Crane Family

Ju's baby blessing

2012-01-22T15:51:00.000-08:00

In our church we give newborns a name and a blessing. We blessed Ju on New Year's Day. I thought it was fitting to bless her that day since she is a new baby and we celebrate newness that day. We also had a lot of family in town for the holidays. We had a brunch for our friends and family members before going over to the church for the blessing.

I love Ju's beautiful white dress.

Here is Ju with her namesakes.

Our family that day.

A few more photos

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-15T09:41:00.000-08:00

We would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas from the Crane family! We have had a pretty good year.

Raymond is still working for Sterling ATM helping with bill of materials, production scheduling, and shipping. He is serving as the Sunday School President at church. He still likes playing the guitar and playing basketball.

Jamie is teaching piano and voice lessons. She has around eleven students. She is serving as the primary chorister and the choir accompanist at church.

S is in third grade now. He loves to read books, especially if they are funny. He is learning to play the piano. He also likes to play video games with his brothers. The games they like to play this year are Angry Birds, Fancy Pants, Active Life Explorer, Little Big Planet and Star Wars.

A is in second grade. He likes animals, especially big cats.

G started kindergarten. He is adjusting to the longer school day as well as the homework. He likes to make cinnamon toast.

J is in preschool. She loves all things "girl." Her favorite color is pink. She likes princesses and ponies. She also likes to play pretend.

Aa is a very active two year old. You never know what he will get into. He loves to do whatever his brothers are doing.

We welcomed a new little girl into our family this year. Ju is now three months old. She loves to be held. She has a great smile. She has slept through the night almost since day one.

We are looking forward to 2012 and the changes it will bring! Wishing you happiness in the year to come! Love you all.

Movember

2011-12-10T10:11:00.000-08:00

Have you heard about "Movember?" During the month of November "Mo Bros" grow a moustache to raise awareness of men's health. You can learn more at http://us.movember.com/about
Here is Raymond's Movember 'stache.

Halloween 2011

2011-11-17T13:02:00.000-08:00

I'm a little slow posting these, Thanksgiving is only a week away, but here are some pictures from our Halloween this year. First a group shot before trick or treating.
J decided to be a fairy this year.

Aa went as Frankenstein's Monster. He didn't want to wear a costume until I put candy in his "Feed Me" pocket.

A wanted to be the Grim Reaper.

Gideon wanted to be Bumblebee the transformer. I didn't have a Bumblebee costume, so I was glad he changed his mind and decided to be Superman.

But then he changed his mind and really did want to be Bumblebee. This is what we improvised.

Samuel's class did a Zombie dance for school to Micheal Jackson's "Thriller." So for school Samuel looked like this.

But for trick or treating he wanted to be the transformer Megatron.

Hope you all had a great Halloween!

It's a Girl!

2011-09-25T12:57:00.000-07:00

On September 14 we welcomed a new baby girl to our family. We are so excited! She is named Juliandrea.

A Very Dora Birthday

2011-08-19T13:55:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of J's birthday. Not only was her cake Dora, but she got a lot of Dora presents like a Dora Snow Cone maker and a Dora dress up set. She got some cute hair barrets as well.

A also celebrated a birthday. He loves big cats and wanted a snow leopard cake. It turned out really nice, but the pictures are on my camera which I can't find. Hopefully I'll find it soon so I can let you see his cake. He got a really fun game for the Wii that all of the kids have been enjoying.

Jumping out of swings... backwards!

2011-07-17T13:24:00.000-07:00

We have a swing set in our backyard for the kids to play on. G just learned this summer how to jump out of the swing. So, of course, the next feat to accomplish is to jump out of the swing backwards! Unfortunately he found out this wasn't such a great idea the hard way. He landed on his right arm and broke both of the bones in his forearm. He gets a cool new hard cast on Wednesday!

That cake is scary!

2011-07-17T13:08:00.000-07:00

Aa celebrated his 2nd birthday recently. I decided to make him a Cookie Monster cake because he has a Cookie Monster book he loves to read. I thought the cake turned out really cute.
Aa thought the cake was okay from a distance, but if the cake got close to him, he grew terrified!

He wouldn't even blow out the candles.

So funny!

