It's Christmas Card Time!

A friend of mine posted something like this on her blog and I decided it was a great idea and I would copy her! (Thanks Sarah) I am getting ready to send out some Christmas cards and I am in need of addresses, so if you would like to leave your address in the comments, that would be great! You can also e-mail your address to me at mydualwheel@yahoo.com! Thanks a million!

1st Grade Picture Day

Sometimes it is hard for be to believe that my sweet Sage is in first grade. Where does the time go? On September 3rd she had school pictures taken and she looked so cute. She was really excited about picture day, because she chose her entire outfit out. She and I went out on a special date and had fun trying on clothes and picking out the perfect outfit for picture day. Sage is such a beautiful girl and I could tell that she felt confident and pretty as she left for school today. I love this girl like you wouldn't believe. She makes me so happy and I love to watch her learn and grow in life.

Sage absolutely loves her teacher, Mrs. Weber and I can't blame her. She is the nicest teacher and I am glad that Sage is in her class. Sage has a lot of friends in her class this year and it makes me happy. I have the opportunity to go to Sage's classroom every Friday and help out with fluency testing. I get to be with each kid one-on-one and they always say such nice things about Sage. It is fun to see Sage at school and also get to see how smart she is and what a good student she is. Her teacher loves her and is grateful to have her in her class. I love you Sage and I am so proud of you. It always makes me happy to know that you are so well behaved at school. You are wonderful!

Another Yearly Visit (has come and gone.)

We visit the cardiologist with Sydnee every year. Her cardiologist is Doctor Stock and he is very nice. I love to take pictures every time that we go so that I can see how much she changes and grows between appointments. We usually go to an office on Dobson, but this time we needed a specific date for the appointment, so we had to go to the Phoenix Children's Hospital. It was a new and fun adventure for us!



We ended up arriving earlier than expected, so we wandered around and took some pictures. There was a Ronald McDonald House next door and I thought that Sydnee would like her picture by Ronald. She thought the statue was funny until I told her to sit by it for a picture. She wasn't really into that. I think that the statue might have scared her a little bit. I guess I can't blame her for that.



Sydnee looked so cute in her little hospital gown! We spend a little bit of time waiting around, but Syd is old enough to understand and entertain herself. She looked so cute sitting on and kneeling by the step stool to draw. She is just way to sweet!

What an angel. I am always reminded as we go to these appointments of how lucky we are to have Sydnee in our family. Her heart condition could have very easily been missed and we could have lost her as an infant. I get so emotional every time I think about that, but I get even more emotional when I think that the Lord allowed us to keep Sydnee with us here on earth. What a blessing and miracle in our lives.



While we were waiting to talk to Doctor Stock, Sydnee decided to brush up on her photography. She took all of these great pictures. She had tons of fun! Well, another appointment down and no surgery yet. I'll just keep my fingers crossed that she won't have to have another surgery, but if she does, I know that she is tough and can handle anything that is thrown her way.

Rainy Day Fun and a New Jeep!

August 21st, 2009 - Tonight it started to rain and the girls were so excited. We ran to the front door to watch the rain. As we were standing there enjoying the sight, sound and smell, the girls asked me if they could go out and run around. My mind started coming up with reasons to say no, but my heart found a reason to say yes. I knew that they would have soooo much fun and that the smiles on their faces and their giggles would make the showering, finding dry p.j.'s and staying up a little late all worth it. As soon as I told them yes, both girls were out the door and splashing in puddles. I'll have to admit that it felt so good outside and that the rain was wonderful! I couldn't help but smile and feel so happy as I watched them play.





When it was time to go in, the girls told me, "Thank you so much mom for letting us play in the rain! It was so much fun!" They just kept thanking me over and over the rest of the night. I felt so happy and so did they! I learned a valuable lesson tonight. Sometimes we don't want to let our kids do things because it makes extra work for us, but their joy and happiness is what really matters. Shouldn't we be looking for ways to make meaningful and special memories? Sometimes I forget to let my kids just be kids and I am going to try harder to let them have fun and forget about the clean up, messes and work it makes for me, because selfishness doesn't bring happiness for anyone. Aaahhhh.......what a beautiful night!

Here's a picture of my handsome boys. They watched from the doorway while the girls played. Easton thought that the rain was pretty cool and he enjoyed watching his sisters have a good time.





