Beagley Family

A K party and Christmas

2011-12-29T20:10:00.007-07:00

Kirsten decided she wanted a "K" like Jannika's J party so I tried to come up with K things to do but it just wasn't as easy so it ended up being a Hello Kitty/Princess party. The girls made wands and crowns and we had a K cupcake cake.

We did the nativity for our ward party and Claire kept telling me that she didn't want to be an angel or a shepherd; she wanted to be a sheep. Well, luckily someone brought some sheep costumes for this girl and her cousin. They were the cutest little sheep:)

This is Jannika's school program. They did really well singing and dancing to "Up on the Housetop." There is pic of Claire's school program at the bottom. We were so proud of her doing her parts since she doesn't really love to perform.

Here is Christmas day after Church. We had a great Christmas and we hope you did too!

A broken arm and Conference packets

2011-09-28T08:10:00.003-07:00

My poor little babe broke her arm last Friday. She fell in one of our window wells and Kyle and I were standing right there but we weren't able to catch her before she fell. Kyle jumped down in the window well and picked her up and we knew immediately it was broken. She cried for a while but then was calm and even smiling. She was so good at the hospital even though we had to wait 5 hours before they could set it because they needed to put her out but she had eaten too recently. We are so glad that it wasn't worse and that she didn't hit her head or need pins in her arm etc. We are so blessed!

We went to the dinosaur museum the next day so here she is in her temporary cast and sling. The kids all loved the museum especially digging in the sand for bones:)

Last, I have a conference idea from Sugardoodle.net. Make conference packets, one for each of the 12 and the first presidency and put a picture on each bag. When that person is speaking your kids can do that activity or eat that snack. I organized a bunch of my friends so that we will put the bags together and each of us will bring an activity and a snack for each of the kids in the group:

7 moms in the group

15 kids (not including kids under age 2)

Each mom brings 15 ziploc bags (one for each of the 12 and first presidency)

Each mom also brings 15 snacks and 15 activities (I will do an extra one of each because that only makes 14)

Anywho, you could still organize this if you wanted to or just make 15 bags yourself.

Claire's first day and a recipe

2011-09-15T10:45:00.003-07:00

My babe had her first day of preschool. She rides the bus like a champ and loves school! Some things about this girl: She still likes yellow but also has other favorite colors, she loves macaroni cheese and going to the library. She has also learned to do puzzles really well. There's a puzzle at my mom's that she will sit and do over and over again! She is such a sweet girl:)

Fruit Salad

1 banana

1 apple

1 white nectarine

Grapes, blueberries or whatever you have

1 container vanilla yogurt

Cut and mix.

I have been making this salad a lot lately and we all love it!

There she goes

2011-08-31T08:45:00.003-07:00

My number 2 is off to kindergarten! She was sooo ready for school and sooooooooo excited for it! Her teacher is Mrs. Story and she goes in the afternoon. She has loved picking out her clothes for each day and of course always picks a skirt:) She started on Monday and after school she said it was a good day but, "they are teaching things I already know like my letters and my numbers"! Then last night she said our family prayer and was going along saying, "we're thankful for... and for... and that I don't care if my teacher teaches stuff I already know"!! What a funny girl!

Some things about my Kirsten:

She taught herself how to read and loves to read everything she sees
She gave a great talk in Primary last week about her favorite scripture story: David and Goliath

She loves to wear skirts
She loves stuffed animals and has to sleep with ALL of them

She is very caring and considerate

We love her so much!

Hanging on to Summer!

2011-08-24T09:36:00.007-07:00

I guess I better do an update of our whole summer because I haven't posted since school ended and I can't believe it's already time for school again! We had lots of fun this summer. This was our fourth of July camping trip. The kids really like fishing with Kyle, especially Jannika.

Fourth of July parade and riding the train at the park.

We also played a lot with friends and cousins and had a visit from our good friends that live in Wisconsin. So glad we got to see you guys!

Claire and her friend, Slade who lives next door. My kids spent tons of time playing with Slade and his brothers outside riding bikes and playing in the DIRT and MUD. I guess that's what summer's for!

Jan started 3rd grade this morning. She was so excited; she came into our room at 5:45 this morning wondering if she could start getting ready!

May Happenings

2011-06-02T15:11:00.006-07:00

I got started posting pictures and realized that a lot of stuff happened in May! On the 3rd, my lovely Jannika turned 8. This is her flower cake (the easiest cake ever)! She, of course, had a flower themed party where everyone had to wear as many flowered things that they had. I had some activities planned for them but mostly they wanted to jump on the trampoline since it was such a nice day. Incidentally, it was the one of maybe 3 nice days in May so that was lucky! Some random things about Jannika: she loves to read and draw, especially dress designs and horses. She is Kyle's right-hand kid. She goes with him everywhere, to put up flags with the scouts, to do ward service projects, fathers and sons outings, etc. She is a wonderful girl!

Claire had her end of the year program and actually got up and performed with the other kids! I was so proud of her.

Next was Kirsten's program where she was given a jump rope for being the most excited-jumping-up-and-down kid. She does tend to jump around a lot especially when she's excited:)

Jannika and her cousin, Kaylee got to be on the same soccer team this year. Good thing their teams weren't super competitive because these girls were pretty laid back about the whole thing...but it was a good experience for them:)

Then came Jannika's end of the year program. She was a dragonfly and did very well with her memorized line.

The best part of May was Jannika's baptism. We planned a program with her cousin, Kaylee and it worked out really nicely. Thanks family and friends who attended! It was a wonderful day.

A Birthday and a House

2011-04-07T11:22:00.006-07:00

Our new kitchen. Yay! More house pics are at the end of this post.

Claire's birthday was on the 5th. She has been so excited for her birthday and wanted a Dora castle cake. She has always loved yellow and so I shouldn't have needed to ask her what color she wanted it because of course she wanted "yeyyow"! This girl is getting so big. She is talking so much now and finally mimics things that we say. She started preschool last week. We had her tested becuase of her language delay and they accepted her into the school district preschool. She is supposed to ride the bus but only rode it one day when I rode with her. But she does love school and does really well there. They had picture day today and when the guy showed her her picture on the computer screen she said, "wow, me pretty!" She is also starting to get potty trained. We made a chart for her and she has really wanted to go to the swimming pool so we made that her reward for filling out her chart. Her favorite things right now are the pool, yogurt, fish crackers, polka dots and yellow.

This is a before and after of some signs I made for our house. I found them on clearance at our local grocery store and I love how they turned out!

Now some more pics of the house. We got to move in the week of March 20th and it is so nice to be moved in. One of my friends said that when she moved into her new house it felt weird like it didn't feel like home. I think just the opposite. This felt exactly like home to me. (Maybe it's because I can see my family's old junk yard from my back window;)

House Update

2011-02-24T10:32:00.004-07:00

Well, our house is coming along and we just can't wait to move in! All of the exterior is done and the interior painting, trim doors etc are done. The only things left are tile, kitchen and bathroom cabinets, carpet and fixtures! The picture above is the archway into our front room. The one below is the kitchen (with a corner pantry) and the dining room. We are hoping to be in by mid- March!

The Food Nanny!

2011-02-14T12:35:00.002-07:00

For our Valentine's date last Saturday, Kyle and I got to meet the Food Nanny! I don't know how many of you have heard of her but she has a TV show through BYU-TV where she goes to people's houses to help them with their dinnertime. I have been watching her show lately and was so excited that she was coming down! She has some great ideas about meal planning and making dinnertime a priority. Basically, she shows people how to make a theme for each day of the week (i.e. Monday-Comfort Food, Tuesday-Italian etc) and then make a two week menu plan based on your themes. She is such a fun lady. Thanks for the date, honey;) You can go to her website to get recipes and ideas at www.thefoodnanny.org.

Our House!

2011-01-12T17:14:00.005-07:00

It is so fun to see our house going up next door! We even have a great aerial view from the upstairs of our house. I'm sure the workers think I'm a weirdo whenever I go up there and take pictures, but oh, well:) Here's the basement about a week ago.

These three were all taken TODAY! The one above was at 8:00 this morning the next one at noon and the last one at 5:00. It's is so crazy how fast they can put up a house!

A Merry Little Christmas

2010-12-29T09:39:00.006-07:00

Kirsten's Christmas program was on the 15th and she did a great job! Her part was the star on top of the tree. But can you tell from the next two pictures what she really wanted to be? But she bucked up and played the star anyway:) It made her feel better when we decided maybe she could be a bunny for Halloween next year.

Some Christmas Eve jammy photos. As soon as Kyle got out the camera they all started dancing around and posing. Jannika is usually goofy like this but it was so funny to see Kirsten and Claire get into it!

The morning finally came! Some favorite presents: a doctor's kit, a BB gun for Jannika (no, she hasn't shot her eye out:), a scooter for Kirsten, a new baby doll and doll swing for Claire and of course, Pillowpets! They have all loved their pillowpets! It was a great Christmas.

Ahoy, Mateys!

2010-12-08T15:31:00.005-07:00

I asked Kirsten what she wanted to do for her birthday party a few weeks ago and she wasn't sure but she did want to invite boys. Sooooo, no princess girly party:) We decided to do a pirate party. Huge success! We delivered pirate map invitations that were burnt around the edge and rolled up and put in a bottle. We asked the kids to wear a striped shirt or any other pirate stuff that they had. The day of the party, I went on a treasure hunt of my own to find some piratey things for the picture backdrop. I had the door in my house already and I horked the chest from my mom's house and then I had to go to Price and was gone for a few hours. When I got back, my awesome sister, LeAnne, had found all the rest of the stuff and set it up in my house! So now are we glad my dad never threw anything away? Yeah, because this was a pretty awesome setup. And LeAnne was so creative to come up with all the stuff!

I made the hooks with a paper cup and a piece of cardboard cut out like a hooked and covered with tinfoil. When the kids came, they decorated their hats and then we took a picture of each of them by the piratey stuff.

We had this ship cake and the kids went on a treasure hunt and their treasure was a little tin box shaped like a treasure chest that I had painted brown filled with root beer barrels, chocolate coins and candy necklaces.

P.S. If you want to do a party like this I can send you a copy of the invitation I used and give you info on how I made the cake, etc. Also, it is hard to find chocolate coins unless you order them online or buy them at Christmastime. I found mine at Walmart in the Christmas candy section. I also found the tin boxes at the dollar store and they were Christmasy. In other words, you might want to buy some of the stuff now if you want to find those items at a store.

Turkey Day

2010-11-29T17:37:00.004-07:00

We had two great Thanksgiving dinners, one on Thursday and one on Saturday. Kyle's family came down and we had lots of fun making these apple turkeys. It was a great activity to keep the kids busy while we got the food ready. We have so much to be thankful for and I am glad that we have a holiday that reminds us of that:)

We celebrated Kirsten's birthday too. It was yesterday. I remember being big prego with her 5 years ago when Kyle's family came to Logan for Thanksgiving when we lived there. Now she's a big 5 year old!

Got $3 and 30 minutes?

2010-11-08T10:31:00.010-07:00

I was so excited about this I just had to post it! I found this website the other day called naptimecrafters.blogspot.com and saw this dress and I HAD to make it! I didn't have any sweaters I wanted to cut up so I went to DI and bought this one for $3. I followed her instructions and in 30 (yes, 3-0 minutes) I cut out and sewed this dress. It was so easy!
On the instructions she cuts hers into two pieces and gathers the bottom. I liked the idea of just having one piece and having it straight and flared a bit on the bottom.
Some tips:
I laid out another one of Claire's dresses on top of this one (make sure it is a jumper so you can cut the armholes the right size) and cut around it.
If you have a taller/older child you will need to get a longer sweater or buy two of the same sweater on clearance or something.
I couldn't find a long sleeved sweater that I liked but if you want the sleeves longer, you will obviously want to buy a long sleeved sweater.
You may want to look at the care instructions on the tag because I didn't and only later realized this is dry clean only. Boo. But, hopefully they won't be doing anything too messy in nursery:)

October

2010-10-31T17:41:00.007-07:00

Just thought I'd show you this picture of Claire. It's so funny when kids put on random clothes! What a funny kid!

Jannika got to be a junior cheerleader at one of our high school football games this month. They let all the elementary kids do it if they wanted to and Jannika definitely wanted to! She picked up on the cheers really fast and had a lot of fun.

These are my little cuties on Halloween. Claire was Dorothy, Kirsten was a witch, those are pretty obvious;) and Jannika was an ice cream cone (with whipped cream on top). I already had Kirst and Claire's costumes but Jannika wasn't sure what she wanted to be. I saw this costume in a magazine and decided to try to make it. Yikes! I bought the fabric and started to sew it on my mom's machine and her machine did all sorts of weird things and the thread kept breaking. I was so frustrated with it that I gave up. Later that day I picked it up and tried to keep going on it again. Well anyway, finally I finished it and it actually fit and looked pretty cute!

School!

2010-09-19T17:51:00.003-07:00

Jannika started school about a month ago and is loving it. She's in 2nd grade and they have finally split her class so there are only 15 kids in her class instead of 30. She has lost a bunch of teeth lately and got a new haircut for school.

