SPARTY TIME!

If you live in Arizona in the East Valley this is a deal you just can't pass up!  My brother has opened his first FreSpa in Mesa and is offering a girls night out deal that's to good to be true! Get your girlfriends together and SPARTY!  

Here is your official invitation!  

 

you are invited to an... 

eat drink and be pretty party. 

you and your friends will be treated to: 

• express pedicure 

• neck and shoulder massage 

• paraffin hand treatment 

• hand facial 

• make up refreshers 

• beverages and light fair 

• latest beauty secrets 

• sparty games and prizes! 

ONLY $20 per person all inclusive. tipping is forbidden. 

Call 480-268-2929 

and schedule your SPARTY today!

Look familiar?

Remember these letters?  

Late last night Ethan said that he had to have a sign or poster or something with a slogan on it for the 5th grade elections today.  He is running for the House of Representatives.  We had to get creative with things we happened to have on hand at the house because I was NOT going to the store!  Well it Just so happened that I have 

really big BYU letters!

So there you have it,

Let Me BE YOUR GUY!

Twin Sisters?

They may look nothing alike but just ask them, 

THEY REALLY ARE TWIN SISTERS!

Reagan and Callie have been having so much fun playing together.  It's sister this and sister that.  They are so cute to watch!  

Yesterday we got them twin St. Patrick's Day shirts.  This was so thrilling to them!  So today we even did twin hair do's.

They are so cute and cooperative.  

They were very happy to model for me!

Callie from the back.

And Reagan from the back.

The Huntsman

Carsten's 1st grade class preformed a play yesterday at school.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Carsten was the Huntsman!

Isn't he cute in his costume!

He had a speaking part and everything!

He said, "You must come with me Snow White, 

the wicked Queen wants me to take you into the forest."

Snow White then followed him into the forest and said, 

"I don't like it in the forest, please take me home!"

Then Carsten said, 

"I can't!  The wicked Queen will kill you, run and never return!"

Then they ran off stage together.

It was very cute!  

I was so proud of Carsten and thought that he did a really good job!  He spoke loud and clear and he remembered all of his lines!  

Good Job Carsten!

Pray for Gracie!

Gracie is in surgery right now getting 

a new heart!  

Gracie was put on the transplant list on Wednesday and just 3 days later (last night) they received a call that they had a heart for her!  

It's an absolute miracle!

For those of you back home that don't know about Gracie, she is our neighbor.  We have been praying for her as a family for 11 months now along with a million other people who love her.  Gracie is a real fighter!  She has beat all odds against her time and time again!  We are so excited for the Gledhills and their sweet baby Gracie!

We love you Gracie girl!

If you want to link to her blog, 

click on Gracie's blog under Friend blogs.

I feel pretty heroic!

I don't know if you remember that talk that President Dieter F. Uchdorf gave at the Womens session of General Conference in Oct. 2008 but I loved it!  

He said, "I’m sure it comes as no surprise, but the differences between men and women can often be quite striking—physically and mentally, as well as emotionally. One of the best ways I can think of to illustrate this is in the way my wife and I cook a meal.

When Harriet prepares a meal, it’s a masterpiece. Her cuisine is as wide-ranging as the world, and she frequently prepares dishes from countries we have visited. The presentation of the food is awe inspiring. In fact, it often looks so beautiful that it seems a crime to eat it. It’s as much a feast for the eyes as it is for the sense of taste.

But sure enough, no matter how perfect everything is, looks, and tastes, Harriet will apologize for something she thinks is imperfect. “I’m afraid I used a touch too much ginger,” she will say, or, “Next time, I think it would be better if I used a little more curry and one additional bay leaf.”

Let me contrast that with the way I cook. For the purpose of this talk, I asked Harriet to tell me what I cook best.

Her answer: fried eggs.

Sunny-side up.

But that isn’t all. I have a specialty dish called Knusperchen. The name may sound like a delicacy you might find at an exclusive restaurant. Let me share with you how to make it. You cut French bread into small slices and toast them twice.

That is the recipe!

