Father's Fiftieth!

My rad dad turned the big 5-0 on October 5. I decided it was high time to embarrass him for once, (he's infamous for doing this to others) so with the help of LOTS of awesome friends and family members, we were able to surprise him.

First off, we had to get him to a location without him suspecting anything...not an easy task. Since he's the custodian at a school, I decided the easiest plan would be to have his principal call him and tell him there was a water leak in the lunchroom (where the party was at) and he needed to get there ASAP! It was a Friday night, and my dad is also known for not always jumping right to things if it involves the school. (let's be honest, female teachers have a tendency to exaggerate problems that he NEEDS to fix) He does it, but more so on his own schedule...I was NERVOUS to say the least. Mainly because I had a room full of 50+ people waiting on him! Thankfully, Susan, his GF :), had a very smooth plan and told him they were going to dinner at 6 (party time) and on the way out the door, he got the frantic phone call and she urged him to fix the problem before they went to eat. And well....SURPRISE!!!

The party was a big success and I finally remembered to take some pictures towards the end. Like I said, I was a nervous wreck the whole time, but by the end my hands stopped shaking and I could breathe normally again. :)

My Nana is my hero. Far too many reasons to list here, but she is AMAZING.

The 50 wall. I put up pictures all throughout his life and along with my siblings (and a few from my girls), we wrote  "fifty fun facts about the old fart"

FIFTY

FUN

FACTS

ABOUT THE OLD

FART:

He was born

October 5,1961

He is the 2^nd youngest of 9 children

He has 6 sisters and 2 brothers

He was born in Montpelier, ID

He always gives me cheese puffs and cookies

-Navi

He calls me “Chunky Cheese”

-Trevi

He is the best “Lampa” around.

 - Navi & Trevi

He is the one I run to when Allie or Cade is chasing me

-Navi

He has only babysat me one time...when Mommy was desperate.

-Navi

He would never say no when I wanted to watch “The Little Mermaid” or “Beauty and the Beast”

-Laci

He wears his Santa pajama pants all year long.

- Laci

He taught me to like macaroni and cheese with pork and beans.

-Laci

He is the hardest worker I know.

 -Laci

He would wake me up for school by belly flopping on my bed and send me flying.

-Laci

He is always willing to help whenever I ask.

 -Laci

He let me think he made up the “Band-Aide” song when I was little. Then when I heard my cousin singing it, I said, “Hey! My dad made that up!”

 -Laci

He snores louder than anyone you’ve ever heard. Really.

-Laci

He shared his love of all things Christmas with me

 -Laci

He would attach our sleds to his team of horses and sleigh and pull us around the yard or while feeding cows.

-Laci

He can’t sleep without all of his little pillows

 -Allie

He loves to watch John Wayne movies

 -Allie

One of his pet-peeves is scratched C.D.’s

 -Allie

He loves movie theater popcorn and often asks for someone to go buy some for him

 -Allie

He always has to have is water jug filled.

 -Allie

His favorite ice cream is pralines and cream

 -Allie

One of his favorite foods is soft shelled tacos

 -Allie

He loves Butterfingers, Baby Ruths, and Almond Joys

-Allie

He hates snakes more than anything

 -Allie

His favorite thing to buy at a gas station is Mountain Dew

 -Allie

He’s always craving German Chocolate Cake

 -Bekka

He has a nickname for most everyone. Sometimes when I’m referring to someone, I have to stop and think of their real name before my Dad’s nickname for them comes out.

 -Bekka

He always finds a way to get his truck stuck. One winter when I was helping him in Amalga, he got his truck stuck in a ditch by a pond. When the guy came the next day to pull him out, he blamed me and said it was his teenage daughter who was still learning how to drive.

 -Bekka 

He has a huge collection of Christmas books. I always loved when he'd read them to all us kids every night before Christmas.

-Bekka

He likes to set a new "record" each year to see how long he can go into winter without turning the heater on. Last year we made it to Thanksgiving. This year he informed me that he's going to go into December before he touches the thermostat. 

-Bekka

Everything I know about animals and farming, I've learned from him. 

 -Bekka

Don't play board games with him unless you're willing to bend the rules and put up with cheating.

 -Bekka

He has his own dictionary of words he's made up over the years. It didn't take me very long to figure out they weren't real words when I'd use them around my friends and get weird looks.

