The Shumaker Family

The first good snowfall for us in Chicago

2012-01-20T22:25:00.006-05:00

We got 6 inches of snow on Friday last week and the kids were so excited. but I have to say James and I probably were just as much. We could not wait to go sledding. Our kids have never been sledding before. Always living by the ocean does not give much for sledding. We lasted almost 4 hours even though it was seriously only about 20 degrees. the kids all had a blast and were never ready to go. But James and I decided after all that time it was time to head home and have hot chocolate.

Mackenzie going down the hill

here I come

Mackenzie cruising

Mackenzie having a great time in the snow.

Oh how I love this happy girl

Bethannie up on the snow board. She had a hard time with it at first but by the end of the day she was going down the hills having a great time.

James on the snowboard

James in the snow

Mackenzie snow boarding again. The girl had no fear and LOVED it. She would fall and get right back up.

Mackenzie with a sled after just coming down the hill.

James sledding down

James and Mackenzie sledding together.

James and Mackenzie again. Mackenzie had so much fun.

These videos are of big James trying to snow board. Hilarious.......

Christmas Day 2011

2012-01-20T22:01:00.003-05:00

We had an interesting Christmas day this year. James had to work and so he was up and out of the house by 5:30 in the morning. SO we told the kids that we were waiting till after he got home to open presents. They were all OK with this (which made me so happy, because that is so hard to ask young kids). We also had church at 9:00 so the kids got up and they were able to open their stockings. They were happy to have that done. We then got dressed and headed off to church. I loved the program they had. it was full of beautiful music and talented people. And of course a sweet spiritual message. After we got back home we all put our Christmas jammies back on. We were not expecting James to get home till 2:00 so we were surprised when he got off work and hour and a half early. Great surprise I tell ya. SO we made some snacks for lunch and started opening presents. the kids had a great day and I loved seeing their excitement. Our funny mistake on dinner made us not eat till 9:00 at night. Which was fine. We had a great dinner and had good company with each other. this was the first Christmas we spent alone as a family in over 6 years. So it was different but we had a good day.

James and a Lego set he was thrilled about.

Bethannie and her new doll.

Mackenzie could of cared less about any other present.

Bethannie opening up a present.

Mackenzie was so excited about her doll. She has been begging for this for a year or two.

Big James opening up a present.

James opening up a thrilling present. Clothes.

What kind of snow is this?

2012-01-20T21:12:00.004-05:00

While the Gaines and Winslow's were still here we got this "weird" snow that started falling. The snow flakes were literally the size of baseballs. But they were fluffy, and so awesome to watch. You could not see anything but the huge snowflakes falling. As time passed they got smaller and smaller and then went to nothing. We never did get any snow that stuck. But I have NEVER seen snow like that before. It really was so cool.

James, Courtney, and Meg, trying to catch snowflakes in their mouths.

Good pic of Meg catching the flakes.

Lori and Devin out in the falling snow

Lori has no shoes on, and they are both trying to get the snow flakes with their mouths.

We said it was like a real snow globe the way it looked outside. I will never forget how big the snow flakes were.

A visit from best friends

2012-01-20T18:57:00.007-05:00

So I was blessed with a visit from my best friend Stephanie, and her kids, And Other Best friend Lori, and her family. We had a great time. While they were here we decided to take a trip to downtown Chicago. These pictures are in reverse order of our day but you will get the idea. We rode the train in and then did a lot of walking and sight seeing. We ended our day at the zoo trying to see lights but ran out of time. I am so grateful to have friends who love me enough to come and visit me. So excited that I got to see them and am already looking forward to our next get together.

The lights at the zoo.

More lights at the zoo.

The Lego store that James was thrilled to go to. While the boys went there, the young girls went to the American girl store, while the older girls went to the coach store. (Glad we could make everyone happy)

And a trip to Chicago would not be complete with out a 45 foot Marilyn Monroe. Mackenzie told us all she was wearing polka dot undies. But I didn't look so I don't know, but we all laughed at her.

Courtney and Leah. Standing in front of the giant "bean"

The kids laying under the "bean". I love how these pictures turned out. Funny that after I made my kids get under there, everyone around us started doing the same thing.

Sitting under a "bean" hanging out.....

My sweet little family.

All the kids we had with us in Chicago.

Here's my kiddos again.

The girls striking a pose.

These were huge and the 2 faces would smile at each other and wink. It was weird but they

made us all laugh when we saw them.

Here is the girl. Waiting for the "boy" to smile at her.

This was exactly how our day went with him. Such a mood.

Mackenzie and her sassy self.

Everyone on the train.

Bethannie and Leah hanging out.

James and I on the train. the sun was in our face so not a great pic but oh well.

Thanksgiving trip

2012-01-20T17:40:00.004-05:00

So for Thanksgiving this year the kids had the whole week off from school which was so nice. So we decided to take a trip to Alabama to go visit my mom and Step dad and my brother. We had a lot of fun there. We had a Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday before Thanksgiving. Then had a crab boil on Monday, which was so YUMMY. John did a great job on it. James had been telling me for a year or so he really wanted to do that. So it was nice letting John take charge and do it. After visiting with them we then headed up to Cincinnati to go visit James' sister. We have been getting together every year now for the past couple years and trade homes and so the kids were excited to go see their cousins. We also got to go see my grandparents on our trip. It was a good trip and I did not get to take a lot of pictures but here are a few. Thanks everyone who let us crash at their home. it was a GREAT trip.

James and the kids. So cute

My sweet kids. I love James look.

James standing by the wall after all the skating he kept doing!

Mackenzie and Marisa skating together. They are so cute together. I love that they get along so well.

James helping Mackenzie and Aubrey skate.

James showing off.

James and Mackenzie ice skating together. The kids LOVE it.

James out there all by himself. He was doing a great job. To bad I can not say I was thrilled about it. the boy was in a full arm cast and I was so scared he was going to fall.

James and Mackenzie again.

The tree in Cincinnati OH. We had our picture taken in front of it while we were there.

One of my good friends, Melissa, that I grew up with that I got to visit while I was in Alabama.

James broke his arm too.......

2012-01-19T17:24:00.002-05:00

November 13, 2011 we were at a cheer competition for Bethannie and while we were there the lights went out in the city. So the school lost power. Well I had been running around with the girls trying to get makeup done and bows right. I was heading back to the gym to see if there were any more of our girls and I heard some one ask me if I was Tara Shumaker. ( I did not know who the person was so I hesitated as I said YES) I heard my name being paged of the intercom and I am thinking what in the world is going on. I walk in the gym and at the bottom of the bleachers sits both James's. And with out even hearing anything I can see James broke his arm. It was so disgusting. He was not crying but just sitting there as the people all around him seemed to be freaking out. I laughed when this man walked up to me. placed his hand on my shoulder and said "Don't worry, I'm a cop" I just looked at him and wanted to ask well unless we are under arrest I am not sure what you need. Well he proceeded to pick up James and start telling everyone exactly what to do which made me laugh a little. I tried to tell him his FATHER had it and we could handle it. Well I guess it is the law here that they have to call an ambulance and so we had to wait for it to show up and get James. It was only then when the paramedics walked in that I saw James start to show some emotion. He got a little teary eye when they said they were going to move his arm. He was not OK with that. But he was brave and did great.

So here he is in the er. He was very interested in the TV. And wanted to be left alone.

You can sort of see the bend in his forearm. Which is where he broke it.

There is a good picture of the bend.

He was sent home in a splint and on Thursday that week he got a full arm cast. He had that one on for 4 weeks. Then had another x-ray done. He had to wear a half cast for another 2 weeks. And now is in a splint he is suppose to wear for the next month. (But I don't think he ever wears it) He likes having his arm back to normal and that he can do everything again. But he has a major bend in his arm still and will have it for a couple years till his arm starts to grow and pulls the bone straight. Sounds like fun huh. But he is doing a lot better now.

Halloween

2012-01-19T16:54:00.002-05:00

So I really do like to try and make the kids costumes. Sometimes it works and sometimes they have a different idea. So this year was a little of both. James decided he wanted to be a Lego and so we went to work figuring out how to make his costume. Big James was a big help on this one.

I LOVE how it turned out. His head is sitting up stairs on his shelf in his room now. I don't know if we will ever be able to get rid of it now. he looked so cool and he loved how he looked in it.

bethannie wanted to be a dead diva. So she used an old dance costume and we added to it. She loved how her hair and face turned out. School would not let them look scary so she never did do the fake blood but I still think she looked pretty good.

Mackenzie just wanted to be a butterfly. So she was pretty easy to have a costume for. she looked so sweet.

I love Halloween and how we all dress up. I never took pics of us last year or this year, but I made Mr. and Mrs. Potato head costumes for both of us last year and we re wore them this year. I will have to take a pic of us in them just to remember but I LOVE how they turned out and I love seeing people laugh when they see us coming. But I think it is what makes the holiday fun is for all of us to dress up and have fun.

James 8th Birthday

2012-01-19T16:15:00.002-05:00

James turned 8 in November and we had a marshmallow party. All the kids got to come and make their own marshmallow gun and then make a target. You cant make a marshmallow gun with out trying them out so all the kids went out to the park and went and shot their guns off at each other. I think they all had a great time. He had invited both boys and girls, so they went against each other for their war. It was funny to watch.

here is James and his friend Braeden from church.

James blowing out the candles on his cupcakes.

James with Madison and Kylie who are both from and church and school.

here are all the girls with Mackenzie. So funny.

James opening up some presents. All the kids brought him Lego's which was funny. But that is what they said they all knew he liked. I think he had a great time and really enjoyed having so many of his friends over to party with.

Appreciation

2011-10-24T10:21:00.002-04:00

I struggle on a daily basis of "LOVING" my job. I love being a mom. Let me just start by saying that. It is fun (most of the time), rewarding, and I do find great joy in seeing the miles and love they have. But the chore of it is the part I do not always LOVE. I hate that make dinner almost every night. Some nights are less effort then others but I do it. I keep the kids in nice clothes, that are always washed, often before it has even been worn because they never get put away and end right back in the dirty clothes pile. I feel like my house is never clean enough. I am not a great house keeper but I do try, most of the time. Even grocery shopping. I stretch the budget as far as I can and then hate hearing, "we don't have any good cereal", or "I don't like that kind". I have great kids and I know this but I can go forever with out feeling appreciation of all the things. I do. It stinks sometimes. And it might get better as the kids get older but it is still a lack of feeling now.

Sometimes we all need to be reminded that we are loved and that we are appreciated. Heavenly Father knows our efforts. he knows what we strive to do every day even when others do not notice. One day we will be rewarded for our efforts we made here daily. As I think of this I am hopeful that when I get down about the "jobs" I do that no one notices, I will remember I have some one who always sees everything I do and try to do. Remembering this as I am doing dishes, sweeping floors, cleaning bathrooms, laundry, cooking, shopping, reading to the kids, snuggling, playing games, and all the other things I do as a mom, I will remember I am appreciated.

