a new day, a new picture

This morning I cut Zach's hair and this afternoon he wanted to play in the bubbles. I turned the bubbles on for him and then I took a picture of his rockin new do. It's not really fixed but I thought I did a pretty good job. Isn't he a cutie?!!

Happy Birthday Zach

OK - I have to say that looking through these pictures to share with you Zach's journey in life so far has made me really, really baby hungry. I was watching little videos of him learning to crawl and learning to walk and it about made me cry. Where did my baby boy go? He was such a cute little baby. I love babies. I don't always love the time and effort they take but when they're your own it's not so bad. I never thought he would be my last. I still don't know, but that's not up to me at this point. I miss my baby Zach. He is such a fun kid now, though. He and I get to spend a lot of time together because he is my straggler and as the boys are at school we get a lot of quality time together. He makes me laugh and he makes me a better mom. Yesterday we celebrated his fourth birthday. I can't believe my baby is four years old. We went to Chuck -E - Cheese and he got to play all the games he wanted. We also went over to Erin's house afterwards to play in her bounce house (thanks Erin). I had Joy's kids in the morning so she could get ready to leave. She picked her kids up from Erin's house and left. Her driving away left a big, huge hole in my heart. I can't believe she is really gone. I did try and hold it together yesterday as best I could for Zachary's sake. I didn't want his birthday to be one of sadness. He has already asked for Daniel a bunch today and yesterday. It's going to take some getting used to on all our parts. We wish them all the best in their new journey in life. We will miss them a ton.

Anyway - Zach's birthday turned out to be a pretty fun day. When Darrel got home from work, he brought pizza and we took the boys to the park to play. I'm so grateful for my boys. They bring me joy every day of my life. Right now, they are playing outside with the water. They are having a great time. I really should go and take some pictures. Enjoy the pictures I posted of Zach - he sure is a cutie - if I do say so myself.

New Header

OK - I changed my header...what do you think?? I want HONEST opinions!!

Hello everyone! We are in the middle of watching Go Diego Go - Caitlin's current t.v. favorite. Daniel, Caitlin, Jake(friend) and Zachary are sitting at the preschool table snacks and watching the tv. Seriously, does it get much better that this??..I think not. Today is a beautiful day. It's hovering around 68 degrees with just a slight breeze. I love having my door open to the outside. I have to enjoy every second of this weather because all too quickly it will get WAY TOO hot around here and I'll have to close all the doors and windows and run the air-conditioning around the clock. This is the perfect time to live in a climate like this. I will miss this in a couple of months - so I am trying to take full advantage of it now.

Joy and her kids have officially come to stay with us until they leave on Monday. Her house is empty. The big truck came yesterday and the movers worked for 4 hours to get everthing in. There is still just a few things to get into the truck, but I think they'll be fine with everything fitting in. "The Happy Movers" did a great job stacking everything floor to ceiling to maximize the space in the truck. It is weird to see their house empty. Her renters are moving in on Saturday so there won't be much time to see an empty house. I told her that I would go over and take pictures when she was done cleaning. It really is a nice house and I know that she's going to miss it.

On Tuesday night Joy went with me to take pictures of two basketball teams. I will miss her a LOT when she is no longer able to help me with pictures. It makes such a huge difference when I have someone with me taking care of the business side so I can just take pictures of the kids. I shudder at the thought of doing it by myself. She said I should find someone to go with me, I really should, I'll have to think about that one. I don't have a lot of options, but I'll keep it in the back of my head.

Tonight some friends are getting together for a final time with Joy. There are quite a few people who will miss Joy almost as much as I will. Not as much, though! It will be fun to get together in a relaxed atmosphere and really just chat without worrying about a ton of other things. I am looking forward to tonight, although, it's going to take some serious caffeine to keep me awake.

Well, I better go, all the kids just got home from school. See ya!

so that last post I started almost a week ago. Lame, I know...but at least I finished it finally. We've had another week of hectic, crazy times topped with sick children. It's been a blast - ok not really, but it hasn't been THAT bad. We're trying to soak up as much Layton family time as we can. We are going to miss them like crazy when they finally drive out of here, but we will saturate our lives with them until then and maybe that will make it a little easier when they actually go. We are officially on the countdown. They are leaving one week from today. It's totally scary and SO NOT okay with me, but I'll manage.

