first oreo's

I was hoping to get a really cute photo shoot of Kimball eating his first oreo's. No such luck. Once I handed over the cookies & milk, there was no way I was directing the show! This kid knew what to do & I simply had to stand back and laugh!
He seems a little concerned that his hands are getting messy. But only for a BRIEF second!
Kimball's thought process: "that was awesome, let's do that again!"
Yep, it's official. He's an addict now.

Will you be mine?

Valentines. Sigh. It should be fabulous right? A romantic dinner, flowers, chocolates. That's what's expected anyway. To me those are just things. I wish I had spent more time getting into Valentines Day this year. I could've made it a 2 week experience but I was just so busy with the flu, Rich's 40th birthday and Joe coming for a visit that I didn't get to spend a whole lot of prep time on this holiday. Even so, we had a blast.

The night before Valentines Day, I had to try out some chocolate dipped fruit. Usually I do a chocolate fondu pot, but this microwave version was so easy. All the kids wanted to make this a Sunday evening tradition. After I dipped strawberries, black berries & blue berries in chocolate I set it in the middle of the table and everyone went at it. If you notice Morgan's expression, it was obviously a BIG HIT!

On Valentines Day we dipped strawberries for our neighbors and the did the same for us. Their's looked prettier and next year we'll have to up our game!

Morgan and Taylor set the table with printed napkins. Mine said "you rock" cause I do!



We had mashed pototoes, roasted turkey breast, & sauteed sugar snap peas. And dessert, well, you know we liked our dessert!

What does a green shirt and a horse vest have to do with V-day? We'll never know, but that's Morgan for ya. She picked it out special just for dinner!

Here are the valentines that we attached to our sweetheart boxes for a classmates and friends. We had great intentions of mailing them out to our friends and family, but they're still sitting here on my desk. Another long sigh. Happy Valentines my little family. I hope you know that I adore you!

Rich's 40th

I know Rich's birthday has come and gone. And I didn't take many pictures of it. Kicking myself now, but really I was just so busy planning all the fun that I didn't think of picking up the camera. So now you'll just have to imagine that as the nicest wife in the world, I planned an amazing shin-dig! We had a wonderful evening with friends and food. We played a "Who knows Rich best" game and found some interesting facts about him. For instance, did you know that he was arrested for suspicion of smuggling drugs? Or that he's seen Titanic 7 times in the movie theater but never once since its come out? Or that he was offered a music scholarship to BYU but declined since he had no desire to major in music. He also did a book report on the dictionary once. Oh yeah, he was a favorite among the ladies with that one! I was really impressed with how creative people were on the gifts. One couple made an AARP poster with some great slogans on embarrassing products you might need when you get older. And there were men's diapers a plenty! I put them in the car to exchange, but was too embarrassed to actually return them to a store. Then Rich took my car into the shop for an oil change only to get into the car and realize that the guys working on it, had to move the diapers to get into an electic panel. Rich doesn't get embarrassed too often, but he was RED after that!



The evening was fun and Rich felt loved so mission accomplished! His brother came in to town to visit and one night while I was tucking kids in bed, I came downstairs to find this site. Too cute! They sat like this and talked for over an hour.


Happy 40th babe! I hope you feel loved and adored and too young to use most the gifts you were given! Although you're never too young to be excited about your new 55 inch LED 3-D Sony TV from your stinkin' awesome wife. "Toot Toot!" (That was just my own horn!)

reasons I heart him

Since this is our family's personal blog, I guess it's ok to get personal. More like cheesy. And if you know me, I like cheese. It's Valentines and the reason I love V-day isn't just for the chocolate covered strawberries. Although, they're stinkin' awesome! I love thinking about the fun people in my life & I like that one day of the year it's ok to be sappy, cause the Hallmark cards are pouring it on as well! We've been married 14 years. That's just crazy. It doesn't feel that long! Over those years, I've had strangers comment to me about your love for me. Once on an airplane a little old lady leaned over, (she was sitting directly infront of us in those backward seats that face the other seats & you had gone to the restroom) she said to me. "What I would give to have my husband look at me even ONCE! the way your husband looks at you! That is LOVE!" Then, she looked sadly at her husband snoring next to her. It was funny, yet so beautiful that she had noticed how you look at me. Another time a person, who I didn't know very well at church, commented that "he lights up when you walk in the room. It's like you're the only one there!" I've had one other friend tell me something similar, and since then, I try not to take it for granted. The way you look at me with sparkly eyes. I do love it! I began thinking about all the reasons I heart you. So without further interruption, I bring you the reasons I heart him: (that means you babe)

-Your laugh. It stops me in my tracks. It's almost sweeter than a baby's giggle.

-Your sparkly eyes. They get me everytime.

-I love that I can't stay mad at you because you're so stinkin adorable, how could I be mad at you when you look at me with your sparkly eyes?

-I heart seeing you hold our babies.

-I love how excited you get over a new gadget. I think you have sparkly eyes for everything at the apple store. I'll try not to be jealous.

-You make the best shortbread on the planet & my hips can prove it!

-You drop everthing & are willing to upset the people you work with just because I need you. I try not to have you do that very often, but I appreciate that you're willing!

-You would, and have, driven an hour out of your way to pick up something for a friend. No complaints, you just do it because!

