The Stubbs

Funny moments of a child

2010-08-20T20:24:00.000-07:00

I have been trying to record not only moments that are photographed, but ones that just happen. The kids and I were headed down to flaming gorge to meet up with the Stubbs side of the Family. Dan was in Houston for the first couple of days during the trip so this little conversation happened with only me to witness. Hailey, "Mom there is the PUS guy. I wonder if he is taking something to our house. Lets go home and see if there is something there for us." (At this point we are 1.5 hours away from home) Ethan, " Oh man your right Hailey the 2BS is headed straight toward our house we should go back." (HELLO we are headed to go boating!) Hailey, "Oh my gosh mom did you just hear what Ethan called the PUS guy? 2BS! He is so hilarious I am so glad that I can read." I have a silent outburst in my own mind. We get to the gorge and Hailey proceeds to tell EVERYONE she sees about how funny her brother is and how some day he will be as smart as her and be able to read. The innocence of a child!

9 months and growing!

2010-02-21T22:31:00.000-08:00

A quick summary of 9 month accomplishments:
1. Sitting up
2. Eating lots of solids
3.loves baby alive
4. STILL loves Hailey
5.HATES binky and mom's milk (if you get my drift)
6. LOVES the bottle :(

2010-02-14T22:01:00.000-08:00

On the way to Disneyland, we made a stop in Las Vegas to stay a night with my uncle and his family. Their youngest Daniella and Hailey are one year apart almost to the day. We got there late on Sunday night and only had a few minutes to play on Monday morning before we had to hit the road. Needless to say the two of them had a wonderful time together laughing. playing and being silly girls together. When we go back and look through the pictures of our trip, this is one of Hailey's VERY favorite because she had so much fun with Daniella. I miss seeing my Uncle and his family as much as we used to. We used to live only minutes from them in Utah, but we have since both moved on and are much further apart from each other. We stayed up late laughed and had the same amount of fun together we always have even though it had been almost 3 years! It was probably one of the best Valentines we have ever had!

The Best dad ever

2010-01-30T22:30:00.000-08:00

I am not sure if there is much more that I can say about Dan that sums him up better than WORLDS GREATEST DAD. I am just thrilled to have him around and I thought that these special pics of him and the kids were especially sweet. We love you daddy!

Movie Night

2010-01-25T22:11:00.000-08:00

When dad is gone, this is what the kids request most from me.. MOVIE NIGHT!! I love it because we first go to the store and rent WAY to many movies to finish in one night. Then, we indulge ourselves in yummy treats and head home. Then, we make a hug bed in the living room out of every single blanket we own. We make a hug mess out of popcorn and treats that is a-okay during this one special night. The standing rule is, If you fall asleep during the movie, you can sleep in the living room. If you are still awake, then off the bed you go. Needless to say, the only person still awake at the end of the night is Ady. I like this "when dad is away" tradition so much, I look forward to it! The nice part is, i never feel like I am sleeping alone because I've got the kids right there by me thrilled to have MOVIE NIGHT!

Ady at 8 months

2010-01-21T21:21:00.000-08:00

Today I tried to take some pictures of Ady at 8 months old. She is such a fun sweet little peach! At times I wonder if we can love a baby too much. Because she is spoiled! She is eating some solid foods and blabbing all of the time. She is not crawling yet, but she is rolling all over the place. I can say she is most definitely mobile. Today while I was trying to take pictures that was very evident! She just kept rolling over to Hailey to play with her. I could not keep her attention on me or the camera. I found myself getting frustrated and then quickly realized that this moment with Hailey depicted her perfectly at 8 months. She is cute and smiley, always rolling around and always wanting to play with Hailey. Hailey is so very kind to her and returns the love each time Ady offers it. I think that Hailey enjoys these "sister moments" as much as Ady.

Grumpy Baking

2010-01-12T21:00:00.000-08:00

I absolutely love baking with my kids. I remember doing it with my Grandma when I was little. One of many bad winter days we decided to bake some cookies for FHE. I waited until Adyalyn was napping before we started because baking is not possible with a baby! But that turned happy excited Hailey into grumpy unhappy Hailey. She wanted Ady to help us bake cookies. I tries to explain to her that it would be very difficult to do, but she refused to help at all. (As you can see int he pictures) Ethan offered to let her do all of the pouring and stiring, but she insisted that she was not going to do it without Ady there to help. Ethan and I proceeded to bake some yummy chocolate chip cookies while Hailey remained grumpy. But the minute that Ady woke up Hailey came out of her funk and was happy again! I took a snap shot of the kids right after she woke up and it turned out to be one of my favorites of them together. I love that they make each other feel so happy!

snowcat sledding

2009-12-31T06:07:00.000-08:00

The kids and I headed to Moab for some Christmas fun with the fam. Little did we know, we were in for the BEST SLEDDING OF OUR LIVES! I have never seen Moab snow like it did this year. So, on one of the most blizzard stricken days, we headed out for SNOWCAT SLEDDING. While others were headed down the mountain because the roads were snowpacked and visibility was low, we were headed up. Grandpa Todd had loaded up his snowcat for sledding at Gyser pass. At our house we always get the 4-wheeler out to haul the kids up and down the hills to make life easier on us. That just seems like such a silly idea now after experiencing this. First of all Grandpa packs the snow down for you with the cat so that when you sled it's lightening fast. Second , he hauls you and your sleds to the top (we had seating for 7 people). Third, he meets you at the bottom of the hill for a heated ride back to the top. It is also convenient if you have a child that decided that he wants to take a break (like Ethan did) because he can stay nice and warm inside the cat with Grandpa while the others continue to enjoy the day. The only not so great part of the day was that it was snowing so hard that you felt like a million needles were piercing your eyes when you went down the hill. So, we ended up blind sledding (eyes closed) most of the day which just made it more thrilling! The combination of having the whole mountainside to ourselves and the snowcat made it a GREAT DAY! On the way home Hailey and Ethan both asked when we were going to buy our snowcat. (Sorry kids the answer is probably never!) It was a fun Christmas weekend and the kids really had fun. Just to make it even better I left my camera there(on accident). The reason why it made it better was because when we got it back it had some classic pictures taken by Josh. They were a great laugh, we love Uncle Josh!

Christmas

2009-12-27T06:20:00.000-08:00

Christmas this year was a hit! Staying at home with the kids is always so nice. Like usual, the kids were up and ready to go at the wee hours of the morning. Well Hailey and Ethan were up and Ady slept in! They each got an essential.. a new booster seat which they were thrilled about. Especially Ethan because this was his move into the BIG BOY seat! The best part of Christmas was giving the kids their tickets to Disneyland! They kind of already knew because I had hinted to them that we were going to not get a lot if toys this year but something that we could do as a family. They wanted to leave that instant, but of course that was not the plan! Ethan also got a couple of transformers which thought were really awesome. Hailey was surprised with a new four wheeler. We wanted to get her one and this one came about through a friend so we hid it by the back door and made her find it. Her face was classic! As always, we made crepes with strawberries and whipped cream for breakfast. Thank you Stubbs family for giving us that tradition! They are soo yummy! Finally Adalyn woke up to open her presents!! The little princess slept in until almost 9:00! She wanted to open the wrapping paper as did Hailey and Ethan. So she got a little extra help from her siblings which she was a good sport about! A silky blanket and some new toys were on her list. But of course her favorite thing to play with was the wrapping paper. A day spent at home with our little family was well worth it. I love dedicating that day to each other with no obligation for anything else. They are so interested in their new stuff and how it works and how to play with it and I am happy to have that time to get to play with them. Although the day was great things quickly turned that evening with Hailey. She started getting a cough and had a mild fever. Ethan had croup earlier that week, so our fears started to set in. As croup is a fast moving virus by 10 p.m. she was having a really difficult time moving air. By 11 we were headed to the E.R. with a sick little girl! What a gift for her on Christmas day! After a quick dose of steroids, oxygen and some antibiotics we were headed home to finally settle in for the evening. Even with the not so great ending, Christmas was still Christmas!

Christmas Eve

2009-12-26T12:08:00.000-08:00

With kids that are getting older and wiser, it has been a lot of fun to do more and more at Christmas time that develops family traditions. This year we of course baked cookies for Santa. The kids had so much fun with it. Hailey thought Santa's would want extra chocolate chips. Ethan thought extra sugar would be just perfect. We also sprinkled reindeer food on the porch to attract Santa's sleigh. The kids really thought that was awesome. Good thing we live in Wyoming and the wind blows enough that by morning it was all gone. (Of course taken by the reindeer!) We also tracked Santa on the internet to see if he was getting close to us. It was a great motivator for the kids to get to bed quick! Last of course we read the Christmas story straight form the scriptures. I love that my children are so willing to learn about this special time of the year and about the birth of our savior. Dan and I stayed up late getting gifts ready and preparing for the perfect Christmas morning.

Locks of Love

2009-12-21T13:32:00.000-08:00

My sweet little Hailey sat in the chair to get her hair cut with quite a decision to make today. She has wanted to get her hair cut shorter for quite some time now and I have been reluctant to let her because I love her long pretty hair. She thought that something to her shoulders would be nice and I agreed that we could do that. We waited long enough though that her hair met the minimum standard for donation for locks of love, barely. In order for her to be able to donate, she would have to get her hair cut right to the base of her neck. YIKES! I left the decision up to her and we both agreed that if she left the front long enough to tuck behind her ears that it would be fine. She then said, "mom it is fine with me if we cut it short so that another little girl can have hair to. Kelly go ahead and cut as much as you need." (Kelly is our close friend that cuts Hailey's hair.) Little tears filled up my eyes as I watched my innocent 5 year old give up something of hers that she loves so very much. (I know that it is just hair, but it really is abig deal for a little girl!) But she really did it without hesitation. After ten inches of hair we were done, she said to me with a big smile, "mom I like even more short than I would if I had left it long." I think that it turned out absolutely adorable. It is short in the back, but well worth it. I think that Hailey has a little bit of that unselfish giving holiday spirit that we all need.

Ethan goes to the dogdr

2009-12-20T22:12:00.000-08:00

Ethan had been sick for a few days and I took him to see the doctor. Hailey was at home with Dan. When we got back she had written him a special note all by herself. She told me that Dan had not helped her at all and she had sounded out the words herself. This is what she accomplished:

Interpretation: Ethan have to go to the dogdr.

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-20T15:16:00.000-08:00

As I previously posted almost 2 months ago, I have had difficulty with my blog. But thankfully,things are up and running again. There will be many posts to come in the next couple of days updating our lives! I just thought that I would say Merry Christmas to all of you and let you view our Christmas Card. I ordered it almost 3 weeks ago and I still haven't gotten them! So, you may see one in the mail, but not until after Christmas!

