Leatherby's for Jen's Birthday

This night is a blur to me.  I felt awful the whole time.  Bradley took my camera around and got lots of pictures, so that was nice... hopefully everyone else had a good time :).

Ya gotta love that THIS is "the smallest thing they serve" :).  Jack was in heaven.  And I think he ate most of it too!

9-22-14

Fashion Show

Charity, Kelly, Noah and Erika put together this cute little "Pet Fashion Show" for me and Jack and Bradley (Luke opted out of this one).  It was so cute and so fun to watch.  Erika made sure I took LOTS of pictures so that I could show them to Daddy (he was working).  9-16-14

Charity was the announcer and the other three helped the models walk the blanket/mat runway :)

It was getting dark, you'll have to excuse the picture quality.

We have some fun older siblings.  They make life fun for everyone.

Bradley's Family Party

Bradley doesn't like cake/frosting so he chose a donut cake this year :).  This was a really fun cake to make and I wasn't worried about the germs I might have spread by making a real one.  Took all of 5 minutes to stack them up too, so can't really go wrong here :).  

We had a pretty good turn out at this party even though we hadn't heard back from many of them :).  Grandma Ruthie and Grandpa Maynes, Aunt Jen, even Uncle Jared made it!  Grandpa and Grandma Hatch, Simon, and Steve and Jauslin all came too.  It was a lot of fun and a very relaxing evening.

I don't know if I got  picture of the "before" Jared helped himself to the top donuts :).  That was hilarious, but at the same time, kind of sad too.  He is really starting to lose it. 

Bradley finally got his "REALLY fast" remote control car.  He was happy :)

Guess I should have told Nate I was taking a picture.  It was Sports jersey day at school that day :)

Steve ate the Texas donut AND had fajitas!!  What a stud.

10-9-14

Bradley's Ice Bucket Challenge

I'm not 100% sure how this came about, but when Heidi and John were here this is what we ended up doing :).  

It was such a big bucket that the ice was mostly melted by the time they filled up the bucket with water.  I can't believe he didn't drown!!

Things to Remember

So I'm a little behind.  I'm not a big fan of playing catch-up but I thought I should at least post some of the important things.  The things I made notes of on my phone, and things that stand out.

PRIESTHOOD
I missed a lot of Wednesday night activities, but I didn't have to miss much church.  Surprisingly.  One of the weeks I was planning on staying home and Nate was going to take the kids, but Nate fell asleep just before church and we could not wake him up.  I told the kids we were staying home, but they wouldn't have that.  I had kind of wanted to hear my Mia Maids get set apart for the new Presidency, so I talked myself into it as well.  It ended up being one of the best Sundays I've enjoyed in a long time.  I even bore my testimony!  It was the first time I felt prompted to since that last chickening out time.  So I felt the need.  Not sure what I said, but hopefully it wasn't too much blubbering.  I was chastised by the Bishop for coming to church during YW, so I apologized for being up at the pulpit too, he forgave me afterward.  9-28-14

SUMMER
I got to meet up with my ol' friend Summer McFarland (Cordova now) at Carl's Jr. out in West Valley.  That was a cool little lunch.  I think about her ALL the time.  It was nice to hear that the feeling is mutual.  Her life has been a challenge, to say the least.  I hope we can stay in better touch.  10-2-14

PLANNING MEETING
I got to go to dinner with Heidi and my Mom to solidify some of the wedding plans.  It was a lot of fun.  I am getting really excited for the wedding!!  10-2-14

BRADLEY BIRTHDAY TABLE
I picked up some pizza and some Oreo pizza from Pizza Pie Cafe and went and had lunch with Bradley (and Erika and Jack :) ).  It was fun.  I enjoy those times with my kids.  I wish they could last longer.  Brad was a sweetheart and shared his yummy pizza with everyone :).  10-3-14

BIKE RODEO
The kids got to go to their school bike rodeo.  That was a lot of fun for everyone.  I got to ride down with them and spend the time there with just them.  Nate stayed home with the littles.  It was a fun little activity.  I was happy they enjoyed it and learned a lot of bike safety... good reminders.  I think I got some pictures on my phone... I need to upload everything.  10-10-14

IVY HOUSE
My mom, Heidi and I met up at the wedding venue.  That was a good thing.  It was nice to get a better idea of how things are going to go that night and what the place is like.  It's a really beautiful place, it's going to be a lot of fun.  I like that Heidi is letting me be a part of it all with her.  It's really exciting.  10-13-14

