kids say the funniest things...

Dallin has been asking to go to LuLu's house for a while now and I kind've been pushing it away. Today...

Dallin: We go to gmas house today?
me: Which grandmas?
Dallin: We go to gma lulu's?
Me: Honey that is a long way away... all the way to california.
Dallin: OOHH... you just drive faster than we get there.
Me: If I drive that fast the policeman will come and get me.
Dallin: just go fast like the airplane in the sky and poiceman not go in the sky and then we get to lulu's!!

If it was only that easy... when will our world be like the jetsens?

Where is my head?

WHAT THE HECK!!!! Once again I forgot Ella had school today... I just realized this as she has 10mins left of class.

• Donald Belair Could u b a blonde love uncle donald

  
  
• Krysta Martinez Oops :)

  
  
• Tim Hopkins way to go cousin

  
  
• Cheryl Olsen Terry Could it be all the running around you do with Donna, hahahaha you guys have way to much fun, I am so jealous I can't get out during the day. Oh well!!!!

  
  
• Jeannie Dehmel Need to teach Ella the days of the week and which days she goes. That makes what twice in two weeks? Not good. See you guys in a week. Looking forward to my hugs and kisses from the kids. Love ya guys.

  
  
• Angela Hanks THAT'S IT! I'm going to have to take confiscate Ella.

  
  
• Melissa Andersen Bird hahahahahaha! I love you! ~

This really wouldn't be so bad or so funny if I hadn't done it like 3 or 4 times lately... once being last week.

Urget Care again...

another kid, another accident, another evening in the urgent care.... the life of a mom! :)

• Shamara Garcia yep! The Garcia's have managed to say out of the ER for a while. But who knows how long that will last with Rose and RJ in this house!! lol

  
  
• Shannan Watkins is your kiddo ok??

  
  
• Cheryl Olsen Terry What happened Annaleesa!

  
  
• Carrie Hanks I never heard from you, I figured u didnt want us to come up. Hope all is okay!

  
  
• Kim Nielsen Andrews Uh oh, what happened now? Who got it this time????

  
  
• Terra L Ruoti Luft Hope everyone is ok! You have the worst luck... we've never been to the urgent care for an accident. (Knock on wood!)

  
  
• Clint Luft Wait till he starts riding motorcycles...

  
  
• Annaleesa Hanks It was MaCayela this time, she fell off a scooter while playing at her friends and the dr. thinks that the nose is broken, but we have to wait for the swelling to go down and go see an ENT this week.

  
  

Potty Training Pay UP!

January 20th:
We are so proud of Dallin!!! he is an awesome little guy...mom is only halfheartedly potty training and the little guy is picking up on it. I told him when he completely fills his chart with stickers he can get a new toy motorcycle, he then told me he wants a ride on a big one... going to have to hit up the neighbor to help with the pay off!! :)

• Ashley Nicolls Burton youre lucky. maddox wont have much to do with it. unless its bedtime, and then all of a sudden he wants to sit on the potty for an hour. good luck!

  
  
• Clint Luft I recommend that you have your son steer clear of motorcycles! Nothing good will come of it...They are very very dangerous. Motorcycle are a "BAD" thing...

  
  
• Terra L Ruoti Luft But when you're ready for the little guy's reward... you know where to find Clint and HIS motorcycles! LOL

  
  
• Kristin Moffitt Whatcott Come train Drew.....he has less than zero interest in the toilet. :(

  
  
• Clint Luft Terra, I think she is hinting towards the Jaffa's on that one they have more motorcycles then the whole neighborhood combined.

Febuary 6th:
Pay up time... Rob Jaffa our neighbor and friend helped us out with this one!

Cheryl Olsen Terry, Karyn Dehmel Sapp and Shamara Garcia like this.

• Jeannie Dehmel Did he have sooooo much fun?

  
  
• Coleton Jaffa that was so much fun!!!
  

  
  
• Cheryl Olsen Terry That is si cute, Rob, "you the man".

Melissa Andersen Bird and Shamara Garcia like this.

• Jeannie Dehmel He looks so happy and cute.

