It's "ALL" about the Moisturizer!!

The other day I was busy cleaning the house and getting some things done when I passed by the bathroom. Alyssa had just been in there and she likes to put lotion on her hands after she washes them. She even likes to add a little to her cheeks. She always says, "Mom, I need some lotion on my cheeks. Their "chapty". Anyway, I just happened to glance at her very carefully pushing down on the nozzle and didn't think much of it. Well, after awhile I didn't see her so I went to the bathroom to see where she was and this is what I saw.... I guess she thought you could never have enough moisturizer on your face! It was quite funny because when I asked her what she was doing she just simply replied that "her cheeks were chapty!" What girls go through to be beautiful and to prevent those darn wrinkles! : ) There's never a dull moment at our house!

Watch Out 3rd Grade!

Katie is off for her first day of school. I never thought she would go to bed last night. Infact, I planned on getting back on a routine a few weeks early to get ready for when school starts but "THAT" never happened. Anyway, I was trying to get her in bed by 9:00 but it was 10:30 by the time she crawled into bed. I'm not sure if she was just too excited or it was my lack of parenting skills and discipline. I set her alarm and told her she needed to be up and ready in the morning because we should be there early. Well, 6:00 rolled around and I didn't want to get up. I thought I would have to drag her out of bed but while I was showering, she came in and asked what she needed to put in her backpack. I couldn't believe she was already up. Infact, she was all ready for school by 7:15! THAT NEVER HAPPENS! She was trying to hurry me along. Grandma had made her some of her favorite bubble bread for her first morning of school. (its kind of like little rolls that are rolled in cinnamon and sugar) She couldn't wait to eat them!

Joe stayed home with Alyssa while I took her to school and sure enough, waiting in the hall, was her friend Haley. They are in the same class! Watch out Mrs. Gambles! We already assume that they probably won't be sitting by each other because all they would do is talk and giggle. When we walked in the room, Aunt Mary greeted her and she was told she could sit anywhere she wanted. Well....it's kind of obvious who she would choose to sit by and there just happened to be two empty seats by Haley! I overheard Mary tell someone that this seating arrangement might only last for today! : ) Written on the dry erase board was "WELCOME TEAM GAMBLES" and Mary had little gold medals for the kids to wear. It was cute. Katie came up to me before I left and said now her last name is Gambles. I guess you can't tell that she loves her Aunt Mary! I left without even crying! I'm sure she'll have a blast this year! THANKS AUNT MARY (MRS. GAMBLES!!) ...oops. I told Katie she needed to call her Mrs. Gambles and not Aunt Mary!

This is the outfit she wanted to wear. We found a cute shirt with a dog on it that says, "DOGS ARE FOREVER" and she was in love at first sight. Who would have guessed she likes dogs or any animal for that matter?! : )

Her hair cut~ She really likes it and I'm sure it will get easier to do. Today I fussed a little more than I normally do. I think she was relieved to know that!

Where did the summer go?

Well, tomorrow Katie starts school!!!! AHHH!! My big 3RD GRADER! I think the last time I really cried was when Katie started Kindergarten and I was pregnant with Alyssa. I think it was mostly the hormones though. : ) I wasn't sure what I was going to do all by myself at home but soon found out it was kind of nice to have a little bit of time to myself, to do some laundry and clean and not have the house all torn up when I finished. Then Alyssa came along two months later and life was crazy again! Now there have been times, I ADMIT, that I just couldn't WAIT for school to start. (I'm sure my kids would agree that I probably haven't been the most patient mother lately. Especially trying to get our house going, which by the way should be finalized this week!! YAY!!) It seemed like we always had 3 months of summer vacation but it now is only 2 months and that is just not enough time for us with so much going on. It seemed this year that we never had a spring...we just went from freezing cold winter to blazing hot summer. It even snowed in June!!! I'm not complaining of the heat because the minute you do, it seems that winter comes sooner and stays longer. So "I LOVE THE HEAT, I LOVE THE HEAT!! Yep, even if I am 30 weeks pregnant! : } Katie is so excited for school. We had gone school shopping a few weeks ago and when she found out she had Aunt Mary as her teacher, she wanted school to start the very next day. She definitely has been counting down. Alyssa thinks it's pretty cool that Aunt Mary is her teacher. She says, "I just can't believe it!" I just hope that I can pry her away from the classroom in the morning after I drop Katie off. Who knows, Mary may have to add Alyssa to her class list too! : )

