SNOW?

here is my sweet little Haven...she has just laid like this since Tuesday! either on me or on a pillow she is just not herself! but today has been the first day that she has not fevered..


























This is my cute baby aubs she LOVES the camera and insisted I take her pic cause I was taking pictures of the roof.



















And of course I had to get one with my girls-less haven she was sleeping- we love to smile for the camera!


























Now this is the sidewalk that connects to the walkout basement and goes to the rv parking in the back yard, the kids in the whole circle love to run and walk along it for hours..they bring there babys in there strollers even.it is really cute to watch..

so what was up with the SNOW? I can not believe that it came that fast! I am really glad that my roof was all put on before it hit, I think it held up pretty well:)

I really like the way the color turned out I thought it was going to look like a Barn! but it is really pretty.

So to answer some Q's my insurance company paid for the whole thing to be replaced and yup they got it done a little over 5 hours..I used Whitaker Roofing and was very impressed with how quick they were with everything and the options they had..

I also want to say WOW about the relief society meeting last night! my dad watched all my kids so I could go!(thanks dad you are the best!!!) I was able to go with my Mom and My sister Ariane,who is in my stake! I am really glad i went it really made me want to be a better Mom, Sister and friend..I felt the spirit so strongly...It was really refreshing to know how well I was doing and how much I needed to improve on being a Latter Day Saint Woman! I loved pres Monson's talk he was really awesome, and of course the dinner was delicious and I am sure there was a good turn out f or the humanitarian project, I was not able to make it to that...well I am really looking forward to conference and being able to lounge in jammies and eat m&ms. I will post more pics of my basement as soon as the cabinets arrive!!

finally!!

So my roof is finally done! I can not believe that got it done in 1 day.. they were soo fast..anyway it looks awesome but I did not get out in time to take a pic so I will have to post one tomorrow..Haven is finally feeling better tonight..she has been running a fever since Tuesday so Matt finally gave her a blessing tonight and of course it went away and she is just giggles and talking like her old self !! JOY! JOY!, This by far has been the worst sickness for one of my babies..I have had to hold her nonstop since tuesday and she has just not been happy at all..so during nap time has been MY sweet "Haven" L.O.L.. anyway the blinds came today for the basement and my curb was cut yesterday for the rv parking ..man this machine was the coolest thing ever, the boy across the street came running outside asking what it was going to transform into!! it was soo funny..and then when my shingles were being delivered to the top of my roof I had 4 different neighbor families over so there were over 14 kids standing around making all sorts of funny sounds to the delivery guys..it was a funny sight...well tonight parkers little friend next door was going to try sleeping over but he is alot like Parker( whom is a homebody) so the poor thing only lasted about 2 hours then i walked him home so he could sleep in his own bed, it was really cute..Parker has never been able to sleep anywhere either cause he gets WAY too homesick..on the other hand Samm LOVES sleepovers, she was soo upset that she could not have 2 in a row..I have to limit them with that girl! She told me today that she is going to have as many sleep overs as she wants when she grows up and gets married..I seriously fell out of my chair laughing, of course she had no idea what was so funny!!!:):):):):) anyway hope to see some of you at the relief society dinner tomorrow night, I hope Haven is still well so I can go!

Cold Cold Cold

don't you just love Sundays! they are the best day out of the week. I can actually get a nap or get some guilt free reading (or E news) in, cause matt is off taking a nap with 3 of the kids and samm just has quite time in her room..aahh bliss at the Ballard home...so I am really excited about the cold weather, I love to wear long sleeve and sweats...and of course I love HALLOWEEN! I decided i can not wait to put up the rest of the decorations so on wed they will be up...we are going to do a fun halloween party this year with some neighbors too so i am really excited...i am excited too about the girls costumes, they are just a Wal-mart special but I love disney princesses and of course aubs is cinderella, well "princearella" is what she calls it..and samm is ariel...(i did not get haven a princess cause i have a chicken that will fit her, all about the savings!) parker of course is spiderman but it is going to be so fun this year cause the older kids can walk and get their own candy woohoo....I am also excited cause my baby is going to be 1 on the 20th of october! I can not believe how big she is going to be it went WAY to fast..but it is going to be awesome not having a bun in the oven for a while!! Haven is finally getting her top 2 teeth and boy do they look like chompers! and then there is samm that is loosing her 2 top teeth so soon she will have the rabbit teeth, i just want them to stay in till picture day which is on tuesday...cross my fingers....have a great week everyone!

Check out my Slide Show!

