just us

Back to School

2010-09-05T10:48:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I'm blogging at a slow pace, but I'm blogging!! I'm loving being back to school. Since E is in Kindergarten and I drive them to and from school, I was worried about feeling like I was in the car all day, but I'm loving this new schedule. I've never been a big schedule-following person, but the school year is kind of forcing me to be and I love it! I take D to school, come home and dedicate that time to clean my house, do laundry, and work on stuff with E. Then I take her to school and by the time I get home both babies are sleeping, I put them to bed and dedicate that time working on the computer/pictures. It's great and SO quiet! Then I pick them up, do homework with D and fix dinner. I feel like normally I'm just all over the place during the day but now that I have specific times dedicated to certain things, I feel so organized and my house hasn't been this clean in a long, long time!! And Ben has even been out of town for the last week and a half!

Here they are on the first day of school...

He's a 2nd grader! I can't believe it! I love this guy more than words could ever say. He's such a good kid, I'm so blessed that he's my son!

And my Kindergartner. My sweet baby girl is growing up too fast!! She so cute I can hardly stand it. She was SO ready to start school and SO excited! Me and her took a day before school started and went school shopping, had lunch, and got pedicures. It was so fun. She such a sweet little girl and I just love her to pieces!

And this little guy had to get in on the fun. He loves his backpack! The day we bought it he was flying all over the house all day acting like Buzz, it was dang cute! He just melts my heart.

Saying goodbye. She didn't even want me to walk her up, let alone walk in the class room with her. But I said too bad, I'm coming! :) She went in and put all of her school supplies away and found a spot to color her picture. When all the kids were there and ready her teacher sat them all down in a circle and read them a book about starting Kindergarten and saying goodbye to their parents. Then they all stood up and waved goodbye to all of us parents standing in the back. It was so cute. And I did so good not to cry till the drive home. She's growing up too fast! But she'll always be my girl! Love you sweet pea!

BYU...

2010-08-23T21:29:00.000-07:00

...We still like you even though you took our aunt and sister! We are so proud of you Kelsey, you couldn't be in a better place! You are going to have such a blast. But I have to be honest, I'm going to miss you soooo much! So here's to you Kelsey...

K - K is for Kute, Karing, and Kind. You are so beautiful and seriously one of the kindest and most caring person around. I know you would be willing to help anybody, anytime.

E - E is for Everybody's friend. I am continuously impressed with you and how you be-friend everybody. I love how outgoing you are, and am very jealous of it. You are so much fun to be around and love it!

L - L is for Live, Love, Laugh. I know, it's been used before but it so describes you. You definitely know how to live, how to love, and how to laugh...especially in the wee hours of the morning!

S - S is for Sister. You truly are an amazing sister. I love that we can talk about anything and everything.

E - E is for Early morning fun. The party never stops when you're around...just to name a few... toilet papering, Chinese fire drills, midnight ice cream runs, Merritt's, Eclipse, girls movie night, Hitch dance nights, and am workouts... what am I going to do without you??

Y - Y is for You. You are beautiful, fun, hardworking, selfless. You are bomb.com. And You got me blogging again (that is huge! :) )

We love you and miss you!!!!

So Embarrassed.

2010-08-23T20:55:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I haven't updated my blog in 4 months. Apparently my "trying something new" was to not blog at all! And I'm so embarrassed that my last entry was my horrible laundry pile! So sorry to all that had to see that! Well, there has been sooooo much in the last 4 months. I can't even fathom trying to catch up, but there are so many pictures I would love to share. Maybe I'll throw some old ones in along with the new. I definitely loved doing a picture a day. It was fun to come up with things and definitely kept my camera out, but man, I don't know how other photographers do it! That along with editing of clients pictures, keeping up with the business blog, keeping a house clean, and spending time with their kids. Props to those who can do it all, because I can't. But I'm FINALLY taking the leap and jumping back into the blog...

Trying something new...

2010-04-07T19:53:00.000-07:00

Well....to stop me from babbling on and bore you with all of my woe's, I'm simply going to say I'm putting myself through a course, that I made up, to help me change so many things I want to change about myself. I'm making this a 3 month course and focusing on one thing each week.

Week One - A Clean Home. I'm usually not one to show off my weakness, but this, my friends is my weakness..... LAUNDRY.....

(You like how the baskets are mostly empty. Most likely because someone was searching for something!) So my goal this week is to obviously catch up on laundry and to continue to make myself start a load of laundry everyday...wash it, fold it, AND put it away, all in one day! I've changed my scour day to Wednesday...because either we're just too busy or too lazy on Saturday! The kids really are pretty good at helping me scour...

Also each day this week I'm organizing one room...closets, drawers, everything. During all of our crazy moving days we got a storage unit. I hate it. I want all of my stuff with me, so I can access it AND find it when ever I want to! So we set a goal to have a garage sell and get rid of it. Which means everything needs to be organized and cleared out to bring in more stuff! So today....organize bathrooms...CHECK!!

Easter

2010-04-06T13:22:00.000-07:00

Saturday night coloring Easter eggs. Of course D had to make a BSU one!

And Sunday morning the kids woke up to find the Easter bunny really is nice... Saturday night they got on this kick that the Easter Bunny was sneaking around the house outside and every time they would look out the window they would scream thinking they saw him making a scary face at them. Ben thought of the great idea of sending them outside to show them that there was nothing there. Well, being outside in the dark and imagining a scary Easter Bunny just doesn't mix! Needless to say they could NOT fall asleep. They laid together in our bed trying hard not to think about the Easter Bunny sneaking up on them! After the morning hunt of Easter eggs and baskets...

Enjoying his first chocolate egg!...

Can you believe...

2010-03-23T19:14:00.000-07:00

...I only saw this once in the theaters, I bought the DVD on Saturday and I still haven't watched it! I can't believe myself. Well today, the house was clean (not really), the kids were napping (well, one anyways), and I was set on watching it... unfortunately I only got 30 min. into it before I realized it wasn't worth it until I was going to be completely un-bothered by kiddos. So now I'm off to put the kids to bed and finish it!!! Happy New Moon watching to all!

Before....After?

2010-03-20T19:06:00.000-07:00

Well this was supposed to be the before picture but she didn't quite follow through to get the after picture. She was so excited, sat up in the chair, they got her already and she lost it...she got too nervous. Yep, we were going to get her ears pierced. Maybe there will be an after one of these days!

That Naughty Leprechaun!

2010-03-17T07:58:00.000-07:00

We woke up to find that a naughty leprechaun made an appearance in our house for the first time on St. Patrick's Day. Lenny (the naughty leprechaun) left us a note to find all the gold coins and that he had a little fun while he was hiding them, "heeee". He laughed at us a lot! First he toilet-papered the bathroom along with the green streamers, and put stickers and wrote on the mirror with lipstick!...

Then we came into the kitchen to discover he had gotten into the cereal and made a big mess!...

Next he put green streamers on our favorite chandelier (yes, with this post you get a glimpse into our sweet 1970's rental!) And underneath it made a big mess while he was writing his notes!...

He took all the books off the shelf....

And put green streamers all over the kitchen....

That naughty leprechaun! But thanks for the gold coins, we had fun finding them! :)

Playing with M-Dog

2010-03-16T13:52:00.000-07:00

My sweet little guy, he's so much fun and so darn cute (if I don't say so myself!) He was sitting so content playing with toys, I had to come play with him and bring my camera!

yummy...

2010-03-12T13:46:00.000-08:00

Looks good enough to eat! Playing with her favorite playdoe set. Right after we took the picture she set it down and her little trouble making brother grabbed it and stomped on it. She was NOT happy, but felt better knowing we got a picture of it. :)

JUMP!

2010-03-10T13:41:00.000-08:00

Published a little late...we were playing for the i heart faces challenge but I didn't get it posted in time. But we still had fun doing it. Or I should say THEY had fun!! :)

Computer

2010-03-08T21:46:00.000-08:00

Something that you might ofter hear in our car on the way home from dropping or picking D up from school is "I call computer first!" Yes, I have to admit we all fight over the computer. And this little girl LOVES to play on the computer. I swear if I didn't force her to do other things these days she would be happy between playing on the computer and playing the Wii.

A Sunday Evening

2010-03-07T20:36:00.000-08:00

Enjoying the awesome weather this evening and gearing up for baseball season.

Don't knock the outfit.... :)

Sippy

2010-03-06T20:31:00.000-08:00

M-dog loves his sippy. He pretty much attacks it when I give it to him. I think this is the earliest any of my kids have figured this thing out!

A Monumental Day

2010-03-03T17:35:00.000-08:00

It has arrived!! I love it when they can hold their own bottles, no more propping up with blankets or pillows and it sure makes driving a whole lot easier when I'm not having to one hand bottle feed! Every time he does something new, I actually get a little sad...I don't want my baby to grow up...but this makes me happy. :) Don't get me wrong I still love to cuddle with him when he drinks his bottle, but today life just got a little easier.

camera pro

2010-03-02T17:31:00.000-08:00

Yes, I know I've mentioned before, this kid loves everything about the camera! We'll see how long that lasts!

