Sunday, February 21, 2010

Craft Night!

I've been meeting with a few of my girlfriends once a week for craft night! It's a secret society! :) It's been so much fun! We meet at 8pm and I get home around 11:30pm! We chit chat, and make cute crafts. We usually bring whatever we want to work on, but next week were doing a group craft. I'll show pictures soon! I've made some cute flannel blankets. I bought the material the day after Thanksgiving so it was real inexpensive. There are 2 yards of each, but I cut off 1/2 yard to make a matching burp cloth, which is on my craft to-do list! I added a cute little hem to each blanket. They turned out so darn cute and Brig's and Nathan love them!



Steph taught us how to make these adorable flower head bands. Here are some of the one I made. She is so crafty!

Mini Goals Week 12, 13 and 14

I have been keeping up with my mini goals...just too busy to blog about it on Sunday. Two Sunday's ago we had our annual Super Bowl party, then last week we were in Pinetop having a blast with the family in the snow! Now I'm back and ready to report on my progress...
These last couple weeks have flown by with jammed pack activities and celebrations. We had the football party with some crafting, then started a weekly craft night with some of my special moving far-away friends, Valentine's day with cute family crafts, the Olympics started (which I love, love, love!!) Gavin turned 4 years old, we threw a pirate party for him, the boys had science projects and a science fair to attend, the book fair (which I head up for the boys school) was last week, I celebrated my 35th B-day, I've been packing boxes, searching new cute craft blogs, fun with the ladies in my Bunko group.....Breath! :) I did forget 2 doctor appointments! Bummer.
Ok, here it goes...My mini goal this week is....drum roll please....Make a HOME-COOKED MEAL EVERY NIGHT! Already sounds yummy! Here is why. We have been so dang busy these past few weeks we haven't been eating that great. We've only gone out once to a restaurant, but it's more than that. The kids eat 2 bowls of cereal for dinner or we'll make top ramen soup. Easy, cheap and fine every once in a while, but NOT THIS WEEK! I love cooking and baking, I just need to focus on it and make it a priority. Hopefully it'll get me back in the habit of making delicious, warm, homemade meals.

What are YOU working on this week?
GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!

Pinetop, Az



Last weekend we went 2 hours north of our house to Pinetop, Az. A BEA-utiful place with lots and lots of snow! YEAH!! We had to bring lots and lots of extra clothes for this weather there was CHILLY! We even borrowed some snow pants and boots! The above pictures is right outside of where we stayed!
Everyone had a blast going sown the hills on the sleds we bought! The above picture is right before they bit it, hard and Gavin flipped over! Everyone was ok, and continued to have fun!

What a FUN time we all had there. It was a practice of how life is going to be like soon when we move to Utah!!

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Happy Birthday to an AMAZING Wife!!!

Okay, let me just be clear....I have hijacked my wife's blog and not told her what I am doing....but since she recently told you how awesome I was for my birthday, I think it is only fair that I do a similar thing for her....Ultimately, I am only telling you the things that you already know for yourself (so it goes without saying) but I am going to say it anyways....

My wife is AMAZING, FABULOUS and FANTASTIC all rolled into 1 phenomenal woman!!!

She is the anchor of our family and has been a pillar of support for the last 11 years of our marriage and before that by another 2 1/2 years. When I first met her, I knew she was different than any girl I had ever seen. She had this exuberance, energy and enthusiasm that is contagious. She quickly captured the heart and attention of anyone and everyone.

She is the kind of person who brings an amazing presence when she enters the room. She is always ready to party and have fun, and LOVES to play games. She is also the person who plans a THOUSAND things into a weekend in order to maximize the time that the kids have with their dad. And if she DIDN'T plan the things that she does, we wouldn't get ANYTHING done. I am the kind of person who comes home from a hard day and just wants to veg on the couch and chill. Luckily, Lori doesn't allow me to do this and keeps me motivated to get done the things that our family needs.

Lori is the most amazing party planner that I have ever seen. Our children have always had birthday parties that blow you away. And the amazing thing is that despite the multitude of games and attractions that happen at each of the birthday parties, she is able to get it done for FREE almost every time. She has thrown an Army birthday party for Will once that included an army obstacle course in the backyard AND the kids were actually visited by REAL Army guys in their Humvee. She also has had several Firefighter birthdays where the firemen show up with the fire truck and actually let the kids SPRAY THE HOSE!!! How cool is our kids' mom???

Lori is someone who is always willing to lend a hand and help out. She worked her tail off as PTO President for TWO YEARS, admist my continual absence due to attending PA school. She is NOW the LIBRARIAN at the kids' school and take time to read stories to the kids and helped organize the library at the school FROM NOTHING!!! She was also the most amazing Primary Chorister I have ever seen. The energy she brought to the calling and the enthusiasm was contagious for the children and made them all excited to see what was going to happen during singing time next Sunday.

Lori is also an amazing teacher. Probably her favorite church calling was Relief Society Teacher, and she would work ALL week long researching information that might be able to be shared the next week. The energy she brings to the lesson material, makes the gospel exciting and fun to be engaged in. She also faithfully teaches our children EACH week in Family Home Evening. Again, if it were not for her, our family would not be so faithful. She remembers to say prayers with the children and is a source of spiritual safety, as the children mold their testimonies.

