Brandon cracks me up...

Here are a few quotes from our Man:

I shut the computer down, I didn't want the to use the batteries up.

The following have a common thread:

You never told me Jeremy was an expert gift wrapper.
I am an expert sandwich maker.
You are an expert at making sack lunches Mom, you really are.

After being picked up from school for a doctor appointment:

Thanks for picking me up Mom, I sure didn't want to walk there.

More to come...

Everyday In January 2010

Week In Review
January 8-15

I have been slacking in my duties in my picture a day goal. Mostly due to two things, eternal snow days and a broken camera. The only means of photography for me now is my cell phone camera, which does a pretty good job I must say. It is blurry whenever there is movement though, so I miss some good picture opportunities.

Friday found us still buried in snow, the kids still out of school and all of us dealing with cabin fever. This can't be Missouri you say... believe me it is. The most snow in 30 years they say, I would believe it too. Maybe we brought our Wyoming snow with us... three years later.

This is how things looked once I braved the roads:

Sunday was a great day for our family. Jeremy enjoyed receiving his patriarchal blessing. It was a spiritual highlight for us. Later, we enjoyed celebrating his birthday at home. The girls had fun giving him prank gifts-- including soap ( which isn't such a prank in Jeremy's case ).

Jeremy enjoying his birthday cake

The ultimate gift from Grandma and Grandpa-- a BYU Hoodie


The two boys-- loving Grandpa's gifts

Being the perfect family-- we enjoyed scripture study in the evenings. Our goal of finishing the Book of Mormon by the 15th is so close we can almost touch it.


Monday night was Family Home Evening. We had a brief lesson and then a game of " Spoons ". It was Baylie's turn to plan the activity... sadly, she came in last.

What would Family Home Evening be without a good old wrestling match? What would any night be like without a wrestling match??

That is pretty much our week in review-- until tomorrow.

Everyday In January 2010

January 8, 2010

Project Pillowcase Completed!!

As you can see, Mikenzie is very proud of herself. Good Job!! It is fun to see her work so hard on her new hobby. Baylie is right behind and working away, not to be out done by her big sister.

Brandon got a box of shirts in the mail from his cousin Brighton today. He is seen here wearing one that says " I make dirt look better" Being true to his big brother self, Kyle chimmed in " You make dirt look worse Brandon" A chase ensued and Brandon ended up at the bottom of the wrestling match once again. Boys!!

Everyday In January 2010

January 7, 2010

The girls finally convinced me to teach them how to use their sewing stuff they received for Christmas. We stamped/ironed-on the patterns to the pillow cases and away we went. All the pretty floss was fun to look at, until the knots and mistakes started. Baylie persevered and Mikenzie said she will finish tomorrow-- I start 'em young I tell ya, that is my philosophy in life when it comes to those discouraging crafts.

A new craft project is always exciting....

Mikenzie, working away on her second square, no discouragement yet.

From one generation to the next, it is fun to watch my girls learn a craft I learned from my mother, who learned it from her mother... and so it goes. We are all still the same in many ways.

Everyday In January 2010

January 6, 2010

School is STILL out!! We are being hit with the coldest temperatures in 30 years, and the snow keeps coming. Jeremy and I braved the weather and went to the gym this afternoon. After our workout, I decided to take the younger kids swimming. Here are a few pictures:

Baylie was mad, or hungry and tired, depending on who you were speaking to, so no smiles from her until we hit McDonalds on the way home. All is well if fry land. We had a good time.

Everyday In January 2010

January 5, 2010

With school out, again... we had a very slow day. Not much to report. Kyle had soccer practice, skins and shirts. Baylie and Brandon always love to tag along, there is plenty to keep them interested. Here are a few snapshots of this afternoon.

Jeremy enjoyed some quality time with friends Carson and Austin at the gym, showing of his muscles. We will see if he pays for it later.

Everyday In January 2010

January 4, 2010

David and Goliath
Brandon and Kyle

Our daily wrestling match-- the younger brother, whoever he may be, never seems to realize he will always be on the bottom.


What would I do without my sweet, innocent girls?? By the way, she is the one who started the whole wrestling match.

Everyday In January 2010

January 3, 2010

Well, three days into my goal and no pictures. Camera is dead, I've used it all up in a matter of days. So I guess I can sum up the day with a word picture. We woke up to a snowy morning. Church was cut short because of the snow, but when we came out, it was sunny and beautiful. The snow glistened from having ice crystals in it and it was a beautiful sight.

