Catch Up!

I have good reasons for not blogging lately, here are a few of them......

Ahh, the deliciousness of this time of year!!!! We have been doing some baking and enjoying all the fun treats and time in the kitchen. The kids are turning into great little sous chefs!

Chocolate Pecan Pie

Pumpkin Bread

we sprinkled raw sugar on the top and it gave it a delightful extra layer of goodness!

We have done a few arts and crafts projects- anything to keep the kiddos busy and happy while it's freezing outside!

David and Will and Avery(those are her fingers on the bottom left) having a blast using up all my old Christmas die cuts!
Avery painting a birdhouse that Manuel put together for her. That is serious talent to paint with 2 paintbrushes;)

We have been doing some decorating, these are a few of my favorite projects. Still lots to do but we are making progress!


This makes me smile everytime I look at it!!!!

We spent some time with Grandpa in town over Thanksgiving.

The highlight of the visit was putting fire crackers in the apples in the backyard and blowing them up.


Eli flexed his muscles with Santa!
Alex had a singing performance at the tree lighting ceremony at Zions Bank where Santa made an appearance. All the pictures of Alex had another boys head in the way- sorry Alex!!!

Manuel had a Birthday- He is 41-yikes;). I'd list 41 reasons why I love him but he never reads this so I think I'll just give him 41 kisses instead!!!!
We decorated the tree and listened to Christmas music!!!!!

We have been enjoying our generous helping of snow, every few days!
Snow boot requests have been added to everyone's Christmas lists- Is it too late to make requests??

We have tried to take SEVERAL pictures of the kids for a christmas card, all in various locations, (the couch was a last resort) This one is in the running for the BEST PHOTO!!!!! I'm planning to keep trying so if you see a Christmas card anytime between now and Valentines Day, consider yourself lucky!
We spent 1 evening at David's preschool for the annual holiday concert. Seriously don't let this picture deceive you, this is the only second that he actually sang. I'll try to download the video clips that I have. It is one of the best concerts in Yanguez family history!!!!

Happy Holidays!

Love the Yanguez Family!!!!!

Congratulations!

Congrats are in order for the youngest member of our family... Avery is finally potty trained!

(I am so happy to not have to add diapers to my grocery list anymore!)

Weekends

There are many Saturdays that get filled up with errands and all the nonsense that life throws at me, but last Saturday was different. We had a LAZY day!!!!! This means no trips to the grocery store, no laundry, no cleaning! What this also means is that I could actually revisit my days before I had children who needed me. This means that DAD is home and he can put out fires, make lunch and holler at the children to put their shoes on and close the door as they bolt for the backyard. This means that my deep yearning to create something or do something crafty may actually be satisfied. Could I really get a project started and finished in one day?

It was a longshot but I was optimistic and willing to give it a try just to please my creative soul.

The old piano in my front room has been begging me to make it pretty again, and I knew I could restore it, if only I could find the time. I guess this is THE TIME!!!

I've mentioned before this piano that my grandma so kindly gave to me. It has a story, like so many things in our lives do. While all its dents and scratches hinted to how long it has been around and to how many behinds have sat on it's bench, I knew it could look better, I knew it could look as good as it sounds. I knew it could be restored to pretty close to what it looked like when my sweet grandma returned from her LDS mission in 1947 and purchased it for $800.00. I knew that it was my turn to add my chapter to this pianos long and wonderful journey. You see, this piano is a treasure to me even though I can't even play it! Someday I WILL play it!

The Bench BEFORE

The Bench AFTER

This is the last corner. The part on the left is already done- so much better!

The above 2 are both AFTER pictures, It looks so awesome that it needed 2 pictures

Laughed so hard... I cried!

I hope I can re-tell this and have it be as funny as when Manuel told me.

Manuel received a calling during the summer to work with the 12 year old boy scouts. He meets weekly with them and then camping trips once in a while. So the other day Manuel gets an email about a meeting on thursday night that he needs to attend. Well, Thursday night is sort of when he plays basketball and more recently it's also become chess night. So he crossed the chess game off his list and went to the meeting in his clothes for basketball.