So, between fried eggs, even when they are greasy, and Knusperchen, even when they are burned, when I cook,I feel pretty heroic."

Well I made my own homemade bread today and I feel pretty heroic!

I, unlike Sister Uchdorf am not that great of a cook.  I love to make treats but cooking has never been my thing.  I am intimidated by cooking for some reason.  Baking bread has always intimidated me too!  Everyone tells me that it is easy but I have always been afraid to try.  Well, I'm pleased to announce that I have made my own bread!  My friend had me come to her house and she taught me how to make 4 loaves of bread in 1 hour.  I am so excited that I can call myself a bread maker now!

David's big day!

It was the BIG 39 for David yesterday!

David doesn't get as excited about birthdays as I do.  I have to refrain from making a big to do about it because he seriously hates big to do's!  

After our temple trip we dropped the kids off at home and David and I went to The Pizza Factory for lunch.  It was a nice little get away.

The kids really wanted to get David the same hamburger cake from Kohlers that we got him 2 years ago but when David and I went to pick the cake up David just couldn't bring himself to buy a cake with that much frosting on it!  So we went with a cute little small cake. 

It was perfect!

After cake and ice cream we took the kids to Humphries Archery for their customer appreciation night.  Ethan chose to stay home with Talan which worked out great because Talan was extremely tired and went down for the night.

We all shot in the techno hunt. 

 It was a lot of fun! 

 Bradon and Carsten tied and David beat me by 2.  I actually let David win because it was his birthday and all...  It was like a little present!  Wink ;) Wink ;) 

Reagan decided to just watch and cheer us on!

Here's to the last year of your 30's David!  

I hope that you have a fabulous year and that all your birthday wishes come true!

Happy birthday babe!  

We all love you!

The Draper Utah Temple Open House

Today is David's birthday and he chose to take the family to the Draper Temple open house.  All the kids missed school (without any complaints).  We all put on our Sunday's best (with minor complaints).  And we all had a terrific time!

We parked at a church a few miles away from the temple.  They showed a short video about temples and then we took a bus ride to the temple.  After we walked through the whole temple we went to the church house next to the temple and had cookies.  We then waited for our bus ride home.  Reagan was pretty excited about that bus!

When we got home I asked each of the kids separately what they liked the most about the temple.  

This is what they said:

Ethan:  The baptismal font because of the oxen in the bottom.

Bradon:  The baptismal font because it was cool that there were 12  ox's under it.  It also reminded me of my baptism.

Carsten:  I liked the place where you baptize the dead.  It smelled good and I liked it!

Reagan:  All of it was my favorite!

Talan:  He couldn't tell me what his favorite part was but I think he liked walking through the heated tunnels outside the temple and eating the cookies at the end.  He was extremely quiet and still in the sealing room though.  So maybe the sealing room was his favorite!

Hands down the kids liked the baptismal font the best!

It was a wonderful experience to walk through the temple with our children and explain to them about the different rooms and what we do in them.  I can remember when I was young wondering what the temple was all about.  I think that now that they have seen inside of one they will have a greater desire to someday go themselves and a better understanding of where mom and dad are going and what we are doing.

New table and chairs!

I'm so excited about my new table and chairs!

I have been wanting a new kitchen table for so many years now that I can't even keep track of how many years it's been.

So I went to Osmond Design and found the cutest table ever.  The cutest table that just so happens to be the same exact table and chairs that my neighbor Michele has.  I hope that she is flattered that I think she has great taste in furniture and not irritated that I'm COPYING her!

Two weeks ago the table and chairs came but the table was BROKEN!  

SO IRRITATING!  

They left me with the new chairs and my OLD table!  

Finally today the new table arrived!  

ISN'T IT BEAUTIFUL?

  A wise friend once told me that having an out of date kitchen table for a stay at home mother is like having to wear an out of date old pair of jeans from the 80's every single day!  (Or something like that!)  There is just something about wearing a nice new pair of jeans that makes a girl happy!  And I agree, this new table feels great!  It just... fits!

The legs are my favorite feature! 

Cute little Talan was pretty excited about the new table too!  

AND NOW FOR A CENTERPIECE...

