The Doman Family

Winter Snow

2011-01-16T20:11:00.000-07:00

This is the first winter that Kynleigh has wanted to go outside to play in the snow. I bought her a princes snow shovel, yes she is spoiled rotten. The next snow fall after that, she wanted to be out in the driveway with her dad. She would not wear gloves and her hands got VERY cold and she definitely did not like that part. A few days later we got another little storm and Brieanna wanted to go and make a snowman with Kynleigh… Out went two bundled-up girls. The snow was too powdery and would not stick to make balls but they had a blast walking around, kicking snow and throwing it at each other and chasing each other. (it was a wonderful sister bonding moment) Brieanna made a beautiful snow angel but Kynleigh was a little unsure about laying in it.

The next day, Kynleigh, who runs around the house in only her panties all the time, comes to her dad with boots on and panties and ants to go outside. Too bad I don’t have a picture of that one, it was hilarious.

King Size Bed

2010-12-28T08:31:00.001-07:00

Have you ever wondered if getting a king size bed would solve some of your sleeping problems??? Well, sometime during the night….….probably one of the times that I brought Kynleigh into our bed and then took her back to her bed due to the fact that I was pushed almost off MY bed and it was IMPOSSIBLE to actually sleep in MY OWN bed, I pondered this actual thought. So........here are a few of those thoughts………….

• It would actually have the room to sleep me, Troy, and any of the 3 visitors we frequently have and probably still be somewhat comfortable. (But then why do I WANT to make room for those 3 visitors when they have THEIR OWN beds???)

• I would still get enough of the bed to sleep comfortably even when Troy feels he needs more than half the bed (Oh and he will deny this fact but I am right)

• The problem of size also comes into the equation because our room is not actually made to fit that big of a bed. It would leave no room for the sleeping bags that the 2 big kids feel they need to sleep in on occasion…..Oh darn-it!!! (But then I do not want to give them any excuse to actually feel like they can SLEEP in my bed.)

• The thought also came to me that I would not be close enough to Troy to put my cold feet on his legs and drive him crazy :-)

So I guess after thinking about my sleeping thoughts, (if I even remembered them all) I think we should stick with our squeaky queen bed that we have……

Caryn (yes, the Caryn that disappeared about a year ago)

Egg Nog and Pizza

2010-12-27T19:45:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and is looking forward to an exciting 2011. Christmas at my place was absolutely spectacular. We held on to the long tradition of eating pizza and drinking egg nog on Christmas eve. I love egg nog! That stuff is pure heaven and I look forward to it all year long. I have a 14 year old son, 12 year old daughter and a 2 year old daughter. We covered everything from new snowboards to a battery powered Tinkerbell ATV. It was loads of fun. We got up super early and opened all the gifts, ate a delicious breakfast casserole and then loaded up the Van and went to Idaho Falls and visited family. It was great times. My Aunt Kathy cooked a wonderful dinner for us that night and we ate like kings and queens. The holidays are a great time of year and I wish the feeling lasted longer.

I lost one of my brothers(Matt) just over a month ago and there isn't a day that doesn't go by that I don't think about him. Sometimes there isn't even a moment that goes by. I find myself hearing something funny or just today I heard an ad for a snowmobiling get-away being advertised on the radio and I grab my phone to call Matt. I get kinda mad when that happens and I wonder things like "do they have phones in heaven?" I think I am going crazy at times. I know I need to let life continue and people tell me all the time that as time goes by things get easier. Well that will be nice but I also don't want to forget Matt and take him for granted. I couldn't live with myself if I taught myself to just forget about him and move on. That seems like the ultimate crime anyone could commit on a family member. So what do you do? How do you cope? I have no answer and wonder that a lot. I do know that I have wonderful parents and a wonderful 2 brothers and 1 sister. We all love each other tremendously and it makes me happy when we get together for all sorts of occasions. We had a great family christmas party on Dec. 19th and I really enjoyed it. It also provided me with an opportunity to go visit Matts grave site. We had a good chat. I told him about the BYU bowl game and spewed off as many stats as I could remember. I told him that I missed him a lot. His grave had the greenest grass. I'm sure that is from all the tears that have landed there over the last month. Then I walked away and what seemed like a million miles I got into my van and looked at my wife and 3 kids. I am a very blessed man and I know the Lord knows my pain and longing for my brother. He provides me with the strength needed get through the tough times and helps me keep my sense of humor.

My son was ordained a Teacher in our faith the Sunday after Matt passed away. The bishop asked him to bear his testimony and Tyler started off by saying that " He knows life is good and that good things are going to happen in our lives" That was really all he said but that was his testimony and I will never forget it. Life is good and good things will happen in our lives. Sometimes before we know what is "good" in our lives we have to know and feel what is bad. That part is the hardest but it provides the sweetest nectar to ours souls because it is then that we are able to sit up in the morning and welcome it with open arms and say out loud......Life is good and good things are going to happen today.

It's been a while but I needed the time

2010-12-13T09:53:00.000-07:00

Matthew Doman

I think all the time about my blog. I like to blog and I enjoy reading blogs. I have not felt very "bloggy" lately though. My brother passed away on November 11 and my life changed forever. I knew something was going to happen, I just had that feeling. I had been having a lot of dreams about my family and in particular about Matt. I remember asking my Heavenly Father for help to deal with whatever was going to come my way. The news came very early in the morning. It was my dad that broke the news to me. What a horrible thing to have your father tell you. He had the hardest job. I hung up the phone and told my wife. She stayed strong for me. My insides were churning and I felt weak. The rest of the day I remember very well, but I don't want to write about it all. I will as time goes on but not all at once. It's hard and somethings just need more time to simmer within me.
I miss my brother a lot. I am the oldest in the family and Matt was the second oldest. We were pals from the beginning of time and did a lot of crazy things. I loved hanging out with him and sharing my growing up years with him. He was a great brother. It's been a month now and the pain is still so raw. The holidays this year have been harder for me to get into the spirit. I'm there now though. Caryn and I had a great weekend with the kids and getting all the holiday spirit we could get. I have a 14 year old, a 12 year old and a 2 year old. Shopping for all of them is a lot of fun. Christmas morning will be looked forward too with a large amout of anticipation BUT in the deep pools of my soul created by all my tears I will think about my brother and I will send a cheerful good morning heavenward and muster out a Merry Christmas. It's all I can do.

Work Travel

2010-11-03T14:46:00.002-06:00

About 2-3 times a year I go to Las Vegas for work. It's always a lot of fun and I seem to stay out of trouble for the most part. My work does a fabulous job putting together the training. I will be doing part of the training and I really like doing that. This will be my second time being in charge of part of the training. Everyone likes it and I have a good time doing it. Most people fret about getting in front of people and speaking. Not me...I LOVE it. Maybe it's the attention and the fact that people will be forced to listen to me, I'm not sure. I think an ideal job for we would be as a corporate trainer. Maybe some day :)

Halloween 2010

2010-11-01T16:46:00.000-06:00

Brieanna as a dead/Goth Lady Bug.

Halloween 2010 was a lot of fun. The weather was rainy but that didn't stop us. We also had a lot of trick or treaters come. I got to stay home and hand out the candy. I like doing that. I got to see some great costumes. Is it just me or do you just want to throat punch the kids that are WAY to old to be trick or treating. I get annoyed by them and they definitely get the "crappy" candy. Next year I'm going to create a How to get a life manual and give it to them, either that or I start to throat punch each of them off my porch.

For my bro Trent

2010-10-29T09:06:00.000-06:00

I came across this picture today. It made me think of my brothers dog Lady Bug. She was a great dog and my brother loved her with all his heart. He talks about her all the time and I know he misses her. Hopefully he finds comfort in seeing this and knowing that she is all dressed up and looks like she will be trick or treating in the great pumpkin in the sky.

"I just cleaned the toilet....no one use it! "

2010-10-29T09:00:00.000-06:00

My job is to clean the bathroom. I'm really good at it. The problem is I don't do it every week so when I get around to it the task is much harder. I spent about an hour last night cleaning it. She looks beautiful now.

Pumpkin Head Harvey

2010-10-29T08:46:00.000-06:00

Happy Halloween Everybody!

This is one of my favorite times of the year. I love to see all the kids dressed up and I am positive there is a half million kids that come to our place every year. I used to try and keep track of how many actually came but it got harder and harder every year. We live in the greatest neighborhood. Make sure you watch the video, it's very kid friendly and a catchy tune.

Recipe

2010-10-27T15:51:00.004-06:00

My sister in law found this recipe. I am really trying to eat better and weight watchers has been a HUGE help. I'm going to try it. Thanks goes out to my sis in law. Much appreciated.

Weight Watchers Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies (1 pt. each)

1-box of Spice cake mix
1-15 oz. can of pumpkin puree
1-cup of chocolate chips (I probably did more than a cup)

Mix ingredients and bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes.

Happy Wednesday

2010-10-27T15:02:00.002-06:00

I like Wednesday. It's the hump day of the week and also it is Young Mens tonight. I'm in the leadership and get to go to all the activities. I really enjoy it. Tonight we get to go see how teeth are made. Sounds cool.

Facebook

2010-10-26T13:15:00.004-06:00

I like Facebook but I've grown tired of it. It's wonderful to see what everyone is doing but it's not for me. I'm a blogger. I like to write lots and express myself. So here I am and I hope I get a warm reception. I need it. :)

p.s I like Billy the Kid. I like him a lot!

Father Dominator

Upcoming

2010-10-26T11:42:00.001-06:00

Stay tuned for an awesome upcoming post!!

Halloween 2009

2009-11-25T12:50:00.004-07:00

I feel like Halloween is in 2 stages now, Tyler who is really too old to go trick-or treating and then Kynleigh who is just starting. I think Heavenly Father knew that maybe I wasn’t ready to give up all these fun traditions like Trick-or Treating. Brieanna and her 2 best friends, Abbie and Megan planned for months to be hippy 70’s girls. She had fun going to different costume stores and picking out her dress.

Kynleigh was a black and purple spider, if I can say, the cutest spider ever to walk the earth. She was cute going out to the houses and wasn’t quit sure about it all, but she smiled and went along with it. Troy and I were able to go out with her for the first time and left the older kids to pass out candy. (that is the best part, having kids to do the dirty work).

As for Tyler, I don’t really know what he was. He went downstairs 5 minutes before his friends were coming over and put stuff on out of the dress up box. (clown hat, CTR cape and a cheerleader skirt).

We had 168 Trick-or Treater’s come by the house that night, it is amazing how many kids live and come to our neighborhood.

Kynleigh's 1 year photos

2009-08-25T17:43:00.004-06:00

My sister-in-law Becky met us down at the Gardner Village and took a lot of photos of Kynleigh for her first birthday. She did a great job but she had a darn cute girl to work with too. :) If you want to view the pictures, go to Becky's Photos.

THANK YOU Becky, you are the best!

Yard Sales

2009-08-19T06:02:00.004-06:00

"One man's junk is another man's treasure" (or woman in this case) Can I just say that I LOVE going to yard sales and thrift stores. I could spend hours browsing around the DI. Granted, you do find a lot of "junk" but there is always something there that I want and I don't feel too guilty buying it because it is so cheap.

This summer I really hit the yard sales hard, almost every weekend that we were around and didn't have anything going on in the mornings. I have found so many fun things for my daycare that they kids just love. It is really cute on Monday morning when they find the new surprise you hear - oh Mrs Caryn where did you find this, can I play? It is great!

A sad day happened when our TV downstairs passed away. For days I kept trying to revitalize it, doing some chest compressions and what ever I could think of to make it come back to life, but finally I had to come to grips that it was gone for good. We have already spent too much money in the past trying to repair it so to the garage it went. Troy and I hit the yard sales hard that next weekend (searched the paper and highlighted our planned route). We found an even BIGGER TV for only $25. We had to get rid of our entertainment center as well. The TV was just a couple of inches too big to fit in the opening. Oh well that will soon be in the garage next to the dead TV.

OK, now my most prize possession this summer from going to yard sales is my salsa maker. We were camping with Grandpa Doman at Elko and he made the best salsa and he used this little salsa maker that ground everything up really fine, just the way I like it. The very next weekend, guess what I found...

I love this thing and have made salsa almost every weekend since. I don't know what I am going to do when the roma tomatoes go up in price over the winter and when I can't pick them from the garden. I will have the winter salsa blues I guess.

