Flake Family

Our past year in review

2011-10-01T23:48:00.001-07:00

Since I haven't updated in a while, here is a brief overview of Talmage's first year.

He goes from rolling to sitting:

To walking (and stealing licorice):

Through it all, he has kept his trademark huge grin:

Meanwhile, his brothers are as close as ever. Best friends since birth, which is something I LOVE about my two oldest. Talmage is also their new best friend and biggest tag-along fan!

Disneyland trip

2011-10-01T23:44:00.004-07:00

When Talmage was just four months old, we took him on his first trip to Disneyland. We have to initiate our kids to the Happiest Place on Earth at a very young age. :)

The whole family had a great time at our favorite (any pretty much ONLY) vacation spot.

You're never too old for some Disneyland fun, as Grandpa Jay proves:

Our whole family loves our family trips no matter how many times we go or how old we are!

2010-07-02T12:03:00.000-07:00

Proud Big Brother, Maeser

Kade and Talmage

At about 9:45 on Sunday the 27th, I started into labor. My contractions were 5 minutes apart for an hour and a half, so we decided to head to the hospital. By the time we got there at about midnight, the contractions had all but stopped, but I had slightly progress from being dialated to a 2 at the last appointment, so the nurse suggested I walk the halls for a while and come back to see if I had progressed any. We went down to the first floor and walked the longest hallway in the hospital.

It was an interesting experience--the last time I had been there, I was having tests done on my ectopic pregnancy and receiving chemo to help the pregnancy break down before it could destroy my fallopian tube. All these precautions didn't help, and my fallopian tube burst and hemorraged, causing me to have emergency surgery.

Now, here I was anticipating the birth of our third son. It was a nice contrast to have the hospital be a happy place. I was checked again and walked again until about 2 in the morning. I had finally progressed enough that they decided to keep me there. I didn't progress much more, though. Dr. Tindall came in around 8am and broke my water. I still wasn't progressing much, so they gave me pitocin. They even had to turn up the rate of the pitocin drip three times, before I finally progressed much.

Then, when the nurse checked me, I was ready to go. She had just check an hour before, and I was only dialated to 4cm, but I progressed to a 10cm in an hour. It was such a nice surprise!!!

When Dr. Tindall came in, he said, "Don't cough or sneeze or anything. That baby is right there." At 1:37pm, after about 16 hours of labor, Talmage Rhett Flake was born. He was 8 lbs 4 oz and 21 1/2 inches long. I cried and laughed at the same time, of course, like I always do. He was such a cutie! I could see that he looked a lot like our other boys right off.

This picture says exactly how I feel

This one, too!

I'm so excited to have a little one again!!!

Rhett is just as excited, and so proud to be a daddy for the third time!

And we think our little cutie is the sweetest ever!!!

People keep asking if I'm going to try again for a girl. I have to be honest, when I walk past the little girl clothes in a store, I really want some one to buy them for--although my sister Heather has assured me that I can buy all I want for her girls;thanks Heather!--But just look at my boys. How can I feel anything but lucky to have three boys when they turn out so well???? If I do try again, it won't be for a girl. I don't mind having a dozen boys just this cute--just as soon as I'm ready for them! :)

This picture shows how I have spent my time since coming home from the hospital.

It's kind of taken at a wierd angle, but Talmage and I are lying on the couch.

The back of the couch is at the bottom of the picture, against my back.

I'm still worn out and sore, but I'm recovering well--all things considered. I can't wait to fit into my regular clothes again and be able to walk and sit comfortably again, but I'm doing as well as can be expected to far. Talmage is already so much a part of our family, and his older brothers can't get over having him around. They are still so excited. Maeser races over to Talmage with his pacifier everytime he starts to cry, and both boys love to just sit and watch him. We love our little boy!!!!

Me pregnant

2010-05-27T11:18:00.000-07:00

This is about 2 weeks old at this point, but it is my most recent pregnancy picture. I'm getting closer and closer!!!

"Summer School"

2010-05-27T11:11:00.000-07:00

This is Kade receiving an award for getting above 95% on his grades for the whole school year.

This is the day before school let out.

This is Kade and Maeser ready to do art for our little home "summer school".

Thier first art project was to paint porfolios (posters stapled to form pouches for their artwork).

Maeser and his boat, which he named USS Poseidon. We're reading Nick of Time this summer. It has a lot of sailing and other oceanic vocabulary, so we're learning about boats and sailing and navies.

Kade with his ship: USS Starfish. Their assignment was to make a model of a ship including certain parts that they had to learn--like mast, boon, cross trees, quarter deck, sails, rudder, gunwales, etc. They did such a good job with their projects!

My future missionaries

2010-05-07T11:14:00.000-07:00

Kade and Maeser in new ties and jackets they got for Easter

Cute boys!

Kade at his "Arizona Fair" for school

Kade did his project on Cactus Wrens (the AZ state bird) and Roadrunners (also native to AZ). He did a report on them and made models of each bird. You can also see his journal project in the lower left corner. If you asked him what he learned in his report, he would say "Roadrunners have protodactyl [I think that's the word] feet, which means they have two toes in front and two toes in back." His principal asked him why he thinks they need those kind of feet, and Kade said "Because it helps them run faster because they dig into the ground with their back toes to push off." What a smart kid! I'm proud to be his mom!

