When we sat down to read scriptures tonight AJ wouldn't let us start until he found just the right page in his Book of Mormon. When he was ready, he just started reading, "And it came to pass that the Lord commanded me, and behold I Nephi. And he said unto me." Then he had to turn the page and start over...5 times. As parents we were beaming with pride. We bought AJ a plastic lawn mower so he can mow the yard with dad. This time he got a little too close to dad, and got a little too frustrated. Watch...

Quote of the day Friday: Cora

Friday is sugar cereal day, so when Mark saw Cora eating regular Cheerios for breakfast he asked her, "Is that what you eat for breakfast every Friday morning?" Cora looked at her cereal and then looked at the ground and said, "Today's Friday? Damn." Mark's theory is that if we just don't make a big deal out of these things they say, then they will just stop saying them. I'm not sure why it's always Mark who hears all these bad things the kids say...Further more, I'm not sure where the kids hear the things they say!! Cora wanted to record a message for Jaxynn today So this one's for you Jax!!

Monday morning Garret told me he had such a silly dream. When I asked him what it was about he told me that angels were all around him just staring at him not moving or anything. He just thought it was so silly...I thought it was pretty special because he NEVER seems to remember his dreams. Speaking of dreams...Garret loves playing Mario party on Nintendo 64, and he says it is his dream is that Yoshi will win once instead of Princess Peach, and this ALMOST happened today, but AJ turned the power off. Garret was devastated and said that his dream was ruined!!

I've finally got Jorie off the boob! Hurray for me! Now she just walks around screaming for food, and she thinks she has to scream for anything else she wants, AND she thinks she can have whatever it is she wants. Thus, she screams all the time these days. It's great. We love her!

And today is my birthday. The big 29...which means 30 next year. Oh joy. Can't wait. The next video is what happens to me when my children wake me up with way too much excitement and expect me to share their same enthusiasm for my birthday. I tried really hard...a little too hard if you ask me. Nobody should ever try to dance to the happy birthday song while half asleep. And that video won't upload so you all are missing out on my birthday dance!! So sorry...

Our summer so far has had some fun like going to the zoo

Don't you just love it when parents let their kids do whatever they want in public places?

The zoo here is amazing with many indoor exhibits so that even in summer you can enjoy it! I've never seen so many different types of animals at a zoo. We had to go back twice to even see anything. They have a butterfly exhibit right now that is so neat. The butterflies fly all over the place as you walk through. The kids just stood there with their arms outstretched hoping a butterfly would land on them. One landed on Cora and she was just thrilled. We went to a fire hydrant party the other day. The fire department came and hooked up this attachment to the hydrant that shot water all over the place.

I forgot to bring anything to cover AJ's cast so he got it really wet...so I took it off because I was sick of dealing with a cast during the summer. He seems fine. We go to the doctor next week for an x-ray, and they can tell me then if I've ruined my kids wrist by removing his cast prematurely. I hope not.

Briefly...

4th of July in a state where fireworks are legal...Pure insanity. The videos below represent the scene for over 2 hours!

At the end of this next video you can hear the 5-8 year-olds arguing about where to throw the fireworks when they are lit. It's ok to let the kiddies light the "not-so-big" fireworks in NE... I swear people here must spend more on the 4th of July than Christmas.

This is what the fireworks table looked like after 2 hours!!!

And for the front yard finale we have... The Pounding Force!!



I couldn't breath the next morning when I woke up because my lungs were so full of that "after-a-firework-explodes" smoke. Probably took at least 2 weeks off the time I have to live.

AJ shared a yogurt covered pretzel with Jorie without asking us first...


While waiting for siblings to be done with gymnastics we had some fun with cones. AJ ran around the gym chanting "I am a temple. I am a temple."


Purple does look good on her don't you think?


