Family Pictures

We got our family pictures done with Chelton's family and I thought I would post the pictures and how cute they turned out. It has been a very long time since we got our family pictures done so we were in desparate need of an update. Thanks Annette (my mother-in-law) for arranging for it to be done.

Here is one of my cute kids who are growing up much too fast!!!



Here is one of just me and Chelton. She took one of us where we look like we actually like each other and we were actually touching and hugging but we didn't get a copy of that one :) I don't like this picture so much but it is all we got.



Here is one of the whole Spendlove clan (minus one niece who was in Las Vegas for a dance competition who was greatly missed) but what a clan it is. And about two weeks after we took the picture we found out one of my brother in laws is getting married so now we are missing two people from the picture. Doesn't that always happen. You take a family picture and suddenly you find out someone is pregnant or getting married or something and it is out of date?



And last but not least family picture #1



And family picture #2



Can't believe how fast our family is growing and changing. What will the next 5 years bring?

Pickles and Beans

"Pickles and Beans" by Connor Spendlove

Being different is what diversity means.
Some people like pickles, some people like beans.
Some people have black hair, some people have brown.
Some people have smiles, some people have frowns.
We should all get along though we're not the same.
We can all be friends and play a game.

This is the poem that Connor entered in the Reflections contest this year. The theme this year was "Diversity Means." We sat down and wrote this poem and he wrote it pretty quickly actually. We had the assembly two days ago and he found out that he took second place and he got a medal and a dollar for writing his poem. Connor LOVES medals. He was sooo excited!!! Here is a picture of him and his medal for his poem.





The next day at karate Connor was chosen as the athlete of the day and received the karate medal (which he has done once when he first started karate so he had one other karate medal) so he had to take a picture with both of his karate medals. Now he gets really proud of his medals and keeps them in his special medal box and is proud of them. He is a very flexible kid and can do the splits very well and when he earned his medal they took a picture of him doing the splits in front with the whole class behind him. He loves the attention and being in the spotlight so he LOVED this!!! When he got home he had to run and get his other karate medal and take a picture with both of his karate medals on.



Also Connor lost a tooth recently (which he hasn't done in a long time). He hasn't been one of those kids that has been missing all his teeth. When he lost his bottom teeth his others were already grown in behind so he never had a hole like a normal kid should. He was so proud when he lost this tooth to actually have a real hole in his mouth. He put the tooth under his pillow and could you believe it that the tooth fairy didn't come? She must have been real tired or forgetful and the next night didn't come again? Darn that tooth fairy. Mom went upstairs and showed Connor that he just doesn't look very good and showed Connor that the money was there the whole time and that it was just hidden really good inside his pillow case and he got $5 because the tooth fairy didn't come the first night :)





Also I know it is going way back but we did have a good Thanksgiving. My mom and dad came down to Fillmore as it was their off year and we couldn't come up to my in-laws as Chelton had to work. We had a low key Thanksgiving with just my kids and my mom and dad. We watched some football and made these cute little felt turkeys with the kids. My mom and I stayed up until 1:00 in the morning after doing our version of black Friday getting the Walmart deals online. It was pretty hectic but so much better than going to any stores in the cold and dealing with people and lines. We actually got pretty much what we wanted to get too. It was great. On Saturday in Fillmore they have a light parade (pretty small but fun) and then they light up the town square and have hot chocolate and doughnuts with Santa. It was cold but fun. Plus Santa gives you a whole bag full of candy rather than a little candy cane so the kids liked that. Here is my kid's homemade felt turkey puppets we made on Thanksgiving.



So Garrett has been playing junior Jazz lately and has been doing pretty good with that. His team is the Pacers. He plays with a combined 3rd, 4th and 5th grade team and there is a big difference between 3rd, 4th and 5th graders but down here they don't have enough kids to have their own league so they have to combine. They basically have two teams. They put in the 3rd and 4th graders to play against the other team's 3rd an 4th graders for a quarter and then switch. It works out pretty good. Garrett has really improved quite a bit. Basketball is his favorite sport and you can really tell.





And last but not least on my super long blog post we had our ward party recently. We had a fun night where we had soup and salad and cookies and the kids sang songs and then Santa came. We had just seen Santa from the light parade and got pictures there but Kylie wasn't so sure about Santa but I got here to sit and smile pretty for me so I thought I would post how cute they were with Santa. I haven't got Santa pictures I think ever because we never went to any place were there was a Santa but we have them now.







