Jonathan and Katie

"Oblivia"

2010-09-20T13:26:00.000-07:00

I'm in the bathroom and Olivia tries opening the door. I quickly lock it before she opens it and I say, "Do you mind?" Then Olivia politely says, "Mom, what does 'mind' mean?" In my hastiness I reply, "Bother, Don't bother me, I'm in the bathroom!" Olivia then says, "Why don't you just say, 'Don't mind me?'" At this point I had to laugh and then proceeded to correct myself in this teaching moment. I love my little Olivia; we nickname her "Oblivia". She's our little space cadet in so many ways and in just as many ways she surprises us with her ability to learn and memorize anything she sets her mind to.

2009-12-16T19:52:00.000-08:00

Sarah won an art contest at the Primary Children's Outpatient Center in the new Riverton hospital. We are so happy for her. She LOVES to draw. It now hangs on the wall in the hospital.

2009-12-16T19:33:00.000-08:00

Here's our beautiful Aimee. It's kind of a spring-y outfit, but I couldn't resist!

Here's Aimee's blessing day! Jonathan gets a special tie for each of the kids' blessing's. When they are older he will give them (or their husbands...) the tie. I think he is going to have a hard time letting them go. He said it might be when he dies.... ;o) He loves his ties. I made Aimee's blessing dress. It won a first place blue ribbon at the Utah State Fair. I was pretty excited!

This is Sarah's 6th Birthday. She wanted a Candyland birthday cake. It had so much candy on it, I made a separate cake for the adults to eat. She loved helping decorate it!

This is Aimee in her reindeer coat. Sarah wore this when she was a baby. I was so happy to have another winter baby so I could use this coat again. I love it!

This is Sarah with her AWESOME dance teacher. Tonight at her mini-recital, she lost her tooth! You can see her gaping hole in her mouth. She is pretty happy about it. Now the tooth next to her hole is loose!

Random Updates... MORE to come!

2009-12-16T18:48:00.000-08:00

Blogs are supposed to be update twice annually, right? Okay then, I'm right on schedule. ;o) These pictures are sort of out of order. But this is what we have been doing for the last few months!
This is a picture of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert Jonathan and I went to. It was pretty incredible. We were in the 9th row on the floor. During part of the concert they actually had snow falling from some mysterious place above us. It was magical!

Here's my little Singing Bird, Olivia. This was the name given her at her preschool's Thanksgiving feast. It is very appropriate. She is always singing.

Here is "Singing Bird" asleep on the floor. I guess she was tired. ;o) This girl can sleep anywhere, anyhow! I love how she is all sprawled out on the floor!

Here's Halloween! I had two pirates and a cowgirl! I got to stay home and take care of little Aimee. She was only two weeks old..

And here's a picture of our little Aimee Rebekah. She is a sweet little angel. The kids smother her with love! She loves to smile at them as they sit and talk with her.

Super Busy!

2009-07-20T09:21:00.000-07:00

Samuel turned two in June. Like the lop-sided cupcake?

Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open house

Tree swing at the Leavitt Family Reunion

Frozen Yogurt pops, first and only time! ;o)

All the days are melting together, literally. This heat is killing me. The month of July has been a wild one! I really look forward to the holiday this weekend. More fireworks! We had family staying here fourth of July weekend, then during the following week, the day after they left we had a little mission reunion at our home then had a friend stay with us, then more family staying here until this Friday! Basically we've had two or three days this month with no one here. The kids have had a blast. They are definitely used to having SOMETHING going on, and when there's not, they just whine. So it's been nice to have so much family and friends to visit with this month.

Sarah and Olivia start school at the end of August. It's starting to feel like we are beginning a new phase of our life--kids in school--and all the beauties and trials it brings. I'm terrified of dealing with Sarah in the REAL WORLD. As much as kindergarten can be considered the "real world!" Here we come. I am so grateful for Jonathan and the spiritual strength he is in our family. He is always ready to teach lovingly to our beautiful children the principles of the gospel that will give them strength and courage to face the trials that they will be experiencing throughout the rest of their life. I constantly feel the pressure of being a good mom and teaching the kids the things they need to know and being eternally patient. I know that if I just smile more, I find more to be grateful more and find myself being more patient and loving with my kiddos. My heart melts when they learn to play so well together and teach each other. I love to see Samuel copy everything the girls say or do. Can't wait for our newest addition to the family to join us. I only wish I knew her name. :o)

On Saturday, I was playing ward softball and was running to first base, tripped and fell (gracefully, I'm sure) and sprained my knee. It's been pretty frustrating. I had to have the girls tuck themselves into bed last night because I could not get down the stairs. It's worse than having surgery on my ankle. At least then I could crawl around. And to make matters worse, I can't take anything but Tylenol. Ugh. I hope I heal quickly!