It is birthday season at our house. We also celebrated my sister's birthday. Here is a strawberry cake I made for that.

We just celebrated Raymond's birthday and in a few more weeks we will celebrate J and A's birthdays as well. So, more cake pictures to come!

What a June!

2011-06-19T14:46:00.001-07:00

This June has been very busy with summer vacation activities. I went to Loveland, CO with Raymond's sisters for the weekend. We had fun getting pedicures, eating out, shopping, and just visiting without any children or men-folk. It was a lot of fun and I'm glad I can relax with them. As soon as I got home we set out for the Grand Canyon. I had not been since I was a toddler and Raymond had never been, so it was an exciting adventure for the entire family.
We arrived early in the morning and stopped at Desert View Watchtower. The view was fantastic even though the tower was not open yet. Here the kids saw a rabbit and a lizard. The wildlife was one of the kids favorite part of the trip, especially the lizard.
That evening we took a hike to Ooh Aah point on the South Kaibab trail. It was beautiful. It was the parents favorite part of the trip. Here are some of the beautiful views.

We also watched the sunset. The next morning we hiked down the Bright Angel Trail. The kids and some of the adults only went down a little ways. Juliann made it to the 1 1/2 mile resthouse while Raymond and Lee went down to the 3 mile resthouse. Jim and Josh walked six-miles in to Plateau Point.

The next morning we stopped by the Indian ruins and stopped by Desert View Watchtower again so we could go inside. The three older boys all earned their Jr. Ranger badges and were very proud of that accomplishment.

We had a great time with Jamie's family. It is definitely one of those "must see" places.

Guess what? I'm still around!

2011-06-19T14:34:00.000-07:00

I know it has been a very long time since I wrote on my blog. But we are still here! S and A just finished 2nd and 1st grade. G finished preschool and will start kindergarten in the Fall. They are all very excited for Summer Vacation. We will be starting our official Summer Schedule tomorrow.
J is the princess that likes to wear pink every day. Aa is a very active toddler that likes to find mischief. He is very cute though and does everything with a big smile!

Raymond is still working at Sterling ATM. He is also busy trying to sell the property we have in West Valley. We may rezone it to commercial property and lease it to a dance company instead. It is a lot of work for him to do. I am gearing up for summer and still teaching piano and voice lessons. I am also preparing for baby #6 in September. Now you are all updated, right?

New Job!

2010-11-21T18:20:00.000-08:00

Raymond started a new job. We are so excited for him. He is working for a company that deals with ATM surrounds. He is helping with inventory and shipping. It has been a change, but we are excited for it.

Halloween

2010-11-21T17:59:00.000-08:00

Look at me. I'm updating my blog. Finally. Well, first let's talk about Halloween. J and S knew what they wanted to be. J would be a princess, and S would be a tiger. I knew what I was putting on Aa, a little Blue's Clues costume. G and A kept changing their mind. G went from a bat to a knight to refusing to wear a costume. A went from a ninja to something I can't remember, and ended up as a snow leapord. We celebrated Halloween on Saturday the 30th by attending the "Boo at the Zoo." We had a great time. It wasn't too cold and the handouts were great. Aa particularly liked the small rodent and reptile house. He liked all the small furry animals. He would say "kitty" and try to pet them through the glass no matter what was on the otherside. He didn't care if it was really a bunny or a meerkat. S got to pose with the tigers while A got to touch a snow leapord pelt. After the zoo we went home and carved our pumpkins. Then the rain started. We were worried about our trick or treat plans, but it let up enough for Raymond to take the kids for a little while. We had a great day!

A and J's birthday bash

2010-09-03T09:45:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from A and J's birthday. Enjoy!

Busy Summer Part Two

2010-08-18T12:53:00.000-07:00

While my sister was in town we took a trip to Yellowstone. It was fun. My favorite part is seeing the geysers and other thermal features. While we were at Old Faithful we also got to see Caslte Geyser, Beehive Geyser, and Grand Geyser all go off without hardly any waiting. It was exciting and special. Those are ones not everyone gets to see, especially not within just a couple of hours. S especially liked Grand Geyser. While we were waiting he wanted to leave. He didn't want to wait. After it went off though, he was glad he waited. He learned that some things are worth waiting for and you have to be patient. I love it when they learn life lessons.

