Marji and Jim

Already February…

2012-02-02T08:08:00.001-06:00

I can’t believe that it is already February! Where did January go? I’ve been meaning to do a post about some of my goals for 2012 and the time has gotten away from me. I’m doing a couple of tutorials a month on my sister in law Cathy’s awesome blog. I am having fun doing them, but I’m still trying to balance all my “free” time. I did one on how to redo your knife block. You can see it here if you want more info.

I did a tutorial on how to make this cute Valentine banner. You can see the tutorial here.

Today I did a picture tutorial on how to make your own laundry detergent. I have been using this recipe for a year and I love it. I love how cheap it is to make and that 1 batch costs less than $5 to make and lasts so long. We have HE machines so I don’t have to use as much per load, just 1/4 cup! You can see it here.

2012 To Do List

Here are some of things I want to accomplish this year, I figure if I write it on my blog it will hold me accountable and ~~maybe~~ I’ll accomplish what I want to!

The first thing is to stop drinking Dr. Pepper & Diet Coke. I don’t feel like I have a bad habit, but 2-3 a day isn’t good for me {maybe that is a bad habit}. So far I’ve cut back to 1 diet coke in the afternoon. Soon I will cut that one out. I am drinking more water and staying away from Sonic at happy hour! I will still drink the occasional coke, but don’t want the everyday habit, it is expensive and not good for me!
The next thing is to develop a good habit of studying my scriptures. I gave a talk in church this past Sunday on scriptures and it was a good reminder for me on what I should be doing. I found this wonderful article by Elder Bednar, Because We Have them Before Our Eyes that I used as a reference in my talk. I’m going to try to do what he suggested. I’ve been doing a lot better about reading my scriptures everyday, now I need to add a little more depth to my study.
I need to start some kind of exercise program. I am still trying to figure out what I want to do. I have an elliptical machine that gets more use as a clothes rack. I think I wouldn’t mind running outside, especially when the weather is nice, but figuring out a time to go when Jim is home is hard. What works for you other moms of young kids?
Organize, organize, organize!! Especially my craft room, it is a mess! I have so much stuff, I need to get rid of some things. Anyone interested in old Stampin’ UP! stamp sets? I keep thinking I will sell them on eBay, but they are still sitting in my closet. We are always trying to organize the playroom and the toys. I sill need to go through it and clean out junky old toys.
Do some more decorating in my home, We will have been here 2 years in June and I haven’t done much to put my mark on the house. I have all these ideas, I just need to do them! I think I’ll start with the playroom. Stay posted to see what I end up doing.
Learn more about shooting in manual and get a new camera. I love my Nikon d40, it has been a great “starter” camera; but I am ready to upgrade to one that gives me more options and takes better pictures. I’ll have to save my money for my dream camera, it might take me longer than a year because I am bad at saving, there are always so many other things to buy!

That is all for now, there are lots of other things I could list I’m sure! Hopefully keeping my list shorter will make it more doable!

New Bikes!

2012-01-24T14:10:00.001-06:00

The kids LOVE their new bikes that they got for Christmas. We’ve had lots of nice weather so they have had plenty of time to practice.

Averi loves to ride her big wheel down the driveway. She does it over and over again!

Hopefully winter holds off so we can continue to enjoy our bikes in the nice ~~winter~~ weather.

Christmas Morning

2012-01-09T10:45:00.001-06:00

I need to get caught up on my blog! We had a nice Christmas morning. Thomas was the first one up at 6:30 and we woke the others up at 6:45. We had church at 9:00 so we had to get going.

We had the kids presents from Santa with their stockings in Santa piles. They had fun going through their stockings then we took turns opening presents.

Jim & I got the kids bikes for their present from us. Jim went out on Black Friday, well really Thursday night and got the bikes for a really good price.

Matthew was pretty upset about the bike. We got it on video and it is funny. He cried and said, “but I didn’t ask Santa for a bike!!” He loves his bike now, but one of those fun Christmas memories. Jim surprised me with a nice perfume gift set and my ticket to see Kenny and Tim in Dallas with Brandy this summer. I got him a belt and new white shirt. It was a smaller Christmas for us this year but we had so much fun getting the kids presents we don’t really miss giving each other a lot of gifts.

We had Grandma DeVaux’s yummy Christmas bread, hot chocolate and some candy from the stockings for breakfast. We got dressed quickly and went to church.

After church the kids had fun playing with all their new toys. The boys got lots of Legos so they were busy building things all day. The girls had fun with their dollhouse and other toys. We had Grandma & Grandpa DeVaux and Oscar & Tara over for lunch. I was too busy cooking to take pictures of the yummy food, but here is what we had: Balsamic Brown Sugar glazed pork tenderloin, roasted red potatoes, fresh green beans, Mom’s spinach salad, and rolls. I made a chocolate éclair cake for dessert. It was all yummy and we had fun visiting and enjoying the good food. It was a nice Christmas weekend.

Christmas Eve

2011-12-28T15:58:00.001-06:00

We spent Christmas eve at my parents house. It was a fun day and night. The kids all love going to Grandma’s house.

We had lots of yummy food to munch on and had a delicious dinner. Steaks, spicy shrimp, twice baked potatoes and my mom’s spinach salad. We decided the kids were old enough to act out the nativity. Mom of course had enough stuff to put costumes together. They were all excited to put their costumes on and do the skit.

Our 4 Angels-Averi, Livy, Ada Belle & Kaylee

Oscar & Matthew were the shepherds. Micha really wanted to be one too.

Maddy was Mary and Thomas played Joseph. Thomas took it very seriously.

This part was a little silly, Maddy rode in on a stuffed horse with the baby under her shirt. Thomas started throwing candy, I don’t know why he did that, it was pretty funny though. Jim read Luke 2 and the kids acted out their parts.

Livy did not like Averi touching her.

After the kids acted out the Nativity we opened cousin presents and presents from Grandma & Grandpa DeVaux.

The kids had cupcakes for dessert and the adults had bread pudding. Our kids opened their Christmas PJ’s and put them on. They all fell asleep on the way home and we got ready for Santa. I love spending Christmas with my family.

Thomas is 7!!

2011-12-28T15:24:00.001-06:00

Thomas turned 7 a couple of weeks ago. With all the busy Christmas stuff I haven’t blogged about it! He opened his presents from us before school.

Kaylee picked out this grabber for him.

Matthew & Averi got him a Lego Ninjago watch.

Jim & I got him a bow and arrow set. He was very excited about it.

Jim took him to breakfast before school.

I got to go have lunch with him at school. I picked up subway for lunch. He wanted a turkey and cheese sandwich with lettuce and 2 pickles. It is always entertaining to eat lunch with 1st graders.

Thomas invited 3 friends over for a little birthday party on Saturday. It was a nice afternoon so they got to play outside for a while. They enjoyed trying out his new bow, playing a little soccer and tossing a football around.

His friends gave him some nice gifts, he was very excited about this Ninjago Lego set from Evan.

Thomas was very specific about what he wanted for dinner with is friends. We got Larry’s pizza, cheese and pepperoni, and he wanted a chocolate chip pizza for his cake. Easy for me!

This was the easiest cake I’ve ever done… Thanks Larry’s for a delicious birthday pizza.

After pizza the boys enjoyed some Mario Cart.

It was a fun birthday for Thomas. I can’t believe his is 7 years old. He is a great kid and we are so proud of the good boy he is! We LOVE you Thomas!

