Mansius Family

2012-01-11T18:27:00.002-08:00

Joshie Starts Cub Scouts

He has been waiting for this day for a long time. James has been telling him all about the fun stuff that he will do in Scouts and he just was so ready to start! Here he is on his first day. They learned about snow flakes and then worked on Achievement 1 Feats of Skill. Now every Wednesday he comes home asking when he gets to go back.

2011-11-24T14:50:00.000-08:00

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!

2011-08-18T18:50:00.000-07:00

Washington Trip

Since Joshie was 1 we hadn't had the chance to get up to Washington to visit with James' Grandma and Grandpa. We found a time that we could go up with Mark (James' Dad) and jumped in the car and went. We were only there for a couple of days but those days were filled with:

Snuggling with Grandpa

Playing Soccer

Generation Pictures

This Little Piggy and Dancing with Great Grandma

Playing with Cousins and an Aunt

This is my favorite picture! It's like a Mini Prom picture! We didn't even pose them. We asked them to hug each other and then look at the camera. This is what we got. Cute, Cute, Cute!!!

2011-08-14T11:39:00.000-07:00

Visit from Auntie Micki

One of my closest friends, Micki, came to visit us in April. She has been one of my closest friends for a little over 10 years. We were roommates our first year in college and found out that we were also twins. Okay not actual twins but we were born on the same day, same year, and about the same hour. Just in different states to different parents. That first year we were joined at the hip and did almost everything together. We even had the same major. Because we have been so close and like sisters my kids started calling her Aunti Micki and were so glad when she stopped by for a visit. She wasn't able to stay long but while she was here we went to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints History Museum and then walked around Temple Square and one of the Visitor's Center. They had a new kids area on the top floor of the Museum that the kids just loved. We can't wait to see you again Micki! Only what? 2 months away?

(April 30)

The girls said they wanted to get married in the temple in a dress that looks like this one. I agree with them it is beautiful!

Best Friends!

2011-08-05T20:14:00.000-07:00

MISSING GINGERBREAD GIRL

Have you seen me?

If you have spotted this Gingerbread Girl please send a postcard representing your location to Mrs. Loveland's Kindergarten class with details on where you saw her. She has blonde hair and blue eyes and was last seen wearing a pink tutu with a button belt.

Please leave your email address and I will send you the address to send the postcard.

2011-08-03T19:01:00.000-07:00

First Day of School

Yes I know this post is only about 2 months late. Joshie actually started July 26 and Eliza started 1 1/2 weeks later. (The kindergarten does testing that week so that is why she started later)

Joshie is now in Second grade in Mrs Asay's class. Their are 5 boys and 19 girls! So I would say they are definitly outnumbered! Most of the kids were in his class last year too.

After waiting and waiting (which she thought would never end) Eliza finally got to start Kindergarten. Her teacher is Mrs. Loveland! Eliza has been begging to read forever and had read most of the Level A books that Joshie's 1st grade teacher, Miss McClellan, owned. She did have a rough start to the day. She was so excited that I was not prepared for tears. The problem was that she set her backpack down by the wall and when they all lined up she couldn't get to it. She was so worried and didn't know what to do so she broke down. She was fine once she got into class though!

Eliza & Jimmy. Jimmy is not only in Eliza's class but lives right next door.

Kaitlyn and Eliza! Unfortunately, they are not in the same class but are really good friends!

2011-07-09T13:27:00.000-07:00

Trip to California

No trip to California would be complete without going to the BEACH!

We even spent some time at the pool with lots of family.

BEST FRIENDS!!!

My WONDERFUL Niece has her Mother's BEAUTIFUL Smile!!!

The new favorite trick! Flipping off Grandpa's shoulders!

My cousin, Lindsey, and her ADORABLE Daughter, Sarah! Aren't they so CUTE!

A Day at Great Grandma Nonnies and Papa's House

Grandma Nonnie and the kids inspecting a spider!

Grandma & Grandpa Fitzgerald with their newest Grandbaby Penelope!!

Her Nickname is SILLY LILLY!!! Can you see why?

All the Kids!

Meeting their Newest Cousin

Penelope looks worried!!!

Lots More FUN FUN FUN!!!

Forget playing with the toys! Let's just play in the TOY BOX!

She spent a lot of time trying to ride this tiny bike!

(July 9-July 17)

2011-06-29T21:14:00.000-07:00

Extreme Makeover

Home Edition

Extreme Makeover Home Edition came to South Jordan so thanks to a friend who watch the kids all night James and I got to help out. We worked on a night shift from 2 am to 8 am. Not much to do though. We heard a rumor that they were going to explode some things for the show in the morning so we stuck around. We ended up getting to help out even more and had had a blast. At the end of the week we took the kids to see the big reveal. We meet up with some friends of ours the Atwoods. The kids got bored sitting around waiting but finally got to help move the bus. The house looks great and I hope the family enjoys living in their new home!!!

Move That Bus

(June 29)

2011-06-13T16:09:00.000-07:00

EASTER

We spend Easter with the Mansius family Saturday morning and then headed over to the Aquarium and Thanksgiving Point.
(April 23)

Aquarium

Thanksgiving Point

2011-06-13T14:42:00.000-07:00

Aubrey's 4th Birthday

My cute little Aubrey turned 4. I can't believe it! She was so excited to find out that Grandma and Grandpa were going to be at her house for her birthday. Plus Auntie Suzie was there! It was a fun little family party!

Monkey Cake! Aubrey thought it was funny.

I always love to see her hug her presents like this and to see her excitement.

James & I got her the move Tangled because Rapunzel reminds us of Aubrey with those HUGE eyes!

Aubrey is now 27 lbs and is wearing size 2T and 3T. She is growing but just on her own little curve. That does not stop her she loves dress up, getting her fingernails painted, and BUGS!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUBREY!!

(April 23)

2011-06-13T14:30:00.000-07:00

NEAL'S GRADUATION

Mom and Dad Mansius came out for Neal's Graduation from BYU over Easter weekend. So while they were here we not only celebrated his graduation but Easter and Aubrey's birthday as well. We almost had the whole Mansius gang together. We were only missing Lee. We crammed in a ton of activites during those 3 days but it was a lot of fun.

Neal and Rachael are now off to Law School in New Hampshire. Congratulations and Good Luck Neal!

Graduation Dinner.

The Big Moment!

The Graduate and the Proud Parents

One of the Best Couples I know!!

Of course no trip here is complete without a trip to Temple Square
(April 21)

2011-06-09T20:23:00.000-07:00

SWIMMING LESSONS

Over the summer the kids got to take swimming lessons. They went 2 times a week for a month. We decided to put Aubrey in Level 1 and Joshie and Eliza in Level 2. They loved it!!!

Aubrey was not sure about getting in the water with someone other than Mommy but the head life guard directed me to a corner where Aubrey couldn't see me and within a few minutes she was fine. From then on she had no problems getting in the water but still didn't like to put any part of her head in the water or lay back to float with someone holding her. They still recommend she stay at Level 1 next time around.

Eliza and Joshie both did SUPER well!!! They were like fish! Eliza could almost pass everything off in her level except being able to go from point a to point b without having to stop and put her feet at the bottom of the pool. They also recommended she stay in Level 2. Joshie probably needed to start in Level 3 but he still had fun and learned a ton anyway. It was not long before he was swimming quite a ways UNDERWATER!! That was a skill that they said they learned in Level 3. Joshie will be moving to Level 3 next time around.

Even Lilly got her own swimming lesson. We never signed her up but after a few lesson I noticed that a few other Mothers with kids in lessons were bringing younger children to play in the kiddi pool. So I asked if it was okay to bring Lilly during swim lessons and they had no problem with it. Turns out that she LOVES water and has NO FEAR of it either. Part of the kiddo pool was only a few inches deep and she loved just laying down on her back. They she saw a few other kids jumping off that section into the 1 1/2 foot section and the next thing I knew she decided to try it. She was tall enough to stand up but wasn't able to figure that out. I immediately grabbed her and she started laughing and wanted to try it again. She did it several times and was never mad that she would go underwater. SILLY LILLY!!! I better keep an eye on her when we are near water!!!

(June 2011)

2011-05-30T10:35:00.000-07:00

Memorial Day

Uncle Marlin invited us over to his house for a BBQ this year for Memorial Day. He was excited because he wanted to show us his new smoker and he was planning on making chicken and pork. HMMMM!!! Before we headed over to his house we stopped by the Salt Lake City Cemetery to visit some of James' Ancestors. There we visited Annie Lenore Simpson and David Smith Anderson (James' Great Grandparents) and Annie Sophie Smith and David Patterson Anderson (James' Great Great Grandparents).

Then we headed over to Marlin's where the kids helps pick some flowers with Auntie Joan to make bouquets for more of our ancestors. Keith, Neal, and Rachael also joined us. Joshie got James and Keith going in a mini soccer game. Neal and Rachael were moving the next day to New Hampshire so we were glad we got to see them one last time before they moved. We are going to miss them being so close.

Aubrey Fern is standing in front of her Grandma Fern's Childhood playhouse build by her Father.

Once we had eaten dinner and finished making our bouquets we headed over to two more cemeteries to visit a few more ancestors. I'm not sure how everyone fits into our family but here we visited Chloe Oviatt and Joseph Hyrum Jensen, Frank Mel Roscoe Jr, Myrtle B and Ira Oviatt (James' Great Grandparents), and Carmen Hubbard Oviatt Rosco Johnson.

