The Kick Off

I thought the perfect way to kick off the Halloween spirit would be to carve our pumpkin's (from the pathetic pumpkin patch) the night before the big day. Too bad no one shared the joy in my pumpkin carving tradition. I thought it would be a good idea for the girls to draw the faces on their pumpkin and then Michael would cut them out...they thought it would be a good idea to just draw on there pumpkin's. Ok, I thought, that is fine...it's late and we still have to get up early for school so we can just carve Kyler's pumpkin. They were not even interested in that, they went off to play school and I sat in the kitchen thinking what the heck is wrong with my children, this is a great tradition. Lucky for me I was able to sucker Michael to come join my fun, which happened to be his FIRST pumpkin carving experience...yep, you heard me right. FIRST.

If you look close you will notice Kayden started playing a game and used her pumpkin to keep score with tally marks...at least they were good for something.

Picture Tag

I was tagged by Amber and apparently the rules are to post the 4th picture in the 4th file and tag four people. Perhaps I should not admit this, but it took me forever to figure out what the 4th picture in the 4th file meant...I kept thinking it was related to the blog and somewhere in this blog mess was a file of pictures and there I would find the 4th file and the 4th picture. Once I found the missing crayon in my box I realized what it was talking about and found, drum roll please......


Ladies and Gentlemen I present the 4th in the 4th:


This was taken Feb 08 in Disney World. We went with my mom and sisters family and pictured left to right are Kaylee, Trevi, Kayden and Tayler. (Trevi and Tayler I miss you terribly...don't bite Kaylee it's not nice, don't bite Kaylee it's not nice)

Ok, so am not quite sure 4 people read my blog so I tag Teigan and Jade, twice, you can do the 4th in the 4th and the 8th in the 8th :)

Anniversary: One

October 27, 2008 marks the day of our first anniversary and long before the anniversary arrived Michael and I decided we would celebrate each year with a weekend get away for two. The rules we set were simple, each year we will take turns planning a weekend trip, without input from the other person. Michael happily choose to be first and I believe sometime in July he started planning. I had decided from the start I wanted to be completely surprised, I did not want to know one single detail...just tell me the temperature of where we are going and Ill pack. This lasted all the way until September when during a little feud, Michael decided he would 'get me' by letting it slip where we are going for our first anniversary trip...humorous I know, I still roll my eyes at him for doing that.

Ok, so where did trip one take us???? Vail, Colorado for a spa getaway in the mountains. Thanks lovust, I had a super duper duper good time even though you ruined the surprise and all. Did I mention you ruined the surprise, cause you did and I highly doubt I will ever let you live it down.

I made friends with all the friendly animals, Michael was not brave enough to take his picture with them

Can you say YUM! For real, this pretzel goodness of caramel, chocolate and nuts was divine.



I found this strange man pondering on a rock

Do I look like I am having a good time? Cause I am, in case you cannot tell.

Puzzling he looks sad, perhaps it's because our feast of a pizza and chips is gone.


Thanks for the trip babe, yes, you deserve a thumbs up


And the best part...coming home to these crazies to uphold the tradition of eating the top layer of wedding cake. Awesome, seriously, like the best wedding cake ever when eaten 10/27/2007, not so much on 10/27/2008. We captured the first and last bites, all in one shot.

While dad's away

This is for my dearest husband who thought it would be super fun to go to Las Vegas with his friends while leaving me home with a sick baby, two crazies, middle of the night feedings and a busy job. Thanks babe.

HaHa...just kidding. Although we did miss you very much, every day is a great day with kids like ours...I LOVE my kids, they are the sweetest, most fun, crazy, kind, loving, dramatic, opinionated, independent and dependent kids in the whole world. Not sure how we got so lucky :)

Here are a few pics to see what you missed...

This one was taken in the middle of the night after I got done feeding Kyler

Pretend this is not our bed...but aren't they having so much fun!

I was laying on the floor with Kyler on my tummy and the other two laid down with me, I just happen to have the camera an arms reach away

Kayden's picture of Kaylee

Kaylee's picture of Kayden

Kayden helping Kaylee with her homework...I really wish I took video of this one, it was so cute to hear Kayden help her with her ABC's and Kaylee ask if she was doing it right. The best part is, I found them like this after changing my clothes, I didn't ask Kayden to help her.

YAY Kayden!

Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome the newest biking riding member of the Keo house, KAYDEN JESSICA TANNER (yes, I know...Keo House? Tanner?, like I have said before...it works for us).

Sunday evening after church I was at my mom's house enjoying some lovely weather (mark this down cause you won't hear me say lovely weather too often) and Kayden out of the blue said she wanted her training wheels off her bike. Being the great uncle he is, my brother quickly got to work. We then put on her helmet, walked down the driveway, she got on her bike and then got mad at me for holding on too long. Umm, holding on too long??? Are you kidding me? I remember being furious at my father for letting go too soon, but this is Kayden we are talking about and once she sets her mind to it, it's a piece of cake (yum, I secretly just thought about how I would love a piece of cake right now).

YAY for Kayden...I am so very proud of you for learning to ride your bike at 4 years and 9 months to the very day (10/19/2008).

