Weekend Wonders

So this weekend I attended a funeral. My Sisters MIL passed away. The funeral was beautiful and when I came home I told my hubby that people should attend a funeral once every 6 months just as way to really stop and appreciate life and reflect on how you are handling the truly important things in this life. I know it helped me want to be a better person remembering this great lady and all the service that her life entailed. You can read about her on my sisters blog it's a great post that makes ya think. Not that I want to have someone I know die every 6 months but you know what I mean.

Anyway ... I did ok until I saw my nieces crying. That just breaks my heart for them. These are my girls and I love them so much and know just how much they are going to miss their Grandma. She is in a better place but it is still so hard to loose a loved one and especially a Grandma when you are so young. My Grandmothers both passed away about 4 yrs ago and my heart still aches. I miss them so much too. I am so thankful to know that we will see them again and that a family will be together forever!

Then on Saturday we canned Salsa. I love canning with my husband. It is just a fun thing for us to do together. I ended up taking a few hrs off work so that I could stay in the kitchen and help finish it up and it was really nice to just spend time working and chatting and laughing together. We got about 30 jars done and every single one sealed. We decided the funnest part of canning is counted how many "pops" we hear so we know they are sealed. LOL Then they still didn't need me at work so I got to sleep a few hrs till the infomercials started and I logged in for a few hrs and then the best part... Jesse let me sleep till almost noon Sunday!!! Woo Hoo much needed sleep. I feel so spoiled.

We didn't go to church because it was stake conference and I needed my sleep and hate spending 2hrs keeping the little ones quiet. So when I finally hauled my butt out of bed we went to a family reunion for my Dad's family. It was a blast! It was at his cousins house and the kids got to swim. (pictures coming soon) I was exhausted after chasing the kids in the pool both Garyn and Will wanted to hang on me, until Garyn decided he could swim on his own. He is a pretty good swimmer actually. And I got hooked up with some of my cousins blogs and have decided to start participating in 10 on Tuesdays... You will see my 1st one this Tuesday.

Then is was home to get the last of homework done, kids bathed, fed and in bed and then I was off to the office to work and here I am at 5 am wondering if it will be worth trying to sleep for an hr after I get off before waking the kids up for school or it I should just stay up the extra hr and get something done so that I am not a zombie getting them out the door to school. hummm... The real question is if I miss the chance at an hr of sleep when will the next chance be? With my life and my 4 kids I never know when I will get to sleep. I think I will take the hr.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Wordless Wednesday

Ok well it was Wednesday when I started my shift and since I am not off for another hr and 1/2 it is still wordless Wednesday to me.

Beautiful Cousin Savannah and Will at the Labor Day Parade... before the rain began.

Playing Tag... Here goes

List 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 obsessions/collections, 3 surprising facts and then tag five other people. Leave a comment for the people you tag so they know they have been tagged. Okay, here goes...

3 Joys?
1. Spending time with my family. Especially taking vacations. Would love to when I am older be able to take my kids and their kids on fun vacations. I don't think this will be possible but I am still dreaming.

2. I just really enjoy a good movie. One of my favorite things it Thursday nights.. It's our "Date Night" and more than not that ends up with us at a movie.

3. Hanging out with friends chatting and giggling all night long and especially if we are scrapbooking or making something fun.

3 Fears?
1. Loosing a child. I don't know how I could ever live after that. I watched my mom do I have watched the pain left after my MIL did it. I have been there for friends that have had to do it. They are all so strong, I am not. I admit that I don't know how the sun ever comes up again after that. Truth is I fight depression and have most my life, and I fear that would be the final straw for me.

2. Loosing my ability to communicate. I fear getting old and having a stroke or something that makes it so that I have to live in body that is a prison.

3. I fear that my kids will loose their way and that Satan will drag them down in the depths of darkness that he creates so prevalently in this world. I fear that my abilities as a mother will fall far to short for what they need to have the strength that they need in this world. I hope and pray that they will feel the love of Jesus Christ and that his love will give them the strength that will be enough. I know that he can fill in for the shortcomings that I have. I just hope they listen to the feelings when it comes.