Well that is the end of my really long blog post. If you made it this far thanks for hanging in there. Only 30 more days until my Caribbean cruise!!!

Look who turned 4

So my baby girl finally turned four. I can't believe how fast time flies. It seems like just yesterday she was born. She had a good birthday. The picture above is Kylie in her new dress my mom gave her that she wore to church on Sunday. Her birthday was really on Sunday but we did her party for her on Saturday. Mostly because she wanted to have a sleepover watching movies and we didn't want to do that on Sunday when the kids had school the next day. She wanted a princess themed birthday (suprise suprise if you know Kylie). We kept it low key (i.e. no friends and just family). So I made up some princess bingo cards. My mom and dad came down for a ride (what else do you have to do when you are retired?) and my in-laws sent their present down and texted us as they are having a wonderful vacation in Japan right now (lucky them and I soooo wish I was with them right now).

So we had an exciting game of Princess bingo (well actually it turned out to be girl bingo because I ran out of princesses and had to add in a few extras like barbie and dora and lady and the tramp to fill in the rest. Every body (adults included) each got a chance to win a candybar. After that we played Don't Eat Pete but changed the name to Don't Eat Princess. The kids had a ball with this game. We had some homemade chicken noodle soup and rolls (per Kylie's request---I know a shock it wasn't hot dogs---her favorite thing) and then we had cake. Chelton always makes the cakes and she wanted an Aurora cake. He did a good job on it. He wasn't as thrilled. She didn't get a face but Kylie was thrilled with it and it tasted amazing. Cake is my weakness and I am tempted to throw the rest away as it has been calling my name (I know my sisters reading this know what I mean--ha ha ha). Here is a picture of Kylie with her cake.



After my parents left we watched Cars 2 with the kids. We have been saving it to watch until Kylie's birthday.

She also got this princess table you can kind of see over the birthday mess that she is obsessed with (thanks Brenna and Halley). She has been sitting and playing with it 24/7.



She got a lot of other presents too like this necklace kit.



She also got a Littlest Pet shop set that she has been obsessed with too and some Dora fingernail polish and chapstick that she LOVES and the Pinkie Pie learns to walk doll that she loves and makes me doll sit (instead of baby sit). She got a mermaid barbie and some seriously cute clothes. She also got $5 from her great grandma and she used it to pick out a Cinderalla phone at the store. I think she doesn't need Christmas to come because she is all set :)

She keeps asking me over and over again if she is 4. I don't think she quite believes me. She got to give a talk at church yesterday plus they sang happy birthday to her and they chose her to dismiss the classes so she was like the star of primary and she loved it. It was like her special weekend. She really loved it.

I don't know what we would do without our sweet, crazy tempered, extremely girly, pink Kylie. She sure makes it interesting around here. Now if I could just make it so she would stop growing.

Progress!!!

So I have been telling you for a few weeks now that I have started the Insanity workout program and I wanted to tell you about my success. Two weeks ago I started the program and you have to start on day one with a test. They have you do eight exercises to see how many of each you can get in a minute and then two weeks after doing the program you redo the test to see much you have improved. I was a wimp two weeks ago. I re-did the test yesterday after my two weeks on the program (and not skipping even one day of the program---yes I have been that good) and I totally kicked my own butt from two weeks ago....and I am so proud to blog about my results:

Switch kicks: Two weeks ago I did 60 and yesterday I did 93
Power jacks: Two weeks ago I did 26 and yesterday I did 52
Power knees: Two weeks ago I did 50 and yesterday I did 86
Power jumps: Two weeks ago I did 15 and yesterday I did 35
Globe jumps: Two weeks ago I did 7 and yesterday I did 10
Suicide jumps: Two weeks ago I did 9 and yesterday I did 14
Pushup jacks: Two weeks ago I did 2 and yesterday I did 12
Low plank obliques: Two weeks ago I did 30 and yesterday I did 63

I can't believe what a difference two weeks can make!!!! I wonder what another two weeks will bring. I can't imaging beating the scores I did yesterday but you never know. Now I'm not about to post a pic on here just yet but I'm getting there!!!

