huber family

Some of October 2011

2012-01-26T10:00:00.010-07:00

Already this catch up and re-cap of 2011 is driving me crazy because I have so much to share and so many pictures and I am having a hard time skipping any of it so for my sanity I am just going to skip around... it is more fun that way and hopefully doing that will allow me to feel less structured with it and just share a few things here and there! October was a very full month... lots of special things... a trip to California for me, announcing our baby on the way not only to our boys but to everyone else, finding out the gender of our baby, ward Primary Program, Pumpkin carving party, helping with a scene for the pumpkin Walk, Halloween, fall soccer for Evan and Eli... see? fun stuff that I can't leave out! I don't have a lot of time today so I will start with the two events in October that have the least pictures! O,heaven help me in getting caught up!- My goal is to be up to date before I get this baby here- six and a half weeks people... yikes!

California

My sisters are my best friends... they live far away- Sara in California and Julie in New York. Julie planned a trip to go visit Sara which was a big deal- NY to CA is a LONG flight and quite an expense with her two little girls and then her husband flew out for a few days too! Julie had not been out to see Sara in awhile and decided it was time! My mom and dad also booked tickets for a trip to Sara's at the same time- that way they would get to see both Sara and Julie. I was happy for all of them to be together but of course bummed that I was missing out- I thought about driving out to California and we hoped that my brother and his family might join us all too- but it didn't work for him and I would have had to go alone with four little boys, pregnant, extra tired and it just felt too hard so I resorted to just letting the idea of all of us being together at Sara's house go...

I had only told my mom and Julie that I was pregnant... I asked my mom to take a candy gram with her as a fun way to tell Sara and her family the big news while they were all together. I was feeling pretty frustrated with life and down in the dumps and of course my sisters and mom knew my worries and wanted to do something to make things brighter! Once my mom arrived in California and they were all together- they called and talked to Glen and then Sara made arrangements to fly me out to California over the first weekend in October! Glen called and told me he made arrangements to work from home and take care of the boys so that I could go! He said I would leave on Wednesday night and come home Monday!! I couldn't believe it! I was so surprised and so excited to be with my sisters but I did have a heard time leaving my little boys behind- they knew their cousins would be there together and I know they could have made it harder by complaining or whining about wanting to go but Glen talked to them before he told me about the surprise and they all were in on the surprise and Evan and Eli just kept telling me not to worry, to go and have fun, to relax and enjoy it etc... They were the best about letting me go! I was about 17 weeks along in my pregnancy and we decided that before I left we would do something fun to let our boys know that we would be getting a new baby. It was just a few weeks until we could tell them whether it would be a sister or a brother and we figured it was about time we started sharing the news! I will tell all about how we told everyone and their reactions in a later post! The trip was heaven and just what I needed- a get away and time spent refueling with my sisters, my parents, and my cute nieces and nephews- It was so fun!

When I got to Sara's house they had saved me some of my favorite dinner- breakfast casserole! It was so nice to just be together laughing and talking! After eating we went out to the guest house where I ate some more... and we talked some more and I secretly retrieved the candy gram from my mom's suitcase that I had sent with her to give Sara to let Sara and her family know our big news about expecting a baby. My mom had kept it hidden knowing that I would be arriving and

could break the news in person!

Below is a picture of me and Julie... I am holding the candy container with a note attached using all types of candy to tell the little story of our news!

Sara was totally surprised and so happy for us!

Sara's kids were out of school for the last few days of the week so they had planned a mini vacation and we all went along too!...The day after I arrived we headed to a resort where we stayed for the weekend. Sara and her family were in a room and me and Julie and mom and Dad were in a room right next door, we walked and swam in the pool, painted toe nails, ate yummy food, watched movies and shopped a bit too!

The last day we were there Sara and Julie took their kids and went to Lego Land. My mom and dad and I took Frances- Julie's baby, with us and before heading back to L.A. we stopped at Balboa Island and walked around the little beach houses, along the pier and through the shops. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time having little Frannie all to ourselves!

Hanging out with Frances all day gave me a greater appreciation for my little sister Julie... Holy smokes this spicey girl is a handful- I have never had a baby quite like her... is it a girl thing? She is so determined and stubborn and spunky and tricky- she gets this little sparkle in her eye and a half smile on her lips and next comes trouble... all. day. long. but she is adorable and sweet at the same time and oh so funny! I l had tons of fun just being auntie and giving her whatever she wanted and she in turn wanted me! I loved being her mama for the day and I wish I got to see her and both of my sisters other kids everyday!

I realized that I am missing some of my favorite pictures from the trip... I forgot my camera so my dad was the photographer and it looks like I didn't upload all the the pictures from him... so I will have to add them later I guess! I do have my own photo book of this trip that they all made for me for Christmas this year! I have the best family! Thanks again Sara for flying me out and being such a perfect hostess! Thanks to mom and dad and Julie for all the memories made and to my amazing Glen for being a great daddy and always putting me first!

Primary Program

I have loved serving in our ward's Primary Presidency for the past two years... teaching and loving and getting to know the children in the church is the best place to be... my favorite calling so far! Another reason I love Primary is because it is where my boys are right now and I get to be a part of what they are learning and I get to see them interact and learn with their friends and teachers! It's the best! The worldwide Primary theme in 2011 was "I know the scriptures are True" We had our Primary Program In October. The children have the chance to share what they have learned throughout the year with the entire ward! They each get to testify through speaking parts and/or song about the things we did and learned all year. Our Primary is huge... about 160 kids (not including nursery) So planning the Primary Program was a bit of a challenge- but it turned out perfect because really, anytime the primary children are teaching and singing- nothing can go wrong!

This year Gabe was a Sunbeam so this was his first Primary Program! As a 3 year old, speaking and singing in front of a lot of people can be overwhelming, especially with a shy little personality like Gabe has. I was proud of him as he stepped up on the stool and said his part perfectly into the microphone "My name is Gabe and I am a child of God" It was so powerful and adorable to hear all of his classmates say this same line testifying of who they really are!

He looked so handsome in his little suit!

Elijah, also as handsome as ever...did a great job in the primary program. I always encourage (make!) my boys memorize their parts- Eli had a part where he shared his favorite story from the Book of Mormon and gave an example of a lesson he learned from that story- He chose Ammon and spoke about having courage! He also recited a scripture with his primary class. He spoke loud and clear and did great! Here are a few pictures of my handsome little boys that Sunday after church

here's Oliver with his hair all ruffled up after playing in nursery and he REFUSED to wear his tie... He bawled in every picture but this one... and even after all that he is still a little romeo

and melts my heart-

still to come... announcing baby, it's a boy, pumpkin walk, Halloween Party, pumpkin carving, trick or treating, soccer... and that is just October!... (sigh)

p.s. does anyone know how to do those cute photo collages on blogger? are they a new setting or do you have to upload your pictures in flicker or picassa first? HELP! I'd like to do a few of them...please explain!?

May Babies

2012-01-24T17:00:00.002-07:00

One highlight in May... (a few more to come)

Gabe and Oliver were born exactly a week apart in May. Gabe came on May 11th 2007, Ollie was May 4th 2009. I love having these May babies of mine so close in age- I think two years apart is the PERFECT spacing. Since they are little- they haven't minded "sharing" their birthday celebrations every year so far and it sure makes it easier for me rather then having 2 parties in a week!

I used to love planning big festive birthday parties... with a theme, all decked out... but I am getting lazy ( maybe actually smarter too:)) and this year I had to do the little boys birthday party on a tight budget. An hour before the party started I called my sister Julie in a panic-nearly in tears about my "ghetto" party... she gave me a few last minute ideas that helped spruce it up a bit and reminded me before hanging up that my little boys did not care in the least about the decor and previously used streamers....it was more about making them feel special and so with that in my mind we got on with the party for these little romeo's... Oliver TWO and Gabriel FOUR!

We had my parents and my brother and his family over for dinner-chips and salsa, taco salad, quesadillas and taquitos-a little bit fiesta style!

Evan, who is now 12 had our first "train cake" when he turned two years old... since then all of the boys have chosen a train cake at least once... I think Gabe has asked for the train cake every year since he could talk... and Oliver is just like the others and in love with trains so he was so excited that once again we made a train cake! It is always a hit-and trains sort of became the ghetto- small scale theme for the party!(see: toy trains as table center pieces-thanks to Julie's last minute help!)

We ate dinner, the boys played outside for a bit then the birthday boys sat front and center and opened some presents

Once Oliver opened a Thomas the tank engine and a few of his friends... All he wanted to do was play

Ollie and Grandpa

Gabe and his buddies... Eli, Evan and cousins Jeffrey and Ethan

"Happy Birthday!" and blowing out the candles

Oliver was so proud!

I love all the ages and stages for different reasons...some more than others... but for sure my favorite ages so far are these - Two and Four!! For Oliver Two is full of adventure and funny things to say, adorable little "accent" with a hint of a lisp, tiny arms wrapped around my neck, spunk and sass... lots of it! Curiosity about everything, trains, dancing, waffles, playing with slime, singing songs with actions, books, whistling (he can!) pretending spiderman and karate kicks! He calls Gabe his "best buddy" He adores his daddy, He loves to be funny and make people laugh, he likes nursery class at church and has all of his teachers wrapped around his finger! It only took him two days to be potty trained this fall! He is smart- recognizes all his letters and knows each of their sounds too! (seriously!- its the cutest thing ever!) He talks a lot about our new baby and always puts his tiny hand on my tummy trying to "feel da bebe kick" He thinks he has a baby in his tummy too and lifts up his shirt showing everyone his baby! He brings lots of laughs and happiness to our family and everything is more fun with Oliver!

For Gabe four is full of pretending... his imagination is adorable and he loves to have play dates with friends this year! Preschool is his favorite thing and he is in love with his Sunbeam teachers at church. He loves to craft and is always coloring and cutting and gluing. He writes his name and all of the other letters too. he loves to sing songs and read books, he is tender and shy, always hesitant with new things but he warms up quickly and likes to be silly! He has a perfect little face and people always comment on his smile... he smiles all the time! He is terrified of most Disney movies and refuses to watch them- "the bad guys are too scary!" He is a little fish and loves to swim when we go to the gym as a family. He loves to make his own sandwiches for lunch, help me bake, play with Oliver and especially his big brothers! He has learned how to play Nintendo DS and wii games this year and would play them all day, everyday... if the rules allowed! :) Gabe is very loving and is the perfect "bridge" between his older brothers and his little brother... he loves them all and lights up when they show their love for him... he is a very sweet boy and is almost all grown up-so independent!...He asks almost every night if it is family home evening night! He loves to help with games and lessons and always wants to do things that involve our whole family! I love this year before kindergarten starts- it is my deadline year- the last one that I get to spend all day with him! Knowing that helps me to love the little things even more!

Four and Two are definitely some of the best ages! I love these little boys right now a whole bunch!... when they are twelve and driving me crazy with attitude and goofy boy stuff... I will have this time to look back on and remember how cute they used to be right?! Hopefully it will remind me that deep down they are the same special, sweet boys they used to be! ( I do have a twelve year old, you know?.. and find myself having to do just that with him A LOT!)... Ages and stages and trying to figure it all out- just one of the many challenges... and joys of being a mama right?!

Happy Birthday to my darling May babies!!

March (2011)

2012-01-10T12:00:00.032-07:00

So I thought I only needed to catch up from the summer- the past six months or so- but when I looked through my pictures I found that I am actually further behind than I thought- notice the title MARCH? Yikes! I am just going to document the things that I don't want to skip.... (which, honestly is pretty much everything you know!) but I really am going to condense and try to make this catch up quick. So here goes...

Anniversary

It was our 14 year anniversary On march 28th- Usually just the two of us celebrate but since my boys are getting older I thought it would be fun to include them on a bit of the celebration and so I had them help me surprise Glen with a re-creation of our Wedding Day! I was surprised by how much they LOVED it- it was really cute! We decorated the house with purple and yellow- our wedding colors!

I found the box in storage full of precious moments figurines that we bought for special milestones in our relationship those first few years... do they even make these anymore?

(We got engaged Dec.7th and I got this girl a few weeks later for Christmas!)

(Our wedding cake was a house... all sparkly with little window boxes full of mini flowers and there were lights inside- It was pretty cute! This car was on the "driveway"... my favorite part is the back because it has a sign on the car that says "just married" and there are little soda cans tied to the bumper!)

We decorated with the figurines, photos and candles.

I was disappointed that I couldn't find the box of left over napkins we used at our reception- yellow napkins embossed in purple lettering with our names and wedding date and a picture of some kind!... This totally dates us, I know!- a few years back I cringed about how outdated our wedding had become but I have decided I love it anyway because it is ours - it is sentimental and it makes for some good entertainment too! At our wedding reception we served mini ham sandwiches, nut cups and white cake with a yummy cream cheese/cool whip frosting topped with strawberries- I ordered the mini rolls and the boys helped me make the sandwiches and fill the nut cups for dinner!

We also decided to make a festive wedding drink.

We lit the candles, dimmed the lights and turned on some love songs and when Glen walked in the door, home from work we jumped out and yelled surprise!! Glen was totally surprised and said lots of memories of our wedding day came rushing back as he looked around! Things he had forgotten all about! Just what I was hoping for! We gathered around the table and as we ate we talked about "our story" As I was setting it all up with the boys- they kept asking me questions I realized that we had never told them much about our courtship so we told them about our dating days, our engagement and our wedding day- it was so fun and I couldn't believe how interested they were! We also looked through our photo books and reminisced and laughed about how young and outdated we looked! It was one of our best Anniversary celebrations and don't worry Glen and I did some celebrating of our own later- WITHOUT the boys around!

Glen gave me a nice card with a thoughtful love note written inside. He surprised me with a gift certificate for a night at a local bed and breakfast and one of the best presents I have ever received- He made this bracelet for me...

Get this...He actually went into a bead shop and picked out the beads- "4 blue beads for our four boys" and "the two white ones represent us and are a reminder of our marriage" That's what he told me - and the I love you in the center of course says it all! So he picked out the beads and then he strung them all together with his big man fingers!! I totally had this picture in my head of him sitting there hunched over in concentration in this girlie bead store- threading beads, thinking of ME?...How romantic is that?!- I thought it was the sweetest thing ever! Marrying him is the best thing I ever did!

Pine wood Derby

Eli loved his "Strikers" derby car- made in honor of his soccer team! He won Best Craftsmanship... Our boys derby cars always look really awesome now if we could just figure out how to make them fast too!

St. Patricks Day

The boys made their traditional "treasure boxes" to put out under the moonlight in hopes that leprechauns would come fill them with treasure! The leprechauns even leave green
breakfast and a trail of gold wrapped candy everywhere they go! Of course those tricky leprechauns always play a few jokes on us too.. they toilet papered our house this year and misplaced lots of items

They boys love the tricks and the treasure!

Gabe... looking guilty- and for good reason-
I could not get him or Oliver to leave the
treats alone all day!

Sweet boys

Both of these little ones of mine love kitties and babies... for awhile they were obsessed with diapering their animals and our one doll. If it wasn't diapering then it was wrapping them in blankets or both which really became my job because well, they are little and can't diaper or wrap- but they are very good at un-diapering and un-wrapping!We did all of this over and over lots of days but I couldn't get frustrated because seriously... have you ever seen anything more sweet!

Teacher appreciation

For the school year of 2010-2011 I was on the PTA board at the boys elementary school...I was in charge of Teacher appreciation which ended up being WAY more than I thought I had signed up for! Luckily I had a cute friend who shared the assignment with me and we were thrown into the fire together and knew there was no turning back and decided to just make the most of it! The school had a lot of changes prior to the start of the school year -boundary changes, a change from being a grade K thru 2 to now being K thru 5, new principal, lots of new teachers and morale was low! Here we were completely new to PTA and didn't have a clue what to do other than to try to bond and build relations, boost morale and help the parents and students show appreciation for a job that can never be appreciated enough! We worked our tails off... seriously! We learned how to be a great team and when I would get frustrated with the time commitment and the work load- Jenn would keep me going and I did the same for her- we both had young families and busy lives, hefty church callings and we never could have done it without each other! I don't have time to write the time line of our year on PTA and we were so frazzled at most of our events that we neither of us had our camera to capture the fun things we did! Things like fancy caramel apples, balloon banners, a sweet shoppe, a cupcake bar, a turkey whose feathers listed things about each teacher, a breakfast bar, a banana split bar, notes in teacher mailboxes with treats! We had a lot of fun providing luncheons for the teachers,changing out bulletin boards, spotlighting teachers, and that didn't even include "Teacher appreciation week" in May- it was insane (things EVERYDAY! but it was SO successful and fun! We accomplished our goal of making it about the appreciation coming from the students and parents which in the long run created more work for us- but I think it was the best idea ever (uh-em!) and we outlawed decorating the teachers doors which was a bit controversial... but seriously?? - so much wasted paper and time and not usually does it involve the students but we made up for what some thought might be missed by not doing that tradition -in a million other ways!!... We got lots of positive feedback and we felt really good about all that we did! It was fabulous if I do say so myself- and I do! It killed us though and we both completely crashed after the year and do you think we signed up for a second year?- No!... I had my taste of PTA- don't get me wrong I am a big supporter and I love teachers and education - it was just not the right timing... someday I will do it again- maybe! :)

Here are a few pictures of some of the handouts we made-

I really wish I would have taken pictures of everything we did- if anyone out there wants ideas or lists of time lines, posters, a sweet shoppe canopy, decorations, printable handouts, luncheon advice, restaurant connections,or lists with details of what we did- let me know!

2011

2012-01-09T14:00:00.002-07:00

I loved our family new year traditions growing up- On New Years Eve we played games and ate treats - you know, the usual party stuff! We also lined up one of each of our shoes by the front door for the new years baby to fill with little gifts and treats during the night- (usually our dolls and Barbie's shoes too!) The New Year baby tradition of filling the shoes is a tradition passed down from my grandma's Swiss heritage! The thing I remember looking forward to a lot each year was when we sat around and talked about the year and reminisced a bit, then we each received a piece of paper where we made predictions for the year to come... which of my aunts would have a baby? who would buy a new car? who would vacation and where? what classes in school might get failed? any broken bones? how many books we might read etc....Some of the predictions were thought through and some of them were just for fun. But the thing that I learned by doing that is that it is good to reflect and remember life and it is good to look ahead in excitement and plan or set goals.

I am not a big goal setter, like some people! Well.... let me re-phrase that- I do like to set goals I am just not the best at actually accomplishing them! :) But good at it or not-this is a tradition that I love so I talked Glen into doing it with our own little family. It doesn't usually work to do this along with our New Years celebrations- so we do it for our first Family Home Evening of the New Year. Well, in reading my previous posts about the past year I went into this family Home Evening thinking that although things worked out in the end -I was going to have to embellish our year a little (or a lot!) because it had certainly been our worst year to date- hands down!! For our activity portion of FHE I got a poster board out- I actually cut it in half because- no way would there be enough items to list to fill it up and I didn't want it to be so obvious what a bad year we'd had! We began talking about the year and remembering and writing our list of Happenings in 2011 and the list just kept getting bigger and the memories flowed and we laughed and shared our favorite things about the year!

