Week in Utah

So we finally made it to Utah despite all the after Christmas adventures. Thanks so much Chris and Wendi for letting all 7 of us invade their space for the week. We had so much fun with you guys:) Logan and Emalie had fun playing together. Mostly Emalie just used Logan as a speed bump:) We also had fun seeing Brian's Uncle Richard and Aunt Nancy and some cousins. Brian's brother Roger has a gym in Ogden and the boys thought that it was so awesome!! This is Austin and Carter climbing the wall. Brian, Carter, and Preston playing on the scooters. I need a room like this in my house:)This is Carter, Logan, and Aidan at the cafeteria in IKEA. I love that place!! I could have spent hours and $$$ there. I can't wait till IKEA comes to Colorado!!Of course we made the trip down to Temple Square. I really wanted the little boys to see the lights because that is on of my favorite childhood memories. We also had dinner with Eduardo and Lily, Brian baptized Lily when she was 15 while he was on his mission in California. Austin playing checkers with Emalie.

Utah was a much needed break for our little family. And now we are back to the daily grind trying to get over a nasty cold that has hit everyone except Brian:(

Are We There Yet?!

The day after our little ER adventure we were headed to Utah to visit Brian's brother Chris and Wendi and family. We did not leave quite as early as we had planned since Mom and Dad needed a little sleep. So we packed up the van loaded up the kids and were on our way. We needed to stop at Walmart to pick up some windshield washer fluid. Brian ran in and then came back out started the van and the van started and then died, and would not start again. We thought maybe the battery was dead so one of the guys from Walmarts auto department came out with his handy little battery checker thing and informed us that the battery was fine, great...just means something more expensive is wrong and he thought it was the fuel pump. So the van had to be towed and 5 crying kids were loaded into Grandpa Robles' car and sent home. Spirits were not high to say the least. Monday morning the auto shop looked at the van and informed us it would be $1500 plus to put a new fuel pump in the van (which we have already replaced once) and we were also informed that the transmission would be the next thing to go. We had already fixed the van twice in the past month so this was the last straw. Brian and I spent the morning looking for a new van and then spent the afternoon picking up this little number. So, the Condie family has a new Chevy Uplander which makes us all very happy. And the little boys one request for the new van, that it had a DVD player. I am happy to say that their wish was granted and we left for Utah that afternoon with a stack of DVD's and 5 happy boys!!!!

The Lesson Here Cut Your Steak and Chew Your Food And Oh yeah Happy Anniversary!!!

Brian and I celebrated our twelve year anniversary this year. December 27th is our anniversary so we decided to go to the Trail Dust for dinner and then we were going to leave for Utah at 5am the next morning. So we left the boys with my mom and headed to the Trail Dust. Brian was very excited to eat his steak and the first bite he took went down the wrong way. Just how wrong we did not know. Brian tried to drink a bunch of water to get the bite to go down but he ended up throwing up the water all over his plate...lovely. So Brian got up and went to the bathroom. I covered his plate up with napkins and kept eating my steak (can't let a good steak go to waste:)....anyway, Brian could still breath and I thought he would just throw it up in the bathroom and be done with it, but after 20 minutes or so in the bathroom I sent the waiter in to make sure he was still alive. Brian finally came out of the bathroom and informed me that the steak was still stuck in his throat and we would need to make a trip to the emergency room. So we headed to Centennial Medical Plaza, about 15 minutes down the street. Brian threw up out the window once and got throw up all over the side of the van. Once we got the emergency room they asked Brian if he was having trouble breathing or chest pain and when he answered yes to both questions yes they rushed him right back to the ER. When he told them the story of what happened I could not control my laughter and the nurses joined in. I also called my sister-in-law in Utah to let her know what was going on we had a good little laugh ourselves:) Then Brian asked me to call his Mom and I told him that I could not do that because I would laugh and she would think that I was terrible. At the ER they tried giving Brain cola because that supposedly breaks up the steak and helps it go down. That did not work so they gave him a muscle relaxer to see if they could get the steak to go up or down. The first muscle relaxer did not work so they gave him nitro glycerin which is another muscle relaxer to see if that would work. When nothing worked they decided to transfer Brain to Aurora Medical Center so a gastro specialist could do a scope on his throat and see exactly where the steak was stuck. All I could think was are you serious you can't just throw the piece of meat up and save us a little time and money. But no, so it was off the the second ER of the night. So we drove to Aurora Medical Center and waited a couple of hours for the gastro DR to get there. Luckily Brian and I kept our sense of humor and were laughing the whole time. The nurses and Dr's were getting a good little chuckle out of the whole situation too:) The gastro Dr finally got there and they knocked Brain out and scoped him. They doctor came and got me when they were done and told me that they pulled the piece of steak out of Brian's throat. He said that it did not look like he chewed it very much. While they were in there they saw that Brian's esophagus was narrowed at the base where it connected to his stomach so he has to go back in 4 to 6 weeks and have his esophagus stretched. Lovely!!! When Brian woke up he was so out of it and it was hilarious, he was telling all the nurses that he was going to go work out because all the ladies like to see him with his shirt off. Finally at 2am we headed home. An anniversary to remember!!! Here's to another 12 wonderful years (I really mean that) it has been great and I can't wait to see what the next 12 years bring.

