Hard Mac

Today I am watching my niece Aubrianna. She and Ashlyn were playing and ready for lunch. Aubrianna asked what we were having. I gave her a few options, one of them was Easy Mac. She said she wanted Easy Mac and that she would go and ask Ashlyn what she wanted. A few minutes later, Ashlyn came running down the stairs yelling, "mommy, mommy......I want hard mac". It took me a second to realize what she meant. She said, "I like the kind of macaroni that takes longer......it tastes better". So, what is the point of Easy Mac if my kids don't even like it? It's a good thing I got it on clearance (there must have been a reason for that).

Kids First Day of School

You've got to give Jeff some credit for this. He was posting these pics and captions on facebook and I asked him if he would post them to our blog also. We got the pics but no captions. Hopefully he will come back to this and edit. The kids have separate first day of school pics because there days started on different days. Alexis and Max started on Thursday and Ashlyn on Friday. Ashlyn was so excited for her first day of Kindergarten!

Pay it Forward

We had the most unexpected thing happen to us last week. We had some friends take us to dinner at a nice Italian Restaurant. At the end of our meal a lady from the other table asked us if we watched the morning news. Okay........... I wont go into her story (it was pretty long and confusing). Long story short, she and her husband picked up the tab for all four of us. She then took off a bracelet she was wearing on her wrist and gave it to me. It says "Pay it Forward". Seriously the nicest thing a stranger has ever done for us! I am still wearing it looking for my opportunity to PAY IT FORWARD!

Max's blog post

Max was asking me if he could make his own blog. I told him we have a family one. He wants to post something. Here he goes....

Max

win I was in Las Vegas I wint to a lake. It was so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so fun.


I wint to SAND D AGO frist I wint to SE WROLD I got to pet som steng ras. Aftr I wint to the wild anmle cendom I sall a lots of anmlse and got to slepd ther it was fun

THE END.

Max on the piano...

Baby Steps.............

I thought if I waited long enough Jeff might just surprise me and post something. I thought maybe for our 11th anniversary (Feb 13) or just maybe for my birthday (March 2) or possibly Alexis's birthday (March 21), Ashlyn's birthday (April 12) or Reese's birthday (May 27). NOPE. The idea of posting for me started to get overwhelming when I thought of how long it has been and how much I need to post to catch up. It is always downloading the pics and getting them on that is hard for me. I thought I would just start with a funny story, no pictures (though I wish I would have taken one of this) and easy to post.

A couple of days ago Ashlyn asked me to come in her room and help her pick something out to wear. This is not unusual for her. She will typically have 2 or 3 outfits laid out (always with one in mind that she really wants to wear). It's almost like a test to see if I can guess right most of the times. So, recently when she did this she had 4 outfits but each had an accessory. One had a bracelet, another had a hair thing, the third a necklace and the last had.........Dracula teeth. She had picked the Dracula teeth to go with a soccer jersey (something she thought I wouldn't want her to wear). How could I resist picking that one? The thought of her wearing the teeth around as an accessory made me laugh. When I told her that was my choice she cringed and said, "no, that's not a choice anymore" and put it away. It doesn't sound very funny now but, it is such an Ashlyn thing to do. I figured if I was going to use this as my journal I need to be better at posting the cute stories about my kids.

More to be posted soon......................

Happy Birthday Jeff!!!

Today is Jeff's birthday and he is turning 34! Seriously can you believe it? I remember when we first met at Ricks. We were sitting near each other in a broadcasting class. He was sitting maybe two seats ahead and one row over. I saw my friend talking to him and then started quizzing her about him. Who is that? How do you know him? Is he an RM? I know, random question. I was a sophomore in college....you know how that goes. I felt I was too old to date a freshman boy and knew I wanted to marry a returned missionary (not that I wanted to get married, it was the LAST thing I wanted to do that year) so why even be interested in a guy who hadn't. Anyways, I remember thinking she was wrong when she told me he had served a mission. Jeff could have passed for a kid in high school. We met that night at a dance where he had to pull out his drivers licence to prove he was 22. Blew me away.....and swept me away at the same time. Here are my Jeff favorites (please feel free to add on):

1. He is the best dad! He loves to spend time and play with the kids and they love the attention. Still a kid at heart (this is why I feel like I have 5 kids sometimes).

2. He makes me laugh. Even when I'm mad or frustrated and the last thing I want to do is get un-mad (I don't think that's a word) he can almost always turn my mood around. He is just so witty (not always in a good way).

3. He is a hard worker. No matter if it's at Sprint or at home he works hard.

4. He is so darn cute! I still can't believe how lucky I am to have such a handsome husband.

5. He's going to hate me for saying this but, he is such a spiritual giant. I am constantly in awe how he makes anything having to do with church a priority. Whether it's his personal scripture study, prayer, or in his callings. He definitely makes me want to be a better person in that way.

6. I love that he loves sports. Yes, you read that right.

7. He is frugal (most of the time). Example: He is still driving our first car - a 1997 Nissan Altima that is just at 200,000 miles. I also love this because he can put up with my deal hunts and has learned to appreciate them (I think).

8. He has such a tender heart. He is always willing to put whatever he is doing aside to help others when needed.

9. I love our late night dates. Several times a week after we put the kids into bed we watch our recorded programs together. Yes, it means more tv but, it has been a nice way to get alone time together. I don't think that he even minds that I fall asleep almost 10 minutes into watching them either!

10. Jeff's a great dancer. No kidding. That is one thing I remember liking about him that first night we met.

11. Last but not least -Jeff's a great husband!! Obviously... read 1-9.

I don't get a chance to brag on Jeff much so, I thought I would take the chance while I could. To wrap this up I will close with the words to this song that Jeff has made a tradition in our family. He and his family sang it growing up. Wish you could hear the melody. It is a song his family learned at Aspen Grove I believe.

Happy birthday happy, happy birthday. This is your day so have a lot of fun, boom, boom, boom. We're all waiting for the celebration, for the celebration to begin so, blow out the candles on your cake and make a wish, wooh! serve everyone your favorite dish, favorite dish. Boom, boom, boom. Happy birthday happy, happy birthday this is your day so happy birthday to you!