Melting

I came across this picture today....

MELT my HEART!

This was from September 2010.

One of my favorite treasures that Aliyah has brought into our family,

is more LOVE.

Watching her older siblings

LOVE her,

ENJOY her,

and

LAUGH with her.

Such a fun journey.

*******

My blog is not Christmasish yet.

My house is longing for Christmas decor.

We have the tree up!

That's it.

I blame it on the fact that we

we were over the ward Christmas party this year.

It's over now, so maybe I can get some decor up?!

I've been saying that all week.....

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Dear Mr. UPS Man

Is that a package hiding under the door mat?

Mr. UPS Man, you did such an amazing job of making it disappear.

Out of sight.

No one would even think of stealing it. 

Someone is stealing packages off of door steps in a nearby city.

Not here.

No worries.

StYLiN'

She's got

the

LOOKS!

Sure do love her.

The Final 7!

It's true!

Only 7 more days of summer vacation.

I am ready.

And I am not.

Dyl is going to be gone all.day.long.

What will Ali and I do without him?

The kids are arguing and bickering more and more!

They need to go back to school!

Not ready for homework,

sports and other extracurricular activities

to feel our entire evenings up.

Our plans for the week?

Currently their our two nieces staying the night.

The kids just barely stopped their cute giggles and chatter

and the family room is now quiet.

Finally!

I love that they have so much fun together.

Monday: Willard Bay with friends.

Tuesday: Swim lessons and $2 Tues at Thanksgiving Point

Wednesday: Swimming with friends

Thursday: Finish up swim lessons

Friday: Use our free family pass to Discovery Gateway Museum

Saturday: ALI TURNS TWO!!!!! No lie.

Somewhere in between all that, we also will be squeezing in:

helping out Rob's bro and fam move in (just 10 min away now!),

use bowling passes, and

use gift card for snow cones.

Phew! Packin' it in!

******

On Tuesday, my beloved Gram, will turn

90 yrs old!

My fam, parents, and 5 of my 7 sibling's families

all celebrated at Gram's house today.

A couple of years ago, after celebrating Gram's birthday,

we were cleaning up and I made a comment to my Gram

about the chaos and mess.

Her response,

"Honey, it doesn't get better than family!"

Amazing words of wisdom.

Sure love her.

Gram is the only living grandparent for both Rob and I.

*****

Meet Hedgewick....

(as Rob calls him)

Isn't he adorable!

(Yes, I know. I need to update our family picture.)

Rob sure doesn't think so,

and he is letting the whole world know!


I was shoe shopping with PDiddy on Saturday

and I get a text from Rob

that says something like,

"Are you kidding me? Why is their an owl on our piano?

It's not staying, right?"

He laughs and laughs about it.

Has told all of our family how ridiculous it is.

Come on, peeps!

Help me out.

He's a keeper. RIGHT!!!? :)

Here's to the final 7.....

Wowser!

How did it get to be August??

Our summer days are filled with....

Rob entertaining Aliyah.

{Love ya babe!}

The kids selling and selling and wanting to sell more.
{Parker's specialty is lemon bars made from scratch!}


Lots of smiles...

And giggles....

Awwww,

love me some summer days.

Viva Las Vegas!

I escaped to...

with these crazy people....


They might look all sweet and nice,


but


looks can be deceiving. :)


****





It was a vacation to remember!





More pics to come.....

Happy Friday!

If your Friday is off to a shaky start....

Just try adding some bubbles!

That always does the trick at our house....
At least for a few minutes. :)

This is it!

The

last

day
of

school!!!

The kids left with teacher gifts.

Thank you Vista Print for your promotion of FREE

personalized items (select few).

Just paid shipping!

Do you love Dyl's red socks he matched so well with his shirt? :)



PDiddy was very excited to cheer on the 6th graders
as they play a game of kickball with the teachers.

I can NOT believe he will be in 6th grade.

Yikers.



***

Where oh where does the time go?