Valentine's Day!

This year since Valentine's day fell on a Saturday, 

we made it extra special!  

My good friend Michele gave me a great idea to leave a trail  of candy from each of the kids bedrooms to the kitchen table where they would find their Valentine gifts.

So that's what I did!  

Reagan woke up first and came to our room.  I asked her if she saw the candy on the ground.  She said that she did and then insisted that it was Carsten who did it!  I asked her why she thought it was Carsten.  She said that he got candy from his school valentine party.  Then she decided that she would go check Carsten's valentine box to see if all his candy was gone.  When she came back into the room she said, "Nope, it wasn't Carsten, I think it was Bradon!"  We asked her why she thought it was Bradon.  She told us that Carsten's valentine candy was still in his box and she knew that Bradon got candy from his class party too.  We then told her that we were the one's who left the trail of candy.  She just looked at us like we were lying!  Yes!  Believe it or not, mom and dad do some pretty fun crazy things from time to time!  

We got each of the kids a little box of chocolates and a valentine frog that sings.  Except for Reagan.  Her daddy bought her a bouquet of purple tulips too!  She was so excited!  She moves the tulips from her room, to the family room, to the kitchen, and then back to her room again!  She loves that they are hers and she can do what she wants with them!

Happy Valentines Day kids, 

We love you!

Valentine's Day Boxes!

Carsten and his dog box!

Bradon and his BYU football stadium box!

Every year, the night before the Valentine party at school, we spend hours making valentine boxes for the kids to collect their valentines in.  It seems like their classes always have contests to see who can create the coolest box.  I think that there is nothing wrong with a nice little valentine bag to collect valentines in, however the kids think that box decorating is extremely important!  

Last night we had reached bedtime and not a word was spoken about the valentine boxes.  I was thrilled!  Then Ethan came in and said that his class wasn't doing valentine boxes this year.  But he was wondering why the other kids hadn't made theirs.  I told him that they could just bring sacks for their valentines.  Then I told him not to say anything about the boxes because I think Bradon and Carsten had forgotten about them and that was just fine by me! 

As I went to their rooms to tuck them in Carsten remembered about his valentine box!  Sheer panic!  "But mom this is the first year that I get to make a valentine box!"  I told him that there wasn't any time tonight because it was already bedtime.  Real tears began to fall!  So I promised him that if he got ready for school quickly in the morning then I would help him make a box before school.  

So this morning from 8:00 until about 9:00 we worked like mad to create a special box for Carsten!  At first he wanted a dog house box.  Then he decided he wanted a box to look like the new little plush puppy his Grandma Adair sent him for Valentine's Day.  So a puppy it is!  Bradon and Ethan went to work on Bradon's box.  I think the idea is, bigger is better!  You can't get much bigger than a football stadium.  He wanted it to be a Cardinal stadium but all we had was blue tape so he went with BYU.

Both boxes turned out cute and the kids were thrilled to take them to school!  Ethan was thrilled to take a recycled plastic Target bag in valentine red and white colors!  

 

Diaper changing 101

Now that Ethan is in his 12 year of life he is learning to babysit.  

We leave him for short periods of time and occasionally he even gets paid a little bit of money for it!  

Last night David and I decided to go on our Valentine date early to beat the crazy crowds.  We told Ethan that he could babysit for money and we would be gone for 3 full hours.  He was very confident and excited to make a little money.  Then I told him that my only worry was that Talan might have a messy diaper while we were gone.  Ethan has never changed a messy diaper before!  Heck I'm not sure if he's even ever changed a diaper at all!  I told him that if he does have a messy diaper then he would need to lay a towel on the ground and get the other boys to help him change it.  I could tell that he was a little worried but up for the challenge.  I left just hoping that Talan kept it all in until we got back home.

So in the middle of the movie my cell phone rang.  It was Ethan telling me that Talan had a messy diaper.  I reminded him about the towel and told him to make sure to get the other boys to help him.

When we got home 

this is what we found!

The diaper was on completely backwards!  

Apparently it was pretty itchy because Talan had scratched up his back and butt pretty good.  Talan was happy as a clam though!

