Baby Invasion

Joshua Daniel

2011-12-30T09:00:00.000-08:00

My Birthday

2010-12-13T18:00:00.000-08:00

What you are confused because my birthday in November? No it’s not that I’m posting late again, Emilee and I just celebrated my Birthday late this year. It was truly a night to remember filled with fire dancing, human insects, Santa Claus and a Moose. No I’m not making any of that up. Emilee picked me up at 5:00 and we headed to the Butterfly Pavilion. They had a special winter light thing and we went, which is where the fire dancing comes in. They hired a fire dancer to dance with fire outside the Butterfly Pavilion. It was so cold, we really felt sorry for her. We just knew the fire dancer had to be cold.  As we were standing in line shivering we noticed a couple of women dressed up as butterflies, naturally I had to go have my picture taken with them. Finally we got inside and headed to the butterfly section which was kinda boring. They only had a few lights and most of the butterflies were sleeping. Next we went back outside where some really great lights and a couple of ice sculptures were. If it wasn’t so cold we probably would have hung out there for awhile but it was freezing so we went inside to the gift shop. There we found several dead butterflies in small display boxes for sale. It was very disturbing. I just hope the live ones don’t know. Also, in the gift shop was someone dressed up as a Praying Mantis. This guy was at least hired by the Butterfly Pavilion unlike the butterfly women.
Next was a delicious dinner at Ruby Tuesday’s and like usual Emilee and I were the youngest ones there. Mmmmm, it was soooo good!
It was still early so we went to Cato’s. It was closed but they let us in since they had other customers. Unfortunately there wasn’t anything great there.
Not wanting to go home yet we went to Bass Pro Shop next. They do such a great job decorating for Christmas! It was great. They even have a Santa’s Workshop section. We headed that way and saw that Santa was in fact there! Yay!
Me “Hey want to stand in line and get our picture taken with Santa?”
Emilee “The line is too long.”
Me “So if the line wasn’t there you would?”
Emilee “Sure”
So we moved on after taking our picture with a fake snowman. We then found some Jacob Shuler hats and then a Moose that Emilee and I hadn’t seen before, then to more Jacob Shuler hats. Then while on the second floor I looked down and saw Santa’s line was gone so I grabbed Emilee and off we went. Unfortunately the line was gone because Santa was gone. But there was an elf. So I got a not so willing Emilee to go with me to ask the Elf if she would take a picture of us in Santa’s chair. To my delight (not Emilee’s) the elf said she would see if Santa was still around. She went to his workshop door knocked and who should appear? That’s right Santa! Yay! He wanted us to sit on his lap for the picture but Emilee adamantly refused. Ha ha ha! He kept trying to talk her into it but she wasn’t about to budge. So the nice Elf took our picture and we were off to take more pictures of us with random things much to my delight (not Emilee’s.) No it’s not true she loves my craziness in fact she told me she would dress up like a butterfly with me if I wanted. 
We finally headed home where Emilee gave me a great purple journal with scriptures in it (which I have already started to use.) What a great Birthday!!! She owes me no presents for sure!!!

Fall Fun

2010-11-20T21:06:00.000-08:00

We went to a nursery that had inflateable jumping things, a hay maze, bean bag toss and a mini play area for the kids. It was great. Yes, I am a slacker. I haven't blogged in months and this post should have been put up in October. But hey at least there are lots of pictures. :)

David

2010-08-09T21:20:00.000-07:00

Already Driving

2010-06-28T21:22:00.000-07:00

How did this happen? It's seems just yesterday they were so small and now they are driving. Well being pushed really. Sam and Anna have a couple jeeps now. Three to be exact, two that work great and one that mostly works. All came from Craigslist at great prices. We bought the mostly working one about four months ago, and the one Sam is driving about a month ago. My Mom bought the yellow one the same day for Anna. They have had lots of fun in them and are getting to be better drivers all the time. A few days ago they even took David for a spin, on the slow setting. He loved it. I'll have to get a picture of that one and post it in another month or so.

Trying

2010-05-13T20:40:00.000-07:00

Mother's Day

2010-05-13T20:39:00.000-07:00

The Zoo

2010-05-13T20:36:00.000-07:00

Oreo or as Chris calls him Ore-no

2010-05-13T20:34:00.000-07:00

David's Dedication and David Sleeping

2010-05-13T20:25:00.000-07:00

Montana

2010-05-10T21:42:00.000-07:00

Mud Man

2010-04-07T11:12:00.000-07:00

Happy April Fool's Day Emilee!

2010-04-02T09:37:00.000-07:00

It has been my opinion for years that the fact Emilee's Birthday falls on April Fools day is terrific! Unfortunately, until this year my attempts at coming up with a good trick for her Birthday have been well, lame. But not this year. For the last couple years around Christmas time Emillee has talked about how she wants a big snow globe for her yard. I'm not sure she was thinking 12 foot but that is part of the beauty of this year's April Fools joke. Back in January I bought this giant of a snowman on Craigslist. All these months I have been waiting and waiting and waiting. Sadly I was sick yesterday so I didn't get to see her reaction in person but I am so glad Bro. Jon took such great pictures of her face when she saw it. So last night my husband went to their house and set this thing up. It was so funny to see him drive away with the gigantic box I called and asked him to take a picture when he got there of his truck.

David is Getting Big and Has a Tooth

2010-03-19T15:49:00.000-07:00

Let's Try This Again

2010-02-18T23:00:00.000-08:00

This was the post originally titled Anna and David. I was getting out the 3-6 month clothes for David and Anna thought she would play dress up. For the most part David really liked the attention.

My Big Kids

2010-02-11T22:51:00.000-08:00

Anna decided to dress up in Sam's dress clothes.

Here is Sam before his hair cut.

David's Room

2010-02-10T23:12:00.000-08:00

The Neighbor's Mailbox

2010-02-01T13:22:00.000-08:00

Chris was helping a friend work on his breaks and forgot to tell him he needed to pump his breaks before he drove off. The mail box paid the price for that mistake. Chris is going to fix it but for now it's tied to a tree. I wonder what the mailman thinks.

David in His Chair

2010-01-25T10:52:00.000-08:00

Making Bouncy Balls

2010-01-25T10:49:00.000-08:00

Sam got a bouncy ball kit for Christmas. He had to pour the different colored sand like stuff into a platstic mold and then place the mold in water for a minute. Then presto change-o he had a bouncy ball. He really liked it and even shared with his sister.

David's Church Clothes

2010-01-08T12:57:00.000-08:00

A Mouse in My House!!!

2010-01-01T07:48:00.000-08:00

Mr. Fix It

2009-12-28T19:14:00.000-08:00

More Pictures of David

2009-12-16T20:55:00.000-08:00

Does He Look Like David?

2009-12-15T08:55:00.000-08:00

Kaisen

Three days before David was born my second cousin Landon and his wife had a baby boy they name Kaisen who happens look a bit like David. What do you think?

