We Have a Fence!!

This 4th of July and the day after, we spent the day building our brand new vinyl fence. Joe got up bright and early and started digging up our backyard. The dirt was so hard that it took forever to get it all scooped out where he needed it. Joe's dad Phil, and my dad Bill, and Cody Widerberg (Anna's husband) showed up to help us. About half way into the day, Phil got heat stroke and was so sick. We felt so bad that he got sick and had to go home. Also, Cody came to help but I don't know what he was planning to do since he had broken his finger the day before. So it was just Joe, my dad and myself. We got busy and put the rest of that back fence together. Luckily Anna took my kids to her house so we could work hard. Usually they tell you to set your posts and then come back the next day or so to put the rest together, but we did it all at the same time. It was so nice to get it all done. We made sure that it was all level and straight etc and it worked out really well. I have to say that I am so glad that my dad came to help. He showed up around 11 on Saturday morning and the 3 of us whipped up the side fence. It wasn't really all that quickly done, but we did get it finished. These are a few of my favorite pictures from the day. Thanks so much to all of you that helped! We really appreciate you. I don't know what I would do without Anna to dump my kids on at the last minute. She is a lifesaver. Take a good look at my new fence but don't get too jealous. If only we had the gates...

Night at the Zoo

A few weeks ago my family and I were able to attend "Dream Night at the Zoo" put on by Chick-fil-A, and the Hogle Zoo, for families with a child with disabilities. I guess you had to be put into a drawing to be chosen to get ticket, but a cute gal that I met the first week I had been here, gave us her tickets because they were going to California. We got free admission into the zoo starting at 6:00 and even were fed by Chick-fil-A. It was so much fun! Maddie has only ever been to the zoo in the stroller and never has been allowed to walk around all by herself (for fear of her running away) and that night we let her walk with Seth and Makenna. She was so thrilled. She ran to see the exhibits and the animals and all 3 of the kids enjoyed themselves immensely. I have to say that since it was in the evening it was so nice not to have the hot sun beating down on us, and it was the most fun I have ever had at the Hogle Zoo. I wanted to share some cute pictures of the kids there and say how happy I am that there are all these people that are willing to put such neat things together for our kids that are "differently" abled.

Makenna Baptized!

Here is a picture of Makenna the day of her baptism. I didn't have the pictures on my own camera, so I didn't get to post this as early as I would have liked.

Makenna was baptized with her cousin Jackson Phippen on May 31st 2008 at the Orem Aspen Stake Center. We knew that we were going to be moving around the time that she was turning 8, and didn't want to have all the family have to drive down to St. George, so we thought that we would wait just 2 months and have it done with my sister Jill's son, Jack. It was so much fun to have it done together. What a neat experience for Makenna and Jack to be able to say that they were baptized on the same day. Makenna sang the song My Baptism Day by Janice Kapp Perry (circa 1988) and it is the exact same song that I sang when I was baptized. She did such a great job! She's our little star. We had a big lunch with all the Preston family, Johnson family, and Phippen family afterward at the pavillion there at the Stake Center. It was such a nice day and I couldn't be more proud of my little Makenna!!

My New Lehi House

Front pantry and closett.v. room - one viewkitchenback door and table

front room: the picture is bad but I wanted to show you how cute the brown paint is... room off the kitchen/ t.v. room - view #2 You'll notice the lovely grass in the front yard and that I was too lazy to move the bikes for the picture. It is too cold to do any serious moving of any bikes. I hope you will forgive me. Rest of the house will have to follow in a slideshow at a later date...tune in to see more.

Let me give you a run down of just a few of the events that have happened since we arrived...

Not even a week after living in this lovely house, Maddie decided that she needed to add her own little mark to it. While the rest of the family was asleep Maddie got up and sneaked down the stairs and found my make-up. She then proceeded to paint lovely pictures on the carpet (right under that red rug) with my lipsticks and mascara. I have to say that most of the lipsticks were almost brand new and the mascara had a lot of wearing left in them. There was make up from hell to breakfast and that isn't even an exaggeration. I actually think I was more mad about the make-up being ruined then the carpet. I called my SIL Anna to see if I could borrow her carpet cleaner and she brought it over. We scrubbed the stains and then proceeded to turn on the carpet cleaner only to find out that it wouldn't suck. This is an almost brand new carpet cleaner and has no reason not to be working. I was so bothered. So I tried to get out most of the water with towels etc... It wasn't even barely dry a day and a ha;f later that Maddie found some extra waxy crayons and made enormous rainbows all over the carpet (the exact same place as the first mess). To top that all off, she had an accident and there was poop everywhere on the carpet too. So I had more stains, poop and no working carpet cleaner. Needless to say I was ready to spit bullets at that moment and lock Maddie up for the rest of the week. (This whole thing was going on at the same time as adding extra locks to all outside exit doors. She had already been in a few neighbors homes unannounced). So I took out the cleaner one more time and sprayed all the stains. I soaked the carpet with the soapy carpet cleaner and then took a few buckets of water to dilute it, then used my shop vac to suck up all the excess water. I can't tell you how long I spent doing that. I think the next time she does something to the carpet I will just rip it up! Just teasing. That was just the first week. She really does like to get into mischief. Seth eggs her on too and that doesn't help. Maddie and Makenna have been enjoying riding the bus to school and that is fun for them. Makenna has never taken a bus on a regular basis before so she was thrilled. Maddie was thrilled to have the bus back from when she took it to preschool. It has been a mess putting away everything and get used to the new place, but it is so great to be with Joe and to have help with the kids. I love living by all this family. It is such a new experience for me. I can just hope on my bike or in my car and be to Anna's house in minutes. She is such a great friend and we are always doing stuff for eachother. My parents are only 15 min away and so are Joe's. And Jill and Kristen and Katie are all close too. It is great. I am having a lot of fun. Hopefully the messes will calm down and I won't have to lock Maddie up. Just teasing.

