Car Caddy for Daynen

On Saturday it was my nephew's 3rd Birthday. The theme of the party was "Cars". I didn't want to just go buy him some car toy and leave it at that, I wanted to make it a bit more special and personal. I remembered a tutorial I had seen on Homemade by Jill for a cozy car caddy.

This is what I came up with.

It has pockets for five cars and a little road to drive them on. It folds in half, then rolls up and gets tied off with the ribbon. Nice and compact so you can throw it in your purse or diaper bag.

What could be more perfect for a 3 year old little boy than a way to pack his beloved cars around. It was a big hit!

My sister in law said he took it to church with him the next day and he and his little brother played with it the whole time. Perfect timing!

It only took me about an hour to make. I could have done a few more cute things to it, but of course I had procrastinated and didn't have any extra time. I used a pair of jeans from the cast off pile and some other scraps of fabric I had laying around. All I had to buy were the little matchbox cars. Little Boy Car Heaven!

Cars Birthday Party

On Saturday we were invited to our nephew's birthday party. We were told to bring any pinewood derby cars we might have. Hunter brought his car and Mike stopped off at the Hobby Shop on the way home from work to grab a few car kits for the other kids.

It was a super cute party, all decked out in checkered flags and "Cars" party decorations. They had rented a pinewood derby track and all the kids had a ball racing their cars.

We didn't have time to do any more than decorate the kit cars, but Chase and Aria didn't seem to mind.

Mike even raced one of the cars because Michela didn't feel like doing it. He had to add a rock or two to the cars to help them weigh the right amount. Aria kept telling me that hers was not a car, but a bus!

The best part was that Chase's car kept beating Mike's.

He was so excited to have the faster car. Chase ended up coming in 2nd place overall!

Happy 9th Birthday Hunter!

Hunter looked so big and grown up to me today on his 9th Birthday. When did he get so tall and when did his legs get so long?! I watched him walking next to Mike as we walked into Church and he looked like a not so much smaller version of Mike today. He still has the cutest face and oh, how I love his smile.

At age 9 Hunter is super smart, very creative, artistic, and has a great imagination. He loves to build things, work with his Dad out in the garage, play video games and ride his bike.

He is the best big brother to Aria and has a sweet and sensitive soul. He is goofy, silly and lots of fun to be around.

Nine Things about Hunter at age 9:

1. He loves to read and is reading the 3rd Harry Potter Book. I often find him reading at night when he is supposed to be going to sleep.

2. He wears a Retainer.

3. He's Taller than his big sister Michela.

4. He loves to ride the Ripstik.

5. He is so Patient with little kids and would make a great babysitter.

6. He Pouts too much.

7. He loves to Invent things.

8. He Hates Fixing his Hair.

9. He Always rinses his Dishes and puts them in the Dishwasher.

We had all the family over for his birthday, the Stakers and the Hunts. It was a full house with lots of food, noise and good times. We munched on Hunter's favorite meal of Fajitas and I made a yummy strawberry yogurt cake for dessert. All Hunter asked for was a Ripstik so that's what he got. Now he doesn't have to keep asking Michela if he can ride hers.

Hunter would like you to meet his new Shark webkinz- Josh. He got the name from the show "Drake and Josh" on Disney. He said Drake is the chubbier one and Josh is the skinnier one, so he named him Josh, "as to not offend his webkinz." (His own words.)

Love you Buddy Boy, even when you are being a stinker. :) Have a very Happy Birthday!

Grandma Bodily

My Grandma passed away last week. She died the day before her 96th birthday. It was sad to see her go but at the same time it was a blessing. She has been in an assisted living home for some time now and has been wheelchair bound. I think it must be so difficult to watch your body stop functioning while your mind is screaming, "What happened?!"

Grandma Bodily was an amazing woman. She was born in 1914 in Los Angeles, California. She went to UCLA and studied microbiology. She became a lab technician and eventually moved to Berkeley. It amazes me that she did all this in the 1930s! She met my Grandpa at the lab where she was assisting him in perfecting the influenza vaccine. What a match made in heaven, these two scientific minds.

My Grandpa was a widower with two little girls, one of which was my Mom. Her mother had died a few years earlier when my Mom was only 3 years old. As my Mom put it, she is eternally grateful that my Grandma loved her father so much that she decided to marry him and become their mother as well. She and Grandpa went on to have 4 more children of their own but she loved my Mom and her sister as if they were her own.

My Grandma was such a cute lady. She had this round face, rosy cheeks, a twinkle in her eye and such a great sense of humor. Even in her last few years she still had that twinkle in her eye and loved a good joke. She always wore her hair up in a braid that wrapped around her head. She was curious, intelligent, creative, resourceful and a hard worker. She loved to be outdoors; hiking, camping, working and swimming in the ocean.

