Gooch is Great

What a good Christmas!

2011-01-30T22:43:00.013-07:00

Owen's 6 Month Pictures

2010-09-15T19:24:00.014-06:00

I can't believe how long it has been since I have posted. It just goes to show how busy our summer really was, but what is my excuse now? I'm just not sure! I wanted to post Owen's 6 month photo, they turned out so cute!

Owen's Blessing

2010-04-12T14:01:00.013-06:00

Sunday was Owen's blessing day! We had everyone from my family and Fred's family here (actually minus 1 from each side of the family). It was a bit chaotic (19 adults and 20 kids) at times but over all it was a good day. Fred gave Owen a beautiful blessing, he's such a softy at times but I love it. Fred's highlight of the day was our lunch, we had a "HOT DOG BAR! HOT DOG BAR! HOT DOG BAR!" as Fred says! We had hot dogs with every kind of topping we could think of or that we thought people would eat. There was chili, cheese, tomatoes, onions, sauerkraut, coleslaw, salsa, ketchup, mayo, yellow mustard, brown mustard, jalapenos, etc. Fred loved it and the kids did too. I do have to admit it was kind of fun and easy. Anyway, we had a great time!

Thanks to all you that traveled to come celebrate this special day with us.

Owen and Daddy

Fred, Owen, and me

The Gooch Boys

Grandpa Gooch and Owen

Grandpa Gooch and his grandsons

Fred and Owen (both getting hungry)

Emma and Fred

The Gooch Family (it's growing)

Our Newest Addition

2010-03-16T16:10:00.020-06:00

Here's ..........Owen! He was born February 19, 2010 at 2:33 PM and was by far our biggest child, weighing in at 9 lbs. 4 oz. and 21 1/2" in length.

Here is how it all went down...I was induced that Friday because I just couldn't do it any more and because he was refusing to come out on his own. It was the closest to the due date I had ever gone with any of our kids (he was due that Sunday the 21st). So, I was started on "pit" at 9:30 AM. I was quite excited because they say that it should take about half the time of your last delivery. Emma only took 4 hours from start to finish! So I was think yeah, this should only take 2 hours (especially b/c I went in there dilated 4 cm)! Boy was I wrong or what??? My doctor came and broke my water at 11:30 AM (I had only progressed to 5 cm). She was so great to come in a deliver our baby for me on her day off, but she had a hair appointment at noon! On top of that her hair lady was kind of slow. I'm thinking, great I'm not going to have her here after all. She told the nurses if I start progressing to fast, just to turn off my "pit." She leaves and everyone who is there with me is thinking of lunch. So, they all leave to see what is in the cafeteria; Fred and his dad go to Subway just down the road for a sandwich. Well, in the matter of 30 minutes, I go from 5 cm to 9 cm! Luckily, I already had the good stuff so I wasn't feeling much. Then I just started feeling all this pressure and it was getting stronger and longer. To make a long story short, Fred made it back and my doctor was a close one. However, little did we all know I could have started to push before worrying if she was going to make it back on time or not because I ended up pushing for over an hour! Actually that probably would have been a problem too; as soon as I started to push we found out he was posterior. Babies can be born posterior but it is usually a very hard delivery. No fear, my doctor was there! I guess she is one of the best doctors to turn a baby when they are posterior. She turned him with no problem, but then I had a very hard time getting him past my public bone, I'm guessing because he was so big. But I finally did it and he practically "popped" out once I got him past that bone. I look back at pictures from right after Owen was born and think "Man I look like crap!" Then I remind myself, that I pushed for over an hour and was throwing up most the time on top of it all. Oh the things that we go through for these special little ones in our lives! He is such a cute boy, we enjoy having him in our family. The girls are a little obsessed with him and love him a little too much at times, but what else are big sisters for, right?

My good friend Miranda is an amazing photographer who took some newborn pictures of our big boy for us. She said he is one of the biggest newborn she ever taken pictures of (and he was down to 8 lbs. 12 oz.). The pictures turned out so good, I love all of them! Thank you so much Miranda for capturing these memories for us. She has more on here photo blog too http://sweetpea-photography.blogspot.com/

Let's Celebrate Valentine's Day!

2010-01-04T21:44:00.004-07:00

I'm so excited to celebrate the next holiday, Valentine's Day, because this little boy inside me is due a week later!!! Hopefully he comes that week or anytime after February 1st, for insurance purposes. Anyway, I'm just excited that the time is getting shorter because I feel like I have been pregnant over a year, oh yeah maybe because it is very close to being a full year from the time of conception! I'm just exited to meet this little guy and so are his sisters. McKenzie is counting down the weeks! I didn't think she payed much attention time, but the other week she asked "Will baby Owen be here in 7 weeks?" It was so cute! We can't wait!

Welcome Home Elder Andrew Gooch!!!

2009-12-22T16:39:00.008-07:00

Once again, it has been soooooo long since I have posted on my blog, that's life I guess. I just wanted to welcome home Fred's youngest brother Andrew who got home from serving a mission in Chile. It's amazing how fast the two year went but at the same time it seems like it had been forever since we last saw him.

The Girls with their signs for their uncle.

Andrew is the one waving!

Andrew and Jon

Camille, Fred, and Andrew

All the little nieces and the new little nephew were so excited to see Andrew!

