December highlights so far...

Wow, December is almost gone! How did that happen? Well, it has beena busy month in our house. Here is a brief re-cap...
I took the kids and drove to Henderson Nevada to visit some friends in early December. It was so much fun to go see the Gametts. We have been friends for a long time and haven't seen them in a couple of years. (We moved to Fairfiend together and lived 2 doors down from each other) The drive wasn't so bad, and it was so worth it! The kids got along so well! Spent time playing at their house, went to a skatepark and visited the Temple. We were able to squeeze an extra day in, David called and said there was a storm so maybe we should stay an extra night. I was more than happy to take him up on it! It was a quick trip, but now that I have done it once, you can be sure I will be going more often. We really miss them.

Christina turned 12 on the 15th! I can hardly believe she is 12. I was just looking at some pictures on my computer and came across a few from a trip to Utah and Amanda was itty bitty and there was Christina, just 6 years old. Amazing how fast time goes. Christina has told us for a while that the only thing she wanted for her birthday was to go IN the Temple. So, we met with the Bishop and got her a recommend the Sunday before her birthday. So, Tuesday the 15th as soon as she and Michael got home from school, we went to the Temple to do baptisms. It was so fun! I haven't done baptisms since I was in Young Women's. It was an incredible thing to be there with David, Michael and Christina. To see Christina taking in everything, then to enter the water, a little timid, but very excited. She was absolutely glowing when she came out of the font. Then for me to go and have David baptize me, that was pretty cool. Michael has gone with his dad many times, so to him it wasn't as big a deal. But it sure was a great way to spend time with both of them.
Then it was home to get the other kids and head to dinner at TGIFridays. Always the restaurant of choice with the kids! Then home for cake, ice cream and presents. Upon arriving home, we found that the Beehives had visited the house and decorated our front door for her birthday. She is very excited to *finally* be in YW!! It was a great day and one I think Christina will remember forever.

Monday was Tyler's birthday. He turned 3 and has perfected holding up 3 fingers now! I don't know that he really understood it was his birthday. I asked him a few times leading up to the big day what he wanted to do for his birthday. He always replied "Blow out candles." Then I asked what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday. I named off many different kinds -yellow, carrot, chocolate, etc. His reply was "I want a blue cake." I asked 'Blue cake or blue frosting?' He replied "blue cake with blue frosting." So a phone call to daddy to bring home a white cake and white frosting. We had bbq hot dogs for dinner and then opened presents. He was very happy with his gifts! Then it was time to 'Blow out the candles.' He was pretty excited, we sang, he blew them out and then we cut up the cake. David handed him his piece and he said "I don't want it" and walked away. -whaaaat??? He then announced he had to go potty. So off he went, after a moment I checked on him and he asked me to stay, so I did. He then told me he was tired and wanted to go to bed. So, David came in and I told him he wanted to go to bed. David took him to bed and just as Tyler put his head on his pillow... He threw up! He continued to throw up all night. Poor kid!! I still don't think he has had a piece of his blue cake!


I actually got my Christmas cards out on time this year! Yay! Our neighbor took our pictures and we really like them. So I was able to get them done on time this year! I think it may have been a first!!!!

Today David and I started and finished our Christmas shopping! It was a bit task, but we got it done. When we got home, we fed the kids, put them to bed and then I baked 4 different kinds of cookies for all of David's co-workers. Christina helped, but eventually got pretty tired and asked if she could go to bed. It's been a long day!

Here's wishing you all a Very Merry Christmas!!

Those were the days...

Over the past few days David and I have been reminiscing about how much fun we had when we had our business in California. We decided to open a scrapbook store in 1996, got the paperwork going and opened in early 1997, the first and only Scrapbook Store in the entire Bay Area! We had no idea what would come of it, but you know, looking back, I never hesitated. I never had any doubt about what we were doing. We had a partner the first year and a half, but bought her out and started our 'own thing'. David and I worked together and actually enjoyed working together - most of the time. We really did work well together. He balanced me out and kept me grounded. I say he was my rock, he really was, and still is.

