Our Weekend

When Rob and I woke up on Saturday, we decided we weren't going to make the kids do any jobs all day. We had a lot of fun! I was able to relax thanks to no choir performance in sacrament meeting:) We started with eating donuts for breakfast, and then we went on a bike ride (hopefully that made up for the donuts we ate:).

Rob then went and bought all of the girls a mask and snorkel so that he could give them a quick course on snorkeling before we go to Rocky Point. Hunter wanted to be like everyone else, so we put goggles on him too. But were smart enough to swim while he was sleeping :)

By then, we were all hungry, so we had a BBQ. Rob makes a great hamburger! I didn't make Hunter any corn on the cob because I didn't think he could eat it. I was wrong!!! He stole Alyssa's, (so I had to give her mine) and then he ate Ashley's.

Still eating...

Still eating...

And yes, still eating...

We ended the night by watching Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium. I didn't think I would actually be able to sit through it, but I did. It was actually kind of cute..

Sunday wasn't quite as fun. I was flying solo for church today and just when I thought we were going to get out the door without any problems, I grabbed Hunter's shoes that he had put in the bathroom. He had filled one of them with some wonderfully scented bubble bath. At least I remembered to bring toys to church this week, but unfortunately, I grabbed a fire truck that I didn't think made any noises. During the sacrament, one of my kids pushed some button on that darn truck and the sirens started blaring. I didn't dare push anything for fear that I would prolong my embarrassment. Just as I handed Brooklyn the bag and told her to run out with it, it finally stopped. I'm sure we were very entertaining for all of those families sitting behind us:)

New Temple Being Built in Gilbert

The Church News announced today that a new temple will be built in Gilbert and in Gila County. I don't know where Gila County is, but it will be great to have one in Gilbert. No info on where it is going to actually be.

"Mom, look I have bras!"

Can you believe my 4 year old is already stuffing? They were a little lop-sided when she first came out of the bathroom, but Brooklyn helped shape them. She told me she was going to wear them forever...I finally convinced her to take them out.

Introducing Whitney Elaine Hodgson

My sister Kristi had her baby this week. She was 6 pounds 7 ounces and 21 inches long.

Kinzie is so happy to have a new sister.

Rob's Night Alone With All 4 Kids

Last night Rob was so nice to let me go to a late-night scrapbook party. I was gone for almost 7 hours. That is the longest Rob has ever had all 4 kids by himself. I don't go very many places alone, because I usually prefer to take my kids with me everywhere I go. I normally would have felt bad abandoning my family on a Saturday night, but Hunter had been throwing up for 2 days. I had been sitting down for most of that time holding him on a blanket to catch what he couldn't keep in his stomach (coming out of both ends). I don't think Rob was thrilled about having to take care of a sick kid because he really hates vomit! When I'm pregnant and throwing up in the bathroom, he won't even come in to bring me a drink of water. He just puts a glass of water right inside the door and quickly closes the door behind him. Anyway, lucky for Rob, I think he only got thrown up on twice while I was gone. He took the kids to the park behind our house for the Spring Fling that our HOA does every year. Hopefully being outside with all that fresh air kept Hunter's germs from spreading :) The girls had so much fun doing all of the races. Each girl won at least 1 ribbon, Ashley won 3. I do feel bad that I missed seeing my girls win! Rob, just remember the fun times you had while babysitting:)

2nd Grade Musical

Brooklyn had her 2nd grade musical on Tuesday. She practiced so hard to memorize her part-

"What makes America so grand?" Too bad I couldn't get the video camera turned on in time to video her speaking part. As you can see, Rob didn't exactly get a picture of it either. At least we got her waiting in line behind Trey Cutchen. I guess that is better than nothing. She looked so cute standing next to Tanner Pomeroy. They would make such a cute couple!

Sleeping Beauties!

Each of my girls has their own bed, yet they always seem to sleep in Brooklyn's. Ashley often ends up in bed with Rob and I, but Alyssa always sleeps with Brooklyn. I don't know how they have enough room with all of those blankets and stuffed animals in bed with them.

Future Linebacker! I hope...

We can't seem to keep this kid out of the pantry. He didn't get to be 95% in height and 90% in weight by drinking skim milk and eating veggies. I guess he thinks I'm trying to starve him so he has to take matters into his own hands. He had better be a football player!!!

Rob-Tennis Pro???

