I'm BAAACCCKKKK

Sorry it has been a MILLION years since I have posted anything. Jeff broke our computer and I hate using the laptop... that and I have to wrestle it away from Jeff. Life has been way crazy busy, but nothing to exciting, well other than Christmas. The only thing my kids REALLY wanted was a Wii. Luckily my mother loves them (more than me) and got it for them. Several other people bought games and accessories for the system and so now their lives are complete. My only goal is to be able to play guitar hero with Emerson and have him not yell at me for making him lose. Wait never mind it is great fun to watch him throw a temper tantrum! We took the kids sledding after the big storm and had a great time! Of course I was exhausted from carrying Lauren back up the hill all the time (thx JEFF) But it was still way fun. Our house still hasn't sold but we haven't given up hope or faith that our time will come. It just hasn't been the right time for us to leave all of you amazing people....sorry you are still stuck with us. Well until next time, which will be sooner, HAPPY NEW YEAR!

MANDY LOVES TWILIGHT

A big group of us went to go see Twilight on Friday night. It was so CHEESY! But it was so worth the price of the ticket just to watch Mandy mock the teenage girls. She had the opportunity to sit in a theater full of them and listen to them SCREAM every time Jacob came on the screen. She had me laughing so hard that I fell on the ground and had tears running down my face. So if you see Mandy reminder of her love for Twilight and call her by her new name....SPIDER MONKEY! But be careful she might hop on your back :)

Boys

Emerson and his friends, Brody and Cody, make me laugh! They all were hanging out here yesterday during Chloie's Hannah Montana Birthday party. Chloie got a Hannah wig and had taken it off. Brody decided to see how he looked as a blond...not good and then Cody put on Jeff's red wig...not good either! The best part was watching them dance with the 7yr old girls. They were the hit of the party! Emerson of course just stood back and watched. He isn't as into cross dressing as his dad and friends. That gives me hope for at least one normal man in my life! But luckily Jeff is so cute it makes up for his cross-dressing ways!

Protesting

So for anyone who doesn't know my husband, he loves to Argue!!! So when the opportunity presents itself that allows him to argue without using tact...He runs with it. Well I am sure many of you heard about the rally that was held downtown where the Gay (happy of course) people protested the LDS church for its involvement in the passage of proposition 8 in California. Well he rounded up his buddies, Travis and Brad (last names have been with held to protect the innocent) and they went down to give those "happy" people something to really protest...Them! They (mostly BRAD) almost got the crap kicked out of them by a cute couple that consisted of 2 of the manliest women they have ever seen. They also learned new things about the Constitution of the U.S. (things that are NOT in it) and made fun of all the guys wearing their sisters pants. The highlight was the catchy slogan they came up with..."Straight is Great, Straight is Great, That is how WE procreate! All in all it was a productive night that left the 3 of them feeling rather pleased that they, themselves, weren't HAPPY...aka GAY!

Birthday Party

Adison and Chloie's birthdays are 6 days apart. So we always have a joint birthday for Jeff's family. The kids have a good time and love to see them. Jeff's Aunt Joy and Norman are always incredible and make each of the kids feel so special. Jeff's parents as well as his sister and her family came as well. It was great to see them as we don't get to as often as we all would like. Anyway, Chloie turns 7 on Friday and Adison turned 9 last Saturday. They are growing up WAY to fast, wow time flies! But Dariell, Holly and I have discovered that our family's were meant to be BFF's. Holly and Adison have the same birthday, Brody and Chloie have the same birthday and now Lauren and Tucker have the same birthday. It is crazy how it has worked out. Well I know this post is really random but that is how I am so it fits :) Until next time....Big Love and you are my favorite....ssshhhh don't tell!

Hello Everybody!!!

Hi guys, sorry it has been so long since I've said Howdy but life had been a little nuts. Every year I take on the challenge of making my children's costumes and every year I vow to start earlier. Well I started early this time but got way sick and had personal crap that got in the way. The good news is that with a VERY heavy dose of antibiotics (3000 mg of amox and a Z-pack) with some good old predisone, my severe bronchitis is clearing up nicely! But, I digress. I did manage to make two adorable fairy costumes and aid Adison in his quest for dark wizard magic. I must admit that I was a very proud mom at the Trunk or Treat on Halloween night. The kids all looked great, including Emerson who was just scary without a costume (LOL). My husband was a great hit, dressed as a HOT CHICK! NOT!!!!! I must admit that he has great legs but he defintley does not have the face to pull off trans gender! But it was a great laugh especially when people looked at him and realized that he was a HIM or as Jeff would say a SHIM (She-Him). All in all it was a great Halloween and can't wait for next year!

Carving Pumpkins

We decided to carve pumpkins the other night. It was so fun! The kids were way grossed out by the goo. Every time they stuck their hands it they made a face and said OOOHHH Gross. The pumpkins turned out way cute and we had a good time.

