Lemon Family

Terrilyn's 6 Birthday

2011-09-27T13:07:00.000-07:00

For Terrilyn's Birthday we also took her out on a date. I had never been to the Rainforest Cafe before so we took her there. The ambiance is fabulous and fun, the food was good but talk about PRICEY...definitely wont take everyone there all at once. She loved how the storm would thunder and lightening in the whole restaurant and the stars on the ceiling were a big hit. All throughout dinner she kept discovering the animals hidden throughout the forest. Then we took her shopping at the HUGE Ross that is down on the strip. She picked out a new shirt and dress. Then we went to the M&M store and watched the 3-D movie they have. She LOVED being spoiled. She requested a Barbie cake for her birthday so this is my first attempt at one. I hate frosting cakes in the desert it always melts on me, I even turned the a/c way down and had refrigerated the frosting before hand. But she turned out pretty good and Terrilyn was happy.

Her expensive slushy cup.

Waiting for the movie to start.

Just as I finished the cake and got up to put away the supplies I turned around to Seamus putting the spatula in her dress and then licking it.

First Day of School 8/29/2011

2011-09-27T12:59:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine had done signs for the first day of school for her kids and I was in LOVE with the idea. She had cute hand written decorated ones. My handwriting is not so nice so I opted to do it on the PC. I needed to use bigger font though for they are hard to read, sorry. I cant believe how big my kids are getting I almost have all of them in school now.

Cameron's 8 Birthday

2011-09-20T13:23:00.000-07:00

Cameron has been wanting to do Tournament of Kings for his Birthday since we moved to Vegas. This year he was granted his wish. He was taken on a Daddy/Mommy date. We all LOVED it and had a great time. They wouldn't let you take pictures while the show was on so I wasn't able to take a picture of the HUGE plate of food they bring out to you. You even get your own whole rotisserie chicken. The food was alright the show was very entertaining we were seated in Austria and that was the night we rooted for for the night. Cameron had a great time. The next night we did cake with the other kids and sang Happy Birthday to him.

Lisbon July 23-25

2011-09-02T10:42:00.000-07:00

Historic Tram 28(these were built in the USA) We rode this through the Historic Streets of Lisbon.

The first of MANY pictures taken of the architecture.

Historic Tram 28

Narrow road that the Tram goes on.

The plant life growing out of the wall was very intriging.

Close up of that plant life.

The cobblestone roads that are everywhere

How do you not take pictures of this ;)

Here is the Urinol

Entrance into Castelo de S Jorge

This Bridge was molded after the Golden Gate Bridge.

The same monument that Brazil is known for.

Walking around the Castelo de S Jorge

Fountain inside Castelo de S Jorge

Tower of Castelo de S Jorge

Another tower of Castelo de S Jorge

baby peacock on the grounds at Castelo de S Jorge

Mommy peacock and babies

outer wall of Castelo de S Jorge

the bridge into the Castelo de S Jorge...the moat is all dried up

I loved the tile on the other building and this was framed right

well in Castelo de S Jorg

not sure exactly but this was either an oven or food storage in Castelo de S Jorge

this tree was cool

lots of stairs around the Castelo de S Jorge

perfect spot to shoot a candid portrait and Jeremy is pulling me down

not sure what the gutter looking thing was for but this photo has a lot of dimension to it

another try at a photo in Castelo de S Jorge

the view form the Castelo de S Jorge

another stairwell in the castle that Jeremy had to duck through

more cool looking walls of the Castelo de S Jorge

2011-08-09T16:49:00.000-07:00

Jeremy was promoted to 1 of 3 Project Managers and with that he gets more say in what jobs he goes out on. In the beginning of July he went to a Navy Base in Bahrain, I was actually jealous and wanted to go. He said when they landed it was 120 degrees with 90% humidity. Other then the 20 hour flight to get there, it was a good trip. Since he did all of the driving while they were there he didn't get a chance to take any pictures, but the guy he was with sent him some.

This is one of the biggest Mosques in the region.

The front of our hotel and a cool monument outside of the airport.

2011-08-08T11:18:00.000-07:00

On June 29 Alexander had his tonsils and adenoids removed. I was nervous more out of I didn't know what to expect, but he did beautifully and recovered very well and I already notice a difference in his sleep. Cameron actually mentioned that he feels lonely at night because Alexander is no longer snoring. Alex was really cute about it and when you asked him what was going to happen he would tell you "the dr is going to cut my snore out". Then a couple of weeks after he snorted and said "mom my snore grew back" Silly kids.

The Greatest Show on Earth 6-19-2011

2011-08-08T11:13:00.001-07:00

The library offered free tickets for the kids if they read 5 books in the month. Heck ya free tickets. The problem, the weekend that the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Baily's Circus was in town was a travel weekend for Jeremy :( I wanted to have another adult with me so that any trips to the bathroom I didn't have to lugg everyone around with me. Any babysitter I would ask to go was out of town. But hey it was the weekend of Father's Day just maybe Grandad would drive to Vegas for the weekend to go the circus. Called him up and it was also his off Friday week. SCORE!! So I went to go buy the tickets and some guy had had an extra free adult ticket coupon that he left so to buy 4 kids tickets and 3 adult tickets it only cost me $42. I was so excited. We had a great time Alex wasn't so sure when they turned out the lights and spent most of the time on mom's lap but the others were enthralled the whole time. I spent more money getting everyone a snow cone then I did on our tickets. Mom's birthday was after they left and the kids wanted to make her a special b-day dinner, Cameron called and asked her what she wanted, lasagna so I made lasagna from scratch and I tried to find her a coconut something cake and we settled on a red velvet thing from Fresh & Easy that was DELICIOUS!! I thought I was taking a picture of her blowing out her candles and the camera was on video(I cant figure out how to download the video now)but the kids really wanted her to have candles.

Cameron the toothless wonder 6-17-2011

2011-08-08T11:13:00.000-07:00

Cameron had all 4 of his canine teeth extracted after school got out to hopefully make room for the permanent teeth coming in. Dr Joe gave the option of getting orthodontics now and then needing it again in about 5 years or pull the teeth now and orthodontics still in 5 years....ummm let me think about it....I will take the cheaper option Dr Joe pull-em out please!