Gingerbread Houses

2009-12-15T08:41:00.000-08:00

In between church services my friend Liz came over with lots of sugar and two little gingerbread houses for the kids to decorate. It was a lot of fun and she thought it was really great that she was pumping them full of sugar before we had to go back to church. To their credit they did pretty good sitting still. But really how could I let them make gingerbread houses and not let them eat some of the building materials? I almost forgot to tell you the best part. After church that morning Sam found a Rolly Polly which he by the way calls Holly Pollies, anyway he told me we should take it home and build it a house so he would be warm. I forgot all about his Rolly Polly needing a home til Sam's gingerbread house was finished and Sam was ready to move him in. Ha. We explained sugar was not good for Rolly Pollies, but, Sam was sure sugar was good for everyone and everything. We finally convinced him and the Rolly Polly didn't live much longer anyway so I didn't have to worry about Sam smuggling him in.

Baby Safari

2009-12-09T10:52:00.000-08:00

Coyote for Tammy

2009-12-08T12:32:00.000-08:00

Yes, we do get Coyotes. I just took this picture yesterday. But, my the picture of the view off my porch is deceptive. We don't really live in the middle of nowhere. Our subdivision backs up to some land the airport owns. We are one of the blessed ones who got a yard that backs to that land. Behind that about half a mile away is a highway.

The View Off my Back Porch

2009-12-08T09:25:00.000-08:00

Really I just didn't want the first thing people to see on my blog to be a nasty bathroom.

Good News Maybe...

2009-12-08T08:17:00.000-08:00

I remebered that I shot a video tour for my Grandma and Picasa allows you to take snapshots from video. So here are some before pictures of the bathroom. They don't capture all the grossness but they at least give you an idea of how much things have changed.

The Bathroom

2009-12-05T17:25:00.000-08:00

Sorry I don't really have before pictures. Lets just say it was very gross.

The Kitchen Revisited

2009-12-03T11:39:00.000-08:00

Before

After

Before

After

Isn't it so much better? My husband is very talented! You may wonder why we remolded the whole kitchen and the answer can be summed up with one word... cockroaches. They were everywhere. Dead, thank goodness, but still everywhere. Their little bodies were in the cabinets and behind the cabinets and in between the cabinets. I didn't have a kitchen for a couple of months but it was worth it. The kitchen still needs a little finish work but it almost done and I love it, especially the cut out.

Allergic to Baby Showers

2009-12-01T15:08:00.000-08:00

Me that is not David. I am apparently allergic to baby showers. I missed Sam's because I was in labor with Sam. This Thanksgiving my wonderful family was going to have a baby shower for David but I got sick. :( So Chris picked up the presents a couple days later and we had a little shower at home. It was fun and David has lots of really cute new things and lots of diapers! :)

Snow A Few Weeks Ago

2009-11-24T20:52:00.000-08:00

David's New Room

2009-11-20T20:32:00.000-08:00

Before

AfterBefore
After This room was like our room, gross and smelly. Also, it used to have a closet. We may add one eventually but for now David doesn't really need one. We knocked out the old closet with help from our friends Randy and Persephanie. Randy scrapped all the popcorn off this ceiling and our ceiling. Chris re textured this room's walls and ceiling and painted. He also put a new window sill and we replaced this carpet too. Oh I almost forgot. The door in this room is also new as is the handle. You may have noticed the door still needs paint and trim but that's ok I love this room.

Our New Room

2009-11-20T20:15:00.000-08:00

Before

AfterBeforeAfter

So what the pictures don't tell you is how bad the carpet smelled and how it was covered with stains. Also, the walls were gross and and the ceiling was popcorn texture. We got nice new carpet, Chris re textured the walls and the ceiling, and painted. Also, the window sill was made of cheap Styrofoam and is now a nice white marble. The door to the bathroom and hallway are new and so are the handles. I love my new room. It is great and at least twice as big as the room we were staying in in the basement.

2009-11-16T16:34:00.000-08:00

Baby David

2009-11-11T12:46:00.000-08:00

The Kids

2009-09-30T12:41:00.000-07:00

The Bathroom

2009-09-30T12:36:00.000-07:00

I don't have any pictures of the nasty bathroom. But trust me it was very bad. This is Chris' next project before the baby comes. He has it all cleared out of the old nasty stuff and fixed the plumbing. Now he just has to tile, and sheet rock, texture, put in a sink, shower walls, etc. I'll put up a picture when he is done.

The Kitchen

2009-09-30T12:24:00.000-07:00

I wish you could tell in the picture how gross this all was. But this picture lies and the old kitchen doesn't look gross like it in reality was. Chris found cockroach bodies in one of the drawers and when we pulled out the cabinets there was a bad smell and little cockroach bodies lining the backs and sides of the cabinets. Also, the cabinets were the cheapest you can buy, nothing but particle board and laminate. So Chris tore out everything including the floor, re-tiled, re-built the wall, added a cut out, put in great cabinets, a sink, and now my kitchen is very nice. He still has some finish work to do but it's close to being done. Yay!

Aspen

2008-10-01T12:49:00.000-07:00

Finally a new picture

2008-03-03T11:49:00.000-08:00

For the Faithful Few

2007-10-20T21:31:00.000-07:00

Hi to the people who still come by every once in awhile to see if I have posted anything new. We got rid of our Internet last month and so that is why I disappeared. I originally thought I could post from the library. Ha. I think I was in denial. Why else would I think I could blog with my two and a half year old and one year old? I miss you all in blogland and hope your doing well. God bless you.

A Good Trip

2007-09-04T13:12:00.000-07:00

We loaded up the kids and headed to the Rocky Mountain National Park yesterday. It was so pretty. Plus I saw a Moose for the first time. I actually think I may have seen one when I was younger but I obviously don't remember it well if I did. I got out of the van and tried to take a picture but the dumb Moose hid behind a bush. It was raining out so I didn't wait very long to see if he would come out. So we moved on. We didn't stop to walk up any of the pathways but one. And just Anna and I walked up while Chris and Sam napped. It was really pretty and Anna liked all the people who walked by. We stopped a few times at the roadside viewing spots. The rain came and went throughout the day though and put a damper on some of the roadside stops.

Rocky Mountain National Park

2007-09-04T13:02:00.000-07:00

No Assembly :(

2007-08-30T19:03:00.000-07:00

Well as some of you know, we didn't get to go to the assembly after all. I'm sad. I was really looking forward to it. Lord willing, we will be there next year. Well, the kids are doing good. Anna is almost running around the house. She seems pretty happy now that she can keep up with Sam better. Sam is talking more and more and still loves to help me around the house. I have such great kids. Here are some pictures of them in the yard, swinging at the park, and Sam at the store on the horse. He rode six times straight.

Silly Sam

2007-08-21T16:47:00.000-07:00

Sam is so cute. Yesterday I was cleaning the kids room and decided to tease Sam by laying down in his bed. He asked if I wanted him to tuck me in. I said yes so he did, then he told me to sleep and shut the door. He came back in and asked if I wanted to get up. When I said yes and went to sit up he told me no. Then he went to the kitchen and got me a drink. I was beginning to wonder if he would try to spank me if I got out of bed so I hid behind the door and jumped out at him when he came back in. He just took me by the hand led me back to the bed and tucked me in again, silly kid. Later on I was fixing their light fixture. It is too high for me so I had to use a short stool when I was done and went to grab it Sam indicated he wanted to keep it so I left it for him to play with. Next thing I know he is up on the stool with his small bible open yelling at the wall. He is so funny.

What a Week

2007-08-17T09:09:00.000-07:00

What a Week

Anna is officially one. Wow, where did the time go. We had a small Birthday party for her on Saturday. It was nice, she really liked her cake. She is so cute. It is great to see someone so small walking around and crawling onto the couch. It’s just cute to watch. I have bad news about my new van, the a/c went out. Ironic, that’s about all I have to say about that one. It was a great few days that it worked. Hopefully it just needs to be charged.

