Come Away With Us...

Starting again...in 2010

2010-01-20T16:23:00.008-07:00

Cheesy? Totally!! But that is the theme I'm sticking with this year...and I'm starting with our blog. (I'll try food, exercise and church stuff later in the year. Baby steps) I have all but given up on scrapbooking so I cant give up on this. Its the only proof that I DO love my family and we are totally awesome at everything and our lives are perfect. No screaming and swearing from mom over everything breaking in the rental house or credit cards getting declined. No tears over squashed dreams of the perfect house on the perfect lot or having constant middle aged zits on my face. Nope. Not on this blog. Just a blissful life at the DowDell house. Thats what I want my kids to remember and for all of you to think of me, so I better blog it or it wont be true. With that said...here is a recap of our charmed and totally spritual life the past 15 months. Please be advised, you might wish you were part of our family when you get done browsing, or maybe just want to adopt my new slogan for yourself since you will be feeling a bit inadequate.

First, we had Christmas 2008:

I've decided that I am really good at "living in the moment", because I absolutely suck at remembering to take pictures. It has to be that I am so enjoying every minute of our bliss that documenting it takes a back seat right? RIGHT? Due to this gift I have, we have limited pics of our happiness we had at Christmas. Just know it totally kicked some A!!

One year!

2008-11-24T09:49:00.005-07:00

OMG! My baby is one! Cooper officially turned one on November 3rd, and I can't believe how old I am getting! Wait, this isn't about me. I can't believe how old he is already! We celebrated/mourned with some family at our house for the occasion. We had my mom's famous homemade chicken noodle soup, which I made this time, in some yummy bread bowls. My very talented sis-in-law made Cooper two, yes two, fabulous cakes! One was for Cooper to dive head first into, and the other was for the rest of us to dive head first into...which we all did! Cooper was so funny with his cake. We have tried the traditional let-the-baby-go-to-town-on-a-cake-trick with each of our kids, but I gotta say Cooper "took the cake" Ha! He was so funny with it and all the cousins, sitting around the table screaming every time he did anything remotely funny, made it even better!

Cooper's one year facts:

He is not quite walking yet, but is so close.

He has four teeth, two up and two down.

He is totally potty trained.

He loves to talk on/eat anyones cell phone.

His favorite babysitter is Makenna.

His favorite parent is Mom.

He doesn't speak much english yet, but he signs really well in spanish.

His favorite place to swim...toilets.

Seriously though, he has been a tremedous blessing to our family and everyone really loves him! He has been the best baby to end with. Not too hard..so its fun and we love him, but not too easy..so we aren't dying for another. (just yet anyway) I love his curly hair and his sweet smile, but most of all I love that he loves me! Not everyone around here does, so that's nice to have for the moment. Plus it helps that he's my twin if we were the same age. Which really we're not THAT far apart?

Halloween '08

2008-11-10T19:52:00.006-07:00

We had a lot of fun this year on Halloween. The kids are off track over Halloween, but we got up early and got everyone ready to walk in the school parade anyway. What is Halloween without a school parade in your costume? After all that work, for a 10 min parade, we went to McDonalds for breakfast. So yummy! Nothing like a bacon, egg & cheese biscuit after a chaotic morning to sooth the nerves!

Dad showed up from work early, complete with paint brushes, paints and newspaper to carve the pumpkins. Does that sound just plain wrong to anyone else? "Carve", last time I looked, does not mean "to paint"? But that is what we did. We painted our pumpkins this year. What a lazy way to keep up tradition!! You know that saying "pick your battles"? This was one I picked to NOT battle. And really, the painted pumpkins didn't turn out as bad as I thought they would. We might actually mix in a paint party every few years. Who knows?

That night, we got all suited up...again. I even busted out an old witch hat to show some spirit and we headed out in the rain. This was the first year in a long time I went out with the family to trick-or-treat. It was so fun! Tyson, Cooper and I rode in the Rhino, and the kids jumped in and out when they wanted to take a break. We made it to a lot more houses that way, and we were sheltered from the rain. Sort of.

Football player

Woopie Cushion. (don't ask?)

Vampire girl

Minnie Mouse

Bat baby

After we had enough of that, we packed everyone up in the car and drove over to meet Travis and Rebecca (Ty's bro) at their house. Deron Williams (Utah Jazz point guard) lives close by and the kids wanted to trick-or-treat their house to get an up close glimpse of him. Unfortunately, he wasn't the one who answered. Dang. I guess that means we now have to go caroling there too?

The Big Move!!