The business grew so fast! It was amazing how fast it grew. Again, I never doubted it for a minute. I actually had some landlords tell me they wouldn't rent me space because they didn't think I would be there a year later. (I wanted to send them an Anniversary Sale postcard every year!) There was no time to think about failing, failure was not an option. People would tell me that if you could make it to 7 years, then you could 'make it'. I remember thinking 7 years was so far away, but before I knew it, 7 years was the next Anniversary we were celebrating. That's when I remember realizing that 7 years was not a magical number. It was almost like I had built up in my mind that if I made it to 7 years I could relax and enjoy the ride. Boy was I wrong! I worked harder at 7 years and after than I ever did before. By 7 years scrapbooking was not a novelty anymore, stores were everywhere and we had to be creative about how to stay ahead of all the rest of the stores. Hitting 10 years was huge! Some stores had come and gone by then, but we were still there and going strong. We actually had two stores at this time. We opened our second store - about 40 minutes away - in July 2000. It was a huge undertaking. It changed a lot of the 'structure' of the business, but I never wanted to change the 'core' of the business. We hired managers for each of the stores, split our time and inventory between the stores, bought a house near the second store and ended up communting (across a toll bridge) to the first store daily, sometimes 3 times a day. Boy, I spent a lot of time in my car...

It's so easy to remember all the good times, and there were MANY!!! But the stress of it all really got to me at times. I had to try and balance the business with my family. While I had the business, I had 4 more children. (we opened before Michael turned 1) The stress was really bad at times, usually Expo time! But you know, with all the stress, we still had fun! There are so many things I want to remember about having the business. I will never forget how hard it was from time to time, but I never want to forget the good times too. I could write a novel with all the things I want to remember, but I will spare you that!

*Managers - We had some GREAT managers and some not-so-great managers. I have to say my all time favorite managers are definately Jen, Kari and Ali. They are the ones I clicked with the best. We all had our own understanding of each other and we had some FUN times. Laughed until we nearly wet our pants on many occasions. Trips to CHA with Kari and Jen were definately times I will cherish FOREVER! I am totally cracking up just thinking about all the fun trips we took! CHA was not work, it was FUN! Ok, it was also a lot of really long days, long nights, financial stress and so much walking our feet cried at night! But the fun so totally outweighed those things! Let's see, I think it was in Atlanta that Jen cried when she didn't get to meet Lisa B, but then the CK employees felt so bad they called Lisa and Lisa met Jen and Kari personally. I think Kari still has her phone number in her phone... Also in Atlanta, (oh Atlanta was a great trip!) we got a personal escort to the hotel by a street bum who wanted a tip. We got the eye-opening experience of riding the public 'rail' system from the convention center to the airport with all our luggage in tow. Can't believe we actually made it with all our luggage still in our possesion. So many fun things in Atlanta. Some managers we don't really want to remember, like the one who said I fired her because David wanted to sleep with her. Or the one who deliberately got pregnant because her husband might get deployed and then couldn't stop complaining about her husband being deployed with her being pregnant.

*Employees - I had some of the BEST employees in the world!!!!!! Seriously I did! David talked recently about how we (as a store) had a 'following' of customers, but our employees had a following too! There were many customers that would only come in when their *favorite* employee was there. We had so many employees over the years, but seriously we had some of the BEST!!! I still keep in contact with so many of them and I hope to forever!! I would list them, but there are so many, and they know who they are. I adore each one of them and I cherish our friendship. We had some fun times too. Angelica kept us laughing in Vacaville until we were all crying. Employee scraps were the best! The jokes ("so redic"), the food (ummm... Whoppers, baby!), the music (what was that station you all hated?) everything! And there were some employees we will never forget, even though we want to... (no names, sorry) 'black horse and a cherry tree' girl, 'Oh I thought you meant with the vacuum' girl, the interview of the girl that told me she wanted to be upfront about the fact that she was arrested for a hit and run, but added 'but it's not like it was a felony or anything.' And all the employees who took the job and then quit after the first day because they thought they'd be scrappbooking while working and didn't realize you actually had to 'work' while on the clock. Yeah, those were the best ones...

