Things I Learned This Week

What a week! I have not the time to write about what a crazy week it has been. But here are the top 6 things I've learned this week.

1. Magic Erasers will take pen off of leather.
2. Dishwashers sound like a dying animal when they die.
3. A naked 1-year-old can escape from a house, in which all the doors are closed.
4. It is possible for a 4-year-old to break a dvd player, after only 4 day's of having it out of the box.
5. Home Depot has to order dishwashers. They don't have them in stock. Dang it.
6. It is possible for a 1-year-old to open a Tupperware container and dump it contents on the floor. Hence, this is why I have a bungee cord on my fridge. It's also why my vacuum is full of corn.

In case you haven't figured out yet, I am washing mountains of dishes every day :(... It's so tragic. Piper is still running around naked, and if it was appropriate, I would put some dang hilarious pictures on my blog. But she's naked, hence, it's inappropriate. But their cute. Piper has had an AWESOME week of potty-training, though. She's pretty much doing it on her own. Only 1 accident in her big girl undies!! OH, HAPPY DAY! It was also Piper who drew all over the leather interior in my car with a pen. It was GRAND! And then, once I cleaned the seat and my door panel with a magic eraser, I had to do the whole interior. Thus, 3 magic erasers later, my car SPARKLES! Also, did you know that 1-year-old babies can rip off the face of a drawer?? It's been a week to remember. It is the type of week that supports the fact that I ate 2 brownies for breakfast this morning! I hope next week is better.

Hugs

Sand Cove

We drove up to Sand cove today and let the kids just run around for a few hours. Mostly we skipped rocks and just walked. The boys had a blast. Piper slept through the whole thing!! Lucky girl, wish I could have gotten a nap. Josh was telling the boy's that Grandad Ward was the best rock skipper he had ever seen. He said he could skip rocks, no matter if they were flat or round. Any size rock would do. He said Grandad learned how to do it well, because he grew up fishing in the rivers in Idaho. Cool story. I told Josh he needs to write down all the stories that he remembers, so that we can preserve them for our kids and their kids.

Anyway, it was a great day. It was beautiful and I was with my family, what more could I ask for?

A tutu, big girl undies, and a haircut

That was Pipers day yesterday to sum it up. She got a new potty, cute big girl undies (who knew little girl underwear was so cute?), a haircut and she also got a fun tutu. What a big day for such a little girl. It's sad that she's growing up, but it's also a lot of fun to watch.

Her hair looks much better. She still won't keep barrettes in it, but at least it's out of her eyes.

I Love This Qoute

Make up your mind to be happy—even when you don’t have money, even when you don’t have a clear complexion, even when you don’t have the Nobel Prize. Some of the happiest people I know have none of these things the world insists are necessary for satisfaction and joy. Why are they happy? I suppose it is because they don’t listen very well. Or they listen too well—to the things their hearts tell them. They glory in the beauty of the earth. They glory in the rivers and the canyons and the call of the meadowlark. They glory in the love of their families, the stumbling steps of a toddler, the wise and tender smile of the elderly. They glory in honest labor. They glory in the scriptures. They glory in the presence of the Holy Ghost. One thing I know for certain: the time we have here goes by far too quickly. Don’t waste any more time sitting on the bench watching life pass you by.

Elder Joseph B. Worthlin

“Lessons Learned in the Journey of Life,” Ensign, Dec 2000, 7

**If you have time, you should click on the link and read this article! What an amazing man!**

Superpowers and Girlfriends

Lot's of things happen at my house, that I never want to forget. But unfortunately, thanks to my forgetful mind, I forget things quickly. I really need to pull out the kids journals and write this stuff down.

Tyson has been obsessed with getting his "super powers". Every night he has been saying that he is going to get his powers while he sleeps. Some nights it is the power to scale walls and sling webs. Radioactive spiders? Do they live in my house?? Some nights it's the power to fly, or super strength. Radioactive house??? Anyway, yesterday he informed Josh and I that he had finally gotten his powers. His Bolt powers. Bolt powers, huh? He can run really fast and has a very scary bark, just so you know. My gosh he is cute! The boy can always make me smile :).