  
  
• Karyn Dehmel Sapp Dang that's one happy and cute kid, plus Dallin's cute too! J/K!!! Love you guys. I really do love this picture.

Dallins BOOBOO

Dallin has his first major booboo; Fractured his wrist today while playing today.

• Karyn Dehmel Sapp Awww, poor Dallin. Make sure you sign his cast from all of us and give him a kiss.

  
  
• Jeannie Dehmel Give him hugs from grandma...

  
  
• Coleton Jaffa says wow.

  
  
• Shannon Jaffa oh no! How did this happen?
  

  
  
• Judyth Dehmel Larrabee The Hillfolks hope he feels better soon--probably hurts you more than him!!!

  
  
• Clint Luft Wait till he starts riding motorcycles...

  
  
• Libby Hopkins Clarke Grandma told me Dallin had a booboo. Hope he is dealing well with it. At least it looks like he can still grip the slotcar controller.

Can't believe how inhibiting such a small cast on a little boy can be on a mom's life!!

• Shannan Watkins we went thru that too, it is difficult. hope he feels better soon!

  
  
• Kristi Nomellini What happened? Hope all is o.k.!

  
  
• Kim Nielsen Andrews Especially when they're potty training!! Sorry about that! :(

  
  
• Julie Pratt Marinelli Cole broke his arm last year, and I thought it was going to be hporrible with the baths and everythign, but surprisingly enough he adapted very quickly, it took me a bit longer. We were lucky and got a fiberglass cast, which is completely waterproof, so baths were just the same. Good luck.

  
  
• Sharae Cleverly DeMartini My son Blake has broken his arm 3 times in his life (he is 10). We have discovered that you can get a waterproof cast and it is totally awesome! Baths, swimming no problem.

  
  
• Laura Merrill Mercer Oh, I'm so sorry!!

  
  
• Coleton Jaffa oh man i know how that feels i hope he is okay can i sighn his cast? how did he do that?

  
  
• Melissa Andersen Bird WHAT happened, so I know to watch Landon so he does not do it!!

  
  
• Michele Hanks im sorry cast suck

  
  
• Catherine Meek Moss Poor little guy!!!Hope he bounces back quick! How long is he stuck in it?

Ella is listening in primary

First and foremost... Aunt Marleen, we love you and Uncle LaMont so much. The kids only know Uncle Mont and Aunt Marleen from a few family reunions but have heard TONS of bedtime stories from their dad of him growing up and having fun fishing and camping with Mont and Marleen. This past December Uncle Mont passed away during the prime of his life, and the girls attended the services with their dad.

While traveling some this month we had lots of time in the car to talk. We talked about all that was going on, and some of the things that we wanted to do this summer as it warms up. This was Ella's conversation with me...

Ella: when it gets warmer I want to go camping and fishing more.
me: okay sweetie, that sounds like fun honey.
Ella: Can we go fishing with Aunt mar and uncle mont, like when daddy use to.
Me: Honey, that sounds like fun and I can see if aunt mar wants to go, but remember Uncle mont passed away and you went to the funeral with daddy.
Ella: I know mom, but it has been 3 days now and he already went to heaven to see Heavenly Father, so shouldn't he be alive again so we can go fishing.

I had to smile to myself and think how thankful I am for sweet Ella and the primary teachers that she has had. Sometimes they might not get it all correct, but I know that she is listening and learning the gospel.

Living Planet Aquarium

MaCayela, Faith, Dallin, Ella, Elise, and Coleton

The other parents all thought I was nuts, but I enjoyed the living planet aquarium with 7 kids this morning.

MaCayela, Faith, Elise, Ella, Dallin, & Coleton

Ella had a field trip to the aquarium for school and I figured the more kids the easier... it actually was! I took the Jaffa kids with us and they all paired up in the buddy system, which helped me only have to be hands on with the baby. The kids all did fantastically and we really had a good time.


Jacob Gonzalez and Ella during the lesson

NEMO... We found NEMO!

Coleton Jaffa and Dallin touching the sting rays

Faith Jaffa and MaCayela

"Look what I got mama..."

Dallin says as he is coming up to show me something... I just kinda nod and say "oh yea, that is fun" without really looking.

