I need HELP!!!

You know how they say you loose brain cells with every pregnancy? Ok, well after 4 kids my brain cell count is fairly low...AND IT SHOWS! I need some serious help coordinating everybodys schedules. I am forgetting things left and right. The worst part...I forget about things just a few hours before they need to happen. For example....
one morning, only a few weeks ago, at the bus stop...
Summer: Hey Lyndi we doing dance today?
Lyndi: I think we probably should
Summer: OK

a few hours later...knock, knock
Summer: (answers door) Hey Lyndi what's up?
Lyndi: um....dance?
Summer: Oh My Goodness...I totally forgot (yup totally forgot) give me 30 seconds and I will get Haylee's shoes and she can go like she is!

Fast forward to last week.....
I got a phone call Friday night from Ethan's Baseball Coach's Wife (who happens to also be my friend Tiff) and she informs me that the next morning Ethan has a practice at 9:30 am. I thought, "Great that will be perfect! Andy can drop him off on his way to work and then I will pick him up an hour later"
Next Morning.....get up a little earlier then usual because Averys not tired. We work on Saturday morning chores. I get a phone call from Ethan's friends mom and she asks me what we had going this morning? I told her not a whole lot just laundry and cleaning bathrooms, you know the usual Saturday morning stuff. And she says,"oh, I just assumed you had something big going this morning since Ethan didn't show to practice!" That's right, 1st practice for the season and I made him miss it:( He was sad. OOPS

and now today.... it's the last day of school, my little sister had her graduation, and Haylee had her BIG dance practice for her concert next week and...can you guess it?....I forgot about dance! I remembered as I was putting the last load of laundry into the dryer (at 10:30 pm). I am seriously in need of some help. It is not that my kids are over scheduled...I think I am just over scheduled! 3 Kids, 1 Husband, 3000 sq. ft. home, dance lessons, soccer practices, baseball practices, laundry, budgeting, cooking, gardening, achievement days, room mom, changing diapers, running errands...YOU GET THE POINT! I need a better system to keep it all straight. If you have any miracle ideas that work for you, could you please pass them along, because I think my kids are loosing faith in me as a parent every time I tell them, "I forgot!" Thanks for the help...

~8 is Great!~

Today is our 8 year anniversary! Hooray we made it to 8!

Here are a list of what we have done in our 8 years together...
~Got married May 27th 2000

~moved into our 1st home (basement apartment) in Orem

~Andy got a job for Evco House of Hose (I know...lol)

~had a son Ethan Andrew, July 23rd 2000

~Andy takes a 2nd job so I can stay home with Ethan. He delivers pizzas at night:(

~Get sealed in the Mount Timpanogos Temple, June 2nd 2001

~had a baby girl Haylee Nicole, March 2nd 2002

~started working for PMI, May 2003

~moved to our condo in AF, Sept 2004

~bought a home in PG March 2005

~had another son Aiden Rex, June 12th 2006

~had a memorial for Aiden, June 17th 2006

~went to Disneyland in May of 2007 (kids didn't want me to forget that!)

~had another girl Avery Gwen, August 7th 2007

~And there was lots and lots in between all of that...

We are still living in PG...loving life...we love being parents... and being married...

HERE'S TO ANOTHER 8 GREAT YEARS!

Andy~ It really has been a great 8 years with you! I can't think of anyone else I would want to go through life with. You have always been there for me and supported me through everything! You are truly one of my BIGGEST blessings! I hope you know how much I love you...

Happy Anniversary Babe!

I will remember you!!!

Memorial Day....first we headed to my sister Nicole's grave. I always look forward to visiting her grave every year. When I was growing up visiting her was exciting...I am close to all my sisters and it is exciting to think there will be one more sister to "clash" with:) I am so excited to eventually have a BIG sister in my life!

Aunt Ally and Avery at Nicole's grave.
Haylee is proud to carry on her Aunt's name! The kids love looking at all the baby graves at Provo Cemetery. Haylee walked around pointing out all the headstones with pictures on them. She told Aunt Ally...and I quote, "there is a lamb buried here!" as she pointed to a sweet babies grave with a lamb on the headstone. She is so funny! Then we headed to my precious baby's burial site. When we arrived this is what we found.....
I was happy to find the flowers I left there on Mother's Day were still there and alive, and Aiden had a few other visitors earlier that day that left us surprises, that warmed my heart! Thanks to all my family that continually supports us through this trial, We love and appreciate you all!
The flowers and pinwheel weren't enough for Ethan and Haylee! My kids always head for the trees to gather acorns to decorate the grave with! They also like to gather sticks and other misc. items they can find around the cemetery ( and no we never take from other graves:) )

My parents and my sisters came to show how much they love and miss my baby...I could never have moved on with life without their support!
Daddy and Avery snuggled as we thought about how crazy life would be if we still had our sweet Aiden!!! We really miss him and wish he was still here.
Ethan and Haylee searched and searched for as many acorns as they could hold.