We ended up running out of room and didn't even fit everything on our list! My heart swelled but at the same time I felt a pit of guilt in my stomach because of my attitude- I learned that 2011 was actually one of our best years!! I know my previous posts certainly don't paint that picture but it is true! In between the hard times we did a lot of really great things! We made some great memories and had some very special things happen! We all grew a lot through change! We ended the activity by naming a few of the the items on our list that happened that were not so good- there was a broken arm, a trip to the ER for Gabe, Glen's grandma's passed away... just a few things to mention there-but all the other things we realized were great things that happened in 2011!

We all took some time to set some personal goals and then we set some goals as a family that we posted up where we would see them everyday-to remind us throughout the year of what we are working on together!

In trying to protect my kids from knowing "the truth" about our year I learned a few things as we took the time and really thought about the year and focused on all the fun times we had and the neat things we did! Number One is the importance of recording it- I really feel like if I would have been better about recording our life I would have been more aware of all the great things day to day - just another way to be reminded of blessings is to write about them and look at them! and Number Two is that our Year 2011 seemed like it would go down in history for being our worst year but in reality it was one of the Best ever- it's all about perspective and attitude!

Check back for a little look at our 2011 fun!

O, and Happy New Year!

The rest of the story (it's a long one!...REALLY long!)

2012-01-08T18:11:00.006-07:00

I don't think I will even be able to put into words the emotions of the past few months! (see previous post if you have no idea what I am talking about!) I don't want to sound dramatic and draw this out but I do want to remember the details and I think this is a story that should be shared-there is too much to explain here though so I will do my best to keep it short and sweet and I hope it makes sense!

The emotions over the past few months included...so many days full of uncertainty - ups and downs... hope followed by disappointments over and over again. Frustration and finding myself asking "why?" Being pregnant with my fifth, so tired, emotional and sick did not help- all in the middle of moving into a new house that I was not excited about - it was not a very fun time. I felt trapped in the new house- not enough windows!...and rather than look at boxes to unpack, most days I just laid in the backyard on the porch swing in my pajamas watching my little boys play in the sand box - I swear everyone of my new neighbors came to meet me when I was in the mentioned state and not knowing the circumstances probably thought I was a real loser!- awesome!

Day to day I was literally pouring my heart out and begging through constant prayer for things to work out! With a baby on the way more stress was added to the speed in which we needed something good to come along! I didn't even tell anyone that I was expecting ( I will share all those details in a later post) it just took awhile to sink in and I hoped that we could share the news of a baby along with the news of a new job and then it wouldn't seem so irresponsible or something?! ...Well, things did work out- but in small ways and different ways than I thought they would! The changes we needed didn't work out as quickly as I first expected or as quickly as we would have liked- but through the waiting I learned so much! I learned the meaning of patience and I learned and came to really understand that prayer is not always answered in the ways that WE want or what we think is most important at the time- but prayers ARE always answered... it didn't happen in the way that was easy but during a time when I would have expected to feel the most abandoned and alone- I felt constant comfort and my thoughts ALWAYS came to the conclusion that things would be fine no matter what was to come... it was part of a plan for us- a plan designed to stretch us and help us to learn and grow. I got through the hardest days thanks to pep talks from my husband- I love him! I shed many tears and sobbed on the phone frequently to my sisters and my mom. They ALWAYS knew just the right thing to say or do to bring those thoughts and feelings of peace to my mind. My prayers were answered in so many ways. Lots of times the lessons we learn in life are forgotten- they fade with time... but we both feel that the lessons we learned through this small trial have forever changed us individually, as spouses and as a family. I know that EVERY little thing that happens in life prepares us a bit for the next thing that is meant to be. Starting with our upbringing, the people who are placed in our lives, the hardships the good things... through it all we are better able to be shaped into who we are and who we were meant to be. I learned humility... which was probably the hardest lesson of all- to have to apply for free lunch at school for the boys, to have to pull our kids out of piano lessons, be on medicaid for this pregnancy, take help from people, admit that we were struggling was SO hard... I have grown up learning and knowing about the importance of serving others and many times I heard people say that sometimes the harder part is accepting service from others. I didn't fully understand that until now- through this experience... It was SO hard to let pride go! I know those things (medicaid, low income programs etc) are set in place for people like us going through times like these but that did not make it any easier to come to the realization that I was the one on the other side of the service and the hard times and that we were the ones struggling!

We all have different burdens to bear and things to learn... One particular hard day I was on the phone with my little sister Julie. I asked her why life can't just be easy- why doesn't it seem to work out for us ever?- I know lots of people who have it easy- never have to struggle financially- people who don't know what it's like to wonder if you can buy groceries the next week... yada yada... she reminded me that everyone has struggles in different ways-most of the time there are things that we can't see... I agreed with her and I know that -but I also know there are people who life just works out for- for whatever reason- they don't really have hard thins- what she said changed my perspective- she told me I was strong enough to get through it and that is why this hard thing was given to me- her comment made me think of my blessings- I realized that I am strong- I have a strong testimony and come from a strong family- I have a strong relationship with my husband -my kids are happy and healthy and such good easy boys, we have the things that we need... the things that matter most -we have! because of all of that I did feel strong! I was able to feel that there was a greater purpose to this little trial and that made me feel stronger and more able to get through it. At church whenever people spoke or bore testimony - the things they said seemed to be just for me- like never before! The lessons I prepared for Sharing Time in Primary always had a round about way of helping me to remember the importance of the simpleness and happiness of the gospel. I had so many friends who seemed to know just when I needed a phone call, a hug or a day out - the people around me -my friends- were placed in my life at this time and were Heavenly Father's way of showing his love for me. I've always had all of this in my life- it was just that it took a hard time to really make me see it and to appreciate it!

During this time the hardest part was not knowing for how long we would be so uncertain of our future and what it was going to come down to... how bad would it get for us? I knew that as long as we had each other and our family it would be fine... but I just wanted a number of months....a voice from heaven to tell me- "things will be difficult for 7 months and then you will have employment." or "Things will be bad for one year and you will have to move in with your parents, sell your car and work 3 jobs but then after a year things will get better".... you know?.... just not knowing what is to come is the hardest part!

The circumstances of how things changed and "got better" for us is also hard to put into words- looking back and now being able to see more clearly how every little thing fit into the big picture and how every opportunity that didn't work out and was such a disappointment at the time...but now seeing that those disappointments were actually blessings- because they put us right where we are today... it is very overwhelming to think about!

When Glen first started looking for a job- we were kind of picky about where, when, what- the details but as time went on with no real leads we started to get less picky and eventually we had to give up what we thought was best and just had to take a leap of faith and trust that if we did everything we could do that things would fall into place for us at some point... we just had to let go and when we finally did that- that is when things deep down really felt right and that is when all the thoughts of peace and comfort came... there was still worry and tears- but like I said there was peace

All through the months of November and December everything worked out- so many blessings and tender mercies. Big ones and small ones. Someone did the 12 days of Christmas for us for the first 12 days in December- those days were some of the hardest and most stressful for us and it was so nice to have something to look forward to as a family each night- to unwrap a little gift was so fun for the boys and helped bring the Christmas spirit in so many ways. I was heavily involved with a fundraiser for one of my close friends who had a baby with a rare disorder and it was such a good distraction for me to be so busy and it reminded me of my blessings even through the difficulties. My mom seemed to know when I was getting low on milk and she would drop off a gallon of milk every once in awhile as well as cases of beans, soup, a box of potatoes, chicken, oranges, egg nog for the boys- all just at random times! I didn't think we really needed it- I didn't ask for it- but she knew we did need it and it ended up helping so much! My parents did some Christmas shopping for the boys, our siblings helped, Glen's parents were prompted to help financially when we had no idea how we would make things work one week- somehow they knew and they gave without hesitation or asking. Our friends and ward members were the same way- full of concern and love- When we moved out of our house in Hyde Park we knew we had some uncertainty ahead. we didn't know for how long but I was pregnant and needed the security of my friends and my calling in the Primary Presidency so we decided to continue going to our ward there. We didn't know how many changes were ahead and it just felt best to minimize change for the time being. We felt good about that decision although it was hard because we felt bad missing out on the new ward and neighborhood we moved into in North Logan but now we see that it was the right thing for us to do at the time and having my Primary calling keeping me busy and my dear friends and connections during that time really helped me. Instead of missing out on the ward we moved into in North Logan they welcomed us regardless and understood our circumstances. We have great connections with our neighbors- they didn't judge my days in pajamas laying in the backyard after all ! :) Our North Logan ward has been concerned for us and helped us as well as our ward in Hyde Park... It has been an incredible journey and through these past few moths we have found ourselves in tears of gratitude and in awe of our blessings everyday!!

I am getting to the good news I promise - but to really get a feel for how down to the wire it was for us- I am going to quickly explain the days leading up to the good news.

The first part of December Glen was in the process of interviewing and waiting to hear back from about 4 potential jobs- Through this process it seemed to come in spurts like this- several opportunities at once and then weeks of nothing. At this time (end of November) things at his current job were basically at a stand still- no income, so Glen started doing some temp jobs at night and on Saturdays to try to make ends meet- These temp jobs included; cleaning the cheese trays at Gossners cheese factory, he did some heavy labor- working on the construction of the LDS temple in Brigham, and he power washed floors and painted after hours at a few local businesses. I felt so bad that he was doing this extra work and I shouldn't have been surprised because I know him- but still I was surprised and gained a deeper love and respect for him that I cannot explain- because NOT ONCE did he complain or even let on that this temp work was grunt work- He was grateful for the opportunities that came up and he made the best of it... working during the day under so much stress all day and then going to a second job til late and even through the night with little to no sleep. I don't know how he did it and stayed so positive! He actually said he liked the work. He only talked about the positive -He liked being able to use his Spanish to communicate with the other workers at the cheese plant. He made new friends and one older lady who was a co-worker brought him tamales and shared them on their break time...He made jokes about the "uniform" he had to wear and sent me a picture on his phone of him in a hair net, rubber boots, gloves up to his elbows and a cover-all... anyway you get the picture of what a lucky girl I am to have him- This gives you an idea of Glen's attitude through this whole thing- He is the greatest, most amazing guy... and he is mine- I can't even believe it!

So in the meantime we had those 4 potential jobs that I mentioned and we were on pins and needles waiting to hear, hoping for good news because it was to the point that if one of these didn't happen we were going to have to make some big changes which included moving into my parents basement and most likely both of us working and Glen having to work several jobs. Well the first job we heard good news from was an offer for a position to be a store manger at a new T- mobile (cell phone) store in Denver- One of Glen's friends is the area manager and wanted to hire Glen to manage one of his stores- It was actually a pretty good position and had a lot of potential for growth down the road... but until then- it was not great income and the expense of moving and the timing with a baby on the way in 10 weeks- was not ideal... but it was something and so we felt like we couldn't pass it up! We couldn't be picky at this point and Glen was excited about the opportunity! It was supposed to start in Denver on Jan. 2nd- which was coming quickly!! a bit reluctantly -we decided that Glen would go to Denver and open this new store- he was expected to be VERY busy opening the store and hiring employees and we knew we could not pack up and move that fast so I was going to stay here until after the baby and most likely just wait until school was out in May to join him! I was planning to move in with my parents and he would fly home once a month to see us, but most likely, being that far away he would miss the birth of our baby... it was such a crazy thing to plan for and think about because although we were excited in some ways- we had to have income!... I just couldn't believe that this was what it came down to for us!

I hoped that maybe in the next week Glen would get another offer... but I felt pretty hopeless! I just felt drained... I was frustrated too because up to this point I knew that we were doing our best to stay positive and have faith and this just didn't feel like what was supposed to happen! In frustration I prayed and I told Heavenly Father (in kind of a bossy way :) ) that we were at a critical point and if this is what He had in store for us- then fine-we would make the best of it but I reminded Him that this was not what I had in mind! We were doing good things and had been promised blessings and now would be a really good time to receive those blessings and if Denver was the blessing- then just let it be easier somehow! I pleaded that He would continue to help us! Glen was doing all he could and I basically just let Heavenly Father know that I felt it was out of my hands- I kept thinking of a scripture in the book of Mormon D&C 84:88 ... "I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you to bear you up." and I knew He had been and was in all those places guiding and comforting and that His angels were literally bearing me up! I knew I couldn't do more than I already was and I just let Him know that I was placing all my fears and worries at his feet and letting go--After my ranting and pleading and crying which was not new, believe me! After it all- once again I had an overwhelming feeling that "everything will be okay" I had no idea how... but I had to make the best of the situation and trust.

I know I keep jumping around- I just don't want to leave things out, although I know I am!- so much for short and sweet huh? Almost done...

So back to the Denver job and those last crazy days ... The jobs we were waiting to hear from were slow moving and we didn't think we would hear yes or no in the process of them until after the holidays, however there was one that was too good to be true that we had a chance of hearing back from before January!... but like I said - I felt too good to be true. Over the months there were positions that felt so right and were great opportunities and Glen got really close - where he was in the top 2 or 3 position for the job and then they fell through for him and the companies went with the other candidates- He even had a few offers that were put on hold at the last minute for random reasons-it seemed that it just was not going to ever work out! the jobs he really wanted- were not the happening this job that was too good to be true was one of those- it just would have been too easy!

In taking the Denver position Glen was supposed to start Jan. 2nd in Denver- but through the holidays he was going to go to Idaho and learn more about the position and store management etc.... so the week before he was scheduled to go to Idaho we began having mixed feelings about what to do because since Glen's friend was helping him to get this position he felt strongly that once he said "yes" he needed to stick to it but was torn because one of the other jobs would have been a better fit- it's just that we didn't know if one of the other jobs would even have an offer.... Glen was hoping to hear back from the one potential company before he actually started the Denver job. He had interviewed with them several times over about a two week period and they told him they would let him know... but he didn't hear anything that entire week that they told him they would contact him.... So finally, the Friday of that week (Dec. 16th) which was the Friday before he was supposed to start the Denver job in Idaho he felt that he needed to know one way or the other so that we could make a decision for sure about the Denver position. Friday morning I woke up and Glen was gone... he woke up early and decided to go to the temple to try to just clear his head. He came home and told me that he really felt like the position in Denver, although was a good opportunity- just didn't feel like the right thing for us right now. He was planning on calling about the other job opportunity just to see if they had made a decision-not looking for an offer but just hoping to find out where he stood with them. He was in turmoil because he knew he was going to turn down the Denver position and although he wanted to feel optimistic about the other position- the fact that he had not heard anything was disheartening and he worried that he would say no to Denver and then also the other job would not work out and then we'd be back to square one- and back to uncertainty and it was at the breaking point for us....

So he headed off to work to battle the stress there and to make some phone calls. He made a few calls hoping to find out anything about the other job and finally got a call back around 3pm from the hiring manager who told him that they were in the process of writing up an offer for him!!! A JOB OFFER!!!!! I was at Walmart when I got the call from Glen... it was late in the day and I geared myself up for disappointment when I answered... He told me the news and it was a feeling I can't even describe- relief, shock, excitement and mostly just an overwhelming feeling of love from above - I kept thinking He REALLY does know me, through it all He has been aware and it didn't come easily, but just as He said everything did work out... and just in the nick of time! I could not stop smiling! I didn't even know the details of the new job and Glen didn't have time talk a lot. I hung up and called my mom- I told her and my Dad the news and they were of course so happy for us! That was the start of sharing our news which was so fun because it meant so much! I knew it was good, happy news for us but the thing I realized was that it was not only OUR good news but that over the past several months so many people had been thinking about us, praying for us, hoping for us and it was incredible to know that this news was for all of them too- Our friends and family were just as happy for us as we were! and that meant the world to us!

I guess I still need to tell you about the job huh?!! It was the one that I mentioned that was too good to be true!- Well it is TRUE and it is SO good!- Glen got a position at Harris Research in North Logan! It is located on tenth west- The big building that has all the flags out in front. It is best known for their Chemdry division. Harris Research has two divisions- one is Chemdry that has been around for a long time and the other division which is fairly new and right in the middle of a lot of growth -is called N'hance- Glen's position is with N'hance. He is one of two Franchise Development Directors... doing sales (his expertise!) I know there is a lot to it but basically he will be selling franchises for N'Hance! He started on Tuesday Jan. 3rd which was great because he was home during the holiday break with all of us. It felt so good to face Christmas and a new year knowing that things would be getting better for us and just to think about all the things that were put into place so that we could end up here was pretty special - it was perfect- Christmas was perfect! This first week since Glen started has been so exciting and fun! He came home the first day and was glowing- such a weight has been lifted- He is so happy and so excited about this opportunity- He is very motivated and will do great! He is driven and will be such an asset to the company- They are a great company, have been around for along time and know business- they have great credentials and the people who work there love it!- They are known for treating their employees really well. they have great benefits and perks and we have security and can finally look ahead with some direction and make some goals! It feels so good! Glen had a great first week and really likes the people who he works with- He found out in the interview process that he already knows several of the guys who work for N'hance so that was nice this first week for him to already have those acquaintances and relationships. Glen of course will fit right in... He is so professional, easy to talk to, friendly and funny- everyone loves him and I am so excited to see all the great things in store for him!

This journey has been such a growing process for us! I hope that you get a small glimpse and in the end are able to learn from some of the things that we've learned! I know that when you're on the other side of trials it is always easier to see the good and the process of it and to really appreciate it for what it is- but although the day to day was hard- so many blessings and tender mercies helped us make it though the process and we were able to appreciate so many things during the hard times too! I am so glad that we made it to the other side of this trial and for the lessons learned along the way! I don't know what is in store for us down the road but I know that whatever it is We can get through it because we are not alone!

With everything going on, four little boys to take care of and being pregnant- it has been hard to find time to update my blog, but I would like to share what we've been up to along with all this crazy-ness! So coming up is a mini re-cap of 2011 - and I am dying to get back to the day to day happenings and write an update on my boys and how they are growing and changing as well as write about all of our adventures that are ahead. It's nice to back- back in more ways than blogging!

hello again

2012-01-04T16:00:00.021-07:00

I wrote the following post the first part of December...I never got around to publishing it- but re-reading it now, I decided that it is a good explanation of the past six months and a wrap up of 2011...

Quite often over the past six months, way back in the corner of my mind, I get little twangs of guilt because I am not recording our lives. I have been taking photo's of our happenings but not nearly as many as I used to, not nearly as many as I should be... because- well the more pictures I take the more posts I am behind on my blog and if there are no pictures then I can't feel guilty for not uploading them and writing right? Well I am kind of tired of this guilt I feel and even more tired of not writing... I really like to write- it is an outlet for me and I really love to have a written record to look back on- that is all about life.

The past six months have been a whirlwind of change for our family... pretty much the hardest six months I've had so far and I am afraid I am going to look back on this time and wish I would have written about the day to day stressed and fears and challenges and all the fun things in between that have kept us going... so I decided I am tired of not writing. I want to remember life and the best way to do that is to record it... so HELLO AGAIN!