Christmas Decorations

2011-12-21T10:58:00.001-06:00

Here are a few of our Christmas decorations. I love having the Willow Tree Nativity on the mantle. It helps us remember what to focus on this busy time of year.

I made this banner and I LOVE it! I saw the idea on Pinterest and pulled out my paper stash from Stampin’ UP to make it. I used my silhouette to cut the letters and banner. I put chunky glitter on the letters. I saw on another blog to spray the glitter letters with clear sealer and they don’t shed any glitter! A fun new addition to my Christmas décor.

The mantle in the playroom, I put the stockings up in there with all the snow globes. The kids love to look at the snow globes.

Our Christmas tree..I love the décor mesh, It makes decoration a breeze and there aren’t as many ornaments for my kids to pull off!

I’ve made a number of the charger plates for friends with vinyl and my silhouette. I love how they turned out!

This is one of my fave things that I made years ago. I love the glitter on it.

I made this sign and put ribbon on it to clip Christmas cards to. I love getting cards from old friends and family and catching up with everybody.

I made these wreaths for the front door. they were super easy to make with the décor mesh. I put lights on them, but they drain the batteries so and I’m all out of batteries that go in them. We added the garland and lights and bows. Maybe next year I can add more to the garland.

So that is our house at Christmas time. I always have more things I want to make and do but it is hard to have time for everything!

Santa!

2011-12-21T10:04:00.001-06:00

We went and saw Santa at our Library last week. I love our library and all the fun activities they plan with Santa. I love that I can take my own pictures and not have to pay an arm and a leg for Santa pictures. The kids were so excited to see him and tell him what they want. We started out with some treats, some yummy donuts that the kids made into a reindeer head. I think Thomas made and ate about 5 of them.

We had to get our picture with Charlie Brown

There was a bean bag toss that the kids enjoyed.

They also had a fun puppet show that the kids LOVED!!

All night Averi had been saying, “HO, HO, HO!” when ever we asked if she wanted to see Santa so when we got to Santa she said NO! and struck this pose. She would not even get close to the room Santa was in. I wasn’t going to force her to sit on Santa’s lap so this is her Santa picture, pouting and looking at Santa.

Thomas had a big list, most of which was different Lego things. Santa had no idea what he was talking about!

Matthew had an equally long list including Lego Ninjagos and some star wars stuff

Kaylee asked for some new princesses and stuffed animals.

The kids minus Averi.

We finished up with one more craft, a reindeer on a string. It was a fun night.

Happy 2nd Birthday Averi!

2011-12-12T15:05:00.001-06:00

We celebrated Averi’s birthday last week. I can’t believe that she is 2 years old! We decided to just do a little family party this year. Her birthday always sneaks up on me right after thanksgiving so I made a quick invite in PSE and emailed it out. She loves pink, especially hot pink so that was my theme.

The food is always important to my family so I made a few yummy appetizers and we ordered some pizza from papa John’s to supplement since it was around dinner time.

I found a recipe for a Pink Lemonade cake on pinterest so I wanted to try that out. The inside of it was a beautiful hot pink, but the outside got too brown. The glaze was runny and didn’t look like I wanted but it all tasted yummy. I added some pink and silver sprinkles to dress it up a bit. I made the bunting and plate with my lovely silhouette.

I got the jug for drinks for $5 and slapped a cute chalkboard vinyl label on it. The kids LOVED being able to get their own pink lemonade.

These were jalapeno bacon pinwheels and were so yummy. I'll have to share the recipe.

Since I’m not big on lots of decorations I made this little banner for her. She loved it and would point to it and say mine. It is hanging in her room and makes her happy when she sees it. I also made her shirt with my silhouette and some iron on vinyl.

We lucked out with a nice day so the kids played outside a bit

The girls had to all put princess dresses on

Averi had a lot of fun opening her presents and she was so excited about each gift. It was fun to watch her open them.

We got her this little grocery cart and she LOVES it!

Poor Livy really wanted to push the grocery cart. She cried till cake time, then when Averi was blowing out her candles she got to push the grocery cart., after that she was happy.

All the kids helped her blow out her candles. We had to move it away from her because when I first put it down she blew out the candles before we sang to her; so we had to relight them and sing to her. Grandma DeVaux gave her the backpack filled with goodies and she loved it and wouldn’t take it off. It is just her size.

I love how Kaylee is kissing her after she blew out the candles, they are sweet sisters and becoming good friends.

Here she is with most of her presents, everyone knows her well and picked out things she loves!

Grandma & Grandpa Anderson got her this big wheel, now she has her own to ride when all the other kids are riding theirs.

Happy Birthday Averi! We can’t imagine our family without you!! We LOVE you!!

DeVaux Family Pictures

2011-12-07T21:06:00.001-06:00

We haven’t all been together since before Gabe’s mission so we had to get family pictures when everyone was home for Thanksgiving. Jeff Kump (our cousin Marcie’s hubby) took them for us. Dad also set up his tripod to get some too. They turned out pretty good. It is hard to get a great picture with so many kids. We decided to just go with 4 colors for everyone to choose from and I LOVE how it looks. Here are a couple of the best.

All the Grandkids

The kids: Gabe, Jenny, Pam, Trish, Marji & Oscar

Sisters

Brothers: Gabe & Oscar

Oscar & Tara (I set them up )

Surprise Pam!

2011-12-07T20:38:00.001-06:00

We had a surprise baby shower for Pam while Trish & Jen were visiting from Utah for Thanksgiving. We had been planning her surprise baby shower for a few months. Our original plan was to have it at our favorite sushi place Gina’s; but we found out the week before that they would be closing for good and we couldn’t have it there. We decided to have it at Las Palmas instead and it was so much fun and really nice and a lot closer. Pam thought we were just having a Girls dinner with mom so she wasn’t suspicious at all. Since it is her 3rd girl she didn’t really feel like she needed a shower but it is always fun to celebrate a new baby!

We kept it small with close friends and family, there wasn’t room for anyone else.

She was very surprised and it was so much fun! Totally the way to host a shower-at a restaurant so you don’t have to spend all day cleaning and cooking.

Kristin, Pam & Clare

Me & Trish

Pam & JP-they wanted heads only since they are both big and pregnant.

The Bailey Women (Allison is holding the yummy rolo cupcakes that I made. I can’t believe I forgot to get pictures of them! They were sooo good and I made cute little tags for them!)

The DeVaux Girls

It was a fun shower, I am so glad we surprised her. We are all so excited to meet Miss Ellie Harper!

Clinton Library-Lego exhibit

2011-11-19T21:26:00.001-06:00

The Art of Brick-Jim found out that the Clinton Library was free last Saturday. They have a Lego exhibit that we knew our kids would love so we headed downtown early Saturday to check it out. We loved it, everything was made out of Legos. It is amazing the things he could do with them. Here are a few pictures. I forgot my nice camera so I made do with my iPhone.

Pictures made from Legos. You can find out more about the artist here. The exhibit is at the Library until February.

Castle coming out of a book

Averi & Kaylee loved the cat

Mt. Rushmore

Razorback…Wooo Pig Sooie!!!

Jim & Averi

We had to constantly remind our kids to not touch anything! It was so tempting for them, luckily we didn’t destroy any displays!!

We looked at a few other things while we were there, this is a replica of the oval office while Clinton was president.There were lots of interesting things to see at the Clinton Library. I’d never been to a presidential Library before, I think I’d like to go to some of the libraries for the Presidents I actually like!

