Journaling week of 7-14-13

- Bradley got up early one morning and made breakfast for us!!!  Eggs and cut up sausage, SO YUMMY!!!  This isn't the first time he's done this, but it was remarkable because of how well it tasted and what a great job he did!  I loved it!  He's such a good boy to cook breakfast and give his Mommy a break too!  Cool kid.

- We finally made it up to the Maynes family meeting this week.  I know why we've missed.  It's hard for me to do Sunday afternoons and evenings.  I don't know why.  It's just not the same without Nate here.  I guess it's something I won't miss if Nate has a different schedule next year.  The kids helped out though, and we were able to cram our dinner (even after burning our yummy ham and cheese cresents and resorting to Froot Loops) into our faces and get out the door.  We had a good time there, as always, it's just getting there that is difficult for some reason.  It is hard to leave as well, but we managed.  Good times.  7-14-13

- This week, I spent an unmentional amount of time coloring.  With the kids and actually (embarrassingly) on my own too.  It's somewhat therapeutic!  Plus Kelly loves the one on one time like that :).  I love it too. 

- We went to our first Pack Meeting with the new ward!  (This was Bradley's second, but they treated him like it was his first :) and the family didn't come to the other one, so it was really our first)  Lots of fun!!!  They did all the fun cheers and such that was missing in the old ward.  They even did a special "run with the pack" thing for Bradley since it was his first week.  He loved it :).  They did waterballoons at the end as well.  I think we'll go back to taking the whole family again.  They had a blast!  7-15-13

- The other day, Erika found some of her old pants.  They were probably size 0-3 month.  So pretty tiny.  She liked them and wanted to use them, but I told her they would be too small for her.  She figured out that if she had a little sister she could pass those pants on to her little sister!  I told her that was right! She got really excited about the idea.  Pretty soon she was bringing all kinds of things to me as I was washing the dishes telling me what she was going to save for her "baby sister".  She started to ask me when we could "go get her a little sister".  I told her to ask Daddy :).  Then I tried to remind her that it takes a while to make a baby.  She apparently doesn't remember the waiting for baby Jack.  But she now has a little spot in her drawer for stuff for her baby sister :).  I can't help but smile and wish that I had a little girl on the way for her.  Maybe someday. 

- Erika calls Charity and Kelly "The Sisters".  Cracks me up every time :).

- I have started a new thing for my kids so that I do not have to nag.  I know this isn't the first time, but I'm convinced that's the whole thing with being a Mom.  You have to keep adjusting the system.  It might work perfectly for a little while, but there's always another way to do it and one that will work even better!  So my "no nagging" week went well.  Not perfect, and my house was a wreck for most of the week, but I think overall my mood was changed and that was the goal, so we will have to keep at it I think, but hopefully it will be better for all of us in the long run.

- On Friday the kids and I went over to the Maughan's to get to know them so that we could play with them more often.  It was fun.  I am so not social these days.  I don't know why.  I feel like a social life is so at the bottom of my priorities right now.  Maybe that's because I have 8 of the best friends anyone could ever want and they just happen to be my responsibility right now too.  But it was still nice to talk with someone and have a little break from our day.  Unfortunately Kelly fell and cut herself on their end table just before we left.  That was a bummer. 

After the Maughan's house Bradley, Luke, and Noah all went to see Iron Man 3 while the girls, Jack and I went on a bike ride.  What a crazy time of day that was, and on such a hot day especially, to go on a bike ride!  We were dying of heat the whole time, but it was a fun time.  We went to Arctic Circle with the change we had found lying around the house and were able to get some ice cream cones :).  That was fun.  I love hanging with my girls.  7-19-13

- Kelly got to do her Movie Star Camp on Saturday, that Grandpa gave her for her birthday.  That was a lot of fun for her!  I was so nervous to send her and worried about her the entire time, but I think she liked it!  I will have to share the pics of her "Red Carpet Premiere" later.  7-20-13

Since Kelly was gone, Charity was playing with her friend Savannah alone, and they had to carry out the "Dance Camp" they started without Kelly.  They had a lot of fun and then ended up spending a lot of the evening being big girls down at Station Park.  Shopping!!!  I can't believe I let Charity go.  I do trust her friend, and even more, I trust Charity, but still, seemed like a big deal.  I think she had a good time and she even bought some make up!!  7-20-13

