Summer Fun

This is the best picture Mark and I have taken together in a long time. It is my favorite of the trip!!
Yes we walked around Vegas in matching outfits, yes Mark fought it, and yes I WON :) But don't the pictures look great!!
I should have helped him up, but I had to snap this picture of the little stinker climbing over the fence to get into the flowers

Garden's at the Bellagio
Grandma Romine
Paris Hotel and Casino
View from Aunt Cappy's house
Walking into the river
Paw Paw and his "only shirt" ok so he has a lot of shirts, but I think they all look like this :)
The water was GORGEOUS

NIkki's surprise Baby shower
The Scooby Doo Mystery Machine. We had to take this pic :)
Pump Jack in NM there were hundreds of these in Hobbs, it was quite amazing.
The above pictures are probably out of order, but they take so long to load and it is late so I just put them in the order I saw them. We have done so much in these last few weeks I have not had time to post. In August we went to Devil's River Texas where Mark's mom and dad renewed their vows. The river was beautiful! The water was so clear and clean I coul swim in it with my eyes open and see to the bottom and it didn't hurt or affect my eyes at all. Coytt had a blast with his Uncle Berry (Billy) and "his 'rena" (Irena), he also had fun with his Aunt Nikki, and of course Grandma and Paw Paw. Dalon fell in love with Nikki's husband JD Smiling hugely whenever he walked by. We also enjoyed visiting with Mark's Grandma and Grandpa Reyna and Grandma Johnnie. We stayed at Mark's Aunt Cappy's house on the river and spent most of our day at her in-laws home.

After the river we came home only to unwind for a short time before heading off to Las Vegas to visit my Grandma and Grandpa Romine and all our other family out there. We had so much fun visiting with all the family. We decided to be "tourists" and go enjoy some random things on the strip. We took the boys to the Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay. And the Secret Garden at the Mirage. I bought the wrong size battery for my camera so we don't have pictures of these two places, only video. That night Mark and I went on a date and found a fun little restaurant called Napolean's inside the Paris Hotel. They had a dueling piano show that night and we enjoyed that very much. The next day we took the boys to the garden at the Bellagio and Coytt loved it becuase it had a train theme. In all the pictures we could only get his back because he wouldn't turn around long enough for us to take a picture of him faceing forward. We then went to Caesar's Palace to see the giant aquarium, and then back to the Bellagio for the water show. It was a lot of fun. We also went to church with Grandma and Grandpa. They had an amazing speaker that day. It was a young man about 25 years old that had been in a horrible motorcycle accident awhile back. He had been married for only 5 months at the time. He actually died 3 times and they recessitated him each time. His whole talk was on how greatful he was for that experience and the Melchezedik preisthood. He spoke of how when the Dr.s would say what was wrong his family would pray for that specific thing and it would slowly heal. He talked about how as he was healing he was thankful for the priesthood blessing s from his father. How greatful I am that Mark holds this precious priesthood and that he can bless me and our boys if ever needed. The talk really touched both Mark and myself. It was such an inspiring talk. We did have to laugh when he said that to earn money before he could walk he would ride his mobile chair down the street and deliver Avon catalogs. This was funny, but also inspirational. He could have given up and just said that God ruined his life, but he accepted the blessings of the Melchezedik priesthood and moved forward. Anyway it was a great meeting.

What am I thinking

I think this picture of Dalon is so cute. There are so many things he could be thinking. You tell me what you think he is saying...

Help

I put a new background and it erased my posts, what do I do?

Summer Fun

This past weekend we decided to take advantage of the cool weather and take the boys to the new San Tan Mall play area. We invited Josh and Meagan over and we took the three kids to the mall. We decided to let them play in the splash part of the playground and they had so much fun. Brooklyn had to borrow one of Dalon's swimming suits and Coytt's shirts, she looked so cute. The kids had a blast in the water and Brooklyn had pretty good aim spashing me a couple of times. She would put her bum on the water spout just right to splash me. It was so fun to see all three of them smiling and splashing all over. Sorry some of the pictures are so dark. I lightend them the best that I could. I can't wait for another night cool enough for me to sit outside while Coytt and Dalon play in the water.









Cold Brrr Mommy!

It's 10 o'clock...do you know where your children are?

Yes I do. Mark took them out so I could do homework in peace. Thanks babe!!! I definately owe you one!