Frozen Corn Dogs

2009-08-05T07:04:00.003-06:00

Who would have thought that Kynleigh (or anyone) would like frozen corn dogs? Here is my side of the story...

We have a refrigerator that is oh 10 years old. You would think it would still work like it should, however the ice maker keeps freezing up and then it doesn't make ice. (on very hot summer days that doesn't make me real happy) So I have to go in and pour HOT water on the tray to thaw out the ice that is clogging the maker and then wait and normally it goes back to normal for a couple of weeks and I do it all over again. I am very proud of myself as I have this process down to a science now (after so many times doing it) I use to have to take practically everything out of the freezer as water would drip and run everywhere and then of course freeze. Now, not a drop is lost!

Okay back to Kynleigh, I finally got around to doing my thing last night after everyone left for the day and had the freezer open, next thing I know, I see Kynleigh walking around the kitchen and then down the hall with a corn dog in her mouth. I didn't think too much about it because it was FROZEN, but as you can see in the picture, she ate quite a bit off the top and enjoyed every minute. So the new teething solution for us is pull out the frozen corn dogs!

Kynleigh is walking!!!

2009-08-03T21:26:00.004-06:00

Yes, my little munchkin is walking all over the place. I can't believe it and everyone that sees her, says that she is too little to be walking. I am not sure she can do much more damage than when she was just crawling, just maybe a little faster. (she is a terror, getting into everything).
The first video is of her climbing up the stairs. This started about a month ago and she LOVES to go up the stairs and she is so fast at it.

The second video is of her walking, I just noticed that they both have her in her PJ's and holding the Wii remote. I guess I need to get the video camera out more than just at night.

Pictures for Nana

2009-07-30T10:26:00.001-06:00

I love you mom!

Brieanna's Room

2009-07-29T20:33:00.003-06:00

Disclaimer: This post is not meant to embarrass Brieanna in any way. I guess it is only fair since I wrote a post a while ago about Tyler's room. I love you Brieanna!!!
A while ago, I took a CERT class in our city (Community Emergency Response Team) The class was 6 weeks long and the manual was literally 2-3 inches thick. I am still nervous if someones life is in my hands, but I learned a lot and enjoy being part of the community. In Utah the main disaster we have to worry about is an earthquake. We learned how to determine the extent of damage in a building. I always tease Brieanna that her room looks like an earthquake hit it, but according to this class it is only minor damage. (She felt better about herself that it was not major) You can be the judge though. (Notice the dirty clothes hamper is empty)
I will help her clean it really nice, sometimes even go through the closet. She will do really well for a few days about keeping it clean and then little by little it turns into the picture below. Every time I help her I always say that I won't help her again and then I just can't stand it any longer. It is a vicious cycle. (I don't do well with messes like that) HELP!!! Any suggestions???

Mud Pies

2009-07-28T20:32:00.003-06:00

It is that time of the summer where I can't stand my yard, so every night we have been outside trimming bushes, weeding and all the good stuff that goes with our yard. Tonight it was Tyler's turn to help and he did not complain as he got to handle the electric trimmer. It was going really well until he cut into the electric cord. I could not get mad as I have actually done this in the past. (I think he appreciated not getting in trouble for that one) I decided that it was a sign to go inside as it is really hot these days.

Well Kynleigh did not last too long in the stroller so I put her in the grass. She entertained herself with some flowers for a while (probably eating some of them). Then every time I turned around, she was in my flower beds. (eating more dirt) Putting her in the grass just did not do it for her, she always found herself back in the dirt. I even tried to distract her by giving her some animal crackers but I think she just rubbed them in the dirt and ate them too.

Here is what the final product looked like. The bath was a wonderful thing tonight.

Family Reunion 2009

2009-07-25T13:21:00.003-06:00

Each year Troy's dad parks his trailer at a camp spot for a week and then all of his kids and Willa's kids and families come as much as they can and just have fun and enjoy the great outdoors. He went to Bear Lake 2 years ago, but for the last 2 year he has picked the Camper World in Eko and besides some little things here and there, we love it. It is close enough to drive home at night for us as camping is not Troy's favorite thing to do and then Kynleigh did not do such a great job last time we tried to camp over night in a tent this last year. This camp spot has a swimming pool, horse shoes, hiking, pond and river for fishing, you name it and it is close by.

Tory's brother Matt is the fisher in the family and he always brings his poles and bait (not power bait because that is not allowed and they got kicked off the pond last year) and the kids have fun casting and getting tangled in the shrubs or in other fishers lines. Yea it is a lot of fun.

Kynleigh however was not having so much fun fishing. She was ready for bed and was not shy about telling us and all the other campers about it. The fish in the photo above was caught by a fisher next to us and the kids thought that was pretty cool.

As much as we enjoyed fishing and all the other activities, swimming was the main item on Brieanna's agenda. That is all she talked about and begged for while at the camp site and in the car driving to and from Eko. I was worried a little about Kynleigh, but she did great. We put her in the pool for a good 2 hours twice a day for 2 days and not any complaining from her. We would even sit her on the edge of the pool and she would jump to us. It was a lot of fun, playing the tip game with the beach ball (I think we only go to about 25 though, we are not very good), the game chicken and the kids had fun diving for rings and whatever we would throw in the water.

Here are some photos of everyone drying off and sleeping after a long day of swimming.

Go Salt Lake Real!!!

2009-07-23T17:42:00.003-06:00

One of the perks for volunteering with AYSO is that we get Real tickets once in a while. This was a special game on June 6th as it was the night that the stadium was dedicated. There was a jet that flew over and dropped several airmen carrying flags. It was really a neat experience as they dropped to the field especially the one caring the American flag.

As you can see in the pictures, it was a very ominous sky. We were so worried that we would get rained on, but we never got more than about 5 drops the whole game, which was a miracle. David Archuleta was there to sing the National Anthem and of course was a hit for us Utah fans. All the big wigs of the stadium and team were there and Elder Gonzalez was asked to give the dedicatory prayer. (Only in Utah) It was really neat though as he explained before the prayer in Spanish and English what he was about to do and basically asked for respect.

Kynleigh was so good and of course had the attention of all the fans around her.

Buffalo Point Elementary 5K Run/Walk

2009-07-23T06:54:00.004-06:00

Going back... June 1st

Tyler and Brieanna's school did a 1st annual 5K run/walk as a fund raiser. We got geared up for the excitement. Drank lots of water, did our pre-run (oh excuse me "walk") stretches, took our pre-walk pictures, thought to ourselves this won't be too bad and it will be a fun family activity. Notice we all had big natural smiles.

Well the whistle blew and many took off running even Tyler and his buddies and then there was Troy and I with Kynleigh in the back happy to walk. We walked and walked and talked and talked and walked some more. By the end of the 5K we were thinking how grateful we are that we were not born in the pioneer days and had to walk across the country. We did make it to the finish line and I think we were the very last ones there (maybe there was one other lady, everything got all fuzzy) Troy being the funny one that he was, got on his hands and knees and crawled across the finish line. Of course everyone had their cameras ready but me. Oh well, we all got medals and a Popsicle that Kynleigh just loves to eat. We enjoyed the live band and visiting with friends. (PS. Troy was sore for a week after :))

4th of July

2009-07-23T06:03:00.005-06:00

Going Back to the 4th of July

We had a really fun weekend. It ended up that Friday the 3rd, I did not have any daycare kids (lucky for me) which was a welcome break. Troy's Uncle Ken and Robin were in town and Troy ended up going golfing with Ken, Travis and Eric. Robin and I took the kids to the Roy aquatic center. This was our first trip there this summer and Kynleigh's first trip to the pool and we had a blast. Kynleigh did not like being splashed that much, but she enjoyed floating in the water and checking everyone out. We ate lots of grapes and sweedish fish and enjoyed the fun in the sun.

That evening, we had our annual neighborhood party. Me and Andrea Bitton pass out invitations, set up a couple of tables and then the people show up. Everyone bring their own treat to share and whatever fireworks they want to set off. We do a kids parade at the beginning and they love it. I was so excited to pull Kynleigh in the wagon for the parade this year, but she fell asleep before it even started. Oh well, I guess there is always next year. We have a great neighborhood and love this time every year to bring everyone together.

Saturday the 4th, we headed up to Idaho Falls to have a family BBQ at the Dawson's. They cooked everything from the beef and potatoes to the cobblers in dutch ovens so that says it all, it was delicious. We took a walk to the school playground just around the corner and enjoy the famous fireworks from their front yard. It is 30 minutes of non stop booming and beautiful lights. Kynleigh did wake up for some of it and just enjoyed watching the pretty colors. How grateful I am for the USA and the freedoms we have and for the men and women who serve this great country.

Kynleigh

2009-06-07T17:16:00.003-06:00

I have been extremely blesses this spring in acquiring some play equipment for my daycare. A neighbor gave me a little tikes set with slide and fort underneath and I also got a stage two little tikes play set from another friend for free. This is a picture of Kynleigh in the swing. She loves to swing either in my lap on the big swings or in this little swing. She must have been tired because next thing I knew, she was falling asleep.

Kynleigh loves dumping all her toys out of this little basket. She will sit forever with a basket full of toys. Troy thought it would be cute putting her in the basket and she liked it too.

Kynleigh has learned to pull herself up on things. In the bath tub, in her crib etc. I heard her talking to herself after a nap one day and when I went in to get her, she was stuck like this, however she was still way happy with her accomplishment. She has even started to crawl this week, watch out mom, you are in for it!

Tyler Graduated

2009-06-07T12:14:00.005-06:00

Tyler Graduated!!!. I don’t know how or where the time went, but I now have a 7th grader.
This year was filled with lots of fun memories for Tyler. He got to go to the Syracuse 6 theater a couple of times to see movies, he took a field trip to the University of Utah for and engineers activity where they made catapults. (Tyler cheated and used his friends catapult that he made at scouts) Almost every week Officer Penrod came to the school for the DARE program to make them aware of the effects of drugs.

Officer Penrod

They did all kinds of fun activities like drive go-karts while wearing drunk goggles and they also had to try to throw a baseball and foot ball with them on. The 6th grade also got to play a kick ball game against all the teaches and they had a 6th grade dance (where they actually HAD to dance with girls) I told Tyler I was going to go and watch, but he said that if I loved him at all, I would just stay home. (I guess I as a mom am too embarrassing)
Then the year ended with the 6th grade graduation. They had all the students to write what they wanted to be doing in 20 years and Tyler said he wants to be a professional soccer player or be a chief in California restaurant with his friend, be married and have a son. (I may not get many grandchildren out of my first born)

Although I tell Tyler that he may not live to see his next birthday, I am so proud of him. Syracuse JH, here comes Tyler the Domanator!
We love you Tyler!!!

Brieanna's 4th grade program

2009-06-07T09:40:00.003-06:00

This year Brieanna was in 4th grade and studied Utah history. In their year end program they did a great job demonstrating what they learned. They dressed up in their pioneer clothes they had a lot of fun. They sang songs about the counties of the state, Utah pioneers, the train coming to Utah and this is the place, and many more. The two songs that I liked the best were Utah pioneers and this is the place. I was not raised in Utah, but it made me think how grateful I am to live here and how grateful I am that the pioneers endured all that they did to come and settle such a beautiful place for me to live and raise my family. I think I take for granted the many things that we have so close to home and I was glad for the reminder of how great this beautiful state is and what history it has. (I still need to see half of it though)
Good job Brieanna we are proud of you, you made it through another year.

We love you!!!

Memorial Weekend 2009

2009-05-28T07:05:00.008-06:00

We had planned to go to Yellowstone for quite some time, but plans always seem to change at the last minute and we decided to go camping with Troy’s dad and Willa at Echo. Our goal was to camp up there Friday, Saturday and come home Sunday, but that changed as well. We got up there Friday and set up the tent and got all set for some great fun. It was very relaxing just with nothing to worry about. Willa, Brieanna, Kynleigh and I walked around the park, went down to the lake and watched some of the fishers. Jasper went with us and loved every minute of it. (Even when she ran out of the camper and played chase with Brieanna and I. (I was not loving her at that point :) )

Kynleigh playing on the floor with Willa's toys

Kynleigh's improvised bath, she loved it.