Wisconsin Dells

2011-10-21T20:14:00.004-04:00

Right after we got home from camping we had to unpack and do all the laundry and repack. We had this trip planned for a couple months. The sad part was 2 weeks or so before going James found out he could not go because he had to work. So the debate to cancel the trip or try and go by myself. We decided we should still take the kids because they had another vacation canceled this year because of James's job. They understand but we did not want to take away this trip too. So off the kids and I went. I was really nervous to see how this was going to work with the kids and only me to watch them all. But the place was awesome and the water parks were laid out great. It was a lot of fun and the kids are already looking forward to the next trip up there.

This was a zip line tour that was right at the hotel. The kids watched people jump off the platforms and zip line down to the next platform. Bethannie is saving up her money to do this when we go back. We have a trip again in March planned so they are figuring out what they want to do.

This was inside one of the water park areas. It had a playground in the middle with water slides off of it. And then there were tube slides, family slides, and a lazy river that were also in there. The kids had a great time just running and playing.

The water pay ground.

Mackenzie coming down the body tube slide. She loved riding all these rides.

Mackenzie just getting down the slide. I put the pictures on backwards. Oops.

Mackenzie running up the stairs to get to the slide. She did this Over and Over and over.

This was another water park area. Again with water slides, a pool, and the playground.

James and Mackenzie racing down the slide.

Bethannie and Mackenzie. It is an awkward picture but cute. I love these girls.

Bethannie standing under a huge bucket that dumps water but I was either to fast or to slow taking the picture.

The whole trip was fun. We look forward to the next trip which will include extra family and LOTS of kids.

Horseback riding

2011-10-21T16:17:00.007-04:00

While we were up at Wisconsin Dells, I took the kids to go horseback riding. It was a lot of fun and the kids were so excited to go. They have all wanted to do this for a long time and I was so glad we could do it there.

The kids waiting for the horses so they could get on and start the ride.

James in the stable right after getting on the horse. He was in high heaven right away.

Bethannie after she got on the horse. She was a little hesitant at first but she really did enjoy it.

Mackenzie and I right after getting on the horse. I do not know what Mackenzie thought of all this.

We had to go down this rather steep climb. So we kept switching back and forth. I think I was a little nervous about that part. The kids said it was fun though.

We went through this mock town on the ride. There was always something to look at or watch through the ride. It was just a lot of fun. And we all enjoyed it.

There are 2 deer in this picture. They are sort of hard to see. But we rode by them and I thought it was so cool. We had been seeing a lot of deer and Mackenzie was LOVING it.

We rode by this cliff. Mackenzie was scared the horse was going to jump off the cliff. I loved the view though.

Walking through the woods on the trail.

This was almost at the end of our ride.

Bethannie and James were always right a head of me and Mackenzie on our horse. So I felt like a lot of the pictures are of their backs.

I loved the trail. It was so open through parts, and felt like we were deep in the woods during other parts.

Mackenzie and I on our horse. I loved getting to ride with Mackenzie. I could not imagine putting her on a horse by herself.

James getting off the horse. it is a little blurry but it was what I got while riding a horse as well.

Bethannie at the end of the ride.

It was a lot of fun riding with the kids. There was a moment I thought Bethannie may not of been having the best time but they all enjoyed the time out side and trying to get their horse to act right and listen.

Hiking on the Camping trip October 2011

2011-10-19T21:32:00.008-04:00

We seriously were out in the wilderness.

This deer was seriously so close. It was crazy that we were seeing so much wild life.

The deer was eating apples. The kids thought it was so cool to see the deer. Mackenzie says her favorite animal is a deer now.

me and the girls

James and the kids acting goofy. this was their crazy pic.

This was a photo opp on the hike. James and I can not figure out really what was the op though. oh well still made for a good family pic.

James found this snake and decided to pick it up. he is CRAZY!!!!!!

Mackenzie. I laugh every time I see her socks. She makes me smile.

James was picking cat tails for the kids. Then they ended up shredding the whole thing.

Bethannie and her cats tail.

The kids on the 2nd day hiking. They hiked 3.5 miles the first day and 4.5 miles the second. It was a lot of fun.

I thought this tree was so cool how the vine around it was turning colors.

Bethannie took this picture of us. Not very often that I am in the pics so I decided to post it. Even though it is not a very good one of us.

Sisterly love. I hope they always love each other as much as they show every once in a while now.

we found this turtle while hiking.

James loved taking this hike. he was in competition with every one about who could find the most snakes.

Like Father like Son. I love these 2 boys.

Checking out the fishing possibilities. That was what they did most of the time we were camping.

James and the kids on our hike. I sure love my family.

Bethannie looking for snakes.

Mackenzie kept singing along the whole hike.

This is just one of the 25 plus snakes we saw on the hike. It was insane how many snakes we saw and almost stepped on.

Camping in October 2011

2011-10-19T21:06:00.004-04:00

We took a quick trip at the beginning of October. We just needed a break and I love that we can go and do stuff like this as a family. Our trip did become quite the adventure. We had a great first day of the trip. The boys had done some fishing. I had to take Bethannie to cheer since we never really get a break from that. As soon as we got back though we had dinner. I then went into the camper to get s'more stuff so we could have dessert and get the kids to bed. I put it all on the picnic table which was about 10 ft from where we were sitting. About 15 min later I went to go get all the stuff so we could get the kids started and one of the bags of marshmallows was gone. I went to check to make sure it was not dropped in the camper. Nope. about 5 mins later we heard some animals out in the woods fighting. James and I look at each other and decide it is time to get the kids inside. With in mins we have raccoons out in the front of our camper. James starts crying that this is the worst camping trip ever and he just wants to go home.

Over the next 2 nights we had raccoons run us to the camper every night. We had a great time during the days. The weather was perfect. I wish we could have a few more days more often like these. Where you are carefree and just with your family. I love camping and seeing the kids loving it too is so nice. I hope spring comes sooner then later so we can go again.

Mackenzie about to go crack some walnuts

Mackenzie and James with their piles of walnuts. and getting ready to crack them all open.

The kids are so crazy.

James and his stack of walnuts that he found. The kids loved finding these.

Mackenzie and her stack. The kids picked them up while on a hike and they filled their pockets and their shirts. Any way to get them back to the campground.

Bethannie and her pile. James then showed the kids how to crack them open. I am not saying this is the best way for a child to open a walnut but hey no one ended up getting hurt so it was all good. But he gave the kids a mallet and the road. Oh yeah you can only imagine.

Apple orchard with Mackenzie

2011-10-19T20:47:00.002-04:00

Mackenzie and I headed out to an apple orchard with some friend of ours. Never been to an apple orchard and so I was not sure what to expect. We paid for a bag and we could go pick and fill our bag. We had a good time. mackenzie picked one of every apple we found to eat while we were there. I think the girl ended up eating 4 apples during our visit. She makes me laugh.

Silly girl.

Picking an apple while eating an apple too. She is a great multi tasker.

A proud wife

2011-09-18T17:32:00.007-04:00

So on Friday September 16, 2011 James was pinned to a chief. It has been a long road for him and we are just so proud of him. He has had 45 days of long hours, challenges, great experiences, a fun trip, and lots of sleepless nights. We have not seen much of James since Aug 1 when he was grateful to find out he had been selected to chief. I knew it was going to be crazy stuff going on but I can not say I was ready for what all he had to go through. James's mom and dad were able to come up and spend Wednesday thru Sunday with us and we had a great visit with them. My grandparents also made the trip up to come see the ceremony. I feel very loved to have had family members be there to help support James and show their support and love towards him. My dad came to the ceremony as well. We let the kids miss school on Friday so they could be there as well. So we had a group of 9 people there to watch James get pinned. But after listening to the speaker I found it funny to hear, " you have a question, ask the Chief" They were stating that this is what is heard on the ships all the time. So it may be our new phrase here at the house. "I don't know, go ask the Chief".

This was all the Chief selects boxes that they made and when put together made this emblem. I thought it was cool.

Picture is a little blurry but I thought it was cool with all the hats lined up like this. there were hats on the other side as well. there were 35 Chiefs pinned with James.

The stage where the pinning was done. Kind of hard to see but James is standing toward the front and on the right hand side.

Kind of far away to see but this was James being pinned. I pinned one anchor and James's dad pinned the other.

James in his chief uniform. I think it looks good on him.

Here is James and I after the ceremony and back home. I was so glad to just have him home.

James in his dress white uniform. I do not think this looks like a comfortable uniform with the choke collar.

Another one of James in his dress white.

James showing off his white socks because he decided not to switch them to show everyone his uniforms.

James and my dad.

James and his parents.

James and my grandparents.

James in his new dress blue uniform. I just have to say I love a man (James) in a uniform.

Again another big THANK YOU for every one who came and supported James through this. And THANK YOU to every one who could not make it but sent James best wishes, and support and help from great distances. We love you all and are grateful for your love.

My thoughts

2011-09-11T14:55:00.002-04:00

Today I had to teach again in Relief Society (women class at church). Lesson today was on temple work and family history. I am so not the expert on this topic, just like most others, but I have never done family history. I always feel life is busy enough right now with out trying to add more to it. I know it is my excuse. And Since I do not do the family history part I obviously do not do the temple work as well. I realize now that James and I have not been to the temple as often as we should over our entire marriage. We have either lived many hours away, or had little babies, and even older kids now but they still need a babysitter, and just busy schedules. James is deployed a ton and I can name a list of other reasons. Some may be valid but I just see all of our excuses. it is not like we are trying to make excuses it just happens. I know now I want to make it such a more high priority. James and I hardly ever go do anything by ourselves and I just think this could be our perfect start. it is how we started our marriage and I want to make sure we continue to always work on the things that matter most to us.
As I think about this day and all those who lost a loved on 10 years ago, I wonder how many of those people have had their temple work done. Are they now going to have the chance to be with their families for all eternity after this mortal life. I know that through our religion we may take for gran it the thought we have an eternal family and we have the opportunity to be with our families for all eternity. Others who do not know our beliefs, just think this is the end of their life and they will never see that loved one again. It is such a sad thought. I could not imagine having to say good bye to someone and then think "this is forever, I will never see that person again." I am eternally grateful for the sacrifice Jesus Christ made for all of us and for the chance to spend eternity with my family.
I feel like I am getting more comfortable about teaching the lessons now. However today the stake Relief Society President was there to listen. Oh the nerves I had. I did not cry today which was my goal. I have cried through every lesson and I really do not even know why. But I was thrilled with the was the lesson went today and I excited that it is becoming less painful every week. That is not suppose to sound bad but more of a relief for myself.

Corn Maze

2011-09-05T21:57:00.006-04:00

This was the beginning of the maze. We let James start out leading us the way and he picked this entrance to start. I had never been to a corn maze and I was really impressed. this place does a new one every year an this year was dedicated to he military. It was a lot of fun to get outside and walk through corn.

We would let each kid taking a turn to lead through a section to find all of the check points. Some were able to do it with out much help and some spots were really hard to find. So we all had to help each other read he maps and make sure we knew where we were at all time.

look at all that corn out there behind them. we walked all through there and around.

