An Easter To Remember!

This year John and I wanted to change the way we did Easter. In the past (having little kids and all) Easter had a focus more on eggs, bunnies and baskets and less on the true reason for Easter, The Savior.

This Easter was so different! First off we did away with dyeing eggs, talking about the Easter bunny and setting out baskets for goodies and treats. Our day started out with church and having the opportunity to listen to some pretty amazing talks in sacrament meeting. During primary sharing and singing time were centered around Christ's death and ressurection. It is amazing to watch over such a large group of children and have the room quiet with listening children. I was especially amazed with the older children ~ they are normally chatty and are often NOT paying attention. This was a complete change from the norm. They sat in absolute silence.

After church, on our way home we discussed why we were not celebrating Easter the way we normally did. I was amazed that the kids were totally fine with the change!


After church is was home for just a short while and then off to my parents house for Easter dinner. John surprised us all by getting Easter lilys for all the females in attendance. He is always so thoughtful ~ I am very blessed!! After dinner Jasmine got to work on an activity that she had been planning in her head. She colored and cut out 12 large easter eggs and hid them around the house for the little kids to find. On the back of each egg was an easter symbol and scriptures that tell of Christ's death and ressurection. It was an amazing activity. We all sat around the living room with our scriptures and took turns reading from the scriptures the account of Christ's last moments. We could feel the spirit so strongly~a much better feeling than tears and anguish from a day of massive sugar consumption.

After Jasmine's activity we sat as a family and watched a few videos. One was the Lamb of God ~ one of my favorites and the other was a slideshow by Mark Mabry titled Reflections of Christ. It was amazing. I was even more in awe when during so many parts of the show Trinity would shout out what was in the pictures. "Mom, there is Mary, Joseph, and the baby Jesus" or "Mom that is Jesus being baptized in the river Jordon."

Reflections of Christ

I encourage everyone to watch it ~ it's only about 5 min. long. The evening ended with some fruit pizza for dessert and then off to home. It is amazing how wonderful and spiritual your day can be when is is centered on the Savior. I am thankful for the Atonement, Christ's selfless sacrifice and the knowledge that with the ressurection He lives again. Happy Easter ~

One Huge Weekend Project ~ Warning: Tons of Pictures

This last weekend was amazing as far as weather was concerned. John felt it was the perfect day to completely revamp the garden in our backyard. He had been wanting to do this for some time, but I knew that it was going to be such a huge project that I was dragging my feet about getting it done. I really liked the idea of just having our huge garden, but John was more interested in having it decorative. So I just let him do whatever it was he wanted ~ with the condition that he didn't expect my help :) So it turned into a "boys" project.

John starting on building the beds

He's smiling at the start ~ not so much by the end of the day!

One of Connor's goofy faces after being out in the dirt

Hunter ready to report for duty...safety glasses and all

Moving the wood for dad

A current view of our garden ~ before remodel.

Putting together one of the boxes

Jazzy was making lunch for everyone while the boys worked outside

....and this is what I was doing...paying bills and organizing my catch-all basket

Part of the layout for the new garden

Now comes the hard part...shoveling all the dirt from the garden into the boxes

Many hands make light work

Random Shots

Here are some random photos from over the past few months.

John's favorite past time...sticking food items to our kids foreheads.

Morgan and Trinity at their "Tea with Tights" dance recital in January. They were so cute up their in their garden fairy outfits.

Conner in the tub... we see this cheesy smile all the time!

Trinity ~ our future hairdresser. I am pretty sure she used every clip and bobby pin that we have in our house fixing up her and her kitty's hair.

Hunter at one of his basketball games. He just finished his season.

My boys...

This is what I saw the other morning as I was looking out our kitchen window. Zoe was hanging out the bathroom window.

Jasmine on the day of her fifth grade program. She will be 11 in April. The time has gone by way too quickly and I am having a hard time watching her turn into a young lady.

I Heart Ikea!

The last weekend in February my mom, sisters and I headed up for an overnight visit to Portland. On the agenda was hanging out with Jason and Erin (my brother and his girlfriend) a stop at the fabric depot and of course a visit to Ikea. I love Ikea!! For those of you that have never been ~ a visit to Ikea is quite the experience. The top level is all displays and layouts. The bottom floor is where you can find all of the items upstairs...It can be quite overwhelming! We made it through in record time ~ just under three hours. I got out of there with only purchasing a little table and chair set for Trin and Conner, new dishes and a few other little odds and ends. Jason had opted to stay home and study instead of going with us ~ So we met him for a late dinner at the Black Rabbit (at Edgefield ~ a McMenamins) and then a trip to Rimsky Korsakoffee House.