Ethan's Joyschool Christmas Program

2009-12-17T18:08:00.000-08:00

Ethan's joyschool group has been working on a Christmas program for 3 weeks during school. They learned a variety of songs including Jingle Bells and We wish you a Merry Christmas. Last Monday they put on a performance for all of the families that included a reenactment of the Nativity. Ethan played an innkeeper and a shepherd. He was a little disappointed with the costume because he was concerned that the shepherd hat might mess up his spikey hair. These kids are so cute at 3 and 4 years old trying to memorize songs and lines for a performance. They all did such a wonderful job. I included 2 videos of Ethan during Jingle Bells and during the play when he was the innkeeper.
Ethan as the Shepherd with Mary and Joseph
Ethan as the Shepherd
Mary and Joseph
Ethan as the Innkeeper
Ethan and the other kids singing In a little Stable

Ethan and the other kids singing Jingle BellsEthan's 15 second of fame telling Mary and Joseph that there is no room in the inn.

Family Pictures

2009-11-29T15:48:00.000-08:00

We had a great time getting our family pictures done with Amy. She is the same one that did the newborn pictures of Adalyn. It was definatley last a minute thought as I called her on a Monday and scheduled us for Wednesday. She was so nice to squeeze us in so that they could be back in time for Christmas. We headed out to an old barn house in Boulder for the pictures and the setting us exactly what we were looking for. Our favorites were infront of the barn itself and also on an old rusted green truck that was out in the field. It was a little chilly that day so Ady only lasted through about half of the pictures. She also had a face plant into the dirt that was really the last straw for her. But she did great as did Hailey and Ethan!

Happy 30th Birthday Daddy!

2009-11-20T22:09:00.000-08:00

You better believe it, Dan is 30!! I never thought the day would come that one of us left our 20's. It just means that we are becoming much wiser with each passing year! I asked Dan what he wanted for his birthday (thinking that he would say a date night or something well planned). The answer was simple though, homemade pumpkin pie and a night at home with the family. So that is exactly what he got! He has had a lot of really long days at work so a little rest and relaxation is just what he needed. Happy Birthday Dan!

First Solids

2009-11-09T22:10:00.000-08:00

Ady has finally reached the age where solids are a necessity. Starting out is always a little rough. She absolutely refused to be in her high chair, so the swing became the next best option! I gave her some sweet potatoes and of course she gave me the mom why are you doing this to me look and spit them all back out. I tried for several minutes until she hit the spoon out of my hand and looked completely board! I think the person that had the most fun with it all was Ethan.. He was thrilled for her to be able to eat just like him. We are not worries about her nutrition though! Look at the chubbs!

Divorce Deer

2009-11-05T22:08:00.000-08:00

Imagine this: Your husband and his buddy decide at church that YOU are going to make dinner for everyone on Tuesday so the husbands can split wood together after. You kindly agree because you want nothing to do with splitting of the wood. Keep in mind that your husband planed the evening. Guests are to arrive at 5:30 with dinner at 6:00 (all planned by your husband.) The day comes and you expect that everyone is on the same page about dinner. Your friends arrive on time but your husband is running late. He is the one who is supposed to be grilling the fish for dinner so you start getting a little nervous. So, you call your husband and he says he is on his way home and that work was running a little late but he will be there shortly. 20 minutes later, no husband. So, you call him again he says, "I will call you right back I just shot a deer." What?!?!? I instantly get upset. I try to maintain my composure because we have friends over but I am not happy with him. 10 min. later he calls you back and says, "I am on my way home I will be there in 15 minutes can you start dinner for me?" I fired up the grill and threw on the fish but my unhappiness was obvious. When he got home I told him just what I thought about his little side trek on the way home. He was sorry about it but really proud of his deer. He took the kids and the other husband outside to see it. Hailey came back in and said, "mom it's a baby deer." I never went out and saw it but the pictures show the proof that this deer really was small! I cooled off and we ate dinner with our friends. I jokingly named this deer divorce deer not because I was really that mad but because but because I needed a good name for this story. Divorce deer has become quite a joke in our family. The best part about this "baby deer" was that when Dan took it in to get processed they only charged him for and antelope because it was so small!

Halloween

2009-11-01T21:55:00.000-08:00

Halloween is by far my favorite holiday. I love planning something fun for all us to wear that has some sort of theme to it. This year Hailey really wanted to be Daphnie from Scooby-Doo. It was the perfect start to a fun costume for all of us. Hailey was Daphnie, Ethan was Fred, Adalyn was Scooby, Dan was Shaggy and I was Velma. The first event of the holiday was a party at Amy Scharf's house that Ethan, Ady and I attended. Amy decorated with her fabulous taste and made some scary yummy Halloween treats! The day of Halloween we went to Hailey's class party at school. There just happened to be 2 other girls dressed as Daphne's in her class! Popular choice!! We rounded out the night with a trip to the ward party. We were the hit of the party!

Hailey super cute as Daphne. Also a picture of her class and the 2 other Daphne's!

Ethan rocking the coolest wig as Fred. Dan was also awesome with the not so shaggy wig and fake facial hair. (A little Chester Molester if you ask me!) The facial hair kept falling off! I loved my Velma and Ady's Scooby out fit. They really rounded out the family!

GRRRRRRR!!!

2009-10-31T18:44:00.000-07:00

I am just going to make an I AM FRUSTRATED post. I HATE MY COMPUTER! It has been having issues lately when I am trying to download pictures onto the blog. Hence the reason there have been very few entries. They are all sitting in a drafts pile waiting to have pictures attached to them. BUT every time I try to download pictures my stupid windows vista computer locks up... EVERY TIME! Can I please have permission to throw it away? Anyway.. The posts will come ether because my computer is cooperating or because I threw it away and got a new one.

Homecoming

2009-10-27T08:39:00.000-07:00

I am so behind on blogging these days that everything is weeks old that I am finally putting up! But I will get it all done in the next couple of days. Dan was in Denver the week of Homecoming so the kids and I took in a lot of the fun things that a small town has to offer. I LOVE being in a small town during these times of the year because everyone is involved with homecoming in some way. The elementary school participates in the parade. Hailey was a partner for a child in her class during the parade, so she got to hold HIS hand the entire time. It serious looked like Hailey had a kindergarten boyfriend. The pics are super cute. Ethan, Adalyn and I attended the pep rally and watched sis at the parade. With much anticipation we headed off to the big game. We got there early with FABULOUS seats waiting for us by all of the mommies that were attending solo that night. As we waited for the game to start, the sun went soen ans it got COLD. Ady started getting fussy and Hailey an Ethan were ansy about the game. I tried to feed Ady with NO success (have you ever tired to feed a tired hungry baby in a loud crowd because it does not work.. what was I thinking?) So the kiddos and I headed to the face painting table to get festive. Shortly after we were done(keep in mind Ady was still fussy) Ethan got plowed down and ran over by some high school kid on a skate board... Yep you guessed it. That was the end of our fun filled night. We made it to only 15 minutes of the game. But, we made it home happy and in pieces enough to take a couple of fun pictures of our face painting. PLUS we were all in bed by 8:00 and that was great for me!

Pumkin carving

2009-10-26T15:44:00.000-07:00

Just be tolerant of the half naked kids. Neither of them wanted to get their clothes dirty. I guess I have really drilled that into their heads! I left for a work conference in New Orleans and Dan's mom came up to Pinedale for a couple of days to take care of the kids. They did SO many fun things together including painting pumpkins. After I got home, they wanted to actually carve the faces that they had drawn. For FHE we got brave and let the kids dig in. We even saved the pumpkin seeds and roasted them for a yummy treat when we were done!

In the ballet

2009-10-25T20:32:00.000-07:00

A Ballet Company out of Santa Barbara Cali came to Pinedale 2 weeks ago for a performance. They asked the local dance teachers in town for some girls that they thought would be able to learn a dance and perform in with them! They gave some ages stipulations (7+), but Hailey;s dance teacher asked her to do it anyway! They went in the day before to have a costume fitting the the company seamstess. There were a lot of adjustments to be made bcause usuallyt he girls are not as small as Hailey, but it was fun for her to have that experience. On Wednesday she got to get out of school early for dress rehersal with the cast. She was toallly star struck because she thought that the "Cinderella" in the ballet was the real thing. I love the innocence of childhood! We got d with dress rehersal with just enought time to grab a bite to eat and head back for the main performance. Dan happened to be out of town on buisness so I got a babysitter for Ethan and had a little girls night with Hailey and Adalyn. Hailey was spectacular as an owl dancing around Cinderella. I think that she has perma smile the entire night. Unfortunately there was no flash photography during the performance so I took some snapshots when I could of her with the group. She can;t wait until they come next year!

5 months old!

2009-10-21T18:35:00.000-07:00

You better believe it.. Ady patty cakes (thanks gma Leigh) is 5 months old! I am not sure that she will ever get rid of her new nick name because Ethan constantly calls her Ady patty cakes... it really is SOOO CUTE! Good news.. she is finally rolling over consistently from front to back this last month. She really has had no desire until now and she will roll onto her sides from her back to reach for things. She is fascinated with every ones noses. She has quite the grip and will pinch HARD without remorse. She is in the "belly giggle" stage and I LOVE IT! When we get her laughing she can't stop and she is adorable. She loves me but she especially likes dan because they cuddle together all of the time. When she takes baths now she splashes for fun but when the water gets in her face she gets mad at whom ever is giving the bath. These months are flying by was to fast.. I can be live that she will be 6 months old next month!

Adalyn vs. Hailey vs. Ethan

2009-10-04T13:07:00.000-07:00

Adalyn had her 4 month check up in Jackson Hole last week. I seriously do have to travel 1.5 hours to see my pediatrician! It sparked some interest after we left to compare the kids at this age to what Ady measured. Here are the stats with my fav. picture from that age.
Adalyn: 12lbs. 13oz. 25 inches long

Hailey:13lbs. 12oz. 23.8 inches long

Ethan: 18 lbs. 25.5 inches.

All that I have to say is E-chunk is the appropriate nick name!

Adalyn at 4 months

2009-09-29T21:08:00.000-07:00

I had a few minutes the other day to take some snapshots of Ady being herself. She is such a sweet and cute little girl. She is getting to be nice and round. She is sleeping great and a joy to wake up to in the morning because she is so excited when I come in the room. She squeals and kicks her arms and legs when she sees me peak over the crib. She is starting to giggle at the funniest things the best being when we tickle her on the collar bone. She is a little scared of Ethan because he can be rough at times, but he is getting better. She constantly has her hands clasped in front of her and frequently they pull out her bink and she attempts to put it back in, but her efforts are rarely successful! She is staring to grab toys that are hanging in front of her and reach for me when she wants me to pick her up. Best of all, she brings a lot of joy to our home. What a fun little princess!

Hailey's HUGE catch!

2009-09-06T17:53:00.000-07:00

Hailey reeling it in. Dan pulling it out of the water.

Look how big that is!

