Dancing

Terry and I went out with a group of friends for Tammy Jarman's Birthday! It was a lot of fun. We went to dinner at a restaurant in Salt Lake Called the Bayou. They had good New Orleans Cooking, and a live Jazz Band! Terry had a catfish sandwich and sweet potato fries. I had Gumbo! It was really good food. Terry of course loved the Jazz! After Dinner we all gathered up and went to a dance club that was having an 80's night! HAHAHA! That was great! We danced the night away! Can't wait to go dancing with Terry again, he is so fun!

1st Hair Cut

Matthew is 19months old. He is our little red head, big fat red curls! Well I was brushing his hair the other day and realized I could easily pull it back into a pony tail! Time for a hair cut! I was really thinking a little trim. I got the clippers out to cut Tanners hair and decided to go ahead and trim Matthews too. I put the biggest guard on the clippers (just want a little trim). As soon as I turned the clippers on he was having nothing to do with it! Terry came over and put him in his lap and I proceeded to cut his hair. That was soo hard! He was crying and moving all over, I'm amazed that it even looked decent! After washing it he came out of the bathroom with his hair so chopped you can't even tell he had curls at all! I was sooo sad. He looks so grown up, but all I can think is that it WILL grow back!

Auto Expo

Terry and I had tickets to go to the South Town Auto Expo for date night on January 14, 2012! We have gone to these together for years and always have a blast talking about what we like and what our dream Cars would be! This year we realized that we really like the Jeep and that our tastes lean towards the bigger vehicles these days! Probably due to the Suburban we bought back in June of last year!

Ice skating with Dad

Terry took the girls ice skating as a reward for winning the CHORES Race! They had so much fun!

Our Date Night Jar

My friend Melissa had an idea to make a Date Night Jar with different date night ideas. I stole her idea!

I put 52 date night ideas on little strips of paper and rolled them around a pencil to make these cute curls.
Each Monday we pick from the jar for our date night the coming weekend! We choose on Monday just in case we need to make reservations or pick up tickets! Some of the fun ideas are Ice skating, Auto Show, Dinner at a restaurant that we have never been, roasting marshmallows in the canyon, and taking a bike ride. I am really excited, I know that taking time to DATE is so important, and I am everyday finding new things about Terry that I fall in love with over and over again!

Planetarium

   Christmas this year we bought the Family a membership to the Planetarium in Salt Lake. We went on New Years eve. The kids had a great time looking at all the different exhibits. The funnest part is being able to see all the shows on the IMAX screen! We watched a fun Clay-mation Movie about Christmas and had popcorn. We really enjoy doing things together like this.
I think it is wonderful that no one complains!

     The Planetarium also has a fun laser light show, we didn't get to see that this time, But we can't wait to go again and see all the different shows that they have! Tanner and Joseph raced coins in the Black hole Funnel. Tanner is a good big brother to pull out his own wallet to play with Joseph! All the kids had fun touching the electricity ball! I had fun trying to channel enough electricity to shock Terry!

Christmas Day 2011

Christmas was really nice this year! I like that it fell on a Sunday. We were able to go to church and focus more on the Savior, and what Christmas really is. Our kids were great too. They got up in the morning about 8am to see what Santa had brought. Then we got ready for 11 o'clock church. We had a very spirit filled sacrament meeting, and then headed home. When we got home I made a yummy french toast brunch that was enjoyed with surprising patience! Then finally they were able to open presents! What wonderful kids to be able to wait until almost 4pm on Christmas day to open presents! Have I said how great I think my kids are? Erin was our Elf this year, she was in charge of handing out the presents. We had a lot of fun watching everyone open the gifts we gave. Erin's teacher at school has the kids earn "money" throughout the year so that they can shop the elf workshop at Christmas and buy gifts for their family. Erin was very excited to be able to give each person in the family a gift just from her! Tanner was able to do the same now that he has a job, and his own money. I took the others shopping for their siblings. Each of them really enjoyed the feeling of giving this year!

December 13th Our 1st Snow

 When I thought of this being our first real snow I had to laugh! It is our only snow so far this winter! We usually have so much snow by now and we haven't gotten anymore! I think it was bad luck for Terry to get a snow blower for Christmas!!

Christmas Sing

Erin and Joseph's school has a Christmas sing every year before they go on break. This year was Joseph's first year! He was nervous and forgot to do the hand motions for his song!

Erin's Ballroom Christmas Show

Erin was so excited that she was finally old enough to join the Ballroom team this year! She has learned a lot, and I am so proud of her! This is her first ever performance!

