The Leishman Family

I Pad GIVEAWAY/ Fund Raiser

2011-01-26T16:18:00.004-07:00

You know this has got to be good, after 2 years of blog retirement, i am breaking back into the blogging world! My brother Kris and his wife Kecia are adopting this sweet girl from an orphanage in Eastern Europe and we are wanting to help raise money for the adoption. Adoptions are very expensive, especially from Eastern Europe and every little bit helps! Read on for all the details, our family appreciates all the love and support given!

I Pad/Fundraiser GIVEAWAY!

We are kicking off our fundraising for Kareen with an iPad giveaway!

iPad Giveaway for KAREEN!

Kareen is a 4 year old little girl with Down syndrome who was given up at birth and has lived in an orphanage in Eastern Europe ever since. In her country a child with special needs is only held in an orphanage until the age of 4 or 5 and is then transferred to an institution where conditions are bleak and offer little hope for living a fulfilling life. Kareen's story has touched our family, and we are committed to bring her home. The cost of international adoption is very high, and we could use your help!

Donate now through Saturday, February 5th, when one lucky person will receive a Brand New 16GB Wi-Fi iPad

For every $10 donated, you will be entered into a drawing for the iPad (i.e. $50 equals 5 entries). Also, if after donating, you advertise this giveaway on your blog or facebook, you will get an additional entry. Simply leave me a comment with your name and the link to your post.

Ways to Donate:

Go to www.kareensjourneyhome.blogspot.com and click the “Chip in “ button
Bring a check or cash by our home. You may email me at keciajcox@msn.com for our address.
Tax deductible donation (must leave me a comment with your name and donation amount to be entered into the giveaway, since this site is kept confidential) http://reecesrainbow.org/sponsorcox

Every dollar helps, and brings us closer to having our little angel home safe.

Thanks for your Support!!!

- Kris & Kecia Cox

***Feel free to grab one of the buttons from our sidebar for your own blogs***

Celine Dion

2009-03-11T10:58:00.005-06:00

We had the best time at the Celine concert, big thanks to Chris who gave us girls tickets last year for Christmas. It was originally scheduled for November then was changed to February, those who turned their tickets back in sure missed out! It was Awesome

Best Weekend!

2009-03-05T15:15:00.003-07:00

We have the best friends from Dental school, they feel more like family to us. Heather and Alex are having twins, so it was a good excuse to get everybody together for a surprise shower! It was so good to see everyone and their kids, it was the best weekend ever!! We love them all very much

Saturday at the Discovery museum

Soccer

2009-02-27T09:10:00.004-07:00

How do you think the season went?

2009-02-26T13:58:00.003-07:00

It's been a long cold winter!

Christmas

2009-01-12T11:18:00.005-07:00

We had a fun and relaxing Christmas this year in our new house, the best part was that for the first time in a few years we had lots and lots of snow Christmas morning!

Snow Days

2009-01-11T21:16:00.002-07:00

The #1 rule before playing in the snow at our house is that you have to go to the bathroom before getting all dressed up. It doesn't matter how many time I try to enforce this rule, after spending 30 minutes getting everyone ready to go out someone always comes right back in to use the bathroom! I hate it! but they love playing in the snow!

Fun Weekend

2008-12-18T09:39:00.004-07:00

Our trip to see the lights at Temple Square got snowed out so instead we just had pizza at our place. Between our friends Spencer & Melinda, Jon & Jenae, our family and Tysen and chris there were 16 kids, and only 4 of them are boys!

Office Christmas Party

2008-12-18T09:28:00.002-07:00

Our office Christmas party was an over night at the Zermatt resort in Midway this year. Who doesn't like games, swimming and Guitar Hero all night? It was lots of fun, Rick and DR. Crawford have the best staff, we love them!

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-28T18:15:00.004-07:00

Our family has lots to be grateful for this year! mostly good family and friends, we love them all and enjoy spending as much time with them as we can!

Happy November birthdays to Rick, Mike, Corbin, and Cutie Pie Adrie! (3 of the 4 share Nov.22 as their special day)

I never gave a birthday shout out to my hubby Rick, I love him to death, and I'm reminded every day just how lucky I am to have him! Rick asked Ellie how old she thought he was , she answered 64. Nice guess, but not for another few years!

This wasn't a contest but lets be honest ours rocks!

Happy Halloween

2008-11-04T13:23:00.007-07:00

Dinner in a Pumpkin started out to be this fun festive idea, I got my recipe straight out of one of my favorite books, the 2004 UOP cookbook, I think the idea is fun however 3 ideas if you ever try it out, first pre cook your hamburger or chicken, second don't double the recipe, third try it out before you have a house full of people to feed!

We ended up having to take the food out of the pumpkin and cook it on the stove

Gardner Village

Milo

2008-10-18T11:54:00.002-06:00

Corbin and Lindey went to Disneyland for the week so we've been watching Milo. The kids love dogs, I've never been much of a fan, so I thought this would be a good test to see how they liked having a dog around. All the kids were big helpers, Madi got up with him every morning after rick took him out. However because I have a slight language problem it might not be a god idea if we get a dog yet, we're in a new neighborhood and we want our neighbors to like us!

Take one guess who he's hiding from? Her name starts and ends with an E

Pumpkin Patch

2008-10-15T14:28:00.002-06:00

I don't know what to say other then we went to the pumpkin patch today with Tysen and the gang, It was a great day for pumpkin picking!

