So cold....

It's been so cold at the bus stop the last few days. Yesterday I decided to take the early bus, and even got there a minute or two early so that I wouldn't miss it--but the bus was 10 minutes late, and I just about froze waiting for it. BRRRRR!!! This morning I got to the Park and Ride right before the bus did, so didn't have to be outside for long, thank goodness (although I have to be careful with cutting it that close. One time I pulled in right as the bus was leaving, so had to race it to the Lehi Park and Ride to catch it). The joys of commuting...but it is so worth it, because I love my job so much. And, I can do a post on the bus, which is where I am right now. Usually I am sleeping about this time, but actually got to bed at a decent hour last night.

The only other things that have been going on lately is that we got Adam and Stace moved on Saturday. Yeah! I'm so glad to see them get into a house. It was also so nice to have the family room back for the family party Sunday night--so much more quiet upstairs. I walked downstairs to see the kids, and they were all gathered together on and in front of the coffee table watching TV. I got a cute picture of if but haven't had time to download it. I'll try to remember to put it in when I download it.

My Dad was released from his student ward Bishopric on Sunday. Jan and I went to see his last talk, and it was so good. It was so sweet to see the love those students had for him. I'm so grateful he's had this calling. It has been so good for him, and he has done so much good for the students in his ward.

Well, we're almost to my stop. Better save this and get going!

Cleaning and miscellaneous

It's been a long time since I posted (since we ran out of kids birthdays for this month--although we did have Steve and Chelle's anniversary on the 17th and Dan's birthday on the 18th. So Happy Anniversary and Birthday!) Part of the reason I haven't posted much is there hasn't been too much interesting going on. Just freezing every morning and afternoon waiting for the bus, working hard, still loving my job, and hanging out with family.

Tonight I went and helped Stace clean the house they are moving into--which is actually Dan and Emilee's house they've been renting out for the last few years. So it's a good arrangement for everyone--Dan and Em get their house rented, Ad and Stace get to move out of the apartment at my parents house and get a big house to rent, Steve and Chelle get to move into the apartment and out of the tiny bonus room at Mom and Dad's house, and Mom and Dad get their family room back. Yeah! A place for the kids to play when we have parties!

The only problem is, Dan and Emilee's previous renters obviously don't know the meaning of "clean." The house was so not clean when they left, so Dan and Em and Ad and Stace have been working on getting it fixed up again. Needless to say, the lady didn't get her deposit back.

Tonight a few of us decided to go help clean so that it will be ready by Saturday. We had Jan & I, Ems, Chelle & Steve, Felicia, Karla, plus Jenni, Joey, and Lizzie. It was great fun cleaning toghether, but can I just say gross!! We found dog hair everywhere--even in the refrigerator, mold in the jetted tub, dust on the mopboards, blinds that looked like they hadn't been cleaned for years, etc. I'll end with some pictures so you can see I'm telling the truth.

Oh, and some funny things about the kids. Joe-Joe, who is almost 3 got bored with helping clean, and said he wanted to watch TV. I told him we didn't have a TV here. He said, "But we could find it! We could go get our flaslight (only he said it fwashwight.)" And cute little Lizzie, Felicia's 2 year old, who has never met me, became my little friend--and when she would get scared because of the vacuum, she would come up and have me hold her. Jenni was so good to help, and washed the light switch in the hallway three times. So cute!

Now for the pictures (my camera is having issues, so I didn't get very good pictures of the cleaning, except for the kids, but you'll see the tub and the fridge):

Such good helpers!

Mold floating in the jetted tub...

You can't see the dog hair, but let me assure you, it was there, along with caked on food...

P.S. I don't know why my paragraphs are all running together. I have fixed it three times, but it keeps doing it!

Happy (Belated) Birthday Matthew!!

Okay, so I'm finally getting around to doing a post about Matthew's birthday. I know it's a few days late, but I have been rather busy, mostly helping with his party, and then preparing my Relief Society lesson. So, here is my tribute to litttle Matthew, who turned 1 on Saturday! Since he just turned 1, I can't do pictures of him at each birthday, so I thought I'd put in pictures from every couple of months to see how he has grown.

This is with Aunt Janice when he was one month old. Matthew had such a problem with reflux (I think that's what it was called) when he was an infant. He would have such stomach pain after he ate, and it was so hard to see such a little person in so much pain. We found one of the best things to do was to hold him against our stomach in a blanket--just like in this picture. Thankfully he finally got over that (but Emilee didn't get much sleep for the first few months).

