random CuTeNeSs

maci is so fun right now! she is talking a lot and we all adore her!

this is what haylee wore home from school on valentine's day! it was so cute!

Hanna on valentine's day delievering her gifts to her class

we had so much fun with my niece JoAnn at our house for a week... here are the girls playing dress up!

riding horses at grandma's (maci, hanna, and JoAnn)

JoAnn, Haylee, and Hanna in the matching outfits that grandma bought them!

maci always wants to clean the floor when i am working on it.. by the way i love this little machine. it's called the swivel sweeper.. it's like a little vacuum for hard floors. it's awesome to clean up the messes under the table.. and everywhere else!

part of the fun of having girls is matching them.. they will probably grow up and hate it, but i think it's cute!

haylee's first fhe lesson that she gave by herself! (the accountable cow barn!) so cute!




here is what we have been up to! i love my girls and awesome husband (who has been working like crazy to support us! most of the time he leaves around 6 in the morning and comes home after 11 pm... without coming home for lunch or dinner. the girls sometimes go days without seeing him.. but that's tax season! i feel bad for him, i wish he could just get a good night sleep!).. here is what we have been doing without him...

4 bad ears + 1 good doctor = one happy mom!

this title might not make any sense.. let me explain. all of my girls have had bad ear problems. Haylee and Hanna both got tubes in their ears when they were one.... eventually the tubes fall out and normally kids grow out of ear infections.. not the case with my girls. Haylee's ear drum has burst twice since then, Hanna was constantly getting ear infections and was having a really hard time hearing, and now Maci has had 6 double ear infections in about 7 months... so time for tubes again!! Haylee seems to be growing out of the infections, but i was really worried about Hanna's hearing and Maci was constantly in the dr. office... so i made lots of trips to tempe to meet with our awesome ENT (ear nose and troat dr.) we got the surgery scheduled for Feb. 28th for Hanna and maci... so again i made a quick trip to mesa. i stayed the night on wed. (we went by my inlaws house and my father in law and brother in law, brian, gave the girls a blessing (wayne has been working so much and not been home, so i forgot to ask him!) i am so thankful for the priesthood and awesome men who hold it!

thurs. morning we had to be at the surgery center @ 6:45am. my good friend tami farnsworth came with me. she was a huge help!( wayne had to work) the girls couldn't eat or drink before the surgery. Hanna and maci both played great in the waiting room. then a nurse comes and takes the girls (maci first) and about 15 minutes later the dr. came back and told us everything went well...(he said maci had double ear infections that day!) then they took hanna back for surgery. the dr. said that hanna had more mucus in her ear than he had seen in a long time. (no wonder she couldn't hear) it is a quick surgery with a quick recovery... i am SO happy to have the surgery done. hopefully now we won't be in and out of the dr. office and the girls won't have so much pain when they get an ear infection! Hanna is already hearing better. it's so great!

in the waiting room...

after the surgery... this says it all for maci...when she came out of the anestesia (sp?) she was so mad! i couldn't calm her down. i gave her a drink and a cracker and she threw it at me.. then she would snuggle me and then start crying again and hit me. i don't think she had any clue what was going on.. after a nap on the drive home, she was great!

hanna did awesome and didn't cry at all. i don't know why the color on this picture is so wierd, but hanna thought it was awesome to ride in a wheelchair out to the car. she was so good!!

What do we do now??

our life has been consumed with basketball for the last 4 months! we have gone to almost every game for both of my brothers... now that it is over, i don't know what to do with all my time... i'm sure i'll find something! well the state championships were fun to watch, but we didn't win. thatcher did awesome. almost everyone though we were going to get beat really bad (because we played a christian school that can recruit)... but we stayed close the whole game and did great. it was fun that the team got to play in the jobing.com arena in glendale (it is the coyote's hockey arena).. it was a short one, day trip this time, but fun to support my brother and the team.. levi (my brother) made the all tourn. team! i am proud of him and glad we were able to be here for his last b.ball season!!

those who made it to the state championship game

the waterfall @ the arena

this was the game when all but one of the siblings were there (my girls were with a babysitter, it makes it much easier to watch a game that way)

the loudest fans!! me and my two sisters

last weekend in mesa at my in-laws (sunday)

it was so fun to be with our layton cousins again. we miss them!!

