Facebook... the beginning of the End.

I just realized how completely sucked into facebook I have become!! I haven't updated the blog for almost a month. We haven't had anything to exciting happen around here. Emily learned how to open doors, Maycie got her eyebrows waxed for the first time and is in the school choir/Christmas play, Andrew figured out how to take the screen off of his window, Tyson got gum in his hair for the first time.... thanks to Emily and Dwayne is on yet another trip. Not much.
We are all getting excited for our Christmas trip to Disneyland. Dwayne is also looking forward to the break in school... to bad he'll still have homework to do.
Thanksgiving was great. We had a delcious dinner and played a fun new board game called "Ticket to Ride". Grandma Heber let the kids sleep over at her house so Dwayne and I could get an early start shopping. We headed to Wal-mart at 2:30 a.m. We were able to get almost everything that we wanted. Then off to Toys-r-us and Old Navy where you wouldn't have thought it was the day after... it wasn't very busy. Last but not least we hit the mall for a few stores. I was surprised at the great deals we got on clothes, especially since that was Maycie's biggest request!! We were determined to keep it small since we are going on a trip but well you know... we're good for the economy. well I better go put Emily back in bed, again. Dumb doors! hope this will do Julie.

Time Flies

I can't believe it is already the Holiday season. It seems like just a few months ago we moved, it's be 8!. I realized today that I haven't posted the results of Maycie's election, She made student council but, not President. It;s not a good year for Republicans. Maycie is already looking forward to elections next year... to bad the country can't do the same!! Last week I was able to go with Maycie and the whole 5th grade to JA BIZ Town. It's small town with working business that the kids run, they spent the last few months learning about jobs/careers, keeping a checkbook and LOTS of other grown-up stuff. I was able to help interview kids in her class a few weeks ago for job placement. They all had resumes and answered questions regarding what job they were applying for. Maycie was elected Mayor... by the whole 5th grade. She prepared a speech and well all I can figure is there were plenty of republicans in the voting audience and Maycie has a lot of friends!! Way to go May. It was a lot of fun.
Dwayne just started 2 new classes, 18 months left. (59 day's of class,not counting intense study week 2009 or international feild study trip in Apirl 2010. but Who's counting??
The biggest news of all... We are going to Disneyland for Christmas!! Everyone is excited to go. This will be our first big trip with all 4 kids... Sad it has taken this long.

Doorbell ditching...

I have to share this funny story since I heard the background to it at Super Saturday. Andrew's friend Colin came over to play last Friday. They were playing outside, I went out to get the mail and saw them both zig zagging back and forth across the street running up to doors and running away. I called out to drew and asked him what he was doing. This is what he said "we're doorbell ditching and it's okay because Colin says we can't go to any houses with little kids".He proceeded to tell me which neighbors had little kids. Our street only has a about 11 houses so they had been to each house at least once... Mind you it is 4:30 in the afternoon. I don't know how many of you have doorbell ditched before but, I'm pretty sure I never did it in the daylight!! I told them to stop since it isn't very nice and I don't think the neighbors appreciated it or really understood what they were doing. At Super Saturday Colins mom was telling us about getting doorbell ditched at 9:30 at night by some boys in the ward. She didn't mind the first time but, when they returned a second time and repeatedly rang the doorbell the fun was over. All of her kids were in bed sleeping. It was a funny story and even funnier when I realized Colin had heard his parents talking about what had happened and that's where the idea was planted. Okay so the story doesn't sound so funny now but I was in tears laughing. I have to admit it makes me wonder what other kind of shenanigans Drew will try...He takes after his dad of course!!

A great Haunting

Yesterday was our wards Super Saturday. I had a lot of fun doing projects, visiting and of course eating yummy treats & food. It was also a Y game so Dwayne took Drew and the other three went to see grandma for a few hours. It was a fun day for everyone until I had this great idea to go to a haunted house just up the road in Pine Canyon. Maycie has a friend whose family does a haunted basement every year.She brought home a flyer from her friend and said she wanted to go. I told her what haunted houses were like and on the flyer it said "family friendly haunted house". Well when you live in Tooele and you hear family friendly I think fun for all ages right? not even close! Dwayne ended up sitting in the car with Ty and Emi after about 5 minutes of standing in line. They were completely scared. May and drew still wanted to go. How scary could a haunted basement be? I say plenty. Drew was hanging off of me with his eyes closed before we even went down the stairs and it didn't get better. Maycie was fine until a ghoul jumped out and scared her so bad she was shaking and crying.She was convinced that someone was following us. We made it out alive and the two older kids have vowed to never go to another haunted house. All the kids slept through the night except drew... he ended up in our bed. 1/4 not bad odds.

