Happy Birthday Mom!

Thanks Ben for helping us get a good smile from mom!


Lookin' good in her new birthday blouse!

Saturday was my mom's 61st Birthday! I didn't think she'd make it to her birthday, but she did! My sister-in-law bought my mom some new 'littler' clothes that fit! On Thursday my friend gave my mom and hair cut and on Friday I went over and painted her nails! She looked so pretty for her birthday! My dad made homemade Peach Ice Cream for all those that stopped by to enjoy. I think she had a great day!


Happy Birthday Mom!
I love you!

40 Years is the beginning of Forever!

They first met on a blind date...





Fell in love...





Got engaged...





He said goodbye to her as she went away to Europe for the summer; she returned just in time to be married.






On November 6, 1969 around 10am they were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple for 'Time and All Eternity'.




The rest is history...




He went to dental school...she worked at a bank.





They raised 5 sons and 1 daughter...





They now have 6 sons and 4 daughters...





which means they also have grandchildren...





11 of them, so far...





So amazing that a love like theirs could blossom into something that will last forever! How grateful I am to know that these are my parents...Forever!


Congrats Mom and Dad for making it to your 40th wedding anniversary! This truly is just the beginning of Forever! I love you!

The day I tried to make cookies...

It started out as a great day! I had accomplished quite a bit and thought I'd make some yummy sugar cookies. I got the dough made and then while pre-heating the oven I started cleaning up the kitchen. I turned and looked at the oven and noticed the light was on, so I turned it 'off', or so I thought. I noticed again that the light didn't go off, so I tried again. I opened the oven to see why the light was on, only to notice my heating element looked like a sparkler going off! It was on fire!! Quickly I turned off the oven, but that didn't seem to help so I pulled the oven away from the wall and unplugged it! *phew!* Such a close call. Good thing I changed my Homeowners last week, right?!
I found a new replacement element and got the boys ready to go just as Bradley starts throwing up! I cleaned him up and put the boys in the van (w/ a throw up bucket, just in case) and off we went to pick up the new element. Bradley fell asleep on the car ride. The part was being held for me at the counter so I could be quicker going in and out so, I left Bradley in the car (go ahead and call the police on me!).
Bradley woke up just as we got home and was back to his usual self. He played and acted as if he hadn't even been sick?! So strange! I proceeded to install the new element by myself. It wasn't too hard, but it was a little tricky. Go me!


It's amazing what you find under your stove! I took advantage of having it pulled out and did a good deep cleaning. Under my stove may be the cleanest part of my kitchen floor, but only for a little while!:)


The old element and my best impression of how mad I was :)


I love a job that doesn't require lots of tools! These are the only ones I needed. Notice the element is broken, that's where the fire was.


Yesterday before Dave left for work I let him pick what dinner was going to be. He chose Chicken Pot Pie. So even though the day that started so great was turning into a not-so-great day, it ended as a fabulous day! We had a delicious dinner that was baked in a clean oven with a heat source that wasn't an open fire!

Dallas Heart Attack!

The YW asked if they could come on Dallas' birthday to give her bedroom a heart attack. We decided that they could come in after we left to go get a Family Home Evening/Birthday treat. After our FHE lesson we quickly hopped in the car to go get ice cream. We stayed away for about 45 minutes thinking we had given them plenty of time...but when we came home they were still there! I think they enjoyed being able to see Dallas reaction! (and mine! Boy was this one big mess!)



She looks surprised, doesn't she!



The doorway going into her room. She left this up for a day or two!



What to say?



Her floor! They found our paper shredder and dumped its whole contents around her room! We cleaned up the floor before Dallas went to bed. My shop vac couldn't handle all the paper shredding and got clogged up! We spent a half an hour on our hand and knees scooping up what we could with our hands and then went over it with my regular vacuum. :)


Welcome to Young Woman's Dallas! You're going to love it here! Being in YW as a teacher I am excited to have Dallas there each week! The lessons are awesome, the leaders are the best and the girls are so much fun! Wahooo! You've arrived Dall!

Holy Cow! She's 12!

