Noorlander Family Reunion

It has been so long since all my siblings have been together. I don't remember a time that every single cousin was together. With the exception of Kyle who is on a mission all my siblings were able to meet together this weekend. We started off with a girls night out (Tiffany could not make it)

and then a day full of fun on Saturday. Paintballing, a huge breakfast, swimming, a magician, 4 wheeling, basketball, kite flying and a BBQ to end the day. My kids were lucky enough to have been with all 26 of their cousins in one weeks time. I was proud of my husband who made it into the public pool for the first time since I have been married to him. He has a phobia with public pools but got into the spirit by doing a couple tricks off the diving board.

Apostle Song

I thought this was a really fun way to teach children (and adults) the First Presidency and the 12 apostles. My kids love it.

Tim

This is my first and only time I will ever write on this thing. I try to stay as far away as possible from these things. I wanted to help my buddy out that is newly single. Let's get him on as many dates as we can. If it is a blind date please show him a picture first!

Going to Grandma & Grandpa Hawkins

Brian's mom wanted the kids to come visit. Knowing I would not make the drive by myself, she was nice enough to get us tickets to entice me! We had a lot of fun. They have an amazing pool that Braxton loved exploring his Independence. It was the first time I did not have to be in the water while he was. When he first got in I was not watching (thinking he would stay on the steps for a minute). I looked over and he had tried walking out into the water which comes right to his nose. He was frantically trying to get back to the steps while staying on his tip toes. I was not dressed for swimming but had to get in anyway! After that he knew he had to have his arm floaties to get in. He loved the water slide. It amazes me how much my kids love the water since I am so afraid of it and can't swim. Thank goodness for Grandma and Grandpa who try to teach them.

Blogging Slacker

I know I am getting behind on my blogging. Life has been crazy the last couple of weeks. So because I have forgotten to pay attention to what is going on, I thought I would steal a post from Stephanie about memories. I thought it looked like fun.

Memories

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

Aquarium

I couple of weeks ago I went to the aquarium with my friends Natalie and Sarah. I always have fun when I am with them. They both have kids that are Peyton's age. Braxton loved the sharks and Peyton loved to run around.

Do your research!

I know I have made a post before for Jim Noorlander but thought I would again. He is running against Jason Chaffetz for Congress in the 3rd district. For most all people who read my blog that is you. All of Sanpete, Millard, part of Juab (Nephi), part of Salt Lake County (Kerns, Riverton, Bluffdale and some others), & Utah County. Less than 10 percent of people in the 3rd district voted in the primary election. Please to your research for not just this election but for all of them. Then get out and vote in November!

Prayer

I think my favorite new thing of Peyton's is his prayer face. He loves to pray. He does a little bit of mumbling then opens his arms wide and yells "AAAAA" I guess that means Amen.

Getting Creative

Since I didn't really want to get myself all wet and go to the pool I went to Kmart and bought one of those cheap kiddy pools (which are way more this year). It did not fit in my car. Luckily I had Stephanie's little sister with me who is in her teens so she could help. I should have learned in Nebraska that trying to get creative does not work for me. I had her sit in the passengers seat with the window down holding the pool outside the car. It was less than a mile right? We did get it home but the wind got a hold of it a little and nearly turned it inside out. Thankfully Stacie was able to keep hold of it. I wish I had pictures but Stacie was so embarrassed she would not let me take any. Here are some from our fun after we made it home.









It was like taking a bath in mud. One of the great things about living in community of town homes is the kids. When we pulled that out they flocked toward the pool. My kids always have friends to play with.

Great Friends

I have been very lucky in my life to have such great friends. I have a lot of friends I have known for as long as I can remember, some I met in grade school, I then gained some friends in middle school and carried those same friends through out high school. My high school friends are so much fun. I hate calling them high school friends though because I know we will always be friends. We still get together for special occasions and some not so special occassions.

