Todd and Ann-Michelle Freed Family

Running crazy

2010-05-31T11:05:00.002-06:00

So this morning I took in a run with my mom. A nice 3 mile jaunt and the weather was great. After I got home my running buddy, Heather, suggested a run. Hey, I can hang- only another 5k this morning. I do have myself convinced that I am superhuman. Might be fun to mention that I did smell like I had already run, too. So good . . . Anyway, Heather likes to do stadium stairs. I agreed because, like I said, I am superhuman. We did a mile around Bonneville's track,(which I kept referring to as a lap, even though it was really 4), and then headed to the stairs. Hey, guess what? The lock the gates to the stadium in the summer. I mean, c'mon, we just want to self-hate in the form of cardio!
Heather says "I just want to see if I can jump that fence. Just want to see if I can do it." We are both short- she is only a couple inches taller than me. So, she hops the fence. A little experience with that, I'd say, cuz she climbed and jumped like a pro. I, on the other hand, climbed like the old lady I am. I got myself to the top of the fence and then couldn't figure out what to do next. So, I sat on the barbs. NOT COOL. Heather had to come and support one foot while I got myself over the dang fence and in jumping position. I don't even want to know what the whole thing looked like. We did the whole stadium thing- my legs! my legs!- and then had to clear that fence again. We did find a place where the barbs were bent down. I think I was so adrenaline filled from the stairs and the embarrassment of the first fence issue that I located a great stair/handrail spot and monkeyed my way down with no help! I felt like those kids that sneak off of the compound to run to freedom. As we wrapped up our run we decided to try stairs again, even if there is some fence-hopping to be done . . .

Special Agent Graham and Garnier Fructis

2010-02-04T09:40:00.004-07:00

Make Mommy Cry Squadron: Special Agent Graham, we have a mission for you.

Special Agent Graham: Ready.

MMCS: Your mother is doing laundry and left the bathroom door open. And she left the shampoo and conditioner on the tub.

SAG: Where I can reach?

MMCS: Yes, ha ha. It is going to be a simple mission! Now, take the shampoo.

SAG: Not the conditioner?

MMCS: No, take the shampoo. She will think that the conditioner is the shampoo. Now, take it, get some in your hair, on your shirt, and pour out half of it on the black couch.

SAG: On it. Wait, what's that sound?

MMCS: Our tracking system shows Mommy moving into the computer room. Oh, this is too easy!

SAG: I'll continue my mission

Mommy: Why am I smelling something sweet? What IS that fruity soapy smell? CRAP!
(Mommy finds the mess and is so frustrated she just takes her shower anyway)

MMCS: Success!

SAG: She didn't cry. How have we succeeded?

MMCS: As we speak she is grabbing the 'shampoo' and trying to wash her hair. But, it is conditioner! She will be frustrated and beyond! AND there is no more shampoo in the bathroom!!!

Mommy: Freak!! Stupid conditioner!!

MMCS: Hahhaaaahh

SAG: Ha hhaaaa!!! I get it!

Special Agent Graham

2009-10-21T09:40:00.003-06:00

I intercepted this communication from Good and his master in command, Make Mommy Cry Squadron, today. Here is the conversation.
MMCS: Special Agent Graham, we have a mission for you.

Graham: Copy that. How will we be making Mommy cry today?

MMCS: Method of choice- large kitchen mess when she is checking her email.

Graham: Excellent, I am ready for my orders.

MMCS:Your weapons will be the two new boxes of spaghetti noodles she bought on Saturday and the bottle of syrup on the counter. Empty the Lazy-Susan also.

Graham: How will I reach the syrup?

MMCS: Move the bench from the table and grab it. Do you have the weapons in sight?

Graham: Copy that

MMCS: Is Mommy in the room still?

Graham: Yes, sir. I am waiting now . . .wait for it . . . she has gone downstairs!

MMCS: GO! GO! GO! Get the syrup everywhere! Poor it on the bench and floor in at least three large puddles. Get some in your hair! HURRY! 5 minutes and counting! Now dump the noodles all over the floor. Yes, both boxes!! Empty that cupboard! GO! GO!

Graham: I hear something!

MMCS: Cease cry-inducing! She is coming back!

Graham: What should I do?

MMCS: Cute smile! NOW! Say 'Mommy' or something

Graham: Mommy- uh oh.

Mommy: I refuse to cry about this mess today- you are getting in the bath.

MMCS: Mission failed. Wait for laundry time. We will strike again and be triumphant.

Graham: I am in the bath now- I could do some damage here . . .

Summer=time moves faster!

2009-07-29T14:27:00.001-06:00

I love how individual days feel like they can last for weeks on their own and then months are over before you can remember to date your checks right. Such is life, right? So, here is a recap of our summer so far. I ran in the Rexburg half-marathon in June and did half an hour better than my time last year. I will not be recommending that course to anyone- seriously uphill for at least 9 miles. I hated it! I have heard that Pocatello and Logan have nice courses that I am planning on trying in the future. We had a few trips here and there and then came the Fourth. Independence Day is pretty big at our house, especially since we join most of Todd's extended family for water baseball and a picnic. By the way, I totally caught a fly ball and my team definitely won, (there is a chance that no one was really keeping score). Here is a little July 4th video. For those of you who have seen any of our family swimming pictures, you will recognize the Brynn-stands-alone-and-pouts pose. Ah, my sweet child. August is our big family-reunion month, so get ready for my feelings on camping! And family-tee hee.

Tooth #30

2009-06-11T15:02:00.000-06:00

A little while ago I went in for my 6 month dental appointment. Of course, I had a filling that the dentist suggested we repair. The filling was not causing any problems but, there was a small crack developing and it would need to be replaced soon. I agreed to come back in the next week. As I was leaving I was thinking 'I guess it is better to get it taken care of before it really starts hurting . . .'

Here is the part where I will let you in on a little known fact about me. I hyperventilate when I am nervous. Not super-nervous, just the normal kind. I don't know what the deal is. I am suppose to be some fearless swash-buckling red-head- not the case. At all. Needles make me hold my breath and lose color in my face. Flying over water makes me cry. (ask Todd about our honeymoon to Oahu)Walking over bridges makes me feel dizzy. This should surprise most people as I was totally hard-core growing up. Somehow age has made me a total wimp.

Back to the tooth. I go in for my appointment and am doing an excellent job of not thinking about the procedure about to take place. The dental hygienist calls me back and then informs me that my doctor would be by to get my mouth numb. Heart pounding. The needle. My mouth. My mouth and a needle in it. Oh man- I am tensing up. Why had I agreed to this again? My tooth probably wouldn't become a problem for at least 2 months. Stupid. My doctor scoots up to me on his doctor swivel chair thing and gives me some line about topical. Everyone knows that topical doesn't do a good job numbing, but, I suck on the swab covered in the nasty stuff anyway. I am such a good listener. Then he pulls out the needle. My stomach squeezes itself into tiny knot and I can feel it hiding away from the pending doom. What, if it hides then I won't be so nervous? My eyes are not hiding- and I can see that silvery weapon of freak-out headed for my mouth. I look away.

By the way, the phrase 'just a pinch' is one of the meanest in human existence. The dentist pulls on my cheek and tells me to expect my just-a-pinch. I think I actually roll my eyes and glare at him. I will skip some details here as most people know what the next part entails. My breathing gets faster and more shallow. I am clawing the arm rests of the chair and trying not to tear up. This is so crappy. Finally, the dentist backs away and says to give it a minute. Then he asks if I am alright. I just shake my head slowly. He assures me I did great and then goes wherever dentist go while they wait for you to numb up. He is back and we are ready to party. I hear him giving the hygienist some overly-explained instruction. It is clear that she is new. Not usually a problem. They do the whole cleaning-off-the-tooth before starting thing and the girls sprays water on my face. Alright- she probably slipped. The drilling begins and I can feel the vibrations all the way up my right ear. I am working on breathing. No need to freak out now, I am numb and we aren't into the jaw pain yet. The dentist asks the girl to clean off my tooth again- more water to the face. Really? I am getting little splashes all over my chin and on my cheeks. I make a face. They don't notice because they are talking about Memorial Day. I guess it is fine to talk about things like holidays, but can you watch where you are pointing the water? Back to drilling. I am really wondering at this point if my face ever gets wiped off or if the hygienist notices what she has done. They share some inside story about his mom. You know the kind where they mention half of the information but don't need to explain the rest because they already know what is being talked about. Good for them, but I am wondering now about the dentist's mother.

More water to the face. Not kidding. Finally we get to the part where they use the little light thing to solidify my new filling. The hygienist clunks the thing down on my tooth and says that she has forgotten how annoying the light is. She forgot? That is like me saying, I have forgotten what May was like. When was the last time she used it? 3 weeks ago? Maybe I am being overly harsh- but after half hour of water-in-the-face I am thinking 'How does a new chick have old memories of anything in the dental world?' I think I might be really sensitive now. Plus the jaw aches have begun. She clunks the light thing down again and I know the end is near.
The whole thing is finally over and I get to wipe all the water off of my face. I still don't think the hygienist has noticed. I get up to leave and think to myself 'Why did I choose to go through pain just to avoid potential pain?' Oh well, I guess tooth number 30 is safe from a broken filling for at least another 5 years.

April and draMay

2009-06-04T14:58:00.000-06:00

April- we had a goodish month (remember that surgery thing?). We enjoyed the fact that Idaho finally let up on the winter scene and broke out the sun! How about a little picture-trail of our fourth month adventures?
We went to SLC in mid-April and enjoyed some time with my family. We spent most of the time walking around and tiring our kids out! Brynn even fell asleep on Todd's shoulders!
Graham knocks out after a full day at the Gateway Mall.

Brynnie smells the beautiful flowers at Gateway- the landscaping there is so well done!!

Todd and I w/BIG SMILES at the Utah State scrimmage game- pretty fun!!

Of course Easter was a fun holiday for us. The girls got new dresses that coordinated (one of my favorite holiday traditions). I think they look ADORABLE! I didn't get a great shot of Graham's outfit- but you kinda get the idea!

