Nerf Fight

We all got nerf guns for Christmas and since then we have had a nerf war every night. My husband is the ward mission leader so we have the elders over every once in a while and last night they joined in the fun.

Our Christmas Before and After

One of our traditions is to read from the Bible and Book of Mormon the accounts of Jesus' Birth. We also discussed this year what the gifts represent and and some of the other symbols of Christmas. As a mom it is wonderful to see the kids understand the True meaning of Christmas and see that light in their eyes. We are still having fun playing Santa with Kade and love the innocence he has. After the reading I love to watch the kids open their gifts and I am alwas amazed how fast the room can get messy.

Christmas Crafts

Today I had a sick kid and while he was resting I finished the stocking plaque and painted the North Pole sign. I had a lot of fun.

Candy Land

On Saturday most of the cousins met at Gramma D's house and frosted cookies and made a Ginger Bread House! Thanks Gramma:)

Play Day

Today we met Jenn and her son Seth at the mall. It was fun to sit and talk with her as the two little ones played. They had fun posing for the camera. Chantel and Brock got to go shopping! After some shopping we all went to Sbarro's for lunch. The kids rode the carousel, and I have to thank Brock for helping the boys!!!

Ward Christmas Party!

Tonight at our ward christmas party the kids had a ton of fun. It was great to get out and be with friends and family. After dinner and the indoor activities we all went outside and had hot chocolate while standing around fire pits to keep warm. All of the kids, big and little, had fun in the snow that santa brought with him. There was even a blow up bouny castle for the really little ones. Below are the pictures I took at the party. Some of the pictures are not the best , but they were fun to take.

Check out my Slide Show!

My Vent!!!

I just need to vent a little bit! Monday I think I had a breakdown. We have been fighting our mortgage company of our rental house and I was in tears over all the stress that it brings us. Well during one of my mini rages I went to throw a paper in a garbage can. (The can sits next to a bookcase and on top of it sits the pencil sharpener) The paper missed the garbage can and I got up and bent over to pick it up. I think I accidentally pulled on the cord to the pencil sharpener and pulled it onto my head. I blacked out. It took a while before I could see anything. All I could do was sit on my knees and cry. I have had a headache all week along with the feeling of being nauseous too.

Wednesday, Kade (the poor kid) spent the morning at a Gastroenterologists office getting poked and prodded. They think he might have acute gastritis, food allergies, or something called Eosinophilic Esophagitis. I am still reading on what that is. So in January he goes into the hospital to have an endoscopy done. I am just thankful and hopeful that he doesn't have ulcerative colitis like I have. Kade also had to go and get blood work done and I was in tears having to watch him go through that.

There are other things that I really want to vent and cry about but I just can't seem to do that right now. I am just to angry and selfish and in tears to let things go! I know nothing lasts forever and when all these things are over I will be a little bit better for it.

While moms away.....

......The kids will play! These two cuties were at our house during the day while mom and the others went to Disney Land. They had a lot of fun fighting over the "Little Red Rocker". I couldn't keep the block out of Baby H.'s mouth and Little N. always had his blankie in tow. We also had left over balloons from Kade's birthday and they were using them as chairs to sit on and pillows to lay on. I am thankful that one never popped on them.

Putting up some lights

My wonderful son last weekend started getting out the christmas decorations and lights and was very excited that this year we can decorate outside with lights. I think he did a really good job at his first time stringing lights!

Thanksgiving Pictures

Thank You!

God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say "thank you?"

~William A. Ward

Just wanted to say thank you to my wonderful sister "Mommyx5" for the new blog header and to Amazing "A" for the fun and beautiful pictures you took of our family!

Dinner anyone?

My Husband and Brock went hunting this weekend! Next weekend we get to bring home all the meat. I have never had elk meet before so we will see how it taste for dinner sometime!

Entranced!

For me my reading consists of reading bedtime stories, scriptures and it seem that the only reading time I get is on Sunday, as I read the ward bulletin during sacrament meeting. However, a friend in the ward said that she just finished a book and told me it was one of the best books she ever read. I was skeptical since I dont have time to read all that much and sitting still is about impossible for me. Well needless to say I spent some time on saturday night reading and I got entranced in this book. I finished the book about 10:30 last night. I never have read a book that fast. I tried to recall the last book I read, I figured out that is was four years ago when I was on complete bedrest with my pregnancy. My daughter now wants to read it and I want to read the rest of the books in the series. I guess it might end up being a christmas present from Santa to Us.

What a day we had!

Lately we have some struggles with Kade! He is testing out his boundaries and learning what Mom and Dad will and wont let him get away with. Today to keep him busy we made our own "I Spy" pages. It was fun to see him build his page and ask me what I spied. Later in the afternoon after running kids to their lessons, Kade decided that he wanted to go to McD's. After Kirt and I both telling him no, he staged a protest. He sat in his carseat for at leat 30 minutes. The pictures below tell the story! I finally got him settled down and in the house when I had to leave and go get the older kids. When I got back I learned that Kirt had sent him to bed because he acted up again. I went in to check on him and I found him sound asleep in his bed.

Kade's Day!

Just for fun....

Today I thought I would list all the things I did just for fun and not so fun!!

1. I woke up 40 min.'s late and had to rush to get kids to school on time.

2. I let Kade play games on the computer while I watched part of a tv show.

3. I took a drill over to a friend so she could borrow it. She is making christmas crafts for a boutique. I ended up staying for a couple of hours while Kade played with her daughter and now he has bumps, bruises and a scrape on his neck that looks like a hickie. Kirt and I both are laughing about that one.

