February was fun!

The first weekend in February Danny's sister Emily came up from snow so we could help her celebrate her birthday!  Nita made this cool cake for her sister's birthday.  Emily is obsessed with books so it is a book!  I found the cool candles with flames that glow the color of the candle.

Speaking of being obsessed with books...I had set my reading goal to 56 books this year but I finally decided to try and read 100 this year!  Call me crazy (and some people have) and some have even said I won't be able to do it but I need to try and read 8-9 books a month and with it being the end of February I am currently reading my 16th book so I am on schedule!

The first Friday in February was 60s/80s day at school so I decided to do a side ponytail.  Kayzee saw me that morning and said, "Mommy, you don't look old enough to be my mommy.  You look more like my big sister!"  HA HA Awesome!

I love my new Jamberry nails and I had to put some on for Valentine's day!  I also painted my toe nails to match.

 Kayzee wanted her nails done too.  She picked puppies and kitties with paw prints.

We had a great Valentine's day and the weekend got even better!  The kids celebrated at school on Friday.  Sugar overload!

Last February we went down to Cedar City and Mesquite for a weekend and decided to make it a February tradition.  We just couldn't seem to make it work when we were trying to plan in January.  The weather had been horrible for awhile, nasty inversion the air was so foggy, smoggy, gross, some people said you could taste the air.  We had a few inside days at school it was so bad.  This was after school one day.  So gross!

The Friday night, Valentine's day weekend, we had just gotten our tax return money, and we were sick of the air so as we were going to bed we called Danny's brother in Cedar and the hotel we like by his house and we got up early Saturday morning and left!  So worth the last minute trip!

Leaving utah county...so excited for sunny clear skies and 70 degree weather!

 We stopped in Cedar to see Danny's brother Benny and his wife Kayla and their cute baby Max!  Kayzee was in heaven.  Everyday she tells me she can't wait to be a mommy.  She was so excited to hold Max...

 Then we all went to St George to go shopping at the outlets.  I was trying to find clothes for our family pictures coming up and I found these cute outfits for Memphis and Kayzee at Old Navy.

 Then Danny and Benny went golfing and I took Memphis and Kayzee back to Cedar to check into our hotel and to go swimming!  Memphis was most excited about this part!

 Danny finally got to use his new club golfing for the first time this year.  And the golfing season begins...I am not going to see him on weekends ha ha!

 That night we had pizza with Benny and Kayla and Kayzee got to feed Max.

 Valentine's day we went swimming one more time and then headed home.  What a great weekend!

The next weekend we had Danny's parents and sisters stay at our house.  His sister Mary made it to state basketball and it was in Orem.  It was fun to go watch her play!

That Sunday I played in a special musical number with a group of string instruments from my ward in stake conference.  It was beautiful!

This last week I have been doing grade because the term ended Friday and Friday night Danny called after he had gone golfing and said meet me at Chili's!  We had a nice night out as a family.

Yesterday Nita came up to babysit the kids and our neighbor friend's the Hoge's kids and Danny and I went on a double date with Amy and Jens.  So fun!  We went to Pizza Pie Cafe and then bowling.  Amy killed it and beat all of us!  We love our friends.

Saw this and thought it was hilarious.  I so justify what I eat this way sometimes...

And of course I have to end with my sister's baby Max!  He is just growing and doing so well he is a blessing and I am planning my trip to go see him and hold him I am so excited!!!!

In his new big boy crib!

 The cutest Valentine ever!

 Can't wait to kiss those sweet cheeks!  April hurry up and get here!

Mr. Memphis!

Memphis is now 7!!!  Time is just flying by and my kids are growing up way too fast.  We celebrated his birthday with a lot of parties!  My kids are spoiled...

We always let our kids pick one place they want to go celebrate and one place to go out to eat.  This year Memphis chose The wAIRhouse Trampoline Park.  We invited Danny's sister Nita to come along and also our best neighbor friends the Hoge's.  We went on his actual birthday Saturday, January 30.  It was so fun!  What a workout too!

 Foam pit

 Basketball

 Dodgeball!

 After we all went to Chuck-a-rama for lunch and they sang to him:)

 When we got home Memphis opened all the presents from my parents and us.  He also got to go shopping with all his birthday money.  THANKS EVERYONE!

Sunday we went to dinner at Hoge's and we had cake and ice cream for dessert and sang to him...he chose a carrot cake and chocolate ice cream.

On Monday he took donuts to share in his first grade classroom...daylight is our favorite!

After school on Monday he had a friend birthday party at our school.  Lots of little boys it was noisy but fun!  We played games, opened presents, and had some treats.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY MEMPHIS!

Memphis is doing well in school.  We went to his parent teacher conference and he is doing so well!  He is above grade level so we don't have to worry about him.  Memphis loves to read non-fiction and learn how things work.  I found him one night reading an encyclopedia totally his choice!

They celebrate the 100th day of school and have the kids dress up like they are 100.  Memphis chose this outfit all by himself and told me he wanted a curly mustache.  Silly boy...

He is also above in height and weight for his age!  We went to his 7 year well-check and the pediatrician said he is the size of a 9 year old.  He predicts that he will be over 6' 2" and over 200 lbs once he is all grown up.  He is currently 68 lbs and 4' 3".  Danny said he weighed 68 pounds in 6th grade and Memphis is only in 1st!!!  We have a big tall growing boy with lots of muscles:) and we love him!

