Gma's funeral pics

Welcome to Eagar

Well, as most of you know, we have moved to Eagar! I am not quite adjusted yet, but am loving the weather up here. The kids are doing awesome and seem to love it here. They are doing well in school and have lots of good friends. James and I just got back from my Grandma's funeral. I lost both of my Grandma's within a week and a half. Wasn't the most pleasant of experiences, but I'm glad I got to see all of my family. Here are a few pics of all of my cousins that haven't all been together for 20 years! 

Minnesota

From left to right...

Stone on outside of house, Blakes shower tile, Lexie's shower tile, Tori's shower tile and tori's shower floor. Her tile was imported right from Italy....spoiled girl! haha

Finally, we arrive home safe and sound! Thank heavens! We went to visit my grandparents and family in Minnesota for my Grandma's 80th bday. We left last Thurs and got back late last night. Drove both ways! What an ordeal. I do have to say, the kids were phenomenal! I couldn't believe they were MY children! haha...I will have pictures soon for the trip. It was really fun to see my grandparents and aunts and cousins I haven't seen in quite some time. My grandma has bone cancer, but has had it for about 2 yrs and goes up and down as far as her counts etc. She was doing so so this weekend. My grandpa is just the most adorable man I've ever known, he's 88 and going strong as a horse! He's still installing water softeners for fun! Becky came with us and actually enjoyed herself. She absolutely adores the kids and loves hanging out with James and I. She doesn't have any family here in AZ so we are all she's got. I don't mind one bit :-) So it was a 36 hr drive there, with stops and all. The hood latch on the Tahoe broke before we even left, and we thought we had fixed it, but about 100 miles outside of minneapolis the hood started lifting again. We were coming out of a blizzard, it's freezing cold and ice on the road and the hood is threatening to pop open at any time. Quite a tense hour and a half. We ended up making it though and my wonderful mechanic father fixed the hood for us when we got there. One of the many benefits of having a  dad who is a mechanic and owns a car lot ;-) The drive back was brutal. We were  so exhausted from the drive up that is took us from Mon afternoon until Wed evening to get home. We stopped 2 nights at hotels. It was ok though, the kids were troopers and we learned our lesson....never drive straight through to Minneapolis!

Here's a few more random pics I found...I'm taking more tomorrow of the house. They've finished the tile and everything on the showers in Toris, Lexie's and Blake's rooms. They're working on the master bath today and the powder bath. Then all that's left is the pool bath and the twins bath and then they're on to the main flooring. We will be picking out the stone that's going on the walls inside the house this week. They finished painting and putting the stone on the outside of the house now. YAY! It looks like a real house now! haha. I'm getting so excited but nervous, because we're not going to hit our projected completion date and I'm not looking forward to moving, AGAIN! but it will be more than worth it in the end!

New House pics

Here's a few pics of our new house. It's projected to be finished on May 1. It's been a dream come true to actually have this thing up! We've planned this house for 2 yrs, so it's nice to finally see the finished (almost) product.  The pic doesn't include the garage to the right, it was too wide for the picture! 

Happy Easter!

Daddy with Sienna (L) & kaelsy, Kaelsy & her cheesy face, Sienna on bottom 2, watching spongebob!

Well, I did it. I made it to 33! haha. I never in a million years pictured myself being this old :-) I can't believe how time flies. I feel like I'm 18 most days and I'm not really a mother of 5 kids, including an almost 14 yr old! Wow. Life is crazy! Anyways, my bday weekend was good last week. James and I were going to go out of town for the weekend but decided at the last minute to grab the Hilton in mesa and just camp out for 3 days. Thank you to katie for having lexie and to our wonderful mother's helper Marvella, who took the twins. Speaking of her...she is absolutely the best thing we have ever had! She came to help a few months ago and has been heaven sent ever since. It's our good friend Branden's mom. Shes a mother of 5 herself and has so much love for our kids I can't believe it. It has been so wonderful to finally have some help and relief with all the stress that comes along with having 5 kids and twins! They need a nanny for each of them they're so busy! Anyways, that's a nutshell about Marvella...