Yesterday, Katie had her friend Haley over and they decided at the last minute to set up a lemonade stand. Just as they got things set up, Haley had to go home so Alyssa was Katie's helper. Our street isn't such a great street to do business on. It isn't busy at all and we hardly get any traffic. (Which I am not complaining about, but for the Lemonade business, it makes for a slow day!) Haley and Katie made signs and then would walk up and down the street yelling, "Lemonade for sale!" Grandma and Grandpa Hopkins, Brandon and Grandma and Grandpa Gambles stopped by along with some of the neighbors. They did pretty good. I don't think anyone just paid the 5 cents they were asking. They were getting tipped pretty good! Then when they would leave, Alyssa would say, "Thank you for coming to our lemonade stand!" It was cute! They sure had fun. Maybe we'll have to set one up on Grandma's street next time.

Yep, if you noticed, Katie convinced me into letting her cut her hair! It turned out really cute. It's an "A" line so the back is really pretty short. Everyone thinks it is so cute on her. I was going to do before and after pictures but forgot. I will get better pictures tomorrow when she starts school. : .. (

What we've been up to lately....

Well, I'm sure just like everyone else's summer, our's has been really, really busy. Since Katie's baptism we have gone to Bear Lake for a Gambles family reunion, worked on getting started for our house, camping in Wyoming (which was so gorgeous and tons of fun!, THANKS David & Amber), sold my favorite "sporty mama car" : ( , did more stuff with the house, went to Bear Lake again, go to Joe's softball games, & now I'm hoping we even get to build our house this summer, so I had to take my frustration out somewhere. I decided to cut off my 2 year old's blonde little curls. Eeekk! I know. Watch out Katie! Alyssa loves her haircut and it is way easier now. Plus it always grows back. I know Joe hates it when I get in these moods. Just once he would like to have one of his girls keep their long hair. (Sorry honey!) We went to the good old Caribou County fair and yesterday, Katie and I got to spend the day school shopping! Already you say? Yes, I know. Where the heck did the summer go? It seems as though we haven't really even had a summer. August is already so packed that soon it will be September and then the baby will only be 8 weeks away. Oh, how I am NOT ready! I was at least hoping the house would be close to being done by the time the baby came but I am just pulling for Christmas at this point! Here are some picts of our busy summer! Enjoy!

Kailey and Alyssa giggled so much just bouncing on the tubes that Scott and Mary brought. It was funny to watch them.

Our "hopefully soon-to-be" view from our property. A week or so ago, we drove out to the property so we could remember why we are wanting to build. While we were out there, we saw two deer feeding on what would be Mom & Dad's yard and some of ours. It was fun just to watch them. They were really hard to see because of the fall wheat but occasionally their ears would poke out and you could see their little antlers too. Alyssa loved to use Daddy's "noculars" to see them!

This is the view of Great Grandma Gunnel's ranch house from our property. I'm sure in the house we will be able to see a little more than the barn but Mom & Dad's you will be able to see the whole thing! It's really neat to see it there and to learn more and more of the little things she did while living in that little white house.

Camping:

The clan at Gray's Canyon! Boy was it gorgeous! We even had pet deer in our camp! Every day you would see them around and we even saw them at night in our camp. Kailey dumped her popcorn and the next thing we know, Amy has a deer feeding right behind her chair! : )

This is a cute picture of the grandkids that Amy did for Mom! She likes to have this on her desk at work! Finally, they were all looking at the camera! : ) CUTE KIDS!

Aunt Amber had a butterfly flying around her and it landed where she could get it. Alyssa went crazy over it and so Amber put it on her. It seemed like that was all she talked about but it was cute to see her fuss over this little orange butterfly.

I'm not sure how to post a slide show in the middle of your post so I will put them at the end.

My Black SS Chevy Impala~

Well, when your husband is the Sales Manager at a car dealership you just need to learn NOT to get attached to certain things. Well, I opened my mouth about a year ago and said I would really love to have a black SS impala. Well, it wasn't a few weeks later and Joe had one to show me. An couple in their 70's had bought it and 3 months later said it was "too much car" for them. So Joe had me come and drive it. I was hooked. We could do it with the two girls and it was a sporty little thing. I loved driving it but then we found out baby #3 was coming and we still thought that we could fit everything in it.

