Fun-filled day...

This morning we went with our friends, the Young's, and watched a jump rope competition over in Boise.

It was a lot of fun to watch a see the tricks...and man, that has got to be one killer work-out!!!

The best part was the double dutch, but by the time they started that, the kids were pretty much done.

But it was a lot of fun and Madi has been asking where I put her jump rope...(I wasn't the last one to use it!)

Fun stuff!

I just wanted to include this one of Cassi....she looks like a little muchkin' baby to me!

Those are the same expressions I used to get from her as a baby!

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We were so close by Dad's fire station so we went and visited him at work.

I am not sure why we didn't take some pictures...but we had fun anyway.

The kids love it there...and Porter is so fascinated by those big trucks!!!

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Later tonight we went back over to the Young's house to celebrate little Hallie's #2 birthday!

Such a cute little bug!

I can't believe she is 2!

Thanks to the Young's for letting us invade their day...AGAIN...

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*I am Thankful for my treadmill again...so I can still get a work-out in today!

*I am Thankful for the FREE day I get with the wellness challenge I am doing...I had some sugar today...my mouth enjoyed it...but my tummy didn't...so I think I am successfully weening myself from sugar!!! YAY!!!

*I am Thankful that we read to our kids at night. We read so many fun books...and so far it has paid off with Madi being a super reader...Cassi is reading now too and she is so excited and enthusiastic about it! I enjoy that time we have together when we read!

Great weather!

No school today!

And the kids were getting a little stir-crazy!

Luckily Drew called up and said there were some things to get done at Pat and Steve's farm...so we took the opportunity to be with great friends and be outdoors, and headed to Star.

We love it at the farm/ranch!

The girls have so much fun...and I don't have to entertain them!

Oh...the 4-wheelers...how we LOVE the 4-wheelers!
We sure LOVE best buddies too!!!
It was the perfect day to go out and get some stuff done and just hang out with great people!!!

Thanks to Pat for hanging out and talking with me.

Elsie talked about her a lot when we got home!

Maybe next time she won't throw a fit when Pat wants to hold her...maybe?

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When we got home the kids stayed outside and played for a few more hours!

The very best part is that they didn't fight hardly AT ALL!!!

That makes my heart so happy!

They even got to know our friends across the fence...

Not sure we are too pleased with the sitting on the fence idea...but they had a fun time meeting the new kids!

When Porter woke up form his nap...he had this wonderful little Alfalfa hair-do!
Set there pretty securely with a big ball of snot!
YUCK!
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Cassi got chosen for Star student and needs to make a poster for class next week.
It asks what she wants to be when she grows up...and Cassi has always wanted to be a fireman(woman)...
But for the life of me I could not find a picture form her putting on Dads gear at the station...(maybe it is because my computer is jam-packed full of pictures!!!)
Luckily Dad had his gear with him and we updated our turnout pictures!
Such cute little fire kids!
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*I am Thankful for weather that sends us outside! I am a summer girl!

*I am Thankful for our 'adoptive' family and Grandparents, the Young family. We have been so blessed to have them in our lives since the day we moved here!

*I am Thankful for my nice soft bed...I hope I can stay in it all night tonight!!!

Party Hearty!!! (ha, ha...)

Today the kiddos had their Valentines parties...

Well, Madi didn't really get a party....but she did get to hand out her Valentines...

I guess the older you get the less fun things you get to do...right!

No, she had a fun day anyway!

We made these really cute little Valentines this year...

I saw it online...I can't remember where I saw it...I wish I did, cause it had some great ideas!!!

The kids were really excited about them and really excited to hand them out to their friends!

I think they turned out pretty cute, right?
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Elsie and Cassi had their parties at the same time...so I spent the first half at Elsie's, then Elsie and I went to the last half of Cassi's!
Man, if it weren't for my NO SUGAR goal for my Wellness Challenge, I would have eaten ALL the candy by now!

Elsie had fun handing out her Valentines with Miss. Jenny's help.
And she got to decorate and eat a sugar cookie.
That is always fun, right...and messy!

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By the time we got to Cassi's they were playing Heads-up 7-up!
Remember that game...fun stuff!
She had all kinds of treats and crafts from her party!

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*I am Thankful for the nice weather we have been having and I wish that the park right next to us would OPEN UP!!!!!!

*I am Thankful that my little man is feeling SO MUCH BETTER!!!!

*I am Thankful that Brent and the girls put away ALL the laundry while I was helping Elsie with her speech therapy!

Round-n-Round-n-Round...