**BIG (HUGE) MISTAKE!!!**

As I rethink in my head that I didn't really recognize what he had in his hand I finally look back over my shoulder to check out what it is that he really has..... AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!

To give you an idea, I have one kid that does not always flush the toilet and Dallin that play and puts things in the toilet.... He now also takes things out of the toilet!! AAAAAAHHHHH!!!!

Party time with the Grandmas

Over the past week and a half the kids have had there Grandmas staying here with them, and they have somehow managed to talk all of them into a sleepover. Grandma Jeannie and Great Grandma Lulu were here for a few days visiting before education week. Then Grandma Shirley came for a week while I was gone at education week. (unfortunately I took my camera with me and didn't get any pics of the kids with grandma Shirley. Or maybe she was the lucky one, cause I got them of the others)


Great Grandma LuLu and Ella

MaCayela with Grandma Jeannie

Great Grandma LuLu and Ella having a Tea Party with Mickey and Minnie.

No More Training Wheels

MaCayela has finally let Corey take the training wheels off her bike. She has been fighting us on it for over a year now and finally gave in. It only took her a matter of mins to figure it out and has done great with it.

First time Fishing...

On the last day of the Chappell reunion we decided to take the kids fishing up at the lake with Uncle Kerry and Michele. I was really looking forward to it until we got in the truck and started driving... the lake was only up the road maybe 10mins, but it was a winedy 10 mins, and then turned in to a 10-15 min windey, bumpy, dirt road. Which would normally be great fun in the truck, but this poor pregnant mama had not been feeling well all night, and then to add the drive... I spent the first part of the fishing trip just sitting on a rock not moving at all. But that didn't get to last long, before the boys had even got all the kids set up and poles casted MaCayela had caught a fish and was jumping around. (which meant mom had to get up and get on with the camera... That I did remember to bring. YEA for mom!)

MaCayela with Uncle Kerry with the first catch of the morning... She would not touch that thing for NOTHING!!!

Ella was so excited to catch her first fish and had no problem holding it.

Dallin went and picked up one of the poles that were just leaning against a rock and then started to struggle as he reeled it in... None of us knowing he had a fish on the other end that he was playing with.

Dallin and Daddy with the fish he reeled in.

MaCayela and Uncle Kerry waiting for the next fish to bite. Michelle on the side there.

Dallin's favorite part of fishing was just reeling in the line that we would cast out.

We finally talked Mac into holding one of the fish telling her it was just wet, not slimy and gross. Well if you click on the picture you can see that there is slim just hanging from the fish. Needless to say, she didn't believe Kerry or I about fish anymore.

I also caught myself a fish, but between the pregnancy and the smell and texture, I was not happy about having to touch it myself this time. (usually doesn't bother me) But how do you tell your kids that you just made hold there own fish that you aren't touching yours.

Ella just looked so cute there with her pole and waiting.

"You should see the one that got away... It was this big mom"

Ella, MaC and Dallin with just some of the fist that we caught. We let A LOT of them go.

Next Blog...

Have you ever clicked on the button at the top of the page that says "next blog"? I decided to see what was the next blog, so I clicked it and got to a really cute blog on making things with simple directions... http://makeitandloveit.blogspot.com/ I might just have to try this again sometime.

I'M MOVING OUT!

Ella has decided that she is moving out. She said that she would just like to try someone else house for a while. I'm sure the fact that her mom has had a short temper lately and she has got a good portion of it. Along with MaCayela going to school all day makes her sad to be home without a friend and mom is to tired to play much has nothing to do with it. But on the way home yesterday she informed Corey that she is moving out and going to live at the Hubers house. So when we got home she called Donna to ask if she could come live there and then proceeded to question Donna on if she will play with her and if she yells when the kids do something bad. (the whole thing had me in the giggles.) She then handed me the phone and said that I could talk to Donna while she packed and by the way, she needed a suitcase. I told her she could pack her overnight bag and then she was off to empty as much of her dresser as would fit in her bag. Well we let her know that the Hubers were busy that night and she would have to wait to go so she agreed to stay but only for a couple days, but that then runs into the time that grandmas are here, so she decided that she could wait until after grandmas were gone, but then she is moving. When I woke up this morning I noticed that Corey had shaved his goatee off and I made a comment about him shaving and he proceeded to tell me how last night during daddy time him and Ella made a deal that if he would shave (she doesn't like his whiskers, cause they hurt when she kisses him) she wouldn't move out. So this morning she begrudgingly unpacked her bag and said that she would stay.