Dan and the kids.
E and papa
The worms!
This weekend my dad (Papa) came up to Pinedale for the long weekend. the one thing that he really wanted to do was go fishing with the kids. Saturday morning we headed out to Boulder Lake for a day of fun and excitement. We took up most of the day warding off the bees that were swarming the beach we were on. No luck with the fishing. Dan slipped on his swim shorts and waded out until he was chest deep and cast the poles out to see if we could have better luck. Quickly thereafter, we caught a tiny baby fish on my pole that we let go back. We left the poles and shot the guns for a while, not paying attention to the poles. Dan saw Hailey's pole moving out of the corner of his eye and Hailey ran over to reel in THE BIGGEST FISH EVER!!! The combination of lack of strength and the barbie fishing pole resulted in Dan wading out into the water to get the fish. When he pulled it ou of the water WE WERE SHOCKED!!! The fish had somehow gotten snagged by Hailey's pole and tangled itself in in my line. It didn't even fight as she reeled it in. We think that it must have been out there fighting for a while. It was 4 lbs. and 20 inches long. That beats all of our records for lake trout! She was thrilled about the catch and talked about it all day at church. We ate it for dinner tonight and it fed 3 adults and 2 kids with leftovers. What a great weekend!

Ethan's first day of Preschool

2009-09-04T18:44:00.000-07:00

Thursday was Ethan's first day of Preschool. Myself and 4 other moms where we live got together and we are doing Joyschool for our little guys. Preschool is ridiculously expensive here, so we decided just to take care of it ourselves. It has been a fun summer preparing the lessons and gathering the supplies for it. Ethan has been waiting since Adalyn was born to go to preschool. He really thinks that he is a big boy. It was not my day to teach, but it was my day to be the helper. It was so much fun to see Ethan interact in that setting with the other kids. He is he youngest (but biggest ha ha) child in the group. He had a few struggles that he needed mom for, but held his own for most of the time. They playes with playdough and made crayon shaving pictures. They also did show and tell. Ethan took Hailey's big book of fairytales book (I know he is a boy). He wanted to show everyone the stories with the big bad wolf in them. He has loved the big bad wolf since last Halloween when that is what he dressed up as. He even told the other kids "This is a story about me because I am the big bad wolf." How stinking cute is he? This little man and I have grown even closer this week as Hailey went off to Kindergarten and I have loved it. I am looking forward to the next couple of years that he and I will have together before he to grows up and goes to Kindergarten too. I sure hope that day doe snot come as quick as it did with Hailey!

1st day of school

2009-09-02T13:07:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Hailey's first day of Kindergarten. She was so excited for the day! The night before she picked out her favorite outfit to wear to the first day of school down to what socks and bow she wanted. It was really cute. We took some pictures at home of her with each of us. (Dan has been sick with strep, so he stayed a little further away) We jumped in the car and I asked Hailey if she needed help with her seat belt and she said, "No mom I am a kindergartner I do not need help." When we got to school Hailey was very excited to be there.. I was not. I have been dreading this day for a while now and so has Ethan. I am truly excited for her, but sad that I will not get to see her as much as I have always been able. I was doing fine walking down the hall until a friend says... "Are you ready for this?" That was all that I needed for the tears to start flowing! Hailey didn't notice me crying which was nice. She was skipping off into her classroom when I grabbed her arm for one last goodbye hug and kiss... unfortunately I gouged her arm with my fingernail and made her bleed! That is when she started to cry! After a few minutes of tender loves and reassurance from her teacher, she was ready to go. Ethan and I came back to spend the lunch hour with her. It was fun to see her be so independent as she took the lunch tray through the line. When I picked her up from school she ran to me with a big smile and told me about the 3 recesses that she had, the friends she met and the art project that she did. I sure love this little girl. She is growing up so fast!

Hailey ready to go out the door to school!

Outside the classroom waiting for the bell to ring!
We tried to get a good picture outside of the school but the sun was in a bad spot... she is still cute though!
Hailey at her first school lunch. Corndogs, YUM!

I need your help

2009-08-29T12:54:00.000-07:00

Fellow blogger friends. I am seeking your assistance with a fundraiser that I am a part of. Let me give you some background. Clint and Kelli Anderson moved to pinedale just a little over a year ago. They have 3 kids, the youngest being Toree. When Toree was about 1 they found a suspicious spot on an MRI that they wanted to keep an eye on with yearly MRI exams. Since then, Clint has changed jobs an the new insurance company would not accept Toree because of this "pre-existing condition" that she has. This last week Toree went in for her annual MRI. The test results did not come back as expected and they sent Toree to Primary Childrens Hospital. The mass had not only grown, but was causing enough pressure on Toree's brain tissue that it was Hemorrhaging (bleeding). There was no choice for Kelli and Clint to have this taken care of. As we all know medical treatment of this kind IS NOT cheap, but worth it for 4 year old Toree. We have come together as the small community of Pinedale to try to help this family pay for this VERY EXPENSIVE surgery. I am reaching out to you as my friends to help us out with whatever you can. We are going to raffle off a 2008 Arctic Cat 700 EFI Camo 4Wheeler with a 3000 lb Warn Winch. (Brand New) Tickets will be $50 each or 3 for $100. Also Colton Taylor (who is 9) has donated his 2004 Yamaha PW50 Motorcycle to be raffled. Tickets will be $5 each or 3 for $10. All proceeds will go to the Toree Anderson Medical Fund. If you are interested in buying some tickets or just donating, please mail them to me at the address below or get them to me in person. I am willing to hand deliver if you win ether of these :)So you are not only buying for a chance to win a great prize and help a family, but to see me in person, how can you resist! At times it may seem like a few dollars won't change anything, but it can. I have figured if each of my regular blog readers bought a $5 ticket we could give them over $150! Think of what we could do if we gave even more?
Mindy Stubbs
P.O. Box 687
Pinedale, Wy 82941

I sincerely hope that I hear from some of you. I know that if the situation were in reverse and you needed help, Kelli would be the first person to step forward. I can honestly say that these people are some of the most wonderful people that I know.

Happy Birthday Hailey!!

2009-08-28T09:58:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Hailey's 5th Birthday! We threw her a surprise party and it was a blast. She had NO idea what we were planning... I am not sure how we kept it from her, but she was oblivious!! She had told me in the early summer what she wanted for decorations and where she wanted it and I planned it all without her knowing. Her friends showed up early and we hid behind the tables in the party room at the Aquatic center just waiting for her to come in. When she did we all jumped out and yelled "surprise" It took her a minute to register that it was for her, but when she did, she was excited. I could tell that it kind of made her nervous because she periodically started chewing on her tongue.. it's a nervous habit of hers, but it was cute. We had cake and ice cream, she opened her gifts and we headed out to the swimming pool. We were the only ones there and the kids LOVED it. I think I took kids down the big slide over 25 times because my legs were burning by the end. After we were showered and dressed we went to the rock wall for some fun. Most of the kids tried, but most of them were scared to climb very far up. After we were done there, the fam headed to Trendy's for a burger and frips (Hailey's favorite). We went home and watched the new movie Ethan picked out for her "Coraline". What a great day!

Adalyn is 3 months!

2009-08-26T12:15:00.000-07:00

Adalyn is 3 months old now!! Time is really flying with this little munchkin. She smiles all of the time (especially at mom). She is starting to coo and talk back to us when she gets really excited. Her hands are constantly at her mouth held together. It is sooo cute. She loves to play with our light up toy and sit in her swing. I am really having fun with these 3 kiddos together!

Starvation

2009-08-25T16:15:00.000-07:00

It has been almost a week since we went to Starvation, but I thought that I should still post the great pics that we got. To start telling this story, I have to tell you that a normal driving time to Starvation resivior for us SHOULD be 5 hours max. So you think that we took 5 hours to get there NO It took 8 hours for us to get there. You are probably thinking that our kids were horrible NO, we went the WRONG WAY 2 TIMES! We have driven through that area MANY times, so I think that we were just not paying enough attention. We first ended up on the east side of flaming gorge instead of the west. Which costs us at least an hour. Then, we turned about 30 miles early to head tward duschene and ended up in the indian reservation. That cost us at least 1.5 hours. Good thing we left Pinedale at1 p.m. because we did not get there until 9 p.m. It was a great laugh, but we still had fun as you can see from the pics. We went out first thing in the morning while the water was still glassy and each got a turn out on the water before the WIND started to blow and blow and blow. Needless to say, this is the last time we got on the boat for the trip. We spent the rest of the day building sand casstles and visitng with each other. When we left at 4 we headed back to Roosevelt to Ryan's new place for Pizza and a to watch elf. It was a really fun weekend with the fam!

Ethan thinking that he can drink cashews from the can..you can imagine the outcome.
Andy on the wakeboard
Grandma Leigh and Ady by the fire.
Tawnie on the wakeboard
Ethan chilling on the boat
Hailey and Karlee on the boat
Dan and I (Hailey took this picture I thought that she did pretty good)
Me on the kneeboard
Ethan attempting to kneeboard with Dan in the water with him.
Tawn and Karlee on the boat
Ethan admiring Dan on the slolam. He thought Dan was SOOOO Goood.
Dan getting ready in the water

Hailey wearing her new helmet (Thanks grandma and grandpa!)
Grandpa holding Brooklyn
Andy and Ryan opening their b-day gifts
Jason showing his guns

Lake Powell

2009-08-10T11:40:00.000-07:00

During our extended stay in Moab, we took a day trip to Lake Powell for some fun in the sun. We left early Wednesday morning for the 2 hour drive down. Once we got there, we wasted no time getting in a playing. The kids were a tad hesitant at first, but soon got aquainted with the water. Hailey and I decided on the way down that she would try and kneeboard by herself. WE took some time when we first got there trying to teach her how to get up on the board. She was scared to death of sitting up on her knees on the board because it kept tipping over. So, she ended up just lying on the board getting pulled behind the boat. I was shocked to see her do that because she did not like to be in the water by herself. She did great though and loved it. Ethan talked about doing until it was his turn and he chickened out. We sepnt most of the time swimming, jumping off of the boat and tubing. Hailey and Ethan LOVED tubing!! Josh, Jason and Travis spent a part of the day wrestling over the knee board... I am not sure who won but they were entertaining to watch. Ethan also learned that he could pee of the back of the boat if he stood on the platform. Watch out if you are in the water! Josh had my camara for a while and we ended up with a million picture which is great becuase we have so many that we love! Ady wasn't so fond of the heat, so I stuck her little feeties in the water off of the back of the boat. I think I about gave Leigh (my mother in law) a hear attack by doing it, but it cooled little Ady off and made the rest of her day much better. We loaded up the boat right at dark and headed back. The next morning Hailey woke up and asked "Can we go to Lake Powell again today?" I think that she and Ethan both had a great time! Thanks for the great trip!

Visiting Great Grandparents

2009-08-10T10:27:00.000-07:00

Hailey and Dan together at the airport right before he lifet for Alaska.

