The McClellan Meanderings

My yearly post... yeah!!!

2012-01-24T11:05:00.006-07:00

Has it really been one year since I posted last? Well yes, yes it has. I know because today is Jan. 24 and my last post was Jan. 22...2011, not two days ago.

It's hard to believe that 12 years ago, we brought home our firstborn child Cameron Mitchell; a tiny, bundled up ball of screaming anger! Now, we have a not so tiny ball of built up anger! joking, sort of. Cam is a great boy who loves to make people laugh. He still loves to read and be with friends and once in a while family. He has been a joy to have in our home, and has only given us small amounts of grief...so far! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY HANDSOME 12 YEAR OLD!!! We love you Cam!

Here is his birthday cake. We did a jungle theme because he and some friends went to a place called Jumpin Jungle for the party... we thought it was fitting.

Cakes, cakes, and more cakes!

2011-01-22T12:36:00.009-07:00

Here's what I've been doing for the past two weekends! Fun cakes, I think I am starting to go "outside the box" with my cake skills. It's been tricky, but definitely fun and worth it! I have to give credit where credit is due... these cakes would not be as good as they are without my righthand man- my hubby and best friend! He did more with these cakes than I did! He will tell you otherwise, but I know better! I love him so much!

Enough mushy gushy talk... this cake was made for an engagement party! This was an entirely edible cake- well, except for the diamond, but I am working on making that edible too! The cake lid was made from Rice Krispy Treat, and the box was chocolate and vanilla marble cake with raspberry filling. Her colors were gold, purple and ivory. The box was "painted" gold with pearl dust, and the pearls were made with fondant and dusted with ivory pearl dust.

This cake is for my son Camerons 11th birthday today, and it's a good thing I just took a picture, because my 2 1/2 year old just ate the eyes off and dug his fingers all along the side of the cake! Red velvet cake (should look awesome cutting in to) and the bottom cake is also a choc/vanilla marble cake... what's with the marble lately? Must be good stuff!

This skateboard cake was a fun one to make for my best friends' son. He is majorly in to skateboarding (so are his brothers) and I think he really liked this cake. Everything on this cake is edible.

Super Sam to the rescue! This was for a 3 year old boy who loves Super Hero's, but Superman is currently his favorite!

That's all for now. If you know anyone who needs cakes, I am your woman! Give them my name and number if you have it! Thanks for looking!

A lot of catching up to do!

2010-11-15T12:55:00.013-07:00

Well folks, it's official... I am the worlds worst blogger! I can't tell you the number of times I have just wanted to delete this dumb thing... Facebook too for that matter! Then I realize how much I love it when I see everyone else's blogs that they update regularly (Jen, you get first prize!) so it makes me want to stick with it... no matter how pathetic I am at only blogging every 6 months or so. We had some way fun things going on this past summer and into fall. It's gonna take a couple of posts I think to catch up, but I'll give it a shot.

Summer 2010:

July:

Mitch took a week off over the 4th of July and we headed to Eastern Idaho. We went to Island Park and visited Mitch's sweet grandma at her cabin. The kids had lots of fun with the paddle boat and we found out our golden retreiver Sunny LOVES water!!!

We then headed back to IF to visit our angels grave. We miss her more than words will ever tell! I don't feel like the hole in my heart will ever heal and I doubt there will ever be a day when I don't think about my little Mia!

We had a lot of fun over the 4th, but alas, no pictures. sorry!

August:

The Stanger Family Reunion was scheduled for the beginning of August, so off to Bear Lake we go: we stayed in an amazing cabin that my parents rented for all the gang. I should have taken pictures, it was so gorgeous! The cabin was on the hill over looking the crystal blue lake! We spent about 4 days there and the kids loved it... rain and all! I didn't get pics of Cam because he was too far out in the water with his cousins the whole time, and I don't know where Collin was each time I had the camera either (at least he wasn't under the water!) So here is Creed- not liking the chilli water at first, but soon realizing that everyone was getting in, so his fear quickly subsided!

Luckily the water was shallow for quite a ways out there, but we never let him get too deep!

He was the happiest at the cabin's pool- warm water and no sand in all his crevices!

Madeline, however, couldn't get enough of the sand or the water! Check out her mud patty!

This year school started early for our kids. Collin is a Kindergartener this year and was so excited to have all his own stuff- I know I have a better picture of him, I just can't seem to find it right now. He loves his dinosaur backpack!

September:

We headed to Lava Hot Springs in Sept. for Mitch's Lewis Family Reunion. Had a good time, no pics, surprise, surprise!

I had been blessed to be able to get some cake jobs this month. Not that I need a job, but extra money now and then is always nice!

My first official "cupcake" wedding cake... but so much fun, it definitely won't be my last! I loved her colors on this- tourquoise, black and white. Each cupcake was swirled with white buttercream icing, sprinkled with tourquoise edible beads, and topped with handmade chocolate hearts... whew!

Her husband is quite a gamer, and his favorite is Galaga... Mitch and I came up with this design and they loved it! Each piece is hand-made and extremely breakable!!!

This cake I did for my best friends cousin. It is very simple, but it's what she wanted- they said they ate every last bite and told me it was fabulous too! Yay!

That's all for now folks! Coming up... October brings all sorts of entertainment like our cruise on the Oasis of the Seas, and then we'll see if I took any pics for Halloween- probably not, but I can check!

Thanks for reading!

It's a love-hate relationship

2010-09-14T12:42:00.002-06:00

I don't know how these two will survive their teenage years together! Madeline is just learning how to play the piano and Cam has taken for two years now. He is on a much higher level of playing, he was just trying to help her out.

Remembering Mia

2010-07-06T12:13:00.006-06:00

This 4th of July holiday, we went to Idaho Falls to commemorate the one year mark of our family losing our beautiful little Mia on July 2. She was stillborn to us at 30 weeks. She was 2 lbs 11 oz. and 17 in. long.It is so hard to believe that a whole year has gone by. I still wonder how time went on when I wanted it to stand still forever, but it did, and our hearts are healing- slowly.
I want to share some of the poems that I have collected over the year that have brought cleansing tears and peace to me.

An Angel In My Hand
Some people sing of angels
But I held one in my hand,
She was pure and clean and touched my life
As only an angel can

I longed to keep her here with me
And though I loved her so,
I knew she didn’t belong here on earth
So I let my angel go.

Sometimes when my heart is still
And when I miss her most,
I think about the time I had,
To hold my angel close.

And I know that God must love me
And I know how blessed I am,
To not just sing of angels
But to have held one in my hand.

When God sends forth a tiny soul
To learn the ways of earth,
A Mother’s love is waiting here
We call this wonder birth.
When God calls home a little soul
And stills a fleeting breath,
A Father’s love is waiting there,
This too is birth, not death.

If tears could build a stairway
And memories a lane,
I would walk right up to Heaven
And bring you back again.
No farewell words were spoken,
No time to say “Goodbye”,
You were gone before I knew it
And only God knows why.
My heart still aches with sadness
And secret tears still flow,
What it meant to love you-
No one will ever know.
But now I know you want me
To mourn for you no more;
To remember all the happy times
Life still has much in store.
Since you’ll never be forgotten,
I pledge to you today-
A hollowed place within my heart
Is where you’ll always stay.

I thought of you today, but that is nothing new.
I thought about you yesterday and days before that too.
I think of you in silence, I often speak your name.
All I have are memories and a picture in a frame.
Your memory is a keepsake, from which I'll never part.
God has you in his arms... I have you in my heart.

Here is a movie clip of our time with our precious angel. Feel free to watch it, but if you don't want too, don't feel like you have to.
We love you all and thanks for helping us through a rough year!

Happy Birthday Creed!!!

2010-06-23T16:53:00.013-06:00

Where does time go??? Seriously, where does it go? My sweet Creed is two today! It seems like it was yesterday that we brought him home! This year Creed got a nice birthday to make up for last years forgotten one. We had lots of friends and family over for a BBQ, then he got to open some gifts that he loved (can't go wrong with bubbles and balls!) Then we had cake and icecream... not a whole lot, but he was adorable!

Okay for some reason, I can't find the rest of the pictures of his party, but I will find them and post them when I do. Here is his cake, don't laugh, I had to clean the house and make all the dinner by myself... I was a little flustered and rushed!

Happy Birthday my sweet baby boy! We love love love him at our house! He has always been so serious and he's finally (after two dang years) finding his smile and WOW is it a cute smile!!!

So here is Creed's first two years in a nutshell...

From this:

To this cutie pie who's 2 today!!!

WE LOVE OUR CREEDO-BURRITO!!!

McClellans' Got Talent

2010-05-12T09:30:00.005-06:00

So my kids' school had their annual talent show and they both decided to try out for it. They both made it and did a good job practicing and getting ready. Madeline performed the Hoedown Throwdown (Hannah Montana) with her great friend Maggie, and Cameron busted out a comical act "I'm Still Here in the Bathtub" (to the tune of Take Me Out to the Ballgame).
We were so proud of them and I am truly grateful for my friend who saved the day by recording when my camera wasn't doing it's job- well maybe it was the person running the camera-oops!

So here are my little stage struck performers...

It was funny because the girls stomping was making the music skip and then it would kind of throw them off a little... it got a little repetetive, but cute none the less!

Cam did a great job on his act! He got a little thrown off when the audience started clapping after the second verse and he wasn't done, but he got it together and finished with a bang!

I'm so proud of my little stars!

Madeline's Big Birthday

2010-03-22T10:13:00.006-06:00

I can't believe my baby girl is 8 already!!! Madeline turned 8 in Feb. and had a huge birthday party with a Hannah Montana theme... complete with photo shoot with lifesize Hannah cutout, arts and crafts galore, and Karoke/dancing under the (real) disco ball! They had a blast, and I was so glad to be rid of those 10 giggly girls! Talk about drama! But they were all adorable.

Morning of her birthday she couldn't wait to wake up and open presents... still in her jammies!

Hannah Montana (anyone in need of a Hannah cutout? give me a call!)

The picture frame the girls decorated so we could put their picture in it- sorry about the glare off the picture!

And at the end of her big day... she crashes with her new treasures

More to follow on her baptism day!

Testing

2010-02-28T20:03:00.002-07:00

Alright every body... I am doing a test. No, not a pregnancy test... or even a pass or fail test. Ever since I went private on this blog, I've only gotten two or three comments (sniff, sniff). So if you can still access my blog and read my posts, please make a comment- even if it's just saying "I do", although I'd prefer more... I want to see if this going private thing is worth it or not.

Thanks! Carlie

The Joy's of Osama-Bin-Collin...

2010-02-07T15:03:00.003-07:00

I had to share this with you all because it's soooo Collin!

We were sitting down to breakfast this morning, well it was me, Mitch and Collin- the other's hadn't risen from the dead yet. Nothing big or fancy for breakfast, just cereal- it IS Sunday!

So he finishes and gets up takes his bowl over to the sink, sets it down and says "Well, see ya sucka's" and he walks off and lets this giant BELCH!!!!

Mitch was rolling on the floor laughing, and I was trying to get my jaw off the ground! Tell me this isn't my kid!!!

I think I'll go private now

2010-01-26T14:10:00.004-07:00

Okay everyone... a good friend of mine just pointed out that some whack-jobs left weird comments on my post about my little angel. Soooo... I think I need to go private- soon! That is just too wierd to me! But if you are on my blog page, I will invite you to it again- I just need your email addresses! Please get them to me asap, because I love to see your updates too!
This is a sad world anymore, an nothing is safe- especially stuff that is so personal!
I love you all and hope to hear from you soon!
Carlie

P.S.. my cake blog is in the making... it justs takes me a while between me being computer illiterate and my computer just plain being slow!

My "Baby Boy" is 10!!!

2010-01-24T07:38:00.006-07:00

Happy Birthday to my firstborn boy Cameron Mitchell... he is 10 years old!!! Where did that time go? I seriously just had him yesterday it seems!

We started off by letting him open his family gifts... he was pleasantly surprised to get a new Wii game, a DS game, a huge Nerf gun with extra darts, and of course... clothes (not so much fun, but very much needed!)

Then he started his "Discovery party"with a couple of friends who went with him to the Discovery Center of Idaho- they had a blast, especially with the welding machine- go figure.... boys+ fire= lots of fun and entertainement for hours! Thanks Dad for taking him and all the boys- the peace and quiet at our house was rather enjoyable for Madeline and I!

Meanwhile... I got busy working on our masterpiece- I must say, this is probably the coolest cake we've done- I say we, because this cake would not have happened if it weren't for Mitch ( the kids even all pitched in with the planets!) It was rather fun making it and we were very

pleased with the end results!

The Solar System ( no, the planet are not aligned correctly... the cake would have been 5 feet long if we did that... nor are they in order... come on people, it's a dang cool cake anyway!!!)

The planets are made of rice krispy treats and fondant- they were the most poplular of the all the kids! The cake is done in a VERY dark blue buttercream, and flecked with white food coloring to make it look like stars and constellations.

Eating was the best part! Vanilla and chocolate marble with a creamy fudge filling.... yummy!

Happy Birthday buddy... and if you ever ask me to do a cake this big again- you're in big trouble! ( Actually, I loved it... so ask away!)

Kill two birds with one stone!

2010-01-22T09:36:00.003-07:00

Kitchen's messy... kid is messy...

Step one: load dishwasher with as many dishes as it can possibly hold.

Step 2: Wash all pots and pans in a sink full of suds.

Step 3: Place child in sink full of suds and accomplish a bath while doing dishes!

(The dishes were pre rinsed so there wasn't big chunks of food sitting in there!)

Clean kitchen+ Clean child= Happy mommy!

Wow, forgiveness really does lighten your load!

2010-01-12T10:13:00.002-07:00

So this past Sunday was a rough one! If any of you saw my FB posts, I apologize... I was hurt and angry and I probably shouldn't have posted at all; but I am thankful to everyone who helped me feel better.
I was in the Primary secretary calling, and I loved it! I had been in for one year when they called a new President. I was able to keep my calling- and I was happy. But the lady who had been the 2nd counselor since I got put in (we got put in at the same time) didn't like hers and always bugged me to switch callings with her. I told her many many times "no, I like my calling" So on Sunday I get called in and the bishopric counselor tells me that they want me to be the 2nd counselor because she requested to either be released or be the secretary. Our president didn't want to lose either of us, and so she switched us- not knowing how I felt or how I would be affected. Needless to say I blew up and had two bad days... but I finally got down on my knees (with my wonderful awesome husband) and prayed for forgiveness and healing. Well this morning I thought long and hard about accepting this call and I felt peace, and my whole self felt so much better.
So I will now be the Priamry 2nd counselor for who knows how long... I have no clue what to do, but I will do my best. Thanks everyone for loving me through thick and thin! I love you all too!