Primary Quarterly Activity: Boot Camp

2010-05-07T10:11:00.000-07:00

I don't know about you, but I am always on the lookout for creative ideas. Yesterday, we had a very fun, creative primary activity that I think is worth passing on ideas from. We had a Mothers Day Boot Camp. We "trained" the kids how to treat their mothers. Cindy Twede was in charge and did an awesome job. Some of the kids came in camo or military t-shirts.
First, all the kids met in the gym for some warm ups. Cindy blew her whistle and acted like a drill sergeant. She had the kids do some jumping jacks, pushups, and situps. Then, she taught them a military cadence. ("I don't know, but I've been told my mom is worth more than gold . . . ")

The kids doing their warmups.

We split the kids into four groups, and they went to four different stations. One was making a craft for their moms. One was a snack: "dirt pudding". (They crumbled oreos into chocolate pudding and put in gummy worms and ate it.) Another was a "cleaning obstacle course" where they had to race each other sweeping, setting the table, etc.
The station I was in charge of was a Price is Right game. I "trained" them to be helpful when they go to the store with their moms by not asking for candy and toys and by being good. Then, we played a game to give them an idea of how much things cost. I included items their moms have to buy like cleaning products. I also included some things they might be tempted to ask for to show them how much they cost.

My game sign.

My game setup (in the Relief Society room)

Sign for the "price match game" (They had to match prices to the items)

"Higher or Lower" game

(They had to guess which had the higher price. I made it tricky by choosing brand name items that cost more than generic items that were bigger.)

One of the "Price Match" games

"Higher or Lower" Game
(Lightning McQueen cost more than a 5-pack of Matchbox cars.

McQueen changes color in cold water.)

Main bidding item

The bidding game that they do at the beginning where they try to come closest to the actual price without going over was this canister of Baby Formula. They were all surprised that it cost so much ($10). Little did they know that it is generic and the Similac one would have cost twice as much.

Another "Price Match" Game

The item that surprised them the most in this one was the big bag of Jolly Ranchers. It cost $7.97. They thought that was a high price for candy. Only one girl in all of the groups got that price right. She must pay close attention when her mom shops!

"Higher or Lower" Game

The Bakugan cost $7.88 and the Generic Play Dough 8-pack cost $3.50. They were surprised by that.

2010-03-21T21:41:00.000-07:00

At the risk of opening a can of worms by talking politics on my blog, I just have to lodge my protest against ObamaCare. I'm so against this thing. Okay, healthcare has its problems, but a government option is not going to change that. As a pharmacist, Rhett has found that government healthcare is the most problematic healthcare there is--for the patients as well as the healthcare providers. That shouldn't be at all surprising for anyone who has ever had to deal with governmental red-tape. (Translation: that shouldn't be surprising to ANYONE.)

Besides, the merits of the bill (or more correctly: the lack of merits) don't matter at all when you realize that tons of congressmen voted for something that most of their constituents had been begging them NOT to vote for. They have no business voting for anything that the American people are so much against. Where is their accountablility to their constituents?

I just think this catroon says it all. The politicians in Washington couldn't seem to shove their ideas down our throats, so the decided to shove them up our rears instead. Nice.

Maeser's Science Fair

2010-03-18T09:20:00.001-07:00

Mad Scientist Maeser
Maeser had his first science fair today. He was chosen as one of the 4 people from his class to present his experiment in front of the the whole 2nd grade. Rhett helped him do the Briggs-Raucsher Reaction. It is an oscillating reations that changes color back and forth several time before coming to rest at equilibrium. It changes from clear/yellowish to red to purple to clear/yellowish to red to purple, etc.... (Rhett ordered the chemicals in a kit from the internet).

What I was most proud of was that Maeser was able to explain what was happening. He explained that you mix chemicals to make solutions, and then you mix the solutions to make the reaction. He said it is an oscillating reaction because it cycles through different products before it rests at equillibrium, which he explained is when the reaction finally stops. When the reaction changed color the first time, all of the kids said, "Whoa!" It was pretty cool! My kids are so much more advanced than I was when I was their age!

Eatin' o' the Green

2010-03-17T19:08:00.000-07:00

Kade, loving the green beans

Maeser eating green garlic bread

Our St. Patrick's Day dinner: (almost) all green foods.

I didn't have time to cook the main dish I had planned.
I was going to make breaded steak fingers with green food coloring

mixed into the batter. I didn't have time.

Our menu: Fresh green beans, steamed and drizzled with Sun-Dried Tomato Vinaigrette,

Green garlic bread (with green food coloring mixed into the butter),

Green milk (made with green food coloring)

and . . . wait for it . . .

Frozen pizza (because I ran out of time to make the intended main dish--

I had about ten of the 11-, 12-, and 13-yr-old scouts coming over after dinner,

so I had to hurry and finish so I could get dinner cleaned up in time.)

I also made steamed cabbage, but the kids didn't eat that. Rhett and I liked it, though!

2010-03-17T13:10:00.000-07:00

Okay, so it has been WAY too long since I updated the blog! A lot has happened since last July. I'm now over 5 months pregnant. That's the most important thing that has happened. Also, I taught music classes to all of Kade's school for most of this year. I recently stopped because I was not getting paid to do it. It was strictly a volunteer position. It was getting too hard to keep up with all my other responsibilities, so I said so long to a fun volunteering phase of my life. I'm still part of the PTO at Maeser's school, though.