Ellsee, Andrew, and Emma

We are so happy to have our uncle, brother, and brother-in-law Andrew back from serving the Lord. We are so proud of him and all the many lives he changed or touched by being a great missionary. It's so amazing to see how these boys leave for their missions and come back men! I just hope we can be as good of parents to our children as Tammy and George have been and continue to be to theirs.

Welcome home Andrew, we hope you are adjusting to life !

The Latest News!

2009-10-12T14:23:00.010-06:00

Once again, just like my journal at home, it has been forever since I have posted on here. That's what happens when school starts, it's harvesting time, and being pregnant all at one time. We are staying pretty busy around here. I had my ultrasound on the 1st of this month and the ultrasound tech said she is a 100% sure.....

I could tell right away before she even said anything. McKenzie was very sad a first, she had her head berried in the chair, because she wanted it to be a girl. Afterwards we had to go to the store, once we were there she was okay but very concerned that we didn't have boy clothes or boy toys. She doesn't quite understand how long it will be before the baby is actually born. It's good that we will have some time, because Fred and I can't seem to agree on a name for this little one. He just might have to go by two different names! Anyway we are very excited, and things will be quite different around here come February. I keep wanting to start on the nursery but right now it is the girls toy room. I have compromised, I guess mostly with myself, and said the girls can have that room until after Christmas. Then we will begin the process of moving this around and making it into a nursery. They don't understand why it can't be the nursery and the toy room. I just smile and say "Sorry, that's not going to happen!"

As for McKenzie she got into this great preschool program where she goes every day, stays just as long as the kindergartners, and she gets to ride the bus. It has been so good for her, it has really started to give her more confidence, and I think she really enjoys being kind of independent. So kindergarten should be a breeze for her next year and she won't be so nervous about riding the bus with all the big kids. I just hopping Emma can get into the same preschool when the time comes.

Emma is taking dance lessons and loving it! I wish it was more than once a week, but she still enjoys going and dancing with all the girls. I think Emma is going to be that girl on stage that is just looking around not really paying attention to what the other kids are doing. Oh well, at lest she is having fun now, and that is very important in a child's life!

My Latest Crafts

2009-08-14T11:18:00.014-06:00

It's been a crazy busy summer, but I've managed to fit some crafts into this fun summer. These are a few of things I have done...

A little boy tie onesie.

It turned out to be a great present of my new little nephew William!

Little girl ruffle bum onesie.

That also turned out to be a great gift for friend.

Emma's t-shirt dress, it looks so cute on her!

McKenzie's t-shirt dress!
She insisted on having an Ariel dress, she loves it!

Hair bow holder in the girls bathroom.
The picture didn't turn out so good, but it's a big flower, and the bows hang on the stem.

This is my nursing cover I just made yesterday! It would have been a lot easier if I didn't line it, but I figure I'm going to be having a winter baby so I might want the extra layer. Do you think it will work for a boy or a girl? I guess we will just have to wait and find out!

I have a ton of other crafts on my list of things I want to do. We'll just have to see if I can get them all done!

Oh yeah, on a side note. I just want to say Happy Anniversary to my husband, Fred, a day early. Tomorrow is our 6 year anniversary! Where does the time go? I love you so much and I am grateful for all that you do for the girls and I.

My husband is famous! Who would have known?

2009-07-15T11:41:00.004-06:00

Fred is becoming well known in the Mortgage Technology industry these days! He has written many articles in mortgage lending and technology magazines, that are published nationwide. For those who don't know (as it says in the article) "Fred Gooch is Chief Legal Counsel and Director of Compliance Department at Idaho Falls, Idaho-based DocuTech Corp. Since 1991, DocuTech has provided compliance services and documentation technology for the mortgage industry. DocuTech's software interfaces with leading loan origination systems (LOS) and enables mortgage professionals to generate documents locally." Basically, I don't really ask a lot of detailed questions about his job or "what did you do at work today?" because I will get a length answer that I hardly understand. He really enjoys the work that is doing at DocuTech and is becoming well known around the nation in his profession. Congratulations honey, we are all so proud of you!

This is a link to one of his latest articles that has been published:

http://www.mortgage-technology.com/newsletter/guest/?story_id=924

Our Wonderful Cruise Vacation to Alaska

2009-07-13T14:37:00.061-06:00

This is where our wonderful trip began, the great city Seattle! I love going there, I don't know if it's b/c I had a great time there when we went on road trips in college. I love it every time!

Great picture of Mt. Rainier in the background.

This was part of our room, it's where Mark stayed.

The dinning area

Sitting/TV area and balcony

This was our bed, so romantic at night!

The bathroom, with a window in the shower (to the right) also.

I actually saw some whales when I was taking a shower one day!
It was one amazing room! Thanks Mark!!!!

Our first dinner on the ship, so good.

Fred and I at dinner!

Mark getting ready in case of an emergency!

Our first stop Juneau, Alaska were we went to Mendenhall Glacier.

The first glacier I have ever seen, wow!

WOW!!!

Water fall that was to the right of the glacier.
There were a lot of locals playing in the water that day b/c it was 80 degrees!

Fred found a friend!

This Bald Eagle had been shot and can't fly higher than a few feet off the ground. She was so pretty!

Another wild life we saw in the great state of Alaska.
It looks like a ground hog to me but I'm not sure.

Fred trying to spread his wings out as far as a Bald Eagle.

Here we are on top of the WORLD! Just kidding we are just to the look out area on Mt. Roberts in Juneau, Alaska.

