The Brizzee Bunch

2010-05-17T20:27:00.000-07:00

I have been a horrible blogger this year. I still don't have the drive to post something great but I did want to share this video because it is too darn cute.

I was in Chicago over Mothers Day helping my sister who just had a baby so my Dave had my kids make this video for me. It makes being a mom totally worth it!

Typical Kid on Camera

2010-02-25T20:30:00.000-08:00

So I have these videos of my kids. They make me laugh. The first one is so typical of a kid on camera. They are like a deer in the headlight. As soon as the camera goes on they shut down. The second on is you try and video one of your kids doing something cute and the other ones have to steal the limelight. Enjoy.

Winter Blues

2010-02-25T09:43:00.000-08:00

So I have been a horrible blogger and I keep getting yelled at by my sister for not keeping up on my blog so I thought I would just give you a little run down of what we are up to.

We are SICK to death of winter. I can't even wait to just go outside and be done with runny noses. My kids play outside anyway. We haven't even been able to play in the snow because surprisingly Pocatello never gets snow and if we do it doesn't stay around very long.

Logan is doing awesome in school and is playing Jazz basketball. It is so cute. They have improved so much in just three games.
Paige is so ready for school she is just bored out of her mind and I can't think of things fast enough to keep her busy.
Ethan is... well he is Ethan. Naughty as ever and destroying and into everything. I can't WAIT until he outgrows this stage.
I am just trying to survive the last few months of residency. I can't wait for that to be over. Dave is the same. He is just on autopilot and is just taking everything day by day.

Winter when are you over?????

Happy 10th Anniversary

2009-12-29T18:37:00.000-08:00

We are celebrating our 10 year anniversary tomorrow. We were married December 30th 1999. I can't believe it has been that long already. It truly seems like yesterday that I met this wonderful man on a crazy blind date. It has been an amazing 10 years. I wanted to share the top ten reasons that I love being married to Dave.

10. He is so funny and so fun to be around. I hate it when he is gone. When he moonlights or is on call overnight it is so quiet and boring. There is no sweeter sound than the garage door opening in the morning.
9. He is so compassionate. He truly cares for others whether it is his patients or my family or complete strangers. He would give the shirt off his back if someone needed it.
8. This goes with 9 but he wears his heart on his sleeve. My sisters and I always make fun of him for this but I love it. If it is a wedding, a talk in church, testimony meeting, or he is just feeling happy he gets all choked up. It is the cutest thing.
7. He is so frugal and smart with money. He could live in a cardboard box if that meant he had 10 dollars in his savings account.
6. He is so spiritual and knowledgeable about the gospel. He teaches me and makes me want to be better all the time. He is the most honest person I have ever met.
5. He can do ANYTHING. I when I say anything I mean it. He can do landscape, electrical, plumbing, build anything(like a house) or anything you can dream up, fix cars, do computer stuff I mean the list goes on and on. He also wins everything (which I find extremely annoying) It could be mini golf, or the wii and Xbox, to any sport or just good old board games, Dave is always the winner.
4. He is very smart. He did graduate from medical school.
3. He is a wonderful dad. He loves his kids so much. He provides for them, is an example to them, and loves to play with them. The kids favorite game is chasing game with dad. If Logan and Ethan turn out to be like their dad I will be the happiest mom in the world.
2. He gives the best advice. To me or my sisters you name it. He is always there to listen if you need him.
1. And last but not least, he truly loves me. He shows me and tells me that he loves me all the time. He is an amazing husband and I don't know how I got so lucky to meet someone like him. I don't think I could have dreamed up a better husband.

These past ten years have been the best of my life. Dave has made it all happen and we have three amazing children to show for it. It has been a lot of work and a lot of play and I wouldn't change one minute for anything. Happy Anniversary Dave. I love you.
4

Halloween

2009-11-08T21:47:00.001-08:00

Halloween was so fun this year. I am always interested in what my children finally decide their choice of costume each year. Paige changes her mind every year, and this year was no exception. She really really wanted to be Luigi from Mario brothers this year. She has been watching me and Logan play mario galaxy on the wii and saw a luigi costume at walmart. She wanted to be that so bad for like a month. She had it decided that Logan would be Mario, Paige Luigi, dad was to be Bowser, Ethan Yoshi and mom Princess Peach. Has anyone tried to find those costumes online? Not an easy task. I asked her "Paige don't you want to be a girl? You could be Princess Peach." She was not having it. Finally somehow she saw this dress that is a high school musical Sharpay dress and she decided she liked it but it had to have wings and pink hair so it was settled. When people asked her what she was she said "I am Hannah Montana" People looked at me and I just shrugged my shoulders. Logan was easy, he said he wanted to be something scary for Halloween this year so a five dollar cape and this is what we came up with. He loved it. Ethan well sorry kid when you are a third child you just get hand me down costumes. He didn't care, you can see how much he likes to dress up. It was a fun night and the weather was pretty nice for Idaho. I love Halloween and the kids scored some pretty good stuff that of course we have helped them out with. Can't wait for next year.

Cute Kid Pics

2009-10-28T09:37:00.000-07:00

My friend Miranda takes the cutest children photos I have ever seen. I really needed so good pictures of Ethan because I haven't had them done since he was like three months old. But of course Ethan doesn't make anything easy. He was terrible and he wouldn't let us take any of him. We got a couple but the other kids did awesome. Mir and I kept laughing at Logan because he kept giving us a "Blue Steel" look in all of his pictures. I think he wanted to look cool. I love them and can't wait to see the rest.