Facebook is the Devil.....

2009-06-02T10:05:00.001-07:00

It's the real reason behind not keeping up with my blog. A decent amount of things have happened since the last blog. Nothing life changing of course. Except finding out the sex of our baby, and my mom getting married! Yippee we are having another girl. We wanted a little bro for our Samuel, but I'm excited about dressing up another little girl. We are really struggling with choosing out the perfect name. Jonathan thinks Clarke sounds too boyish. He does like it however. At least that's what he says. So anyway. Our other thoughts involve Lily, Rachel, Ella, Claire, and Ann. Any form/combination of these we've been tossing around. This is the hardest we've ever struggled for a name. Please shower us with opinions/suggestions.

Sarah is so happy to have her friends out of school for the summer! And equally anxious to join them in the fall. Olivia is going to preschool in the fall as well. I'm pretty excited about having quiet afternoons! Bibbs has now lost her ability to pout her bottom lip and give us big puppy dog eyes when she wants her way. We now know it is all a game! Samuel is ALL Boy and we love it. His eyes light up at anything he can hit or pound with.

Here is a picture of the Salt Lake Bees game we went to last night. Tons of fun. Really warm and overcast. It was awesome. Even when it started pouring rain in the bottom of the third inning. We stayed under shelter until the 7th inning and decided to call it a night. The kids had a blast playing in the rain. It was Air Force night and we got to see four people parachute from a plane and a big flyover with jets and such really close over our heads. It was a blast.

Here is a picture of our baby girl. We thought it was a pretty good profile shot. Olivia joined us for the appointment. She thought it was pretty cool. Sarah wanted to play at her friends house instead. :o) Oh well.

Here's some big news! My Mom got MARRIED!!! We are so happy and excited for her. She actually married my Uncle Gene (her brother in law). They are now the butt of everyone's joke. We have come up with some pretty wild nicknames for Uncle Gene, now that he is my "Dad" and my kids' Grandpa! (Duncle and Grapuncle) They were married for time only in the Rexburg Temple on May 9th. It was awesome.

Our trip to Seattle!

2009-03-12T16:36:00.000-07:00

A quick update on our family. Jonathan finally got the call from Seattle to pick up his security card to start working from home. I went to Seattle a long time ago and fell in love with it. I insisted on going with him. We had my brother and sister-in-law watch our little Samuel for a few days while the rest of us made the quick/long trip to Seattle. I loved driving up there. I love seeing places I've never been, duh. But it was awesome to drive past all the apple orchards and vineyards. Even though they were still "dead" from winter, I can just imagine how much more beautiful it probably is in the summer! I loved Le Grande, OR. And I saw the ORE IDA potatoe building. I put two and two together and figured this is where my frozen french fries come from! It's on the border of Oregon and Idaho. Go figure! While Jonathan was at work, the girls and I took the Monorail to downtown Seattle and walked around Pikes Place, then down to the docks to the Aquarium. I've always wanted to go see one of the BIG aquariums. It was awesome. I love the ocean!

This is at Snoqualmie Falls. It's amazing to me that you can be at the ocean one minute and be out of the city and in the heart of the mountains 25 minutes later.

Snoqualmie Falls

This is on the dock at the Aquarium.

This is the Monorail we rode to downtown Seattle. We walked everywhere. Jonathan had to have the car for the day. The girls were such good sports in their casts!

This is in front of the tiny World Spice Merchant shop. I saw this store on Food Network and never thought I would actually walk right past it. The sign on the sidewalk is the only indication of what store is in the building. I was surprised to see that it had no signs on the building itself. It's a really cool place to buy whole or ground spices. I order from their website and it's cheap!! In many ways, from what I can tell, cheaper than grocery store prices--and better, fresher spices!

Livia would NOT touch the star fish, but Sarah thought it was fun. I thought it would be the other way around. Liv is usually the more daring one.

Here we are in front of the Aquarium.

It was night time, she insisted on wearing the sunglasses.

This is a different time eating Cheetos. She fell asleep eating them, it was pretty funny.

Baby Tag...

2009-02-25T13:36:00.000-08:00

Baby Tag... All about the kiddies!

1.Where were you when you first found out you were pregnant?
Las Vegas with Sarah, and home with the other two.

