Visit from Oregon

Jeremy had a great friend growing up. His name is JonBoy. Since high school due to timing missions, marriage and moving we don't get to see him very much. This year Jon and his awesome wife Emily and their four children came to visit. Jeremy, Jon and Tim all were good friends so we had everyone over to our house for a couple hours. There was a total of 3 families, 6 adults, 12 children, 4 boys and 8 girls. Sometimes it is goo to not do the math before you plan something like this. We had a great visit it is always fun to catch up. Here is a picture of our kids and Jon's kids.

Christmas

We had a great Christmas. We got to do all the typical things that we look forward to each year, although not in the same order. We watched all our favorite Christmas movies, although some have been debated as they are not REALLY Christmas movies but ones that happen t take place druing that time of year, for example The Cutting Edge...love it. It has Christmas and New Years so I have put it as one of those movies. (So Pthhhh to all you who argue!) The one that Jeremy always watched growing us was Scrooge. Amongst the typical ones like Miracle on 34th Street new and old. A first for us was White Christmas. I would label that as my all time fave now. (Thanks Hayley and Matt for introducing it to us!) It was fabulous. WE try to make it to the temple to see the lights and watch one of the performances. This year we watched a great Christmas musical montage. It was a sample of all the presentations the were happening over the following weeks. Then we went to Fenton's. Such a treat! We also make rollout sugar cookies with the extended family and save a few for Santa. Christmas Eve Jeremy and I make breakfast for his family. It is my favorite thing to do. The menu consists of Caramel French Toast, bacon or sausage, potatoes O'Brien, Scrambled Eggs, and orange juice. Then we got to hang out as everyone went their own way for the afternoon. For Dinner we went to Jeremy's Mom's house where we also do a Christmas Program. Everyone gets the opportunity to share something a thought, a story, a song, etc. I was so proud of Miranda she got up a sang Silent night all by herself. Her and Logan sang Christmas Bells. I played a game, it is a Right/Left game while telling the Nativity story. Jeremy told a story about a rusty violin being put up for auction, no one wanted to bid on it because of its looks. Then a man came and played it beautifully and the bids came and were high bids. Kind of like our savior. He makes us each valuable, and makes the difference between amazing and spectacular.

Christmas morning we had the traditional bearclaws and banana eggnog with Jer's mom and Chris. They stayed and watched us open our presents. Then we packed up and spent the rest of the day at Jer's mom's house, opening gifts, hanging out with the family and relaxing.

It was a great Christmas. I love this time of year and being able to feel closer to my Savior and the constant reminders to not only be Christ like but to remember the spirit of giving. That was our holiday in a nutshell.

A Great Life.

About a month ago Grandpa Ralph fell and had a stroke. He has not been doing so well since then. He was in the hospital for about a week, then he got came home for a day. It was too much work for Grandma June to take care of him, so he was moved to assisted living. Hospice was called to help care for Grandpa. He was then moved to an in-home assisted living place where he has been since early December. Grandma was able to visit him most every day. Last night he passed away.

I am so grateful for him and Grandma and for the example of goodly parents that they have shown me. They are also a great example of marriage. After Grandpa fell the first time he was in and out of the hospital fairly quickly so we went over there for Family Home Evening. We got to hear him tell some stories and share his testimony with the kids. I loved watching them sit there reverently listening to him Even Haylie and Hannah sat mostly quiet.

I wish I was great with words so I could pay the tribute he deserves. He is an amazing man with a strong testimony of the gospel. He always made me feel special when we had family gatherings. I am grateful that our kids will have some memory of their great-grandpa.

Logan will miss him. The other day we stopped by the house to drop some thing off for grandma to bring to grandpa. As we left Logan asked where Grandpa was. I told him that grandpa's body was getting old and in lot's of pain. I said that grandma could no longer care for him in all the ways that he needs, so grandpa is still close but he is in a home not too far away. Then the subject faded. You never know what the kids retain so I was surprised at the dinner prayer he prayed that granpa's body would feel better and he can live with Grandma June again.

I guess I am rambling, but know that we love him and will miss him.

He's FIVE!!!!

I just had to acknowledge this quickly. Logan had his birthday Tuesday. He is five. I can't believe how old he is. He is growing like he is supposed to and doing all the things little boys do. He is very helpful with his sisters. They can play for hours in the back yard. He is starting to play with action figures. He loves Planet Heroes, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Land Before Time, and Scooby Doo. He is showing lots of interest in learning his letters and he really wants to read like his big sister. He has fabulous blue eyes that sparkle when he is feeling mischeiviuos or sweet, angry or sad. I am so glad I have this son to raise, I hope he groes up and follows in the footsteps of his amazing father.

Happy Birthday Logan!

We saw Ho, Ho, Ho!

On Friday night we went to see Santa Claus. They all seemed very excited in line and said they would sit on Santa's lap. When it was time Haylie and Hannah froze. They were not going to get near him for nothing. We got Logan and Lauren on his lap...well you can see the picture. Haylie and Hannah were less than thrilled by who they call Ho, ho. To you other folk he is also known as Santa. It wasn't near as traumatic once they got to walk away. Here is the picture:

On Saturday we had our Ward Christmas Dinner. It was great. We got to experience a deep fried turkey for the first time. Holy guacamole is that good! The kids got to perform in the program.

They also got to see Santa and confirm what is wished for. Here are a couple of cute pictures: Please note we do not love Haylie any less than the other four. She saw Santa, started crying dug in her heals and high tailed it out of there! She did get a candy cane just like the rest of the kids.

Word of advice ask what the kids want from Santa before you go shopping, and wait until the last minute!!!

Miranda~originally wanted an Easy Bake oven...told Santa iDog

Logan~originally wanted Blue Lightening McQueen...told Santa Drums

Haylie~originally wanted whatever we, the parents, said...told Santa...well told us to tell Santa Winnie-the-Pooh

Hannah~originally wanted the same as Haylie...told Santa a baby doll.

Lauren~as always perfectly angelic. She didn't change her mind!

We are 2 for 5!

