Lovely Day at Snowbird

This morning, as I took Abi to catch the bus for GMS, it was SOOO BEAUTIFUL outside! 

Last night it was raining hard which turned to slush and snow - it all froze on the ground but the skies were clear and beautiful this morning! There was ice and snow stuck on the trees everywhere

I was a bit in awe as we drove up the canyon, it was so pretty! I took quite a few pictures of the trees. After getting Abi out the door, Corey and I were lucky enough to escape for a day skiing. I'll give some details of the drama getting out the door in a bit, but we are fortunate to be able to leave the kids in Wesley and Lily's able care, until Abi got home and then she helped too. Kids sleeping in our bed this morning - cute.

We went to Snowbird. We took the tram for the first time in our life. There was a sign that said "experts only at top" and I don't claim to be an expert, but I kept pressing forward in the line. The line was kinda long... Finally on the tram - is this worth the wait?

It looked a bit terrifying off most of the side hills at the top, but also so AMAZING to be on top of the world! Wow!

One more pic of Corey before we headed down. . 

We took Chips Run, the blue trail that was the easiest way down. And it was good, I skied well enough. Then we took Mid Gad where we finally met up with Mel! She came up from BYU to ski with us! I had invited her and thought it would be fun. It's also kinda crazy that she left BYU at 8, and we were at the bus stop at 8:45, and we only got in one more run than her. So the reason behind that - I saw that the weather was going to be good today, so I told Corey I thought we should go skiing, just the two of us. After taking Abi to the bus, I was even more determined to go. And the universe tested that determination. It was just going to be Corey and I, since we both still have a day at Snowbird, so we were able to get ready quicky and get out the door. We planned to take the bus up so we didn't have to fight parking, and we were also trying to skip the long line waiting to go up the canyon, as we trusted that the ski buses get to skip the line. So we were there for the 8:41 bus, but I looked on the bus locator and there wasn't a bus coming OR a bus that just passed... so we hadn't missed it, but we also weren't going anywhere... there were 4 buses up at Alta/Snowbird. Hmmm. The canyon opened at 8:30, we waited for a bus, around 9:10, two of the buses from the top passed us going down. UTA said a bus would come at 9:15, but it didn't. So 30 minutes in and still not headed anywhere. After the 9:15 bus didn't show, the next one was going to be, supposedly, at 9:45. We decided to abandon the bus and get in the car to wait in line. They made us turn south, like on the last snowday when we went to Snowbird, but the line was twice as long this time! Ugh... it kept going and going for 2 miles, so I checked the bus locator again and one of the buses we saw going down had stopped at the Park and Ride! "I think it's going to turn around to come back up! Maybe we can catch it!" So we didn't get in line and cut back through neighborhoods and hurried back to the church to catch it, but then saw it going down, ugh. That was so stupid. Why was it going down when everyone was wanting to go up? So then the phone said 9:45. Finally a bus was coming at 9:40, and it just drove past us with a "Sorry, Bus Full" sign flashing across the top of it. Then 10 min later, another bus that said the same thing. Corey said "Should we just go home?" He didn't seem thrilled that we'd wasted an hour and made no progress. Ok. So we got in the car and decided to drive just to see how long the line was, and if it was long, we'd go home. But it was short! So then we went back to the bus stop, to pick up two guys who had been waiting there with us who we did a bit of mourning with as we all got passed up, so we picked them up and had a nice conversation on the drive up. I didn't get their names, but they were from Vermon and ___ and are both retired and come out here in the winter and ski all day with an Alta-bird pass. Pretty sweet gig. Corey was great conversation and we were up there in no time, found a parking spot, yay, and soon were in line for the tram. We waited for that, did Chips run down, and then were glad to meet up with Mel. It took a minute to coordinate and find each other, but I finally called her and then spotted her up on the mountain struggling... "Are you the person on the hill frozen with fear? We see you!" She finally made it down, probably from the encouragement I offered: "There's no shame in doing pizza all the way down. Sometimes you just have to 'toddler-it', and that's ok." I did the same thing on that Bassackwards hill, which I don't love and struggled with when I was skiing with the older kids two weeks ago. We did a few black diamonds today, over on Baby Thunder. The "baby" in the name gave us confidence that we could do it. We did "Baby Tiger" and "Thunder Alley" and it was so fun listening to music again - I love skiing to "Take On Me" - so fun. I shared an ear bud with Mel so she and I were listening to music together. Super fun. We did Wilbere once and that was fun, I like the trees on that one. Then we took Peruvian, which I've also never done before. Up there we went through the Peruvian Tunnel which was so cool - like a little museum on the mountain! I want to go back so I can read what all the descriptions said beneath the photos. And then we went to Mineral Basin for the first time. 

