Getting back into the swing of things...

You'd think that I'd have some great reason why I let this blog of mine fall so far behind. Well, I don't. I can think of a few excuses though. I won't share them, cause their not good enough, but I will say that in the last couple weeks, I moved the computer I use up from the back bedroom in the basement to the upstairs living room so I will feel like I have better access to it, and also so that I can hear my kids get into things, thus being able to stop any major catastrophe. So, how do I tackle catching you all up with all that has happened in the last 8 months?! Maybe I'll just take it from there with each post, month by month until I'm caught up. So...November...Ambree ate baby food for the first time at 4 months old. Turns out she never really cared for it, and I was bummed too cause I had gotten a TON of it for free with coupons a few months before she was born. We were sittin' pretty with our supply, but the little booger just wouldn't ever eat the stuff! Can't say I blame her, the stuff is terrible! I think her face in these pictures says it all.

Haha! Little cutie! Now here we are in July and the little stinker will be turning 1 on the 24th! Whew...where does time go??

Looks like we also went to the Zoo in November. During the winter months, admission in free, like the last Tuesday of each month, so what the heck?!

This was too funny. Stef wanted to take a couple kids on the Merry Go Round, so she (nor I) thought the other kids would care about not being able to go on, but apparently Kaylee cared...A LOT!!! It was so funny and heartbreaking at the same time to be on with Teylor and hear and see her excitement, but as the Merry Go Round passed Kaylee, she ripped my heart out with her sad face.

Last week

Ack! What a week we had! It was a good one though, just busy, busy! My ward's Relief Society sisters did a service week all week long, and so I participated in as much of it as I could. I always find myself wishing that I were doing more in my life to help others, so I am grateful for the ladies who planned this week of service! On Tuesday we had a Service Auction, where each of us who wanted to either brought things to the Enrichment Night, or filled out slips of paper that was a service to someone else and that was the items for auction. Some examples were: babysitting, dinner brought in on a night of your choice, housework, yard work, etc...When we arrived that night, we filled out a questionnaire, and each answer was worth 2, 5, 10, 20, and 50 points, and that's what we used to bid with. It was lots of fun!

On Wednesday we went to the Ogden Rescue Mission and served dinner to the homeless and less fortunate. It was a neat experience, and an eye-opener at that! It was neat to know that all the people that work there get either little or no pay, and that it is all run pretty much on volunteer work from the community. It was interesting to learn that the Mission is NOT state funded, and the reason is because they have a "rule" (can't think of a better to use right now) that if you eat there, you have to go to their little church service that is given each night before dinner. It's one of those Church and State laws. But anyway, I wasn't sure of how the night would be before we went, but it really was a good night! The people who work at the shelters, and the guests (as they call them) were so thankful that we were there. It was a good feeling!

Thursday they planned a Temple Night for just the sisters, however I was unable to go as mine and Mike's recommends are expired as of last month, so come this Tuesday, we should be able to say we're Temple worthy again! LOL!

Saturday kinda wrapped it all up. For the past month, we had all been asked to donate items to put in Humanitarian Kits, like: toothpaste, toothbrushes, bars of soap, and hand towels, and on Saturday we put the kits together to send them off to the Church were they will distribute them as needed. We also made scarfs out of fleece, and tied 3 quilts! It was a nice afternoon! So to put the whole week in perspective, as Relief Society sisters, we were able to help those in our ward, our community, our families, and essentially...the world! Pretty cool!

I also helped at Jarek's school's Book Fair throughout the week as well. It is something I have been doing since he was in Kindergarten there, and I look forward to it twice each school year! As a nice incentive, the PTA gives you $5 to spend at the Book Fair per shift you work, so Jarek pretty much has my "money" spent before I even work my first shift! It's good though...at least it's books!

I felt like it all came back around to me when on Friday I got a phone call from my Dentists' office telling me that they were going to write off the $274.06 that I owed them!! I still can't believe their generosity! What a nice early Christmas present!

On Friday I had 3 of LaDawn's kids for a sleepover while they celebrated their 14th Anniversary! They are always a good time, and I don't have them over enough! We had Hawaiian Haystacks for dinner (Alise and Jeff came for the dinner part), watched Kung Fu Panda (you gotta' see it if you haven't yet!) and ate junk food! Good times! Everyone passed out around 10:00, but don't worry, they were up at 4 a.m. they tell me!






I decided that it was time to do our annual Family Pictures to shove in our Christmas Cards (oh yes, people...Christmas is knocking on our door!), so yesterday (Sunday) we, and my personal photographers (my sister Alise and brother-in-law Jeff) went to Beuss Park and snapped some shots. We all despise the time and effort it takes to pull these off, but I guess it was worth it. I'm not going to post the "money shot" cause most of you will get one of your very own in your Christmas card in a few weeks, but I will show you a couple that will give you a good idea of the "fun" we had!