The kids on a bridge going from one section of the maze to the next. There were 4 n all. We easily walked 4 miles going through the maze. but it really was a ton of fun. The weather was perfect and I enjoyed having James with us and he time we got to just have fun.

Through out the maze there were 24 points that you had to find and you would punch a whole in the bottom of the mp. And if we got 20 of the 24 the kids got a certificate. We found all 24.

We had a doughnut for everyone to have hen we got about half way through. They enjoyed them. Someone passing by offered to take our pic and so we have doughnuts in our hands but corn in the background.

James and I. Bethannie took this picture but I was glad. We hardly ever get pics of ourselves.

Bethannie towards the end of the maze. It was a long walk but she did it and not a word of complaint.

James was DONE. he was so tired he sad he was going to stay in the corn field and he would figure out later how to get out. He was crazy. After a quick rest he was ready to finish. And he finished the walk great.

Mackenzie and her sassy self. I just love that kid. She makes me laugh because you never know what you will get from her. I am so glad I have her around all the time to make me laugh.

Here are my kids pretending to be the statue of liberty with CORN. Really? Who does that. I love them. It is hilarious.

James was hungry. Any one else want some? Mackenzie actually picked one up ad did the same thing.

Corn Maze part 2

2011-09-05T21:08:00.005-04:00

This was the map of the maze. Sorry it is sideways though. But you get the point.

this was a view of the maze from a look out tower they had. it was around 60 t tall, and when the wind blew you could feel he thing move. Scary. So we took a picture, looked out, and got down.

James on the pedal cart. They all had a blast going around the track seeing who could win.

Mackenzie had a hard time pedaling. She was a little to short. So James had her flying around the track.

Bethannie driving the pedal cart

The family on a hay ride

We had a blast jumping on the "pillow clouds" You would seriously get thrown in the air. It was so much fun. I think James and I had more fun on them then the kids but it didn't matter to us.

This place wa so cool. it has pig races, a playground, 50 ft slide, andin a few weeks we plan on going back to go pick pumpkins. Glad we found it.

All in a weekend

2011-09-05T12:13:00.002-04:00

Saturday we took the "last" chance of the season to go up to Six Flags with the kids so we could hit the water park. I was unsure what the weather would be like. Thursday and Friday we in the upper 90's and it was nice. Saturday at some point we were going to get some storms roll through and bring a cold front after. Well Lucky for us the storm did not roll in during the day. So Bethannie James and Mackenzie and I went and enjoyed some water slides. Wave pool, lazy river, and the water playground. The kids had a blast. After we were done there we left the park to go meet up with James. He was doing a cook out for the Chief Selects. So we had lunch with him, and waited till he was done and then all went back to the park. we were glad to just have James with us for a while. We stayed at the park till about 7:30, but around 5 or so it started sprinkling. And it brought the cooler weather. We were definitely chilly by the time we left the park. But it was a good day. So this morning we wake up and it is 50 degrees out. Our high is only 66. Really? it is labor day and we are all in jeans and sweaters or sweatshirts. But we are going to make the best of this cool weather and we are taking the kids to a corn maze. It is 5 acres of mazes. Hope I don't loose any kids. But I am excited to see what they think of it. we have never done this. This place sells pumpkins and does hayrides and all sorts of cool fall activities. So we are going to go check it out today and do the maze and then plan another weekend to go back to do the other activities and let the kids pick out pumpkins. But seriously 90 to 60 all in a weekend. i am not sure about this weather up here yet. But as we get I am constantly trying to make the best of it. I do not know if I will say I will be doing that in January when our high is -15 degrees. But time will tell. We may become home bodies and never leave.

Gratitude

2011-09-04T16:23:00.003-04:00

Gratitude is a state of appreciation, an act of thanksgiving, which causes us to be humble because we recognize an act of kindness, service, or caring from some one else which lifts us and strengthens us.....Gratitude expressed to our Heavenly Father in prayer for what we have brings a calming peace-- a peace which allows us to not canker our souls for what we don't have.

This was part of our RS lesson today. I can not even express what this lesson meant to me. I have been struggling lately with the feeling of ungratefulness. Not so much on my part but my family. I am not by any means saying I am perfect, but I try to show gratitude to everyone and anyone who does anything for me. I am a wife, a mother to 3, a cook, laundry doer, the maid, taxi cab driver, peace maker, bill payer, lawn mower, grocery shopper, and the list could go on. And I do not mind doing any of it. I actually enjoy most of it most days. I try not to complain that I do so much for every one but what hurts is when no one is grateful for it. I am trying to teach my family, kids and husband, that saying thank you goes a long way. I just really do wish that I heard thank you for everything I did on a daily basis more often. I am not trying to talk to bad about my family, I know they really are grateful, but I want to hear it. When we were still in VA, one of the books we read for book club was the 5 love languages. And I was skeptical about this book. How can a book tell me what I need? Any how It was sort of true. I was words of affirmation. I want to hear I do a great job at something. I love hearing I look beautiful. It is not like I need the build up, but I do enjoy it. It makes my whole day for James to say I look beautiful. Sometimes I wish I heard it a little more often. He hasn't really been home in over a month and so he is never around to tell me anything. I miss it. I am grateful for my family and who they are. They are amazing and I could not even imagine them not being part of my crazy life. I want to make an extra effort to show my gratitude towards them, and to let them know I am grateful for everything they do for me everyday.

Freezer meals

2011-09-02T22:30:00.002-04:00

So it seems like as soon as the kids get back into school our schedules become much more crazy. So I happened to be checking out at the grocery store and saw a cookbook for fall freezer meals. So I bought it and the went home and really looked through it and started figuring out what I wanted to make to try and do this. So my list ended up being...
lasagna
hot taco pockets
spaghetti casserole
tater beef bake
make ahead burritos
bow tie ham bake
chunky chicken soup
turkey chili
mushroom corn chowder
broccoli turkey casserole
turkey pot pie
chicken cordon blue bake
mozzarella beef roll-ups
bagel pizzas
chicken pockets
kielbasa chili
empress chili
baked spaghetti

Now some of the recipes are not from the cookbook I bought but instead other peoples blogs and family recipes. I am hopeful that when I am done I will have 30 meals in the freezer. It will be nice to be able to pull out a frozen meal 2 or 3 times a week and not have to worry about what take out we are eating this night. I still have 7 recipes to make but I have only been coking last night and today so not bad. I think I am up to 18 meals frozen already. Any how just wanted to say I am glad I have taken the time to try this. Here's to freezer meals.(as I drink my water)

Schools back in session

2011-08-31T17:34:00.002-04:00

So yesterday Bethannie and James went for the first day of school. They only went for 3 hours and so it was not a day to still get excited about. Mackenzie started today. So the kids all get up in the morning and get breakfast and Bethannie and James get ready for school and we fix Bethannies hair. i found this awesome blog for girl hair styles and I have been watching her videos and getting a lot of cool ideas to do. Then as they are getting ready to walk out the door Mackenzie starts to get ready. After the older 2 have gone out the door we fix Mackenzie's hair and we get ready to leave as well. I am going to the gym in the morning now. Mackenzie likes going and she gets to play with her friends and I can get the workout done first thing. Come home and eat lunch and then little Mackenzie gets on the bus. They pick her up right in front of the house so that is nice. And I then have 3 hours of quiet. It is so nice right now. I love the kids and I love being their mom however, James is NEVER home right now and so for a month everything and everywhere I have gone has been with 3 kids in tow. It gets old when they fight or do not listen. So I am ready for this break. I took pictures of the kids but did it on the ipod and so they are posted on facebook and since I do not know how to move them I do not get to post pics of the first day here to go with this post.

2011-08-04T16:13:00.002-04:00

Mackenzie fell Saturday night while we were at the neighbor hood beach area and splash pad. She was climbing up on these bars and was probably about 5 feet in the air and feel. She cam running to me and said she had fallen. Nope no one else saw and so I did not really know what she had done. She was crying but I did not think she had really done anything. Great mom I know. Any how after a few minutes of her not really being able to do anything with her arm and crying that it hurt so bad we decided it was time for the ER. So James took her and I had the other 2. They did X-rays and it was broken and they had to wait for an orthopedic surgeon to come look at the x-ray. She broke one of the bones between her shoulder and elbow. The humorous bone and the fracture went through part of the growth plate. So surgery was needed to fix her up. So she stayed in the hospital Saturday night and James and I both stayed up there with her. thank goodness the Boney's were here visiting because they were able to stay with James and Bethannie. Sunday morning she was wheeled into surgery at about 8:15 a.m. and they put 2 pins in through her elbow to hold bones in place. we were told we had the best surgeon in the hospital so that was good. Surgery went for about 45 min and when she was out they came and let us know it had all gone well. She would be out of cheer leading for the year now, and she would baby her arm for about 6 months. She was very out of it when she got back to the room. She had taken in a stuffed animal into surgery with her and they put a cast on her leopard as well. it was very cute. the hospital was wonderful and they did a great job of making sure Mackenzie was doing OK. We brought her home on Sunday evening about 5:00. She was in a lot of pain but was very excited to see her brother and sister. She has been on Tylenol with codeine and now is barely needing it. She is really quite the trooper and she is funny watching her with this huge cast on her arm. She just tried doing a somersault. No one said she was the smartest thing. but she did it and thought it was funny. Since Bethannie and James are camping this week with my family it has been just the 2 of us most of the time. I am glad I have been able to do whatever she needs and focus on her. She makes me laugh and I will treasure the time I get with her even though it was for a bad reason. we were all suppose to be camping this week but oh well. Camping will be there the next time.

The Boney family came for a visit

2011-08-04T15:34:00.004-04:00

We were so glad to have some friends come and visit us from VA. They were on their way to St. Louis MO and went out of their way to come see us. We had a great time with them. On Saturday morning we got up and went to catch the train. the kids had a blast riding with their friends and being able to bounce around and not be stuck in a certain seat. We then caught a bus to the Lincoln Park Zoo. Talk about excitement. 12 people who walk and a baby to keep track of. It was not to bad. this was the morning of another adventure but that will be the next post. Thank you so much for coming to see us. We really did have a great time with you and we are so blessed you were here when we needed you. We truely love your family and hopefully we will see you in VA soon.

13 years together

2011-08-04T15:27:00.001-04:00

James and I just got to spend our 13th anniversary together. It was a great night. I love that man so much. Everyday I am truely blessed that he in my better half and that we get to spend eternity together.

Strawberry Picking

2011-08-04T15:00:00.003-04:00

Mackenzie picking strawberries but I think she ate more then she put in the basket. She loved that she could eat and pick at the same time.

Bethannie enjoying a strawberry. She was very picky about what strawberries she would pick so she took quite the time picking a basket full. It was a good morning though.

James was a busy bee. I think he picked the most. he went straight to work and kept on picking. He enjoyed some as well while picking and needless to say we had had our strawberry fill when we left.

