Family pictures

I was so excited to get our family pictures today. I found this miracle worker on Craigslist, she actually made our family look stylish (something that we have never claimed to be). She met us at Thanksgiving Point and she snapped some pictures of us.

Here are a few of my favorites:

I am so happy with how they turned out that I am shamelessly advertising for her. Here is a link to her blog: http://lizzyphotos.blogspot.com/ Thanks Elizabeth!

Little Miss Independent

Why have just a cup of water when you can have a whole pitcher!? Luckily the straws were handy:)

Darn those eye twitches!

Just a quick funny story.

Those of you who know John know about the little habits he has, little habits that I hardly notice anymore. That is until they create drama in his life. Today he was walking through the halls at work and I guess his eye started twitching. It just so happens that there was another man walking the opposite direction who thought John was winking at him. The man gave him a "creepy/seductive" wink back. Uggh!!! John says he still doesn't have much of an appetite.

Our little half pint

Lucy turned 1/2 of a year old yesterday November 29th. She has grown so much and has become such a little cutie. We are having so much fun with this mellow, happy girl and can't wait to enjoy many more 1/2 years with her. John says he is really looking forward to her 5/8ths birthday.

Our Loveless Cafe Thanksgiving

We have really gotten a lot of mileage out of this Loveless Cafe sign that Lisa and Lori (John's sisters) sent to us. They visited the real Loveless Cafe in Nashville Tennessee and gave a sign to us, and a few others in the family, as souvenirs. I thought it was so cool that we decided to theme our kitchen after it, then my e-mail, then my blog. I love having a little diner kitchen with cheap furniture that my children can't destroy, they are really good at that. We were able to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner this year as a family in our own little Loveless Cafe. (The picture is a little fuzzy, we were having technical difficulties with the camera.)

Home from Germany

John took a little business trip last week to Germany. Every once in a while his work sends him to some foreign beautiful country so that those of us at home can feel what it is like to be jealous (and of course so we realize how much we like having him around.) These military HMMV's are the reason he gets to travel around so much. He oversees the testing of these satellite communications terminals. Of course if you are going to a beautiful place like Heidelberg, Germany you've got to have a little fun. Here are some pictures of their adventures driving on the Autobahn. AusFahrt means Exit--he he he (sorry that was immature).

One of John's co-workers took a picture of John sightseeing, he looks so happy.

On the Hauptstrabe (sounds like Hopstrauss)

And his incredibly tasty chocolate souvenirs. They sell Kinder Eggs there, and our kids absolutely love them. They are such a novelty because they aren't sold in the U.S., understandably, people are worried that children will eat the toys hidden inside. Kids will eat anything covered in chocolate.

Here are some of the beautiful old houses,

And the awesome castle that they were able to explore.

There is always something that goes wrong while John is away. Usually it has something to do with the our 300lb garage door or a computer (I am so not a techy) so I was surprised when it was our dishwasher this time. The latch on the door broke and my Kitchen Aid mixing bowl was trapped inside. I don't realize how much I use it until I have to go 3 days without it. I tried everything I could think of to get the door open, prying it with a knife, pulling really hard, asking nicely, nothing worked. When John came home he just took the latch off completely--now it works fine. We hope to take this trip together next year, I can't wait.

I said sweetened CONDENSED milk

We were in the mood to make some treats, so I sent Hannah and Johnny down to the Food Storage room to get some sweetened condensed milk. About ten minutes later I heard them both grunting and slowly coming up the stairs. This is what I got, a five gallon bucket of powdered milk. Wow, that's hard work! I felt awful showing them the tiny can that they could have brought up so easily--but hey, at least they were working together. Sure love those kids!

Kids say the darndest things: Take 3

This happened a few Sundays ago as I was picking Maddie up from Nursery,

but I just keep thinking about it.

Maddie:

"Look! It's Jesus! HI JESUS!"

I looked up to see one of the men in our ward (Brother Weaver) who has a beard, mustache, and shoulder length curly hair. He just smiled and said "far from it."

I thought it was so sweet that this little two-year-old, who has heard so much about Jesus, would get so excited about him making a personal appearance in her nursery class. Maybe that's what is meant by having the faith of a child.