This is a picture of Kade's poster he entered into a poster contest

that coincided with a concert I took the music kids to.

Kade won 1st place for his poster and got a cash prize of $60!

I'm so proud of him!!! This is Kade and one of his best friends, Lexi, at the music concert.

They are excited and happy to be there!

Teaching kids who are not "too cool" for everything is so awesome.

I love the enthusiasm!

This funny little picture is from a few months ago.

Maeser had to have a cavity filled, so his mouth is numb.

He was trying to smile, but he couldn't.

When I showed him the picture, he thought it was hilarious.

That's just like Maeser! Everything is fun and hilarious to him.

Snowflake Pioneer Days

2009-07-29T21:58:00.001-07:00

Rhett's family at Snowflake Pioneer days

Derek and MaMa in our garage after the pinata got broken

Me breaking the last of the pinata

Derek swinging at the pinata

Randy in his new "hat" that Colt provided for him

Kade and Eden blow out their birthday candles at their joint birthday party with their cousins.

Kade turns 9 and Eden turns 10.

2009-07-29T21:24:00.000-07:00

The Hunter Clan is growing every year.

Current size (including spouses and children)is 39 and counting--Cami is currently pregnant

Me, Heather, and Stacey singing the national athem in harmony at the Hunter reunion

Mom competing in the Hunter Reunion Ironman/woman.
This event? Blowing a pingpong ball through straw toward the finish line.

Dad competing in the Hunter Reunion Ironman/woman Competion

He is dropping golf balls into a bucket beneath the balcony

Our bubble-blowing competition: the finalists

2009-07-23T16:24:00.000-07:00

Images of our Summer:

Maeser getting wet at ShowLow's "Freedom Fest" parade. We sat in the "wet zone" where the firemen sprayed people periodically before and after the parade.

Kade watching the parade. (I still haven't figured out how to rotate my pictures).

Belinda and Bryson at the parade. (My whole family was at my house for the Hunter reunion over the week of the 4th. We had 39 people showering, eating, and sleeping at our house!)

Maeser getting dog-piled by his cousins at Bekah and Judd's old house. The younger cousins were all together while Shannon and Brenda and other family members vacationed in Hawaii.

Jayden and Derek keeping Maeser warm. The kids were all drying off on the trampoline after swimming in Judd and Bekah's pool. Jayden and Derek both just love Maeser!

Jayden warming Maeser up with a pile of towels. Maeser was freezing after swimming.

Kade at Keaton Flake's birthday party at the Snowflake Pool. Keaton's family rented out the whole pool for his party. It was so much fun for the kids. Jon even brought a kayak for the kids to paddle around the pool in. Afterwards, everyone went to Jon and Dawniel's house for hotdogs. The kids loved it and can't wait to maybe rent out the pool for their own birthdays.

(Next year).

Maeser at Keaton's party. Maeser and Kade both get along so well with Keaton and Hayden. We love visiting Jon and Dawniel because our kids play so well together!

The only major thing this summer that I am missing pictures of is the Snowflake Pioneer Days. My camera wasn't charged for the parade. Kade and Maeser rode the ward float. The theme was something about modern-day pioneering, and they were missionaries. They were so cute. The real missionaries walked in the parade handing out pamphlets, and they love our little "elders". One of them gave Maeser a pamphlet on the restoration. It was cute!

Most of Rhett's family came up for Pioneer Days, and Kade and Eden had a birthday party together for the cousins. It was so fun. I made them each a cake, and Lyndi made Hawaiian food for dinner. Everything tasted really good, especially Lyndi's mango salsa. We all loved it!

Blackmail and Birthday

2009-03-19T22:01:00.000-07:00

This is the way we do primary in Snowflake. This is Rhett leading the singing in sharing time. Our singing leader came up with this idea that the class who sings the best gets to make their teacher get up in these crazy clothes and lead. Luckily, Rhett bought me a small enough camera to fit in my purse. So, it is his fault I had it with me at this opportune moment! Good for blackmail.

These are pictures of Jayden and Maeser wearing their shirts for Jayden's birthday. They say "Best Cousins" on the front and have their names on the back. They were both sooo excited about them. They have so much fun together ("best cousins" is a cross between cousins and best friends).

Maeser and Jayden again. I love how their personalities shine through in this picture.

If you didn't believe that these two are best cousins, this proves it!

Spelling Bee Champ

2009-03-19T11:21:00.000-07:00

Kade won the third grade spelling bee for his school. No surprise there, Kade is such a smart kid. I'd like to say that he takes after his mom, but he is smarter than I was at his age. And definitely a lot better at doing things in front of an audience. It was fun to watch him!

Okay, so I'm showing how much dumber I am than Kade, but I can't figure out how to rotate this picture. If only Kade were home right now, he could probably show me. This is him holding his first-place trophy. He was so excited to win. He cleaned off his trophy when he got home. I'm so excited for him and proud of him, too. You probably couldn't tell. Just joking.