Why do we buy toys again???

It cracks me up how they can amuse themselves with ANYTHING!

This does not look like fun to me...spinning round and round...

I must be old, 'cause my body can't do that anymore!

Today was just a regular day.

I have been spending some time trying to get the girls Valentines put together...

and that is what I will still be doing when I am done here.

Oh well, I think they turned out cute and the girls are excited to give them to their friends.

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Porter had another rough day.

Poor kid.

I wish he could just get better.

If he could get a good nights sleep tonight I know that would make a world of difference!!!

(For me too!)
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Madi has been passing her rocket math quizzes like crazy....she is always so excited to come home and tell us!

And we are always so proud of her!

Things seem to be getting a little better with her and me...

The not raising my voice goal is mainly geared towards her.

It is getting better and better to keep myself from raising my voice...she still gets fuming mad!!!

But I think if I can stick with it...maybe it will rub off on her too???

That is my hope!

They learn your bad habits SO FAST!!!

Anyone know the time frame of learning good habits???

I am trying!

We will get there!

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*I am Thankful for my sweet hubby who works so hard for our little family!

*I am Thankful for Ibuprofen to help my little guy feel just a little bit better!

*I am Thankful for this Wellness Challenge that I am doing...I am changing for the better in so many ways...I am excited to see where I am in 3 months!

Book Mobile!

Today I went out to lunch with Heather to celebrate her birthday and when I got home I was SO MAD that I forgot to take a picture!!!

I had so much fun hanging out with Heather and talking Mom stuff...Thanks Heather...we really need to just hang out more often!

And Happy (late) Birthday!!!

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Every Tuesday we go to the book mobile.

It is a bus that drives around to different areas so you can check out library books!

What a fabulous idea!!!

We have had so much fun checking out too many books and movies and then taking them back for even more!

Cassi has a blast picking things out...

We always pick out a couple books we know Madi will like...and also some for Dad...and little Elsie.

It is a fun time!!!

Like I said what a great idea!

Today Cassi got a "how to draw..." book. She has had a lot of fun drawing with it....some frustration...must mostly fun!

Isn't she doing a great job!!!?!

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*I am Thankful for such great friends...I really am so blessed to have such great people in my life!

*I am Thankful for Madi Bell. She has been writing in her journal every night, writing three things she is thankful as well.

I think it is a wonderful thing to go to bed thinking of all that you are grateful for!

* I am Thankful that Porter is the only sick kid as of right now...hopefully it will pass by them all! Poor boy is MiSeRaBlE!!!!!

Raising good kids...

Today Cassi told me that there were some kids chanting on the bus "We hate John, we hate John."

I said that was horrible, and asked who John was.

John is the bus driver who has been driving the bus since Marshall, the original bus driver, broke his arm falling on ice.

Cassi said she felt sad that kids were saying that.

I asked her what John did and she said that he pulled over for a minute and asked them to stop because that wasn't nice.

She said that when they started going again, the kids started to say, "We want Marshall, we want Marshall."

I felt so bad...Cassi felt bad about it too, that is why she told me about it.

I asked her what she thought she should do, or what she should do if it happened again...

She decided that she wanted to make John a card, and I thought that was very sweet of her.

So Cassi put together a card for John and drew him a picture of a bright yellow bus.

She is excited to give it to him.

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The boy has been AWFULLY grumpy today.
He has been at my feet begging to be held all day!
He did take a couple good naps, so I could get a few things done. (Except actually change out of my work-out clothes...at least I got a work-out in...thanks to Jenni!)
But I kept Elsie home today too.
She usually wakes up by 7:00 at the latest...so when she was still sleeping at 7:30 and 7:45, I thought maybe she didn't feel good either.
So I didn't send her to school.
She finally woke up at 9:30...happy as can be!
No fever, no grumpiness...
I guess she just needed to catch up on some sleep!

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Tonight when we were upstairs getting everyone bathed and dressed and picking out clothes for tomorrow...
Porter snuck away and FELL DOWN THE STAIRS!!!
Yes...our solid wood stairs.
None of us saw it happen, all we heard was a clunk, clunk, clunk going down the stairs...and it seemed to never end.
I was terrified of what I would find...it is amazing how many different scenarios can go through your mind in a couple of seconds.
I finally got down the stairs to him where he was getting up with a very mad look on his face and crying...I checked him over, as best as I could anyway...
He has big bruise on his forehead, and about three goose eggs on the back of his head.
Poor boy!
I feel so bad.
He seems to be doing just fine.
My poor little man...

