Martin Family

Hawaii in April

2009-05-28T19:40:00.006-06:00

Jake and I recently went on an couples trip to Hawaii. Yes, that means no kids. We spent five days hanging out with Jake's two older brothers and their wives. The boys went on a couple of scuba dives and the girls hung out at the beach and and went shopping. It was truly bliss. We spent one day all together and went snorkeling. I got to swim with gigantic sea turtles. It was AWESOME.

Farewell to Baby Teeth

2008-11-05T12:34:00.006-07:00

As some of you parents out there know losing your baby teeth is a really big deal to kids. Especially so for my youngest daughter Lizzie. She has been pestering me for over a year now as to when she would finally start losing her baby teeth. Every time her older sister would lose a tooth and get visited by the tooth fairy she would start asking if her teeth felt loose. It was especially hard when our puppy lost two teeth and Lizzie still had not lost any. However, the crisis is at an end. Lizzie lost her first tooth on November 2, 2008.

Update

2008-10-09T20:52:00.017-06:00

Well quite a lot has happened since I last posted. I will try to make this brief. School started the middle of August and my life changed drastically. This is my first year with both of my girls in all day school. Anybody who knows me well knows I cried for days. Ya right.

I now spend my days watching soaps and eating bon bons. Or so my husband likes to tell his friends.

Jake stays busy being a full-time firefighter. One of these days he hopes to actually fight a fire.

The girls stay busy with school, dance, gymnastics and who can terrorize our puppy the most. As of right now I'd say they are pretty much tied.

Cleo, our puppy, just graduated from puppy class and we are all thrilled. She now does her business outside, sleeps through the night and lets me walk her instead of her walking me. One of these days we hope she'll stop eating our socks and shoes, but hey nobody is perfect.

Our New Baby

2008-07-18T13:56:00.008-06:00

Last Sunday we brought home the newest member of our family. She weighed 5 lb 6 oz. and had curly white hair. We named her Cleo and she is so pretty.

Of course it's a puppy I'm not having any more children.

After living three years in student housing our children were dying to get a pet and as you can see we finally caved.

Independence Day

2008-07-10T17:55:00.004-06:00

Sorry for the long absence but life has been crazy. Here is the list of things that have kept me busy.

1. Finals

2. Find a house

3. Pack up old house

4. Move to new house

5. Unpack new house

6. Paint inside of new house (from top to bottom)

7. Buried my dad

As you can see, a very busy couple of months. However, I am now trying to get back to my regular schedule.

As some of you know my father passed away recently. I just wanted to thank all of my friends and family members who were so suportive during that time. My family and I really appreciate it.

Recently was the fourth of July and our family spent it at the Stadium of Fire. It was really good. The Blue Man Group was very entertaining and Glenn Beck was also great. However, the best part of the night (according to my children) was Miley Cyrus. Personally, I loved the fireworks. They were phenominal.

Here are some pictures of our day. Also, for some of you out there who wanted a picture of my house, I'll throw that in too.

Lizzie's Big Debut

2008-04-09T17:12:00.004-06:00

I have finally figured out how to get my videos onto my computer. This is really good news for all my family out of state. Sorry to everybody else out there who now has to watch my home videos.
Recently my youngest, Lizzie, was involved in her school's Kindergarten Nursery Rhyme Performance. It was really well done and very fun to watch. However, for all of you out there who are not really interested in watching four minutes of my daughter acting a little peculiar, don't worry I will not quiz you on it later. This is mainly for our family that lives out of state and who miss everything.

As you can all see my daughter was made for the stage.

Not Really 25

2008-04-02T12:15:00.004-06:00

I feel I need to clear the air. The other day I stated in my blog that I was 25 and some of my friends thought this was true. For all of you who didn't catch my joke let me just say that my oldest daughter turned 8 this year. Truly, I did not start having children when I was 17.

My Birthday

2008-03-31T08:34:00.008-06:00

As a few of you know, yesterday was my birthday and I turned 25. Because my birthday landed on a Sunday, I spent the day home with my family. Today I get to go out with my very best friend (my mom) and do a girls night out. It should be really fun.
Thanks to all my friends and family who wished me a very happy birthday yesterday. You're all the best.
p.s. Brad please don't start pointing out my gray hairs and wrinkles. In case it escaped your notice you will always be older than me and I could retaliate.

I'm an Apple

2008-03-25T08:48:00.006-06:00

So I took this fruit personality test and this is what I got. Personally, I find parts of it are accurate but the majority isn't really me.

My friend took this same test and it was right on. So apparently there is either something wrong with me or I have many different facets to my personality.

I have highlighted those things I think best personify myself.

You Are an Apple
You are strong, powerful, and even a bit stubborn at times.

You have enough strength to help those around you in trouble.

You are adventurous and charming.

Many people are drawn to you.

You love life, and enjoy traveling the world.

You enjoy fine food, art, and culture.

People have accused you of being a snob, but that's not accurate.

You do enjoy the best things in life.

Unlike snobs, you truly appreciate quality... not just pretend to.

http://www.blogthings.com/whattypeoffruitareyouquiz/

A New Post

2008-03-24T12:08:00.012-06:00

It started out with hints but has now moved to a full fledged attack from those I thought were my closest friends and family. What is really interesting is that most of the people who have informed me that I have slacked (mother) know eveything that happens in my life. However, for you people who live out of state and that I have not seen in almost a year or more, this is for you.