Kirsten also got a new haircut and new glasses for school. Actually, we had lost her other ones but we figured she was due for some new ones anyway. The day after we bought the new ones, we found the old ones on a fencepost at my sister's house! Of all the random places! She is doing a second year of preschool. She has informed me lately that she is going to be a paleontologist (did I even spell that right?) when she grows up so that she can "dig up dinosaur bones and put them together with glue." What a funny kid!

My little Claire-bear is my little shadow. She helps me with all my projects. She uses a lot of sign language in her communication and has started to say sentences with some verbal words and some signs like, "Daddy", then the sign for Grandma and the sign for house. Kyle and I have been doing tons of projects on my mom's house. More pics to come!

What's Cookin'?

2010-08-30T16:49:00.008-07:00

Okay, so maybe it's a little unfair to use other people's food pics but let's face the facts, they just look better and let's face another fact, I wasn't about to make ALL of these recipes today to take pictures of them. Anyhoo, here's what's usually cookin' at my house:

Quesadillas

tortillas
black beans
corn
cooked, diced chicken
shredded cheese
cilantro, chopped

Butter one side of each tortilla. Put buttered side down in heated skillet. Put on other toppings and other tortilla. Cook for a few minutes and then flip carefully with a spatula. Serve with guacamole and sour cream.

Stir Fry

2 packages ramen noodles (I usually use oriental flavor but chicken is good too)
1 package frozen sugar snap pea stir fry mix (found at Walmart) or fresh chopped veggies
Soy sauce

Stir fry veggies in oil. Boil ramen noodles and drain but do NOT add the seasoning packet. Add noodles to veggies and add 1/2 of seasoning packet and soy sauce to taste. Continue to stir fry until noodles are a little crunchy. Serve.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 box Spice Cake mix
1 12 oz can pumpkin
1/2 bag chocolate chips

Mix ingredients and put out on greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 for 8 minutes.

Ravioli Bake

Fresh or frozen ravioli (I buy frozen cheese ravioli)
Spaghetti sauce
Hamburger, cooked and drained
Mozarella cheese

Cook ravioli according to directions on package. (I love the frozen ravioli because it is cheaper and it only takes 3 min to cook in boiling water). Drain ravioli and add spaghetti sauce and hamburger. You can serve just like this or you can put it in an oven safe pan and top with cheese and cook until cheese is melted.

French Dip

1 loaf French bread

thin sliced roast beef

provolone cheese

1 Au Jus sauce mix

Slice French bread loaf lengthwise from the side (does that make sense?) Layer roast beef and cheese all along the loaf. Close the loaf and put on pan and warm in the oven. Mix Au Jus sauce (you can find the sauce mix packet by the gravy and other sauce mixes in the store). Slice the loaf and enjoy!

Garlic Chicken Farfalle

3-4 chicken breasts (boneless, skinless)

1 12 bottle Lawry's mesquite marinate with lime juice

16 oz Farfalle or other pasta

1/2 C butter

2 C heavy whipping cream

2 to 3 cloves garlic crushed (I just use about 1/2 tsp garlic powder)

1 C shredded Parmesan cheese

1 tsp pepper (the recipe calls for 1 Tbsp but I don't like pepper that much)

1 lb bacon crumpled

Crock pot chicken with marinade on low for 6 hours. Pull chicken out of the juices and shred with a fork. About a 1/2 hour before serving, boil pasta. In a small saucepan, melt butter, add garlic, whipping cream, pepper, cheese and crumpled bacon. Whisk together on low heat for 3-4 minutes. In a large bowl pour over cooked drained pasta, add chicken. Sprinkle more parmesan cheese on top.

This is a great dish for Sunday dinner since you can crock pot the chicken while you are at Church and whip up the rest when you get home. SOOOO good.

Tera's Fast Breadsticks

1 1/2 C warm water

2 Tbsp sugar

1 Tbsp yeast

3 C flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 C melted butter

garlic salt and parmesan cheese

Dissolve yeast and sugar in water. Add to flour and salt in mixer. Mix well. Let set for 10 minutes. Turn out on floured surface and knead in a little more flour. Roll out and cut dough into strips with a pizza cutter. Dip each strip in melted butter and put in 9x13 inch pan. Sprinkle with garlic and parmesan (I usually do 2 smaller pans and put parm and garlic on one and leave the other plain to dip in jam after they are done). Let raise 20 min. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes.

So that's some of what's cookin' at my house. What's cookin' at yours?

Pageant Season and President Uchtdorf

2010-08-20T12:34:00.008-07:00

We've had another great season of the Pageant. I wish we a better pic of our family and one that included Jannika. She was off playing with some other kids when we took this picture. She loved going to the pioneer village before the pageant begins. LeAnne made the homemade ice cream every night and we were all happy to help her with it:)

We had a special visitor to the Pageant this year. President Uchtdorf came one night a talked to the cast and the audience. It was so neat to see him up close and hear him talk and shake his hand. We've never had a member of the 1st Presidency come before so it was a special treat.

We went to Salt Lake this last week because Kyle had some training meetings. We got to stay with him in the hotel and on the last day we were there, we decided to walk the 4 blocks to Temple square. We went to the north visitor's center and saw the Cristus statue. I always love going there. We also saw a video about eternal families. In the video, the main character's dad dies and of course that brought tears to our eyes. Kyle invited a guy who isn't a member to attend the pageant this year. He had studied a lot about the Church and he and Kyle talk a lot about it at work. When Kyle asked him what he thought about the Pageant, he said that he hadn't known before what emphasis our Church places on eternal families. I'm glad that that was one of the messages that he received at the Pageant. We are so thankful for eternal families!

July

2010-08-02T11:24:00.006-07:00

For the fourth of July, we went down to Kyle's sister, Trista's house and did our traditional picnic with our hobo sticks. We also went to the park to see the parade and have some cotton candy. Rusty and Trista also blessed their baby the next day.

Kyle's sister, Megan, was getting rid of some things and sold us some bikes and this bike trailer. We have loved them! It is so nice to just use the bike trailer when we go down the street to visit grandma.
This was our 24th of July primary activity where the kids dressed up and did a little parade around the block. I love my little pioneer girls!
I love this picture of Kyle and Claire at the 24th of July parade! We had tons of fun and TONS of candy. The kids also caught two goldfish during the games at the park (both of which have since met their demise:( )

My brother's kids were here for a while for Pageant practice and also my sister's daughter. I took all the kids swimming last week and they had a ball and they were all good! Yay!
Here's Claire, just loungin' by the pool!
I have loved having a garden this year. Here is some of our corn that is almost ready to pick and the bottom is a picture of one of our pumpkins. (Notice how I took some close ups so that you couldn't see my large weed patch too:) We planted several different varieties of pumpkins, peas, beans and crook neck squash. As Claire would say, MMM, Num Num:)

End of School

2010-06-03T13:09:00.009-07:00

Kirsten absolutely loved preschool this year with Miss Amanda. Kirst has always been kind of a shy kid. She never wanted to sing with the primary in Sacrament Meeting and she always had a hard time going to Primary without me. I was afraid that she would get scared at her preschool program and not want to do her parts and sing with the other kids. She totally blew me away with how brave she was! They did the cutest song and dance and I had the biggest smile on my face through the whole thing! I was so proud of her! Now about singing in Sacrament meeting...

Then two weeks ago, I was asked to come and speak to my father-in-law's ward who were doing a youth conference at Dance Hall Rock (above) and the Hole in the rock. I had never done a fireside without my dad and my brother so I was a little nervous but Kyle spoke before me and it went really well.
Kirsten loved being on the desert for this trip and kept chasing lizards and naming them. We took this picture of her on a giant lizard at the visitor's center.

Jannika also had her end of the year program where the kids did a jungle play. She was a monkey and did really well with her part despite having broken her arm the day before! Yeah, she was running inside the school from recess and ran into a boy. She put her arms out in front of her and broke one of the bones in her left arm. She stayed at school and didn't have tons of pain but didn't want to play the piano that night and it swelled up really bad so we took her to the doctor and got a cast put on. She's a trooper!

Busy Busy

2010-05-11T17:36:00.006-07:00

Last week was pretty busy for us! We started out with Jannika's 7th birthday. Her favorite gift was a butterfly garden (don't ya LOVE those commercials that make kids beg you for bumpits or a shoes-under? :) This was actually a very cool (and educational) gift!

She had a "J" birthday party where the girls had to wear things that started with J (jeans, jackets, etc), we had a jump-rope competition, learned to play jacks, guessed how many jelly beans were in a jar and had a J shaped cake! (This is one of those times when the horseshoe cake pan your family has had since 1972 comes in handy!)

Notice the girl second from the right wearing Jammies, a jumprope around her waist, a jacket, jacks and jack-o-lanterns for a necklace. She definitely won the prize!
The rest of the week included having about 15 young men crash our house for an activity on Tuesday, some friends over for dinner on Wednesday, crazy cleaning and baking for a baby shower at my house on Thursday and then making lunch for the faculty of the school on Friday. Whew. I know some of you are going "Is that all?" Well, that's kind of a busy week for me. Then on Friday afternoon, we packed up and headed for the desert for our first camping trip in our new camp trailer.
And what is this odd picture, you might ask? Well, it is a real live dinosaur dig. On our way to our camp spot, we stopped to see this dinosaur dig site. I think what you are looking at is a vertebre and a rib.

I just thought this picture was pretty funny of Claire drinking her 50th Capri Sun. She was absolutely in HEAVEN while we were camping. She loves being outside, getting dirty and riding her bike.

It was a great week!

Easter and a Birthday

2010-04-05T11:22:00.008-07:00

4 dozen eggs colored+ 7 cousins that visited+ 6 Easter egg hunts+ lots of candy= tons of fun!

We had Easter egg hunts at Megan's house and out on the desert. Isn't it supposed to be hot out on the desert? It obviously was not this time. Oh well, the kids loved it anyway. It's a tradition in Kyle's family to do a hike with a bandana on a stick with your lunch in it so we carried on the tradition.

We watched a wonderful conference on Saturday and Sunday. I didn't know that the speakers are not assigned topics or themes and don't even coordinate with each other on their topics. That makes it even more interesting and inspired that they seem to talk a lot about the same things. This time I noticed a lot of talks about teaching our children and reading the scriptures with them. What a neat conference!
Claire's birthday is today so we celebrated yesterday with a bunny cake. She loved it and loved her new presents.
Here she is with two grandmas and below with mom and her new piggy bank toy.

What's going on...

2010-03-22T12:37:00.010-07:00

So, I feel like I've been really busy but I guess I just haven't been taking pictures of everything I have been doing. These are some pics of our big Relief Society Birthday Enrichment last week. I'm on the enrichment board and we worked super hard to pull of this Around the World dinner. We had Japanese lanterns and colorful tablecloths and yummy stir fry and chicken. The food and decor were great but our speakers were a little off the topic, but what can ya do?

My bro and sis-in-law welcomed this little baby boy two weeks ago and we went up to see them.

These two cousins had great fun splashing and eating popsicles in the tub.

This is just a cute picture of Kyle reading to the girls. Jannika has also started to love to read. She sits on her bed and reads or draws sometimes before she goes to bed. She is still in piano and we are going to sign her up for swimming lessons this spring.
Kirsten and Claire have been playing a lot in their playhouse (that they got for Christmas). Kirsten is also into doing worksheets. She loves all kinds of school worksheets, especially mazes. She still says something every day that makes me crack up. The other day we were driving in the car and she randomly said, "you're right, mom, we do have bones!"
My little almost 2 year old is getting smarter every day but still doesn't want to talk a whole lot. We have taught her some sign language and we know she can understand everything we say but she just doesn't have the desire to talk. She does say mom, dad, uh huh and uh uh and uh oh (did those make sense?)

Aloha!

2010-02-12T13:11:00.007-07:00

Aloha! My awsome, wonderful husband surprised me on my birthday a few months ago with tickets to Hawaii. I totally thought they were fake but slowly realized he really had booked a trip to Hawaii! He is so smart too because we flew out on our anniversary. He got a couple of birds with that stone:) Our friends, Robert and Heather, live in Honolulu and this beautiful picture above is right outside their front door. It's like an island paradise right in the middle of the city. They were so awesome and picked us up at the airport with fresh flower leis, let us stay a few nights with them and let us use their car! Aren't they awesome?! We had so much fun chatting with them every night until midnight and hanging out on the beach with them. Thanks you guys:) And thanks to my sister, LeAnne, Kyle's sister, Megan and his mom for watching our kids. You are wonderful!
We stayed on the North Shore for a few days and the waves were really big. We saw lots of surfers and Kyle tried a little boogie boarding but the waves were kind of kicking him around so we mostly stayed on the beach. We did find a little reef where we scuba dived, though. I had never done the scuba thing so it was cool once I convinced myself to actually put my head under the water!
This was a cool fence in Laie (where the temple and the Polynesian Cultural Center are).
We both got some killer tatoos at the PCC. Mine was--I mean, it still IS-- on my ankle. Ha ha.

It rained and was a little windy the first 3 days we were there but by the fourth day it was beautiful and I even got sunburned.

We visited Pearl Harbor on our last day and it was really neat and sad to see the ship and learn about what happened there.