2.Who was with you? Jonathan, he wouldn't let me do it without him.
3. How did you find out you were pregnant? a pregnancy test
4. What was your first reaction to being pregnant? Happy, each one of these kiddos was very planned out!
5. Who was the first person you told? Jonathan, then he tells the whole world!
6. Did you plan to get pregnant? every time
7. Did you tell everyone else right away? With Sarah, we waited, because I had a miscarriage before, then with the other two, Jonathan couldn't contain himself!
8. Was everyone happy for you? Of course
9. Did you go out and celebrate? Never really thought of that..... :o)
10. Did you wanna find out the sex? Of course!
11. What was the sex? Girl, girl, boy
12. Did anyone throw you a shower? I had one with Sarah.
13. Did you get any outfits that you knew you wouldn't ever put on your baby? None that I remember, but their were a couple that I FORGOT to use. Sounds dumb, but true.
14. How much weight did you gain? 25 with Sarah, 20 with Liv and Samuel.
15. Did you lose all the weight that you gained? Yeah, not a chance!
16. Did you get any stretch marks? Acutally, no. I'm a freak about lotion, maybe it's genetics. Who knows why!
17. What did you crave the most? Can't remember anything specific.
19. Who or what got on your nerves? I'm just MORE grouchy about everything.
20. Did you have any complication with your pregnancy? Um, nope.
21. When and where did you go into labor? At the hospital all three times. I was induced all three times.
22. Did your water break? Nope.
23. Who drove to the hospital? Jonathan
24. Who was in the room when you gave birth? Jonathan, Dr. and a nurse.
25. Did you go early or late? 2 days late with Sarah, and a week early with Liv and Samuel.
26. How long were you in labor for? About 9am-6pm with all three
27. Did you have drugs for the pain? duh.
28. Natural or C-section? Natural
29. What was your first reaction when they were first born? Happiness and relief.
30. How big was she/he? 7lbs 1oz (Sarah) 7lbs 8 oz (Liv) 8lbs 6oz (Samuel)
31. Did your husband cry? Yeah, Jonathan does that.
32. What did you name your baby? Sarah Elisabeth, Olivia Kate, Samuel McBride
33. Any significant Meaning? Here goes: Sarah: (named after friend and means princess) Elisabeth (the bible-thus the spelling, again, after a friend, and means Concecrated to God) Olivia: Means Olive Tree, and... I love it. Kate: After me, and two grandmas. Samuel: Samuel the Boy Prophet in the Bible, the lamanite, and it means Name of God. McBride: after my family/Dad
34. Any visitors? Yep
35. Did baby have any complication? none.
36. How old is your baby today? Sarah is 5 yrs. Liv is3 1/2 yrs. Samuel is 20 mos.
37. When is the next one coming? About the middle of October..... ;o)
38. If you could would you do it all over again? Sure, I love all my little babies.
39.TAG: Pretty much anyone who reads my blog and would like to share in this fun post!

idiopathic toewalkers....

2009-02-10T20:51:00.000-08:00

Yes, many of you know, our kids, especially Sarah, walk on their toes. Well, today we went to our long awaited appointment at Primary Children's Hospital. Sarah and Olivia are now in their stretching casts, hoping that we won't have to move on to surgery to lengthen their achilles tendon. Olivia was excited to get her special little "boots" and happily chose pink and green for her new footwear. Sarah, wasn't excited about it at all, but knew if she didn't do this, she would have to have surgery. So she gave in and chose purple and red for her new footwear! They will have to wear them for two weeks, then go back and get new ones to wear for two more weeks. It's going to be an interesting month!

This pic, I just had to post. We heard Olivia crying downstairs in their bedroom. Jonathan yelled to Sarah for an explanation, and Sarah yells back, "Olivia's stuck in the curtains!" I run down their to find her like this. She was getting ready for bed, decided to run around in her underwear making "twirls" in the curtains. Her hair raised up and got caught in the twist, and she couldn't get out. I started laughing so hard. I yelled to Jonathan to get the camera. It's even funnier as a full length pic decked out in her pink undies and stretch casts. I just didn't think it would be appropriate....

an explanation....

2009-02-06T08:07:00.000-08:00

So Olivia's nickname is Bibbs, Bibia, Bibsy, etc. Let me explain... When our little Olivia was born, Jonathan and I always referred to her as Baby Olivia. Well, Sarah, being only 19 months old at the time, blended the words together and came up with something simpler. Bibia. And the rest is history. As much as I love her name, any form of "Bibia" has become the norm. Olivia refers to herself as Bibbs, and that's what all her friends and cousins refer to her as well. So there you go! A little family history for you.

