Just Some Easter Pics

Things have been pretty slow around here for the last month. Not much to write about. Spring has come and gone several times, but never actually stayed for any length of time. It’s been rainy and cold for the most part with a little snow here and there. Every once in a while, the sun makes an appearance and we get excited, but it’s short lived. The clouds soon come rolling in and we have to head indoors.

Steve and I took a trip to Vegas at the end of March. It was nice to get away and enjoy a little bit of sunshine. As always we spent too much money, and ate too much food. However, I got some new shoes out of the deal, and we had fun hanging out with my sister. We even decided to go see Donny and Marie at the Flamingo. That was interesting!

Our spring break was pretty dull. We hit the Kamas pool on Monday, but then Libby came down with some horrible illness, and so we spent the rest of the week under quarantine – no kids in or out. I’m not sure what she had, but luckily nobody else came down with it, so that’s a plus.

We had a pleasant Easter weekend. Lots of chocolate, but I have a new favorite saying - “Whatever the question, Chocolate is the answer!”

Here are some pictures of the kids in their new spring duds.

 

I have a new favorite picture of Jack – It makes me laugh every time I look at it.

It’s not the greatest, but I love the double chin with the neck tie and the facial expression – he makes faces like this all of the time that crack us all up.

Well, that’s it – Happy Eaaster!

Bringing 2010 To An End

When I have finished this post, I think I can finally consider myself caught up. I have made a promise to myself that I will not get that far behind again. Hopefully I can stay on top of things. It’s no fun blogging about stuff that I can barely remember.

It seems like our Christmas Season was a bit hectic this year. I didn’t even get any baking done, so therefore, we did not give out any neighbor gifts this year. I find myself thinking that we didn’t focus on the more important things, and we let the hustle and bustle take over. So, note to self, try to make next year a little more special.

A few days before Christmas, Hannah was playing at a friends house and totally smashed her finger between two exercise weights. It looked awful, and was definitely something that I worried about. Luckily the doctor was able to take care of it in the office, and patched her right up. She worried so much about having to get stitches or that something might be really wrong, but in the end she loved all of the extra attention.

My mom and dad came for a visit on the 23rd. It’s always exciting when they show up with giant bags full of presents. My dad got out the video camera and took tons of videos of the kids. Tauna flew in the next day, and so we were only missing Sam. Hopefully we will get to see her sometime soon.

Our very own Christmas eve tradition is making graham cracker houses. Steve is the master carpenter and gets all of the houses glued together with hot glue. This year, he went above and beyond and made an extra large two story house with the leftover crackers.

 

Our other Christmas Eve Tradition is to let the kids open one present. They all know that they are getting Pajamas, and then a movie to watch. It makes them crazy that they never get to open a real present. I tried to get them to hold still for a photo of them in their new PJ”s, but it’s beyond impossible.

We all enjoyed our Christmas morning. I took more pictures than usual, so it is hard to choose just a few for this post. I will throw some in when and if I ever get around to making a blog book. Besides, there are not many people who want to look at pictures of other people opening presents.

We also have many pictures of the easy bake creations that were made later in the afternoon. I was happily taking a little snooze during the baking process, but was later informed that the chocolate cake was delish and the yellow cake didn’t quite turn out. I do not have wonderful things to say about the easy bake oven, however, it gives Hannah something to do.

All through December, I was worried that we might not have a very white Christmas. We did eventually get some snow before the magical day, so no worries there. However, the real snow came right before New Years. We had so much snow, that we had to snow blow 3 times that day.

Finally, our New Years Eve celebrations. We decided to forget about the easy bake oven, and go for some real cakes. The girls each made their own cakes, and then we tried out our new mini cupcake maker that we got for Christmas. We had cakes and cupcakes and frosting everywhere, but everyone had a great time decorating.
 

We spent most of the day watching our favorite movies that we got for Christmas, including Despicable Me which we probably watched twice. We finished off the year by enjoying the firework show put on by the neighbors as we drank our sparkling fruit drinks. It should have been hot chocolate, but I wasn’t using my brain.

So now that I am all caught up, I don’t know if I will have much to write about for a while. January is now over, and nothing much has happened. At least we will have Jack’s birthday in February.

Fun Filled Fall Festivities

It’s always a happy time for me when the kids head back to school and stop yelling at each other all day long. Some might wonder if I would rather just keep the kids home in order to avoid the stressful mornings spent waiting in line at the school drop off area. Still it’s nice to have my days free of bickering, so I must endure through the agony of dealing with inconsiderate people who don’t know how to pull all the way forward. That’s all I have to say about that.

