Wow, you've got your hands full.

Howdy, strangers!!

2017-07-11T20:29:00.000-07:00

For the past few years, my blog posts have consisted of why I have not been posting or school related. Well, I graduated.

Yep, that is right. I have a bachelor's degree. I just wish it came with a bachelor's pad. How nice would that be. A quite, clean place with nothing sticky or broken like my house!!! Any way, back on topic. I am not sure what this blog even is anymore. It is fun to look back at old posts, like a journal, but I don't really need an online journal for all to read. I don't think people really care what is going on so I guess we will just see what happens. Life with 9 kids is quite a circus.

Ray, a drop of golden sun. . .

2015-09-14T21:28:00.000-07:00

One thing about raising these bonus kids is that I don't get to be lazy. When my older kids were younger, I could just drop them off for school or extra activities, but with the babies, I don't have that luxury. So, here I am sitting on a gym floor of the elementary school giving the evil eye and my mom finger when the babies are doing things they shouldn't during choir. Our school has a great after school program, my kids learn French!!! They also attend choir. All my kids have been in Mrs. Leigh's choir. I want the babies to participate so here I am ... sitting on the floor of the school doing my best mom charades.

Josh is adorable singing his choir songs around the house (and he has only been to 2 practices). We hear a lot of "Kids are Music", "What's More American than Baseball" and of course, "Feliz Navidad"... complete with the cha cha cha's. Jonah, on the other hand, I have yet to convince to stand when others are standing let alone to keep his shirt on :0)

Hooray for public school!!!!

I miss blogging. It's as close to journaling that i will ever get!!!!

2015-06-30T13:30:00.000-07:00

I realized that I am about a year out from really blogging about my family. I am not sure if anyone really even reads blogs any more. I don't because when I switched to a tablet, I got out of the habit. I couldn't find an easy blogging or blog reading app. I am determinde to do it again. It is the closest to a journal that I get. I enjoy tradional scrapbooking with my photos, but this is a fun digital way to watch my family age, get older and older and wait. I need to go to my happy place.

So, I guess I will do an update on whole famdamly.

Becca is now a senior in high school. I know, right? Holy crappola!!!! I am too young for this stuff. She is on her 3rd year of the drill team. She is an officer . . . the drill mistress. Doesn't that sound horrid?

She also gets great grades in honors classes while working at a pizza place and keeping up with a social life!! She is super amazing. I hope this year treats her well ;0)

Sassi Cassi is a junior now. She is still dancing at the same place she started when she was 3. I love this sequence of her flipping over at her last recital, so pretty.

and I liked this one, too.

Anyways, it is crazy that my little babies are not so little anymore. Cassi is also working and getting fabulous grade while taking honors classes.

James is a hoot and a half. He has done a little of everything. He is still involved with music,

he is a percussionist and he participated with a local youth symphony. He was also in the school play.

Can't he rock eyeliner?

And a giant napkin?

Can you guess the play?

He has not started his summer yet, though. He is in a summer camp that he is gone all day. But he has learned to fly airplanes, well simulators. He is now working with a 3-D printer. And up coming will be robotics. Poor thing gets up so early. (I am blocking out the fact that they moved our 9th grade into the high school and I will have 3 kids in high school. AHHHHHH)

Annie is super into crafts. She will be starting jr. high. It seems like just last week that I was pregnant with her and thinking that she will be in elementary school with Becca, Cassi and James. Well, that was a long time ago.

She is counting down the seconds right now until I finish this blog post so we can go to Micheals. That girl lives for craft stores. She even has her own youtube channel where she has videos explaining how-to do crafts.

She is also the best big sister these girls could ask for :0)

Jason is in 5th grade going on a senior in college. He remembers everything and is super smart at things also. He loves facts. He also loves to correct me, especially with my word crimes!!!

Apperently he likes to pose for photos with his mouth open, hee hee.

Mia is going to be in 3rd grade is quite the little fire cracker. She is so much fun!!!

She is our resident photo bomber. She loves photos and gets in them how ever she can. I got an iphone and these are the first photos on it . . .

