The Bland, Basic, Boring... Butters Blog :)

He's gone :(

2010-04-12T21:44:00.000-07:00

Dave is officially in Afghanistan! It took him about a week to actually get there, but he is there - safe and sound. He won't be able to call or email very often but hopefully he will about once a week. It was really hard saying goodbye to him last weekend - the kids had their share of tears (along with Dave and I) which made it difficult to be strong. We are very proud of what Dave is doing for our family and for our country and I have tried to explain to the kids how great it is that their dad is sacrificing so much for others. Dave really feels that he is "meant" to be there and that he has an important mission to fulfill while in Afghanistan.

I sincerely appreciate all of your thoughts and prayers on my family's behalf. It makes a difference. I can't begin to tell you how much it means to have not only my family move out here to help me but also have my ward family being so willing to help out in any way they can. I have really been able to hand my troubles over to the Lord and focus on trying to be the best me :)

He's Baaaaaaaaccccckkkkkkk!!!!!!!!!!

2010-02-08T10:30:00.000-08:00

Dave is back from 29 Palms and will be here until he leaves for Afghanistan in early April. The kids are soooooo happy to have their Dad back. They all have a list of things that they want him to do with them to make up for the time away. The cutest thing so far was Kambria and Dave playing Wii Dancing With the Stars...doing their little twist together was too cute! We are so glad to have him home, however short this stay may be, and we are so proud of the service that he provides our country and the sacrifices he makes for our family...you're the best Dave!!!!

Student of the Week(s)

2009-11-13T13:34:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago Kambria was the student of the week. The kids school has an outdoor Friday Flag Ceremony every week where they parents can come if they want and they do all sorts of nonsensical things like introduce fundraisers and announce the students of the week. Well, I went and took a picture of Kambria and she was selected during October which was deemed "Responsibility" month, so she was selected for showing that quality (which Kaia thought was hilarious). This week Kaia was selected from her class and this months theme is "Caring" which I think is hilarious...just teasing :) Anyway, last night Dave put the pressure on Jaxon and said he better get is soon and then all the Butters' will be represented. He looked all overwhelmed by the pressure last night but, this morning he woke up and told me he was going to be student of the MONTH! I love that kid!!!

Move over everyone else!

2009-11-13T13:18:00.000-08:00

There is a new BFF in town. Not only have we been jogging together we decided to take part in a pumpkin baking extravaganza! I have captured the moment twice and I am now sharing it with you. Objects might not appear as delicious as they are in real life but just take my word for it. I'm not going to lie, making the pumpkin rolls was quite the undertaking since we decided to quadruple the recipe...I wouldn't recommend doing that (although I would recommend the recipe if you are interested in "dazzling" your friends - that's what the recipe said at least. I love you Mel :)

I GOT A JOB!!!!!!

2009-11-13T13:00:00.000-08:00

For all of you that haven't heard I finally got the chance to interview and I nailed it!!! I am super excited :) It is at Loma Linda University Medical Center on a unit where people who just came out of ICU are that need heart monitoring. I should gain a lot of great experience. The RN to patient ratio is only 1:3 and that makes me very happy too :) I am so excited to be able to start my career as an RN. School was insane but I think that finding a job was even crazier so I am very happy to have not only found a position that would entertain the idea of hiring a new grad, but the perfect one! Thank you for all of your prayers on my behalf - I know that you all made a difference in our lives as we have been struggling through this transitional time!

Family Pictures

2009-11-13T12:48:00.000-08:00

Okay, so we decided it was time for family pictures....barf! So of course the first thing was to choose a photographer and luckily there is an awesome one in our new ward so I was very excited to test her skills on my super spunky family :) Next was where to do it. This was a toughy!!! We went with beach since we just moved to California and thought that it would be fitting. Now for the really difficult part....what do we wear!!!! Ahhhhhh....okay, so I didn't want us to all be match"ing" but I did want us to match - does that even make sense. I looked at a ton of pictures of others (kinda stalkerish) and decided that most beach photo ops looked sort of bland for the Butters. I decided that we would be sort of rainbow like - very bold and fun. I think they turned out great and I can thank my new friend Alisha Hammond enough for capturing our sweet family :)

