Staying busy

I had to many pictures from Monday-today I had to make a slide show.

Andy got a little break from work this week. He got to be home with us all Sunday-Wednesday! It is so nice having him around.

Monday we did some Christmas shopping and picked out our Christmas tree. The kids had fun decorating it, although Garen mainly pulled ornaments off and broke them-what can you expect from an 18 month old boy :).

Tuesday, I cut just over 8 inches off my hair, Andy took Maddie to the 'Bee Movie', and Andy and I got to go to the temple then out to a nice dinner. It was wonderful and a much needed alone time for me and Andy to talk without interruptions.

Wednesday, Maddie had ballet and preschool. In her ballet class, I got to watch them practice for their recital next week-very cute! We got home and had to rush to change her clothes, feed her lunch and it was Maddie's turn to bring snack to preschool. Maddie helped me make some pretzle wreathes with sprinkles on top and we got some go-gurts (which was a big hit with the kids). Also today I had Avery and then added Maddie's friend Jacob after preschool. Having 4 kids I decided to take them to The Fun Park instead of let them destroy my house. They had a blast playing in the tubes and slides and they even got to play a few arcade games.

I love my busy fun days; they make life so exciting and so worth while. We'll see what the rest of the week has in store for me. ;)

As you can tell from this video, Ice Ball should only be played by kids over 5. There were balls everywhere and I think only one got in the whole. Hey, but they had fun

Maddie doing the freez dance at ballet. Watch carefully (at 1 min. 22 sec.) as she slide tackles another girl-maybe I should have her in soccer instead of ballet.

I call this the leap and fall-

The Week in Boise

On Wednesday, the kids and I headed to Burley then on to Boise. I stayed with my sister Mandy and had so much fun spending time with her and my mom. Madelyn loved playing with her cousin Kaisa all day and having a sleepover with her each night. While we were there we were able to get in some shopping, I did a Pampered Chef party for Mandy, and we celebrated Kaisa's 5th birthday with a beautiful princess tea party. Here are some pictures of the birthday party, my sister decorated is so cute! The 12 girls even got a red carpet to walk in on like real royalty.
The princesses eating their flower and butterfly shaped sandwhiches and drinking their raspberry lemonade-

Kaisa and her cake-

Garen was the only boy in the house and he did not act to much like a prince :(
(you can see the pin-the-crown-on-the-princess game in the back ground)

Cousins Kaisa, Savannah, and Emma with Maddie in the middle-

Princess Maddie-

Maddie and Kaisa waiting for the party to start-

Each girl got to come down the red carpet and have her picture taken, then during the party my mom ran to walmart and made copies for each girl to put in her picture frame that they painted and decorated-

Maddie and her cousin Miriam-

The party was so much fun, my sister had so many good ideas! They played the princess and the pea game. My sister painted a golf ball green and then she would hide it under one of the several decrotive pillows, then the girls got to sit on each pillow and decide which one had the pea (golf ball)to see if they were a real princess.
At the party each girl got a crown, princess fruit snacks, a ring with their birth stone on it, their own decorated picture frame and a cute thing to hand on their wall that says 'princess.'

It was kind of sad to come home because I really enjoyed spending time with my mom and Mandy. But it was nice to sleep in my bed and have the kids sleep through the night in their own beds and of course I missed my husband. Now I get to spend today unpacking our stuff and catching up on all the stuff that has been put off all week.

This is Maddie singing 'I am a Child of God' and playing it on the piano at my parent's house.
I like it when she sings "Parents kind as deer." :)

The First Snow!

I was substituting this morning and to my surprise, just as we went out for recess, it started snowing. It was beautiful!!! I was so excited to get back home and take the kids out in the first real snow of the season. The kids loved it! Garen was to little to be out in the snow to much last year so this was his first experience playing with the wet, yummy stuff. I think the main reason he like eating it was because it feels good on his teething gums. We enjoyed playing, making a snowman, and Andy even got our Christmas lights hung up.

Garen learning to throw snowballs (Maddie has already conquered that task):

Girls Day Out

Maddie is now getting old enough that I can take her to more grown-up events. Today Maddie and I met my friend Brenda to go to the Nutcracker ballet. It was beautiful and Maddie's attention was captured by the fun dances almost the whole two hours. She kept saying that someday she would dance like them.

taking a break during intermission-

Maddie and Brenda waiting for the show to start-

Mom and Maddie-

After the ballet we did some shopping and then Maddie and I went for some dinner. It was so nice to have that one-on-one time with Madelyn and listen to her talk about her favorite parts of the ballet.