Our last stop of the day was to visit Aunt Margie (Marlin's wife). She has a perfect view! From her grave site she can see 3 temples. Draper, Jordan River, and Oquirr Mountain. Out of all the people we saw today she was the only one I knew when she was living. She was a very kind person but not afraid to share her opinion with her. I'm sad that she was never able to meet my kids. We tried several times to get together with her but they always managed to fall through. We miss her but know she is in a happy place!

(May 30, 2011)

2011-05-22T20:57:00.000-07:00

Here are the videos from Eliza's Recital. Sorry my camera was acting really funny and I could not zoom out and the lighting was weird. She had a lot of fun! Thanks Grandma Vicky for being her instructor!

2011-05-21T15:21:00.000-07:00

Eliza's First Ballet Recital

She has been going to Kinder Ballet at the local Rec Center for a few months now and they had their first recital today. She was SUPER EXCITED!!!

Many of the dancers that attend the Rec Center Classes.

There are three age groups.

The girls were showing off their best ballet poses.

Eliza just before her groups performance.

There are about 12 in Eliza's age group so they were split up

into smaller groups so us parents could see our kido!

Dance Buddies, Eliza & Kate and Eliza with her Instructor Grandma Vicki

So Blogger keeps rejecting my videos and won't upload them. I will post them on Facebook and email them to those who don't have facebook

May 21, 2011

2011-05-08T09:45:00.000-07:00

Visit from

Great Grandma and

Great Grandpa Nelson

I was so excited when I got a call from my Grandpa asking if they could stay with us for my Grandma's Mission Reunion here in the area. They got here on Thursday night and the reunion was Friday night plus they were planning on staying longer to watch general conference with us. That Friday morning Joshie had his Grandparents Day at school and was really upset that he was not going to have any Grandparents to bring. When he found out that he got to bring his Great Grandparents he was Thrilled!

Joshie has also been asking to learn to play the piano since before Christmas. Thanks to a person who I am not allowed to say he got a piano for Christmas. THANKS! I had also been talking with Grandpa Nelson about which books to buy since he knows more about music than anyone I know. He used to own a music store and has given lesson in many different instruments for as long as I can remember. He ended up bringing Joshie a few new piano books and even gave Joshie his first piano lesson. Joshie could not get enough. Grandpa kept on saying, "Only one more song Joshie." And then they just kept going. I don't know who was more excited Joshie or Grandpa.

We also celebrated my Grandfather's birthday. It was on the Sunday that he was here. We made a nice dinner, baked him a Chocolate Cake, and sang Happy Birthday to him. I doesn't even look his age. He likes to spend his time working on Family History and has over 28,000 names on his PAF file. He also works on extractions for Family Search Indexing. While he was here he showed me how to do a few family history things and got me started helping him out looking for new sources.

We had a wonderful visit with my Grandparents
and I'm already for them to come back!
Okay Grandma and Grandpa Dansby!
YOUR TURN!!
(April 1 - April 3)

2011-04-07T11:17:00.000-07:00

James Takes a Trip to Washington

James has been trying to figure out a time to visit his Grandparents in the Kenewick area for some time. When he found out his Dad was flying out he decided to go with him. They had fun catching up, hearing old stories from Grandma and Grandpa Mansius, and helping them with the yard work. His Grandparents are feeling much better and their car accident is being taken car of.

We plan on visiting them in a couple of months but James said it was nice to have a visit with them without having to worry about his 4 kids getting into something. The last time we had seen his Grandparents was when Joshie was 1 year old, 6 years ago, and the girls have never meet their Great Grandparents so they are excited for our trip.

2011-03-17T20:30:00.000-07:00

Exciting Happenings

for Joshie & Eliza:

Joshie's School Project

They were asked to create a Human Habitat in a Pizza Box. After looking through pictures of different types of homes he choose the Syrian Beehive House.

Eliza Starts Ballet
She has wanted to start ballet for at least a year now and we had always told her she could start when she started kindergarten. Since she was unable to start K this year because of the move we fingured it was time to let her start. She is so excited and is always coming home and teaching everyone (including James) how to make "Happy Toes" (Pointy Toes)

2011-03-03T20:18:00.000-08:00

Game of the Week!

Find the Shortest Kid in the Back Row!

Oh Wait that's Joshie.

Joshie was in the News!!!

Actually Joshie's school was Cool School of the Week for Fox 13 News in our area and the first graders got to sing one of their songs. He is hard to spot because he is way in the back row close to the end. He was so excited to be in the news though. You can't see much of him but he is wearing a black shirt.

2011-02-14T10:20:00.000-08:00

One of My Current Projects

Lilly's Room

I got a cute Amber Glass lamp from my Aunt Joan last summer and thought it would be cute in Lilly's room but when I went to hang it up it looked out of place. I thought because of the color so I sent a picture to the GREATEST INTERIOR DESIGNER (One of two), MY GRANDMA DANSBY, to see what she thought. She suggested that I run ribbon through the chain to add other colors so that it would blend in with the rest of the room. I think it came out really cute. I even attempted to make curtains and added dragonflies to the curtains. It's a little squished in her room because she shares it with my desk but for now I'm trying to make it all work as best I can. It's hard to capture how cute it actually looks with a picture but here's my best attempt.

2011-01-02T19:37:00.000-08:00

OUR NEWEST SUNBEAM!

Aubrey gets to go to Primary this year and she was so excited because that meant going to Sharing Time with Joshie and Eliza. Now she spends most of the week singing primary songs. Her favorite is Scripture Power!
(Click here to listen)

2010-12-26T20:09:00.000-08:00

Christmas with the

Mansius Family At

Disneyland and Knotts Berry Farm

For Christmas this year we drove down to California not to meet up with the Fitzgerald side of the family but to spend time with the Mansius'. (Though I refused to drive all the way and not see my parents but I'll save that part of the trip for another blog. When I get more pictures.) We drove down bringing Keith with us and meet up with Mom and Dad Mansius and Susan. We spent 2 days at Disneyland, including Christmas Day, 1 day at California Adventures, and 1 day at Knotts Berry Farm. We had a blast and no one was ready to come home but we were so exhausted by the end of the week.

In the process Lilly decided to get sick and the first day just clung to her Grandpa Mansius. I think she spend most of the time in his arms. If I am in the room she refuses to be held by most people but Grandpa Mansius was the exception. When she started to feel better we discovered that her favorite ride was the Merry Go Round. I stood outside and every time she would go by she would wave at me.

While we were there we also got to see some really interesting people and experiences. Mom, Keith, Susan, and I got to experience snow in Southern California after watching the fireworks. (Okay so it was not real snow!) Some of us got to meet Sully from Monster's Ink. Because of miss communication problems we happened to be sitting as he walked by and jumped up to get a picture with him. Talk about serendipity! (One of Aunt' Joan's favorite words) And all of us got to meet and take a picture with Pluto!

My new favorite part of going to amusement parks is watching the excitement of my kids. Joshie could ride every single ride at Disneyland including Indiana Jones and Eliza could almost ride all of them. Joshie could not decide which was his favorite ride between Indiana Jones and the Tower of Terror. Neither one of them surprise me because they were both the biggest and fastest rides that he could go on and he was so excited to ride the big rides. He was really mad when he was not tall enough to ride the rides at Knotts Berry Farm. Eliza's favorite was Space Mountain! She even got to go on the Tower of Terror. She was a funny kid. After most of the rides she always looked like she was going to cry and said she would never get on again. After a few minutes she was ready to go again and then after the second time would be just bouncing for joy. We decided that she just like knowing what to expect. It was not the ride that scared her it was just not knowing what was going to happen. My favorite ride continues to be the Tea Cup rides mostly because it brings back fun memories of riding them with my Dad and trying to go as fast as we could. Then we would try and go as fast as we could the opposite direction. This time around it was fun watching James, Dad Mansius, and Joshie trying to go as fast as they could. If only I could have gotten a picture of their faces. They were so focused!

That's right! That would be Joshie and Eliza on the Tower of Terror. I spend the whole time making sure that Eliza was okay but she loved it. In this picture from our family is Joshie, Mark, Eliza, Nichole (Me), Lois, and Keith's arm.

What an adventure we had! It's not easy trying to take 4 kids to amusement parks and trading off so everyone who could ride all the rides but definitely worth it to see their excitement. I love riding all the rides but if I had to give it all up just to see my kids faces as they rode them I would!

This last picture was my favorite! As we were waiting for the train at Knotts Berry Farm to leave one of the cowboys was walking by and scaring people on the train. He stopped to talk to Joshie and Joshie just started to giggle and giggle and would not stop. When I pulled out my camera to take a picture this guy pulled out his gun super fast and aimed it at Joshie. Joshie just continued to giggle.

After the train started going the same cowboys decided to rob the train. When they got to Joshie they said, "Oh! It's the Giggler!" As they walked on by deminding money Joshie stood up and yelled at them, "My Mom is not going to give you any of her money!" They turned around so fast and threatened to throw him out of the window. Luckily they didn't throw him out.

When we got to the station and off the train we ran into the train robbers once again. Joshie then went on to tell them how stealing was wrong and that they should get a real job to make money. That was the right way! I was so proud of him not only for recognizing when something was wrong because he is not shy like his Mommy. That would have been unthinkable for little me and I'm shocked that at least one of my kids is not shy in the least bit.