We are having vacation bible school this week at church. It has been lots of fun. We had a marketplace Thursday night and Chris and I helped the kids squish fishing weights with hammers to make coins. I was one of the people with a part to play that night so I made Anna a little matching outfit. Then I thought Abbie might like one too. Emilee made hers. It was fun. Sam is really enjoying VBS. He loves being with big kids.

My Mom is moving to Castle Rock. She got a job near Highlands Ranch so Castle Rock is much closer to her work than Northglenn. For all of you who are not familiar with any of the cities I just mentioned, lets just say my Mom lived up north and got a job down south so she moved a little farther south from there. I went and loaded up her caravan and my caravan yesterday and moved a lot of her stuff for her. The furniture is just going to have to wait. On the bright side she has until the end of the month to move.

Tomorrow I’m going to a wedding at the Monarch Mountain Lodge. A friend who I haven’t seen in years is the bride to be and it will be really good to see her. Afterwards I’m going to spend some time with my Dad, Aunt, Grandma, and my cousin Jacob. I’m really looking forward to it.

Miss Me?

2007-08-10T08:12:00.000-07:00

We have a van, that’s right after several months of wanting one we finally want one. Okay I’m actually the one who wanted a van, Chris would have been happy to keep the car and buy some after market air conditioning. But not me, I’ve been feeling kinda cramped in our little car but no longer. No I have enough room to run very small laps if I really want to. So how did this happen? Well it was not as evolved as the great car fiasco of 2006. Basically I had my car for sale on Craigslist forever and ever and ever. I kept changing the price and the picture but it just wouldn’t work people would e-mail but then they found out there was no a/c or power locks or power windows (all of which I now have) and they would run the other way. I had given up and was about to accept my fate of spending the rest of this summer hot and cramped when one Saturday I had another yard sale, actually this one was a garage sale, it’s cooler in there. Anyway during the sale this Italian guy stopped buy and asked about the car. I told him our price and he wanted to pay $300 less so I told him no. He came back later with his phone number and his price and I told him no again. Then after I he left I crumpled his number and put it somewhere I still can’t remember. The trash? Maybe. Somewhere in the garage? Maybe. So I went on Craigslist out of curiosity or maybe just to torture myself and see what Caravans were for sale. To my amazement the one I wanted almost three weeks before was still there and listed $700 less for quick sale. I called to see if it was still available and if we could come see it. He said yes and yes. I will tell you to my shame I spent a very long time looking for the phone number of the guy with the low offer because I wanted that Caravan so bad. But it’s still lost and I don’t care if I find it now. Deep down I felt like if God wanted us to have the Caravan it wouldn’t be a financial hardship and coming up with the difference for the van would have been very tough. Well I caught some motivation and posted my car once again on Craigslist but no one wanted it again so I called the nice owners of the Caravan and cancelled our going to see it. I didn’t want to waste their time or ours but later that night I decided I really wanted that Caravan so I posted again with a new picture and our phone number. All of the sudden the phone was ringing so much I felt like we were at a telemarketing convention or something. A guy came over and test drove the car and right after he was done another guy showed up. This was so great because it kept them from trying to talk us down lower than we wanted to go. The first guy decided he wanted it and the other guy said he would be on stand by if it didn’t work out. So Chris went to find the Title. About half an hour later I found it where he had carefully hidden it in an illogical place to look. The nice man gave us cash and I could barely sleep with my excitement. On a side not it was rainy that night, he didn’t ask if it had a/c and Chris didn’t volunteer any information in that regard. Is that wrong? Anyway that night and the next morning I was just hoping they hadn’t sold it yet. I finally got a hold of them and they hadn’t so Chris borrowed a friend’s truck from work since we won’t all fit in his and we went and got a Caravan, finally, I am so happy. Also, the people turned out to be Christians and Chris got to tell them about the Church and some of our doctrine. God is so good at working things out. Also, the van ended up only costing us what we got from the car plus a hundred dollars still I had from buying some speakers and reselling them on ebay. No financial trouble. The rest of the money from the speakers will cover the tags so it’s worked out really great. I have a Caravan with a/c!!! Which is really great since we are driving to the assembly, that’s right we are going to the assembly for the first time as a family!!! I am so excited. We found a room for $135 or so a week that is only five minutes form the Assembly. Biggest of all Chris got the time off of work which is huge because that week is the worst possible week he could have taken off all year. But, God worked it out. Praise God!!! Oh I almost forgot I named the van Snoopy. I call Emilee’s big red van Clifford so it seemed only right to name my two toned white and gray van Snoopy. The interior is two toned too. They let someone borrow it who broke the electric seat and then replaced it with a gray (instead of tan) one. Here are some pictures of you. The first is the one of my car I posted that started the firestorm of calls. The second is Snoopy and the third is of my two toned seats.

Good and Bad News

2007-07-27T07:53:00.001-07:00

The good news is Anna can walk! Yay! She started last Thursday night. It is so cute. She is very pleased with herself or maybe she is just pleased with our reaction. Either way it is adorable. The bad news is the kids have been sick. Sam woke up early early early Sunday morning throwing up and then Anna started on Tuesday. When I woke up yesterday morning I felt like it was going to be my day which would have been a huge bummer. Chris stayed home from work Tuesday to help with the kids and he wouldn’t have been able to take another day off. But we had prayer and the Lord touched me. I don’t think I’ve ever been immediately healed like that before. What a blessing, God is so good. Today we are going to help my Mom get a new/used van. After her wreck she has decided that bigger is better. Her neck and back still hurt and she still has a headache. Please pray that God will heal her. In other news, Chris and I have been looking for a house. Our landlord raised the rent and we might as well be in a house for what we are paying. We will probably wait until after the assembly to get in to one. That is our chief financial concern right now. Well that is about all that we’ve been up to.

Sam???

2007-07-19T13:23:00.001-07:00

That is what I wondered around the house saying in the middle of the night. Sam came into our room at some point crying and wanting to get into bed with us. We sent him back to his own bed but apparently he didn't like that option. A little while latter (I have no idea how long) Anna woke up. I went in to check on her and noticed Sam was not in his bed. So I decided it would probably be good to find Sam before I picked Anna up. Sometimes he relocates to one of the couches in the living room. He wasn't there. So I went back to the kid's room to see if I just overlooked him. I didn't, he wasn't under his bed or on the rocking chair or in the closet. So I checked our room. I thought maybe he had snuck in after all, maybe on Chris' side. No he wasn't there or on our floor. So I checked the locks on the front door just in case he made a break for it. He can unlock both locks but they were still locked, so I headed to the kitchen. He wasn't there either so I decided to check the basement. He wasn't in the laundry room or in the play room or in Chris' office on the couch. So I went back upstairs and checked the tub, mainly because it was the only place I hadn't checked. Then I checked our room again (he still wasn't there) and then went to check the kids room again. Anna was still crying and as she caught my attention I thought maybe just maybe my crazy little boy had climbed into his sister's crib. Sure enough there he was sound asleep and cuddled up in a little ball. I guess I should have gotten Anna before I went looking for Sam it would have saved a lot of time and stumbling around in the dark. So I picked him up, put him in his bed and finally took care of poor Anna. I guess he was cold and just needed someone to cuddle with.