Disneyland

2008-10-09T14:16:00.007-06:00

Yes we went to Disneyland again! The kids don't know but we aren't going to renew our season passes again. looks like we'll be keeping our eyes open for a new kind of family vacation. We've had fun going so often, but I'm willing to bet it won't be as long as we think before we go back.

We flew down early Sunday morning, not planing on going to the park, so we went to the beach, It was cold but the kids had a ball, one thing I found funny was that Andrew won't go far from the steps at my mom and Dad's pool but he had no problem going out in the ocean where the waves were so big he couldn't stay on his feet. As you can imaging this gave my a slight heart attack!

Aunt Kathlee said she couldn't come with us this year, so Rick and I thought it would be fun to surprise her and the whole family and get her a ticket to come. The plan was that she was going to drop us off at the airport but she would have her bag and just stay, it would be so fun, and such a good surprise. Well little by little someone who we won't mention (Grandpa Courtney) ended up spilling the beans so by the time we got to the airport the only ones who didn't know were the kids. They were excited and it ended up being a fun surprise, we were so glad she came!

The new Buzz ride was lots of fun, one of our favorites now!

This was a very exciting trip for Andrew, he is now over 40 inches, that means he can now go on most rides!

Pin Trading, another Leishman family fav.

Birthday Wishes

2008-10-06T14:28:00.004-06:00

September is a huge birthday month for both sides of our family, Andrew turned 4, and Madi turned 10! It's hard to believe everyone is growing up so fast. Andrew is such a little dude loving all things boy and sports related. Madi has such a fun personality, this year has turned out to be a huge challenge for her and I have to say I've never been more proud of someone for trying so hard to overcome their trials. We Love her to death! also happy birthday to Tanner 12, Mckay 9, Blake 17, and Griffin & Crew who just turned 1.

Back to School!

2008-08-28T11:28:00.002-06:00

I'm happy to report that we have survived the first week of school with no tears! this is such a huge improvement from last year, we love our teachers and have tons of friends in each class, we couldn't be happier!

Ellie just started kindergarten Tuesday, and is loving it! Rick was home for lunch the first day so we decided to walk her to school since we only live 1 block away now. Ellie is so ready to be a school, it was hard to be very sad. We got half way home and I turned around to see where Andrew was, he had started walking slow with his head down. I could tell he was sad, so I asked him what was wrong. He burst into tears, I scooped him up and asked if it was because Ellie was going to school? he just put his head on my shoulder and continued to cried, then I started to cry, and I'm not sure but I think it even made Rick cry. It was the sweetest thing in the whole world! I didn't even think how this would effect him, he is loosing his best little buddy. After we got home Rick put a movie on for him and I went up to talk to him. I told him what a nice little brother he is to love Ellie so much, I asked him if when we left her at school it made his heart feel so sad? he responded "my whole inside was sad" isn't he the cutest thing in the whole world! she is so mean to him, and still he loves her. We will miss Ellie for a few hours in the day, but look forward to seeing all three of them come walking around the corner when school is out.

Park City

2008-08-22T21:09:00.003-06:00

Rick had last week off and we were going to go to Bear Lake but it fell through so we just decided to go to Park City, the Kids loved it! they thought we were in a different state witch was funny because we have been to Park City a number of times, but if it passed for a good family vacation then great! We had never been to the Olympic park so we went and saw all the sights and watched the ski jumpers, then went to the Alpine slide and new roller coaster, Ellie said it was the best vacation of her life! We had fun even though we didn't go very far, it was nice to spend time with just our family before we get back into school.

P.H.S. Volleyball

2008-08-14T09:18:00.004-06:00

Mad's is almost ten, she wears a size 4 shoe, and is almost as tall as I am, we're thinking she might be tall! So we thought about trying volleyball. This was a last minute thing we just heard about it a few days before it started, but we're glad she gave it a try because she really liked it!

Family Reunion

2008-08-13T09:02:00.003-06:00

We all decided to go to the Humphries family reunion this year.(Rick's mom's side) Stopping at the traditional Maddox for lunch. This actually is one of the only camp places I enjoy, because there is no dirt! it's all on grass, and there is a swimming pool to cool off in. Some would say it's not considered camping, but for me it's all I need! The kids had a great time, I think we might even go back next year.

We had some sort of visitor in the middle of the night, good thing the food was in the car!

Happy Birthday Mazie

2008-07-22T07:41:00.004-06:00

Mazie turned 7! We asked her what she wanted to do for her birthday, she said "go to dinner at Golden Coral" so we all went. Mazie is such a fun, happy, silly little girl (most of the time) we can't believe she's starting 2nd grade this year!

Mazie has been trying to get her ears pierced for 2 years now. I thought it would be a fun thing to do before she started kindergarten, however she thought different, every time we go she changes her mind, or says next year. After the first attempt she was mad at me for weeks, and had no problem letting everyone know it was because I had taken her to get her ears pierced. Well we were at the mall last week and she had told her aunt she was going to get them done for her birthday, so Jodi and I asked her if she wanted to while the Dad's were playing games in the arcade with the other kids, then it would be a surprise. she got a huge smile on her face and decided this would be the day, so uncle mike covered for us and told Rick we went to the bathroom. After we got there she sat on my lap, Jodi held her hands, and then she changed her mind, we tried everything to make her think of something different, we told her she could pick out 1 then 2 things from the store. People started to gather around to watch, it was quite the scene, but she did it and she didn't even cry. I think I got a little emotional, (you know one of those mom things), I was so proud of her, It may not be a huge thing but she was so nervous, and had wanted to do it for the pat 2 years. When we went back Rick noticed right away, picked her up, gave her a huge hug, and told her how proud he was! She never would have made it without Jodi, thanks for your help!