Angels among us

2009-12-17T13:50:00.006-07:00

"I believe there are angels among us, sent down to us from somewhere up above,
They come to you and me, in our darkest hour, to show us how to live, to teach us how to give,
To guide us with the light of love." (Alabama)

There are so many Christmas songs on right now about angels... and I just can't help but cry each time I hear one! No matter the meaning of the song, just hearing the word "angel" makes me think of my beautifu little Mia. I miss her so much and I wonder if my heart will ever truly heal. I know there are worse things than what I have gone through, but that doesn't make me miss her any less or love her any less either. I feel so blessed to have our own angel to watch over our family!

My good friend Jaymie wrote this beautiful poem for her baby boy when he passed away just a few hours after being born... I switched some wording to make it for my little girl...( and yes, that is Mia's hand holding her daddy's)

An Angel In My Hand

Some people sing of angels
But I held one in my hand,
She was pure and clean and touched my life
As only an angel can

I longed to keep her here with me
And though I loved her so,
I knew she didn’t belong here on earth
So I let my angel go.

Sometimes when my heart is still
And when I miss her most,
I think about the time I had,
To hold my angel close.

And I know that God must love me
And I know how blessed I am,
To not just sing of angels
But to have held one in my hand.

Too funny not to share!

2009-12-08T14:00:00.002-07:00

My mom sent me this email and I thought I would share because it made me laugh... hope it makes you laugh too! Some are somewhat women bashing, but funny none-the-less...

How the fight started......

One year, a husband decided to buy his mother-in-law a cemetery plot As a Christmas gift...The next year, he didn't buy her a gift. When she asked him why, he replied, "Well, you still haven' t used the gift I bought you last Year!"And that's how the fight started...

I asked my wife,' Where do you want to go for our anniversary?' It warmed my heart to see her face melt in sweet appreciation. 'Somewhere I haven't been in a long time!' she said.So I suggested, ' How about the kitchen?'And that's when the fight started...

I took my wife to a restaurant. The waiter, for some reason, took my order first.'I'll have the strip steak, medium rare, please.'He said, 'Aren't you worried about the mad cow?''Nah, she can order for herself.'And that's when the fight started...

My wife sat down on the couch next to me as I was flipping the channels.She asked, 'whats on TV?'I said, 'dust.'And then the fight started...

My wife was hinting about what she wanted for our upcoming anniversary.She said , 'I want something shiny that goes from 0 to200 in about 3 seconds.'I bought her a scale..And then the fight started...

My wife and I were sitting at a table at her high school reunion, and she kept staring at a drunken man swigging his drink as he sat alone at a nearby table.I asked her, 'Do you know him?''Yes,' she sighed, 'He's my old boyfriend... I understand he took to drinking right after we split up those many years ago, and I hear he hasn't been sober since..''My gosh!' I said,' Who would think a person could go on celebrating that long?'And then the fight started...

I rear-ended a car this morning...So, there we were alongside the road and slowly the other driver got out of his car. You know how sometimes you just get soooo stressed and little things just seem funny? Yeah,Well I couldn't believe it... He was a DWARF!!!He stormed over to my car, looked up at me, and shouted, 'I AM NOT HAPPY!'So, I looked down at him and said,' Well, then which one are you?'And then the fight started...

When our lawn mower broke and wouldn't run, my wife kept hinting to me that I should get it fixed. But, somehow I always had something else to take care of first... the truck, the car, playing golf. There was always something more important to me.Finally she thought of a clever way to make her point. When I arrived home one day, I found her seated in the tall grass, busily snipping away with a tiny pair of sewing scissors. I watched silently for a short time and then went into the house. I was gone only a minute, andWhen I came out again I handed her a toothbrush.I said,' When you finish cutting the grass, you might as well sweep the driveway.'And then the fight started...The doctors say I will walk again, but I will always have a limp.

Turkey Day Shmurkey Day!

2009-12-03T06:52:00.002-07:00

This Thanksgiving... well it just plain sucked! We had big plans for Mitch's whole family to come over and spend the weekend and have lots of good food and fun- you know, the usual Thanksgiving. Well, as luck would have it, Mitch and the boys all came down with the flu- we were thinking it was the swine flu because it lasted the whole week. Luckily, Madeline and I were spared... so far. So we had to cancel our festivities two days before. We just laid around the whole week. We did cook our 24 pound turkey and had turkery to eat for the rest of the week! I was beginning to wonder what I could do with turkey and oatmeal!

Then I began to feel sorry for myself- it doesn't take much these days... and as usual, I think the Spirit was trying to convey a message through music to me. I have learned so many lessons in life through music! I definitely believe that we can feel the love of our Savior and Heavenly Father, and hear what they are trying to tell us- just through good, wholesome music!

Enter Josh Groban... he has got to be my most favorite singer of all time!!! I absolutely love him! So I was attempting to get in the Christmas spirit, feeling very low and ungrateful for everything... when his song "Thankful" came on. I was touched that the words to that song seemed like it was being sung directly to me at that time! I would like to share with all of you, because I realized that even though life is hard, and we don't see all the good things that we should... we truly do have so much to be thankful for.

Somedays we forget to look around us
Somedays we can't see the joy that surrounds us
So caught up inside ourselves, we take when we should give.
So for tonight we pray for, what we know can be.
And on this day we hope for, what we still can't see.
It's up to us to be the change and even though we all can still do more
There's so much to be thankful for.

Look beyond ourselves, there's so much sorrow
It's way too late to say I'll cry tomorrow
Each of us must find our truth, it's so long overdue
So for tonight we pray for , what we know can be
And every day we hope for, what we still can't see
It's up to us to be the change and even though we all can still do more
There's so much to be thankful for.

Even with our differences, there is a place we're all connected
Each of us can find each other's light
So for tonight we pray for, what we know can be
And on this day we hope for, what we still can't see
It's up to us to be the change and even though this world needs so much more
There's so much to be thankful for

Our Belated Halloween

2009-11-13T13:41:00.008-07:00

I'm telling you- I am the most lazy blogger ever! It is almost the middle of November and I'm finally posting about Halloween.

We don't make a big deal of this holiday- much to my kids' dismay! They want us to decorate all scary and spooky, but the problem is, we live in a neighborhood of older people and NO kids come trick or treating around here. So we veto that request pretty quickly!

The kids got to have a Halloween party/parade at school on Wed. because they had no school on Thursday or Friday. This year they wanted nothing to do with themes, but more to do with "real Halloween". Thus- here is Cameron... I don't think an explanation is needed here...

I must say he did make a rather good Frankenstein!

Madeline started out wanting to be a black cat, but then she switched to a tiger- very cute!

Then Collin wanted to be a vampire this year- although my outlook on vampires has changed quite a bit since Twilight came out! :0)

Creed was not okay with a costume so I didn't get a picture, but he was a dragon- cute and cranky!!!

And now, the rest of the story... (trip)

2009-11-02T08:44:00.018-07:00

Wednesday Oct. 7
We mostly just played on Wednesday at the beach and drove around to see more sites. But the fun part was Wed. night, we went to the Smith's Family Tropical Luau- I know "Smiths" doesn't sound real Hawaiian, but that's what you get when a man from England marries a hawaiian woman! But they put on a great luau, that's for sure!

They took our picture with some native hotties right when we entered. Then we got to tour the gardens before the luau actually began. It was beautiful!

Of course, there was an abundance of chickens, roosters and peacocks!

The Easter Island statue- otherwise known by my kids as "Dumbdumb" from Night at the Museum... it looks like he sneezed us out!

Another "local" hottie!

Some more of their garden area...

We couldn't pass up the photo opportunities in this gorgeous place!

The luau was a blast and the food was awesome! The shows were cool, and we had a great time!

Thursday Oct. 8
We decide to try to find this cool place Jenn had heard of called Ki'Pu Falls. It was only a short drive from our hotel and we were told a five minute hike off the road to the falls... so we took off early morning after breakfast. Well they were right about the drive- about 15 minutes... and the hike was right off the road, it was probaby a five minute hike too- but what they left out was it was a five minute hike with sugarcane slapping you in the face and towering above our heads the hold time! Talk about claustrophobic! I was just about to call it quits when we came to this clearing and saw the most beautiful sight so far!!! And the best part is- we were the only ones there for about 30 minutes! Then the crowds started showing up.

It was like walking in to a move scene! There was lava rock all over the place, with a stream cascading down into these huge falls that flowed in to a gorgeous pool!

Two different views of the falls, the first was what we saw when we got there, the second is from the view by the rope swing, after crossing the stream (jumping from rock to rock, trying to not fall off the falls!)

I swear it was like the scene from Swiss Family Robinson! The trees were huge and felt so smooth we thought they were fake! And then, much to our delight, there was a rope swing about 30 feet above the pool that we could swing out and land in the pool! Mitch and Buzz of course didn't hesitate, and we just happened to be wearing out swim suits! :0)

Mitch trying the rope first- surprise, surprise!

Buzz was short to follow- they are so much fun!

I was a little more leery- I am such a chicken! Twenty years ago- maybe even ten, I used to jump off cliffs higher than that at Lake Powell, but something has happened to me to make me a scaredy-cat! but, I eventually jumped- I won't post that video of me! It wasn't the most graceful moment of my life, but I did it and I'm glad! The water was cold, but refreshing and not salty for a change!

Here we all are, posing in the stream before taking off- it was getting crowded and our camera's were both out of batteries- dang it!

We had so much fun! We didn't want to leave, but we had other things to do and we wanted to get some shopping done that day too.

While out shopping, we decided to go see the Spouting Horn- Kauai's blow hole. It was cool, but not as cool as Old Faithful in Yellowstone!

It was cool to see how strong the waves would hit and create a big spout or a small one.

Friday Oct. 9

We had to check out of our hotel by 11:00 a.m., but our flights home weren't until late that night... plus, it was pouring rain! We just drove around and splashed through puddles, then we saw a sign for Waimea Falls- so we went to take a look... it was foggy, but still pretty! I can't imagine how these would look on a sunny day.

Then, much to Mitch's delight, the weather finally cleared at around 3:00 and we hit the beach one last time- well he swam, I didn't want to test my luck with sharks- we were told they like to swim closer to shore when it has been raining because the water is murky. Mitch said "bring on the sharks, baby!" Tough guy!

Here is a far picture of Mitch in the waves, trying to act like a teenager and body surfing, where he about broke a rib and knocked himself out! I don't think he needed to worry about sharks, just himself acting like a goofball!

We had to say goodbye Friday night and get on our planes for the long flight home! That's the great thing about Tylenol PM... we slept the whole night and next thing we know, we are in Seattle and on our way home to our -very homesick for mommy and daddy- kids! They were so excited to see us, but more so to see what we got them! We were excited to see them, but both Mitch and I said later that we definitely could have stayed another week and been just fine!

Good to be home, can't wait for the next trip! Hee hee, I think we're hooked!

Hawaii 2009 (part one)

2009-10-29T13:26:00.019-06:00

ALLOOOOOHA!!!

Finally! I am sitting down to post about Mitch and I's fabulous trip to Kauai, HI. We were so blessed to be able to go with our wonderful brother and sister (in law) Buzz and Jenn. We had an absolute blast the whole time! I am probably going to break this down into parts of our trip so I don't overload anyone with pictures... so without further ado...

We arrived late Saturday night and it was pouring rain- warm rain! So we just drove to our hotel and went to sleep since it was really 2:00 a.m. our time- it was 10:00 Hawaii time. Here is the villas that we stayed in called the Princeville Westin- gorgeous! I didn't' get a picture of their pool area, and that was absolutely beautiful! We swam and played in that area on Sunday.

You can't see it in this picture, but the ocean is in the background- we were on the coast! And the weather is beautiful here- my camera was on the fritz!

One thing Kauai has in abundance (and we thought it was a joke that the airline people were telling us) in chickens and roosters! I swear! They had to have more roosters running around than Hawaiians!!! Oh, and let's not forget the frogs! They liked to come out at night, but those suckers were big!

Sunday we played in the rain for half the day at Hanalei Bay, but I forgot my camera- dangit! the waves were HUGE!!!! Mitch really wanted to play in those waves, but I think he underestimated the powerfullness of them! Plus, we didn't have our suits on as we were just touring at that time.

Monday was one of our best days there... it was forecasted to rain all week, but we saw nothing but clear blue skies! We took a 6 hour catamaran tour of the Na'Pali Coast, and MAN was it worth it!

Here we are on the front of the catamaran- best seats there and no one else dared! We totally scored!

The valley of the Na'Pali Coast- what is so cool about this coast, is that it is not inhabited, and never has been! Just lush and green and so amazingly gorgeous! My camera seriiously didn't do it justice at all! (If you look closely, you can see a waterfall in the middle of the valley)

A tunnel in the middle of the rock - oh, by the way, this is where a lot of films were made - South Pacific- we were right by the beach where she "washed that man right out of her hair"! Also, the start of Jurasic Park was filmed here, and a lot of others that I can't remember. A very popluar, beautiful place!

This cave was so awesome! I have a picture of Mitch and I by this, but no one is allowed to see it because I look like a whale! So just enjoy the awesomness of this picture- the falls are coming from the mountain- and you can't see it, so it looks even cooler!

The highlight of the catamaran tour was the dolphins! I was the lucky one who spotted them in the distance- I saw fins and thought they were sharks- the guide had a lot of fun with that one!! But we were able to get video of the coolest thing ever! They came right up to us and were literally swimming at our feet- we could have touched them if we dared, and they were so amazing!!!

After the tour, we came back to the hotel, cleaned ourselves up and went to a nice dinner with a gorgeous atmosphere at a place called Keoki's.