A Christmas Meme

1.Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping Paper it looks much prettier with Ribbons and Bows which I am not allowed to use!
2. Real tree or artificial? Real...although if tree tipping becomes a tradition we may switch teams!
3. When do you put up the tree? Friday after Thanksgiving...except this year it was the the following week.
4. When do you take the tree down? Between Christmas and New Years. There's nothing else to do.
5. Which do you prefer: Hot chocolate or Apple Cider? Hot Chocolate. Although I think my taste buds are maturing, I do like Hot Apple Cider who knew?
6. Favorite gift received as a child? I don't remember the gifts as much as the creative ways we "earned" our gifts.
7. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, although I would almost kill for a Willow Tree one
8. Hardest person to buy for? Jeremy...bad ebay experience.
9. Easiest person to buy for? Jeremy and my kids.
10. Worst Christmas gift ever received? A toilet seat?! It was a white elephant gift but it actually turn out handy, we also got a pregnancy test that was also handy!
11. Mail or email Christmas card? Mail, although I think I will post our picture and letter on our blog, I am addicted!
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? I watched White Christmas for the first time, I love it...Not sure I could choose, Liken the Scriptures: The First Christmas, oh I am not a good decision maker!
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? When do I stop? Usually November, or October...or sometime before then.
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Christmas, I don't think so...wedding, um...yes?!
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Aunt Dawn's Peanut Butter Fudge... Mom Jacobs' Stuffing, Carmel Stuffed French Toast...Who am I kidding anything in front of me.
16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? colored
17. Favorite Christmas song? Mary Did you know? It makes me grateful my kids are mine, and I am not Raising God's only Begotten! What can you teach Him?
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Stay at home, It is hard to make others appreciate your traditions.
19. Can you name Santa's reindeer?"You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen; Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen. But do you recall....blah...Rudolph!" I could but why when it's already there!
20. Do you have an Angel on top or a star? A star, infact it is already our second star for this year and we've only had our tree up 5 days.

Tag-- You're it! (That includes you!)

Ohh, the memories

When I was growing up I distinctly remember one Christmas when we decided to walk the block and a half to the Christmas tree lot and carry our tree back. It was me, my two sisters, my step-dad and my mom. It was a fun thought, since we are pure city girls, to walk to get our tree even though we didn't cut it ourselves and carry it back in the snow! Well about 20 feet after carrying our carefully picked tree it started going down hill. The comedy of watching three girls and a man carry a Christmas tree down a semi-busy street had to be hilarious. As we started walking back reality set in and I realized this is embarrassing. As always things started getting awkward, I started getting giggly which I am sure encouraged my sisters to start too. Then the man who was trying to keep us together...oh the memory. (I had a similar experience with my dear hubby that caused 10 minutes of speechlessness and a look of bewilderment.) I am sure it wasn't quite like this but in a nutshell good idea at first, not so good halfway home!

Anyways now to Saturday. We live +/- 1/2 mile from a Christmas tree lot. We decided we would try that one this year. We were trying to figure out how we could get our Christmas tree back and all 5 kids with one vehicle that does not happen to be a truck. So I said well...we could walk. We thought how we could get the tree back and it came to me. We have this fabulous all-terrain wagon that screams "I can carry a Christmas tree". Jeremy was sold. Off we went. I pushed the stroller with Lauren inside. The Haylie and Hannah rode in the wagon, Logan walked along side Jeremy and Miranda limped alongside me. It was fun.

So we got to the lot. We received the standard "are these all yours?" and "wow." Then we found the perfect tree. The sales man, I think his name was Chris (isn't every body's?), chuckled to himself when we said we were walking. We assured him we lived really close. We paid for the tree, they gave each of our kids a candy cane. We adjusted our children: Logan and Miranda walked (she was no longer limping amazing how Christmas can heal all ailments!). Haylie and Hannah jumped on to the stroller with Lauren and Jeremy got the tree. We headed home.

We stopped about 4 times to help Jeremy adjust. The tree was about a foot short to hold it comfortably so he had to reach over his shoulder and grab the tippy top of the tree. He was just far enough away from the wagon that it barely missed his foot as he walked. He said he used muscles that are typically ignored. Also note he helped with a move that day too. He was still smiling as we approached our street. We, I mean he, safely got our tree home with only two minor broken branches.

Then the fun began. "Can we decorate the tree?" "No, we need to put the lights and tinsel on" "Is it on yet?" while looking at the tree!, "why isn't it on yet?" We then went and put the stuff out front. It took us a lot longer to get things done, so the kids each put on three ornaments and headed to bed. Jeremy and I finished decorating and then we hit the sack.

At about midnight we heard a crash. It is becoming a tradition that our tree falls over! UGH! So we had to clean up the mess and re-straighten the tree, and re-tighten all EIGHT screws. About 20 ornaments fell off the tree, two broke in 3 or four places. One is missing two pieces and our Christmas tree star broke into a few pieces. Thank heavens for super glue. The star still needs some attention. So how often do you get to decorate you tree twice? In our home more often then we would like! As we were both exhausted trying to figure out if we can put Logan's Toy Story ornament back together and who was going to tell him if need be, it was comical but almost worthy of tears. These are costly ornaments. It came to us separately that as beautiful as the tree is all decorated, our house decorated inside and out, the music and lights, etc. It really isn't what the season is about. We have so much to be grateful for. This is all just cherries on top. But wow what a fun story to share!

Laughter makes you live longer...

I am not sure that is true but it should be. Laughter and ice cream, my two favorite things. I have a couple videos of Lauren laughing. It is so sweet and so cute. I want to point out in the first part of the video Lauren only laughs when Haylie is drinking out of the water bottle. I hope you enjoy their laughter as much as I do!


Since knowing my husband since 6th grade he is always right. The beginning of this clip was posted earlier so it is a retake. It is till funny though. Sorry for the retake!

Cookie Basics

I have this passion right now for cooking. I m not sure it is a fad or a true passion but I love it. I am learning new things all the time. A friend ran across an article with cookie basics and said she would get it for me but life happens, it gets lost, you know the drill. So I got on he internet, which is always there in time of need! I came across two articles and thought I would pass them on. It is how to make great cookies...cookie Chemistry. Now that is a subject I can sink my teeth into! (I know Queen of Corny here!)

Cookie Basics
Cookie Chemistry 101

If you have a great sugar cookie recipe I am in need of one. The best sugar cookie I have had included sour cream in the ingredients. I like a soft cake-like cookie, no so much crispy. I hope this helps you. Enjoy your holiday baking and please pass on those great sweet recipes!

G-R-Attitude!

I don't know why I spelled it that way but it reminded me of Bruce Almighty when he was talking about his life B-E-A-Utiful. I am a little late in this attitude of gratitude post. I have shared this thought so frequently lately that it may be boring. Too bad this is my blog and I can do what I want with it, HAH! In talking more with parents and grandarents I find them saying "I don't remember that." Of course I know why now. I used to be of the opinion that I would never forget this or that moment. There are so many moments that I am watching the kids play around or doing something sweet, like show genuine concern for each other. I think to myself this is a moment I want to remember forever. Sure enough I forget. I think having Miranda in all day school is hardest on Logan. The playmate he has had since birth is not around as much. He always runs to her after school and will even share how much he will miss her while she is at school. Since Logan has been running to hug Miranda, who laughs and pretends she doesn't enjoy it and tries to dodge him, the twins have followed suit. I find Logan and Miranda in her room playing games like Charades or Go Fish. They will play pretend really well, and even wrestle. These are the moments I want to remember. I try to imagine what is going on in other people's minds as I see their lips move as they silently count how many kids we have. I would not have it any other way. Just imagine the laughter you have in your home and multiply it by the number of kids we have. I would say more nights then not there is at least two girls and a little boy dancing, a couple singing, Lauren talking, Jeremy being crazy-goofy, and me trying to soak it all in to remember that moment, but we are all laughing and having a good time.