Stealth Fart

So I love Emerson to pieces, he is hysterical! The other night Jeff and I had put all the younger kids to bed and I was getting ready to go to the store...we were out of everything! I ask Em if he wants to go with and he says yes. I expected him to say No because he has always hated going to the store. Well Jeff says he want to go instead. They rock, paper, scissors for it best 2 out of 3 and Jeff wins. Em pushes and asks for 3 out of 5 and totally takes it, Jeff has never lost. So Emerson and I head off to the store. He is telling me about school and informs me that he had the worst gas in keyboarding class and so he was farting the whole time. I laughing of course, and ask him how no one noticed. I then was educated on the fine art of stealth farting. The key is to spread your butt cheeks really wide so that they don't ripple when you let the gas out. I seriously almost pulled a Mandy and peed a little as a result of how hard I was laughing. Luckily the gas wasn't toxic or at least the kid next to him stunk more than Emerson did...needless to say the next time you have gas, remember spread'em wide to reduce vibration!

Stomach Flu

I hate being sick in general but the stomach flu is the WORST! It just knocks me down. I can function with a head cold and a fever actually anything but man that stomach thing is a killer. I think the problem is the fact that you never know which end it is going to come out of. Do you sit or kneel. I always worry that I have made the wrong choice...so far I have been lucky! But now my cute little boy has it, but on the bright side he NEVER has missed the toilet while hurling. It is really impressive since he is 8. In fact one morning I woke up and went in to my bathroom and noticed that there was puke in the toilet. I went into the front room and there was my sweet little Adison asleep on the couch with a bowl. When I woke him to see if he need anything and asking what happened, he told me he didn't flush because he didn't want to wake Jeff and I up. So amazing! Now Chloie is a projectile vomiter! I was at girls camp and I called to see how the kids were. Jeff told me she had thrown up all over the whole bed, the floor and the bathroom. That all happened on the first puke of a series...I was very sad that I wasn't there (NOT)!! Well I hope that the Flu doesn't visit any of you anytime soon.

LSAT

We are getting down to the wire for Jeff and his LSAT preparations. He has 8 days til the big test. His practice tests are really good around 164 to 168 and if he can get that kind of score on the real test we are totally staying here! I am trying hard to not get my hopes up and put to much pleasure on him but it is hard. Every time he tells me his score I almost jump for joy...it is hard to act like it is not a huge deal. Jeff is the only one who is allowed to put pressure on him, everyone else just stresses him and makes him mad. So, if you all see him around don't say to much about the test, including wishing him luck...in fact don't mention it, it is better for ME that way :) But, we are going to change the party house to Mandy's house because the house we will be able to afford will be tiny! So if you see Mandy congratulate her on being the new and improved hostess of the ward formally named Country Lane.

Sad Days

Well the dreaded day has arrived, our amazing ward is being broken up and divided into a bunch of different wards. The worst part is that I am out here all alone in BFE while all the people I love the most are going to be together in a ward. I told our bishop (the amazing Bishop Howell) that I would be going to the same ward as him and all of my other BFF's (Seibolds, Limbs, Howells and of course Chapples) no matter what. Jeff and I are just going to have to sell our house fast so we can find some place over by them. I know that our Heavenly Father has something great in store for all of us with this change, the hard thing is getting past the sadness in order to see the greatness that is waiting for all of us. I remember when the Country Lane ward was first put together. I hadn't been going to church here very long and I was very excited to meet new people. The great thing is that because of the amazing CL ward my fantastic husband became a member of this TRUE church. The new ward boundaries brought about that little miracle for my family, I can only hope that the same miracle is awaiting another wonderful family! The good news is that we are all still neighbors and can bug the crap out of each other when ever we want. So Country Lane keep your chin up the future is waiting to bring you further blessings....Stay strong and know that I love you ALL!

Running in the Rain

Yesterday Jeff and I took the kids into SLC on the train to go to the planetarium with his cousin, Jenny. She is wonderful and takes all of the nieces and nephews to do stuff all the time. So, we get into Salt Lake and it starts to sprinkle a little. We hop on the trax train and take it about a block and a half. We have another 2 blocks to go to get to the planetarium so we start walking. Of course then it starts to down pour. We all are in shorts, tee-shirts and flip-flops. We begin running from one awning to another trying to make it to the planetarium without getting completely drenched...well we run out of awnings, so there we are downtown Salt Lake all huddled under a little tree trying to avoid the rain. Man did we look funny! Emerson decides that we are getting to much wind so he runs for it about 100 ft to a little awning and seems pretty happy there. The rest of us decide to make a break for it. So we stand there for a bit and continue with our "run...stop...run...stop" until we finally arrive. The kids had fun laughing and sliding as we ran and Jeff and I enjoyed just watching it all unfold. it was fun to just deal with life. I hope that we can always remember how fun that was and to always learn to make lemonade when we are handed lemons!