It was pretty windy that night and we didn’t even think about Brieanna being afraid of the wind until about midnight when she woke up and was terrified. So in she went to the trailer to sleep on the couch. When I got back to the tent, sap all over my feet, Kynleigh was starting to cry as well. I don’t blame her for waking up as it sounded like a hurricane in our tent. So I rocked her in my arms and tried to lay her back down several times. After about an hour of doing that I decided to join Brieanna in the trailer. I threw the blanket down on the floor for Kynleigh, fed her a little to calm her down so she did not wake the entire camp grounds and then I tried to sleep on the floor without much luck. Needless to say that morning could not come too soon and I was looking forward to my own bed that night. Troy on the other hand took Tylenol PM before he went to bed, so he slept like a baby till about 9:00 the next morning. (As much as he could with Tyler in his ribs the whole night)

Sleeping arrangements!

The camp served breakfast at 10:00 which we were at the end of the line so we just got waffles and sausage. It was still good and was fun to sit and listen to Rick the camp manager sing and play his guitar. Tyler and Grandpa went out 4 wheeling that morning before breakfast and by the look of the jeep they had fun.
Another reason we decided to go to Echo was that Tyler had a birthday party on Saturday where he got to go indoor skydiving so we brought him home on Saturday to go to his party and Troy and I did a little yard work and took some nice hot showers. Tyler had a blast and we headed back up the mountain. Grandpa cooked ribs all day and I believe that was Brieanna’s highlight of the trip. She is one big rib eater and I am not sure that anyone would believe me unless you saw her eat them. She is also not afraid to get down and dirty eating them. I just wish I would have thought to take a picture of all the rib bones she ate.

We took the tent down and headed home so that we could all get a good night sleep. Headed back up there Sunday morning and played phase 10 with Trent and Becky then we decided to drive into Park City. We ate lunch at Park City Pizza and Pasta and then walked around and window shopped. It was a lot of fun we enjoyed the beautiful scenery
Before we left to come home, we went back to the camp and visited for a while and played horseshoes (the girls won, not with my help though).

Park City Fun!

Monday we got up and did some more yard work. My goal was to pull out a dead bush in the corner of the yard and then cut down our sad little pine tree. All last year Troy kept saying that it was going to come back, not to worry, but finally we had to face reality and accept that it was dead to the bone.

Kynleigh standing up!

Our next goal for the long weekend was to go and see a movie. Brieanna has wanted to see 17 Again for a long time so we pulled it up on Fandango and headed down to the Gateway in Salt Lake. When we arrived to buy the tickets we were informed that Fandango was wrong, they did not have the movie we wanted and no one could agree on any other movie so we had lunch, walked around and then headed back to Layton where it was showing as well. We were hoping to get the 3:00 show. It wasn’t showing till 7:15 that night, so we ended up going to blockbuster and renting a couple of movies to watch. We had a great weekend even with a few mishaps and had fun spending it together.

Wig from Build a Bear Workshop

I am grateful for my country and for all those who have died so that I can enjoy the freedoms that I take for granted most of the time.

Cell Phone

2009-03-01T09:55:00.004-07:00

What happens when a cell phone tries to cross to the other side of the road?

A big pile of garbage and a sad boy.

Miracles Really Do Happen!

2009-02-27T17:00:00.002-07:00

This post is not in any way to embarrass Tyler, however I had to document that he actually SLEPT IN HIS OWN ROOM last night. It has been a LONG 8-9 months. For those who may be saying to themselves where has he been sleeping or what am I talking about. Here is a little recap of the past several years.
I think it all started around the whole Elizabeth Smart abduction. He has always been so scared that someone will take him while he is sleeping. Over the years we have done this deal where if he sleeps in his own room on school nights he could sleep in our room on the floor in his sleeping bag on the weekends. (I kicked him out of my bed a LONG time ago) Well this last summer, we made the mistake of letting him sleep on our floor all summer (his excuse was that he didn’t have school). The only problem was that when school started, I could not get him back in his room. With no privacy in our room it is a miracle in and of itself that Kynleigh was conceived. We have tried paying him, bribing him. You name it and we have tried it. Everyone kept telling me that he would grow out of it, don’t worry. Well I finally got to the point where I was DONE with him sleeping in our room. So I told him that he could sleep anywhere else, living room etc. but not in my room. He began sleeping in the upstairs family room that lasted for quite some time. Then Jasper had her puppies and I had to get up in the middle of the night to feed them every few hours and I made Tyler move downstairs to sleep so that I would not wake him up while I was doing my thing. So now we have him in the downstairs family room. (oh so close to his room, yet so far away) He has now been there for almost a month.
Here is where I feel like a genius! (See my previous post about Tyler’s new love for air soft gun wars.) I bribed him with equipment. Yes the bribe worked. This weekend I now have to go and buy him an extra cartridge, more co2 and some ammunition. I am just so excited that he actually bought in to the bribe. I am just hoping that he stays in his room. The deal is that if he stops sleeping in his room, the equipment is returned to me.
So with a pat on my back, and Tyler’s, I have had a big smile on my face all day.

The Alphabet Game

2009-02-26T09:30:00.003-07:00

the alphabet game

My mother-in-law was playing this game that she saw on a blog that she saw on a blog and so on. I thought I would give it a try. Her assignment was to do the letter of my first name.
I have to take the letter “C” and come up with 10 things that I am thankful for. If you want to play, pick the letter of your first name and see what you come up with.

1. Cash – This is something that I think we all wish we had more of but I am grateful for the little that I do have

2. Country – I am very grateful for my country and the fact that I can make my own Choices even if they are the wrong ones.

3. Cars – I am so glad that I was born when I was. I would not have made a good pioneer walking everywhere I go (I might be a little thinner though)

4. Cell Phones – Yes I am one of those that can’t live without my cell phone. I am not sure what we did without them a few years ago. (Computers could fit into this category as well.)

5. Cheap Clothes – As many of you know that I am a very cheap person (maybe because the fact that I don’t have much of the previously mentioned cash) but I am grateful for clothes. I could not imagine walking around without any on. (Troy might like that as well as my cleavage)

6. Chocolate / Candy – What would life be like for us women without chocolate (not dark for me). I was spoiled when I was working at Doppelmayr CTEC because I would get the real stuff from Europe so often.

7. Change – I have always enjoyed change, whether it is with church callings, moving (I am over that one) hair styles, moving my furniture around etc. You get the picture. I think change is good for you and good for the soul.

8. Cuddling with my Children – I love my children and don’t know what I would do without any of them and I especially enjoy when they stop for 2 seconds to cuddle with me. Those opportunities are far and few between with Tyler now, maybe that is why we have Kynleigh to make up for him. Brieanna I still have most of the time as well.

9. Clean – I love a clean house. Mine may not be clean all the time but what a satisfying feeling when it is. There are parts, however that I have almost given up on and that is: my laundry room, Brieanna’s room and Tyler’s closet.

10. Christ/Church – Last but probably the most important thing in my life. Christ is the perfect example I turn to when I have no idea what to do in life. What a wonderful feeling to be loved unconditionally and know that He died for ME..

Other words I thought of were Cleaver/creative I am so far from being cleaver or creative, but I love look at the blogs of those that are. Couches are great for cuddling watching TV, laying down, reading books etc. Clinique (that my mom buys me), and clouds that we tried to find shapes and pictures in as kids.

Tyler's New Past-Time

2009-02-24T15:04:00.003-07:00

Tyler has had 2 air soft guns for quite some time now. It has just been recently though that he and some of his friends get together and have these little wars. It is so serious that this last month he bought a co2 powered gun with his money he earned with the paper route. He has used up the co2 pretty quickly though, that part doesn't last too long. It is kind of freaky looking at these pictures. I just hope none of these boys grow up and do something stupid with the practice they had at my house. :)

His hideout behind the garbage can

Checking out the enemy

Reloading time

Kylneigh 5 months

2009-02-24T14:17:00.004-07:00

Okay, I did not write about Kynleigh in the last blog, I think she deserves her very own post. Even though these are pictures I took when she was 5 months, she will now be 6 months next week (shows you how behind I am).

My sweet little angel, there is so much she does that just makes us laugh and smile. Things she is doing: I have to be extra careful now when I make her bottles. She will grab at it and several times I have spilt the sacred mixture (I say sacred just because it costs so darn much so we treat it like it is scared in our household) If she is really hungry, she will have the bottle in her hands and in her mouth before I get to our feeding spot. She is learning to grab at her toys and holds onto them for quite a while now. She loves it when her dad undresses her for her bath. He gets her laughing so hard it drawes everyone in earshot to come and peek. She doesn't like church too much, Troy has a different reason, but mine is that it is in the middle of her good nap time (1-4). I am lucky if I get half of a R.S. lesson. I am always in the hall with her screaming (which she doesn't do very often) Troy has her during sacrament meeting and Sunday school. She is not rolling over yet, but I expect it any day, she is so close. Her stomach muscles are getting strong and she will sit up for a few seconds before she falls over. She loves to be propped up in the recliner in our room with the TV on (She is defiantly Troy's daughter).

Here she is asleep in her favorite chair

When we take her to the store, we now prop her in the shopping cart and she loves to see where she is going and what is going on around her. She loves to dance with you and when you sing to her, she will start to sing with you. She is now pulling her headbands off and is drooling like no other. If I could use her drool for food storage, we would be set for a year.

This is one of her favorite toys to play with on the floor. (Thank you Emma)

Her famous pout (I did not quite get the whole bottom lip poking out though)

A little about the Doman's lately

2009-02-22T09:43:00.002-07:00

I know I have not written a lot lately, but when I only have a few minutes a day on the computer I must pick and chose what I do. I have really missed blogging though and every time something happens I always think I need to go and blog and then the days go by and then they turn into weeks. So I thought I would just fill you and document a little about our lives right now.

Troy - Troy started a new job at Stephen Hinagers College as a financial advisor. He really loves it and I am sure everyone he works with loves him and his ability to make them laugh by now. I am still getting use to the hours as it is not a set 9-5. 2 days a week he works 12-9 and this last week he started going back to sleep in the morning on those days. I teas him that he should not get use to that because there is too much to do around the house for him to sleep during the day like that. He is tired and works hard so I gave him a little slack.

Caryn - Well I am taking the CERT class with Syracuse City. (Certified Emergency Response Team) it is a 6 week class and the manual is literally 2 inches thick. This next week we will learn how to suppress fires. I think I will like having the knowledge that I will gain and feel more prepared when an emergency strikes. I still only have 10 part time daycare kids. A full time was suppose to start but never showed up. I have my crazy days and then my calmer ones that make up for the others. It keeps me pretty busy during the days.

Tyler - Oh my Tyler, what is happening with him. He is quickly turning into a handsome teenager. I just wish he would keep his brain cells that seem to be disappearing faster than he is growing. He seriously says and does some of the stupidest things. For example today Brieanna was asking when we were going to bury the puppy and he in all seriousness turned and said why don't we flush it down the toilet. I had to look at him to see if he was being funny or not. He wasn't. Yesterday I was doing the laundry that never seems to go away and I thought I would be nice and go down and get Tyler's clothes for him so he would not have to come home from playing. I walked into his closet and noticed a floor full of clothes and then his hamper of clothes as well. I decided to call him to see if I needed to take any of the clothes from the floor. Again as if it was a natural thing and in an all serious voice he stated that the clothes in the hamper were clean and the ones on the floor were dirty. Troy just laughed and said nice knowing you and I just smiled and told him that I did really love him.
He just ended his second session on indoor and he played goal keeper most of the time. He really does a good job and makes some amazing blocks. The coach decided not to play the third session and I personally will not know what to do with myself with 6 weeks of no games. He does still have practice but I don't need to be at all of them.

Brieanna - She is just happy being her. She loves music and dancing and is singing in the choir this term as well. She has started tumbling again last month and her back handsprings came back to her pretty fast. She is now even doing 3 in a row on the tramp. She can't wait till her soccer starts next month and asks how many more weeks almost every week. Although I think she is more excited about Tyler not having any games than I am, she is learning to hate being dragged to all of his activities.

No more puppies

2009-02-19T13:18:00.002-07:00

It is a sad day at the Doman's today. We lost our last puppy. I am not sure what happened, she was so darn cute and growing so good (up to 9 1/2 oz.) and then last night Jasper was trying to tell me something and today she passed away. With the other puppy that died, I knew it was coming and it was sad but not as bad as this. This was a total surprise and I was not prepared for it. I just wish I did not have to be the one to tell Brieanna the news when she gets home. I don't know if she can handle another puppy funeral.