Kinder Graduation 6-9-2011

2011-08-08T11:12:00.001-07:00

We made it through another year of Kindergarten just 2 more to go. Terrilyn had a great year with Ms Gaylynn & Ms Janet :) They were amazing teachers and have instilled in a her a love for learning. The dress that Terrilyn wore was made by me and her babysitter Anna(for a project of extra credit she needed) and she was most anxious to get it back from Anna when she had to turn it in to get graded(the teacher kept it for a couple of weeks. It was hot the day of graduation...they did a little ceremony outside then we had refreshments upstairs in the mulit-purpose room and watched a slide show of pictures taken through out the year. We are so proud of Terrilyn and her accomplishments this year.

Memorial Weekend 5-30- 2011

2011-08-08T11:12:00.000-07:00

Alonna brought Conner and Mom out for Memorial Weekend before Conner left for his dads for the summer. We went out to the railroad tunnels and this trip we heard bats and i got some pictures of them. The boys had a blast just playing and enjoying each others company.

5-15-2011

2011-08-08T11:11:00.001-07:00

i came downstairs one day and found the pillow pet like this. apparently the kids thought that all animals like to do what Chewy does

2011-08-08T11:11:00.000-07:00

The biggest fundraiser for the year was the Spring Carnival. I was so busy all day(buying food that was needed driving back and forth getting get kids dropping off kids and then sold the food tickets and raffle tickets) and never took a single picture but the kids had a good time(I couldn't move from my spot so the kids sort of just ran wild, I actually felt guilty but what do you do?) and we raised a good amount of money. As awful as this sounds I am very grateful to be not on the PTO board for next year maybe I can enjoy some of these events more. On a side note it was the Spring Carnival last year that was our first contact with SSMCS I cant believe a whole year has gone by.

Hair Dying/Crazy Hair Day 5-11-2011

2011-08-08T11:05:00.001-07:00

During Spirit Week we had "Crazy Hair" day. Jeremy was out of town traveling somewhere and I wanted a break the evening before so we went over to the Rich's where Anna and Rikki died the kids hair. Cameron wanted 2 colors so he could do an L with his hair, he went with green and blue. We did the other boys with blue also. Terrilyn picked out pink shocker I know. We were dying in the back yard and Seamus went and sat down on the stairs in the pool.

Oldham's Visit 5-5-2011

2011-08-08T11:05:00.000-07:00

boys being boys(Dale in charge of camera)

once again Dale in charge of camera

more boys play(Jeremy's turn with camera)

I tried to get us all in while watching the water show at Belagio

how cute are these boys?

and how about these boys?

2 peas in a pod

this is a crack up

poor Seamus missing Sean

LOVE how Alexander and Jason are looking at eachother

We love and miss our dear friends the Oldham's and when they were headed back up to San Fransisco they stopped by and stayed a couple of nights with us again. We LOVE having our buddies around to play with us so much fun. We got a babysitter and went out on a double date with Dale and Lori we decided to go hit the strip.

2011-08-08T11:04:00.000-07:00

The week after Spring Break was Teacher Appreciation week. What a crazy busy week for me. The PTO board provided breakfast for 2 days, lunch and snacks and a chair massage as the grand prize on Friday. It was a lot for one week but all seemed to be well received from the teachers.

Easter 4-24-2011

2011-08-08T10:48:00.001-07:00

Our ward had an Easter Egg Hunt and breakfast. The kids had a great time one of the older brethren of the ward has a black powder canon that he shot candy from. Some of the young women did face painting. I had ordered a bunny loaf of bread for Easter dinner from Great Harvest is was delicious!! The Easter Bunny this year left everyone a pillow pet and red jelly beans were "dropped" everywhere.

Spring Break 4/18-22

2011-08-08T10:48:00.000-07:00

Originally the plan was that we were going to fly out to Iowa to see Great Grandma(kind of a final goodbye for dad and I and for her to meet my kids). Grandma passed away about 3 weeks before this. Dad came out for spring break since he had the time off already. Unique was having a huge users conference over at Green Valley Ranch Casino and Resort. So Jeremy had to work all week, but it worked out great for us. We were able to go over and have lunch at the conference almost everyday and we were able to swim at the pool there at the resort. The pool is a lot of fun it has a beach with sand that is a blast for the kids. The sand is the weirdest stuff its a bunch of very very small pebbles that are smooth and polished and doesn't get into everywhere like real beach sand. The Wed of spring break Unique had reserved the "Patio" area of The 51's(a farm baseball team for the Toronto Blue Jays) game. So we had all you could eat ballpark food and a great view of the game. All the kids walked away with a ball and a hat. It was a very nice relaxing week with no schedule to follow. Sad part is I didn't take any pictures I have one of Alexander , Dad and Chewy(he cant get enough of dad).

Random 4-2011

2011-08-08T10:42:00.000-07:00

Here is what happens when the kids get a hold of the camera.

Alexander's 4 Birthday

2011-08-08T10:25:00.000-07:00

Alexander wanted to hold up family tradition and go to Chucky Cheese for his birthday dinner. So that is what we did. Its not hard to tell what he is into right now....Cars and lots of them.

2011-08-08T10:24:00.000-07:00

March 29 we had a PTO fundraiser at CiCi's Pizza.

Seamus fell asleep in the computer chair watching TV 3-22-2011

2011-08-08T10:23:00.001-07:00

PTO Railroad Tunnel Hike 3-19-2011

2011-08-08T10:23:00.000-07:00

Another community building event the PTO did for the year was to go to the Railroad Tunnels These tunnels were built when the Hoover Dam was being built so that product could be brought into the dam. They are a pretty cool thing to see. It was really windy and the wind was cold that day. With the help of the Rich girls I took both strollers for the kids. It was a good hike, Cameron was pretty upset that we didn't go to the end.

Family Pictures again

2011-08-08T10:21:00.000-07:00

I really want a nice family pictures that I can enlarge and put on canvas...I am too much of a perfectionist because I am having a hard time deciding on one. But enjoy other pictures from the same session.

PTO Mother & Sons

2011-08-08T09:47:00.000-07:00

On March 11 the PTO held an activity for Mothers & Sons. We went Rock Climbing at a climbing center in town. It was TONS of fun and the boys seemed to really enjoy going. It was hard to spend time climbing with Cameron and be there to run the event...thanks to Tina and her boys for helping him and Jason who came to help us out since Autumn was out of commission due to pregnancy. I also only have one picture to show for the event :(

Cameron's Science Experiment 3-2-2011

2011-08-08T09:46:00.001-07:00

For school everyone needed to do a science experiment and then put it on the poster tri-board things. After discussing some ideas Cameron really wanted to do a volcano experiment but we needed to decide what to use for them to explode. He really wanted to try Coke and Mentos. We decided to compare the explosions of 4 different volcanoes. 1)vinegar and baking soda 2)water and baking soda 3)coke and Mentos 4)water and Mentos. It was Cameron's idea to add the red food coloring to vinegar...it turned out pretty cool.