Tuesday we went to a place called Waimea Canyon. They call it the "Grand Canyon of Kauai" and it did not disappoint! My camera did, but hopefully you get the picture... no pun intended! :0)

This little farm house was clear down in the bottom of this valley- it was tiny! We had no idea how it even got there, or how they get out because there was not a thing around!

The "Grand Canyon of Kauai"

Looking down in the valley on the other side of the Na'Pali Coast

That's all for today, stay tuned for more this week! (I have to post all my Hawaii trip so I can post about Halloween and the kids before it gets too late!)

Look Who's Walking Now!!!

2009-09-23T13:06:00.008-06:00

(Insert Alleluia Chorus!!!)

Creed did it! He finally started walking! It only took him 15 freaking months, not to mention all his "friends"-(mostly girls) are walking...but he did it!

I know I haven't posted anything on him in a while, and I really dropped the ball when it came to his birthday... but I had a good excuse, I think. He was one sick little boy on his birthday- turns out he had Hand, Foot & Mouth disease! Poor little guy had sores all over his mouth and couldn't eat. So I was going to celebrate his birthday with my family in IF, when we went over for the 4th of July, but then we lost Mia, and poor little Creed got put on the back burner, and I just never got around to it. Sorry sweetheart! Believe me, I will more than make up for it when you turn two!

Some things about our little man:

- He is so dang serious! If you get him to laugh or smile at you, it's a miracle! This is his newest look... enough said!

- He likes to yell- a lot! But not necessarily in anger; when he's happy or excited, and when he's letting us know something important!

- At 12 months, he weighed 22.75 lbs. (50%)

- He was 30.25 in. long (67%)

- He loves to go up and down the stairs following us- Has recently learned to climb up on the furniture by himself!

- Loves to pound on the piano

- Creed LOVES to eat! He's our best eater by far! And speaking of eating... I promised I would post this- a video of Creed and our neighbor "Red"- he loves Creed, and Creed loves Red's beard!... We like to call this "Cotton Candy"

We love our little Creedo!!!

Y-Not Tri...

2009-08-17T14:12:00.006-06:00

Sure why not? Mitch thought as he was asked by a buddy to do this mini triathalon. "How hard could it be?" So he began his training and working out, eating healthier, and of course losing weight (without trying- grrr!)

The race date was scheduled for Aug. 6, it was 1/4 mile swim, 6 mile bike ride, and 2 mile run... sound fun? Not to me, but Mitch had fun training for it and race time came and we were there to support him and cheer him on-- in the rain!

Mitch in his sexy swim outfit! Hee hee!

There were hundreds of men in the water (it was the mens division) and let me just say... yuck! That pond water was so nasty smelling! He told me he wanted to puke a couple of times during the race from getting water in his mouth Gross! I lost him right as the race started, but it was so funny to see all these guys trying to swim and beat everyone around them when there was hardly any room! Good job babe! (Mitch is the one in the middle, not the one standing up!!!)

Next was the biking portion. He would have done a lot better had he not decided to get totally dressed to get on his bike! Other guys were biking in their speedos and Mitch not only gets completely dressed, but he also gets dressed slowly! He made it through the bike portion in good time, but he was tired and slowing down... he said he was so tired by the time the running part was over, that he wanted to collapse- but he made it! He did so good- much better than I could do!

When people ask him how he did, he replies with a smile on his face, "well, I didn't come in first... but I didn't come in last either, and I didn't die!" So there you have it folks! Mitch did his first TriAthalon. I asked him if he would do it again and he said he would definitely do this one, but not one any bigger! Hey, someones gotta do the small ones- we'll leave the Iron Man's for all you diehards out there!

Good job babe! We are so proud of you!

The kids "chillin" in the rain during the race- they were (soaked)troopers!

Our family... happy that the race is done and we could all go home and take warm baths and showers!

Kids will be kids

2009-07-17T11:13:00.006-06:00

So we have been trying to make some normalcy of our lives, and the best way to not constantly be grieving is to keep busy. Being outdoor really helps me, so I thought I'd start taking my kids to the park just down the road from our house. You know, get some fresh air and enjoy the summer weather, kids get free lunches, and their favorite part of the whole thing... catching frogs in the mosqito infested swamp/pond.

Here is there final work... I personally think it's disgusting, but even the girls seemed to love it! EEEEWWWW!

The many, many frogs all the kids caught... we only took 4 home, which somehow escaped (thanks Mitch)

Cameron, Collin, Madeline, Emily, Maggie, and Lilli

Creed not quite sure what to think about it all.

Aren't kids disgusting?! But if it makes them happy, then it's all good!

Mia Catherine McClellan

2009-07-02T12:37:00.002-06:00

This is probably the hardest post I have ever had to do...

It is with great sadness and extremely heavy hearts that we announce that Mia Catherine McClellan was stillborn to us this morning. Words can not express the feelings that we are going through right now. She is a beautiful little girl with thick dark hair. We got to spend a few hours with her this morning. It was a very special time that we will cherish forever.

We want to thank everyone for the outpouring of support that we have received.

Love,
Mitch & Carlie

Doing much better now

2009-06-22T10:01:00.002-06:00

Well I've decided that I probably shouldn't post anything after just having found out bad news and also when needing a nap! My apologies to all who read the last post, things are looking better now. I have started adjusting my menu ideas to eat healthier and take care of this baby girl- not to mention myself! Thanks to you all for caring and for the encouragement and support, you are all amazing! I love you so much!

A huge blow to my already high-strung emotions

2009-06-18T15:42:00.002-06:00

AAAAAAGGHHHH!!!!!! I just don't know how much more I can take! This pregnancy from the start was not planned and definitely a surprise! As time has progressed, I have, or still am trying to accept that this is real and ready or not, here comes number five. In order to be okay with how close she and Creed will be, I have to not think about it at all. I can't, or I start having anxiety!
So week 28 rolls around, and low and behold, what do I find out??? I not only failed the one hour glucose test, but failed two out of three of the three hour test also! This means I now have gestational diabetes and have to go to a diabetes clinic and who knows what else it means.
I can tell you what it means to me... fear! Fear of the unknown, fear of an overly big baby, fear of having to have a C section from a doctor that is all too "for" that! i don't know if getting a new doctor would make any difference or not at this point. Would a different doctor tell me different results? I just don't know anymore, and I'm scared! If any of you moms have dealt with this or can give me anything positive to look for, please don't hesitate!
sorry about the tone of this post, but at this point, all I can wonder is "will the tears never end?"!

My baby is growing up!

2009-05-07T15:06:00.008-06:00

Where in the world does time go? I swear I just came home from the hospital with Creed (at least I still look like I did!) And now, lo and behold, he's 10 months old, well, he'll be 11 this month anyway!

Creed has decided that he is done with the baby food business... he wants the real stuff and he wants whatever it is that we are having! How do we know this? It may be the tantrums he throws when placed in his high chair and he sees the jars of baby food... it may be the drooling and staring at us while we eat, along with the accompanied grunting and squawking... who knows what it is; all we know is that he won't be quiet until he gets what he wants!

So today I discovered he LOVES ravioli (Chef Boyardee... mmmm) it was his first try with this stuff and I must say, he did rather well!

Step 1: Dump contents of bowl on the high chair, smear with hands, and rub all over bib and face... all before eating one bite!

Step 2: devour whole bowl of ravioli in the time it takes Collin to eat two bites!

Step 3: Inspect bowl by turning over (again) and sticking it on your head!

Step 4: Give mom the devilish grin telling her I love her but she gets to clean it all up and give me bath-time!

I just adore this cute and very serious little man!

the cutest dang kids in the world!

2009-04-27T12:19:00.002-06:00

How is it, that one minute you can think your kids are little monsters and you want to string them by their toes, and the next minute you could just eat them up because they are so cute??? It's no wonder women dye their hair! Between kids and hubbies... I'm surprised we have hair at all! Now this may sound like I am angry with both, but that's not the case. I was just wondering how it's possible to feel that way in such a short amount of time.
Actually, today was a great example of one of those days:

I needed to make a sheet cake for a baptism preview that our Primary presidency put on for the kids getting baptized this year. So I bake the cake... no problem.... I have Mitch help me cut the cake in half to fill it... no problem... but then Mitch took off to go home teaching before I could get him to help me put the top back on straight. So my options were to either do it myself, or, have Cameron help me guide it in to place. I chose the latter and it was a very learning experience! I told him to hold the cake and guide it to the right corners while I slid it on... he apparently thought I said "grab the cake and pull the corners down." So the cake rips almost in half, and I'm stuck trying to slide it back to the right spot. I handled the situation very well if I do say so myself... I calmly yet firmly told all the kids to get out of the kitchen right now! Then they left and I blew up! Poor Mitch, I've never seen him come home from an appointment so fast! But the cake turned out and no one ever knew- frosting can hide anything! Thank goodness!
A few minutes after being kicked out, Cam comes back in to the kitchen, and comes up to me and puts his arms around me and says "I'm sorry for ruining your cake mom". Talk about a "I want to hide in a hole" moment! I told him it wasn't his fault, things like this just happen, but it wasn't his fault. So we both felt a lot better and the cake turned out beautifully.

So after leaving Mitch with the kids for 5 hours, between the baptism preview and my choir concert, I come home and all the kids are in their jammies and ready for bed! But Collin is in the living room as I come in and this is what I hear in his sweet little voice... "hello lovely, I'm so glad you're home!" Aww, sometimes it's really nice to be a mother!

So there you have it... they really can be sweet kids- monsters at times, but the sweetness is there. Too bad we have to blow up or leave for a while to have it come to the surface!

Creed's surgery

2009-04-06T13:25:00.004-06:00

Last weekend, over our kids' Spring Break, we traveled to good ol' SLC for Creed's Hypospadius surgery. For those of you who don't know what that is, I will try to explain in non-medical terms (Brian, forgive me :0) ) He was born with the above mentioned condition. It is where his urethra grew down instead of straight out... the results? His little peeny hole was on the bottom instead of in the middle where it normally is. We lovingly called it his "F.L.P." Funny Looking Pecker- gotta love Mitch! As a result of him being born with this, he was not circumcised at birth. For many medical reasons. along with other reasons, we decided to have it fixed. This required us to travel to Primary Childrens Medical Center to have this procedure done.

We had it all scheduled the timing was perfect with our other kids on Spring Break and Mitch able to take the week off.We were set to go, when Creed came down with a cold. We were told that if he was sick at all, we would have to reschedule... This was horrible news! Mitch couldn't take any other time off and it would be a wasted trip- other than seeing family, which we were looking forward to. So we said lot's of prayers and Mitch gave him a blessing, and with a leap of faith that he would be over his cold, we took off.

Wednesday was his consultation with the surgeon- we met him and he was really nice and knew exactly what he was doing- we knew Creed would be in good hands... if we could just get him better! The surgeon just told us to keep doing what we were doing and hope that he'd be okay in time for his surgery on Friday morning.

Thursday we just hung out with my brother Buzz and wife Jenn and their kids, and also got to see my sister Katie and her kids. We stayed the whole time with my wonderful brother and sis-in-law. They were awesome! We felt so welcomed and loved the whole time- they are truly wonderful people! Thanks Buzz and Jenn! You'll never know what that meant to us!

So Friday arrives and Creed is still coughing, but not so bad. The nurse checked him out and she said she thought he'd be okay since he didn't have a fever or anything serious. (Insert BIG sigh of relief!) So we were told to be there at 9:15 for his surgery, and they didn't get him in until 11:30! And the poor boy couldn't eat or drink anything since midnight! He did really well though.

The anesthesiologist came and took our baby from us and that was hard because he is in a "I want my mommy and daddy" stage, so he took one look at the doctor who was holding him, then looked at us and started crying. I wanted to cry too!

Two and a half hours later, the surgeon came and told us that the surgery went beautifully and he was in recovery. We would be allowed to see him in about 15 minutes when he started to wake up. We decided to let Mitch see him first so I wouldn't pass out or barf from the strong anesthesia smell- it's happened before! Anyone surprised?

Well to make a long story short, he is such a little trooper! He was in pain, but we kept it under control with medicines. He slept on his back (a true miracle!) and did remarkably well on the long ride home. He is still healing and his stent will be taken out this Wednesday.

He is such a sweet boy and he is doing well! We are glad that he was able to have the surgery done so he can live a more normal life and feel good about himself. Thanks for all of your prayers on Creed's behalf and ours too. We love you all!

Finally an update!

2009-03-11T11:13:00.009-06:00

Okay, okay, I know it's been a while since I posted, but not a whole lot has happened for a while. I thought I'd just do a quick catch up before my life gets too hectic in the next little while - which I will definitely post about.

Mitch is still working hard for us at Idaho Power. He loves it and is doing rather well. He is a lot more happy now that he takes the bus and doesn't have to deal with all the "idiot drivers" on the freeway. He is still (I think he always will be) the Stake Financial clerk and loves that too! Talk about being in your element! He loves his family and loves to play with the kids. He's the best (in my opinion) husband and father in the world!

I am doing fine. Still prego, and apparently showing at three months! There is something terribly wrong with that and it's just not fair! Although I am in a fair amount of denial and tell people "I'm not showing, it's just my leftovers from Creed being pushed out!" I think I may need to apply to be on The Biggest Loser when this is all over! Especially since we are taking a cruise in 2010- I'm going to need a big break by then!

I've been feeling good as far a the pregnancy goes, but the past couple of days I have been sick with horrible body aches, chills, fever and deep chest cough. Of course, it has to be when I can't take anything except good ol' Tylenol. And I would rather suffer through whatever I may have than go to a doctor and have them tell me "there's nothing I can do for you, but have a great day and oh, that'll be $150.)

I am liking my calling of the Primary Secretary. It's fun to see all the kids and the different personalities they each bring. I also like being able to see how naughty my kids are being!

Cameron is doing well. He turned 9 in January and is in the 3rd grade. He's still a smart kid, but sometimes can be rather a bully... I call him a nerd bully. One day he kicked a boy because the boy ignored him when he told him to say the vowels. Sigh! We are working on his attitude, but the whole "Golden Rule" thing just doesn't seem to stick in his head.Cameron at a party playing the game of getting the lifesaver out of the flour... he said later that the lifesaver wasn't worth it!