I go to parent teacher conferences today, and I love going to hear good things about my boys. I always tease them that their teachers are going to tell all about how they jump on the desks like kangaroos and swing from the light fixtures like monkeys, but really, I always hear good things. Last time I went, Maeser's teacher told me he has already mastered everything he needed to master to go into the second grade. Maeser was really disappointed when he found out that she didn't mean that he got to skip the rest of the school year and go straight into second grade. She also told me that Maeser reads at a fifth grade reading level, but unfortunately he only has a comprehension level just above second grade. So he apparently reads a lot of thing that he can't comprehend. Oh well, you can't have everything. Kade's teacher told me last time that Kade had qualified for the gifted program. I always knew Kade was smart, but it is good to have your opinions about how great your kids are confirmed by an unbiased source.

I'm so proud of my kids!!!

2009-01-30T11:55:00.000-07:00

Today, Kade competed in the third grade poetry reciting competition at his school. He did a great job. He was one of the winners from his class, and he was able to compete with the whole third grade. He did a really good job. He recited a poem about eating vegetables, and Maeser helped him with so props he used. They were both so cute, and Maeser was so excited to be included in what Kade was doing. Kade is getting to the age where he does a lot more than Maeser. He has started scouts and plays basketball (the city only has teams starting with kids Kade’s age, so Maeser is still too young). It was great for Kade to include Maeser in something that he was so excited about himself. Kade the baller!

Kade in his game a couple of Saturdays ago.

This is Kade at the end of his poem recitation. His poem was about that his dad would only give him money if he ate a healthy meal. The poem lists off all the vegetables that the kid tells his dad he ate. The last lines say:

"My dad said he was proud of me and handed me the cash;

I hope he doesn't find out all this food is in the trash."
Kade threw all the food over his shoulder when he said the last word.

This is Kade and Maeser waiting for Kade's poetry contest to start.

Notice Kade's shirt says "I Love Veggies".

2009-01-30T11:48:00.000-07:00

Lately, I’ve been into volleyball a lot. The women in my stake all get together and play every Friday morning for fun. Most everyone besides me is on a city league team, and the level of play is higher than some high school teams I’ve seen. It is so fun. It is one of the best things about living in Snowflake. I also play on a Relief Society team in my ward. My ward has four different teams because everyone is so into volleyball here. My team is really good. I’m actually probably the worst one on my team—if you don’t count my friend that is five months pregnant who plays with us. It is so fun. I’m looking for a city team to join, but I don’t know if I will be able to find one this year. In any case, I am having so much fun with it.

We've finally MOVED IN!!!!

2008-11-14T15:06:00.000-07:00

Now that we are finally in our house, I thought I would post a few more pictures. The house isn't really finished yet, but we're in. We moved on Halloween. We didn't get any trick-or-treaters in the new house, despite the six bags of candy I bought. Actually, Jon and Dawniel Flake came by to see us with their kids. Their kids were dressed up as Star Wars characters. Their little two-year-old girl, Brynne was so cute as Yoda. Our kids were at a Halloween party for our new ward with some friends of ours, Brian and Michelle Kay. Their oldest daughter, Hailey, is on Kade's soccer team and was so excited to have new kids move in. The neighborhood is already full of kids, which should be so fun!

This is Kade and Maeser showing off the new shower in the master bath. They have their clothes on so that this can stay a family-friendly website. (Maeser always has to strike a pose.)

This is Kade an Maeser relaxing in the new jacuzzi tub in the master bath. Good times!

Another bath picture.

As many of you know, I had to wash dishes by hand for the last three years because our little rental had no dishwasher. So here it is: my pride and joy . . . (drumroll) . . . A DISHWASHER!!! I never thought I could be quite this thankful for automated washing power. It's a beautiful thing!

Here's another great addition. Six burners of pure cooking bliss. My old stove in the rental had only three burners that worked, and the large burner (the stove only had one large burner) was not one of the ones that worked. I've tried it out a little bit, but my goal is to eventually cook a meal that I use all six burners at once. That will be quite a trick!

Here's another long-awaited (and I like to think well-deserved) little luxury: a gas fireplace. It's so nice on those cold November Snowflake evenings. (It already snowed here last week.)

Here's one of my favorite things about the house: its Western view. I love those Arizona sunsets, especially when it gets cold and the colors seem to get more vivid, like they're making up for the cold weather we have to live through to see them!

You can't build beauty like that. But luckily, you can see it from inside a beautiful home on a cold, windy November day. It's like Heavenly Father is saying, "Good job on painting the walls. A little more practice, and maybe you can paint something as amazing as this. Keep up the effort! Remember, you inherited your love of beauty and color from me."

My new haircut

2008-10-03T15:01:00.001-07:00

My hair has been pretty long for a while, and as always, I have been getting sick of having soooo much hair to take care of. I finally decided to cut it, so I took "before and after" pictures. I really like the new haircut. I don't know if it comes across in the pictures how cute it is. I like how my hair looked long, but I was just tired of all the time I had to spend on it. My hair is thick, and it takes forever to dry. Now I can dry it in about 5-10 minutes with a blow dryer, which is really quick for me. Any way, I just thought I would post the pictures so that all of you who live farther away can see the new do. I'm excited about it. Hopefully, you guys think it is cute, too!

Before.

I don't think my hair has been this long since high school.

It was fun for awhile, but I was ready for a change.

After

I was really excited at how well it turned out.

This is my hair the next day when all I did was blowdry it and spray some hairspray on it. I think it still looks good even when I don't spend as much time on it, and I really need that for my hair because I get lazy with it some days.

