Cabin Trip

This last weekend our family (the Mackelprang side) went up to a cabin in Strawberry, AZ. We had planned it a few months back but kept certain details on the D-L because it was part of a big surprise for my Mom. My brother Anthony and sister-in-law Robyn, were nice enough to fly my sister Aimee and her two daughters out from Kentucky. Most of my family had not seen her or her girls for 14 months! They picked them up from the airport on Friday afternoon and drove straight to the cabin. We followed behind with my Mom who had no idea that Aimee, Joslyn and Lexy would be there. It was so exciting to finally see them and for them to meet Brenna and Brooke for the first time.

Friday night we had dinner at HD's in Pine, Az.

(L to R)Lexy, Aimee, Tina, Joslyn, Anthony, Robyn, Brad, Sarah, Bryant and Ethan managed to squeeze into this booth/table.Lexy is exactly 2 months older than Brenna and Brooke, she has gotten so big since I saw her last!

Kevin, my Mom, the girls and I sat at another table. We got our food first, hee hee....

Then we went back to the cabin.

There the girls had their first elk encounter!

Brooke was a natural.

Brenna wasn't afraid.

Lexy wasn't so sure, but the elk liked her just the same:)

Saturday morning we all bundled up and headed outside.

Brooke and Brenna enjoyed the swing.

Then we all walked down to the old school house down the road.

It's supposedly the oldest school house in AZ.

Woopidy-doo!

Robyn, Aimee, Sarah, Mwah,Mom and Bryant
Robyn announced at the cabin that she is expecting a baby in May! We are so excited!

Then, we went to the Fossil Creek Creamery home of the llama/goat farms.

Farmer Joe took us on a hayride and we sang songs.I even broke out my llama lips!
That's shexy.....

We sampled some goat cheese and fudge made from goat milk. It was udderly good:)

The kids got their hands painted, Ethan got a scorpion.

Aimee got an American Flag with her husband's name who is serving in Afghanistan.
Joslyn got a squirrel.

Then it was time to play with the goats!

Brooke liked the goats, but was much more interested in their droppings as they did look a lot like raisins.

Brenna got to ride a goat.

Bryant got peed on by this goat. It was all good goat fun.

Later that afternoon Anthony took us 4-Wheeling in the Samurai.

Don't worry, the babies were safe at the cabin.

Saturday night we sat by the fire and ate s'mores.It was a really fun trip!

Brenna's Laugh

Brenna has the goofiest laugh, but I'm not sure what it sounds like.

What do you think?

The Splurge of all Splurges

Searching for the right Halloween costumes for the girls has been a nightmare. I would find one costume that seemed to work, but couldn't find a second one that would work with the same theme. Then, I came across the cutest elephant costume on craigslist but was immediately turned off by the ridiculous price. "There's NO way I would ever pay that much for a costume!" Right??? That was until I saw this website. Why do they make these sorts of things? Don't they know I don't want to spend that much on a costume? I'll tell ya why, because babies sell. They sell everything....cause their stinkin cute and who doesn't want a stinkin cute baby in a stinkin cute animal costume? Exaclty. Tom Arma is considered the Armani of children's costumes. He is a photographer that began creating animal costumes for the babies in his portraits in an attempt to spread ecological awareness yadda, yadda, yadda. I guess you could say I am trying to spread animal awareness by dressing them in these costumes...... yes, that makes me feel better. Anyhoo... after much battle against other Arma obsessed e-bayers, I came away with my prizes.

Now there better not be a scuff or tear on these costumes on Halloween, cause they are going back on e-bay come October 09 so we can stop living off of our food storage:)

JC Penney Picts-13 months old

The girls loved the props:)

Should have painted our toes!

What quads would look like.

Brenna tried to "wow" the camera while Brookie went for a more sophisticated look.

This pose was achieved while they were fighting over the stool. Perfect!

I LOVE these girls, they are just the sweetest little things:)

My Childhood Dream

When I was a little girl I dreamed of having 16 kids. Naturally I loved children, and 16 happened to be my favorite number. 14 girls and 2 boys sounded just dandy at the time and I was sure my future husband would oblige. I even wrote down a slew of names that I liked, each very unique and interesting to say the least. Lisette, Emberre, Aspen, Danya, Kensington, Adelle.....the list went on and on. Since then things have changed, 16 kids no longer seems as reasonable and my childhood list of baby names will forever stay in my journal where they belong.

I've been watching the TLC show about the Dugger Family who have 17 kids and are expecting their 18th. I can only imagine what it would be like if I did in fact have 16 children. I'm only 1/8 of the way there and while I LOVE being a mother I don't know if I could care for 14 more. I think big families are awesome, although I understand that they aren't the way for everyone. To each his own. Their family seems very loving and functional and they have a lot of great qualities that I think we all strive for. Although my childhood dream might never become a reality in my life, I enjoy watching it work in another family's life, and I say good for them:)

Ode to Kevin

Kevin turned 27 today. Here is my ode to him, and by that I don't mean a lyric poem with complex stanzas, but more of a list of 10 interesting things about him because 27 is too many.

