Finally, some fun and excitement!

The Empey family has had a very fun and exciting weekend. This is a big change for us because most of our weekends are dull and just mostly chill!

It all started on Friday - Brooklynn and Tyler have been sharing a room since we moved here. At the time with only 3 bedrooms it gave Steve a room for his office/guest room. Then of course Josh came along Steve was kicked out and the crib went back up. Now that Josh is old enough we decided for a number of reasons it was time for a switch!

1. Ty and Brooks are constantly fighting about who made what mess. Cleaning up is a nightmare.

2. Tyler is getting big enough and old enough that he needs his own space and privacy.

3. Brooklynn really wants her very own 'Princess' room.

4. I was really truely running out of storage space for Toys etc and Josh's room has a bigger closet. Especially now that all the baby gear is in the garage.

So, I got up on Friday and starting moving everything. All the baby stuff went out to the garage. All Brooklynn's toys into Joshua's room/closet. All the bedding off the queen bed, then the old bedding back on the queen (It is purple and most girly). I took down Brooklynn's twin to take out to the shed until Josh needs it. Stacked both twin mattresses on Ty's bed. Moved everyone's clothes, moved the crib and hung most of the pictures etc. It took most of the day with all of the cleaning and washing I did along the way. The results are below! Brooklynn's room needs some decor, any suggestions would be most appreicated.

Friday night we had the Ward Halloween Party. It was a fun time. I didn't take any pictures, but I did make some White Bean Chili that won 2nd place in the Chili Cook off! I even got a prize. Major prize, major prize I won I won I won! It is now my one and only Halloween decoration.

Saturday morning was the best, but I will give you all a little background first. When we moved into our house there was a hot tub here. So, Steve got it all cleaned out and running. I am not a big fan of hot tubs, I think I got in it twice, maybe! I didn't really care that it was here, that is until the wood started to fall off the sides. The outside of it literally started falling apart, even after Dad Empey helped us do some repairs. A few people told us it just needed a little paint, but it was beyond any help a little paint could give it. While the inside worked - the outside was just plain trashy looking. So, after a few fruitless try's on Steve's part to get someone to take it away, he found someone! Yeah for Steve - I love you honey you are the best! This guy was so nice and because Steve is so fantastic the guy agreed to do it for free! I don't know how he does it, but he can really sweet talk people into stuff. I was most excited! Steve recruited a few friends to come and help (Thank you Jared, Jeremy and Nate). They took down part of the side fence, pulled up one of the plants, the guy came and unhooked the thing, they all loaded it onto a dolly, onto a trailer and it is gone! Of course I took pictures, even though I was being taunted and teased by a few people who's wives also have blogs (I won't mention any names). It is so nice and now everytime I look in the backyard I don't cringe. The wonderful Hot Tub guy told us that when we do go to sell, whenever that is, it will be a much better selling point to have a nice area that is prewired for a hot tub than an old nasty hot tub already in place! I cannot tell you all how happy I am about this.

Last night we were invited to a Halloween party at the Salway's! Thanks Mike and Emily. The only thing was I could not for the life of me find a babysitter. I went and Steve stayed home. There were some great costumes! I didn't get pictures of everyone though! I went as a Homecoming Queen! The only thing that would have made it better would have been to be a knocked up Homecoming Queen. We played a great game that at the next family gathering I think we should do. We split into teams and each team had an hour to make movie of whatever theme they wanted - it was hilarious.

Talli and Jeremy

Enjoy the pictures, there will be plenty more to come! Halloween is on Wednesday and then Tyler and I are off to Denver! Yippy I can hardly wait to see my sister's and my cutie nieces and nephews and all you other beautiful people I will get to see!

How did you think of that?

