Meeting Reese #2 or Reese with an 'S'

For those of you who don't know my best friend Kendra had a baby girl a few weeks after my sister Julie and named her Reese. Julie refers to Kendra's Reese as Reesey2. It helps to clarify. Anyway, this weekend I was so happy to not only see Kendra, JD, and the kids but Reesey 2! The Dockstader's came for the weekend to finish moving out of their house and settle all their stuff in Fresno. :(

Although, it is so sad that they are gone for good, it was wonderful to see them and spend some time visiting and holding the baby. She is so very cute! It was great to see them all and to have the kids pick right up where they left off! Asey and Brooklynn were adorable and Tyler and Tyce acted really cool, but I know deep down were thrilled to see each other. It was a treat to have them back for a few days, even though now I miss them more than ever.

Joshy was so interested in the baby. It was funny because he isn't interested in much other than a ball and Elmo. But while I was holding the baby he came over pointing and attempting to talk and I asked him if he wanted to hold the baby, he couldn't put down his toy fast enough. He would hold her and rub her head (She has some pretty great hair!) and then push her away and then I would take her and he would reach for her again. It was pretty cute!

I must put in a disclaimer for Kendra, the baby has some baby acne, so please disregard it!

Asey and Brooklynn

Tyler and Tyce, you can see how impressed Tyce is!

Miss Reese, she is such a sweet baby!

Tyce and Josh playing Play Station - Tyler was at school.

Miss Reese again with her eyes on - she has the bluest eyes!

And Finally Josh holding the baby and so pleased about the whole situation!

Now all that I need is too get my hands on Reecey 1 or Reece with a 'c'. Hopefully it will be in only a few weeks!

Tyler is 7!

Tyler turned 7 yesterday! We just had a little family party last night. I also took cookies to school for his class. I think he had a great day!

Wow, I can hardly believe how fast it has gone. He is such an amazing boy. He is very smart and so handsome and such a BIG helper around the house. Since he was a little boy I have often asked him, "How come I am such a lucky mommy?" His reply is always, "Because Heavenly Father and Jesus sent me to you!" He is so right, he is a blessing in our home. Here's to you by big 7 year old. I love you!

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Wait, I'm not dead yet!

Here is what my obituary would say. Why is this so funny!

'What will your obituary say?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Crash, Boom, Bang!

Yesterday started out as any regular Sunday. I got up with the kids, we got ready, we went to church. Then in order to pick Steve up at the airport, after his lovely weekend playing golf with the boys, I left church with Josh and left Brooks and Ty to go to primary. I picked Steve up and brought him and Joshua home and then headed back to church so I could go to YW. All sounds pretty normal except that I don't usually pick Steve up from the airport. So, on my way back to church I was driving down the street with 3 or 4 stop signs. Now, you have to understand people here in Central Cali totally suck at 4 way stops. They never know when it is their turn, they will wave at you for 5 minutes to go first when really they should have gone, to say the least it is annoying! Well, I pulled up to a stop sign where they are putting in a light. There was really no one there, one other car and I stopped first so I went through. All of a sudden I realized a car was coming at me from the right and they had obviously not stopped at the stop sign. She grazed my front right bumper, bounced a little and then I t-boned her. It was pretty bad, not terrible, but bad. I can still see her face when she realized that we were going to hit. After we smashed, I sat there thinking to myself, "But I am on my way back to church this isn't supposed to happen." Thankfully Steve was home and came to my rescue and to handle all the car stuff since I was driving his car.

I am ok! My neck is stiff and sore, but I am thankfully not hurt worse than that. It is amazing how something like that makes you super grateful for everything you have and helps you realize how quickly things can change. I also learned or reconfirmed how wonderful all our friends and our ward here is. Steve ended up picking up the kids from church and from just one small conversation in the hall, we had phone calls within minutes of everyone getting home from church and a member of the Bishopric was at our house to make sure everyone was ok. I also had 3 or 4 calls from my great friends checking on me. How blessed we are here!

A Pleasant Surprise!

If any of you know anything about the beautiful place I live, then you would know that it never rains here in the summer. I really mean never. In 3 summers here, I have never seen a drop. That is until last night! I awoke at about 3:30 to the beautiful sound of thunder and raindrops on my skylight. It was so nice. It has been overcast and cloudy most of the day so far. I'm not sure where the rain came from, but all I can figure is that it has something to do with the higher than normal humidity we've had this week. The only problem with all the rain is that once the sun comes out it is going to be brutally hot. We are supposed to get up to 107 degrees today, plus almost 50% humidity. That is not humid to some of you wonderful people out there, but for us it is really high. So, I am going to be in a sauna soon. Oh well, I'll take it, at least I got to enjoy some rain!