Happy 4th of July

2008-07-10T08:43:00.005-06:00

We had a great 4th this year, lots of food, family and fireworks! When we were little the Chinese house was our favorite firework, not because it did anything fancy, it was just do darn cool how at the end it would spin around and then pop up, we loved it. A few years ago we were looking for some and a friend of ours who's aunt sells fireworks in Wyoming said they didn't make them anymore, but when Tysen and Chris were in Vegas a while ago they hit a firework store and guess what they found!

We ended up going to the parade, after I got home from the 5k the kids were still in bed but it was a cloudy, perfect day for a parade, so I got them all up (including Rick)

We had a great time at the stadium of fire! other then the fact that the sound system is not that great, for the most part we couldn't understand what she was singing, unless you knew the song, and most of her songs were from her new album set to be released the end of the month. Before the big fireworks even started Ellie and Mazie were ready to go!

They were saleep before we even left the parking lot!

Happy Birthday Ellie!

2008-07-08T22:04:00.002-06:00

Ellie turned 5 May 12th. Within the first two days after her birthday she got her bike taken away about 3 times for riding to far away from Grandma's house, at that point I wondered if a bike was the best choice for her?

Tysen got her the cutest little apron, it matched the one we got for my mom for mothers day, we love to wear aprons at our house, check them out at www.flirtyaprons.com

Ellie is such a spunky, boy crazy little frit! but we love her to death! She keeps us on our toes and all I have to say is I hope her kindergarten teacher next year is ready for her! Hope you had a great Birthday Ellie!

DANCE!

2008-07-07T12:50:00.002-06:00

The girls had a dance recital during the move, 3 days, and 6 performances later we had all the hairspray, glitter, makeup, hot rollers, curling irons and Bobby pins we could take! The girls did great! I was a little worried they might get nervous and decide not to perform. but they danced every show, Ellie surfed like a pro, and Mazie can do a mean car wash! It was so cute to watch them!

The big move!

2008-07-06T21:53:00.002-06:00

I know it's been a month since we moved in and I should have been caught up with my blog by now. Sorry, I have no excuses. Here are a a few pictures of the new house, I'm not a great photographer, so I don't think the pictures do it justice. But we love the house and the neighborhood, and we are so excited to finally be all moved in!

Crazy life!

2008-05-23T14:12:00.002-06:00

Our life has been a little crazy the past month! We came home from our cruise and had only 2 weeks to be out of our house. I don't know if I mentioned it sold, but it was very busy and crazy, and sad all at the same time. We put everything we own into storage and moved into Ricks parents house for the first 2 weeks, last Monday we moved over to my parents house. I have tons of things to blog like mothers day, dance recitals, my triathlon, our move, etc. we found a house and are set to close June 2nd, and as soon as I can get to my computer and put my pictures on it I will continue to blog!

Cruise!

2008-04-29T16:14:00.013-06:00

For Christmas this year Rick surprised me with a cruise to Mexico. It started out with just the two of us, after dinner one night we talked our friends Jill and Corey into going along.
I don't have time to write about all the fun things we did, so enjoy the pictures! Just know that we had so much fun, ate way too much food, danced our little hearts out, visited a tequila factory, snorkeled for the first time ( apparently I have no idea what a jelly fish looks like!) whale watching, celebrated Jill's 30th birthday! and for the last time I am not from Mexico, and I don't speak Spanish, but I wish I did.

The Things We Do For Our Kids

2008-04-06T13:50:00.004-06:00

We found out that Miley Cyrus was going to be at the Stadium of Fire along with the Blue Man Group. Who would have thought it was going to be so hard to get tickets! On Tuesday Tysen, Shaley, Mom and myself all went to BYU to get a nice hot pink wrist band that we had to wear all week, this would guarantee us a spot in line on Friday when the tickets went on sale. It didn't mean that we would get tickets. So Friday at 4:00 we headed up to BYU, they called out number 664, this is where the line started. I was # 366, Shaley was 137 , Mom was 147 and Tysen was 845 (or something like that) Tysen was the closest so we used her wrist band. Tickets went on sale on line at the same time the ticket office opened, within 7 minutes they were sold out on line, word was within just a few minutes tickets were on e-bay for $1000 each. we were lucky enough to get great seats in the north end zone! The girls are going to love it! I guess one of the reasons it's going to be so hot is this will be the first time she will perform as "Miley Cyrus" not Hannah Montana

I Get To Brag A Little!

2008-04-06T13:01:00.002-06:00

So a few months ago the Daily Herald did a survey for the best of Utah County. For the 4th year in a row Crawford/Leishman Dental won best Dentist!!!! As many of you know I have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to computers, I couldn't figure out how to get this on my blog until now, Way to go Chris and Rick !!!!

Girrl Scout Cookies

2008-03-21T16:39:00.003-06:00

It's that time of year again!!! I only ordered 4 boxes of cookies from a little friend in the ward. She dropped them off as Rick and I were leaving to go out, when we came home only 2 boxes were left. I guess it's better the kids eat them instead of me!

