Holly Jolly.....

So here we go. I hardly ever have time to devote to this blog of mine. So many people have quit using their blogs and it makes me sad! I'm determined to keep this up-at least a little bit! There have been times that I go back through older posts and I am so glad that I have documented little pieces of our lives! So with determination I forge ahead... :)

~VEGAS BABY!!~

Paul decided to "mom-nap" me and take me to Vegas for a few days. It was so nice to get away just the two of us and this time we made sure to book a few shows because honestly, what else do you do in Vegas if you aren't a gambler? (I refuse to throw money into a machine when I could go buy a pair of shoes or an entire outfit.) We went to Cirque du Soleil's Mystere, which was FANTABULOUS! Yes, that good! My mouth didn't close the entire show. I would tell anyone and everyone to go see it while in Vegas. Then we went to Phantom of the Opera. People thought I dragged Paul to this, but truth be known he actually likes going to the theatre. I guess I kind of lucked out that way because I LOVE going to shows. I'll tell you what though, Vegas has really decided to sell "SEX" everywhere they can. I don't seem to remember it being that bad but man has it gotten crazy! I can tell I am getting older because at one point as I watched a girl dance on a pole inside the lobby of our hotel(no joke) I kept saying things like, "What do you think her parents think?" "What made her decide to do that?" "Doesn't she know what these gross men are thinking of her?" "Thats it-I'm taking her home." Paul was like, "She probably makes more money than I do and she isn't a stray cat! You can't take her home." hahaha.....The best part was just being able to have hours and hours of discussion without "the little people" interupting or listening to us. It was fun. :)

This was at Mystere.
We stuffed our faces the entire trip! I think this was at the Cheesecake Factory. Me and Paul LOVE eating out. When people ask me what we like to do together I always say that we like to eat out. People laugh...but I'm serious! Its a hobby and we are GOOD at it. :)

Bellagio? Can't remember....

One of our many "self-portraits" We took a million like this.

The infamous sign...

Another one.....
We were watching the fountains and Paul snapped this. It ended up being my favorite picture of the trip.

At Phantom. You don't even want to know how many people we had to ask to get this one decent picture! People are camera-stupid I've decided. Its frustrating to me. Anyway....will you just please see this show if you are in Vegas? So fun and I'm STILL singing the songs.

We stayed at Planet Hollywood and each room is "themed" We got the Miami Vice room and Paul just thought it was hilarious that Don Johnson was above the tub. So weird.

Didn't work this time....hahaha!

The big "5"

Easton turned 5 on November 22. He got to have his first big boy birthday party-Transformer style! We went to Beehive Pizza and they all had a ball. I kept looking at him all day thinking, "Where has it gone?" Where did my tiny 6lb 10 oz,wrapped in a blue star blanket, baby go!? I have issues with how fast my kids are growing up. I fight it every step of the way and I'm pretty sure that one day I will need therapy to deal with it. Easton acts so old anymore! Today I asked him what he wants for Christmas and he said,"Um...my own golf clubs. And a digital camera." WHAT?! You aren't 50! Your five! What about a remote control car? Army guys? Another transformer? Nope. Golf clubs it is. I asked him if he wants a retirement fund or some Benefiber to go with those golf clubs. Geez! He will be moving out on me before I know it. :( Happy birthday Bubba!

The Transformer Pinanta! Easton carried this thing all around the house days before the party. He loved it. We let every kid take a whack at it and finally Paul had to break it. haha!
Opening of the presents. Such cute little boys.

He thought he was famous....

Each one of them got to make their own individual pizza and then watch it go through the oven.

Optimus Prime
The gang...

What else?.....

I put up my Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving and didn't regret it for one minute! It takes me days and days to get it all up so I figure it all needs to be up for at LEAST 5 weeks to make it worth it. I even put up a second tree in my downstairs family room. We are kind of Christmas obsessed around here. My kids are getting old enough to be so much fun at this time of year. Lots and lots of traditions are getting started and they are really getting into the "magic" of the season and I enjoy creating a place for these memories! By the way, have you tried these?......

Oh they are to DIE for!! Any willpower that I have immediately dissolves around these babies! Go get some-they are only around at Christmas time. Here are some of my "holiday favorites" that just make Christmas what it is!! (Its long...)

Carpenters Christmas album. Sounds like my childhood!