Funeral Service Program from Sunday

2009-02-12T17:57:00.002-07:00

Our dog had puppies last week and unfortunately one of them died. There was much saddness in the Doman household and we decided to hold a quick service/burial for the puppy. I have written the program below for those who wanted to attend but couldn't

Funeral Service for Doman Puppy #2

Presiding: Troy Doman

Conducting: Troy Doman

Pianist: Caryn Doman

Chorister: Brieanna Doman

Opening Song- How much is that Doggie in the Window

Opening Prayer: Caryn Doman

Remarks: Troy Doman

Remarks: Brieanna Doman

Burial and Dedication of the grave: Troy and Tyler Doman

Pall Bearer- Kynleigh Doman

Closing Song: Who let the Dogs Out

Closing prayer: Not done, too much crying.

She is the smoke and I am her Driftwood

2009-02-12T17:35:00.003-07:00

A husband doesn't always say thank you like he should to the most important person in his life, his wife. We get busy with work, school and church callings and before we know it we are consumed in our own life and forget to take a pause. So here is my pause. I have the worlds best spouse and could prove it in any court in the land. The amount of evidence I could provide would confirm this without any deliberation at all. We have been married for almost 16 years and everyday has been a joy. No married couple goes through life without some major bumps and of course we have had our share. What makes these instances such a joy though is the calm footings my wife offers. She has always been a constant north star in my compass. She is the mother of our three wonderful children who are successful in all they do. They get their confidence from her. They know they can accomplish anything because they have seen their mother do it. They know they can rise to the occasion and surpass their perceived weaknesses because they have seen their mother on bended knee asking Heavenly Father for the strength and fortitude. My wife deserves all the awards the the world has to offer but doesn't seek them. She goes about the day with a plan and accomplishes more in one day than many people could not complete in a week. I love her with all my heart and am so proud of her. Words can not pay proper tribute to the person who has choosen you to spend all time and eternity with, but I do want my wife to know I love her and want to wish her a Happy Valentines Day.

Doman Family Christmas Letter 2008

2009-01-22T10:24:00.002-07:00

Caryn told me to put this on the blog in December. I forgot but never the less decided to post it anyway.

Doman Family Christmas Letter 2008

Greetings to all! The Doman family sure hopes this letter arrives with all the holiday cheer you can handle. What a year 2008 has been and there are still a few weeks left….YIKES!

With all the discouraging news that we hear about everyday on the radio and TV it would be very easy for me to focus on the negative but our Father in Heaven has blessed the Doman family immensely this year and we are very grateful.

My car dealership unfortunately has suffered its demise and was closed this year. One of the hardest things to do is close down a business you put so much effort into. I was hoping for some federal bailout money but the White House never returned my phone calls. J I have worked very hard at keeping my chin up and taking it in stride and feel like I have handled it the best I can. These types of life events can take a large toll on someone and I am grateful for the Lords blessings. I now work for Logitech and am the territory manager for California. I enjoy the job and look forward to 2009. I am also going to school full time finishing my accounting degree. I was dreading going back but have actually found it to be really fun. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that I enjoy the classes and the intellectual exercise.

Caryn has been right there by my side through the good and the bad and I love her for it. It is very hard for me to write about her because she is truly a gift to me. She can accomplish more in 1 week than most people can accomplish in a year. In fact just the other day I came home from work and asked her what she did that day and was just expecting the usual answers. To my amazement she rattled out so much stuff I was just waiting for her to end by saying to me “oh and I also found a cure for cancer” She is the most amazing person I have ever met. Caryn started her own business this year and now runs a Pre-school/Daycare out of our home. Our basement was almost finished and only had one room left to complete when we bought the home. It was a really big room and so we split it in half and made one side the Pre-school room and the other side is a craft room for her. It has been a huge challenge getting the business started but now that it is open and running she is having a lot of success. It definitely is not an easy job but she has taken it by the horns and has earned the respect of many parents who trust her to care for their children. Oh and not to leave one small detail out Caryn also gave birth to our lovely and beautiful 3rd child, Kynleigh.

Tyler has turned 12 this year and is now a deacon. He is such a cool, handsome young man it amazes me to think how quick time has passed by. He is in the 6th grade and is absolutely loved by his teacher. He is a natural leader and always attracts the other kids to him. He is always heading over to someone’s house to hang out that he just met at school. He loves to skateboard and play soccer. Tyler gets up every morning at 4:30 and does a paper route, 2 actually. I am very impressed with his work ethic. It is not easy to get up that early everyday of the week. He is once again on a competitive club soccer team and they are having an incredible season. They play indoor soccer now and Tyler is the goalie for the most part. He does a great job and in fact at a recent game only gave up a few goals to the #1 team in the league. (They ended up tying the team which I guess can be a moral victory) If he is not in goal he is playing as the mid fielder and also excels there. He can score with both is feet and his head which is so fun to watch. Of course Tyler loves to do well and will always look up to me and his mom whenever he does something well. He knows we are always proud of him and he likes to please us. I couldn't ask for a better young man to be in charge of raising. So far he has made it pretty easy.

Brieanna is now 10 and is a huge help around the house. She is a knock out just like her mom. I better start getting the gun cleaned so I can chase the boys off. So far she hasn’t discovered them yet (That much) I think that is around the corner soon. Brieanna also does the paper route but not everyday. Sleep to her is a valuable commodity and so she can only give up so much in a given week. Plus I personally like it when she gets all the sleep she needs. Her disposition seems to be a lot brighter. J Brieanna started soccer this year and did very well. In fact at her first game she scored a goal with her left foot. It was awesome to see her smile and have her team mates congratulate her. Both her and Tyler took advantage of their season passes to Lagoon (an amusement park near by) quite a bit this summer. Caryn also had one but since she was with child she couldn’t ride a lot of rides but did go to the water park there and work on her gorgeous tan! They love the park and I am glad they got to go a lot this year. OH and not to forget she got her braces off this year and is very happy about that. Brieanna is a wonderful child and we are so blessed to have her in our family. She is the peacemaker and has the most tender heart.

Kynleigh is our new addition! She was born on September 4th. She has come to our family 10 years after Brieanna and was a very big surprise to us all. Sometimes I am still in shock when I walk down the hall and go past her room. I see the crib and the piles of diapers and feel a cool chill go up my spine. I thought I was moving into the parenting years where I now need to find prom dresses and tuxedos. I thought wrong, I now need to find prom dresses and tuxedos and while I’m out I should pick up a crate of diapers J I am very grateful for my new little daughter though. Our whole family has been so blessed to have her in our home. She provides a spiritual light that illuminates our home during some of the most trying times our family has faced. We couldn’t ask for a better baby. She is very calm and seems to just take everything in stride. I am sure that will change but so far we have been pleased with that, probably Caryn more than anyone.

We have a roamer!

2009-01-18T09:40:00.002-07:00

I hope this is not an indication of how Kynleigh will sleep when she is older. If it is, I hope the days that she is ever in our bed are very few. I put her to sleep horizontally in her crib all bundled up in this blanket you see in a ball. When I went in to check on her the next morning, this is where I found her. I am not so sure how she got there, but that is a lot of squirming. I say squirming because I have not actually seen her roll over yet, but that is not to say she doesn’t, we are working with her on the floor everyday trying to teach her that necessary skill.

Fiesta Biscuit Bake Dinner

2009-01-15T12:51:00.003-07:00

I am always looking for great EASY new recipes to cook for my family. I was on our cousin’s blog one night (If you haven’t already, check out Cally’s link on my blog) and she was having this Fiesta Biscuit bake. It sounded tastier than what I was having that night and so she shared the recipe for me. (also on her blog)

I had to wait an agonizing week to try it out (I am on this great meal planning program for daycare and so I only shop once a week now, LOVE that. I am not running into Wal-Mart every other day for this or that item. If I don’t have it, it must wait till the next week. So far it has worked out great) Okay so I had to wait till the next week to try this fabulous dinner. I ended up having to drive to tumbling this week so I mixed it all up right before I left so that when I got home, I would just throw it in the oven (We were on a tight time schedule as it was the first night of American Idol, Time was of the essence)

So as I was leaving tumbling, I called Tyler to pre heat the oven for me.

My plan was working.

Little did I know, until I pulled out my new creation after the 40 minutes baking to check it and found the biscuits still doughy that I decided to turn UP the temperature on the oven and discovered that my sweet son (who I must have failed to teach him anything in the kitchen) only set the oven to 250 instead of 350.

So we had to WAIT... and wait... and wait... (another 30 minutes) to eat.

At this point American Idol has already started, Tyler was falling asleep in front of the fireplace, Brieanna was extremely tired, and grouchy ALWAYS comes with tired when it comes to Brieanna. (if you haven't gathered it yet, my plan was failing at this point)

During dinner we had everything from “this is delicious”, “fantastic” to “uh its okay” with a shrug of the shoulder. So I guess since we are talking about my family, that is not too bad. I thought it was beyond great and is a definite do-over; I am hoping that if the kids are slightly more coherent, they may enjoy it more and join the “other side”.

THANKS CALLY!!!

Snowboarding with Tyler and Chandler

2009-01-04T20:38:00.003-07:00

This year for our Christmas party all the cousins draw names and it seems like Tyler and Chandler ALWAYS get each other's name. It is always a challenge to find the perfect gift, one that is not a toy and won't be discarded in a week or so after Christmas. As these boys get older their wants tend to get more and more expensive. So this year we came up with the idea to have Chandler over for a sleepover (they are always begging for these) and then take them snowboarding at Wolf Mountain. Tyler bought himself a season pass with his paper route money and has loved going up there. The boys had a blast from Thursday to Sunday playing non stop.

Saturday Troy drove the boys to Wolf Mountain with a backpack of soup, hot coca, and lots of snacks ready for a day full of noting but snow. I think they used all their energy as they could not even sit up to sleep on the ride home and when I saw them that evening they looked like a train had run them over. They had a blast and was sad when the weekend came to an end.

Kynleigh is 4 Months

2009-01-04T17:03:00.003-07:00

It seems like yesterday that we brought Kynleigh home from the hospital. It is hard to imagine that it has been 4 months. She has changed so much and grown so much during this time. She is now just over 12 pounds. She loves to smile at anyone who will play with her. She will even get to laughing which makes every one around her goo and gah. She loves to look at her mobile in her crib and will lay there and just talk to herself forever. She loves to sit and tell you stories it is just too bad we can't understand her. Brieanna says that she rolled over in my bed the other day, of course I missed it and she hasn't done it since but I expect it will be soon that she is rolling over and showing off for everyone. She still gets the hick-ups ALL the time. She is such a pleasant little girl, hardly cries except when she is hungry or sleepy, but don't we all when when we are hungry??? I can proudly say that she has been sleeping through the nigh since she was 3 months old however the last week she has started waking up a couple of times. My thought is that she is going through a growth spurt and will go back to sleeping ALL night PLEASE!!!

We are having problems with her spitting up and we just changed her formula this week to a more sensitive kind and so far no change, so we hope she grows out of it soon.

So many people say that she looks like me and then so many people say she looks like Troy so I thought it would be fun to pull out some photos of when we were little and you can be the judge. (yes I had a TON of hair) These are probably us at about 6 months but close.

New Years 2009

2009-01-02T20:14:00.007-07:00

This year we went to the Unsicker’s home for a New Years Eve party. Normally this party if for their kids and their friends. Last year Tyler and I went and there were easy 50-75 teenagers there. This year, 2 of their kids are on missions so it was very low key, mainly just some families in the neighborhood. This is a great family who really knows how to throw a party and have fun. They have a home that is amazingly fun for all ages. We started out playing bunko (a dice game for those who have never played it before like me) and then we went downstairs where they have a full size basket ball hoop and a full size wrestling mat. Instead of wrestling, in the circles we play 4 squares. There was a long line including several children and we had a blast. I even made it to be the “Queen” for a few rounds (that dream never lasts too long). We then went upstairs where they have 2 ping pong tables and some video games. We played around the world, or attempted with the kids.

After we rang in the New Year, Sundee made breakfast, waffles, hash browns and omelets with all the fixings. Soon after breakfast Tyler found a little spot upstairs and fell asleep and Brieanna looked like she was going to enter the spirit world. It was rough for them I think knowing that they had to get up in a couple of hours to do the paper route. Brad Unsicker offered to help (actually insisted) so at 2:30 he and Tyler went and did half the route and Troy and Brieanna did the other half. They breezed through it really fast. Now the kids want him to help everyday.