Shiner

2010-02-28T20:59:00.000-08:00

Friday night we had a birthday party for my mom and brother. It was so much fun and my kids love getting together with all their cousins! Well, someone must have been having a little too much fun and not watching where he was running! But I guess it was dark out so he couldn't see of course. They were all running around and playing outside and next thing we know D came in crying with blood all over his eye. He said he ran into a pole. OUCH! We debated about taking him in to get stitches, but with the help of everyone's opinions we decided to try and doctor it ourselves (thanks Rick for not coming to THIS party - my physician brother). Ben took him to his friends house (since we were at the clubhouse) and with his help closed the gap with super glue, and it worked awesome! Saved us a good chunk of money! But here he is two days later with his sweet shiner! Poor guy...

ready to go!

2010-02-25T22:50:00.000-08:00

Ben had a basketball game tonight and took the older two kiddos, but since it was too late for the babies, we stayed home. T wanted to go so bad! As they were walking out the door he ran back to his bedroom put his boots on and came running out saying "go! go!" Well, since he was already in his jammies (which usually consists of one of D's t-shirts) it was pretty funny! So of course I had to snap a picture, and since he actually likes getting his picture taken, it cheered him up!

For "THOSE" Days

2010-02-24T20:43:00.000-08:00

When day to day life wears on me and all I feel like doing is hiding under a rock...a nice HOT bath helps (especially when I'm on a no sugar contest and can't run to the nearest Dairy Queen for a Blizzard to solve all my problems!)

I Heart Faces Challange - Hands on Fun

2010-02-23T14:59:00.000-08:00

We had fun today doing hand prints for this weeks challenge!

Check out i heart faces for more cute hand pictures!

Time for School

2010-02-22T20:46:00.000-08:00

Every morning we all get loaded in the car to take D to school. I really don't mind it, and since we live out of the school boundaries it's kind of a necessity. Some days he'll get out of the car, run around the fence and wave goodbye (other days I guess he's more anxious to find his friends). I thought it would be fun to get a picture of him going to school for the photo of the day, so I told him to smile for me at the fence. He rolled his eyes, gave me a hug, and ran to the fence to smile...gave me this look quick enough for one snap and ran off. It kind of makes me laugh. He totally has PCS...photographers child syndrome! :) But I sure love you buddy!

Fishy Mask

2010-02-21T20:12:00.000-08:00

He loves it for the first minute and then he just wants it off! He's been such a trooper and already feels so much better thanks to the fishy mask!

"the paint place"

2010-02-20T18:29:00.000-08:00

D had been begg.ing to go to the paint place for a few weeks now, and we finally got to go today. I took him and E while Ben stayed home with the two sickies. We had so much fun!

Sick Babies

2010-02-19T19:19:00.000-08:00

Today we had two sick little buddies. Luckily for me they were on the same schedule with their naps and medicine...that makes it so much easier. As the day went on I was noticing T mans breathing was getting harder and raspy. We took him in and the poor little guy has RSV and we got sent home with a breathing machine for treatments three times a day. Hopefully they both get better soon! Poor little guys...

Sunshine

2010-02-18T18:10:00.000-08:00

Out enjoying some sunshine this afternoon. Yay for warm weather! Bring it on, I'm ready!

I followed the tutorial on i {heart} faces HERE, except I left out the sun since I didn't have any sky in the photo.

Going Sugar Free

2010-02-17T10:37:00.000-08:00

It literally pains me to throw away an unopened, uneatened, yummy for my tummy, I want to sink my teeth into you right now.. Reese's Peanut Buttercup. Yes, they're my fav! And if you haven't tried the giant Reese's Bar...oh my, you just might want to stay away! They are addicting! I did a search for it on google and found this Candy Blog review. That mouth watering picture makes me want to run out and get one right now! NO, I can't!! (this is me telling me to be strong!) I've joined a contest...NO SUGAR! It's a $5 buy in and the last one standing takes all...the only thing that boggles my mind is how long will that be?? To help me on my way I found this from Dr. Oz. Join me! So for now, so long sweet Reese's...

Paint

2010-02-16T14:59:00.000-08:00

With lots of painting projects...magnet boards, shelves, and a desk, it's so much easier when the little mommy helpers have their own projects to work on!

Roses

2010-02-15T11:56:00.000-08:00

Just playing again...thinking about framing one for my kitchen.

Happy Valentines Day!

2010-02-14T22:57:00.000-08:00

We had an awesome day...waffles topped with pudding and strawberries, fun gifts for the kids, candy, flowers, balloons, a spa gift certificate from Ben (thank you!), church, visit from Grandma, Papa, and Kelsey, and ended with a fabulous fondue night. It was so much fun!

Lunch Time

2010-02-13T14:17:00.000-08:00

He's been a pretty good eater so far...maybe a little too good since he eats EVERYTHING he can find on the ground! Our little vaccum..

Shoes

2010-02-12T14:07:00.000-08:00

So T man is totally obsessed with shoes. He's always putting on everybody's shoes that are laying around, and is a little picky about his own shoes...hence his froggy boot phase of which he wouldn't wear anything else. Today his shoe choice was Snow White! Ben might be a little mad at me for posting these pictures, but I think it's pretty funny!

Peek-A-Boo

2010-02-11T10:40:00.000-08:00

I got out of the shower today to find T playing peek-a-boo with M-dog. It was so cute!

where's the baby...

there he is...

I think he was entertained.

My Valentines

2010-02-10T16:46:00.000-08:00

Well two of them anyways. So obviously picking just one photo for my photo a day is a little difficult for me. But really, how could I pick just one today?! There's even so many more cute ones. We made darling Valentine cards with E's picture to hand out at preschool, but of course the printer wouldn't work! Oh well, it was fun taking these and I absolutely love them!

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

A few of the favs

2010-02-09T21:18:00.000-08:00

Photos of the day today are a few of my favorite purchases from UT. Gotta love Utah for all the fun shopping!

the red frame and the plates, both from Tai Pan - LOVE IT!

(yes, I still need to hang it)

lamp shade from Tai Pan, lamp base from Target - LOVE IT!

picture frames from IKEA - can you guess....LOVE IT!!

(setting them up for my new pictures from the photo shoot!)

and this beauty was a gift from my sister - LOVE IT! Thanks Michelle!!

Trip to Utah

2010-02-08T20:42:00.000-08:00

We had so much fun this past weekend. Ben had planned to send me to Utah to visit Michelle for my birthday but the more we talked about it the more we thought it would be fun to take the kids and all go. We managed to cram a lot in in one weekend but we had a blast! Adventures of the weekend included...Nordstrom Rack, Ben's first trip to IKEA, Date night with David and Michelle, hangin out with the fam, Tai Pan, Cafe Rio, the aquarium, visit to Ty and Masha's to see their new baby girl, swimming, Temple Square, visit with Tegan, photo shoot with the kids, Superbowl party with Andrew and his roommates, Chik-fil-A, In and Out Burger, swung by Logan to visit Natalie, and back home. Whew! So fun, can't wait to do it again! And just a few of the highlights...

at the aquarium

Lauren - the kids new best friend

and the favs from the photo shoot...

Cheesecake

2010-02-03T22:56:00.000-08:00

My birthday lunch with my sisters and my mom (and my dad joined us and paid...thank you Dad!) was at our usual, the Cheesecake Factory. So yummy! It was fun, lunch was good, and dessert was even better! My plan was to take a picture of our cheesecake, but as our waitress said "Wow, you guys must have liked it!" because it was gone before I remembered to snap a picture. But come on, what else can you think about when it is taunting you in the face! And there were five of us sharing 1 slice, so of course it went fast! So this is the photo of the day...eaten cheesecake, nothing left but the "compressed seafoam" as my Grandpa would call it!

piano

2010-02-02T16:36:00.000-08:00

D started taking piano lessons a few months ago and he is doing awesome! He wasn't totally excited about starting but since his friend is his teacher and he gets to stay a little bit longer each week and have a play date, he thought it would be okay. :) So I was curious to see how he would do and it's so fun that he is doing good! They are going to have a recital in April...I'm really excited for that!

Look what I can do

2010-02-01T20:41:00.000-08:00

Why do I feel like this little guy is growing up so much faster than the others? He's my little baby, he needs to just slow down! He is crawling all over the place, and is starting to stand up on all the furniture. I can't even believe it...he should still be a newborn, shouldn't he?! I love watching them grow up, but I just want him to stay my little baby.

Me and the 4 kiddos

2010-01-31T21:43:00.000-08:00

Trying for a picture with the kids...and well, this is how we roll! At least no one was crying...yet.

flowers

2010-01-30T14:13:00.000-08:00

Just playing around with the pictures I took of the flowers Ben gave me for my B-Day.