There are also many people and friends I have made through out college and living in different place. I have two friends that Brian and I both agree on! They are the first couple that we both like both the husband and the wife. We know they are friends but also consider them family. I feel we are closer to them than we are some brothers and sisters. My kids think they have 2 sets of parents. They help me out personally so much in raising my children. Thanks to them I am able to do fun things like go to water parks without going crazy. I know it sounds crazy but they actually act like they like hanging out in the kiddy pool and helping my kids down slides. They put up with my kids banging on their door and ringing their door bell at all hours of the day. They take my kids and play with them when they can tell I need a break. Aside from all that, they are great friends to talk to and we have a lot of fun with them. We both felt we needed to move into our homes and lucky for me they moved into the home right next to us so we share a porch. I know that we both felt that way because I needed someone else in my life. Thank you for everything you do for me Tim and Steph.

Jerry Sienfield

For Father's Day I bought Brian tickets to Jerry Seinfeld's stand up show in Salt Lake City. We met up with his sister and brother in-law for dinner first at the Spaghetti factory. We had so much fun and of course laughed a lot. These are not very clear pictures but I wanted to post them anyway.

In her shoes!

Peyton loves to wear any shoes that he can find. As soon as someone comes over to visit he will go to the door and put on the shoes that they left behind. I don't know what he did with his pants in the one picture but I thought it was funny. His father is getting concerned about the wearing of the woman's shoes but it really doesn't matter who's shoes or what shoes, as long as they are near him. I will have to say for being a boy and wearing high heels he is really good at balance. He does better in my shoes than my own sisters.

Family Night

We went bowling for family night. After our lane had some issues the kids got distracted with air hockey and the picture booth. We did have fun though. It amazed me that Peyton and Braxton could pick up the bowling ball on their own and load it onto the ramp. Tough kids!

I have to say I think bowling shoes are so ugly. For some reason I thought the kids shoes were so cute though.

P.S. Peyton spilled water in his car seat right when we got there. So please don't think I am one of those disgusting parents. Come on. You think I would really let him get to that point? In public?

Happy Fathers' Day

To all the men in my life that mean so much. I have 6 great brothers, 1 amazing father, the best father in-law anyone could ask for and the most important my husband.

To my brothers, thank you so much for being such great examples. You all hold qualities that I wish I had. Jared, David, Jimmy and Mark. Your are such great Dads and husbands. I have the best brothers anyone could ask for. I know any of you would do anything for me and love that I can depend on each one of you. I think I am also the only person who can say I feel all of my brothers are my best friends. Thank you Stephen and Kyle. Even though I am older than you I have always looked up to you. Partly because you are taller, but mostly because you have been such great examples.

To my Father in-law. Thank you for all you do for me and my family. You are an amazing person. I appreciate the council I receive from you, the love you have shown towards me and appreciate the lessons that you teach when we are all together as a family. I see so much of you in my husband. Thank you for that.

To my Father. You are the hardest worker I have ever met. You have sacrificed more for your family than anyone I know. You are one of the few people I know personally that will always stand for what is right no matter what. Thank you for teaching me hard work, dedication, and most of all the gospel. I don't think anyone cares for their children more than you do. I love you so much. Even though I don't always show it, I do remember the "principles" you teach me. VOTE FOR JIM!

And to my favorite person in this whole entire world....my husband. I can't do anything without you. You are the only thing that keeps me moving in a day. I know it does not always seem like I care but I love you more than anything. Thank you for being the person you are. You have made me a stronger person. You are such an amazing father. I could go on and on but given the fact that you don't even get onto this blog....I will stop. I just want you to know that if you do decide to change your mind and read this, that you are the best thing in my life. I am so excited to share an eternity with you.

Noorlander For Congress

This is a great website! http://www.noorlander2008.com/ I know I am a little bias, but even if I wasn't I would be ready for a change. It doesn't matter what party you are from, vote for Jim Noorlander for Congress this year. He is running in the 3rd district against Chris Cannon.

My trip to Nebraska

My sister Hannah and I left to Nebraska to see our brother Jared. Map quest says it will take 11 hours and 50 minutes. We decided to leave at 4 am so the kids would sleep for a good portion of the ride. It worked like a charm. They went back to sleep and woke up at our first stop to get gas. We fed them breakfast that we had packed, filled up on gas and were off again. After watching one movie they all fell back to sleep again. We made it to his house only 13 hours after our departure. It rained the whole way.





