Birthday and other random things

Based on my teenage thinking of, when you turn 70 years old you are OLD, Todd and I are now half way to old as of this past Sunday. And for you that haven't heard, yes both Todd and I turned 35 on Sunday. I am a little older then him which I like to throw at him here and there(when it's in my favor), just to make sure he never forgets that he has to listen to his elders. This fact has been a lot of fun over the years, and we get a lot of surprised reactions. Todd loves this fact, because he says it was the thing that finally got me to talk to him at work, that he had tried many times, but I just brushed him off. I don't remember him ever trying, but that is how his story goes. I'm glad I have realized over the years that 70 isn't really that old and that means I'm not half way to old anymore, Thank Goodness!!

Sunday wasn't that great of a day, Todd was at work and the kids weren't nice at all to me, but that is OK because when you start getting a little older the actual day of your birthday isn't as important, as long as you get to celebrate it at some point. So our birthday was really Thursday, and I just try and block out that Sunday even happened.

Thursday was a wonderful day, my very sweet brother-in-law Peter came down for the day and watched our kids, so that Todd and I could get away. We went to the temple, went out to lunch, went window shopping and dreamed, got Cold Stone Ice Cream, and got to talk a lot without a single interruption from a child. We left at about 10:00 am and got back a little after 6:00 that evening. That was a great birthday. Thanks again Peter, you are the best!!!!
When Peter got his mission call we were up there with him, I had brought up some cookies and we started talking about my sister's baking abilities, and the fact that she buys chocolate in the sheets came up. Peter mentioned that, that would be an amazing thing to have, and would be in heaven. I told him that Todd and I were going to get him one of these sheet before he left on his mission. I'm not sure he thought we were serious. Well, we were, and since we were in Orem we went to the store that sells them, and picked him up a, I think 10 lb sheet of chocolate. The thing that we didn't realize, that made the chocolate even more fun was the brand happened to be named Peter. Now how cool is that. It was perfect, and it made it look like we went to the extra trouble of having the chocolate engraved.

Here is a picture of our happy Peter, with his Peter chocolate!!!!

Just in case you couldn't figure out how big this chocolate bar was Knightin wanted to show you all by putting his hand on it to show the size difference. OK, he really was just trying to get some of it, but it works the other way too.These next 2 pictures are of Jackie and Dizzy. If you have read my past entries you will know that Dizzy is Kelten's little girlfriend from school. The love playing together, and she has got to come over several times. The last time she was over, they had asked to watch a movie, and when I went to go check on them, they had moved my recliner in front of the TV and were all snuggled up in the blanket. Very cute, but I really am convinced that I am going to have to watch that boy. He has all the little girls wrapped around his finger and he is only 6.

Knightin has been giving us lots of grief in the middle of the night again. He never has been a great sleeper, but he had been doing better. We think he started having night terrors or something. We would try and have him sleep with us, but that was causing sleepless nights for me. He moves all the time and likes to sleep the opposite way that we do. So we tried the idea of him sleeping in the recliner that is right outside our bedroom. It's been a lot better. He has slept more, and even though he cries out often, he is able to put him self back to sleep. The recliner just might be his bed for a little while, maybe I shouldn't give in and work him through it, but me getting some sleep seems like a good idea too, so this is the compromise. Anyway, the other morning I came out and his head was on the part that reclines out, and his leg was straddling the arm. I thought it was really cute, so I had to get a picture.

Civil Right's Day Weekend!

So the kids had a 4 day weekend, this weekend. Along with it being a holiday on Monday we also got Friday off for AYP. Long weekends aren't always that fun during the winter, but we did pretty darn good, even without Todd. Though I wish wish he was there. It started out Thur. night going up to see my baby brother-in-law, who is not little at all anymore, get his mission call. We were so excited to find out that he will be going to Hong Kong , China! Way to cool! We love Ya Peter!