After dinner we went to the Blue Bird ice cream parlor and shared a treat-

On our way back to the car Maddie wanted to stop and see the large Nativity set up outside the tabernacle. I'm so glad Jann is so willing to babysit Garen so I could have this fun day with Madelyn.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was a lot of fun.
We went to Burley this year, and met with about 70 family members. It was great to be surrounded by aunts, uncles, cousins, siblings, and grandparents.
The food was great as always. Maddie had a wonderful time with her cousins as well as some newly made friends/second cousins(I guess that's what they are).
After lunch, we had our traditional talent show/testimony meeting. It's a great way to catch up on what each family has been doing and see their kids' talents. Maddie wanted to do a 'bridge' like she does in gymnastics. She was very proud to do it in front of everyone and have them all clap for her. It was fun watching Maddie do that and remember back when me and Sara used to do our gymnastics trick in that same room when we were little.
It really was such a fun day and well worth the quick trip (we had to come back home because Andy gets to be at Sports Authority at 4:30 A.M. for the black Friday shopping day).
It is such a blessing to spend time with my dear family, especially my grandparents who are responsible for such a wonderful posterity (4 children, 25 grandchildren, and I think 81 great grandchildren).
Maddie, Savannah, Kaisa, Miriam helping Kaisa open her birthday gift. Happy Birthday Kaisa!

Garen trying to get used to all the people and trying to snag a basketball from someone

Grandma Sue helping the girls with their lunch

Kaisa and Maddie sitting very quietly during the whole meeting

Grandma Young giving her beautiful thoughts and thanks

Grandpa Young giving his words of wisdom we all look forward to hearing

Here is the end of Grandpa's comments. I thought you might like to listen, Sara. I hope you can hear it, his voice is getting much more quiet-but powerful non the less.

Counter/Stage

Maddie loves that little arch window we have. She uses it as her sitting area as well as her singing and dancing stage. I put Garen up with her for just a minute and he was in heaven. He thought he was so cool dancing up with his sister. Dangerous, I know, but I had to capture his excitement (don't worry I had my arm out to catch him the entire time). He was so mad when I took him down. I guess the boring old floor isn't as fun to dance on.

Our Week...

It has been a busy week, a good week, but busy.
Andy is working 6 days a week now that we are into the Holiday seasons. Even though he's rarely home, I really appreciate his hard work and the effort he puts into playing with the kids when he is around.

I did my usual changing diapers, making meals, driving Maddie to ballet, gymnastics and preschool. Aside from my mom duties this week, I substituted the gifted and talented class for two days, babysat Avery, and did a Pampered Chef party at a sorority house up on campus.

It was fun to chat and make a meal with these sorority girls (some were my same age or just younger which was kind of weird). Being up there with all those college girls
1. made me miss going to school and
2. made me realize how quickly your life and priorities change as soon as kids come into the picture.
Most of the things the girls were excited about or worried about are things I haven't thought about in years. It actually made me glad that I am no longer in that boat-I found the man I want to be with for the rest of my life, I know what I want career wise and I have two beautiful children-I'm so glad I'm not still in the dating game!

Last night we were glad to have Andy's parents over for dinner. It's nice to have family so close.
And right now I should be at church but Garen is still napping and if I were to wake him and go to church I would spend the whole sacrament meeting in the hallway with a crabby baby.-So we will be going in time to teach our Sunday school class. (Just a side note-ONE MORE MONTH AND GAREN GOES TO NURSERY!)
And that's the jist of my week and tomorrow starts it all over again! Isn't life exciting!

Here are some pictures I took this morning before church, just for fun-

Little Helpers...

Maddie and Garen helping with the dishes.- Well, actually it's Maddie spraying water everywhere and Garen trying to pull her off the chair. :)


mmm...I like ketchup

Cousins

Maddie and Kaisa riding the scooter together

On Saturday morning my sister, Mandy and her family came from Boise. Maddie was so excited to play with her cousin Kaisa and to have a sleepover. Mandy and Carsten came down for the BSU vs. USU came. USU got creamed!

