A warm day at Thanksgiving Point Gardens

Slideshow will come back as soon as I can figure out how to turn off the song :)


Today we went to Thanksgiving Point Gardens with some of our very best friends. It was amazing how warm it was and very little wind. YAHOO! The girls had a blast with Hunter and Easton! My favorite part of the day was when Chlo almost stepped on a snake. You should have seen her face and watch her run. Poor kid. I was smart enough to use sunscreen on the girls, but I figured I was fine... Wrong again. My arms are fried! But it was all worth it. Mindy and I are already making plans to go again next week - so if anyone would like to join us - let me know!

Being thankful for the little things

This morning I got an email from my little brother Elder Jackman who is serving a mission in Zimbabwe. He loves it and is, of course, one of the only white people in the area. The kids there love him and run up just to touch him. It's always a greatly anticipated thing getting emails from him every Monday morning. I love reading them because it makes me so grateful for the things I have. He talks about how their food rations are so limited that there was a week he had only 2-3 meals... Their water is also in short supply so when the water is working they have to be sure their tub is filled to the top because they don't know when water will be coming again. They take a "shower" with only 2 liters of water and don't even always have that luxury. He's also mentioned once that because the water is in such demand they can only flush their toilets once a day most of the time. (for multiple elder missionaries, I can't imagine that would be pretty). When they have their political elections the whole country gets crazy! The missionaries are supposed to stay in and away from the "craziness". The people live in little tiny houses and do their best to survive. They are a super happy people and are longing to hear the gospel even though their church attendance from week to week varies, they do seem to have several baptisms from month to month. The money over there is beyond crazy! Elder Jackman gets $5,500,000,000 Every 2 weeks (yes that is BILLION). The picture attached is of him showing off his monies. :) Too bad it's not worth anything. Just for him to do email from week to week it's $100,000,000... And we thought things here were expensive. The gas is also limited, so good luck sending him a package. We don't know how long it will take him to get it, or if he even will!
After reading his emails I enjoy my hot showers, warm meals, a flushing toilet, fresh water to drink and a working computer in my house. I was talking to my sister and she says she even eats the nasty bread ends on her store bought bread now because she feels guilty wasting it. I am so thankful for heat and air conditioning, neither of which luxuries he enjoys.
I guess for me the bottom line is I am so thankful for where I live and for an economy that allows me all the little things that are now considered "big" for me. I'm also thankful for a brother who is willing to sacrifice most of the luxuries of life to spread the gospel. I know he'll be blessed beyond his own comprehension for his sacrifice!

I love you Elder Bean!

Who wouldn't want to be a Jazz fan???

So ever since Dave was invited to participate in "fantasy basketball" with some buddies, he's got me HOOKED! Just as a side note, Dave did win 1st place in his fantasy team group! That's pretty good seeing as he's never done it before. Go Dave! I've been following several of the NBA games this season and I can actually name a few players from several teams... Who would have thought a "molly mormon fashion design major" would ever get sucked into a good basketball game??? Needless to say my favorite team to watch is of coarse, the Jazz. They've actually been playing really well and have been fun to watch. Even the girls have gotten into it. Chlo and Carlee each know a few players, but like their mother, their favorite is Kyle Korver. Anyone else like eye candy??? The girls can point him out in any Jazz game (not that the trademark knee socks don't help...). The past few days while Dave and I have been enjoying some playoff games that are not Jazz games, Carlee and Chlo take turns cheering "GO KORVER, GO KORVER". Yes, we know he's not on all NBA teams, but I don't think the girls have picked up on that yet. It's WAY cute. Who would have thought he'd have fans as young as 3 and 5. I'm so lucky to have such well rounded girls who can cheer for NBA teams while getting their fingernails done :)

We are excited to watch how the Jazz end up doing in the playoffs this year. I think they have Houston in the bag, but LA Lakers??? I don't think so. Here's for hoping! :)

Just as a shout out to my cute brother Nate - you really do look a lot like that Mehmet Okur :)

Enjoy the rest of the playoffs!

GO JAZZ

Seeing Dave in a new light...

So the guys at Dave's work are having some fun with him again. I guess they were having a conversation at work about a co-workers ferret (she had to bring it to work yesterday because he was sick...) Needless to say because of this, Dave once again became the subject of a silly picture. Oh Dave, I'm so glad you're such a good sport. May I add that you make a really cute ferret! :)

Adventure Day with Grandma and Heather

My mom was great and asked if she could take the girls and I out for an adventure day. The girls decided they wanted to go to the zoo. They were SO excited this morning and got ready quick so we could go. We met my mom and sister and joined cars. By the time we go to the zoo, it was a ZOO!!! The lines were awful! It would have taken 30 minutes to an hour just to get in the zoo! We were glad the "this is the place" monument was across the street. I was a little hesitant because I didn't know what the girls would think. They LOVED it! Chlo actually asked when she could go back and do laundry again. My mom is super well informed on the pioneer stuff so she filled the girls in on all the cool little bits of information she had. They loved the school and seeing what a real hand cart looked like, seeing Chlo pick all the dandelions was fun too, she thinks they're so beautiful. Chlo really got a kick out of the whole "outhouse" thing too, she thought it was quite curious that they'd have to go outside to use the potty like the dog. They really had a lot more fun than I ever thought they would. The best part was the weather totally cooperated and it was a beautiful day!