Last week I bought myself a navigation device from woot.com (one day, one deal). It was a really good price and I figured I better purchase it now because my built in map is leaving. Joy is amazing with directions, roads, etc. I am directionally challenged. I have needed help from the minute I started driving. Joy has always been a good resource for me, especially here, she had all of Las Vegas in her head before we moved here so my map was never more than a phone call away.

A couple of days ago I had the day from you know where and I was telling Erin about it. As only a true blogger would she says, "Hey Ang, you should blog that". So here goes. The day was Friday and it started out good enough. Elise was getting ready to go back home and I was getting ready to take her to the airport. Joy had asked me previously if I would be willing to watch some of her extended family's children after a family wedding so the parents could go enjoy Vegas. I had watched about 14 kids on the two previous days and was kind of in kid-watching mode so I agreed. Plus, as a bonus, these parents were going to pay me, so I was pretty happy about that. Anyway, we're getting all ready to leave, and Joy calls. She says that they accidentally took Jacob's car seat to the wedding and we would need to come get it before I took Elise to the airport. I called Elise and she said that she would get in high gear so we could leave a little early, giving us plenty of time to get the car seat and get back to the airport. Well, as you well know, it's hard to get two small children ready really fast. Needless to say, we were on our way to get the car seat just about the time we had previously said we would be on our way to the airport. The wedding that Steve and Joy were attending was down on the strip across from Mandalay Bay. So, Elise and I are finally on our way to the wedding and Joy calls. She wants to know if while I am there picking up the car seat I just want to take the two little girls I am going to watch, saving their parents a trip back to my house to drop them off. I told her that would be fine. We are already running late by the time we get to the wedding so we grab the car seat and the two little girls (ages three and four) and we head out. Now, here comes the hairy part. Here are these two sweet little girls that have been put in a car with a complete stranger (me) and they are supposed to be okay with this. Unfortunately the little one wasn't. The little three year old starts crying before we even leave the parking lot. I felt horrible for her. I don't know if there was any prep done - if she as warned at all - and she is not a happy camper. Despite all our efforts to get her calmed down she continues to cry. I drive Elise to the airport, which is packed to the rafters, I don't know what was going on this past weekend, but holy cow, the airport was a mess. We finally find a place to park and we proceed to unload her baggage onto the curb to be checked. After I finish unloading everything that was in my van she tells me that she is missing a bag. I thought she was kidding. Oh, she's not, she left Emily's bag at the top of Joy's stairs. I finally remember that I am going to Colorado in a couple of weeks so I told her that I would use Emily's bag as one of my bags of luggage and that solved that crisis. The next crisis came when the sky cap people told Elise that she could only have two bags per checked passenger. On the way here she got three checked bags per person so they called over a manager and after much stressing they decided to let her take the bags she had. Now, keep in mind that this whole time I have been parked on the curb trying to duck the security guy and the sweet three year old that I picked up at the wedding is STILL crying. So, we finally get Elise figured out and I leave the airport. About 5 minutes into my drive I turn around to try and console the little one yet again and I see Emily's blanket on the floor behind me. Now, I know that only some of you even appreciate this but Elise would not even be able to leave Las vegas without this blanket. Emily is SO attatched to this blanket, especially since her daddy has been in Iraq. Now I am in a panic. I'm trying to call Elise to tell her that I have the blanket and going through all sorts of senerios in my head of how I'm going to get this blanket back to her, none of which are appealing to me if I can't get a hold of her on the phone. I get off the freeway to turn around and blessed day, she calls. She has realized that she doesn't have the blanket and she has come back outside of the airport so I can drop it off. With the little one still crying in the back seat I turn the car around to return the beloved blanket. After that is finished I realize that I should get these girls (and everyone else in my car) some lunch. We drive through McDonalds and get happy meals for everyone, by this time it is 2:00pm so I decide to go and sit in front of the school to wait for the big kids and these little ones can eat their lunch. Now, keep in mind that I left the house to get the car seat at 12:30pm. We have been in the car for quite some time. Right before we got to McDonalds the little one in the back seat decides that she is now good and stops crying. Halleluiah!! This day is beginning to look up. Right when we pull in front of the school and I have handed out all the lunch stuff, my previously crying three year old decides that she has to go potty NOW! I rush everyone out of the car, including Zachary who doesn't even have shoes on, and into the school so we can all use the potty. After we get back to the car I am chatting with my friend Susie in the parking lot and I hear..."Uh oh, we have an emergency. " The four year old sister has spilled her BBQ sauce all over her pants and her lunch. I race over to her side of the van and I am trying to wipe her up and cursing under my breath that I didn't ever put the seat covers back on the van. I get that as cleaned up as I can and I turn around to see that Zach has spilled his entire container of chocolate milk all over the middle seat. I am just about losing it now as I try to mop up chocolate milk with tissues as best as I can. I am pouring water and mopping up handful after handful of soggy, brown tissue from my seat. Finally the kids emerge from school and we are able to get home. Thankfully after that, apart from some serious messes we made with the preschool toys and upstairs in the boys room we had no other serious injury or crying episode. I was so ready to go to bed that night...the kids parent's finally came at about 10:30pm. They were very generous and paid me for my time. I was so glad when that day was over...so glad.