Selfie central ;0)

Elly is a sweet little stink. She is going into the 2nd grade.

She loves friends and cousins. She is a social butterfly, sometimes too much!!!!!

Jonah is a crazy little dude. He went for a ride on the outside of an escalator at the airport yesterday. He is super friendly, he will talk and hangout with anyone, and fall in love with lots of girls.

Maybe one of these days, he will figure our how old he is!!!!!!!

Josh is well, Josh.

He is super happy and energetic. He likes things how they are supposed to be. He is starting kindergarten and he can count to over 60. He is also enjoying memorizing books right now.

Ok, so there you have an update on my rugrats. We are doing amazing and we hope you are all doing amazing also.

If I have learned 1 thing . . .

2014-12-02T22:57:00.000-08:00

from going back to school to get my bachelors in marriage and family studies, it would be that Dr. John Gottman is a freaking genius. I think that everyone of my classes, even my communications class, mentions his book "Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work." In my Family 300 class, it is one of my text books.

If your marriage needs any kind of help, even if you think it is strong, get this book. It has some great activities that will strengthen your marriage. If you know anyone getting married, this would be a great gift. This man is brilliant. He has done so much research, it is so interesting. You should Google some of his experiments. It is super interesting. Anyway, I guess that is my spiel for now.
You really should get this book. It is the best $15 you can spend.

Yet another post explaining why I have been MIA

2014-11-17T14:00:00.000-08:00

Every once in a while, I go blogging MIA. This time I have a good excuse. I have gone back to college. When I was 20 and my first baby was 3 weeks old, I graduated from Ricks College with an Associates in Social Work. My husband was accepted to BYU but I was not. So I never completed my bachelors, I always knew I wanted to go back, just not when. Now fast-forward 16 years and I am going back to school. I am going to BYU-Idaho online. It has been challenging. I am taking 13 credits and still attempting to handle my life with 9 kids. I am trying my hardest to not let my school affect them so I am having a lot of late nights. The babies are in 2 pre-schools, so that helps me with some free time, but they have been recently diagonsed with autism so we put them in occupational therapy, normal therapy and speech therapy for them on top of running all the other kids to their things, such as soccer, 8 dance classes, music and writing club, youth symphony, choir, mutual, scouts, cub scouts, drill team, and they are in piano lessons. I have probably missed something, but needless to say we are pretty busy right now.

So, why am I starting to blog again? It is an assignment for a class. But I guess what ever gets me blogging, right? My major is Marriage and Family studies. I am still not sure what I want to be when I grow up, but if I am going to work again, (I have been a stay-at-home mom for 16 years) I want to do what I want to do. So I am getting a degree now. I am leaning towards being a counselor but I also would love to help post-adoptive families. So, what is my assignment? I am writing a blog on Marriage and Family. Fun, huh? I am actually pretty excited. I have been putting if off for a little while because I am barely getting my work done as it is, but here I go.

This semester has me like . . .

Can I check color run off my bucket list because I walked with my kids when they did it?

2014-08-18T22:46:00.000-07:00

I hope so. I have always wanted to do a color run. I have ran 2 5k's. Sadly, I hate running. I don't understand people that enjoy it. It is complete and utter torture. So when a mom in the neighborhood told me about one for kids, I threw my kids into it. It was on Annie's birthday so we forced (ok, not forced, but kind of mandatory) a few of her friends to join us.

(Super sorry for the highlighted ad words. I have got to figure out how to get rid of those. . . sorry. I hope you can read it with them there :0)

Now, I have a fun video that John filmed. But I still have to get it uploaded before I share it. So here are the after photos. Are you ready?

This was just a 1 mile run. I walked with Jonah. The funny thing was that we had to walk around the park before we walked around the neighborhood. Josh took off with other kids and just ran it by himself. I had to walk with Jonah to help him stay focused and not stop to examine every . . . little . . . thing. After Jonah and I finished the park and went to keep going, he told me it was too hard and he wanted to go with Braden. Funny thing is, Braden was done with the whole dang race by that point. Ugggg.

