Nauvoo

We are home from our family reunion in Nauvoo and Chicago. This was the first time my whole family was all together in several years so it made this trip extra special. We all had a blast and the kids (even the baby) did so well given the long car trips and long hot days outside.

We woke up one morning in Nauvoo to a ton of fog. Charlie ran down to the temple and got some really cool shots. I loved this one of Joseph and Hyrum.

This was one of my favorite moments in Nauvoo. This is an area where they have lots of pioneer games and dress up for the kids to just play with. My kids could have spent all day there.

I loved these pictures of our adorable pioneer girls!

Here are a few of our attempts at getting some family pictures...boy was it hard!

This was Samuel's baby blessing. Charlie's sister came with her kids and her new baby that was born just a few weeks after Samuel. It was so nice to be able to bless the baby with family around.

The kids all played a big baseball game in the backyard and the girls were the cheerleaders.
I could not have asked for a nicer trip. I only wish I could see them all more often. It was hard to say goodbye this time especially since I was saying goodbye to the home I have many wonderful memories in. My parents have moved to Utah and the movers came the day after we left. Charlie and I have been making the drive between my house and his for over 14 years!!! This was the house where we had our first kiss, where I got my first car, where I blessed two of my children....the list could go on and on. It was wonderful to say goodbye on a good note all together as a family.

This was taken on the front porch of our beautiful home.....what great memories!!!!

HOLES!!!

Have you ever seen the movie Holes? Well, Charlie and I have been playing the lead roles in the reality version of that movie for the last two weeks. Over the last 14 days our lives have consisted of spending every spare minute we had digging hole after hole after hole and paying a lot of people a lot of money to fix NOTHING!!!!

I hope you enjoy a visual documentation of our not so fun adventure :)

This is where it all began...hole #1


Here we are at lovely hole #2

This is hole #3 but it was already filled in

Welcome to hole #4

We are now approaching our final destination at hole #5

And then it happened...we finally found it! The cause of all of our problems.
I have never been so thrilled to see a nasty dirty ball of roots in all my life. I could hardly believe my ears when Morgan came running in the house saying, "They fixed it, they fixed it!" I am so glad that the digging has finally ended and the holes are close to being all but a memory. I have to give one more big shout out to all of our friends that helped us dig all of our lovely holes. It would not have been possible without them.

We are going to celebrate tonight by falling into bed and watching the movie we rented....Holes! It should give us a good laugh at the very least!

Two new favorite finds

Here are two of my new favorite finds:

#1 Sam's Choice Towering Apple Pie

I for one happen to LOVE a good apple pie but I am not one to spend hours in the kitchen making one. So I have been in search of a good frozen apple pie. Most of the ones I have tried have been quite good but I finally found one I loved. They sell them at Walmart and everything about it is yummy even the crust. Give one a try sometime they are only $4.98 and all you do is throw it in the oven. YUMMY :)

#2 Blockbuster disk repair

Our Blockbuster video has just started offering a service where if you have scratched Cd's, DVDs or video games they have a special machine that takes the scratches out for only $2. I took in one of my kids music Cd's in that has been scratched forever and it worked like a charm. The disk I took in was badly scratched not just a little scratch and it works just like new. I am now going to round up any other disks I have and take them in as well.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times

Why it is the worst of times....

1. Monday...replace entire water pressure system just to find out that all we needed was a $7 filter. We are still waiting for the bill to come but it is not going to be pretty.

2. Wednesday...Charlie runs over his golf clubs that had fallen down in the garage breaking several of them.

3. Saturday....I loose my cell phone.

4. Saturday afternoon....the basement is not flooded but having a major water problem that has done quite a bit of damage that we are in the process of trying to remedy.

5. Monday....I get to spend the afternoon at the dentist getting a crown.

Why it is the best of times....

1. FRIENDS!!!!!!!!

2. FRIENDS!!!!!!!!

3. FRIENDS!!!!!!!

We ended up not being able to go to church on Sunday because of the water problem in the basement. One of our good friends had come over the night before to let us borrow his wet vac and I guess spread the word of our issues at church that day.

About an hour after people got home from church our phone started to ring. Men started showing up shortly after with shovels and were ready to work. Wives showed up ready to help keep kids busy, help with food, hold the baby...and most importantly keep me from breaking down in tears.

We could have NEVER accomplished what we did yesterday without them. Thank you does not even cover the amount of gratitude we feel for these amazing families. Thank you to the wives who were willing to give up their husbands on a Sunday even though all of them have many crazy things going on in their own lives right now. Thank you to the husbands who just showed up without even being asked and never complained once. Thank you to our sneaky friends who did the dishes when I was not paying attention.

Thanks for answered prayers that no one was hurt and that the men managed to not blow up the house or drop Charlie down the man hole as they dangled him by his feet!

I really can't express how after a week like this I am more filled with gratitude than frustration and it is all because of our friends. THANK YOU!!!!!!!!

Here is part of our wet basement

The STRONG men digging away. Notice the smile on Rich's face. Believe it or not I think they were actually having fun!