We were all hungry after all the walking around so we hit Krispy Kreme for a late breakfast, they don’t pass out hot {free} doughnuts anymore, kind of a bummer!

The Kid’s Pictures

2011-11-11T09:12:00.001-06:00

Andrea got AMAZING pictures of my kids. I LOVE them. I can’t decide if I like the b&w or color ones better.

Thomas will be 7 next month and it is so hard to believe he will be that old! He is such a good kid. He is doing great in 1st grade and he loves school.

He can be a great helper and big brother at home.

He loves to sing the primary songs and knows most of them by heart. He loves going to church.

He is a great kid and we couldn’t ask for a better oldest child.

Kaylee is my helper. She always knows where everyone’s shoes are or whatever is missing. She is always quick to help me when I ask. She loves to color and do artwork. Averi and Kaylee are becoming friends. Averi loves when Kaylee plays with her.

She does have a stubborn streak, I don’t know where she gets it from! If she doesn’t want to do something there is no way of changing her mind and you can see it in her big blue eyes.

She has come so far in the last year since we found out about her cleft palette. She is speaking so much clearer; others can understand her now. She loves going to school.

Matthew is the 3rd child..He has really grown up the past few months. He isn’t fighting with others as much, he seems much happier. We think he will be our football player because he is very rough and tumble still. He also loves going to school.

I think we will have to worry about the girls with him. The other day he said, “Mom, Chanley loves me.” I asked how he knew and he said, “she tells me. I like her too. She’s my girlfriend!” Already at 4!! He can be a charmer when he wants something.

He is very excited to be able to play soccer in the spring. He loves going to his buddies houses and never wants to leave. He is an expert at Angry Birds and can clear levels that Jim and I get stuck on.

Averi, the baby of our family. She is a tad spoiled, it is hard not to spoil her because she is so dang cute! She is growing up too fast as she tries to keep up with Kaylee and Matthew. Her hair is finally coming in, it is still very blonde, I was sure she would have brown hair. She loves her pink shoes, she has about 10 pairs of hot pink shoes in various sizes that I got from a friend, they are all her favorite!

She loves to color with pens and pencils. She will sit at the table forever with a piece of paper and a pen. She draws sweet little doodles all over the paper on both sides.

She is a momma’s girl. All of the other kids at this age preferred Jim to me. But she prefers me most of the time. When I go somewhere Jim says she gets a sad look on her face and asks, “Where Mamma?” We are so glad that we have this little surprise in our family. She is such a blessing to us!

If you are looking for a good photographer in Arkansas check out Andrea Swenson. You won’t be disappointed!

Family Pictures

2011-11-08T09:40:00.001-06:00

We were overdue for family pictures. My good friend Andrea took them for us. She is amazing and did a great job with our kids, it helps that they know her and love her. If you live in Central Arkansas, use her! We went to Old Mill Park in North Little Rock. I love this park, it is in the opening scene of Gone With the Wind, one of my favorite movies. It was really busy on the day we were there but we were able to get some good shots. She also did some individual ones of the kids that I’ll share in another post. The hard part is deciding which ones to get printed and to use for our Christmas card! Thanks for some great pictures Andrea! We love them!

Which one is your favorite?

Halloween

2011-11-07T11:52:00.001-06:00

The Bailey’s have a Halloween party that we go to every year. There is lots of good food and lots of friends and family there. We were running behind so I didn’t get good pictures of all the kids.

Kaylee was a ballerina

Averi was Minnie Mouse (Kaylee’s old costume from a few years ago)

Thomas was Batman

Kaylee showing off her costume

Ready to go get CANDY!

Matthew was an Army Man- it was nice having Grandma DeVaux there to help us trick or treat. It was the perfect night for trick or treating, not very cold and not too hot.

We had a fun Halloween. It was nice to be with our friends and family.Thanks for the fun party Pam & Micha!

My Birthday

2011-11-07T10:52:00.001-06:00

My birthday falls on Halloween, which kinda stinks when you have kids. Jim does a good job of celebrating before Halloween. We went to dinner on Friday night and did a little shopping afterwards.We came home to a clean house and our kids in bed thanks to our awesome babysitter Callie. On Saturday my mom came up and took me shopping for some new stuff for the house. On Sunday we went to my parents house for dinner for my birthday and little Oscar’s. By Monday I think Jim was tired of my birthday…The kids woke me up with some presents. The card was funny, it was a sound card with a cat laughing, Averi loved it and carried it around all day opening it up listening to the cat laughing.

They just got me a few little things and I got some money to go shopping with. Jim also surprised me with breakfast from Chick-fil-a, so yummy!

Fall Carnival

2011-11-07T10:33:00.001-06:00

Thomas’s school has a fall carnival every year. It is so much fun and the kids all look forward to it. They love the bounce house obstacle course the most.

They also loved this ride even though were a little scared.

This was a fun one, they were attached to an elastic rope that would pull them back.

There are fun games that the kids get do play also.

Thomas was so excited to try to dunk Mr. Sherrill, the principal, the line was long, but he waited in it and got to dunk him.

The night wouldn’t be complete with out some cotton candy and funnel cakes.

Octoberfest

2011-11-07T08:57:00.001-06:00

Sorry for my lack of posts in October, I need to get out of my not blogging rut! I thought I would have more time with Kaylee & Matthew in school 2 days a week, but it goes so fast!

Our friends the Henderson’s have 2 big parties a year that they invite everyone to on July 4th and Octoberfest. The kids LOVE going to the Henderson Compound. It is so much fun and there is always lots of yummy food

The kids all had about 3 snow cones.

The pavilion where we sit and visit with friends and eat yummy food.

Matthew running from place to place

Kaylee and Matthew trying to decide if they should get in the bounce house with the big kids.

Kaylee & Kennedy enjoying the cotton candy

Averi with another snow cone

Matthew and Grayson, sometime best friends

Thomas stays so busy the whole time we are there, this is the only picture of him-waiting in line to get a snow cone!

It took us about 30 minutes to leave because the kids kept going back for one last cotton candy or one last snow cone. They had great food for the adults as well: brisket, fall of the bone ribs, hot dogs and hamburgers. Thanks Henderson’s for a perfect party!

Pizza Night

2011-10-19T16:44:00.001-05:00

We made homemade pizza few weeks ago. The kids were very excited to make their own personal pizzas.

They all got in on the action

My kids love pineapple on their pizza-that or plain cheese.

They loved it and we will be doing it again!

I made a BBQ chicken pizza for Jim and I. It was delicious! I added pineapple to ours and it was a nice addition.

Soccer

2011-10-13T14:00:00.001-05:00

Thomas started soccer in September. He is enjoying playing this season. He loves to play defense and kick the ball out.

He loves soccer practice because they do skills training and play lots of different games. He is very competitive in the games and often wins.

The other kids enjoy playing soccer in empty fields and running around. They cheer for Thomas occasionally. Kaylee & Matthew can start soccer in the spring and are very excited for it. I guess we will be spending our Saturday's in the spring at the soccer fields!

Legos

2011-09-27T13:54:00.001-05:00

Thomas and Matthew LOVE Legos. Their favorite ones are the Star Wars ones. They will sit and play with their LEGOs for hours!! It is one of the things that they do together and there isn’t too much fighting with it.

Matthew loves the Clone Trooper men. He will come and ask to play with his “strangers” (he calls them that because that is what they are called on the Wii games.)

