I want a hippopotamus for http://www.microsoft.com/isapi/redir.dll?prd=ie&pver=6&ar=CLinksChristmas!

I know I have been a major slacking of posting recently (not that anyone cares) and I have been giving people a hard time for not posting and so I am pretty much a hypocrite and I do apologize for anyone I may have offended! :)

So WAY BACK on December 19th, Makenna had her dance recital in Hurricane. We had her dress rehearsal that Tuesday and she did OK, but wasn't all that interested in doing half of the dance. I was pretty nervous for her since the previous two weeks she had laid on the floor in a ball and cried the whole time they were doing their dance. But on the night of the recital that girl did AWESOME! Not only did she dance, but she sang the entire song as well. If I knew how to put my videos from my camera onto my blog I would totally post it, but until then, you get pictures of her after the recital.

I'm so dumb though. On the day of the dress rehearsal I forgot my SD card so I got NO pictures and then we are not allowed to take pictures of the dance recital (even though I snuck my video camera in). She hasn't stopped singing the song since!

STUPID EFFING COP!

Yesterday at approximately 11:52 AM, I got my first speeding ticket in over 5 years. (That is a record for me). The last time I got a ticket was in my wreck which was my fault (thanks again Misty for helping out! :) ) Anyway, I got pulled over by my old stomping grounds (Dixie High School) and had NO CLUE why I was getting pulled over. Well it happens that I was speeding by Cinema Six and the dumb A cop decided to give me a ticket. He didn't even give me a chance to try and show a little cleave or anything (just kidding about actually showing it). He then went back to his car and sat for about 10 minutes while my kids SCREAMED the whole time. After he was done writing my $82 ticket, he asked me if I was wearing contacts (which I don't have) and then lectured me about how I should be wearing glasses if it says that on my license (I lost my glasses years ago). My kids were screaming the whole time and by the time I was done, I was bawling my kids were bawling and Officer Jackass was feeling pretty good about himself. DUMB COP!

Catching snow fairies

Makenna has loved the snow the past few days! Yesterday after it started to snow, she insisted that we go outside to catch all of the "snow fairies"It was so cute. She loved jumping on the tramp, making "waffles" out of her shoe prints and then eating the dirty snow once the waffles were done. Gavin didn't mind the snow either. A couple of the pics are blurry, but oh well! It was fun and I wish it would stay A LOT longer! Well at least until after Christmas.

The Martin's Mintues

OK... I haven't kept up this month very well, so I am going to tell you minute by minute what we have been up to and some random information.

1. Secret Millionaire- SUCKS. I know I blogged all about it, but now I find it quite disappointing after the first show. They had the $300 million dollar man (who is 25) who gave only $90,000 and didn't really live in poverty when he went out to find a place. STUPID.

2. Gavin is now sleeping through the night! I know I know, he is almost one and he should have been sleeping about 8 months ago, but I'm too lazy and would rather walk in his room almost still fully asleep and give him a two ounce bottle and go straight back to bed then hear him scream for a week getting him to sleep through the night. Nevertheless, he is sleeping!

3. Ever since Gavin has been sleeping through the night, Kenna has not. She sleeps in just her panties and hates to be covered so she wakes up in the middle of the night crying and freezing but not wanting to be covered. Hmmm.. she has been doing better though and I even got her to sleep in pajamas last night!

4. Gavin is now on all solid foods. No more formula and I am loving it. So is he. He did really good switching and now he is a big boy! Still no hair, but he is weaned off of formula.

5. Gas prices are WAY down and it only cost $33.00 to fill my car! ROCK ON

6. Brent's work is still busy and we are so grateful for that. He has finally recooped from Halloween and now looking into expanding his work load.

7. Makenna had a fun filled week with her friends. On Tuesday Parker came over to play in the morning while his mom went to help in Carters class. Mia and Chloe came over to play with her in the afternoon and Makenna ate that up. She doesn't have many friends that are girls so she was SO excited that they would watch Tinkerbell and play dress up with her. Tuesday night, Camryn came down from SLC and slept over and Kenna is still on cloud 9 from that!

Watching Tinkerbell (yes, she is always in her panties)

Reading their "scriptures" (princess stories)

So cute together!