New House

Ok, for those of you that think I am a slacker (I am) this is for you. I moved 2 weeks ago to the city of Lehi!! Wahoo. It is a lot of fun. I have 2 sister in laws that live here and parents in Orem and in laws in Sandy so there is family all around. It is wonderful to have family so close. I just barely got the internet at my house TODAY so thats why I haven't written in a long time. Before the move I was packing and didn't have the time to play on the computer like I did in the past. I miss my old house and my neighborhood. It was great in St. George. I lived there for 6 years and made some wonderful memories there. I live in the southwest part of Lehi. It seems like it should be AF as far south as you go, but it isn't. Nothing makes a whole lot of sense to me here. Makenna and Maddie get to go to the last month of school here. It is so nice. The bus comes right to the house for Maddie and just down the street for Makenna. Makenna says that the best part of school is the bus. She loves riding it. The past 2 years at Charter school and the year before across the street never gave her opportunity to ride the bus, so now she is so thrilled. I like my new house a lot. I wish that we had a yard, but that will happen in the future. As for the current situation, we have like 3 locks on every door to keep Maddie the hoodini from escaping.
Moving was a night mare! I don't recommend it for anyone. If you have to I understand, but don't do it if you don't have to. We reserved a huge Uhaul for all our stuff and then ended up having to rend an extra trailor after it was all full and we still had more crap left to load. It was a nightmare and a half. I had such great friends that came over to help me box up stuff and clean the house and all that fun stuff. Thanks guys!! I am still unpacking and will probably still be unpacking for a long time. I have almost all the necessary things unpacked, but the stuff like scrapboking stuff etc... will be taken care of at a later time I think. I do have to say that I do enjoy the nice weather up here. It was starting to get too hot for me in the George. It is a great place and I am so glad that we are finished with the whole moving bit. It is for the birds. Now that I have internet and more time I will keep up with the info.

Jen's New Look

I was being a little CRAZY the other day and thought that I would try out a new look. I haven't sported this color since beauty school. Let me know what you think!!

Happy Birthday Makenna (last week)

Don't they all look so nice?
Maddie is looking oh so great here. This is our cousin Jensyn.
You'll notice that the hair is made out of bubble tape. It was so neat.

Ok so it is only a week late, but it is better late than never, right? Last Friday we had a birthday party with some of Makenna's friends from school, and a bunch of other kids from the neighborhood. Since Easter is usually in April and it fell in March this year, we thought that we would do an easter themed party. Really original, eh?

When the kids all got here we went out for an egg hunt and that was fun. The worst was that it was probably the warmest day that we had had so far this year, so lots of the chocolate was melted, but that's ok. Then we got the easter egg dye out and proceeded to color eggs. That was a lot messier than I wanted it to be. There was two 6 feet tables in the backyard with plastic table cloths on them and kids standing all around. Seth ended up covered from head to toe in blue dye, and I was so worried that it would stain.

I did get it out you will be glad to know. They loved the coloring the egg part and then we had cake. Oh and my good friend Marisa (from way back when) came into town and came to the party too. Then we colored eggs with her daughter Rian after everyone left.

My good friend Stasie Orme made the cutest horse cake for the party. We go walking in the mornings after we take the kids to school and she is such a sweetheart. I knew that she loved doing it, and so I was so glad that she said that she would. I really didn't think that Makenna would end up loving horses for as long as she has, but she tells us about every week or so that if she only had 2 horses, then she would be so happy. She is a joy!!

I can't believe my little girl is 8! She is going to be baptized up in Orem in May with her cousin Jack. Since all of the relatives live up in the Northern area we thought that it would make more sense to have the baptism up there. I asked her if she wanted to have it here or up there and she wanted to get baptized with Jack. That settled it. The party was fun and the weather was great and the cake was so tasty. Thanks Stasie!!