You know how sometimes your kids do things that you just wonder what was running thru their heads and really how did they come up with that idea? I had one of those moments about 2 minutes ago. My family is really good at keeping the main bathroom door closed, but when it comes to my bathroom for some reason no one remembers to close it. So I was just sitting here messing with my iTunes - who can blame a girl right - when I realized it was really quiet and Joshua had left the room. Where did he go you ask? Well my bathroom of course, he has a radar for that door being open and getting into as much as possible, like the lotion a couple of weeks ago and the like. Today however he topped all the bathroom stunts off. When I went in there he was holding a lid to my hair paste and looking extremely guilty so I investigated further and what did I find you want to know!













Sitting by the toilet were my Pajama pants that he had put into the toilet and then taken them back out drenched of course with toilet water, getting that same toilet water all over the floor, all over the toilet, of course his shirt was also very wet with that very same water! All I can say is thank heavens the toilet had been flushed. Now, my only question is what was he doing with the little cup like lid to my hair paste. Really I don't want to know and I am only guessing what that could have been - I leave that up to your imagination too.



Now as I write this he is standing at my feet crying "MaMa" as only he can and pushing on my boob, why you ask I am not sure, but he thinks it is interesting because it is squishy like a pillow or something.



You gotta love him though!

Now I know you are all thinking would this cute little person do such a terrible thing and believe me oh yes he did and he can and I'm sure I will have many more tails to tell of this one and his mischief!

It's About Time

After like 6 or 7 months of not doing anything to my hair and feeling extremely ugly and disgusting, I finally decided that the money was worth it and went to get my hair done! I went quite short in the back and basically went for the Victoria Beckam (Posh) look. I think it turned out great and I feel a billion times better. I just want to give a huge shout out to my hubby who insisted I go and get my hair done! I guess that says how really yucky I was starting to look! Oh and forgive the ugliness of the picture - what is seriously wrong with me? Ha Ha!

Ok people is my nose seriously that big? Why do I think it looks huge in this picture!

The Pumpkin Patch!

I finally got my camera back! Yippy!

So, on Friday we decided to take the kids out to a local pumpkin patch. Of course we always feel like it is a bit of a rip off, but the kids have a good time so who can argue with that. They have a little area with farm animals, you know ducks, chickens, minature horses, cows, goats etc. They are all penned in, but it is lots of fun for the kids to go see everything. The kids were loving the animals, well except for Josh, as you can see from the pictures he was not a fan of the animals. He did love running around the field and checking out the pumpkins. It was a lot of fun!

I didn't really get a good picture of Brookie, she was just too busy trying to find the perfect pumpkin!

In the car on the way to the patch!

More of the crazy kids in the car! Notice Brooklynn's tonsils!

Josh hating the animals!

They are so cute!

Flying high!

My Big Boy is so darn handsome!

And the pumpkins!

I miss my Camera!

I never realized how naked I would feel without the ability to take pictures. I took my camera in to be fixed on our service plan because it wasn't focusing very well and was just having problems! So with a few weeks before Halloween or any other major event I thought it would be a good time. I guess it is a good time with not a lot going on, but it sure stinks to be without it! So, needless to say there won't be any cool pictures to post for a little while!

We have just been doing the regular stuff of school, pre-school, going to the gym, cleaning the house and all the other regular stuff you do. We are thinking of moving the kids around and putting the boys in the same room. Tyler is tired of cleaning up Brooklynn's messes and I think they would get a long better if they weren't on top of each other all the time. I'm not sure though - I wouldn't mind changing the color on the walls in Ty and Brooks room now and making it a bit more neutral and maybe a little more girly! I don't know, we'll see. I just don't know!

Wig your Ear!

Here is a typical conversation that I get to have with Brookie. She always and I mean always has something to say and often times it is pretty funny! This was our conversation about 10 minutes ago.

"Mom today when I went potty in your bathroom, there was a bug in there. So, I got it all by myself."

"Good for you Brooks!"

"Ya, it was an Earwig!"

"EEEWWWW Earwigs are yucky aren't they!"

"Ya, and they wig your ear."

There you have it everyone, in case you were wondering, ear wigs actually 'wig your ear!'

What more can I say, she is so funny and so cute and even though most days I don't get a minute of quiet because she has to be talking about something, and the things she must think about and ponder, I wouldn't trade her cuteness for the world! I love you Brooklynn!