Draper Temple Open House

2009-01-20T21:52:00.001-08:00

Yippee! This was AWESOME! Sarah has always wanted to go inside the temple, and when I told her we were going, she could hardly believe it. She was pretty excited. Sarah's favorite part was the baptismal font. Mine, the brides dressing room. Made me want to get married all over again! ;o) What an exciting experience. I am so happy that my children were able to see inside the temple. Samuel wouldn't stop "talking" the whole time. He pointed at everything. They imported stuff from China, Africa, all over! It has African Cherry wood doors and frames. It was incredible. Beautiful! Jonathan had never been to an open house either. What an awesome experience for our family!

Raisin Filled Cookies...

2009-01-18T21:45:00.000-08:00

Okay, they may sound pretty gross. But I LOVE them. Another tribute to My Dad. I wanted to make cookies the other day and was going through some recipes. Some I wouldn't make because they took too long, you know how that goes.... Well, when I came across these, I couldn't resist. They are a labor of love. The recipe made a whopping 24 cookies. ;o) My Dad loved these cookies. After I decided to make them, I realized that I haven't had one for about THREE YEARS! Dad seemed to make them a lot there at the end. Everytime I went up for a visit, there they were. I loved it. They really don't taste as bad as they sound. :o)

Who Knew?

2009-01-16T21:40:00.000-08:00

We have a great little "kiddie" hill in our back yard. Check it out! I love it. The kids have a blast back there. Good Times

JURY DUTY

2009-01-16T08:07:00.000-08:00

I have to be honest with you. I have actually always wanted to be on a jury. In December, I received my letter informing I have been chosen for jury selection. I was SO excited. So, this week I go to the court house for my selection. I see upwards of about 45 people there. They were only going to choose 9 jurors. At this point, I was disappointed because I thought I would never get chosen out of a pool of 45. They gave us a questionnaire that led me to believe the nature of the case. That's okay, I can DO this. After the lengthy process of introducing EVERYONE in the courtroom and telling who you are and what you do, children, place of residence, etc., we all sat down and waited while the counsel and judge went through the questionnaires and pulled people aside in the judges chambers for further questioning. I was one of those. That freaked me out. It wasn't so bad, when I got in there though. It took about 5-6 hours before they finally announce the jury. I was chosen. I had to hide my excitement. I was actually thrilled to be a juror. This is intense. This is a big responsibility. After having been a juror this week, I would gladly do it again. I'll admit, it was boring at times, and I definitely got tired of sitting. But overall, this was a terrific experience! No, I have no idea how much I'll get paid for this. Surprisingly, none of us asked.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-04T14:32:00.000-08:00

So far, it's been great. The Year, that is! ;o) Jonathan was able to party with us for our New Years Eve party. It was crazy! All the kids (from four families) were up until midnight to count down to the new year! We had lots of yummy food and fun times.

Today, first Sunday of the year, was awesome. Of course, Fast Sundays, are always wonderful. Sarah came to me last month after Fast Sunday and said she wanted to bear her testimony in Sacrament. It came to me as a surprise, she's kind of shy in front of people. I told her that this is something she needed to do on her own. I couldn't stand up there and help her. So we talked about it throughout the month of December, about what a testimony is and such. Then I forgot about it. Well today, with no Jonathan because of his work schedule, she comes to me and says she wants to bear her testimony. I told her to just do it in Primary. She said that she wanted to have me watch her. Well, I thought Primary testimonies were during Sharing Time, so I thought I wouldn't have been able to see her because I am in Senior Primary. So I asked her what she wanted to say and it goes like this:

Sarah: I'd like to bear my Testimony, I know this church is true, "mumble, mumble" something about friends.....
Mom: Sarah, Testimonies are about what you believe or know to be true. What to do you believe to be true....about the church?
Sarah: Welllll..... I know the lights always come on.

