enjoying the JOURNEY

OKay So I was looking at my cousins blog today and saw that I had not updated mine in 6 months:)

2010-03-11T09:20:00.001-08:00

Here is what we have been doing in a nutshell!!
Horray growing another baby! We are not finding out what we are having. This will be our last sweet baby so we will be happy to have a boy or girl

Here are a couple pictures of our trip to Nauvoo! We had an amazing time with my parents and Rick's Family!

2009-08-16T18:59:00.000-07:00

!3 little 10 year olds for Mac's 10th birthday. It was so fun!

2009-06-17T20:29:00.000-07:00

2009-06-17T20:28:00.000-07:00

We love having the cousins here! We had a picnic at the park with Nana and cousins...then we blew bubbles and went to the candy factory for gelato.

JESSICA'S SHOWER WAS SO FUN!!

2009-06-06T21:25:00.000-07:00

SHE IS LAUGHING..BECAUSE SHE GOT SOME SILKY DRAWERS....JESS ALSO SHOWED US HOW HER HAIR BOWS LOOKED WHEN SHE WAS LITTLE!!

COUSINS ARE IN TOWN! P-A-R-T-Y-!!!

2009-06-06T21:23:00.000-07:00

2009-05-19T15:35:00.000-07:00

McCall our sweet, funny and confident little girl. She never stops amazing us with her home performances.

2009-05-19T15:33:00.000-07:00

So this picture is so Macky....just a cool cat with a plan! I can't wait to hear what his plan is each morning when he wakes. I don't think his mind ever shuts down!

2009-05-19T15:30:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how grown up my little girl is getting.....when she is at school I still picture her as a little toddler so you can imagine my surprise when I look at theses pictures that were just taken....and she is a teen!

2009-05-19T15:28:00.000-07:00

This smile makes me so happy....I can't go a few hours without making him laugh (only for selfish reasons) so I can see his smile!

2009-05-19T15:26:00.000-07:00

Krew got a bike for his 3 year old bday and stryker who doesn't walk yet is trying it out!

Our 15 year Anniversary!

2009-05-07T19:36:00.000-07:00

Time has flown by. I found this picture of Erik and I. This was our second date!
I can't even imagine life without Erik by my side.

Top 15 things I love about life with Erik!

1. Playing racko in bed at night.
2. Erik reading me books on our trips
3. Doing sealing at the temple with you!
4. The 5 beautiful children we made!
5. Taking walks together around the neighborhood.
6. Beating you in Racket Ball
7. Your smile cause, your eyes twinkle.(oohhh maybe that is only when you look at me)
8. Our Sunday Foosball tournaments with the kids.
9. Your fake laugh you do when you are not listening to what I say:)
10. Watching you call our children each morning for scriptures and prayer!
11. Kisses from you!
12. going to the gym at 6 every morning(except when you turn the alarm off and say it never went off)
13. snuggling
14. Watching you give our children a priesthood blessing
15. Going to eat at our Fav restaurants

Thank You for being so great!

2009-04-22T21:11:00.000-07:00

NOW THAT IT IS SUNNY THE BOYS AND I WERE SETTING UP OUR FURNITURE ON THE PORCH AND GETTING THINGS READY TO PLANT OUR GARDEN AND FLOWERS. THEN I HEAR KREW SAY....STRYKER THAT IS NOT GOOD TO EAT IT IS DIRT....STRYKER WAS SO PLEASED WITH HIMSELF. WITH MUD ALL OVER HIS FACE AND HIS BIG WHITE TEETH THAT WE ALL LOVE.

2009-04-22T21:09:00.000-07:00

HERE IS IS A FREEZING APRIL DAY. THIS WEEK MCKYNA WILL BE GETTING HER PATRIARCHAL BLESSING SO ERIK AND I TOOK HER TO THE TEMPLE TO DO BAPTISMS FOR THE DEAD. IT WAS SUCH A SWEET EXPERIENCE FOR US ALL.

2009-04-22T21:08:00.000-07:00

WE POPPED POPCORN TODAY AND THE TWO LITTLE BUDDIES WERE HAPPILY EATING. I LOOKED OVER TO SEE KREW KINDLY SHARING HIS POPCORN, STRYKER HAD SNARFFED HIS ALL GONE. BROTHERLY LOVE.....

