Trust me, this is a gross one

The other day I found these after I washed some laundry. I thought that maybe our washer or dryer did it.

This is the closet in our bathroom. The black area is where we throw our dirty clothes. I remembered finding the jeans (when I went to separate for the washer) pulled under that board in the red area shown above. Last night I went in again to get some more laundry. This time some of our underwear had been pulled under and was stuck. (really NOT good!) The funny thing is that there is barely enough room to stick even the tip of a pencil under the board. So since the clothes had been chewed on, we decided to do some pest control. So Dustin pulled the board off and we made a special bed for our friend. A special rat trap with yarn wrapped up with peanut butter...you don't want those things getting away:) not even 20 minutes after replacing the board with the trap behind it, we heard a loud snap. This is what we found:

As you can see from the above picture, he had peices of my jeans. Also, before we set the trap we found a shirt that he had somehow managed to get all the way behing the board. He had a nice life living in our walls, and under our bathtub. I am just glad that if they had to live anywhere in our house that it is behind the walls not actually in the house. I think I would burn it down if that was the case.

Look how long his tail is!! That is disgusting!! I was freaking out. We put the trap back after disposing of his body, I hope if we have more that we catch them! I guess that is what you get for buying an 85 year old house. YUCK!

The Easter Bunny Came!

Rylin was so cute this Easter. It is fun to have her more involved in the festivities. I saved the Easter baskets for after church so she could spend more time playing with the stuff the Easter Bunny brought. She was So funny and loved to shake all the eggs with the Candy inside.

We were so excited we couldn't hide it!

Later that day we went to Grandpa and Grandma Soptich's house for an Easter egg hunt. We managed to run outside between rain storms to gather all the eggs. Rylin was halarious because she refused to pick some off the ground. Instead she would just point at them and do her "uhh" sound. As if to say...get it for me. Anywho, It was a great Easter and I can't wait until next year because she will continue to be more and more fun each year.

7 Kids? Are we crazy?

I know what you are thinking from my title and no, we are not having seven kids. We do, however have the opportunity to watch 7 kids (4 nieces, 3 nephews) once every four Saturdays from about 6-10ish pm. It is actually pretty easy. The process goes as follows: This first shift begins around 7pm...Brinlee (18 months) goes to sleep in Crystal's closet in her pack 'n'play. It is a huge closet, some might consider it an extra room. Rylin (18 months) goes to sleep in the extra/craft/stampin up room in her pack'n'play. Then Asher (almost 22 months) goes to sleep in his crib in his own room. The second shift is started about 8pm. Halle (6 years) and Haven (4 years) go to sleep in their own beds. Kaden (3) sleeps in Aunt Crystal and Uncle Mike's big bed (with Brin in the closet). Parker (4) sleeps in a special bed either with Rylin or Asher. So after explaining the process to you all I can go on with my story.
Asher usually goes to bed pretty easily although tonight he kept yelling. After a while of the off and on yelling he started to scream. So I ventured in to check him out. he is not a little boy. He is very stout with thick strong legs. Anywhoo, his manly leg was stuck in between the crib rails. After a little maneuvering without breaking the rails, he was freed. After some cuddling with Uncle Dustin he was ready for bed. As a matter of fact Dustin asked if he was ready and Asher said "please". Fun night. I feel horrible. Onto the funny part. Before the Talking turned into screaming from Asher, I decided to lay Parker boy down in with Rylin. He didn't want to though because he thought she would "WAKE ME UP!". He started this a few weeks ago and still seems to think she will wake him up if he sleeps in there. Anyway, he earned a free ride to Halle and Haven's room. So he crawled into his "special bed" in their room. Meanwhile, we tended to Asher. After that fiasco was over I went in to find that Halle and Haven had made their own "special beds" on the floor with Parker. After threatening them with their lives if I had to go up there even one time, I let them stay. I guess I am pretty scary because they all fell asleep (at least they aren't making any noise). So Dustin is here playing some guitar hero and I am here typing this. That is pretty much it. I am so grateful to be able to help all the kids have a little sleep over together to make memories. Although it may seem stressful, it really isn't. I was going to put some really cool pictures on here but I can't find them on Crystal's computer. Maybe another day :)
I really got on here because I realized I hadn't looked in depth at my YW lesson, I should get on that.

California Part 3

The first picture of my Grandpa Dan, Rylin, and I...one for the books.

T-bone and his squinty eyes for the picture

The whole weekend the girls got to ride together in the totally cool built in carseats in the rental van. It was funny because when it got really quiet we would look at them and they were either holding hands with eachother/Poppa or they were staring eachother down...trying to figure out how to get more attention from Grandma.

Can you say spring fever?

Last Wednesday was such a pretty day we all took the kids to the park. Brinlee and Rylin hadn't had any lunch yet so they took in the views and ate while the other kids ran around. Rylin had Her sassy pants on all day (those dang molars) and was even able to flash a few nasty looks to the camera.

Here is Asher enjoying a bit of Brin's sandwich...yummy!

Since Brin has such long arms, she can EASILY reach all the way across to steal some food!

I think that Aunt Crystal brought her wild side with her to park,

and I love love love the look of shear horror on Kaden's face while Parker was giving him a boost!

The first pictures from our Trip to California

I would like to announce that Rylin is a pro at traveling. After a couple roadtrips, and three airplane rides in her short lifetime, I think she deserves 10 gold stars. Even after the security guys gave us a run for our money, she was still a trooper.

Notice the wipe in her hand for her new found obsession with wiping her face?

I think we found her picture smile at the airport.

After 3 outfits (from a few random leaky diapers that "just so happened"to sneak up on us while traveling) I think she was excited to roam the hotel halls with her crazy Grandma :) to show her new walking tricks. The other half naked girl is my neice Anne. She is sooo cute and just discovered how naughty a two year old can be. It was fun to watch her and Rylin play, now that they are getting older and more and more alike. Can you say...princesses?

California Part 2

The weather was perfect. It was at least 70 degrees. That is like summertime to me. Rylin loves to be outside. It always keeps her happy especially when it was this nice out!

Rylin, Melina, Anne, and T-Bone (Terrick)It was almost impossible for Aunt Shastina to keep T-bone out of the fountain. The Scramento temple is absolutley Beautiful. It is one of the smaller ones but gorgeous. Thanks Krista for watching the kids so I could go in it!

(google picture of the temple)

Shastina, Grandma Shirley, and Terrick. Garret thinks he is pretty sneaky!

The Happy couple, My uncle (Little Dan) and his new wife Kristin, yep she's my Aunt but almost the same age as me...that is what you get for having a young Uncle! They were busy watching the kids at the fountain :)

Ol' Peg Leg

Rylin FINALLY decided to stop tricking us and show us she can walk like a pro. We feel very excited about this. Some mornings I find myself waking up feeling like it is Christmas and I am five again because she has gifted us with her abundance of walking skills. I just get so excited to see her actually do it! I think that all kids have a funny Frankenstein walk when they are beginners, but some may say she walks more like a pirate with a wooden leg :)