August 27th, 2009 - I have a fun little story about this Jeep! One day I was driving down our road and passed by the house of some members of our ward. They had their garage open and I saw this cute pink Barbie Jeep. I thought to myself, "My girls would just love that. Their girls are getting so grown up and are way beyond the years of driving that around. Wouldn't it be so cool if they gave it to us. " I kinda laughed to myself thinking that was such a silly thought. Well, the next Sunday at church, Heather McDermott came up to me and asked if our girls had a power wheels Jeep. I told her no and she asked me if we would want one. Of course!! I told her that we would love to have it. She said that they would love to give it to us and that we would just need to buy a new battery for it. Yeah! I was so excited. I couldn't wait to see the look on Sage and Sydnee's faces when they found out about it. Heather's daughter Delaney and her friend Leah pushed it all the way down the road to our house and they were worn out from doing it. They thought it was worth it though and were glad to see that Sage and Syd were so excited about it. We ended up taking each of the girls a thank you note and a plate of cookies to let them know how much we appreciated their kindness. We got a battery a.s.a.p, charged it up and let the girls take their new Jeep out for a spin. It was funny watching them. They loved driving it, but neither one was too excited at first about being the passenger. I think that they were a little weary about the other ones driving skills. They quickly learned that they weren't going to fall out of the passenger seat and it all became way too much fun! Thanks McDermott family for sharing this little piece of happiness with us. You are too kind!







I just had to include these cute pictures of Sydnee. She was playing around with the stick horses and she wanted me to take her picture. What a sweet girl! I think that she is so cute! Love ya Syd!

Halloween Party!!

Our friends, Loree and Leonard Zito, had a Halloween costume party the weekend before Halloween and I was really excited! I think that it is fun to dress up. Matthew and I had a rough time coming up with a costume. We talked about quite a few different ideas, but it just seemed like nothing was working out. I picked up some vampire costumes at K-Mart, because they were 40% off and they looked like fun ones. The size on both of them were "one size fits most". They looked like they would fit us, but I'll just have to say that we didn't fit in the "one size fits most" category, so I returned them and we had to find a back-up plan. We decided to get costumes that we would wear again and that would be worth every penny. We headed to the army surplus store and found just what we wanted. I decided that I wanted to get a wig to wear also. I just wanted a cute, long wig that wasn't blonde. This red one was the prettiest one, so I went with it. It is funny how many compliments I got on my red hair. I was told that red is my color. Maybe I'll have to go out on a limb and give red a try one of these days. Too funny!



There was such a fun group of people at the party and we had a blast! We were cracking up all night over everyone's costumes. I'll have to say that we are friends with some creative people. I better start planning our outfits for next year so that we can come up with something spectacular!



Leah brought her camera and flash so that we could have a fun photo shoot in our costumes. It was fun to watch everyone get into character and act crazy!





We had some delicious food at the party! Chili, corn bread, veggies and dip, homemade rootbeer and some of the most amazing desserts and sweets! YUMMY!



We had a great time hanging out, talking, laughing and playing some really fun games!!!

Loree was an amazing hostess. The atmosphere was perfect, the food was spectacular and the evening was filled with the right amount of fun and laughter. We had a costume contest with a few different categories to vote on and the winners received great prizes. She even put together fun prize bags for each couple that went along with their costumes. Loree is a creative woman and boy did she spoil us! Thanks for the fun Zito's! We look forward to next years party!

Halloween Fun!

Halloween is such a fun holiday. It is fun to dress up and head out trick-or-treating. I was glad when Sage and Sydnee decided to be witches. What easy costumes. We ended up buying dresses and hats, but the capes were ones that my sisters and I wore when we were little. My mom made them for us and they are still looking as good as ever! We were lucky to have the pirate costume for Easton loaned to us by a friend in our ward, Alva Lopez. It is the cutest costume ever!



Sydnee was actually planning on being a ballerina for Halloween in the beginning, but when she saw the dress and hat that I was getting for Sage, she decided that she wanted to be a witch too. She liked the purple hat, so we decided to add cute purple striped tights to top off the outfit! What a cute little witch!



Easton was NOT excited about dressing up in his costume. I put it on him and he immediately started trying to rip it off. Oh no! All I wanted was a few pictures to remember how handsome he looked, so I told Math that he was going to have to be my assistant. Easton loves this silly toy dagger and wasn't about to put it down, so I figured it would just go with the pirate theme. He kept trying to rip his hat off, so I finally grabbed a rock and put it in his hand so that both hands were occupied. It worked! I was able to get a few pictures where he wasn't having a fit. Here they are and down below you will see Easton's real feelings about Halloween and costumes!



Sage wanted to be a witch from the beginning and she was excited about her costume. She thought that her striped tights were so cool. (Until she put them on and they didn't feel good to her...YIKES!) Both of the girls thought it was neat to wear capes that Grandma Cheryl made and that my sisters and I wore. Sage's costume turned out great and she was a pretty little witch!