This is where I started laughing so hard, tears came rolling down.
She, of course, got mad at me. I apologized and went on. Sarah practiced again, then RAN up to the stand to bear her beautiful testimony:

"I'd like to bear my testimony. I know this church is true. Jesus is real. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

It was awesome. I was heart broken that Jonathan couldn't be there to see her. However, Jonathan WAS able to get off work early enough to actually attend Sacrament today. So it was a good day today. :o)

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-15T21:31:00.000-08:00

I was watching a Christmas movie with my little pal, Sarah, and heard this song (first one on my playlist) and couldn't help but to find it right now. She does such a beautiful job. I love Christmas. I am so grateful to be having my sister's family and my mom come to our house for Christmas this year. We got an answer to our prayers last week as Jonathan got a new position within the company he is now working for that puts him in MUCH safer conditions. I don't fear for his life anymore. :o) I am thankful to all my dear friends who have helped us (me) in the last couple of weeks while coping with Jonathan being gone. It's been an emotional ride and I'm sure glad to have someone to count on, to help support me in all the sticky situations I've been in lately!
The second song on our playlist is one of Jonathan's favorite this season. I've never really appreciated this song until this past year, and Josh Groban does it so beautifully. Merry Christmas everyone!

Tagged

2008-11-23T19:33:00.000-08:00

Tagged

My sister in law, Bridgett tagged me and so here goes...

5 Things I was doing 10 years ago:

* Graduating from Ricks College
* Commuting from Rexburg to Pocatello, going to Idaho State University
* Working with my Dad in the Photo Lab, what a blast! Thanks Dad, for all the memories....
* Playing Scrabble with Mom and Dad nearly every night after work.
* Waiting for a missionary...long miserable story....

5 Things I have to do today:
* Pack up Jonathan and send him on his way to work... :o(
* Say Goodbye to the Zurchers. Have a blast in Norway, I hope to make it there someday!
* Go to Church
* Put together two Strawberry Shortcake puzzles with my girls.
* Make yummy treats for the Zurchers.

5 Snacks I love:
* celery and ranch!
* rolls with butter and jam!
* Something warm with ice cream
* Cookies
* Red Pepper Jelly with cream cheese and crackers!

5 Things I would do if I were a Millionaire:
* Invest
* Travel
* Make my Mom retire!
* Pay off all our debt (house, cars, etc.)
* Put kids in a private school

5 Places I have lived:
* Rexburg
* Logan
* Provo
* Canada
* Salt Lake City

5 Jobs I have had
* Arbys--gotta love it!
* Ray's Chevron--got a lot of dates! ;o)
* Artco, with my mom and dad
* K-TEC--home of Jamba Juice's blender!
* First Federal Mortgage

5 People I tag
* Andrea
* Mandee
* Alecia
* Paula
* Sharlynn

It SNOWED!

2008-11-05T09:32:00.000-08:00

Sarah LOVES the first snowfall. She knows that it's one step closer to her birthday. I made the girls wait for Samuel to go down for a nap before I bundled them up for fun in the backyard. After fifteen minutes of bundling (I hate bundling...) they finally got to go play! Sarah jumped right in for a snow angel. HAPPY WINTER!

Recognizing the Spirit

2008-11-03T18:19:00.000-08:00

Tonight for family home evening, we talked about how to recognize the Spirit. With small children, these sort of discussions do not last long but we did our best. Bibs was tired for lack of nap today, thus making her grouchy and distracted. When we started to sing the closing song, I am a Child of God, she sat in my lap with her blankie. When the song was over, she said, excitedly, "Mom, I'm not sad anymore! Mom, I'm not sad anymore!" I was so happy, it was a perfect moment to explain the feelings of the Spirit, and how to recognize it. It was a perfect ending to a somewhat imperfect Family Home Evening.

HaLlOwEeN fUn!!

2008-11-02T19:13:00.000-08:00

This year for Halloween we went to visit some good friends of ours, the Gibbs Family, in Cedar Hills. Sarah and Olivia had a blast trick or treating with their friends. Here are some pics...

Here's Samuel, He didin't like wearing his costume....
Here's the Princess Posse, and Bibs!
Bib's is our little Pirate, ARGH!
Sarah, our ballerina, is ALWAYS on her toes.

Thriving Ivory

2008-10-25T08:20:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, Jonathan and I took my nieces and nephew and their friends to a Thriving Ivory Concert. It was awesome. One of the best concerts I've been to. (The best being Bare Naked Ladies, by far.) However, being the band is fairly new, they stayed after the concert and signed anything we wanted them to. I'm a big fan of concert t-shirts. I was able to get video of their concert, but haven't figured out how to get it on to my blog, sorry. We had a blast. Taking my nieces and nephew reminded me of being in high school. Wow, I'm getting old!

Thought this was a fun picture.....
Liz (neice), Amanda, and Mellisa, then Mary (neice) and Taylor(nephew).

Carving Pumpkins!