Victoria is here! She's staying until Sun. I am soooooooo happy to see my baby girl. it's been 4 months since she left to go to her dads in minnesota. One of the hardest things to do in my life...send her to her dads. But it all worked out for the best. Shes glad to be here and has grown soooo much! I'll take some pics of the kids this week and post them. They are all looking so grown up it makes me want to cry! 

The twins learned how to shake hands when I say nice to meet you. It's adorable. They are so fascinating to me. They are so intelligent and so far beyond they're age of 2. They don't talk much, but they really don't need to. They understand everything you say and have their own language with each other. It sounds a lot like the flintstones...you know...yabba dabba do type of thing? lol it's so cute. They also talk to each other without saying a word. It's like they can almost read each others minds. One will look at the other and kind of nod, the other will go grab something and bring it back to her and she will look at he and nod again, like to say, yup, that's what I needed, thank you! I see them do that alot. It's kind of freaky! Freaky but neat. They are such a joy to have in our lives. They definately keep it interesting and hoppin!

Lexie is enjoying learning to read and spell. She's come a long way this year. She's so grown up for being 6 years old. I guess that comes with having 2 older siblings. She has several kids in the neighborhood that she plays with every single day, so we don't see a whole lot of her after school! I'm so glad, this is the first neighborhood that has had any kids her age.

Blake just got back from minnesota on Easter. I think he's glad to be home but a little disappointed that his xbox was with katie! ;-) He's getting so tall, hes almost as tall as me and I"m 5'9! His dad is 6'4 so I know he will be a tall one. So will Tori. His voice is changing and hes starting to look older now. It's so weird that I'm a mother to a teenager. I"m not qualified to do this!!!! 

Anyways, off for now. Here's a recent pic of the twins with daddy. Sienna is on the left, Kaelsy right. I had done their hair in pigtails and took the pic really quick before they ripped them out. They finally have hair to put in a pony tail! yay!!!

Cruise08

Not done with this slideshow...so much for sleeping tonight!

Jamaican Vows

This is our song ;-)

more more more

Pics!

Cruise pics 08

our ride to the boat, Us on the boat at dinner, james n josh, me n meagan, kt and sariah

Home from Eagar

(pics left to right...the family ready for church, Senna with her pretty headband, kaelsy and her cheezy smile with grandma on christmas morning, grandma and grandpa with senna and kaelsy on christmas, & lexie with green eye makeup on that mommy did!)

Back from Eagar today...sad....I wish we could go up there more often. It was a nice 2 day trip for james and I though with no kids! We had a blast on the way up & going back in the vette. We can talk for hours on road trips and never once reach for the radio! Wish i could have visited more with Connie & Homer. I always get so tired when I'm up there and end up sleeping most of the time! Must be the altitude (LoL) One of these days lets catch up just me and you Connie! :-)

Anyways, life is grand. We are having a little trouble with Blake these days though. Don't know if its better he goes to live with his dad for a while or not. Tori will be coming home on the 21st of March for 10 days! YAYYYYYYYY!! I can't wait! It's been 4 months since I've seen my baby girl, and that's just toooooo long in my book! She will be coming back for the summer and for good next school year as well. We may end up just swapping kids & letting blake try it up there for a year. He's just starting the typical "teenage garbage". I feel so unqualified to deal with this! Any ideas out there? It's hard to deal with mouthy,  sarcastic comments and the fighting on going to school...to bed...to church...to whatever. It's exhausting sometimes. I need a manual for this, designed just for Blake! Anyway, he's a pretty good kid, just a little fiesty sometimes! (wonder where he gets that???)

The twins are doing great. Not much talking, but boy, are they SMART! They are always 100 steps ahead of us at all times. They are into anything and everything their little minds can think of. They are so mechanically smart, we sometimes joke when things go missing, that they are secretly building a bomb or a computer or something in their room, or that they're trading stock online already or ordering things on ebay. I wouldn't put it past them! They have their own little "language" if you want to call it that, with each other. I have heard about this but have never actually seen it. They motion & nod and make sounds and this jibber jabber talk to each other, and the other one always knows what she's talking about! It's so cool to watch! They definately are entertaining! I can't believe how big they have gotten. They are solid little girls. Kaelsy is a bit taller and thicker and heavier than sienna. She is like lifting a bag of bricks! My little linebackers! They're getting a little more hair too, sometimes we can even put tiny little pony tails in their hair! I will get more pics up of the kids soon and more info on Tori and Lexie tomorrow. I'm tired, and hopefully will be able to sleep tonight. I have been having a lot of troubles sleeping lately. every other day I seem to be up almost all night. That's when I try reading, making random lists, or blogging again! Later for now......

