Things That Bring Me Joy!

I am carrying on the challenge from my sis-in-law Amy to write down some of the positive things that bring me joy and think about the blessings in my life.

1. The first thing that I thought of was a baby's laugh. Especially if it is my baby! This is a video of Jonas when he was little.

2. Pulling into my parents' driveway in Kamas. Everytime I turn into it and see the house and the trees in the yard, I just get this incredible sense of home and security. Here is a photo of their driveway looking out toward the road this past Christmas.

3. All things Hawaiian. Well, maybe not ALL things, but most. I loved how I just felt relaxed being in Hawaii. I liked that I never had to wear socks. Everyone wore "slippers" (aka flipflops) to church. I love that I can count on one hand the number of days that I wore long pants. I love that my feet were softer than they have ever been from walking on the beach weekly. Most of all I loved that when we were at church the speaker would start out saying "aloha" and the entire congregation would great them back with an "aloha". I miss that so much! I also miss that when a family would be moving out of the ward the congregation would sing "Aloha Oe" to them and everyone would hug them good-bye. I really love Hawaii!

4. God Bless the USA. I love that song. Everytime I hear it I swell with pride. It reminds me of Dave's graduation from Basic Training. They had a slide show going of soldiers while the ones graduating sang the song--and when it got to the part that they sang "and I'll proudly stand up" --they all stood, and I started to bawl out of pride for my country and pride in my husband. I know that my husband could do many other things for his career and that our time in the military won't last forever, but I am so glad that he has chosen to serve our country. I can't imagine him doing anything else. I love to see him in his uniform. I really smile when I see him in his dress uniforms! I love going to military ceremonies and seeing that my husband's contribution to our country was noteworthy enough to award him a Bronze Star and the Knowlton Award. I love that his love for our country and our flag is so great and such a part of him that I can't see an American flag without thinking of my husband.

5. Dave's sense of humor. He always knows what to do or say to make me laugh. I love that he is always the life of the party. I smile most when I just sit back and watch him "perform" when we are in a group of people. He makes everything fun. He is such a fun dad to the kids. He is always trying to think of something to do as a family. He just makes life wonderful and I couldn't ask for a better husband or father to our kids.

So the challenge is passed to those of you that are willing, to think about the things in your life that just put a big smile on your face. Things that are blessings to you. Things that are positives in your life!

Easter

Well, this year the kids were really sad that we couldn't go to Aunt Karen's to have an Easter egg hunt. Luckily we had someone from the ward that made it up to them. Going to their Easter party made me realize how fun it would be to be wealthy. They own a 240 acre farm and opened it up to all the families in the ward--and more I am sure--for an Easter egg hunt and then a bonfire dinner.

Here is a photo of the front of their house. It is honestly takes your breathaway when you drive up to it. It is HUGE!This is their little "courtyard" where you can park. It is beautiful.Here is the sister explaining the rules to the kids. She gave them each a special egg that had a piece of paper in it. When they returned from hunting for eggs they could turn in their paper for whatever it said on it...i.e. stuffed animal, pencils, games, etc...
Off they go. The majority of the eggs where at the little (first) barn and then at the big(back) barn.
Here is little Jonas hunting at the little barn with his best friend Davis.
I love this picture of Jonas all by himself looking for eggs.
Yes, I am a bad mom. I couldn't find their Easter baskets so they had to use Target bags!!
There were 3 really big eggs hidden that had pieces of paper in them. Tank found one. Those three kids got really big stuffed animals. Luckily Tank got a Bunny because he loves stuffed bunnies.

These 2 baskets were overflowing with stuffed animals, etc.. that she gave away to all the kids.
Here a picture of the bonfire that was lit after the egg hunt. We could have stayed to roast hot dogs, but we went home to help Dave work on the basement.
Here are the kids in their Easter clothes they got from the Easter Bunny.

I had to include the sad one of Jonas. It seems like everytime there is one kid that has to be sad in the Easter pictures (see last years photos and look at Zeke)
The BOYS!
The cheessssssy Boys!! London was very proud of her curly hair.
Happy Easter everyone!!

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away....

Ezekiel is officially 5 years old! And those of you that know him know that since this time last year he eats, sleeps and drinks anything Star Wars. We have almost the entire collection of Galatic Heroes Star Wars figures and whenever he finds one he doesn't have we have to get it and save it for birthdays, Christmas, etc... So it was a no brainer that this year he was going to have a Star Wars party.