Cora is really getting into cooking this last week. We checked out a book from the library that teaches kids to cook and she has made beef stew, cookies, eggs for lunch a few times, and chocolate bread. The other day she wanted to make lunch again, but we didn't have the ingredients for anything in her book. So she said, "I'll let somebody else make ME lunch for once." For once...I love it! 8 years I've been feeding this child lunch, and she makes eggs twice...She thinks she's somethin' else that girl. Anyways...that's some fun we're having here...Miss all you people out there that miss us! If you don't miss us we probably don't miss you. I'm just sayin' is all...
Oh and guess what concert I'm going to see July 22 at the Qwest Center in Omaha...!!!!!???

A Fractured Arm That Isn't and Fireflys

Happy Birthday to Jorie on the 21st! It's sad after the first child how little I have done for the others on their first few birthdays. Garret woke up on Jorie's B'day expecting balloons and streamers that were not there. I guess a 5-year-old wouldn't understand Jorie is only 1 and has no clue it's her birthday, and that his Mom is going to get away with not having birthday parties as long as she can...We did sing to her and got a cake. She just played in it

Until

That's enough of that. She really didn't know what to make of the whole cake thing. We got her a forward facing car seat that she just loves. Every time we look back at her she just gives us the biggest smile. Here is a singing video for anyone who wants to hear Happy Birthday being sung to my baby:

I don't know how many times I've thought over the last year how happy I am that she's a girl, and not a boy like they first told me she was. I'm just more comfortable with boys for some reason, and another girl really made me nervous. She is such a tiny thing, but so strong willed and almost as intense as AJ. Sometimes she just looks at situations around her as though she is trying so hard to understand everything, and has eyes that seem to see right through you. There is a certain smile of hers that is reserved for when she knows she has done something wrong and you say her name. I am scared. She is a joy to her sister and brothers, who just love her so much. Happy 1st Birthday Angel! We love you!

Last Thursday, Cora told me about how she wished she could break her arm. I told her how lucky we are that no one in our family has ever broken anything, and that instead of wishing for bad things to happen to her, she focus on being thankful she has such a strong body. Then, last Friday:

Yes, that is our son lying on a hospital bed with a supposed fractured wrist. The doctor since then has told us he can't seem to find anything wrong on the latest x-rays, but AJ still has a cast on for the next 3 weeks. AJ tried to do a trick on the tramp and it didn't work out so well. Mark took him to the emergency room on Friday night, and, of course, I ran out the door after him with the camera so he could take pictures for the blog. Almost every picture Mark took, AJ was doing a karate kick or punch with his good arm. Nothing slows this kid down except sleep!

In our backyard are many mating fireflys, whose butts light up every night around 9pm. Last night we got some video of the kid's and their fascination with these cool little bugs. Mark is just as excited about them. It's fun. You can hear Air Force One (one of the planes are stationed here) in the background, and we often see it up in the air with pilots practicing special flying things. It's pretty cool to see.



And hey!! There's our backyard!
The other night while I was tucking Cora into bed, she told me she left me a HINT for someplace she wanted to go on the computer. I walk into the office to find this SONG taped to the computer:


(I don't wanna wait, wait, wait. It's bader then pait, pait, pait. I wanna go to the zoo, zoo, zoo. So come on...Let's do, do, do. Do you want what I want? I bet you do oo oo. So come on let's go, go, go to the zoo!!! So come on man! Can we go to the zoo please with puppy dog face?)

I'm still trying to figure out where she wants to go...
I love that child, and I'm so glad she was born first. She is so resilient and has really done a great job of compensating for my lack of enthusiasm at times. I guess I need to start planning our trip to the zoo.

Not My Proudest Moments...

This post just has to happen. I'm not sure why it HAS to happen, all I know is for the last 10 minutes I have been torturing myself with memories of things I have done/said that should NEVER have happened. The times where you hang your head in shame and say,"I can't believe I did that." I need to confess.

1. I argued with the cashier at Deseret Industries over something I thought should be less than $3. For those of you who don't know what Deseret Industries is, it's like a Goodwill. It actually took me 30 seconds to realize what I was doing and how WRONG it was...and this was only 2 months ago!!!!!