The Happiest Place on Earth

2009-10-13T19:34:00.000-07:00

We just got home from such a fun vacation. We took Logan and Paige to Disneyland. We left Ethan at home with family because he is still a little too young and crazy to take an a vacation like that. The kids had so much fun and Paige and Logan did too. Seriously Dave and I love to go to places like that. We loved the rides and made the kids ride everything. Paige didn't like space mountain at all because they transformed it into ghost galaxy for Halloween, but she was a champ and rode it three times with us (of course I had to cover her eyes the whole time) but she did it. We did that for three days on of the days we got to do with our friends from med school because they live in San Diego and it was so fun to see them. After our awesome yet exhausting three days there we went and stayed at our friends and went to the beach and even got to go on a date kid free. We had so much fun and I love to see med school friends because it always seems like no time at all has passed. It was so fun.

Gotta Love Spud Day

2009-10-12T21:44:00.000-07:00

I love Spud Day is good ol' Shelley Idaho. It was fun to take the kids there this year. It was a little while ago but I have been a lazy poster. My sister Christy is obsessed with Marathon running and is trying to get me into it. I decided I would try with a mild 10k on spud day morning. It was my first experience running in a race like that and possibly my last. I probably should have trained more that three days because it was the hardest thing ever. I don't know if running is for me. I can see why people catch the buzz though. I love to bike but I don't know about this running business. I did finish though and I wasn't last so I did alright right? The kids loved the parade and came home with lots of candy. Paige only cared about her pink cotton candy, and we loved our funnel cake. Can't wait to go next year.

Happy B-Day Logan

2009-10-12T21:01:00.000-07:00

My baby boy just turned seven. I can't believe it. I am not old enough to have a boy this age. I just wanted to post and brag about this wonderful child that has blessed our home. He is so much fun and such a joy to be around. He is very helpful and is such a good big brother. Paige idolizes him and he is truly her best friend. Ethan adores him and just lights up whenever he comes in the room. I can always count on him to help me or say something so sweet that makes my day. He tells me at night "Mom I love you as much as my heart beats." He is so good at school and his teacher tells me today at parent teacher conferences that he is so smart and very popular. It just makes you feel so good as a mom to have other people tell you, you have a good child. I love Logan with all of my heart and feel so blessed that he is part of our family. Happy Birthday. (By the way it was on the sixth but we were at disneyland.)

Kid Update

2009-08-25T12:03:00.000-07:00

So summer is almost gone and school has started and I am so sad. My kids are growing up so fast I can't believe it. I thought I would post a little of what they are up too. First of all Ethan. That child has tested my patience more than anything in my whole life. He cries non-stop and is super clingy. He wants me to hold him all day long and he is like a permanent attachment to my leg. With that he is also the cutest, funniest, clumsiest, and believe it or not fun child ever. I do love him to pieces which keeps him alive. He is really getting big and adventurous and loves to climb out of his high chair onto the table. He also pushes chairs over to the counters and gets up on the chair all ready. He loves to make a mess constantly and I have to walk around picking up the mess all day. But I do love that kid.

Next is my beautiful Paige. Dave has been so against me cutting Paiges hair for two years now. I have begged but he loves long hair and since I chopped all mine off he wanted Paige to keep hers. I finally talked him into it because her hair is so fine and scraggly. My sister Christy came to visit and I asked to cut it. Paige was a little nervous but I told her it would look like one of her friends hair so she let us. It turned out so cute and we all love it. It is so easy to take care of now. She looks so much older now and loves to show it off. She is so fun to be around and is turning into a little teenager already. She is desperatly missing her brother who is at school ALL DAY now. She cries in the morning when she wakes up and he is already gone. I like the time I have with her.

Last but not least is Logan. I can't believe it is even possible to have a 1st grader. I don't feel old enough to have that. I don't feel old enough to be one year away from 30 or just a few months away from 10 years of marriage but here it all is. Logan has been so excited for school and was just beside himself to start. He was so cute at the bus stop talking to all his friends. I was really sad actually because I am missing him so much. He is gone all day I feel like I won't ever see him. It is so quiet in our house when he is gone, and my huge helper is nowhere to be found. He is such a good boy and I know he will do great at school. When he was telling me all about school he said "Mom the lunchroom food is SOOO GOOD. And all the girls chase me at school. They remembered that from kindergarten." He had a cute little girlfriend last year and was so sad to find out she had to move. He asked me "Mom will I find a new girlfriend this year?" I said "why don't you worry about making friends that are boys." He said "No way" So I already have to worry about that in 1st grade.

My kids are so fun and make life worth living.

A Botched Birthday

2009-08-25T11:19:00.000-07:00

Don't you hate it when you plan something really awesome and it goes to pot? So my mom was coming into town to visit, so I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to take somewhere over night to celebrate his birthday. It was a surprise. We tried to get some friends to go with us but schedules didn't work out so I had to settle for a day date. We started the morning going mountain biking (our new favorite pastime that might keep us in pocatello forever) It was awesome. Dave and I have a blast doing that together. Then I spent the night before making tin foil dinners and getting snacks and fishing licenses. After biking we went on our way to an awesome day of fishing and smore roasting and visiting with our good friends. We met them in Burley and they took us to this gorgeous camping spot a nice little lake. It was really busy so we decided to walk to the other side of the lake. We were there maybe fifteen minutes and all of the sudden we could see rain move across the lake. We didn't want to go back to the car yet in case it stopped so we took cover under some trees. The rain started to get worse and worse until it turned into hail with no sign of stopping. I couldn't believe how hard it was hailing. It started to let up a little so we decided to take a chance and run back to the car. Big mistake. It was hailing so hard it was pelting our heads, feet, and arms, it hurt. We finally made it to the car and ending our fifteen minute trip to the lake. On the way back down our car started to overheat so Dave was flooring it to make it down the hill and then our car started to smoke so we had to pull over and but coolant in it. We found out the smoke was from Dave riding the brakes to hard. It was quite memorable. We ended up cooking our tin foil dinners at our friends parents house in Burley on the grill. It still turned out to be a great day.