Christmas Trimmings Salt City candle. Makes my house smell SO yummy. My second favorite is Pepperberry Wreath. I won't divulge how much I spend on yummy smelling candles at this time of year!

Chocolate covered orange sticks

My fire-place!

Judy Garland's version of "Have yourself a merry little Christmas" Makes me cry every single solitary time I hear it. (Its on my playlist...go down and listen to it.)

Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye in White Christmas. Also reminds me of my grandparents and my childhood.

Homemade sugar cookies.

Rocking my baby to sleep by the Christmas tree. :)

Five stockings hanging in a row.

Reading Polar Express.

Singing along with John Denver and the Muppets at the top of our lungs in the car.

SNOW!!

Christmas jammies.

Talking about the birth of our Savior.

Hot Cocoa machine.

Finding that perfect gift to give!

My red&green Christmas lights. Makes my house look like a gingerbread house.

Singing Christmas songs in church.

Willard Bay lights.

Yearly Christmas ornaments for my kids.

Making Gingerbread houses.

Sending Christmas cards.

The arrival of our Christmas Elf.

Advent calendars.

Getting together with family.

There are hundreds more.....but I'm tired and ready for bed! Hope you all have a merry, merry Christmas!!

A Confession..

Usually I'm pretty dang good with money, but every once in awhile I get *ahem* a little spendy. That being said, I had one of these "spendy" moments(ok~more like 4 hours) last week while decorating the kids bedrooms. I won't say how much damage I did but I will just say that their rooms are going to be RIDICULOUSLY cute! I got caught up in the moment~ok? I couldn't stop! I was having pottery-barn inspired visions! (It was beautiful....)

The fact of the matter is that there are a few stores that are like crack/cocaine to me and I should just stay away at all costs!

ANYWAY.... I showed Paul the loot, because even though I may have a slight addiction, I am by no means a hoarder,liar or sneaky person. (Well that and lets face it: He would have seen my paper trail in the checking account. I HAD to tell him!)

Here is the worst part. Wanna know what he said? NOTHING! What he did was even worse! He worked all Saturday on his "side" money making projects.(Someone has to foot the bill for my inspiration spending.) UGH! I swear I could FEEL every sound his power tools made and the same thought came to me over and over all day........

"I'm an ass. A spendy ass."

(excuse the a-word. but that is the only word that came to mind about myself at the time.)

I {heart} Paul. He deserves a shout-out. He deserves a shout-out just for living with me.This morning I elbowed him in the ribs just because he was on my "side" of the bed. {????}

I'm like that sometimes. And thankfully, most of the time, he likes me anyway. :)

*I have since hidden the debit card from myself. I just hope I don't tell myself where it is the next time I have a "vision".*

BIG pictures! :)

So I finally learned how to make my pictures BIG. No one would tell me (I hate that) but I figured it out myself. I couldn't however make it fit on this blog, so I created a blog for my "fun" photos. Pictures of the kids Halloween costumes are on now!!:

nicolewhitephotos.blogspot.com


Check my photo blog often as I will be posting "life through my lens." :)

I believe in fairies.

Every day I drive Allie to school and every day she gets a little teary and says, "How many hours until I am home again?" and so I tell her how many. Wednesday's are good days because she gets home early. Allie likes Wednesday's. She also likes Friday's because she gets to stay home on Saturday and Sunday. When I drop her off in the mornings she hops out of the car and says, "I love you! Promise I won't throw up?" haha... and THEN she walks up to the door of the school and stands there and waves and I'm talking a BIG wave. Hand extended way over her head and waving as fast as she can and I roll down the window and stick my hand out and wave back at her until we can no longer see one another. (I'm sure we are quite the scene!). When she gets home from school, me and Easton are usually waiting for her on the back steps and when we come into her view, she sprints towards us yelling, "Mama!" Today I went into her class to help her teacher. Allie was so excited to have me in there and as I left she walked me to the door and hid her head in my side and started to cry. When I asked what was wrong she told me that she just misses me at school. *sigh*

Here is the thing: Allie does well in school. She loves her teacher, has lots of friends, loves learning....she just happens to love me more than all of those things and you know what? I'm good with that! :) I know it won't be like this forever.

Tonight we went to Ogden, just the two of us to get some last minute Halloween costume stuff and on the way home she said, "Mom, do you know what I believe in? I believe in Heavenly Father, Jesus, Santa, ghosts and Fairies." I told her I believe in those things too.