*Designers - We had some *bomb* designers and some bum designers over the years. It was fun to add this part to the business. I got to know a whole new side of the business and a whole bunch of gals that were very talented. There were times I am sure they wanted to wring my neck, but they really turned out some incredible pages for classes. We really were known for our classes. We shipped our class kits all over the country. We ran our classes differently than any other store I knew of. Our designers created the classes and the teachers taught the class. My theory was that some of the best designers don't make great teachers and some of the best teachers don't make great designers. So we offered the best of both. We had the best designers and the best teachers. It worked great! Unless you were the kit collator and you wanted to strangle the designers from time to time! (some of those pages were a little more labor intensive than others!) But I did meet some incredible gals that have so much talent! Some even went on to design for manufacturers and I think all of our designers were published in various magazines!

*Teachers - Like I said, we had the BEST teachers out there! The teachers had the best job, I think. I absolutely loved teaching! LOVED it!!! We kept our teachers for a long time, too. We didn't have to replace them very often. Karolyn was with us for, gosh, 8 years?? Karma was with us for about the same. I grew to love these girls as well. I was always sad when one moved and we had to replace her. I even get to see one of them regularly! Kerrie lives here in AZ now and I get to see her often! Love you girl! Karma and I actually traveled to teach at Expo's together. Now those were some fun times, too! Searching out a Mickey Head punch at all the local scrapbook stores, the long talks into the night about nonsense ('how much does a stone weigh?' I still laugh til I cry about that one). The Mickey gloves, the Disney music, the 'woo woo!' laying out all those Disney samples and selling those dang Disney kits!!! Loved going on the road and teaching! It was so fun!

*Expo's - I loved and hated Expo time. Hated them because the stress was sometimes too much to handle. (ummm... Sandylion!! What do you mean you haven't shipped my order that I ordered 2 months ago so I would for sure have it in time for the show!!!!!!!!!!!!! this conversation happening just a week before the show and the company is in CANADA!!! Go ahead an overnight everything for an additional $100 bucks or more so I can get my kits done!!!!!!! grrrr.... no I am not bitter...) So many things came up at Expo time. It was almost like they knew and they wanted to punish us. Jen would call to verify a certain item was in stock, in the quantity we needed (like 120 of them), so we could use it for a class page. She'd then order it that day and it wouldn't ship because it was out of stock! Class kits always seemed to be missing something or another -until we got Jenne as out kit collator. She was the *bomb*!!! Classes were always the most stressful part of Expo, but then when you teach 15 classes a day to 50 women in each class, there are bound to be stressful moments. That's a lot of kits to collate! My 'favorite' class moment was when I turned my back for -literally- 30 seconds and someone stole my samples! So I had to teach class with no project samples!!!! Fun times... not! But we also had a lot of fun at Expos. The flat tire on the suburban in San Jose that Mr. Shirtless changed for us (he was too eager to pose for pics -of course we had a camera!). The woman that asked Joella to sweep her booth when she was done with ours. The largest U-Haul truck available FULL of XXL bags! (It was our back stock! and Yes, we sold them all!) The line that wrapped our booth, the trip to Hawaii we 'tried' to give away (no one claimed it), the year Susan Branch was in our booth signing books, the yearly themes for the booth - Western was the most fun! We brought in hay bales and built a fence around the booth. Tropical was also a fun one. We brought in real palm trees and had them all over the booth. David taking his chair and following 'the shoplifter' all around the booth. Wherever she would stop to shop, he would set his chair down next to her and watch her -yes, she knew he was following her. She didn't steal anything from us. Oh and all the broken chairs every year. David knew where every Michael's and JoAnn's was in Pleasanton because he made many trips to get things we forgot or ran out of -paint, sponge brushes, ribbon, twine, etc. David always brought us -teachers- lunch. You see, I was in the classrooms with the teachers all day and David ran the booth. It worked really well. Karma would get her class all hyped up and they would yell to the other class, usually Karolyn or Kerrie's class. They would have 'hollering' contests between them. We had the whole building to ourselves, just for our classes. It was the best! I really did love Expo's. I hated the prep, but once we were there, it was great!