The mountains back there looked amazing - and once again I felt how big the world is. You could get lost in these lovely Wasatch mountains, they just keep going and going. Beautiful. We skied down and took the Baldy lift once and then it closed, and we were stuck in line with everyone else on our way out. Took Chips down on our way back to the car. Back at home, the kids were all alive. They watched Bluey most of the day, and a bit of Ninjago. Then Corey got some work in and I've been watching kids, Wes went climbing with a neighbor, and here we are. It was a good day. What happened yesterday.... I felt sick yesterday but am better. Today I'm better but I was still blowing my nose and doing farmer blows on the snow all day - green boogers, it was gross and I was ashamed, but I had to breathe. I'm feeling well enough that I am able to breath at night, but I do have to clear it out all day. I'm hoping for just one or two more days. I wanted to got to the sauna tonight but didn't. I went yesterday for 35 min and it helped my head so much. I'm going to go on Monday. Yesterday after the sauna I reached a new low - 135.8. Yay, just 10 more pounds to go to make my Goal #1. Abi had a flute competition yesteday. Corey took her to that. Wes had my car - he went to Corey's parents house to do homework, I was able to take a good nap this afternoon with K. It was nice that I didn't have to pick up carpool yesterday, because a neighbor did cause they made a temple trip and invited all the carpool kids. So Lily enjoyed that.

Yesterday another plumber came by - the cartridges are NOT different, one had just had part of it twist up to the top for some reason, probably cause of how we tried to tighten it all the time to stop the water from dripping. They are going to order a new faucet but it will be 2-3 weeks out. That's ok. 

I didn't do a ton for goal #2 yesterday or today - just maintenance so far (dishes, cleaned the kitchen). Going to try and work on the laundry room desk this upcoming week. 

Goal #3 - I think if I do 3 blog posts a day, I should be able to catch up fairly quickly. I have 30 days for Dec-March to catch up on, so 2 a day there, plus the current day will make 3 posts, that will take 15 days for catching up plus 15 current days as we go along with that, not bad, I can do that by the end of April no problem. 

Amazing Cleaning Day!

I sent out an SOS to my sisters a few weeks ago about how to cope with my messy house. I need a system, and nothing I keep trying works with all the different ages and abilities of my kids, and I was feeling like giving up. I did order the Freedom Mom's "Smart Chore System" thing but I haven't finished watching the videos about how to do it. Today, instead, we tried one simple thing that my SIL Amy recommended, which is just basic chores during the week (like kitchen and washing dishes) and don't worry about bedrooms, and then on the weekend have EVERYONE all work together, mom dad and kids, and we all clean until it's done. We did that today and it was awesome. Corey didn't work, but he did stay present and played the more role of bouncer. He made sure everyone was working and also made sure that I did not work - he told me I had to play manager. I got in trouble a few times for working too much, like when I was helping Lily wash door frames or Sophi do the baseboards... "Tiff! No! Don't work! You manage!" Ok ok! Then I'd go walk around and give instructions on proper cleaning. I divided chores into two groups - big kids and little kids. Little kids have simple chores like washing walls, doors, baseboards, Natalie vacuumed the stairs, and I'll probably just divvy those up each Saturday. The big kids chores will rotate each week, and the little kids rotate among them too. Today it was:

  Mel - bathrooms
  Ethan - music room/study
  Hyrum - front room
  Wesley - side room
  Abi - kitchen (mop)

Mel was in the zone and worked for like 3 hours on the bathrooms, getting boogers off the wall, cleaning the toilet bowl and behind the toilet and she did the TUB in the kids bathroom and she even suggested we wash the shower curtain and it looks so nice now. I'm embarrassed that I never thought to do that before. I guess I thought it was weak plastic and would shred in the washing machine, but she said they did that in her apartment and it worked. So instead it was gross pink and now it's white again! Amazing.