Merry Christmas 2008

Merry Christmas 2008!!

Santa was very good to the Condie boys this year. Everyone got their need, read, wear, and want gift and I think everyone was happy. Santa also brought a fire station and fire truck for everyone to share.
The little boys excited to open their presents. We told them that they could not come and get us until 7am so they spent some time playing with the fire station because Santa did not wrap it.
Austin opening his Legos, that was what he wanted the most.
Preston with his "read" gifts.
Carter trying to focus on his "wear" gift because the gift he really wanted to open was his new bike.

Carter practicing on his new bike!

Aidan opening his animal block train. But this was Aidan favorite gift, it is a little tower with wooden balls on the top that you bang with a hammer until the go through the holes. Aidan loves being able to bang on something with a hammer and not get in trouble.

Logan was so fun to watch open presents. He is so curious and was just watching and taking it all in.

Logan with his new pull horse.Logan playing with the fire station while his brothers were distracted.

Our Christmas dinner table. It is nice to spend Christmas with just our family and make our own traditions.

Waiting to eat the yummy ham!!

We had a great Christmas and enjoyed spending time together and playing with our new toys and watching Kung Fu Panda a couple of times.

Quotes by Carter

This boy........ is a source of constant entertainment in my life

Carter- Mom can I have a fruit snack?

Mom- Yes, Carter.

Carter- Will you get it for me?

Mom- You can get it yourself today(I know, I'm mean).

Carter- (with hands up in the air) Oh you don't want to serve your precious son?!!!!

Mom- You can serve yourself today Carter.



Today when Carter came home from school:

Carter-Dad can you play with me?

Dad- Carter, I am working right now.

Carter- Oh, so you don't want to plan your precious children when they come home?!!!





Carter- I have a little problem.

Mom- What is your problem Carter

Carter- I have a little problem with toots/

Mom- What?!

Cater-I have a little problem with farts, I do it too much, you can just call me the fart machine.

Mom- Sounds like a personal problem Carter.



These are just a few conversations from the last day, the boy cracks be up!!

Christmas Eve 2008

We spend Christmas eve with my family. All of my siblings and their families converge on my parents house and we eat dinner and open presents. The boys always look forward to this night and we all love spending time together. We tried to get a picture with all the cousins together, this is always a challenge. My favorite pictures of the night are when Carter called his cousin Athena a wierdo in this picture .....and then this is the next picture, priceless. Everyone got to open their gifts from each other and then play, play, play!! And of course the angle baby's first Christmas Eve, he is at such a fun age and loved playing with all the new things.

I am so grateful for my family and I am grateful that we are all here in Colorado and get to spend time together. I am grateful for the love that my children feel from their family and that they get to spend time with their Grandparents and uncles, and aunts. We all had a wonderful time!

Christmas Craft Day

We had a Christmas craft day the Monday before Christmas. My mom, sister Cristina, and sisters-in-law Brynn and Melissa came over and we made Christmas treats. Lots of chocolate, candy, pretzels, and cookies. The kids all decorated sugar cookies it was fun to just set them free with all the sugar their little hearts desired. We ended up with some pretty loaded cookies. The cookie with 8 chocolate kisses in the front was made especially for Brynn by my niece Athena :)!!! Yummy!!! Then we all enjoyed some delicious Tortilla Cheese soup!

