Prayers are answered

Hayley gave the family prayer this morning and blessed Daddy to have fun at tennis or work and Seb to be good while mommy cleaned the house. I felt like I was obligated to clean so I tackled organizing the junk drawers. Luckily Greg decided to fulfill the work option. The HVAC guys finished today and the brick guys got all set up and then it SNOWED!! OOOH I am so mad at the weather. I was freezing all day. I'm gonna leave if it doesn't get warm soon!
Brooke's 1st grade class did an amazing opera and she was wonderful. She sang so loud and new exactly what to do, in fact she would make sure the kids around her were in the right spot.
We had a great "wedding" week. We drove down to provo or draper everyday and hung out with cousins, Mimi, Gpa, L&L, and Adge. We went to the temple for Christy's endowment and for her marriage. We ate a lot of good food (Hayley lets me know how disapointed she is bc I am eating sugar) Lincoln's funny thing lately is kissing us on the lips and laughing so hard about it. Big Hayden is his fwend. Easter was nice. The easter bunny left a note saying he would leave them something while they were at church. HWen they got back they had to hunt for their presents. Hayley and Brooke got bathing suits and fruit leather and Lincoln got a fourwheeler and fruit leather. The easter bunny had too much candy the day before at the egg hunt at Janae's. In YW Andrea showed a "silent" easter slideshow. I had the girls say one word describing how they felt. I said "grateful". I am so grateful that Christ died for me and suffered so that I am able to repent, to feel the spirit and feel peace. I am grateful he did this for my children as well. My favorite part of the endowment session is when my posterity is mentioned. I remember the first time I went through and I was overwhelmed with that statement and I thought of those children who would come to me, and now they are here- all of them I don't know......

Crazy Weekend

Blacken Fish is still alive, barely. I haven't seen him eat any of the food we have given him and he barely moves. Lincoln still talks to him and "plays" with him.
Greg was out of town for a few days in Texas. I had to rely on Hayley and Brooke to watch the boys for short times while I took kids to dance, soccer and piano and went to a YW dinner.
Friday I watched Natty, hung out with Karmen went to McD and the girls spent the night at Karmen's. Greg came home late that night. I picked them up from Karmen's at 8:50 got Hayley to soccer and went to Target to get Christy a shower present, buy meat to make for the talent show that night and buy a cute outfit for the girls to perform in the talent show. Greg dropped Lincoln off at Target bc he went to play tennis. Then we picked Hayley up and went to the church and I practiced with friends for the funny dance we made up for the talent show to "I will survive". WE jumped off the stage and did the congo:) Then we hurried home to get ready to go to the bridal shower and start the meat in the crockpot. Hayley and Brooke slept the whole way down to Provo. I loved having them with me. Brooke won one of the games. They had a wonderful time. Aunt Marilyn and Janae were impressed that we would come all the way down for the shower, anything for family and such a wonderful occasion! Right when we came home we all got ready for the ward party, curled hair and gussied up. We went to the ward party and had a blast. Hayley and Brooke made up a dance to Disturbia and shined. They are such natural performers. I was so proud of them. Sunday we went to Lydia's blessing and hung out at Gmas all day. I had BYC and a leader's mtg that the whole stake YW pres came to. It went well. They told us we should be doing PP along with the girls. I thought that was a great idea. Now if only we can get the mom's to do it with there daughters....
This weekend Darren and Hayden worked hard! The floors were raised and the door moved up and the spout capped. I hope this week the vents will go in and the cabinet guy comes and Darren puts in the sliding door and electrical.
This week is going to be so fun. Mom, Dad, Adge and kids are in town for Christy's wedding and we are having party after party all week! Too bad the house isn't done bc they have to stay at Logan's house in Am Fork.

