My Blur of a Week!

Do you ever have weeks that feel like they were two or three weeks, instead of just seven days...that was this last week for me! It has been another wonderful, busy week as always...just kind of a blur for some reason. Tad started out in Kansas on Monday and ended up in Ohio for Friday and Saturday. His company is going through a lot of changes, so he is having to attend a ton of meetings. He will be in California next week hiring someone and then hopefully home for awhile! Despite the horrible inversion hanging over our little Cache Valley...we wrapped the scarfs around our faces and headed out a lot this week!

* One of the great benefits of living in a little college town are the great camps that they hold for children. Last year I ran into a flyer advertising a basketball camp put on by the business department, taught by the USU players. It was only 15 dollars for the entire day! Tad went along with Aurianna and was shocked to find the top 4 players coaching the little players. He was expecting the guys off of the bench. Aurianna had a blast and got pictures and her tshirt signed by all of them. Now when she goes to the games she calls them all by name and even gives them high fives when she sees them!
So on Saturday the USU Cheerleaders put on a cheer camp! They had a great day and were so proud of the Utah State Tshirts that they got and all the cool moves that they learned! That night they got to perform as the half time show at the game! I am not sure what Aurianna was more excited about, performing or being able to run through the tunnel that the players get to run through! But she had a blast!!!


Aurianna and Grace sitting in their own cheerleading section(all alone, with mom and dad keeping a constant eye!)

My cute kids walking to the stadium!!! Trey and Liv were so excited to watch their big sis!

The cute cheerleader that taught Aurianna and Grace's class!

All of the kids practising!

*Trey was fascinated by Big Blue. At first I though that he was afraid of him. But then I noticed that he had had the same piece of licorice in his hand for awhile. When I asked him if he was going to eat it, he said "No, it is for Big Blue."

*We made cute valentine sugar cookies (I am kind of starting early on the whole Valentines thing because I am going to be in NY. The kids aren't happy about it so I guess I am trying to make up for it!!!). While we were frosting the cookies I had on a little Michael Buble and we were dancing around. Trey got off of his chair and came over to me and stuck his hands out in front of me. I said, "do you want to dance!" He said, "Ya mom, your the princess and I am the puppy." Livia pipes up and says, "NO Trey! Mom is the princess and you are a King silly...not a puppy, puppies don't dance!". To me it all sounded like a fairy tell The Princess and the Puppy!


Trey helped me mix up the cookies!

* We made life size Trey, Livia and Aurianna paper dolls. The kids had a blast coloring their bodies and then on separate pieces of paper we made clothes, shoes, jewelry and any thing else that Livia could dream up! It was a lot of fun!


Yes, Livia is wearing her striped swimsuit underneath polka dot pants from last year...it got the creative juices flowing!!!
* Alex and I bought our tickets to New York!!! We both are so excited, I think that we talk to each other a couple of times a day, just going over and over all the things that we want to see and do! Alex and Tad came up with this brilliant idea! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
* Friday night we held our first "Girls Night Out With A Purpose" night! Tiff and I have been so excited about getting this started, but wanted to wait until after the holidays were over! The idea is that we get together once a month and each bring 10 dollars! We plan service projects and on the nights that we get together we either work on the projects (if it requires making or putting together something) or we deliver it! We had a great turn out and came up with some really great ideas! 10 dollars from one person can't do a whole lot, but 10 dollars from 15 can at least make a dent. There is already a club like this on the other side of Cache Valley called the Cache 10. They had some really great ideas and allowed us to branch out to this side of the valley. With so many people out of work or sick, it isn't hard to find places to serve. We are really excited about getting our kids involved with service, so we have included them in a lot of the plans! Thanks to all that came, and if you are interested in coming, let me know...we will always have room!

* Aurianna's school on Saturday did a great fund raiser! Our dollar movie theater (which is actually three dollars not one) opened up the movies Bolt and Madagascar 2 to the school for just a dollar a person! It was so much fun to go and get to know so many parents and see a great movie! (we went to Bolt, we had already seen it but the kids were excited to see it again!) Both theaters were packed to the brim! It has been so much fun to volunteer at the school and get to know so many great people. I feel so blessed that Aurianna gets to go to such a wonderful school and have such wonderful teachers! If you are in need of some ideas for cute Valentine gifts for your teachers, I will be posting a couple that I came across soon!