Tic Tac Nose

Today started out like a usual Saturday. Breakfast, cartoons (kids)& cleaning. Dwayne had school today, he has finals in two weeks so he is very busy. I thought since it is getting close to Halloween I would take the kids for a fun family activity - minus Dwayne. We went to a pumpkin patch. It took a little longer to get there, I didn't write down the address. Maycie asked if we were lost, I said "no, I've lived in here my whole life. I know where I am I just don't know where I'm trying to get to exactly"... that made sense right??. After about 10-15 minutes of driving around So. Jordan/ W. Jordan I noticed Ty was rubbing his nose, hard! I asked him what was wrong. He said Tic Tac. Drew had brought some in the car and apparently Ty asked for one. Well I guess it looked like the right size to fit.. up the nose!! As soon as I could I pulled the car over. He had been rubbing his nose constantly for a couple of minutes (he was still breathing fine so I knew things weren't that bad) A couple of times he told me he didn't put it up there and it was on the ground. I couldn't see it. As soon as I pulled over he sneezed real hard and WaLa, the missing Tic Tac. It wasn't orange anymore and Ty seemed very relieved, so was I. I found the pumpkin patch about 2 minutes later. The kids had lots of fun picking out their own pumpkins. We walked the whole patch twice. The kids picked out one for Dwayne. After the patch we went to Sonic for half price drinks/ jr. sundaes. It was alot of fun but we really missed having dad there.

Drive you where?

School starts at 8:45. I try to get the kids off to school by 8:30, since it is such a long walk or so they tell me. Plenty of time right?? Today Maycie glanced at the clock and saw it was 8:32, she was SO worried that they were going to be late, she asked me to drive them! I started to laugh. For all those who haven't seen where we live, the school is right across the street. To be technical behind the houses that are across the street from us. Maycie proceeded to tell me that they were going to have to run all the way if I didn't drive them. I told her they would not be late even if they walked. Let me back up for a minute. 3 weeks ago it was raining, no big deal right? I just happened to go outside to get something out of the car before Dwayne left for work and he said "you should drive the kids to school so they don't have to walk in the rain." I said "your kidding it will take me longer to drive them than if they walked. I have to make a left hand turn when all the other cars are making a right turn, it is like a fish swimming up stream and besides a little rain has never hurt anyone right? Well I ended up driving them which honestly takes longer then walking when you take into account loading and buckling up ty and emily backing out and not hitting all the other kids that are WALKING to school and then trying to make the oddball left turn into the drop-off zone. So with that memory still fresh in my mind and the sun coming out, I laughed at maycie and sent them out the door.

And then there was one

All of our fish have died except one. Our goldfish count was up to 5 a few weeks ago when our neighbor went on vacation and "gave" us their lonely fish since 2 of their 3 died... how nice. So, 3 of our fish died and the neighbors that we inherited too. I though the lonely fish that was left was on his way out last week. His scales were starting to turn dark brown and he wasn't swimming around very much, it could have been because I hadn't been changing his water or feeding him very much. I was down to my last free baggie of fish food and, I was SURE that he wasn't going to live... then grandma came. She changed his water almost everyday, cleaned the small glad bowl that he was residing in my kitchen window and bought goldfish food! Then on Tuesday morning before our return she went to walmart and bought a real fish bowl. It is safe to say the is doing quite well. His skin is orange again with no dark spots and he is swimming all over his new digs. I'm not good at math but I wonder what his odds are of living for another month or so?

