Whoooo Whooo

Tonight on my way out to the car I heard a whooo ~ whooo!  Almost like someone was hiding in the parking lot making that noise. For a few seconds, I gripped my keys a little tighter and re positioned them in my hand. I looked around prepared for someone to jump out at me.

But. . . . . .then. . . . . . . I heard it again!  This time I could tell it was up high. If you look really close at this grainy picture, you will see it. Right at the top of the church.

Okay, maybe you can't but it's an owl!!  I real live owl. I was like a little kid - I thought that was the coolest thing. You should've seen me trying to take this picture with my phone. It was pretty humorous. This made me smile :D I LOVE LOVE LOVE OWLS - so cool!!

Smile

Oh no, I’m a cheater again this week!!  But I have to say aren’t you glad I did. Don’t you love this picture? I love my little Hayden. I wish he could stay small forever. But despite my pleading he said he can’t, he has to grow up.

I guess I have to let him too. But I want to remember this smile. He has the best smile and gives it away freely. I hear it over and over again. He has the best smile!! and I agree!!

Try, Try Again!

This picture is sorta cheating - although it's a new picture, it wasn't taken today. I didn't even take one today. It's pretty obvious that it's from Sunday. But, this is my 365 and I make the rules. Right?!!

I love this picture of Josh because it shows a bit about his personality. In this picture I told him to make a serious face. How cute it was to me that he had a really hard time doing that. You can see the smile all over his face. I can also see how much he's growing up. Ahhhh!! He's almost a teenager!!!  I love Josh so much!! He makes me laugh. He teaches me how to make things fun. He loves, loves, loves to smile and be silly and sometimes I need to do that more often instead of trying hard to make it serious.

This 12 thing is a tough year. Being a deacon is a little scary and Middle School is a bit overwhelming. Something I'm noticing about Josh is that he initially gets overwhelmed but as soon as he talks it through, freaks it out and stomps his feet a little, he does it. He still does it!!  That's not always easy to do. Often when I get that way, I just give up and don't always want to try, try again. But Josh doesn't give up, he just gets it done. That's impressive to me. He teaches me that even if it's tough, try, try again.

Responsibility With a Smile

This young man takes his responsibilities with a smile. Have I ever told you how impressed I am with how responsible he is. He impresses me so much. I can hardly believe how much he's growing up right before my eyes.  He is a great example to his younger brothers and to me and dad too. I am very impressed with him!! Each and every Sunday since he turned 12. He’s been getting ready without my prodding. Sometimes I don't stop and tell him how great that really is. He's had to be to church early for Fast Offerings, and now to set up for the sacrament. I can’t remember him complaining about it either. I’m grateful for his attitude and his willingness to obey. You teach me obedience and responsibility. You make me smile. Love you.

Best Buds

These two have been best buds all day long. Really. . . . . all day! Something that I want to remember from this day is not only did they play together all day long. They played with play doh, they played outside, they drew pictures together, they played video games together, but I want to remember especially the way they also played video games “live.” Imagine playing like you're in the video game. That's what they do. They make up levels and challenges. They advance from level to level. There are “bosses” to fight and overcome. They have weapons that get progressively stronger and more powerful. I love it. It brings a big ol' smile to my face. I miss it already (even though they aren’t done with it yet, they soon will be). For now I am enjoying moments like these that make me smile. Brothers are the Best!

Black Flats

These black flats make me smile. They are cute, comfy and bring a smile to my face when I put them on. I need some new brown flats that make me smile too.

Zac’s 15!

Zac turned 15 today. I have been asking and asking what he'd want for his birthday. He can only come up with a Playstation 3. He is not getting that. Not for his birthday or for Christmas. Sorry . . .  I know I'm mean. Jeff said, he has one more year 'til we have to sell the Porsche. LOL  That made me laugh right out loud. Poor Zac he has two mean parents.

On a bright note, he did let me take him shopping for his birthday and we found some things!! Made him smile and made me smile too!  Ear phones (who knew), a new shirt (which his dad just LOVES ~ said dripping with sarcasm!!) and a new Music CD!  Wahoo!! Love that smile Ü

Framed Arrow for Sale

Quite some time ago I asked Jeff to make this for me. He made several and wanted to sell them. Ummm that never happened. But, we have had a lot of nice comments on it when people see it hanging in the house. I decided to try again.  I'm planning on listing these babies on KSL and see what happens.

The thought of selling them makes me smile Ü

Picture Day!

Josh and Zac had picture day at school today. I love having their pictures taken. I love that they do that in school too because otherwise I don’t think I’d have any “professional” pictures of them after they turned five. I always make them “dress up” a bit too, which they don’t always love, but they do willingly.

There’s something else about getting their pictures back that just amazes me. I can always see how much they’ve grown up. I don’t see it as drastically until I get that picture. I guess it happens too gradually day by day, to notice it as strongly. But when I have that picture in my hand I see how much older they look. It never ceases to amaze me.