The next day we went to a lunch date that I go to on Fridays, but it was a little more fun since all the kids got to go this time. The kids get to play together and entertain each other, while I get to spend some quality time with friends. That evening we were surprised to get a call from more friends, to go hang out and play games. Wow, what a vacation day for me, my kids entertained almost all day long, by someone else, Good Times!!!! Saturday we were invited to go sledding up the canyon at my parents house, we joined my brother and his family who were already there. We got home just in time to snuggle in for the night. Sunday just ended up be a relaxing day, so now it brings us to the actual Holiday, Monday Civil Rights day! I wanted to do something fun to wind up this fun weekend, but didn't really want to go out again. So we had a junk food stay in doors day, and my kids were in Heaven!We woke up to a very foggy cold, cold morning. The flag picture was taken later in the day, but everything had ice crystal formations on them. It was beautiful.
First we made breakfast. We had bought some food storage dried eggs, and butter that we were curious how they tasted to see if we wanted to buy more to put in with the rest of the storage. They claim you can make omelets out of them, which you can..... and we ate them..... but I am glad we had plenty of other foods in with them. We all decided if we were hungry we could eat them, but no making plain scrambled eggs out of them, and I think we will get a couple of can just for bake good. Oh, by the way the butter was gross on toast. We tried both later in some cookies that we made, those turned out OK. Breakfast wasn't a complete failure though, because the kids had a lot of fun making their omelets. TJ and Knightin stuck with the safe fruit loops.

Next we headed out for a car ride to go see some of the beautiful scenery. We went to the ponds and the kids were so completely amazed at all the cool trees and bushes. The pond was pretty frozen in spots, and made for some great site seeing. I think we got some great picture, but they just don't compare to seeing the ponds in person.

More scenery around the ponds!!!!

Before we headed home, we went into Nephi to the market to pick up our junk food for the day, from the picture in the top left corner you can see our load! The kids were loving that they got to eat whatever they wanted and whenever they wanted, all day long.

Besides eating, the rest of the day was spent doing whatever the kids wanted. This consisted of baking, movies, Wii, playing Sorry, and for Tay and I we also added in giving each other a makeover with a kit I got her like a year ago and had kind of forgotten about. Out of site out of mind. Don't we look beautiful. I especially like the really washed out look I have without mascara on. We all had a great weekend and my kids have already asked if we can do this every weekend........ No, I don't think so, We would probably go poor and get really fat. I think we will be sticking to once in awhile. I love you guys and thanks for a fun 4 days!!!

Superhero's

We finally got Todd's superhero drawings up on his blog, so anyone who wants to pop over to his they can click on "MY MANS" blog link over there on the side, under Family Blogs. We will continue to update as his finishes them.

Little Girl Dews!

I love doing little girls hair! There are so many fun things to do with it. Taylar has been tortured a many hours as I played and learned how to do fun hairstyles on her. She ended up not caring so much as she got a little older because she like the end result, but to my sadness she decided she wanted short hair! Now don't get me wrong I love her short hair and think she looks adorable, but I can't do much with it anymore. So now poor TJ is going to be my subject, and yesterday I finally realized that she probably had long enough hair to braid, sorry TJ you are in for it now!!!!!

KaChele!

My niece KC, reminded me recently that I hadn't finished editing her photos from this summer, and that she couldn't give her friends pictures until this happened. So, today I edited them and wanted to share with you my beautiful niece. I love her eyes and her smile. This is My sister Mindy's second oldest.

" I Ki promise to do my best, To do my duty to God and my country......."

Ki got to have his first Cub Scout Den Meeting yesterday. He was so excited to go and start his scouting years. This months theme is "Amazing games", and they got to make snow shoes out of card board and have races, next week they are going sledding. He came home and showed me how to use his book and also went on to tell me that I forgot to have him write is name in his book and without this it could get lost or stolen. He plans on getting his Bobcat by the next Pack night which is a couple of weeks away.This is an easy one to get, so I think he can do it. Todd loves scouts and I hope that my boys will enjoy it just as much. This shirt that Ki is proudly wearing, was Todd's shirt. Todd wore it all the way through Cub Scouts, I don't think Ki is going to make it though, it fits him pretty darn good right now. I guess Todd was a little guy back then, cause of course he is huge now!!!! Thanks Gayle for bringing it to UT for us. Ki loves the fact that he is wearing his Daddy's shirt.