Yummy afternoon snacks

After Tyson got home from preschool he wanted an apple with carmel dip, Emily thought that sounded good. I opted for a more healthy snack of chili cheese fritos, which I think could actually be called my breakfast and lunch today. Anyway, they still had carmel dip left and no apples, I thought they would just eat the rest with their fingers like usual but to my surprise they decided to dip chili cheese chips! yuk. Emily REALLY liked it and Ty had a few... until the dip was gone. Emily was very insistant that SHE hold the bag of chips since I had been taking them away. Oh well all that matters is that they liked it. On the topic of strange food, I tried BBQ oysters in New Orleans... they were delicious. I don't think I could eat them any other way but who knows.

Home Sweet Home

Since getting home on Tuesday it has been a little crazy. I've come to realized that there are no "house rules" when grandma is around or so it seems. One of the first things that I noticed was the kids had been eating in the family room and the computer/game room! They know there is a STRICT rule about food staying in the kitchen... apparently grandma didn't. That being said it has taken me a couple of days to regroup and get the kids back on schedule. Although I would go on another trip in a heart beat!
Yesterday Andrew had a spacer put in his mouth to keep room for his teeth to come in. He was a trooper. No sedating this time... just moms ipod with fall out boy playing. Hey whatever works! Emily came back and watched, she was patting his hand and kept asking him if he was okay but due to the music in his ears he wasn't replying. I told her he was fine. Maycie watched Ty in the waiting room, she is a big helper. After we went to get the boys hair cut... Ty desperately needed a hair cut. We ended the evening with parent/teacher conference. Maycie and Drew are both doing very well. Straight A's for miss may (no surprise) and mostly 4 with a 3 for drew. Drew's teacher complimented on how drew is so willing to help others when he is done. in fact she said he will help the most difficult kid in class, drew called him the "meanest" either way I'm glad to hear he is working hard. Maycie's teacher said she can always count on may to do her best and get her work done. She also is very willing to help out in class. They are both good examples to me.

We survived and you could to...

We're back! The trip to New Orleans was great fun. On saturday we ate dinner at a steak and seafood place that the hotel recommended on Bourbon street, we asked for a window table so we could people watch. There plenty to see even at 6:00 p.m.! I knew I was sheltered living in Utah but this was an eye opener!! dinner was absolutley delicious fresh fish for me and steak for dwayne. Things got really exciting when we ordered dessert, we asked 3 times if the brownie had nuts in it and were assured there was NOT, so thats what we ordered, a deep southern chocolate brownie with ice cream. After 3 bites I thought I saw and tasted nuts so I told dwayne and I looked closer.... There WAS nuts and within minutes his mouth was itching at first he thought he would be okay, he drank his water and mine, but we both soon realized it was a little worse. Luckily on the walk to Bourbon street we saw a Walgreens pharmacy so off he headed to get some Zyrtec. I stayed behind and spoke with the manager who was kind enough to take off the dessert, appetizers and drinks... just enough to cover the cost of the Zyrtec! I had him take twice the recommended dosage. We heard some good Jazz music and after a few trips up and down Bourbon street we had seen ALL that we could ever want to see. I don't think I know anyone that I would recommend going to Bourbon street too (well maybe 1 or 2). But it was an experience just not one that I would do again. The rest of the trip was fun. Sunday we attended the Downtown NewOrleans branch, It was wonderful. We then drove up to Baton Rouge and saw the temple it was so pretty, and it was nice to spend time with just Dwayne. Tall trees and chirping birds made it so enjoyable to be there. Monday Dwayne had meetings so off I headed to the Flea market in the French Quarter then a alligator boat trip in the bayou. It was SO much fun. although I have to admit I was a little lonely on Monday by myself. I held a live crab and touched a baby alligator.... I am too afraid to touch the snakes so I just took pictures of the tour guide holding them. I learned alot about the bayou and the history of New Orleans. It was so cool to see the alligators. We would throw out marshmellows and the alligators would come right up the the boat and eat them. They really aren't picky eaters!! we also saw native birds and snakes. It was great fun seeing louisianna and shopping but best of all the kids and grandma survived too.

what does a toothache and Rumplestiltskin have in common?