J.D. is obsessed with girls. I can remember liking a boy in the first grade. His name was Joey Russo, and I loved him. Well loved him as much as I could. I gave him a valentine. Anyway, J.D. talks about several little girls in his class, Holly, Maddie and Shaylee every single day. Apparently every day they try to kiss him. Oh my! What am I going to do when he tries to kiss them back? I'll tell you what I'm going to do, sit down, put my head between my knees and blow in a bag. The other day he used the Word Whammer to spell out I lowe You Maddie. He had to use a w, because he couldn't find the v. Super cute! The kid is to good-lookin' for his own good. High School's gonna be fun. Oh me, oh my!!

Piper is just as cute as ever. A stinker, if ever I saw one. She climbs on everything and throws her girlie temper tantrums if you tell her no. There really is a difference between boys and girls. It's amazing. She is obsessed with taking off all her clothes and her diaper. She's ready to potty train, but her mom is to lazy. I really need to get on it and get her a potty. No more diapers, what would that be like?? I've been buying diapers for 7 years. Gotta convince Josh that it's time for another baby.

I am so grateful for my children. For the comical relief they provide and for their sweet little spirits. They are truly amazing kids and I love them beyond any earthly comprehension.

Marysvale weekend

We spent Valentine's day in Marysvale hanging out. We had fun playing with Sherry and Austin's kids, playing in the snow and just hanging out. Saturday night we got to go and hang out with Linsey and her kiddo's, but I forgot to take the camera with me :(. Here are a few pictures (I took over 60) of our weekend.
Lot's of deer everywhere. I took a ton of pictures, because the kids love to look at them.

Saturday morning Josh, Austin, and I took J.D. and Brannigan out shooting. Had to shoot my new baby little hand gun. So much fun!!

Sunday afternoon we went up the mountain to play in the snow! The kids had a lot of fun just playing in it for a few minutes. That was all it took for them to get cold.

Tyson wanted to bring a puppy home so bad. He asked me to bring his backpack upstairs, when it was time to leave, so that he could put one in his backpack. Thanks alot to Uncle Austin for putting that idea in his head.

Leave me alone! I'm eating!!!

My sweet sister and Riyo baby!

Dixie Rock

We were on our way home from Marysvale today and as we drove by the Dixie rock, I told Josh, "I want to take the kids up there one of these days." So he pulled off the road and said let's go now. It was a lot of fun. We will defiently be going back.

Daddy & Piper. She has him wrapped around her finger.
Hey, wait for me J.D.

I did it!!!

What a good lookin' cowboy!

Puddle Jumpin'

We got a small reprieve from the rain for a few hours this afternoon and it was brisk, but nice outside and the sun was shining so we went for a walk! I let the kids jump in the puddles (aka a muddy river) and they had so much fun. Tyson and Piper were both soaked and J.D. had mud everywhere from where his bike tires were flipping it. I love moments like this that are simple and fun. I gave Tyson a piggy back and we were chasing each other the whole time. Piper just wandered and did her own thing, climbing on and off of the sidewalk and J.D. just rode his bike and chased Piper around.

Everyone enjoy the weekend and have a great Valentines day! We are off to Marysvale and I won't be back until Monday night, so I will post pictures of our fun weekend, when we get home!

Birthday Balloons

Maggie bought Josh these awesome balloons for his birthday. Piper and Tyson had a blast playing with them. The big one is a musical balloon. Piper enjoyed having them all to herself while Tyson was at school.

Happy Birthday to Josh

Yesterday was Josh's birthday. I kept meaning to post a little something about it, but the day got away from me. Am I a horrible wife or what? But I sure do love him!!! It wasn't much of a birthday. We went on a little date last night and went to Texas Roadhouse. He got on the saddle and they made a big deal out of it. Our waitress is a sweet girl who lives in our ward. Josh has been her family's hometeacher for 4 years or so. It was fun to get out together.

So I want to do something fun! I'm going to tell you 28 fun facts about Josh. He's gonna love this.

1. He is a wonderful husband and a father.

2. He is a a great big kid at heart.

3. He loves to camp, hunt and fish

4. He has a secret nickname, that was whispered in my ear on our wedding day, by one of his dad's oldest friends. That's all I can say about that.