*Our Customers -We had some awesome customers. I loved our customers. I loved seeing them and missed them when I was pre-occupied with the other store. It seemed I was 6 months in one store then 6 months in the other. We had some really wonderful customers. I loved hearing their stories, we shared our memories, went through hard times together and really connected with so many of them on a personal level. So many babies born, so many new puppies and kittens, graduations, birthdays, vacations, retirements, holidays, sports, you name it. I loved hearing about their kids, their vacations and sharing in their trials. I really miss so many of our customers. We did have our share of customers I'd like to forget too. There weren't many, but there are always those 'few'. Jen and I have joked for years we need to write a book on the funny experiences we had with our customers. The girl who asked if she could pray for Jen, and then did, right there in the middle of the store! The one that brought in her 'bad girl' pictures and asked Jen to help her find paper to go with them -all while I am teaching in the other room and getting really odd looks from Jen. My personal favorite was the one that told me she knew the owner, then asked me what her name was. When I told her Brenda she responded with 'yeah, that's it' then continued telling me how she knew her well. Then when the phone rang and my employee came over and said 'Brenda, you have a call' the customer replied 'You must be a new owner.' Nope, I've been here since the beginning. The girls told me often how they would hear many times a day "I know Brenda". One of them wanted, so badly, to say 'Really? Is she nice?' I just laughed, because I know her too! :)

*Misty's Scrap Weekends -My sister would fly out every 6 months to spend a weekend scrapping in the store. She would always bring at least 1 other person with her. Usually 3 others would come. One time there were 10 that came! Phew, that was a lot of people in my tiny 1,000sq ft 2 bd 1 ba house in Pleasant Hill! It was always so much fun when she came to town. So many comments and jokes and stories. We laughed more when she was in town than any other time, I think. All the employee's loved scrapping with us. We would literally 'camp out' in the classroom the entire time she was here. It was great because we could leave our stuff out all weekend. It was the only time I would allow the employees to come into the store on Sunday to scrap. It started out as just a 2 day thing and ended up a 5 day trip in the end. It was so much fun! We'd play Bingo, get food at 2am, go home at 6am to sleep for a couple hours and come back by 10am to start all over again. It was the only time of year that I would scrap for myself. It was always a contest to see who could do the most pages -Sharisa or Kristen always won! We played phone pranks on the managers -Misty's new name will forever be LaFawnduh at any scrap weekend. There were so many inside jokes that people would just look at us and wonder what planet we came from as we would laugh so hard we were crying most of the time. I truly miss those weekends!

There are so many things I miss about having the store. We really did have a great time. We really did pour our heart and soul into those stores. We sold the Pleasant Hill store (our first store) June of 2007. We knew the end was near. We knew we needed to move -out of state- but didn't know where yet. Then in 2008 we moved to Arizona and ended up closing our Vacaville store. David and I flew back to close it out just 3 weeks after we had moved. Only I had to come back before the final day we were open. I said my goodbye's and knew it was over. I was excited to start a new life in a new state. But I have to say, the last day the store was open, I lost it around 4pm. I cried and cried and couldn't stop crying until David got home 3 days later. It actually hit me that it was over. We closed up August 30, 2008. One of my girls got married the next day. David went to the wedding and hung out with all the other girls. I remember Jen calling me from the wedding just sobbing. We cried on the phone together for at least 10 minutes. It was so sad to realize that it was all over. I was also sad I couldn't be at Angelica's wedding. I just couldn't stop crying. Everything I had known for the last -almost- 12 years was over. It seemed so final. And to be apart from David and all my employee's that I had grown to love so much. It was tough.

We did have some great times. I still miss it from time to time. And not just when I have to go pay full retail for something! I truly miss the daily conversations with employee's, customers, teachers, designers, vendors. I miss the feeling of pure joy and excitement when new product came in. I miss the challenge of finding a place for it in the store. I miss developing new classes, playing with new tools, running to Baskin Robbins for Ice Cream or Subway for lunch, I really miss teaching classes, hiring and training new employee's, employee scrap nights, celebrating birthdays, employee meetings (even if they were boring or surprise birthday parties, surprise baby showers or an actual meeting!). There is so much I do miss. I will cherish all the memories I have forever. I will always long to re-live the many wonderful moments I shared with so many people over the years. I hope to never forget all the good times and hope to go back and visit - and scrap- with those that are still there.

If you are a Remember When employee reading this, or a customer, please share your favorite memories with me. I'd love to hear them and re-live them with you. I miss you all so much! And I will be coming back for a visit very soon! :)

What a Day!!