We went to Utah last week to drop Dan off at the airport for his wonderful trip to Alaska. The kids and I spent a couple of days in Salt Lake and while we were there we went and saw Dan's Grandma and Grandpa Racine. They had not seen Adalyn yet so I though that it would be fun to hit their house Sunday afternoon. I think that it is so much for our kids to form relationships with our grandparents. Hailey is always excited to see Grandma Janet because she always spends special time with her. This time she read books, went out in the garden to pick flowers, painted finger nails and let Hailey play with all of her necklaces. What a great day!! Hailey LOVED every minute of her special time with Grandma Janet. Lucky for her, Ethan was napping a large part of the time that we were there. Grandpa Don enjoyed most of the afternoon holding Adalyn and talking to her. He loved to make her smile and coo. It was really cute to see them. He also pulled out his bag of mini candy bars to share with the kids. Them and Grandma Janet munched down on them all day and grandpa filled some bags for them to take on the road.

Blueberry Jam

2009-07-31T19:03:00.000-07:00

Yesterday the kids and I conquered blueberry Jam. Blueberries were on a fabulous sale at the grocery store ($4.99 for 2lbs)so we had to snag some up for Jam and to freeze (does anyone else love to eat frozen blueberries? YUM!). It started out just Hailey and I on the first batch. She is a great helper because she understands the concepts of patience, things are HOT and things need to be measured. Shortly after we started, Ethan joined the party followed by Ady. There were no major tragedies except for Ethan pouring 6 cups of sugar on the dirty floor instead of in the pan.. it was a close miss. He was fervently sorry about it and insisted on remeasuring all of the sugar himself to make up for it. I am not quite sure how much under or over 6cups we were! It was really a lot of fun and everyone was stoked to get to try our jam as soon as it cooled down. Luckily, all of my jars sealed. The most memorable part of the afternoon was when Ady fell asleep amid all of the commotion on Hailey's lap without even making a peep. She is sure a sweet little baby!

Week in Review

2009-07-25T08:32:00.000-07:00

What we did this week:
Monday: Spend the day at Sandy Beach
Monday Night: FHE at the Lake for fishing
Tuesday: Spend the day at Sandy Beach and celebrate Ady's 2 month Birthday
Wednesday: Spend the day at the Beach
Thursday: Clean the house up from the neglect it has had the rest of the week.. NO go to see The Shaggy Dog at the free movie, then go to Sandy Beach for the afternoon.
Friday: Pack Dan for his backpacking trip and Play in the sprinklers all afternoon.

Summertime is not meant for taking responsibility at this house. Pinedale has the most perfect weather during the summer... 80-90 degrees and NO wind (most of the time). There is a perfect Beach at Fremont Lake for the kids to play at and the moms to sit and chat(and get a nice looking tan). You can go anytime and there is always someone there to play with. There are very few places that my kids BEG to go day after day, but when I ask what should we do today? They always respond "Lets go to the Beach!" How can I say no! Hailey loves to play on the tubes and floating toys in the water and "swim" in the lake with her life jaket on. She really thinks that she is swimming all by herself. Ethan sepnds most of the day digging in the sand, making trenches with the other boys and climbing on the tipped over trees. Ady generally sleeps through most of it, but when she wakes up she sits under the umbrella talking away. I think that she enjoys it as much as the rest of us. On Monday evening we went up to the upper boat dock at the lake to take in some fishing, hot dog cooking and smore making. We had the best luck we have ever had with a fish practically every time that any of us cast out our poles! We ended up letting all of them back because they were so small and the kids kept telling us that they were baby fish that needed to get back to their mommies. (Cute!) Ady turned 2 months old on Tuesday. She is growing SOOO fast it is amazing. She is talking alot and looking at us when she hears our voice. She loves to lie under our baby toys and kick it so it will flash and make sounds. She is still sleeping great and only waking up once at night around 4:00am. Dan is leaving bright and early Monday Morning to go on a 6 day backpacking trip with the Boys Scouts.. LUCKY! Then, the day after fe gets back he leaves to go to Alaska... WAY LUCKY!! The kids and I will probably have a week next week much like we did this week to fill the time while dad is gone and then we are headed to MOAB!! Whooo hoooo! I am so excited for the rest of the summer!
Ethan and Ethan Kemp digging in the sand.
Ethan and Lincoln sitting on the tree.

Ady sleeping on the blanket at the Beach.
Ethan getting water in his bucket to fill up his trench!
Hailey and the girls at the beach!
Hailey and Toree looking at the ladybug they caught.

Ady chilling under the umbrella.

Jordyn diggin into her birthday cupcakes.

FHE at the Lake

Dan and Public Restrooms

2009-07-19T20:16:00.000-07:00

I have to preface this story by telling all of you that Dan HATES public bathrooms. I do not love them, but he absolutely HATES them. He is a tad of a germophobe. He went to the store last night with Hailey and Ethan. Before he left, he made both of them go to the bathroom at home so that they would not go at the store.. (haha) They had been at the store maybe five minutes and the following incident unfolded:
Ethan: "Daddy I neea go peepee."
Dan:" You just went at home Ethan you do not need to go. You can wait until we get back home."
Ethan "ok dad."

Five minutes later:
Hailey: "Dad I need to go pee."
Dan: "Can you please wait until we get home?"
Hailey: "Sure I guess."
Ethan: "Daddy I a gonna poo poo in me pants."
Dan: " Okay guys lets go to the bathroom." (In complete disgust. Does he not realize yet after three kids that they have to pee in every public place that you enter?)

They proceed to go the the bathroom and Dan heads to the stall to help Hailey first. After he gets her situated, he goes to help Ethan.
Ethan: "Daddy I pee on my shurs."
Dan: "How did you pee on your shirt son? You need to aim your pee into the potty not at your shoes."
Ethan: "No daddy I pee on my shurs, see look it's wet."
Dan: "Oh you peed on your shirt? How did you manage that?" (In a slightly frustrated voice)
Ethan:(Almost in tears)"But daddy I pee on me fohed to."
Dan: "what? You peed on your forehead?"
Ethan: "Ya, Can you change a my shurs?"
Dan: "I don't have another shirt for you buddy, it will be fine. It will dry."
Ethan: "But daddy it's dudy (dirty) with pee pee."
Dan: "Sorry I will clean you up the best I can and then we will change it when we get home."
Ethan: "what about me forhed?"
Dan: "We can wash it."
Ethan: "okay daddy."

After cleaning up and eventually getting out of the bathroom Dan and the kids run into several people in the store that we know and Ethan proceeds to tell them with a smile.. "I pee on my shurs in the bathroom!" Dan would quickly move along so that he would not tell them that he peed on his shirt and forehead in the bathroom. Most people thought that he was just saying that he peed on his shoes. Being the parents of a 3 year old little boy is wonderful and entertaining at the same time. I cannot imagine what life would be like with out him! And just so you know, he never went poo poo or finished peeing all of the way because he was so distraught about the incident. They ended up going back to the bathroom before coming home so that he could actually take care of business!

Amazing pictures by Amy

2009-07-16T13:53:00.000-07:00

I am just going to give a little plug to Amy for these fabulous pictures that she took of Adalyn. She has her own little photography buisness that is starting to take off. I was so impressed with our session with Adalyn, I thought that I should tell all of you about it that live in Pinedale. We were there for 2 hours and these are just a few of the great photos that came out of it!

Baby Blessing

2009-07-08T15:41:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday was Adalyn's baby blessing. We had quite a few visitors come up for the weekend to join us for the fantastic event!! Saturday (the fourth of July!) we all went up to Meadow Lake to ride 4 wheelers and have a camp fire. The most exciting events of the day included Ethan taking on the rugged terrain on Hailey's 4 wheeler (he hasn't quite mastered the skill of riding on a 4 wheeler yet) and re- inventing the smore. The winner clearly was the marshmallow-carmello-marshmallow method over the fire then placed on crackers.. always fabulous! Sunday of course was wonderful as we were joined by Dan's grandma and grandpa stubbs for the day. They drove from Bountiful and back in one day. What troopers. We were really glad to see them! After a great weekend our house felt a little empty when the last visitors left on Sunday afternoon. We would do it again this weekend if we could!

Happy Birthday Ethan!!

2009-06-29T10:36:00.000-07:00

Last Tuesday was Ethan's 3rd Birthday. He was such a funny kid that day because he knew how special he was that day!He woke up to the house decorated for him (we always try to do this for the kids when they are asleep so that when they wake up it is a suprise for them) Then, he saw his new Spiderman bike that Papa bought for him and wanted to go outside and ride it (it was 6:30 am). So, we let him go outside and I don't think that he stopped riding until Dan offered to take him fishing. The next day we had a birthday party for him and a few fiends at the park. The only thing that he cared about was.. RIDING HIS BIKE. He did not care about his friends, cake or presents until he got adequate time on his bike! What a cute kid!

One month Old

2009-06-22T09:34:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Adalyn turned one month old. I can't believe that it has already been a month since she was born. She is such a sweet addition to our family. She is starting to really recognize each of us in the family. She turns her head to us when we speak to her and is gaining a lot of strength in lifting her head up. She is barely squeezing into newborn size diapers. Dan swears she is smiling at him, but I do not believe it!

An afternoon nap with dad and sis.
Ethan laying by Ady on the floor. He is always there with her!
These pictures are of her at one month before we left for church!

2009-06-22T09:11:00.000-07:00

My mom and two sisters came up to Pinedale this last week for a visit to see the new baby. Most of the time was spent having tons of fun around Pinedale (when it was not raining!)We went to Sandy beach and played for hours! We also spent an evening at the little half moon lake fishing, roasting hot dogs and making smores around the camp fire. The most memorable moments of the evening were when Hailey and Ethan played with the worms that Dan was fishing with. They were totally grossed out, but were so cute about it. Hailey also threw her fishing pole in the water when she cast it out landing it about 5 feet off shore! We also made a trip over to Idaho Falls to hit the mall and go shopping. It was alot of fun to have them here for a couple of days!

Dance recital #2

2009-06-22T08:36:00.000-07:00

Hailey had another Dance rectial at the begining of the month. This time it was with Danielle's Dance Academy. She had a lot of fun because it was the first big outing that we had with our little Adalyn. It made her feel really special to have us all there. She did a great job and got the most improved award at the recital.

Visitors, a bike with no training wheels and a growing baby

2009-06-07T08:36:00.001-07:00

Ethan enjoying Adalyn
Hailey holding Adalyn.. they are going to be such good friends!
Adalyn at 1 week old! She was 6 lbs and 18.5 inches long after only 1 week here. She is growing so fast!
Uncle Jason and Ady.
Papa and Ady
Papa, Ehtan and Hailey eating creamies....YUM!!
Life has been fun and busy the last couple of weeks. My dad and brother came for a weekend visit last weekend to see Adalyn for the first time. We were just lucky that my brother had planned a trip down from Alaska around the same time that I was due, so he got to see our baby. Adalyn has now gone through her 1 week and 2 week milestones!! I just cannot believe how time is flying by! The kids LOVE LOVE LOVE her all of the time. All that they want to do is hold her and give kisses. She is starting to lift her head up and definately knows who her mom is. She has been a great sleeper and I hope that it continues! During all of this excitement, we took the training wheels off of Hailey's bike and she took off! I could not belive how fast she caught on to it. All she wants to do now is ride her "2 wheeler" (that is what she calls it.. isn't that cute??) 2 weeks old!

