The Zoo

Kassi and I went to the Phoenix Zoo with Grandma & Grandpa Hogg, Carrie, Jordan, Aunt Tiffany, and Annabella. We had so much fun looking at all the animals! Plus the kids got to play in the water at the splash pad at the zoo. It was nice to be able to spend more time with Tiffany and Annabella before they had to leave.

Jessi's Baptism

Jessi turned 8 this eight year, which of course means she was able to be baptized. She looked so beautiful in her white dress. Her daddy baptized her, and her Uncle Jason confirmed her. I also have to make special mention of her dress that Uncle Jason picked out for her (since I had forgotten about getting her a dress, and all the places to get baptism dresses are in Mesa, by where he lives) he did a great job getting one that was definately her taste. She was so excited to be baptized, we are so proud of her decision.

After the baptism, we invited family and friends to our house for a birthday party and lunch. It was such fun and we want to thank everyone that was able to come and help make it such a special day. Tiffany and Annabella were in town too. It was nice to see them while they were here. (There, that ought to teach my father in law to stick his tongue out at me!!)

Tiffany and I were able to work on some family history, including doing a couple of interviews with older family members. It was so much fun. Mike agreed to babysit the kids for us one night while we went to do an interview. As you can probably tell from the picture, this is Mike's idea of babysitting!! Not really, Annabella just thought the kennel was so much fun to play in, one time spike crawled in there with her! We had so much fun visiting with Annabella and Tiffany and were especially grateful that they could be here for Jessi's baptism!

August & beginning of September update

Well, as you can tell from my previous posts, we had 2 weddings to attend in August. Both of which were cousins of mine. We also attended the blessings of my niece and nephew (the twins). School started on Aug. 13, the kids were excited and nervous at the same time. Noah got a teacher that he had as a sub last year, when his teacher had a baby. He didn't like the sub last year and it was a constant fight to get him to go to school. But we just made it clear that he had to respect her no matter what, because she was his teacher. I felt good about this because his only complaints were that she was strict and yelled alot, so I just felt that she had different methods that he didn't like. So I was really surprised when we found out that the teacher requested to have Noah in her class this year. My husband said it meant that Noah did what we said and respected her, even though he didn't care for her. But Noah was a little disappointed to see who his teacher was. Again we told him to just worry about his own actions, and make sure to give his teacher respect. It must have worked again because he was chosen as student of the month in his class for August.

Sammi is in the 5th grade and just had her 11th birthday on Sept. 3rd. I can't believe she is 11 years old. Mike and I took her and her best friend Kaylee out to dinner with us, then to the mall. While at the mall we surprised her by getting her ears pierced for her birthday. Then she surprised me by asking if she and Kaylee could go shopping the stores in the mall by themselves. I was shocked, she'd only been 11 for a day and she thought she could off in the mall without an adult??? I don't think I'm going to handle her growing up very well.

Jessi is in the 2nd grade this year, and my focus is to help her with her reading a little bit more. I think if she wanted to be better at reading, she would be, but because it's not something she wants to do, she doesn't even try. It's so frustrating. But she is my creative one, always thinking outside the box. You only have to look at how she likes to dress herself (outside of school) to know that is true. One day she wore a school navy blue skirt, with a green shirt, a pink leopard print vest and my black boots, that went up to her knees. Maybe she'll be a famous fashion designer someday!

I don't have Kassi in preschool this year. I take her to Michael's craft store once a week where they have craft class for kids her age. My sister Carrie, (She's 3 yrs old), somes to the class too, and they have so much fun. Each week, the teacher features a different letter of the alphabet, and they do about 4 or 5 crafts with that letter. Kassi is a constant source of laughter for me. She is always making me smile. We have fun together, and work on writing her name, and practicing to write the alphabet.

