Ice Sledding??

Since we decided to go sledding the day after everyone else had...the hill we chose was packed down good and frozen into this:

After two runs we and watching a few people slide out into the road below-NOT JOKING..we decided to head to a safer spot. Luckily there was a perfect place just a few minute away where no one else was sledding-just wonderful. When it got dark, we packed all the kids up and headed to the Gingerbread house:Check out these adorable cousins!!

The Gingerbread House got it's name because it looks like a Gingerbread House-this guy works for the power company and every year he lights his house like this:

Our Family enjoying the Lighted Archway in Front of the House.

Christmas Pictures.

Chirstmas was fantastic. Joe's brother and his family came over and shared it with us. We dipped pretzels and frosted cookies for Santa, and left out some snacks for his reindeer too-don't you just love Whitney's handwriting on the note???? Hopefully there weren't any flying DUI's on Christmas eve.

Christmas morning we said a Family Prayer then dug into the presents!!!

Stockings, Santa, and Service..

This last week we have had a few knocks/doorbells ring with no visitors-but surprises left on our doorstep. We have been very blessed this year with more than one family playing secret Santa to us and because I can't thank them in person-because everything has been given anonymously, I just wanted to say a BIG THANK YOU to all that have made our Christmas this year special!! It has really helped us to feel less stressed this Christmas season, as Joe still hasn't found a F/T job yet. We have been truly blessed by a member in our ward that offered Joe temporary employment the last few weeks, which has really helped us out financially. The Lord is really taking care of us-and I know your prayers have helped.

Saturday after getting the rest of our tile laid we got to have fun at our Ward Party. Dinner was great-the musical numbers were so much fun. And ofcourse the girls loved lining up to sit on Santa's lap. This is like the first picture ever that I have with them all looking the same direction and Amber smiling too!! Gotta love the tummy bulge Brooke is showing off-she is a well fed little girl. Can those three look any different-can you even tell they are sisters??

Since this was the last week of school-I've been busy making the girls' friends their christmas presents-here is my handiwork finally completed-minus one bow that was already given.

The story of our stockings: My Aunt Pat made each of my sisters and brother stockings for Christmas after I was born, then Arica's after she was born. We have had the same ones ever since, with the exception of Arica-whose got ruined one year and had to have it remade. When we each got married my mother carried on the tradition and made our spouses stockings and one for each of our children. She asked me this year if she could re-do Whitneys to make hers look more like Ambers and Brookes. That is why it looks different in this picture than the previous one. We just got Brooke and Whitney's new stocking in the mail this week. And here is the fun part-each one has a part of the Nativity story on them. Whitney (journey to Bethlehem, Amber-Shepherds visited by the Angel, Brooke-Baby Jesus in lying in the manger). And if we have another child (hopefully a boy), it will have the wise men on it. So much fun. I love it! Thanks mom-you are so wonderful !!

Spirit of Christmas is upon us.

Okay while i was at mutual on Wednesday night-someone anonymously treated us with a christmas tree on our porch. No we hadn't gotten our tree yet-as we are the kind that wait 2 weeks before christmas to do so-I find it annoying when the tree starts to dry out. Anyway-the kids were super excited because we weren't going to get one until the weekend and here it was three days early. Whitney could not wait to decorate it. I had a lot of fun teaching the kids how to make paper snowflakes and hangning ornaments. Here is our tree so far(I still plan to add more to it):
And ofcourse as many of you are enjoying it as well-we got hit with about two inches of snow yesterday and today it just kept on coming down and the forecast shows more on it's way. Here are the girls playing in our backyard wonderland of snow:
Hey mom-look you can see my teeth!! I just had to add this picture of Brooke I found-she is looking so grown up-and pretty!

The beginning half of my day...

First, because my neighbor's child was sick-I took Whitney to school this morning-ofcourse i found this out five minutes before school started when whitney came running home from their house to explain this to me. So I threw on more decent clothes on the children and strapped them in the van in record timing. After dropping her off with a note explaining her tardiness, I started my quest. Joe needs a scout shirt for his pack meeting on thursday night-because he is presenting the arrow of light award to one of his scouts and everyone should be in uniform. Okay-so I scoured three thrift stores-then continued on to D.I. -the most likely place to have one and found they were closed due to computer issues. I then went to the dollar store and spent $4 total on decorations. Came home-made lunch, put Brooke down for a nap, and started fixing up my house. By two o'clock my house was clean and decorated more in christmas cheer and I had a roast cooking away. I have to say that i was pretty impressed with myself-did i mention that i also did some laundry too?