She worked the longest and hardest (and also might have been avoiding homework, which I didn't know until later today when Corey mentioned it...) well, sorry you spent so long doing that Mel but thank you! I really appreciate it. Abi did an amazing job mopping and wiping the fronts of cupboards. 

So during the week we do the basic clean, and Saturday is the basic plus a deep clean of something. And next week we'll rotate it up. Ethan doing the study doors today.

 Sophi washing the kitchen baseboards.

Sophi and Lily struggled getting going and didn't want to do their assigned task and they both moped and complained, and I tried to accommodate them by changing chores from walls to baseboards, then after they didn't like that I said tough. Eventually they got into it and did a good job. Peter helped Sophi wash the windows by using a pair of his pants and waving them on the glass, cute!

Lily clean the inside and outside of a pantry door and I have to say that was the thing that pleased me the most. I didn't realize how dirty it was, but I'd walk by and notice how clean it was and say "Wow Lil, good job! That is a clean door!"

Wes gets bonus points for keeping Owen and Daniel busy helping him which was super cute. Taking a quick break to style their hair with the hose vacuum....

Peter sat so still, wow... looking good Peter!

Vacuuming under cushions and under the couches. The house looks great and the kids worked hard and it really filled my cup. I plan to do this again! Next week might be an adjustment cause next Saturday will be filled with listening to General Conference, but we'll plan on a deep clean the week after that.

After cleaning, the kids took a break and played games - Hyrum on the xbox

Mel did homework and then moved her stuff upstairs so that Joseph can be downstairs if he wants. 

We got word via email around noon today that Joseph will be coming home tomorrow, so that will be exciting. We don't know how isolated he will have to be, but we figured it will probably be best for him to be set up downstairs. We moved Natalie over into the room with Lily and Sophi, and Owen and Daniel are in the boys room now (beds are downstairs, we are just sliding their mattresses under Ethan's bed) and Abi and Mel are together. Tonight I tried to go on a jog, but Daniel saw me leaving and wanted to come. He did pretty good for about 1/2 a lap, and then he wanted me to carry him, which was what I expected. I carried him home. 

He's cute. I took him home, we read scriptures, and then I left and finished 5 more laps to get in my 2 miles. It was a good day, I am in my element with the kids here are home and very few outside distractions, I love it and I hope it never ends.

A Real Salon Hair Cut

Ethan went and got his haircut tonight. He's only had one done at a salon like once in 2015 when I was away in Brazil and he was here staying with his grandparents in Utah with Joseph. So, at the salon tonight, he didn't know what to do. Like when she went away to go wash his hair, he didn't follow her. Then she turned around and looked at him as he was still sitting there like "Why aren't you coming?" and she motioned for him, and E was like "oh!" And same thing at the shampoo sink, he didn't know what to do so he saw upright on the chair, and she told him to lay back. Funny. "So, where do you usually get your hair cut?" "My mom does it." "Why didn't she do it today?" And Ethan didn't want to explain everything about his thinking... which was: "Well, this was a spur of the moment thing cause I'm getting some senior pictures taken by my sax teacher and so this morning he texted me that I should bring my suit for a few 'mission pictures' too, but last night I was told my hair was a too long for my mission paper submission, so I didn't get want to risk it not looking "missionary" enough but I wasn't able to get it cut before I came down here to Orem, but I decided I should do it now etc etc...." ....So instead his answer was "She picks her nose" and implied I do so while I'm cutting his hair, and that I let boogers get in his hair and the stylist was speechless at how wrong that was of me to do to him. When he told us all of that tonight, I was like "My goodness....YEARS of cutting hair service that I've given to you from the love of my heart (and the frugalness of my wallet).... trimming your hair your whole LIFE, and just like that, for no reason at all other than to save yourself from having to make small talk, you threw me under the bus..." He said he knows it was wrong and apologized to me. Apology accepted. His haircut looks great though! I'm excited to see the pictures he got taken! I wanted a quick pic of his face. I told him to give me a smolder. He was like "OH NO!!! I DIDN'T DO A SMOLDER PHOTO!!!" Such a shame. This one will have to do.