More New House Pictures

2008-10-01T14:45:00.000-07:00

Tile work in the shower of the master bathroom

Kade and Maeser by the front door (which isn't stained yet)

Baseboards and door casings being primed and painted white

Workers putting the first coat of stucco on the house.

Front of the house

Some of the first coat of stucco that is finished

Stucco around the garage.

Tile work in the master bathroom's shower

Kade's Baptism and Soccer Pictures

2008-09-23T13:36:00.000-07:00

Kade waiting for his game to start.
Kade, the mighty defender.
Kade about to stop the opposing team's progress.
Kade fighting for the ball.
Maeser waiting for the start of the game
Maeser about to power-kick it
Dash from The Incredibles or Maeser? You decide.
Those 5-6-year-old games get really intense!
Maeser throwing the ball in

Kade and Rhett before Kade's baptism.
Take two. Same pose.

Thanks to everyone who came (or tried to come) to Kade's baptism. It was great. As a lot of you know, three of my family members got in a serious car accident while traveling to Kade's baptism. They were life-flighted to a hospital in Flagstaff. My dad was discharged the same day, but Rob and Kristy (my bro and sis) had to stay in the hospital for about 6 days. They are out now and doing well. It will take awhile to completely heal, but they are both well on their way. We are so thankful for the people who stopped at the accident and helped them. They relieved the pressure the car frame was putting on Rob's head and made it easier for the paramedics to position the "jaws of life" contraption thingy to get him out of the car. They also gave my dad and Rob priesthood blessings before they left on the helicopter. One of them even came the next day to visit them in the hospital. Looking at pictures of the car, it seems amazing that all three survived and are doing well. We are thankful for the ability that priesthood holders have to bring the blessings of God to others. For our friends who are not of our faith, priesthood holders in our church have the ability to lay hands on the sick or injured and bless them to heal according to God's will.

Kade was really excited about his baptism. He said he felt the Holy Ghost, a warm powerful feeling, when he was baptized. In our church, members are blessed by priesthood leaders after their baptism and given the Gift of the Holy Ghost, or the gift of always being able to have the influence of the Holy Spirit with them as long as they are faithful and repent whenever they need to. When Kade had this blessing, called a Confirmation, he said he felt the Holy Ghost even more. I have seen myself how faithful Kade is in trying to be what his Heavenly Father wants him to be, and I know that He was as pleased with Kade as I was. I believe that what Kade felt was his Heavenly Father's love and approval of his decision to be baptized. Kade is very obedient and thoughtful, and I'm so pleased with the boy he has become and is still becoming. Kade's aunts took him to church the next morning so that he could hear his name read as the newest member of the church in the Snowflake 2nd ward. Rhett and I had driven to Flagstaff to be with my family who were in the accident. His aunts, Bekah and Lyndi, told me he was so excited and happy when they had him stand up and they read his name. I wish I could have been there, but I can definitely picture it.

Our family has been so blessed this past month. We are also about to be blessed even more as we anticipate moving into our new home around the end of October. I can't wait. . . (No more waiting for someone to finish using our only bathroom, and no more wading through the snow to get to my car (we don't currently have a garage)). Mostly, I'm excited to have so much room for our friends and family to visit us. Rhett and I are planning to throw a huge party for all our friends and relatives here in Snowflake to celebrate moving in. Our house is 6000 sq ft, so we will have room for lots of people to come. You're all invited if you can make it. I don't know when it will be yet, but I hope everyone will be there to help us celebrate!

New House Pictures

2008-09-23T12:40:00.000-07:00

New house pictures: Fireplace--a work in progress.
Half of the rock is done on the fireplace.
Rock on the island/bar in the kitchen
Master bath floor tile
Laundry room. (Tile stacked against the wall.)
Three-car garage (wood planking for deck and pation ceiling stacked in the middle)
Tile in the jack-n-jill bath between the boys' room and the guest room (which will probably be Kade's room when he gets older--there are two other bedrooms downstairs)
Tile around shower/bath tub in the boys' bathroom
Tile detail around boys' shower

Green bedroom (downstairs)
Bathroom inside the yellow bedroom downstairs
(The bathroom is blue, but the bedroom is yellow.)

Theater room downstairs (Kade peeking in)
Back patio (just underneath the deck)
Back deck (just above covered patio below)

You can see the golf course on the side of the lot.

House from the back. This is the angle it looks the biggest from.
It actually looks a lot bigger than it even is.

Main area upstairs. (View from the back door) Looking toward the kitchen. (That half wall has rock on it now.)

Kade and Maeser's room. They have been wanting a blue room since we first moved into our house in Mesa. Now, they will finally have it.
Kade and Maeser standing just behind the entryway.

A view from the front door, looking into the entry area.
A wall downstairs with a closet in it. It is the same color as the main living area upstairs.

2008-08-11T09:12:00.000-07:00

Today was Kade and Maeser's first day of school. Kade is now in third grade and Maeser is in first. They are getting so old so fast. I am now free for roughly 6 hours each weekday. I am still figuring out what I will do with that time. I am not going to make any long-term plans until at least after our house is finished. It is coming along well, but it is currently over budget, which means I may end up doing some of the jobs you can do by yourself--like painting the walls. So until it is done, I am not going to make any big time commitments as to how else I will spend my time.

