks and three days! The kids look forward to this for months. We have tons of fun, doing all kinds of activities that to us, make Utah the place to be each summer. In years past we get Seven Peaks passes (a local water park), but this year we gave the kids the choice of that, or a Thanksgiving Point pass. It was no question for them. They love, love, love, Thanksgiving Point! We go every day to one of the venues and they never tire of it. It is right behind my sister's house, which make the amazing fireworks shows a backyard treat, and it is such a quick trip that I don't mind going so often. The first stop of our trip is usually the Dinosaur Museum. It is the largest in the world and we really do learn cool stuff every time we go! Here are some of the billion dino pics we took this year.

Addison , (Valerie's most hilarious daughter), is quite the tour guide. She knows the exact way to go and we must visit all her favorites. It took Brittan a few trips to even step foot in the cave. She finally got the hang of it and realized she wouldn't be lost forever if she went in.
The dino dig is every kids dream! They have tons of brushes and they must scrape away to uncover the dino fossils, or throw sand like Brittan does.
I wish I actually took a pic of the display here where they get to build their own dino with huge legs and heads and tails that just velcro on and off, but this was what I caught Brittan doing, pretending to be asleep all snuggled up to a dino leg.
After years of coming here, they actually run to this statue like he is their long lost friend. I guess he kinda is. We love the dinosaur museum!

Do I really have time for this?

2008-08-08T23:52:00.001-07:00

Really, I already know the answer to this. It's for sure no. But, I do enjoy looking at all of yours, so maybe you will like sneaking a peak at mine every now and then. I can't promise that I will post often, or that I will even know how to do it, but I'll give it a try!