defeat

just got back from a photo shoot of the kiddos. it didn't go so well. sigh... another day another time perhaps, because it was not going to happen today that is for sure. here is to trying at least.

ps. my camera was in the shop and i hadn't gotten it back yet so i called and they shipped it to chicago and proceeded to tell me they guess it is on the door step of 1 547 west jackson! lovely. hence the trip to the photographers. oh well. i do have A LOT to be grateful for.

twins

there is something about twins. it is true what they say. that twins have something very special between them.

i notice things everyday that are just so sweet. like on my morning dance time

{them in their highchairs eating breakfast, me working out to music, which they love to watch, i am pretty sure it is hysterical}.

they ALWAYS at the same time look at eachother with the

sweetest little looks on their faces.

everytime.

they are in love with eachother and i am sure in love with them.

Dirty Laundry

You know how sometimes you don't realize how big of a blessing something is until it is taken away from you. I am realizing that right now. My brand new only used for a month wash machine turned into a fountain. Fun for the kids, not so fun for mom. I do on average 2-3 loads a day. They have to order a part that will not be in until a week from now. Luckily I was all caught up a week ago when it went out. Luckily we have a five year warranty. Luckily my mother and mother in-law have now become my official laundyers (I am aware this is my made up word). Maybe it is a blessing that it is broke?

BFF's

Susan, Sandy, Me, Carrie, Shannon, Carrie in the middle, Melissa and Brook in the front.

I am SO lucky. Can I just say that? I was so blessed in high school to have the very best friends around. Serisouly. We were all so close and still to this day are. We try to get the whole gang together annually.It is tough because we are all kind of spread out a bit, but we did a pretty good job this time. We were missing a few and we were sad they were not there to laugh till we cried. Which we did most of the night. We had such a fun time.

Our group of girls have the type of relationships that we could go years without seeing eachother and once we were reunited it was like no time had passed. We had such a fun time and I stayed out way past my bedtime. But it was well worth it.

Thanks girls, for being the very best girlfriends ANYONE could ask for.

Thankful

We are so thankful this time of year. We had such a wonderful week spent with wonderful people.

Andy and Bennett had most of the week off. This was the best part of the whole holiday for sure. We were able to get the lights outside put up as well as most of the inside done for Christmas. It is so fun to have a whole house to decorate.

Wednesday we had Andy's family over for Thanksgiving. That was SO fun. I got to put the dining room table and china to good use. Love it. Great food! Thursday we played games during the day and headed out to my parents house for Thanksgiving.

We had 25 people there and it was so fun. After a wonderful dinner we all looked through the sale ads to plan an attack for shopping the next day. Friday morning I woke up at about 4 am and then quickly fell back to sleep. When I lived at home my mom and I would always hit the stores bright and early Friday morning. I really haven't done it since, but wanted to this year. I thought it would be fun to go shopping by myself and know all my kiddos and hubby would be sound asleep in their warm beds. So at 5 I got up and hit the stores running. I went to Circuit City to find out the laptop we were eyeing was all sold out. Then I headed to Old Time Pottery and got a few Christmas decorations and then to Walmart. Walmart is NOT my favorite store that is for sure. I find it a little stressing shopping there. The problem is I can get my grocery shopping done and anything else I may need all at the same place, so unfortunately I end up there a lot. Well I headed into Walmart with a list of things I needed. I found them all but one. Not too bad. Then I hit linens and things, homedepot, and garden ridge. All in all it was great. It was fun and I even met my mom for breakfast. Then we met Andy and the kids downtown for the Santa Claus parade. It was fun, but a little too chilly for my liking.




We had a really fun week. We spent most of our weekend decorating the house for Christmas and I hope to be able to start painting again the upstairs. We shall see. Andy had his first dental emergency Saturday too. A lady called because her bridge in the front exploded? so he had to go in during all of this and fix her bridge. I guess it is not too bad. Five months and this had been our first emergency. Last night Jadeyn wasn't feeling to well and had a horrible fever. She was too hot to touch. The baby boys all have colds too. Bennett and I were the only ones to go to church today, Andy had the privilege to watch the sick babies.

