Life Is All About Attitude.....

Some people's kids......

2011-02-24T10:10:00.000-08:00

I can't believe that some people let their kids play in parking lots..................

not my kid!!!

The importance of smoke detectors

2011-02-12T07:49:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted in awhile because I couldn't find my camera for awhile and I have a hard time wanting to post anything unless I have pictures. Well I found my camera, but haven't looked to see what pictures are on there. We did have something interesting happen two nights ago that I thought was blog worthy.

I was laying down by Adam late one night trying to help him get back to sleep when I kept hearing popping sounds. I thought that one of the kids was up, so I went to see who it was. Well all the kids were asleep and as I walked down the hall to the kitchen I could smell smoke. I turned on the light and there was smoke all over the kitchen and there was that electrical burning smell. I was frantic and couldn't tell right away what was going on, so I run and wake up Dennis. We look all over the house and go outside to see if there is smoke coming out from anywhere, but everything looks fine. We figure out that it's somewhere in the kitchen, and we think it's the fridge. We unplug the fridge and pull it out. There are tons of dust bunnies down there too. After vaccumming and cleaning the dust bunnies, we look with a flashlight and notice there is a burnt, melted wire and black soot that is covering things. I didn't know that could happen with a fridge. We never plugged it back in, but I was afraid to go to sleep after that. Needless to say neither Dennis nor I got much sleep that night. What would have happened if I hadn't heard that noise and gone to investigate? I guess we don't have a working smoke detector. If I had been in my room with the fan going like it always is at night, I wouldn't have heard the noises.

So today I am on the hunt on craigslist for a fridge.

Just a plug for craigslist, I love it. We have a lot in our house that has come from craigslist. We wouldn't have been able to afford those things brand new. It has saved us from financing things, and we have gotten good used things too. We even sold our truck in one day on craigslist, it was great!

Caught up.....

2011-01-23T16:13:00.001-08:00

Yay, I am finally caught up to our current year now!!!! I better keep up this posting pace or I'll get way behind again!!!

New Year's Eve 2010

2011-01-23T16:02:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I forget that the year does not end at Christmas. We actually have another week to go. For New Year's we went to Darren and Cody's house and played games, had a marshmellow roast. Let me tell you, it was soooo cold outside that evening/night. The kids kept wanting to go out. I had packed some things for Adam and myself, but they got left behind unfortunately, so Adam had to borrow a jacket thus becoming our little princess!!

We stayed the night that night and ALL the next day too. Thank you Darren and Cody for putting up with our family for soo long.

Adam's 2nd birthday

2011-01-23T15:44:00.000-08:00

I already posted about Adam's birthday. Here are some pictures.

Our family

2011-01-23T15:29:00.000-08:00

I love any excuse to get a family picture. Damond and Adriana blessed their new baby Jacob the Sunday following Christmas. Dennis took pictures of them so I thought hey let's get one too.

We love to watch football

2011-01-23T15:23:00.000-08:00

Christmas afternoon we loaded up and drove down to Yuma. I thought this was funny, if you can't tell there is actually a football game on tv, must have been an exciting one.

Chrismtas 2010

2011-01-20T12:19:00.000-08:00

We spent Christmas morning at home and Grandma and Grandpa Morrison came over! I can't believe I didn't get any pictures of them, but they were there!

Daniel had been wanting something new to wash his face, so Santa found something new he could try.

Allison likes to color and draw and is always excited for new crayons and girly coloring books!

Ethan and Cade like to play WII games and they needed new batteries for controler so Santa helped keep them stalked with both!!

Allison got this cute dress from her Aunt Teri!! Thanks Aunt Teri!!

Adam got some new cars and a car ramp!! He loves cars and got kind of possessive with them!!!

Daniel made us some pumpkin pancakes for breakfast too! Very yummy!

Scooby Doo where are you...........

2011-01-20T11:55:00.000-08:00

Adam loves to watch Scooby Doo cartoons! He will walk around the house talking about Scooby and Shaggy and even called fruit snacks, scooby snacks!

At the train park there are various characters walking around taking pictures with the kids etc. Adam would walk around them in circles and watch them from a distance, but would not go anywhere near them, except of course Scooby Doo!! He did'nt even hesitate to give him a hug!!!

Christmas at the train park 2010

2011-01-20T11:45:00.000-08:00

For the past several years at christmas time, we have gotten together with the Farar family at the McCormick train park in Scottsdale. Sometimes I wonder if waiting line for usually more than a half hour (and a lot of times, much much longer) is worth it, but we do have fun!

Winter Sing

2011-01-20T11:14:00.000-08:00

Franklin West Elementary has school concerts twice a year, in the winter and spring. Allison sang with the first graders, it was very cute.

Wow, I can't believe...................

2011-01-11T13:19:00.000-08:00

that Ethan is 11!!! That' means not only is he and the rest of my kids are growing up, but that I'm getting old!!

Ethan has a very spunky (that's the word that first came to mind) personality. He loves to do and accomplish things and he likes to do them well. Even when he was little he never hesitated in letting us know if he felt he was being left out of something or if something wasn't fair. He loves being recognized and praised. He loves playing sports and is pretty talented at just about any sport he plays. Recently he played flag football and was the quarterback for the team both times he played. He is a great student at school and has lots of friends. He is very motivated and I think he can accomplish anything he puts his mind to.

He has some pretty good dance moves, but few people are honored to get see his moves!! I tell him he would be a great belly dancer!!

I love our Ethan!!!! I can't believe next year will be his 12th birthday and I will have 3 young men!!! Crazy!!!

My not so little any more cub...boy ....scouter

2011-01-09T17:00:00.000-08:00

In the beginning of December Ethan hustled through his remaining requirements and earned his Webelo's AND his arrow of light award!! Yay Ethan!! Good job!! I kick myself because I did not have the camera with me outside, but we had a really neat awards ceremony for him with indians and flaming arrows and a bridge. It was pretty cool. He now moves on to the world of Boy Scouting!!

Just Because

2011-01-09T16:55:00.000-08:00

I love these pictures of Daniel!!

