Aubrey Anna's 12th Birthday

My sweet beautiful Aubrey Anna turned 12 on Tuesday.  Back in early February when we were having lovely 60 degree weather, and unbeknownst to me, she and her friend Amaya planned a joint Birthday party which they were going to invite their entire school class to.  The plan was to have the party later in February, between both of their birthdays.  I knew the awesome weather we were having wouldn't last forever, eventually it had to be winter.  And I could not handle the entire 6th grade in my house while it was snowing outside.  So I decided to seize the day and the weather we were having at that moment.  Twenty four hours later we were having a full on party!

 I turned my back for one second and when I turned around again this was happening:

And then all out cake war broke out.  Almost a month later and I'm still finding cake smear in strange places.

 Last Sunday my mom had us over to her house for Aubrey's Family Birthday Dinner.  She made Aubrey the cake of her choice.  Actually she made her 2 of them.  One to eat then, one to take home for later.  Best Grandma ever!

Ever since she turned 11, she has been planning her 12th Birthday.  Her greatest desire?  To go on her 12th birthday to the Temple and do baptisms for her ancestors.  We told her she could choose which temple she wanted to go to.  It was a decision she took very seriously and didn't decided until just a few days before.  She chose the Logan Utah Temple.  She chose this temple because it is beautiful and also because it the the temple where her grandparents, Steve's mom and dad, were sealed.  Steve was working out of town but he drove back home for the special day.  As soon as school was out, we left for Logan.   Before we went to the temple we had a delicious dinner at a Brazilian restaurant.

 It was a special night.  As soon as the temple workers found out it was her 12th Birthday and that she chose their temple to go to, they gave her extra special treatment.  I am so thankful for Aubrey and her desire to go to the temple.  She is a special girl.  I am so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ.  I am thankful for temples that bind families together for eternity. And I am so thankful for the effect the temple has had on our family as we have made it our focus.

Here We Are Now, In Containers...Avocados, In Containers

Well, I guess it's about time I dusted off this here old blog!  I can't believe my last post was on October 21st.  Almost 4 months ago!  Well, really, I can believe it.  Life has been one big ride on the crazy train around here since then.  I looked at that post from October 21st and took a deep breath and  sighed as I remembered the simpler times.  Since October 21st I have had some health issues and a pretty major church calling that have been taking up every spare minute of my time and then some.  Not to mention all the holiday fun that was mixed in.  But today I said ENOUGH!  MY blog is important to me and to my family (they have been asking if I'm ever going to blog again) as a way of recording our family history.  So I'm back.  I think.  We shall see....

So this morning, just a few minutes ago (it's before 11am so it's still considered morning, right?) my girls and I (2 of them are on a legal holiday from school, the other somehow cashed in on her sisters day off) were eating blueberry pancakes in the kitchen.  Emily had her iPod playing and I was singing along.  Then I realized what decade it was and what decade the song I was singing along to came out, and then I did the math in my head.  Which, if you have ever seen me do math, you know what a big task that is, in my head or otherwise.  And even though I've learned to doubt my math skills, I still knew something wasn't adding up. 

Hello, Hello, Hal-low, Haaal-low

I asked Emily why she was listening to that.  She asked me why I was singing along.  I asked her if she even knew the name of the band.  She did.  Nirvana.  What?  And what really surprised me was when Aubrey started singing along with her own words to the song...Here we are now, in containers, avocados, in containers...

So we ate our delicious blueberry pancakes.  After we finished eating, Emily started singing, "Carry on my wayward son, there'll be peace when you are done..."

What can I say?  They get their diverse musical taste from me.

Right Now, The Other Night, During The Car Ride Home

(Disclaimer: This is not a picture of my van!)

So on Wednesday, the first day of October (what?)  I had to go get the emissions and inspection done on my van so I could register it, since it was now expired.  One of these days I might learn that you are actually supposed to do that before it expires.  But probably not any time in the near future.  Hey, doing it on the first day of its expiration is actually a step up from previous years!  So it's basically like I was doing it early.  Anyhoo...

After I had it all taken care of and the new 2015 sticker was applied to the license plate, I went to put the registration papers in the glove compartment.  And...it totally wouldn't fit.  You know why?  Because I had all the registration papers in there from 2007 on.  Because I'm awesome like that!  

So I decided it was about time to clean it out and make so room.  As I was cleaning it out, I happened upon my old Carrie Underwood CD that was stuck betwixt the registration for 2009 and 2012- hey, do you really expect them to be in chronological order under those conditions?  I was so excited!  My girls and I used to listen to that CD all the time, especially when we were building our house and were making the 30 minute trek between homes on a regular basis.  It kept us well entertained during those drives.  I stuck it in the CD player, and on the way home from Aubrey's volleyball game that night I turned it on.  We listened to the first few songs and then we just had to do it.  We skipped to song #7.  And then we played it 4 times in a row while we sang along.  Just like old times. 