Just one of todays' projects: The stockings are hung:

Happy Birthday Brooke and Grandpa!!

Yesterday Brooke turned 1 year old and my Dad ...well lets leave that up to him to tell you what age he is now. Anyway we woke up and as Joe's tradition is-he can't wait to have the kids open their presents so yes-even before Breakfast Brooke opened hers:

We had cake after dinner-a tradition that I stick with. It was so funny to watch because instead of diving into the cake with gusto like my other two girls did at that age-she prettily ate with her pincher grasp and barely got any frosting or cake crumbs on her. I mean we are used to laying down a tarp and hosing the children down after thier first birthdays because usually they would have cake up their noses, in thier hair-their eyelashes-one even had gotten some in her ear. But not with Brooke-she ate so delicately and clean that all I had to do was wash her hands and wipe that frosting mustache off her face. Already a little lady.

I have to share this...

I just found out that this girl Lauren Fox-has cut an album. I met her two sisters at Girls camp in my teenage years and was so excited to hear this. I listened to a few songs and I have to say that I was so very impressed with it. I LOVE IT. Her voice is so amazing and that she writes most of her songs -so much talent wrapped up in such a beautiful person. Anyway I just thought if you all wanted to listen to some of her music you can visit her myspace page and listen and or download/buy some of her hits. You won't be dissapointed-Her music is so beautiful. I love her baby ruby's song and baby lucy's songs. I almost cried listening to them because it made me think of my relationship with my own daughters.

My crazy family get together!

Thanksgiving happened at my house this year. We had a lot of fun cooking/eating/sleeping/and playing games-as my family does whenever we get together. Here is my sisters April and Arica and I taking a few pictures.
But that's not all-We went Iceblocking. Yep-it was 50 degrees at the warmest and we bought 5 blocks of ice and headed up to Simplot Hill. For those of you who have never heard of ice blocking-it's fairly simple to explain. You sit on an iceblock and slide down a hill-alot like sledding-its' alot of fun in the summer when it's warmer and the ice melts-getting the grass wet and making it more slick-but it works in any weather-as proven below. It was a lot of fun-Joe and I were the only ones who had done it before-so the rest came with feelings of apprehension and not exactly knowing what to expect or what kind of skill it required. They soon found out and everyone enjoyed themselves.

Aldo-can you tell he's having fun??Arica-waving to the crowd below

Whitney

You are never to young to learn how to ride a block of ice

Michael Joe and I chillin'Jerry demostrating perfect form

Hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving Holiday and next time try something new!!

Simplify More??

Does anyone else get a little depressed when Holiday shopping. Just thinking about Christmas shopping for my kids has got me anxious. My kids have so many toys that it's so hard to think about adding to the load. Everyyear we have them go through and tell us what they want to get rid of and some things we have to secretly do away with on our own. Even with this, it seems we still have more than enough. I think about people who have both sons and daughters-they must have quite alot of toys; some for each gender. My girls share most of their toys and even during christmas they get joint gifts. I am very close to buying each one toy and the rest clothing or things that can't get stranded around a room very easily-like a picture to hang on their wall. Yeah what a pooh of a mom i am. In the olden days children were happy with just a rag doll-why can't our lives be as simplistic as it was back then? Why can't it be? I am always trying to simplify and when I hear that word I imagine a one room cabin-with only furniture in it, three sets of clothing per person, and the Good Book. What would it be like to have to just clean that everyday?? Am I alone in wishing this?

Twilight Movie Night!!