My first Sunglasses

So, I finally broke down and bought some sunglasses. The only other pair I have owned in my life were a pair of Armani sunglasses that I bought in Vegas and I think one of my roomates stole because I have no clue where they ended up. Since then (1999) I haven't bought a new pair becuase I can't see without my glasses. I have always just had transitions lenses. Well I got contacts this month and decided that it was time to breakdown and buy a pair of sunglasses. There was no way I was spending $95 on them like the only other pair I have ever owned, so I set out to find some cheap ones. Well all the cheap ones were just that...CHEAP. Until I found my new favorite place for accessories. Aldo! I went to their website www.aldoshoes.com and found these. They were $4.95 and are not cheaply made, just a really good sale! I am now slightly addicted to their sight and have bought numerous jewlery items from there. Here are a couple of pictures of my new glasses. I love the little sparklies on the sides, the flash in the picture made it so you can see my eyes through the lenses but you really can't.

Decorating Fun

Mark and I got tired of our boring white walls so we decided to make some changes. We only painted in the living room and dining room, but we added some things to the walls. We also bought a new "toy". Yes that is 65" of pure HD fun you see. I am still trying to find something to go over the TV, any suggestions are welcome.


Mark ragged this wall. I think it looks great...especially since he had never done that before.


We added some black and white pictures of the boys. If you look close enough you can see how straight the edge where Mark painted is. I don't know how he does it.


We did the dining room a solid color called Aloe Vera and added the O Jerusalem picture. It is one of my favorite pictures. (I love the Deseret Book half off sale during Easter and Conference)


To add to the hallway and staircase we added this mirror and matching pictures of the boys.


We got the trees at Michael's, they have little christmas lights on them and I love them. I just need to know what to put above the TV. We were thinking of painting the wall behind the TV, but not sure what color to do there either. Any suggestions are welcome.

mmmm fruit

So today was bountiful basket Saturday. We are members of a co-op and every other Saturday we get a basket full of fresh fruits and veggies. It it $15 and we get at least $50 worth of fruits and veggies. This being my first Saturday off work in months I thought it would be a good idea to ride the bike and bike trailer to the neighborhood across the street and pickup the basket. Well let me tell you don't let the word morning fool you. It is still schorching HOT here even at 7:30am. Needless to say I came back a sweaty gross mess, but was very excited about the basket. We never know what we are going to get, so it is like Christmas every other weekend. After breakfast (thanks Mark) I went to shower and get ready to take the boys to go see the new Pixar movie Wall-E. It was ok I guess not near as funny as Cars or as exciting as Nemo, but it was still good. After the movie we came home and the boys laid down to take a nap. I went upstairs to do my homework when it hit me that we had fruit downstairs. I went to look for something yummy to eat and saw this
Mark had arranged the fruit so pretty I couldn't resist taking a picture. I probably would have just thrown it into the bowl or refridgerator, but he carefully placed each fruit so perfectly in the bowl. Thanks to him we now have a beautiful edible display in our kitchen.

Update

Well I finally have some time (well not really I am just choosing not to write my essay for school right now) and I decided to post an update so Jillian stop whining here is an update.

Life around here is good, we are busy and time seems to fly right by. Coytt and Dalon are growing up and it is hard for mommy to take in all that they are learning. Coytt is just a chatterbox who is now talking in full sentences. It is funny the things that come out of his mouth sometimes. Dalon has started army crawling all over the place and has learned to stand up when holding onto something. As cute as this is it is terrifying with the tile downstairs. I am still working at University of Phoenix as an Enrollment Counselor in the Military division and loving it, and Mark is enjoying this special time he gets to stay home with the boys. Mark is enjoying his online classes and is excited to finally be getting closer and closer to his degree. I am majoring in Business Management and Mark is majoring in Muti Media Visual Communications. We both plan on getting our Master's degrees within the next 5 or 6 years.

Some of our favorite things right now are:

Mark: Playing Call of Duty 4 on the Xbox 360, Painting, Making Amazing meals and trying new recipies, Playing with his boys

Monette: Watching movies on our 65" HD TV, My Hip Hop Dance Class, Singing Silly Songs with Coytt, Tickleing Dalon, and snuggling with Mark

Coytt: Race Cars, Race Cars, Race Cars oh and watching "Buzz and Weeloo" or Toy Story. He has also decided that he no longer takes baths, but showers.

Dalon: Crawling on the floor and plaing the game where he makes noise and mom or dad pats his mouth to make the noise sound like an Indian call. He could do this for hours!

We have been enjoying having different families over for family home evening each week and are making a lot of friends in our ward. We are really starting too like it here in Gilbert.

Mark the photographer

Mark took some amazing nature pitctures at the reunion and I thought I would share some of them.

Lots of pictures

So, we finally got a new camera and fixed our computer. So I am just going to post a bunch of pictures for this update. The pictures are mostly of the Rothlisberger reunion and the weekend that Mark blessed the boys.