The day began with everyone coming to the front door.

And then entering into the basement

(it was nice to have the unfinished basement that the kids couldn't hurt) The kids all got name tags when they came in because there was no way I was going to be able to remember everyone's names. We had a total of 14 kids (including mine) there. They were able to chose between being a Jedi Kinght and then be named Master (insert name) or they were Sith and name Darth (insert name). The kids thought that was great! We ate pizza and then played two games. The first was like pin the tail on the donkey but instead it was put the buttons on Darth Vader's suit.


The next I found on the internet and I highly recommend to anyone. I took the skinny water swim noodles and cut them into thirds. Then I took electrical tape and taped the bottoms in order to make handles--and instantly had soft lightsabers for all!!! So we began by playing a game where they used the lightsabers to keep a balloon off the ground. It then escalated to a war between the Sith and Jedi!And then they all turned against the Emperor!

They were thrilled to find out that the lightsabers were theirs to keep!!
(By this time 4 of the kids had already left--that is why there are only 10 in the photo) Dave picked up the cake and didn't noticed that they spelled Ezekiel's name wrong
Ezcricl

The Darth Vader on the cake is a voice changer!!
Guess Who opened this present?Zeke reveling in his gift from Grandma and PapaThe Battle of Hoth from Mom and Dad
Overall it was a great birthday and Ezekiel really had a lot of fun...Actually all the kids did. The party was only an hour and a half--next time I would make it an hour!! HAHAHA!

Wacky Hair Day

Today was Wacky Hair Day at school. I offered to make their hair even crazier but this was as much as the kids wanted done. London looked really cute when I took her hair out of the braids this morning. I wish I would've taken a picture. She was like a little mini Taylor Swift.

Zekey's Girl

Little Ezekiel has his first girlfriend. Her name is Maryn. She calls Zeke her husband and he calls her his life--to him life and wife are synonymous! When Zeke first found out she was calling him her husband he shrugged his shoulders and put his hands in the air and said "Oh no!! Now all the girls are going to fight over me. It's because I'm so handsome!" Needless to say I lost it with laughter! He definitely has his daddy's self-esteem! Maryn came to play today after preschool so here is a picture of the two of them.

Jumping Joes

While Dave was exercising Jonas decided that he needed to also. So here is a video of his version of Jumping Jacks--I call them Jumping Joes!

Kid Pan Alley

A group called Kid Pan Alley came this past week to work with the 2nd grade classes in our school district. Kid Pan Alley is a program that brings professional songwriters into the classroom to work with kids in creating an original song. Then yesterday they performed the songs that they wrote at a concert. Each class created their own song--so there were 10 songs. London said that she was told that she was the best in her group (of course!!!) because she came up with so many of the lines for their song. It was probably all her practice since she and Tank write songs all the time. (My favorite was when I was reading the lyrics Tank wrote and saw at the bottom that he had put "Repeat 3 times" next to the chorus. I thought that was pretty funny.) So here is a video of the performance. It isn't a very good recording. No one knew how to fix the lights so the stage was pretty dark. London is in the dark pink shirt on the bottom row. She is the closest to the lady singing. She is the first one to bow at the end. Ohh, and here are the lyrics -- the lines with the * are the ones that London "supposedly" wrote!:)

I Want To Be

By Paul Reisler, Terri Allard and the 2nd Grade at Green Primary School

I wanna be the bee in the honeybee*
I want to be the butter in the butterfly*
I want to be the surprise in your Lucky Charms
I wanna always be the one that's in your arms
Yeah, that's where I want to be*

I wanna be the fire in your firefly
I wanna be the sun in your sunflower*
I wanna be the bird in the sky*
I wanna be the one that doesn't have to try
I wanna be the one that's in your arms
Yeah, that's where I wanna be*

Not out in the desert *
With my head in the sand*
In the middle of nowhere*

I wanna be everything I can be
I wanna be the gold in your golden locks*
I wanna be the one that you're thinking of*
I wanna be the one that's in your love
Yeah, that's where I wanna be*

HELP ME! HELP ME!!

