Lucky 7

Jaden will technically turn seven tomorow morning but we've been celebrating for a few days now. This year he wanted to have his first friend birthday party. We decided to use his horse and have a cowboy party. Here is what the invite was:
















Somehow 19 children were invited(including my own). I am not sure what I was thinking but thanks to my wonderful hubby, mom, dad and Pat, we managed to keep them busy and entertained. We divided them into 3 groups and rotated them around 3 stations. Riding Buck was one station and dad and Cory maintained some order.














I had another station and we played Balloon Stampede (kids circle up and then pop all the balloons in the circle-loud but fun), Pass the Rattlesnake and a version of duck-duck-goose.

























Mom had another station where they played horse shoes and did some relays with boots, hats, and such.













Then we opened presents

























Had cowboy cupcakes and root-tootin rootbeer floats.













Then Grandma Jane read them a cowboy story.














Then we were all tired...until today.

Today we tried out Pirate Island. Super fun and good pizza.















My kids thought it was great and Jaden even told me "thanks for my birthday mom". What a great kid. And finally tomorow he will turn seven...thank goodness!! What would I do without him though. Amazing how much I've changed in the seven years!! Thanks for being such a great kid! I love you Jaden!

Thank goodness for government holidays...

Life gets so busy and there are so many "random" government holidays that I forget to sometimes remember each ones meaning. Today though, with all the flags flying and all the sacrifices that are made by soldiers and their families, I can't help but feel grateful. Thank you to all who have, are, and will defend and protect the freedoms that I take for granted daily. It is a tribute to the good work they do that we don't always remember it and are able to go about our lives. It is also great to be able to pause and remember them.

Ok, now to another thankful. I am so grateful for Lane. He is an absolute delight. He has always been cuddly and I keep thinking it will end but just this morning he cuddled in bed with me for 30 minutes. He was awake and he was talking but he laid in my arms without wiggling out and even got upset when I moved an arm off of him to get more comfortable. He quickly put my arm back. Seriously, I love this kid...even though he wears me out trying to keep up with the messes he makes. Oh, this is his new trick.

Grumpy while blogging...

No one likes to hear or read grumpy blogs so in an attempt to lighten my grumpy mood I will post some pictures of my cute kids. Halloween was fun this year. It did feel like a lot of work with 3+ days of dressing kids up but in the end...their smiles are worth any amount of work.

Carving Pumpkins













Orange & black pancakes that the kids cut into Halloween shapes













Worms, fingers, rotton apples, and spider's blood (I love their imaginations)













My dog, fairy and vampire (Lane's costume actually barked...he loved it)














A lot of friends and family have been posting something they are thankful for each day. I love reading them and think that gratitude is so important. We've been doing a thankful jar that my friend Tanya e-mailed me and it has been fun to see the kids getting into gratitude. I've tried very hard to teach my kids to be thankful for what they have. At times I feel successful and other times I think they'll never get it. In the last few days I've realized how important it is for my children to know how grateful I am for them. I tell them I love them but I don't tell them often enough, "Thank you, for being you"

I don't know if I'm the only one who feels misunderstood and underappreciated. At times I feel I try and try and it isn't enough. I've been working on some YW projects (I know I still need to post them) and one of the things I've loved is Individual Worth. I love that my Father in Heaven love for me is so pure.

Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin said "“Oh, it is wonderful to know that our Heavenly Father loves us—even with all our flaws! His love is such that even should we give up on ourselves, He never will. We [might] see ourselves in terms of yesterday and today. Our Heavenly Father sees us in terms of forever. …The gospel of Jesus Christ is a gospel of transformation. It takes us as men and women of the earth and refines us into men and women for the eternities.”

Thank goodness for eternity to work on being better. Today I'm thankful for the 3 people in my life who seem to love and appreciate ALL of me and my attempts. One is my Father in Heaven. He knows the attempts of my heart and understands that I'm not without fault but I am also trying and want so much to make my children, family and friends happy. The second is my husband, I don't give him credit as much as I should. He loves me unconditionally and really does appreciate me. The last one is my sweet grandma. She has never once doubted me and truely sees me as I want everyone else too. So now my hope is that I can add my children to this list someday...my other hope is that I can tell others more how much I appreciate them.

Instead of housework...

I have so much to clean today but instead, I thought I'd post some favorites from the last while. I still haven't taken pictures of my YW things but I promise to do that tomorow(Cory took the camera to photo "the big one" while hunting)!

Jaden got to have a boys weekend with dad and grandpa to go antelope hunting. He carried the head out in his own camo backpack and was super proud. He loves being a boy and being with the guys.


















Patrick got home in September. The kids were so excited to see him. It was fun to have us all together again. Grace was a little hesitant at first but now all I hear is "when can we see Uncle Patrick". We had a fun weekend with good food and family. It is great and a little strange to have him home.















We have spent a weekend camping and helping Uncle Kevin on his deer hunt. The kids loved camping and we went to Vernal to see the dinosaurs on the way home which made Jaden super excited. My kids are great travelers and love to see new things. We made some detours and I don't think any of us were in a hurry to get home.















Jaden also played soccer again. He is so much better now and gets really into the game. He scored quite a few goals for his team but more importantly...he had fun and we love watching him.













We also finally finished our basement. I use the word "finish" very lightly. We still need to put handles on cabinets, finish the file stuff for the drawers, hook up the sink, finish the shower, organize stuff, hang and decorate things and figure out how to make a pottry barn like playroom on a dollar store budget.

Finally I'll post

I seem to only get the season post so I guess it is time for fall. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of time right now so I will only get our fun night tonight up. The kids had fall break this week but we've had so many projects to do that we didn't get to do much fun. After a crazy day, we decided to take the kids to the pumpkin patch for a hayride, pumpkins, and of course, caramel apples. So much fun. Lane loved every minute of it. He would go from pumpkin to pumpkin. Grace loved the caramel apples and Jaden loved everything! It was nice to forget all the work we have to do and enjoy the fun of being a child during the fun Halloween season.





















I will try to post more tomorrow. I need to update on Patrick's homecoming, some cute YW things I've been up to, hunting trips and kids activities. I know you're all dying for these updates.

Summer Update

I've been told I need to update my blog. The problem is that so much has been going on this might be a long post. I will try to update quickly. Oh, and don't mind the injuries on Lane for every picture. They are all different but we get one cleared up just for him to fall and bump again.


JUNE
Trip to Lake Powell


















Trip to Idaho Falls and Logan for two nephews baby blessings and Savannah's baptism



















Swimming lessons















Playing with cousins















Strawberry Day's Rodeo
















JULY
Trip to Idaho Falls for Grandma Camp-Bear World,Idaho Falls Temple, Rexburg Temple




















Camping for the 4th of July(Notice Lane's major face scabs)


















Camping trip with friends in the middle of July




















Lane finally started walking for his main source of transportation













Visit to Utah Museum of Natural History & Aquarium

















New Pet-Buck


















Cory's Birthday & Fiesta Days Rodeo(sorry no pics of rodeo)














Week at Bear Lake for Raspberry Days, swimming, seeing old friends and eating tons of raspberries















TODAY
Bottling raspberries















Now I'm tired!!!!