Order of the Engineer

The Guys- These guys have studied and worked on projects together for years! What fun to see them almost at the end!
Josh and Jake - Jake and Jay worked A Lot together this last year. We joke that he is jay's school wife, because he saw jay more than I did!

Jay had a special ring ceremony. It inducted him into the order of engineer's. It was a great night. He received a special ring and they had a light reception afterward. Only a few more weeks of school left at this point!

Spring Adventures

This is Hinckley Ledges. We walked around the whole lake. It's so fun to be outside again!

easter fun

Spring Break- Every year in the spring we visit Lake Farm Park to see the baby animals and look at the beautiful blossoms! Jenna has rode this horse sunshine since she was 2! We are loving that is was warm enough to wear short and t-shirts!




dyeing eggs- samuel's favorite is light blue, and jenna's purple
making Easter babies
Baskets from the Easter Bunny-The Easter Bunny brings baskets to our house on Saturday morning rather than on Sunday so we do not distract from the spirit on Easter morning. The kids don't care and then they can eat their treats while we make our Easter babies ( the bread) and color eggs.

April -2010

Well we did have a warm up this year! Easter was early and we were all afraid it would be snowy, but it was really warm! We had a great Easter egg hunt with family and friends. Then began spring break and a whole lot of fun! We went down to the rocky river nature center and the kids waded in the water. Samuel is happy if it's warm enough to have his shirt off. He does have shirts, he just doesn't want to wear them!

March 2010

March is always fun! It's the beginning of spring and everything begins to thaw! We start going on our favorite Sunday walks and are able to be outside again! It's also our anniversary and the big St. Patrick's day parade!

catching up in February

Silliness on valentines day
Abby in her purple tutu we got her looking at her new Cinderella house
Tanya made a huge cake- Abby loved the cones!
Grandma and papa
For primary at church we do something called a CTR moment. It means a Choose the Right moment. When the children do something helpful anyone can write their name down and what they did and stick it the ctr moment box. Then at the end of primary the read out loud who was caught choosing the right and then they get a sticker! Samuel got 3 this particular week! He was really happy! Also, he scraped up his nose while sledding down the hill he made on our driveway! This kid has many face accidents!
Having fun in the snow!

Samuel put his Hawaiian shirt on and was trying to pretend it was warm! So that was our February 2010!

Catching up!

Jenna got her Ear's pierced
Jenna's 9th birthday

Wow! The end of 2010! I going to do a quick recap of the year and hopefully I'll do better about keeping up in 2011!
The year Always begins with my sweet little girl's birthday! She is such a gift in our home! When she grows up she wants to have a ranch and be a cowgirl! So this year Tanya helped me with this cake for her! She loves animals and wishes she could have one, but that's not happening as long as she lives with me!

Where does the time go...

Jenna and Ella
Samuel and Jay
At the end but just the beginning of more to come

So I started looking at my friends blogs and thought hey I should write something since there has been so much going on in my life! The fall is my favorite time of year and I spent it outdoors and enjoying the beautiful colors! We went apple picking with our friends the Kirkhams, a few times! It is always a blast! Picking out our favorite pumpkins was such a treat, oh and who can forget the SOCCER SATURDAYS! Samuel was AWESOME this year! On My Birthday I ran my 2nd half- Marathon. I ran it with my incredible friend Melissa. I could not have trained or made this accomplishment without her. She kept me going and I'm so grateful to have her in my life, she's one of the Lord's tender mercies for me!
Then came the week before Halloween~and I got walking pneumonia! This was just really so ridiculous! I mean really ,I don't get stuff like this! Or so I thought... Anyway, they thought I had meningitis because I had the worst headache of my life. So bring on the spinal tap! This was really the worst part of the whole experience and then the side effects were just awful! I never had an epidural with my kids and after that experience I'm wondering why ANYONE would do that to themselves intentionally! Childbirth was not as bad as the pain I experienced for the next week, at least for me it wasn't! I realize that everyone has different experiences and I feel for those who have suffered! And in our triumphs we can rejoice that it is over and I hope I never have to do that again!
So bring on November...The Thankful month
I am so grateful for so many things! We have so many gifts and blessings in our lives. It's so easy when things are a little aerie to forget the blessings that surround us. So as I was overwhelmed by the gifts that my Heavenly Father had given me, I decided that I wanted to invite my family and Jay's family to our home for Thanksgiving! It was a big yet wonderful task. I was able to cook my first turkey and stuffing. It turned out fabulous! Everyone pitched in and brought something except the Birthday Girl! It was Jill's birthday (Jay's Sister). We had such a fabulous time! It was so wonderful to be together and I think and hope everyone else felt that way too!
We were surrounded by love and good times!
Now it is December 1st-
It started snowing today. Normally I HATE the snow and the cold, but it was so beautiful and special to have our first snow on the 1st to start this holiday season! One of my top 5 Christmas songs is White Christmas by Bing Crosby. It's such a special song to me and every year we start singing on the first to have a white Christmas. I can only think of one year it didn't happen on Christmas but 2 days later! What's your favorite Christmas song? What's your family tradition! I love traditions and I would love to hear what some of yours are!
We put up the outdoor lights , the tree and then decorated it on Monday night for Family Night. I love looking at all the ornaments and all the memories that come with them and the dear ones that gave them to us. Jenna and Samuel LOVE all their ornaments too! Samuel put the star on this year.These are the moments that make all the crazy times worth it! I will try to be better about posting and in the meantime, enjoy this precious season that is upon us, it always goes too fast for me!

Back to school

The first day of fourth grade for Jenna and the first day of kindergarten for Samuel! It was a big week for us! Since I haven't blogged in so long I figured I would start up again with a new beginning. They are both enjoying school , although Samuel complains about no snack time. There are so many allergies in the school that they just decided not to let them have everything. We'll see if I can't do something about that. I'm waiting for the first meeting! I have a whole year to catch up on but I have some extra time to myself now so I think it's doable. This year had gone by fast! I guess that is a sign I'm getting older- time goes by faster and both my kids are in school and I'm by myself for almost 3 hours! Crazy!

It's the End of a Season

I can hardly believe it! Jay's last day of school is today! He is graduating on Saturday! I will post those pictures later. I just have to say how extremely proud I am of Jay. He has worked so hard. We did things a little backwards so it was so much harder with 2 kids, but we are here. We finished. I include myself not because I did any of the school work, mostly I have no idea what he's working on, but because we have become a true team. We have a real partnership for which I am so grateful for. Even though most would say we did it backwards it has worked out for us and we have learned and have grown so much during this time. A huge thank you to everyone who has supported us through this long haul. We are so grateful for the Lord's blessings in our life. We accomplished this through Him. He only knows what our future holds next. A new chapter in our book!