This pic was taken at Rimsky's. It was pretty late so we were all pretty whipped. (Mom, Me, Ash, Erin, Jason and Amy)

John and Hunter putting together the little kids table.Hunter was pretty proud of the fact that he put together the chair all on his own.
Conner sitting down to lunch at their new table. He and Trinity love eating all of their meals at the little table right next to our big table.

Meet Conner

The last two months have seemed to go by in such a busy whirlwind. I have gotten the opportunity to find out what it is like to a parent to four kids. Two months ago we had a new addition to our family. Meet Conner ~ a rambunctious little boy who will be two in April. Conner came to us as a scared and traumatized little boy. Now he is happy, smiling and in to everything! We love just watching him run around and play. The amount of time that Conner will be with us is uncertain. Our guess is another few months or so. But he has already been a blessing to our family.

Trying on some ski goggles

Playing video games after bath time

Snuggling with Hunter

Our little blind man

It is neat to see just how much he has grown in the past few months. He still has some separation anxiety, but it is not near as bad as it was. He adores John and Hunter, is obsessed with balls and runs/jumps anywhere he needs to go. We are thankful for the opportunity to have him in our family.

A Few Crazy Months!

Wow...I can't believe how easy it is to lose all track of time. Yes, it has been two long months since my last post. What has been going on? TONS!!

*John turned 31
*Melissa turned 30
*Jasmine started playing the violin
*Melissa subbing a ton, which is great!
*Enjoyed a great dinner and midnight showing of Twilight with about 30 family and friends
*A great, very quiet, very laid back, very tasty Thanksgiving
*A wonderfully lazy anti-black Friday
*Go to Northern Lights to get our christmas tree
*John and Melissa's 11th anniversary
*Melissa still subbing a ton
*Kids getting ancy for Christmas break
*Unexpected snow and ice storms the week before winter break ~ Kids only go to school 2 days
*First day of winter break and I have already heard the words "I'm Bored" ten times
*Emily (our stylist) chops off most of Jasmine's hair ~ it looks adorable
*Stressing about finishing Christmas prep since we went nowhere during the freak snow
*Christmas Eve at dad's house~ kids look great ~ excited for presents~had a lot of fun with family rock banding it up!
*Christmas Day at mom's house ~ do absolutely nothing all day with my whole family ~ love it!
*Take the kids to Bedtime Stories ~ LOVE IT!!
*Hunter's 9th birthday
*New Years Eve dinner at Red Robin with our fam and Grandma Lynn and Papa Roger
*New Years Day ~ another totally lazy day
*Spend a random evening at my parents playing Acquire and Monopoly until 1:30 in the morning
*Have a girls afternoon out with my mom, my sisters, niece, my friend Mindy and Jasmine ~ saw Marley & Me ~ I laughed, I cried, I realized that our Roxy may be Marley reincarnate

Present Day ~ first day back to school and exhausted.

I worked really hard at documenting it all with pictures and then, to my dismay, John misplaced my photo card. He felt really bad and I know that it should turn up somewhere (or I hope it will). So no pictures :(

So there is a quick catch up of the last few months.

Yay!! The Election Is Over! ~ Happy Birthday John!

I am so glad that the election is finally over. Don't get me wrong ~ It was a monumental election that John and I were both glad to take part in. What we were so sick and tired of was the endless advertisements, phone calls, and people standing on our front porch encouraging us to vote for their candidates.

Yesterday was John's birthday so the kids picked a special restaurant that they thought daddy would love and held the secret all day in order to surprise him that evening. That evening off we went to Applebee's (John endured for the kids sake! :) Definitely wouldn't have been his first pick....or his 100th for that matter.) They had this crazy magician that came to our table and spent about 10 min. with us. He was awesome. He had all of us in awe at his mad skills. Each kid was able to participate in magic tricks and they were loving it!

Once we got home the kids got jammied up and laid down to watch some of the election coverage with us. Jasmine was required to watch at least half an hour with us for homework. It was very difficult to explain to the older ones what the tickers at the bottom were telling us, or why the states were different colors (blue, red, or grey) the meaning of electoral votes, and why this election was so amazing anyways. It was kindof neat though seeing them so interested!

As the end neared and our new president elect was announced we all sighed a sigh of relief that the end had finally come! John and I had each kept our votes to our selves, but both had agreed to congratulate and support whichever candidate wins the election. Ultimately both McCain and Obama are going to have a crazy time pulling our country out of this mess that we have found our economy in.

Congratulations President Elect Obama ~ Good Luck with the mess you have walked into and we pray that you have what it takes to pull us out of it!

And Congratulations to John for making it another year ~ how does it feel to be 31? Everyday you never cease to amaze me with the kindness you show our family and friends. Your life is so centered around service towards me, the kids, our family and even people you have never met before. You are an amazing father that is completely adored by our children and 95% of the time set a good example for them :). I am thankful everyday that our Father in Heaven saw fit to bless me with you as my other half. Happy Birthday!