Conner's 11 & Seamus' 2 Birthdays

2011-08-08T09:46:00.000-07:00

We took some time off school in February to go to Tucson for Conner & Seamus birthdays and to just get away. Conner really wanted to go to the Renaissance festival for his birthday. The weekend we went was perfect Conner had Thurs and Fri off of school and my kids had Mon and Tues off. So Wed when I went to pick up Terrilyn from kinder I signed Cameron out early and off we went to AZ. Alonna had cookie cake that Thurs the day of Conner's birthday and he had a few friends over. Then I went out for a much needed girls night with all of my Tucson ladies.(sad I didn't think to take a picture) On Saturday we then drove up towards Globe for the festival. We had a really good time we ate tons of food bought too many swords and saw some great jousting. Then Sunday after church we celebrated Seamus' birthday and drove for home.

PTO President's day at the park

2011-08-08T09:25:00.000-07:00

Ms Janet & Ms Jena

The PTO tried to sponsor many events through out the school year that would build a sense of community. One of the those was a day at the park. We did it at Armador Park and had a pretty good turnout.

Grandpa Keith's Funeral Feb 10-11, 2011

2011-08-08T09:24:00.000-07:00

Grandpa Keith Lemon lost a 14 year fight to prostate cancer and we trekked up to Brigham City UT for a funeral and fun with family. It was a bitter sweet visit, we got to see an Aunt of Jeremy's that he hasn't seen in over 20 years. It was also the first time in a very long time that all of the Lemon side of the family had been together.

Daddy/Daughter Dance Feb 4

2011-08-08T08:51:00.000-07:00

The PTO at the school put on a sweethearts dance for the daddy's & daughters of the school. Terrilyn was sooooo excited to go with her dad. She even finally decided to where an Easter dress that Auntie had bought for her to where for last Easter. We curled up her hair painted her nails and let her where a necklace of mine. Jeremy took her out to dinner at Panda Express(her choice) then they went to the school and danced the night away and Golden Spoon was catered in for the event.

2011-08-08T08:41:00.000-07:00

PTO sponsored a Family Movie night on Jan 21. We watched How to Train a Dragon had popcorn and pizza. The turn out was pretty good.

Oldham's drop by Dec 27

2011-07-29T08:49:00.000-07:00

The Oldham's stopped and stayed a night on their way up to San Fransisco. My kids sure missed their buddies they hadn't seen them since summer. They partied all night long. I think this is going to become the traditional wall on which to chart everyone's growth.

Cristmas Day

2011-07-29T08:31:00.000-07:00

For Christmas this year Jeremy wanted to do something big and get something that he has always wanted but that I have said no to....We finally got a game console I agreed to getting a Wii. Our entire Christmas this year was Wii related we got the console and 4 remotes and everyone got games and accessories for those games the biggest one being Rock Band 3 and all the instruments. Then we had to buy something to store it all in. It was a huge success!!!!

Alonna dropped off Conner off at the airport the day after Christmas and then she and Mom went back to Tucson. Dad stayed a couple of days longer to hang out with us and to try and go golfing but the weather never cooperated and they never did go.

Christmas Eve

2011-07-29T07:42:00.000-07:00

Seamus had a good time getting drug around the floor. As per tradition on Christmas Eve the kids got to open 1 present. To not spoil the surprise of what we were giving for Christmas they got to open Aunties presents. She got everyone a Zhou Zhou pet.

Natural History Museum December 22

2011-02-21T18:59:00.001-08:00

Over Christmas break my parents brought out Conner to stay and play with us, we went to the Natural History Museum. Nothing like the one that I grew up with in Denver where it takes you all day to walk through it but I was pleasantly surprised and how much the stuffed into the little building.

Holiday Extravaganza December 3

2011-02-21T18:20:00.000-08:00

The PTO put on a huge holiday party for the school that included a program put on by the kids. Thank goodness Jeremy is tall and can take pictures over all the other parents heads. Place was packed and we had an awesome turn out so awesome in fact I never got to enjoy it because I was stuck with dining/food.

Thanksgiving

2010-12-09T13:00:00.000-08:00

This year we stayed put and for the first time in almost 11 years of marriage Jeremy's sister came to our house with her hubby and 4 boys. The kids loved it and we had a great time.

Dinner was plentiful and delicious. As we were finishing up our dinner Jennifer asked how far away Hoover Dam was since it is about 30 min away we decided to drive out there and take a look around. For Jeremy and I it was the first time we had been out there since they had finished the bridge so the highway can bypass the dam(something we are excited for because it will cut out an hour of travel time to my parents house). It was windy and the wind was soooo cold. The kids enjoyed it and Jennifer eventually got over the height issue.

On Friday we went down to the strip to see some of the shows they do outside and the one that's inside Ceaser's. My younger boys really don't like the Mirage volcano or the cannons at Treasure Island.

Catching up with miscellaneous.

2010-12-01T17:50:00.000-08:00

Sorry this is a lot to post in one day but well my plate has been quiet full and I am doing this all for the book/journal we print at the end of each year. This goes on for 2 pages sorry.

2010-12-01T17:02:00.000-08:00

Jeremy has been working on a project out in Pennsylvania for Geisinger Medical Center and was needing to be there for 3 weeks in a row. Lucky me got to fly out with him for a week. I called my mom to see if she would come out and stay with my kids for the week. We flew her out Halloween afternoon we left the next morning and came back on Saturday. It was HEAVENLY being with out kids for a whole week, I could watch what I wanted on TV, I could shower for as long as I wanted with out little people interruption. The guys that Jeremy has been working with thought that I would be bored all day while he was working they were sooooo wrong.

The weather was really nice the first half of the week nice sunny and bright with a brisk cool air. Growing up in Colorado I was used to a fall where the leaves change colors and fall off the tree, but the color variety that I saw was amazing and so different from what I am used to. I couldn't get enough of the landscape and with my new camera was having a blast taking pictures. I know this will sound funny but the size of the leaves seemed so unreal to me after 7 years of desert tiny small leaves.