That is our cruise ship below us!

So cool carving in the tree on the mountain top.

White Pass and Yukon Route train ride in Skagway, Alaska

A must if you ever go to Skagway. So pretty and amazing that a train can go on the side of a mountain like it does.

I was so happy when we didn't go over that bridge! It was built in 1898 during the Klondike Gold Rush in Alaska and B.C.

The top of the pass where our trip ended. The train we were on only goes one way during the day. So if we didn't get off, we would have ended up Carcross, Canada.

Fred enjoying the train ride!

Back to Alaska after being in Canada for maybe a half hour.

We stopped for a visit at Liarsville, Alaska.
I had a great time there, very interesting place.

Teaching us how to pan for GOLD!

Panning for GOLD!!!

During the gold rush there were about 70 brothels in the city of Skagway. It is a tiny town with a population around 862 during the off seasons, and doubles during the tourist season.

Bar in Skagway!

One of the trains!

This was amazing, they use this train to clear the snow off the tracks during the winter.

Another train

Mark and Fred on the hand cart.

Fred and some more friends.

Our ship The Norwegian Pearl.

Leaving Skagway.

I think it was about 11 o'clock at night when I took this picture.

A cruise ship that was following us into Glacier Bay

The water was just full of little blocks of ice and silt from the glacier. I say little b/c that is what they looked like to us up on the big ship, but we saw some people kayaking out there and the little pieces of ice where huge compared to them. It was amazing!

Our camera doesn't do justice to how big and how pretty those glaciers are.

Fred and I at Glacier Bay

More glaciers

On the top level of the ship looking at the glaciers.

Some sweet guy in the pool, who looks like he is naked at first sight.

So pretty!

The guy who discovered this land back in the day, thought from afar that this rock was a enemy ship coming to fight him!

The Misty Fjords

Fred and I in front of a waterfall in the Misty Fjords

Which were not misty on the day we went b/c there weren't any clouds in the sky that day.

Seal on the rock, they blend in so well.

Rain Meter in Ketchikan

They get an average of 160 inches of rainfall a year.

Did you know where Darth Vador is these days?

Playing his violin in Victoria, Canada!

Very pretty, I loved all the old building in Canada.

Last day

We got off the ship in the moring and our flight didn't leave until that night. So, we caught a MLB game, which I love. There is just something about pro games, I love them.

Take me out to the ball game....

We had a great vacation, it was so relaxing and so pretty, great food, great room, etc., etc. etc.

Thanks Mark for taking us on a wonderful trip.

2009-05-28T23:59:00.016-06:00

I can believe how long it has been since I have posted. I have been so busy lately, blogging has been put on the back burner. As Fred would say, right now my latest hobby or faze is couponing. It has kind of taken over my life this past month or so, but I have gotten a little more control over my obsession this week. But I do have to say, I have probably tripled my food storage in just a little over a month. So, there is a lot of good coming out of all that time that has been put into this hobby.While I have been couponing, my little girl has been growing up right before my eyes. McKenzie turned 4 years old a few Sundays ago. She had a great birthday! We went down to Utah that weekend, where we stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Gooch, went to a Real Salt Lake soccer game, played with her favorite cousins, got presents, and had an Ariel birthday cake! Who could ask for more? She had a great day! It doesn't seem like it was 4 years ago when she was born, where does the time go?

She was so excited about her cake b/c she helped decorate it!

(so professional, don't you think?)

Then she had her Joyschool graduation the other night over at the Braithwaite's home. The mom's in charge did such a great job, thank you for all your hard work and time. McKenzie's Joyschool group was 8 little girls this year, which was so much fun. The girls really had a great time together. Just look at how much she has grow up over close to 9 months, it just makes me
want to cry (and McKenzie too)!

Thanks all you mom's, McKenzie had a great time at Joyschool this year!

Disneyland Again (Day 3)

2009-04-14T16:15:00.026-06:00

This is for my brother-in-law Jon! He wanted to know when I was going to post pictures of our third day and last day at Disneyland.

We started the day off by taking pictures in front of Walt & Mickey with Sleeping Beauties castle in the background.

The flowers were so pretty there!

Then we just happened to be in the right place at the right time, when the Disneyland band came out. Then a bunch of characters came out, the girls loved it!

Alice was great.

Grandma Hawley and the girls in front of the castle.

Sleeping Beauties' Castle

Emma inside Sleeping Beauties' Castle with her glow stick!

McKenzie and mommy at the Madhatter's Tea Party.

Peter Pan, he was being a little rascal!

Woody was in a big hurry! Even characters have to use the potty!

Handy Manny

The Incredibles

High School Musical 3 parade!

It wasn't as good as the thought it would be :(

Finding Nemo submarine ride. Those funny birds, they were just like the movie and said "Mine, mine, mine, mine" when the sub went bye.

The girls loved driving the cars!

We had a great time celebrating with Mickey!

This was amazing! The Mickey Mouse face is made out of real flowers!

Our last picture at Disneyland!

We had such a great time, the girls still talk about it with anyone that will listen.

Thanks daddy for such a great family trip.

3/4 Carat Diamonds

2009-04-11T23:21:00.007-06:00

The 3/4 Carat Diamonds blessed us with their presence at our ward talent show. It was so awesome!!! I wish I could have gotten their autograph, maybe next time.

Flu Bug Go Away!