8. Saturday Kenna, my mom and I went to the Nutcracker and it was SO good. Makenna sat the whole time (which is very unlike her) and only fell asleep the last 10 minutes of the show. It was a lot of fun.

That about sums up the past couple of weeks. It is too bad that it is all a little boring to read. I hope everyone is having a great holiday season so far and maybe I'll write something a little more scrooge like later.

Turkey Day is over

Well, as all of you know, Thanksgiving has been over for a week now and the Christmas spirit is in full bloom. I thought I would catch up on how fun our Thanksgiving was!

First off, I love the rain so I was stoked that we woke up and it was dreary! I went to Wal-Mart with Makenna to get a few items and surprisingly it wasn't packed at all. I should have done my Black Friday shopping on Thursday and then taking my receipt in and got discounts the next day! :) Back to Thanksgiving.

We headed to Grandma Staheli's house for our first meal. It was at 3:00 and we ate about 3:15! That is pretty dang good timing for Staheli's. My aunt Janalyn made a beautiful and delicious turkey, and my grandma made the rest of the food! It was so dang good. By the end of pie, Gavin could barely scoot around he was so full. And that is not an exaggeration. He was moving SO SLOW! It was so cute. We let our food settle and then headed to Grandma Martin's for the next meal. They were all done with eating by the time we got there but we got the dessert (it's the best part anyway) and pigged out once again. We hung out until the kids started having melt downs and then packed up and left! I went to a movie with my family while Brent went home with the kids and started putting up Christmas lights. I saw Four Christmases and it was a pretty funny movie! I would recommend it to all. I went home and tried to work off my food and junk that I ate and then went to bed full nice, plump and full! Here are some pictures to enjoy (for all those (most likely three people) that are still reading this novel).

The Secret Millionaire

That's right. I am a secret millionaire. No, totally kidding (obviously) but Brent and I DVR'd a show called that on Fox and we LOVE it! It is such a good show. It is about multi-millionaires who go undercover and live in poverty for one week. They get $100 and have to live like they have NOTHING. They find people who they can help and by the end of the show they give people at least $100,000. It's crazy how these people normally live and how so many Americans live on a day to day basis. It makes me so grateful for what we have. I have a house, car, food in my fridge, health, electricity and a toilet and shower! If anyone is having a crappy day or a self pity party (as I do more than I should) it is great to remember how lucky we really are!

Makenna is lost!

OK... so my dear sweet little Makenna is no where to be found. There has been a little demon child running around my house that looks like her, but that is the only resemblance of the two. I will refer to her as "Fiona." Princess Fiona has been on and off around my house for about three weeks now and I am at a loss of what to do. She yells, takes everything away from her brother, throws him around, doesn't listen, won't clean up, throws things, demands to be waited on, punches everything like a boxer, throws major fits, talks naughty, and she even bit me last night so hard it took skin off. I have threatened, yelled, flicked, put her in the naughty chair (that usually works), and just plain ignored her, but nothing seems to work.

Now, I know that sounds like a normal almost three year old BOY but not my "perfect" little girl. I don't know what do with her. I seriously am at my wits end. She was so good and then all of the sudden BAM! There she went. Out the door. Out of reality really. So parents.... please help! I need advice on what to do with her, if your kids went through a stage like this at all.

OK, thanks!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Well, I have been in a bloggers rut the past week or so. Nothing too exciting has happened. I have been DEATHLY ill (OK, not really, but if I was a man I would have thought I was going to die). I only had a cold and so I pretty much sounded like a man all week, but other than that we survived the week and here we are now. Since it is Thanksgiving tomorrow I thought I would put down things that I am thankful for. Not that anyone cares, but oh well...

1. Gas prices are SO low! It cost me $40.00 to fill my car up yesterday. WOO YEAH! To bad I don't have an actual car or it would be way less.
2. My dad for saving me at Maverik.
3. For Krispy Kreme donuts... that saved my kids at the Maverik while I was broken down.
4. My hubby that he isn't "dying" anymore and he has helped with my kids
5. Makenna for being so dang funny
6. Gavin sleeping through the night for the past two nights (knock on a lot of wood)
7. Diet Pepsi
8. My cozy warm house
9. My wonderful bed
10. Great friends!
11. That Heidi and Spencer finally got married...?

