Some Sibling Love and Some Snowmen

Last night we had our older kids' siblings over for a little while. Our family daily activity was to make snowmen oreos

 I obviously did something wrong with the snowmen, because they did not turn out the same way that I saw here.at the Idea Room.  I so wanted them to turn out like that though.

Alas, ours turned out beautifully, albeit in a special way. It was good to have the kiddos all together and having some fun. There's been some tough times lately and it made my heart happy to see the tension easing and the love shining.

Tonathiu giving us his best chuck norris face. :)

Wow, Sap-tastic!

Monkeys? We gots 'em!

Barrel Of Monkeys!

This was in another bag for our daily countdown bag.
Holy Cow is this a fun little game. We were able to find this cute little game at Target for $5! It was a perfect addition to our family fun game time. It's easy for *all* of the kids, and all of them enjoy playing it. Something that is kind of hard to accomplish when you have a 5 yr old and a 12 yr old. Usually they don't enjoy the same things. :)

And, I totally kicked everyone's tookus on the very first game. Then, CaryJos figured out my strategies and he spanked me the second time around. If you're looking for a fun, easy, and quick game, go out and gets yourself a barrel or two.
:)

Yoalli's Singing Career part Dos

On Monday night we went to Temple Square to listen to Yoalli in part two of her concert series. She performed at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and it was spectacular. Seriously took my breath away. I hadn't been in the building before, yes apparently I live under a rock, and it was beautiful. There were other choirs performing as well and it was lovely to sit and listen to them while we waited for Yoalli's turn. This performance wasn't as much "Fun" as the concert in AF, but it was still wonderful. I'm so proud of my little boballi and all that she accomplishes. She told me that she was a bit nervous, but she prayed to Heavenly Father and he helped her to feel better. I'm grateful that she turns to Him when she's feeling uneasy or scared. After the concert, we toured the visitor's centers,

the Tabernacle,

all of the lovely light displays

and we ended at the Christus statue.

It was amazing sharing that experience with my children. As we walked up the ramp, Bug saw the statue and said, "Ooooh Mumma look at Jesus!"
I'm so grateful for all the time we were able to spend together as a family these past couple of weeks. We have definitely found some new traditions this year.

mOOObie

I'm playing catch up here, but I still want to document what we did :)

We watched this movie

and it was super good.
There were parts of it that scared the little girls, but everyone wants to watch it again and it has quickly become a family favorite.

Cookie Time! :)

Today was a day to give a little service and do something for others. We've been having a blast with our activities, and I figured we needed to share with our friends.

We made cookies and turtle brownies(holy crap are they good!)today and we will be delivering them after Tonathiu's court of honour to our friends. 

Happy Sunday :)

This is what happens when Daddy tells the Bug she can lick the bowl. 

She, literally, licked the bowl. :) 

Love her! :)

Saaaaturday!

I just love the weekends. I most especially love productive weekends! This Saturday our dear friend watched our kidlets for us while we went and finished shopping, wrapping, etc. It was kind of fabulous. I love her dearly.

After we finished with all of our stuffs, we came home and opened the 7th bag! Fantastic! Saturday's activity was making salt dough ornaments and painting them. Each of my kids are super creative and love making things, Love it!, so this was a perfect activity for our family.

We had never made salt dough ornaments before, but it was sooooo super easy and the kids loved it. Gabby said we most definitely had to do it again. :) I love my little bossy boots angel.

We had to let them cook in the oven for an hour and cool. By that time, it was bedtime and we have early church, so we opted to finish the ornaments on Sunday. I think it's a pretty good Sabbath activity, no?

This is Cuauhtli. That kid amazes me with his creativity. He built an igloo and snow fort with a penguin. We have a thing for penguins in our house. :) It turned out really great!

We had such a good time together. These activities have really made good family fun time possible, it gets so crazy around here.  I am loving all this time special whanau time! :)

Movie Night!

So, tonight's awesome family activity was Movie Night! At the theater even! We actually split up tonight to do the family activity. The boys one way. The girls another way. It was really good to have some girl time with my little loverlies.
I think it's good that we split up sometimes and do separate things. Bug sure doesn't like doing the things that Tonathiu enjoys, and vice-versa.

So, tonight I took the Boballi, Gabbers, and the Bug to Thanksgiving Point Megaplex to watch

It was a super cute movie and my girls loved it. I absolutely loved the chameleon and the horse. Disney did a great job with this Rapunzel tale, and it has probably taken its place as one of my favorite Disney flicks.