We also went to Mike's Aunt's house and celebrated his Grandpa Egginton's 87th birthday. Sweet ol' guy! He always says at each of his birthdays that he doesn't know if he'll be around for the next one, but we are so glad that he is! He bore his Testimony to us all, and told us all that each one of us is "tucked inside his heart". Mike's Uncle Paul played his guitar while he sang the song "My Way" to Grandpa.

Okay, once again I am getting SUPER frustrated with how this post is laying out, so I better end for now before I delete this whole thing! Ugh!!!!! Wish me better luck next time!

Not doing so good.....

Not to worry. I'm doing good health wise, but not so much on keeping up with this blog! How do you bloggers do it? I just spent an HOUR trying to figure out font colors, and how to add stuff to my page. I have much to learn! Anywho.....

So I guess I'll start out with yesterday. I took a little "road trip" with a few friends of mine to Logan. We are all members of a website called pinchingyourpennies.com that helps us save money, and helps us find good deals in and around town! Love it!!! The administrators of the site held a little "party" and so we went and enjoyed fun conversation, and some yummy food! After the "party", we hit Albertson's and Smith's and used our coupons to get some fantastic deals! Here's an example of what I got:
Albertson's-
4 bottles of Suave Lotion
3 bottles of Suave Kid's hair detangler spray
4 Suave Deoderant's
5 bottles of Suave Kid's 2-in-1 Shampoo
2 packages Cupcake Papers (marked down in the Halloween left-over stuff)
Total I paid OOP (out of pocket) $3.50...$2.00 was for tax!

Smith's-
6 17ct. boxes of Hefty Ziplock Gallon size Storage bags
4 18ct. boxes of Hefty Ziplock Quart size Freezer bags
Total paid $2.58, .98 of the total was tax!

I know! Exciting, huh?! If you're jealous just start "pinching your pennies" too!! One day I will put pictures on here of my storage room, and the goodies I have built up because of my addiction to coupons! Oh, and I just have to add that Mike didn't even mind that I was gone ALL day either! He even had dinner made, and everything when I got home! I think I love that man!

What else to tell...oh, Halloween! In years past, Halloween hasn't really been too exciting for any of our kids, except Jarek. But this year he had Kaylee's excitement to add to his! Of Teylor's many things she doesn't have the consept for, Halloween is one of them. She could care less! None the less, we all dressed up (even Mike did this year!!!) and Trick-or-Treated til we dropped! Alise and Jeff even came with us! So here's our pics:



Jarek wanted to be Link from the video game Zelda. All I did for his costume was buy a piece of felt that my mom made his tunic and hat out of! I also found him some boots at Savers that were PERFECT for this costume! Worked for him!










Teylor was our Cowgirl riding a chicken! I found this costume at a yard sale at the beginning of the summer for $4. Couldn't pass it up! It was perfect for her, because all she had to do was slip it on like pants, and she was good to go! She can't stand things on her face, or in her hair, (needless to say, the hat didn't last long) so this costume kept her from throwing a fit!










Kaylee was our pretty little flower! I also got her costume at a yard sale for $2! I painted a little bumblebee on her cheek, and also made her a little basket with flowers all around it that she used to put her candy in! She had a great time!

















Ambree was a little kitten! Cutie, huh? Alise is holding Ambree, and she dressed up as Alise in Wonderland. The weather was perfect for us this year! It was not even cold at all!!












Here's Mike and I! Which one's the cowboy, which one's the pirate????















Anyway, that will get me caught up for now! Now back to life!

Fall is in the air!

Happy Halloween everyone!! Yesterday we did two of our favorite Fall activities. Playing in the leaves, and carving pumpkins! I raked up the small amount of leaves that have fallen so far from our tree, and the kids had a BLAST jumping and playing in them!
















Then came Mike's favorite part of all...carving pumpkins!!! This was the first year that Teylor actually participated. She loved digging in the guts and scooping them out! Kaylee didn't enjoy it so much, but we all had a good time anyway!










Kaylee's pumpkin is the Tin Man, Teylor drew on her's (bottom) , and Mike just cut where her drawings were.

Jarek's "Scary Jack" Pumpkin.

Mike's pumpkin (top) and mine (Frankenstein).

NOTE: I started typing this up on the 30th, but got frustrated with how it was laying out (still trying to figure this all out!!!) so I just added some final touches tonight, Nov. 2nd.

Rocket Derby

Yesterday the kids and I spent the day without Mike. Him and his Dad drove to Colorado for the day and picked up some Elk meat. His Dad's friend Dan works at a hunting lodge, and there was someone that had gotten and Elk, but couldn't take the meat back home with him, so he paid for us to have it processed, and all we had to do was go pick it up! They left around 8 a.m. and got back at 9 p.m. Now our freezer is full of ground elk and various elk steaks!

Jarek also had Pack Meeting yesterday for Scouts. He is in the Bear Den. He was supposed to get his Wolf Badge last month, but one of the leaders was not there that was over that, so he got it last night. He also got his Bobcat Badge, his BB Gun Belt Clip and his Archery Belt Clip, a Silver and Gold Arrow, and 4 Yellow Beads. (Even though he doesn't look like it in the picture, he really was excited about it all!) He also got to pin 2 Mother's Pins on me, the Bobcat and the Wolf!



