Happy Birthday, MOM!

This is my MOM and DAD! She just loves my DAD!


She loves dancing with my DAD!


Here she is with me and my sister-in-law, Heather. She loves us!


Here's Layne, my brother (Mike), and my DAD. She loves them too!:)


She loves an adventure with her family! And she loves Terry because he loves Heather and Ellie.


She even braves the teacups! Ugh! Now that's love!


She loves her five grandkids!


And all the hugs and kisses! (WOW!)


But worms for fishing are just gross!

She loves being a missionary couple with my DAD, and serving the Lord with President Erickson, his wife, and all of the missionaries in the Peoria, Illinois mission! My MOM is so awesome! We love you lots and lots!

Some fun Moments!

I thought I would share some of our fun moments. For Christmas, Kyler got a K'nex set from Santa. It is quite a large thing and has a BOOK of instructions. He has finished it, even with "little brother interruptions and mishaps!" It is really neat. He (and Kavan) have been really excited about it!

!

Kavan decided he needed to build something all by himself, too!



Then Kenzie figured out how to make Cheerio towers without glue and everyone was entertained.



I have never been able to make an edible loaf of bread by myself. So, Layne decided that we were going to try together (since he just ordered more wheat). My Aunt Patty is awesome in the kitchen -she always has a beautiful garden and she makes so many different, yummy, made from scratch food. So, Layne got her bread recipe (which she said was the best and so easy) and we tried. And we failed! It was very sad! After phone calls and messages to my aunt and my mother in law we tried to figure out what we were doing wrong. My mother in law was even going to come and help me make bread on Thursday. Well, starting Tuesday all of my family got sick, one at a time, and I was home all week with lots of time (since nobody was going anywhere)! So, guess what, Thursday I made bread - by myself - and IT WORKED! It was made among sickness so we have not shared and don't really have proof, but we are excited at how edible it was for my family! :)



So, my next thought is one of those touching moments that involves my Karlee. I've talked about her inner feisty (Example: a famous quote from Karlee - talking to McKenzie - "Can we have a sleepover, if I stop bothering you!?!"). However, I failed to mention that she is probably our most tender child.



You have to know a little bit about my brother to fully understand this. We lost my brother, Mike, in a tragic car accident on November 14, 2003. He was 30 years old and married with a daughter about 6 months older than Karlee. Kavan was born on October 16, 2003. Part of Kavan's PreK homework was to talk about the day he was born. So, we pulled out pictures and looked and talked for probably about an hour. Kavan had the realization that Uncle Mike had never seen him or met him (Kavan was being blessed the first Sunday in December so that's when they were coming). He was very concerned and said, "Mom, he never meet me and I never meet him." Karlee responded very gently, but very matter of fact, "Don't worry you'll meet him, maybe when Jesus comes again." And Kavan was good with that.
How thankful I am for my kids, for my family, for Jesus Christ's atoning sacrifice and for a loving Heavenly Father. I am very grateful for the knowledge of Heavenly Father's plan and the opportunity we have to be forever families.

A Birthday Surprise!

January 14th was my mother-in-law's birthday. We all got together to surprise her this past weekend. She didn't know we were all coming and it was so fun! While the guys stayed and played with the kids, the girls got to take Linda out for a birthday lunch! April got to play with her new camera, as we got a lot of fun family pictures! Then we had a yummy dinner together, topped off with birthday cake and ice cream (thanks, Betsy)! As many of you know, I have been blessed with some awesome in-laws!

My mother-in-law, Linda, is a beautiful, amazingly talented woman, and a really great friend!



She, with a wonderful husband, has raised four handsome boys!



She has 11 beautiful and wonderfully silly grandchildren!



And she has a family that loves her lots!

Hooray!

So, Monday the 12th the kids brought home report cards. It was very exciting!


Kavan - Georgia Pre-K, right on track :)
Karlee - all A's and S+ behavior
Kyler - all A's and S+ behavior
McKenzie - six A's and an 89 in Math


Layne has made kind of a tradition of taking the kids to Chuck E. Cheese with good grades because they get like 15 free tokens when they bring in their report cards (plus the kids think it's quite the reward)! So, after a mundane Monday of doing laundry, the realization of not having to cook and just getting to play with the kids all evening was a super pleasant thought!! So here we are...




I'm not sure who the bigger kid is!?!?


Notice who's winning! :)

After having a blast with tokens, games, greasy pizza, an insane amount of tickets and of course the prizes - 4 big bags of cotton candy (a dental hygienist's dream - OH, MY!) we were on our way home.
- Our Family Home Evening lesson - The value of our education and being dilligent in our studies, as we remember that the Lord Himself has said, “Seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith” (D&C 88:118). President Gordon B. Hinckley had said, “Education is the key to opportunity." We are excited to see our kids start their education in such a positive way! Way to go Kenzie, Karlee, Kyler, and Kavan!! Thanks!

Getting Started...

As 2009 begins, I decided that starting a blog would be a fun way to watch and share the growth and imagination of my beautiful kids and wonderful husband! I know that to most who know me and know that I don't even email will have much shock and wonder as they discover this site. However, through exploring the blogs of family and friends I have been inspired! Thank You!
So welcome to our family, that began with a fairy tale romance more than 15 and 1/2 years ago...

McKenzie: 11 years old, in middle school, plays flute and piano, loves to sing, likes going to karate, invites friends to church, has braces, likes boys and shaves her legs (ahhh)!
Great Story: McKenzie got to perform in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat with amazingly talented people.

Kyler: 9 years old, in fourth grade, loves baseball, soccer, karate, hunting, fishing and loves helping dad outside (especially when dad lets him drive the truck, ahhh!).
Great Story: Kyler wanted to mow the grass with the riding lawn mower all by himself but he wasn't heavy enough to make it go. Layne told him he would have to wait until he was bigger. Layne went back to work and Kyler figured out that if he put Kavan on the seat of the mower with him it would go. Next thing Layne knew, the grass was getting mowed without him.

Karlee: 7 years old, although our calmest baby ever, has discovered her "inner feisty", loves first grade, likes to go to karate, and loves it when people come over (it doesn't matter who - she is friends with the bug man!)
Great Story: 3:30am Christmas morning (kids were allowed to come get us up at 6:00am) Karlee was either sneaking a peek or going to the bathroom, we're not sure which, but next thing we knew there was a big ole' Nutcracker downstairs and Karlee was not happy about it! (The moon was casting a nice big shadow of the Christmas tree on a wall of our 2 story entryway.)

Kavan: 5 years old, goes to Pre-K but can't wait to ride the big bus, likes karate, and anything to do with superheroes.
Great Story: On a shopping trip to the mall Kavan stops a serious looking, nicely dressed older man (who appeared to be on a shopping mission) to proclaim that Kavan is Spider-man and proceeds to shoot webs at him.

At 14, I fell head over heels crazy for Layne. And once upon a time I thought I would have maybe 1 possibly 2 kids. Now, I have 4 FANTASTIC kids and a loving, supportive, optimistic husband (that I still can't get enough of) that have taught me that 1 frustration = lots of joy and happiness!