Here's us and Robert and Heather on Waikiki beach on our last day. We flew out that night at 11:00. Here's the sun going down on our trip. Sniff* I'm so glad we got to go. Thanks, honey!

Happy 2010!

2010-01-01T14:46:00.014-07:00

Wow, get ready for a truckload of pictures! Here's a synopsis of our December. It was wonderful! It started with my last post about going to the "Vegetable," in which the ride home was not wonderful...but it did mean that we would not be sick on Christmas DAY like Kirsten and I were last year. Blah. I was excited to have a good Christmas this year! We definitely decked the halls this year starting with the lovely wreath above. Can I say I am totally in LOVE with this wreath. After I hung it up, I went outside several times just to admire it. I know, I'm a nerd but I really do love it!
We cut this lovely tree on our mountain property and it was a really nice tree. Good job finding it, husband:)
Then we decorated it and undecorated it (see the undecorator below) simultaneously!

We also went to our ward Christmas party, sat on the big guy's lap, built snow forts in the mountains of snow in front of our house and went sledding with some of our friends.

Claire made this funny face and then I told Kirst to make a funny face too and this is what I got!

After sledding we met Judd and Keiauni at a Pirate place in Provo where the kids had hours of fun playing on the rides, slides, arcade games etc.

The week of Christmas we had Jannika's class program (I'll have to post pics later) where she sang really well and played "Jolly Old St. Nicholas" on the piano with her teacher. On Christmas eve we made a gingerbread house and watched the movie Luke II (one of our favorites).
Christmas morning was wonderful and although Claire was a little ornery because she had to wake up early...she was still pretty excited about the playhouse the kids got and her other new toys.

The Vegtable of Trees

2009-12-12T13:05:00.005-07:00

Here is Kirsten at the Vegtable of Trees as she calls it (really the Festival of Trees) in Salt Lake. A lady did a tree in honor of my dad so my mom and LeAnne went up to see it and Kirst went with them. Later that week, we had planned to go up and Jannika got the flu. Well, we thought the other kids might get it too but we decided to go anyway. We did have a nice time at the Festival and went on up into the city to see the lights at Temple Square and Claire got sick. So I stayed in the car with her while Kyle took the other kids out to see the lights for a few minutes. Then on the way home Kirsten got sick too. I will spare you the details of our looooong stinky ride home and just say that we are stronger for having that experience and we will listen to our instincts next time!

Halloween Fun

2009-11-17T14:14:00.004-07:00

We had lots of fun this Halloween. We went to the city party and Kirsten even won a prize for the best costume in her age group! We did our ward trunk or treat (which they had inside, thank heaven, because it was FREEZING outside) We had so much candy from those parties we hardly needed to go out on Halloween!

Family Pictures

2009-10-19T11:21:00.006-07:00

We had some pictures taken on Saturday over at the family farm. Pretty good except that in most of them Kirsten was in one of her moods... Oh well.

Happy Birthday Kyle!

2009-09-25T12:10:00.002-07:00

It's Kyle's big 3-0 today! Wow, are we really this old?! Anyway, just wanted to give you a shout out, honey and I wanted to tell the rest of you 30 things about my hot husband!

1. He is very funny. He makes me laugh all the time!
2. He doesn't really like candy or other things that are too sweet, except Swedish Fish.
3. He does like Japanese food, Chilis restaurant, cinnamon rolls, donuts and sunflower seeds.
4. He doesn't do drama like really dramatic scenes on TV. So, in other words, we never watch CSI, ER, Grey's Anatomy etc. TOO much DRAMA! Maybe he doesn't like it because he lives in a house full of WOMEN! Sorry!
5. He does like to watch Seinfeld, Everybody Loves Raymond and The Office. We are also liking the new Jay Leno show. Yay, it's at 9 now! (I know we are dorks because we don't want to stay up late to watch it!)
6. He is my buffer in social situations. I am naturally shy and he naturally talks to people so it makes it easier for me to meet/talk to people when I am with him.
7. He does really well with the Young Men and has pretty much had YM callings since we have been in family wards.
9. He is starting to like to play Scrabble. He did not like it when we first got married (my family plays it a lot) and a few days ago he won the game against me, my mom and LeAnne!
10. When he gets his mind set on something that he wants, that is all he thinks about. He looks for it online, comparing different ones (like trucks, camp trailers, 4-wheelers etc) until he finds exactly what he wants and then he finds a way to get it. Very persistent.
11. He loves our kids so much. They run to him when he gets home, he takes Jannika to scouts with him and gives them rides on the 4-wheeler. He is a great dad.
12. He loves going deer/elk hunting.
13. He likes to tell stories to our kids about when he was a little girl growing up in Ferron (his grandpa always told stories that started "When I was a little GIRL..." So Kyle tells them like that too.) The kids think it is so funny.
14. He is great about watching the kids while I have a girls night/day out.
15. He is a great handyman. He put in a new countertop, sink, beadboard for my mom and put up trim and beadboard in our girls' room.
16. He loves golfing and snowboarding.
17. He gets up in the night with the kids.
18. He changes poopy diapers :)
19. He sticks with things. Going to Japan on a mission was very challenging but he stuck with it.
20. He drove over to Ephraim from Price (about 1 1/2 hours) almost every weekend while we were dating. On my birthday, he even drove over and surprised me and had to drive back that night!
21. He has always been a friend to everyone.
22. He sometimes asks my mom or his to babysit and takes me out on a date.
23. He ran for city council this year and maybe will run again in the future.
24. He works for government agencies but is NOT a tree hugger!
25. He likes 80's music, a lot!
26. He took a ballroom dance class with me and liked it!
27. He sometimes forgets the punchlines to jokes.
28. He honors the priesthood.
29. He has a very strong testimony.
30. I'm so glad he's mine!

Happy B-Day Honey!

Pre School!

2009-09-25T11:34:00.004-07:00

My Kirsten started pre school a few weeks ago. She has a little bit of a hard time when we first get there but then she loves it for the rest of the time. I am glad she is getting some social interaction because she doesn't like to go to primary so I hope this will help her! She is such a sweet girl and loves to climb up on the counter to help me when I am cooking. She likes to play alone a lot and I often hear her talking to herself and playing games by herself. She likes other kids too but doesn't mind playing alone. She loves to wear skirts (she is wearing a skirt in these pictures) and loose pants, it is very hard to get her to wear levis!

Here we are soaking up some of the last days of summer. The kids have loved the new city pool and also our little kiddie pool.

Sorry, randomness. Kyle cut down a bunch of trees in our back yard and went out and saw that he had carved our initials in a heart shaped stump. Isn't that just romantic?!

The Dancing Potato

2009-08-31T18:50:00.004-07:00

The other day I found this picture on the table. I asked Kirsten if she had drawn it. She said, "yeah, it's a picture of me. I look like a dancing potato!"

I asked Jannika how school was a few days ago. She said it was okay but they had too many recesses! (I think she didn't like it outside because it was soooo hot!)
I asked her about school lunch and she told me they had hot dogs that day.
Me: "How was your hot dog?"
Jan: "Pretty good. The outside bun was good but the hot dog looked kind of old; it was probably from the fifties!"

Adventures

2009-08-25T07:45:00.007-07:00

My sweet oldest girl went to first grade today. She wasn't scared or nervous and I think she'll have a great day!

Kyle went on an adventure a few days ago for..ahem...work. He and another guy he works with decided it was time to do a little hiking out in a canyon called the Black Box. It is pretty much wading through the river and even swimming in some parts where the water is really deep.

Miss you, Daddy

2009-08-12T15:04:00.004-07:00

It is strange that it has been a whole year since my dad passed away. We remember him each day, of course, but today it is on our minds a bit more.

This is a picture of him at last year's county fair parade taken two weeks before he died. It is the last picture I took of him and I still keep it on my camera. ((He is the one walking beside the wagon).

This is a picture of our friend, Lee's wagon with a sign that says, "The Pageant Lives on. Thank you, Montell." The Castle Valley Pageant was not put on this year by a decision by the Church to only hold it every other year so it was nice that they put this sign on the wagon. It touched me that they would think to do that.

Miss you, daddy.

Hot Deals

2009-08-05T10:45:00.002-07:00

The Albertsons ad for Utah this week has some screamin' deals in it.
If you are from Utah click here
Some examples of stuff I'm getting:

General Mills Promo buy $30 worth of products and get $15 on your NEXT shopping trip. (Prices are AFTER you factor in the $15 on your next shopping trip).

Betty Crocker Fruit Snacks 1.00. Use coupon .50 off of 2 found at this link.
Final price .75

Chex Mix Bars 1.25. Use coupon .60 off 1 at same link as above.
Final price .65

These are only 2 examples of some great deals! Happy Shopping!

If you aren't from Utah, you can still check your state's deals here. Just find your state and click on it and click on the store where you want to shop.

Thanks Pinching Your Pennies!

Crazy Summer

2009-07-27T11:56:00.004-07:00

Here's a little update on our summer. I made a wedding cake last Saturday. When I asked the bride what her colors were she said, "purple and orange, not light purple and light orange, but obnoxious purple and obnoxious orange." So, there you have it!

This was on a little Family Home Evening outing to our farm. Claire loves dandelion puffs. The girls call them "wishberries."

We also got to visit with our friends, the Phillips this month! Here are Claire and Miles enjoying some popcicles.

I'm pretty sure the girls liked their chocolate chip pancakes shaped like caterpillars!

We spent the 4th of July with Megan and Errol and Errol's family. They are always so nice and let us crash their family parties! The parade was fun and Jannika is a BIG fan of Megan and Errol's swimming pool!

We have also been to Cherry Hill this last week for our "Stay-cation" with Judd and Keiauni and Jeff and Jacqueline. We swam ALL day and had a great time. Then the next day did arcade games, mini golfing, and batting cages. No pics, though, because we didn't have our cameras with us. It was a fun trip, though!

So, This is New

2009-07-03T18:59:00.006-07:00

I discovered that I have tigerlillies and peonies growing in my yard. Love the peonies, they are so big and beautiful!

We went on a trip to Huntington Lake with our friends from Price (Chris and Carlie and their kids) and with Kyle's sister, Megan, and her kids, Kaylee and Ashlyn. We picked possibly the worst day to go to the lake, it was so windy and cold but the kids had fun anyway!
Claire has started to give kisses, and lots of them! When you pick her up she gives you a tight hug around your neck and then puckers up her lips, says "mmmm" and gives you a good smacker! Then she says "di du" (thank you) and gives you some more kisses! It makes us feel so loved!

We took a fun trip yesterday to Joe's Valley and went fishing in Grassy Lake and Pete's Hole. Jannika caught 4 fish and one of them she caught all by herself (cast the line and reeled it in).

Scrapbook Pages

2009-06-15T17:45:00.003-07:00

I've been doing some scrapbook pages lately and just wanted to share some of them. This was the photo shoot I talked about in one of my last posts. She was so happy that day!

2009-06-03T15:54:00.002-07:00

Goodbye diapers

2009-05-15T18:36:00.009-07:00

Goodbye Diapers (at least for Kirsten!) She is potty trained and just wears pull ups at night but usually keeps them dry! Goodbye house in Price. We finally closed on our house and it was the best day ever! I know that some people have a good experience selling their house but we, unfortunately, did not. Suffice it to say that we have been trying to close for months and things kept coming up. The people who bought it were kind of babies but we won't get into that!

Goodbye 5! Jannika had her 6th birthday on the 3rd. She wanted to have a princess dress-up party so we had two cousins (Kaylee and Ashlyn) and two of her friends come over. They dressed up, did a purse shaped pinata and had a purse shaped birthday cake. It was a fun party and I can't believe my little girl is 6!

Savin' Some Dough

2009-05-02T14:31:00.002-07:00

Okay. I've been trying to get serious about my 3 month supply of food so I have started to print coupons and buy a bunch of stuff in bulk. We received some info in Relief Society about a guy who put together his family's 3 month supply just by buying a few extra items each week for 3 months. If you are interested in this I can send you a copy. I have written down what our family will need for 3 months worth of meals plus other necessities like diapers, toilet paper etc. Now I am trying to buy it a little at a time.

To save money on a lot of the items, I have been using the website www.pinchingyourpennies.com. Click on State Forums and find your state. For Utah it shows the week's deals at Albertsons, Smiths, Maceys and Associated Food Stores. Click on the store you want and then click Printable Shopping List. This shows you what the great deals are and also shows you what coupons can be used and how much you can save with the coupons. Sometimes it gives you a link so you can just print off the coupon. Since I don't receive any newspapers I just print off some coupons. Even if there isn't a deal on the item that week, print off the coupon anyway because there might be a deal on it next week. My favorite coupon printing website is www.couponmom.com.

Last time I went to Albertsons I spent $37, and saved $68!

I would love to hear what you guys do to save on groceries. If you have any money saving ideas, put them in the comment section! Thanks!

So Glad...

2009-04-22T15:48:00.005-07:00

So glad that I could take pictures like these today because it has actually been warm!!!

So glad that yesterday I had an awesome photo shoot with Claire (I had not yet had her pics taken professionally, I know, shame on me). She was so happy and we got a lot of really cute ones! (Keiauni, I still want you to take some when we get the chance!)