I am still finding cookie sprinkles in my kitchen:) We all had a good time and it was nice to spend some relaxing family time together.

Breathless!!

The little boys are back to school and I am trying to salvage the routine of my life and get the house back in shape. We had a crazy, wonderful, happy, busy two weeks. A brief recap:
*Christmas Craft/Treat Day with Mom, sister, sister-in-laws, and 7 kids
*Christmas Eve with Robles family
*Christmas day at our house
*Jenny Mitchell wedding/reception
*12 year wedding anniversary
*Late night trip to the emergency room to remove un-chewed piece of steak from Brian's throat
(this happened the night before we were supposed to leave for Utah at 5 am)
*Late start to Utah trip because of 2am return from ER
*Quick stop at Walmart to pick up windshield washer fluid before starting long drive to UT
*Van dying in Walmart parking lot and being towed to van DR
*Van Dr declaring mini-van is dead
*Postponing UT trip to buy new van (yeah!!)
*Finally leaving for UT and driving through night to arrive at 2am
*Playing, playing, playing with family in UT for 5 days (so needed)
*Arriving home exhausted but happy
So we are happy and tired and glad that we survived 2008 and are looking forward to a calm, boring 2009. I can always hope!!:)

ALL the Stockings Were Hung......

We are ready for Christmas, FINALLY!!!

The little boys are very excited to go to Grandma Rosie's tonight. Carter cannot wait to see what Santa brings his since all he asked for was a big bag of toys. This year the boys are getting four gifts each, something they want, something they need, something they read, and something to wear. Christmas shopping can be a little over whelming with these boys. They have all the boy toys they could possibly want so finding something that is thoughtful and that will not be in the goodwill box in 6 months is a little challenging. Even with them each just getting 4 things that is 20 gifts I have to come up with, but I am ready and think I did a pretty good job. These little white wreaths were my project this year and were super easy. I got the idea from one of my favorite blogs:

Nesting Place.

Just two super cheap straw wreaths, furry fabric, and a glue gun. This is one of those projects that I love because it is almost impossible to mess it up. They turned out very cute and I think I will keep them up all winter.

The little boys stockings are hung.

I am too cheap to buy Logan a stocking until after Christmas because the one I want for him is too expensive for me to pay full price. Preston was feeling bad that Logan did not have a stocking so he took matters into his own hands and made Logan a stocking. Logan is lucky to have all these brothers to look out for him:)Of course we are trying to remember the true meaning of Christmas and keep the birth of our Savior in the front of our minds. We hope that all of you have a wonderful Christmas and enjoy spending time with those you love.

Merry Christmas!!!

Logan's 8 Months Old

Logan is 8 months old today!!!

Can we believe it, NO!! As I have said before, I am not ready for this little boy to grow up, but the wheels of time keep turning so I just enjoy every moment I have with him. He is growing like crazy and at last check he was 29 inches long and 17 lbs. He is still so tall and is now above the 100th percentile so he is officially off the charts for height. He loves to scoot around the house and try to climb the stairs. Now we are constantly watching him because he has also tried to go down the stairs by himself a couple of times. OUCH!! Logan loves to play under the bench with the basket of fake apples. It is funny because sometimes we can't find Logan and he is always under the bench. You can also see his two new teeth in this picture. Lots of drool went into getting those babies threw!!!Sometimes we bonk our head on the bench because we try to stand up under there.More under the bench pictures.Logan's second home. Aidan loved those apples when he was a baby too. Once a bunch of those apples went missing and I could not find them anywhere. Brian found them one day when he was packing his lunch for work. Aidan had put them in the fruit drawer in the fridge:)!! We tried to get Logan to smile but these days Logan's thumb spends most of its time in his mouth exercising those new teeth. Logan bit his own finger the other day and was a little upset that it actually hurt when he bit that finger with those sharp little baby teeth.

Of course he is still my little angle baby and is so fun to play with every day. His brothers still think he is the greatest thing and do fight over who gets to hold him. We also have to hold the brothers off every morning because Logan likes to sleep in we have to keep them out of his room and tell them they cannot go get him until he is actually awake! But even if they do wake him up he is happy as can be. Logan is also learning to love his food. We had a little bit of a rough go with Logan when we introduced cereal and thought he might have some food allergies like Austin did but all testing showed that he was free of allergies. Just has a sensitive digestive system and eczema not related to allergies just dry skin from our lovely Colorado climate. I can't wait to see what the next months bring and will probably cry when he turns one! Oh the joys!!!!