The kids being silly before bedtime.
Dan and Hailey headed to donuts for dads at Hailey's preschool.

Hailey with no training wheels!!

Memorial Weekend

2009-05-25T14:56:00.000-07:00

Hailey's Dance Recital

2009-05-25T14:10:00.000-07:00

This weekend was a fun filled busy weekend! The day after we got home from the hospital, Hailey had her Spring Dance Recital. I did not get to go watch, but she had quite the crowd there with all of Dan's brothers in town. She got all dolled up and hit the stage without any fear. She did 2 dances and loved them both!

She is here!

2009-05-23T11:01:00.000-07:00

We had our sweet baby girl Adalyn on Thursday May 21st at 9:13 p.m. I went to the doctor Thursday morning with the hope that they may let me stay and they did!! The Labor and Delivery Unit was full that morning when I got there, so we had to wait until 6 p.m. for a room to open up! They gave me a little prostaglandin gel to get me started and at 8p.m. they broke my water. Adalyn entered the world at 9:15 with just a nurse, Dan and myself in the room. I think that this is becoming a trend because I have yet to have my doctor present at a delivery. It was a very different experience for both Dan and I because we had so much time to wait and anticipate what was going to happen that day. (We were at the hospital almost 7 hours before they did anything with me!) I got so nervous and excited that my blood pressure started going up before they even got me a delivery room! Dan and I both agree that this was the easiest and smoothest delivery that I have yet to have (the other 2 were not bad). I am sure it is mostly because our LITTLE TINY BABY was only 5lbs 11oz and 18 inches long! She looks just like Hailey did as a newborn babe, but just a tad smaller! I was proud of myself because I didn't even beg for pain medicine this time(with Hailey and Ethan I begged at the very last minute for something and it was always to late). I had a fantastic nurse that was reassuring the entire time. I think that she new as much as I did that things were getting close dispite the fact that the doctor was chilling in her office saying "I am sure she isn't that close she was only a 5 an hour ago!" But I sincerely was and when the urge to push continued to come, she was as calm as could be calling the doc and reporting to her what was going on. Finally the doctor agreed to come over from her office, but she was just a little late. Adalyn wouldn't wait for her to get there! I feel faboulous and Adalyn is doing great. They discharged us from the hospital a little over 12 hours after she was born and we headed home. We have been home for almost a day now and they kids love holding her and touching all of her (as Ethan would say) "Tiny tiny" parts.

MAYBE????

2009-05-20T19:17:00.000-07:00

I just thought that I would give you a quick pregnancy update! I am headed to the doc in the morning and if I am dilated to a 3, she will start me right then! Otherwise I have to wait until next Tuesday morning for an offical start. I am so excited for this little peanut and I think that I will go crazy if I don't come home with her over the weekend!!!

Gymnastics Program

2009-05-16T08:54:00.000-07:00

Friday night was our Spring Gymnastics Program at the Aquatic Center. Hailey and Ethan both are in classes and got to be a part of the performance. Hailey only participated in part of her class review because she was sad about another kid pulling on her arm, so there were not as many pictures of her in action! Ethan stayed in for most of the time until he had a head on collision with a girl in his class. They both ended up having a great time and did really well! Afterward, we went and got ice cream to celebrate!

Friday Fishing

2009-05-16T08:36:00.000-07:00

Dan had this friday off and he took the time first thing in the morning to take the kids fishing at Boulder Lake for a couple of hours. Hailey once again was the ONLY one that caught a fish. They had a really good time with Dan as you can see from the pictures!

Kindergarten Registration

2009-05-01T12:56:00.000-07:00

I am only posting this for all of you to see because it is so GREAT!!! I took Hailey to registration for Kindergarten last week and we walked away with the best bag of loot you could have ever imagined!! There are things that I do not love about Pinedale, but I think that not many public schools can top what they give their incoming kindergarten students.... Take a Look at all of this cool stuff!

And just so you know it also included a gift card to payless for shoes and one to the stitching post to get their name embroidered on it. She has really loved all of the stuff in it!

Why Pinedale WY?

2009-04-30T14:11:00.000-07:00

I have had many of you ask me why we chose to come to Wyoming. I have often thought about what brought us here and why we left what we had back in Utah. I do have to say that I REALLY miss Utah and the warm weather (haha). BUT with the economic situation that our country is in right now, I think that ABC news may have answered that lingering question for me. Last night, they did a short segment on Pinedale and how it has the lowest unemployment rate in the country. I do have to say that I feel blessed to be here. AND if any of you are looking for work, all that they say in the story about Job Opportunity is true! Follow this link to watch the news clip

Hailey's Preschool Program

2009-04-23T06:27:00.000-07:00

Last week Hailey had her end of year preschool program (school doesn't end until june they just did it a little early). She was really excited to go and sing all of the fun songs for us that they have learned this year. She is so hilarious! Here are a few videos and pictures from the night! The Pledge of Allegiance
Boom chicka rocka
There's something in my pocket
Hello Neighbor

The Rest of the Moab trip

2009-04-22T20:30:00.000-07:00

We had a fabulous time in Moab despite the little mishap on the FIRST DAY. Luckily, The truck is fixed with NO $$ out of pocket from us (thank you warranty!) We had so much fun on the trails this year with our family. There were more kids this year than normal which made it really enjoyable to all the little ones. This picture is of my dad with the kids. We went and visited him because he just got his new prosthetic leg that he has been waiting for since November. The kids thought that it was awesome and attempted to wear it all over the place.
Hailey and Sammy waiting for the Boys to get a vehicle through an obstacle.
Ethan and Tar Tar enjoying the great outdoors.
The Crew during a little stop on the trail.
Josh and Tar.
Hailey's favorite place to ride is always with Uncle Ryan.
All of the cars at the top of Fins and things (This would be moments before Dan's Big Break)
Ethan waiting for Grandpa to fix the scout.
Ethan playing soccer with Grandma and Uncle Travis.

I told you SO!!!

2009-04-10T11:53:00.000-07:00

We went on a Fabulous trip to Moab this weekend for the annual Jeep Safari! It is something that WE love to do with Dan's family. I will post pictures of everything else later, but I had to post these pictures of what happened THE FIRST DAY ON THE FIRST TRAIL. I hope that all of you realize that I am writing this post on Friday afternoon while my husband makes repairs to our brand new truck! So Here is how the story goes..... We were headed up this small obstacle on Fins and Things. While Dan was going up to we heard a little pop (pops of any sort are NOT GOOD when on a trail). We looked and didn't see anything wrong and didn't think much of it. So we continued on. The next obstacle that we came to has been Dan's menace for many years because the last time we attempted it in our Tahoe, we were not successful. It is just hard if you have a long vehicle..hmmmm. So, the wise wife(me) says to her husband (Dan) "Maybe we shouldn't try this one this year because your truck is longer than the Tahoe and I am afraid that we are going to end up in a bad situation with the truck and I really DO NOT WANT to pay for it." Husband says, "I will never know if I can get up it in my truck if I do not try it." Good nice wife says "Okay if you really want to try, but be careful. I think that I will get out an watch." Husband says, "Am I going to hit? I think that I am to long." hmmmm (This probably would be a good time to back out honey and not go any further, but that did not happen because I did not say anything.) Watch this video to find out what happened next. Watch the front left tire and just remember that popping is not good!
Dan broke his CV axle. Which is basically the mechanism that allows your vehicle to go into 4WD. BUMMER!! You cannot be in Moab going on Jeep Safari without 4WD. Luckily it is not a horrible thing to break because you can still drive the vehicle it is just only 2 WD! It took about 45 minutes of repairs to make it in driving shape and then we were off. Dan with his broken part. Well, part of it. This is proof that he was to long to fit. The white mark on the rocks is from Dan's Hitch.

Last, Andy had to tow Dan out of the trail because he no longer had 4WD. This was a very prideful moment for Andy.
I just have to tell all of you that I was the nice kind wife and did not say a word to Dan after it happened until we were driving back and he was over it. All in all I think that we made it out well!

Queen for the day

2009-04-07T14:45:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, Hailey went to dance competition this past weekend. We had a great time with the entire experience. She was VERY excited to go and the results were great. I was worried that she would be scared or nervous.. but she was not!! She was so excited she almost didn't know how to contain herself. She wanted to get ready over 3 hours early!! She also got to sit and watch her BFF Lainey do her solo and get her award before she went. We intentionally entered them in different categories so that they would not have to compete against each other. This first picture is of Hailey waiting for her turn to go on with her Grandma Leigh (Dan's mom). She insisted that grandma take her over there (thanks grandma I know that it made you nervous!) The next one is of Hailey chatting it up with the lane judge while waiting for her name to be called (She actually started walking on before her name was even called!). The next one is of Hailey waiting at the awards ceremony saying, "I won, I won!". The last one is of Hailey with her TROPHY. She won Queen!!! How fun and exciting for her at her first competition. I think that dance competitions are going to be something that we continue to do for a while because you all know how much I love them and know Hailey loves them to!! I am thrilled for my little girl to start dancing in competitions more regularly because she loves it. Thanks to Abby for making us go with her and her sisters and for Miss Neika for the FABULOUS dance from class last year! I also put a video of her solo on here for all of you to see.

The Zoo

2009-03-26T06:45:00.000-07:00

We went to Salt Lake this past weekend to visit our new niece Brooklyn that was born on March 15th! Some how I managed to not make it home with any pictures of her, but plenty of pictures from our trip to the Hoagle Zoo! Dan flew home early from Denver so that we could make a day trip to the Zoo on Friday. It was a great day about 65 degrees and sunny. What a change from our still freezing temps in Pinedale! Hailey was so excited about going and Ethan was not really sure what to expect. All that Hailey wanted to do was skip everything else and go straight to the penguins and giraffes! Ethan could have stayed at each animal for hours just looking at what they were doing. Unfortunately Dan had hurt his back while in Denver (old man syndrome, he is about to turn 30!), so the trip for him was not was fun. He was a trooper though and tried to act like he was fine. People at the zoo had no idea that he was in massive amounts of pain because they kept giving him bad looks for letting his pregnant wife carry the backpack and push the stroller at the same time. He sincerely tried, but could not do it. The event of the day was while we were watching the giraffes one of them tried to eat a branch off of a tree that was way to far away and wrapped his tongue around it and tried to pull it down. You can see how long it was in the picture! All in all we had a wonderful time at the Zoo and couldn't have asked for a more fun time! Oh, and dad there is a picture of me with the kids so that you can see my prego belly!