New Years Day we drove down to Wendy’s house to watch football. During this visit, Wendy did an Indian Ceremony to ward out all the bad spirits from 2008 and invite good luck for 2009. I think she was a little disappointed with her grand kids for not participating in this sacred ceremony. It was just too much fun to watch. The pipe you see is a piece of drift wood from Canada. That is a popular thing to do with the Doman's is to smoke drift wood.

Chief Indian Wendy

Chief with her Indian warriors

Video of ceremony

In the car driving to West Jordan we had a little lesson about goals and the importance of them. We each set a personal, spiritual, educational and family goal for 2009. I hope the kids will learn the importance of goal setting and learn to enjoy working toward goals in life and experience the felling of accomplishment when they reach their goals.

I hope that the New Year of 209 brings you much happiness and lots of great memories.

Christas Party 2008

2008-12-29T17:08:00.001-07:00

Christmas 2008

2008-12-29T16:02:00.006-07:00

We had a great Christmas season. Any time we were not sleeping and going to bed early, we watched some Christmas movies and read stories and just did things together as a family. What we thought was going to be a very simple Christmas turned out to be very nice. Our family was blessed to have experianced several Christmas miricles this season and really emphazised the true meaning of Christmas.

The gift Tyler was most excited for was a mummy sleeping bag so that he could go camping in the winter.

Brieanna's was the Cheata's One World movie We have also had the most fun with a couple of wii games that we all got.

And then we can't forget Kynleigh who was just happy to be there.

Here are the two boys in their new PJ's

Our family Christmas party was held at Travis's home this year and was a blast as usual anytime the Doman's get together. Just a side note, this is a picture of a gift that Becky made for Wendy using all the grandchildren. I thought it turned out so cute.

Brieanna's Choir Concert

2008-12-29T15:11:00.004-07:00

At our elementary school if you are in 4th thru 6th grades, you are welcome to join the school choir. Brieanna was extremely excited and immediately signed up. I am not sure where she gets her enthusiasm for singing as Troy and I can't sing if our lives depended on it. Although I always teas that I can't wait till the Resurrection and then I will be able to sing on key because I really do like to sing, it is just that no one around me wants me to sing. She had practice before school a couple times a week and didn't even mind having to get up a little earlier. I would often times catch her directing music from the radio imitating her music teacher. She also practiced non stop at home. She had a CD of songs that she even downloaded onto her iPod and then played on the CD player in the kitchen any chance she could. I am proud of her for really giving it her all. She is a sweet little girl who is quickly growing into a young lady.

Grandpa Doman's Bday Party

2008-12-29T10:54:00.003-07:00

On December 6th, we drove up to Idaho Falls to meet at Chuck-a-Rama for a birthday party for Grandpa Doman. Pretty much all of the Doman side of the family was there and it was fun to visit as we have not made the trip up there for quite some time. This is the first time that they have seen Kynleigh and it is kind of sad that grandpa may not even remember her. Alan had everyone stand up and share a memory that they had with Grandpa. It was very touching to hear and be reminded what an amazing man and example he is to us all. He truly exemplified the Savior in all he did in his life.

On the slide show below I intrusted my camera to Collin and he was quite the photographer (you will notice that most of the pictures are of the little cousins)

Here is what Troy wrote and shared.

Some of my most favorite memories with Grandpa Doman are the many different opportunities I had to sit next to him out in his shop and hand him tools or put more firewood in the stove or other various tasks. Sometimes I would just sit there want watch. I liked it when he was welding, that was my most favorite thing.
I also remember getting in his truck and just driving down the road and talking. We would talk about tractors and other farm equipment. He would always tell me that "they don't make them like they used too" In fact I remember one time Grandpa and Grandma Doman were in the van with dad and mom and all the kids. We were just driving down an old country road when all of a sudden Grandpa Doman told my dad to stop the Van....he thought he saw something. We stopped the van and Grandpa walked out into this field about 25 yards off the road and stopped in front of this really old truck that had a big flat bed. He looked at it for about 5 minutes and then he turned to the rest of the family (we followed him out of the van) and said " I used to own this and I sold it about 30 years ago to old such and such" I can't believe I recognized it.....we all couldn't believe he recognized it. It was really cool to see Grandpas eyes light up and we took a bunch of pictures of him standing on the running boards.
Another memory I have of Grandpa is when Caryn and I were just married we used to try and find any reason we could to drive up to Idaho Falls and just hang out with family and visit. One time we went up to see him and grandma just right after Tyler had burned his hands. Tyler’s hands were wrapped really well in gauze and so you couldn't see what his hands looked like. We had lots of pictures though and so we all gathered around the kitchen table and pulled out the pictures. Grandpa took Tyler and held him in his lap and started to look at the pictures. He could see the scared hands and the horrible blisters that had to be cut off and all the skin that had been burned so badly it was a pure white color. He then just took Tyler’s hands and put then next to his face and wept. I'll never forget how he seemed to communicate to Tyler how sorry he was that Tyler had that happen to him. You got the feeling that Grandpa would have done anything in his power to have taken that pain away. It is the greatest showing of compassion I have ever seen someone show.

Of course I have a million more memories I could share but these are the ones that stick out.

Grandpa Doman B-Day

2008-12-29T10:52:00.001-07:00

Thanksgiving 2008

2008-12-29T10:13:00.001-07:00

2008-12-29T08:50:00.005-07:00

This year we had Thanksgiving at Emma’s house. Emma had this game thing that was the hit of the day. It is 2 paddles that you try to hold onto without letting go as it shocks you harder and harder till you beat the game. To me it was not that much fun playing the game, but I had a blast watching it done.
I will put some various photos of some of the guys doing it on a slide show and then a couple videos. I hope you enjoy.

The turkey was beyond delicious. Emma soaked it in apple juice the night before and then stuffed it with oranges, lemons and grapefruit. (I could really have my fruit mixed up but the point is that it was great) The turkey was SO MOIST that you could not even transfer it to do the carving without it falling apart off the bones.

Here is a picture of Brian’s masterpiece.

At the table, we all went around and said what we are grateful for and it was a tender moment and some tears were shed, might I add by others besides me, but including me. I am grateful to have married into such a wonderful family and one that is so CRAZY!

South Carolina Trip Slidshow

2008-12-28T20:16:00.001-07:00

South Carolina Trip

2008-12-28T11:09:00.005-07:00

My sister Jeanne just moved back to the states from Puerto Rico and Laura and her family is moving from Georgia to Germany a couple days after Thanksgiving. We thought it would be nice if we could all get together one last time before Laura moves. My brother Jeremy lives on the border of North Carolina and South Carolina and is the only one out there with a big enough house to accommodate all of us and he and his wife Courtney were kind enough to have ALL of us at their house for 2 nights. (On a side note, if I could ever have my dream kitchen, it would he pretty much like Jeremy’s kitchen)

My mom bought me a plane ticket and Kynleigh flew into Atlanta. I was a little worried about the flight with Kynleigh. So many people stopped me at the airport and told me how beautiful and cute and adorable etc she was. I just smiled and said lets just hope you still think so AFTER the flight is over. (Troy said I had karma on my side as he sat by a screaming child on our red eye to Atlanta the year before when we when out to pick up 2 cars for his work.) Well Kynleigh was an angel and ate as we took off and then slept the WHOLE flight and then I woke her up to eat as we landed. This happened both ways so I am truly grateful for such a good baby.

I wish I had a picture of me and my mom trying to get all of our things into her car at the airport. She has a 2 door (yes a 2 door car) and we had all of her things for the 4 day trip, all of mine and Kynleigh’s things, the car seat, stroller and then gifts and so forth from Laura. We had to put everything in and out several times before we finally got it all to fit it was ridiculously funny (NOT, although we did laugh a lot at ourselves).

I had such a great time with everyone and enjoyed getting to know Courtney as the only time I have met her is at my stepdads funeral. My poor brother Jeremy was so sick most of the time but he was a trooper and stayed up playing cops and robbers with us till about 1 or 2 in the morning.

Kynleigh decided to puke on my night shirt the first night at Jeanne’s (because she never pukes) The next day we were leaving to go to Jeremy’s house so I asked Jeanne to bring an extra t-shirt. Being the jokester that she is, she thought it would be funny to bring a Florida Gators shirt for me to wear. Yes you heard me right, my number one enemy team. Somehow Chris has brainwashed her into liking the GATORS instead of Florida State Seminoles (Go Noles) why she gave in I will never understand, she even lived in Tallahassee for a couple of years. Well when I came out of the bathroom that night everyone was laughing but me, they thought it was just so funny, well it kind of was, I even laughed because even I thought that was a good joke.

One thing about being with family is that you never get any sleep. We stayed up so late every night and the later we stayed up the sillier we all got. Here is a video of us when we were playing Cops and Robbers and everyone started doing these funny dances. I think we thought they were sillier than they are just because we were so tired.

Jeanne was always at the center of all the fun. Here is a video of most of the cousins chasing their Aunt Jeanne.

Picture of all us siblings with my mom

Things we are grateful for

2008-11-30T19:12:00.004-07:00

I thought that this Thanksgiving season, we would take a few minutes to write down some of the things that we are grateful for. I know that we could never get to all of them, but it is a start of realizing some of the things we do have and enjoy in our lives. I did not help the kids with their lists, I wanted to see what they came up with on their own and I am pretty proud of them. On a side note, theses are not listed in any kind of order.

Brieanna
Freedom, family, home, food, shelter, school, Kynleigh, sports, technology, friends, God, computers, electricity, beds, sun, Holidays, voices, military, USA, hard times, bodies, clothes, world, dogs, animals, hospitals, church,

Tyler
Freedom, family, home, food, shelter, school, Kynleigh, Jasper, technology, soccer, outdoors, music, friends, sports, cars, Mt Dew, clothes, blankets, pillows, mattresses, hats, snowboarding, parks, religion, Christmas, trees, doctors, guns, knives, camping, tents, fire, beagles, German Sheppard, fire alarms, rooms, stuffed animals, babies, parents, church, young mens, boy scouts, fake trees, air conditioning, heaters, football teams, TV, Hi Def, clean air, couches, hair,

Caryn & Troy
Troy, Caryn, Tyler, Brieanna, Kynleigh, family, Jesus Christ, testimony, revelation, Holy Ghost, home, clothes, chocolate, air conditioner, heaters, sun, snow, doctors, libraries, cars, cell phones, IPods, rainbows, flowers, shoes, eyes, ears, smell of fresh baked bread, computers, smiles from my kids, Troy’s job, insurance, friends, air plains, holidays, TV, TiVo, swimming pools, Lagoon, temples, church callings, freedom, military men & women, President Monson, hot water, Sunday naps, butter, shoes, blogging, disposable diapers, electricity, prayer, scriptures, flushing toilets, Wii, Dr. Pepper, ice cream, fire place, Twilight books, kisses, Wal-Mart, medicine, PJ’s,

Caryn and Kynleigh are on a Trip

2008-11-25T13:29:00.002-07:00

I want to take a moment and pay tribute (Thanksgiving) to my wonderful wife. She and Kynleigh left for South Carolina on Friday and I have learned more and more each day how much I appreciate her and miss her. Thank goodness they come home tonight!!!! I have compiled a list of things I missed while she and my youngest were gone:

Good meal
Clean house
Help kids with homework
Do Brieannas hairdo
Drive kids to school
Pick kids up from school
Take Brieanna to school early for Choir practice
Take Tyler to school early for Orchestra practice
Take Tyler and all his friends to the skate park
Take Tyler to Scoccer game

But most of all I miss her warm, soft companionship that keeps me even keel and reminds me each day of the marriage covenants we made 14+ years ago.

p.s. I really miss Kynleigh because she is the only member of the family that will watch football with me all day Saturday. She is a bif football fan :)

Our blog

2008-11-15T09:11:00.002-07:00

Okay, I have posted a LOT of things the last couple of days. They are not necessarily in chronological order, but hopefully you enjoy knowing what we have been up to this last month. I am sorry that I have not had the time to keep our blog more current. We love you all and hope all is well with you and your families.