Halloween : O

2009-11-02T15:57:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone else had as much fun as we did this Halloween! My sister Jennifer and her girls came here from Sandy for the weekend. We went to see This Is It (the Michael Jackson movie) - which was AMAZING!!!, had lunch at a German restaurant (just Jen and I), took the kids to the ward Trunk-Or-Treat and chili cookoff (which I won the spiciest :), and last but not least took the kids Trick-Or-Treating!!! They all had a great time and I even got Dave to dress up! Jonston was Yoda, Justus was Spiderman, Jaxon was Anakin, Kambria was a bunny, Kaia was an Eskimo, Imani was a pirate, Seneca was Snow White and Dave and I were an early 60's Ma and Pa :)

You probably thought I gave up.

2009-09-15T23:36:00.000-07:00

Surprise!!!! I'm blogging :) I hope you haven't lost much sleep without my blog updates to keep you cozy at night. It is just hard updating so many different things. Anyway, the big news is Dave is still gone, I don't have a job and we still haven't sold our house in Massachusetts!!! Oh wait, that's all the bad news...boo! The good news is, I love our neighborhood (I've realized that I am quite great at making friends), the kids love the school, the ward is awesome and the weather is perfect! And I saved the best for last, Dave will be home in two weeks!!!!
I am actually going to Paris with my sister and her daughter and leaving the morning that Dave gets home. So, as usual we will be like two ships passing in the night (or day in this case - and at the Ontario airport). I am sooooo excited I have never been before, and I always have fun with my sissy and Imani :)
Oddly, not much has happened since we have been here. Kaia is already full swing in gymnastics here. I just signed Jaxon up for a Chess Club ;), and Kambria is the life of the neighborhood! I have really enjoyed my time home with Justus and Jonston and I am so grateful that I have had this weird gap in between school and a job to spend watching my two boys grow up before my eyes. Jonston is probably the fastest crawler I have ever seen (and I've seen some mad crawling in my day), he has 6 teeth - bites everything, and is standing up on the furniture and trying to maneuver. We bought a fish tank about a month ago and he LOVES the fish! It is the only time he sits still, he just stares for like 5 minutes at a time (which is like hours in baby time)...so cute!
Well, I hope everyone that we left behind in Mass is doing well without us...we miss you and we will never forget you! Oh, I forgot to mention that I am the Cub Scout Bear Den Leader ....you can all stop laughing now, and start praying for these poor little boys. Ha ha ha...I'll figure it out :)

Here we are....

2009-05-29T21:50:00.000-07:00

Ok, so this picture is not one of ours, our camera is still in Massachusetts....... However, on the way to the kids new school (about 1 mile away) this is basically the view. We live in Temecula, Ca. For Dave it is about an hour commute in the morning and about an hour and a half in the evening to and from work @ Camp Pendleton. Janine is waiting to find out when she can take her RN Board, but she did manage to graduate with HONORS on May 26th! Kaia is going to gym at SCEGA and is having a really good time. Jaxon is going to test out his skills at football. Kambria wants to take piano lessons, and Justy wants to watch the movie Cars all day. Jonston is rolling all over the place and it is only a matter of time before he is crawling. We really miss our friends back in Mass and it still doesn't feel real here in Cali. The weather is quite nice and we look forward to wearing shorts all year.

San Diego here we come!

2009-03-30T09:04:00.000-07:00

So if you haven't heard yet, we are moving to San Diego California! Dave will be there for May 1st and the rest of us are following on June 1st. It's exciting and exhausting news. Between now and then I have to finish school, pass my board exam, and sell the house. Needless to say blogging is not at the forefront of my "to do" list. Here are some pics for your enjoyment. I got a cute shot of my four boys, one of Kaia in her "get-up" from her last competition that had a Western theme (I made the chaps for all the girls on the team :)), and then one of Jaxon wearing Kaia's mustache, and one of Jonston in his Bumbo seat. He loves it already! And since Jonston looks so cute in it, I'm including a picture that I look horrible in.