Its funny how perspective changes with time. You know the saying that wisdom comes with age? I used to roll my eyes when my mom would tell me that someday I would understand why she told me no, when I thought there was no good reason... Well she was right... now I tell my kids no and they can't figure out why but now I KNOW why... it's perspective. Five years ago Glen got a new job that required us to move out of the only home I had ever know (cache valley) although I was excited about a new opportunity for him I was reluctant and so stressed out because I had to move away from family and long time friends, I was 8 1/2 months pregnant... I had to pack, clean and sell the house- ALONE since Glen had already started his job 2 hours south and was living with his parents during the week. I also had 2 active little boys... having to taxi one to school and the other to preschool and I was serving in the Young Womens presidency in church. Did I mention that I was 9 months pregnant with my third baby- tired and cranky ... I remember thinking that my life was so hard and that it was such a trial...I am pretty certain I did not see the blessings until much later- I was young and thought "poor me" At that point in my life- it probably was one of the hardest things that I had to do up to that point ... but I did it - we did it! and we survived and we thrived and relied on each other and I look back and smile (and am a little embarrassed ) at how young I was and how far my life has come. I have since learned that there are so many things in life that are truly HARD - so many people have really hard trials to bear and I am blessed that I really have an easy comfortable life.

That being said... Didn't I just mention that the past six months have been "the hardest" Well here we go again except this time I do have a little more perspective on my side and although life seems hard... when that thought "my life is hard"enters my head it is always followed with... "things could be so much worse" and I feel able to see the tender mercies that come along with the hard days. I don't want to come across that I think I am a saint- or mature beyond my years -I am not!- but I share this only because I have to give credit where it is due- I have to tell you that that the reason these thoughts accompany each other has literally been because of prayer. Our prayers but also the prayers of our dear friends and family- I can really feel love and strength through their thoughts and prayers! I have never felt the power of prayer so tangible. There have been days when I can literally feel a boost and an extra ability beyond my own to be positive and keep going and it has been my life line- truly amazing! Now when I tell you about the hardships you might think that I have over exaggerated- but this story is mine and while I am so grateful that I don't have really hard trials- that doesn't take away from the fact that life is hard right now for us.

The end of May we learned that we had to move out of the house we had been renting for the past 3 years- My aunt and uncle who we were renting our home from had to move back into the house! It was very sudden and hard because we LOVED living there, the property, the street, the neighbors! We had even thought and talked about buying the home if possible and so just the thought of leaving was hard. It's hard enough to move when it is your own choice but when it is not- that makes it that much harder! We were not given much notice and basically needed to be out in a little over a month- we were disappointed because we had some fun things planned for the summer but everything was changing and we didn't really have an option! Luckily- or really I should say- the start of the tender mercies began immediately and we were able to find another home to rent within days of finding out we had to move- Things with the new rental just fell into place and although it is a little farther away (North Logan) than we hoped- it is in good condition, is big enough for our family and has a nice backyard. My sister Julie was here for the month of June and that was another tender mercy- she kept me sane, literally! :) and she helped me SO much with packing and kids and advice like only a sister can- we were able to squeeze in a few fun things but mostly we packed and cleaned and organized and she even extended her trip a little for me-!!

Anyway that was the start to the hard and since then it has gotten better in some ways and worse in some ways... to keep the story short I will tell you that Glen's current job has continued to go downhill... It started leaning that way not to long after he started the job 3 years ago-with the downturn that the economy took but we hoped it would pull out and be okay. Sadly, that has not been the case and he has been looking for new employment for a little over a year- the company has been really struggling for the past 7 months and everything really slowed right when we were moving-to the point where we have no steady income- there is just money when there is money and none when it is slow- so that has been very hard and stressful. This is a very difficult time to be looking for jobs and that has taken it's toll on Glen's confidence. There are so many details that I am reluctant to share and will spare you the drama but basically this time has been really hard for our family and so uncertain... but I did say that life has gotten better in ways... the BEST way has been that we are expecting... Yes, I am pregnant which we are so so so happy about -the timing wasn't quite what we were thinking- obviously (oops!) and it took awhile to wrap my head around the news but we are so excited and realize that we needed this blessing at this very time to help remind us that life is precious and family and being together is all that really matters in life and as long as we focus on that - the other material things in life don't matter!

Basically we are taking each day... one at a time. It is so frustrating not knowing what is in store for us and feeling like we don't have a lot of control over our life right now is hard. So far it is surprisingly working... we are getting by and the timing of payments due and cash flow seem to be matching up so far... we both just worry wondering how long it will be before a new job opportunity happens or what happens if things start to get worse... Glen is doing everything he can possibly do while being weighed down with tremendous stress at work, stress of looking for work and the day to day stresses of providing for a family... He is amazing... so driven, kind, patient and positive and we are as close as ever working together just trying to get by! My grandma always tells me that the hard times always end up being some of the best times in life and although I like it a lot when life is not hard- I do see that with hard times comes lots of stretching of self, it builds faith and can strengthen love and it makes blessings more easily recognized.

We have always wanted a big family and we are so excited to have another baby! We found out the middle of October that we are having another boy... five little boys!! I still can't believe it! I never would have thought that I'd get all boys... who knows maybe #6 will be a girl :)

I have SO much to catch up on and write about... I can't even remember for sure how to upload pictures and how this whole blog even works anymore... but I am going to figure it out! I may not ever get caught up.... heaven knows I have a little ocd when it comes to details and writing this blog "in order of events"... but I just may have to let go... not look back and just start fresh from today - hey... maybe that is advice I should not only take concerning this blog but LIFE too... look forward, chin up!

I am currently working on a mini re-cap of the past six months! A re-cap of our 2011! What a year it has been!....This story continues and it got worse for awhile - but it does get better!!!... right when we needed it most... it got better! I want to share all the details... so stay tuned and hopefully my re-fresher course on blogging won't take too long- (I am sure it's not a good sign that I seriously cannot remember how blogger works... yikes!) check back in a few days!

Happy Easter!

2011-04-27T18:49:00.041-06:00

These dashing boys have a hold on my heart....

This one, who is thoughtful, sweet and sincere

This one, who is sensitive, kind and fun loving

Even this one, who was not the most cooperate about the photo shoot... He is tentative, silly and sweet as sugar

and this tiny one, who is tender and full of mischief and spunk.

they are my darlings....

I love them all... I love every little thing that makes them who they are. Through the good times and the bad times I love them. I am not a perfect mom and sometimes I wonder if I am cut out for the task- The incredible task of raising these boys who came straight from heaven... I am grateful that I do not have to be perfect, that they love me anyway...that I can work at it and that my Savior makes up the difference. I am grateful that because of Him and through Him, I can be with my family forever and that is what Easter is all about. That is why it is my favorite holiday.

For THAT reason.... and for several other reasons as well...traditions, spring times, egg hunts, egg dying, egg salad sandwiches, baskets, tulips, colors, candy! All of that wrapped together is what I love about Easter! Here are a few of our Easter traditions and happenings this year...

Easter Picnic

Every year since I can remember my mom's family has an Easter picnic. When I was younger we always went up Green Canyon and had a bonfire, a pinata and a Easter egg hunt. We usually went on a hike and just enjoyed exploring and being together. But for the past several years (like 10) it has been too cold and snow covered to even think about the canyon and so we have had the picnic at my grandparents house, back by the garden or huddled around the wood burning stove in Grandpa's shop... always with a big bonfire, a hot dog roast, deviled eggs, salads... you know, pot luck style. The kids love hunting for treats (everyone brings something to hide for all the kids) and we of course still enjoy just being together. Last year, since my Grandpa was sick we had the picnic at our house...He came and pulled the car right up near the fire but had to stay inside where it was warm. This year we had it here at our place again and now that Grandpa is gone it is just not the same... that is how most holidays feel around here when we all get together- like something is missing- Grandpa is missing. Although we know where he is and we still love getting together there is something bitter sweet about our traditions. There is something bitter sweet about death. I miss my Grandpa, I miss hearing his voice calling me "Emily girl." At our Eater picnic I missed Grandpa's black baked potatoes hot from the fire. I always miss him. I am so grateful for the memories and the love- that is what keeps us all together and carrying on these traditions of ours- because life goes on and we continue to build memories even with change... we enjoy, we laugh, we live, we remember and even though things feel different we make the best of it.

The kids lined up ready for the Easter Hunt...

My cousin Jarin got pretty tricky with his hiding and Eli had to climb high to reach the prize

Elsa and Oliver.

They are the best of friends. Just four months apart!

She likes to "help" him and is a little mother already.

Easter Bunny and coloring eggs

The Saturday before Easter we usually go the local market where they give out treats and get the chance to meet the Easter Bunny. Gabe was disappointed because it was a "man-bunny" I told him maybe it was a girl bunny?.... and he said "no, mom (duh) a man was inside the bunny!"

Saturday night we made resurrection rolls ( my friend shared her recipe with me!) We talked about the last week of our Saviors life. His atonement, his death and sacrifice for all of us. When the rolls were done we talked about the empty tomb ... the rolls were empty inside after we baked them. We talked about the resurrection as we enjoyed the hot cinnamon caramelized rolls.... they were fabulous and will be added to our traditions every year from now on!

Then we colored Easter Eggs- EIGHT dozen of them...

I love this picture of Ollie

and this is how he really poses for the camera... scrunched up face, eyes closed all the while saying Cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeese.... kind of cute but mostly it drives me crazy!

Easter Morning

The boys woke up to jelly bean trails all over the floor....and their names written out too! They were so excited to start the day and quickly came upstairs to wake Glen and I. they climbed in bed with us and we read the account of the first Easter from the scriptures. We talked about that first Easter morning and how the Savior was resurrected... He had risen! A nice start to the day but pretty soon Oliver and Gabe started getting restless and were ready to GO- so we all followed the jelly bean trails downstairs...

The Easter Bunny left a few gifts by their names AND the following clue....

They had to go several places ( including outside...brrrrr!) to look for clues in plastic eggs that would lead them to their Easter baskets

They LOVED following the clues and were so excited when they finally found their baskets!

They dumped everything out, ate lots of candy and treats and played for awhile.

Gabe and Oliver have decided that candy is a lot more fun to scoop than sand! Eli suggested we get a sandbox filled with candy.... every kid's dream come true!

We warmed the resurrection rolls from the night before and ate them for breakfast.

And then the boys were ready to start hunting for the eggs that the Easter bunny had hidden all around the house...

As I prepared a few things for our Easter dinner that we were having that night with my brother and his family, the boys got out their Easter duds and once we were all ready we headed off to church. The day was filled with lots of love, plenty of fun and way too many SWEETS!...

A Happy Easter for sure!

I HEART February

2011-03-25T23:27:00.005-06:00

February is famous around here for being dreary- But I love February for a few reasons...

#1 my sisters always come in February
#2 the holiday in February is all about LOVE (I really like LOVE)
#3 we usually get our taxes done quickly and get our tax return in February (nice)

see... I HEART February.

Here are the some highlights...

All winter long in Cache Valley mom's just sort of hibernate. (or maybe it's just me?) We make it through the Christmas bustle and the January blues and then February hits and we just need some LOVE So I decided to host a little LOVE party! I invited a few girls to come over for a Valentine's Day luncheon. I asked them all to bring one of their favorite things and we did a little gift exchange and learned more about each other too! We ate taco salad and fruit. The kids ate chicken nuggets and then played- it was a fun afternoon and I think we all felt the LOVE!

a little valentine on the rocks.... from me!

the place setting... my favorite sour melt in your mouth candies.

The set up... a table for the ladies and a table for the kiddies....

The dessert bar...

the favor boxes... one last Valentine for the road!

The Boys Valentine's Day Class parties...

Gabe's first Valentine's for his preschool class.

We made these for all the boys but somehow I only took pictures of Gabe's final product. Evan and Eli's looked just the same and they all loved the picture of themselves and how they turned out! Homemade and they weren't even that much work!

Here's Eli home from school with the loot...

and then Evan... He had a Valentine etiquette party that included all of the 5th grade students. Earlier in the week they had some kids from the local high school come and role play ways to treat the opposite gender. they talked about manners etc... and then for the Valentine party the kids were suppose to wear their best dress clothes and use good manners. Evan escorted 2 girls to the party and then had to talk to them as they politely ate some refreshments. I asked Evan how it went and he said it wasn't too bad. I asked him what he talked with the girls about and he said they just pretended to talk when the teachers were looking at them. hmmm?

I am usually aware of most of my boys tricks but I sort of forgot about the Valentine treats and didn't set up a plan for consumption. A few days later I went down to gather laundry from Evan and Eli's room and noticed that these envelopes of candy were stuffed into their pillowcases... Come to find out they had been laying in bed every night secretly eating candy after lights were out and teeth were brushed! I was kind of mad.

Starting the beginning of February we set out our "love buckets." the boys really love this tradition of ours! We have a "love station" that is set up with supplies- markers, stickers, paper, treats and some other craft stuff and then as a family we ask everyone to write a note to each person in our family every day leading up to Valentine's day and fill up the love buckets. They boys love getting little treats and notes and were constantly checking their buckets. I love seeing what they write to each other and I love the opportunity we all get just to say nice things about each other. I promise every time we do this- there is less fighting and more loving- its the best! See how great February is?

the buckets start to overflow and so we spread the love by hanging our notes up to remind each other just how much we love we have in our family!

These were some of my favorite love notes this year...

I tried to get a cute picture of my little romeo's... but it was the end of the day and they did not cooperate very well... so this is as good at it gets, oh well! Romeo's? More like stinkers and rag a muffins -but I sure love these boys of mine...

Still to come... Evan's spelling bee, Valentine date night, Jr. Jazz basketball, milestones and ALL the happenings while my sisters were here... yikes!

Random Days

2011-03-11T23:50:00.001-07:00

We are loving this warm spring weather. the snow is starting to melt but there is still enough on the ground so that when the sun shines and reflects on the snow it makes for an even brighter day! YESTERDAY Gabe and Ollie decided that they needed their sunglasses on while they ventured out onto the back patio again and again trying to decide if it were really as warm as it looked! (I don't want to complain...it is warm but not THAT warm yet!)

It was so beautiful outside and we decided that we just had to get out of the house. We picked up Glen for a quick lunch break and after we walked over to the nearby bakery to get a special "after school snack" for Evan and Eli...

After school the weather started to cool down a little more but was still nice enough for these boys of mine who are suffering from spring fever!

Once Glen got home from work we had dinner and then decided last minute to go swimming... Spring fever for sure! It was indoor of course but the smell of chlorine goes hand and hand with summer and the pool water was so warm... it was perfect! The oldest boys and Glen also got in a little racquetball while the babies got showered and jammies on with me....then we headed home and thought that everyone would crash and that we would all get a good nights sleep after all that play... Well that was not the case- Gabe was over tired and whining on the way home- As Glen carried him up to bed he thought he felt warm- sure enough- A fever! Now what?... we have had just about EVERY sickness in the past 2 months- seriously! We gave him some motrin and tucked him into bed hoping he'd be ok. Then later, just as Glen and I were heading off to bed- here came Eli in tears with an ear ache! We figured he had water in his ear from swimming... but nothing we did seemed to relieve the pain. He is tough so when he cries we know it must really be bad! He was in SO much pain all night- he went from our bed to a bed on the floor off and on and just could not get comfortable- he moaned and cried most of the night. And then Gabe joined in half way through the night and between the two of them none of us got any sleep! By morning Eli could not open his mouth and he was so dizzy- was walking around with his head tipped side ways! I called the Dr. fist thing and we took them in and learned Gabe has a double ear infection and both ears are "as bad as they get." And the doctor said it looked like Eli's eardrum would burst any minute and he just had so much pressure in his little ear. Poor poor boys! Having sick kids is so sad! How random that they both had ear infections too! They are on antibiotics today as well as ear drops and pain meds and I prescribed sprite, soup and a movie day... Evan came home from school and found us all asleep on the couch!

So that was our random yesterday (Thursday) and today (Friday) just in case you were wondering! :) I am working on lots of other updates... they just seem to be so much more time consuming- this one was easy so fresh on my mind...and random I like that! I don't like trying to remember and the pressure I put on myself to stay in order etc... - but I am working on it and maybe I will even post a few over the weekend! Now I am off to catch up on some much needed sleep!

Elf phone

2011-01-28T21:25:00.003-07:00

During the month of December as we prepared for Christmas... there was lots curiosity from Gabe concerning Santa. He wanted to know how Santa's reindeer know how to fly, why Santa wears white gloves, How Santa makes all the toys, etc etc etc... I explained the magic of Christmas the best way I could. I would think he was satisfied and then the next day -more questions!... His imagination has no end and we had a lot of fun talking about all of the special traditions that Christmas brings.

One morning Gabe ran over to me with giant eyes and a concerned look on his face. He held his hand out to me in a little fist and said excitedly "MOM, I found an elf phone!" At first I had no idea what he was talking about. "what?" I asked him and he quickly uncurled his fingers and there in his palm was a tiny yellow cell phone.

I sat there trying to make it all connect ... and then it registered "elf phone?" but before I could even think how to answer or what to say about it- Gabe had it all figured out- he was chattering excitedly, full of animation. and this was his story..."An elf came to check and see if we were being naughty or nice. He called Santa to tell him we were being good but then the elf dropped his cell phone on our stairs"... which is exactly where Gabe found it lying! I listened to this story and I stuttered and was a bit flustered but Gabe kept talking. He decided that he was going to turn it on and try to call Santa I nodded still baffled...then Gabe discovered that "the battery was dead!" and "there was no charger- shoot!" Gabe was so worried for this elf who had lost his cell phone... I just watched and listened in shock and disbelief I guess- it was just so sincere and earnest and he was SO excited! I didn't know what to say... look at that face!

I snapped a few pictures and then we decided to put the phone in a special place so that if the elf came the next night - he would find it... Gabe couldn't leave it alone though and while playing he accidentally dropped the phone down into our heat vent... which was a complete disaster because "now the elf was going to be so mad if he couldn't find his cell phone!" We got out the flash light and laid on our bellies peering into the dark dusty vent... but nothing! I even reached my arm into the scary place and could not feel anything... (except spiders and I'm assuming some sort of fur??...yikes!) ! Gabe was more worried. Evan and Eli joined in on the search when they got home from school they had no luck either! The phone was gone! Evan being the fixer that he is-smoothed it over and finally told Gabe that Santa probably has a magic tracker on all of the elf's cell phone's and that with this tracker he would know exactly where the phone is located. He told Gabe that they would be able to come and find it with this "magic cell phone tracker." Gabe bought it and I was relieved... I wondered if Gabe would forget about the phone but he talked about it for days after and every once in awhile he still mentions "the elf phone."

there is not much better than having a three year old around when it's Christmas time. He sure helped to make ours more magical! I am hoping to tell you all about it sometime soon!

by the way, can you believe I have written THREE posts this week? You wanna know how it happened?... Well here is my secret... I have had 3 very sick children and all they wanted to do all week is lay and watch movies- which meant no fixing lunches, no messes (except the occasional puke, of course!) just watching movie after movie- which left me with a little extra time on my hands- so nice!... Don't get me wrong, having sick kids is the pits - It's just been a bit slower pace around here is all! So now with 3 posts done I am feeling the blogging fever coming back and I am hoping to keep it up a little, if I can... no promises, but wish me luck...

