Jeff's Christmas Present

For a Christmas present, Kym and I sent Jeff and Marshall on a paintball excursion to the Poconos in Pennsylvania. It had a theme..."The Thing." This is how we surprised them with the gift...

I'm sure February seemed a long way off at Christmas but their "man-weekend" finally came! They had a blast!!!

A few more museum pics...

Natural History

Last weekend Jeff and I took a day trip to DC with the kids. We wanted to go to the Natural History Museum! It was so much fun...I had not been there in YEARS and the kids loved, loved, loved it!!!

My favorite thing to see at the Natural History Museum has always been the Hope Diamond!!

There was a really cool exhibit of a coral reef that was completely knitted and crocheted. It was AWESOME. It took 800 volunteers two weeks to complete. The volunteers would come and knit or crochet for 8 hour stretches...soooo cool!

Sick and Tired

The flu has reared it's ugly little head at our house. I definitely understand the saying "like a MAC truck hit me." Poor me.

Winter Blues

We have lived in Salisbury for almost 8 years now. I find that incredible. These past years have flown by. In the time that we have lived here we have moved 4 times. We have had three more children. I have an almost 13 year old who will be in eighth grade next year. I have a little boy who was five months old when we moved here and who now will be getting baptized in 2 months. Audrey will be in kindergarten next year and Maddie will be in nursery in 2 months. Time is fleeting but my blessings certainly are not. So, so many blessings.

I find it hard to imagine why I ever let myself feel down. Winter blues are for schmucks! January brings with it a sense of eagerness that I look forward to every year. A time to reflect and renew.

A lot of things have changed in the last few months. We moved again. As hard as it is to move it is also very liberating. I love getting a chance to start over, to sort, to throw away and to even find lost treasures!

We are renting again. We left the drug dealers and street walkers behind for nice normal folk! There was definitely a lot of charm living in a 100 year old house, but the scary, scary neighborhood kinda took that charm and threw it right out the window.

We are still in Salisbury. We are in the same ward. My children are in the same schools. (This move brought us back into our home school district, so they can ride the bus again...YAY!!).

The home is bigger and brighter, and not falling apart! There is no mold lurking behind old walls, and no flooded basements. We already feel healthier! In the week that we have lived here my kids have made neighborhood friends and have played outside without fear of witnessing any criminal activity.


We are hoping our other house(s) will sell. But I am not holding my breath. The recession and the down turn of the housing market really bit us in the butt. We are hoping to move forward and say goodbye to our mistakes and housing nightmares. I feel blessed that we were able to find a rental that so perfectly meets our needs and I feel doubly blessed that I am in a home that feels happy and secure.

I am not sure how long we will live here. Forever would be fine. But time will tell. There is a lot of decisions and plans to be made in the not to far away future and I am excited to see what course our lives will take.

Happy New Year!

2011 is going to rock!

Lightbulb!

I just remembered I have a blog. Cool.

Oh Yeah, I'm a Fan!

Fifteen more days...I am UBER excited! Can you tell? I pay homage to you Harry Potter through my most excellent blog!

http://harrypotter.warnerbros.com/harrypotterandthedeathlyhallows/mainsite/index.html

Madeline is One!

Happy Birthday Maddie! You are the sweetest one-year-old anyone could ever hope to know!!!!

This "Scrapbooking" Room Gives Me A Panic Attack.

http://www.kevinandamanda.com/photos/scraproom/new/

I will never, ever, ever have anything in my life as together and organized as this blogger's craft room is, does that make me a looser?

A Mystery

Emily's hair is getting shorter. AND I keep finding little tribbles of silky blond hair under couches and in corners. SOMEONE is cutting it. Emily says it is Audrey, Audrey says it is Emily. Hmmmm...I think I need a "teddy bear cam."

Spam, spam, spam, spam, spam...

I have had a lot of unwelcome spam lately. YUCK.

FYI, I have changed a few settings to see if that helps prevent random crazies. Future comments will now not show up until I approve them. I am not sure if anyone even reads my blog anymore, maybe because I NEVER post anymore...but for you future commenters I thought I would give you a heads up!

Bring it!

My legs are sore today. I started running again, finally...slowly. Anna came with me and Kym last night to the track and she was like: "Woah, you guys are slow." (Thanks Anna!)
I also walk at 5am with a friend. Anna was so gung ho and excited last night I told her if she wanted to I would run with her for 1/2 an hour at 6:00am when I finished walking. I did not think she took me seriously. But she was sitting on my back porch waiting for me this morning, the sun just starting to peak over the houses, and I had to run...again.