I don't think in January or February I would be as excited about rain, but in the summer it is wonderful!

Brooklynn's First Day of Preschool!!!!

Today was Brookie's first day of Preschool. For the last week everyday she has asked me when she starts. And then she says, 'So not tomorrow, or the day after that, or the day after that, but the next day after that.' She is hilarious. This morning she was just bouncing off the walls and so excited she could hardly contain herself. She had a wonderful day and he teacher even told me how polite she is. Wow, maybe I have actually done something right as a mom. She has manners, yippy! In the car on the way home, she gave a complete run down of all the activities. It is funny how different that is from Tyler because he says, 'I don't remember' or 'nothing' or 'I don't know what we did.' Joshy missed having her gone and cried the whole time I worked out at the gym! I felt really bad for him. 'But mom I can't smile the sun is in my eyes!'

Brooklynn with one of her best friends Taylie. They are in the same class!

A Week in the Life of the Empey's

We had a great first week of school. Tyler had a great time. He was most excited to come home and tell me that he could buy hot lunch at school. I think he comes home almost everyday to tell me what the choices were. I have not yet let him buy lunch because I need to put some money in his account. I know, I know I am a horrible mean mother, but I promised him he could this week, just once.

Joshua has kept us smiling as usual. I often find him sitting on the kitchen table sabotaging Ty and Brooks coloring and eating the ends off of the markers or stuck in Brooklynn's booster seat. He has to scream for help once he climbs in because he can't get out. He also is really into trying on all our shoes lately and walking around in them. The flip flops are my favorite. He is also starting to do the cheesy grin for pictures. What a nut.

Can you tell that he loves to torment Brooklynn by the look on his face.

'Say Cheese'

Wearing Tyler's shoes and trying to go the the step with them.

As for Brooklynn, she took it upon herself to change the batteries in the Leapster all by herself, after I told her not to, of course! So, as it turned out she threw away my rechargable batteries. I wasn't the happiest of moms at that moment. Steve told her that she had to go through the garbage to find them. She was less than pleased with that prospect and while she was brushing her teeth we heard her saying, "I don't want to dig in the garbage, I am already clean and it is kucky, kucky, kucky and more and more kucky. Of course Steve and I were cracking up. She did dig through the trash and found the batteries and of course we took pictures of her. She almost fell in she was on her tippy toes as far as she could go. After she dug them out, Steve being the dad that he is 'accidently' pushed them back in the trash. Brooklynn was so mad, 'Dad I know you did, why did you put them back in.' It was a funny moment at any rate!

Brooklynn and the search for the batteries! Kucky!

A Little About Me!

To everyone who views my blog... Tag you're it!

Five things I was doing 10 years ago:
1. Started my senior Year at BYU. Holy Crap am I that old now!
2. Wondering if Steve would call me when he got home from his mission!
3. Continued working at Media Services on BYU campus
4. Set up a homecoming date with Steve Madsen
5. Got totally played by that guy named Craig whatever - remember that Julie what was his name.


5 songs I know the lyrics to:
1. Wasted by Carrie Underwood
2. 867-5309 (Jenny, Jenny) by Tommy Tutone
3. Rubber Ducky by Ernie
4. The Thunder Rolls by Garth Brooks
5. Unwritten by Natasha Beddingfield

5 things I would buy if I was a Millionaire:
1. A Compound for my Family to live in with a pool house/grill area and a big park for the kids
2. A timeshare in Hawaii
3. A Tummy Tuck
4. Some big new car - not sure what
5. A Big Beautiful house, with a toy/game room and all my kids would have their own room

Five Things I Would Never Wear Again:
1. Stirrup Pants, what the heck were those about
2. Overalls, it really was bad from the get go, just none of us realized it
3. Skinny Jeans, most of the world is too fat for them, and the other half think they are too fat.
4. My Bridesmaids dress from Marilee's Wedding because mom sold it and it is a little out dated.
5. Banana Clips, I thought of this one driving Brooks to school this morning!

Five Things I Would Like to Do:
1. Move closer to my family
2. Go to Hawaii every single year
3. Take my kids to Disney World often
4. Learn to Golf
5. I would like to travel through Europe

Five Favorite Toys:
1. tivo
2. The internet
3. iPod
4. Cell phone
5. Kitchen Aid

My Baby is all Grow'd UP!