So glad that we got to spend some time with family over Easter weekend. Here are some pictures of our trip. It rained a lot while we were there but we still had lots of fun! Thanks, Keiauni and Trista for letting us hang out in your trailers during the rain.)

A Recital and a Birthday

2009-04-06T12:41:00.004-07:00

Jannika has been taking piano lessons for about a month and has been loving it! She rides her bike down to Grandma's house to practice every day. So maybe she'll have more ambition to actually stick to it than her mother did;) She had her first recital last week. She played Old McDonald. Here she is with her friend, Sophie Huntington.

Yesterday was Claire's first birthday! We had Kyle's sister, Megan and her family and my mom and LeAnne over for dinner (some fabulous Japanese Katsu Don made by Kyle) and cake and ice cream. I love this next picture of her with her daddy. Hooray for being 1!

In Progress...

2009-03-13T09:28:00.003-07:00

Some stuff for an Etsy shop...
A cute quiet book...
Some things to hang over Claire's crib...
Pillows for my bed...

Yeah, I've kind of been in a really crafty mood lately. I have a new project every day so I'll keep you posted on the finished products! And check out my other blog for a wonderful cookie recipe!

Seven Things Tag

2009-03-02T14:39:00.003-07:00

Seven Things I Can Do:

1. Clog

2. Type kinda fast

3. Make good Desserts

4. Paint stuff

5. Drive a Stick

6. Look at magazines for hours (that is, IF my kids and my house would let me!)

7. Dance (country, ballroom etc.)

Seven Things I Can't Do:

1. Play sports

2. Run very far

3. Stand excessive noise and chaos

4. Make a really good Sunday roast

5. Stop eating sweets

6. Want to ride a roller coaster

7. Ski

Seven Things I Say Most:

1. Stop it

2. I Love You

3. Kyle, you hottie...

4. I am going to scream!

5. What the hud? (proof that I am a Beagley)

6. Quiet!

7. "What's the plan, Stan?" and "I'm going to hurl, Earl" (do you still say those, Heather?!)

Seven Goals for the Year:

1. Get organized

2. Save some moola

3. Read the scriptures with more purpose

4. Read to my kids more

5. Get my 3 month supply of food

6. Help my mom with all her remodeling projects and do some of my own

7. Enjoy some me time every day

Seven Reasons that I fell in Love with Kyle Keither:

1. Those blue eyes...

2. He makes me laugh

3. He is ridiculously good looking

4. Loves to watch movies with me (Sorry, Trist, I stole some of your answers!)

5. Is a very worthy Priesthood holder

6. He gets along so well with my family

7. Loves me and our kids

Seven things I love to Eat!

1. Chocolate

2. Anything with chicken

3. Slurpees

4. Chilies Restaurant

5. Maggie Moo's ice cream

6. ice cold water

7. My Mom's pork chops and rice

Spreadin' the Love

2009-02-13T13:11:00.002-07:00

I have to say, I do enjoy Valentine's Day. It's funny, though, Kyle and I don't usually do anything big or fancy on V-Day (mostly because we do something nice for our Anniversary) but I just happen to love red and pink and all things romantic...

I also wanted to tell you some news about Kirsten...drumroll....she has been DRY for two days now! Yeah! I was beginning to doubt that it would happen any time soon but she has actually started to tell me when she needs to go. Wouldn't it be lovely if I have bought my last diapers (for her anyway?!) She is growing up so much. This morning when she woke up, she gave me a big hug and said, "you are the best mom in the whole world!" Cute huh? She also likes to look at words and try to sound them out. It goes something like this: "Mom, what's this word? B-B-Clifford"!

Since Last time...

2009-01-22T16:13:00.002-07:00

Since last time I posted, this little one has grown a bunch! She has started crawling. Everywhere. And she can wave and stand up to things. She has been so happy during the day since she can get around, but is still waking up a bit at night. We have now officially tried EVERYTHING for reflux since I tried goat's milk just a few days ago and nothing has completely helped. I still think her regular medicine and being able to crawl have helped the most.

I didn't take any Christmas morning photos since Kirsten and I both had the flu and felt pretty icky but this is a few days later of my kids enjoying their picnic table. Great Christmas present! It has been the one we have used the most. You can also see Jannika's "dog that is like a real dog" (her words) which is what she asked for (Kirsten got a panda that makes noises like a real baby panda and she calls it her Kung Ku Panda. Incidentally, every panda that she sees is called a Kung Ku Panda [from the movie Kung Fu Panda]). It was a wonderful Christmas despite being sick and Kyle even bought me a new desk and drawers for all my scrapbooking/craft stuff because I have turned my closet into my craft "room". Thanks, honey!

I loved decorating for Christmas and have been decorating for Valentine's Day lately. That's all for now!

Beagley Christmas Party

2008-12-22T09:15:00.004-07:00

We had a big party at our house on Saturday with Kyle's siblings and their families and his parents. We had a nice lunch at our house with a big long table stretched from one end of my living/dining room to the other. It was so fun to have the family here but we missed Judd and Keiauni :( Little Avey is sick and we hope she is doing better! After the lunch we went to the Huntington Elementary and played hockey, basketball, and tons of other games with the parachute, balls and rolly carts. And we opened our gifts from grandma and grandpa and did the Nativity play. (Don't you love the hockey stick staffs for the shepherds?!) It was a great time!

New Blog

2008-12-15T14:42:00.002-07:00

Hey, I just created a new blog. I am such a dork, you would not believe how excited I was while I was making it! Come check it out. It is called Tips, Tricks and Recipes.

The Macarena is Alive and Well...

2008-12-12T10:05:00.004-07:00

The Macarena is alive and well and living in Emery County! If you want to see it, just come to a stake dance and prepare to be awed and odd! Anyway, Kyle and I participated in a floor show at this dance and no, we did NOT do the Macarena. LeAnne was asked by the 3rd ward if she would teach them a floor show number. I came up to help her and asked Kyle to drop a CD off on his way home from work. He brought the CD and I thought he would promptly leave so as not to be roped in to doing any form of dancing. But, to my surprise, he stayed and they asked us to do the floor show with them (for those of you who don't know, we are in the 2nd ward so it wasn't even our ward). We had tons of fun doing the Cha-cha with them.

The top picture was taken at Kirsten's birthday party. We went down to Tropic to spend Thanksgiving with Kyle's dad and sister, Trista. Then Kirsten's b-day was the 28th and I had made her this butterfly cake. She loved it! Now she wants me to make a ladybug cake too. I also had a pic of Jannika learning how to play the piano. Steve's wife, Deann, teaches piano lessons and gave Jan her first lesson. She really caught on to reading the music and learned to play "Jolly Old St. Nicholas." We hope she can start piano lessons soon up here!

I just had to include this picture because I love it so much. We took some pictures of the girls but I could not get one of all three kids smiling at the same time and Kirsten refused to be in some of them...oh well.

Addresses

2008-12-06T16:39:00.002-07:00

I want to send out a Christmas letter but I know I don't have a lot of your addresses. Please e-mail me at kjbeagley@hotmail.com and give me your address and I will also respond and give you mine if you are sending out a card too. Thanks!

Thankful

2008-12-03T09:21:00.002-07:00

I am so thankful for my little family and that we are an eternal family. The gospel plays such a wonderful role in our lives and I am so glad that I was raised in a home where we were taught the gospel.
Now some really random things I am grateful for right now:
Afternoon kindergarten. Sorry but I really don't like getting a child ready for school at 7 in the morning. Next year it will be even harder with 2 kids (Kirsten will be in preschool). So I love afternoon kindergarten for that reason!

The fact that my baby is finally being able to keep herself entertained. I am one of those moms that really needs to be able to take care of the baby's needs and then have the baby play in the high chair for a while. This particular child has not been this kind of baby and that has been very frustrating for me. I am soooooo times 100 glad that she is getting to that point! I also love these little crackers called Mum Mums found at Wal-Mart that she can eat by herself! Hooray for her doing some things by herself!

I am thankful for Kyle's jobs. He has always had good jobs that allow him to have holidays off and to be able to take time off when he needs to. We have also been able to use some thing from his work like an enclosed trailer to move etc. Those have been nice perks! I am also grateful for my job. It isn't a very hard job and it gives me some Me Money, which I really like :)

A new kitchen in the house where we live now. I was very sad to leave my beautiful, newly finished VIRGIN kitchen (virgin because it's never been used LOL). But I am so grateful that some previous owners of this house put in nice new cabinets.

Most of all, I am thankful for Kyle, my mom and LeAnne right now. They have been so helpful to me during the last few months when I have been really down. They will never know how much I have appreciated their help and most of all their listening ears. Love you!

Kidisms

2008-11-14T17:12:00.000-07:00

Some funny recent kidisms:
Jannika: Mom, where does Quarter live?
Me: (extremely confused) Who is Quarter?
Jannika: Remember, she is the nice lady we met at Church.
Me: (a light turns on as I realize she is talking about a lady in our old ward whose name is... Penny!)

Words Kirsten uses
Kiss-idea: a kiss (the day after I made her a quesadilla) ie: "I need a hug and a kiss-idea!"
Shoe: This is how she used to say "sure" but today she asked if I wanted to go downtown and I said "shoe" like she used to and she corrected me, "Mom, it's 'shore'"!
This is not great: said any time anything is not going her way (which is a lot of the time!)

Clarissa obviously can't talk yet but she is getting up on her hands and knees and Grandma has been feeding her prunes every day to keep her "regular". She is a lot happier when she poops! And when she has 2 naps a day.

Yesterday, Kyle and and my sister, LeAnne, planned a surprise party for me for my birthday. Kyle accidentally spilled the beans but it was a really fun party anyway. Thanks Mom, Nan and Kyle for the party!

Halloween!

2008-10-31T13:13:00.001-07:00

My kids and 2 of my brother, Mark's kids, Matthew and Hannah.

We continue to paint and try to get things settled at our new house. Hope you all have a happy halloween!

Technical Difficulties

2008-10-29T17:43:00.000-07:00

Well, I have some cute Halloween pictures of my kids(from our ward's trunk or treat)... but my mom's computer won't recognize my camera and we don't have Internet yet. Incidentally, we have made the move over to Castle Dale but we are currently staying with my mom until we have appliances. We still have odds and ends stuff at our old house. GRRR. I hate the last part of moving where you just throw all the rest of your crap into boxes and think you will sort it later and you wish that you could just go and throw it off a cliff, and you probably would because you are so sick of moving stuff except that there might be something useful in one of the boxes like your can opener or something.

Anyway, I'm glad that my mom will let us hang out here and I'll try to post some pics soon!

LeAnne's Photo Contest

2008-10-23T10:16:00.000-07:00

My sister, LeAnne, entered a photo contest and won for Emery County! Each applicant submitted a picture that represented their county. Check them out here. (Her picture is of the Power Plant which is an icon in Emery County.)

Kyle's Deer

2008-10-22T07:30:00.000-07:00

Here is the hunter and his deer! Kyle and his dad went up on the mountain this last weekend and hunted with my brother-in-law, Tim and his boys. Kyle and his dad both shot this buck. It's a pretty nice one! Sorry Bambi...

Conference and the Kitchen

2008-10-06T07:23:00.001-07:00

What a neat general conference. The overarching theme was really something that I needed to hear. I have found myself often getting disappointed lately and some of the talks given really helped me realize that I just need to apply myself more dilligently to the things I know I should be doing and everything will be okay. I love coming away from watching conference with new goals and a new outlook. One of my favorite talks was Elder Wirthlin's talk in the Saturday afternoon session. His theme was something that I really need to remember: "Come what may and love it." All of the points he made were things I needed to hear and I am so glad that we have conference two times a year so we can receive these insights from our leaders.

Well, the kitchen isn't all the way done but I am pretty stoked about these before and after pictures anyway. So here's the before (ie: old cabinets, wallpaper, pizza hut light fixture)

Drumroll please...

Here are the brothers who worked day and night all last weekend to put in the cabinets, countertops, electrical etc. Kyle's dad also came on Saturday but had to go home that night. These are some awesome guys and a beautiful kitchen. Thanks Judd and Keiauni for all the work you did!

Lately

2008-09-24T07:42:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to post these cute pictures of my babe in her tutu made by Aunt Megan. I love how her lips are making an "Ooo". That is how she usually looks when you are holding her and she is telling you a story with "Ooo" sounds!

The Beagley/Hill women went to the Gun Show, I mean, Scrapbooking Expo this last weekend! (Tamee couldn't come because Derek was sick). We had a great time and got some awesome deals on scrappin stuff. We stayed the night in Park City and went shopping at the outlets the next day. A tip about the outlets: always go to The Children's Place outlet because it really does have great sales. (Keiauni, I went there in the afternoon and got a few shirts and then went back to Carters and bought that cute purple dress!) The other pic is a cool double rainbow that we saw in Park City.

Free Fishing Day

2008-09-13T17:06:00.000-07:00

Yeah for free fishing day! Our kitchen project is currently at a standstill because someone is interested in buying it but she may want to make some changes to the plan for the kitchen so we didn't dare do anything else. So, we decided to go fishing! The kids had a great time. Kirsten caught weeds and moss but Jannika caught 4 fish and they were all pretty big!