Definitely the photo of the day

2010-01-29T23:07:00.000-08:00

So I was actually taking a picture of my flowers Ben bought for me yesterday for my photo of the day, but I decided this picture better summed up today. T usually wants me to take a picture of him when I'm taking a picture of someone or something else, so when I was taking pictures of the flowers, he kept saying "me, me". So I snapped one of him Oreo face and all. This little man gave me quite the day today...from screaming for daddy at 6am in the family room (and yes Ben was already gone), to his allergic reaction from a cupcake (oops, that was my fault), to his uncontrollable crying for his blanket after he had thrown up all over it, to acting like an angel when grandma brought medicine and apple juice in for the rescue, to smiling so sweetly and innocently for the camera, and back to more tantrums for reasons that I have no idea why. I love this little guy to pieces, but I can already tell I'm in for a long hall with the terrible twos! Thankfully I got a much needed break tonight and joined Kelsey and Grandma to the movies...When In Rome...so cute, go see it! And now when I see this picture of him, it just makes me smile and want to go cuddle up with him in his bed. Love you crazy boy!

Happy Birthday

2010-01-28T21:35:00.001-08:00

...to me! I had a fabulous day! I woke up to my wonderful husband making me my favorite breakfast...blueberry coffee cake, yummy! What a great guy! And to find a sweet little gift my kids made me. Yes, it was homemade...I love when they get their little creative minds going!

The night before, D asked me what we were going to do today, I told him that he had school and his reading class afterwards, and when he got home we would get ready for dinner...his response, that's not a very fun birthday! I love that my kiddos think that when it's someone's birthday we should be having a big birthday party! He was sad that he was going to miss most of my birthday day, so I told him he could skip his reading class and we could do something fun. Well miss E and I decided that we needed to make cupcakes...it is my birthday after all! So we got out our matching aprons (thank you Kelsey, I love 'em!) and had some fun. We waited for D to come home to help us frost them! Then of course we had to take some pictures!

The above shot was what I was going for, but when E saw it she said "oh, Mom we can't see your face!" hehe. So we took this one too...

When Ben got home we took the kids along with Grandma and Kelsey to the Old Spaghetti Factory. Despite T man's tantrums, we had a fabulous time! :) (thank you Grandma!)

Definitely a good day!

mario cart wii

2010-01-27T17:27:00.000-08:00

So Ben got another wheel this past weekend for the wii, and this is what has been going on in our house for the past few days! The kids can't get enough of it. I hear them from the other room just laughing and going crazy. Course when daddy comes home he gets his fair share in too. He came home during lunch today, and managed to squeeze in a couple games! And well, let's be honest, mommy quite likes it too! It's pretty fun and I love playing with the kids!

photo a day

2010-01-26T15:56:00.000-08:00

Okay I know I've said this before, but I really want to try for a photo a day...it keeps me clickin' my camera, and it really can be a fun way to journal our lives. So we'll see how it goes!

Our first family home evening of the year, of course, was on goals. We each picked a goal and have a chart on our fridge so everyday completed we get to mark it off. Every time someone completes their goal for 21 days we get to go to Blue Cow! So far little miss E is beating everyone. Her goal is to work in her work book everyday. She really loves doing it!

texture photo challenge

2010-01-25T14:49:00.000-08:00

So I'm really excited I found this website... i {heart} faces. It looks like a lot of fun. They host photo challenges every week along with just a lot of fun stuff for photographers and wanna be photographers. Check it out! I attemped to take some 2 year old pics of T man this weekend and this was one of my favorites! Along with all the texture going on, I added some texture in photoshop to give it an extra boost. Isn't he the cutest?!?

Bubbas Birthday

2010-01-25T13:40:00.000-08:00

My crazy, cute, melt-your-heart, firey, red-headed little bubbas is two!! This little guy is 100% daddy's boy, absolutely loves his little brother, is best friends with his older brother, and sure knows how to tease his sister! He has the biggest smile, the biggest heart, and the biggest tantrums of any two year old I know! I love his personality, I love that he sucks his fingers like I did, I love that he is blanky boy, and I definitely love that he is always full of hugs and kisses! I simply adore him.

His birthday was last week and we celebrated fire engine style. He loves cars and trucks so we decided on fire engines! We had Grammy, Grandpa, Grandma, Papa, and Kelsey over to celebrate. All he wanted to do was get to his presents, and nothing else mattered after he opened them! It took him awhile to decide he wanted to have some cake and blow out his candles. But once he did he was loving the attention all on him. He loved his birthday cake that mommy made (with the kids help), but I think he only ate a couple bites...oh well, it was sure fun to make!
Happy Birthday sweet boy, I sure love you!!

Did I get behind again???

2010-01-25T13:28:00.000-08:00

Okay so I really am making it a goal to keep up with this blog. Just simply to journal our lives, since my scrapbooking days are well behind me...hopefully someday I'll be able to catch those up too! I know I usually "catch up" the blog with all the fun exciting things we've done in the past few months...but I don't have the energy to today. I guess if I ever make this into a book (which was another goal of mine) I will simply make up for it then. So a new year...a new goal...well let's be honest, I have a ton of goals I'd like to be working on! But here's to this goal....the new blogging me!!

About Me

2010-01-01T21:51:00.000-08:00

Thank you for sneaking a peek at the blog! I am a very lucky wife to an amazing husband, father and friend, the mom to four of the cutest kids ever, and I get to stay home and take care of my wonderful family. I have a small photography business, which I love, and only hope to become more successfull at. This blog is to help me journal our lives by snapping a photo a day, or atleast close to, which in turn will continue my learning of photography. Along with photography, I love making things (from flower bows to quilts to well, anything crafty), home decorating, throwing parties, going to the movies, and just being with my family. Join me in our adventure of a photo a day, among other things, and feel free to share some love...I love comments!

Four kids......

2009-11-01T15:37:00.000-08:00

...equals no time to blog!! It was my goal today to do a little catch up and hopefully I can keep this up from time to time! For a while there my life consisted of going from one baby to the next. From keeping them both happy to duel diaper changes! But I'm starting to feel like I can handle things a little bit better. Don't get me wrong, we are still very busy...I'm just getting used to it! :)

So a quick game of catch up, just a few highlights over the last few months..... (to keep the order of the blog I start with the most recent)

Photo shoot of the boys. I had been wanting to take recent pics of D and T since it had been awhile. Ben thought I was leaving M out, but I'm putting these in their bedroom and since they share I thought is was okay! Besides they are total buds right now. And as you can see in the pictures T does everything D does! I love these guys!! :)

First day of school. My big first grader! I can't say that he was totally excited to go to school and to be gone all day, but there had to be a little excitement there! He loves it now though! We miss him during all those hours he is gone!

Big preschool girl. She was so excited to start school again! And she loves being the oldest of the preschool now. Little miss queen of the school! And her new haircut! She loved it, she had been dying to cut it all summer but I wouldn't let her cut it till after Nat's wedding!

Natalie and Ben's wedding. Such a fun day! Natalie was such a beautiful bride and the whole day turned out great! So many fun memories...we had a blast helping her bring her ideas to life! E was loving being little miss flower girl!

Cousins, cousins, cousins! This summer he had the treat of having the Longneckers for a whole month! These guys were inseparable! The month was full of trips to McDonald's, Rafiki's, Powell's, TCBY, and even the Mall with seven, yes I said seven, kids! We had a blast! We ended the month with taking swim lessons together, the kids loved it!

D's Birthday. Seven years old! I still can't believe it! We had a swim party starting with the fishing game which they fished for pool toys. Then we headed to the pool for swimming fun, sandwiches, cake, and presents. D loved every minute of it. I love you buddy, hope you had the best birthday!

A Name and a Blessing. M's big day. Such a great day for such a sweet boy! Such a classic picture after church...T sleeping, M a hungry boy, and D's shirt no longer tucked in! But aren't we a cute family! Afterwards we came back to our place and feed our awesome family and friends lunch!

And my handsome little guy...happy now!

Snaps of my sweet boy. Two months old. He is such a good baby, I am so blessed!

Daddy leaving to Singapore. Yes, that's right... he was gone for 3 weeks. Leaving me with these four little rugrats! I'm happy he got to experience that but we sure missed him. He had to snap a few pictures before he left. Love you babe, what would we do without you!!

Sweet sweet baby...

2009-07-30T19:13:00.001-07:00

Picture time!! My sweet little guy, we love him to pieces!!

Mom and Dad's 50th

2009-07-30T19:10:00.000-07:00

Also that week was my Mom and Dad's 50th Wedding Anniversary. My siblings and I put together a party for them to celebrate! It was a blast. Luckily I did all of my assignments before baby was born! But it was still a little crazy! We had a great time though. As a tribute to them we all stood up and said a FEW words of kindness (there are 8 of us, so we didn't want it to last all night long!) But being that I just had a baby a week ago, I bawled through the whole thing...how embarrassing! But the whole night was very nice. Here are just a few pictures from the night. I didn't get too many.

My Mom's wedding dress. Isn't it beautiful?! What was I thinking, I should have worn it on my wedding day!

E and her two buddies. Aren't they adorable?

Mom Dad and eight kids.

I love you Mom and Dad, you truly are amazing parents and have been such great examples to me! Happy 50th!! Now comes cruise time! Yes, my Mom's wish for their 50th anniversary was for all of us to go on a cruise together and her wish is coming true, we get to go in November! I can't wait!!

Graduation

2009-07-30T19:05:00.000-07:00

The week after baby M was born was a crazy one! First with end of the year parties and graduations. E graduated from her first year of preschool. She had so much fun in preschool this year and is looking forward to another great year with Miss Heather!