We went out to dinner with a bunch of the guys in his department and their wives to a restaurant called Quaker Steak & Lube, they have an all you can eat wing buffet on Tuesday night. Jeremy has really enjoyed this place it was really tasty. Then one night Tim and his wife Jo Beth hosted a Pennsylvania Dutch Dinner for us and another couple who had recently relocated from Texas. I will admit I was a bit nervous, I mean what do you think when you hear "Chicken & Waffles". I was blown away dinner was YUMMY!!!! We had a salad with warm bacon dressing, chicken and gravy poured over warm waffles, corn bake(this has been added to my Thanksgiving menu), mashed potatoes and for dessert are you ready homemade pies an apple and blueberry. We went back to the hotel that night very full. The picture above is the view from their front yard amazing. The next couple are also from their yard.

I had read about this Christmas store and tree farm that wasn't far form the hotel so I hooked up the GPS and off I drove. The next thing I know I have taken some dirt road(muddy because it had rained) that brought me to this:

It was crazy driving into the bridge and knowing how old it was. I loved the inside.

These are views from outside the hotel like the ones from above but you can see what a change of weather is like.

These houses and church are from driving around. I loved how quaint everything felt. It reminded me a lot of driving around in England.

A train that had just pulled in.

The Susquehanna River. We drove over this loads while we where there but this was one of the only pictures I got. It is hard to take pictures while you are driving and when I could have pulled over to snap some it was raining and I didn't want to get wet.

Double rainbow it was so pretty and the arch was so large. We stopped and had some dinner with some good friends from our Rexburg days, after having not seen each other for 7 years you would have thought that I would have brought out the camera. Totally bummed that I didnt but it was sooooooooo much fun catching up with them.

We Drove into Hershey our last day there and toured the Hershey Museum. All the street lights are Hershey Kisses. I have never seen the pod of a cocoa been very fascinating.

2010-12-01T15:20:00.000-08:00

My Halloween ghouls!! Cameron was a Nerd Herd from the show Chuck, Seamus was a little lemon, Terrilyn had a fancy dress, and Alexander was superman. We had a ward trunk or treat the night before Halloween and then after picking up my mom from the airport we went out to a couple of streets and trick or treated this sadly was the only picture that I took.

2010-12-01T15:18:00.000-08:00

We had some nice rainstorms that came through this fall...here are pictures of a hailstorm on Oct 4. This was taken from out our front door.

2010-12-01T15:09:00.000-08:00

Seamus has had a phase of being so excited to bath that he has hopped in numerous times with Alexander before taking his clothes off...finally had the camera upstairs when he did it.

2010-12-01T14:33:00.000-08:00

Seamus has had the cutest curls out of all of our kids. When we went back to Oklahoma in July they were adorable...well this is how long they are when his hair is wet.(Sept 14)

Sadly though I was tired of the "oh she is so cute" seriously he is in blue wearing shirts with dinosaurs and cars and trucks. But what really did it was when the EMT said "so your 2 boys and 2 girls" when they were verifying we had everyone after the accident.
Now he looks so grown up and different. It took a long time to get used to him in short hair.

Here are the other 2 and their haircuts(we did the haircuts Oct 15).

2010-12-01T14:24:00.000-08:00

Cameron lost yet another tooth(beginning of Sept).

Seamus LOVES wearing this fireman hat I wonder if this might mean a future career path.

2010-12-01T14:15:00.000-08:00

Jennica one of my BFF's from high school was in town(back at the beginning of Sept), so we girls spent a morning shopping at the shops in Planet Hollywood. Terrilyn LOVED spending time with the girls. We stopped and watched the rain fall. I bought a necklace and Terrilyn insisted on getting a picture with this turtle necklace on. She even snuck in a picture with Elmo and come to find out they were asking for money, there was a Woody that she really wanted to get a pic with to show Alex but I wasn't paying them money. We of course had to go to the M&M store obviously she was overjoyed to take a picture with me.

2010-12-01T14:12:00.000-08:00

Chewy's favorite spot to sit....his nose out the doggy door silly dog.

First Day of School

2010-08-31T15:47:00.001-07:00

YEAH!!! School has started. The kids' first day was on Monday. Cameron started 2nd grade and Terrilyn Kindergarten. This year we decided to put the kids in a Charter Montessori school, I am really excited to watch the year unfold. So far so good the kids are liking things. Terrilyn is in half day kinder(please hear the heavy sigh as I typed this, they have all day for an extra $300 a month CRAZY) the last 2 days that I have picked her up and she has been devastated and near tears. "Mom you didn't pack my lunch"(those that stay all day start eating their lunches as the others are leaving) or "Mom the teachers are so mean they wont let me stay" Breaks my heart but what do you do. Luckily I have found a couple of other moms to help carpool so I don't have to make so many trips to the school. It is about 13 miles from the house and with the half day kinder that's 3 trips in a day. Alexander is sad that he doesn't have school to go to, when we drop Terrilyn off he is ready to be left at school as well. More to come but I think somehow I might have volunteered myself for the PTO as treasurer.

Happy Birthday Terrilyn!!!!

2010-08-29T14:22:00.000-07:00

Terrilyn's birthday isn't actually until tomorrow but with school starting and all we celebrated her birthday yesterday. She wanted to go to Chucky Cheese so there we went. For 8 months or so she has been talking about how when she turns 5 she is getting a pink Nintendo DS afterall that is when Cameron got his(now really he got it after his birthday Jeremy promised him that if he was good while he was in Alaska he could get one. I on the other hand felt like he was too young but only went for it because we were about to take a 12+ hour flight to England to see my parents for a month) The look on her face says it all. She was exstatic to get it and the games. Mom she loves the jewelry box and listens to it often. She wanted a princess cake but with out new tips I didnt want to try and conquer that so I talked her into a castle so we had a pink cake and pink frosting. ***some of these pictures not so good but LOVE the expressions on their faces still learning how to use the camera and that random boy next to Terrilyn was sharing the virtual ride with her***

Splash Park

2010-08-29T13:50:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we were having the carpets cleaned downstairs and to leave the poor guy alone to work I took the boys to the splash park and was playing around with my camera(still learning).

It was really windy and after a while I had the boys take off their swim shirts so they weren't as cold look how white my poor babies are.

Happy Birthday Cameron!!!!