Yep, the 6 foot 7 baseball star won. He beat all the kids. (Seeing how all the kids except mine were probably 11 or younger, but who cares. He won dang it!!!)

Wait, I thought this race was for kids?

Beyonce's hair was my favorite thing of the entire race. Isn't it fantastic?

Jonah just kept throwing it in is own face. ha ha Why he thought this in his eyes was a good idea, I will never know.

I will end on grumpy Josh. He didn't want to hold still long enough to get his photo taken.

I know the next thing on your mind. What was that laundry like. I have one word for you. . .

PINK.

I think I need a reality show.

2014-04-01T09:20:00.000-07:00

Even if it's just to show the reaction on peoples faces when they find out how many kids I have. The comment I used to get the most was "who helps you?" But sad to say, John and I are raising them on our own. We don't have a grandma, aunt, nanny or neighborhood teenager that helps out. Only my own teenagers. A mom at my kids dance class hires someone to drive her kids to their activities. Sad to say, it is all us. But really it's OK with us. We signed up for this many kids. No complaints here. And we are in the homestretch to have our own drivers. (I am not judging anyone who is lucky enough to have these immenities. I am just describing my life, as boring as it is.)

Now that the babies are getting older, a whooping 4 next month, it is mostly the awkward look of shock that overcomes peoples faces.

Here is an example. We took our family. Yep, all 9 kids plus 1 boyfriend to a local play area. John was off mini golfing with a few of the kids . I had the younger ones in a slide area when my most energetic 3 year old wanted to join them. So I stalled as long as I could to give the others a head start. There is no way the littles can last long on an activity like that. Anyways, so I brought the little kids over as they were nearing the end.

And the man on the hole before them asked me the age old question "Are they all yours?" And as I was answering with my so not clever answer of "yes, I have 9 kids". He was saying "all 6 of them?" I thought his eyes were going to pop out of his head. Then there is the awkward silence because of the fact he thought 6 was a lot.

I wish I was a comedienne so I could think of funnier things to say. But I am not, so oh well. Years ago while I was knee deep in foster kids, I asked my dad for something funny to say and his responses for me were A. This is one of the benefits of being a polygamous wife or B. But I left the twins at home.
I haven't used those in a while. B. Is funnier to me now that I basically have 2 sets of twins.

So then we are out to dinner at the local buffet for James birthday. It is always a kids birthday favorite because they will eat a plate full of canned mandarin oranges or olives and try to convince me that it fulfills all the requirements for nutrients as they head off to choclate fondue anything and everything in sight. Then they think if they bring me something covered in chocolate it makes it all OK. Sad to say, it usually works.
OK, back on topic. So Braden aka the boyfriend decided that we should have our own t.v. show since we are so entertaining. But to him. I am sure we look like a 9 ring circus. He is the youngest of 3 kids.

I think I need an award for worlds worst blogger.

2014-04-01T08:12:00.001-07:00

I have not been doing my job lately and frankly, I don't think anyone really cares. But, in case there is one person that does, I have been doing a fun thing on instagram. It is from the site 100happydays.com and I post a photo about something that made me happy that day. It has been really fun to do but sad to say I think my social media is tired of me. Daily photos are getting to be a bit much. Especially since most of them are Cafe Rio. So, anyways, if you instagram, I would love to follow you. I am mom288 on there too. (Yes, I use mom288 for most things, because I have 6 bio kids + 3 adopted + 79 foster kids = mom 2 88. However, that is my count. I am worried if I ask how many I had, I will be wrong. Maybe I missed one. Or added an extra. So, I just live in innocent bliss.)

Do you instagram?

This is a hard part about having girls 13 months apart. . .

2014-03-07T11:48:00.000-08:00

I remember sitting in the hospital after I changed into a gown to give birth to my second baby girl, more than 15 years ago. I started bawling "I just did this. I can not do this again. I was just here!!". Potty training was the same. Some milestones are fun to get to do again a year or so later. Like now we are teaching the girls to drive. Basically at the same time since drill has been to busy to add a drivers class in there.