Baptismal

2007-07-16T00:14:00.000-07:00

We had a baptismal today. It was a really great blessing. God is so good to us.

Nathan Smith got baptised as well but I figured that Emilee might want to post those since he is the first one of her kiddos to get baptised.

My Mom

2007-07-16T00:10:00.000-07:00

July 16th is my Mom's birthdayd so I put together some pictures for her. Please pray for my Mom. While we were in Wyoming this weekend she got into a car accident. Someone ran a red light and T-boned her. She is okay but I would appreciate your prayers. The other driver was going about 45 miles per hour and it is by God's mercy and grace that my Mom didn't get seriously injured. Times like these make people think about death. Thank you for your prayers she needs salvation.

Wyoming

2007-07-16T00:04:00.000-07:00

We went to Wyoming this weekend for a visit with Chris' folks. It was really nice. It was a short trip though this time so we could make it back for the baptismal this afternoon. We left Saturday morning and got back in time for church at 2:00. But even though it was Short it was very nice. My niece Mikaela (Mike's daughter) was there too. Sam found the doggie door and kept going outside. Anna thought it was pretty great too.

Mr. Potato Head Extreme Makeover

2007-07-13T23:26:00.000-07:00

Sam just likes to put whatever wherever when building Mr. Potato/Mrs. Potato head. This particular version had no arms or feet but it did have several mouths, noses, eyes, and one ear. Oh and a construction helmet so no one would mash him for being so freakishly ugly.

Anna is getting so big. One of these days she is going to walk. Maybe. She really likes to tease me and pretend like she is going to take more than one step.

Well, I'm off to bed. We are going to visit Chris' parents tomorrow and that means we are driving to Wyoming. Bye for now.

More Convention Pictures

2007-07-11T09:20:00.000-07:00

Some Convention Pictures

2007-07-11T09:19:00.000-07:00

Children's Chruch

2007-07-11T09:17:00.000-07:00

How could I forget? Emilee and I were in charge of Children's Church one night. We did two puppet shows a cool craft and gave the kids light sticks before heading out on a candle hunt. There are no pictures of the craft because it was a little crazy in there. All in all we had lots of fun and the kids did too.

Hello Again

2007-07-11T08:06:00.001-07:00

Okay, okay, I'll post. I don't have a good excuse for my sabbatical. I'm just a slacker. :) Well on to my report. The Saturday night before camp my traveling buddies Persephanie and Kristin came over and stayed the night. Sunday morning at 5:30 we were stuffed, literally, in the car and ready to go. We headed over to Jon and Em's and then followed them down to camp, kinda. Somewhere in NM we stopped for a bit and then they stopped for a bit, we kept missing each other but we finally caught up about an hour from camp.

Camp itself was so fun! I had the girls and my kids in my cabin with the added bonus of Sister Marcia. Our bathroom adjoined to the single girls. Yikes, what a combo. One night I scared Anita to death when I went around their side of the bathroom to tell them to quite down at about 2:30 a.m. or so. Another night Sister Marcia and I giggled into the late hours about our torture chambers (camp beds.) Sam managed to fall out of the bed a few times. One of the times Sister Sara was there and said that he sleepily told her no when she asked him if he wanted help. She said he wasn't even awake and he told her no. Ha! He must dream of saying no. Crazy kid.

So some other highlights from camp were Persephanie and Kristin getting saved, sanctified, and filled with the Holy Ghost! Yay! I can't tell you how happy that makes me. Also I had lots of fun with the girls this year. :) However I'm not the fan of Sequence I use to be. Fruit Basket Upset is not a game to be played if you are over the age of twenty and wearing sandals. I don't know what I was thinking. Hmm what else??? I know there was lots more great stuff that happened at camp but lets move on to convention.

Convention is when I really started to miss Chris. Part of me wanted to go home and skip it. But, I'm glad I persevered because God was there and I love being in His presence even if I have to make several trips to the hallway with my children. For convention Persephanie and Kristin stayed with their Great Grandparents and I stayed with Sister Karen, Sister Dodie, and Sister Charlene. I was a little worried about the kids keeping them up but they did really well. I think Sister Karen fell in love with Sam. One morning he wandered over to her side of the bed and said please with his arms wide open signaling he wanted to be held. Could you die?

The Sunday night after convention I stayed with Sister Marcia and company and left early the next morning. The drive home was long. Did I mention I don't have air conditioning in my car? Yuck. But we got back and it is good to be home. It was so great seeing everyone and fellow shipping. It was really nice seeing Kathy and Angie who I haven't seen in years. I think we should have winter retreat. What do you think?

Finally

2007-07-04T15:59:00.001-07:00

Sorry I didn’t mean to leave you in suspense for so long. I got busy packing for camp and didn’t have time to blog like I intended. The only picture that really needed explaining was the one of Sam driving. Chris let him sit on his lap and steer. Sam loved it so much! I was six the first time I got to steer. Sam is a lucky kid to start so early. Well, camp and convention were so good! I won’t promise to post about it more latter because I would hate to throw you all into suspense once more. I want you all to know I finally updated my devotion and praise blog!!! It’s about time. I’ve been working on this witnessing thing forever either directly or indirectly gathering information. But it is finally done so if you are interested in witnessing you can check out the packet that Tammy helped me with at devotionandpraise.blogspot.com

I'll Explain Later

2007-06-21T21:41:00.000-07:00

Sale

2007-06-15T22:29:00.001-07:00

Well it’s 11:19 should I go to bed or stay up and blog? Hmm, blog. I have spent the week getting ready for a yard/garage sale tomorrow. It won’t all fit in the garage so it is spilling onto the lawn. So I guess it is a gard sale or maybe a yarage sale??? Anyway, there are lots of toys, a Christmas tree, a toaster oven, some fake foliage, tee shirts, an old lap top, and lots of other great junk I hope people buy. It is hard for me to price things. I think I have a tendency to price things too high. I guess we will find out. Chris used the sale as an excuse to buy a label maker. I like it. It’s not a lot faster but it is fun and it does look better than my hand writing. Emilee is going to come over at 8:00 and stay for a few hours. I am so glad. Chris is working and I was a little nervous about having the sale all by myself. The turnout should be good. There is a church a few doors down from us that is having a basketball competition and last week there were about fifty cars parked on the block. I hope as many show up this week. Not too much else is going on. I have been cat sitting for a friend and on Wednesday I went to story time and then over to Emilee’s at Nathan and Caleb’s request. We lost to them at Mario Kart again but we came in second instead of 6th. One of these days we are going to squash them! I know, I know they are not even ten yet, but somehow it is still nice to beat them. Ha ha. Well good night everybody, Anna just woke up and she is not happy.

Happy Father’s Day!