Notice how carefully they are digging around all our cable and power lines. This picture was taken before they discovered the gas line!!!!! I still have no idea how they did not cut a single line but I am soooooo glad that no more problems were created while trying to fix this one :)

Here is to hoping that this week goes a little smoother than last!

Spur of the moment fun!

While I was out this morning with friends one of them asked if she should get her ears pierced. We all agreed that it was a good idea and that we should all be there to go with her. So off we went in our caravan of cars with our 10 children off to the mall. We were all like giddy high school girls, picking out earrings, taking pictures....it was so much fun. I never thought I would be in my thirties taking a friend to get her ears pierced! What a fun memory with great friends!

Here she is all done. Now we just have to get her to leave them in. Apparently she blocked from her memory that she actually has done this before but took her earrings out within hours of having it done! We are so proud of you and they look so cute! Oh and if anyone who reads this knows her hubby keep your lips zipped.....we want to see how long it takes him to notice!

Ethan's Birthday

Today is Ethan's official birthday but we told him it was yesterday because Charlie is out of town today and we did not want him to miss it. We let Ethan choose what he wanted to do so below are some pictures of his fun day!
We started with a trip to Dunkin Donuts which Ethan calls, "The Donut Store". The kids stuffed their faces with donuts and got good and loaded up on sugar as all kids should on their birthday.
We then went bowling and miniature golfing. Ethan is actually REALLY good at bowling and he loves to play.
When the kids play mini golf they start and are finished in about 8 minutes. It hardly seems worth the money. They pretty much pick up their ball put it next to the hole, hit it in and then run as fast as they can to the next hole. They have a blast though so I guess it is worth it.
We then went home and opened presents and ate cake. I again tried my hand at a new cake and it was quite the hit. It made it all worth it when Ethan was eating his cake and said, "This is the best cake in the whole world!". I thought it turned out pretty cool.
Ethan has been LOVING playing baseball lately so we got him a ton of baseball stuff. So after cake Charlie and Ethan went out to play ball in the yard for a bit. The kids all then slept in Abby's room for a sleepover and stayed up way too late. I think he had a great day and the month of birthday's is finally over!

Happy Birthday Buddy!!!!!!

Father's Day

Need I say more???? I think Charlie enjoyed his day!

My Birthday

For my birthday Charlie made the kids these adorable shirts. He made them the night before my birthday and put them on the kids when they were sleeping. They all woke up that morning wondering why they were wearing "funny shirts". They each had something different written on them but Samuel's shirt was the funniest. It had a picture of me when I was pregnant and on the bottom it said, "Great job pushing". My husband still manages to surprise me with his creative ability.

The night ended with a get together at my good friends house. It was so nice to spend the evening with girlfriends eating brownies and ice cream and feeling somewhat like a "normal" person again. I also had the chance to see my friends baby who was born 6 days before Samuel. I can't wait to see them grow up together and hopefully be good friends. Yet another great birthday!!!!

Soccer Anyone?

I've hijacked Brook's blog for a noble cause

To the Wives in Midland.

Please make your husbands aware of this and pass it on to them. I'm trying to arrange a Men's soccer game for July 4th in the morning.

http://fathercarnage.blogspot.com/2008/06/soccer-anyone.html

Chuck

You be the judge

Everyone keeps asking who I think the baby looks like and I am not quite sure. You be the judge and let me know what you think!



Abby/ Ethan



Morgan/ Samuel

Samuel James

I thought I would add a few new pictures of the baby as well as announce that yes he finally has a name!
He has been an AMAZING baby so far. I feel so blessed to have my mother in law here helping. It is so nice to have an extra set of hands to worry about cooking and cleaning and keeping the kids entertained so I can spend time with little Sam.

How did I forget how much I LOVE this tiny baby stage????? I love holding him and feeling his little body just melt into mine.

Baby Boy* - To be named later

5 AM before the baby came after solid contractions from 12:15 AM to 2:15 AM and then again from 3:00 AM to 4:30 AM.

10 minutes after the baby was born. He arrived at 2:41 PM on 6/3/08. He was 6 lbs, 14.6 OZ and 19" long. 10 fingers and toes and all of his parts functioning as far as we know. We feel very blessed and lucky to have another healthy baby.

The whole family at 5 PM now one member bigger and everyone prouder to be a new DAD, MOM, Big Brother and Big Sister.

Name and more pictures and video to come. Just not tonight. We are tired and are going to try to get some sleep!

7 years ago

7 years ago this little princess entered my life! What a great gift she has been.

I am amazed that I have a 7 year old!!!! Up until now I have been ok with all of my kids birthdays, but I remember being 7. I remember being in second grade...I remember a lot of it and it scares me that I now have a child that is old enough to remember things happening now far into her adult life.

We celebrated her birthday yesterday and what a day it was. We started the morning at the McDonalds play place for breakfast. The day was then filled with mini golf, roller skating, a special birthday cake, presents, treats and a sleepover with brother and sister that included way too many sweets! I can honestly say that yesterday was a great family day that the kids will remember for a long time. Abby even filled out invitations to give to all of us for her party. The kids LOVED the invites and have carried them around all week feeling so proud that they got an official invite to the party!