Bethannie and Mackenzie with their baskets full of strawberries.

James and Bethannie picking away. We wound up with 6 or 7 lbs of strawberries. they were so good and in our freezer so we can continue to eat them. They did not last long once we picked them. But no big deal to us. We love strawberries in all sorts of stuff.

James and his Little League team

2011-08-04T14:46:00.002-04:00

James played baseball this spring and really enjoyed it. We lucked into it when we got here because practice started 2 days after we got here. Talk about perfect timing. James got better as the season went on. it was a struggle for me to watch because the things he was really good at last year he could not do this year, but he learned a lot more skills this year. he had a great time so that is all that matters.

James was a playing a kid pitch team and so that was one of the things he really had to learn and practice. The team had a great coach and he was very good at letting the kids all play different areas and let every kid pitch even if they were not very good.

The team ended up winning the tournament and they were the champions. James cried when they won the game and he got his trophy. It was very comical and he was not the only one. The boys all had a great year and I am so glad James got to have the chance to win that trophy. it is a prized possession now!!!

Camping trip over Memorial day

2011-08-04T14:23:00.003-04:00

We took the kids camping over memorial day and had a blast. It was still so cool then which was so weird to us. I do not think it ever hit 70 degrees that weekend. The kids and James took all their fishing stuff. So they spent the whole weekend do lots of fishing and bike riding. It was a lot of fun and we hope to do a lot more camping up here.

James fishing. I think he caught 3 fish

Little James was all about fishing. that was all he wanted to do. he caught a lot though.

Mackenzie did not last long fishing but it was so cute watching her try her hardest to fish like everyone else. I think she caught 2 fish still and she was so proud of herself.

Bethannie. Well this picture should explain it all. She never went fishing long enough to catch anything. we laughed that she always had her helmet on and she would so rather be bike riding then fishing.

It was a great weekend.

Mackenzies day at the lake

2011-08-04T14:11:00.002-04:00

When James got here and before he went back to work it was fun to just go do fun things with Mackenzie. She had been so used to going to school in VA and then we get here and there was nothing for her to do. So we headed out to the beach a lot and here are some cute pics of Mackenzie enjoying herself there. I love seeing her be herself and how crazy she is. She makes us all laugh and she really is a gem.

We moved....

2011-08-04T14:05:00.002-04:00

So we moved back in April and we love it here. I love that the summer still gets hot. I was worried about that. I do not know what to expect for this winter since lets be honest we have only lived by beaches for the last 12 years. the kids are so excited about having snow. We have already bought 2 kids ice skates because there are lots of lakes around here that freeze over thick enough to go ice skating on. Bethannie is still waiting on a pair. There is a ski resort 20 min away and James is excited about that. Hopefully our kids can learn to ski fast and love it. James and I do so they better. The kids have all been in sports and activities here and they are all doing well. I can not believe that we have been in the navy for 12 years and that we have lived in all the different places we have, But it is fun looking back at everywhere we have been and all the awesome people we have met and still consider friends.

Happy Birthday James

2010-11-17T16:39:00.003-05:00

Happy Birthday to you! James blowing out the candle on his cake.

The Lego man cake finished and ready for a little boy to eat.

James loves puzzles and so Mackenzie gave him 3 different Toy Story ones.

My kids loved this movie and so when I saw it was going to be released right before his birthday it was a perfect present.

So November 6, my dear sweet boy turned 7. Where in the world did the time go. So his one request for a cake was a Lego man. I kept thinking how in the world am I going to pull that one off. When I told big James about my idea he laughed. So while his cake was not perfect I had a ton of fun making it and proving the cake James LOVED. I am glad we were able to have Chrissy and Jacob come join us as well as our family friends. Thanks Stephanie. Any how I am so blessed to have a sweet caring boy who loves his mom and family. He is a true blessing to our lives. We love you James.

Here is what we have been up to.

2010-11-15T21:36:00.002-05:00

I went back to school this semester and so it has been very challenging. Trying to figure out how to get the time I need to study and then helping kids with their homework. I also still have to find time to cook, clean, and all other house hold duties. I love being a mom and a wife but sometimes I feel very unappreciated. But not the purpose of this post. I have been very slacking in the blogging department and so maybe I will be a little better about it. But don't hold your breath.

The kids all picked their Halloween costumes and so I had to bust out the ideas in a week. I think they all turned out cute and one day hopefully I will take a picture of James and I in ours. We went as Mr. and Mrs. potato head. It was a lot of fun and I think they turned out pretty cute. But the kids went as a ballerina, Spaghetti and Meatballs, and a bubble bath. What a bunch of cutie pies. I really do love my kids and life and look forward to the end of classes in 2 weeks. At least till they start again. Ugh.

One special day

2010-03-21T21:48:00.002-04:00

I had the opportunity to go up to the stake center today and help out with the Gladys Knight's Saints Unified Voices fireside. It was going to be a long day and I knew I was going to have to find some one who would keep my kids for the day but when the Bishop came in and asked for volunteers I raised my hand. I will be totally honest. My first thought was a day away from my kids, Oh yeah that is what I want. So I asked Casey and Sarah to come watch the kids for me and I went down today and was there for about 8 hours. It was truly amazing. I loved being able to see all the people as they seemed to have a bigger smile on as they walked into the Chapel and so excited to hear this. I truly felt the spirit tonight and in a different way. You would hear others who were consumed by the spirit saying Amen out loud and praise god. And while it is not our norm I was so thrilled that they were there to hear her powerful message and that they felt the spirit to feel so moved to share it. She says that one of the Primary songs was one of the first things she had heard when she first walked into our church and it was so simple. The song was I am a Child of God. She sang it with her choir and to hear her sing the song was so amazing. She sings a version you would never hear the primary kids sing but so powerful. I am so glad I can say I got to see it and offer my help. If it is ever near you YOU SHOULD GO. It is worth it.

Halloween

2010-03-02T08:04:00.003-05:00

James pumpkin

Big James creation

Bethannies

Even though it is side ways this was the only pic we took that night. I thought back to how pathetic that was. I spent hours making the girls costumes and then only took one pic. I am such a goof.

Here is the pumpkin that Mackenzie wanted.

Here is Bethannie's

A new day

2010-03-02T07:51:00.003-05:00

So since my last blog post was me more complaining then any thing else I thought I would do a better one for today. So I signed all the kids for dance class yes even James. They love it. We run three days a week to the dance place but it is so nice. I have Mackenzie in a Creative dance class. James is also in a creative dance class and then Bethannie is in Jazz and Ballet. They all love it. As soon as the weather wants to cooperate I will be glad to send the kids who are not dancing outside to play on the playground. But it seems to rain every day or be totally freezing so we stay inside and talk to all the other people waiting too. It is sad to think of all my kids getting as big as they are. But yesterday the weather was nice and so after school we went for a bike ride. It was nice to just go. So then I look at how big the kids are and think of all the things I am able to go do by myself with them and not worry to much about it. In a little over a month I am going to test my beliefs of doing anything with the kids by myself when we go to Myrtle beach for a week. I am so ready for that vacation. I literally day dream about it. 2 reasons. One I am ready to get away and just do nothing. not feel like I have to go to the gym and kick my butt for 2 hours. Not feel like I have a ton of running around to do, or church stuff to take care of. But second when we leave for the trip we are half way through this torture time called a deployment. I am so ready to know we are half done and only half more to go. I did not plan it like that but it is the way it worked out. On a totally different note my baby sister had a baby last week. He is one cute boy. I am so glad she is so close that I can go help her when she needs it but I also can go hold the baby and love on him. I miss having a little baby around but not enough to want to have another one. Not like we can any way but you know what I am saying. I will hold any ones baby who needs it and then I am more then glad to give them back and know I can go home and sleep all through the night and I do not have any diapers to change. Ahh bliss...... Any how that is what is really going on here at our home. It is crazy sometimes but it is the way I like it. I just wish some days were less crazy then others.

So long ago

2010-03-01T08:12:00.003-05:00

I have not wrote in so long I do not even know where to begin except for right now and if I ever feel like I have the chance go back and do a lot of make up. James is gone again and has actually been gone for about 2 months. I have no idea what it is like to have him home and actually be an active part of our family any more. Nothing mean towards him it has just been what feels like years that he is never around. I know some say it is our choice and we do this to ourselves. But I do not think of it like that. I know he enjoys his job and it makes me want to be able to be strong for him. I want to be able to say good bye to James and know I can handle all that is coming my way. And I have to say for myself I normally do. But this deployment has been a whole new game. I have never in my life cried so much as I have this time. I feel like I am have a break down every other day. This has been the best week so far and the kids listened for the most part and we all got a lot done. I have been told so many times that I am a pillar of strength and that people just assume I can handle it because I always look like it I guess. I do not feel like that pillar. I feel like I have fallen over and am in a thousand little pieces that just do nothing now. It is so crummy to feeling like this. I hate not thinking of myself capable and knowing I can handle everything. It makes me feel weak. It is hard knowing that you have to do so much every day all day by yourself and not really ever get the help that you wish you had or sometimes really need. I am ready for this deployment to be over soon so I can hope that we will not have to be separated for a few more years. I know that our family struggles with this daily but we always handle it when it is over. The kids have their ways of dealing with it just like I do. Some times I just have to cry it out I guess and while it does make me feel weak I know it makes me feel better when I have cried. I guess it lets me know I am human. I am so grateful that heavenly father is here with me and can carry me when I just feel like I can not go any more. I am grateful for friends that step up to help even though I know they are alone with their kids too and having the same struggles I am. Thank you is all I can say.

A painter for hire....

2009-10-12T08:49:00.003-04:00

So I have been painting the kids rooms. They are all done but I had to tell this story. I was upstairs painting the girls room and Mackenzie had been coming up and down the stairs watching me paint. Well she had been down stairs for a little while and I thought she was watching TV. Well I came down stairs to wash the stencil I had been using. And I did not notice anything for the first while. Then I went to the table and there it was. A HUGE mess. I do not know still to this day how my 3 year old managed to do this but she opened a paint can that I was going to use for the Bathroom. She found a screw driver, opened the lid and then found a paint brush. She had paint all over the table, the kitchen floor. That is all I thought she had done. So i got to cleaning it all up. I then noticed that she had got a lot of paint on the trash can. Oh well I thought. It is just the trash can. Well then as I turned I saw the BIG ONE. She had painted my wall. Not the wall where the paint was suppose to go. She painted it down the hallway. So here is here painting. It was frustrating at the moment but I had to much of a mess to clean up so I could not really do anything. The rotten thing was there was paint on the carpet. SO I will tell you that if this ever happens. I used oxi clean and made a mound over every spot and used a wet rag and started scrubbing. It all came up. So I was excited about that. Any how well I just wanted to show some of the mess. I had cleaned up a lot of it before I thought to take a pic.

We still have not even painted the wall back to white. So every one who comes in the house sees her masterpiece.

