CHARLIE

How can one little person be so fun and so sweet and make me so happy and then make me want to tear my hair out other times? This kid keeps our life interesting. So, here's the latest and greatest with Charlie.

We took him to an allergist a couple weeks ago. I was so worried we would find out he was allergic to dairy products. The appt. was pretty much a nightmare. I ended up having to lay on top of him to pin him down so the allergist could poke his hand over and over and over. This went on for about and hour while Charlie fought tooth and nail the ENTIRE time. The lady was worried I was getting hurt because C kept kicking me in the face and body. He was drencehd in sweat and his hair was matted to his head. I felt so bad but managed to hold it together until I got out to the car. The results? Charlie is allergic to wheat, all dairy, eggs, soy, goat's milk/cheese, corn, certain sugars, certain dyes, preservatives and tomatoes. Not sure if I left anything out but you get the point. I still don't even know what to say about this. We are gradually trying to figure out how to change his diet and hope that it will help his seizures. He's such a sweet boy, it seems so unfair for him.

Winston and Charlie have been playing together a bit more lately. They still fight a lot but it's so rewarding to see them enjoy each other and laugh together. It makes it all worth it.

Charlie is as "busy" as ever. He is into EVERYTHING. He never stops. This picture is from yesterday when he knocked over the kid gate (meant to keep him out of the pantry) and got into the powdered eggs. His latest thing is to open the oven door and either reapetedly slam it shut or climb up on it and get up on the counter. This gives him access to all the things we put up there to keep out of his reach. You wouldn't believe how fast he is. Look away for 2 seconds and you can bet he's going to be making a mess of something. He also loves to get in the fridge and pull the eggs or condiments out onto the floor or open the dishwasher and pull out dishes and run as fast as he can with whatever he managed to snatch. For some reason, he usually goes for the knives. I chase after him and take them away and he laughs and laughs. He loves it. I put him in time out and he usually laughs while he's sitting there. Any advice from any of you is very welcome. :) We have to lock all the bathroom doors because he gets in the toilets or the tub and turns on the water. He's one crazy kid. He definitely keeps our lives exciting. He really is a fun kid and he makes us laugh more than anything. We're so happy to have him even if he makes us drop into bed exhausted every night. :) I think it may be paybacks for all the trouble Matt gave his parents growing up. He he.

Just call me Grandma

Yes, it's official...I'm 30 years old! I had a great birthday. On Saturday morning, some of my girlfriends took me out for my favorite breakfast at Magelbys. Yum! It was so fun. I feel so blessed to have such great friends here. That night, we went out with my parents and Matt's parents to my favorite restaraunt...Teppanyakis. Another yum! We had a really nice time with the parentals. Matt and I are so happy they get along so well. They are such wonderful and amazing people. We feel so lucky to have them.

Sunday, the Bishop let Matt out of his morning meetings so he could help me get the kids ready for church. It might seem kind of silly but it was soooo nice. He also had short meetings after church and was able to get home pretty early! He made me a yummy lasagna dinner and let me take a nap while he and Winston made me a cute birthday cake. There were many nice phone calls and emails from family and friends. Thanks everyone for making it so special.

I almost forgot about the present Matt gave me. Even though I knew about it, I'm still totally excited. We are going to San Francisco next June so we can swim in Sharkfest. Sharkfest is a 1.5 mile swim from Alcatrez back to the shore. My 5 brothers and sisters are also doing this swim in June. I think it will be tough but it will be really awesome to accomplish something like that. My family has nicknamed Matt "sharkbait." He's not a big swimmer but he's working hard and I know he's going to do great! :) I'm really proud of him for trying! It was the perfect gift and I can't wait to go!!

Yes, I'm looking real nice Clark. Real nice.I decided, since it was my birthday, I could spend the whole day (after church) in my favorite PJ pants and sweatshirt. Go Enumclaw! :)

Wish List

Just in case Matt wonders if he should get me more for my birthday than a trip to San Fransisco and registration for Sharkfest...here's a good idea. Just trying to help. He he

First Annual River Trail Ward Turkey Bowl

The weather was so incredibly beautiful yesterday. It was perfect for our ward Turkey Bowl. There was a great turnout and it seemed like everyone had a fun time. After the game, all the players and their fams enjoyed breakfast together in the nearby pavilion. All in all, it was a nice way to enjoy the awesome weather on a Saturday morning. Above are a few pictures of my sweet baby "bringing it" during the game.
*Pictures courtesy of our ward photographer, Jack Petersen. I borrowed them from the RIVER TRAIL WARD PHOTO BLOG.