Happy Hiker

Today we went to Timpanogos Cave and Hayden was quite a trooper. He didn’t even complain at all - on the way up that is. Going down was a little bit harder I guess. He like the cave though he had a great time, but I guess it got a little too cold in there for him. He also had to “go” on the way down which made it hard to keep walking because with each step it was shaking him and felt like it was going to come out. Oh dear :D  Well, decided to sing a little song, music usually makes me feel happy pretty fast and it worked with Hayden too. After I finished my song, he shared a couple of songs with me. He had learned them at school this past week. He even did some actions to the song. We were the last one off the hill and I have to admit that bugged me a bit, I hate being last. But he and I made some cute memories coming down the hillside together, it was hard to be bugged for too long.

This smile melts my heart :D

Shoe Tree

I thought this tree was so cool. I knew I had to snap a picture on the way home. Although the picture didn't turn out the way I wanted it to, I think you get the gist of what we saw.  I thought this was such a cool idea. How funny that people had taken a moment to chuck their shoes all over this tree. I seriously considered adding mine to the group. Then I thought it might be funner to start one in Herriman. What do you think? Wanna join me? I think it will make a lot of people smile. It sure brought a smile to all of our faces.

Ice Cold Milk and an Oreo Cookie

Hayden stayed home from school today. He has a really bad cough and he didn't have a voice today. He said he was feeling cruddy and so. . . I left him home with Dad. He tried hard to stay calm and rest. When I got home for lunch he'd already eaten. He had a ham and turkey sandwich. He asked me if he could have some oreo's. With the way he asked and the smile that came across his face, I couldn't resist - I said yes. It also spawned me to take this picture. What a happy little moment. Sometimes OREO's just make you smile.


It also made me think about the OREO commercial and this song. I changed some words cause we got the vanilla ones. Hee-hee

OH, OH, OH!

Ice cold milk and an Oreo cookie,

They forever go together,

What a classic combination.

When a dark (white), delicious cookie

Meets and icy cold sensation

Like the one and only

Creamy, crunchy chocolate (vanillaee)

O - R - E - O !

It's true - OREO's and milk are the PERFECT combination Ü

April 18 - Wriggly Worms

Today it pretty much rained all day long. I learned to love the rain when we took a choir tour to Washington D.C. and Virginia. I remember it raining there pretty near everyday. But I loved it. It was beautiful. It always smelled so good and everything was green, green, green.  One of the other things I love about the rain is the worms always come out. They are all over the sidewalk. I think it's funny to see them wiggling around.

This little worm made me smile.

April 8 - A Baby Girl

Today I got to hold a baby girl.  Ken brought Kayden by to visit with Lynda and I got to hold her :D  Oh that just made my day. Babies always have a way of bringing such happiness.  She brought such a smile to my face. I got to hear her coo and see her sweet smile. She is still so little and she smells so good.

What a sweet baby girl and a special visit. It made me smile.

April 7 - New Glasses

After much anticipation, we finally picked up Josh's glasses today. I had to have him pose right away. They put them on him and made sure everything was adjusted correctly. It was sort of funny to see the Dr. pull them out of the case. The ear pieces were straight. They rounded them after he tried them on. Then they adjusted the nose pieces and Wah-La!  A perfect fit.

It was hard for him to hold back the smile when he put them on :D  He kept looking through them and lifting them to his forehead and looking again. Then putting them back on and looking through them. I was like, "why do you keep doing that?!" The Dr. said, he's probably comparing how much clearer everything is. Of course, I thought and laughed at myself.

He had to wear them all the way home. He looked at me and said, "mom, you know what, I can see so much better. See the dash board? Without my glasses it just looks blurred. But with my glasses on, I can see it has texture."

Love that boy. Think he looks so handsome.

April 2 - Conference Weekend is Here :)

I love conference weekend. I love all of it. I love being able to watch it on TV. I love having the family together all day long. I love making a big breakfast. I love seeing them on TV. I love it when they "make a funny" during their talk.

Dallin H. Oaks gave a wonderful talk on DESIRE.  He made great comments like "What we insistently desire over time is what we will eventually become."  "Begin with a desire. . . and call upon our loving Heavenly Father for help with our feelings."  This picture was just after he had talked to the single men.  "Single men, please consider the challenge in this letter written by a single sister. 'The men seem to be blinded and confused as to whether it is their responsibility to seek out these wonderful choice daughters of our Heavenly Father and court them and be willing to make and keep sacred covenants in the Lord’s house.' She concluded, 'There are many single LDS men here that are happy to go out and have fun and date and hang out but have absolutely no desire to ever make any kind of commitment to a woman.'  I’m sure that some anxiously seeking young men would want me to add that there are some young women who’s desires (Audience breaks into laughter here – we did too. It made me smile big) for a worthy marriage and children rank far below their desires for a career or other mortal distinctions. Both men and women need righteous desires that will lead them to eternal life."