2. Equal opportunity employees. I'm all for giving everyone a fair chance at employment, but sometimes I actually have the nerve to think in my head, "My cashier is defiantly one of those equal opportunity employees because he/she is just way to slow." I don't know where thoughts like that come from, and they are gone as fast as they come in, but still...shameful.

3. One of my good friends had to go on meds. for bi-polar, and wouldn't be able to have kids for a long time. She wanted to buy our camera, and I told her I needed a porta-crib so we could just trade. Practical...yes. But what was I thinking being that insensitive??? I can't even believe myself!!!

4. Garret got his first hair cut when we were living in Taiwan, and it only cost $3. I did my math wrong on the cost of a previous haircut and thought it was only $1.50 (it was actually $5.00). So when the girl told me $3.00, I told her I wasn't paying that much. And I ended up giving her $1.50. Isn't that horrible. I used what broken Chinese I had to argue a $3 haircut down to $1.50.

5. I starved our first Guinea pig to death on accident. The bedding we had for it was purple pellets with corn and nuts mixed in...it really looked like food! So for the first 3 months we had it it would squeal all the time, but never ate it's food. "I don't know what's wrong with it. It has food..." Lenny finally starved to death, and I didn't realize why until I read the bag and it said, "Guinea Pig bedding" and not "Guinea Pig food". That made me sick to think that poor little animal starved to death.

6. Going way back...When I was in High School I snuck out my window for something and broke the ledge outside the window. When my Dad asked what happened I told him the wind must have blown it off. Oh dear...

7. I was 7m. pregnant with our first kid, and we had a lesson on food storage in Relief Society. The girl who was teaching it brought in granola for us to sample, and I liked it so much I asked her if I could bring it home and have some more. She said I could. So I did. 3 months later-and 1/2 the granola left-She came knocking on my door asking for it back because she wanted to can it. OOPS. I was pregnant what can I say...

That will do for now. I feel better.

Fun to do

I always read about all the funny things other people's kids say, and I always think, "I know my kids say some funny things, but I can't remember." I actually wrote some of those things down this week so that I could blog about them, in hopes that 50 years down the road, when I can't remember my own name, I can read about some of the funny things some kids said a long time ago. AJ seems to be full of funny things to say lately. He thinks that when he beats someone in a race of some kind he should say, "I beat you up!" instead of I beat you. He runs to the car: "I beat you up!" Or if Garret keeps beating him during a video game he'll say, "Garret is beating me up!" AJ also loves to sing, and he sings to himself all day long. One of his favorite songs from nursery is that Fun to do song: Eating a snack is fun to do, fun to do, fun to do. Eating a snack is fun to do, to do, to do, to do.... That song where you substitute anything at the front...reading a book, eating a snack, running around, clapping our hands, etc...The other day he sang it like this: "Beating you up is fun to do, fun to do, fun to do. Beating you up is fun to do, to do, to do, to do." It was funny hearing that come out of my 3 year old's mouth in the form of a song. Yesterday, AJ came up with a solution to a serious problem. Garret's frog, Jumper, jumped out of the Rubbermaid and is gone forever. Garret was really upset. AJ decided that next time "let's not get something that can jump or run. Let's just catch a stick." Sounds good to me!! Cora has always wanted a horse!

Speaking of Cora, she is finally back with us! Mark's parents flew back with her on Sunday night. We've been missing HER a lot, but her complaining...not so much. Garret was so excited to get her home, and was running around the house screaming and hugging me all day in anticipation of Cora getting here. She has liked Nebraska so far, but expressed some concern to me today when she asked me: "Mom...In Nebraska, do we always skip lunch?" Very valid question seeing as how we haven't had lunch the past two days. Why? I'm not sure why, but I did finish the book I was reading today! The Host. It was a great book! So tomorrow...we eat lunch!! The kids did eat lunch even though I didn't feed it to them. AJ ate half a bag of marshmallows, and a couple cold hot dogs, and Garret ate a cold hot dog too. Cora's old enough to pillage through the kitchen for something!! I don't know what her problem is...
We saw deers the other day in the neighborhood. "Look kids! Some deer!" AJ-"Can I pee on it?" I guess "Peeing on deer is fun to do, fun to do, fun to do. Peeing on deer is fun to do, to do, to do, to do." Who knew?