- Saturday night, on our way home from Kelly's Movie, we made the crazy decision to go to the Movie in the Park at Heritage Park.  They were playing Brave.  We had kept Nate home from work and it just seemed like a fun way to finish off his "day off".  It was fun, I think everyone had a good time, but really, not a good idea for getting up and getting ready for 9:00 church.  I don't think we'll go to any more.  It was fun though!  I loved the big blow up screen they had!!  Very cool.

Journaling Week of 7-7-13

BY THEIR FRUITS
There was a lot of talk about faith, prayer, and scripture study today at church.  I know this sounds silly since those are pretty basic parts of the doctrine, but it was totally what I needed to hear.  I loved the lesson that Bro. Pierce gave even though it was completely impromptu.  I feel the Spirit so strongly in this ward.  It's awesome.  I loved a lot of the testimonies and they totally went along with some of the thoughts I'd been having this week after finishing the Book of Mormon in my personal scripture study.  I just need to always keep in mind that the Book of Mormon brings me closer to my Heavenly Father.  It is a good thing. 
We had a family fast today for Jared.  Hopefully things will start looking up for him.  7-7-13

FHE
This week was my lesson.  I did a lesson on Honesty.  I think my favorite thing that I took from this lesson is that my children are more grossed out by my spit (on M&Ms) than what's in the sock I had been wearing all day.  Kinda strange, but whatever.  Good times.  7-8-13


NERIUM
I got to go to Lacie's house tonight for a Nerium party.  It was so much fun!  I need to learn more about Nerium, but I did have a blast talking to Marci and Gentry and Annie for a little bit.  I LOVE them so much.  I must have them all over one of these days.  7-9-13

BASEBALL
We went and got some baseball stuff at the D.I. this week and it quickly became a favorite.  We started out with just a rubber ball about the size of a soft ball, mostly because I didn't want anyone getting hurt, but once I saw how good they were, it was so that they weren't breaking any windows!!  My kids are amazing baseball players!!  We've mostly just worked on batting and they hit almost every good pitch!  It's so fun!!  On Friday we made our way over to our field to play a "game" and it was SO much fun!  I was so impressed with everyone's skills!  Even Noah.  All I can say is wow. 

YARD WORK
Nate got a whole bunch of yard work done this week.  It was SO nice to see our backyard really coming along.  The people who we got the house from didn't do much on it for the past couple years, so it is definitely a work in progress, but we are finally seeing some of the progress!  I love that Nate has an eye for things.  I like what he's got planned too.  He trimmed the trees that have been blocking my view of the backyard from the kitchen and that especially made me happy :).  It's really looking good.  Thanks Babe!!  7-11-13

RAIN IN JULY?
We've had so much rain lately!!  It feels like April, but hotter.  It's definitely a good thing, no complaints here, and actually, I prefer rain over sun, but it's just strange!  Keeps messing with my plans to go to the splash park :). 

7-11
Thursday was free Slurpee day at 7-11.  We decided a bike ride was in order.  So once we got things all cleaned up in the yard, we all got on our bikes, Nate on his roller blades, Luke on his scooter and Erika and Jack in the bike trailer, and headed up to 7-11.  What a FUN activity that turned out to be!!  I couldn't believe how well it went!  No stops except to wait for Nate and Noah.  Noah was pedalling on his tiny little bike, I still don't know how he kept up with us the rest of the time!  Amazing!  I LOVED it!!  The whole time I kept thinking, "THIS is why we have this family!"  It just felt so good.  Everyone working together and having a good time.  We got to 7-11 just in time, a huge line formed behind us.  The floor was all sticky and everything was really chaotic, but we got our free slurpees!  WE drank them outside on the lawn and then rode home in the beginnings of a big rain storm.  Good times!!  I will never forget that bike ride!  It was the highlight of my summer so far. 

