Rachel's Bathroom

Well it has been a while since I have added anything. You must wonder, "What do Nate and Sara do with all of their time and money?" I'll tell you....remember the show "The Money Pit" with Tom Hanks and the blonde waitress from Cheers? (Her name leaves my fried mind right now.) Well that is the story of our life the past 2 1/2 years....although I wouldn't take a moment of it back for what we have learned, and what we have been able to accomplish. But sometimes I just sit back and wonder, "What were we thinking?" About a month ago we started on Rachel's bathroom and finished it in about 2 weeks. So these pics are to give you a little taste of our home improvements. I hope to learn soon (thanks to Jen..when I get 2 seconds to call her), how to add a collage of pictures of before and after shots of our house. (Then the blog post wont be so dang long.) And when I say, "We've remodeled this..." I really mean Nate, because seriously it is all him on these projects. (But, I have found that I really do like the demolition part, it gets rid of stress!) There is only one before picture, but you get the idea. (Carpet in the bathroom, glue down 'tile' squares, the list goes on and on.) And finally, last weekend we ripped out our master bathroom, and have laid the tile. (Sadly enough we got a call from Home Depot and our granite counter top is on back order for another week....grrrrr.) But stay tuned and see what it will turn out like!

AH HA Moment

Well I have to apologize to everyone, because I obviously am not the expert blogger. I just realized today that people were leaving comments on my blog, but I was not reading them. And so I apologize, because I had wanted to also add you to my blog list, but didn't actually have your blog address, because it was in the comments section. (The color of my hair really shines through right now.) But I can add you and keep up on family happenings. Just be patient with me while I get the hang of this. Oh yea, and Jen....how do you make the multiple post of pictures in one? See these types of tips would really help me out!

Potty Training

Well Jace has been potty trained since November, but now I am just adding it to our blog because we hadn't started archiving back then. In our family it is a tradition to go to Chuck-E-Cheese's once the trainee is dry, even through the night. Nate and I aren't that fond of the cardboard pizza and the craziness there, but since our kids always see the commercials on PBS (which is one of our only stations) they are constantly asking to go. I've told them that now we will only be able to go one more time when Hannah gets potty trained, thank goodness that's a few years away!

Pictures

Hey if you are wondering where we got our cute pictures from, here is the info. My best friend from growing up, Jennifer Stafford took them. She did a really good job, even though we had less than 1/2 an hour of daylight on the day of the shoot, and I really wanted to get them taken for Christmas cards. So thanks again Jen for all your help...your the best!

Her website/blogspot is: http://www.jenstaffordphoto.blogspot.com/

We can't forget Nate

Well I havn't always had a section in my 'mom's notebook' for Nate, but I sure wish I would have all along. He makes me laugh everyday, well almost. I have started to remember funny things he says or does, and will add them as I do. I sure love him and it has been a wonderful 12 1/2 years of laughter and tears...mainly from laughing at his little antics.

February 2007 Waking up at 2:30 am to grout the tile in the kitchen in PG. Nate kept on saying, "What were we thinking?" We didn't finish until 6:30 am.

April 22, 2007 Nate was looking online for ideas on Brady's 1st Pinewood Derby 'Truck'. He turns to me and says, "They only problem I can't figure out is how much of this I am going to let Brady do on his own."

Summer 2008 Nate wanted to build the kids an awesome treehouse. He told be the budget would be between $500 and $700. Well it ended up being $1600! But he did finish it in one summer. We had some tree trimmers over when he was framing it up and they asked me if he was a framer by trade, and mentioned how good his trusses looked and how he used brackets on each truss like they do in Park City (because of the snow). They were quite impressed with his work. Nate's chest puffed out a little when I told him that night of the compliments from the tree trimmers.

December 2008 Nate was working for Generations Network and signed up for a 'Sub 4 Santa' program with Foster kids. He was given $80 and 2 year old Micah's name who had asked for shoes, a coat, and a wooden toy. Nate decided to build him a toy box. It brought the Foster Care Coordinator and Micah's Foster Dad to tears when they learned what Nate had done. And they didn't even know that he had stayed up until 2:30 one morning to finish it.

