hiking

Red Cliffs recreation area-hiking-

our only adventure for spring break. It was perfect.

not too long, and not too hot. and it was beautiful.

the only picture of Cori
Jared trying to take her in the
freezing cold water

Gage is always willing to smile

ugly me

Austin slipped in the water and got his

shirt soaked, so he went around for a little

while without his shirt. he was so happy

Logan

syd being cool

my man and my baby

kathryn and her walking stick

Tanner smiling - I only got one picture

of him where he was willingly looking

at the camera

it was a great little outing. not too hard for

the little ones, and lots rocks to climb for the big

boys.

The ultimate kids chocolate cone..

homemade

prayer request

My sister in law is in need of our prayers. Will you please pray for her. She is in surgery right now. I will update when I know more. Thanks!
I am sorry it took so long to update. Esther is doing better. Thanks for your prayers for her. She had a tubal pregnancy. It was scary for all of us waiting. I am sure it was a nightmare for them. I know she is home now, and doing okay.

Blue and Gold Banquet

Tanner is now a cub scout and loves it. Each month there is Pack Meeting to get all the cub scouts together. Last night was the Blue and Gold Banquet. It was so much fun. We were supposed to dress up in WILD, WILD, WEST attire. AND we had to decorate a cake to share with everyone. We had a REAL cowboy come and sing some songs with us. Then we had a yummy dinner, and cake. They even taught us how to do the boot scootin' boogie. We also learned some cowboy etiquette, that was hilarious, but I can't remember them.

Thanks to the Sharps for another excellent Pack Meeting. You guys rock!!

Here is our coolio cake- a cowboy hat. pretty awesome huh?

Jared does a great job with cake decorating.

and the kids in their studs! :)

after convincing tanner that he could wear

a cowboy shirt instead of his scout shirt, he wouldn't

let me take his picture. whatta boy!

The wheels on the bus

Gage loves to sing and listen to music. His favorite song right now is "The wheels on the bus". Tuesday morning he was singing this song to me. This is how it went-

Gage-"The wheels on bus go round and round, round and round (sang louder with each round), round and round, the wheels on the bus go round and round all through the town. The chicken on the bus says excuse me please, ....

The dragon on the bus says welcome friend, ....

I was a bit confused. I didn't know chickens rode on the bus. But Gage was very sure it was the chicken on the bus that said excuse me please. (singing in his cute little voice!)

So I called a friend of mine that teaches singing time in nursery and asked her, and she had no idea where the chicken came into the song. Then I remembered that Gage has this Clifford music Cd that grandma and grandpa gave him for Christmas that he listens to each night before bed. So I got that out and we started listening to it. He was so excited and sang right along. Then it got to the children on the bus say excuse me please, and the driver on the bus says welcome friend. I understood. No matter how many times I try to nicely correct him, he says no! it is the chicken and the dragon.

He is a definite joy in my life!!

Pay it Forward

Rules:

1. Be one of the first THREE bloggers to leave a comment on this post, which then entitles you to a handmade item from me - something crafty or yummy, who knows?!.
2. Winners must post this challenge on your blog, meaning that you will Pay It Forward, creating a handmade gift -anything!- for the first THREE bloggers who leave a comment on YOUR post about this giveaway!
3. The gift that you send to your Three Friends can be from any price range and you have 365 days to make/ship your item. This means you should be willing to maintain your blog at least until you receive your gift and have shipped your gifts.
And, remember: It’s the Spirit and the Thought That Count!
4. When you receive your gift, please feel free to blog about it, sharing appropriate Linky Love!If you are not one of the Top Three Commenters on this post, you can still play along. Go ahead and start your own Pay It Forward chain, and encourage your blogging friends to do the same! SO, REMEMBER... it is good... :) Pass it forward.

Tagged


6th picture from 6th folder





The Albino Alligator at the Hogle Zoo last year.
Pretty cool.
I tag whoever wants to.

finally

I know its been forever. So i am going to start with the new family pics we had taken a while back. I love them! Thanks Michelle. You did awesome. we would love to see the not so good ones, if you still have them saved.

I like this one, because it is how the kids always look

if we are hugging or kissing.

us having a little fun

Cori-13 years old

Austin 4 years old

Sydney age 10 (in a week)

Logan age 5

Kathryn 11 years old

Tanner-age 8 oh and by the way-

this is a miracle. He never smiles like this!

Gage age 2

something about this picture brings me

to tears. He is standing here against

the wall without assistance. this is a big

deal. at this point he has no balance,

so for him to achieve this even for just

a short time is wonderful. there is more to it,

but I'm not sure what at this point. maybe

it will come to me later-so far this is what I

feel... he is a blessing.

Heavenly Father loves him. He needs to have

this challenge right now. He is special. He has a

work to do. We are blessed to have him in

our family.

All the boys

The two boys

GQ

laughing

a little more

busting at the seams

I can't wait to get these hanging on my wall!!

I feel so blessed to be a wife and a mom. very blessed indeed!

oh and our tribute to TWILIGHT!

Healthy Living Challenge

Merry Christmas-Happy New Year. I am such a slacker. I will get back to posting about our family soon. But for now I wanted to let you know of a new challenge I am starting. Its called the Healthy Living Challenge. Just in case you are in need of some motivation. I am starting tomorrow. But feel free to jump in with us. Here are the legistics of it.

So here are the details of the challenge.
Points - 12 points possible per day
1 Reporting/Accountability point just for reporting your points each day. You can do it here on the blog or to a friend.
1 Water - drink at least 8 - 8oz cups of water everyday, more if you can!
1 Supplements/Vitamins - take a good supplement, even a multivitamin is better than nothing.
1 No Skipping Meals- NO SKIPPING MEALS OR SNACKS!!! You should be eating every 2-3 hours! Plan ahead. Have some healthy snacks in your purse or in the car.
1 Whole Grains - No white flour, white pasta, white rice, etc. There are now tons of 100% Whole Grain products in the grocery stores
1 No sugar/junk food - No white refined sugar, cookies, cakes, candies, ice cream, chocolate, etc. (some things do have sugar in them like breads and whole grain cereals and those are fine - the grams of sugar per serving should be less than 5 grams unless it contains dried fruit like raisins)
1 3-hour rule - Don't eat for at least 3 hours before you go to bed.
1 Counting Calories - It is amazing how fast calories add up. Pick up a kitchen scale and monitor your portion size. Use myfitnesspal or some other way to track the calories you consume each day. The minimum calories you consume should be 1200 per day, the maximum varies depending on how much weight you need to lose, your current weight and the amount you exercise each day. Even if you go over your daily amount you can still get this point if you are tracking your calories.
Workout Points: up to 4 per day
Low intensity (walking) exercise 30 minutes = 1 point
Moderate intensity (jogging) exercise 20 minutes = 1 point
High intensity exercise (running) 15 minutes = 1 point
Give yourself up to 4 points per day based on how long you exercise and at what level your perceived level of exertion is.

Set a goal for 2009 and keep track of your points each day!
My friend Kathy has started a new blog just for this challenge. Its open to friends of friends. So check it out here
Also I have a weight loss blog that I will continue to add to-very little as of now, but maybe more as time goes on,
here.
anyone up for the challenge?!
Hope everyone is having a great new year so far.
I have lots to update. I promise I will do it soon. plus some great new family pictures!