Here is Aus on his first day of preschool. I'm pretty sure he will be the class clown... oh boy! He really enjoyed it though. I heard all day (and still do) about all they did and all they got to sing and so on....This is the best I could get out of him. There was a finger print on the lens which I didn't realize so now I feel bad about that. I still think he is cute though. He was peeking around his teacher Mrs. Erin, they were supposed to wait until their names were called. Of course he is making faces. Silly silly boy!It was cold here today so I wanted to build a fire. This is what I found when I lifted up a piece of wood. Pretty sure I screamed!!!!!! I hate anything that is creepy and crawly. EW! Anyhow our cat Sami came to the rescue when she heard it making its squeaking noise. She disposed of it quickly. The boys just wanted to touch it and pet it. Austin couldn't help but pick it up at least with a stick. "I'm not touching it mom" was his reply. Why are boys so curious? Why? Even Tj wanted in on the action. I do still have some hope though. There is a possibility that this baby that is growing in my belly will be a girl... Maybe then I will get someone to side with me and say 'ew that's disgusting' every once in a while. Rather than 'hey let me see that!' oh brother! er I mean Sister :)

Yep if you haven't heard already we are expecting baby number three! Wish us luck and pray for a girl. Pretty please?

Summer Fun!

We have been busy around here this summer. There are so many pictures and stories to tell, I could never put it all into one post. I will do my best to give you a good peek on what we have been doing lately!

We went to a District picnic and Andrew was the star of the night :) at least I think so. He was unbeatable in the stick pulling contest!

Here he is with Travis. Look at how that kid is flying over andrews head! That was so funny!! Good times!

Here is the slip n slide they had for the kids. At the bottom there is a bunch of mud. It was so much fun though.

camden went down once and got malled by a big kid, he wanted to go down again but was too scared.

uhg. i forgot to rotate all the pics! anyhow this is aussie with all the dirt and grass on him. He had a ball!

Muddy face :)

Having a blast!

BOYS!!!!! nuff said!

Here is Camden with one of the many messes he gets into. He is always getting into something! Such a messy little boy! If you look in the background you can see Austins legs. They are black!!! He was so dirty too!

Just call him Cam-gelina!!! ;) Doodah seriously cuts his lip open once a week! It always bleeds like crazy. This was a really bad week. He cut it open three times in two days! I always tell Andrew that the reason I never get anything done is because I am always saving this kids life! It's so true!


This is a little friend of camdens. It's a TICK! I had to pull it out with tweezers and it did not want to let go. it was hanging on so tight that it pulled his skin up about an inch before it let go. ouch!

Don't be fooled. Aussie is always getting into as much trouble as Camden. He is just learning how to be more sneaky about it. He does stuff and then comes and tells me but ends it with saying "but i was hiding mom, so you couldn't see me. don't get mad ok?" I could go on and on about all the funny witty things he says. that kid is smart and quick on his feet! The boys got into mud and finger paint in the picture below. I think that Camden's shirt says it all. "I like monsters mud and mess!" I just cant figure out why in the world they made it a WHITE shirt!!! Don't these people know anything about boys? lol

Hotties, Houses, Smarty-backwards pants and Nakies!!

We have been working on the house for the past month or so. It has taken so long to finish though. Now we are drywalling. Luckily we have had so many people come and help. Gotta love small town communities eh?


The best part of it all is that I get to use power tools. I love LOVE using the screw gun and the saw. I haven't been able to use them as much as I would like because we have people there to help every day and want them to have what they need to use to do whatever it is they are working on. Once they don't need it I find what I can do to use the power tools. :D


This is a pic of Andrew up in the rafters putting up the canned lights. He is upstairs in the boys rooms. It has been a lot of fun doing this by ourselves (well mostly Andrew but I do what I can) I have learned so much from it. I can't wait until the house is finished. It will be so nice to go from a single wide trailer to a nice house that has been built right!



Here is a pic of Aussie this morning AFTER he had already had breakfast. I heard something falling out and being smashed. I came in to find out what he had done when he looked up at me and said. "Mom. The letter of the day is A... like Aussie) How can I get mad at the box of cereal dumped out when he was so creative in


doing so? I just laughed and told him to wait so I could grab my phone. This was the best smile I could get out of him. He is in that phase where he scrunches his noes and squints his eyes when asked to smile. So the fact that his eyes are open is a big deal... I guess we just get the opened mouth with it. lol!