2008-03-18T11:52:00.002-06:00

FOR SALE!!!!

That's right our little house is for sale, we are excited and sad. We've love all our friends in our neighborhood, I know it will be hard to go, but we have so out grown this one. We're looking at a house in Orem, so we'll see. We hope it works out!

Swim, Bike, Run

2008-03-13T14:24:00.003-06:00

About a month ago my friend Sandy and I signed up for the TriUtah Women of Steel Triathlon! We thought this was a good first time triathlon to do because it's a pool swim, no way would I swim in Utah lake! Maybe this is why I've been so lazy about blogging, I spend most mornings at Golds Gym. I have to say we have two of the best supporters, Ellie and Andrew. Just about every morning on our way Ellie asks me if today is the race, It makes me smile, they have been great troopers, only 11 weeks to go!

Hansel & Gretel

2008-02-25T18:57:00.004-07:00

Saturday night my mom got all the girls tickets to go to the Ballet Hansel & Gretel. I forgot to tell the girls there was no talking only dancing, so they were a little confused at first. They did have some singing, however it was in German so that even confused them more but they loved it. Ellie would not stop dancing, she even came home and put her dance clothes on to go to bed.

St. George

2008-02-24T12:27:00.005-07:00

It was our 11 year anniversary, nothing too exciting was going on and the kids didn't have school last Friday or Monday, so we headed down to St. George for the long weekend. It was Tysen and Chris's first family vacation since the twins were born. It's crazy how outnumbered we are now with 7 kids to 4 adults, good thing Shaley came along! It was so good to get out of the snow, I think it was like 55 degrees outside, but the kids thought it was the middle of the summer, because they didn't have to wear their coats.

The condo is a little out dated when it comes to the decor, but we love it, one thing the kids fight over are all the silly cups. I don't know why but they call them the fancy cups. This is Andrew showing me the "boy fancy cup" I guess because it's blue?

We swam and one thing everyone will agree on is that we all need a good tan!

I thought this was so funny. Because we don't have many spring or summer clothes and I got rid of all the flip flops at the end of last year Ellie wore her boots to the swimming pool, nice look!

Science Fair

2008-02-03T10:59:00.000-07:00

The Science Fair was last week at school. The Girls decideed they wanted to do it, but not together because then they would have to share the ribbons. (Thats what Madi told me) Mazie was set on a Taste Test. It was cute she got everything ready and had all the family down to try it out. She even took the project on the road to Dad's office. Much to our surprise even the most experienced soda drinkers could'nt taste the difference between Coke, Pepsi, and Shasta Cola.

Madi's project was named "How to get an egg in a bottle" It was all about high and low pressure, she and Rick worked hard on it and they did a great job!

The kids had fun at school telling the judges all about their project, I think the most important thing to them was all those ribbons they came home with.

Sledding at Soldier Hollow

2008-01-28T10:20:00.000-07:00

My Dad's BYU ward went sledding the other night at Soldier Hollow, he invited us and the kids to go with them. we've never been before so we decided to go. It was so much fun the kids had a ball!

There is a tow rope that pulls you to the top of the hill, the kids thought this was just as much fun as actually going down the big hills

This is Ellie her first time down the hill. She was so scared, but after the first time down she wouldn't stay off.
So Rick and I were at the top of the hill and we started wondering where the kids were? they all came out of the lodge at different times with different people. We found all of them but Mazie, then as we were talking I see her red coat going down the hill and get back in line for the tow rope. After we got to the bottom we stood there until she came down again. It was the funniest thing, here comes these two boys first, then her, then we hear them saying wait for Mazie? then they were helping her to the tow rope. after they saw us I asked mazie who her friends were, she had no idea! just two nice boys, they said she was looking for someone to pull her in her tube to the tow rope so she didn't have to get out. Then they were off again to get in line. It was just so funny to see them being so cute with her. Only Mazie would make new friends with strangers, so she didn't have to pull her own tube.

Yes Andrew is wearing a purple snow suit, Ellie out grew hers last year so they had to trade

They all were a sleep no more then 5 minutes after we got in the car to leave

Turning 30 wasn't so bad

2008-01-25T10:31:00.000-07:00

I have to admit I was feeling a little sorry for my self about turning 3o, I know it's silly, everyone will eventually do it, many of my good friends already have. I guess I have no room to complain. So the night of my birthday Rick and I took off for a weekend get away to San Francisco! it worked out perfect because he had some things at the Dental School he wanted to do, it was so much fun to be back, hard to believe it's almost been 5 years since we left. We spent most of our time doing the typical tourist things. Rick was always at school when I would do stuff around the city with visitors so it was lots of fun to be there with just him! Being back in the city brought back so many good memories, it did make me a little sad to think about all the fun we use to have, and how much I miss those school days, and all the good friends I made. This city will always be one of my favorites!

Fisherman's wharf and pier 39 were always favorite places to take any visitors we had, it was so much fun to go back and see all the things we use to do

Madi use to love to go the pier to watch the Sea Lions, there weren't as many this time of year as we've seen before, but it brought back so many good memories!

I don't think there was a time we went to the Pier that we didn't get these hot little donuts, we love them!