The night before Dallas turned 12 she got to go to her first ever Fireside! It was John Bytheway. She loved going! I went with her and enjoyed being with her on her 1st experience of Young Women's! I was afraid Dallas wouldn't sleep well, due to the excitement of waking up early to go to the Temple, but nope she slept great!

Back in February Dallas told me she wanted to go to the temple to do baptisms ON her birthday! It wasn't until we looked at the calendar that we realized her birthday was on a MONDAY! We had to do some homework to see if the temples were even open on a Monday. There are two temples that are open during the morning, Salt Lake and Provo. Dallas chose the Provo temple, for reason other than that's just the one she wanted to go to. :) Our Bishop was very accommodating and gave Dallas her recommend one day early so we could go!Provo was the temple that Dave and I went to a lot, as we lived in Provo for quite a few years during the beginning of our marriage. Driving the streets there felt so good, I felt so at home! Returning to that temple was special too. Dallas was on such a high!



This is Dallas on our way into the temple! Doesn't she look so grown up?!


The beautiful fountain that was put in since the last time I was there! A very kind missionary on his way back to the MTC took this picture for us! :)


I think Dallas' smile is even bigger than it was before we went into the temple!


Mother and daughter! So cute!


Dallas has it all planned! We're going to go to the temple several times a month, early before school! I am overjoyed that my daughter has such an interest in Temple work! I know she has a testimony of Temple work! And I can't wait to go again with her!

This was her perfect birthday ever! And because my post wouldn't be complete without telling you what we ate for dinner, seeing as that is a tradition for us, Dallas chose Baked Potato Bar! So delicious! What happened after dinner is another post! Stayed tuned!

Starting Over!

This was my first official Monday of not going to watch my mom. I will admit it was nice not worrying through the day about having everything done by 4:30! When Dallas came home from school she asked how long I was going to be home before leaving to go to my mom's. It was strange.

So just before I started watching my mom last year we had just gotten really good and having FHE every Monday. I had such high hopes of doing it on Sundays, but that usually didn't happen. FHE was few and far between. It's been something that has bothered me, so today I was really excited to prepare a lesson and execute FHE again! My kids did not grasp it on the same excitement level :( I was met with several, 'but mom, we had lots of family here yesterday, doesn't that count?'. Good point, but I reminded them of what the purpose of FHE was and that I felt strongly that we needed to get back on it, ON MONDAY'S! When they saw how important it was to me they soon gave in and took assignments. The lesson was on Daniel the prophet. The kids loved it! Even Colter was into it!

As much bitter-sweet as it is not be helping my parents, it was nice to be with my family. Doing something that will bind us closer to each other and our Heavenly Father! I love this feeling! My house feels good!

Holy Cow! She's 9!

Aundrea had a birthday today! Shout hurray! One year older and wiser too...Happy Birthday to you!

About a month ago when asked what she wanted for her birthday her reply was " A scripture bag for my scriptures." Then it changed to Little Pet shops stuff, but somewhere between then and now she no longer wanted any pet shops.
Tuesday morning with Colter in tow we got all the shopping done! For her birthday she got a scripture carrying case, a new alarm clock (cause I'm too practical!), and some cute sterling silver fish ear rings.

A birthday tradition at our house is letting the birthday kid pick what we have for dinner. (Remember last year Aundrea wanted whole wheat cereal?) This year she wanted Pot Pie, but she chose that after seeing that I was making it on Monday. I didn't want to make the same thing twice in the same week! She finally decided on Chili with NO TOMATOES! I'm happy she chose something healthy and not hard to make! The only recipes I have for chili call for cans of tomatoes so I had to call a friend and ask them if they knew how to make chili w/o tomatoes! I was given a yummy recipe, which was a hit tonight at dinner! We had french bread, chili with sour cream and cheese and green Sprite. The center piece for the table was our birthday blocks and Dallas colored the Sprite green to make it funner. Oh, and we drank out of fancy glasses!

Another birthday request by Aundrea was playing Littlest Pet Shop Monopoly, which we did after Dave got done with his Home Teaching :) Thanks Paddocks for letting Dave do a quick drop by :)

I am so glad to have Aundrea as my daughter. I've always felt that she is special and that she has many wonderful qualities!