Happy Birthday Winston!

Yes, I'm still trying to catch up on our blog. Winston actually turned 4 on September 12. He woke up to a Spiderman bike at the bottom of the stairs followed by German Pancakes...the breakfast of his choosing. We went to the Mayan Adventure for dinner that night. He thought all the animals and the cliff divers were pretty cool. It was pretty fun but the food, as we had been previously warned, was pretty horrible. I guess you go there for the atmosphere. Later that week, we had a birthday party for him at Airtime Gymnastics. I think the kids had a great time. They had a "coach" that took them around and did trampoline tricks, obstacle courses and some other fun gymnastic activites. At the end, we took all the kids (13...yikes!) into the party room and had cupcakes, opened presents and gave out the treat bags. It was pretty crazy at the end but I think it turned out pretty darn good. Happy Birthday Win!

Halloween 2007

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

We had a great Halloween. My parents came over and we had some yummilicious Chili, Scones and Homemade Apple Pie. Matt and I took the kids around the block trick or treating while my parents manned the door. Winston was pretty into the all the festivities but Charlie was sooooo mad about having to wear the hook part of his Captain Hook costume, all he did was cry until I took it off (hence the pictures). After that he was pretty happy. Earlier in the month, we went to the Big Red Barn with our friends, the Tingeys. It was lots of fun AND we got to pick out our perfect pumpkins for the carving contest. We had our ward trunk or treat earlier that week where Matt donned his Sumo costume. He was hot stuff. :) We also had a great time participating in the Trick or Treat on Main Street here in Spanish Fork. It was great except that I wore my boots with a tall heels and could barely walk by the end. All in all, it was a great month. Hope you all had a great Halloween too! Until next year...

2nd Annual Pumpkin Carving Contest '07

I doubt many of you remember last year's contest, but no worries. Rest assured, it took place. And now, bless all our good fortunes, it's come around again. Last week we had the McGhie's 2nd Annual Pumpkin Carving Contest. Year one featured hanging bats, haunted houses, spiders, men in mirrors and the never-forgotten Curious George pumpkin.

Year two everyone decided to take it to the next level. In our earlier post of the Big Red Barn, Steff alluded to the fact that it was a fun night out with some good friends at a pumpkin patch. Mostly true. Mostly it was a trip to find the perfect pumpkin for the 2nd Annual... and it worked. So, let's not fool ourselves folks. We found el pumpkinos supremo. And it was game on for the competition... and the McGhie's were bringin' it.

Everyone got right into it, some having a bit more fun than others. We carved, dug, gutted and even hacked. I'm talking serious blood sweat and tears.... figuratively of course. In the end, everyone came out with pumpkins to be proud of. From left to right, we had an alien being (Brian) sucked up by his UFO, Napolean Dynamite (Matt), the headless horseman (Liz), two-face phantom of the opera clown man thing (sorry Kyle), a bat (Melissa), and creature reacher (Steff).

At the end of the competition, we couldn't really determine a winner, as is mostly the case. We all had a good time and came out with some pretty awesome pumpkins to show off for the neighbors.

Next year, we're going to get serious... again. You all just wait. You'll see...

Here are close-ups of our pumpkins in case anyone cares (as I look down dejectedly and kick a pebble with my shoe)...

Steff's Creature Reacher

Matt's Napolean Dynamite

mm

Guns 'N Tuff Stuff

So, I guess the last time I wrote Pluto was still a planet and being called 'The Biggest Loser' was not a good thing. My how things change.

Anyways, for work we got to go to a place called the Big Shot Ranch a week or so ago. It was a range for shooting guns. For the first while we went from station to station shooting different arrangements of skeet (clay pigeons).

After we finished shooting, we had a great lunch of tri-tip steak and pork loin roast. This is when the afternoon went from awesome to incredible. Following lunch, we went back out to the range and that's when they pulled out the heavy artillery.... literally.

The first gun we got to shoot was a .50 caliber sniper rifle.

This gun was huge. This gun has a 1.5 mile effective range. When the gun went off, you could feel the shock of it all around. It was like a cannon.

The interesting thing about the whole shooting of this monster was that even though I was one of the smaller, weaker guys, I really just made that gun look good. It was almost uncanny. :)

When we finished shooting the .50 cal sniper rifle, we had one last treat to play with. The last gun.... well, I'll just let the video speak for itself.

Man, that was fun stuff. I highly recommend this.

mm

First day of preschool

Winston had his first day of preschool on September 4. He goes to the "Smart Stuff" preschool in Salem. We both love it!