More cruise pics

Just trying to figure out where to start....i have a lot of my cruise pics up on my myspace (www.myspace.com/if you want to check it out. My new email address is nicolerogers23@gmail.com. We have been so busy since we got back together in late Dec! We went to l.a. to get my passport, went on a cruise for a week with everyone in the homer/connie family, have been working every day on our house that we are building...picking out cabinets, flooring, tile, stone, faucets, paint..you name it! My friend becky is taking the discussions, we are on #4 now. She just had her interview for baptism, & she is waiting a few days to set the exact date. I am so excited! it's my very first experience with introducing the gospel to someone! We have been so blessed, as a couple, individually, and as a family, to be able to go thru this experience with her. Anyways, our life is pretty hectic and busy as usual. We are just trying to spend as much time as we can together and not take life for granted. Or each other! It's been so amazing...anyways, hope you can check out the pics and i'll be posting more often ;-)

Well, I guess I will try to catch up on this thing! We are back from our cruise :-( It was wonderful! Life is back to normal, (thank heavens) the kids are getting so big and growing up way too fast, business is busy as usual, our house we are building will be done May 1...does that sum up our life? haha...its much more complicated then that. But I don't have time to explain it all right now! I hope all of you are doing well and are happy and healthy! I will talk to ya'll later :-)

Nic

Chicken Pitas

I guess I should follow along and post a recipe for Wed! :-) I've had a lot of people ask for the chicken pita recipe, and it is so absolutely simple and yummy, you guys will be surprised! I won't look so impressive anymore! haha

1-2 cans of white chicken chunks
brocoli, cauliflower, carrots & any other veggie you feel would taste good, chopped/diced
equal parts of mayo & ranch dressing
Pita pockets or tortillas work too

mix all together and just add mayo and dressing until you feel it's to the consistancy you like. That's it!!!

Random facts about James

He has really, great, soft hands
He HATES his hands to be dirty. I mean, he's totally freakish about it! He has to wash them immediately after eating
He doesn't let anyone touch his face, especially after he's washed it in the evening. (sometimes he'll let the babies or Lex, or me if I'm lucky!)
He gives the best massage you'll ever have
He is very thorough when he takes a shower, he never takes a quick one. He has to get every inch just perfectly, and in the same order!
He's just as thorough when he dries off!
He gets very cranky if he hasn't eaten
He has to get to family gatherings ON TIME bcuz he's worried all the food will be gone!
He has an obsession playing with hair. It started as a baby with his mom's and has now moved on to me!
He had bells palsy at the age of 23
He was a great football player but blew out his knee his senior yr in H.S.
His # was 51
He's had 3 knee surgeries
He has great legs!
He's taken gross anatomy
He was SO patient with Steven & really loved taking him under his wing.
He & Kaelsy talked almost every day when he was selling auto glass for us at U of Px
He is always trying to help people make $ and achieve their dreams
He has passed MANY kidney stones, one of which happened when we had only known each other for a month! He was puking in my bathroom ;-(
He HAS to have his back tickled at: the movies, church and at night
He has this laugh that he does when he farts & I make a huge deal about it, where he crinkles up his nose & kind of throws his head back...it's quite funny
He stayed in the hospital with me for 6 nights when the twins were born
He came to the hospital with me for 2 weeks while the twins stayed in the NICU, and did "Kangaroo Care" every day (where the babies are in just a diaper and you hold them on your bare chest covering them with your shirt)
He was adorable doing kangaroo care with his hairy chest, and the twins seemed to actually love it
He still made me feel beautiful and loved even when I was swollen like Mr. Stay puffed marshmallow man!
He LOVES to get the mail-It's like a kid at Christmas time! He can't wait to get through the door to open it up
He has a certain blanket that he sleeps with, it's one aunt Eileen made for our wedding. He has slept with it for 6 1/2 yrs!
He wants to buy a lamborghini
He loves the previews at the movies
He likes Ariel from the Little Mermaid
He loves pens- he collects them from wherever...the bank, work, appointments etc. He'll sometimes come home with 6-7 pens in his pocket!
He's very sentimental and documents everything with pictures.
He likes to cuddle when he's half asleep. He'll almost always reach for me :-)

Tag I'm it...