Speaking of drill, Holy drill batman!!! I never knew how all consuming drill is. It has been a blast to watch and be a part of. Becca had so much worry and stress about wanting to be on this team last year. Yet it seems like yesterday. Now we get to do it again. Cassi is going to try out. I do worry, only because the coach is leaving and I am not sure what direction she wants to go. Cassie is a beautiful dancer. I am super excited for her.

Now, on to last night. It was the drill showcase. It was such a fun night. For the past 2 nights, the drill girls had mini clinics for kids. All the kids except James and Jason did it. I wish I took more photos. For some reason, I have been getting caught up in the moment and not recording them. Cause, ya know, if it's not in a scrapbook, it didn't happen :0)

So here are some photos and videos I did take. Woot woot

The girls were presented. In their fancy, shmancy dresses. How georgous is Becca boo boo face?

Here's the cute team. What a fun bunch of girls.

Here is her cute little buddy that did the partner dance with her. Crazy kid to get up and go to school by 6am. Friends are awesome.

Words of advice before her coach is no longer her coach.

Wow, what amazing drill faces. Beautiful, just beautiful.

Coach Dannie. She is a great coach.

I am totes making unspotted dick this weekend, how about you?

2014-01-16T18:50:00.000-08:00

(So this post is about a month old. I have no idea why I didn't post it. So, here ya go. )

We also did some massive pottering. Can you tell we love Psych? That is such a fun t.v. show. The season episode was in London with many references to spotted dick, but my mom made unspotted dick so that is what I will make. It is not my families favorite but who really cares? I don't. Anyway, so Gus introdused us to pottering.

So we had some fun with this. Here

The Infamous Nutcracker - our 13th.

2014-01-09T14:59:00.000-08:00

Ok, ok. Last post for a few minutes at least.

I love this. It is so dang long, but I love it. Here are my kids dancing in the Nutcracker.

I will not go in order of the Nutcracker. I will go in age. That way I won't forget anyone. I am trying hard not to forget anyone on a daily basis, thank you. Having 9 kids makes me use my brain, dang it.

The twins were Seahorses during the ocean scene. How adorable are they? I must say though, that Josh hated his spandex outfit. He has a mind of his own. He was backstage, sitting in the middle of the hallway where dancers were running past. So I scooched him over to the side and he was so mad. He wanted to sit where he wanted to sit. Becca took him to see if she could get him to cooperate. It helped a bit. But he was a bit of a booger on stage. And when one twin is a booger, the other one follows.

(Sorry for all my comments on camera. I need to remember to shut up when the video is on. And it is not the best video. My camera doesn't do the best in the dark.)

Bribery for the dating years.

Elly was a butterfly in the waltz of the flowers.

Cassi was in 2 dances. She was in Arabian and also forest with Becca.

Becca was the forest queen. She finally made ensemble group at the studio but practices were the same night at drill. So her teacher put her in as the queen that gets to hang on a rope. It was tricky to even fit in practices. During the only dress rehearsal she could go to was also a performance. It was a good thing that they were both at the same school.

So keep an eye out for both girls :)

Sadly, I have no clever blog title for this one. James Symphony and Elementary Choir

2014-01-09T13:48:00.000-08:00

Jamie is a percussionist in an after school youth symphony. He is having a great time with it. They had their Christmas Concert. It was the same night as the elementary choir so I went to watch him when the symphony went on a school tour. I loved it.

You will have to excuse the horrible selfie, I am not a teenager so it is not in my blood. But I have both babies sitting on my lap. I was wondering when they will stop doing that. I love it. I only have the rest of this year and next year to haul them around. Then they will be in kindergarten and I will only haul them part time. What will I do by myself? I guess I will have to wait and find out.

I can't leave out Miss Elly Belly.

And then they had a guest drummer. He was the drummer for the Osmonds. You can't hear him very well, but he was explaining the drumset to the kids. He had gone to school here when he was younger. It was fun to listen to him. So wait it out, ok?

What did you think?

Now on to the choir kids. . .