In October, Steve and Hannah went on a Daddy Daughter Activity for Achievement Days. Hannah was very excited about the whole thing. The girls got to make up special invitations for all of the dad’s, and they had to dress up for the special Masquerade Ball. They even learned how to do some ball room dancing.

For Fall Break we headed down to Phoenix to see Steve’s sister and her family.
It was actually an enjoyable mini vacation, and we are hoping that we will make
the effort to visit there more often. The only pictures we took during the whole
trip were of the kids half asleep in the hotel room.

 

 
For Steve’s birthday this year, I have no clear memory of what we did. I am pretty sure that we had dinner at one of our favorite restaurants. I don’t know what he got for his birthday, but whenever I ask him about it, all I hear is that we sure didn’t go anywhere fun like Disneyland. For the record, Steve likes to buy himself presents when it’s not his birthday, so sometimes his birthdays are a little bit of a let down.

Documenting the first snow of the year - October 26th.
It was such a beautiful night, but this picture isn’t even close to capturing it.

For Halloween, the kids pretty much wore that same costumes as last year, so I didn’t take pictures of the kids, but we do have pics of the pumpkins. Halloween was a very stormy night, and we didn’t get much trick or treating in because of the downpour.

Henry’s,  Jonathon’s,  Thomas’,  Hanna’s
Steve’s,  Neisha’s,  Libby’s  and  Jack’s

For Thanksgiving we made many plans, but none of them panned out.
So it was just us at home feasting on turkey.
Of course it was the best turkey ever, but I think we say that every year.

Our most time honored Thanksgiving tradition is making homemade
place cards. Hannah took on the job all by herself this year, and this is
what she came up with. I don’t think the picture can portray how cute they
looked with their little tiny feathers in the back.

And finally, homemade apple pie. It looks kind of gooey around the edges, 
however, that’s caramel so it’s a good kind of gooey.

Chixos, Pixos and Bendaroos

Christmas day was quite enjoyable this year. Santa delivered only one video game. The rest of the presents were designed to keep the kids busy without having to fight over the Xbox or the Wii. The girls were each given a craft bin full of all things crafty. Hannah’s list was not long this year, but she did ask for Chixos, Pixos and Bendaroos. So that is what she got. These items were great and kept her busy most of the day, but, one should not count on them to last longer than one day only. She has not even looked at them since Christmas day. Yesterday when she was telling me that she had nothing to do, I said go play with your Chixos, Pixos and Bendaroos (because you can’t name one without naming them all) – and she said, “They’re not fun anymore.”

My mom gave all of the big kids Lego sets. We love Legos at our house, but I would like to be the mom that keeps them all organized. I think it would also be a good idea to laminate the directions so that my kids will be able to build their things over and over again. Since I am not that kind of mom, though, these things will never happen. So now we just have to hear cries of “Where is that one piece?”, or “I can’t build anything I don’t have the pictures”. No Imagination in this house! However, they kept the kids happy for the whole day.

Jack was quite content to sit in Steve’s lap for a couple of hours and play with the first toy that he opened. This is a good thing, because someone forgot about Jack this Christmas and Steve had to make a last minute run to get something for him to open.  Henry on the other hand, was anxious to open any gift that he could get his hands on. He was amazed that there were so many toys just for him.

I find it hard to take pictures on Christmas morning, so I don’t have any good ones. I did get some of the graham cracker houses that we made on Christmas Eve – this is one of our yearly traditions and I think that the houses look the same each year – it’s more about eating the candy than it is about making a nice house.

 

 

We got hit with a nice bit of snow a couple of weeks before Christmas and so the kids went out and made a snowman.

Hannah’s 2nd grade program was also in December
The theme was A Cowboy Christmas.

 

Henry got a new shirt and tie – now he’s like the big boys.

 

The girls got new dresses too, but  Jonathon and
Thomas didn’t get any new clothes at all this Christmas.

Hannah biffed it while she was sledding and scraped up her
upper lip and so all of her holiday pictures are blemished.

I have enjoyed this Christmas break – the kids have gotten along pretty well and I like having the older kids home to entertain Henry and Jack. We even took a trip to the pool today and Jonathon and Thomas were brave enough to jump off the high dive. I even decided to try it too – I have to admit that it was just a little bit scary for me.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

WOW! Time just flew by.

My plans were to decorate my blog for Christmas and then post something so that my time spent decorating would not have been in vain. However, that is not what happened. I have been non-stop busy since Thanksgiving and never found the time to post anything. So . . .

 

We hope you all had a Wonderful Christmas – We have had such a nice day. I would have to say this has been one of the best Christmases yet. I plan on posting more pics and such later. Hopefully!

Holy Bursting Bags of Candy, Batman!

What do you get when you send 5 kids out to Trick-or-Treat?
Well, 5 giant bags full of candy – that’s what.