2010-08-23T17:49:00.000-07:00

Cameron turned 7 years old on Sunday. We did most of our celebrating with him on Saturday. I have had the kids' birthday presents for a while now and had them wrapped and in my closet ever since. Cameron has been bent out of shape because he only had 2 while Terrilyn has 4 (he had 2 huge boxes hiding out in the garage he didn't know about). He has been in need of a bigger bike and has been asking for a long time now for a Basketball hoop. Seeing as Jeremy got home late Friday night and was too tired to put anything together we blindfolded Cameron and brought in the huge boxes into the house while he sat on the couch. He got the basketball one right off but it took him a couple of rounds around the other box to figure it was a bike. He also received the much sought after Lego Harry Potter DS game.The rest of the morning was spent putting together things playing the DS and me frosting his cake(for those of you that don't know there is a series of books called The Diary of a Wimpy Kid), Cameron LOVES to read them and has planned on it for his cake for some time now, but no making fun of it, I need a new tip bag and had to resort to using Ziploc bags(old-school, not as much control) We went out for dinner to none other than McDonald's...yuck but the kids love it :-) then we went to the new Disney movie The Sorcerers Apprentice. Then we had cake on Sunday after we ate lunch/dinner. Overall I think he had a great weekend.
P.S. no that isn't some random girl we had over in the blue nightgown that would be Alexander.

CW's Wedding

2010-08-08T21:52:00.000-07:00

The last week of July found us very busy and coming and going. Jeremy came back into town just in time for us to give talks in sacrament meeting, spent two days in the office and then he took the rest of the week of so that Seamus and I could fly out to Oklahoma to be at CW's wedding. For those of you that know me know that my family is everything and when I say family its not just the parentals and my sister it encompasses the aunts and uncles and cousins and grandparents. **warning long post but too awesome not to include it all***

Sorry but a bit of a history lesson~ CW has been my "buddy" since he was Seamus' age(note crying as I type this memories fondly flying by in my head). He never called me Mandi but "buddy" for quite a few years. Oh I have have loved that boy(well really a man now). Thanks to our moms hard work we spent a lot of time together growing up. Then I got married moved from Denver, he eventually moved to Oklahoma. When he and his sister joined the Church I drove out with my parents and Cameron(6 months old) for an awesome Easter in 2004. Then when he flew home from his mission Alexander(7 months old) and I flew out to see him. Oh how I had missed him and what a handsome young man. he came home so mature and the mission had been so good to him. How his testimony had just radiated out of him. So when it was time for him to get married I knew I couldn't miss it and I wanted to be there to support him in the temple knowing he had no immediate family that would be in there with him.

So history lesson over. CW was sweet enough to take time out of his busy wedding prep schedule to go out to dinner with my parents and grandma and I the night before the wedding. Boy it was good to see him and he was soooooooooo happy and excited about his beautiful bride Katherine. My mom described him as being very content. The next morning we left the house(mom, dad, Conner and I were staying with grandma Susie) with plenty of time to get to the temple, well here is where this becomes a long story. Grandma wasn't real familiar with how to get there and doesn't have a good map of Oklahoma City in the van and the rest of don't know it and we took a wrong turn that lead us to some more bad moves and we were on some toll road to Tulsa....way out of the way and now we found ourselves late. Many phone calls to Uncle Michael trying to get back. Meanwhile I am looking in my purse for my temple recommend that I realize is sitting on the desk(earlier in the week I had a thought to put it in my purse...why hadn't I listened?) I am near hysterical pannic and waiting for WWIII to happen between mom and grandma in the front seat or dad who is in the back (whom by the way was giving correct directions to begin with) All I could think about is how much effort I put into flying all the way out here to be with him at the temple and now it isn't going to happen. Grandma asked someone in the car to say a prayer(I had been praying my little heart out when i realized we were late) Call my Uncle back asking if they will wait was there another wedding that day, he called us back a short time later to say they would hold but not long. We finally talked grandma into turning around illegaly at one of the emergency cop openings in the cement wall. She sped her little heart out I think I heard her tell someone that at times she was going 90mph. What was strange was how all the tension and build up in the car melted away when mom and grandma start laughing and cackling with one another and joking around about her being grandma chihuahua. Grandma even at one point says "Hey Richie remember when you told us to turn and I didn't, I 'm sorry you were right I should have turned." We made it only 15-20 minutes after the ceremony was supposed to start. I rushed in so the temple president could call my bishop my mom practically threw Seamus at my uncle Carey to watch will we were inside. By the time I sat down inside the sealing room I was so overrun with emotion I couldn't make the tears stop. Come to find out Grandma was given the mothers chair to fill and my dad the fathers chair. It was a beautiful ceremony and what really moved me was how the sealer choked up (how many times has this sweet man heard and said those words and he almost couldn't say them). It was so bright hot and sunny outside but BEAUTIFUL. We had lunch at a tea house so delicious and quaint. While we were sitting around waiting for the groom and bride to show up we discovered that had we not been late CW's mission president and wife who had flown in from SLC that morning wouldn't have made it to the ceremony because their flight was late(CW and his father-in-law and bride reassured us all not to worry about holding it up) First off how cool is it that his mission president came to his wedding and that had we not been late he also would not have been there. The reception was beautiful. I loved Katherine's dress it was so very flattering. For the bridesmaids they were all in black and to tie them all in she had them where the cutest little headband that she had something similar in her hair that was white(I totally appreciate and understand between the extreme height differences and then a pregnant sister the bridesmaid thing worked perfect). But I would have to say by far my favorite part was the send off and probably the most creative send off that I have seen. They had train tickets to Oklahoma City and were catching the night train. Part of their center pieces were black lanterns. So when it was time to get them to the train they had a bunch of wooden train whistles and carrying the lanterns we walked them the few short blocks to the train station blowing away on the whistles and lighting the way with the lanterns. The train pulled up blew on his whistle and they boarded the train and then it blew its whistle some more and they pulled off into the night. It helped that the train station there in Normon is so cute and quaint also. It was so much fun. ***warning this time lots of pictures but that is also from learning how to use my new camera***

Thank you!! so much Grandma and Auntie Jana and Uncle Virgil for housing me and Seamus. I thoroughly enjoyed it and loved the late night visit Jana I really needed that. :-)

Lied Discovery Museum

2010-07-25T16:00:00.000-07:00

So a couple of Fridays ago the museum had a free day and since we are new to the area we decided to check it out. It was so CROWDED everybody decided to check it out. We still had plenty of fun. There were a lot of hands on activities and stuff to do. I hate my camera enough said.