2008-10-30T09:46:00.001-06:00

Well, it finally happened. We moved! We knew we were going to move since last November, but we just weren't sure when or where. It's actually a long and interesting story, with a few twists and turns in the middle. But the ending was very happy and even a blessing for not just us, but a few others as well. Ask me about it sometime if your really interested?

The house we left behind:

So on September 4th, with tears in our eyes, we packed up and left behind this beautiful house and great yard filled with lots of special memories! NOT! Ha Ha. Tyson and I are not sentimental people and so we actually packed up our stuff with sweat instead of tears and left behind a house, not a home and took our memories with us. It was a great house for us for 4 years and we always felt really lucky to have such a nice place to live, but it was time to turn the page. We were sad to leave the comforts of a big/fun ward, with some great friends, but we weren't going far.

After much thought and a little luck, we ended up just a mile away in a subdivision with a cul-de-sac on an acre! We are so thrilled, because we always said if we were to move, it would have to be to a cul-de-sac with a big yard. We are actually renting a home from a great couple who were called to be mission presidents in northern California for 3 years. And...we bought the acre lot directly behind the house we're renting, to build on in the next year or so. It couldn't have worked out better for our family! We get to live in the subdivision we are eventually building in, so we don't have to change that twice, and we are next door while the house is built, so it's easy to oversee the project. We are so excited!

The house we are renting:

Our lot next door:

Looking east. The house we're renting is in the middle of the picture.

View from the street.

Everyone has been so welcoming here, and there are lots of kids for our kids to play with. We even splurged and got some 4 wheelers for the kids so they could take advantage of the two acres we are calling home right now. (the lot we bought is just dirt, perfect for 4 wheeler trails.) I will be so excited when our house is all done and we can settle down for a long time, but for now, this is not a bad gig either.

First day of School

2008-10-21T10:06:00.005-06:00

I cant figure out the collage thing so I have accepted it and now I'm moving on. I actually got as far as getting the collage done on flicker, but each picture I put in the thing got cut off somewhere. So I ended up with really cute pictures of people's bodies, but no heads? So frustrating!!

Anyway, we're going to skip ahead a few months and pretend like summer didn't really happen. (Wish I could do that with sixth grade when I had the mushroom haircut, and a retainer the size of those giant jawbreakers!) So, here for your enjoyment are the kids annual "first day of school" pictures. FYI- McKay and Makenna are heading off to 4th grade, Kate to 1st and Brooklyn is in her second year of preschool. Cooper is currently being home-schooled. I wanted to join the very small/mysterious, but oh so cool club of home school moms, so I am working with Cooper on his ABCs and also some Algebra when he's really focused!

Freddy the Whoodle

2008-09-16T22:07:00.000-06:00

What is a whoodle you ask? Well, after much thought and consideration, (Tyson would prefer to call it obsession) I found the perfect dog for us. Freddy is a cross between a wheaton terrior (mom) and a mini poodle (dad). I found him on the internet, at a breeder in Missouri. The kids and I picked him up at the airport on June 25, when he was just 10 weeks old. He's now 5 months and just left us to go to a trainer to live for 4-6 weeks. Hopefully he comes back being able to speak english and using the toilet!!

Freddy has been a lot of fun. He has a cute personality and an even cuter face! Even the anti-dog (Tyson) seems to like him. Now that's sayin' somethin'!

Life comes at you fast!

2008-06-20T10:47:00.000-06:00

I swear I just posted yesterday about the kids turning 9, and then today somehow McKay and Makenna are leaving for college and Cooper was baptised? Ok, maybe not quite that fast, but honestly, where has the time gone? I unintentionally took a blog hiatus, so I figured its time I get back in touch.

First, I'll take you way back to May 4th, Brooklyn's 4th birthday! She decided to have her (first official) kid party at Bouncin' Off the Walls. The great thing about that is they don't charge per child and so you don't really have a limit to how many kids you can invite. The bad thing is, you don't know how great limits can be. We invited way too many kids! It was fun for Brooklyn who made out better than two years of Christmas put together. However, not so good for the parents who got to supervise 20, 3 to 4 year olds on blow up slides and jumpers that are guarnteed to produce bodily injury! None the less, we managed to get some cute pictures amongst all the chaos!

Next we had Cooper turning 6 months. He's growing way too fast! Only the weeds in the yard can keep up!

That gets us almost through May. I am trying to learn how to do the picture collages and I will update more DowDell family happenings, as soon as I get that down. If anyone has any good suggestions, please feel free to share. BTW- The date at the top of this post is proof that I have tried to keep this blog thing up to date. I originally started this post in June, and three months later, I sorta finished it! Compared to some other projects I have going, like getting through my long list of "favors" I owe my cute hubby, that was fast!

The Twins Turn 9!