Last night's Pack Meeting was also the Rocket Derby. We totally spaced that one off, so guess what Mike and Jarek built the night before???!! The Rocket!

I wanted to name it "The Flying Pickle", but they didn't appreciate my creative sense of humor, so Jarek wrote "U.S. Army" on it. (At the moment, that's what he wants to be when he grows up...something with the Military.)

His Army Rocket did really well! The boys raced their rockets 4 times each, so he got 2nd place twice and 1st place twice! Somehow he didn't pull out with one of the top 3 spots, but that's o.k.! He's still a winner in my book!

At the end of the day, it's all worth it!

We sent Jarek to bed at the usual time (9:00), and an hour later, he comes back upstairs with a note for me. He hands it to me, then heads back down to go to bed (again!).
Let me jump back a bit. A couple weeks ago Jarek came home from school with a HUGE packet of papers that he could re-do to get a better "grade" in class. Most of the papers were supposed to be turned back in already...he's just not the best at remembering when stuff like that is supposed to be done. So I have been working with him to get these papers back in. Frustrating is one word to use when it is homework time! I guess you could say as I am teaching him math, I am getting a lesson in patience! So tonight was another big homework night (another patience lesson for Mom).
So back to the note. I tried scanning this little note, but it didn't show up so well. So I will type what it reads:
"From: Jarek
To the best Mom ever. Dear Mom you are very nice. You buy all of us food. I love you Mom. I hope you never forget. Thanks for teaching me or helping when me or the girls need it. You rock Mom. You are my Hero. Super Hero mom is you. Your always caring for everyone. I hope you never forget I think you are the best. You are one of my favorite people. I will try to do better on my work in class and I will try not to be mean to anybody. We are always family."
Then on the back is a picture he drew of me (rather dashing!) with the words "My Mom" above my head, and "Is great" below, and "Mom Rock's" down the side!

Now doesn't that make homework time (and my patience lessons) all worth it?! I thought it did! Dang little kids! They have their moments, don't they?! He also handed me a Christmas Wishlist earlier today. Maybe he's trying to earn some points.....it might have worked!

Another "day maker" for me was I got Ambree to laugh for the first time, TWICE! She got the hiccups both times too! Love this being a mommy thing! (I think it helps that their all sleeping at the moment too!)

Some catching up to do!

I have decided to give this blogging thing a try. There is so much going on in our lives, and since I am no good at keeping a journal, maybe this will help! We have had a lot of exciting things going on in our family just within the past week! To start off, on the 12th of this month, we blessed the newest member of our family, Ambree Grace. We woke up that morning to our first SNOW STORM of the year!! There was about 8 inches of snow on the ground! Despite the weather, the day was beautiful! Mike's brother Jeff was also ordained an Elder that very same day! A day full of blessings for our family!



The next day, October 13th, we celebrated my Dad's 55th birthday! The fam came over and we had a yummy meal of ribs, chicken and a pasta salad! I didn't have two candles with a "5" on them, and didn't want to start a bonfire in my house by lighting 55 candles, so instead I asked my Dad how old he wanted to be for the night and he said 28! So that's why there's a 28 on his cheesecake! I love every opportunity we have to get together with our family!


The fun just kept coming on Thursday the 16th, Joe, LaDawn, my mom, Mike and I went with Jeff and Alise to the Bountiful Temple to have their Endowments taken out! We were all so excited for them! It was so neat to see them in the Temple and taking that step!


That night we had a family dinner in honor of them. Mike and Jeff's dad made beef brisket, chicken, macaroni and cheese, and their mom made some sour cream potatoes. It was YUMMY!! For entertainment, Ryan played the guitar while Brooke sang. Kaylee decided she wanted to sing too, so she enlightened us with "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star".
The funny thing was that before Brooke sang, she was kinda shy, so she started out behind the curtain up on the stage. So when Kaylee got up on stage, she went and hid behind the curtain too! It was so cute! I was surprised she even wanted to sing in front of everyone. Usually that's Teylor's thing.


Well, the moment that everyone had been waiting for for almost 10 YEARS happened on Friday morning, the 17th! Jeff and Alise were married in the Salt Lake Temple for time and all Eternity! What a beautiful day! Mike and Ryan served as the witnesses, and I got to sit next to my mom in the Sealing room. It was such a nice feeling being in the room surrounded by family, and feeling the Spirit! They are a match made in Heaven! Alise was the most gorgeous bride, and Jeff didn't look so bad himself! That night we partied! Alise chose to have the Reception at the Sunset Room located in the Sunset City building. It was soooo pretty! Susan was in charge of decorating, and it all pulled together really nice! Alise asked if LaDawn, Christy and I would do a "sister's dance" with her, so we did! We were able to get some practice times in for in the weeks leading up to the night of the Reception, and it all went well! It was good times!

Well that's about it! Not too bad for one week, huh?! I don't think this post turned out exactly how I wanted it to, but I'll take it for my first try at blogging! Hopefully I can keep up with it better than I do at journeling!