2009-04-22T21:06:00.001-07:00

CAIREN AND HER KIDS CAME TO VISIT WE PLAYED EVERYDAY! WE LOVE HAVING THEM WITH US AND WERE SO SAD TO SEE THEM GO. IT WAS A BEAUTIFUL SUNNY DAY SO WE LET THE LITTLE MONKEYS PLAY AT THE PARK.

2009-04-22T21:05:00.000-07:00

IF I CAN NOT FIND KREW FOR MORE THAN 2 MINUTES I KNOW IT IS TROUBLE. TODAY I FOUND HIM IN THE TUB WITH HIS BIKE HELMET ON. HE MAKES ME LAUGH EVERYDAY! THANKS HEAVEN FOR THIS LITTLE BOY!

2009-04-22T21:03:00.000-07:00

I CAN NOT BELIEVE THAT STRYKER IS ONE....ALL DAY KREW KEPT SAYING IT WAS HIS BIRTHDAY ALSO SO.....I HAD TO GET A PRESENT FOR HIM AND A CAKE, I DID'T WANT HIS HEART TO BE BROKEN. IT WAS AN EXCELLENT DAY!

2009-04-22T20:52:00.000-07:00

It is FINALLY Spring! I have not posted in SOOOOOOOO Long. I have so much to tell. For srping break we went to the movies, the aquarium and cleaned,cleaned,cleaned. My kids thought I was the MEANEST MOM EVER!(that was a quote from my Macky Doodle!) But now we live in a somewhat organized home. Which make me so much HAPPIER! Here we had srping showers and I looked out back to see the girls who are 11 and 13 dancing in the rain!

2009-03-12T20:20:00.000-07:00

You can imagine how our meals went with 5 adults and 6 children. This is krew drinking the salad dressing. While my back was to him cleaning up the floor from Stryker. My mom thought it was so funny. We had a great time shopping,playing games, wokring out together in the mornings and strolling around the park. Next girls outing will be without the little people we love so much.

2009-03-12T20:19:00.000-07:00

We were trying to have a movie night. And the little kids were suppose to be all snuggled in their beds.

2009-03-12T20:15:00.000-07:00

It Was so beautiful and sunny there. We had a great time visiting and watching the little kids play at the park!

2009-03-12T20:11:00.000-07:00

I thought it would be fun for all the sisters to go to Vegas to visit Cairen. So Mom Meggan and I flew with the three babies. And met up with Molly, Cairen and their 3 babies. Oh it was CRAAAAAZY Fun! Krew as we were getting ready for take off said, UMMMM NANA WE ARE NOT HIGH YET! We aere still on the runway.

2009-02-23T13:40:00.000-08:00

It was such a great get away. We played games, visited and ate.

Erik, Stryker and Cynthia

McKyna and Austin

2009-02-23T13:38:00.000-08:00

Erik and Jeff took the kids on a ride during a snow storm it was FREEZING cold! Look at Jeff's mask so funny! His face will be warm for sure.

2009-02-23T13:36:00.000-08:00

It was so much fun sledding with the crooks

2009-02-23T13:32:00.000-08:00

McKyna and McCall have been so lucky to have a sweet dad who has sent them flowers for valentines Day each year. They look forward to the note he sends with the flowers just as much.

2009-02-23T13:30:00.000-08:00

Grandpa turned 86 years old. Stryker and Krew and I took him and grandma lunch and then visited. We love having them so close to us!

2009-02-23T13:27:00.000-08:00

Last Monday morning after all my little ducks headed off to school I was cleaning up the disaster from the weekend and I found this sitting up against the chair. I had to run and get Stryker to show him what his big sister McKyna had left for him.Krew then said, Ya she LOVES me. I had to laugh even though the note said stryker krew knew she loved him too. That made my day.

2009-02-23T13:25:00.000-08:00

Erik and I took Mckyna, McCall and MaClane to the open house of the Draper temple. What a beautiful temple. It was such a sweet experiences to takl abouth each room as we walked through with them. We are so lucky to have so many temples.

2009-02-23T11:06:00.000-08:00

It was a COLD Winters Day in Utah....but thanks to Costco we had yummy fresh mango smoothies. Both boys loves eating the mango while I made our smoothies.

2009-02-23T10:57:00.000-08:00

Great Day!
I was so excited today that I was able to drag myself out of bed early and run to the gym! When I got home Erik had fed all five of our ducks(children) and had helped the three older ones get ready for school. How wonderful was that!