We didn't see a lot of wildlife until the last day. That day we did get to see quite a few bison. I was glad because A was getting a little disappointed and he was much happier after that.

An Exciting Month

2010-08-08T09:39:00.000-07:00

July sure has been an excting month for us! We attended the Crane Family Reunion in Idaho to start out the month. It was a blast! The kids loved hanging out with their cousins. We played a lot of great games and visited Crater of the Moon. We even got to do a service project there! It's great that the Crane family has incorporated service into their family reunions.

Next we celebrated Raymond's birthday. We made three different cakes for the event all at his request. They were German Chocolate, Tres Leches with strawberries, and Better than almost anything cake. We also got tickets to see the Paul McCartney concert. It was so fun!

The next weekend we had a family reunion with Raymond's extended Crane family. We and Raymond's mom were the only ones in his family able to attend, so it's good we went! They had a dinner at a park, which pleased the little ones. Each family presented a talent for entertainment. Since we were the only ones there, we sang a song Raymond wrote called "Dreaming of You." It's one of my favorites!

My sister came to visit from Texas with her family at the end of the month. They spent the night at the parade route for the 24th of July. S went with them. We met them there in the morning and had fun watching the parade.

Happy Birthday AA!

2010-07-11T15:46:00.000-07:00

Aa turned one! We were happy to have so many family members there to celebrae Aa's special day. I made him a teddy bear cake because he likes to growl like a bear. He really enjoyed eating his special cake!

Field trip Fridays

2010-06-19T07:35:00.000-07:00

We have started summer break! I have noticed a sharp increase in the messiness of the house now that all the kids are home all day. We are having fun though. Each day we do some home summer school and go to the park for lunch. Every Friday I'm trying to think of an activity we can go do for a field trip Friday.
Our first fied trip Friday was at the zoo. It was a not a great day as far as the weather went. It rained pretty hard. The rain couldn't dampen our spirits though! We had a great time. I liked the baby elephant. There was a camel just laying out in the rain. S thought that was so funny for some reason. We rode the carousel. The only sad thing was that the shows were cancelled due to rain. We will have to go back another day when it is sunny to see the shows.
Yesterday we went to Wheeler Farm. The kids enjoyed seeing the animals, climbing the tree, and playing in the treehouse. We also took a tractor ride around the farm. The kids had a fun time.
Next I think we might try the West Fest. That should be fun for the kids. We can ride carnival rides and eat carnival food. We can also check out the free entertainment.

Potty training conversations with J

2010-05-23T08:59:00.000-07:00

J has been potty training for about three weeks now. She is doing pretty good most of the time. The other day I was changing Aa's stinky diaper while J watched. She said, "Oh it's poopy. Bad poopy, bad poopy." I explained to her that poop wasn't bad, it just needed to go in the potty. She thought for a minute and said, "Bad Aa, Bad Aa." I then explained that Aa was a baby and baby's poop in their diapers. Then she said, "disgusting." I didn't know she knew such a long word. Let alone it's proper usage.

Happy Birthday G and Grandma E

2010-05-23T08:47:00.001-07:00

In April we celebrated two very special birthdays. G turned 4 and Grandma E turned 90. We had a small party for G. He wanted a Spiderman cake. This is the fourth or fifth Spiderman cake I've made, but if those boys want Spiderman every year, that's fine with me.
We had a big party for Grandma at the church park. She didn't want a big party though, so we called it a "family reunion" on the invitations. Hee Hee. She always tells us she's "49 and holding" so that's what I put on her cake.

Edamame

2010-04-14T10:03:00.000-07:00

Last week I bought some frozen edamame (soybeans in the pod). I cooked and we tried it last night. I had never had it or cooked with it before. I tried it and the pod was so tough and stringy I nearly choked! The beans inside we good though. G helped me to pop the beans out of the pods so we could eat it. My mom said that when she has had it in the past, she just pops the beans out with her teeth right into her mouth. I guess that would have worked, but I couldn't see the kids doing that. Have you ever had edamame? How have you prepared it?

