2010 Snapshot

When I first started this blog, I did it with the intention of keeping a journal for my kids. I consider myself to have a pretty good memory, but there are still a lot of things about my own childhood that I wish I knew. My mom never kept a journal and she passed away when I was 18. There have been more days than I can count since I have become a mom that I wish I could have her here to tell me what it was like when we were little. I would love to know what she did when this or that happened. Most of all I would just love to know her thoughts on many different things.


I started keeping little journals on the computer for my kids a few years ago, with little stories about each of them. Then our computer crashed and I lost it, now I just put it all here and we can all enjoy it and we won't lose it. I am also going to print it off so we can have a hard copy of it too.


While I was at the store the other day I ran into an old family friend and she couldn't believe I had four kids already. Then we were talking about how fun it is to have kids and how it will be gone before I know it. She then said something that I thought was pretty profound. She said, "The days are long, but the years sure fly by". How true that is!!! I hope that some day when I blink that it won't be completely gone. I am hoping that I can look back at this and remember what things were like.


Anyway, I saw this on a blog a few weeks ago and I am totally going to copy their idea. There are a lot of things and events that we remember such as vacations, holidays, etc. But it is the day-to-day things that we seem to forget eaiser so I am going to do a "snapshot" into our day for us to remember the little things. So when my kids turn into teenagers and we are all caught up in all the random activities I can remember what life was like when they still thought I was cool and wanted my attention. So here goes:

When Jackie takes a bath, we usually have to remove all the towels and clothes from the room otherwise they get sucked into the tub with her.


McKinley is 4 years old but she still climbs EVERYTHING! She has started to climb the door frames and hang from the center of the door. We are putting her in a ballet class this week so hopefully we can channel her energy elsewhere.

Grant is learning how to spell things. He can spell McKinley, Foxy, and Grant and he is working on other words as well. He loves to spell things on the computer, type them up, and print them out.


Grant and McKinley are learning how to make their beds and they are doing a great job at it too.


When we eat ice cream cones we have to use a spoon (I know - it's weird!).


This one has been going on for a couple of years, but whenever someone leaves our house, all the kids have to say (in this exact order) "Bye, See ya later, Have Fun, Be Careful", followed with blowing you a kiss.


When Jackie goes to the bathroom she has to strip down to nothing to do it. A week ago Sunday I forced her onto the the toilet at church WITH her dress ON. I won!! :)


Bart looses the remote to the TV about every 30 minutes or so.


When the kids see Bart going toward the TV they start yelling, "I don't want to watch football". He thinks I put them up to it, but he is WRONG! :) The fun thing is that when they want his attention, they tell him they want to watch football just so they can snuggle with him.


Bart is gone three nights a week (Young Mens, Young Mens Basketball, and His Basketball).


I am gone three nights a month (Enrichment, and Groceries twice a month).


We are finally at the point of not knowing how long we have gone WITHOUT having Family Home Evening instead of the other way around.


Our Family Home Evenings are between 5 and 15 minutes long.


I yell way more than I ever wanted to yell at my kids.


I teach Relief Society and I enjoy it more than I ever thought I would.


Bart is the 1st Counselor in the Young Mens Presidency.


We have about a million unfinished projects around the house.


We are outgrowing our house - our bedroom is our storage unit.


Luke just started to play with toys and the kids think it is fun to see him doing something other than just sitting there. He always gets a smile on his face when anyone talks to him.


Aspen sleeps in the garage at night and freezes in the back yard during the day - luckily it has been a relatively warm winter.


McKinley attends pre-school twice a week and is learning how to spell her own name.


Grant is attending Pre-Kindergarten class Monday - Thursday. He loves learning.

Grant loves to draw and is getting pretty good at it too.


We drink 6 gallons of milk in a week - Jackie is probably responsible for 1 1/2 - 2 gallons by herself.


The last few days the bus driver has to sit at our house for a few extra minutes because Grant stands there and yaks with them.


We wake up around 6:30 and 7:00 most days, but there have been 5:00 and 5:30 days lately.


We read stories every night on Grants bed - Scripture stories and another book of choice.


We rarely see the corner of the the bar, sometimes the bar itself.


Jackie has about three different laughs that I adore.



Luke loves to watch the kids play and loves it even more when they talk to him.


We are working on being reverent during our prayers.


McKinley won't give Bart a hug or a kiss in the morning because she thinks he is dirty when he is in his work clothes.


Grant, McKinley and Jackie are very good at saying please and thank you.


Luke likes to wake up in the middle of the night and talk and sing to us.


So there we go, us in 2010. :)