2008-10-19T10:18:00.000-07:00

We had a lot of fun when Grandpa Leavitt and Marlene came to visit last week. We ate dinner, halloween cookies, and carved pumpkins. If it wasn't for Grandpa and Marlene, Jonathan and I wouldn't have ever made it through the pumpkin carving phase! Sarah and Olivia chose the most difficult designs to carve. Go figure. Sarah wanted Cinderella, and Olivia wanted good 'ol Lucifer (the cat on Cinderella). Good Times.

Our Basement is taking shape...

2008-10-06T05:29:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've written. Busy lives. This past week our basement got drywall! I've been loving all the noise accompanied with it! :o) We've picked out paint and carpet, so we hope to have this all done within a month! This would be the best Christmas present ever! :o) .... a place for the kids to make a mess and not make Mom freak out. :o) I am sure they are looking forward to it also.

We loved General Conference. It always goes too fast. I think it brings a lot of peace into our home just listening to their voices. I am sad that I have to wait SIX more months to do this again.

TAG! You're it!

2008-09-24T20:20:00.000-07:00

Who are you? Hit forward and place an X by all the things you've done and remove the X from the ones you have not. This is for your entire life!
This is about Katie (x) Skipped school (x ) Gone on a blind date ( ) Watched someone die (x ) Been to Canada () Been to Mexico () Been to Florida (x) Been on a plane (x) Been lost (x) Used a GPS (x) Been on the opposite side of the country (x) Gone to Washington, DC (x) Swam in the ocean: (x) Cried yourself to sleep (x) Played cops and robber (x) Recently colored with crayons: ( ) Sang Karaoke (x) Paid for a meal with coins only (x) Done something you told yourself you wouldn't (x) Made prank phone calls () Exercised today (x) Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose: (x) Caught a snowflake on your tongue: (x) Danced in the rain () Used a Palm Pilot: (x) Written a letter to Santa Claus: (x) Been kissed under the mistletoe ( ) Shaken a movie stars hand (x) Watched the sunrise with someone you care about (x) Blown bubbles (x) Gone ice-skating: ( x ) Watched a sonogram ( x) Been skinny dipping outdoors (x) Gone to the drive-in movies 1. Any nickname? Katydid, Katie Lady 2. Sisters name? Sharon and Jenny3. Favorite drink? Water, lame-I know 4. Tattoo? no way 5. Body Piercings: my ears 6. How much do you love your job? A lot 7. Birthplace: Rexburg, ID 8. Favorite vacation spot? what's a vacation? 9. Ever been to Africa? Not yet 10. Ever eaten cookies for dinner? yes 11. Ever been on TV? Yes the news:) 12. Ever steal any traffic signs? kind of 13. Ever been in a car accident? Yes, several 14. Drive a 2-door or 4-door vehicle? 4-door 15. Favorite salad dressing? doesn't have a name...-it's home made 16. Favorite number? 5 17. Favorite movie? Pride and Prejudice, it still gives me butterflies 18. Favorite holiday? Christmas 19. Favorite dessert? Too many to name 20. Favorite day of the week? Friday 21. Favorite brand of body wash? just soap, i'm cheap in many ways... 22. Favorite Toothpaste? PASTE, not gel 23. Favorite smell? clean laundry, or Christmas time 24. What do you do to relax? watch HGTV or Friends re-runs 25. How do you see yourself in 10 Years? at the rate things are going, will we (all of us) BE HERE in 10 years? 26. Furthest place you will send this message? Canada 27. Who will respond to this the fastest? Who Knows?

How Church is Supposed To Be...

2008-09-21T19:15:00.001-07:00

Today we went to a friend's missionary "farewell". This friend is a student at BYU. We took our wonderful little family of five, stoller and all, across the BYU campus and attended a wonderful student-ward sacrament meeting. We were the ONLY people at this meeting with children. Imagine that. We were the only ones with cheerios, sippy cups, coloring books, cars, pacifiers, diapers, etc. The funny part of this story is at the beginning of the meeting. Sarah looks up at me and asks: "Why is everyone being so quiet?"
And I say, "Because that is how church is supposed to be."
And she says, "Not at OUR church!"

So true. It was a perfect moment to teach our children how reverent we are supposed to be. It never occured to me how often I must tell my children each week to be reverent, that it must be contradicting or confusing to them. No one else is being reverent or quiet. :o) The kids were definitely the quietest they'd ever been today, but that's because they could hear themselves so well. :o) Thank you for such a reverent Sacrament meeting today. A valuable lesson I hope my children remember. :o)

I love My little Samuel

2008-09-18T08:38:00.001-07:00

Got this snap shot while Samuel was anxious for the cookies to come out of the oven. I couldn't resisit! Sarah said something funny the other day.... Olivia sneezed on my arm and I said, "Oh, Thanks, Olivia." and Sarah said, "You mean NO Thanks!" Thanks Sarah. Thought it was funny.