Quick trip to Boise

2010-04-14T09:38:00.000-07:00

While the kids were on Spring Break we decided to take a quick road trip. We hadn't seen Raymond's grandparents since their 90th birthday party two years ago, so we decided to head up to Boise. We loaded everything up, grateful for the space a minivan offers and were off. I am also grateful for portable DVD players. We got there late Thursday, but the kids were excited to sleep in a hotel. The hotel had a free program you could order that was kind of new age called "rest." It had images and soft music. We put that on for the kids to watch while they fell asleep. It really did help them calm down and fall asleep faster.
Friday morning we took advantage of the hotel swimming pool. It had been awhile since any of us had been swimming. Aa had never been. Unfortunately we discovered a hole in our baby float. It was in the inner ring, so it didn't work great for Aa, but J and G were still able to use it.
After swimming we went to lunch and then over to Grandma and Grandpa's house. They still live alone, thanks to hospice care and Meals on Wheels. Grandpa still putters around the yard, but Grandma has a harder time. She kept saying, "You have five kids?" And then she'd count them.
The kids played outside on the tree swing. J picked the flowers and then showed them to Grandma. Raymond helped get a pile of pine needles and pine cones into the garbage. We ate dinner and Grandma and Grandpa's and then headed back to the hotel.
Grandpa and especially Grandma were sure unhappy with us for staying at a hotel. I have to tell you though, I'm glad we did. That way we didn't have to worry about breaking things or making a mess. The hotel had free breakfast and beds for everyone. Not to mention the pool.
By the time we got back to the hotel, Aa was asleep, but the boys wanted to swim again. Raymond took them, while J and I watched "Beauty and the Beast."
Saturday we went back to Grandma and Grandpa's for Grandpa's family famous sourdough waffles. Yum, yum. We sang some songs for them, and Grandpa gave all the kids a harmonica. He even played us a tune on one of them. The kids loved the harmonicas.
We left Grandma and Grandpa's house to head home. We decided to stop at Fossil Beds National Monument in Hagerman, ID for a break. It was fun. The kids enjoyed it. We drove past 1000 springs on our way to Twin Falls.
We than stopped in Ogden to visit Raymond's sister. The kids enjoyed playing with their cousins. It was a fun trip.

Crawling around is fun to do

2010-03-27T14:41:00.000-07:00

None of my other children crawled until they were ten months old. In fact they all crawled at ten months. Why would I expect anything different this time around? But despite his small size, Aa is determined to remain ahead of the curve. He refuses to be left behind. He has the army crawl down!
But that's not enough for Aa. A few days ago I was sitting on the floor playing with G and J when Aa came crawling over. He grabbed my shirt and pulled himself on up. I was impressed. Later that day I found him crawling up two steps. Again I was impressed. He's such a curious little baby. I don't remember any of my others being as curious as Aa is. He is so fun. It seems like he's all the sudden "grown up" in just the last month.

If you missed it...

2010-03-11T20:41:00.001-08:00

If you missed Raymond on TV you can see it here.
http://studio5.ksl.com/index.php?nid=55&sid=9906879

Raymond on TV

2010-03-05T16:13:00.000-08:00

Raymond is going to be talking about his business on KSL's Studio 5 Tueday, March 9th at 11:00 am here in Utah. Thought you might want to know!
His website is www.savinggreenathome.com

S turns seven

2010-02-20T17:53:00.000-08:00

Here are some photos of the birthday bash. I used an Elmo pan for the tiger cake. S is such a silly boy!

Saving Green

2010-01-26T13:16:00.000-08:00

Raymond is finally ready to launch his new business! We are hoping things go well and he gets lots of customers. He has been out of work for a long time and it has been a lot of work to get his business ready. We are having two parties this week to let people know what he is doing. One will be Wednesday at 6:30 and than again Saturday at 6:00. There will be pizza. You are welcome to come if possible.
His business is helping people learn how they can save money on their energy costs. It is interesting stuff and some things I had never heard of before. Pray for us that this goes well.

Happy New Year!

2010-01-06T21:48:00.000-08:00

It's about time I got back on this blog! Here are the ups and downs of the Crane's 2009.

In December 2008 the company Raymond was working for went out of business. This started a new adventure for us. We searched and searched for a job, but never found one. This gave Raymond the opportunity to open his own business. He moved through several ideas before settling on energy consultation and green remodels. He is getting ready to start talking to customers soon. Hopefully he will be in a place to go by the end of this month.

