Thanksgiving!

We had Thanksgiving (as usual) with the Carver's. We had dinner at Jim and Merilyn's (Tyler's parents) then we went to the church for basketball and soccer. It was a fun night with lot's of playing. Britton and Shayna really enjoyed playing with all of their cousins, especially Shayna, there are lot's of little girls her age. I took my camera with me but never got it out of the car....sometimes I really annoy myself.

We got all of our Christmas decorations up inside and out. The kids are so excited for Christmas, as am I. It's by far my most favorite holiday. Every year seems to be more fun with the kids......I can't wait!

Orbiting

We got to watch the space shuttle orbit in space from our kitchen window last night at 7 PM. It was a neat experience for the kids. I don't think they really grasped the consept that the moving light was an actual space ship orbiting around in space. Britton is learning about all of the planets and moons in school right now so he thought it was pretty cool. When they start learning more I'm glad that they can look back on this night and realize just how neat that really is!

We are the CHAMPIONS....of the World!!!

We decided that since this was a BIG day for Real Salt Lake Soccer Fans that we would do something special for it. We made red (turned out pink) cupcakes with blue frosting and yellow sprinkles.


Shortly after we were done we got a call from my parents saying they were out at Uncle Robyn's and Aunt Ann's and they would like us to come over for dinner. Their was no way we were going to go unless they let us watch the game. They are not soccer fans, but they obliged. So we all hopped in the shower and got ready in what had to be world record time and braved the snow storm to head to the Reid's for dinner.

Here is My Mom with Britton and Coby's newest little one Bodie.

Kiana and Shayna played so cute together. Kiana followed Shay everywhere and had to copy everything that Shayna did!


Britton is watching the game while the girls and Uncle Robyn watch signing time!

And wouldn't you know it....after only scoring one goal in the first half of the game and ending up in a tie they went into a half hour of over time which remained scoreless so they ended up in a shootout. Talk about a very stressful game. Real Salt Lake ended up winning the MLS cup!!!!

Bedtime on a saturday night!

After I got the kids teeth brushed I told them they could go to their bedrooms and read for a few minutes while I was doing other things. When I was ready to go tuck them in this is what I found Shayna doing.


My Mom taught her how to crochet and gave her a crocheting needle and some yarn. She has been working on this chain for a couple of days. She says she isn't sure yet what she will make with it but she is excited to see the end results. She is too funny, maybe I should learn how to crochet so that I will have something to do while I am sitting in the waiting room at ballet for her. I can't read, I've tried but there is just too much commotion...I think I will have Shayna teach me!

Ice Skating and the flu

Friday night Britton came down with the dreaded stomach flu. I was up off and on all night long with him until about 4:30 when he finally quit throwing up and I was able to sleep until 8:00am when I heard crying. I jumped out of bed and went running into Britton's room, he wasn't there so I ran into the living room where Britton was watching cartoons and Tyler was holding a very upset Shayna. He had to tell her that she couldn't go to the birthday party she had been invited to because on the invitation it stated that if anyone in the family had been sick for the last week to please not come because of their newborn baby. So Tyler told Shayna he would take her ice skating instead. So I stayed home with Britton who was feeling much better and they were off for their Daddy, Daughter date.

Tyler took some really cute pictures so as soon as I get them off of his phone I will add them.

Ballet Class

Friday afternoon my Mom and I went to Shayna's ballet class to watch them work on their Christmas recital. She is getting so good and learning so much. I'm very proud of her, and can't wait to see the actual performance!

Home improvement.

Here is a little bit of what has been going on. We got everything in the attic fixed so we could start on the walls. Mudding and tapeing have been done, the guy needs to come back out to sand it all now and then we can have the painter come....good times!

The Tooth Fairy Came!!

He finally lost one!!

We found out on October 30th at a dentist appointment that Britton's bottom two teeth were just starting to get loose. He was in the bathroom that night looking in the mirror and wiggling them, he wanted them out so bad so I took a picture of him with all of his teeth in.

Last night his tooth was so loose that I didn't dare let him go to bed with it in. I thought for sure he would swallow it so I told him it needed to be out before 8:00 PM.

I couldn't believe how nervous he was after all this time. He was afraid it was going to hurt when we pulled it out so for a couple of hours he was a little worried and wouldn't let us do much with it. When it was time to get in the bath I sat him down and said just let me pull on it a little and if it hurts I will stop. I pulled it right out with no effort at all. I really wish I got a picture of his reaction. He was ShOcKeD!!