I know our family is bigger than what the general public would like to see, but I couldn't imagine our family being anything less. With each child we add, it is a puzzle to figure out who he or she is (mostly she though) but the rewards of happiness is so worth it!

Oh that Logan!

I had to share this moment. I am not sure whether I should be proud or embarrassed. We had some friends over and the kids were playing in the backyard. As I was watching I saw Logan throw a rock. You could see the thought process, "Oh, Mom can see from where she is sitting. Did she see me?" Unlucky for him I did. I walked up to the slider as he got this look of Oops on his face. I opened the door, not saying a word he walked into the house and went straight to his bed for a time out. The part that I am proud of is that he knew what he did wrong and what his punishment was (one of my faults is inconsistency so this shows I am somewhat consistent). He also was "man" enough to accept the blame for his wrong doing. I was embarrassed as my son was "cowed" before me. I couldn't help but wonder if the "Hill" look was smothered across my face. You know "the look" that says you better just do what you are supposed to before the lid blows off this CAN! It was a funny moment. I think my face actually showed one of shock as he walked past me with his head down.

Just a quick note before I forget...

We all take turns saying the prayers as I am sure most families who don't have demanding 3 year olds who need to say it exclusively... sorry I got a little sidetracked. I love to hear Logan say prayers. I don't think there has been one yet that I haven't been laughing when Amen was said! Tonight he said...thank you for our family except for the mean ones." I am not sure where that came from, I am assuming I had been mean to him earlier.

The kids say and do funny things all the time. I think to myself I don't want to forget this moment. I wish my memory could take pictures and file them to when I need a reminder or just to recall a special cherished moment. Alas, I forget and the memory is gone. With little notes on a blog I can at least remember the story. So I have made an executive decision to even blog the one liners! SO THERE! ; )

Lauren is 6 Months old!

As of Saturday Lauren is officially halfway through her first year of life. It has gone fast. In honor of her 6 month milestone she got to go shopping with mom and got her first pair of shoes! In Lauren World she is no longer sleeping through the night as of about 6 weeks ago. I am hoping that it is because she is teething. She has the two teeth as mentioned earlier. Now she is growing a third tooth in an unlikely, yet normal place. She is getting her upper left eye tooth. Weird, I know. She rolls over, and still loves to suck her thumb. She is an amazing baby even if I have to wake up in the night to feed her THREE times. Now for the lastest stats! We visited her doctor yesterday. Lauren is growing, but my little chunk is underweight! Lauren has grown another 2 inches and is still in the 96th percentile, her length is 28". She has gained 1 lb 6 oz she is in the 26th percentile for her weight which is down from the 49th last month. She weighs in at 14 lbs 14.6 ounces.

She also has croup. My children may have had it before but I had no idea. I thought croup was a very juicy cough associated with congestion, and also not common. When it is actually a barking kind of cough with no congestion. I can't believe some of the things I am learning. Lauren gets to go back in about a week and get her shots since she wasn't feeling well.

Laughter makes everything worth it.

As I was madly cooking a million things yesterday I turned around to this:

Lauren thought it as hilarious everytime Haylie drank out of the water bottle. I love that our kids are so easily entertained.

Just wanted to share...

Miranda and her cousin are 3 months apart. They have a lot in common except their looks. One of the funny things about them is they are missing all the same teeth. Look at this cute picture:
You can see Gwen's tooth growing back. Miranda's is too but it is the opposite top tooth.

Grandparent's Day

In Miranda's Class she is learning about her heritage. It is kind of fun, we got to look up flags and see what they looked like and also dress a doll. Miranda has ancestry from: England, Scotland, Czech Republic, Portugal, Finland amongst others. Today in class they got to have a grandparent come to visit the classroom. Since her most of her grandparents work or are out of the area we moved onto great grandparents. Jeremy's Grandma lives right around the corner so Miranda invited her. She wrote a very nice letter and they mailed it. So today I went and picked up Grandma June to take her to the classroom to meet Miranda, by the way she is 90 years old. As she was getting into the car she was dressed so nice and her hair done. Although she said her hair was acting weird, I thought it looked great. Then she turned to me and said "I haven't been this excited since my first date." It was super cute. I walked her to the classroom and then had to get a few things ready at home. All the kids had their turkey masks on when the grandparents came in (as in picture above). Grandma said Miranda was the perfect hostess. She stayed right with Grandma, they read stories, played games and shared their grandparents. Then an hour later the parents and families were able to join them for a potluck lunch. So Lauren Jeremy and I went to meet her (Dani & Ben watched the rest of the crew THANKS SO MUCH for doing this while you are on vacation!!!). Here are a few pictures of the day. As always I made a treat and here are the pictures of my "Pilgrim Hats" made of fudge striped cookies topped with chocolate covered marshmallows. The buckle is piped in yellow frosting.

Just a Reminder...

FYI. Does life slow down?

A Day Trip

I love this time of year...and dislike it because we are so busy (yuk) doing fun things (yeah)! This past Saturday we went to Apple Hill with our friends the Cooks. They were experienced so we tagged along. We had lots of fun. I can't help but love chilly fall pictures. We visited High Hill Ranch, Fudge Factory Farm, and Kids Inc. Apple Hill is a plae where there are about 35 growers of produce, mostly apples of course but some wine and other fruits too. If you know us at all our favorite place that cost us the most money was the Fudge Factory Farm. Jeremy got what they called Bear Crunch, it is caramel corn and peanuts covered in chocolate. If you are lucky I might be able to duplicate it before Christmas. Anyways here is a little video of our day. We had blast, and are talking of making it a family tradition!

Lauren has two teeth!

Just a little note that our happy girl...
...has another tooth

Ratatouille

We bought the movie Ratatouille and decided to have a family movie night and watch it together. To keep with the chef theme I decided to cook omeletes. Then a friend suggested crepes. So we had omelets, fried potatoes and crepes. It was a fun evening. Here are a few pictures of our event.

Feeling Toothy?