D graduated from Kindergarten! He is growing up waaaayyy too fast! It's so much fun watching him. I can't believe he's going to be a first grader...gone all day. What will I do without my buddy with me! I love you D!!

Home...

2009-07-30T19:01:00.000-07:00

Yes, I've been lost from the blogging world...but I'm back! Bringing M home...the kids were so excited and just couldn't get enough of him. T especially was consistent on giving him hugs and kisses!

He's Here!!

2009-06-03T13:34:00.000-07:00

Our newest little addition...Maddox Owen. Born May 28, 2009. We couldn't be happier! The day finally arrived. We went into the hospital at 5:30am to start induction. Of course I couldn't get Ben out of bed so we arrived more like 6am, but they finally got me started me around 7:30, my doctor broke my water at 8:30 and about 2 1/2 hours and 1 push later, he was here at 11:19am. Born happy and healthy. The kids were so excited to come and meet him. They showed up later that day in t-shirts that Grandma bought. D's said "the oldest brother, E's said "the big sister" and T's said "the little-big brother". It was pretty cute! But they all came in so excited and it was so fun to see T's reaction. He couldn't get enough of him. He kept pointing at the baby and wanting to see him and give him kisses. It was so much fun. But having them there in the room for awhile convinced me to stay the extra night! I wasn't quite ready for reality to set in! :) So we stayed 2 nights, relaxed, rented a movie, and by Saturday morning I was ready to go home and be done with all the poking and prodding that the nurses are so good at! So far things have been great and we are loving our new little guy! Although Ben goes back to work tomorrow, so things might change just a bit! But we are so blessed to have this little guy here with us.

Prego

2009-06-02T23:12:00.001-07:00

So here I am in all my glory! I figured this was most likely going to be the last chance to get a prego shot...ever, so I decided to put my pride aside and snap a picture of me in my beautiful state of pregnancy. Since we kept putting it off, this, my friends, is two days before I went into labor. Nothing like waiting till the last minute! This was literally the only picture I got because little T man is such a daddy's boy he could hardly stand that I was holding him while daddy took the picture. He was not a happy boy! And don't you love that D is pointing at my belly! What a silly guy! :) The kids were counting down the days...they were so excited for baby to get here they could hardly stand it! And as for me...I was too, bring on the craziness...I'm ready to meet this little guy!

Last Game

2009-06-02T22:20:00.000-07:00

D had so much fun playing tee ball this year. He was on the same team as two of his classmates so that made it even more fun. He was always so excited for his games. One time before a game I was talking to him and trying to give him some extra encouragement and telling him to work hard, listen to daddy, run fast, etc. Well, his response was...What does it matter, we're just playing to have fun! Isn't that the truth! :) I'm so glad he was having so much fun! He's such a good kid and I just can't believe how fast he is growing up! I sure love this kid!!

Multi-tasking...what a guy!

After the game came the awards ceremony

My four year old

2009-06-02T21:36:00.000-07:00

I love, love, LOVE this sweet little girl! She really is my sunshine and brightens my day. I am so blessed to have her in my life. She is so much fun and I love watching her personality develop more and more. She is such a girly girl and I LOVE that! I had taken this quiz on her birthday and had been wanting to take some four year old pictures to go with it and we finally got around to it (a few weeks ago). And of course we had to take them with THE pettieskirt. I love it! But first here is her four year old quiz...

What is your favorite color? Pink and purple
Who is your best friend? Halle and the other Halle
What is your favorite thing to do? Play with my friends
What is your favorite thing to do with your family? Play with them
What is your favorite food? Chicken nuggets and fries
What is your favorite game? Candyland
What do you like best about yourself? Going on the computer
What do you want to be when you grow up? A mommy
What do you like best about your family? I love them
If you could go anywhere, where would you go? Powell's (Sweet Shop)
What was your favorite part about your birthday party? The dance party and eating cake
What was your favorite present? Ice cream playdoe

Okay, I know she's my daughter and all, but seriously...do they get much cuter than this?? Ben laughs at me when I say this, but I sometimes catch myself just starring at her because I can't get over how pretty she is! I love you to pieces little girl!

Pre-School Pals

2009-06-02T20:01:00.000-07:00

E's little pre-school went on a field trip to the MK Nature Center. It was such a nice day to go exploring, the kids loved it! T man loved it too, he loved being free from his stroller and walking like a big boy! E has absolutely loved pre-school and has made so many new friends. Including one of her new best friends...Halle. The fun thing about this friendship is that if I had access to my photo albums I'm sure I could find a picture of me and her dad, Nick, at this age, since he and I have been friends since day one.

P.S. Yes there is BIG news....I just have to catch up a bit first!! :)

The Dress Up Party

2009-04-22T12:57:00.000-07:00

So I'm a little behind on this one, and I didn't get as many pictures as I wanted, but I guess when you are trying to run the party I tend to forget. But the party was a blast! We started out by doing hair and makeup, and they each got to pick a flower clip to put in their hair. Course as each little girl was done they ran up to E's room to play, which I'm sure they would have been happy there for 2 hours, but the party must go on! They came down and each picked out a feather boa to dress up in and then we played a game, pass the purse. Kind of like musical chairs, they sat in a circle and passed a purse and when the music stopped the person left holding in got to open it up and pick out a prize, candy jewelry. After the game we had a dance party. I downloaded songs from itunes and we did the Hokey Poky, the Chicken Dance, and Ring Around the Rosie, then we just played princess songs and they went crazy, dancing. It was so much fun! Course then it was time for cake and ice cream, the cake was a big hit with everyone. The girls loved it! E was very excited and of course she requested the pink and purple dress! They were lucky it got done, since I was still trying to ice it when they were arriving! Then after cake was the presents. It's so funny how they all get so excited about this part. The girls were practically opening the presents for her! But it's so fun to see them get so excited about what they each brought! So the party was a success, they all had a blast, and mommy was exhausted by the time it was over with, but it was all worth it for my sweet little 4 year old! I love her to pieces!!

Funny story

2009-04-22T10:06:00.000-07:00

So little T man is a hitter. Were not quite sure how he learned this at such a young age but he is constantly hitting. He hits us when he's getting mad, or he simply walks up to his favorite target, E, and hits her on the head while she is sitting so pleasantly. How do you stop a 15 month old from hitting? That is definitely the question of the hour (or rather 24/7) at our home.

While shopping for E's birthday, T found the baby dolls and started to pick one up to play with it, the next thing we know he is smacking it on the head and shaking it, a little too violently. Ben and I just looked at each other. Hum... let's just say we're a little nervous about having a little baby with him. Not to mention how jealous he is, and how he is still a mommy and daddy's boy only, well, mostly a daddy's boy. But still, life might be a little crazy in about a month!

So, story number 2, I was sitting in the front room folding clothes and the kids were playing in the bonus room. And lo and behold, T kept hitting E. Course she was screaming and he kept hitting her. Then I heard D say to E, "I've got an idea, put this helmet on your head and he won't be able to hit you." I peeked in there, and sure enough E's got a Lego bucket on her head, while she is trying to play with her toys and T man is still trying to hit her. It was pretty funny! She proceeded to sit there for quite a while with her helmet on. That was sure nice of big brother to watch out for her. And as for little man, well... hopefully he grows out of this stage soon!

Easter

2009-04-22T09:10:00.000-07:00

Easter morning. The kids, especially E was so excited for this day to come, she could hardly stand it. They woke up to find eggs hiding all over the house and went running around after them. T was not to into the whole egg hunt, he was actually the first to find his Easter basket under the table and was content just sitting with it. E was the next to find hers under the desk, and last was D's a little bit harder, hiding in the storage closet. But all in all they had so much fun!

After church we stopped by to see Grandma and Papa to show them the kids Easter outfits and snapped a photo on their front porch. One of the many benefits they get with us living just around the corner. It's been nice living so close to them, hopefully we can stay in the area for a while. Later, after we went home and put T down for a nap we came back over and enjoyed Easter dinner with them.

Tee Ball

2009-04-22T08:01:00.000-07:00

It's here, D's second season of Tee Ball! He plays in the East Boise Little League, which is the same league Ben and I played in when we were kids, well my career in baseball didn't go any farther than Tee Ball, but it's still fun to think about. He loves it this season. Ben is the coach and they are both loving that. Ben makes a great coach, all the kids love him and D loves the fact that that's his dad! He's been doing so well, it's so fun to watch him and to see him improve. But let's be honest it's pretty funny to watch when they don't really know what's going on! Of course I try to watch, battling two other kids on the side lines! But we still have fun.

Wanting to play with the boys, or just wanting Daddy!
A little side line love! My favorite part is when they come in for home and the runner and the catcher basically play tag around the field!

Look what's coming up!

2009-04-13T12:50:00.000-07:00

She has been so excited for this day to come. She can't stop talking about it and what she wants us to buy her and how many more days now... At least we had Easter (which I'll get to those pics soon) to distract her mind for a couple of days. She wanted to have her party at Monkey Do's (a little girls salon, that does hair, makeup, and dress ups) But being a little too spendy, we are doing it at home! Wish me luck, doing hair and makeup on 8 little girls! Yikes! At least we have both Grandma's and Aunt Kelsey to help!