It's funny, but a few kids ago, I would have redone everyone's hair and made sure they were perfect, now? I just stuck a flower in their hair that was done that morning and we ran out the door. Oh well. Such is life.

Tired and crazy teenagers. Ha Ha

Can you tell that we like to keep our kids busy? I love the choir. I love that they know songs that I have forgotten. Love it.

You gottta love a good piano recital, right?

2014-01-09T13:28:00.001-08:00

Please say yes. Ok, well then you can skip this blog post and check back later. I have tons of exciting posts for later, like an elementary school choir concert. he he These are my cute kids at their recital.

(So I started writing this post on 12/16/13 but it takes forever to download on to youtube and that seems like the best way to put videos on blogs. It just isn't going to happen. So you get photos so I can publish this and be done. Thank you very much.)

Becca ditched us for drill. Darn it. But it was a great recital. I am proud of the kids. I wish it was less of a fight to get them to practice but hey, I would be failing at my mom duties if I didn't push them, right?

The Christmas that had a flood. (part 2)

2014-01-09T13:15:00.000-08:00

Our night started out with our pizza by candlelight. John gets everyone the kind they want.

James was too sick to join us, Jason tried, but just ended up back in bed. Poor things. Being sick over Christmas is miserable.

We acted out the Nativity. Sans Mr. Sickest.

Then it was our Christmas Jammies time.

Miss Princess at heart :)

Poor kid was too sick to even stand.

Everyone sleeps in the same room . . . (They had to anyways because of the flood. Some of the water even went into the boys room. So that was moved around too.)

but James. He was crashed out in his room.

The sad thing that we might just have to make a tradition was wrapping their gifts. I am a major procrastinator. I wrap all my gifts on Christmas Eve. I was so dang worn out from dealing with 9 kids, most of them sick and the flood all day, that there was no way that I could stay up all night wrapping all the gifts. So this is what we did.

We put everyone's gifts in their own black garbage bag. Santa had wrapped his gifts, but on Christmas morning, the kids would just stick their hand in their bags and SURPRISE!! randomly pull something out. It worked out really well.

We just might do it next year too.

I hope you guys had a fabulous Christmas that was drier than ours :) Merry Belated Christmas!

The Christmas that had a flood. (part 1)

2014-01-09T12:49:00.001-08:00

I woke up Christmas Eve morning at 5am to John asking for help. He said water was everywhere.

He was getting ready for work when he heard what he thought was a toy going off. He went to turn it off and found that part of our sprinkler was broken and water was spraying everywhere in our front yard and into the basement.

We got it turned off. It had been a warm fall and we didn't get the outside water turned off. Then we got really cold and then started to warm up. Then the pressure caused us some problems.

Becca coudn't sleep, so she ended up on the couch. She was so helpful. It was great to have her. Everyone else was sick. Between 7 and 8, we tired to wake up more kids, but the helpful ones were too sick.

John had to go to work. After Becca and I got the storage room and girls room cleared out, we were trying to figure out what to do. We ended up sitting there and bawling. We were so dang tired.

The emptied the storage room.

Luckily it was mostly bins. I know, this room is gross. But it had 2 inches of water in it. Then off to the girls room.

This is all their crap in the green room. That was a lot to move.

So we hopped in the car and went to Home Depot to rent fans and a carpet sucker.

We spent the rest of Christmas sucking water.

It looks like part of the floor is dry, but it wasn't. It just wasn't sopping. It was wet out the door.

That was quite an adventure. I love my family and how they all pitched in. (Well, when they were awake and feeling better :)

3rd Annual H.I.C Christmas Caroling.

2014-01-09T12:34:00.000-08:00

Every year we get together with some homemade goodies and we deliver them to people in our neighborhood with a song. Then we go back to our house and have donuts and hot chocolate. It is pretty fun. Between our 11, I's 5 and the C's 10, we are quite a group to show up at peoples door. Sadly not all were able to go, but here are some photos from that night.

Now I will blink and we will be at the 4th Annual H.I.C. Caroling.