Well, we kind of tossed around the idea of getting a bigger car but thought we would wait a little bit. One day, Joe called me up and said there were some people at the dealership who wanted an SS impala but they just sold their last one and to clean out my car so they could "just" drive it. Next thing I know, Joe almost sold it. I wasn't really too happy about it because I wasn't sure what we were going to do without it. We also had someone else who wanted to buy it too. While out camping, Amber talked to me a little about what we were going to do and I was still sold on keeping my car for awhile. Well, on the way home, Joe and I were talking and then next day, he had the same people before come back and it was SOLD!!! (Ok, I told him that it would be alright to sell it even though I had really mixed emotions about it). Alyssa was so upset that Daddy sold her car! She loved that thing and so did we. I felt like a "Sporty Mama" even at '29'. (Katie likes to remind me and everyone else as to how old I am. Thank you Katie!) I think Joe will miss "hot-roding" around town.

I wasn't without a car for long.. It only took Joe two days and now I am driving an Eddie Bauer Expedition. I really like it and it will be good to have 4 wheel drive again, especially for when we move in our house. I will post some pictures later. I give Joe a hard time about how I loved that car so much but boy is it nice to have some room! I'm not getting any smaller and neither are my children! : )

Bear Lake...Again!

Joe finally had a day off so at the last minute we decided to go to Bear Lake for the day. The girls had a blast swimming and I just sat in the shade in our reclining camping chairs and watched. Joe was playing washing machine with them and they loved it. Alyssa had on water wings and would flex them occasionally for us and then float on the noodles with Katie. Sometimes I got a little nervous because she would start to float away....but Joe didn't let her go far. Now every time we talk about swimming or water, she always brings up her day at Bear Lake.

My baby's curls are gone....actually they're still there, just not as long! : )

Alyssa would sometimes have me straighten her hair and it would go clear down the middle of her back. She looked a little too grown up when I did that. This is only her 2nd hair cut. I snipped off her black baby hair and saved it so it was about time for another good "trim". Her hair is curly, at least for now. Katie's was until she got her hair cut and then it has been straight ever since. Having it short is sure alot easier and she loves it. I have been trying to get her to let me cut it but she would only do it over to Grandma's house. Maybe she felt that Grandma would bail her out if her mom really messed up. I guess I'm not too bad with a pair of scissors but I definately am not going to start a new profession! : )

Before:

After:

We had to bribe her to sit still with a blue popsicle!

My SS Impala

Bear Lake..again!

Can you say "Dramatic!"..YES, even in her sleep! : )

Joe was leaving for work the other morning and I heard him say, "Mandy, come here and look at this!" I was a little nervous because it was 7:30 in the morning, and it was in the girls room. I was kind of expecting a big spider or something. I go in there and he pointed to Alyssa's bed and here is what we saw....

A few days later, we were on our way to Bear Lake for a Gambles family reunion and Alyssa was in the back telling me that she was worried that I would be chased by cows. I said, "what are you talking about?" She proceeded to tell me that she had a dream that Mommy was being chased across the street by cows. She kept saying "I was so wou-weed about you" (while grabbing her cheeks). That must have been the dream she had that morning or something. We have definately laughed about that one! She has the funniest facial expressions and is so dramatic. If you want sympathy or for someone to make a fuss about things, you just tell Alyssa. :)

BAPTISM DAY!!

Katie has been counting down for this day for MONTHS!! The day finally came and boy was she nervous. She looked so beautiful in her white gown. She looked so grown up. It was such a "Special" day for her and for us. When she was done, she come in and said, "I want to do that again Mom!" Too bad you can't! Sometimes we all could use a practice dunk to get rid of the nerves. We made sure her hair wouldn't float up and Daddy put his toes on hers so they wouldn't pop up either. While she was getting dressed, she turned to me and said, "Mom, this is the start of a new life for me." I always want her to remember that day and how she felt. It was neat to have our family here for her.

Happy 4th of July!

Ok! It was definately a crazy weekend. Joe's family came up for Katie's baptism on the 5th of July so they were able to be here for the 4th. We packed in quite a lot in those few days. The guys went golfing the morning of the 4th and we raced down to the annual parade that we have. We were a little late so we were literally running across the highway to get to where we parked the truck the night before. I was pretty tired by the time we got there so the pictures I did take, weren't the greatest. Sorry. Then I realized that I didn't take any more for the rest of the day! What a ditz I am!

