Spring Break

I had to work most of spring break. My kids went bowling on Monday without me. Can you see how happy they were playing while I had to work.

Aunt Becky took them all to Game World on Wednesday. I was actually very happy to avoid that that trip. Aunt Becky is amazing.

On Thursday we headed to Utah. Look at my cute husband driving me there.

I was able to meet my best friend from high school, Jenalee. It was great to catch up with her I haven't seen her in years. I decided to torture her and make her get a pedicure. Most people wouldn't think this is torture, however Jenalee is recovering from a broken foot. Me being an idiot forgot. Luckily she was a good sport about it and we both ended up with really cute toes.

We ate lunch at Kneaders, my favorite place in Utah that I don't have in Boise. Then we took our kids to the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point. Chris has better pictures on his phone, so I will have to download them later.

Sam was very jealous that she missed out on having a pedicure. I sent her to Theron's house to hang out with her cousin Jessie. I was hoping that she would forgive me for leaving her out. Aunt Gena needed a pedicure and thought it would be fun to take the girls. I had the choice of going along or watching a hunting video with Chris and Theron. I obviously opted to go with the girls. There was a lacross store next door, so my nephew Adam and Justin came along to hang out at the lacross store. I didn't want to just sit there, so I had my nails done. I have never had fake nails before, so this is a fun new experience trying to type. This picture is our nails and I have been forgiven. Justin ended up with a lacross stick. It has become his new apendage. I think that he even takes it to bed with him.

My cute nieces were blessed - Ann Geddes eat your heart out - this is Emma and Chloe.

Chris had to leave for Nebraska on Sunday for work. The weather was pretty bad when I dropped him off. I thought that I might stay one more day. Being from Wyoming, I am not scared of a little snow. What scares me is a ten hour drive with five kids in the snow. Luckily for me the weather cleared up so I was ready to head home. My kids had their hopes up, they really wanted to stay one more day. After much begging and pleading I decided that it wouldn't kill us to stay one more day. Some of my kids were convinced that it would kill them if they had to leave on Sunday. So we stayed. The biggest perk to staying was that I was able to eat at Kneaders again on Monday. This time with my mom and sister. It was very good, I really need one in Boise.

Here is a close up of the girls. Chloe is in purple and Emma is in pink.

We are back at home ready to back to school and work. I only forgot to turn in two videos to the library (which is a $6 late fee), get snacks for Tanner's class tomorrow (which means a super early trip to Winco in the morning), a meeting I was supposed to go to with Tanner's teacher today, Devyn's spring break diary, Justin's talk in primary and whatever I needed to do for work and completely forgot about. At least I made it home safely with all of the kids, oh wait, Karen did I leave one of the boys down there, it is unusually quiet here. Nevermind here they are crashed out after all of the excitement.

Tanner's Jokes #2 & #3

Tanner is known as a chick magnet or a girlfriend stealer. He is very cute so my older nephews like to take him along because all of the teenage girls think that they are so sweet to have such a cute little nephew. So one day TJ takes Tanner along to a girl's house and tells everyone that Tanner is his little brother. All of the girls are in love with Tanner and think that TJ is so great because he has such a cute little brother. So Tanner tells them "my brother wears girls underwear, he really does." They all think that TJ is the one that wears girls underwear. He isn't really. One night a really long time ago, Sam and Justin thought it would be funny to swap underwear. Justin got in a lot of trouble for wearing girls underwear. Last week Tanner thought it would be funny to plant some of Sam's underwear in Justin's drawer, hoping that he would get in trouble again. Behind that cute smile is a very mischevious little boy. Jared has become the new chick magnet. He hasn't learned how to talk yet and he doesn't give away any embarassing secrets.

Tanner's Jokes #1

I have mentioned that Tanner likes to pull pranks. One night he thought it would be very funny to get some brown play doh and squish it into a ball and put it down his brother's underwear while he was sleeping. My poor son woke up and said there's play doh in my pants. He was very confused. Now who likes to wake up with play doh in their pants that looks like poop. Tanner thought it was hillarious. I have to admit that it kind of makes me laugh as long as no play doh ends up in my pants while I am sleeping. I just don't think you can teach this kind of humor.