That night, we left the kids home while we went to our first meeting as representatives on the publicity committee for the Kaysville South Stake Fair.  That was fun, met some new people.  It was so short that we were able to make it to a movie.  We saw Oblivion.  It was pretty good.  I still don't think Nate loved it.  It was interesting.  Mysterious.  I liked it.  Big day for us.  7-11-13

DRIVE-IN
We were so excited to go to the drive-in to see Despicable Me 2 on Friday night, but when we got there, they were sold out!  I couldn't believe it!  The only other kid movie they had was Monsters University, and we saw that, so we left.  I was bummed and knew the kids probably were too, so we found a regular theater and went to see it there.  It wasn't as fun as watching it in the car, but after how crappy Jack did, I think I'm glad we were in a building where his crying could be removed from the earshot of the movie watchers.  We all loved the movie and I especially loved looking down the long row of seats at all my "millions of kids" and knowing that they are all mine!  Not to mention the cute guy at the end of the row.  It's just fun to be on his team.  I love my family so much.  I couldn't help but want to watch my kids rather than the movie during the funny parts :).  Their cute little giggles every time the minnions say anything :).  Fun stuff.   It was a VERY late night though, so it was nice to get home and go to bed!  7-12-13

HAIR CUTS
We took Charity, Kelly and Erika to get their hair cut on Saturday.  I had no idea how eventful that trip would be!  Charity who had come with the plan to TRIM her hair ONLY ended up picking up a style book and choosing a "long bob" cut and getting that!  She looks beautiful in it!  Then Kelly, who also only wanted a trim, ended up cutting about 4 inches off her hair!  And adding some swoopy bangs!  (which she's not all that happy with and we will possibly try to fix later)  She looks adorable to me!!  I love the clean cut hair on her!!  Erika knew she wanted to cut her hair short, and even after I told the stylist to do a short bob, she ended up cutting a few inches, but appearing to have little to no change done.  Still very cute of course :).  So anyway.  It was interesting. 

We followed up the hair cutting trip with a grocery shopping trip.  Me and the seven dwarfs alone.  Always crazy.  Heavenly Father blessed me with a few little angels though.  We ran into Vicki Parsons when we first got there, and she was so cute to ask the kids all about Disneyland and how they liked the trip, and then ran into Steve and Jauslin in the parking lot as we were leaving.  Probalby sounds little, but seeing them all was a huge blessing to me.  I so want to scream out, "SEVEN!!!" as I see people counting my kids when they walk past us in the store.  I just think it would be funny.  Charity thinks so too :).  ONe of these days....  We did good though and totally stayed under our budget!  Go me!!  That doesn't always happen :)  Although I did forget the toilet bowl brushes I needed... oh well.   7-13-13

PICTURES!!!

 Once again, my Dad let me use his house (for the zoo animals) and his computer, to put pictures on my blog.  I am sure it seems like a minor thing to other people but to me, my blog is very important.  I love that I am still able to use it!!!  Thanks again, Pappy.

My pretty Erika in her cute necklace that she made (with Lukey's help, he even put her name on it!!) So cute :)

Kelly, Noah and Erika put on a little show for us.  I think this was on the 20th.  They even made this cute drum for Noah.  I love that my kids love to perform.  I hope they keep it up.

Noah's splits.

FHE TALENT SHOW 6-24-13

For Kelly's lesson, she chose a Talent Show.  She talked a little about talents to begin with and then we all got to perform our talents.  Nate's was drawing.

He's so fun!!

He is such a cutie.  I can't remember what we had him do, but he does a few little cute things on command.  Hitting his mouth like an Idian (only with the back of his hand), then he will say "bu bu bu" too now.  And he can finally clap!  Even when he's standing!  It's pretty impressive!

I did my braided bracelet with yarn.  I was hoping the girls would want to learn how to make these again like when they were little, but I don't think it took :).  Alicia and Becky taught me this at Grandma's and Grandpa's during one summer.

Brad did a dance.

He's so fun and totally gets into it!  I love his cute face!

He invited everyone to join in.

Noah did a dance as well.  He is pretty good at "break dancing", and he has a lot of fun with it.

Erika did somersaults and rolling on the rug :).  She is such a cutie!