Thomas is great at building things. He likes to follow the plans. I used to have to help him build his things but now he can do it on his own. He is also good at building things with his imagination. I always have to check the floor before I vacuum to make sure there aren’t any pieces on the floor. I don’t like the little pieces everywhere, but it is worth it though to see my boys doing something fun and creative together.

Winner…

2011-09-26T09:20:00.001-05:00

Sorry it has taken me so long to get to posting the winner of the chalkboard labels. Every now and then my SI Joint gets out of place and it keeps me on my back for a while. After I was better I had tons of house work and laundry to do and haven’t gotten around to blogging! So I did random.org but I don’t know how to copy the box so you will just have to trust me the winner is #3….

Clarissa Meegan!! She said:

Seriously--a give away?! I LOVE IT! My question for you, do you feel like your silhouette was totally worth it? I have lots I'd like to do in my house and wondered what those that have one think! Looks fun!

So Congratulations Clarissa! I’ll email you and get your address-I don’t think I have it and get those in the mail to you this week!

Some Fun Projects & A Giveaway!!!

2011-09-14T14:38:00.001-05:00

I’ve been having some fun with my Silhouette lately. I love how easy it is to make something when I get the idea or see an idea somewhere that I like ( like on pinterest-I love that site!) My good friend Andrea got some cut chalkboard labels for some jars in her kitchen. I loved it so I have been on the hunt for chalkboard vinyl. There are a number of places to buy it on-line, I just didn’t want to order and have to pay for shipping. I found some at Hobby Lobby and I am so excited about it! I used my 40% off coupon so I got a roll for about $4! I also found some cute jars at Hobby Lobby for 1/2 off, so they were less than $3 each-total steal! I love how they look on my counter and my kids love seeing their snacks!

I just love them

I also made this cute menu to put on my fridge. It does leave a little chalk reside, but I love having it so I can remember what I am cooking each night for dinner.

I cut this out and it is by the bar where the kids sit. They drive me crazy complaining about whet color of plate or cup they want. Thomas’s kindergarten teacher always said it to her class and I love it so I put it on the wall so I can just point to it so they will stop their complaining!

I was at the dollar store yesterday and saw these cute bins and had to get them for my kids. I’m not sure what we are going to put in them yet, maybe shoes? I used some grey vinyl for their names. The font I used for the girls is Oh {photo} shoot! and the boys font is too much paper (one of my favorite fonts). I can’t remember where I got them, but they are both free so just Google them. I love how a little vinyl dresses up a cheap little bin.

Now for a GIVEAWAY!!

So who wants me to send them 4 chalkboard labels? Just leave a comment and tell me what you love most about FALL! I am so excited for the cooler weather and for the holidays. Leave a comment by Thursday the 15th by 8:00 pm. I'll do a drawing to see who wins. One comment per person please. Leave someway for me to contact you if I don’t know you so I can send you your labels if you are the winner.

Fun Times

2011-09-07T22:13:00.002-05:00

Fall is almost here in Arkansas. We’ve had a break in the heat this week and have had some beautiful weather! We had to take advantage of the nice weather and played outside with our friends after story time at the library. These 3 boys have so much fun together. They are best buddies. The last time the 3 of them played Matthew and Grayson fought a lot. This time they all got along and had so much fun together today.

I wish I had gotten Matthew’s face in this picture, he had a huge smile on his face. I am so glad he has such good friends and that they love to wrestle and play ninja with him. Every little boy needs some good rough and tumble friends. He is lucky to have 2 of them.

Averi loves popsicles. She will just hold the popsicle in her hand (out of the plastic)

Tessa was very excited about the popsicle too. Do you like the dried mac & cheese on her face?

They had fun playing in the wagon together. Averi likes having a friend and has finally learned to not beat Tessa up.

Almost every morning Averi comes into my bathroom while I am getting ready and chooses some polish for her “piggies.” I love how cute her little toes look painted.

Averi loves the slide, she has learned how to climb up the rock climbing wall. She is growing up too fast trying to keep up with the big kids!

Kaylee and Livy stayed busy playing with the balls in the playhouse.

Livy loves playing outside and spends a lot of time there when she comes over. The kids all love to climb up the slide, it is the preferred way to get up top. I rarely see the kids use the ladder.

Kaylee & Matthew’s First Day!

2011-09-07T14:16:00.001-05:00

Kaylee & Matthew started MDO yesterday. They are going twice a week from 9:30-2:30. They have been dying to start school and were so excited. They carried their lunchboxes around all morning till we left.

Kaylee, the picture is a little washed out. She picked out her outfit at old navy. She looked really cute and was so excited. They have to wear tennis shoes because the playground is gravel. I need to get her some cuter shoes.

Matthew was doing ninja poses the whole time. He wouldn’t stand still for me. He picked his shirt out at Target, he calls it a Hawaii shirt.

They were so excited to leave that we got to the school a little early and had to wait for the doors to open.

Here they are with their teacher Mrs. Melissa. They didn’t want to look at me because they were so interested in what was going on in the classroom! Mrs. Melissa is very nice and they are so excited to be in her class.

There were matchbox cars and ramps set up. Matthew ran right over to them and started playing. (sorry it is blurry!)

Kaylee made a beeline for the play dough.

I said bye to them and they didn’t even acknowledge me. Averi screamed and did not want to leave! She was so sad that she didn’t get to stay with them. They were so excited when I picked them up and had a great day. I think it is good thing for them and me!

Lake DeGray

2011-09-01T11:29:00.001-05:00

When Trish was in town the last week of July, we all went to lake DeGray. I haven’t been there in probably ten years. We went on a Wednesday and had the beach to ourselves. The kids had so much fun with all of their cousins. We brought picnic lunches so we stayed for a few hours. After the fun at the lake we all went back to Grandma’s house for a little while. It is always a fun day when we get to spend it with cousins and Grandma! Here’s a few pictures from the day.

Kaylee & Matthew’s 4th Birthday Party

2011-08-24T19:19:00.001-05:00

We celebrated Kaylee & Matthew’s birthday the Friday after their birthday. It was a small party with family and a few friends. They were so excited for their party and their cupcakes. It was a fun night. Kaylee loves chocolate and Matthew loves vanilla so I had to make 2 kinds of cupcakes. We had tons of cupcakes even after I sent everyone home with some! Before their party they talked about what they wanted (strawberry shortcake and Cars) but I don’t really like characters so I just decided to make my own toppers and use the number 4. I love my silhouette, it is great for making all these fun things!

we had big cupcakes and mini cupcakes

Pink and white cupcakes

and Green cupcakes and lots of sprinkles (Kaylee put sprinkles on all the cupcakes and was very thorough in her work!)

I LOVE party food so there was lots of good food for the adults to eat while the kids played.

These were the party favors, marshmallows dipped in white chocolate and sprinkles. The pink ones were strawberry flavored and so yummy!

They are so cute and so big!

With Mom

with Dad

I made the monograms with my sil. I didn’t feel like doing a lot of decorations so this is all we had. I had the digital picture frame loaded with pictures of them.

I thought this picture was pretty cool of Thomas spinning Averi-no idea how I got it to look like this, but I love it!

The kids had fun playing inside and out.

It wasn’t too hot outside so they enjoyed the play set.

Present opening was fun and crazy. I love how all the kids have to be right by the ones opening presents.

They were so excited to blow out their candles!

Matthew blew his out first

Kaylee next

The kids chowed down on many cupcakes!

Averi loves cupcakes and was so happy to finally get one, I love this picture of her!