My favorite memories of my Grandparents were of summers spent at their farm in Midway. Grandma worked hard in the fields, helping Grandpa with the cows and working in her garden. I loved helping her in the garden and sitting outside on the front porch shelling peas. I loved wearing her old boots down to the barn and watching her do crossword puzzles. She had an endless amount of knowledge, she seemed to know every bird, flower, plant and loads about geography. I remember her cooking things in this big pressure cooker. I remember pistachio ice cream, cherry chip cake, rhubarb pie and gooseberry cobbler.

It was hard seeing her in a wheelchair and watching her body decline. I remember her being so full of life and being such a strong woman. It was difficult visiting her and carrying on a one sided conversation when she used to have so much to say. Her eyes would light up when she would watch my kids and I wish that they had been able to know her as I had known her.

She left a lasting legacy for all of her family. I always assumed she was a member of the church and never found out that she wasn't until I was a teenager. She was always involved in the church and raised her children to be faithful members with strong testimonies of the gospel. She was finally baptized about 13 years ago and their family was all sealed together in 1998. I am thankful that she is now reunited with Grandpa, her parents and her sister. What a joyous reunion that must have been. I will miss her but I know I will see her again. Thank you Grandma for your love, your happiness and your shining example.

Spring Break Stay-Cation

For Spring Break this year we stayed put and decided to try and do some fun activities close to home. On Monday it was cold and rainy so we had a fun day at the library picking out some new books to read and then went to see "How to Train Your Dragon".

What a fun movie that turned out to be. The kids said it was nothing like the book but we all thought it was a great adventure story and loved the characters and action.

Tuesday we woke up to snow on the ground so we decided to stay home in our PJs and play games all day. We had a fun and relaxing day having Mario Kart competitions, playing board games, video games and making up our own games. After finally getting out of our PJs we all took showers and then met Mike at Jason's Deli for dinner.

Wednesday we had a fun day hanging out with our neighbors. We ate Costa Vida for lunch and then the kids played and watched movies. Natalie and I were able to have some nice girl time to chat and catch up.

Thursday Mike took the day off so he could spend a little time with the kiddos. After a hearty breakfast of banana pancakes and smoothies he took Michela, Hunter and Chase for a hike up Dry Creek Canyon. When they got back they told me they had seen some raccoon bones and other gross stuff. They spent the afternoon at the Nickel Arcade while Aria and I played board game after board game. When they got home they helped Mike plant a new tree in our front yard. To finish off the night they roasted s'mores in the fireplace outside while I went to unwind at yoga class.

Friday was our last day of Spring Break so we went to the fabric store and got some white T-shirts to tie dye. We grabbed some pizza for lunch on the way home and decided to go to the park before we broke out the tie dye. My friend Amy found this park in Cedar Hills. It is tucked up on the hillside in a new neighborhood. There were hardly any other people there so the kids were able to play without too much hassle. Michela spent most of the time riding her ripstik along the trails.

Hunter and Michela took turns helping Aria up and down the ladders and taking her for rides down the slides.

Chase loved climbing, sliding and running around.

The play structure is super tall so all of the kids loved it.

There is also a basketball court, some swings and the views of the valley are amazing. It was a bit windy up there so we'll definitely have to go back when it gets a little warmer.

Once we got home and put Aria to bed we got out our t-shirts and dye. We did it out in the backyard to minimize the possibility for mess. The kids had so much fun putting different colors on their shirts.

Michela had a bit of a melt down when she realized that one of her gloves had gotten a hole in it and the majority of her fingers were now blue. By the end she also ended up with one colorful knee and the rest of us had one or two colorful fingers.

I washed the shirts today and this is what they turned out like.

They all have their different styles and the kids all are excited to wear their new shirts.

It ended up being a pretty fun week for all of us. There was minimal fighting and whining, lots of activities to keep us busy and plenty of down time to rest and relax. The kids aren't going to want to get up Monday morning and go back to school. I keep telling them they only have a month and a half left of school. They won't believe how fast the time will go by before it's time for Summer!

Baby Gouda

Last night after we had scriptures and prayer Mike and I were sitting out on the couch talking when Aria walked out of her room with the Baby Name book. I asked her what name she wanted to name the baby. She ran her finger down one of the pages and proclaimed, "Gouda!" Mike and I both started laughing, but I wasn't surprised. This is her new name for all her baby dolls. Don't ask me where she came up with it. Michela's first name for her baby doll when she was about the same age was "Xexerra". Nope, no Jenny, Amy, or Kate's around here.

Aria then looked at the book and then at me and asked, "Mom, what's Gouda?" She wanted to know what the name means. I giggled, "Gouda means Stinky Cheese." She ran her finger down the page again and when she stopped she said, "Gouda. Stinky Cheese. Right!" Mike and I had a good laugh at that.