Devyn Doodle Bug

I love Devyn. He is such a sweet kid and most of the time he is okay if Chris or I call him Devyn Doodle Bug, but his brothers are not allowed to. If you ask him though he prefers Devyn, just Devyn. He does not like nicknames. He does not like to get in trouble and he gets embarassed very easily. Most of you have heard this story, but it is my favorite Devyn story. . .

Pink slips from school are not a new thing in my household. I think that Justin brought home 14 his first two years in school. I typically get several phone calls on my cell phone and work phone to let me know that Justin was in trouble. So when I get a call from the school about my son, I automatically think that Justin got in trouble again. Not so much.

Devyn had been throwing wet paper towels on the bathroom wall at school. As I drove home trying to figure out what kind of punishment he is going to get and try to perfect my lecture on respecting school property, I call Chris for advice. His first response is doesn't he know that he should throw them on the ceiling not on the walls. It was very helpful. So I go home and get ready to start in the lecture until I found out that Devyn had actually gotten the pink slip two weeks before hand, but he was too embarassed to tell anyone. He sat on the wall at school during his recesses rather than bring the note home to sign. Finally his teacher was gone one day, so he thought he would pull one over on the substitute because she didn't know me. He had his friend sign my name to it, since his friend knew how to sign my name. The forgery was pretty obvious when they had signed it "Roobie" It turned out to be one of those mom moments that I just had to shake my head so that I wouldn't laugh and I honestly didn't know what to say.

I did learn that Devyn can keep a secret much better than Justin.

Saturday

Our Saturdays are typically filled with basketball, volleyball or football. I have hit the short few months that I get with no sports! Lucky me gets a couple of Saturdays free. So what do I do - I punish myself with a trip to Costco with four kids. There must be something wrong with me. Why do I do it you might ask. Because my desk drawer is completely out of sweedish fish and my fridge is out of diet coke. At least I got to sleep in this morning so my free day wasn't a complete waste.

It's Spring Break!!! What Do We Think?

Tanner's Photos

Tanner likes to "borrow" my cell phone and take pictures. I usually end up with silly pictures like this on it:

or random pictures:

However, I am actually impressed with this one:

Maybe he has the knack after all, but more likely it was pure luck.

Advice from Dad

I always think about my Dad alot in March, he passed away nine years ago this month. I was listening to one of his tapes a little while ago so that I could hear his voice. During part of the tape he was talking about a trip he made to Boise. He was driving along with my mom and hit this huge snow storm, there were cars pulled over to the sides of the road for miles. But my dad being my dad went slow and just kept trucking along. Then he said that two miles down the road, the weather cleared up and it was bright and sunny. He said those people that had given up and pulled over to the side of the road had no idea that two miles ahead the weather was bright and sunny and the roads were clear. It hit me how our trials in life are like this. The storm hits and we have the urge to pull over, but little do we know that two miles up the road the weather is bright and sunny and the roads are clear. If we just keep going things will work out, the key is to just keep going.

I usually hit the storm or my trials with white knuckles gripping the steering wheel - I dig in my heels and don't want it to happen. Once I have accepted that it is going to happen I handle it fine and then something will throw me over the edge and I get irritated and want it over again - the storm keeps pressing on and I keep going on - sometimes I repeat this cycle a few times but eventually the roads become clear again. The thing that has been amazing to me is that I can actually find peace during the storm if I go to the right place. It was great to receive a message of hope from my dad so many years later when I needed it.

I have learned a lot from my dad, so I thought I would make a list of just a few of the lessons I learned from him:


1- You are responsible for your own actions - it doesn't matter who else is around, you know the rules, you decide if you are going to follow them and you will live with the consequence positive or negative.

2-My dad taught me how to truly love. If I made a mistake my dad never said I told you so, he always wrapped his arms around me and said I am so sorry that you are hurting right now.

3-You can do anything if you want it bad enough, even if you are a girl.

4-If your plans don't turn out the way that you want them and they usually don't, try to find another path - there is almost always one there, but always find happiness in the situation you are in.

5-Cookies go a long way.

6-Just because you are a girl doesn't get you out of changing your oil, or your tires or setting up camp. Just because you are a boy doesn't get you out of dishes or grocery shopping or cooking. You need to know how to do it all to be prepared.

