Eight More Lives

Tiger the cat is our feline friend that we adopted from Grandma Mary last summer. One of Tiger's favorite spots to take a nap is on top of the garage door when it's left open. With the van parked inside, she'll climb up to the van's roof and then hop to the garage door and slumber in the warmer air. On Tuesday afternoon, she was woken to a horrible, real life nightmare.

I was gone for just a couple minutes to drop the twins off at activity days and as I arrived home a neighbor stopped me and explained there had been an accident with Tiger. When I left and shut the garage door I didn't know that tiger was up there. She quickly ran out of horizontal surface, and with the van gone, she didn't have a quick escape route. I was already headed down the road when she got pinched between the door and the wall.

Phrases like "blood on the driveway", "broken back" and "animal control" were quickly relayed to Jeff at work. As I talked with Jeff on the phone, my neighbor would look at Tiger (out of my view) and look back at me and just shake her head. Jeff and I agreed that the best thing was probably to put the poor kitty to sleep.

I felt horrible. Not only because I was the one who shut the door but I would soon have to tell the kids their beloved pet would be put to sleep. Animal Control soon arrived and I asked the officer to "take care of it" for us. Tears were shed the rest of that evening and everyone was depressed into the next morning with the absent of the scratching at the door and no Tiger sneaking into the house when Jeff left for work.

Well, I guess when it comes to a wounded animal, "just take care of it" must mean different things to different people. At midmorning, I got a call from a girl at the animal shelter saying that our cat was alert, and responsive and being very loving towards her. WHAT!?!? I thought..... but..... how......? Grandpa Ron was soon on his way over there to pick up Tiger.

I wish I had pictures of the kids' faces when I told them the news after they got home from school. Poor Sophie didn't understand the whole death thing, even after we did our best to explain it in four-year-old terms. Now to explain that the cat is not dead.....I'm afraid this is all confusing her even more.

Tiger has been at Grandma and Grandpa's since then and is healing and resting comfortably. We have taken the kids over a couple times to see her and can't wait to bring her home and find her a new place for naps. Was it a miracle or just miscommunication? Either way, we are thankful.

(photography by Megan and Sarah)

Last minute fun before the cold.

We have been really busy since my last post, a lot has been going on with our family in the way of spending time together. Jeff has always enjoyed the outdoors, and has brought that into our home. It has been a fun way to do stuff together. We really enjoy taking our boat out on the lake mostly close to home. We have been spending a lot of time out on the water fishing and have had a great time enjoying the good weather before it gets Cold and snowy. Which is changing quickly. We had some great luck in catching some fish these last couple trips we went on and it was relaxing and fun.

Now we are into Fall and heading into Winter. The kids had a good time trick or treating. We went to my mom's house for our usual fun with Chili, rolls, doughnuts and warm cider. We took the kids around their neighborhood and then went around our neighborhood. It seemed like not a lot of people were home this year(including ourselves) but the kids had a good time. I am really looking forward to Thanksgiving this year. We are spending it with my family. We are going to my mom's house which I love. I love this time of year when it starts to get chilly, and we get to wear warmer clothes, I love the smell of fall and winter and the feelings I get and the thought of hot chocolate, warm cookies, friendship and love.

The Bird and the Nest

A few months ago we noticed a birds nest in our backyard apple tree. We were excited that it chose our yard to make it's home. We have carefully watched it from the beginning when the mother bird was hatching the eggs all the way through to their first flying lesson (which was today!) Here are some pictures of the first time they ventured out for their first flying lesson. I sure am glad we get to keep our kids in our little nest longer than this mother bird got to keep hers. :)

Summer finally begins

We have gotten off to a slow start with summer this year. The weather has been a bit cooler than normal. We have had to find other activities to do to keep everyone happy. We have done the free movies, played with friends, lunch at different parks, Aaron's baseball games, swimming lessons and driven each other crazy.

The kids this year earned some free Seven Peaks passes. Now that the weather has warmed up Jeff took off a day of work and we took the kids to Seven peaks water park. We all had a great time the water and weather was great. Aaron and Jeff enjoyed the water slides and the girls and I enjoyed the wave pool. Sophie really likes to play in the kiddie pools and is just a little fish in the water.