Oh what a 4yr old comes up with and the joy and excitement that she brings to our family.

Happy Birthday

To a Wonderful Man in our life....

GRANDPA AL!

grandpapa your a handyman
if you can't fix it no one can
and even though your turning 89
it won't stop you from doing plenty
you help out even though we say you shouldn't
you do things that we know we couldn't
if I were you I would be proud
for raising a weird and wonderful crowd
for loving your kids and then theirs too
for helping people as we would help you
and we hope you have a great day
and that this time is happy in every way
happy birthday to you and we hope you have fun
everyone thinks your brilliant and we love you a ton
so gather round and lets all shout
because we are so privileged to have a man like grandpapa AL about

Hangin with the other Hanks

We have really enjoyed being able to live close enough to Corey's brother and family to get together more often. The girls even got to go down to Salem and spend the night with there cousins one day. But more often lately we get to go out with them on their boat this summer. This past weekend we went down to the Hanks reunion and thought instead of driving all the way home we would just stay with Darcy and his Family and have a fun filled day at the lake or carnival in Spanish Fork with them. Well the Carnival was dieing down so we voted for the lake (which was iffy its self, it was looking like rain that day.) I don't always get pictures, but this last time Corey tried wake surfing so I thought that I would get some pics and videos of that.

Corey's First attempt at Wake Surfing

Ella and Mac learning to trust in their life jackets

My cute niece, Talia, she was trying to decide if she would jump in or not

Dallin deciding that it was nap time right then and there.

My legs after the boat ride. You would think that at my age I would remember to sunscreen myself. It took almost 3 days for me to be able to wear anything over them or even straiten and bend them without pain.

Hanks Family Hoopla

This is the first summer that we have been around for family reunions on the Hanks side, so we have been bombarded with them. We headed down to Fairview canyon for the first of the reunions. We only made it to dinner on Friday night, but had fun going down to say Hi... We didn't get to stay long and didn't get my camera out, but Allysa got some cute pics of Dallin with Grandpa Walt.

First Day of First Grade

MaCayela had her first day of first grade yesterday. She has been very excited about school coming and being there all day. She has Mrs. Fullmer and decide already that she is the best.


She was given a entry test on Monday that the teacher was very impressed with her and where she is, she completed without any hesitation all the sounds and words on the first list. Mrs Fullmer then decided to let her try out the second list of words and she did them all with only some slight hesitation on a couple of them. MaCayela then completed all the numbers given to her up to the last one which she replied "One Hundred and a Two", it was 1002. Not bad sense we have really worked on the thousands if figured.

Nap time Dallin style...

The other day was a crazy one for us with lots of errands and things to do. The last one on our list was Target and by this time it was about 2:00. Which is 2hrs after Dallins nap time and with Dallin he really likes his naps and most of the time goes and takes them without me ever telling him it is time. But this day I was so pleased with him for being such a good sport and no major breakdowns until we hit the "Thomas the Train" isle at target, (and boy I tried to walk past that isle REALLY fast and he still saw it!!) "TRAINS MAMA", "TRAINS MAMA" that is all I heard (and the rest of the people in the store) for the next couple mins. while I was looking for something else. So being the sucker that I am I told him if he would just be good for 5 more mins we would look at the trains. He was good so we went to look, and lo and behold they were clearanceing out some of the Thomas stuff, so again being the sucker that I am told him for being so good today he could pick out one to take home. He picked out this like train wash thing and held it to him like it was his lost teddy bear. He would barely let the checkout lady scan it and then readjusted his hold on it. Being that it was now close to 3:00pm and he was exhausted I figured that he would have no problem taking a nap. Boy was I wrong... Not that he was naughty, but I let him hold his new toy for his nap and when I went to check on him this is what I found...

He was still being so good and quiet, but he was playing with his toy.