Baptism, and Busy Weekend!

Saturday the 3rd of Jan. was Ki's special day. He made the choice to become a member of the LDS church. He was so excited to take this step in his life. It was a big day for him and he got to share it with many cousins, Aunts, Uncles, Grandparents and friends. We are very proud of you Ki, and we love you!All in White with his Daddy, waiting the moment for the Baptism.
Just after, he is a happy little boy!

Since this was a Post about Ki, I posted this picture as well. I was showing my sister-in-law how to download her camera, and this was a picture on her SD card. It's from a few years ago, when Ki got to go back with Grandpa to CA all by himself. He thought he was pretty big stuff. He had so much fun there for a week, and I thought this was a cute pic, so I added it, he is so little, wow they grow up fast.

This weekend was a busy, crazy, but fun weekend. Not only was it Ki's Baptism, it was also Gwendolyn's blessing. It is always fun to have these events. Family comes into town that we don't always get to see, and there is a lot of visiting, and catching up in a short period of time. A blast, but it happens in such a whirl-wind of time, that when it is done, it is time to take a breather so that you can get back to normal life. Saturday we had a Primary party, preparations for the Baptism, the Baptism and then visiting and having fun that night until midnight. The only reason I think we finally went to bed then, is we knew we needed some sleep before it all started again in the early hours of the morning. Gwen's blessing was at 9:00 am and we had an hour and 20 minute drive to get there. So begins the rat race of getting 9 kids and 5 adults out the door at 7:40 am to get there in time. It actually went way smoother then I thought it would. After the blessing we headed over to Marylou's where the atmosphere is so relaxed you can't help but have fun. That is one place my family loves to go and enjoy ourselves. We love the Williams. We left there and headed home and had another fun late night, and got the added pleasure of Todd's brother and family stopping by on their way home. They ended up deciding to stay there instead of driving a little further and having to stay in a hotel. We had a full house and a huge slumber party. I think next time we need to make sure the other 2 brothers and sister and their families get to come, then we will know for sure how close we can pack them all into our cozy little house. It was a lot of fun and I'd do it again, but then again that is coming from the person who got to sleep in her own comfy bed, and not on the couch or floor. Thank You to all my family, who gave us a fun and memorable weekend for Ki's Baptism.
I'm going to go clean up my house a bit now, then I'm going to watch a good movie while my babies take a much needed nap, so I'll see you all, next post!!!

YEAH, 2009!!

Years for me, kind of all blend together like days and weeks. Like for instance when the kids have days off of school, each and everyday is Saturday. My minds knows that Saturday is the only day kids are home from school. For the summer time, it ends up being time for them to go back to school when my body and mind finally fully get into the routine of them being home. So, when a new year comes along, it is pretty much the same as any other day or week, except for the fact that when I look in the mirror I'm not young anymore and I have a child that is going to be 10 in a few months. That is when I have to admit that time has continued and I have no idea where it went. One thing that I'm always glad about at the change to a new year, is getting back to normal eating. Though the food is always yummy, from Thanksgiving on, there is a lot of it, and a good portion of it is junk. Some years I gain weight others I don't, but one things is always the same is I end up feeling gross. So, it's time to get rid of the junk and get back to at least normal eating if not healthy.

Yesterday was a good day and pretty relaxed. Some cleaning in the morning, a little playing outside in the snow, and games inside. Then we had cousins come visit and play, and of course had lots of fun food to eat. We finished our evening off with watching movies and ringing the New Year in. In our house this is still a quiet affair, with little ones in the house, though this year I decided to let Knightin stay awake as long as he stayed happy. That little stinker stayed up passed midnight, and was happy the whole time. Then of course he still woke up at 7:30 this morning. Today will probably be the grumpy day. Todd was lucky enough to work the midnight to 6:00 am shift. He got to ring in the New Year with all those who land them self in Jail that morning, Good Times!!!

Happy New Years to everyone!!!

