Gingerbread Houses

Last night for FHE we made gingerbread houses. We have done it the last 3 years and we really have a lot of fun. Making the actual gingerbread is not fun! I always have pieces break but I just glue them back together with royal frosting and man that stuff works like liquid nail! This was Audra's first time and she loved it! Corynn totally ran with it this year, she told me where to pipe the frosting and she went to work. Alli had fun too although her main concern was how much candy she was allowed to eat. Because of the amount of candy consumed last night I told them they'd all be sick in the morning and no more candy for them until Christmas! No one was sick this morning so I might have to play the cavity card.

Fun Weekend

So I turned the BIG 30 on Thursday. I have to say turning 30 was easier than 29...I don't know how that works either but oh well. My niece Brieanna came up that day so she watched the girls while Hyrum took me out and I'm so glad he did because we had a great time(except for the photo enforcement zone we flew through...I looked great that night so I'm sooo not worried!)Thanks Babe for a great time! Then the rest of my girls(Mom, Jay and Stef)came up to celebrate my birthday...okay so they came up for NEW MOON and our 2nd monthly girls night that we started last month:) Mom acts like she doesn't have any idea what the whole Twilight saga is about so she stayed home with Hyrum and the girls while my good friends Donna and Misty, and sisters Stef and Jay, my niece Brie and I went to the movie. We had a great time. Thanks for coming ladies.

Halloween

Dorthy, JoJo, and a Lady bug

Alli's star isn't so spooky is it?

Since the trunk or treat was just around the corner we let them all ride in the back with Aunt Shea aka "Thing 3"

Word to the wise, buckle up your lady bugs or they will get loose in your car.

Papa and Grandma Cottrell came up yesterday afternoon and had Halloween with us. Uncle Jared and Aunts Miranda and Shea came up too. We were excited to see Uncle Jared, haven't seen him for a long time since he's been sailing around the world doing Navy stuff. We went to our ward's trunk or treat/dinner and had some smokin' hot chili and cornbread and had a good time. Then we got back to the house, bathed the kids and put them to bed, then raided their candy buckets and tried to find a good Halloween movie on but there wasn't any! (Dish Network stinks) So we put a movie of ours on and all fell asleep. We missed our annual family Halloween get together this year! All the cousins on the Cottrell side would come up to Tucson and trick or treat in our neighborhood and eat pizza. I missed seeing all the cute little kiddos in their costumes! We're going to have to figure something out next year guys so all the cousins can get together again!

BRRRR!!!

In my prayers last night I prayed for rain...woke up this morning to SNOW!

"The Host" a movie?

Did anyone else catch the news that Stephenie Meyer's The Host is going to be made into a movie? Pretty cool.

Let me do my puzzles in peace!

Hadn't heard from her for a while so I went looking for her and this is where I found her. I asked her why she was doing her puzzles in the driveway and not at the table and she told me she was tired of Audra climbing up on the table and taking her pieces.

Quick trip

Hyrum had to meet with some clients down south so the girls and I went along and we were able to stay a couple days down in St.David. We had a good time visiting our families. Corynn had a lunch date with cousin Carly and Grandma in her classroom. I don't think I got a serious picture of them the whole time, goofs! Grandma Sharon made playdough one afternoon for the girls and it made their day, they thought Grandma was the coolest!

Sweet Corn Festival

There are alot of farmers here in Taylor and one of their main crops is Sweet Corn thus the festival. They start off with a parade then head to the Rodeo grounds for the festival, rodeo, and to buy and eat corn in every imaginable way of course. Papa Sam and Grandma Jeannine stopped by for the parade on their way to camp in Alpine. Right after the parade though, the skies opened and gave us a rather nasty rain storm. However, the people of Taylor don't let a little rain spoil their day. The festival went on under tents and so we took the kids over to see what it was like. I'm glad we did they had a blast even though it was wet and COLD!

Outstanding Citizen

Corynn recieved the "Outstanding Citizenship Award" at school. She was the only one in her class to recieve it. They made a really big deal out of it. Had her stand infront of the whole school, sang the school song, invited Hyrum and I and took our family's picture. When I picked her up from school later on that afternoon I told her that if she got that award again the Principal would give her a Taco Bell gift certificate, she said,"Oh! I hope I don't get that award again then! I don't like Taco Bell!" She's so funny, now she begins sentences with, "Now that I'm a citizen..." or "Being a citizen..." she's taking her award very seriously as she does most everything else.

