A little catch up Posting

First Jasmine started Joy School!

Then our close friends the Brenchley's came for a visit:

A silly face...


And finally some cute braids, courtesy of my friend Jess (thank you)

Foot n Friends

This post is dedicated to my friends. I had a really bad monday this last week. Everything just seemed to go wrong. Plus my babysitter had called late the night before and she couldn't watch Jasmine for me and I had this mandatory meeting to go to so I was frantically calling people to ask for a favor, not fun. Turns out everyone had conflicts. So I reluctantly called my friend Wendy (who has a newborn-4 kids total right now!) and she said "sure!" I was so relieved. Until right after lunch Jasmine fell off of the barstool in the kitchen. Oh great, but when she calmed down pretty easily and laid down for her nap, I thought everything was fine. I woke her up right before we were scheduled to leave and she said her foot hurt and was "stuck". She couldn't move it! She couldn't stand on it! Now I was frantic. Change of plans, I guess I am going to the doctor instead of my meeting. That's when I got a call from my friend Jen who got done with what she had sooner and said she would be happy to take my kids, how nice, but no longer needed. And as I was headed out to pick up Shay from school, Katie calls and insisted I bring Shayden over to play while I take Jasmine to the dr. It was so comforting to feel so much care and concern pour out from all over. I really think it made the difference, because my attitude changed. I was able to just focus on the problem at hand and how to help Jasmine feel better.
Turns out much to my surprise, more like shock, her foot was not broken! It was a bad sprain, but not broken. And she wasn't complaining about the pain or anything, in fact this is her soon after we got home and were icing her foot:

What a blessing that she was fine! She couldn't walk and it was still very scary, but I was able to take advantage of blessing such as friends, and sick leave and good medical advice.

We were still able to take our trip 2 days later...and suddenly last Friday she started to walk on it again! Good health is truly a blessing! So are good friends...

Extreme Makeover, blog edition

My blog has undergone some changes lately. The cute new look was not so cute when some people couldn't see it. So I hurried and changed it. This is the last time for a while, I promise. But if are looking at this and it is distorted or you can't see the pictures or any other problems, please shoot me an email or comment, thanks!

Camping Engagement

We were invited a few weeks ago to go camping with my very good friend Jen and her family last weekend. It was a service project to chop wood at none other then the campground that we used to go to for girls camp all those many years ago.

I must admit I am not much of a camper but I used to LOVE girls camp so much. There is nothing like it, I think. So I jumped at the chance to spend some time with my childhood friend and her family there.

But when I found out by her boyfriend that he was going to ask her to marry him there, wow, my excitement could hardly be contained! I couldn't wait, and it was a surprise, so of course we all had to keep it top secret. He wanted some of the guys to sing "Unforgettable" by Nat King Cole which is one of her favorite singers of all time. Such a romantic song. It ended up being her brother, SIL, and Jonas, and her other brother played the guitar. They slow danced around the fire and when it was done he got on one knee and proposed! It was terribly romantic!

I love that Brandon, (her fiance) would let us be a part of this, I mean it was pretty much her family, a couple members from my home ward, and US that got to be there, and I love that Jonas got to actually sing to them and I triple LOVE that Brandon showed us the ring before he did it! (it is beautiful, of course) We felt so special to be included.

So aside from that very memorable event, we ate smores around the campfire and sang old camp songs, Jonas and I took some time to stare at the beautiful stars in the heavens and absorb the beauty of it all, and then the next day--service.

Service has been on our minds anyway because it is our theme for the month in Primary and we had a FHE lesson on it this week, so it was perfect. I should mention that Jonas did the actual chopping wood as I had to stay back with the kids, but it was still a good chance to reinforce the lesson with the kids.

After lunch we rode in the back of one of the members trucks and he took us all around the church property to see some of our old stomping grounds. It was very nostalgic.

So my good pal and old roomate Jen is engaged and I couldn't be more thrilled! She is a beautiful person inside and out and she deserves to be happy.

I am so glad she found such a great guy and that Jonas and I could both get along with him so well. It was definately an "unforgettable" weekend!

New Leaf New Look

In celebration of Autumn I am turning over a new leaf --symbolically in my life and literally on my blog! Time to shake things up a bit with a fresh new look!

p.s. don't worry, summer, you are still my favorite season!

Tag your it

I've been tagged by the cox family corner and so here goes...

1. Who is your man? Jonas, my DH

2. How long have you been together? we met over 10 years ago! our big 10 year anniversary is in May! wow

3. How long dated? we dated for about 8 months and then were engaged for 6

4. How old is your man? 35 he's six years older than me

6. Who said "I love you" first? I think he did, wow that was a long time ago-but I said it right back!7. Who is taller? Jonas, thank goodness, or else we would be "one of those"

8. Who sings better? I am not a singer-he has done show choir and musicals, although he still doesn't believe he sings that well and he refuses to sing his old Big River songs for me :(

9. Who is smarter? We are smart in different ways--like he is very smart in practical ways that are useful in daily life while I am more, read-a-book-and-then-take-a-test-on-it kind of smart.

10. Who's temper is worse? that is definately mine

11. Who does the laundry? me, mostly.
12.Who takes out the garbage? both of us

13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? I have switched over the years. Right now I am on the left side.

14. Who pays the bills? me

15. Who is better with the computer? him, for sure

16. Who mows the lawn? him, I have never mowed a lawn, spoiled, I know.

17. Who cooks dinner? both of us, I love that he can whip up a good meal.

18. Who drives when you are together? him, he doesn't like it when I drive anyway, which works for me.

19. Who pays when you go out? him, typically

20. Who is most stubborn? me, hands down

21. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? mostly him, although I am working on it.