Getting Organized

2011-01-05T22:00:00.000-08:00

This happens after Christmas every year. I want to go through things and get rid of stuff!! I'm ready to get more organized! I have been in the mode to do closets, toys, files!! I hope this feeling lasts through all the projects I want to do! If anyone has any good organizational tips for any of these things feel free to share!!

November 2010............

2011-01-05T21:41:00.000-08:00

Ok, so looking back at my pics of November, I only have two. I'm thinking that hopefully people will share pictures they've taken, I know that Dennis has some on his phone that need to get here on the computer.

The last part of October and early November were a little scary for me. Earlier I had gone to the dr. and had a biopsy of a spot done on my ear. Well, I found out that it was melanoma. The dr. called and told me on a Friday and all he said was that it was caught early and that I would need to have surgery to get it removed and that the surgeon's office would call me on Monday. Well, all weekend long I stressed and looked up melanoma online. The doc had said that it was caught early, but I didn't know what "early" meant. Was "early" considered stage 1 or 2? Had it spread? Needless to say I felt like and emotional mess. I never really told many people, because I thought that I would probably start to cry. Well I never heard anything on Monday, so I finally called that surgeon's office on Tuesday, and I found out that it was actually diagnosed as melanoma in-situ or stage 0. It was localized in that one spot on my ear and hadn't spread. I was so thankful for the The Lord's tender mercies, mind you I had that spot on my ear for more than a year I think. When I found out that news, I just cried because I was so relieved it wasn't too bad.

I had the surgery done and part of my ear lobe was cut and they grafted some skin to it that they took off behind my ear. They( the surgeon's office did to send back to the dermatologist) did take pictures, but I chose not to look at them (before and after) so I don't have any to put on here. It's probably for the better, I don't want to traumatize anyone!! It's healing now and hopefully as time goes on will get less noticeable.

I do have to go in to the dermatologists office every 4 months for the next 2 years to get checked and hopefully it won't come back. I went to see an oncologist (surreal) as a precautionary measure and he said that it probably wouldn't come back.

So that all happened in November, and we had Thanksgiving with my parents, Anthony's fam, and Kimber's fam. We actually went to Marie Callendar's for Thanksgiving this year. I've never been to a restaurant for it before. It was kind of nice not having to do all the cooking and cleaning up!!!

October 2010..............

2011-01-05T21:35:00.000-08:00

So in the month of October, last year I guess, we didn't do a whole lot. Here are some random pics of the kids. We did go to the Hole in the Rock by the zoo one day to get out of the house. I'm thinking that Dennis was either working late or out of town or something like that.

Inspired.....

2010-12-30T14:04:00.000-08:00

My sister-in-law has inspired me to do better at blogging. She is very creative,talented and organized and has her blogs printed into books at the end of the year. They were so neat to look at, and since I haven't written in a journal lately (does maybe twice my whole married life of 16 years count?) what a great way to document our family!!! So another sister-in-law and I were talking and decided as a new years resolution to be better bloggers, and to blog something at least once a week. Umm, I'll try, that's pushing it based on my past history. I'll try to be better about getting pictures off the camera. I guess I don't necessarily have to have a pictures with a post, but it sure is nicer!!

So I've been really behind with my posts. I've tried to catch up, but while I play catch up life is not holding still and now we've had Christmas and today is Adam's 2nd birthday!! Happy Birthday my little two year old!! Hopefully there will be pictures to follow of his cake etc, soon.

But let me reminisce for a minute about our little Adam. We felt we were done having kids after Allison, but Heavenly Father had different plans. The pregnancy with him was hard and uncomfortable. I felt sick most of the time and had contractions throughout the pregnancy. He was actually due on January 20th, 2009, but because of prior c-sections and we wanted to hit our deductable by the end of the year (Dennis's plan) we scheduled it for the 30th of December.
I was scheduled to go check into the hospital early afternoon so I thought I would take it easy in the morning. Well Dennis comes rushing in the door from work around 9 in the morning saying that the hospital had been trying to call me to come in earlier, because of some scheduling problems and if we didn't come in asap we would have to wait another couple of days. So I grabbed my bag and we were out the door. The actual c-section went ok, but it was about an hour after that I started to feel sick....nauseous, dizzy, and just plain horrible. I thought I was going to die. It takes awhile for all of that stuff to get out of my system. Poor Adam had some problems with his lungs, breathing and fluid and some other things so he was put right into the sick baby nursery. I actually didn't get to see him for the first day and a half. He was sick and couldn't leave, and I wasn't up to getting out of bed for awhile. Then when I could get myself to the nursery, I couldn't hold him because it would get him to worked up and he would have problems. They said he had pnemonia and needed antibiotics. When I was able to leave the hospital, he had to stay for the remainder of the week so he could have the antibiotics which were administed through IV. It was really hard going home with no baby, I felt like I had just had surgery or something. I felt guilty and a bad mom for not staying with him, but there wasn't anything I could do.

We went and saw him everyday, and he got better every day. He was finally able to come home exactly one week from his birthdate. We were all excited! He's been quite the little character from the first. He would spit up like crazy and we had to try different formula's on him, as he's gotten older his little personality has come out more and more. He has been talking and learning more and more every day! We are so glad to have him in our family!!

Go Westwood!!

2010-12-19T19:42:00.000-08:00

This is from one of Daniel's first freshman games. He's number 51. I think Dennis got better pictures on his phone I'll have to put on here.

And one thing led to another.....

2010-12-19T19:30:00.000-08:00

The month's of August and September were a little stressful for me. This is a horrible picture, but it kind of gives you and idea. Dennis needed to run some phone cable into our bedroom to hook up a new phone system for work. He tries to work from home a couple of times a week. He said this project would be easy and wouldn't take very long..............wrong!! What project is that easy? Well, it would have been easy if.................Daniel hadn't fallen through the ceiling because he did not step on the beams like he was supposed to, we didn't decide to scrape off popcorn from ceiling, we hadn't seen a part of the ceiling that looked rotten, we didn't remove the drywall from said area, we hadn't seen part of our wood and framing in the wall that had water damage and dry rot and we could see light coming through the area, and we hadn't had to pay people to help us fix big problems in the wall and re-do the ceiling. Yes, it would have been an easy fast project and wouldn't have taken two months to finish, and I wouldn't have all this dust coating all over.