3 new posts (look at me go)

So I went like two new months without any posts and now in the past 3 days have done 3 new posts (so if you missed any make sure to catch all three)...I did the last post on halloween and did a picture of the kids together in their Halloween costume but here are a few more of them individually and threw one in of me and Kylie...









Also the day after Halloween it snowed here (as it probably did for most of you) so Connor and Kylie were excited to go out in the snow (Garrett was sick---too much candy?) Kylie I think was more excited to just get in the snow stuff because she only lasted like 2 minutes and then was back in but Chelton and Connor made a pretty cute snowman. I was shocked that the snow didn't come on Halloween. Usually it is so cold on Halloween but we actually had pretty decent weather and it waited until the day after. That was actually pretty nice.





Also last week Chelton went to a police training in Park City and took the department's Charger so when the boys got home they thought the car was pretty cool and wanted to take a picture by it so I thought the poses were pretty cute so I thought I would throw that in here too...such nerds I have...but I love. Garrett is also strutting his new BYU jersey we got him to wear because Chelton took him to a BYU football game a few weeks ago. Garrett was so excited and they had a great time. Garrett is starting to get into that age where he likes to do stuff like that and it is fun and Connor is also strutting his famous Connor pose in the last picture...where did these kids come from?

Halloween

Halloween was a fun one here at our house. Garrett was Harry Potter this year. Connor wore his karate gui and was karate kid and Kylie was Cinderella. The kids had a fun Halloween carnival at school and then we went to a spooky story festival at the library. The kids had fun making crafts and listening to spooky stories. We came home and Chelton made very yummy home made chili and then after hours and hours of begging he took the kids trick or treating. They had a good time but apparently Kylie was afraid at every house because apparently every person in Fillmore owns either a cat or a dog and Chelton couldn't wait in the car while they went to the houses he had to walk up to every house with her because there was a dog or a cat in it. Other than that they had a good time trick or treating and I stayed home and passed out candy. We actually got a TON of trick or treaters. We were pre-warned that our street got a lot so we were prepared. We have a Christmas light box that plays music that also has a halloween setting so we put that out so we had scary music playing all night and put white Christmas lights in our pumpkins so we actually had some semi-decent decorations this year...the kids thought it was pretty cool. When they got home from trick or treating we ate the yummy chili and made mummy dogs (hot dogs wrapped in refrigator croissant dough and baked in the oven to look like mummies) that was a big hit and we watched Hocus Pocus. We did get a picture of the kids with Chelton's phone...not the best but here it is:



The kids are already talking about next Halloween.....

Babies and Baptisms

Well we have been pretty boring lately but our extended family has been busy having babies and getting baptized. Chelton's brother Parker and his wife Ashley had a cute baby girl Emma Grace Spendlove on September 19. I haven't been able to see her in person yet (and it is killing me) but her pictures sure look cute. This is the part that is so hard living far away from family. She was born with a lot of darling hair and so far seems to have it all still...my babies were bald until two...I will get to see her in a week...YAY!!! I still have a niece in Arizona who I haven't got to see who is six and a half months old but I will finally get to see her in November. Here is a darling picture of my new niece Emma.



We also have two nieces getting baptized this month...Brenna (my sister Halley's daughter) and Abby (my sister Mandee's daughter). We went to Brenna's baptism two weeks ago and will be going to Abby's next week. I had my friend Kenny from high school who illustrate's books do a picture of them for their baptism. He is an amazing drawer. I think they turned out darling and I hope they will love them now and when they get older too. Who wouldn't love to be turned into a cartoon character....I will put them on here too and if you ever want one for any occasion or something like it for a different occasion like it (like a birthday, anniversary, etc.) let me know and I will give you his info....he does all sorts of cool pictures....Here is the picture he drew of Abby



and here is the one of Brenna



We had our primary program today and the kids did their parts great. During the practices Kylie was that one kid that didn't really want to say her part but today she got up there and said it great. I just got put in as the CTR 6 teacher which is Connor's class and got put in the Relief Society Board. Chelton got put in as the 11 year old scout leader. I guess they have a pretty "rowdy" 11 year old scouts and they put Chelton and the other deputy we moved down here with. I guess when you are dealing with "rowdy" boys who better to deal with them than two sheriff deputies right? I think Chelton will be good in the calling.

