The aMAESn Gang

I guess it is about every 2 years I have to torture myself and my family in order to get some cute pictures!!!!!! The girl that took the pictures did an AWESOME job and was very quick!!!!!! Thanks Jen...U ROCK!!!!!!!

We went to Oceanside again this year!!! It was soooooo fun but I am embarrassed to admit that these are the ONLY pictures I took!!! I am slipping!!!! We had a BLAST, Matt & Mandi were there with their adorable family and Matt's brother Johnny and his wife Stephanie their cute family were there as well so the kids had MORE than enough entertainment!!! We stayed in a little condo place right on the beach and it was perfect. It was a bit of a rough week cause Dad was just getting out of the hospital and I knew he didn't have much time left. Mom insisted we go to the beach as we had it rented for a few months and the kids were really lookin forward to going. We went on sat and were supposed to stay intil the next sat but ended going home on thurs due to a phone call I got from mom saying that I should probably get home to say good bye to my dad. We already have a place reserved for next year...we love it there and it is such a FUN getaway and the kids LOVE IT!!!!

Every year I let Gabby pick what she would like to do...have a party or pick one friend (wonder who that would be) and I take them to see a show. Last year she really wanted a pool party but our pool wasn't done yet so she picked to go to see the Tournament of Kings at the Excalibur. We took Rilee and her mom Amanda and we had a blast. THIS year she wanted a POOL party, BUT our pool is STILL NOT DONE!!!! she decided she wanted to take Rilee to another show and she picked to go see "O" at the Belagio. They were soooo cute and had on boas and tiaras, they thought they were so big!!! They had so much fun and they LOVED the show! I can't believe I have a stinking 8 year old!!!!

Wow..i cant believe that it has been so long since in BLOGGED!!! July was a CRAZY month. Gabby turned 8!!!! I turned 36 (yikes) and my dad, (MY HERO) passed away!!! He went into the hospital with some tummy pains and 13 days later he passed away!!! He died of Liver & Pancreatic Cancer. While he was in the hospital he suffered a stroke which was probably a blessing. If he KNEW what was going on he would have been a HORRIBLE patient!!!! It was AWFUL to see him deteriorate so fast and see the man that was ALWAYS active and doing SOMETHING, now bed ridden and in a diaper. I, OF COURSE, miss him and wish he was still here BUT I KNOW he is in a better place and he isn't suffering anymore!!! He was such an awesome man and it makes me sick to think of my mom being alone!! I know this next year of all the "1st"s without him will be rough but we are tough and we will make it!!! I LOVE YOU DADDY!!!

Holy CRAP...I finally got to go to Hawaii...and I am only 35!! We had such a great time. We went with Matt & Amanda, Brigit (my cousin) & Brock, and Celeste & Brady! We were there for 7 days in a beautiful house in the mountains in Maui with NO KIDS!!! It was amazing. Thanks MOM (& dad I guess) for watching the kids so we could go and not WORRY if our kids were OK.
We arrived in Maui sat morning and Celeste and Brady were already there for a couple of days. We went straight to their hotel and just hung out by the pool. The hotel next to theirs had an awesome, HUGE pool(s) that we invaded ALL DAY SUNDAY! We did NOT get out of the pool at all. The pool had several different slides and a rope swing. Too much fun. We went on an awesome ZIP line on Monday. Chris was by far the most fun to watch with his LONG OLE LEGS!! Poor Matt was not feeling well so he headed back to the house. On Tuesday we went to the beach (where I got my BUTT kicked a few times by some BA waves, thanks guys for warning me!!!!) and then the boys went golfing while the girls took a nap and then went shopping. That night we went to Moose Magilacudies(sp?) to see Chris' cousin, JR, that lives there in Maui. We had a blast eating and dancing. On wed we had to be up and at the boat dock at 6:30 am (yikes) to go on a "rafting" trip. It was a large blow up pontoon "raft" with 2 motors on the back. Our guides were Brad (B-RAD) and Devon (DAWG)!! They made it the best "rafting" trip ever. The trip was 5 1/2 hours long and we saw spinner dolphins, lots of volcanic rocks and caves. Then we got to snorkel with some sea turtles and even a reef shark!!! the snorkeling was just amazing. We snorkeled off a huge crater and as you went under the water you saw this breathtaking drop off...unreal!! I am NOT good with words so I could never do it justice. If you go to Maui contact Blue Water Rafting tours and request Brad and Devon to be your guides... trip would have SUCKED without them!!! On Thursday we went to the beach again (surprise!). Later we got all dressed up to go to the LUAU and we got there and it was cancelled...RUDE!! It was Brady and Celeste's last night so we all went and ate at Ruth's Chris instead and them bid them farewell! BTW...Poor Matt was STILL not feeling well. Can you imagine having the FLU in paradise?!?! Friday we slept in, hung out, had LOTS of laughs and then got dressed and headed out to try the Luau again. The food was yummy and I am glad we had the experience but I am not feeling the need to see another one. Chris and Brock got up on stage and learned a little hula! On Saturday we slept in again and then went driving around. We had to leave that night and so we had to clean up and pack. We went to eat, shopped some more, ate some sushi, and then it was back to the airport for the flight back to dry, hot, BROWN, VEGAS!!! By this time Matt was feeling MUCH better!!!! I did miss my kids, they gave hugs and kisses but only really cared about what we BROUGHT them!!! TURDS!!
It was awesome and I now am looking forward to our next adventure! We are taking the kids to the beach in California for a week at a beach house. I am sooooo thankful for Chris and for the fact that he WANTS to go and do these cool things and that he is such a hard worker so that we CAN go!!! You ROCK honey!!! LOVE U!