Mike is in Las Vegas this week, taking a class for work. He has been busy with work and his church calling lately. He is in charge of the young men in our ward and that includes working with them in scouting activities. Right now he's working with 2 boys to help them achieve their Eagle Rank in Scouts. He's also thinking about getting back to fixing up the house again. We still need to finish the family room, which is quite an eyesore now that the rooms around it are done.

I haven't been up to much lately. I'm back to my coupons and grocery shopping, I need to stock up again since I wasn't home this summer to do my shopping. I am looking forward to a trip I'm going to take in October to Louisiana. My sister, Stephanie, is getting married. Also, my sister Tiffany is coming to visit in a week. I can't wait to see her and my niece, Annabella, again.

Well, that is our family in a nutshell!! We hope you are all doing well, and please be sure to leave a comment so that I may know that you were here.

My Cousin Josh's Wedding

Monique's Wedding

Here is my first attempt at wedding photography. My cousin Monique just got married in Aug. and realized that she would rather spend her money on a videographer than a photographer, so I voluteered to help her out. Some of these are just fun pics with my kids and pics that I liked, they're not all edited yet, but I think they turned out alright for my first try.

Our CA trip

Well, a week after we returned from CO, we took the kids to CA to see my parents. The plan was to drop off the older 3 over the weekend and then come back. Well, it didn't work out that way, my mother asked me to stay and so I did. We sent Mike home on an airplane and I returned a week later with the kids. I had a nice visit while I was there, I got to go to the beach twice. I saw my cousin Kerri and her husband and daughter. My cousin Elizabeth, who lives in Utah, was actually in LA with her kids too, we got together and played games. I even got see some of my friends from high school, Rachel Schnieder, Kelly Hanlon, and Roslynn (Frick) Casterline, just to name a few. The kids got to hang out with Grammy and Grandpa Costello. They were of course spoiled as expected. They had such a great time there. While we were there, my brother Jason came to visit my mom and brought his girlfriend with him. Her name is Terena, and it was her first time boogy boarding in the ocean, she had so much fun, she didn't want to get out! It was a nice relaxing time and I really enjoyed it, but I'm also glad to be home finally. I felt like this summer was one thing after another, so I'm happy to take a deep breath and try to find some order in my house.

Tag your it

I've been Tagged!!!

Jobs I’ve Held:
1. Mc Donald's
2. Glamour Shots
3. Video Powerstore
4. Cost Cutters
5. Hollywood Video
6. Now I am a MOM!!!

Movies I Can Watch Over and Over:
1. Sleepless in Seattle
2. Dirty Dancing
3. Pride and Prejudice (the one with Colin Furth)

Places I Have Lived:
1. Bossier City, LA
2. Tucson, AZ
3. Oxnard, CA
4. Glendale, AZ

TV Shows I Enjoy:
1. American Idol
2. Medium
3. So You Think You Can Dance
4. Grey's Anatomy

What were likely the 1st things you thought when you saw your significant other for the first time?
What a Jerk!! But since then I have learned that was just an act cuz he didn't want everone to know what a great guy he is.

Places I’ve Been on Vacation (other than the U.S.):
0 Places out side of the U.S but Tiffany and I need to plan a trip to Ireland, and my husband has promised to take me to Australia for our 20th anniversary.

Favorite Foods:
1. Mexican Food
2. Ribeye Steak (but only when my husband cooks it)
3. Salads of all kinds

Websites I Visit (almost) Daily:
1. Email
2. Blogs of family and friends
3. Familysearchindexing.org

Body Parts I Have Injured:
1. Broken wrist
2. kidney surgery(not sure if that counts, but afterwards, I sure felt injured!)
3. Giving birth to 4 kids really should count as injuring yourself too.

Nicknames I’ve been called:
1. nickalodeon
2. nicorette
3. naggy nick
4. nickerella

Now I get to pick other Blog buddies to do this!
Tag, you're it:
1. Merri DeGuili
2. Mom
3. Ruth Jester (now you have to get a blog!!)