Take state EAGLES!!

Tomorrow we are headed to Mesa, AGAIN.. we have made so many short trips lately.. but tomorrow will be so fun. Thatcher boys basketball made it to the championships in the Glendale arena!! My little brother, who is a senior, is one of the starters! He is so good and we have gone to almost every game this season! I love small town sports, because the whole town (at least a lot of them) comes out to support the teams! Today as the team was leaving to mesa, they we escorted out of town by the police, and firetrucks (with their sirens) and lots of fans! It is so exciting! We are playing a really tough team, but hope to win tomorrow... I will keep you updated... Last weekend, during the playoffs, 9 out of 10 of the kids in my family were at the game! ... it was a pretty big crowd and really loud... It was so fun to be together and we missed Tom who didn't make it! Tomorrow I am leaving Haylee and Hanna with their cousins and Wayne and I are taking Maci to the game. It should be exciting!! GO EAGLES!!

TAG... I'm it!

5 things i was doing ten years ago!
* 17 years old... in middle of my senior year and loving it!
* Student Counsel ( i think i spelled that wrong.. :)
* Excited about graduation
* Planning a trip to Canada with my best friend Camille
* ... what else do I say about highschool, except I LOVED IT!

5 things on my to-do list!
* clean my house
* make invitations for "8 is great" fireside
* finish my girls valentines and dip strawberries for my family and friends
* plan spring break... cruise or Hanna surgery???!! (I'll explain later!)
* a whole lot of vinyl lettering orders

5 snacks i enjoy (.. i don't know if i can narrow it down to five!... my trainer wouldn't be very happy with this list!!)
* cheese cake
* chocolate (of course) .. any kind
* my new favorite thing is a chocolate, banana protein shakes (which is actually so healthy)
* silver mint bars from schwans
* homemade cookies or bread

5 things i would do if i were a billionaire
* pay off my house
* finally go to hawaii
* take my kids on a disney cruise
* help families without enough money to send kids on missions, or buy school clothes
* i would love to have tons of extra money to just help ANYONE in need.. there have been so many times, with families or friends or strangers that I want to give money, or things they need, but can't..

3 bad habits
* when i have a break during the day, i would rather watch tv than get the things done i need to be doing
* i bite my nails... i know gross!
* i snack all day!

5 places i have lived
1. thatcher, az
2. summer in utah
3. mesa, AZ
4. chandler, AZ
5. thats it!

5 jobs i have had
* my first job was on the cotton farm...and my boss fired me because he caught me and the crew in the canal swimming! (good memories!) i worked with 6 guys and camille daley!
* sunrise preschool .. ( i would never do that again!.. i perfer watching my own kiddos!)
* r and r pizza
* eac library (So fun!!)
* office work in gilbert at homestead vinyl (that is the summer i met wayne...)

5 things people don't know about me ( i don't know if people don't know these things.. but here are 5 things about me..)
* i love living by my family and in a small town!
* i love to work out
* i love to be a mom
* i love scrapbooking and crafts
* i perfer watching tv to reading...(even though i am finally getting throught the twightlight series!)

TAG... you are all it!!

Looking good...

Sundays are always alittle crazy getting the 3 girls ready and myself... but I always love the end result! Girls are so fun to dress up! I was made to have girls! I love it!

We thank thee oh God for a prophet...

I know this is a little late, but I wanted to pay tribute to my favorite prophet! I love and adore him and think he was perfect! I am so thankful to have lived in these days and to have had him at the head of our church. I want to be like him! I have so many of his words in my home and heart! Some of my favorites are:

*Try a little harder to be a little better!

*In all of living, have much fun and laughter. Life is to be enjoyed, not just endured.

*Be Grateful, Be Smart, Be Clean, Be True, Be Humble, Be Prayerful, Be Still, Be Involved, Be Positive

I want to be all of these things like he is! I am thankful for his optimism and faith in each of us! I am so happy to think of him, a beloved prophet, entering the spirit world and being with his wife and all who have passed before him that love him like we do! What a sweet picture that would be! President Hinckley, you will be greatly missed!!

More fun pics...