It's official. Doodah is potty training. Somebody help me!! He wants to be a big boy like his older brother and wear undies, so we are in the process of potty training. This next shot is a typical morning here at the Shick home. Aussie is 100% independent when it comes to going to the bathroom. That means he puts his own undies and pants back on when he is done. He doesn't care if they are backwards or not :)

Camden has been waking up with a dry diaper most mornings so he runs around nakey until he goes potty in the toilet. Here they are leaving the bathroom. Aus is pushing a tractor, back-wards pants and all. While Doodah toddles along waiting his turn to push. Ahhh how I love my life! These boys make me laugh!! Oh and I totally love my big boy too!! I think he is hot stuff! ;) Why do you think these two are so adorable?

The Next Best Thing....

Here is our most recent Family picture. Okaye its not really formal one but it is the next best thing right? :)

We were at the DMV waiting to get our PA licenses which is in the mall... go figure. Anyhow while we were waiting our turn they had a Polaroid photo booth. We decided it would be fun to cram into it and take some pics.

I'm probably going to get into some trouble for posting the picture of Andrew doing his "monkey face" along with the boys, but I figured I would just ask for forgiveness because I know darn well I'm not going to get permission!! ;) It is a funny pic though!

Oh, and it is a picture of a picture. You can see my thumb while holding it. I suppose I could get a better one but I am not going to take another one hee hee.

It's ALL my Fault!!

This morning I was getting ready when Aussie came in to me and said "Mommy you look so pretty, and its all my fault... AGAIN!!" Um, thanks sweetheart... I have no idea what that was all about but it made me laugh.

Freezing our buns off in PA!

It has been so dang cold here. Yesterday we saw a high of 26!! I felt like wearing shorts and a T-shirt :) For the past week or so it has been around -5 to 5 degrees during the afternoon. Talk about cold! We have to layer up our clothes like crazy! The other day I took the boys beanies off to find this

Doesn't he look like a little punk kid? I love it! And yes. I have succumbed to "mormon motherhood traditions" ;) and purchased a van. The worst part of it all? I actually like having it! Whodathunk?

Here is Camden with his punk hair. Pretty funny eh?

Pennsylvania!

We made it to Pennsylvania finally. I drove out with the boys the Monday before Thanksgiving and Andrew got here 5 days before Christmas. THat is the longest we have gone without seeing eachother. It was hard.

Things are going well now. We are just trying to settle into PA life and our new callings. We love this little branch. We love our callings as well ;)

Austin is doing well. He loves all the tractors out here and loves being close to his Grandma Sue and Grandpa Gary. He also loves living with TJ and Sami again (our dog and cat) He has also grown so much since we have left Utah. He turned 3 on 4 Sept. and is already wearing mostly 4T clothes. That kid is TALL!

Camden is getting taller also. He talks like crazy though. He is only 20 months old and speaks as well as a 3 year old. I am blown away every day at how much more he learns and the words he uses. He is a very smart little boy. He is already wanting to potty train. He uses the toilet when mommy lets him but Im just not ready for him to be potty trained yet... or maybe im not ready to potty train him :) either way he is more ready than I am.

I love being in the mission field again. I love it!! I miss my family like crazy but it is so good to be able to feed the missionaries as much as I want. In Utah we only fed the missionaries 3 times in 3 years. I also have more opportunities to work with the missionaries and help them teach people here. Its a little harder because they have to have another female go with me but the opportunity presents itself much more often. I love love love being in Young Womens. We have a pretty big group for a branch. We have about 9 Young Women! They are a crazy bunch.

Andrew is also adjusting well out here. He is in the Elders Quarum and enjoys his calling. He gets really excited to go and cut wood down in the woods behind the house. He has been taking us sledding out on the property too. The boys love that. They cant seem to go fast enough. He pulls us beind the tractor, 4- wheeler and even the truck. Gotta love the country life.

Overall we are very happy and love spending time together. We had a wonderful Christmas ( which by the way put me in my "late twenties" but whatever. Age ain't nothin but a number. Right?) We have had a lot of family get-togethers and gotten to know family we didn't really know before we moved here.

And ofcourse they wouldn't be my boys if they weren't getting into trouble. Here they are splashing in the tub and the next one is when they got caught. I'm glad they have eachother!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KIRA!!!

Kira is now 26! I can't believe my little sister is 26. Even though I'm older that still seems so old. Today we went shopping and got her a really REALLY cute pair of jeans. Truth be told, I wanted them for myself ;) But I was selfless and got them for her. I love how we are best friends. We can talk about anything. Here are 26 things about my sis

