Twilight Eclipse!!

Here we are at the theaters. We got special tickets and watched all three movies in a row at the theaters, totally awesome!! And I had a sticker under my cupholder, so I won a special eclipse tshirt! Yeah!!! Karolee threw an Eclipse party the next night at her house, followed by seeing the movie (again) at the theaters. She did such an awesome job. Can you spy the 'red carpet' in the background...
And in case you were wondering. I'm a vampire girl. Go team Edward!!!

Here it comes!!! We had our tickets 2 months in advance, no such thing as planning too early...

Laneel is such an awesome friend, and she happens to share the joy of loving twilight with me (along with so many other things...) Thanks for the best day Lady

It turns out I am a bigger fan than I thought...

I now have 3 tshirts (2 were free and one was $1)
I have seen the second and third movie at the midnight showing

I have seen each movie multiple times in the theaters

I can't wait to see the next one... in a year and a half :(

I have read each of the books twice, and will read them again before the fourth one comes out

It is just so much fun to love Twilight!!

Temple #6

One of the farthest temples away is now crossed off the list!!! Good times, and a beautiful temple inside and out.

Now we are almost half way done. What a fun goal to try and get all the Utah temples attended this year, we are loving the adventures and plans.

Manti Pagent

Bless his little heart, Gavin fell asleep during the play... And stayed asleep while we moved him to the ground. Doing seperate sessions isn't that bad. It gave each of us a chance to play with the kids and explore Manti.

One of our discoveries was a craft fair, and I had a weak spot for these super fun marshmallow guns. These kept us busy the forever!!

glad we brought those blankets and sweaters!!

We are a happy family :)

We went down to Manti this year, stayed the night, went to the temple, and saw the Manti pagent. What a fun over nighter for us. The kids had a blast!! We will do this for sure again next year :)

ah-ha moment

ok. So what am I? Daughter, sister, wife, friend, daughter-in-law, sunbeams teacher, student, and mother. What do I do? I am a stay at home mom. Well, that is what I used to say, and I had a hard time filling my daily responsibilities at home sometimes. Well, now I'd like to call myself a homemaker. A homemaker does everything necessary to make a home. Dishes, laundry, cooking, other cleaning chores, and taking care of the kids. The difference? None. It's just a title, but in my little mind the difference is huge. A stay at home mom stays home by the title. A homemaker stays home and has duties to fulfill to make a home. It was the little ah-ha moment I needed to give me the boost to feel uplifted and ready to face my responsibilities with a happy heart. "I am folding these clothes because I am a homemaker." "I am mopping the floor because I am making my home beautiful for my family." Rather than "no one ever helps me with the laundry, and there are 6 people in this family." or "really, am I the only one that can mop this floor..." These are the thoughts that have occasionally gone through my mind while doing these things. Even when I didn't want to think the thoughts, they would appear.
I am hoping this shift in thinking will be permanant. I am now and always will be a homemaker. And I love it.

New ward

Oh no!!
We had an announcement at church today. They have changed ward and stake boundaries that greatly affect my ward. They took a whole neighborhood filled with great friends of mine and have moved them not only to a new ward, but also a new stake. They have also added a new neighborhood to our ward. I trust the Lord and don't question the change, but it doesn't change the fact that I am totally sad. The change affects my calling, my visiting teaching and so much more. I won't get to see these happy faces every week. I know that these beautiful people will always be my friends, but I will greatly miss the relationship that we have now. So here's to all you great people that I have met and grown to love in my ward over the last five years. Good luck and I will miss you all so much!!!!!!
I am sure we are also gaining some amazing families, and we look forward to meeting them. Change can be a good thing sometimes.

A new day

It's a new day with nothing new to post about...

We were in the family room after dinner and getting Max to say new and funny words. He thought it was a fun game, but I was analyzing how far his speech has come. He can't say a few things that surprised me a bit.
Th
S(with a combination letter like st, sl, sp, ect..)
S in general sounds like Ch
L
R, he usually skips that sound in a word
combination constants are hard in general like pl, dr, bl, ld, br, etc.
J sounds they also sound like Ch
full sentences are hard. He still says a lot of commands and 2-3 word sentences.
He isn't very good at describing things.

He is 3 1/2 yrs old. Do any of you know if this is in line with where he needs to be? Speech therapy helped a lot, but I still feel like he is behind. Sophie and Peter were very clear speakers from an early age so I can't really compare very well. I guess I could look it up on my own...

Blog catch up

spent a little time playing catch up on some past events including Peter's birthday and some new temples we've been to. Take a scroll down to see...

