i love him

Last night I was reading to Joe and as I was doing this he told me how beautiful I was.

I just want to say, it's nice to hear that. a n y t i m e.

Especially after wearing your hair on top of your head all day, and staying in frumpy work out cloths because you've been cleaning and chasing kids all day...

He makes me feel so good. and i love him

The first sighting of Santa!

We went to the town lighting on Wednesday and met Mrs. Clause. Santa's line had an hour wait, so we decided to wait to see Mrs. Clause instead who had a 20 minute wait. Plus we all know who is really in charge at the North Pole. She told us she'll let Santa know...so I'm sure he'll get the memo about what the girls want. Plus, I think they were more shocked then anything to be sitting on a strange lady's lap. It was fun though Ryah loved every second of all the manger scenes, the music, the hot coco, cookies and inflatable reindeer. Aubree didn't really know what to think. She was just glad to be outside. We had so much and and this time of year is the best! I love the cold weather and the Christmas lights! I hope everyone else is enjoying this time of year!

take time to breath

lately it feels like im always on the go with things that need to be done and house that needs to be clean.
i feel like my girls are always holding on to my legs while im doing the dishes or making dinner..
i feel like i cant shower or eat or get dressed without a little one climbing all over me.
i feel exhausted at the end of the day while thinking i got nothing done, why should i be tired?

i feel like a bad mom.

then today, i put all chores aside, and played with these two sweet gals all day long. It was a breath of fresh air. the weather was perfect, and it was nice to actually play with them instead of them begging to play with me. im so lucky to have these two by my side all the time.

Ryah is getting so big, last night joe was putting her to bed and she says, "dad your my princess" then giggled, she cracks us up, and has such a funny sense of humor. Aubree's two front teeth came it and has been a little cranky with more on the way. she's our sweet little angel and is trying to walk, she has taken a few steps, but gets scared and sits down slowly. I love watching them play together and laugh together. This morning Ryah woke up and Aubree and I were playing in the front room, and ryah say, "AUBREEEEE....and Aubree sprint crawls to her bed and stands at the edge of it just squilling so excitedly, waiting for ryah to crawl down and play with her. They are handfuls, but i feel so blessed to have them.

At the end of a day like today i feel like i will be ok. i have taken a breath, and let it out slowly, then realize what a blessing it is to have two beautiful daughters and a wicked hott husband who loves me :)

Yep, i would say im pretty lucky

slayer joe

This season was a good one for Joe. He got a nice elk and a huge bear. As for me, Joe's charm can talk me into just about anything. Yep, the second picture is our Sunday night activity, he talked me into butchering the elk with him...it changed my whole outlook on meat. it was pretty gross.

I'm pretty proud of Joe. he is amazing and can do just about everything. i kind of like him, even though he made me butcher his elk ( on our kitchen table).

i met some cool people yesterday

Last night I met Michael McLean...

For those of you who don't know him, look him up. He is an amazing musician who has written music and lyrics for 25 albums which have sold over a million copies. He has produced and directed several movies including Mr. Krueger's Christmas and has written four books with accompanying cds and one of those being The Forgotten Carols...to say he is talented would be an understatement. Joe calls him a big wig. and yep. i. met. him.

My mom and I went to A Nashville Tribute to the Prophet Joseph Smith yesterday (amazing) and he was there as a guest to the show. Anyway afterwards we were waiting to get some more tickets for later that night to another concert for Due West. Everyone had kinda piddled out the door and we were standing at the booth of merchandise. My mom had purchased a cd and wanted mr. mclean to sign it. As we were standing there I look to my left and Michael is standing there (looking up because i had 4 inch heels on) makes the coment, " you win the most fashionable dress for this eveing" ... and me, i have been listening to this man since I was like eight or nine, so i was absolutly undone. I thanked him and he started asking me if I was doing school and living in the area and what not, just like we were old buddies. And I told him how I live in Snowflake with my husband and have two kids, a 2 year old and an 10 mo. old and he just looked at me strangly. Then looked at my mom and started asking her questions...like so this is your daughter? and my mom was like yep. youngest of seven... and he was like WHAT?! how can this be, you cant be a day over 32 and my mom was like uh... nope deffinatly a few days over 32... and then they started talking about grandbabies, and he asked mom how many she had, and when she told him 17, he just about died. His exact words were, " I gotta sit down to process this". so he sits down and he turns back to me and says, " you look so young, I thought you just started having kids when you were like 15/16... this explains this a bit, your mom looking so young, i just thought.." then he trailed off and was just being so nice, it was so fun to talk to him because everyone else had left and he was just hanging out. I do have to agree with him though my mom looks awesome! And I'll take the most fashionable award from him anyday since he knows his stuff! Skinny jeans with blue scrounched high heels with a black peacoat on with a belt around the waist must be in. haha. Thank you M. McLean for making my day. It was so fun to meet you and such an honor.