The kids had a great time together. And we even managed to find a place for everyone to sleep in our little condo. It was so fun having them all here. Good thing Thanksgiving is only two weeks away so I can see my family again soon.

Playing in the leaves-

Joren put the helmet on himself and left it on for most of the time, silly boy-

Garen and Joren-

Cousins on the couch-

Garen is pretty serious about Veterans Day-

The kids were trying so hard to jump rope. I thought is was so funny to watch them-

Bad luck comes in 3's sometimes 4's

Every time something trying happens, I just brace myself for whatever will come my way next. Difficult things never come one at a time, at least not with me. I really learned this a couple years back. It was two weeks before I graduated from college, a pipe broke in our house and the basement was a wet mess; same day I locked myself out of the house and broke a window trying to climb back in. A couple days later the rivers overflowed and filled our basement and first floor with water-we spent the next 3 months living out of a trailer and redoing everything. But we found the hidden blessings in those trials.

Don't worry, no flood this time. Last week Andy needed to get his truck inspected so he could register it by Oct. 31st. Of course he waited till the last day thinking all would be well. But the poor old truck was not passing material, so $850 later the truck was fixed and registered.

That same night I was going to wash the kids' Halloween costumes that had gotten very dirty the day before Halloween. And the washer that we have never had any problems with, decided to stop working. I hand washed the costumes and called a repair man the next day. No big deal, just a little sock stuck in the pump.

We payed the repair man and then the car started to act up. The car would shake when I would reach a speed of 40 or more. I finally took it in today and came out with a small list of things that must be fixed or the car is dangerous to drive! Of course they are things we can't afford, but that is life and it just always seems to work out no matter what.

And to top it off- I finally took Garen to the doctor after 2 weeks of not feeling very well and on-again-off-again fevers and found he has a sinus infection. He got put on an antibiotic (which was knocked off the counter today and spilled most of it on the floor, so we will be returning to the doctor tomorrow to buy some more).

Sometimes I think, wouldn't life be so much easier and better if we had more money-but it wouldn't be. There will always be something we can't afford and it will always be those material things that only bring worldly comfort and happiness, not eternal comfort and happiness. It kind of stinks when things go wrong and make life more hectic, but how boring would life be if nothing unexpected ever happened?! Even after my blog of complaining, I really do feel lucky (or as my dad would put it-blessed). I have such a wonderful, loving, supporting husband, two wonderful children, a great place to live, wonderful family and friends surrounding us, and of course the knowledge and guidance of this wonderful gospel. (I could list a thousand more blessings but I think I have rambled on enough).

Race Day

Today, my best friend Carrol drove to Logan so we could run a 5K race together. It was so much fun just to enjoy each others company again. The race went well and it felt really good. Carrol (and her sister and baby Emi) came over for a short time after the race.
Carrol, I cut your shoes out of the picture so no one could see them :)

Look what daddy taught me:

Garen drinking out of the milk jug.

A Day of Rest

So this morning I woke up feeling a little sick and not well rested. But I dragged myself out of bed to get Garen. Then my wonderful husband informs me he will be taking both kids to Bear Lake to visit their great grandparents while I stay home and rest. YES! That is just what I needed. I layed back down for a bit, and took a bath (which I never have time to do). The washing machine repair man came and fixed the washer so I got to get the piles of laundry clean. It was so relaxing to have peace and quiet, and to turn the TV on and not have to watch cartoons, and to eat my lunch without sharing it, and to be able to fold and put away the laundry before the piles were thrown all over the room. What a great husband I have-he knew just what I needed.
The kids had a great time in Bear Lake. They went out for lunch, played games, played in the leaves, and just enjoyed their quality time with Grandma Janene and Grandpa Roger. I think it is so cool that my kids get to have such a close relationship with so many great grandparents (4 sets) and a great great grandma. When they got home I felt refreshed and ready for their big hugs and cute smiles!
Here are some pictures Andy took:
Maddie and grandma playing Chutes and Ladders-


Grandma and Maddie playing in the leaves-

Garen loved the organ-

Garen taking over Grandpa Roger's large laz-e-boy-

Thank you for the new outfits Grandma Jann and Grandpa Boyd!