Ok, we got it for posterity. Enjoy that hair while you got it. In a few months... the MTC clippers are coming for it! 

Two other exciting things from today - My blog books arrived! That was super quick! I just ordered those last week on Jan 21st! So I have my anniversary gift to Corey ready, and with that, the 2010's are done. All of my blog books are gray binding so far, but I think I'll change it for the next decade of the 2020s. 

And Daniel is ready for school. He was wearing a backpack around the house today and saying it was time to go to school.

And Owen would hear that and say "Noooo! I can't go to school!" And I am worried if Owen is going to be ready by fall. Part of me wants to let Owen stay home, but these two like to battle and get on my nerves, so it might be better to begin to separate them. Owen will be 5 years old in July, so he'll be a young kindergartener, like Hyrum was.... and he's kinda nervous about new things sometimes, like Hyrum was... and it makes me worried it will be like Hyrum was in elementary school. Maybe Daniel could pretend he is Owen? Or I'll just have to trust and hope that Hyrum was a unique case and things will be fine with Owen. Hyrum's turned out fine, there's nothing to worry about. But Daniel seems super ready, like Abi was. And Daniel is a darn September birthday, like Abi was. (That stupid September cut off) Maybe I'll sign Daniel up for preschool or make sure he has playdates set up? Hopefully Owen will be ready and my current concerns will prove to be all for naught, and Daniel will be content to hang out at home with his homebody mom. We'll play school, I'll do it buddy! I'll get crayons and we'll color and learn ABCs and stuff, it will be good.

"About Us" Updated

I updated our "About us" page today. It was a bit outdated, as evidenced by the picture of just 8 kids. So the before and after...

___________________________________

BEFORE:

So, this is us and our crew. Corey and I are high school sweethearts, kinda.  I was actually probably a little one sided, meaning I was a bit of a stalker.  ;)  But hey, it all turned out, so it's okay!  I, Tiffanie, do most all the family recording here in an attempt capture this wonderful phase of our life with these little people.  I wouldn't have it any other way.

________________________________

And now the new AFTER:

________________________________

So, this is us and our crew. 

Corey and I are high school sweethearts (...kinda.  It was actually probably a little one sided, meaning I was a bit of a stalker. ;) But hey, it all turned out, so it's okay!)

Our family has lived in Brazil (2007, 2015) Costa Rica (2010) and Chile (2011)

I'm passionate about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Scriptures (especially the Book of Mormon), Family, Children, America, Operation Underground Railroad, and being healthy.

I blog about babies, boogers, butterflies and whatever else the day throws at us.

I, Tiffanie, do most all the family recording here in an attempt capture this wonderful phase of our life with these little people.

Sick Summer Day

I've had some free time with Corey gone. He's in Seattle this week. He left early Monday and gets home tomorrow night. I don't keep up with things when he's around, but I try. When he's out of town, I don't have to try, wee! So today, instead of cleaning, I went to the temple for the 2:00 session. It was great to not have to go early in the morning, cause when I do I always struggle to stay awake. He'll be back tomorrow, so we're gonna kick it in gear and start cleaning up soon.

Daniel is a little sick with a snotty nose and a swollen eye. He'll wipe his nose with his fist and thus rub all the boogers up into his eye, hence spreading the infection. It looks bad, but he hasn't had a fever and is acting fine. We'll keep an eye on you, little guy!

Nothing else going on. Ethan, Hyrum and Wes are gone on tour, the house seems quiet with three kids gone. Every now and then Abi or Lily will ask "Where is everyone?!?" Kinda funny how different it seems, though it also seems like with 8 more still here it

Baby Brows

I love baby eyebrows - so expressive!
(sorry for the boogers, Fifi's got a little bit of a runny nose)

Boogery Kids

Ethan got my camera again. More pictures of Lily that are cute, here's my favorite...

And also this not so cute one of Abi.

He might have put her up to that one, or he possibly just saw her working and knew it was a Kodak moment. So maybe he didn't put her up to that one. But I think he might have encouraged and influenced this shot...


Well, what are ya gonna do... kids will be kids. So, if this is your kid, only they don't eat it, they wipe it, then you don't want to miss this - see HERE for my magical solution for how to get boogers off of the wall. That link also includes a younger picture of Abi at work. She's a natural, she was born picking that nose. (well, not really, but she's had atleast 2 years of practice)


When we moved out last month, our basement (aka kid's play zone) had many boogers on the wall. Big wipes of snot streaks too. And this was for us and is for all the best way to clear them off.