We had a FAST May. It was totally normal until I brilliantly left my purse on the front seat of my unlocked car. Who can guess what happened? It got stolen!!! I had $40 cash and all of my bank cards, pictures of my kids, BOTH of our cells, my checkbooks and my dumb driver's license all taken. And my dang cute Fossil wallet! It happened on a Monday night and I spent Tuesday morning calling and canceling my bank accounts on my friend's cell phone (Thank you Amy!) Honestly, the thing I was most irritated about was the fact that I was being forced into an Idaho driver's license. Yes, I had kept my Washington one this whole time we have been living here. I was pretending that by the time it expired we would be back in Washington. Wrong. A few days later I got a call from JC Penney portrait studio- I had an appointment the next day so that is why I thought they were calling. In fact, Idaho Falls Power guys had found my purse and found my portrait club card and called the studio to report finding my purse! How random! It was in the river and they caught it in the power plant thing on Sunnyside road. Well, I was pumped- no new license. Wrong. Everything except my wallet was still in the purse. The phones (destroyed by the river) and my pictures of my family (all gross and dirty) and even the cash were still there. I had kept my cash in a pocket in the purse instead of in the wallet- I am guessing whatever high/drunk jerk-face that stole it was not brained up enough to search the whole purse.
So, then onto the adventure of getting a new license.
I went into the DMV with Brynn and Graham. I brought everything I thought they would need- my social security card, my birth certificate and my utility bill proving residency. After waiting in that fun fun line I was told that I would need to retake the written test and bring in some sort of photo ID. I guess it was good that I held onto my high school yearbook because that is what I had to use. I went back a few days later to take the test and there was some drama about needing my marriage license. Something about the DMV just heightens my stress levels because I thought I was going to cry when they almost sent me away again. Luckily, I had my WA license number memorized and they verified the name change that way. BUT THEN I had to go to the ATM to pull out cash to pay for the test and new license( BY THE WAY: The DMV does NOT take debit cards), and because of all of the debit card canceling and account drama MY PIN DIDN'T WORK. I had to drive to the bank and get cash out to go back to the DMV to take that stupid test and then I finally was able to get my Idaho state driver's license. Seriously, after that week, the next time someone steals anything of mine I am hunting them down and making them wait on the phone for over three hours and then drive back and forth from the DMV three times and wait in line for a total of 2 hours. So much drama.

We did get to celebrate Brynn's 3rd birthday at the end of the month. Very few of my pictures turned out(new camera time!)- so here are a couple party shots to show you my crowded and fun house!

We love our little Peanut Baby- and THANK YOU everyone who joined us and made the party so much fun!! I hope everyone is just enjoying the heck out of this summer!

Pretend it is the end of March

2009-04-23T14:49:00.000-06:00

GUUUGGHHHH! I am going to say that I have some really good excuses for this latest break. I really try to blog once a month- I want to work up to once a week, so I am going to keep trying. I am going to let you in on my reason for delay even though most of my reader know about it all. Check it out- I had some health drama that was starting to get kinda bad. After about 3 weeks of testing and imaging, we finally came to the conclusion that I needed surgery- removing my gallbladder, appendix and right ovary. Want to know the technical terms? Cholecystectomy, appendectomy and oophorectomy. I did not make that last one up! So the procedure took place last week- I am feeling pretty good now, which is such a relief! I have been down with something since January! Todd is pretty glad that things are clearing up, too- kinda got tired of the doctor's visits and the kookiness I bring about on pain killers!! So- I think that counts as a dang good excuse. And THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to my sweet mother-in-law Diane and my sweet mom Kim. They took care of my kids on the worst of the days last week and were so kind and helpful. Truly one of the nicest things that has happened to me- Love you two way too much!!!

Onto MARCH!!!

March is the best month for a number of reasons. The top is that Todd and I have our anniversary on the 17th. We celebrated by going to Red Robbin for dinner and Applebee's for dessert. Not the most romantic places but, we were really feeling hamburgers and RR french fries. So good. Our waiter at Applebee's was awesome and we found ourselves wishing he had served us at RR! It was nice to go out but, we decided we don't do our anniversaries well enough. We have never gone all out or anything and we are done! From next year on we are going to really celebrate our marriage. I am excited- next year we are planning on doing to SLC half-marathon together and staying in Salt Lake for the weekend. I know, I know- not that exotic, but we will save our African safari and European anniversaries for later years!

Here's to AT LEAST 50 more anniversary dates with my honey!!

Another reason I love March is St. Patrick's Day. Not being a huge drinker, or drinker at all actually, it is kinda funny that I love this holiday so much! We don't eat Irish food on St. Pat's- yet. I am going to start trying to serve Irish dinners for the day in the future. We do, however, deck out in green and make green cupcakes and frost them with green icing and drink green milk! We invited some friends over for a St. Patty's cupcake party. Aren't they so dang cute?

Of course I also love March because my birthday is at the end of the month. We invited friends over for games and treats. It was a lot of fun- we held a RockBand sudden death tournament. You had three songs to hold your place in the tournament and the two players with the lowest overall scores got kicked out and two new player got to join. The person with the highest overall score got to choose their instrument and the first song. The second place player got to choose instrument and song next. And finally, whoever got stuck on microphone got to pick the last song. Some players stayed in the entire tournament (Todd Flatland!) but overall it was a pretty good system! Here is a little video of the party! Oh, and the next day we went to my parent's house (all the DeArtons were in town) so there are some pics of that, too!

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Well- I will post April's month-end update hopefully before the end of May!! Happy Spring!!

Fabulous Freed Family February Fun

2009-02-23T16:37:00.000-07:00

You know, growing up, the letter 'F' was one of my least favorite. You never want to get that grade, I never met a single person whose first name started with it that I liked, the very worst words start with it- like frilly and fanatic (c'mon, those are dumb words). Plus, 'F' has no cool tricks like 'C'- that letter can make more than one sound- even in the same word!( e.g. concession). Or 'P'- put that in front of a dinosaur name and you don't even say it, its just there to be like "Yeah, that's right- I just show up and start words- take that 'F'".
But, now, in my enlightened state(it is now an initial of mine and thus a holy letter) I have come to kinda enjoy it- hence, whenever I get the chance I give you, my blog-buddies, sweet titles with lots of 'F's. My challenge- say Fabulous Freed Family February Fun 10 times fast, out loud, right now. I know, right? Disneyland's got nothin on that joyride!
So, onto my actual update for the month!

I know I am a little late on this- but, has anyone else noticed how February just ends? It is only three days shorter than other months but, somehow, seems like it is only a few weeks long. Well, this month has been pretty fun for us especially since we decided to buy Rock Band. We have been playing other people's sets for the longest time and kept debating about the purchase. Finally we just did it. We set it to No Fail mode and the kids love to play with us! Todd is much better than me but, I can get to medium on bass so, I am feeling proud!

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Graham plays a drum solo! We had some fun with food faces with the two littles. Graham got some raspberries and Brynn played with chocolate pie! I brought my camera to Todd Flatland's birthday party and then LEFT IT IN THE CAR!! Oh, I am so not a natural blogger!! We had a ton o' fun at the Flatland's and enjoyed the luxuries of movies on a projector. Only $1800, think I'll pick one up after my grocery shopping . . .
This month marked the beginning or race training for me and I am so excited about my early morning running buddy, Heather! We both share a sick dedication to 5 am winter runs- Yes, 30 degrees is like summer at that time! There is a 5/10k on March 21st- anyone interested?

I AM SO PUMPED- Todd BUILT me a laundry room table, with a little help from Bing (THANKS!!). But, he came up with design and put in the labor.
I am so happy for it! And I am very proud of my geek-turned-handyman honey! I have a long list of shelving and bookcase projects that I am now ready to dump on him. I am pretty sure he can hack it!!
Hadley has been wearing her swimsuit EVERY DAY! I keep trying to dress her, but, then she ends up in just the suit anyway! I decided to put her tee and jeans on over the dumb thing just to keep her looking clothed!
Dallis shows off her favorite picture pose- cock your head all the way to one shoulder, give a cheesy smile and pop your hip out- such a ham!

And who needs walkers when you have Pergo and cheap stools? Looks like we will have a more mobile Ike coming on up!

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All in all we have been enjoying life with our little Freedlings and busy house! Happy March- my favorite month, but I will get to that next time!

Grahm is ONE, Todd is DONE, and we sure had some holiday FUN

2009-01-06T11:01:00.000-07:00

Probably one of my worst titles yet- but is it worse than the fact that I have a million things to cover in this overdue post? Hmm- I think the title might be worse by the tiniest bit! As many of you know, Todd finished up his undergraduate degree at BYU-I in December- he now has an official degree in Computer Science. It is nice to have that solidified, although, not much changes here for us. Todd has been programming the entire time he has been going to school- so same profession, same job. But, now we have no fear of him getting fired and having a hard time finding employment. Todd's mom gave us a SWEET snow blower for a graduation gift and a gift card for me to celebrate the end of our student years. Isn't she sweet? Todd received some other thoughtful gifts- thank you Flatlands, DeArtons and Wheelers! We celebrated TOdd's graduation the same night as Graham's first birthday. Ike is finally one! I thought I would tribute his birthday with a recap of the drama of his birth!

As many of you know, the ultrasound tech told us that Graham would be born a girl. Apparently some leg-crossing confused the gender predictions. So, we were ready to welcome our fourth girl due January 12th but really hoping to have the baby before the new year. Insurance stuff, you know. On December 16th is became clear that we needed to go to the hospital that day for labor issues. I had gone into preterm contractions at least 3 times prior, so we figured we would go in and they would stop the labor ahnd then send us home. Well- I was exactly 36 weeks so they did not stop the contractions. However, the baby's heart rate was WAY too high and so the nurse gave me an IV trying to calm the baby down. My contractions had not very regukar, so I still expected to be sent home. The fluids from the IV stabalized the baby's heart beat and helped my contractions become more regular. The decision was made that we WOULD have the baby that day even if it had to be c-section. That meant no food for me! Well, hours went by and I was progressing fine until we got to a point where the baby's heart rate started dropping. This caused the nurse to get nervous and the NICU nurse was saying "She has to deliver soon- that baby is distressing" The nurse started calling for the doctor trying to get someone in so we could deliver and NO ONE came! She actually got to to point of yelling out "Someone needs to get in here NOW!" The NICU nurse stepped out for minute to find the doctor and the nurse stayed by me. Good thing- because the baby was not waiting anymore and the nurse really just had to catch. Then the doctor comes in and starts being rude to nurse. Seriously? That nurse had paged and called for the doctor at least 10 times. Oooh- it made me mad. But, I couldn't really deal with that because the nurse did get in- before getting chewed out unfairly- 'Oh, its a boy!'
My first words to my son were WHAT?!WHAT?!WHAT?! Todd had given me a look just before that- the same look he gives when he is in trouble- and I knew something was up, but not that!! Well, he was rushed away to the NICU and I am laying there in absolute shock, crying and telling the nurse that he wouldn't have any brothers because this was our last baby and I didn't have a name for him and no clothes and the car seat (I know, of all things to freak out about) was PINK! Our story spread quickly and some of the sweetest nurses put together a gift bag of baby boy clothes for us to take him home in. That night my sister and her husband came to see us and we sat around trying to think of a name. My bother-in-law and Todd wanted to name him Icabod so that we could call him Ike. I said no to Icabod, but Ike is a fine nickname. We settled on Marcus because it seemed to be the best choice. I had to go home without the baby because his lungs were not ready and he had developed a little bit of pneumonia. My sister-in-law came to drop off some clothes from her son and was remembering some of the names we had liked. As soon as she said "And I remember you guys liked Graham" I thought- crap, we gave him the wrong name. After she left I went to talk to Todd and asked if he really liked Marcus because I might have a better name. We both agreed that Graham was the best name and I called the hospital to change it. They hadn't sent the birth certificate information in yet, so it was an easy fix! So much drama- but now we have a wonderful healthy little boy and we love having 3 girls and The Boy!