Well, today was Tyler's big day! He started first day. I have to admit this was much harder for me than the first day of Kindergarten. Seriously, he will now be gone from me for about as long as he is with me durning the day. So sad - at least for me! He was off the walls this morning and could hardly wait to go. We took some pictures and then we headed off to school. Once we go to school and he saw all the kids, I could tell he was nervous! Once he found a few of his friends it helped, but I am anxious to see how the first day went. I helped him find the right place to line up, and followed him into his classroom! He was excited and there are plenty of kids in his class that he had in class last year or played T-Ball with. His teacher is wonderful and I think and hope it will be a great year! I love you Ty!

In front of our house!

On the playground!

Some of the boys in his class. Brock, Carson, Nelson, Beaux

Mrs. Jackson!

Going into his classroom! Man he is so dang handsome! See the nervous smile.

The Beach and The Wedding

Two Weekends ago we went down to So. Cal to see my family and go to Laura Christofferson's wedding. It was a fun weekend. We went to the beach with Nana and Nicole. The kids had such a great time. Tyler tried boogie boarding for the first time, so did Brooklynn. Josh willing went in the ocean and it was just a lot of fun. Josh was probably the funniest, when we finally took him down to the water, he took off full steam ahead. He kept running right into a wave and in knocked him face first into the water. I rescued him and thought he would be much more cautious. I was wrong. He went for it again and low and behold the next wave took him out and he went in head first again. After that he learned he needed to be more cautious and so he took off after a receding wave and tripped and went head first into the sand. I was, of course, laughing. It took him a little longer to venture into the water again and after that he would mostly just run away from the waves.

The wedding was fabulous. I didn't get any good pictures of Laura and Kevin, but Marilee and Nicole posted some. I did get some great picture, well actually video's of the kids dancing at the reception. G-man was hilarious spinning on the floor, Tyler was great dancing too. Tyler told me on our way to the reception, "I'm not going to dance," let me tell you that conviction lasted all of ten minutes. Enjoy, the pictures and the video's.

Love was so in the air at the reception. Brooklynn and Ben we can say have never been the best of friends. I remember a few times that Brooklynn would say to me in reference to Ben, "That boy is being mean." or "That boy is bugging me!" They have since grown out of that, but at the wedding Brooklynn was loving the bride and told me how pretty she was and during the first dance she was just so excited. So, I then turned around and she and Ben were in dancing form all ready to dance. It was adorable. Unfortunately I didn't capture that first moment on film, but I did get a picture of them later. I also caught Garett giving Marin a flower he picked out of the flower bed. It was cute.

I also must mention the dress fiasco! Marilee's Bridesmaid dress due to some unfortunate circumstances did not quite turn out as well as she would have liked. Annie referred to it as, "A beautiful disaster!" So mom, with minimal assistance from me set out to fix it. Notice in the picture how gorgeous it turned out. It was not without a very frustrated Janet, and me right next to her talking her off her ledge. Mom, you are a rock star! Marilee you looked beautiful!

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Slacker!

I've totally been slacking in the blog department. I'm not sure why. I am having the end of summer blues and the beginning of school excitement. Tyler starts back on Monday and Brookie goes to preschool the next week. I am very excited for them both, but how is it possible that I am old enough to have a 1st grader! It makes me sad to think he is going to be gone all day, but happy at the same time.



We haven't been up to much, we did go to Laura and Keving Redford's wedding which was fun and I have some good video's to post of the kids dancing. I'll have to post later after I download the videos. I will have to do it before school on monday because the memory card is full!



Okay, so I am totally boring, but I just wanted to let all my faithful and devoted fans that I will have some updates next week!

Hair!

My Joshua really has the coolest hair. He was born with tons and while most babies have all their hair fall out, not Josh. It thinned and he had some fall out, but he has always had tons of strawberry blonde, sometimes red, hair. So, Steve and I were inspired by Kari and J, to give him a really cool hair do. We figure this is our only child who has had this much hair or will ever have this much. Tyler didn't even have a hair cut until he was 18 months, and I can't even tell you how many times I've cut Josh's. Anyway, here is his lastest do. I laugh every time I see that cute little face with a rocking mohawk! I love it!



Just as a side note, I would just like to mention how much I love it when my house is all clean. I have spent most of the day cleaning and I am so glad it is done and my house is nice and clean (at least for 10 minutes). Why do I get such a feeling of satisfaction from it, I think I may be a little twisted, but oh well. At least we are all clean for another week!

Bear Lake Utah and the Empey Clan!

You have to love family reunions! Seriously, what is better than getting together with all the people you love and hanging out for a few days! We just got back from Bear Lake and the Empey Family Reunion! I will start first by telling all you Empey's that we love you and miss you already. The kids hate being away from their cousins. And Kayla, we love and miss your clan too, we wish you could have been here with us, but I guess a vacation in Spain isn't a bad substitute!