Meeting Reece with a 'C'

Brooklynn, Josh and I had a great weekend in the 'OC' with Nana, Granddad, Ryan and his crew and of course my sister Julie and baby Reecey!!! I was so excited to see Julie and finally meet Reece. She is one adorable little thing and although she mostly loves her mom and not me, I love her anyway. I have never seen such a tiny girl have such a preference for her mommy, but she does and it is pretty funny! I took a great picture of her having one of her fits and it is funny!

Josh loved this Reece, just like he loved Reesey 2. He wanted to hold her and kiss her and love her and as he is in the gathering phase of life (you know when they gather everything and bring it to you) he was always bring us the blankets and burp cloths. Reece was not really in favor of receicving all the love Josh wanted to give, but we did get one picture of him holding her.

We also went to Justin's football game and although his team didn't have their best game, it was fun to see him play. Marin was the highlight of the day for me with all the cheering she did. What a cutie, she really gave it all she had and was fun to watch!

While we were gone, Daddy and Ty had a fantastic 'boys' weekend. They went to the BIG Fresno Fair. Ty had a great time and they went on the ferris wheel, the gavatron, and tried out the bumper cars. They also took a peak at some horse races. The hit Denny's for breaky played some golf, played some playstation and really didn't miss us too much!
Enjoy the pictures!

The fit!

Before Josh got his hands on her!

Joshy holding Reecey, you can tell she loved it!

Me holding Reece after Josh, it took her a while to calm down!

Marin just giving it all she's got, she is a really cute cheerleader!

I love this picture of Reece, she found out she really liked sucking these two fingers!

Three Letters for you DMV

Why is the DMV always such a lame experience? I have yet to figure this one out, but every time I have to go I just dread it. Well after 2 1/2 years of living in the State of California, I decided to finally be legal and get my DL changed. Here in this lovely state you have to take a written exam if you have an out of state license, this of course just adds to the time you have to spend at the DMV. So, last week I scheduled an appointment on line, this is a nice feature here that seems to make the experience much faster. This morning I left the house and grabbed my SS card and my passport just knowing that they would want some other form of ID. It is always a mystery as to what they will require. Well, I arrived at the DMV right on time got in the short line for appointments and then told the very unfriendly lady what I was there for. She gave me the appropriate form and then asked, "Do you have your Birth Certificate?" "NO" I replied, "But I did bring my passport and SS card!" "You must have a birth certificate." she says, "You can go home and get it and come back and still have your appointment!" ARE YOU KIDDING ME! People at the DMV don't kid and mostly don't even smile, so off I went for the 30 minute round trip to home and back to the DMV. Once I returned and waited about ten minutes my number was called. The girl took my forms, my Utah license my Birth Certificate, and after a few minutes of looking at my Birth Cert and then having a conversation with a supervisor she of course asked me if I had any other forms of ID with me. I was so glad she asked because I did and she took my passport and said that since my Birth Cert is an out of country one that it was just much easier to use the Passport. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I went all the way home and back for a document I didn't even need. After that I took my test, passed my test and I am now Legal in the State of California!

It was a lovely morning in the DMV and I am just glad the experience is over. Why are there always the grossest, scummiest people there too! Is that just a place for them to hang out or what? I just don't get the DMV.

Sleeping and more.......

Friday night we had a 'family' party, without me mostly because I went to a wedding reception, but the kids and Steve watched a movie ate popcorn and watched Josh be a silly crazy guy! When I came home Brooks was done and asked me to put her in bed. Generally when my kids make such a request I don't deny them their wish. So, she and I headed in and said prayers and off to sleepy she went. Well after a good book that is!
Yesterday, we had just a realaxing day. Brooklynn went to a Birthday party, Steve went with his friend for all you can eat Sushi (yuck) and I took a nice rest on the couch. When Steve came home we were enjoying a little TLC and in came Josh with a bottle of my lotion and a big proud grin on his face. The Lotion was all down his face and shirt and then when we got out hands on him, it was all and I me all through his hair. For whatever reason he think lotion goes in the hair. On further investigation and thanks to one of the family leaving the bathroom door open, he had gotten into Steve's deodorant, two bottles of my lotion and it was all over the place. There was even a little spit-up with lotion in it from his taste test. How did I react you ask? I had a good laugh. I am afraid I am a total sucker when it comes to Josh and he is just so darn cute that I couldn't be mad, well at least not for long!