Charity let Buddy do his talent.  He barks once for "Please" and twice for "Thank you"!  So cool!

Unfortunately my camera battery died right before Charity did her dance, so I had to get it on my phone.  I will upload those pictures some day too.

Kelly did a dance also.

I got some pretty cool pictures of her :)

Lukey (Aka: Ninja Turtle) did flips and such on the trampoline for his talent.  He's getting really good!  I was impressed.

THE FLOUR GAME 6-25-13

Kelly and I had wanted to play this game for FHE, but we ran out of time, so we played it the next day for "Mom School".  The kids seemed to really enjoy it!  

I love that my kids are the type that I can hand them a huge ol' knife like this and tell them to cut the flour with it and they will do just that... and nothing else.  Good kids.  We're blessed.

 

 



MANTI "MORMON MIRACLE" PAGEANT  6-27-13

I don't think we were all on the blanket at once until way later, so I only got us in sections :) But I love pictures with the temple in the background.  It's such a beautiful temple!

It looked like it was going to rain.  

 

We couldn't decide which settings we liked better....

LILLIAN VEENENDAAL'S CAKE  6-29-13

I felt so privileged to have the opportunity to make a cake for Lilly's birthday!  I hope it turned out good enough for her :)  

She was being all shy for me, but look how cute she is!!

Jocelyn!!  cute dimples!  I hope she realizes how much she looks like her Mom!!  Cute family.  I loved seeing Annie.  (I already rambled on about all of this though, I forget)

ROB AND HEATHER'S PIT STOP  7-1-13

THIRD OF JULY- BAKKE FIREWORKS- 7-3-13

Jack was such a good boy!

Chris goes all out for us!  So fun!

racing the tanks

Okay, cutest picture ever!

KAYSVILLE CITY PARADE- FOURTH OF JULY- 7-4-13

We were sitting on the back row, but still had a good time :)

Didn't get the best picture of this... kind of a tradition...

Here's the big water fight tanks at the end... WAY COOL!!!

Wet from the parade!

MAYNES FAMILY CELEBRATION- FAIRMONT PARK 7-5-13

Charity and Kelly trying out Meg's rollerblades

Evan and Bradley and Marshall

Charity, Kelly and Sierra, cute cousins!

Love this kid!

This is not a picture of Erika, although he looks just like her in it for some reason.

Apparently white men CAN jump!!!  And look pretty hot in the process!!!  That's my husband!

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

RAINY SATURDAY EVENING  7-6-13



Erika's Primary teacher (well, not anymore, as of Sunday, which I consider to be a BIG BUMMER, she and her husband were released- we had finally gotten Erika to go to her class on her own, and she was feeling totally bonded with her teacher, but I guess that's how it goes :) ) had a birthday on Saturday.  I saw it in the RS bulletin and thought it would be fun to have Erika take her a treat.  Erika loves birthdays, I figured this would be a fun way to help her bond with her teachers and thus make Primary more comfortable and fun.  We had made the plan a few days before, but Erika was the one that reminded me of it pretty late Saturday night.  Luckily we had all the ingredients (yep, all 2 of them :) ) to make some Rice Krispie treats (at this point, it was more about Erika having something to do for her than what we were actually giving her :) ).  She was very excited, went and drew her a few pictures and then decided to provide Sister Tenney with some paper to draw herself a picture :).  So she loaded it all up in her little basket and had Bradley walk her down there.  She came back very excited and I casually asked her if she had told Sister Tenney "happy birthday" and when she realized she hadn't, she insisted that she go back!  SO this time she took Charity.  There were two MORE times after that even, that she remembered things and needed to tell her teacher.  Kinda funny, and hopefully they thought it was too, but I did stop her after that, even though she would have gone again.  They did invite her in one of the times and let her pick out a treat, but anyway.  It was fun for her.  Like I said though, they got released this Sunday.  Such a bummer.  Hopefully she will like the Leavers as much as she was starting to like the Tenneys.

 



We all played out in the rain a little.  Bradley was loving the thunder!  It's nice that he's finally loosened up to all the weather :)

 

Jack has the funnest siblings!! (if funnest was a word of course!)

 

And that's all I have for now :)