She then gave us a few other names just for good measure, like Lexa, Cinda, and Cinderella. We still haven't decided on a name. The kids are still giving me suggestions but most of them are a bunch of nonsense. My favorite suggestion they gave at Christmas was Candy Cane. Mike's favorite is Sienna, but it doesn't seem right to me. I worry she'll end up with a lisp and will go around spraying everyone whenever she says her name, "Sienna Staker". :) I guess we still have plenty of time to come up with a name we can love. I think Aria's name was the only one I fell in love with early on in my pregnancy. The other names were picked at the very end. Michela's name was a total surprise to both of our families, her name popped out at me pretty last minute. Heard any pretty girl names lately?

Member of the Evil Society

The other night I was talking to my sister downstairs as she was getting ready to leave. This is the conversation we overheard going on upstairs by my children.

Hunter- "Mom is a member of the Evil Society."

Michela- "She is not."

Hunter- "Yes she is, because she makes us do all her work." (This was Saturday. On Saturday we clean the house.)

My jaw probably dropped to the floor when I heard this.

Chase- "She makes us do our chores."

Hunter- "Last year she didn't make us clean the toilets and now she does."

Michela- "That's because last year we were stupid babies who didn't know how to do anything."

Tiffany and I are trying to hold in the laughter.

Hunter- "Well, she's evil because she makes us do her chores."

I couldn't hold it in any longer, so I chimed in, "I don't pee on your toilet seat do I? I'm the one who cleans your toilet seat and I'm not the one who pees on it." (They just scrub the bowl right now with the toilet brush and I wipe the toilet down.)

I hear a gasp and then they start laughing.

I had to laugh, how could I not? At first I was a little hurt that I always seem to come off as the big meanie parent. Why is it that the Mom always ends up as the witch and the Dad is the do no wrong parent? When he is home he is always asking them to help clean up and do little jobs, but the blame always comes down on me. I guess I'd rather come off as the bad cop and teach my children to be responsible and self sufficient than be their "best buddy" and have to take care of them for the rest of their lives.

I read this really great book a few years ago called "The Parenting Breakthrough" by Merrilee Browne Boyack and it has this plan to teach your kids to be independent. I really loved a lot of the ideas in the book. When my kids move away from home I want to know that they will be able to take care of themselves and will appreciate the value of hard work. I still have a long way to go but I know I'm truly helping my kids when I teach them how to clean a toilet and how to manage their money. Maybe I'll have to be the bad guy for a little while, but I think it's worth it.

Winter Preggo Outfit

It's supposed to be Spring around here, but Winter isn't ready to back down yet. We've had cold and some snow the last week so I've had to keep the Winter wardrobe in rotation. This outfit is super comfy and has a little 80's vibe to it.

None of the articles of clothing in this outfit are maternity. The sweater is from Old Navy (love the cowl neck), the long sleeve white T from Gap, and the jeans are from Old Navy, ones I made into maternity jeans. The boots are from DSW. I got them about a month ago and love, love, LOVE them! I always feel a little bit sassy when I put them on.

Easter Egg Dying

We ran out of time on Saturday so we decided to dye Easter Eggs Sunday morning. We made some custom colors, like purple, turquoise, neon green, dark pink and sunset orange. Chase kept cracking me up calling the orange "sunset orange" everytime he wanted to use it. I let them draw on the eggs with crayons first and then set them loose. They had lots of fun experimenting with rubberbands and different colors.

Easter Egg Hunts

We started off Easter a week early with dinner and an Easter Egg Hunt at Grandma and Grandpa's. Megan was in town for the week so Peggy decided to hold Easter early while her family was still there. She and Lynette went all out again with tons of Easter Eggs and fun goodies in their baskets.

All the cousins had a lot of fun searching for the Easter Eggs that the Dads had hidden. With the growing number of grandkids the number of eggs has grown as well. Mike decided to decorate the trees while Matt happily skipped along tossing eggs from his basket. Here are the kids with their full baskets. And our annual picture of those in attendance.

We had a wonderfully low key celebration on Easter Sunday. The Easter bunny left eggs and baskets for the kids down in our basement. Aria was so excited, each egg garnered a little squeal. Chase was zooming around so fast I could hardly get a picture of him. We made Hunter and Michela work a little harder this year. Their eggs were a little harder to reach and see. Poor Michela had the hardest time finding her basket, but when she did she quickly started filling it with eggs. Once they were done they all broke open their eggs and started munching on their candy. Hunter is such a silly kid. Of course there were new books in their baskets. It isn't much of a holiday in our house if there aren't new books involved. Aria enjoying her new book with Daddy. And Michela decided to try and learn how to juggle with her eggs.

The best part about Easter this year was the fact that it was General Conference as well. What a perfect way to spend the day relaxing while listening to all the inspired talks. I was especially grateful for the wonderful talks about the Savior and his atonement and resurrection. I was so thankful for the spiritual food we received that day.