Happy 8th Birthday Katie!!

It was on the 14th of June, 8 years ago that a beautiful 5lb, 16 1/2 inch baby girl came into our family. We were definately so grateful for her being healthy and what a blessing she was to us. These past 8 years have just "FLOWN" by. She has truely brought us such joy and excitement. There is never a dull moment around here! Here are a few recaps of some of the things Katie did when she was little:

5 months old: Katie drinks out of a big glass. Forget the sippy's and bottles!!

6 months old: Katie would grab her two fingers and put them over her head and smile. Daddy called this his "SUNSHINE"

8 months old: Katie loved giving people "FIVES"

9 months old: Katie would say "Mmm" when she wanted to use my chapstick. She loved putting it on everyone else too!

1 year: Katie would howl like a coyote! She would tip her head back and say "owww".

14 months: Katie counts to 3.

15 months: Katie pointed to the picture of Christ in the hall, and then pointed to her eyes then to her heart and then she said "Jesus." She was syaing, "I love Jesus."

18 months: Katie knows and points to most of her body parts

19 months: She knows the whole alphabet. When she has to say "J,K,L,M,N,O" she would say, "J,K,"ELMO",P. It was really cute.

24 months: We had all gone to sportsman's Warehouse in Idaho Falls. Daddy had been looking at safes and guns for a long time and so the girls were ready to leave. Right before we left, we were browsing throught the flashlights and Katie started pulling accessories out of the next isle and putting them into the cart. Daddy said, "Katie, put them back." Katie refused and said she wanted them. Daddy then asked, "Well, do you have money to buy them? Katie quickly replied, "Yes I do," as she reachind in her pocket and pulled out a quarter that she got from Mommy's dresser early that morning. Daddy was pretty shocked when she pulled that fast one on him!

28 months: Katie loved to learn poems! Here is her version of "Little Bo Peep"

"Little Bo Peep, lost her sheep, and don't know where to find 'em

Leave 'em alone, and thill come home, wag their tails by hind them!"

30 months: I was making a cake and Katie asked if she could lick the bowl when Iwas done and I said it was ok. While I wasn't looking, she climbed up on the counter and said, "My life has been saved by the miracle of chocolate!"

Definately a girl after my own heart!! There has been so many more things that surprise me from Katie but one thing that stands out is how big her heart can be. She is always so caring and wants to take care of those around her. You don't know love until you see and feel the love of a little child. Thank you Katie for being part of our lives. We love you so much!! We hope you have a GREAT Birthday!

Golf Anyone?...

Well, it was only a matter of time before Joe got his way. The girls love to golf with their daddy! Alyssa thought it was really neat to have a pink ball to hit. Joe took her out in the back yard with Katie's clubs and hit a few with her. Then she wanted to venture out on her own. She actually is a really good hitter! She chased the ball all over the yard. Katie is sure getting a good swing. Joe will take her out the the golf course by our house and she can really drive those ranges!! Way to go Katie and Alyssa! That is definately something they didnt' get from Mommy! I guess I can cheer for them. (although I wasn't a cheerleader either! :)

And the baby is.......?

Tuesday, the 10th was the day that we had all been waiting for. I don't know how many times Katie would ask, "Is it today Mom? Is this the day I find out? She did this for weeks it seemed. We haven't really been calling the baby a specific gender and it was driving me crazy. It's a good thing we have the technology now. I don't know how I could wait 9 months. Joe and I are the most impatient people ever! We have been busy getting ready for Katie's 8th birthday and her baptism but for some reason I couldn't really get it out of my mind. I felt that if I knew then I could get on with the birthday business at hand. Maybe also we could feel like the baby would be a little more a part of her birthday too. (silly, I know). Everything looks great. The baby is 3/4 lb. pound and measuring where it should for 20 weeks. The ultrasound pictures are in .tiff format so it won't let me change them to .jpeg so here is a little video. Look quick! Also, Jake and Rachel had their baby girl on the 10th! Congratulations! We are so excited for them! The cousins will only be 4 1/2 months apart.