Last month Garrett finally got his Wolf badge in scouts. He earned back in June when he turned 9 but it took a few months (because of summer and the craziness of that) for them to give it to him....here is a picture of him with his wolf badge...he is doing great in scouts and loves to go...



We are excited tomorrow for Halloween. Garrett is going as Harry Potter, Connor is going as a karate guy in his karate outfit and Kylie as Cinderella....will post pictures (sadly since I have no camera right now and all I have is Chelton's phone) but will take what I can. And we are excited to go to the baptism this weekend to visit family this weekend.

Also in a few weeks Chelton's brother Nik and Shauna will be stopping by to visit (the one with the niece that I have never met that is six and a half months old) will be stopping by for a visit on their way up north so we are excited to see them and have visitors here in Fillmore.

Chelton and I have also started working out more getting ready for our cruise in January. We have started doing Insanity. It has been extremely crazy but we are determined to get through it. It is a two month program of pure insanity. We have been in it a week now and already I have noticed I can get through a lot more than I could on day one. It is still hard and really is pure "insanity" but I think it will be worth it. I will keep you updated.

I will post Halloween pictures after tomorrow....Have a happy and safe Halloween

Change it up

So a few changes that have taken place lately....I am a blonde again...It feels good to change things up once and a while...I am used to being a blonde so much that it didn't take long for me to get used to it....Kylie told me that I looked creepy and handsome...should I take that as a compliment? but Connor told me that he liked me like that a lot better because I look more like him now...funny what kids say. Anyways Me and Chelton are working hard at getting ready for our cruise. We have been dieting and exercising like crazy. We have been in it for about 4 weeks now and I am happy to report I have lost almost 8 pounds and Chelton has lost like a bizillion (well it seems like it to me---it's like 20 or something like that). We both have our goals we have to meet by January and we feel good about how we have been doing so far. When you do good and see results it makes you only want to do better!!! Just can't wait for our vacation!!!

Other than that not a whole lot has been going on here. Garrett is going to be starting flag football (can you imagine all 40 pounds of him breaking out there?) and Connor is back in karate. Kylie is just being Kylie and being bored without her brothers home now that school is in.

If I had a camera battery I would post a pic of my new haircut but even on a good day I don't take a good picture so I probably won't.

End of summer

We have been trying to cram a lot of things in the last little bit before school started and sadly the camera battery died again in my camera so I didn't get pictures of any of it but wanted to at least document that we did do something fun. A few weekends ago we went up north to go car shopping. We have desparately needed a bigger car. Trying to cram three kids and their car seats in a small car is not working so we ended up buying a black Yukon and have loved it so far. We also liked spending the weekend with my mom and dad and got to celebrate Chelton's brother Cam's 30th birthday while we where there.

Then the next weekend me and the kids went back up to stay at my mom's house for the weekend. My brother and sister-in-law Dave and Alyssa blessed their baby Sam so we got to go spend some time visiting them.



This picture is from when Sam was in the hospital and of course he has grown triple in size. He is so darling. The kids had so much fun visiting with their cousins and their uncle Dave bought one of those blow up water slides so they also had a ball getting wet and going down the slide. It is always a good time visiting with family on special occasions and eating their good food!!!

We also took a short day trip up north and took the kids to the zoo....again I had no camera but it was a hot but fun trip. The kids loved it (all but Kylie and those dinosaurs....she hated those)...it was fun to do something different and we haven't been to the zoo in a while.

The weekend after that Chelton's family (His mom and dad, his brother's Khayden and Taylor, his sister Meridee and her husband Kasey and their kids Addie and Jackson and Khayden's dog Baxter) came and stayed at our house for the weekend. It was really a lot of fun. On Friday night we played some Minute to Win it games and had some yummy food. It was fun hanging out and relaxing and visiting with each other. We don't get to see them very often. My kids loved sleeping out on the trampoline with uncle Taylor and I was suprised that all three of them stayed out there all night too.