Ike family fun day

2009-10-09T15:41:00.004-04:00

The boat had a picnic for the families and so we went and the kids had a lot of fun. It was a great day and though we left a little early to go to Busch gardens it was still a ton of fun. The trampoline was the kids favorite.

Mackenzie in the middle of her flip.

She was doing flips none stop. It made James and I laugh.

Bethannie was like a flipping machine up on this.

James flying high.

James and Mackenzie jumping. Mackenzie was trying to do a flip. She did finally get it and she did a lot of flips up in the air.

Look at that girl fly.

Bethannie riding a mechanical Bull.

James rode it and held on for 10 seconds. the guys told him he would not be able to stay on.

But he did. James was the champ for the moment.

School started?

2009-10-09T15:26:00.002-04:00

So I know school started oh a month ago but you would never know this because well I never said a thing about it. But I do have to say that at first I was sad that the kids had gone back to school. They both love it and I would never want them to not go but I missed them.

Mackenzie wanted in the pic even though she was not going to school this day.

Look at this handsome boy. He is such a good kid.

Here is my princess. She has the same teacher this year because she moved up with her class this year and kept most of her kids but had to add a few more. Bethannie is loving it and I liked her teacher so I guess I am thrilled with it too.

Home work is a constant now and so the newness of school has worn off and the kids are just thinking it as if it never ends. We try our hardest to make it easier on them but it is not like you can do your kids home work for them. Although man there are days when I just want to tell Bethannie all the answers so she will quit crying because she does not know how to so this problem or it is to hard according to her. Mackenzie has started a little preschool with her friends from church and so 1 day a week she gets to have school with her friends. She has learned the letter A and B and the numbers 1 and 2. She loves going and ask every day if it is a school day. I love having her at home though again by herself it makes me happy to have some time alone with her because when the other 2 get home it can turn into craziness.

Bethannie's Baptism

2009-08-26T19:06:00.004-04:00

All our family there for Bethannie on her special day.

Great Grandma and Great Grandpa with Bethannie

Autumn and Aunt Chrissy and Uncle Jacob with Bethannie

Nana and Papa with Bethannie

Grandpappy and Grandma with Bethannie

Our family.

Bethannie and her dad

A Fruit spray I made with help from my family for Bethannie

I love this cake I made for Bethannie. And every one told me it was really good which was a

plus. It was a great day and I am so glad that Bethannie was ready for this special day. We missed all those who could not be there with us on this day due to lots of distance between our families and us. We love you all.

Bethannies Baptism

2009-08-21T21:39:00.003-04:00

Bethannie is getting baptised tomorrow morning at 10:00. We are so excited about it. I will post pics of her wonderful day tomorrow.

Day 2

2009-07-17T08:26:00.005-04:00

Marisa and Aubrey wanted to get buried in the sand. They laughed the whole time I was doing it.

Madison buried in the sand.

Madison

Aubrey

Bethannie

All the girls. Are they not the cutest things ever

Smile

Mackenzie hanging in a tree

Marisa and Aubrey hanging in the tree

Bethannie and Madison hanging in the tree

We went to the beach in the morning stayed and had lunch and ended up being there for about 4 hours. the girls even said they did not want to leave after that but we had a day of shopping for the other half the day. So off to the house we went for showers. After taking 1 hour and 30 minutes to shower 6 people and fix hair and pick out clothes we were on our way to the mall. The girls did so good staying with eachother while they all went shopping. We went to the Children's place and to Justice. The girls favorite stores. They were just so cute. I walked out of the Children's place with 12 pairs of sunglasses. 2 for each girl and I found some for James. When they were less then a $1 a pair it was cool. They just had a blast though looking at what they liked and wanted to get. The older 3 girls all found an outfit that they all liked and wanted to match. So we bought that for all of them. After our day of shopping I just let the girls come home and play out front. they rode bikes and scooter's and just ran after each other. it was funny to watch them. Then they all wanted to hang in the tree. So after putting girls up a lot they all finally got as pic hanging there. Needless to say it was a long day and we were ready to go in and go to sleep. At least I was. Probably not the girls.

Where are my kids?

2009-07-17T08:22:00.002-04:00

The girls went up stairs and were playing and then the next thing I see is this. The girls were laughing so hard I guess because they knew how crazy they looked. But we had a big fat mama, A rock star, A beautiful woman, a little girl and a crazy woman. Names given to them selves by themselves. I just laughed.

Crazy I know

2009-07-17T08:13:00.002-04:00

So I had decided I thought it would be a lot of fun to have my nieces Madison. Aubrey, and Marisa come and stay for a week. James would stay in KY for the week and I would just have the girls. So as crazy as this sounded to me I knew we would have a ton of fun. We did the 11 hour drive home. It took us a little longer due to traffic and stops with 5 girls. But we got here on Friday. After being gone for a month I knew I was in desperate need of groceries. So I went to the store with 5 girls. I did it and it was not bad. I did hear a few times can I have that. Can I have this. We decided we would just go look at the beach this night. The girls were just so excited to see the water. So we all went not in swim suits just our clothes. It was fun and well I should of just put on swim suits. Telling 5 girls do not get soaked we have to run to Wal-Mart after this must of meant... Get wet Aunt Tara will take us home and change us and then we will go to Wal-Mart. So all the girls were soaked except Bethannie. Mostly because they would try to go out in the waves a bit and the wave would come up and soak their pants. Mackenzie just totally fell in the water. Well I let them have fun and we did go to Wal mart with the girls wet. I told them it was fine. they had played enough where it was not like they were drenched any more. It was a fun first day of our trip.

Bethannie's 8TH Birthday

2009-07-15T21:30:00.004-04:00

Bethannie and her American girl books.

Bethannie and her great grandma.

Bethannie and her new purse. She loved it.

Bethannie opening her presents

Bethannie got high school musical cupcakes for her birthday

Annie with Aaron.

Bethannie opening her presents.

Bethannie with her cousins.

She got 2 new outfits from Justice, a light up journal, a ipod, and a new purse. She loved it all.

July 4th

2009-07-15T21:24:00.002-04:00

We went to our family friends the Westermeyer's. I think they figured out that the 2 families have been doing the 4Th together for about 52 years. I grew up always going to their house or them coming to my grandmas house. It is always a lot of fun. We were very glad we got to be there and see every one who came for the 4Th. The kids have fun playing with all the little kids and their cousins. they have a bunch of great Dane dog that the kids always think are so funny because they are bigger then they are. Well I did not take a lot of pics that day either but I did get a pic of the kids. What a great day.

Kids first Reds game

2009-07-15T21:13:00.003-04:00

Dad and James

Grandma with Bethannie

The 2 goofs.

So I thought the kids would just love going to see a real baseball game after the 2 older ones both playing this last spring. They did indeed love it. I thought that since we were going to be in Cincinnati we would ask my dad and Margaret and my grandparents if they wanted to join us. I thought they would like it as well. We had a blast. The night we went every one got a seat and a hat for $10. So we thought not a bad deal. The kids would wear their hats and then take them back off. For the most part they all did really good and they all said they loved it.

Great grandma and Mackenzie

James with his mouth full of popcorn so into the game.

Bethannie

looking down at all the seats of our family.

Thanks for going with us Dad and Margaret and Grandma and Grandpa. It was a lot of fun.

A quick trip to Ohio

2009-07-15T21:09:00.003-04:00

I went and saw some friends of mine while I was up in Dayton. I thought the kids would love seeing them after not seeing them for so long. I was so right. they loved it. the loved being able to just run and ride bikes and have fun. I helped my friend Monica paint her house. She said she was thinking about it and before we ever even thought about going to sleep that night we had already painted most of the room. It was so funny. her husband said I was not allowed to leave till the room was done. I told him he had to finish it. Thanks Monica for letting us crash at your house for the night. I really appreciate it.

Next stop was in Alabama

2009-07-15T21:01:00.004-04:00

We celebrated Bethannie's 8Th birthday a little early while we were in AL. My mom and Mark wanted to be able to be a part of it. So we made a chocolate thin mint ice cream cake. It was supper yummy and that was just what Bethannie wanted. We never do chocolate cake for birthdays because big James does not like it. Like her curly hair. We love making her have curly hair every once in a while. She loves it because it makes her look like one of her cousins. She got a fake American girl doll as she says. She really wants a real one but at this time just not something she was going to get for her birthday from my mom. Any how we had a lot of fun being there as well. We were there for about a week and a half and it was fun getting to know Adam my stepbrother and his new wife.

First stop on our trip

2009-07-15T20:57:00.002-04:00

So we went to my dad and Margaret's for a week at the beginning of our trip. We went to the pool a lot and the kids loved it. They really are all a bunch of fish.I was really bad at taking pics of every one while I was gone so Sorry I did not get any of them.

Our ward 5K for service

2009-07-13T20:28:00.002-04:00

So we did a service project where we decided everyone who wanted to would run or walk a 5K. If you chose to run it you needed to bring in canned good that we would then donate to a food bank for people here in our area who needed them. It was such a fun morning. We had a few others turn out for it but they had already left before we got this picture. there was a before pic but I did not get that one. So here we all are after our 5K. The girl in the pic at top was going to be moving a week later and we were not going to be seeing her anymore and so I grabbed one last pic with her before we left. It was a not so great pic but I still was glad we took it.

My little Diva

2009-07-13T20:24:00.001-04:00

So Mackenzie was told to go to bed one night and she was being really quiet and so I went in to check on her to see if she had fallen asleep. No she was not asleep. This is how she looked when I walked in. I thought who lays in bed at night with sunglasses on reading a book. Only my kid. She was so cute though.

Baseball is it really over?

2009-07-13T20:20:00.002-04:00

So the kids have both enjoyed playing ball this spring. Bethannie however has decided it is not a sport for her right now. James however loved it and wants to play again so he will be playing again this fall. It was a lot of fun watching both the kids learn how to play and get better at it as the season went on. We will be missing sitting out every Saturday for 4 hours minimum for 2 months straight. What ever will we do now to fill our time? Relax that is what.

Busch gardens

2009-07-12T11:19:00.004-04:00

I went with a friend of mine and her girls and went up to Busch Gardens. it was fun because we went as soon as the kids went to school that day and we just took the little girls. They had so much fun. We will miss going with them now because they have now moved and so we will not see them now for a long time.

Gracie and Annie waving and making faces.

Elizabeth and Mackenzie waving.

The girls in the water part

Mackenzie stopping long enough to say hi

My 30th birthday.

2009-07-12T10:43:00.005-04:00

All the girls who joined me for my birthday dinner. It was a lot of fun. Thanks Todd for watching my kids so I could go out. It was really nice of you. Thank you girls for making my birthday a memerable one.

They brought me out cheesecake for my birthday. It was pretty good. I felt a little guilty eating it knowing how hard I had been working at loosing weight. But I ate it and enjoyed it.

Leann, Holly, me and Janice

Leann and Holly

Allyn and Brooke

Allyn and Brooke were just talking and our waiter just poked his head into the pic and told us he knew we wanted him in the pic. He posed alot with us that night. It was funny.