Cary and the boys went to Orem and saw

in 3D, no less.
Cary is a huge fan of the original and was a bit disappointed with this movie. He said for the first 30 minutes it was in 2D. Remind me why we paid all the extra cashola for the 3D tix please.
Also, he said that there was a bunch of blahblahblahblahblahblah. The man is not a fan of talking in movies. His favorite movies ever are Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers. He will skip through all the talking and go straight for the "blowemups". I think He's watched those, in their entirety, once. Perhaps! Twice, But doubtful.
The boys had a blast at any rate and was talking non stop about it. I feigned interest for a little while. Then, bedtime saves the day again! oh yeah!

All in all each of us had a really good evening. And, Cary and I were able to spend time with our kids, which made it all worth it.
Talking And All.


*photos courtesy of Imdb.**

A Giveaway?! To Thanksgiving Point?!

I'm in!
I found this today and want to win it so badly, I could smack Cary.
Ok, I could smack him anyway, but I really want to win this.

I just started reading Jill's blog and she's pretty dang funny. She calls her kids jerks angels. I could be friends with a gal like that! ;)

She's funny, smart, a good writer, AND she's hosting a giveaway. What more can one ask for?
Head over to her blog and check it out. You could enter the giveaway too, but really why bother since I'm going to win it?
:)

Oh Christmas Lights!

A quick family photo before heading out to see da lights!

Last Night our activity was "going to see the Christmas Lights".

 **photos were taken with Cary's Iphone, but I think they turned out pretty good!**

I remember as a little girl my Dad would drive me and my mom around to look at Christmas lights. We would oooh and ahhhh while looking and I think my Dad would get ideas on what more he could do to our house. I remember driving in downtown Hot Springs. Every year this huge historic hotel would have santa and his reindeer on the top of their hotel. For whatever reason, that made it Christmastime for me. I still remember that old hotel and those reindeer "flying" on top of the hotel. I wonder if they still do that.

I still enjoy looking at lights and want our kidlets to enjoy it as well. Last night we all piled into the van and drove to Thanksgiving Point to look at the lights. $8 a car is a little pricey, but our kids really enjoyed it this year. It might have helped that I preplanned a little better this year. I made everyone their very own treat bag. I filled it with pretzels, marshmallows, and peanut M&M's. We also stuck a little Yoo-Hoo drink in the bag. The kids were surprised and so stoked.

Treats, Lights, Christmas Music, Family Time. It was a good night, indeed.

Eureka!

Continuing on with our 12 day/night of Christmas, we got the game "Pictureka"!
I had found a coupon for $5 off the game online at Bargain Divas and knew it had to be included in our activities. Our family loves playing games!
*bonus! I found it at Target for $5.04! Sweeet!*

I totally spaced getting photos of us while we were playing the game, but all of us had a lot of fun. It's a little card game that everyone could play, including the Bug. It has 4 variations you can play, and Daddy made up our very own version so that it would be easier for the littles to play.
One version is that you start with a letter of the alphabet, let's choose D, and you lay out four cards in 2 second intervals and everyone tries to find a word in one of the pictures that begins with the chosen letter. It allows for a lot of creativity and a lot of, "Ha! Yeah, right!" :)

We had a good time and played it for about an hour without anyone getting bored!

Mission. Accomplished.

Yoalli is hitting the Big Time!

I enrolled Yoalli in concert choir this year. The little girls didn't want to "sing those songs in front of people!", so they didn't. Oh, how a little attention changes things! :)
Yoalli has been practicing very hard each day at home and each week at choir practice. Last night was her first big show at the Tabernacle. She was a smashing success! The entire choir was really quite amazing and we all enjoyed it very much.

Yoalli was part of a trio that sang

Hanerot Hallalu, in Hebrew. It was really quite cool to hear them sing it so well. 

 

 

She also had a solo speaking part and did super well! She had practiced and practiced and memorized everything perfectly!  

 

 

We really enjoyed the performance and can't wait until the next one! :)

 

Love you, Boballi! Good Job! :)

This Morning...

Yep, She's snooping alright. She is reading every name on every tag on every pressie under the tree. She's shaking it and guessing what each thing is...hers...cuauhtli's....tonathiu's...Gab's....Yoalli's.....Daddy's....
I asked her, "What does that one sound like Bug?"
She replied, "Oooooh Mumma, that sounds like treasure!!"