* And then today. I got released this week from the RS presidency. We all knew that it was coming soon. Our dear, sweet Education Counselor just found out last week that she has Breast Cancer. She is so amazing with such a sweet spirit but has had a doozy of a year with two of her close friends passing away, her daughter living in California giving birth to her child more than a month early and having major back surgery on top of it all. She just had a mammogram in June and this aggressive cancer is going to cause her to have Chemo and Radiation. My kids have turned into little Love Bugs delivering gifts to her daily. Our thoughts and prayers are with her constantly as she fights against this and goes into surgery tomorrow.
This calling has been such a blessing to me during one of the hardest years of my life. I have had my own group of grandma's thanks to our retirement committee in our ward. I cannot count the hugs and calls and letters I received through our difficult summer. And the amazing presidency that I served with, words aren't enough. I learned so much just by being able to feel the spirit of each sister every time we got together! Besides that, I got to help plan a party every other month, which always makes me happy. I have been so sad to leave, but I am excited about going into Young Women's! I know that when the time comes for me to leave there, I will be just as sad. And I get to go to girls camp...you can't beat that!!!

Well, I hope that you haven't been too bored with this post. I will leave with one more little story....
As I layed my head back on the couch after church, just to breath for just a second, I accidentally fell asleep. The next thing I know, Aurianna is yelling, "mom, you have to come see what Trey is doing." These words are heard often in my house and never mean that he is doing something wonderful and good, like cleaning his room or folding the laundry. As I walked up the stairs, there is my son on his hands and knees doing a 'wax on, wax off' movement in a sea of Ajax. He has not just poured our industrial size of Ajax onto the floor, he has thrown into the air. It is in every crack and crevice of our black cabinets and covering our shower curtain. The mirrors and counter top are covered in a thick layer of dust. On the floor it is about two inches thick over the entire floor. Now yes, this is my fault. I accidental left the Ajax on the side of the tub when I cleaned it yesterday...but really...ahhhhhhhhhh! Tad was home teaching and I hurried and put Trey into the shower (in my bathroom). All I could do was sweep a couple of times and then walk into the other room because I was choking so bad. I really wish Heavenly Father would have installed a "day of rest" button on all of our kids...for some reason they didn't get the memo! Oh, and there are no pictures of this great event...I was way to mad to get out my camera. I was too busy having flashes in my head of me handing over a huge bottle of Ajax to my grandkids one day and saying "have at it, make daddy proud!!!"

Our thoughts and prayers are with you Mr. President!

I was so excited on Tuesday to watch President Obama being sworn in as the new President of the United States! It was such a touching, amazing moment as we watched history in the making! I was brought to tears more than I expected and couldn't help but be excited about the future! My favorite part was watching the children that were at the different sights watching the speech of the President. The look in their eyes, even though some were so young, looked as though they new something very important was happening.

There is a beautiful song on this website that my mom told me about...until 10pm tonight it is free to download.

http://www.oprah.com/article/world/peopleandpolitics/pkginauguration/20090119_tows_americassong

The Tooth Fairy Files!

Yes, another letter has been discovered! The price has been lowered, but accomplices have been recruited! Aurianna lost her tooth tonight while Tad and I were out on a date! Instead of writing it herself, she obviously talked the babysitter into doing it for her. I have discovered this is a talent of Aurianna's...to persuade people into to doing things. She does it to her sister and brother all of the time. Back to the letter. Her original asking price of ten dollars has been dropped down to four. I guess she decided that she needed to reconsider since the Tooth Fairy still only left two when she asked. It is a very well thought out letter. I love how she points out that there has been damages because of this lost tooth, and that it is going to cost the TF big time! And then she clearly states that the money is going to a good cause...a new camera for herself! She even uses her manners (proud mommy moment!). Please enjoy the second letter in the Tooth Fairy Files. I will post the first also just in case you missed it!

My Favorite Fridays!

I am up way too late tonight and I will be wishing that I had been asleep hours ago when Trey comes creeping into my room tomorrow at 6am. But the plus side is that it is officially Friday and I can write my favorite Friday post!

I love Daddy Daughter Dates!!! DD Dates started when Aurianna was about 2 years old and I went back to school at Washington State when we lived in Vancouver! Tad would watch Aurianna while I was at class and they started some traditions, that after I was done with school, they didn't want to give up. So, once a week they would go out on DD dates for ice cream. As soon as Liv was old enough, she started going too! And Trey in the last year has just started going on Father Son outings!

Tonight was Liv's DDD and they went to the Utah State BBall game! She came home so excited...but not about the game. This is what she said to me when she got home...

"Mom, there were some crazy ladies at the game that had glitter all over them and shoooook their tooooshies(while demonstrating how this was done!)!" I guess during half time the "Golden Girls" performed which just happens to be elderly women dancing...like a 92 year old lady that can do the splits...crazy! Livia got a kick out of them though!!!