4. I curled my hair only to not like it and wet it down again and blow dry it straight.

5. I had to put Kade into the car kicking and screaming and no shoes on to go do car pool. The poor kids in the car were absolutly afraid of Kade and covering their poor ears to try and not hear him screaming.

6. I called my dear husband during Kades out burst so I could share with him how my day was going!

7. I went with my friend and helped her take her crafts to the Kandy Kane Castle Boutique. I just love all the things she made. It is always fun to go to boutiques and see what others are making.

8. I made grilled hamburgers for dinner. For us having hamburgers is a treat!

9. After dinner my dear husband knowing the kind of day I had took me with him to run a couple of errands. After the errands we stopped at Neilson's Frozen Custard! YUM!!!!!

10. After coming home from there I had to rush Brock over to an other friends house to have her help him with a cello part he is working on for our primary program on sunday.

After all that my husband let me veg in front of the computer and have some time alone while he entertained the kids! Thank You Kirt, I really needed it today!

My wake up call

This morning I was awaken by the little cute one on the left at 6:00 am. He was petting my face and saying"Mom you are so beaut-ee-ful" . I can not think of any other way to be woken up.

Carving Pumkins

One of our family traditions is to carve the pumkins on Halloween night. Chantel tried to carve a spider in hers. It turned out look like a circle in the middle of the pumkin. Kirt helped Kade carve a bat into his. Brock carved a silly face in his. His turned out the best of the three. They had fun and for us it helps keep the kids away from the candy. It's always fun when we get to have fun activities like this with dad.

Happy Halloween

Wishing everyone a Happy Halloween!!!!

Round and Round!

What has been going around has finally come around to us. We have been sick all weekend. I spent most of the morning at the Dr.'s office with Chantel and Kade. Chantel (and Kirt) had a cold that turned, really quick, into a sinus infection. Kade had a cold that has brought on his asthma and we have been up every hour or two for the past two nights doing breathing treatments and steam showers. Brock seems to only have a little cold (lucky) and if I could get some sleep maybe I could start to get over my sickness. So I am going to try to get everyone into bed and maybe I can get a little more sleep tonight!

1. 
   
   
   
   Today after doing some deep cleaning of some window sills and having worked hard on trying to keep up with things around the house, I was day dreaming of being somewhere else! So I have put together a list of places I would like to go on vacation ! These are in no particular order just places I want to go.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   1. Hawaii: Never been but I hear it is heaven.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   2. Alaska: Dreaming of a cruise.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   3. Grand Canyon: Yes, I have lived in Arizona since 1979 and have not yet been to the Grand Canyon.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   4. Scottland, Ireland, and England are the only out of country places I would love to see.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   5. Disney Land: I have only been once and I would love to take the kids and have fun.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   6. Seattle Washington: I grew up there and would like to go visit and see the sites again.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   7. Church History sites back east.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   8. Utah/Idaho: I want my kids to see Temple Square and see family that we have there.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   9. Colorado: Our family goes every summer to spend time with Grandma C.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   10. Texas: I would like to go here and visit Kirt's sister Katrina and her family and visit Amanda and maybe see a longhorn game!:)

For Fun....

Today just for fun I took Chantel out of school and took her shopping.:) :) She has had a rough week and needed a break. It was nice to have some alone time with her and give her a chance to escape from all the pressure she has been under.

Citizen of the Year!

Just want to say congratulations to my WONDERFUL Mother in law for recieving the Citizen of the Year! You deserve that every year!! What a wonderful example you are to all of us. We love you very much!

Listen!!

I found this little letter and felt impressed to post it on the blog. I have been putting it off and I need to follow the prompting and do it. I hope it helps someone who reads it.

When I ask you to listen to me, and you start to give advice you have not done what I asked.
When I ask you to listen to me and you begin to tell me why I shouldn't feel that way, you are trampling on my feelings.
When I ask you to listen to me and you feel you have to do something to solve my problem, you have failed me, strange as that may seem.
Listen. All I asked was that you listen, not talk or do - just hear me.
Advice is cheap; two cents will get you both Dear Abby and Billy Graham in the same newspaper.
And I can do for myself; I’m not helpless.
When you do something for me that I can and need to do for myself, you contribute to my fear and weakness.
But when you accept as a simple fact that I do feel what I feel, no matter how irrational, then I can quit trying to convince you and can get about the business of-understanding what's behind this irrational feeling.
And when that's clear, the answers are obvious and I don't need advice.
Irrational feelings make sense when we understand what’s behind them; perhaps that's why prayer and meditation works. So, please -Listen and just hear me. And if you want to talk, wait a minute for your turn; and I'll listen to you.
Anonymous

A naturally therapeutic person is one who, by a natural response to those in pain, empowers them to realize their own healing potential lies within them, and never in the one who is helping or giving advice.
-- Jaquelyn Small, 1993

Friday Fun on the Farm

On Friday we had a blast! My good friend Amanda who is visiting from Texas invited us to come and meet her and her family at Superstition Farms! Once a year they have"Friday Fun on the Farm ". The kids had fun doing a little art project and petting the calf's and trying to get them to eat and drink from their bottles. Kade had a blast on the hay ride. Thank you Amanda for inviting us!