I was messing around and here is what I got thanks Jenn for the idea!!!!

here is the living room and the laundry room the are not completely done

here is the walkout basement is turned out really big!and the hallway

we have 2 rooms that look just like this one

here is the bathroom, and the third room with the master closet
and here is the soon to be kitchen my cabinets should come in about 4 weeks

Today I had my tupperware party and it was a TON of fun..thanks sherestan for throwing it for me she was sooo awesome, she gave a ton of stuff away! we had fun...I think I may have gained a few pounds though cause of all the brownies(they are my weakness) but that is okay..life is short..anyway I worked today and it was not too bad cause again we were calling 30 day accounts so I got LOTS of money! So the whole parasite thing hit matt and I again, maybe we are lactose intolerant cause this thing is relentless! o well we have this cool stuff that is called Redmond Clay, and it heals EVERYTHING...thanks to my dad at 9 at night i went to take what he had at his house so i could fight the day today! Bless his heart he was going up to the hospital to stay with my grandpa till 2 in the morning, my parents are the best they have the biggest hearts and compassion for people! someday I will be just like them....anyway I finally looked at my friends blogs and BOY do I have a lot to learn, it is soo fun to see what everyone is doing in life and that you are not the only one that has a crazy life! I really enjoy everyones pics keep putting them up, sammy loves to see her friends on the computer........so yesterday I went to see one of my best friends Jenn who just had a baby and it made me sooo baby hungry! (yes i know i have enough) but man it would be soo nice to feel my van up, i have room for 1 more soooo maybe in 3 years:)...so samm was really excited to see her first love..DREW. jenns son..he is sooo cute, a year or so again she was like that show Norbit...if any of you have seen it you know what i mean ...resbusha(sammy) told Norbit(Drew) that he was her boyfriend and they will be getting married...so Drew ever since has been faithful to samm...so when I reminded her of him she was torn because of her new love Grady( that the whole Millet class is in love with!) she did not want me to tell Drew that she liked another.LOL ..i can not believe that my 5 year old understands that! ...anyway life will be interesting here on out ...oooooo 1 thing i did want to ask everyone, how do you get rid of gophers? we have had one for like 4 months and i have had my exterminators out like 6 times and those darn rodents are ruining my front lawn! let me know some good tricks...PLEASE....and here are some pics of my basement..have a good weekend!

A LITTLE DAY OF COMPLAINING

I am sooooo sorry that I still have not gotten any pics if my basement! I am such a slacker, but i do have to admit it has been a busy day! I decided this morning that I would clean my back yard instead of make banana bread. And I really should have taken a picture befor i cleaned it cause HOLY COW can we say white trash! my yard was sooo nasty..it had everything back there cause when we emptied out our basement to make room for the drywallers we thrw everything in the back yard, and we do not have grass back there, just a ton of weeds ...matt has a bunch of tires all in the window wells and all over the yard...we had a ping pong table, a crib a ton of wood, insulation, just GARBAGE..no wonder nobody is buying the lot behind us L.O.L !!! well anyway i started at about 9am and then at 11 my insurance adjuster came(finally!) and they pretty much said they will be buying me a new roof! woohoo..but not giving me the kind of money i want of course..anyway sammy almost missed the bus cause i was not paying attention to time so she went to school with no lunch:( and then i came inside to feed haven and the other 2 and then it was off to take parker to school...AND then I had my 3 visiting teaching appointments all in a row ,which was very nice,but i forgot i had the lesson so i read it in the car before dropping off parker(such a SLACKER!) and then come home get the 2 kids off to naps and then pick up parker then meet sammy at the bus 30 minutes later after mopping my floors cause my renters called me to say they were coming tonight to look at the basement!!!!!!!aahhhhhh...but i survived...then i forgot i told my neighbor i would wath her kids for an hour, so feed everyone dinner and as soon as she picked them up my renters came and the house was yet again torn apart but whatever, they are not living upstairs right! and the best kicker of the day is i had told sammys teacher i would help her out with take home things to put together and can you say arthritis! my hands hurt from pulling weeds, putting trash and wood and tables on my curb for the garbage man and folding,stapling,and taping sammys 50 calanders for school..................breath............what a day ...sorry that i had to complain but i tell ya this is like a life changing thing with kids in school, i thought having children was hard, i for sure thing adjusting to having them is school is 10xs harder!!!!!!!!! anyway if any of you have advise on how to better manage my time or sanity let me know your secrets! but i do want to put some pics of the kids putting up some halloween decorations(I just love halloween so they need to start young for the appreciation of decorating!) they had a blast.

Okay so here is the recipe that I have been telling everyone about..some of you might already have a favorite but this is my newest yummy meal!