Pumpkin Patch

2008-11-15T08:54:00.003-07:00

The kids came home from school with a pass for a hay ride and a pumpkin from a local nursery. It was a beautiful day and we had a fun time. Of course when we got on the trailer, Kynleigh wanted to eat and so here Brieanna and I are trying to dump the formula in the bottle as the trailer is bouncing up and down. The relatively large opening in the bottle became very small at that moment. Water and formula were spilling everywhere, all over me, the baby, the blanket and anything around us. We were all a sticky mess. The driver noticed and stopped the ride long enough for us to finish. I really appreciated it, even though it was kind of embarrassing. Tyler and Brieanna found two good looking pumpkins that we brought home to add to the HUGE pumpkins from our garden.

Kynleigh's Blessing Day

2008-11-15T08:33:00.005-07:00

November 9th was also a special day for Kynleigh. She was blessed during our sacrament meeting. Troy gave a beautiful blessing which touch everyones hearts that were there. We were also blessed to enjoy the day with many of Troys family and friends (Tony and Zoe drove all the way up here to be with us).

We are blessed with a very talented seamstress in our family. Willa made Kynleigh's dress which turned out beautiful. I won't lie, we were a little worried that by the time we blessed her, the dress would not fit, but I was able to button all the buttons and it fit great.

Brieanna's Birthday Party

2008-11-14T21:12:00.002-07:00

Even though Brieanna had her birthday in September, we waited to celebrate it with her friends till October 24th when High School Musical 3 came out. We had 4 friends come over for cake and ice cream and next thing I knew the girls were all having a cake eating contest. I am pretty sure that Abbie won, but they all had so much fun being silly friends.

After we got everyone cleaned up, we headed to the theater for the big event. Try to imagine the whole theater packed with nothing but moms and tons of girls, most having some kind of party. Many of the girls and even moms had on shirts they made for the big occasion. Troy and Tyler were on a scout camp out so Kynleigh was invited to go with us. She was asleep when we got there and luckily enough she actually stayed asleep even through all the screaming. Every time Troy Bolton came on the screen they whole theater when up in a roar, it was hilarious. Boy am I grateful we are a noisy family so she is able to practically sleep through anything. The movie was really good. We all really enjoyed it, I laughed and yes, I even cried 2 times. I know I am pathetic.

Real Game

2008-11-14T20:59:00.004-07:00

Most of you know how much we LOVE to go to the Salt Lake Real Games. One of the perks of volunteering with AYSO is that we often get free tickets. This time it was even more special because it was the last game of the season and it was in the new stadium that they just finished. We had a blast and Kynleigh slept through the whole thing. Every time we scored everyone around us threw streamers up in the air and then many people had bags of confetti that they threw up as well. (we know what we have to bring to the games next year) We were sitting close to a group of people that were completely wasted. I have to admit they were at times more entertaining than the game. They had their cow bells and a big Real flag. They definitely kept the team spirit up on our end of the stadium. We can't wait till next year - GO REAL!!!

Tyler is 12 years old!!!

2008-11-14T20:05:00.003-07:00

Sunday November 9th was a special day in the Doman family. Tyler turned 12 and was ordained a deacon. I can't believe that my baby is 12. I am scared to even blink right now in fear when I open my eyes he will be graduating and going on his mission. It was a great blessing and ordination. Our new bishop had me bear my testimony which I was NOT prepared to do. I wish I would have had a little time to think things through in my mind, but of course I cried like I always do and of course after I was done I thought of all kinds of things I should have said. The main advise I gave Tyler was to always look to the prophet for an example. If the prophet is doing it, then it is okay for him to do it. That goes for the way he dresses at church. Tyler hates wearing a tie, like most men and boys and he also rolls his sleeves up past his elbows which I think it looks horrible and you would think I was killing him to make him leave them down for this special day.

He had a good birthday though. On Saturday he and Troy went to the BYU football game. A friend of Troy's that has season passes always seemed to have extra tickets this year and so it worked out that there was a game the day before Tyler's birthday. On Monday, I checked Tyler out of school and took him to lunch and shopping for some clothes. We had a good time together that we normally don't get with just the 2 of us.

On Wednesday Tyler went to the Ogden temple with us to do baptisms for the dead for the first time. We went with the Unsickers and Tyler thoroughly enjoyed himself and thought it was pretty neat.

Halloween

2008-11-14T19:43:00.003-07:00

Cute little Spider

This Halloween was a special one for the Doman family. It was Tylers last time going trick or treating (because he turned 12) and it was Kynliegh's first time going trick or treating.

Tyler and his friend James went dressed as some kind of chain saw massacre, Tyler without the chain saw though. Brieanna went dressed as a sick girl which ironically enough that night she was up all night throwing up so it fit the occasion. Kynleigh was dressed as a zebra, the cutest zebra there ever was might I add.

This year it was very mild in the upper 60's during the day and so I was able to actually take Kynleigh out to a couple of houses. Then she sat on the front porch with Troy for a while passing out candy and showing off her cuteness while I went around for a while with Tyler. Brieanna whet with a friend to the mall thinking that she would be back in time to go around our neighborhood as well but did not come home till it was too late so even though she had fun and go lots of candy she was kind-of bummed out.

Proof of Life

2008-11-07T10:00:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone....The Doman family is still alive...just not finding a lot of free time to Blog.Anyway....we are blessing Kynleigh on Sunday at 1:00 pm and ordaining Tyler to the office of a Deacon. It's going to be a lot of fun and a very spiritual day. Everyone is invited to attend and we hope to see everyone. You can even come over afterwards and we will feed you.

Brieanna is playing soccer

2008-10-04T11:09:00.006-06:00

Okay, I know most of you who know "the Brieanna" that complains every time we have to go to one of Tyler's games or practices and proclaims that she hates soccer will think I have made a mistake in my title.

She has mentioned recently that she would like to play soccer. I have just smiled and said okay we will see what we can do, or keep thinking about it. When she has asked a couple of times, I began to think, maybe I should take her a little more serious. I have come to discover that she was in fact serious and I began to see if there was any openings in her age group. Since I volunteer MANY hours with the AYSO organization (American Youth Soccer Organization) it was quite easy to get her signed up.

Thanks to her Nana in Georgia and her birthday money from Grandma Marie Great she was able to buy soccer shoes, shin guards, and a soccer ball (all of which are pink).

Tyler has been in heaven this week. All he has ever wanted was to have a sister play. While I was pregnant, he would say that this sister will play soccer if it is that last thing he does, so again he is in heaven that Brieanna has FINALLY decided to play. He has been out almost everyday with her teaching her how to dribble, pass, do throw ins etc. Brieanna even took a soccer ball on our walk yesterday and kicked it around the neighborhood.

She will play in the U10 division and her first game should have been today, but if you are familiar with Utah's weather, it is always bad weather on conference weekend. So she will have a practice on Tuesday and her first game should be next Saturday. Her uniforms are lime green and the team name is the Sour Apples.

Tyler's new interest

2008-10-04T10:58:00.004-06:00

Tyler came home from school very excited one day and announced that he wanted to join the orchestra. I won't lie, I was a little socked at first, but excited that he is branching out and doing something besides sports (not that sports are bad, just good to have a little variety) He picked the Cello to play. This is a program offered to 6th graders to prepare them for Jr. High. They meet on Monday's during school and then on Friday's before school. He is using one of the schools instruments and brought it home Friday. I felt kind of bad that he had to walk all the way home with it because I had 2 little daycare kids that day and couldn't leave to pick him up. It has been fun to see him play it (mainly making noise with it) and it will be fun to see him learn over the next year.

Brieanna's 10th Birthday

2008-10-04T10:44:00.007-06:00

On Tuesday Brieanna turned 10 years old. We got up a few minutes early so she could open her presents. She got the movie Camp Rock (If you watch the Disney channel you will know about this movie, if not, you are defiantly missing out:)) She also got a Broncos pink and white jersey/shirt. Since we are such a football and sports family, (I am not really including ME in the football part of that family, but in the soccer and other sports, sorry) the kids have picked a favorite team which makes it a little bit funner to watch and follow that team. Brieanna has picked the Broncos. So she was very excited about that shirt and wore it to school that day.

I also wanted to make this day fun for her and decided to surprise her by checking her out of school and taking her to lunch. We had a fun time together and she will never complain about missing any part of school.

She has decided for her "party" we are waiting till October 24th when High School Musical 3 comes out to the movie theater and taking a few friends to see it. Troy and Tyler will be on a scout camp so it will just be a girls night out. She is excited and has it all marked on the calendar.

New Cousin

2008-09-30T19:58:00.008-06:00

Leslie and I were due the same day, we thought that was kind of cool. Tristan Charles came to our family just 2 weeks after Kynleigh was born. I know they knew each other before they came down here to earth and we are excited for them to be best of friends. Here is a picture of the 2 of them and look at those 2 proud dads.

Here is the one and only proud Grandma PG!

Grandma PG is obsessed with FEET. So she had to get some pictures of the babies feet which is not the easiest thing to get when babies move constantly.

And last but not least, the 2 dads doing their Football Heisman Pose (these little babies don't stand a chance huh?)

Kynleigh is 3 weeks old

2008-09-25T15:04:00.007-06:00

I guess I can say this over and over again with Kynleigh just as I am saying it with Tyler and Brieanna now but I really don't know where the time goes.

Kynleigh just keeps getting cuter and cuter each day.

Here are some pictures of some of her funny expressions. Notice how her feet are always flexed out, even when she seems to be relaxed.
I wish I could get them all as she makes us laugh. Many of her mannerisms and expressions remind us of Tyler but she definitely has some of Brieanna in her as well.

This picture I couldn't resist. Tyler's hands were ALWAYS up around his face and so are Kynleighs and then look at her mouth, wide open when she sleeps, just like her big sister.

The New Brieanna

2008-09-23T13:32:00.002-06:00

I feel like I have a new daughter. Here is a picture of Brieanna with her braces off and with her new glasses.

Here is her crazy story tiring to get those darn braces off. She was scheduled to get them off about a month ago and when we went in, the Doctor wanted to keep the top braces on another month. Brieanna handled the disappointment better than I did. I cried (only a little, but I could still blame in on the pregnancy hormones.) They did take the bottom braces off and did an impression for a permanent retainer that she has on her bottom teeth. We went back a few weeks later and they took the top ones off. Brieanna said that it felt great. Those of you who have had braces, it’s that slimy feeling and you can't stop rubbing your tongue on your teeth. They had to do 2 impressions on her upper teeth for her top retainer, not fun and she had a hard time. She picked out a pink and white swirl color with a blue dolphin for her top retainer. When we went in the next day to get the retainer, they forgot the blue dolphin. She was disappointed about that one I might add, but then the Doctor could not get it to fit right so they had to do ANOTHER impression for a new retainer. The new retainer fit great (and they remembered the dolphin, whoa hoo)
About her glasses, Troy has noticed that she was squinting a little when she watched TV and she would put Troy's glasses on and say that she could see better. So one day when we were in Wal-Mart (like we don't live there) I took her into the vision center to check her eyes and sure enough it showed she needed glasses, so off we went to the eye doctor. She mainly has to wear them at school and when she reads or watches TV, but not all the time, so that is nice for her, hopefully they don't get worse like her mom's was (I told her not to count on it) Of course the glasses are pink. She was going to get the Hannah Montana ones but these were cheaper and thank goodness I have a frugal daughter.
I think she looks great with her new look!

Hick-Ups

2008-09-17T15:45:00.007-06:00

Poor Kynleigh gets the hick-ups constantly, almost every time she eats. Sometimes it bothers her more than others but for the most part she deals with it a lot better than I would. I just had to video tape her one night. (This is when she was just a few days old)

Dad & Kynleigh Sleeping

2008-09-17T15:45:00.003-06:00

Kynleigh's 1st week home, we rented some movies and just chilled in the basement a lot while the kids were at school. During one of them Troy warned me that he would probably fall asleep and did he ever (I had to turn the volume up as he was snoring so loud) I just thought this was cute with the 2 of them sleeping and hanging out together.

Kynleigh's 1st Photo Shoot

2008-09-17T11:53:00.009-06:00

I have a very talented neighbor who is an interior decorator who suggested to have a picture of Troy and I with Kynleigh on her wall with some of the words to the Butterfly Kisses song and then some of my butterfly boarder kind-of flying up to the picture. (she is going to have butterflies in her room) So I talked another gal in our neighborhood who is a photographer to come over and take some pictures for me. Here are a few of them. They will definitely be keepsakes for us forever.