It wasn't that long ago that they were headed off to their
FIRST
day
of school!



Dyl ready for kindergarten!

It was a year of lunch box love notes for Lexi.

(Parker kindly asked me not to put them in his lunch anymore.)

A year of mistakes!

Seeing Parker next to his good buddy on the first day of school

was a big

RED

flag to me!

But, there were no bad reports. :)


Alexia will be bringing home this tote box today.

Oh, boy!

I wonder what it will be filled with....

These two....

not quite as much of a red flag.:)



At the beginning of the school year last year,

we used Parker's valentines TV box to make a pinata filled with school supplies

and

of course,

a little bit of

candy.

A fun new tradition!

****

Am I ready for summer?

For kids home and in and out with friends and arguing and whining and

not doing chores

and

wondering what fun thing they can do next?

NOPE!

One day at a time.

One day at a time!

Today will be an afternoon trip to Toad's

(an indoor/outdoor fun zone with mini golf, go karts, laser tag, etc.)

We got a year pass for this past Christmas and it has been fun!

Monday will be the beginning of the daily test.....

Wish me luck!

20!

At 20 months

and

with her 2 sizes too big black boots

(now closer to 1 size too big)

and multi colored polka dot coat on,

Miss Aliyah weighed in @ a whopping

20 lbs.

This was almost a month ago, so maybe she's a whopping

21 lbs. now.:)

All smiles until....

The doctor comes in and starts shining lights in her eyes.

She really wondered what the heck he was doing,
but she handled it well.

The immunizations were no fun.

Are they ever?

Waiting for the kindergarten boys to get out with her favorite soft Winnie the Pooh blankie

that she stole from Lexi....

Shhhh....Lex doesn't want people to know that she still has a Winnie the Pooh blanket!

Ali sleeps with it 99.9% of the time.

When Lexi wants it she has to hide it. :)

That night, Ali enjoyed a nice soak in the tub.

She ripped some bandaids off, but not all!

I'm sure glad it only took a couple of days to shake the fever

and other not so fun side effects of shots.

We liked having our silly girl back!

She fills our days with lots of laughs!

The little Miss is also entering the joyous

independent

sassy

just starting saying "no"

stage.

I don't want to call it terrible twos!

We try not to laugh when she says "No!"

Sometimes, it really is

cute

and

funny......

SOMETIMES!

Older and wiser...

Older?

Definitely!

Wiser?

Definitely in some areas!

However, after each baby birth, I do feel that I've lost brain cells in other areas.

Apparently, I have not ever fully recovered from my Momnesia.

Although, I fortunately have not worn bunny slippers to work

or

put milk in the cupboard

like some of the moms in the linked article!

***

The birthday fun started one day early when my mom took me to lunch.

I like to try new things.

My mom was prepared.

We went to Cafe Limon for a Peruvian feast.

Yum!

I enjoyed my Peruvian roasted chicken .

Served with tacu tacu, yucca fries, aji sauce, and huancaina sauce.

The sauces sure had a kick! Yowser!

This is actually a Food Network award winning recipe.

You can read all about here and watch a clip.

***

I sadly ruined a surprise that Rob was planning.

P Diddy's (he is really called P Diddy on his team because there is another Parker!)

baseball coach only emails Rob info.

Rob doesn't always see the emails when I need to know the info.

So I was in Rob's email going to check the time for baseball practice.

His inbox came up.

In less than a second, I gasped, covered my eyes, and said, "OH CRAP!"

There was a reply from a dear friend of mine with a subject heading that read something like this, "Surprise brunch for Jamie...."

AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!

You see, this wasn't the first time I ruined a surprise from Rob by getting in his email.

Two years ago, his birthday gift to me was No Doubt/Paramore concert tickets.

I saw a reply from my sister that ruined it all.

Do you know how hard it is to tell him!!!

TWICE!!!

UG!

***

I didn't know anything else about the brunch.

I wasn't about to ask any questions!

Roberto teasingly threatened to cancel.