On Saturday we drove 30 miles to Yuba Lake. We took my in-law's wave runners and found the perfect beach spot and enjoyed a day of riding wave-runners and just playing at the beach. The kids had a ball. The water was so high that the kids could go out a ways in the water and it was still shallow so it was a lot of fun. Plus we did get all three of my kids out on the waverunners (which is a first because they are usually too scared for that). Sadly towards the end of the day the battery died on one of the waverunners and we had to tow it to the dock thus ending the day of waverunning but we were pretty much done for the day anyway. Here is a picture of Yuba Lake, again I didn't take it but found it on the internet...wished I would have had my camera there though.



That night we had some more yummy food. Everyone went home besides Meridee and Kasey who stayed until the next morning. All and all it was a really fun weekend and I hope we can make it a yearly thing and all of the family can come.

Three days after that weekend school started for my kids. Hard to get in the routine but they had no choice. Connor started 1st grade this year. He has Mrs. Beckstrand who we have loved so far. He is a little bored because he is so advanced but we have just given him a little advanced work when he gets home from school. Garrett is in 4th grade and has Mrs. Sheriff who we also love. He was placed in a research class this year doing a Spaulding class. I think this will be wonderful for him. He has already done well in the first three days....already 100% improvement from his teacher last year. I just can't believe school has started already. Where did the time go.

We still have another trip up north next weekend we have to plan and a short camping trip in a few weekends that we have to cram in there...and the best news.....we have scheduled a cruise in January to the Caribbeans...Ever since we got married our goal was to go on a cruise on our 10 year anniversary. Well last year our 10 year anniversary came and went. Chelton was in the police academy and with him switching jobs and in school we were in no position to go. Well this year we are going on our 10 year anniversary for our 11 year anniversary. We got the cruise booked and are porting out of Galveston, Texas (are driving down there)....we are going on a 7 day cruise and make stops in Falmouth Jamaica, Cozumel Mexico and George, Town Grand Cayman. We are going on Royal Caribbean cruise line. The ship has an ice rink, rock climbing wall, mini-golf course, golf simulator and all sorts of fun stuff. We are extremely excited. To go along with our cruise we have set goals to get in shape and lose some weight. We have both been exercising every single day and been on a strict calorie diet. So far it is working great too.

All and all it has been a fun summer. The kids have spent hours playing by the creek at hour house, playing with friends, getting shaved ice at the video store by our house, going to the library, jumping on the tramp, running through the sprinklers, having water fights with neighbors and just being kids. Hard to see the summer go but always glad to see school start and a new routine begin.

My Diva

So I wanted to do a little post on Kylie...She has been such a little diva lately...and such a girlie girl but also so much like her brothers. She is sooo into girl things running around in tutus such as below



and then naming off every pokemon and mario character there is (like her brothers) and will boss her boys around to no end. I guess that means she is well balanced? I hope so. She will be playing in her kitchen, with her dolls and every other major major girly thing there is. She loves me to do her hair and paint her nails and watches barbie and every princess movie there is and then loves everything the boys do. She is so funny.

She has naturally curly hair...I cut it the other day because she had this extra long piece and now the bottom layer is curly and she has this straight part on top....drives me crazy....wondering if I should perm it (which I know would hold great)...or just leave it and let it be....I did try to straighten it the other day and she looked darling but it only looked that cute until about half way through church and then by the end the curliness started creeping back in. I have major straight hair and Chelton has curly hair...she must have gotten both.



And finally she loves to wear skirts and dresses. She would wear a skirt or dress every single day. She will wear a skirt over every single thing she wears. Here last of all is her in one of her skirts striking a pose. What would we do without Kylie and her emotional rollercoasters in our life? I added a tiara to her just to get the full diva that is Kylie....but we sure do love her...

Fabulous Fourth Weekend

My mom and dad came down for the 4th of July weekend and we had such a good time. We were planning on going fishing Saturday so on Friday night we had to round up some worms. So my dad and Chelton and the kids got out the flashlights and started digging around the yard and actually we ended up catching like 20 to 30 worms. Garrett was the only one who actually touched a worm out of the kids but it was fun to watch them.

Garrett and Grandpa looking for worms



Check out this long worm



Kylie just had fun holding the flashlight...she won't even touch an ant let alone a worm



On Saturday we headed out to Tushar lake just outside of Beaver. I didn't fish but of course my mom caught the first fish but after that my dad was the only one to catch any fish after that. He caught about five fish. Chelton got one bite but nothing else and none of the kids got a thing (but of course you have to leave your pole in the water long enough to get a bite).