Then I met the man who wrote the songs for A Nashville Tribute to Joseph Smith Jason Deere. And the beautiful talented woman who sings the emma song Kathrine Neilson. These people are so talented and amazing!

Then Joe, my mom and I went to the Due West concert. met those dudes. If you like country, definatly test them out. They are really good. we went up to the front stage and started dancing and joe bet mom to get on stage and dance with them...and my mom being so brave got up there and started dancing! She cracks me up. They will be big, soon. they really are good, the singer is AMAZING and they are very entertaining. They have a cd out and im pretty sure they have a couple songs getting started on the radio.

the worst part of it all is i have zero pictures. but if you get a chance look up Michael McLean, A Nashville Tribute to the Prophet and Due West. You'll never regret it. It was a good day of music yesterday. Thanks mom for letting me in on the news of it all coming to town.

maybe next post i'll have pictures:)

meeting my expectations.

These are the family pictures Kate took once again for us. She is amazing. This is my family, these are our attitudes. Ryah can seriously give a d.i.r.t.y look I tell you(pic 4). Aubree is always happy. Joe is always a great guy. and I am always trying to keep us in line. I love my family so much. Those two girls are the greatest blessing to Joe and I. They are always so so fun. Thank you Kate for capturing us as we are. I love you! Family pictures are the best.

two.

My sweet Ryah Jane has turned two. I can't believe how old she is...she really is growing up so so fast. It has been so fun to see her funny personality. She cracks Joe and I up on a daily basis. Her birthday party was so fun, all her cousins came to celebrate and Jackie let us use her beautiful/fun backyard. The weather was perfect and the food was delicious.

Ryah came to us June 22 2008. It was a long hard labor. Her heart rate kept dropping and was so slow and faint the nurses sometimes couldn't find it. I never felt so helpless and said so many prayers. But Ryah is a fighter and made it safely to us that evening. I am so greatful for this sweet little girl. I love her with all of my heart. She keeps me on my toes and laughing all day. I hope she knows how much I love her, and how much her daddy loves her. Hope you had a wonderful birthday Ryah!

here she come!

This little sweet girl is loving life here, she is getting to such a fun age!


Our house is up and going! It is so exciting.. I love this tiny little place that we will be able to call home. These pictures are a few days old, so it even further along then this right now. The plumbing work is being installed and Joe is getting the electrical things together. I will be posting pictures of the home every few days so we can see the progress. It has been so nice to be here and the weather is so nice. The wind finally died down, but i'm sure it will be back (as always). There are four bedrooms and one bathroom. Can't wait to show you more!!

so long

We did it, we are officially moved up to Snowflake! It has been so fun so far, I already really miss the friends I have made in Mesa, but hopefully someday I will see them again. As far as our house, it is already getting started, the footers are dug, the inspection has passed, the pipes are lined out and they are filling the footers today/tomorrow. I am so excited to be here. We have amazing family members here, and I love being with them. I love that my best friends are my family. It makes things so swell.
Ryah is always caked in mud, candy, and sand. She loves it here. I love watching her just play in the sand and relaxing, not having to worry if she is going to run out to the street or get stolen from me. She has been so cute and wonderful through the move. She is now in a "big girls bed", and so proud of herself.
Aubree has been pretty good as well, shes getting used to sleeping in the crib. She still doesn't sleep to well. Actually she sleeps worse now that we have moved. Hopefully she gets better so I can get some sleep at night. She loves being here too, so far we are mostly outside and enjoying the weather (minus the wind). Ryah is always talking about Camryn, Levi, Clair, and Kloey, anytime we get in the car she says one of their names... She has already made some friends here and loves them too.
As for Joe, he has been the best husband, father, everything ever. He is seriosly my best friend and I love him so much. I am so proud of him for getting into school here... and working so hard so we can live comfortably. He is a million good things. He is just like a little boy here, so full of life and enthusiasm. Thank goodness he keeps me going. We miss all our friends and can't wait until you all come to visit us! We truely loved getting to know you!