CLARK PLANETARIUM WITH LUKE
Luke and I got to go with his 3rd grade to the Clark Planetarium.  This is one of my favorite field trips.  Although, I'll admit the video in the big theater was not my favorite.  I missed learning about the constellations.  But it was fun to watch Luke answer all the questions at the big globe about the sun and the planets.  He's pretty smart!  We only had one other boy in our group and he was a stinker!  I was so grateful that Emily filled in for my babysitter once Nate left for work.  I feel so blessed to be able to go on field trips every once in a while.  So much fun.  10-15-14

COLE VEENENDAAL
Annie and I had been meaning to get together for a while, so we finally risked it and planned something three days before her due date.  Lucky for her she went into labor the day after we made our plans :).  Almost a while week before!  It was fun to receive her reply text to my question about what time would work best for her and she said, "I'll have to get back to you, I'm in labor at the hospital and they're about to break my water!"  So cool :).  He's here!  Cole Jacob Veenendaal!!  I was so happy that we had plans to go dress shopping in SL that day because I was able to make a stop at the hospital and visit them!  He is SO CUTE!!  I just love newborns!   Didn't help with my baby addiction problem.  I need a baby so bad :(.  It's hard to wait and I feel myself getting discouraged.  I need to not let myself get that way, but anyway.  At least I got to enjoy Annie's baby :).  The other cool thing was that Amy (Cockayne) had just had her baby the day before!  So I was able to stop by and see her as well.  It's been a long time, but she looked so great!  Her cute little girl was born at 35 1/2 weeks, so a little bit scary, but sounds like she's doing okay.  What a cool day for me :).  10-17-14

DREESS SHOPPING
Heidi and I took the girls dress shopping for the Bridesmaid and flower girl dresses.  It was a lot of fun and I couldn't believe how quickly we found them!!  Only ONE HOUR IN!  At ONE MALL!  I was shocked.  We did end up going to lunch and then Target for the flower girl dresses... we just couldn't bring ourselves to pay the mall price for those.  We found some really cute ones.  10-17-14

ERIKA'S SHOW
Erika put on a little show for the whole family.  It was so cute and I was so proud of her and how brave she was :).  She's never really been into performing for everyone, but recently she has started branching out a little and this show was just her!  It was a really cute show.  She was tossing her stuffed animals up in the air like they were doing tricks.  So cute.  I loved that everyone got into it and clapped and made her feel special.  These are good kids.

Things to remember week of 9-21-14

OGDEN TEMPLE REDEDICATION

Sunday was the Ogden Temple rededication and we got to take Charity, Kellly, Bradley, and Luke with us. What a cool experience always is. I love the feeling of being in the temple with my family and being able to just focus on the temple. It was long for the kids but they all stuck it out and we're so reverent the whole time I was so glad. I hope this becomes something that we get to domore frequently. The spirit was incredible and the talks were so good I loved Pres. Eyring and Elder Holland's talk to specially and hope that we can use them in our lives. 9-21-14

MONDAY

Monday started out pretty good, But slowly turned into feeling worse than I had before. I'm really not sure what to do about this bug. I wish I could just get things figured out with the antibiotics. But my visiting teachers came, brought dinner, and sat and gave me a lesson that was much needed. I'm so grateful for the gospel and for the church and that I have people who are looking out for me and caring about me when I don't feel well. It's priceless to know that there's so many out there thinking about you and wondering how you're feeling. I don't know how people who are not in the church do it. We went to Leatherby's later that night for Jen's birthday celebrating.  It was good to see everyone, but I felt so crappy the whole time.  9–22-14

GENERAL WOMEN'S CONFERENCE
They invited the 8 and older crowd to the conference again this year, which we were excited about, so Kelly, Charity and I all headed down to Daybreak to have a nice dinner with Nate's sisters and mom and then go to the meeting together.  We had plans to stop at the store for Annie's shower gift, stop at the shower, and THEN go to Daybreak, but about an hour into these plans, and about 700 N. in Salt Lake, on I-215, we realized that we did not want to be driving in that weather.  I talked to Nate and he mentioned that there was supposed to be snow that night and with how I was still feeling pretty crummy, I decided to turn around.  It was sad because I was really anxious to see everyone, Annie and the family, but just didn't seem like the best idea.  We got to go out to our own dinner, and made it to the Stake Center minutes before the meeting started, so miraculously! and all was well.  It was a great meeting.  I felt the Spirit so strongly.  It was nice to be able to just sit there and enjoy that with my girls.  9-27-14