We took Kade and Maeser to their classes this morning. They found their seats and looked to see which of the kids they knew would be in their class. It reminded me of my first days of school when I was little. I remember being so excited to meet my teacher and see who was in my class. So far, I have liked every teacher that either of them has had. They have all had slightly different teaching styles, but I have seen how Kade and Maeser have benefited from each one. I think this year will continue that pattern. I'm looking forward to it.

2008-05-23T13:00:00.000-07:00

This is Maeser and Jeanette after Maeser's Mothers Day Luau at kindergarten at Highland Primary. For those of you who attended or had children who attended Highland Primary, you probably remember going. They have been doing the luau every year for quite a few years.

Maeser loved it!

School is out here! Today (Friday May 23rd) was my boys' last day of school. This summer we will be hiking in Utah and visiting family there, going to a family reunion in Oregon, and of course, having family visit for pioneer days here in Snowflake. In addition, our house will be continuing to be built, and we will probably move in some time in the fall. Kade and Maeser are in little league and tee ball. Summer will be full but fun!

Home Sweet Basement

2008-05-23T12:05:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of the house in its construction state. They are not completely in order.

This is a picture of Kade and Maeser in front of where the garage will be. The walls are there to support the dirt under the garage. The back yard, which sits just behind the garage, will be at a lower level than the front side of the garage, where the driveway is. The driveway is actually on the side of the lot, and the garage sits behind the house, forming an L shape with the rest of the house. Maeser either really loves rebar, or he is holding on for dear life to keep from falling through solid ground into the center of the earth. I don't know which.

This is the basement as it is starting to be poured. Those are concrete molds that have been put into place. This is the basement floor being poured and smoothed out. The walls on the one side are only half the height they will be because the top part of that one wall will be framed. This is not supposed to affect the structural integrity of the house really. It just saves us money because concrete is more expensive. The basement will "walk out" into a back porch that will be sunken a few feet below ground level.
In this picture you can see the cement puring out of the overhead tube. The cement has traveled through the tube all the way from the truck that you can see in the background, which is the front of the house. This view is from the side of the house.
This is the current view of our house from the street. You can see a lot of the framing in the basement is mostly done. We are leaving the basement unfinished, but they had to put in bearing walls and things like that. Also, the basement is not concrete all the way up. There is a couple of feet of framing on which the floor trusses for the main floor will sit.
This is a view of the basement from where the back porch will be. The back porch and garage have not been poured yet.

This is the "before" picture when they were just beginning the basement. The footings are poured, and they are setting up the concrete molds.

Excited for Christmas!

2007-12-16T17:13:00.000-07:00

We're getting all ready for Christmas, and Kade and Maeser are so excited. We set up the tree for family home evening two weeks ago. We had so much fun! Santa's coming!

This is our Christmas dance.

I love our tree. It's so pretty!

This next series of pictures is for anyone who tried to take a picture of me as a child. I have been told that I was almost impossible to capture in a good picture when I was Maeser's age. He is so antsy. It is hard to believe I was this hyper, but I have been told that it's true.

See for yourself:

2007-12-16T17:04:00.000-07:00

Kade and Maeser made a snowman in our frontyard from the first snow of the winter. I helped them with it. Otherwise, it would have been a lot smaller. It was a little bit sad because it had leaves and grass bits all over it. But still, it's not bad for a first try. (I don't want to hear any comments about it not being my first try!)Here are some great pictures of their masterpiece.Kade: "We're just so excited about our snowman!"

Maeser: "Yep."

Maeser: "I just love my snow man!"
Kade: "He really does!"

Rise all loyal Cougars . . .

2007-12-10T17:02:00.000-07:00

Our family loved visiting Kent and Belinda's family on our California trip. Here are some of the highlights. (Notice Belinda and I aren't in any of the pictures. We aren't exciting enough.)

How sweet!

Kade lying down looking at his cousin Megan sleeping.

Rhett and Kent took Kade and Maeser and their cousins Bekah and Jason to the BYU/San Diego State football game. Even though Rhett and I met at a BYU football game, our kids have never been to one, except when Kade was a baby and we had season tickets in the student section. It was a pretty cool thing for them.

Belinda and I stayed home with her two-year-old twins and her newborn, Megan. (Yeah, she's pretty much going to be nominated for "Mother of the Year" for being able to stay sane while taking care of twin "terrible-twos" boys and a "two-o'clock-feedings" little girl. If she survives long enough to accept the award.)

We all had so much fun, though. Here are some great shots of the uncles and cousins at the BYU game:

"As we sing, get set to spring,

Come on, cougars; it's up to you!"

Cougar-fan Kade enjoying the game

"Rise and shout, the Cougars are out!"
Cosmo the Cougar and future-Cougar Maeser

"Loyal, strong and true,

Wear the white and blue"
Our boys' cousin Jason, wearing his popcorn bucket as a hat

"We'll raise our colors high in the blue

and cheer the cougars of BYU"
Cousin Bekah carrying on the Cougar-loving tradition of "Y Man" Kent, her dad, with a borrowed foam finger. Isn't she cute?

"On we go to vanquish the foe

For Alma Mater sons and daughters"

The cougar alumni guys pose with their cougar cubs.

Back: Rhett, Kent

Front: Maeser, Kade, Bekah, and Jason

More "Happiest Place on Earth" Pictures

2007-12-10T16:32:00.000-07:00

A better view:

Rhett, Kade, and Maeser waiting in line at Space Mountain

10 . . 9 . . . 8 . . .