Madeline turned 7 in February. Her two front teeth FINALLY grew in after 4 long years... and of course they came in just as crooked as can be. Look out orthodontics... here we come! She can be such an angel, except when she doesn't want to be. I found my first hate note the other day (mom, stop laughing) and Mitch made her write "I will not be a mean girl" 10 times- it was rather effective if I do say so myself! She sobbed the whole time and kept saying "I'm so sorry". She loves drama! And she loves Creed! She makes him laugh more than anyone!Madeline's big birthday present... a big bike with matching helmet- she's just a little afraid to ride it since it's so much bigger.

Collin is still my fireball and keeps us laughing! I swear every family needs one and he is ours! He is fun and frustrating to have around the house. I will definitely need to put him in preshool since he doesn't go to kindergarten until next year! Yes, I will have three kids at home! He's good to help with Creed, although he can't pick him up yet- we'll have to work on that. He is very smart and we love him dearly.

Creed is now 8 1/2 months old, and pretty much doing nothing! He just barely learned to roll over. He did get his two bottom teeth at Christmas time and his top two just now came through a couple of days ago. He won't put any pressure on his legs (spitting image of Cam) but he can sit up. We aren't worried about him because we went through the same exact thing with Cameron when he was a baby. So we are just going to hope that he is at least walking before the new baby comes! What a cute boy though... even though he's still rather fussy, we love him and his big blue eyes just melt us!

Check out these baby blues! Isn't he a doll?! And here's the reason for the crankies lately... can you see his little teeth? I couldn't get the top ones, he likes to bite and scream!

And that's all for a little bit, we'll let you know how Creed's surgery goes on March 27... until then keep posting, I enjoy reading all of your blogs!

Cruise post #2

2009-02-19T01:33:00.002-07:00

My apologies to everyone who tried to read my last post about the cruise... the layout totally messed up the cost of it. Let me try that again:

Category L
Inside
1st/2nd p.p
$710 cruise
$1,014.48 total

CAT L
Inside triple/quad
1st/2nd and 3rd/4th p.p
$710 and $320
$1,014.48 and $594.48

CAT C2
Central Park Balc.
1st/2nd p.p
$920
$1,254.48

CAT B2
Boardwalk Balc.
1st/2nd p.p
$990
$1,354.48

CAT D2
Outside Balc.
1st/2nd p.p
$1,020
$1,354.48

does this make more sense? If so, good, if not, call either me or my mom.

Cruise Anyone?

2009-02-19T00:28:00.004-07:00

(Note: the following post may cause excitability, racing of the heart, jumping up and down out of control, drooling and relentless begging of your spouse...

the remedy for these symptoms: Don't delay, sign up now, and have the vacation of a lifetime!)

(Another note: for all those who think I can produce such wonderful travel jargon, I thank you for the compliment, but I must give credit to where credit is due... my mom Cathi Stanger, the most awesome travel agent on the planet, wrote this letter and I am just passing it along to all of you!)

Ahoy Mateys!

It's time to plan that dream vacation you've always wanted with family and friends. Many of you were on the Liberty of the Seas last October in the Western Caribbean. The Liberty and her sister ship Independence were the largest ships in the world at the time. But since then you may have heard about a new ship currently being built, the Oasis of the Seas...bigger and more fantastic than ever-- indeed, the largest ship ever built! She makes her debut in December of 2009. In addition to FlowRider, ice shows, rock climbing wall, full court basketball, volleyball and boxing, the new Oasis will have all the above PLUS Central Park, AquaTheater (the outdoor amphitheater), a one-of-a-kind carousel, and the first ever Zip Line at Sea! You name it, it's on the Oasis.

The first couple of years after a ship enters the cruise arena, the prices are very high. The Oasis begins at $1,260 per person lowest inside cabin, not including the addition of mandatory port charges and taxes and fees. You could go as high as $6,000 if you prefer one of the loft suites (I don't know too many who would). With that in mind, I decided to book later in the year- October 9-16, 2010 when prices are much less, on an Eastern Caribbean sailing from Ft. Lauderdale with stops at St. Thomas, St. Maarten, and Nassau, Bahamas as well as some great days at sea with plenty of time to explore the ship and participate in all the fun!

Now this is the good part! I know 2010 sounds like a long way off, but that's the beauty of it! There is no huge outlay of cash up front on this cruise, only $50 per CABIN (not person) deposit is required to hold your space by February 25. This will hold you until July10 of this year when an additional $450 will round out the $500 deposit. Final payment on the cruise will be July 1, 2010. After that, we will be within range of penalties, but up until that time a FULL REFUND of whatever you have paid is possible in case you need to cancel. Another thing you might find appealing is that after the initial $50 deposit, you can make payments whenever you have a little spare cash, so by the time final payment rolls around your cruise is already paid for.

Many of you know how much fun cruising is, and that it is the least expensive "big" vacation you can take--about half the price of Hawaii. It is hotel, meals, entertainment, etc. all rolled into one. So now you may be asking yourself what the prices are for the October 9th, 2010. Before I tell you, let me say that one of the categories, C2, is a balcony overlooking Central Park. This has a canopy shade overhead. There is also a category that is a balcony overlooking the Boardwalk, which is open to the blue skies with views of the outdoor theater. Yes, these are inside cabins with a balcony that are lower than the price of the promenade category on the Liberty. The cruise rate is the first price you see. This is the price ALWAYS advertised by all the cruise lines on any ad. The price underneath is the full price including port charges, taxes, insurance, and fees.

CAT L CAT L CAT C2 CATB2 CAT D2

Inside Ins. triple/quad Cent Park Bal Bdwk Balc. Outside Bal.

1st/2nd p.p 1st/2nd 3rd/4th p.p 1st/2nd p.p 1st/2nd p.p 1st/2nd p.p

$710 cruise $710 $320 $920 $990 $1,020

$1,014.48 total $1,014.48 $594.48 $1,254.48 $1,354.48 $1,354.48

Of course, these prices do not include air fare to and from Ft. Lauderdale, but flights won't even go on sale until Dec, 2009 so now is the time to be making deposits on the cruise. As always, the insurance which I have included is optional; however, RCCL is known to have the lowest priced insurance in the industry, and as far out as the sail date is, i strongly recommend having it. There are many unforeseen circumstances which can cause major loss if no insurance has been purchased.

So give this cruise some thought... the newest, largest and most wonderful ship in the world! Remember, the $50 deposit is due before Feb. 25, 2009 (time is running out) and is totally refundable. Tell all your friends, family, those who have cruised with you before, and those who wished they had. As always, I will stay in touch by email and will give you the same great service you've come to expect from Cathi's Fun Trips. And the last word? PASSPORTS MANDATORY!

Cathi's Fun Trips

cstanger@ida.net

208-360-2292 (5 am to 8 am, 12 noon to 2:00 p.m., 5 p.m to 9 p.m)

Ok, this is Carlie talking now... doesn't this sound like a blast?! Mitch and I are going... I'm gonna need a break by that time from all the little ones! We hope to see all our friends and family there. This is coming up fast (the $50 deal) so talk it over with your loved ones and plan a really great vacation! If you want to do this, and I know you do... let me or my mom know soon and she will give you all the info and brochures you will need.

WHOOPS!

2009-02-03T17:56:00.002-07:00

September 12, 2009

A Tug at my heartstrings

2009-01-17T17:26:00.002-07:00

Today is Saturday... it's not often that I get my kids to help clean- I mean really clean- the house. So when Cameron volunteerd to clean the downstairs bathroom, I didn't hesitate! First off, he is a boy, and I didn't think boys/guys did that! Secondly, the fact that I didn't have to scream at him or bribe him to do such a task about made me faint! Not only did he willingly volunteer, but he was cheerful all the while cleaning it!

The tender moment that I will (at least I hope) remember always was when I was in the family room folding laundry- he didn't know I was in there- and I heard Cameron start singing while he was scrubbing the toilet. The song... I'm not sure the name of it, but the words are as follows:

I often go walking through meadows of clover,

And I gather armfuls of blossoms of (something, I can't remember)

I gather the blossoms the whole meadow over,

Dear mother these flowers remind me of you.

Sniff... sniff... isn't he sweet!! My little boy is growing up and he loves me! I won't think too deeply about the fact that he was singing that as he was scrubbing a toilet! I'll just take it for what it sounded like... an angelic little voice telling me he loved me!

Christmas Craft

2009-01-02T17:36:00.008-07:00

Okay folks, here it is... the extent of my craftiness. I don't sew, I don't paint, so I bake and decorate. I planned on doing a lot more gingerbread things ( a house, a tree...) but this dang train took waaaay to long as it was. I baked and frosted, Mitch helped assemble, and the kids placed the candies. And tonight (Jan. 2) it will be destroyed... sigh!

Full view of the train... complete with licorice track!

The Engine- the cattle plow was my idea!

The Coal Car- filled with "coal"

The Lumber Car- covered in snow

The Caboose- complete with ticket man

Okay so it's not my finest decorating, but it was a fun- filled family activity and that's what counts! Bon' Appetite!

A Very Merry Christmas!

2008-12-29T11:35:00.012-07:00

Well here it is, December 29... is Christmas really over? When did it begin? Am I the only one who thinks time is flying by waaaay to fast? I finally got my act together and got ready for Christmas- ready or not, it was here. And despite the behavior of my not-so-well-behaved children (a lot of the time) Santa visited our home.

Christmas morning brought many smiles and surprises beyond belief! Cameron has been asking Santa for 3 years now for a puppy. I suppose Santa thought Cam was ready to take on this responsibility- although mom is having second thoughts now. Mitch and I told him to not get his hopes up and have a backup plan just in case- so he went with the old stand-by: books and Wii games. So much to his delight and surprise on Christmas morning, he wakes up to wimpering! (We had the video camera strategically placed to see his face while we were still in bed) He came out to see what the sound was- stopped dead in his tracks, stared, and turned and ran up stairs. This is what we heard:

Cam: (in excited half whisper, half yell): Dad, Mom, I got, I got... a new puppy!

Me: (in a sleepy voice... hee hee) What? What do you mean, like a stuffed animal puppy?

Cam: (hysterical) no, a real live puppy! Come see, come see!

Then he tears back down the stairs, followed closely by all of us, since he had everyone in the house awake by now. And sure enough, in it's own little kennel, was a tiny little Mini-Pin. The kids said he was such a little pipsqueak... so we named him Pip. Here he is and as you can see, he thinks he's the king of the household!

Creed has his own personal bodyguard!

We are having fun with him, but he is a puppy and he likes to chew, nip, pee and poop where he isn't supposed to. But we will work it out and we think he'll be fun for our family.

Madeline was the easy one to buy for this year! She asked for an EZ Bake Oven and that's what she got! Okay there were a couple of bonuses with it.. lot's of extra packets of things to bake, and also a frosting pen decorator-- she's walking in my footsteps! Yea! She was so excited to because she got chapstick from my mom and dad and she LOVES chapsticks! Oh, and let's not forget her HSM nightgown- I didn't even know she knew what High School Musical was! Get with the program mommy!!! Yikes- she's growing up too fast!

Collin was easy as well since he only had one request... one pricey request that is! But since he only wanted one thing, we felt compelled to give in to his demands :0) He wanted Spike the Dinosaur. And boy does he love it! It was set up and roaring to go (no pun intended) and Collins face was all smiles on Christmas morning. He got a few other things, but this was definitely his favorite!

Collin also got a big pack of dinosaurs from Grammy and Papa- can you tell what this little man likes?! I think he was very happy with his Christmas.

As for Creed... he got a couple of things, but he mostly just wanted his bottle and back to bed- he's not an early morning baby, but we did get some cute shots of him before he crashed again!

Creed turned 6 months old on Dec. 23. What a little ball of fun! He is the cutest little guy, but he has been really fussy lately. I wondered if he was teething and last night when he was the worst he's ever been ( I couldn't even console him) and his little cheeks were rosy, I really thought he was teething. This morning, I noticed a little bit of white on his bottom gums... sure enough, he cut a tooth! His first one- and I think he's the earliest one of our kids to do so this early! What a trooper- I can' t imagine how that would feel to a baby. I love teething tablets and Tylenol! His six month appt. is on Friday, so we'll see how big he is now- I'm sure somewhere close to 20 lbs.

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and a great 2009!

Oh, I almost forgot... Mitch got me a beautiful curio cabinet to put all my trinkets and nice things. He is so thoughtful!

He even filled it for me while I got to take a nap on Christmas day! That was almost the best gift he and the kids could give me- quiet time and a nap! I'm sure all mom's agree with me!

Time Flies!

2008-12-08T23:00:00.002-07:00

Where on earth does the time go?! It can't be the (almost) middle of December already can it? That came way too fast and I'm just not ready for Christmas!
It seems that ever since Thanksgiving, life has just been a huge whirlwind for me. We went to IF for Thanksgiving and had lots of fun with family doing what our family does best... making fabulous food and we even had a day of candymaking for what was meant to be for all the girls- but somehow we only ended up with me, my mom and my sis Katie. But we had fun and got lots of Christmas candy made.
At the end of the week, we went to Mitch's moms house and played games and visited. Mitch got carried away wrestling with his younger brother and cracked a rib... not fun! Especially since he came down with Bronchitis- that doesn't feel to swell on the rib! He has a nasty sounding cough and it doesn't seem to be getting any better, even with antibiotics- so keep him in your prayers please!
I have been up to my earballs in Enrichment- planning our RS Christmas dinner is tomorrow (the 9th) and I am in charge of the program this year. Talk about stress! If I hadn't dyed my hair on Saturday, I'm sure I'd have a full head of white hair! But... just because I felt like I finally had a grip on my calling (it's only taken me two years! :0) the bishop decided to go and switch my calling! I am now the Primary Secretary... yikes! I've never done anything like that before! I hope the Lord will bless me to do well and who knows... maybe this will help me become a bit more organized! Anyway, that's a run down of my life the past week or two. The kids are doing well- Creed is starting baby food and loving it! He especially loved the french fry that Aunt Joni slipped him (sigh!)
Well if I don't get around to sending Christmas cards, I apologize to you all! I love you and wish you the Merriest Christmas and a wonderful new year too. I'm not saying I won't send one, I just don't know if I'll get around to it, but I'll try!

My weak genes pull through!