-You jump at any opportunity to help anyone, not just friends. Especially if it requires using your tools!

-You never complain about me or criticize me in any way. Is it because I'm perfect? Or are you just that nice? :)

-You are an adorable father and our children feel close to you.

-You take the time to go on walks or bike rides with the kids.

-You can fix anything and EVERYTHING! Seriously, you got mad mad skills!

-You never get annoyed at all the home improvement or furniture projects I give you.

-You never complain about my crazy decorating ideas or the garbage art I bring home for you to hang on our walls. I think you secretly know that I'm a brilliant decorator. :)

-You support me in all my "girl's trips" or girl's night outs.

-You never ask me how much I spend.

-You'd give up everything for your family.

-You make me more confident in myself.

-I love that I can give you any problem and you find a way to fix or solve it.

-You put up with me.

-You support me ALWAYS.

-You rarely get mad.

-You are the most patient man I'll ever know.

-You let me dress you and will even wear purple and pink!

-I know I can always count on you.

-I've learned to relax more because of you. I'll never be as relaxed as you though, I'm not even sure it's possible!

-You are a hard worker and no job is ever beneath you!

-I heart when you kiss me on the side of my eyes.

-You are loving.

-You're the best NON-complainer EVER! I need to takes notes, I know.

-I love when you cook and bake for us.

-I love that when anything breaks, the kids say (including our 2 yr old) "daddy fix it".

-I love that our children adore you because you make them feel confident and loved.

-I love that I get to spend forever with you Mr. Sparkly Eyes.

Happy Valentines my love!

Legacy

Legacy. It's a big word. What kind of legacy am I leaving my children? What kind of mother am I? I've slowed down a little lately, just so I can really decide what kind of mother I want to be. What kind of memories will my children have of me? Will they remember how impatient I am when making dinner and have 3 little ones crying at my feet that they're STARVING? Will they think I spent too much time on the phone or computer to listen to them? Do they think I'm mean? Or do they think I'm fun, nice & approachable? I'm hoping the latter. I'm writing this blog entry so my kids can one day look back and understand, that I wasn't just a rule enforcer. I wasn't just a taxi driver, chef (a bad one at best) or the maid. In case they get the truth a little scrabbled, I would like to brain wash, I mean, REMIND them that I was the mom who:

-Sang songs to them at bedtime while scratching their arms.

-made peanut-butter popcorn for after school snacks & had friends over.

-loves to dance and watch their dance performances.

-who tries to make tedious jobs a game.

-who likes suprises and always has one up my sleeve.

-am a sucker for pleases and thank-you's.

-always planning the next party or the next vacation and always has fun planned on the weekend.

-really good at Boggle, I myself don't even understand why.

-encouraged you to "not be self conscience", embrace who you are.

-stayed positive, always focusing on the blessings.

-tried to be a dog family. I'm mean, really, really tried. Just ain't gonna happen!

-can see you get super embarrassed when your dad kisses me, but loves it anyway.

-never wants you to feel alone.

-made the cutest valentines for your class at school.

-would drop everything just to hug you and make sure you're ok. (still working on that one)

-taught you how to be a friend. The good kind that you remember for life.

-let you eat cake & ice cream for breakfast every now and then.

-made up songs on the way to school & sang them at the top of my lungs.

-encouraged creativity and allowed you to dress yourself, even though you ended up wearing dress up shoes and pajamas to Costco.

-loved you more than anyone knew was possible.

I just thought you should know that.

Snow day

This is my first blog entry and I feel like I need to buy some balloons or a cake or something to celebrate it. A blog just for me, or my family anyway. No requirements. No deadlines. No one to impress. Just a simple journal of our every day chaos and laughs. I want to be able to look back without regrets (too many anyway) and see what we accomplished. How much fun we had. I want PROOF to show the kids that "See! I'm a stinkin nice/fun mom!" I've had this desperate need for awhile to journal for my kids. The not so glamorous and perfectly done hair, moments that slip by too quickly. I was extremely frustrated looking around at all the clutter that 3 little ones accumilate when the thought came to my mind, "some day this house will be empty and you'll ache for a nose to wipe and little clothes to wash." While I don't know if that statement will ever be really true, it saddens me to realize how much I wish away my life. I wish they were older so we could do more things, have more help, throw less tantrums, be potty-trained. You name it, I wish it. But I'm missing out on enjoying the chaos. So I quit my photography business that I worked so hard on for the last 1.5 years and I feel no sadness about it. Instead, I'm taking the few skills I learned and giving them to my family. Happy b-day kids, you've got your mom back! So here is the beginning of our journal, starting off with a perfectly mundane day where the weather is exceptionally bad and school has been cancelled for the 5th time in 8 days. We already have a two hour delay scheduled tomorrow morning so we'll see if we have another snow day coming our way. In the meantime, here is how completely unproductive we were today. Don't ya love unproductivity!

Movie with our neighbor Anna on my bed. Special treat!

The snow shoe mess I've come to dread........

This is what I turned around to find while I was making dinner. Apparantly I'm not fast enough!

Note to self: Need more peanut butter. Put on higher shelf!

We did manage to do a 30 minute pick-up of the whole house without much complaint. And we made a decent dinner of teriyaki salmon and rice. Go us!