Happy Birthday Grandpa

We just came from Mom and Dad's "house" to celebrate Dad's 56th Birthday. It was a lot of fun. As close as we all live together, I really dont' get to see Teri and Jason much, (unless Jason is coming over to help us with home repair!) and their kids, so it was a good night. Mom and Dad are in this home temporarily until they are able to get into a more permanent place. (Which they have found and will be moving in a couple weeks...spring break.) Here are just a few pictures of the evening.

I thought this was a great one of Aimee...The strawberries Mom had were really yummy!
Happy Birthday Dad! We love you!

Some Fun Pictures

Finally, here are some pictures of my wedding in June, and few others of family, and a few of my trip to Alaska.

Book Shelf

Just a little bit about the books I have listed. I know that most of them are self help books, but they are really fascinating. The color code book is just an interesting read, and once you get an idea of the colors, it's fun to try to figure out what other people are, and once you do that, you can enhance your relationship with them....
Same idea with the Five Love Languages book. This was a very insightful read. Helps you understand your love languages, and also gives you the tools to figure out what other's love languages are so you can express love to that person in a way that is more meaningful to them.
"How to love a porcupine" book was referred to me by a friend. I began reading this to figure out how I could protect myself from those around me exhibiting toxic personalities. I think I was on page 6 when I realized that the book had a lot to offer as far as fixing some toxic behaviors that I exhibit!
"Diary of a Whimpy Kid"...The one book that is on there that isn't self help is a book I came across, referred to me by another friend. (Thanks Robin!) I am telling you, if you are struggling finding a book that your kids actually enjoy reading, pick this one up! There are 2 books right now in the series, and if you need me to, let me know, I can get them for you from scholastic. My younger boys think its funny, but Jacob just LOVES it. He is a little older so he understands the humor a little more. It is a 4th/5th grade reading/comprehension level, but younger kids can still read and enjoy, it is illistrated with cartoons.

I Promise...I really can cook!

Ok, to start this story off, I need to tell you that I was reading my niece's blog the other day and died laughing when she posted the fact that she was making a casserole for her boyfriend and didn't actually cook the noodles before she put them in the casserole! Her boyfriend sat there and ate a crunch casserole. We had such a good time at Amanda's expense. So, going along with the phrase what goes around comes around, I will begin my tale.
It was Easter Sunday, and we were all going to go over to Teri's house to eat dinner. I was in charge of the scalloped pineapple, the frog eye salad, and the deviled eggs. I put all the eggs into boil, and then went upstairs to change out of church clothes. I apparently compeltely forgot about the eggs, because I laid down to take a sunday afternoon nap. I woke up some time later to the fire alarm going off. I told Paul not to worry about it, it was probably Jeremy cooking something downstairs. He went down anyway, and say the all the water had boiled out of the pan and eggs were burnt black, and exploding all over the kitchen! It was really a pretty funny site. I didn't take pictures, because I wasn't going to admit it to anyone...then came Monday night.
We were just doing a quick and easy dinner. Grilled Cheese and Soup. Between the five boys, (Paul, Jeremy, Jacob, Andrew and Daniel - I am not a fan of soup) they wanted 3 different kinds of soup. So I get all that going, and then start on the grilled cheese. I get Andrew his food, then Daniel. Jacob is in the shower, so Jeremy is next in line. He starts to cut his sandwich diagonally, and brings it to my attention THAT THERE IS NO CHEESE IN THE SANDWICH...just 'grilled bread'. So, between the eggs on Sunday, and the grilled cheese on Monday, I really need to convince everyone that I can cook....so I am off to make spaghetti - 0's. Just kidding, but I actually could go for some!

House for Sale

We are putting our home on the market officially tomorrow. We have been spreading the word, and have had a few people interested, mostly familes that live in the Condos across from us. We are really praying that the timing works out for us. We are planning on building a home about a minute up the road from where we are, but that has to be COMPLETE by the time preschool starts in September. (Earlier if possible, that way we will have time to finish the basement and I won't have to do preschool in the main living area!) Not sure how it will go, since the market is not doing so well right now. My neighbor did say (she is a realtor) that homes in Harvest Hills (where I live) are going pretty quickly. So wish me luck and offer up a

prayer or two that things will work out for us. Luckily, if we don't sell, no biggie. We are actually pretty confident that it will sell, just maybe not for the price we need to get out of it. We were just hoping to get into a bigger home with all the kids in our family now. Plus my preschool would have an outside entrance which I would LOVE!

Happy Easter

We didn't get to do much with the kids this easter. Most of them were elsewhere. The easter bunny did come visit the 3 youngest boys (Jacob, Andrew, Daniel) and Jeremy. We went to Teri's house and had a wonderful Easter Dinner. I ate entirely too much. TOMORROW I WILL BEGIN AGAIN! We played "Are you smarter than a 5th grader" and unfortunately, we were not! We missed the very last question! It was a good time though. (The other team was smarter-they answered all the questions correctly.) I took a few pictures, so here they are...

These last 2 pictures are just some last minutes ones I took. Not the greatest. Sandy was also there with her boyfriend Kent and his daughter. All the boys were outside playing with their bubbles that grandma got them for Easter...

Couch Potato?

This video was taken tonight while Daniel was playing XBOX....not a Wii....just a plain old XBOX. Sorry about the mess, we are trying to get some things packed up so we can put our house on the market, and Paul and Jason are in the basement finishing up door frames/baseboards, so I apologize for the background noise.

Sorry the second video is sideways. For now it will have to stay that way, but you still get the idea....

Stuck in the Snow

I don't really know how to begin this story...I was driving around our area, picking up some floor plans for homes...and I decided to drive around and just see the other homes in the area. So I turned onto a road that Paul and I had been on before, in the not to recent past, and the snow wasn't an issue then. (I HAD forgotten that about a couple weeks ago we got pounded with a snow storm, and receive alot more snow!) Anyway, so I am happily driving along, when all of a sudden...I GET STUCK! Not just a little stuck. My car won't budge. I get out to survey the damage. I walk around to the passenger side, and the front wheel is spinning like crazy! It is only then that I realize I had left my car in drive so I try to open the passenger door to put the car in park, but it is locked. No biggie, I would just go back to the drivers side. WELL, I suppose that since the car was still in drive, as soon as the door closed, it locked. So I was locked out of my car, front wheel spinning, stuck in snow. I was terrified that the front wheel would catch and my car would leave without me! So I ran to the closest house, knocked on the door. A man about mid fifties opened the door, I quickly told him of my predicament. He was kind enough to offer me a ride to my house (only about a minutes drive away) to get my spare key. I thanked him for his kindness, and he said no problem, he was already done getting funeral arrangements made for his mother the NEXT DAY!

To make a long story short, he also had had kneee replacement surgery, so he couldn't really help push. I found some men on the construction site close by, and 6 men were not able to get my car unstuck. My car was high centered, and I had to leave it there and drive Paul's truck to Salt Lake to take him the things he needed. (As you can see from the picture, I WAS SO CLOSE TO MAKING IT!)

When Paul got done with baseball practice, we went out to my car and, thanks to another kind neighbor with a 20 foot chain, we were able to pull my car out, after we shoveled snow for 20 minutes! I took some pictures, but not sure they do the situation justice.

I am SO ready for spring!