Back to Blogging

I was writing in my journal last night the funny things the kids have been saying lately and Greg told me I should blog instead. I think I should really make this my new hobby and then we will have all of the wonderful things that we experience recorded. These kids are growing so fast and I know this time of life is so precious.
I took Lincoln to buy a fish yesterday and he decided to name him "blacken fish". He loves this fish and talks to him, like he talks to most things that don't talk. I usually give voice to these things and we have funny conversations. Linc-Are you hungry fish? Fish-No I only like to eat every other day. Are you hungry Lincoln?......etc.
Seb is getting is first front tooth. It makes me sad not only because he is in so much pain but also he is getting so big and when a baby gets teeth they are not such a baby anymore. He is the sweetest little boy. He really loves his mommy. Anytime he sees me he reaches for me and gives me the biggest toothless smile (soon to be toothy). Hayley really wanted him to share a room with her so she gets up with him at night and makes him a bottle. It's been 3.5 months that she has been off sugar. She is so determined to go the whole year. She refuses sugar everywhere she goes. She has inspired me to stay off sugar and I just have to think of her when I am tempted.
Brooke has come so far this year in school. Her teacher M. Thomas has taught her so much. She reads very well and is learning so much. She makes friends easily. I find her playing with new friends different places we go.
I am excited for 2 before and after occasions I am waiting for. They are both in the works and are very promising. I have lost 30 lbs since february and have 10 to go. The kitchen and living room that I have been dreaming about is in the process of coming true. We are currently living in a plastic bubble and hope to be done in a month. I am so happy with life and my wonderful family. I am so blessed and lucky. Whats more is that Mimi, Gpa with the mustache and Adge and the kids are coming this weekend!
We took the kids to Moab and Las vegas over spring break. I thought it was a lot to take on and a little crazy to to do so much driving but it turned out to be so fun and the drive wasn't bad because we drove at night while they slept. The night in Moab was hard because it was so cold and Seb wanted his warm bottle and he cried most of the night. It was BEAUTIFUL there we got to stay in the park and woke up to an arch right in front of us. Vegas was so fun. We swam, went shopping, had a movie night, and rode rides at Circus Circus. I love being all together away from home. Great memories!

Farm Stand

We are friends with the Bangerter's who own the farm that is right behind our house. I love to work at the Farmer's Market in Salt Lake with them or the stand in front of the farm. One day I took the girl's to the stand and they sold cookies (made by Mimi) and icee's--I think they made 1 icee. They each made $4 which was a lot to them and it was so fun to see them in the salesgirl mode. It is hard to resist a cute little girl with big blue eyes asking you if want to buy a cookie.

Picture Day!

Trek August 2009

We did it! It was so much work and a lot of stress (responsibility for the salvation, or growth of testimony rather, of 12 youth). Our kids were amazing! We felt a bond from the start and they all contributed so much to our"family".

July 24th Parade

We were in the Bountiful 24th of July parade with our stake. Brooke and Hayley loved waving to the people and spraying them with their squirt guns. Brooke timidly squirted people until she realized how fun it was and that they didn't get too mad at her.

Trip to California

We drove to California. To break it up we stayed in Las Vegas for a night and swam in the pool before we left the next day. The kids slept for a few hours as soon as we left Las Vegas. It was nice to chat with Greg and have an intermission of my "one-woman entertainment show". The kids were so excited to see Mimi and Grandpa with a mustache. First off Hayley usually asks Mimi "So what's the plan!" She knows when she sees Mimi there is fun to be had! We went to Disneyland on my birthday so I could get in free. (I always have to have a deal!) It was wonderful to run around with just Hayley and Brooke, Mimi was wonderful and stayed home with Lincoln (she took him to work b/c she brought cake to a friend and Lincoln apparently put on quite a show). THANKS MOM! We hit so many rides right when it opened and did the fast passes for the rest. Brooke REALLY wanted to see the princesses so we waited in line for almost 3 hours! Cinderella was awesome(she asked Hayley about her fairy godmother and if she gave her her necklace, she told them not to be shy like gug-gus, and she showed them all these different poses), Snow White was ok, Jasmine needs to be fired (she didn't say a word). The fav ride was autotopia. I remember loving that ride when I was young. They loved driving their own car. We didn't have to wait in line the first time and they wanted to go again so we had to fastpass it and that was still a very long wait. Greg was yelling at the adults passing underneath, "Don't ride this ride, go drive your own car!" He couldn't understand why adults would "clog" up the line to drive a car. Yeah he wasn't feeling the "magic" at that point. One of the coolest things there was the Jedi training. Kids were able to fight Darth Vader! Greg was so excited for that one but he wasn't chosen. The fireworks were spectacular and we were all pooped (especially Brooke). It was a great day.
The next day we went to Santa Monica pier with Charles and cousins. We had a fun day at the beach. These kids could stay at the beach all year. It was very enjoyable hanging out with Charles and family. The rest of the week we stayed at Matt and Amanda's. The kids had a blast together. We rode our bikes to the beach a few times, went shopping, played at the beach and watched fireworks at a monestary. It was a wonderful week with family!