Okay--I am going to ask you all for help. I am starting my practicum projects so that I can graduate one fine day. My professor was awesome enough to let 2 of the 3 projects that I have to do be via the internet so that I can do them from home!!!! So I am going to start 2 blogs. One is going to be about kids fitness and I am going to plan and execute(using my children) an exercise program for kids. So I have to blog about it, and show photos and video of the kids doing the exercises etc... But I need a name that isn't a franchised name to use for the blog. So your first assignment is a name for a kid's exercise blog.

The second blog is just a miscellaneous health/nutrition/exercise blog. It will have posts about questions that people write in and just anything that relates to fitness. An example of a post subject would be something like "Yoga vs Pilates?" or "Is low-fat really good for you?". I want the blog to be informative but fun and casual. So I need a fun name for it. I have been trying for days to think of something fun but can't (I even resorted to hours worth of using the thesauras!). SO the second assignment is to think of a fun, hip, kooky, young, etc... name for my health blog.

Any ideas would be appreciated because my creativity is really lacking at the moment--and I need the ideas ASAP so that I can get started.

Thanks for your help!!!!!!!!!!!

President's Day

Since Dave had President's Day off we decided we would take the opportunity to show the kids Washington, D.C. for the first time. So we drove up and spent a few hours at the National Air and Space Musuem. The kids had so much fun. Especially the boys since they are all into outerspace right now--their bedroom has an outerspace theme so that it can encompass Buzz Lightyear, Planet Heroes, and Star Wars all at the same time!! So here are a couple photos from the trip.

LDS Living

I was just looking through my email today and thought that I would share with you my favorite email subscription. Usually I hate when you get those emails from a company where they spam you daily, but this is an exception. Lds Living is a magazine that you can have sent to your home, but they also have an email subscription that is free and that sends you all kinds of information. I am just going to copy from their website what you get--it will save me from typing it all--

Monday "Family Night"
This popular article offers a new FHE idea for each Monday. Our Family Night email gives you a lesson topic, related hymn, full lesson, fun activity and scripture references to go with the lesson. This is a fantastic tool for LDS Lifestyles. You will surely enjoy this article!

Tuesday "Living Well"
Tuesday's email begins with an uplifting or thought-provoking thought. We also include an inspirational article as well as a Health Tip and Dating Tip. You'll love Tuesdays!

Wednesday "LDS Events & News"
This is the our most popular LDS email. Once a week we update you on upcoming LDS Events and Top News headlines. You can add an event if you know of one: Click Here

Thursday "Family Products"
This is a weekly focus on a product that our subscribers are recommending or amazing sale items that we have found for you.

Friday "Everything Sunday"
Friday's email includes a great idea for Young Men / Young Women. There is also helps for preparing for the Gospel Doctrine lesson that week, a Church History article, "Remembering Joseph", and great ideas for LDS Lifestyles... ideas for Primary, Relief Society, Nursery, Elders Quorum Parties, YM/YW, etc. If you have any great ideas of things you've done in your ward, email us!

Weekend "Family Weekend"
Saturday's email gives you and your family ideas of things to do over the weekend. From packing a tasty picnic to family crafts or kids crafts and creating a new family budget... this email will give your family some great ideas!!

I love the Family Home Evening email. It is so great. It is the same thing that you can get if you go to Deseret Book and get their free FHE packet--but Deseret Book only does that once a month and this is a new one every week--it even has a recipe for a snack at the end of the lesson.

So..if any of you are interested in getting on this email list here is the link

http://www.ldsliving.com/ldsmagazine.asp

It also has headlines about mormon related topics. I read a really interesting one a couple days ago and I wanted to share it with everyone. Here is the link so that you can read the article:
http://ldslivingonline.com/article.php?articleId=45283
It is about how we are being asked to utilize the internet to spread the gospel. There is a quote in the article from Elder Russell M. Ballard that says:
"May I ask that you join conversation by participating on the Internet, particularly the new media, to share the gospel and to explain in simple and clear terms the message of the Restoration," Elder Ballard said. "Most of you already know that if you have access to the Internet you can start a blog in minutes and begin sharing what you know to be true."

Hopefully some of you will find this info useful!!

Weird Eater

So does anyone else have a child that likes to eat weird combinations of food??? Tank always does..but today it was so gross that I had to share. For breakfast Teancum had a whole grain english muffin with boysenberry jam on it--that alone was fine. But then he put a slice of canadian bacon on top of it and proceeded to rub in a few drops of Tabasco sauce on it cause he "likes the burn". Can you say yuck!! But he loved it. Can't wait to see what combination he comes up with next!