2007-06-10T23:07:00.000-07:00

Somehow I mixed up my days and thought today was Father’s Day so I went to the store this morning and got Chris all the great things he would want for breakfast that we didn’t have. Then I made it all up while he ran to his job site to unlock the doors for the scientist that were going to be there and finished just as he got home. I had the kids seated at the table and a card in front of his spot and then just after he sat down I left. That’s right I went to Village Inn to meet Emilee for breakfast. Now why would I do such a thing when I really thought it was Father’s Day? Well Chris has been working really long days like sixty two hours this week and I have been stuck at home with the children and going a bit crazy. Today was Ladies’ Bible study so I called Em last night and asked if she could meet me early and go to breakfast. And look at the bright side I am all practiced up and ready to make Father’s Day really great next Sunday and I’m not really bad because I didn’t really ditch my husband on Father’s Day I only thought I did. What a relief. Well breakfast was lots of fun even though we didn’t have room for pie. We laughed and laughed about all sorts of things and then we went to our Bible study and Emilee shared a really great devotion about giving to others and God giving back to us to overflowing proportions. Then we played Sequence. Which is a great game, especially when Emilee doesn’t win. I didn’t win either. Sister V beat us both. After Bible study Emilee and I headed to the thrift store and laughed and laughed some more. They have some of the greatest ugly skirts and shirts ever. After that I headed home and hung out until church. After church us Thompsons were planning on taking Brother Randy out to dinner but we all got a better offer to go to the Smiths for a Bar-B-Q. Mmm it was so good and I got to play on the Wii again. Emille beat me soudly once more but I did manage to beat her at Phase Ten Dice. We left about nine and then I dropped off my family so I could head to the airport to pick up my friend's Mom. Now I am finally home and very tired but after getting a pep talk from the NARR president I decided to blog about my great day while it was fresh in my mind and my many distractions are all asleep. Goodnight everybody.

I'm Back

2007-06-09T07:32:00.001-07:00

So as you may have read on Emilee’s blog, she beat me soundly on the Wii Wednesday. But, it was great. Oh and we beat the boys soundly (one out of six times and just barely) playing Mario Cart. On Thursday the kids and I drove out to Parker and got Sam a couple of plastic Little Tykes cars. They were only $10 dollars a piece and Sam is very happy. I’ve been trying to get a yard sale together to get a little extra money and get rid of some of my junk. I have a decent pile I was going to sell today but Chris told me last night he might have some stuff to add if I wait until next weekend. So I’m going to wait so I will have more stuff. Wahoo. In other news, I’m trying to sell my car to buy a van with air conditioning before we get to the hottest part of the summer. I hope it works out. We need more room and I really want a Dodge Caravan.

Now for some sad news, my Grandfather passed away a couple of weeks ago. He died in his sleep. We had the viewing last Saturday and sometime this month we are going to try to all get together to spread his ashes somewhere. None of my family was very comfortable with cremation but unfortunately my Grandfather didn’t have life insurance and the cost of a funeral is very high. Thank you again for all of your prayers for him these last six months. To my knowledge he did not get saved before he died unless it was in his final moments but I know that God was faithful and provided him the opportunity.

God bless you

Spoons

2007-05-29T10:01:00.000-07:00

Has anybody played spoons? It is a wonderful fast paced game filled with excitement and danger.

So here’s how it works… You set however many people you want to play around a sturdy table and put that many spoons in the middle minus one. Then you deal out four cards to everyone. The object of the game is to get a four of a kind. Whoever gets there four of a kind first grabs a spoon and then so does everyone else but one. That one gets a letter. When they loose enough to spell out the word spoon they are out of the game. So to start the game… Once the dealer has passed out the cards they start going though the pile one at a time and passing the cards to the person at there left and then they pass to the left and so on. So as the cards go around you look for ones that match and trade them out, always keeping four cards in your hand.

So where is the danger and excitement you might ask. Well when you have a competitive family and people who try to steal other people’s spoons right out of their hands things get pretty lively.

This last weekend Chris and I went to his brother’s house in Pueblo and on Sunday night his two sisters and one brother in law came over and we all played spoons. I ended up breaking the tops of one of the chairs and Chris broke the table in all of the excitement. There was biting, wrestling, nails lost, blood drawn, children pulled across the table, and grown men belly flopping on it, there was screaming, and yelling, and lots and lots of laughter. I am so happy that large portions were recorded for later viewing pleasure.

I don’t have any video but here are some pictures.

Barilla

2007-05-22T13:37:00.000-07:00

So little Anna broke out in a rash a couple days ago but it is almost gone now and she is much happier. Poor kid first her top two teeth come in and now this. It has been a rough couple weeks. We went to a kids store today and sold them a few of the things we have never used. I got Sam a little plastic gas pump and a hat with some of the money. I wanted to trade all of my stuff for this little black truck that is missing a door and a bumper but the woman is delusion and thinks it is worth $20. So even though Sam likes it for now he is just going to have to gas up his bike instead of the broken truck. We had a lot of rain for a couple hours today. When we left it was sprinkling and by the time we got there it was pouring. I had fun getting me the kids and the stuff inside. But now we are home and it is down to a sprinkle again. In other news I have been trying to clean out the basement. I’m hoping to have a yard sale sometime soon. That’s about all. Oh yes there was also my fun shopping trip with Emilee and Herbie the bear. We were looking at clothes for Zeke and there was Herbie and only half price. What a deal. So Emilee and I have a new shopping buddy. He rode in the front of our cart and we strapped him in the backseat of the car when we left. He is a bear or maybe a gorilla. We’re not sure. Please tell me what you think he is, even those of you who don’t usually comment. You can comment anonymously just tell me bear or gorilla. Right now we call him a barilla. Bear or gorilla... you decide.

Isn't he a sweet brother?
Sam is silly. He likes to put on my shoes when he goes outside. Got to love the winter hat too.

Hi Everybody!

2007-05-17T08:12:00.000-07:00

It’s time for my bi-monthly blog. So let me think what wonderful things have we been up to? Sam can now get himself completely undressed but he is a good boy and doesn’t try to undress at inappropriate times. J Anna is getting her two top teeth. She was up a lot last night with a fever. She is also just starting to try to walk around furniture.

So we did end up meeting with Chris’ brother and watching a little of our nephew’s game. Unfortunately it was raining so we didn’t get to see much before we retreated to the car.

We went to Castle Rock on Monday and spent some time with my Aunt Kelley and her daughter Kialani. It was fun. We went to McDonalds and then when we got back the kids played in back for awhile. We ran some errands yesterday. I’ve become slightly addicted to caffeine so I had to stop and get a cappuccino from the gas station. I knew Emilee would be getting done with story time at the library which is the way I was heading so I got her one too. We hung out in the library parking lot and talked and laughed awhile. Then I went to my friend Hannah’s. We had a good time there too. Hannah is one of the few friends I keep up with from High School. She is going to try to come to Ladies’ retreat this year. Yay! I know she is going to love it! Last night Laura and Adam came over and we ate spaghetti and played sequence. Adam and I were on one team and Chris and Laura were on the other. Adam and I creamed them both games. After Laura and Adam left and the kids were in bed, Chris and I played a couple more times and I creamed him both games. Chris hardly ever will play games so I would have been very happy anyway but all the creaming made it even better!

In other news our land lord is not happy with us. Chris just mowed the lawn for the first time this year last week. The grass was getting high enough to lose the children and play jungle in the back. Chris also had some of his construction stuff in the yard, some concrete blankets and some studs. The land lord said it looked like white trash had moved in. He also said if it got that bad again he would hire a lawn service and send us the bill. That is what he does for the guy on the other side of the duplex. Sam?...... Sam?..... Where are you? The grass is too tall and thick to get to you.

I finally found a plant I'm good at growing, Dandelions. Aren't they beautiful?

Here is my two headed monster. Chris had on two shirts so when it started to rain he put Anna in between them to keep her warm and dry.