So today was packed full of ups and downs, excitement and sheer panick, good and shall we say... not so good. It started off fine. I had amillion things to do because it was Amanda's birthday. Dropped the kids off at the Babysitting Co-op so I could run many errands without having to buckle and unbuckle the boys a million times. Ran my errands and went to pick up the boys. Well, Lara and I got talking as we do - more now that we are in the Primary Presidency together. The boys (Ryan and Tyler plus her two Kyle-5 yrs and Ryan-3 yrs) were all playing in the back yard and eventually moved to the front yard. Kyle came into the house to ask if they could ride bikes. Lara said no, I told him we were leaving in a minute. So they went back out front. The front door was open, I was sitting at her bar so I could see the boys and we could both hear them. After a couple minutes I got up and we went to get the boys so I could go home and get them lunch. They were GONE! We looked in the back yard, looked through her house, they were really GONE! A moment of unbelief that this was happening... We jumped in my car and drove around her block. Nothing. Dropped her off at her house, we got in our own cars and started driving around. I went to the park and then over to my house, NOTHING! She went further up into her neighborhood and then back toward her house, NOTHING. We split up and drove again through neighboring subdivisions, NOTHING! My body is going numb. I am such an overprotective mom. I always know where my kids are at all times. To the point that some people have laughed at me or asked why I worry so much. But I always know where they are and freak out if I can't see them at all times! So I am really starting to freak out! Lara goes to wake up her husband - he is a cop and was sleeping from working the night shift. He goes out looking. I am running thru her neighborhood knocking on random doors asking if anyone has seen 4 little boys. I run to the park yelling their names. I see the Landscapers at the park but no little boys. Lara calls the Police, it has now been 30 minutes they have been missing. My friend that I was going to meet at the park is out on her bike looking everywhere for them. In the neighborhoods, the parks, can't find them. Everytime I call her to see if she has found them she answers her phone "Did you find them?" David is coming home from work, we now have 6 officers, neighbors and ward members all looking for 4 little boys who we think are together. Finally someone calls and tells us the Landscapers at the Park said they saw 4 little boys walking up Bridlegate toward Houston 25 minutes earlier (kind of toward my house). It has now been an hour that they are missing. Lara and I are crying and starting to really lose it. They won't let us leave Lara's house. Talk about feeling helpless! We were discussing how this could have happened and how noone saw them. when I remembered telling Kyle we were going to be going home soon. I called my friend Markelle again and asked her to go to my house and go IN my house and look for them. To go IN the backyard. I had driven past my house, Lara's husband had gone to my house and looked over the side wall into the back yard and yelled for them but found nothing. She said she would. I called her back and asked if she was there yet, she had just gotten there and was checking my front door. Locked. I told her to go into the back yard, she opened the big side gate and yelled "I FOUND THEM!! They are here." Then she said to the boys that the Police were out looking for them and then told me she was going to hang up and cry. I jumped in my car and flew to my house. There were now 2 police cars and a police motorcycle at my house. Rick had gotten there too and was helping get the boys out of the back yard. They had gotten into the pool area -thanks to a ladder they had propped up against the pool fence to get to the lock on the gate. Once inside the pool area they were locked in and couldn't get out. So, here are 4 little boys who CAN'T swim locked IN the pool area! This could have gone so wrong in so many ways! Come to find out, after much prodding and questioning by both Lara and myself, basically they didn't want to stop playing together, so they ran to my house - they wanted to hurry so they could hide and keep playing. They walked 3/4 mile to get to my house! I clocked it in the car with Ryan tonight! It also came out that they were afraid of the cars, so anytime they saw one, they would hide in the bushes. Thus the reason no one could find them. I have never felt so much fear and panick in my life. I was so scared! When I did see them, I just held them. Ryan was pretty upset and wouldn't let go of me. He was crying when the officer lifted him over the fence to me and wouldn't let go until David took him in the house. I don't know if he completely understands how scared I was, but Christina said that when she walked in from school he said "I was lost and made Mommy cry today." I just know I NEVER want to experience that feeling again!
On a lighter note... Today was Amanda's Birthday! She turned 7 today! She is getting so big! I can hardly believe it! We went out to dinner and then back home to open presents and have cake & ice cream. She seemed to enjoy it all very much! Screaming with such delight of each little gift. She would scream and get so excited and then look at it and ask "what is it?" She is a nut! Amanda is such an independent littel girl. I told her the other day that she is very stubborn. She asked what stubborn meant. I told her and we discussed it for a little while. She seemed satisfied. Then tonight she announced "I am stubborn" then looked at me and asked again "what does stubborn mean? Is it good?" She makes me laugh. She is a lot of fun to have in the family. She has a great laugh and loves school. She loves to do anything crafty - loves to make cards, necklaces, draw pictures, color, etc. She loves to dance in her room to her favorite cd's -not sure which one is the favorite this week... She is reading so well, and loves to read books and have them read to her. We went to the library recently and she chose -I think- half the library!! She had a stack of books to bring home. I think we must have brought home 20 or more, just for her. I am so happy to have her in our family. Love you Amanda Panda -aka Boo!