Christmas 2008 For neighbor gifts of younger families that we knew, Nate wanted to do something special. He built 11 small picnic tables with our 'help'.

Hannah

Crawled at 5 1/2 months.

Hannah cut her 1st tooth at 8 1/2 months.

She loves Jace and Rachel...they can always make her laugh.

At 9 months she was trying to balance while standing.

Hannah started walking at 11 months...our earliest walker.

Hannah's 1st Christmas. She got a Cabbage Patch Doll since everyone says looks like one, a ball bopper, and clothes. She wasn't too interested in opening gifts, she just wanted to climb on top of every box especially Rachel's easy bake oven.

December 2008, almost a year old. I took her with me to the store one day it was her 1st time seeing snow falling. She had the look of wonder and awe as she looked up in the sky and saw the flakes falling down. I will never forget that curious look on her face.

At one year she still doesn't like our 4-wheelers, especially the sound of them.

Hannah pats everything "on the back" that she picks up like a baby. It could be a doll, stuffed animal, or a blanky. She lays her head down and pats very softly.

When Hannah first started going to the day care, when I was in aerobics...she cried A LOT! And the ladies in there said that she would gather every baby doll she could around her to comfort her, she would have 4 or 5 baby dolls in her lap and just whimper. She is better now though.

Jace

Jace loves his dad and does prefer to be held by him. The kids always say, "Mom if Jace is happy he wants dad, if he is sad he wants you."

When Uncle DJ came home from his mission in August 2006, Jace was 10 months old. At the airport Nate held Jace up to DJ to introduce them. DJ was holding Jace who immediatly put his head on DJ's sholder and started to cuddle. He has loved him ever since.

At about 1 year old, everytime I would pull Jace out of his carseat, he would see Nate's mortorcycle and "lunge" for it from my arms. I usually set him on it for a few seconds, just to appease him. He already has a love for it.

Jace started cutting his molars at 1 year.

Jace never was a "Board Boy" like his brothers. We would hold him by the legs and say, "Ready - Set - Go!" Jace would then flip back and loved being flipped and tossed around.

Jace has 2 favorite blankies green and blue osh-kosh ones, and a favorite puppy named Radio.

When Jace was 2 we noticed that he had some deep cavities in his back molars. Well I took him to a pediatric dentist when Nate was in Singapore. Little did I know, but Jace wasn't covered on our dental insurance. He had to wait to have his cavities fixed until after Hannah was born, because we missed the open enrollment with Nate being gone. We were able to add Jace to our insurance just after Hannah was born.

We should have named him Race instead of Jace.

Jace is our only child (out of 5) with brown eyes. Everyone else has blue...I think it is because he is so full of ......

Jace is a mini Nate...always going...going...gone.

Jace at age 3 has constant leg aches. I think they are growing pains. Nate believes that they come from jumping off everything that he comes in contact with.

At 2 1/2 Jace loves to dress up in princess mommy dress-ups. (All because of Rachel of course.) He also loves to eat off of a princess bowl, plate or cup.

At age 3 when Jeffery was living with us, he would tease Jace and say to him, "My Hannah." Jace would get upset and say, "No, my Hannah." And it would go on and on. Now when he sees people out in public and they comment on how cute Hannah is, he immediately blurts out, "My Hannah." He is very possesive of her.

December 2008 The past few months I have caught Jace picking his nose and eating it. I've tried to discourage him and explain that he is eating bugs, it's gross, even cleaning out his nose with a Q-tip and showing him how gross it really is. But now when I catch him picking his nose he says, "I not eating it!" Like it's okay if he doesn't put his finger in his mouth.

January 2009 Jace does not like to be called cute. If I say to him, "Jace you look cute." He quickly replies, "I not cute, I handsome. Hannah is cute." And then I ask him, "If you're handsome, and Hannah is cute, then mom is..."
Here are his replies:
"Mom is beautiful"
"Dad is cool"
"Rachel is pretty" (He says it more like pitty)
"Zack is awesome"
and "Brady is easy" (Don't ask me where he got that from...but it always cracks me up.)