Here is Clif and Aaron.

2007-05-09T22:01:00.000-07:00

Cinnamon Rolls

2007-05-09T21:33:00.000-07:00

I am so proud of Emilee and me! We made real live ewey gooey delicious cinnamon rolls. I love cinnamon rolls but until today didn't really know how to make them. They take forever but they are so worth it. I expect to gain about five pounds this week eating my half of them but that is okay too. Becki helped lots. She sent us very funny e-mails and called intermittently to give is much needed instructions and to make sure things were going okay. I wish she lived up here with us instead of in Texas, that way we could hear her best Julia Child impersonation. However, Emilee's was pretty good. In our endeavor to take forth the Bishop's and Sister Smith's torch had lots of fun together and laughed our way through most of the cinnamon roll process. We also had a thumb war match that left us deadlocked just like the arm wrestling match.

Sam had lots of fun running around in the backyard with the big boys. He is out like a light tonight. Anna laughed and laughed as Emilee worked on the rolls. I'm not sure what she was so happy about.

My wonderful husband made dinner tonight which was great because the cinnamon rolls took way longer to make than we thought they would and I didn't get home till after 6:00.

I have had four cinnamon rolls so far, or maybe five. Hmmm. I think I lost count. Oh well I'll start the count again tomorrow.

Nothing Too Exciting.

2007-05-05T15:12:00.000-07:00

Since the last time I blogged I went shopping with Emilee, that was lots of fun as usual. I never really liked shopping till I started going with her. I also went to breakfast with my cousin's wife, Wendy and their new baby, Ava. It was great to see them. They live in Springs so I don't get to see them too often. Ava looks just like Ryan when he was a baby. We went to Mimi's Cafe and I had the three berry cream cheese stuffed french toast. Mmmm. It was one of the best things I have ever eaten. I also made a book with poems and pictures for my Grandma for her Birthday. Emilee helped lots. The things I make always look much better when she helps. Grandma loved it. I also went and visited with my friend Hannah and her little girl Samuela. It was nice to just hang out and Sam had a blast playing in her back yard. Not too much else going on here. Oh we are going to go see Chris brother today. He is in town with one of his sons soccer teams. So we are going to watch the game and go out to dinner afterward. I'm looking forward to seeing them. I don't think that they have met Anna yet. Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure. A couple of the kids, my new second cousin Ava, and Emilee the mad picture taking blogger.

The Pupet Show

2007-04-29T20:17:00.000-07:00

We went to the puppet show with my Grandma on Thursday. It was so much fun! We got there a little early so Sam and my Grandma could make some puppets. She made a Queen and Sam made a King. I let Anna have mine. She pretended it was a popsicle and tried to eat it. The show, Rumpelstiltskin, was pretty good. There were six puppets all done by one lady. It must take a lot of planning, mundo organizational skills and some talent to pull it all off. I think I would get which voice goes to which character confused and then everyone would be confused. Our little group seemed to be the only non school group. Most of the kids there were kindergarten age. Sam really liked being around so many "big kids". He and Anna both did really well. I think one of the funniest parts of the whole thing was whenever there was gold on the stage the kids would yell at whatever character was on to "TAKE IT". It was great. After the show the kids got to play with puppets in little puppet stages. Sam was a little short for the stages but he didn't really notice.

This Weekend

2007-04-22T20:49:00.000-07:00

Nathan and Caleb from the Smith family stayed with us this weekend. They were here Thursday night until just a few hours ago. Jon and Emilee went to Hatch New Mexico for youth convention and didn’t want to take their gas guzzling van so we kept the boys while they were gone. It was lots of fun. I think Saturday was the best. After Chris got home from working overtime we all played out in the yard for awhile. We have a couple sleds that Sam plays with and Chris decided to use them as large Frisbees. I kept accidentally throwing them over the fence. Our neighbor was nice enough to throw them back which led to a Frisbee match between him and Chris. Chris also decided to duct tape the boys, mainly Caleb. Caleb thought it was great, he just laughed and laughed. Don't let the picture of Caleb below fool you. He likes to be duct taped, really.

One Man's Sled is Another Man's Frisbee

2007-04-22T20:47:00.000-07:00

Anna

2007-04-22T20:38:00.000-07:00

Anna is doing new things. She crawled up half a flight of stairs the other day and she has been pulling herself up to the standing position anywhere she can. In the mornings she now pulls herself up to the part of the crib closest to the door and calls for me.

Sammy

2007-04-22T20:36:00.000-07:00

Sam is so cute. He still loves to help me cook, clean, and do laundry. I let him run the vacuum sometimes. He goes over the same spot a lot but I’ll take all the help I can get. I don’t think he is ever going to talk in full sentences but he has several words mastered. Juice, please, dog, and nug (which means thank you and your welcome). There are more but those are the most common.

Headed Home

2007-04-19T16:24:00.000-07:00

The Scoop

2007-04-19T14:09:00.000-07:00

Retreat was so great!!! I can’t remember a weekend I have laughed so much. God was good and cleared the snow the weather men predicted so I left my house about 9:00 a.m. Friday morning to go get Emilee. We drove to a parking lot near DIA, dropped off the car and hopped on their shuttle bus to the airport. We checked our baggage and one of the employees tried to hit on me, at least we think he did, he didn’t speak the best English. We giggled our way down to security after that and stood in line forever….. and ever… and ever. Then we walked… and walked…. And walked to the nice walkways that do all the work for you. Man I love those things. Then we finally boarded the plane and with a little help were able to sit together. Apparently, there are only four oxygen masks to a row so we had to have a row to ourselves. Emilee used her charm and bot-a-bing we had our own row. She only made one guy mad. It was so cold when we left they had to de-ice the plane. I got lots of cool pictures but deleted most of them after suffering constant ridicule from one of the three other people traveling with me. I won’t name names, you know who you are. Finally we took off and I breathed a sigh of relief because at that point I knew for sure we were going to Washington. Wahoo!!! The flight seemed to take forever, probably because we were so excited to get there. When we finally arrived we went to thrifty rental to get ripped off, I mean pick up our car. The guy at the counter gave us a price double what the one on the internet had been. So we called Sister Smith and she and Sister Bishop came and rescued us in their rented van. It was so great because they are so funny. We laughed and laughed all the way to retreat. Some of the highlights were Zips, a hamburger joint with great fry sauce, Wal-mart and Safeway who don’t carry black cherry vanilla coke and a field with turkeys and a deer in it.

Well we finally arrived and it was a great retreat! We had so much fun. There was arm wrestling, some counting game, kidnapping Mandie, and so much more. Mandie thought she wanted to nap Saturday but we convinced her otherwise, we made her take us up a trail in her truck. I love Ladies’ retreats! The devotions, music, and messages were all so good and God’s presence was so strong! TAP went good too. Thank you all who prayed for me boy did I need it. We had six babies at retreat and they all did really good too. Anna liked having so many friends her size.

The trip home was not nearly as exciting. We were tired. We did manage to take our picture with a Moose and an astronaut but other than that things were pretty dull. Oh wait there were also guys wandering around wearing sombreros and the Wendy’s incident but other than that, oh also the crazy shuttle driver who seemed to enjoy scaring us, but other than that really the trip home was dull indeed.

So Much Fun!

