A Little Stress

Flooded cellar that needs a sump pump installed, and we have to keep sucking the water out so that the water level doesn't get too high and burn out our pilot light on our water heater.

+

A car port that is collapsing and we can't park under it anymore because we don't want it to crash on our car and ruin it

+

A shed that has a hole in the roof.

+

The need for rain gutters.

+

A broken dishwasher.

+

A broken vaccuum.

+

A huge crack in our countertop.

+

Not enough money to fix everything.

=

ALOT, ALOT of STRESS!

Snow Removal

I noticed the other day that the roof over our car port looks like its bowing in a little. I think we are going to have to replace it thiws summer. Not looking forward to that. Well, we decided that we should probably get some of the snow off. So, we sent the kids up there with a hammer to chip away the ice and some shovels and rakes to push the snow off. They thought it was great that they got to be up on the roof, they didn't even care that we were having them do work!

Draper Temple

Today we went to the Draper Temple Open House!

We took the kids out of school for the day and went to the open house with some of our friends. First we went to a church and watched a short film. Then, we loaded onto some buses and they took us to the temple. We walked through the amazing building and got to see where some of the most important work on this earth will be performed. The kids actually were pretty well behaved so it made it even more enjoyable. They were interested and were asking a lot of questions about temples and temple work. It was a wonderful family outing!

What a great day!

Sequence

The kids have recently learned how to play Sequence, and they love it. J and S still need a little

coaching, but they mostly get it. It's so fun to be able to play a game as a family. That means my little ones are growing up. CRAZY!

Baby Natalia

My new neice!!!

Natalia Zaneth

6lb. 15 oz. 19 inches

Born at 2:26 this afternoon.

I'm already in love!

They Should Change The Name

So, 2nd workout day is done.

And, I'm beat.

I think they should change the name from P90x to P90-kick your butt.

Holy cow, there are some good workouts in this program.

Hopefully they'll work!

I HATE that I have to do this, AGAIN

So, it's a new year. Which means time for those darn resolutions again. I thought this was a resolution I wasn't going to have to make again. But, here I am. I'm so mad at myself because I worked my butt off to lose all that weight, and I gained almost all of it back. It's SO depressing. But, I know I can do it again. I'm just mad that I have to do it again. I've realized since this is not the first time I've lost weight and gained it back that I really do have to keep exercising. I know, it shouldn't have taken me that long to realize it, but it did. So, today I'm starting a new exercise program. It's P90X. I'm excited to do it because I've heard good things about it. My brother did it and said it's a great workout. Hubby is doing it with me, so I think that will be good motivation to keep going. Hopefully we can encourage each other. Now, every Monday I will report on my progress so that I can feel accountable and hopefully this will actually work. Here's to losing weight, AGAIN.

Birthdays, Blessings, & Bowling

On Friday we got to go to a birthday party for my sweet little neice who is visiting from Oregon. We don't get to see them very often, so we were grateful for the opportunity. The kids got to jump around on trampolines, swing from a rope into a huge foam pit, and run wild and free. They had a blast!! Afterwards, we headed over to her grandma's house for cupcakes, ice cream, and presents. The food was yummy and the kids had a great time playing. I'm so glad we were able to go and spend a little bit of time with them.

After the birthday we went to some friends' house for their baby blessing. They did it at their home so that their family who was visiting was able to be there. The blessing was beautiful and I'm so glad we were able to share that wonderful experience with such great friends.

Saturday night we went to the BYU Creamery for dinner and the went bowling. Our good friends came along. I'm not a great bowler, but I had a great time!


S and his buddy waiting for their turn.

T finally with a smile. He is a very athletic and competitive boy. Bowling is a little bit harder for him and he had a tuff time. There were a few tears, but after a while he started to get the hand of it. Luckily we ended the night with a smile.

M trying for a strike!

Our New Years Party

Hubby's dad came in to town to celebrate New Years Eve with us. We all gathered together at my SIL's house for food and fun. We had salads and lots of yummy snacks to last the entire night. We played a lot of fun games and had a great time together. The kids joined in on the fun too. We toasted in the new year with some yummy sparkling cider!

The kids all had a great time, but by the end of the night they were pooped out!

...several fell asleep right after we rang in the new year.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Our Anniversary

Last Saturday we celebrated our 12th anniversary! I can't believe it's been that long, yet I can't ever imagine my life without my hubby. He totally surprised me this year. He bought us a couples massage. My cute sister Ange came over to babysit which was super nice. First we went to the spa, which was SO nice. I didn't expect it to be that nice. We changed and then went to wait in the "relaxation" room, where there were light refreshments and drinks available. Then we got called back for our massages. At first I thought it might be a little weird, but it totally wasn't. We were in the same room and the massage was fantastic. Afterwards we went back to the "relaxation" room where there was some sparkling cider waiting for us. It was so nice and relaxing and quiet. We had a wonderful time.

After our massages we went out to eat sushi at Happy Sumo. I loved it! DH has been branching out a little and is finally starting to like it. There were so many choices. The food was fabulous. Then, we walked over the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and got carmel apples. Mine was an apple pie apple, and hubby got a strawberry cheesecake apple. Both were delicious! We had a wonderful date and it was nice to get away and celebrate our anniversary!!

I'm so thankful for a wonderful husband, who cares about me and our family. He is my best friend and I'm thankful for him daily.

"Tis The Season

My SIL borrowed my computer for a little bit so I wasn't able to post, but even if I had had it December has been a very busy month with very little spare time. We kept ourselves busy with so many things.

