Monday, February 28, 2005


Our new hair

After dinner with the Elders

Are we really surprised??

Valentines Day flowers

Sleeping after one very long day

February 28, 2005

February 28, 2005
There comes a time in each of our lives where we are so scared to death, we think we may die. And it takes a long time for our heart to settle back in our chest where it belongs. I firmly believe each child should only be allowed to do that to their parents only one once. Tyler just used his...
It all started out on a beautiful Sunday morning. Grandma and Grandpa Hart were here visiting for the weekend. So, we needed to take 2 cars to church that morning. When we got to church I noticed Tyler wasn’t there and asked Corey if Tyler had already gone in. She said he wasn’t ever in their car. Well, he wasn’t in our car either. It hit us that we had left him at home on accident!! Bob raced home to get him as I frantically called on the phone. He wouldn’t answer. Finally Bob got home and found the side door to our home open as well as the door into our house. He searched everywhere- Tyler was gone. He said he would canvas the neighborhood while I ran in to get Corey to drive me home. Just as we were about to race out the door, the Garcia’s walked into the church with Tyler. As I tried to shove my heart back down my throat and into the chest cavity, I asked where they had found him. They had found him on the highway!!!! I had to keep myself from fainting. What in the sam hill was he doing on the HIGHWAY???
Well, it seems that as we were leaving, Tyler was getting his shoes on when he heard the garage doors close. He started to run after our cars, but we were too fast. He thought he knew the way to church so he decided to walk. (It is a 10-15 minute drive!) So, he said he thought he might go back home and call 9-1-1, but "I knew if I called, the police would take you and dad away and put you in jail because you forgot your kid!". So, he just kept walking. He said that he started crying so he said a prayer. ("Mom, I learned in church that I could say a prayer anytime, anywhere, so I did") Shortly after, the Garcia’s who happened to be running late to church, say this sad little boy walking on the highway with his shoes untied and knew they had to stop and help. Now, I ask you, what are the chances of that??
When we came home from church, he barricaded himself on his bed, surrounded in pillows and took a huge nap. That worried me. He is ok now.
We are so grateful he is safe and was kept safe while we were without him. I know I won’t be getting any "Mother of the year" award, but that’s ok, my kids are safe and sound and that’s all that matters.
Other than that, our week was fine. We did lose the internet again for a complete week. We are really hating this internet company and have been researching other options.
On Friday, Bob and I had a date night out. We went to go see the movie "Hitch" which was HILARIOUS! It was so fun to be out at the movies. Then we went out to dinner. We had such a great time.
On Saturday morning, Marisa had her violin recital. All students from 5th-12th grade sign up for a time and then 20 kids or so each perform a solo piece. Marisa did such a great job. We were so proud of her. Then we got to even hear some of the high schoolers who were amazing. Now Marisa is even more excited!!
We took all the kids to the dentist this week. It was a really cool office. They had a TV with ear phones which totally distracted the kids. Then if the light was too bright, they gave them shades for their eyes. Tyler had 4 cavities. Oh well!
On Thursday Night, Marisa and I had a date at the salon. I got my hair cut again and highlighted. Marisa got her hair cut (will include pics, the pic of me is slightly scary). She loves it so much. Then she got to get her eyebrows waxed for the first time. She did so great- I was proud of her- and she thinks she looks cool! It was a bonding evening.
Well, all is well now with life now that the internet is back up!! Have a wonderful week and I will end with a quote from Kayla’s prayer last night "Please make sure daddy and mommy always look in the back of the car to make sure we are all there!"