Rhett waiting in a line for Space Mountain

"I won't hurt you, little fella."
Kade "feeding" an animated deer at an exhibit about Snow White, which was the first full-length animated feature. Kade wants to be an animator when he grows up.

Smile, and say "Mickey"!

Our Christmas picture by the tree at California Adventure Park.

Here are more pictures from our Disneyland trip. We always have so much fun when we go there. (Although rushing to UC Irvine Medical Center is still one of my least favorite rides, I enjoyed this trip. I'm glad Disneyland is no longer jinxed for me.)

Our kids are growing up and getting taller, so they were able to ride more of the rides this time. Kade rode California Screaming which is a mile-long rollercoaster. I have never ridden that one because I am too chicken. Pretty soon my kids will be so big that I will feel pretty funny being the only one who stays off the scary rides. I already appointed myself official photographer for splash mountain, a job that requires me to stay off the ride and wait by the big waterfall, hoping to catch the perfect picture. So far, I haven't quite gotten an awesome shot yet, so I am unfortunately forced to stay off the ride to keep trying again and again. I'm quite sure I will never get it exactly right.

The best part about Disneyland for us is that it gives us a chance to all have fun together. We even gave Kade and Maeser a lesson while we were in the line for Alice in Wonderland and the Peter Pan ride. Rhett taught Maeser the physical states (solid, liquid, and gas--he saved plasma for later since there is no real world example of it that Maeser would encounter) and about changes in physical states(evaporation, condensation, freezing, and melting). I taught Kade about adverbs (he already knows nouns, verbs, and adjectives from an educational computer game) and about prepositions and prepositional phrases. Then, Rhett and I traded kids and quizzed each on what he had learned from the other parent. Rhett and I were very pleased with ourselves for coming up with such a great way to wait in line. It was very Cheaper-By-the-Dozen-esque. (I mean the book and the old movie, not the new one with Steve Martin. The book is about an "effeciency expert", and how he encorporates efficiency into his family life with his twelve children.) Learning while waiting in line should qualify as efficient, I hope.

Our family always has fun together, and the trip was no exception. We came back ready to get back into life with a little bit lighter of a step. Rhett still wishes that they had a Pirates of the Carribbean ride in the back room at the pharmacy, but he will have to wait a whole two months until we go again at the end of January. We can't wait!

Disneyland Comemoration of Surgery Visit

2007-12-10T15:42:00.000-07:00

Foggy Goggles:

Maser after swimming in the pool at the hotel.
Angry Swimmer:
Kade at the hotel pool

Freeze!

Jeanette and Kade on Buzz Lightyear ride

Boy, this kid is heavy!

Kade helps Maeser wet his whistle.

May the force be with you!

Padowan Learners Kade and Maeser wanted to attend the Jedi Academy, but it was rained out. At least they were able to get autographs from some of the Jedi Masters.

It's going to be a bumpy ride!

Kade and Maeser prepare for the rapids on the Grizzly River Run.

". . . A smile means friendship to everyone . . ."

Maeser and Jeanette on Small World

As you might notice, I am writing this blog on the same day as the last one, but I am making it a separate blog just to maintain the illusion that I write more often. Were you tricked?

We recently got back from a trip to Disneyland. I had emergency surgery last year on our Disneyland trip, complete with a five inch scar and a lost fallopian tube. I guess Rhett wanted to comemorate the occasion by taking me back there since it was almost exactly a year from the date of my surgery that we went down this time. I am happy to reprt that there were no surgeries on this trip and nothing worse than a rainy day toward the end of the week.

We had a lot of fun, and we were even able to visit my sister Belinda and her family on the way there and the way back. We stayed with them one night, and Rhett and Kent took our boys and the older cousins to a BYU football game in San Diego. But that is a subject for my next blog, which will also be written today. Play along with the illusion; it's all part of the magical quality of this blogspot.

2007-12-10T15:30:00.000-07:00

We had fun at Thanksgiving dinner in Mesa, where our family visited Lyndi's, Jen's, and Judd's families. And Colt and Ashley for just a little bit, since they were late because they visited Ashley's parents for Thanksgiving. We had a lot of fun, and our kids were so excited to see their cousins that they don't get to see as often. Maeser was especially glad to see Jayden, particularly since he is moving back to Mesa, and Maeser knows he will get to see him more often now.

The day after Thanksgiving, we drove back to Snowflake to see Rob and Cami, who visited us from Las Vegas. We were able to go to Petrified Forest National Park which is about a half hour outside of Holbrook. It was cool, but I can tell that my siblings and I are a little spoiled as far as visits to national parks go. We grew up visiting Yellowstone all the time, and we expect a little more "wow" out of our national parks. The whole time we were at the Petrified Forest, not one geyser went off, and we didn't see any bears or even any elk, moose, or herds of bison. It was a little disappointing. But Rob kept us entertained by calling it the"putrified forest" just to make Kade and Maeser correct him--which they did every time.

2007-11-16T16:05:00.000-07:00

Kade playing Goalie for his soccer team.

He is running up to catch a ball that was shot at the goal.