Our Kitty For a Day

2011-01-25T23:46:00.003-07:00

In the late fall we noticed a pack of little tiny kitties hanging around outside our house for a few weeks. They didn't appear to have a mother and I was worried about them surviving the winter (go figure....I don't even like cats!) We tried to catch them but they were way too fast! One afternoon Gabe and I heard some whining coming from the garage and upon further investigation we found that we had trapped one of the kitties in our garage by accident. the kitty was terrified and remember I don't like cats... ok...fine, I am scared of them, I will admit it! They are a little stealthy and jumpy which just sort of freaks me out. Kitties are adorable but cats just sort of stare and creep around. Just so you know, I am very brave to admit this because most of the world likes cats and in particular several of my in-laws are cat LOVERS ... so admitting this just might put me at the bottom of the favorite in-law list. (assuming I wasn't there to begin with, but you never know?!:)) So anyway I was a bit nervous to do anything about the kitty all by myself and I knew Gabe would be no help- so when Eli (he is the brave one) got home from school I told him about the kitty and I asked him to go and catch it. He of course was so excited about this special assignment. I have since learned that wild kittens/cats are very dangerous to say the least (I will save the story of Glen's rabid cat bite for later) but at the time I had no idea and seriously this kitty was tiny- like 5 weeks old! How bad could it be?-I figured Eli could handle it and I did sort of helped him- I stood back, up on top of a chair to be exact, and I told Eli what to do! The kitty was out of control- wild! He was scared and running all around the garage trying to hide and then climbing anything within reach to get away- it was pretty insane, like nothing I have ever seen! but amazingly, Eli caught him- my wanna be ninja, and he only had about a dozen scratches (or more) to show for it! I love that kid- he is fearless. We hastily stuffed the kitty under a box... it was quite the process but we had him-he was captured until Glen got home with further skills... or something like that?

Once he got home from work... being the man that he is, Glen stepped right in and to the rescue. He put on his leather gloves and donned his best horse whisper voice... er I mean, cat whisper voice. He was all official... calm and easy and it worked! The kitty loved him, no wild behavior, no scratches... the cat was actually purring. Must be true what they say about animals sensing your fear. I'm sure being chased by a fast child in a confined area with a crazy lady yelling from a top a chair was not very soothing?! But Glen sure had the touch.

the boys were in heaven loving the kitty, petting the kitty, Ollie even kissed the kitty (several times) They could not keep their hands off him... especially Oliver- He was obsessed! I was so afraid he was going to squish the poor thing. He just could not get enough and was shaking he was so excited! I must admit the kitty was so adorable- all black with a pink nose... but I did keep my senses and was sure to keep reminding them all that "we DO NOT do pets" So after lots of loving, bringing the kitty into our house, feeding the kitty warm milk (which we learned is a no-no... thanks a lot Tom and Jerry cartoon people for leading us astray!) wrapping the kitty in a blanket etc... we decided to call our neighbor friends who happen to foster stray cats and help them to find good homes. They told us to bring him over.

So after lots of begging, protesting and some tears... the boys finally gave up and said their goodbye's... Writing that last sentence I am feeling pretty heartless. But seriously, we DO NOT do pets! I am the meanest mom, I know. But I just can't do it. the boys bounced back quickly and after some good meds and therapy they are handling things fairly well now... just kidding...about the therapy and meds- the doing good part is true though... they got over it quickly but still occasionally talk fondly about the black little kitty we had for one day! He was pretty cute and I decided that a one day pet was not too bad!

A few weeks later we found this black kitty's siblings (three of them) hiding out in our garage to stay warm... they were bigger and faster and so we borrowed a cat trap and enticed them with food. They were crazy wild and even with Glen's whisper skills and leather gloves he got bitten when he was transferring one of the kitties from the trap to a holding box. He was suppose to start on antibiotics and get a tetanus shot and there was talk of- terminating the cat... It was a BIG deal! We have no insurance and so Glen being the man that he is opted to take his chances and wait until he started dying to pay for the meds... He is not dead yet but I have noticed his eye teeth in particular are more pointy and his chest hair is black - maybe I should be worried (wink, wink)

So after all that we still agree that we DO NOT do pets
and NO more kitties around here, not even for a day!

a long time ago...

2011-01-25T10:07:00.003-07:00

I pretty much want to cry when I look at this lonely blog of mine... I miss it. so. much! I wish I had just one extra hour a day- ok maybe five... and then I just might be able to have a clean house AND update my blog! I don't get how people do it... something has to give in order for me to sit and write and upload and right now, there is nothing that can give...and so, my blog is oh so sad! I avoid clicking on the "my pictures" file because if I do, I see ALL of my adorable pictures and the memories flood my mind but there are lots of holes in those memories because they are from a long time ago... well at least a few months ago, but that is all it takes for me!...Glen says I should forget the past ( no pun intended!) and just start fresh- today! I say I should run away for a weekend- OR TWO and just lounge in the sun (far away) cuddled up with my laptop... THAT would be grand! But that will not be happening anytime soon... so for now I have just been avoiding it- avoiding everything and everyone at least in the blog world... but then I remember...and I get sucked back in! I can never stay away too long-

so here I am -back for a minute because I did it. I clicked on the "my pictures" file.

....and then I saw these pictures of my naked babies from last summer and I decided - I am writing a post! I love these pictures but mostly I love remembering how my heart would warm all summer... everyday as I would see these two little tow heads bobbing along as they rode side by side over bumps and hills round and around our house... over and over and over again.

We pulled out this jeep, which used to belong to Evan and Eli when they were small and we cleaned it up, bought a new battery and gave it to Gabe for his birthday... oh by the way, Gabe turned THREE back in May, he had a really awesome cake and presents and he did and said the most adorable things... he still does really... but oh that's right, I NEVER wrote about his birthday or told how he and Oliver had a combined party...boo hoo!!...that's right I NEVER write about his adorable self or any of these boys of mine.... boo hoo!! See? it breaks my heart... but lets get back to the jeep for now... Gabe was always the driver with Oliver his trusty side kick, buckled in, right next to him. They drove this jeep, I am not kidding- EVERY day! Oliver was usually the instigator- pointing and grunting each time he would see the jeep ("jeep" might have been his first word?... too bad I can't remember for sure... just kidding...) Gabe, wanting to prove his status as BIG brother, was happy to oblige and off they would ride... into the sun set or at least until sun set most days! These babies of mine got so good at this jeep that there were a few days when I was not the most stellar mother and I would find them with the jeep pulled out of the garage and Oliver sitting up tall in the seat- all buckled! Gabe would heave him up into the seat and strap him in and then climb around to his side... best buddies -and cutest thing ever! And you have never seen a better driver. I am sure Gabe could pass drivers ed. quick reflexes, defensive driving, he followed all the rules, no one was run over... he was good! oh and p.s. -Gabe went through this "naked phase" where I would find him in the buff or with just his undies on randomly throughout the day? Driving naked doesn't seem that great to me- but he sure wanted to do it all the time there for awhile...

I wish I had video because really, the head bobbing was the cutest!

...this pose from Gabe... might actually be the cutest...

Well that's the end and it does feel nice to check one off the list even though it's from a long time ago. To look back is always nice too... I miss those warm summer days and will continue to write randomly about them I am sure... For now we are loving the cold winter (with snow today!) I love the mysterious fog, the crystallized trees, snow, the need to cuddle under a blanket and wear slippers inside and furry, boots scarves and mittens outside! skiing, sledding and snow ball fights are some of our favorite things and someday maybe I will tell about the things we are doing to enjoy that NOW...

farewell until then...

Another Year

2010-12-20T00:11:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I am the mother of an ELEVEN year old... that's right, Evan turned eleven in September! A big milestone that accompanied his birthday was his advancement in the scouting program! Evan loves scouts and is very diligent and dedicated to his duties. He earned his webelos patch, his religious knot and his arrow of light... It took a lot of work and memorizing and goal setting and we are so proud of him!

When ever the boys earn a badge- the mom gets an accompanying pin (since she does all the nagging along the way, I suppose) I told Glen I am going to get a hat or a scarf of something and wear it to all these den meetings... adding pins for several years to come- I will have quite a collection with these four boys of mine! A hat covered with scouting pins could actually be kind of cute, right? ...Or is all the chanting, cheering, hanging upside down stuff at pack meetings just starting to warp my judgment... you can tell me! There are some great things about scouting but seriously- It is a BOY thing for sure! Just promise you'll have an intervention if I start sporting a yellow den mother shirt ok?

On the morning of his Birthday Evan woke to the usual... streamers, balloons, signs and donuts for breakfast!

That night he chose to eat at Juniper Take out for dinner... He invited grandma and grandpa

Right after taking these pictures I dropped the camera on the tile floor at the restaurant and it broke into a million pieces... I am sure Evan got some really great presents and probably had a cake too... I honestly cannot remember, neither can Glen... I am not going to wake Evan up to ask him right now so let's just assume it was one awesome birthday celebration!

I will end by telling you that I do not know how I would survive without this sweet boy of mine! Evan is so reliable and responsible. He is able to see what needs to be done and is quick to step in and help! He even changes diapers and is the best babysitter around! Evan has a special gift for noticing others and being sensitive to them He often gives up what he would like to have or do to make me or his little brothers happy. He is patient and plays for hours with Oliver and Gabe... building them train tracks and lego sets, playing pretend. Evan does not complain...(unless I ask him to wash the dishes- the one job he despises) Every Saturday and Sunday morning Gabe wakes up and heads downstairs and crawls in bed with Evan....Sometimes Evan will read him some stories, take him potty and then get him breakfast before the rest of us are even awake! Evan is a good friend and leader. He is oh so smart and curious, he has an incredible memory and can read a book (a big one) in a day! Evan loves to play all sports and go to games or watch them on TV. He is kind of shy about it... but Evan is a really great dancer- He has great moves and rhythm and often leads the family in late night dance off's! I love his smile and blue eyes. I love his heart- He wants and tries so hard to be good. He is a deep thinker and bit of a worrier. He is stubborn and confident and has lots of good ideas.

Evan is such a great kid- I'm not just saying that because I'm his mom either!

We are so lucky that he is ours!

We love him more than words can express...

Happy Birthday... can't you stay 11 forever?

"Marshmallow Cookies"

2010-11-14T16:56:00.009-07:00

One afternoon a couple of months ago, Oliver was taking a nap... Gabe was working on some puzzles and I was talking on the phone...

As I was talking I walked outside to take out the garbage- I lingered out on the back patio- the sunshine felt so nice... not sure how long I was outside, couldn't have been more than 5 minutes, maybe 7...

It was long enough for Gabe to get an idea, make and plan and A MESS... I walked in the house took one look at the scene and before I even had time to get mad... I glanced at my Gabe, there he sat grinning from ear to ear, proud as can be... as he excitedly told me that he was making marshmallow cookies for US to eat. He said in a shrill little voice "I learned to make them mom -and I just did it!...
I know how to make like you!"

I couldn't crush his moment and honestly the minute I saw his bright eyes and puffed up chest as he showed off his creation the mad was no where to be found! I just said "Wow.... how did you make them?" Turns out he found an open brownie mix in the pantry dumped it into a bowl added some water from his cup and sprinkled in some marshmallows, also found in the pantry. He kept stirring it and tasting it... telling me it was delicious... I decided to take his word for it

and that is when the mischief REALLY started with Gabe... late summer! Since then, there have been markers on the wall, game cards scattered throughout the house, things broken, scissors used, whole rolls of toilet paper unrolled etc... terrible two's? no way!! THREE is when the terrible happens for my boys... and Gabe has this adorable way of being terrible!

Trick or Treat...

2010-11-11T16:49:00.002-07:00

Our camera broke on Evan's birthday in September... I dropped it! Since then we have been trying to decide on what camera to purchase to replace it and really, if we could even make the purchase... things have been rough to say the least with this dwindling economy. the travel industry was especially hit hard... Glen's pay checks have also dwindled... so you know ...great timing!! You've heard of the saying when it rains it pours... Well it is ture! The camera fell to the bottom of about 100 other needs :) but how do you live without a camera... We tried that and it was really sad to know that we were not capturing precious moments so we are eating ramen noodles for every meal this month but have a new camera! Just kidding it is not quite that bad... yet! So we decided to try some camera's out... went through 3 that we disliked for various reasons and we finally settled on one that works and will be fine... Happy early Birhtday to Glen I guess!! Anyway so the camera we used for the Halloween pictures was one that we returned - it was not nice and the pictures are also not nice but hey we have documentation that we did celebrate and party it up this year, just like the rest! Here is our proof...

This was the first year the Evan and Eli didn't really care much about what they dressed up as... the fifth grade students at school did a Zombie dance to Micheal Jackson's song Thriller. Instead of trading costumes for the assembly and dance Evan just decided to be a Zombie- it worked out great. I didn't have any old clothes that I wanted to shred so Glen picked up a doctor costume on clearance and we turned Evan into a

Zombie Doctor... pretty spooky huh?

Eli was in love with the new Karate Kid movie that recently came out... after seeing Evan's face paint he debated about being a Karate Zombie but in the end decided to just go with being Karate Kid... He has the moves down and was chopping, punching and kicking like the real deal... He was one awesome karate kid!

Gabe was the cutest little Buzz Lightyear EVER thanks to my cute friend Brooke. She called me a few weeks before Halloween and said she had costumes that I could borrow for both of my littlest boys if I was interested. Of course I said yes and they were adorable. Gabe loved dressing up as Buzz and wore the costume to our ward Halloween carnival and to preschool but by the time trick or treating came around and he got a chance to sort through our "Halloween box" he decided that he wanted to be a tiger (Evan's old costume that was a size too small...) It surprisingly fit for the most part and was warm - I didn't have anymore fight left in me - why is Halloween so stressful- too many places to be, things to do... people to dress etc... So I said yes and he was super cute in both costumes of course!

While Oliver had a nap Glen took these three spooks out for some trick or treating...

Oliver woke up and I got him ready to join in on the fun...

He was Nemo

Such a cute costume...he wanted nothing to do with the accompanying hat so I decided to spray his hair to look like a fin... he couldn't rip that off!. The pictures do not even do justice to how cute he was in that round suit... bad camera, poor lighting and a boy who never stops running are all a bad combination for photo's so I am sad about that because seriously he was edible. Best part was the back - as he would waddle around the little tail fin swished back and forth, back and forth...it was so so so cute!

We visited grandma Murray who had her trick or treat candy beautifully arranged on a crystal platter... the boys thought it was very fancy of her! she always adds the grandma touch to everything, making things memorable and special- I love her so much and can't help but feel a tug on my heart everytime we visit. there is a tremendous absense without grandpa there I missed hearing him tell the boys how great they looked in their costumes and watching him give each one a hug! I miss him every minute and I know

grandma misses him even more!

Then we went to see my mom and Dad and they gave out the usual capri sun drinks in a big black witches couldron .. the boys look forward to it every year!

It was raining and a bit soggy so I stayed at my parents house with Gabriel and Oliver for awhile. Glen is the worlds greatest Dad and he offered to drive the boys and some of their friends around until they were ready to call it quits which ended up being around 10:30 PM!

they got a LOT of candy to say the least and they had a great time too!

Despite all the places to go and people to dress...Halloween IS one of my favorite holidays! We celebrated all week long. I have a few more festivities to write about (not to mention about 100 posts to catch up on!) but for now my time is up... Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Walk

2010-11-07T16:49:00.002-07:00

We have been helping create a scene at the pumpkin walk since we moved back to Cache Valley 2 1/2 years ago so this was our third year to be part of it. (Click here and here to find out more about what the pumpkin walk is) We do the pumpkin walk with some of our neighbors. It is so fun to be together as we brainstorm and plan and set up. They are all very talented people and most of all FUN!! having a bunch of us pull it together makes it doable! The theme for the Pumpkin Walk this year was "The Magic of Animation" All of the scene's were really cute this year! ...Our scene was Madagascar! One of the best movies ever made! I love the characters in that movie so it was a really fun to try to re- create them out of pumpkins and gourds, squash, produce etc...

The week just before the walk opens I get stressed... shhhhhh don't tell Sandy- but it is a lot of work! She is the one who recruited us and she says no one can do it if they are stressed- it is not suppose to stress anyone out- it is just for FUN etc... well that's nice of her to say and all but I do, get a little stressed and I usually end up saying ... "next year I am only doing ONE thing and all I am going to do is make that ONE thing and deliver it... that's it! I am not going to worry about how my ONE thing looks and the whole set up- I am just going to do the minimum blah blah blah"... Well every year although I feel stress, I just can't do it- I get started and I can't stop! There is something so magical about the pumpkin walk. It is challenging and there is this sense of accomplishment in turning stuff from the garden into animals and people and stories... I LOVE it! It is such a great creative outlet! the first year we started helping I remember Sandy holding up gourds and turning them in her hand saying this would make the perfect duck or turtle and she'd find leaves for ears and corn cobs for horns.... cat tails for hair...she could just look at produce and get a vision- I thought she was crazy... but now I am getting the crazy too!... I looked at a squash this year and thought that is the prefect head for Melman the giraffe... and it was! It is just so addicting and FUN. I am so glad that we get to be a part of it- Glen came every day after work and rigged stuff up and built crates and painted and painted and painted.... so did the boys - I picked them up after school and we headed over to work on the scene...they love it! I am so glad that my mom was able to babysit the littles so that we could help again this year.

... here is our Madagascar creation...

One half of the scene was the city... at the zoo and then the other half was in Madagascar. In the zoo above is Alex the lion, Marty on his treadmill and the penguins (my favorite!)

Over in Madagascar there was ... the statue of Gloria (that they built on the movie), King Julian and his sidekicks, Melman, the little old MEAN lady with her purse, and the monkeys

I signed up to make the monkeys , they were my ONE thing

but I told you how that goes...

Pretty cute if you ask me and it was about 100 times better in real life! It was a lot of work this year, we were sort of short handed... but there is nothing better to do mid October....want to help next year?
Let us know...We will be there!

Just a glimpse

2010-10-06T21:43:00.002-06:00

My grandpa's obituary was in the newspaper today. I cried when I read it. My Mom and Dad wrote my grandpa's obituary (with a little advice and some thoughts from other family members too) Maybe I am a little biased- but I think that they did a great job, I love it- It is personal and thoughtful and not just because it's about my grandpa. Most people think their grandpa is pretty swell...well my grandpa Murray was a dream. The kind of grandpa that everyone should have. The kind of grandpa that could be told about in fairy tales... The kind of grandpa that holds a place forever in your heart... Oh, I miss him! This week as my thoughts have turned to him often, my heart can barely take it, but it is the thoughts and memories of him and my knowledge and faith in the gospel that comes to the rescue every time. I think his obituary gives great insight as to what a great man he was to those people who were not fortunate enough to know him. As for those of us who did know him, it is just a glimpse of his life and the thoughts and memories we hold so dear in our hearts. Just a glimpse of what we know and love so dearly about him.