When Nate came home from Singapore December 2007 after being gone for 10 weeks, he had Jeremy bring him home from the airport as a surprise to us all. I answered the door, so we were able to have a quiet greeting. The (4) kids were in our room watching a movie waiting to go to the airport. Well Jace was the 1st to notice Nate over by our bed, and he ran and hid behind the couch. He didn't know what to think. This of course broke Nate's heart. It took Jace a good 1/2 hour to even warm up to Nate. But after a quick WWF session, he was back to his old self...in love with his dad.

Rachel

We noticed Rachel's female emotions on her 2nd day in the hospital...where she actually produced tears.

At age 6 months we went camping in Fairview where Rachel was miserable, whinning and crying the whole time. Camping in the outdoors was not for her. But the next year when she was 1 1/2 she loved it up there. We gave her a bucket and a spoon, and she just loved sitting and playing in the dirt.

Rachel talked early and at about 18 months, when I would say to her, "We don't have any milk or socks, or whatever." She would reply, "Go buy some more." or "We go to the store and buy some." She already thinks that her parents are made of money.

March 25, 2005 Zack rolled Rachel's head up in the van, leaving a slight red window mark on her cheek.

When Rachel was 2, before her Uncle DJ's mission, she would always run up to him and give him a big hug...she absolutely loved him.

When Rachel was 4 and her cousin Taylor was 6, I called to tell Emma something. Well Taylor answered so I said hello, but as soon as Rachel heard that it was Taylor she just had to talk to her. They ended up talking for 23 minutes, but that was when I finally said, "Please tell Taylor to hand the phone to her mom." I fear for when they are teenagers.

Rachel was 3 1/2 when we moved to P.G. One Sunday a young man with a long shag hair cut came to church. Well Rachel not so quietly said, "Mom that girl wears boys clothes." Sadly enough he was right in front of us and turned around and just grinned, I guess he took it well.

Rachel is always talking about being modest especially with the dresses that the Disney Princesses wear. When she was 3 her Grandpa Holmes drew a picture of her in a Tinker Bell outfit. She very politly said, "That dress isn't modest."

When Rachel was 4 1/2, we were outside gardening with her brothers. The kids were digging holes and finding worms. Zack kept yelling at Rachel for taking all of his worms and putting them in her hole that she had dug. I asked Rachel what she was doing, and she said, "I am trying to make them into a family." I laughed that she was actually making a worm family in her hole. A few minutes later I looked over and she was 'sawing' a worm in half with a stick. I again asked what she was doing and she replied, "I am trying to make them into a family, and this dad worm keeps trying to escape."

In October 2006, Rachel at age 3 (almost 4) became infatuated with the Little Mermaid. One day she said, "Mom, Ariel has a lot of sisters." I said, "I know, she had a lot like me...I have 6 Rachel." After she pondered that for a second I said, "Rachel how many sisters to you have?" She said, "4, I have 4 sisters." I said, "No you don't silly." "Yes I do mom, Kissy, Kaila, Taylor and Kaylee." (All her cousins.)

At times I would try and teach my kids nursery rhymes. When Zack was 4 and Rachel was 2, I was teaching Zack the rhyme: 1, 2 buckle my shoe - 3, 4 shut the door - etc, etc. Well I felt like he had finally got it so one day in the van I said to Zack, "1, 2 (wanting him to finish the rest) Well this whole time I had been teaching this rhyme to Zack, Rachel had been listening so before Zack could finish the rhyme, Rachel said, "Buckle my seatbelt!"

When Rachel was 3 for about 4 months before Halloween she obsessed about what she and everyone else was going to be. Even Nov. 1st she started talking about what she wants to be next year.

When Rachel was 2, just after having family pictures taken she cut the sides of her hair...We both cried.

Rachel loves to wear dresses and skirts. But obsesses if they aren't long enough because that is immodest. She will go to church in a nice dress and come home to change into a skirt.

April 10, 2008 Rachel was in the Jr. Cavette Drill Team. In getting ready for the performance she asked if we could make a sign that said, "GO Rachel!"

January 2008 when Rachel cut her hair for Locks for Love she obsessed about having short hair. For about a week everything was a 1st with short hair. She would say, "This is my 1st shower with short hair." or "This is my 1st time going to preschool with short hair."