Thanks to everyone who came and helped us celebrate Kaylee and Matthew!

Thomas-1st Grade!

2011-08-24T14:11:00.001-05:00

Thomas started 1st grade last week. He is doing very good and loves his teacher. There are a couple of friends from his class last year in his class and he is making new friends. He has more homework (he isn’t really happy about it) but he does it and gets it right! We took some pictures before he went to school. He said he wanted Jim to take him since I get to pick him up. I love how confident he is. I was a little sad not to take him, but knew he was in good hands with Jim.

He loves to wink

Mrs. Whittaker was right by the front doors when they walked in so Jim got a quick picture.

When I was a teacher I would sometimes get really thoughtful gifts from my students. I still have some of them. (Most teachers don’t like apples so don’t give them things with apples on them!) I love these double walled cups with straws. I always had a drink handy when I was teaching because you get so thirsty from all your talking. I used my trusty silhouette and cut some vinyl and put some M&M’s inside the cup because everyone needs chocolate on the first day of school. It turned out pretty cute I think!

They didn’t let the parents go to the classroom the first day so Jim got this picture of Thomas at his desk on the 2nd of school

The Last of the Cabin Trip

2011-08-21T21:31:00.001-05:00

I don’t know why I am in such a not blogging rut, I guess it is finishing up summer and getting back into the school routine-more on that later. Here is the rest of our cabin trip.

Sunday we went to church, it was a very full sacrament meeting! We didn’t go to the whole block, luckily they had sacrament meeting at the end of the block so we were all able to get ready with just 2 bathrooms, quite the feat for 41 people.

Cathy and I took some family pictures for the Burch’s after church-I always enjoy taking pictures of families. It always makes me want to improve my skills and upgrade my camera though!

The rest of the day was spent napping

Playing games

Matthew is an Angry birds expert now!

Editing pictures and reading

We also did a BIG family picture with all 41 of us. As the grandkids get older and go on missions is it going to be a while till we are ALL together again. So we set up a tripod and got everyone together. Jake was in charge of taking pictures so I got the pictures from him and I haven't done any editing yet on them.

Here’s all the grandkids, 26 of them. Averi was not happy. I couldn’t find Thomas's socks and didn’t think it would matter…I was wrong. Jared is the oldest at 21 and Averi is the youngest, she was 19 months.

the silly picture is always my favorite

Here’s the whole family. Kaylee got in a snit so isn’t smiling in any of the pictures.

The kissing picture..

We broke a fence doing this location

I liked this location the best, with the Provo river in the background. Most of the kids were done at this point.

Taking picture of 41 people isn’t easy. I think someone was going to do some Photoshop and swap some heads, I’ll have to get some copies of those.

We started the 4th with a flag ceremony

We played lots of games-the dice game & Nertz (I used to be really good and fast, I am not so good and slow at Nertz now!)

Gabe, Trish & Gabby & the Torgerson’s came up. It was fun to spend the 4th with some of my family too.

Gabe looking creepy in the background

Jim & Mike-not really fair that Mike still has a full head of hair!

Jim and Gabe wanted to get in the Provo river. It was FREEZING and really high and had a very strong current. Luckily they made it out ok!

Our little crazy Averi had to dip her feet in the river too. She said, “Burr”.

We did lots of sparklers and fireworks that night and had more game playing. It was a fun 4th of July.

We brought fireworks from Arkansas because they are much better than the ones they sell in Utah, they actually go up in the air. Jim and the guys (and Trish) put on a great fireworks show.

Jim with his parents, do you think he looks like his dad?

It really was a great cabin trip. Our kids had so much fun and loved being with all their Anderson cousins. They keep asking when we can go back. We left the next morning and drove to Denver and stayed the night there. The drive home the next day took FOREVER! Kaylee had a bug and threw up a couple of times and we were all just tired and cranky and ready to get home!

The Cabin

2011-08-10T11:14:00.001-05:00

The “Cabin” has been in the family since the 1920’s. Jim’s mom grew up going there every summer. It has slowly been added to over the years. Jim and his family went every summer growing up so he has lots of fun memories of the place. A couple of years ago a tree fell on it during a heavy snow storm. Jim’s Uncle Ron and a lot of other family members have worked hard to repair the cabin and even make it a little better.

(Spencer Hale took this picture)

Jim and I haven’t been to the cabin since we’ve had kids. Our kids were so excited to get there. I was kind of dreading the cabin. Our last visit everyone got really sick, it was super hot and pretty miserable. I put on my game face though and didn’t complain. It helped that we stayed in the condo in Park City until Saturday; so I got to go and sleep in a nice bed and had a shower that works really good! Jim and I talked and decided we needed to do whatever we could to make sure our kids had a fun time. That meant not a lot of down time or relaxing for us, but our kids had a BLAST!

Kaylee loved picking the wild flowers.

Thomas trying out the airsoft gun. He really wanted to play with the big guys, but he couldn’t get them to promise not to shoot him so he was content to watch and cheer on Jim.

All the guys ready for Airsoft!

Roman going over the rules and boundaries for the game.

Grandma Anderson had the freezer stocked with plenty of popsicles.

Uncle Jake made walking sticks for the kids. Thomas loved his!

We took lots of walks to the fishing pond.

Saturday we rented a bunch of ATV’s for the day. I only got a picture of Matthew on one. Jim and I took turns going out. It was a lot of fun. I went out with Emilee for a while and we went all the way to the top of a mountain. She drove up and I drove down, it was pretty crazy and fun!

Poor little Averi got pretty dirty at the cabin! She loved it though.

Don’t look too close, you’ll se how dirty and dusty we are from riding ATV’s.

The kids were excited for the campfire and s’mores.

A full living room-our 3 older kids slept on the air mattress together. I think someone ended up in bed with use each night!

The Alpine Slide

2011-08-10T09:27:00.002-05:00

Back to the Utah trip, I still have a few more days to blog about. On Thursday we did the Alpine Slide in Park City. We got Mike, Dawn, Derrick & Maddy to go with us so Thomas would have someone to go down with. Dawn stayed at the bottom with Averi who was napping in her stroller. I just used my iPhone for pictures. I was scared I’d drop my nice camera on the chair lift.

Matthew liked the chair lift, but said it was a little scary. We agreed with him. I have a slight fear of heights and it is a little freaky to have your kids so high with you. Jim and I kept a tight hold on Kaylee & Matthew.

Thomas rode up with Mike, Derrick & Maddy.

We enjoyed the beautiful ride up the mountain. Utah is so pretty and I love the mountains. It was a beautiful day as well!

Jim did video while he and Matthew went down, but I won’t bore you with that! We had a lot of fun doing the alpine slide. After we finished we headed out to the cabin to join all the Anderson’s.

Happy 4th Birthday Kaylee & Matthew!

2011-08-02T22:01:00.001-05:00

I can’t believe that Kaylee and Matthew are 4 years old today! It seems like just yesterday we were in the hospital with them. It is hard to believe they were ever this small. If you want to read about their birth go here.

I love this picture of them sleeping cuddled together in the bassinet.

The first few months with them were a blur, I’m glad I have lots of pictures to remember how sweet and little they were.

We went and did a little photo shoot last week. It was hotter than hades and we were out before 9 in the morning. They never really cooperate for me when I take their pictures. I ended up with a few good shots though. We were all hot and sweaty by the time we finished. I’m ready for some cooler weather!

Kaylee had a hard time making a 4, I thought it was cute anyway.