We have so much to be grateful for this year. I am grateful for my family. I have always wanted this. I feel like I have been so blessed. I love my husband. I am grateful for him. My children are everything to me. I am grateful to have a home to live in and a safe haven from all around us. I am grateful to all have our health. I am grateful for friends whom I cherish.

I sure hope you all had a wonderful holiday and had time to reflect on your blessing as well.



PS Congrats Joy and Aaron. They are beautiful and I LO-OVE the names!

our menu

turkey

stuffing

fruit Salad

homemade crescent rolls

corn casserole

green bean casserole

yummy yams

mashed potato's and gravy

cranberry juice

pumpkin, pecan, apple and chocolate silk pies



what is on your thanksgiving menu? i was just thinking if everyone pretty much has the same things, or how do they change it up a bit? anything odd or peculiar on your dinner table for the holiday? or same ole same ole. you can tell we fall under the same ole same ole.



*is it weird to anyone else to see that live turkey and know that is what we will be eating?

getting excited

tonight for family night was had a lesson on being thankful and then made little turkeys. bennett loves crafts, the twins not so much yet. they rather just color. they turned out cute and we all had a good time. i am getting really excited about thanksgiving. i love this time of year and this holiday in particular. i am pretty sure i like this holiday above the rest.

this year we will celebrate thanksgiving wednesday with one side of our family and thursday with the other. we plan to go to a soup kitchen thursday morning. we are excited about that.

since we have a dining room table now we will eat in their and on my china that we have never used. we are also very excited about that. andy's family will be here all day wednesday and we plan to bake and cook away in my big kitchen, which will be quite a change from thanksgivings pasts'.

i love it. i am so excited. and a bigger plus, andy works tomorrow and that is it for the week!

A must see...

have you ever seen the show jon and kate plus eight? if you said no then be sure to find when it is on and watch. first of all it is hilarious. it is so cool to see how overwhelming 8 kids can be, yet how grateful they are for them. their relationship is very funny, they both are really funny people. i love this show and it along with yo gabba gabba is the only thing on my DVR a the moment.

oh well

I painted my whole kitchen last week one day and you can't even tell. Oh well. I guess there are some things I am just going to have to be ok with it, because I am certainly NOT going to repaint.

I wanna...

go on a vacation. Not because I am bored here with this life, or want a break, I just think it sounds fun to go on a vacation. Throughout dental school we didn't do much "vacationing" other than going back and forth from here to there. And as fun as it was to see family, I think it would be fun to change it up a bit and go somewhere real fun.

My top destinations...
Washington DC
New York City
California, San Diego
Hawaii, 2009!
Texas, Houston
Pennsylvania. Hershey
Utah, anywhere
Oregon, b and p's house
New Mexico, b and m's house
Mexico, ?
London, Herpenden
Florida, Orlando, Miami

Really the list could go on and on. We are going to Hawaii the summer of 2009 which will be fun and we plan on taking a vaca this next summer, but we are not sure where. I think at some point we really want to go on a Disney cruise and Disney world and will probably do their land/water vacation package. I am not sure when this will occur, but sounds like major fun.

For now I will just anticipate the fun of these destinations and keep on enjoying my fun here in *O town.

?

So I have a question. Why are people mean? I don't get it. I don't think I could be mean if I tried to. I don't complain, I don't roll my eyes at people, I would never want anyone to feel anything less than appreciation, affection and love. Why doesn't everyone feel the same. I have been thinking about that. Why would you want to be mean? I don't get it. Isn't it just better all around to be nice? I have got to think so. I feel sad for people who feel they need to be mean, something is missing. The only solution I can come up with is if I ever see anyone being mean or just plain hateful, you better believe I am going to be as nice as one can be, almost sickening nice. I think they need that. Or would that be me just being mean to them...huh? sigh. The question continues...

