notHinGs beTteR thAn fiReworKs...right?


here is the fam at sunset days on saturday. ever since i allan and i have been together, we always go to sunset days...why sunset when neither one of us has ever lived there??? well allans' grandparents did for many years (not anytime recently) and it has been a tradition to go. so who am i to bag on tradition. actually i was so excited to go. i have been asking allan to take me to fireworks all summer, and we keep having things come up on the night that they are, so i made it a point to go to sunset days. loved it! it was really windy so the firework fallout was hitting us. it got some people in front of us while it was still lit...kinda scary, but soooooo cool. the kids thought it was the best!

so here is ky eating cotton candy. she loved it and took the entire bag for herself. i had the best funnel cake. it is such a carnival thing isn't it? (sorry i couldn't figure out how to turn the picture, i am a dork i know.)paxton showing me his awesome light saber skills. we bought the kids this light up swords. it was the best $5 spent all evening.

wyatt with is sword. he got a red one and broke it within the first 10 minutes of having it, so of course to stop the tears we had to get a new one. he then chose blue. paxton had green.

spending some quality time with my hubby. we just never get enough of it! (i am having a crazy hair day :)all the boys with their "light sabers". they had such a great time. i love making memories with my kids. i keep reminding myself that they are only going to be little once and not for a very long time, it brakes my heart how fast time is flying by and how big the kids are getting! (gavin, wyatt, trevor-in the back, in green and paxton)

something i have made...
i made my boys new file folder games for sacrament. they have quite a few already, but are getting bored with them. so i had to mix it up and make some more. they turned out really cute. the oldies that we have aren't church themed and these are, so it makes it nice and approprite for church. now i just need to laminate them! i bought the book so if anyone want to make some let me know!

mY swEet onES.... so i was walking out of sams club when some guy stopped me and was trying to get me to sign up to get some photos taken. i really didn't want to but he said that they were doing a special that you could get a 10x13 for $5. so of course that peaked my interest. well here is the photo. i was pretty happy with it. of course i knew that when i went to pick up the photo they were going to try to sell me more. i had decided that i was going to be strong and say no...well i am such a sucker!!! i left with ALL of them. so i am going to be a bragging mom for just a minute and tell you a bit about my sweet ones...
pAxtoN is such a good kid. he is always trying to do things that he thinks would make me happy. if i am ever in a bad or sad mood he is always the first to give me some love. pax can hardly wait until he starts kindergarten. i have never known a kid that was so anxious for summer to be over. i know that he will do such a great job, he is a smart little boy. i know that every mom thinks that their kids are so smart, but really he is! he is so good to his little brother and sister. i know that he is always going to look out for them, that makes me smile.
wYatT well he is the spice of our family. he is always on the go. if he is bored he will definatly try to find something to occupy is time, which is really scary most of the time. he loves to be outside. it doesn't matter if he is in his underwear which is the case almost always because i end up dressing him like five or six times a day. he hates having clothes on. what is it about boys liking to be naked? i remember going through this with pax. wyatt loves cars. any kind. right now he is digging his little sisters dora the explorer pink and purple ride on car.
kySa is such sweet baby. i know she isn't much of a baby anymore, but shhhh don't tell me! ky is the type of gal that goes to her own beat. she likes to take things slow. i can't believe she isn't walking yet. it is so different then the boys who were walking at 11 mo. it seems that she really could care less about walking, which is fine by me. i love that she is such a cuddle baby. i know that she won't always be this way so i will take it for as long as i can. right now her favorite thing are babies. she is always dragging one along with her. i swear that little girls come from heaven programed to love babies. dont' you think?
so as you can tell i love my sweet ones. i am so blessed to be their mom. they definatly have their moments of driving me nuts, those days when i have to remind myselft that "i love being a mom, i love being a mom". but it is all so worth it. i am a very lucky girl and i wouldn't change it for the world. i know that someday i am going to miss all of this craziness!