Clair Murray (1928 - 2010)

Clair Murray peacefully passed away, Saturday, Oct. 2, 2010. Clair was born March 16, 1928, in Wellsville, Utah, to Parley Parker and Ida Poppleton Murray. He was the youngest of four children.
Clair graduated from South Cache High School where he excelled in track and basketball. He married his high school sweetheart, Irene Krebs, April 15, 1948, in the Logan LDS Temple. They were blessed with six children: Kevin (Gae) Murray, Karen (Kim) Evans, Tammy (Michael) Tullis, Jolene (Cory) Wood, Jason (Rachel) Murray and Jeff (Rose) Murray. One of Clair's greatest joys was spending time with his family. During the last years of his life he enjoyed getting together with family every Sunday, eating meals in the backyard, sharing memories, and just visiting.

At an early age, Clair learned to work on the family farm. He valued the importance of hard work as exemplified throughout his life. He learned to build homes and became a general contractor and started his own business, Clair Murray Construction. His craftsmanship, integrity and attention to detail soon earned him a reputation as one of the finest builders in Cache Valley. As he built homes around the valley he also made lifelong friendships. He had a gift working with wood, creating many beautiful and unique items, including tables, chairs, and a variety of toys for grandchildren: camp chairs, birdhouses and cedar chests. He spent months building a beautiful canoe made out of cedar strips, a treasured item that our family will always enjoy. Clair could build, repair, install or assemble anything. He willingly assisted with our many projects and was always there whenever we needed his help. We will miss being able to ask for his advice and learn from his wisdom.

He had a love for learning, and was constantly trying new things. He took computer classes while in his 70s. He enjoyed sending and receiving e-mails. We always looked forward to receiving the computer generated birthday cards he sent. He took a public speaking class when he was called to serve in a USU student ward. He was always trying to improve himself. In the final years of his life he devoted many hours to family indexing entering more than 38,000 names.

Clair loved the outdoors. He enjoyed fishing, hunting, camping, hiking and skiing with family and friends. He knew all the mountains and canyons in Cache Valley by name. We loved hearing the stories he would tell about them. He passed his love and appreciation of nature on to his posterity.
Clair was a faithful member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He served as a home teacher, nursery leader (with Irene), Sunday School and MIA secretary, bishopric counselor in a USU single student ward, Pioneer Branch clerk, and in the Logan Temple baptistery.

One highlight of his life was serving an LDS mission with Irene in the first group of missionaries at the Mormon Handcart Visitors Center. He helped build handcarts and repair some of the buildings. While serving, they were able to spend some personal time with president and sister Gordon B. Hinckley. They loved to talk about this experience and share the pictures taken of them with President Hinckley. Dad made a small replica of a handcart for each of us and we will remember his missionary service whenever we think about the pioneers.

Throughout his life, Clair maintained an attitude of gratitude, always counting his blessings. He won the admiration and respect of caregivers, nurses, doctors and all who had the opportunity to assist him as he courageously faced his chemotherapy treatments and increased dependence on others.
He always said thank you, for even the smallest acts of service that he received. Although his caregivers only knew him a short time they loved him and appreciated his attitude. Some of his final words were whispered expressions of thanks to them. Dad taught us many things by example, but perhaps this was one of the most important lessons: to always say thank you for kindnesses that are shown to us by others.

The Murray family wishes to express our gratitude to Dr. Ali Ben-Jacobs and his nurses, the staff at Legacy House, and Access Hospice for their compassion and care.

Clair is survived by his loving wife, Irene, six children and their spouses, 25 grandchildren, 29 great-grandchildren and his sister, Ida. He was preceded in death by his parents, his brother, Parley, and his sister Eunice.

Funeral services will be held at the North Logan Stake Center, 2750 North 800 East, at 12 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 8, 2010. Interment will be in the Logan City Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, please donate to the LDS Church General Missionary Fund. Condolences may be extended to family online at www.allenmortuaries.net.

Grandpa

2010-10-02T16:32:00.006-06:00

My sweet grandpa passed away early this morning.

There were some real miracles and answers
to prayers that we witnessed with his passing.

Although we will miss him tremendously

we are grateful that he is free of pain and suffering. He is
now reunited with many loved ones and I can only imagine how long the line
of people is, of those for whom he did temple work - I'm sure they

have been waiting to greet him and thank him :)

My grandpa was one of the greatest men I know! I was lucky to live near him my entire life and to be influenced by him daily. That is a rare thing.

Oh, how I love him.

His earthly journey is complete and he is back home! What comfort the knowledge
of that brings- I am grateful to KNOW it!

Yesterday morning I called my mom to check in and ask about grandpa- something that has been routine the past few weeks as his health has been rapidly declining. My mom encouraged me to bring the boys to see him. When they got home from school I talked to them about grandpa Murray and told them that we should go see him- that he was not doing well. We talked about all of the things that they love about grandpa and what things they have learned from him and how we should be sure to tell him how much he means to us! They each drew a picture for grandpa to take to him. Evan wrote "I love you, I will always remember you." Eli wrote a poem "Roses are red, violets are blue I love being with you. You've taken me fishing more than twice you are always so nice. I love you. I will miss you." We traced Gabe's hand and he drew a picture of a fish for grandpa. As we drove I kept thinking that this would probably be the last time that my boys would see their great grandpa. It was a sobering thought but it was quickly replaced with peace as I thought of the great impact my grandpa has had on these boys of mine and his entire family. That we have been a part of his life has been such a blessing! My grandpa, although just one man, has influenced countless lives. That is just the kind of man he is- the quiet humble kind that you can't help but love, immediately and fully! He lived a great life filled with love and happiness, service and family.

When we got to my grandparents place, we hung the boys pictures on the wall and visited with grandma for a while. Grandpa was unable to talk to the boys but we knew that he could hear us. We knew that he would love to hear them singing and thought that he would find comfort in listening to them. What a tender moment it was to listen to and see the love in their eyes as Evan and Eli earnestly sang their favorite primary song to him. "I know that my Savior loves me." Such a powerful song, the spirit was so strong in that room and I know that grandpa loved it!

I didn't think that he would pass away just hours later.

It was a peaceful morning as we gathered around his bedside early this morning to gain

strength from each other and to support my grandma whom he loves dearly. Their love is endless and has been an example to me my entire life... Yes, we will all miss grandpa. I will think of him every time I see a sunset, a curly cup in spring, pussy willows, quaking aspens, bird houses, carpenter tools.... Every time I eat licorice, walnuts, smoked fish or grilled turkey... Every time I smell saw dust or wood, a bon fire, and mountain air. Many of the things that I love in life- I learned to love because of him.

Everywhere I turn there are reminders of grandpa.

How lucky I am to have known him well enough to have so many reminders and memories of him! How lucky I am to have been loved so dearly by him
and in return to love him right back.

...Until we meet again, my sweet grandpa- I love you!

Frog

2010-09-24T09:19:00.004-06:00

A few weeks ago Eli and a few of his cousins caught a frog. We were at my grandparents house having a pot luck dinner in the back yard. Here they came with a bucket, so proud of their find. They all took turns holding the frog. Eli tried to scare me with the frog but it didn't work- frogs just happen to have a little place in my heart (I owned one for a few days as a child, it was the size of a quarter. Cutest thing EVER! I knew my mom would never let me keep it so I put it in a tupperware bowl ... in the corner of the garage, thinking there were lots of flies in there for it to catch- for some reason my frog didn't make it for very long in that "habitat"- but that is a whole other story...) I figured the boys would let him go when it was time to leave but Eli put on his best puppy dog face with tears and all - I could not say "no" even though we DO NOT do pets! I reluctantly told him that we could keep it for ONE day- that was it! and I meant it!

Next thing I know Glen had brought up an aquarium from the basement, cleaned it out and the frog was in heaven
... so much for ONE day.

At first I didn't mind the frog. We put him in the front room where he was out of the way. Then after a few days (seriously that is all it took) the boys started to lose interest in frog. Didn't feed him some mornings, didn't change the water in his swimming hole etc... Well this started to bother me... I began thinking about frog and worrying that I would be the one to find him dead and I had already killed one too many frogs in my lifetime- I couldn't bear the thoughts of finding another dead frog on my watch. Glen seemed to get a kick out of my worrying, The boys could care less... finally I couldn't take it anymore... the frog was no longer swimming, he seemed sad and looked a little more green than usual... One night I begged Glen to let frog go, be free and find his family. he started to give me a hard time saying frog was fine but finally my ranting got through to him!! He got a cup with a lid and scooped up our cute little frog. He asked me if I wanted to give frog a kiss goodbye. (I didn't) Then, in his pajamas and bare feet Glen drove frog up to the canal and let him go... watched him swim away. Just like I asked him to.( I love him!)

I liked that frog... maybe a little too much- See why we DO NOT do pets- I can't handle the thought of losing them, finding them dead or sick...
Oh, and besides I am scared of cats, dogs stink, hamsters escape, fish die...
all of this is why WE DO NOT DO PETS!!

Farewell Frog

Preschool

2010-09-23T23:24:00.003-06:00

Gabe started preschool a couple of weeks ago. He couldn't wait to wear his new backpack!

He was excited for the first day of preschool until the big day arrived and then he was a little reluctant to go. He is tender and shy- new things make him nervous. He likes me... a lot! That is one reason why we thought preschool would be good for him... His teacher lives just down the street (actually used to be his nursery leader at church- She goes by teacher Natalie but Gabe calls her Sister Natalie -Don't tell the ACLU) and there are only 6 other kids in his class- four of them are his friends from our neighborhood. I knew this would be the perfect fit for him- not everything new! I left him there that first day (look at that face of his... it was the hardest thing to leave him!) and I questioned myself wondering if he was ready. Just two hours later, when I went to pick him up, that question was answered when he waved at me with a grin from ear to ear on his little face and then excitedly told me about all the fun he had! I thought he might continue to be hesitant to go the next few times after that first day, but to my surprise (and relief) he loves it!

Thanks to the leap frog letter's DVD he knows all of his letters of the alphabet and what sound they make too! (if you don't have this DVD you have to get it...I like to pretend that I sit and teach him all those things, so this is our little secret ok ... that I pop in a movie and he is now brilliant! I am pathetic....I know! ... but seriously it works, go buy it!

I won't bore you with the usual speech that follows these milestone posts, you know the one ... I cannot believe how fast time flies and that another one of my babies is off to school (well, preschool anyway)

except I just did! oops!

I will however, tell you for the millionth time that I am in love with my little Gabe.
he pretty much, makes me melt!

Back to School

2010-09-22T19:57:00.000-06:00

Oh how I MISS my big boys since school has started and not just because they are thee best helpers and babysitters around... ok ok just so this isn't the kind of post that makes you want to roll your eyes I have to add that they do get on my nerves and fight a lot sometimes...and their room... it is messy! but back to missing them... I was saying that I miss them not only for their baysitting (but must admit that is HUGE part of it) I also miss eating lunch with them, I miss their sleepy faces and hanging out in pajamas until noon. I miss forts in the backyard, hearing them laugh and splash in the pool...days spent at the park...I miss Eli always catching bugs and creatures and trying to scare me with them. I miss Evan always with a plan- making lemonade, setting up paint projects, and leading the fun!

I miss it...I miss them so why does it feel so nice when summer comes to an end and we are finally back to a schedule? it's a strange thing to love both things so much... freedom and a schedule... which is better?

I love the start of school...waking up with purpose, eating breakfast around the table as we read scriptures, family prayer and then kisses and hugs and off to school... It is a whirlwind day at home with the two littles and that is usually what the house looks like by mid morning- like it's been in the path of a whirlwind! (ok, really it looks like that all the time lately!) I am trying to figure out how to juggle when to work and when to play and when to run errands and when to get things done. It doesn't sound as hard- as it is, I promise! These littles of mine want to play and mess and although I love play, I do not like mess- and I have to get things done!! Ah the life of a mom is full of trying to figure it out... I'm thinking that by the time I figure it out- they will be all grown up and by then it won't matter anymore.

a little after 3 o' clock I sit on the front porch with Gabe and Ollie...waiting to greet our long lost boys... I love that first glimpse we get of them after a long day. Oliver gets so excited and they all exchange hugs, knuckles, head bonks (boy stuff) From there it is wash hands, eat a snack while we talk about the day. I started a new thing this school year where I've challenged the boys to look for ways and go out of their way to do something for someone else and then after school we talk about it. It has been really fun and they get so proud as they tell their stories. I have noticed a big difference in them. After talking about the day it's on to homework, piano practice, chores and then soccer-games or practice then throw scouts in the mix and every night- the schedule is busy!

I can't choose one over the other.
As for now a schedule is nice and at the same time I sure miss freedom, lazy days... and these boys of mine!

Crazy For You

2010-09-12T20:29:00.001-06:00

Our oldest niece on Glen's side of the family who happens to share my name! (wish we shared the same voice talent... but no, she is amazing!) Was the lead (aka: SUPER- STAR) in her middle school's musical. They preformed towards the end of the school year and we wouldn't have missed it! The musical was... 'Crazy for you.' I t was a cute story with great songs and dancing and Emily even got to smooch a few loooong times with the "main guy" whoot woo- It was just a little weird to watch those parts -and I'm only her aunt- I can't imagine what her DAD must have been thinking! (wink, wink... just kidding Em!) We knew that Oliver and Gabe would never sit through it all so Glen was gracious enough to let me go on a double date- double, as in... I had two handsome boys on my arm- Evan and Eli! They felt pretty grown up going to their first musical and were so excited to see a few of their aunts and cousins who were in town for the big event! Not to mention the much anticipated 'kissing' :)

Evan , Maddie and Avery

Layne, Eli and Will

here is the beautiful SUPER STAR with Evan and Eli

and all the cousins, who she shared her roses with!

We stayed the night at Glen's parents house and were able to hang out with Holly, Melinda and Sarah and the girl cousins pictures above, from Montana. We sat around and played games, went to a local park and probably out to dinner, I might have done a target run??... seems like we hit Red Mango for yogurt? I can't really remember the details because it was way back in May... and that is just proof that getting behind on blogging is not a good idea... details are lost! Luckily I have pictures to remind me but it's not quite the same. Here is my proof that we were at the park....

Glen with his beautiful mom four little boys

I love that I captured Gabe's true feelings for Layne...just look at his face!

He adores her and loved that he had ALL of her attention

blurry... but adorable! Ollie kept tipping over on the slide because he was trying to clap his hands-

he was so excited about going fast!

love that scrunched up nose

Tricky Gabe

The crew...

I love this baby of mine...

just starting to walk...adorable!

To wrap it up...
the musical was 'Crazy For you'
... the boys feel crazy about their cousins... so it was a perfect crazy weekend!
how is that for cheese? It's about as creative as I get these days! :)

until next time... which is hopefully tomorrow!

Memorial Day

2010-09-09T11:21:00.001-06:00

Logan Cemetery

With Family

thinking about and missing our loved ones

love him

2010-09-08T23:16:00.002-06:00

When you see him... you can't help but love him

I mean, look at those white curls, the full lips that turn up in just the perfect place and those eyelashes...
Him standing there with one hand in his pocket... such a romeo
yes, I turned up his collar...a little preppy but he can pull off... well, every look! Really he should be a model

I'm just sayin'

And you think looking at him is love?
well you should hear his voice... high and expressive
his laugh is like wind chimes
and his heart...is oh, so tender... he is good, through and through- So much good that when there is bad... it's really not that bad...

I love him.

Even when I catch him doing this...

with my expensive make-up and 'special occasion' red lipstick
(apparently he has been taking notes... or has just had a lifetime of watching me get ready. it's scary how he got everything in just the right place...)

One minute he's doing that and then the next it's this...

all the while batting his eyelashes over those big beautiful eyes ... his little voice chattering
and his heart- so tender.

Can't help but Love him can you?

Rocket Power

2010-09-07T15:15:00.001-06:00

Evan and his friend Matt decided to enter the Science Fair at school last year (in March). When I was growing up we HAD to do a science project for school, there was no option not to participate. As I kid I didn't like that and neither did my parents. I remember always putting it off until the night before and then scrambling with my dad to try to make something that worked. I'm pretty sure I like science... sort of ! But I always wish that I liked it more, you know?... a wanna be science and math wizz I guess! (who isn't?) It is something that just does not come naturally to me... ok even with a lot of work on my part it doesn't ever really come. :) anyway I was so happy when Evan and his friend took on this optional project with no encouragement and not much help either. They made a rocket out of a plastic 2 liter bottle. Thier project was about rocket power and there's all this science mumbo jumbo that Evan told me about-- how it works and something about velocity and pressure . He used some pretty big words but as you can see ... it went in one ear and out the other ... just like back when I was in school... hmmmm. They had to present and explain their project to judges who came from Utah State University Science department. They also had to write up an explanation and make a display for the school to see. they really did a lot of work that I knew nothing about. I was so proud of Evan! They did lots of work and also did a great job with their presentation.

Evan and Matt got a blue ribbon! First place!

I'm currently trying to invent a serum that will clone Evan's drive, determination and responsibility tendencies and give it to my 3 other boys, just in case they need it! (on second thought I think I'll hire it out)

Man, I love this boy!

My very own 'Walter the Wolf ' ( it's a children's book... my siblings will get the comparison!)

Just because

2010-09-07T14:44:00.003-06:00

For some reason I am NOT suppose to share pictures or write a post about our Easter. Everytime I try... my pictrues upload sideways or I can't get the pictures (that are sideways) to move down a little to allow space for writing... I have never had this problem except for with this Easter post. I tried to do work on it about a month ago... but had these problems! I have tried it about 3 times since then... same problem! I have decided that I am just going to have to skip Easter for now... I promise I am not trying to get out of work! It is just driving me crazy. Don't get the wrong impression, I am not the type of girl who throws her hands in the air when the going gets tough.... Just not sure what else to do. So I'm moving on. Maybe I'll try the Easter thing again and ask my computer genius husband to help me! As for now, here are a few random pictures of little Oliver, back when he was 11 months old... couldn't even walk then. .. awwww the time flies! He used to try to lift his feet off of the grass- didn't like the feel of it on his toes when we'd sit him in it. In these pictures he has the cutest little sleepy face- since these were taken just after his nap!

I miss this baby... now he's almost all grown up! (He just turned 16 months old this week and finally hit 20 pounds too!!)

Spring Break

2010-09-06T20:35:00.001-06:00

My birthday usually falls on or around Easter, General conference weekend or Spring break. I like my spring birthday I just wish it didn't mean that with each passing year (minute, really) I am getting OLD. Just thinking about how close I am to 35-- (two years to go) makes me feel like I need to breath into a paper bag!