When I was pregnant with Hannah, Rachel insisted that it was a girl. She talked about when dad would make her and 'her sister' princess bunkbeds. Even though we didn't know Hannah was a girl. Strangers would ask her if she was excited for her mom to have a baby and she would tell them it was a girl. Nobody could tell her any different, she was right and she knew it. After Hannah was born she was constantly reminding me that she was right about her sister and that I and everybody else was wrong that we thought that Hannah was a boy.

August 27th, 2008 Today as Rachel's 3rd day of Kindergarten. She came home today and told me that her teacher, Mrs. McAllister, told her today that she can't put lip gloss on at school anymore...I guess it was becoming a distraction. Tomorrow is back to school night so I'll ask Mrs. McAllister about it....So Mrs. McAllister told me that she was sneaking over to her backpack during class and puting lip gloss on. So she said to her, "Rachel, I love lip gloss too, but we don't put it on during class." So now Rachel still takes it to school everyday, but she tells me, "Mom, I only put my lip gloss on at the bus stop."

After I kept mentioning this story to everyone, because it was so typical 'Rachel', she finally said to me, "Mom, you can't tell that story to my cousins' moms." Haha...too late.

Before going to visit Grandma Adams one night, Nate was lecturing the kids on how well they needed to behave. He said something to the effect of "If you act up, you'll wish you hadn't..." Well Rachel piped up and said, "Dad maybe you should 'wish upon a star.' " Nate then said to her, "Rachel, everything is a fairy tale to you."

October 2008 Parent Teacher conference with Mrs. McAllister. Rachel is doing great and close to reading on her own. I asked if she was a 'Chatty Cathy' in class, she just said that "Rachel is a typical kindergartener." Which tells me yes.

At the cabin over the 24th of July in 2008 we let the 5 little girls sleep together on a pull out bed. Grammee "thanked" us the next morning, I guess the girls chatted all night long. We could tell with how onry they were the next day.

Christmas 2008 Rachel got an easy bake oven. This week her primary teacher called me to tell me what happened in class on Sunday. Sister Dickerson said Rachel was Mary in class for their lesson on the nativity. She was so impressed and touched how Rachel acted as Mary. She wore a veil and held the wrapped baby doll so gently and carressed her face. She said I wish you could have seen how sweet and gentle she was as Mary.

One day (mid-December 2008) Rachel came home from Kindergarten and said, "Mom guess what, I'm not the tallest person in class anymore. 'Johnny' was the tallest then he moved away, so I was the tallest for a little while, but today we had a new kid come to our class, and now he is the tallest." So I replied to her and said, "But are you the tallest girl still?" That comment just burst her bubble (oops) as she contemplated and sadly agreed with me.

Zack

When Zack was about 2 1/2 he had a pink phobia. He wouldn't eat anything pink like yogurt, ice cream, milk, jello. He also started putting up a fuss when I would clip his nails, so I threatened that I was going to paint them pink if he didn't let me...he would give in immediatly.

Cut his chin open at about age 2.

Ran into the piano and cut his left eye lid open at age 3.

He loves to draw. First ever 'best' drawing was a blue car, age 5 1/2, just as he started kindergarten. (I have is taped in my notebook...soon I will scan it in.)

October 2006 We were driving in the van the other day and Zack said to me, "Mom you know how when Uncle DJ was on his mission we would say 'Bless Uncle DJ to teach thy gospel...' I can't wait for when I am on my mission and everybody says, 'Bless Uncle Zack to teach thy gospel' It will be fun to have you guys call me Uncle Zack." I didn't have the heart to tell him that when he is on a mission he probably won't be an uncle yet.

Ever since Jace was born (Zack was 4 1/2) in Sept 05, Zack has always mentions in his prayer "And bless mom to have another baby."

He also usually blesses me to have patience....hint well taken.

Zack is known as the sound effects guy around our house (everything has a sound: food, shapes, household items).

October 25, 2006 Today in the van Zack said to me, "Mom, do you know why cars have honkers?" I just had to laugh how he referred to horns as honkers.

When we moved into our home in PG, he also described the bathroom downstairs and upstairs as the "hookers bathroom" Because there were over 50 hooks on the wall.