So at 7:35 PM on November 17th 2009 at the age of 7 years 5 months 2 weeks and 3 days old Britton finally lost his first tooth!!


There wasn't too much blood but he wasn't thrilled about the flavor in is mouth anyway. After a few rinses with water all was well. He was so excited he had to make a few phone calls. First to Great Grandma Donna then to Grandma and Papa Turner. The tooth right next to the one he just lost and both of his top front teeth are loose as well. I think we better take our Christmas pictures soon!!

More house updates.

So we got the garage door fixed. It is very quiet when it goes up and down. Not at all like our old one. So I am looking at this whole thing as a blessing because silence is golden....right? I think so anyway, especially when it comes to garage doors, because our garage door opens at 5:45ish every morning thanks to Tyler and his job.

We had the structural engineer come and go through our attic to make sure everything was on the up and up...it was not. We have some damage to the structure up there that is going to need to be fixed. The guy said the damage was worse then he thought it would be but it will be a pretty easy fix. Mostly just reinforcing things a bit. He wanted to get the blue prints so that he could meticulously go over every inch of the attic without spending day's up there covered in insulation. So now we are just waiting for the blue prints and the engineer to come back out to see exactly what the damage is. The engineer said our house was built really well. So again, I'm counting this whole thing as a blessing because I have wondered how well our house was built....I really have.

The sheet rock guy and the painter came by as well. We have to wait for everything in the attic to get fixed before we can start fixing the walls. Fixing the walls and the ceilings is going to be a long, messy process but the painter said that he will paint all of the walls and ceilings. He is not going to try to "blend in". Again a blessing because my walls really need a new paint job.

The soffit guy came and took a look at our entry way. He said he would get back to us as soon as possible. So that's in the works.

In other fantastic news....they have shut down the refinery for the time being. We don't know when or if it will be reopened....only time will tell. Hopefully they won't be able to get it up to code and it will be shut down forever!!!!

Parent Teacher conference

Yesterday we had parent teacher conference for both of the kiddo's. Britton's teacher absolutely loves him. She says he is a dream to have in her class. Britton doesn't have anything that he needs help with or needs to be worked on so again this year his goal is to write a book. It is due in January. He has already started it and is doing very well on it. It is called The magic stone. This year the school started doing new report cards. A 3 is the highest grade possible. Britton got all 3's. He is still loving his S.E.M. class, that's the class for above average students and he is doing very well in it. For his Accelerated reader class Britton has read 56 books. His name is posted in the hallway at the school and he is SOOOO proud of that. So are we....Good job Britton, we are so proud of you. Keep up the good work!

Shayna has been doing very well too! She loves school but I think the social aspect of it is the most important to her. She got all 3's on her report card except on listening to the teacher she got a 2. I'm actually really proud of her for getting a 2, I thought it would be much worse! Her teacher had each student sign a goal agreement. She has to meet the goals that we all agreed upon by January. Her two goals are reading and writing the 20 kindergarten site words and counting by 2's, 5's and 10's. I guess one of her goals should be trying harder to listen to the teacher, we'll make that a third. Shay is a very smart girl, she's following in her brothers footsteps. Seriously these kids can't be mine. Good job Shayna, you make us so proud!!

House updates

We have had a lot going on, we had an adjuster come by, he checked out all of the cracks in the walls and ceilings and made us an appointment with a contractor. The contractor came by and checked everything out for us and he was able to get the garage open and he secured the soffit in the front entry way so now we can get in and out of our front door safely until we can get it fixed. It looks awful but at least I don't have to worry about it falling on the kids. He felt it was important to have an engineer come by to go over everything with a fine tooth comb. He will be the one that goes up in the attic to make sure that there isn't any more structural damage going on. Of course he can't come by until next week. Today a guy from a garage door company came by and gave us a bid on a new garage door and we picked out the color. As soon as we figure out who is going to pay for that we can get it fixed.

Every day we find a new crack. We have been told that we can't start getting the walls fixed until we don't find any new cracks. Makes sense. Hopefully tomorrow we won't find a new one.

Here's the soffit that has been secured. Oh my goodness that's ugly!


This is one of the new cracks. It starts in the corner and goes along the ceiling. You can see it go all the way across the picture.

Another crack we found above the window in the sitting room.

Fortunately everyone has been very nice and accommodating. We are going to be taken care of. It will be a very long process but I think we will get it done right. We were even told that when all is said and done they will send a company to come in and clean the carpets. YEAH US! See, good things do come out of bad situations.....HA!