I stand all amazed

I actually wrote this Tuesday night, but never got around to finishing it. I feel it is a great way to begin this post:

What a great night...again! We all know and, hopefully, have experienced, the immense love our Father in Heaven has for each of us. Tonight, once again, I stand all amazed at that Love. You know those times when you feel the spirit so strongly you become as a child wanting to squeal with delight from your ears, and you can't stop smiling?...When you know, without one ounce of doubt, that there is a God, and He is so aware of you, and loves you, and has blessed you beyond what you can even understand? (Well that's how it is for me anyways, but you know what I'm talking about) That's how I feel right now. I know there is a God in Heaven...A loving, kind, understanding, patient, forgiving Father, who loves us more than we can imagine. He has the ability to take the worst of things, and make them beautiful and calm to bless our lives and the lives of others. He knows us...our fears, hopes, dreams, weaknesses, pains, and knows the very best way to make it all "work out in the end." I am so thankful for all I've gone through in life, and the challenges I've faced. I know I could not have known the happiness I do today without it all. I have been blessed with a testimony that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is God's church on the Earth today just as it was established by Christ long ago. I know this because I had a desire to find the truth. So I looked for it, and when I found it I asked Heavenly Father in prayer, for myself, if what I had found was true. My life hasn't been the same since.

Now back to right now...There are some passions I have in life even though sometimes I forget I am allowed to be passionate about anything other than my kids. I have been so blessed this week with so many opportunities to remember all the little things that really bring so much joy and purpose into my life. This post is going to be all about my week.
1.

My husband. I love him, and am so thankful I was smart enough to marry him even though I was way to immature to appreciate him. As I grow up, I appreciate him, and the amazing man he is, more each day. Especially since he got a new hair doo! (J/K)
2. My kids.



I do have 2 other kids I know. If you want to see pictures of them, there are plenty elsewhere on the blog. Jorie turns 1 tomorrow. How fast time passes! I have really been trying hard to be a more passionate mom (besides cooking, cleaning, laundry, blah, blah, blah...) I really want to find that joy and be able rejoice in them.

My list is going to get a bit more shallow from here on out!

3. Vera Bradley

Purses are my one girly weakness. This week at the store on the AF Base I was introduced to Vera Bradley...She designs fabric, and then somebody in a foreign country makes bags out of it. That is a picture of my new purse. I have a matching wallet to go with it. At this point, I'm hoping she only has two new collections per year...Spring/Summer and winter/fall.

4. Yard sales and thrift stores. People in Nebraska love yard sales, and there is an awesome Goodwill right down the street from my house!
5. Quilting.

4and5 go together because today I bought these two quilts at a yard sale for $8. They are vintage...right out of the 70's. I know some of you may think these are ugly, but for the others...Check these out!

Look at those fabrics in that quilt!!!



That is the real deal for all you fabric snots out there! I have my dear friend Vanessa to thank for turning me into a fabric snot. Thank you V. Here is the other quilt. Not as cool, but it's still awesome!

Last night at a yard sale I found 3 white 11x17 picture frames-which I had been looking for FOREVER-new, still wrapped up, for $2 each. I actually thought today, "I hope there's yard sales and thrift stores in the after-this-life."

6. A good hair stylist.
I can't tell you how many times I have gotten a really bad haircut. When I find a good hair stylist, it's like finding a good deal at a yard sale! On Tuesday I got my hair cut and colored! I always want to be able to see the color when I'm done, but always chicken out. This time I told her blond. I want parts of my hair to be blond!

I tried to get a good shot of me from the front...

but I couldn't seem to get one. Anyways, I was led to a good hairstylist by divine intervention (seriously!...I'm excited to see what comes of this friendship...), and that makes my heart and hair happy. Refer back up to the top for my feelings about this night.