1. He looks like Steve Carell. Minus the Ken hair, plus blue eyes, can't beat that.




2. He enjoys making videos on the computer using Pinnacle Software, and is really good at it.
Look at Brenna and Brooke Music Video under my archive if you haven't seen his work yet:)

3. He LOVES Pearl Jam and has been to 4 of their concerts, 1 with me:)

4. He loves sports, especially basketball.

5. He LOVES seafood and will eat anything that wriggles or crawls underwater. Very brave.

6. He has a Bachelors Degree in Psychology from ASU.

7. He is the general Manager at Papa Johns aka Papa Johnstons. Mejor means better, you can figure out the rest....

8. He is a fabulous artist and can draw cartoons like it's nobody's business. He has drawn cartoons for several shirts in the past and drew all the pictures for this guy's business, take a look here.



9. He LOVES Rubios, and especially enjoys their fishy tacos on Taco Tuesday.

10. He served a mission in Louisville, Kentucky and pronounces "Louisville" as "Loo-vul".

Happy 27th Birthday Kev!

Love you long time!

Why my Thanksgiving assigment is green beans

P.S. It's suppose to be angel food cake

P.S.S. It's for Kevin's Birthday, sorry babe.....

P.S.S.S. We still ate it.

Spooktacular, Spooktacular!

Ok, so maybe not that spooktacular. Here is my latest attempt to be crafty. It's our pumpkin patch family, complete with Frank n' Dad, Mummy, and the Batlings. Can't you see the resemblance?

8 Things (tag)

Ok, ok I'll do it already! j/k

8 T.V shows I love to watch:
(thanks to DVR:)
* Grey's Anatomy
* The Biggest Loser
* King of Queens
* Judge Judy
* The Today Show
* Birth Day on Discovery Health
* TLC shows- The Duggers, Baby Shows, Obese People Shows
* So You Think You Can Dance

8 Favorite Restaurants
* Outback Steakhouse
* Ned's Krazy Subs
* Applebees
* Olive Garden
* Papa John's Pizza-durrrrrrrrrr.........
* Cheesecake Factory-only for the cheesecake
* Sweet Cakes
* Chic-Fil-A is da bomb

8 Things That Happened Yesterday:
* Went shopping for Kevin's b-day gifts
* Took a shower
* Blogged
* Went nuts-o trying to contain the girls at the store and decided I will never have anymore children:( How does that Dugger woman still have hair???
* Swept the floor a gazillion times
* Shopped for Halloween costumes for the girls
* Went to WalMart for the 3rd time this week
* Looked for Kevin's missionary scriptures at DI, no luck....

8 Things I Look Forward To:
* A date with Kevin
* Ok, so I guess I will have more kids, eventually.......
* "Quiet Time"
* Visiting my sister Aimee and my nieces that live in Tucky (Kentucky), I haven't seen them in 13 months:( They haven't met the girls yet....
* Christmas
* When the girls turn 18month old so they can go to nursery:) Sorry Whitney....
* Thanksgiving Food
* Kevin's B-day

8 Things I Love About Fall:
* The weather
* Wearing layers
* Pumpkin Anything
* Thanksgiving
* Enjoying the outdoors
* Halloween
* It reminds me why I tolerate the summer here in AZ
* Attempting to be crafty

8 Things On My Wish List:
* Bigger house
* Two extra arms
* Kevin to be home more
* New pots and pans-still using the ones from our wedding
* Live somewhere without a HOA
* Find Halloween costumes for the girls
* Learn how dress fashionably, please put me on "what not to wear" I could use some help and the moneys$$
* I would make friends with more people and actually do things with them....that takes effort.....

Thanks for reading:)

Non-food Items?

The girls and I were at a health check-up recently when the nutritionist asked, "Do they ever crave any non-food items, like dirt and stuff like that?" I wasn't quite sure how to respond because although it sounded bad to say "Ya, they eat dirt sometimes," I thought the real question should be whose child hasn't eaten dirt before? I'd be more worried about a child who hasn't tried any "non-food items" than one who has. And not only dirt, but your pet's hairballs, crickets, leaves, seaweed, sand, cat food, soap, candles, magazines, books, toilet paper, etc. etc. We all remember "that boy" in preschool who ate bugs during recess, or the time you were so hungry at church, that you ate your kiwi flavored lip balm while no one was looking. I mean what exactly designates something as a non-food item when it comes to kids? Better yet, how do you know whether the child CRAVES the item or just feels like sticking it in their mouth at the time? Sometimes the girls try to bite my toes, does that mean that they crave toe? I figured it wouldn't make sense to complicate the question, my kids are healthy and they do eat non-food items, sometimes on a daily basis. I simply responded, "occasionally," and we went about our day.

I dub thee....

The Toilet Queen!

If you give a Brenna some Jamba.......

She will drink,and drink,
and drink,
and drink
until it's all gone:)