2008-11-13T08:34:00.012-07:00

I am so excited, I just had to post this! You all know that our kids have all looked exactly alike right? They are all mini- Mitch. I've always thought that the only one I had any say in at all was probably Cameron- he looks more like me than the others, but still so much like Mitch that it's not even funny! Until Mr. Creed came along that is... I had given up on my weak genes when I saw him and thought "yep, he's a McClellan alright". But yesterday, a heavenly glimpse of genetics shone down on me. I had a baby picture of me out because I went to a baby shower, and I had it sitting on the counter. Well Cameron came home from piano lessons, saw the picture and said "why is Creed in a dress?" I was fixing dinner and had my back to him, so I didn't see what he was looking at, and thought meant Creed was in a dress at that moment. I looked at him like he was crazy and said "Creed is right here, and he's not in a dress." He gave me the "I am right and you don't know what you're talking about" look and picked up the picture. He said again "Creed is in a dress... why?" My jaw just dropped! I was speechless! My 81/2 year old son thought my baby picture was Creed! And I have to admit... there is quite a resemblence... right? RIGHT??? Please tell me you see it. Tell me my genes came through just a little bit!

Maybe it's the double chin.. defintely not the dress though. Is't Creed so cute? He's almost 5 months old now. He weighs 16 lsb. 14 oz. and is 26 3/4 inches long. He's a big boy and so dang cute! He has deep blue eyes like his sister which we hope he keeps. He finally laughed at 4 months old! It took that long to get him to laugh! But that has got to be the sweetest sound in the world! Well here's a few more pics of us to catch up:

Our happy little guy

Some pics from Halloween- sorry so late about this post:

Madeline just couldn't decide what costume to wear: Winter Belle, or Ariel (notice the red hair?)

Cameron was the Red Ninja- look out!

Collin was a pirate- what else with that missing tooth?!

And our little tiger- wasn't too thrilled with the costume after a while.

My First Tag

2008-11-10T13:34:00.002-07:00

Can you believe it? I've never been "tagged" before on someone's blog, and if I have, I just plain don't remember it... but my friend Janeal tagged me and so I thought "hey, why not? It could be fun... or not." So we'll see. Here goes:

8 Things I am Passionate About:
(note... for those of you who really know me, I am not a passionate person, so let's just say "8 things I really love")
1. My husband (and best friend) Mitch
2. My four children
3.My family- especially my sisters (but my brothers rock too, so do my parents!)
4. My friends
5. Baking- especially at Christmas!
6. Going on vacations
7. The Gospel
8. Decorating cakes and cookies

8 Words or Phrases I say a lot:
1. Holy Moley!
2. freakin
3. oh garbage!
4. no problem
5. Okey Dokey
6. What the crap?
7. I love you
8. What the...!

8 Things I want to do before I die:
1. Go on a cruise with my whole family!
2. Get out of the house we are in
3. Get out of debt
4. Get back to the temple (it's been a while- oops)
5. Take my kids to Disneyworld
6. Serve a mission with Mitch
7. Go back to a Culinary School to be a pastry chef
8. Travel with my hubby

8 things I've learned in my life:
1. Don't say things when you are angry, cool off first before speaking (I'm still working on this one)
2. I can't just eat what I want- it did catch up with me
3. Prayers are answered
4. Trials do happen, it doesn't mean God doesn't love you
5. Stay close to family- they're all you have in the end
6. Lies will always slap you in the face
7. Happiness is contagious
8. Smile, if you don't, everyone always thinks you're in a bad mood!

8 Places or things I would love to see:
1. Conference center at Temple Square and the park on top (I have never seen them!)
2. Italy (again)
3. Alaska (as a cook for my Dad's fishing trips)
4. Broadway Musical "Wicked"
5. Church history sites
6. My kids married in the temple
7. Hawaii (again)
8. Me, at the weight I was when I got married, and Mitch's face when I look like that again!

8 Things I currently need or want:
1. Alone time with Mitch -a date would be nice
2. My nails done
3. Money, Money, Money
4. To lose weight
5. The motivation to lose weight
6. To see my family
7. To be a better singer
8. Another cruise

8 People I Tag:
Whoever wants to do this- it definitely makes you think about things! Kind of fun too, but I think I'll wait a while before doing another one.

More Collin entertainment

2008-10-22T21:25:00.004-06:00

This is Mitch for those of you that are used to reading Carlie's posts. I thought I would step in for a brief visit.

I know that the last post was about Collin and the funny things that he does, but he keeps doing them, so we needed another post to try to keep up with him.

First a picture that he drew of me. Now I know what you are thinking. What wonderful arms...., or ears...., or whatever is sticking out the side of my head. Now what is that below my head between my legs. What a nice, big........

CHIN! Of course! (at least that is what Collin says it is) Get your minds out of the gutter! This WAS created by a four year old don't you know.

Next was dinner tonight. We finally convinced Madeline to try a tomato. Once she tried it, she proudly proclaimed that tomatos were her favorite vegtable. Of course Collin wants to be like his sister, so he tried one. It was so funny that we had to convince him to eat another so we could record it. Here it is for your viewing pleasure.

If you can't hear what he says last, it was "I think it was a barf!"

I am sure that he will pull something off again and we will have to do another "Collin did something funny" post soon. Who knows, maybe one of our other kids will decide to be as funny as Collin and we can post about them instead.

Never A Dull Moment...

2008-10-20T21:32:00.007-06:00

In the McClellan home that is- anywhere Collin is- there is usually laughter! The most recent comic incident happened to be at church on Sunday. It was the Primary Program for our ward and Collin is a sunbeam (his teacher needs to be exalted!) First off, let me just advise you all to never be late on the day of the program- we were sitting in the gym in the last row! Well the first few talks went by smoothly, and then when they sang their first song, it had just ended and we hear (on the back row) a little voice that could only belong to Collin, yell as loud as he could "Did I do good mom, huh, did I?" This got quite a chuckle out of the audience. And the second song came along and the same thing happened after it was done... more quiet laughter. And we had full blown laughs when he popped off for the third time asking if he did good. It's a good thing he's so dang cute!

Then when Mitch was tucking Collin in bed, they were telling each other how much they loved each other. Mitch tells Collin "you are the best Collin in the whole wide world, and the whole universe, and forever", and Collin replies with a serious look in his big brown eyes... "No dad, I'm the best Collin in Idaho!" Guess that shows us the mind of a child and their understanding of mind boggling concepts.

Our little cowboy chillin in his Bumbo chair! He prefers this chair over the bouncy chair and his swing.

Here is a clearer shot of Creed- almost a smile!

Creed is getting so big and he's a lot happier. We can get some dang cute smiles out of him and even once in a while, a laugh! He is 4 months old now- time has gone so fast! He has the biggest blue eyes which we hope stay blue like his sisters. He also has a red tint to his hair- something the others definitely did not have. So, as much as he looks exactly like our other kids, he is his own little person too! And we love him dearly!

A "Complimentary" Dinner

2008-09-20T19:51:00.002-06:00

This is going to be a short posting, but I had to share. Today is Saturday, and we have been working non stop all day long(okay that's a lie, we had a nap this afternoon.) We started early this morning thinking we were going to have family pictures taken, but we got rained out. So we busted in with our last two batches of canning pears. We got those done and then began the house cleaning... ugh! Well needless to say, Mitch took us out to dinner. We had only been seated for a few minutes when an older gentleman who was leaving with his wife, walked up to Mitch and said "I want to compliment you on your nice looking family- what handsome children." We looked at each other and grinned. Then the couple seated behind us was talking to each other and I was holding Creed over my shoulder- I heard the guy say "what a cute baby!" and he was only talking to his wife!
I always think my kids are cute, but it's really nice to hear it from other people-- especially total strangers. That made my day! Now, if I can just get my cute rugrats in bed(it's only 8:00)- that would just be too perfect of an ending to a good day!

The love of a big brother

2008-09-10T12:47:00.006-06:00

Ever since Cam and Madeline started school this year, Collin has become more aware that he needs to step up to be the big brother to Creed. He is such a great little helper! He gives Creed his binky when he starts to fuss, or in this case, he thought placing a lei around his head would surely do the trick, and then if that doesn't work, then Collin sings his special song to him... here it is- very creative for an almost 4 year old I'd say!

And here are some pictures of my little vampires (again the red eyes... I really stink at photography!) on their first day of school.

The kids really like school so far, Cam still reads when he's not supposed to, but we're working on that, and we just found out from Madeline's teacher that she was holding hands with a boy at recess... we are going to be in so much trouble with her I can just tell!

Labor Day Weekend

2008-09-03T19:07:00.009-06:00

This past Labor Day weekend, we traveled to Utah for Mitch's family reunion, where we camped at a place called Crystal Hot Springs- just a few miles north of Brigham City. Don't let the name fool you in to thinking you are going to some nice hot spring resort... the place is a total dump! We honestly were wondering if the building was going to collapse any moment! But the fact that it had 3 pools, a big water slide, and a couple of hot tubs made the kids as happy as pigs in poop!

We were told to expect a stormy weekend, but Friday night and Saturday were just beautiful! A few pics of Mitch and the kids while swimming:

Cameron and Madeline loving the pool

Isn't Mitch such a macho man?! Collin saying "cheese"

Creed- just chillin in the shade on mom's lap.

Sunday brought good weather for about half the day, then after the family auction in the afternoon, a huge beyond all huge storm hit! The scary thing was that I could see the sky getting ugly and so I went to put Creed down for a nap in the crib in our tent (which was brand-spanking new) but about halfway there, I stopped and thought to myself..."no, I'll just hold him and let him sleep while I visit with everyone out here." So I went back and about five minutes later, we get slammed with huge gust of wind. It ripped the canopies into the air and it was total chaos! I grabbed Creed and wrapped him in the blanketand ran for the car- lucky it was fairly close. Mitch found our other kids and they ran to the car too. We got in and the hail started! The kids were all scared and crying- they thought it was a tornado! Mitch ran back out to make sure the tent was secure, but when he got back, he was cussing and cursing! He had found that our brand new tent was shredded and the poles had snapped. The crib had collapsed too! I stared at Mitch and told him that I almost put Creed in there for a nap. We just held eachother and thanked Heavenly Father for small miracles and promptings- even when we don't know we are being prompted!

So, our tent was destroyed and all our clothes, sleeping bags and blankets were soaked! Lucky for us, we have a loving cousin who let us stay in their tent- which survived the storm- and her parents let the kids stay in their trailer. The horrible night ended with Collin barfing all night and Creed waking up about 3 different times (he had been sleeping all through the night so far). Needless to say, we were only too happy to get our sopping wet stuff and get out of there Monday morning! Which it was still pouring rain and had been all night long!

The postitive notes? No one was hurt... we have a great family... and Shopko took our ruined tent back with no questions asked! Hmmm- I guess there's always a silver lining.

If they could just stay little...

2008-08-15T15:10:00.014-06:00

A good friend of mine in Caldwell loves to do photo shoots... especially babies! She was only to happy to come over and take some fun pics of Creed. These were taken a few weeks ago, but I'm just now getting around to posting... you know how it goes! Madeline is somewhat of a camera hog and when she saw the backdrop, she ran and threw on her mermaid costume! What a ham!

Aren't they so cute? We had to take them before Creed got too big, he's almost two months now and pushing 14 pounds! Ugh! He still fusses a lot unless he's being held, and he still sleeps alot too. He is sleeping (mostly) through the night now, he'll wake up one time every few days or so. We are doing much better and life is looking up again!

He's One Month Old!

2008-07-23T19:27:00.009-06:00

Well we've made it one month now and things are looking brighter. Creed has been such a cute little guy (did I say little???) Mitch weighed him on our kitchen scale and he was a whopping 11 and half pounds! Oh boy, we are gonna have another BIG boy! I guess I should stop wondering if he's getting enough to eat from me, but for some reason, that's just what moms do with new babies... please tell me I'm right!

I took a few pictures today, I've been hesitant to be camera happy because he's going through the "baby acne" stage and it's getting progressively worse. But here is some shots of Creed and the kids. He started out happy, then as you can see, he got cranky pretty quickly...

Creed at one month:

Some tummy time- he usuall loves this and is getting stronger at lifting his head- I just didn't get it on camera.

A close up of our little man

Don't mind the crossed eyes... maybe Cam is squeezing his head???

"I am done with this and I want my mommy!"

"Maybe I didn't make myself clear... I don't want to do this anymore!"

"Oh I give up, torture me with your kisses if you must... but then give me back to my mommy!"

As for me, I am feeling much better and let's keep our fingers crossed that the problems go away for good and life will feel normal again. It is starting too finally, now if I can just get my nerve up to take all the kids out... yikes!

Christmas in July???

2008-07-10T07:48:00.002-06:00

This morning, July 9th, I come downstairs to my kids watching their Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and when that was over, I heard Madeline and Collin singing Jingle Bells. While Cameron was playing the Wii with his buddy, I heard him pop off with "Up on the housetop, click click click..." And then, not ten minutes later, he's singing the Star Spangled Banner...
Strange? I think so, but kids will be kids... at least Cameron brought back the true spirit of July with his last hit!

A Rough Start

2008-07-05T22:06:00.007-06:00

WOW!!! Let me repeat... WOW! It's been two weeks already! Two long and painful weeks! As Mitch mentioned in the last posting (which I think he did an awesome job on) I had complications with my epidural and had to deliver naturally... not so much fun, but what can you do? I ended up with a Spinal headache which was the most excruciating pain I've ever felt! We got home on Wednesday and he took me back on Thursday to have a "blood patch" done. Again, not a pleasant experience, but well worth it- for a day that is! My headache was totally gone after the procedure and all day Friday, but returned on Saturday and Sunday- not half as bad thankfully, but still painful enough to have me down flat most of the time. After many prayers and blessings, the headache finally left when Creed was one week old. It was so nice to wake up and have my back, neck and head feel normal again! But then the next day, I developed some rather embarrasing complications located on the southern most region of my body that I will not go into details about... let's just say it's uncomfortable and painful! So the prayers and blessings are still happening and I really hope I am on the mend. At least I can walk and get out of a chair today!

But onto a more positive note... Creed is coming up on two weeks old, and he's been such a cute baby! I will post a bunch of pics that we've had fun taking. He seems to be a little fussy, but he may just be trying to adjust to this strange life- we hope!

