Elody's first step

Elody is learning to balance more each day. Today for the first time, she stood for several minutes without assistance. I sent one of the kids in for the camera and took a picture of her. Then I started the filming hoping I could get her to take a step, AND SHE DID!!! Then....Talon shot her in the face with a foam dart! I was more startled that she was. She was fine, but Talon got into a little bit of trouble. He knows he is not suppose to aim at people's faces.

I know, I need to learn to not take video sideways~

Cousin Chad's birthday party at the park

Today we went to the park for Matt's sister's(Amanda)son's birthday party. It is really cool park. I got a couple of pictures of the toys. They also have a splash pad there too. Matt's other sister Esther made this amazing cake for a fund raiser auction. Amanda bought it for $100. Other's pitched in to help pay for it. I normally don't eat cake, but I had to have a taste of this one. Every layer had a different flavored cake and filling.

Elody is 11 months old today!

My little baby is now 11 months old. This silly girl can't walk yet, but this morning Safia put her up the rocking horse and went to town on it. We have put her up on it before, but she really was hesitant on it. Now we can't keep her off of it. It's hilarious!

Beauchene's 3rd Birthday

I love this little boy!

While we were at Matt's mom's house last weekend, we sang Happy Birthday to him with all the family and Grandma got him a Thomas the tank engine. We got him the summer PJs. Then on Tuesday, his actual birthday we sang to him again and gave him his other presents. When I asked him earlier what he wanted for his birthday dinner, he said, "Jello!" So I said, "What else?" Again, he said,"Jello!" I asked him, "What color?" and he said, "Blue!" So, he got blue jello for his birthday dessert with candles and everything. For dinner I made creamy potato casserole with ham and broccoli. It was pretty yummy.

Beauchene is the love of our lives. He is so sweet and kind and loving and compassionate and compliant, and obedient and funny. If he could only stay little!

Elody and Chienne

For some reason, Elody loves Chienne even though that dog is at least twice as big as her. Matt's mom took these pictures of her at her house.

Roofing Matt's mom's house

Sometime ago when we were out at Matt's mom's house, Matt went up on the roof to check it out because she had mentioned that shingle had been flying off. Well, he firmly told her that she needed her roof re-shingled and soon. So this past weekend he and most of his siblings re-shingled her roof. Matt went out Friday morning and he and Ryan, his sister's husband, ripped off all the singles. Saturday they all nailed in all the new ones. Even I went up there for a little while and nailed in some shingles. It was actually kinda fun. Candy and I took the kids for a walk up the wash and wore them out. Here is a picture of my two little ones crashed out. They are so sweet when they are sleeping. :)

3 day old chicks

The kids dropped a caterpillar into the chicks cage. One chick picked it up and several others followed it trying to get it from her. It was really funny to watch so we recorded a short segment of it.

Nice way to get the kids to nap

I went for a bike ride the other day and took the two little ones to the store. By the time I got there, one was asleep and the other was really sleepy. I was dreading trying to figure out what to do. Then my friend Shelly walked out of the store. She watched my kids while I ran in to get two things and ran out. I let them sleep a while in the trailor in the shade because it was a nice day. I figured it was a nice way to take a nap.

The baby chicks are here!

This is our set up for our baby chicks.

We got a call from the post office at 6:55am Monday morning to come pick up the chicks. One was almost dead and died shortly after I got them here. There were 26 totally and now 25. We didn't have any feed yet, so I got some from Shelly, my friend who got her baby chicks about 3 weeks ago. Then the lightbulb broke. So after I got the kids off to school I ran and got some feed and a new light bulb. So then I was able to get everything set up to make the chicks happy, feed, watered, and warm. The kids are so excited. They go see them first thing in the morning and first thing after school. On Tuesday, another one died. It is typical, from what I have heard, that a couple of them die, so we weren't too surprised. Still sad all the same.

Completed the outside of the chicken coop

Matt completed the outside of the chicken coop. Now we just need to build the inside shelves and such.

Jileigh's 13!!

My little baby is now 13. She thinks she can watch pg13 movies, but still likes to use the clearplay machine. Jileigh usually, most often, almost all the time has straight A's. She is a saint when it comes to helping. I can trust her to baby sit, and not sneak into things without permission. She also babysits Candy's kids. She knows how to do funny things (well, she thinks) with the computer, and how to make mommy happy. She can get impatient with the kids but is tryng not to. She adores her guinea pigs and is responsible for them. When she grows up she wants to breed guinea pigs like her Grandma.

Elody is 10 months old!

My sweet baby is 10 months old!