We left on Monday and drove to Mesquite Nevada. I thought it would be a great place to stay at only $30 a night. So we did, I thought Steve would kill me because he really wanted to just keep driving, but we stopped at the lovely (that is sarcastic) Oasis Spa and Casino. Let's just say we have not stayed in too many places this bad. I learned a few things about our kids that night. Tyler isn't bad to sleep next to. Brooklynn loves to snuggle in next to her Daddy! And Josh sings himself to sleep and plays with his belly button!

Tuesday we hit the road and stopped at Mike's house. Stephanie and Mike were taking a boat and trailer up to Bear Lake and since Steph had never towed anything was a little nervous. I can't say I blame her I would have been the same way. So, we helped them get ready and left on Wednesday with Steve pulling the boat, Mike the trailer and me driving our car. It worked out well and Kenzie and Steph drove with me and read me some Harry Potter. Now that I know some of the last book I may have to start at the beginning.

We got to our campsite, which was in a great spot and set up camp. We hauled our tent up and all our sleeping bags, got it set up and then ended up bunking in with Kari and J. Of course, why wouldn't we. J's parents let them bring up their trailer and it worked out nicely. Steve and I slept on an air mattress on the floor the kids slept on the bed, Jake and Josh each had a pack
n play and Kari and J got the bed. It wasn't the most comfortable on the air mattress that is, but it worked! Oh and of course the tent we had just purchased had a hole in it!

On Thursday, we hit the lake. The water was soooooo smooth. It was fantastic and I skiied. Yippy, it was so awesome I hadn't skiied like that in years. It was so very fun. Kari learned to wakeboard, Steve Skiied and wake boarded, it was just really fun! At least until the thunder storm rolled in and ruined it! McKenzie, who by the way for those of you who don't know her, is the coolest 13 year old ever - I love you Kenz! After watching me ski wanted to give it a whirl. She popped up on that one ski so fast. She is a total rock star! I have to say the highlight of this day was when James road his bike in the water and then lost it in the water. Lucky for him the bike search party found it!

When we got back to camp, Tyler crashed! He had a fever and was not feeling good. Being the mom I am I started to worry. I soon figured out that he probably had the strep throat that Joshua had the week before. Of course I had thought in my own head before we left I should really call and get some anitbiotics for Ty and Brooks just in case, but I didn't. Next time I will listen to my own self. Anyway, I tried my Pediatrician, but he was unable to prescribe in Idaho. So, on Friday Morning, after Andy had gotten us a list of Dr's etc to call in the area, thanks Andy! I called an office and they got us right in! You have to love the nice small town Idaho folks! Anyway, sure enough it was Strep and so we got the medicine and kept Ty's fever down with Motrin and headed back to the beach! It was another great day. As the pictures show, the kids had a great time, especially Josh in his mud puddle. He played in that silly mud puddle forever, even though a whole lake of water was just feet away.

I must mention that Kari planned a great dutch oven dessert cook off. The first night of the cook off was on Friday and it was awesome! We made Monkey Bread that turned out great! Stephanie and crew made a chocolate carmel thing and mom made some sort of cobbler or something that looked like chili. They all tasted great and it was fun to see what everyone came up with.

On Saturday we headed up to some caves - the Minetonka caves (I think). Anyway, it is a huge cave that they have put stairs in so that you can go on tours. In all there is over 400 stairs. Well, we all went and Grandpa Nelson was not going to miss out either! At almost 99, he is truly amazing, he climbed all the stairs and even though most of us were very worried, he made it through with no problem.

Later in the afternoon we went up to Bloomington lake and Steve and Kelly jumped off the cliffs. Dave couldn't make the swim (you big whimp - HeeHee). Once we got back to camp, Steve and I packed up, ate dinner, said a sad goodbye and headed to Pocatello. We decided to get an early jump on it. It was better to get some Laundry done and clean up and shower before the long car ride home! We heard the dutch oven on Saturday night was good too, I am so sad I didn't get to try all the creations! Kristin, I love apple pie and I bet it was sooo good.

All in all, it was a great reunion. Thanks to Mike for bringing the boat! Thanks to mom and dad for having such a great family! Thanks to Kelly for having lots of extra gear. Thanks to Steph for feeding my family so much food. Thanks to everyone for putting up with me and my non-camping self. I try, no really I do, I just have an aversion to dirt or something. Of course a huge shout out goes to Kari for planning and stressing and dealing with everyone's, especially mine, complaining, I love you! Dave and Trista, we are sad that we didn't get to see more of you! We can't to hear about the flavor of your baby! Let us know.