Kaia's meet on 1/10

2009-01-14T06:45:00.000-08:00

Kaia competed level 7 last weekend at the Fred J. Castor meet at Westfield State College. She scored a 9.6 on beam which was the highest score of the entire competition and placed 1st. She scored 8.7 on floor, 8.6 on vault and 7.75 on bars (two big mistakes on bars so she wont let me post them). She placed 9th all around and loved every minute! I can't say the same for Kambria and Justus who had to watch the whole thing. Here are 2 links to videos of her on youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yxfbbrJsiE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UPe6QLAAlA

New Baby!

2008-12-26T19:22:00.000-08:00

Jonston Robert Butters is here! After being bumped back a day for my "induction of convenience" and then enduring a two day induction he made his arrival on December 21, 2008. He weighed 7 lb and 2 oz and was 21 1/2 in long. It actually went really fast once things picked up and everything went smoothly. Dave, my mom, my friend Bessy and Kaia were all there for the delivery and it was a great experience (I can't believe it's over and I have 5 kids).

Halloween!

2008-10-31T18:25:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween! So we have had a weeks worth of spooky festivities! Last Friday the kids went to a ward Halloween party with my nanny (she's such a trooper) because I had to work. I guess they were pretty good there and she had a good time too. Last night I took Jaxon, Kambria and Justus to the Eastfield Mall to trick or treat while Kaia was at gymnastics. It was kind of lame but oh well. Tonight we went to base housing to trick or treat and the kids had a blast. They only lasted about an hour but they got quite a bit of candy. There was a young kid (about 12) that was dressed in a costume with a full scary mask and Justus (who was Indian Jones) went up to him and screamed "take off your mask" multiple times and then proceeded to chase him around someones yard attempting to whip him! It was pretty hilarious (Kaia thought it was the funniest thing in the world). Anyway, this was the year of musical costumes and although I bought Jaxon a Darth Vador costume ... he never wore it. In the pictures you will see, he is either Troy Bolton from High School Musical or Luke Skywalker from Star Wars. Kambria was a fairy at the ward party but then opted for last years costume of Belle. Kaia was a witch. All in all it was a pretty good Halloween season! Bring on Thanksgiving and Christmas... I'm ready to have a baby!

Basic Officer Course

2008-10-18T15:40:00.000-07:00

So here I am sitting in my little piece of the world.... For the past 6 weeks and for the next 5 1/2 months I am becoming a " provisional rifle Platoon Commander". This basically means that I will have the skills necessary to lead a group of 50 or so Marines into combat. The course is 2 1/2 years crammed and jammed into 6 months. The saying here is, " We train to a standard, not time." This is probably a good motto for life as well. Whenever we encounter tough times or people who just don't see things the way we do we need to maintain the standard that we know and not give up because it is "too hard" or "been long enough". Each day I try to raise my standard as a Husband, Father, Professional, and a Priesthood holder. I'm not doing the best that I can, but I guess it is important that I see where I am amiss and continue to correct or improve in the area that need improvement.

6 Flags Fright Fest

2008-10-13T14:24:00.000-07:00

So Dave was home for the weekend and we took the kids to 6 Flags New England for fright fest. The kids had a lot of fun and Jaxon finally talked me into having me pay for him to try and "hit the bell". He did it! and the guy running the game gave all the kids capes...they were super cute. We went to Carrabba's for dinner after and it was delicious. I am also including a prego picture of me since I have received many complaints about not including such photos.

The park!

2008-10-04T13:44:00.000-07:00

I took the kids to Hubbard Park today and decided to take a few pics of the kids while we were there. They're so cute when you can't hear them talking :)

Random summer pics

2008-10-02T12:12:00.001-07:00

I know that I haven't posted in forever... and a day so you might want to go grab a snack before you look through our entire summer.

Here are just a few more pictures form the summer that didn't fit into any other catagory. Enjoy!

First day of school!

2008-10-02T11:59:00.000-07:00

Kaia, Jaxon and Kambria are all at Indian Orchard Elementary and go full day!!! I've been waiting for this year to come. Kaia and Jaxon started on September 2 and Kambria started on the 8th. Kaia is in 3rd grade, Jaxon is in 2nd and Kambria is in Kindergarten. They are all doing very well this year and I really like all of their teachers (Jaxon thinks his teacher is "hot"... ya, I don't know how I feel about that). All of Springfield Public Schools have uniforms this year (which Kaia hates!) and I'm still undecided whether I like this new poilcy or not.