Abby had a special cake request. She wanted a purple and pink butterfly cake. So I thought I would give it a try and I was so impressed with how it turned out. Yes, I MADE this cake. No store was involved this was all me and although it was quite a bit of work I had fun making it and hope to do more fun cakes in the future.

This is the kids at their sleepover. They watched Alvin and the Chipmunks and loved it. It was so fun to watch them giggle and have fun together. I love days like these where you can see the brother sister bonds growing stronger.

Happy Birthday to my Little Princess!

Best Night Ever!

Last night we had a Girls Night In. Our good friend invited us over to her beautiful new home for a night of treats and chick flicks. It turned out that they had a little surprise! After eating they pulled out a bunch of gifts for the new baby. I can say that I am not surprised very often but this was a HUGE surprise. I got some really cute and thoughtful gifts and I am so grateful to my amazing friends!

I sat at the table last night surrounded by some of the most amazing women and mothers I have ever met and I felt so blessed. With all of the moving we have done in our marriage I have not really been able to make many good friends until now and wow have I got some good ones! So thank you ladies for the best night ever. I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard. You are the best!!!!!

Ethan's Last Day!

We left the house very frazzled this morning. It was a rush of making lunches, kids not getting dressed, finding coats for the chilly morning and on and on. And then it all changed.

It was Ethan's last day at preschool and they got to spend the day at the park. It started with an award ceremony where each child got a special award from their teacher and a little gift. Ethan got an award for obedience. As he stood there next to his teacher the rush of the morning was gone and I was so proud to watch my son and realize how much he has grown this year.

In the last conference Elder M. Russell Ballard gave a talk where he said, "The joy of motherhood comes in moments." This morning was one of those moments. Motherhood is not always rewarding or pretty or fun but this morning for a brief moment in the park on a beautiful day it was.

I feel very blessed today that I have been allowed to be a mother. Thank you Ethan for being the boy that you are and for all you teach me. Thank goodness for mornings like today!

Memorial Day

What a great weekend is all I can say! The weather was BEAUTIFUL and we had great fun with friends. The day started with a great home town parade and ended with a fun B-B-Q that included yummy food, fun games, and friends. I sat back yesterday and watched as everyone was playing and socializing and really felt like I was home. I looked around at everyone and felt so blessed to be in such a great town with so many great people. Thanks to all our friends that made the day so special!!!!!

FALSE labor - A REAL pain!

So last night at around 3ish I woke up to a not so great feeling. I have been having stronger contractions this last week but this one by far was the worst and woke me up out of a deep sleep. I brushed it off and snuggled back down into my covers to go back to sleep. Well not long after that another one hit and then another.

On the 3rd one I decided to wake up Charlie. This is how the conversation went:

Me: I think something is going on

Him: Who is awake and where are they (he thought one of the kids was awake)

Me: No...not the kids the baby...I am having contractions

Him: Well, you need to lay down and relax!

Me: Ummm...I am laying in bed and was asleep how much more relaxed do you want me to be?

I had to laugh at this point because I could tell I was having a conversation with my husband who was still 1/2 asleep. I mean did he think I was up at 3 o'clock running a marathon or something?

So I spent the next two hours laying wide awake in bed with all the thoughts rushing through my head of how I don't have a bag packed yet and who am I going to call and on and on....I woke Charlie up each time I had a contraction and he would jot it down and quickly fall back to sleep. I am always amazed at my husbands ability to sleep through such an event but I guess he was REALLY tired! After two hours of pretty regular painful contractions they stopped!

Don't get me wrong I am glad they did but man what a crazy night! I hope there are not too many more nights like last night until it is the real thing because that was quite the roller coaster of emotions.

So now instead of laying my head down and trying to get a few more winks I am blogging and then off to the grocery store to throw together a meal for a new family in the ward we invited over for dinner. Do you think they would be impressed with frozen pizza????

This little piggy....

This little piggy went to the day spa
This little piggy didn't stay home
This little piggy has red toes
This little piggy had fun
And this little piggy went Yeah, Yeah, Yeah all the way home!

So for mothers day Charlie sent me to the spa to get my toes painted. It was such a nice morning and such a nice gift considering I can't reach my feet anymore. Do you think I can keep them looking this nice for the next few weeks? I hope so...but if not maybe I have an excuse to go again! Thanks sweet husband for being so thoughtful!

Take me out to the ball game!

So I just got home from a great day at the ball park with the kids. I knew that there was a morning game today but I did not mention it to the kids until this morning when I was sure I was feeling up for going. I threw some blankets and snacks in a bag and I headed to the ball field ready for some fun mommy-kid time. I figure I don't have too many more days ahead of me that I can just throw everyone in the car last minute without too much planning. The weather was BEAUTIFUL and I really had a great time with the kids. We ate "baseball" food and sang take me out to the ball game and danced and just had fun together. I hope I can get in a few more days like today before the new baby arrives!