I hope everyone had as much excitement and fun for their Christmas. It was not your typically Christmas that's for sure but it was a blast spending time with family and watching excited children!!

(Dec 22 -25)

2010-11-25T12:07:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was really simple this year. We didn't have a lot of family over because there were not too many close enough. Neal and Rachael were able to come up from Provo and since Keith lives in our basement it was a long walk for him. James and his brothers can get really goofy when they get together and they love to talk about sports. So we definitely were not lacking on the Thanksgiving football talk this year. I do miss having a lot of family around and I especially miss having my niece and nephew nearby. The kids asked several times when their cousins were coming. They are so used to having holidays with cousins. Well I was all for attempting to cook a turkey on my own this year but everyone coming voted on a ham so we had a basic Thanksgiving meal. Ham, Potatoes, Veggies and Pie.

The day after Thanksgiving is when our family traditionally decorates the tree. We had to wait until the next Sunday when James had a day off and we surprised the kids by putting up the tree with lights without them knowing. Lilly though the whole things was just great and would just sit there and point at it forever.

Silly Girl!!

2010-11-20T18:43:00.000-08:00

FAMILY PHOTOS

Taken & Edited by

Steele The Moment Photography

2010-11-15T16:35:00.000-08:00

ELIZA IS 5!!

It seems like it was only yesterday that I was wondering if I was actually in labor 2 weeks early with my husband in Ohio and my parents on a cruise. Thankful that my Aunt Kristi happened to be in town that day. Eliza is now a smart and beautiful girl ready to start school and ballet.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELIZA!!

(This post is just a little late but we were out of town on her birthday)

Before age 1

Age 1

Age 2

Age 3

Age 4

2010-11-06T15:14:00.000-07:00

Halloween 20101

We kicked started Halloween off this year with the City Halloween Activity. This kids and I braved what we thought would be a busy theater where it was held to paint some pumpkins, meet the Chick-fil-a Cow, watch a Costume contest and then go trick or treating at the businesses in the shopping area. I had not gotten costumes finished so I told the kids to pick something out of our costume box if they wanted to. Eliza choose the tiger costume, Joshie decided to stay in his soccer uniform, and for some reason Aubrey didn't even want to dress up but wanted to wear this extra large green hat. (But she was definitely cute in it) They had a lot of fun and were super excited to find out that that day was not Halloween and that there would be more fun to come.

On the Friday before Halloween we Joshie's school had a costume parade so we all dressed up in our costumes to cheer his class on. We also stayed for the class party and helped out with the pumpkin bowling. Lesson learned: Pumpkins are fun to bowl with but eventually break and make a mess!!! Of course the girls got to tag along and they fit right into the class. They love being involved in class activities and one of their best friends, Sydney, is in Joshie's class so they get excited to see her everytime as well.

Eventually came Halloween night (or in are case the Utah Halloween where if Halloween lands on a Sunday everyone celebrates the day before. Awesome right!!!) We attended the bi-ward Trunk or Treat. It was full to capacity but we had fun. Yummy chilly, a story from Heidi the Witch and of course the trunk or treating. Which turned into classroom trick or treating because it had started to rain. After that we decided to brave the rain (okay at this point it had stopped raining) and go trick or treating down one block or so in our ward boundaries. It was fun getting to know where everyone in the ward lived and since 99% of the street was Mormon we knew most everyone. Yes it is so weird to be living in Utah!!!

Our costumes:

This is our Bug Collection. We own one spider, one ladybug, one dragonfly, and one bumble bee!! James and I attempted to look like exploring bug collectors!! Not sure if we pulled it off or not though! Did I tell you that I love family themes!! The kids helped pick out this idea. I think I might have infected them with the family costume theme bug!! (No pun intended but HAHAHA!!!)

2010-11-02T08:59:00.000-07:00

Lilly (1) & Eliza (5)

Birthday Party

Because their birthdays were pretty close together we decided to combine birthday parties. Eliza helped me pick the theme and she wanted something to do with Apples. Not quite what I was expecting but it was a fun theme. We bought tons of apples and made caramel apples with lots of different toppings, had an apple eating contest and I even served a cake that looked like a caramel apple. We didn't have a lot of people come but it was just the right amount of people to fit in our tiny house so it worked out great and we had a lot of fun. I can't believe that my Baby is now 1!!

THE FUN AND GAMES
(Kevin and Carrie were the winners of this game and they won while holding a baby. We also learned that this is a team game and not for those with little months. Good try Keith, who tried to play this game solo and Good try Eliza and Addie, who just could not get a bite on that stubborn apple)

THE BIRTHDAY GIRLS


Trisha, Keith's Girlfriend's Birthday was the same day as the party!!

THE CAKE

Caramel Apple Shaped Cake! Yum!!

2010-10-10T20:59:00.000-07:00

MY BABY TURNED 1!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LILLY

One the Day You Were Born. This is the First of many Funny Looks you will give me! (October)

Month 1 Photo taken by Wonderful Friend Heidi (November)

Month 2: Your First Christmas! (December)

Month 3: You Loved Holding onto Your Toes! (January)

Month 4: At one point in time you were my Chuncky Monkey but could not get a photo that showed all your cute Chubbiness. (Februrary)

Month 5: Even though you are part Irish you still dressed in Green! (March)

Month 6: You were very good at Baby Push Ups! (April)

Month 7: Your First Friend! (May)

Month 8: You kept wondering when I was going to give you another Popsicle but it was Grandma that gave them to you not me. (June)

Month 9: You are a Water Bug! (July)

Month 10: Mommy made this Hat for a Friend but you sure made a Cute Model! (August)

Month 11: This is your Favorite thing to get into and it won't take long before you have everything scattered all over the floor. (September)

1 YEAR AND 3 TEETH: This is what happens when you try to take away her apple. When I gave her this apple to teeth on I had no idea she would be able to bite into it. 2 hours later she ate the whole thing. She would not let me take it away from her.

2010-10-09T18:25:00.000-07:00

Spontaneous Trip to

Yellowstone

James decided one weekend that our family needed a vacation so the day before we decided to try and head to Yellowstone. It was a lot of fun but many of our plans were not thought through and we thought things were closer than they actually were. All in all it was a lot of fun. We headed up Sunday morning and spend half the day there stayed in a hotel and then spend most of Monday. Which turns out we left way to late and ended up getting home about 1 or so in the morning. James and I had both been there before and yes it is worth seeing more than once but the fun part was watching the wonder in my kids eyes. The moment that Old Faithful went off and my kids eyes became as big as saucers (Okay Aubrey's are already that big) and their bottom lips touched the ground was one of the coolest moments as a parents. If only I could have caught the amazement in a photo. I got several pictures of their faces but I just didn't portray their amazement enough. It was a fun trip and the kids are already to go on another outing.

2010-09-19T15:54:00.000-07:00

FOR GRANDMA DANSBY

Here is the lamp I was telling you about. I'm not a big fan of the lamp as is but think it would be really cute in a different color. The other picture is where it is hanging temporarily. Not sure I like it here yet! That wall sticking out drives me crazy. I don't know what to do with it.

Lilly's new curtains that I made out of other curtains. They were originally hanging long ways.

These are the clothes pin dragonflies that I am making to decorate her curtains and other places in her room. The colors that I am using in her room are green and purple.

MORE PICTURES

2010-09-13T16:50:00.000-07:00

Joshie Start of 1st Grade
and Soccer

Can you see how super excited he is? He actually started school back in July but every time I sat down to write a blog something else would come up. He is on the year round schedule this year which is why he started so early. The weirdest part was he had three weeks in school and then had his first break. I actually like the year round better. It works really well because after 2 weeks of being out Joshie is ready to go back to school and asks everyday if he has school that day. I don't know how he would every get through 3 months of no school. His next break is not until Thanksgiving so the weird 3 on and then 3 off is not for the whole year. He also gets to ride the bus this year to and from school. That was one of his favorite things about first grade. Along with eating lunch at school and playing on the big kid playground not once but three times. His new teacher is Mrs. McClellen and she has the excitement and energy of a new teacher. Which is great! Joshie had a little trouble adjusting to a new teacher the first week but has been doing great since.

Along comes with the start of school also means the start of soccer. It's nice to be able to give him a chance to use all that energy that he gathers from who knows where. He has now had 2 games his team has won both of them. He even got an assist where he kicked the ball across the field through a group of the other team to a team member near the goal who scored! Way to go TEAM WORK!!

July 27 & Aug 28

2010-07-30T20:27:00.000-07:00

Projects I Have Worked
on this Past Year or so!

I have done a lot of fun craft projects this last year and just have not gotten around to posting about them. I just wanted to get them all collected in one place.

I'm storing Aunt Joan's sewing maching for her and while my Mom was here she re-taught me how to sew. These were the dresses that she helped me make. Next I want to make matching hair bows with the leftover material.

More bows for Sara's 1st Birthday.

Crochet Hairbow for Sara Jean. I also made red ones for Eliza, Aubrey, and Lilly to match their Christmas dresses they got from Grandma Fitzgerald

Blanket I crocheted for a friends baby but I can't remember for who. I love making blankets for babies. I have made several more but somehow managed not to get pictures.