In the middle of the third playing of the song we picked Zac up from a friends house.  He had to listen to us sing the song 1 1/2 times, poor boy.  So after listening to it 4 times, when the girls asked me to skip it back and start it over, I didn't.  For one thing, I had a major headache after belting it out 4 times in a row.  And for another thing, I love my son and just couldn't subject him to that one more time.

I am so thankful Heavenly Father has given me 3 beautiful girls, and I'm thankful for the fun memories we have together.  I'm also thankful for my wonderful son and the fact that he sat through what I'm sure was pure torture for him without (too much) complaint.

PS: Carrie, I'm sorry I voted for Bo Bice instead of you on American Idol.

Back to School

So I'm finally getting around to posting back to school pictures now that school has been in session for a month and a half.  Above is a picture of Emily and her friends the week before school started.  It was picture day and they were checking out their lockers.  It's hard for me to remember that she is a FRESHMAN because 9th grade is still in middle school here.  In fact, I really didn't comprehend that fact until after she had been in school for a few weeks.  I remember my Freshman year fondly.  I had so much fun!  It is one of my favorite memories.  And because I remember my Freshman year, I'm both excited and scared for her all at the same time.

Aubrey and Addy had to start school a whole week before their older siblings.  They started in a BRAND SPANKIN NEW school this year.  So far this has been a good change.  We especially like that there are so many kids from our neighborhood going to the same school. 

Addy is in 2nd grade and Aubrey is in 6th!  Her last year of Elementary!

I think it's awesome when teachers give homework before school even starts!  Here is Addy on her first day with her scrapbook page she made.

While Aubrey and Addy were in school, Zac and Emily and I did some back to school shopping.

I had a fun week with just these two at home.  One day we went to the Salt Lake temple to do some work for our ancestors and to celebrate President Monson's Birthday.  When we got there we found out we actually missed him, and the rest of the First Presidency, by 20 minutes.  They had walked right through the Baptistery!

After we left the temple we had a delicious lunch at the Lion House.

One day after school we decided to squeeze in one more swim session before summer was over.

A week after Aubrey and Addy started school, Emily had her first day of 9th grade.  Zac didn't have to go that Monday.  I think it was orientation for the 10th grade or something.  That was a month ago, so how am I supposed to remember?  Anyway.  Emily started school Monday and Zac started 11th grade on Tuesday.  It is strange for me to think that if he had been born just 2 days earlier he would be a Senior this year.  This was the best picture I could get of him.

I still can't believe that we are already into our second month of school!  Life has not slowed down like I had hoped it would after a busy summer.  We have been crazy with 2 soccer games, 5 volleyball games and a million different practices every week!  But we are hanging in there an surviving it.  I do still have this crazy home school bug that won't leave me alone.  One of these days I might be posting a picture of our first day of school with us in our pajamas....

Volley Girl

WOO HOO!  Aubrey tried out for her school Volleyball team this week and she found out this morning that she made the team!  

Congratulations Aubrey Anna!

Flashback/Flashforward Friday - Dinosaurs

 Flashback 2007

Ogden Dinosaur Museum

Aubrey

 

Flashforward 2014

Vernal Dinosaur Museum

Aubrey

  Flashback 2007

Ogden Dinosaur Museum

Flashforward 2014

Vernal Dinosaur Museum

  Flashback 2007

Ogden Dinosaur Museum

Flashforward 2014

Vernal Dinosaur Museum

  Flashback 2007

Ogden Dinosaur Museum

Flashforward 2014

Vernal Dinosaur Museum

What a difference 7 years makes!

Blogger Ketchup: December 2014

I ♥ Apples

Aubrey starred in her class production of A Mid Summer Night's Dream.  She was the narrator and had one of the largest amount of lines to learn.  She did a fantastic job.

I told Emily that some people pay big bucks for eyelashes that long.  Hers are free.

We had a lot of snow and some very cold weather in December.  My crazy kids loved playing in the snow.

Winter nights provide some of the most gorgeous sunsets.  Unfortunately the pictures never do them justice.

I finally found out how all the headrests in my van are getting destroyed.

It would seem Addy wanted a picture of the gingerbread house she made in school, because I have about 100 pictures of it on my camera from every single angle possible.

One night we dropped Aubrey off at a friends house.  Emily hopped in the car just as we were pulling out of the driveway.  She was dressed in shorts and I think she was barefoot but found these shoes in the van when I decided to make a last minute stop at Sam's to go shopping for my 40 Random Acts of Kindness Birthday Celebration.  She was not happy I made her go into the store like this but I let her sit in the cart and put my jacket over her legs and feet.  Addy went through a cup stacking phase for a few days.

Steve gave me a new 3D TV for my Birthday.  And suddenly my bedroom became the hang out place.

The kids all got new glasses, and Addy got her first pair.  Isn't she cute!

More stuff we did in December.  Click to see the posts:

I fell in a lot of holes and lost my cell phone

We got our Christmas on

Christmas

A spontaneous cross country trip

I turned 40!