Mother, Far away Grandma and Friend...

Happy 77th Birthday Jeannine!

We just want to wish you a happy birthday and let you know that we love and miss you so much!

You are an amazing Mother, Mother-In law, Grandmother and friend to all of us.  You have done more for us than imaginable!  Your example and influence will touch generations to come.

Some of the many things we love about you are...

You are so fun to surprise!  

We love to drop in for surprise visits to see your face light up, to hear your voice squeal with excitement and to see your eyes fill with tears of pure love.

You have an immense love for your family!  

Your entire life has been dedicated to loving and serving each one of your children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

My children know without any shadow of doubt that their grandma not only loves them but would do anything she possible could for them.  You have completed some amazing tasks that my children have requested of you.  Making quilts and costumes they have designed all while giving you very specific instructions on exactly how it should turn out.  Making bread, cookies, egg salad sandwiches, the list could just go on forever.  And you have always done everything you do out of love!

You are a good sport!

You are always up for a party especially if you know it means a lot to us to have you there!  

You are always willing to help.  

With birthday parties, making candy, cleaning, baby sitting, garage sales, and once again the list could go on forever.

You mean a lot to us and we love you very much!  

Enjoy your special day!  Live it up and do something fun just for you!  

We Love You!

Happy Birthday!

In the playoffs!

Bradon's team made it to the playoffs.  They have only lost 1 game all season.  They play in their first playoff game this Wednesday night.  These are a few chilly pictures I took at his last season game.

Sipping a little hot chocolate to warm up!

That's my x man!

A little half time pep talk to go with those apple slices!

GO KNIGHTS!

Bradon is the one just to the left of the h in knights.  

He doesn't have a helmet on.

All smiles!

This boy is all smiles!  

I just couldn't decide which picture I liked best. 

We were having a little family laundry time and Talan thoroughly enjoyed it!  

Cross over Ceremony

Ethan has officially been to his last pack meeting as a Cub Scout.  As of November 12th he will be 11 years old and apart of the 11 year old Scouts.  I can hardly believe that he is already going to be 11!  My baby is growing up!

At his LAST pack meeting they did a cross over ceremony.  The Webelos made a bridge that he walked under where he was met on the other side by his new 11 year old Scout leaders and 11 year old boys.

Congratulations Ethan

on becoming an 11 year old Scout!

The year of the witch!

This year for Halloween Reagan was very sure without hesitation that she wanted to be a witch.  We were at Walgreens and found this cute little witch costume for the perfect price of $10.00.  It was then and there that I without hesitation was sure that she would be a witch!

The Activity Day girls in our ward planned a Halloween Carnival for all the youngest primary classes.  This was Reagan's first Halloween party and she was very excited to go.  Her cute friend Keagan came over and they got ready to go.  They were both witches!  Reagan told me that she is a "Pretend Mean Witch" that's because she is really nice!

 

Isn't she so cute?  I love my little pretend mean witch!  And look at her hair.  It's getting so long!

Well it turns out it's 

THE YEAR OF THE WITCH!  

Lot's of little witches came to the party and not one of them were dressed the same.  I thought that they were all adorable little witches but Reagan of course was the cutest 'pretend mean witch' of them all!

Brotherly love

David had to go to Salt Lake for a sleep study.  When it came time to put the kids to bed, Talan just wouldn't settle down.  I decided that it would be best to just let Talan cry it out in his crib while I worked on getting the rest of the kids in bed.  It should be a win win situation.  If Talan doesn't fall asleep on his own, crying will at least make him tired and then when I'm ready to rock him to sleep he'll be out in no time!  

So I sent Ethan to his room, Bradon and Carsten to their room, and then tucked Reagan in and scratch her back for a few minuets.  Meanwhile I can hear Talan bawling in his crib just as planned.  Then much to my surprise, all of a sudden Talan settled down!  I think, "Oh good, he's put himself to sleep!"  I was a bit surprised but pleasantly surprised to say the least!  So when I got done with Reagan, I went and checked on Bradon and Carsten and then I went to check on Ethan.  Ethan was gone!  Well where in the heck is Ethan?  So I go down stairs and there I find Ethan holding his baby brother.  No wonder Talan had settled down!  His big brother had come to his rescue!  Ethan just couldn't stand listening to Talan cry!  Now that's true brotherly love!  

(Or just a kid trying to get out of going to bed!)

The Phantom has served!

Last week my sweet friend Shari taught the sharing time lesson in primary on service.  She gave all the kids slips of paper that said 

"The Phantom has served!  Pass it on..."

and encouraged all the children to think of ways they can serve others.  She told them to do something nice for someone else and then leave behind the Phantom has served note so that they can then do something nice for someone too!

So last night we were in our backyard and Carsten and Reagan noticed that our neighbors had left their shoes behind.  They decided that they should return them in Phantom like fashion!  They were so excited to do a good deed for their friends!  They came inside and we prepared the shoes for their safe return home.  We taped packages of skittles to the note, stuffed them in the shoes and...

Carsten and Reagan then ran across the street and placed the shoes at their front door...

then they rang the door bell and ran...

they ran like the wind!

Oh it was fun to see the excitement in their eyes for they knew that they had done something GOOD!  

Shhhhhh The Phantom has served!

More family pictures

Family pictures

On Saturday we met my cousin Heidi at the park across the street from the Mt. Timpanogos Temple and had family pictures taken with my camera.  I think that they turned out pretty good and they were a lot cheaper than having them professionally done.  Thanks Heidi, we think you're fabulous!  Here are just a few of my favorite.  

I'll post more later!

Homemade baby wipes

I had told someone that I would post the recipe to the homemade baby wipes I use.

My cousin Rachel has used homemade wipes for years and just before Talan was born I got the recipe from her and I have been using them ever since.

In a plastic container big enough to fit a 1/2 roll of paper towels 

ADD...

2 1/2 cups warm water 

1 Tbsp. Baby Oil

2 Tbsp. Baby Lotion

2 Tbsp. Baby Wash

Whisk together until all mixed and frothy.

Place 1/2 roll of select size Bounty paper towels jagged side down, cover and flip over.

Let sit for a few hours while all the liquid soaks in.

Flip back over and pull out the middle of the paper towel roll.

Then pulling from the middle of the roll, your wipes are complete!

I have found this to be a very easy, nice on little baby bums and extremely affordable!  I am still on my first bottles of oil, lotion and baby wash and Talan is already 9 months old.  The Bounty select size paper towels are usually around $2.00 a roll so that's $1.00 each time I make a batch.