When I was prego with Aubrey I made one similar to this one that was green and purple. I thought I would to make another one for an auction to help raise money for Joshie's preschool. I was shocked to find that this went for $20.

I love making themed Halloween costumes for our family. This year all three girls were flowers and Joshie was a weed.

Photo Blocks that the kids and I made for James for Fathers Day so he could have a photo of us at work.

Baby bunting I crocheted for Baby Sara Bunting my Cousins little girl.

Used my old Christmas cards to make new Christmas decorations

Picked up a book from the library on Ribbon Work to get some ideas for cute hair bows. The ribbon bow in the back of the flower is something that I wanted to try from that book. Then I thought about adding the purple flower.

I have make a few more things but somehow I didn't get any pictures of them. I love to be crafty and make cute things. Especially if they are gifts for other people. I don't get as much time these days to do crafty things but I try to squeeze it in when I can

2010-07-03T13:20:00.000-07:00

4^th of July

(Or should I say 3^rd of July)

Here in Utah when 4^th of July falls on a Sunday they just celebrate it the day before. So all of our activities were on Saturday. It was a little weird celebrating the day before but it was sort of nice. When we first moved to Utah we figured that we would be spending a lot of holidays on our own. We actually had the opposite. We have so many invitations from family and friends that we just were not able to spend time with everyone. I better not get used to that though.

Riverton City had a carnival that weekend so we went with Joan and Russell to see what fun we could find. Our first game of the day was a sponge toss. The kids only got to play once and they had no idea what to do. They were supposed to get the sponge wet, toss it over to the other person and try to fill up the bucket as much as they could. Joshie would get his sponge wet and then wring it out before he tossed it to Eliza. Then Eliza would toss it back forgetting to wring the water into her bucket. It was pretty funny but they were giggling the whole time.

Our next game of the day was a hay stack dive. I had never heard of it but it is very similar to an egg hunt but they have to find the prizes in a pile of hay. Let’s just say that I don’t have very aggressive kids. (I know! Most of you that know Joshie are probably surprised) The kids collected a total of 9 prizes all together. Some of those other kids were coming away with bag full so it was not because of a lack of prizes. Again they had a ton of fun and that is what counts. They were upset about the lack of toys and candy until we headed over to the carnival rides. Russell got tickets to let them ride a car ride and then let Eliza and Joshie pick out a ride each. Joshie picked the large potato sack slide and Eliza wanted to ride the merry go round. Lots of fun!!

Later that night some of our Bakersfield friends, the Haneys, who happened to be in town stopped by to light off fireworks. There was no room at our house but we were able to find an empty cul-de-sac with no houses just across the street. The boys lighted the fireworks in the center of the cul-de-sac while the rest of us chatted and watched. Though I think Andrew was having more fun discovering all the cool things he could do with his camera. I can’t wait to see how those pictures turned out. From where we were at we could also see Riverton City’s Fireworks and a few others nearby. The kids got to try sparklers for the first time and thought they were a lot of fun. Despite the many warnings though both Joshie and Eliza managed to burn their fingers by touching the stick after it had burned out. Though they are fine now and had no fear of them a few minutes later. We also got to snack on some home grown pineapple that Joan and Russell grew at their home in Hawaii. YUMMY!!!

All in all it was a wonderful way to celebrate our freedom. With lots of friends and family!! (July 3)

2010-06-07T20:57:00.000-07:00

Hogle Zoo Field Trip

For Joshie's first field trip he got to go to the Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake. Since Mom and Dad were in town we thought that we would all tag along. We got to help keep an eye on Joshie's group. (Though I think there were more tag along kids than there were actual students) We were there about half the day and didn't quite see every thing but the kids were exhausted after having so much fun. Though I'm not so sure why the girls were so tired they rode on the rolling ice chest most of the time. Aubrey even squeezed her way on for a ride. The kids had a blast! Eliza liked the monkeys so much that she even tried to be one. Can't wait to go back!

(June 7)

2010-06-05T11:33:00.000-07:00

Mt Timpanogas Caves

While we are living in Utah we thought we would try and see as many things as we could. One of the sights on the top of our list was the Timpanogas caves. In order to see these caves though you have to hike up a 1 1/2 mile trail. Mom Fitzgerald, James, and I decided to take Joshie, Eliza, and Lilly with us. We figured Aubrey was to little to hike up and too big to carry so she got to have a date with Grandpa Fitzgerald. It was a tough hike but also a very beautiful hike. It didn't help that I was carrying an extra 15 pounds on my back but Lilly giggled and squirmed almost all the way up. She was having a blast! Of course she also had so much fun that she slept the whole time we were in the caves. It took us about and hour and a half to reach the caves and then we got to take an hour long tour through the caves. There were a lot of interesting formations to see. Joshie's favorites were the soda straws and Eliza's favorites were the popcorn formations. I know such technical terms. The hike down was a lot easier but by the time we got to the car we were all exhausted.

It is something that I would highly recommend and we plan on going again someday.

2010-05-13T19:31:00.000-07:00

Pictures of my

Silly Lilly!

She is a real live baby doll for the older girls. She loves it.

She found a new friend!

My new skill. She can now pull herself to standing all the way up and can now walk around her crib holding on to the rail.

"I just want to see what is going on!"

2010-05-04T09:38:00.000-07:00

Aubrey is 3!
I can't believe how fast she is growing up. She is slowly starting to gain weight but is still very picky. Her likes and dislikes change from day to day. She is my biggest trouble maker and she is always trying to use those big eyes of hers to get out of it. She continually surprises me with what she knows and is both a tomboy and a girly girl. One moment she want to be just like her big sis and get her fingernails and hair done and then the next she is picking up any bug she can find. She is definitely not afraid of bugs and is constantly finding new ones to carry around as a pet. Her favorites are ants because she knows that if she drops and loses one she can just go and pick up another one.

Born in Bakersfield

2010-04-22T20:27:00.000-07:00

Easter

The day before Easter the city had an Easter Egg hunt. We went but because we got there just as the bell went off we missed most of it. Aubrey only got 3 pieces of candy. It was really funny to watch the whole scene. It was like locust to a plant. This ring of kids and parents getting smaller and smaller as the candy just dissapeared. There was also so much candy that baskets were overflowing and parents were cramming their pockets with anything else their kids picked up. It was a lot of fun but it just didn't feel like Easter. Instead of the kids wearing cute little Easter dresses and sun bonnets they were wearing heavy coats, mittens, and hats.

Easter morning we woke up to several inches of snow. So we had a White Easter! After the kids finished staring in awe at all they snow the hunt for their Easter baskets began. It's a tradition in James' family for the parents to hide the Easter baskets and the kids have to look for them in the morning. So I got to have the fun of hiding them and then watching the kids plus James and Keith go searching. Let just say James and Keith are a little rusty on their Easter basket searching skills. I will have to not be so hard on the next year. In their Easter baskets all the kids got pinwheels, Joshua got a Cars coloring poster, and the girls got a dragonfly welcome sign for their room. (I'm in the process of trying to decorate their room with a dragon fly theme.) Once the found their Easter baskets they were then able to hunt for the Easter eggs that the Easter bunny left them. They found all the eggs plus leftover carrot pieces that the Easter bunny left. The kids thought that since the Reindeer get treats at Christmas that the Easter bunny should get some too. So they left him a plate full of carrots.

Once the excitement of the morning was over we all snuggled up to watch confernece on our computer. Our couch was too small, our screen was too small, and we could not get the volumn up loud enough but it was still wonderful to watch and listen to our modern day prophet and apostles. We were even able to get the kids to sit still and listen to a few of the talks with the help of the conference bingo. In the end the bingo square that was most covered was Jesus Christ. No matter what topic the speakers focused on Christ was still the main topic and source for everything that was taught. What a great way to spend Easter! By listening the the prophet and the apostle teach about Christ.

I hope everyone had a great Easter!

2010-04-11T20:52:00.000-07:00

HELP!!!
Who Has a Magic Pill to Keep Kids from Growing Up!

There has been so much happening lately that I feel like my kids are growing up way to fast. I feel like everytime that I blink something new hapens. I am trying my best to enjoy every minute of it but how do you stop and enjoy everything when time feels like it is in fast forward

Here are a few of the exciting things happening recently.

Joshua lost his first tooth. Since he is our oldest I don't know who was more excited us or him. He lost it after school. He was so upset that he would not get to show his friends. The tooth fairy was kind enough to leave it with some money and a note telling him that she was leaving his tooth so he could show his class. Unfortunately, just before we left for school that morning he lost the tooth.

We are also about to have our 4th mover. Lilly is on the verge of figuring out how to crawl. She has been getting up on her hand and knees for several weeks now. This last week she has started commando crawl and can almost get to any toy that she wants too. Of course if she knows that I am in the room instead of trying to get the toy herself she will just reach for it and cry. And today she took her first step in crawling. She pick up her hand and moved it forward once before she fell. Her new favorite thing is a baby push up. She loves to get up on her hands and toes.

On other first for Lilly she has also started sleeping in her own room in her big crib. The first night she slept all night long. She has always been a very good sleeper but I was surprised. She still insists on being swaddled when she sleeps. If I don't swaddle her she will wake up about every 2 hours. So the swaddle wrap was a great buy!