They really have fun together and are starting to understand what it means to be twins.

Kaylee does not like to be told what to do, EVER! I tried posing her a couple of times, but she really wanted to stand by this tree. It wasn’t worth it to fight with her because she wouldn’t smile or do what I wanted her too. I love how it turned out.

Matthew is a little monkey when I try to take his picture, he likes to do ninja moves or cover his face up. I got a couple of good shots though.

Here’s on of his silly poses.

He was ready to be done at this point!

Here’s the invite for their party (minus the party details). Simple and easy, but the pictures make it.

Kaylee and Matthew we are so blessed that you are a part of our family. We love you and love the joy and fun you bring to our family!

Lagoon!

2011-08-01T20:52:00.001-05:00

On Tuesday of our Utah trip we stayed in Park City. We hung out at the pool and family center at the condos. I got to hit the outlet malls in Park City all by myself. I love to shop alone, with no kids. It was nice and I found some good deals. Jim took the kids out to the cabin while I was shopping. He picked me up and we had a late lunch at McD’s. I stopped at café Rio and enjoyed the yummy sweet pork salad back at the condo. It was nice to have a relaxing day.

On Wednesday we met up with all the Anderson’s at Lagoon. The kids were so excited to see their cousins and we had so much fun. I didn’t think we would last very long at Lagoon, but we stayed till 9 at night. It was so nice because the kids each had a cousin buddy that they could ride rides with and play with. I just took pictures with my iPhone. I didn’t feel like lugging my big camera around. Here is picture overload of Lagoon!

The carousel was the first ride we rode and Averi rode it a lot, probably at least 10 times, if not more!

Kaylee had so much fun with Megan. They rode all the rides together.

Matthew had so much fun, I love the joy captured on his face!

Thomas and Matthew had a lot of fun together. I love when they get along!

Averi and Joshua loved riding the boats. We had so much fun and the kids keep asking when we can go back.

Old BYU 57th Ward mini reunion

2011-07-19T14:49:00.001-05:00

Our good friend Brett (he & Jim have been friends since they were kids) set up a little dinner with some old friends from our last student ward at BYU, the one we met in. I didn’t pull my camera out until the end so I didn’t get some of our friends who had to leave early. Sorry Adrian & Kate and Brigette & Tyler! Jim was in the 57th ward for 3 years, I was just in it for 1 year, I liked to move around! He says he had to just stay put and wait for me to show up!

Brett, Janae & Dax, Brian, Allison & Benson, Aaron & his wife (I can’t remember her name) I look like a dork pointing my remote at the camera!

It was fun to catch up with everyone. Jim thanked Brian for finding me a condo in the ward all those years ago. Brian and I met in Heritage Halls in 1999, we were in the same ward. He had just gotten home from his mission and was scared of girls. We became good friends and hung out. A few years later when I decided to go back to BYU and not on a mission(a whole different story for another time) I called him to see if he knew of a place I could live and some girls in his condo had an opening so I moved in. A few months later Jim and I started dating and the rest is history. It was fun to meet Brian’s wife and new baby and catch up and laugh about old times. It is funny the things people remember about you.

Our kids had so much fun with the Davis kids. They are all a little wild and crazy and got along great! Brett & Janae have and awesome basement with lots of gymnastics equipment and they didn’t want to leave it

Thanks for a fun night Brett & Janae! It was fun to see you and for our kids to meet! Check out Janae’s blog, it is hilarious!

Temple Square

2011-07-19T13:14:00.001-05:00

Monday we headed to Salt Lake. We went by Ron & Mary’s to see their beautiful new kitchen. We got to meet Brad’s fiancé so that was fun! After that we headed to Hire’s for lunch. We enjoyed root beer, burgers & cheese fries with fry sauce. It was so good!

Next we headed to Temple Square

The kids loved all the interactive displays at the visitor’s center.

They thought the Christus statue was amazing. They really loved running down the big ramp!

The Salt Lake temple is always so beautiful

A nice sister missionary took these pictures for us. We discovered I knew her older brothers. It is a small world!

The Tabernacle is just an amazing building.

We enjoyed the fountains and statues.

We did a “quick” tour of the Conference Center. The kids were pretty pooped by this time.

The roof of the conference center is like a park, with trees, fountains and all kinds of plants. It was really neat to see it all in person.

Here we are with the temple behind us. It was a fun day in Salt Lake. I’m glad we could show our kids temple square.

Provo & BYU Campus

2011-07-12T18:53:00.001-05:00

Saturday morning we headed to our old Alma Mater & stomping grounds. We were excited to see campus. It is a lot different than when we were there (12 years ago) but it is still fun to see! We walked around campus a little bit then when to the Bookstore to load up on our BYU t-shirts and goodies (like the yummy fudge).

The kids had fun in the sculpture garden,they really liked the big rock.

I really like this picture of Averi, even though she has a dirty face and crusty nose! I love her eyes.

We had to get a picture with Brother Brigham

Trish and Gabby, aren’t they pretty? She’s single you know…

Me with 3 of the monkeys, Thomas was picking out his t-shirt in the bookstore with Jim.

Gabby wanted to be in our “sister’s picture.”

After touring campus, we had to go to Brick Oven Pizza. Kaylee loved the old fashioned barber’s chair. The pizza was as good as I remembered. One of the young men from our ward just started at BYU for summer so he came to lunch with us. It was fun to see him and feed him!

We had to go to the BYU creamery for ice cream, even though we were pretty full from pizza. The kids loved the ice cream. We saw Elder Scott there, which was pretty cool, we let him eat his ice cream in peace and didn’t bother him.

After the creamery we headed down to the Legend’s grill where there is a ton of BYU Sports memorabilia. The kids had fun running up and down the 3 different levels and Jim and I liked seeing all the sports things from BYU’s past. This is Thomas standing in front of Shawn Bradley’s silhouette.

We had to get of picture of Averi with the Cougar.

We went back to Trish’s and Jim and Averi took a nap. Trish and I took the kids swimming. Trish made us a yummy chicken shis-kabob dinner.

We went to church with her on Sunday. She made us a yummy lunch, pasta carbonara. Her old roomie, Jessica, whom I worked with, came for lunch and to visit. It was fun to catch up with her. After that we headed to Jen & David’s for dinner and cousin playtime. I didn’t pull out my camera so I don’t have pictures of us there . Jen made the pioneer woman’s chicken tacos and they were so good! After we wore the kids out we headed to Park City to stay in the condo with Grandma & Grandpa Anderson.

Utah Road Trip

2011-07-11T16:16:00.001-05:00

We have been planning a trip to Utah for a few months. All of Jim’s family planned a trip to the family cabin so we got to meet up with them. We drove because we couldn’t afford to buy 5 plane tickets and rent a car for a week and a half. The kids have been so excited for this trip. In the weeks leading up to it they would ask when we were leaving for Utah. We were going to leave on Friday morning but I got everything ready to go and we decided to leave on Thursday (June 23) night around 8. We decided to drive all night and not stop. The kids were excited to get on the road. They all fell asleep around 11 and slept pretty good. There was a time that Averi was up and fussy but she finally fell asleep. Jim did most of the driving. He popped peanut M&M’s to stay awake and would wake me up if he started to get to tired. We pulled in to Tucumcari, New Mexico around 5:30 am. We found a Denny’s at a truck stop and had breakfast there. I used my IPhone to take pictures on pit stops, you really don’t want to see better pictures of us after being in the car for so long!

