Let's Hear it For the Boy

This week was mostly about the Guys. Dave had his 36 birthday. I got annoyed with him this year because he wouldn't ever tell me what he wanted for his cake or dinner. He hates celebrating his birthday. So to get back at him I told him we were celebrating for the next 29 days. (his b-day is on the 29th) That means a present a day. He really does dislike the whole celebration thing, so today he got Gogurts. 16 of them. There are 5 left. I think these things are so gross!!!



Rachael had a Greek Party. She borrowed this costume from Nate. She also had a field trip to the capital and watched the legislature in action.


Nathan saved up his money and ordered a bionicle online. He waited forever for it to come. Over a week. Everyday was, "Can you check the tracking number?"


Jacob had a rootbeer lounge at school. They work on a project every five weeks and then present it to the parents. We get to watch and sip rootbeer, or lemonade. This time it was on the American revolution. I forgot to get a picture of it when I was there, but he was interviewed as one of the people who fought in the war. They borrowed our microphone.


Dave is the clean-up man every night. Our dishwasher broke a week ago, and since we haven't fixed it, guess who is getting some great skilz on hand washing dishes. Can't you tell he loves it?

I Will Survive

With strep still lingering somewhat last week, our song was definitely "I Will Survive." Some things did, and some things didn't.

My Dad survived another year.


Nate survived the spelling be in his class, but didn't survive the school wide one. He did pretty good, but I'm sure he will tell you the best part was the ice cream afterwards. Ice Cream makes everything better!!


Our Dyson is surviving now. It quit working, and I had to go get it fixed. It was in the shop for over a week! While I was sick with strep the kids were thrilled they didn't have to vacuum!


Adam's pod did not survive. We've had so many malfunctioning pods this month I'm getting pretty frustrated. We just had another one last night, and poor Adam has to get changed all the time. Sometimes diabetes stinks!


We had our weekly family movie night. The movie--Swiss Family Robinson, the treat--brownies. They did not survive. This happened before movie night. Don't worry we know who the culprit is. It's always the same person---can you spell D A D?!

"So You Had A Bad Day"

This is the song Adam sings whenever he has to get a shot for his diabetes. I felt like singing this song all week. It was a bad week, and sometimes you just have those. But like with many bad things there are always silver linings. So here are some of mine for the week.


We celebrated the BCS Championship bowl game by going over to Phil's and watching it on the big screen. Can you guess who is rooting for Oregon, who is rooting for Auburn, who couldn't decide and wore all four colors, and who totally forgot to dress up?


For her Young Women values my daughter asked what traits I felt a mother needed. Here's Nathan's answer, "You need to be able to yell and get people in trouble." Me:"You mean discipline." N--he then proceeds to sing a song about self-discipline than at the end yells, "Jazz Hands. The 5th graders taught me that." So here's his picture of jazz hands.


I got strep. I sat down to dinner Wednesday night and said, "Dave I have a really bad sore throat." Two hours later I was in bed and trying to figure out how I could sleep without swallowing ever again!! In all of my 33 years I have never had strep. My sweet mom upon hearing about my plight called me, "Do you need anything from costco?" Me: "Yes toilet paper and oreos." (I know priorities) Well she stopped by later that afternoon and brought the most wonderful smoothie from sonic. It felt so good on my throat. I'm so grateful my mom lives so close to us!!



On Friday I slept all day, but was able to go to a reception for one of our friends' son who was getting married. The doctor gave me strict instructions to not shake anyone's hands. I waved from afar. Much to my pleasure they had hot chocolate, another blessing for the sore throat. I'm always amazed at the good things that happen in a rough week. Another amazing miracle was I had a blessing the night before I went to the doctor. When I went in and said I wanted to be tested for strep they looked at me like I was a little bit crazy. Afterwards I heard they were taking bets out in the hallway. No one thought I had strep, because I was too alert and "bright-eyed" as the doctor put it. While telling some of my friends this story they made the comment,"Well they should have seen you before the blessing." Which is true, I was a mess. So thankful for the priesthood and faith as well. We'll see what tune plays at our house next week.

When I'm Human Again

So I'm a music lover, and I'm pretty sure I have a song stuck in my head all the time. This was my weekly song "Only Human Again". I think because over the holidays you are in a different mode. Well this week I had to become human again, or get back into my routine. It was a little bit difficult, and I dropped the ball in a lot of ways. But the week is over and here are some highlights.



This week we opened the last of the presents. Over the holidays we had quite a scare and Sandy ended up in the hospital. It was touch and go for a little bit, but she made it through and home. By next Sunday she was back at church and getting around fairly well. It was quite the Christmas miracle. Needless to say they didn't get to open the last of their presents until January. We went over this week, and helped them celebrate. Definitely the longest and most memorable Christmas I've ever had. On top of that I became an aunt again. Little Charlie was born on Jan. 2.



I know what in the world do Dayquil and Chocolate Milk have in common? Well when you have the flu, one helps the other one go down. The boys and I were gulping this down all week. I know for sure the chocolate milk is gone!!



How to host a Murder Mystery with Mrs. Marple. Rachael was invited to a birthday party where they dressed up as characters, and tried to solve a murder. Mrs. Marple was the detective played by---Rachael. She also won best costume. King Henry VIII was the victim and, in case you're wondering, Cinderella did it.



It was a sad day, but this week we took down all the Christmas decor. This was one of the worst parts of the week, because if I could I would celebrate Christmas all year. In fact, I think when the kids leave home I will turn one of their rooms into a Christmas room. Heck, I keep the BYU tree up year round!!

I Give Up!

I really was going to try to catch you up on everything we've done last year, but I got so far behind, well, it's just not going to happen. This year I'm going to try to do a weekly on Saturday or Sunday. Hopefully that will be a little bit better. As for last year, well here are some highlights.


Lots of Bear Lake. We went up with some of both sides of the family. We also went up with friends, and by ourselves. We love the lake!!


Our Halloween. It was cold and rainy as usual. But the kids got lots of junk, and Dave and I watched some movies. This year we had a viking, death, a ninja, and a clown.


A North Carolina trip. My SIL was pregnant with their first child. Rachael and I went out to surprise the soon to be parents. Hopefully it was a 'good' surprise.


Our trip to Southern California. Definitely one of the highlights of our year. It was a spur of the moment trip, and the kids had tons of fun. Dave and I just loved going on all the rides, and trying out the exercise rooms at all the hotels. Loved running in the morning so I could justify all the waffles and corn dogs I ate!