We LOVED seeing Gamma Aunt Judy when she came into town a couple of weeks ago! We met her at the Wynn where she was staying. I had never been there...it is pretty nice! We ate at the buffet there...the kids had never been to a buffet and were a little amazed at the whole thing. We love out Gamma AJ and are VERY thankful for her!!! Thanks GAJ for being so good to us and making such an effort to be a part of our lives!!!!!

WE DID IT!!!! I can't believe it has come and gone already... we have been talking and planning this forever it seems!!
OK, if you have looked at the bottom right of my blog and read about "NIKKI" my girlfriend that was tragically killed at work in June 2006, this event was all about her!! When she was killed a friend named Jill and Nikki's husband Chris, were brainstorming about something to do in Nikki's name. They came up with a 5K run & 1 mile fun walk. THUS, the "NIKKI ANDERSON-MANGIN 5K Run and 1 mile Walk" was born! So here are the pictures that were takin at the event. You can see the pictures of the "GIRLS"...we played volleyball all through high school with Nikki and "Sally" played with her in college. The money that was raised at this event will go to a BOULDER CITY (that is were we all are from and went to school)High School Volleyball player as a scholarship in Nikki's name!!! It is very exciting to be on the "board" of this scholarship committee and it will be so great to be able to study and decide on a deserving player!!
Nikki Left behind a wonderful husband Chris, a 6 year old Cruz, and a 3 year old Mazzy. (she died a week before Cruz turned 5 and Mazzy was 18 months) Nikki's mom is Beth (she is my 2nd mom) and her brother is Chad. Chad has a little boy named "Snoopy" (chad jr.) and Nikki's dad is named Jeff. The last 2 years has been absolute agony and tourcher on them all. Time helps but Nikki had the type of personality that most people would kill for. She was always the life of the party and life is very different without her around!
It was the FIRST ANNUAL, and therefore and big learning experience...however it went very smooth the day of the race! (Jill did TONS and TONS of work to put it together and then the rest of us just pitched in when and where needed!!!) We showed up at the start line at 5:15 am to set up and make the balloon arch at the start/finish line. Racers started showing up and registering and we very quickly ran out of t-shirts as more people showed than we anticipated. We had 170 participants either walking or running! It was $25 to register and you got a t-shirt with that. It was truley amazing to see the people just keep coming and coming!! Just before the race started the Mayor, Mike Pacini, said a few words and brought tears to everyones eyes!! We had a moment of silence for Nikki...it was a very powerful experience! The race got under way and went off without a hitch!! My grandma was the oldest participant at a very young 83 and she did fabulous!!!
At the end they had a awards ceramony where they handed out some money to the first man and first women to cross the finish and then ribbons to the top three in each age group! The EXCITING thing is...over $11,000 has been counted thus far!!!! We were expecting around $3,000. TOOOO COOOOL!!!!
This will be an annual thing, the first weekend in MAY and it coisides with the Boulder City Jamboree event that has lots of fun for the kids and lots of venders!! Put it on your calander and come out next year with your family, and as Chris (Nikki's husband said) 10 of your friends!!!!