CHICKEN TAQUITOS

2 cups cooked chicken , shredded

1 (10 ounce) can mild enchilada sauce (i use the green stuff)

1 cup shredded cheese cheddarchesseor mozzarella cheese or monterey jack pepper cheese or a shredded blend

1/2 cup onions, minced(i leave these out)

1(4ounce) can green chillies,diced

1 teaspoon garlic salt

3/4 cup vegetable oil

24 corn tortillas

oil--for deep frying(i cook mine in the oven for 30 min at 350, so no extra cals!)

dip in sour cream, salsa, guacamole

1- in a large bowl combinechcken,enchilada sauce cheese onions chillies and garlic salt. mix well and set aside.

2-in a small skillet heat 3/4 oil . use tongs to dip each tortilla in oil for about 5 seconds on each side. drain on paper towels. keep warm..

3- place 2 tablespoons of chicken mixture onto each totilla. roll tortillas as tightly as possible and hold closed with a toothpick.(then i put in the oven)

4- heat additional oil in skillet. deep fry taquitos until browned(about 1-5 minutes depending on how crisp you want them). drain on paper towel and serve with sour cream, salsa or guacamole .

5- serve 2 taquitos per person.:) ENJOY!!!!.....and KIDS love them!

today matthew made them and only cooked them for 20 minutes and they were the perfect crunch. I can not beleive how yummy these are and how simple it is! anyway matthew finished all 3 rooms downstairs and it liiks awesome! i am so glad to have a hubby that is sooo talented. he said he will paint the upstairs the same color! i cant wait to get rid of my gray, but it will probably be like 2 years.......o well.....sammy is trying to show me some gymnastic moves so i will have to write later.....

BASEMENT BE DONE

Today was a really CRAZY one! We ordered our cabinets for our kitchen and bathroom! I am soo excited but they will not be in for 4 weeks ahhh ...little scary since our renters will be moving in november 1st! I am really thrilled to have these people they seem very nice they have two little boys and there sister will be living with them, they are also LDS. they seem like a few years older then me so that is good too....for some of you that thought we were not renting I actually changed my mind the other day cause I really wanted to get cement poored and cabinets so I figured if for at least a year it will pay everything off! I will post pics when everything is done...so on wed i posted my camper on ksl and WOW did i get alot of calls! the 2nd person that called came and got it!! HECK YAH. i was so happy to see it leave...now if only i could do that with my husbands truck! well the same day i posted my basement on there too and received 3 calls for it but the first couple got it so of course they will be paying a deposit...our cement looks so awesome they did a really good job and got it done really fast, so we are having them do our sidewalk as well. a couple of my neighbors are getting theres poured too its kinda funny. on another note sammy had grandparents day today, she had so much fun! thank you nanna and grandma jeanie for coming it would have not been the same with out you! so i guess the grandparents can take the kids home but sammantha did not want to cause she sits by this boy named grady on the bus..she says he is her boyfriend!!! yikes. i was not real happy when i heard that.. and how i found out about it was she was just crying one day and said that grady likes her friend kelsie now cause he plays with her...i told her she needs to share all her friends, i mean what was i going to say! she is only 5 for cryin out loud!!! but today was good cause she had him all to herself....i can not get him out of her head....girls girls girls.......anyway haven is pulling herself up to everything now it is so fun she loves to yell for me in the morning between her crib bars..it is really cute ....well i better get some sleep sammy and aubrey are both having sleep overs and ya know how much sleep you get with those.L.O.L

Holy Pancakes!!

wow it has seemed like forever since I have gotten on here! I hate working two long days in a row...So I really wanted to write about what we did on our fun sunday...our mornings are pretty crazy, I get up at 6 or 7 and shower then I get all the kids up to feed them breakfast, and they all think they need something that needs syrup on it, so they all need baths cause I hate when kids smell like syrup ..i don't know why but i do! then I get after Matt for at least 30 min to an hour to get out of bed so HE can bathe the kids(sunday is his day I LOVE IT!!!) and do his lesson,then I finish getting ready and do all of my girls hair and mine and get the bag ready to go to church by 20 to 11.....now why that seems sooo crazy to me i do not know cause i do all that, minus the breakfast..on the days i work and have them ready by 9am...anyway this last sunday was awesome cause our popeye pancakes got HUGE! so i took a pic...then we had to clear out our back yard for the cementers to come mon so matt was really upset at me for doing stuff on Sunday and I felt and still feel really bad I should have given him more notice!...well I have to put this picture of him towing this fishing boat that we have. he was pulling it with is little car! it was the funniest sight ever...needless to say the cementers did not even start my yard till yesterday so very upsetting ,,anyway sam threw up last night and her and parker got the runs again so i am a little frustrated again. my mother in law told me to go see this doctor that i think is like what you call a witch doctor? he uses is energy i think to find out what is wrong and he knows every time when she used to take her kids in and how to fix it so i need to give him a call and i will let you all know what happens!!well have a great night!