And her third big growing up news is that she has started baby foods. She has now tried rice cereal and green beans. I can not feed her those green beans fast enough! She gets so mad if I'm not fast enough, will then grab the spoon, and shove it in her mouth. She can easily finish off half a jar of green beans plus some rice cereal and still have room to nurse after wards. Too bad she can't share some of that appetite with Aubrey.

So there is so much happening so fast that I wish they could come up with a pill to keep kids from growing up. Not really but I better make sure I don't blink from now on.

P.S. This new blogger in draft is acting funny so things are not going where they are supposed too. But if things worked they way they should I think I will like it better.

2010-04-04T09:03:00.000-07:00

The Factor Tree

BzzAgent.com asked me to try and review a website called THE FACTOR TREE. The program is designed to help students reinforce math skills that they have already learned it school by providing extra worksheets. Both Joshie and Eliza have been using it for almost a month and really enjoy it. They don't usually want to sit down for too long because it is only worksheets. When I started I did expect there to be some learning lessons to go along with the worksheets but there was not. My favorite part is the first thing they will do is give the child a test to see what they have learned and then go from there. The site is very bright colored and kid friendly. Joshie can get on and use it without my help. The biggest problems that I have with it are that the math skills that they have on each grade level have not matched up with what my kids have already learned in school. Some skills Joshie had never learned and were too hard and some were way too easy and it was hard to just pass up that certain skill. I did mention both problems to the company and they have fixed the second one. Now if their is a skill that is too easy you can start your child on the next skill.

This website is a paid site and it costs $20 per child per month. It was fun while we used it but without some sort of learning lessons involved I personally would not pay for this program. It was a good program but not for that price.

For those of you who would like to try it I have a two week trial code. When you sign in use the code: BZF

2010-03-23T17:04:00.000-07:00

Our First Utah Snow

(Actually it was our second but
there was not much during the first one)

The reaction when they first discovered that it had snowed. Eliza first discovered it and came running down the hall super excited. (I wish I could have gotten that on tape) We made Joshie and Aubrey close their eyes and led them to the front door to surprise them. Joshie's reaction was not the one we were expecting.
He was just cold!

After getting all bundled up we
headed outside for some snow fun.
Of course all my angels had to make a snow angel.

Some more of our new neighbors.
These guys live behind us but one house over.

And our California spin off of building a snowman.
We made a snow castle!

Before and After
she discovered that snow made her hands cold.

I showed the kids how to make
snowballs and have a snow ball fight.
And how do you think that they thank me.
They attacked me!

Snow = Yummy Food!
To bad it has no nutritional value. Aubrey ate a ton of it.

The joy after discovering she got hot cocoa when we came in.

Friday, March 5, 2010

2010-03-13T21:24:00.000-08:00

CAN YOU BELIEVE WE MOVED TO UTAH?

I CAN'T!

Things happened so quickly that its hard to believe that they actully did happen. We had such a short time to get everything done but we had a ton of help from friends and family. I know that most of them think they are traitors now but thanks for the help. We even had a ton of missionaries (okay just 6) over to help fix up the yard for our new tenants before we left. Once we got everything cleaned and packed we headed out for our long one day trip to Utah. On our way there we stopped at State Line to fill the cars up with gas and discovered that they had Bonnie and Clyde's car on display. So we took a much needed break to go take a look. After traveling all day through California, Nevada, and a little bit of Arizona to get to Utah we hit a snow storm. It started out not to bad but before we knew it it was dark and the snow was coming down thick. We knew we were in trouble when even the Utah drivers were driving 15 miles an hour on the freeway. But we made it safely to our new home. At first the kids would not go to sleep because they wanted to go back to our old home.
Feb 21

The next morning we began to explore our new home and discovered one of our neighbors we lives behind us. The kids were so excited when they discovered that we had a horse whose stall was right up against the fence. Also within a few days we got our first little bit of snow. It was barely enough to cover the ground but when the kids saw the snow it was all I could do to get them to stop and put on warmer clothes before they ran outside. The kids loved the snow but it was not long before their California blood was freezing and they were ready to come back in. It didn't take long for Joshie to discover that heat came out of the little vents in the floor and for the first couple of days he spend a lot of time by the one in the kitchen. I thought he looked really funny. It must have been really cold to want to sit on the floor rather than play.
Feb 22

We also had to take advantage of the fact that Neal and Rachael now live so close. A soon as we got the chance we headed down to Provo to get a tour of BYU from Rachael. The kids were so excited to see them. Rachael took us to see the Life Science Museum. We also had a pretty good snow ball fight. It nice to know that we have some family close by. James' oldest brother is also planning on moving into our basement next month and we also have second? cousins in the area that we don't know all that well but we are so excited to get to know. This is not the happiest move for our family but it will definitly be an adventure. We are sad to be leaving behind a lot of family, some really close friends, and a great ward. Any of you are welcome to stop by anytime you are in Utah. We look forward to getting to know are new ward here and they have already we very welcoming. I am planning on posting more pictures of the inside of the house when I get everything unpacked and decorate.
Feb 27

2010-02-03T12:12:00.000-08:00

Christmas 2009

I know I have been really bad about this whole blogging thing but now that things are starting to get organized I thought I could squeeze in a moment to catch up on my blogging. This post is only two months late but hopefully I can get caught up soon.

For Christmas this year we almost had the whole Mark and Lois Mansius clan together in one place. We were just missing Lee who was able to come and visit Mom and Dad but only before the rest of us got there. We got to come and visit Mom and Dad's new home in Texas and Mom has decorated it so that it looks great!

First off in order to get there we took a two day train. The kids thought that was a blast. We got two rooms that had chairs that turned into beds. The kids thought it was a lot of fun to eat and sleep on the train. The kids even made a new friend while waiting at the train station. If you ever have the time to travel the train is a nice way to go. You don't have to worry about driving or cooking. You can sit back and relax. It was a lot of fun!

They kept us busy the whole time we were there. I'm sure I'm going to miss something but in San Antonio we saw an old mission, the Alamo, Riverwalk, Natural Bridge Caverns, and a Wildlife Ranch. At the Ranch we all got to feed goats, zebra, and even ostriches (which are mean!) Plus the boys (Keith, James, and Neal) spent one night together watching a BYU game. I don't know who they were playing against but as you can see from the picture BYU won!

Once we got to Mom and Dad's house near Houston we saw NASA Space Center, Downtown Aquarium, the Houston Zoo, Children's Museum, The Health Museum (which at first didn't sound interesting but was really neat so don't miss it if you are in Houston), and the Museum of Natural History. All were a lot of fun!

The night before Christmas following Mansius tradition we all acted out the story of the first Christmas. I'm not sure I remember what everyone was but I think Mom -wise man, James - sheppard, Joshua - Joseph, Eliza - Mary, Neal - Inn Keeper, Aubrey - Angel, - Lilly - Baby Jesus, and of course (still following in the foot steps of tradition) Dad - the donkey. Rachel & I were the photographers whose important duty it was to preserve in memory this important event. That night the kids also wrote Santa and letter and left him and the reindeer treats.

Christmas morning we woke up to the smell of Neal and Rachael making everyone breakfast. HMMMM!!! Mom cooked a lot this week too and it was yummy!!! Then we all gathered around the Christmas tree to unwrap presents. I loved watching my kids open all their gifts. It was a fun and busy Christmas! Thanks Mom and Dad Mansius for having us all over and hopefully we didn't destroy your house too much. Just Kidding! I still have a ton more pictures so next time I get a chance I will post some more of them.

Dec 20 - Jan 1

2010-01-03T14:02:00.000-08:00

Lilly's Baby Blessing &

First Time Meeting G & G Mansius

We postponed Lilly's blessing a couple of weeks to make sure that we were able to get both sets up Grandparents there. We meet up with G & G Mansius a few days before the blessing and took a trip to Disneyland. 4 kids and 4 adults. It was nice being evenly matched up for once. We had a lot of fun. It was pretty busy but now overly crowded. We didn't wait in any lines longer than about 15 or so minutes and walked right on to Splash Mountain.

The next day we visited the Nixon Presidential Library. It was very interesting and I learned a few new things about President Nixon. The kids were not to thrilled about it but they did enjoy going through the Air Force One Helicopter that they had.

Then came Lilly's big day. She wore my baby blessing outfit, which Eliza also wore, and had a white afghan that I crocheted for her. We had a lot of family come to share in her special day. Those in the circle were James, G Mansius, G Fitzgerald, GG Dansby, Uncle Andy, Cousin David, and Bishop Bramwell. After church we had a family potluck to celebrate her blessing and because it was on Eliza's birthday we also celebrated Eliza's turning 4. I didn't have my camera with me that day so everyone else took pictures. I will have to post more later when I get some of those.

2009-12-18T14:12:00.000-08:00

LILLY

Thanks to Heidi, Lilly got some adorable baby pictures taken at about 6 weeks old. There were so many cute ones it was hard not to just share the entire album. Here are a few of my favorites.

2009-11-17T17:55:00.000-08:00

Boutique Me Giveaway

My friend, Heidi, is having a giveaway on her blog for her business and I thought I would share the link so that others can see all of her cute stuff. She makes the cutest clips ever! Plus my Lilly is the model for one of her flower clips. Come see all of her stuff and participate in her giveaway.