I am either going to get skinny really fast OR, I am going to die.

The things we do for our children!

Fall Preview

August flew by for me! Did it for you? There has been a whole lot of crazy around here lately...but things seem to be finally settling down. (Thank you public school system!) I wanted to blog about all my summer fun and adventures and maybe post some pictures, but I don't have the patience or motivation to upload pictures today. So I thought I would just share a funny mom moment that happened this morning.

Are you a bra off or a bra on kinda person while you sleep? Me, I am a bra OFF person. In fact, if I know I do not have to go any where and am POSITIVE the mail man is not planning a surprise delivery I might just leave my bra off all day. Well, apparently I got sick of my bra early last night and took it off before actually changing into pajamas...I don't even remember doing it, but I guess I left it on the couch downstairs. Well, you would not believe the HOOPLA it caused this morning. My little (well, if you know me, not so little..heh, heh) bra caused quite the uproar among my children. Dallin squealed like a little girl..."EWWWWWWWWWWWW!" Elizabeth gave me a very disappointing look, and a comment that went something like this..."Mom, you yell at us about leaving our clothes every where and here you are leaving your bra out...that is just disgusting!" Audrey thought it was hilarious and put it on her head, which of course led to a bra tossing competition...or was it a game of hot potato?

I am not sure if my poor bra will ever get it's rightful shape back. But, I have to say it almost felt like a victory...I mean it made them feel so uncomfortable, and after all it is MY house isn't it?

Number Four

Number Four is 4 today!!!!!!

Happy Birthday Audrey.




We love you!

Potomac Chocolate

Last Thanksgiving Ben and Cyndi introduced my family to a new way of living...it is called chocolate snobbery. If you have had the pleasure of one of Ben and Cyndi's chocolate tastings you are a convert as well. And, probably, like us, sworn off Hershey Bars for life. The only way for me to really enjoy chocolate now is by first, having a tiny square of a beautifully designed bar broken off in front of me(it has to snap), inhaling slowly, placing the square on my tongue, and then letting the flavors of an exotic land melt in my mouth. You have to be prepared to name that flavor..."was that a hint of citrus, of tobacco?"

Yup, the only way to truly appreciate chocolate is to have a "bean to bar" experience of your own. If you are a true chocoholic (and I know who your are) then you have got to check out Ben and his friend Justin's new endeavor! They felt so passionately about bean to bar chocolate they are going to make their own! Potomac Chocolate has started brewing, soon to be, Washington DC's best (and first) bean to bar chocolate. And it is going to be fantastic! Check out their blog...here. You can follow them on their journey and like me, wish for a scratch and sniff computer screen!

Mmmmmm....Chocolate.

(If you scroll to the bottom of this page you can find out how to become a part of history and maybe, even receive a taste of chocolate snobbery in your own living room!)

We Made The News!!!!

Check out this link...
(You need to click on "Extreme Heat" Video from 6/23)
http://www.wmdt.com/
Me and the kids were on the news yesterday.
They were interviewing us about this horrific heat wave we have been having.
Kinda fun, huh?
Thankfully they only used 2 secs of my interview.
(I was looking kinda rough, they need to give a mom of 6 more time to primp, geeeeez.)
But the kids got to see themselves on TV, which probably made their whole summer!

Stink-o-licious

What a bummer day. My kids have been HORRIBLE all day. Fighting, screaming, hitting, talking back, and of course I pretty much just yelled all day (which is my least favorite attribute). Jeff is at the church late tonight, which always seems to make them extra special grumpy. I swear they just got stinkier as the sun went down. I cannot believe it is only day two of summer break. How do normal mommy's make it through days like this??? I need a Valium (well, not really, but I sure like the IDEA of one).

Chincoteage Lighthouse

The Lighthouse at Chincoteague, Virginia. Another favorite Eastern Shore destination.

Pemberton Park

We have this gorgeous park in Salisbury, Pemberton Plantation. It is one of my favorite spots on the Eastern Shore. It has trails, and ponds, and a little island that we call "Fairy Island." In the summer it has lily pads, and frogs, and turtles, and is like a dream. I finally convinced Jeff to come see.

Audrey's Pre-School Graduation

They gave out "awards" to all the kids and Audrey got "Most Adorable." I have to agree!