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I know I am really late on the holidays- let me just say that we enjoyed spending time with both sides of the family and we had fun celebrating at home. And if any of you are wondering- no, I did not make any New Year's resolutions about posting more often ;)! Have the best beginning of a new year!

I am way too pedictable

2008-12-12T17:05:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I saw a friend from high school- Kelie- and we discussed my inability to do things I say I am going to do ESPECIALLY when it comes to blogging! I told her I would post yesterday and here we are- next day! At least it isn't a week later! Anyway, last weekend we went to Logan to attend Neil's baby blessing. Elise had her third boy in October and it was fun to be able to hang out with the Hansens for the special occasion! I had my camera the whole time and these are the only pictures I caught!
We are so lucky to have family close enough to us that we can attend blessings and get together often!

I also wanted to spread some holiday cheer- for your dry-humored funny bones! Follow these links for a little chuckle!
John Malkovich- makes me laugh
You have to listen to all of this- no matter how much it hurts your ears!
Who doesn't love Christmas?

Monthly post

2008-12-04T19:14:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Dallis's 5th birthday- I was going to put together a video but, I have too much to catch up on! Dallis requested Mongolian Grill for her birthday lunch and then Garcia's for dessert.
She thoroughly enjoyed the attention! Dallis got some great toys and a very pretty dress from my mom. She is very excited to be a big girl now.She has started acting more like a little girl and less like a toddler. Lots of questions lots of the time- and some are not so easy to answer. How do you explain what 'hurry' means if you also have to explain 'fast' and 'go'? Dallis's birthday is just before Thanksgiving which leads me to my next topic.
Todd joined me this year for the Run to Feed the Hungry- a 5k that most of us agree was not measured right (we are very sure it was more like a 6 or 7k). My mom, dad, brother Jake, and sister Caitlan ran with us also.
Then we headed home to make a few side dishes and pies for the big feast at my mom's. This year EVERYTHING was perfect- the turkey was the best ever- very moist and just perfect! THANKS MOM!! We played games and then wrapped up our evening.
It is our tradition to set up our Christmas decorations on the day after Thanksgiving (I am NOT a Black Friday fan- so I try stay in). Now that we have room in our new house, we got a big Christmas tree- real, and piny, and full, and so pretty! The girls tried their hand at decorating it- including socks, teddy bears, Barbies and a shoe. I think my sister, her friend Jessi, and I did a little better, but I guess it is all subjective.

After hanging the stockings I reminded myself- I have a lot of frikkin kids!!
Todd's plan to keep the girls from playing with the ornaments was to tell them the Grinch lives in the tree and if they play with the decorations 'something scary will happen'. Well- as helpful as that has been to my ornaments that I have been collecting since my youth- the girls are now coming up to us showing us random scratches and saying the Grinch did it. Or, they really want to sit in the living room, but can't without a parent because the Grinch will eat them. It is pretty funny. I am just sure that in years to come the girls will be dealing with serious trauma due to the fear instilled in them by the scary monster in our Christmas tree! Here is a picture of what goes on behind the scenes of an attempted family holiday picture!(the source of MY trauma!!) Well- Happy Beginning of the Holdiay Season! Up next, Todd graduates, has a birthday and The Boy turns ONE!

Halloween has come and gone

2008-11-05T15:01:00.000-07:00

This Halloween was a good one for us. Dallis chose to be a mermaid but, after her costume proved why I paid so little on it, we had to switch over to Elina the Barbie fairy character. If any of you know who I am talking about then I assume you have young daughters and the Barbie invasion is in full swing at your house, too. Barbie is also Odette, of Swan Lake, and Hadley's choice for costume. Brynn's costume was some fair maiden dress that I really chose just because it came in her size. She looked very cute but, I didn't take pictures when she was lookin good. I waited until she had nap hair and Tootsie Roll face. Ike looked super cute in his Halloween jammies. I know- copping out and going the jammie route just cause I can- can we say mom of 4?

We enjoyed going to Boo at the Zoo and the Snake River Landing trick or treating. I left my camera at home for Snake River so here are some cute ones from the zoo!
We have been major slackers in our blogging but, we appreciate our friends who do check up on us! Happy Fall!!

Hadley is FOUR!!

2008-10-03T19:25:00.000-06:00

Hadley's birthday was last week- so in true Ann-Michelle fashion, I am posting today! We love our little Hadley Jane, even when she is acting more like Denise the Menace than a sweet little girl! We love all the funny names she makes up for her other sisters and brothers and all the dogs she owns, she has such a funny imagination! She still sings to herself quite a bit- sometimes she will sing a song that she didn't make up! So, Happy Birthday Hadley! WE LOVE YOU, HAT!!

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The Boy

2008-09-13T09:07:00.000-06:00

The other day Graham was sitting in his bouncer and started falling asleep- not the unusual- but he was reaching for something at the same time and I thought it was so cute. Ignore his teething drool and my mess of a living room and the picture is kinda funny!
A big STILL toothless smile from Ike- he has been drooling like he will cut soon for months now- and no tooth. Which means the drooling has no end in sight.

The Boy has started to become mobile as well- not your conventional crawl, but dang cute!

So it begins

2008-09-13T08:55:00.000-06:00

I know that technically pre-school is not considered K-12 level school BUT it marks the beginning of the school years in my mind! Dallis loves her class enough that she wants to go with Hadley to her class, too. I am predicting that enthusiasm for class will fade in the coming years! Dallis has a pretty large class with an even mix of girls and boys. Hadley's class, on the other hand, is smaller and she and one other little girl are the only girls in the class! Dallis is getting better at writing her name. For a short while there she was adding an 'H' because it was one of the letters she knew how to write pretty well. In fact, it is the only letter Hadley can write- so when signing her name it is just one big squiggly 'H' and some other marks. Here my big girls are posing with their backpacks and an example of Dallis's fine penmanship (with only the tiniest bit of help from Grandma Diane)

Out of hibernation

2008-08-30T13:57:00.000-06:00

This will be a picture-less post because I lost our camera. I really want to blame Todd- but, I know it was me. I was pretending that my rest from blogging was because of the missing camera. The truth is that I just haven't made the time to post- we were all the way up to almost twice a week and then fell off the bandwagon. Well, I am back and will buy a new camera if I can't find my old one soon!
Todd gets back into school in a week and 3 days and pre-school starts for both Dal and Hat in about 5 days. They have been asking to go to school since February and kept the requests up all the way to now! They are both VERY excited to start learning with Miss Becky and Miss Whitney. I am a little sad- but also looking forward to having something for them to do outside the house. Hadley does find the fact that she is going to school and Brynn is not pretty pleasing. She actually uses 'You can't come to school with me' as a way of picking on Brynn. Yes, my children pick on each other already. They do have DeArton blood in them- so it was to be expected! Well- I am really going to post within a week, so until then, bye!

On and around the Middle Teton

2008-08-20T23:15:00.001-06:00

Last week DocuTech had the "Teton Challenge" which consisted of a bunch of us getting a day off of work to hike the middle teton. It was alot of fun - though I didn't quite know what I was getting myself into, as you will see shortly. We left Tuesday afternoon and camped at a site between Jackson Hole and the Tetons. By 5:00 AM the next morning, we were on the trail.

These lakes were really pretty, and kept coming in to view from different angles as we switchbacked our way up

It was about a 4-hour hike up to "The Meadows," which is where the word "hike" begins to be less applicable, and "climbing" takes on new meaning. Here are a bunch of pictures of the hike up to the Meadows.

I don't have any real good shots of "The Meadows" - this will have to do.

Needless to say, it is beautiful up there and had a spectacular view. Great place for a picnic. After the Meadows, things get alot more difficult. I think the first time I thought I might just go back down and enjoy the Meadows was when two guys in our group took off over some icy snow

That basically looks like this at the bottom

The rest of us decided to take another route up, but still!

This shot captures my moment of decision. This is where I decided seeing my family again was more important than seeing the peak =)

It was a great time, thanks to Mitch for letting me borrow some of his gear for the hike. And while I can't quite say I climbed the middle Teton, I can accurately say that I have been climbing on and around it!

Meichelle has the best lnks

2008-07-25T09:17:00.000-06:00

I saw this on Meichelle Johnson's blog and took a few quizzez- some for Todd, too!I apparently will go to jail for picking a fight with the homeless- Todd is getting locked up for dowloading Metallica songs!


	ann-michelle Pills: Will cause tone deafness
	'What effect do you have on people?' at QuizGalaxy.com


	todd Pills: Will cause religious reprogramming (in chemical form)
	'What effect do you have on people?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Todd's Random Movie Quote:

'My dad thinks I paid for all this with catering jobs. Never underestimate the power of denial.'

- Ricky Fitts, American Beauty

Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

Ann-michelle's Random Movie Quote:

'You can never go too far.'

- Ferris Beuller, Ferris Beuller’s Day Off

Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

todd --

[noun]:

A dance involving little to no clothing

'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

ann-michelle --

[noun]:

A real life terminator

'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

So true, so true

Tag Town USA

2008-07-25T08:13:00.000-06:00

My sister-in-law Jana tagged me with a 6 random facts tag- I know, I know- how many random facts about me could there possibly be, right? Yeah- I am little bit of a random person, so I guess a lot.
1. I am addicted to NWClassifieds.com and SnakeRiverMLS.com- I pretend I am house- or job- hunting and look up houses in Idaho and Washington and jobs in Washington. I combine my findings with PayScale.com (the sweetest site that shows what you should be making and how much your cost of living will change if you move from say, Idaho Falls to New York- or something)
2. I have not owned a purse that was any color other than red (and usually a red leather croc print- but not a real croc, that's cruel) for the past 3 years. I may have had purses that were other colors- but I only use my red one.
3. I like babysitting for other people- it cannot get weirder than that. My kids are nicer- I am nicer, and I know that some mom somewhere is getting a break. In my limited capacity to serve I feel this is one area where I can actually help someone.
4. My guilt-complex is almost crippling- it is hard to relax when I am finding something else to blame myself for!
5. I wish I was as creative as my brother-in-law Chris with nicknames. He and my sister have some pretty fun ones between the two of them- I am not so cool, but dang I do try! See what I mean?
6. I have madly talented siblings- I think I am part of the family to even things out. Elise is insanely creative, have you ever heard Kristie sing? And Caitlan, too- for that matter. Jacob writes piano music and can't read notes! Allison is also creative- a great story-teller. I am not sad about being a little low on the talent side- it is kinda fun being a sibling with these amazing people.

So, this time I am tagging Elise, Becky(maybe you read this?), Caitlan, Allison, Mom and DIANE!! (I know you read- you can do the tag on the Freed Fam Adventures blog!

July with the Freeds

2008-07-21T20:57:00.000-06:00

This past month has been a quick one! School wrapped up on Friday- (Hooray! I graduated- now I have a diploma and everything!)- and we had a lot of fun family activities that we decided to show in a little July-tribute video! Happy Summer, everyone!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Hey, you digital scrapbookers!