2009-03-31T09:19:00.004-06:00

This is how I felt yesterday and kind of today! Yesterday after working out and shoveling the snow off our drive way, I came inside and felt very light headed, nauseous, and cold. I must have caught some little flu bug. All I could do was lay on the couch all day, my poor kids were so board. Luckily, my mom came over after work and took them with her for a few hours, so I could get some sleep. Thanks mom, you are a life saver! Then my poor husband didn't get home until 6:30 and then he had to make his own dinner. Sorry honey! Thank goodness for a husband that can feed himself. Anyway, I'm still not feeling a 100% today, but I do feel much better than yesterday. I just hope my family doesn't get this bug because it is no fun!

It's a Small World After All (Day 2)

2009-03-26T15:05:00.019-06:00

I just had to post some more pictures of our family vacation. We had such a great time; the girls want to go back to Disneyland everyday.

I had lots of people tell me not to bother with "It's A Small World" ride, but we did, and our girls loved, loved, loved it. Emma just saw the picture on here and started singing the song. So if you go to Disneyland and have small kids, go on it!

Emma and mommy on "It's A Small World" ride. I've never thought Emma looked like me but I think we have the same smile and cheeks.

McKenzie and Emma waiting to go into Pixie Hollow!

Tinker Bell's friend Iridescent, a light fairy, and Emma

McKenzie, Tinker Bell, and Emma

They were so excited to meet her, and she was everything you thought she would be. She was little, happy, and had this really high pitch voice. It's a good thing the girls were happy to meet Tinker Bell b/c we waited in line for an hour and there were only two fairies, it was kind of disappointing. Got to love those lines at Disneyland!

McKenzie driving in Toon Town!

Grandma Hawley, Emma, and Winnie the Pooh

If you look closely, you can tell Emma is terrified. They didn't like Pooh or Tigger.

Jasmine and Aladdin

Emma after the Pixar Play Parade (they loved it)

Emma, Fred, and McKenzie getting ready for the 3D Bug Show!

The show was great, but it got a little scary for the girls. Then again, Emma kind of has this fear of bugs.

I had to put a picture of Emma favorite, Minnie Mouse. When Emma met Minnie, she was so excited. She gave her a big hug and kissed her on the nose. We caught it on the camcorder but not on our camera, but it was so, so cute!

That night we went to the Fantasmic show in Disneyland, it was amazing. They do this performance with water, fireworks, and Disney characters. They project images on walls of water, and at the end all the Disney characters come out on the ferry boat. Way cool! We had another great day!

Our First Day at "The Happiest Place On Earth!"

2009-03-22T13:42:00.032-06:00

This was probably going to be the longest blog ever, so I decided to break up the days of our great "Griswald Family Vacation." It started with this care package from Grandma Gooch, that arrived a few days before we left. The girls were so excited to open it! She sent some goodies for our 16 hour car ride to Disneyland. We pulled the girls out of their beds around 4 Am MST, and McKenzie said something that we have never heard her say before "No, I want back in my bed!" They weren't too excited about being taken from their beds that early, until we told them where we were going. We thought they would fall right back asleep, but I think they were a little too excited after that conversation. So, they stayed awake for an hour or two and then slept until 8 or 9 Am. We stopped for lunch in Las Vegas around 1:30 PM MST, which is really 12:30 PM PST. That was nice to gain an extra hour to play or in our case drive. Unlike Clark Griswald, we didn't see a hot blond in her red sports car; we did however see this nice van.

Fred was so excited because he has actually stayed at the Little AleInn before with some friends when he was in college. The girls were excited also "Look mom, it's AT!" McKenzie has changed the vowel in ET's name, he is now AT in our house.

We arrived in Anaheim, CA around 6:30 PM, so we made pretty good time. Our girls were troopers, they did great. I think they are used to traveling in the car, since we go down to Utah at lest once a month or so. We did have one little incident along the way, the road must have been a little too windy for McKenzie b/c she just started throwing up. Thankfully she hadn't really had very much to eat, so it really wasn't that bad. She was still in her PJs, so we just pulled off some random exit in the middle of no where and changed her into some clean clothes. So, overall they really did a great job for how far we traveled. As you can tell from the pictures, they were very excited to get out of the car and run around and wrestle with each other once we got into our hotel room.

Friday was our big day! Our first day at Disneyland and our big lunch date at Ariel's Grotto in California Adventure Park. McKenzie was so excited she wanted to go straight to Ariel's Grotto when we got there. We had to distract her for a little while until it was time.

I had heard that it would be expensive, but I knew the girls would love it and they are so into princesses right now, we just had to do it. I wasn't expecting it to be as fancy as it was. It was definitely worth $$$ b/c we didn't really see any princesses around the parks later.

So, Here we are with Ariel at the beginning of the lunch. Ariel was very young and pretty. Emma was busy looking at Ariel's pretty dress or maybe she was wondering where her mermaid fin was, I'm not quite sure. As you will see in more pictures, McKenzie likes to cheese-it. After our picture with Ariel, they showed us to our table where the girls got crowns that they decorated with stickers (which were way too big, so they wouldn't wear them but they had fun putting the jewels on anyway) and they got crayons to color with for a little entertainment. Everything was so organized there, I think they had a waitress for each table, so they were right at your side if you needed anything. The princess are introduced and came out one by one, about 5 minutes apart. Then they come to each table to take pictures and sign your autograph books. The girls thought that was awesome!

Princess Aurora was the first princesses.