Getting a picture of all three kids together was a challenge! Sage's hat was pushed back because she liked it that way. Sydnee's hat was flopping over because she didn't want grocery sacks stuffed in it to make it stand up and Easton was not excited about standing still and looking at the camera, but we got a few of them together and I am one happy mom!



Here are the pictures of Easton's true feelings and Matthew wrestling him, while laughing, trying to get him to stand up and keep his hat on. Too funny! What a little man. He knows exactly what he does and doesn't want to do and he wasn't about to leave that costume on any longer than necessary. After pictures we took it off of him so that we could all enjoy the fun night ahead.





Sage and Sydnee ran off to our friend's, the Eagar's, house as soon as pictures were finished, so Math and I didn't have a chance to get pictures with them. The Eagar's live two houses away from us and they invited us over for dinner, trick-or-treating and to hang out in their front yard and pass out candy. We were really excited! I decided to make spider cookies to take over just for fun. I also made YUMMY rolls. Kristie made white chicken chili and it was DELICIOUS! She made other yummy goodies and her sister made some delicious food too. We had a great time with them. We also had fun trick-or-treating in our neighborhood and seeing other friends from our ward too. The girls thought that trick-or-treating was SO MUCH FUN! They got so much candy that their buckets were heavy and they thought for sure their arms were going to fall off. I had to laugh about that. What little cuties! I also loved that the girls would thank everyone for their treats and they would also wish people a happy Halloween. So many people loved that and would tell them that they were the first people to wish them a happy Halloween. I am always glad that I have sweet kids. I loved enjoying Halloween through their excitement and happiness!



Math and I dressed up too. I had been cleaning the house all morning and I didn't want to do my hair, so I threw on my wig and got into the spirit of Halloween. Who doesn't like to dress up every now and again?!?! We had a great Halloween!



Here I am wearing one of the capes that my mom made! I thought that I had a better picture with two of my sisters in it also, but I couldn't find it. Maybe my mom has that one at her house. Oh well, it's fun to see the cape anyway!

Happy Halloween from the Youngs!

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Sydnee Loves Her New Earrings!

August 15th, 2009 - Sydnee has been talking about getting her ears pierced for a long time. We were at the mall one day and she wanted to get them pierced right then, but I told her that we needed to talk to dad and see what he thought about it. I really just wanted to see if she would keep asking. That would tell me if she was serious about it or not. Well, she kept talking about it and both Matthew and I felt that it was her decision and if that is what she wanted to do, then it was fine with us.



Sydnee was so excited about getting her ears pierced. My friend Danielle does my hair and she had told me long ago that her mom pierces ears, so we decided to ask "Grandma Dori" to do it for us. Syd was soooo brave! She got up in the chair and had such a happy smile on her face. The only hard part was that we were going to have to do one ear at a time and I was afraid that Sydnee would be upset after the first one and not want to get the second ear done. Well, she surprised us all. She wanted me to hold her hand really tight and when the first earring went in, she barely flinched and just got a serious look on her face, but she didn't cry at all. She sat there waiting while the gun was reloaded with the next earring and she sat just as still for the second one. WOW! I was impressed! No tears at all and she LOVED her new earrings! What a brave little angel. She looks so cute with her new earrings and her big, excited smile!



After she was all done, Sydnee ran off to play with all the girls just like nothing had even happened. They had a great time doing the dummies hair and having some girly fun!



A few days after this, Sydnee and I were talking and I loved what Sydnee said, so I just wanted to record this memory. She said, "Grandma Dori did my ear piercing. I like Grandma Dori. She always looks cute." I thought that was so cute! Sydnee is a sweetheart and I am proud of her for being so brave. I told Sage that she could get her ears pierced if she wanted to, but she decided that she would rather wait for awhile. I am glad that she feels like she can make her own decisions and isn't pressured by the attention that Sydnee received. Sage is a brave girl too and I'm sure that someday she'll end up in this same situation and do as well as Syd did.

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!!

August 14th, 2009 - Matthew went out of town for the weekend to scout his elk hunting area, so the girls and I continued with our tradition of sleeping in my bed while dad is gone. Before we could set up camp and begin our evening of being goofy together, we spent some time babysitting for the Randall's. The girls had fun with their friends. We watched movies, ate popcorn and had a great time playing.





We put blankets all around the bed to make a tent to sleep in. For some reason that makes the campout even better!





Sage and Sydnee were so funny! They had a blast taking turns jumping and doing tricks! We always have fun being silly!

What a fun night! We always miss dad, but we find ways to stay happy while he is away.