We enjoyed our traditional Sunday crepes, Kyle was chief chef and did well, although he struggled with the math a bit. He brings us many smiles in different ways. After our crepe feast, I took a nice long nap. Boy did it feel good to take a much needed rest. The holidays have caught up with all of us I think.

The girls kept themselves busy working on the crafts they were given for Christmas. Baylie worked away at her Shrinky Dinks and Mikenzie made beautiful beaded necklaces. It was fun watching the plastic melt into new shapes, as well as Baylie's face as she watched the transformation. Mikenzie sewed a new fur purse for her piano books, she did a great job and is becoming quite the seamstress.

The boys??? Well, the stayed in the basement for most of the day, as usual. I did force them to watch an uplifting video, hopefully something sunk in that will help them somewhere along the way.

We enjoyed a nice Sunday meal together and zipped off to what would be our final missionary committee meeting-- thank heaven!! It was getting to be a little too late on Sunday evenings for our family.

We topped the evening off with scripture study, which for the most part was enjoyable. We have a goal of finishing the Book of Mormon by January 15. I am excited to reach the goal.

I am now enjoying the quiet atmosphere of having all of the children finally resting in their warm beds. The weather outside is definitely frightful and I am so very thankful for simple things. Warm beds for my children, a heated home and lights to keep our home bright. It is such a peaceful and content place to be tonight.

Be Grateful!!

Everyday In January 2010

January 2, 2010

Baby it cold outside!! Today was a very cold day. We spent most of the day indoors with the exception of a quick trip to a very busy gym for a workout and a few short errands. James, Alex and Kyle had the pleasure of shoveling the snow at the church in freezing temperatures. Here are a few activities we enjoyed today:

Jeremy unloaded the dishwasher while he cleaned the kitchen. Yeah, the kitchen was about as clean as this spatula when he was done. Can you believe he actually put this away, thus deeming it clean??? He definitely needs some more training.

I was watching the food channel and saw some delish cinnamon rolls. I can make something close to what I saw, couldn't resist the temptation and whipped us up a batch. This picture was taken maybe 30 seconds after I announced the rolls were ready.

Boy trapped!! I was surrounded by the men in my life tonight as my girls were off playing. Alex cooked up a batch of spaghetti which was devoured immediately. It is fun to be with all the boys once in a while.

Brandon is eager to help with the re-do on our entry way. It has extended to replacing all of the covers on all of the outlets in the home. This kept him busy for a good while.

Well, that is our day in a nutshell. Until tomorrow--
Be Grateful!!

Indoor Hockey... I mean Soccer
" If soccer was easy they would call it football "

Other fun stuff we did on New Year's Eve

They are the CHAMPIONS!!
Way to go Extreme Blue

Happy New Year 2010!!

December 31, 2009

Here is a snap shot of what our New Year's Eve was like:

Very Cold Weather
Snow
Snowmen
Good Friends
Lots of Kids
Lots of Noise
Lots of Fun

James worked most of the day, bringing home the bacon. Jeremy went to a Stake Youth Dance. Kyle spent the night at a Deacons Quorum Party. Alex was stuck home babysitting ( he did choose not to go to the dance, he was in one of his funky teenage moods and felt antisocial last night. Regretting the decision, he moved from moody to grumpy and cynical by nights end ). Baylie and Brandon both had friends over for the night, which proved to be fun and chaotic. We only had one broken glass object-- not too bad. James and I enjoyed the company of a group of good friends and came home to very hyper children at 12:30 a.m. We settled them down and were all in bed by 2:30 a.m., not too bad for a great new start to a great new year.

Everyday In January 2010

January 1, 2010

To chronicle the first year of our new decade, I decided to take a picture that represents each day and post it to my blog. Hopefully the excitement won't wear off too soon. With many projects, trips and other goals in mind for 2010, it should be a pretty colorful year. As they say a picture is worth a thousand words.... so here we go:

Baylie thought this was a beautiful bird, sitting out in the cold snow. She always looks for the brighter side of everything. Even a plain old bird, sitting in a barren tree on a cold winter day made Baylie take a moment and enjoy.


Brandon found out the after party clean up isn't too fun. He and his friend Ben pitched a tent in our family room to sleep in last night. Taking it down proved to be quite a challenge, especially with the sleeping bags and pillows still inside of the tent.


Good thing he has a trusty Eagle Scout for a big brother

Last but not least, our ambitious project for the weekend. Replacing all of the molding along our entry way. Our $20 project is proving to be more than we had originally anticipated, isn't that how it always goes? The bright white already has us excited and itching to spread light through out the home... wait to see the finished project soon!!