This picture was taken two days after Halloween. So the candy has already been picked through, and still - this is what’s left.

Guess who can’t stay out of it? I’ll give you a clue: She has full access to the candy that is unguarded while the kids are at school.

Does anyone have any Will Power I can borrow?

Our Halloween started out with a lovely breakfast made by Jonathon and Steve. Jonathon learned how to make German Pancakes at school and now we are addicted to them. Again – must   obtain   Will   Power.

Pumpkin carving this year was actually enjoyable. There was not so much arguing this year – not like we will be able to figure out why so we can duplicate it for next year. Then we had Chinese food – I think this might become a Halloween tradition for us.

Trunk-or-Treat at the church parking lot started off the festivities for the day. It was a beautiful day, and I think I had more fun than the kids did. After I picked up my Hot Chocolate, I headed over to the fire pit to make S’mores. As I made the rounds with Henry, it was great to visit with everyone and see who got creative with the costumes and decorations. If we do it again next year, I’m going to kick it up a notch and do something besides candy – I have a whole year to think of something amazing. (Please don’t bring this post up next year when you make a special visit to my trunk, only to find an undecorated trunk and a bowl full of candy.)

 

This year, I was on the ball and bought costumes early – Usually I am trying to scrounge up costumes the day of – making my poor kids go out as Toilet Paper Mummies or Bed Sheet Ghosts. Amazingly they were all happy with the costumes they were given – since I didn’t consult with any kids when I picked them out.

  JONATHON – THE SAD PUPPY DOG NIGHT STALKER
Originally just a Night Stalker costume, but so much
better with the added artistic face paintings of Steve.

 

THOMAS – FRANKENSTEIN
Thomas cut out early so he didn’t get his face painted, but I think a puppy dog nose really would have finished off the costume.

 

HANNAH – THE SPIDER WITCH
However, her official title changed more often than Henry
changes his clothes each day – which is often.

 

LIBBY – TRYING TO BE AN EVIL PRINCESS
What can I say – is it even possible for Libby to be evil?

 

  HENRY – THE SCARY BLUE RUNNY NOSE MONSTER
I couldn’t resist buying this costume.
I thought it was so cute, and was glad that it kept him warm.

 

JACK – MR. PUMPKIN PANTS and STEVE – OFFICIAL YANKEES FAN
They stayed home to watch the Yankees beat the
Phillies in game 3 of the world series.

So as much as I complain about Halloween, when all is said and done, we always have a great time. So next year, I am going to try and embrace the holiday and maybe put up a few decorations.

Mother’s Day 2009

My mother’s day celebration started on Thursday. While I was at Pack Meeting, Steve helped each of the kids put together planters. They now adorn the front steps.

 

Notice (right) how my sweet precious children have whacked at the side of my house with sticks and knocked the stucco off of the trim.

On Friday, my kids surprised me with a bunch of tulips – picked from someone’s flower garden on the way home from school. How could I get mad at them – they were so beautiful.

Hopefully no one misses these too much.

On Sunday, Steve decided that we should head up to Bear Lake and surprise my mom and my grandma. So double surprise, because Steve never volunteers to go up there with me. We had beautiful weather and great food, what more could you ask for?

Henry sat still for a couple of seconds to get his
picture taken with Grammy and Grampy.

My grandma was very proud of her collection of flowers for the day.

 Looks like Grammy might be ready to babysit Jack after all!

Happy Valentine's Day Neisha!

I am not a poet, a writer, or a great orator. As a matter of fact, I have very little to offer in terms of emotions. Some have likened me to a robot. That being said, I'd like to share a few thoughts on a very special subject....

On October 17th, 1991, I met a blonde haired girl that would change my life. Although I didn't know what it was, I knew there was something special about her. I don't know why I remember the date... it could be because it was one week before my 18th birthday, or it could be because it was the day I met Neisha.

This year we will have been married 15 years. Sometimes I just look at her and can't believe I captured the heart of that beautiful 17 year old girl so many years ago.

I am eternally grateful to have her forever.

Happy Valentine's Day Sweetheart!

I didn't mean to preempt her posting about Libby, so please continue to read below...

It's Christmas Eve - yay!

We have had an enjoyable
Holiday Season
and we hope all of you have a
Wonderful Christmas Day!

Thanks to anyone who brought by
goodies and such
Each knock at the door was such a
nice surprise

Happy Thanksgiving!

We are thankful for our Family and our Friends.

We are thankful that we are all healthy.

We are thankful that we have food to put on the table.

We are thankful that we live in a great neighborhood.

We are thankful for beautiful weather.
      (even if it's not snowing)

We are thankful for the blessings that we enjoy daily.