Clarissa cooperated by going to sleep and we all had fun!

Happy Blogversary??

2008-09-09T12:18:00.000-07:00

It was around this time last year that I first started blogging and I would like to mimic my cousin, Christina, and wish myself a happy blogversary but... this hasn't exactly been the "happiest" year of my life. I have enjoyed blogging despite the sadness of some of my posts. I could list all of the unhappy things that have happened in the last year but most of you know about almost all of them and I don't want this post to be too much of a downer so I will just tell you about some recent happenings:)

My oldest child is going off to school. This is bittersweet because I want her to go to school because she Loves learning and being social and I want to encourage those tendencies in her. I am sad to see her go but I know she loves it and it also gives me some time with Kirsten and the baby.

Kirsten has been okay with Jannika going to school. I thought she might have a hard time but even when we walked to the bus stop on the second day of school and put Jan on the bus, Kirsten just smiled and waved to her. When she gets off the bus at the end of the day, Kirsten gives her a big hug and says, "I love you, Jan" every single day!

Clarissa has been doing better. Our doctor gave her new medicine so she is on Pepcid now and I don't know if it is the medicine that has helped or just the fact that she is getting older and growing out of her reflux a bit. She still spits up a lot but she is a little happier and has actually started to go to bed at about 10:00 to 10:30ish. Hooray! I have also stopped nursing her which is also something that is bittersweet. I really liked nursing my older kids and did it until they were around a year old. But, for my own mental health, I decided to stop nursing and it has helped me a lot. I know, I know, I might get fired from my job because of it:)

I have had a horrid sinus infection for the last two weeks. Why has it gone on this long, you ask? Well, because I was an idiot and thought that it would just go away by itself and so I waited for that to happen. Meanwhile, I was dizzy all day, had horrible headaches that would change places in my head and my stomach didn't feel great either (hence, no blogging). I guess the reason I didn't go to the doctor (besides my upbringing that shuns medicine and encourages being tough) was because I didn't have a horrible cold and so I didn't know what was going on and truly did think that it would just go away. Anyway, I got some antibiotics on Saturday and they have kind of been working although I still feel a bit dizzy and have a headache some of the time.

We have put our house up for sale. We just thought, man, it has been over a year since we moved and we just want that wonderful experience again...right. Anyway, if you know anyone who wants a large, old house in Price, Utah, send them our way! We are entirely re-doing the kitchen (including removing 10 layers of wallpaper, a wall, old cabinets, carpet and linoleum etc) and putting in new stuff. Yeah, we'll get it just how we want it and then sell it! Oh, well. We are moving back to Castle Dale to help with the farm and just be close to my mom. We will be living in a house that is just through the block from my parents' house that they own and have been renting out.

Oh, and I just painted the kitchen this morning and am trying to find a new word to describe the yellowness of it. Have you ever heard of "shocking yellow" or "extreme neon yellow"?! I shall have to remedy this situation. Stay tuned...

My Parents' Anniversary

2008-08-27T14:44:00.000-07:00

About a month ago I was thinking about doing a tribute to my parents for their 45th wedding anniversary which is today. I wrote out some things about each one of them that I wanted to share with all of you. Now, with the passing of my father, this tribute will be more heart wrenching than I had meant it to be. I hope that it is still appropriate and will make you smile.

Dad
He was born in a house where the clinic now is in Castle Dale (both of my parents were born at home)
He used to be called Monty when he was younger
He was a very adventurous little boy and was pretty much set free every day to do what he pleased. He had a million stories about swimming in the canal, making rafts, going up to the sheep camp with his dad, working on the farm, etc.
He always looked out for the “underdog”. When he rode the bus to school in Ferron, there was one boy who got on the bus and no one would let him sit by them. My dad always scooted over to let him sit down.
He always picked up hitchhikers and helped people around town
He was student body president in high school. He came into the school one day and some girls had made election posters for him and had put them up around the school. I guess that was when he decided he was running for president!
He participated in every sport in school and was especially good at track and field and basketball
When he graduated from high school, many of the other students wanted to get out of Emery County, but he always wanted to be able to live here and run the farm.
The farm was one of his favorite places to be. He loved being there, growing things, irrigating the fields. He loved everything about our farm.
When he decided to go to BYU he hitchhiked up to Provo the week before school started, signed up for classes and found a place to live in one day!

Many people might think of him as a serious guy but he loved to laugh and was quick with a smile
He kept a daily journal and wrote several books even though he said he wasn’t a very good writer when he was young.
He was a wonderful dancer. Some of my fondest memories are of him teaching me how to dance on the hardwood floor in our house.
He truly loved his children and always encouraged us to do our best in whatever we were doing.

Mom (picture above is her participating in the Miss Ricks pageant, she is third from the right in the white satin dress)
She loves old movies like Casablanca
She is a wonderful listener and never judges you about anything
She likes Chinese food
Her favorite color is blue
She loves flowers and puts a different arrangement on her filing cabinet every few days
Her two favorite stress relievers are cooking and playing the piano
She is one of the few people who knows almost everything about me and she doesn’t hold it against me!
She is a great seamstress but refuses to help you make something that you think you can make without a pattern
She used to be called Kathy but is usually called Kathryn
When you try to tell her how to do something, she says, “I was ___________ before you were even born!” i.e.: “I was driving before you were even born!”
I have never heard her raise her voice at anyone (I’ve already blown that one with my kids!)
She secretly likes dark chocolate and keeps a stash of it
She likes to collect quotes and poems
She read to us a lot when we were little and used to read books to all of us like “Where the Red Fern Grows”
She remembers detailed things like everyone’s phone number and who’s related to whom. (It’ a little scary that she can tell you how closely related you are to your prom date…)
When she was little, she had the cutest way of cocking her head to the side in pictures (see photo below)
She has an endless capacity to sing you to sleep at night
She is the best mom you could ever hope to have and we love her!

My parents met at a dance at BYU in January of 1963 and were married in the Idaho Falls Temple August 27, 1963. They had 7 children, 6 girls and 1 boy. They have been wonderful parents and I love them with all my heart!

My Dad

2008-08-21T15:29:00.001-07:00

(The new songs on my playlist were some of his favorites)
Wow, I don't even know how to put into words the things that have been on my mind during this past week. I guess I'll start by saying thank you for all of your kind words and gestures. It really does help to have the support of your family and friends during such a hard time. I love my dad so much. He was one of the most amazing people I know. My brother, Mark, spoke at the funeral and asked each of my sisters and me to write down some thoughts about my dad. I will try to sum up some of what I wrote:
"Our dad had many different roles in the community and was very well-known for his role in the Pageant, in Sons of Utah Pioneers and other community events. But we knew him simply as our father. Some of my favorite memories are of him telling me stories of his childhood at bedtime, sitting around the dinner table talking and saying our nightly family prayers. He was a very loving father and always greeted me with a hug even when I lived right next door. I loved going to the farm with him as a little girl and my daughter, Jannika, had many fond experiences going to the farm with him just in the last few years."
My sisters and Mark also had heartfelt memories of my dad.

The casket was handmade out of white pine by a friend of ours. It was very simple and Kyle put our brand on it and LeAnne, Karla and Fawn (my sisters) made the spray of sagebrush for the top. Flags lined the street from the stake center up to the cemetery and our caravan was led by horseback riders carrying the flags of each branch of the military. My dad was not in the military but he was very patriotic and he loved the first part of the pageant where we have the riders come at a gallop down in front of the audience with their flags. Some family friends helped with bringing the covered wagon from the pageant to carry the casket and also brought a buggy for us to ride in.

He was not a perfect person but I know that he loved me and he loved all of his family members and he will forever be in our hearts.

2008-08-13T12:29:00.000-07:00

As some of you may know, I have some very sad news to report today. Early on Tuesday morning, as some of my family members and friends were heading out from Fairview on a re-enactment trek, a truck couldn't see them because of the glare on his windshield and he hit them from behind. A 14 year old girl (a friend of our family) was killed and so was my dad. He was a wonderful father and had a place in many people's lives. You can see more about the story here.
Thank you for your concern. I will surely write more about him on a later post.

The Kiddos

2008-08-05T12:50:00.000-07:00

So, I just thought I'd give you an update on what my kids are doing lately. Claire is ever the unpredictable baby. Honestly it drives me crazy sometimes! I never know if she is going to have a good day or a bad one (bad meaning fussy and squirmy). She is a beauty, though, and I LOVE her sweet little smile and the personality that I can see coming through. She is four months old today and loves to eat...and eat...and eat. I am still nursing her but I give her 3 or 4 bottles a day. You would think that the bottle would be the feeding and that she would be happy. No. She requires a bottle and breastfeeding to be satisfied each time I feed her. Anyway, when is isn't eating food, she likes to eat her blanket and try to sit up as shown in the second pic of her. She also loves her swing and it is my lifesaver because it puts her to sleep. What is more angelic than a sleeping baby?

Miss Kirsten is growing up sooo much. We forgot her glasses the morning this pic was taken at the parade in Castle Dale but she still wears them and gets her good eye patched for a few hours a day whenever I can pin her down! She has a mind of her own and refuses to eat breakfast, except for eating the cream cheese off a bagel or one bite of a granola bar. Does that count?! She loves to sing and one of her favorite songs right now is "I Love to See the Temple." She sings most of the words right but at the end she says, "This is my sleeping beauty"!(instead of sacred duty). She says thank you for everything. One night she came into our room and Kyle was carrying her back to her bed. She was half asleep but she said, "thanks, dad, for opening the door," and "thanks for putting me in my bed." Each time we go to the pageant site, as we are getting in the car to go home, she says, "thanks a going to the mageant site." What a sweetie!
Jannika is just having fun being outside all the time. She plays in the gutter and rides her bike a lot. The other day, we were on a walk and she was riding her bike and we heard a loud pop. We looked around and realized it was her bike tire! She had riden it so much and skidded on the brakes that she had worn a hole in the tire! One day we were driving into our neighborhood and she asked me, "mom, where does quarter live?" I was baffled. I asked, "what on earth are you talking about?" She said, "you know, that lady at Church that is so nice to me?" Then it dawned on me, there's a lady in our ward that all the kids love and her name is: Penny!

We went to Kyle's 10 year high school reunion last Saturday. It was fun, but sorry, I didn't get any pictures. Anyway, he was telling someone that has two boys that we have three girls. They were kind of laughing about it and then Kyle said that he wouldn't change having three girls and he loves it. I am so glad he feels that way because I do too. We love our girls!

Me and the Munchkins

2008-07-24T13:07:00.000-07:00

Kyle took Jannika to Salt Lake to the Days of '47 Rodeo so I'm here with the two littlest munchkins. I sure am going to miss Jannika when she goes to Kindergarten. I had been looking forward to her going because I know how much she loves to learn and socialize. Preschool was so good for her these last two years. But now I'm not so much looking forward to my sweet girl going off to school ALL day. For one thing, I've actually realized that she keeps Kirsten out of

trouble. I always thought putting two kids together meant more mischief but Jannika is a good kid and keeps Kirst occupied and tells her when she's out of line! When I'm just here with the littles, I don't know what to expect when I check on K!

Here's some of the latest stuff that's been going on: We've been driving over to Castle Dale a lot lately for Pageant practice. The Pageant starts next Thursday July 31 and goes through Aug. 9 if any of you are interested in coming. We would love to have you stay at our house if you come! We also got a new laptop computer. We had been borrowing my mom's laptop because our old computer just wasn't doin' it for us anymore (it is super slow and doesn't have a modem so we couldn't get the internet on it). So we saw a killer deal on laptops at Wal-mart and we snagged one. I think the deal is still on: $398 if any of you are in the market...

Kyle also hit me with a surprise and told me that a guy that he works with is looking to buy a house and so Kyle wanted to show ours to him and his wife. So I cleaned and cleaned and cleaned yesterday and this morning to get it showable so here are some of the results:

This is my new bedspread that I had to show off that matches my favorite rug below. It also goes with our shower curtain (three pics below).

You can just barely see my paint job in this pic but last year I tore off all the wallpaper in this bathroom and textured and painted the walls all by myself and then found the shower curtain and valance on clearance at K-mart. Gotta love clearance! Our house is still very much a work in progress and we aren't sure what we will do if they are actually interested in buying it! We would like to work our way back over to Castle Dale sometime. Maybe we are just getting restless because we have moved somewhere every single summer of our marriage and we just don't know what to do since we aren't moving! Ha!

Jessica's wedding

2008-07-12T15:49:00.001-07:00

Sorry, I'm a dork and didn't get a good picture of Joe and Jessica at their wedding so here's a pic of their invitation on my fridge! Jessica is Kyle's step sister. It was a beautiful wedding in the Bountiful temple. I made their cake and it turned out really well. I stressed about it, of course, but once you have figured out how to do fondant it usually is pretty easy.