I have to post this too really quick, because even though I think that Liv will keep saying words like she does...and I should probably be correcting her...I know that it is all going to end way to soon. We were going into the work out place today and Trey had a piece of paper in his pocket that dropped on the ground. Livia said to him "Trey, how many times do I have to tell you not to glitter." It is just so dang cute when it comes out of her mouth, I don't want to correct her. She is very passionate about being 'green'...and if anyone can sparkle it up, she can!
Happy Friday all!

Quick conversation with Livia

The other day Livia was helping me put together Trey's train. Here is how our conversation went...
Livia: "Is this from China?" (meaning the train set)
Me: "Well, I'm not sure, but I don't think that it was made in China."
Livia: "Does it look like this in China?"
Me: "I haven't ever been to China babe. I don't think that it looks like this in China though." (It is a FP Geo Tracks)
Livia: "I am going to have daddy take me to China on our next Daddy/Daughter date! We will have a lot of fun there! Then I will let you know!"


...We have gone from getting ice cream to going to movies to going ice skating and now going to China! I can't even imagine what is next...but I am sure that my kids can think of something!

Don't hate me because I am beautiful!!!

Dustin is going to kill me...but I couldn't help myself! The kids and I found a box of old photo albums today. We found this picture and the kids could not stop laughing! Aurianna said, "who is that guy and why is he wearing a dress!". Then when she figured out who it was...she was a little concerned that her Uncle was wearing a dress!

This was the morning of my wedding day! I think that he was singing a little Michael Jackson while he was strutting around in this ensemble! Too bad I didn't find this last year...you guys could have put it in the wedding video! Thanks for the walk down memory lane Dustin...you made my day! Love ya!Oh, by the way...you make a beautiful bride!

WE LOVE YOU DADDY!

Tad had to stay in Ohio for one more day. The kids were bummed when we found out tonight...so we made slushies, played a little basement soccer(the deer were the goal keepers!) and decorated signs for Dad! Hurry home Dad!



Some for me...

Some for you...

This should be against the law!!! PLEASE HELP!!!

Ok...so this is my new project...our basement, ahhhhhhh! I am not really sure what the people before us had in mind. The rest of the house is just fine....it's like they had a deep, dark secret down in the basement. Up until this point, I have just had the basement be the kids huge playroom. We recently moved the girls into the room that is just further down from the basement. I really hate having to walk through this room every night! Oh and yes...those are deer on the wall! They even put in spot lights shining directly onto the deer...it scared my mom half to death when she came up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night soon after we moved in!



Anyway...this is where I need help.

I have been staring at this fire place heater thingy trying to decide what I am going to do. It is horrid and I don't use it because it is gas and it freaks me out.
So I am turning to you creative people! Any ideas? If you have any suggestions, I would be ever so grateful!

One down...thousands to go!

I have decided that there are way too many talented people out there (majority of you are included in this 'talented' group). The problem with that is, that I see your ideas, or discover them on the Internet and my list of things 'I want to make' gets longer and longer! Well I am excited today because one of the things on that list, I just finished!!! I found this idea a few months ago and thought that it would be so much fun to make and to have at dinner time! It is called a Table Talk Box! http://www.kmckaydesigns.com/as-seen-on-tv.html


For Enrichment tonight, Tiffany and I are teaching a class about all of the creative things that you can do with your computer (scrapbooking, blogging, cooking, tutorials, etc...). We decided to make these yesterday so that we could put them out for everyone to see. If you go to this site you can print off the directions and the cards that go inside it. The cards have a fun question game that you can play during dinner and then there are also High and Low cards for each person to put the high for the day and their low for the day! There are also some journaling cards! I made my box a little bigger out of a photo/video box so that we could save things in it like movie or event stubs and different memory things! They were really fun and easy to make! One project down and way to many to go!!!

Only In Cache Valley

Sometimes living in Cache Valley is like living in a whole new world! Every once in a while something happens that makes me turn around and say "what"? For example, when we first moved here our neighbors brought over goodies. They sat in our living room and said that they just leave their doors unlocked all of the time because every so often someone will come over and just leave a treat on their table. I think that they were a little confused because the very next day ADT came to install our security system! Only in Cache Valley would you still leave your doors open all day and all night in hopes that someone is going to leave you a surprise...I think that I have lived and visited too many places to trust that I am not going to get an unwelcome surprise! So today I had another Cache Valley moment. It is freezing up here, like 8 below freezing. This morning I went to return our redbox at the McDonald's. One machine was frozen and wouldn't work and the other just kept spitting out the movie. Another guy was trying to return his also. I said to him, "well, I think Lee's (the grocery store) has a redbox machine, good thing I have to go over there next." He says, "your headed that way? Would you mind taking this back for me." I looked at him amazed and puzzled as he reached out his hand with the movie in it to me. Was he really going to trust me, a complete stranger to return his movie for him. I took that movie as he jokingly said, "remember to return it or it will cost me 25 bucks!" I had to laugh as I got in the car and said to myself, only in Cache Valley. In Seattle or even in Salt Lake, I don't think that I would have done this even if it was a sweet 72 year old lady. I headed over to Lee's and returned the movie right away! I love living in Cache Valley! I love the innocence of it all. I love that Smithfield is small enough that they can hang little signs in between the streets, even to announce a local dance studios performances! I am not sure if I will ever leave the doors unlocked or hand a perfect stranger my movie to return, but I hope that some of the simpleness rubs off onto me!