On California Screamin'.. ONE of our favorite rides.. wayne would make a different face everytime we passed a camera on our rides.. :)

Hanna's 4 yr. old picture

Haylee... 6

Maci.. 18 months

DiSnEyLaNd (with out the kids!!)

Yeah, you read it right... Wayne and I went to Disneyland last weekend without kids! It was SO much fun! We wanted to get away and spend some time together before he gets swamped with tax season.. so we flew to California from Thurs. night to Sun. morning! We stayed in a hotel accross the street from disneyland and spent two days there and at California adventures! It was a perfect trip! It was so great to sleep in ... play all day... eat when we want... take a nap... hold hands... and be with my best friend! It was a trip I will never forget! (My mom was so kind and watched the girls.. she said they did great!) We are thank ful for her and my dad and brothers! We will take the girls ... next time, probably! They were too scared last time.. so we will wait a little while longer! We missed them lots.. but still enjoyed ourselves ALOT!

The big 6 year old!!

FIRST of all, I want to thank my cousin AMI BETHEA for re-doing my blog! She is so talented and I LOVE IT! Yesterday was HAYLEE's 6th b.day. I can not believe I have a 6 year old! She is so beautiful and fun! She always wants to help, especially with Maci! She loves to learn and do anything girly! She carries a purse everywhere she goes! It's so cute (I didn't carry a purse until I got married!:) We were in Mesa last weekend for my sister in law's baby's blessed. Sat. night we went to Amazing Jakes with the Farnsworths and my brother Phil's family. It was a lot of fun. Haylee picked where she wanted to go. On her b.day, we had my family over for a pizza party! It was wierd to think back to 6 years ago when she was born, our first child, and the amazing experience it was! We are SO blessed to have her in our family forever!

Amazing Jakes party

Family party (do you think she has enough chapstick!?)

My sister in law Kristy and her kids with Haylee

Our cheap b.day cake! :)

Amazing Jakes...

The tea cups!

Alex Farnsworth and his girlfriend with Maci and Haylee. Haylee used to have the biggest crush on Alex!

Holiday fun!

Christmas was so fun this year! I was SO proud of Haylee and Hanna in their school programs! They are both shy, so I was a little worried, but they both did AWESOME! We delivered plates of goodies to some friends and family. The girls loved helping! We acted out the Nativity story at my parents house. Haylee was Mary and Hanna and Mac were angels! All of my family came to town except one brother (who we missed)... 9 out of 10 kids isn't bad! It was so fun and made for some late nights!! :) My mom's gift (besides my AWESOME temple pic) was a book of bedtime stories that she wrote and illustrated. It was so awesome to have all her stories of when she was younger to read to our kids!
My kids loved Christmas morning.. I made them eat an orange before we went to our gifts... because I had to eat one when I was growing up! They got everything they wanted! It was a great year. We also had a baby shower for my cute sister in law Kami, due in March. It was fun to be together.

The only bad part of the holidays was a very sad death. Wayne's first cousin (becky) lost her baby boy. He was one year old and died on Christmas morning. She is about our age and has two other kids. She is an awesome mom. We droved down to Mesa for the funeral and we were so glad we could be there. Becky and her husband were amazing. They were so strong. The funeral really inspired me and made me want to be a better person. It is amazing that one sweet boy could make such a difference. I was thankful to be a part of the family and attend the funeral. My heart aches for Becky and Graham. I can't begin to imagine how they feel. This experience made me re evaluate what is important in life and remind me of the plan of Salvation. I am so grateful that the Lord made it possible to be with our families FOREVER... there is no where else I would rather be!

We wish you a Merry Christmas!!

I know this is lame... but here is our Christmas card and pic.... I don't have everyone's address and I figure this is better than nothing... So now it is like you got a card from us! :) I know I am taking the easy way out! but, I hope you all have a very great holiday season. I am thankful for my awesome friends and family... like you! Merry Christmas!!