Enjoy the pictures. I didn't get pics of everyone, but I'm sure with all the cameras up there we got everyone!

Oh ya and I musn't forget. Dad Empey water skiied! Go Dad! Look for the pics of that too!

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The Things I LOVE!

I was inspired to post the things I love most about my kids today, thanks to my friend Melissa! So here it goes.

1. I love it when Josh say "DADA" with as much excitement as his little person can muster. "MAMA" on the other hand seems to be more of a whiney and complaining tone.

2. I love Brooklynn trying to figure out and remember to say her L's, it is a real challenge, but slowly she is getting it!

3. I totally love Tyler's passion for swimming, the kid goes non-stop in the pool.

4. I love when Joshy mimics what I do, for instance, when I blink my eyes at him and he does it back, but when he does it, he scrunches up his nose.

5. I love Brooklynn's energy, she can run circles around all of us and is constantly jumping around.

6. I love it when Tyler is the 'big' brother, and is so concerned and worried about his little brother and sister.

7. I love that Josh LOVES and I mean LOVES to be outside, no matter how hot it is. He wants to go go go all the time.

8. I love when Brooks decides she is going to use a new word, like last week, when she told us, "My lips don't feel so funky anymore!"

9. I love to listen to Tyler read! He is so cute and trys so hard to figure out all the words.

10. I love the grin Josh gets when Daddy and Tyler play catch with him. There is nothing greater it the world than a ball and hanging out with Dad all wrapped into one.

11. I love to listen to Brooklynn play, she has an amazing imagination and it is fantastic to eaves drop on her.

12. I love how my Tyler will still give snuggles. Even though he is almost too big to sit on my lap he still has to have a good snuggles once in a while and I wouldn't miss it. I keep telling him that he is getting to big and I will have to sit on his lap soon.

I guess that is all. I just really love my kids, they are amazing and so wonderful. I think sometimes I forget how wonderful they are and get worried about all the trivial stuff. I am so grateful for them and the fun and joy they bring both Steve and me!

The 4th and 100 and HELL!

We had a great 4th of July this year. Our friends the Lawrence's hosted a little party and we went over for some great tri-tip (thanks Logan and Jamie) and some other good food. The kids played on the water bounce house slid thingy and we sat around and visited. It was nice and relaxing. After that we headed over to our friend Megan's brother for a little swimming. The kids also loved that! And then we went back over to Lawrence's to light some fireworks. It was a great day and the kids had so much fun! We are blessed with such amazing friends and it was nice to spend time with them. Here are a few pictures from the day!

The Slide, you can see Tyler right at the bottom.

Joshua after a cupcake! It was really good.

A good toothless picture of Brooks!

Tyler - he is so dang handsome.

I love the look on Brooklynn's face here!

Tyler and Dax

Brooks and the sparkler

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Brookie and Duncan (her boyfriend) even though she always says to me, "Mommy Duncan won't talk to me!" He is somewhat shy and doesn't say too much.

Nash and Josh, they were hilarious. Nash kept giving Joshy hugs.

Well, other than that we have plunged into our Hotter-than-HELL temps here. I know some of you are experiencing them as well! I still don't love the heat, nice yes, Mid 90's I'll take it, but anything over 100 makes me sick to my stomach. I can't complain too much though, we do have our water park passes! I guess that about sums up our last few days!

Going, Going, and really truely totally and completely GONE!!!!

Brookie had a most traumatic morning today, but thankfully she didn't know it would be quite so traumatic! As many of you know when she was around 18 months, she slammed her face on our tile floor in the middle of a tantrum and chipped her two front teeth. She slammed the same teeth into my cedar chest last October and bit through her lip and then a couple months ago she sneezed whilst putting her dishes into the sink and slammed them into the counter. Yikes, I know it makes you cringed doesn't it? Well, the last blast to the teeth finally did in not only one, but both of her front teeth. Before we left for Utah/Idaho last week I took her to our Dentist and yep, sure enough both teeth were abcessing. Sad - they were going to have to come out. Due to the scheduled family pictures, we decided to wait until after we got home to pull them.

So, first thing this morning Brookie and I headed to the Dentist. It was so sad to sit in the corner and watch, but I was very brave and although I really wanted to, I didn't cry! I think the worst part was of course the needle, but she didn't know it was a needle. Dr. Grant was so fantastic with her. Then once he went to pull them, that really put her in tears. All the pressuer and stuff is so hard to understand pressure and all that stuff when you are only 4. She was super duper brave and although she really hates the way her nose and lip feels, my Brookie is a trooper. I'm sure I will have a good cry later today because her teeth are gone and although they were scraggle teeth, they were teeth.

Enjoy the pictures!