Ok, I guess I've been tagged. I'm the last of the bunch to do this, so hopefully I will sound original!

1. My bed is my favorite place on the planet!!! I LOVE to sleep, which is one reason I love my bed, but it is just SO comfortable. It is where I feel the most secure, the most peaceful (besides the temple of coarse) and the most happy. Strange, I know, but true. :-) It's almost like my security blanket in a way!

2. I love to sing. I almost always have a song in my head that I am singing, or humming to myself. I sing in the shower when no one is around and always sing in the car when I'm alone and sometimes even sing when I feel brave and other people are around! I am not the best at it, but I always wanted to be a singer. When I was 2 or 3 my mom said I would use anything I could find as a microphone and would sing all the time. I secretly envy people that can sing and dance. (i.e. Christina Aguilara sp?, anyone in the Pussycat Dolls, J.Lo., etc...)

3. I have always wanted to do one of two things in life: become a doctor (an obstetrician or a brain surgeon, random I know..& no! this doesn't have anything to do with my obsession with Dr. McDreamy from Grey's Anatomy) or a defense attorney. I have always said I would go to Harvard. I have talked about this since I was quite young. I may end up doing this someday when my kids are grown, who knows! I haven't decided yet which one I will be when I grow up! haha

4. I am one of the most touchy feely people you can ever imagine. I LOVE hugs, holding hands, kisses, locking arms, cuddling...you name it! I absolutely am in heaven having twins. There is nothing better than to be able to just goober all over your baby! The beauty of having twins is that when one of them gets so sick of you gooing all over them, you have another one to goo on! Isn't that great?! I bet you are all jealous. When I go to sleep, I stick my hand in James' arm sleeve...just for human contact while I fall asleep. You are really going to think I'm strange now! haha... Anyways, being affectionate is VERY important to me.

5. I danced for 15 years, since I was 3 years old. That's almost half my life! I have always loved music and dancing and can actually almost feel the rhythm running through my blood. I think I may get back into it, just for fun. I miss being flexible and toned and just being able to move my body the way I want without looking retarded! I guess that's what 5 kids will do to ya, and also being out of it for 15 yrs doesn't help either! Which kind of leads me to my # 6

6. I am extremely competitive!! I may not show this side of me, but believe me, it's definitely there! I loved competing with dance. It was something that I really enjoyed doing and it was such a rush to be up on stage competing against other people & performing for an audience. I did group dances as well as solos and duets. I actually did a solo once where I sprained my ankle when I landed wrong doing a leap and was in so much pain I sort of blacked out but kept on dancing. I didn't remember a single step to the rest of my dance, but apparently improvised and finished the dance. The second the dance was over and I went to go off the stage I couldn't walk one more step on my ankle. I was competing against another girl from my studio and I actually took 1st place! I actually felt really bad because I had beat the other girl from my studio, but was happy at the same time! I think I get this trait from my dad. We cannot play cards with him, he is so annoyingly competitive! If he looses, he still says, "I won in my mind!", which totally takes away from your victory. I am competitive with my children too. With Blake's football games, I get so nervous because I want them to win. Tori's dance competitions are both torture and fun at the same time. James and I cannot play games together for this reason. We are both too competitive! Now with that being said, I am NOT a poor looser. I am very competitive, but I am a good sport about loosing and won't pout (for too long anyways!)

7. I want to be on Oprah. I, like Aleia, haven't decided what my life's' purpose is yet. I want a passion, something that I can put my heart and energy into and actually make a difference in this world. Then I want to be on Oprah. I know this sounds like I am copying Aleia, but I read hers and thought, "that's exactly what I think about every day!" I have a few ideas about things I would like to do:

Open a homeless shelter

Run a rehab facility, either for substance abuse or mental illness. A good, quality one for people that can't necessarily afford it or don't have insurance, because there is such a lack of them for people like this.