We had a wonderful Easter and I survived teaching my first lesson in RS!! Gabby, of course, was bein a TOTAL HAM while I was trying to take pictures!! They all looked sooooo cute!!!

I just had to say THANK YOU to those of you that commented on "NAUGHTY CAMERON"!!! I was seriously ready to throw in the towel on the whole MOM thing....thank you for reminding me that we all have those days!!!!! I do remember Gabby throughing a couple of those fits but I don't remember them being quite that bad!! Anyhow, your comments made my day so I had to say THANK YOU!!!!!

Why do I ALWAYS feel like I blog about Cameron? OH, CAUSE I DO!!!!! I really do have 3 other children. I guess Cameron is in the I will TORTURE my mom phase. I just have to blog what happened today to get it off my chest.
We went to speech today and at the end he gets a sticker, well today he wanted something different and I said no so he started pitchin a fit so I wouldn't even let him get a sticker!! He through the FIT OF ALL FITS!!!! He was SCREAMING like I cut off BOTH legs and arms. I had to DRAG him out of speech and put him in the truck and buckle him in because I knew he was too mad to buckle himself. I shut the door and started walking around to my door and the little PUNK unbuckled and opened the truck door and started running across a VERY busy parking lot!!! I of course ran after him and grabbed his arm (which now has a nice hand mark on it from me grabbin it) and had to DRAG him back to the truck again and buckle him again. I shut the door and went to go to my door and the little SHIT did it AGAIN!!!! He got more of a jump on me this time so I really had to run to catch him. This time I ended up grabbing him right over his shoulder onto his left boob. He go away and I grabbed again and scratched his shoulder and ended up grabbing his shirt collar, choking him back into my arms!!! He is STILL SCREAMING bloody murder and I was sure the cops were going to show up any second and take me away for child abuse!!! I got him in the truck and buckled him AGAIN and he unbuckled again and jumped in the very back of the excursion, I went to get him and he jumped back over the seat so I went to the other door and he jumped BACK into the back. I just got in and drug him over the back seat and took him to the FRONT seat (real SAFE) and I buckled him in. Well once again as I was headed back to my side he unbuckled and tried to open the door. So I ended up holding him, getting into MY seat, putting him over into the front seat, holding him down to buckle him and locking the seat belt so he could not wiggle out and I go the truck going and had to drive, hold his seat buckle so he couldn't undo it and keeping the doors locked so he couldn't open the door but he kept unlocking the door. I just wanted to die, I felt like balling my eyes out with frustration, dispare, and guilt!!!! It was like a demon came and took over my precious little boy!!! He has fully recovered, no permanent damage, (he might need some counseling later in life but...) and I might be able to forgive myself eventually. He has said he is sorry about a hundred times (just because he is grounded from his DS for a week and he thinks I will give it back if he keeps saying sorry) and hopefully he will never do that again!! I swear the kid it going to be the death of me and if I had my way he would NEVER get another STINKIN STICKER EVER!!!!! He broke my heart right before bed as he told his brother that he was leavin town becasue everone said he was stupid!!!! Talk about wanting to love and hug and kiss him....

Well...Cameron survived his ear tubes surgery!! He is sooo cute and all the nurses were TOTALLY ooogling over him the whole time. (he HATED it! ha ha!) I think it helped clear the crap out cause the next morning he said, "mom!!! Your too youd (loud)!!!!" Now our next venture is the double hearing aids and getting rid of those 3 HUGE plantar warts on the ball of his tiny foot!!! Poor guy!!

So I thought I would be cool and get the new camcorder that just records to a hard drive instead of tapes or discs. Well, I have had it since May of 2007 and have a bunch of things recorded on it. I am running out of hard drive space so I tried to hook the camcorder up to my computer and edit and burn a DVD!!! YEA RIGHT!!!! I spent from 9 am to 2:45 pm today on my computer trying to figure it out!!! I must be a TOTAL dumb dumb cause even after all that time I still didn't figure it out!!! My computer says that there is not enough disk space to do it. I have done the clean up and all that...HELP!!!! Anyone have any bright ideas?? Do I need to add more harddrive to my laptop?? Can you even do that??? HELP!!!!

I lOVE when my adorable kids say cute things so I decided to try to put them in my blog when I can. So I added the "funny things they have said / say" under each kid. I know there are tons and I just can't remember them so I will just add them as I remember them or they happen!