It looks like Joe will be a Daddy to 3 beautiful girls!! YEP!! ANOTHER GIRL!!! She definately has long legs and likes to play with her toes. In the video, she has her hands over her head and is playing with her feet! :) When the technician told us it was another girl, he looked at Joe and said, "Sorry Dad". I don't think Joe was upset at all. He has always said he would have 3 girls. He jokes and says that he is being punished for something! I'm sure he won't mind another little girl giving him hugs and kisses!

4 Months in Review

Ok, ok. I admit I haven't been a very good blogger lately. Things have just seemed to go crazy since February. So here are the last few months in review:

February: Found out we are going to have Baby #3. We are very excited but soon after, I got really, really, REALLY SICK. Boy do I wish I was one of the lucky ones that never had to deal with morning sickness. With my girls, I was sick for just the morning and was good to go by noon but I have had my work cut out for me with this baby already. I was sick all morning, afternoon and night. Joe kept asking me how long this would last and I just smiled and said, "Every child is different!" (secretly hoping that it would end at the 12 week mark like the other two). Well, good news, by week 13, it was like magic. I feel much better now.

March: We went to California to see Joe's brother Josh come home from his mission. It was fun to go and see all of the family. I was fighting pregnancy sickness the whole time but it was good to go. It was really nice weather and Katie couldn't believe that we got to have an Easter egg hunt outside! Meanwhile, back in Soda, it was snowing, raining and whatever else comes with spring weather! :)

April: The first few weeks in April were kind of rough. We lost my Grandpa Hopkins to cancer. It was really hard to see him so weak and sick but we know he is happy and in a much better place. We will truely miss him. Katie was always drawing pictures and doing things for him so he could get better faster. She is definately the nurse of the family. She is so caring. The girls got to visit him the day before he died, which was really good. The thing I will remember the most is when we went in the room, they went and stood by his bed and just held his hand. Even Alyssa would put her little hand there and tell everyone to "Shhh, be quite. Grandpa's sleeping!" Grandpa would look over and he would have a little smile on his face.

I went in for my 12 week check up and to listen to the baby's heartbeat. The doctor asked how I had been feeling and you all know that answer. This is kind of a relief/worry visit for me. I worry enough anyway about being pregnant but the doctor said, "Well, lets see if this is for real or if your just imagining things!" I didn't think that was funny! Good news, it was a very strong and fast heartbeat! Yeah!

May: Katie had her dance recital. It was so fun to see how much she has improved this last year. She really liked dance. It probably helped that her friend Haley was in her class too! Those two are inseperable!!! Alyssa loved dance too. I thought she was a little too young to do dance this year so every Thursday (dance day) when I picked up Katie from School, she would race in her room and put on her little black leotard and pink skirt. She wouldn't go to dance with Katie though. I would take her over to Mom's or Grandma & Grandpa Gambles and she would dance for them. She looked forward to that every week!! So when it came to Dance Recital day, she asked if she could put on her costume. I even had to curl her hair and primp her like I did for Katie. (Now I know what it is like to try to get 2 girls ready for recitals!) Aahhhh!!!

I am 16 weeks, 2 days and have felt the little flutters of the baby already. Katie swears she feels it but I keep reassuring her that she will definately feel the kicks pretty soon. We are all anxiously awaiting my 20th week to find out what we are having. Alyssa likes to talk about the baby in her tummy too. I'm sure I will hear about all the flutters and kicks from her pretty soon too. Sympathy pains I guess.

Well, for the past year, we have been working on plans to build a home. The county has approved the new subdivision but we have to wait until the power and the road are finished before their final approval and then we can start building. Our houseplans are finished and hopefully we will break ground in a month! I have really been looking forward to this for over a year!! I definately know it will be a lot of work and belive me, it TOTALLY consumes your time. I even dream it in my sleep. That is, when I do sleep. I forogt how many times you can go to the bathroom in the middle of the night when your pregnant! :} I will try to go and get some pictures to put on here. I think the girls are really excited because Grandma and Grandpa are going to build right next door to us. Katie tells me she now can go to Grandma's really early in the morning. We'll see how long that lasts and how long before a fence suddenly appears! j/k I am concerned what the heck I am going to do with 1.85 acres though. We will probably end up having the mud bogs at our house for awhile! If anyone has some good landscaping ideas, that would be greatly appreciated.

I will try to be better at keeping things updated. Family, kids, husband, housework, church callings, school functions, FHE group, HOUSEPLANS and an occasional nap sometimes (for the baby) defiantely doesn't leave a whole lot of time for blogging. I'll do better.