Slide Show

So Chloie and Lauren started dance and gymnastics. Their schedule is crazy but luckily one of my BFF's Holly is helping me get them to dance. Her little girl Jayden is in the same class as Lauren. I can't wait to see the 2 of them on the stage dancing. It should be hilarious. Dariell, Holly and I are in the middle of getting ready for our 3rd annual Halloween murder mystery party. It is going to bigger and better than ever. It is crazy how excited people are to come. We decided to write it ourselves this year. It has been a lot of fun but at the same time harder than we all thought. We have 30 parts to come up with and that is 30 different personalities and secrets to create. It has been great for me to get back into writing though. I always wanted to be a writer, this isn't what I had in mind but it sure is a good time. I am working on taking pics so I can get more on here. My family is so amazing so I should have more pictures of them.

Great Fun Doing Service

I had the opportunity to go with some of the young women in our ward to serve dinner to the high priests in our stake. It was cool to see how many high priests there are in our stake! But after we did our service and ate the wonderful dinner (roast beef, tatos and gravy, cucmbers, tomatoes and apple pie with ice cream) Jessica C. and I were hanging out talking in her drive way. Her sister Jamie came out and we were all just chatting when Jess screams that an animal just jumped at my window. I was way freaked out because one of my neighbors had told me that there was a large raccoon wandering the neighborhood. After some major panic Jamie says it was just her dumb cat. (I hate cats!) So we are all laughing when we saw Jodi H and her family arrive home. We all decided that we wanted to scare her. We jumped out of my van and sneaked over. Tanner (her son) sees us and just sits there staring...he knows we are weird. So Jodi goes in through the garage and we sneak through the front door. We first try to hide in the closet by the front door... to much stuff so then we hide on the stairs...too obvious, so then on to the bathroom in the tub. Well Tanner comes in and says she will never look in there so we need to hide in her room. We run in there and Jamie and Jess climb on the bed and start to get in under the sheets...did I mention that Jodi is the Bishop's wife? Anyway; I have a small issue with this that gets vetoed so in we all go. Tanner comes in and tries to hide with us.. no room so he lays on the floor. Jodi is taking to long to come (BATHROOM #2 we think????) and so Tanner goes down and tells her there is a surprise for her in her room. She finally comes up and flips on the light. We all yelled SURPRISE and scared the crap out of her. It was awesome but we did wake up her sleeping 7 year old daughter (sorry again Tyler!) She took pictures to commemorate our funny! Needless to say if you here rumors of a Bishop having 3 girls in his bed that are not related don't think the worst! It is all in good clean fun...and his sense of humor is just one of the many things we LOVE about our bishop!

Children

My kids have been trained by THE master of all arguing! It makes me laugh when Jeff gets so mad at the kids for arguing with him when they are just following his example. Adison is the worst..or the best depending on how you look at it! He just keeps going until we literally have to tell him to shut his mouth. It will serve him well if he ever decides to follow in his father's footsteps and become a Liar...I mean Lawyer.

Emerson is getting pretty good at it as well but he has learned at least when to stop. It is fun though to sit back and watch him argue with Jeff. He gets his dad all twisted in to a frustrated mess. It is good to see him like that it helps me remember that he is beatable...at least sometimes.

But it is wonderful to see that they are smart enough to think ahead during a discussion. I hope that they develop and use that talent for good and not evil. I think it is very important for people to be able to argue but in a productive way. I am not saying that they are learning the good argument from their father but at least they are learning the basics that I can manipulate later!

Let the fun begin!!!

I was so excited when school got out in May, all I could think was...ahhh, finally a little down time. Then the craziness of summer started with kids going everywhere and little mini-trips planned keeping us crazy once again. So then all I could think was...ahhh, finally school is starting. I was excited for routine and bedtime. You know, all the stuff that goes down the drain the day school gets out. But just like everything there is really no green grass on the other side. Now we have dance, gymnastics, soccer, pre-school and as many other things as we can possibly fit into a day. Wow...I am so glad I went down to part-time at work! I don't know how full-time moms make it work

But I have found a little piece of heaven on Tues. and Thurs. mornings from 8:30 til 11:30. All my kids are in school at that time and I get some ME time. It is amazing! I highly recommend it to everyone! I am finally tackling all those projects you never can get to...and LOVING IT.

Jeff and I are finally on the same page. We had a little ruff patch where we were both suborn and unforgiving, luckily we were able to YELL our way out of it. (jk). I always thought that we would be the couple that never really fought. I has been hard to realize that we aren't the perfect couple I have always imagined in my head. It also gives me hope when I realize that all the other perfect couples out there might be just as imperfect as us. Basically we are all human no matter what we lead other people to believe at times. Well Jeff is making me a sandwich, (yes at 9:00 at night) and i am going to eat it and hang out for a few quiet minutes...until tomorrow when the craziness starts again!

Intro

Hello--

Welcome to my blog...I guess. I am not sure how it will turn out but hope you all enjoy!

A little info about me and my little family...

Jeff and I were married about 10 years ago and now have 4 kids. I am working part-time so I can afford my kids extra-curricular actives, (kids cost a lot of MONEY!) Jeff is applying to law schools again, hoping that we can get somewhere closer to here. And my house still is for sale.

I think that most of my post will be about my family and the trials that we face...including the "discussions" my husband and I have. I hope that we all can learn from each other on ways to strengthen all of our relationships.

Love Angel