The building of the Chicken coop

We decided to build a chicken coop and raise chickens and have their eggs. Matt built it and the kids painted it Barn RED. It isn't finished yet. Matt got to fence in the area still. I ordered the chicks and they should be here at the end of the month.

Easter celebrations / Jileigh's, Branden's and Hannah's birthdays

For Easter Saturday, we got our kids a new swing set. The old one was just falling apart and I needed for my kids to be able to do somethng when I send them outside to play.

Later that day we took our kids over to Candy's house for an easter egg hunt and BBQ.

In the evening we had a combined birthday party for Jileigh and for Candy's two kids, Hannah and Branden. We made the clips that we gave to Hannah.

Saturday baby blessing for Matt's cousin

Saturday was a crazy day. First, Matt and Talon were on an overnight scout camporee trip. Second, Jileigh had to be at the store parking lot at 7 am to help with the young women and young men garage sale and it was windy. Third, Angelique had to be at the church for the Activity Days day camp at 9 am. Fourth, we needed to leave at 10 am to go to Matt's cousin's baby's blessing to be there at 10:30am. Matt got home at 9am, helped me make the salad and then hopped into the shower. We didn't leave until 10:10. We picked up the girls and then headed to Kelly's house. There were a lot of cousins there and that made it enjoyable. After the blessing we went to the nearby park for the luncheon. This was a cool park. It was similar to the one that we went to a couple of weeks ago. We will definately go back there. They also had a splash pad, but the water wasn't on yet, which was ok because it is still too cool for water fun. We stayed there for 3 hours. (Again, I forgot my camera, darn it!) I stopped by Harmons and Costco on the way home and was thoroughly exhausted by the time we got home. The Young women's conference was that night too. We took the easy way and watched it online at LDS.org. Matt had to go to work that evening as well. I didn't manage to get everyone bathed and to bed at a good time. Talon came home with the ward and brought home cardboard armour that he had made. Beau put it on and we took some pictures of him because he is just so darn cute.

Happy Birthday to me!

In the morning I was motivated to wanting a clean house so I made it happen. I tidied, did the dishes, swept, and mopped. I took a quick shower and then went to lunch with a couple of friends, Shari and Terry. We went to Barista's. All the food look really good. They make everything from scratch there. I had the hamburger and my friends had the BLT and the apple pecan salad. Jileigh took care of the kids while I was gone. It was a nice enjoyable afternoon. Matt wanted to bring home some salmon to cook, but I wanted wild caught rather than farm raised so we didn't get any. So I made whole grain blueberry pancakes instead. They were yummy as always. I was glad to have 16 people on facebook and some people here on this post wish me a happy birthday. That was really nice.

Spring Cleaning - Day 1 and 2

I have decided that I need to get my house and my life organized and cleaned up. So now I am in a spring cleaning mood.

Day 1 - Tuesday March 23 - Cleaned up all the garbage in my bedroom floor and vacuumed. My kids are little tornados even in my room. I filled a white 13 gallon garbage sack.

Day 2 - Wed. Mar. 24 - Cleaned out my closet and organized it. Took out any left over maternity clothes and boxed them up and filled a black garbage sack full of clothes to donate to the young womens garage sale. Then I clean up my desk and filled another 13 gallon garbage sack. I then gave it to Matt and Talon to burn all the papers in the fire place. Then I dusted off my desk. I am tired and ready to go to bed.

Day 3 - Friday Mar 26 - Cleaned out file cabinet. I pulled out literally a stack of papers about 1/2 ft tall then burned the papers.
Day 4 - Wednesday March 31 - Cleaned off the bump in my room. This structure was originally designed for a TV; but since we don't have one there, it is a catch-all and it was cluttered. Then I cleaned of my dresser. Matt even cleaned off his dresser. Then I filed the things I wanted to keep that I cleaned off. Now my bedroom looks presentable. Then I cleaned out the kitchen pantry and threw away white garbage bag full of stuff.

Jaren's birthday party at the park

Today was a crazy day. I had to do two loads of dishes, go grocery shopping, make chicken broccoli egg noodle casserole from scratch, and a lemon meringue pie from scratch and then be at the park for the party with the casserole and the pie at 5 pm. Well, we almost made it. I took the kids and the casserole, and Matt came about 15 minutes later with the pie. We had a nice potluck dinner, and then Jaren got to open his presents. The kids really enjoy getting to spend time with their cousins.

Matt's dessert creation

Matt likes dessert and he likes to make desserts. So to compromise he reduces the sugar in them and uses raw sugar. He also replaces at least half of the white flour with whole grain flour. He made this oatmeal cookie apple bars that was fantastic. With the small amount of sugar and white flour in them, they can make a good dessert or even breakfast with a glass of raw milk!