After all these months of blaming teething for the runny nose, no longer sleeping through the night, fussy spells, constipation, diarrhea, clingy-ness, not wanting to nurse, only wanting to nurse and anything else that is unbecoming of an infant, Lauren's first tooth has broken through. Here is a picture so the untrained eye can see it too! It is her front right tooth for all recording purposes. Needless to say she is still a dream baby. She only woke up one time last night and is still smiling. Well as much as can be expected. (You can double click on the picture to make it bigger.)

One WICKED Trip.

OK I have waited to post this because I want it to represent the awesome-ness of the trip. We drove down with the intention of driving at our leisure. We stopped by the Jer's work and it turned out to be For Good! (Wink, wink) The drive went perfect. We got down to LA at about 7:00. All the kids were so glad to see each other. Especially the toothless duo, Miranda and Gwen. On Saturday we lounged around in the morning and then we took all the kids to see Bee Movie. Super cute. We came back and relaxed. Then Jeremy and I went to The Cheesecake Factory for dinner. It was a first for Jer. The food was great but the company was better! We came home and got dressed up in a fancy clothes (not recommended on a full stomach!) Then headed to Hollywood to see Wicked at the Pantages Theater.

We had a great time. The cast was awesome. I am probably partial because I was in the audience, but in comparison I loved Eden Espinosa and Megan Hilty. They did an amazing job, all notes on key, and the humor was great too. I can't say how good it was, it would never do it justice. I have been lucky enough to see a few musicals but this one takes the cake, I would see it again in a heartbeat! For those of you who have not seen it here are a couple performances here are a few of my favorite songs: Popular, Defying Gravity, and a short trailer to tell the basis for the story. Youtube has tons of clips mostly illegal copies... anyways, it was a fabulous trip. I would turn thirty again anyday to be treated this well....wait I am treated this good everyday! (That's for you Jer XOXO!)

Here is a little slideshow of our trip. (Note: Click pause on the music player on the right column towards the bottom)

Lauren's Blanket

We got home Monday from our trip to LA to see Wicked (A Wicked cool slide show will be posted soon!) and there was a large box on our porch. It was Lauren's blamket and bumper pad made by my mom. It is gorgeous. Here are a couple of pictures.

That was Wednesday this was Thursday!

Thursday we went to the Hannah Montana concert in Oakland. I think rumor has it some insane person spent over $1000 to see this concert. I kind of hoped they would call that person on stage so I can say you are CRAZY! Anyways it was fun. Miranda and I went with our super amazing friend Teri and her family. It was so fun watching Miranda dance and "rock out" to the music. I think she only hit her neighbor once while dancing. Here are two pictures taken from my cell phone.


You can't tell but that is the Jonas Brothers at the end of the catwalk.


This is the bus of Miley Cyrus in the background.

It was hilarious when we got home. Miranda ran in to her daddy and said: "Daddy I met Miley Cyrus." That alone was worth the price of a ticket. She was so thrilled. We are very blessed!

Playing Catch up...watch out!

I have so many things to blog about in such a short amount of time. Life is great.

Let's start with Halloween. We had a great day. We started by baking up a storm. I made some cute graveyard cupcakes, spider cupcakes, and ghost cupcakes. I worked fairly hard and I forgot to take a picture. Oh well, there is always next year. Then I picked Miranda up from school and we headed to Jer's work to show off my 5 lovely kids. Here are four of them:

Then we headed to the Clayton Valley Pumpkin Farm where we took some pumpkin pictures. Here are a few of my favorites:



After we went to the pumpkin farm, we headed to the Preston's for a fabulous halloween party with home made scones (which may now be a halloween tradition) and a fabulous pinata. It was lots of fun. Then we headed home to Trick-or-Treat. We mad one pit stop at my uncle's house where I made the treat providers come to the car so I didn't have to unload the treaters! We go home and ran the little ones for about 1.5 hours. We knocked on all the doors with lights on from here to Grandma June's and Grandpa Ralph's. Where the had a special treat for the kids. We came home and Grandma Bev had her traditional home made donuts. We get to frost them and top them as we please. It was so late we made the kids save theirs until the next day. Jer and I enjoyed at least for each that night!

And that was our

It was about ice cream!!!!

OK so Brittany found a quiz that labeled you as ice cream...of course I had to take it. I think I answered some of these questions in the wrong way here was my answer:

You embody the perfect blend of sweetness and seduction. You personality is just as luscious and irresistible as chocolate ice cream. You have a flirty, melty attitude that's easygoing and delicious. You appreciate luxurious, extravagant things, like the way ultra-soft fabrics feel against your skin. Some people want to hog you all to themselves, but you find ways to make everyone feel special.

Another Awesome Gift!

The gift's keep coming! Hannah is my favorite child for the hour. She is I would say 90% potty trained. She wakes up dry and has one accident in 3 days. Here is a picture, I wanted to show her big girl underpants, but I thought that may be inappropriate. So I kept the picture but edited it. Just so you know she is not wearing a diaper or pull-up. She is officially the youngest to be potty trained! Yeah for me...I guess she did some of the work too...OK Jeremy gets a little credit also!

I also get to go see Hannah Montana with Miranda for my birthday and I am also excited about a gift card to Home Depot. I am torn between several projects right now, oh the decisions!

This really has been birthday month. I have been able to go lots of places, be treated fabulously by a multitude of people. Life at 30 is good!

Haylie if you are reading this birthday month is not over. You have 1 day to be potty trained! I guess if you are reading this I will let the potty training slide for a little bit longer and celebrate your (fictional) amazing milestone of reading at age 2.5!

Grandpa

Last night for Family Home Evening we went to Jeremy's grandparent's house. We wanted the kids to hear a few stories from Grandpa from when he was a kid and to share his testimony with us. It was so cool to watch the kids listen to their great-grandpa tell some stories. They were truly enthralled.
Thanks for letting us come over and sharing your stories with us. More importantly thank you for being such a wonderful example to us in so many ways.

I am offically 30!

In honor of turning 30 I thought I could share 30 great things that have happened in my life. Lucky for me I have 6 right off the bat.

1. I married the best husband of all time in May of 2000.


2. I have a beautiful, kind, sweet daughter, Miranda who is now 6.5


3. I have a superbly handsome son (who looks like his daddy I might add), Logan age 4 and 5/6.


4. I have an energetic, gorgeous twin daughter, Haylie who is 2.5


5. I have a super cuddly momma's girl, twin daughter Hannah who is surprise 2.5 (and Potty trained...mostly


6. I have a dream baby, Lauren who is 5 months old, by the way she is beautiful too.


7. I own my own home (well we own it together.)


8. I get to be a full time stay at home mom.


9. I graduated from DVC with my Associates degree.


10. I was able to spend a semester of college away from home. It was a short stint but I got to try real college life. I totally recommend it for my kids.