We almost decided not to try to attend the sealing because of the baby but I am so glad that we did (thanks to Jacqueline for watching our baby). I love attending sealings. It always reminds me of the day that Kyle and I got married and how we must have looked to the people who came to ours. They are just so young and naive! Just kidding. But it does make me think about the fresh start they are making and the things that I could do to make fresh starts in my own marriage. Here are some of the best pointers that the sealer gave them that stood out to me. He started by telling Joe to stay worthy of the priesthood so that he could always be able to give his wife a blessing and that he should give Jessica a blessing in the next 24 hours. He told them both not to judge, to let things go, to smile and be positive. He said to go to the temple often and participate in sealings and listen closely to the words in the sealing prayer. He also told them not to get into debt and that things just get in our way. It is always good to be reminded of the things we need to be doing and be reminded that the temple is where our Heavenly Father wants us to be.

Happy 4th!

2008-07-06T14:19:00.000-07:00

So, I don't know why I never really made smoothies before but I have been doing it lately and we have loved it! Here is Jannika enjoying a blueberry passion fruit smoothie (made with frozen blueberries, Hawaii's Own brand of passion fruit juice and lots of ice). Kyle actually gave me a smoothie maker a few years ago for Christmas and I have used it to make orange julius and other various things that you use a blender for, but only recently did I start putting in real fruit and making actual smoothies. Don't even ask me why I didn't do it before now! I have had to get a lot more creative with my breakfast menu because of my trying not to eat dairy so I add juice instead of milk/yogurt and they are still really yummy and a wonderful way to get your kids/husband to eat fruit!

We have been up in Tooele and Taylorsville this weekend for the 4th and the Beagley Family Reunion. We headed up to Tooele on Friday and watched fireworks in Grantsville with Kyle's brother, Judd and Keiauni and family. Then on Saturday we went in to Taylorsville to the Family Reunion. There were some water games, traditional candy sling shot, and we found out how talented Judd and Keiauni are at doing face painting (on faces, arms, ankles and farmer's tanned biceps!) I'm sure Kyle's mom will be so proud to know that Kyle wanted a tatoo with MOM written on it! Jannika was especially enamored with the face painting and got a hibiscus, a heart, a butterfly and a watermelon. I think I better watch her pretty closely when she is a teenager...

Summer Fun

2008-06-23T10:04:00.000-07:00

We got to see our friends, Brian and Lexie, at the first of this month (They live in Michigan and are visiting their families this month). We met up with them in Provo and went to lunch and the park and just hung out all afternoon. It was so nice catching up with them. Then we stayed the night in Tooele with Judd and Keiauni and went to the zoo with them the next day. Thanks for the free passes, guys! It was fun to see the animals and Kirsten still talks about going to the bazoo!

One of Jannika's favorite parts of the zoo was getting to touch a real live snake!

My kids have also been practically living outside. Kyle has put up the tent two different nights so they could "camp out", they have been riding bikes and swinging and they love playing in the kiddie pool. Kirsten wants to wear her "suitcase" (that's what she calls her swimming suit!) all day.
The baby has been doing better at night. I hope I don't jinx (sp?) myself by saying that! She has started to actually go to sleep at about 10:30ish where before we usually couldn't get her calmed down until at least midnight. I think that my cutting out dairy has helped a lot but I guess I can start to add things back in to my diet in a few months to see how she does with them. Incidentally, if you're wondering, this isn't a sure sign that she is lactose intolerant. It is the milk protein not the lactose that tends to upset babies stomachs. We just keep hoping that she will continue to do well!

A Day Late and a Dollar Short...

2008-06-18T16:16:00.000-07:00

Some of Claire's first smiles. Love the dimple!

My mom used to have this book called, "I'm a Day Late and a Dollar Short and it's Okay." I've never actually read it but the title always stuck in my mind and it certainly fits me right now except in my case it should read "I'm 68 Days Late, $2,000 short and Maybe it Will Be Okay Sometime Soon"... The reason I haven't posted in a while is because I wanted to do a big hurray post where I announced that my baby isn't colicky (sp?) anymore and that she is on a schedule... ha! When that blessed day occurs, I'll let you know, but meanwhile I am just a little stressed and sleep deprived. May was a complete roller coaster for me and if you know me, you know that I DO NOT like roller coasters, actual or emotional ones! Just in the month of May we had Jannika's birthday party, more eye doctor appointments for Kirsten, Kyle and I both had dental work (blah) and mine's not even done yet (double blah), I spoke in Church, Clarissa's episode, 3 days at Primary Children's, numerous doctor appointments after that, Clarissa's blessing day and the Seely Family Reunion, plus all of our normal stuff with callings etc. There have been very sad, heart-wrenching times, frustrations, relief, joy, you name it. We are so glad that we have our sweet little baby but with as with any child, there are some frustrations that I hope will work out soon. I have been trying not to eat dairy foods because sometimes dairy can make a baby have colic. I never knew how much I loved milk, yogurt and especially milkshakes. I don't know if this food plan is really working. She still has a fussy time at night but we'll see.

I'll post pics of the fun things we've been doing soon:)

Tagged

2008-06-08T14:57:00.000-07:00

What were you doing 10 years ago?
I was 16 and had just finished my sophomore year of high school and was preparing to do a handcart trek down the Hole-in-the-Rock in Southern Utah.

5 things that are on my to do list today:
(I'll do tomorrow since today is Sunday)
1. Laundry
2. Clean the bathrooms
3. Read to my kids (this is a goal that I am working on)
4. Do some scrapbooking Yeah!
5. Plan some meals and do some grocery shopping

What would you do if you suddenly became a millionaire?
Build our dream home, pay off our bills, put a bunch in savings and investments, give some to family and friends, do some traveling (Japan, Hawaii, Europe)

3 Bad habits
1. I try to solve everyone's problems
2. I stress myself out about everything
3. I have some serious road rage (okay, maybe not "serious" road rage, but I hate driving behind slow people and getting cut off)

5 places I have lived
Castle Dale, Ephraim, Price, Logan, Price

5 (okay 6) jobs I have had
1. Stewarts Bakery
2. CEU cafeteria (Kyle and I both worked there when we were first married and we made a grand total of $542 a month between the both of us!)
3. Newsletter Coordinator (for USU parking department)
4. Reading Tutor
5. Transcriptionist
6. Breastfeeding Peer Counselor

5 things you don't know about me
1. I don't like chaos. This would explain why I don't like prolonged fighting scenes in movies (okay, so there was a war...we get the picture, let's move on to the romantic part!) I also don't like confrontation. I have to have an argument settled before I can calm down.

2. I have a big sweet tooth. For some reason I feel like I have to have something sweet after every meal (except breakfast) or it isn't complete. This might be why the other day Jannika said to me, "Mom, we eat 5 times a day: Breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert and ice cream!" I probably better change this habit soon or else I might be wearing my maternity pants forever!

3. I like to do laundry and I also like to be organized but I can't seem to get that one down. There are constantly piles of papers, random baby/kid stuff everywhere, I never know where important papers are when I need them, I am constantly looking for some small scrap of paper that I jotted down something on like the price quote for our cabinets or somebody's phone number... the list goes on and on.

4. My stress relief is being creative. I LOVE to scrapbook, make cards, bake desserts, sew things, decorate my house etc. What is it about a scrapbook page or a cute little dress that you made that can make you so happy?!

5. I think that my husband is the hottest guy ever and I can't believe that he actually wanted to marry me. 7 years ago were were just starting to date and I didn't even dare think at that time that I might actually marry Kyle Beagley. I can't believe how right he is for me even though we are so different in so many ways.

Clarissa's Blessing

2008-05-27T21:46:00.001-07:00

We had Claire-bear's blessing last Sunday. My family was already planning to be here for a family reunion so we planned the blessing for last weekend too. Most of Kyle's family was also able to make it and we are so grateful that we were able to get together. It was a wonderful day! Our families are so important to us and we have been so grateful for their support as well as our friends' support especially this last month. Kyle gave a wonderful blessing and our bishop asked him to bear his testimony as well. (I guess he let me off the hook because I had spoken in Church on Mother's Day!) Here are some pics of Claire in her blessing dress. Behind her is the beautiful afgan that Grandma Deann made for her.

Some of my nieces and nephews at the luncheon.
Kaylee, Kirsten and Ashlyn.
Um, yeah, great timing on this one!
Baby Claire with Grandpa Steve.

Thank You

2008-05-18T19:10:00.000-07:00

We just want to thank you all for keeping us in your prayers. We surely have felt their influence. This week has been pretty scary and emotional but we know that the Lord has helped us through it and has allowed us to keep our sweet baby. All day on Monday the baby was so tired and lethargic and it was so hard to see her that way. On Tuesday she was more awake and looked a lot better and by Wednesday, I remember looking in her eyes and feeling like she was really back. I love those big eyes and how you look in them and can see so much.

Here she is in Primary Children's hospital with a cute little blanket they gave her. The next one was taken on Tuesday and the top one was taken on Wednesday. You can kind of see how she has better color.
And, of course, we couldn't have made it through all of this without Aunt LeAnne. She was here when the event happened and she called 911 and kept her cool while I was freaking out. Then she was able to stay with our kids all week and did tons of fun things with them like go to the museum and the park. She is our lifesaver and we don't think we can ever thank her enough!

The baby is doing really well now. Our doctor has her on a sleep apnea monitor but we only have to have it on her at night and when she is napping. Thanks again!

Our sweet baby

2008-05-14T09:10:00.000-07:00

Here's the latest update on our sweet little Clarissa. For those of you who don't know, on Monday morning I had fed her and began to burp her and she did a gagging cough and then didn't start to breathe again. My sister was at my house and I called for her and she called 911. My baby was purple and very limp by then. My sister did 2 rescue breaths and then the EMTs got there. Thank heaven we only live a block from the fire department. What a blessing. In all we think that she was between 2 and 3 minutes without air. (the EMTs did say that she was probably breathing the whole time but only 8 times a minute which is not enough to sustain life.) They got her breathing again but kind of shallow breaths and I rode with them to the hospital in the ambulance. I had called Kyle at work and he had come in at the same time as the EMTs. He followed us to the hospital and my sister was able to stay with our kids. They did every test you can think of to see what was wrong with her and what might have caused her to stop breathing. She was very tired and kind of unresponsive through the day (probably because of the trauma.) One of our bishopric members was able to come and help Kyle give her a blessing and we are very grateful for that. The doctors were very worried about her and decided to have her sent to Primary Children's hospital. She went up on a helicopter and Kyle and I drove up. They did some more tests and ruled out RSV, pneumonia, and whooping cough, along with other things. She had a lot better color yesterday and was awake more and seemed more like herself.
They were able to take her off oxygen this morning and she has been doing well. The doctor said that it is probably acid reflux and what happened was that she refluxed and the acid kind of stunned her and it may have gone into her airway. She has also had some phlegm in her throat and that may have added to the choking. They are going to give her some reflux medication to reduce the acid and have us take some precautions to help her with the reflux so this won't happen again. We hope this is the solution and everything can go well from here on out.

Thank you all so much for your thoughts and prayers. We know that Heavenly Father has been watching over us through all of this. She is such a precious baby and we are so glad that we have her.

Happy Birthday to Jannika

2008-05-06T17:21:00.000-07:00

Jannika and I had fun making her cake and cupcakes. She wanted to have a hula party so we had an ocean cake and gave her friends leis. We were also going to have a kiddie pool and run through the sprinklers but the wind was blowing and it was too cold. So we made some pictures with foam flowers and did a pinata inside.

Jannika got lots of fun things for her birthday. We gave her a new bike and gave Kirsten one too that we had saved from Christmas. They are in LOVE with their bikes. The night of the party the kids were in their room watching a movie and I went in to check on them and this is what I saw!

It was a fun birthday but here's some party tips: only invite as many kids as your child's age, (we ended up with a few more and it was kind of chaotic.) And, make sure that you have some other adults there to help you. I don't know why I was crazy enough to think I could do everything myself but I was lucky Kyle had the afternoon off and Megan was here to help too!

Fun Pics

2008-04-17T13:17:00.000-07:00

Here is Jannika doing her favorite thing! She always wants to hold the baby and is constantly singing to her. Kirsten likes to hold her too but she doesn't hold her long enough for me to get a picture. She always says to me, "Mommy, can I hold Carisha?" (That's how she says the baby's name!) Then she holds her for a second and slowly and softly gives her a kiss on the forehead. It is so cute!
My sweet little Claire-Bear.

We just got a swing set and the kids LOVE it. Our backyard was so boring before so now they can go out and play all they want. Yay! P.S. Don't ever buy a swing set from Wal-mart, they are pretty cheap. Believe it or not this one is from K-mart and it is much better.

It's a Girl!

2008-04-08T14:18:00.000-07:00

Here is our sweet little baby girl. We named her Clarissa Vay Beagley. Clarissa is a family name on my side and Vay is Kyle's grandma's name. She was born on Saturday morning just after midnight, April 5! I'm not due until the 20th but she is full term and beautiful and healthy! She weighed 6 lbs 8 oz and was 20 inches long. Kirsten had come really fast so we were afraid that this baby would come even faster so I was a little worried about how my labor would go. I had just gone about my regular day on Friday and then I started to bleed a little bit so we decided to go to the hospital and get checked. We kept thinking they would probably send us home since I wasn't feeling any contractions. The monitor was picking up contractions and I was progressing so they decided to keep us! We went in at 6 pm and she was born just after midnight. It was so strange to be in the hospital in labor and not be in panic mode like with our other kids. It was just calm as we sat and waited for my body to progress more. It was a great labor! Thanks to Grandma Gayle and Aunt Megan for watching our kids and now my mom is staying with us until Friday. We are so blessed to have great family to help us.