I've been picture tagged!

2009-02-16T07:34:00.000-08:00

My cousin Angie picture tagged me on my blog and here is how you play:

1. go to your my document/my pictures

2. go to your sixth file

3. go to your sixth picture

4. blog about it

5. tag six people

So this is what I got from my 6th file and 6th picture:

To explain, all of the pictures on my computer are labeled by date starting with the lowest number. This cute newborn picture of Hailey came up as the picture. She was maybe a week old in this picture and absolutely loved her swing. The only problem was, she had NO control over her head. So, we had to pad her with blankets so that she looked semi-comfortable. She was such a small little princess it is crazy to look back and remember what she looked like.

I tag Tawnie, Anne, Jasmine, Cassie, Erika and Abby

Valentines Day and homemade cinnamon rolls!

2009-02-15T14:28:00.000-08:00

I thought that it would be sooo nice to treat my family to a yummy batch of homemade cinnamon rolls on Valentines Day. It started off with me by myself, but soon turned into a family affair! Everyone wanted to join when we started rolling out the dough and adding the cinnamon, brown sugar and sugar mixture. The kids thought that it was so much fun spreading the yummy stuff around on the dough!
Hailey continued to play in the sugar while Dan and Ethan marked off 2 inch rolls for me to cut! This is the rolls pre-rise. The kids were going crazy because they didn't realize that we had to still let them rise an hour before we could cook them! The rolls post rise, which actually took 15 minutes extra. This was the stage of complete agony... still 20 more minutes.. how long is this going to take???

The kids watched the rolls the entire time that they were in the oven. You would think that we never feed these poor children! The semi-finished product..... I was not willing to sacrifice my hot from the oven newly frosted cinnamon roll for a picture taking moment! This recipe was absolutely fantastic! In fact, I am making another batch today because we just couldn't get enough of the giant yummy sweet rolls.

A tribute to the bro's Part 1

2009-02-07T11:03:00.001-08:00

To start, this is my first official posting as a blogger, yes this is Dan. I am going to start doing a weekly tribute to the Bro's, a look back at how cool we used to be. A little history, I dug these out of my old mission book today I don't remember what dance we were going to. I believe it was the spring of 1998, yes almost 11 years ago. This picture was taken in our South Jordan living room. If I remember right it was Andy and Ryan's first High School Dance and my last one; Andy and Ryan were trying to make a lasting(forever) impression and wow they did it. This really brings back memories of how big of studs we were, and still are. I especially think Ryan hasn't changed much. I bet everybody else would agree with that. The glasses are a classic, I am sure Ryan is thankful that contacts have been invented since then so that people don't have to wear such fashionable spectacles. His Erkle pants are also quite classic I love the fact that his suspenders are cinched so tight that his pants are ridding his belly button line. If you were a parent what would you think when this young man picked up your daughter for at date? "Whew I was worried my daughter was going out with the school jock, but instead I got the chess champion, boy do I feel relieved". On the other hand there was Andy and I, both of us with deep fashion sense me with my "Lady killing" smiley faced tie and suspenders and Andy with his suave smile and his debonair hair. What really has changed? I still have the tie and suspenders, Andy still has his good looks and Ryan well... were glad he has changed. I love my brothers very much and I hope they will forgive me for the next couple of weeks of reminiscing about our cooler days, I am hoping that this will inspire some courtship for Ryan. Luckily for Andy and I we are already married or we might not have been if our wives saw these pictures before we were married. If anyone is looking for a hot sexy date the man on the left is very available! Call for more details!

Dod Sled Races

2009-02-02T14:00:00.000-08:00

This morning we went to the IPSSSDR Dog Sled race that had a stop in Pinedale. It is the largest dog sled race in the lower 48 states and it stopped in
our little town! We went out early so that the kids could go and look at the dogs and sleds before the race started. It was a really fun thing for the kids to see up close. Some of the sled teams were even nice enough to let the kids pet their dogs that were waiting to race. We also got to see the trucks that the dogs traveled in. Once the race started, they let the dog teams go one at a time ever two minutes, starting with the slowest team. Each time the announcer would count down the last 15 seconds before a team would leave the kids(and dogs) would go crazy. Counting backwards is a signal to the dogs to prepare to race. The kids could not believe that they were that close to the action. After sitting out in the cold, we went into the local coffee shop to get a hot chocolate and all that the kids wanted was ice cream! Go figure! We took some time after that to walk the track and head home to warm up.

Friday Night Entertainment

2009-01-16T17:57:00.000-08:00

Friday nights at our house can be pretty entertaining with two little kiddos. The kids wanted us to turn music on for them to "jam to" and these 2 videos are the results! I would just like all of you to note how Ethan tries to copy EVERYTHING that Hailey is doing. Also note the hip shaking on our princess, where did that come from? Grandma's and Grandpa's we hope that you enjoy these because they are a little bit long! Oh and sorry about Ethan in the underwear. We are re-potty training after the holidays and pants just get in the way. Remember to turn the music off on the bottom of the page before you watch the video!

Sand dunes in Moab

2009-01-16T17:35:00.000-08:00

We went to Moab AGAIN this last weekend for some MORE family fun! We ended up most of the weekend at the sand dunes riding four wheelers, motorcycles and the rhino! The kids had a blast with their Uncle Jason and cousins. Besides Christina pushing Ethan out of the truck and Jason hitting on Ryan's woman, the trip was a success!

It's a ..........

2009-01-14T07:56:00.000-08:00

After all of our long traveling experiences this past month, we have made ONE last short trip. It was well worth the time! Dan, Hailey, Ethan and I headed up to Jackson Hole yesterday for my 20 week appointment and ultrasound. (Yes, my Dr. is 90 miles away!) I was hoping that I could still hold Dan off from wanting to find out the sex of the baby, but he was NOT excited about waiting until May to find out. Plus, we had differing opinions on the sex, so he wanted to know for sure. The kids and I all thought that we were having a baby girl. Dan on the other hand thought that we were for sure having a baby boy. So, we made a simple bet. If I won, Dan had to do the dishes for the rest of the week. If he won.. well we probably shouldn't say :)! Anyway, I am now out of doing dishes for the next week! We are having another sweet baby GIRL!. We are very excited and can't wait for our newest addition this may.

Wyoming Winter Snow.

2009-01-07T08:18:00.000-08:00

AS most of you know, we live in cold snowy country. The wind blows and the weather is stinky during the winter. We had the WORST winter storm we have seen yet over the Christmas holiday and came home to quite a mess at our house. It stormed all day Christmas and we were afraid that we weren't going to be able to get out of the neighborhood the next day to leave for vacation. Dan woke up at 5 am and decided to make a trial run out of the neighborhood to see if we could make it out safely. As he left he said "Call our neighbor to come and rescue me if I am not back in an hour." About 59 minutes later Dan returned with the decision that we could make it out even though he get stuck multiple times during his attempt. Keep in mind it should only take him 20 minutes to make the round trip out of the neighborhood. So, we loaded up the children in the -20 storm and headed out for the wildest adventure of our lives. The tracks that Dan created were covered by the time we left, so it was a blind shot. We ended up in the ditch with no visibility and no sight of where we were on the road. So, me being brave and not afraid to the -35 wind chill stuck my head out the window and saw a glimpse of a green road sign and told my husband to go for it. As we were 4 feet deep in snow and praying that we would make it out I thought to myself, what on Earth are we doing? After getting stuck multiple times and my awesome husband working us out, we made it to the highway in just over an hour. It was the longest 2 miles of my life, but it was loads of fun!! The following Sunday we got a call from out neighbor and he said that no one got out of the neighborhood until the plows came that Friday afternoon. I can believe it! He also suggested that we call someone with heavy equipment to plow our driveway because we had huge drifts that had built up (thank you Wyoming wind). Dan decided that he could clear it up with the plow on our 4-wheeler and it should be no big deal because nothing that bad had ever come. As you can see from the pictures.. It was BAD! Our truck made it about half way up the driveway before the snow was way to deep for us to go any further. We got home at 1am and we each took a kid and made the trek up to the house. After church the next day, Dan spent the afternoon and evening trying to get all of the snow plowed out of the driveway with our plow. He was successful,cold, and frustrated, but we can again drive up and down our road. We also included a great picture of our swing set that is now buried for the winter! I love Wyoming!

Welcome home uncle Jason!!!

2009-01-07T07:57:00.000-08:00

It has been almost a week now since Dan's little brother Jason returned home from his mission. He served for 2 years in the Michigan Detroit Mission (scary!) The whole Stubbs clan showed up of the occasion at the airport in Grand Junction, Colorado. He was a little nervous like normal, but warmed up pretty quick. The kids were a little hesitant at first (especially Ethan and our niece Karlee), they were just little tykes when he left. Ethan was barely 6 months and Karlee was 3 months, so they didn't remember him at all. Hailey was a little shy at first (if you can even believe that!), but quickly ran over to him after everyone was done and laid a big smooch right on those missionary lips. Ethan warmed up to him after he sat by him at lunch at Chilli's. They sword fought with their knives and Jason watched as Ethan attempted to cut everything in sight with his butter knife. We headed back to Moab and had a fun filled New Years Eve with the fam. Way to go Jason, we are really proud of you! We are glad to see you home safe and sound.

Pheasant Hunting

2009-01-05T11:10:00.000-08:00

We have many events over the month on December to catch up on blogging, so you will all be seeing a wonderful array of new posts over the next few days while I catch up. While we out and about in Moab Dan, his dad and the bro's took a day to go pheasant hunting near Green River. It has become kind of an after Christmas tradition for all of them to go. They go up to a pheasant farm "for members only". They provide guides, dogs and lots of birds to shoot. The dogs are really well trained and chase the birds out for you to shoot. After you have satisfied your need (at $20 per bird it comes quickly!) they provide you with a yummy lunch and send you on your way. They were gone from about 7:00am until 4:00pm. The kids and I stayed back with my sister in law Tawnie, my niece Karlee and my mother in law Leigh. We had a great day together playing with the kids and having a lunch out at the Moab Diner! As you can see the boys had tons of fun and caught way to many birds. They can't wait for next year!

Shooting in Moab

2009-01-04T20:39:00.001-08:00

While we were on our vacation in Moab, we took the kids out to shoot their new Christmas guns. As you can see Dan was educating the kids on proper gun technique and safety. Ethan was not interested in anything but pulling that trigger! My dad accompanied us along with Dan's little brother Josh. It was quite a bit of fun shooting up the pumpkins from Dan's parents garden. Dan and Josh also got new guns for Christmas that they wanted to try out on the pumpkin patch. We didn't last long though because the kids got cold and we were all ready to go home and warm up!