7. Stephanie Meyer

And her new book...

I was up till 4a.m last night reading, and I didn't want to stop. Most of you have read or heard of her Twilight series. the host is her new book, and it is a little different, and a little slower, but it is just as captivating. I love her style of writing, and when I read, it's like I'm not reading. She uses such amazing detail it's like the words instantly become a movie in my head. Read the book before the last book in the Twilight series comes out in Aug. I think you will be able to appreciate it more if you do.

If I weren't tired of blogging at this point I would go on to name a few more like Provolone cheese, and my re-newed SERIOUS passion for running (thanks Kamille!), but I have to go rest. I hope all you out in the blogging world find a little passion in each day!

We're definatly not in Utah anymore...Toto

I know, I know...You've probably heard that line changed around so many times, but I seriously thought we were going to get blown away on Wed. night. That same storm system that killed 4 scouts in Little Sioux came right through us. Mark actually saw a funnel cloud, and it freaked him out. So we slept in the basement and had a storm party (what else do you do??). Ice-cream, gummy worms, and pizza while watching Jurassic Park with the boys. It was great. Some of you might be wondering if that movie freaked my kids out...no it didn't. But Garret did pick up on a not-so-nice phrase, and used it one night while him and Mark were playing Donkey Kong. Garret couldn't figure out how to get into a door on the game, so he very casually let out the words, "What the h@&&?" It totally caught Mark off guard, but he didn't say anything to Garret about it. When I asked him why not, he said because he thought it was "too funny to stop him". "That's nice," I thought. "I can now officially count my husband as one of my children." Needless to say, no more Jurassic Park, and if I ever hear Garret say it, I'm going to wash my husband's mouth out with soap. Anyways, we made it through the storm with no damage to anything, and it hasn't rained since and I'm kinda missing it. On Thursday I went to the cannery, and had hoped to get some food storage done. Didn't happen because some chick showed up wanting a whole years worth of food storage canned that day. No joke. She lived 3 hours away and had rented a u-haul to get it all back. I realized early on my stuff wasn't going to get done after we canned 24 boxes of rice and she said she needed 144 cans of wheat. They asked me what I wanted to can. What am I going to say??? This girl rented a u-haul and I can come back anytime! "Let's just get as much of her stuff done as we can," I said. I did feel good about helping out and was glad I was there to help because it was just her and I and the missionary who served there. But I must confess...I'm no saint. Multiple times I had to stop myself from asking the question (to myself) "What is she thinking??? A whole years worth of food storage for 5 people???" I'm totally losing service points by bringing it up, but o well. It was an exhausting day, but it was good. I got that "I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing" feeling, and that's always very worth it. I'm excited to get OUR food storage in order, and had the scripture pass through my mind multiple times "...if ye are prepared, ye shall not fear." Thursday night was also cooking club night in my new ward. Nothing like cooking club in Utah ladies...don't worry. But we did make some dang good doughnuts! I'll have to pass on the recipes. And guess what?? I now have so many Utah cooking club meals and ideas to share with Nebraska cooking club!!! How cool is that?! And since they don't know any of you, it is going to be Jenny's Jamaican dinner, and Jenny's this, and Jen's that!!! Little will they know how lame I really am in the kitchen! Friday night we went over to a friend's house for dinner, and had a great time. We are really getting settled in fast here, but not enough for me to start taking pictures of my house. I'm not going to post messy pictures of my new house. But we did have a Primary activity today and I took some pictures so here you go.

Garret's new friend Briggs.

Decorating Cookie ties for Father's Day.

It was a fun with water theme day, and they had a tug of war over a pool of water. Garret is showing me his muscles before the big tug! Look at those muscles!!

Pull!!!

Oops!! The kids had a great time and Garret is excited about Primary again! There are even big kids that are begging me to babysit!!