In January of this year our family went on a five night cruise to Mexico. We departed from San Diego and proceeded to Cabo San Lucas were we disembarked. The kids got to particpate in a Dolphin Encounter. They spent about 30 minutes getting to know one of the dolphins.

As you can see they had wonderful time.

The cruise itself was very fun and the food was wonderful. I gained about 5 lb (mostly from eating 3 desserts a night).

In February my oldest daughter, Sydney, turned 8 and was baptized on March 1st with her cousin, Maddy, who turned 8 a month before her.

This last weekend was Easter and we got to spend Saturday at my mother's house with my brother and his family. Sunday we went at my brother-in-law's house with most of Jake's family.

There I have updated my blog. I hope everybody is happy. Don't expect anything for at least another three months. I'm only partly joking.

Christmas Is Over

2008-01-02T11:36:00.000-07:00

Christmas this year was truly wonderful as we got to spend it with the majority of our family (both sides). Christmas Eve found us at my mother's house with all of my siblings in attendance. I can't remember the last time we were all together. I absolutely loved it.

Christmas morning we spent opening presents with our daughters. As you can see Sydney was thrilled to get an iPod Shuffle and Lizzie got High School Musical II to go with her portable DVD player.

Christmas afternoon was spent at Jake's brother's house where we got to eat absolutely wonderful food and hang out with all of Jake's family, minus his brother Wil and fiancé Krissy.

To finish up our Christmas get togethers my siblings and I planned a Christmas party with our father and his wife Maria.

Interspersed with all of these parties were shopping days, days when we just hung out and family dinners. To say the least it was wonderful as well as exhausting..

Girls Weekend

2007-11-05T11:06:00.000-07:00

I got to spend this last weekend with my sisters and mother. It was probably one of the best times I have every had, other than those my husband provides. We started out flying to L.A. and going to the see Wicked. I cannot tell you how incredible it was. The girl who plays Glinda was phenomenal.

For all of you who don't know my family, my mother is on the left followed by Michelle, my sister-in-law, me, my sister Nikki, my sister Jenni and lastly my sister's sister-in-law Heather.

The next day was spent walking around Universal Studios and being silly. We finished the weekend up by shopping in the fashion district.

Overall it was an unbelievably fun weekend and I cannot thank you girls enough for making it so great.

Four Eyes

2007-10-16T21:44:00.000-06:00

All parents hope to pass on some of themselves to their children such as the color of their eyes or the way they smile. However, how many of us want to pass on our bad teeth or being practically blind (like myself). Not too many of us. We'll we don’t always get what we want. At least Lizzie looks a lot cuter than I did when I got my glasses as a child.

First day of School

2007-09-16T14:04:00.001-06:00

My youngest daughter, Lizzie, started kindergarten two weeks ago and with this monumental milestone I have come to realize that there are two types of moms out there. The ones that cry when their children finally start school and those who throw a party. I fall into the latter. I cannot honestly say I was sad.

I now have a few hours a day to myself to read and eat ice cream. If only that were true. Instead I decided to start school again. I know, I'm a little mentally challenged but what can I say I kind of like school.

Other than school and work our lives, at this point, are pretty boring.

2007-08-20T17:50:00.001-06:00

This last weekend we had our very first Taft family reunion, even through the majority of us now are no longer Tafts.

We spent the weekend at the Snake River in Heyburn, Idaho and any of you who know us at all can guess that my husband, Jake, picked the spot. Besides Jake and myself the rest of my family are not what you would call boaters. However, I am happy to say that just about everybody there got behind the boat to either ski, wake board, knee board or tube. The grandkids had a fabulous time playing in the water and running around with their cousins. Personally I think it was a great success and can't wait to do it again.

Now it is time for the brag photos.
I would like you all to know that after 9 years of marriage I can now slalom ski. (that is me to the right). Below is my sister Jenni doing a 360 on the knee board. I would like to add that even though I do not have a picture of my sister-in-law, Michelle, she did do a 360 on the knee board.

Lava Hot Springs

2007-08-06T15:20:00.000-06:00

We went to Lava Hot Springs in June for a weekend with friends. We camped along the Portneuf River. About every 45 minutes throughout the night, a train came rumbling by and decided it was a good place to "toot" his horn in three bursts, each lasting approximately 20 seconds. Needless to say, it wasn't the best sleep we've had.

The first day we went to the hot spring pools and the Olympic pool. The hot spring pools have gravel bottoms where the springs come up from the earth. These pools were too hot to stay in longer than 10 minutes. The Olympic pools were a blast. There were two tube slides that began 35 feet above the pool. The girls went down time after time. There were no lines, since it was overcast with a chilly breeze. As long as we were in the water, it was comfortable. Elizabeth was the first to go off the high dive in the group. She climbed up, walked to the end, and jumped in without any hesitation. After her, Sydney and the other older kids began to jump off.

The second day we decided to tube down the Portneuf River. We rented the tubes and asked the gal where we should go to tube down back towards our camp. She gave us directions and we piled in the cars and headed upstream. At the top, we asked another tube rental place where to go in and they directed us to the same spot. One hundred yards into our float, we all went over a 4 foot tall waterfall and flipped over. Everyone was scattered about and scraped up from the event. For the rest of the expedition, approximately 20 minutes, we had screaming and crying children who were fearful for their lives. When we came back from the trip, Sydney told her friends and their parents how we almost died in Idaho.

It was actually a fun weekend. We had a great time enjoying each others company, playing games and just hanging out.