2008-07-11T20:02:00.000-06:00

I am not too savvy when it comes to scrapbooking- but would not be against acquiring the mad skill of digital scrapbooking. My sister, Elise, has of course mastered it- she is way cooler than me, dang. Now she is even designing kits for Heritage Scrap!! Check out her blog- she has some free stuff and also is going to be selling sweet kits soon!! I am thinking that I am cool just because I share some genetic similarities with my super talented sister- well, I am hoping that is true;)!

Explanation

2008-07-01T10:08:00.000-06:00

I think everyone guessed pretty close.

I had been at work for about an hour on Thursday when Ann-Michelle called to tell me that someone had just driven through our backyard. I told her I would be right home, but I had no idea what to expect. What I conjured up in my mind turned out (if you can believe it) to be a lot worse than what had actually happened. The subtext for this story is that we just had sod put down in our yard a couple of weeks ago, and the fence built last October, and we got the swingset from Mitch and Jana just a month ago! I was sure every piece of the fence was destroyed and all the sod was ruined!

Well - when I got home the street surrounding our house was coned off and there were policemen on the scene. Apparently what happened is that some lady was driving southbound on Ammon when she blacked out or lost consciousness somehow with her foot still on the gas. She crossed the northbound lane and plowed right through our yard. You can see from the pictures that she went right through one of our gateposts - which is reinforced on 3 sides with a steel beam.

After demolishing the swingset she exited our yard and hit the curb in the church parking lot. Somehow she kept going and finally stopped after hitting a tree in the churches yard.

And thats how it happened. More than anything else we just thankful and relieved that none of our kids were outside at the time.

And The Winner Is . . .

2008-06-26T22:29:00.000-06:00

Can you guess what happened !?

Tune in again in a couple days for more details!

Pampered Chef- you know you love it

2008-06-20T16:45:00.001-06:00

So for all of you who are interested- I am having a Pampered Chef catalog party. If you want in on the festivities or just want to take a look at Pampered Chef's fancy cooking stuff, let me know- I will get a catalog to you. The party closes on July 7th- so lots of time to pine over a new garlic press or sweet baking stone! For the sake of privacy, just leave your email address as a comment and I will communicate with you that way OR write to me at iamannmichelle@yahoo.com. I am personally looking forward to owning another Pampered Chef knife- they are SO sweet!!

Taggin' it up

2008-06-19T21:40:00.000-06:00

So Cait tagged me and I am playing along- woot!

1) Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
2) People who are tagged need to write a post on their own blog (about their eight things) and post these rules.
3) At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.

Here we go!

1) I TALK with my hands- I mean, I cannot communicate without some finger pointing, hand flipping, or some demonstrative action that is supposed to make whatever is spilling out of my mouth make sense.
2) I hold grudges- long lasting and unbreakable grudges- against some books and American Idol. I try to say it is better than holding grudges against people- but I am sure it bad just the same.
3) I HATE mustard- so much. If there is any mustard on my hamburger I will eat around the contaminated area and waste the rest.
4) I am supposed to be putting laundry away right now.
5) The way to my heart is spicy, burn-your-lips food OR rich, and totally unhealthy chocolate desserts. They don't normally go well together- but at least there is more than one way to my heart.
6) I want to live back East someday- I haven't been there much and so this desire is really based on the fact that I like the names of the states: New Hampshire, Connecticut, Maryland- ahh, much better than Idaho.
7) Seven is my favorite number- yes the obsession is deep enough that I pushed for a wedding date that either contained a 7 or was a multiple of said best number.(yeah- my anniversary is March 17th)Speaking of my freak number habits- I memorize phone numbers, fast- I do it by identifying the mathematic relationship among the digits.
8) My face turns red just by the thought of it- like now- I can feel it turning now.

I am tagging Jessica, Holly, Kelie, Hannah, Jana, Meichelle, Heather, Katherine and - no, thats 8, that is my list!

Visit from Nonny and Bob

2008-06-08T21:14:00.001-06:00

Nonny and Bob decided to stop in Idaho after being in Panama and Columbia for the winter. Their tradition is to bring all the great-grandkids tee shirts from whatever port they've been to. We love seeing Nonny and Bob and wish they could get to the states and to Idaho more often!

Nonny made it without getting in any pictures- but not Bob! Here he is with a GREAT great-grandaughter!

This is Mom-mom, and although she wasn't visiting we thought we'd share this cute picture of her and the boy!

Common names!

2008-06-03T17:35:00.001-06:00

I saw this on Meichelle's blog and thought it was pretty cute. Suprisingly, my first name has zero matches. Hmmm- a lot of people I meet think my name is Ann Marie- there are 13,690 Ann Maries!! Freed is the 4079th most common last name- shared by just over 9000 people. Apparently there are no De Artons- well not on this database. Todd shares his name with 323,985 people and is the 192nd most common name. Dallis would share her name with 39,547 people if we spelled it 'Dallas'. Hadley seems to stand alone. I know of at least 3 other little girls named Hadley- so clearly this isn't entirely accurate, but still fun! Brynn is in a group of 3,042 people and finally Graham shares his name with at least 18,253 other Americans!
I am turning this into a tag! Do your whole family, last name, and maiden name! For the sake of rules, just tag the usual 6 people! So- Elise, Holly, Hannah, Kelie, Calise and Andrea you are my picks for this one!

HowManyOfMe.com

There are
0
people with my name
in the U.S.A.

How many have your name?

The Peanut Baby is 2!

2008-06-02T18:20:00.000-06:00

Brynnter bean turned two last week- we celebrated with a little family party including a huge #2 balloon and Disney Princess tableware. Brynn may or may not have known the party was for her. We actually had to wake her up form her nap to greet her guests! Brynn has been our little sprite from the start- she was 6 pounds even at birth and started smiling almost immediately. She is still so tiny- and her smile takes up her entire face! We love our bright little peanut baby! HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BRYNN DIANE FREED!!

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

The Community that Cares . . .about 5ks

2008-05-26T17:30:00.000-06:00

Here is the post reporting on my most recent race- the Community Care sponsored 5k. This is one of my favorite courses- around the Greenbelt and a little into Freeman Park. This event is one of the biggest local races that I participate in- Run to Feed the Hungry is the largest. My time was pretty good- mostly I enjoyed running with my peeps. For anyone with the hankering to start running in Idaho Falls- I highly recommend any race put on by Personal Best Performance.


Here we are pre-race	Heather and I

DeArton girls _REPRESENT_	Race is over, still lookin' good

Feliz Dia de las Madres!!

2008-05-13T19:40:00.000-06:00

Oh boy- another reason to get presents!! No- just kidding. I think Mother's Day is one of the most deserved holidays in existence and love to be included in the honorees of the occasion! Todd made buttermilk pancakes served with strawberries and cream for breakfast. He cooked it all and cleaned it all up- what a husband! Then he gave me my yummy Sarah's Candy Cottage present- in the cutest box! A great compliment to the mandatory plant-life gift- like my new planter, too? We went to church and Dallis and Hadley almost sang along with the primary. I got some really cute 'I'm-so-proud-of-myself' grins from the girls, so that was enough! We went to my mom's house and my mom gave me the BEST apron! The packaging labeled it as a 1947 Vintage Cooking Apron- she gave them to all the girls so we just had to pose!

And we wouldn't dream of leaving the big girls out of a photo op! Hooray for motherhood! Here are some quotes I liked about moms!
"My mother had a great deal of trouble with me, but I think she enjoyed it." Mark Twain
"The most important thing she'd learned over the years was that there was no way to be a perfect mother and a million ways to be a good one." Jill Churchill
"The reason grandparents and grandchildren get along so well is that they have a common enemy." Sam Levenson
And an endearing one- just for the sake of being sweet!
"What children take from us, they give…We become people who feel more deeply, question more deeply, hurt more deeply, and love more deeply." Sonia Taitz

Runnin' around

2008-05-09T22:24:00.000-06:00

A year or so ago my mom and sister Elise pitched the idea of running a marathon. Wacked out idea- that was my initial reaction. Then we began to talk about it more and more and it grew on me. What a thing to accomplish- 26.2 miles! Well- as training began we started to reassess our goals- and decided to start out with a half-marathon. Still quite the feat. My training took a little break as I was busy creating life- but found myself running again just after Graham joined our family. Elise was originally going to run with us- but Hansen Baby #3(due this fall) wasn't as interested. Anyway- I know that the background to this video of the actual race is a little cheesy- but after 1 1/2 years of planning- it is so good to say that we did it! We (my mom, Caitlan, Jake and I) ran the 2008 Salt Lake City Half-Marathon! Check out this little video to celebrate our craziness!

So Funny

2008-05-08T09:03:00.000-06:00

http://www.despair.com

One of the classes I am in this semester is CS499, the Senior Project. At the top of the syllabus, you are introduced to the course with these images

Isn't that encouraging? You have to know Bro. Twitchell - it fits him perfectly to include these.

Anyway, this despair.com where these images come from is now one of my favorite websites. Here are some more awesome images I found there

and of course, the Pessimist's Mug

2008-05-07T19:26:00.000-06:00

Words tag

Copy and paste to your own post. Rules of the game are that you have to answer the question but you can't repeat anyone else's answer. Make sure you copy and paste the previous answers. At the end of the questions. So, my answers are the first(and in Purple!), the person who tagged me, etc. Tag 3 people!
Name something you use in the shower. Tooth Brush,Water, Washcloth, Shampoo, Razor, Body Scrub
Name something people hate to find on their windshield. Ice,Flyers, Bird poop, Cracks, Frost, Bugs
Name something a man might buy before a date. Movie tickets,Tank of gas, Flowers, Gum, Chocolates, Tic Tacs
Name another word for blemish . Owie, ZIT, Pimple, Acne, Ugly Spot, Blackhead
Name something you'd cook in the microwave. Thai noodle cartons, Easy Mac, Bottle, Oatmeal, popcorn, hot chocolate
Name a piece of furniture people need help moving. Glider, Bed, Piano, Washer, Couch, Entertainment Center
Name something a dog does that embarrasses its owner. Exists- jk! Eats its own mess,Licks its own butt, Poops in someone else's yard, Sniffs someones crotch, humps a leg, bites
Name a kind of test you cannot study for. Lie detector,Life, Parenthood (only those of you without kids question whether this is a test!), Blood test, pop quiz, pregnancy test
Name something a boy scout gets a badge for. Tying knots,Swimming, Archery?, Camping, Citizenship, Cooking
Name a phrase with the word "home" in it. Home Run!,Home is where the heart is, Love at home, Home on the Range, Home Sweet Home, Sweet Home Alabama
Name a sport where players lose teeth. Soccer,Hockey, Boxing, Rugby, Football, Wrestling
Name something a teacher can do to ruin a student's day.Make them spit out their gum-in front of the class,No recess, Give them a pop quiz, Homework, Yell, Detention
Name a bird you wouldn't want to eat.Dove,Ostrich, Seagull, Crow, Penguin, Crow
Name something that gets folded.Contortionists, Money in a wallet, Clothes, stroller?, Notes, Cookies(you know, fold in the eggs)
Name something a person wears even if it has a hole in it. Jeans,Nylons (sshh!), Socks, pants, Underwear, belt
Name something that gets smaller the more you use it. Cube of butter,Checking account, Eraser, candle, Boobies--Its the only thing I can think of :) Pencil

I am tagging Elise, Caitlan, and Mom! I think others should do it to- but feel confident you have been tagged already!!

