In the words of my darling Mayce . . .

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO MY!


Is is weird that I'm publicly wishing myself a happy birthday? I just wanted to show off my dream birthday cake. Will I ever be able to justify it's purchase? Probably not, but a girl can dream!

Dedicated to Lisa Parker:
So, I just got a new AIO printer and I'm playing with the scanner. This isn't too clear but it's my first attempt. Anyway, Lisa was disappointed that last November I didn't post the memory lane picture, well here it is! I can never believe how young (& thin) we were.

November 29, 1996

My Girls!
Just some fun pictures for fun!

One of the best parts of being a mom is when your children play nicely together. I love that my girls get along and make my job so much easier. They are so sweet and loving I am truly spoiled!

Don't think I'm a horrible mom but this was my girl's first time to Fountains. They still don't know there's a kid's water area yet. (So let's keep that on the down low for now.) Thankfully they turn that off for the winter. They loved to watch the fountains. This may become a regular thing for us. Where's Mayce you ask? She is digging up the landscaping, nice!

We found these suckers at Cost Plus. They are hilarious. It was fun to see them wearing these around.

Payton's 100th day of school was last Friday and here's what we did. 100 feathers! That's right, they glued 100 feathers to this board after they did 25 hand prints. So these are turkeys. We didn't make it very easy on her class (or teacher) because we did them in groups of 4. I'm sorry I made you count to 100 by 4's Mrs. Williams! We had a great time making this, but it was the largest in her class. We have learned from this experience and next year Fallyn's will be smaller and not feathers. (We are still finding them around the house.)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAYCE!!

My baby is 2 today, and that's crazy! It seems like just yesterday the most petite of the 3, weighing in at 8 lbs. 5oz., was born. She is turning into a little drama queen, and keeps me laughing. You know how watching your kids is like looking in a mirror. They pick up on your little traits or habits you weren't aware you had. Well I have discovered that I must *sigh* A LOT. Little Miss Mayce sighs about everything. Every time she lies down, sits down, or anytime I tell her anything. What does that say about me? Sorry to anyone who I have sighed at, I'm working on it! So in the words of Mayce, "Happy New Year to my." (For whatever reason happy birthday sounds more like happy new year. You understand right Poppy?) Love ya Mayce! (Party photos to come . . .)

Here are some pictures from Mayce's party. We are so lucky to have so much family (& family's family) near by. We had a great turn out! She had a blast and was so excited for it to be her day.

Mayce got lots of fun stuff. Clothes, books, toys, she cleared all categories.

Okay, our theme for the evening was, Horton Hears a Who. This is my (along with my wonderful assistants Payton & Fallyn) creation of the flower that carries the speck that carries the Who's. My girls informed my that it wasn't exactly right, but good enough for me. I think this may be my first crafty, bakey, mom cake. The picture does not do it justice!

Here's a picture of most of our crowd. We had poppy's and grandma's, cousins, 2nd cousins, aunts, uncles, and cousin's grandparents. Mayce sure can gather a crowd!

We are back!
So, I have a new laptop and I've been too lazy to switch everything over. So that is why we've got some red eyes, sorry! Here's our December minus Christmas. I'm a horrible picture taker so I need to get pictures from my mom. But here was last month in a nutshell:

This year for our church nativity Payton was a cat and Fallyn got to be a chicken (she had been waiting all year for this!). They had a great time and made us proud. Is was once again a wonderful program that we got to enjoy.

This is my beautiful mother and the girls at Payton's holiday program. She had her motions to the songs down perfectly. She practiced and did a wonderful job. The best part was that the program only lasted about 15 minutes and there was refreshments!

Fallyn also had a Christmas program. She sang songs and had motions to them too. It was also a quick program followed by decorating sugar cookies. She did wonderfully!

My brother was married in the Bountiful Temple Dec. 19th and the girls loved playing in the snow. Utah had a big storm while we were there. It was a quick trip but the girls got snow time every day. Maybe if our mountains finally get some snow we can take a trip up. They love the snow.

This is some Christmas Eve festivities. They are silly and loved the holidays as much as I do. With our trip to Utah Christmas was kind of thrown together this year. The big girls realized that they didn't get everything they wanted and let us know. Next year we will be taking much more time focusing on the purpose of the holiday.

I'll try to update again soon and get off my lazy bum and make the switch of computers. Wish me luck!

A Tradition Passed On. . .
As young girls my sister and I loved to have curly hair. She has a beautiful wave in her hair that she can let air dry and look amazing. However, the random waviness of my hair is a cruel joke. It in no way looks even remotely good. So, as girls my mom would put our hair in sponge curlers and we would sleep in them. To bring us to the present, my ladies have been asking for curly hair. They don't like me to use the curling iron, I burned Fallyn once, oops! So I broke down and bought a set of curlers. They were so excited! They were even willing to sleep in them. I don't give them enough credit. They made some comment that even though sleeping in them would be uncomfortable, the curls were worth it. Another affirmation that they are my girls! I didn't really have a rhyme or reason to how I placed them. I have learned from the experience and will do it differently next time. Payton lost several during the night but she had some nice body to her hair. I didn't know how Fallyn's would do because her hair is fine and stick straight. But hers held the curls too. It was fun reliving my childhood through them, I'm glad they had fun too! By the way, Mayce is not ready to make the sacrifice of sleeping in curlers yet. She did keep a couple in for a minute or two. And sorry if this is a silly post, my sister will appreciate it though!