After they thought they had enough they decorated the grave with them...
Jack and Aiden would have been best buds...Ethan and Haylee love Jack so much, we love having a cousin on the Shippen side

The finished product...

Aunt Avery is learning to love Uncle Luke...she is coming around;)
Our whole family
We think the cemetery we picked is beautiful, especially on Memorial weekend with all the flowers
After Aiden's we went to Gammi and Papa's Grave. We weren't the 1st ones there either. We brought the orange mums to add to all the other beautiful flowers. We miss you Gammi and Papa. I wish my kids got to know you better!
We had a great day visiting all those that left us behind. I know that someday we will see them again, and I can't wait! I can't wait to hug my sister, and gossip about all the other sisters. I can't wait to hold my sweet baby boy in my arms and sing to him, rock him, and kiss his sweet little cheeks! I can't wait to see him smile or hear him laugh! I can't wait to hear his 1st words, or see his first steps, and I especially can't wait to have him in our home with us forever! It kills me a little bit each time I have to leave him at the cemetery! I love you Aiden Rex! I can't wait until my kids and I get to spend time with Andy's Grandparents, and really get to know them.

We will always remember those who left before us....

Best Birthday EVER!!!

Every women dreams of those few days a year when they are pampered (Mother's day, Anniversary, Birthday!) and like most of you I usually set my expectations a little high (or way high) thinking that everyone around me (aka my hubby) will just want to run ragged all day just to please me! He usually does a pretty good job of trying to meet those expectations....but this year he went above and BEYOND!!!! My Birthday actually started early this year. We met for lunch yesterday where he showed up with this....

a NEW PHONE! This will be the first phone I have ever bought that did not just come free when you sign a contract. I love it! It does so many cool things. The kids even recorded Happy Birthday on it so when my phone rang today it was my kids singing to me:) The next big surprise....he told me he took work off this morning so he could take me to brunch! I love breakfast foods, but don't eat them that often...because I usually don't find the time to cook in the morning. Fast Forward....to today, get up...get the kids ready (I only had to yell once and then pull the "it's my Birthday" card and everybody got ready fast) Kiss the kids goodbye...send them out the door to the bus and the next thing I know they come back in holding this...
Andy told me they were sold out and he couldn't find one anywhere...and I believed him! I was truly surprised! The kids were so excited to give it to me....that is always the best when they are excited over giving someone something! We played on it this afternoon and IT ROCKS!!! It really is fun and quite the workout. I will post a Wii Fit video of how hilarious it is to play. Next, Andy bathes, dresses, and watches Avery while I shower and WASH my hair...always a good day when I get to shower without interruptions:) Then he took me to...
for brunch. I ordered a mozzarella and avocado omelet, with a tall glass of OJ...it was so Yummy! Sam and Luke came with us and we had a great time(it is so fun to have them home!!! We really miss them when they are gone:( ) Then we went to the movies. I've wanted to see 21 for a while now and it was at the Dollar Movies (SCORE...fun and cheap!!!) They had free popcorn today too...wish the guy working wasn't so busy, so that he could get us some. In fact he was so busy that he made us late for our movie because he wouldn't take our money so we could get a ticket. We were the only ones there...the theater was empty!! Obviously there is more to running a theater then selling tickets to the movies;) Despite a few setbacks we had fun and I liked the movie ( I have funny pictures from the theater but they are on my phone I will figure out eventually how to post them)

After the movie was over we ran to Barnes and Noble and Andy got me this...

So excited to read it! Then we headed back to Grandma Kathy's house to pick up the girls. Grandma Kathy, Great Grandma Shippen, Haylee, and Avery went to McDonald's for lunch and then back to Grandma Kathy's to play. They had a lot of fun (Thanks MOM for babysitting...I love you) I took the girls home, and Andy headed to work (somebody has to pay for all my gifts!) and me and the girls cleaned the kitchen and rotated the laundry (I know it doesn't stop even on your birthday) Then Ethan came home and we had all these plans to go to Pudding on the Rice, and then to the Disney Store together, but Avery fell asleep and took a nice long nap...and anyone who knows Avery knows you don't wake the princess when she's sleeping! SO, we stayed home and played games together instead. We played Sorry for a while but it was taking forever and the kids were getting bored, so we watched Cartoons (they watched cartoons...and snuggled with me while took a quick nap) then we played a couple songs on Guitar Hero together. Soon after that Avery Loo woke up and we headed to my mom's for dinner. She got KFC for birthday (nothing like fried ckn, mashed potatoes, and coleslaw on your b-day...I liked it!!) and Sammy made us a chocolate pudding cake ( thanks Sam ) ! It was a great Birthday...one for the books:) Thanks Andy, Ethan, Haylee, and Avery for loving me so much and being so great on "my Birthday" and thanks to my family who does so much for me and loves me too! I love you too!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME....(at least for 1 more hour)

9 Months

When I woke up this morning....