The reflux didn't affect his cute personality. Here he is in March, smiling in his car seat.

Here he is with me on Easter. I love his little outfit!

Here he is in June, taking a bath. He loves his bathtime, and always splashes and plays in the water.

Here he is with me at the Summerfest in June.



Here he is in August. Notice his bangs are starting to grow out...


I love this picture of him in September, on Emilee's birthday. His eyes are so big and brown, and his bangs are almost in his face. So cute!

Here's another one with me and his big sister Emma in September. She calls him her baby.


Here's Daddy feeding him a banana in November. I love the expression on his face.

Here he is with Uncle Jon in November as well. He wasn't sure what to think...

And finally, here he is with me on his 1st birthday, last Saturday morning.

Since we always do a big party for the 1st birthday, (and since I'm doing this post late), I thought I would combine his party pictures with his birthday post. We had it at Dan and Emilee's new dance studio, and it was so fun. All of our siblings came, plus Dan's Mom, his sister in law and her kids, and Dan's Aunt and cousin's baby. All in all, we had 24 kid there, plus 23 adults. It was quite a party! Thankfully their dance studio had plenty of room, and the kids loved being able to run around and play. Here are some picutres from the party:

This is the kids eating cake. The kid all got to make their own hats, then raced cars, (it was a car theme) and then did an obstacle course. They had so much fun!

Here is the cake that Emilee made. She was up until 4:30 in the morning doing it, but it sure turned out great!


Here's Matthew starting to eat his little cake. He sure loved it!

And here is the end result. He decimated that little car!

Here's a picture with Mommy. You can see the car wash obstacle course she made in the background.

Here's a picture of him with Daddy. He is just learning to walk (Matthew, not Daddy), and so far has taken only a few steps.

Finally, after the party was officially over, Dan took the kids downstairs to the Rental Center and gave them all rides on his skateboard ramp. They loved it! Chelle got this picture of Logan. I think it turned out so cute!



And the last picture...if you've made it this far. Karla took this picture of Matthew and I at the end of the party. He was really tired, but I think he had a great time.

I'm so grateful for my little Matthew! He is such a sweet baby, and such a blessing in my life. Happy late birthday!

Happy Birthday Matthew!

Today is sweet Matthew's 1st birthday. I don't have time to do a whole post right now (since I'm going to help get ready for his birthday party), but I'll do one later. But here is one picture of me holding him minutes after he was born.

More to come!

Happy Birthday Joshy!

Today is my nephew Josh's 7th birthday. I can't believe he is really that old! One more year, and he will be baptized! I keep telling my babies to stop growing up, but I know they can't.

So, here is my post dedicated to Joshy on his 7th birthday:

On January 8, 2002, I stopped by Jan's work to see her, and she called home to get our messages, and lo and behold we had a message on our phone from Adam telling us that they'd just had their baby boy. We were so excited! We went to the hospital to see him, and he was so cute. Unfortunately, you can't see his face very well in this picture, but trust me, he was. I also told Stace that she looked way too beautiful to have just had a baby. We were just so excited, because Stace had tried for years to have a baby, so Josh was such an answer to prayers! I remember when he was a baby, Stace would kiss him all over his face, because she was just so grateful to have him.

Here he is starting to grow up. Love those big brown eyes!! (and doesn't Adam look excited to be at our house?).

Here's Adam and Stace with Josh in April of 2004 at our house. I remember one time when he was about this age, he got hold of one of those metallic looking balloons that was deflating, and he spent 1/2 hour chewing on it and laughing. So cute! (And Adam looks happier to be there!)

I love this picture, with me holding both Joshy and Kate, who are 6 months apart. I love that they are looking at each other. Joshy had just turned 2 in this picture.

You can see his face better in this picture. This is January 2004, at Dave and Melissa's wedding reception.

This is Joshy playing in the snow after Adam and Stacey were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple in February, 2004. What a neat day! I'll never forget how sweet Joshy looked when they brought him into the room, all dressed in white. He didn't cry, but just had a puzzled expression throughout the whole thing.

Here he is in 2005. He's with his cousin Kate again, holding his new cousin Emma. Joshy loves babies, and is always so sweet with them! Notice again his big brown eyes!

Here's Josh in January 2006 with his cousin Jenni, who is 1 year younger than him. Josh was about to turn 4 in this picture.

Here's another picture of Josh in May 2006 with his sister Brianna, right after his brother Brayden was born. We took them to the Dinosaur Museum, and they loved it. I love the way he's got his shoes stuck up in the sand.