day 4- how i met the love of my life....actually allan and i met our senior year in high school. it was october and we were at a halloween party. he had just moved here to utah from oklahoma and so he didn't really know anyone. well being the social butterfly that i am i was mingling with everyone...he would tell you that i was flirting with a certain someone, so clearly he thought that i was dating him. he was dead wrong!
so after that party of meeting him briefly i didn't really see him again until the end of our senior year...that is were the good stuff starts.
he began dating one of my friends that i sang with in choir. you know how high school romances go, but he and this girl broke up. meanwhile, i am doing the play cinderella (i am the fairy godmother) and allan has conveniently volunteered to help with the set/lighting durning the performances. well that is where our romance starting blossoming. we began dating shortly after that. after graduation we dated for about seven months until he left for his mission to sweden.

i wrote allan the two years he was away. when he came home it was like he never left. he hadn't even been home a week and we went on a road trip to arizona to visit his sister. it was on that trip that i knew i was going to marry him...i just didn't think that it would happen as quickly as it did. almost two weeks to the day he came home he proposed to me. call me crazy but it felt so right. now looking back on it i can imagine why our parents were freaking out the way they were. we were nuts! six weeks later we were married for time and all eternity in the logan temple. then five months later we found out we were pregnant with our little boy paxton. we just have to do everything so fast. it has always been that way for us, but i wouldn't have it any other way. he is my everything. i love him so much, more and more everyday. i am so blessed to have him as my husband. he is wonderful to me!

i love you allan it has been a wonderful 6 1/2 years. thankyou for being the man of my dreams and such a wonderful daddy. you are a blessing to me and i thank god everyday that you are MINE!

day three- summer flashback.....so i love this picture. the boys were having nothing but pure fun. i heard this laughter coming from the backyard and went to investigate. this is what i found! they played in these grapevine for just about the rest of the day!

paxton

wyatt

makeup bag tag....so this is my bag 'o' goodies...nice bag min looks like we have the same taste!

so my routine....
base- revlon colorstay in sand beige

pressed powder- covergirl simply powder in classic ivory

bronzer- laura geller bronze -n- brighten
blush- marykay in pink sapphire

eyecream- marykay eyecicles in vanilla

eyeshadow- marykay color quad in cream, opal, sable, bittersweet

eye shimmer- i don't know who it is by, i have had it so long. i got it when i went on a scuba dive trip to the channel islands. i love it and will be so sad when it is gone (it the one with the silver cap)

eyeliner- marykay signature eyeliner color depends on what i am wearing either black or brown

mascara- maybelline volum' express in very black

eyebrows- just a really dark brown shadow i have had forever, applied with my trusy orange brush that i too have had forever

lips- (i am a gloss kinda girl) marykay nourishine lipgloss in pink diamonds or whatever i can find in the diaper bag.

i tag everyone who reads this.

day two- keepin' cool in the summer...
so i love to go to bear lake in the summer. it is so much fun. we go quite a bit just for the day. we pack up early in the morning and spend the day splashing in the water. i have been coming here since i was a little girl, i have made so many memories here with my parents and siblings. i hope that stands to be the same with my kiddos!

this is me and my little sis kate...cheesin' it up for the camera!

kysa wasn't so sure about the water and the sand. this is her first time in the bear lake water. after a bit of time she started to tolerate it, not love it! i could not get her to look at the camera for anything. i have a entire days worth of pictures that she is either staring down, up, to the side or my favorite....the back of her head!

wyatt loves the water...but his favorite is the sand, he loves to cover himself and anyone within throwing distance with it.

paxton found this sea shell. he was so proud of it. by bear lake standards this little shell is actually quite large.

then the best way to end a day at bear lake is to stop on the way home for a burger and a shake!

papa perry a new-bee to the blogging world...
yes ladies and gentlemen, hades has frozen over! and what i mean by that is that i freakin' knew how to do something on the computer that my dad, Perry "the freakin' computer genius" koger did not know how to do. let me explain...my dad works with computers all day long, infact he trains others how to do things on computers so needless to say he is very computer savy, while on the other hand i am not! it took jaclyn coming over to my house and walking me through every little step to even make this blog (thanks jac)! so i was at my parents house last night and over cake and icecream my dad asks me "hey sis, will you show me how to get music on your blog?" i couldn't believe my ears. i knew i had hit the mother load of gloating ever! so of course i showed him (it did take a few back turns so figure it out again, but who needs to know that, right?) so i just want all of you out there to know, i knew something my daddy didn't...this is probably going to be the only time in my life that i can ever say this because isn't always true ladies, your daddy will always be the smartest man you know???
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DAY ONE- favorite summertime activity...