5. He grew up across the street from the Carter's and they are still his best-friends.

6. Once Josh and Ammon layed in wheelbarrows full of water and got sunburned. I have pictures, but don't ask me why???

7. Josh loves to paintball and is really good at it because he has no fear.

8. Josh walked my sister down the aisle when she and Austin eloped to Las Vegas, just 4 weeks before we got married.

9. Josh had a dog named Gib, that was the COOLEST dog ever. He had to be put to sleep right before we were married.

10. The first person Josh told that I was his girlfriend, was his grandpa Marvin.

11. The longest girl that Josh ever dated, besides me was Sophia.

12. Josh has 3 sisters, Kris, Heather and Maggie.

13. Josh wants to shoot a bear and stuff it and put it in my living room. KEEP DREAMING, BABE!

14. Josh hates minivans with a passion.

15. If our house was on fire the first thing he would run for would be his guns.

16. Josh hates spaghetti.

17. Josh took a detour on the way to the hospital when I was in labor with J.D., so that he could go to Sconecutter. I was so mad at him!!

18. Josh told me he loved me when we were sitting on the couch at his parents home.

19. Josh loves Marysvale, more than I think I do. He keeps trying to get me to move there.

20. Josh has nicknamed all of our kids. Chubba, Tootie and Troll.

21. Josh carried my engagement ring in his pocket for 2 weeks and showed everyone it, before I even saw it. He was waiting for the right moment.

22. Josh is one of the hardest working guys I know. He goes out of his way to help anyone and everyone, even after putting in a 10+ hour day.

23. Josh is way self-conscious of his gray hair.

24. Josh is happiest when he is in the mountains.

25. Josh loves to eat chips and salsa.

26. Josh loves to hang out with his kids.

27. Josh loves to make fun at me, but it's all in fun and I know he loves me.

28. Josh is the sweetest and greatest guy I know. I love him so much!

Thanks for loving me all these years babe! I hope you had a great birthday and know how much you mean to me and to the kids. Thanks for all you do! 5 lbs. babe!

7:00 p.m. on a Tuesday night

Does your house look like this?

The dinner I made, that my kids didn't eat.
The laundry I never got around to folding today.

Tyson reading books, waiting for his bath.

J.D. getting a squeeze!

A clean baby! A miracle in itself. How long do you think it lasted?

2 minutes later she was undressed with her diaper off! I kid you not.

I wouldn't trade any of this for all the money in all the world. I love being a mom! It's the grandest thing I could have ever done with my life. Although, I could do with out the laundry.

Before and After

Who Stold the Cookies From the Cookie Jar?

This week for handouts at Young Women's I made sugar cookies. I had all my beautiful cookies sitting out on my counter, just waiting to be put into bags. I came out from doing my hair and found Piper sitting on my table with a cookie in each hand!!! Good thing I had extra's!

Good thing she is cute!

What Kind of a Kid, doesn't like doughnuts???

Look at Tyson's face!!! I got this picture off his preschool website. It cracks me up. They made doughnuts and this was the reaction they got out of Tyson!! Hilarious!!!! The kid's so funny.

Fun in the January Sun

Quinton's Brithday

Adam and Lindsay came down this weekend to celebrate Quinton's first birthday! It was so great to get to spend the afternoon together. Quinton is ADORABLE! See those chubby cheeks. I could absolutely devour the little munchkin. The only one missing from our group was Aaron. We let the kids play outside in the BEAUTIFUL weather. They played baseball and roughed up their uncles. I'll post more pictures tomorrow of all the fun we had.

The Scowl! I love it.

Lady & The Tramp

I love it when my kid's watch the classics. Look how enraptured they are. They just don't make cartoons like they used to.....

Brannigan & Hot Fudge Sundeas

See that kid who's kind of in the center. The one with the big green eye's. That's my nephew Brannigan. For you fellow Piute people, that is Sherry and Austin's oldest boy. He's spending the weekend with us. Brannigan and J.D. are 7 day's apart in age. They are the best of friends and love to be together. They secretly plot way's to get us to move to Marysvale so they can hang out together all the time. Keep plotting boys!!! Maybe someday it could happen.