We did a little photo shoot for the invitations and on the way there she fell asleep! So quite literally these were the only two pictures that turned out. I'll have to take some more soon, hopefully the weather will start to turn nice. Any excuse to put her new pettiskirt on she'll take it! She loves it and just twirls and twirls in it, so I'm sure you'll see a lot more of it! :)

Curlers

2009-04-13T12:30:00.000-07:00

I've never tried curlers in E's hair before, so while at the store a couple days ago I picked some up for fun. That night we had fun putting them in her hair! It just brought back so many memories of me wearing these to bed. She was so excited. After looking in the mirror, she even asked if she could wear her hair like this for her Birthday party (yes, with the curlers in)! HA! It was pretty funny. But the best part was that a little while later I caught her in the bathroom, she had climbed up on the counter and was just staring and smiling at herself in the mirror, just admiring the curlers. It was too cute!

I had to sneak up on her and get a picture!

And the result... pure cuteness! Okay, I was not expecting Shirley Temple curls, I guess I did buy the smallest curlers, opps! Oh well, she still looked pretty cute! :) Sporting her glitter lip gloss and all, she was lovin her new look!

April Fools!!

2009-04-02T16:09:00.000-07:00

We had quite an eventful April Fools day yesterday. First, I got out of bed and my water broke.. April Fools babe! Ben was in the shower and I jumped out of bed, poured water on myself (yah, the joke may have been on me a little bit - I could have at least used warm water!) Then I ran into the bathroom and put on my best acting skills, there's a reason I'm not in Hollywood, but he bought it! When we decided that we needed to hurry to the hospital and he started dialing his mom's number, it was then that I grabbed the phone and said...April Fools! hehe, yes, I know I'm very funny! Then while we were eating breakfast D discovered a dinosaur in is cereal! (I couldn't find a plastic spider so I went for the mini dino!) After we sent D to school, E and I had some fun at the dollar store. We filled our cart with joke and gag accessories! Then rushed home to greet D at the door by throwing balloons and getting him with silly string! After lunch we headed out. First stop Daddy's office. We put together a basket full of silly gag toys, candy, and an April Fools sign and had the receptionist tell him he had a flower delivery - I knew he'd love that! :) Well apparently the receptionist forgot about mentioning the flowers, but he was still embarrassed to pick it up! After Daddy's work we headed to Grandma and Papa's house. The kids had a blast covering their family room and kitchen with red streamers, confetti, and balloons! Then we hid snakes in their bed and bugs in secret places all over the house. While Grandma and Papa were both surprised to see their house all decorated, the kids were over at their house later that night (I'll get to why in a sec.) but they took them all over the house showing them where all the creatures were hidden! Guess it was too had to keep a secret and too fun to show them all the hiding spots! :) Well, then we came home for a relaxing afternoon, with only one more trick up our sleeves - getting Daddy with silly string when he walked in the door, but that one never happened. We were having quiet time, the kids watching a cartoon and me computer time and enjoying my peanut butter M&M's I bought earlier when T came in and got all excited when he saw them, so Mommy gave into his happiness and gave him one. Well...about 10 min. later he was throwing up. He often throws up so I wasn't too worried and he fell asleep so I put him to bed. About an hour later I heard him crying and he had thrown up in his bed. He proceeded to throw a couple more times. Then while cuddling with him on the couch I started to notice white bumps on his cheeks, then when he developed white bumps on his eyelids, I knew something was not right. It was just barely after 5:00 so I called the after hours nurse and told her his symptoms, which by now his whole face was red and his eyes were puffy, she told me to take him to the ER. Fortunately that was the worst that it got, and by the time we actually saw the Dr. (which takes like an hour from check in) he was looking much better. They still gave him Benadril and a Steroid just in case it came back. But he was fine the rest of the night. But, yes, we might have a little peanut allergy on our hands! I took him to his Dr. today and we are going to see an Allergist in a couple of weeks. And so the quest begins to find out what this little boy is allergic to. So our day that started so fun, didn't end quite as fun! But we are very happy that he is okay and that nothing more serious came about it. Just no more peanut butter M&M's in the house!

Spring Break

2009-04-02T10:46:00.000-07:00

We had our week all planned out with picnics to the park, feeding the ducks, Monsters vs. Aliens, Wahooz, bike rides... and it rained all week! Bummer. Well, we still got to go to Wahooz (formerly known as Boondocks). The kids had a blast! Of course we just stayed inside at the arcade, but they had fun collecting tickets and getting their prizes. The weekend came and instead of going to the movie, we decided to tag along with Tim and Lisa to their cabin at Tamarak. Yes, for Spring Break we went to an even colder place! We went up Friday night, then they left Saturday morning, so all day Saturday and Sunday we had the cabin to ourselves. We had fun hanging out with them and the kids were really sad when they woke up and their cousins were gone, but it was nice to just hang out and relax. The highlight of the weekend was the sledding. It was so nice because they just sled right outside the cabin. T wasn't to happy about all of his snow clothes and both days we went sledding it was about his nap time so we just put him to bed and went outside to sled. We had a blast with the kids! Of course being 7 months pregnant I only did a little sledding, I can't wait for next winter when I won't be prego and I can actually have fun in the snow! I've been pregnant the last two winters so I'm sure you can understand my excitement for next year! :) We had so many fun sledding pictures I just put them on a slideshow! Enjoy!

ABC's

2009-03-31T10:07:00.000-07:00

My latest project. I went to the scrapbook store the other day to pick up some paper to cover some boxes and just walked around and got back in the mood to get going on my scrapbooking. I had decided with D that what I would do with my kids was have a baby book (the first year) then do an ABC book of their toddler years, then do school books. So with E, I was debating over this and decided to just make her ABC book into a book rather than a scrapbook. So I started at age one, since that's where her baby book will end, and go till she's four. I thought this would be fun to get done and have for her on her birthday coming up in April. Needless to say this was MUCH faster than scrapbooking! I'm close to being done but I decided I would wait and end with her birthday pictures. So it will be a belated birthday gift! Here are some sample pages. I really am liking how it is turning out, very clean and simple. Each letter consists of two pages, but I had too many pictures so I ran out of letters, so I am continuing on with numbers just to number four. I thought it worked since she'll be 4! So all total it will be 62 pages long, I'm so excited to see it in book form!

Girls hair do's

2009-03-24T09:23:00.000-07:00

So we normally just copy E's cute little friend Halle when doing hair do's. I've never been too creative when it comes to hair. But her birthday is coming up and we thought it would be fun to have a dress up party. So I was online looking for ideas and stumbled across this cute blog... Adopt a do - cute girls hairstyles then from there she has so many links to cute hairstyle blogs. Who knew so many ideas were out there. So I sat here forever yesterday looking at all the cute hairstyles! She has a contest going on for a dang cute hat, so I thought I would give it a try and enter. I love so many of her hairstyles, we tried a few but E's hair is just not quite as long and as full as her daughters but they will be fun to try when she gets older. This one we did was the Triple Twists and Messy Buns although since E's hair is so much thinner we just did two twists. But here it is, not quite as perfect, but she still looks pretty darn cute! :)

Making cookies with Daddy

2009-03-16T12:59:00.000-07:00

Sunday's we usually convince Daddy to make chocolate chip cookies. And lucky for us he likes to make them and they are so good! Yesterday I was working on a project and could here the kids just laughing like crazy. I went into the kitchen to find them helping with the cookies and Ben was full on entertaining them! It was so funny! They all just adore him so much! So I came to help them and snapped a few pictures! We had so much fun!

Puppet Show

2009-03-16T12:44:00.000-07:00

So D and E decided all on their own that they wanted to put on a puppet show. They went outside and found some sticks and then drew their dinosaurs, cut them out and had Daddy tape them on. They practiced for a while then couldn't wait to put on a show for us. It was so cute. And I love that E loves to play dinosaurs with her big brother. A lot of times she'll actually be the pony and he'll be the dinosaur, but occasionally she likes to be the dinosaur too. They really can play so well together. It's so nice and rewarding as a mother when your children play so nice together!

Toes

2009-03-16T12:31:00.000-07:00

Reason number 198 why I LOVE having a girl!

E loves to paint her fingernails and toenails! If it starts to wear off she she starts begging to do it again. She even wants to take it off the second it dries and paint on a new color, because it's so fun! :) But this time we decided to be matchy-matchy toes. I can't wait (well I can, because I really don't want her to grow up so fast!) but I will be looking forward to the day when we can go get pedicures together! I've even thought about taking her with me now and just have them paint her toes, but she might get bored waiting for me! :) But someday we will enjoy the spa together and shopping and lunch.... I only hope that we will ALWAYS be best friends! I LOVE my little girl!!

Mardi Gras

2009-03-03T13:01:00.000-08:00

So Boise's Mardi Gras celebration was apparently held at E's preschool! She came running out of her class with all of her party gear on, and I thought she looked so cute! Except I could not figure out why she was all dressed up. Yep, silly me had no idea it was Mardi Gras last week. I kept asking her what it was for and she didn't really remember. The letter they worked on was S so grandma just decided it was for Silly! Until we went to the library and the lady said something about her being all dressed up for Mardi Gras. Duh, that's what it was, I asked her and she said yep! But I had to take some pictures of her cause she just looked too darn cute!