The last picture of me pregnant with Clarissa!

Jannika is in love with this baby. She wants to hold her all the time. What a great big sister!

Baby with Grandma Gayle.

Baby with Grandma Seely.

Happy Spring!

2008-03-27T13:25:00.000-07:00

These are some decorations that I made for Easter and Spring. The pic below are some that I made for Valentine's Day. I am so glad that warmer weather is here!

This picture was taken the weekend before Easter when we took a trip down to Bryce Canyon and Tropic to visit Kyle's dad and his sister, Trista. You can't see the canyon very well in this picture but it is really pretty. The kids loved helping grandpa feed his horses and playing games with Grandma Deann.

These are some Easter decorations that Jannika made all by herself. I helped her with the first one so she would know what shape to make the eggs and then she had the idea to put them on the backs of all the chairs! We just got this new dining set which I LOVE. The legs and backs are all black and then the top of the table and seats of the chairs are cherry wood. And, as you can see in the background, we are starting our remodel on our kitchen. I hope we can get it done soon...

We spent Easter weekend up in Tooele because Kyle's brother, Judd was blessing their baby on Easter Sunday. We had lots of fun with our cousins going to the Easter egg hunt. Jannika also went with them to the children's museum at the Gateway. Kyle and I took Kirsten and went to Alpine where some of Kyle's mission pals were getting together. (Sorry I didn't get a picture of that.) Then we met up with the family for dinner at the Gateway. The blessing on Sunday was very nice and we had a great weekend!

The workin' man

2008-03-07T13:21:00.000-07:00

Just thought I would post some pictures that Kyle has taken at work. He has gone out several times in a helicopter and airplane to do bighorn sheep and antelope surveys.

These next pics are of the guys catching and transplanting some moose. (They were female moose so they don't have horns). This one is slightly uphill from the truck but it still shows you how tall moose are.

Today he is doing snowmobile training...what a tough job!

Some Randomness

2008-02-25T12:33:00.000-07:00

Jannika decided the other day that she wanted to wear a flower in her hair and she found this one and put it in! I think she can't decide right now whether she wants it to be winter or spring. She loves sledding but lately she has been wanting to go to the wave pool every day. Kyle took her the other day (It is outdoor but they have a big bubble over it). They were there for about 2 hours. What a nice daddy!

Kirsten has two new things in her life. She got a new toddler bed from some friends in our ward. It will be a good transition from her crib to her big bed. And, as you can see, she just got glasses. We had started to notice that her eye turned in slightly so I took her to the eye doctor and they discovered that she is far sighted and so her eye is turning in to try to squint and see things. (That is how I understood it anyway). And if anyone refers to her as having a lazy eye or being crosseyed, I will personally slug them. I am not down with those terms! Seriously...

We ordered these glasses in pink but they don't make the pink ones anymore so we just had to get gold frames. She is doing really well at keeping them on but she usually looks over the top of them. I guess we will have to patch her good eye for several hours a day probably until she is in kindergarten. We will get the particulars at her next appointment.

Other random stuff... I have been trying out freezer meals which at first I thought they wouldn't taste very good after being in the freezer for a while, but we have really liked them. Some things like lasagne and tator tot casserole taste just about the same whether from a freezer meal or not. For the lasagne, just make your usual lasagne recipe but don't cook the noodles. Just layer them and the other ingredients and freeze. For tator tot casserole, mix 1 can cream of chicken, 1 can cream of mushroom, 1 soup can of milk, browned hamburger and tator tots. Pour into a freezer ziplock bag and freeze. Thaw, pour into a casserole dish and top with cheese. I will post other good freezer recipes if anyone is interested.

Our new favorite cookies are these mint chocolate cookies. Here is the recipe: (it is the recipe for homemade oreo cookies)

1 devil's food cake mix

3/4 C shortening

2 eggs

A little milk or water

Mix together and add enough water or milk to make it mix. Form into balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 8 to 10 min. at 350 degrees. Do Not Overbake.

Frosting:

2 c. powdered sugar

1/4 c. butter - melted

2 1/2 Tbsp. milk

4 drops food coloring

1 tsp. mint or peppermint extract

Mix together. Usually I do green food coloring because that tells people that they are mint flavored. (Somehow the ones in the picture ended up pink--that's what you get when you have little girls!) These are soooo yummy!

Congrats!

2008-02-20T13:41:00.000-07:00

So, I just wanted to say Congrats to our friends and family who have had babies recently! The top picture is Avey Violet, Kyle's brother's new little girl, born January 4. The middle pic is our friends', John and Nicole Zilles' two little boys, Taylor and baby Kayson, born Feb. 16. The bottom one is Miles Anson, our friends' Brian and Lexie's new little boy also born on the 16th. It is so fun to see these new little ones although I am kind of jealous of their moms that they are done being prego and I still have 8 weeks to go! I have also been hearing a lot of stories lately about babies being born in the car on the way to the hospital...Kyle...are you ready for that?! Just kidding (I hope). I really hope that since we only live a few minutes from the hospital that I will make it!

Anyway, I love these baby pics and we are so glad these babies are here and healthy!

6 Years!

2008-02-02T16:34:00.000-07:00

Kyle and I just celebrated our 6th anniversary on February 1! Kyle had a work conference scheduled for last Wed-Friday at Zions National Park. This was where we went on our honeymoon so my sister watched our kids and I went with Kyle. He went to some of the meetings and then we did some fun things together including a trip to the St. George Temple and shopping and some sight seeing.

This is a book that I made for Kyle last year for our anniversary. It is called "51 reasons why I love you" (51 is because it was our 5th anniversary and because I didn't have time to do 101!)

It was so fun to make this book and think about all the things I love about Kyle. These are just some of the pages and I am so glad that I did it. I love my sweetheart and I am so glad that he wanted to marry me!

Tagged

2008-01-23T15:38:00.000-07:00

Where were you born? Price, Utah
Middle name: I don’t have one
How old will you be this year? 27
Nicknames: Jelda
Are you taller than your mother or father? About the same height as my mom, shorter than my dad
Do you cry often during movies? Yes, very often!
What is your biggest pet peeve? People who are annoying and know it
Favorite color: red
Favorite foods: pretty much anything with chicken or anything with chocolate. Fav restaurants: Panda Express, Café Rio, Chile’s
Favorite beverage: Sprite, really cold water, slurpees
Favorite cold cereal: Honey Bunches of Oats with Almonds
Favorite smells: My new black raspberry body spray, cinnamon candles
Favorite time of day: Morning because I have energy, evening because that is family time
What brand of shampoo/conditioner do you use? Aussie
Favorite make-up products? Mascara and eye liner (which I just barely started using!)
How many pillows do you sleep with? Usually 1 but I will soon be using more!
Do you play an instrument? Yes, I play violin and flute
Have you ever been skinny dipping? Sad to say, I never have!
Did you do any sports in High School? Track (I remember Kyle helping me with high jump, what a hottie!)
What was the last movie you saw in the theater? Mr. Bean’s Holiday
What is your favorite article of clothing? My new black and white dress from JC Penny and my comfy pajamas
What is your dream vacation? Hawaii and Europe
What was your first impression of your spouse? I can’t remember the exact first time that we met but I do remember that I always thought he was pretty hot.
If you were an animal what would you be? I would definitely not be any animal
What is your favorite "me- time" activity? Shopping (especially at DI and clearance racks) and looking at magazines, my favs are Creating Keepsakes and Country Living
Favorite TV shows: Everybody Loves Raymond, The Office
What is your dream car? Toyota Sequoia or Nissan Armada
What is one of your weaknesses? I lose my patience with my kids too easily
What do you fix for dinner when there's nothing to fix? Pizza or Rice-a-Roni
If you could live in a different decade/era which one would it be? I think I would like the 50’s. It just seems like people had better values back then. And I agree with Lexie that I wouldn’t want the 80's. I wouldn’t be able to pull of wearing tapered pants either! :)
What is the emotion you feel the most? I don’t know, my emotions change a lot right now!
Do you consider yourself outgoing? Not really, that is one reason I love being married to Kyle, he is more outgoing and that is usually how we meet people
What is something you are constantly working on? Being more patient with my kids and spending more time with them. I am also trying to get my house organized. I have this hereditary disease called “stacks” where I constantly have stacks of paper and other assorted stuff around my house
Any hidden talents? Not that I can think of
What is a word or phrase you overuse? I don’t know, someone around me would have to tell me!
What was the hardest thing that happened to you this past year? My sister passing away being called to be primary president
What is the best thing that happened to you this past year? Getting pregnant and just being able to continue to be so blessed
What is one thing you hope to accomplish this year? Get organized and do more home improvements, have a baby, not go insane!
The best piece of advice you learned this past year? Don’t worry about the things you have no control over
Who are the 7 people you are going to tag to do this survey? Megan, Jennifer, Shauna, Andi, Keiauni, and whoever else wants to!
At the end of the survey post a picture of you that was taken within the last week! Sorry I'll have to post one later. There's nobody here that can take my picture!

Trip to Phoenix

2008-01-07T13:31:00.000-07:00

Two days after Christmas we headed down to Phoenix to visit my sister, Karla, and her family. My sister, LeAnne, came with us and we all squashed into our car. It was nice to have LeAnne with us because she kept our kids occupied in the back seat and it was just fun to have someone else along for the ride! We went to the Fiesta Bowl Parade that we all agreed was one of the best parades that we had ever been to. There were lots of balloons like this one and almost every other entry was a marching band (since they had had a marching band competition in Phoenix the night before.)

Another cool thing about the parade was seeing the Budweiser Clydesdales!

This is my brother-in-law, Thane; sisters, Karla and LeAnne and of Karla's kids sitting down: Edison, Peyton, Audrey, and Kari.

Playing with their new air hockey table. They also got "Dance, Dance, Revolution" for Christmas and we all had turns playing that. I wished that I had a picture of that but then, I bet this pregnant girl looked pretty funny playing that game!

Okay, okay, I know that I have my eyes closed but this one was the best out of the three that Kyle took! It does show LeAnne's cute new haircut that she got while we were down there. We also got in some good shopping.

Isn't it awesome that we are outside and it is sunny and not freezing in these pictures?! I still wore a jacket while we were there but the weather was so nice. And it was fun for my kids to get to play with their cousins that they don't get to see very much. Jannika and Peyton really hit it off and Audrey liked having someone to play Barbies with! We loved your house, Kar, and thanks to all of your family for letting us come stay!

Christmas

2008-01-03T13:02:00.001-07:00

Here are some pictures of Christmas finally. We spent Christmas Eve day at my parents' house with my sister, Fawn and family; my brother-in-law, BJ and family and also my sister, LeAnne. We had a nice family lunch together and then most of the kids did some sledding and snowboarding and Kyle pulled them around in the pasture behind the truck like they were waterskiing. They had tons of fun! (Sorry I didn't get a picture of that.) Then we spent the night and Christmas morning at Kyle's mom's house. On Christmas afternoon we came back home and spent some time with Kyle's dad and his wife, Deann. It was a nice Christmas.

The Elmo stuff was a big hit with Kirsten. She won't wear any of her other pajamas now!

Jannika's favorite gift was her Polly Pockets and hopefully whenever she plays with them she will continue to be careful to pick up all the little pieces and put them back in their bag. Ha Ha!

This is our traditional Christmas Eve Nativity Pageant. My nieces and nephews did a great job carrying on this tradition! Love the costumes!

Some cute Christmas dress pictures taken before Church. Jannika is quite the poser!

Okay, so you can only kind of tell that I am pregnant. But, I really do have a baby bump!

