My amazing wife

So I just wanted to take a moment and brag about my amazing wife. She always impresses me with not only how well she takes care of our little family but she is always trying to help out others as well, although the results are not always what was intended.

I have the perfect example. For a little over a year now we have been working pretty serious on our food storage. We have been able to obtain a significant amount of food storage mainly because Kira has been very motivated and is working on it continually. So at the end of December we took a little trip up to Utah to visit family. On the way we noticed in the St. George Costco buckets of wheat from Lehi Roller Mills for 21.99. Kira did the math and realized that all things combined, including the bucket, the Costco wheat came out to be a few bucks cheaper then the Cannery and it was already packaged. Score! So we took a small little drive up to St. George during January and picked up the last of our wheat. That alone is a nice feeling. A few weeks later Kira and I were talking and the subject of the wheat came up. We talked about how nice it would be for so many people if the Costco in Henderson carried the wheat. I told her she should call up Costco and see if somebody could call and order a shipment. This was the beginning of the craziness. So Kira calls them up and sure enough, as long as you order enough buckets they'll ship some in for you. We already had our wheat but Kira being who she is decides she'll help out some of her friends and put a wheat order together. So she sends out a small e-mail to a few select people that she knows are working on their food storage.

Everything is going well until she begins to start receiving phone calls from people she didn't even know. Turns out that somebody with good intentions forwarded her e-mail on to a food storage specialist in another stake who then forwarded the e-mail to her entire e-mail list. At this point it was too late to stop the momentum. When all was said and done Kira had received calls from every stake in the Las Vegas area. The order quickly became much bigger then Kira could manage and so she began to tell people they needed to get together within their own wards and put together orders through Costco on their own. Within a few days Costco called up Kira to let her know they were just going to order the item and that she didn't to place her order anymore they had received enough requests and orders for the wheat. At this point if the information we have is correct there have been over 1,000 buckets sold with more on its way.

These pictures are from our own friendly neighborhood Costco. Not a Costco in Utah where those crazy food hording Mormons abound. No this is in our own little Costco located in sin city. Way to motivate some change honey.

Keeping my sanity

You know with all of the crazy things going on in the world today I sure am grateful for my amazing family who helps me keep things in perspective. Nothing is better after a stressful day then coming home. I haven't posted for a while so here are some catch up photos.

Colton seems to have just grown up out of no where. He is getting so big and is such a fun kid. He is very mischievous and keeps us on our toes though. I get worn out pretty quick with him, I'm not exactly sure how my wife manages to have the energy.

I noticed something else a little while ago as I was laying Colton down for bed one evening. He was really upset and holding his hands out and he wouldn't calm down. At first I thought it was just his usual 'I don't want to go to bed' reaction until I realized he was pointing to one of his three Elmo dolls. (Yes we really do have three) This has become his new comfort toy, he freaks out if he doesn't have Elmo when he's going to sleep. He'll carry Elmo around during the day and when Elmo is on TV he will stand enthralled with the little guy. Needless to say it is adorable.

Hunter's birthday was last month as well. Kira put together probably the coolest birthday theme you've ever seen. Hunter came up to her one day and told her he wanted a Wii party. So Kira put together some great decorations and stuff. Including the announcement that she made with Adobe Photoshop.

She added a touch of Nintendo to the whole party.

She made a Mii for each guest

Pin the Wii remote on the Mii

And each guest received their own candy dispenser Wii remote

The Nintendo DS was a great hit as well.

In addition to noticing how enthralling the DS is for her you might also notice how cute her hair is. Kira is so creative and Savannah will just light up whenever I tell her how cute her hair looks.

And another first for us. I was passing one of my co-workers in the hall a few weeks ago and he says 'hey you want a free room for the weekend at the Hard Rock?' I though he was joking or that it was one of those time share sales deals. He gave me a phone number and it turned out to be one of those he knows a guy who knows a guy and sure enough we got a free two night stay at the Hard Rock Hotel. The point from the hotel was to fill the rooms with people who will gamble and spend money. Unfortunately we were not the big spenders they wanted but we sure enjoyed the room. Our first comp ever. The kids loved watching cartoons on cable that they never get to see and we even splurged and ordered the movie Wall-E to watch. Total bill for 2 nights stay = $12. Awesome.

And finally here are some photos that I found on my phone. Some of them are just random shots as well as some pictures of a recent father and sons camp out. This one though was really cute. I was at Wal-Mart checking ammo prices and I hear Savannah yell, 'Look dad football' I turned around and there she was all ready to play.

And the Doctor of the Year Award goes to............Somebody elses doctor

I've been wanting to vent about this experience Kira had for a couple of weeks now. Sorry if you were in the mood for a more positive post, this one isn't it.



So Kira shared with me a not so funny experience she had at the doctors office the other day. For some reason this doctors office has the mentality that multiple kids are bad which is kind of ironic seeing how their business is dependant on people having babies. We've observed this attitude by the comments the staff have made as she has gone in for her appointments. Looks of disbelieve and snide remarks at having three kids with a fourth on the way. Needless to say the experiences have been less then positive but after this last one it has become apparent where the attitude with the staff is coming from. The boss always sets the tone for the staff good or bad. Well here is the behavior of the boss.