11. I have been to Disneyland lots of times, again thank you Honey!


12. I can cook way better than I could 10 years ago.


13. I am the aunt to 8 soon to be 9 and hopefully 10 not too long after that!


14. I drove with my kids to Ohio and back to visit family.


15. I have worked at the following places, Nature Company, IHOP, Going to the Game, Wells Fargo, Ross Gordon & Associates, Vinyl Specialists, Blanding Boyer & Rockwell, LLC, Aqua Products Group, and sorta CD Federal Credit Union. BB&R was where I met a great friend!


16. I became a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Where I met the rest of my great friends.


17. I have completed scrapbooks of my wedding, and Logan & Miranda's first year. As for Haylie and Hannah I am up to two months and Lauren well that's another decade away!


18. I was able to give birth 2 times with only the lamest drug ever given to anybody, Demerol, and my biggest baby was without any drugs what so ever.


19. I have beaten Jeremy in Lord of the Rings Trivia (he edited to add once).


20. I have been labeled the "Best Cooker in the whole wide world"


21. I am, for the most part, sane with lots of youngin's running around!


22. Although this is a repeated accomplishment, I go food shopping with all the kids in tow!


23. I am co-room mom for the second year in a row.


24. I have single handedly fattened up my husband with lots of love and cooking.


25. With the help of friends and family I am able to work in the classroom with Miranda once a week.


26. I have not had a moving violation in several years. I did go through a bad streak for a bit though.


27. I have read ALL the Anne of Green Gable Books and they are Grrreat!


28. I can spend hours on the computer, my new fascination besides blogging is making slide shows to music.


29. I have made my own television debut on The Concord Channel in an Adopt-A-Street commercial.


30. As of next week I will have seen the following musicals: Les Miserables, Beauty and the Beast, The Phantom of the Opera, and Wicked.

I am so grateful for the life I have and the wonderful friends and family that surround me near and far. I feel I am abundantly blessed.

Halloween recipes

I went to allrecipes.com and they had a download-able cookbook of Halloween recipes. I thought I would share the link here. Maybe you are going to a Halloween party and are looking for some spooky yet savory treats!

Wa-hoo!

I just can't stop smiling. Last night we celebrated my birthday with family. It was a fun evening and as always I am truly spoiled. I am not going to list the gifts but I am going to brag about what my awesome husband did for me. He told me about three weeks ago that he was done shopping for my birthday. Since then we have bought a few things to put away for birthday or Christmas. The kids gave me a few smaller but equally desired things. Then Jeremy handed me a box and told me to open it from a certain side. I opened it and it was a two pack of Barbies, if you know me you are probably thinking "I didn't know she collected Barbies. Well you would be right. These Barbies were Glinda the Good Witch and The Wicked Witch of the West (there was a little Munchkin one too). As I opened them I thought "I know I wanted to see Wicked and love the music, and these collector type dolls are pricey but I don't collect Barbies" So I tried my best to fake happy but I was waiting for the "punch line." Then Jeremy said turn it over and on the back were two VIP tickets to see Wicked down in L.A. We are driving down next Friday and staying with Jeremy's sister and her family. They will babysit our kiddos and we will see Wicked Saturday night relax with them on Sunday and then drive home on Monday. Needless to say the Husband of the Year Award has been won by my husband so I wish your hubby better luck next year!

Here is a video of the evening. As always I am not thrilled with me but hey I am what I am. As you watch the snap shots make note of Logan, he cracks me up.

Thank you to the rest of the family and the wonderful gifts, as always you made me feel especially spoiled and special.

Jane Austen Fan???

OK I am totally a follower not a leader. My friend Tammy had this on her blog so I, of cousre, wanted to see which Jane Austen character I would be most like. Here is the answer:
:: E L I N O R ::
You are Elinor Dashwood of Sense & Sensibility! You are practical, circumspect, and discreet. Though you are tremendously sensible and allow your head to rule, you have a deep, emotional side that few people often see.
It would be interesting to know what you thought so here is a quiz

Lauren and her buddy

Lauren and her buddy Tyler had a great time playing around. Here is a cute video of their friendly ways.

They were so cute. Although we didn't get it on video there were other cute moments. Tyler tried to kiss Lauren in the form of a bite on the head and Lauren tried to unbutton Tyler's pj's. Fortunately Tyler is an upstanding young man and put an end to that behavior! All the while Ethan was enjoying the swing without a care in the world.

Girl's trip

A few (ten) of us try to get together at least once a year and have a great time. We call it scrapbooking, but we usually don't get too much of that done. This year we kept it close. It worked out well in that a few people's circumstances changed and they wouldn't have been able to come at all had we needed to travel far. One gal was not able to come because she is expecting her first boy but child number three in a few weeks and her doctor said she can not fly to get here. Another gal flew in from Arizona, it was great to see her too. I always get so caught up in my life I forget other people are living their lives too. We missed one friend but another came for dinner it was a nice addition.

A little about us is that we have had no fewer than three babies on each trip. This year there was five (including the "newbie") and there was one preggo mama with us this trip.

Anyways, we had a great time. I got to stay Wednesday through Friday. Acquiring a whopping 6 hours of interrupted sleep. I brought Lauren so she woke up twice in that three hours each night. I am not sure how much I can share but it was lots of fun, and a nice break. I look forward to a trip next year.

She makes me proud.

This isn't my story to tell but I will share it anyways since it is about my daughter. Jeremy had this week off and spent a couple hours alone on a father child date. This is about Jeremy and Miranda's date. They went to McDonald's for lunch (that in itself is amazing since he doesn't like it at all, the sacrifice for kids). As they were standing in line there was a young mom and daughter behind them speaking in Spanish. Jeremy speaks Spanish so he could understand what they were saying. The little girl wanted a happy meal so she could get the toy. The mom basically said we are only getting the food. It was a My Scene toy. So Jeremy asked Miranda to think about something. He said the little girl would really like the toy so if Miranda wanted to she could give it to her. I think more was said but I don't want to embellish the generosity of my little girl. As they were leaving Jeremy asked Miranda if she thought about what he had said, she said yes and she wanted to give the toy to the little girl. She walked up to her by herself and handed over her new toy. She walked out holding Jeremy's hand. She said it felt good to make that little girl happy.

When Jeremy told me about it I asked if Miranda was sad after she gave up her toy. He said no, she was too happy that she made this other little girl happy. I am proud of her for being so generous. I can learn alot from my children and this is one of those times. Not only that but it shows that we are doing a good job raising our kids, we all need a little reminder every once in a while.