Polar Bear Exhibit

2010-07-25T15:10:00.000-07:00

Some new friends of ours and well our landlord/coworker invited us to go to this exhibit that they have in the mall of Polar Bears and Penguins and exploration at North and South Poles. It was good(and would have been plenty to read and watch) but for a group of kids (theirs match up to ours pretty even on age our girls however are in different orders) our age it lasted about an hour and it wouldn't have even done that had they not had the Penguin Iceberg slide. They had these cute little costumes to have the kids wear so that it was easier to slide down. The kids all even Seamus laughing the whole way down really had a good time on it.

Cousins

2010-07-25T14:42:00.000-07:00

So my cousin(Katie) was in town the first full week of the month for a national dance competition for her girls(Jaylyn and Elizabeth). We were able to go down to Planet Hollywood on the strip and watch them dance their little hearts out and fit in some visiting time also. One of the dance routines was to the "Barbie" song the girls came out of a barbie box dressed in a varity of pink costumes. My kids LOVED it and have dance and sung to that for a couple of weeks now.

Terrilyn was hooked, line and sunk. We will be in search of dance classes this fall. It was fun wathing the girls they did really good.

Now going back to my dead camera it was dark mostly except for stage lights and my camera well once again I didn't take too many pictures.

We were in for a real treat as her brother(Harlen) was crossing through town for the all-stars baseball game in Aniheim and her other brother(Clayton) was playing in his semi-professional football championship game(up in St George UT). So we found ourselves watching a dance number Saturday morning and then off driving up to UT for the game and had a big BBQ at Clay's and was able to sit and visit with all the cousins . Thank you Sarah and Clay it was so much fun!!! Then we went and watched him win the game. Another moment of missed pictures :(. Here are the few that I did take.

Arizona

2010-07-16T23:00:00.000-07:00

I was in Arizona for just shy of a month. I stayed with two amazing families and friends(thank you so much Oldham & Quast) whom we have missed dearly since moving and shoved in as much play time as possible. Stayed at moms in between all the painting and flooring installation that I/we did. With the camera making me crazy trying to take pictures with its prolonged death I didn't take that many pictures while gone but here is some of what I took. You might want to just skim down to the pictures now but since we printing up the blog at the end of each year I need to journal my trip **warning** it started out long and bad. We picked up Cameron at lunch time from school and hit the road(he was missing the last 2 days of school) What usually takes 30 min to get from our house to the other side of Hoover Damn took an hour and a half(and a potty stop). After Kingman AZ there is nothing but desert life until Phoenix well other then a cute little town called Wickenberg. My luck had it that about 60 miles before this cute little town the check engine light starts blinking(mind you nothing around 4 kids and 100+ degree temps outside I decide to make my way into town and am getting close when I realize that it is almost 5 o'clock the start of a holiday weekend(Memorial Day) I start saying my prayers that something will still be open when I get there(its still a full 2 hours or more to Tucson 45 min or less to the outskirts of Phoenix). I pull into town just after 5 and there is a shop right across the way with only one bay door half way open. I was in luck to find there was someone still at work(especially since when I stopped at the stoplight I almost stalled out in the intersection. He so kindly hooked up the computer that told me I had a misfire in the engine. I explained to him that I was on my way to Tucson is it safe to drive the car....nope better leave it and nobody will get to it until Tuesday morning. Now I am panicking how am I going to get my family to Tucson(cant call mom she isn't even in the country yet(she was landing in a couple of hours) and besides her car doesn't hold us all legally, what cab will hold us all legally and who knows what they charge fro the middle of nowhere, even to call someone in Tucson what will I do with my already cranky kids for the next two hours for them to get here. So we scrambled to get a rental car that would fit me legally. A very nice lady came in after hours to the local car dealership to rent us a car(the last one we would fit in). So about 45 min later I am back on the road. Well there are about 3 or 4 different ways into Phoenix but one of them is a more direct shot to the interstate and driving in an unfamiliar car and dealing with screaming kids and its now dusk I miss the turn off for that route and went the most round about way through Phoenix. I finally pulled into Tucson around 9pm, a drive that should take about 6-7 hours took me over 9. Instead of being able to get right to work the next day shopping for paint etc the stuff mom needs to get the house ready to get her stuff out of storage she and i take off backup to Wiceknberg to return the rental so I don't have that added expense on top of the car repair and was able to get all my stuff out of the van that didn't fit in the rental. Another 6 hours spent in a car day wasted. Sunday well rest day and church. Monday we were able to hit Lowes and Home Depot and get started on what mom wanted. Tuesday find out that it was going to be bad(van) they needed to take the head off the engine(not mechanically inclined at all so I have no idea what I am saying just trying to repeat what I was told) was intially told i would be looking just under $2000 in repair...ughh...seriously we were finally getting on our feet again after unemployment for three months moving out of state and then moving again in the last eight months. I finally called my Aunt and Uncle in Oklahoma needing someone to understand what was wrong then explain it to me simply and advise me as to if it was worth repairing. After they talked with the shop they thought it might need a new engine that was going to be 10 hours of labor at like $79 an hour then $1200 for the used engine. So I panic thinking I am going to be stranded in AZ with no car so we waste a day or two going to the bank talking about financing scouting out craigslist and auto trader, driving to the other side of town to a used car dealer who goes to the auctions and was recommended as honest. But we really didn't want a payment and what we could afford was older and more miles then what I had already so I called the shop back and gave them the go ahead to pull off the head and said my prayers. We got to work painting, picking out flooring and switching out lighting in and out of the house. Mom was setting up estamites to have the exterior painted the vents vacuumed and I cant remember what all else. A week and a half later I wasted a whole other day driving back up to Wickenberg to get my van back...the good news just under $900. Now part of the plan was that Jennica one of my bestest and oldest friends was getting married in Utah and mom was going to drive up with me and the kids to go but I wasn't going to get the van back in time to make the 12 hour drive...so I booked a flight leaving first thing in the morning on the 9 so I would make it in time for the dinner and reception that night. Meanwhile Mom and Dad were going to take over the cell phones Jeremy and I had since he has one through work and I can add one for super cheap and it was one less expense for mom to move back. Jeremy had mailed me my "new"(used) phone. I had spent the whole drive up to Wickenberg entering in all of my contacts charged it all night and woke up at the butt crack of dawn to make my flight and the phone wouldn't even turn on...I even tried one of those super charging stations at the airport. Didnt work so after picking up my rental car my first job was finding a T-mobil store well after I stopped by Temple square because I love it there and to look for a wedding gift. Get to one and find out the phone was old enough hat they didn't have any batteries that would fit it anymore so I had to buy a brand new phone at cost(because I didn't wan to mess with the corporate plan....ugghhh more money just flying out the door. Well now I am stuck in Utah with no contact numbers. I was feeling pretty sorry for myself and since I was at a mall I did a little shopping and bought myself a super cute dress a really long one, one that I have dreamed of for oh so long but haven't bought(nursing is so hard in a dress) I then decided to to make sure I can find where they are holding the reception drive around the area and scout out hotels too (at this point I was just flying from the seat of my pants) I stopped by a 7-Eleven for a little bit of a caffeine pick me up when there too getting some coke was Jennica's mom Wendy. Who said come on and help us get set up. So off I went I helped set up and got to spend time with Jennica and Wendy saved me from throwing more $$$ out the door and insisted that I stay the night at their house. So glad that Heavenly Father watched over me and how I crossed paths with Wendy it was awesome staying with the Castle' s they had a full house but I got to spend time with Jennica. Dinner and reception AWESOME and delicious, very beautiful. The next morning we had brunch at the house and a push-up contest amongst the brothers. Then headed to the Oquirrh Temple. Very windy but it turned out beautiful. Hung around afterward because I had nothing better to do I had booked a 7 o'clock fight so that I would have enough time to get to the airport, but it allowed me to visit with Jennica more and her parents. I got back to AZ and just worked off my little hinny and fit in a procedure(endometrial ablation that I was in desperate need of and will hopefully be able to put off a hysterectomy now). Was able to go to book club oh how I miss my book club ladies Thanks for changing the date for me!!!!!! Wasnt able to finish all that needed to be done but got the better part of it all finished. Wish I would have thought to take before and after pictures of it all. We painted two bedrooms, painted and did the flooring in two bathrooms, flooring in kitchen and laundry room, new light fixtures in entryway-den-hallway-and all the outside 5. My kids loved being around their friends agian but were missing Henderson and I had an "aha" moment of my own watching my friends in sacrament the last Sunday there I realized (this is silly I know) they have moved on and now I need to go back "home(Henderson)" and do the same. So as much fun as the month of June was we were ready to meet July.

