First Day of School, a little late I know.

Emma was really excited about going back to school this year. I can't believe she is in the 3rd grade. That is the grade that I really started to remember my school years and life. Her teacher's name is Mrs. Tracy Dean, and she is in room 12 at Zaharis Elementary School. She is looking forward to a great year, and has already had a great first quarter. Yeah Emma!


Bryant was so excited to start Kindergarten this year at Zaharis, he goes half day in the afternoon. The bus picks him up right in front our house and he rides the "big bus" home with Emma after school. His teacher's name is Mrs. Stephanie Moore in room 60. He only has 13 kids in his class and loves his teacher and friends in his class. He is going to be so ready to go to first grade, all day next year. Especially since he has been going half day since he was three for speech. I am sure it will still be an adjustment though.

Alyssa was really looking forward to another year in joy school. She has three of the same kids in her group again this year. Chelsea, Ryan, and Scott, and a new friend named Shayla. She loves going to her friends houses and having their moms teach them about different things from dinosaurs, to bugs. I am sure she will have a great year in joy school.

Bryant's Dog Sadie.

In March 2009 we had the privelge of dog sitting for someone in our ward. They were looking for a home for this sweet part black lab named Sadie. She was already trained and great with kids. One of the setbacks was that she was used to being in the house. We took her and she stayed in the backyard. She and Bryant became fast friends, they played fetch together and all kinds of games, he took really good care of her. Unfortunately, Sara and Alyssa were a bit afraid of her and refused to go out in the backyard, and I had just had a baby. So we decided that we could not keep her. We were so blessed to discover that Uncle Jared and Aunt Karen were looking for just such a sweet dog. They adopted her and we are lucky enough to get to visit Sadie when we stay at their home in Thatcher. This picture is one taken at their house, and Bryant loved his weekend with his Sadie Dog. Someday we hope to get a dog, for keeps when the little ones get a bit older. For now we will just keep visiting dear sweet Sadie!

Alyssa's Haircutting Tips!

A couple of weeks ago I was making Christmas cards at the kitchen table. I turned and looked at Alyssa. I thought my goodness she looks young today, and just couldn't get over it. Finally I studied her sweet face a little longer and exclaimed, "Alyssa did you cut your hair?" She as a matter a factly replied, "yes mom I did." I turned her head to discover her own lovely creation of a mullet. Oh, my goodness was it bad but she thought she did a great job so here are some of her haircutting tips for you to try in the comfort of your own home.

First find a pair of kid scissors, the exact ones that your mom used in her preschool lesson to talk about the no no's of scissor safety. Then proceed to cut your hair however you see fit. I chose a mullet cut myself, there is nothing more stylish.

Then of course put the hair in the trash so your mom doesn't notice it is there, until she is finally done making her Christmas cards. Oh and by the way isn't that where Aunt Paula puts the hair when she cuts it.

Have your mom finally notice your hair, and then have her try to cut it with adult scissors, only to find that they are too dull and she has to use the preschool safety scissors instead.

Have your mom cut off about 2 inches or more off your hair and take a picture of the sad pile of hair that she has cut off her beautiful little girl. Ahh so sad!!!!!!

Take a picture of the trim by mom, and go get it touched up by a real hairdresser.

Disclaimer: Alyssa does not claim to be a professional hairdresser and can not be held accountable for her tips presented here. For best results see a professional or Paula Neill.

The Unfortunate Udall Tradition.

We expected out fifth baby Kaelyn to hopfully be excempt from ear tube surgery. She has been a different baby in so many ways. Darker hair, well slightly darker, and more of it as well as green eyes and her temperment too. Alas she had her first ear infection at 3 weeks old, and they continued consistently every three weeks. Her pediatrician knew of our kids historys and decided to go for the tubes pretty young at 5 months. Dr. Mancuso was her ENT, he was amazing with her and Sara. So friendly with each one of them, and good about answering all of our questions. Kaelyn had her procedure done at Banner Desert Medical Center, we arrived at 5 a.m. for the pre surgery stuff, and she of course had to be fasting since midnight. I was really concerned about how she would react to that but she did surprisingly well.
She looked so adorable in her hospital gown that was way too big for her but she still looked adorable and loved smiling at all of the nurses and doctors as they came in.

Because we had to be at the hospital so early Kaelyn ended up taking a nap. Thank goodness daddy was there to put her to sleep without nursing. They both took about a 30 minute nap, while I read a book. It was some nice quite time.

Dr. Mancuso came in right before the surgery and I got a picture of Kaelyn and him together, he is pretty goofy sometime. Then we had to say goodbye to our sweet Kaelyn for a little while. The surgery only takes about 10 minutes but to me that is a lifetime when your kid is under anthesia, and they are away from you.

She did great and afterwards the nurses came and got us and she was able to eat some breakfast. I was surprised to see her so awake, and happy. We fed her and then brought her home for a long nap. And thankfully after 3 months with tubes we are happy to report no ear infections! Yeah!

Love hate relationships, quite a few at our house.

Siblings always have such love hate relationships, one minute they completely adore each other and play together great and then all of a sudden the strongly dislike each other. I love this photo because Alyssa and Bryant are actually in a I love you moment. It is just so sweet to watch them play together, and get ideas as to what to do next. They are 19 months apart and some moments are hard because of that and some are more joyful. Hopfully eventually they will get past the hate part of their relationship and just enjoy each others love and company. Part of me can't wait till then, but most of me says I can cause I will miss these days.

Sara's First Haircut!

Sara had reached the ripe young age of 2, the age in which all of my "bald" babies finally get their first haircut. It is always a tear jerker for me cutting off some of that baby hair that has been on their heads since they were born. But in the end their hair always looks so much better, but they do look older.


Sara did really well holding still for her Aunt Paula as she cut her hair, I think she was just thinking this is weird I thought we weren't supposed to cut our hair with scissors.

As always, Paula did a great job and Sara looks absolutely adorable with her little bob cut. She always says she has pretty hair now. Can't believe another first haircut is over and done with.

The Defrosting of the Mammoth Freezer!

One of my summer goals was to clean and organize my garage. I was excited to get some neat, beautiful, functional adjustable shelves that we put together and filled in no time. Unfortunately one of the things we had to do was to move our old, ancient freezer out of the garage and melt all of the ice and throw out the disgusting food. Yes, it was gross. We all made bets as to how long it would take in the summer heat. Emma stood and watched it for a long time and wanted to play with the "snow" as she called it. For her safety and good health I said absolutely not it was dirty ice, and boy was it nasty. We had bets going from 3 hours to 2 days for the ice to melt. It took about a day and a half to melt all of the ice. After which I had to remove all the moldy, smelly food from it. I can't believe I am posting this, just more proof that I need to get more on top of things and use what I have. I guess this post will help me do a little better at that.

As you can see there was so much ice in the freezer it was almost filled completely. After the melting took place I cleaned the freezer and we donated it to SRP for $30. At least it did some good while we had it. Maybe I will post an after picture of our clean and organized garage.