Two little fingers

2009-02-24T10:07:00.000-08:00

My finger sucker.
I really wish my photo albums weren't stored in a box where I can't find them, because I would scan a picture of me doing the exact same thing. These were the two fingers I sucked when I was little and it is so funny that he does the same thing. He usually only sucks them when he has his blanket, so hopefully that will be an easy fix when we are ready for him to stop - get rid of the blanky. Hopefully we won't have to go through such traumatic measures to get him to stop as I went through... the medicine they painted on, that was the worst! And I specifically remember falling asleep in our living room and my older brother, Tim, taking matters into his own hands and putting Tabasco sauce on my fingers. Well, he succeeded, as well as getting it into my eyes - talk about burning eyes - thanks Tim! :) But we'll worry about getting T to quit another day, because right now it's pretty nice, and I think it's pretty cute too!

I know I wasn't tagged for this one...

2009-02-23T15:48:00.000-08:00

But I thought it looked like fun and gave it a try (and since I really have nothing else to blog about right now). I saw it on Shelby's blog. But here's what you do...

1. Go to your documents/pictures

2. Go to your 6th file.

3. Go to your 6th picture.

4. Blog about it.

5. Tag 6 people to do the same.

6. So here we go...

My sixth folder was my "business stuff" folder and this was my sixth picture, my first blog header. Aren't we a cute little family? Of course we are missing little bubas, but I loved the couch pictures. Ben was seriously mad at me for wanting to take the couch outside and was pretty much cursing me in between smiles, but didn't it turn out so cute. I still love the couch outside look, we just might have to do it again as soon as we buy a new house. Oh, I also made a coffee table book with these pictures and surprised Ben with it for his Birthday that year and I just have to document that he loved it so much he was tearing up. So despite his grumpy attitude during the shoot, he loved the pictures! :)

And for the 6 people I tag...

1 Candi

2 Natalie

3 Kelsey

4 Amora

5 Julie

6 And anyone else that wants to try it, it's kinda fun!

Lucky Seven Tag

2009-02-17T16:20:00.000-08:00

Okay girls that tagged me, here I go, finally....

Seven things I CAN do:

1 Take pictures - there's still so much room for improvement, but I'm still loving it.
2 Spend money - I'm getting better though!
3 Watch Pride and Prejudice over and over
4 Go to the dollar theater to watch Twilight even though I've already seen it 3 times! - anybody want to go with me??
5 Sing in church - I'd much rather sing than give a talk!
6 Sew a quilt - I'd love to get better at this, it's so much fun picking out material
7 Stay in my jammies all day and cuddle with my kids

Seven things I CAN NOT do:

1 Sleep on an airplane - ever since that flight to Nashville and that nasty turbulence, I have total anxiety when I am flying
2 Drive a minivan - I know they are convenient, great for kids, and even comfortable to drive, but I just can't do it!
3 Cook - I can follow a recipe, but that's about it. Heck I still look at the icing recipe, I know I'm ridiculous!
4 Watch scary movies - I used to love them, now I just get too darn scared!
5 Not buy picture frames - you can usually find at least one in my cart when I'm home decor shopping, I love picture frames
6 Scrapbook (lately) - I'm so behind, I don't even know where to start!
7 Water ski - the last time I was up was when I was a Jr. in high school, crashed and with a few stitches to the head later, I haven't tried since. Now I wake board - but despite my amazing brothers, I suck!

Seven Things I say the Most

1 Love you
2 I sure love my kids
3 Stop crying
4 Hey bubas
5 I don't care - I'm a very indecisive person
6 Wanna watch a movie
7 NOT cheese - when taking pictures that's the word I hate the most!

Seven Goals for the New Year

1 Read to my kids more

2 Keep my home clean

3 Study the scriptures more

4 Not go crazy when I have my 4th child

5 Be a better friend

6 Be better with money

7 Cook more dinners - speaking of, what should I fix tonight, ugh!

Seven reasons I fell in love with Ben

(Love ya babe, but didn't I already do this? But I guess these are the reasons I FELL in love with you!)

1 At first, I guess it was the whole Pretty in Pink mentality, girl from one crowd goes for boy from another, or the whole "bad boy" thing

2 That he changed from that "bad boy" , for other reasons of course, but mostly for me :)
3 Of course the smile, the butt, the good looks, but nothing about him physically, bugged me - some guys I dated just had ears that bugged or teeth that bugged, etc.
4 That he kept pursuing me, even though there may have been another boy in the mix - he just wasn't going to give up that easy :)

5 He's supportiveness - he always came to my institute choir concerts, even though I know he hated them

6 The way he loved me and waited for me to LOVE him back - it took me awhile to say the words!

7 I loved that he ALWAYS held my hand, opened doors, paid, bought me flowers, fell asleep on the couch together, call me when he got home, and that he would take me dancing in the parking lot.

Seven Things I love to eat

1 ice cream
2 chocolate chip cookies
3 Mexican food
4 breakfast - waffles, crepes, blueberry coffee cake
5 Mountain Dew
6 pasta
7 fruit

Seven people I tag

1 Marilyn
2 Letia
3 Annie
4 Masha
5 Shelby
6 Rachel - you know you want to start a blog...
7 And anyone else that reads my blog...is there anyone? :)

Friends and Family

2009-02-02T12:14:00.000-08:00

Longneckers

The Sampson Life

Life is to be Enjoyed, not just endured

Clark Family

Callister Chronicles

Tegan Lyn

Barrus Family

Smith Smiles

Outrageous Orchards

Clan Colby

What a Family!

Draperland

*During the blog template change I accidently deleted all of my links, PLEASE leave me a comment with your blog URL so I can add you! Thanks!*

help...

2009-02-02T10:04:00.000-08:00

Calling all interior experts and those who love HGTV (oh how I miss cable!) OK not really, just anybody who would love to leave me their opinion... My problem area...
This whole system of disorganization I've got going here is just not cute! I've been really wanting to figure out a way to make my desk look good. Since I only have a couple small drawers, I really need to have the little cubbies be functional, but I want it to look cute too. Anybody have any fabulous ideas for me? I have even done searches on the internet to find ideas, just no such luck. Oh, and I would need it to be LOW budget. We have actually been renting from a company called Designer Home Tending. The house we are renting is for sale and we come and rent it for cheap with the obligation to keep it clean and to have it decorated cute for showings. So, even though they have never said anything about the desk, it just isn't cute. This is the view that you see when you walk into the room...lovely.

P.S. I don't love my plaid chair anymore, but it's what I got! :) And I really need to get an extension cord for the lamp so I don't have to plug it in up there on the wall! But, I would love your opinions and ideas!!

And here is my new bedding for those of you (Candi) who wanted to see it... I love it and I think I want to get more pillows, I'm just not sure what. The idea was to have lots of fun colorful pillows amongst the chocolate quilt. I even wanted to throw some blue in there maybe. But my question is, I have some large Euro pillows, do I want to throw them up there in the back and what color? brown? Do I get rid of the two regular chocolate pillow shams if I do that? And how many more colorful throw pillows should I get? Am I going to have pillows coming out my ears? :) It definitely needs more, just how much more and of what??

My goal at Tai Pan this weekend is to look for new lamps and fun things to put on my dressers and bathroom to match! And since we are taking pictures, why not throw some models in there... :)

lovin to climb

2009-02-02T09:53:00.001-08:00

I talked about T loving to climb in my last post on him, so I had to take some pictures. This little guy cracks me up!

(he's laughing here, trying to get up the stairs before I get him!)

And he made it to his favorite spot!

Turning 30...

2009-01-29T07:27:00.000-08:00

For all the gripe about turning 30 it really wasn't so bad, in fact I had an awesome birthday! Earlier in the month Ben asked if I wanted him to throw me a surprise party :) (he's not so good at the whole surprise thing!) I told him NO! I threw him a big surprise party for his 30th so he was making sure I wasn't expecting it. I told him all I wanted to do was, us all to go down to Salt Lake and get away for a little while, and then maybe just a little trip to Tai Pan! :) But money was a little tight this month so we opted not to go. But my day yesterday was the the best! The day started out with Ben letting me sleep in a little while he got D ready for school (Ben took the day off - yea!) They came and woke up E and I, and I was treated with waffles, bacon, and o.j. - yummy! After which I was showered with gifts... a new coat, shirt, and tennis shoes. Then he surprised me with a small little envelope, I was thinking it was probably a gift card and I was right...to Tai Pan and an airline confirmation to Salt Lake next weekend! I was so excited! It will be nice to get away for a little while and spend time with my sister. My hubby's the BEST! After we cleaned up Ben took me to the spa where I redeemed my gift certificate from last year ;) from my sisters, which Ben added a little too and I got a facial and pedicure! Again, He's the best! While I was enjoying my spa relaxation he went and picked up D and cleaned up the car, inside and out...which was very much needed! Need I say more...he's the best! They picked me up and we headed to lunch at Costa Vida (although I'm so excited for Salt Lake...Cafe Rio here I come!) And we joined up with Karen and Natalie. Then we headed to the mall for some birthday shopping, or rather birthday exchanging ;)! I loved the gifts babe, they just needed a little tweaking! hehe. But remember, you're the BEST! After that we came home, relaxed and got ready for dinner. We went to PFChangs with all my family and his. It was so much fun! I was showered with gifts from my family and when we came home, I was showered with gifts from Ben's family, of which included my new bedding I've been wanting! Yea! I love it!! So yes, it was definitely the best birthday! And I owe it all to Ben. So I have been inspired by Candi to pay a tribute to Ben for such a great Birthday. Candi is the best sister-in-law and friend anyone could ask for. She paid a little tribute to me yesterday on her blog for my birthday, check it out here. I couldn't believe she did that, she is so awesome! So anyways, here is my tribute to Ben. :)

30 things I love about my husband...