(these pictures will have to do for now, they were taken a couple days after this exciting event. I am still waiting for my brother to email me the ones taken that day)

Umm... apparently I have never heard of flash photography

The questions that fill my mind...

About this time last week I was day dreaming of the perfect weekend approaching. The weather was supposed to be beautiful, everyone in a great mood, a patch of pumpkins in perfect rows growing on the vines, and Kaylee loving the opportunity to spend time with both her mom and dad together, at the same time. (Ill back up for a quick second for those who I have just confused. Kaylee has been taught she has two mom's: me the step-mom who she calls mom, and her biological mom who she calls mom. Yes, this may be weird for some, but it works for us). Ok, so back to my story...fast forward now to the day of the events. The weather was disgustingly hot and humid (or should I say disgustingly normal), my hubby and I not in the best moods with each other, and the pumpkin patch was a disgrace. Honestly, shouldn't a pumpkin patch be a patch of pumpkins??? Is that really too much to ask for? Can you really call it a pumpkin patch when you pay $3 a person to walk under a sign and enter a piece of grass with a pile of pumpkins already picked? And seriously, is it really necessary to make the focus of the pumpkin patch all the $3 extra activities surrounding this pile of pumpkins? I'm sure any October-loving person can deeply sympathise with my frustration. Especially when one of my favorite traditions as a child was walking up and down rows of pumpkins and then picking that perfect one off the vine. Girls, I know you had fun, but I promise next year if we have to travel 1,000 miles, we will find an appropriate pumpkin patch.

So continuing on... After the pumpkin patch we took all the girls to the zoo with Kaylee's mom and her boyfriend. Why does the zoo always sound like a much more fun idea in your head? And can I just tell you how so dang smart kids are...even 3 year old kids. Little miss Kaylee figured out rather quickly she could act as naughty as her little heart desired because mom and dad don't parent the same so someone is going to save her from getting in trouble. She is so smart in fact that when the end of the day came and it was time to go home with her dad and me (mom #2) she was as sweet as could be.

(Dear Kaylee, I really admire your intelligence for having figured out the tricks of playing against mom and dad...but no worries, one day you will appreciate having time with both your mom and dad together)

This cracks me up....

(sweet Kaylee before mom showed up)

(naughty Kaylee after mom was there)

At this very second....

I am missing my long hair. My dearest friends...next time I decide I want to achieve my natural hair color, please remind me this is not possible unless I shave my head and regrow it. Bleaching is NOT an option.

I miss you hair (please ignore the dumb look on my face)

Dear Kyler

Why do you insist on sucking your fist every second of the day after three months of me constantly saying "no" and pulling it out of your mouth?

I love you,

Mom

ps, your father wants to put hot sauce on your hand to get you to stop, but don't worry, I will call the guards to be off with his head if he ever dared...I got your back babe, but seriously, please stop sucking your hand.

Not like me

Yesterday the girls got home from school with a note saying tomorrow is community service dress up day (aka, dress up like someone who serves the community). Being as the dress up items in my house consist of dance and princess costumes, I headed to Walmart for a few sheriff's badges as well as some other items. As I was unloading the items from the store I realized there was a bag missing...my reaction, "oh man, that is sad" and pretty much did not give it another thought. Later that evening I was taking the girls upstairs and saw Michael on the phone, he was just sitting there quietly and then I heard "umm, yes, I think my wife left a bag at the register" followed shortly after with a "great, we'll pick it up tomorrow". That is soooo not like me and that is why I love Michael...he doesn't just throw $10 away.

missing items, and quite necessary because

1) I have disgusting feet

2) Michael loves to be pampered

3) Our bathroom smells, even when its clean, I think it has a disease

and the reason for the trip (which is really worth the missing bag)

This weekend

This weekend was great, as most weekends are, but this one was especially special. Special of course because it was general conference and always a comfort to have the opportunity to hear the leaders of the church speak...why do I always feel each talk was prepared just for me to listen to...hum...interesting. However, I will confess I did not hear all the conference talks and some of them were listened to with one ear...THANK HEAVEN FOR DVR...a MUST when you have kids :)

And the best part of every weekend is the time I get to spend with my girls. Friday night was Halloween movie night with just me, Kayden and Kyler. We watched Halloweentown courtesy of the Disney channel and then went to bed. Kaylee is with her mom Friday nights and Michael was out and about. Saturday I took Kayden and Kyler shopping for pieces of Kayden's Halloween costume (details to come later) and bought beads to make the girls bracelets. I don't make many things, but I love to make my girls bracelets. Kayden has had a bracelet on since day one of her life and at no point has ever been without one, I started the tradition with the rest of my girls so bracelets are pretty special in our house. Sunday was spent watching conference with Kaylee, Kyler and Michael (Kayden was at her grandma's...we always seem to be short a child...), and thanks to Kaylee was not short of any entertainment. Ever heard of "pee bear"? Apparently it is the replacement of "pooh bear". Kaylee was walking around the house with a bear and Michael said is that your pooh bear? She says, "no, pee bear". I guess if I were three and had to choose between my bear being called pee or poo, I would also pick pee.

Here are some pics of the weekend:

Kayden and Kyler during movie night

Kayden jammin in the car on the way to the mall

The girls and there bracelets

Kaylee and "pee bear"