Open an adoption agency or a baby rescue agency. I saw this on Oprah the other day in her show called "Cheers to you". A lady had opened an agency, or more like an 800 # type of deal where women could call if they were pregnant and didn't know what to do with their babies. It would save the children who may have otherwise been put in a dumpster or left somewhere because the mothers didn't know what to do with them and panicked.

Do some sort of make a wish program or some cool facility for children with cancer.

Open a domestic violence shelter for women & children.
Anyways, it's not just about being on Oprah of coarse, I really do want to help people in some way and want to feel good about leaving this life knowing that I made a difference! I love being a mother of coarse, but I feel like there's something else that I need to be doing as well. I hope I figure it out soon!

8. I am extremely unorganized. WOW!!! What a surprise you're saying? I know, I know. I'm shocking most of you out there. But really, seriously...I hate to clean! I hate doing laundry (or actually folding it and putting it away), I hate picking things up that other people have left out, I always have clutter on the counters, especially in my bathroom. I have this "collection" of books, papers, magazines, you name it, on my side of the bed that really drives James insane! I always have clothes laying on the floor in my closet, I just really hate to hang them up or put them in my drawers! I hate filing papers or organizing my cupboards or closets. I guess it's because I'm a little A.D.D., so when I sit in an area that is a little disorganized I just freak out. It's like my mind literally can't handle all the chaos that I see and I just freeze and zone out! I could really use people like Meagan or my sister on a regular basis to just keep my house organized! (hint hint!)With that being said, I LOVE to make lists! I have notebook after notebook of lists to help me get organized, but never actually make it past making the list. I purposely buy really cool notebooks (I have a sort of obsession with this) and really cool pens to make my lists (also an obsession) and have so many lists I couldn't even begin to count. This is all part of my "collection" on the side of my bed!

Ok, did I bore you to death? Boy, I am really trying to make up for lost time in the past 6 months! It will take you all a year to read everything! haha!

U-unique talent

I guess I forgot that I kind of do have a talent, although it may not be unique or the best talent to have!
I can drive, text on my cell phone, talk to whoever is in the car with me, make a bottle and put on my makeup all at the same time! haha

A-Z

A-Z Nicole!

A-age: 32 (uggh)
B-bed size King: (couldn't have anything less!)
C-chore I hate to do: mopping
D-dessert I love: chocolate lava cake
E-essential to start the day: watching about 5 minutes of t.v. (sad hu?)
F-Favorite actor(s): BRAD PITT, George Clooney, Felicity Huffman, Eva Longoria, Patrick Dempsey
G-Gold or Silver: Gold (but it has to be white!)
H-Height: 5'9"
I-instruments: I can plunk at the piano, flute in high school
J-Job title: MOM, housekeeper, chef, taxi, counselor, tutor, cheerleader, nurse
K-Kids: Blake, Victoria, Alexis, Sienna, Kaelsy
L-Living arrangements: 6 bedrooms, office, 4500 sq ft of mess!
M-month: December, I LOVE Christmas
N-Nickname: Nic (no pun intended), foofee (when I was little)
O-Overnite hosp stay: Unfortunately I had 3 while pregnant with the twins aside from the delivery :-(
P-Phobia: spiders, water/drowning, hard candy/choking, spit (like meagan!)
Q-Quotes: Life is not measured by the amount of breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breathe away.
R-right or left handed: Right
S-Siblings: 2, Denise & Dar
T-Tatoo: Am I the only one here that has any?? I have 3. If you don't know where they are, GOOD!
U:Unique Talent: Hmmm, I don't really have any!
V-Veggie I hate: not a fan of brussel sprouts
W-Worst habit: Do I have to pick just one? James would say leaving my stuff out all over the floor & counters!
X-part of body I would xerox: my foot (everyone else said hand!)
Y-Yummy food I make: everyone seems to like my guacamole or chicken pitas
Z-Zodiac sign: Pices

Tori's dance competition

Here's a video of Victoria's dance competition from a few months ago. It's really, really hard to see, so sorry about the quality! It's all I have for now! She is usually in the front, on the right side or in the middle.

Back to life

Ok everyone! I feel like I have been in a bubble for the last 6 months!! I am finally ready to re-enter the wonderful world of blogging. I feel like I have been missing out on so much! You guys have started all these fun, new things...fill me in on the latest would ya?!