Trip to Utah

Sorry, really long post...
Ok, so we got back over a week ago, I am a little slow in posting. We had such a great time. We were gone for 9 days. What a difference in temperature! We left Arizona, it was still high 90's and wound up in Utah where it was 40's-50's. I froze!!!! Everyone there was so happy when it hit 60, they were in short sleeve shirts, some were in shorts! I wore a jacket and jeans! They laughed at me. We spent the first few days with David's parents. Then David had to fly home to work.
We took a drive up the canyon before he left. It was so beautiful. We went to Cascade Springs and Sundance. I really miss those canyons! He was suppose to fly back out to help us drive home, but he was swamped with work and wasn't able to come back. So my dad drove home with us and flew back to Utah. Anyway, I had many things planned for our trip.
Most importantly we had to go to Gardner Village and see the witches! I absolutely love this place. It is such a great little place to shop and spend time with friends. Which is exactly what we did. We spent the entire day with 'Auntie Paige'.
Started off at Gardner Village where we found all the witches, did some 'window' shopping (found a dining room set I really want!!!), had lunch at the Naborhood Bakery, went to the Hay Maze and the petting zoo. We met up with another friend, Anne, that I haven't seen in YEARS!!! Anne, Paige and I were all nannies together in California forever ago! It was so wonderful to see her and spend a few hours with her and her cute little boy! It was hard to say goodbye...
Then it was off to the first of 6 temples we visited. We decided it might be fun to do a Temple Tour.
There are so many in the SL Valley, and the kids have been talking about temples in Primary all year, so we started with Jordan River. It was closed, but we were still able to go onto the grounds and take a few pictures. Then we went to visit another dear friend of mine whom I grew up with. Jennie and I have been friends since we were, gosh as long as I remember... 4 or 5 years old? It was so fun to see her adorable family again. She has 6 kids. Hers are all about the same ages as mine, except the last little surprise she had just a year ago. :) I could've stayed there all day. It was so nice to see her, and the kids had a blast playing and running all over her HUGE yard!! (6 acres!)
Then we headed to Salt Lake to meet up with my sister, Lisa. We had dinner and then headed to the SL Temple, where David and I were married. We rode Trax, which the kids thought was really cool. The temple was closed by the time we got there, but we were able to go into the Tabernacle and then we went across the street to the Conference Center. The kids loved seeing the difference between the two. We walked all over Temple Square. It was so much fun!
Tuesday, we waited for Paige and then headed to the new Draper Temple. It was so windy and cold up there! But it was beautiful. It was open so we took the kids into the foyer and showed them all the beautiful pictures. It was really neat. There was also a wedding -or at least a bride and groom having their pictures taken, so we watched them for a few minutes. Such a beautiful Temple! Then we headed across the way to the new Ochre Mountain Temple.
It was, again, very windy and cold! It, too, was open so we went into the foyer again. The kids thought it was so neat that they got to go 'into' the temple. Then we went for lunch at Chick Fil A. We let the kids play for a while so Paige and I could just talk. Then we headed toward home, but first we had to stop for Iceberg!! The best shakes on earth!!!! Yummmm!!!! Then Paige had to say goodbye. She had a meeting that night. It's always so hard to say goodbye to Paige. Lisa met up with us and we went to Aunt Sarahs for dinner. It was fun to hang out. Sarah and Alton had their High School Yearbooks so we opened them up and basically laughed at how rediculous we all looked with our big hair! The kids were getting a big kick out of it. It was a fun night.
Wednesday we headed up to my parents cabin. It is so beautiful up there, and always a fun adventure! The weather was not very cooperative on Wednesday. It was rainy and a little wet, so we didn't go quadding that day. But we still had fun hanging out at the cabin. Thursday we went quadding, swinging and zip lining. It was so fun. We had tinfoil dinners, roasted marshmalows by the fire and had a blast with cousins and family. Lisa and Daniel came up, Aunt Cami with her 3 boys and Kim, Dustin & Marissa were all there. (plus grandma and grandpa!) Sarah got sick and wasn't able to make it up. It was such a fun trip.
We left the cabin Friday, but on the way home we swung into Manti to visit the Manti Temple. It was also closed for cleaning and maintenance, but we were able to walk around and the kids played on the big hill where the Pageant is every year. It is the Temple that Grandma and Grandpa were married in, so it was fun to visit it with them. Once we got back to Grandma and Grandpa H's house we showered quickly and then -almost- the entire family came over for dinner. (we missed you Brian and Teresa!) It was fun to see everyone.
We left Saturday. Said a goodbye to David's parents, then went to pick up my dad. It is a tradition to get an Iceberg Shake on our way out of town. But, since we were leaving from my parents house, there is not an Iceberg close by, so we went to Arctic Circle to get shakes. They are really yummy too! So, with shakes in hand we were off to Arizona. It took us a long time to get home. Since we were so close, we decided to stop in St George and visit the Temple. It was nice for the kids to see one more Temple. We went into the Visitor's Center, but the kids were a little cranky at this point in the trip, so it was a quick visit. We decided to explore a different way home than we have ever taken. It was a beautiful drive. It was 20 miles shorter than the route we were going to take, but I don't know that it was any faster. Oh well, we were happy to get home. It was a great trip and hopefully it won't be another 2+ years before we go back.