Dalon's Great Grandma Romine (Monette's Mom's Mom)



Dalon and Uncle Bryce (please ignore the spitup on Dalon's shirt)

Yes Meagan that is mud Brooklyn is trekking through



I don't think these boys have enough toys...do you?


Yes that is a giant horny toad Coytt is holding!

It's about time

Well I bet some of you don't even read my blog anymore. So much has happened in these last few months. Our camera broke so since I stopped taking pictures I stopped posting. I should have just kept posting anyway I know.

Well as for updates. Things have been pretty crazy around here. Mark came home in March and we decided to work things out. We have been doing really well and our testimonies of prayer and scripture reading are growing. I am still working and Mark is going to school and stays home with the boys. This set up seems to work well for us. I LOVE my job and do quite well at it. I am usually in the top of my division and at the top of my team. Mark loves being home with the boys and the house is always spotless. We just seem to have found a system that works for us. I have a lot of opportunity for growth, promotions and raises at my job, and I still am home early in the afternoon. I actually usually get home before Coytt wakes up from his nap. Mark is working hard with school and getting used to the idea of being a student again. He is getting his degree in Mutimedia Visual Communications. I am working on my bachelors in business management. Needless to say we are busy. Coytt is growing like crazy and talking a lot. His favorite new phrases are "No I don't want it" and "No I don't want to". He says these as clear as can be and it is quite obnoxious at times. But then he has also learned to say "I love you mommy and daddy" So that makes it all better. Coytt loves his brother and Dalon is just growing growing growing. We call him Fatty Fat Fat. He is such a chunk. He and coytt actually wear the same size shorts (the even fall off Coytt's waist) Dalon wore a 12 month shirt to church on Sunday and he is only 7months old! Dalon is scooting all over the place forward and backwards, and has his first tooth. Coytt has discovered Toy Story and loves "Buzz" and "Woo loo" I don't know where Coytt comes up with his names. He calls Grandma "Maga", and his friend Christian is "Hashi" I don't know what he is hearing, but it comes out pretty funny and cute. We painted our house and bought some beautiful art from Deseret Book. We are not sure if painting the rental is allowed, but my sister Mandi taught me that "It's easier to ask forgiveness than permission" So we took her advice. It looks so cute. I will post pictures later (we bought a new camera). We also bought an Xbox 360 and Rock Band. We LOVE this game. Coytt even plays...well thinks he is playing, but he seems to stay on beat. He likes the drums and to sing. We have done so much lately I don't even know where to start. I will post pictures and tell more later. This is just a starting point.

Welcome, Welcome Sabbath Morning....Then again, maybe not

So I learned a hard lesson today in Sacarament Meeting. Always be on time!!!! The past couple of weeks I have been on time and have been able to sit in the pews and Coytt has been a pretty good boy. Today, not so much. I was ready on time (meaning get there 10 minutes early) but just as I was about to get the boys out the door Dalon started acting hungry, so I had to sit to feed him. This put us behind and getting there after the opening song had started. Well being reverent was over before it even started. I found a seat in the chairs in the gym and that was that. Coytt thought this meant he could run all over. He wiggled off my lap and was gone before I could even get up. He thought he was so cute running through the rows of chairs and smiling at everyone. I didn't know what to do with Dalon, there was no way I would have caught Coytt if I carried the carseat or baby around, so I just left the poor little guy there hoping nothing would happen as I chased Coytt. What I really want to know is why there is always one mother who LETS her kids run around in the back of the gym thus tempting mine to join and creating fits when I the "mean" mommy don't let him join in the fun. Needless to say next time I will just take Dalon hungry and use the car seat to save a spot in the pews and then feed him in the mother's lounge. I will definately never be late again...well I hope so. Other than a wild sacrament meeting, where I did get the chance to bear my testimony and Coytt got his 15 seconds of fame as he sweetly smiled and waved saying "hi" into the microphone...how could I stay mad when he is so stinking adorable, church was very uplifting. I am so excited to study the Book of Mormon and the teachings of Joseph Smith at the same time!!!!! I have really tried learning more about Joseph and his life and teachings and in this process my testimony of him and his calling has grown so strong that most of the time I can't say his name without tears coming to my eyes. Needless to say I bawl all through relief society. Anyway I am just absolutely excited to study them together. I also have decided to start a "single mother" FHE co-op where at least once a month all of the single mothers in my ward will get together rotating houses and holding FHE together. We are including the women whose husbands are always away with work so Kristen you are more than welcome to join us anytime. I just thought it would be a great opportunity for us women to build a support group for one another and a chance for the children to get the most out of FHE. I still have to put the word out and some finishing touches on the idea, but the women I ran it past thus far seem to think it would be a pretty good idea. Anyway I better get to bed, 5am comes rather quickly.