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*I am Thankful for the sun...now I just want it to be WARM!

*I am Thankful that I did a good job on my personal goal today...which is not to raise my voice at the kids. Oh, they still got in trouble if that was the case...but I didn't YELL! That is my goal for the week, hopefully it can become a habit!

*I am Thankful that my little boy didn't break any bones or split his head open falling down the stairs!!! That could have turned out SO BAD! I am Thankful that we are watched over!

Little stinker...

This is the look Porter has been giving to EVERYONE lately!

Little stinker!

But we always laugh when he does it....so now I just think he is being a little class clown to get laughs!

Big stinker!!!

This morning Porter woke up bright and early with a little fever...but REALLY grumpy!

He wasn't horrible...but bad enough that I didn't want to do church with all the kids by myself...

Porter has gotten very HARD to take care of at church.

He is at that age.

So it would have been even worse with him not feeling 100%!

Heather...I REALLY hope he didn't pass anything to your girlies...hopefully it is just a teething fever...

We got to use Skype for real today...all the times before have just been practice, to see if it works.

It is pretty fun.

We called my Mom to wish her a Happy Birthday...the kids thought it was SO COOL!

I wish it didn't freeze up as much...but still, what a fun thing to be able to do when you don't live close to family!

Now if only we can talk Grandma Ene into trying it!!!

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*I am Thankful that I found an easy peasy bread recipe! I love homemade bread, but hate to put so much time into it. It isn't the perfect recipe, but perfect when you don't have a lot of time!

*I am Thankful for my Mom...every day, but especially today on her Birthday!

*I am Grateful that my kids have a good bedtime (especially on days like this!!!)...they need the sleep, but the quiet is always nice too!

Happy Birthday to my Mamma!!!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Thanks Mom for all you have done for us in our life!

I know things could not have been easy for you raising 8 girls and 1 little boy.
I know we have not always been as appreciative as we should...

So I hope that you have a fabulous day celebrating with those who are there with you...

and I hope you got our package in time for you to open it today!

Can't wait to Skype with you later!

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Here are some fun pictures of some of us kids with Mom, back in the day...

(I am the one with pudding on my face)
I just love this one of Mom...I hope she doesn't get mad for me using it...I just love it.

And I wish I had that lamp!
(I am the baby...)
Christmas 1982...
I am the cute little boy in red with the goofy face...(ha ha)

My Momma and I when I was one day old...

Happy Birthday Mom!!!

Date night OUT!

I had my personal photographer (Madi Bell) snap a picture of us before we headed out on our date.

We are trying to work out with our friends, the Youngs, where we switch babysitting every other week and that way we can have two date nights a month...without having to pay for babysitting!

Tonight Brent and I went to the "Light my Fire" event.

It was a dinner and auction...and we had a lot of fun.

I can't believe the kind of money people throw around at a fund raising auction...lots of fun!

It is fun to get out with my guy every so often and get dressed up in cute clothes...(thanks to my personal stylist, Jenni!)

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*I am thankful for awesome friends...The ones who will watch our kids for too many hours!!! And the ones who let me steal their clothes cause I have no fashion sense!

*I am grateful for a chore chart that has been working out fairly well. We are doing a pretty good job of keeping things in order around here...

*I am thankful for my Stat Counter that lets me know that I still have visitors to my blog even though they don't comment...

Girls night IN!!!

Tonight it was just the girls and I.

Well, Brent went to a MMA fight with the Elders Quorum...and Porter went to bed...

So my girlies and I stayed up and watched a movie...

Their choice?

"Wizards on Deck with Hannah Montana"

It was a pretty fun night...

Elsie pooped out a little early...

You like her hoodie?

That is a treasure I got at our shop and swap last night and she refuses to take it off since I tried it on her.

Silly girl!

I love my girls.

I always think about what our relationship will be like when they get older.

I hope they feel like they can come to me about anything.

I need to work harder to be more patient with them.

These are hard times in the world for these little kiddos...all they need to feel from home is LOVE...

So that is what I want to try harder at.

Because I do LOVE them so much!

And I want them to know that their home is a safe place!

I am glad I got to spend a night with them...with their movie of choice.

I love my girlies!

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*I am grateful for the rain we received, even though it ruined my morning run!!!

*I am thankful that the sun came out this afternoon so the kids could go outdoors and run and play...I love it, but they love it more!

*I am grateful to have three beautiful, and VERY different little girls. They each have so much to give and I am thankful for the chance to be their Mommy!