2009-02-05T10:38:00.000-08:00

After talking with my DEAR friend Kara yeasterday not once, twice but three time because I remembered more things we HAD to discuss. I found this qoute on Stephanies blog. It is from Elder Ballards talk. I truly need to be better at this. It was and IS my new years resolution!

Author Anna Quindlen reminds us not to rush past the fleeting moments.{or if I could enter here-the basket-head mother syndrome} She said: “The biggest mistake I made [as a parent] is the one that most of us make. . . . I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of [my three children] sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages six, four, and one. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less”(Loud and Clear [2004], 10–11

Nei Nei Benefit Concert.

2009-02-03T12:34:00.000-08:00

Erik and I took the 3 older children to a Mindy Gledhill Benefit Concert last night. It was such a fun concert. It was also very tender and touching. They had a silent auction in the lobby to also help raise money for Stephanie and Christian Neilsen who were in a plane crash. Many of their Family members were at the concert, including their two girls who sang a song with Mindy.

This is one of the items my kids won was cases, cases and more cases of old fashioned soda in a bottle. When we got home they wanted to sample some of the different flavors.

MaClane is our collector. Wow! he now has something new to add to his many other collections. BOTTLE CAPS. We love this about him.

2009-02-03T12:32:00.001-08:00

The kids all built a tent together it took up half of our basement and went on forever and ever. They each had their own rooms. Times have changed when I built a tent it was with one blanket and all seven of my siblings would just crown in and giggle.

2009-02-03T12:30:00.000-08:00

I snuck the girls out of school and we had a little get away. We got our nails done and had lunch. I love to listen to them talk they are so amazingly chatty and have the greatest stories about school and life.

Cousins took a tub on our family getaway!

2009-02-03T12:29:00.000-08:00

2009-01-29T14:16:00.001-08:00

Krew will be 3 in May and has decided he is a big boy! He has done and Amazing job at learning the trade of using the potty!

Bath Time!!

2009-01-29T14:14:00.000-08:00

Stryker is 10 months old and just started pulling himself up to things.

OHHHhhhh How I love sleeping babies!!

2009-01-29T14:10:00.000-08:00

The reason this little man is so heavily in sleep is because today he....dumped out all of my soap into the tub,took all of my shoes off my shelves,took everything out of the diaper bag, removed every single diaper from the nicely organized baskets & unfolded all the clean laundry by driving his truck through them. He is so busy and we love it!

This is what two sweet little boys can do in ONLY five minutes!

2009-01-29T14:07:00.000-08:00

making our traditional gingerbread houses! Mine and Krews fell apart after an hour or so.

2009-01-29T09:40:00.000-08:00

Ice-Skating In Salt Lake City

2009-01-29T09:37:00.000-08:00

After Christmas we went to stay in SLC for a few nights, we saw the lights on temple sguare, went ice-skating & ate a the pie. It was so fun!

WOW 9 months old. time flies when you have five little people!

2008-12-30T17:54:00.000-08:00

2008-12-30T17:50:00.000-08:00

Our primary challenges the children to pray an dfind a service that was needed and then take a picture and send it to Pres. Monson. MaClane was so excited and wanted to take dinner one night to an elderly woman who is fighting cancer and who had just had a terrible fall the week before. He went by himself took dinner and stayed to visit for 15 minutes! It was so tender to me.

We started Out December with an UGLY Christmas sweater party!!

2008-12-30T15:24:00.000-08:00

2008-11-02T18:41:00.000-08:00

Happy Halloween!!

2008-11-02T18:35:00.000-08:00

McCall was ALice in Wonderland!

McKyna was our cute little butterfly!

Nana and Papa came to see out little Monkey's
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Krew was Bateman and I was his side kick Superwomen!

2008-11-02T18:33:00.000-08:00

Here is Macky during their championship football game. They took 3rd in the League!

2008-11-02T18:31:00.000-08:00

This is Maclane at his soccer game. He was chillin on the sidelines while he waited to go back in

2008-11-02T16:02:00.000-08:00

Krew has now decided that he can sneak out of his bed after we are all in bed. At 1:30 in the morning I heard little foots steps on our tile floor and went out to find Krew in the flour SOOOOO FUN!!

2008-11-02T15:55:00.000-08:00

Many of you know that Mccall was chosen to go to a Satellite school for gifted children this year. She left all her friends(being a 5th gradeer that was very brave) She said, her education was more important. I don't think she realize how much she would miss her friends and the office ladies, Janitor Pete, the lunch room ladies and the recess life guards. There were only 2 other children in the whole school that she knew. This last week McCall got 1st place in her school essay contest. This is a picture of McCall singing in a little group at her school choir performance. We are so thrilled for her and know this has been an amazing learning year but hard socially. LOVE YOU BLONDIE!!

Snuggle Bug loves his big sister Mckyna

2008-10-21T21:12:00.000-07:00

We carved pumpkins for FHE! .

2008-10-21T21:08:00.000-07:00

Macky is a pumpkin head!

Krew MUST wear Maclane motorcycle helmut whenever outside.

NICE JOB GIRLS

Sunday Dinner with Rashes

2008-10-21T21:06:00.000-07:00

Erik's sister Ann moved into a cute town home. We had dinner at her house, the kids played at a fun park around the corner from her new place and then we took a walk to the lake accross from her home. Fun times!

CROOKS CABIN

2008-10-21T20:57:00.000-07:00

Gygi helped the kids make yummy carmel apples. We had so much fun riding four wheelers, watching movies, visiting and playing games. The kids kept themselves busy dressing up for their debut in the Lion King and writting and starring in their own musical.

IT IS WONDERFUL TO BE 2!

2008-10-21T20:47:00.000-07:00

Here is our little monkey he has been wearing strykers halloween costume and won't take it off. Krew has gotten so great at his tantrums, I think they are so darn cute!

2008-10-21T20:29:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday McCall!! We threw her a surprise party is was so fun! we made flower hairclips, went to dinner with all her girlfriends and played games. We love you McCall!

Newport and Disneyland

2008-10-21T17:28:00.000-07:00

We had such a great time with our cousins! Can't wait to do it again soon!

2008-09-24T16:03:00.000-07:00

Byu game was so fun!! Erik and I took Krew to the game

Somebody LOOOVES food... Messy Face!

2008-09-17T13:29:00.000-07:00

2008-09-17T13:15:00.000-07:00

Krew moved to a "BIG" boy bed and Stryker moved to the crib. Now both boys have a little more wiggle room. They both slept through the night. HURRAY!

2008-09-05T20:52:00.000-07:00

2008-09-05T20:46:00.000-07:00

McKyna,Sydney,MaClane and Noah had so much fun making their own runway! S-C-A-R-Y!!

2008-09-05T09:36:00.000-07:00

Okay my Sister Cairen gave me this idea.. from her blog to write down a few cute things our babies say. Here are a few...

~When Stryker is crying Krew will say Ohhhh Mommy you should get your baby he is crying.

~Yesterday Krew realized he ate the last of his Diego and Dora snacks. He came to me and said, Mom we should go to the store and get some more, Shouldn't we?

~When Krew wakes up in the morning or from a nap who ever gets him says, Happy to see you! Now that Krew can climb out of his crib I hear little feet coming towards my room this morning very early and then I hear HAPPY TO SEE YOU. Oh I was so happy to see him even though it was SOOOOOO early!

~When putting Krew down for a nap I tell him I love you and I will see you soon. He will say back to me with a cry in his voice and a scrunched up face I love you too. He is holding back the tears because he does not want to go for a nap. We all laugh it is so cute.

2008-09-05T09:27:00.000-07:00

Meika will be turning 4 in a few weeks so we celebrated at Macaroni grill. She was so darling and kept saying OHHHhh. For me with her hands to her face when we gave her a present Happy Birthday Meika!

2008-09-05T08:57:00.000-07:00

MaClane is having a great time playing on a soccer team with all his buddies. Here he made an awesome pass!

Dress-up Time

2008-09-05T08:54:00.000-07:00

Cairen and her family came for the long weekend to pick-up their little girl puppy. After everyone meeting at Maglybys for breakfast we came back to our house to make a plan. Meika and Krew had a great time playing dress-up together. We LOVE it when the Ballstaedts come to visit.

BYE, BYE PUPPIES

2008-09-05T08:52:00.000-07:00

Nana's dog had puppies and they are now old enough to be sold. My kids a really sad to see them go. They have had a great time playing with them.

2008-08-31T12:07:00.000-07:00

2008-08-31T12:00:00.000-07:00

For the fourth of july we went to Vegas to celebrate with the Ballstaedt Family. We stayed on Lake Las Vegas and had a beautiful view of the fireworks from the hotel we stayed at. There was a concert on the beach and we enjoyed their music while watching finding Nemo from the pool. Our kids had such a blast with Meika and Sienna. We were so sad to leave them.