I love making traditions. For a long time now I've wanted to do something fun in between the sessions on Saturday. This year we got donuts from Beyond Glaze in between conferences. Next year I'd like to go get ice cream or a shake or even out to eat in between. This year we did a little b-day shopping for Jeffrey. We found some great things he is very excited about.

Then, Jeff, Zac and Gpa Quick went to the Priesthood Session. I want them to start a fun tradition of going out for dessert afterwards. I'll have to convince Jeffrey to do that though. So, we will see.  And when Hayden's 12 - I'm going to have to have a girls night out. Anyone wanna plan that one with me?  :D

April 1 - Tom Foolery

This year I totally remembered. I created all sorts of Tom Foolery around our house. It was fun, the kids thought it was so cool and they began coming up with their own ideas of what to do to their teacher, or the kids at school.

I changed out the cereal in their cereal boxes. In the Cheerios box was Fruity Pebbles, in the Honey Bunches of Oats was Cinnamon Buns Cereal and so on.  :) They also thought they were drinking strawberry milk, but it was just food coloring that made the milk pink.

In their shoes was an Idaho Spud. . . not a real potato (which would have been funny too), but a candy bar spud and in the other shoe a Push Pop. I thought the kids would stick their foot in their shoe and find it, but they saw it before they put their shoes on.

When the kids got home, I had a few more.  I wrote a funny message on toilet paper in the toilet and put a little piece of tin foil under the faucet for a funny surprise.

I put a note on their door from the "Health Department" that everything had been destroyed because it was deemed a health hazard.

All this tom foolery brought a lot of happiness around these parts.  :)

March 7 - Tiny Hotdogs in a Can

Hayden came with me to the grocery store tonight. Right now he still likes shopping with me . . . . . . . . . once in a while, and I will milk that for as long as I can. He usually asks for candy just for him and I usually cave - right at the end. Tonight though he wanted a drink but not necessarily a drink to buy he was thirsty. He ended up getting one at the drinking fountain. I thought I was going to get out of there without buying anything extra until right at the end. . . .and that's when he asked for them. "Hey Mom, can we get those little tiny hotdogs in a can?" I had to smile and I caved.

Vienna Sausages it is! Who can resist that smile?

March 1 - Came in Like a Lamb

Well March truly came in like a lamb. It was a BEAUTIFUL day. I woke up to light - light in the morning!?! I haven't seen that for some time. It was bright and sunny outside this morning!! It was just beautiful. I loved it!!  And the day just kept getting better. It was a blue-bird day, not a cloud in the sky, all day long! It was warm too. My car thermometer said it was 53°!! Fifty-three degrees!?!?!?  Can you believe that? It was awesome and much needed. I have spring fever bad!

And to continue the happiness, Jeffrey told me he would make dinner. Homemade chili and cornbread. Yum-O!!  He brought such a smile to my face. 

I love to watch him make/prepare dinner. He is so fast and, being a perfectionist, everything looks so neat and appealing. It makes me smile. Plus he makes everything taste so good. He is a ratatouille! He smells the food as it's cooking and knows just what spice is needed. He doesn't even need a recipe. Just ask the boys who they think is a better cook, Dad or Mom?  They will hesitantly (because they don't want to hurt my feelings) say, Dad, every time! And they're right, he is the better cook - hands down!! I love it when he cooks.
























So. . .March came in like a lamb in every aspect of my day :)  Here's hoping it goes out like a lamb too!!

February 28 - Jeffrey!

Today I woke up and didn't want to do anything. Seriously, I just wanted to stay in bed. I wanted to choose to stay in bed and do NOTHING!! It took me a LONG time to even move. Jeffrey kept asking me if I was okay? Did I feel okay? Then the questions turned to, are you ornery? I didn't really feel ornery until he started asking me that! ;)

But then I realized I was kind of ornery because I couldn't do what a wanted to do, I needed to do what I am supposed to do. Taking Zac to school at 7:10a came all too quickly and I was up and moving. I hardly talked to him because by this point I really was feeling ornery.

When I came home the kids were being so loud and crazy and I didn't say anything to them because I was so ornery, but I should have told them to stop. They were at the point where someone was going to get hurt and of course, that's exactly what happened and then I told them to stop. VERY LOUDLY and ended up hurting Josh's feelings something about me always blaming him. Boo :(!!

Well, after work I decided to try to make it a happier night - - - - - since I'd blown the WHOLE morning. So. . . I  talked nicely to Jeffrey and apologized for being so ornery and he helped me be happy, happy, happy. I love it when he does that. He just makes me smile.

Love that smile :D