This was their first field trip up Payson Canyon to go leaf collecting and learn about nature. There are eight kids in his class but on field trip days, Ms. Tonya combines the morning and afternoon classes. She has some fun matching blue shirts for the kids to wear so she can keep track of them when they go on outings. I had the opportunity to go along on this one and help out. It was really fun. The kids are so cute.



They even have their own little blue school bus. It's so funny. Winston was in heaven when he found out he got to ride on the bus.

Happy 70th Birthday Dad!

Okay, so his birthday was in September but I am finally posting about it now. All six kids and spouses and some grandkids made it to surprise my Dad for his 70th birthday. We met in the lobby of their SLC mission apt. and went up together and knocked on the door. He was pretty surprised. My Mom had arranged for them to have the day off at the Family History Library where they are serving their mission. The security guards even said they would escort him out if he tried to come in. :) We headed up to a house in Snow Basin we had rented for a couple days. It was really fun to just hang out and play games and relax. True to the Butler tradition, we had enough food for about 500 people. It was good, though, and added to the fun.

We also carried on the tradition of cup wars. My Mom makes us write our names on our cups so we can reuse them and not have to wash 12,000 cups when we get together. Long ago, someone decided to poke tiny pinholes in someone else's cup so that when they went to get a drink, little streams of water would run out. This resulted in the previous person's cup getting knifed. Now every time we get together, we all closely inspect our cup before drinking because you can pretty much count on one of the siblings to have done something to it. I have to say that I was proud of my husband this trip. He came up with an idea that hadn't been done before. He took some guacamole and dripped some around in one of the cups and wrote a note on the cup that said something about being sorry about sneezing in their cup. My family was impressed.

While we were there, my niece was trying to get some ideas for fundraisers for her Senior Class to earn money for Prom. Some of us came up with some great ideas but then Becca made the mistake of leaving her list out on the counter. When we were leaving and she went to get it, there were a few more ideas penciled in for her. I believe "Rob a bank" and "Sell your soul" were a couple of them? Nice one fam.

It really was a fun weekend. I hope my Dad had a great birthday. He's the best and he deserves it. Happy Birthday Dad!

We've been tagged

Okay, we were tagged about a hundred years ago by my dear friend Angie. She does amazing photography. You should check out her blog here. Anywho, we are supposed to write 8 interesting things about us. So, here goes...

1. Matt is the youngest of eight kids.
2. I am the youngest of 6 kids. (yeah, 2 youngest children...goofing off is the norm at our house)
3. When we got married, we hoped to have a large family. Now we just hope to survive Charlie. :)
4. Charlie has recently mastered the somersault and is now a somersaulting fool.
5. Winston started preschool this year and has already been on three fieldtrips. He loves it!
6. We love having parties at our house including (but not limited to) aebleskiver parties, pumpkin carving parties, crepe parties, gingerbread house making parties, pizza making parties, smores parties...well, you get the picture. We love parties. Any excuse is a good excuse to have one.
7.Matt has won the last three sales competitions at his work scoring us a family pass for dinner and bowling at Fat Cats, 4 Tickets to Frightmares at Lagoon and an overnight stay for two at Snowbird. (They stopped having the competitions)
8. Matt and I recently registered to swim in Sharkfest in San Francisco next June. It was a little pricey and it's supposed to be for my birthday so more about that later.

Okay, so I couldn't come up with anything that great but it was the best I could do at the moment. I guess I am supposed to tag other people. So, I tag Julie, Lisa, Katie, Adrianne and Laura in memory of the old BYU 93rd Ward. :) If you've already done one of these, don't feel obligated to do it again if you don't want to. Have fun!

Giant Magnet Board!

We (and by we I mean Matt) finally finished the giant magnet board for our kitchen wall. Now I just have to get pictures and stuff to fill it up. The left section is for the calendar, announcements, invitations and other scheduling things. The middle section is for pictures of family and friends. The right section is for the W and C's artwork and projects. It's exciting to have it done. Next, we will be putting beadboard on the wall under the magnet board. Slowly, our house is starting to look decorated! :)

Time to play catch up...

Yes, the McGhies are still alive and kicking. Things have just been so busy. It seems like we have things going on every single weeknight and most weekends. It's Saturday morning right now and Matt slept horrible last night. So, I tried to get the kids downstairs quietly and turned on our bathroom fan to drown out any possible noise so he could sleep in a little longer. He never gets to sleep in so hopefully this will help him feel a bit more rested. Anyhow, I have a little time to do some blogging now. So here are some things that have been going on with the McGhies since we got sick a while back...