2009-11-11T14:05:00.000-08:00

Aubrey and Lilly's Dr Appointments

Today Aubrey had another check up with the Endocrinologist. For some reason her height and weight has started to level out again. At 2 1/2 she now weighs 21 lbs and is 32 inches tall. Still not on the growth charts yet. The doctor was a little concerned so he ordered an x-ray of her hand to see the age of her bones. They are at 18 months to 2 years which is a good sign. It just means that she is probably just not eating enough and not something seriously wrong. He encouraged us to make sure that she got more calories. Part of her problem is that she is a slow eater and would rather play than eat. She will have another check up with the Endocrinologist in about 4 months and if she still is not gaining weight then he will have some more test done.

Lilly on the other hand does not have the same weight issues that her sister has. She has been gaining weight with no problems. Lilly is now almost 6 weeks old. Wow! Time goes by so fast. When she was only 4 days old she had lost just a little bit of weight and was at 8 lbs 10 oz and 21 inches. By the time she was 2 weeks old she had already gained a pound and was at 9 lbs 11 oz and was 22 inches long.

2009-11-06T14:54:00.000-08:00

HALLOWEEN

We had a lot of fun this Halloween. With the new baby I was originally not planning on doing much this year. Borrow some costumes from a friend, go to the ward activity, and then maybe some trick or treating Halloween night. Somehow I found the energy to do a little more and even make the whole family costumes. The week before Halloween, while Aunt Joan and Uncle Russell were visit us from Hawaii we took to Murry Farms. We had never been there before and discovered it was a lot of fun. They had corn mazes, free samples, a large ant farm, corn box, and a hay ride where you got to pick out a pumpkin to take home. The kids had a lot of fun!

Then during the week of Halloween our ward had a Halloween party and Trunk or Treat on Tuesday Night. I barely got everyone's costumes done by the time of the trunk or treat. As we have done almost every year we had a family theme. I love coming up with costumes for the whole family to wear. It started out with the girls being flowers. Each girl a different kind and color flower. I thought it would be really simple to make them petal headbands and cute tutu skirts. Then from there the idea to make Joshua a weed, James a scarecrow, and me the gardener came about. At the trunk or treat James and Lilly past out candy from our decorated van while I took the other three around to all of the other cars.

Finally to top off Halloween week we orignially were going to take the kids trick or treating but got invited to go to our next door neighbor's church's trunk or treat. We figured it would be a small activity so we were only going to stop by to show or neighbor the kids costumes. It turned out that it was a huge Fall Carnival with a hay maze, carnival games, trunk or treat, train ride, bounce house, bouce slide and lots of free food and candy. We ended up staying there the whole time and still didn't do everything that they had. The whole week was a lot of fun but for some reason was over really fast. No I need someone to take some really cute pictures of my girls in their tutu costumes. Mine didn't come out as nice as I hoped. Maybe one day I will get a nice SLR camera. One can only hope!

2009-11-01T13:18:00.000-08:00

Baby Picture Answers

1. Aubrey

2. Lilly

3. Joshua

4. Eliza

2009-10-16T10:54:00.000-07:00

Can you tell which baby is which?

1. 2.

3. 4.

2009-10-15T21:19:00.000-07:00

Lilly Elaine is Here!!!

Finally 10 days past her due date she finally has arrived.

Sunday, October 4, 2009
10: 11 PM
8lbs 15oz
21 1/2 in

So far she has already attended her own baby shower, went to church for the first time and is all ready for Halloween. Okay well almost ready. Mommy still has to make her Halloween costume. She did wear her first Halloween outfit though and looked so cute in it. Her middle name, Elaine, comes from her Great Grandmother Mansius.

2009-08-31T19:54:00.000-07:00

Baby Name Polls

I'm getting close to my due date so I thought it would be fun to have a baby name poll. (Since we have not decided on names yet) I'm curious what everyone thinks. I'm what to hear what you think of my names and would love to hear your ideas. James just shrugs his shoulders every time I ask him about names. The poll is to the right.

I also started a Baby pool which I did with Aubrey and it was a lot of fun to see all of your guesses of how big she was going to be and the date and time she would arrive.

2009-08-27T10:40:00.000-07:00

My Oldest Goes off to School
(Not going to cry!)

No I didn't cry but I still can't believe my little boy is already going to school. He started Kindergarten on Monday and loved it. He was so excited! On Sunday night he was all ready to go with clothes laid out and his backpack and shoes by the door. He wanted to go to school right then and there and was MAD at me because I would not let him go until Monday. I would have gladly let him go. When Monday FINALLY came the whole family walked him to school. At his class he went right on in only took a moment to wave a goodbye. The girls and I have walked him to school since then. (Though I don't know how much longer that will last) His teacher is Mrs Yachovich and he gets to go to AM Kindergarten. My favorite part of the day is when we pick him up and he is so excited to see his sisters and they are so excited to see him. The kindergarten schedule on top of his new soccer schedule is taking some getting used to but I know before long I will have it figured out. The bee in the last picture is because he was so good on Thursday that he got to take the Super Bee home for the night. He would not let it out of his sight and took it with him everywhere we went including soccer practice.

By the way anyone who is interested he has is first soccer game this Saturday, August 29 at 11:00 am at CSUB. Come and watch him play!

2009-08-05T09:50:00.000-07:00

33 Week

Pregnancy # 4 Update

I can't believe that I'm at 33 weeks already! I feel like I have gained a ton of weight which hey I have but actually have lost 2 pounds in the past two weeks. My iron levels dropped drastically in the last couple of weeks and they are now having me taking iron pills. Sounds about like every other pregnancy I have had. Right now the doctor says that the baby is measuring a little big but that was about all I could get out of him. Not my usual doctor so I will have to ask again when I see the nurse practitioner who is very good at answering all my questions in detail. I'm feeling pretty good right now except I can't sit for long periods of time. The baby is head down so the feet are up kicking at my rib cage so when I sit down I get a pain just below my rib cage. I guess I should be glad that the baby is head down and was told that the baby would probably stay that way from now on.

2009-08-02T20:18:00.000-07:00

MY MORMON MOMMY
MOVING MACHINE

With two months shy of outgrowing our little Toyota Corolla I finally got my van. We actually ended up with a 2004 Nissan Quest. James was excited because it didn't look like a van. I was excited because I not only didn't have to drive James to work anytime that I needed the car but I could fit more then 5 people at one time. Take a look at my new used car.

2009-07-21T10:22:00.000-07:00

FITZGERALD FAMILY FUN

Thanks to my parents this month we had a mini Fitzgerald reunion. We got to spend a week in Las Vegas with Grandma and Grandpa Dansby, Mom and Dad Fitzgerald, Amber (sister) and her two cute kids, and my youngest brother, Kory. We missed a few that could not go becuase of jobs but maybe next time.

SATURDAY
Our first tourist stop was the Ethel M Chocolate Factory. Usually when you take their tour you get to see how they make different types of chocolates. Of course we went on Saturday and they had nothing running. We did get to go through the self guided tour and got a free piece of chocolate at the end. This was the kid's favorite part. My niece, Evelyn, was so excited after sleeping through the whole thing that she got two pieces of chocolate. This is one of those places that we would go see every year when we went to go visit my Granparents in Vegas so it was a fun memory.

SUNDAY
Since James and I lived in Vegas for about a year we had a few good friends back in the Desert Sage ward so we decided that the best way to go and visit everyone was to attend our old ward. It was a lot of fun catching up with old friends and seeing how the ward was doing. After church we also went up to see the Las Vegas Temple. It is a very beautiful temple with very unique temple spires. The kids always get excited seeing temples because they say that they are Heavenly Father's castles. I didn't get any pictures that day because I didn't have a memory card but I know my sister did so as soon as I get them from her I will post them.

MONDAY
On Monday we decided to take our Princes and Princesses to see to see the Excalabur Castle. The girls were so excited to be inside a castle and the boys were just excited about the games. We took the kids downstairs and let them go crazy with all of the fun games. Even after they ran out of money they still enjoyed pretending to play with the games.

TUESDAY
After living in Vegas for about a year we thought we had seen just about everything there was to see but we were wrong. The Lied's Children's Museum is something that I wished I had discovered a long time ago and taking the kids to many times. When we asked Joshua what his favorite part of the whole trip was this was it. He was just all over that place and we hardly could contain all his energy. They got to stand inside large bubbles, fly airplanes, send balls shotting through tubes, experience 78 mile an hour winds, be firefighters, tried to lift their own body weight, and even got to be on a green screen. They had so much fun that we within minutes of getting in the car all three (Yes even Joshua) were fast asleep.

Another must do when you go to Las Vegas is eat at a buffett. There are probably more buffetts in Vegas alone than in the rest of the US. My favorite buffett is not even on the strip. It is called the Fiesta Buffett at the Fiesta Casino. In the course of the same week I went from eating at the best buffett ever to one of the worst ever. The funny part was that the bad one was the expensive one. $18 bucks for Joshua alone!! Plus we could not even get him to eat anything because he didn't like anything there. Oh well!

WEDNESDAY
One night thanks to Grandma Nani and Papa us adults (okay it is still weird to think of my little brother as an adult. Sorry Kory!) got to go and see a show. We choose to see Nathan Burton's Magic Show at the Flamingo due to their great price and their combo deal with their buffett. He turned out to be really good and had some really good guests on his show. As it turns out he also was on America's Got Talent and according to my sister made it through.