Happy Anniversary to us!!

Today Dave and I are celebrating 12 years!! It's crazy I know, but here we are. We joke about it being a long 12 years but in all honesty I can't believe how fast it's gone. We have a wonderful life and a wonderful family. I would post a wedding picture but you wouldn't recognize us. The girls saw one and asked who it was. Nice! Oh, Dave got me a ring I wanted but I won't get it for 3 weeks. It has to be sized to fit my man hands. I haven't got him anything yet, I'm a terrible wife, but I think I'll get him a watch. I can put that here because he never reads our blog!



So it's been a couple of weeks since we've last updated so here's what we've been up to:

The girls all had birds on they're shirts here. Random I know, but I have begun seeing a pattern in the way I dress them. Same color, all in jeans, or all wearing shirts with birds!

For Payton's end of the year soccer party we had it at the indoor Softball Arena. They set up the field for a kick ball game. I don't know whose daughter she is, I consider both Dave and myself fairly athletic, but sometimes Payton is just crazy. By the time I started filming her she understood the game a little better. But as you can tell here, kick ball is not her sport.

Payton is posing with her soccer trophy. She loved soccer, especially playing goalie, and is sad that she won't be able to play again until she's in 1st grade. We'll practice at home so she doesn't get rusty!

Fallyn had a preschool field trip to Save Mart. Mayce and I tagged along and had a fun time. The first picture (Fallyn in purple pants) was us watching the box smasher. That and the live lobster in the sea food dept. were the highlight of the trip.

Courtesy of my Dad, Dave and I got to go to the Kings vs. Suns. In high school I loved the Suns because Charles Barkley played for them and he was my basketball role model. I loved to watch him play. Anyway, we lost in overtime but it was an exciting 4th quarter and overtime. And thanks for spoiling us with those seats dad!



And Dave and the girls had another camp out. They did not make it through the entire night this time. They were sleeping on the ground (no air mattress) and it got a little soggy for the girls. Dave was not disappointed to have to come in. But before hand we had the fire pit going and we toasted 'lil smokies. Yum! Mayce and I were in the house the whole night.

So minus Thanksgiving, this is what we've been up to. I didn't take any pictures, Mayce's been cranky with hand, foot, and mouth (won't be at church tomorrow), so I've been mostly keeping my kids under control. My sister and her husband are here from Woodscross, UT, and my brother at BYU-Provo is here. My grandma from St. George, UT, and by youngest brother's fiancee from BYU-Rexburg are here too. My brother in Roseville stayed in town so we had a large group which for dinner also included my aunt and uncle and their 4 kids. It was great having such a big group and spending so much time together. I love the holidays!

RANDOM
Our weekend . . .
Pretty mellow really. Payton's second to last soccer game was Saturday. We played the Sea Monkeys (love the name) and they had lots of Payton's friends on that team so it was fun to see everyone. Payton scored her first goal! She loves soccer and is bummed she can't play again until 1st grade. But it was really exciting and now Dave feels like we got our money's worth! (My poor girls, I'll try to keep him in check) Later that night we had a post Prop 8 ice cream social and the girls ran wild in our Bishop's home. Lots of kids there! Today was our ward's Sacrament Program and it was great! The girls both memorized their parts and said them perfectly. Fallyn even had an unintentional solo of I Am A Child Of God. They had all the sunbeams sing and Fallyn was RIGHT IN FRONT of the microphone. She had been waiting for this moment for a year. Ever since Payton spoke at the pulpit Fallyn has been counting down the days. Apparently it wore her out because by the end of the program she had fallen asleep. Love her! Mayce has been super cranky this week so I thought I'd post some cute pictures from last week to make up for it.

She's been back and forth with the hair. It's killing me because her sisters could usually care less what I do to their hair. Mayce usually picks out her own barrette's and will possibly let me put them in her hair. And she needs them because she's growing out those bangs and with the winter runny nose, it is not pretty! But here she is being goofy. She brought me 3 rubber bands and this is what we did with them. Some times I cannot figure her out!

And here she is the TV addict. She loves The Backyardigans and Little Einsteins. Both great cartoons with lots to learn from. However she is not watching in moderation. She's out of control and I'm enabling her. If I thought she was cranky this weekend she'll probably die this week when I cute back her TV time. I've been getting more done, but at this slothful expense. She cracks me up! Wish me luck! I need to be strong, she's only 1 right!?!

Happy Election Day!
These were on a blog of my sister's friend. Totally hilarious. Especially this first one. As a huge fan of DWTS (annoying abbreviation!) I started laughing out loud at this. Too funny! And the second, since I've refrained from political speak this season I must say, so true!