3 Obsessions/Collections?
1. HA HA HA I collect everything. I can not throw things away. I have a bunch of my toys from when I was a kid. They all have meaning to me so I just can't toss them. They are all in plastic toes in storage. Dumb but I like knowing there are there. I horde and I know it. I have tons of old things from my Grandma's too. I am sick and need help. LOL

2. Scrapbook and Craft Stuff.... More than I even want to admit to. And I just keep on buying more.. Help I can't stop..... Hubby says when I die and after the funeral he is going to have it all set up and just draw back the curtain and begin the bidding. Want a good deal on old craft and scrap crap? Just come to my funeral. His big plan?? To pay off my house with the money from the auction. LOL probably have enough too...... LOL

3. I obsess over all kinds of stupid stuff. I can never get to sleep at night even though I work till after 5 am. I still lay in bed and obsess over stupid crap that I probably can't change. I hate being so disorganized all the time. I spend too much time organizing little things like in the closets short sleeve shirts then long sleeve then dressy then t's etc. and then I am too freaking ADHD to get to the other stuff and actually pick up. My house is always a mess and I freaking hate it!!! And the worst is I am so tired all the time that now when I could clean I usually sleep. grrrr... see obsessing right now!

3 Surprising Facts about me?
1. My husband is done having kids. I hate being done having kids, but I like having a husband more. We need him for the kids we already have. LOL And the truth is I am a psycho mom that doesn't even have patience for the 4 I have and I know it. But I love them and feel that I do have more love to go around.

2. I believe in love at 1st site. I think that sometimes our souls remember someone from before we came to this earth or that when we meet someone we can just know that they will be an important part of our lives. I knew the 3rd time I saw my husband that he was the one. I have never doubted it since. Even when I have wanted to strangle him. We truly had a fairytale courtship and engagement. And I still feel like a princess. . . well most the time.

3. I can't think of anything good so I am taking Crazymama's confession since it is true for me too. And it's about time I confess: I have never read the whole Book of Mormon cover to cover. I have almost but yet never finished it. Now don't judge me. You may be like my hubby who says "How can you have faith in something you haven't read?" And yet I know it is true and have felt the spirit of Christ in the stories on those pages. I knew it one day and that is all there is to it. I can't deny those feelings and I just plain didn't have to read the whole thing to know. But I do know that it is important to study it more and one day I will finish it.

So I am tagging... Amy, Kerri, Heidi, Marylyn, and Janet, and Marla.

Beauty And The Beast!

This week we went to see the play Beauty and the Beast, with my Mom for her 63rd birthday! The kids loved it. It was extra special because we know so many of the people in the play... My sister has 5 kids (all of them girls by the way). And this summer they auditioned and 4 of the kids plus her and her hubby were in the play. What a fun way to spend time together as a family huh!? Her 16 yr old didn't try out because she was busy with Drill Team. Both my sister and her hubby were Drama Majors and there is major Drama at their house on a regular basis. With that many girls can you imagine? LOL Here are some pictures that we snapped of the play. If you would like to tell them how Fabulous they look hop on over to her blog here.

Erika the youngest of the 5 girls.

The cousins checking Erika's costume after the show.

She is the most adorable sugar spoon I have ever seen!

Necia was a plate. She had to dance.. even with a huge plate strapped to her. She is the Same age as Jaden and so I cousin Anaya, so we got a 12yr olds picture with the plate.

The 14 yr old was a rug. She is a fabulous rug. She hides in this thing and really brings it to life. It has to kill her arms keeping them stretched out the whole time like that. Man can this girl dance. She is mondo talented and is just plain fabulous! Here she is inside the rug getting sat on by the plate sister. LOL And here is the fabulous rug showing us her pretty face and posing by the freaky gargoyles that are her friends. GO JADA! You rock girl!

And this is the next sister that didn't do the play because she has been busy all summer with Drill Team. But I had to put this cute picture of her with Garyn since she is so cute and hey being there to cheer the rest of the family on is a pretty big job. Garyn loves Sierra, she has always had a way with kids. She is going to be supermom some day.

Here is Kaila she is the oldest of the 5 girls. She was cast as a silly girl. And in this blond wig and dress she says she is more of a floozy girl. LOL Well here she is with out the floozy wig and yup pretty hot huh!? She is one of the funnest teenagers I have ever known. She is an absolute beautiful and fun girl. UGH! It freaks me out that this is her senior year. YIKES!!! LaFou, Garyn, and Kaila the Silly Girl

I have to say that who ever this kid is that played LaFou was amazing! He did such a great job. He was my favorite one, other than my family that is. Garyn thought he was "funny" so we had to get a picture with him too.