Merry Christmas!

A Gingy Play-Land!

We're doing the 12 days of Christmas for our kidlets. I'm actually having as much fun as they are with it. I brought the bags out on Saturday night and they've been itching to open them and find out what's inside since that second!
Last night our activity was making our Gingerbread house, people, and tree. Each person got to be in charge of something and make it just the way they like it. I'm a little bit of a control freak so these activities are always a good lesson for me. Actually, last night I just let it go and let them at it. It turned out beautifully. We ended the night with hot cocoa with marshmallows of course! and peanut butter cookies. I love seeing their little marshmallow mustaches!
Too bad I didn't snap a picture of that for posterity!
Shoot!

A Giveaway at Our Thrifty Ideas

As I was perusing my google reader this morning, I stumbled on a post on the Robert's blog by Vanessa @ Our Thrifty Ideas.  She had the cutest idea for a magnet board, and it's by far the easiest one I've seen to make. Head over to the Robert's blog and have a look. You will agree!

She's also hosting a massive giveaway, which I entered, and you should too! She calls it the "Bah Humbug Giveaway" and it's loaded with tons of cute prizes. I have my eye on this stocking to win! Also, can I just tell you that the way she has it set up to enter the giveaway is genius. It's so simple and private. Love.

Anyway, head on over, you won't be sorry! :)

love notes

Cary and I email a lot. I like that we can send love notes back and forth. Well, let's be serious, most of the time they aren't love notes. Usually they are more like, "Yeah, thanks for unloading that dishwasher for me, buttface."
or   "Thanks for washing my wallet for the 2982357th time." my reply? "no problem, learn to take it out of your pants and it would stay dry!"
Yeah, very deep, emotional stuff goes on.

Today, however, was different and I had to blog it so that I could save it.

Cary wrote (to me, I might add!):
I need you for my heart to be happy
cannot be any other way


*melt*
It's words like those that keeps me from locking him out of the bedroom at night.
He's safe for another week or three.
:)
*post edit*
I wrote him back with :*) perfect words
and he wrote back with
Also, I farted.

Ahhhh. True. Love.

My Marriage

This was my "conversation" last night with my darling beloved. This was after he was charming me, naturally.

Me: Nicholas, I'm going to punch your lights out!
**Pow**
Him: Ahhhhhh! My Lights! They're Ouuutttt!

That's right ladies, he's taken.
Oy.

The Bugz Christmas Poem

I so love that she is such a ham! *note the end of the video!*

This is the poem that she had to remember and recite for her class this month. She wanted me to "video" her in front of our tree. :)

The Last Day!

This has actually been a pretty fun month for me and my bloggyness. (yes, i'm totally making up words. I can do that.)

I wasn't sure if I would actually be able to keep up and write a post each day about something for which I am thankful. It really wasn't a hard thing to do and it helped me to realize all that I do have and all that I should be thanking Heavenly Father for each day. OK, maybe I shouldn't be thanking Him for Reese's cups each day, but you catch my drift.

I have days where I am having the biggest pity party for myself in the history of all pity parties! It's true! And, I've come to realize what a dolt I am for that. Not that I  think we're not allowed to have down days, but I'm realizing that I should have far fewer of them.

This past year has been a year full of change. A year full of firsts for me, some  firsts that I never wanted to face. But, I'm thankful for them. I'm thankful for the changes within myself. I'm thankful for our growing family. My kids bring me much joy. They also bring me much frustration and grief, but I know life without them wouldn't, couldn't be the same. Totally in a good way. :)
This month has helped me to see more of the positive...in just about everything. I didn't think I was such a "glass half empty" kind of gal, but I think I got into a funk and stewed in it.

I have much for which I am thankful. And I am, indeed, Thankful.

Day 29....

Kindness.
so much kindness has been shown to us. Sometimes by people we know, and sometimes by people we don't.

I am so grateful that it has shown my kids that there are, indeed, kind and loving people in this world who do care about them...even if they don't know them directly.
They have lived lives up until they came to us, that all too often showed the darker side of humanity. They were exposed to things that I wish they hadn't, so much I wish for that. I hope and pray that it will help them as they grow to show kindness to others, to not assume the worst in all people, to have faith, to love, and to care. I wish so much for our children, but showing kindness to others is tops on my list.
  Even if the scumbag  individual doesn't deserve it.
Especially If.