More Halloween!
Thursday, the 30th, was our ward's Halloween Party. It was a lot of fun with a huge turn out. There was even a haunted house that Fallyn came crying out of. She is so brave with some things but with others, she's like me! I still watch scary movies through my fingers. I'm a wimp. It was raining so they moved the trunk-or-treating part indoors. Total chaos, but the good kind. My kids enjoyed every second of it and got SO much candy.

They are waiting to go into the candy area.

I just can't get enough of Charlie Brown and Snoopy. Mayce bullied her way into this picture but she's so adorable I let her stay. (Okay, she would have thrown a tantrum if I didn't. Same thing.)

The following pictures are from Friday, the 31st, at Dave's parent's ward activity. More fun and more candy!Here's Payton eating donuts on the Sugden's creation. They were kind enough to let us borrow their donut on a string holder for the party. Dave's dad had come by our ward party and saw it. Thank you Sugden's!

Fallyn and Grandpa Corbridge here enjoying the donuts too!

My girls actually let some one paint them. Not on the face of course (?) but on the arms. I have no idea why they are so afraid of this. Baby steps I guess!

We had so much fun this year. Lots of use out of the costumes! Here comes Thanksgiving, a wedding, and Christmas. Will my office ever get cleaned?

FUN WEEKEND!
I don't think I've posted any soccer pictures yet so here's an example of what has kept us busy with two practices a week and a game on Saturdays. We really like her team. Her coach is the mom of one of the boys on the team and I'm totally impressed with the practices. It's drills and good skills they've been mastering. However, this is our only year with this team. There are eight boys and Payton is one of two girls. I guess next year they separate the girls and boys. So we've been scouting the teams we've been playing for good girls for next year. Just kidding . . . maybe!

Payton's favorite position is goalie. She's not bad, but I think she a great forward. However, she always requests goalie or fullback. She tires quickly at forward and it's hard to tell if that's because she goes full-throttle or if it's her heart. But she is super aggressive at forward, she keeps going and going. The coaches referee at this age and when she's playing forward every time she passes the coach she asks to play fullback. Who's kid is this?

Later that night we crashed my brother's ward Halloween party. I am so proud that I got the costumes done in plenty of time. It helped that Dave spent a few days in Oregon last week so I had lots of time to sew without him distracting me. Payton and Fallyn love their costumes but I had to put Mayce's on her while she was screaming. Then she walked around with her legs and arms out like she was in pain. By the end of the night she had adjusted. We'll see what happens tomorrow night. Jake thinks I should get her a wig, that may be pushing it.

Payton is an angel this year. I think I need to make her a halo though, some people thought she was a princess. Hello, she has wings! My dad spent half the night torturing her telling her that real angels don't have wings. Good thing she's a strong young lady because she didn't believe a word he was saying.

On the left is cousin Owen. He's Snoopy and his little brother is Charlie Brown. So cute! Then we have Fallyn as a Mermaid. I must admit that I really love her costume. I was afraid of it because I basically had to make it up. I'm not that creative. Give me a pattern and I'm good, but to create from scratch (okay I used a pattern for the bodice and sleeves) I definitely put this one off for last and it turned out great. Mayce is a clown and if anyone ever sees me buying this fabric (tissue lame, accent on the e) stop me. Even with serging the edges it was torture! But she looks cute so I guess it was worth it.

After church Sunday the girls were excited because we had friends over. Here's a couple of pictures.

My kids do not usually fall asleep eating so we couldn't resist this picture. I guess partying the night before finally caught up with her.

And who can resist taking a picture of two adorable kids in laundry baskets? J is about four months younger than Mayce and has a solid 6 lbs. on her. Those cheeks of his! They remind me of Fallyn's when she was that age. It would be nice if I could say they got along great, but Mayce is such a stinker, I don't know if I'll ever be able to say that. If another child, or adult sometimes, gets with a two foot radius of whatever she is playing with she starts the pre-emptive "No!" She's killing me! She is my defiant child. I am lucky that she's my only stinker. She should grow out of it soon!

So that was our Saturday and Sunday. Get ready for more Halloween pictures. Tomorrow is our ward's Trunk-or-Treat and Friday is Halloween and Dave's parents Trunk-or-Treat. Any one's tonight we can crash?

Preschool is here!
Fallyn had her first day of preschool today and of course she loved it! She's with a family friend who just started an in-home preschool this year. She would have started earlier but it took forever for the in home visit to happen. But it finally did and now we've started. So Mayce and I had a few hours to kill together. Fun! Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings are going to be quiet. I really felt old today with two of my three kids in school. Life just keeps moving forward. Sometimes I feel like I'm barely holding on. Oh well!

This isn't a great "First Day" photo but Mayce thought I was dropping her off too. She was crying, and freaked out when I set her down. We'll have to get better pictures later.

Y

To kick off preschool last Friday we went to The Pumpkin Patch as a school. Grandma Corbridge came with us and we had a lot of fun. Fallyn is still wearing the bracelet that let her go on all the stuff just in case we go back. I love her!!