I told the kids that if they could help me pick up the house we would go to McDonalds for sundaes. And they jumped right in and helped. Bribery works, I tell ya. I let them run their energy out in the play place for an hour and they are all crashed out on my living room floor right now. Amidst the piles of popcorn that they spilled, while watching Kung Fu Panda. I'm working on being his favorite Aunt. Lot's of pictures of Piper, because she was the only one who stuck around long enough for me to get a picture of. She's stinkin' cute.

Valentine Tag

Answer the questions about your sweetheart…

*What is your husband’s name? Joshua

*How long have you been married? Almost 8 years

*How long did you date? Just over a year

*How old is he? 27 almost 28

*Who eats more sweets? Defiently ME!

"*Who said I love you first? I did, it took him a month after I said it, to say it!

*Who is taller? Josh

*Who can sing best? Neither of us!

*Who is smarter? Both of us are smart in our own way.

*Who does laundry? I wash, he folds and I put away.

*Who pays bills? Me, but Josh really, he makes the money.

*Who sleeps on the right hand side? Josh, always.

*Who mows the lawn? Josh

*Who cooks dinner? Me

*Who drives? We both do, but mostly Josh.

*Who is first to admit they are wrong? ?????????

*Who kissed who first? Josh kissed me.

*Who asked who out first? We just kind of fell into dating, but Josh did ask me to hang out? Does that count?

*Who wears the pants? We both do :)!

I tag anyone who has a Sweet heart.

2 Cute Pictures, I had 2 post

Yes, I'm crazy, but you already knew that!

Tyson, Brenden and Corbin, 3 Kings of Craziness!

J.D., the birds & the bee's

J.D. has been saving his money to buy a stuffed wolf. The boy loves wolves. He has a big one he got for Christmas, 3 years ago, named Balto. He saved up enough to buy a small wolf and when we went to the store, it was gone. But there was a bigger one, but he needed $4.00 more to buy it. I told him that if he was good for the dentist today, I would give him the $4.00.

To make a long story short, he was very good for the dentist, so we went to the store and got his wolf. When we went to pick up Piper from Grandpa, he was discussing naming his wolf with Grandpa.

Grandpa was throwing out lots of name ideas. Maybe he could be Fred, George, or possibly Wolfie. Then J.D. says, "I want her to be a girl dog. That way her and Balto can have puppies." WHAT DO YOU SAY TO THAT? Me and Grandpa, were trying really hard not to laugh. Grandpa said, "I think you need to go home and have a talk with J.D."

The wolf's name is Princess. Just in case you wondering......

Our Story ~ Part 3

Josh, Tyler, Piper and Tyson

August 2008

When I went home that night, he gave me a hug and that was it. Nothing happened for a week. We still hung out like usual and I just waited to see if Josh was going to do anything. So the next weekend, Josh called me and asked if I wanted to go hang out with him? Of course, I did. Andie and I had plans to go to a movie, the same night and I told him I couldn't do anything until later. He said that was perfect.

I showed up at the house and the first words out of his mouth were, "Why are you so dressed up?" Keep in mind, I have no idea what we are going to do. So I ask him what we are doing and he says we are going rabbit hunting. Hmmmm, for some reason I am drawn to guys that like to do this particular activity. So ran home and put on basketball shorts and a t-shirt. I got back to the house and Josh, Aaron and I piled into the Aaron's little truck. I had to sit in between the two of them.

We drove out toward, present day Entrada, and we went off-roading and shooting rabbits. Aaron's truck was a stick and Josh had his arm resting on my leg for most of the trip. On the way home, he reached out and grabbed my hand.

We got back to Aaron's house and it was super late. Nobody else was there, so Aaron told us he was going to bed. I have a feeling, he knew what was going on. Josh and I sat up on the lawn just talking. That was one thing about us, we could talk about anything. He reached out and grabbed my hand and held it while we talked. I told him that I was getting tired and that I was going to go home. He reached out and pulled my face to his and kissed me. It was quite a while before I left. I didn't talk, didn't question, but just let it happen.