Taylor Elementary School (K-3)

The "Outstanding Citizen"

We made her choice of dessert in her honor

Teething

I walked into the living room and this is how I found my poor kiddo. She's been trying to cut 4 molars for the last 2 weeks and she is miserable. She's also a major drooler right now. My other two gals weren't big droolers nor did it take them long to cut their teeth once they started but Audra likes to do things her way I guess. At least we're getting some good snuggles out of her this week.

First Day of 1st Grade!

Today was Corynn's first day of school. She's been so excited for school to start. We got to her school and found her class room and met her teacher and got her things put away in her desk and then I found myself having a hard time leaving her! Maybe its easier to leave them when they get to 2nd grade! Allison sure was lost without Corynn here all day. Poor thing moped around all day saying, "I miss Corynn." We got to the bus stop around 2:30 (ten minutes early...didn't want to miss her) should of known I was overly paranoid when all the other mothers in the neighborhood casually walked up 10 minutes late. Then got very worried as I saw child after child get off the bus except for mine! So before the bus driver could shut the door I jumped on the bus and scanned a million(seriously had to have been a million) little toothless faces looking for the one that belonged to me and there she was just sitting there watching the other kids who were watching me the crazy lady calling out her name. Whew! She was indeed on the right bus so I gave the bus driver a quick "everything is okay, I'm not crazy smile" as I jumped off the bus in time to get a shot of her getting off the bus. She's giving me a "what is wrong with you mom?" look. I asked her how her first day was and she told me she had a lot more recesses than she did in Kindergarten and she liked the lunch I packed her. She said class was a little boring because she had to read words she already learned last year, I informed her that the first few days are usually a review of the previous year and that she'd be learning new things soon. She's obviously not my kid, I'm all about the easy stuff!

Good bye training wheels!

Hyrum has really worked hard with Corynn for the last 2 days helping her get the hang of riding without training wheels. It has been along time coming poor thing. I worked with her here and there but was never consistent. Hyrum decides 2 days ago that it was time and WA-LA!!! She's riding on her own! Maybe because he has a lot more patience and was willing to run beside her for miles with his arm out waiting to prevent any major crashes. Corynn was thrilled when the neighbor kids came out to watch her progress(all bike riders at age 2 no doubt, they've moved on to dirt bikes and quads). After she got the hang of it she told me that she was relieved because she was worried that she'd be the only first grader that couldn't ride a bike with out training wheels! Broke my heart! But I'm very happy for her and proud of both her and her Dad. GOOD JOB GUYS!

Pioneer Day Celebration

This weekend was the Pioneer Day celebration. It was kind of a re-run of the 4th only they had a parade in Snowflake that was a lot of fun. Thanks for saving us a great spot Hipps! There were some fun floats and we even saw a motorized garbage can!When the Elders came along the kids were kinda disapointed they didn't have any candy to give them! We went to an arts and crafts fair at the park after the parade where the kids played and I got a ton of fun new ideas for quilting, baby things, girlie hair things, signs and soooo much more I can't wait to get started except that I have to wait because there aren't any Michael's or JoAnn's around!!! I'll be visiting Tucson or the Valley soon! Anyhoo, we opted not to go to the rodeo(it was CRAZY WINDY as Corynn calls it) and played a rousing game of kickball in the back yard after dinner instead while we waited for the fireworks to start. Our block wall obstructed our view so we had to take our blankets and pillows and climb in the back of Hyrum's truck so we could watch the fireworks. We had a really fun day with the girls.

4th of July

My parents, sister Ronda, and niece Breianna came up to visit us on the 4th. We went to the Taylor B-B-Q and Rodeo which was a lot of fun. The girls had never been to a rodeo so they loved it. Corynn was a little worried when they started the calf roping. She wasn't too sure about the calves once they were roped and not moving. Aunt Ronda assured her that the calves were fine and having a lot of fun...hmmm lets move on shall we? We watched the fireworks following the rodeo and even managed to squeeze in a short Birthday Party for Grandma Jeannine. I forgot my camera for the festivities mentioned above but did manage to snap one of the Birthday girl and a few of her many, many "grandgirls". Happy Birthday to Aunt Alisa too!