Heatuhs

So thankful for warm homes, warm cars, and most especially warm beds!
I'm thankful to have a heater that works faithfully and has never left us frozen as little ice cubelets.

Medz, I needs 'em

I'm thankful for modern medicines. If I didn't have them, I would be one sneezey, red-eyed, coughing, heart-burn having girl. No fun!
Seriously, modern medicine  is helping Cary and I in many ways.
I'll report more later.
Over and out.

:)

A child's eyes

Yoalli gave this to me tonight at bedtime.

"My Testimony
    I believe in Jesus and Heavenly father. I know that they live. I know that Thomas s. monson is our prophet, and I trust in the bible as long as it translated the right way. I believe in this church and know if I choose the right I can live with Heavenly Father again. I love my family and friends, and I'd like to bury(sic) my testimony in saying that I know my Savior lives and that as long as I stay faithfully strong, repent, partake of the sacrament, and follow my important steps, like baptism, sealing and all sorts of steps I can return to my Savior and Heavenly Father and I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

"I love you Mom!  Love, Yoalli"

I am indeed thankful for this.

Happy Thanksgiving!

This whole month has been about what I'm thankful for, so in keeping with that I may repeat myself today.

I'm supremely thankful for my amazing husband and stink kidlets. I'm thankful that we are able to have a lovely dinner and eats lots of yummy food with our whanau.

I hope you all were able to do the same!

Gobble Gobble Mr. Turkey! :)

Turn the page of change....

I probably won't ever say these words again, but I am thankful for change. It helps me to grow, learn, and realize things can even sometimes get better because of change.

Change is difficult for me. Very. Difficult.
But I realize I need to try to embrace it more.

play time!

I'm thankful for the time that Bug and I get to spend each day before she goes to school.
Most mornings are fantastic and we play games, read, write, and get a few chores out of the way.
My most favorite times are when we have dance parties downstairs. She likes to "shake her boomboom" and it never fails to crack me.right.up.
:)

Aye Ya Ya

I'm having a rough time with this post today for some reason. Maybe it's the sleep deprivation. Maybe it's the fact that I keep getting distracted by the words "Blizzard" "Huge Snow Storms on their way!!!" on the TV in the background.

I'm thankful for my extended whanau. Cary's parents have been so kind and loving to me since the day I met them.
Here I was, this weird Southern girl who had no idea what being "Mormon" was really all about, married to their son, and standing in the living room. So scary.
I remember as we were on our way to Utah, I think we were in New Mexico, and I decided that I wanted to go back home to Arkansas. I didn't want to live in a place where I knew *no one*! Cary, not so kindly I might add, told me I was out of luck! Punk. I was extremely nervous. I didn't know what to expect, and I hate that.
I remember pulling up to Tam's (cary's sister) house. She came bouncing out of the door and gave me a big hug. Justin followed and was just as kind. We came inside and I saw my beautiful niece in a cute little lump on the floor. Love that girl! After a quick visit, it was time to meet Mum. Oh crap! We went over and she was lovely. It was as scary as I though it was going to be, however. :)
We had a reception that evening and I was able to meet everyone. All in all it turned out extremely well. I love the parents and am glad to say our bond has grown strong. I know what it's like now to have brothers and sisters and I love them dearly.
They've stood by our sides during the happiest and saddest times of our lives thus far and have made us stronger because of it.

Good Friends

I'm thankful for good friends and the influences they are on my kids.
We are supremely blessed to be surrounded by the most wonderful, most humble, most sincere, and dearest friends where we live. I'm thankful for our friends and their children. I'm thankful for the good influence they all are on me, Cary, and our children.
We are blessed, indeed.

Mommy Dates!

Tonight I was able to go on a date with my Gabbers.
Each week Cary and I  take one of our kids on a special date; it being just Mom and ______ or
Dad and _______.
Since we have five kidlets, it's important to us to make sure that each of them get special one-on-one time and that they have a time to feel like they are the most important child in the world.
Our older kids, especially, were not able to be spoiled or have that special time with their birth parents. None of our kids, however,  had birth fathers that were active in their roles as such. It makes us sad that they weren't able to have these experiences since their birth, but we're grateful that we get to share these experiences with them now.
They need this special time with us.
We need it with them, too.
I love the quiet time that I get to share with my child. Each time we go I am able to learn something about them that I did not know before we went on the date.
Today I'm so very grateful for my Mommy Dates with my Tonathiu, Cuauhtli, Yoalli, Gabby, and Bug.