THURSDAY
Now I told you what Joshua's favorite part was this day was Eliza's. And just like Joshua if she had the chance she would have stayed here all day. We took the kids over to the aquarium at the Silverton. It was very big with a lot of different fish. They also had a mermaid visit every half an hour. Eliza got the chance to sit and chat with two different mermaids. What a day!

And finally no trip would be complete without seeing the Fountains at Belogio. Out of the five kids Eliza was the only one not frightened or startled by the first show. But by the second show all five kids were asking for another show.

Probably the all time favorite activity from the entire group was swimming in the pool. We were in one of the three pools at least every day that week. It was so hot there (110 plus) that the pool was the best place to be. And surprisingly we made it through the whole week without anyone getting sunburned. That is a first!!! We had a great week and were so excited spending so much time with the family. I can't wait to do it again! We came home Friday evening but that is a story for another blog!

Also for more pics and info check out my sister's blog about our trip.
http://andyandamberwaite.blogspot.com/

2009-07-04T10:29:00.000-07:00

Another Decorating Project Done!

We have slowly been working on our house to get it decorated and I have finally completed another project. We decided to have a nautical theme in both bathroom and bedroom. Here are is a before, during and after picture of the cabinet that is in the bathroom. The next project that I am going to work on is taking pictures of the kids from the beach and either printing them in black and white or old fashioned looking and then hanging them in the bathroom. Even though it has been slow it has been a lot of fun watching our house go from the original brown walls to something with our taste and personalities.

2009-06-21T21:25:00.000-07:00

MISSIONARIES AND MARSHMELLOWS

Every month we usually have the missionaries over for dinner and they usually give us a lesson. On one of their last visits Joshua and James had just gotten back from the Father / Son Camp out and Joshua was still super excited about Smores. Joshua insisted that we make Smores for dessert. We used our electric burners to toast the marshmellows so we all felt a little funny but it was a lot of fun and like Smores, usually are, really messy.

2009-06-05T14:39:00.000-07:00

Father & Son Camp out

Joshua got to go on his first father son camp out this year. I can't remember where they went but it was at least a 2 hour drive. Joshua shared a tent with the Robb boys and they had a ton of fun. According to James and Joshua the boys caught a small scorpion and it also spend the night with them in the tent, safely in a small insect cage. The next morning Joshua spend most of his time sliding down a small hill that the kids found. I couldn't get much more out of Joshua but he was already ready to go on another camp out.

2009-04-26T20:20:00.000-07:00

MY BABY TURNS 2!

For Aubrey's 2 birthday we finally decided that she was big enough to sit forward in her car seat. We thought that it would finally help her with her fear of driving in the car seat but she is still terrified every time the car starts to move.

On her birthday we had a little party. We are planning on having a family party later on this week so instead of having cake we had brownies and let her open up one of her presents. She loved the Pluto dog that she got! She has a fascination with dogs so when she saw it we could not get her to stop saying, "Doggie doggie doggie!"

2009-04-14T19:06:00.000-07:00

James at Progressive Field Opening Day

Last weekend James got to go and participate in the Cleveland Indians Opening Day. He won a writing contest held for Progressive employees and was chosen. Out of the three jobs they had open he got to help hold up the American flag. And he even got to hold up Southern California. Then after the ceremonies got to enjoy the game. On top of it all the whole trip was paid for by Progressive and he even got paid as if he was working. Sign me up to get paid to go see a baseball game. He had a blast and even got to meet some of the executives. In the flag picture he is standing in front of the second to the bottom row of stars in black pants.

2009-03-29T13:35:00.000-07:00

Dairy Farm Field Trip

The kids and I were invited to go on a field trip to a local dairy farm this past week. We got to see them milk some cows, take a hay ride, see how the cows were treated, and pet some calves. The kids had a lot of fun. Aubrey, as usual, was fearless and even tried to climb into the pen with the calves and walk right up to one that was being fed out of a bottle. Joshua said his favorite part was the hay ride and Eliza liked seeing all the cows.

2009-03-25T16:11:00.000-07:00

Sorry everyone! I playing with my blog to figure out how to make a three column layout working. I want to try it on our new Panama Ward blog but thought I should figure it out here first. If anyone has done this or knows of some good layouts that fit three columns let me know.

2009-03-21T18:45:00.000-07:00

I MADE A DIAPER CAKE!

Well I decided to try something new. I never heard of a diaper cake until a few years ago someone had it at a baby shower. It was professionally done but I thought hey I think I can try that. It has been a while but today I did it. The kids helped a bunch and they had a ton of fun. Joshua kept asking me why we could not eat this cake. It's not the best thing in the world and it is nothing compared to the professional one but it came out really cute. I promise it looked much better in real life then it does in this picture. I will probably do things a little different next time though. It was a lot of fun!

2009-03-18T19:08:00.000-07:00

12 Week Pregnancy Update

I had my first ultrasound yesterday so I got to see my baby for the first time. The baby looks healthy with a nice strong heart beat. We also discovered that Joshua's dream of having 2 baby brothers will not come true this pregnancy. Since the beginning he has been telling everyone that there are two brothers in Mommy's tummy. The ultrasound showed that my due date of September 24 was about right. Morning sickness has been a little tougher this time around but I finally figured out how to manage it. As long as I eat a small meal every 2-3 hours I am okay. I can't believe that I'm already at 12 weeks. So far instead of gaining weight I have lost 1 pound off my pre-pregnancy weight. So much for gaining 2 to 5 pounds during my first trimester. I also learned that I have to eat more iron and omega 3 in my diet. I've always known I was border line anemic but I've never been very good at getting iron in my diet. Now I also need to get omega 3s in my diet. If anyone as got any good ideas let me know!

2009-02-28T22:04:00.000-08:00

Girls Will Be Girls

Not long after posting my Boys will be Boys post I guess the girls wanted some attention too. One night after putting all the kids to bed and thinking that I was successful in getting them all to sleep I walked by the girls room to hear chit chatting. When I walked in I found them both on Eliza's bed just chatting away. Leave it to sisters to just talk away the night. I got a picture later after they feel asleep.

2009-02-01T15:14:00.000-08:00

Another Aubrey Update

Our tiny Aubrey is finally putting on some weight. She saw the Endocrinologist again last week. She is getting bigger but is still under the growth cart. That means we will be seeing the Endocrinologist again in about 4 or 5 months. She continues to grow in other areas so we are not as worried as we used to be. She can now say a ton of words and even a few phrases. He favorite is "I want a Nana. (Banana)" and she says it for anything food related. She can also keep up really well with her big brother and sister and has even recently learned to climb up on the top bunk (without the ladder). We are also in the transition of switching her from her crib into a bed, now that she has figured out how to climb out of the crib.

At 21 months she weighs 19 lbs 5 oz and is 30 inches tall.

2009-01-25T16:31:00.000-08:00

JOSHUA IS NOW 5!

Joshua's birthday was this month and we celebrated by having an ice cream party! We made homemade ice cream in a bag and had a ice cream shaped cupcake cake! Each kids made their own ice cream in individual bags. Very messy but a lot of fun! January 16, 2009

Here is the recipe for Ice Cream in a Bag!

What you'll need:

1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup milk or half & half
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
6 tablespoons rock salt
1 pint-size plastic food storage bag (e.g., Ziploc)
1 gallon-size plastic food storage bag
Ice cubes

How to make it:

Fill the large bag half full of ice, and add the rock salt. Seal the bag.
Put milk, vanilla, and sugar into the small bag, and seal it.
Place the small bag inside the large one, and seal it again carefully.
Shake until the mixture is ice cream, which takes about 5 minutes.
Wipe off the top of the small bag, then open it carefully. Enjoy!

Tips:

A 1/2 cup milk will make about 1 scoop of ice cream, so double the recipe if you want more. But don't increase the proportions more that that -- a large amount might be too big for kids to pick-up because the ice itself is heavy.

2009-01-04T21:52:00.000-08:00

ELIZA, THE SUNBEAM

Eliza started her first day in her new Sunbeam class today. She was so excited that she has been talking about her teacher, the meaning of CTR, Lance, and Averi all day long. Plus she was super excited about her new CTR ring. Before church she asked me to do her hair so I put it up in pig tails and even curled the back so it flipped out. I don't know who was more excited about her having long enough hair to curl me or her. It still is not quit long enough yet but we made it work. I can't believe that I now have 2 in primary. Joshua is now CTR 5. Jan 4, 2009

2008-12-28T18:45:00.000-08:00

BOYS WILL BE BOYS

Joshua I guess felt he had to prove to us that he was a boy last Friday. I caught him and the girls jumping on the coffee table. I asked them to get off as I turned around to grab something. Then next thing I heard was a very loud thunk followed by Joshua just screaming. He had hit his head on the rocking chair and gashed his head open. James rushed him to the ER where it took James and two nurses to hold him still so that the doctor could give him 4 stitches. The gash was about 3/4 inch and very deep. He was fine and when he got home he was so excited to tell me about the cool slipper socks that the hospital gave him. To prove that he was back to normal he then started to run up and down the hall in his new socks at full speed. I guess boys will be boys!

What will he do next?

P.S. I will post about Christmas as soon as I get pictures from my Sister and Mom.
Friday, Dec 27, 2008

2008-11-26T10:22:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to announce that my cousin, Lindsey,

had a beautiful baby girl over the weekend.
See more pictures here!

Congratulations Lindsey and David!!!
Sarah Jean Bunting

2008-11-20T12:48:00.000-08:00

Happy 3rd Birthday Eliza!