Cinderella came 2nd and both the girls were very excited.

Then came Emma's favorite, Snow White

(Emma really was excited to see her, you just can tell in this picture).

It's so amazing how perfect the characters are, voice and all (especially Snow White).

Belle was the last princess to come to lunch, but I thought she was the prettiest!

This was towards the end of our princess lunch, we were all full and very happy. The restaurant itself was amazing too, this was one of the cool lights hanging down. It was so much fun! Defiantly one of the most expensive meals I have ever had, but so worth it for the girls.

Grandma Hawley and the girls ready for the 3D Toy Story ride.

Fred the little Fire Fighter

Emma and I with Wall-E

Fred and McKenzie standing by the girls favorite ride,

Heimlich's Chew, Chew Train, in "a bug's land" area.

Sleeping Beauty's Castle

After lunch we mostly explored the California Adventure Park. We went on a few rides; the girls played on some slides and explored a boat; we went to the Playhouse Disney Live show; and the Disney Aladdin Musical. I wasn't sure the girls would like to musical, but they loved it! I recorded the whole thing, and the girls ask to watch it every day now. After dinner, we went over to the Disneyland Park and looked around and watched the Dreams Come True Fireworks. Which was very cool b/c Tinker Bell flew over the castle during the fireworks.

As you can probably imagine, this was the usual scene each night leaving Disneyland, very tired, and sleepy girls!

Good Times With The Family!

2009-03-06T14:43:00.016-07:00

I can't believe it has been a month already since I have put up a post. I guess we have been busy. We went down to Utah with my mom the other weekend because my sister-in-law was being induced and my mom had to help my sister-in-law, Heather, paint her house. The first night we were there I stayed at my brother Adam's house (yeah to chef), who was at work of course. So, Heather (Adam's wife) and I hung out. We decided we would stop by his work and have him make us some pizzas. The pizza was so good, but he also made us some bruschetta. He made two kinds, the regular bruschetta with tomatoes and spices...but then he made this amazing kind with eggplant (which I normally don't care for) and some other toppings. Oh my, it was seriously one of the top ten best things I have ever tasted. You know like on Ratatouille how Remy is explaining what a good mix of ingredients together taste like to his brother, and there are fireworks going off as he is describing it. That is exactly what I thought about when I tasted this bruschetta, it was truly amazing. I'm drooling just writing about it, just kidding but close. Anyway it was really fun just to hang out with Heather and Jayden that night, Emma might tell you other wise ;) Then the next day while there was painting going on Adam and I took our kids to the Children's Museum. We went on President's Day, so it was pretty crowded, but McKenzie, Emma, and Jayden still had a blast.

McKenzie putting gas in Jayden car!

(and some random kid in the background)

Jayden pumping water!

Emma riding the fake horse,

she wasn't too happy about being on him.

Emma playing a little door lock, while McKenzie is figuring out the directions
(or so it looks that way)!

They had a great time! Thanks Adam and Heather!

The next night we went down to stay at my brother Aaron's house. They had just gotten back from Florida, they went for the NASCAR Daytona 500 race (which now they are total fans)! So we were all ready to relax, and so were the kids.

We put PJs on all the kids before they all laid down to watch Flushed Away. It was such a cute sight (except for the scary red eyes) to see them all in a row. Don't you just love Emma's hair!

The next day Brighton Lynn Vickers was born. She was 9 lbs. 4 oz. and you could tell. She had about three chins, big cheeks, and tons of black hair. The scary thing is, she was a week early. I sure hope I never have a baby that big, but big babies run in the family. I can't believe it, but I don't have any pictures of her. I guess they are all on my mom's camera. Oh well, I guess I'll just have a mental picture of her until I can get a real one. Congrats, Michael and Trina, she a cute girl.

The girls and I had a great time with my family, it's always good to see everyone!

Excited for Dinner!

2009-02-04T14:01:00.007-07:00

It's amazing that I'm saying this, but I am excited to make dinner tonight! I found this awesome website, http://favfamilyrecipes.blogspot.com/, with great ideas for dinner and kids meals. Anyway, I love the Sweet Pork Salad from Cafe Rio! Well I found a recipe for the whole meal on this website. We'll have to see if I can replicate it, I'm not the worlds best cook (that would be my brother).

Speaking of my brother, Adam Vickers the amazing chef in Salt Lake, had the opportunity to cook for the stars at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. The event, Chefdance, went for 5 nights and featured a new "celebrity"chef each night. It's really weird to think of your brother as a "celebrity." He and his friend, Franck Peissel, cooked on Monday, January 19th. Their dish consisted of Pomme frites fried in duck fat, pan-seared Opakapaka "Hawaiian Pink Snapper" with a white chocolate wasabi sauce and Kobe beef short ribs with shaved black truffles. What a mouth full, I wouldn't even begin to know how to cook something like that. One magazine reported "Chef Vickers said it took him five hours just to brown off the shortribs; then he deboned them and cook them for seven hours in a very slow oven while the sauce reduced for hours." Wwwooooowww! And I complain about a dinner that takes 30 minutes to make! Patton Oswalt, the voice of Remy from Ratatouille, was one of the celebrity guests there the night my brother cooked. He raves about the ($500 a plate) dinner on his website and says how next time he is SLC he will defiantly be going to Tuscany with a feed bag attached to him (so he can eat more than his stomach can hold). What a complement!

Your amazing big bro and I love you tons!