OK...this is my ooooober goooober Cameron!!! One day he was trying to tell me about a toy that he wanted and I, of course, could NOT understand him. So he started bustin a "ROBOT" move for me...I about DIED cause it was sooooo dang cute!! I eventually got that he wanted a remote control spiderman robot toy. ANYHOW, now he loves to do the ROBOT!!! We were at a Christmas shin dig at my cousins house and he did the robot for the camera (suprise, suprise). My wonderful cousin has this on her blog and I begged her to put it on mine. Sorry it is sideways, I couldn't figure out how to flip it. THANKS BRIGIT...LOVE YA!!!

OK...I win for MOTHER OF THE YEAR!!!! I was making dinner tonight and all the kids and their cousin Ashtyn were upstairs playing. They had been up there for quite a while and when I finished dinner I called all them down to eat. Everyone came down but Cameron. I asked where he was and all the kids said, "he hasn't been up playing with us!!" Well, knowing Cameron's personality I freaked a little and started looking for him. I eventually found him in my bathroom upstairs sound asleep on the toilet!!! You see...my boys both refuse to learn how to wipe after they poop so they sit on the toilet and YELL, "I'M DONE!!!!" until someone comes and wipes their bum. I have NO idea how long Cameron was upstairs in my bathroom yelling, "I'M DONE!!!" I took several pictures and he didn't wake up until the WET wipe came in contact with his bummy!! POOR BABY!!!!! (his pajama top was on backwards, I am not too sure what that was all about!!!) By the way, they have informed me that when they are BIG LIKE DAD they will learn how to wipe their own bum!!!! LUCKY ME!!!!

Loooook how ADORABLE my Tessa is in her new glasses!!! She just got them today and she is too cute!! I took Cameron to the ear doctor today and he has suggested double hearing aids. Apparently they can put a microphone aid in his deaf ear that will digitally take all the sounds he "would" hear in that ear and transfers them to the other ear. I don't quite get it but we feel like if it will help him with his speech it is worth a try. He has a bunch of crap goin on in both ears from ear infections and his tubes need to be redone then we will go from there!!! The worst part is that insurance seems to think that hearing aids arent worth covering!!! O WELLLLLLL!!!! it is ONLY money right, $3500 is chump change!!!! I am a little worried about Cameron taking as good care of his hearing aids as Gavin does!! We will see!!

Have I ever mentioned how AWESOME my mom and my Grandma Larsen are???? My mom made sugar cookie dough and brought it down to my house to let my kids do Valentine's Day cookies!!! I don't do them with my kids so they can have that special activity with their darling Grandma (that's my story and I am stickin to it!!!) They had sooooo much fun rollin out the dough and frosting the cookies. Thank you mom and Grandma...you truly are the BEST!!!!!

Chris has a VERY fabulous Aunt and Uncle that live in Phoenix. They called us a couple of weeks ago and asked us if we wanted to go to Primm and see Alan Jackson with them and stay the night there in Primm. We, OF COURSE, said YES!!! My darling mother had the nerve to go to my cousins wedding so thank GOODNESS for my dear friend Mandi K...she took the kids over night for us so we could go! (I will pay you my monthy friend installment tomarrow Mandi)!!! Any how, Aunt Deb is a HUGE Alan Jackson fan and she got the tickets in the 3rd row!! I have never been that close before and it was soooooo awesome!! I am pretty sure that the first few rows is the only way to go!! Chris had some BIG beautiful women in front of him that stood and danced most of the time but I am sure he enjoyed the BIG VIEW!!! (he, he) Anyhow, I couldn't get a good picture, I wasn't sure what setting to put my camera on so these pictures aren't the best. The last 2 are of Carrot Top. He was just two rows is front of us. He looks like a freak!!! He wears tons of makeup and I am pretty sure he has had bicept implants!!! Thanks Aunt Deb and Uncle Pat!!!

Well, here we go into another week. Gabby got the funk but doesn't seem as bad as the others. The babies will head back to school this week...that will be so nice. We are in for a busy week. Back to the GYM. I have taken the last 2 weeks off due to sick kids. I have to refocus on HAWAII in JUNE!!! I want to lose like 30 lbs...GOOD LUCK, RIGHT??!?!?!