At the beginning of the year, Raymond and Jamie were able to participate in our stake production of "Beauty and The Beast." It was a lot of fun! We made a lot of new friends and really enjoyed getting out of the house for a few hours.

We have been working hard on our rental properties this year. We are now pro's at painting. We were able to sell our house in Magna after some remodeling. It ended up looking pretty nice, I must say. We've also learned a lot about the court system, but we won't go into all of that.

The most exciting and wonderful thing this year happened in June when we welcomed Aa into our family. He is such a happy and easy going little baby. We all love having him here with us. All of our children are such blessings. It amazes me how unique each one of them are!

We love you all! We are hoping for a fabulous 2010.

Disneyland

2009-10-06T20:53:00.000-07:00

For UEA weekend, my sister took the two older boys to Disneyland. They sure had a good time! Raymond and I wished we could have been there to see there faces. They went to the beach the first day and played in the sand, looked for seashells and chased the waves. The next two days were at Disneyland and California Adventure. They went on almost all of the rides. They decided Tower of Terror had too much terror, but they enjoyed The Haunted Mansion. They loved Indiana Jones and Splash Mountain. They also got to do Jedi training. My sister took them to a Halloween party at Disneyland too. It was fun for them to trick or treat and wear their costumes. A was dressed as Handy Manny (sp?) and got to meet him too!
Aa is already 3 months old. Can you believe it?

Camping, G, etc.

2009-09-21T13:22:00.000-07:00

We have had a fun summer. In August my sister Lexi visited with her family so we went to Southern Utah for a fun family reunion. Monday we swam in the Great Salt Lake. It was pretty fun, but we didn't bring swim suits and just swam in our clothes. That was fine until G wanted to take his shirt off. That led to J wanting her's off too. I didn't think that was so bad (she's only two)so took it off her. Next she proceded to remove her shorts and diaper too. She wouldn't put them back on for anything, so she swam in the buff. Luckily the beach wasn't very crowded.
Later in the week we drove down to Bryce Canyon and Zion's National Parks. The kids had so much fun with their cousin! A wasn't so excited about all the hiking by the last day, so we started telling them we were going on a walk instead of a hike. He seemed okay with that. They loved playing in the river and climbing all the rocks. I loved seeing everyone and playing games. I'll post some pictures soon.
School started right after our trip. S and A are enjoying learning new things. G is enjoying preschool. Mommy's enjoying a quieter house.
We had a scare about a week ago. G had another seizure. He is taking seizure medicine now and we are hoping that will control it. Luckily he has only ever had them in night while he's been in bed. It's scary though. Hint: If someone you know has a seizure for the first time, film some of it with your phone or something. We did that and it seemed to help when explaining to nurses and doctors what happened.

J and A's Birthday

2009-08-04T10:23:00.000-07:00

Because there is only one day between J and A's birthdays, we had a joint party for them this year with just the family. A was so excited to turn five. On Sunday he told us he was going to kindergarten on Monday since he was five now. We told him he still needed to wait a few more weeks.
J got a baby doll stroller and A got two video games for the Xbox. Now I can't get him to leave it alone. What was I thinking? They also got clothes from Grandma O as well as cards with money from their other grandmas. Sweet!
I made J a rainbow cake and A wanted another Spiderman cake. This makes my third Spiderman creation.

Newbery Books

2009-07-29T14:34:00.000-07:00

Since I was little, I've always loved to read. I still do and I hate it when I finish a book and have to decide what to read next. I'm always asking for suggestions. My mother in law one mentioned to me that she was trying to read all the Newbery Award books. The Newbery Award is the longest running award for children's literature. It is voted upon and awarded by the American Library Association to the author of the book making the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. The first winner was "The Story of Mankind" by Hendrik Willem von Loon way back in 1922. This is were my Newbery journey will begin. After I finish I will give a review and start another book. If you would like to join me, you can read and give your review as well. The next book will be this year's winner, "The Graveyard Book" by Neil Gaiman. Happy reading!
Follow my journey at www.newberyjourney.blogspot.com