Kylie's fishing didn't last long because she freaked out every time a fly came by her...this girl is really freaked out by bugs



Garrett had to reel in his fishing pole every 2 minutes and make sure his worm was still on his hook (doesn't every kid do that?--I think the real fun is reeling and throwing out your line)



Chelton and Connor getting ready for their first cast out



Kylie's pole has a green fish hooked on it so every time she catches a green fish...last year she would get excited every time thinking she caught a fish...this year she knew better...kind of sad when they outgrow things like that....



This was the first catch of the day by my mom but my dad let it go before I could get a picture of it.



We came home and sat in the backyard and could watch people doing some pretty good fireworks from there.

On Sunday we decided to go for a ride. There is a drive up a canyon that takes you from Fillmore to Richfield. It is only about 30 miles and we have always wanted to try it. Well 30 miles and about 3 hours later we got through to the end. It was a gorgeous ride but it got very steep and pretty crazy in some spots. Maybe we will leave it to the 4-wheelers next time. Then at the end of the ride the gate was closed. There was no way we were heading back. There was room on the side of the gate...of course my dad's jeep would fit fine but a bit of a squeeze for our truck and a little bit of a cliff on the side....of course we tried it and we did fit with only a rock keeping us from sliding down the hill....The scary things we do...the kids would have DIED if we had to go back though but we made it and I only had a mild heart attack.

This is one of the pictures I took on our ride. I tried to get more but again my camera died. (My camera batteries do not last long and I can't find a rechargeable one....Need to check into that better. I probably won't be blogging any new pics soon until I can get a new battery)



Saturday night Garrett and Connor slept out on the tramp with my dad....besides the fact that Garrett talked in his sleep all night and rolled over onto Connor...they had a pretty successful night. My dad actually slept out there two and a half nights...only a half a night the third night because we forgot to turn off the sprinklers and he got woken up by that and came in...(sorry)...

On Monday (the 4th)....Chelton, me and the kids went to the parade...which was great...it was nice and overcast and we walked down right before and got great seats. We could walk from our house. We didn't really feel like going over to the park so we just came back home and spent all day watching episode after episode of Cake Boss (my favorite show). I think I got my parents hooked on it now too. Chelton had to work Monday night but me and the kids and my parents went to the fireworks and I honestly think Fillmore had the best fireworks that I have ever been to. They went on for about 30 minutes. They were wonderful. Connor kept whining about when they were going to start and then he kept whining because he was tired about when they were going to get over (they were that long). I can't wait to see them again next year.

All and all we had a great weekend. It was so much fun to have my mom and dad come and visit. We don't get too many of them down here so it is always fun to have them come.

Yellow belt

So right before karate classes ended for the summer Connor was able to go up from his white belt to his yellow belt. He has only been taking karate classes for a couple months and is the youngest kid in his class by at least two years so it is pretty cool for him. He loves being in karate and does a really good job in there. He really has an amazing memory and it transfers over to karate. It is good too because karate gets to be "his" thing that he does. He kept worrying that he wasn't going to get it but we all knew he would because he is good and he knows everything and he did an excellent job today. He has really great teachers too. They did a little sparring at the end of class and it is so funny to watch little Connor out there because like I said he is the youngest in his class by like two years and he is extremely short for his age anyway so he looks like a shrimp when they spar....but he can spar with the best of them. We are so proud of him and that he loves it and sticks with it....

Jumpin High

So a few months ago we inherited a trampoline from my in-laws (thank you so much for hours and hours and hours of entertainment and exercise for my kids Grandma and Grandpa Spendlove)....We have a great backyard for a trampoline and the kids have definitely taken advantage of it. Kylie never liked trampolines but has gotten a lot more daring on it too. She will actually get on it now and will let the boys jump on it if they hold her and if nobody else is on there she will jump to her heart's content. The boys are getting really good doing flips and they have jumped with the sprinkler's on...that was fun to watch with water coming in from all sides. The tramp really has been a ball for them and gotten them outside a lot more. We all love it!!!

These are a few pictures I took of the kids jumping on the tramp with the sprinklers on.







This is Kylie getting the water gun thinking she was going to get the boys wet....little did she know they were already soaking wet from the sprinklers...but it was a good thought...