Many many thanks to my wonderful husband and mom who have been caring for me for these past days and weeks! I could not have survived without you both and I love you to infinity and beyond!

We caught Creed in this pose right before I was going to feed him... a blessing on the food???

The kids just love him... especially Madeline- she's a great sister!

One of those "sweet dreams" smiles caught on camera at just the right moment! I love it!

Announcing Creed Hansen McClellan

2008-06-24T09:32:00.007-06:00

I know that you all have enjoyed having Carlie give you updates on how things have been going in our lives. I hope you bear with me as I attempt to fill her shoes for a blog as she recuperates from yesterdays events. I have learned on numerous occasions that trying to fill her shoes is a task that is not easily accomplished.

As you may have noticed, the "days left" blog apparatus (I am not very up to speed on this whole blog thing, so forgive me if I don't use the appropriate blog lingo..) has been removed, and replaced with a music playlist. We will add more music to the playlist in the future, but for now, I just wanted to include one song that I think is very fitting for the occasion.

Well, enough of the fluff introduction, and on to the real meat of the reason for this blog. Creed Hansen McClellan was born on June 23, 2008 at about 2:30 in the afternoon. He was 9 pounds even, and 20 inches long. He has some thick brown hair, his dads nose, and Cameron's little strawberry mark just above his nose between his eyes. No big surprises with any of it. He definitely looks like he fits into our family. The whole time through Carlie's pregnancy, we were asking ourselves "What are we thinking?", but now that he is here, there is no question that he was meant to be with our family.

Carlie was a real trooper through the whole ordeal. Poor girl suffered through about 4-5 attempts to put in an epidural before the anesthesiologist told her that it was just not going to work. Apparently Creed was big enough that he put pressure on her spine that curved it just enough that the epidural tube would not go between the vertebrae. They then gave her a spinal block that really had no chance of kicking in before Creed showed up. So in essence, all of the pain and suffering that she went through to try to block the pain was a worthless attempt because she had to deal with all of the pains of delivery anyway. But she was strong, and did a great job bringing Creed to us.

Carlie's labor was relatively short as usual. She had to be on antibiotics for 4 hours before they could start her, so labor slowly started at about noon. She was just having some mediocre contractions over the next hour, so they broke her water at about 1:15. She then suffered through the whole epidural debacle from about 1:30 until 2:15 or so. Hard labor hit before the spinal block kicked in, and Creed was born just a few minutes later at 2:30.

Carlie and Creed are doing great! Despite having such a big baby, the traumas that can accompany a big baby (I will spare details since I am not exactly sure who will be reading this, but those of you familiar with having a baby will surely understand) were not there, so Carlie should recover quickly. She is understandably tired from the experience, but in good spirits, and bonding well with Creed.

Since Creed was relatively big, he had to deal with low blood sugar through the day, but I think that he has it under control now. He and Carlie are still working on getting on the same page as far as nursing goes, but they have been making great progress, and I am sure that they will get it down soon. Seems that he is more interested in sleeping. Creed also has a little problem with his sprinkling system. The little hole that is supposed to be at the tip of the unit is actually slightly toward the bottom. He will have to go in for surgery when he is about a year old to fix it. They will wait to perform the circumcision until then. They are doing well enough that we should probably be bringing them home today.

Well, that is about all except for pictures, so here are a few for you to enjoy. If I left out any details that you would like to hear about, let me know, and I will include them. Love you all!

5 days to go!!

2008-06-18T14:26:00.002-06:00

Wow... nine months has gone by so fast and slow at the same time. I can't believe I only have 5 days to go! I met the new doctor today who will be delivering our boy... she is very nice and young! She's either in her mid 30's or very early 40's. So the scheduled date is Monday June 23, but the time they are actually inducing me is probably around 11, although we are going in at 7 a.m. I have to be on antibiotics for 4 freaking hours before they can actually start me. She did say that I will most likely go quickly once they start me though. Let's hope! I am very done being pregnant! thanks to all who have supported me in this and we'll post again when the little man is here- no, we STILL haven't decided on a name yet. We'll let you know!

Good News/ Bad news...

2008-06-03T20:06:00.003-06:00

So I had my 36 week checkup today. Here's what I found out:
Good news- my doctor says she will induce me a week early because of my fast labors, so we are scheduled for June 23 (not bad for an original due date of July 7, which then got moved to June 28). She says I'm not doing too bad for my weight gain- 20 lbs. And last, I only have 20 days to go!!!
Not so good news: She also told me that after 8 months of seeing only her, she will not be in town to deliver my baby! She's going on a cruise. So I get to meet the doctor who will be on call, a week before I am due! Talk about frustrating!
But I think as long as someone besided Mitch is there to catch my baby I will be fine... not that I don't trust him, I just know that he is a CPA for a reason!
Well, let the countdown begin! Wish us luck!

Just a precaution

2008-05-31T15:32:00.002-06:00

I just wanted to post a little note explaining why I changed my last post. It has been brought to my attention that having a picture of my little boy and his rash with his unit partly showing, could attract all kinds of problems with sick-0's out there. So due to the sad situation of this world, I took that part of the blog out. And for those of you who are concerned, Collin's rash did go away, and his hole in his mouth is slowly healing, and we had a much better weekend!

We actually just got back from the public library- there was a summer reading kickoff carnival. We were there for two hours, the kids had fun, Mitch was frazzled beyond belief, and my feet and ankles were the size of softballs! GRRRRR.... 4 weeks can't come soon enough! Gotta love pregnancy!

What Next!!!!

2008-05-28T17:36:00.009-06:00

Dare I ask???? This week has been quite a doosy- well the past two days to be exact. We found out on Tuesday morning that Cameron's wrist has been broken since Thursday and I finally took him in after the long Memorial weekend! He injured it on Thursday playing soccer at school. He came home with it wrapped up, but the school nurse said she thought it was just bruised and she wrapped it for support. Then on Friday, we were told that he fell in P.E. and hurt it again. We wondered if we should take him to the doctor to get it x-rayed before our trip, but we just wanted to get out of town and he said it was feeling okay. Sooo.... three days and much favoring later... we go to the doctor. Even the doc said he didn't think it was broken, but we took x-rays anyway. Sure enough... there it was, as plain as day, a clean break in the bone! So they put him in this splint for a couple days until we could get him in a cast. I'll post a picture with Cameron and his cast later. (Again, I apologize for the red eyes... any photography help?)

Then on Wednesday, Collin decided to bust his lip open and split his top front tooth in half!

I was in the shower when it happened, but Madeline said he tripped and smashed his mouth into a bar on the weight bench in our room. All I know is that when I got out of the shower, he was crying and bleeding all over the place!

I totally freaked out and called Mitch and told him to come home, which he did. I got Collin right in to the dentist office and after two attempts at the numbing shot, and one attempt with the laughing gas, they told us that he was not calming down enough to be able to do it. He was hysterical!!! So they sent us to the pediatric dentist next door to see if they could do any better. Can I just say... why do parents even waste time at regular dentists for their children? We should have gone to the pediatric dentist in the first place! They gave him some medicine that made him quite drunk- I wish you all could have seen it! Poor little guy couldn't even walk! Then they took him back and pulled the tooth and had him back in 10 minutes! Granted he was drunker than a skunk, but he was smiling his little toothless fat-lipped smile... eyes crossed and all! Then the medicine started to wear off and he wasn't so happy.

Here is Collin, at home and still loopy. Not so smiley.

I finally got somewhat of a smile out of him a little bit later... fat lip and all

Opening up as best he can to let me see his "owee"...

So you can't really see it, but his front tooth is now gone! Poor little guy, he's had a very traumatizing day... we'll be lucky if he agrees to ever go back to the dentist again!

And speaking of dentist, the pediatric dentist just called and asked how Collin was doing and followed up with instructions for how to care for him- what an awesome guy! He also said that it will be a long long while before that tooth ever comes in. (Just like his sister, and hers won't come in until she's 8 or 9 also!)

Talk about a freaking stressful past two days! What's next? Me going into labor 4 weeks early??? Wouldn't that just be the icing on the cake! Please keep your fingers crossed that we will have no more excitement around our house for a little while! Or better yet... pray!

Our Little Dancer

2008-05-27T10:08:00.005-06:00

Okay so Madeline's dance recital was actually in the middle of May, and it is now the end of May, but all of you who know me, this should not come as a shock to you! I just wanted to post a little about Madeline and her dance performance. The recording I made is actually the dress rehearsal, and lucky for us, she was a lot more smiley during the actual performance! I kept wondering why she wasn't smiling at all... aparently she was focusing on her teacher on the front row- who wasn't there during their recital. She was just beautiful! Even Cameron's jaw dropped when he saw her come down the stairs... he said "wow, you look really pretty!" That was a proud mother moment!

Madeline has been dancing for two years now and she really likes it. She's not the top in her class, but her teacher says she's right up there with them. Personally, I think she's the best because she's trying her best! I think she is a little doll and I love to see her perform and come out of her shell.

So without further ado... may I present, Madeline McClellan's 2008 Studio C dance recital (dress rehearsal) I apologize for my giggling! It was too cute!

And when it was over, her daddy presented her with flowers and she was on cloud 9! She wanted to go out in the hall and "pose" for some pictures. Apparently she wanted to do some pretty cheesy poses, but Mitch just smiled and clicked the camera anyway. She's got him wrapped around her little finger!

I'm thankful for haircuts and intuition!!!

2008-05-11T09:25:00.002-06:00

Well okay, rather than "intuition", it was probably more like an elbowing from the Spirit... here's the story:
My boys go with Mitch to the Father and Sons campout on Friday afternoon. They come home on Saturday afternoon (not a very long break for mom's in my opinion), and they are FILTHY dirty!!! But they wanted to play outside for a while, so I let them before I gave them baths. Just before Collin hops in the tub, I say to Mitch "wow, his hair is getting long, you should cut it." So Mitch takes a look and says, yeah, but we have somewhere to be in 45 minutes, it can wait for another day. So I didn't give it another thought. Then out of nowhere, Mitch says "you know what? I will just buzz him really quick and then he can take a bath." So he proceeds to give Collin a buzz, and I leave the bathroom. All the sudden, Mitch is yelling for me to come quick (I think that he forgot that "quick" and 8 months pregnant do not mix well). So I make my way back up stairs and he has this panicked and disgusted look on his face and he's looking at Collin's head. I asked what the problem was and he told me Collin had a tick in his head right at the base of his hairline- of course, where the hair was longest! Can I just say eeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwww!!!! I looked and sure enough, it was halfway in his poor little head! So I called my friend Lara, who is an avid camper, and asked if she'd gone through this before. She said to put vaseline on its butt (who knew ticks breathed through their butts?) and then very carefully pull it out with tweezers- but to be careful to not squeeze the body, because it will detatch from the head- and the head is what you want to get out!
So after about 10 minutes of Mitch struggling with Collin to hold still, he finally got it out. (I am so glad I didn't have to do it by myself, I don't know how I would have handled that!) He made sure he got it all, and then we gave Collin the scrubbing of his life! Talk about messing with my heartstrings! If we (Mitch) hadn't listened to his feelings, we would have never found it or it might have been to late and we could have had a serious problem on our hands!
I also found one on Cameron, but it hadn't gone into his head yet, it was just in his hair. Double eeeewwwww!!! I don't think my boys have ever been so clean!

More catching up

2008-05-06T11:00:00.003-06:00

So as most of you know what a slacker I am at this blogging stuff, it should not surprise you that I only post something every few weeks! I am even so bad that I forgot to post anything about Mitch's birthday. The actual day was actually May 2. But the celebration started on the 1st, when Cameron slipped about one of the presents we got him. So we let him open his gifts the night before. He got a new down pillow (spoiled and picky), MarioKart game for the Wii, and a board game that he loves called Ticket to Ride- Europe. Small amount of gifts, but they were fun and he loved them! And the kids were excited to start racing!

We had fun that whole weekend though. On Friday, he actually surprised us by showing up at Cameron's power point presentation at school, when he told us that getting off would be dang near impossible. It was such a surprise to see him walk in at 2:30 and be told he was done for the day! What a gorgeous day it was outside too! So we had a nice little family get together with my sister Joni, her kids, and my cousin Lisa and her hubby Brandon, who were staying the night on their way through to Seattle. We played games and laughed and just had a good time!

On Saturday, he did have to work for a few hours, but it was all worth it when I gave him permission (like I really had to twist his arm) to stop on his way home to Cabellas. *Note: never expect a man home on time, when he's never stepped foot in a Cabellas store!!!* But it was okay because we didn't have any plans for the day, except to get ready for our party that night. We had some of our best friends over for a steak dinner and more games! It was really fun too! All in all, I think Mitchell had a great birthday, and we hope to have many more together!

Conference Weekend with "Nana"

2008-04-06T16:53:00.010-06:00

This weekend as most of you know, was General Conference. We were also fortunate to have Mitch's mom (a.k.a. Nana) come over to visit. We had a good time visiting and catching up. On Friday, we got a sitter for the kids and went to see Mitch cousin Antje sing and perform in the Navy Sea Chanters. For those who don't know who or what this is... it is the elite choir of the United States Navy. They perform quite often for the President and all over the U.S. and also the world. They were doing a Northwest United States tour and we were priviledged to hear them perform. Talk about AWESOME!!!!! I could have listened to them all night! The men were so fun to hear and watch and the women had the most incredible voices I've heard! So if any of you ever get the chance to hear them.... DON'T MISS OUT!!!

On Saturday, we just lazed around and watched conference- quite a new experience seeing the First Presidency sustain everyone in the Solemn Assembly. I've never seen that before- at least that I remember, and it was pretty neat. It will be different getting used to President Monson as our new Prophet, but I have no doubt that he is called of God, as are his counselors and the Twelve.

Saturday, rather than teaching her grand kids how to make cream puffs (a new tradition for Nana), my kids talked her into making new blankets, since the ones she made for them as babies were getting too small. So off we go to JoAnn's Fabric to make snuggly fleece blankets.

After picking out the fleece of their choice, we come home and bust out with Cameron's blanket within an hour!!! Wow! This is something I can actually do! Now let's just see if I can do it on my own for the baby blanket!