24th and stuff

2009-07-27T09:17:00.000-07:00

We had a good Pioneer Day. On Thursday we went to the Bountiful parade and the kids enjoyed all the candy they got. Friday we visited the Draper Historical Society museum. I have some ancestors that were involved in developing the area in pioneer days. It was nice to remember my pioneer heritage on pioneer day. Saturday we worked hard fixing up the yard at our Magna house. We've decided to sell it and Raymond has been working hard to get it ready. Later we went to the Olympic Park in Park City. We saw some freestyle ski jumpers and then went on the Alpine slide. Samuel and Gideon got to go down with Raymond and me. Poor Ammon got sick and threw up after we got there so he didn't get a ride. Raymond also went on the zip line. He really enjoyed that.
Raymond has been working with my dad as well as trying to get his own business started. He's also trying to get our house ready to sell. I've been getting used to chasing five kids around. It's been a challenge and I'll be glad when school starts to I can go to the grocery store again.

G Health Scare

2009-07-20T15:45:00.000-07:00

After we went to bed on the July 4, I heard a strange noise coming from G in the boy's room. I went to check on him and discovered him covered in throw up and convulsing. I went and got Raymond and my mom. We called the paramedics. He went on for about ten minutes total. He had stopped by the time the paramedics got there. They took him to the hospital where they watched him for a few hours before sending him home.
The next two weeks were filled with testing and doctor's appointments. All of his tests have come in normal. We are grateful for that. Sometimes a child's brain will misfire in an isolated incident and it never happens again. Since his tests have been normal, that is what we think has happened. We think he'll be fine from now on.

Welcome Aaron

2009-07-01T16:45:00.001-07:00

We are proud to announce the birth of our fifth child, Aaron Phillip Crane. Aaron was born June 30 at 7:50 in the morning. He weighed 8 lbs 1 oz and was 19 inches long. We are so glad he is here!

Summer flu

2009-06-15T14:28:00.000-07:00

On Thursday evening I started not feeling so well. Friday I was still sick and A had developed a fever. J started getting a fever on Saturday and the rest of us were still sick, so we went to see a doctor.
They gave us a flu test (which was more uncomfortable than I thought it was going to be) and told us we all had influenza type A, which probably means "swine flu." Getting pandemic flu was not on my list of things to do this year. Luckily we saw the doctor fast enough to get the Tamiflu and everyone is feeling much better. I still have congestion and coughing, but the kids fevers are gone.
Raymond, S, and G haven't gotten sick. I'm hoping it stays that way.

Free Summer Fun

2009-06-03T10:39:00.000-07:00

The kids are out of school. What are you doing to keep them busy this summer? We will be having our own little summer school. To keep it interesting, I've been looking into free or nearly free events to keep them busy and occupied. Here are some I've found mostly in Northern Utah since that's where I live. If anyone wants to attend these events with us, let me know! We'll have our own little summer camp.

-Saturday, June 6 Free Fish Day in throughout the state.
- Thursday, June 11 Free admittance to This is the Place Heritage Park
- West Fest, June 25-27 Parade Saturday morning
- First Wednesday of the month free at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts
- First Monday of the month free at the Utah Museum of Natural History. We will go on Monday, August 3.
- Free admittance to many National Parks across the USA on the third weekend of the month throughout the summer. See http://www.nps.gov/findapark/feefreeparks.htm
-Salt Lake County Fair August 5-8. Admittance is free, parking is $5.

That's what I know about so far. If anyone knows about others, please let me know!

Preschool Program

2009-05-20T09:28:00.000-07:00

Well, A's done with preschool. His class wrapped up the year with their end of year preschool program. This program is something that even I did when I went to school there. A had the parts of the Beast in "Beauty and the Beast" (which is what my brother Josh did too) and the Huntsman in "Snow White." He did a great job on his parts. Now that school is over, he keeps asking if he's going to kindergarten next week. I have to keep reminding him that summer needs to happen first.

Disney's "Beauty and the Beast"

2009-04-28T08:04:00.000-07:00

Many of you may know that for the past few months Raymond and I have been involved in our stakes production of Disney's "Beauty and the Beast." It was a lot of fun and we made many friends. We will forever be grateful for the opportunity we had to participate. Thank you to all those who could come and support us. Also a big thank you to everyone who watched our children so we could participate. I'm including some pictures for those who were unable to attend. To see more pictures, go to www.beautyandthebeasthuntercentral.shutterfly.com

G's Birthday!