Our service Project 2011

Terry and I were driving home one day from Ikea. We had a lunch bag with a couple of their hot dogs and a bag of chips. We passed by a group of men doing road work. They looked cold and some looked tired. I said "we should stop and give them this bag of food, it would be so easy". Well, that sparked an idea! We went to the kids and asked for their ideas about doing a sack lunch for the road workers not far from our house. They loved it and soon decided that we should buy hot dogs and chips from Ikea and a case of water from Costco and take lunch to 20 workers the week before Christmas! So, we loaded up the kids and went to Ikea! They were very supportive and had 40 hot dogs ready for us in about 15minutes. We stopped by a gas station and asked for ketchup and mustard packets, they through in relish too!  We were so excited! We got to the road that has had construction going on for a couple of years now and started scouting out workers to give these fabulous lunches too! At first we had a hard time finding anyone, then we found a few scattered here and there! The kids took turns with Terry and I taking them the bags. The men were very grateful and my kids had a wonderful experience! I really love my kids for even being willing!

Our Update

OK, I hope this is like riding a bicycle because it has really been a while! I will start with Tanner... He's 18! A senior in high school and also working at his freshman year in college! He is working at McDonald's for his first job and is having a blast. He's 6'1" right now but I'm thinking he still has a few inches to grow! He started wearing contacts for his senior year, so no more glasses!

Kayla is 12 now and in JR.High! She is in Colorguard, and plays soccer! She has gotten so tall too, she is 5'2". She likes to stand up by me to see if she is as tall as me yet! She will surpass me I.m sure! This past summer she had her hair straightened Permanently and loves it! She is very active in her young womens program at church, and just finished a service project for her personal progress! This past Sunday we had a Christmas recital and Kayla and some of her friends got a group together to sing and play instruments, they did great!

Erin is 10 and in the 4th grade. She is very outgoing and loves to smile and make everyone else smile too! Erin joined ballroom this year and is loving it! She loves to perform for people! She tried out for the school play and is waiting to see what part she will get. (They announce it this week) This past summer she also played softball for the first time and loved it, She was one of their best hitters! Erin is one of the bravest girls I know. For the Christmas recital she sang a song in front of everyone without even really planning on it! We asked a friend to play the piano for her and she just stood up and sang wonderfully!

Joseph turned 6 this year, and started kindergarten! He is all energy! He had stitches in his chin in July and was so brave didn't even cry! He is learning to read and loves it! Joseph has the best personality, he is so generous and caring. I think compassionate is a very good work for Joseph! He loves to play on the computer and on the Wii, but most of all he loves to play outside with his brothers and sisters and friends! Joseph played T-ball this past summer and really enjoyed it, but I think he really just liked being part of a team! He received a metal!

And Last but definitely not least is little Matthew! Matthew is 18 months old and as busy as can be! He has to be to make his mark in this family! He is our little red head, with rambunctious personality to match! He keeps me on my toes definitely! He loves to be with his brothers and sisters, and if they aren't giving him enough attention he grabs their legs and demands it! He was our BIG surprise, but has become our BIGGEST blessing too!

 

Terry and I are doing great. Terry is still working for Tahitian Noni (8yrs now) He is a corporate trainer. This past year he taught Seminary at AF High School. He loved that but it was just a one semester commitment. He is an adviser to the 14 an 15 year old young mens group at church and it keeps him pretty busy.

I am busy keeping up with all these guys!!! I have been helping with the 10-11 year old girls group at church. It has been so much fun. Volleyball season just finished and my team placed 2nd. Too bad I was sporting a broken ankle for the regional tournament! I love where we live, my neighbors are so great! I am surrounded by friends! We are so Blessed to be exactly where we are, right now!

We are going to try this again!!!

I got a call yesterday from my MIL asking if I had kept up my blog! My mother got on to me the other day about pictures and not seeing updates to the blog containing the pictures! So I am taking the hint! Lets see if I can keep up!

Hey Guys...

Terry wrote a book and published it and we want everybody to go take a look
http://stores.lulu.com/categib

Spring Fever!

Well we thought spring was knocking on the door! All the snow had melted, the kids were all playing outside. We got all the bikes out and tires aired up. Erin even had her training wheels taken off and learned to ride a 2-wheeler! Then POW, we got hit with another snow storm, only an inch or two, but man that little taste of spring that we had is making us stir crazy for more.
As for activities that are starting up for us... Tanner has made the freshman soccer team, and has started practice 3 days a week, along with a pretty busy band schedule and his Young mens activities he is very busy. Kayla will be playing soccer this spring as well with the city team. Her practices will be starting end of March, along with her Activity days activities she will join Tanner in being busy. Erin starts gymnastics on April 6th and can't wait. Well I couldn't leave Joseph out, so I have him enrolled in storytime at the library and my friends and I are starting a play group once a week. We will be a busy active family this spring! Gotta love it!