Christmas Day

2009-01-04T19:45:00.000-08:00

Christmas always starts out on Christmas eve when we get to open our Christmas P.J.'s. The kids haven't realized the trend yet so the think that they are getting something really cool until they open P.J.'s. I was surprised when they were both thrilled with what they opened. They both especially enjoyed the slippers!
Hailey had a hard time going to sleep because she just wanted to get a sneak peak at Santa while he was putting out the presents. She promised that she would not look at the presents. I had to finally lay in bed with her and sing her songs for over an hour so that she would go to sleep! Ethan woke up first and walked right past the Santa gifts to the bedroom and didn't even remember it was Christmas morning! UNTIL Hailey woke up and started saying "Oh my gosh Santa is awesome!" Ethan then proceeded to run as fast he could into the living room to catch a glimpse at what he had also gotten. The first present that they got from us (well Dan really) was little kid sized 22 guns. I know what some of you are thinking, but they were SO excited about their new gun ownership!! Unfortunately it snowed ALL day on Christmas, so we didn't even get to try them out until our trip to Moab! They both proceeded to open the rest of their gifts shoes, clothes and other fun stuff.
Hailey ended up with a bunch of littlest pet shop and Ethan with a new parking garage for his cars. That was the biggest hit on Christmas day. They played with it for hours on Christmas morning! After all of our presents were opened one by one, we started making the Stubbs famous Christmas Crepes. Nothing is better on Christmas morning than the best crepes in the world with a sausage link wrapped inside and topped with strawberries and REAL whipped cream. AHHHH... Yum, yum. The rest of our fun day was packed with playing games, new toys and packing the truck for our trek back to Moab for a long Christmas vacation.

A very Merry Christmas!

2008-12-23T20:24:00.000-08:00

I have to get on and tell all of you wonderful people in our lives Merry Christmas! I would normally do this in a card that I actually send to your house, but time just did not allow this year. I spent some quality time with my dad after he had sugery last week and I just did not get around to getting my cards out. The saddest part is they are so cute and homemade! I hope that all of you will enjoy them next year! I would post a picture of them on the blog, but my scanner is on the fritz... so just think in your mind how wonderful it would be to actually have one with you! MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Prayers needed

2008-12-04T20:01:00.000-08:00

I haven't gone blogging much over the past few weeks until tonight. I sat reading and laughing UNTIL I read my friend Jill's latest entry. To make really long story short, Jill has been diagnosed with a Brain Tumor. She went into the ER on Thanksgiving and here she is barely a week later with shocking news. I have known Jill for quite a few years and if anyone can handle it, it would be Jill. We knew each other early on in nursing school and worked together at the University of Utah hospital for about 4 years. She is an AMAZING nurse, MOTHER, WIFE and FRIEND. Please keep her and her young family in your prayers at this scary time. She needs all of the love and support that she can get. It just makes me think that this could be any of us or our spouses. Luckily, she has a great suppry system and a lot of resources as a nurse and treatment is moving quickly. We love you Jill!

SWEET VICTORY!!!

2008-11-22T18:39:00.000-08:00

As most of you know, the Utes slaughtered BYU 24-48. It was a great game that will hopefully set up the Utes for a BCS Bowl this year! GO UTES!!!

U Of U vs. BYU!!!

2008-11-19T09:11:00.000-08:00

So, that time of year has come again. I always have to give a plug to my old stomping ground...GO UTES!! I sure wish that we could make the trip for the big game just so that I could see Grandpa Stubbs' face when BYU LOSSES! It should be a good game and you better bet that we will have it on!

Hailey and Ethan Tagged!

2008-11-17T08:44:00.000-08:00

Our favorite cousin Karlee tagged us! We are supposed to tell all of you 5 things about us!
Hailey!

1. My favorite thing to do is play with BARBIES!
2. I like to talk to grandma Leigh and my papa on the phone for hours at a time.
3. I spend most of my day upside down trying to perfect my headstand.
4. I am 4 going on 16.
5. I am the best big sister in the world to my little brother and I think that we should name mom's new little baby Barbie!

Ethan!
1. I am rebelling agaist potty training because I like pull ups more than diapers. Plus, I think that it is fun to pee pee on the floor.
2. I destroy everything in my path.
3. I peed outside standing up for the first time this weekend with my dad.
4. I cry when my dad leaves for work.
5. My favorite thing to do right now is to look at tractors!

We tag Bridger, London, Tristan, Taylor and Sophia!

And then there were 3!

2008-11-07T09:27:00.000-08:00

I know that this comes as news to some, but not others. We are now expecting baby #3! I have had a few of you ask when we are planning on having our next, and May 28th sounds like the day it is going to happen. (Or earlier because I have never made it full term!) The baby will be just less than 3 years younger than Ethan; which I hope is a little easier than 22 months apart like Hailey and Ethan were! I am 12 weeks prego and things are going really well. A little morning sickness and normal pregnancy tiredness, but that is all. I would hope that it all ends soon because my first trimester is all done! My guess would be that it is a girl.. but I'd really like to NOT FIND OUT this time. Wouldn't that be exciting?? I sure hope that it is a girl so that she can be best buds with my little niece that is due to arrive in March. I am not positive that Dan will be able to handle not knowing!! He thinks that I am crazy!

Halloween Pictures

2008-11-02T12:38:00.001-08:00

We had such a fun Halloween this year! The kids were great and Dan and I even attempted to dress up. I think that I did a better job than him! Hailey was little red riding hood, Ethan was the Big bad wolf, I was Granny and Dan was the woodsman. It turned out really cute!

New Fireplace and the first snow of the winter

2008-10-11T08:33:00.000-07:00

This past week we finally got our fireplace put in. It is SOOOOO cold here in the winter that without it, we are paying WAY TO MUCH for electricity (yes our house is all electricity). We don't get natural gas in our area. So, we put in a fireplace ourselves. Next year we will do some rock and pretty stuff around it, but we just did n't have time to do it if we wanted to get it in before the first snow happened, which was TODAY!

Month in review

2008-10-06T11:53:00.000-07:00

This month has been CRAZY! My sister in law told me that I need to update all of you on what has been happening in the last month. So here it goes!
Hailey first day of dance class this year. She was so excited to get back to dance class. She also started gymnastics, but she wouldn't let me take a picture of her that day!

The coolest double rainbow on our road trip to Moab.

Our fun day out with the family on a jeeping trail in Moab!

Happy Birthday from Grandma and Grandpa in Moab!

A quick stop on the way home to say Hi to our favorite cousin and Niece Karlee!

Dan and the kids trying to teach tiger how to be a horse instead of a dog.

Hailey caught her first fish on her barbie fishing pole.

Homecoming 2008! GO WRANGLERS! Hailey was in the parade with her preschool and she and her friend Lainey actually thought that they were the cheerleaders! (There are NO real cheerleaders in pinedale)

Last, but no least, we are potty training Ethan! He is doing wonderful and I hope that it continues to go well!

That's right, Ethan's first big catch!

2008-09-11T10:22:00.000-07:00

Dan took the kids fishing last weekend before he went to Houston for 2 weeks. While they were out Ethan actually caught a fish on his Spiderman fishing pole! The fish wasn't huge, but it was large enough that his little pole couldn't reel it in! So, Dan had to pull it in by the line. He was fairly timid about holding it, so there were NO pictures of him at the lake holding it because he was to scared of it moving. The best part was when Dan went to gut the fish Ethan was devastated.
Ethan: "Daddy NO! My fishy!" while getting a little upset.
Dan:"Ethan it's okay buddy I have to do this so that we can eat it for dinner."
Ethan:"No fishy, No fishy...MINE daddy MINE." the tears beginning to fall.
Dan:"It's okay Ethan why don't you come and help me."
Ethan (tears flowing): "No, no, no daddy my fishy. Please my fishy."
Dan got it all cleaned up and put the kids in the car and Ethan fell asleep on the way home. When he woke up, Dan was gone a he started to sob while saying words that I did not understand. He wanted his fishy. So, me being kind of nice pulled it out of the freezer to show him that we still had it. He wanted to hold it and so I took a few pictures of his happy face. He was VERY proud of himself.

Take a guess

2008-09-06T13:32:00.000-07:00

What do you think is on the other end of Ethan's fishing pole? To be contunued....

Giddy up cowboy!

2008-09-05T12:28:00.000-07:00

The same day that Hailey started preschool we went to our friend Kelly's house and she let the kids ride her little miniature pony(I know that there is a technical name, but I have no idea what it is). The pony was so nice and easy with the kids, even Ethan was daring enough to get on Dara. They even got the chance to feed their other horses. I just have to say thanks to Kelly for taking my kids around her yard so many times they had a blast!

The first Day of Preschool

2008-09-05T12:14:00.000-07:00

I am sad to say that Tuesday was Hailey's first day of preschool. I think that I had more sadness about the day than I would like to admit! She ran out when I got there to pick her up and said "Mom I had so much fun! I did so many things. But, I think that I can just stay home from school. I don't need to go anymore!" Luckily I bribed her to go on Thursday and she loved it even more.

Happy Birthday Hailey~!~

2008-08-26T20:09:00.000-07:00

Hailey turned 4 today and I thought that I would post some pictures of the last 4 wonderful years that we have had with her! Isn't she a doll?

Who do our kids look like?

2008-08-11T15:24:00.000-07:00

I saw this on a friends blog and I thought that it was cute. I disagree with some of the results because I think that Hailey is a mini me and Ethan is all Dan. I also thought that it was funny that both of our children were an equal split. Give me you opinion.. is this thing really correct?

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebrities - Collage - Morph

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebs - Collage - Morph

Stoke's crossing and Boulder Lake

2008-08-11T07:24:00.000-07:00

Last night we(Dan)HAD to go and conquer Stoke's crossing (a short cut to the opposite side of Boulder Lake). He tried to go through this crossing last week on the 4 wheeler, but it was way to deep. So we took the truck last night and went. It does not look very deep, but it actually at times was right at the bottom of the doors (as you can see in the pictures!)

After Dan's defeat, we let the kids get out at the lake. There was a storm coming, so the skyline was amazing! As you can tell, Ethan was a little weary of the thunder.

Sublette County Fair

2008-08-11T06:45:00.000-07:00

The Sublette County fair was a week ago, but the kids had so much fun I just had to post the pictures from this bungee thing they had for the kids to do. Hailey was so brave that she kept asking to go higher and flip like the older kids were doing. Ethan also had fun, but was a little miore scared of going high.

Shaving cream art

2008-07-31T08:29:00.000-07:00

We had some extra kids here yesterday and we did shaving cream art. It went from an educational activity to a messy one very fast. Thanks mostly to Ethan and Lainey!

Best Friends

2008-07-31T08:05:00.000-07:00

I was picking up the house today and the kids asked if they could go outside and play. I went outside to check on them after a few minutes and this is what I saw.

Hailey had taken the bungee cords from the garage and hooked her 4-wheeler to Ethan's. She said it was because the battery had died on his and he still wanted to ride. She also added, "besides mom when I pull him he goes faster and he likes it so just leave us alone to be kids." I think that it is so cute to see them becoming such good friends.