Reality check

WOW! I think i recieved a huge dose of reality. Having a child in school is alot of work! and sam is only in kindergarten,,, i do not know what i am going to do when there is school for 2! she has homework everyday and we have to read every night for 20 minutes , which we always read every night but only like 1or 2 books..know it is like 6! sammy went to the library on friday and i was so thrilled for her until i realized i have to be the one to keep track of them, and to not let my other kids get them ..holy cow this is so crazy..maybe i am not the mom i thought i was...i guess i will just have to buck up and go for the ride cause it is going to last another 17 years! AAHHHHH...............well sammy is totally loving school she is really enjoying making new friends.she has a girl in her class named Stephanie and she just does not understand why me and the other stephanie do not look alike.L.O.L it is the cutest thing.. I told her she doesn't look like all the other sammanthas out there ..she agreed but she still does not get it:)...Parker is REALLY enjoying his preschool he gets so upset that sam gets to go to school everyday and he only gets to go twice per week ...I am really glad that he has attached to it..his teacher is soo awesome she taught sammy as well, she is really good with the kids..so on wed when they are both in school it is just me and my little girls and BOY do i not know what to do with myself!....On another note i was suppose to hike Kings Peak with my hubby and his family today but could not find a babysitter, and I hurt my knee when I played softball on thursday(I am really feeling my age) I was really bummed cause it seemed so much fun .they hike the whole thing in 1 day it is awesome...i guess i will go next year...so while my hubby was gone i decided to hire some guys to pour cement on the side of my house and the back so it will finally be done and i do not have to deal with any more rocks being collected by the boys in the neighborhood..I am really excited it has been a long time..we are going to get rid of uor camper too if any one wants it it is free! i will be posting it on ksl monday...well here are some pics from sams first bus ride she was so cute

SCHOOL DAYS!!!!

So I got home late from work last night, and found this disturbing site on my house! I am not to happy about the situation since my house is the only one that was damaged! I just hope my insurance company will replace the whole thing with no hassle...that is another thing that upsets me is they (my insurance company) will not beable to make it to my house till next wednesday! aahhh! o well what do ya do? and then this morning I woke up at 5 to go to the gym for my wed morning cycle class and guess what,,,,,the gym was closed from a power outage! but they said you can go to the other 2 that are open ..um..NO..I came back home and went to bed... there is happy news though Sammy starts kindergarten today! We are so excited...I am going a little crazy though because Parker starts preschool the same time sam starts so I will be rushing....it's going to be great fun....well I hope everyone was safe last night in the storm, I am off to get the madness started..

Icecube Savers

Well I sure hope everyone had a good holiday! I had to work today so it was not the best but i took 30 day calls today so it was great!...Matt stayed home with the kids so I was hoping to come home to a nice clean house but all I got was kids that were at least still alive! L.O.L..Matt has a good time with the kids, they really enjoy him cause they can hang out in jammies all day, eat and do whatever they want..life is good when mom is gone! I wanted to let some of you with babies in on a great idea(at least i think it is) ..my friend from minnesota did this..you know the little things that you put fruit in for babies to suck on bit it is a little net so they dont choke, well she puts icecubes in them when it is a hot day and they go on walks or hang out outside!!! I thought it was the coolest idea so i came straight to target when I got home and used them for the first time on our walk today(i even gave one to aubrey so she would stay cool as well) it works best though if you are staying close to your home so you can refill them or take a little cooler container to keep icecubes in to refill..Haven loved it! I took a pic of it so you would know what i was talking about....

Matthew finally finished the tile in our downstairs hallway! It looks awesome and he finished all the bedrooms base and casings with paint..it is really coming along..a couple of days ago i bought the vanity and all the fixtures for our bathroom down there but sadly was informed today that he does not like any of them! i am really bummed cause i really had to jam all that stuff in my van with all four kids! so i told him we will just have to live with them (and i like them )i dont know for sure what we are going to end up doing....anyway today was fun and now we get to go along our week thinking it is another day since today was a holiday ...FUN

