Y Ball

Megan is playing Y-Ball for the second year in a row. We were bored on Saturdays, with nothing to do, so we thought it would be great to put another child in sports. Here she is, while waiting her turn to play. You can see her face as she realizes I'm taking pictures of her.

She got hit by the ball a few times during practices... which has led to this:
Moments later, you could see her trying to get open, asking her team mate to again, pass the ball to her. (Hey, at least she's persistent). The moment I captured above has become more and more frequent... Her team mate did not pass the ball to her.

Did she have fun? Most times she always does. But by the 4th quarter, she was doing this down the court.

My 9-11 Miracle

Seven years ago, I was scheduled to be induced to deliver my third child. We woke early that day, in order to be at the hospital at 7:00 am. As usual, we were running behind. My little sister Carolee came over to care for Aaron (then 5) and Haley (then 2). She was in the kitchen preparing breakfast as we headed out the door, at about seven... On the TV, Matt Lauer was reporting that a plane had crashed into one of the World Trade Centers. At that time we couldn't figure out such a horrible accident happened. We hopped in the car and turned on the radio in disbelief. As the events unfolded, we were in shock about what was happening. All morning, while I was prepped for and began labor, we watched the news. Finally, we were starting to feel pretty depressed and turned the TV off to focus on the beauty of that day - bringing our little girl into the world. The labor was my longest to date (a whopping 3 hours). She was born at 12:04 pm and weighed in at 7 pounds 2 ounces and was 19 3/4 inches long. She's always been a little spunky sparkly and sweet little girl. Here are a few of my favorite photos from the past seven years.

In the bottom left picture, Megan is doing her "eye trick", which was discovered at the age of two. No need to worry, I had her checked out a year and a half ago, and the doctor says that she has it completely controlled... probably doing her "eye trick" so much strengthened the muscles!! Silly little girl...

These pictures are all from today. In this one, she was worried about missing the bus, so she has that "hurry up mom, here is my smile, now take the stinkin picture!" look on her face...

Oh how I love my little Meggles!


I love the genuine look of surprise and excitement on her face as she opens the much desired Barbie that she received from Grandma and Grandpa!

Happy 7th Birthday Miss Meg - I love you so much and am happy you are my 3rd child! Your baby pictures are so dang cute, I just may have another baby just to get another girl!
(OK, maybe not - I freaked you all out, didn't I?!?!)

And because I don't think we should ever forget what happened that day, here is a video tribute I found on YouTube. I loved the feeling of Patriotism and the love of God and Country that existed in the United States for a period of time after 9/11. I miss seeing the American Flag out on nearly every home like we saw for months and months after the attacks. I miss that feeling of unity and turning to our Father in Heaven for understanding, peace, and comfort. I am so grateful that I have the knowledge of His eternal plan. I'm so grateful for the blessing of Megan on that day. I fear that we are like the Nephites, and our country as a whole, is forgetting God and all that he gives to us... I fear that more devastation will occur as we need to humble ourselves and recognize him in all things. I love this country and *I will never forget*.

And so it Begins...

And they're off!

Uniforms this year - and I have to say he looks handsome!

The verdict? They love it. They are having so much fun! Aaron LOVES 7th grade, lockers, multiple teachers, and the whole bit. I must tell all you young mommies out there this:

You think sending them off to Kindergarten is bad? Think again!
I felt as if I was throwing him to the wolves when I sent him out the door Monday morning. The few memories one has of Kindergarten are good, happy times. But who has a fond memory of their first day of Junior High? OK, who has a fond memory of any day of Junior High? I don't!! So he left, and I cried. Yup, I cried. I've never cried when sending my kidelts off to kindergarten. I must be a mean mother. I look forward to them going to Kindergarten. But not this. I was more worried than he was. He wasn't worried at all. He was just plain excited. All morning I worried and I prayed. And as soon as I heard that front door open, I nearly knocked him over as I ran to him to hear the details (he's never quite had such a welcome!). I couldn't wait to hear every little detail. And he shared them with me! He loved it, and is excited about all of his classes and teachers. I felt so much better after hearing about his day. My prayer now is that the "Junior High" attitude doesn't break his spirit and ruin his enthusiasm for learning and for school. He's always loved school and learning... and I hope he can keep that fire alive!

The Yoder Baby Guessing Game!

Many times, when asked which sibling Logan looks the most like, I say - "You've seen one, you've seen them all." My kids just seem to look the same at the newborn stage. I decided to round up some pictures to see how they really do compare - side by side. I tried to find ones of the kids from the hospital, and another one of them at 2 months old. See if you can guess who is who!

First off though, you have to see a couple of pictures
from the past of Roman and me...

Pretty silly. I'm 1 in the top left picture, and 2 1/2 in the bottom left. I'm not sure how old Roman is in these pictures. I'm guessing 5 or 6 in the top right, and about 1 or 1 1/2 in the bottom right.

OK, back to business. In your comment, make your guess of who is who. In my header, my children are pictured in order starting with the top left, working down, and then back up on the right, working downwards. The order is: Aaron, Haley, Megan, Zack, Seth and Logan. Try to guess before you open the comment and see other people's comments! I'm pretty sure you can click on the picture and it will open in a new window in a larger format.

Here are my babies:

Now, here are the pictures of my babies around 2 months of age.
They are in a different order than the newborn picture collage.
Give it your best guess! I'm sure this is much easier!

I will reveal the correct answers next week... have fun! (It sure was fun for me!)

Mommy Tag - by Megan

My cousin Becky tagged Little Miss Megan with this fun little Mommy Tag. I will tag Taylor Hawthorne, Dale Simmons, and Thomas Anderson. Enjoy!