OK... I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving weekend. I know I will. I get to go to two dinners that are one hour apart. I best be on my way to go clean my house- Out for now!

Family Pictures

Yesterday was a bitter sweet day for me. We had family pictures which I was stoked about because of our photographer, but I hate the stress of it all. We had them at four which meant that the kids would have a great nap, wake up just in time to get ready and we would head off and things would be great. That would happen every day except PICTURE DAY! Sheesh, neither one of my kids would nap, and I had my friend come over and cut Kenna's hair right before (thank you SO much Jill) and then I had to throw Kenna in the bath because she was black from playing in the back yard, Gavin's teeth still haven't broken through and he hadn't slept most of the day. Therefore, pictures were not so fun! They turned out great though surprisingly (thanks to Stacia Shaw) here is a preview and I can hardly wait for the rest!!!

Chocolate Cake

Well, this week has already been crazy and it is only Wednesday. I feel like I haven't been home more than 10 minutes and that my kids have only napped for about that long. Either way, I have a laundry list of things to do (including laundry) yet I am sitting here about to eat my second HUGE piece of chocolate cake. It is leftovers and I am assuming that I will be eating the whole thing by myself. I love chocolate cake without any frosting. Plus it is 100 times healthier! (I only wish). Now I know why Makenna said what she said in her prayers, and I quote!

Heavenly Father,

Bless me this night,
Please bless my mommy
Please bless my mommy's big tummy (mind you I am NOT expecting)
Please bless................. and went from there.

Needless to say, I went to the gym that night and sure enough, looked at my gut. I know it is a combination of stretched skin and fat, but still- how embarrassing and nasty! And now I have shared it with all ya'll. And don't say I don't have a gut, because kids don't lie! :)

Itchy little boy!

Gavin has been sick for approximately 5 days now. He started with a fever (103 degrees) on Saturday and it finally went away last night. The only problem now is that he has a rash all over his whole body. Poor little fart! He has been scratching his head like crazy and just looks miserable. Luckily, he looks a lot worse than he actually feels. He is now making noise again and scooting around as usual so I hope that we are on the tail end of this. YAY!

These pictures don't do the rash any justice. You can't see it, but trust me it is EVERYWHERE!

!

Dora Saves the Snow Princess

SO HAPPY!

Well, it has finally come and pass. Dora Snow Princess has aired! Makenna has been counting down since September for it, and she has finally watched it! I had to keep reassuring her that it would be on after Halloween and then when she figured out that Halloween had passed, she didn't understand she had to wait three more days for it. Monday did come and now she has watched it and is in bed! It was so cute to see her get all ready for it. She grabbed her blanket, Diego pillow and Dora doll, had me grab my pillow and blanket and Brent grab his and we layed on the floor to watch it! The only words she said during it was "Daddy wake up! Don't fall asleep." It was pretty funny. Either way, I'm sure it will be the only thing on our TV for awhile but thats OK! Thank goodness it is over though. (for the night at least)Gearing up for the big show

Way into the show

I'm EXPECTING!

Thats right everyone. I am EXPECTING. Expecting a lot of MONEY from the stupid haunted house that has consumed our lives for the past year. In 15 minutes, there will be no more haunted house until next October. They are knocking it all down tomorrow and then we can move on with our life. I am expecting a lot of money, but that won't happen. That's OK though. They all worked super hard on Corpse Nightmare and it is now over. A few more hours and I will have a husband again and my kids will have a father! WOO YEAH! Now we get a three month break before it starts ALL over again! Good job hunny on a haunt well done! 11 more minutes and counting....

One, Two, Three, Four!

We have kind of been off the blogging scene for the past week due to a couple of problems. First off, Halloween. And the main reason. TEETH. Gavin is cutting all FOUR of his top teeth. His gums have been SO swollen. He has been miserable, sleeping crappy, and just plain unhappy. Can you blame the kid though?! It looked so painful. I tried to get a picture of his mouth, but he wouldn't have it so that is why you have this picture instead. Either way, his left front tooth has almost broken completely through, and the two side ones are starting too. He just has his right front one I can't see, but I'm sure I will be able to in the next couple of days. He may look like a Jack-O-Lantern for Halloween, but he sure will be a happy one by then!

WATCH OUT!