Kaylee is a very well prepared little girl. The kids all packed their own backpacks with some of their favorite things for the car. Part way through the trip on Friday, Kaylee is changing her shirt. The one she was wearing was dirty and she had packed a change of clothes and about 20 pairs of panties in her backpack!

We had a late lunch somewhere in Colorado (I think) at burger king.

We were excited to get to Utah even though we still had several hours left to drive. We got to Trish’s place in Pleasant Grove around 9 that night. The last hour seemed the longest of the day. Averi was so tired of being in the car, she just wanted out! They ran around a lot once we got to Trish’s place and were excited to see Gabby.

So I am sure you are wondering how we survived that long in the car with 4 kids under 6… This was our “secret weapon” for the 24+ hour car ride. We bought two Nintendo DS’s for the kids. It was really nice because we didn’t let them play then until we were in the car (one reason they were so excited to get on the road!) We had 2 DVD players that we rotated around. Jim and I listened to a book on tape and I had my Kindle. We had my IPhone for games as well, my kids are addicted to Angry Birds! I also had a handful of new activities for the kids to break up the monotony. I had a container full of treats. One thing my kids loved was the flavor mixes that you dump in bottled water. I bought a lot of waters and just had them in the car (under Matthew’s feet). They were all sugar free so it is better and cheaper than soda!.The trip went a lot better than I expected. I was really dreading the drive and it was semi-enjoyable. (more posts coming later-Stay Tuned!)

Travelers Game

2011-06-15T20:22:00.001-05:00

Micha got tickets for us all to go to a Travelers game from his work. They were giving away free jerseys for the kids the night we went. They were all excited to put them on, it didn’t last long because it was so HOT!! We ate dinner there, pizza, hot dogs and chicken.

Here’s the crew. Our seats were in the sun and it was really hot.

Thomas was really trying to figure out the game.

We had to get cotton candy for the kids, I enjoyed it too.

Isn’t Maddy a pretty girl?

Our seats were really good, even though we were in the sun. We didn’t last very long at the game. Averi wanted to play on the stairs and we were all super hot; so we left during the 2nd inning. Next time we go we’ll leave the kids at home. We did get to cross it off of our summer fun list and I probably won’t put it on next years!

Backyard Pool

2011-06-13T16:42:00.001-05:00

Target had this great pool on sale a couple of weeks ago. We had to get it for the days it doesn’t work to go to our neighborhood pool. It was the best way to spend $20 for some summer fun.

Jim is good at keeping order on the slide. We only let them use the slide in the pool when we are outside.

I love this picture of Kaylee..it just says summer to me!

We had all the Arkansas DeVaux Cousins over one day last week and the kids played outside all day. It was so nice! They all went to bed early that night because they were so worn out!

We’ve used the pool almost every day, it has made our summer so much fun and gives me a little time to get things done inside!

Thomas

2011-06-08T19:59:00.001-05:00

I got to go to Thomas’s field day. I had a good friend who watched the younger kids so I could go spend the day with Thomas. He was so excited to have me at school with him. I always had plans to be up at the school more and volunteer, but with 3 (crazy) little ones at home it has been hard. Even though it was hot I had fun being with Thomas and his class.

The kids went around to different stations. The kids had a lot of fun!

Look at those eyelashes, he is so cute!

Thomas and one of his buddies.

After the field day fun, we went back to his classroom and the kids ate lunch and then they had a little program for us.

I forget how fast Kindergarteners move…made me miss my days of teaching a little bit! This was a cute song that they sing and dance to.

Thomas was so lucky to have Mrs. McDaniel as a teacher this year. She was a fun teacher and taught him so much. It has been fun to see how much he can do now compared to the beginning of the school year. He is excited to move on to 1st grade.

We are proud of you Thomas and all of your hard work!

Summer Fun 2011

2011-06-06T17:02:00.001-05:00

So I’ve seen all kinds of fun summer to do lists all over the blogosphere. I decided to make my own that worked for me. I designed it in PSE then printed it at Sam’s club. It cost $6 for a 16x20 print, a steal of a deal!

I found a frame on clearance at Hobby Lobby and spray painted it red and hung it up on the pantry in our kitchen. I’ll let the kids choose 2-3 activities each week for us to do. Some of the things we will do a lot, like swimming and sprinklers and going to the library; but others will be special things that we don’t always get to do. We’ll cross out the activities as we do them. Hopefully it will be a fun summer and we will stay busy and happy!

If you want a copy of the PSE file or Jpeg, just leave a comment and I’ll email it to you .If you have PSE you can just change the activities so they suit you and your family. Some of these things are just in Arkansas. I’ll try to blog about the activities we do, the successful ones anyway!

Happy Summer!!!

The Playhouse/Swing Set Saga…

2011-05-23T21:06:00.001-05:00

We bought a swing set/playhouse from Sam’s Club in April. We knew it would be a big job to get it built. First Jim inventoried everything…4 big boxes of wood and tons of hardware-it took a while.

Our good friend Clay came over on a Saturday to help Jim get started. I took the kids down to Hot Springs for the day so they wouldn’t be disturbed.

They took a while to get the ground level and the base set up straight. They ran into a few bumps but got a good start on it.

Jim worked on it in after work and on Saturdays. We had setbacks like broken boards and bad screws that slowed it down!

The kids were so excited when we finally got the swings and the monkey bars up Then we had lots of rain and it was put on hold for a while.

Jim finally got it almost done. We are waiting on a couple more pieces from the manufacturer to finish the porch above the slide and the glider on the swings. Here’s some pictures of the “almost” finished product.

The kids love the crow’s nest with the telescope.

We ordered a steering wheel for it. They pretend like they are steering a pirate’s ship.

Averi loves climbing up the slide and going back down it.

Thomas has gotten good at the monkey bars.

Kaylee loves to climb the wall.

Averi sad that she can’t swing. It is usually a fight for the swings. Hopefully that will lessen when we get the glider up!

So there it is! Jim has spent all his free time on it and is glad to have all but a couple of things left to do. The kids LOVE it. They have so much fun it. It is worth the hours and days it took to build. Thanks Jim for being such a wonderful dad and sacrificing so much time to build this for our kids. We love you!.

100 Things About ME!

2011-05-16T21:53:00.001-05:00

My good friend Andrea did a post about herself and 100 things about her. So many times this blog is about my kids and what they are doing or about our family, I forget about me sometimes and documenting what is going on in MY life. So here goes…

