Our big number 10

Before November is over I need to write about our tenth anniversary. Ten years ago I married my best friend. These past ten years have been the most meaningful, fulfilling and happiest years of my life. To celebrate, we did the one thing that we have wanted to do ever since we moved into our home--enjoy it! We farmed out our children, went out to dinner and a movie, and came home. With no responsibilities at home, we stayed up late and we slept in until our backs hurt. The next morning we had breakfast in bed and went for a peaceful walk through the neighborhood holding hands. It was perfect.

Thank you, John, for being who you are, and sharing your life with me.

Our Cute little Pumpkins

We had a ball decorating and carving pumpkins this year.

Hannah, of course, decorated her's like parakeet.

Johnny's turned out to have an uncanny resemblance to the guy on the movie Goonies.



Maddie loved her "princess pumpkin" but she was jealous that it got to wear Hannah's tiara. Hannah forbade her to wear it until it broke a week before Halloween, once it broke it was too floppy to stay on her head. We decided to hot glue it onto Maddie's pumpkin. Maddie felt better when I told her that she may get a tiara for Christmas.





Here is John's Pumpkin "pie". He entered it into the pumpkin carving contest at work and got a free lunch voucher.

Hannah and Johnny had a great time picking out their pumpkins at J&J Nursery's in Layton. They have an awesome tradition every year where anybody who brings a non-perishable food item for the food bank can take a hayride to their pumpkin patch and pick out a free pumpkin--we found some beauties.

More fun together

Here are a few more random pictures of some sweet and simple times that have made me happy these past few weeks. John got some humongous wind-up emergency family radios from Woot for his calling (emergency specialist--again) They are almost embarrassingly big compared to what he is used to, but he and the kids had a blast testing them out by communicating from separate rooms in our house. They even came with a handy dandy built in flashlight that is also powered by the wind-up mechanism.

We went to the 3-D movie "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs." It was nothing like the book, which we all absolutely love, but it was still a very fun movie--especially in 3-D. Of course with the large 3-D food storms that happen in the movie, you are bound to get a bit of gross humor about eating way too much and getting sick. Needless to say, I didn't have much of an appetite afterward. It was such a fun family date.

Maddie, has a little friend next door named Easton, and they get along so well together. A few days ago she was outside playing with him when she decided that she needed her work goggles and a hat. No special reason, other than the fact that she wanted to be like Easton.

These "stepping domes" have been an awesome toy for our family, but they are rarely used for their intended purpose. They are great for making spaceman helmets, or to sit in one and spin on the tile floor. Lately the kids have discovered that if they sit in one and put one under each hand and foot, somebody can push them down the hallway at a breakneck speed. They can get going really fast, it is hilarious to watch.

Our busy Saturday

We had a busy day on Saturday, it started out with a neighborhood garage sale. Where we sold a lot of our "Junk" and then we headed over to our community pool where we had a fun BBQ and pony rides. Hannah wanted a cat painted on her face.

And of course, Johnny wanted something completely equal and opposite--a dog.

They had the cutest little pony, the kids were even able to mount it themselves.

We started out the morning bright and early. Hannah manned the donut shop, which was a huge success. As soon as she earned enough money, she headed over to the neighbor's house and bought as much from their garage sale as she could afford. Now we might need to have another garage sale.

Johnny headed up our penny store, he loved playing with the money and helping people figure out how much to pay him. This was a hit with the little kids. I sold some of my MaryKay inventory and John loved the opportunity to de-junk and sell some of his movies and electronics.

Cold Stone

John has been wanting to make some Cold Stone ice cream ever since we moved into our house. So the other night we stocked up on some chocolate ice cream and all the fixings and made our dream ice cream cones. We even dipped the waffle cones in chocolate and sprinkles to top it off. The stone wasn't quite cold enough because the ice cream was almost melted by the time it got to our cones, but it was still very tasty.

A new great idea

I have decided to take bribing to a new level. A few days ago I was reading in the Family Fun Magazine about a family who had tried this and it sounded like a fun alternative to our sticker rewards. In the past, our kids would get stickers for doing something very well, being polite or doing something the first time I asked. When they got ten, we would head to the local gas station and get a slurpee. Well, John and I have talked alot about how we want our kids to grow up knowing how to handle money, so I jumped on this opportunity. We have jobs that they can do to earn dad dollars, and when they have earned enough they can cash them in at Mom's Market. Mom's Market supplies fun activities such as: a tent night in the living room, or outside if dad is willing; a craft activity; an extra sweet treat or they can exchange them each for ten cents a peice and we can head to the dollar store. Anyway, so far it has been fun. I have even gotten them to floss their teeth and rinse of their own dishes and put them in the dish washer. the website is www.festisite.com/money

Grease monkeys

A few weeks ago I put the little girls to bed before I headed out for my walk. I thought it was safe to leave because Johnny was in the garage helping John change the brake pads in the Honda, and Hannah was busy on an art project inside. I came home to find Maddie decked out in her fanciest shoes, covered in grease and brake fluid. John said that Johnny was a huge help. His job was to press the brake pedal whenever he was told. Maddie's self proclaimed job was to supervise and look pretty :)

I love how she cocked her leg here. What a funny girl.