After the fun filled time with the "pioneers" we headed back towards home for some good old McDonalds. Yum... The girls were still up for more fun so we headed down to the theater to see Horton Hears a Who. SO CUTE!!! If any of you haven't seen it I totally recommend it. Be aware that there is this really weird graphical animation part in the middle which is quite strange, but other than that it's a total winner.

We just walked in the door and I'm totally exhausted! I'm glad it's Friday and a good night to relax. Thanks mom and Heather for the fun day! I can't wait to do it again!

Mid 80's???

So Utah weather is totally messed up. If I remember right just last week we woke up to snow... Yesterday we were able to go outside and enjoy the heat. Dave said his car was saying high 80's for the temperature yesterday. I was even sunburned... It was SO nice to be able to spend some time in the warm weather. We enjoyed a picnic and even some sprinkler time. We had lots of friends come over later to enjoy the sun with us. I'm so thankful for the ever changing weather, you have to admit, it never gets boring... :) Everyone enjoy the rain and wind today and possible snow tomorrow, you never know what you're going to get next!

We've been tagged

Thanks Shannon! We've never been tagged before! Like you, I'll just do a few for each kid!

Chloé
1 - Chlo likes to act older than she is, as a matter of fact, Dave says someday she's going to star in a teen-movie. She likes words like: seriously, fabulous, I mean it... And of coarse the pose with the hands on the hips is usually involved.
2 - She LOVES veggies. Her favorites are carrots, asparagus, and TOMATOES. She asked for a snack the other day and chose carrots... Love it!
3- She is amazing at art! She is great with pretty much anything, clay, paint, crayons, pencils, whatever she can get her hands on.
4 - She LIVES in PJ pants. There are honestly tears every time she has to wear anything but... She's even into wearing the slippers that go with them. What in the heck??? I guess she likes to be comfortable... Any ideas on where I can get some "stylish" PJ pants???
5 - She loves BOYS! I think she's on the 3rd or 4th boy who's asked her to marry her. The most recent is this way cute boy in her pre-school class (who is black). He is SO sweet to her and is always watching out for her. I hope someday she can find a guy like him who will really respect her and see her for the amazing person she is. Thanks James :)

Carlee
1 - Carlee is my milk queen!! Thanks to her dad, she LOVES pink and chocolate milk. She drinks about a half gallon a day, at least! We go through a large container of both pink and chocolate Quik about once a month. That's a lot of milk!
2 - She is a TOTAL girly girl. She loves lip gloss, earrings, skirts, bows, necklaces and bracelets, fingers and toes have to be painted. It's really fun!
3 - She LOVES her "blebadee" (blanket). She can't sleep without it. Needless to say, it took us quite a while to figure out what she was talking about when she'd cry for her blebadee.
4 - Carlee LOVES our dog Mitzy. I think if it weren't for Carlee Mitzy would get no attention. Carlee is the first one to get up and play with her. She is great at getting her food and water and taking her potty. What a great friend.
5 - She loves to dress up and play "mom" with Chlo and her dolls. She tends to come up with some pretty interesting dress up combinations. I love the name's she come up with for her babies too, Talla, Annabelle, and Velma (Maybe a bit too much scooby doo...) She has a lot of creativity. It's fun to watch her do her little dance performances in the front foyer totally decked out in costume with baby in tow.

Dave (yes, there are times he can also be one of my kids)
1 - He is SUPER dedicated to any projects he has going. He is amazing at his calling and work. He's a hard worker and gets stuff done - no follow up needed!
2 - He's OCD!!! Guys at work like to give him a hard time because he's so anal about where things go and how they look. Some mornings the guys will go in his office and move things around just to mess him up. :)
3 - He loves super heroes. He has quite a large collection of super hero figures and GI Joe figures too, not to count the plethora of super hero t-shirts in his closet. We need to get him a room dedicated to his collection so he can show them off!
4 - He loves snacks. Chips, popcorn, salsa, cheese, licorice, bit o' honey, cheerios, root beer and of coarse chocolate and pink milk. The poor guy rarely gets breakfast and his lunches are usually small so when he gets home he loves to head for the snacks.
5 - He is obsessed with fantasy NBA basketball!!! (thanks Jared and Dan!) So far he's doing pretty good with his "fantasy" team. He's in the top 2 and is winning for now. The first thing he does when he comes home is check his stats... He'll leave his laptop on his lap or right next to him during dinner and the rest of the night. He doesn't want to miss anything big... This is supposedly the last week, so if anyone has any new hobby ideas for him, please, pass them along :)

The next to be tagged will be kids whos last names are: Mason, Hopper, Smith, Brough and Balmforth! I can't wait to read all about them!

LDS General Conference spirit

Today has already been such a great day. There hasn't been a solemn assembly since President Hinkley was put in 13 years ago. The spirit was so strong as we watched different groups of people sustain the quorum of the 12 and new prophet and his counselors. I felt the spirit so strongly that President Monson is our next prophet. What an amazing gift we have as members of the church. I teared up as I watched my girls sustain President Monson. I don't know if it's sacrilegious but I took a picture of them raising their hands to support him. They have loved watching for the different general authorities they know get up and speak. I think their favorite is Dieter Uchtdorf (They love to say it!) Everyone enjoy the last few sessions. I know they’ll all be amazing!

Craft day

I thought it would be fun to let the girls help in the house decorating, so today I let them pick out some greenery and flowers to create a piece to put in their bathroom. They had so much fun sticking the flowers in making the arrangement look beautiful. Considering they did this by themselves, I'm pretty impressed. Who knew they had such great skills... I wonder what I can get them to do next. :)