The point is-I wish I could freeze how she feels right now forever! Please don't let that change! PLEASE! I hope she always loves me as much as she does right now. I hope she always feels like waving at me(even if I am in sweat pants, glasses and the Big-O tire shirt they throw out at the parade) until she can no longer see me and I really hope that she always, always believes in Heavenly Father, Jesus and fairies. ;)

Happy Fall!

Don't you just love this time of year? I love when it gets just cool enough to wear a jacket and sweaters. I also love decorating my house for fall/Halloween/Thanksgiving and for some reason when it gets cooler I find myself enjoying cooking again-which is a bonus! There is nothing like making your house smell like yummy, warm food on a chilly night! I was hoping to get better at my blog when school started but it just hasn't happened. Here is SOME of what has been going on at our house....
Memorial Day we took the kids up to Bear Lake to play for the day. We stopped in Logan for lunch and then headed over there. It was a such a fun day...

One of my favorite pictures of Allie & Easton ever. Love it and love them!

I think the three of them sat like this for hours digging in the sand.

The first day of school pictures. Allie thought she was pretty hot stuff in her "rocker" shoes and Easton only wanted to show off his back-pack! haha...They are both loving school so much this year and both of them have the greatest teachers. I have a carpool for Easton's pre-school and there is nothing funnier than the listening to the conversation of three 4-year-olds. I only have to drive once a week and it just gives me that much more time to get some things done....and well play with Olivia! :)

PROJECT: Basement. RESULT?: FINISHED!!!

We finally got our basement finished a couple of weeks ago and it has been so nice!! (Nice doesn't really do the proper job of explaining our joy) When Paul started working on the basement a year and half ago I was like, well it will probably be finished by 2020(note the sarcasm here), but lucky for me somewhere in between Paul believing he is Bob the Builder and spending three weeks at a time in Florida for work, we (meaning he) came to our senses and hired the rest of the work out. I can't believe how different it makes my house feel! When we decided on doing this we each had our own "wish lists" for the basement. Mine was a place/playroom for the kids and all the toys that they have. A room where every single solitary toy could be and I wanted big closets that would house most of this crap! Paul's was a family room with a home theater system. You know, one of those systems that shake the room and walls, and a big flat screen to watch college football on?......its one of those man things that I will never understand. However, while I didn't have much interest in this whole "system" I must say that I have COMPLETELY enjoyed it. Watching movies is a whole other experience now. After it was all installed my kids wanted to watch Polar Express down there. So I started it up and went back upstairs to check on Olivia. After awhile I hear this thundering and booming coming from downstairs and then both of my kids barreling up the stairs. (It was the part where the train pulls in front of the little boys house and it was SO LOUD! Apparently I had left the volume up-oops.) Anyway, Easton was crying and looking backwards to see what was following him and Allie was shouting every piece of "danger" knowledge she has learned in school. "Mom! Stop, Drop, ROLL!!" "Get under the table!" "Call 911!" "We are having an earthshake!!"

I almost peed my pants laughing. I'm laughing out loud right now just thinking about it again.
Here is a picture of Easton playing in the finished toy room. The walls are still bare, I haven't decided what I want to do with it yet. Every toy in my house is now in this room. Can I just say how wonderful that has been?? I really think I'm a nicer mom because all the toys are downstairs! Each one has their own closet in the toy room so they can put everything away when they are done. It has been the best thing we have ever done....EVER!

We put different colored shelving in the toy closets...pink for girl stuff, blue for boys stuff. Heaven I tell ya.....HEAVEN!!! (I'm singing just as I type this!)
Olivia and Easton enjoying the space. The furniture hadn't got there yet. I have lots of decorating to do-it is almost overwhelming deciding what I want to do down there and while I am loving all the extra room I realized the other day that it has created a whole lot more cleaning for me!
Allie's new room. We haven't completely moved her in here yet and I hate these pictures. Why is it so hard to get a good picture of a room? Oh well....

Yesterday I bought our first family pet(s). Here they are...................

HELLO.

Yes, we are now the proud owners of two Eco-system frogs. Actually, Easton is the owner. You get them at Hallmark and supposedly they almost completely take care of themselves. No cleaning the tank and you feed them twice a week and I was promised that they don't smell. So far-no smell at all. The first whiff of anything though and they are headed down the sewer express. For now, their names are Frog and Toad. Ya know....Frog and Toad are friends? Remember that book? Anyway....Allie kind of wants a puppy, but that just isn't happening. So here is a frog. :) No shedding, no poop, barely any food?.....I like it.

