Cute pics

If you want to see some cute pictures of my kids go to http://www.skyejohansen.com/blog/index.php?year=2008&month=August&id=459 She took pictures of my kids a couple weeks ago and they turned out soooo cute. I can't wait to get the CD and have a bunch printed out. Skye is awesome. The kids cooperated really well. Kaitlyn was really hamming it up and wanted to be in all the pictures. We had to move her out of the shots of the other kids. It was a lot of fun. :) Skye was my babysitter when Dylan and Kinlee were little and now she is this amazing photographer. Her husband, Ryan, works with Joel and they are both from the same town in Canada as Joel. Anyway, check it out if you want. :)

I'm crawling now!

Well, Christian is crawling now... he is quickest one of my four. I don't think any of my other kids crawled until at least 9 or 10 months old and he is only 7 months old. Typical male... he is motivated by the remote control :) He has to be quick with the two-year old that lives here. She still torments the poor kid. This week he has been dropped on his head by her, sat on, whipped with a jumprope, you name it. Yes, I do watch my kids, but I swear she waits until I leave the room and decides to make him her own little guinea pig in some experiment of hers. Hopefully he will survive until he is big enough to run away. :) She's actually getting better though now, she even says sorry when she does something wrong so we are making progress!

High School Tag

Don't you just love this picture of me when I was a senior in high school? It was 1989 and everyone had this same hair, at least in West Valley they did. I think I used about a can and a half of hair spray each week with this sweet hairdo. Next to me is my friend Jill Bradshaw (Bowden). She was the one who inspired such greatness in my hair at the time. I think hers might have been bigger than mine. If you look closely, I am also wearing my signature blue mascara. Too cool. Anyway, I was tagged by my friend Sheri to answer some questions about me in high school. I will try, I can't guarantee I will even remember any of the answers, but I will try. Here we go:

1. Did you date someone from your school? Yes - lots of them, one pretty seriously my senior year. (They couldn't resist the hair you know.)

2. What kind of car did you drive? A navy blue 1982 Toyota Corolla. It was cute, I bought and paid for it myself.

3. Were you a party animal? No, I hung out with lots of friends, but no partying.

4. Were you considered a flirt? Not really, well you would have to ask the people I went to high school with but I don't think so.

5. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir? No, I quit band in junior high.

6. Were you a nerd? Absolutely not!! Well, maybe a little. :)

7. Were you on any varsity teams? I ran track but that was about it.

8. Did you get suspended/expelled? Never.

9. Can you still sing the fight song? I don't think I ever knew it in the first place.

10. Who were your favorite teachers? I honestly cannot remember their names, I remember my least favorite teacher was Mrs. Lofgren.

11. Where did you sit during lunch? I usually went out for lunch.

12. What was your school's full name? Kearns High School

13. School mascot? Cougars

14. If you could go back and do it again would you? It was a lot of fun, but I really don't want to re-live those years. I'm sure there are a few things I would want to do differently, but I don't really have any regrets.

15. What do you remember most about graduation? The ugly gold graduation cap and gown we had to wear; the next day going to Little Sahara sand dunes with some friends to celebrate.

16. Where did you go senior skip day? I don't remember having that, but I do remember having a senior Lagoon day. I can't even remember if I went. It was 18 years ago.

17. Were you in any clubs? I honestly don't remember, but probably not.

18. Have you gained some weight since then? No, I still weigh 110 pounds. :)

19. Who was your prom date? Cody Butler, Danny Marden

20. Are you planning on going to your 10 year reunion? Yes, I went to it 8 years ago! I know, I am old. It was not that great, I don't really plan on going to any more of them. I keep in touch with the people I was friends with and that is all I really care about at this point.

Well, I'm realizing I wasn't very exciting back in high school after I read this back. Sorry to everyone who had to read this entry. I should make my husband answer these questions, he had a much wilder time in high school than I did. :)

First Day of School

Yesterday was the first day of school for Dylan and Kinlee. Dylan is in 4th grade and Kinlee is in 1st grade. Kinlee was so excited she couldn't go to sleep the night before and couldn't eat breakfast in the morning. Her best friend Hailey is in her class this year and she now gets to eat lunch at school. She was mad last year when she found out she didn't get to eat lunch in Kindergarten at the school. Dylan was not too excited, he's done this many times before and realizes it's the start of a long year. They both love their teachers and have good friends in their classes though so it's good. Kaitlyn wanted to go to school too, (of course she had to be in the picture) but I told her she had to learn how to go potty in the big girl potty before she could go to school. She's still not interested. I really hate potty training. :) Anyway, I am just glad to have my days back to normal!