 -Bekka 

He can be fast asleep on the couch and nothing will wake him up or disturb him, but as soon as you turn his TV channel, he's fully alert.

 -Bekka

A big pet-peeve of his is when I miss his calls on my phone, but I swear every time I call his phone, it starts ringing on his nightstand.

 -Bekka

He thinks he can go ANYWHERE on his 4-wheeler.

 -Cade

One of his most common quotes:

“Good thing I’m quick and agile at the same time”

 -Cade

He has driven his truck into the same pond more than once.

 -Cade

He can quote any line of “The Outlaw Josey Wales”

 -Cade

He is scared of anything that resembles a snake

 -Cade

He wants a Harley

 -Cade

His favorite TV show is “Sister Wives”

 -Cade

He knows the family tree of every cow in the herd

 -Cade

When you help him herd cows you better know how to translate all his hand motions and/or read his mind.

 -Laci

One of his favorite John Wayne quotes is: “Hurry it up! We’re burnin’ daylight!”

 -Laci

(they were all mixed up while hanging...but you get the idea)

The birthday boy, himself

My dad is a jokester and a teaser. He loves to laugh and is good at making other people laugh too. He is the hardest worker I know. He is also tender-hearted. He is sentimental, patient and loving. He is brave and was the rock in our family while my mom was sick and after she has passed away. He is generous and is always willing to help others. He is spiritual and is the one I go to when I have question about church docterine. My dad gave me wonderful childhood memories and is now creating memories as a grandpa with my girls. I love him more than I can explain and I am so grateful I get to be his daughter!

Summer Updates...Better Late than Never!

I know...you're all probably suffering heart attacks right now due to shock of an update. We're still alive and well, I promise! Here's what we've been up to and it might explain the lack of blog updates.
(and in case you were wondering, I temporarily changed the blog to un-private so people could see we updated...I'll change it back soon)

Summer:

School ended in April, and we closed on our house on the 28th. We started painting and moving as soon as finals were over. In early May, I took a long weekend break and went to visit my best friend who lives in Pittsburgh. She has been one of my best friends since 3rd grade and she had a baby in March. I took the long and chaotic plane ride with Navi and another good friend, and besides the awful rides to and from Pittsburgh, we had a great time just visiting, meeting cute baby Trey, and laughing a lot!

May and June were a blur at our house. We finally settled into our new place and we both started summer school. I felt like a bad mom during the first part of the summer, but we made it through. I’ll even pat myself on the back a little, and brag up my grades from spring and summer semesters...I got 5 A’s and 1 A-. But the A- was in Physics so I  kind of count it as a full A, and was mainly thrilled to have made it out alive!

I also spent much of the summer jumping through all the hoops needed to get into the Elementary Ed program at USU. I don’t know if any other majors require as much work, but after all background checks, written exams, and interviews, (just to name a few)...I got in! I was told I could start the Level II program this fall, but after thinking about it for ALONG time, I decided to take the last 3 classes needed (besides all the student teaching semesters) to graduate, and then I will focus on the Level II, III, and IV after.

July:
We celebrated the 4th of July for a week, or so it felt. I’m never good at taking as many pictures as I would like, but here are just a few:

Watching the fireworks with Daddy

and with Aunt Tif

On the 30th I turned 24 and it was a pretty low key birthday. (I tell you, we’ve been SO busy, it was nice to just relax for the day) My family had a little celebration because it’s also my little sister’s birthday too. She turned 18 this year. The day after my birthday, Nate took my to my most favorite restaurant, Maddox!, and then we went to see Inception.

We were also able to squeeze in a day at Lagoon as well. Nate and I hadn’t been for 5+ years, so we made it a priority to go this summer. Navi did pretty good considering she had to stay in her stroller for most of the rides and the fact that she didn’t have a nap.

And here are some cute pictures of Navi at one of our friend’s little girl’s birthday party. She LOVED pool and had a great time with the other little kids.

Baby Jane and Navi

Cute Cache and Navi

It took a lot of coaxing, but she finally let Dad help her down the slide.

We also spent a Saturday at Bear Lake. It didn't last too long though. Navi did not like us telling her "no" when she tried to steal all the other kids' toys. The lame parents we are, we figured going to the lake would be enough fun. We learned our lesson though...next time, we will be fully prepared with beach balls, sand toys, etc.