And here is Livi-growing up sooooo fast. Almost seven months now! She says hi and waves at us. She is able to roll anywhere she wants and now sleeps all night in her crib. :( I told Paul he could FINALLY put the bassinet away. I almost held a candle light vigil for myself. She hates bows, will barely stand them for five minutes and she also hates clothes on. Happiest in a onesie on my lap. Look at her! She can have whatever she wants.......:)

My beanie babies......

On a sad note, Paul's grandpa died last week. Pretty sad time for all of us-especially for Paul who pretty much lived on their farm growing up and spent countless hours hunting with him. His grandpa probably had the biggest impact on him while growing up and he was able to be with him at his home as he passed away, something that was hard for him to go through, but I know that he wanted to be there. He had such a great life and legacy and now when I drive Allie to school and we turn down White Street she says, "Here is our grandpa's road!" Here are a few pictures....

At the White Family reunion. Memorial Day 2008. Grandpa White with Allie on Christmas Eve 2002. I have spent every Christmas Eve at the Farm since 1993. They have always, always treated me like a member of the family, even before I was "officially" one of them. I loved Paul's grandpa from the minute I met him. He had a fun personality and always laughed at things I would say....even if I shouldn't have said them! ;) He will be missed by everyone.

That same week, Paul's work laid off another 550 jobs and if you add that to what they laid off in March they have laid off over 800 jobs this year. Pretty scary for us and about everyone that lives around here but we are feeling very blessed. Hopefully they will be done with lay-offs for awhile. At times like this though I am glad that at least we both have degrees (Paul has several..lol!). That's it for now! I'm so excited for Halloween and my kids' costumes! Stay tuned....:)

The Mother of all posts!

Oh boy. I'm behind and I'm not even sure where to begin....but here we go!

Had a fabulous time at the 2009 Hawker reunion-I come from some great stock-seriously! These are the kind of people you want in your life-raft for sure. They are just good times! My uncle Craig was kind enough to invite all of us to his ranch for the event. It's up in Idaho and it was just beautiful and the perfect setting. It was so fun to catch up with my cousins and let our kids run around together for a few days. We had great conversation and even better food..ribs you could die over and dutch oven pizzas that would knock your socks off. I came home with the top button of my pants undone. :) Here's the only problem though: Paul was in Florida during the reunion so he totally missed out and because I was juggling three kids on my own, I hardly have any pictures at all but here are a few.....

Allie and Karli-my cousin's little girl. These two hit it off right away-both girly girls to the core...

Since we were headed to the ranch...I dressed Olivia appropriately. Could you die??!! Look at those boots! I could go bankrupt over girl clothes-really! It's a problem.
Wagon rides and Hay rides-my kids were in ranch heaven!
My and aunt and uncle hired a photographer to come and get pictures of all us. It had been years since we had all been together. Allie and Olivia ready for pictures...(Olivia is so deliciously chubby and heavy that it's getting hard for Allie to hold her. haha!)

My grammy and Olivia. Don't I have the cutest grandma ever? We love her. Olivia is the most recent great-grandchild.

My grandma and all the grand kids and great-grandchildren. Pretty cool huh? This was the only group one that was on my camera. You should see the one with everybody in it. It was a big 'ol group of Hawkers. :)Easton rode his first dirt bike. I asked him later what he thought of that and he said, "Pretty good Mom. I think I'm going to be needing one of those!" haha... boys and their toys!

I went to girl's camp and had a great time. Unfortunately I didn't take my camera-but I love going to camp even though it's hard to leave my kids. Paul took off work so that I could go and he did awesome with them. I was worried to leave because Olivia hadn't been sleeping very well, but she slept fine for Paul and he even took the kids swimming. He's a good Dad. (There's a little shout out for you Paul...holla!) lol...

School starts in one week! I feel like the summer flew by, but I am looking forward to the routine that school brings with it. This summer was just kind of helter-skelter for us, what with a new baby and all. We went to the pool all day today and Olivia finally decided that she likes the water and swimming! It only took all summer for her to determine that? Oh well...