Hogle Zoo

Yesterday my sister-in-law, Shanna, and I took the kids to the Hogle Zoo in SLC. It was a good day, but pretty hot. Here are some pics below...



Dylan and Kaitlyn liked the snakes and Kinlee like the wild bunny rabbits the best. Personally, I thought the cougars were cool, but they would not pose for a picture unfortunately. Christian just went along for the ride and was a good baby all day. I think Gavin also liked the snakes the best until he got home that day and found a snake in his garage!!

Kaity gets a fat lip

Kaitlyn fell down at the swimming pool two days ago and she woke up the next morning with a big fat lip. At the time I thought she just bonked her head; you can see an owie on her forehead. The next day when I saw this lip, I looked underneath it and it was all purple and bruised down there. I guess she hit her mouth too, but she never said anything about it at the time. She's a tough little cookie. This picture doesn't even do her lip justice, the top one was HUGE and she looked like a duck. Poor little thing. :)

Weekend in San Francisco

So this weekend Joel and I flew out to San Francisco for a quick trip. Joel has a client that is building a house in Atherton which is about 15 minutes south of San Francisco and wanted Joel to come and measure the house for finish trim materials and doors. Since Joel was going, he decided to bring me along and make it a little vacation for the two of us. We flew out early Saturday morning and came home on Sunday afternoon. When we got there, we went out to the house in Atherton and measured it out which only took about an hour, then we checked in to our hotel, went to dinner and a movie. The next morning we went out the Golden Gate Bridge and took a few pictures since neither of us had ever been there before. It was colder than I thought it would be out there, only about 60 degrees, and even colder on the bridge. As you can see, the bridge was very foggy.

They call this statue "The Lone Sailor" because of San Francisco's maritime and military past.

We thought this sign was kind-of funny yet sad at the same time. There is a little phone right there you can use to talk to a counselor if you're thinking about jumping off the bridge.
Anyway, it was very windy as you can see but it was a fun weekend. It's very rare for Joel and I to get to go anywhere without our kids! Thanks to all our relatives that we farmed the kids out to this weekend. We appreciate your help!

Six month check up for Christian

Well, today Christian had his six month check up and he is all healthy and well. He weighs 18 pounds and is in the 56% percentile for weight. His height is 27 inches and is in the 70% percentile for that. His head, however, is in the 98% percentile of course. All the Pilling boys have had large heads so we just assume he is going to be extra smart. :) He had to have 4 shots which was sad but he got over it quickly. Time is flying by so quickly with this little guy it makes me sad. Sometimes I don't get to spend as much time with just him as I'd like because he gets lost in the shuffle with the other kids. He is such a good baby he just doesn't require a lot from me. We are very lucky to have him in our family. We love you little Christian!

2nd trip to Montana

Well, we made another trek up to Montana last week. Joel couldn't come with us because he had to stay and work on his shop all week. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to handle all 4 kids by myself especially in the car for 10 hours so I brought along my niece, Bailey, to help me. She was a great help and we had a great time. It was a little cooler this time and we didn't spend as much time down at the lake, but we still had fun going to town, to the park, and playing up at the cabin. I didn't take nearly as many pictures this time, but here are some pictures we took at the park. Kaitlyn couldn't quite sit up on the slide and would end up on her back so Bailey had to catch her at the bottom or she landed flat on her back (which actually did happen once when I wasn't paying attention).
This is Madilyn, she was able to figure the slide thing out a little better than Kait and could keep herself upright for the most part.
Here is Bailey...
Kinlee at the park...

Here is Dylan just finishing up wake surfing. I didn't get any pictures from the boat because I didn't ever ride in the boat while he wake surfed, but he was able to get up and go all the way around the island. He says it is actually easier than wakeboarding, so now it's his new favorite thing to do at the lake.

Daddy who?

So this new shop is the reason we haven't had a daddy at home lately. Joel has been working late almost every night building this new shop for his company with Preston and Chris. It should be done in about 2 or 3 months from now, they are framing the roof and the inside offices right now. It will be great when it's done because they will start producing their own doors instead of having to buy them from another party which is pretty much the whole reason they are building it. They also won't have to pay a huge rent payment to the little shop and office they are renting right now. There will be a lot more for all their stuff too.

We take Dylan and Jaxon's four-wheelers out there because there is a lot of little hills and sandy areas for the boys to ride. The sun was in their eyes so it looks like they are both winking at the camera. :)

Here they are on the inside of the building where it was a little cooler in the shade. Joel makes them occasionally help while they are there because it's good for them to do a little hard work. They usually come home just covered in the dirt. They love it even though it's about 100 degrees out there right now.