Ok, for starters I guess I will write a bit about what has been going on the last few months...

We have had 2 miscarriages, one round of plastic surgery (yea for Nicole & thank you to Meagan for helping!), two little twins that have turned into "monsters", lots and lots of dance competitions & practices (Tori gets Golds!), football games & practices (Blake scores a touchdown!), James starting a "new" profession & training (insurance), one trip to Boston, Nicole turns 32 (UUUGGGHHH), Blake turns 13 (AAHHHHH), plans for starting our new house, plans for starting new townhouses in Springerville and one form of illness or another spreading throughout our nice family of 7!! Doesn't that sound fun? Aren't you jealous???? haha
I don't know if I have any pictures uploaded yet, I have been REALLY bad about taking them since we have been so busy. I will work on that and also work on updating my blog since I have to compete with everyones high tech ones now! Fill me in on all the fun and please check back as I will be keeping up on my blog from now on!
Hope everyones doing well and healthy and happy :-)

Blake's new "Do"

What do you think of Blake's new do? Do you think he'll get some cute chicks with this???? We're hoping NOT!

Lexie's Recital, Christmas chaos

Lexie & Faith had their Christmas dance recital on Dec 16th. They did so good! Lexie was in 3 dances this year. She probably needed a little bit more practice, but did good for her first time doing more than one dance! We had the Longhurst Christmas party at Josh and Meagan's after, which is always fun. Everyone has a great sense of humor, and it's always fun to play the white elephant gift game. They took a picture of all the babies and then all of the kids (under 12), which was pretty amazing. I didn't realize how many kids there were, and they weren't all even there!

Getting ready for Christmas is always crazy. I hate shopping (yes, I know you're all shocked) and get so stressed out about what to even get kids that have everything. I hate crowds and never plan very well. (except for last year when I did all my shopping online in October while I was on bedrest!) Anyway, I'm about done, just a few more gift certificates and we'll be set. Blake and Tori leave on Sunday around 4, so that kind of stinks. We'll get together with my family on Sat and then do our little family on Sun before they leave. We'll miss everyone in Eagar. It's just hard to go up sometimes and have to come back the next day. I haven't been feeling well for quite some time, so that doesn't help either. It's hard, when you get to a certain age, it's kind of nice to have Christmas at your own house and be able to relax and let the kids enjoy their presents. It's ok to celebrate Christmas on a different day! I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and stuffs themselves crazy with cookies and whatever else you have baked (or been given!) I have been trying out some new recipes, which I'm so excited about. I have NEVER been able to bake worth crap, so the things I've made this week have actually turned out decent and I couldn't be happier! I made fudge, gingerbread cookies and sugar cookies so far. And lots of muffins for the kids. Anyway, enough rambling...I'll put up some pictures when Christmas is over!

Random thoughts...

I forgot to say that the second picture of Sienna here is of her looking at Kaelsy when she was wailing about not liking her cake! It was quite funny!
Is anyone done Christmas shopping yet? Is anyone else having a hard time getting into the holiday spirit this year? I haven't even started shopping and I'm feeling really overwhelmed. I have been sick with this cold/cough for like 3 weeks now, it's getting old. I just feel tired all the time! (hu, maybe it's because I have 5 kids?) I don't know how Heather does it...her kids are alot closer in age than mine are and she's brave enough to have 3 more join their family!
Blake has his first band concert tonight. He plays the trumpet. Should be interesting...from the way he plays at home, oh boy, are we in for some night! haha. I'll take a picture if I remember! Lexie's Christmas dance recital is this Sat. She is doing 3 dances in it. I'm quite excited and a little nervous, that's a lot to remember for her age! She just added a hip hop class and a private lesson, so now she'll do 4 dances in the June recital. She really loves dance. She is quite the natural at it too.
More later!

Sienna's taste

Sienna wasn't quite sure what to do with the cake, I don't think they realized that they could eat it! Neither of them liked the feel of the frosting on their hands.

The cake drama

Ready...set...go!
Ok, Kaelsy is really not into this...
Now she's REALLY mad!
Finally she gets a taste of the chocolate and settles down!