Who doesn't love the bush guy? this guy has been doing the same thing in the same place since we moved there, almost 8 years ago. it's funny to watch him scare people time and time again.

I have the BEST husband in the world! thanks for such a fun weekend Rick

Build A Bear

2008-01-13T10:10:00.001-07:00

For the second year in a row the kids have gotten build A Bear gift cards from Aunt Jear and Grandma and Grandpa Courtney (Or as Andrew likes to call them the new Grandma and Grandpa. Because he was only about 7 months old when they left on their mission he didn't remember them, so when they came home they were new to him, thus the name the new Grandma and Grandpa.) The kids have loved this fun new tradition!

Merry Christmas

2008-01-07T10:12:00.000-07:00

This just might be my longest Blog yet. It's taken me a few weeks to get back in the swing of things since Christmas, I don't know if it was having the kids at home that threw me off or what, but we're back! We had a great Christmas, the kids enjoyed the time off from school and we all loved having Rick around a little more. A few years ago we were getting frustrated with the kids on Christmas Eve because they were out of control with excitement. We decided we had to do something with them, so we started going bowling in the afternoon. We had fun this year with Kris & Kecia and the girls and Tysen & Chris and Ava.

After Bowling we headed to the Leishman's first, we ate and told Christmas stories. The kids opened 1 Christmas present, strange thing it's New pajamas every year, but they love this tradition.

Then on to my parents house. Every year my Mom and Dad have fun games for the kids to play, we started out with Christmas Bingo

Who doesn't love a good fish pond? Ellie got a little paint set, Christmas morning she wasn't happy with what she got, all she wanted was her paint set from the fish pond. Had I known that was all it took to make her happy, it would have saved my lots of money and time!

The Candy bar game is one of every bodies favorite! you have lots of good candy bars in the middle of the circle, we take turns rolling the dice, depending on what you get you either get to take a candy or you have to put it back etc. It's always funny because some of the little kids get attached to their candy and cry or something if they loose it, I know it sounds mean but it's lots of good laughs!

Cute little boys!

We had a great Christmas mornig. for the second year in a row we have stayed at our own house, we've enjoyed spend Christmas morning with our little family. The kids didn't even get up that early, I think it was like 8:00

I feel like the kids opened gifts all day, Santa in the morning, Grandma Pat and Grandpa Courtney and Leishman cousins in the afternoon. And my family and cousins the next day.
We had such a fun Christmas day with so many fun things going on. We feel very lucky to be around so many people we love!

We had a fun new years eve, with friends, games, lots of good food, and a little Guitar Hero competition, Our litle friend Emma rocked the house!

Happy New Year !

Out With The New, In With The New

2007-12-21T13:25:00.000-07:00

After only 2 years with his beloved truck something else caught his eye, The new 4 door Jeep. 9 long years ago Rick sold his truck and replaced it with a baby (Madi), and he never let me forget it. So when he came home and said he was thinking about selling it to get this jeep I never thought it would actually happen. I think it's going to be lots of fun, if I ever get a chance to drive it!

Survivor

2007-12-19T08:40:00.000-07:00

This is the guy who just won Survivor, Todd Herzog. His sister Kim Herzog just happens to be one of Rick's assistants, way cool!

Christmas Party

2007-12-15T15:14:00.000-07:00

Last Monday for family night we got together with some families in our neighborhood for a Christmas party. The kids acted out the nativity story first then we enjoyed the chocolate fountain, then we had a very special visitor. This year Ellie and Andrew were offered the role of Mary and Joseph, Andrew kindly accepted however Ellie wanted nothing to do with it, she decided she would rather be a wise men, or shepherd, one of the two. Madi and Mazie also were wise men.They were so darn cute!

We had a very special visitor show up at the party, The kids loved seeing him and telling him what they want for Christmas this year.

Christmas Coke

2007-12-11T16:40:00.000-07:00

So the other day I mentioned one thing I love about this time of year are all the traditions. Well, one thing Rick loves, and looks forward to every year is that Coke turns into Christmas Coke. He prefers the glass bottles, (he thinks it tastes different) but the other day I couldn't find any so we got the Christmas cans. He decided that after being in the freezing garage it wasn't cold enough, so he put it in the freezer, (just for a minute.) Ha Ha, well he forgot and needless to say this is what I found the next day. He's lucky I love him so much.

4 little Elf's

2007-12-08T13:37:00.000-07:00

Ok I'm sure you've all seen this but we think it's so funny, Merry Christmas!
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1243814470

Festival Of The Trees

2007-12-02T09:10:00.000-07:00

One thing I love about this time of year are all the traditions, about 3 years ago we started taking the kids to see the festival of Trees with my dad. They look forward to it every year, and still talk about the dalmatian dog tree they saw the first time we went. This year, Pa-Pa, Tadd, Tysen, Ava, and the boys came along. We loved this candy factory tree, it was so fun, the kids stood and looked at it for a long time, it said it was donated by a Dr. Black from SLC. is this Lisa Dana's dad? We loved it!

The gingerbread houses were awesome, they had so many cute little houses. We thought the BYU stadium and the little corner Bistro from Ratatouille was so cute!

These are some of our favorite trees

Thanksgiving

2007-11-28T09:10:00.001-07:00

We were all looking forward to a big traditional Leishman Thanksgiving since Ricks Mom and Dad are home from their mission this year. Thanksgiving has never been that big of a Holiday in my family, so Rick prefers to spend it with his family and since his birthday fell on Thanksgiving, it was fine with me. Happy birthday to Rick, Mike, and Adrie who all share their birthday, and this year on such a fun day!