Haircuts

2010-07-16T21:32:00.001-07:00

Right before we left for AZ I was cutting the boys' hair(mainly keeping it out of their eyes) and Terrilyn says she wants to cut hers short. I have been debating for some time now of doing a reverse bob but it has gotten so long lately. So when she said she wanted one we went for it. Here are some before pictures...and silly faces.

Here we are cutting it. Now I am no professional I have never been trained(unless you count observation when my own hair has been cut and watching how to videos on you-tube), so I apologize for the wrong way I did things. But here we are cutting. Thank you Cameron the photographer.

TADA!!!!! Here it is...I LOVE it it turned out way better than I expected. I styled it 3 different ways for her also.

This week Alexanders hair has been driving me crazy because it was in his eyes and his gorgeous eyelashes were getting stuck in it so I told him it was time to trim it again and he tells me wants spiky hair. So here are the before isn't he so handsome?

Here is the after and also styled. We have the combed look, spiky, mow-hawk and "grandad hair"(he was even trying out the grandad face but I think that was on video and I am having problems getting video posted). I think my little blond boy has left me :-( I want to cry when I look at him now he is a "big boy" he has lost the toddler look.

preschool graduation & 1rst grade award assembly

2010-07-09T19:48:00.000-07:00

A long time coming I know but we left for AZ for a month the day of Cameron's awards ceremony.

Terrilyn wrapped up her preschool career in May and now will start kindergarten this fall. YEAH!!! She is so excited and is asking often if its time to start kindergarten. If only that enthusiasm lasted their whole school career.(I am apologizing ahead of time for quality of pictures my camera is dying a slow and agonizing death)

Cameron finished his 1rst grade year with being awarded with the reading award for his class. When we moved in October he was tested as having a 3 grade reading level and finished the year with a 4.5 . Yeah Cameron!!!!

Updates

2010-05-04T13:04:00.000-07:00

I don't have any new photos to post but its time to update with something so I will just share a few bits and pieces of randomness of what has been happening around here lately.(actually here is a picture we did at JCPenney's when we were doing Alexander's 3 year pics)

Cameron had field day a couple of Fridays ago and I had volunteered to help but they had so many people helping I was able to follow around the first graders and watch their events. One of the events was a race through some obstacles, and as I watched Cameron run so coordinated and with such precision I actually teared up. My oldest baby is gonna be a great athlete(totally crazy why am I crying over watching him run?) I am so amazed and impressed by Cameron, he is growing up so fast and into such a great kid.

Terrilyn was at the office the other day with Jeremy because I was at Cameron's school helping out with a Luau and one of the other guys had their son William there also who is the same age as Terrilyn. William's grandma is the office manager. She went into the playroom where the two were and this is the conversation that insued.
                   Terriyln asks her "Do you like my hair?" "Yes, It is very pretty I do like your hair," says
                    grandma.
William says "Grandma you forgot to comb my hair this morning"   then Terrilyn says "but
                     you still look handsome William!"
What a charmer she is and how polite.

Alexander is plugging away as he enjoys playing with Terrilyn and Seamus. He loves to color and draw pictures to show everyone. He also has his mischievous side as well. The other day they found a box of Crackers that they proceeded to break all over the living room floor.

Seamus is growing so fast also he is my last baby who is no longer a baby but definitely a toddler now. We went to Olive Garden the other night for Jeremy's birthday and he talked up a storm with a lady that sat at the table next to us he just kept chatting and chatting...worried for when those sounds turn into words and how much chatting and not chatting I will be able to control.

I finally got another room painted~the kitchen is no longer red yeah. Now I just have to finish the front rooms the living room the stairwell and the upstairs hallway and well its a big job and I still have much to do but I got something accomplished. Still need to do the trim too but at least it is coming together.