How Does Your Garden Grow

Teancum came home a couple days ago screaming "I'm an artist!! I'm an artist!!" He then pulled out the weekly school newsletter and turned it over to show me that they had chosen his artwork to put on the back this week! He was so excited. This is just a scan of the newsletter. The project was to make a poster/flyer for the upcoming 1st grade musical that is on April 7th (hence the date at the bottom).

Slacker mommy

My friend Nicole had this link on her blog and I decided that I needed to share it too.

http://www.mormonmommywars.com/?p=1095

It is a blog where mormon mommies can share what they are going through. This particular thread is about slacker moms and everyone confesses their shortcomings. It is really good. It made me realize that I am not the only mom that isn't perfect. For example, they called school off today because there was a storm. So since my kids don't have school today I see absolutely no reason to get them dressed. Why dirty some more clothes when we are just going to stay in the house all day anyway!! So it is pajama day for all!!!(and yes, that does include me!) You need to go to the link and read everyone else's confessions--they are pretty good and it will make you realize that you are doing an okay job. Dave always tells me as long as the kids are alive and well he doesn't care about the other stuff--thank goodness cause this home is a disaster area!!!!!!!!!! Oh, and today--since I am being soooo lazy--I couldn't even muster up the energy to give the kids a bowl of cereal. So they got granola bars for breakfast! They were happy and that is all that matters, right???

Tagged again....

Yes I have been tagged again. This time it was by 2 separate people, but luckily it was the same format. So here goes...

What were you doing 10 years ago?
Ten years ago I was in the MTC attempting to learn Spanish and getting really nervous about going to Chile.

Five things on your to-do list today:
1. study for Applied Anatomy test
2. call heating/ac company to get quote on finishing basement (yes the basement has no heat--and yes I still send the kids down to play!!)
3. mail off first mortgage payment! :(
4. clean the stove (Dave cooked sweet potatoes without a pan under them--it is a mess! But at least he has been cooking me meals while I have been sick!)
5. pick up Ezekiel from preschool

What would you do with a billion dollars?
I would first give 1 million to each of my siblings and Dave's siblings and also his parents and my parents. I would put 10 million each in a savings account for each of our children. Then I would finish the basement!! I would also expand the upstairs a bit so that I could have a huge kitchen. Then I would buy all new furnishings for the whole house. Next we would buy a beach house in Hawaii (I am sure Dave would tell me this if he were here!) so that Dave could go surfing whenever he wants. We would then go on vacation to Chile and then to Europe. And I would make sure that Dave got his big Duramax truck. Other than that we would be donating to charities, etc...

5 of my bad habits are:
1. watching too much tv
2. procrastination
3. stress eating
4. yelling at my kids
5. blog stalking

5 places I have lived:
1. West Valley, UT
2. Copperton, UT
3. Kamas, UT
4. Cedar City, UT
5. Chile (greater Vina Del Mar area)
6. Draper, UT
7. Herriman, UT
8. Seaside (Monterey), CA
9. Eagle Mountain, UT
10. Sierra Vista, AZ
11. Ogden, UT
12. Clearfield, UT
13. Ewa Beach, HI
14. Ruckersville, VA
(Do you feel bad for me yet--some of these have been mutiple times too!! Sorry couldn't stop at just 5!)

5 jobs I have had:
1. Subway sandwich "artist"
2. Kmart customer service specialist
3. numerous telemarketing jobs
4. eBay customer service
5. mom

5 things people don't know about me:
This one is hard since I already put it in a previous blog--If you really are interested go back and look it up!!

As far as tagging--I have tagged most of you before so I am going to leave this one open for whoever wants to do it!!

Happy baby

Well this week we have all been really sick--except for Dave that is! So he has spent his first week home caring for everyone. So since not alot has happened except for doctor visits, etc... I decided to put on a little video clip I found from the past. This is a clip of Jonas not too long after he learned how to crawl. It was a month or two before Dave got home from Iraq. When I saw this clip it just made me smile to remember what a cute little baby Joe was. I can't believe that he is almost 3!! His little smile while he is crawling just makes me melt.