So I'm a bit of a klutz. I know, a shocker right? I don't know if a klutz is the right word but, I sometimes run into the wall as I'm turning the corner, whack my head on the freezer or cupboard door, slam my fingers into something, almost trip over the carpet... that sort of thing. So! (I can't believe I'm admitting this)

A few weeks ago I was driving down a road that was lined with orange barricades, and somehow I hit one. I wasn't distracted, but yeah, I hit one. And it scared the crap out of me. It bent my passenger side mirror in and then knocked the actual mirror out of the mirror frame so it was flapping and slamming against my window. I also got some rubber on the side of my car, but no body damage (thank goodness). I felt stupid, but laughed it off and all was well.

SO! I was driving again the other day and there were road signs and barricades on the side of the road and my 2 1/2 year old says, "MOM! Watch out for the orange signs!" Thats right. Makenna knew I had hit it the first time, and was telling me to be careful! Isn't that horrible?! :) I got a real good laugh out of that. Hopefully I won't hit anything else. Unless it is in Brents hearse.

The End.

Great Grandpa Staheli

I am so lucky to have both sets of my grandparents still alive and well, so my kids can enjoy them the way I did. Makenna loves them all so much. She gets excited every time she sees any of them, and I think they feel the same way about her! My kids have Grandma and Grandpa Hukill, Grandma Staheli, Grandpa Staheli and Grandma Deni, and our family friend who acts as a grandma, Kay, or as Kenna calls her Cake. They are all wonderful and we are so glad we have them in our lives.

Anyway, on Friday my Grandpa Staheli and Uncle Ryan saddled up one of his horses Tater and took Camryn, Makenna and Gavin for horse rides around the arena. They all had so much fun. Makenna was all set to go in her pumpkin crocs and white T-Shirt (stupid me). Gavin almost fell asleep from the trotting of the horse, and Makenna and Camryn rode all by themselves. They had a blast there and can't wait for this weekend to do it again! The funniest and saddest part of the ride was Camryn's allergies. It was sad because you knew her eyes itched, but it was so funny at the same time. I know I'm mean. Don't get mad Jani! I still think she is adorable and glad all is back to normal!!! Thanks Grandpa for taking them. Gavin and Makenna love you and so do I! I'm sorry the slide show is long, but it is cute!

Tagged! Eights....

8 TV shows I love to watch:
1. The Office
2. Grey's Anatomy
3. Biggest Loser
4. American Idol
5. So You think You can Dance
6. America's Next Top Model
7. Life
8. E! News

8 things that happened yesterday:
1. Went to a Halloween party
2. Ate McDonald french fries
3. Talked to Jill
4. Made two pairs of pants for Gavin
5.Woke up (unfortunately)
6. Made a tu-tu
7. Ate ??? cupcakes! What can I say, they are my favorite!
8. Wiped Gavin's bum

8 favorite places to eat:
1. Samurai 21
2. Pasta Factory
3. Cafe Rio
4. Panda Express
5. Don Pedros
6. Samurai 21
7. Wendy's
8. Judd's

8 things I am looking forward to:
1. Having a clean laundry room
2. Halloween being over!
3. Christmas!
4. Sleeping through the night
5. Losing the rest of my gut
6. Family pictures
7. Sewing some more
8. More cupcakes!

8 things on my wish list:
1. Make a lot of money on the haunted house
2. Go to New York
3. Gavin sleeping ALL the way through the night!
4. For my kids not to grow up in this crazy world
5. To meet my TV boyfriend :)
6. Brent to be home before 1:00 AM
7. A king size bed
8. Lots of storage space!

8 people I tag:
1. Deanna Cluff
2. Kengie Steele
3. Jill Fullmer
4. Jill Wittwer
5. Jennifer Hoskins. I mean Young
6. Leesa Leclaire
7. Janalyn Osborn
8. Michael & Natalie

Ahoy Mateys!

Last night was the annual Martin Halloween Party. We were a family of pirates and it was pretty fun. This year it was HUGE! We had a bunch of games, tons of food, and even more kids! It was fun to see all of the kids in their Halloween costumes and having fun. It wasn't so fun getting ready for the party, but after frosting over 40 cupcakes, making my 12th batch of taco soup (I swear I have made more of that in the past three days than I have my whole life), and getting the kids (including Brent) and myself ready to go, coming back home after realizing Kenna had forgotten her hat, we were there and happy! (all except Gavin).... Thank you Gloria, Kengie and Jill for all of your party planning. It was a blast!