Kaia’s hair cut and new glasses

2008-10-02T11:56:00.001-07:00

Kaia begged my to cut her hair and I was really scared since this new popular cut is even hard for professionals to get right. With her persistence and my over-confidence, we went for it and I think it turned out pretty well (if I don’t say so myself). She also got a new prescription and thus, new glasses so here is a picture of those too.

International Gymnastics Camp

2008-10-02T10:41:00.000-07:00

From Myrtle Beach I drove Kaia to Pennsylvania for a week long gymnastics camp with two of her friends from gymnastics Sarah and Maddie. There are previous Olympians there as coaches (like Blain Wilson and Svetlana Boginskia) and it is pretty much gymnastics 24/7. I really didn’t think that I would miss her but it was crazy not knowing what she was doing everyday. I could email her but we never heard from her for 6 days! They also do fun stuff like dances, karaoke and rock climbing. She had a blast (and I think is was the best week of Jaxon and Kambria’s life …. So far).

Myrtle Beach

2008-10-02T10:35:00.000-07:00

From graduation my whole family made our way to Myrtle Beach, NC. Val, Vern (my mom’s sister and husband), Lynn (their daughter) and her daughters Emily and Andrea were there when we got there. We were right on the beach and the condo was awesome. The weather was beautiful and everybody enjoyed our long days at the beach! I love the picture of the Butters taking up the whole side of the table at the restaurant.

Graduation!!!

2008-10-02T10:16:00.000-07:00

Dave graduated from OCS (Officer Candidate School) on August 9, 2008. Me the kids, his dad Bob, his brother Chris, my parents, my sister Jennifer (and daughters Imani, and Seneca) and my brother Jefferson and his wife Patience (and their twins Alyssa and Shayla) all came for the event. OCS is sort of like boot-camp (but Dave says not nearly as bad) and was 10 weeks long. We were all very proud to see Dave commissioned as a Marine Corps Officer. It was soooo nice to have you home for a month, good job Dave!

$6 of fun!!!

2008-06-21T16:02:00.000-07:00

So while at Walmart today I decided to buy the kids a sprinkler and I guess you could say it was $6.88 well spent. The kids loved it and decided to climb trees at the end of it. Please excuse Kaia's toes not being pointed (although there is no excuse for a gymnast of her calibur to have sloppy feet). I talked to Dave on the phone today and he sounds great so, I have gone back to thinking that I have the short end of the stick and stopped feeling bad for him, and started feeling sorry for myself :(

3 for 1!

2008-06-16T06:28:00.001-07:00

So I got a little behind these past two weeks and you're getting 3 posts in one. First, we went to Hurricane Harbor at 6 Flags last Saturday and the kids loved it! We have never been before and it is pretty big. Jaxon and Kaia loved the wave pool and Justus and Kambria loved everything else.

Next was Kaia and Jaxon's annual end of the year field day at Hubbard Park - across the street from our house. I volunteered and walked with Kaia's class but I got to go see Jaxon too. I taught Kaia's class how to play "down by the banks" and they loved it (I think I helped out Kaia's popularity with that one... if she needed any help). During the races they had 4 heats of five and then had the winners race and three times it got down to Kaia and Jordan (who happens to be the boy that she likes). And they would tie every time!

Last was Kaia's gymnastics, end of year team party. We had it at one of the girls homes (with a pool!) and everyone had a great time. Justus attached himself to Jannah (which you may notice in the pictures) and would not go to anyone else. We also gave out awards to each of the girls and Kaia go the "tightest form" award.