I was SHOCKED to find out it was 9 month Birthday!
Then I got so EXCITED for my big day...
I had to make sure my hair looked good.....
and then it was off to the Dr. I went!

I weigh 15 lbs. 4.5 oz. I am in the 2%....Hooray for being on the charts! I am happy and healthy and life is good....how could not be with those baby blues and golden locks?

Happy 3/4 Birthday my sweet baby girl:)

Pay it Forward!

This is a fun little thing called PAY IT FORWARD!!! Here is what you do the first 3 people who comment to this post will recieve a homeade gift from yours truly (within in a month). Then you have to do the same! Post it on your blog, a make a homeade gift for the first 3 people who comment!! Let's keep Payin' it forward:)

Happy Cinco de Mayo

We had a fun Cinco De Mayo with the Mac's tonight! We met G-ma and G-pa Mac for dinner in Midvale at El Farol. They had a mariachi band that the kids loved dancing to!

They had fun playing with Grandma
They got paper sombreros they could color.

Happy 5th of May:)

Breanne I didn't forget!!!

Ok so people keep tagging me and thus far I haven't been a very helpful participant. Life just got busy and then I just started posting things I wanted to remember (this is my "scrapbook" for my kids) Anyways I am catching up so I got this tag just a few days after the purse tag (way back in Feb).

1. 10 years ago I was.......just finishing my sophomore year of High School, still not old enough to drive (my b-day is the end of May), just a few months away from meeting the man I was going to marry, and having so much fun with my friends (you know who you are!)

2. 5 things on my to do list....... 1. finish dinner dishes 2. rotate laundry (everyone needs clean church clothes) 3. box up kids clothes that are out of season or no longer fit 4. finish paying May bills (only two more to pay YEAH!!!) 5. Look online for great deals on cruises or Disneyland trips we could take with my family this summer.

3. Thing I enjoy.......Spending time with my Husband, My kids LAUGHING and being silly, a giant Diet Coke with fresh lemon and lime and pebble ice, TV shows (Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy, Smallville, Lost, Office), talking, BLOGGING (and blog stalking), Amusement Parks (when not pregnant), bowling, I could keep going but I am afraid you would stop reading.......

4. What would I do if I were a Billionaire....Pay someone to do my To-Do-List, Hire a nanny (not someone that takes care of my kids for me but someone that would just follow us everywhere and help out...3 kids is a handful), travel with my family, fly to see Sam all the time (sometimes just for an afternoon), I would set up HUGE saving accounts for all my kids, and their kids, and their kids!

5. 3 bad habits....Yelling (I come from a loud fam, Andy is trying really hard to get me to stop this) Stress eating (it's major diet time if their is a cruise I'm my near future!!!!) and telling my kids just one more min and then never getting to it ( that is the worst one )

6. Places I've lived......Pleasant Grove, Utah; Tuscon, Arizona; Orem, Orem, and again Orem, Utah; American Fork, Utah; and finally Pleasant Grove, Utah (not that exciting, I know, but I have liked it here!)

7. 5 jobs I've had.......Dental Assistant, Dairy Queen, Silver Loft, and currently working as a maid, cook, chauffeur, nurse, teacher...I am sure you've guessed it...I'm a MOM!!! and loving it!

8. 5 things people don't know about me.........I am a lot younger then most people think, I use to play the piano and the flute ( but not very well and not for audiences) I can still get a few tunes out on the piano but the flute skills for the most part are gone:( , I got married the day after I graduated, if you see an upside down cup in my house be careful there is probably a spider under it! I don't like Spiders and I don't like the crunch they make when you kill them, I put a cup over them leave it for a couple of days and then vacuum them up! ( Andy will usually kill the spider if he sees the upside down cup),

9. People I am tagging.....all my blogging buddies in the Orchard Ward....you know who you are..... come on do it:)

Jesse I didn't forget!!!

Jessica Purse tagged me way back in FEBRUARY! I took the picture only a couple of days after she tagged me and then I got busy and never posted. So, after a few months of waiting HERE IT IS! Here is what I carry with me almost on a daily basis. My purse/diaper bag still looks pretty similar, except I am now carrying extra outfits, and snacks for Avery!

Ok so now it's your turn to show me what you've got! I am tagging all you Shippen girls (including all you girls that are married to a Shippen)!