It's about freakin' time!

When most mothers here that they are having a little girl, a lot of things go through their mind (well at least my mind). Pink, dress-ups, princesses, bows, tu-tu's, and pigtails. My hopes of all of those things was still alive when she was born with a decent amount of brown hair! I was so excited until she turned six months old and I realized all of her gorgeous locks were gone. And she was as bald as they come (her head looked like Gavin's does). All I could do was put headbands on her poor little hairless head. She finally grew some blond hair back, but I haven't been able to do any real pigtails until now. She is ALMOST THREE and we finally have pigtails. And I don't mean the cute little ones that usually are on the top of her head. So debuting her first set of pigtails: (don't mind the crooked part, it's hard to get a two year old to sit still!) Here she is- MAKENNA!

WTF?!

WHERE'S THE FALL!?!? That is what I have been wondering the past couple of weeks. I usually don't mind the hot weather as long as it is in the SUMMER! But seriously, I love fall, but it feels like summer to me! It is nice we can still go swimming and get "tan" but I'm ready to layer my clothing a little bit! I mean, besides the normal Shade shirt over my "underwear" that is under my normal shirt! I mean really, who doesn't want to wear four layers of clothing!?

EDWARD

That's right ladies (and maybe men?). I am talking about the vampire that I know most have you have fantasized about!!! Now that he is coming to life in the movie, I would like to see who (celebrity or not and it can't be your hubby) you think would be the perfect Edward. The guy that the author picked is not nearly dreamy enough to be Edward in my opinion. So, for all of those that would like, you can either comment on this post, or post a picture on your blog for all to see! Please do this for me so I don't feel so lame! hahaha... I usually do anyway so I guess it really doesn't matter.

CHACE CRAWFORD (YUMMY!)

POOP POOP POOP!

That is what I found all over Gavin and his crib a few days ago! I do have a picture but it is so gross that I can't even post it. It was the first time of my motherhood life that I have been disgusted at something my child has done. I don't know how Gavs got his diaper off but somehow he did and poop was ALL over the place! I was almost gagging and had to try and throw him in the tub without getting it all over myself. I'm seriously gagging right now trying not to think about it... sorry to make you barf!

SCOOTER!

So my son is now "mobile." No, he isn't crawling yet, nor is he even doing the army crawl but he is on the go! He moves by sitting on his butt and scooting on it. He puts his right arm forward, moves his legs and scoots. He is all over the place and I love it! He has not been nearly as whiny (hallelujah) and hopefully by the matter of a few days he will be crawling. I'm not sure if that will be a good thing or not, but for now, I think it would be!

San Francisco!

Where the men shave their pits, and the women don't...

That's right- we witnessed it first hand when we were on the 100 degree trolley sitting on the bench and a husband and wife had to hold on to the handlebar way above their head right in front of the Nielsens faces... That was just the first of many adventures we had while we were there. I'm not going to bore all of you and make you read my ramblings so I will just make our adventures short and sweet. I only have pictures of the first day because I didn't want to lug my camera around the rest of the time so we are short on pics!

1. The trolley to Fishermans Wharf (aka Pier 39). It stopped at every street and let more people cram on. Therefore, nasty armpits or boobs in your face.

2. Italian restaurant. No A/C and it was hot. The food was OK.

3. The Bush Man. There was this homeless guy hiding behind a fake bush and jumping out and scaring people as they walked by. SO FUNNY!

4. Pier 39. It was OK... the sea lions were pretty entertaining and Brent was entertained by some dude putting on a show.

5. Homeless guy dancing to reggae dancers. Even Brent couldn't pull down his sweet moves.

6. Trying to catch a cab back to the hotel and then cramming back on the trolley.

7. Dinner. Kim Thans. N-ASS-TY! That is what the food tasted like. We aren't sure if we ate cat, dog, or rat, but we do know it couldn't have been the chicken or beef that we ordered.

8. Beach Blanket Babylon. After I hiked halfway back to the hotel to my forgotten ID it was a pretty good show! It was super hot in there as well.