He walks into a room full of very serious scouting men and women, they are decked out in more scout paraphenelia than he has ever seen and they seem to be all older than him. He takes a seat and they start talking and presenting people with various neckerchifs (sp) and awards . Two men suddenly stand up and start singing a song something along these lines...

"We are the Owls, we are the Owls" Complete with shoulder movements up and down

"We are the Owls, we are looking for something that we just don't know" At least this is what Manuel is hearing. He said he turned his head sideways and raised his eyebrows.

The men sit down and they keep talking when another set of men stand up and start singing...

"We are the Beavers, We are the Beavers"

"We are the Beavers, we are looking for something that we just don't know"

"What in the world is this" (in Manuel's voice it is so hilarious), He is thinking

So they finish the program and an older gentleman approaches Manuel and asks if he is new here.

"Uh, yeah I'm new here" says Manuel

The old man says" Well welcome to the Brotherhood of the Beaver" he moves his face a little closer to Manuel and he puts his 2 front teeth out and makes a beaver noise.

"OMG, I have to get out of here" Manuel says to himself

He excuses himself to use the bathroom and puts those basketball shoes to good use as he BOLTS out of the church.

Whew!!! A deep sigh of relief and a fear that he won't soon forget..... The Brotherhood of the Beaver!!!!!

Autumn Fun

It's definitely a busy time of year, but OH SO FUN!!!

This is our trip to the Corn Maze at Thanksgiving Point. We went a few days before Halloween and it was pleasantly on the warm side. Yes, I know Avery's hair is a mess, she took out her barettes!

Alex, Eli and JT trying to decide which way to go.

My cousin Ben got married the day before Halloween so Avery and I went to the reception at Wheeler Farm, it was good to see family that we don't see too often. But the best part was

when sweet little Thomas actually asked Avery to dance. She was a little unsure at first but they got it down! Such a cute little moment!

Halloween!!!!!

I don't know what else to say, we had a fabulous night. We had MUMMIES for dinner and the older boys went trick or treating (before I got the camera out) with their friends from the neighborhood and their cousins. They scored BIG in the candy dept, which I have since had to hide from them, oops I mean myself;).

This is my "Pottery Barn catalog" photo from Halloween. They seriously are so cute at this age!!

We have been raking leaves, they are

NEVER-ENDING around here! But the kids have had NEVER-ENDING fun hiding in them. They love to play "Ghosts in the Graveyard"! (This is a VERY small sampling of all the leaves!)







I did some Fall-ish decorating! I know it's funny for those of you who have been to my house. I have hardly decorated the regular parts of my house (I really am working on it, just indecisive and BUSY), but the leaves falling outside made me want to celebrate the season and put some of my holiday decor out where it could actually be enjoyed.

My goal is to have made some serious decorating "headway" before the end of this month. I'll keep you posted on how that goes.

Have a Fabulous week, I think we only have 2 1/2 weeks to Thanksgiving!!!

Happy x3

I believe we have done it. I actually found a sport that ALL three of my boys are loving!!!!!!

Yes, I signed them up for Wrestling at the local THROWDOWN gym.

This is a 1 month introduction course and if they like it they can go on and do competition.

I personally thought we'd be a soccer, baseball, football, basketball family, but they are having so much fun. So I'll trade sitting on the sidelines of a soccerfield for the soft cushy mat at the gym if they are having fun!!!! David is a natural- he's super fast and he's strong, he's still trying to get used to wierd little boys grabbing his legs but he's a pro.

Eli, well he is out for blood or anything else he can get. He is STRONG and determined to take down anyone that gets in his way. I am thinking he is picturing more WWF style, since he grabbed his partner's shirt and just started swinging him in circles. A little bit of instruction from the coach and he's headed in the right direction now!

David and his partner, this looks more like Karate but they are supposed to be practicing their squatting- I think it's called a stance? I'll have to work on my terminology;)

Alex is doing a more advanced version of what the younger kids are doing. He's a little shy and still getting all the rules down but he's doing awesome. He's also really strong and his long legs are an advantage to him. This is his summary of his first week. "It's really fun but you have to get used to grabbing people in wierd places and putting your head in wierd places and then hoping your opponent doesn't FART!" I thought that was hilarious!!!! Oh, how I love a 10 year old boys!!!!