Absolutely nothing except for they have both kept my week busy. The week started out with drew having a tooth ache in a tooth that has been "fixed" twice now. I was able to get him into the dentist on Wednesday luckily, since his face had started to swell Tuesday night! Well the trip to the dentist was a rewarding one... for him. He had two teeth pulled. I wasn't prepared for it and neither was he so to help alleviate his hesitation/fear, I agreed to get him what ever he wanted (within reason of course) I thought he would for sure day a web kinz carrier that he has been eyeing at the local gift shop ($13). To bad for my pocket book he remembered that Batman Lego came out the day before, I thought I could still get out of it until Dwayne called during the laughing gas and heard him fussing around. He said "you should get him the new Batman Lego for going through this!". How bad is it to get 2 teeth pulled anyway?. I guess I should be glad he didn't call when they were numbing his gums and teeth, drew would probably have ended up with his own car!! in all reality he was a trooper since he REALLY doesn't like the dentist, so wal-mart and the economy are glad it happened. He was also visited by the tooth fairy for the first time, luckily the "cheaper" fairy was on duty and he got $1 for each tooth.
Maycie has been practicing all week after school from 4-8:30 for the play "Rumpelstiltskin". She got a role as a villager. The Missoula children's theatre travels around and spends 1 week teaching parts and songs then they do 2 performances on Saturday. It is a bit crazy but, she loves drama.. go figure. She has been working so hard, I'm sad that we won't be here to see it. Grandma and the kids will be going so hopefully the two little ones are good for her.... I'll keep my fingers crossed.
our trip to Louisiana is here and I am still not ready to go, instead I'm blogging and looking at face book! (in between laundry of course.) I am looking forward to the time with Dwayne and the kids are looking forward to time without mom and dad. It sounds like a recipe for a mess, oh well I will have plenty of time to clean it up next week.
Dwayne had an accounting mid-term today. I'm glad it was him and not me, I am horrible with numbers!! I think I will keep praying for him to get through school, maybe you should too.

What a week!

It always seems to be a little crazy when Dwayne is traveling for work. We've made it through. I think the kids get sick of just mom. Dwayne was in Ohio/Indiana this week and he was able to do a little site seeing in between meetings. They drove up to Notre Dame and saw the campus and of course the football stadium. He also saw a Cincinnati Reds baseball game. It sounded like a good business trip topped off with good food and some fun. Dwayne will be in New Orleans in a week for business and I am tagging along, why not it sounds like fun!. The kids are excited to because grandma Heber is coming to babysit. It should be lots of fun for everyone.... except maybe grandma!?
Maycie is running for student body president. She is very excited. Andrew is still bummed that it isn't baseball season. We've been talking to him about football for next year but he doesn't want to do it and Dwayne really wants him to (I wonder who will win?). Tyson is loving preschool and Emily is liking the quite time... she usually falls asleep when he is gone.

This morning I moved some pictures that we still haven't hung up and the Little kids saw pictures of may and drew at Sea World. I pulled out some pictures of that trip and the trip to Disneyland from 2001 for them to look at. Emi kept on telling me she was maycie in the pictures and ty kept on asking where he was. Maybe it's time for a family trip to Disneyland or Sea World.

Blues the favorite color

Well it has been a little over a week since we adopted golfish and all were doing well until thursday when one died. Each one of the kids was sure it wasn't theirs that had passed to the pond in the sky but,It has been a steady stream of flushing ever since so it really doesn't matter who's died first. Although I do know that emily's was the last one since hers was the only one that was a different color than the rests. I thought the kids might take it hard after hearing about our neigbors experience with dying goldfish went, but actually it hasn't affected them at all. I now have my big mixing bowl back (after a few cycles in the dishwasher) and I'm pretty sure we won't be getting any more fish.

Another week of college ball comes to an end with a GREAT BYU win over UCLA.
For all those who didn't catch the score 59-0!! It was a great game to be at. We took Maycie and Tyson to the game, they had lots of fun. Maycie was able to spend time with her best friend from SLC and her sister. The ride from Salt Lake to Provo was interesting to say the least... when you have 3 pre-teen girls in the back of a van you never know what kind of chant they'll come up with!. Tyson was his usual self at the game... enjoyed it and the slushy. We all had a great time at the game. GO COUGS!!