Addicted!

So we all have our addictions. For some it could be alcohol or drugs. Maybe it's chocolate (yes, I love that too). Maybe you are addicted to shopping, the computer, certain TV shows. There are many addictions. My biggest addiction is Fresh Baked Cookies!!! I LOVE baking cookies! It is so bad, that I bake them two or three times a week! That is bad! It doesn't even matter what kind of cookie. I love all cookies. I usually make chocolate chip because that one satisfies everyone in the family. If I make Peanut Better, I am the only one eating them. Oatmeal chocolate chip -another favorite!!- a few won't eat them. Snickerdoodles, ah... that sounds so good right now. I wonder if my addiction is the warm cookie or the cookie dough. They run a very close race. I absolutely love eating the raw dough. Sometimes, I will admit, I make cookies just so I can eat the dough. But there really isn't anything better than a nice warm cookie dipped in ice cold milk. The thing is, I won't eat them the next day. Is that wierd? I like them fresh! They almost taste too dry the next day. They aren't, I just like them fresh. Last night, David was off and it was late, and he said "warm cookies sound really good right now." I eagerly jumped and asked "do you want me to make some for you?" He laughed and said I didn't have to. I really would have, even though it was 11pm. I am addicted!!! In fact, I think I will go make some right now! Anyone want any??
The boys love 'helping' me. The most important job when making cookies is Taste Tester!
Don't these look DELICIOUS?!?!?!?

Ryan turns Five

Ryan turned 5 yesterday. I cannot believe he is five! Where has time gone? Where is my little baby boy? Ryan is such a sweet sensitive boy. He is so full of love. He melts my heart when he just randomly wraps his arms around me and says "I love you, mom." He is such a sweet little boy! He loves to have a good time, he loves playing with his Nerf Guns, Lego's, having mommy read him a book, hide and seek, snuggling, playing with friends and just about anything else. He is pretty agreeable. There isn't a whole lot he doesn't like, except dinner. He really doesn't eat dinner very often. He loves dessert (like his mommy). He looks up to Michael with so much admiration. He adores his sisters and loves hanging with his little brother. He is such a joy to have in the family. So after church the Home Teachers stopped by and brought him a special treat. His very own Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream! We had dinner and we weren't half way through before he was asking if he could open his presents (he had been asking all day!). We had cake and ice cream, (Christina made the cake and Ryan helped her frost it) and then we let him open his presents. He got lots of Play Doh (notice the other ones in the background). I don't like Play Doh, ok, let me clarify, I HATE cleaning up Play Doh. But he loves it, so we got him lots of it! But I think he was most excited about the remote control Monster Truck Grandma and Grandpa gave him. Then Kerrie and Terry came over and brought gifts. Some fun Cars stuff (Mater, Lightning and other cars stuff) which he loved!