Lastly, I just had to include this picture! I realized that wrestling is not a sport that is easy to photograph, this "photo shoot" made me seriously question any photographic ability that I may have had! 70% of my pictures look like this one below and the other 30% are the ones above and several pictures of peoples backs, butts, ears & legs. I don't start out trying to get a coach's butt in my photo but they always move before my camera actually takes the picture and now I have some really "precious" pictures that are begging to be deleted from my camera!

Anyway, have a happy week and we'll keep you updated on our little wrestling experience!!!!

Zion National Park

Last Weekend the kids had some time off from school so we took a little weekend trip and headed to Southern Utah. Spencer and Erica came up from Las Vegas, Mom and Uncle Paul came up from Las Vegas and Phoenix, Dad and Georgeanne drove all the way from Albuquerque and Keegan and Katey came from Orem. We missed Noelle and Bree and their families but maybe they can make it next time

The scenery was spectacular at Zion National Park

I decided that while camping would not be my first choice for a family activity it was a fabulous little dose of bonding time. The kids really enjoyed being able to do whatever they wanted. They had a really good time with their cousin and hanging out with aunts and uncles and grandparents. They consumed record amounts of marshmallows and carved record numbers of sticks with their assortment of pocket knifes. They got to go to sleep without taking a shower. They totally loved the tent and Eli even got to sleep in Tryston's tent with him on the last night.

They spent lots of time chasing lizards and Alex actually caught this little guy. Gotta love the dirty hands here! There was no shortage of dirt on this little adventure.

Eli and David were good helpers to scout out wood for the fires. I love this sweet little moment of TEAMWORK!!!!

River and Rocks equals lots of fun, I know you can't see their faces but I loved this picture!

Avery was so proud that she found a walking stick- it was perfect for her and just her size!

I can't believe my kids are so big, and I can't believe Tryston snuck into this picture.

Thanks everyone for a Wonderful Weekend!

Weekend Goodies

I just wanted to share a few goodies from our weekend!

Friday:
*I am the proud owner of a Honda Odyssey. My husband has been testing my vehicle patience since he sold my Excursion a few weeks ago. I am now a minivan driver BY CHOICE, I can finally say it without shuttering. After test driving several cars and factoring in the cost of gas, the size of my family and my sheer dislike for parking GIANT cars in small parking spaces I fell in love with the Honda Odyssey. Yes, it's a milestone for me to be a minivan driver but I'll carry the title proudly!!!!

*I went to lunch with some of the ladies in our cul-de-sac, Thanks Jill for the delish food!

*Manuel's friends and family joined us for a fabulous cookout, we thought we'd send summer off with burgers and dogs on the grill, guacamole and chips and a generous supply of "Death by chocolate".

Saturday:
*We woke up late since it was dark and rainy/hailing/snowing outside. It was heavenly to sleep in!!!!!!

*We cranked up the heater for some of that yummy first use of the heater smell! It was fun for it to be cold! Yes I like it cold until about February when I'm tired of all the work it takes to go out of the house.

*Manuel went and ran some errands while we cleaned up the house, which went fairly quickly and smooth.

*We made cinnamon rolls and hot cocoa- the best on a cold day!

*I caught up on some work in the office while Manuel set up the tent in the front room to be sure the whole family would fit in it for our camping trip this weekend. We have differing opinions on the sleeping arrangements with some preferring to be sleeping sardine style while others of us prefer our space while sleeping. Either way, it was fun to set the tent up inside the house.

Sunday:
*Woohoo, we made it to church ON TIME, even in the snow. We are pretty proud of ourselves;)

*After church we cozied up in our warmest jammies and fluffiest socks and layed around.

*Manuel's Mom had lunch ready for us after church, she must have been reading my mind b/c I was not in a cooking mood!

*I did a little bit of scrapbooking!

*Since we had a late, big lunch we had scones for dinner, More deliciousness for the cold weekend. Okay not so delicious for my figure, I'll get back to working out this week.

*After scones and showers we watched Nanny Mcphee and I painted Avery's toes and fingers.

I'll take a weekend like this anytime, bring on the cold stormy days!