I'm impressed if you made it all the way through that story. I know that if I was a better storyteller it would be even more impressive, but oh well. At least I blogged about it, right Erin??!! Until next time....see ya!

The Great Race

Sorry it's been so long everyone. It's been SO crazy around here. With Joy moving and all the happenings of life in general it's been pretty hectic. We did take a little break last weekend and we went to Utah. Elise has been training for and planning a half marathon. Joy and her kids, Elise and her kids, and I went to Utah this past weekend so Elise and Joy could run in the marathon and I could faithfully watch (and drive). I provided an excellent support vehicle. Running and me do not have a very good relationship. It's been rocky in the past but right now we are not speaking to each other and it doesn't look good for any time in the near future.

So, I will post some pictures of the true runners in the family. Sorry, they are a little out of order. I was so proud of Elise and her accomplishment. Way to go sis!

Our Weekend in Brian Head

We had a fabulous time in Brian Head this past weekend. A great big thank you to Erin and family for the invite. We had a fun time in the snow. The boys made snow tunnels, had snow ball fights, went sledding, and went tubing. I even tried tubing. I have to admit, it was way fun; especially the part where I didn't have to climb back up the hill but got pulled up on my tube. The boys want to go back tomorrow, I have to admit it sounds pretty fun to me too. We had a great time with Erin and Jennie and all the families. We played games and stayed up late (very late) a few nights, but it was worth it. I have about 200 pictures from the weekend but a lot of them are of the kids coming down the hill on the tubes. Here are just a few of the fun pictures. Erin took a bunch also, I need to get some of hers too. She took a really great one of Zach eating snow. It's going to look awesome in black and white.

A shout out to my sister

OK - I know that I am way overdue for an update but I just have to give a shout-out to my sister, Joy. We moved here about a year and a half ago to be next to Joy and Steve and their family. We have loved every minute that we've been here next to them. Steve was able to receive his master's degree a little while ago and due to some difficult circumstances at work has decided to take a job in Seattle, Washington. Joy has been my lifeline in times of stress and adjustment. She is my built in map, the person who bails me out of a jam, who loves my kids like I do and helps me tremendously on a daily basis. I am going to miss her SO MUCH! She and I have become even closer in the time that we've had to spend together. I respect her and love her with all of my heart. Thanks for the memories, Joy, it wouldn't have been the same without you. I wish you only the best in Seattle. A piece of my heart will be with you always and forever.

our fun weekend

We had a great weekend with my parents and little brother, Ben. We saw Johnathan and Alex play in basketball games, got to ice skate, my dad got to golf, Joy and my mom shopped, my dad and I went to the Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay, and as an unexpected surprise, my dad, mom, Darrel and I were able to go see Mama Mia! at the last minute Sunday night. It was way fun. Here are some pictures from our weekend (sorry they're a little out of order).

