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!