Pat and Jear busy making rolls
We played some fun games after we ate

Kris and Kecia were down for the weekend, so we decided to take the kids to their favorite place Tepanyaki. It's always fun and the food is the best around town.

Color Me Mine

2007-11-17T08:30:00.000-07:00

We had so much fun last night! We took the kids to a place called color me mine, and what you do is paint your own pottery, they have all kinds of stuff to choose from like plates, mugs, platters, bowls, they even have some little figurines. We all decided to paint our own hot chocolate mug since this time of year the kids love to drink it. It takes them 2 days to put it in the kiln and fire it but then you get to go pick it up. The kids had a blast, it was so much fun to do something different with them.

Jim the Barber

2007-11-13T20:07:00.000-07:00

I think this is so funny! Andrew always looks forward to a visit with his barber Jim. He always asks him how he wants it cut, the only thing Andrew will say to him the whole visit is "like a missionary" Jim always gives him Smarties or a sucker when they're done. It's so cute, I love to watch him get his hair cut like a big boy.

Gardner village

2007-11-02T09:56:00.000-06:00

We love to go to Gardner Village every year to see the witches and Halloween decorations. Tysen, Chris and Ava, Shaley, Grandma and Grandpa and Madi's friend Grace all came with us this year.The witches were all so cute, we had a great time!

Happy Halloween!

2007-11-02T08:57:00.001-06:00

My dad grows giant pumpkins every year, we had a pumpkin carving party last Monday night, I think they had to use power tools just to carve them.

Here are all the kids, don't the boys look so cute! This year madi was a sports fan, Mazie a witch, Ellie a cheerleader and Andrew was a pirate. Kyra was Dorothy, Adrie was a cute witch also and baby Bree was a caterpillar. Ava was an octopus and the boy looked very scary in their skeleton bones.

I took the kids to Ricks office They always love to go because everyone dresses up, even dad did this year!

Ava loved her first Halloween out with the kids

Saturday Morning Breakfast

2007-10-30T14:04:00.001-06:00

Many of you know that we go to Rick's mom and dad's house every Saturday morning we can for Breakfast, This tradition has been going on for about 10 years I think, well they were out of town last Saturday so Rick thought he would make us pancakes at home. The girls put in their orders, Ellie wanted a person, Andrew wanted Mickey Mouse, someone said an ice cream cone. then Ellie said how about a balloon with a string, sounds fine until you look at the final product. Rick and I were laughing so hard the kids were a little confused, I don't think we'll try a balloon again but hey they loved the pancakes!

Sleep Over

2007-10-26T08:18:00.000-06:00

My kids didn't have school last Friday so we took our turn with night duty. We set up camp in the basement of Tysen's house for my kids and the two of us stayed up with the boys. Oh how you forget what it's like to be up all night with a new born, they are doing great and Tysen and Chris are great parents and so cute with their new Little family of 5!

Tysen was trying to feed Ava a bottle and get her to sleep and both boys needed to eat, It's funny I find that sometines when I'm with Tysen we just start laughing because there are so many babies around, and one of us will say "I still can't believe there are two of them"
Mazie was the first one in our family to hold the both the boys at once
Of course at 10:00 uncle Chris says "lets make cookies" everyone including Ava had to stay up to help
Then everyone had to watch as the boys got a bath in the sink

Mazie's school class

2007-10-23T11:49:00.000-06:00

Mazie's teacher asked Rick if he would come in and talk to the class about dental health. This is always fun for the kids to have Dad come to school. This year the Provo District Dental Alliance put together dental health kits and gave them to the school districts so that the teacher can use for this sort of thing. We had one at home still so he had some pretty fun things to show the class, we learned how to brush and floss , we talked about good foods to eat and since it's Red Ribbon week we talked about how harmful smoking and drugs can be for your teeth as well as your bodies. The best part about it is that now all the kids in Mazie's class think she has the coolest dad!

After class was over we stayed for a little school lunch. We were a little sad they don't use the same lunch tray's as when we were going to school. I guess Rick's favorite part about lunch duty when he was young was wearing the big rubber gloves and spraying off all the left over food on the tray. Who didn't love lunch duty? It brought back lots of good memories!

Fall Break

2007-10-18T09:47:00.000-06:00

The kids had Fall Break last week so we headed down to one of our favorite places to relax, St. George. The kids had a great time laying around the condo, watching TV,( something they are very good at!) swimming and going to some of our favorite places. Rick spend most of his time hitting the links at the golf courses. We took the kids to Entrada golf course better known to them as Lava Springs from High School Musical 2, they thought it was great, Ellie thought Chad was the one golfing in the picture, for her it was the highlight of the trip!

We were lucky enough to see our great friends Heather and Alex from Dental school. The night before we went Rick told the kids we were going to eat with Heather and Jo Jo and you should have seen the look on Madi's face it was all smiles. Whem Madi was between the age of 2 & 5 and wewe lived is San Rafael with them, that's what she knew him as. It made me glad she still remembers our friends from school, it was great to catch up and talk about the old days!

Lindey and Corbin were also in town for the break so we went to eat, we need to thank the two of them for always putting up with the kids especially at at restaurant.