sweet aubree kate

This is sweet Aubree.
This was her sweet day.
She had a beautiful blessing given to her by her father.
We love you Aubree Kate!
You are such a sweet joy to us.
(two months ago)




Sweet Ryah Jane

This is sweet ryah.
she is my pal.
we have lots of fun together.
she is so loving and talks in complete sentences.
Yep, shes already outsmarting me.

...and please help me not to go insane.

so these really were the last words of my bedtime prayers.

i feel like im going to go crazy!

I am potty training Ryah and yes... it really is that bad. It is so frustrating cleaning up so many messes! its been 2 and a half days and she's gone in the toilet twice. and she pees 7 to 8 times between her nap schedule...so you can see how many messes im cleaning up. ( and thats not including the poop.) Being a mom is tough stuff. I am tottaly up for suggestions!

Please... someone help me.

the way i've been doing it: putting her in panties only, and letter her run around in them. When she pees in the toilet she gets a treat, when she pees in her panties, she gets her bum sprayed off with cold water.

Does it get better?
Does it take a long time for them to get it?
Is she too young? Too old? (22 months)
Am I doing this right?
help?

family outing

Alright...i know this happened a long time ago, but Joe keeps asking me if I've blogged about it yet.. sooo here I am..

There I was...covered in camouflage
8 months pregnant
Ryah on my hip
and
bow in hand...

our little family chugging along on the four wheeler in payson, then we saw this nice little heard of four cows run across the road, so i gradually lift my leg over my pregnant belly and off the four wheeler. Joe tells me the distance and the sight to shoot. I pull my bow back with a steady arm. aim. fire.

When I shot they all ran off, Joe tells me to get back on the quad, so i listen, not knowing what else to do.. I tell Joe, " I think I hit it Joe!" He doesn't belive me... he say, "lets move up a little further wait ten minutes and come back." I kept repeating "I'm pretty sure i hit it!" I guess he couldn't see because he still wasn't believeing me. By this time night fell and we turned around 10 minutes later. We go back to the hill the cows were on and blood e.v.e.r.y.w.h.e.r.e Joe finally starts getting excited. it was so cute to see him so excited. He was throwing his arms up like YES CHELSEA YOU HIT IT! and I was just like... joe i was trying to tell you this... haha ANYWAY... I hit it strait throught he heart, then right into the lung. killled her with my first shot. Found her about 20-30 yards away.. and she was HUGE..and the meat is acutally really good. Joe did a really good job skinning it, hanging it, cutting it and then finally packageing it up for us. He is a man of many many talents. So if any of you ever need help cutting up an elk/deer for packaging, he is really good at it:)

So as you can see in the pictures, Ryah LOVED the elk.. She kept saying it was asleep. haha poor thing.. and that picture of it in the back of joes truck shows you how big it is. It really was huge. And then Aubree was born 2 weeks later.. haha the joys of being married to joe:)

what a fun family outing.

making its rounds

Funny that t.h.i.s. very photo has made it to:

1.ESPN

2.Arizona Republic (TWICE)

and...

3. A Billboard on I 10

W.O.A.H W.O.A.H W.O.A.H

Even funnier that is it keeps re-appearing after 3 long years.
yep, its been three years since this photo and it finally made its rounds to a huge billboard on I 10... The publicists must really like this photo.

or they really just like their friendly faces.
I..personally like Joe's body:)

Maybe this is what our next family photo will look like.
JKJKJKJKJKJK

sleep less, hear more

last night was funny.
as i was up feeding Aubree Joe rolls over and mumbles:

"i don't play with Lucifer"

me: "what?"

He sits up and answers in a more demanding, louder voice...

"I SAID, I DON'T PLAY WITH LUCIFER".

he then rolls back over to his other side and snuggles into his pillow...

Well, at least i know now that joe doesn't mess or should i say "play" with nasty ol' lucifer...
what a relief...I was prety worried about it

I have found it amusing to hear joe sleep talking. I love that boy