People say that your kids grow up right before your eyes and I'm starting to understand what they mean!

Bradley has a...

Today when I picked Bradley up from school he started telling me the names of the kids in his class. He then tells me the name of one of the little girls and adds, "mom, she wants me to be her boyfriend".!! I almost dropped my jaw! My girls never had secret crushes or even cared about boyfriends in kindergarten. I'm sure if this little girl hadn't brought it up to Bradley he probably wouldn't have either! So, his response to her was, "ok, but I don't want a girlfriend."
He asked me what he should do if she wants to kiss him tomorrow, I told him to tell you he's not old enough to kiss! Tell her you need to be an adult first :)

Goodbye Friend

Conversation with Dallas last week:

Dallas: Hey mom, what are you doing next week from Monday to Friday?

Mom:Why Dallas?

Dallas: Cause I was thinking I'd like to make a deal with you.

Mom: A deal?

Dallas: Ya, to see if you can go 5 whole days with out drinking Coke.

Mom: Sounds like a good deal. You're on Dallas!!



Several weeks ago I taught a lesson in Young Women's on being more disciplined. Part of becoming more disciplined is to set goals. This 'deal' with my daughter gave me a reason to give up my coke habit. After all do I NEED a Coke everyday? No. So why do I drink it every day? I have to answer that its just part of my routine; a habit. I'm sure I can live with out it. I want to show my daughter that hard things can be done, and not to run away from trying to change just because it's hard :) I can be strong; I want her to see that I am strong!

So here I go. Let the headaches begin :) They will only last until my body realizes its just fine without the caffeine :0)

Wish me luck!

Adventures for our Favorite babysitter

Yesterday was a very special day! Our babysitter got married! My kids love her, I love her! She was (and still is) such a good friend and example to my kids.
I'm not exactly sure, but I think she started babysitting for us before Bradley was born. She would bring stuff to do with the kids, coloring books, fun books to read, puzzles, etc. The kids looked forward to her coming over. She always took a special interest in each one of my kids and played with them on their level. I remember one time she taught Dallas part of a line dance :) It was fun watching the two of them show it to us.
Not long after Colter was born Niki called me out of the blue and and said she'd like to start watching my kids once a week for several hours so I could go have some alone time.(for free!) This was during a time when Dave was working 24/7 and was out of town once a week. Life was pretty tough! I was struggling to keep up with everything and not getting a break from motherhood! Niki was my saving angel! She would come over on the days Dave was out of town and stay for HOURS! I remember the first time...I went to Applebee's and had dinner by myself, it was weird and wonderful and rolled into one! Then I went and bought a new toaster and some paint to finish my painting project. :) Not super exciting perhaps, but to me it was what saved me that week! During this time the girls were in school and Niki would come just as they were getting home from school. She would help them with their homework, feed them all dinner and help them get ready for bed if I was going to be gone that long. I don't really know if she knows how much that meant to me! It is one of those blessings in life I am truly and eternally grateful for!! Not only did I benefit from her service, but my whole family did!
Niki has been away at college and we haven't seen her around as much, but when we do, it's like a great reunion! The boys love giving her hugs and the girls love sharing with her what's going on in their lives. At the reception all the kids gave her a hug in her pretty white dress, and Niki asked the girls how they were doing. I love the relationship my kids have with her! It's a great friendship!


So yesterday she began her wonderful adventure in marriage! Based on our knowledge of how awesome and compassionate she is, her husband is going to be one of the luckiest men in the world! He will be so blessed to have her as his wife!


Congrats Niki! We love you, and hope the best for you and your new husband.

1st Day of Kindergarten!

My handsome Kindergartener! He was so excited!



Dave just had to sneak into the picture...just like he did for the girls first day!



These are the contraptions that will be hauling home the homework! Hurray!



Glad everyone is excited for school! (and really hoping I'm done with the picture taking!)



We got to school with plenty of time to spare. To kill time, I took more pictures! I think Bradley thought I was torturing him!