Here are a few pictures from her life!

2008-11-19T18:51:00.000-08:00

MY CALLING CURSE

So it seems that for some reason I can't keep a calling any longer than five months. The past 4 callings have been like that. For the past five months I have been working with the primary as the Primary Chorister. It was a lot of fun and our recent primary program went great. I was just starting to figure out what I was doing when James came home telling me that the Bishop wanted to meet with me. They asked me to serve as 2nd counselor in the Relief Society. Can you say scary? I have not even been to Relief Society in over a year let alone have any idea how to run one. I have been a roller coaster of emotions since. When they first called me I was so scared and nervous. Then when I received a blessing for my calling I was blessed that I would be able to juggle all my responsibilities of home and church, I felt calm and that I would be able to do this. The for the last couple of days I have been antsy and ready to get started. That was up until I went to my first presidency meeting and Shirley told me about all the things that I need to do. Now again I have that feeling like, "How in the world will I be able to do all of this?" I really look forward to this new calling even though I am completely unsure of what I am supposed to do or even if I can do it right. Concerning my Calling Curse I was told to get comfortable in this calling becuase my curse has been broken.

2008-11-11T22:03:00.000-08:00

NEW TREES

For the longest time James and I have been talking about replacing the dead tree in our front yard. After a very hot summer we decided it was time to buy a tree so that it would shade the front of our house. Hopefully it would keep things a little cooler. At the same time we figured that if we were going to buy trees we might as well get fruit trees. So we bought two because we had two empty spots in our yard. We got an orange tree and grapefruit tree. James loves grapefruits! Here are our new trees in the front of our house.

2008-11-07T19:26:00.000-08:00

I found this while watching online news articles on prop 8. I thought this was interesting and wanted to share. Here is the link to the statement put out by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints concerning the protest in Salt Lake City. Here is the link: LDS Statement.

Church Issues Statement on
Prop 8 Protest

It is disturbing that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is being singled out for speaking up

as part of its democratic right in a free election.

Members of the Church in California and millions of others from every faith, ethnicity and political affiliation who voted for Proposition 8 exercised the most sacrosanct and individual rights in the United States — that of free expression and voting.

While those who disagree with our position on Proposition 8 have the right to make their feelings known, it is wrong to target the Church and its sacred places of worship for being part of the democratic process.

Once again, we call on those involved in the debate over same-sex marriage to act in a spirit of mutual respect and civility towards each other. No one on either side of the question should be vilified, harassed or subject to erroneous information.

2008-10-26T18:28:00.000-07:00

FUNNY SLEEPY STORIES
Joshua says some of the funnies things when he is tired. Here are two stories that prove this. He usually hates to take a nap but I don't know if it is harder to get him down for a nap or wake him up from a nap.

STORY 1

During nap time one day I asked Joshie what he was going to dream about.
"Cars!" he said.
"What color car?"
"White"
"A car like Daddy's or a race car?"
"A race car."
"Will you race people?"

"NO! I'M NOT BIG ENOUGH YET"

---------------------------

STORY 2

One day I had to get Joshie up early from his nap. When I finally got him awake he said, "I'm not not done yet!" He then rolled over and went back to sleep.

2008-10-25T11:55:00.000-07:00

Heidi a friend of mine blogged about this site and this great giveaway that they are having. mymommysbracelets.com They have a lot of fun items all made or sold by WAHM (Work at Home Moms) It's a fun site!

2008-10-14T09:52:00.000-07:00

PHOTO TAG

I've been tagged by Heidi. Open up the 4th photo album/folder on your computer and post the 4th photo you find.

This is of Joshie at about 2 months old.

I tag Ashley, Gail, and Laura.

2008-10-06T10:20:00.000-07:00

Yes of Prop 8
Protect Traditional Marriage

For those of you who would like to know the consequences of not protecting marriage please watch this video.

Protect Marriage Video

2008-10-01T20:25:00.000-07:00

CRAZY NEWS

This news is still so crazy to me that it still has not sunk in. JAMES has been called the ELDERS QUORUM PRESIDENT in our ward. For those of you who had to read that again don't worry so did I. It's not that I don't think that he will do a great job it just seems like a big calling. It was something that we were not expecting and came as such a surprise. James' first response was, "I'm not old enough!" For those of you who don't know he is now 28. Sounds like a good age to me. Now he is just feeling a little overwhelmed. To be honest so am I. The stake president mentioned many times that a good Elders Quorum President was because of his wife. Ahhh! Seems like a lot of pressure. I know that James will do a great job. Since he has been called all he has been talking about is all these plans that he has and how he is going to put them in place. I'm so excited for him and I want to know that I am behind him 100%.

2008-09-19T20:27:00.000-07:00

SOCCER, SOCCER, SOCCER!

A couple of Saturdays ago, Kory (my youngest brother) had his first soccer game of the session. So the family decided to get together to support him. We were so excited! Watching soccer games is a favorite past time for our family. We love to watch the games even though it is not easy. There seems to be a soccer bug in our family that runs on both sides and Joshua seems to have caught it. Every time that we go to see a game Joshua would rather be out there on the field with his Uncle Kory then just sitting and watching. He gets to start soccer next year. The kids were really good during this game though I'm sure it helped that between them and my sister's kids, the five of them finished an entire box of Mini Wheats while watching the game. We taught them how to cheer "Go Kory!" and "Go Griphons!" Evelyn had the most enthusiasm. Kory's team played really well and they had a great game even if they didn't win. Maybe next time!

After the game we headed over to Heart Park to have a BBQ and a birthday party for Preston and Kory. Preston turned the big 1 and Kory turned 18. Happy Birthday! David and Lindsey also came and celebrated with us. We enjoyed some yummy food while the kids decided that they were not hungry and played at the play ground. After a while Amber pulled out the birthday cupcakes. She had worried about them all day trying not to let them melt. She stopped worrying about them just long enough for the sun to hit them and BAM they melted. It turned our for the best because it provided for some interesting fun. The kids were all covered in green frosting which also ended up staining them. And when you went to wipe it off all it did was smear even more. Preston was the worse and by the time we had him cleaned up he looked like a mini jolly green giant.

When we finally got every things cleaned up the kids and I headed home while everyone else went back to the soccer park for another game. This time Kory's team won and Kory scored a goal! "GO KORY!!!" It's always nice to get the whole family together and I wished we could do it more often. Even though the job is a little tougher here in Bakersfield for James then it was in Las Vegas we don't regret our decision to move here just because of the time we have gotten to spend with the family. In Las Vegas we were lucky to see my family once a month but now we see them at least once a week and we love it! Now I only wish that more of the family was closer.

2008-09-17T14:52:00.000-07:00

Joshua's FIRST First Day of School

So I thought that I had another year for this day but because of Joshua's personality we thought that it would be good for him to start preschool. I have been doing homeschooling preschool I he has loved it. He loved the one on one time we had with each other during the girl's nap time. The problem was that he has a hard time concentrating and participating when he is in a large group. So we thought putting him in preschool would be a great opportunity for him to learn how to behave in a group, makes some new friends, and learn to listen to someone besides Mommy. HE LOVES IT!! Yesterday (Tuesday) the first thing that he did was lay out his school clothes for the next day and wanted me to make his lunch. He only goes on MWF so he was ready for school a whole day early. He told me that he didn't want to be late. Due to the fact that we only have one car Joshua goes to all day preschool. James droppes him off on the way to work and then since we pay for the full day we usually wait to pick him up until the last minute so that he can play all day. It is so much fun to drop him off in the morning because he is so excited to go but it is also fun to pick him up because he is so excited to see the family especially his sisters. He comes home everytime and has to tell them what he did that day and show everyone his picturs that he made. Here are pictures of his first day of school. The one of him on the step is a Mansius family tradition. Every child gets a picture of their first day of school on the front steps of the house. We have to decided to continue the condition. Eliza is also getting a lot out of this because she has learned that she can make her own descisions when Joshua is not makeing them for her. Her personality is really starting to come out. I'm also seeing the relaionship with Eliza and Aubrey starting to get stronger. Joshua and Eliza have been so close for so long. They share a room and while they were playing they would lock Aubrey out and tell her it was their room. Joshua going to school has brought a few changes to our house that are fun. We will wait to see if we put Eliza in preschool or not next year but for now I'm doing a little bit of homeschool preschool with her when Aubrey takes her morning nap. Lots of fun!
Joshua's first day of school was September 3.

2008-09-10T21:45:00.000-07:00

Spray Park Fun

With my sister so close we love getting the kids together for some cousin time. We decided to try the spray parks here in town. The kids loved them.! Joshua was running around with all of the older kids. Evelyn and Eliza were best friends and never left the other's side. Aubrey had no fear whatsoever and was running through the little park. Somehow she managed to never get hit by any of the sprays that were continuously going off around her. Preston was so cute. He just started walking and seems very confident except for this one little inch step that in order to get over he had to get down a crawl. The kids had so much fun that next time I told the kids we were going to the park Joshua kept asking me if it we were going to the water park. We are planning another trip soon if anyone wants to join us. The spray parks close at the end of October.

Mansius Family

Here is the recipe for Ice Cream in a Bag!

What you'll need:

How to make it:

Church Issues Statement onProp 8 Protest

Church Issues Statement on
Prop 8 Protest