1.What is something Mommy always says? You call me Sweetie Pie

2. What makes Mommy happy? Having your kids be nice to each other

3. What makes Mommy sad? When I don't do the right thing

4. How does your Mom make you laugh? Making a silly face

5. What was your Mom like as a child? I don't know... I don't get it.

6. How old is your Mom? 36? (I'm only 33!)

7. How tall is your Mom? Almost as tall as daddy

8. What is your Mom's favorite thing to do? You love to cook (not!)

9. What does Mom do when your not around? Work on the computer

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for? Writing

11. What is your Mom really good at? Cooking

12. What is your Mom not good at? Wow...um.... sigh...... I KNOW! You cant get Sethy's diaper on cuz he won't listen to you.

13. What does Mom do for her job? Preschool

14. What is Mom's favorite food? Lasagna

15. What makes you proud of your Mom? Cuz I love her

16. If your Mom were a carton character who would she be? Miss Lori from PBS kids (?)

17. What do you and your Mom do together? Go on dates - get ice cream

18. How are you and your Mom the same? Hair color

19. How are you and your Mom different? You're bigger and I'm smaller

20. How do you know your Mom loves you? You think I'm cute.

Summertime Fun - The Yo Yo Way

Our Summer Vacation

With the price of gas, a newborn, and lack of funds, we took our only summer vacation today. That is right, I said TODAY - it was a day trip to Twin Falls.

We went to the Twin Falls Idaho Temple Open House! We left at about 10 this morning, stopped at IHOP for some lunch (or breakfast... if you're like me and will eat pancakes/french toast any time of day). Then we went over to the Open House. We left Seth with my sister for the day, so we were really able to enjoy the whole experience. It was fun to see the temple with my kids. They were floored when we told them they'd be able to go inside the temple and see what it looks like. And it was BEAUTIFUL of course! My favorite part of the whole tour was walking into the celestial room with my husband, children, and parents. I couldn't believe how bright and white it was. We only had about a minute to enjoy it - I wished I could have stayed longer. It was sweet to sit on the couch and enjoy the peace and beauty with my husband and five of my children.

After the tour (and refreshments of course - it is an LDS function!), we took a few pictures outside of the temple. The sad thing was that the kids were worn out and hot. So the shots I got of them aren't that great, and we didn't get one of our family - just the kids. Aaron was going to die because he needed to blow his nose, and I could barely talk Zack into getting into the picture. Oh well, I'm still happy that my Family is Forever!

After the Temple, we drove over to Shoshone Falls. Another beautiful site to see! Once again, everyone starting to get too tired and crabby (must have been the heat - it was about 95), to pose for a picture. So I just got some great shots of the falls all by themselves.
Lastly, we stopped at an understaffed DQ for ice cream and 20 minutes later (with our to go order) we headed home. We arrived back home at about 7:45. All said and done, it was a pretty cheap and easy vacation!

Frog Snorts School

Aaron started reading the Harry Potter series after school got out (I think he is on book 6 now). Last week he started teaching the little ones to say (and I'm sure I'm spelling this wrong) *EXPELIOMOUS!* This slowly evolved to Haley and her BFF Kira to make up this Harry Potteresque game that they titled "FROG SNORTS SCHOOL". They did a mild version of this Wednesday afternoon. After Kira left, Aaron and Haley started concocting elaborate ways of playing this - which included spray painting lines on the grass (in the back yard) to make different classrooms, typing up class schedules (see above), and making multiple wands out of sticks and good ol' duct tape. Thursday afternoon BFF came back and they began their playing...

Disclaimer: I am not up to par on all the Harry Pooper, oops, I mean POTTER, language... so I'm sure I've misspelled or butchered some of these names and words. Please forgive me and don't hold my ignorance against me!!!

I'll let the pictures do most of the talking now!

I just have to ask you to notice in this picture the cups.
Kira hunted down two dead rolly pollies for use during her *Potions* class.

Professor Winder (aka: Kira) teaches Potions Class to the studious student *Sara*

Professor Dumbledor (aka: Aaron) teaches *Isaac* about Transfiguration

Professor Rumple (aka: Haley) teaches the class about
Charms (I learned that this means "spells")

Haley and Kira

After Kira goes home, the kids call for reinforcements (enter cousins Jacob and Jordan!)
The teaching of *Caring for Magical Creatures* continues...

Thursday evening - 10:30 - they are FINALLY starting to fizzle out!

Friday afternoon the game continues - and we've added to the bunch! Ben becomes "Ron Weesley", Sami becomes "Kyley", Jacob continues to be Jacob, and Zack is determined to be "Harry Potter" (he even wrote on his forehead).

The kids, um, I mean *Professors* were excited to have additional students to teach.

It sure is fun when kids get away from the electronics and use their
IMAGINATION!!!

BEDS...

There was a point last night that none of my children were occupying their beds. It made me think that we should just get rid of the beds, and bedrooms for that matter, and just stick them all in one big room on the floor. That way we could use the rest of the house for food storage, and a craft room, and an office...

Megan wanted to sleep on Logan's floor. Instead, I found her asleep in the rocking chair!

Here is a picture of Haley and Zack on the floor. They were caught in the act though - Haley was reading to him... this was 10:30 at night.
Here they are now... pretending to be asleep.
I think when I was up at 1:00 feeding Logan, I came back to bed to find Megan and Seth had both gotten in my bed. I was too pooped to put them back in their beds though. Luckily we have a king sized bed and I was able to find some room for my tired body.

Here is a picture of Logan from this morning. He was just sleeping so soundly, I had to take a picture!