Our Anniversary Pilgrimage to Idaho

It has been a few days since we returned from our Anniversary trip, but it was so fun that I had to write about it. John and I take turns planning our anniversaries, and this year it was my turn. Last year John took me on a wonderful trip to Florida, so my idea to spend our anniversary in and around my hometown may not seem like it measures up--but it almost did! We were lucky enough to have Grandma Maryann and Grandma Dorothy take care of our little ones while we spent some time away. We spent the time soaking in some natural hotsprings and staying in an old hotel in Lava Hot springs. We were a little nervous when we saw how old the hotel was, but it turned out to be a nice place to stay.

It was fun to go back to Bancroft to pick up Maddie and Lucy from Grandma Dorothy, and take a few pictures of my old stomping grounds. John asked what kind of thoughts go through my head when we come to visit and see places like my old school (K-12), the church building, or houses of friends. I told him that I always feel a little sentimental about the times I had growing up, but I am so glad to be where I am right now in my life.


As we were driving past Main Street (yes this is main steet:) I saw my brother, James, who is the city maintence guy putting up the Christmas lights. I had to take a picture of their invention. It is a forklift with some scaffolding on the front, it doesn't look too safe,

but hey, you've got to make do with what you have in a small town. We had a good laugh about that.


Maddie and Lucy had a wonderful time at Grandma Dorothy's house,

and Hannah and Johnny really enjoyed their stay with Grandma Maryann.

Thank you for giving us some much needed time away. We had such a great time, and it gave us a new appreciation for being back together again.

And what a wonderful 9 years it has been

John and I celebrated our 9th Anniversay this week! I feel so lucky to have spent these past 9 years with a person that I love so much.

Why do I love John Loveless? Let me tell you--

He is so willing to put himself "out there" I can always count on him to be the first to strike up a conversation, offer a hand to hold, a hug, a kiss, or a joke to break the ice.

I have never met a man who would actually run to open a door for me before I get to it, he still does.

He can make me laugh until I cry, nobody has ever had this effect on me.

He is passionate about so many things. Always learning and working on new things, I knew that life would never be boring with John around.

It is hard to put a finger on the moment that I really fell in love with John Loveless or the exact reason why. I know that it must have had something to do with the way he made me feel. I have never felt so important, capable, and happy than the times I have spent with Him

Thanks for being such a wonderful husband and dad, John!

We love you!

Kids say the darndest things: Take 2

(Kim, you might appreciate this one:)

Maddie:

Maddie was just getting ready to hop into the bathtub and take her bath this morning when she looked down over her shoulder and said "Oooh, cute bum!"

I don't know where she learned it, but I just had to laugh. I hope she always feels as confident about her bum as she does right now.

Cut me some slack Yosimite Sam, I'm not a real nurse

I'm not sure how many people remember Yosimite Sam from the Bugs Bunny cartoons, but I will never forget him now. He was the nurse who treated Hannah at the emergency room on Halloween night.

After the trunk-or-treat we headed home to change our clothes and unwind from our eventful Halloween night. It was a Friday so we let the kids sleep on the couch bed and watch a movie. I popped in our Corpse Bride DVD and went upstairs to clean up. Soon Hannah was sound asleep, she had been a bit hoarse all day and had been complaining of not feeling very well--but not bad enough to skip out on trick-or-treating. About 30 minutes after falling asleep she woke up gasping for air. Instead of getting better after a few minutes, it started getting worse, and she was really struggling to breathe. I had no idea what was wrong--this had never happened before. John gave her a blessing and we decided to take her to the emergency room. As we were heading out to the car, Hannah started to cry and asked in-between breaths, "If I die, will you bury me?" I was trying to stay calm so I gave her a hug while John and I gave each other worried looks. I just told her, "you won't die, the doctors will know what to do, and they will make you feel better." To make a long story short, Hannah had croup. They gave her some oxygen and some steroids and soon she was bouncing all over the bed. I should have known, my kids have had croup before, the thing that threw me off was that she wasn't really coughing very much, just gasping for air. I have done the steam and cold air in the past, but in the past croup has never effected any of my children so badly. The doctor said that I made a good choice in bringing her in, because croup can be very serious if not treated. The Yosimite Sam nurse wasn't nearly as tactful, he kept telling me how I could have treated this at home. I just nodded, but what I really wanted to tell him was that I can do home remedy's unless my children think they are dying--then it is a little beyond my realm. Luckily Hannah was fine, we went home, and she didn't have to miss out on sleeping on the couch bed that Friday night--that would have been devistating for her:)

Our Trunk or Treat

John and I decided to ham halloween up this year for the kids. I may have gone a little overboard in that area.