1 his smile
2 the way his butt looks in a good pair of jeans
3 his hugs, he's such a huggie guy
4 that he is always the first to apologise
5 the way he can make me laugh
6 that he is seriously the best dad ever
7 that I can always call him and vent (most of the time he's OK with it!)
8 that he has taken over paying bills and the budget, he's so much better at it than I am!
9 how he supports my business and is so sweet to compliment my work (or he's a great liar one of the two!)
10 that he agrees with and supports my decision to stay home with the kids, even during these rough times
11 that he holds the priesthood, he gives the best father's blessings!
12 that he was so excited when we found out that we were having another baby after he swore that he was done and ready to make it permanent!
13 he's the best uncle to Candi's kids and to all of my nieces and nephews...they all love him, I was quickly replaced as the favorite when I got married
14 he's the best brother to his sisters and has a great relationship with all of them
15 he's definitely a mama's boy, he tries to hide it, but he cares for his mom so much and would do anything for her
16 he makes the best chocolate chip cookies and breakfast potatoes
17 that he calls E his little princess
18 how he lights up when T is so happy to see him
19 that he is and will always be D's best friend
20 he's the friendliest guy around
21 that he goes shopping with me
22 he's 100% supports me when I want to have a girls night and often convinces me that I need one
23 that he loves to play "if we won the lottery, what would we do with the money?"
24 and that his first thing would be helping his family and mine in whatever they needed
25 that not only does he call his step-dad, dad, but that he actually views him and loves him as his own
26 that he deeply loved his own dad, no matter the choices that he made
27 that he wrestles and plays with the kids often
28 we have the same goals with our family in developing family activities that will keep us playing together...snow skiing, water skiing, camping, etc.
29 I love that he was persistent on asking me out and eventually persistent on marrying me
30 and that he still loves me after almost 9 years of marriage, despite my flaws and imperfections, and that on my 30th birthday card he said that he couldn't wait to spend the next 30 years with me.

I love you babe! You really are the only guy for me and the best father any child could ask for. I love you tons!!

Just for fun...

2009-01-27T14:59:00.000-08:00

Some pictures from T's first year. He has been such a fun baby! I can't believe he's already one (oh wait, yes I can because I'm pregnant!!) Despite the colic in the beginning he has been such a great baby. I just love this little man. He's such a daddy's boy right now and totally lights up when daddy comes home. He crawls as fast as he can to him with a great big grin on his face. And watch out if daddy leaves the room! His other favorites right now are his blanket, he buries his face in it and just cuddles with it. The moment he gets it he grabs the ties and sticks his two middle fingers in his mouth...I need a picture of this since it is the same two fingers I sucked when I was little! Another favorite is, he LOVES to climb the stairs (and anything else he can climb on). If the gate is down he b-lines it to the stairs and climbs as fast as he can before anybody can get him. If he had his way he would climb all the way upstairs and then to the bathroom up the kids step stool or climb up D's chair and onto his bed! We have so much fun with him! We love our little bubas!

Birthday Bash

2009-01-24T11:26:00.000-08:00

We had so much fun at T's birthday! And I had tons of fun getting ready for it! Being one, T really didn't have a clue what was going on, but D and E were so excited for the party! We invited all of our families, had appetizers, played a couple of games, and watched T with his first cake. I actually have a large family so we were a little worried about fitting everyone into our home, but luckily a lot of people couldn't make it. We were sad that everyone couldn't be there, but it made for a nice quite little party. Beware....picture overload!

Yes, I attempted the cake. Not as smooth as it could be, but it's so much more fun to make the cake rather than buy one!

We played the game "stuff the cupcake in T's mouth"! And he himself trying to get in on the action. Since not as many kids showed up that I thought, we made the teenagers play too! :)

And I just had to copy Holly on this idea, such a cute idea and fun little game! Everybody put in their guess of how long it would take T to get from clean to mess!

A little confused why everybody is singing!

And of course I had to make T his own little cake! So the timer begins....

Not quite sure what to do with this thing!

He started off very confused, to.. maybe I will try, to.. get me outta here, to.. daddy helping, to.. finally a spoon - I'm diggin in! We finally stopped the clock at 4.5 min. D's little friend won by guessing 3. Not quite the 30 sec. or under like most people guessed!

We had such a blast! It's so fun watching him and seeing what he will do. I love this little guy! Happy Birthday Buddy!!

The question of the hour...

2009-01-13T13:25:00.000-08:00

What is it??? We had our ultrasound yesterday and the good news is the baby is healthy, the bad news is, my date might be off by a couple of weeks...in the wrong direction. We go back in in three weeks to have another ultrasound to make sure of the baby's growth rate, but my due date most likely will be pushed back a couple of weeks. Bummer. Oh well, but enough of the boring stuff, you say. what is it? you ask??

*****

We'll here's a BIG clue...

Looks like E will remain our one and only princess!

If you haven't guessed...it's a BOY! On our way home we decided to stop and get some blue balloons for the kids and we knew that E would be pretty disappointed so we bought her a princess crown, since she will always be our little princess. Well when we brought them in and D figured what the blue meant, E started bawling! She just wanted a girl baby! But I think the crown helped make her happy eventually. And D was one happy boy to hear of another baby brother! (Despite the unhappy look below...just wanting to go play some more!) So here we go with the boy names again....ugh! If you hear any cute ones, send them our way!

dunna, nunna, you say it's your birthday....

2009-01-13T13:04:00.000-08:00

it's my birthday too! (Well in a few weeks) But first it's T's Birthday! We went out on Sunday to take some little birthday pictures of him. He has got to be the best baby to photograph because he is such a happy smiley boy! He makes my job so much easier! We are having his birthday party this Saturday (which is his actual Birthday - don't you love Saturday Birthday's!) So I'll post pics of the big party, but for now here's some from our little shoot! I just found a quick template on ilp, here.

A sunBEAM, a sunBEAM

2009-01-13T12:51:00.001-08:00

My little Sunbeam! All week we were singing "Jesus Wants me for a Sunbeam" getting excited for E to go into Primary. With the move and all we didn't quite make it to church the first week, so this last Sunday was her big day to enter into Primary. A new ward and a new class. Since we are back in the same ward I grew up in, it was fun to see a lot of familiar faces and a lot of new ones. And it was fun to think about my kids going to primary in the same room that I did. We had past our church building on our way to D's school one morning and I pointed it out to him that that was our church. I asked what he thought and he said, "It looks pretty holy, well not actual holes in it Mom, but you know, holy." The building is white...thus I guess it looks holy! :) But we had a great first Sunday! Oh, by the way, E decided to put a valentine "I Love You" stamp on her nose after church and before I had the chance to take her picture! Such a sweet little Sunbeam, gotta love her!

Walking With Dinosaurs

2009-01-13T12:31:00.001-08:00

Grandma and Papa gave our family tickets to Walking With Dinosaurs and D couldn't have been more excited! He literally started counting down the days until show time! The morning of he woke up in our bed (as he often does!) and asked where daddy was going today. Being a Saturday I said he's not going anywhere. And Davis replies, "You mean he's not going to Walking with Dinosaurs!" He was very worried! He then went and found Ben laying on the couch, lay down next to him and simply whispered in his ear, "Walking with Dinosaurs" Yep he was pretty excited to go! It was pretty fun and by the end E actually said she liked it, even though while we were watching we would ask her and she would shake her head no. But we all thought it was pretty cool, and it was fun to go with Grandma and Papa.

whew.....

2009-01-08T05:26:00.000-08:00

What a crazy holiday season! That just flew past me like a whirl wind! Business was busy, then all the Christmas festivities along with shopping, and of course not to mention packing up my house and moving! Yep, definitely crazy. Now we are finally settled in our new little cozy home (well, rental) and only hope to stay put for awhile. D was a little nervous to move and sad to leave all his friends and school, but he has already made a new little friend across the street and got put in the same Kindergarten class as him. That helped him feel a lot more comfortable and loves his new school (which coincidentally was my elementary school growing up, that's been fun!) We are really enjoying this side of town and loving the fact that it only takes Ben 10 min. to get home from work! We just might be tempted to stay over here for a while. Of course we'll miss Middleton and all the friends we made, but we'll enjoy making new friends.

But now some catching up to do. Let's see where did I leave off...Thanksgiving...but to keep the time order of the blog I'll start with the most recent...

The big move...