Sweet farmer's tan Nate! ;)

August:
If you know my family, you know the Cache County Fair is one of the biggest and most important events of the summer. This year was no exception. Both my sisters did a very good job showing their animals and all their hard work over the past few months paid off.

Nice stance Al!

 (sorry Bekka, I guess all the shots I got of you were videos...whoops)

Four days after the fair ended, my family went to Salt Lake to pick up my little brother from his mission! Everyone told us that when we saw him, we’d start crying, and they were right! As soon as we saw him come around the corner, the tears started flowing! It was also really fun to introduce him to Navi. I made her a shirt that had a Chilean flag on it and wrote, “Hi Uncle Cade, I’m your niece Navi!” (but it was in Spanish) She was a little hesitant of him at first, but by the time we got home and he was unpacking his suitcases, she closed the door to his room and spent a good 10 or 15 minutes in there with him alone. He’s only been home a couple days and he is already her new best friend.

The shirt I made for Navi to wear. ("Hello Uncle Cade, I'm your niece Navi!")

Haha, the first time he tried to hold her. She warmed up quick.

Here's the proof:

And speaking of Navi, she has turned into a full-blown toddler! She is full of spunk, sass, lots of personality, and we love every bit of her. I still can’t believe how much she has learned and accomplished since she was born! She rules the house and my schedule revolves around her. (which is just fine most of the time)

Some of my favorite things about Navi:
(16 months)

Words she says:

- Da-ad! and yes, usually in that tone. My favorite is when he comes home and she runs for the door yelling, “Hi Dad!!”
- Momma – very rare however, the little stinker! It’s usually at times when she’s desperate, like wanting to get out of her crib or wants a drink.
- Bampa (grandpa) We’re trying to get Bamma for Grandma, but usually she is too stubborn to even try.
- Bekka – very clear and very often, like when she opens a cell phone she says, “Hi Bekka!”
- Al – for Allie
- Tade – I put of picture of Cade on the fridge a few months before he came home and we practiced saying his name all the time
- baby – she still LOVES babies whether it’s a doll, on TV, or a real baby (or even a little kid older than her, it’s still baby)
- Ayda – her cousin’s name. Ayda lives close to us and so anytime we go outside Navi starts yelling, “Ayda, Ayda!” because she wants to go see her.
- Breckss – for Brexton her cousin
- Ash – her aunt
- pease – please, she is very good at saying (and signing) please with anything she wants or thinks she needs. (and, let’s be honest, it’s pretty much everything)
- coke – yep, we start young around here! I blame this one on my sister though. She thought it would be funny to teach Navi to say coke. She gets a little confused sometimes and says coke for any drink, but if you try to give her water when you have a glass of coke, she definitely knows the difference! When she combines it with “pease” (and the sign language for please) it’s, “pease, coke, pease!” and it’s pretty much impossible to resist.
- cracker
- cookie
- duice - juice
- book
- Go-Go – which is really Dora, as in Dora the Explorer. Somewhere along the way she decided Dora was Go-Go, and it’s stuck.
- bye!
- cheese – as in the smile cheese. Whenever she finds a camera she holds it up in front of her and says, “Cheese!”
- shoes
- socks
- binks – binky
- banks – blanket, for her little comfort blanket she sleeps with and also loves to smell. It’s very funny because Nate has determined that smelling a specific blanket for comfort is genetic in my family. I do it with my blanket (yep, I’ll admit I still have it!) :) my siblings do it with theirs, and my mom had a little knotted ball of a blanket that she had and always smelled too. Ha! Too funny.
- Jesus – one of her favorite things is to point at pictures of Jesus whether it’s at home or at church. It is a nice distraction when she’s not being the best at church, we take her out and walk all around the halls finding pictures of Jesus.
- no – which is obviously my least favorite. I think we held out for a good amount of time, but now that she knows it, she isn’t afraid to sass it to you when she doesn’t want to do something. Of course my dad just laughs in my face and tries to get her to say it as much as possible.