Halloween 2007

We have this phenomenal group of friends that we hang out with once a month for "dinner group". One couple will host and provide the entree and the rest of the couples will bring the rest potluck style. We rotate the job of host every month. Jeremy wanted to do Halloween so we threw a Halloween party. It was a ton of fun. We ate Chicken Cordon Blue Mummies, Mummy toes, Graveyard Dirt, spider web cookies and other equally yummy dishes. Following that we had a pumpkin carving contest. In while our guests were armed with carving knives in walks a police officer...well she's actually my sister-in-law. It turns out I have some shady friends that she was following...just kidding. She had to work so she wasn't able to come but wanted to stop by and say hi. We have some super talented and creative friends. A tarantula pumpkin won first place, followed by a pumpkin with the A's emblem (there were lots of fans there), and third prize was a more traditional pumpkin face. Although all the pumpkins were great. After that we did a mummy wrap. The first person to wrap a whole roll of toilet paper around their "mummy" wins. One guest fell to the floor! Lastly we gave out ribbons for costumes. It was a lot of fun. Here is a slide show of the evening.

As always I want to brag for a moment. We have a harder time finding sitters on the weekends, and especially one when we are home. So we decided to keep the kids here and have them stay in their room under the supervision of Miranda (age 6.5). We did bribe them with a small gift if they were good. With all the commotion and fun they stayed in their room, and played so well together. Miranda read them stories, and they played a card game or two. I still feel a little guilty "locking" the kids up while we had a party. They were awesome, I have the BEST kids ever!

NEWS Worthy!

Channel 2 News was doing a story about local teachers who are voicing the fact that they are doing their job with out getting the deserved benefits. Having married into a family of teachers I feel for them. Their job is an important and often thankless one. I am grateful for the teachers who have taught Miranda so far. She has been blessed to have such a great foundation to her many years of required education.

Onto the point...I am sure the news crew scoured the district classrooms looking for the best teacher, the cutest class, and smartest group! The search was over when they came across the Scholar Class. Here is the news clip. I hope you enjoy.

I told Miranda that she would now have to wear dark sunglasses and a baseball cap whenever she went anywhere. People would constantly stop her for her autograph, since she was on the news she will be famous. I wasn't sure if she took me seriously until the next day when she said in a surprised manner "Oh I forgot to wear my shades and hat and NOBODY asked for autograph!" Maybe for the adorable little cuties that got closeups it may be another story!

Thanks to a Technological Savy brother in law who could record and edit this for me!

30 Flirty & Thriving.

I am not quite the big 3-0 yet but real soon. Friday night some super amazing ladies threw an awesome suprise dinner party for me and two other good friends who are slightly older than me! ha-ha! We ate a great dinner and did a birthday girl roast! Each guest brought a gift for the birthday girls. Thirty of something, then they got to make us blush by showering us with deserved ...or undeserved compliments. We then played a few party games. Pin the lips on Timmy (Tim McGraw to all you who don't know Teri). Then the real fun began as we attempted to smash a pinata with the GOOD candy. First off watching April P. try to re-hang the wet pinata back up was comical, luckily no-one was hurt. A few of us gave a reat effort, but the fun continued as I was swinging and the sprinklers went on, holy moly they were impressed that I could move that fast! Then when April P. swung the pinata was scared to make contact but just threw candy at her. Little did we know that sweet Liz packs a wicked hit! She made contact with her first swing but NAILED it with the back swing. It was obliterated. I think the candy landed about 15-20 feet away. After laughing so hard we had a cookie cake and some ice cream. They had a picture of us on a TIME magazine cover framed. All the attendees signed the frame with more wonderful comments. You girls are the best. Thanks for making this a great night.

Once I get the pictures I will post them. I am sure the pictures will not do the evening justice. It was a blast!

Wanted: Potty Trainer

Potty training is the hardest thing as a parent of young kids. I loathe it! I am not good at it. Please remind me that most kids do not enter school in pull-ups. I wish there there was a magic remedy to it. Then if it's not hard enough potty training one try doing two. Two that are different. This is getting complicated. I keep telling myself once I get passed this it is smooth sailing. OK enough whining the truth is I am not trying too hard or being too consistent (which is my nature...lack of consistency). I just wish you could sit down a two and a half year old and say: "Don't let anything come out below the waist unless you are sitting on a toilet" they would respond in a robotic a-firm and that would be that. Well here is to parenting in la-la land!

Remember My Name

It is a requirement that you post these rules before you give the facts.

1. You must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of your middle name.
2. If you don't have a middle name, use the middle name you would have liked to have had.
3 At the end of your post, you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag.

D-Dynamite...I wish this implied my looks but it is for my temper, once the fuse is lit WATCH OUT!
I-Inquisitive, I like to know lots of stuff about people so I as lots of questions.
O-Outgoing, this is a new thing for me, so if you've known me a while you may be surprised
N-never uses the phone, well I do sometimes but I use e-mail most frequently and as often as possible avoiding the phone.
N-Nice, well I try to be.
E-exuberant, well I am not sure it fits but I think it is a cool word.

I Tag:
April P.
Hayley
Teri
Brittany
Tammy
Alice (Hello Zurich!)

Haylie and Hannah or is it Hannah and Haylie?

It is so fun having twins. I still have to remind myself that is what I have a set of imaginative, adventurous, messy, intelligent, twin girls. It is so fun to stare at them and compare. Anyways one of the fun little games we like to play is: "Are you Haylie? or Are you Hannah?" Hannah quickly caught on and would get it correct. Haylie, whom I think is the brains behind the operation!!!, started like this:
Me: What's your name?
Haylie: ME!
Me: What's her name?
Haylie: Hannah
Me: Her name is Hannah is your name Haylie?
Haylie: ?
Me: What's your name?
Haylie: ME!
She just didn't get it.

Then went to this:
Me: What's your name?
Haylie: Hannah
Me: You are Hannah?
Haylie: Yah! hee-hee I Hannah!

Now it is this:

Lauren's rockin' and a rollin'

Lauren is so funny. She is starting to roll over. She still has problems with her arm getting stuck. If you remember the baby dolls that you laid down and their eyes closed and you lift them up and they open...well Lauren is similar. If she is on her back she is happy flip her over on her tummy and she cries. It is like her tummy has a little button on it. This little button is highly inconvenient for me. My baby used to sleep through the night since she was less than a month old (I would say like two weeks but you know the first month is a blur anyways). Now she rolls over on her side which she will sleep very peaceful that way. The force of gravity then helps her roll the rest of the way and wakes her up. Well it is either that or she could be teething. As my friends and I have all figured out teething is the cause of all unhappiness in babies!