The Land Of Lakes

So I finally downloaded all of my pics from when Matt and I went on vacation in Minnesota.It was so much fun! I would like to thank our dear friends Brenda and Rob for having us and showing us the great lake state! The part I loved the most out there was all of the green grass and of course all of the corn! it was amazing...every house sat on at least 1/2 acre of green grass with no fences so all the yards were one big playground. I mowed robs lawn the 2nd day I was there and it took me at least an hour and that was with a cadillac of a lawn mower!..about every other house had a rainbow play set..but to my suprise not many kids were out ..I guess cause it was a bit humid..I went running every morning and found it was really hard to breath when there was so much moisture(i do not know if that was it or not but it was tough!) the second day I ran was alot better and more enjoyable, but I was afraid of getting hit by a tornado...I did not see one and hope to never see one!...The lakes out there were HUGE ..I swear every where you turned there was a big puddle of water..I do not remember which one we went sking on but it was alot of fun cause we were the only boat out there....here is a picture of rob and matt trying to pull some cool moves..they both went kneeboarding but my camera died so i did not get any pics! bummer!..anyway we also went to this resturant Gandolfs(i think) on a lake, it was pretty fancy...our plates were about 40$ each..it was so fun...the most amazing thing I would have to say in minnesota is the MALL OF AMERICA! can you say WOW...it was huge..4 levels of shopping maddness, an amusement park inside(think of lagoon) and a lego land that had sooo many lego sets (rob was in heaven ,he decided to go back in time and begin life with legos again) we will not say how much he bought L.O.L...I think he put 2 sets together in like 4 hours or less....the main reason we went to visit our friends was to be involved in the auto cross..o my gosh can you say FUN...matt and rob both drove in little beater vehicles,well robs was in good shape,but not anymore..he rolled his on the first run and boy was he ticked! I felt really bad for him cause the guys put so much time into it..they had alot of fun though..hopefully this video works that i am going to post with this.....and of course there was Violet...what can i say about this girl ..she is so CUTE! she has the most prettiest eyes and skin. she should be a model for gap! she was so well behaved and she loved everyone, she reminded me of sammy when she was a baby ..she was always smiling just like Violet..her mom(brenda) is so cute with her and is so loving, I remembered the days when I had just one! well we had a blast and we are looking forward to coming again next year, but this time brenda and I are driving at least once and hopefully do not roll! thank you so much holtburgs for showing us a good time and spending your life savings on us:)-......And of course i want to say thank you to all the wonderful people that watched our children while we were gone they had so much fun with you!....Matt is driving the 36 D D..maroon truck

Parasite or Flu?

So before I head to bed I would like to ask anyone else if there children have been sick with some crazy flu thing? My kids started it the day after I got back from MN..Parker and Sam threw up first Sunday night and then were fine all day..then the following Friday Parker threw up again during the day and has had the runs...then the next Sunday night Aubrey and Parker threw up ..yet again okay all day...then Monday and Tuesday night Aubrey threw up but fine all day...then wed thur and fri Aubrey had the runs REALLY bad I am talkin going down her leg into her shoes kind...YUCK!! and now they seem to all be fine nothing more has gone on, but some people have told me to clorox the tub after each bath ..so i do ..then obviously don't share anything ..which they don't...and someone told me if it is some crazy parasite it could hide away for a few days and then they will start all sick again and it will last 4 WEEKS! I am not sure what to do so if any one has any advise please let me know how to help them.....cause I am really tired of washing sheets and cloroxing tubs.....but yet lucky for me Haven has not gotten anything..K.O.W

its about time

So I finally decided to actually sit down, relax, pop a couple knuckles and start my blog! I am actually really excited to do this even though I have no idea what I am doing. One of my best friends Jen was my inspiration and still is! I am actually going to start off with talking about my wonderful kids..first there is Sammantha who will be starting school on wed after labor day! she will be my first I am totally scared,yet excited. Sammantha as most people know her is a total social butterfly! she is going to have so much fun in kindergarten! Parker is the next in line and he is my little Spiderman. everyday is spiderman! Parker has two spiderman costumes now Thanks to his nana! so he can still wear one while the other is getting washed! Parker is very excited to start pre-school as well. I am anxious to see how he does.L.O.L for those who know him he does not do well with wanting to learn letters or numbers or pretty much anything you learn at school he just wants to be SPIDERMAN!
Aubrey is next and she is sooooooooooo funny..she is starting to get into that manipulative stage and it is very humorous to whatch..she is really into playing babies and getting attention from her daddy. If dad is around no one else matters!
Haven is the last bundle of joy and I LOVE the babies..I just moosh her every day she is so cute! she is cruisen all over getting into everything and enjoys getting fed under the table from the other kids!
life is good in the Ballard home and my dear hubby is yet again in Moab right now so I am a bit in need of some adult talk but he will be home in the morning so life will be perfect yet again!
let me know what you think and for all you bloggers give some tips on how to create a cool page and add some neat stuff...o and i need help posting pics..