Haylee's Choir Performance

Every Child has to do it Just Once...

...Right?

A Night Out

Every year DeltaValve has an awesome Christmas Party. So far this year was the best. It's always at the Downtown Marriott and always has delicious food (except for the desserts). This year Johnny Biscuit was the entertainment. He was pretty funny, most of the time. DeltaValve, of course, gave away awesome prizes. Some were better than others. We walked away with a free night out...Dinner & a Movie. Not bad.

Annual FMT Christmas Party

Me and my hubbie. Not sure what's up with the goofy grin on his face. But it was either a goofy picture of him or a goofy picture of me. Of course I chose him. =)

Me and my daddy!

Have I mentioned I LOVE Christmas time!

Christmas Traditions

Every year (almost) as a family we've gone out to buy a Christmas Tree together. On the way home we stop and buy donuts and the kids all pick the ones they want. We then come home, have donuts (and sometimes hot chocolate) and decorate the tree together. OK, I hand-out ornaments...the kids put them on. Take a close look at the tree and you'll see how evenly spaced everything is (not!).

I love Christmas time!

Provo River Falls

Chris decided to take the day off work a couple of weeks ago because the weather was "too nice to go to work". Chris, Elizabeth and I went up to Heber and had breakfast at a cute little cafe called The Hub. It was pretty good. Thanks for the suggestion, Dad! After that we decided to drive up to Mirror Lake. The weather wasn't quite as nice up that high. It was still sunny skies but freezing cold. So cold that there was ice all the way down the road that leads to the lake. We have 4 wheel drive but it still seemed a little sketchy so we headed back down the mountain until we came upon a place we never knew exsisted, Provo River Falls. It was beautiful! We got out of the car and checked the place out. Elizabeth thought it was pretty cool. It was a bunch of little falls cascading gradually down the mountain. I'm so happy we found this place!

hAlLoWeEn

For Halloween this year Haylee was a "Dead Queen", Zach a "Ninja", Lauren a "Vampiress" and Elizabeth "Snow White". The only kids Chris and I had to take trick or treating this year were Lauren and Elizabeth. Haylee and Zach both went with friends.

I'm not sure what Jordan was supposed to be. Dead, maybe? He hung out at the neighbors house all night as part of their "spook alley".

It was a fun Halloween!

Carving Memories

Just Because

My adorable little book-lovers are even sweeter when they're sleeping...

New Blog Link

I noticed that on yesterdays blog that it wasn't obvious what my new blog link is. So here it is. http://bioguardinfo.blogspot.com/

The Truth About BioGuard

I've recently started a new blog. Here's the e-mail I sent out to family and friends (in case somehow I missed you, I'm putting the new blog info here as well!) regarding a new product I'm trying.

"I just want to let my friends and family in on something I recently discovered. Costco is currently carrying a new product called BioGuard by a company called Imagenetix. This is an immune booster and probiotic. Probiotics are good bacteria. BioGuard is a probiotic that is designed to work where germs enter your body--your ears, nose and throat. It's a small white Melt-Tab that immediately begins to work destroying harmful bacteria and replacing them with beneficial bacteria as soon as you put it in your mouth. I think this has the pontential to be a very useful tool this flu season.

For more information please visit the BioGuard website. -or- follow me on a new blog I've started regarding the benefits of BioGuard to my family.

Here's to a HEALTHY flu season for all of my family and friends!
Love , Jessica"

Welcome Home, Daddy!

Chris has been home now for 3 weeks. The kids love having him home, as do I. We had a welcome home party for him this last Saturday. It was not only to welcome home Chris, but an opportunity to thank all of our friends, neighbors and family for their help and support while Chris was in training. Thanks to all of you who made it and all of you who couldn't make it as well. We love you all and appreciate all you have done for us!

A New Addition to Our Family

We got a new kitty a couple weeks ago. Her name is Missy. And she is adorable. The kids absolutely love her, especially Elizabeth.

Kitty doesn't care for her too much. OK, she despises her. She hisses anytime Missy gets within a couple of feet from her. And Missy just LOVES to antogonize her. Good times.

My Trip to Maryland

The Archives Building in Washington, D.C.

My weekend away to visit Chris in Maryland was much better, as far as flights go, than my trip to Oklahoma. My outgoing flight was overbooked and they asked if they could bump me to a later flight. One that was non-stop and would only arrive 40 minutes later than my other one was scheduled. And they were going to put me in first class! Who could say no to that? So I quickly agreed. As she started putting my info into the computer she also says, "Oh, and we'll also give you a $400 voucher and a free breakfast." Heck ya! (BTW, this was Delta, NOT United!)

My hot husband inside the one place he really wanted to see...the Archives Building.

My brother-in-law Jesse and his cute wife Kaylee!

Maryland is BEAUTIFUL! It's so green and lush. I loved it there and didn't want to come home. We visited D.C., rode the metro, ate good food and hung out with Chris's brother Jesse and his new wife Kaylee. It was a lot of fun being with them. Thanks for having us guys!

The White House. I was amazed at how many people were there to see it. I also thought it was awesome that there was a sniper on the roof! It only makes sense, it was just never something I had thought of before.

Washington Monument ~ It's amazing just how tall it is. It's hard to believe until you actually see it in real life.

