14 Years!

Happy Anniversary

to my One and Only Love...

Thanks for being so nice to me when I don't deserve it. (Like when the kiddos moved my ipad the other night, and I had a moment of crazy)

Thanks for always kissing me goodbye. (I know that I can count of this like clockwork)

Thanks for pitching in and helping out the minute you get home even though I know that you are worn and need some couch (unwinding) time.

Thanks for not getting upset when the house is a disaster.

Thanks for the beautiful flowers that came with a kiss when you came home from work.

Thanks for helping pick up our humble abode after our 4-children-tornado has stormed through. (you get extra bonus points for this one)

Thanks for taking over packing son #1's lunch at the (butt)crack of dawn. (Did you know that your wife wasn't a morning person before you married her?)

Thanks for laughing with me through good and bad times (and making me giggle when I don't always feel like it.)

Thanks for supporting me in all my crazy crafting and decorating ideas ("here paint this and cut this board, Jon...it doesn't matter why- You will see my vision when we are done")

Thanks for putting up with my not- so -fabulous -reading- at- night habit.

Thanks for showing the kids that you love their mother.

Thanks for making me feel beautiful, important and needed.

Thanks for making me happy each and every day.

Thanks for all you do. These past 14 years have been so incredibly memorable with you by my side!

2 Little Elves

This year we had 2 little elves sent to us from Santa. We got this letter with them:

Greetings from the North Pole!

This is Nipper and Tipper. They are two of my favorite elves. I have noticed that you have been extra good kids this year and thought that you might enjoy having elves stay at your house! I will pick them up on Christmas Eve but will consider sending them back to your family next year if you are good again.

Please do not play with them. They are NOT toys. In fact, they are very much like you in some ways. They like to eat fruit snacks, popcorn, and carrots. They don’t need as much sleep as you do, but they will pretend to be asleep while they are watching you.

One word of caution; Nipper and Tipper are pranksters. They likes to play jokes. I am sorry to say that you may wake to find crazy things have happened in the night. You may find that when you clean the house every night before you go to bed, that it is then that they will make mischief. They like a nice and CLEAN house to play in. But they ARE watching you. They will let me know if you need to be put on the naughty list.

Keep being good and I’ll come by your house on Christmas Eve!

Love,
Santa Claus

Every night they get into a little mischief. The little boys love waking up to see what they got into while they were snoozing. Here is their naughtiness so far.

"Decorating" the hall and drawing on the photos with dry/erase markers.

Writing naughty songs on the bathroom mirror.

A friendly game of chess

Hording marshmallows.

Making a toilet paper mess on the treadmill in the exercise/craft room

Playing in stacked glasses.

I wonder what they will do tonight...............

Halloween 2011

"Give me your BEST Halloween Smile!"

It is late- but I wanted to post a few of our Halloween pics.

Nolan was a Monster hunter

Carli was a fisherman (or is the pc term fisher-person???)

Bridger found Carli's old Dolphin costume and was sold on the cuteness and softness of it.


Jack= Batman- a few days before I found a tutorial that my new friend, Pinterest, helped me find and I whipped it out in no time.

Then they organized all their candy and then decided to play a game called "candy wars". They made it up. It was cute- I am not sure who won , but they made these elaborate battle fields with their candy and "attacked" the other players. My kids are funny and I think we have all played way too much Stratego. lolHope you had a Suh-WEET Halloween!

Move over Oreos......

We have never been much of a sandwich cookie kind of family. Occasionally I will buy them to make a dessert, but normally the kids are not a huge fans.................That is until I went to Trader Joe's in Portland with my red-headed friend, Molls last weekend. I tried Trader Joe's stuff a couple of times and have never been too impressed So on a whim, I picked up these Halloween cookie thinking that I could put them in the kids lunch or use them for a dessert or something. The minute I opened them the kids begged me for them. We couldn't believe how creamy their signature Vanilla Bean Cream filling was for a sandwich cookie. Nolan LOVED them. I soooo wish we had a Trader Joe's close by. I NEED more cookies. I even tried to make some sandwich cookies today thinking that maybe I could make a close knock off version- but nope. Not even close. With these cookies out there....the Girl Scouts should just give up now! Even with these puppies priced at $3 a box, it is well worth it to taste what a Sandwich cookie SHOULD taste like!

I love us!

(Jack lining up his Star Wars Guys. Has nothing to do with this post- but dang, he is cute!!!)

I don't exactly know what the change is or why, but we have all been feeling it lately. We are more cohesive. We laugh more. We enjoy each other more. I think it has something to do with the kids growing up. We have our own inside jokes and things we laugh at. We make each other laugh. We can somewhat tease now and the older kids are learning how to laugh at themselves. It is a fun time.

At dinner tonight, Bridger came up with the idea that we would all take a turn and tell what we all love about our family. I am still swooning at the question and the answers.

Right now, This has something to do with our inside jokes We quote this daily. Even Jack quotes it on his own (not even prompted by the kids)

There are 6 episodes of Kid History total. Be sure to watch them all. To say that we enjoy them is an understatement!

What do you love about your family?

Life Moves Along.

