The Saturday before Easter

All my little chickadee's bright and early on bunny day.

Hunting in....

The bedroom.

The kitchen.

The family room.

The living room.

The basement.

The.....

oh, yeah, he is a teenager and bright and early is not in his vocabulary, especially on a Saturday.

I think his eggs were in the dining room.  He got to them eventually, because they were filled with candy and that word is definitely in his vocabulary. 

Easter 2013

We had a wonderful Easter Sunday.  After enjoying a spiritually uplifting church block we headed over the river and through the woods to Grammy's and Poppy's house for a delicious Easter dinner and of course, the traditional Easter Sunday photo shoot.

I love my beautiful family. 

 I love those crazy kids. 

 And I especially love my Savior and His life and His glorious gospel to which I owe everything.

Happy Easter!

Valentines Day

Our day was full of candy and valentines and sugar cookies and red and pink shirts and a loaf of meat in the shape of a  heart.

Our day was full of love.

Happy Valentines Day!

the end of the year

New Years Eve 2012!

Family.  Food.  Fun.

Just the way I like it.

It was simple and sweet.

I hope 2013 will be like that too.

Happy New Year!

Give Thanks

I don't even know where to begin to catch up. So much is happening.  I am so busy.  My kids are doing so many things that I want to record.  I think about blogging all the time.  I plan to do it.  I want to do it.  And then something always comes up.  But once again, I am determined to do my family history.  I am determined to document this crazy life of mine.  So here we go.

Thanksgiving 2012.

It is a tradition in our home to watch the dog show on Thanksgiving. 

 Weird.  I know

.

  But it is something we do.  Actually, just the girls do it.  I think Kara started it in her dog loving younger years.  (Those wonderful years where she begged for a dog every month in family counsel)  I love how this year the girls gathered all of the stuffed animal dogs that we have and set them up to watch the big competition.

After the exciting conclusion of the dog show we headed over the river and through the woods to grandmother's house.  Aunt Marla had a fun turkey craft for the kids to do.



And of coarse, we enjoyed  lots of delicious food and even more delicious company.

I am thankful for this girl. She makes me happy and it was so fun to have her home with us.

This year a new twist was added to the annual Turkey bowl competition.  There was a quarterback challenge.  There were awards and prizes and presentations. 

And some of my kids actually won some.

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for a wonderful holiday!

My heart is always so full on Thanksgiving.  I am so thankful for my blessings.  For my cute family and the amazing family I married into.  This has been a year filled with miracles for our family.  A year to truly reflect on all we have received.

 It has been a  year of true thanksgiving.



halloween

Halloween is definitely one of my favorites.  Always has been.  I love everything about it.  I have many friends who hate Halloween, they hate the gore and the evil and whatever else.  I don't hate anything about it.  To me Halloween isn't at all about gore or evil.  It is about fun and candy and costumes and tradition. 

 It is about being a kid.

This year we transformed into Zorro, a swingin 50's girl, Luigi and a stunning bride.

I can still remember the Halloween parades of my youth at good ole White Oak Elementary.  I remember weaving around all the desks, in and out of every classroom, proudly displaying my costume for all to see.  I think Ashlyn felt pretty proud of her gorgeous gown in her kindergarten parade, you can just see it on her face.  Oh, the memories.

After the parade I stopped in to help in Bryson's class for his 6th grade party before I dashed off to...

...help in Ashlyn's kindergarten party, before I raced off to help in.....

...Alyssa's 4th grade party.  Poor Eto, I didn't make it to his 2nd grade party because it was at the same time as one of these other parties, but I certainly heard all about it and it was a good one.

After our traditional dinner we headed out into the night for a little trick or treating.  I love this picture of Alyssa.  That spider was triggered by movement and would come down and scare kids.  She about had a heart attack.  And look at those leaves on the pavement.  Oh my gosh, I love the fall.

My kids were happy with their loot. 

And my dentist will be too.



Late in the evening the doorbell rang.  We were very surprised to find this gem of a trick or treater. 

I don't know what her name is, Pearl or Ruby or maybe Doris.

(She actually wore this outfit all day on campus, oh, if only I had her self confidence)

It was a happy Halloween indeed!





easter 2012

I'd like to paint the picture that all of our holidays are memorable and magical.  But the reality is they are often far from that. 
Take this Easter for instance.
 It was not one of our better mornings around here.  To start out, I wanted to make a memory and teach a lesson with the Resurrection Rolls.  Well, they flopped, literally.  I don't think any of them turned out.  Then, as I was helping Alyssa with her hair, she started to black out.  I laid her down, barely avoiding the full on faint, and went to help the other kids as she recovered.  This put us a little behind schedule and certain children were not cooperating and so we were going to be late.  I don't like being late, especially on Easter Sunday, so a little yelling may have taken place on my part.
 Okay, maybe a lot of yelling.