2009-04-21T08:18:00.000-07:00

G had a birthday on Sunday! He's a big three year old now. I made him a train cake and he got a train set to play with. We had chicken fingers for dinner, but of course he was much more interested in the cake. He also got a set of toy tools and a car parking ramp.
Yesterday he also went to the dentist and the doctor. The doctor gave us a referral an audiologist and a speech therapist for him to work with. He is 36" tall and weighs 32 lbs.

Easter

2009-04-14T10:50:00.000-07:00

We had a fun Easter. Here are some pictures for you.

Josh's Cake

2009-03-31T13:34:00.001-07:00

Here is a picture of the cake I made for my brother's birthday. If you can't tell it's a water polo player.

Samuel's Birthday

2009-03-24T08:03:00.000-07:00

Although Samuel's birthday was a month ago, I wanted to post some pictures of his party. This year we let him have a party with some of the children from the ward. They made placemats with stickers, played the game Hullabaloo, and had cake and ice cream.
Samuel wanted a flag cake this year. I thought it was an interesting choice for a six-year-old, but whatever. I think he might of chosen that because they had been discussing President's Day at school.
We had his party the day after his birthday, so on his birthday, we had a special pizza and spaghetti dinner with his Grandparents. It was a lot of fun!

Thanks for voting!

2009-03-24T07:52:00.000-07:00

Thank you to everyone who voted for my kids in the recent contest. Even though we didn't win, I really appreciate the love and support.

Pay it Forward

2009-03-10T08:31:00.001-07:00

Good luck!{The Rules}

1. Be one of the first THREE bloggers to leave a comment on this post, which then entitles you to a handmade item from me - something crafty or yummy, who knows?!

2. Winners must post this challenge on their blog, meaning that they will Pay It Forward, creating a handmade gift -anything!- for the first THREE bloggers who leave a comment on their post about this giveaway!

3. The gift that you send to your friends can be from any price range and you have 365 days to make/ship your item. This means you should be willing to maintain your blog at least until you receive your gift and have shipped your gifts. And, remember: It’s the Spirit and the Thought That Count!

4. When you receive your gift, please feel free to blog about it, sharing appropriate pictures and comments! If you are not one of the Top Three Commenters on this post, you can still play along.Go ahead and start your own Pay It Forward chain, and encourage your blogging friends to do the same! SO, REMEMBER…Pay it forward

Please Help!

2009-03-04T08:17:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone!

Need your help. Recently my kids entered two contests to win a trip to San Diego, and we could really use a vacation. But, we need your help to win. I need you to go to a couple of websites and vote for my kids. Since you can only vote once per computer we are consolidating our votes on one child for each contest.

It's really easy and will only take you a second. Just go to each website, enter your email and vote for the number I ask you. Then check your email and follow the instructions to make your vote count.

First, go to this website. (You may need to copy and paste the link) Vote for 164. This is Janet.
http://www.kosy.com/pages/safekids_fair/vote1.html

Now go to this website and vote for 116. This is Samuel.
http://www.570knrs.com/pages/sandiego/vote.html

The more votes we get the better our chances, so please vote on all the computers you have access to. Also forward this note along to everyone you know, so they can vote too.

I know I've been posting this everywhere, and I'm sorry if you've seen it already, but I really want to win! Thanks for all those who have voted.

Please, please, please help us!!

Signs of the time

2009-02-17T08:20:00.000-08:00

Raymond is still looking for a job. Everyday it seems I hear about someone else being laid off. We keep hoping things will turn around and Raymond will get a job that will meet the needs of our family. We are also hoping that some of the properties we have will be able to find buyers. It can be frustrating to have to wait and only have limited control over what's going on. We just keep trying to do our part.
There are six families in Raymond's family. Right now four out of six of them are now jobless. It seems unbelievable to me.

Sick Day

2009-01-27T13:37:00.000-08:00

This past weekend Samuel has been sick. He has had a fever and sore throat, coughing. It's similar to the illness that took Raymond and my father out of the game for a few days. He's been missing school and he's still not better. He has been getting better though, so hopefully he can go back to school soon. I'm just hoping no one else gets sick.