Silver Eagle Refinery Explosion

Unfortunately we were affected by the explosion at the refinery that is near our home. Although we were not hit as hard as a lot of our neighbors. It has been a long two days dealing with the mess. Tyler has spent a lot of time on the phone and we had an adjuster come out today to access the damage. We have had so much media in the area and so many people driving through the neighbor just to get a look at everything. Today the city finally put a sign in the entry to the neighborhood saying local traffic only. It has been CRAZY! Tomorrow we meet with a contractor to figure out what we can do with the interior of our home. Someone needs to crawl through our attic to make sure there was not damage to the structure. Hopefully everything is structurally sound since we are still living in here.

Here is some of the damage to the out side of our home. This is the entry way to the front door.




Garage door. It will not open so we have not been able to park in there. The kids can't get their bikes, scooters or cars in and out easily so that has been a big pain.


Damage to the inside of the garage. A lot of Ty's tools fell off of the walls as well.


This is the wood that hold the track to the garage door, it was pulled out of the wall.


A crack in the ceiling of the garage.

Interior of our home. This crack is in our living room. It starts about 3/4 of the way up the wall and goes to the ceiling.

This crack is in the seam of the vaulted ceiling in the living room.

crack in the seam of the vaulted ceiling in the sitting room.

Another crack in the ceiling.

Another crack in the sitting room.

Shayna's bedroom.

My bedroom.

Ceiling in the hallway next to the attic.

Crack where the wall meets the ceiling in the hallway.

This is going to be a very long process but hopefully we can get the garage taken care of before the weather gets bad.

If anyone knows anyone that is interested in buying our home let us know, we'll give 'em a good deal :)

And yet there is more!!!

Just some more of Shay's mispronunciations to add to the list.

The other night I had Shayna in the bath and she wanted another toy....this is how our conversation went.
Shayna: Mom will you get me another toy?
Mom: Sure, what would you like.
Shayna: I want the Tilly Pad.
Mom: Tilly Pad? Whats a Tilly Pad?
Shayna: Uhh, DUHHH Mom, a Tiiillllly Pad.
Mom: Shay, I have no idea what a Tilly Pad is. Could you explain it to me?
Shayna: Mom, you know what I'm talking about. It's those things that frogs jump on.
Mom: OOOHHH! You mean Lilly Pad.
Shayna: I told you you knew what I was talking about.

Shortly after the bath we were sitting in the living room putting on PJ's and getting ready for bed when Shayna yells CANNYYYON BALL and runs and jumps on me. I said Shay, did you just say canyon ball and Britton says, I keep telling her its cannon ball but she just keeps yelling CAANNYYYON BALL!

Another Halloween Picture!

Charlene just sent me this picture. She went outside and took a picture of the moon and then photo shopped it into this picture. I thought it turned out too cute to not post!

Happy Halloween!!

Jonny, Heather, Bechham, Mckye, Hadley, Paisly, Bradley and Christopher all met us at our house and we headed to the Real Salt Lake game together.
I had to get a picture of Shayna in the car on the way to the game. She wore her teeth the whole time and at one point she even fell asleep with them in....silly girl!

They had a little carnival before you went into the game. The kids went trick or treating at all of the booths and got a ton of candy, a lot of it was king sized. Shayna refused to paint her face and Britton would only allow very little face paint. So my vampires are more cute then scary....O'well.

Tyler trying to kick the ball through the hole for some sort of prize.

Britton attempting the same thing.

This picture makes me laugh so hard. Shayna is scared to death of Leo the lion. You can see Tyler trying to pull her into the picture that she didn't want to be in and she won't take her eyes off of Leo. But at least she is smiling.

Tyler, Shayna, Christopher, Bradley, Britton, Jonny, Beckham, Leo, Mckye and Hadley. I love that Jonny and Tyler got into the Halloween spirit with the kids and painted their faces.

Do you like my costume. I got beads from a vendor before the game. They are Budweiser logos....LOVE THEM! Haha!!
All of the kids that dressed up for the game got to be in a little parade. They went out on the field during the National Anthem. This was so neat for Britton to get to do, he swears when he gets older he is going to play for Real so to get to go on their field was so cool to him.



Watching the game. I thought Britton looked pretty cute in Bradley's hat.

After the game we hurried home to meet up with my parents, Shane and Dennis and Charlene. We took the kids Trick-or-Treating then came back for a late pizza dinner and then Charlene took pictures of the kids.



I hope everyone enjoyed their Halloween as much as we did. Now with the time change I hope my kids can get some much needed rest!!