i can't really say that i have just one fav thing to do in the summer, but seeming how i have a summer birthday it has to be one of my favorites. this is my and stephanies favorite bithday cake that my mom has made us every year for as long as i can remember. it is just your average chocolate cake, but the icing is to die for. i will have to post a the reciepe when i have a few extra minutes...we are headed to bear lake for the day!

here is a cute haircut and color i did today on my friend christine. i loved how it turned out.
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happy birthday to me day 'o' fun....

so allan is such a great husband. he took the day off on friday and we spent the entire day together. first we picked up the front runner in ogden and rode to slc. we then walked the few blocks to the gateway, had a delish lunch at costa vida! then off to the megaplex. it is not often that allan and i get to go out to the movies, seeming how the three little ones will not sit still through one. we went and saw "get smart". it was really fun. i liked it. then off to do some shopping. it was so fun. allan was so good to go into all the stores that i wanted and was so patient as i tried on thing after thing. i came out with some loot though, a new pair of shorts, two shirts, purfume, smelly lotion and some school clothes for pax. then my sis and her hubby shane met us for dinner. steph and i make it a point to spend time together for our birthday! shane suggested a little italian place called bocca di beppos (i probably slaughtered the spelling) it was really quite good. they serve all their food family style, needless to say we totally over-ordered. the pizza was the best, followed by the alfredo coming in at a close second! allan and i then said goodbye to the regans and went to another show. this time we saw hancock. it too was good. totally not what i expected. but it doesn't take much for me to like a show. i dont' need anything too in depth...just entertaining. by the time the movie got out we had about and hour to get back to the train station. okay so let me just tell you how scary it was walking back. it was 10:30 at night and mind you it is not the best part of town. i was really nervous. allan thought i was a crazy. there were some police out patroling, okay not really patroling at the moment cuz they were arresting some drunk. was a great way to finish my day. no, really though i had a great fun filled day. i was so pooped by the end of it that i slept on allan shoulder the entire way home. how sweet! i just want to quickly thank my mom and chantelle for watching the kids so that allan and i could have this much need time to ourselves. its was so awsome of you...thanks again!
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mY daRlinG diSh.....

isn't she the cutest dish you have ever seen? kysa was having a ball playing on the dishwasher door. i couldn't for the life of me get her to stay off. isn't it always that way with kids...you just can never get anything done when they are around! oh well, i will take a distraction like this any day!

oNe yEar olDeR....
so that is right, today is my (oh yeah and my twin sis'-happy birthday steph) 27th birthday! this is a picture of me and my girlfriends. (daja, heather, danielle, monique and me. we have all been friends since the 7th grade). for each of our birthdays we get together and go to dinner. we went to chillis and then to cold stone-yummy! the girls all spoiled me. thanks so much ladies. i love getting together with all of you. allan was a little put out that i didn't spend the evening with him, but he took the entire day off on friday so that we could spend it in slc, so i figured he would be fine to be solo tonight. thanks to all who called and wished me a happy day, it is nice to feel loved on your special day. love you all!
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Thanks so much Beth!

i got a package in the mail today from my "my favorite things" swap partner, beth. let me just tell you that i got so spoiled. she sent me some awesome things. i would have to say that my fav is the little dress she made for kysa that says "man eater" i will take some pictures of her in it soon. thanks so much beth i really loved everything that you sent. i am glad that i have gotten to know you. you are such a fun girl!