Yanguez- well represented

Manuel got his 15 seconds of fame today.

While we were at the Temple dedication in Panama Carole Mikita (KSL 5 news) stopped Manuel and his brother Isaac for an interview. They were happy to share their feelings but secretly they were super pumped that they "might" be on TV.

The other day we found out the special for the Panama Temple would air after conference on Sunday. We watched it and loved that we were able to recognize many places and lots of friends of Manuel's and new friends we had met while we were there.

Manuel's niece Stefy was shown in the video practicing for their dance which they performed at that cultural celebration.

Stefy is just under the left side of the screen with a blue skirt on

Manuel and Isaac BOTH had their comments included in the special. We were cheering and it was super fun to see their names on TV and have them represent the Yanguez family!

I guess it takes little to entertain us, but it was such a fun experience and to be able to share it with others is just icing on the cake.

(sorry I couldn't find any footage of the special on the internet, so I suppose you'll just have to trust me if you didn't get to see it)

Better Days

Today was a much better day

(THANKFULLY)!

I realized today that the positives outweigh the negatives. Here are a few of my favorite positives

*Crying feels good once in a while- even if your big

*My husband is so much better at solving teacher problems than I am and that school bully might actually leave Alex alone after getting a talkin' to from maybe the tallest guy he's ever met.

*Pizza Hut pasta is a lifesaver on nights when hornets attack.

*There is a beautiful mountain that I can see from my front porch and it is covered with colors of fall.

*A phone call from an old friend just when I needed to talk is a true blessing (Thanks Trish).

*Halloween decorations are slowly creeping up in my yard and in the house and it feels good to be welcoming the holidays.

*I have three handsome boys and a beautiful little girl who are healthy and vibrant and love me even though I'm far from perfect.

* I have a Heavenly Father who constantly reassures me that I am loved and doing the right things even when they are hard and overwhelming.

Realized

Today I realized a few things:

Teachers can make you cry even if you are the parent- my son's teacher, with the best of intentions I'm sure of, asked me if I had ever considered putting him on medication. He would rather daydream than do his math and his handwriting. Can I blame him, he's a 7 year old boy? Truth be told I'd rather be daydreaming than doing half the monotonous things I have to do everyday too.

Kids are meaner than I remember- I've never wanted to home school my kids, but I can see why some people do it. The kids these days are just brutally mean and can make a 10 year old feel so horrible! I wish I could go to school and just fix everything and we aren't even to junior high yet.

Treasure hunts and hornets don't mix- Okay I already knew nothing mixes with hornets but apparently my boys had to find this out the hard way. So I'm boohoo-ing to my neighbor about my school woes and I hear the "something is really wrong" scream. So we run back home and find David and Eli with multiple hornet stings. I guess they found a "pack of hornets" (Eli's explanation) and the hornets started attacking them. David got stung on the face, head and ankle and Eli got stung on the head. Oh such an awful end to the treasure hunting. I doped them up on Benadryl and Motrin and hopefully it will be a distant memory in the morning.

Ohhh, the hard lessons of life!

Smarty Pants

Kids- Happily playing outside on the deck with the train table that Manuel brought from the old house

David- "Choo, choo, get out of my way"
Will- "Choo, Choo no you get out of my way"
Avery- oh so qiuetly stealing pieces of the train track or train and throwing them off the deck
David- "Moooooom, Avery is throwing our trains off the deck, Moooooom"
Mom- "Avery pick up the trains that you threw off the deck"
Avery- big smile with her head cocked to one side and her hands behind her back
Mom- "Avery, you have to pick up the toys that you threw off the deck"
Avery- arms in the air "But, MOOOM, I'm LITTLE"
Mom- "Avery, Please go and pick up the trains"
Avery- sits on the chair on the deck " But, I'll just go to TIME OUT"
Mom- bite my lip so she doesn't see my smile and back to the dishes, I guess if she's putting herself in timeout and I'm laughing then we can pick up the trains later:)

Finally 5 Years Old

David actually turned 5 on September 7th. Even though I'm a lot behind, he still deserves a little birthday spotlight on the family blog!