How can you be mad at this cuteness? This was after he was de-lotioned!

After this incident and a family meeting about closing bathroom doors, I headed off to try and get the piles of lotion out of Josh's hair. When I was finished, Steve, Tyler and Brooklynn had disappeared. I soon discovered they were all in my bathroom with door locked and wispering. This is what I found when they finally let me in!

Tyler's second top tooth has been loose since his other one came out, but not super loose. So Steve told Ty they should pull it out and surprise me. Once again floss saved the day and out popped top tooth number two! Isn't he so dang cute! I love that TyTy. Just to brag a little bit about my cute boy, he is quite the smarty pants. Every Friday they take a spelling test and for the past three weeks he hasn't missed a question, yep 100% for three weeks in a row! This week his teacher picked him to be 'Miner of the Month' The school Mascot is a Miner (as in gold mines), so he gets his picture displayed in the school and recognized in the weekly news letter and who knows what else. I asked his teacher how he was picked and she said that each Teacher picks a child from their class based on how well they are doing, their attitude, who is excited about school, who really tries hard etc. We are very proud of him!

Now, onto more sleeping. After I tucked Brooks in last night and then a little later went to tuck in Tyler, this is what I found! What is she doing and how do you just become so tired that this is what happens?

Notice that the book is the same one both nights, maybe it is a really boring one!

Tooth Drama!

For those of you who know Tyler, you know that he does not handle the unknown well. He is very apprehensive and sometimes fearful of situations or experiences he has never before had. I will give you an example. Last summer, as in 2006, my mom and I took the kids to Disneyland and hooked up with Julie and TJ. All of the kids were most excited to go on Pirates of the Carribean, except Tyler, he was freaked out. Now, I am a most compasionate mother and if the kids are scared of ride I am more than willing to let them skip it, but not this one. After a lot of tears, a cell phone call to Dad, some encouragement from Uncle TJ and maybe a few threats from me the compasionate one, Tyler went on the ride and enjoyed it. See pictures below...






See the before and after shots.






Now fast forward to when Tyler lost his first tooth. It was pure drama and tantrums and many an exclamation of, "It'll hurt, it'll hurt." Even though the tooth, thanks to some good wiggling by dad was barely hanging on. And in the end despite a little blood all went well. The second tooth was easy as pie. Tyler came home from school, said mom will you pull out my tooth, I got ahold of it and out it popped! No problem.

Now the last two weeks or actually since school started Ty has been working on his top left tooth. Last week we got it super loose and once again he started some freak out because of the unknown. So we left it. All week we have been teasing him about pulling it out and everytime, he covers his mouth and yells no! At this point I think it is more for attention than anything else. So this morning, I got him to let me wiggle it and I somehow was able to make him promise that when he came home we could pull it out! He came home and after working on some flash cards I said, let me look at your tooth. I said, 'let's pull it out' and he said, "No!" and I said, "you promised this morning that we would." and he said, "I don't remember that!" With a big liar grin on his face. But alas, I won the battle today and out came the tooth, Janet style. I grabbed some floss, tied it nice and tight around what was left of the root and with Tyler's help gave it a good strong tug and out it flew! Tyler and I both gave a big cheer and a high five! And he even admitted that it didn't really hurt! The look of surprise on his face when I tugged on the floss was so funny! I loved it. So here are a few photos of my boy with a missing tooth and Brooklynn insisted on a picture of her missing teeth and who can resist taking a picture of her cute face so here they are, my toothless two.

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!