2008-04-05T13:14:00.000-06:00

McKay and Makenna are finally nine! I'm so happy about it because it means a couple great things for me. I can stop saying "Stop acting like a 2 year old...Your almost nine." Now I get to say you ARE nine and it will mean so much more! It means they are one year closer to "legally" being able to babysit!! Yea!! It means they have been accountable for their actions for one whole year now. It means it has been nine years since the best day of my entire life..the day I became someone's mom. Wow, nine years has flown by. I got the kids birth video out the other day and cried for two straight days after. Where has the time gone? What happened to the days when my kids actually thought I was pretty great, and were as happy to see me as I was to see them? I just have to say though, McKay and Makenna have been pretty darn great kids to have for the last nine years!! I can't complain at all about raising twins. They have made it so fun for us, and I still think having twins has been so awesome! I can tell they love it too!

Ok, enough sentiment. Lets talk birthday. Turning nine is an "off" year for us, so the kids did not have a party. But I think they still did pretty well for themselves. Tyson and I love the Jazz, and the kids have become attatched themselves, so we took them to a Jazz game on the 28th (their birthday). We went really early so we could watch the team warm-up. A friend of mine from high-school works with the Jazz so he hooked us up and we got to sit on the front row while the players had their shoot around. The players were so cute with the kids. We took a sign that said "It's our 9th Birthday" and so they got a lot of attention from everyone. McKay even got to go out on the court and shoot a 3 pointer with the team, and barely missed it. It was so great. They also got to meet the Jazz Bear and have their picture taken with him. We let them take turns sitting in our 5th row seats and they were so thrilled. It helped that the Jazz beat the Clippers. What a great night for all of us.

Sunday, we had family over for dinner, cake and ice-cream. Grandma Kathy made her famous lasagna and the kids opened their presents. We got both of them the Wii and guitar hero. They were so surprised and so excited! Turns out you don't have to have a party to have a great birthday after all. I've learned that lesson the hard way!

Happy Easter!! (belated)

2008-03-27T13:41:00.000-06:00

As always, we had a great Easter at our house. The Easter Bunny showed up yet again, and the traditional Hintze family home made cream puffs (yes, puff, filling, and chocolate sauce are all made from scratch) were as good as I remembered. Hopefully next year it won't sneak up on us so fast again and I can actually enjoy the process of getting the Easter outfits coordinated and the yard looking like a yard instead of the neighborhood trash collector. But hey, any sign that spring is here is a welcome distraction to me!!

New Years Eve in Cedar City

2008-03-01T09:50:00.000-07:00

So, as you can tell by the title, I'm backing up a little. I just picked up my computer from the Apple Store yesterday, where I finally had all my pictures transferred from my old computer to the new one. So I can now tell you (and show you) about the fun few days we had over New Years Eve in Cedar City with Tyson's family. We also blessed Cooper while we were there since most of Tyson's family was coming for the weekend.

It's been a while, so I'm trying to remember all the details. We exchanged Christmas gifts the first night. Helen made every member of the family an apron with some sort of saying on it about our cooking skills. Example: Tyson's said "BBQ Boss", which isn't really true but I think Helen was going for "in an ideal world" theme? Tyson told everyone my apron said "still trying to find the kitchen". He thought that was really funny! Somehow I failed to see the humor in it.

Coopers blessing went great. Tyson did an amazing job as always, and once again he did not disappoint when it came to crying his way through. It's not very manly, but it's sweet and I love that about him. Cooper was perfect all the way through and looked so cute in his borrowed blessing outfit. I have some guilt over the "borrowed outfit" part of the weekend so I'm not going to get into that.

New Years eve proved to have both some highlights, and low lights. (Who knew a little game of Texas hold 'em and red/green M&Ms could create such havoc?) I'll stick with the highlight part of the story and say that the food was so yummy and the games were fun. But the company was what made the whole weekend a great memory! We really wish the DowDell family was not so spread out so we could do this more often. The kids loved every minute, and it was so fun for Tyson and I to "hang" with his sibling again.

I guess we're moving?!

2008-02-12T15:37:00.002-07:00

I was talking with Brooklyn today and she had some strong feelings about this topic. Just thought i'd share some great insight into a three year olds little brain. Our conversation went like this:

Brooklyn: "Mom, I want to move!"
Mom: "Why?"
Brooklyn: "Because, I don't like this house anymore!"
Mom: "Really? What's wrong with our house?"
Brooklyn: "It doesn't have anymore good snacks or cereal!! So I want to move somewhere else!! So can we?"
Mom: "I'll definitely talk to dad and see if he will move. OK?"

The Maiden Ski Voyage!