Toooo sweets.

This post is neither insightful or reminiscent.

I'm thankful for Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. I just ate two of those peanut buttery and chocolate discs of goodness.
nom.nom.

Bedtime Loves

Ooh, Bedtime, you are my most favorite time of the day. Events of the day have finally settled down and all of my dear whanau are nuzzled around me. I love the quiet stillness of the house that comes when all of my stinkies have meandered to their beds. Most especially I love all the cuddles, loves, hugs, and kisses I get as they teeter off to their rooms. I love being a mom. I love being their mom.

I'm thankful to be loved by these wonderful children and feel their love, especially at bedtime.
:)

Ability to Laugh...

I have been known to be dramatic, believe it or not. Sometimes things with me snowball faster than I realize.
If I get mad about something, everything the teensiest bit bad or wrong becomes a  
VERY BIG PROBLEM and someone will surely get beheaded or lose a limb. I hate that. My dear sweet, patient, pain-in-the-neck, loving, cheesy, stubborn, wonderful husband can make me laugh in spite of myself.
Tonight was one of those nights for me. I was frustrated and tired and cranky and thought for sure the world would end if my children didn't "sit quietly and obey". Seriously, when do they *ever* do that? Anyway, Cary and his uncanny ability to immediately lift the frustration from me worked his magic. And, not in the fun way. HA!

I'm so thankful that my husband helps me see the humor in things, even myself. We all need a little dose of that once in a while, don't we?

Love you, CaryJos! Forevuh! 
And, please remember that sometimes he *is* the source of my frustration and probably nudges that snowball toward the edge of the hill. :)

I Stand All Amazed

I'm thankful for the Atonement. I found this video and it pretty much sums it up for me. 

Testmonies

I have a testimony of the Gospel. I've shared it on my blog before. I'm thankful for my testimony. It has sustained me through some very difficult times the past couple of years. Sunday morning, however, I was able to hear my oldest son's testimony. Tonathiu was asked to give a talk in Sacrament meeting and he accepted.  

(He was also called to be the first counselor in the Deacon Quorum, and he accepted the calling without hesitation.)

  As I sat in our meeting, I was so nervous for him. I know how frightened I am when I have to give a talk, and I assumed that he would be feeling the same anxiety.
Wrong again.
He stood up bravely, walked to the podium, and suddenly a peace came over me. The same peace that had already enveloped him.
His talk was about being "converted and living the Gospel of Jesus Christ". He spoke of his own conversion story and even how he didn't want to really be baptized in the beginning. He spoke of the missionaries coming to our home and teaching him and the change that came over him. He spoke of being baptized by his Dad and receiving the Aaronic Priesthod. It was beautiful.
I'm so thankful for his growing testimony. I'm grateful for his heart, as hard as it was and as soft as it is.
I'm grateful that he is my son.

I Love To See The Temple.....

Mt. Timpanogos Temple

I'm thankful for this place. I should go more often than I do. I love the feeling that I have when I'm there.
  Wonderful things have happened in this temple. I was sealed to my CaryJos, our girls were sealed to us, and our older kids were sealed to us here. Wonderful things are still to happen there.  I can't wait.

My DaddyO

I have written so many posts about my Dad. I'm going to keep this one short and simple. I love my Dad. I miss him everyday. I'm so thankful that I had him as long as I did have him. I'm thankful that he was Poppie to my girls. I'm thankful for all the things he taught me. I'm thankful he is My Daddy.

Wow. I miss his smile. And his hugs.

Mis Madre

My mom and I had some rough times as I became a teenager. She and my dad got divorced and it was a hard time. Unfortunately, we had some rough patches. It took us a while to get through those. As I've grown older, I have been able to become somewhat wiser.(I hope)
I learned to value our relationship more and to value her more. When we were blessed with the girls, we became even closer. It has been a lot of fun watching her be "Nana" to our girls and our boys. I love my mom and I'm thankful for her, her love, her compassion, and her friendship.


Love you Mother.

(ok, so this picture makes me laugh so hard. I was in the middle of a laugh attack and so was she. We were perched atop a rock and there were jokes. Lots.Of.Jokes. :) )