Note to self..........next time you want to scrape off popcorn from a ceiling, do it with everthing out!

Ward Campout

2010-12-19T19:12:00.000-08:00

Yummy!!
In September was our ward campout. We had things going on Friday evening and didn't want to set up a campsite in the dark, so we decided to go up early Saturday morning in time for breakfast. Let me tell you, I loved doing that! It was nice to sit and chat and not have to worry about taking down a tent or packing up the car!! And the kids got just as dirty as they would have if we had camped overnight too.

Oh yeah, and the night before, I ended up taking Allison to urgent care for stitches! We went to the Tempe library the evening before and she smacked her forehead on a little tunnel downstairs in the childrens area. It was this gaping hole in her forehead. I knew right away she needed help, so I took her right there. Dennis asked me on the way home when I called him, if I had taken pictures, but it honestly never crossed my mind. She ended up needing three stitches inside and 4 outside. Funny thing is, we had just been there with Adam a couple of weeks before for stitches in his chin, and the same nurse was there and recognized us! Earlier, we had been swimming and had gotten out of the pool. I wrapped Adam up in a towel because it was a little chilly. Well, he tripped on the towel and since his arms were wrapped up he couldn't catch himself and fell chin first on the pool deck! Poor guy! They had to wrap him up in a papoose to do the stitches, it wasn't fun.

This is why we call it birthday season....

2010-12-19T18:52:00.000-08:00

Daniel turned15! He's talking about driving more! I don't think I can handle it. How can I stop him from growing up, but do I want to? He is a great kid, who is turning into a great young man! He loves to be outside, hunting, fishing, playing sports of all kinds. I asked him not to long ago what made him happy, and he told me that just being outside in nature made him happy. He loves hiking and camping, and plainly not sitting idle. He loves to be doing something all the time, I can't get him to sit and read a book! Love ya and Happy Birthday Peanut!!

My birthday is the last of July. We always seem to be out of town for it too. Cade's and Allison's birthday's are within 6 days of each other in August and Daniel's is less than 10 days after Allison's. Along with Daniel's birthday is the opening of dove season. Both of these events are celebrated in the Farar household!

Birthday Season

2010-12-19T18:40:00.000-08:00

Allison and Cade have their birthday's 6 days apart in August. It's a lot to have huge parties with lots of friends etc especially when they are so close and right at the start of a new school year. I can never seem to think ahead, get organized or have the money for big birthday parties. So this year again, we had a little family party for them. Cade turned 13. I can't believe how old he is getting. His voice is deeper, he's bigger than me, and he needs to shave every one in awhile!! I love this kid, he has a sarcastic sense of humor. He, Daniel, and I were in Sports Authority before school started looking for backpacks for Daniel. Cade said "Mom, look at those guns over there", while he pointed and was flexing his arms and bi-ceps. It was funny, and totally Cade like. Ever since he was little he has always made us laugh with the funny things he comes up with!

Allison turned 6. It is so fun to have a girl! I am so blessed that Heavenly Father blessed our family with her. She brings a fun softer side to this house full of boys! She likes to go to the mall with me (especially the food court!) . We have fun painting our nails and doing "girly things". But on the flip side she also likes to be with her brothers and do things with them too. She loves to be outside and run and play! I'm so thankful I have a daughter!!!

You've Got to be kidding me!!!

2010-12-19T18:30:00.000-08:00

We had this crazy neighbor who moved out in August (thank goodness!!!!) who hit our carport with a U-Haul truck (I wonder if she was sober at the time, it didn't seem like she was the entire time she lived next door). I had just gotten home not to long before with the kids and we were inside and all of a sudden I thought I heard thunder, but there wasn't a cloud in the sky. I ran outside and this is what I found. Now for the 9 months or so this neighbor had been living across from us I had avoided any contact with her (not very missionary like I know, but I feared for my life and that of my children). The thought of having to go and talk to this lady about what she had done made me physically sick. I'm not a confrontational person at all. I did go over and try to talk to her, but was shaking in my shoes the whole time!! Luckily the HOA dealt with it. We were blessed to have only a little scratch on the car. It could have been so much worse or someone could have gotten hurt.

Family Pics

2010-12-19T18:15:00.000-08:00

We took these family pictures after Anden's blessing. All of the Farar's were there except one brother and his family.

Linus and his ever present blankie
Aren't they handsome?

Me and the kids!!

2010-12-19T18:11:00.000-08:00

Fun with family

2010-12-19T18:05:00.000-08:00

After we got home from Utah, I went on a fun girls retreat with the sisters-in-law up in Julian. Then we went back to Yuma for Anden's blessing!!

Waterfalls!!!

2010-12-19T17:57:00.000-08:00

I love waterfalls!!! On the way to a dental appt with my brother, Dennis and I drove up Provo Canyon. I think this is called Bridal Veil Falls. My summer trip was now complete!

2010-12-19T17:48:00.000-08:00

After being at the farm, we drove down to Salt Lake and Daniel and Cade flew down to Phx so they could go to scout camp. Having them do this gave us more time up in Utah to see family. This was the first plane trip (that they would remember) that they would go on and plus the first by themselves. I think they were nervous, but excited too.

After they left, we stayed with my brother Jeff and his family. Allison loves playing with her cousin McKayla!!
While we were there, Ethan ended up needing to go to urgent care for a really bad migraine. Funny thing is, he's never had one before and he's never had one since. Wierd.

My kids in their true character

2010-12-14T09:24:00.001-08:00

You'll see in the next three video's my kids in their true form!! Ethan has quite the moves, especially for his family, not very many people get to see him dance!! This is just a taste of it...

2010-12-14T09:16:00.000-08:00

2010-12-14T09:10:00.000-08:00

2010-12-14T09:03:00.000-08:00

2010-12-14T08:57:00.000-08:00

I should add that everyone, but Allison had a great time. She saw a big beetle and started freaking out. I had to send her inside and told her she needed to take a nap, which she did and had a nice one!