David has been waiting to turn 5 for what seems like forever, most of his friends are already five and he has had to wait. He also missed the cutoff for Kindergarten so he will do preschool for 1 more year. He was a little sad about not going to school with one of his best buds, William, but he has quickly forgotten about it. David is a simple guy, he pretty much goes along with whatever is happening, he loves to wrestle and be tickled and he is an awesomely fast runner! David loves to eat croissants and chocolate milk, hot cocoa at any time of the year and basically anything else with chocolate involved. (wonder where he got that from;))

This was his choice for his Birthday Breakfast, OJ-complete with a fancy cup, courtesy of Mom- Scrambled "eggys" and cinnamon rolls. Delish!


David got a new bike and lots of fun Ben 10 toys, books, hulk toys and a fun new pillow to read in bed with.
I have to explain "the cake". Usually cakes are more interesting at our house but this year David requested a Ben 10 cake. Not a problem you might say except for the fact that David doesn't care much for cake. After a little brainstorming I decided that he would much rather eat brownies or cookies. So I made a brownie cookie bar combination complete with several Ben 10 aliens and some green sugar sprinkles. Alex helped me with the aliens and Eli doused the completed project with the green sugar. Brownies, cookies and ice cream- score in my book!!!!

We Love you and

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAVID!!!!!!

Starry night and a Piano (& Cello)

Manuel and I don't go on dates nearly as much as we should, partly because we get tired of just going to dinner and partly because it's soooo much work to even get out of the house. But, I was really itching to have some much needed quiet time with my handsome hubby. You know where you don't really have to talk about everything that's happening but you just need to reconnect and remember how it was before we had 4 aliens invade our lives:)
So, I was perusing the Thanksgiving Point webpage wishing I had signed up for a cooking class that would offer me some escape from the current chaos and I fell upon their calendar. Hmmmmm, an outdoor concert sounded like a FABULOUS plan. So I bought the tickets, penciled in a DATE NIGHT over our adult session of Stake Conference (it felt a little like the few times I actually ditched a class at school- hehehe) arranged a babysitter, gathered up my favorite warmest blankets and started imagining a peaceful evening listening to none other than Jon Schmidt on the piano!!!

It turned out that it was even better than I had imagined! The night was crisp and the stars were out, there was a waterfall behind the outdoor "stage" and it was so peaceful to cuddle with my WARM, drop dead gorgeous, sweet polo-smelling husband. We didn't really have to talk about much but it was exactly the kind of time we needed together. Jon Schmidt was incredible and really funny and their was a hilarious guy playing the cello.
We'll mark this down as one of our best dates and make a mental note to go again next year! Happy dating and I hope your husband smells as good as mine does;)

Lots to SMILE about

Even though school has started and there is a hint of autumn in the air we haven't let summer go quite yet. Here are few fun things we have had going on this past week.

We went for a drive on Sunday afternoon and couldn't resist playing in the COLD water up Provo canyon!

Thank goodness for Crocs- This is Eli and David braving the icy water, Alex wouldn't let me take his picture;(

My sweet Grandma had her piano shipped to me!!!!!Hallelujah!!!! I have longed for a piano since I was a little girl and even though I'm going to be 33 here soon I am determined to learn to play it! Yeah it has been well used and could use a little cosmetic work but it sounds so beautiful and it makes my heart so happy when one of the kids sits down and starts playing like I did when I was little!!!! Thanks so much Grandma!

Yummy------ Strawberry jam, okay so it's only freezer jam but Alex and I think it's the best!!!! Especially on pancakes and french toast!!!!

Manuel's sister Doris and her family surprised us for a weekend visit. It was fun to hang out with them. Avery loved listening to Bryan's music. Sorry I didn't get more pictures of the rest of the family!

Ahhh a bit of nostalgia... this swing used to hang on a big tree in front of my Great Grandma Beck's house in Tooele. Avery is such a DOLL and I'm so proud that my camera got such a good shot. David is anti-picture boy so I tricked him. He couldn't get off the swing fast enough to duck out of this picture, he sure is a handsome little rascal!


Avery discovered how SOFT a rose petal is!

Grandpa came to visit and surprisingly enough got the kids to stand in a picture. David won't look at the camera, but at least he is there!;)