We are home from a wonderful 4 days in St. George. I don't like unpacking or cleaning the car after a trip....so I didn't. Greg won the gold medal in tennis for the Utah Summer Games! We all were going to run the 5k that we thought was on Saturday, but Greg got the days mixed up and it was last Saturday. We decided to run our own .5k instead. We had a blast staying at the wonderful wyndham resort courtesy of Clark and Kari, who owned the timeshare that we stayed in. Thanks guys! The pools were great and the room was very spacious. I love having a kitchen, it makes vacations more economical and easy. We were going to leave on Thursday and decided to leave Wednesday so I got a great deal on priceline for a hotel in Cedar. When we got to the Best Western the lady at the desk said "you look so familiar", it was a sister from my mission! (J. Johnson) She was awesome she gave us a bigger room! We watched Greg slaughter his first opponent the next morning and headed to St. George. We had a bbq and movie night thursday, went to the Iron County Rodeo friday and swam everyday. I love vacations. The thing that I love the most is that we are always together, there are no other plans or activities that take anyone away (well except for tennis). It was wonderful! This week I am going to girl's camp and then we leave Sunday for Cali! I love the Summer!

Trek

Greg and I are a "Ma and Pa" for trek this year and we are so excited. We had our training last weekend at Deseret Land and Livestock in Wyoming. We essentially were the kids and went through what the kids would experience when they go in August. I was surprised when Greg and I were split up into different groups for the weekend. I was looking forward to being with him and having him around, I think of it now as if my blankey was taken away. This is how the kids will feel when they can't be with their friends. I really enjoyed my group and had a wonderful experience even without my blankey :) The hiking wasn't bad. I feel like I put a lot of effort into pushing the handcart and I was fine. I do believe the 80 lb girls and video gamers will have a rude awakening. I thought about the pioneers and the struggles they went through and felt a strong connection and love for them, especially on the "women's pull". Of course, I was bawling as soon as I saw the "General" further up on the trail. My heart was full when our leader sad, "General are you asking us to fight for a country who has not stood up for our rights, who have persecuted and driven us from state to state and harmed our people?" General responds, "Yes". We as the pioneers decide we will send our husbands, sons and fathers to war for our country and they leave us to pull the handcarts on our own. And we pulled them to the top of that hill with tears as the men sang "Come Come Ye Saints". This is a special song to me ever since serving on Temple Square and growing to love the pioneer's sacrifice and telling people about it everyday. The next day on the trail Helaman visited us and told us, in a powerful way his story of the Stripling warriors. It makes it so real to have someone act it out in front of you and you can imagine the feelings and what really happened back then. I had so many ideas of what I want to do with our "kids" I hope we can make Trek a pivotal experience that strengthens their testimonies. Greg told me as I reached the top of the hill on the woman's pull that I would have been a great pioneer woman. I think I am pretty tough physically, however, burying a child or watching a husband walk off to war leaving me behind with 3 kids, I wouldn't be so tough.

Consider yourself lucky to be reading this, Greg has been very clear that he doesn't want any crazies having an insight to his family's whereabouts. If you are a crazy please do not look at this blog.

Park City May 2009

We decided to do our first "timeshare presentation" and it wasn't so bad. I am glad we got it over with at the beginning of our stay. We walked up to our room and the key didn't work so the maid let us in to a spacious beautiful room. When we walked back up after the presentation I realized there was a "B" at the end of our room number. We were in the "b" suite which was the little room attached to the "A" suite. It was pretty squished with all our kids. The pool was awesome and the girls LOVED it. We hung out in Park City the next day, ate at a cute cafe for b-fast, rode the trolley and the Alpine Slide. Hayley had a traumatic experience because the slide shut down due to lightning right before we got on the lift. We had been waiting for almost an hour for Greg and Brooke to go down and Hayley was so sad, as was I. Luckily, we only had to wait another 15 minutes and then we had the ride of our lives!

The Hospital

Thought I would document the most traumatic event of the year thus far. Lincoln fell and split his skin open, it got infected with strep and we had to spend 2 nights in the hospital. The bills keep coming- up to this point we have paid $7000!! We could've done a lot of things with that money, but I just can't think that way. Lincoln HATED the hospital. It was so hard on us b/c each time a nurse poked him or even take his heart rate he would point to me and cry, like he was saying "why aren't you saving me?!" The hospital didn't believe in letting him sleep for more that 2 hours at a time, which made him even more of a mess. I am so glad that is over. I am cleaning every wound now REALLY well.

We went to Liberty Park today to "watch" Greg play in a tennis tournament. Of course there wasn't much watching of Greg because each child was off in a different direction in this huge park. It was nice getting out of Bountiful and seeing a different crowd of people. Lincoln makes friends by throwing sand and saying OW when a nice little girl pets him--repeatedly. Greg won so he gets to play again tomorrow. Then maybe the next day, which will cut into his softball game.......that boy plays ALOT!

Finally

I have been so impressed with everyone's blogs and I feel like I need to join the crowd. I thought I should spend my free time documenting our lives rather than scrolling through facebook.