Sweet Insight!!

Little Carter the insightful old man came up to me today and said:

Carter: Mom I told you Jesus could be in other peoples heart.

Mom: Why do you say that Carter?

Carter: Because I heard the Gloria song (Angles We Have Heard On High) at the doctor's office.

Yes, sweet Carter, Jesus is in other peoples heart!! It's the most wonderful time of the year!!

Angles We Have Heard On High is the little boys favorite Christmas song. I think it is their favorite song all year long. We sing it every family night and the boys know all the words to the first verse by heart. I love to hear their sweet little voices singing "Gloria" all year round, a little bit of Christmas cheer for me all year long!!

Wogan!!!

Wogan or Wogan boy is what Aidan likes to call little Logan. I just have to post a little about this baby. He is almost 8 months old and that is making me very sad because I want him to stay a little baby forever (of course getting potty trained) but still staying my little sweet baby who just melts my heart. Logan has decided that he can scoot around the house and that is all he wants to do. He gets up on his hands a knees to crawl and then plops down to scoot. Logan is still not sitting up but he thinks he can climb the stairs. All of these things have come as quite a surprise to me and are happening a little too fast! I also find him pulling himself up on things and standing and playing. He thinks that he is a big boy and wants to go where ever his brothers are. Oh please, please stop growing up so fast!!!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!!!!

I know you think I mean Christmas (which I do love), but what I really mean is BASKETBALL SEASON.As in little boys basketball. Austin and Preston are playing basketball this winter so Brian is coaching both of their teams. This works out well because Brian sets up practice times so their practices don't overlap and since he is the coach of both teams their games don't overlap either. But best of all Wednesday night is practice night, so Brian, Austin, Preston, and the special assistant coach Carter left at 5:45 and won't be back until 9:00!! It is 6:30 and dinner is done I am watching Entertainment Tonight and playing on the computer.
What are the two little boys doing?

That's right they are asleep!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(this is not an illusion:)

Give the little boys a few minutes of quiet away from the big boys and they are asleep for the night. I have hours of freedom and it is not even 8:00 yet. I have received this little gift every Wednesday for the last 3 weeks, ever since basketball practice started and I have enjoyed it so much!! Brian even gets the 3 big boys in bed when he gets home. What is a girl to do but enjoy all the shows I NEVER get to watch and eat some of the hidden chocolate stash.

Happy Holidays!!!!

Preston the Pride Award Winner

A few weeks ago Preston got a PRIDE award at school. This was a very big deal because there is only one Pride award winner per class per month so Preston was very excited. A Pride award winner is someone who is Positive Respectful Inclusive Dedicated and Excellent.

Preston is kind of a superstar student, I know my opinion is biased but this kid really does shine. At his teacher conference his teacher was literally gushing about what a good student and friend this little boy is.

He has always been very intelligent, when he was about 9 months old he was crawling around the house with one sock on and I casually said to him "Baby, where is your sock?" he looked at me and crawled away, a few minutes later he showed up by my side with his sock in his little baby hand. I know it is crazy but his genius was already showing:) Once again biased mother speaking here.

But what really makes me and his teacher proud is how sweet and compassionate Preston is. There are a few special needs kids in Preston's class and one little girl named Lily is Preston's special friend. He talks about Lily every day and makes pictures for her. He goes out of his way to play with her at recess every day and sometimes when Lily has to go to Special Ed during recess Preston gladly gives up his recess to go play games in Special Ed with Lily. He brings little toys to school for Lily to play with and he tells me that he does not even mind when Lily gets a little drool on them. I knew he was friends with Lily but when his teacher told me the full extent of his devotion to Lily it brought a little tear to my eye.

It made me remember what a sweet little soul Preston is and how grateful I am to have him in my life. He has always been my Mama's boy, and that is OK with me, but sometimes I think I take my children for granted. I live with this little boy everyday and sometimes forget what an extraordinary spirit he has. Well done Preston, Well done!!!