The Farm

2010-12-13T19:14:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned before, we went on a fun family trip this past summer in late July. With Daniel having football practice all summer, our window of time to take a trip was the last two weeks of July. We went to Emmett first, and we had a great time, as we always do.

Dennis actually had to fly out and be gone on a work trip for a day or two, but that didn't stop me and the kids from having fun! One of the days we were there, the lawn was irrigated. The kids had so much fun playing in it!

Arboretum?

2010-12-12T20:18:00.000-08:00

In May we went with some friends to Thomas Boyd Arboretum (I'm not sure how it's spelled). We took the little hike around, it was pretty interesting. There are some cool plants and trees. I usually don't have allergies that bad, but oh boy, not that day. We had fun, but I was glad to leave so my nose and watering eyes could have a break!!

Dennis had the camera and took some pretty good pictures!

Trying to catch up....

2010-12-12T20:04:00.000-08:00

I am so behind in updating this blog, but I thought I would give it a try. This pictures was taken back in May. I thought it was so cute, Adam was pointing out an airplane to Cade. I love to watch each of the older boys interact with their younger brother.
This was also taken back in May.
This was taken at Easter. In the picture below, Adam was so tired and did not understand why I was trying to get him to go outside and carry a basket. When he finally figured out there was candy in the eggs, he was ok with it all!!

I just think Allison is so stinkin cute in this picture but I'm biased!!

2010-07-13T09:45:00.000-07:00

Ethan: Hurry up Daniel I need to go to the bathroom!!
Daniel: What? (as shower water is running)
Ethan: Hurry up! Aw, come on! I need to go!!!(dancing at this point)
Me: Ethan just go in my bathroom!
Ethan: Huh? (still dancing)
Me: Why can't you go in my bathroom?
Ethan: Because the blue stuff is in there!!
Me: It's ok, it's cleaner, it's fine!
Ethan: Oh. It is? (as he's running to my bathroom)

Hmm, I'm thinking I need to clean the toilets more often?

Time flies..............

2010-07-11T18:43:00.000-07:00

wow it's amazing how fast time flies when you are .......living....... Daniel's face healed up fairly quickly, within a week it looked almost completely better, except for the teeth, which took several dentist visits to get fixed. The last visit he had, he walked out grinning because he felt he could really smile again! He'd been a little self conscious to say the least.

So school's out for summer, everyone finished the school year, and now the summer boredom has been in full swing for a little over a month now. Cade had a program at Carson Jr. High he did for the month of June where he was able to get ready for Jr. High and get to know kids and the campus. I'm glad he did it and so is he even though I had to make him do it. Daniel has been having football practice at Westwood every day. Becuase of his practices, we didn't have a huge window of oppurtunity for any summer vacation until now. We will actually be leaving next weekend for our summer vacation up to see family. We will be heading to "the farm" in Emmett, Idaho for a few days then head to Salt Lake/Provo to see my family. We will be sending Daniel and Cade home be themselves to go to scout camp and we will stay for a little longer. Then it's down to Yuma and a girls retreat in Julien for me and Dennis will have the kids!

I know I probably have pics on the camera, but I've been horrible at keeping things updated! Hopefully when we get home that will get me motivated!

Ouch!!!

2010-04-09T18:49:00.000-07:00

I do have other happenings and pictures to post, but this one is so blog worthy I'll get to the other one's sometime. Daniel was riding a neighbors bike earlier this week when the front tire came off as he was going over a speed bump. I don't know how fast he was going but the poor kids face was the first object that hit the ground! Dennis took him into urgent care, but the dr. said that he needed a CT scan which they had to go to the ER for. They didn't get home until 4 in the morning. He ended up have a slight fracture in his upper jaw. His teeth are messed up so we are seeing what we need to do about his teeth now, he has a lisp when he talks! The backs of his hands got cut up and he need two stitches. And he ended up needing three staples in his head for a gash on the other side of his head which we didn't even notice until later! It's amazing how fast accidents happen and he doesn't really remember much at all. We've been to the oral surgeon and he said that he didn't need to have his jaw wired shut, so that's good, it will just have to heal on it's own. The dentist is doing a wait and see approach so see how his teeth are doing. He might or might not need root canals. He has really bad road rash all over the left side of his face, that will take time to heal. Now his eye is turning red from the broken blood vessels! Dennis said he looks like Two-face.

Lazy..........

2010-03-19T18:06:00.000-07:00

So I keep checking this blog and wonder why it's never updated.....................oops, I guess that would be up to me...............

Back to Reality..........

2010-01-10T13:55:00.000-08:00

I felt like I was on vacation for two weeks, even though we didn't actually go anywhere over Christmas and New Years. We were very busy with family both mine and Dennis's. My parents, Teri, and Kimber and her husband spent Christmas with us and then my brother Anthony and his family were around the next day, and then Dennis had a family reunion over New Years. Adam turned 1 between Christmas and New Years too! It was sure fun to visit with family and play. Now the kids are back in school and I'm trying to get things done around here.

I have several projects I'm wanting to do, but can't seem to find a whole lot of time to do anything I want to do!! It gets a little frustrating, but life is good!!

Merry Christmas..................

2009-12-21T09:15:00.001-08:00

To all of our family and friends!!!!

Tis The Season.....

2009-12-03T13:51:00.000-08:00

I hope I can get everything done!!

Growing like a weed....

2009-11-20T12:40:00.000-08:00

It's been awhile since I updated. Life here has been as always, busy. Cade and Ethan have been playing flag football, and having a great time doing it. Daniel has recently started also. Allison has been learning a lot in kindergarten, and Adam has been growing and is starting to walk just a little. We had our family pictures taken in April and I feel like we need to do it again already with the growing up everyone has been doing, although I would have a hard time getting them all to want to do it!

Anyone there?

2009-10-06T16:37:00.001-07:00

I know I haven't updated in awhile, but I was wondering if anyone is out there. It seems to me that blogs aren't updated as often anymore....mine included.

Dress mystery solved!!

2009-09-25T13:00:00.000-07:00

I was getting down a box of halloween costumes for the kids to play dress up, and it was in there among the ninja stuff! I was so excited, the kids just looked at me like I was wierd. The sad thing is that it is almost too small for Allison to wear now, although I may get one or two more wears out of it just because it's so cute!!