And now for the Parents:

The Mom: Here's my sister. She has directed plays for about as long as I can remember. She is a drama teacher and the kids love her. She is one of the best teachers in the whole county. And this year she decided to come out of the directors chair and be "in" a play. She played Madame de la Grande Bouche aka the wardrobe, or as Garyn says "the dresser" She did such a great job. I just feel bad I got her in her human clothes and didn't get a single picture of her in her dresser. Crap!
The Dad... in full stage make up hehehe! Can you tell Garyn was really getting into these character pictures? Here he is with Uncle Steve a.k.a. Gaston! HOLY MOLY did he do a great job. WOW and WOW he was amazing. I have to say I have seen him in many plays but this was his best roll yet. And he is up there dancing and singing and you would never in a million years have looked up on that stage and thought he was a 40 something yr old dad of 5 kids.

Samantha with Belle who was played by a girl also named Samantha. Sorry no picts of the beast he didn't have his costume on afterwards.

Garyn was having a total blast getting pictures with the characters. He loved the gargoyles and thought they were "cool" and he kept having a fit about getting a picture with Belle so we went back and got one. I think he thought she was cute. He was acting all shy which is not like him. LOL His Belle picture is at the top.

If you read this whole thing you deserve a prize... go to your kitchen and find some chocolate. LOL

Garyns 1st day of Kinderdarten!

Wednesday was Garyns 1st day of Kindergarten

He was so excited to start. This past week has been driving him nuts with the big kids going everyday while he had to say home another week.

He was so excited that he could not get to sleep on Tuesday night and yet Wednesday morning he popped out of bed like he had been asleep for 2 days.

Here he is on his way out the door. Bright eyed and bushy-tailed.

Chatty Chatty Mr. McChatChat.

He waited with the big kids for the bus to come.

You would have thought that the bus was a roller coaster ride as excited as he was to be getting onto it with them. Jesse snapped the perfect picture ... Off he goes my little boy is going to Kindergarten!

After the bus left I dressed Will and we jumped in the car and we headed to the school. We got stuck waiting for a train that was stopped on the tracks blocking the way into town. Grrrrr. I was totally stressed that we were late just sure that Garyn was going to be freaking out. (truth is I was lucky to get there alive since I was driving on 2hrs of sleep after working all night.) And when I did arrive at the school look at what I find. This smiling face working on one of the stations. He didn't even miss me. LOL

The first thing he does is pulls out a sticky note from his pocket to show me his lunch number. He doesn't get to eat lunch at school but he thought is was super cool that I put $$ in his account so that he could eat breakfast there. Jaden and cousin Necia took him to the cafeteria for a 1st day of school breakfast. He said it was scrambled eggs and toast, for all that want to know.

(Yes I totally pay for my kids to eat school breakfast, when they want it.... if you worked graveyards wouldn't you? Mornings are way tooooo hard!)

So we did the rest of his stations together and here is how I left him... concentrating really hard on drawing a picture of himself. How do I know he is concentrating? Notice the tongue sticking out? That is how you know when he is concentrating. Cute huh?

(The girl next to him is our neighbor that built a new house the same time we did this year.)

And this is him getting off the Kindergarten Bus and coming home.

Looks like a nice 1st day? I think YES!

He was grinning from ear to ear.

I know, that is just the cutest Kindergartner that I have ever seen!!

(this year..hehe!)

And after Garyn was off the bus in in the house Will was still trudging down the drive way wearing Garyn's back pack, pretending to go to school. Who wouldn't want to be like a big brother that is that cute? hahaha

Ok, well they are both cute, I know. And No, I am no bias!! LOL

Jaden's 1st adventure with Young Mens

Now that Jaden is 12 he gets to go to Young Men's or Mutual which it the Youth Group for the teenagers in our church. For his 1st activity they met at the church and then went and did a service project of stacking firewood for a widow in our ward (congregation). After the work was done it was tie to play... so they took the boys out on the lake for some fun Water Skiing. Poor Jaden has never been water skiing and he didn't get up on the wake board very well. But he still had a blast and thought is was a pretty cool 1st activity. This week he gets to go rock wall climbing. Pretty cool! He is gong to love this! How did he get so grown up so fast? It seems like yesterday they were handing him to me in the delivery room.

Jaden is 12, A very BIG deal!

Jaden turned 12 this month and for him this was a BIG deal! He has been so excited for his birthday he even made a little calendar to hang in his room that had numbers to pull off for each day. We did lots of fun parties for him. (pictures below) But the crowning event was Sunday Aug 17th at church when he was ordained by his dad to receive the Aaronic Priesthood. He is such a great kid and we are so very proud of him. He was so cute preparing for his interview with the Bishop. I think he was expecting a quiz on how much he knows about the gospel cuz he kept asking me questions for weeks. I kept telling him not to worry so much and that he was just fine. He has always been like that. He is such a good kid he just wants to be the best he can.

