I Posted!

I got all my "Week in the Life" photos - scroll down to see... Here are a few others that I like that I didn't post... I'm sad to see that I never got any pix of my girls! Bad mommy!

We Eat Dead Cows

A few nights ago we had a roast for dinner. (Yes, I know what you're thinking, "Cathy? A fancy roast?" - I just happened to plan ahead for once... if you call eating at 7:30 planning ahead).

As we're eating, Seth starts complaining about "the chicken" getting stuck in his teeth. I laugh to myself, as he calls any sort of meat, chicken. Then Roman points out to everyone that we're not eating chicken - we're eating cow. I made a face, because it just sounded so gross, and I hoped none of my children would stop eating it because of the news. A few little comments and sounds are made, and then Roman says, "We're eating Grandpa's cow." Zack then says, (in that hello-you're-dumb-voice), "This isn't Grandpa's cows... Grandpa's cows are DEAD!!"

I love it.

Moo.

Merriest Christmas to YOU and other thoughts...

Last night we had our annual Family Couples-only Dinner Date night. We went to PF Changs. Holy cow, have you been there? It was AMAZING! I was full, yet I wanted more. We had our waiter order for us, so we got 12 different dishes, and passed the platters around and had a little of nearly everything. It was so good, and not as expensive as I thought it would be! After that, some of us went back to my sister's house to watch BSU play in the Poinsettia Bowl. Although they lost by only one stinkin point, we had a good time. I must admit that I didn't sit and watch the game the whole time. My niece Allison gave me a french manicure. She's 13. She did an awesome job. It's nice to feel pretty.

Speaking of my most favorite 13 year old in the whole world, Allison commented to me last night that I haven't been posting. She's right. I'm not. I'm so overwhelmingly busy right now. In my last post, I told you I have a lot of balls to juggle. This blogging ball has totally fallen and I haven't had time to pick it up! But right now it is 6:30 in the morning, and for some reason I woke up around 5:45 and couldn't shut off my brain with all I had to do today. So I decided to get up and get going on the list. What is on that list you wonder? I'm sure it is very similar to yours. In fact, you are probably busy ACCOMPLISHING that list, and not reading my blog. But to ease your curious mind, I shall share:

- go to the store to get a few more groceries for Christmas day baking (I'm doing that next)
- wrap (of course)
- make Clam Chowder for tonight
- make Rocky Road for tomorrow
- finish some book work for OYF
- do my mom's books (I'll be taking over while they are on their mission)
- finish the last two loads of laundry that have been sitting in the washer and dryer since Monday
- make one more batch of Caramel Corn for the neighbors. Did friends, but completely spaced doing anything for the neighbors!
- Nap?????
- Find a used cell phone because the one we had for me isn't working today
- Get the house under control
- What I'd LOVE to do, but is a luxury, not a necessity, would be to make a family picture DVD of 2008 and post it on my blog. That will take a few hours, which I don't think I'm going to have!

I AM going to post about two things I HAVE accomplished. My Christmas Card (and if I didn't send one to you, and really should have, it only confirms the fact that I have a very jumbled forgetful brain) -



I tell ya, these little 4x6 photo cards are the way to go. The silly poem I just printed off at home, but the picture I sent to Costco 1 hour photo on Saturday. Aaron went with me. After we picked them up, we sat in the car and stuffed all the envelopes I had addressed and stamped. After licking them, we dropped them off at the post office. I got 95 of those cards printed (it's a long story, but I accidentally ended up with 95 cards... I didn't need 95 cards. I don't have 95 people that even want a card from me. But I have 95 cards. There are now stray cards floating around my house) for less than $15. How cool is that?

Also - one of my favorite things this year was the little gift I made for my preschoolers to give to their parents. I got the idea from Emily, whose blog post no longer exists because she's had some sicko post to her blog from a porn site, so she's going private and has moved all past blog entries to some unknown part of the world. It was so amazingly cute, and I modified the idea to make some of these (click to enlarge):

This was so easy and fun to do. I'd like to make some 8x10's of my kids and frame them. After Emily printed and cut the pictures out, she painted the back side black, let it dry, then mounted it on white card stock, and then framed it! It looked so awesome! And it's sooo easy and cheap!

Here is my cute little preschool class holding their ornaments (by the way, I spaced writing their names and the year on the back, so you may want to do this!):

And lastly, here is my little Zack at his Pre-kindergarten class Christmas program. They acted out the Nativity. He was a king. And a sweet one at that.

OK, I've been one here for an hour. I guess this is why I'm not blogging... what I think will take 15 minutes, ends up taking me an hour! Oh well. I really need to do this because of journaling purposes! I made my free 11x11 inkubook and copied a lot of it from my blog. I think it turned out pretty awesome! Although I'd love to have put more in there... only had 20 pages for free. Anyway, hope you have a Merry Christmas and make a point of relaxing. That is what I intend to do! {{hugs!}}

Oh the rough life of a Super Hero

We interrupt your very busy day to make a special announcement.

Super Hero collapses from exhaustion!

At 3:20 this afternoon, Super Hero Spiderman-wannabe Zack-man-Yo was found collapsed in his super Batmobile due to an overdose of candy and preschool parties. Special Reporter Yo Yo Mama captured the moment for all to witness.

We immediately called for reinforcements from a comrade in super hero likeness. He arrived in his Batmobile, only to be found in a similar state of exhaustion. After much research, special ops team Mommies R Us, declared this state of exhaustion shown by many super heroes throughout the world as: TOO POOPED TO PEEP.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled day.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZACK MAN!

Happy Birthday Zack!!

"Zack Attack" was born October 6, 2003, and weighed 8 pounds 3 ounces. He is a strong and easy-going spirit who was brave enough to come to our home as baby #4!!! He was the hardest by far and I was overwhelmed. We still had our carpet cleaning business that I had to run (no maternity leave there!), and my oldest was only 7 and in second grade. Megan was just barely two (they are my two closest in age). I was overwhelmed to say the least! So the poor little guy was a bit neglected. He cried a lot. So I fed him a lot, which made him spit up a lot, which in turn led to more crying, feeding, spitting, feeding, crying... you get the picture. Although he was born with a big head, he was overfed. Thus leading to an 15 pound baby by the age of 2 months! EEK!

As Zack grew up, he became LOADS of fun... He loves food, and anything that is a treat.
Even to this day you may find him hiding in a corner, digging into a pudding,
a yogurt, or sneaking cookies.

Zack went from difficult baby, to the most easy going,
happy two, three, and four year old EVER!!!

Zack comes up with the silliest faces, is so quick to smile,
has a contagious laugh, gives great hugs, still wipes off my kisses,
has a beautiful and innocent smile, can't lie with out smiling,
and is the most kissable FIVE YEAR OLD I know!!!

YO MOMMA LOVES YOU ZACKARONI!!

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!)

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!!!