July

2009-07-26T21:36:00.001-07:00

July has been really fun. It was pretty crazy because Dave had to do a rural rotation in Idaho Falls so we were gone a lot. We really enjoyed the fourth spending it together with family. My kids love fireworks. We almost got in trouble by the police for lighting our fireworks off on the 5th. He said the were illegal after the 4th. He really was after the illegal overhead fireworks that my neighbor was lighting off. I got to go to my annual girls retreat with my girlfriends for medical school. We had it in Utah this year and seven of us were able to make it. I think that was the most fun I had in one weekend. We had such a blast. We talked and laughed so much that I went hoarse. It has been two years since I saw some of them and it felt like no time had passed at all. It made me so sad to leave them. It made me realize how much I missed all of our friends. It almost made me want to go back to medical school. We will never have times like that again. When I got back Paige has been bugging me for a pet. She really wanted a pet mouse. She begged me over and over for one. I finally talked her into a bird and it was the best decision I have made. It is so cute and so low maintenance. The kids named her tweety bird and they love her.
So that has been our summer highlights in a nutshell. I will try to be a little better.

June

2009-07-26T21:17:00.000-07:00

The month of June was busy. It was kind of a bummer because it rained non-stop. I think it rained everyday except one. It did put a damper in summer but we still had a good time. As soon as Logan got out of school we went to Chicago to visit my sister Julie. We had such a good time. We went to Lincoln Park Zoo and Navy Pier. We also went to Six Flags but my camera died and Julie has all those pictures. We went and ate some real Chicago pizza and just had a blast hanging out with Julie and Maddie. I wish she lived closer to me. Paige actually prays at night that we can go visit her again. We also went to our annual retreat in Island Park for our residency. It was really fun. I am so glad we stayed in a cabin because it rained almost the whole time. We went to Yellowstone that Saturday and the kids really liked seeing all the stuff. Those retreats are fun. I will miss them when we are done. Yes Dave only has one more year YEAH!!!!!! Also in June Logan started T-Ball for the first time. It was so cute to watch. He had so much fun. The kids are hilarious. Logan did so awesome and I can't wait until next year.

Summer

2009-07-26T21:00:00.000-07:00

So I have been a horrible blogger, so I am about to post our entire summer so far into one blog. It will be like the longest blog in history. I figured it will go in months. I will start with May. First we have a little trip we took to Arizona that at the last minute I got talked into go with my sister Christy to help drive her down. We had a great time. We went to a place called Amazing Jakes that my kids had a blast at. It was a total kid heaven. Logan wanted to rock climb all day long. Paige called it disneyland. We also did a lot of swimming. Then we move on to Logan's kindergarten graduation. He was so proud and so stinkin cute that day. Finally Logan and Dave had their first father and son campout. They had such a blast.

2009-06-03T00:03:00.000-07:00

Paradise

2009-06-02T15:48:00.000-07:00

Dave and I just went on an amazing Caribbean cruise with our good friends. We had the best time. We ate and ate and ate. We got to see a lot of amazing things, and do a lot of fun things also. It was really hard to come home. If I didn't do this right then there will be a slide show above.

Happy Birthday Baby Boy

2009-04-22T11:55:00.000-07:00

So today is Ethan's bday. He doesn't really get any presents or anything but I did let him have his piece of cake and he made a giant mess. I will post those later. I did want to post some pics and tell a little about my baby. His first year of life flew by I can't believe it. He was an absolutly perfect baby. He slept through pretty much his first three months of life. If anyone remmebers Logan broke his leg when Ethan was three weeks old, and Ethan was an angel. He never needed much attention. If he was any different I would have never made it through those long eight weeks. I think third children must be prepared in heaven to know they aren't going to recive as much attention, or thier mom will take three times as long to attend to thier needs. He ate a lot and never cried. When he started to crawl it was a different story. I think then he learned he could follow me around and force me to give him attention. He has turned into a huge mamas boy, but I love it because he is just too darn cute. I usually have to walk slowly around the kitchen when I am cooking or cleaning because I have this adorable child clinging to my leg walking with me. He adores Logan. He absolutly lights up when he comes around and sometimes Logan is the only one who can make him happy and smile. He has been such a joy and he is the cutest baby I have ever seen. We love him to bits!

2009-04-22T11:25:00.000-07:00

The last picture of that bday post I put the wrong picture there. I wanted to put one on of her on her bday. Here it is.

Happy Birthday My Girl

2009-04-22T10:01:00.000-07:00

So yesterday was Paiges birthday. I thought I would give her a little tribute. Paige is the funnest, cutest, most hilarious, hard headed, stubborn, dramatic, craziest child I have ever met in my life. She has not been and easy child, but I wouldn't change one minute or one crazy quirk that makes that child my child. She has the strongest will I have every seen. She says the funniest things I have ever heard. We love that little girl with all of our hearts.
Some of my favorite things about her are:
1. She and her brother are truly best friends. She doesn't need or even play with toys, she just needs her brother Logan. She cried everyday for three weeks when he started school and she saw him get on the bus.
2. She loves to change her clothes fifty times a day. It makes my laundry pile a mile high.
3. She says the funniest things. example "Mom I like to cry" why? "Because I like to taste my tears, they are salty".
4.She will wear her swimsuit all day everday no matter what temp it is outside. She even wants to sleep in it.
5.She can entertain herself all day with her hilarious games she plays.
6.She is fun to take shopping because she thinks everything you buy "is totally wicked" that is her new phrase she learned on incredibles.
7.She quotes movies all day long and it makes me laugh so hard.
8.She loves to act like a puppy and when she is a puppy she will only talk to you in puppy language.
9.I could go on and on but there are too many things that makes Paige Paige. She is such a blessing in our home and we love her to pieces. Some days I might want to pull all my hair out but I wouldn't change her for anything.

Happy Birthday My Girl!

Paige and Ethans Birthday (really Paiges)

2009-04-22T09:33:00.000-07:00

So Paige's birthday was yesterday and Ethans birthday is today so we had a bday party on sunday for the both of them. Well if anyone knows us they know that we don't really have a bday party for our kids until they are at least two so Ethan got the shaft. We did sing to him. Anyway the party was fun and Paige got a lot of presents and had a great time. The pinata was the funniest because you will see in the pictures that Paige had a hard time sharing.
The first picture is her having a great time hitting it, then we go to Logan hitting it and breaking it, then we got to Paige crying because Logan hit it open, then to Dave having to tape it up so she can do it, then finally to her giving the final blow. Isn't great that you get to be a brat on your birthday and get away with it.
It was a good time.

Easter fun

2009-04-22T09:12:00.000-07:00

We had a great easter. It was a nice laid back time. We do our traditional Easter at the Matsuuras (my sister in-laws, in-laws) I know sounds funny. Deola is amazing to allow us to come to her house every year and provide the entire Brizzee family with lots of amazing food and a wonderful easter egg hunt. We are never disappointed and have a wonderful time.

Long time no Blog

2009-04-22T09:05:00.000-07:00

So I have been really bad about blogging. Things have been so busy around here. I finally had to simplify my life and quit my job doing nails because I was starting to get way too stressed out. I am excited to finally be a full time stay at home mom. That is where I am needed right now. I thought I would update you so get ready.

Anyway my sister Julie and her little girl Madison came to visit awhile back. It was really fun to get the babies together. These are the only pictures I took while she was here I am a big slacker. Julie and I look like the same person because now we have the same hair. Logan came home from school and saw me sitting at the computer and said "Hi Julie" I said "no I am mom" he was confused. I hate that Julie lives so far away.

Our fun trip

2009-02-26T11:28:00.000-08:00

Dave managed to snag six days off some how so we decided to get the heck out of here and go somewhere warm. We went Arizona to visit grandma, cousins, and some friends. We had so much fun. The weather was gorgeous. The kids got to play outside the whole time. They got to do lots of swimming. Paige learned how to swim while we were there, and now there is no stopping her. She doesn't even care if no one is watching her she just jumps in and goes for it. They had so much fun with grandma, Logan cried when we had to leave her. We got to get together with some friends from medical school. It was so good to see them. It is so crazy how time flies and how things change. We stayed with Jeremey and Jill on saturday night and Jeremey had snow cones (I'm sorry Jeremey shave ice) and the whole deal. When we met those guys there were only three kids between the two of us (them two us one) and now there are seven. It is so fun to catch up. The trip was so fun and I was sad to see it end.

Roller Hockey and Dance class

2009-02-26T11:18:00.000-08:00

So Logan got a little flyer at school that had a bunch of activities that kids can do in the community. We picked dance class for Paige and roller hockey for Logan. They have had a blast and they are so stinkin cute in these things. Paige has loved dance class and she talks about it all the time. Logan also loves roller hockey and has decided he wants to stay in it but now they will practice every monday wednesday and have games on friday. I don't know if I can do all that we will see.

DAVE DID REAL GOOD

2009-01-21T12:39:00.000-08:00

So if anyone knows my husband, they know he has struggled a little in the romance department. He has never really been one for holidays and such. Well he has been getting progessively better. This year he totally redeemed himself. It was our anniversary on December 30th, but of course he was working. Both of us had to work and we saw eachother for five minutes that day. That weekend he took me down to Salt Lake(all surprise) and we had a great time. We went to a fun play(Dave did get lost and we were pretty late) but it was still fun. Then he took me to The Inn on the Hill. This place was gorgeous. It was this old house they converted into a bed and breakfast. I told Dave it felt like we were playing clue. They has a study, dining room, billards room, hall, you get the drift. It was so fun. Then my favorite part of the whole night was going to the Melting Pot for dinner. That is the best restaruant. It was such a fun experience if you have never done it. I suggest it. Dinner takes like over two hours, so we just got to sit and enjoy eachothers company for the first time in a long time. We had so much fun, the weekend ended too soon.

Ethan is Crawling for Real

2009-01-21T11:08:00.001-08:00

He finally got it, and now he is all over the place. I hate it. I would have been okay if he didn't crawl for a few more months. It makes everything more complicated and now it is one more child in the kitchen when I am trying to cook. But he is just too darn cute.

2009-01-09T14:21:00.000-08:00

So I was a little off about the pics. The ones I talked about at first were at the bottom. The one of Paige on the phone was her talking to her dad. That was all we got of him on christmas.

Christmas Joy

2009-01-09T14:05:00.000-08:00

I thought I would share a few pictures of Christmas with everyone. A little late but whatever. The first couple of pics are Ethan with Santa at a residency party for the kids. He was cute, he didn't quite know what to think of him, but he did like his beard. Then the second one is a picture of Logan with his "girlfriend" Julianna. They are so cute together. Logan talks about her everyday. They sit by eachother on the bus and at school. They draw pictures for eachother and bring the on the bus. It is so stinkin adorable. Logan says he is going to marry her.
Christmas was alright. I shouldn't complain because I got to be with my kids and my family. Dave was unable to make it. He had to work christmas eve, and we were going to wait for him to open presents on christmas morning but he got snowed in Pocatello and we were in Shelley. The weather was so bad that he couldn't leave Pocatello because he had to work again that night and couldn't risk it. It really sucked especially since that is the second christmas in a row that he has missed with us. I was really bitter at his residency that day.
My family did go sledding that night and had a blast. Paige couldn't get enough. Dave worked new years eve and new years night. I am getting really tired of residency. I can't wait until it is over. All in all it wasn't too bad of a holiday season.

Ethan's Crawling (kindof)

2009-01-02T10:15:00.000-08:00

Ethan has this really funny crawl. He can't quite figure out how to move his arms one at a time so he just falls forward. He gets to where he needs to though, and he is getting pretty fast.

A Princess Dream Come True

2008-12-10T23:41:00.000-08:00

My friend told me about this princess tea party that the festival of trees puts on every year. The tickets sell out really fast but we were really lucky to snag some this year. We took our girls to this tea party last Friday and it was absolutely adorable. I got Paige all dressed up and took her in and they had all the tables set with a magic wand, a princess hat, our water glasses had pink sugar around the rim, they got pink yogurt, pink milk and a cupcake with pink sprinkles. They had singing and a princess parade where all the little girls got to go on stage and do a curtsy for everyone. Paige had so much fun and after the party we went and saw santa in his workshop. We had such a fun mother daughter date and Paige has been talking about the tea party everyday since then. In fact she was in tears the other night because we weren't going back there until next year. My friend Melanine who watches my kids a day a week (and went to the party with me), said that on Tuesday the girls had all the sippie cups out and were having a tea party. I guess I will have to get her a set from santa. It was the cutest thing I have ever seen, and we will have to do it again next year.

A Night on the Town

2008-12-10T23:27:00.000-08:00

Dave is still in Salt Lake doing a rotation so we decided to go visit him again this last weekend. We met some friends down at Temple Square. I don't know what possessed us to try and do that on a Saturday but we made a huge mistake. We got stuck in traffic for about a half an hour until we finally decided that we weren't making any progress and flipped around and took some side streets only to circle temple square like four times looking for anywhere to park while Ethan is crying and Paige is crying because she has to pee. Dave had to crawl into the backseat and put a diaper on her because we had absolutely nowhere to pull over. Finally we parked clear up on the hill and walked down to the lights. Needless to say that it was packed and you could barely even get a stroller around, so we made a short walk around and called it good. It was a wonderful way to get into the holiday spirit let me tell you. After that fiasco we took the kids to the Mayan restaurant. I don't know if anyone has taken their kids there but my kids absolutely loved it . It was so fun. My picture is terrible and doesn't do it justice but it was like eating in a tree house by a waterfall, and every fifteen minutes they have people come and dive off the cliff into the pool below. It was so fun I can't wait to take them back there.

A Fun Thanksgiving

2008-12-01T22:43:00.000-08:00

We had the best thanksgiving. We had it with my family for the first time since Dave and I have been married. Not because Dave is unfair or anything, but because my family has always been so small that we have always just gone to inlaws or whateve. Well this year we decided to surprise my dad and not tell him that we were flying my sister Julie and her husband out from Chicago to spend thanksgiving with us. We told him on his birthday which is November 15th that we bought him a present but it hadn't arrived yet. So Julie got to my house tuesday night and my dad came wednesday afternoon. When he got there we put Julie's new baby Madison in a big christmas bag and told my dad his present arrived. He looked in the bad (as it was crying) and was shocked. At first he didn't realize what was going on, but then Julie jumped out of the back room and he was so excited. It was so fun to have everyone together. We made so much food, did the crazy early morning shopping at four in the morning, played a few really loud crazy games, and had so much fun. I was so sad to have it end.

A Fun Visit To Dad

2008-12-01T22:36:00.000-08:00

Dave had to go to Utah this month to do a pediatrics rotation at Primary Children's hospital. We absolutly hate it when he is gone. The kids really struggle when dad is out of town, and I hate to have him gone because he truly is my best friend. It feels really empty without him and we count down the days to him coming home. So to make time fly by we went to visit him last weekend and had a lot of fun. We took them to this fun park and the kids had a ball. We only have two weeks left but I don't think we will see him at all, and that sucks.

Paige's Many Outfits

2008-12-01T22:28:00.000-08:00

This girl changes her clothes at least five times a day. It drives me crazy, because her laundry pile is outrageous. I can't help but laugh at the hilarious things she comes up with though.

Overdue Halloween Pics

2008-11-13T00:22:00.000-08:00

So listen to how bad of a mom I am. My cameras batteries were totally dead on Halloween. I looked all over the house for some to replace them and had no luck. I was in such a hurry that day because I was so busy. I had to go do a set of nails that morning, and then I had to run home and get ready to go to Logan's school because I was in charge of the Halloween party. I didn't have time to run to the store to get more. So I had to rely on one of the other moms to take pictures for me and she hasn't sent them yet. Then that night I totally spaced it and didn't get any for the camera before trick or treating. I am such a slacker. So long long story short I don't have great pictures, but luckily Halloween lasts for like two weeks so I have some pictures of things. Everyone wore the same costume for every party but Paige. She changed her mind everyday. I bought her a ladybug costume and did get her to wear it once. But if you asked her what she was going to be she would say "a tiger, mouse, superman, elephant." She would dress up everyday in something new and still continues to do so. She ended up being superman for Halloween and I could not convince her otherwise. We don't push Paige.

So a couple pictures are of a party we went to of some friends of ours. It was pretty fun. A couple are of us at our ward party. One of our friends thought it would be really funny to dress up as Dr. David Brizzee. We all got a really good kick out of that. He even painted on the eye brows and everything. And one picture was from today. My kids are still dressing up. That is what Logan was for Halloween. Paige on the other hand changed for every party. She did wear that to Logan's school for his party. They are all cute kids. Halloween is probably my favorite holiday. The kids had so much fun trick or treating. The weather was perfect and everyone in our neighborhood kind of wandered around together and we had a blast. Can't wait till next year!

PAIGE WON'T LET SUMMER DIE

2008-10-23T09:52:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Paige came and asked me if she could play the splash game. It is a thing you hook up to the hose and the little heads fill with water and you stomp on them and they spray water all over you. Well it is no longer warm outside, it was about fifty degrees out there yesterday. I told her it is too cold for that. Does she listen to me? Of course not. So I said okay, thinking she would get out there in her swimming suit and just come right back in. No no. She played in there and got soaking wet. I was laughing pretty good when she ran over to the sidewalk and layed down on it to get warm (because that is what they did this summer) and it was freezing cold. She is by far the craziest little girl I have ever met. Life truly would be dull without her.

Good to see Med School Friends

2008-10-21T22:58:00.000-07:00

I was so excited to hear that my friend Karie was breezing through good old Pocatello en route to drive home back to Minot. Her husband has been gone for like two months and she has been visiting family. She stopped by for just a short time but it was so good to see her and see how her kids have grown. Logan didn't really remember her kids which is sad because they are all getting older and are forgetting all the time we spent together. It is good to know we have made so many lifelong friends through med school.

Family Vacation

2008-10-21T22:46:00.000-07:00

Dave had a week off at the beginning of the month and I tried my hardest to talk Dave into going to San Diego. Our friends live there and it is WARM. But we did just dump a whole lot of money into our new basement so I sucked it up and we decided to stay home, well kindof. We did go up to Island Park. Our friends have a cabin up there and they let us go stay there. It was a little colder than I wanted my vacation to be but we still had a lot of fun. My crazy kids decided to get out of the hot tub and make snow angels. It was really funny to watch. The cabin is on the golf course and has access to the club house. We invited our friends and the kids had a blast swimming and playing supernintendo. It was nice to have time together as a family.

The last picture is what we had to come home to. The drive home was scary, we saw a truck flipped off the road. I decided I am moving back to Arizona. Thankfully it did warm up this last week, but it did feel like winter for a while.

Happy Birthday Logan

2008-10-07T14:53:00.000-07:00

We had the funnest time at Logan's birthday party yesterday. It was insanely chaotic though. I think we ended up with sixteen kids altogether. Every kid on the street came to the party, even kids I have never seen before. One of the kids caught wind of a party and he and his sister showed up on the door step. One of them knocked on the door and I answered it and it was a little spiderman. Everyone that I had invited was already there so I said "who are you?" She lifted up her mask and I was like"still not helping" One of the little boys (that I had only seen on the street like twice) was like "that is my sister" I was like "come on in and join the party." It was fun. Logan insisted on a costume party which is a good thing his birthday is in October. Everyone got really into it especially my brother Scott. He always livens up the party. We were really glad when it was all over though.

ITS FINALLY DONE!!!!!!

2008-10-07T14:29:00.000-07:00

After months of dealing with dusty little footprints and Dave spending every free second he had (which aren't too many), and countless hours neglecting my children on account of painting, our basement it finally done. It is so amazing to have it all done. It feels like a whole new house. The kids have been down there since the carpet got layed. It is so quiet upstairs, it is crazy. We also moved the couch and TV down so now we have a completely empty living room. It looks like we moved out of our house. Well darn looks like I will have to get new furniture upstairs. What do you think of the before and after?

Look At This Big Kid

2008-10-07T14:22:00.000-07:00

Ethan is growing way too fast. This is his first time eating rice cereal. I am amazed at what this kid can put away. He is my biggest eater and that is saying a lot because my others eat really well too. He also looks almost as big as Paige here. He is so cute.

Beautiful Children

2008-09-23T00:12:00.001-07:00

I finally got my kids disc to work. These pictures were taken the same day that we got family pictures done. Needless to say they took pictures all day so I can't believe they turned out so good. These pictures are so gorgeous and I had like a hundred and fifty to choose from so it was hard. Again my friend does amazing work and I feel so blessed to have a good friend like her and to have these shots of my kids that I will cherish forever. Thanks Mir!

Cute Kids

2008-09-22T15:12:00.000-07:00

It is so much fun to watch your kids grow and develop thier little personalities. I had to share these pictures because they are so dang cute. I love it when your babies get so tired they will fall asleep anywhere. Ethan wore himself out on the floor the other day and I had to take a picture. There is something so sweet about a sleeping baby.
And then there is my daughter. She is the most tomboy princess I had ever met. She is obsessed with grasshoppers. Everywhere we go she finds one and plays with it. I don't quite know what her fasination is with them but I think it is nasty. She picks them up and they jump all over her. But she isn't miss gentle with them. She usually ends up ripping their legs off or sticking them under the doormat and squishing them. Oh well!

Fluke Family Day

2008-09-22T15:01:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in awhile because I have been so busy painting my basement. We are finishing it and are almost there. We are getting carpet this week. Yeah! I can't wait to have a playroom downstairs to keep those crazy screaming kids confined. Anyway a few weeks ago we took a little trip down to Utah because Dave had to take his boards. We went down the night before and stayed at my sister Christy's apartment it Provo. Dave took off early that morning to take his test and I stayed with my sister. Well a couple hours later Dave comes through the door pretty upset. Come to find out his liscense was expired and they would not let him take it. He was so mad because he had like six forms of ID, this was the third test of the series he has taken, they have his fingerprints, we came from out of town, spent the gas money, and time away from work to come down for this stupid test and they would not let him take it!!!! Not to mention they charged us two hundred dollars to reschedule the stinkin thing. So dumb. Anyway we took the kids to the Hoggle Zoo and had a great time. The kids loved the train most of all.

2008-09-22T14:56:00.000-07:00

Family Pictures

2008-09-22T14:05:00.000-07:00

Our Family finally all got together with my dad(with the exception of Julie's husband Ryan) and decided to get our pictures taken. It was so neat to have one of all of us not to mention my little family picture that we have not had taken since Paige was a baby. We really wanted to get this done not just because we haven't had one done in so long but because we recently found out my dad was sick. He has had a lot of complications lately but has been an amazing trooper through it all. He would kill me if he knew I posted about it because he doesn't want to be treated any differently but I just wanted to share how special he is. He is the most amazing father and grandpa. All the grandkids absolutely adore him especially mine. He is always very willing to watch the kids whenever he can. He watched them all summer for me while I worked in Idaho Falls doing nails. He lives for his family and I don't know where I would be without him. I know he will be around for many years to come and be here to see the rest of his grandchildren born. Love ya Dad!!!
My Friend Miranda did this photo shoot for us and did an amazing job. We really appreciate her for it. She also did one of just my children but I can't get it to work so I will post it later. It is pretty sad when you have six grandchildren in your family and half of them are yours!

Family Photo Shoot

2008-09-22T14:03:00.000-07:00

Summer Fun

2008-08-26T14:11:00.001-07:00

Well we wanted to close the summer out with a bang so some good friends of ours parents have an amazing home on the river in Burley. They took us there last weekend and we had so much fun. They kids were beside themselves and we couldn't get Paige out of the boat. The girl is fearless and loved the tube. Dave and I tried our hand at slolem skiing and had no success. But we did really enjoy the tube. Nate gave us little rougher ride than the kids got. My arms were really sore the next day.

Yesterday our neighbors have a foam making machine and we got out a big tarp and made a slip and slide. It was really fun. The kids had so much fun until they got the bubbles in their mouth and eyes and then it got really cold. Paige kept running up to me telling me she was all gooey. Today she kept saying "we had fun at the gooey." I sure am going to miss summer.

More Milestones

2008-08-26T13:54:00.000-07:00

This post goes with my next post. It wouldn't let me put all the pictures on I wanted. I was saying that I can't believe how fast kids grow. I just had Ethan and here he is already in the activity saucer and close to sitting up. They don't stay newborn very long.

Logan loves the bus. Today we were running a little late and we got to the bus stop and waited and waited. I totally thought we missed it so we started to walk home to drive him. He was so upset that we missed it. Well we got almost home and (the bus stop is around the corner.) I saw the bus. We booked it to the bus stop. Logan even lost his shoe in the pursuit and the bus driver was laughing at us as we ran up. He informed me that they run a little late the first week or so.

Huge Milestones

2008-08-26T13:14:00.000-07:00

It is amazing how fast your kids grow. It is so bittersweet. I do not feel old enough to have a child in kindergarten, nor do I feel old enough to have three kids. Logan started school last friday. He even rides the bus. It is so strange to me to send him on the bus and think he will be away from me everyday. Paige is bored out of her mind without him and I must say things are very quiet when they aren't together. Logan loves it and is already making new friends even though he can't ever remember their names.
Paige has already learned to ride a bike. I can't believe it because she is only three, and she just learned to ride this summer with the training wheels. She is so funny to watch. These pictures actually happened in reverse order. She was riding great but doesn't know how to stop so she just falls over. I think it scared her a little bit because we can't really get her to get back on without a lot of coaxing.

Our Crazy Lives

2008-07-30T13:14:00.000-07:00

So I thought I would post to share a few things that have happened to us in the past few months. For some of you who we haven't talked to for awhile and since I haven't had this post very long I wanted to show some pictures of those things. Well this has been a crazy year. It has been Dave's intern year of his family practice residency. When we first started I didn't think I could do it. I was used to medical school where at least he had weekends off. Everyone wants to tell you how hard medical school is but they don't tell about residency. It is insane. I don't know what I would have done if I didn't live by my family. I love the company when Dave has all those 24 hour shifts. We did learn to manage through it. Even though I was pregnant (and it wasn't an easy one) and Dave had to spend two months in Boise over the holidays. I am very thankful for all that I have and for great neighbors. Anyway, toward the end of my pregnancy things were looking really good. Dave had some vacation coming to him around the time we were going to have Ethan. I actually went into labor with Ethan on Paige's birthday. He was three weeks early. I really didn't want them to have the same birthday and even though my epidural didn't really work I waited an extra fifteen minutes so Ethan could have his own birthday. It was the longest and most painful minutes of my life. When Ethan was about two and a half weeks old my sister and brother in law were at my house helping out. My brother in law Chris took the kids outside to play. They went over to my neighbors house and jumped on their tramp. Chris ran Logan into the house cradled like a baby and said "I think he broke his leg." I called Dave at the hospital and we took Logan in. Sure enough he broke it. It was bad. We had to stay in the hospital overnight and he had surgery the next day. It was a very traumatic experience. I had to carry him around for 7 weeks. He is doing much better now. He has his pins out and is walking much better.

Dave is now done with his first year of residency. We went to Island Park for the end of the year retreat. We went to Mesa Falls. In all the times I have been there I never went to Mesa Falls. It was gorgeous. So that is about it in nutshell. I am so blessed and am thankful for family. I made it through without a nervous breakdown. Ethan is now three month us just chubby and happy. We are doing great.

Ashley The Tooth Fairy

2008-07-30T10:45:00.000-07:00

Logan lost his first tooth last week. He was so excited and we told him all about the tooth fairy. We put his tooth in an envelope and told him to put it under his pillow so the fairy would come. Well that night Dave and I went out with some friends for some desert for our birthdays and completely forgot about the tooth. My sister Ashley had spent the night and let us get up early so we could go mountain biking. We left at 7:00 in the morning so we totally thought that the kids would sleep in. Well when we got home Ashley came out and told us what wonderful parents we were because the kids got up at 7:15 and Logan brought out his envelope and was so excited that the fairy came. Thank goodness he didn't want to open the envelope himself. He gave it to Ashley for her to open and she ran over to my purse to find some money. She slipped it in there and gave it back to him. He was very excited. Ashley told me she thought about giving him twenty dollars to teach me a lesson and I said I would have just replaced it with a dollar bill. He doesn't know the difference yet. Thanks Ashley for saving my butt.

Baby Ethan

2008-07-22T12:55:00.000-07:00

I just started this blog so I didn't have a chance to post these new born pictures my friend Miranda took of Ethan. We took these when he was about five weeks old. He is now three months old and has lost all of his gorgeous black hair and is a total chunk. I love these pictures. She did a great job.

Best Friends

2008-07-16T00:03:00.001-07:00

Photobucket Album

Our Family

2008-07-15T21:56:00.000-07:00

I thought I would start this blog by telling a little about our family. I wanted to start with Dave. He has been such a wonderful husband. He has always taken very good care of us. He has been the rock in not only our immediate family but with my extended family as well. He is one of the smartest people I know and he is so fun to be around. He has such a funny sense of humor and he makes me laugh all the time. He knows how to do everything from sheetrock, to tile to carpet laying. He also is an extreme perfectionist about everything, which gets to be so annoying. He just finished his intern year as a resident at the hospital in Pocatello. It has been hard on him, and the family, but somehow we managed through it and Dave really tried his best to spend the little time he had with his family. I respect and admire him so much.

Then there is me. I wish I could say that I was the perfect stay at home mom who loved every minute of it and never took my time with my kids for granted or lost my patience with them but that would make me a lier. I do really try to keep my yelling at a minimum, and also try to make time to let the small stuff slide and just enjoy my children and let them be kids. I do love them very much and would never want anyone to raise them but me. I do love to read, travel and spend time with Dave when he isn't extremely busy. Our new passion is moutian biking here in pocatello. We try to go once a week, it is our new date night or day I guess. I also love to do nails and I work one day a week at a salon in Idaho falls called the Root Forest Salon. I really feel like this is a hobbie and not work, but the perk is I get payed for it. I really love my life, even though sometimes I do cry "poor me".

We have three wonderful children. Ethan is our newest edition to the family. He is the most gorgeous baby. I told Dave after we brought him home that I thought he was our best looking baby. He just has the most perfect features. He has only been in our home for a little over two months, but he has already brought a wonderful spirit into our home. He is such a good baby. He eats like crazy and is already such a chunck. He also sleeps through the night already. We love to have him and can't wait to see what crazy behavior to expect from him.

Next I have my beautiful Paige. She is so spunky and extremely independent and very stubborn. She can make me absolutly crazy one minute and have me rolling the next. She has definitly been trying in her three years of life, but I wouldn't change one minute of it. She has the craziest personality. She loves to dress herself and has been doing so for almost a year now. It used to take a long time and lots of screaming but she would not even consider help, but she has become very good at it and sometimes she picks things that actually match. She absoluty adores her big brother. She follows him everywhere and calls him "her Logan". She would cry for "her Logan" everytime we had to drop him off at preschool. She is the life of the party wherever we go and we are so lucky to have her be a part of this family.

Last there is my handsome boy Logan. He is an amazing little boy. He is the sweetest thing. I truly enjoy his company. If I didn't think it was bad for him I would let him stay awake with me all night and just hang out. He has a very big heart and is always concerned about others. He is always telling me how beautiful I am and that I am a great mom. He truly is a blessing in my life and I am so glad he was sent to me. He is a wonderful big brother to both his sister and new brother. He has always taken good care of his sister and they are best friends. They don't ever like to be apart. I love this little boy.

Welcome to the world of blogging

2008-07-15T20:47:00.000-07:00

I am never good at doing the blog thing but I wanted to start one so it would be easy to keep in touch with people and they could see what is going on in our lives. I will try to be good at posting in the future.