Here is the MAES pool!!!! We are soooo excited to finally be puttin in a pool. HOWEVER...we are on hold until we get some more money because we don't want to start financin it now as we have paid cash so far. Chris is doin the pool as owner / builder so we are able to stop for a minute. I just PRAY that we get some money by the spring! We really only have 2 more steps to go before we are swimmin away!! I will update the pictures as we finish!!!

Wow, I might actually send the babies to school tomorrow!! It is about time I tell ya! I just finished with activity day girls. We decorated journals for them to write in. They are a great group of girls and there is only 7. Before there were 11 and it would get pretty chaotic! It is a good calling and the girls are so cute! If the pool ever gets done we will have a blast!

I just have to tell ya what Tessa just said. I have my blog page as my home page so when I log on the internet it pops right up. Tessa saw the picture of the prophet and I explained to her that he passed away. I had a bit of a sad expression and voice and she looked right at me and said, "MOM, he is in HEAVEN you silly, it's not sad!!" Why are kids so much smarter than us about this delicate stuff?

I have to say that the news of our wonderful prophet passing away was bitter sweet for me. He is soooooo adorable and fabulous but I am so glad that he is re-united with his sweet wife! I will miss listening to him speak and his sense of humor but I know that his happiness now is more than I can even comprehend!

Oscar was our first baby and was, by FAR, our best dog yet! He passed away late august 2007 and our whole family misses him terribly! June '99 - Aug. 2007

OK...i wanted a three column blog to be REALLY cool (i am not sure why I care so much) so I spent the whole day today fartin around and i finally settled on this one. I like it but it was not my favorite. I am sorry to all of you that already have my other blog address saved in your contacts!!! The new address is very similar and this way I can add more crap with three columns!!!! Thanks for caring!!!!

Well...I lied...my Cameron has the funk now. I had to take a couple of pictures so you could see how pathetic they all are! I thought Tess and Gavin were on the upswing but I was WRONG!!! Chris is starting to complain as well...Gabby is still holding tough!! She ROCKS!

Wow, i am actually able to sit up for more than a few seconds!!! Tessa, Gavin and I have been on deaths door since Thursday!!! My body felt like every single bone and joint was going to explode!!! Anyhow, we are lookin up and hopefully tomorrow we will all be back to normal. I wish there was a way to keep Gabby, Cameron, and Chris from getting it!!!

This blog is about my Grandma Larsen (my moms mom)!! I have sooo many fond memories of her it would take days to write them all. She is 82, and my whole life she has ran circles around anyone and everyone!! The last few months she has not been feeling well so she has been staying with my mom for some medical tests and appointments. She lives in McGill, NV (which is by Ely) and doesn't feel the doctors there are worth much. She is doing well, but she keeps getting smaller, and smaller. She came and stayed with me forever when the triplets were born and helped out so much! She has tons of grandkids and even more great-grandkids and 7 children...she NEVER forgets a birthday...it is unreal! She was married to a Rancher and one of the hardest workers I have ever known. She is the model mom, wife, grandma, great-grandma, and all around person/example! I can only pray to be 1/2 the woman she is!!! I LOVE her!

Just some cute pictures of my beautiful Babies!!!!

When I take pictures I put them on my computer, edit them, then upload them to buy prints. Then I delete them off my computer. So I know I am doing all these "past" events in one day but I wanted to put them on the blog before I deleted them off my computer! I know I am a dork! Thanks for lookin...i am not sure who would want to look, but I did enjoy looking at the couple of blog sites I have seen.

I have been telling the babies, "you can't get into Disneyland until you are 5". I am a mean mom but I wanted to take Gabby to Disneyland right before she went to kindergarten and I DID NOT want to take 3, 3year olds!! It worked out good because we took Gabby a few more times by herself and the babies were good with it because they weren't 5 yet and "mom said" you couldn't get in until you were 5!!!! We had a great time. We drug my mom with us and she was soooo wonderful. What a trooper!! Chris ran us into the ground, she kept up and never complained!! I am so thankful for her! Gabby is a bit of a wuss and didn't want to go on any of the "good" rides but Gavin and Tessa were game for everything!! Poor Cameron was too small for all the roller coasters. It was soooo sad because he would run up and stand under the height sign and just be sooo sad because he was too short! Again, Grandma was a life saver cause she hung out with Gabby and Cameron while Chris and I would take the other 2 kids on the coasters!!! We spent 3 days there and I think that is plenty. I don't plan on going back until Cameron is at least 42" tall so it might be a while!!!