And they lived Happily Ever After...in the cold!

2009-01-27T14:24:00.008-07:00

McKenzie has been wanting to make a snowprincess ever since the first snow flake hit the ground. I've been putting it off until yesterday, we finally made one. However, a princess was not enough this year, she informed me that the princess would get lonely out there all by herself. So of course, she had to have a prince to keep her company out in the cold. They are suppose to be princess Ariel and prince Eric! Aren't they spiting image of the real thing? I had to convince McKenzie that we could make a few changes and work with what we had (those snowman & snowwoman kits). She finally agreed that Eric could just wear a snowman hat instead of giving him black hair. Thank goodness because I wasn't sure how I was going to make black without it looking like something left over from an animal. We had to improvise on the arms,but we had a great time! McKenzie's favorite part was giving them some color!

This was Princess Belle from last year!

Christmas, finally!

2009-01-26T16:05:00.010-07:00

Wow, it has been so long since I have blogged. It just seems like I have one thing after the other. I haven't even blogged about Christmas yet, so here we go. It was wonderful! We stayed home for Christmas, which is always nice to wake up in your own bed Christmas morning. We had to waking the girls up that morning because they stayed up too late at Grandmas the night before. I was relieved when the girls were done opening presents that they still had big smiles, because Santa wasn't able to bring the "big" present that they asked for. Santa's elves got an earful from me for not making enough Barbie and the Diamond Castle play set before Christmas. I looked everywhere for that thing! However, Santa pulled through and took care of everything. He left the girls a letter explaining everything and how sorry he was about not being able to bring one for Christmas morning. He said the elves were making more, and he even left money us to buy it when we saw it at the store. They didn't really care that they didn't get it that morning, which was so nice. Thanks to all those who helped look for the castle, I really appreciated the extra help. We did finally find it down in Ogden when we went down to Fred's parents after Christmas. McKenzie & Emma play with it every single day! Which always makes a parent happy when you send a lot of money on a toy and your kids actually play with it for more than a day like some of their other toys!

The day after Christmas we went down to Ogden to spend time with Fred's family, the trip took us a good extra hour because of the wonderful road conditions. It was worth it though because we stayed for a week. We saw my siblings and my dad, we went to a few Aggie basketball games, went sledding , the girls played with their cousins a lot, and got spoiled rotten by grandma and grandpa. And it seemed like I got a week off of being a parent because my girls would run to grandma whenever they needed something. It was a great week for all, thank you!

Growing up to fast!

2009-01-01T12:00:00.011-07:00

I love to look at my in-laws pictures when we're visiting because they always have really cute or funny pictures of our girls that I have forgotten about. Like this one when McKenzie was little and we were putting in our sprinkler system. She loved to play in the dirt and mud and eat it too! It just seems like it was so long ago when she was that little.

Then I found these Aggie pictures. I forgot how chunky Emma was, I think those pants are cutting the off the circulation in her legs. So cute! I think that was the same day we all went to the Aggie football game, where McKenzie and her cousin Rylee were sharing the umbrella together.

Man, I guess I'm really getting baby hungry because I look at these photos and just want another baby, or is it that I'm just missing my girls being that little? It makes you think about how fast they really do grow up:(

Tired of the Poop

2008-12-12T09:09:00.002-07:00

Let me apologize first for the contents of this blog, but this is just one thing mothers deal with on a daily basis!

I am sooooooo ready for my 2 year old to get potty trained! Although she just turned 2 in September, I am ready for her to use the potty. I'm tired of changing her poopy diapers! She used to be a one day pooper, and I was okay with that. But all of a sudden she has been pooping 3 or 4 times a day. Yuck! It seems like every time I change her diaper lately there is a surprise in there waiting for me. These are not the kind of surprises I enjoy. I guess that it's all just part of being a mother, and I guess I should enjoy this time while they are little, but tell me what mother enjoys changing poopy diapers?

A Great Thanksgiving Weekend

2008-12-04T10:04:00.016-07:00

Fred's favorite holiday has come and gone. Fred loves Thanksgiving due to stuffing yourself full of food and watching football all day long. At lest that's what he says, but I didn't witness him doing much of either activity. We did however have the first ever Gooch Family 5K Turkey Trot. Which included Fred, Camille (his sister), George (his dad), and me on the bike pulling our girls in the bike trailer. We had a great time, thanks Fred for putting that together. It was great to burn a few calories before a bunch were consumed. When it was time to eat the little girls were ready, even if they only lasted 5 minutes, they were excited to be together. Thanks Tammy for the great dinner.

Later that evening Emma and Ellsee played a beautiful duet together on the piano. They are so cute together! They like to pretend they are reading music while they are playing, but if you notice the children's song book, it's open to a picture. Silly girls! We did learned a great trick to get 5 little girls all to smile in one picture, the key is give them all ice cream cones!

A few hours later it was Black Friday! I get so excited for great deals, it's almost as exciting as Christmas morning. That is if there is anything that we really want or we get everything we went out for. This year Fred's mom, Tammy, and I were at Wal Mart around 4:45 am. Talk about a crazy place to be so early in the morning! People were standing around the toys with their hands on the item that they wanted until it was 5:00 am, because the sales didn't officially start until 5 am. I heard some people say that they had been there since 3 am!!! I won't go to that extreme, my children don't need a toy that bad. I was pretty happy because we got pretty much everything that I went out to get. Tammy & I went to a few more stores that were pretty crazy too; we were back at the house by 7:30 am. I so happy Tammy went with me, because I couldn't have done that by myself. Thanks again!