Ellie loves him! I'm sure if she was of age, and he wasn't taken she would marry him!

Swimming is one thing our family does best, there was no exception in St.George.

Another thing we love to do is play games. The kids are mad at Rick because he thought the game belonged to the condo and put it away when we left, I'll give him credit for cleaning up, but I guess we'll just have to go back to get it, I'm sure none of the kids would mind.

Disneyland

2007-10-16T08:20:00.001-06:00

We had a fun trip to Disneyland a few weeks ago, it was Andrews first time, and he loved it! the park was so cute with all the Halloween decorations, the kids had a great time with Grandma and Grandpa, Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins

We started our trip at Goofy's Kitchen, This is one of our favorite places to eat. The kids love to play and dance with all their favorite character's.

This is what Mazie thinks an all you can eat dessert bar should look like, come on Mazie save some for the rest of us!

Talmage, Mazie, Ellie, and Andrew were so excited to see the "Cars"

Madi and Andrew riding the Golden Zepher

Mazie and Aunt Kathylee

One of Ellie's favorite things was when she was asked to help play in the High School Musical Block Party over in California Adventure!

Here is Andrew showing everyone he is tall enough to go on some of the little rides.

Making cookies at the Toll House Bakery is another of our favorite things to do!

Here is Mazie and Ellie doing some good old fashion Pin Trading, this is one of our families favorite things to do at Disneyland.

McKay, Madi, and Shelby were having a great time being silly any chance they got.

The kids love to have Aunt Jear with them at Disneyland because they love to go with her on all their favorite rides!

Mazie had such a fun time every day, by the end of the trip she was so tired, the last night we stayed late at the park to watch the fireworks. I felt bad because she fell asleep before she got to see tinker Bell fly over the castle.

A fun day at the park makes for tired kids at night!

New Babies

2007-10-03T09:01:00.001-06:00

I dropped Tysen off at the BYU football game Saturday afternoon before we left to go out of town for a week and jokingly said call if you have those babies. She laughed and said "don't worry I won't have them before you get back." That night, in our hotel room in Primm Nevada at 1:00 am I got a phone call from Chris saying they were at the hospital and they were getting Tysen ready to have the babies. I missed it! I was so sad, and not only that but we were going to be gone the whole week! weighing in at 5'6 and 5'7 we are excited to welcome Griffin Ty and Crew Christopher to the world. They are both doing great, spending a few weeks in the NICU growing before they can come home. Way to go Tysen, I can't believe the two of them were both in your tummy!

Griffin on the left and Crew on the right

They love the bath. I got to help the other night, it was so cute! They put them in the bath with their blankets on so they'll maintain their body temps.

Happy Birthday Madi!

2007-09-22T08:37:00.000-06:00

Happy birthday to madi! She turned 9 yesterday, we had a great time celebrating with her. We went to dinner at the restaurant of her choice, and then some cake and ice cream at grandmas house because it's Shaleys birthday next week! Happy birthday to the two of you , we love you very much!

Eaten Alive

2007-09-18T21:51:00.000-06:00

So Ellie and Andrew both woke up today with some type of bug bites. Since they share a bed together that's the only place I can think that they got them. Ellie looked like a chipmunk and Andrew looked like he'd been in some sort of tussle, so needless to say we've spent the day cleaning bedding and vacuuming the mattress. I told Ellie something in your bed must have been eating on you in the night, her response was "that's freaking me out" lets hope the bugs had enough last night!

Soccer Time

2007-09-10T09:02:00.000-06:00

Mazie decided she wanted to give soccer a try again this year.The last time she played it wasn't her favorite thing, mostly because she fell and her bracelet got broken. She is liking it so far and insisted on buying the pink shoes, pink socks, pink wrist bands, and pink bag to carry it all in. We're just happy she's giving soccer a second try!

This is Mazie's buddy Brighton who plays for the other team.

Andrew's 3rd birthday

2007-09-07T08:49:00.000-06:00

Andrew turned 3 on Wednesday. He had a great birthday starting with a trip to see dad to get his little teeth cleaned, (loved every minute of it). Then off to lunch with his favorite person, Dad. He had lots of fun opening presents and eating cake that night. He got a cool BYU shirt, lots of cars, Pirates toys and some new horses, it's good being 3. We love Andrew very much, he's such a cute little boy, he's so polite to everyone, he is usually happy, he loves sports, he has cute dimples just like his dad, and he loves all his sisters! Happy Birthday Andrew!

Happy Birthday Tysen

2007-08-29T09:01:00.001-06:00

Happy Birthday to Tysen! We had a great time yesterday celebrating her birthday at zupas for lunch, and then cake and ice cream later that night, Tysen is such a trooper celebrating her birthday two years in a row being quite pregnant! She is a great aunt to my kids, and my best friend, hope she had a great day! We love you Tysen!

Back to School Carnival

2007-08-29T08:49:00.001-06:00

The kids had lots of fun at this year's back to school carnival, Andrew and Ellie wanted their faces painted and Madi and Mazie each won a stuffed animal at the bean bag toss!

First day of school!

2007-08-20T21:08:00.001-06:00

We had a great summer, but we are looking forward to an even better school year, Madi is now a third grader and mazie an all day first grader! This year will be different for us seeing that the older girls will be at school all day and Ellie will be going to pre-school 4 days a week(thank heaven, she is quite spirited!) so that leaves Andrew and I for a few hours a day together, we think it will be great, Go wildcats!