In a nutshell - to get dried boogers off the wall:
1) get a handful of toilet paper and get it wet
2) tear off a little piece of wet tp and cover the booger
3) wait 10 - 20 minutes depending on thickness of the booger
4) easily wipe it off

Happy booger hunting! And please leave me a comment about how awesome this worked for you, or any glitches you encounter. One tip: don't forget where you put the wet tp, cause then it will get dried with the booger and be just as hard to get off, but the solution to that again is to just get it wet and let it soak. Still, I often found a little clump of dried tp on top of a dried booger. No need to rush, it's not going anywhere.
snot dried boogers how to get off wall on wall clean boogers snot wiped dry

Saturday's Warriors

These saints spent their Saturday cleaning my home. Thank you for saving what's left of my sanity. And our winners are:

GOLD MEDAL WINNER - LINDA!!!!

for going above and beyond the call of duty, motherhood, and reason. This woman went to bed Friday night later than I did, washed my laundry sometime during the night between midnight at 5 a.m., and was back at my house at 6 where she worked until 11 p.m. cleaning. The house would have never gotten cleaned and I wouldn't have survived without her.
Prize - You get to go home.

Honorary Gold Medal - Beka

I don't have a picture of her, but this young lady receives an honorary gold medal award for choosing to come to my home and clean boogers off the walls for 2 weeks instead of hanging out with her boyfriend and for taking care of Lily Saturday night.
Prize - You get to not come over any more. (You'll notice that the bronze medal gets the best prize, next best is silver, and golds don't get jack. Totally unjust, I know)

And did you know if you google "boogers off wall" my BLOG POST on said subject is at the top of the search results. I know, you're impressed. It's my claim to fame.

Silver Medal - Stephanie and Grant

...for packing, cleaning, storing, running errands, and changing hard to reach lightbulbs.
Prize - box of random groceries including chocolate protein powder. (I'll miss you!)

Bronze Medal - Neil

...for washing, cleaning, storing, etc.
Prize - a lawnmower and a Wii

Didn't place:
I was not functioning well, after 4 weeks of this packing/moving shtuff. Glad my family helped drag me over the finish line. I felt it was my duty to document the evening though, so here I am doing what I did okay at, taking a few snap shots

Cleaning Tip: Getting Boogers off the Walls

In a nutshell - to get dried boogers off the wall:
1) get a handfull of toilet paper and get it wet
2) tear off a little piece of wet tp and cover the booger
3) wait 10 - 20 minutes depending on thickness of the booger
4) easily wipe it off

(If you're here in 2026 I'd love for you to leave a comment!)
boogers on wall how tons of boogers on wall booger on
Please let me know if you try it and how it goes!
boogers off the wall
As Sid the Sloth says on Ice Age... "Humans are disgusting." That's what I've been thinking tonight as I helped Ethan with one of his chores - we're on a Booger hunt. Why do kids have to wipe their noses on the wall? I mean honestly, it is really that difficult to go get a tissue? It's really annoying when you find the boogers on the wall right by the toilet paper dispenser. I'm not sure the psychology behind their thinking.
boogers off the wall
But I have found a way to minimize the stress of cleaning them all off - and with 6 kids with active fingers, we almost have full time booger art going on here. Here's the tip which was Ethan's chore tonight - put wet toilet paper on all the boogers on the walls. Corey later asked me about the tp on the walls. I explained that Ethan and I were trying to soften up the snot so we could get it off without chipping off the paint or spending 10 minutes rubbing a hard booger with no sign of it budging. Corey was amazed at my creativity. "Brilliant! How do you think of these things?" I'm just a natural! It just came to me one day as I was washing walls - instead of trying to let it soak with a washcloth which I would have to hold there, I went and got a little bit of tissue wet in water, and it stuck right on the wall like a spit wad, where it softens up the kid booger until you're ready to wipe it clean. I still have a few wads on the wall that I need to go find, but since they've been soaking for an hour, it's a quick and easy job. Ta-Da!
boogers off the wall cat snot off the wall