Kynleigh is 1 week old

2008-09-12T14:05:00.002-06:00

It is amazing how fast this week has gone by. It is hard to believe that a week ago I was in the hospital with her. Each day she is more and more active and keeps her eyes open for longer and longer stretches. It is fun to see her personality come out a little and some of her little mannerisms remind us sometimes of Tyler.

Holly Molly Have Some Craziness!!!

2008-09-09T17:14:00.001-06:00

Okay, I think of myself as a somewhat organized person. I feel like I spend too much time in my life trying to figure out how to be more organized or make life easier. I think sometimes I make it harder though. Everything should have a place and then be in that place. I can go a while with things out of order, but then ask my kids and husband I will basically snap and things must be fixed then. Sssoooo having this baby has changed everything. I looked around my family room and kitchen last night and just shook my head. I did not take a picture, but please try to imagine as most of you have had babies so you have probably been in the same boat.
Imagine, diapers on the floor, pack on the counter, newspapers in a pile, coupons on the table along with papers from the kids school, bottles everywhere, pumping machine and parts, blankets, diaper bags, baby bouncer, burp cloths, baby clothes, dishes from wonderful neighbors that needs to be returned, mail from back when I had the baby, baby hair bands, and other baby things, binkies, clothes basket, thank you cards to write etc.. I may not have mentioned everything, but maybe with a little imagination, you can get an idea what my house has turned into. I could think of little but this mess and craziness as I went to sleep last night (which I don’t get a lot of these days).
After sleeping in with the kids this morning and after getting them to school, I did get it all cleaned up and organized as much as I can at this point. There is just so much stuff that a new little baby needs and you need to have quick access to. I just need to find a happy medium and be happy with it.
Any organizing secrets you have learned over the year I would be glad to hear them.

Kynleigh Porter Doman

2008-09-08T13:47:00.006-06:00

Our addition to the family

Okay, I have been chewed out enough by all of our family for not doing this sooner and I am sorry for tourchering you all this long. Hopefully it will be worth the wait.

Like Troy said Kynleigh was born on September 4th (yet another September birthday for our family) Here is my story...Wednesday I had a busy day planed, went to the new school for a couple of hours to help the teachers get their rooms ready for back to school night on Thursday then came home to start watching 2 little daycare kids at 11:00. The day went pretty good, but I felt different most of the day almost like Kynleigh was dropping or something like that. I have had lots of braxton Hixs so having those pains was not out of the ordinary, never really timed them as I was still really early. When the kid's dad came at 5:00 to pick up the daycare kids I went and laid down as I was pretty tired (again, nothing new these days) As soon as I laid down I noticed that the pains were 5 mins. apart even when I changed positions or got up and walked around. finally at 7:00 I called the hospital to see when I would know if they were real or go to the hospital. She said to drink 32oz of water, take a Tylenol and a warm bath, if they were still regular I needed to go to the hospital. I sent Troy to scouts and low and below they did not go away. Troy went to bed to try to get a few hours of sleep (still had to do the paper route). At 11:00 pm the contractions were 3 min apart and I had the shakes so bad. I was scared to have the baby in the car. P.S. the day before at my appointment, I was dilated to a 2. Woke Troy and took Tyler and Brieanna to a friends house and journeyed to the hospital. My hormones that Troy is loving by now were crazy. I couldn't stop crying, so many different emotions were going through me. Some were fear to actually now have to go through labor because I knew the pain would only get worse. I kept telling Troy I don't think I can do it, the good man that he is kept reassuring me that I would do just fine. :) Some were shock that it was really happening, having a baby and starting over after 10 years. Some was I'm sure stress because I had a whole list of things that I wanted to do BEFORE I had the baby and none of it was done. I also had not done anything to prepare for this day as I thought I had plenty of time, no bag packed, no babysitter lined up etc. It was like I was back in school cramming for a final, reading my pregnancy book while Troy slept trying to figure out what I needed to take and do at this point. Okay back to our drive to the hospital... I thought I was going to die on every bump that we hit, it was kind of comical I am sure if you were watching from the outside.

In the labor and delivery room I was checked and STILL at a 2. I cried again because it felt like the last 6 hours in labor were for nothing. The nurse called my Dr. and he said he would see me in the morning. So at this time we were not sure if he would go ahead and take the baby or try to stop the labor. They did give me a local pain shot and that helped me relax a little. I think the longer I went without sleep the worse it got (I so love my sleep) When the Dr. came in in around 7:00 or 8:00 (can't remember details at this point) I was only at a 2 maybe a 3, cried some more. That is like 14 hours of active labor and not any closer to having her. Oh yeah, the shakes I had is because I had a fever of 101.6 when I got there. Threw up quite a bit during the night and the wicked nurse I had would not give me a blanket, only a thin sheet. Her theory was she needed me to cool off and not get warmer. I didn't care, I was freezing and thought I was going to shake to death. Meanwhile the Dr. started me on the pit and I got an epidural about an hour later. Might I say that this was my first and I cried because I felt like a failure having to have one, but I did not want to feel anything else that was coming, I had felt enough. Oh was it the best think under the sun, felt a little weird having my feet and legs be numb, but actually being able to rest a little and not feel the contractions that were going off the screen was so nice. I did ask myself why I had not had one of these before. Things went good after that, like Troy said, she was born at 11:59 a.m. The NICU nurse was there and would not let me hold her at first or even try to breastfeed her because she needed to do an assessment on her. I did get to hold her for a couple of minutes before they took her to the NICU were she stayed for only about 4 hours and was released to the regular nursery.

On a sid note, Troy can't seem to stop holding her and then you have Tyler and Brieanna who always want to help feed her and hold her. They are such big helpers. I will miss their help when they go to school and work, but I will also enjoy holding her more.

We have been so blessed with this little angel sent from Heaven. She is so healthy and strong and A good eater, even though she won't breastfeed (I told Troy she gets her stubbornness from his side of the family:)). When I got pregnant I asked for a priesthood blessing so that the pregnancy would be a good one and she would be healthy and strong. (especially since we did not have insurance at the beginning and my track record with having little babies) Troy fasted almost every month and many prayers were giving on the subject. I am so grateful for the principal of faith and I know that miracles do happen. Looking at this little girl I don't know how anyone could say that there is no God.

I am sorry this is so long, but it is more for my journal than anything else. We love you all and appreciate all the love, prayers and support you have given our little family.

Kynleigh is here!

2008-09-08T09:27:00.002-06:00

Not much time to write a lot but we wanted to announce to everyone that our Daughter was born on Sept. 4th at 11:59 am....she is 5 lbs and 18 inches. More info and Pictures to come!!! I promise

Extra Extra Read All About It!!!

2008-09-01T14:08:00.003-06:00

After waiting and waiting and waiting, Troy finally got a phone call announcing that 2 paper routes had opened up in our neighborhood. So every morning, they have anywhere between 90 -125 papers to deliver. Tyler gets up and helps everyday and Brieanna about 3 days a week (she is not a morning person). It has been great for the kids as we are paying them for each day they help. I have a little time card on the wall and if they work, they will get paid for that day, if not, they won't.

They have to wake up at 4:30 so that they can fold and deliver the papers by 6:00 am during the week. On the weekends they have till 7:00 (an extra hour Whoo Hoo) I am lucky so far that I have not had to get up to help, only to get Tyler out of bed once in a while (I found today that cold water works really well).

Baby Game

2008-09-01T08:16:00.002-06:00

We thought it would be fun to play a game with all of you.
We want you to try to guess what day I will have the baby and how much you think she will weight. Leave your answers on a comment and we will see who wins! Good Luck!!!

Tyler the new skate board junkey

2008-08-31T17:01:00.003-06:00

Tyler's best friend James is really into skate boarding. All Tyler wanted to do was play soccer and all James wanted to do was skate board, so needless to say many days James ended up playing soccer as Tyler did not give in too much an anything but soccer. I can imagine James trying to figure out how to get Tyler to like skate boarding (even if just a little bit) and low and behold I think he did it. Tyelr came home one day and said that he wanted to use all his money he had saved (about $90.00) to go and buy a Real skate board, not like the one he had from the local Wal Mart. So mom okayed the purchase with his dad and decided it was his money and that is why he saves it, so we let him go for it. We went to the local skate board shop and he picked out what he wanted. It was like Christmas to him and he loved it. The two boys immediately went over to Jame's house, who had a ramp in his basement that his dad built and began to teach Tyler the moves. Now all the boys want to do each day is go to the skate park and skate board. (Did I say that I can't wait till school starts this Friday) They have even talked another friends grandmother into taking them to the park because I said no after already taking them twice that week. You might ask what injuries he has received, well they haven't been too bad, but he has been wearing a writ brace and he bruised his tail bone on Thursday. (I am just grateful we have insurance now in case something more server happens)

Hanson's Visit

2008-08-31T15:48:00.007-06:00

All summer, Brieanna has asked when her cousin Lyndsay could come and have a sleep over (it has to be more than one night she insisted because one night is just not enough time) Well, little Lucas had to come down to Primary Children's Hospital for an appointment so they all made the journey for a couple of days to the big city. After Lucas' appointment, we went to the gateway and then to the zoo and just had a great time hanging out. James' birthday was the day after mine, so we ordered a cake for the both of us and had a little celebration. Of course the girls could not get enough of each other and were sad when it was time for them to head home.

Breaking Dawn Update

2008-08-13T11:41:00.003-06:00

Okay, well I did not get the book on Saturday and I was quite bummed to say the least. Troy even took me to WalMart to get a book and then we would sell the one that came in the mail. (what a good man) However they sold 600 copies before morning so I was just out of luck and had to wait till Monday afternoon when the mail came again. I did finally get the book and loved it. I may be weired, but I really liked the way everything turned out and I am just a happy camper now. Edward & Bella forever :)

Breaking Dawn

2008-08-01T10:14:00.003-06:00

Tomorrow is the big day! My heart rate has increased just thinking about it. I am SO excited! (am I going crazy or what) I have pre-ordered this book and should arrive tomorrow in the mail. If you see me crying you will know that I did not get it and I have to wait till Monday. I have already warned my family to not expect ANYTHING from me once I get it. No cooking, cleaning, talking, nothing :) We are even going camping tonight and I told Troy that I have to be home by 3:00 to get the mail. :)

For those of you who have not read the rest of these books, you have to start now, if you are like me and half of America, you will love them. I will let you know how it is in a few days.

Gus is alive!

2008-07-31T17:03:00.005-06:00

Breaking news out of Syracuse, Utah............At approx. 7:45 pm last night Gus "the turtle" Doman was found alive. Details are still a little sketchy but we have learned that during a routine inspection of Gus's home he was discovered under a large bush. The last report we have from the hospital is that he is in serious but stable condition. He is recieving fluids and has some minor cuts and bruises. Quite remarkable after being lost for 19 days!

Gus was reported missing on July 11th after a day out with his owner Tyler Doman and a friend when they became seperated somewhere in the front yard of the home. An immediate search was done and the authorites were called just before dark when Gus still had not been found. The authorites contiued the search well into the night and also did not have any luck. It was then decided to involve the US Government to aid in the search and by dawn Master Splinter had arrived with his forces, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael. They broadened the search area and used infrared cameras but Gus still was missing and by the end of day 2 the search was called off.

Once again we are happy to report that Gus "the Turtle" Doman has been found and is currently in the custody of the states Department of Turtle family services (DTFS). We will have a full report tonight on the 10 o'clock news!

All is well

2008-07-29T17:22:00.003-06:00

It has been awhile since we have posted. Sorry about that....we are finishing the last room in our basement and have been extremely busy with that and our home is a little cluttered to say the least. Everything is going well though and I am also happy to report that Caryn had a Dr. Appointment today and Darby is growing very well. She is right on schedule and this can not make us happier. Our biggest concern when we got pregnant was having to go through having a tiny baby again. So it is great to see my darling wifes stomach just getting bigger and bigger. Maybe Darby will just come out with more rolls than a buffet!

Anyone Seen A Turtle?

2008-07-11T13:51:00.002-06:00

Lost turtle, he goes by Gus!!! Since we moved Tyler downstairs, I told Tyler that he could take his turtle outside and let him enjoy the heat a little. I guess I assume too much for an almost 12 year old though because I did not specify that he had to watch the thing. So needless to say the turtle dashed away Wednesday when Tyler walked across the street to say hi to his friend and we haven't seen him since. We have looked in our bushes (the best that we can as we have 50 million plants in our front yard) I am afraid that when we do find Gus we will have to hold a little funeral for him. Any suggestions from those who have lost a turtle before???