Happy BIG 4-0!!!

Yes, that is right, Corey is forty!!!

He didn't want anything big for his birthday, and since we don't know many people here it was kinda easy to oblige him on that one. (now if we were still in Calif. that would be a different story!) On Sunday when we were talking the only comment Corey said was I really don't want black balloons hanging everywhere. So we also obliged on that one. BUT he didn't say anything about anything else but black balloons!!! So we put banners up on the garage, wrote on all the windows of his truck, and put streamers all though the house. (I did all that after he went to bed Mon. night) We even got up early and made him breakfast in bed. All in all it was lots of fun for the family, and the kids loved all the fun decorations they got to help with.



We actually got all his windows, but the pics didn't turn out that great.

The back window said" Happy 40 Sweetie" ~ I think he was hoping there wouldn't be any #'s anywhere.

All the neighbors got to know that it was his birthday, that really made him happy.

To help him keep his youthfulness Corey got a whole bunch of Nerf dart guns to play with the kids with.

I just want Corey to know that the kids and I love him so much. He really is the best husband and dad in the world and we appreciate all that he is and all that he does for us.

Summertime!!!

This summer we really have been busy when it comes to going somewhere on the weekends. (or I was laid up and couldn't do anything even though we were home.) So we decided that since we were home for the weekend we should have some fun with the Water slide, a BBQ, and homemade ice cream. (In our family nothing says summer like a BBQ with homemade ice cream and some water fun.) We are still getting to know some of our neighbors so we invited the Jaffa Family down and then Corey's brother Darcy and his family came up. The kids had a blast going on the water slide until they were literally BLUE from the cold water and the adults enjoyed just sitting and talking.

I gotta tell a funny from a kids mouth though.... Corey visited Ella's Salon last week at the ranch and she painted his toes a deep purple color. Thinking that I had polish remover at home he didn't seem to worry about it. When it came time for him to remove the polish, I remembered that we had used the end of it and not gotten more yet. So Corey had to put on his flip flops with his purple toes.....
Elise: (in a very quiet voice as to not bring attention to the conversation or offend Corey if he overheard.) Annaleesa, Does your husband know that his toes are painted.
Me: Yes.
Elise: Why are your husbands toes painted?
Me: Ella painted them the other day, when you were little didn't you ever paint your dad's toe nails?
Elise: Oh no, we didn't ever paint my dad's toes. (Then she tells me very matter of factually) Boys are not suppose to have painted toes.
She was so cute with her ways, that it just made me laugh. ..... I am glad to say that we did get some polish remover and took the purple polish off of his toes.



From the top... MaC, Faith, Cole and Elise Jaffa

Talia and Jensen Hanks

Cole Jaffa making a splash. (I can't even count how many times he tried to get an adult to stand at the end of the slide to watch him know he would soak them, He was a crack up!)

My little Ella Bella just Freezing after playing in the cold water.

Weekend at the Ranch...

We go down to visit Corey's parents quite often lately and the kids are loving all the fun of it each time. They have gotten to see different seasons and chores that are on the ranch. They love going to check on the animals and seeing how much the chicks, pigs and calf's have grown since the last time we were there. They also enjoy going to see what grandpa Walt is doing out in the fields. (This time he was cutting the hay) This past weekend as we went to the ranch it was fun for the kids to get to know their cousins again. The cousins live in Boston and spend summers down at the ranch, but it has been two years since we have been at the ranch at the same time.



MaCayela driving the mule over to rescue Corey and I from having to walk back across the fields.

Corey and I moving sprinklers so the hay can get cut.

The kids think it is so funny that the tire on the tractor is so big... Ella says it makes them look so small.

Ella, Dallin, MaC up in the tractor with Grandpa Walt. All they wanted to do is ride with him while he was cutting the hay.

Ella giving her try at driving the mule, she definitely needs some lessons before going off the farm, we were ALL over the road.

Ella and MaC getting lessons from Corey on the art of Badminton

While there it was Grace's 7th birthday. (her and MaC are just months apart and had a great time playing together.)

Ella giving Grandma Shirley a makeover while she relaxes. (I would show you the after pics, but I promised grandma I wouldn't post them.)