New Family Member!

This last Sunday, May 8th, my sister Jenny had her second baby and her first boy. He was 8lbs and 20 1/2 inches long. They named him Quincy Michael Kennett. They are so excited to have a little boy and we're so excited for them. I can't wait to be able to see him and hold him. Congratulations Jenny, Mike and Ashlyn. We love you!

A couple weeks ago, all five of my sisters, myself, and my mom met up in Las Vegas for my sister Jenny's baby shower. We had such a great time!! We brought no kids and no hubbys and we just laughed and had a blast all weekend. This picture is from Jenny's shower of all 7 of us girls. (Mom, Lindsay, Me, Jenny, Adriel, Kayleen, Noelle)

After the Shower we went to downtown Las Vegas. We stayed in the Venetian Hotel and it was breath taking. That night we went to the Phantom of the Opera. I LOVED IT! It was so amazing and if you ever go to Vegas, this is a must see!

Overall the weekend was a total success. In fact, I wasn't quite ready to head home at the end of it! Luckily I missed my husband and kids, or I may have just relocated. ha ha.

Sleeping Angels

Ever since Payton was born he slept like this. He was a itty bitty baby and still he slept with his mouth wide open, usually drooling, alot. Matt says he sleeps like me, but I don't think so (actually truth be told, Matt has a picture of me sleeping exactly like that on the couch with one of the babies... shhh.)

We even pray in our sleep at our house... ha. He doesn't always sleep like that but it was funny to catch the pose. He sure does look peaceful though.


This picture is what started all the picture taking. When we put the kids to bed at night we usually seperate them by putting one of them on our bed till we come up and move them. Well, this night I came upstairs and saw my baby girl asleep on my bed, and there was something about her that caught my eye. The picture didn't even do the moment justice, but it was just a moment of awe. I was so struck with this little angel asleep on my bed that I didn't want to lose the feelings of love I felt, not only for her but for my other two angels as well. So I tiptoed over each of them as they slept and snapped a photo. By the time I got to the boys however, they as usual, made me laugh. Payton with his mouth WIDE open and Gabe somehow capturing a bit of his personality even as he slept. There is just something about seeing your children asleep that allows you to fall in love with them over and over each night.

Playing in the Snow

I have to admit that I am sooo not a winter person. When it's snowy and cold I'd rather hibernate than go out and freeze. My kids, however, have a different idea. When we got dumped on in January they just couldn't stand to be inside any longer. So we bundled up and went out to play in the snow. The kids had so much fun, they didn't want to come in, even after they were soaked through. I survived and it was well worth it, especially to see Payton so bundled up he couldn't put his arms down (Christmas story?)

Christmas time project

Okay, so I know this is kinda more christmas pictures but I found these on my old camera and had to post it. I made these little "gingerbread" houses in December. I did use graham crackers to make these (which is kinda cheating) but for the record its harder to make all the walls stick together. I was pretty proud of my little creations so I had to share. Here's the product before we decorated them.

Here's the artists at work...

And Finally, the finished products...

This one was Gabe's (his daddy helped him).

This one was Payton's (his mommy helped him. ha ha. I even took special care to make icicles hanging off the roof. I'm a dork, I know.)

This one was Shayne's. She did hers all by herself. She was so proud of her finished product. I only felt bad that when we took them down to snack on she didn't have nearly as much on hers. :)

Hamster update

Here's our five little surprises. The picture hardly shows just how small they are. The tupperware that they are in is about 5 inches long and 3 inches wide. They'd each fit in a ping pong ball!

Here's one of the babies in Shayne's little hands.

The kids LOVE them! Payton gets so excited when he sees them. He was pointing to each of them and saying "that" in this picture.

Shayne probably likes them the most. She's so cute and soft with them. She talks to them and loves holding and playing with them.

Shayne's First Day of School

You know, before I had kids I'd hear mothers getting all emotional about their kids starting school or crossing another milestone and I always thought "what's the big deal?" Well, I've officially eaten my own words. I'm such a sappy mom!! Its taken me forever to get her into preschool in the first place. Part of it was all the moving we've done and then we got on the waiting list here... but mostly I just wasn't ready for her to grow up and leave. I know, I'm ridiculous, after all, "what's the big deal!?"

Yesterday she started her preschool class and it was hard for me to leave her. I have a hard time seeing her get so big. I want her to stay little forever. Matt talks about her going to her high school prom, and dating, and eventually getting married and I wanna slug him for it. I don't know what it is about my Shayne but I think I'll be one of those pathetic moms for every milestone she reaches. I love you Shayne!

My Happy Thoughts

Lately I've had some time to think about my kids and what each of them brings to my life. They are my pride and joy and they bring so much love and laughter to me every day. I love each of them so much and am so thankful for the opportunity to be their mama.


