Happy New Year

2009-01-03T16:00:00.000-08:00

This year Raymond's family decided to have a New Year's Eve party with his parents and sisters who live in Utah. The kids were happy to see their cousins and spend a lot of time with them. We had dinner, played games, and watched the ball drop. Even Janet stayed up until midnight. Then we spent the night at Raymond's parents with everyone else. The next day, we played more games, built a giant 11 ft 2 inch snowman, and saw "Bolt" in the theater. It was a lot of fun!

Merry Christmas

2009-01-03T15:52:00.000-08:00

We had a great Christmas this year. All the kids Grandparents were there to share in the fun. Gideon was the only one who didn't want to wake up, but he was fine once he went upstairs and figured out what was going on. Janet was more excited about everyone else's gifts than her own, but that's okay. She liked opening presents for the first ten minutes and then she was bored with it. Ammon liked his Curious George plush and super heroes.
Samuel was the funniest. It started on Christmas Eve when the kids got to open their special star present. It is always pajamas to wear. He ripped his open and then said, "Oh, it's just clothes."
On Christmas morning most of his toys were unwrapped in his Santa pile (Santa doesn't wrap things at our house), so wrapped under the tree was mostly clothes. Everytime he opened a clothes gift he would say, "Not clothes again!" or "There are so many clothes!" He was very disappointed by that, but Santa was good to him and left him lots of great toys.

Oh no! Christmas is Coming!

2008-12-17T09:45:00.000-08:00

Christmas only 8 days away and I'm far from ready. I still have gifts to buy. I least I don't have anything I have to ship. I think it will all work out though. Unfortunately I don't think I'll get to those Christmas cards. Hmm. We've got three Christmas trees up, but only one of them is decorated. It happens to be one that was at the Festival of Trees. No one had purchased it, so my mom did after the fact. We think she got a good deal on it.
Now if we can only get those other trees looking a little less plain.

Thanksgiving and such

2008-12-09T13:04:00.000-08:00

We had a great Thanksgiving this year. My sister was here from Texas and my brother came up from St. George. Raymond's sister was also here from Colorado. It was great to see everyone. On the Wednesday before, we had our annual pie day with the Crane Clan. The kids all get to make there own mini pie. Samuel had pumpkin, Ammon had apple, and Gideon had chocolate cream. Thanksgiving was fabulous of course. I love all the foods associated with Thanksgiving!
This week has been a little unusual. Yesterday Raymond's company announced they would be closing their doors on Wednesday. So we are preparing for a new chapter in our lives. It's going to be an interesting ride.

War

2008-07-06T15:12:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we were still in Heber. That morning we got to hang out at the lake. We got life jackets on all the kids and paddled out in a canoe. Samuel liked it when we rammed everyone. Gideon liked looking around and Ammon liked putting his hands in the water. Janet liked the nap she took. On our way back to camp we started throwing water from our water bottles at each other. It was fun and a great way to cool off.
After we got camp cleaned up and headed back to West Jordan. The kids played on the water slide some more in the afternoon. After dinner we set up an obstacle course for the kids using chocolate pudding. Wow - the kids got messy - but they also had a ton of fun. I was amazed at how quickley we got everyone through the shower and bath afterwards.

Independence Day

2008-07-06T15:07:00.000-07:00

On Friday the 4th we drove up to the church's camp in Heber. The cabins there are really nice. We got to do the Challenge Course with the zip line. Raymond, Jamie, and Samuel all got to do the zipline. We are so glad Samuel got the chance to do it and he did great! We was a little scared to walk across the log so high in the air, but he did it! Later that day we had a sing along and Raymond played his guitar. After we had smores and played cards.

Crane Family Reunion - Thursday

2008-07-06T15:03:00.001-07:00

Raymond's family reunion started on Thursday the 3rd. We went up the canyon and had pictures taken. This was the first time since 2000 that all of Raymond's sisters and their families were able to get together for a picture. Everyone was there except Craig's two older boys, Tony and Patrick. Tony is on a mission to Bolivia and Patrick was spending time with Grandma and Grandpa Smith. The kids have all been so excited to see each other. Raymond's parents were in charge this year and they got a big inflatable water slide. It was a great way to cool off.