Things she says because of Dora:
- backpack
- check! (what they say when they have accomplished something)
- “ooh-ooh aah-ahh!” – what Boots the monkey says
- Go-Go

Other things:
She knows the animal names and sounds for:
- lamb – she usually calls sheep “baas” and begs anyone who is at my dad’s to take her out to see the “baas”. (pulls them to the back door saying, “baa, baa!)
- duck
- cow
- horse - only sometimes

She also:
- blows kisses and gives great kisses and hugs
- loves coming up to you from behind and “tickling” you. She runs up and says, “kickle, kickle, kickle!”
- wastes baby wipes all day long and finds them no matter how hard I try and hide them. When she takes one out of the case, she’ll go to the nearest piece of furniture and say, “ceanin’ ceanin’” which is really, “cleaning, cleaning”
- one of the funniest things to me is when I go to get her out of her crib and she points at anything and everything as if to distract me and hope I won’t leave her in there. “Oh...baby! Baby! Oh...Jesus!” She exclaims as she points to every picture in her room.
- LOVES the "Baby Signing Time" DVDs and asks to watch them all day by saying, “ba-by, ba-by!” (which is how the theme song is sung)
- thanks to the DVDs she can sign:
    - please
    - thank you
    - more
    - water
    - cracker
    - baby
    - hat
    -hot
    - and a few others sporadically, usually when I try and show her a sign she just says something close to the word. I can’t complain about that I guess...?

She has a good routine for naps and sleeps through the night great. The only bad thing is she will ONLY take naps in her own crib. This isn’t too big of a deal unless I’m at my family’s helping or hanging out and want her to take a nap there. It won’t happen.

She eats pretty much anything but her favorite and most requested snacks lately are crackers (the goldfish kind) and cookies (oreoes – she is her father’s daughter for sure). She also loves mandarin oranges and olives.

Cumpleanos de Uno

(I always pretend I can speak Spanish when I write my brother, and seeing as how I just did so, I guess my title is a result of that...)

Navi's First Birthday Party!

I also just spent 3+ hours on homework, so my brain and it's ability to string words together are quite frankly, FRIED. Therefore, enjoy a few-words-as-possible post. I know there is an outrageous amount of pictures, but it's Navi's party and she can cry if she wants to...ha. Or some other reasonable excuse like that...

This was taken on Navi's actual-factual birthday, April 14. Since it was in the middle of the week, we didn't celebrate with the grand party until later that weekend. P.S. it was at least 9:00 pm, so that is why I have no makeup and look scary.

The day we celebrated her birthday was on Sunday the 18, and so right before the party we headed out to good old Clarkston to put some flowers on my mom's grave because Saturday the 17, marked four years since she's been gone. (The sun was shining in our eyes, so that's why Navi's always looking away)




It wouldn't be a normal day at the Clarkston cemetary if it wasn't windy.


I just think this one is cute. Like she's reading it or something.


And of course we had to get a picture by my Grandpa's headstone too. Navi would have been his first great-grandchild.


To say the least, she got extremely spoiled. Some of her haul included:
-a big girl carseat and clothes from Grandpa Scott (clothes picked out by Mom) :)
- Very cute clothes and a Little People farm from G&G Buttars
- a play phone and stacking buckets from Susan...my Dad's gf (haha weird to say, and even more weird to type)
- a baby stroller for her dolls from her Godfrey cousins (not to be confused with MY Godfrey cousins, small world - my mom was a Godfrey and then I married Nate and his sister married a Godfrey. Yes, we are related.)
- clothes (and a new house) from Mom and Dad ;)


She pushes this thing around all day. Her new thing to do with her babies is give them "loves" - or when she puts them up to her shoulder (like she's burping them) and says "ahhh" and pats their backs. She still gives kisses to everything too. (thing being the keyword, not limited to people....dolls, books, movies, you name it)



My sister Bekka discovered she has sweet cake decorating skills and built this for Navi. (Napolean pun alert) I told her that she's pretty much the best cake builder I know and that she is hired for every one of my kids' birthdays.


If you can't tell, Navi loves Dora the Explorer and Boots the Monkey. She got to destroy this cake as you will see later...

She loves attention, but I think even she was a little bit concerened as to why we were all circled around her staring and smiling.

It took a little convincing that it was actually ok to make a mess, then she was all for it!


SUCCESS! She loved it and we love her!
Happy Birthday Navi Baby!