It's a fuzzy sock kind of day. . .

2014-01-09T12:04:00.001-08:00

so I might as well sit, munch on edamame, catch up on my DVR and blog so I feel like I am doing something worthwhile.

The babies had their preschool Christmas program. They did great. What little cuties I have :)

I thought that 1. because they are my babies and B. this was my 13 annual program that I was going to be able to enjoy it all by myself. That might sound selfish to some of you, but when you sit though all these programs all these years, it gets a little exasperating chasing after little ones and hauling car seats around. All I want to do is enjoy the kids that are preforming. But low and behold, Jason woke up feeling like a truck ran over him, he had been up all night with a croupy cough. I love winter. :( Ok, not really. But really, I did enjoy having him there. I don't think I know how to be alone anymore. I wonder if there is an app for that.

Anyway, back to the babies.

Too bad I waited so long to get them up and no one is in the mood for Christmas stuff.

Temple Square

2013-12-16T12:57:00.000-08:00

We went to see the lights on the day after Thanksgiving. It was so much fun with our little family. Braden came with us. So that made Becca happy, ha ha

Here are some random photos from that night.

The typical amazing boyfriend, gives the cute girl his jacket when he thinks she is cold. Then again, Becca is always cold.

For some reason, I can't find the photo of me with the family. I guess I have been replaced. I hope Braden is good with driving the bus and a bazillion little kids around. ha ha

There is always time for sledding. . .

2013-12-16T12:03:00.001-08:00

well, for the kids, that is. Way too cold for me. We had a pretty good snow storm, but sadly the temperature dropped fast. I swear we were holding strong in the 50's that wam bam thank you mam we were 5 degrees. So, the kids had some friends come over (or as we like to say, cousins. ha ha) They just had a little bit of time and we had to cover up the girls hair to save the curls. It was nutcracker night. Can't waste all the hours spent sleeping in curlers, now can we?

Do you like how I just hopped out of the car and shot these photos through the fence? I am not crazy. It was like 9 degrees outside. John and I dropped them off, ran to the grocery store and came back and picked them up. Yeah. Cold.

Not to change the sledding topic, but did you know if you have to take the trash and recycle out and it's cold and snowy and you are too lazy to go get shoes that boxes work great?

Well, at least until you need to leave the boxes outside. Ha ha

James aka Mister Symphony

2013-12-15T19:51:00.000-08:00

So, I am pretty slow in blogging my busy Christmas season. Oh, wait. I am too busy to blog. If youtube was faster, I would be faster. Oh well. Back on subject.

So the other day, I took the 3 littles to watch James perform at some random school. He is in a youth symphony that he goes and plays in once a week. They went around to elementary schools to preform. He did great. It was so fun to watch him. They also did an evening concert that John went with him because I had all the other kids at the elementary school choir.

Here is his cute little face.

This is my favorite song they played.

Do you like my selfie? I was enjoying having these 2 little farts on my lap. I am going to miss the day I am not sharing my lap between 2 kids. On one hand, it will be a beautiful day. To sit at school stuff by myself, but I sat there cuddling these cuties realizing that for all the work it is, I will miss this.

I can't forget the little sweetie sitting next to me.

Near the end, the conductor had his life long friend there. They met in band when they were young. This guy did a little solo because the school we were at was his school a bazillion years ago. This guy was really fun to listen to. I guess he used to play for the Osmonds. Now he just does weddings. Ha ha

(Sorry, it is had to hear him. The beginning is boring, he is just explaining the different drums. So be patient.)

Seriously? Talk about bad luck . . .

2013-12-12T10:16:00.000-08:00

Becca always wanted to be on the drill team. Fast forward, she made it. The most important thing she wanted to do was dance in military. Guess what? She made military. She was lectured that she had to do well, because no one can take her place. She is too tall and will be the center of the kick line. When Becca wants something she goes all out to get it.

Here she is practicing in the lobby at her eye appt.

How adorable is she?