Happy Birthday Pop-Pop

2008-04-29T22:02:00.000-06:00

We celebrated Greg's birthday a couple of weeks ago. Here is some video of the event. Hadley was pretty excited to help blow out the birthday candles. The delectable cake you see was hand-crafted by Ann-Michelle, awesome wife and mother extraordinaire. It is a Vermont spice cake with maple icing. It was really tasty!

Happy belated birthday Greg!

feelin' old

2008-04-29T17:23:00.000-06:00

This last birthday was not my favorite. I have never really noticed much significance with my birthdays- ooh, except 16- that was an important one. Anywho- turning 25 was a little bit of a tough one. I think my body literally aged to 40 over night- I feel so old!! I know I have the whole domestica thing going on and a million kids- but, for whatever reason I've really started feeling like the aging bugs have attacked and left little wrinkles around my once youthful eyes and aches in my once energetic joints. Jerks. Of course it is a major sign that I am maturing when I choose cherry crisp for my birthday cake and ask for home decor for gifts.

Thanks to everyone who thought of me and thanks for all the great gifts! And THANK YOU Mom and Dad for having a very yummy birthday dinner on my big day!

little blurb

2008-04-24T22:02:00.000-06:00

Okay- here is a quick one. I just want to say thanks to Hannah for finding us and adding us to her links list! From her page lots of old BHS buddies have found us and commented- so fun to blog-connect! I can't lie- I am NOT up to par on blogging, but will do my best to post often enough to keep you all interested! I know, I know- my life is cooler than most TV shows- I've really got your back! Coming soon- my report on being OLD, our super crazy half-marathon adventure and tales of a last semester at BYU-I!

Jimmy Eat World

2008-04-17T19:46:00.001-06:00

Let me begin by saying that all of these pictures were shamelessly taken from Caitlan's blog. We forgot our camera, and since we were at the concert, I figure its ok.

This set of pictures were taken from Caitlan's vantage point down on the floor.

This last one shows where Ann-Michelle and I were sitting

The concert was awesome, and the Flatlands were nice enough to put us up for the night afterwards. Thanks! and a big Thanks to all participating Grandma's (and Grandpa's) that made this event possible!

New Swingset

2008-04-17T19:25:00.000-06:00

This last week my brother Mitch (sorry, no blog) and his family got a new swingset, so they gave us their old one. Can't say no to free stuff, right ? Anyway, so far the girls are loving it. I have reports that they played on it just about all day today.

Thanks Mitch and Jana !

Dallis and Prince Humperdink

2008-04-10T22:25:00.000-06:00

Today I asked Dallis to get something from upstairs for me and her response, (don't forget to imagine a little sigh and dramatic undertone) was "Yes, as you wish." I could barely keep my laugh in- apparently this is the response often given to a certain Princess Butterscotch by her true love.

Guess that Disney Story

2008-04-01T23:59:00.000-06:00

Blog-Silence

2008-04-01T23:23:00.000-06:00

There is of course no excuse for an entire month of blog-silence, so rather than try to make some, I am just going to post a few pictures.

Dance Like No One is Watching

2008-03-01T18:44:00.000-07:00

Some Video

2008-02-28T23:34:00.001-07:00

As the years go by, something something The Days of Our Lives

2008-02-21T12:32:00.000-07:00

Yes- I love to butcher quotes and TV opening credits. Even more- I think I am beginning to like tags! This one from Meichelle is one I hadn't seen before - so HOORAY- more information on me! Yes, more things to be envious of and more things to worship. Got your back

20 years ago... 1988 - I was 5 and living in Redding, CA. My very best friend was Chase Titenzer(or however you spell that) and we were usually playing He-Man and She-Ra- by the powers of Grayskull, naturally.
10 years ago: 1998 I was playing sweeper and half-back on the soccer team at Bonneville and getting rides home from practice in a sweet Ford Probe by this nice guy in my English class.(Turns out he wanted to marry me 7 years later!) I was having a good time in our last year in IF before the move to WA.

5 years ago: 2003 - The beginning of the pregnant years for me- I was expecting Dallis and living in SLC. I worked as the office manager at The Orton Group. My favorite lunch place was this little panini shop on the corner of 9th South and 3rd East- they served the BEST hot chocolate and played Nora Jones, a lot.
3 years ago: 2005 - Todd and I were living in our first apartment in Marysville, WA- but getting ready to move down to Idaho. Dallis would be turning 2 and Hadley 1 that fall. We moved down the weekend of Kristie and Todd's wedding- and the dryer lid tried to kill me as I followed Todd's truck out of Montana. Oh, and guess what- I was pregnant by the end of the year!
1 year ago... 2007 - We moved into our first owned home in the spring- between semesters BYU-I- and felt a little crazy. Dallis turned 4, Hadley 3 and Brynn 1 and I was pregnant for the last part of the year. Ike joined the team in December and, I am pretty dang sure, concluded the pregnancy years!
So far this year...2008 - We have been fighting the good fight- Todd will be graduating in December, and I will be taking a major sabbatical from school- for 6 years or something. Kids can do tricks like that. We have run our cars off the road in this nasty winter at least 3 times. Jake came home from Russia- awesome to have him around again!
Yesterday I.. insanely took all 4 joys to my Enrichment Board meeting- yelled at them the whole time I tried to figure out how to fulfill my church calling! We celebrated my brain powers by eating ice cream from McDonald's and I finished a homework assignment and load of laundry- woot!
Today I . . . loaded up the kids to go to Hadley's 'talking class' (speech therapy, the 'class' part is for Dallis) and got them back home without going crazy or stopping for fast food- major accomplishments. I ate a Healthy Choice lunch and realized that I actually like microwave lunches- independent of their claimed aid in losing weight.

I am tagging all who read this blog, which would be my family!

Pictures !

2008-02-19T21:43:00.000-07:00

We took the kids sledding to Freeman Park on Saturday, they had alot of fun.

Dallis and I went on a "daddy-daughter date" that evening. I took her to Enchanted, which we both loved and I would recommend to anyone.

What did you guys do . . .

2008-02-18T17:23:00.000-07:00

What a Winter . . . .

2008-02-10T22:14:00.000-07:00

I am just having the worst luck this winter.

Luckily, this is just down the road from where we live.

Then again, maybe I'm having great luck. Hmm . .

The tagging invasion

2008-02-04T12:11:00.001-07:00

Alright- it looks like I have been tagged by someone other than my sweet sister Elise . And because I thought yours was cute, Meichelle- I have decided to actually particpate!!
Where were you born? Rexburg, Idaho- not my fault!
Middle name: Missed out on that one
How old will you be this year? 25
Nicknames: Shamella, Bunchie- now you know what is wrong with me
Are you taller than your mother or father? What kind of jerk question is that?
Do you cry often during movies? Sometimes- like in 'Sense and Sensibilty' when you think the sister has dies
Favorite color: Red
Favorite foods: Mongolian beef- especially from Taster's Wok
Favorite beverage: Root beer
Favorite cold cereal: Vanilla and almond granola (so far, only Haggen's has the kind I really like)
Favorite Smells: Pomegranite and Clinique perfumes
Favorite time of day: 10 am- when I still believe I have time to finish everything that day!
What brand of shampoo/conditioner do you use? Paul Mitchell
Make-up products? Mary Kay, just because I am wholesale consultant. Anyone want MK for 50% the normal price?
How many pillows do you sleep with? 2
Do you play an instrument? I dream of playing the cello
Have you ever been skinny dipping? Ahem- define skinny
Did you do any sports in High School? Soccer- the only thing that makes me wish I were back in those days
What was the last movie you saw in the theater? Juno
What is your favorite article of clothing? My super warm jacket- even lined(on the inside) with fake fur
What is your dream vacation? Greece for sure!
What was your first impression of your spouse? uhhhh- well my second first impression was after he got home from his mission and had a goatie and was SUPER HOT!! Yeah- I kissed him lass than three hours later!
If you were an animal what would you be? a toy dog, like Kristie's new baby Nest!
What is your favorite "me- time" activity? Bubble baths followed by a manicure
What is your dream car? Toyota Highlander
What is one of your weaknesses? Over-planning
What do you fix for dinner when there's nothing to fix? Taco Bell
If you could live in a different decade/era which one would it be? I always thought the 1800s looked interesting
What is the emotion you feel the most? Content- then overwhelmed- actually I could classify that as Nap-time and not-Nap-time
Do you consider yourself outgoing? Yep
What is something you are constantly working on? Laundry and everything affiliated with it- like the kids that wear it
Any hidden talents? I pretend I have some great musical talent that no one knows about- including me
What is a word or phrase you overuse? You know?
What was the hardest thing that happened to you this past year? Kids/school/pregnancy mix- not playing that game again!
What is the best thing that happened to you this past year? We made it through! No, really- watching and participating in the growth of our family
What is one thing you hope to accomplish this year? Remembering to mail out birthday cards to my family
The best piece of advice you learned this past year? Calm down and do it
Who are the 6 people you are going to tag to do this survey? Elise, Kristie, Caitlan, Mom, Allison(do you have a blog, yet?) and, uhhh, well- 6 is too many, anyway

My clothes hate me

2008-01-23T06:04:00.000-07:00

I recently had a conversation with my clothes that made me realize that they really do hate me. One shirt in particular. This is what happened- I opened my closet hoping to find a friend. My blue button-up shirt glared at me.
"Don't wear me- I don't like you." the shirt said .
"I know- you tell me every day." I reply, trying to find another shirt so I can shut the closet door and walk away.
"You are going to try me on anyway, though. You think that I will change my mind- I won't."
I roll my eyes. I am not going to try that shirt on- it hates me. The shirt won't let it go, though. "I'll make you look bad. And you know what? I'll do it on purpose." I am getting frustrated- I start to pull at a different shirt who says to me quickly, "I hate you, too. I will pull too tight on your belly and slide up on your love handles. Your jeans will help me."
Arrghh- these clothes used to be my friends! I try for another shirt and it says snidely "Really? Cuz I didn't fit yesterday- but good luck." Finally I just grab one and ignore it snickering lowly as I put it on. Throughout my day I can hear it muttering about how the closet or even DI is better than being with me all day. I then resolve to never wear my clothes again- and quickly recant my resolve. I don't want real people to hate me, too.

добро пожаловать домой Jacob!

2008-01-22T23:42:00.000-07:00

Ann-Michelle's long lost brother has returned from the Fatherland. Jacob arrived at the airport here in I.F. around 8:40 on Saturday evening. We had made him a big Russian sign, but he walked into the terminal almost exactly the same time we did, so we didn't even get to hold it out for him.

Needless to say, the following was had in large quantities by all present:

I'm sure Elise will have something to say about the "quality" of these pictures, but hey, this is what we got.

