GETTING READY TO RACE!

Bart's oh so fast sand rail that he will be racing on the 5th!

My beautiful offspring...Bartel, Annie, Coco,and Oliver...

Just the girls...

Just the boys..

How did I get so Lucky?

Part 2 :pictures...finally

Bartel was very proud of these nachos he made and asked me to put them on my blog ..so here you go. :Nachos Ala Bartel...

Dirty Camping kids....

Aunt Jenna

Holy Yummy See's Candy Sucker I had to pry this out of his hand.... 

And toes.....

Everytime I turn around my girls are stuffing there shirts!!!

Oliver has a clogged tear duct off and on, when he wakes up like this we call him "One Eyed Willie"...

Tamara and Randi going glam with extensions....I forgot to put the extension picture of Tamara up....shoot.

More Glam....Thanks Natalie!!

Forgot to turn this one...Nephew Brian having trouble tucking in his shirt while camping...who tucks in their shirt when there camping anyway right?

My sister Carly, Coco and Annie At Disney World!

Honey...I shrunk Coco and annie..ooops!

Arrrggg there be the pirate sisters....

Frumpy in Flagstaff..not so Glam in this one....

Bart cooking his famous dutch oven burritos..

h

more dirty children...

Camping with our friends the Woffindens...

Soooooooooo Dirty, but soooooooo cute!

Where did the summer go.....

I know it's been forever since my last update, I'll be honest though...I have been lazy. Not with all things but for sure with my blogs..all of them. With a busy summer with 4 kids i really have to pick and choose what I want to spend time on and sadly blogging has not been a priority. But school starts tomorrow...sing "halleluliah" with me!( You know you want to) so I'm hoping to get back into the swing of things and get a regular routine down complete with time for blogging..

SO our summer? Crazy...We actually did alot. From swim parties everyweek, Disney World, st.george ut, MArysvale Ut for the fourth, Flagstaff, we were quite busy. I think the kids had a good time. But even good things have to come to an end....Hooray for school! Hooray for school! Honestly I know what your thinking..."what a mean mom, I can't believe she is so ready for school to start!" Well....if the shoe fits... bring it on! Seriously they are as ready to go back as I am ready to have them go back! Besides, I'm only thinking about their education.....(right.....) 

I'm thinking about all the projects I'm going to start and all the organizing I'm going to get done while their gone. It's been a real challenge trying to keep the house in order 24 /7 with 4 kids working against me...in fact I haven't been able to do it..at all really. and I'm tired too. I pick and choose what I have energy for and house cleaning has not been top O' the list.. It seems like if I work out then anything else I may get done is a perk..like a shower for instance. Or like now, I'm still in my sweaty gym clothes but darn it, I'm determined to blog today and if I get nothing else done today then thats' ok...yes, I will feed the children and make sure they are all alive and well, but that's my limit. Luckily, for me I have a sweet husband who doesn't demand perfection from me, which is a good thing or else i would have a very dissappointed husband on my hands. 

So we took my sister Carly with us to Florida, it ended up being kind of a girls trip..no offense Bart, Bartel did not want to go with us. Shocking I know! who doesn't want to visit the wonderful world of Disney?? Bartel... He didn't want to fly in an airplane. "had he flown before?" you ask.. "why yes, he has." But for some reason he has developed a fear of flying. Much like his fear of bed bugs...don't get me started again. (chole sleeps on the floor now by the way) Maybe he reads to much has my encouragement of learning coming back to bite me in my not so toned rear? He also heard from a "friend" that Disney World wasn't so great...remind me to find out who this friend is and have him sent "poo in a bag" because he is a party pooper!!! Anyhow, not to be runde but we still had fun without Bartel...We left Oliver as well, but they had a great time at grandma kim possibles' house...so no worries. although, I desperately missed Oliver and wanted to munch on every baby I saw at the magic kingdom...mothers protect your children......

here are some pics I'm not sure yet what I'll put up. Probably some of everything...It's great to be back!!

ok, for some reason I can't download pics right now..so I'll try it later

Summer fun....

Our summer is just cruisin' right along.. So much going on every week. Bartel just finished Scout Camp last week and earned lots of badges and had a great time shooting BB guns, doing archery, swimming, crafts, water balloon fights! and just hanging out with fellow scouters. Now he's started "Power Playground" at the gym 3 times a week, playing dodgeball, exercising and staying active. The girls pretty much hang out together and with mom. We are swimming just about everyday. And they are so brown already!! especially Coco, we call her our dark chocolate, and Bartel and Annie are milk chocolate and Oliver? White Chocolate. Are we a food family or what?  The kids are doing a good job of playing together too. They rarely ask for friends over and are using their imaginations making up silly plays about "Kids on the 'naughty' list". Bartel is also determined to finish his scouting requirements for his Wolf. 

Last week the kids informed me that on Friday they were celebrating "Brother Day". They thought Brothers and Sisters should have a day like Mom's and Dad's. So and Annie and I went to the store early Friday so they could buy Bartel a present, with their own Money. They were so excited, they picked out some hot wheels and gum and came straight home to wrap them up. It was so sweet. Sister's Day is June 30th..just so you "sisters" are aware. We'll see how Bartel makes it special for them. I'm not sure how they came up with these dates..Aunt Jenna is in town! My kids love their Aunt Jenna, mainly because they know Aunt jenna loves them. She munches on my kids almost as much as I do!! She just adores all her nieces and nephews! (especially my kids;) She is going to be a great mother.. Danilo my inlaws exchange student went home Sunday back to Italy...What a nice young man. We got to know him a bit and will miss his quiet, kind demeanor and hopefully we can visit him one day and have our own private tour guide of Italy!! We also celebrated Opa's birthday! How old are you now Opa? 45?