I LOVE Dr. Pepper. I limit myself to one a day and then switch to Diet Coke or Cherry Coke Zero.
I worked in a shaved ice trailer for about 6 summers, I still love and crave shaved ice in the summer, but I’m super picky about how it is made!
We did IVF for our first 3 and Averi was a BIG surprise…at least we know things work right.
I’ve given myself over 100 shots because of above.
I love to read.
I love to cook and try new recipes.
I love Kenny Chesney. I’ve seen him in concert 4 times and I’m going to see him in a couple of weeks. (Edited I’ve seen him 5 times…tells you how long I’ve been working on this.).
I don’t have an appendix. I had it taken out when I was 9 years old.
I got Allergy shots for 5 years and I still have allergies, they aren’t as bad anymore though.
My Dad owned a movie theater when I was growing up.
I’m a chocoholic. I have to have something chocolaty every day!
I HATE Buffet type restaurants.
I like to read books about the Amish people, I find their lifestyle very interesting.
I was Co-Editor of my high school yearbook.
I always want to exercise, but can’t motivate myself to because I have a pretty good metabolism without exercising.
I love learning about and trying new hobbies.
Jim pays all the bills.
I got an iPhone recently and I love it…all the things that it can do are amazing!
My kindle is one of the best gifts I have ever gotten! I love that it adds no clutter to my house when I buy a new book.
Pride and Prejudice is my favorite classic. I’ve read it numerous times and own about 4 different versions of the movie.
The BBC P&P is my favorite, I watch it when I am sick and it helps me feel better.
I bungee jumped when I was 19. I loved it and hated it at the same time.
I used to sell Stampin’ UP! I probably have over 200 stamps sets, I’ve never counted and don’t really want to.
I like Angry Birds, it is strangely addicting.
I hate buffet type restaurants and would rather go hungry than eat at one.
We got rid of cable TV & our DVR over 6 months ago and I don’t miss it like I thought I would. It is very liberating.
I ran over a stop sign the first time I drove.
I am addicted to salt & vinegar chips, as a result all my kids love them too.
I love reading blogs, I have way too many in my Google reader, but it is an addiction and I can’t stop adding more to my reader.
I’m nosey
My sister’s say I’m bossy, I had to be with 3 little sisters & 1 little brother around!
My birthday is on Halloween and I really hate that I have to share MY day!
I love the Glee Music, I don’t always like the story lines, but love the music.
I love hot chocolate.
I love finding a “good deal” and can’t pass it up.
Reese's peanut butter eggs…need I say more?
I love my minivan.
I love big thunder storms.
I would love to be a photographer on the side.
I check Facebook too much
I sometimes floss my teeth twice a day.
I spend way too much time planning my weekly meal plan because I get sucked into the food blogs.
The only foreign country I have been to is Canada and just to Niagara Falls!
Kauai, Hawaii with just Jim was one of the best weeks of my life.
I love Amazon.com
I have to limit myself to one Target trip a week, sometimes every other week.
I went to Utah State my freshman year…it was my rebellion…I transferred to BYU for the rest of my schooling.
I am a True Aggie.
my friends don’t like how I drive, too much big city driving I guess.
I won’t share Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory with Jim or anyone else for that matter.
I love anything with Collin Firth in it.
I am excited for Pride & Prejudice and Zombies….the Movie.
I love Hostess Ding-Dongs. My shower cake for the twins was made of Ding-dongs, it was AWESOME!
I miss Lost.
I love when school supplies are cheap in August. I always stock up on Crayons. I think I bought 30 boxes last year!
Most of the music on my iPod is country.
I was 20 the first time I went to Disneyland, it was so much fun! I went with my friend from USU Michelle.
I have had at least one child (sometimes 3) in Diapers for almost 6 1/2 years. I am ready for Averi to be potty trained!
Sometimes I am too much like my Dad…
I am a Republican.
I love watching The Office with Jim. It isn’t as funny if I watch it by myself…that’s what SHE said.
I’m going to miss Michael Scott.
I got a Silhouette recently and I love it.
I hate cleaning.
I love blogging
Jim spoils me.
I love to pluck my eyebrows.
I love being back in Arkansas.
I could spend all day at the pool.
I miss being tan…I’m glad it is almost summer.
Anything with Bacon is delicious.
I love having a sister just minutes away.
I am blessed with many good friends.
I have a strong gag reflex.
I have a lot of gray hairs.
I color my hair to hide said hairs.
Most people think I am a lot younger since I have little kids.
I HATE when people say “You have your hands full” when I am out with my kids. They usually laugh at me and look at me like I am crazy. I had 4 people say that to me at Target today!!!
I LOVE when people say you are blessed when I am with my kids, because that i s how I usually feel.
I am not in enough pictures with my kids, I am usually behind the camera.
I have never broken a bone.
I love the Harry Potter books, but am usually disappointed in the movies.
I am very klutzy, especially when I am pregnant.
I have the nicest mom in the world.
I love book group and reading books that I wouldn’t choose myself. It gets me out of my reading rut!
I hate dusting and rarely do it.
I have to wear toe rings when I wear sandals, my feet feel naked without them.
I only use OPI nail polish, it is the best.
When my hair is long it is almost always in a ponytail. I’m thinking of cutting it off again.
I love going to furniture stores, I wish it were cheaper to buy furniture and that I could do it more often.
Sonic happy hour is a very good thing
I hope the Hunger Games movie is not a disappointment.
I love fonts, I have over 1,000 on my computer and there are still more I want.
I love listening to my kids laugh, it is the best sound in the world.
I am a horrible typist and am grateful for spell check.
I have 3 crowns on my teeth, me & my sisters all have bad teeth.
I love good chocolate.
I love when I am with all my sisters…we have so much fun and laugh a lot.
I hope my kids go to BYU.
I really love food… there are a lot of things about food on this list.

I am done!!! It only took me 3 months to finish this list! Thanks for the inspiration Andrea.

Olivia Photo Shoot

2011-05-11T21:04:00.000-05:00

Pam asked me to take some pictures of Olivia. She is turning 3 next week and was in need of some updated pictures. We found a good empty field and started shooting. We were a little worried because Livy does not like looking at the camera; but with a little bribery of a Dora treat if she smiled Livy did a great job! Here are my favorites. For those wondering I used some of the Pioneer Woman actions Boost-one of my faves, and colorized. I love the actions because if you don’t like how it looks you just undo it.

The first one I did PW colorized the second is PW boost.

After the field we drove over to the lake in my neighborhood.

Matthew kept bringing Livy flowers.

Here’s her cute, pouty, I’m done face!

Silhouette Fun!

2011-05-06T16:35:00.001-05:00

Jim got me a Silhouette a few months ago and I have finally sat down and had some fun with it. For those that don’t know what a Silhouette is, it is a digital craft cutter. It cuts vinyl and paper. I have been wanting one for a while because I always see all these cool things to do with vinyl but I never have the money to order them. I love finding an idea and then changing it up and designing it just how I want it. Here are a few of the things I have worked on lately.

Brandy and I made this plate when she was here. You can find the plates at Target. They are $1.50 I think, a total steal! The bird on the branch is from the Silhouette store. The fonts are CK Becky (spring) and Palatino linotype (happy). It was fun and easy to make, I think I will do one for each season.

I’ve been wanting to put something above our family picture and I saw this saying on another website. I really like how it turned out, it really finishes the wall. I used CK Chemistry and CK Puppy love. I like how the I in family has a heart over it.

I finally got the kids new pictures printed and hung up. I cut their names out in vinyl to put above their pictures. The girls names are a little too big, but I like how they turned out. I used the fonts CK Stenography & CK Ali’s hand.

I saw this quote on another website and I knew it would be perfect for under the clock in our living room. The cursive font is Scriptina and I used CK chemistry again for the other font. It is one of my favorite fonts, I am using it a lot lately. This was a little harder to do with getting everything lined up on the transfer paper, but I think I did pretty good. I really like how the white and black look together.

I had some space on the vinyl I cut out for the breath saying and I really like to use every inch of my vinyl because I hate wasting it; so I cut this out to go in the playroom above the DeVaux Cousins pictures. I used the font Pea Zobrist. We will have to get some Anderson cousin pictures this summer when we are all together!

I made this for Thomas’s teacher for Teacher Appreciation week. So easy and cute! I can’t remember what font I used for this.

So that is what I have been doing this week while the kids have enjoyed the beautiful weather outside. I think I need to order some more vinyl so I can do some more projects!