Memories

2008-07-27T13:02:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I saw this on my friend Becky's blog and I left a comment on hers and I thought that it was so fun!

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I (or Dan) have had together. It doesn't matter if you know us really well or just a little.. anything you remember!

2. Next, repost these instructions on your blog (if you have one) and see how many people leave a memory about you! If you leave a memory on mine, I will assume that you are playing and I will visit your blog and leave a memory for you also. I made it so that anyone can make a comment even if you do not have an account. Just post under the name/URL or as annonymous and leave your name in the post! It is way easy, give it a try! Have fun!

The Radio

2008-07-20T13:23:00.000-07:00

My dad called me today and reminded me that it had been a while since I had posted any new pictures. We went to Rendezvous Days here in Pinedale last weekend and these photos were from those 2 days. It is a really fun weekend with lots of things to do. We were pretty impressed with how much we enjoyed it! This first picture is from "the radio" (Rodeo) as Hailey calls it. She was enjoying the rodeo a lot UNTIL they started doing the calf roping. She was so upset she cried for probably 20 minutes. She thought that they were really hurting those baby cows!

Ethan loved watching all of the events until his view was blocked by 3 old drunk ladies. When they sat down he kept trying to look over them and couldn't see anything. His solution was to go down to the fence so that no one could block his view. His favorite part was when they would herd they baby cows right in front of him.

One more tragic moment in Hailey's rodeo experience was when they let all of the kids out in the arena to chase cows with tags on their tales for a prize. She did not get anything and did not want to leave until she had what she wanted!

The kids waiting for the parade to start.

Ethan enjoying the parade.

Hailey's first taste of cotton candy!
s

Our poor dog

2008-07-09T18:19:00.000-07:00

So, we have been having this problem with Tiger taking little breaks form our property to go and visit the neighborhood houses. He is a great dog and this is the ONE thing that drives us crazy about him because WE CANNOT BREAK HIM of the habit. I always wonder what mischief he is getting into while he is there because he always brings us back mementos. A friend of ours sent us this story below and I think that maybe it is answer to the problem that we have been having with him. It really helped me to understand what he is probably up to!
An older, tired-looking dog wandered into my yard; I could tell from his
collar and well-fed belly that he had a home and was well taken care of.

He calmly came over to me, I gave him a few pats on his head; he then
followed me into my house, slowly walked down the hall, curled up in the
corner and fell asleep.

An hour later, he went to the door, and I let him out.

The next day he was back, greeted me in my yard, walked inside and
resumed
his spot in the hall and again slept for about an hour.

This continued off and on for several weeks.

Curious I pinned a note to his collar: 'I would like to find out who the
owner of this wonderful sweet dog is and ask if you are aware that
almost
every afternoon your dog comes to my house for a nap.'

The next day he arrived for his nap, with a different note pinned to his
collar:

'He lives in a home with 6 children, 2 under the age of 3 - he's trying
to
catch up on his sleep.

Can I come with him tomorrow?'

Hailey's first bike wreck!

2008-07-02T14:45:00.001-07:00

The day has finally come that Hailey has crashed hard on her bike. I have been trying to take her out every day on our dirt roads so that she can learn how to ride better on her own. She is slowly learning what I call the "vital" skills, i.e. braking, keeping her balance, falling correctly ect. We have been practicing going down hills and braking and she has not really been catching on because the speed makes her frightened and she forgets about everything she has learned. On Monday night we went out riding for a while and she was insistent that she ride down the hill to our house by herself. She did okay until she had to turn while going downhill (a skill we haven't worked on yet!) The result was Hailey sticking both legs out to the side while screaming "I am going to crash". And she did. She flipped right over the handle bars and got road rash on her nose and a nice spilt open lip. Thank goodness she was wearing a helmet!

Fun, Fun, Fun~

2008-06-30T16:12:00.000-07:00

We have had a busy past week. We went camping Monday-Wednesday for Ethan's Birthday. On Friday Dan's Uncle Jared and his family came and visited for the weekend. We had a really great time 4-wheeling and fishing on Friday and Saturday. We love it when people come and visit!
Happy Birthday Ethan!

Tiger's first swimming lesson.

Dan teaching Hailey how to cast her own fishing pole!

Ethan playing with the Cray fish.

Having fun at Meadow Lake.

Yum, Yum cray fish cooked and ready to eat!

Hailey riding Lainey's 4-wheeler

Hailey and Lainey in the dune buggy.

Ethan getting ready to ride.

I think that Ethan is in love, look at that smile!

Avery and Beau

Chris's big catch!

The family fishing

Happy Birthday Ethan!

2008-06-23T07:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to Ethan! Today is Ethan's 2nd Birthday! Wow, how time flies. The past two years have been amazing and wonderful with Ethan. He is so sweet and loving to everyone he is around. But, he is all boy! We are going to have a little family party today and take the little tike fishing and camping for a couple of days.

Happy Father's Day!

2008-06-12T21:31:00.000-07:00

To all of the great fathers that we are around, WE LOVE YOU. It is not often that you are all recognized for the great people that you are. So, we came up with the Stubbs Top 10 reasons we love the "fathers" in our lives.
10. You love us even when we do things that are stupid.
9. Even when you are no longer with us, you will still make a difference in who we are today.
8. You'll drive hours through the middle of the night just to make sure that we are doing okay.
7. You always do the right thing even if it is not the easiest.
6. You let us crawl in bed with you at night and snuggle even when mom does not want us to.(from Hailey)
5. A good wrestling match is never out of the question.
4. Long drives and long talks always when we need it.
3. Even if the house is dirty, playing is still more important.
2. We are your best friends.
1. No matter how old you get you will always be a kid at heart.

Broken or not broken?

2008-06-12T15:20:00.000-07:00

Okay so before you look at these pictures I have to fill you in on the story behind them. It was one of those moments that you thought for a second, "maybe I shouldn't let them do this it sounds like a bad idea, someone is going to get hurt" before you let you children do something, but let them do it anyway. I was on the phone with a neighbor of mine and Hailey asked me if she could put a leash on Ethan and play doggy with him. I asked Ethan if he wanted to play doggy and he said yes. So, we clipped the leash onto Ethan's overalls on the metal clasp. At this moment I am thinking that this might be okay (who knows why). They were having so much fun together. They both were very into the game, commands and all. Ethan had sit, lay, shake, ect. perfectly. I thought that it was pretty cute because they were doing together what we do with Tiger. UNTIL, the "someone is going to get hurt" moment arrived. This is how it all went down, literally. Hailey told Ethan "let's go for a walk doggy." Ethan being the good pretend dog that he was being got right up, but instead of walking started running. Hailey (being a good dog trainer) said, "No doggy slow down" and gave the leash a little yank to slow him down. Well... the results were not so good. At that moment Ethan had made it into the kitchen on the hard floors. When Hailey pulled it yanked Ethan straight to the ground where he smacked his face on the floor. I immediately picked him up and found that his nose was bleeding and he was slightly surprised. There was a classic look on his face, "how did that happen, I did not intend that to be the end result." It was around nap time anyway, so I grabbed some ice and his blanky and went to the rocking chair. His nose stopped bleeding pretty quick and he fell asleep really fast. When he fell asleep his nose looked normal, but when he woke up it looked like this.

Note the swollen upper lip and the right side of his nose and eye that are swelling. I think that there will be more pictures to come as the black eyes emerge in the next couple of days.

A hair cut with mom

2008-06-11T19:06:00.000-07:00

For some reason this evening I decided to cut Ethan's hair all by myself. I am usually the one that does it, but Dan is always there as my trusty assistant. You know, to calm the tears and make Ethan happy. He absolutely hates getting his hair cut. We usually wait until it's absolutely necessary to do it. Anyway, it was getting out of control and I decided to do it alone because Dan was at Scouts tonight and the next couple of days were not looking great for getting assistance. I wish that I had a great before picture, but I did not think about taking a picture until I had made several swipes with the clippers and tears were flying.

After feeling guilty, I decided that I needed to do something to help him feel better because we were deep enough into the hair cut that we couldn't stop. So, I tried Nemo on the computer. That worked to get him to stop crying until I started to cut again. He then resorted to yelling at me, "NO,NO, mommy bad!" At that moment I was trying to get his hair wet with a comb and water because he wouldn't let me spray it with a spray bottle. He grabbed the water and started playing in it,"MINE,MINE" he said. So, I gave the water up in hope that it would occupy him. Soon there after Hailey decided that she also need a glass of water to play in that ended up on the floor in a million little pieces, on accident of course. Hailey with a cut toe and crying. All the while Ethan was occupied. Could I seize this moment of hair cutting peace??

After a 1.5 hour hair cut, a broken glass, bleeding toe and many tears, a bath was taken and the hair cut finally over. Ethan even smiled for a cute picture after his bath. I knew that I could conquer this on my own! What a cute little guy!

Professional Artwork for sale

2008-06-05T12:27:00.000-07:00

After we woke up this morning Hailey asked if she could draw some pictures. She is really into drawing "people" right now. They are very accurate and truly to scale as you will see below. The first picture that she brought to me was of Dan and I. The people are appropriately labeled (by Hailey herself)I thought that you might be humored by her expertise. While you are looking at them note the jagged edges of the pages. She cut the pictures out herself and was very proud of her product.

Note the 3 eyes on mom and the small stature of dad compared to mom. I also like how mom has no hair on her head. I really think that she mixed us up when she was writing our names. She then brought me the drawing below of Hailey and Ethan and said "look mom I drew a perfect picture of Ethan and I. I even got his short hair right. And look mom I am still the big sister and Ethan is little." I found that amusing because Ethan is not much smaller than her. I think that it was her way of letting us know that she is the "bigger" sister.

Next, she brought me a picture of Josh and Travis (2 of her uncles). I found this picture to be the best. Josh is the bigger of the two with what Hailey describes as "his big body, short hair and big eyes." She then proceeds to tell me that Travis is "smaller with glasses (that is what the extra lines under and between his eyes are supposed to be.) and long crazy girl hair."

After she brought me all 3 pictures she said "mom I think that we should take these to the grocery store and sell them, they are amazing!"

Our newest family member.. Tiger

2008-05-28T12:43:00.000-07:00

I am sure that most of you know by now that we have acquired a new member of our family.....not exactly by choice. All that I can say is happy surprise mother's day to me! Yes we have had our little friend for just over 2 weeks now. We all have Rory (a co-worker of Dan's) to thank for the unexpected delivery. There was apparently a lack of communication between Dan and Rory about if we were interested in getting a puppy or not. So, we ended up with our sweet Tiger (named by Hailey herself)on mother's day. He is the cutest, calmest, nicest dog we could have asked for. He will be BIG when he is fully grown because he is a mix between a boarder collie and a great Pyrenees. He is just past his 10 week birthday and already topping the scales at 40+ lbs. WOW! Isn't he beautiful? We think so!