Sunday, February 20, 2005


Kayla and Alayna with crowns on

"Girls Rule"

Kayla's cute hair from birthday party

Alayna feeding her baby

Marisa and Alayna

Mom scaring kids on mom's bed

Playing on mom's bed

February 20, 2005

February 20, 2005
Today was an interesting day. I got to teach Tyler’s primary class. It only served to reaffirm why I would never teach 1st grade. They were the wiggliest bunch I have ever seen. I could actually write a book now on how many ways a 6 year old can wiggle and position themselves in two hours! During class I was having a hard time getting them to use their indoor voices which, evidently, they have never heard of. So, as I was coloring my coloring page I calmly said, "Too bad you guys are being so noisy, I guess I will have to eat all the treats myself". They all stopped coloring and said "You have treats?". That solved it- we had silence the rest of the class. I am never above resorting to bribery!
We had a good and busy week. Thanks to all of you who gave us feedback on our website. Each of the kids have now made their own webpage which you can link from our family home page. They have some fun surveys on them and are excited to see what people have to say. Our site still has a few glitches, so be patient with us while we fix them all.
Bob and I were asked to be the main speakers at an Enrichment Night being held on March 11. We are a little nervous about it, but hope it will go ok.
As usual, we had some interesting experiences with Alayna this week. I will spare you and only share two. First, I was on my treadmill and smelt something burning. I ran upstairs to find Alayna sitting on the counter by the toaster which had smoke billowing out of it. She smiled and said "I cooking". I said "what?!?!?!" And she said "I cooking piece of toast". Sure enough, she had pushed a stool up to the counter, hopped on, put a piece of toast in and turned the oven on to 500 degrees. The toast was pitch black and she was so proud. Hard to yell at her when she was proud of making her own toast. Then yesterday, she was in the bath playing with her water symphony. (They are little colored dolphins, with water rings and if you bop them on the head they make sounds). I went to go do something and when I came back, she had matched every dolphin with its correct colored ring. I was so in shock- how did she know how to do that? No one had ever shown her. It was nice to see her "energy" being used in a positive way.
On Friday, Marisa and Kayla were invited to Olivia’s (kayla’s friend) birthday party. They went to a fun place in the mall called "Girls Rule". They got their hair and makeup done, took pictures, and got all sorts of fun stuff to do their nails, etc. I am including pics this week of when they came back. Then Olivia spent the night. I tell you though, they are so pretty that we will have to watch them closely when they get to be teenagers!
Well, that’s about all we have to report this week. We hear Torrance got pounded again by rain! Maybe it was a good thing we left after all! Our love to everyone. Have a wonderful week.

Sunday, February 13, 2005

February 13, 2005

February 13, 2005
Let’s see...what exciting news can we share with you today? Could it be 1) Alayna poured all my bubble bath in the bath? 2) she announced that she "tooted" while the missionaries were here 3) she hid the dish network smartcard in the vent on the stairs and Bob only found it because the lightbulb in the vent went out 4) She actually figured out how to untie a double knot and dumped every game her height and down onto the floor OR 5) all of the above. If you guessed #5 you win!! I would just like to interject here that I really am a good mom, she is just, um...extra work!
She did pour all my bubble bath into my bath (the lid was screwed on tight, but not tight enough I guess) and then hopped out of the tub and turned on my jacuzzi bubbles (didn’t know she knew how to do that). By the time I got to her minutes later, I could barely find her in all the bubbles. Then that night, when I went to take my bath, I poured my other bubble bath in to find it had been watered down. I kept pouring it in thinking I didn’t get any soap. When I turned on the bubbles, a tower of bubbles grew several feet over the tub. I will include pictures as proof.
Marisa had her orchestra concert this week at school. Bob took Kayla and Tyler but when they got there it was so crowded (because of the 2nd grade musical) that they had to watch it from the hall. So, I am sorry grandmas- we didn’t get it taped. But she is doing such a great job and practices on her own every day.
We had a very fun weekend. Friday Night, we popped popcorn in our new popcorn maker and watched "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban." It was fun to see on a bigger screen (I originally saw it on the airplane). The kids loved it except we had Kayla up with nightmares- even though she closed her eyes through most of it. I thought it was a pretty scary movie for younger kids. On Saturday, Bob took the 3 older kids to the IMAX to see "Polar Express". They said it was like watching it in a huge igloo. Marisa got motion sickness from watching it, but they liked the movie. We are all so excited that the new Survivor premiere is this week!! We must also say how disappointed we were at the finale of Amazing Race. On that note, we found out the next one will be teams of 4. The minimum age is 12- Marisa was so mad she will be missing it by 1 year. She REALLY wants to go. I propose that my brothers and dad go- come on, you guys would be unbeatable, with all the travel experience as well as the amount of languages you all speak- I dare you! No, I double dare you. No- Marisa and I "TRIPLE DOG DARE" you!!! I hope to have your answers by the end of the week. I can link you to the application form!!!
We hope you all Have a Happy Valentines Day and remember that our family loves you!!
Love-Kris

