One Year Older.

And Wiser Too. Happy Birthday to ME.
OK.  a post about my self? Not really, it's more a tribute to those who love me.
We went to Idaho for my birthday this year. I told Ty all I wanted to do was go see my family and hang out with them in Idaho. So that's what we did. And I loved every minute of our time together. Thanks to all my siblings, siblings in laws, and nieces and nephews for a great time.
When we got home life resumed to normal and our week progressed. Ty was going to make me a cake but, I assured him I had plenty of beautifully decorated and very yummy cupcakes (thanks Missy and Trinity) in Idaho. Plus Kate made a very delicious home made chocolate cake. (Mom's recipe) I was already treated to sweets so he didn't need bother.
As it turns out, that didn't quite cut it for the kids. I guess I needed to have a celebration here at home too. So Ty picked out a chocolate mousse cake and the kids sang. I blew out candles and opened my gift.
I've been needing new pots and pans for awhile now and that's just what I got. Yippee for me.
Here are a few pics of my adorable family that I love to pieces.

My cake.

Sawyer patiently waiting for his cake.

The other 2 boys not so patiently waiting.

Tyler asked Sawyer if he ate his cake and if it was 'ymmy'.

This was his response.

I know I have so many pictures of Sawyer.
But I honestly could not pass this one up.

He's looking at his daddy with that dang cute little face.

How are we ever going to say 'no' to him.

Have I ever mentioned that I have the best Nieces and Nephews and children ever!

They all made me birthday pictures with little notes of love on them.

These are truly masterpieces. I had to share their art work with all of you.

Aren't they all amazing!

Thanks every one for the great birthday.

I Do Stuff.

I was talking with Xander about activities I would like him to do during the summer. I recently enrolled him and Dawson in a bowling class that starts in April and goes for 8 weeks. The boys will be doing their lessons on Mondays from 3-5 in Lehi. It's perfect for them. Not to mention they'll have something to do just for them while their sis is in gymnastics.
Then this summer I will enroll them in tumbling. I gotta use these vouchers sometime. But, I decided to wait till summer because I didn't want to pile too much on Xander. He already goes to school from 8-3:30 three times a week. Plus scouts and all his homework. It would be a little too much for him to handle.
We would also like to put them in swimming lessons. All the kids need lessons.
As I explained to Xander that I wanted him to have stuff to do and to be able to develop new skills he chimes in with his own thought.
He says, " Mom I do stuff already."
Questionably, I looked at him and said, "Oh yeah, and what do you do?"
He, as matter of fact states, "I play video games. That's what I do."
I burst into laughter and said, "That's exactly why I'm putting you in other stuff."

Sweet Dreams.