High School Musical 2

2007-08-19T09:06:00.000-06:00

The girls love High School Musical! They were so excited to watch #2, Madi invited a few friends down to eat pizza and enjoy the movie!

Ellie, Breanna, Grace, Tori, Madi
Ellie had the time of her life!

Ellie and Andrew

2007-08-14T12:00:00.000-06:00

For those of you who have been in my house you'll understand what I'm talking about. We have small bed rooms and Two kids in each so with Andrew needing to be in a big bed I didn't have room for Two beds so I decided to just let him and Ellie share, I know i might be crazy but we'll see. So last night when I went to check on them this is how I found them, all snuggled up together, later when I went back in she had her arm around him. I thought it was cute.

Bear Lake

2007-08-12T17:41:00.001-06:00

Rick had a few days off so we decided to go to Bear Lake, Rick has very fond memories of the Lake, growing up his family would spend most of their summers there with their friends the Spencer's, who were kind enough to let us stay at their cabin. The kids loved playing on the beach, riding on the wave runners, boating, collecting Shells on the beach, and roasting marshmallows at night. Madi spent the majority of the time deathly sick so I don't think she'll have very fond memories, so I guess we'll just have to go back soon!

F.H.E. Gone Bad

2007-08-01T10:10:00.000-06:00

We decided to go the the SLC Bee's game for F.H.E Monday night, it was 100 degrees still at seven o'clock at night, the girls were hot, Andrew was crying the whole time that his tummy hurt, Ellie wanted a snow cone (the line was 30 minutes long, we know because Kris and Kyra stood in line) anyways the only thing that made them happy was the five dollar foam finger that quickly turned into a weapon! We left after the seventh inning stretch and who knows who even won the game, for that fact I don't even know who they were playing. Maybe we'll try again next year.

Uncle Taddow's big helper

2007-07-24T10:00:00.000-06:00

Here is Andrew helping uncle Taddow with a few things on Grandpa's new deck.

Tennis Lessons

2007-07-19T20:25:00.000-06:00

Madi and her favorite cousin McKay are in their second season of Tennis lessons, they are loving every minute of it, and actually getting pretty good, we think Mckay has enjoyed the last two weeks better because he's not the only boy!

Madi enthusiastically waits her turn!

One of her favorite things to practice are volleys.

Happy 6th Birthday Mazie

2007-07-17T21:55:00.000-06:00

Mazie turned 6 Today, Happy Birthday Mazie! She must be the luckiest 6 year old in the world. We celebrated her birthday two times, once with uncle Jeff on Sunday at Grandma Pat's then we had a little party for her today at Brick Oven. The Balloon guy at Brick Oven is the best, the kids are always excited when he's there, this is them with their balloons.

Madi got a turtle, mazie a dragon fly, Ellie got Bell, and Andrew a blue motorcycle.

Some of mazie's favorite gifts were... new Heelys, a new backpack, pink batting gear( from her boy cousins) some new clothes for school and a gift card to Build a Bear!
Happy Birthday Mazie, we love you!

Office Party

2007-07-14T08:10:00.000-06:00

We had a fun office party last night, we ate good food and played water balloon games at Dr. Crawford's house. We won the balloon toss, Rick cheated a little but it was innocent. We have an awesome office full of really fun girls! I admit I still don't know everyone yet but Rick loves work, and it's been a great last 6 months! I look forward to getting to know all of them even better soon.

Dr. C and Missy

Kim and Scott

Annie and Randy

Dr. C and Andy

Harry Potter

2007-07-11T20:18:00.000-06:00

Tuesday afternoon we were invited by Ricks brother Mike, through Novell to go to a sneak preview of the new Harry Potter movie "Order of the Phoenix" it was great, we recommend everybody watching it.

Europe 2007

2007-07-08T20:46:00.000-06:00

This summer we had the amazing opportunity to go to Europe with Ricks brother and his wife. I took so many pictures it was hard to decide which ones to share, here is a list of some of the fun things we did and saw. The Tower of London, Big Ben, Parliament, Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Wicked, The Crown Jewels, Open air bus tour, The Louvre, Notre Dame, Arc De Triomphe, Disneyland Paris, Versailles, The Champs, Mus'ee De Orsay & the Eiffel Tower.

These cute little red phone booths were all over London

The Tower of London tour was one of our favorites, we met a funny local by the name of Clint who told us all kinds of silly facts about the Royal family and the exact meaning of the word

"Codswallop"

Big Ben

We were able to get tickets to the musical Wicked, it was great!

I fell in love with the SMART CAR! I wanted to put it in my pocket and take it home, word on the street is that they'll be in the states soon, I have to have one.

This is rick enjoying his English Eclair

Eiffel Tower

Rick decided not no climb the 668 stairs with us to the top of the Eiffel Tower, he thought reading Harry Potter would be more fun.

Notre Dame was Awesome! we were at the top when the bells started to ring, we didn't see Quasimodo, but he sure has a nice set up!

This is one of the Gargoyles from Notre Dame.

The Chateau of Versailles

Some say you can spend days at the Louvre, Two hours was plenty of time for us! One thing we did enjoy was a Davinci Code Tour Jodi found on line, we hit the main things like the Mona Lisa and the inverted Pyramids.

The Arc De Triomphe