Sweet!! We went out to lunch after the activity to some yummy, but dumpy place where they actually asked us "Smoking or Non?" when we walked in. I haven't heard that in a LONG time. The boys had to go to the bathroom, and luckily I had my camera cause' I got a kick out of this:

The "All By Myself" stool under the bathroom sink. Here is A.J. washing his hands "all by himself" using the "all by myself" stool.

All this fun we are having, and it just doesn't feel complete without Cora here! We all miss her so much and sometimes I even freak out cause' I'm missing a kid. Cora, we love you and can't wait for you to get here! Life truly can't begin here without you! Love you Babe!!

Spectacular

I have just spent 2 hours reading and commenting on people's blogs. This is why I haven't blogged in forever, and I really shouldn't be now, but I'm so excited again. All you ladies are such amazing people I can't stop reading about your lives! Today was great! I made a new friend that shares my passion about running and has run a few marathons, but she's 5m pregnant. So in March of next year we are going to start training for a marathon together. Yes, we are already planning it. I went on my first NE run today! So many hills. It's tough, and I love it! The Omaha half marathon is in Sept and I am planning on that. Sorry I'm obsessed. While I was running tonight the sunset was spectacular. I don't really use that word too often...Spectacular. Kinda a dork word, but the sky did look Spectacular. I'm going to try to find a pic.

That is what my backdrop was like tonight on my run! Spectacular huh! I have to go do something constructive with my house right now. But just one funny random thought that actually became a concern of mine the other day that I have to share. I was pretending to play dead with AJ. Everytime I pretend to pass out he comes and tries to press his fingers into my eyes. I actually thought about what would happen to my eyes if I ever really did pass out or something. I would wake up with punctured eyeballs that's what would happen! Let's just hope I never pass out with AJ around...Can you believe that's actually a concern of mine!! And for all you who want more Julie pics here you go. Isn't she so whi gwo?

Yes, that is MY husband, HER brother in that picture. They are famous!

Spectacular!

Nebraska Or Bust!!

We made it to Nebraska, where Mark got a new job, and we bought an awesome house, and we sold our old house in 3 weeks, but before we moved A.J had a birthday and turned 3, and Cora turned 8 and was baptized, and I ran my half-marathon. Now you all are up-to-date!! Here are
some pictures:
And that will have to do for now because it's too overwhelming and if I get to overwhelmed, I might not ever blog again for the rest of my whole entire life, and that's a long time. I want to spend more time blogging about things past, but not today. So here are some pictures of Garret and A.J. playing in the sprinkler yesterday.


And this is what Jorie does when the sprinklers are on:
Oh...wait...that's what she does when Daddy is cleaning out the rain gutters before a big storm. She drinks the run-off! So far we have had a lot of really nasty weather. Thunderstorms like you wouldn't believe with tornado warnings and all. Last night it seemed like something straight out of War of the Worlds. No more than 2 seconds went by when the sky wasn't lit up with lightning and there was CRAZY wind with the severe weather warning sirens going off in the distance...pounding rain with some hail...Growing up in Florida, I've seen some storms, but the two here so far have just amazed and humbled me. I have a renewed respect for "mother nature". There is a tiny part of me that hopes to see a tornado one day. One that is far, far away in an open field where no one will be hurt. Speaking of open fields...Nebraska, where I live, is not very flat at all. In fact, there are a lot of trees and forests spread around, and it is a very calming landscape. Most open spaces, however, are filled up with corn fields that are just starting to take off. I feel very peaceful here, and love the new house. We have so much space!! The yard is huge with 6 big trees. I'll get pictures another time. I hope we can settle here for at least 2 years. If we can hit the 2 year mark anywhere it will be a miracle of sorts. Anyways...While we were packing up the house in Utah my kids kept getting a hold of my camera and taking videos and pictures. Some of them are funny so I'll finish off this post with some of those.




As much as I like being here so far, I do miss Utah and seeing you ladies out and about. Not that I'm a social butterfly who likes to chat, chat, chat, but I do miss the familiarity and great friends. Murray is the best for sure!!! Oh and Julie...look what I found while unpacking: