I need to record a conversation that Kyrk and I had the other day. It went a little something like this....
Me, "I went over my budget again this month! Sorry, but I'm really trying!"
Kyrk (very nicely), "Well, maybe if you didn't spend so much on the house. You always buy bins and boxes and stuff."
Me, "WHAAT?!? I do NOT buy bins and boxes for the house! I think you THINK that I buy more than I really do."
Kyrk just nods and smiles that smile....

Fast forward a couple of days and I am yet again hauling my cart down the aisles of Wal-Mart. For some reason that I cannot recall, I am gloriously by myself. Whenever I am by myself I do tend to wander towards some aisles I will not name at this point. While I am wandering this song comes over the speakers

Hold me, hold me
Never let me go until you've told me, told me
What I want to know and then just hold me, hold me
Make me tell you I'm in love with you

Come on, you know it.... For some reason this song comes on every time I near my aisle. Did I say "MY" aisle, I mean this aisle.
As this song is playing I. see. it. IT. It is perfect. I need it in my life. Well, in my pantry anyway. It is a bin that compliments my existing bins in my pantry PERFECTLY. And I just happen to need a bin for my breads, of course. I pick it up and giddiness is coursing through my body when a voice comes into my head...."YOU ALWAYS BUY BINS....." Oh no. no no no. What am I going to do? If I buy it that means he's right. But what if I put it back, they could be gone next time. There are only 87 left, I counted. I am so torn! I MIGHT have debated for twenty min. but who's counting. I put it back, I swear I did! I am not sure how one, okay maybe two, ended up in my cart. I get the bin home and shamefully admit that I thought of hiding it for awhile. But... I really wanted to see how they looked in their new home (aka pantry). Maybe he wouldn't notice. I knew that was never going to fly. So when Kyrk gets home and opens the pantry and gives me the SMILE I just hold my head high and say, "You could POSSIBLY be right."
My name is Emma and I have a bin addiction. Step one.

Callin all cowboys

Oh, my little Max. I don't know if anyone could have predicted how sweet this boy would turn out knowing what a horrible baby he was. Yes, I know that sounds bad, but it really only sounds bad if you didn't know him as an infant. That is another story though. My point is that he is so sweet now. Often he randomly comes and hugs me and tells me I'm the best mommy ever. He is mostly pretty mellow and is really good at sharing and making others happy. Oh, he has his moments.... but overall I am so impressed with my little buddy and what an amazing boy he is. I love you Little Monkey! Anyway...

Max has never had a friend b-day party so I decided it was his turn this year. He wanted a cowboy party. As much as I would like to believe it was for the horses and cowboy getup, I know he really just has a fascination with guns. So we started out with the invitation...

I cut them out and burned the edges, rolled them up with the tag around them and stuffed them in the barrel. When you pulled the "bang" tag- out came the invite. I thought it up all on my lonesome so I was pretty proud of myself.

Decorated all in red and blue. I had a bunch of leftover bandanna material from a long time ago that was fun to put around.

When the kiddos got here we dressed them up in felt vests, hats, bandannas, and they each got their own stick horse. I made these out of socks, random buttons I had, ribbon, and a little flannel. It cost me $25 to make 10 of them. I think that is pretty good. They were a little time consuming because I had to sew much of it by hand, but I used my time in the car wisely when we went to St. George and got a ton of it done. AND Gramsy helped put on the manes. They were so cute I'm glad I did them. The kids really had fun riding them around and they are still a big hit around here. I found a wood burner in my old stuff and burned their names into the sticks. What?? I know EVERYONE has a wood burner hidden in their basement somewhere!

Kami really wanted to join in, but this WAS the hat we were trying to use for a game.

We played a few games: lasso the horse (with a hula hoop), throw the badges into a hat, drop the snakes into a boot, and shoot the animals- snake, bear and rabbit(pics taped onto cereal boxes) with a rifle dart gun. I spray painted a bunch of rocks gold and they got gold nuggets when they won their games. I had everything on hand except a hula hoop and gold spray paint. Score!

Then we went out to the sandbox to find more hidden gold nuggets- they loved this part.

We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows (there is a least one plus to having an unfinished yard). Next time I need to get the longer roasting sticks- sorry kids, maybe a few singed knuckle hairs.

Now this I was really proud of!! It was my first time using fondant-not my favorite, somehow it just seems like cheating. But a belt out of frosting was just not happening. I also used it for the brim on the hat. Kyrk said it looked like daisy duke shorts, but my glare shut him up pretty fast. He has since repented in sack cloth and ashes.

At the end they went to the "Trading Post" and traded some gold nuggets for some prizes. I think a fun time was had by all! Yee ha!

I wish I had a pic of the trading post. Kyrk looked at me half way through one of my projects and said, "This isn't even for the boys, this is for you! You are so giddy!" It's true. I love coordinating themes and thinking of every possible thing that could go along with it. From invitations to games to decorating the goodie bags. Sigh, what I could do with an endless supply of time. Oh, and money. And space. And...well you get the picture.
Happy Birthday my sweet Max!

St George

For UEA we headed down to St. George. We have actually never done more than just wave as we have driven past, so it was nice to visit. Kyrk did a century ride on Sat. so we decided to make a weekend out of it. Thanks to our friend Josh, we were able to have lodging (he pulled some strings at the timeshare-there were no openings but he works there! Stay tuned and I'll show you what we ended up in).

We had a lot of fun going to Snow Canyon. Short fun hikes for the kids, okay I wasn't too bummed about the short hikes, especially since I ended up carrying Malia a lot of the time.

Jenny's slot canyon.

Lots of fun cracks and holes to play in.

Ally wanted to try taking a picture.

We found some shade to have a picnic.

Kami fell asleep so we had to rig the car so that Kyrk could leave the backpack on between the hikes.

Like I said, thanks to Josh, we got to stay in the Presidential Suite. Ooh,la,la! These pics don't really do it justice. I was trying to live it up because that's not going to be happening again soon. And the best part??? I don't have to clean it!

The kids spent so much time in the pool I thought they might grow gills.
Yeah Kyrk and Amber! 105 miles!
I just don't honestly get why people would do this to themselves. They are lying on the ground groaning afterward talking about how they want to die and then at dinner they are discussing the next one! Go for it, I'll be the cheerleader on the side line. Kyrk has to push me on the back when I go up a hill. I tried to go as hard as I could on a bike and I think I hit 17 mph. When we go on family bike rides I make Kyrk pull the stroller with 3 kids in it- then I can mostly keep up. I would so much rather run up a hill then lug a bike up one. I have never been competitive (I don't think UNO counts) so I guess I just don't get the whole adrenaline thing. My stomach rolls and I'm pretty sure my face turns green when Kyrk comes home and tells me he hit 62 mph going down hill. My response is always, "Don't you love me?" We went and upped our life insurance. I figure if I have to live a lonely, sad life I might as well be rich.

Here come Jeff and Josh.

You would think this would be Daddy after 6 1/2 hrs on the bike.

We stopped by the beautiful St. George temple on the way out of town.

One year later...

This was Kambria's cake. I saw the cake tattoos at the store and couldn't resist. They looked like too much fun. I really need to get a cake pedestal.

She REALLY just wanted to touch the flame.

Good thing she had lots of helpers.

I gave her the cupcake on top. I think our last two kids threw up after eating their cake. I thought this was a wise choice. So after putting a throw away tablecloth down, and taking her clothes off-
she painted with the frosting...

ate the frosting...

shared the frosting...

and was so happy!

I am not sure she really got to open one of her presents.

Happy birthday Kami!

We found Kami up on the mantle with a book and she was just chuckling to herself. Can't get much cuter than that.

Malia is 3!

Malia, Malia. She is such a character. She wants so bad to be a big kid and do everything they do yet she loves to be my baby and "hold you!" She has got a set of lungs on her that is seriously scary but her laugh is so cute you can't help but laugh with her. She can be such a stinker but is so funny that it is hard to get her in trouble. One thing is for sure: she grabs your heart and you can't help but love her.
After a week of telling her it was almost her birthday, it finally came (her birthday is 7 days after Ally's). Her presents were a hit. Of course. She's three.

Malia saw this cake when we were looking for cakes for Ally and fell in love. Ally was pretty impressed with herself for helping decorate the barbie. She added a necklace, bracelet and earrings. I added sleeves. :)

This was my first attempt at baking in a bowl and I have learned some things. I can say that calmly now because I don't have frosting up to my elbows, a lopsided skirt, 3 empty cake boxes, and dozen eggs I need to return to my neighbor. I am just glad you cannot see what is under that skirt-that doesn't sound right.

Kami thinks she is so funny because she made a mess of my picnic supplies. ha. ha. ha. She also thinks it's really funny to smash crackers on the floor in the smallest pieces she can get them into. Why, oh, why do they have to go through this stage? It must be because of all the free time I have to clean up my otherwise perfectly clean house.
P.S. this is before I organized my pantry.

My baby

My baby is not such a baby anymore. She just turned seven years old. At least I think she's seven. She should be seven, but sometimes I wonder if she skipped a few years. All she wanted was an MP3 player for her b-day. That is what she wanted for her cake too!?! What ever happened to My little Ponies and Rainbow Brite?

Sooo happy!

She wanted Top Raman and shrimp for her birthday dinner. Whatever- I'm just the cook.


Was it really that long ago? Time goes so fast. Too fast. I just want her to stay small for a while longer, yet I know I would never be satisfied. Every time I blink she is getting taller and saying/doing things that are more grown up. It is such a fun adventure watching her grow and I know I just have to appreciate every day with her.