We walked into the back of the chapel and yes, we were late.  As we sat down I noticed some blood on Ashlyn's arm.  I looked her over and couldn't see where she was bleeding from.  I wiped it off, grateful it didn't get on her new dress and then tried to get in the right spirit.  I then noticed that Bryson wasn't there.  "Where is Bryson?!"  I tried to calmly whisper.  Alyssa informed me he got a bloody nose and was in the bathroom.  That was when I realized that the blood on Ash's arm was probably his.  Sick!  I told Trev to go and check on him.  He left and was gone for a very long time.  He informed me that when he got into the bathroom there was blood everywhere.  All over Bryson, his new white shirt, his new Easter tie and all over the bathroom floor.  After he finally managed to get the spurting nose under control, he began the process of cleaning up the blood splattered bathroom floor.  After multiple trips to the janitorial closet and lots of paper towels he got the job done.  They then went home to change Bryson's clothes and try to scrub off the new tie, because they claim they thought I would be kind of mad.  They were kind of right.  (I know it wasn't his fault, but it was just that kind of day!)  They slipped into the meeting with about 10 minutes left.
 And to top it off, church was just OK.  I know that's horrible to say and it was probably my attitude, but usually for me Easter Sunday is a spiritually uplifting day. 
This particular Sunday it was just OK.

And then on our way to Grandma's Alyssa got her foot caught in the seat as someone was trying to get out and she cried and cried.
 Honestly, I felt like crying too! 

 

And then we walked into Grandma's house and my spirits were lifted.
 It was Easter and despite my morning I realized I have much to be grateful for.

I have 4 handsome good boys.
 (Notice the freshly scrubbed green tie)

I have 3 beautiful happy girls.

We have our problems and our bad days, we have some yelling and fighting and yes, even some blood.

But we have each other, through the bad and the good.
And luckily, most days, there seems to be more good than bad.

And most importantly we have the gospel. 
We have an eternity together.
We have a Savior and a testimony that because of Him all can and will be good if we so choose.

And that makes for a happy Easter no matter the morning.

Green

A trap was set.

A leprechaun escaped.

Gold was left.

Kids were happy.

Green was worn. (Alyssa's green shirt was in the dryer after a spill)

Pinches were given.

A table was set.
A green tablecloth spread.

Green candles were lit.

And green food, although unappealing, was eaten.

Happy St. Patty's Day!

A Lovely Day

Love: Valentines Day!



Love:  Watching them rip into their boxes after school with so much excitement.
Love: The boys going straight for the candy.

Love:  That my girl takes the time to admire each card and carefully read who each one is from.

Love:  Balloons and treats and heart boxes filled with chocolate adorning my table

Love:  This day to celebrate with the ones I love the very most.

Happy Valentines Day!

thanks and giving always

I absolutely love Thanksgiving.

And I love all of the traditions that accompany this glorious holiday.

I love the tradition of family getting together.

The more the merrier over here. I grew up having Thanksgiving every year with only my immediate family. That was cozy and quaint and all I knew, but for me now, extended family, cousins, grandparents and friends- that's what makes it special.

I love the tradition of good food.

Trevor and I wrestled with this bird for 2 days getting it ready for its big debut. I'm telling you brining a turkey is the way to go. Delicious. It deserved a picture. We also had a stuffing showdown as well as a sweet potato contest. The outcome was divided. All recipes will be back next year. You can never have too much food on Thanksgiving.

I love the tradition of the kitchen bustle.

Everyone working together to present the perfect meal. The smells from my house that day were to die for.

I love the tradition of gathering around the table.

Of eating and visiting and sharing what we are most thankful for. I love being together.

I love the relaxed and lazy state after the big meal.

I love that they ate so much turkey they had to sleep it off.

I love the tradition of football on Thanksgiving.

I really do. I love that my family played in 2 turkey bowls in the morning (one with the ward and one with family). I love that the boys played football outside both before and after the meal. I also love that the weather was perfect for it this year.

I love football on Thanksgiving so much that I don't even mind that it is on all day inside, while they are playing it outside. Football is a part of Thanksgiving around here.

I love the ads from the 10 pound newspaper that comes on Thanksgiving morning.

I love looking through them, circling our intended targets and plotting our shopping strategy.
(Although I did not enjoy the sales starting on what my sisters and I have now named "Brown Thursday" Where did my Black Friday go?)

I love playing games that all ages can participate in and enjoy, like an exciting round of turkey races or...

...a rousing game of reverse charades.

I love the competition, the noise and the laughter that fills my home when we all play games together. I wish we did it more often.

I love Thanksgiving.

But mostly I love the people and feelings that go along with this day.

We have much to be thankful for this year.

And this particular Thanksgiving day, filled with family and traditions and food and love did not disappoint.