Can you say FUN?

It took me a week to finish my last post. Emily was sick last week but is feeling better now. Since then we've added four to our family.... fish that is. On Saturday our stake did a Family Fun day in preparation for stake conference. It was alot of fun. They had bounce houses, volleyball, face painting and of course goldfish ponds. The kids had fun trying to catch them with their hands but gave up and resorted to using sandwhich bags... it worked!!. So now we have four fish there names respectively are Elle (legally blonde), Goldie, Ty (bet you can't get who this one belongs too!) and Fishy. The kids are having alot of fun with them, I am not so amused. I had to clean there bowl today and it really stunk after two days. YUK! Who knows how long they will last, for now they are thriving.

Andrew and Tyson went fishing with Uncle de and Aunt Nancy on saturday morning. They were so excited. Drew caught and reeled in his own fish. Tyson also reeled in a fish.

3rd down and 1 to go!

College football is off to a good start in the Culley home with a BYU win last saturday! (and honorable mention will go to the Utes.) We started the season off with taking the boys to the opening game. Tyson loved it. He watched the whole game, which makes Dwayne happy to know he has a sports buddy since drew usually wants to know what treats we are going to have for him to attempt to watch sporpts with us. Tyson liked the treats, he figures out that popcorn and cheese sauce from nachos tastes good together (yuk). Andrew liked the game to but he really liked his slushy, popcorn some of my nachos and ice cream then topped it off with his own ice cream in the fourth quarter. Dwayne and I ended up finishing his ice cream.... go figure! It was a Fun game and we are looking forward to the rest of the season. Go COUGS!!

Our 3rd, Tyson is off to preschool leaving emily behind. (reason for the title... really!) Yesterday was the big day, He was so excited to go that he was ready by 8:30, school starts at 12:30. Ty took his favorite book " Everyone's Hero" or as he calls it "yankee" to share along with a picture of the BYU football team, his poster All About Me that we wrote his favorite things on and he spent DAYS coloring. He would tell me it was his homework... poor thing doesn't have a clue. None the less he had lots of fun doing it and it looked really good. Oh and did I mention that he wore his favorite shirt? a BYU basketball jersey, he looked so cute.

I will post pictures as soon as I figure it out.

The Culleys go high tech!

WOW! We've made it to the cyber world of blogging. I am a little behind in the times but, we are looking forward to sharing with all our family and friends the latest news about what is happening with us on the other side of the Oquirrhs! For all of those not in our loop (until now) we moved to Tooele (back in March). We LOVE it out here! Besides the quiet, we have a beautiful unobstructed view of the Great Salt Lake, which might not sound like much but, the sun sets are unimaginable.

Maycie (10) and Andrew (7) started back to school last Thursday, You know you live in nowhere when your kids are actually looking forward to going back to school, as if being home with mom EVERY day is not fun enough. Girls are already beginning to flock to Andrew again, which his dad loves teasing him about. The second day of school a girl gave him her number and asked him to call her and of course he did that night. I am struggling with this. He is MY little boy.

We did enjoy a few outing this summer but all-in-all it doesn't stack up to seeing all of your friends in one day. Tyson (4) is so excited to start preschool on Tuesday although Emily (2) will be very sad when she realizes she isn't going with him. I'm sure after a week or so she will enjoy the time with just mom.

Dwayne also started back to school. He was accepted to the U of U Executive MBA program, This will make more for him to do but, we also see how things have been prepared for him to do this. And for all those who are wondering... we still bleed BYU blue!. Maycie expressed concerns when she found out about dad attending the "U". She asked me "Mom, does this mean we have to become Ute fans?" which I of course assured her that would not happen but you never know what will happen after investing into that institution. We look forward to seeing all of you at graduation on May 7, 2010! Given that is a few months away.... 21 to be exact (not that I am counting or anything) we hope you will all enjoy keeping in touch with us through our family blog.

As for me I am enjoying being "just" a mom, every day is something new, a new load of laundry, new lunches to make, new messes to clean up and most importantly new fresh smiles on my kids who are waking up to a family that loves them. I wouldn't change it for the world!