After one of our stops Nicole said she needed to throw up. Since she says this anytime she is tired we kind of ignored her. Then Hannah looked in the back and saw one very white face. I tried to stop fast but it was not good enough. It was everywhere. Braxton was sitting right next to her and has a very weak stomach. After smelling it from her he started dry heaving and then threw up. Lucky for me (not for him) He was able to keep it in his mouth. I know...really sick. He asked inbetween dry heaves "Does that stink Mom?" He was dry heaving the whole time we were cleaning it up. Somewhere in Nebraska there is a huge pile of wipies on the side of the road.

The Clean-up

We wanted to find out what had made Nicole react the way she did. Perhaps it was the box of cheeze it crackers combined with apple juice, PP&J, string cheese, and gogurts. Maybe it was the fact she drank a whole pint of strawberry milk in about 5 minutes. Or could it be that the milk we found was actually expired? Hmmm....some things remain a mistery.
We thought we had done a pretty good job of cleaning up what we called the "incident". We didn't even smell anything until we were a couple blocks away from Jared's house. Then we rolled down the windows. Combined with a pig farm and humidity it hit us pretty hard. After we were all done unloading the kids and luggage we headed for the nearest car wash. The only thing available was a self serve carpet washer. It basically rubbed the mess into the carpet. So the smell stayed. When we took the car seats out we noticed a mess underneath them.


We hosed the seats down in the car wash and then realized we did not want to take soaking wet seats into the car with us. So we rigged them to the top of the car.
We only noticed the warningsign on the car seats after we did this.
We also hosed down the weather mats that are heavy plastic. I didn't want to put them in the car either. I thought because they were so heavy they would do just fine on the hood. We were only going a couple of blocks! As soon as we hit 5 mph they hit my windshield then flew into the middle of on coming traffic. I thought I was going to die. Not enough to quit laughing though. Since I was in the driver seat I made Hannah get out and chase the mats. We almost lost the cars seats too but luckily for the cars behind us, they stayed. Can I just say I have a testimony on leather seats. I think from this point forward I will forever buy cars with leather seats.

Paxton

When Peyton was a baby my dad would get confused and combine Peyton and Braxton. He called Peyton "Paxton". I don't blame him. He has 11 kids of his own and 20 grand kids. He has to go through the 7 siblings in front of me before he can say my name. "Sarah, Kerrie, Jared, David, Hannah, Jimmy, Mark, Laura...ya that's your name, come here"

Well the name has stuck in my family. Instead of asking about Braxton and Peyton we just combine them into one now. People will ask are Laura and Paxton coming? It works. It takes a whole 2 seconds off a conversation. When you do the numbers and how often my name is brought up in conversation (with me there or behind my back) that is a lot of saved time.

Although I wish we could have gotten out of the car to take a picture I didn't want to make any unnecessary stops. There were several great places along the trip and someday I hope to be able to stop at all of those. But when we have 4 kids and trying to make good time it does not work.

I love the 80's...and 90's

You know when you see those poor, poor people that just love the 80's so much they just cannot bring themselves to get rid of their 80's hair? I witness that very thing again on Saturday night. Let me say it was not just any 80's hair it was a full on lady with the molet hair...short bangs and hair to her butt. I would feel bad but I am sure she just things she looks so cool! Just to clarify this picture was not the woman...although add a foot of hair and you would not be far off. I would have taken a picture but considering she was less than 4 feet I could not do it. After seeing this it got us talking about the styles we used to wear and how much we loved them or how ridicules they actually were. One was a style similar to this...
While talking about the old styles we used to wear, Janean said, "remember the overalls and you had to undo the one strap? What was the point of that. It was so stupid!" I kid you not, this is such a true story. We walked into Nordstrom the exact same night (probably about an hour later) and low and behold, a poor girl who did not get the memo that not only was it not okay to wear overalls but also "What is the point of the one strap undone. It is so stupid!"
I really would not judge someone who wore overalls in 2008. Even if it did have one strap undone. It just makes for a good story. I cannot wait to wear stirrup pants again.