2008-01-29T18:40:00.000-07:00

Most of the schools around here are on a year-round school schedule. That means the kids go to school for 9 weeks, and then are off for 3 weeks (generally). We are currently "off" track for 3 weeks. Usually that means lots of boredom, wining, crying, fighting and calling the few friends who are also "off" track, to see who can tolerate them another day, because I definitely cannot!

Fortunately, McKay and Makenna are in 3rd grade and that means they are now eligible for SKI SCHOOL!! Yea! Ski school is an all-day, 8am till 4pm adventure up to Snowbird Ski Resort where they are bused up and back, fed lunch, and given ski lessons until they can't keep their eyes open, or feel their extremities (which ever comes first) anymore. The best part about it is they LOVE it! Mom loves it too, because not only are they gone all day for two days of the week, they can hardly move when they get home. It's a dream come true for everyone!

It is their first time ever skiing and so far it's a success! Our kind neighbor who shares in our joy took some pictures of the kids the first day right before loading the "big" bus with the t.v.s. They get to watch "Planet Earth" on their 45 min ride up/down the canyon, and they couldn't be happier. Unless of course they are sleeping!

Sledding

2008-01-29T14:09:00.000-07:00

I have been waiting to post for a while because we got a new computer (it's a Mac and I love it!) and I have not been able to transfer all the pictures from my laptop I have been using for the last 2 1/2 years, to the new computer. I wanted to post all the pictures from our fun new years in Cedar City with Tyson's family, but I'm tired of looking at the same post every time I go to our blog, so I'm going to do them out of order.

On Martin Luther King day, we had a pretty good storm here in Draper, so we FINALLY took the kids sledding. We went to a park not too far from our house with a small to moderate hill (for the little kids). It was going rather smooth in the beginning. I sat in the car feeding baby Cooper with some friends, and the husbands were out helping the kids on the hill. I want to point out that I have been the one all winter wanting to take the kids sledding because I actually like to sled myself! Somehow, each time we think we're going to do it, something more important (on Tyson's list) comes up? So, when we finally make our move and follow through, I get banished to the car with the baby! What is that? Turns out, it wasn't a bad gig after all, because when Tyson was peer pressured into actually going down the hill instead of pushing everyone else, he managed to go off a jump and dislocate and break his coccyx (or tailbone, but coccyx is more fun to say)! The poor guy has been in some serious pain ever since. He even gets to carry around a very attractive, red plaid doughnut to sit on. I have a feeling Ty will be hanging out with Cooper in the car next time. I don't know that he'll be celebrating Martin Luther King anymore either? He He! But, the kids had a blast despite the frigid temps and we got some cute pictures out of it too.

Our Christmas Story

2008-01-06T22:39:00.000-07:00

So, as you know..
Christmas has come and gone and all the hustle and bustle is over. What a relief!! In keeping up with this years theme of being the last one to get my stuff done, I am just now going to share our Christmas story.

We had so much fun this year. Having a new baby in the house made everything just a little bit sweeter, and a little bit crazier! Santa did not disappoint at our house this year, (except maybe the golf clubs he brought Makenna? I don't think she asked for those, but when we were able to find a new home for the ones Santa brought, and got her new pink ones, thinks looked up.) Watching our kids Christmas morning just keeps getting better every year. There is nothing like having a 3 year old treat every gift she opens like she's been waiting all her life to get it! And the wonderment of the others trying to figure out just how Santa knew all of their favorite things, even if they didn't ask him for them. It was our best Christmas yet. Getting everything I hinted about from my personal angel might have helped too!

With the extremely generous help of family,(my parents) friends,(the Wards)and lots of neighbors,(Rideouts, Saxtons, Haseltons, Enghs, and VanLeuwens) we were able to help a family with their Christmas this year. We had gotten away from this tradition lately and it was so humbling to get to do it again. It reminds us of how blessed we really are and how important it is to remember what this time of year is really about!

Cooper is one month already!

2007-12-08T15:16:00.000-07:00

I can't belive how fast time flys after you have the baby! I was taking some pictures of Cooper for his birth announcement and thought I'd share a couple that didn't get picked. Is it just me, or is he soo cute?

Tagged....25 Questions for 25 Days of Christmas

2007-12-08T11:57:00.000-07:00

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?
Definitely hot chocolate!..egg nog is for fairies!

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
Both..Tyson likes to wrap them all..I like one or two big ones unwrapped..but Tyson usually gets his way.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
We have white on the tree, but none on the house..It's actually a sore subject..Tyson is scared to get on the roof, but won't pay to have someone put them up..McKay actually asked Santa last year for lights on our house so mom and dad wouldn't have to pay for them..isn't that so sweet!! and we still didn't get them! We might be the only ones in the neighborhood not lit up! Agggghhhh!