2009-01-08T05:25:00.001-08:00

The day after Christmas, we got up and got to work. The Glover's had spent the night so they could help us start packing. We packed up all the Christmas stuff then started on everything else. With Christmas keeping us busy we didn't have the chance to start packing anything. But we got it all packed up and the big moving day was the 29th. We had so much help from our Ward it was awesome. They had that whole house cleared out in a little over an hour. It all happened so fast and with Christmas, I didn't get any pictures of the rooms before they were cleared out. I was very sad about this. It was such a cute house I really wanted to remember each room. Oh well, on our last trip to the house to pick up all the stragglers I snapped a few rooms. Unfortunately I didn't have a wide angle on my camera so I only got a taste of the rooms. We will definitely miss this house, neighborhood, and Ward.

The massive stone fireplace and the awesome built-ins

My 2 story wall of windows made for great picture lighting
E's sweet room, I'll miss the window seat and shelves

And I loved the blues and red in D's room

Christmas Morning

2009-01-08T05:25:00.000-08:00

After a late night, we did get to sleep in till about 7:30 when D woke up. We were only able to hold him off for a few minuets before he was begging to wake up E and T. By the time everybody was up and the camera's rolling, they came into the family room very happy kiddos! Santa did well. E got her princess vanity table and D got his Wii (which Ben pretty much told him to ask Santa for!) But it came with a special note from Santa saying it was a family gift. So Santa left him a little something extra as well, his Baukugan's. All in all Christmas we great, very relaxing morning. We had a nice breakfast after our Santa gifts and finished opening the rest of the gifts. Ben's family came over that afternoon and we played a new game "Would You Rather" which was very fun and watched a movie. The kids were happy all day playing with their new toys.

Still a little early for the T man!

Christmas Eve

2009-01-08T05:24:00.001-08:00

Christmas Eve we went over to my parents house to have our Christmas festivities... dinner, white elephant exchange, and a little program. I talked my kids into singing Jingle Bells as our family contribution to the program. It was pretty cute. When we were done and heading back home all three kids fell asleep in the car, which later we realized we should have left them asleep, but we still had to open our Christmas Eve gift. So we woke them up...

D woke up all ready to go

And we very excited about his pj's

T, not so into it, just wanting to go back to bed

And E for the life of us would not wake up!

Finally something did the trick, but not so excited about the pj's

Oh, well you win some you lose some! Then as we realize this idea back fired, D, Mr. Wide Awake would not and could not go back to sleep. We tried to tell him that Santa would not come until he was asleep and if he didn't get to bed then he might have to skip our house. But I think this made him even more antsy. The boy finally fell asleep around 1am. Santa had a late night at our house!

Holiday Greetings

2009-01-08T05:23:00.000-08:00

Getting these pictures was pretty funny, basically I set the tripod up took a picture of Ben and the kids then he took a picture of me and the kids then I did a little photoshopping. It sure made the picture taking a ton easier! Template came from Simplicity Photography Designs. The back reads... This year has been full of excitement! We started off the year by being blessed with the newest addition to our family, Tripp (11mo.). Davis (6) starting Kindergarten, Ella (3) starting pre-school. Enjoying the last year in this house (we’ll be moving at the end of the month). And the excitement of finding out that baby #4 will be joining us in May! We hope you all had a wonderful year as well, and we wish you a very Merry Christmas! Love the Hawkins.

Last game of the season...

2009-01-08T05:22:00.001-08:00

D's last basketball game. He had so much fun playing this year and we had so much fun watching him. It was fun to see him get better and better each week and you could just tell that he was loving it! Ben loved being the assistant coach, he was so good with the kids.

Giving the thumbs up after making a basket! (Too bad I missed that shot!)

Coach Ben with baby in hand! He's such a daddy's boy and when Ben's around he just wants him!

Look who's riding in a Limo...

2009-01-08T05:22:00.000-08:00

D's school had a fundraiser selling cookie dough and cheesecakes and with the large support he got (thank you everyone!) he was in the top two sellers of the Kindergarten class and won a limo ride to Artic Circle. He was so excited! We didn't even realize he won until a ward member said they saw his name as a winner in the newspaper. It was pretty funny. Let's just say he was one happy boy! So as the day came closer he started getting a little nervous and wanted me to follow the limo and join them for lunch, so we did. These were the winners of K-2 grades that rode together and check out the limo driver! It was too funny when he came walking into the school and was introduced to the kids. Let's just say they all became a little nervous! hehe But he had a blast! And loved the fact that he got to ride in a limo before his daddy!

Thanksgiving Feast

2009-01-08T05:20:00.000-08:00

D loved his first little Thanksgiving feast at school. I love going into his class and watching him in school and of course he's always excited to have us come. It was so cute, his whole class dressed up like Indians and the other Kindergarten class dressed up like pilgrims and they sat in the hall and enjoyed their feast together.

Wasn't it the BEST!

2008-11-24T10:33:00.000-08:00

Okay, did you see the movie? Loved it. And yes, I may be a loser, but I've see it twice! I went Friday night with some friends (sporting my Twilight t-shirt and all) and I talked Ben into going with me again on Saturday night. It is seriously a movie I could watch over and over! I know some people weren't that impressed, but if you go in knowing it's not going to be just like the book (because of course the book is better, but what book made into a movie isn't?) but it is so good! Sure I wasn't that excited about their pick for Edward at first, but the more I watched the previews the more I liked him and by the time I watched the movie, I thought he was down right cute, adorable, hot...take your pick. Of course he's no Ben! :) And did you hear, they are starting the making of New Moon!! Yea!! I'm so excited they are continuing it. It makes me so happy. Yes, I'm obsessed, but can you blame me!?!

Surprise!

2008-11-23T21:51:00.000-08:00

Did you notice my new widget?? Yes, it is true...I'm all prego! Although we were a little shocked at first, we are very excited. I guess we really were meant to have 4 kids, babe! He was done at three but you better believe he is very excited for another. 4 kids....it's still digesting! :) I guess I better update my blog header, so I can feel like T's a little bit older!

Basketball

2008-11-04T16:23:00.000-08:00

D's first year of basketball and his first game was on Saturday. He loves it and has so much fun! It is so funny to watch a bunch of Kindergartners running around playing. They don't dribble half the time and a lot of times run for the wrong basket! So funny. The coach was out of town so Ben got to coach them this game. That was fun to watch him out there with all the kids. For this age the coach is actually on the court with them helping them out. D loved that! I didn't get that many pictures because of T man and I think I need a sports photography lesson! Letia, is another one coming up?? But here's my little pro....

P.S. Can you believe it...I'm actually all caught up!!! This was quite the posting day for me and I even had time to VOTE...now better straighten the house a little bit! HA! Until next time...hopefully soon!:)

Trick or Treat!

2008-11-04T16:05:00.000-08:00

All ready to go hit the town! T... ready for bed! :) I took the kids out while Ben stayed and handed out candy. It was pretty funny because D was excited to go to his friends houses and couldn't quite grasp that every house had candy. We got about half way around our little circle neighborhood when the kids were done and ready to go home. And E was done walking so I had to carry her home, while pushing T in the stroller. Which he fell fast asleep the second he got in it! But they loved it! D kept trying to run off with his friend he met up with but I kept calling him back to wait for his little sister. Darn those little sisters! :) We came back and headed over to Amber's house for soup, salad, and bread sticks...from Olive Garden, it was yummy! But in our rush to get over there I didn't get to snap the traditional picture of the kids sitting in front of their piles of candy. But that's just what they did when they got home. Dumped it out to see what they got. Such fun times! I still need to have their Halloween photo shoot...one of these days!

Boo at the Zoo

2008-11-04T15:09:00.000-08:00

Saturday before Halloween, the Zoo put on Boo at the Zoo. All the kids come in their costumes and they have all kinds booths, games, and trick or treating. It was so fun, I'd never seen so many people at the Boise Zoo before! And we got to see the newly opened African addition and the two giraffes. So cute! We walked around, got treats, the kids jumped in jump houses, and then they each participated in their age group costume contest. Unfortunately the judges must have been distracted when my kids were on stage because none of them placed. Oh well. They still had fun and each won a ribbon. We'll definitely be doing this again next year! The kids loved it!

(Now how could this not have won first place!)

Movie Day

2008-11-04T14:38:00.000-08:00

Some days you just don't feel like doing anything...I've had a share of those days lately ;) So, I told the kids we were going to have a movie day! Yay! We popped a bowl of popcorn and each picked out a movie to watch together. On the list... Meet the Robinson's, Enchanted, and Land Before Time. Although, D left early to go play at a friends house. But we had fun and now the kids always ask if we can have a movie day.

Pumpkin Patch

2008-11-04T09:14:00.000-08:00

Ben's little brother Perry decided to take a quick trip up and stay with us for the weekend. And the kids loved it. They had so much fun with him, I think E had a new little crush! :) When he got here we decided to go to the pumpkin patch. Of course the kids loved that idea. D was lovin taking Uncle Perry around with him to find his pumpkin. And T could not get over the tractor ride, he was laughing the whole way to the pumpkins, it was pretty funny...

The kids loved having Uncle Perry stay with us. A few days after he left, D started crying and said that he missed him. So come back soon!!