Our summer

2009-07-12T10:40:00.002-04:00

Ok so I have not posted in a while. We made it to KY and back ok back in May. It was a lot of fun to see our family even though it was for only a few days. My kids did an awesome job driving in the car. We did a lot of driving over that weekend. Well since then I have had a 30th birthday, kids get out of school, travel all over the East coast, and now have a few extra visitors. I will post all about it all here over the next few days.

Getting ready

2009-05-20T15:05:00.002-04:00

So we are suppose to leave tomorrow to drive to KY for my neice's baptism. I was supper excited about the whole trip. Then people started flaking on me and cancelling parts of the trip I had been banking on. Family as much as I love them can sure drive me crazy. So after many new plans I am still going to be driving to KY with 3 kids in tow. 12 HOURS ONE WAY. Sounds like a lot of fun right? Well it will be. My kids are so excited to see their cousins that they have not seen in a good while. My little nephew is getting blessed as well and I have never met him before. So it will be a lot of fun. So as I am sitting here trying to think of what all I need to quickly pack I am stressing over the drive already. We are taking the car with no TV and so I am dreading hearing the kids say I am bored, and when are we going to be there. Well this is just a preview to them of what our summer is going to be like. we will always be in the car and on our way to some where new. So as you all are relaxing with your wonderful well behaved children who would never not mind think of me pulling my hair out because it is the 10th potty break we have made in 3 hours. See you all when I get back or maybe if you are a lucky one you will see me on the trip.

Just so you know

2009-05-05T20:53:00.002-04:00

if you go to
www.oprah.com/kfc
you can get a free 2 piece grilled chicken meal for free. You have to go online before tomorrow afternoon though and get it printed and then you have 2 weeks to use it. So I just wanted to let you know. I am loving the idea because it will be a great fast night dinner for me and the kids when we are always on the run.

When it rains it pours literally

2009-04-29T06:51:00.003-04:00

Ok so James has been gone for about 10 weeks and things that I never thought would have gone wrong have. A short bit after James left I was doing laundry and I hear bubbles coming up in the toilet. Well long story and yucky story later our water line had broke and we had all the yuckies coming up in our bathtub and toilets and it was just not a good day. We had to call the city and they came out to look and see if it was there problem or the landlords problem. Well it ended up being the city and at 11:00 P.M. they decide they need to come back in the morning and they would have a big dig up in the morning. So that is just what they did. Let me tell you though I had no clue what i was suppose to do with something like that. I am not very handy and I do not know anything about how to turn water off or anything. Well it was all fixed and we have been rolling along just fine here till this morning.

I wake up at 5:15 to this awful hissing sound. It sounded like water was running but I did not know where. I thought maybe the toilet was running. No not that. I went into the kitchen and my first step in I was greeted with a wave of water. I was now standing in a lake that has decided to form in MY kitchen. Why I ask Why does this stuff always have to happen when I do not know what to do. SO I figure out it is my refrigerator. I call my landlord and wake him up saying my kitchen and part of the carpets are flooded due to water coming from the refig. Fun right well the water is every where and it has soaked up into carpet and broke a ton of the tiles on our floor. So in other words I have a huge mess. The landlord is already here trying to help get this all fixed so we shall see just how bad it is. All I know it I have been running a carpet cleaner and I bet I sucked up over 10 full buckets of water. So there was a lot of water running everywhere.

Another fun play

2009-04-27T19:39:00.004-04:00

So Bethannie was in another school play with some of her friends. they put on Treasure island. The play was really cute and while I was video taping the whole thing I also tried to record a few songs on the camera so I could blog it. So if the recording is not so great you know why now. She really enjoys doing these plays. She was all ready for another play to start but came home the next day to inform me she has to wait till she is in the 3rd grade to be in another play. I can hardly wait to see what she will do next year.

A Crazy night

2009-04-27T19:27:00.002-04:00

So a few weeks ago I had 5 extra kids for the night. There parents went up to the temple and then to a Grateful Dead concert. Sounds like a great combo to me. Any how well the kids were all here from about noon till the next morning. I thought I might be crazy by the end but it was surprisingly not bad. The kids helped entertain each other so that made it easy in some ways.

This was all the kids that night watching a movie. We rented Bedtime stories and Tale of Desperox. I am sure I did not spell that right but oh well. They loved the movies.

We went out side and enjoyed the nice weather and rode bikes and scooters.

Here is baby Noah walking around barefoot. He wanted out side so bad but I had no shoes for him so what do you do. You let the boy have fun.

Banks went out and played outside just like this. He is so funny.

James and Adam waiting to be pulled in the wagon.

All in all it was a fun evening with all the kids. I told them they owe me but really I feel like I still owe them because they help me out with James and T-ball practice all the time. I hope you guys had a fun time Allyn and Aron. I will do it again if you ever feel the urge to go to another concert. HA HA HA

Easter

2009-04-13T22:10:00.002-04:00

Here we were after church. We got up on Sunday and the kids got a basket. It was filled with color coded candy. I had see the stuff at Wal-mart and thought why would you have everything be in color sections. Then my smart sister said if the Easter bunny did that then none of the kids could say that is mine. So the Easter bunny did just that. Bethannie's basket was all pink. Mackenzie's was all yellow and James was all blue. The kids loved it. Well I found these cute dresses a few weeks ago and thought they would be perfect for Easter when I knew I was never going to get the skirts I wanted to make for the girls done. So all the girls matched and I loved it.

The kids looking cute.

Easter eggs

2009-04-13T21:58:00.003-04:00

So we decided it was time to color our Easter eggs on Saturday night. The kids were so excited about it. I am glad that as the kids do get older it makes things that used to drive me crazy to do way easier. I just could not stand the mess and how everything they touched would be dyed a new color. We did have a few small spills but no big deal. They made a lot of really bright eggs.
They turned out so well.

James watching the girls color their eggs.

Bethannie waiting for her egg to get colored.

James making some cool colored eggs.

Bethannie writing on her egg. After she did it then James wanted to try too.

Mackenzie just showing off her really dirty face. I guess I never washed her face after dinner. Oh well.

James making some really cute face .

Bethannie being supper cute too.

Busch gardens

2009-04-13T21:46:00.003-04:00

So we bought season passes to Busch Gardens again this year. We had a lot of debate about it but I decided that we would still get enough use out of it with out James being here. It is a great way to just go spend a day and not feel trapped in the house. So we went for the first time this year last Friday. It was a lot of fun. We met up with 2 girls from church and all their kids. We had 3 adults and 11 kids. It sounds a lot more crazy then it was I think. The kids all get along great and the girls are great friends of mine. So it was a good day just spent chillin out. Here are some pics of the kids and well I had my camera with me all day but these were the only pics I took all day. I will try to do better next time.

Elizabeth and Mackenzie on the air balloon ride.

James and Annie on the ride too. They all had fun riding the little kid rides.

Mackenzie and Elizabeth again. They look so cute.

plans are made

2009-03-30T12:47:00.002-04:00

Alright girls. we are going to go to No Frills Grill. We will meet at 7:00 P.M. on Friday night. Let me know if you are wanting to join us. the more the merrier. Invite any one you want especially if they are not on blogs. We will see you on Friday night.

Girls night out?

2009-03-29T11:53:00.003-04:00

Hey local ladies. Deborah and I are wanting a girls night out. We are planning this Friday night. Any one want to join us? We are wanting to go out to dinner some where down town but I am not sure where yet. I would think we would meet at the restaurant at about 7:00 or so. Any how let us know. Any suggestions of where to go too?

Just a minute....

2009-03-29T11:49:00.003-04:00

Man I have not clue how people do it. I have been on the go for the entire last week. I did thank goodness get a day at home yesterday to just do nothing. well sort of. I have not had the time to even really tidy or well who am I kidding, clean my house. So I asked the kids to help me get the house clean. they did sort of help but it did get most of the way done. I need to finish my kitchen but not a big deal. I am just so tired form running every where do everything. I do not know how I will keep it all up but I will some how manage. I bring it all on myself. But man I have just not had time for anything. Well I just needed to vent a little frustration of how my life is. Gotta love not having your husband at home when life is always going.

2009-03-20T14:46:00.003-04:00

So for the last week and a half Bethannie has had to be at school 30 minutes early so they could have drama practice. The 2ND grade was putting on a play " How does your garden grow". It was a really cute play and Bethannie had a ton of fun doing it.

Here Bethannie is with 2 of her friends from school that were also in the play.

Here is a picture of almost all the kids. It was so cute.

Bethannie was a lawn ornament. She was a cute one at that. The pic was not so great but it was the best I got of the girls.

Here is the last song the kids sang. Just thought I would share the joy.

No more diapers

2009-03-16T19:55:00.001-04:00

So I just have to post about how happy I am with Mackenzie. She is finally potty trained. We are still putting on a diaper at night just to be safe because she is not so great at night while she is sleeping but no more diapers during the day. She started last Sunday and really has been doing a good job. She had a few accidents while learning and she is working hard to earn her reward. I am just so happy and proud of her. Any how Just thought I would share that with every one.

Crafting moments

2009-03-14T20:53:00.004-04:00

So the last three days or so I can say I have done a whole lot of nothing but crafting. I tried my hand at sewing a skirt for Bethannie. She has not modeled it long enough for me to snap a picture of it but I will. I went to a birthday breakfast this morning and every one was saying how they love hair bows but can not make them. Well several people said they wanted some so those who asked here is what I made today. You have to let me know what you want. I had a lot of fun making them because well I am still trying to learn how and so I thought they turned out really well.

My other project was this skirt for both the girls.
Thanks Charlotte for the idea. I have been wanting to make them for a long time. So I finally got around to it.

Here is a close up of it.

And I made a matching hair bow for both the girls to wear with it.

Any how well I just thought I would post some pics because I had been telling people who do not live near by what I was trying to do. Easier to explain with pics.

Fabulous Five

2009-03-08T18:50:00.000-04:00

Fabulous Five
OK! So this is how this works...the first 5 people to respond to this post will receive something made by me for you. My choice. Made especially for you. Of course there are some restrictions and limitations:

1 I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!

2 What I create will be just for you.

3 It will be done sometime this year.

4 You have no clue what it will be... it may be a story. It may be poetry or an article on properly cleaning your face before a masque. I may draw or paint something. I may bake something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure. ;-)

5 I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch? The catch is that you must re post this on your own blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on their blog. The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did will win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me!!Oh! And be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it!!

Two weeks down

2009-03-05T07:46:00.002-05:00

Well it is hard to believe that 2 weeks have already passed since James left. I can not believe in some ways how slow it feels like time is going but I know it will be over before I know it. Especially because I am such a crazy mom. Well the past 2 weeks have been a blure for me because well I have has sick kids, a ton of girl scout cookies to get rid of, literally, and sign ups for kids. James has been asking to play T-ball since he was like 3. So he is finally old enough and there are a few people from church who all have boys the same age as James and we all had talked about signing them up together. i do feel sorry for the coach because these boys love to play together and I bet it will be a handful but they are going to have so much fun. Well Bethannie said she wanted to play too and so it was a lot cheaper to sign up the next child so I went ahead and signed her up too. The thing is she has never played and she is going to coach pitch so we shall see. The same thing I hope with her team is she will be on the team with a bunch of the boys from her church class. She loves the idea of playing though so I am glad she is going to.