2007-04-19T14:06:00.000-07:00

Spokan

2007-04-19T14:04:00.000-07:00

DIA, The Way There

2007-04-19T14:02:00.000-07:00

Washington here we come!

2007-04-12T09:30:00.000-07:00

Hello everybody. So tomorrow Emilee, Zeke, Anna, and myself are flying to Washington for Ladies' Retreat!!! Yay! I'm so excited. Unfortunately Sister Bear will not be going so I am now a TAP (talk and prayer) group leader. Please pray for me and the ladies in my group. I normally like to be way prepared for this sort of thing but you can only be so prepared in a few days time unless the Lord helps. He has already given me the first two TAP session outlines but I still need Sundays'. Thanks in advance for your prayers.

In other news Emilee, myself and all of our small people went out to the V's for knitting lessons yesterday. It was lots of fun and Sis. V made this great fruit thing. Mmmm it was so good. Abbie got in on the lessons too. She is so cute. The kids both fell asleep on the way home. Oh please pray for Anna she has had a fever for the last couple days. I really want her to be well for our trip.

The last picture you will see when you scroll down is a raccoon I spotted in the neighbor's tree last night. He even posed for me. What a guy.

2007-04-09T20:15:00.000-07:00

Chris was sick most of last week. Wednesday night he had horrible chest pain and couldn't sleep so he asked me to read scripture to him. We also prayed, sang and praised the Lord. At one point God just swept through the room and touched Chris’ body. He was finally able to go to sleep not long after that. I kept thinking that it reminded me of a home birth because there was a determination to trust God no matter what. It was such a blessing to me to hear Chris praising God when he was in so much pain. That may sound strange but to me it is a sweet reminder that when no one can help us God can. I actually read Chris some of the Scriptures that were a blessing to me as I was getting ready to have Anna.

Thursday, the kids and I headed to Springs to meet up with my Aunt Jan, Uncle Chris, and Dad so we could all visit my Grandpa. Chris stayed home and took advantage of the peace and quiet. After seeing my Grandpa we all headed over to my cousin Ryan’s to see the new baby. Her name is Ava and she is a little thing. She only weighs 6 and a half pounds. Anna looked so huge. Sam had a lot of fun. He spent most of the time with my Dad who if I remember right is lots of fun when you are small enough to pick up and toss.

Friday the kids and my Mom and I went to the Children’s museum in Layaffette. We got a little lost but stopped at a fire station and got some good directions. The museum was fun and adults are free. So are kids under fifteen months Sam was the only one who had to pay to get in.

Saturday Chris and I went to an estate sale and I bought some China which I am sending away to a replacement center tomorrow for a nice check. I am hoping to hit a few estate sales this summer. So far they are great!

Sunday we headed to the Van’s for brunch and Eater service around 10:00. The food was great and so was the service. After that we headed to my Aunts. It was a lot of fun. Sam and Anna were a big hit. We finally got home a little before 7:00. It was a long day. .
Here are the kids at the V's..

Ester fell on my cousin Colleen's Birthday this year. Here is her cake

Awww.
New family picture.

Great Sunday

2007-04-03T12:50:00.000-07:00

On my way home from bible study/knitting class I saw this on one of the major roads. I'm not sure what happened to the other rider.

After Church Sunday our family went with the Smiths to the Armadillo. It was great. Caleb was dressed so cute but refused to pose properly.

After a great lunch we headed to the Smiths for some of Emilee's delicious birthday cake. It was so good. Here is Anna sitting with her little legs hanging through the railing.

Here is Sammy from earlier today. I know it's not a Sunday picture like the others but look how cute he is. His Uncle Adam got him a dump truck w/accessories for his Birthday and he had lots of fun with it all!

Daddy's Girl

2007-03-30T14:35:00.000-07:00

Hello Everybody!

2007-03-24T15:44:00.000-07:00

Hi guys sorry it has been so long since I last blogged. I'm surprised I have not been contacted by NARR. Well, a lot has happened. My Grandpa was hospitalized again. He contracted staff pneumonia, which is the worst kind you can get, along with influenza in his lungs. I believe he is still alive because of the many people praying for him. Most of my family got together in Colorado Springs a couple weeks ago to visit him. Since that time he has improved dramatically. He is out of the hospital and back in a nursing home.

Sam and Anna have been busy. Sam is doing more all the time. His latest feats include going potty on his little potty occasionally and writing on the wall and his sister with a black magic marker. Just incase this ever happens to anyone else, rubbing alcohol for the walls and hairspray for skin works wonders. I am so glad I have the internet. Apparently Sam is in good company. I found a lot of good sources for magic marker removal. Sam has also learned how to unlock the front door deadbolt included. He can also open the front gate. Life as we knew it is over. Anyone out there who has a baby who can't walk, run or reach doorknobs...enjoy it while you can!!!

Anna is amazing. Last week I put her on her stomach and checked my e-mail. When I turned back around a couple minutes later Anna was sitting up. I thought I might be going crazy and just thought I had laid her on her stomach but she did it again the next morning. She is also eating French fries and crawling very slowly. She is getting big fast.

I have my car back!!!! After two and a half months of being stuck at home I finally have my car back. I am so glad! I was going a bit stir crazy. I'm making up for lost time; I have already gone to visit Emilee twice since I got it back. The pictures are from our visit yesterday. It was great. I played basketball with the boys (which is not easy in a skirt), we all went on a walk, the Em and I had cooking lessons, and tried to knit. We are not so good at the knitting thing but the biscuits and gravy turned out great!So there is the latest, sorry I kept you all in suspense for so long.
I think Sammy likes Abbie.

Aren't they so cute?
The boys tipped over the dog house and were rolling around.

A Baby Shower and a Baby

2007-02-27T10:26:00.000-08:00

I have four cousins. Everybody except me had been slacking in the kid department. Ryan and his wife have been married almost six years and Lander and his wife have been married for almost four.Yet I with my measly almost three years have the children. Not just one but two. But, all of the sudden Ryan and Lander both hopped aboard the Great Grandchild wagon and had babies coming in March. Wendy, Ryan's wife had her baby shower earlier this month. It was very nice. As you can see from the pictures below she has lots of clothes for baby Ava. Resha, Lander's wife just had baby Ethan on last Wednesday the 21st. Isn't he cute? I can't wait to meet him.

Aunt Jan, Cousin Wendy (and baby Ava), Cousin Laura, Grandma, Aunt Linda, Anna, Me

Lots of stuff!

Ethan

Sam's 2nd Birthday

2007-02-16T09:39:00.000-08:00

Sam had his party on Saturday the 3rd, a couple days before the real thing. He loved it. All of the Smith kids were here and his very good buddy Uncle Adam. Sam was a very happy camper! He really liked the cake and ice cream too. The only thing he didn't seem to like was the singing. When we all sang Happy Birthday to him he seemed a little unsure about it all. He just looked at us all like we were crazy. He got a lot of toys and a super cute outfit and some much needed sippy cups. It was a lot of fun.

For Tammi

2007-02-06T21:04:00.000-08:00

Girl party

2007-02-02T21:22:00.000-08:00

Well the girl party was great! We hardly slept. We ate and drank lots of sugar. We played games. We had so much fun! We didn’t watch any girl movies and we didn’t ride in the convertible because my Mom didn’t want me to put the top down in winter. I found out it is tempting to be disobedient even when you are an adult. But, I was good. Laura came over Saturday and that was a lot of fun. She brought over her scrapbook and got some help from the master (Emilee). The kids did really well. There were no serious injuries and they mostly kept to themselves in the basement. It went so smooth. I couldn’t believe we had eight kids and two babies. Sam had a blast. He didn’t nap all weekend. But he slept for almost sixteen hours on Sunday night.