So, as many of you may know, we have the best game night group. It is always so much fun! The Bashford's game (telephone charades) was the best so far. It was at our house this month and we ended up just playing Wii Sports. Good thing Benson didn't buy a new game:) Anyway, the Walkers seemed to win just about everything. After finding out that Steve plays racquetball for 4 hours a day, Rob really wanted to beat him in Wii tennis, even though they were on the same team. Notice that Rob is the only one standing, the only one sweating, and the only one out of breath. Remember all of the men are playing the same game at the same time.

P.S. We missed you Kriloffs! The Richeys didn't do a very good job at pretending to be you :)

Favorite Restaurants

Courtney has tagged me for my list of favortie restaurants.

1. Gecko Grill (Courtney, I can't believe you put that at #3) I love the bean and cheese burrito and the pork quesadilla.

2. Oreganos-everything at Oreganos is good!

3. Training Table (Those of you from Utah know what I'm talking about)

4. Firebirds (in the parking lot of Chandler Mall) French Dip sandwich and they have the best onion rings.

5. Wingers (Once again, not here in AZ anymore) Sticky Fingers!!!

6. BJ's-everything at BJ's is good!

7. Red Robin-Teriyaki Chicken Burger

8. Ruth's Chris (This is actually the best food, but too expensive to put in the #1 spot)

9. The Old Spaghetti Factory-Angel Hair Pasta with mizithra cheese.

10. Nandos-Steak Quesadilla



I could go on and on... Arizona has the best restaurants in the country! (Except Training Table and Wingers. We really need to get those here.)


I tag Melissa, Jessica & Natalie

Adam's Apple

On our way to school this morning, Brooklyn and I were talking about the possibility that she is going to need her tonsils out. My brother Dave had his tonsils out a few years ago. This is how our conversation went-
Brooklyn- "Will I get a bump on my neck like Dave has?"
Me- "No, that is called an Adam's Apple. It sticks out on boys but not on girls."
Suddenly Ashley chimes up from the backseat- "That is called a ding-a-ling"

Use your imagination on what she thought we were actually talking about.

How do you pronounce your baby's name?

Today when I dropped my kids off at the Kid's Club at the gym, the lady who works there asked me how I pronounce my baby's name. I was a little perplexed because Hunter isn't exactly hard to pronounce. When I told her his name was Hunter, she looked at me with a strange look on her face and said, "Then who is Choncho?" Apparently Ashley had told her that was his name. She said when Ash said that she kept thinking "no way can that be his actual name!" I guess Hunter isn't the only one confused about who he actually is. For those of you who don't know-Brooklyn started calling him Choncho when he was a few months old because she thought he looked like the chubby kid on Nacho Libre. Now, most people know him only as Choncho.

I Got Hannah Montana Tickets!!!

Rob is always lucky. My dad likes to joke that Rob has the "Midas Touch". Rob gets drawn for all of the deer hunts, he always wins raffles, he even won a credit card payoff years ago. Anyway, I am generally not as lucky. When my mom called to tell us that Hannah Montana was going to be at the Stadium of Fire at BYU on the 4th of July, I immediately knew that I would have to have Rob try and get the tickets. 45 minutes before tickets went on sale, I logged onto the website with Rob's laptop as well as my computer. Rob was busy getting ready for our camping trip and so I was nervous that I would be unsuccessful. I was able to get on and get 10 tickets. 10 TICKETS! Can you believe that. Sorry, they are all taken.

Alyssa, Avery Mallett and Brooklyn think Rob is hilarious! Rob's camping stories were much funnier than Avery's about a clown that a girl brought home from the library. Alyssa has come to me in tears for the past two nights because she is so afraid of the clown saying "I'm under your bed..." Nice going Avery :)

Rob-MacGyver?

Something about being in the great outdoors transforms Rob into "Survivor Man". We have a perfectly good oven in our trailer, yet Rob decided to invent his own oven for baking cookies. Mind you, I do all of the baking at home. Luckily!!! He sat there for about 10 minutes trying to explain how the reflection from the tin foil would bake the cookies the same as an oven would. I started to question his invention when he had to flip the cookies like he would a pancake. I have such an incredibly creative and resourceful husband! After his cookies ended up baking with some success, he ran to the nearest store and bought frozen pizzas so that he could once again cook using a similiar contraption rather than using our very efficient oven. The pizza was a little less successful, the crust was totally black from being burnt. However, Steve Mallett, being the good friend that he is, joined Rob in eating the entire burnt pizza. I will say that Rob did successfully make the best hamburgers over the fire. Once again, a contraption was used for that as well, but this one was bought at Bass Pro Shops. Rob always makes our vacations so much fun. I love you Rob!

On Easter, we made the mistake of trying to take pictures of the kids after church. That is why Hunter is all alone and very tired.