So today we decided it was going to be a Play Doh day. We got out the play doh and played for hours! Cutting, rolling, squishing, smashing, and everything else you do with Play Doh.

Cleaning it up wasn't so bad, either. Then it was Monster Truck time, Cars time, Nerf Gun time and playing with friends. It was a great day, yesterday and today.
As I looked at the pictures taken of him yesterday, I cannot believe how big he looks. I cut his hair before church and I think he aged 2 years in that 10 minutes. He is such a cutie and I am so happy he is in our family!

Soccer Season Begins

So this year we have 3 kids playing soccer! Michael, Ryan and Amanda. We were hesitant putting all 3 in, mostly because of games, how would we be able to get to all 3 games on the same day? How would we be able to shuttle all 3 to practices if they ended up on the same day? Christina would have played, but we sorta told her she couldn't. We couldn't imagine FOUR in soccer at the same time. Not without help, anyway. She said she didn't really want to play, so we didn't push it. Well, luckily for us, all their practices are on different days. Phew! And games? Well, Michael plays on Thursday nights (after Ryan's practice) and Ryan and Amanda play games on Saturdays. Looks like we lucked out on that too. So they started games this week. Michael played a great game! He played Goalie, and as a parent you are always nervous about this. What if he sucks? What if he gets scored on over and over again? You see the other team driving toward him and you just want to close your eyes and hope he stops the ball. Well, he did Awesome!! He stopped so many shots and I have to say, he looked really good playing that position. He usually plays up front (wing, is that what it is called?). Coach did take him out of goalie for a short time so he could play up front, he scored a goal! Woo Hoo!! Then he got hurt. A player from the other team pushed him to the ground and kinda trampled over him. He landed on his shoulder and bruised it pretty good. Coach saw he was hurting so he pulled him and put him back at goalie. Don't know if that was any better, but he managed to stop a few more, but unfortunately one got by him. A penalty kick that bounced off the goal and was followed up by a shot. Nothing he could do. Oh well. They tied. It was so fun to watch the teams. They were both really good. I was impressed. Unfortuantely we didn't get any pictures. Too dark.
So Saturday Ryan and Amanda played -at the same time, different fields. I watched Amanda's team the first half then we switched and I watched Ryan. Their teams were last minute wait list teams so they only got one practice in. It was a little obvious. When the other team kicked the ball to start the game -Amanda's game- all the girls just stood there and watched the other team drive to their goal and score. None of them moved! It was kinda funny. This happened 2 or three times before the girls figured out that they were suppose to go after the ball! Once they started to move, Amanda kinda took over. She was all over the place. I don't think some of the girls ever figured it out as they kept going the wrong direction and scored on our own goal for the other team I think 6 times! lol... One of the parents asked if Amanda had played before. I said no. She said 'wow, she'd good. She is aggressive!' (Yeah, she gets that from me!) I just laughed. Christina said in the second half she was grabbing girls and saying 'move!' 'my ball!' and 'get out of my way!' Looks like we may need to work on that! lol...

Ryan's team was fun to watch too. They are so little and their uniforms drown them. He has not taken off his jersey since the day he got it. He sleeps in it too! I finally convinced him to take it off one day so I could wash it! He is so excited to play soccer. Although when I first went over to his game he didn't really look that excited... He seemed a little bored! But eventually he got back into it. The term 'Bunch Ball' came to mind while watching them play. It was so cute to see these little kids running after the ball and trying to kick it. Ryan missed a few times. Most of the misses were harmless enough, but every once in a while he got another kid. I guess that is why they have shin guards. I have no idea who won, I don't think the kids even cared. I am looking forward to watching them play this season, and hopefully they get better as time goes on!