Can't resist

2007-01-25T11:34:00.000-08:00

Everyone else has posted about the grand Girl Party this weekend and I just had to too. I am so excited. For those of you who don't know. Emilee, Becki and myself and our ten kids will all be at Emilee's this weekend while the men are away at retreat. We have great plans that include but are not limited to scrap booking, making a pumpkin roll, black cherry vanilla coke, old photo albums and my cousin Laura coming over on Saturday to scrapbook with us. I am so happy. Even if I don't sleep from Friday till Sunday night I will still be so happy. Besides with all the sugar bound to be at Emilee's this weekend I don't think finding extra energy will be a problem.

Samuel's book

2007-01-20T20:42:00.000-08:00

Sam's birthday is just a few weeks away. He will be two. It's funny how they change so much in looks the first year and then the second year they just get taller but look the same. So here is Sam his first year. I can't believe how big he is. In case anyone is wondering Emilee made the great book that these pictures are showcased in. =)

February-March

2007-01-20T20:37:00.000-08:00

April-July

2007-01-20T20:36:00.000-08:00

August-November

2007-01-20T20:33:00.000-08:00

December-February

2007-01-20T20:32:00.000-08:00

My First Real Book of a Post

2007-01-10T21:33:00.000-08:00

I had planned this last Saturday to go to Salida which is a three hour drive into the mountains for my cousin’s wife’s baby shower. Friday it snowed and so I thought I wasn’t going to be able to go but Saturday my Aunt called and said that the roads were better. So off we (me Sam and Anna) went to Salida. The trip down there took about an extra 20 minutes or so because of snow blowing across the road and patches of snow pack and ice but overall it was a really smooth trip. I planned on staying for the shower, spending some time with my family and then heading home. However about half way there I called my Dad who reminded me that everything would be turning into ice after dark. So at that point I was pretty sure I needed to stay the night. I did and it was really nice. After the shower we went and visited with some friends for awhile and then we went to my Aunt’s house. We had fun. The guys were working on cars in the garage so Sam did his very best to get in there with them every chance he could. Us girls sat in the living room and talked about baby stuff. Then Grandma called and I packed up the kids so we could go visit her for awhile. It was so nice. We looked at old pictures and she played with the babies. It was getting late by then so we headed back to my Aunt’s. The guys were still working on the car so we hung out some more until they finished. Then we followed my cousin Laura and her husband Adam over to the cabins. That’s right the cabins. My Aunt works for a place that rents out cabins with hot springs. When people cancel like they happened to that weekend she or family can stay for free. So we did and it was great. Each cabin has its own little hot spring. I didn’t go in but it looked very nice. The shower in the cabin also pipes in the hot spring’s water so I did take a very hot shower once the kids were asleep. It was terrific. The cabin had a wood heat stove and a fireplace. It was so cool. We drank hot chocolate in front of the fireplace. So my plan was to head out the next morning at seven to make it back for bible study but after driving over to the cabins with things frozen over I re-thought that decision. It was like an ice skating rink out there. So I ended up leaving the next morning after some of the snow and ice had melted. Now I logically concluded that since my trip the day before had been pretty nice and it hadn’t snowed again the trip back should be just as nice or nicer. I was wrong. What I did not count on were massive winds that would cause a ground blizzard. So there I was me and the babies the middle of the ground blizzard. It was so scary. Things would be okay for awhile and then a huge gust of wind would hit carrying enough snow with it to completely white out everything in front of me for two to three seconds. Now I don’t know if anyone reading this has ever driven with there eyes closed but that was about what it felt like when the ground blizzard hit. I was going pretty slowly because even when there wasn’t a whiteout visibility was still very low. I could only see about forty to fifty feet in front of the car. However there were people still going fifty five or faster so I was concerned that someone might be coming up behind me and not see me and cream me. I was also worried about someone coming into my lane and not knowing until the very last split second. I was worried about going off the road because there was snow on either side and I didn’t want to get stuck in that kind of weather. I called Chris and asked quickly asked him to pray. A few minutes after I called Chris another ground blizzard hit. When it cleared there was a small bridge about ten feet in front of me. Normally these bridges are no big deal but because of the wind blowing the snow there was about two feet of snow on the right side of my lane piled against the guardrail and then out into the middle of my lane. With no time to react and go around I hit the snow with my right two tires and snow pack and ice with my left two tires which caused the car to go right toward guardrail. When this happened it caused the other front tire to dig into the snow which swung both back tires onto the icy snow pack. This made the car to go sideways into the other lane of traffic. Suddenly I hit the guardrail with the back corner bumper of the driver’s side which knocked me back into the road and I was able to get back to my side. Praise God!!! I immediately started praising God and thanking Him because I know it was His hand on the car that saved me and my babies. So many things could have gone horribly wrong but they didn’t because God was right there. About ten minutes later I got to the next town and called Chris. He had the same reaction I did and just started thanking and praising the Lord. The rest of the trip was long because of the detour. The road I was on was closed the rest of the way to Denver. I had to go over a scary mountain pass around corners in first and second gear. Then when I finally made it to a major Highway it was super backed up. It took us about seven hours to get home. But praise the Lord we got home and are doing great. So there is our latest adventure.

The Incredible Anna

2007-01-03T09:49:00.000-08:00

She is sitting up

And Rolling

And Playing

A Snow Tale

2006-12-27T20:27:00.000-08:00

So my friend Liz came over today for a visit. We have been friends since first grade and we try to keep in touch. She was in town for Christmas so she came over for a visit today. It was really great to see her again. Every time she sees me I have a new child for her to meet. So far Chris and I are averaging one child a year. So while Liz was here she told me a great story and I just had to share it with the blogging world. During the snowstorm she and her brother got the great idea from the original “Home Alone” movie to go sledding down the stairs through the front door and out onto the lawn. So they put on helmets and after a couple test runs from half way up they went to the top of the stairs and then down the stairs and into the door jam. LOL ha ha ha. Liz said other than hitting her nose on her brother’s shoulder they were both okay. Her parents who had been against the idea were laughing hysterically. So what were they to do? They hiked back up to the top of the stairs and tried again. This time they had a clear shot and made it all the way to the street without incident. She did all this while holding her digital camera so she could make short films of it all. The best by far is the one where they hit the door jam. You see lots of bouncing as they go down the stairs, the door jam approaching, rolling with Christmas tree lights in the background, and finally the living room sideways. It is the best!!! I have watched it at least seven times so far.

Don't let this picture fool you. I'm taller.

We are the two girls on the left. I'm the tall one and she is the small one. Her Mom is standing behind us. We were in Girl Scouts if you are wondering about the other people in the picture.

Ahhh the Snow

2006-12-21T14:53:00.000-08:00

Well it finally stopped snowing. Chris and I worked on a big fort for Sam. It's so cool. My cousin and her husband came by in their nice 4 wheel drive truck. They brought butter and milk. They are so great! We attached a sled to the back of their truck and we all took a turn. It was lots of fun. Today has been great! I think I will go make some hot chocolate with lots of whipped cream. Mmmm I love snow days!!!