Indoor Soccer

Darrel, Steve, and Joy play on an indoor soccer team. I do not play because other than being overweight and out of shape, I have a deep seeded fear of people running at me (fast) for any reason. Someday I'll have to tell you about my eighth grade basketball experience. Anway, I am very proud to go and be a cheering spectator to the games (such as Friday's game). It was awesome - they stomped the competition and I got some pretty cool shots. I really like the first one because it has my brother, Ben's reflection in the plexiglass watching Darrel and Joy. My parents were also able to watch this game. We've had a great time having them in town. They came on Friday afternoon and they are leaving tomorrow after church. We had two basketball games today, went ice-skating, my dad went golfing, and the adults were able to go to a nice dinner at Outback tonight. It's been a very fun day. Enjoy the soccer pictures...



This is Steve, by the way...it was a very nice kick towards the goal.

The haircut

Yesterday I decided that my boys needed a trim and Zachary needed a full blown haircut. It was late in the afternoon and Zachary had not napped. He was very upset about getting a haircut, he usually is. He is not so fond of haircuts. Just about two minutes into the haircut this child of mine fell fast asleep. I wrapped a towel around his neck for support (like a pillow) and tried to keep cutting. It was soon abundently clear that if I didn't do something else Zachary was going to fall off the chair. I called Johnathan over to help me. He was not so gentle with Zach's head. He was holding him under his chin and letting his body fall forward. It was not the most ideal situation but I had to finish cutting Zachary's hair. I want you to know that I only picked up my camera after I had finished the cutting with scissors and was about to turn on the clippers. You can tell by Johnathan's expression (and the fact that he's holding his aching arm muscle) that he was tired by this time and wanted to be done and the official holder of the head. When I did turn on the clippers Zachary woke up, not so happy, but we were able to finish the haircut and get him into the bath. I just got a kick out of the fact that he fell asleep during his haircut.

Scrapfest 2008

Thanks to Sarah I have these two wonderful pictures of Scrapfest 2008. I made new friends, I stayed up way too late, I drank too much caffeine, and I had the most wonderful time ever!! Oh, and I snore (sorry Jennie). I tried my best for two nights in a row to wait until everyone else had fallen asleep so no one could hear me snore but I was unsuccessful both nights. You think I could have done it at least one night, but no, I am not the night owl that I always thought I was. I tell you what...these girls are hardcore night owls. Thanks for the memories gals...it was way fun!!

My dad and his dog

This is my dad and his dog, Kid. A very long time ago Kid followed my dad home when he was out jogging one morning. He was such a cute little puppy and my dad convinced my mom to let him stay. Kid had been a member of our family for many years now. He is getting old and it is almost painful to watch him try to stand and walk after having sat for awhile. I know that when he finally passes it will be a very sad day in the Fellingham hearts. I was thinking about my dad and Kid this morning so I thought I would pay a little tribute to them. Have a wonderful day everyone!

pouting zachary

Zachary was throwing a royal fit while Darrel was practicing soccer a couple weeks ago. I couldn't resist snapping a picture of the pout face. I just found this cool photoshop action (free...yea baby) that made it look like this. I, by the way, am having an AWESOME, and WONDERFUL time here at Scrapfest 2008. A big thank you to all those who put it together and for the clique that I got to hang out with this weekend. Welcome to our newest member (you know who you are...)

I'm off to SCRAPFEST

I am just doing some last minute preparations and getting ready for a girls weekend. I am SO EXCITED for Scrapfest. A big thank you to Erin for the invite and to Sarah for all the massive prep work. You guys are both AWESOME! I pulled together all my scrapbook stuff last night and I looked through so many pictures. I haven't scrapbooked in so long. I am still in 2002! That is so sad. I still have two more years to scrapbook before Zachary is even born. AAAUUUGGGGHHHHH!!!!!! I can't belive I'm so far behind. If I work really hard this weekend I may be able to get to the beginning of 2003 but then I just need to set myself up someplace to work so I can keep going. I really do enjoy scrapping our lives and I LOVE looking at the old pictures and remembering all the good times we've had as a family. Anyway, I can't wait for the late nights and the laughter and the good food and fun. PARTY ON!!!!

fun in Idaho

We had SO much fun in Idaho. We visited so many good friends and I think that every one of us had a blast. The boys were able to visit with our old next door neighbor and with their cousins in Fruitland. They stayed overnight in both places giving me lots of time to visit with other friends, myself. Zachary got a little under the weather while we were there but is feeling a lot better now. A big thank you goes out to Rashae for taking care of my sick little boy while he visited her house. What a trooper to take such good care of a child that isn't even your own. Also THANKS to Anjeanette for hosting us all and taking care of so many little details for our nights on the town. Thanks for the hosting, the hospitality, and the all around good time. We are such lucky people to have found such wonderful friends where we lived before and where we live now. That was such a great vacation for me and my boys and I loved the chance to bond with them as we visited our Idaho friends.