Jesse & Kaylee at the Metro Station. I wish we had one of those here!

Just Cute

Oklahoma Part 2

OK. So I never finished my post from my trip to Oklahoma in July. Well, basically, it took me 2 days to get home. It was a mess and it was a long and exhausting trip. I don't really remember the details now. The part I do rememebr is that I won't fly with United again. At one point we were waiting to land in Denver and were circling for about 45 minutes because of weather. Then we headed to some other city in Colorado to land for fuel. When we landed we found out that all ground personnel at that airport had gone inside due to lightning. So we sat in the plane for about an hour. I should mention that United does not like to feed their customers. Even after being in the plane for over 4 hours the flight attendant (who had been rude since the beginning of the flight) still refused to give out snacks. She finally started ahnded some out saying they were only for the kids. I guess she had 1 too many complaints because she gave them to a few adults.

Chris and his platoon

At this point it was way past time for anybodys connecting flights in Denver. We unloaded the plane, many people complained. There were no more flights going out of that airport that evening, from ANY other airlines. The airline wasn't going to pay for any flight changes or for hotel accomodations for the night. Needless to say there were very many UPSET people. After much complaining United BUSSED about 100 people up to the Denver Airport (1 1/2 hour drive). By the time we got there apparently United got their act together and agreed to pay for hotel accomodations, 1 free meal and a shuttle to the hotel. And they made arrangements for our outgoing flight. It was nice to be compensated, but in my opinion it didn't make up for their rudeness and the many inconveniences they caused so many people.

with Captain Perry

The whole story is actually worse than it sounds. I sugar-coated it. =) Like I said before, though, I will never fly United again. 90% of their staff was extremely rude. Before, during and after the incident.

I love this guy!!!

Who Am I?

I thought I liked to cook. But looking back, I can't remember a time I ever liked to cook. Where did I get this crazy notion? Yes, I am an excellent cook, but I really don't enjoy it.

I'm frustrated. There are so many things I think I enjoy doing. Or things that I think I want to do. But when it comes down to it either I'm really just not that interested in doing these things or I don't have the motivation to do them. But which is it? I don't know.

Like today. I picked all my tomatoes, and there were a lot, thinking that I'd like to can them or make spaghetti sauce and can that. But now that they're all picked and in my house I'm at a loss at to what to do with them all. Do I really want to can them? I think I do. But then I think of the mess and the time it takes and the I-have-no-idea-what-I'm-doing. The time it'll take? I'm being ridiculous. I have plenty of time. Plenty of time to sit at my computer all day. I think I'm just lazy.

I think that's usually my problem. I'm lazy. I don't know how to get out of this rut and I'm frustrated. I'm frustrated and irritated at myself for my laziness.

I planted a garden this year. It did so well (compared to past years). But a couple of the things didn't get harvested, ok a lot of it didn't get harvested. Broccoli, green beans, lettuce, cucumbers... And a few things got harvested but just sat there, untouched...carrots, more green beans, zucchini...All things that I love, but I just didn't want to prepare. People are probably reading this thinking how wasteful I am. That's ok. Those people are right.

I want to homeschool my kids again. I want to can tomatoes, sauces, salsa, fruits and jams. I want to bake all my own bread and make my own tortillas. I want to raise chickens for eggs and cows for milk. I want to sew baby blankets for Humanitarian Aide. I want to sew new clothes and little things for the next rendezvous. I want to be a good mom. The list goes on and on. But will I ever do these things? I don't know. Do I really want to do these things? Or do I just think I do?

I don't know.

Reward: Lost Tooth

I'm not sure why my kids take so long to lose their teeth. Zach is in 2nd grade and finally lost his 1st tooth the other day. Yay Zach!

BTW, if it looks like he has the remains of a black eye...he does! We were at a birthday party the other day with one of those big blow-up rental water slides and he wasn't be careful (no, not zach!) and got kicked in the face. lol.

Pre-school!

Elizabeth's 1st day of pre-school this year was September 1st. She was so excited to go. Everyday that the kids went to school and she didn't, she would cry because she wanted to go too. Poor girl.

Elizabeth with Miss Valarie.

Growing Up

I can't believe Jordan is already in Jr. High. Time flies. I'm excited for it, but also sad...it means I'm getting old!

Back to School

I'm not sure who looks forward to the 1st day of school more...the kids or mom. I know some moms who are so sad by their kids leaving them for school. I'm just not one of those moms.
The kids (minus Zach) were so excited to see me waiting for them at the bus stop after school. Elizabeth was heart broken when they left in the morning and so, of course, was so excited to see them after school.

Zach couldn't be seen walking home with his mommy.

CHAOS

Jordan wanted to throw an End-of-Summer Party. He invited a few friends from school and I let each of my kids invite a couple of friends each. We had everyone bring something to eat. Jordan had to pay for anything that didn't get assigned to someone or things we didn't already have. It's over in 2 minutes. Thank goodness. It was total chaos. But the kids had fun.

Here's to school starting this week! Woo Hoo!!!

Random

I LOVE it when the kids are sweet to each other. It melts my heart. And I love it when Elizabeth just crawls up into the lap of one of her older brothers or sisters.

Three years old and dressing herself. Notice the fashionable tags-in-the-front-sticking-out look. And the sideways-crotch pants. That's my girl!