Here is a little background on our costumes:

John: Doctor, he put some rubber gloves on and carried a chainsaw around. During the trunk-or-treat, he kept telling people things like "wow a full day of amputations can really tire you out." I am so glad he didn't fire the thing up.

Cheryl: My costume was very mismatched, I threw it together about 15 minutes before we left. I guess I was trying to show Johnny how much fun we could have looking silly (and it was fun). I ended up being some sort of a clown nurse. We had a great clown wig that wasn't spoken for, plus I had to do penance for making Johnny be a clown last year. I had a nurse hat on, but you can't see it because the wig is so fluffy. There were a few technical problems with the dress so I had to wear a skirt underneath.

Hannah: She wanted to wear the cat costume that I made for her when she was four. I can't believe it still fit her, will she ever grow? We lost the ears so I had to make some out of construction paper before we left. She even dressed her little stuffed animal cat up as a witch. She was feeling a little under-the-weather that night. I'll tell more about that later.

Johnny: Black ghost shirt (see previous post).

Madeline: Little witch, she looked so cute!

Lucy: Spider, all of my babies have worn this costume. The hat kept slipping over her eyes but she didn't seem to mind.

We had a ton of fun, and went home with a lot of candy, thanks kids;)

Wheeler Farm

Last Friday we took a little trip to Wheeler Farm. Hannah and Johnny love this place and have been asking when we could go again. It was such nice weather and they were off track so we took the trip. We had a ton of fun! MaryAnn (my wonderful mother-in-law) offered to take Lucy, and gave Hannah, Johnny and Maddie each their own little box of animal crackers to take with them for a snack. Off we went, just me and the big kids. Hannah was in heaven around all of the different kinds of birds, and Maddie just liked chasing them. Maddie singled out a little black duck and chased it until it was so tired it started panting. I have never seen a duck pant before, I felt a little guilty that I let her torture it for so long, but it was just too darn cute. It was one of those simple, easy getaways that we love so much--and the best part, it's was free.

John's sixth anniversary

There is a little known anniversary that John and I celebrate this month. I just couldn't let October pass without paying tribute to a day that happened six years ago this month. It is the day that John decided to take the leap into baldness, most men tiptoe lightly into this stage of their lives--not John. On this day I came home to find John playing the biggest prank of his life on his unsuspecting wife of almost 3 years. He had shaved the very top of his head and had just left a fringe around the sides and back. I did what most sane women would do, I gasped and cried "John! What have you done!?" John just laughed, took a few pictures and shaved the rest of his head. It took me a while, but now I can look at these pictures and laugh. What a wonderful husband I have, he can take anything that life throws at him and make it funny. That is what I love about him, life is never dull when John's around!

Could this be why Johnny doesn't want to dress up this year?

The evil mom in me laughs out loud everytime I look at these pictures of Johnny wearing his halloween costume last year, I just can't help it. On the other hand I get that little tug in my heart and I just want to hug him and kiss his little chubby cheeks.





How could we have put Johnny through this kind of torture at the tender age of four. While all of the other boys in his pre-school class were dressed up in costumes with swords, magic wands or big biceps, all Johnny had to defend himself was a big squishy nose and a sense of humor.




This year I am so sad that he doesn't want to dress up at all. I decided to just buy him a low key black shirt decorated with ghosts. I hope we didn't damage him for life. I sure love that boy!

Another milestone for Lucy

Little Lucy is growing up so fast, where did the last 5 months go? The other day I was playing with her on the couch when I realized that I had never thought to try having her sit up by herself. I remember with Hannah, I would try to get her to sit up at least once a day at this point, and it didn't seem like she could learn fast enough. Well I sat Lucy on the floor and, viola, she did it--no problem, no practice. If only I could have realized as a new mom that acheiving some milestones is inevitable whether we practice or not. I think that I would have been able to enjoy each stage so much more. I am so glad that I was given more chances to make babyhood a happy time without all the worry, I think on the 4th try I am finally getting it right.

Kids say the darndest things: Take 1

Johnny:

...and after Lucy finished eating, I stuck my finger in her mouth...
(pause) ...for dessert.

(uggh, I wonder how Lucy will
ever survive cold season.)

Tagged by Kelly, your turn Valerie!