Summer Regionals 2009 - Flagstaff

So we got out of town this weekend and headed over (and up) to Flagstaff for summer regionals with Hyrum's firm. Regionals is when the whole region of brokers get together which Hyrum goes to through out the year but the whole family gets to come along for the summer one. Every year they send us some where different. Since we moved recently, we are in a new region so we were kind of nervous (okay, I was nervous) to meet the new families but just like our last one our new region is full of wonderful families. This year we went to Flagstaff and had a very nice time. While the FA's and spouses were in meetings Friday afternoon they had movies, games, face painting and other activities for the kids. That night at the welcome dinner they had more activities for the kids so of course none of them actually ate dinner.
Saturday Hyrum had meetings so the girls and I ate breakfast then went swimming, and to a park my mom used to take me to when I was a kid when we'd go to Flagstaff a couple weeks out of the summer. When the meetings were over the whole Edward Jones group went up to the AZ Snow Bowl to ride the sky ride up the San Fransisco Peaks. The whole family couldn't ride in one seat so we split up with Hyrum and Audra in one and Corynn, Alli and I in another. Well, 2 mins into it Audra kicked off a shoe(brand new of course) chucked her sippy overboard along with her snacks to keep her busy. After some brief protesting, she snuggled in for a nap. One of the families saw the trail she left on their way down and retrieved them for us. Anyway! It was a peaceful ride up to the tallest point in AZ. Saturday night we had the usual formal dinner and awards banquet. Sunday we decided to swing over to the Grand Canyon since we were so close. The girls loved it and we all decided we'd like to hike down it when the girls are a little older, mainly Audra the un-potty trained of the bunch.

Massive Mallows

Has anyone seen these anywhere else or did they just send a billion boxes of a failed product to Taylor, AZ? When Aunt Janelle was visiting last weekend she couldn't resist buying these at our local Basha's for the girls. Of course the girls love them and are still eating them a week later. For being a week old, they are still very soft and chewy. The pink ones are strawberry (in case you were wondering).



Has anyone seen these anywhere else or did they just send a billion boxes of a failed product to Taylor, AZ? When Aunt Janelle was visiting last weekend she couldn't resist buying these at our local Basha's for the girls. Of course the girls love them and are still eating them a week later. For being a week old, they are still very soft and chewy. The pink ones are strawberry (in case you were wondering).

POW WOW...WOW!

This last weekend we took the girls over to Hondah (Apache Indian Reservation) to see their Annual Pow Wow in the Pines event. Traditional Indian dancers come from all over to sing and dance and such. The girls loved it. Hyrum and I were amazed at the number of dancers there were. They ranged from Old men to babies. Quite a show!

Greetings from the White Mountains!

We are somewhat settled here in Taylor. To me the newcomer, I don't know when I'm in Taylor or when I'm in Snowflake aside from the helpful little signs that inform you when you're in one or the other. But we found a cute little rental house in Taylor until we figure out where we want to build or buy. Thank you Donna for having a moving party ready to get us moved in! Talk about fast loading and unloading! I'm glad the move is over and we're back together as a family although I cringe when I think of packing it all back up in a year to move again to a permanant residence. In the meantime however, we are enjoying the peaceful, quiet, and considerably cooler community we are now living in. On Sunday we walked to church! Thats right, we literaly live across the street from church. Aunts "Nelly" and Stef came up right away to visit this weekend to see where the heck we took off to so fast! We loved their visit and hope to see them again soon. Chris and Sarah's family came up too for a quick visit. So anyway I'm still trying to get used to it all but so far so good.

This is our house for the time being. We love having grass in the front and back yard! Although when Hyrum mowed this weekend it took a lot longer than 10 minutes. Just one of the side yards here is bigger than our yard in Tucson. The girls are in heaven!

Graduation and a Drive-in

VROOOOM!


They all signed eachothers caps, cute!

Yesterday Corynn graduated from Kindergarten! We got the grad a new dress and earings to wear to the event and she looked beautiful. They sang 3 very cute songs and got their deplomas. Today they had a Drive-in movie for their last day. Their final homework was to make a car to take to their Drive-in. She told me she wanted a red sports car. I constructed and she painted. I think it turned out great! The kids had a blast "driving" to the library to watch the disney movie Cars. We will miss Desert Willow school and especially Mrs. Kaufman, she was a fabulous teacher! This is my last post for a while I'm sure so next time I'll be posting from Snowflake!