This was my favorite part! All the kids lined up for a name tag before going into class. The parents (or should I say large mass of people!) stood with camera's in hand clicking away! I wish I would have taken a picture of all the parents! It was quite humorous for me!



Bradley and his good buddy Elijah. They don't have the same teacher, but they do get to play at recess! This was taken after school, proof that he is still the same happy boy I dropped off!



Bradley and Jensen. In our neighborhood there aren't any kids Bradley's age, but Jensen lives in our Stake, so they play together as often as us mom's can get them together.


Some of you may be wondering if I cried as I left Bradley at school...I did not! I felt so proud and excited for him that no tears were shed! I am so proud of Bradley and excited for him as he starts reading and socializing with other kids his age! And deep down I hope that he'll be a good student, a good friend and one other's want to be around! I love you Mr.B! :)

How I spent my 1st day with 2 hours to myself!

Many of you thought I should go back to bed...some of you thought I should read a book...others of you thought I should get things done that are hard to do when the kids are around!


How many of you know me? Am I really going to sit around and read a book when there is stuff that needs to be done? Going back to bed did cross my mind! I strongly considered it! But in the end I spent my time taking a L-O-N-G warm shower, cleaning up breakfast, making beds and last but not least, spent time at a scrap booking store punching out leaf die cuts for Trek invitations. The house was so quiet, it was a strange feeling! I thought I could imagine what it was going to be like, it was not like I thought it would be. When I took my shower I locked the door...who was going to come barging in? What was I thinking? I never lock the door because someone always has to pee when I'm showering, so locking the door was a first :) It definately guaranteed my privacy :)


Well, now that I know how nice it is to be alone I can hardly wait for next Monday to experience it again!...What should I do? Monday is laundry day, but how can I spend that time doing something to capitalize on my alone-ness? What haven't I done in a long time that I need to try again? hmmm...guess I have lots to think about!

Top 10 ways motherhood makes you a celebrity...

This comes from an article in the Parenting Magazine...I always knew I was cool, now I know why :).




Top 10 ways motherhood makes you a celebrity!
1. Someones always hounding you for your autograph! Even it its just on a permission slip for the class trip to the recycling center
2. You travel with an entourage. Okay so two of them are fighting over a bag of Doritos and one of them has a crusty nose, but STILL!
3. You spend your days club-hopping. How else would your kids get to brownie?
4. You're front and center at every awards show. Because your 10 yr old would never forgive you for being absent when he wins the school carnival karaoke contest!
5. You change clothes three times a day. And its much more fun if you pretend it's because you're being stalked by the paparazzi, not a messy toddler.
6. You're on a spa diet. Your kids only leave broccoli on their plates for you
7. You've flashed your boobs in public. Hey, its not easy to juggle a hungry baby in one hand and unhook a nursing bra with the other. (never had that one myself)
8. People beg to sleep with you. Well, only because there's a monster under their bed!
9. You're covered in tattoos that your kid got in a birthday party goody bag and plastered on you when you were too pooped to resist!
10.Hassled as you feel right now, in 20 yrs you'll miss all the chaos!!

Lists in the making

I am a list maker, it's what I do. I'm sure that somehow it makes me feel more organized, and at other times crazy because of all the things I write down to do! Not only am I a list maker, but I am also a perfectionist, which means my lists are long and thorough! I need to learn to be more of a practical list maker. Any suggestions? positive ones only please :)

Here is my current list of things to blog about (which I'm getting more behind on by the minute!)

Kindergarten orientation

First Tomato of the Season!!!

Our Sunday visitor :)

1st day of Preschool

1st day of Kindergarten

Our Labor Day Staycation

How I spent my 1st day with no kids (for 2 hours :))




Hope you are as excited as me to read all my catching up entries that will hopefully follow soon...

Labor Day fun!?

My sister-in-law tells best the exciting happenings of our family Labor Day BBQ (which by the way we were late to!) We got there just as they were cleaning up the rocket launcher :)
Here is a link to her blog, enjoy!
It's all fun and games until...