I promised to post a few pictures of the kids on Halloween. Unfortunately, I didn't take a single picture on Halloween. So you'll all just have to picture them in their costumes: Maeser=Agent Luke Skywalker (a creation of his own imagination that included a ninja costume and a light saber) & Kade=a vampire (changed at the last minute from a football player, which costume he wore just days before Halloween to a couple of costume parties, before trading in the helmet for some face-painted fangs. His mother refused to draw blood dripping from them: there are some concessions I am not willing to make!) Sorry about that; I was more involved in the festivities that in photography. (I won't mention the fact that I have already delegated the photo responsibility to a certain husband of mine that shall remain nameless.)

Soccer season is finally over. (Mostly, any way. Kade still has a "make up" game on Saturday from a day that it was too windy to play. Yeah, other places have games called on account of rain or snow, but Snowflake has unplayable days due to our lovely 70mph wind, which gusts even stronger/faster.) Since Maeser's soccer picture was at the top of our blog for a couple of weeks, I decided to even it out with this picture of Kade. He played a lot of defense this season, so he didn't have the goal-scoring record of Maeser. He's a good player though--with a lot of energy!

Here's a cool tidbit of Flake family trivia: Rhett was quoted in an article in the newspaper about Mitt Romney's campaign. The article was about mormons contributing so much to Romney's campaign, and it ran in several newspapers here in Arizona. You can find it at

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/101545

I don't know how long that link will still bring you to the story because they probably have some way of cycling through the old news stories, but if you check it out soon after I post this, I'm sure you can read it. Rhett is mentioned in about the 6th paragraph down from the top. He really says clear things in support of Romney, and I'm really proud of his ability to think on his feet. I'm not sure I would respond as well to a cold caller. To summarize his statement, he says that Romney should have support from people of all faiths, especially Christians because he shares the same values that most Americans believe in: a strong belief in God and in family values. In case I didn't mention it before, my husband is so awesome!

Soccer

2007-10-14T19:26:00.000-07:00

Maeser scored a goal in his soccer game this week again, so to celebrate, here is a picture of him at the game a few weeks ago.

We didn't take any of Kade playing yet because our official photographer (Rhett) had to go to work. He only works four hours on Saturday (when he works on Saturday), but those hours are usually the prime soccer-playing hours.

2007-10-12T16:59:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of Maeser golfing (miniature golf). Here is Kade in a typical Kade pose.

Aren't they cute? This was basically my little test run to see how easy it was to add pictures to my blog. Now that I know how to do it, I'll probably be able to post lots and lots of great Kade and Maeser originals. They are so photogenic, and their dad is so snap-happy with the camera that I'm sure I'll always have a endless supply to choose from. In the meantime, enjoy these first two photos and just wait until we go to Disneyland in November. We'll definitely have a few more to post then! Last time we went on a trip, Rhett took upwards of 1400. We'll see if he is able to break his record.

Jeanette

2007-10-10T22:04:00.000-07:00

Kade and Maeser have been playing soccer on city league teams. They are really enjoying it, and I love the opportunity to get them active and learning a sport. They only have one practice a week plus a game every Saturday, so it is really manageable as an activity. Maeser scored a goal in the first quarter of the first game. Someone kicked the ball right in front of him while he was standing in front of the other team’s goal. So, he kicked it right in. It was really cool.

Both of the boys went on the annual Highland Primary field trip to the Willis’ pumpkin patch yesterday. They are excited to carve their jack-o-lanterns on Saturday when Rhett is home to help them. Maeser was talking about the “Punkin” patch all day after the field trip. I told him that he belongs in a punkin patch because he is a punkin. He had no idea what I was talking about.

Here’s a little brag-time about my boys:
Maeser just got an award for counting to a hundred. They make a big deal of it in his kindergarten. He got a little certificate and a hundred pennies from his teacher. (You get to pick out of a treasure chest filled with bags of a hundred things, like gummy fish and gumballs. Maeser knew he wanted the pennies days before they let him pick out his prize.) He also got some candy bars from his principle, Mr. Yates. He ate them all soon after he got home from school.

Kade has been doing well in school again this year. His best subject is reading, and one Saturday he proved it. I had just bought him a set of all the Magic Tree House books from his book order at school. Since there are thirty of them (and they are chapter books), I thought it would take him months to get through them all. Well, one Saturday we were all kind of feeling sick, and we were napping and resting. So, Kade decided to do a little reading. He read for hours and finished about seven or eight books—he lost track of exactly how many he finished. I learned from this experience never to under estimate my children.

Now, here’s a funny little story about Kade:
We took the boys to a corn maze here, and part of the maze is an educational maze for kids to learn “agrifacts” (facts about agriculture). The way it works is that there are questions with two possible answers, and depending on which way you answer, it tells you to turn right or left. If you get it wrong, you have to backtrack. So, one of the questions was “How many stomachs does a cow have?” Kade said, “It’s four. I know it’s four because of those four little hanging thingies under the cow.” (He meant the udders.) He got it right, but his cattlemen ancestors would probably wonder a little at his logic.

First Post

2007-10-09T18:12:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!

Thanks for visiting my blogspot. This is my attempt to simplify the process of updating everyone in a somewhat timely manner.

I just had my ten-year class reunion this past weekend, and it got me thinking about some things, like how time flies. So, now when time flies, I'm hoping to at least keep a flight log posted here for friends and families to read.

More later. See you guys!