9. Haight-Ashbury. A little hippie part of town where Brent and Mike walked in a protest and it was OK to smoke pot in the stores.

10. Golden Gate Bridge. We were there for about 2 minutes and then left back to the pier for lunch.

11. Alcatraz. An awesome prison on an island. It was a neat experience to go to. Except for the crazy hills you had to walk up. I'm surprised Jill didn't go into labor from it! (Thank goodness!)

12. Dinner at Ruth's Chris. DELICIOUS and I seriously almost threw up because I ate so much. Thanks Mike!!!

13. Shopping at Union Square. Our hotel was right by this huge shopping center and it was amazing. I'm not even a big shopper and I loved it!

14. All of our cab rides. These guys are all nuts and I'm surprised we didn't wreck or hit anyone.

15. Brent and Mike. Enough said there! :)

It was a great trip and I was ALMOST sad to leave. I missed the kiddo's but it was so nice to relax and go places without lugging car seats and such. Thank you Mom and Dad for taking them! They had a blast!

A trip to the dentist!

Luckily, the visit was for Makenna and not me. I took Kenna to the Children's Dentist that is across the street from Tai Pan. What a waste of $75.00. The appoinment seriously was 10 minutes long. He counted her teeth (she is still missing her four back molars) and then he brushed her teeth with that nasty fruity grainy toothpaste. And that was it. I opted out of the fluoride as it makes me nauseous so I didn't want to put her through that. She loved the waiting room and the dentist was actually really good with her. She got a book, a green balloon (that she carried around until 7:30 that night) and a toothbrush. That is what cost me my money. And that was even with a first visit discount. At least I know her teeth are healthy and I still have months of ornery behavior because she hasn't cut her molars yet! WAHOO! Thanks Dr. Scholzen!

HI MAMA!

YAY! Gavin has FINALLY said MAMA. The first two times he said it we were in the car and I thought I heard him say it. Then Makenna said "Mom, Gavin said Mommy!" I was so happy. He has said it since. He also says HI. He has said it for quite sometime, but it doesn't always sound like it. I think we have said it so much to him that he picked up on it. I'm sure no one believes me, but I swear he says it. Next, I'm sure he'll say- Hi MAMA, you are the best mama ever and you rock!"

I took these pictures right before church today. Isn't he a little stud muffin!?

LAS VEGAS IN APRIL!

OK, I know that this post is a few months past due, but our scanner is FINALLY working so I had to get this picture on! EVERY single time I look at it, I laugh my butt off! I think it is so DANG funny!

Back in April, my family went down to Las Vegas for one last little trip before my brother headed off on his mission. We rode a few roller coasters and MY favorite one was "Big Shot" which is the one that shoots straight up off the Stratosphere. I believe the sign said it was 1,016 feet up. Brent is not so fond of heights, and he claims he had a sinus infection that made him not want to go even more, but we finally coaxed him to get on the ride. He was next to some random guy and kept saying "I think I'm going to throw up." I think the dude was pretty scared he was. He kind of looked like it but I couldn't stop laughing. So they don't really tell you when they are going to launch you up, but you knew it from the words coming out of Brent's mouth. Luckily the guy didn't get offended and I thought I was going to throw up because I was laughing so freaking hard. He was screaming like a little girl (no joke) and saying some words I won't repeat. HIL-ARE-I-OUS! This picture was taken before the words started flying.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!

So Brent and I celebrated our SIXTH anniversary this past Sunday! WOW... it has gone by so fast the past couple of years, but at the same time it seems like FOREVER ago that we got married! It has been a pretty fun journey though I must say! Even though I threatened divorce a numerous amount of times the first six months of marriage, I am so glad that I "toughed" it out. Brent if you ever read this "You rock my world! I'm glad that I was able to beat up all of the other girls up that wanted you (even though most of them were 5 times my size and smellier than heck)!I love you babe." Here's to another six years (times eternity!)

The Blessed Day

Now (I couldn't find a picture of just the two of us)

GOOD MORNING GRANDMA!

Dear Grandma Staheli,

Since you said you check my blog every morning I thought I would let you see your cute GREAT grandkids this morning since they won't be coming over today! We love you so much and think that you rock since you know how to use the internet! We'll see you next week.