Payton is our little funny boy. He keeps us laughing all the time. He has such a good spirit about him. He can be sweet and gentle in one moment and ready to wrestle in the next. He's always ready to play and he's such a jokester. Out of all the kids I think I'd say he's my cuddliest. He gives the best cuddles! He really adds a whole new dimension to our house and I couldn't imagine life without him!















Gabriel is our strong spirit. He came here with such purpose and it shows in all his day to day activities. He's so smart! He talks better than most 5 year olds, and because of this he makes people laugh where ever we go. I have no doubt that he has great things to accomplish in this life, and it is his great determination that will allow him to do those things. He also has such a sweet side. He's so eagar to love and accept people. He is his daddy's greatest admirer for sure. He brings so much to our house that life would be boring and dull without him!
















Shayne Elizabeth is our sweet girl. She has such a good concience about her. She wants to do what is right all the time and to please both her earthly and heavenly parents. I think she's the perfect mixture of sweet and silly. She is always so concerned for others and wants everyone to be happy and loved. She's a great big sister and an awesome helper to me. In a house of brothers she brings a special softness that a mother can surely appreciate.

A Baptism and More Christmas

This last weekend we were able to drive to Idaho Falls to attend my neice's baptism. This is Matt's brother's little girl, and she's come a long way to get to here and we're so proud of her. It was really neat to see her take such a wonderful step. Afterwards we went to their house and exchanged christmas gifts, since we weren't able to spend christmas with Matt's family. It was really fun and the kids were in heaven with a second Christmas. It was a quick trip. We left early Saturday morning and came back late that night, but it was well worth the drive. Thanks again to Brenda (Matt's mom), Krystal and Eric (Matt's brother and wife) and to Devery and Devon (Eric's daughter and son). It was a great day!

2nd Christmas

Never a Dull Moment!!

Okay, so I think I'm writing this post in the hopes that I get lots of responses telling me that my life is pretty normal...
I've decided that before this life when we were signing up for what we'd have here I appearantly said "I want a life that never has ANY dull moments." Cause I'm pretty sure that little wish was granted. The last few days Matt has been out of town on business and since he left its been utter chaos (more than usual). Two days ago I was really cold and I decided despite my instructions from my husband I was gonna turn the heat up. Only when I looked at the thermostat I realized why I was cold. The temp was set at 70 and the house temp read at just below about 65. I turned it up and could hear it turn on downstairs but it wasn't blowing anything. Long story short I tried to look at it but have no idea what to even look for. Keep in mind that this would HAVE to all happen right at dinnertime! So I stopped messing with the heat and got the kids some food, which meant a battle over what I'd fixed and whether it would be eaten or not (mostly by my two year old). In the meantime Matt had called the Landlord and he contacted the "fixers" who called me... Only to tell me that they couldn't make it till morning. So I left the dinner mess and frantically started to plan for a night of cold with three small kids. Our sweet home teacher came over and took a look to see if it was anything he could see and when he couldn't figure it out either he loaned us his two space heaters (since I couldn't find ours). That night I turned the bottom bunk, which is a full bed, into a tent by hanging quilts from the top bunk. Shayne and Gabe watched movies in there for the remainder of the evening till bedtime and we just all 4 camped out in one bedroom for the night. The kids thought it was great, in fact when I put them to bed last night they wanted to do it again. (no way) The following day was not very productive. The hvac guy didn't come until after 5 yesterday evening making it over 24hours without our heat. I was pretty annoyed. Once the heat was back on I could crawl out from under the layers of blankets that I'd been dwelling under all day and decided to clean the disaster of a kitchen. But when I started the water in the kitchen sink it wouldn't get hot!! Luke warm is even a stretch for the temp it finally turned. So here I sit now a few days past the need to shower, in a messy house, with kids who are constantly fighting. I hope this is what I signed up for when I signed the mommy contract... tell me I'm normal (or tell me if I'm not I think I can take it...)

Christmas 08

Pajama Party!

A week or so ago we decided that we'd all get in our jammies a little early and have a "pajama party". They kids were so excited. Actually, now that I think of it, I often say its a jammie party just to get them to get in their pajamas... (rotten mom!) Well, this night we actually did have a little party. We popped popcorn, had some treats, and sat on a mattress and watched a movie that was projected on the wall. It was like our own little movie theater at home. They thought it was so fun! We'll be doing this again soon for sure!!

Bonus with our Buy!