This year my birthday was during Spring Break and so we decided to celebrate both occasions with a little trip to Salt Lake. My friends from Lehi planned a girls night out for dinner at Cafe Rio for me the first night we were there. We checked into our hotel and then I dropped Glen and the boys off at his parents home and I left to meet my friends... I miss these girls SO much! (not all of them were able to come... there are several missing from the picture that I love too!) I only lived in Lehi for one year but I think about my friends there all the time. They are the kind of friends who get in your heart and never leave! We had a great time catching up, had lots of girl talk, lots of laughs...it was hard when it was time to wrap it up and say goodbye. Thanks to Emily (pictured far right) for planning and arranging and thanks to everyone for making me feel so special!

Sunny Jo, (cute Ethan on her hip) Tricia, me and Em

The next day was my birthday...Glen and the boys surprised me with cake for breakfast! YUM! We walked around the beautiful grounds at temple square. the spring flowers were beautiful! We ate lunch at Five Guys burgers and fries in Bountiful... BEST burgers around and the fries are tasty too...washed it down with a diet coke- ate candy and treats all day...on birthdays calories don't count, right? ...it was heaven! Then we went to the Davis County Rec center and had a blast at their indoor water park!

We had such a great time! It was wonderful to get away for a few days...
even if just a few hours away from home!

Elijah's Birthday

2010-09-05T15:30:00.004-06:00

So.... I found this post half written and decided that I needed to finish it! I am so sad about this whole SO behind with my blog stuff. I am going to try so hard to get caught up. When I found this post of eli's birthday WAy back in December... that's NINE months ago! I realized that I also never posted about our Christmas trip to California, Disneyland, riding bikes along the boardwalk, the beach, the Rose parade... I have to add that so be watching for a Chrismtas post from... seriously, nine months ago! ... And then I will get on with the rest of the cathing up. I am setting a deadline and I am going to get this blogback to life- I am pretty certain that I have it in me to do it... now if I can just find the time.... As for the old post, here it is....
Eli turned 8 in December. He woke up to house full of streamers and balloons and we had donuts and juice for breakfast . Eli went to school and took candy canes to share with his classmates.

That evening Eli requested sticky fingers from wingers for dinner. They are little bits of heaven, spicy and sweet and oh so sticky. My friend Sunny introduced sticky fingers to me when we lived in Lehi and it was love at first taste... I ate a few too many of them when I was pregnant with Oliver... I wanted them everyday... maybe that's why Oliver is so spicy. Anyway I reluctantly shared a few of my sticky fingers with Eli and he has been hooked ever since. He is not posing for this picture, seriously... he loves them that much!

This one however, is a pose... what a funny boy!

Eli opened presents that evening and was so excited about getting his very own snow cone machine! Thanks to my mom and Dad for the perfect present!!

On the weekend Eli had a "cousins" birthday party. We had his cousins over for a few games, cake and ice cream and then we took everyone ice skating.

Eli wanted an X games cake. I was going to order a fancy one but everywhere I checked was WAY over my budget so Glen said he'd decorate the cake. He usually does the cakes around here anyway. It was just sort of last minute and I had no idea how he was going to pull of X games? As you can see... the cake is not very prefessional looking but you should have seen Eli's reaction when he saw his cake. He couldn't stop smiling and gazing and I'm sure imaging all the tricks those guys could do "if only they could come alive" he said! He LOVED the cake! Thanks again Glen for coming through and making a perfect cake!

When I had Eli I had people give me lots of sympathy for having a "December baby" everyone told me "birthday's are so hard in December". I of course had no idea what they were talking about and thought they were all crazy... 'His birthday is 11 days before Christmas how hard can it be?' I wondered. Well I will tell you that I have learned my lesson- having a December birthday baby IS hard. it's just such a busy time of year, money is sparse... thinking of presents for Christmas VS presents for birthday is kind of complicated... So sometimes I feel like poor Eli gets the shaft on his birthdays... of course, he doesn't know that - so far it hasn't even phased him... I know it's just ME-- and I guess that is what all those people were trying to tell me. I have no idea why I just wrote all that... Gheesh! Anyway he did have a really special birthday - 8 is a pretty big deal! It breaks my heart to see him so big! He is excited to get baptized a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in a few months! I love my little 8 year old Elijah Paul more than words can say! He is so special to us and I am so lucky to be his mom!

Happenings...

2010-08-02T20:12:00.004-06:00

I was looking back at pictures to find out REALLY... how far behind I am with this blogging thing. And I got a little discouraged when I realized I'm behind back to Easter in April. Four months... Four months that I have a million pictures from - most of the pictures that I took in that time are "can't help myself, your so cute" photos of my babies... and the others are of all the happenings... spring break, birthdays, school out, baseball, soccer, summer... SO. much. to catch up on.... humph... I don't like playing catch up because I can't remember details, and I like details, but really, there is no time for details, right? I hope that I get to it though because I do have some pretty cute "can't help myself, your so cute!" pictures to share. And the happenings... can't leave those out... so I am going to try to do better and find time in this "there is no time for anything else"stage of life that I am currently in.

While I'm at it, I might as well leave a little update.

*Evan and Eli both tried out and made teams to play competative soccer... so they practice and play tournaments this summer

*At Eli's practice last Thursday he was doing some wicked cool move and landed on his arm instead of his feet. When he tried to get back up he realized his arm was shorter than normal and it had no strength... he looked down and found that his arm was wavy... like a roller coaster track... BROKEN!

I was out to dinner with some friends, Glen was home but had the two littles. Glen quickly took them over to my mom's house, dropped Evan off at scouts and then went to get Eli. In the meantime. Eli's coaches and some of his teammates parents were gathered around Eli trying to calm him and reassure him. I was able to talk to Eli on the phone and he was trying to be so brave through his tears. He kept telling me that it hurt so bad! I felt helpless and really bad for him! I quickly left dinner and met he and Glen at the emergency room.

The nurse put in an IV so that they could quickly relieve his pain. But the IV seemed to cause Eli even more pain than his broken arm! I wondered if it had gone bad...but the nurse didn't think so... She really was a good nurse... just bad luck! Eli was requesting ice be put on the site and just kept complaining. The pain in his broken arm wasn't getting any better either... he was given pain meds but asked for more. the nurse gave him all that she could and then told him he'd have to be ok. He was not really ok though and I should have been more persistent with the nurse in wondering what was going on... Finally after x- rays they decided to crank his bones back in place so they had to give him more medicine to sedate him. the medicine would not go into the IV because, of course the IV was not working, had not been all along!!!!! No wonder Eli never had any pain relief and no wonder the IV HURT so bad! I was totally heart broken for poor Eli and should have acted on my gut feelings about the IV. The nurse stuck him again and this time the IV worked, he was medicated and the doctor began pulling and yanking his arm back into place. Glen nearly lost his dinner... but when all was done and Eli's arm was straight again and in a splint...we had a pretty good laugh at the all the crazy talk from him. The medication made him so loopy! it was hilarious! We asked the doctor if we could get a prescription of the stuff to have on hand in case we need some good entertainment! :)

Anyway... It has been a bit of an adjustment to get used to Eli's handicap.... His right arm, of course! Instead of just two babies- now I have three! Three kids who need their food cut up, three kids who need help in the bath tub. threee kids who can't dress themselves, and the potty... me and Eli both get the giggles almost everytime! He is a good sport about it and is finding ways to enjoy what is left of summer with a broken arm! Evan has been so sympathetic, kind and helpful. He was so worried about Eli at first. I still see him put his hand on Eli's back offering support as he climbs into the car or goes up the stairs. Evan gets Eli all set up for dinner and has even helped with potty duty too! What would I do without my sweet Evan!

* We got a big 18 ft. above ground pool at the beginning of the summer. We decided the kids would have more fun with it than a swing set... Evan and Eli are little fish. Gabe is finally getting more comfortable in the water and it has been the best purchase! We are all in the pool almost everyday! our yard is so private and we had a great spot of empty dirt with all this property so it has been perfect! The view of the mountains almost makes it feel like getting in the pool is a little get a way of sorts!

*Ollie is running around, seriously. He runs! He is the cutest little guy. a little shrimp but he makes up for it in personality. He is a ham and oh boy, he has a temper! None of our other boys have been so full of spunk at such a young age... (or maybe...ever!) he's determined, he wants what he wants and he does not forget! He even throws fits... like lay on the floor, run to the corner kind of fits:) It has been interesting and we are trying to learn how to deal with him and help him not be frustrated! He is smart just like the others and is talking a lot! I am just going to list the things he says...

Da-da, Da-dee
Mama
Ma ma = grandma
papa = grandpa
E-da = Evan
E-i = Eli
binkie
Uh-vee = lovee(his blanket)
shoes
show (he points to the TV and wants to watch a show)
hat
truck
duck
dink = drink
out
up
uh-oh
outside
dant do = thank you
wing-wing = swing
fan
autch = ouch
ight = light
hot
kitty
Hi
Buh-bye
goggie = doggie
dis = this
dat = that (he points at everything and asks dat? dis? )
bu = book
ook-ee = cookie
ka-ker = cracker
ba-ba = bottle
na- na- na = no, no, no
doe = don't
(Yes those last two we are very proud of... ha ha... what do we expect with 3 older brothers, right?)

he also makes the following animal sounds- cow, monkey, bear, elephant, goat, horse, kitty, doggie, sheep, chicken...

Whew... quite the list huh, and I'm sure I've forgotten to list a few! He is a smartie. A few other facts on Oll... He loves the horses in the pasture next door. LOVES them! He looks out the window and makes horse noises at them. When we are outside... he is over by the fence. He picks grass all day long to feed them. he makes kissey sounds with his mouth to call them over to us. He pets them... he is obsessed! he also loves airplanes. He gets so excited when he hears one flying overhead. he puts his hand up in the sky and zooms it around like an airplane. We have had construction trucks out in the front yard/street all summer (new sewer line) and so he loves trucks and make truck noises all the time too. He is timid about bugs and pulls his hands into his chest if we suggest he hold one. He loves to dance- the louder the music, the better. He spins and shakes his stuff- very cute! He loves to look at books. is attached to his binkie and lovee and you should see the waves he makes in the tub! He loves to wrestle and climbs up on everything. He folds his arms for prayer and says Amen then throws his arms in the arm. He gets so excited each night after prayers when we do our family cheer. He puts his little hand in with all of ours and can hardly wait for the part when we say "goooooo Huber's" and raise our hands to the ceiling... He has got it down! Our Oliver is pretty fun to have around!

p.s. secretly, I like the spunk in him...I'm proud of it because he gets it from ME. the others are good, like Glen! Ollie is all my boy!

*Sister trip with all of my sister in laws and mother in law was fabulous...loved the pool, the food, the talk...love them!

*We went camping and came home early thanks to Oliver and his disposition... frustrated with the hills while walking, wanted to jump in the lake but mom wouldn't let him, unable to sleep for naps and at night... he was pretty much a grump... which made me a grump... so we packed up. other than Oliver's shenanigans- we did have a pretty good time though!

*My sister Julie has been here from New York for a few weeks we have been going non stop! the splash pad, parks, the mall, walks, eating out, bear lake etc....AND my sister Sara arrives tomorrow... you know how I feel about my sisters... in heaven!

* Summer Primary Activity was a success. check that off the list... but the list is still never ending...

*All in all we are having a great summer and I hope that someday I will get caught up enough to write all about it and post pictures too... who knows?

That's all for now...

Super Hero

2010-07-14T08:00:00.003-06:00

Evan woke me up EARLY (6:30 AM!!) on Father's Day. He was so excited to make breakfast in bed for his Dad. I scooted over, making space for him to crawl in next to me in bed and groggily told him it was WAY to early and that it would be best to wait a awhile... you know, let DAD sleep in a bit :) I rolled over and konked right out again but I know he laid there bright eyed, anticipating... so excited for the day!! That is my Evan. About an hour later I felt him shaking me and he once again asked me if it was time yet- to start on Dad's breakfast? I knew the littles would be waking soon anyway and I didn't have the heart to make Evan wait any longer. So we headed down to the kitchen and put on our aprons... breakfast is one of Glen's favorite meals. I don't mean the kind of boring breakfast that he eats every morning, like cereal or toast. I am talking about the kind of breakfast that really should be eaten for dinner... you know "the works" -bacon, eggs, sausage, french toast, pancakes, fruit... Glen likes all breakfast foods and one of his favorites is a breakfast sandwich! Evan did a great job getting everything "just right" down to the details of OJ on ice with a bendy straw! I should mention that the night before we stayed up pretty late getting our Father's Day present all ready. Eli decided that he would opt out of the breakfast preparation in the morning- the kid really loves his sleep- so he was snoring away while Evan and I whipped it all together! Eli came sleepily up the stairs at the last minute- just as Evan was heading up to deliver the spread. Glen of course was beaming and raved about his breakfast in bed all day!

When we got home from church the boys could hardly wait to present their dad with his very own Super Hero supply box....

He is a Super Hero, you know?

Their Dad.

and Super Hero's need potions and vitamins...supplies, to keep them going....

The box included things lilke, MINTS (freshens breath 4 out of 5 damsels in distress agree) X-RAY VISION DROPS (find the bomb in half the time) HERO VITAMIN PELLETS (proven effective in conquering villains 98% of the time) and ENERGY CHIPS (leap buildings in a single bound or your money back) and the box also included a new super hero T-shirt- (a spare in case he's ever in a bind) as well as the DVD four pack of the original Superman movies. (every Super Hero needs to brush up on the competition, right?)

the boys made some cards for their Dad... er... I mean... the Super Hero.

this one is from Gabe

Evan put together this little comic book...

And this one is from Eli....

Not only is this guy their Super Hero- he is mine too... always coming to the rescue and saving the day. He really is a SUPER dad and I am not even kidding when I say that I am in love with him!
Happy Father's Day to our very own Super Hero!

Red, White and Blue...

2010-07-06T13:11:00.000-06:00

We had a festive weekend filled with family, fireworks, BBQ's, sunshine, swimming,, parades and celebrating Freedom!

Happy Independence Day!

Easter Week

2010-06-26T00:09:00.002-06:00

A few years ago we started a new Easter tradition that my sister Sara found and shared with me. " A Christ Centered Easter" is a book written by Joe and Janet Hales and it has a great forward about the importance of Easter and reflecting on the life of the Savior- His final week, and his greatest gift of Love- the atonement and then the resurrection. The book has ideas for families with children of all ages of ways to learn and celebrate the resurrection through mini lessons, activities and stories. I love this book and I love having this tradition for our family. During the week leading up to Easter we take a minute each day - doing activities, reading scriptures, learning and trying to live like the Savior did. We started the week by putting out a jar that we planned to "fill" with acts of service and love.

We watched all week for ways that we were serving each other- when we saw a good deed or someone showing love we wrote about it on a strip of paper and placed it into a plastic egg- filling our jar. At the end of the week we left the jar full of eggs out for the Easter bunny to hide and then we took time on Easter Sunday to read about all the service that we had been up to all week. Evan, Eli and Gabe loved to be on the lookout during the week and tried extra hard to give lots of service so that we can fill the jar. The good deeds and service that we did brought so much love into our home and really made the week fun!

Another thing that we did towards the beginning of the week when we talked about the life of the Savior was to list His attributes and then as a family we picked one attribute of the Savior that we wanted to try to emulate that week. This year we chose to try be unselfish. We made a poster to display in the kitchen to remind us of our goal through out the week.

We read about the Saviors last week... His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, the last supper and Gethsemane. we talked about the importance of those last days before He was crucified, His teachings and His perfect love. One evening we made bird nests and talked about Spring time and all the new life that comes with Spring. We compared that to the re birth that we can have through repentance because of the atonement

On Saturday evening the boys all slept together upstairs in Gabe's room. Then Sunday morning they all came into our room and climbed in bed with us. They were so excited to see if the Easter bunny had come but we took a minute first as we laid there to talk about that first Easter morning when the stone was rolled away from the tomb and what it must have been like for Mary Magdalene to see the resurrected Savior. It was such a great week and a pretty special way to start our Easter Sunday and General Conference weekend.

Old news...

2010-06-24T16:44:00.002-06:00

My little sister Julie came back in March. she was here in February (from NY) as well as my other sister Sara. we had such a great time together and it is always hard to see them go... Always! I love my sisters, they are my best friends! although hard to see them go I knew that Julie would be returning in just a few weeks (she was here the end of March) and I knew that Sara had a move and a new house to get to and we were all excited for her. Julie's husband who is a doctor in his residency had a week off of work and so they decided to come to Utah and spend some time with family and friends and to bless their new baby Frances.

While they were here we had a great time. I love being able to load my 'littles' into the car first thing in the morning still in their pajamas and head over to my mom's house, getting in as many minutes with each other as possible. Gabe and Ruby are the best of friends and it is so nice for them to have a play mate! For me there is not much better than having a permanent friend to run errands with, sip a diet coke with, shop with, stay up late talking with... I have only had a few friends who I've had "the total connection" with-- like a sister... it's hard to find. I know there are lots of sisters who are not close like we are... and I really just feel for sisters who struggle... and I count myself very lucky!.... blah blah blah.... rambling, I know! So anyway here are some of the things that we did while they were here

Eli and I went down to Ogden to pick up his new glasses... that's right, he is wearing glasses! Looks like so far my boys have inherited my poor vision! Eli's glasses are very cool (one pair is orange and blue-funky and the other pair is more serious and preppy) He looks very handsome in them and his teeth are finally starting to grow in after many months of having no teeth it will be fun to see his new grown up- permanent tooth grin! While we were in Ogden we met Julie and family and brought them to Logan with us for the weekend with plans for them to return to Heber for the first part of the following week. They came to Logan for a quick trip over the weekend to see our cousin Tate. Tate left to be a missionary in the West Indies on Wednesday March 24th. He gave a great talk the Sunday before he left. It was about service. We were all able to go listen to him and and it was nice to hear his testimony

I really appreciate his example to all of my future missionaries :) He will be a great missionary! My mom hosted a a little open house for him after sacrament meeting (brunch) at her house.

Towards the end of the week (Wednesday evening) Julie returned and we took the kids to see the babies at IFA the next morning... Baby bunnies, chicks and ducks. Who says you need to pay 50 dollars to attend baby animal day at the Western Heritage Farm- We figured we'd go to IFA for free! Well, truth be told- it was pretty gross. All these baby chicks were crammed into these warm metal boxes with lids. Try as I might, I just DO NOT love animals what kind of a person doesn't like animals?? seriously... I like to think that I have a pretty big heart but there is not much room in it for animals....I just can't make myself! Usually baby animals soften my heart but these babies were oh. so. STINKY! and the lid contained it all but as we lifted the lids to see them the smell hit like a million wet diapers mixed with sawdust, decaying vegetables and death. The kind of stink that hits you like a ton of bricks and makes you give yourself whip lash.... ok maybe I am exaggerating a little, but the thing that topped it off was that as we looked a little more closely... Yes, we did look closely because hello... we had children with us who were SO excited and who LOVE baby animals and so although I hated to open my mouth for fear of inhaling the toxic smell... I whispered "oh look how cute." (They were sort of cute and cuddly ... it was just the smell...) and I held Gabe up to see etc... and as we looked more closely we noticed that a few of the chicks were half dead ... just laying there while all the others went about doing normal chick stuff and I can't stand to see something suffering... mouth breathing, eyes glazed... it was just gross and sad. (see I do have a big heart) ... sorry about all the gore... hopefully the picture below makes up for it... cute and cuddly with no accompanying smell...