So Dave has been gone for 2 1/2 weeks and so far so good. He gets to call us on Saturday and the kids are really looking forward to talking to him. We have gotten three letters from him and he seems to be doing very well. He said he has only gotten in trouble once and he had to write an essay but he is still confident in his decision to go to Officer School. Here is his address in case anyone wants to write him (please don't ship him anything - he will get in trouble, they check all their mail):

Candidate Butters, David R. 6450
Officer Candidate School, C Company, 4th Platoon
2189 Elrod Avenue
Quantico, VA. 22134-5033

Easy like Sunday afternoon

2008-06-01T17:19:00.000-07:00

So I've never thought that Sunday mornings were easy (you try getting 4 kids ready and to church on time - plus the not so easy task of making myself look cute EVERY WEEK!) but.... after my mid-day nervous breakdown the afternoon went very smoothly. I made lasagna - which the kids thought was strange that no one else was coming over (I guess I don't cook "real meals" that often). Afterward we went out to ride bikes. I went to Walmart yesterday to buy a "real" bike for Kaia - which was a huge mistake. First the bike barely fit in the car and that was before I bought two weeks of groceries. Needless to say it looked like the kids were packed around the bike and food more than the other way around. So after dinner and before strawberry shortcake we went out for a bike ride and even Justus got in on the action (although he is continually trying to test the "You can't go in the street" rule).

Dave is gone :( And I'm taking over this blog

2008-05-29T07:13:00.000-07:00

So Dave left this morning for OCS (Officer Candidate School) in Virginia and so far so good (I've survived 1 1/2 hr). He dropped off the kids at school this morning and then came back, packed the car and kissed me and Justy goodbye. We went to Applebee's last night for a last dinner as a family (and Justus was CRAZY!). Tuesday we went to 6 Flags (we got season's passes this year since I've decided that money is no object while Dave is gone) and the kids loved it. Surprisingly I think Justus liked it the most. We got caught in the worst down pour of my life!! I wish I could have snapped some pictures but feared ruining the camera. But I got a pic of the kids naked in the car on the way home. The water was up to our knees in some places while we were running out of the park. Dave and I also went to Outback for our Anniversary/ my Birthday with Brandi and Miller and I had the best Filet I've had in a long time....yummy! Later :)

Old Times

2008-05-21T17:46:00.001-07:00

Our computer has our pictures as the screensaver. Sometimes we just sit and look at the pictures for a couple minutes and laugh about the good times we've had. Here are some that bring back good memories. We asked our friend Joe to take our family photo in the wonderful fall leaves in Deerfield, Ma in 2004, Dave went to Zions Utah to hike in 2005, our first Easter in Massachusetts in 2003 and Kaia loving the New England Snow in 2006.

Continued Pictures

2008-04-24T08:53:00.001-07:00

Promised Pictures

2008-04-24T08:40:00.000-07:00

So here they are... The ones with the dog and the water is the pond across the street and the other day Jaxon, Kambria,Justus and I hiked up to the top of a "mountain".

News for Today

2008-04-23T11:11:00.000-07:00

Kaia is very upset that she can't have her own BlogSite. She has bangs now and is all grown up, so she must have her own, right? The kids are on spring break and today we hooked up the slip-n-slide and then sprayed down the trampoline. I am really hoping that we get orders to CALIFORNIA or JAPAN next summer. I should find out around Christmas this year. First things first, I have to graduate from Officer Candidate School in August and then on to a six month school starting September
11th. After that I go to school for whatever my specific job will be.

We have been taking daily walks to the pond across the street and Ollie (our Lab) has been going into the water deeper everytime.

I will post some pictures shortly...

Daily Show

2008-04-06T18:29:00.000-07:00

I love the daily show, this video is hilarious!

KAIA @ GYM

2008-03-31T19:21:00.000-07:00

Two videos of Kaia on Bars and on Beam.

"GOOD TIMES"

2008-03-31T19:00:00.000-07:00

I was thinking of a title for this remark of mine and I thought of a Missionary who used to be here (very annoying) who always said "Good Times". These are some "Good Times" photos!

BUTTERS FAMILY

2008-03-07T14:11:00.000-08:00

I don't believe any heads were replaced in this photo.

BLUBBER

2008-03-07T14:08:00.001-08:00

I have finally given in to all of the social pressure to create a Blog ( I don't care too much for this term and plan to come up with a new name in the near future). I will have about 60 days to do nothing except workout in about two weeks so please be patient and stand by for some exciting post/pictures and "REMARKS".