Mom's bubble bath getting out of control.

Alayna in her bubble suit.

Marisa practicing for her orchestra concert.

Changing the lightbulb as a family. Bonus was to find the dish network smartcard.

Alayna giving mommy a massage.

Sunday, February 06, 2005

February 6, 2005

February 6, 2005
It’s raining outside and almost all our snow has melted. It’s exciting to see grass again! The temp was up in the 40-50 range this week which was a welcome change. We even went grocery shopping without coats yesterday!
Well, we had a very busy week this week. Monday started out early when I got a call from someone in the ward that said a lady in our ward had been in the ER all morning and her new baby was sick. I was the only one available to help. When I got to the hospital they admitted the baby for RSV- it was like dejavu. So, I took her 2 year old son and then me and another friend cleaned her house. The baby was released the next day and is well. It brought back lots of memories of when Alayna was in the hospital...
On Tuesday, Tyler and Alayna got sick with the yucky cold that has been going around. So, Tyler stayed home from school on Wednesday. Kayla ended up getting sick as well and stayed home on Friday. The funny thing was that we hooked up the nasal aspirator so when Alayna’s nose gets stuffed, she just runs into the laundry room and vacuums it out herself. I think they are all feeling better today.
On Thursday we were supposed to have the missionaries over, but cancelled because of sick kids. We still took them dinner though- I went with pizza to be safe!
Saturday was a very busy day. They had an Activity Day Recognition breakfast at 9:00am. People here do everything so early and don’t get that we don’t do mornings. In fact, our family should have t-shirts that say "We don’t do mornings!" But we had to go since it was for the girls. We even played a fun game with them- kinda like the newlywed game, but for parents and daughters. It was fun. Then Bob and I went and did all the grocery shopping and a trip to Sam’s. We should never go on Saturdays- way too busy! We spent the day cleaning the house, doing loads of laundry, cleaning out and washing the cars, etc. That evening, Kayla’s friend, Olivia, was baptized so we went to that. I took the kids so Bob could stay home alone for once. He made us teriyaki shish kabobs that were awesome!
Today the kids were so sweet and were giving me massages. Marisa was doing my feet, Tyler my legs, Alayna my back, and Kayla my shoulders. It was heavenly. The only things that could have made it better would be a machine that dropped kitkat bites into my mouth every 30 seconds!!
We had our share of disasters this week. Alayna dumped ALL of Bob’s new body wash into the bath. It was the only lid I didn’t check. It turned the water blue and then when I turned on the jacuzzi we had bubbles through the roof! Tyler used his "karate moves" to punch all the bubbles down. She also decorated the walls with a red crayon she happened to find (we have all writing utensils locked up). We found that goo-gone is the best thing to take it off! But the award for "worst disaster for the week", can only be blamed on me and Bob. While eating dinner I saw a billowing cloud of smoke coming off the stove. I ran over to find that he had put the 2 (count them, 2) plastic lids for microwave on the burner that I had accidently left on. It made a huge mess. There were strings of plastic everywhere and it smelt awful!!! Now we have to get new lids.
This week Marisa has an orchestra concert and at the end of this month, she will be doing a recital where she gets to play her own piece as a solo. Pretty exciting! Tyler’s class gets to take a trip to Petco to get fish for their new aquarium. Always lots of fun things going on. We hope all of you have a great week and stay in touch- hint hint!!
Love-Kris

Utah- Part 4