Fabulous Friday

Today was a fun day for me. Time in the morning with my kiddies and then off to errands without the kiddies and off to the wards fabulous Friday. I spent a fun night crafting away. I was in constant work mode from 5:00-10:30. I think I got a good feel for crafting for a while and am sure I will not want to see a sander, tile or foam brush for a very long time. I had a great night. Great crafts with even greater people. Now I am off to sleep. Gosh I love having Andy home on Fridays...

what ever happen to everything in moderation

i should have thought about this when i took on our entire house being painted by Thanksgiving. actually the day before thanksgiving. I am finally done with our main level and now the upstairs is next on the list. the kitchen was a beast as well as the powder bath. it is a lot of work, but definitely is well worth it! can wait to post pictures!

four times the cuteness

when bennett was 10 months old we got this darling picture taken with daddy. it is one i cherish a lot.
when the twins were 10 months old we did the same pose with daddy

and now our little maddox had his turn at picture day with daddy.oh they are so cute and i already have the frames i am anxious to get them in.
i love these babies...what did i do to deserve these four?

10 months old

When Bennett turned 10 months old, I thought he was a big boy. An old kid. Now that Maddox is 10 months old, he still seems so small. He seems like a tiny baby, until I see a real tiny baby that is. I think it has something to do with Jadeyn and Cortland being so close in age, yet being so much bigger and older acting. I love that he seems like a little baby to me still. It is helping my baby hunger. I love holding him and snuggling with him. He loves it too. He is such a snuggle baby and he still amazes us by his perfection and sweetness. I can honestly say that having him has made my life as a mom easier. He has made having four kids better, easier in some way. I know it sounds weird, but there is something about this baby that is just unexplainable.

It is finally hat weather

and this is why I love hat weather.

Cheerios and Gold Fish

Ok I am not sure how it always happens, but every single day cheerios or gold fish or something of that nature ends up getting poured out onto our kitchen floor and the kids love the sound and feeling of them crunching under the feet. In the time it takes me to get the broom they are already doing a rain dance on top of them. By far the worse was yesterday morning. We were all having a casual relaxed Saturday morning and somehow the BIG box of bought at Sam's Cheerios box was left on the table. It took Jadeyn all of two seconds to get it down from the table on poured onto the floor. Maddox was in Heaven, me not so much. I let them eat and play in them. I am sure that is not the ideal reaction, but hey, you are only a kid once. So after I felt it was officially disgusting to let them eat off the floor I vacuumed it all up. Until tomorrow when I am sure I will be sweeping up more food off my floor. You cannot tell in this picture how elated Maddox really is. I have never heard so many squeaks and squeals of excitement. from this little one.

The Green Rock Stars

The Soccer season is over. I think Bennett is kind of sad about that. He really loves it. He loves anything that is highly active and that involves running around and playing with friends. Their team did pretty well this season, but even more than that they sure had a good time.

Last week after his last soccer game we all headed to invade the local Pizza Hut. The boys had a great time together. Bennett will miss his weekly play date!

The Green Rock Stars 2007

7 Fun Facts

I was tagged some time ago from Janet and I have been thinking for a while what to write. Since I already did the 100 things I am pretty sure people do not want to read the same things I put in there so I thought I would change it up a bit and do 7 things I have loved about living in our house.

1. I love love love that I can go to my garage and throw something away in our big trash can. I do not have to walk to the nearest dumpster!

2. When our dog barks or a baby screams, I do not have to worry about anyone above us, below us or next to us on either side, swearing they will never have a dog or a child due to our noise.

3. I can paint the walls and hang as many things as I want up on the walls.

4. We have a basement. Enough said.

5. The babies have their own rooms and this makes nap time and sleep time nice that they are not entertaining eachother instead of sleeping.

6. We have a toy room. There are no toys in anyones room. In everyother place we have lived the family room and bedrooms are over stuffed with toys.

7. We have a garage where we can park our cars. We do not run the risk of them getting broken into or covered with 5 feet of snow. They sure stay cleaner too being in a garage.

I am pretty sure it is safe to say that this in only the beginning of a very very long list. I can't even count the ways I love being a homeowner. We love it. We love our home. I would love it even more if all my projects were done, but oh well, even still I am in love! AND I know I still need to post pictures of this place. I promise this week we will get some on here!