Guess what I did last night!!

2008-09-18T08:38:00.000-07:00

I CANNED PEACHES FOR THE FIRST TIME! This is so great! I loved it and it only took an hour. :o) I only did five quart size jars though. I had fun remembering all the times I helped my mom can peaches when I was little. My favorite part was peeling the skins off. It was great. They all sealed perfectly. It was kind of an impulse thing. I drove by a peach stand yesterday, bought some. Then ran to DI to look for an old bench to refinish and I found canning jars for only 25 cents a piece. I felt inspired. So I bought them. :o) And now I have home canned peaches! I love it. I truly feel like I accomplished something. Now I want to can other stuff! Peach Jam?

Utah State Fair

2008-09-15T13:24:00.000-07:00

Here is our annual tradition of going to the Utah State fair with my mom and brother. I look forward to it every year. This year we saw a really cool goat with a chinny-chin-chin! :o)--a big 'ol beard. It was pretty cool Sarah and Olivia are kind of scared of rides. They did okay on one, and another not so great. :o) We saw all kinds of animals. We love "Little Hands On The Farm". Every year they get to go through a little maze sort of thing pretending to be farmers. They plant seeds and harvest them, they shear a sheep, milk a cow, drive a tractor, bale hay, and take their harvest to the market to trade for a real treat. This year Sarah and Olivia chose chocolate milk and Samuel got crackers. Just in time for lunch. :o) We saw a clown show that was cute and funny for the kids. We always have lots of fun.

Thanks to the Grundvigs!

2008-09-04T15:16:00.000-07:00

We had a blast visiting with you guys! It's always fun to have sleepovers! Sarah and Olivia had a blast! It was so fun to see how Ryan and Sarah got along so well! She doesn't hang out with boys much, you know, cooties and all... :o) Ryan must have something special about him. She just had so much fun playing video games and pretending outside. Somehow they thought our backyard was a jungle! :o) TerriLyn, now you have to go back to IKEA! Let me know when you do, and I'll meetchya there! Thanks for the laughs and keeping us up to speed with the good 'ol University Ward! We sure miss it up there!

Thanks Jon for the visit!

2008-09-04T15:13:00.000-07:00

It sure was great to see you! We were so glad we could snag you for a bit while you were visiting Utah! You help inspire Jonathan to do great things. Thanks for keeping us laughing. You're Great!

BAG TAG?!

2008-09-04T15:05:00.000-07:00

Well, thanks to Bridgett, I now have a CLEANED OUT purse. It also inspired me to switch purses for a while. :o) I hate carrying a diaper bag, so the only things in it are diapers, wipes, and sunblock. There ya go. However, my purse is a different story....papers, tons of papers. You know receipts and coupons (which never get used), three pens, two chapsticks, immunization charts x3, wallet, notepad, microfiber cloth for glasses, two paperclips (not being used), lotion, tide pen, pocket knife (I use it surprisingly often), nail clippers, bandaids, and tissues! Thanks Bridgett for helping me clean out my purse! I now tag: Andrea, Mandy, Sharlynn, Alecia, and Mandee!

Our Garden

2008-08-26T09:39:00.000-07:00

Yippee! These are carrots from my garden! Some of them grew kind of funky. This is the first year I have had a real garden. It's pretty small, just on the side of our house, but next year I want to tear out all that grass and grow a bigger garden. We had onions and I picked all those, then I have tons of green onions. Too many, so if you need any, let me know! Rhubarb is in the middle and I've cut it down once this year and now I need to do it again. That thing grows like a weed! Strawberries, transplanted raspberries, and a rosemary plant on the very end (can't see). I love the smell of rosemary. Samuel thought the carrots were pretty neat. That's what I'll be doing today is slicing/shredding carrots and putting them in the freezer. I love to watch things grow!