I wasn't exactly sure, what was going to happen. We didn't talk about it, but just went on with life as usual. Josh would come sit by me on the couch and if I had a blanket on my lap, he would hold my hand under the blanket. We would hang out until everyone else would go home and then we would go for rides to Zion and to Pine Valley. I was in a haze of sleep deprivation for about a month. He would come see me at my house and play with Tyler, but only if it was me at home. He was so cute with Tyler. I remember one night he sat on the couch and let her feed him ice cream. A bite for Ty and a bite for him. This went on forever and poor Josh, he does not like ice cream. I loved that he was so good with kids. He was alway's great with Tyler and Kaysha and I think that was part of why I found him so attractive.

It was like we had to be very secretive about our little relationship We never talked about it and in those moments I was okay with whatever it was that we were doing. I REALLY liked him. I remember sitting on the lawn one night and Aaron, finally exasperated with the whole deal, told us both off. He asked if we thought everyone was stupid and didn't realize what was going on?

This went on for about a month. The next week, Trina and I went over to Aaron's to hang out with Ammon and Josh. It was a down pour. We all went outside and played in the rain. We were jumping in puddles and splashing each other and had a great time. Josh and I were sitting in his truck afterwards and I worked up the courage to tell him that I was tired of hiding our relationship and that if he wanted to be together then we needed to be together or we just needed to go back to being friends. We decided that we would try being together. He was afraid of making it an actual relationship, because what happened if it didn't work and we couldn't be friends?

To be continued....

Our Story ~ Part 2

January 2001

Aside from hanging out at Kym and Aaron's home we also used to go dancing, ALOT!! Every weekend we would all get together and go to The Dance Factory. Oh my, so many good memories. Kym, do you remember the night you and I were hanging out with Triscuit and you slipped and fell in the hay? Ha, ha, ha, can't share that memory because this is a G rated blog! We also would watch wrestling. Hate to admit it, but I was way into it. The Rock, Triple X and Stone Cold Steve Austin. YEAH BABY! We watched wrestles at my house frequently. I also loved Kid Rock. Oh MY! Did I just really admit that???

Moving on, we all just spent a lot of time together. We also used to go out to the sand dunes and camp. We would go and just hang out and sleep in the back of the trucks and have a grand old time. Through this period of time all of the girls liked Adam. And then Trina and Ammon started to date. It started out as a big prank. Ammon couldn't get Shauna, his ex-girlfriend to leave him alone. So Aaron had this idea for Ammon and Trina to pretend that they were dating. Well needless to say it worked, Shauna left and Trina and Ammon stayed together and eventually got married. That was the first couple to hook up and last.

At this point I was crazy about Josh. He was so funny and he made me laugh all the time. He was super nice and sweet. He would always take his girlfriends flowers and he was just an all around good guy. Josh and I got along really well, because we both liked hunting, big trucks, and we had a lot of similar interests. We were buddies. He would come over to my house just to say hi and I would go over to his house to watch him work on his truck. The day he got the red truck running he came and picked me up and we went out riding in Santa Clara and the RATTLING DEATH TRAP died on us out in the middle of nowhere. I remember one night that we ran into each other at Maverick and I made my poor brother, Danny sit in the car for like 2 hours while Josh and I sat in his truck and talked.

Early on in the summer of 2000 Josh and Andie kind of liked each other. Nothing ever came out of it. Things with Shay #2 had fizzled out for me and Mickey and I were just friends. He was my sympathetic ear. He knew how much I liked Josh. One night we went to the dance factory and went back to Ammon's house to watch movies. Andie hurt Josh's feelings and he went back to his house. I came outside to talk to him and he was outside looking for his dog, Gib. I went with him to help him look for him and we just started to talking about everything. He made a comment about how he just couldn't find a girl who really liked him for him. And I said, "Maybe you're looking in the wrong places, because I bet lots of girls would love to be with you. I know I would love to be with you." It was a chance to say it and it could have gone seriously wrong, but he just kind of looked at me and asked me to come inside. His parents were out of town so I went to his house and we stayed up talking until 4 a.m.

To be continued......

I'm One of Those Kind of Moms

I let my kids jump on my bed. There, I've said it. Now think what you will.....