So- since I last blogged, life has happened.
Jon's Grandma passed away. Grandma Ora. We went to the funeral and cried and rejoiced with family. I say rejoiced because Grandma was reunited with Grandpa. It was what she talked about for 11 years. She wanted to see Grandpa again and her father who died when she was 3 months old. We will see you again Grandma Great. We love you!
I have a new niece. Anna Jacobs was born to Jon's sister in July and we all met her (and squished her) a few weeks ago. She is lovely and such a good -natured baby.Here she is in her blessing outfit just after she was blessed. Carli and my heart are a little broken from not being able to see Anna and her family a lot more.
Carli and Carson are best buds when they are together. It is soooo sweet to see Carli take Carson around Gramma's house and play with whatever he can talk her into.Which isn't hard to do because she adores him.Do you look back at things and see the hand of the Lord in events that have transpired? In May, when Jon's grandma passed away, we were in Utah for a couple of days. Toward the end of our stay, I started talking to my brother in law about him getting married. Okay- I wasn't talking so much as teasing. I teased him a lot about it, actually. And I felt bad. I felt that maybe I should stop teasing him and start helping him. I remember when the idea popped into my head. ZING!

Our Convo went something like this:

ME- "Aaron- I am gonna put you on my mofia board" (my LDS message board of 100+ moms- called the mofia because of the first 3 initials -mof= my online friends)

AARON- um. Okay (Said with a little fear, hesitation, but also I heard a little challenge in it)

Aaron thought that what I was referring to was my blog. I don't know if he woulda let me post his name, pic and info if he realized what I was really doing- so maybe ignorance is bliss-lolBefore I left Utah, everyone on the board wanted to match Aaron with a relative or friend who lived in Utah. But when I made the post, I forgot that there where a couple of single moms on the board. One of the said that she would date him. That led to an invitation for him to email her, which led to a date, which led to dating, which led to an engagement...... I think you know where this is going. lolA Couple weeks ago, we went to St. George to see April and Aaron sealed for time and eternity in the temple. Not only do Jon and I have a new sis in law- but my kiddos have 2 new cousins. They adore Greta and Andrea. We all do.I look at things and realize how everything has just fit into place. April and Aaron now reside in Grandma Great's house and things just fit together like they were supposed to. April and her girls were such a needed addition to our family. (I said NEEDED- and I meant it!) I thank the Lord for promptings. I thank Him for timing. I know we are on his schedule and not our own. I see that so much with stories like this. Things fit together like puzzle pieces. Wow.
I also look back and realize the progression. Normally when 2 people meet on the Internet, they both get online separately and then go to the same site and chat or whatever. But in this case, the message board that I belong to, is by invitation only. I look at how many people had to be invited before me and April joined, in order for them to invite us, and I am awed. The Lord set this in motion a long time ago.
I will update with kids and such- but right now need a shower- I get precious little time to myself and this post took longer than I thought it would. lol Have a good Day!!!

Tied to be Awesome!

For Father's Day, I wanted to do something fun for Jon. I had a tie pattern, so I made him a tie outta this fun cotton fabric that I found and then, decided to make the boys ones to match. I know, Nolan needs a longer one, ugh. (When did he get so big?) But other than that, they look super adorable when they wear them altogether!

Carli's Wax Muesem #2

I have been meaning to post about this all summer. Before school was out, Carli had one more wax museum. She had to pick someone who contributed some way to science. She chose Stephanie Kwolek, who invented Kevlar. Here she is in her pose, before her name is said.

Then she stands up and starts her memorized speech about Stephanie.

I kept catching her while she was speaking, so never mind her funny expressions on her face.Her poster about Stephanie.

Miss Me?

Yeah I know, I have been MIA lately (as far as my blog goes anyway) We have been super duper busy. Mostly getting the house ready to sell! But guess what. It is now official (as of last night) Our house is now for sale!

In other news, Carli has celebrated her 10th birthday. WOOHOO! Seriously, still can't believe she is so old.

Next week Carli has her Spring Wax Museum. She is gonna be Stephanie Kwolek, inventor of Kevlar. I will take and post pics- so excited!!!

Be sure to check in the next couple of days on my craft blog for our living room transformation. Seriously, it rocks!!!!

Carli's Music Play

Carli is in Choir in school. (Mentioned before) They always do a Christmas performance and a Spring one. For the Sprng one, Carli tried out for a singing solo and got it. Okay- it was only 3 words. - but still, pretty cool. This play was about the History of rock music. Carli s the caveman in the front.

She even got to swing dance with Jacob from her class too.

Knowing Jacob is a goodsport- I asked for a picture with both of them- When we were walking away, I asked Carli if I embarrassed her and she said, "just a little" but assured me that it was okay.

Gaaaah!

I lost my camera (yeah- I know...."again?" -You ask. I can't post anything new without it and the worst part is that I don't know if Jack did something with it or if I put it up so that Jack couldn't do anything with it. Either way- I haven't seen it in awhile. It makes it hard to post things like my new pantry re-do or Jack making up his own Batman costume using a backwards bib and his brother's (clean) underwear on his head. Anyway- please enjoy these old photos of the kiddos until I do find it!

Can you tell what has been on my mind lately?

Now I need to figure out a way to tell Jonny.....Hmmmm.

(Yes- I realize this isn't the best time to go back to Hawaii tho, but I still wanna swim in that blue water while the kids build sand castles and we all enjoy slurping frsh fruit from the street stands.-aaaah)