Birthday Dinner

OK, why did this picture post sideways??
Oh well, we had a great time the other night for Linda's birthday. She hit a milestone, but I don't think she'd like me to day which one... But Rich did wish her a happy 29th birthday for the 31st time!! It took us weeks to plan this evening. Which day could everyone come? That went back and forth and back and forth, and where should we eat and what time??? Seriously hard to plan when we were trying to coordinate 14 people's schedules, and plan the babysitting too... So this is what we got. 9 grown-ups out for dinner, with no kids. What a fun night! She loved her ipad that we all chipped in for. My favorite part of the night was when they brought the sombrero and maracas out for her to wear while we all sang her happy birthday with her free brownie and ice cream!!!

A bug in a rug

Sunday's are the day when my kids imagination shines.

Rich used to do this to the kids when they were smaller, and Sophie remembered and was the gang leader today. (that girl has the memory of an elephant, she remembers EVERYTHING!!!) She said Gavin was a worm, and Max wanted to be a caterpillar... Good fun for an hour or so...

My Favorites, Today

Today my favorites are:
-our new super soaker water guns
-icecream cones
-the wii for my sick little boy, Peter has strep throat
-clean bedrooms
-the central vac, now that it is unclogged
-a day off with no plans
-windows that open to let in the perfect breeze
-having family time in the backyard
-color safe bleach
-when Rich helps me do my chores, gotta love a hubby that helps clean!
-quiet time
-that I don't have to teach the lesson in sunbeams tomorrow
-finished laundry
-my mp3 player for my runs, and the new arm strap I have, now I don't have to carry it in my hand!
-oatmeal cookies and homeade bread
-SUMMER WEATHER

Last Day of school

My heart ached a little as I walked away from the school with Peter today. My two older kids will be in 1st and 2nd grade now. That is a big step. All day school. I am excited about having a little more free time, but they are growing up so fast. I love my kids!
Peter went out from kindergarten with a bang and a blast at his water party. I love this party where the kids get to run around from station to station and play fun water games. There were so many moms snapping fun pictures of their kiddo's, and I wished I had my camera. But I left it at home on purpose because I volunteered at the water party last year when Sophie was in kindergarten and my camera got wet and ruined!!! I didn't want that to happen again, so I left it at home on purpose, but I still missed my camera! Max tagged along at the party too and had so much fun. He is a fun kid!


Anyway, Goodbye school, HELLO SUMMER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Easter Pictures

Really, it has taken me this long to get some recent pictures on the blog. Easter was great. We had the annual Easter Egg hunt at our house for all the cousins. And I hid all the eggs. Maybe 350 eggs, I don't think that would be much of an exaggeration. I have always wanted to hide the eggs, silly pleasure!! But we did it on Friday this year because it was also General Conference weekend. The neighborhood egg hunt was early Saturday morning, and super fun.

And now it's one thing crossed off my list. Blog about Easter. Done.

Running

Time to make it official by telling the world. I have decided to run a half marathon!! That is 13 miles!!! I always knew that I would one day, and the day has arrived. It isn't until the end of the summer, but I am really excited about the whole thing. I am up to 8 miles, but I am a little slow... Oh well, I'm not trying for a time, I just want to be able to do it. So thanks Cyndi, for letting me jump on board with you on this goal.

Peter's Birthday

You never forget the birth of your children. Peter is my second born and I love him so much. The past 6 years have flown by. Peter is a clone of Rich, but that doesn't mean he isn't his own person. I see Rich in him all the time, but then I see Peter too. He is kind, generous, a peace maker, sensitive, a mommy's boy, cautious, outgoing, funny, strong, independent, helpful, playful, understanding, teachable, a leader, decisive, fun, happy, smarter than he lets on, able, capable, a good and loving brother, and a wonderful son. I am grateful to be his mother. He makes me proud of him everyday.
We are so lucky to have him in our family.





Some birthday highlights Gavin crawled across the table to get a little closer to the icecream

Peter and his Star Wars Lego cake. He was dying all day to play with his new guys. I made them stay on the cake till after the candle was blown out... mean mom, right?

This is classic Peter.

Mini golfing, and the best day ever.

I love how big Gavin thinks he is as he struts his stuff and follows the bigger kids around.

One cool dude..

All the kids liked sitting with Rich and playing arcade games.

Wee...

How can you not snap a pic with the life size clone outside of the lazer tag

These two loved it, even though the vests were a little heavy and big.

Boy was this cake a stretch of the imagination. I think I am losing my birthday cake touch to allow this!!! Well, it is exactly what Peter wanted, so maybe I win some mommy points in that department.

We gave Peter the choice of a friend birthday or a family birthday this year, and he went back and forth and even invited friends to his birthday party - without checking with me first... Well, he picked a family birthday at Boondocks, we had so much fun!!!!!!! Well, Max didn't love Lazer tag. He thought it was a real star wars game and all the people were clones and were trying to shoot him dead, so he ran through the darkness of the lazer tag room, through and around all the obstacles until I caught him and took him out to Rich. But everything else was great. Fun family day. At lunch time. It was the only time we could be together as a family. We had a short breakfast, long lunch and quick cake before bed.

Happy Birthday my 6yr old.