Christmas Letter

2008-01-03T12:44:00.000-07:00

Dear Family and Friends, Dec. 2007
Wow, what a year! We have a couple of big announcements to make. First, we moved to Price, Utah in June. After much searching for a new house, we finally found a large older home with 4 bedrooms, 2 baths and original woodwork. After pulling up a lot of carpet and sanding and staining, we have some beautiful wood floors too. I have also re done the master bathroom where I textured the walls and painted and Kyle added trim. We are certainly amateur home remodelers so it isn’t perfect but it will do! Our next big project is the kitchen which we have discovered has no less (and probably more!) than 7 different layers of wallpaper. Anyway we hope to get going on this project soon!
The reason for the move was that Kyle accepted a job with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources as a Wildlife Biologist. He works with oil and gas drilling companies in their impact on wildlife. He spent the entire month of May in a helicopter doing raptor surveys (raptors are large birds like red tail hawk, bald and golden eagle, etc.) He enjoyed seeing the birds and the different countryside from the helicopter although it was quite draining to fly for 7 or 8 hours each day. He even got to take me for a ride from Castle Dale to Price. That was quite an experience! Since May he has been on the ground but has stayed busy and spends as much time out of the office in the mountains as he does in the office. That is one thing that he really loves about his job. He just received the calling to be Young Men’s president in our ward and has also joined a community basketball team.
Janell’s big news is that we are expecting a new baby in April! I was a little bit more sick with this one than the others so we thought maybe it was a boy, but the ultrasound sure looks like a little girl. We are so excited to get another sister! I have been called to be the Primary President in our ward so I have had a little stress with that! We did a Nativity play for our ward Christmas party and that went very well, thanks in part to my sister-in-law, Megan (the Primary secretary), who jumped right on the challenge to make most of the costumes! I have also stayed busy being a mom to these cute girls, decorating our house and making a family blog website which you can visit at http://www.kyleandjanell.blogspot.com/.
Jannika started preschool at See World preschool and loves to go each week. She loves learning and writes her name on everything and even copies labels off of cereal boxes and other things she finds around the house. She is quite a singer and sings almost all day long. She also likes to dress up, play with her friends and help me in the kitchen.
Kirsten is our comic relief since she likes to make faces, dance and use a funny mean voice when she gets mad. Her most common thing to do is squinch up her face and say “no, no, Gaka” in a scratchy voice. (Gaka is her name for Jannika). She also likes to watch Barney movies (don’t ask us why!) and play outside.
We are looking forward to this holiday season and are planning to drive down to Phoenix to stay with my sister’s family the week after Christmas. We are excited to see them and also the prospect of not being cold for a few days!
Our new address is 163 N. 200 E. Price, UT 84501 and our phone number is (435) 637-0442. We would love to hear from all of you!
Happy Holidays! Love, Kyle, Janell, Jannika, Kirsten and baby Beagley

Christmas parties and goodies

2007-12-17T16:15:00.001-07:00

Here are some pics of our ward Christmas party. Jannika, Kaylee and Ashlyn were angels (they are Kyle's sister Megan's kids). They loved their part. Everything went well with the Nativity, much to the joy of the primary president (me)! Megan is my secretary and she really jumped on the project of making most of the costumes. She is great at it! Thanks, Megan!

Here are some of the goodies we made to take to our friends. The top picture is a chocolate bundt cake that is super easy to make.

1 chocolate cake mix

1 small vanilla instant pudding

1 C water

1/2 C vegetable oil

Mix. Grease bundt pan and coat with sugar. Pour batter in and bake at 350 for 40 minutes.

Poppy Seed Bundt Cake

1 yellow cake mix

1 small vanilla instant pudding

1 C water

1/2 C vegetable oil

2 Tbsp poppy seeds

1 tsp almond extract

Mix. Grease bundt pan and coat with cinnamon/sugar. Pour batter in and bake at 350 for 40 minutes.

(I actually like the poppy seed one better. It is a really quick and yummy dessert so I try to have the ingredients on hand.)

Soft Sugar Cookies

1 C butter or margarine

2 C sugar

2 eggs

1 C sour cream
1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp soda

4 tsp baking powder

4 1/2 C flour

1/2 tsp salt

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and beat well. Add the rest of the ingredients. (Best if refrigerated for a while). Roll out on well-floured surface and cut into shapes. Bake at 350 for 14 to 17 minutes.

Easy Yummy Frosting

1/2 C shortening

1/2 C butter

1 tsp vanilla

4 C powdered sugar

2 Tbsp milk

Mix shortening and butter. Add remaining ingredients. Can be used to frost cookies and can be used to decorate with a decorating bag and tips.

This is the only frosting recipe I use! It is soooo good.

One more fun thing I make during the holidays is yogurt pretzels. Just take almond bark and melt it in the microwave. Dip pretzels in and put on a tin foil covered cookie sheet. Enjoy!

It's Beginning To Look a Lot Like...

2007-12-10T15:31:00.000-07:00

Well, for those of you in Utah (and probably other places too) you know it's beginning to look a little too much like Christmas! The snow is pretty but the temperatures are CRAZY! On the news last night I noticed on their little weather map that it was 28 degrees in Logan and 18 in Price! I thought we moved away from Logan to get out of the freezing weather! I just don't like to be cold. It seems like I am always wearing a sweatshirt even inside my house. I seem to be a few degrees colder than other people too. Maybe I got that trait from my dad who wears at least 2 shirts at all times even in the hottest part of the summer! (I am not quite that extreme!) Oh, well, we did have a lot of fun making a snowman. Kirsten thinks that the word for snow is snowman and she asks if she can walk in the snowman every day! It was also fun to put up our Christmas tree and some other decorations. I love white Christmas lights and snowflakes, they are my favorite! I am also excited to do some holiday baking. Yeah!

And... I also have some news for those of you who don't know that I am even expecting...We are having baby number 3 in April and I had my first ultrasound a few weeks ago. We found out that we are having a GIRL! We are very excited and Jannika has been saying all along that we were going to get another sister before we got a brother. Maybe she is right when she says she knows everything :) I will post a picture of me and my baby bump at a later date.

Hooray!!!

2007-12-02T16:46:00.000-07:00

Hooray, I am done doing Jacqueline's wedding cake! I have been stressing about it all month. I tried several different fondant recipes because I really wanted to learn how to do it and I didn't want to spend all the money on the ready made kind. I had several failures for every success but I finally found a good recipe, thanks to my sister, Fawn, and it worked out! I also need to post pictures of Jannika and Kaylee being flower girls (since my batteries ran out on my camera right after I took pics of the cake). They were sooooo cute. Jacqueline is Kyle's step-sister and her wedding was very nice. I loved how she picked red, black and white as her colors. Congrats, Jax!

It was also Kirsten's birthday on the 28th. She is 2 years old! She loved her new outfit from Grandma Gayle and also her Dora doll and princess camera. She is getting so big and definitely shows us that she is 2 some days!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2007-11-25T16:10:00.001-07:00

It was a wonderful Thanksgiving this year at my parents' house in Castle Dale. My sister, Fawn, and her family came and also my brother, Mark and his children came (his wife had to work). We also have some friends from India that lived with us for a while that came to join us so we had some traditional Indian food as well.

This is Kirsten and Fawn's little girl, Brooke. It is funny how alike they look and Fawn and I always seem to dress them in the same color on the same day!

We had lots of fun with cousins. We didn't get a picture of all that were there but here are my kids with 3 of Fawn's kids, Cassidy, Brooke and Ridge. Cassidy is one of the favorite cousins and she is so helpful with the kids and they love playing with her. Thanks, Cass!

And, of course, a family gathering at the Seelys' wouldn't be complete without a game or two (or three!) of Scrabble. We also had fun playing Cranium and Monopoly. This picture is of my sisters Fawn and LeAnne and me and my dad. You can see the Christmas tree in the background because Kyle and Fawn's husband, Tim and their two oldest boys, Kody and Hunter went up to our property to cut trees the day after Thanksgiving. They had a great time driving all over the mountain and cut four trees for different family members. They also did some boulder climbing that the boys really liked. Fawn and Tim had only planned to stay until Friday afternoon but decided to stay that night so that the guys could all go out to the desert on Saturday. What an adventurous weekend! The girls also had fun doing some shopping in the large city of Castle Dale!, and talking and playing games.

Family Pictures

2007-11-07T14:45:00.000-07:00

We finally got some good family pictures. Thanks, Megan, for taking them! If you could see the top one closer you would see tears in Kirsten's eyes. She just wanted to ride her bike...not get pictures! And Jannika's poking out her belly a bit, but other than that, they turned out pretty good!

Fun with the Fam

2007-11-07T14:32:00.000-07:00

Kyle got together with his siblings this past weekend and went to Cabelas and Boondocks to do bumpercars, mini golfing, rock climbing etc. They had a great time together. It was Grandpa George's 80th birthday party in Magna so the bottom picture includes Grandpa and Grandma Dorothy and also Kyle's dad, Steve and his wife, Deann. Derek (Kyle's oldest brother) also came to our house the next morning to visit for a while. It is always nice to get together with family!

Halloween Fun!

2007-11-02T11:28:00.000-07:00

Halloween was fun this year! We went to a carnival last week at the college where Jannika's favorite game was throwing the bean bags into the pumpkin. She also loved getting cotton candy. We went trick or treating with her friend, Ginny, and of course got LOTS of candy. Kirsten loved being a bee and didn't ever want to take off her costume. Jannika has been singing the "Mean Old Witch" song and has also learned this one in Pre-school:

Old McMonster had a house

Eek ack, Eek ack, Oooohhhh

And in that house he had a spider

Eek ack, Eek ack, Oooohhh

With a creep creep here and a creep creep there

Here a creep, there a creep, everywhere a creep creep

Eek ack, eek ack, Oooohhh!

Pretty cute, huh?

Apple Pickin'

2007-10-15T13:04:00.000-07:00

Well, we've been doing a little apple pickin' in our backyard. We have two apple trees and they are crispy and yummy! We are excited for next year when we will actually be able to have a garden and grow some vegetables too. Jannika is a big fan of carrots (dipped in Ranch) and we all like squash and peas and corn on the cob...yum!

Valerie

2007-09-30T19:24:00.000-07:00

Well, I have some sad news today. My oldest sister, Valerie, passed away after fighting cancer for two years. She died on Monday and we attended her funeral on Friday in Pendleton, Oregon. When I told Jannika that Aunt Valerie had died, she said, "Mom, remember that if we get married in the temple we can see people again that died?" I just cried and hugged her close to me. I am so thankful for the gospel.
Valerie was a wonderful sister and when her family lived in Castle Dale when I was in High School, we used to talk a lot. We still had a good relationship when they moved but it was a little bit harder because of the distance. But whenever we talked on the phone we could just pick up where we left off. Our family does have a great tradition of writing a family letter every few months and keeping up to date on each other's lives. Valerie not only included news of her family but also her thoughts, feelings and insights, especially about the gospel. It is so wonderful that our family has these writings as a tribute to her life. She had a positive attitude through her treatments and had an ever firm testimony of the gospel. She was a great example to me. My only regret is that I didn't connect with her one-on-one as much as I should have. I guess it is a lesson to me to connect more with the people that mean the most to me. I love you, Valerie, and I will miss you.

My Kirst

2007-09-22T17:01:00.000-07:00

Here are some things my babe is doing right now:

She is learning new words every day

She thinks the camera is called "cheese"!

LOVES Barney and Lala (Dora)

Calls Jannika "Gaka" and herself "Din-Den"

Loves watermelon and pop-a-ples (popcicles)

We sure love her!

My Jan

2007-09-22T16:34:00.000-07:00

I know, I have some really random posts but I just keep finding cute pics that I would have put on earlier if I had known how to blog! Last night I was writing down some things about my girls so here's a few

Jannika:

Loves books and practicing writing

She is obsessed with Dora

She writes her name

Says the sweetest prayers

Says she wants to be a teacher and a mom when she grows up

Her favorite things are:

Long noodles (Ramen)

Sweedish Fish

Little Caesars breadsticks

Purple

Dancing and playing dress ups

I just asked her what her favorite thing to do is and she said, "I like to help people so they can feel better." (I have a suspicion that this answer might be because we just practiced her talk for primary tomorrow that was about service! What a sweetie pie!)

Last year's San Diego trip

2007-09-14T15:06:00.000-07:00

Okay, now it's time for some nostalgia... I'm going to live in the past and put on some pics of our awesome trip to San Diego last year about this time. We had tons of fun with our friends, the Phillips, and we just want to remember this trip! We spent a lot of time at the beach, went to Sea World, Coronado Island, Tijuana (and almost couldn't get back into the U.S.!), the San Diego Temple among other fun places!

The Chocolate Face

2007-09-14T14:47:00.000-07:00

Here's just a funny picture of Kirsten with a chocolate face. We had ice cream sundaes one night and she got a hold of my bowl that still had chocolate sauce in it. What a funny girl! She was eating away and as soon as I got out the camera she said, "cheese!" with this facial expression! She has been saying so many new things. She can put 3 words together like, "a daddy go?" She almost always knows the answer: "daddy boom?" which means daddy's vroom or daddy's truck. She is very into Barney right now( heaven only knows why) and wants to watch it all day. She also likes Lala (Dora) but not as much as Barney.

First day of school

2007-09-14T14:34:00.000-07:00

Wow, I have really wanted to add to my blog for a long time but I haven't gotten around to it. Oh well, here's some updates. Jannika started preschool on September 4 and she goes 3 days a week for two hours each day. She loves it! It is called "See World Preschool" and it always reminds her of our trip to Sea World last year. It is so fun to see how grown up she is. On the first day of school we got her all dressed up in her new school clothes and she started to cry. I asked if she was scared to go to school and she said no; she was crying because her clothes were too big! So we had to put on some older clothes that fit her better and she was all set!

Being in the Pageant

2007-08-20T19:30:00.000-07:00

Well, here we are, playing people from the olden days and tyring to figure out this new technology of "blogs"! We had a great time being in the Pageant this year. We played Joe and Tilda and Kirsten was our baby Joey. She loved running to daddy in the finale of the Pageant. Jannika played Jessica in the Wink and Anna family. It was a little bit more difficult to get over to the Pageant site each night since we live in Price but it was worth it! We also need to thank LeAnne for helping with our kids each night. She was wonderful!