A few ladies in my ward got together and went to watch the movie Twilight early this morning at 12 a.m. Earlier we went to Wingers and had a bite to eat-and just talked silly and had a blast. Then on to the movie theatre to sit in our seats a good hour before it started. I was kind of expecting to be dissapointed-but left feeling that the movie did the book justice in all ways that it could. I mean you really can't fit everything into a movie-some details are bound to be missing. And it really did follow the books storyline better than most book-to movie creations do. I know some parents were worried about the violence factor-which i must say was downplayed in my opinion-it wasn't gruesome or anything-so i was happy with that. The actors really grew on me and became the characters I expected them to-which i am sure will be disputed by others. The movie was fabulous and a lot of fun-especially if you have read the book already. There are a few things that might not connect in the viewer's mind, who hasn't read the book already. But I loved it. And yes, when it comes out I will be buying it. And it seems that another movie will be made as the ending scene leaves it wide open for a sequel.

pony tails and where the table really belongs!

Here is Brookie with her new do..I have waited a while to put a ponytail in her hair because she still had some soft spots on her head. But today I was determined to put one in to see how she would look-I wasn't dissapointed..she is just as cute as can be. Well at least I think so.

And Finally-our table is back in the dining room-woohoo!!! All we need is to put the basebaords down (which won't happen until the kitchen and entryway are completed as well) Here is a before and after picture:

Getting closer..

So here is our dining room right now-we are almost done-just need to place two-three more tiles that need to be cut yet-and then grout, which will probably get done Monday. Yippee-one room down, almost!!

Next I went to check on the girls and found Amber slumbering away like this..with a book under her arm-she looked so sweet, I had to take a picture and share.

Job Searching

Joe came home early from work on Wednesday with not too unexpected news..he was laid off. Luckily we hadn't put in new carpet in the house so we have a reserve-our biggest worry is Joe's health insurance-he has to have it. If you will please pray for us that we might find a job soon and that it will have benefits-at least for Joe. In the meantime we will finish tiling in our front rooms. We have already bought the materials-and ripped up the floor-so if we have to sell the house, it will help that the tile will be completed. It is a dissapointment I know for my parents-as we probably won't be coming home for Thanksgiving due to wanting to keep our expenses to a minimum. We do have a lot to be thankful for. I am most thankful for Faith. It has sustained our family through it's ups and downs. And I can't help but feel that as it says in the scriptures-all things will work towards our good, talking about or afflictions. It is a comfort and I feel that this was a necessary occurance for us-not something to feel upset and mad about. Just another stepping stone to make us stronger and test us. And maybe there will be a company out there that needs Joe more right now-or a better job for us possibly. One way or the other-we have traveled down this road before and know that it will all work out in the end.

Fun Giveaways!!

Better Home Interiors, an online store with alot of fun decorating items is having a few giveaways. Here is the first one up for grabs: Metal Family blocks!!!

To enter this giveaway visit http://betterhomeinteriors.blogspot.com/

I VOTED!!!

They must be discussing voting at school because Whitney has been asking me on a regular basis when i was going to vote and who I would be voting for. So this morning after dropping the girls off to school I took Brooke with me to Whitney's school and voted-I had put Brooke in the stroller but she just screamed. So here I am with a ten month old in my left arm-pushing the empty stroller with my right and trying to juggle my ballot inbetween. I was thinking "great this is going to work-just punch in the holes and be done," then I find out that my ballot was one that you had to fill in the circles manually with a black markerpen-and that the booth was one of those light cardboard booths that can easily be knocked over. Lets just say that the process took forever and that my left arm was close to falling off by the time we reached the car. I now have on my "I voted" sticker to show for my troubles and to show Whitney when I pick her up. By voting I feel it demonstrates my appreciation for those that made my right to vote happen. I was telling Whitney this morning that Women haven't always been able to vote and neither have African Americans. It is a great thing to be able to help choose our leaders and the way our country is run. Every vote makes a difference. It was neat to share that with her this morning and see her excitement about what an important thing it is. She can't wait until she can vote now!

Chick Flicks..

I will be going to watch "Twilight" in theaters this month with a bunch of my friends and was thinking about other movies that are strictly "see it with your girlfriend" movies or what guys like to label "chick flicks." We all love a great movie-one that makes us laugh and cry and sigh a little-here are a few of my favorites:
Lake House, The Notebook, Pride and Prejudice-95' version, Persuasion(the newer one) Never Been Kissed, Return to Me, The importance of being Ernest, While you were sleeping, Sound of Music, P.S. I love you, Somewhere in Time, Anne of Green Gables series. Plus just about any movie with dancing in it: Girls just want to have fun, Moulin Rouge, etc.
Which ones are yours???

