Yes, I Am Still Here

I have definitely been a blogging slacker. I apologize to my few followers that keep looking at my blog and wonder what kind of craziness is going on in my neck of the woods. Here is a brief catch-up and hopefully, not guaranteed, I will be a little bit more successful with my blog.


Brooke turned 4. I can't believe that she is 4. She is growing up everyday. She is the nicest little girl. She is always willing to share anything that she has with anyone. She will even make sure that she gets 2 just so that she can share with her sister, Megan. I love how she thinks of others on a regular basis.
We had a great Easter, thanks to friends and family. Megan is such a cheeser. She loves to pose for the camera. Sarah, Margee and Taylor invited us to their Easter Egg hunt and it was a blast for the kids. They never doing anything small. It is always grand and fabulous. We had a lot of fun eating and catching up with each other.


Taylor was such a great help to the little ones. She was Brooke's buddy and helped her find some eggs for her basket. Thanks again Sarah and Margee. It was fun.

We slept over at my parent's house Easter-Eve. When we woke up the Easter Bunny had left a trail of eggs to great treasures. The kids have so much fun following the trail of Easter eggs that the Easter bunny leaves every year.

For my dad's birthday this year, he wanted to go camping at Scofield lake. We had a great time. The kids found a trike and rolled down the hill many, many times. They had a blast with each other. Braden and Ashlyn were able to come and enjoyed hanging out with their cousins. I forgot my camera so there are no pictures. Sorry. Jerad and my dad were doing everyone a favor and took the garbage to the dumpster. I had a bag of dirty clothes sitting on a chair waiting to be put in my expedition and they took it as garbage. Jerad is such a good sport that he jumped into the dumpster and retrieved it. I think that it would have still been there if it wasn't for him. I was trying to figure out what was put in the bag and if it was worth dumpster diving for. Thanks Jerad. You're my hero!! Happy Birthday dad. We hope you enjoyed your fishing trip.


James woke up one morning and found this was our sleeping arrangements one night. We need to get the kids out of our bed. They start in their beds, but will sometimes end up in our bed. We are definitely lacking in sleep. At one point Brooke's foot was over Sammy's head.

I think that I have pretty much caught you up. You may have noticed that we were back to a family of 4, but that didn't last very long. We are a happy, crazy family of 6 again. I hope to keep updated a little bit more.

Fun with Friends and Family

James, Daniel and Dallas

This month is a big birthday month with our friends. All of the men's birthdays are in March and occur within about a week. We had a great barbecue at Jill and Daniel's house to celebrate everyone's birthday. It was a lot of fun. All of the kids are about the same and age and always have a good time together. And it gives the parents lots of time to talk and laugh. James and I are very blessed to have such good friends.

Brooke

Megan

Brooke and Megan wanted to take Papa (Grandpa Butler) to feed the ducks. So we went down to Springville to take him. They had a great time. We also got out their dress-up clothes and they had a grand time being princesses. Brooke was so funny when I got out the camera to take pictures, she decided to pose by the fireplace. What a girl!

Kids Say the Funniest Things!

James and I asked Brooke and Megan what they wanted to do last weekend and they both said that they wanted to go see the buffalo. Living in Farmington has many perks, one of those perks are their great walking trails. Everyone was walking along and somehow the girls came up with the conclusion that Sammy (the dog) needed to go potty. Brooke took it upon herself to teach Sammy how to "hold it", by crossing his legs. We looked back, because of course the conversation became extremely interesting :). Brooke was not only telling Sammy how to hold it, but she was showing him how by crossing her legs and saying "look Sammy, do this". I guess it is a good thing that Brooke is showing Sammy the ropes.

Never leave Brooke alone....

A few days ago, I decided to make some yummy buttermilk syrup for the kids to put on their pancakes. The ids were eating, so I decided to do some catch-up on my laptop. I was sitting at my desk, in the kitchen, ignoring my kids. After a few minutes, I decided that I had better get up and clean-up the breakfast mess. I turned around and oh what a mess did I find. Brooke had poured the buttermilk syrup onto Megan's plate. Then Brooke, Megan and Ashlyn were licking up the syrup like dogs. Oh what a mess did they make. Obviously ignoring my kids is not a good idea.

Our Future Speed Skater!

Okay, not really. James and I decided to take the kids to the Gallivan Center and go ice skating. They really enjoyed it. We only had one "good" crash by James and Megan. I would have to say that it was a success.
Brooke and Megan didn't trust me to take them around the rink, for good reason! We went out for ice cream afterwards. Megan was so excited that ColdStone had "special" ice cream (non-dairy). What a great day.