Lori is MOST OF ALL....the BEST MOM ever (and I love my own mother more than anything)...she is SO TALENTED at the knack of caring for newborn babies. She has had the opportunity to teach these necessary skills to many-a-sleep-deprived mother who were struggling to console and provide a structure for their developing child. She will tell you that she is not a very patient person, but I have seen her exercise an amazing amount of patience with babies and their needs. She has been able to achieve significant milestones with EACH of our children, and I am so grateful for her decision to be a stay at home mom (but I am not sure how much time she actually spends at home with all of the activities, errands and work that she still undertakes).

I can go on and on for quite a bit longer in telling you how amazing she is, but I think you get the point.
I love this woman more than words can express, and I hope that I can work each day to cause her to fall deeper in love with me. I don't know what righteous endeavor earned me the right to be sealed to her for time and all eternity, but I am grateful that she is my wife and that she blesses my life each day.

I LOVE YOU, LORI BELLE!!!

Oh poop!

I am so bugged that something has changed on my computer where I can't plug in my camera, that I so often use, and download tons of wonderful pictures I want to share with all of you! Scott updated something, now it doesn't work! For either one of my camera's! (the smaller, pink one, I keep in my purse at ALL times...Just in case! And my other large camera for extra special events. Oh poop!
Tyler received MORE awards from scouts I want to share!
I went to the snow for 3 wonderful, fun days and want to show off the fun pictures I was able to capture!
I've been attending a weekly craft/chat class and want to show off some cute things I've been making!
And, there have been other fun, cool, neat things the boys have been into that I want to share with all of you, but feel like I need to wait till this problem gets resolved!
EEK! Bare with me y'all!

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Blockbuster Express FREE Codes!!

I have some FREE codes for Blockbuster Express!! Go to Blockbusterexpress.com to find a location near YOU!
W2121A1 (exp 2-17)
GA12A2 (exp 2-19)
BBXDVD1 (exp 2-25)

There are A LOT of great new releases out there!

Desserts

The other day I posted on Facebook if i should make Texas Sheet Cake or Lemon Bars. The majority of the replies were to make Texas Sheet Cake. There were a few posts that asked what Texas Sheet Cake was! Gasp! What? Poor thing! I ended up making both! :) Scott had a meeting for the ASU coordinators at our house so I thought it would be nice to make a little something for them all. Here are some pictures that will make your mouth water! YUMMY!

Tyler's Science Fair Project

"What sport is the most popular at Liberty Arts Academy?" (The boys school)

Tyler worked with Coach Jones to pull this off. We made a Tally sheet for each class with five (football, basketball, soccer, kickball and dodge ball) different sports to choose from divided by what girls chose and what boys chose. The sport that is the most popular was dodge ball. This project was perfect for Tyler!
The actual Science Fair is coming up on Friday...More pictures to come!

Jackson's Science Fair Project

"Do watercolor paints tend to run more on certain types of surfaces?"

Jackson painted the same picture on four different types of paper to see if the paint would run and also how the colors changes on the different surfaces. The types of paper he used were regular copy paper, ruled paper, construction paper, and cardboard.
Here is what he ended up with...None of them ran, but the colors ended up being a little different in shads after they dried.


Will's Science Fair Project


"Which brand of microwave popcorn leaves the fewest unpopped kernels?" Will had 4 different brands of popcorn we used and experimented with. It was a lot of fun, and we had never open a bag of unpopped popcorn before. It was gooey and messing. With all the bags of popped popcorn, the kids had a fun time eating it all. We had to do Will's experiment in 2 days...it was a lot of popcorn!



The winner....Orville Redenbacher!!!

Geocaching

Our family loves to go geocaching. It's been almost a year since we've gone, but now that the weather is cooler we started it back up again! There is this park over where we live that is just awesome! We've been there a few times, and it never gets old. There is several ponds where many different birds live by, rabbits, fish and other wildlife. We've walked it before, and ridden our bikes. This park has over 10 geocashes! We've already found several, but there have been new ones set out since the last time we were there. We all had a blast doing this FUN family activity together! This was the BEST hide we have ever found! It's a fake bird sitting in a tree, way back in the brush. Several other birds were sitting right there also! Crazy!
All the brothers take turns holding the GPS and finding the caches. The micro ones we leave for Will and Scott to find. Those are hard!
This was the hardest of the day...It was a fake plant in the middle of a bunch of bushes and trees. Scott pulled it up and the cache was underneath it!
Here is a normal sign welcoming the visitors to the park and the top park of the medal pole came off and the cache was hiding under it! Awesome! You know how many people have walked right on by these hides? Crazy!

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Fashion or cold?


Every night before I head to bed I check on my sweet boys. It's always fun to see where they're sleeping, what they're wearing, the pose they're in while asleep. Here is what I found the other night...Jackson is sound asleep wearing his favorite hat. Was he cold or was it for fashion?

Happy, Happy Birthday G-Man!!

Gavin celebrated his 4th Birthday on the 11th. He has been talking about his birthday for weeks and weeks. Thank goodness it finally came. In the morning he woke up and I had put 4 sign and 4 balloons around the living room wishing him a very happy birthday. He had preschool in the morning, which they had a little party for him. Scott and I stopped in and brought mini cupcakes for him. He LOVED everyone singing to him. After school Gavin opened gifts that his brothers and Scott and I bought for him. I made a little crown for him to wear while he opened the gifts. He received Bakugans, Bakugan cards, a 3D Leggo magazine, bubbles, a toy horse, a mitt and ball. He was so excited!







Happy, Happy Birthday to my sweet Gavin!!