A couple of weeks ago I went up north to visit a friend. As we were up there we went by a pet store that has tons of varieties of animals. I'd taken the kids there before and decided it would be fun to take them again. Well, once inside I remembered that I had a hamster cage and some accessories from one that I'd had a few years back. So I decided maybe it was time for the kids to have a little pet. We got some assistance from a girl that worked there and we picked out the smallest one. (They're dwarf hamsters so they're already really small.) It looked like maybe it had been picked on by the bigger ones cause its little ear had bites and scratches on it. Well we brought the little thing home. I forgot to have the lady at the store check it to see what sex it was and since it was gonna be an only pet I figured it didn't really matter, so I let Shayne pick. (weird, I know) So, after thinking for a minute, Shayne decided it was a boy and that his name was Wall-e (ya like the disney movie). Well, here's the fun part... we had "wall-e" about two weeks when I noticed he was getting really fat. I figured we were spoiling him and now that he wasn't the runt getting picked on he could get some food and get bigger. Proud of my little rescue, I put him back in the cage last week and went to bed. The next morning Matt and I were sitting in the living room talking when I heard a strange noise... I went into the kitchen on the fridge where Wall-e was in his cage and pulled the whole cage down to see what that noise was. Sure enough underneath a very scared little GIRL hamster was 5 little babies no bigger than a nickle each!!! Needless to say I googled hamster baby care, covered and put up the cage to give the new mama some privacy (she's a really nervous little mama), explained to Shayne what had happened, and she renamed the hamster Eve!!

P.S. we'll be looking for new homes for the babies in about 3-4 weeks... hint, hint!

I'll keep you all posted as they get bigger and less hideous! At least they're finally starting to get their fur.

Only a month late! And an update.

So I am finally getting pictures of Christmas put on here, and just shy of a month late. (I still have no idea why I can't put slides on here either!) I have a few more pics on my old camera that are stored on the camera memory since I lost my memory card. I'll go thru those and see what I wanna post. (since it is a month or so late)

http://s468.photobucket.com/albums/rr42/laurelhiett/

As for things around here... Last Friday my sister came up north from central Utah. Then on Saturday my other two sisters came down from Magna, and Bountiful and we all hung out. It was a great day, and I had so much fun hanging out with everyone. When my sister Kayleen headed back south, Saturday night, she offered to take Gabriel with her for a day or two. I was really hesitant but how can you say no when your little two year old is begging "please let me go, mommy!" (he seems much older than two!) So I finally agreed and he didn't even shed a tear. He told me that I had to stay home and that he was going to his Aunt Kayleen's house. He went and was fine. She said he asked about all of us several times but was always ok with it when she told him we were still home. Well, I went to pick him up Monday and he still didn't want to come home! Needless to say he didn't have a choice and he was just fine once we finally left there. I just can't believe how grown up he is for being only two. He already says and does things that most 4 and 5 year olds don't say or do. Oh that reminds me! About 3 or 4 weeks ago we decided to take the kids to McDonalds for dinner. (UGH!) Well, they have to eat their meals first then they can play. Eating was quite a task, as always, but we finally were able to release them to the play area. Not long after being in there I noticed these two boys picking on Shayne. One of them had a fake worm or snake (I would've guessed that he was 5 or 6) and the other had a fake cockroach or beatle of some sort(he seemed about 4 or 5). They were chasing Shayne all around with these bugs and making her scream. At first it was ok and she was playing along but they wouldn't stop and she couldn't escape their teasing. She came to me once and hid behind me and they stopped for a minute, until she was running around again. I noticed that the boys' parents were sitting on the other side of the room and that they were laughing at the scene. I was starting to get irritated when around the corner with his fists balled came Gabriel. He had his "mean face" on and he was yelling "you leave my sister alone!!" The boys immediately went running in opposite directions! Matt and I stared at each other then back at Gabe several times before I finally put my hand up for a high five to my husband. We both laughed and talked on the way home about the incedent and imagined ahead to the future when Shayne is in High School and the boys still won't leave her alone... If we're lucky she'll still have a little (big) brother that will defend her!
Let's see other than that there is nothing much going on at our house. We plan to take a trip to Idaho Falls soon to see Matt's mom since we missed her for the holidays. So, anyone in the neighborhood up there that would like to get together let me know.

Happy New Year... and ect.

First and formost I want to wish all our friends and family a HAPPY NEW YEAR!! No matter where you are we love you all! I hope this year is full of a little less surprises and alot of love and laughter. I hope and wish the best for all of you as well!
I'll hopefully have pics of christmas and family activities soon. The last time I updated my blog I plugged in my memory card for my camera into my computer and loaded them all. Well, when I pulled out the memory card I set it on the table next to where I was working and thats the last time I saw it. I only have room on my camera for a couple pics but no way of getting them to my laptop... so Matt bought me a new camera for christmas, but we ordered it online and its still not here.
As for christmas, we went to Vegas kinda last minute and spent it with three of my sisters and their families. We had sooo much fun! Luckily my sisters took tons of pictures and I'll get some from them as soon as I can. Thanks again, Jen and Mike for having us!