This is the boys with their cousins - Marlies, RaAnna on the haystack


This is Eric with Johnathan and Alex. This is the friend that Alex and Johnathan miss the very most. They pretty much spent every non school waking moment with Eric.

THE doghouse

This is Diesel coming out and then standing in front of his doghouse. He and Shelby share this when we leave them outside. I think they actually really enjoy this house. Thanks to Danny and Amanda for getting this duplex the dogs have a very nice place to lay their heads when they are stuck outside.

My mom's family

This is my grandma and her six children. My mom is the second from the left. I took this picture over Christmas at a family party. Trust me when I say this picture was HARD to get. My uncles are such hams (well, at least the two on the end are) and with a little (a lot) of photoshop help, this is the final product. Maybe next time I'll show you the outtakes, they are actually pretty funny.

Elise and Emily

I just thought this picture was too cute to pass up. I LOVE the new haircut, Elise, and you and Emily and Jacob were so fun to be with over Christmas. Thanks for the memories!!

photo op over Christmas

I had the wonderful opportunity to take some darling pictures of Emily, Jacob, and Jaxon over the holiday season. Emily and Jacob belong to my sister Elise and her husband Les, and Jaxon belongs to my brother David and his wife Jackie. Now, I do realize that black was probably not my best choice for a background with what they are wearing, but you work with what you have. Next time I'll just have to be more aware of how much my subject is blending into the background and do a little back lighting to prevent this problem. These pictures, nevertheless, were so fun to take. The kids are just darling and they all did such a great job posing and smiling.

Ice skating

One of the days that we were in Utah my dad and I took the boys ice skating. Benjamin (my brother) is on an ice hockey team and he needed to get some practice in. The boys had a blast on the ice. Both Alex and Johnathan got the hang of it after a little while and had a great time.

The Christmas Tree

Here are two pictures of my mom's Christmas tree the few days before Christmas. We had a bounteous Christmas with everybody that was there. We had our family, Elise's family, Heidi (a good family friend), my mom and dad, Ben, and David and Jackie. There were also presents under the tree for Elise's extended family and my Grandma. My mom said that she had never seen so many presents under one tree. We had an absolutely wonderful Christmas.

I'm posting...but not much

OK - you'll have to be patient with me. I had a very full day and now I am very tired and all I want to do is go to bed, however, I promised a post and so here it is. I have about a billion pictures from our Christmas vacation but I am only posting three tonight. I am saving the others for other posts. I am going to have to take this slow and easy. I may still be posting about Christmas in March, but that's just the way I am - take me or leave me. Oh just forgive me and get over it, you know you'll keep coming back for more :0) - it's just so darn suspensful...

These two pictures are courtesy of our day of sledding. We went up to a hill by Darrel's brother, Martin's home where we (I say we loosely) - Darrel and the two older boys - went sledding with cousins. I stayed in the car with Zachary because he didn't want to sled and we watched 101 Dalmations while we waited for the cold ones to come back. Alex had an unfortunate incident which involved his teeth and lip - we briefly thought about going to the ER for stitches, decided against it, and just hope we made the right decision. His swelling has yet to go away entirely but I'm sure it will soon, I'm just sure of it, positive, mostly... The top picture is Johnathan after a successful run down the hill and the bottom is Alex jumping off the hill that caused the accident just a few runs later.

Here are the boys getting ready for their day of snowboarding. They were just trying out their snowboards in the backyard. They were so excited and ended up having SUCH a good time. They can't wait to go again!!

SO BEHIND!

I have spent the last hour or so looking and reading and catching up on all my friend's blogs. I now feel like I am so behind. I need to get my rear in gear and blog. All my pictures from this vacation are on my laptop and I am on my desktop. I need to switch computers to update my blog but I didn't want to keep my captive audience waiting even one more minute. I PROMISE that some time today I will get on my blog and update - even if it is late tonight. Be patient just a few more hours. Thanks! And Happy 2008!!!