The bunnies and the ducks however were not as stinky and they are so adorable... my stomach was doing flip flops so I didn't enjoy them fully and least none of them were half dead.... yet

I was pretty freaked out by the chick encounter and so was Julie so we made grandpa catch a duck to show Ruby and Gabe...

All in all... the kids LOVED seeing the baby animals... pretty sure we won't do it again though...unless we are equipt with gas masks... baby animal day we're heading your way next year!

We had plans to have our annual Family Easter party... bon fire and egg hunt that night and then the weather took a turn for the worse and we considered re scheduling but decided to make it work. The original plan was to have the party outside but with inclement weather I had to do a quick scramble to to get my house clean and move things indoors. About an hour before we were going to start the party the clouds broke and the wind stopped. It was cold but we were able to have a fire and Easter egg hunt outside... It was perfect!

My grandpa was not feeling very well and he gets cold so easily. (side effect of chemo) But he didn't want to miss out so he and my grandma came and parked their car in front of the barn, out by the fire pit. We all took turns sitting in the backseat and visiting with them. They stayed cozy in the car, were able to watch the kids on the hunt and didn't miss out on the fun! It worked out perfectly!

On Friday we had our ward Talent Show... Yes, we are still doing activities for our ward. It is a little much since I am in the primary presidency (seriously) but luckily Glen is... well you know... he is amazing and pretty much pulled off the entire thing with the help of a few people on our committee. The party was a huge success... lots of variety in talents. Kids, adults and teens... did performances and had talents on display. The one big hit was a concession stand all decked out with a sign and bulb lights. We had the people working in the concessions wear red hats and aprons and they were giving out licorice, bags of popcorn and root beer. it looked amazing and in my opinion "made the night." I am telling you, these things are all about the atmosphere! doing a little extra makes all the difference. Glen was a great organizer and MC too! oh and my mom saved us by keeping the littles, feeding them, bathing them... and she had Julie's two girls too-

she is the best!

Saturday the 27th we met at the church around noon for the blessing of Frances Susan Williams.

It was such a special day! Francie looked like a little china doll... all dressed up in a big fancy dress. She is a beautiful baby girl! dark red hair, bright blue eyes... tiny little features, one of those pretty babies!

After her blessing Julie invited everyone to stay and celebrate Frances' new little life. We had a delicious lunch and enjoyed just being together.

My super talented (and beautiful, kind, funny... pretty much perfect) friend Marcie made her signature 'baby kakes" for me to surprise Julie with!

She made these cake ball babies to resemble Francie and they were hilarious and adorable at the same time. Almost too cute to eat and then when you sink your teeth in... they are like a little piece of heaven...

To. Die. For. moist, fluffy little morsels... and you should see her other yummies... cakes and desserts that should be on the food network... I can't get a link to work to her site for some reason but contact me if your interested and check her out- she does photography too... I tell you this girl is deluxe! Thanks Marcie!

Richie left that night to fly back out to New York but Julie stayed until Wednesday.

Monday night we threw together a little last minute dinner with the big extended Fam and then

dyed Easter Eggs at our place.

It was so perfect to have Julie and her little family here. My life goes on hold and we are in vacation mode when family is in town. they go home and reality hits hard... back to real life... cleaning my house, meetings, making dinner, easter to plan etc...

We were able to pull off our tradition of "A Christ centered Easter" week and we had a wonderful, relaxing Easter Sunday that I will post about oh... before the end of the year hopefully!

One year older

2010-05-13T14:39:00.000-06:00

this handsome boy turned THREE on Tuesday...

He had a very HAPPY Birthday....

Soon I will share all the details of his day and remind you why I am so in love with Gabriel...

believe me, it's not hard at all - to be in love with him...

Mother's Day

2010-05-12T14:46:00.001-06:00

I am so grateful to be the mother of these four precious boys...

“As mothers in Israel, we are the Lord’s secret weapon. Our influence comes from a divine endowment that has been in place from the beginning. In the premortal world, when our Father described our role, I wonder if we didn’t stand in wide-eyed wonder that He would bless us with a sacred trust so central to His plan and that He would endow us with gifts so vital to the loving and leading of His children. I wonder if we shouted for joy at least in part because of the ennobling stature He gave us in His kingdom. The world won’t tell you that, but the Spirit will.” -Sheri L. Dew

A secret weapon... I like the sound of that!. I love the picture that I get in my head when I read the quote above. Think about it .... It is empowering and humbling and I am honored to have such a divine role, that of being a mother.

On Mother's day I woke to a clean house and a giant banner hung across the kitchen, wishing me a "happy mothers day!" Glen sneaked downstairs after we had gone to bed and worked into the wee hours of the morning, washing dishes, cleaning... and then painting and decorating the banner. I feel so bad that I didn't even get a picture of it... the words were painted in pink and green and there were pictures of flowers with stems all around the bottom. And the kitchen sparkled...Seriously, how did I ever get him? I was completely surprised and wow in love with his thoughtfulness....I am so lucky! Even though I'm sure he was exhausted, he let me sleep in and he got up early with Oliver and the boys. Later, just as I was coming downstairs Glen was starting to make breakfast and was a bit disappointed that he was too late to serve me breakfast in bed! I told him I'd take a rain check ;) Glen wrote me a love note full of compliments and romance. Evan and Eli were excited to give me their notes and cards and things that they had made for me. I love receiving cards from my boys-I love their handwriting, their simple expressions of love, their artwork and I can just imagine their little fingers curled around a crayon as they are deep in concentration thinking of me!

Pretty cute that Eli wrote that he would be my "slave" for the day- made me laugh!. He did a great job in doing whatever I asked with no complaining and he was eager to help and constantly asking what he could do for me! He made a few cards at school and at scouts during the week too...

Evan made a little coupon booklet for me that included coupons for one time doing the dishes, doing the laundry, a back massage, a pedicure plus 3 free clean up's of anything that I want- a mother's dream come true! Some help without him trying to get out of it plus a little TLC- it was perfect!

I already cashed in the back massage and it was great!

Evan also made sure to help his brothers with the card below from all three of them....

It was a beautiful sunny day on Mother's Day and the boys were so anxious to walk home from church. It is kind of a long walk from the church to our house and I have never let Gabe join the brigade of " walkers" but the sun was calling to him and to his brothers and I couldn't resist their pleadings and promises that they would carry him if he grew tired and their insistence that they would keep him safe. I knew that I could count on them so I told them to start heading for home and that I would pick Gabe up as I drove by. When I did drive by they waved me forward, smiling and giving a thumbs up that all was well... so reluctantly I headed home with an empty car (Glen had Oliver with him in his car...) After we had been home for some time I could not push thoughts of my boys away and I decided that I would get back in the car and go and check on them... once again I was waved away... this time I could see that something was slowing them down and they were sheepishly hiding it behind their backs. I headed for home now and once I got there Glen, Oliver and I sat in the sun on our front porch waiting for the other boys to get home. I could hear their chatter as they rounded the corner of our street and pretty soon... There they were, looking so handsome and full of responsibility. As they neared our house they each pulled a bouquet of dandelions and wild flowers out from behind their backs for me... they were so proud and my heart melted. Such little gentlemen!

"The responsibility mothers have today has never required more vigilance. More than at any time in the history of the world, we need mothers who know. Children are being born into a world where they “wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” ..."However, mothers need not fear. When mothers know who they are and who God is and have made covenants with Him, they will have great power and influence for good on their children.” Julie B. Beck

I am a mother and I do the best that I can.. When times get tough, when the weight of the world is bearing down, and being a mother feels overwhelming and hard-I am so grateful to know who I am and how special these boys are...that I have guidance from above. I am also so lucky because there is not a day that goes by that I do it alone. OK, Glen has been out of town before of course- but even then I am not alone... He helps and is concerned and deals with things that arise even if he's thousands of miles away. I think that to other people I probably seem like an OK mom, trying my best... you know? But I must confess, I am only a good mom because Glen is behind me, by my side... he is everywhere... doing and helping, stepping in, making arrangements, appointments, etc...supporting me one hundred percent. Usually the mother takes and deserves most of the credit for raising the children, sorry dads- it is true! But there is an acception and that is me... I am a better mom because our boys have the best Dad.

I love these boys of mine more than I ever thought possible... they are part of me. They are such a precious responsibility. I know who they are and what they can become. I am honored and blessed to be their mom.

Superbowl Sunday

2010-05-06T22:52:00.000-06:00

old news, I know... just wait though ... a Christmas post is still coming people and its May... I am going to get caught up one of these days... (although I'm pretty sure I've given up on last summer that I didn't write a thing about) until then... here's one to check off the list- Super bowl Sunday. I cannot wait until my blog gets back to some talk... not just events... I miss thinking and writing and not just trying to get it done. On well...I'm not sure my mind has a lot of thinking in it right now anyway... this one is just for the record

Here's all of my BOYS ready to cheer on their team for the big game...

When everyone (my brother and his family and my parents) arrived we asked them to place their bet. no cash was thrown into the pot- only candy prizes were allowed... It was Sunday afterall.

This doesn't look like much of a spread... not sure why I took this picture- believe me, there was a lot more food than this involved. Wouldn't be Superbowl Sunday without a smorgasbord. We ate dinner and snacks and dessert and more snacks, more dinner and more dessert. oh ya, ....and we watched the game.

It was a pretty rowdy bunch, as you can see but no real riots broke out, thank heaven!

I have no idea how little Elsie fell asleep through it all but she sure missed out on one good party!

On the day that you were born...

2010-05-06T08:57:00.002-06:00

On the day that you were born
I wondered how I could hold FOUR little boys in my heart all at once...
I wondered how life would change for all of us as we welcomed your new sweet life into ours.

I hoped that you would be healthy and perfect
I hoped that I would be able to see the many things you were sent here to become

On The day that you were born I already loved you
I loved you even more when I felt your skin on mine, your tiny breath on my neck...
I loved your brothers more deeply as they counted your toes and whispered in your ear telling you all the things that they were going to teach you
I loved your daddy with thoughts that I cannot put into words, he is my everything.
Babies are magical that way... they bring those deep feelings from the bottom of your heart up to the surface They are a reminder of everything good and tender and with them, they bring a piece of heaven

On the day that you were born I was part of a little miracle...YOU
On the day that you were born my life changed forever, already a mother... but now YOUR mother

One year ago today... on the day that you were born
I couldn't imagine the happiness, the intensity of love and pure joy that is now ours, because we have YOU.

Happy Birthday to my ONE year old boy...

For Oliver's birthday we sang Happy Birthday to him every chance we got. He grinned every time! I couldn't keep from kissing my birthday boy practically every minute of the day, if only those kisses could slow time. We also celebrated by going to soccer games all night and eating dinner on the run. It was sort of a crazy day and I felt guilty because I had nothing special planned until next week. Just before bed time we frosted a cupcake (made earlier in the day for Evan's class party at school) we added some sprinkles and lit the candle as we sang for the last time "Happy birthday to you" Oliver is no stranger to goodies and the fire only kept him mesmerized for a few seconds. He was grunting and reaching and couldn't wait to get his hands on the cake. We cheered for him as he ate all of the frosting and them crumbled the cake into a million pieces.

A pretty perfect ending to a birthday in his opinion, I'm sure

Next week we will have a real celebration...a birthday bash for both of my littles who were born just a week apart this month...

... Happy birthday sweet Oliver!

Superstitious

2010-03-28T18:01:00.002-06:00

I am not usually superstitious... but lately I have been feeling a little OFF... Maybe it's because my eyes are all screwy and having problems with contacts... blurry, stingy, watery, dry... I totally take my vision for granted and have come to realized it because of all these troubles lately with my eyes. Maybe it's the vision, or that I've had a MILLION things going on the past few weeks, stress, parties, primary, laundry... who knows? vision, crazy life, All I know is that I am completely off my rocker because I totally spaced that fact that today is our Anniversary... our THIRTEENTH year is already off to a bad start.. how un- lucky for us! I hope this is not a sign of what this year has in store for us because we could really use some LUCK in this our THIRTEENTH year!

We are full to the top of LOVE for each other and feel so blessed to be in the circumstance that we are in but sometimes a girl just needs a life plan, needs to know what is coming her way... you know?
This down turn in the economy has been a real struggle for us and although we are LOVING and BLESSED we really need some LUCK this year so cross your fingers (or is that superstitious... will that jinx us?) that we'll have a LUCKY THIRTEENTH!

I woke to a giant bouquet of flowers and the most romantic letter from my un-lucky (I forgot) husband. Just after my heart soared, it sunk into my stomach (I forgot!) How did he remember?... because I think he's had more on his mind than I have. I tell you, superstitious or not... a lucky or unlucky year ahead for us? Who knows? As long as I have him by my side it doesn't matter. Whenever I am down in the dumps and letting life get the best of me my Glen reminds me that money, owning a house, having a plan... none of it really matters... he says "I know it's cheesy Em, but as long as we have each other and our family, that is all that matters and we can make it through ANYTHING together!" He tells me this and I roll my eyes ( like a teenager) and take a deep breath trying to remember my argument and then my heart just warms up and I can't stay frustrated with life because, well he is right. So now it is my turn to say it, and I'll say it again... As long as I have Glen by my side nothing else matters.

So here's to Thirteen years!!??... (I cannot believe it's been that long!) bring on the LUCK but even if this is not the year (13 does have a reputation, you know.)... that's ok... we've got each other and forever.

Happy Anniversary Glen-o you are my one and only.

Ten Months....

2010-03-24T23:11:00.003-06:00

I took this little romeo to the doctor's office this morning for a well care check up. He is as healthy as ever, good eating habits, excellent sleeping habits... really what else matters but sleep?... He is a smart little thing and was off the charts in all areas... ahead of the game is a always a good place to be. There is one little area that he is lacking in though and that is weight. He weighs 16 pounds 10 ounces which places him not just at the bottom of the chart but actually off the chart in the negative 5th percentile. He has always been a bit shrimpy and since he's been crawling... he is staying the same weight. His pediatrician is not too worried at this point and we'll just continue to watch his growth more closely. It's really kind of weird because Oliver doesn't look like an orphan, scrawny...like a bean pole or anything... he is just a feather weight and on the short side too... so he looks more like a 7 month old than a ten month old. Guess we'll put him on a diet of cheeseburgers and milk shakes and cross our fingers that he'll grow! He makes up for his size in personality, believe me, he is such a fun, sweet, tease. Just adorable! He will be one in just a few short months, I love this first year of life so much... I am going to just hang on for dear life to these next few months that he's still a baby... oh how I love this boy of mine...

below is little video clip of some of Oliver's latest tricks... of course he wasn't the most cooperative and has had better moments... but check him out if you want too... don't forget to pause my music player on the right side bar so that you can hear!

T'was the Night Before Christmas

2010-03-24T14:45:00.004-06:00

Yes, it's March and I am writing about Christmas... pretty embarrassing! I am trying to catch up which means that I have to start from the beginning of where I left off... and it's been awhile- makes me so mad when I get this far behind but I am determined....This is my record after all and how can you skip Christmas?... I can't. So here it is Our Christmas 2009.

On Christmas Eve we made cookies for Santa...

Set up, decorated and began preparations for our Christmas Eve dinner and program...

Ready for the party to begin...

Our usual Christmas Eve tradition is to wear the kids out by going sledding. This year however, the snow was frozen SOLID and it was WAY to cold so Glen took the boys over to the church in the late afternoon to run around in the gym while I put Oliver down for his nap and made the final preparations for our meal. My little sister Julie who lives in New York had just had her baby so my parents were out at her place to help her. We invited my brother Steve and his family over for the evening

We ate the traditional french dip sandwiches, au gratin potatoes, green salad, corn, rolls and I tried a new recipe... rainbow jello that was such a hit at our Thaksgiving feast in Montana. It was not as bad as I thought it would be to set all those layers. I messed it up a little and some of the colors sort of ran together, but now I know some tricks and next time it will be easier.

I think the boys favorite part of the dinner was pouring and drinking the sparkling cider and then toasting "cheers" over and over....

Just after dinner, Mathew my brothers oldest son started to complain that he didn't feel very good... headache etc... so he laid around while we cleaned up and decided on the plan for the rest of the evening. We had all the kids open one gift -their Christmas Pajamas and by that time poor Mathew's headache had turned into the stomach flu. My brother knew we were heading out to California the next day and didn't want to risk exposing us any further so we snapped a few pictures while Mathew waited in the car and then they headed home for the night. (the rest of their family ALL had the stomach flu by the morning... bad night for them!)

We were so sad to see Steve and his family leave but we stuck to our plan and did our annual sing-a-story of Christmas nativity where we sing and tell the story of Christ's birth as we make the nativity scene.

Then we made reindeer food... some oats and some glitter to sparkle in the moonlight- lighting the way for Santa's sleigh.

We tracked Santa on the online satellite to see how much time we had before he'd be here... his next stop was New York city... the boys couldn't wait to get to bed, Santa was on his way!

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care...

They quickly set out the cookies that they made and wrote last minute letters full of pleas and professions of "goodness".... Evan, Eli and Gabe all slept together in Gabe's room which was all lit up with Christmas lights. I laid with them and just as they were drifting off... we heard the sound of sleigh bells overhead. Sleepily they grinned as we talked about the hopes and plans for the next morning. Little did they know that we had a big surprise waiting (A trip to California, including a trip to Disneyland!)

The children were nestled all snug in their beds, while visions of Christmastime danced in their heads...

During the week I had been preparing for Christmas morning the best that I could... it's sort of hard to pack secretly. :) We did have everything wrapped which was a first and of course that ended up being a huge help. We knew that we had a big day of driving ahead for us and so we worked quickly... There was excitement in the air as we finished the last minute details with the boys sleeping soundly... I love the feelings of Christmas, the magic doesn't go away with youth, in lots of ways it is actually more magical now. This was a 'Christmas to remember' one of our best...

details to come soon...

St. Patrick's Day

2010-03-18T22:15:00.004-06:00

Now I remember why I don't scrapbook anymore.... I have been blogging for about three years and it starts to feel a bit like groundhogs day... the same vacations, places, birthday's and holidays.... all the pages and writing starts to sound the same... At least with a blog I do have the option to copy and paste so it's not as much work! You know- copy the story, just add the new pictures. Hmmmmm although very tempting (pretty sure I did it last year) I guess there are usually a few differences from year to year. I am not going to re-write (or paste and copy) all the details of our St, Patty's Day traditions so if you need a refresher click HERE

The boys painted and decorated treasure boxes for the leprechauns. It was a bit last minute and Glen had to scrounge up whatever boxes we had in the garage. I was at the temple. He had all the boys painting as he was feeding them dinner and also doing last minute fix-up's for the pinewood derby... I told you he is amazing! anyway, here are their creations.

and here they are placing the treasure boxes out in the moonlight...