Jacob got to meet his newest niece and nephew for the first time. Thats right, we actually had _two_ babies while he was gone.

While waiting for Jacob to re-acquire his luggage, the cousins had some shenanigans on a baggage cart.

The whole experience was just a little weird for me, because I realized that it was only three and a half years ago that I was returning to the same airport from a former member-country of the Soviet Union.

Welcome Home Jacob - рады, что Tы дома

Sharing the Joy

2008-01-21T12:51:00.000-07:00

I just love that line, "My project is a flailing corpse of misery."

Girls playing in the snow

2008-01-11T20:28:00.000-07:00

Well Christmas has come and gone. For lack of a better topic I am dredging up some photos from about a month ago of the girls playing in the snow.

We haven't gotten a ton of use out of the yard we fenced off over the summer, but at least we have been able to let the kids play out in the snow some.

Just because its cute.

BEEM me up Scotty!

2008-01-08T20:29:00.000-07:00

Last year between semesters I created this game called Beem. I just realized today I haven't looked at it months so I thought I would post it up so maybe it can get some use! Here's a screenshot of what it looks like

Basically you have a set number of mirrors and prisms to place onto the board with the goal of reflecting and refracting the laser beam onto the target(s) - click on "How Do I Play?" once you get there for a more complete explanation.

No download - it plays right in your web browser. Runs in IE 7 and Mozilla Firefox. Heres the link.

Icicles of Death

2008-01-05T09:26:00.000-07:00

Before . . .

. . . And After

I noticed this huge icicle growing over our doorstep so I decided to take steps to protect us from the impending disaster. I know its obvious from these pictures, but I didn't realize that the entire bank of ice is connected to the large one. I was able to knock a piece off of the big one, then I stood on the porch step to throw the pieces up - directly under the rest of the ice bank. Needless to say, I was able to jump clear just in time, and what you see above was the result.

DeArton Christmas 2007

2007-12-29T20:19:00.000-07:00

On Christmas Eve we headed over to Kim and Gregs. We were served a delicious chicken dinner and then we had a reading/performance of Luke 2, as seen in the following video:

This time around, Dallis got to be mother Mary, with baby Graham as baby Jesus

The 'enactment' of the Christmas story basically consisted of the cousins hovering over baby Graham and kissing his head.

We all opened pajamas and then after getting the kids to bed broke out some games. Brynn wouldn't go down so she stayed up for quite awhile.

After she was really worn out, she finally nodded off on the couch.

We all slept over, and the next morning our kids woke up first (of course). We went out to the tree to find our stockings packed with gifts. The girls each got a princess doll in their stockings. Pretty soon, everyone was up and gathered around the tree. We took turns opening gifts, and everyone was pleased and had a good time. The best part was how our girls got more dolls, princesses, and barbies than I can count but it seems they spent all of Christmas Day playing with Thomas and his Robosapien! Go figure =)

After that calmed down, Pop-Pop took Dallis and Thomas outside for some sledding. He hooked up an old tire to a chain behind his tractor/lawn mower and they got to ride on it. This movie will help you get the idea.

Of course the highlight of Christmas this year for us was having our new baby boy Graham with us. We hope you enjoyed reading about our Christmas as much as we did experiencing it.

Pre-Christmas and Baby Blessing at Grandma Roberts

2007-12-29T19:37:00.000-07:00

To kick off the Christmas festivities, we went over to Grandma and Grandpa Robert's place on Sunday. The occasion was the blessing of my sister Heather's new baby, Jordan. And, since we weren't going to be back over on Christmas day, we did gift exchanges as well.

Here's a picture of Brynn with Jordan in her blessing outfit.

The cousins sang "Families can be Together Forever" before the blessing. You can see how involved Dallis was, and Hadley is conspicuously missing from this picture.

The cousins also dressed up to perform the nativity. Our girls were wisemen, which Dallis was excited about. Brynn loved her tunic so much that she kept it on the entire time!

Kyla holding Grahammert.

Brynn loves her new pillow!

We received great gifts and had a great time with everyone, especially Heather and Dallas and Katie (Brandon left early) whom we don't get to see too often. We played Mormon Mouthful, a new game that my Mom gave me and just hung out.

Did we say Marcus? That is spelled g-r-a-h-a-m

2007-12-22T15:10:00.000-07:00

Yeah- we realized after four days of 'Marcus' that we had not chosen the right name for our little boy! Jana- our sister-in-law- came over for a visit and reminded us that we had really liked Graham before we knew the supposed gender of our baby. As soon as she said it I knew that there was no way I could keep calling our new one Marcus.
That night I asked Todd if he was totally sure about the name- then brought up Graham. It turns out neither one of us was very in love with the first name- but we had no problem getting excited about Graham Jacob Freed! We were able to get Graham home from the hospital last night. Dallis has been a little confused with the 'loss' of Hazel and the switching to Graham. She has decided his name should be Graham Marcus Jacob. All the girls are so delighted to have him home- even Brynnie seems to be happy about it! Here are some oxygen-tube free pictures so everyone will have an easier time noticing how dang CUTE the boy is!! A-M

Um . . . what the heck is THAT?

2007-12-18T23:11:00.000-07:00

Until just a few days ago, I was perfectly contented to be immersed in a sea of pink for the next twenty years. At 20 weeks pregnant, Ann-Michelle and I visited the doctors office for the ultrasound when they reveal the sex of your baby. While pointing out and naming the pertinent female body parts on the screen, the tech informed us in no uncertain terms that in her entire career she had only been wrong about baby gender four times. Little did we know that we were about the bust the curve!

On Sunday while getting ready for church, we realized that we needed to get to the hospital. At 36 weeks our baby was still a little early, but we were hopeful that we could have the baby this year. On zero notice we were able to pack the girls off to Grandma's (thanks Kim!) and get checked in at labor and delivery. Ann-Michelle endured about 9 hours of pre-labor like a champion before our newest finally arrived. The baby wasn't about to wait for the doctor, however. Whether he was impatient or the doctor was slow I will leave to the judgement of the reader, but when he arrived I saw something utterly unexpected. But . . . we have that pink carseat in the car, I said to myself. And a brand new pink diaper bag, and pink clothes, and . . . and my man-child was born!

We attempted to keep the big surprise a secret so that we could see people's reactions when they came to see the new baby. Both Grandma's had a classic reaction. Kim was laughing like we must be joking. Diane said, "But, what is she doing wrapped up in a blue blanket?" Priceless.

Marcus Jacob

Ann-Michelle stayed at the hospital an extra night to be close to Marcus, and I brought all the girls in to visit her.

Unfortunately, with Marcus being born a little early we haven't been able to have a ton of alone time with him and consequently don't have as many pictures as we would like. We also haven't been able to bring him home yet. His breathing is improving every day though, and we should have him home soon.

Normally, we don't wax spiritual on this blog but we have received untold amounts of love and support over the last couple of days and just want to say thanks. We are very grateful. We have felt and seen Heavenly Father's hand through the Christlike example of service shown by our dear family members in the birth of our new baby, who came just two days after I finished school, one day after we got our new car (big enough to transport our new family size), and even a week before Christmas. What an answer to prayer!

Merry Christmas to everyone!

The CHRISTMAS LETTER

2007-12-04T12:12:00.000-07:00

Happy Holidays and thanks for checking out our blog-style Christmas Letter! 2007 has been another eventful year for the Freed family!

Todd and Ann-Michelle

This year we thought that adding to our crazy schedule would be fun- so both Todd and I enrolled as full-time students at BYU-Idaho. We began our action-packed adventures in January, and while I am enjoying time off this fall, Todd has continued on in the Fast-Grad program. This moves his graduation date up by a year, so we have that to look forward to! Todd is still enjoying working at DocuTech, and manages to do well there in addition to school. We bought our first home in March. I started on painting walls as soon as possible and almost have them finished 8 months later! We put a fence up in September and will happily recommend our fence-guy for anyone who is interested! We were happy to discover that another baby will be joining our family and even excited to discover that it will be another girl! We hope to be sending baby announcements shortly after this letter is read!

Dallis

What a year for our oldest princess! Dallis completed her year at dance classes in May. She has been practicing writing her name and counting. Dallis performed in her first Primary program- happily playing instead of singing! We are glad she didn't start crying! Barbie has made her grand entrance into Dallis's toy box- a fact that still makes me sad. It feels like the sign of Dallis's constant dedication to growing up before I am ready. She is such a friendly one, too! She is the little girl at the grocery store that strikes up a conversation with anyone passing by. Of course topics usually consist of which toys she is wanting at the moment or the main characters of the latest Disney movie we just watched (5 times in a row). Dallis is also very happy to help whenever I need Brynn or Hadley to come to me- she will drag them back to me almost every time! We are really enjoying our Dallerina and all of her little spark!

Hadley

Hadley remains the opportunist of our little band- from permanent markers on the wall to helping herself to an entire gallon of juice. She still hasn't put together that an 8 oz cup can't hold all that liquid. Of course she is just so sweet we can easily forget the entire roll of toilet paper in the toilet incident(s)! Hadley is still very cuddly and, when feeling lovey, will give the very best hugs! She is Dallis's constant playmate, from Ponies to Barbies to pretend phone-calls- these girls really keep each other occupied! Of course, pulling hair has to fit in there somewhere, as well! Hadley loves to 'sing'- doing the cutest toddler falsetto you ever heard! We love our little fire-cracker and do our best to keep up!!

Brynn

Of course there is much to be said about Brynnie's accomplishments over this last year! She started the year with no teeth, barely a crawl, but the sweetest smile ever! The smile faded only a little as she began cutting teeth. We loved Brynn's take on crawling- imitating an army crawl rather than a toddler one- pretty funny! She started walking in September and is now a full partner-in-crime with her big sisters, whom she loves. We sometimes worry that she is getting left out, but she seems completely content to sit back and giggle with(or at?) her big sisters. Brynnie has picked up a few words like 'thank you' and 'cheese!'-for the camera of course- My favorite is 'Haddy', which covers both sisters! She has also started sleeping in a toddler bed recently. We are having so much fun playing with our Brynnter-bean and watching her personality develop!

As a tribute to our adventures in 2007, we have put together a video slideshow of the year's events. We hope you enjoy it.

(audio by The Smashing Pumpkins)

We hope you all have a Merry Christmas and wish you the best in 2008.