Saturday was our Aggie day! Fred, the girls, and I all went up to Logan for a cold, rainy football game and later a basketball game. The girls are trooper putting up with their daddy's love of sports. I have to say a big thanks to Kari and Jon (Fred's brother) for hosting the tailgate party and letting us hang out at their place every time we're in Logan. Our girls love to play with you guys and tickle their Uncle Jon. We had a great Thanksgiving weekend!

5 Stars to My Brother Adam

2008-11-21T11:54:00.004-07:00

I have to brag a little about my big brother Adam and his amazing ability to cook. He was just featured in magazine, Nicholas & Company (http://nicholasandco.com/articles/foodtrend/foodtrend1.pdf), as an award winning chef for one of Salt Lake’s finest restaurants, Tuscany. He is a great cook and has been cooking for years. According to the article "Chef Adam Vickers training came during years of working in his mother’s restaurant kitchen in Idaho." Mom, why didn't you tell the rest of us that you had a restaurant? I guess Adam was the only one invited! Mom always said Adam loved to cook from the time he was two years old, he would make himself peanut & jelly sandwiches all the time. Look at him now "an award winning chef." Congrats big bro, you are amazing! You can cook for us anytime you want! We love you!

Tierd of Looking for the Answer

2008-11-20T15:37:00.003-07:00

Okay, I have been looking all over the web and my blog for the answer to my question. How do I make comments show up under my posts? If anyone could let me know how to do that, I would be very grateful and it would save me a lot of time. Thanks!

Children Say and Do the Funniest Things!

2008-11-12T12:52:00.008-07:00

Emma is our little "goof ball," for those who know her know exactly what I'm talking about. She is constantly making funny faces, dancing, or just being herself which is always funny (like in the picture above). We were walking back to the car after the Utah State Aggie game and she decided that she needed to be cool and walk with her hands in her pockets. She walk almost two blocks like that, until she tried to pick up some leaves and found out she couldn't pick them up with her hands in her pockets. It was so funny because she was looking at us like "what's wrong with you guys? Can't a girl walk down the street with her hands in her pockets without someone laughing at her?" We get a kick out of her daily! Emma hasn't gotten over Halloween, every day she wears a costume. She even tried to wear the Snow White dress to church last Sunday. Today we went to the library, while McKenzie was at preschool, and she wore her ladybug costume. I think she loves all the attention!

McKenzie is a funny girl too, during sacrament on Sunday, Fred was talking to her and all of a sudden he starts laughing really hard. McKenzie was showing him her little burn she got from helping me cook lunch before church that day. He asked her what happened and she said with a very serious face "I cooked myself!" He couldn't stop laughing!

I love remembering and recording all the funny things our girls say and do because they won't be little very long. Time goes by so fast every day! I mean Christmas Eve is only six weeks away!

Zucchini Chips

2008-11-07T10:19:00.006-07:00

I was just reading some other blogs and came across a friends blog (Julie) who had canned a bunch of food. Which reminded me about the three buckets full of carrots in our garage that I still need to do something with, but instead I am blogging (anything to not do work)! Oh yeah, and I need to can the rest of our tomatoes that have been ripening down stairs. I'll just add them to my list of things to do but don't really want to do. Anyway, her blog also reminded me of a great recipe for zucchini that I grew up eating. I love it because it's pretty healthy, at lest it seems healthier to me than frying them, and my girls love zucchini this way. Emma can't get enough!

Zucchini Chips

Ingredients:

1 or 2 medium size zucchini

fresh graded Parmesan cheese (the kind in the bag)

Directions:

First wash zucchini and slice about ¼ inch thick. You don’t want them too thick or too thin. Take a cookie sheet and spray it down with vegetable spray, so the zucchini won't stick to the pan. Place sliced zucchini in rows on the cookie sheet as close together as possible. Then cover each zucchini chip with Parmesan cheese. Broil for 10 – 15 minutes or until cheese is browned. Place chips onto a plate and serve warm (not as good when they are cold). Enjoy, we always do!

Halloween Weeks!

2008-11-04T08:15:00.041-07:00

Well it is finally all over but what a crazy few weeks we had. I think Halloween gets longer and longer every year. There are just so many things going on all month long. I think if someone tried to make it to every event around the area (including Halloween night), they could have enough candy for a whole year. The Gooch family didn't go that far but we might have enough candy for 6 months!

Our Halloween events actually started on the 18th of October for an annual Halloween party with a few friends in Utah. The theme was Super Heroes or Villains! Fred went as Jack Burton from this really cheesy 80s movie and I went as Cruella Deville.

In this picture, that is my real hair that was sprayed black & white, what a mess that was! I had black all over my neck, face, and hands by the end of the night. So I was smarter the next few times that I dressed up as Cruella, I got a wig and sprayed it, instead of my own hair. Anyway, we had a lot of fun at the party. Thanks Jim and Heather, you guys always throw a great party!

This year for family home evening, we went to a pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkins. I think McKenzie's favorite part was being able to cart around the pumpkins in the wagon. Emma was too cold to really get into it but she still had a good time and picked out her own pumpkin. She just wanted to ride on daddy's shoulders! We only ended up paying $5 for 4 pumpkins! It was a really fun place, they had a little kids maze made out of hay bales, wagons to pull your pumpkins around, and a big painted board where you put your face through the holes and take pictures. Here's our family picture, plus my mom's shadow.