This summer my mom has committed to doing something once a week with us and it has been so much fun. We took the kids to the Payson Pool and had lunch. It is a really fun pool for all the kids. They had water slides, and a fantastic kiddie pool area for Sophie to play in. It was just as nice as Seven Peaks if not better. I know the price was a lot better for pretty much the same stuff. We also did a fun park day with my mom. My mom and I took the kids with My sister Pam and her kids to see a free movie and had treats. I think this summer is turning out to be better than I thought it would in the beginning. I am looking forward to seeing what other adventures this summer has in store for our family.

We're back!

We have been taking a blogging break. Now we are back. So here is our fist post just in time for Sophie's third birthday. I just can't believe how fast this past year has flown by. Sophie had a great birthday this year. We had a family party to help her celebrate. She had fun opening her gifts from her siblings and her parents and others that came. She is quite the little entertainer as you will see, pulling funny faces. I had my friend make her a tinkerbell cake this year and it turned out darling. She really likes Tinkerbell from Peter Pan. Sophie is such a sweet little girl and I want to share some of the things we love about her.
The things we love about Sophie:

-she is always happy
-the way she says "sank you"(thank you)
-the way she dances everywhere
-she loves to go to Maceys to ride in the car cart and get a cookie
-she falls asleep in bed reading books to herself
-she uses the "OK" sign to show how old she is
-her smile and laugh
-how she sings primary songs with actions after coming home from church.

These are just a few of the many things we love about our vibrant little three year old.
We love her and so thankful that she is apart of our family it jut would not be the same without her. Happy Birthday Sophie!!

Big girl bed

It is finally time to graduate from the crib to a BIG GIRL BED! We recently moved Sophie out of her crib to a new bed. She was so excited. She kept saying, "My new bed." I can hardly believe that she is getting this old. Old enough for a new bed. She looks so cute and small in it and has only had one time of getting out because she was scared. We are struggling to have her fall asleep in her bed. We often find her falling asleep on the bean bag, on the floor or in our arms snuggling. Now i am crossing my fingers that big girl panties are next.

Yearly trip to Jordanelle

Every year in August we take our yearly trip to Jordanelle. This is one of our family's favorite places to go camping. We enjoyed spending time together boating, tubing, roasting marshmallows for smore's and just purely relaxing. While we are there we like to take a day trip to the outlets inPark City for school clothes. We did pretty well on finding everyone what they needed this year. Then after we shopped till we've dropped (some of us sooner than others) we went out to eat for a nice family dinner.

During the rest of our vacation we spent a good deal of time out on our boat. Jeff is slowly teaching me how to drive it. The kids really like boating and riding on the inner tube. We decided a few times to take a few breaks from the water. One time we found a sandy shore that Sophie could play on for a break, the other time was to dock and go to this little store they have and get an ice cream treat which was fun and refreshing. We really had a great vacation and look forward to going again next year.

Going Private

After seeing some strange hits on our blog, we have decided to make it private. We really don't want to do it, but we want to keep ourselves protected and still be able to post the pictures and content we want. Please send us your email address and we will add you to our invite list.

monicahaymore@yahoo.com

Take Me Out to the Ball Game...

Aaron has been playing soccer since he was about 5, but this year, he decided to try baseball. With the boys playing peer pitch at this age, I think he was a brave little boy to just jump in with no T Ball, or coach pitch experience. He was very lucky to get put on a team with a great coach and some very supportive teammates.

As a family, we've had a lot of fun the last several months going to watch him play (sometimes in the cold rain and sometimes in the hot sun). All our kids have made new friends (me too), learned how to eat sunflower seeds, and spent way too much money at the snack shack.

His team did very well and this past week they played in a state tournament. They played six games in three days! In the end they placed 4th in the UBBA Mustang league(I'm not sure what all that means, but we are proud of them)!