A-Attached or Single: Attached
B-Best Friend: Sister, Kathleen
C-Cake or Pie: As long as it goes with ice cream I love it.
D-Day of Choice: Sunday after the kids go to bed. Day of rest = no projects=our time together.
E-Essential Item: I think it should be my cell phone, but having it charged and where I can hear it is another story.
F-Favorite Color: Sky blue. Not the crayon sky blue, the real sky blue.
G-Greatest Accomplishment: Setting up a blog was a pretty big accomplishment for me.
H-Hometown: Bancroft, Idaho. Population 340 I think.
I-Indulgences: Chocolate chip cookies and a big slice of cheese, any kind.
J-January or July: July if I had to choose, but I really like the months in-between better.
K-Kids: Hannah, John (Johnny), Madeline, and Lucy.
L-Life is incomplete without: My family
M-Marriage Date: November 6, 1999
N-Number of Siblings: 10
O-Oranges or Apples: Apples, and now I can eat them without cutting them up first--one of the simple pleasures of life.
P-Phobias or Fears: Forgetting one of my children someplace, that is one of the reasons we think we should stop at 4.
Q-Quotes: By John; "Laughter is the crazy glue that holds us together."
R-Reason to Smile: When I get a random hug.
S-Season: Spring
T-Tag 5 Friends: How about just one? Valerie Illguth.
U-Unknown Fact about Me: My mom used to call my older sister and I her little blonde headed Eskimo's and give us Eskimo kisses (something I just discovered she didn't invent) because we were born in Alaska.
V-Very Favorite Store: Kid to Kid, (should I be embarrassed about that?)
W-Worst Habit: Staying up late
X-X-ray or Ultrasound: Ultrasound, I guess?
Y-Your Favorite Food: Anything with the base ingredient of cheese.
Z-Zodiac Sign: Gemini

Just another laundry day

I have joked about having ADD ever since having children. I am not so sure it is a joke any more. The other day I was sitting on my living room floor folding laundry when I came to Lucy's maryjane socks, I absolutely love these socks. I looked over at Lucy who was laying on the floor next to me, and as luck would have it, she didn't have any socks on. I slipped them on her cute little feet and the thought came to my mind "I have to take a picture of her wearing these before she grows out of them." I gathered up a few partially matching things, some bloomers and a blanket (also waiting to be folded) and spent the next fifteen minutes snapping pictures of my Lucy. No wonder it takes me three days to fold laundry!

Out on the town

I didn't have a chance to post our girls (and children's) night on the town, when my mom and sister came to visit. We had such a wonderful time together. We decided to spend our Friday at the Gateway mall. Of course the first place we had to go was the fountain, where our kids proceeded to run around and get wet.




After they were sufficiently soaked, we noticed a bunch of tables set up for kids to paint and decorate their own pumpkins. When we went over to check it out, the man in charge asked us if we wanted to sign up for the Foster Child program here in Utah. I told him that I seriously don't think I could handle one more child, but could we decorate pumpkins anyway? The kids had a blast decorating their pumpkins and they turned out super cute. The only problem was that we still had a full day at the mall ahead of us and only a stroller to transport 30 pounds of pumpkin (why do I never think of things like this ahead of time?) We decided to ditch them by the elevator temporarily while we went to the Planitarium and ate dinner. Luckily, nobody was interested in taking them--I can't imagine why.



We had each of the kids transport their own pumpkins home. In the end we were all very tired, but we sure had fun.

Happy 70th Mom

My mom celebrated her 70th birthday last week!




I remember her telling me once that she is not ashamed of her age, her gray hairs or her wrinkles--she earned every single one of them. I am starting to understand what she means by that (thanks mom!)




She came to visit this weekend with my sister and her children, so we made her trademark gumdrop rose cake, though my roses didn't look nearly as beautiful as the roses that she would put on our birthday cakes. She is the expert. Doesn't she look cute in the birthday hat my niece made for her.





I think that my mom looks great for surviving 11 very active children, 8 of them still living at home when our dad died of cancer. I don't know how you did it mom.





We sure love you!

(B.T.W. see the littlest one with the teddy bear, that's me. I can't believe how much of a resemblance there is between Maddie and I.)

Huh, who knew...

...that a box of Dixie Cups could be so much fun.



The other day Johnny asked for the box of Dixie cups that I had bought for our bathroom--I accidentally bought the wrong size for our dispenser. That only means one thing, he is going to spend the day building pyramids.


He is getting so good at this, and I am amazed with the patience that he is developing, so much better than just a year ago when he first tried this. Johnny is our little builder, but none of us could resist helping out (or in Maddie's case, knocking them down).



Even Lucy joined in the fun, she thinks Dixie cups are delicious.

Box of 200 Dixie cups $3.25
One entire day of entertainment -- priceless