Zack was also know as "Board Boy" Nate would hold him out in front of him by the ankles and Zack would be stiff as a board.

When Zack was in Nursery in Saratoga Springs I went in to collect the primary roll and every teacher in there was giggling. Well the music leader had just asked the circle of kids, "What is your favorite song?" Zack was the first to yell out, "Whoomp There It Is!"

April 10, 2008 We were at the Cavette drill team showcase, where Rachel was in the Jr Drill Team. During a break they asked some boys to come down and do head stands. Zack jumped up with 3 other boys and was the longest lasting head stand. He won a giant candybar.

October 2007 Zack was 6 years old and we went down to Hee Haw Farms for FHE. They have a "Chase the Pig" contest where kids get in the pen with little piglets and have to grab them by the legs. Zack was the first in his age group to catch the pig.

March 2008 Zack was almost 7 and was playing down at the farm with Jaxon. The Smiths had a skunk in a trap behind their house, because it had been crawling under their house. Well Jaxon ran past the skunk 1st and must have startled it, because as Zack ran by he got sprayed by the skunk. It got a little bit in his eye which stung quite a bit. Aunt Chalise washed his hair twice. When he got home he got smeared with tomato paste and soup, and took 3 showers. It still lingered on him for 2-3 weeks. His clothes were thrown away. I remember his crying in the shower and saying, "This is the worst day ever!"

After Hannah was born in the dead of winter, I made the kids come straight home from school wash their hands and put on hand sanitizer. Well one day when Zack asked if he could hold Hannah, I asked him if he had washed and sanitized his hands. He proceeded to tell me that he didn't like the hand sanitizer because "It tasted like the wall." (How the heck does he know what the wall tastes like anyway?

Christmas 2008 Zack got toys, Brady got snow gear and a Rip Stick (for outside of course) I heard Zack say, "Brady, my hot wheels set and lego set can be both of ours." Proud Parent Moment.

When Zack was in the 1st grade in Ms. Hulls class he won a Hula-Hoop Contest. He is still the champion Hula Hoopster in our family.

Brady

When Brady was 1 1/2 we were in Reams Grocery Store in Provo, buying treats for a picnic. The layout of the store is complicated, there is only one way in and one way out. So if you forget something you must travel the exact path to retrieve it. Well we had our stuff, or so I thought, and were leaving the store when we passed a man rather rough looking, with long scragely hair and a beard, and Brady very loudly pointed and said, "Look mom, Jesus." Of course the man looked over, but didn't say anything as I hurriedly hushed Brady and made my way to the front of the store. Then I realized I forget something and had to back track, luckily I didn't see the man until we got to the front of the store but again Brady repeated; "Jesus, mom, Jesus" This time the man looked over and chuckled. But then I noticed what he was carrying - 2 cases of beer.

Cut his chin open when we lived in Springville at age 1 1/2.

Cut his chin open in Saratoga Springs at age 4, just after learning to ride his bike with no training wheels.

Brady taught himself to ride a two-wheeler. It was the summer before his kindergarten year and he rode a neighbors bike on our grass for about a week with a flat tire, which helped him get his balance. When he got his bike, I remember Nate standing behind him trying to hold the back of the seat for him and Brady, kept turning around and hitting Nate's hand away. I guess Nate was slowing him down...and he just wanted to go.

Easter weekend, 2004, in Blanding, Brady cut his chin open while riding his bike 20 stitches total, through 3 layers of skin. When we got home later that week, 3 hours after getting his stitches out he split it open half way again.

When Brady was in Kindergarten we were living in Saratoga Springs. One lazy Saturday morning in the winter, Brady had been watching cartoons and there was an info-mercial on a Sonic Breeze air cleaning system. Well soon I heard him talking on the phone and finally he said, "Yes my mom is here." He handed me the phone and the operator informed me that he had called the 1-800 order number. He said that he wanted our house to have nice clean air so we wouldn't get sick.

October 25, 2006 Brady is in 2nd grad and came home from school today with a brand new basketball. For Drug Awareness Week they had a Basketball Shoot Out. Brady made the most baskets out of all the second graders (about 100 kids). He made 22 baskets and the next runner up made 9. There were also winners in the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th grades.