June Camping Trip

Last weekend we spent four days up Diamond Fork canyon. It's kind of close to home, but we needed come back one of the evenings for Aaron's baseball game. Without water sports or 4 wheeling, it turned out to be kind of a quiet trip (which is still good). We did do some geocaching, hiking, fishing, wading in the river, Aaron practiced with his BB gun, the girls did pop beads, and like always we had lots of good food.

Happy 10th Birthday!!!

He's Ten! It just blows my mind that he is that old already. I still remember when he was born and I held him in my arms for the first time. What a wonderful and unique experience that was for me. The time has gone by so fast. I feel so blessed that he chose me to be his mother. I love Aaron for simply being him. He is kind, especially to his sisters, is a good friend, great at sports, he is a thinker, I love to watch his mind at work. His smile warms my heart and brings a smile to my face. He is not afraid to try new things. This year Aaron decided to play baseball and so far he is really enjoying it. My friend Lisa made him a fabulous cake that not only looked good but tasted great too.

Spring School Pictures

We have never bought the spring school pictures before, but when I saw the proofs, I just had to this time. It worked out perfectly because Sarah and Sophie were sick on Easter, so we didn't get the Sunday dress pictures like we usually do. The school pictures made up for it! Now we just need to get Sophie's done somewhere.

Megan and Sarah's Big Weekend

Last weekend was a big one for Megan and Sarah. It started out with them turning seven years old. I can't believe how fast the years fly by. It seems like just a few months ago they were so small and were sharing a bassinet. Their big gifts this year were matching pink Razor scooters which they enjoy riding when the weather is nice. (I wish it would make up it's mind!) They have been taking ballet lessons this year and their recital happened to be the day of their birthday. It was such a wonderful program to watch and I was even able to be a backstage mom for one of the performances. My friend Lisa made them a wonderful pink ballet cake for them to enjoy on Sunday at a family party held in their honor.

Tubing at Soldier Hollow

We were invited to go to Soldier Hollow for a family outing with some friends. We ate dinner there and then hit the slopes for some tubing. It was my first time going down and I had a blast even if it was backwards all the way. The kids had an absolute blast as well. They kept going up till it was time to go. I went up several times with the kids and we did a train going down. Jeff and I took turns playing and pulling Sophie around, but she mostly just wanted to pull her own empty tube around.

Snakes & Snails & Puppy Dogs' Tails.............

.......that's what boys are made from.

Aaron's 4th grade has been having them earn in-class, fake money as a reward for good behavior, completing assignments, ext. Then, every so often the kids can bring things from home and sell them to the other students with this fake money. The only restriction was they can't bring any food items.

On Friday Aaron didn't take any thing to sell (my kids just can't seem to part with any of their junk (sigh) ) but he did bring home a bunch of other kids' junk that he had bought. "One person's junk is another person's treasure" is what Aaron said. Well, one thing he brought home was in a little white box. What could it be? Maybe some fast food happy meal toys?...or rocks?...or broken sunglasses? Nope. The white box contained a cow eyeball! A REAL cow eyeball! Gross! Gross! Gross!

I didn't even want to look at it. In less than 3 seconds after him telling me what was in the box, he was marching it off to the outside garbage can. Why he would waste his hard earned school money on something like that is way beyond me. Also, I want to know why they can't bring food items but they can bring rotting animal flesh? If you really want to see a picture of it, Jeff put it up here.

Megan's Loose Tooth

We have been trying to help Megan wiggle and jiggle her loose tooth free for weeks now. On Valentines day, we gave it some tugs, but she just wouldn't hold still. Megan then wanted to try it herself. To her (and our) amazement, she pulled it out on her own! That night the tooth fairy visited and gave her a whole dollar and some change. She was looks so darling with her toothless grin.

Valentine Cookies

Since Valentines Day is coming soon I thought the kids and I could make valentine cookies. Megan and Sarah love to help me in the kitchen especially when I am making cookies. They helped me cut out the heart shapes and then all three kids helped me decorate the cookies with homemade frosting and tons of sprinkles, jelly beans and sugars. You name it they had it on there. I like my cookie to have red and pink sugars on them. The kids did a great job helping me in the kitchen and the cookies turned out to be so delicious no one could eat just one.