Make the year a wonderful one and don't forget to let your loved ones know how much you love them!

Santa Clause and Snowmen!

I usually pretty good about taking pictures, but of course that didn't happen this Christmas. It was a good Christmas for the older kids, but not the best ever for the little kids and me. Christmas eve was pretty good, there at the end the babies got tired and grumpy and that is when Santa came(my little down syndrome brother AJ plays Santa), so we didn't get the best responses from them. TJ would have nothing to do with him and Knightin just kept trying to get off his lap. Our Christmas eve party has been going o forever, the tradition of it started when my mom was a little girl. We get together, have a huge dinner, the last few years have been prime rib, visit, eat, visit more, eat more, then towards the night we read the Christmas story, have a Christ cake, and sing Silent Night instead of Happy Birthday. Then, for the past 5-6 years we have had Santa come, and he passes out all the presents to the grand kids, kids and, in-laws. It's getting quite the production for poor Santa.As for Christmas day, Knightin decided not to sleep pretty much from about 12:30 am on. I guess he got some sleep, but was so restless and unhappy that I was up with him trying to help him feel better. And Todd and I didn't get to sleep before midnight trying to get Christmas set up, so my total sleep included about 1 hour, and to the fact that I've only been averaging 4-6 hours lately, I wasn't doing very well. Knightin stayed grouchy all day, TJ was OK and the kids were happy and enjoyed the Christmas presents they got and what Santa brought them. They played all morning. Then we had to send Todd off to work at 11:00 am, and we got ready to go sledding at my parents house up the canyon. It was pretty bad weather and were in 4-wheel drive the entire time, but it was worth it for the kids, they had a blast, sledding down the big hills and being pulled on sleds by the 4-wheelers. Then of course we had lots of food to eat again and hot chocolate for all the cold kiddies. TJ took a nap as soon as we got there, and Knightin proved to be a bear the whole time, I finally broke down(yes in tears, lack of sleep does that sometimes) and tried to lay down with him on my parents bed, he continued to scream, until uncle Brettie came and saved the day. He is so patient with the little ones and after about 1 1/2 hours he won and Knightin slept, and would have continued to sleep if I didn't have to wake him to go home before it got dark. Todd got home about 40 minutes after we did(it was only a 6 hour shift) and he help me the rest of the night. I'm so grateful for a loving, wonderful husband. We finally got to sleep and I slept, it was nice. They next day Todd, Ki and I spent a wonderful day together for Ki's birthday. This was the first day we got a chance to celebrate it. We went into Provo/Orem and did whatever he wanted, which included ToyRus and Carls Jr., then we did some of our own errands and called it a long day, but fun. We spent the evening playing Wii with the whole family(yes we broke down, but we haven't given into gaming games, only ones where they can be active), a much better day then Christmas! Kids sure can make or break a day, I am just glad the bigger kids had a great day despite Knightin and me.
The kids found out that they could climb up the tall snowman that they made, and how the sun was hitting them when up on the top, we just had to take the photo Opp. Enjoy!

My Baby Girl all dressed up for church!

I'm not as good as Mandy yet, but we do have something in common, I love taking pictures of my baby. She is at that perfect age of discovery and does so many fun things.

Perfect Snow for a Snowman!

We got another 6-8 inches of snow today and it was wet and sticky, perfect for making a snowman. Here is the kids finished product. No arms and No hat, but we gave him a candy face.He is a tall skinny snowman, I guess we need to feed him a little more candy!

Happy Birthday Ki. We Love You!!!!

Our baby boy is growing up, and by time anyone reads this he will be 8. I don't know where the time has gone. Ki has brought so much to our home, and makes us smile all the time. He loves to be creative, draw, make up stories, get his baby brother and sister to laugh. He loves to learn, and will soak up any information that you are willing to share with him. He has taken on his dad's love of movie, and can't wait to make some with him. He is easy going and never gives teachers or friends hard times. We are so blessed to have him be a part of our lives and look forward to spending many more years loving him and laughing with him. Ki you are a light in our lives. Happy Birthday. We love you!!!!