Here is the first time they performed their military. Speaking of how busy we are, I had 6 kids at the high school for the nutcracker dress rehearsal. Becca was too busy with drill to even go to the dress rehearsal. Sadly, I had to miss Cassi's last dance. Good thing it was just a practice. But we took off hurrying down the halls. Did I ever mention that our high school is gargantuan?

We showed up just in time to watch this:

Now, here is a disclaimer: She does a great mean face. Please know that she is really adorable. I could barely recognize her out there. Who knew?

Now fast forward to last weekend. She was hurrying to get ready to go out with her friends. She went to jump over the vacuum and run up the stairs to leave. And the bonehead sprained her ankle. Yes, she sprained her ankle a week before competitions start. State is next month. Talk about a crappy accident.

It got even bigger and uglier as the days went on. Poor thing.

Here she was last night. She was pretty upset. She feels awful. They had to cancel the practice in front of family. And now her team mates are spending hours trying to change formations since she can't dance in their first comp on Saturday. Ok, so she doesn't look very sad, but she had just finished being sad. And was eating waffles so that made her happy. Who isn't happy with waffles at 10 at night? Now everyone needs to cross their fingers that the coaches will hopefully put her back in for state. She is in the military and hip hop. So, there you have it. Becca with the bad luck. Darn it all.

Holy Batman . . . 9 kids in December = super busy

2013-12-10T21:57:00.003-08:00

Who would have thunk it? This month is flying by. I can't believe how crazy it is. I love the nights that we are triple booked. Thank heavens there was a change in schedule, but the change just double booked another night. I am just rambling, aren't I? So sorry. Anywho, since I am just rambling and confusing, here is a photo that isn't even from December. This was the clan I took to the opening night of Catching Fire. We went all out for Hunger Games; including little mocking jay nest cookies. But this time around? We just went to the movie.

Becca was too good for us and went with the drill team. But do you know the best part? I went the next night too. Since John stayed home with the littles and he wanted to see it, I got to see it twice. Honestly, I could go see it again. (Becca went on a cute little date with Braden the next night also, so she was as awesome as me.)

Did you see the movie? Did you love it? I thought the graphics and acting was excellent.

Holy Shnelli that's a big fish.

2013-11-21T13:14:00.000-08:00

James caught his first fish. Wahoo!!! He was at a scout camp. It was something like 22 inches long and 2.5 lbs. His sisters were freaking out that the poor fish was pregnant. Poor thing.

Yum, Yum, so excited to eat it!!!

(Please excuse the baby in the corner. Potty training twins is not the most modest thing I have ever encountered.)

Way to go James!!!

Surprise!! Redemption for "Crappy Birthday to you"

2013-11-17T22:51:00.001-08:00

My sweet baby turned 16. Sadly, she was super sick. She managed to catch tonsillitis and had to skip school and hit up the doctor for some drugs. Not the best way to spend your b-day, not as bad as last year . . . http://mom288.blogspot.com/2012/11/where-in-crap-is-my-husband.html

But pretty crappy none-the-less.

Some of her besties brought her over some gifts. I love friends.

On our last trip to Disneyland, Jason so was excited to get her a perry car for her 16 bday.

Plus her birthday gift was part of her Hawaii trip, so she didn't get a ton of stuff. But hey, she has good memories, right?

She wasn't too sick so dance to her new Just Dance 2014. Boo Ya

Then her cute little boyfriend brought over some Nike stuff. And since she wants to marry Nike, she was in heaven. Smart boy.

Then we had some super secret ninja secrets, we surprised her with a birthday party a few days later.

Dang, big balloon!!!

Set up. We had just dance, a photo booth, twister and pizza.

Hot air Elly blew up 90% of the balloons. She is wonder woman.

Here are just some random photos of the night.

Some girls enjoyed the stage more than others. :)

Thankful - Day 11

2013-11-11T21:46:00.002-08:00

I am thankful for all of the soldiers currently serving as well as all the veterans. I am so grateful for this free country. Our school puts on a great veteran program. I was going to put on some of the songs they sang, however I think the internet is as tired of my posting as you are. So I guess I will quit. Thanks for reading.