Draper Open House

Last Saturday, we took the kids to the Draper Temple Open House. Everyone did very well. Brooke and Megan have always enjoyed looking at temples. Brooke loves to see different temples. We have driven around or walked around most of the temples here in Utah and a few in Idaho. She is always disappointed when we tell her that she can't go inside yet. So when the Draper Temple Open House was announced, we of course had to go. Brooke loved walking through the rooms of the temple and tried many times to sit on the couches. When we walked out and was showing her the temple through the windows of the Stake Center, she started crying because she wanted to go inside the temple. Oops, we obviously did not explain it very well to her. It is a good thing that their is going to be another open house soon.

Our Little Dog, Sammy

I can't believe that we have had Sammy for over a year now. Brooke expressed her desire to have a dog the instant she could say dog. Obviously, James and I caved, we purchased one for her and Megan for Christmas. They were so excited. Some friends predicted that after a couple of months, Brooke would forget all about her dog. She didn't. She loves the dog almost as much as she did the day we went and picked him up. This post is for Brooke. She has been trying to talk Sammy into sleeping with her (she sleeps on the top bunk :) James and I encourage it, we are sick of him sleeping with us. So when he cuddled up to her on the couch we had to take a picture.

This is a picture of Sammy and I sleeping. Can you see Sammy's tail?

There Has To Be A Better Way....

Hold on to your hats, there is a lot of hot air coming your way. In other words, I am going to vent. This is my first experience with picking up and dropping off kids at school. Are all schools this horrible? I am so shocked that a child, parent anyone else has not been run over during this time. I dropped off Braden at school today and a parent came cruising into the circle. Definitely not going the recommended 5 mph. This same parent I see frequently doing this, what the..... Really is your time worth that much? Then to pick up Braden is just as horrible. Parents are parked in the center of the 4 lane road to pick up their kids! Yes, imagine the students running in the street to be picked up. I don't understand. And then the crossing guard in the front of the school is too busy talking to do her job. I get yelled at everyday from her. I either don't walk exactly between the white lines (mind you I was trying to avoid being ran over by the children running across the road) and then today, because I crossed the walkway without her sign up. Come on!! I know how to cross the road. I would rather my kids learn to cross the road the correct way by watching for cars, not a stupid stop sign. (Mind you the lady is always talking to someone and not watching anyway! I could have been standing there all day before she noticed me.) The kindergarten teachers, which this is nice of them to do, walk the students out and stay with them until the parents come and get them. The problem is that by the time I find a legal spot to pick him up, the teacher has taken him inside to wait in the office. I could see if I was more than 5 minutes late, but I am usually there before the buses are loaded and ready to leave. So I have to go inside to get him. There has be a better way. It doesn't matter if I am 10 minutes early or 5 minutes late, it is still a horrible experience. I don't remember it being such an ordeal at the school that I taught at and the design was the same way. UGH!!!! Okay, I feel better.

The Joys of Christmas

Brooke has wanted a bike for awhile. She is the most persistent little thing. She gave up on us getting her one and asked Santa. Santa Delivered. She wanted a blue bike, with a basket, and a bell. She also wanted it to be Ariel. (Ariel bikes are no longer manufactured.) But I think that Santa got it as close as possible. She was so excited to have a basket for Sammy. Sammy wasn't too excited. I was relieved when Sammy didn't fit.....

Did I say that Brooke is a persistent little thing. He does fit. Surprisingly, he didn't act like he was too bugged. I am not sure that we are going to convince her that he shouldn't be riding in it.

Braden really enjoyed this present that the girls got for him. Brooke, Megan and Ashlyn did a good job picking out something that Braden would enjoy.


Even Sammy had a great Christmas! Brooke had to get him a new toy, that is the only way James could get her out of the pet store. She just loves her dog.

Megan was so excited to get her bike. Now if the weather would just cooperate and we could ride them.

Ashlyn and Braden loved their bikes too. It was exactly what they had asked for from Santa.

Recent Happenings at the Noble's House

This is going to be a long post, sorry. I have been a blogging slacker and a picture taking slacker.


Brooke begged and begged for me to cut her bangs because they were getting too long. Well I should have listened. She was in our room watching a video, found scissors and cut her bangs herself. She did an okay job, but they still needed to be fixed. I decided to make it a fun event and took her to cookie cutters and ice cream afterwards. We talked a lot about where and who should be cutting her hair. I would like to think that this will be last time that something becomes a victim of her cutting abilities, but anyone that knows Brooke is shocked it has taken this long. :)


We have enjoyed the snow, many times this year. I love the picture of Brooke and Megan making snow angels in the grass!

Braden built the snowman. He is a great snowman builder.

Brooke has also tried out her skis and loves them. We will probably need to put her in lessons next year.

Braden and Ashlyn told us that they had never been sledding before, and loved it. Braden even enjoyed the jumps.


We started the month of December with presents containing pajamas. -I decided to give them their jammies on the first day of December because they were Christmas ones and what were we going to do with them after Christmas. So I let them enjoy their Christmas ones all of December. They were excited to start the holiday opening gifts.


Even my mom joined the excitement and bought pajamas that matched Brooke's. Brooke loves it when she buys matching jammies.