22. Whose parents do you see the most? mine live down the street(well almost), his live across the country.

23. Who kissed who first? he asked me and then kissed me

24. Who asked who out? he asked me out to a nice spagetti dinner at his apt

25. Who proposed? he proposed to me~it was awesome! He is very romantic.

26. Who is more sensitive? I am way more sensitive

27. Who has more friends? Friends are very important to both of us, so we both have lots!

28. Who has more siblings? there are eight kids in his family, so that is double the amount in mine.

29. Who wears the pants in the family? He likes to kid and say me, but it's not true, we both do.

I tag my darling sister...

Tuesday After School Adventures

My friend Katie and I decided that each Tuesday afternoon is going to be spent exploring a different park in the valley so that we can catch up and the kids can get some outside time and less "screen time" as we call it.

This Tuesday we went to Winchester Park. We went there recently for a work picnic and I thought it was perfect because it has the little duck pond, lot's of shade and access to the Jordan River Parkway. Plus it is not far from our house.

The boys spent quite a while just hanging out by the water, exploring.

And looking for "beaver paths" :)
And finally taking a little stroll on the parkway. It was a fun afternoon and I loved being able to chat and spend time with Katie, she is one of my favorite people!

Jasmine the Ballerina

On Saturday I took Jasmine to a little sample ballet class at this prestigious school that is just opening up downtown. I didn't really expect to enroll her but I thought it would be fun to try since I am looking at options for dance classes etc. She put on her cute little leotard and ballet slippers and was so excited all day! It was a very small class so they each got lot's of attention.

Afterwards we walked across the street to this quaint little bakery and splurged on the cutest little cupcakes and other confections.

First Day of School

School started last week and I am behind! I can't believe that I have a first grader, my how time flies.

About 2 year ago I applied to a couple of awesome charter schools in my area. But because the demand is so high, enrollment was a lottery and we didn't get picked. Then last year, after 1/2 year in the regular public school in my nieghborhood, we had the opportunity to change. It was a very hard decision but I feel that we made the right one.

Now I am feeling especially grateful that Shay has the opportunity to go to this amazing school, built brand new this year, with state of the art technology, an awesome principal, the list goes on and on.

It is a lot like a private school in that they wear uniforms and the curriculum is very rigorous, but is free and all about parent involvement which I LOVE! One of my favorite things about it is that they start teaching language at the 3rd grade level instead of 8th grade like most public schools in Utah.

I can't wait to get in the classroom and start volunteering!

Last minute TRIP before School!

So Thursday morning of last week I all of a sudden got the brilliant idea to go across the country by my self with 2 kids. Madness!

So I called up my SIL in Boston and asked her if I could come for a quick visit to surprise my older brother.

The flight out was a bit of a nightmare because I decided to go through San Francisco instead of straight to NY so that I would have a better chance of sitting by the kids. We had a forever long lay over but the kids behaved beautifully and slept the ENTIRE flight cross country to NYC. That was a HUGE relief.

I have been wanting for some time to go spend a day in New York devoted only to what is one of my absolute favorite places on this earth...CENTRAL PARK!

So Friday we rode the subway (by myself with kids mind you), to the Upper East side of Manhattan, and tasted some famous New York bagels for breakfast, then headed into the park for a day full of fun!

Our first stop was the Central Park Zoo which I have been dying to go to. It was cool to tell the kids that this was the zoo that was portrayed in Madagascar, and it was a bit freaky to stare at the penguins through the glass after seeing Happy Feet since it was exactly like that.

When we first walked in we got to see the sea lion show which the kids liked.

After the zoo we were off to the carousel which was of course the highlight for Jasmine.

This picture depicts why I love this place so much. There is something so ironically serene about this paradise set amidst the towering skyscrapers. It is enormous!!! 843 acres to be exact. I could go on and on about it but I will refrain. :)

I turned around and found Jasmine peacefully looking out at the Bethesda Fountain (from the show "Friends"). It was so cute.

You know, I thought I needed just 1 full day there but I literally could have spent 3 days! We barely scratched the surface but it was so fun anyway. I knew I was having more fun than the kids but it was a bit deflated when Shayden, in response to my fifth exclamation of "isn't this the coolest place ever?!" said to me "mom, this place is cool but not amazing". He kept asking me when we could go see his cousins.

This was the pond from Stuart Little. You could actually rent these motorized boats!

So I said enough and we took the next train back to the airport. The flight was a bit delayed and we didn't get to Boston until about 8:30pm and it was so fun to surprise my brother! Except he had already pretty much guessed it, oh well. So we spent that night catching up and just hanging out.

Then the next day, Saturday, we spent the entire day at the lake! They have a boat and I got ride on a two seater tube behind it. It was exhilarating!

The kids had so much fun playing on the beach.

Check out the name of this lake.

Then when we were done there we dropped of my SIL and nephew who both had plans already and just my brother, 2 nieces the 3 of us decided to go to yet another lake and have a sunset cruise! Oh that was an adventure as D had never done the boat by himself and I was pretty much useless, but we managed with minor problems and lots of memories.


My niece kept jumping off of the boat and Shayden even did it once which is HUGE for him! And he even got to "drive" the boat! I was very proud of him.

After that we just went home and gave the girls baths and let the bigger kids play while we just talked and talked...it was such a good evening!

And then off to our home on Sunday morning. The kids did amazing on the way home as well. I don't think I could have made it if they didn't behave so well. They were truly awesome.

So in a matter of 3 days we managed to take 5 plane rides, a boat, a car, a bus and a train! Wow!