My Dad

2008-08-24T21:46:00.000-07:00

I was just thinking, while just sitting on the couch reading, I want to introduce you all to MY DAD. First off, he passed away two years ago on July 4th of Thyroid Cancer that got into his lungs. My Dad was the first person, I've ever been this close to, that has passed away. I miss him terribly still. I love talking about him. I loved talking TO him. I wish all the time that I could just TALK to him. Jonathan and I always laughed at him for how many jobs he's had and how many odd things he's done and knows how to do, and now Jonathan is creating the same funny list of jobs that my dad has had. :o) My dad loved going for drives. He loved the mountains and loved taking pictures of them. My mom and dad would drive all over, camping and taking pictures. He was very funny and always made me laugh. I still remember the last time I saw him. He was just sitting there smiling at everyone. It got hard for him to talk very much because he had a hard time breathing because of all the cancer. I remember though, that he said something funny that made me laugh so hard. I just WISH I could remember what it was! My one wish.... Sometimes I feel pretty cheated. I feel way too young to lose my dad. But him passing has only made me stronger. Knowing he's on the other side being a missionary to all those people we are doing work for in the temple. It surely motivates me to go to the temple! I can't wait to see him again. I love him so much. The one picture is of my dad standing there while I am the one fishing. yes, I look like a boy, most of my young years I did. :o) The other picture is when my mom and dad took us out to eat one night as they were passing through Salt Lake City and we had to rush out the door to meet them while Sarah still had on her dress-up clothes! Oh well. It's become my most favorite picture of my dad now. (yeah, he had a crooked/crazy eye, due to surgery done to it when he was a child.) :o) So there ya go, that's MY DAD. ;o)

Payson Lake

2008-08-24T17:32:00.001-07:00

We went down to drive around the Nebo Loop yesterday (Saturday), and we made it as far as Payson Lakes. We stopped there for a picnic and a walk around the lake. It was a lot of fun and we can't wait to go back. They have terrific places for picnics and tons of fun in the water. Sarah fed the ducks the bread left over from her sandwich. :o) There was a paved trail all around the lake. Made me want a dog even more! I'm not a pet person, but it looked like a lot of fun to take a pet out there. It was nice to get away from it all. I did this kind of stuff growing up all the time. But Jonathan didn't, so we don't get into the mountains as much as I would like. The kids loved it.

Pedicure for Jonathan!!

2008-08-21T17:23:00.000-07:00

Jonathan loves to have his feet rubbed. So this year for his birthday I got him a spa pedicure. He had it done today. It was his first pedicure. He LOVED it! He thought it was great. He was worried that he would like it so much, he would always want them done and I said GREAT! We'll go on a date! :o) I have to admit, that I was excited for him to have a pedicure done because I wanted someone else to appreciate how nice his feet are. Sounds lame, huh? But I'm serious! The pedicure lady even said that he had the nicest feet she's ever seen for a man. :o) That's my man!

It's been a while...

2008-08-20T19:17:00.000-07:00

It's been a while... Sorry about that, there's been a lot going on. We just celebrated Jonathan's 29th birthday on friday, saturday, sunday, and again on tuesday. Tuesday was his actual birthday, but we had to have a date night, friends party, family party, and dinner with dad. Whew! How would it be to have your birthday last nearly a week! :o) Thanks to everyone who made it so special. Jonathan is just so social and loves visiting. Most of you know that already! :o)

More good news.... Samuel is finally walking. Mostly. He walks about 70-75% of the time. It's been so fun this time around to sit and just watch him slowly waddle around. He had the biggest smile and gets so excited and worked up that he can only make it across one room before he falls and has to get back up again.

Jonathan is done working in Vernal for the time being. It's nice to have him around more often. :o) I don't get so lonely anymore! :o) I'll try to be better at posting. I lost my camera for a while there, so it wasn't any fun. :o)

all around handy.... lady!

2008-07-28T16:51:00.001-07:00

Okay, today I learned something new. I didn't WANT to learn how to do this, but it was necessary! I changed the oil in our lawnmower today. I have to say, I'm embarrassed that I didn't try before. It was the simplest thing. So there you go, I can change the oil in my lawnmower!

Days of '47 Parade....

2008-07-22T21:25:00.000-07:00

Okay, this is the only way to parade. No big crowds, up close views of the floats, no kids running into the street, and no candy (i'm a mean mom). They had all the parade floats on display at the Sandy Expo Center today. Free Admission. We loved it. They had bands playing so you still got to hear the sound of a parade. They had free face painting and clowns making things out of balloons. It was great. We got to vote on our favorite floats. Sarah's was the Day's of '47 Royalty Float. It was very purple, pink, and flowery. :o) What a great little adventure for our family tonight, and it was FREE! :o)

I think i'm getting it...

2008-07-21T21:09:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited! With the help and support of great friends, I finally am not ashamed of my lame blog. :o) Hopefully, I will be get this thing going like I want and make it a habit to post things about our great little family frequently.

i don't know what i am doing...

2008-05-30T16:01:00.000-07:00

just checking to see if this works....