Mackenzie woke up last Friday throwing up. She was sick till Tuesday. Let me tell you no fun. I am not good with knowing what to do with sick kids. James always tells me what to do. But we survived. James got it a little bit too so he stayed home from school on Monday. What a day that was because we saw a whole inch of snow fall and we were on a 2 hour delay, 20 + accidents on the highways, and LOTs of schools through out the area with no school at all. Oh well.

As far as girl scout cookies well our little troop is about to have their last booth sale on Saturday. I am hoping to get rid of everything we have left. I will be great to not see another cookie box for a long time after this. I have had CASES in my living room for almost a month now.

Well I got a phone call from James last night and I was so excited to hear from him. He is doing good and is about to pull into France. So jealous. One day I will go there too. Any how well that is our weeks summed up.

We say good bye

2009-02-18T14:50:00.002-05:00

As we are about to say good bye to our dear James I am saddened. I do not know what it is about this deployment but I just am not ready for it. I know lots of people do it all the time. We have done it a lot before, but I just have not been ready for this one. It is his job and we respect and love him for that. I feel so blessed to have a husband who stands up for our country every day of his life. He loves his job and what it stands for. We may not love it as much all the time. It means a lot of lonely times for me. it means a lot of nights when the kids go to bed with out hearing from their father. but we all do it. just like many others all across the country. it is so hard to feel sorry for yourself when you know and are reminded by many others that you are not the only one. Not that I have ever felt I am the only one to ever have to do this. I just want James to know though before he leaves how much we love him and will miss him. You are certainly the center of our family. We miss you terribly when you are away and nothing seems to be just right while you are away. Please come home safely and soon.

Our trip

2009-02-06T16:09:00.002-05:00

We got the chance to go on vacation with the kids before James leaves in 2 weeks. We were very excited about it all. We were going to go to Pigeon Forge Tennessee. We did a lot of fun things with the kids but also enjoyed just chilling at the cabin and soaking in the hot tub out side while watching snow fall. It was a good trip and we will treasure the memories for a long time. I am so sad to know that my dear love is leaving in 2 short weeks. We are used to it but it does not get any easier. But I have one more post about our trip I will do later on tomorrow.

Ripley's Aquarium

2009-02-06T15:54:00.002-05:00

We went one day and did all of the Ripley's tourist things they had in Gatlinburg. We had a lot of fun. We definitely had a long day after all the walking we did.

James messing with a water filter system.

Look at this school of fish

This shark looks hungry

And a huge sea turtle

A now some jelly fish.

Skiing with the kids

2009-02-06T15:08:00.004-05:00

So we were all very excited about going to TN and taking the kids skiing. James and I thought the kids might last for a few hours and we would be done. Well I also thought we would hear whining and complaining the whole time too. We were very surprised by the end of the day. The ski slopes open at noon and we got there right as they opened. The kids did so good and they actually lasted until 8:00 that night. We had such a great time. The kids skied on the small hill. and then James and I would take turns going up the mountains and coming down. I have not skied since I was a kid and I was so scared I would not remember how to do it. But I only fell once on the bunny hill when I was taking James down and we both turned the opposite way and we both fell. I also fell getting off the ski lift the first time. You can laugh. I did. I really had no clue what I was doing. But we had such a good time. We all got in for $87 to make the day even better.

James skiing.

Bethannie looks like she is having fun.

Look at this handsome skier.

Bethannie giving it her best try.

Don't they looks so cute.

Here I am going up the ski lift.

And this is the mountain I am coming back down. I never fell coming down so I was pretty pleased

Mackenzie skied a lot like this. She would fall half way down and slid the rest.

How cute are we.

Mackenzie still going.

The end to a LONG day.

Indoor fun

2009-02-06T14:47:00.005-05:00

We went to this really cool Adventure Quest. They had an indoor putt putt. A mirror maze, and a Lazar room. It was like being in Mission impossible. We all had a ton of fun.

This was a pic we took. It was out on the course. The whole thing was pirate themed. It had black lights through the whole thing and of course the flash killed the whole effects of what it looked like but it was so cool.

Mackenzie had had enough by the time we got to the mirror maze.

This was a room in the mirror maze. James freaked out because he thought he would fall through the floor.

More putt putt

How many Bethannie's and James's can one family have?

We could not ever figure out how to get out of the maze. So we went back to the beginning and then went in the end and surprise surprise we could never get to the beginning. We walked around for forever. It was really cool though. It was a fun day. Especially when it was like 20 degrees out that day.

The end of our trip

2009-02-06T14:19:00.002-05:00

This was our last morning in the cabin. We were all in coats ready to go but I thought I would get one more pic. We had such a good time. It took us 8 hours to get home. The kids are back in school today and life is back to normal.

Tomorrow

2009-01-25T17:39:00.001-05:00

Hey ladies who live right here by us. We are having a Karaoke day at 1:00 P.M. All are invited if you want to come. Bring your kids because well there will be a house full of them. Hope to see you all then. Oh and bring a snack to share with every one. Or for the kids whatever.

Bethannies new look

2009-01-20T16:14:00.003-05:00

Bethannies old look.

Bethannies new look.

Bethannie can now fix her own hair. She did this hair do this morning. What a cutie pie though.

Commissioning of the USS George H. W. Bush (CVN 77)

2009-01-13T06:43:00.006-05:00

So on Jamurary the 10 I got to go to the commissioning of the George H. W. BUsh. It was so cool. I took Bethannie and she said it was cool. She was probably very bored becasue we did have to sit there for a LONG time but she did so well. I told her that she could say she has seen the President in person now.

Here was where we had to sit for 5 plus hours in the cold. It was not a lot of fun freezing but the experience was great.

Here is one circling before landing.

Here are 2 of the 9 helicopters that landed on the top of the boat to unload people.

What security measures did they go through to get the President, Vice president, former President and all the other important people on the boat and make every one feel safe.

We have secret servicemen all over the boat.

We have this sniper on the look out

And we have this sniper ready for anything.

President Bush talking. He was talking about what a great Honor it was for his father to be having this boat named after him.

Daddy Bush was the man of the hour as they said. He made a lot of jokes about his wife and how she has put up with him for 64 years. he talked about his flying days.

He got to set the first watch and so here is is saying "Carry on".

President Bush's daughter was the ship sponsor and so she got to Bring the ship to life.

There had been a group of I would say 300 or so give or take a lot. But the sailors were all standing out on the Pier for the ceremony right in front of where we had to sit. So at the end of every one talking they ran aboard the ship and then continued to keep running.

They were filling in all the holes of the boat with sailors. I thought this was so cool.

I have never seen this before in real life and so I always tell James I am excited to see them pull back in from a deployment so I can see the sailors stand all along the boat.

This is not a lot of sailors compared to coming home from a deployment but it was still so cool to see them all standing up there.

At the end of the ceremony a foursome air wing flew by. It was really cool. And then another plane flew by but it was an older plane and so we were guessing that it was a kind of plane that George H.W. Bush had flown before. Not the exact one but you know what I mean.

Here is when George Bush was leaving. He left in a caravan of about 10 vehicles. It was for lots of the VIP.

And his lovely wife riding down this lift they were using as an elevator.

Happy Birthday Babe

2009-01-10T14:26:00.003-05:00

I just wanted to wish my sweet dear a Happy 30th Birthday. We love you so much and we miss you so much.

James loves that his dad because he is teaching him how to golf. They love golfing together. He thinks he is pretty funny too.

Bethannie loves her daddy because he takes the kids bowling and they have a lot of fun.

Mackenzie loves her daddy becasue he is always making her laugh and smile. He like to wrestle and tickle her.

We love him so much because he is just a funny guy to be around and so easy to love. We love you so much baby. I hope you have a good birthday and that you will always be a great dad with your kids. See you at the end of the month.

Our Christmas morning

2009-01-01T11:52:00.003-05:00

Bethannie very excited about getting a guitar for Christmas

We saw this expression on James face a lot during Christmas morning

My dad and Step mom got to come for Christmas this year and so we enjoyed having them here with us for a few days.

Bethannie opening a present

Mackenzie opening her stocking

James sitting with Aunt Chrissy and opening up a present

Christmas Eve

2009-01-01T11:34:00.002-05:00

The kids got their Christmas Eve PJs on Christmas Eve. They looked so cute with them on.

2008-12-08T15:12:00.003-05:00

I often wonder at this time of year if my kids are very greedy or if they know and care that there are kids out there who get far less then they do for Christmas. So yesterday we went to James boat Christmas party for the kids. It was a lot of fun and the kids got to do all sorts of fun activities. They had moon bounces for them to jump in. They had a rock climbing wall that you could climb. Crafts food and Santa. Well before the kids left they all got a present. SO as we left and the kids did not know what they were getting in there present I asked them if they would be willing to give their brand new toy to a boy or girl who was going to get anything for Christmas. SO to my surprise Bethannie was very fine with this idea. She said she knew she was having Christmas on Christmas day and she wanted to share. James said he wanted to give his toy away but did pout about it for a few moments. He does not quite get it I think. Mackenzie got a game we already own and so even though she is still so little we are taking all three presents and taking them to toys for tots. I am letting them drop them off so they feel what is is like to share. I was so pleased with my little ones. They know they do not get a lot of presents on Christmas morning but it will be what they want and much more then others.

One more for catch up

2008-12-02T19:39:00.002-05:00

So our church had a flag football game on Thursday morning. (Thanksgiving morning) SO James decided he would go out and play and I stayed at home with the kids and tried to still keep cooking. We were going to have 14 people at our house for Thanksgiving so I still had a lot of prep to do. Any how well James came home about an hour later and was looking pathetic. SO I asked if they were done and all I got was a no. I asked why he quit then and I heard I broke my ribs. I just look at him. How do you break your ribs in FLAG football. Well let me tell you how. You have a guy who in just about a month will turn 30 and still thinks his body should be able to be like it was back in high school. So when one 30 yr old body dives for the ball (because yes it was that important to win) and you are not wearing any pads bad things happen. So Chrissy was here at our house to try and help and she ends up taking James to the ER and they do not return till 2:30. I now have everyone at our house and we are waiting to see what happened with James. Well He has broken ribs. Well He was still hurting for the whole weekend so we got up on Sunday morning and he went to the boat to see if there was anything else wrong. Well they said he broke 4 ribs. He had to go to work on Monday and when he got there then they checked him out again and then they realized he has 6 broken ribs. So they have put him SIQ Sick in quarters. He has to go back in on Thursday and they will probably put him back on SIQ but we will see. Any how. He is so goofy though. Any how he hurts a ton but is hanging int there.