hAppY 4th oF jUly!!!
so this is the first year that i haven't spent the 4th with my family. they decided to not come down this year, i guess that their 4-wheelers were feeling neglected so they spent the day out riding. our good friends april and jeff (jeff was one of allans mission companions, april and i are on the same dodgeball team) invited us to spend the holiday with them and jeffs sisters. we had so much fun!!! we woke up early to make it to the riverdale parade. it was great we saw my uncle randy driving one of the fire trucks. he threw us a lot of candy! after the parade we went to the carnival. i was a little disapointed, they really didn't have much for the kids to do, but dad made up for it by buy the boys both a rubberband gun. they love them. we had to tell them that we don't shoot people. that is still really hard for wyatt to understand. supposedly people make sucha a great target! after the carnival we were all starving. so we headed over to the neighorbood applebees for some grub. it was delish as usual. after eating we headed home for some much needed shut eye. the kids had already had such a long day and we still had more fun to come...

after our naps, we went to jeffs parents house for swimming on these awesome waterslides that the kids has a riot on, and for a bbq. jeff and aprils oldest girl, aspyn got this waterslide for her birthday. it was so huge. it had 3 slides and pools at the bottom of each. the kids has such a good time. it was the best babysitter yet. bekkie, joey and the boys ended up joining us a bit later in the day. all the adults played a game called kubb. it is a game that allan and jeff played in sweden on their mish. it was so much fun. allan and i need to get one.

here are the munchkins enjoying the firework show. jeffs parents live in prime firework location. we were able to see riverdale, plain city, north ogden and raptors stadiums firework show. it was awesome, beside the fact that allan and jeff were giving us their own little show! we all had such a good time and the kids all played so well together. thanks so much for inviting us jeff and april, we love getting together with your family.

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haPpY biRtHdaY kySa...

so we finally celebrated ky's 1st birthday...it was only a week late. we just couldn't seem to get a time that everyone could be there. we went to the new park by the athletic club. it was so much fun, the kids loved playing in the water while the adults visited and ate pizza.

this is a stuffed dog that ky got from aunt chantelle. kysa loved to give hugs to all the babies and animals that she got. (which was quite a few, it is so much fun to get a little girl a baby) ky also got a dora ride on toy from grandma becky and aunt kate, she got the cutest little red cowgirl boots from papa perry, a giggling baby from uncle nate, pink and purple princess blocks from the oneals, shape sorter from the davis' and a hand made animal from melissa bass. uncle rick and abby gave her much needed bath supplies. grandma jenny sewed some adorable dresses for her. thanks so much everyone, you really did spoil my girl!

here is the birthday princess!

i got ky a really cute little tutu to wear for here bithday. she looked so dang cute crawling around. it is so much fun to have a girl. we got here a carebear bithday cake too. i remember loving carebears when i was little.

i think that ky loved the cake the most. she was all over it. she was probably the first of my kids to really dig in and eat. we had to push the boys hands into theirs. by the end of the cake massacre ky was nothing but frosting. so bekkie and i gave her a sink bath in the restroom.

we ended the night with a bang. uncle rick and aunt abby came over and we did fireworks. they also gave the kids tons of glow stick, which they loved using as light sabers. ky was scared of the fireworks. she was giving me the death squeeze. i just want to thank all of you who came out to celebrate kys birthday with us. we love you all and are so thankful and you are in our lives.

happy birthday baby girl, we love you so much and are so grateful you are ours!

fUn iN thE suN...
we went to the roy aquatic center today. we had such a great time, even having just come from the doctors to get ky's 12 months shots. she was such a trooper. i felt bad taking her, but we had this day planned for a few days now and i didn't feel it was fair to tell the boys, after already telling them we were going, that we couldn't go since missing the appointment yesterday was my fault. (see yesterdays post for the drama). you would think that having read jaclyns (the mayes five-on my friends list) blog about getting burned at this exact pool, i would have been better about applying sunscreen more regularly to myself, but nooooo. i always have to learn the hard way, that least that is what my mom always told me growing up. so i got really crispy fried today. i was really good about keeping the kids slathered up. oh well!

here are the boys after eating a healthy and filling meal of pizza and bread sticks. we did make sure to keep them hydrated. water, water and more water. paxton and wyatt were so mad that that is all they got to drink. it is definatly not their choice beverage. (boys from left to right: wyatt, kade, kole, paxton and Isaiah.)