It's Almost Mother's Day!

Well, it is almost mother's day and I was thinking about my mom. She is the greatest. The older I get the more my love grows for her. When I was younger, I would have never guessed that I could love her more each and every year. I think the one of the reason that I love her more and more is watching her be a Grandma. She is incredible! My kids adore her! One of the fun thinks that she does is make all her grandkids a homemade present for Christmas. The kids cherish them! I thought I would post some pictures of the Christmas presents that she has made for my kids over the years.




2004 Hooded Towels

These towel are well used... They are so cute! They have an animal on the top and the front shows the animals face. She also made a matching hand puppet to go with each one. They used them for dress up, baths, swimming...etc

2005 Body pillow

This was a hard year for my mom.. . These pillows are HUGE!! I wish I could have seen her making these! Remember, she also has 7 other grandkids besides mine (at the time she had 3 more to make than my kids) The kids love them, they always get them for watching TV or "stuffed animal battles". (Stuffed animal battes = riding them and running into each other)

2006 Build a Bears


This was such a fun year...Build-a-Bears were all the craze! She made each of the kids a Bear "shell" and included stuffing with a little heart to kiss and put inside. They LOVED it! She even made them two outfits to go with them. That Christmas was so crazy, I just remember her house was covered in stuffing and bear fur! :) It was awesome!

2007 Pillowcases

I didn't think that she would be able to do anything for the Grandkids this Christmas. This was the year that Chelsie was going back and forth to Salt Lake for Chemo and Radiation treatments. She spent most of the year waiting in the hospital. But she still made time for her gifts. These will always be special to me because it reminds me of that time when we all had to come together as a family. The kids won't sleep without them because they are so soft and cuddly.


This pillowcase is especially ironic for J! She loves it because it reminds her that Chelsie is still with her as her angel.

2008 head wraps

This was so funny. Mom and Dad went to Mexico and saw these cool head wraps that everybody was wearing. My little brother wore his the whole time he was there. She thought it would be so fun for the Grandkids to have them too. Yes, the kids thought it was fun too.
Isn't she wonderful! I wonder why I was so lucky to be her daughter!

Easter Fun!

Easter was fun! It snuck up on me and I didn't do much preparing this year. Thank heavens for the neighbor hood easter egg hunts and the quick dash to walmart, I survived. Here are the highlights:

This is D. Notice the determined look on his face. This years easter egg hunt was very serious for him. He is used to fighting for what he wants!! It was pretty funny!


This was really funny. My Dad called me the other day and told me he had a special surprise for the Grandkids. The kids were excited but nothing could have prepared them for this!!! This is the Grandkid trailer! He pulls it with the four wheeler, and if you look really close you can see that it is made from ski lift chairs! (He owns a small ski resort) He welded them on a trailer to pull the kids around. What a great Grandpa! They had such a good time at Grandma and Grandpa's. We played flag football, basketball, and had rides all day on the Grandkid trailer!

This was a sweet note that E wrote for the Easter Bunny. It reads:
Dear Easter Bunny,
Get these candies on the plate if you like them...love
PS Please do...
PSS I like easter.

He was really excited to leave something for the Easter bunny even though he told his friends that the Easter Bunny is not real! (COOL GUY!)

We painted eggs... It was really fun this year. All my kids got really creative and only one spilled egg dye cup. However it was red....


And lastly... and this is where the pictures end.... I was preparing a wonderful, fancy easter dinner for the rememberance of the Savior when I cut my finger on a can and had to rush to the neighbors house for 6 stitches. (Our neighbor is a good friend and an ER doctor) BUT it was worth it when I heard later that ALL my kids (including the 7 and 3 year old) were down on their knees in prayer while I was at the doctor. I wish I could have been there for that :)

From the Mouth of Babes...

This mornings conversation with D:
(we recently put in a new elongated toilet. D was trying it out this morning.)
D: mom...this toilet's hole is TOO big.
Mom: Really?
D: Yeah.. I think I need a fatter bum... like yours.
Mom: (fake cries)
D: Mom don't cry... Giants have even fatter bums than you!

Spring Break???

You know how everyone goes somewhere warm for Spring Break? Well, we have always been a bit "peculiar" and decided to go somewhere really cold! We went to West Yellowstone. It was great! Just a quick "get away" to break up the mundane of life! The whole town literally shuts down for the winter. There is nothing open except one grocery store,and even the snowmobile rentals and cross-country rentals were all closed because technically it was spring! But we didn't mind...we played in the pool, and went to this really cool bear and wolf place. The kids got to go into the bear cages and hide food under rocks and under the snow for the bears to find. They loved watching the bears sniff around until they found the very carefully hidden food. Those bears were huge!!!This ones name is Sam!

Then we went skiing at Big Sky! My kids loved the four person chair lifts. It was so great, thanks to my wonderful sister who watched my littlest ones while we went.We ALL got sunburned on our faces around our goggles. I am so glad that General Conference is this week!:)

And oh yeah...we celebrated SOMEONES birthday... :)

And last but not least, I got a great big BEAR hug from my hubby!

OH NO!!!

LOOK AT MY BANGS!!!
I did a "serious NO-NO" this morning! I cut my own bangs! I haven't had bangs in years so when they got to long I figured that I could just cut my own. Well, it has been such a long time, I forgot that they spring back an inch higher than you cut them.(or more!!!) AHHHHHH!! What am I supposed to do! Well, at least on the bright side....they aren't in my eyes anymore!!! LOL...boo hoo...LOL...boo hoo....

A New Life....

Well, you all may think that I am just being dramatic BUT I am serious...my life has changed. No more kids whining in the kitchen at 5:00 while I am trying to think about what we have in the kitchen so I can make a nutritious meal for dinner. No more temptations to call my hubby to pick up a pizza on the way home, and most importantly our meals are nutritious and delicious! How is all this happening, you might ask? Well my Mom gave me 30 freezer meal recipes! All tried and true for the freezer so they are actually good. It took me an entire Saturday but it is SOOOOOOO worth it!! I love the recipes because the cooks tell you what order to do everything so that you can cook 30 meals and piece them together all at the same time. It is incredible! Also, I saved $150 last month on our grocery bill, just because all the recipes are made by scratch. Sooo....there you have it. My new life! Now at 5:00 I sit by my oven watching my dinner bubble, hug my hungry kids, and set the table!:)I LOVE it!!!!




30 meals all in one freezer! Yay me!

The only problem is the mess I have to clean up from my new life!


If you are interested in changing YOUR life, check out my mom's stake blog. It is linked to mine. Under my favorite blogs!

SO I learned something today...

I can't do everything! I want to DO everything and I want to BE everything for my kids but the reality is... it is not possible. Isn't that a sobering thought? But Heavenly Father has provided a way for my children to still get the attention they deserve.
E had a "drive- in" movie for his school. Sounds like fun, huh! Well, the teachers forgot to call me to see if building a cardboard car out of a box would fit into my schedule that week. Needless to say, it just didn't fit into my schedule. So the day before the big drive in movie, I pulled J aside and asked her if she could help him build it. She did great. They worked on it all day only needed a little help here and there. Here is a picture of the finished product...





The best part about this story is... I wondered if he would be embarrassed at school because making a cardboard car did fit into some very creative moms schedules. There were some awesome cars!!! BUT he didn't even notice. His car was the BEST because he and his sister made it. It just taught me that I don't have to do everything and Heavenly Father will always help me find other ways to give my children what they need.