Look how grown-up Allie looks! She is currently obsessed with Michael Jackson's "thriller." I'm not kidding and I'm partly to blame. After he died it made me want to listen to his old stuff and Allie thought it was just great. She almost has the entire monologue in the middle of Thriller memorized. Weird.... She is also crazy for Taylor Swift. She can sing every single word of every song of hers and in fact she decided today that she is going to be Taylor Swift for Halloween. Okay...whatever. Hey, at least we finally moved on from princess themed Halloween costumes? The only problem is that when I think of Taylor Swift I only think of short skirts, cowboy boots and be-dazzled guitar. hmmmm. Not so sure how that would look on my seven-year-old!

Now for the big news.....She finally lost the training wheels on her bike!!! F.I.N.A.L.L.Y!!!! Yes, yes, I am aware that most kids have their training wheels off at 5 and that her brother is ready to take his off at this moment-but that just isn't Allie's speed. BUT-you should see her ride now. She is crazy scary!! She's starting to get "tricky" and it freaks me out. Thus the reason for all the protective gear in the picture above...she went from sweet streamers on the handle-bars to popping wheelies in the neighbors drive-way. Here's to strong bones....She also had her first piano recital! She hasn't been in piano very long at all. I put her in lessons in June and she can already play songs. (I love paying money to something that I can actually see improvement week after week!) Her teacher told me that she is really good and that she has never seen somebody at her age have so much rhythm and pitch. (I think it's her TaVaci....or maybe the Michael Jackson?;) She played (and sang) "Old McDonald had a song." She was really nervous. She is singing in sacrament meeting in our ward on Sept. 13. She is singing A Child's Prayer with two other girls in our ward and they sound so good together! I will try and get video of one of their practices. Somehow I think it would be inapproriate to take the Flip camera to sacrament? (Don't think I haven't thought about how to smuggle it in though...)


Easton is so excited to head back to school. I think he is tired of me and his sisters. And I think he is in the middle of a huge growth spurt. I CANNOT (and I repeat) CANNOT keep him full! The child will eat anything and everything in man size amounts. It's semi-intriguing and disgusting at the same time. I've now gotten to the point that I am making weird stuff just to "see" if he will eat it. Most of the time he does. Case in point....We grilled Salmon the other night. Paul brought it in off the grill and I said, "Why is it still pink?" (I thought it would go white after you cooked it. I'm not a big meat or fish eater people!) I took two bites and decided that I would rather go hungry that night. I look over at Easton and he had already plowed through his and asked if he could eat mine too?? THEN....he decided to wash it down with this....

He ate that lemon-rind and all! Nothing is off limits. I'm afraid when he is 16 he is going to eat us out of house and home. :) The other night Allie was having a sleep-over at her grandma's and I got to spend some time with just Easton and it was so nice. Little boys are just chill and I think one day he will be my saving grace in between the two girls. :) We went for a bike ride and I snapped this picture of him. Doesn't it look like a picture for the end of summer?...

Olivia is going to be five months this week! She is SO much fun for us. She is always smiling and laughing and she is still spoiled by all of us. I call her my koala baby because she just hangs on my side all day long. I've spoiled her and don't care. I'm completely unapologetic for it. :) I keep telling people that she better hurry up and get hard for me or I'm going to really want another one. (Did you hear that? That was Paul passing out and hitting the floor. lol!) Calm down..we are done and thus the reason for all the spoiling. I'm just soaking every bit of her up.You are looking at her favorite past-time....the jumperoo! She can really catch some air in this thing. She loves it and it is one of the few places I can actually set her down. She also LOVES baby einstein and loves the horse on baby einstein. She could jump and watch baby einstein for at least an hour. (Yes, my baby watches tv and sometimes for an hour. Those toilets and showers aren't going to clean themselves...;) When I took her in for her four month shots she was in the 40% for everything. She weighs about 13 lbs....

Has the cutest laugh in the world and loves eating cereal at night.........and still has the prettiest color of eyes I've ever seen. Look at that face? Wouldn't you want one more too? Whew! I think that's it for now. I may never post again after this.... buh-bye!

Got Milk?

So Paul made it home! I'm relieved to have the help and adult conversation back...but here is ONE conversation that took place while I slept in this morning

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EASTON: "Dad, Mama did something really, really bad while you were gone."

PAUL: "Oh yeah? What was that buddy?"

EASTON: "She drank milk right from the milk jug just like you told her not too and then you know what else? She said she wants another baby."

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Oh boy. I've got some explaining to do......;)