Tyler and I decided it was time for us to finally invest in a new bed. It has been a long 12 years on the old one. After we got married like all newly weds our bank accounts were low. We couldn't afford a very great mattress. In fact we couldn't even afford box springs. We have been using the ones Ty's parent's used when we got married. Armed with the little bit of mattress funds we had, we did choose one that at the time felt very comfy.
It lost it's flair quite a few years ago. As most people know our bed hurt Ty's back so badly he preferred sleeping on the couch rather than in bed with me. The perk to that was I got our king size bed to myself. It left me the room to flip, roll, and adjust to my own needs. I only needed all the space because my back hurt so severely too.
If you ask our kids when daddy sleeps in the bed they'll tell you he only sleeps in the bed on Christmas Eve so Santa can come.
Sad, but true.
It is now time to reclaim our bed together. In order to do this a new bed was the answer. This time as we mattress shopped we were armed with our tax return. We layed, flipped, bounced, rolled, and rejected several mattresses. Several were too firm, too bouncy, too pricey, and too unagreeable.
We finally settled on a Temperpedic style mattress. When Ty suggested it, being me, I rambled off a sarcastic comment. It went a little something along the lines of, "That's an old person's bed." Come on a bed that the head and foot raises up. Can you get more geriatric than that.
That was truly my thought until I layed in it. Holy Moly I was sold. The moment my body sank into the memory foam, super thick, and soft mattress I was a goner. What put the hook, line and sinker into the deal was when the sales man pushed that little remotes button and it raised up just enough to hug my natural curves. I instantly felt all the pressure leave my lower back as it formed naturally into position.
The down side, price. We recently got out of debt and we really didn't want to have to fiance a mattress. So we put our love of the bed aside and continued shopping around. Then we discovered it. A "cheaper", yet not cheap version of our geriatric bed. Thank you Sealy! We tested out the bed and what made it less expensive. Turns out it was less because it only came with a 10 year warranty as opposed to 20 year. And it's mattress was about an inch less thick. Seriously that was the difference between a couple thousand dollars. Yes, thousand!
Once again sold!
We placed our order and after all taxes, and a few upgrades, we chose a wireless remote to lift the bed,  and it massages. Once again you did read that right. Our bed has head massage, foot massage, or it can wave massage. Meaning it rolls the massager foot, middle, head, middle, foot, middle, head. You get the idea.
We did sacrifice a little on our purchase. We down sized to a queen. In order to stick to our commitment of no debt this was the way to ensure we stuck to our guns.
The plus side to a queen, our bed room looks even bigger.
Before I end this post I have a quick story to share.
When the delivery guys brought the bed I was downstairs in the kitchen when I heard 4 grown men, including Tyler burst out in high pitched, uncontrolled laughter. Then I heard my bed massager turn on and off and on again. I could hear them laugh as they raised it up and down and played with the controls.
Upon a little investigation and questioning they were laughing at Sawyer. They put him on the bed as they were playing with the controls. It freaked him out. Especially when the massager was turned on. Hence the uncontrollable 'man' laughter.
That sure explains why 4 men were laughing in my bedroom when my bed massager was turned on.

Our new bed and bedding.

I love my new bed.

OK. time for a little honesty. It has been a hard adjustment for me to have Ty in my bed again. It's quite wierd having another person so close to me. Not to mention his snoring. I haven't slept so good since we've gotten the new bed.

For a couple reasons,

1. Ty is my again. That means his snoring is in my bed again.

2. I toss a little and turn alot. But, it's not me I'm tossing and turning it's my snoring husband.

On the plus side, I haven't woken up sore or stiff at all. That tells me the mattress works. And Ty's back doesn't hurt in the morning any more either.

Now I just need to take care of the snoring and night time will be bliss.

Kiss Me I'm Irish.

I honestly couldn't resist this title.

And this is why.

HAHAHA. Gotta love wax lips.

Dawson went to a St. Patrick's Day party during the week. The party was of course was hosted by his best buddy of all time- Mason. Which means Jen went above and beyond yet again. In her defence, this little party was actually pretty scaled back for her, but still amazing.
The kids played games. Ate the cutest snacks. Such as; Leprechaun cookies, shamrock cupcakes, and rainbow colored sodas.
The kids also made Leprechaun traps.
This is Dawson's trap he made.
Dang cute huh!

Dawson set his trap out the night before in hopes of catching himself a little Leprechaun.

It turns out we did have a little 'Luck of the Irish' in our home that night.

Our wee visitor left us a wee bit of gold.

However, when he realized he walking into a trap he disappeared leaving behind him only a trail of gold, sparkly glitter.

Your Name is Safe in My House.

For our latest Activity Day Girls activity we discussed our names. I began our activity sharing a talk given by in the April 1999 General Conference by Elder Cree-L Kofford.
In his talk he discusses the idea that when we talk about some one in the privacy of our homes we use their name in a pleasing way. We don't belittle them or gossip about them. We respect them as we do our own family name.
We then discussed what it means to show honor for our family's name. How our actions could bring harm to our name or how we talk and gossip can hurt our names. We could get a reputation for spreading bad things about others. And sometimes those things aren't true but, we still say them.
Then in Elder Kofford's talk he quotes the famous line spoken by a very vocal rabbit. In the movie Bambi Thumper the rabbit giggles as Bambie trips and falls. He then says,"He doesn't walk very good, does he." After being reminded by his mother of what his father said to him, Thumper repeats this eternal quote,
"If you can't say somethin' nice, don't say nothin' at all."
To end our activity we made a decoration for their rooms. I bought all the girls a chip board letter for their first initial. Then they chose a string color that matched their rooms and simply wrapped it tightly around the letter.
A couple of the girls chose to make theirs multi-colored. In the end they all turned out great.