The boys gave us a complete play by play of exactly what happened.  The towel had poop all over it (Thank heavens I told them to lay down a towel!) and Ethan said, "He just wiggles so much and then gets up and tries to walk away right while your changing him!"  He then said, "I don't care if the diaper is on backwards, I just wanted to get it on!"  Over all I think they did pretty good for their first diaper change ever!

Way to go guys!

5th grade science fair.

It started out with a complex water splitting scientific experiment.  You know, something right up Ethan's alley.  Well when the battery died and the experiment bombed and we were down to next to no time to have the project completed...

We had to go with something a little more up mom's alley.   What kind of cup keeps your ice frozen the longest?  Plastic, Styrofoam, or Paper?  And what kind of ice melts faster?  Pebbled or cubed?  And which ice produces to most water when melted?  These are all very important questions when your a lady who enjoys a cold beverage every now and then... Well okay, EVERYDAY!

So here it is completed after a long day/night working on it!  

The Ice Cold Facts!

Isn't he cute?  Now if that poster doesn't have MOM written all over it I don't know what does!  Man I'm good!  Well, good at posters but maybe not so good at being a mom.  Last night as I was working on this with Ethan David came in to tell me what a good mom I was.  Yeah, right!  "Just move over and let me do it!"  What's that teaching him?  Anyways, it's nothing my mom wouldn't or didn't do for me. I'm just following the only example that I know!  Ethan, your project looked great!  I hope you pass with flying colors!  

And I must say, Ethan did help!  He wouldn't go to bed until it was completely finished.  He kept saying, "This is my project and even though I'm tired I've got to stay up until it's finished!"

Ethan is a good kid and I love him!

Oh yeah, Pebbled and cubed ice both produce the same amount of water when melted.  Pebbled ice melts faster than cubed.  And plastic melts the ice the fastest, paper second and styrofoam holds the cold in the longest.  So if you really want your drink to stay cold the longest then use a styrofoam cup with cubed ice.  Unfortunately the cup I use is plastic and the ice I love is pebbled.  The combination of pebbled ice in a plastic cup is the #1 fastest ice melting method!  Will I change?  Probably not!  But it was fun experimenting! 

Look what I can do now!

I'm 13 months old and I'm on top of my game!

I have tremendous balance and I love doing new tricks!

Look, I can get stuff off the counters now!

I just push my little 4 wheeler or train around and then climb up, it's easy!

(This picture was taken just before he climbed up onto his 4 wheeler showing off his graceful balancing skills and then pulled my beautiful tulips over spilling water everywhere causing tulip petals to fly in all directions!)

It's all in a day's work!

Tulips!

Tulips are by far my favorite flower.  

Last Friday David had Tulips delivered to me.  Aren't they beautiful?  Reagan asked me if she could have them.  I told her "No, these are my flowers that dad sent to ME!"  She told me with a real sad puppy dog face, "I wish dad would send me flowers too!"  Isn't that cute?  So who knows, she might just be getting a little valentines day surprise from dad!

F.F.F., Forced Family Fun!

On February 2nd the kids didn't have school and so we went to Salt Lake.  We met David at the Gateway and went to the Children's Discovery Museum.  After playing in the fountain first of course!

There's just nothing more fun than trying to dodge water from hitting you while it's freezing cold outside!

Talan was the only real smart one.  He chilled out in his stroller just watching the fun!

When we got to the Children's Museum Talan was in hog heaven!  He had so much fun touching anything and everything he could get his hands on.

Look at those musical little Adairs!

I think the kids are totally enjoying Talan in his new 'discovery' stage.  Everyone gets such a kick out of him!  

And now on to the NEWS with Carsten and Reagan 

in their morning show.  

Aren't they cute when they aren't fighting?

Reagan interviewing her first guest Glenn...  I mean Ethan!  Someone in our ward thinks that Ethan looks like a little Glenn Beck.  I call him Glenn all the time now.  Ethan loves it!

And for the grand finally!  

Our special baby guest performing super new and cute human tricks, Talan Adair!

We had a real good time playing and 

being together as a family!