We still have a lot of Summer left with trips planned  to Disney world, Utah,and California! 

Aunt Jenna And the boy

Getting some "air" on swim day.

Now all he needs is a pina colada in his little hand!

Annie and Oliver performing in a skit about X-mas! Oliver looks a little nervous....

The final scene in their play.. Mrs. Claus and Bartel the elf....

Our family minus Annie who was in a bad mood, with Danilo before he left for home. Ciao' 

Can you feel the love??

Happy Brothers Day my Boys!! (ignore the laundry on the couch..it's pretty much always there)

Beautiful Annie and Cousin Brooklyn!

Daddy's girls. Pretty much anything they want..they get from dad.

Your How Old??!!!

Friends of Fitness

It's up and running! My new Fitness blog: friendsoffitness.blogspot.com

It's under my friends and family link. Check it out. Tell me what you think I will be updating daily and am open to suggestions on improvements. Also if you would like to contribute, as an author leave me a quick note and I will add you. I'm so excited about this and I already feel like I'm looking better!! I really think having someone to answer to makes a huge difference. I may change things up a bit as I go along but at least it's started and I can fine tune it as I go along. Thanks for your support, this will be so fun if I can get some of you to hop on board with me (wink, wink) and maybe we should have some kind of reward for ourselves when we reach our goals? Any suggestions??

 

Get Fit with me!

On a side note, as you all know we had a new baby in March. In fac,t tomorrow he will be 12 weeks old! Where has the time gone?? Anyhoo, It's about time I get my buns into shape. Summer is already here and I'm so not ready for it. I've walked a few times outside, and it's just too hot now. So I brought the workouts in doors. And it's just too hard to try to do them at home, interruptions, laziness, etc. keep me from getting my workouts done. SO I just joined the gym begrudgingly and signed up for bootcamp and a trainer. No more excuses!! I am ready and all set up to go, but I think I would be more motivated if I had not only my trainer to answer to, but anyone who reads my blog as well. So inspired by my dear best friend Sherece, who is working her buns off to;) I am starting a fitness blog. On this blog will be pictures (shutter) my daily fitness routine that was completed, my daily food journal, goals, recipes for success, measurements etc.. I haven't decided if it's going to be a private blog or not. But I thought this would be a good way to motivate me and others who are interested in getting fit,Share tips, stories, words of encouragement! I have so many great friends that live all over and we can't work out together, so this is the next best thing. So based on the interest I will decide if it will be private or not. If you are interested in contributing to the blog itself let me know so I can add you as an author on this blog. Anyone can contribute this is going to be fun and I think people in general do better with their fitness goals when they have someone to answer to and friends to encourage them. And as a mom of four with a body like a mom of four, I could use all the encouragement I can get. So if you want to get fit with me then hop aboard the "Hottie Express" is about to leave!.....(ok, that was extremely cheesy....oooh cheese!)

Just lots of pictures...

Me and Annie the other day. This is when Coco pointed out that I"m getting wrinkles. I told her that's what happens when you smile alot because you're happy!

Super Bart and sidekick Oliver ready to conquer some chores.

Daddy's 34th Birthday at Cheesecake Factory!!

The worst picture of Bartel ever!! I told him it was his "Willie Wonka Look" from the old "Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" and that we had to get a picture of it. But really, he just finished swimming!

A not so good picture taken by Bartel at my sister Taylor's wedding.

Nieces' and cousins' at the wedding

The Beautiful Channy caught the bouquet tossed by the beautiful bride my sister, Taylor.

Lot's of cupcakes we made for the wedding. thanks to everyone for all your help!

Helping mommy make over 200 sparkley cupcakes!

My cute sister Carly.....

Mother's Day Program at school. Coco spelled out my name and wrote some sweet and probably too nice of things about me. In fact I'm not sure she's talking about me at all...

Really nice.

Always loves me.

Never mad.

Darling

I want to be her.

Reciting a poem about "moms"

On a hike in Box Canyon.. that I wasn't jazzed about but it was very pretty and there were no kids in sight.

Cuddling mommy.

Happy camper. He loves his momma so much and is so romantic, sometimes when he kisses me he softly closes his eyes like he's in heaven and sometimes he even puts his hand on my face. This kid has got all the moves!!.... Should I be worried?

Not so happy to go to church...Sometimes I feel the same way bud..It's a very long day huh?

Our life is busy!!

So I really feel like I don't know what I"m doing yet as a mother. And funnily enough, by the looks I get from passerby's I'm pretty sure most people would agree with me. I'm rarely out shopping with all 4 kids at once. But when I am, the smiles of sympathy, and looks of disbelief when I say "yes, they all belong to me" come pouring in.  You'd think that the frazzled look on my face and the soft round body and unkept hair and clothes would give every inklination  that these are indeed my children. Obviously a nanny wouldn't show up to work so dis- shoveled and would appear a little more put together and relaxed beings that she does not take care of these children day in and day out. I look the way I do for a reason, how dare anyone try to take away my title as "crazy mother of four". I do love these little mess makers of mine. They say we are in the best times of our life. Most times I get stopped by elderly, wise people who advise me to "enjoy every minuet, because it goes by fast" I know this all too well. My children are changing before my very eyes and sometimes I'm too "frazzled" to take notice. Relax Randi, take a breather and enjoy the chaos. Someday you might long for all that drives you crazy now, and it will be too late.

This kid loves his binky. At times I think "Maggie Simpson" is in the room the way he goes to town on it

Starting to smile... (2 months old)

He looks like Papa!! (grandpa Thayer)

Wiped out from school....who sleeps like this anyway???

Playing  "The Sorting Hat" from Harry Potter...

More make believe....

 Annie Chillin' with her Brother....then she asked me to move...she couldn't see the T.V.