And The Race Is On...

2008-07-10T17:20:00.002-06:00

Okay, my life lately has been nothing you could call slow (but when is it ever right?) We have moved Tyler downstairs in preparation to the new baby coming soon. We have actually gotten him to sleep down there most of the time. I worked really hard to get all of my craft crap out of there so he could see the floor and walls. I just crammed everything into part of the unfinished playroom. The next project was to paint his walls. We picked blue and then a red ascent wall. The red wall was a pain in the rear as it still took several coats, the blue thank goodness only took one with a little touch up. It actually turned out pretty nice. Tyler got this BIG grin on his face when he went in to look at it when I got done. He now likes to be down there with his friends, sometimes I don't even know he is in the house.
The next project was to paint the babies room (Tyler's old room). Brieanna and I took down his old boarder and did all the prep work (the yucky part) then I painted 2 walls green and 2 walls yellow. I am now cutting out all of these butterflies from a roll of boarder that Rena gave me that will go separately on the walls. It should be really cute when we are all done. I got the crib set up and the dresser in there and all the clothes that people have given me all organized and put away. It is really starting to get exciting!!! (scary for Troy:))
Then my next project is I am going to start doing daycare/preschool in our home to bring in some extra money to get us by for a while. So yesterday we had to take ALL the toys out of the unfinished playroom along with ALL the craft crap that I just put in there so that we can start to finish the room on Monday. We have Randy, Willa's son-in-law coming to do the work for us. I am going to split the room in half, part for the playroom (daycare room) and the other half for my craft stuff. I think I will then have to paint those two rooms as well. (does it ever end, the painting I mean)
I am also in the process of getting licenced with the state. I am going to take a class next Tuesday and then I have to take my food handlers permit and have my kitchen inspected, take a first aid and CPR class, have the fire department come and inspect my house and then have the state/city do an inspection. It will be never ending in the next few weeks trying to get all of these things accomplished, but then again, my life seems like it is always a race.
Sorry this is so long, but I just thought that I would fill you all in on what I have been doing the last couple of weeks. I will also take pictures when I am all done.

Taco Wednesday

2008-07-02T13:12:00.003-06:00

Greetings fellow bloggers, Troy here.

My office is right next to the main park in the middle of downtown Ogden.(Washington Square) Lots of interesting people hang out there everyday, some have jobs(legal ones) most do not. The park is surrounded by street food vendors and street pharmacists*. Every Wednesday is 2 x $1.00 tacos. I've always been suspicous about the safety and quality of the food offered at these establishments but I decided to give it a try. I have to say I am very impressed and the food was delicous. The meat(beef) was very warm and the tortilla shells were homemade and very good. I put a little pico de gallo on it with some cheese and enjoyed every bite! What a bargain for only $1.00! I'd like to invite everyone to join me next Wednesday at Washington Square for $1 taco day!

*Drug dealers

p.s. sorry the pictures are so poor. I used my camera phone and it can only do so much.

Not for human consumption

2008-06-26T20:14:00.003-06:00

I got a call from the Elders Quorum president on my way home from work today. He informed there is a needy family in the neighborhood that needed some help with moving some items around the house and getting the yard fixed up. I told him to give me 15 minutes and I'd be there. I rushed inside the house and changed my clothes and went over and helped out. After an hour of hard work in the sun I was done and made a bee line for home. I WAS STARVING! I got out of my yucky, sweaty clothes and went to the kitchen. There on the counter was a nice looking funnel shaped package of cookies. I immediately grabbed one and popped it into my mouth. Wow is this cookie dry I say to myself. Is that peanut butter I taste? Man I need a drink...were is the milk?....I can hardly swallow. Who made this cookie? Everything is blurry now. Finally a glass of milk! Glug! Glug! Glug! aaahh.....looks like I'm going to live. Whew! I better move these cookies so no one else eats them. They could die.....what's this sticker on the package? Theres writing....maybe it's a government warning....Josie Ethingtons Puppy Treats.....Holy monkey spit....did I just eat a doggie treat....I did....I just choked down a doggie treat....I'm not supposed to eat these....I'm not a dog.....JASPER! were are you? Get in here and eat your treats before I get stupid and eat another one of these! TRUE STORY FOLKS! Man what I night. I'm going to bed.

Memorial Weekend

2008-06-26T19:14:00.003-06:00

The new colt
Tyler walking one of the horses
Brieanna walking one of the horses
Tyler attempting to hit the tin can
The whole gang!

We were planning on staying home and then at the last minute decided to go and visit Mike and Terrie Hanson in Idaho. (That is how we normally do things) Tyler and Brieanna were so excited to see their cousins James and Lindsay (and Lucas). The Hanson's horse just had a colt 2 weeks before and the kids had fun seeing it. We also got to help do some of the chores like feeding the pigs and walking the horses. It was not as easy as it looked as the horses had a mind of their own and did not want to go where we needed them to walk.

Tyler also got to shoot the bee bee gun at some cans. That was not as easy as he wished either. It was kind of funny when he asked for a bigger target. :)

Although we love going up there to visit, after spending the weekend on the farm away from the city and friends, Tyler and Brienanna were glad to go home. I am not sure if they would make it very long living in the country away from all civilization.

The imagination of girls

2008-06-26T18:22:00.003-06:00

Here is a picture of Brieanna with her two best friends Megan & Abbie. They actually get along extremely well and it always amazes me at how their imagination flies (is that the right word?) Anyway, it always cracks me up to be in the next room and listen to them play and pretend, it can vary from school, family, work, dress up, you name it. They have a blast. Brieanna is excited that they only have 1 more day of school left and then she can have them for the summer.

Sorry!

2008-06-23T15:47:00.003-06:00

Okay! I have been chewed out enough for not keeping up on our blog I'M SORRY!!! It does make me happy that we actually have people look at it regularly so thanks for your support, even though I have been a flake. The kids have been out of school since May 22nd and although I keep telling myself and the kids that I need a day here and there to just catch up on my e-mails (I have over 70) and things on the computer, it never happens. Part of it though is that I try to make myself lay down and either read or sleep for a little while in the afternoon because I know that me and the baby needs the rest and I am trying to be good (I have a tendency to overdue myself for those who know me).

Now that I have given you a few excuses. I will tell you a little what we have been doing so far this summer. We have had 2 yard sales. Bless your hearts those of you who actually ENJOY having them. I know now why I normally donate everything to the Deseret Industries or some other charity. We did get rid of a lot of things and ended up making about $70 ($2 the 2nd day) Was it all worth it, I guess so, but I would have to be very desperate to do it again (which we were the first time)

We did buy season passes to Lagoon again this year. I can honestly say that I am glad that we did so before everything happened with Troy's job. It has given us something to do that doesn't cost much (except for gas). We have already been several times and we were even lucky to have Troy home with us for several weeks and he was able to go with us. I think that made is a little more fun for the kids since I can't go on too many of the rides. We also have passes to the zoo which we don't go as much because of the gas but we have been able to enjoy the animals a little so far this summer. We also love going to the Roy aquatic center. We had some punches left over from last year and it helps to enjoy the 98* weather when you can do it with some cool water.

I am now going to go lay down before I have to think about dinner.

Troys new job

2008-06-17T17:12:00.005-06:00

As much as I prayed and prayed for my auto dealership I had to close it down last week. That is only a half truth however. It's still going to remain open but with no inventory. I'll still stay in contact with my customers and anyone else that needs a car. They can still tell me what they want and I will go get it for them but I won't be able to rely on it for my sole income source. I am sad and a little depressed. You put so much into being self employed that it really saps you when it doesn't work out. I am happy to announce however that I have found a wonderful job with a corporation called Marketstar. I am a Territory Account Manager for Logitech and cover the entire state of California. It's a tad confusing because I really work for Logitech but Marketstar is who hired me. I guess you could look at it as a temp agency brought me on and found the job for me. I am really pleased with the situation and the best thing is we now have health insurance and Caryn and the new baby will be covered after 30 days! Yahoooo! The fact that they are going to cover the pregnancy and not treat it as a "pre-existing" condition is truly an answer to our prayers. We have been blessed and are very grateful.

Tyler's Passion!!!

2008-05-08T10:12:00.007-06:00

Those of you who know Tyler, he eats, drinks and breaths SOCCER!!!. Here are a couple of pictures of him this season. He is playing with Utah Steam and has loved to be able to play soccer almost everyday, normally 2 practices and 2 games a week. Mom and Dad sometimes wishes there was a break in between seasons, but we have not been that lucky. In the fall, the team struggled, but this spring they are doing fantastic. They have 2 make-up games left and they only need to win one of them and they will be ranked number one in their division and they will move up to a state team I think. (Do I really want that??? travel more??? Oh Please Help Us!!!) During the winter he played 3 sessions of indoor soccer and that was a lot of fun to watch and for him to play. The coach started him playing goal keeper 1/2 of each game (A little bit of stress for mom and dad). He actually likes doing it, even though he enjoys playing forward so he can score, he does great at either position. GO STEAM!!!

Brieanna's Tumbling Meet

2008-05-05T10:02:00.004-06:00

Saturday Brieanna had her first tumbling meet. She has been going to Flipside since about October of 2007. She can now do her back hand spring on the mat and on her friends trampoline. She is hoping to join the competition team in the next month or so. She loves it and looks forward to going each week. She did a great job this weekend and we are so proud of her!

Easter 2008

2008-05-05T08:35:00.004-06:00

Easter was so early this year, March 23rd. Troy and Tyler went on a boy scout camp out Friday and Saturday of this weekend. They had a great time, especially Tyler. (Even though they froze). Whenever Tyler does things like that he always says Dad that was the best day ever. He loves to camp and be with his dad.

Brieanna and I hung out and then on Saturday we went to Grandma PG's house for an Easter party with all the cousins. We had a great visit and after some coaxing, Brieanna actually participated in the Easter egg hunt. (She has never liked them from even as a little girl) There was a bubble machine so we had bubbles everywhere we went. FUN TIMES!!!

Sunday we just hung out as a family. I cried when I was taking pictures (shocker I know) because this was the first year that we have lived here that we have not had flowers to take pictures of in the background. I survived and the kids were still as cute as can be.

Brieanna's Piano Recital March 2007

2008-05-01T20:24:00.005-06:00

Brieanna started taking piano lessons back in January. Julie Snow is an excellent teacher and Brieanna has loved going each week and I don't even have to remind her lately to practice, she does it on her own most mornings before school. This is a video and photo of her first recital with Julie. I am proud of her and her accomplishments in just a couple of months. She is now preparing for her next recital.

THINGS ALWAYS WORK OUT

2008-05-01T18:11:00.003-06:00

I know that we all have times in our lives when we feel like we are overwhelmed with challenges. Here is a quote by President Gordon B. Hinckley that has helped us this past month or so and maybe it will help you as well when challenges come your way.

"It isn't as bad as you sometimes think it is. It all works out. Don't worry. I say that to myself every morning. It will all work out. If you do your best, it will all work out. Put your trust in God, and move forward with faith and confidence in the future. The Lord will not forsake us. He will not forsake us... If we will put our trust in Him, if we will pray to Him, if we will live worthy of His blessings, He will hear our prayers"

The Big News!!!

2008-05-01T16:44:00.000-06:00

Our Heavenly Father has decided to send us another little spirit to raise. Yes, I am pregnant!! It came as a shock at first, but we soon became very excited. The day I found out, Troy and I decided that we both needed a priesthood blessing so we invited Troy's dad up for a visit. We knew that we would need to announce why he was giving us a blessing and the kids would also be there so I very strategically took a picture of my belly (That task was harder than I thought it would be by myself), developed the picture and waited for the big moment. Troy showed Tyler and Brieanna the photo and asked what it was, they did not catch on as quickly as I would have though, but with some coaxing, they figured it out and tears soon came to Tyler's eyes and they could not repress their excitement.

For about a month after the announcement, Tyler prayed for a boy in each prayer that he uttered and Brieanna a girl. After I explained that the sex of the baby was long decided those pleas were not as often and they turned into hoping that the baby is healthy.

There will be 10 years between Brieanna and this little one and I sometimes think of the things that I have to start all over doing, but I can't express the joy that I have to have another little one in our lives. Tyler and Brieanna are going to be such big helps and babysitters when that time comes. Oh! the due date is October 3rd. I am hoping that I make it close to that date, but with my track record, it may be sometime in September. We will wait and see.