Triplets

good luck joy. can't wait to see those babies! may baby one, two and three have the strongest little lungs ever!

as i have mentioned before my dear friend joy is having triplet girls. this blessing could not happen to any two better people. these girls will be well loved and cherished. i can't wait to see pics.

my little date

so thursday night i went out with one of my favorite boys.
cortland. oh he is so cute. i just love that boy.
we went to the mall.
walked around.
bought some stuff.
pushed a stroller.
ate a yummy cookie.
went up and down and up and down again in an elevator.
were given five green helium balloons.

and rode in daddy's car.

it was a real treat.

although this boy was grinning from ear to ear the entire time we were out and he would often laugh in glee i still think

and am pretty sure i had a better time than he.

i love my boy. i loved the time we spent together

that night just cortland and his mamma. i love you cortie.

you go boy

andy, you were right.
i was wrong.
i digress.
you amaze me!
you can prove me wrong anytime.

Carrie Underwood

So I got myself a little treat. I bought the new Carrie Underwood CD. I LOVE IT.
It is a really fantastic CD. Every song is just so great and fun to listen to.
I think it is offically one of my favorite cds at the moment.
One of my favorites songs is
The More I Love My Dog.....

This boy here wants to move too fast

He's sees my future as having a past

Well, I don't think so I don't think so

That boy there, well he's playing the fool

He thinks he's funny and he thinks he's cool

Well, I don't think so I don't think so

Cheap date, bad taste Another night gone to waste

Talking about nothing in so many words

It's not like I'm not trying

Cause I'll give anyone a shot once...And I close my eyes

And I kiss that frog

Each time finding the more boys I meet

The more I love my dog

Here's the guy, thinks he's bad to the bone

He wants to pick me up and take me home

Well, I don't think so I don't think so

Cage fights, PlaystationX-games, Raider Nation Oversized pants with an ego to match

It's not like i'm not trying

Cause I'll give anyone a shot once...And I close my eyes

And I kiss that frog

Each time finding the more boys I meet

The more I love my dog

Why can't they be like the ones that mean everything to me

Warm and loyal, open and friendly?

It's not like I'm not trying

Cause I'll give anyone a shot once...I close my eyes

And I kiss that frog

Each time finding the more boys I meet

The more I love myI close my eyes

And I kiss that frog

Each time finding the more boys I meet

The more I love my dog

The more I love my dog

...it sure makes me happy my dating years are long in the past.

Anyway, if you want a great cd run out and get it.

You will not be dissappointed.

pass it on

so one of the lovely benefits of working for yourself, i am being really sarcastic here, is finding your own health insurance. what i am looking at at the moment would cost our family about 900 DOLLARS a month. NOT including maternity. in fact i have not even found a company that will give maternity as an option. it is weird. cancer covered. terminal illness covered. having a baby, no such luck.

anyway i got to thinking that maybe someone out there in blog world has been able to find something better than i have and can give me a recommendation. like i found the greatest guy to work with for our homeowners and car insurance through liberty mutual who gives a byu discount. after all of my searching they were by far way cheaper. so if you want his number i would be happy to pass that on. in the meantime, please send me info of someone who is going to give my family and i some great health insurance!

oh boy

i know i have mentioned this before, but i should never be aloud to watch a baby story. i can honestly say i do not watch tv. in fact since we have moved in our home i have never once sat down to watch something on tv. however, today i went to try and figure out the 4th dvr we have had, and i saw this show. i flipped to it and now i want a baby. i know i know. i have one. i actually have three. but i love those babies and how bad would i love another one. although, i think we do have our hands full as everyone points out. i am not saying i will have a baby, i am just saying i really really want one.

rededication

i am not sure if this happens to everyone or anyone, maybe just me, but it seems like about every 6 months or so, i feel like i need to step back for a minute and reevaluate my life. how i mother my children, how i am as a wife, how i am doing spiritually, as a homemaker, a daughter, a sister, daughter-in-law, sister-in-law, and on and on and on. sometimes i feel like i doing alright and need just a fine tuner then other times i feel like where did i go wrong! i like the moments where i can rededicate my life to keep the things that are important to me important. line up my priorities. cut out the unimportant. i love organizing my life.

i know i am doing my best. i am happy where i am in my life. i love my life. sometimes i feel like i am just too lucky to have the life i have. i am grateful for the moments where i have time to reflect on how i am doing and if i am doing and becoming the person i want to be for my children, for my husband, family and most importantly me. i know i can be better. andy totally gets it and yet he just keeps saying, there is nothing you can do to be better. man i love that man. but yet, sometimes i do step back and wonder, am i the person i have always wanted to be? and i think i can say yes. i am. i am a person who is not only trying, but doing and that is my best.