Acid Reflux and Bulbous Cows

2007-11-30T09:00:00.000-07:00

Well- I decided that a post about my true feelings on being pregnant was in order. First, I would like to say that I have made it to 34 weeks with NO BED REST! Hoorah! I know that it is not actually anything I had to do with, but I am counting it as a personal accomplishment anyway. I am just saying out loud - in case the divine-labor-fairies are listening with a kind ear- that Todd is done with this semester on the 14th of December. That is a Friday and I think I have a cookie-making party on the 15th, SO that evening or Sunday morning are very convenient times for me to go into labor. Really- I won't mind at all if it happens any time that week. Okay- message sent.
I am now in the part of life-creating that is so frustrating. Anything I eat or drink ends up burning my throat like crazy. I was taking prescription heart burn medicine- but it was making my stomach feel funny. That is the story of these last few weeks, (note- I said FEW)- Trade one pain for another. Do I sleep on my back and let my legs ache? Do I sleep on my side and feel the acid reflux all the way to my ears and feel my giant belly pulling toward the mattress? Do I sit to rest my swelling feet and have baby all in my ribs? Do I stand up and relive my ribs at the expense of my lower back? Anyway- I know that these complaints can easily be swept away with some sticky sweet comment like 'You are going to have a BABY- isn't that worth all of it?' Yes, I answer- but I am thinking 'How exactly does that make me feel better?' Oh, it doesn't- it is just to shut me up. My sister Kristie described my shape the best- I am bulbous. I like to refer to myself as puffy- but bulbous is really the right word. I am attaching a picture so that you can see what this word means when applied to a person.

Autumn and Birthdays

2007-11-21T20:48:00.000-07:00

Well its getting chillier, cold enough in fact to freeze up the clutch on my truck this morning.

We celebrated Dallis's birthday last weekend in grand style. On friday night (her actual birthday), Ann-Michelle and I took Dallis out to dinner at the Olive Garden, just the three of us. She was able to get a special - red - drink just like mommy and have a whole host of happy waiters and waitresses sing happy birthday to her, which she just loved. There was one frustrating part, however. After she found out that the other two girls were going to grandma Diane's house, she decided she would rather do that than have 'birthday dinner'! (they ended up staying at our house with grandma, but that didnt change things.) In any event, she quickly forgot about that once we got to the birthday dinner.

Saturday was pretty crazy. We had scheduled to meet up with family at Leo's Place for Dallis's birthday party at 3:00. That morning I was helping my grandparents move so we were going to have those two events end-to-end as it was, but as luck would have it, we ended up at the doctor's office around 1:30 with Ann-Michelle experiencing pretty bad contractions and back pain. Not to be outdone, we still had the 'party', albeit an hour late, and Ann-Michelle stayed home to rest. Because of these complications some attendees were unable to make it but Dallis and Hadley still had tons of fun on the big toy they have there. Thanks to Mom-Mom, Pop-Pop and Allison for making it to the party!
We also opened toys and had Sleeping Beauty decorated cake (thanks Kristy) that night at Greg and Kim's. In all we think Dallis's birthday was quite a success.
(sorry, I didn't really get any pictures of the aforementioned).

In addition, we took the girls to the park on Capitol a few weeks ago for some Autumn pictures. Here are some highlights.

Tagged

2007-11-10T10:21:00.000-07:00

Alright Elise- I am finally responding to one of your tags. First I would like to say that every time I have read my name on a tagged list on the Hansen blog I have expected to get some sort of e-mail tag or something that comes to me personally. I think that my name on the blog is the invite- so here it goes. As explained by Elise I am supposed to tag 6 people after listing 6 facts about me and that leads into the first fact 1. I HATE chain stuff-not the participating part- but the part at the end, when you have to come up with people to pass it along to and realize that you don't have a big enough social circle to adequately pass it on. So, I am going to list 6 things and then call it good- I am working on making friends,so future tags will be more successful.
2. I love LOVE to make desserts- I like to try new things that involve chocolate or maybe sweetened condensed milk. I feel a little hesitant when it comes to fruity desserts, but try most of them anyway. As many new recipes as I have tried I can still never guess what it is going to taste like by just reading the recipe-some people have mad skills.
3. I find it a major hit against a retailer if the company does not have a good dotcom shopping option. Like Target- they have the WORST shipping issues and take weeks to notify you if your order cannot be fulfilled. I am always excited to find a new website that sells and ships well, making my ventures into public shopping minimal(I don't really like going out to shop).
4. I love fall and early spring because it is not freezing, but I still get to wear sweaters or long sleeve shirts- my favorite type of clothing! I really like jackets and cardigans, too. I hate summer primarily because I have to figure out how to dress and I really hate hot weather. I could never live in Texas or Florida, but would really enjoy Washington(surprise!).
5. I don't like to watch my grammar when typing. I don't even like capitalizing "I" or using capital letter with proper nouns. I feel like I don't watch my words when I am casually talking to someone, why should I be careful when casually typing? Here is the best part- when I receive an email or something without proper punctuation I get a little lost. So, although I don't like to do it- I can see the value.
6. I love organization- Tubs for each type of toy, a drawer just for tape and another just for pens, files for each bill- ooh, AND Excel spreadsheets! I LOVE Microsoft Office! I really think I am a born-secretary! Too bad they don't make fat loot, hmmmm.

Halloween 2007

2007-11-02T05:52:00.001-06:00

Here are a couple of photos from Halloween. We took the girls to DocuTech for the annual Halloween event.

Fences, Birthdays and so much more

2007-10-27T14:07:00.000-06:00

Alright - I know Hadley's birthday was over a month ago, but its better late than never, right? We had a fun time with cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents. Hadley loved all her new toys, as is evidenced by the following album.

Hadleys Birthday

And, of course, the token Cake-Eating Video(tm)

The other thing that happened at our place (even more than a month ago) was we had a fence put in to establish a backyard for the kids. I have been waiting to take pictures of it for weeks but kept getting frustrated by bad weather. I finally got around to it today, so here are the pictures. You can even see the stopsign that has become quite conspicuous since the fence was put in.

Fenced Backyard

Out of context

2007-10-16T18:39:00.000-06:00

Almost everything said out of context is bound to confuse and maybe even amuse- oh wow, that is a great rhyme. I don't know where I come up with this stuff- its like a gift from God or something. (I am sure Flatlands know where that is from!) Anyway- song lyrics are the very best out of context lines in the world. My top two favorites- currently- are "Oh it stings to be stung" from the band What Made Milwaukee Famous and "You think my singin's out of tune, but it makes me money" from KISS(Don't worry Dad, I don't really listen to KISS!).

Goodbye Wayne

2007-10-10T18:53:00.001-06:00

Well- I am happy to say that Wayne was voted off my show last night. It is good because he really was the worst dancer. My bet is that Mark Cuban is dancing on borrowed time now!(Doesn't Wayne's partner Cheryl look like she knew this was coming?)

Dancing with the Stars

2007-10-03T13:58:00.000-06:00

Everyone has their weaknesses- I have to say mine is the totally cheesy and poorly dressed 'Dancing with the Stars' on ABC. I have to admit, that although I readily watch the show- I never actually vote. I watch it online the day after you can vote, so maybe that is where I get a little hung up. ANYWAY- I just am so surprised at last night's results! Wayne Newton is a competitor this year and is really the worst dancer. He is stiff and slow- but super famous, which is why he beat out one of the better dancers Albert Reed- do you think if I had cast all 11 of my votes I could have made the difference? I don't think so either. I will probably watch Wayne kick out a few more better dancers and still not start voting- but I fully plan on complaining about it. Mr. Las Vegas, pshaw- since when can't an Abercrombie model beat out a household name and international icon?

Aerial View

2007-09-21T20:53:00.000-06:00

The other day we went in to Brynn's room to wake her up from her nap and we found her buried under her bed sheet. Brynn is also moving up in the world - not only is she now walking, she is riding in a face-first car seat ! And see my amazing strength in action. All this and more in this brand new slide show!

Reasons Toothpaste is better than Pooh

2007-09-21T09:36:00.000-06:00

1. Toothpaste smells better and is actually made to go in your mouth- (Hadley has been confused on this point a time or two)
2. When smeared into the carpet, toothpaste, with its cleaning agent capabilities, actually leaves the crime scene looking better than before it was squirted everywhere. Pooh does not help a carpet look better.
3. The word 'toohpaste' is more fun to say and will always sound smarter in conversation than 'pooh'.
4. When your toddler asks for help with her pooh, you will always wish she had said toothpaste.

Ode To Us

2007-09-12T21:53:00.000-06:00

So there isn't really any specific occasion for this movie or anything in particular that it is meant to commemorate - other than the awesomeness that is US! I saw something cool like this on Elise's blog and I thought I would give it a shot - I think it turned out pretty well.

(audio at http://www.jonathancoulton.com/songs)

Pills

2007-09-12T13:03:00.000-06:00

Elise has mentioned that she is dealing with a little pill, Gordon, lately. It must be pill season- Dallis has just recently decided that all communication must be done in forms of whiiinnneeyyy voices and even all out tear-fests. This morning's inspiration- dessert for breakfast. Dallis began asking for dessert at 7 am- I said no, we eat dessert after lunch and after dinner(if you are lucky and somehow we have one). She ate her yogurt and cereal breakfast and then began whining for- dessert. Well- eventually we made it to lunch. Who knew that ravioli could make a little girl cry? By the way- it can. Yes, she got her dessert- after 4 hours of whining for it and after I almost on-my-knees-begged her to eat 3 raviolis. Her Majesty naps now and all is quiet- but in reading about her cousin, I know the next wave of pill-plague is coming soon.

Thats One Small Step for Brynn . . .

2007-09-10T20:37:00.001-06:00

One Giant Leap for Freed-kind
(couldn't resist).

So Brynn has started walking, and I thought I would post up this video of some of her very first steps into the wide wide world.

Reasons, the series

2007-09-06T10:23:00.000-06:00

I had started emailing Caitlan a beginning series that I have titled 'Reasons'. As a general rule, and maybe bad person habit, I like to express my opinion and back it up with a couple of reasons. Generally my opinions and reasons are useless to rest of the world- so, what better topic to blog on?! This is a repeat version for Cait, but to those few who read our blog- here is what you can start to expect randomly from me. And for anyone who didn't already know- I have an unnamed obsession with jokes about inflicting pain- I think it came from Lewis Black
http://www.comedycentral.com/comedians/browse/b/lewis_black.jhtml

Here you are, A-M

Reasons I want to shoot my face with a dart gun
1. Dart guns do not require permits like real guns, so buying one will not present the hassles that a 9 mil. purchase would
2. Dart guns can't be too expensive- they sell them at Wal-Mart, I think
3. The darts from a dart gun can't penetrate as deeply as real bullets- but they will cause enough pain to take my mind off of the normal mental anguish brought on by all the stupid, stupid people allowed to exist
4. I have used the face-in-a-blender joke too many times

Well- as most of you already know . . .

2007-08-29T20:45:00.000-06:00

We are so SO excited to announce that our little band of princesses will be joined by yet another little GIRL!! Hooray! We wanted to deal all in pink- and hey, who said you can't get what you wish for. Our doctor actually winced when he calculated the ages of our children and then thought about the teenage years. I am glad the pain of our future can be felt by another! My money is on brown hair- (I have lost any hope of bringing a red-head into this world)- but, my sister Kristie is guessing this will be the one with hair like mine. The baby looks great and is right on schedule as far as size and development goes. We really hope to have the baby in December- maybe a day or two after Christmas? Maybe I am asking too much?

The Joys of Mud

2007-08-20T15:23:00.001-06:00

We didn't see them sneak over to the mud pit ... but once we found them, they having far too much fun to interrupt.