Sydney working on her 'S'.

Claira hard at work.

Erynn realized how hard an 'E' was to wrap yarn around . It had way too many edges and bends.

The girls' letters turned out great. I loved working on theses project with the girls. They are great young ladies.

Mom's in Charge.

This morning as I made the inevitable chocolate chip pancake for my precious Dawson, he enlightened my day with this little bit of wise wisdom.
My sweet hubby bought me new pots and pans for my birthday. I was using my new stainless steel pan when Dawson saw me pour liquid Grape Seed oil into the bottom of it. He quickly questioned me as to "What the heck are you doing?" I explained that daddy wants me to use this stuff instead of the spray. The spray burns to the pan quickly and is a pain to scrub off. He then asked if his pancake was going to taste like grapes. I reassured him the answer was no. He said, "well mom ya know, dad isn't here and he won't know if you used spray or not."
I started giggling and asked if he was worried about his pancake. He explained to me, "I just think if you're the one baking my pancake you should use what you want."
I completely understand your reasoning son.
Then he followed it with this line. "So until Dad starts making pancakes, you're in charge and can do what you want. After all, you're the mom."

That's right, I'm in charge and I can do what I want cause I'm the mom."

A Hat is a Hat.

Hats come in a verity of styles. Different styles include; baseball caps, cowboy hats, skull cap, beanies, berets, fedoras, and Bowler hats. But, the most stylish hat of all is the box hat.

This particular hat is being modeled by the adorable and trend setting Sawyer.

While given a special box of Easter animal crackers the idea was born.

Dump the crackers and instantly the reward is a very bright and colorful head piece.

Now, once the head dress is place continue eating chicken nuggets and crackers.

Enjoy your new box hat while watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

I bet you wish your box hat a picture of a soft, cuddly lamb.

The side flaps create an aerodynamic flow.

OK. let's be honest it may not be the next huge trend to hit the fashion world, but it sure was a hit here. However, in the future if you should see models strutting down the cat walk sporting the new box hat, you'll know where it got it start.

Kid Pics.

What do you get when you send 6 children off to the play ground together with a camera in hand?

You get a very muddy Sawyer.

You get a very big Mud puddle with Dawson a little too close for comfort.

You get the children safely crossing the street.

Until Naiya stops in the middle to pose for a picture.

You get Calin running.      Calin sitting on Xander.

Calin squishing his sister.      Calin pulling Xander.

And Calin, using the bathro...uhmm I mean swing???

You get

Xander and Naiya swinging.

Dawson sliding.

Kenzie cheesin' and Xander pouting.

Naiya chillin' and Calin hiding.

But most importantly, you get very happy kids and fun memories with their cousins.

Crafty Me.

Just wanted to show you my craft I made for St. Patty's Day.

An Easter craft will be next. Or Maybe a birthday one. Or possibly a family one.

A New Do!

Kenzie has been wanting to cut her hair for a very long time now. She's always been in a competition season and needed to be able to pull her back so she's waited and waited. Finally the time has arrived. She currently isn't competing so there's no time like the present.
TAA-DAA!

She chose the style and the bangs. She wanted side swept bangs too.

9 inches later this is her vision.

As the lady was finishing it up, she asked Kenz what she thought. Kenzie told her, I think this side looks a little off from the other side. The lady looked and sure enough, Kenz was right.

My little stylist knows what she wants.

After all she's been planning this hair cut for over a year now.

Cute huh.