7-Be patient and kind, be full of love and be strong - stay true to yourself.

8-Work hard.

9-Intregrity and being honest is more important than being rich. He would rather lose a dollar than cheat someone out of a penny.

10-You are going to have trials in your life and it is not fair, but you can learn a lot, you can still be happy, you can find peace just keep your eyes on your ultimate goal - where do you want to be at the end of this life.

11-Giving up is never an option.

12-You can have fun and still be good - always stay true to yourself.

13-The way the world measures success is different than the way that Heavenly Father measures it - and it is His opinion that matters the most.

14-It is important to show love to those around you and be supportive.

15-Take time to listen to those around you - they might have something interesting to say, they might not be around tomorrow, and if you spend time building those relationships today they will be strong tomorrow when you need them to be.

I miss my daddy and I love him like crazy. I am so grateful for the lessons that he taught me and the person that I am today because of him. He inspired me to want to do better out of love rather than force and I always had his support. I can't wait to see him again one day.

just call me syruphead

Jared has had many nicknames in his short life. So far the only one that stuck is stinky, or some version of it - stinky pants, stinkster, mr. stinky - you get the idea. Lately his favorite thing to do is get his hands disgusting while he eats and then rub the food in his hair. Yesterday he thought it would be fun change it up a little bit and dump a plate of syrup on his head. It was a much faster way to make his hair disgusting. I'm thinking that syruphead might be his new nickname. At least it's a step up from stinky.

Shopaholic

I typically think that books are way better than movies. I usually see the movie out of obligation to the book and then I am way disappointed in the movie (Twilight for example). Not so much with Shopaholic. I love Sophie Kinsella's books - she is one of my favorite authors and I loved the Shopaholic series. The book doesn't really follow the movie at all, but I loved it. It is totally dumb humor, but I am happy that I found a movie that I like as much as the book.

Silly Faces

When the camera is out the boys think they need to make silly faces. These are some of my favorites. Okay, so Sam is just grossed out, but I still like it.

Here's to the Boys

Chris thinks that our family website has way too much girly stuff. So this post is dedicated to the boys. Here is one of my funny boy stories. Chris shoots his first elk. He is very proud.

Chris: Isn't this cool boys.

Justin: I've seen bigger.

Chris: Where have you seen bigger?

Justin: At Cabella's.

Chris: You little fart sniffer.

This video is of Devyn - it is very funny but made me glad that I wasn't there. I think that he could make America's Funniest Home Videos.

I finally made it

Hey family and friends. I have finally decided to join the blogging world because as you all know I really stink at calling or staying in touch with anyone. I also really stink at scrapbooking - so I thought this would be my shortcut attempt at scrapbooking but it is taking way longer at setting up this blog than I thought it would. Maybe when I figure out what I am doing it will go much quicker.

For those of you that I haven't seen for years - here is an update on my life. I just passed my twelth anniversary in January. Wow I can't believe I am that old. I have lived in the Boise area most of those years and I love it here. It is pretty tough for me to want to go back to Wyoming at all because it is way too cold. I love, love Boise! I have five pretty cool kids. Sam is my favorite girl - she happens to be my only girl but she is still pretty amazing. I wish I was only so cool when I was her age. She is coordinated and beautiful and very girly (she obviously didn't get that from me). I have four boys that keep me running all day long. They make me tired just watching them run around in circles. They are a lot of fun though. Justin is 9, Devyn is almost 8 and Tanner is almost 7. Jared is our cute baby and he is super fun. I work full time and my official job title is a mouth full - I am a legal assistant supervisor at the Ada County Prosecutor's Office - the easy version of that is that I supervise a group of girls and we do the paperwork that keeps the bad guys in jail. It is a pretty amazing job and I am really grateful for it. I have been there almost ten years and it feels like my second home. Chris works for the railroad and travels a lot. It is super great when he is at home.

I am really excited because tomorrow if the first Saturday that we don't have anything going on in so long I can't remember and I have a whole month until volleyball starts! Sam is pretty sad that she has to wait so long in between sports, but I can't wait to sleep in tomorrow.

I hope to be good and post often. I feel like I have a lot of catching up to do. In reality I probably won't do so great - but I will give it a good effort.