Happiest Wedding Day

7th Heaven

Twelve

 Spencer had his party last night.  He joined the world of cell phones.  He got his first phone call while opening presents.  He was very excited!  I am very excited!

3 More Weeks!!!

My sister Stacey is getting married.  We are so happy and excited for her!  Jason is a great guy and I am so happy he will be a part of our family. They are so cute together!!

Easter Photos

 Sometimes even a balloon and your toothbrush that you must hold at all times can't help.

My Boss

My three year old is the most demanding boss I have ever had.  He keeps track of what I am doing every minute of the day.  He tells me to stop doing that.  He tells me I am doing it wrong.  I have to get his permission to run errands.  I find myself begging him to be able to stop at the post office or bank.  Sometimes he says yes.  Potty training this one was like presenting your boss with a whole new system for running the business.  No way.  He is the boss. 

MIne, all Mine

 Somehow we ended up with four belts on and kind of matching outfits AND a few minutes early for church.  I grabbed the camera.  My boys are great at taking photos showing their true personalities. Love these boys!

Love

This was my view as I relaxed by the pool in Phoenix yesterday afternoon.  My sweetheart whisked me away for a 24 hour trip to the sunshine.  Desperately needed.  I feel like I can make it through this winter now.  Wonderful, wonderful Valentine gift.  I hope you all are getting spoiled today!

Happy January

Happy New Year

I love starting our years now with a birthday.  It is so fun!  We had a wonderful holiday break, and it was great to be home the whole time.  It has been snowing the last few days, kind of lovely. I am excited about my resolutions this year.  One of them is to paint my laundry room.  I am going orange.  Not peach, think tangerine and creamsicle.  I am also very excited for some fun trips we have planned this year thanks to family and my brother coming home from his mission! Oh, and not excited about the resolution to potty train.  This will be our third attempt, and I am not going back this time.  This time we are plowing through the tantrums and outrage that I am attempting to change his life. 

Speedy Delivery

 Nathan has been having so much fun playing with the presents under the tree.  He organizes them and pretends to hand them out to people. Then he loads them in his truck and delivers them.  This has been such a fun game, I wish I would have just wrapped up some empty boxes a long time ago!  But he knows you can't open them until Christmas.  He will hand it to you and then say, no, no, not until Christmas.  Delightful.

7 Layer Rainbow Jello

My mother in law gave me this recipe years ago, and it is a family favorite now.  Just so you know, I have never made mine look this cute before, but I would like to!  I always do mine in a 9x13 glass dish and then you have to try and cut perfect little squares.  It is still a hit every time!  There are tons of these recipes floating around, and I have tried a couple of others, but it never turns out quite right.  So, if you want a for sure hit, stick with this one.  All of the jello flavors are just suggestions, use whatever you want.  You can change it up for 4th of July or any holiday. 

7 layer jello

#1 Black Cherry

#2 Cherry

#3 Lime

#4 Lemon

#5 Orange

#6 Strawberry

#7 Grape

Mix one layer at a time in a bowl and then pour into serving dish.  Set at least 40 minutes, then do another layer on top.  Continue until you have all 7 layers.

Mix jello #1, 3, 5, 7 with 3/4 cup hot water and 3/4 cup cold water.

Mix jello #2, 4, 6 with 1/2 cup hot water, 1/2 cup cold water, 1/2 cup carnation milk.

Top with cool whip or whipped cream.

Happy Halloween!

Mario's Father, Cowboy, Buzz Lightyear, Moon Knight (a lesser known super hero who works with Spiderman)

Family Carving

 Pumpkin carving is one of my favorite family activities.  The boys all love to participate and do their own pumpkins.  We had fun with my sister's cute family this year. 

Just a little project

All day long

My 2 year old screamed at me for a very long time because he wanted this "cereal". My days begin and end with my fourth child screaming and crying at me.  Apparently I am doing everything wrong.  When I finally do figure out what he is trying to communicate to me, he then changes his mind and there is more screaming and crying.  You know that saying, You get what you get and you don't throw a fit?  My child has changed it to, You throw a fit until you get what you get, and then you change your mind.  Good thing he is so cute or I wouldn't survive. 

It's Both

The first few bites were delicious!  It really tasted just like bacon.  Yum.  Then I started to get disgusted by the smell and greasy film on the roof of my mouth.  Yuck. 

The Best Present

We celebrated Jeremy's b-day.  I am now married to a very old man, and couldn't be happier!  So, to make his day extra special I found this popcorn. I really thought this would be the crowning glory present, you know the one he just couldn't believe I found, and would be so amazed at my ability to find spectacular and unique presents.  I thought it looked so yummy,  Jeremy not so much.  He is very apprehensive about trying this, he thinks it might be gross.  What do you think?  Delicious or Disgusting? 

Labor the Day

We went camping for labor day weekend.  I know what you are thinking, it's not even labor day yet. True. We are planning on spending the holiday laboring around the house.  We finished off our camping season with a lovely weekend in McCall.  The boys finished their first week of school.  Back to school makes me feel grouchy.  Grrr.  I am hoping to get past that icky, panicky, wondering if my kids are going to be ok feeeling this week.  Because all is well. Have a lovely labor (free) day! 

Here we go again!

 Jump!

 The third grader

 The 6th grader, I love Sam peeking.

 Wow, look at that excitment!!  These two have to wear uniforms this year.

 The first grader