*whoa, i just totally got serious all of a sudden...
*to lighten it all up a bit, i found this new website and i love it!http://www.tangledandtrue.com/

homesick

this picture almost made me cry. i miss these guys. i miss the greatest city on earth. i miss the people. i miss the kids. i miss our little apartment. i miss our friends. we made forever long friends here that have changed our lives forever.

the one and only

bennett has learned to ride his bicycle withOUT training wheels. i know this may not seem like a big deal. i know he is 6 and a 1/2 and probably most 6 and 1/2 year olds can already do this, but this guy has not really ridden a bike until we moved here. living in the city, there were not too many opportunities to go on bike rides. since we have lived here he has gotten more used to the whole bike riding thing and then other night out of the blue we took off the training wheels. he has fallen once and caught himself before he really fell. he picked it up pretty easily. i think it is time now to get him a little bit bigger of a bike. way to go bennett you are so good.

psa

my fellow blogians...

please back up your photos.

my dear friend has lost all of her photos

of her darling little boy.

this has given me the kick in the you know what

to get my photos backed up.

i am still working on it.

i have a LOT of pictures.

like this one,

and this one,

but it will be way worth it.

follow the yellow brick road

ok, i have got to say even if it sounds like i am a gloating mother,

MY KIDS LOOKED SO CUTE

on halloween. oh my gosh.

i saw these darling little shoes at target a few months ago and that is when my vision started. i had planned on j and c being ragedy ann and andy this year, but after seeing these shoes and getting the wiz idea i had to go with it.

i broke down and bought jadeyns costume. i can even think about sewing until my house is painted and more organized. the costume ended up being really cute i mean REALLY cute. she was adorable. i just couldn't stop remarking on how darling she looked. she had a ball. she would literally run from one house to the next. at first she was like what is going on, and then when she realized she got food from this whole thing, she was all for it. it was so fun to watch her.

cortland's little costume was definitely and little homemade job, but it actually looked really cute on him. we made some straw bracelets, anklets and necklace for him and then added some patches to his overalls and plaid shirt. he was so darling too. he had a ball and sucked on one sucker the whole night. everyone thought he was so cute.

maddox was the lion. i made this costume for bennett when he was a baby and every boy has wore it since. it is a good thing, because that costume was nightmare. i am happy we are getting great use out of it. as always in good old maddox fashion he didn't complain the whole night and the hat full of lion curls didn't bother him a bit. his little brown eyes matched his little costume perfectly. have i mentioned how much i love this boy?

bennett was the tin man. he was silver from head to toe. he looked darling and could not get over all the candy he got. he kept saying mommy do i keep all of this? over and over and over. he was cute and had fun with the whole theme. this is a crazy picture i know, but it was hard to get him to hold still long enough to get a good one.

so after trick or treating in our neighborhood we went to the church for trunk or treating. we actually had a pretty great turnout. we weren't expecting many since it was on halloween, but there were tons of people there. it was great.

ok, so here's a question for you all. do you remember when we were young-er and we would go trick or treating? I remember most of the candy being smarties, or sprees or something of that nature. I am not sure my kids got any of that. everything is chocolate and good stuff. not so good if you are trying to lose 20 pounds, but stuff that we never got as kids at least in that amount. my favorites were the reeces and i remember only getting about 3 or 4 in my whole bag. so is candy cheaper now, or are people just over the whole smarties era? I wonder?

{debby, you have got to be lovin' this}

happy halloween

getting ready for trick or treating

{paying attention to grandma and not the camera}

we sure had a fun day. we were lucky enough to see all of our grandmas and grandpas on halloween and the day before. check out these cute little outfits the kids wore to celebrate the day. we were pumpkined out that is for sure!

{eating our traditional pizza on halloween all lined up}

party time

after buying a car yesterday, i ran to bennett's school and helped with his party. they had such a fun time. they played bingo and made some crafts...bennett was in heaven. it was fun getting to know the kids he is with everyday a little better. they are all really cute kids.