Halloween Night!!

Me and my witchlings!!Trick or Treating

Seriously, Who comes up with this for costumes??? My friend Mistie-that's who-Can we say Creative?? Every year she comes up with costumes Outrageously Fun and different.

Halloween Faces!!

Lunch Today: Jackolantern Quesadillas with Roasted Pumpkin Seeds!

Jacko'lantern Twins??? TinkerBell -Turned out Better than I thought it would.

School!!

I met with my school district and they have decided after testing-and observing Amber for a week that she is eligible for the early-intervention preschool and gets to start going to school regularly next week. It will be so nice for her to get the help she needs to catch up with the other kids her age. Her language is continually improving-but she still hasn't said too many 6 word sentences and she still uses jargon to fill in gaps. On the other hand-she loves to count and can actually count up to 20. She is doing alot more by herself-because I make her. I don't help her put her shoes on anymore-next will be her socks-if i make her put them on herself-she usually will skip them altogether and just wear her shoes without them..so yes, i still put them on. Don't want those little toes to go cold. And she is also really showing that she wants to do things by herself which makes it really easy for me-I no longer have to provide motivation or reasons "why" when she acts this way. Most of the kids that get into this program no longer need special education when they go into Kindergarten and that is our goal for Amber. She has a really great teacher and speech pathologist working with her and I am sure that every month that passes we will get to see her grow and blossom!!

This week is full of Fall Fun!!

For FHE tonight we raked our neighbor's yard. Who knew service could be so much fun?! Afterwards we went for a walk and then we snuck into our Halloween candy early for treats. We will be carving pumpkins on Thursday and Whitney cannot wait to do hers. She doesn't have school on Halloween day so we are having a Movie Party at our house watching TinkerBell!! Whitney has waited like two-three years for this movie to finally be released..so tomorrow is the big day for me to finally go and buy it. I am not sure she will be able to wait for three days before she can watch it-but I think it's only fair to the other twelve girls we have invited over if she doesn't tell them what happens before. It is going to be an adventurous week with mutual and cubscouts and girls night out tomorrow..super excited about that-we are playing a murder mystery game written by myself so I hope it will be successful. I will let you all know how it goes and post more pictures of this weeks events. But for now-just look at these sweet girls:

Adults still play childhood games

So my sistah tagged me for this one, so here goes:

1. When I get crumbs or salt on my hands from eating fries, brownies, etc.-i rub and flick my fingers together to shake them off-before using a napkin.
2. I have always wanted to design clothes
3. My pinky fingers are crooked
4. I really do think boys play more loudly than girls. (disagree if you want-it's just my opinion based on my experiences)
5. My parents got my middle name from the girl who won the Jr. Miss pageant the year I was born-i'm not joking.
6. Since having kids-my gag reflex is super-sensitive.
7. I always felt my maiden name was difficult to say

Now that you know more about me..
I tag Celeste, Angie, Brooke, Heidi, Nadell, Emily, and Emmalee.

Progress

So we finally have all of our kitchen flooring removed-and the tile and materials purchased. As joe was unloading everything-he was telling me how i was going to be doing a good deal of the work as I am home most of the day-as if that really means i'm free most of the day or something. Everyone says that demolition is the worst part. We still have to pull up the existing tile in the entry way before I can say the demolition part is totally complete. We have been asked to Speak on Sunday so I can't say much will get done tomorrow-but our goal is to have it done by Thanksgiving-that is practical for us-since we will work saturdays and hardly at all during the week-due to Mutual and cub scouts+whatever else life throws at us. I can't wait until it's all done and my kitchen no longer feels like a construction zone. I just keep thinking of what it will look like when it's finished--oh i'm sooo excited!!

Brooke 10 months old

Last time I posted a picture she looked like this:

Look at her NOW:


I haven't posted any recent pictures of Brooke on here lately so here is what she looks like now-her hair has grown a little and it is starting to curl at the ends..her hair is definitely strawberry blonde now, it still surprises me how fair she is.