Christmas Tag

Christmas Tag
1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? a little of both!
2. Tree--Real or Artificial?Artificial!! Two of them (one with homemade ornaments, and one decorated a little nicer!)
3. When do you put Christmas tree up? Either the day before or after Thanksgiving... one year I even put it up on Thanksgiving day!
4. When do you take the tree down? Sometime in January
5. Like egg nog? Yes ... but I like hot cocoa a lot more!
6. Do you have a nativity scene? I think I have about 20 of them! I collect them and get at least one new one every year! I love them!
7. Favorite gift received as a child? Cabbage patch doll
8. Hardest person to buy for? Wayne... he never wants anything!
9. Easiest person to buy for? My girls
10. Worst Christmas gift? ?? I don't remember
11. Mail or email a Christmas Card? I love getting everyones christmas cards .. and I love to make mine every year!
12. Favorite Christmas movie? The Santa Clause movie (with Tim Allen) ... me and my best friend (Camille) used to watch it every Christmas with Candy canes and Hot Cocoa!!... good memories!
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? In November.. it feels good to get the shopping done early and enjoy the holidays...
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Not that I remember...
15. Favorite food to eat on Christmas? CANDY
16. Clear or colored tree lights? Clear on my nice tree... colored outside and on the kids tree
17. Favorite Christmas Song? "Oh come all ye Faithful" and "Christmas Shoes"
18. Travel during Christmas or Stay home? We travel throughout the holidays. We used to come to my mom's to sleep on Christmas eve... but it is fun to have our own Christmas at home with our girls now!
19. Can you name Santa's reindeer? dasher, dancer prancer, vixen, comet, cupit, donner, blitzen, and do you recall? the most famous reindeer of all... rudolph
20. Angel or Star on Tree top? Silver star
21. Open presents on Christmas Eve or morning? Always PJs on Christmas eve
22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? crowded stores (even in Thatcher) and long lines!

Happy birthday Hanna BABA!

Hanna always tell us her name is not Hanna, it is Hanna "BABA"! I can't believe she is 4! She is such a fun girl! She loves High School Musical, Hannah Montana, barbies and books! We were in Gilbert for her b.day and it was a great day. We opened presents in the morning at Wayne's parents house, then in the afternoon we had a party at Peter Piper. That night we went to the temple lights. It was fun to be with Deanne's family and see our good friends the Farnsworths. They always make b.days so fun and get enough presents for Christmas and birthdays!! We had a fun weekend seeing Wayne's family too! WHen we are in Gilbert/Mesa... we never have enough time to see everyone and do everything we want... but it was a great weekend!

Peter piper...

Temple lights with Deanne's family!

All bundle up!

The BIRTHDAY girl!! :)

YEAH! Hannah Montana barbie!

We miss our cousin JoAnn!!

I love this picture of Haylee. When we straighten her hair she looks so grown up!

This is my cute neice (Wayne's sister's baby) Maci was very cute with her and didn't want to ever let her go!

PoLaR eXpReSs

The whole Layton family went to Williams, AZ to ride the POLAR EXPRESS train. We all wore red pj bottoms and our matching family shirts... we had a quite a few people looking at our HUGE group in matching clothes! IT was SO cold.. but fun to bundle up! It was such a fun experience. The girls loved every minute of it. On the train, we had hot cocoa, cookies, and sang songs... Then at the "north pole" Santa come aboard the train and brought all the kids a bell. It was the perfect amount of time and fun! We all stayed in the same hotel.. got in trouble for being so loud... but it was an awesome trip! The girls loved the indoor pool at the hotel. There was TONS of rain, so we missed going to the deer farm.. but everything else was great! I definately want to do it again!





CUTE kids!

Maci getting a bell. I was so suprised she didn't cry!

All the grandkids (except one newborn) with Grandma and Pop

The indoor pool at the hotel. The kids have been asking to swim a lot lately and I keep telling them they have to wait until summer... so they LOVED getting to swim!

YUCK!

I love this time of year... except the sickness. I don't have time to be sick but... I am . I have strep throat and a sinus infection, Hanna has an ear infection and strep throat, and Maci has a double ear infection... Luckily Haylee and Wayne are good! I have had strep too many times... I think I just want my tonsils out! It just isn't good timing. I have sharing time this weekend (I got put in as 2nd counslor in primary... for my 4th time!:)... I have to put on Wayne's work party with my sister in law... We are going to Gilbert this weekend for the party, a baptism, and Hanna's b.day... I will be fine when my meds kick in... Sorry about the complaining... What else is there to do when you are home sick (I already had my nap!)... Hope everyone is feeling well!