And Memphis is still getting in trouble for kissing girls.  He got in trouble in preschool for it and we just found out he is doing it again in 1st grade but this time he told us that he did it...

Memphis: "Mommy, I kissed a girl". 
Me: "What?!? Why?" 
Memphis: "Shhhh it's a secret I have a crush on her". 
Me: "No kissing girls Memphis, at all!" 
Memphis: "But mommy she is just so beautiful!" 
Found out he only kissed her on the shoulder when they were playing tag but still, he is going to be trouble!

We LOVE our Memphis!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

A New Year: January 2016

I still cannot believe it's already February!

On January 1st we decided to do laser tag.  So fun except Kayzee and I lost terribly.  Boys against girls doesn't work in our family ha ha!  We also went bowling...

 Kayzee beat us all!

I went out for a girl's night and Danny built a snowman with the kids...

We got another check in the mail for our totaled van so we decided to buy a new stove with the extra money.  Yay for glass top!

Memphis had a follow-up appointment for his acid reflux.  He is doing so much better being on the medication so the pediatrician decided to wean him off it and then we will see how he does and if it comes back.  Fingers crossed but we also went to the dentist and his teeth look so much better regarding the backs of his teeth eroding so we know the medicine was really working.  Also both kids were cavity free!

I also asked the pediatrician about Memphis' huge tonsils and getting strep every month.  He gave me a recommendation for an ENT specialist to see if they needed to get taken out.  The specialist took one look and said they were the largest tonsils he had ever seen on a little boy.  So crazy.  They are called kissing tonsils cause they are so big they are touching.  And every time he gets sick they get so big he can't breathe I feel so bad for him.  And he snores so loud!  His bedroom door is shut and my bedroom door is shut and I can still hear him snoring every night.  Memphis started to cry when we talked about taking them out but the specialist told him that he could eat ice cream and play video games all day every day for a week and Memphis was so excited.  Oh boy!  The specialist wanted to take them out ASAP but it is a minimum recovery of two weeks and we cannot afford for Danny or I to miss 2 weeks of work so we have to wait till summer.  Hopefully he survives the winter and doesn't get sick too often.

We set some new years resolutions at our house.  I LOVE TO READ if you didn't know that about me already.  I got over 30 books for Christmas (between presents and gift cards) so I am set for awhile!  Here is just a few of them...

Last year I set a goal to read 54 books and I did it...

Every year I have been able to read more books so I set a goal to read 56 books this year.  I have already read 11!  I definitely got this reading bug from my mom.  She reads way more than me.  Love ya mom!

We also decided to eat healthier dinners and get more exercise at our house.  I gained a lot of weight during the holidays so I knew I needed to get back on track.  I have been eating with the 21 day fix plan and doing different workouts.  The first 4 days I lost 6 pounds!  The 2nd week I lost another 3 pounds.

The kids have to earn screen time by exercising first.  We have a lot of dance parties at our house!

The kids also have to earn screen time every day by exercising first.  It has worked out really well.  Everyday after school I exercise with the kids first (either they do my workout with me or they run on the treadmill or they dance) and then they get screen time while I make dinner.  The kids have been trying our healthier dinners and so far they have liked most of them.  After dinner Danny helps me and we help the kids with their homework. This new year is going great so far!

Except for the week I got strep!  The first Friday back to school I woke up with the most painful sore throat and I felt weird but I didn't have a fever.  I couldn't find a sub so I taught PE from a chair cause I couldn't move.  Getting sick from other sick school kids is the worst.  I went home and slept for a few hours and then woke up in the middle of the night with a really high fever.  I just knew it was strep.  As soon as the instacare opened Danny took me in and sure enough strep it was.  The last time I had strep one antibiotic didn't work for me so I told the doctor that and I actually requested the penicillin shot.   A really painful shot that hurts during and after for a while but I didn't want to go wait for a prescription at a pharmacy and the shot always worked so fast for my kids so I wanted to try it thinking I would get better faster.  NOPE!  Two days later (luckily I found subs for everyday that next week of school) I was actually worse!  My fever was still high.  I hadn't eaten in 4 days and I had already lost 8 pounds because it was so painful to swallow I cried every time.  The only thing I could do was sip ice cold gatorade.  Didn't want to get dehydrated.  I called the instacare back and they prescribed another antibiotic at a really high dose to kill the strep fast.  I was taking 6 pills a day!  Luckily that one finally worked!  Now I know of two antibiotics that don't work on me.  Great.

The kids kept asking if I was going back to work (I had been taking them to school and then going home and sleeping all day) and when I told them I finally was going back, Memphis made me this sweet note...

Also in January Memphis turned 7!!!  Still can't believe I have a 7 year old.  I need to stop typing and go to bed so I will post again about my Memphis.

One last thing...I need to give an update on my nephew Max because we always need more pictures of that sweet baby right?!

 Daddy, Mommy, and Max.  All this time I have thought he looked like a Thorpe until this picture when he definitely looks like his daddy:)

 So precious.  Just found out I am definitely planning a trip to go meet my cute Nephew in April.  I can't wait!!!!