My Friday's Favorite Things!

So I have two favorite things today! First off is my husband! He hates me blogging about him, but I think because he is my favorite thing today...he will live! So why is he my favorite thing...well lots of reasons, but today it is because he has spent the last three days catching up on all of the laundry. To some, that may not be a big deal, but catching up to us is about 30 loads of laundry...yes I said 30! He has had the last two weeks off of school and work so we have been too busy playing instead of doing laundry. I hate it when laundry gets backed up...hate it! Anyway...he is my Favorite Friday thing today...thanks honey!

My second actually goes along with laundry! I had never heard of these but found them tonight in my searches on how to be more organized (for those of you who know me, you already know that I need help with this!) My sock basket is out of control...I hate matching and folding socks! So when I came across someones website talking about how they found a great way to organize their socks...I was thrilled. So I bought these tonight!


They are called sock-locks and here is the website, just in case anyone else has this same problem!http://www.sock-locks.com/

Quick Aurianna Moment!

I took the kids to the Fun Park tonight while Tad watched the U of U game! The snow had started coming down while we were driving. The snowflakes were the big huge flakes that really make you feel like you are in a winter wonder land! When we got out of the car, Aurianna couldn't stop looking up into the sky and letting all of the snowflakes fall onto her face. I could tell she was thinking about something...the wheels were moving!!! She said, "Mom, are you sure we don't live in a snow globe?" After telling her that I was positive that we didn't live in a snow globe, I had to chuckle at the picture in her head...we just got turned upside down and the snow was falling all around us!

New Years Day Sledding!

We were all so excited to go sledding today! We have a huge field right beside our house and they are starting to develop half of it. They left a huge pile of dirt, which made a perfect sledding hill for all of the neighbor kids! Kaya came with us and had so much fun chasing the kids down the hills! Aurianna was a die hard and would have stayed out there all day, but the rest of us were pooped!

Aurianna catching some air!

Kaya!


The Girls!

The Greatest New Years Eve!

When we first started discussing our plans for New Years Eve, I will admit, I was a little bummed. Tad and his brother had great tickets to the USU bball game and wouldn't be home until 10. I am not really ready yet to let my kids stay up until midnight...they tend to be a little cranky when they stay up past 8:30. So I got into planning mode! We had a blast! We made sock puppets!


We had a parade...(the kids were hilarious!!!) I have video of it...but I just got my video camera and haven't downloaded the software yet...I will have to post it later!
Then we had sparkling cider and cheesecake!



Then came the countdown...at 7:59! Bring on the pots and pans!(more video!)


Then the fireworks (well maybe just some little poppers, but they still had fun!)



Then Bed!!!
It was such a fun night! It was fun to celebrate when Tad and Tyler got home too! Happy 2009 everyone!

Ice Cream and A Movie with Uncle Tyler!

Uncle Tyler (Tad's brother) came to visit us for the holidays from Oklahoma! My kids favorite thing to do when he comes to visit is to jump on him first thing in the morning and wake him up! I'm not positive, but I think that this is Uncle Tyler's favorite thing too! He even reminds them when they forget! We all went to the movie Bedtime Stories and then to the ice cream shop after! It was a great day and always wonderful memories for the kids!

Trey and Uncle Tyler!





Yummy, yummy ice cream!

Where do I begin?

With Tad and the kids having two weeks off, I am a little behind in my blogging. I should probably start with Christmas morning! The kids were so cute on Christmas morning! They were of course up at the crack of dawn!



They loved all of their gifts from Santa and Mom and Dad!



I decided to make a huge Christmas dinner. It was a little silly because it was just us, but it was a lot of fun! We had a huge turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, pumpkin pie and an apple pie(this is my apple pie in a bag recipe...everything from scratch and Tad's favorite!)



It was a wonderful day! Everyone had a ton of fun and loved everything! I thought it was hilarious though at the end of the day...all those new toys and my kids go down in the basement and make a fort! Oh well!