'Tis The Season For:

~Decorating
~Baking
~Flash Game
~T's Dare Graduation
~Birthday parties
~Scouts and Activity Days
~S's final games for Little Hoopsters
~Ward Christmas Party (which I was in charge of)
~4H Showcase (which I also had to help put on)
~Dance classes
~Dentist, doctor, and eye appts.
~Blood tests at the hospital
~Dance Open House
~Treats to school
~School Parties
~Teacher Gifts
~Friend Gifts
~Yummy Neighbor Gifts
~Christmas Cards
~Christmas Stories
~Progressive Dinner with Friends
~Taking the kids shopping for their dad
~Sewing matching p.j.'s for the girls and their friend
~Chirstmas music
~Christmas Eve Party with family
~Acting out the nativity
~Christmas Lights
~Wrapping gifts
~Opening presents Christmas morning at 4:45 a.m.
~Playing the wii!
~Our 12th Anniversary!
~Dinner and game night with good friends!

December came and went. It's been a busy but wonderful month for us. We did lots of fun things and made lots of great memories. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season as well!

Happy Holidays!

I'm Scared, but I'm Thankful

Sunday was testimony meeting and T & S were trying to talk each other into going up to bear their testimony. T really wanted S to do it, but S was very nervous. Finally they wrote down what S would say on a piece of paper. He was very close to going, but then decided he didn't want to go by himself, then decided he couldn't do it at all. T went up to do it all by himself. I was so proud of him. He gets very nervous in front of people. Then after that S didn't know if he wanted to do it or not. He didn't want to let his brother down. He got himself so worked up that he started crying. Then he told me that he was scared, but he was still thankful. I told him it was okay to be scared and that he didn't have to do it. Then he looked at me with his

big-melt-your-heart-eyes and said, "Mom can you just go up and bear your testimony?" How on earth could I say no to that? So up I went, even though I had just given a talk 2 weeks previously. When I came back to my seat, S gave me a big hug and with tears still in his eyes said, "Thank You! I love you!" What a sweet boy. It amazes me the faith of a child. I know he was feeling the spirit, and that is what moved me to go up and bear my testimony. I am so thankful for my children and for the wonderful example they are to me. I truly feel blessed.

Photo Shoot

My SIL Amanda takes really good pictures, and she said she would do our family photos when they were down for Thanksgiving. So, we headed towards the canyon looking for a good picture start. We stopped on the side of the road in two different spots and got some really great pictures. I thought she did a great job.

Now, I have to decide which one to use for our Christmas card.

I really love this one!

Another good one!



Aren't these some of the cutest kids?

It's too hard to choose.

Just The Six of Us!

Dinner

We went out to dinner Saturday night with some of DH's family. It was a lot of fun. I'm so thankful for a wonderful family and for all the good times we have together!!! After dinner we went over to my SIL's to play games. S and Uncle Kent playing with a camera.

T and J
Aren't they cute?!

Me and my sexy hubby!

S and cousin Hannah

What a stylish little girl:)

Pizza, Trax, & Lights

We had a great Thanksgiving. I can't believe Christmas is just around the corner. CRAZY! T made this cute fall decoration for me at one of his scout meetings. I love it!

The day after Thanksgiving is the first day the lights are on at Temple Square. It is so beautiful there, we thought it would be fun to make a trip up there.

First we stopped to have some pizza at Cobblestone Bakery. YUM! I'd never eaten there before, and now I don't want to have pizza anywhere else. It was fab.

We drove to Sandy and then caught Trax up to Salt Lake. The kids thought it was pretty fun to ride a train. It was nice because we didn't have to worry about parking and we got dropped off just down the street from Temple Square. The ride home was pretty crowded, but it was still fun and the kids really enjoyed it.

Temple Square was beautiful of course. I love seeing the lights there. It adds a special feeling on top of everything you feel when you are there.

Black Friday Shopping

So, I've never done the Black Friday thing before, but decided to give it a try this year. My SIL
Brenda is a die hard. I thought it'd be fun to tag along. She had me up early. Here we are at 3:30 a.m., yes a.m standing in line at Toys 'R Us. Crazy I know. But I got the main things I wanted, and they were a great price. I actually got almost all of my shopping done!! My other SIL Amanda and her hubby Kevin, and Brenda's hubby Travis were also there for the fun. We got some great deals, but boy was I tired when I got home.

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Unfortunately this was the only picture that turned out. We went to hubby's sisters' house. We had a blast. We always have such a good time together. The kids all got along great, and of course the food was delicious!

We did have one little crazy event that happened that will make this a Thanksgiving none of us will ever forget. My cute little neice Hannah, who is only one locked herself in the bathroom. She went in the bathroom and then opened one of the drawers, which made it so that the door wouldn't open. We tried several different ways to try to open the door, but had no success. After about 30 minutes, we ended up having to punch a hole in the door. Poor little Hannah was so scared, I felt so bad for her. It was quite the event.

Thanksgiving Morning

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

It's Thanksgiving morning and the activities have already begun.

The girls climbed into my bed to watch the Thanksgiving Parade.

The boys have headed out to play some football at the Turkey Bowl!

Should be a great day:)

Twilight

I finally saw Twilight today. I went with a group of friends and my mom. I was nervous to see the movie because I LOVED the book so much. It turned out being better than I thought, but I still like the book much better. I still love Edward, of course!

Sleeping Kiddos

This morning I went into the girls room to wake them up. I turned the light on and found two empty beds. Sometimes one of the kids will wake up in the middle of the night and end up in our room, so I went back to check. No one.

I went into the boys room, and this is what I found:

...four cute sleeping kiddos all in a row on the floor.