But I wanted to say I was one of those crazies who went to Walmart for Black Friday and got a bunch of good deals. I am so glad to say I am almost done with my shopping for our kids. I am loving to not have to be out there the closer it gets to Christmas. James went with me broken ribs and all and so that was fun to just hang out with him in the middle of total craziness from people who were fighting over a power wheel for $88. What fun times.

Our new tree

2008-12-02T19:30:00.002-05:00

So we have tried to have a live tree now for the last couple of years and we wanted to let the kids cut them down but with James not being home last year we have never had the chance to do it so we decided to google a spot to cut your own tree. We went out this past Saturday and went and found a tree and then all the kids took a turn helping to cut it down. It was so funny watching and listening to them say it is going to fall on _____. Any how after a fun weekend of putting up all our Christmas decorations the kids are supper excited to know it is almost Christmas.

Bethannie taking her turn with the tree

James and James sawing through the tree

James wanting this tree.

This was our turkey from Thanksgiving. It was so good. We tried a smoked turkey this year. Everyone loved it so I would say it was a hit.

A long Saturday

2008-12-02T19:09:00.005-05:00

We decided that since Jame had just gotten home the kids needed some much needed and deserved fun times out. So we had been telling all the kids we would take them to go see theses movies. James really liked his. Bethannie said she liked hers but man did Troy and Gabriella have to kiss. She said Eeeewwww. She is so funny. Any how after the movie we went ice skating at the mall. It is just a small rink but it was so much fun. I love ice skating and so being able to go out there and see the kids try was fun. Too bad the kids cried most of the time. They were to scared they were going to fall. Any how when the had the guts I would skate around with them and help them. I did not let any of the kids fall when they were with me which made them feel a lot better about it. James did not like it. Mackenzie loved it but had to hold on because she did not know how to make herself move but she was not scared. Bethannie did a lot of whining while we were there but right before we left she got around 2 times by herself and she said she likes it. Last thing we did that night was watch a parade that was downtown. It was a lot of fun and the kids liked it but man it was so cold out there that you really could not move by the end. Oh well still a lot of fun.

James Little James and Mackenzie went to go see Madagascar

Bethannie and I went to see High school musical 3

Mackenzie showing how easy it is to walk in the skates.

James hanging on for dear life

Bethannie in the kiddie rink. It was so small

Mackenzie relaxing with daddy

Bethannie and I at the very end. She started to get the hang of it.

Another float I guess the pic was a little blurry sorry.

Only along the beach would you see a giant crab in a Christmas parade. We laughed at this. There were tons of fish and sea life in the parade.

Just fun little floats we saw

Santa of course at the end

Twilight?

2008-11-21T09:30:00.005-05:00

Ok to all my fellow twilight junkies. All I have heard from so many people is all the hype around Twilight so I tried to become one of you. I was unsuccessful though. There was a group of girls that decided to go to the midnight showing and so I thought sure why not I will go too. This was on Sunday night. So on Tuesday night I decide to pick up the book and start reading. Now it was a good book to read, not quiet what I was expecting but in a good way and so I found it easy to read. I always tell every one how much I do not like to read and so I was dreading the thought of trying to get through 500 pages in 2 days. But I did do it. I was finished reading yesterday about 5 and so I thought I am going to need some sleep before I try to go to a midnight show. Well I was not successful with that either. So instead I just decided I would drink some diet Pepsi to stay awake and off to the movie I went last night. I did not have any expectations because I have honestly not obsessed with this for the last months or year. So to me it was not bad however it was funny acting and bad writing but oh well. It was a fun night out with some girlfriends. We all should have gone and gotten breakfast or something but as it was I did not get home till after 3 and not to bed before 4. Oh and Thanks Chrissy for watching the kids sleep. I really appreciate it. Any how Thanks for a great night girls.

First off

2008-11-21T09:23:00.001-05:00

It was snowing this morning. I have heard over and over how it really does not snow here and to not plan on seeing it here. Well to our surprise we wake up to white flurries falling. It was pretty. Of course now it has stopped and it never stuck it was still cool to see it fall. You never realize how much you miss snow till you live in it for a year and then are told you will not see it again in VA. Oh well

What a weekend

2008-11-19T08:25:00.002-05:00

Well we had a huge past weekend. I am still recuperating from it all. My mom and Grandma came to stay here at my house and then my sister and my dad and step mom went and stayed with my other sister. We only live about 10 min apart and so it is not a long drive at all. But my sister and her husband we going to the temple and we all wanted to be there for them. James had been gone and was suppose to come home on Friday, but due to bad weather he never got to pull in till Saturday at about 3 or so. So he was still at home. So we all drove to Washington DC and it was so wonderful. It was fun to see every one. On Sunday morning the kids were doing their primary program and so Almost every one came to see them there as well. It was fun for the kids to see so many people in the audience since they were up front. Any how well everyone is home now and we are even James less. He was only home for 36 hours and left again on Monday Morning. Well I just wanted to tell everyone I love them and thank you for seeing us while you were here for Chrissy. We appreciated it.

James Birthday party

2008-11-19T08:10:00.004-05:00

Well James got to have a birthday party with friends this year. he had a blast. I thought I might of gone crazy with all the kids because we were stuck inside because of course it decided to rain the day of his party. Oh well it was still a lot of fun and James was so happy to have so many friends come.

A transformer cake

All the candles got blown out. He had some help though

Every one waiting for the cake

The other side of the table

James opening up his presents

What is in there?

Thank you every one.

Happy Birthday James

2008-11-06T21:41:00.005-05:00

So today was James birthday and now that he is five I just wonder where all the time has gone. He is off to school now and loves meeting new friends and having fun being him. But I miss out on the days where he would snuggle up any time I wanted him to or get a hug and a kiss..... Oh who am I kidding, he is such a mamas boy. He is not 15 just 5. But one day I am going to turn around at that is what it will be like. I just miss him being a baby. Well i just wanted to share some pics from his birthday tonight and then pic of him when he was younger. i do not have the photo card from him being a baby at my finger tips so they are from a little older till now. Oh well still supper cute.

James opening a present

Oh what to wish for. Him good presents. Not any thing in particular just good stuff.

Yummy cake.

James when he was little.

Look at this cute boy

James catching a fish. he needed help and so grandpa was there to lend a hand

Well what do you expect when he has an older sister

But one day this will be so worth blackmailing over

Say cheese

My silly little boy.

Awaiting the poll

2008-11-04T12:41:00.002-05:00

Well after an hour and 30 minutes of waiting to make my vote count I have voted an now am waiting to see how the country has voted.

Fun pictures

2008-11-03T07:49:00.003-05:00

Well I have decided instead of taking the kids to get their pics done I would just take them. So we went out to the beach on Saturday and went and did some pics. They were a lot of fun to take but the kids did not all want to cooperate at the same time so I might have gotten a few that were good but who knows. Any how here are the pictures I took.

Trunk or treating

2008-11-02T18:37:00.002-05:00

Here is Bethannie being a bride

Since our ward decided to do trunk or treating on Halloween that was all we were able to do this year which turned out to be OK. The kids had a lot of fun seeing their friends and getting to walk around with them. So we got a bowl full of candy in about 45 min and then went in for a costume contest. The kids did not win and so they decided we should of just left instead of doing that but oh well.

Here is James as Lightening McQueen race car driver.

Mackenzie was a chicken. She was so cute.

Here is all the kids together. It was a fun night.

2008-10-28T07:38:00.003-04:00

Well I haven't posted for a while and so it has been crazy around here. James left again and so we are all awaiting his return soon. The kids have had a count down of when Halloween is. They have been trying to figure out who they are going to be this year. I did not make or buy any costumes this year which was weird but I already had them or one was mailed to me by a good friend of mine. So you will have to wait till Friday night and I will post pics of what the kids have decided to be. But they are all so cute.
Well we are winding down on soccer. Both the kids have their last game this week. James is done tonight and Bethannie is finished this Saturday. I am actually kind of glad for that because we have been running wild with all the practices and everything. So the end is near and I am excited. Bethannie is in a girl scout troop now though and so we meet with them every other week which is not to bad. She seems to be enjoying it so far.
Well I have still been painting. I have more rooms to still go but I am liking having the colors in our home now instead of white walls. They give our home some charm and warmth. But I am having fun doing it all. other then all that we are all doing good. James is supper excited about his Birthday coming up in just over a week and so he has lots of plans for that. I can not believe that he is going to be 5. Well I will post again later this week with pics of our fun Halloween evening.

Working hard

2008-10-09T07:38:00.003-04:00

So while James was gone I have decided to get some painting done. We have been debating about doing it since we got here but I am so glad I did now. I have only done two rooms so far. Mackenzies room is done and hers is a nice pink color. And then I painted the front room. I picked Cappacinno. So Now I am busy trying to paint going up the stairs. It is a little more difficult but it will look good. In the pics what you see is done. But I am still having to get the area closer to the ceiling done. Any how well James came home last night and I am so glad to see him. He had been gone for about 3 weeks, and is leaving again next week for 2 more or so. So I am ready for it all to be over for a little while. I am so grateful he will be home for the Holidays this year and that we will have that with him before he leaves for such a long time in Feb.

Elmo here we come

2008-10-09T07:19:00.002-04:00

So last Saturday we had made the plans that as soon as Bethannies soccer game was over we were going to go wait in line to see Sesame Street Live. It was a free show on Base and it was said to be first come first serve. Well not thinking about how many people would be able to get in or how big the theater was. We got there about 2 hours early. Not the biggest deal because they just played in the little grass area right beside where we had to be. So we are sitting there also eating lunch and all of the sudden we spot a familiar little face. It is a sweet little girl from church and she is all waving and some what excited to see Bethannie. But I am not sure who the person walking with her is. Well we soon start talking and I find out she is the sister to one of the guys at church. How funny. So any how but the kids are started playing together and they had a blast. Our other really good friends James and Kristen and their kids all had planned to come up and go with us as well so we are all in line and ready to go in. Walking in all the kids got a cute little spinning Elmo toy that lights up. It was good though it helped pass a little more time while we had to wait for the show to start. Well long story short. We waited 2 hours for a show that lasted 30 min. It was cute but so short. The whole show was trying to help learn about deployments and how to act while your daddy or mommy is gone. Nice story line but man oh man it was a long time to wait for a short story. Well here is pictures of all the kids we had with our little group.

Gracie, Bethannie, Caden, and Austin. They are all so funny.

Kelli, Hailey,Neiko, Landon, James, and Mackenzie.

Every one playing with the toys

Every one singing. It was a fun time.

Krispy Kreme... YUM

2008-10-09T07:10:00.003-04:00

Mackenzie taking a big bite.

James loving his doughnut.

Mackenzie making funny faces.

So We went to Krispy Kreme on Saturday before Bethannies soccer game. There is not one close to us so needless to say we have not bee in a very long time. SO it was fun to just go sit and let the kids have fun watching doughnuts being made and then being able to pick out the kinds they want and eat them. Any how So here are some pics of the kids. They are just so cute.