Our Sunday Visitor

Before church I went out to water my flowers. This is what I found. We had so much fun watching this little guy. My boys loved him the most! They couldn't believe that Heavenly Father could create a bug that looked like a leaf! :)

Preschool Orientation

Colter's classroom door. His name is on the blue hand :) Too bad the picture is blurry, the boys couldn't stand still!



By the end of last year Colter was terrified to ride the bus to school! This year he rides the bus again...his teacher is working on some incentives to encourage him to come to school on the bus! We'll see if that helps! One of the things she is going to do is let Colter hold the bus sign at the end of the pre-school day and be the leader taking the other kids to the bus to go home! Can you tell he liked that idea?



Colter loves 'guys', as he calls them...little people figures! This cool pirate ship had some pretty awesome pirate 'guys'! The toys at the preschool were all so cool! I tried to get Colter to dress up in the princess dresses, but he wouldn't! He wouldn't even wear the cowboy hats...oh-well! I had fun trying! :)



Fishing for fish. this is a sensory table. Every couple weeks they change what's inside it. The boys spent the most time here fishing and getting wet!



Who doesn't love plastic food? Colter has a great imagination when it comes to play acting with plastic food!



A door shot! Again! Much better this time! I think I can quite trying door shots now!



The doors Colter goes in. The boys asked if they could be silly! It wouldn't have been much fun if they hadn't been silly!


Preschool starts next Monday! Cross your fingers Colter will get on the bus!!

1st Day of School!

A good friend recently told me they like to read the end of a book before reading the beginning...so I though I'd start at the end of the 1st day of School! Proof that there was a happy ending to the 1st dreaded day of school ;)


This is what I pushed to the school to pick up the kids. I have to admit I am very out of shape, so this was a good thing for me :)


See, ALL the kids did survive!Some not as happy as others, but none-the-less they survived! How hard can the 1st day really be?



Dally & Aly waiting at the 6th grade doors. Last year Dallas was so nervous and didn't look happy to be at school! I am glad to see her happy smiling face here! Yay for being a big 6th grader Dallas! I love you!



Drea and neighborhood gang! Drea was having such a hard time NOT giggling! I'm sure being nervous didn't cause any of the giggles, did it Drea? This is the only picture taken in the morning where she wasn't giggling :) I am so proud of Aundrea and excited for her 3rd grade year!



These are the shoes Dallas wore to school. She did not get her love of heels from her mother! Come to think of it, she didn't get it from her father either! :)



First day of school outfits! This is our traditional 'stand here for the 1st day of school' picture shot! You'll see this in other posts of the boys.



Still being silly!



This is how the day started...so excited and happy to be going back! How bad can the day really be? Guess we'll have to wait and see...

100th Post!

Today the kids decided after visiting our good friends house that they wanted to have a 'clean' house! The family we visited (the Monroy's) have 4 kids, just like us, and they have a clean and orderly house. My kids were so impressed. I am more impressed that my kids were impressed!!
On the drive home my kids talked about what they could do to our own house to make it feel cleaner and more organized. Their first solution was that we needed a new house! I had a good chuckle at that and told them to keep brainstorming!
When Dave came home we told him the plan. At 4pm we began a very long process which ended with these results...
















They LOVED playing together on the top bunk! (Bradley's new bed!)


Boys closet. Notice how empty it is! It won't stay this way for long!


The toy corner. No more toy room means the kids will store the toys IN their rooms! (I never said they'd stay there to play with them...but I can hope!)


Tada! More of the Boys room.


This cardboard box became Colter's 'car'. It was Aundrea's turn to drive :)


Drea's stuffed animal hanging thing. She is a stuffed animal lover!


Drea's closet. We still need to move some of Dave's stuff off the shelves. :)


Dallas' closet. She is loving how much space she has!


Dallas' room. Notice the piano! She is in heaven!


Drea's room. (Hello Miss Kitty!)


More of Aundrea's room. Notice the carpet...it may be the last time we see it for a while :)


By 8pm the boys were in their jammies and wanting to go to bed. By 8:30 the girls were in their rooms; Dallas went to sleep quickly, while Drea in her room stayed up (with the light on!) to read. Bradley has been out of his room several times, he is having trouble with the new arrangements. Let's hope after one good nights sleep he likes it! ;)