Las Vegas Highland Festival

2010-04-19T13:53:00.000-07:00

Jeremy won some free tickets to the Las Vegas Highland Festival on Twitter. We met his boss and family there( I was excited to have Heathers company) and enjoyed ourselves in the heat and amongst all the bag piper music that rang all around us. If I would have been thinking about it instead of starving I would have taken pictures of every-bodies good eats~there was bangers & mash, haggis, and meat pie(all a bit Americanized but good none the less).
We didn't get to see the athletes throw any cabers but the kids got to try:

Here is Cameron in action...he was LOVING it he kept wanting to try.

Terrilyn gave it a try but it hit her arm when she tried to toss it and she cried.

Hannah gave it a try.

I love this action shot of Emily she too got it in the arm.

They had a tug of war rope for the kids...love Hannah's face (other rope was Terrilyn, Emily and then Cameron)

There were some people dressed in time period clothes (I think they were crazy it was getting so hot I think it made it into the 90's)

The location of the games had peacocks everywhere. The ones in the trees were way high above our heads. I was surprised how blue they were the ones I remember at the Denver Zoo growing up weren't nearly as beautifully colored.

Cameron tried on this real piece of chain mail (he is looking over at Hannah maybe worried about what she thinks? ;-) it was really heavy.

Ok, even looking at this now I cant help but giggle a bit. Who knew that cowboys wore kilts? or that a Scotsman wears a cowboy hat?

Jeremy is always looking for a reason to wear his skirt...oh I mean his kilt. (he did leave his blouse at home it would have been to hot to wear it he said and had to leave his purse..oh man did it again I mean his sporin(it needs a longer belt)) horrible picture of me but shows the kilt

Here are most of the kids Terrilyn, Emily, Hannah, Cameron and Hailey in the back(baby Gage asleep in the stroller and my younger too were cranky and beyond cooperation) Hannah and Cameron went around collecting sticks all morning.

Thoming family Heather, Mike, Hannah, Hailey and Emily

The End of Spring Break

2010-04-11T20:04:00.000-07:00

Saturday night we spent at Jennifer's house and Karen and her kids stayed a while too. There was a lot to do with 12 kids around.

Here are Terrilyn and Alexander riding their horses(these were a big hit with the kids)Alex is on Cookie and Terriyln is on Milkshake. Terrilyn was so funny because they would be racing bouncing up and down as fast as they could and then she would announce "wooo whooo I won" and that would be he end of the race.

Seamus and Kaleb hanging out with Lacey.

These 2 were so funny they were born the same year and they connected instantly Jack followed her around asked where his "brill" friend was, combed his hair and asked if she liked it. Well Jennifer had gone upstairs and found them in Jack's bed and asked them what they were doing just to be told that Terrilyn was Sleeping Beauty and was asleep in his bed and Jack needed to rescue her so he had crawled in to kiss and save her. How cute is that?

Here they are again...they should end up the best of friends...right?

These guys were all born int the same year...Mason, Livy, and Cameron.

We had a really good time we went from family to family trying to fit everyone in. We squeezed in some friends that used to live in Tucson and haven't seen for 3 years(the Helquists) man I realized how much I missed Julie (of course the camera never came out and the kids played and played and we did lots of visiting. Maybe now that it is only a 6 hour drive as opposed to a 12 hour we will get to see family more?

Lemon Gathering

2010-04-11T15:10:00.000-07:00

While in Utah we got together with all but one of Jeremy's siblings in Brigham City(Nathan had a fight that weekend). In between sessions of General Conference on Saturday the kids(all 12 of the Lemon grandkids)had an egg hunt and we got together for food and enjoying one anothers company. We got to see Grandpa Lemon and Great Grandpa Lemon. **WARNING** lots of pictures but I did narrow it down

Cameron, Terrilyn and Alexander going after the eggs and candy.

Uncle Jared was the ride for a bit...good thing his feet are so big so they have somewhere for those little bums to sit on.

These 2 were so cute with all the maddness of children running around Alexander would throw the ball to Seamus and he would roll it to Alex...so sweet watching them play together.

Our nephew Kaleb and a goober mouth.

A four generation Lemon picture

All the Lemon men

and all the Lemon women

here is a progression of what these boys have/are/will look like(Jeremy, Kyle, Cameron)

Here is all 12 grandkids together for the first time.

Alexander and Charlie

Terrilyn and Livy. Terrilyn was so excited to have girls to play with and even better was that they wore glasses too :-)

Terrilyn and Jack(he was hysterical all weekend kept calling her his "brill" friend)

Lacey, Cameron, Mason, Alexander, Jack and Terrilyn

Seamus and Grandpa Bob

2010-04-10T22:11:00.000-07:00

One night while we were there Seamus and Grandpa played a game of put the paper in the bag. I thought it was so cute and Seamus was really enjoying it.

Terrilyn's Glasses

2010-04-10T21:56:00.000-07:00

On Thursday Jeremy had set up with his cousin Jessalyn who is doing beauty school to cut and die my hair.(he didn't realize that beauty school takes longer to go along with the cheaper) While we were there a bunch of girls around Terrilyn's age came in for a "princes party" they were getting their hair curled and then their nails done...she begged and pleaded with us to get her hair and nails done. Luckily the gal next to Jessa's agreed to do Terriyn's hair(a miracle really because she has yet to let me curl her hair with and iron) It turned out so cute...and I thought it was a perfect opportunity to debut her glasses. She is very proud of the fact that they are Dora the Explorer glasses and they have "sparkles" on the sides of them(and she will show off the Dora face on the inside of the ear pieces to you). Sooooooo with out further adu here is Terriyln with her glasses...isn't she pretty?

SNOW for Spring Break...gotta be kiddin me.

2010-04-10T21:35:00.000-07:00

We went to Utah for spring break to spend some time with Jeremy's family. We love staying with Grandpa Bob up in Woodland Hills, but never expected that he was gonna have to plow the driveway so we could leave for the day. My poor desert rat children were so excited to play in the snow. I thought it was beautiful it has been so long since I have seen snow falling from the sky. The kids were in a hurry to eat breakfast and go play in the snow. Alexander went outside and before I could get myself and Seamus ready he was back inside and hung out with grandma Mary.

Here is the van covered in snow.

Grandpa pulled out his 4-wheeler(also the snow plow) and tied up some sleds and took the kids around the driveway. The first time worked out real well they loved it laughing the whole time and then the next go around Terrilyn lost her balance when grandpa gassed it a bit to get up the hill and face planted it into the snow.(she was done) We did get video of it but i think the funny part is that she is crying because she is cold.