Buck Family Reunion

2007-08-13T08:11:00.001-06:00

(1443.2 miles, 66.053 gallons, or $195.14 - yielding 21.85 MPG or $0.14 DPM)

Over the weekend and the early part of this week we went on a trip to the Buck family reunion. The Bucks are Ann-Michelle's maternal grandmothers brothers and sisters, and their families. Many of them live in Oregon, but alot of people traveled, even one family from Boston. We had alot of fun and were glad to take our first real family trip! We had a hotel along the way on both ends of the trip to break up the driving. The reunion was held at the Belknap hot springs near Bend, OR.

This first picture shows the girls relaxing to a DVD with the Hansen boys - one of the few ways we were able to actually get them to settle down. Thanks to them for thinking to bring the DVD player!

You can see how green it is and some of the outdoors that we got to enjoy.

More greenage.

We got Hadley a new bike for the trip. As you can see, she wasn't real attached to it. She actually didn't ride it at all! Oh well - we are hoping she will when she gets a little older.

Heres the cabin that we stayed in.

We also went white-water-rafting. Heres a pic of all of the Buck family members that went on that particular outing. (This picture was shamelessly snagged from Hansens blog.)

And last but not least, a little movie of our girls enjoying the tire swing that was just outside our cabin.

The kids had a ton of fun riding their bikes, swinging, swimming and just running around. The hot springs were actually - well, hot - and it was pretty hot up there in general so the pool wasn't quite an oasis but it was still fun.

Our Epic Adventure

2007-07-30T22:21:00.001-06:00

For your viewing enjoyment I have prepared a small montage of pictures cataloging our adventures over the last several weeks. We begin with this wonderful shot of Brynn.

She managed to get herself into the tub while there was still water in it and you can see the results.

Next we explore the fourth of july weekend, which was alot of fun for us. We spent the evening of the 3rd at the Flatlands new home in Pocatello. Josh and Laramie brought their cute girls over as well and we had fun swimming and creating a whirlpool.

We made it over to Freeman Park for the fireworks several hours early and met up with Chris and Elise and their boys. Everyone enjoyed the show.

Taking cue from the Flatlands (and the life-sucking heat we are experiencing) we got ourselves a little pool for the kids to play in.

And last but not least, I call this one "How to Eat a Donut. Hadley-Style."

Hope you enjoyed the pictures =) Well, Brynn has begun taking her first steps over the last couple of days. Look for some video of her walking here in the next week or so.

Hope everyone is doing great!

Schoooool's out for the summer!

2007-07-17T19:33:00.000-06:00

Well- technically school is only out for 8 weeks for Todd, my 'summer' lasts all the way to January! Todd, of course, cleaned up with a great GPA- I, on the other hand, had to keep the attitude of 'At least I passed' with 2 of my courses. Astronomy- good night! I now will avoid looking at the stars for the next two months getting myself out of the habit of trying to calculate right ascension and which horizon different constellations and the moon fall in. I would like to claim some sort of excuse for this semester- but in truth I just didn't do my best. I am a little sad to be done with Econ- the same way Todd was sad last semester to say good-bye to Chemistry. Some classes are really interesting and the subject matter is- okay, I already know I am crazy- FUN to learn! We are looking forward to our month of August- a fun Oregon trip is coming up and we are trying to get the Lava Hot Springs idea pulled together with the Hansens!
A-M

More Mitt

2007-06-25T21:50:00.000-06:00

I know, I know ... your all dying to see more footage of Mitt, Mitch and I. Well here it is !! This was from a broadcast on another station. We are celebrities now.

Mitt-Tastic

2007-06-24T10:20:00.001-06:00

On Friday presidential candidate (and my predicted winner for months now) Mitt Romney came to Idaho Falls. He had a campaign dinner friday night which I wanted to attend, but the minimum contribution required was $250 and I couldn't find anyone else crazy enough to part with that much money for a steak. However- I was in luck. The local republican establishment had put together a little rally at the special hangar at the airport where the Governor was set to arrive. I heard the time wrong so my brother Mitch and I actually arrived over an hour early. That was nice though, because when we got there only 10 or 15 of the 500-600 participants had arrived and we were right up front by the microphone. Below is a snippet from a video that was on the local news here. I know it looks like Mitt Romney is the focus of the video, but you can actually see Mitch and I right there in the center ^_^ Go Mitt !

Summer Days

2007-06-17T14:18:00.001-06:00

I just wanted to do a quick post to tell about a funny thing that happened today. Brynn is getting closer and closer to walking. She will pull herself up with the aid of a chair sometimes and she loves it when we walk her around while holding both her hands. Thats about it though. So today Ann-Michelle and I were sitting at the bottom of the stairs - I can't remember exactly what we were doing. But I glanced up and there was Brynn, just standing there at the top of the stairs looking at us! She wasn't next to anything so she just stood up by herself! She must have just stood there for at least 10 seconds. It was really cute.

Also - heres a video of our failed attempt to have the girls play in the sprinklers in our little yard. It was actually kind of cold I don't know what we were thinking ^_^

Greatest Hits

2007-06-04T00:04:00.001-06:00

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so I have taken the liberty of creating a 'Greatest Hits' movie for April/May 2007, chronicling our greatest moments and finest achievements. The following events have made their way into this feature:

Brynns first birthday

Dallis' final dance performance

Dallis cruising around on her training wheels

Hadley gets a new pony!

Dallis and Hadley playing in 'The Pit'

Enjoy!

Brynn is 1

2007-06-01T14:16:00.000-06:00

Brynn had her birthday last week- she is a one-year old!! To celebrate we had a little family party at Kate Curley Park and Brynnie got her ears pierced. Here are some pictures of our little girl in her first year!

Kids say the CUTEST things

2007-05-12T12:58:00.000-06:00

Here are a couple of my favorite quotes from Dallis and Hadley(and some mini conversations)
"Mom, I have to go to the store for some eggs and ponies" Dallis

"Oh! I'm stuck in there!" Hadley- trying to take her dress off

"We need to fill the car up today, huh Dallis" said Todd, to which Dallis replied "Yeah, cuz the car is thirsty"
Then in a follow-up conversation Todd asked Dallis what the car wanted to drink. He asked if it drinks water and she said "No- not water! I think it wants oatmeal!"

I know it doesn't sound funny- but when you hear a 2 year old say "Oh crap! Oh no!" it just makes you giggle- plus when Hadley says it she puts a hand to her cheek like she is totally frustrated!
A-M

Brynn-town

2007-05-06T21:16:00.000-06:00

I don't think I mentioned that Ann-Michelle and I are taking a Book of Mormon class together this semester. We are really enjoying it. We can study and memorize the scriptures for the class together.

Dallis and Hadley are so crazy about ponies. They love them and carry them around everywhere it seems. The other day Dallis was carrying around a basket with some of her favorite items: 3 ponies (the Mommy pony, the Daddy pony, and the baby pony), a plastic cinderella figurine, and her favorite underwear (has ponies on it). She even took the basket up to the top bunk before bed!

Well yesterday we took Dallis and Hadley to Utah for the weekend. Since we only had Brynn we thought we would try to go watch a movie. Have any of you gone to the theater with an 11-month old? Let's just say - theres a first and a last time for everything. First she was making alot of noise, so we had to go out to get some water to put in her bottle. Then she wouldn't take the bottle so we had to go out to get warmer water. Then she threw up on me. Then she finished the bottle so we had to go out again (how are you supposed to enjoy a movie during this?). She just kept making so much noise that we actually ended up leaving before the movie was over.

The movie we went to was "The Bridge to Terabithia". In spite of my strong feelings about said movie, I will refrain from comment since I am sure many of you haven't seen it (yet).

Brynn is almost 1, we can't believe it. Here is a movie of her making some funny noises. She is crawling up and down the stairs now, actually she crawled all the way up the staircase yesterday.

2007-04-26T21:16:00.000-06:00

Did I mention in my last post that we got the girls a new bunk bed? Heres a video of when their first time seeing it.

2007-04-24T21:16:00.000-06:00

Ann-Michelle and I started a new semester at school last monday. She is taking several classes on-line and only needs to be on campus tuesday and thursday, which makes the commute alot easier for us this semester. I however still have to drive up to Rexburg monday through friday because of my Calculus II class. We stay pretty busy with work and school and everything else but we are enjoying it.

We also moved into our new townhouse over spring break. It is a little bigger than our old apartment a little nicer and a little more homier for us. We are hoping to get a fence put up for our backyard maybe this year so that the kids can play outside. Ann-Michelle has big plans for painting, and she has already painted the downstairs bathroom purple. She used a special technique called ragging and it looks awesome.

Brynn is a crawling machine now, and she loves playing in her walker. It can actually move now on our pergo kitchen floor, whereas on carpet she couldnt get it to budge. Hadley is potty training now and she is doing really well with the occasional accident of course, usually resulting from us not making her go before bed and then giving her a cup to drink just before falling asleep. You'd think that one would be a no-brainer. We are slowly reducing our dependence on foreign diaper companies. Dallis is growing up too fast and in dance classes right now.

Both Dallis and Hadley love saying family prayer with us. Almost any time we say prayer they will both repeat everything we say even if it isn't their turn. The other day Dallis was saying prayer before bed and this is what she said (imagine cute voice) "Heavenly Father, thank you for our family and please bless me and Hadley to sleep in mommies bed tonight" Nice try !

Ive also attached some pictures - I dont know why but I think pictures of the kids sleeping are so cute.

I hope everyone else can post about their families soon !

We are moving- well, at the end of the month

2007-03-03T08:41:00.000-07:00

Todd and I put on offer on a townhouse at 1 pm on Thursday and received the answer at 5:45- we are homeowners! Well- not technically, but our offer was accepted and we close on March 31. Perfect timing for us and school breaks. We are very excited and a little nervous. But the hardest part is over- our next big step is to sign the mortgage (and our souls away). The house has 3 bedrooms upstairs, one full bath with a tub/shower and a shower in it. The closets are all almost walk-ins, but not too much bigger than what we have now. Downstairs is the living room, dining, kitchen and a little half bath. Our washer and dryer will go out in the garage. Well- it is small, but we are planning on moving in 3 years, so we really just wanted to get in on equity-earning.

I am such a loser

2007-02-20T20:34:00.000-07:00

Alright- I know I posted a farewell and everything. But I keep wanting to post something about my family. I tried to go back onto our old spot but couldn't. Oh well- here is to new beginnings! Todd and I are happy to say that this week is officially mid-term, so only 6 more weeks of the worst schedule EVER! Hey- I haven't been back to school in years, I will do better! As of this week we are both well above 3.5 GPAs- yes, I know there are 3.9ers and 4.0ers out there- but this is really good for us!
The girls are just as active as ever. Dallis is now carrying on conversations that always lead to some Disney character at one point or another. Hadley is in a hard spot- she wants to talk, but isn't quite there. She gets pretty upset when we can't understand- it is sad and frustrating, but she will start talking soon and then I will miss these days. By the way- who told Brynnie to start crawling like a maniac? That girl speeds around like she is in some race for her life! Todd and I are loving our busy children- and we LOVE bedtime!