In true ME fashion here is a little clip of my baby going from happy to ...uh-hmm, upset with a push of the aforementioned tummy button.

Logan's Owie

A story about every mother's nightmare...I guess after the spider in my purse what could possibly worse right? As always I am completely and utterly over dramatic! So as usual I am at the computer and the middle of the Jacobs' Sandwich (Miranda and Lauren are the bread, Haylie, Hannah and Logan are everything else) is outside playing. I hear Logan crying and mosey to the door to see what's going on. Hannah says something like "Gokie, hurt" interpretation "Logan is hurt, Mommy come quick and make it all better." So then Logan comes trailing behind with both hands over his nose covering part of his eyes. First thought "Please don't take you hand down I am not sure I can handle blood in large quantities!" But having several years of maternal experience, I quickly decided to give my self a pep talk "suck it up" I told myself, "it's just thick red liquid." So I finally get the courage to look at it and "'tis but a flesh wound...but my goodness was there a lot of gooey snot coming out of his nose!" I couldn't help but try not to laugh at my son while he is in pain. Truly I was relieved because what I pictured was much worse. It turns out my son was running and slipped on some rocks and skinned his nose up pretty good and a little bit on his forehead.

He is still completely handsome. Now he just looks tough too! Just to let you know his injury did not stop him from continuing to be 100% BOY!

Looking for a dinner Menu...

A lot of people ask about meal planning. So I though I would post my dinner menu for the period. We do our shopping bi-weekly coinciding with paydays. So I make a list of dinners starting Friday of week one thru Thursdays of week 2. I get bored of cooking the same things so I try new things often.

Jacobs Menu
Friday, September 28 Ravioli (Costco)/Texas Garlic Toast/Veggies
Saturday - Chicken Gumbo/Veggies
Sunday - Mom Jacobs Cooks Dinner (we alternate weeks)
Monday - Pancakes, Sausage and Eggs (with yummy Boysenberry Syrup)
Tuesday - Mexican Lasagna*/Green Salad
Wednesday -Heather's Mom's Chicken/Red Potato Casserole/Veggies
Thursday - BBQ Pork Tenderloin**/Grilled Potatoes/Grilled Zucchini
Friday - Pesto Cheesy Chicken Roll-ups/Rice/Veggies
Saturday - Chicken 'n' Biscuits/Applesauce
Sunday - Orange Chicken(Frozen Aisle in Costco)/Rice/Veggies
Monday - Pigs in a Blanket/Tater Tots/Peaches
Tuesday - Chicken Poppy Casserole/Veggies/Applesauce
Wednesday - Chinese Casserole/Veggies/Fruit
Thursday - Meatloaf/Baked Potatoes/Veggies

*I am going to cook it with corn tortillas and use Mexican style kidney beans instead of refried beans.
**When I went to purchase the tenderloins at Costco they didn't have them so I got Pork Country Ribs instead. I am just going to marinate them with my favorite sauce and throw it on the grill. No dishes wah-la!

So this is my plan in a nutshell. Just a few things I keep in mind when planning a menu. Mondays are crazy so I try to keep the meal planned to a 15 minute prep, nothing too hard or that cooks too long. If Jer is not going to be home or we are going on a date I cook an easy meal, such as mac n cheese or fish sticks. Although this is a very chicken filled menu I usually try to do 2-3 chicken meals and 2-3 beef meals per week and then maybe a ham or pork meal, and a breakfast meal. Sometimes things come up so I get to carry over meals to the net meal period.

I love my husband!

I didn't ask permission to post this at first but I did later. Jeremy is an amazing hubby. I think people don't realize how goofy he really is. I hope you enjoy it!

Things that make you go HMMM!?

Yesterday the kids and I went to get frozen yogurt with my sister-in-law and her family. We were at the park in downtown playing and were surrounded by lots of not so pleasant activities. Particularly two men yelling back and forth at eachother across the park then doing push-ups. There were a few other things happening but I don't want you to think we live in the ghetto! It is a pretty great place.

As we were leaving Logan says "Mommy why are there lots of bad people in the world?" I tried to explain that some people just make bad choices and others are born...(I had a hard time saying this part so hopefully it came out OK)...and their minds don't work right so they seem bad but it it not their fault. Logan in turn says, "me too sometimes." I was not sure what he meant and then he said sometimes his mind is bad like when he treats Haylie and Hannah bad. I had no idea how much my little ones do notice their surroundings. It is sad that they come in contact with things that I would rather they didn't but at the same time I am so grateful I can experience it with them and we can talk about it so it makes sense...as much as it can anyways.

A quick funny!

We were walking home from dropping Miranda off at school and this person was pusing some computer monitors to the school. They happened to be Mac monitors. Logan says "Mom look at those coolputers." I though it was soo funny since they are pretty cool looking. Then as the conversation progressed I realized he calls all computers "puters" so he was saying "cool puter."

Yesterday logan was playing out in his favorite "back to nature" location...our backyard. He came in crying saying a bug bit him. We have seen black "weedows" as he calls them so my first question was "is it a spider?" (that would be my luck see preious post on spiders!) He said no and tried, through MAJOR tears and drool, to explain what kind of bug it was that bit him. After he calmed down he said "it was a scorpi! A scorpi bit me." To those of you who are not familiar with Little Einsteins, there is a video The Legend of the Golden Pyraimid that has a scorpion in it Logan keeps hearing scorpi. He pointed out the bug later and it was a pincher bug.

FOUR months ALREADY!

Ms. Lauren is four months today!

We went to her doctor's appointment and I have a long skinny kid. She weighs 13lbs 8oz and is 26" long. The doctor seemed a little concerned but she says Lauren must be doing OK. They will definitely be interested in her weight the next time. She is in the 99th percentile for height but is in the 49th percentile for her weight compared to babies in her age range. For her length though, she is in about the 5th percentile. She also got three shots and an oral vaccination. Other than that she is completely healthy!

In honor of her turning four months I will now commence with the bragging session. Lauren is a dream baby. She sleeps through the night. She talks and squeals with glee. She just started rolling over from back to tummy. She scootches all over the place. This little girl is so sweet I love her very much. She is the perfect calm after the storm I call the twinados! Lucky for the cuties that came before her are so darn cute with equally wonderful personalities...well...keep in mind their ages!

WHY ME!!!!

This real life story is dedicated to Hayley and Brittany, my spider killing friends, where were you when I needed you!!!

So I started the day similar to that of the last few weeks. I got up showered, read...I got Lauren up and she spit up a very pathetic little bit so I went to get the wipes to wipe her up. As I reached for them my arm went through a spider web. Ewww. So I turned on the hood light above the stove so I could see better. There was a spider web from my hood fan down to my purse. As I looked inside there was a huge web, like there was no chance I was reaching in there. By the looks of it you would think that I hadn't moved my purse in a long time, but I just put it there around 8:30 last night and this was about 7:00 this morning. So I got our cob web catcher and cleaned up as best I could without touching my purse. I am so glad the Lord gave me at least one boy.