Honestly I have no idea how I got a kid that is such a strong young man. He has an amazing ability to choose the right. And he worries about his loved ones when they makes choices that he knows are not right. (believe me, I have had many a lessons from him about not swearing. LOL) And even though I still am not old enough for him to be 12 I am very very proud of him. The day they ordained him we all got a chance to tell him how we feel about him and his choices. It was so cool. There was such a special spirit in the room with us. I wish I would have written down all the nice things people said to him. He was beaming from ear to ear.

This last Sunday he was able to serve the Sacrament. He was once again so nervous that he would do something wrong. Of course he did just fine. He did giggle a little when he got to his best friends row. He said "Kaden and his mom were trying not to laugh so then I was trying not to laugh. So I just quit looking at them" He is a hoot. This next week he gets to collect the fast offerings and for that he is super excited!

For any one that is not a member of the LDS faith here is some info on the Aaronic Priesthood
In the LDS Church today, worthy male members may receive the Aaronic Priesthood beginning at age 12. These young men, typically ages 12–17, receive many opportunities to participate in sacred priesthood ordinances and give service. As they worthily fulfill their duties, they act in the name of the Lord to help others receive the blessings of the gospel.

More on my faith: http://mormon.org/mormonorg/eng/ or http://lds.org

I hope he can continue to make good choices and be as strong as he has been. He is an amazing person. And also because if he is a teenager like I was... I will lock him in a cage and throw away the key. LOL

Now for the Birthday Festivities:

Of course we had a big family and cousins party. For this we went to the pool.
Jaden, my other kids and the cousins enjoying the sun.

Jaden and Cousin Necia checking out his new long board that he got.

His other favorite gift... he put together all his birthday money and bought himself
a Digital Video Camera. (using dad's employee discount of course) LOL Spoiled Kid!

We went Bowling with some of his best friends.
More pictures of the friend party. (notice that we cut off the blond hair so it was just tips by the time we did pictures at the church and for school to start)
We also had the Grandma's and Grandpa's all go to dinner with us at Brick Oven. YUMMY!!!
This was his special request, and that we got a baby sitter for the little kids so it was special just for him.

Happy Birthday Young Man!!!

Last year to be a kid.. next year he is officially a teenager. YUCK!

Wordless Wednesday Back to School

Missing Umph... Reward Offered

I have lost my Umph... that's about all I have to say. Have you ever lost your umph? Where did you find it? Is mine with yours? If you see it please send it home to me and you will get a reward. I can't tell you what it is cuz I have no umph to think up a stupid reward for finding my umph....... hum...Umph-less and blah, blah, blah........ Maybe I will update soon.

Well today I did take the kids to the school open house, swimming, and out to dinner, and then for last minute school shopping so I guess that's good. Just not feeling it. KWIM?

Whats Up? A picture-palooza

I haven't had much blogging time lately but we have been having lots of summer fun. In between me trying to fit in sleep and trying to get the kids to clean and to stop fighting for a few minutes. Oh the sounds of summer. Screaming.... LOL And I have been reading lots lately and got some killer deals online for back to school. I big puffy heart old navy! And I can't wait till the kids are back in school so that we can get back to a schedule and so that I can keep some food in the house for longer than 10 mins. I swear they eat so much in the summer, it's like our lives revolve around food. Okay so I am not the best example for that but still. UGH!



And now here is my Picture Palooza so that I will know that I was not non-existent for the whole month of July. These are not in order, just however they uploaded.



FHE at Salem Pond w/the cousins. Being Silly: Jada and Samantha (with the spoons for eyes.)
Jaden, Necia and Samantha at 7 peaks
The little boys enjoying the new pool at a town near us.
Since we live out in a rural area we go to the pools, and parks at several different towns that surround us. I makes for lots of fun and breaks it up some. This new pool is becoming a favorite.
Will and Garyn in the baby pool of the water park



The 24th of July is a big deal around here. It's Pioneer Day and Fiesta Days so we have a big family shin-dig to celebrate. Here is the eating in Grandma's Back yard part. Always more food than we need.
And we broke out the water slide again. No, this isn't my yard. Though I would love intant trees. That would be cool. We took it to grandma's for the 24th. It is now back at our house which is funny since the new house has NO yard. I haven't even taken a picture of it over here. But need to, it is out in the old pasture that Jesse mowed down. The kids think it is grass so it's all good. LOL


This Chapter is called Animals:

Here is Harley the chihuahua thinking he can sit up to the bar like one of the kids. He is such a spoiled dog. We love him though and he is like one of the kids. Actually come to think of it he is less messy than Will, easier to feed and doesn't pee or poop on the floor nearly as much as Will eihter. Hummm.....