4. Do you hang mistletoe?
Are you kidding??.We do not need to give Kate anymore excuses to try to kiss all the boys!!She already won't stop kissing the singing Santa without mistletoe!

5. When do you hang your decorations up?
Sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas..

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?
Honey baked ham!!, breakfast casserole, and candied yams.

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child?
Waking up to see my brand new boom box I had asked for sitting under the tree, only to find out it was for my little brother who did not ask for it?..My mom swore she didn't make a mistake..but my brother and I were both confused? But I did love waking up every year with my two brothers and sneaking into the living room at 2 am to see if Santa had come yet..we only got caught once, that I can remember?

8. This question is reserved for those who do not have computer savy children at home, so if your really curious, email me and i'll let you in on the question and answer.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
Tyson and I don't, but the kids open pjs from grandma Hintze..I sorta forced that tradition on her a few years ago!

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree?
We have a "Santa" tree in the living room, and a tree for the "kids stuff" in the basement.

11. Snow? Love it or dread it?
I love it for the entire month of December, but by Jan 5th, I hate it.

12. Real tree or fake tree?
One of my favorite things about Christmas time growing up was going to pick out the real tree and then getting hot chocolate at Dennys! so we decided to get a fake tree for our family so our kids would not get to have that experience?? I don't understand it either?

13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
Nope?..

14. What's the most important thing about Christmas for you?
Doing something charitable..and trying to teach the kids that it's important too.

15. What is your favorite Holiday dessert?
Those chocolate truffles at Costco!..and now the pumpkin desserts from my neighbor Sarah..

16. What is your favorite tradition?
We have had clam chowder on Christmas eve since I was born, and even though it's not my favorite thing to eat,(unless it's from Market Street) I love that we have been doing it for that long..Tyson tries every year to get rid of this tradition, but to no avail..Tyson and I started reading the birth story in the scriptures with our family on Christmas eve about 4 years ago, and I really like that one too.

17. What tops your tree?
Depends on the tree. Santa on one; whatever the kids want that year on the other..

18. Which do you prefer, giving or receiving?
I'm not going to lie, its fun to get stuff, especially when it's a surprise, but giving is way more satisfying, especially when it's a surprise!.

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song?
Gotta be "O Holy Night"!..I secretly want to sing that song with a baptist church choir, where we get all soulful at the end of it..

20. Candy canes, yuck or yum?
Yuck!!! Unless they're made of chocolate.

21. Favorite Christmas Movie?
Christmas Vacation, and A Christmas Story!

22. What do you leave for Santa?
Milk and Homemade chocolate chip cookies.

23. Do you have a Christmas morning tradition?
We do the DowDell traditional picture of the kids on the stairs before they can come down to the tree, and breakfast casserole with the Hintze (my) family.

24. Do you prefer to shop on-line or at the mall?
Neither really..I'm not a big shopper, but at Christmas time when I have to, I prefer the mall..but I am getting more confident with on-line shopping. I did all the shopping for baby Coopers room on-line.

25. Christmas letter or Christmas card?
We have only done the card, but I love getting the letters from others as long as there is a picture with it!!! So please send us one!!

So, thank you Darci for tagging me. It was my first tag ever! I now tag Megan, Lesa and Jamie Stevenson. Have fun girls!

Cooper Benson DowDell

2007-11-20T18:59:00.000-07:00

Our little boy is finally here! Cooper Benson DowDell arrived on November 3rd, at 3:08 a.m. He weighed 7lbs, 6oz and was 19 inches. It was such a bitter sweet moment for us, because it was so incredible to finally meet our perfect little baby, and know he was healthy, (and cute) but also sad in a way that this would be the last time we would be doing this!! There is absolutely nothing in this world that compares to having a baby! The entire process from start to finish is truly a miracle and we have been so blessed to be able to have five kids, all healthy, happy and beautiful. How could we want to never have that feeling you get meeting your little one for the first time again? This, a question I currently don't have the answer to. Trust me though, I have been savoring every moment with my baby Coop! I can't get enough of him. I've even earned the nickname "baby (or ball) hog" by Tyson and our friends. Life with a newborn is as rough as I remember, but I wish it could last forever!

Let the fun begin!

2007-11-19T15:09:00.000-07:00

After much resistance and worry... I have finally decided to try out this blogging thing. I know I'm probably the last one to jump on the band wagon, but that's the story of my life. Ever since the introduction of jelly shoes and Cabbage Patch Kids, I've always been about a year behind. So, here we go. Wish me luck!!