On Sunday we finished Collin's and Madeline's blankets in the first session of Conference, and the results were darling! Thanks Nana for the snugglies!

Just an old fashioned update

2008-03-20T20:04:00.002-06:00

Well since I don't have much to post, I'll just tell about how life has been lately.
Mitch left on Sunday for work training in Austin, Texas. When he got there, he turned on the TV and watched in wonder as the TV stations were issuing tornado warnings left and right! Hmmm... nothing says welcome to Texas like a tornado huh? Well, lucky for us, nothing ever came near his hotel.
Although he has only been gone for 4 days, it seems like a month! The kids are more difficult to deal with- or maybe I'm just tired and don't get that break at the end of the day when he comes home. It really makes me love and appreciate what a wonderful husband and father he is!

I am just waddling through life! I am about 25 weeks along now. Some good news is that the doctors said our baby boy was measuring big and so they moved my due date from July 7 to June 28! Yeah! Any woman who's had a baby knows this is good news! I am feeling the little guy more regularly lately, it took a while because apparently he is at the very bottom of the placenta.
We are still trying to think of baby boy names. Mitch has his favorites, but I just keep coming up with different ones and he just shakes his head in defeat. It's not that I don't like the names he does, because I do, I just can't decide what sounds good with our last name.
So for all those who are wondering what names we are debating... here they are:
Creed, Cache, Colton (which we think might be too close to Collin), and the newest one (which Cameron came up with) is Cyden... although, I think this is usually spelled with a K instead of a C. So that one is probably out too. So what does everyone think?

Not much has changed with the kids. We are getting ready for Easter this weekend. I also have a wedding cake this weekend, so Easter is pretty much shot. But that's okay, because I never understood what the point of Easter bunnies, baskets and candy had anything to do with the real reason we celebrate Easter. Of course, around Nampa, apparently the reason most people celebrate Easter is because Jesus died. It's weird, strange people come to my door and handout all sorts of stuff about the death of Jesus and that's all they focus on. I feel like handing them a Book of Mormon and telling them what we think Easter is about. But me being the not-so-confident person that I am, usually just take their handout and throw it away as soon as the door is shut. I'm not much of a missionary I guess!
Well I've rambled on enough for now. I gotta go stop the kids from fighting... and Spring Break just started! Great!!!!!

A McClellan Original

2008-03-06T11:27:00.003-07:00

Well folks, we finally made it to Cub Scouts and last week was Cameron's first Blue and Gold banquet. It was a "Chinese New Year" theme... only, no one told us it was the year of the rat!
So we decided to make a Chinese Dragon. This was a father and son thing- so no moms allowed! Well, after talking to all the moms, and getting there replies of "yah, right, my husband and son make a cake without my help???" So, I decided that IF they wanted my help, I would help a little, but I wanted to see what they came up with. And now I'm starting to think that Mitch is a better cake decorator than me!
Okay I will admit to helping with the head a little, but it was Mitch's design and Cameron's idea for the face. They did the body out of colored fondant disks (all individually cut out and stuck on) The horns and toe nails were made from vanilla tootsie rolls (they shape up wonderfully) but the coolest part of it all is that this was made up from an idea from their heads- no books or pictures! It's a 100% McClellan original! And it stole the show! Each scout brought a cake and that was the desserts for the night... well, we didn't take one piece home- that's how much the boys all loved it! There were cheesy awards for each cake so no one felt left out, and Cameron's award was "The Greatest Cake". He was one happy little trooper! Here are some shots of the cake:

Code Names

2008-02-23T16:18:00.002-07:00

This was something fun to do that my sister sent me. It's not a "tag" type thing, just humorous to do:

YOUR REAL NAME:
Carlie Anne McClellan

YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (first 3 letters of your real name, plus "izzle")
Carizzle

YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (fav color and fav animal)
Blue Beaker

YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (your middle name and the street you live on)
Anne Cairn

YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name)
MccCa

YOUR SUPERHERO NAME: (color of your shirt, favorite soda)
Pink Fanta

YOUR JAPANESE NAME: ( 2nd letter of your first name, 3rd letter of your middle name, last two letters of your first name, then last 3 letters of your last name)
Anielan

YOUR WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: ( both parents middle names)
Marie Craig

YOUR GOTH NAME: (black, then the name of one of your pets)
Black Parker

This gave me a laugh, but that could be because I'm tired too, who knows?

My First Earthquake

2008-02-21T07:54:00.002-07:00

Well I was laying in bed this morning, Mitch was running late for work and still happened to be home. He was just getting the kids up at 7:15 and I was awake, but just laying there, when all the sudden I felt my bed shaking. My first thought was that one of my kids was at the end of my bed quitely moving it, but when I looked up, of course... no one was there.
My second thought was "Hmmm... weird, probably an earthquake- ya right" then I put my hand on the wall behind our bed, and sure enough, I could feel our house shaking too! I thought "Holy Crap, we are having an earthquake!"
So I called to Mitch and he came in, but by that time it had stopped. He never felt anything and looked at me like I had sprouted horns when I told him I thought we just had an earthquake. The kids of course didn't feel anything either, so I thought I was losing it. Then Mitch was pulling out of the driveway and came back in to tell me that I was right after all, it was an earthquake!

The weird thing is that in the past week, a meteor has fallen (though I can't remember where in the U.S.), we had a lunar eclipse last night (that Cameron thought was totally cool) and now today we have an earthquake!!! What is going on??

What's In a Name?

2008-02-20T21:25:00.003-07:00

*Note... we tried to keep this G to PG, but it may have ended up PG-13, forgive us if it get's a little crude*

The Unit

Schmekel

Twig n' Berries

Pee Wee and the Newborns

Lil' Smokie

Schlong (or schlort)

Ding Dong

Inchworm

Pink Slinky

Trouser Snake

Weiner

Dipstick

Pee Pee

Noodle

(If we've missed your personal favorite, feel free to humor us!!!)

Whatever you wanna call it... he's got it! Yep, IT'S A BOY!!!

I wasn't surprised, I kind of thought it would be a boy the whole time. Mitch was happy with the news, but I think deep down he wanted a girl- just to even the score. Cam didn't really care, he just wanted to get home and play Mario Galaxy. Madeline was down right mad at the ultrasound tech! She told her that she wanted a baby sister! And Collin's prediction of having a baby "bwudda" was right on the mark, so he was happy.

Now, as for names... we are sticking with the "C" names for boys. We have a name that we like the best so far, that wasn't already taken by friends, family or their dogs...
If anyone has any good "C" names for boys that you'd like us to consider, we'd love your input!

It's Great to be Eight!

2008-02-05T10:52:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't already know, Cameron was baptized on Feb. 2, 2008. We were saddened to hear that most of our family could not attend because of weather conditions, but we were also glad because we were also hit with a huge snow storm that would have made it dang near impossible to leave Nampa! But we were blessed to have Carlie's parents and sister fly over, and her sister that lives in Meridian attend. We are thankful for those who were able to come, and also for the thoughts and prayers of those who were not able to come, but wanted to. We truly felt your spirits with us and are grateful for you!

The blizzard that started Saturday afternoon and lasted all night Saturday was scary and cold, but the feeling and spirit that was at the baptism was warm and peaceful. We had a wonderful wintertime barbeque before the baptism with all sorts of good friends being able to attend from around here. Thanks to everyone (especially mom) who provided all the yummy food- and a huge thanks to my wonderful husband who braved the storm to grill hamburgers and hot dogs for everyone!

It was a wonderful day! Mitch did a beautiful job baptizing and confirming the gift of the Holy Ghost upon Cameron.

Sorry about the lack o fmore pictures... a friend of mine took these before the ceremony started because like usual... we were late! It was no ones fault but my own: all the guests at the dinner planned on caravaning over to the Stake Center-- well someone forgot to remind me that it was at the Stake Center and we (I and my kids were in my parents rental car, with my sister following) drove over to our church. Imagine the look on my face as we pulled in to our church parking lot only to find it completely empty! *Ya, mark that one down in the book of biggest idiots!*

But we walked through the chapel doors of the Stake Center just as the meeting was starting! And yes, everyone that was at our house and already there was laughing!

I guess Cameron felt the spirit strongly and decided to do a little missionary work after the baptism meeting was over, but just before we confirmed him...Without Mitch or I knowing, he walked straight up to our neighbor who is inactive (who lives right across the street from us) and has quite a bit of a Word of Wisdom problem. He walked up and said "Red, you need to stop smoking!" Luckily, his family just laughed and thought it was sweet, and agreed.

Oh, the things kids say! Who knows, maybe it will make a difference!

So back to the house we go, through the blizzard and icy roads... to do what??? Have cake and ice cream sundaes of course! What better time to eat ice cream than in the dead of winter?!

Cam convinced me at the last minute to do a baptism cake for him ( I hadn't planned on it). but don't look too closely, my writing sucks! But he loves the color red and wanted his cake to look like this:

So the old saying proved to be true for Cameron: It is Great to be Eight!!!

Just a bit of catching up!

2008-01-07T09:07:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I am the worlds worst blogger! I can't seem to remember to write in this thing very often. Plus another problem is that Mitch recorded all our Christmas stuff on our video camera rather than our digital camera, so we have no way of tranfering it to our blog! Great!

We did have a good Christmas, and a very fun filled New Year too. Here are a couple of scenes from our Christmas time...

Hooray!!! It finally snowed two days before Christmas, of course, it only lasted for a day and all was green and brown again just in time for the holiday.

Being nice so Santa will come... these two hardly ever get along! I love using the "Santa won't give presents to any kids who aren't nice to each other!" It works like a charm!

"Santa Claus is coming to town"...

These two just couldn't get enough sleep during the holidays, but the flash sure woke them up! I should have gotten their faces when the flash went off and they were quite bewildered. Hee hee!

I had a few small cake jobs during the holidays...

and the kids had waaaay to much fun with the frosting! They love what I do!

Well that's all for now, I will try to do better in 2008!

Pregnancy Blank-Outs!

2007-12-07T12:49:00.000-07:00

My sincere apologies to all who on occasion view our blog... I can't seem to find a dang thing to write about at this time in my life, for my mind has succumbed to what all expecting mothers know as "pregnancy brain" in which case a thought you may have been thinking about all day is gone the moment you go to write it down or talk to someone about.
So to ease any doubts that you may have after the first paragraph... yes, we are expecting baby #4! I am about 10 weeks along and feel pretty good, just so dang tired! I don't remember being this tired. I will keep you all updated and feel free to let us know of any "C" or "M" names you can think of. We kind of feel like we are stuck with those since we have done it with Cameron, Madeline and Collin. We know it's a while off still, but you can't help think about it. Mitch's favorite girl names are: Marlee, Megan, and he hum-ho's about my favorite girl name... Meryn (or however we would spell it). I also like Megan, but I don't know if I can do Marlee, it just sounds like someone from Charles Dickens. He says it's a combination of Mitch and Carlie- that makes it more likable! But we can't reall think of any boy names that start with C, that our friends don't already have. Sigh... the joys of parenthood!
I will try to write more soon, and we'll keep you updated on how things are progressing.

Ogden in a flash!

2007-11-19T10:47:00.000-07:00

Well this weekend we made our quick trip to Ogden for Mitch's niece Ashlyn's wedding. I was asked to make her cake and we decided it would be fun to make the trip to see his family. We don't get to see Mitch's side too often, so we take what we can.

But as all things have their down sides... I came down with a bad cold a few days before, and let me tell you that making a wedding cake and preparing all the things needed while you can barely stand up is... well, difficult to say the least!

The trip down was good weathered and pretty uneventful on Friday. We stayed in their time share condo in Eden Valley, just 20 minutes past Ogden, and it was beautiful and perfect to decorate the cake!

Saturday morning, Mitch woke up with a bad sinus cold, and he is such a huge part of my cake business that I was worried! But we struggled through and after icing each layer and getting ready to start the fondant, I realized I had left the bottom cake stand at home!

So we packed up all my cake stuff and the cakes, and went back to Ogden to do the cake at the church. We finally located something that would work as the cake base, but when we pulled up to the church, we had problems! Obviously, my bottom cake didn't like the curvy roads, and decided to split apart! Lucky for us, we hadn't done the fondant yet! So we pushed it back together, iced it again, and finished the cake... here is the finished product. We even did the flowers on the cake- something new for me! Not bad for a first time job and not knowing what we were doing with the flowers!

I thought it turned out pretty. The happy couple was (I think) pleased and we received many comments on how yummy and moist the cakes were. The top was chocolate cake with coconut pecan filling, the middle was carrot cake with cream cheese filling, and the bottom was a white cake with raspberry filling.

All in all, it was a good weekend and we made it home safely with no problems!

Our Families "New-Do's"

2007-11-04T15:36:00.000-07:00

Just like the Autumn trees that are shedding their leaves to lighten their load for the winter, our family has followed the same path and shed some weight ourselves! Not actual weight... I wish... but we have all decided to "lighten our loads" by cutting and changing our hair.

I suppose I started all this about a month ago when my sister Katie, who is not afraid to try anything with her hair, talked me into coloring my hair (for the very first time). I was complaining about all the gray hair I had-- yes, I'm only 29 and had a lot of gray hair! Stop laughing all of you my age... you have it too, just lighter hair to hide it!

Anyway, she talked me into coloring it, but I said okay on one condition... we keep it the same color! I didn't want dramatic change. Well lo and behold... when we were all finished, it was black! Not the dark brown it used to be. But it did take Mitch a few hours before he realized his wife "looked like a mexican" according to him. So my hair was quite a bit darker, so I thought "why not add some spunk to it?!" Then I got it cut, and had about 6 inches cut off! I have never had it quite so dramatic, but I've had a lot of compliments on it, and I think I'm starting to like it!

The boys, well Cameron anyway, were growing theirs out for Halloween (so he could have the messy Harry Potter hair). And the day after Halloween, we decided it was time to cut their hair too. So Mitch pulls out the trusty clippers and gives them a buzz so they can spike their hair just like Dad!

Now by this time, you can imagine Madeline is feeling pretty left out! She tells me, "Mom, I want a hair cut too". So I asked her where she wanted it cut, and she pointed to the top of her shoulders... it was in the middle of her back. So I thought "how hard can it be to cut straight across her hair? Well, let me just say, that I have a new deep respect for all you moms who can cut your daughters hair and make it look good! I thought I was doing so good! But the final product looked like Collin cut her hair!!! Let me justify myself by saying that the scissors were incredibly dull!