Gabe was very curious about all the happenings and talk of leprechauns... so we explained what leprechauns are and that they like to play tricks while we are sleeping at night etc...Well he has the typical imagination of a two year old and he started to get nervous thinking about little men in green sneaking into our house... We all did our best to reassure him but as I tucked him into bed he asked thoughtfully "mom... do leprechauns bite?" Poor kid! Needless to say he had a hard time getting to bed.

The morning of St. Patrick's Day the boys woke up to find that indeed the leprechauns had come. the little rascals had played a few tricks on us like turning our milk green, hiding our shoes, turning our pictures upside down etc... They also left a few treasures for the boys in their boxes, brought green donuts for breakfast and left trails of gold and chocolate everywhere they went...

It was beautiful day... a little on the HOT side so I loaded up the little ones and we grabbed their daddy for a quick picnic at the park

Oliver LOVED being outside and was just taking it all in. He is a very curious boy, always thinking. He LOVED the swings and cried when he had to get out. curious and a bit strong willed... and oh, I love his eyes... always full of expression and twinkling. beautiful baby.

It was Gabe's first swing of the season and he was a little resistant to "going high".....at first.

Gabe and Oliver have become the best of friends...people told me in the beginning that someday they would be... sorry people but I wasn't so sure. It was a rough start, their friendship. But now it is solid and I love to see the love between them. little buddies.

Ollie crawls a million miles a minute. He is fast. He loves to climb the stairs and he loves to pull up to things and walk along them. He really enjoyed the freedom at the park and so many new things. He does not like it when we try to hold his hands so that he can walk... I think it's a little too slow for him but mostly he likes to be in control. He starts to sit down and cry until we let him go and then he's off... crawling to his next adventure. Oliver gets frustrated quite easily and lets us all know exactly what he wants... and that he wants it NOW yet in the same instant he is the sweetest baby and totally irresistible. He loves to play and tease and often pulls my hair or sinks his teeth half way in to my arm... just trying to start something. His favorite game is to make a sound and have everyone copy him. he is pretty proud when he's the boss... and this St. Patrick's Day post had turned into an update on Oliver. Great! I can check that one off my list now. While I'm going I might as well add that Oliver knows a few signs he can sign "all done" and "eat" we are working on a few others, and it is so fun that he can do it! he waves bye bye and blows kisses. He plays I'm a little teapot and pattty cake and is learning to "roll it." Some guy at the park asked me how old Oliver is and I sat there for a minute, not wanting to answer, I haven't had to think about it and no one has asked me his age for awhile. I know how old he is everyday but I push it to the back of my mind because I don't want it to be real. I finally answered "He's ten months old" and I got a big lump in my throat. Pathetic, I know.

Ok one last Oliver tid bit... He is a ham... fourth boy has got to do something to get some attention right? Well he steals the show from his dramatic wide mouth fake cry to his scrunched up nose grin... showing all his teeth. I can't get enough of him!

Actually I can't get enough of ALL of them...

My little leprchauns. I am so LUCKY to have them!

Special Day...

2010-03-12T14:52:00.003-07:00

Our Eli was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on Saturday. I can't stop thinking about what a special day it was. Before these little thoughts and feelings fade away I want to share the details. I know it's so cliche' but it must be said... I cannot believe that Eli is eight already! I remember when Evan turned eight and was baptized and I couldn't believe it then, that I was old enough to have a child that age and now I have TWO who have passed through this important milestone... it makes me feel old and even more so it increases my "mother pressure gauge"

What's that? you ask.

Well it's that thing that happens when babies fresh from heaven are placed in your arms... your overcome with instant love and at the same time an overwhelming feeling of... RESPONSIBILITY... you know the feelings right? "this little life is mine for a time- to care for, to love, to TEACH." It's an overwhelming feeling. Life goes on and the thought is always there in the back of your mind. (the mother pressure gauge) Well on baptism days in particular this feeling is back in full force... reminding that they are getting older, they are now accountable... leaving me to wonder.... have I, their mother, prepared them for this step and for all that is ahead....

Oh, motherhood... It is a big deal.

But enough about me... here is Elijah Paul with his Dad who baptized him.

and here he is with me....

For the eight days leading up to Eli's baptism we did a "great to be 8" countdown where each evening we took a few minutes to teach about baptism using short stories and lessons, games and activities and of course treats! It was a really fun way to focus on Eli, to prepare him and it really brought the spirit into our home.

Here are a few highlights ...

We talked about making the decision to be baptized and the difference between thinking we are doing the right thing and KNOWING that we are doing the right thing. We discussed that it is through prayer that we are able to KNOW with our hearts if what we are doing is right. We ate chocolate covered pretzels which look like arms folded in prayer while we all talked about what we remembered from our baptism days. (my parents and sister Julie joined us for this one) We encouraged Eli to pray throughout the week and ask to KNOW if baptism is the right thing. We all promised that we would would pray for Eli during the week too. Asking that he would have a special day and know the importance of it.

Glen taught about road signs as he pushed matchbox cars around in different scenarios. he taught that it is important for cars to obey and follow the road sign just as it is important for us to obey and follow the warnings and directions we have been given by listening to our parents, teachers, prophets and reading the scriptures.

We talked about Alma the younger in the Book of Mormon and how he was able to repent. We talked about ice cream -pure and white and compared that by adding chocolate syrup to it making it dark with sin. We talked about repenting and how we can become pure and white again if we repent. We ate the ice cream as we talked about the atonement and taking the sacrament each Sunday.

We went on a treasure hunt to find our names hidden around the house and we talked about the importance of our names and how we should be sure that the people who we are named after are proud that WE are the ones who bear their names. Eli is named after the prophet Elijah and his grandpa Paul. (Glen's dad) We taught him that through baptism he would also be taking upon himself the name of Jesus Christ and that he should act and do as Jesus would.

We talked about bearing one another's burdens, serving, and bearing testimony. It was a very fun week and so nice to keep our focus on the ordinance of baptism and what the day is really about. We were working on several other things during the week, which normally would have made for a stressful time, but doing this countdown really put our priorities straight and there was really sweet spirit in all of us for those 8 days.

( Is anyone still reading this... too many details? go ahead and skip if you'd like... this is mostly for me and there is still a lot to come...)

Eli was able to have his very own baptism instead of doing it along with all the other kids in our stake. We were so happy about that and it made the day even more special for him. Below are some pictures of some of the people who were there.

After the opening song and prayer it was my turn on the program to do a little spotlight on Eli. It is such a great idea that our stake does this but seriously, I'm sure there is not a mother alive who can get though highlighting her child without breaking down and bawling at some point... Well that point for me was pretty much from the first word I spoke... I am such crier and get so emotional over everything as it is and then to have to speak about someone so dear to my heart... it was hard, but a really great opportunity.

After the spotlight, Evan gave a talk about baptism.

I asked him lots of questions and he helped me write the talk. It was such a tender talk. He spoke about last summer when he went on a difficult hike and was having a hard time with the loose dirt on such a steep incline... His older cousin Josh helped him to know where to place his feet so that he could climb... Evan related this experience to the Savior and how He shows us the way along the path that leads back to Him. Evan reminded Eli of all the things that we had discussed about baptism in our great to be 8 countdown. He held up little objects (pictures, road sign, ice cream scoop etc...) as he talked. He ended the talk by telling Eli to look around the room and see all the people who love him and how neat it is that they are here to see him take this first step towards the Kingdom of God and all these people are the ones who will help him to make it the rest of the way....

I was so proud of Evan- he spoke loud and clear and used lots of cute expression in his voice and face... His talk was really special .

After Evan's talk Eli sang "When I am baptized" all by himself! He practiced all week and I promise there was no pressure from any of us for him to sing it. I told him we could all sing it with him or just he and Evan but he insisted on doing a solo. I talked to him about smiling and singing loudly... but nerves took over the minute he got up there and he looked like someone was holding a knife to his back- no smile, all the color had vanished from his face but his little voice held strong - he remembered every word and my favorite part was when he sang "I want to be the BEST I can, and live with God again." He raised his little chin up and his tone was very convincing and we knew that he really felt that way. My heart melted as I watched him in his little white jumpsuit looking like such an angel... I swear he was just a baby.... wasn't he?

For Eli's baptism all the children gathered around and knelt on the floor in front of the font. Grandpa Paul and Great Grandpa Murray were witnesses. Glen preformed the ordinance and then he wrapped Eli into his arms -a tender bear hug. He whispered some special dad /son 'secrets' into his ear and then as Eli turned to walk back up the stairs Glen pulled him back a little and turned Eli to see all of us who were there. Eli looked up and a grin spread across his little face... he was glowing.

While Glen and Eli changed clothes the rest of us moved to a different room. While we were waiting there we watched a DVD presentation that Glen made with pictures of Eli from birth up until now -set to primary music. Glen is so amazing his skills are endless... It was such a special movie and so fun to reminisce and look back on Eli's life! After the DVD Glen and Eli joined us for the rest of the program. All the primary age children who were there sang "The Holy Ghost" then my brother's wife "Aunt Edie" gave a great talk about the gift of the Holy Ghost . Glen then confirmed Eli and gave him a very tender, heartfelt blessing. The spirit was so strong all day, it was a really special meeting. Our bishop gave some closing remarks and then he asked Eli's great grandparents to share their testimonies. Not very often are we all gathered as family with the spirit so strong and the opportunity available to hear them express such love and bear testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel. It was a wonderful ending to a perfect.... special day!

That wasn't the end though... not really... no special day is ever complete without a little party too, right?
oh yes, there is MORE to this story...

After the baptism program we had brunch. I don't think the pictures do this party justice though... the lighting in churches is terrible and the basketball court painted on the floor doesn't help...but where else can you host over 50 people? So... try to ignore the court and the yellow glow of the old paint and no sunlight ok? I promise it looked pretty cute and was super cozy too!

We served breakfast casserole (hash browns, ham, peppers, onion, eggs... yum!) giant muffins, fresh fruit,- bananas, orange slices and grapes, a variety of cereal, chocolate milk and orange juice. Eli's favorites! He was so excited about eating a breakfast meal with everyone and not "just dinner."

cousins- Coleman, Jonah and Tristin

]

Here is the newly baptized boy...

I made a scrapbook of blank pages so that everyone there could write a special note to Eli. These pages will be added to the compilation of our families baptism and Holy Ghost experiences that they all wrote when Evan and Claire were baptized a couple of years ago as well as the pictures from Eli's baptism day. On the table where the book was we also had lots of frames filled with pictures of Eli throughout his life. The frames surrounded the large picture in the center that was recently taken of him. All those pictures and life experiences are what helped to make him the special boy that he is today. We have so many sweet, funny, everyday memories of Eli that I love to think about!

Eli with his grandma's and grandpa's.....

my mom and dad

Glen's mom and Dad

Eli's GREAT grandparents... my sweet little grandma and grandpa

Our family

me and my mom...

We are a good team. I rely on her so much... she thinks of everything and helps make all of my parties come together. She shopped for me, brainstormed with me, set up, cleaned up... love you mom!

Elijah Paul with his namesake- Grandpa Paul

These are all of the men in our family who were there...I am so grateful that my boys live around this bunch of amazing men! My boys have many uncles, older cousins and grandpa's to look up to.
We are so grateful for family!

I was running around a lot and guess who stepped in to take care of Oliver.... my Dad of course! He and Oliver have a special bond- my Dad greets him by crouching down and pointing to him saying "your da man" and Oliver kicks his legs in excitement and scrunches up his nose with a twinkle in his eye...
so in love with his grandpa!

We are nearing the end of the details, seriously (are you still with me?)

Just one last special...

we had a couple of candy dishes on each table filled with mints and this little note card...

There you have it... all the details of our Eli's special baptism day.

Maybe because I'm his mom I am a bit biased and I know these days are special for everyone in their own little ways. But really, this was one of those days that had the perfect combination of everything, the spirit was incredible, the love and the support was tremendous. I was overwhelmed with the feelings of what a special little boy Eli is. I know that he has a great purpose on this earth, we are so blessed that he is part of our family. He adds lots of mischief, fun, laughter, innocence, cuddles, tenderness and love! I am humbled and grateful for the trust that has been given to me and for the opportunity that I have to be his mom!

Oh wait there are a few more things...before Eli was baptized we gave him a 'baptism towel' all white and fluffy with his name embroidered on it for him to wrap up in after he got baptized. We also gave him his own set of scriptures. Eli said that his baptism day was better than a birthday because not only did he get a few presents from people but he also got a feeling of happiness and warmth inside. That completely melted me!

My mom did the shopping for a white towel... she called me one day from the store saying she had found a towel but it had a green alligator on it. I wasn't so sure about that but my mom thought that he would love it! and she was right, that is his favorite feature about the towel. Why did we pay for all that embroidery? My mom has this special little phrase she says to my boys every time she is leaving them... she says "see you later alligator" and they answer back with "in awhile crocodile" so now Eli has this little reminder of grandma who picked the perfect towel for him.

Saturday when we got home from the baptism the boys played, we unloaded and organized and then Glen and I went out on a little date. The next day on Sunday we had my parents come over for dinner. My dad gave Eli a very special letter that he wrote just for him and it will be a treasure and keepsake for years to come. He also made him a few laminated cards for his scripture bag. It was so thoughtful of him and it sure meant a lot! There were a few notes and cards and gifts that we didn't have time to really look at on Saturday so we all sat around and read all of those. It was nice to take a minute and soak in all the words of love for Eli and it was cute to see him taking the time to read each one and to know how special he is!

Sure love you Elijah Paul

This really is THE END, see.

my LITTLE heartbreakers

2010-02-10T09:00:00.001-07:00

LOVE

2010-02-09T16:35:00.001-07:00

I know I promised at least one picture on my next post so I will apologize up front about the fact that this is yet another post of TALK, no pictures. Amuse me and pretend that YOU, my ten readers really care about that ok?? So here is what's on my mind.

My little sister Julie is traveling from New York to Utah today. She is postpartum (don't you hate that word, why couldn't they think of a better word for new moms... it just sounds ugly... but if you only say "she just had a new baby" it sound more fluffy... and easy somehow, which it is NOT... so postpartum it is!) Anyway she is postpartum just 7 weeks. We are the type of girls who usually hide any sort of hard ship... everything is just fine... meaning...she'd never admit to IT but those who have had babies know how it feels to be seven weeks out- frazzled is the first word that comes to mind and closely after that is tired, emotional, stressed, fried etc.... you get the picture. anyway my little sister is traveling today I'm sure feeling all of the mentioned emotions- with her new FUSSY baby and her ACTIVE, SPICY 3 year old... Her husband is working (he's a doctor) so there's no going in late for him, no lunch break to come home and help during...she is on her own. Had to do all the thinking, get everything together, pack it all into suitcases... while caring for her two youngins. Making sure to have the "entertainment items" and necessities accessible for the FIVE hour plane ride plus the two hour lay over in Detroit.... my heart goes out to her and I get a big lump in my throat just thinking about her today. I talked to Julie just as she was leaving this morning and the stroller that she really needed to make life easier at the airport was in her husbands car AT WORK. not off to a very good start....

and then when she got dropped off at the airport she learned that their flight was delayed an hour...
so she had to sit even longer and entertain babies even longer...
Bless her heart.

We pressured her into coming... oh, she wanted to come of course but to really come alone is a big deal and a big expense. It's all in the name of LOVE... she loves us, her family... she learned that Sara was coming from L.A. and didn't want to miss out on the opportunity for her new little Francie to meet all of us... and we are all dying to meet her too. (plus there is nothing worse than knowing your family is going to be together without you) Julie longed to come and Sara couldn't resist (her hearts is pure gold) and she offered to help with the expense.... if Julie would just make the trek-talk about LOVE! So... long story short... this is a love story you know? We will all be together for Valentine's day .... but first Julie has to make it here... (Sara will arrive on Saturday) which I'm sure she will do... I just hope not to many tears are shed in the process...send some good vibes and a little LOVE her way today for me, will you?

pictures....

2010-02-08T09:29:00.002-07:00

First things first...

do you ever feel like--- not blogging?

As much as I love it... right now I really hate it. It is hanging over my head and whispering in my ear "you are getting further and further behind" and I don't like to be behind, you know...

but it seems I always am.

I have had a few nights free the past few weeks but instead of blogging I curled up on the couch to read 'the hunger games' and then 'catching fire'. I Could not stop reading those book, seriously! My new favorite books! shhhhhhh guess what?...um, Better than Twilight (did I just say that?) Yes I did say that... and its true- I loved them! And then, those other free nights??... well I just didn't feel in the blogging mood. I'm so far behind it feels too overwhelming at 10 PM to write and upload.

I am still not really in the mood but I just went through my pictures from Christmas and my heart jumped a little just reminiscing...it was then that I realized that my camera ATE approximately FIFTY pictures! They are gone- the proof of the cutest bum you've ever seen in Thomas the tank engine underwear (Gabe's of cousre) Gone! He has been potty trained for about a month now. ONE accident is all, I tell you I love this boy! Easiest potty training EVER! Now if we could just get rid of the binkie....four months until he's three and it WILL be gone before then- I promise! Oliver's adorable grin with evidence of tiny teeth buds- Gone, Oliver crawling turbo speed and walking along the furniture- Gone. (he just turned nine months old, by the way) Eli looking handsome in his boy scout uniform- Gone. Gabe letting stray kitties into the house to share his hot dogs with them- those pictures are GONE. Glen came to the rescue when he heard my whining but even he, a computer (and camera) genius could not find the consumed pictures... boo hoo hoo.

A few of the pictures I might be able to recreate...but it's never the same. Looking at the bright side... less pictures to upload and write about... putting me a little more ahead of the game -huh? Even though technology is in the dog house today... there is one little love that I have for it- Blogger FINALLY gives us an option in the settings to enlarge pictures...they are so much better large!-- goodbye to the dreaded step of going through flicker! so technology, I will give you that ONE plug- but that's all your getting from me and my heart that is missing my pictures....

In other news- we are all in love this month- writing notes and filling up our love buckets. My boys love this Valentine tradition of ours and it sure chases the February blues away! I will share the details, sometime, I hope! my sisters are both coming this month! They'll be here for Valentines day, we're going skiing, we're doing projects, we're hanging out together EVERY day and night! That's all good, but best of all? I get to hold my beautiful new niece Francis. She's already two months old and I have been dying to get my hands on her. Plus we are going on our first EVER girls only weekend- I cannot wait! Now if I could just get out of doing Primary sharing times all month.... I'd be able to relax a whole lot more- that's for sure!

I wish I could set a blogging goal and make a promise to get up to date quickly... but I better not. I am working on a few posts though... but it might be awhile til I'm able to hit publish! But next time, I promise at least one picture not just all talk- that is.... if my camera doesn't eat them.