When Brady was a Kindergartener the gas prices were up to $3.00 a gallon. Well after filling the van with gas, I jumped back in to leave. He asked my why the top numbers on the pump moved so fast and the bottom numbers moved slow. I looked over to see what he has talking about. Sure enough the top numbers were the price and the bottom numbers were the fuel gallons.

When Brady was a baby his dad would hold him out in front of him by the ankles. Brady would be flat as a board. We called it "Board Boy."

When Brady started 1st grade I was pregnant with Jace. It was a hard adjustment for him getting up at 6:30 and staying in school all day. Well when I finally had Jace in September, Brady would get up with his alarm clock, jump in the shower and come and wake me to get him breakfast. He just wanted to hold Jace before school. It made it a lot easier for him to get ready if he knew that he could hold Jace. He would also come home from school and hold him while I took a nap. It was a big relief to me to have Brady take on so much responsibility.

October 7, 2008 Brady is 9 and in the 4th grade, this was his 1st year of tackle football. On his last week of practice he had a helmet to helmet hit that gave him a mild concussion. The next day he had a constant migrain and was throwing up all day. He had to miss the last 2 practices and final game, but he still went to cheer on his team.

October 2008, Parent teacher with Miss Wright...Brady is getting all A's

Halloween 2008 Brady sliced his pinky finger while carving pumpkins and had to get 6 stitches.

December 23rd 2008 Brady and Zack were out sledding with Brady's friend Mitchell. Mitchell tried to talk Brady into 'ditching' Zack or making Zack leave, but Brady kept telling him "No, Zack is staying." He and Zack finally left Mitchell and came home. (Proud Parent Moment)

November 2008 Brady and Zack started piano lessons and just before Stephanie Reid came to teach them, Brady walks into my room with tears in his eyes and says, "Piano lessons are so freakin' retarded!" I just chuckled to myself and said "Oh well." So he was first to go have his lesson and when it was over he came back in my room and said, "Okay it wasn't that bad." Sweet justice I tell ya!

I will always remember the prayer that I asked Brady to give May 14, 2004. This was the day of Nate's motorcycle accident. I had gotten the call from the police officer and had frantically thrown the kids in the van in their pj's and sped off to the hospital. We were on Lehi Main Street just passing the Albertson's when I asked him to say a prayer. It was so sweet and sincere. He knew exactly what to say being only 5 years old. He asked for his dad to be okay and asked that I wouldn't be scared. As soon as he finished I had an immediate calm come over me. I've reflected and reminded Brady of that prayer many times since then, telling him what great faith he had at so young of an age.

Starting up again...please read first!

Well here it is...a Holmes Family Blog. Nate actually started this blog about 4 years ago, but it wasn't a big deal back then. So when I mentioned that I thought that we should start a blog, he said..."We already have one." I totally had forgotten about this blog spot. So now I am going to attempt to keep it updated and be able to archive family happenings. Nate will also be adding his computer genius to this page. So here is my first post as a new blogger.

A little background as to what I will be adding. For the past 7 or so years I have kept a notebook, usually by my bedside, that I like to call "mom's notebook." I actually got the idea from my Granny. Born in 1913, she had 4 children, my mom being the youngest. She kept a notebook also, that my mom and her siblings found when she passed away in 2001. It was a record of all the happenings of her children, mainly accidents or injuries. My Uncle Bruce was the winner of entries in her notebook. They got a big kick out of seeing how many times he had gotten stitches or broken an arm, so on and so forth. So I decided to keep my own record of not only those type of happenings, but also funny things that my kids say (you know when they make a comment, and you think "Oh I need to write that down"), accomplishments or comments that their teachers or other people tell me about them. Nate actually turned me onto the idea of putting it on our blog, because he likes to have a duplicate copy of everything. (And I totally agree, I would be crushed if I ever lost my "mom's notebook"). Now of course my older children have a lot more entries than the younger ones, but I will add them as they come about and as I remember them. I am not the best notebook keeper, and I will remember stuff from years back, so beware they are not all in chronilogical order, but the dates are fairly accurate. So if you would like, go ahead and click on one of our children's name and see what crazy stuff they have been up to!