1.Kira is very humble
2. She is my best friend (next to my superman hubby of course) and we can talk about anything
3. She is such a beautiful person inside and out.
4. Kira is so self concious of her birthmark it is crazy. She thinks its ugly. She is BEAUTIFUL!!
5. She works in the presidents office at UVU and gets hooked up with all kinds of stuff.
6. Some of her nicknames are kabiisa, gogo, goge, lynners, kirsther and Tommy calls her keed.
7. If you tickle her under her neck she will laugh so hard she drools. **ya gotta try it sometime!
8. Kira is a straight A student in college. She has gotten a 4.0 nearly her whole college carreer!
9. She served a mission to the Louisville Kentucky Mission and was an AWESOME missionary!
10. When she was 13 she pierced her own belly button with a safety pin and ice!
11. When we were in college toghether people would always ask us if we were twins. We got so sick of people asking and then not believing us that we just said we were to save time.
12. Kira knows American Sign Language fluently.
13. Kira is one smart cookie!
14. She has never really cooked much until she got married. Now she makes dinner most every night and it is some dang good food! She's a natural.
15. She can wiggle her eyes really really fast! Its freaky
16. She has only had 3 jobs really. First at Shoneys Restaurant as a salad bar attendant. Second at a telemarketing place, which she worked at for 2 years! and now the one she is currently at. She has been there for a long time before and after her mission.
17. Kira is a really good listener and good at communication.
18. She has been trying to grow her hair out for her husband and its getting so long!
19. She can get soooooooooooooo competitive.
20. She is one awesome Auntie. My boys absolutely adore her.
21. Kira reads her scriptures every single day!
22. She is a very organized person.
23. Kira is one of those people that are good at everything they do
24. She is full of love for other people.
25. She is happy all of the time. She is so positive!
26. She now has a really cute pair of jeans :)

Hope you had a great day kira!

What We's been up to...

Since my last post we have been homeless... in a sense. I'll back up a bit... The boys and I flew out to Utah to visit Andrew while he was closing up shop (literally, he is moving everything out of the shop) We figured we were only going to be here for a week and then all drive back to PA. WRONG! We got an offer on our house. Fabulous! So we stayed in Utah so we could be there to sign at the closing. Well the city we live in had a certificate of non-compliance on our house, so we couldn't sell it until we satisfied it. They said our back deck wasn't in compliance with city ordinance. So we started fixing up stupid things like put stain on the bottom of the deck, dig the footers from 16 inches deep to 31 inches deep (which actually isn't very smart because it made the ground unsettled again so the deck is going to move with the frost and heat) and a ton of other random stuff that honestly didn't make any sense and cost us way more money than we wanted to put into it. Oh, and did I mention that we already had the city inspect it a year and a half ago? The guy that came didn't fill out the paper properly so it "didn't count" or something like that. We were so annoyed. I think the guy that did all the inspections was just on a power trip because he had us do the most insignificant things. Its fine I'm over it now. We passed.

We had a date set up to close on the house once we got the city out of our hair. We got a call the morning of from the realtor informing us that the bank they were going to borrow from ran out of money. GREAT! The buyers really wanted to get the house but needed a special program for down payment assistance which is no longer offered. We thought it was over but they came back to us and told us that they talked to some family members and borrowed enough for a down payment. Now we are patiently waiting for their papers to go through a new lender. We think we'll close on Tuesday but I'm not crossing my fingers. I will be happy if it happens though :)

In the mean time, we are still in Utah we were staying in a hotel which was very expensive. We knew we had to put an end to that and checked out our options. My husband being the major deal maker that he is found us a cheap yet nice motor home on KSL so that is what we are staying in for the time being. It gets crazy but the boys love all the dirt and rocks they get to throw. We have the motor home parked at the shop so we can be with Andrew all day!

What Andrew has been up to in short... very short.... He has this thing for fixing up wrecked semi's you know the big diesel semi trucks. Well anyhow a year ago he bought them to work on over the winter while the construction industry is slow. His plan was to rebuild them and sell them. So he has a guy that wants to buy two of them but only has time to build one before we need to be back in PA. So he is rushing to get that finished before we head back. He will have to make one more trip out after this next one to get the rest of the shop stuff and then he can get it all set up in the shop back in PA.

Aus and Cam have been having fun seeing family and playing with friends. Camden got his first stitched too. When we were at the hotel he was on the bed and rolled off next to the night stand and landed on the bottom corner of the night stand (it was a funky design the bottom of it stuck out more than the top and had a very sharp corner) that slit his head open and he was bleeding like crazy. We took him to the hospital where he had to get 6 stitches in his head. He cried when they were numbing him up but slept through all the "sewing" He just laid on Daddy's chest and slept it was cute.
Since I don't have my camera with me I have very few photos of the last month (along with very little of everything. I flew out here for one week! For the love!!! Good thing I can get creative lol) I do however, have some of Cam's stitches and a few others.



Camden's cute face before...

and this is while we were waiting in the ER
.
sleeping with daddy

And the finished product. It didn't leave too bad of a scar. I even took out the stitches myself. Wasn't hard at all. He is doing fine now and has even managed to have a few close call repeat trips. Boys will be boys!