Here's Josh at 6 years old, again with his sister Brianna, in 2007. One of my favorite things about working down at BYU for so long was that I often got to go to lunch with the kids. This is at Artic Circle in Orem. I should have put a picture of one of our Chuck-a-rama lunches when he was younger, with cousins Ethan and Logan--but the lunches often weren't very pretty (think blue drink spilled all over and kids climbing up the walls), so I'll forbear. :)

On second thought, I guess I should put these pictures in so that you'll know I'm not kidding. Here is the Chuck-a-rama picture right before the blue drink incident.

And here is afterwards. Joshy, standing right next to me on the seat, decided to take a big swig of his blue drink, and poured it all over him, me, and into my purse. We didn't get a picture of me with blue all over me, but here are the three boys climbing up the walls. Notice the blue drink spilled on the back of Josh's right shoulder. See? I was telling the truth... :)

Here's him giving Daddy a kiss in June of 2008 at the Orem Summerfest. Adam had been gone on a trip, and had just gotten back, and Josh was so excited to see him.

And finally, here's a picture of him from fall 2008. What a handsome guy he is! I can't imagine what it's going to be like when he's 16--girls all over him, I'm sure. Stace, you're going to have to lock him in his room! :)

I'm so grateful for my sweet nephew Josh, and for how much he has meant to me.

Happy Birthday, buddy!

Read my post about Dad...

So, I posted a long post for Dad's birthday today, but it's not showing up as being modified on anyone else's blog. So, I thought I would do another post today to see if that updates it. I want to recognize Dad on his birthday, but it doesn't help if no one sees it!

So, hope this works.!!

My Dad's the Greatest Dad...

"My Dad's the biggest guy, my Dad's the strongest guy, my Dad's the nicest guy of any guy in town. He can do anything, he'll fix your bike, he'll fly a kite, cause my Dad's, my Dad's, the greatest guy around...He can add up any sum, he always has money for bubble gum, we haven't figured how he does it yet; but my Dad's the smartest guy, my Dad's the bravest guy, My Dad's the neatest guy, it's positively so. Maybe I'll introduce you, then you'll know that it's the truth, cause my Dad, my Dad's the greatest guy you know."

This is a song I used to listen to when I was young from "Songs for a Mormon Child." I found it today, and thought I would write the lyrics above--because it describes my feelings for my Dad. He really is the greatest guy.

"Maybe I'll introduce you, then you'll know that it's the truth..."

Here are just a few reasons why my Dad is the greatest guy...

**He has always been there whenever I've needed anything. Since I've been single for such a long time, I've always had to rely on my Dad. I think he's been with me to buy four or five different cars now, and each time he gives me great advice, and then stays the whole time (sometimes for hours) while I figure out the financing and sign all the paperwork. Jan and I always know we can call him when we have a question about fixing something at home, or any other "manly" thing that needs to be done.

**He is super smart. I am always asking him questions about all kinds of things, and he always has a really good answer and takes the time to explain it. He reads all the time, and is always up on the news of the day. I remember once there was a guy I liked at work, and I asked him a question, and he had no idea of the answer, and I thought, "Well, my Dad would know that..."

**He's fun to be with, and I love his laugh. I especially love watching movies with him, and hearing him laugh at parts he likes. I also love it when we get together as a family, and all start laughing together.

**He's such a hard worker. Almost the entire time we were growing up, he worked two jobs to support our family, and then would come home at night and on weekends and do yard work or fix up the house. He also always makes amazing Christmas morning breakfasts, which are a family favorite.

**He gives amazing Priesthood blessings. Seriously, my Dad has the gift for this. He has given so many blessings--not just to me, but to others in our family and to people in his ward that have comforted, blessed, and helped them. I can't imagine what I would be missing if he hadn't given me the blessing last fall that led me to my new job and all of the great experiences I've already had from that. I know that all blessings are from the Lord, but I also know that my Dad has a talent for deciphering what the Lord would have a person know. I'm so grateful I've always had a worthy Priesthood holder in my home.

I could name many more things--but the thing I love most about Dad is that he is completely devoted to his family and would do anything for us. I'm so grateful for him and for all he's done for our family throughout the years. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD! I hope you know how much we all love you!!

P.S. I'm posting this tonight, on January 6, even though his birthday is tomorrow, on January 7, because I knew I wouldn't get it done tomorrow before work. :)

P.P.S Mom, this is proof that I do take picutures of people other than just the kids. :)