Kira goes in for her appointment. I had a meeting so I was not able to make it there to help out like I usually do and the our usual babysitter was not available. All three kids are hanging out in the room as the doctor comes in. She is visibly annoyed with the children, she begins to ask Kira the usual questions then when Kira mentions the baby is kicking her ribs begins to argue that the baby can't be kicking her ribs it is physically impossible because she isn't far enough along for that. (because of course Kira doesn't know what a baby kicking her ribs feels like, this is only her fourth baby) The doctor begins to argue with Kira about what actual week Kira is in. The doctor then leaves the room to check the chart then comes back even more annoyed (probably because she counted the weeks and realized she was wrong). Upon returning she asks Hunter how old he is. Upon hearing that he is 5 years old she looks at our other two kids and without even trying to hide her annoyed look she turns to Kira and says "You don't use birth control do you?"



So I just wanted to briefly and publicly express my thanks to our very concerned and thoughtful (not to mention tactful) doctor who is apparently so concerned about whether or not we use birth control. In the future miss doctor please keep your concerns to yourself and do what I am paying you to do which is to make sure my wife is safe and healthy and that my child arrives here safe and sound. In the future we will make sure to take our business elsewhere. An OBGYN who actually appreciates the fact that people have babies.

More pictures and stuff

I failed to mention in the previous post that those amazing matching pajamas we wore to the Polar Express were made by Kira! She is soooo awesome, we looked good, thanks honey!Here are some more exciting snow pictures. The snow is finally mostly melted but there is still some of the icy stuff hanging out in the shade. We just need the high to get up into the 50's and that should take care of it.

Kira has also been working hard on these Nativity quilts for the kids. Each kid will get one for their bed during the Christmas season. The kids absolutely love them. Savannah has been carrying hers around with her. Here is Hunter and Savannah making their little gift for their friends in primary. They are making reindeer food. The food is packaged up with instructions to sprinkle on your lawn Christmas Eve to attract Santa's Reindeer and give them something to eat. They love it and their friends do as well.
Here is the rest of our Christmas goodie bags all ready to go. We gave out pancakes in a bag this year made completely out of food storage items including the wheat. :) The little baggies on the left are the reindeer food.Here is our annual visit to the desert garden located at the Ethel M Chocolate Factory. It is a great family night activity and we love going every year.

And finally here are some pictures of our great holiday party we threw for our friends. We had 44 people packed into our little house for a couple of hours. It was a great time!

Hunter and the piano

So Hunter has been doing awesome on the piano. Kira has been teaching him and you have never seen a little boy so motivated. He will practice to the point that it seems like we need to almost beg him to stop. It is great, I am so proud of him. He is about to finish level one and his prize for finishing was going to be a Gameboy. You can pick a used one up from GameStop for not too much and so it was going to be a great reward and not too expensive. Well the other morning I won a Nintendo DS at my works charity raffle for Children's Miracle Network! Hunter is going to be so excited when he sees that he's getting a DS instead.

Daddy Daughter Time

I am surprised sometimes at what my kids will be willing to do just to spend a few minutes with daddy. Unfortunately daddy spends a lot of time on the computer doing homework and school. This morning I was reading a lecture posted by my instructor which included this link to an essay done by another Professor.(go ahead and check out the essay just so you have an idea about why what Savannah did is so cute) I can't imagine what this stuff must sound like to a 3 year old, I personally find it very tedious and dry and I at least have the ability to comprehend it.

So Savannah comes up to me and asks me what I am doing. I tell her I am doing homework and she looks up at me and says "read me the story daddy, please oh please oh please." (yes she really does ask me using those exact words, it is the cutest most precious thing and I always become putty in her hands) So since I couldn't say no to her when she asked like that I sat her in my lap and began to read to her the intrecacies of finding meaning in language. I figure she would last about two seconds, however about 20 minutes later she was still sitting with me listening intently and when I finished she actually asked me to read it again. Since I'm not into torturing myself let alone her I told her "Maybe later after lunch"

What struck me the most was that I know the words I was reading didn't make any sense to her but she sat anyway, looking up at me and just enjoying being there. Experiences like this help me to realize I have better children then I probably deserve and I love every moment I get with them.

More pictures of recent travels and events

So here are some more pictures of our recent trip to the Polar Express. We had a ton of fun and were able to do more then just ride the train.

We went on a tour through the Grand Canyon Caverns. Not the most amazing place but it was fun.

These pictures are of the new bridge they are building over the Colorado River just south of the dam. The pictures definitely do not do it justice as the view in real life is mind boggling in its immensity. Then we recently experiences another phenomena here at home, it snowed and it actually stuck to the ground and actually stayed more then two hours. The kids had an awesome time, school was cancelled the day after the snow storm. I shoveled six inches of snow off of our sidewalk. Unheard of.

Hunter and I went on the ward father and sons camp out a few weeks ago. He had such a great time. This was our first and definitely not the last. Hopefully next time Colton will be old enough to go.

I think that pretty much catches things up. Here is our family Christmas card that Kira put together. She is amazing.
I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season. Merry Christmas!