We went to Denver to visit our good friends the Horsleys. We had a great time. Our kids did not want to leave. We celebrated Abby Mays 2nd Bday there

2008-08-29T13:21:00.000-07:00

Mckyna and Tyson are AMAZING!!

Shelly is so talented she made a darling castle cake

GO, SCOTT, GO, SCOTT

Ryan and McCall having fun together!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ABBY

2008-08-29T13:14:00.000-07:00

Our Stake had a carnival last week and the kids had a great time playing games, eating treats, riding in the hot hair balloon and painting each others faces.

2008-08-29T13:11:00.000-07:00

Krew and I love to feed the ducks at BYU. Krew loves BYU, whenever watching any sport game he yells GOOO BYU COUGARS!

2008-08-29T13:10:00.000-07:00

This was so cool. This Butterfly landed on his head at school. MaClane was on the front page of his school website.

Macky And Nick

2008-07-13T14:47:00.000-07:00

The boys had so much fun at Baseball camp and learned a ton. They learned about the importance of good sportsmanship after being bullied by a few boys at camp. We are proud of them for sticking with it and making the camp FUN, FUN, FUN!!

Arizona was Great Fun, But Smokin hot!!

2008-07-13T14:43:00.000-07:00

We went to Arizona to see our good friends the Barneys and so Erik could go to the Mayo clinic. While we were there we went to the Mesa Temple to see some art that The Barneys family helped put together it was amazing.

Wait til she wakes up somone will be BUSTED

2008-07-13T14:41:00.000-07:00

KIley Barney came to visit us from AZ to attend tennis camp at BYU with McKyna. While she was here the two girls played pranks on the other kids. One night Mcaky thought it would be funny to do this to McCalls face while she slept.

Dream come true

2008-07-13T14:38:00.000-07:00

For Macky's B-day Erik and I took him to SLC for the night one of the things he wanted to do that we NEVER do is take his clothes off and run throught the water fountains downtown. He had the biggest grin.

Strykers blessing day!!

2008-07-13T14:37:00.000-07:00

What a great day we had family and friends for the blessing it was a beautiful day. Thanks to all who came!

Hospital Picture

2008-07-13T14:34:00.000-07:00

Somehow all my pictures from the hospital got erased from my camers. I have been sick about it And have shed some tears over it. Some have joked that Stryker will think he is adopted. The other day I was looking at the pictures I had on my phone and amazingly there were two pictures from the hospital that I didn't remember taking. I am so thrilled

Frog Boots

2008-04-27T12:38:00.001-07:00

Krew loves his new frog boots wnd wants to wear them everyday!!

McCall's dance team won 1st place in their competition.

2008-04-27T12:34:00.000-07:00

WELOCOME STRYKER!!

2008-04-27T12:32:00.000-07:00

everybody love new baby. He has been so much fun!!

2007-10-11T13:11:00.000-07:00

The Rash Clan on Goofys ride!!
ALl the kids busy making sandcastles in Newport!!

Disney Adventures!!!

2007-10-11T13:05:00.000-07:00

MaClane fought the dark side and won!!!
Happy B-day McCall at Disneyland
The girls got made up at Libby Lu's

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

Yeah We are at Disneyland!!
Daddy's Having more fun than Krew on Dumbo
We had so much fun with our friends the Barneys

krew is a man of many outfits!!

2007-10-10T10:08:00.000-07:00

whole family practicing shooting Macky's airsoft gun

2007-10-10T10:05:00.000-07:00

we went to lunch and to see Hairspray with a bunch of Pals!!

2007-08-15T20:25:00.000-07:00

Happy 12th Bday

2007-08-15T20:22:00.000-07:00

Princess Bites McKyna!!

2007-07-09T20:22:00.000-07:00

Yummy cotton candy at the parade

2007-07-09T20:21:00.000-07:00

2007-07-09T19:48:00.001-07:00

2007-07-09T19:41:00.000-07:00

2007-07-09T19:36:00.000-07:00

KREW LOVES HIS BATH

2007-06-19T10:17:00.000-07:00

WELCOMING BABY TY

Meika at Mackys Bday saying let me out!!

We threw a Tea Party just for Meika!!

2007-06-19T10:14:00.000-07:00

Mckyna is a graduate

2007-06-19T10:10:00.000-07:00

Ground Zero Was Amazing

2007-06-19T10:07:00.000-07:00