It's been another crappy week for the pets. Remember Izzy the he/she transvestdog? Well he was acting tired last Sunday and we thought is was a little strange because he is usually so full of energy and well extremely hyper. Miniature-Pinscher's are like that. Anyway he was acting tired but I thought well it's just hot blah blah, you know. Well I was wrong. He must have been sick cuz my dad found him 2 days later dead over on his back patio. UGH! Poor Samantha thinks the whole world is over. I feel so bad. He was such a cute dog too. Dang it! My dads dog acted sick for a few days too but now seems to be ok. So we think they got into something. And the same day we also found our neighbors English Bull-Dog drowned in the drain ditch in front of our house. It's always a roller coaster around here with the darn animals.



And get this Samantha says she will only feel better about Izzy, if Daddy will get her a horse. hahahaha That is not going to happen he says they are "hay burners" so I found a girl in our ward who will give her riding lessons once a week. That will have to do for now. Well, probably forever. Jesse is not really budging on the horse thing especially with the price of hay right now. He is complaining about the cows, and those you can eat. LOL



Speaking of cows. We got another calf. SOOOO CUTE! I know I shouldn't still be so excited with each new calf but I am. I love seeing them they are so cute. (for a few months) Haven't got a picture of him yet. Yes a him! WOO HOO! And we think he was born on the 4th of july. Cool huh? Anyway at least he is alive and appears to be healthy.

Jaden, Shayla, & Ethan, more silly cousin fun.




We have been painting lots of sun-catchers lately. The kids love it and they are a cheap and easy craft.
Amy came to visit me and we had a blast! We went shopping and she helped me turn my deals into this super cute wreath. LOVE IT!
There is always much 4-wheeling going on. Will could live on this thing if he can find someone to take him for a ride. Jaden doesn't look like it took much to convince him to be the ride giver huh? LOL And since the yard is mostly still dirt they have lots of fun area to ride on.
Yes we did the parade, of course!
Mom and Will at the parade

Will showing off his new hair cut. He is looking so big.
Samantha and her friend at yet another pool.
We have been trying to take the kids for some one on one time. Here is Garyn and Daddy when we went to see Wall-E. It was a fun night. He is such a funny kid and he talked the entire ride over, during the wait in the theater, some during the movie, and all the way home. Hum.... wonder where he gets it? Must be from strangers!? LOL LOL Couldn't be from his chatty, chatty mother! NEVER?
Grandma and I took Samantha and Shayla to get their nails done, during a sleep over. I had Acrylic Nails put on mine for the 1st time. I have long nails naturally so I never really wanted fake ones but they have all broken recently and my mom talked me into it. I like them. They are thick and that takes some getting use to but it is nice to look down at my hands and fell a little more put together than my usual slobbiness. (is that a word?) And I can still type when working so it's all good.

When Will wants to paint and i can't stand it in the house with the big kids. We go outside and paint with water. He loves it and it's ZERO on the mess scale. Super nice and by the time he gets to the other side he can come back and start over cuz the sun dries it.

Playing at the park on the 4th
My Flag Kids! Cute huh?
On the 4th we went over to see the fireworks. We sat above the Provo Temple. This is us taking up a huge chunk of the hill. I think we had 30 of us there.
Jaden trying to show me that he can long board on Necia's board. (he is getting one for his b-day Tuesday he's almost 12! UGH!)
Samantha and Erika at yet another park with the cousins.

Just hangin out at home
I like this picture. I love that my big kids are still small enough for play on the swings. These are the fun times. All of them playing together.
Just love the expression here. hahahaha
Beached Whale!!! Mommy with the kids checking out the clouds.

Garyn and Bergen at g-ma J's b-day party.
We went with her out to eat. It got pretty noisy down there on the end with all the kids together. And what a mess Will made. UGH!
So sweet. This is Will snuggling up with Jesse's dad. I love this! He just went over and layed down on him. He is a tough type guy the kind that like to "act" tough. But when he gets around his grandkids he is like Jello. It is so sweet.
Samantha Before
During

And after the pink streaks in the hair.

These are fun and she can only have them in the summer so I say go for it be pink if ya want to!
The kids watching the Hannah Montana 3D concert on TV. They even broke out the glow sticks and acted like they were at the concert. I was glad they were having fun cuz I was sooooooo sick that night. UGH!

So there ya have it some of the what's been going on on the funny farm.