2009-08-02T22:58:00.001-07:00

Now we are back home. I might add that we drove around 35oo miles and did it with a packed car, seven people, and NO Dvd player!! And we survived!!

I should have posted this whole thing differently. I should have done it backwards so that it would post right. Oh well. After we got home, we had to get Daniel ready to off for a week to scout camp at Camp Geronimo. We got him off and he had a great time! He was home for a day or so and then we had to get him ready to leave on a road trip back east with his grandparents. Dennis has a brother who graduated from school in Pennsylvania so his parents were willing to take Daniel. They are seeing alot of church history sites as well and the Sacred Grove. THis is also a trip Dennis and I would love to take, hopefully with in the next few years, but were happy that Daniel will be able to have this testimony building experience! He's still not home and probably won't be until a few days after school has already started.

As for me and the other kids, it's just life as usual, getting ready to head back to school.

I got a new calling, activity days leader, and I'm excited to get going with that!

We'll make it home...eventually

2009-08-02T22:30:00.000-07:00

After a several hours driving around Mesa Verde, we headed back into Arizona and were planning on making it home that night, which we did but not until we stopped at Canyon De Chelly. Neither Dennis nor I had been there either. It was a place kind of like Mesa Verde. I loved the green against the red rocks!

The Cliff Dwellers

2009-08-02T22:05:00.000-07:00

AFter a great day driving through Rocky Mountain National Park we drove south of Denver to Littleton where we have some wonderful friends, Mark and Liz Foster who were gracious hosts and let us stay the night. It was nice to visit with them again, since they moved away several years ago.

For awhile now we have talked about visiting Mesa Verde National Park (or Monument). I had vague memories of going there when I was little and I wanted to visit again. It took us most of the day to drive to the southwestern corner of Colorado from the Denver area, and we got there that evening, and yes, we did camp and it was much warmer, although the air mattress still lost air! The next morning we drove around and looked at the cliff dwellings the indians used to actually live in. Amazing! Just a funny note, in the picture above Ethan had just taken something from Allison and she was mad, after I snapped the picture, she hauled off and slugged him, it was actually kind of funny!

MAJESTIC! Rock Mountain National Park!

2009-08-02T21:50:00.001-07:00

The camera just doesn't do it justice, what more can I say?

Estes Park, Colorado

2009-08-02T21:30:00.000-07:00

We spent several hours at Mount Rushmore, then we were off again back down south headed toward Rocky Mountain National Park. We drove down south through Wyoming and over to Cheyenne, through Cheyenne and down the freeway toward Denver. We got to Loveland, Colorado around 9 or 10 that night and ended up staying in another motel, because it was so late and we didn't want to set up camp in the dark. We planned on camping more and were prepared for it, but hey we did have one more night of it.

The next morning we were up and driving into Rocky Mountain National Park with a few side trips along the way.

Before I met Dennis, I worked for a summer at a YMCA conferance center outside of Estes Park. I wanted to go back there and see it again. So we were able to drive there and look around a little. It had been about sixteen years since I was there, but it was a fun little trip down memory lane for me. I made some great friends that summer and had some fun experiences. Some things were the same and some were different, they were doing construction and some of the buildings I remembered had been torn down. It was still in it's beautiful setting though surround by the Rocky Mountains.

We also stopped at a tram station and took a ride up a mountain! As you can tell Cade, wasn't too thrilled with the heights!

Mount Rushmore....sort of

2009-08-02T21:23:00.001-07:00

The next morning we got up and drove about two hours to Mount Rushmore! It is in the black hills area of South Dakota just south of Rapid City. I thought the area around it was pretty. It was really neat to see it in person...you know something you see in pictures or the movies. And I'm sure you're wondering where the pictures are? Well, sad story...when we got there I could not find my smaller camera so I grabbed our older bigger one, and got some great pictures I might add. Well I ended up dropping it and busted it pretty bad, but I'm pretty sure we can still get the pictures off of it, so hopefully I'll be able to post them soon!

and then on to.........

2009-08-02T21:13:00.001-07:00

Mount Rushmore! We drove across Idaho, and said "HI" to my brother Larry in Idaho Falls. We camped outside of Jackson Hole, Wyoming. It was FREEZING that night and the air mattress wouldn't keep the air in it, so needles to say neither Dennis nor I got much sleep. Although the kids seemed to do ok. The next morning we got up and froze as we took our camp down and headed into Jackson Hole and had a warm breakfast at Mcdonald's (which cost a fortune, because we were in Jackson Hole). We got on the road and drove through Teton National park, which was beautiful of course!

Most of Wyoming was pretty flat and dry looking, we finally got to Newcastle, Wyoming on the Wyoming South Dakota border, and since we had a horrible night the night before we ended up staying in a little motel, so we could have a better night sleep!

Our trip

2009-08-02T21:06:00.000-07:00

We went on a pretty long road trip. We've been home for several weeks now, but here it goes! We stayed overnight with my parents in Utah (thanks once again mom and dad!) and headed up to "The Farm" in Idaho. We always have a good time!

We made it!

2009-07-15T11:18:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I've posted. The kids are home for the summer, what more can I say?

We just got back from a whirlwind road trip. We drove over 3500 miles I think and visited several states. We saw some things we've never seen before, been on some roads we've never traveled before, and had great times with family and friends. I will be posting pics soon I hope, but for now I am trying to get things cleaned up, put away, washed, and back into the swing of things!

Daniel is off to scout camp on Saturday, he will be gone a week. So we need to get him ready too! Hope everyone is having a great summer!

Nice Getaway!

2009-06-03T15:04:00.000-07:00

Dennis and I had a nice weekend trip to San Diego/Magic Mountain this last weekend in celebration of our 15 years together! It was relaxing, and we had some great rides on some roller coasters! There were a few however, that I didn't even want to attempt, but had great fun on the one's we did! I didn't even think to take any pictures the whole weekend though! Thanks to Grandma for watching our kids and aunts and uncles who helped!!

15 Years!

2009-05-27T12:48:00.000-07:00

Today is mine and Dennis's 15 year anniversary! Time flies when your having fun! I think we make a perfect pair, and I can't think of anyone else that I would want to share eternity with!

On To Kindergarten!

2009-05-26T14:48:00.001-07:00

I can't believe she will be going to kindergarten next year!

Adam

2009-05-26T13:57:00.000-07:00

He's growing and growing. He'll be 5 months at the end of this month!

Grandma Gardner's funeral

2009-05-26T13:26:00.000-07:00

Grandma's funeral was nice and I'm glad we went. We drove up on Friday and drove home on Monday. It was a quick trip, but was nice seeing cousins and other relatives that I hadn't seen in awhile and of course my parents and brothers and sister. I enjoyed the talks and tributes to grandma, they brought about a lot of memories, and some laughs. We were able to get a big group picture and also a picture of my family. Since we were all there, it was nice to take advantage of the oppurtunity!

some thoughts

2009-05-07T11:12:00.000-07:00

I have some pictures that I need to post, we are heading up to Utah tomorrow though so I'll have to do a better update later. The school year is winding down. Allison has one more week of preschool and the boys have two more weeks. I'll be glad to not have to do all the driving and yet I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them all summer! We are planning a road trip back east and are thinking that we will be gone for most of July.

I need to get the kids registered for school next year! I'm not sure where to put Daniel. I went through this last year too. He'll be in 8th grade, wow he's getting old!

My grandma Gardner passed away this week. She was my mom's mom. My dad's mom passed away a little over a year ago. We are heading up to Utah for the funeral. It will be a fast trip.

I've always been scared of death. To be honest I am afraid to die, although I know that everyone has to go sometime. I guess maybe it's just the fear of the unknown? When I go, I want it to be peaceful, without pain.

Going Crazy................

2009-04-25T04:27:00.000-07:00

Have you ever lost something and have no idea what happened to it? Have you ever wondered "whatever happened to that"? Allison had a dress that was a really cute Christmas dress, she wore it several times at the beginning of last fall. I think it was in late November early December of last year that I realized I hadn't seen the dress lately. I've looked everywhere for it, and we've even moved in the meantime and I've been through things and I've never found it. I've wracked my brains thinking about what could have happened to it. I remember her wearing it, I remember seeing it hanging in her closet, I've been trying to remember if it was taken with us on a trip. Been trying to think where we could have left it! I've even wondered if I could have dropped it somewhere outside ( we were living in the apartment at the time) or did someone sneak in and steal it? Maybe one of the maintenance men came in and took it? So...

All points bulletin :

Have You Seen This Dress? Black Velvet on Top with a shimmering green ( kind of metalic like) material for the skirt and sash?

I remember looking at pictures of the boys awhile back and realizing that I hadn't seen the shirt that Cade was wearing in the picture lately? Where are these things going? Where do all the socks go?

On the flip side, I've ended up with clothes that I know don't belong to us. Right now I actually have in my possesion a boys long sleeved white dress shirt from Children Place size 10/12, and a t-shirt that says "Oakley" on it. I have now idea where these came from, but if they are yours I have them. I know that we've also ended up with socks that I know we didn't buy, sometimes it's just one and not a pair. So if you are wondering " Where do all the socks go......." I just might have them at my house!

Happy Easter!

2009-04-13T16:51:00.001-07:00

We just happened upon free Easter bunny pictures at Bass Pro Shop on Saturday! I thought they turned out really cute! Of course the boys were "too old" for that kind of thing!

2009-04-10T08:23:00.000-07:00

I don't have a whole lot to post about, just the usual routine, driving here and there and everywhere. About a week ago, Allison had a barrett in her hair that she couldn't get out. So instead of asking for help she decided to cut it out. I found her sitting on her bedroom floor with a clump of hair and scissors in her hand. She had cut off a chunk on the side, it was very noticeable. I was pretty upset with her so the thought of taking a picture for blogging purposes never occured to me. We went and got her hair cut to a bob, but that piece is too short to pull back very well, so there is just only one way I can do her hair! Now her hair isn't as curly as it once was, sigh. That piece will just have to grow out in time I guess! And I thought maybe we could get away with her never cutting her hair!

Adam does not sleep through the night yet, I'm tired!!

Blessings

2009-03-27T21:34:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, we recently moved back into our house in Tempe. What to do with the kids and school was not an easy decision, but after praying about whether or not to transfer schools, we decided to keep them in their current schools until the end of the school year. We knew that it would not be easy with needing to drive them back and forth. Dennis still works up at I-17 and Bell Rd, so he takes them in the morning and drops them off. We also decided to keep Allison in her preschool, and that makes it a little more difficult with her schedule. On the days she has preschool, we have a wonderful friend in our previous ward who picks Allison up along with her daughter and takes her back to her house for awhile until I pick her up and then pick up the boys from school. So it's a lot of driving on the freeway back and forth. Well on Tuesday I had to be up in the area earlier to take some kids to the doctor (yes, our dr. is still up that way too). When we were done, I called Dennis to see if he wanted to get together for lunch. I picked him up at work, then headed to pick up Allison. As I turned onto the street where our friend lives and was almost at her house when the tire on the van went flat. It was amazing how flat it got and how quickly. I was so grateful that Dennis was with me and that I wasn't on the freeway by myself with a baby! The tire was changed and I no longer wondered how I was going to bide my time until I had to get Cade and Ethan. I took it to Discount Tire where they found a hole in it that was most likely made by a bolt or something like that. This experience has just been a reminder to me of how much the Lord is watching out for us and blesses us. Was I excited to have a flat and have to buy a new tire and have an unexpected expense? No, but it was a blessing that it didn't go flat on the freeway, which would have been a more dangerous situation.

We had parent teacher conferences this week. I'm grateful that we have such great kids and students. Their teachers expressed their gratitude for not switching the boys in school and making the effort to get them to school even though we are farther away. It helped reaffirm my feeling and decision to leave the boys where they are for now.

These small experiences have been a great reminder to me that the Lord loves me and knows my situation and is watching out for me.

WARNING!

2009-03-15T17:43:00.001-07:00

I had a lot of updating to do. There are a lot of posts!

Adam's first trip to the park

2009-03-15T17:40:00.000-07:00

Allison is such a great big sister. She loves her "baby Adam".

Uummm.......

2009-03-15T17:33:00.000-07:00

so here are more pictures of Adam. I can't help it, especially when he is the main subject of pictures these days!

Smiles!

2009-03-15T17:28:00.000-07:00

I love it now that Adam is smiling and cooing! Dennis loves this camoflauge outfit that he is wearing!

He looks like a little devil with the red eye!

Family

2009-03-15T17:19:00.000-07:00

After the blessing we had lunch at Darren and Cody's house (thanks again guys). Thanks to everyone who was able to make it and help with the food. My brother Anthony and his wife Heather were also there with their kids, but left to drive home (Vegas area) before we got everyone together for this picture. Here we are now with five kids!

I always try to get pictures with Grandma and Grandpa Haws when we see them! They told us how many great grandchildren they have now, and I can't remeber the number, but it's a lot!

My future missionary

2009-03-15T17:10:00.000-07:00

We blessed Adam on March 1st. I looked everywhere for a white dress shirt and tie this small! I finally found it at Childrens Place, I was so excited since I had looked in so many places! Adam's blessing was very special and I wished that I could remember it better or had tried to write it down. For those who were there if you can remember anything that might have jumped out at you please feel free to share it with me!

I'm so grateful..........

2009-03-15T17:07:00.000-07:00

Daniel is such a great kid! He was the student of the quarter at Deer Valley Middle School. I am so grateful for him and his efforts!

My 4 boys

2009-03-15T17:02:00.000-07:00

This was a cute picture I couldn't pass up. We were finishing up cleaning the apartment after everything was moved out. We were all tired and poor Daniel wasn't feeling well. It's amazing that the camera was actually with us and not in a box somewhere.

Cute little cousins

2009-03-15T16:58:00.000-07:00

My sister came over to help me do some cleaning as we were getting ready to move. Here is Adam and his cousin Braxton, they will be cute little playmates when they get older!

Whew!

2009-03-15T16:51:00.000-07:00

After a lot of last minute work, Ethan was awarded his wolf! And Cade was awarded a nice engraved plaque for his Arrow of Light!

Adam and Daddy

2009-03-15T16:48:00.000-07:00

Snoozing

2009-03-15T16:40:00.000-07:00

Here is Adam about a month and a half just snoozing away!

Happy Valentines Day!

2009-03-15T16:25:00.000-07:00

On Valentines Day, Dennis took Daniel and Allison up north to play in the snow along with his brother's family. Cade and Ethan were invited to a birthday party at Castle's N Coasters. And what did I do? I stayed at home to work on a talk. Dennis and I had to speak in sacrament meeting the next day, and I felt much better at least having some idea of what to say!

For Teri

2009-03-15T16:19:00.000-07:00

These pictures are for my sister Teri who gave Adam this cute little outfit. I told her I would send her pictures of him in it, but alas here they are........a little late.

2009-02-08T23:16:00.000-08:00

Oh, I just realized I forgot to tell the story that lead to naming my last post. So during the week I was by myself with the kids, and I had them all in the car with me. They got out of school early on Wednesday, so I decided it was a good oppurtunity to pick up Daniel's and Cade's glasses that were ready. It was hectic taking them all in the eye doctors office along with our stroller which seems really big. I felt like I had a traveling circus with me. The boys knocking into each other and generally not keeping their hands to themselves, Allison running ahead and wanting to get the money out of the fountain, Daniel pushing the stroller, and trying to run with it. Anway, most of you with kids, I'm sure you get the picture. So we're in the car after, and I sighed and said "Calgon, take me away..." and Cade goes, "Who's he?" I couldn' t help laughing! I had to explain the Calgon commercial, since it was before their time!

Calgon....take me away....

2009-02-08T22:53:00.000-08:00

Dennis has been out of town since Tuesday ( Toronto, for work), and is finally coming home late tonight. I've been a single parent, trying to take care of everything (dropping off kids, and picking up kids) and dealing with a fussy baby and getting up in the middle of the night by myself. I just took things one day at a time, and am thankful that Heavenly Father blessed me with patience and the oppurtunity for a few naps!

We are moving at the end of the month, and I haven't had a chance to do anything to get ready! Usually I start packing a month before, but this time I just haven't been able to with Adam! I pray that everything comes together! I will not miss this apartment at all, it has been a hard place to live with a family. For those of you in the Evergreen Ward, yes we are moving back. We don't know for how long, we are hoping to sell the house. Yes, it's a terrible time to try, but we will see what happens. It's hard to move in the middle of the school year, I've been debating over and over about what to do with kids and school. If we should transfer them, or just leave them in their current schools. Daniel is at a harder age to transfer mid school year. I'm leaning toward leaving them, but the drive is so far. Dennis has to come up here for work anyway, so we are thinking that he can just bring them. Things definately get more complicated as the kids get older!

Sleeping like a baby!!

2009-01-18T19:18:00.000-08:00

Adam is doing really well after his rough start. The kids just love him to pieces! I am also recovering well, and trying to get enough sleep when I can!

Our New Addition

2009-01-10T12:43:00.000-08:00

Adam Taylor Farar born December 30, 2008

7 lbs. 5 oz 19 and a half inches.

He had a rough start and had pnemonia and some other breathing problems and had to stay in the hospital for a week. It was hard not being able to go home together, and leave him there. He was in level 2 nursery the whole time for sick babies, so if I wanted to see him I had to go in there. He had to be on antibiotics for a week. He is home now and doing well. We are excited that he is here and part of our family!

I'm trying to recover from another c-section and trying to get up the energy to think about moving soon!

How does everyone else do it?

2008-12-17T10:12:00.000-08:00

With the holidays here and our coming new addition, my mind has been occupied obviously with finances. The thoughts of providing for and clothing one more child, and for my growing children have just overwhelmed me. So I've been wondering...how do you all afford to dress your family and not neglect yourselves? Does anyone have an actual clothes budget and stick to it? If you do how does it work for you? Daniel is constantly growing, and is getting passed the age where I feel like I can get things for him without him there. Those of you who have older children how do you manage that? Does everyone just have the cash to buy clothes all the time or do you have to do credit?

Any ideas or input on the subject would be appreciated!!

Happy Birthday Dennis!

2008-12-15T15:29:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was Dennis's birthday! We had fun getting together with his brothers and he played games, which is what he loves to do! I took the camera, but never took any pictures, shame on me! We had a good day

Rose Garden Ward Christmas Party

2008-12-15T15:19:00.000-08:00

Saturday was our ward Christmas party. Allison was the only one interested to sit on Santa's lap. There was no way Daniel and Cade would and Ethan was off somewhere. We had a great time, wonderful dinner, and a nice nativity program. Thanks to all those who put so much work into it!

My one and only

2008-12-13T05:38:00.000-08:00

Allison and I were sitting in the car playing with the camera and waiting for Dennis to come out of work. Man, I love this little girl even though she makes messes all the time! I'm so grateful that I have her and I hope that we can always be best friends! I love that she likes to go shopping and we look at clothes and things together, and she likes to "do" my hair sometimes. The Lord knew that I needed her, especially now that we are having another boy!

Can I just eat it?

2008-12-13T05:32:00.000-08:00

Allison made this gingerbread house in preschool, which was supposed to be a decoration. But she was bound and determined to eat it! I told her she had to wait until her brothers and dad got home so they could see it, and I wanted a picture of it. She waited all day and I kept having to remind her she needed to wait, then right after this picture she took it to the table and broke it apart, it made a huge mess! I should have gotten a picture of that!

Happy Birthday Ethan

2008-12-13T05:27:00.001-08:00

Ethan's birthday was on Wednesday the 10th. He is now 9 years old, oh how the time flies!
And to think that I am adding to this craziness!!!

2008-12-12T20:22:00.000-08:00

Thanks to everyone who helped us have a fun time. on the way home we met up with Darren and cody who were on their way home too. We stopped at Jacob lake at the North Rim and found some snow.

2008-12-12T20:15:00.000-08:00

Rachelle leading us all in christmas bingo, Taryn ( I thought this picture was great in so many ways), and her mom and dad (Anthony and Heather.

Thanksgiving

2008-12-12T20:03:00.000-08:00

We were able to safely arrive at my brother Jeff's house in Riverton, later that night thank goodness. We had a great time seeing my family and are very grateful to Rachelle and Jeff for letting us stay at their house for 4 days! The cousins all had a great time together, and are fast becoming little computer nerds as you can tell. Putting together puzzles is a family tradition at these gatherings, you can see my brothers, Jeff, Anthony, and Larry all working on one.

Dennis loves to do puzzles too and he was right there with them. I don't get in to it much, I'm not patient enough.

Thanksgiving blessings

2008-12-12T19:49:00.000-08:00

We ended up going up to Utah for Thanksgiving. My doctor gave me the ok. It had been rainy all Wednesday, and just as we were driving into Boulder City this grey car , which was going the other direction on the other side of the median, for some reason jumped the median right in front of the white car, which was right in front of us. Well the white car had no chance and hit him, and Dennis had to pull some good defensive driving techniques to avoid hitting both of them. Just as he was swerving around them, we got a shower of debris and glass all over our car. The whole experiance was very scary and we know that Heavenly Father was watching over us. Unfortunately the battery on our camera gave out so we didn't get any pics of our van, which was covered in glass. Our windshield is all nicked and cracked , and our car hood got some scratches and stuff all over. We are still waiting to hear from our insurance company how everything will get fixed.There were two people, a girl who looked about 8 and an older man(who was driving the grey car) that were taken to the hospital in a helicopter, they landed right in the road. And another lady was taken in an ambulance. We were very blessed, and no I didn't go into labor or anything!

Cade

2008-12-12T19:40:00.000-08:00

So Cade and I worked like crazy to get his Arrow of Light Award done. I feel like I definately earned that pin! I learned that it really is alot up to the parents to help their kids achieve, it is an overwhelming feeling.

THE Deer Hunt

2008-12-12T19:36:00.000-08:00

In October Dennis went on a deer hunt with his brothers, cousin and a friend, and he took Ethan with him. They had some interesting adventures, but had a great time and Dennis got his first deer. He was pretty proud.

2008-12-12T19:25:00.000-08:00

In October we took a little ride up South Mountain and hiked a little bit. The view was not as clear as we had hoped, and it was windy and cold! It was fun to get out and the kids love doing things like that. Daniel also got a lot of scout awards that month. Here he is giving me a pin, and trying not to stick me!

Backing up............

2008-12-12T19:06:00.000-08:00

ok, so back in September, Allison started preschool at North Canyon High with their vocational preschool program. The high school kids help teach the kids. She loves it! She was also invited to a birthday party where there was a petting zoo, and pony rides! And finally my little nephew Braxton was blessed!

Sigh......................

2008-12-02T17:09:00.000-08:00

ok, so one of these days I'll get to updating my blog better with all the pictures I have. But for now, I just had to say that I am 33 weeks! Yay, me. I have to celebrate every Tuesday when I hit my new week mark! So far so good, except my body is way too old for this! We had a great Thanksgiving up in Utah with my family. Interesting trip up there, we narrowly avoided being in a bad accident thanks to Heavenly Fathers protection. Dennis had to do some Nascar moves, but we are all alive and well. Dennis took some pics that I will post..............sometime......

2008-11-01T16:41:00.000-07:00

I thought I would finally change the blog to be a little fallish, better late than never I guess. But once again, I ended up deleting the pics I had on the side so I have to do it all again! What am I doing wrong? It will only be this way for a little while though! Then I guess we move on to Christmas! I'm not as good posting as I thought I would be, I have pictures on the camera that pile up on me. Like everything else in my life right now, some things just don't get done like I would like them to. I am almost 29 weeks yay! I've been having contractions fairly often, but not often enough to go in to the hospital. I'm trying to take it one week at a time. This little boy moves like crazy, I don't think he ever sleeps!

I hope to get my pictures put on here in the very near future, but right now I have to go lay down! Hope everyone had a fun Halloween!