Walking the walk and talking the talk

I wish that I would have recorded this right side up, unfortunately I was distracted by the cuteness of this little girl and wasn't thinking about camera direction. This video epitomizes everything Lucy right now. She is still a little shaky on her legs, but seems to get along just fine walking on her knees. It is especially funny when she is wearing a dress--it covers up the evidence of knee walking so she just looks super short. The words "mom" and "dad" have become a little dull for her, so for now she has eliminated them from her vocabulary and spends her effort singing EIEIO. She will break into song at any given moment. It's like living in a musical.

Happy, Happy Birthday Hannah dear.

Hannah turned 8 years old on July 9th. I can't believe how fast she is growing up. She is turning into such a beautiful, fun little girl, and we are so happy to have her in our family. She wanted to to make a white longhaired cat for her birthday cake this year. She had plenty of help making the cake, as you can tell from this picture. After the cake was cut and frosted, I let her go to town with the decorating. She had a ball covering the cake with coconut and hearts. She made the nose out of a melted pink tootsie rool and the eyes out of blue decorating gel and chocolate chips.

She did a great job!

Her favorite gift was a big red "ruby" that Johnny picked up for her at the craft store. She was very excited about that.

*Here is another little piece of trivia. See the purple mouth shaped spot on Hannah's upper arm, she has a matching one on the other side. She is the only girl I know who will be getting baptised with hickies. Luckily they were self inflicted, and we have a long sleeved sweater to put over her dress.

Our perfectly imperfect 4th of July

Happy birthday America! To celebrate this glorious day, we headed to the Kaysville 4th of July parade around 11:00 last Saturday. As soon as we found a nice spot of grass to sit, a boy started passing out Popsicles. Of course we couldn't pass them up, and they were as good and as sticky as I remember...and it all went downhill from there...(Thanks, Karen, for taking these pictures. We are so glad you came.)

After lunch we headed to a nearby swimming pool for a nice 4th of July swim. Well, John, Hannah, Johnny and Madeline that is--Lucy and I were content to watch.

After dinner, we braved the mosquitos and headed out to light some of our fireworks. Most of them were as entertaining as home fireworks can be, but after a few of them Maddie would say "Borrriiiing." This is the first year that she would remember fireworks of any kind, so I don't think she meant it, I am not even sure she knows what the word means.

Father's day...continued.

Well, I am not quite private yet, but I'm still working on it. In the mean time, here are some more fun pictures of our Father's day. We didn't actually celebrate until today because John returned home from his business trip this morning. He was away for about 12 days. It felt like such a long time this time, and it's so nice to have him home again. This is a picture that we took after church on Father's day. He spent most of his time in Okinawa, Japan this time with a lay-over in Taipei, Taiwan. He picked up some shi-shi for the kids. They are statuettes that look like a cross between a dragon and a dog. They are used for luck. There is a smiling shi-shi and an angry shi-shi. Johnny got the angry one, this is his attempt at looking angry.

He also brought home some pens from a handicapped lady who was selling them on the streets in Taiwan. We really skipped the middle man there :)

I asked Hannah what she thought dad would like for Father's day, she suggested a bouquet of flowers. When I told her that dad wasn't really a fan of flowers, she decided that maybe he would like them if they were made out of candy. She was right, dad is a big fan of candy! Welcome home again John, we love you!

Our dam lesson

Yesterday, Vera came over to visit. Our kids were so excited, they love when Aunt Vera comes over because she always brings fun activities with her. Well she didn't let them down this time. She brought a little canal which she made out of styrofoam and some colored water. She showed the kids how the water stops progressing when there is something in the way like a dam. She made some little dams out of styrofoam and each of the kids were able to take a dam out so that the water could continue on down the canal. You can tell that she has had many years of experience in being a primary teacher because our kids listened amazingly well. She told them of how we can remove the dams in our lives by repenting and being good. Then she showed them how we can progress to be a celestial person and family when all of the dams are gone. Thanks for the fun activity and bonus lesson Vera! Our kids always listen better when it comes out of your mouth.

Bob bird

On Saturday, Bob was introduced into our family. After breakfast, Hannah and Johnny decided go into the back yard and enjoy the beautiful morning when they noticed a baby robin being chased back and forth underneath the fence. He would run into the neighbors yard, just to be frightened by their little chihuahua, then he would run back into our yard to be terrorized by our cat. The mother robin was frantically chirping on top of the fence. This is where Hannah, our little bird expert decided to step in. She got her gloves on, picked the little bird up and made a nest for him in our apple tree (previously known as our sock tree). Hannah and Johnny promptly named him Bob and spent the morning finding worms for the little guy. His devoted mother also brings him worms and grubs every hour or so. His mother and Hannah are both still devotedly feeding him, even 3 days later. I think that he will be so fat that he will not be able to get off the ground when he does get old enough to fly.