Needless to say, Mitch said he would be taking her with him in the morning when he got his hair cut so a "professional" could fix it. So the next morning, off they go, and when they got back... I looked at her and my eyes popped out! I can't believe whoever cut that actually claimed to be a professional!!! It was as if I had done it again... only shorter!

So I started bawling and took her over to the girl that cut my hair and she fixed it as best she could without getting it too short! I was pleased with the end results... and I vow to never touch a pair of scissors again! I will stick to my cake decorating. Anyway, here is our new and somewhat improved family. Mitch is never around for pictures, but he looks the same anyway. Just minus the glasses, since he wears contacts and intends to get Lasic next year.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

2007-11-02T11:35:00.000-06:00

As much as I dislike Halloween, (I just think it is ridiculous and expensive!) we did have a good time this year, and I even got Mitch to "dress up" a little.

I guess our festivities started a few days before when we carved our pumpkins. Mitch actually did all the carving, no wait, the kids and I pulled all the "goop" out, then he did the rest... thanks babe! The only pictures we got for some reason were of the two that we entered in our ward's pumpkin carving contest-- we took 2nd place! The first carving is of a goblin (side profile) and the second one is a cute bat in front of a moon. The kids picked out these pictures and then they painted their own little pumpkins.

After all the baking and planning class parties (which included Halloween Bingo and a cupcake walk for Cam's class and tons of treats) they finally got to dress up in their costumes for school.

Madeline this year was Tinkerbell- with a twist... Tink usually doesn't have a mask over her eyes, but it's what she wanted. The picture with the coat was at our Trunk-or-Treat, and the other was on her way to school.. painted faces weren't allowed at school, we were pushing it with the swirls on her cheeks!

Cameron was Harry Potter, and next to the real thing, I've never seen a better one! He loved the homemade wand he and his dad made from a stick, spraypaint, electricians tape and a glowing marble! Does that make us rednecks??? Well he loved it anyway, and it saved me $12 for a stinking wand! He loved to pose for pictures, but unfortunately, I forgot his scar at home, we got it at school and the church party though!

Collin's costume was the most fitting of all and we had so many people tell us how that was so "him". He picked out a monkey costume. He loved to put it on and dance around with his arms under his armpits or over his head while saying "oo oo, ee ee". What a cute kid! And when he saw his sister with face paint, of course, he wanted it too. I have no clue how to paint a monkey face! We had a lot of people ask if he was a lion or tiger... does he look like a lion or tiger to you? Me neither! Oh well, i never claimed to be an artist!

And Finally, here is Mitch and I's costumes. The kids told me to be a vampire this year, so I did. I don't think I have ever dressed up before, and now that I can say I've done it... I don't thinkI'll do it again... especially since this is the extent of Mitch's dressing up.

I need to burn that silly wig of his! I told him he'd make an awesome Dracula or even Captain Jack Sparrow... but no, he doesn't do costumes! Oh well, we're glad it's over, now we get to deal with the sugar rushes from kids and all that fun stuff! I guess you all probably do too! Hope you all had a safe and fun Halloween! Now we get to go clean it all off our faces! fun stuff!

Osama Bin Collin strikes again!!!

2007-10-19T14:20:00.000-06:00

Today I have experienced first hand why parents should never leave their 3 and 5 year old unattended... and also why Mitch nicknamed Collin- Osama Bin Collin- he's not terrible... he's a terrorist! But he's so dang cute that we just have to love hime to pieces!

I had just finished making the kids some lunch when I got a phone call from a friend. I told Collin and Madeline to eat their lunch and went downstairs to talk. I guess I had been down there for a while because Madeline came down and said "Mom, Collin is in the flour and he is mixing it with Sprite."

Use your colorful imagination for the words to insert here as I ran up the stairs to find Collin hiding behind the couch with the "oh crap, I am so dead" look, saying "sowwy mom, sowwy mom". I turned to the kitchen and this is what I found...

The entry way to the kitchen... covered in flour, and the walkway to the table...

The table covered in flour, spaghetti noodles and in the yellow cup is the flour and Sprite concoction. (I haven't dared try it yet... ha ha) And of course-- they always blame each other (and you can see who the greater of two evils is!)

As a mother, all I can do is sigh and laugh before I start to cry! I won't get sympathy from Mitch, he just laughed his head off when I called to tell him.... maybe I'll get some from you moms who have gone through this!? Well, gotta go get cleaning!

The Pumpkin Patch

2007-10-18T03:38:00.000-06:00

Why is it, that when you want to do something that involves pictures, you can remember to do everything except recharge your camera battery???

Such was the case for us when we took our annual family outing to the "pumpkin patch". This is actually called Linder Farm, and they started out just selling pre-picked pumpkins to people. They have since made it quite a big ordeal- hayride to go get your own pumpkins, corn mazes, tractor pulled train rides, hay bale maze, bounce houses and bouncy slides, and of course, they had to add food and their yummy freshly made donut holes! (You can just feel the grease clogging your arteries... yet, it's their biggest seller!)

We went with just us this year, we usually go with friends ( a good back up plan if your camera doesn't work!) for F.H.E. It's really quite a fun thing... for the kids... who think we, the parents are made of money and can do everything there, and who don't actually end up carrying their own pumpkins, yet they had to pick the biggest one!

The first thing we did when we got there was get in line for the hay ride. While standing in line, Mitch went to take some pics of the kids in the hay bale maze. He got these two before our battery died!

(Above) The kids in the middle of the hay maze

sorry about all the other people, they aren't with

us.

(Right) A better shot of our camera happy kids

Madeline, Cameron and Collin

We had a good time. Unfortunately, we could not do all the things we wanted because we ran out of daylight. The kids each picked a pumpkin and got to play on the bouncy toys. I think they were happy; and for all you who have kids... you know that this is a good time to end the day! We drove home and by the time we got there, they were all asleep... what more could a parent ask for?

Potty-Trained at last!!!

2007-10-15T09:00:00.000-06:00

He finally did it! (We hope) Collin finally made it through the night dry with underware on! He has actually been potty trained during the day since he was two years old, but he always wet during naps and at night... I think he finally beat it!

As parents, we are extremely glad and excited... no more pull-ups! But our happiness is magnified ten times when we see his little face in the morning with a big huge grin while he pulls up his shirt and tells us "I'm all dwy (dry)"

Then he has to proudly show off his dry underware (I think underware picture are okay to take of kids aren't they?!)

We are so proud of our little man! We know he'll probably have some accidents, but hey, that's life right?

Family Travels

2007-10-06T20:28:00.000-06:00

This past week was full of traveling to family functions and also having some family members come to our house to visit and celebrate Collin's 3rd birthday with us.

We began our journey by traveling through some very snowy weather to Salt Lake City to my brother Buzz's baby's blessing. Kind of crazy for the last day of September! And we left Nampa when it was 75 degrees!

Buzz and Jenn's new baby is named Anna Cathryn and she is very pretty! I even got to hold her while she was sleeping (kids are so sweet when they are asleep) It was so good to see my whole family... yep, all six of us kids were there with our families! All Jenn's family was there and that added up to be quite a housefull, but they were very gracious and didn't complain- even about the huge toy mess in the basement! Good company, excellent food... what more can a person want?!

We were also able to spend time with Mitch's older brother Mac in Salt Lake. They were kind enough to let us play "hotel" in their camper trailer-- thanks a lot Mac...now Mitch wants one!

The weekend went by too quickly and we were on our way home. Not that Idaho weather isn't predictable or anything, but all the snow from the previous day was gone! Surprise, surprise! What is that saying..."if you don't like the weather in Idaho, just wait 5 minutes and it'll change"!

Getting home gave us enough time to clean our house and sort of get caught up on laundry -if such a thing is possible. Then on Wed. night, my sister Katie and her family came to stay with us for a couple of days. Both Collin and Jack had their birthday on Monday so we celebrated it on Thursday. The boys opened their presents and we had cake and icecream (thanks for the help on the cake Katie!)

Yes that is Mitch's wonderful singing voice you hear, and yes, I was purposely trying to sound like Elmo when I told them to blow out the candles. (I thought it was fitting since it was an Elmo party!) We all had fun, but then they had to leave on Friday, that was a bummer.

Now our week has come to an end, and we can relax and watch General Conference, oh, and get caught up on the never-ending cleaning!!!

A Victory!!

2007-09-27T12:54:00.001-06:00

Well after a full day of fretting and drinking tons of water, the shot lady shows up at my door. To make a not-quite-so-long story much shorter... she came, attempt #1 in the arm failed- dang-it! She spots an eager looking candidate in my right hand, lays me down, rubs, taps, and pokes... I emerge victorious! We have a successful blood withdrawl. And no fainting this time!!!
So everybody all together... inhale slowly and exhale... feel the relief! That is, until the next shots time comes around!

Carlie, the not-so-brave of heart...

2007-09-25T10:11:00.000-06:00

Why does it seem like every time I even hear the words "blood drawn" does my heart go into convulsions and I dread the appointment with every fiber of my being? Hmmm.... it may be because every time I get my blood taken, whether it be a stupid finger prick or the full needle in the arm, I pass out! (well maybe not every time, I think I've made it through once without passing out!) Seriously! If I am not laying down, you can count on me to be slumped over in my chair or with my head in the trash can puking, cold sweat, dizzy... the works!
I am any nurses nightmare! I have these teeny tiny veins, which I adamantly warn them about beforehand. But they are bound and determined to "get their job done". After examining each arm and hand numerous times, at which point my arms are numb from all the tapping they do to try to find my veins, they not-so-confidently decide that they "think" they have found one that might work.
At this point, I brace myself for the worst, and remind myself to breathe!
Then comes the stick, and shortly following, is the cold sweat, and you can take it from there!

So after recovering, she asks me if I am ready to try it again! I look at her and think (to myself) that I'd rather just have her cut my whole arm off than try that again! But she is now convinced that it will work if I lay down. Then the process starts all over again, but I am spared the embarrassment of passing out- "A victory" I think to myself, but then the reality comes crashing down on me... yes, she finally pulled the needle out of my arm, but she never did find the vein!!

So what does the nurse do? She packs up her stuff and says, "maybe we'll have more luck on Thursday, I'll be here at noon".

Sigh... more dreaded anticipation, oh well, just keep breathing and for heaven's sake... let me lie down!!!
P.S. this blood work is for our Life Insurance.. nothing is wrong with me, other than I am retartded when it comes to having my blood drawn!

Cameron's Whale Watch

2007-09-23T20:14:00.000-06:00

Mitch is stepping in as guest author this week. This week was filled with most of the regular things like school, work, cleaning house, my perpetual bathroom project... (Carlie finally convinced me that I needed to move the light fixture mounting point from the ceiling to the wall. I am letting some of my manhood go when I admit that her idea on my remodel project is actually better than what I was going to do.)

We won't bore you with most of the details of our daily rituals, so we will tell you a little thing that Cameron has been doing in school.

Cameron has really taken off on reading, so he was given accelerated reading assignments. In one of his books that he was reading, he became highly engrossed in the lives of humpback whales. To his excitement, he discovered, at the end of the book, that he could "adopt" a whale. He asked his teacher if their class could adopt a humpback whale. She passed this off as a phase that would soon pass.... needless to say, the persistant will prevail!!!
He began to get his class involved and excited about this project. The teacher soon realized she was outvoted, so she gave Cam the assignment of finding out all the information needed in order to adopt this whale.
Well Cameron decides that he needs to go about this with very thought out steps...
Step #1: To truly convert his class to loving humpback whales: He comes home and searches the online Encyclopedia (sadly, he is getting better at surfing than we are) and prints off a two page report on these ocean giants; he takes the report in and reads it to his class, and they take the bait!
Step #2: Find out how their class can "adopt" a whale: Upon more searching of the internet, he was able to find the New England Whale Center, and all about this adoption process- the names of whales, cost of "adopting", and all the freebies they give you when you adopt... Again, more printing!
Step #3: Come up with ideas for raising the money to "adopt" this whale: Cameron has always loved to sell baked goods whenever we have had a yard sale... so his first thought was, "hey, we can sell cookies and stuff in the hallway". Again, the class was unanimous. (So who do you suppose get's to bake most of the stuff for the bake sale? Yep, good 'ol mom... lucky she likes to do that kind of stuff!)
So, after all this hard work and effort on Cameron's part, his class will be having their fundraiser on October 1-3, to raise money in order to adopt a Humpback whale! He has had to warn the class though, "it has to stay in the ocean, it won't fit in our classroom!"

Love Is Spoken Here vs Queen

2007-09-17T08:59:00.000-06:00

This was too funny not to share!!!

So there we were sitting nice and peaceful in Sacrament meeting (well... as peaceful as you get with a 7 1/2, 5 1/2, and almost 3 three year old). Cameron and Madeline has just gotten up to sing Love Is Spoken Here with a little group of Primary kids. They started singing and it was so sweet. Well I guess Collin wanted to sing too, but his choice of song was the complete opposite on the reverence scale!
So, in the middle of their song, Collin stands up on the bench and pipes up and sings (as loud as he can) "We Will, We Will Rock You"

Needless to say, we got a "few" chuckles out of that! I've never moved so fast as to grab him and pull him down with my hand clamped over his mouth!

AAh, kids, aren't they great? Life would be so dull without them!

The Lemming Joins the Chase!

2007-09-15T13:56:00.001-06:00

Well here we are, making our first attempt at our very own "blog". Yes, we too have jumped on the bandwagon and joined this crazy technological world! I have always feared doing things like this because I am not as creative and clever as some in my family... but hopefully all those years of highschool journalism will help a little bit. So here goes...

We are the McClellan family. We consist of...

Mitch (the daddy); Carlie (the mommy):

Cameron (the brain), Madeline (the drama queen) and Collin (who has been lovingly dubbed "Osama-bin-Collin):

This summer our family took a little excursion to the Boise Zoo. We had a great time watching how the kids interacted with the animals. Let's just say... we are thankful for cages!

The kids love the animals, but I think they love the camera even more!

That's all for now. We'll write more later!