So bravely I asked Logan to look in my purse and pull everything out slowly. He did it with no problems. Finally I hear him say "There is a big Spider in here" I was not about to place my face over a spider that could spin a major web so quickly. (On a side thought, now I understand how Charlotte could do those fancy webs over night. Spiders are talented! I should have checked for a message.) So I reached over and took a picture to make sure Logan wasn't teasing me (I know he is 4 how would he know how to tease me at my weakest moment). It looks fake but let me tell you it is REAL. So I picked up my purse and threw it outside. The contents spilled out but no spider. So I picked it up and through it again. (This, ladies, is why you should never spend too much money on a purse!) Finally it came out. Here is the kicker...are you ready...it was already dead. I didn't want to chance it so I grabbed Hannah's Flip Flip (or sip-slop as she says) and smooshed it again. So my guess is that I killed a dead mommy spider who just hatched millions of baby spiders. Thank you Charlotte's Web for educating me on this matter.

And to add to this lovely post this is what was happening on the wall right in front of me:

This picture is for Logan who gets a nickle for saving my life!

Some of the pictures are hard to see, if you double click on them it will show you a big preview!

Take 5

I was tagged by Rebecca. Thanks, I've never been tagged before!

5 Things I Was Doing 10 Years Ago
1. Working at IHOP.
2. Waiting for my boyfriend to get home from boot camp.
3. Taking classes at DVC.
4. Writing letters to mt future hubby while on his mission.
5. Driving my first new car, a Saturn Sports Coupe, the year before the three door.

5 Things on my to-do list today
1. Find sitter for Sat.
2. Pull more weeds.
3. Finish Saturdays Laundry.
4. Go to friends house for dinner (...Thanks!)
5. Go to movies and see Becoming Jane...finally!

5 Snacks I enjoy
1. Ice Cream
2. Sour Cream and Cheddar Chips
3. Popcorn
4. Cheese and Crackers
5. Soft and Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

5 Songs I know the lyrics to
1. Greatest Love of All-Whitney Houston
2. The Right Stuff-New Kids on the Block (or NKOTB for you youngin's ha-ha)
3. Just Another Day in Paradise-Phil Vassar (My Theme Song!)
4. Viktor Vito & Freddie Vasco - Laurie Berkner
5. I could Not Ask for More - Sara Evans

5 Things I would do if I were a millionaire
1. Go to Hawaii.
2. Build my Dream Home.
3. Invest in BYU to make sure my kids get accepted!!!!
4. Buy a vacation home in the mountains.
5. Buy my hubby the action figures he is missing.

5 Bad Habits
1. Staying too long...on the computer, at someone's house...
2. Yelling.
3. Procrastinating.
4. Baking when I want to loose weight.
5. Over planning.

5 Things I'd never wear again
1. Hammer Pants.
2. 80's Bangs.
3. My wedding Dress...besides it would never fit again!
4. A bikini, O.K. I only wore one twice!
5. Keds. (I looked for a picture and they actually have cute ones now!)

5 Favorite toys
1. Computer
2. My Stampin' Stuff
3. My Scrapbook Stuff
4. Camera
5. My new favorite is the weed puller!

Now for Tagging:
1. Hayley
2. Brittany
3. Teri
4. Hunter's Mom (or Dad)
5. April P.
Just copy and paste into a new post.

Dentist anyone?

While Hannah was sleeping we were playing dentist. At school today Miranda lost her second tooth this week! Her third was barely hanging on. Here is a video of her 3rd tooth being pulled. WARNING: This clip contains blood, preview before showing the youngsters!

Hannah is too...tired!

We got home from a fun day at the park. I didn't think they played too hard but apperantly Hannah was exhausted!

The SUITE life of Lauren

OK I am sure the McKissick family was a little dissappointed to waste a Luxury sweet I mean Suite ticket on me and Lauren, but once in a lifetime, it was great! The McKissick Family gets a Luxury Suite once or twice a year and had two extra tickets. So my friend Brittany and her hubby were offered two tickets to the A's game on Saturday. She thought I needed a break from my kiddos and invited me to go with her. Lauren tagged along. I am not the biggest baseball fan by anymeans but I do enjoy going to the games, and this is totally the way to go. Lauren is definitely finding out what the finer things in life really are and the A's just didn't cut it this game, but the company was great. We didn't bring the A's any luck they lost 6-1 to the Detroit Tigers. Lauren enjoyed her chum Sophie but missed her other good chum Alexandra. Here are a few pictures. Stay til the end to watch Jeff dance...or not!

Logan Swimming at Contra Loma

This is Logan showing us how he swims. If you ask him he will tell you he was swimming like a frog. It was way cute, I hope the video does it justice!

It's a kid kill bug world!

Yesterday I decided it was HIGH time to pull some weeds. I decided since some were taller than our fence we must do something about it. Unless you can recommend a weed fairy?! I took a few pictures, but the fun part was watching all the ticked off bugs. Since I ruined their home they were out in droves. The first bug they came across was a grasshopper, this was pre-camera. I am sorry to say it will never see its family again. I am not exactly sure how it got contorted in such-a way. There were lots of spiders, to many of you this may come as a surprise, I didn't scream. Only once did I jump and tell the spider "you I can't handle" and kicked him back into the dirt. (He may have been another casualty of gardening!) It was fun watching the kids enjoy the bugs. I got a few pictures of Logan and Hannah holding them. They found this green caterpillar. They finally let it go back to its family that is what the three are looking at.As I was pulling weeds and sweating I mean glistening, I realized the benefits of gardening. It is therapeutic cause you get to beat the tar out of something, it is exercise, because of all the bending, pulling and standing up, my legs are feeling it today, and I can see why so many gospel messages are tied to gardening. As annoying and unsightly as weeds are, they teach alot of gospel principals! It definitely made me realize the longer you don't weed the worse things get. We all have weaknesses but we have to work on them when they are small or they will get huge and it takes more work and sweat to get rid of them!

Faster than the speed of Blogging

Life is cruisin' so fast my blog can't keep up. I have lots of pictures, slide shows I want to create but I don't have time and quotes I want to share. I just have other non-computer things to take care of. Anyways the real post is about Miranda. We are loosing her one piece at a time. Actually just one tooth at a time. Yesterday while family was here we pulled her front tooth out. The second will come any day. Here is a picture of her awkward smile and a photo of the most recent tooth being pulled out!