That night we went home and painted the pumpkins. Of course Emma ended up a mess, but she enjoyed every minute of it!

I tried something this Halloween that has never been attempted by these hands of mine and may not ever be attempted again. I made McKenzie's Halloween costume, with the help of an old dress up that was falling apart. She wanted to be Ariel, she already had the necklace, crown, and shoes. So, for the costume I took parts off the old dress up, added it to some new fabric, and made an Ariel tutu. Wallah, her costume was done! Oh yeah and we got an Ariel wig. It was a hit, especially when we went to the parade at the library. Little girls were coming up to her and touching her hair and telling her how pretty Ariel's hair was. I think she loved all the attention!

As for Emma, I knew it would depend on the day what she was going to be for Halloween. She had a few choices, she could have been any of the princesses dresses we have, Mini Mouse, or a Ladybug. When we went to the library Emma was Princess Erica from Barbie Princess and the Pauper. At home she was or every day now is Snow White. For the actual day of Halloween, she ended up being a Ladybug.

To sum up all our Halloween activities we went to a pumpkin patch, school carnival, a church carnival, a library parade, Halloween street down at Snake River Landing, got a pumpkin pizza for dinner, and went trick-or-treating old school way. Over all it was a fun few weeks of Halloween!

The girls were all tuckered out by the end.

I've been tagged!

2008-10-26T09:09:00.004-06:00

This too will be hard for me to come up with 7 random or weird facts about myself but I will do my best. My friend and neighbor Rachel tagged me, and then I have to try and find 7 different people who haven't been tagged. I'll see what I can come up with.

1. One weird thing I can do is flip my tongue over both ways and wave it up and down while it is flipped over. I also can make a horse galloping sound with my tongue. I know, weird! I've been asked when or how I learned I could do these tricks, and I told them I didn't know, I've just always been able to do them.

2. I grew up with animals my whole life, went to college got my Bachelor's degree in Veterinary Science from the University of Idaho, and then ended up falling in love and married a man who is extremely allergic to animals and causes his asthma to kick in and he can't breath. I still love him anyway and when ever I need to see animals, I just go over to my mom's house.

3. I hate soggy bread! I can't eat french dipped sandwiches because the bread gets soggy. It's a texture thing for me but it's only soggy bread that bothers me. You would think I wouldn't like my cookies dipped in milk but that's not the case (thank goodness).

4. If you read "About Me" on this blog, you will see that coming up with favorites are hard for me because I like a lot of things and don't really think about certain movies or books or things like that to be my favorites. Probably because my so called "favorites" change a lot too and I tend to forget about things that are me "favorite." Plus, I'm a Libra! Libras have a hard time decided on things or a better word for this is impartial . We like a equal balance.

5. My husband calls me a "lazy anal retentive" (it sounds worse than it is) because I like things clean but I'm not always willing to do the work. When I do have the house clean or mess free, I don't want me kids or my husband to mess it up. I feel like Mr. Incredible when he says "Sometimes I feel like a maid: I just cleaned up this mess! Can we keep it clean for, for 10 minutes?! Please?!'" So, there are times that I just don't care for a while (maybe a day or two) and the house looks like a bomb went off. Welcome to motherhood, right?

6. I love having two little girls! There can never be too much pink, I get to play with barbies or babies; watch the latest Barbie movie or sing to HSM with them,; make hair bows or tutus; and not to mention the clothes and shoes I get to buy for them. They are some much fun, a little dramatic, but still so fun to be with and to play with. I love my girls!

7. I guess one thing that I think people assume about me is that I have naturally curly hair....I don't! I have just permed it for so long, at lest since my first year of college (on & off again), almost 9 or 10 years (wow). It might have a natural wave to it now, I'm not really sure. Maybe one of these days I will find out!

I tag Melanie, Jessica, Miranda, Brooke, Zoe, and I don't have any more people to tag.

These are the girl's latest pictures done this summer by Aaron Lee

2008-10-17T11:59:00.001-06:00

I was looking at our video files today and found this very funny one. Emma was 10 months old and found herself very kissable. If you watch closely towards the end, she winks at herself. It is so funny!

2008-10-17T10:31:00.001-06:00

Our Silly Emma Girl!

2008-10-13T09:16:00.001-06:00

Honking At My Children

2008-10-01T16:17:00.012-06:00

There are days when I feel like I'm like this goose, always honking at my children (or yelling). Whether it is to leave each other alone, or not to get into something they've been told to stay out of a million times. Even during these days my love for them never grows weak. They are truly my life and my love. I'm always amazed how strong a mother's love is for her children, humans and animals alike. I just have to remind myself that my girls aren't always fighting (although some days it seems like that is all they do) and that most of the time they play really well together. I REALLY LOVE THOSE DAYS!

Following the Trend

2008-09-30T09:08:00.003-06:00

So, I finally did it, I finally started a blog. The new latest craze! I figured it's the best way to share what is going on in our crazy life with friends and family. I know I'm one of the last to start one, but better late than never. I was delayed with my decision to create a blog because I was afraid I wouldn't have much to write about. As I did some surfing through blogs, I noticed not everyone wrote on their blogs all the time. They just wrote on them when there was something interesting or funny going on in their lives. So, thank you to all you bloggers for encouraging me to blog!