***

My birthday morning, Rob was up early in the kitchen.

He had stayed up WAY late the night before.

I had no idea what time this brunch was taking place.

I thought maybe 10 or 11.

As we got the kids ready for school and it came time for me to take them,

by watching Rob, it was obvious that the brunch was going to be earlier than I had planned!
I was still in my pjs.

With my hair in a messy I just woke up ponytail.

So before I left, I threw on some clothes.

When I got back there was a table in the living room set up and ready to go.

OH MY! I'm not READY!

I ran upstairs to fix my messy ponytail and throw on some makeup.

Shortly after the doorbell rang.

Then the fun began!!!

My impressive husband had an amazing brunch menu (all made from scratch!):

Cinnamon Rolls

Orange Rolls

Breakfast Burritos

Eggs Benedict

Apple Danish Puff

Plus fruit, juices, and milk.

Yes, my friends were impressed.

I was impressed!

One friend asked me, "Did Rob used to work in a restaurant?"

Does Golden Corral count? :)

Such an amazingly fun morning with friends!!

Kathleen and Brooke

I'm sorry Brooke, but I just have to give a shout out.

Brooke is part of an amazing inspirational music women's trio,

Mercy River.

They are currently working on their third album.

Check them out here.

They are part of the fabulous Time Out for Women Tour.

You are going to love them!

Amanda with my niece Indy.


Me and my little sis, Britt.



The hot chef!




Melanie and Kristen

My sis in law Heather, and her sis Melissa.

Heather came all the way from Iowa!

Ok, she conveniently was already nearby for the weekend because they are building a house.

(Can't wait for them to be minutes away!)

***

Yes, I know.

My hubs is pretty amazing.

I think I'll keep him.

***

I got to take it easy the rest of the day.

No KITCHEN DUTY!

Splendid!

I even took a nap on a cozy blanket outside in the sun.

The weather was perfect!

***

You'll never guess what my birthday dinner was that night....

The annual spaghetti scout fundraiser dinner!

YES! :)

Parker was so thoughtful and served his birthday mother very first!

Before everyone left, I got to show everyone what I look like all flushed

as they sang happy birthday to me.

Thanks a lot Kristen.

***

The day after my birthday, I got some girl time.

I went to a coupon conference with two friends, then lunch.

Yes, a coupon conference!

I am ready to slash our grocery budget!

After my friends went home, I headed to Clinique (where my sis in law works)

for a makeover and some free goodies.

Thanks Mary Alison!

Then I headed on over to Old Navy to use my 50% off coupon

and $20 rewards card.

Next,

dinner with my man (using a gift card) at Olive Garden.

Finally,

we watched, "The Tourist" at some friends' house.

Phew!

A fun and exhausting weekend.

***

Many thanks to my fabulous friends and family who made my weekend so much fun.

Especially, my lover boy!
I am blessed.

Droppings

We had our lawn aerated the day before Easter.

We were @ my parents when it was done and got home late.

So the first time the kids saw the clumps were after the Easter Bunny came.Lexi said, "Oh, look! The Easter Bunny left us some droppings!"
I think the funniest thing about it is, she knows.
Lexi knows the truth.
Yet, she still loves the magic of pretending.
So with Dyl and Ali she pretends.
LOVE IT!
***
The kitchen floor is screaming my name.
It has been for days and DAYS!
Yet, here I sit.
I told myself this morning I'm allowed to do ONE thing I want to do today.
Apparently this is it.
So much to blog about, so little time.
The kitchen floor is always a struggle for me.
It's very difficult to find a time to scrub it when no little feet are
pitter
pattering
on it.
PLUS,
within
MINUTES
of scrubbing it clean
(on my hands and knees!),
it is
DIRTY
again.
From my older and younger kiddos.
Peanut butter and jam.
Spilled milk.
Squashed pears.
Aliyah is at the
"I'm done eating, so I'll just throw the rest of my food on the floor" stage.
Good thing she is so dang cute.
***
Psst.
My birthday is in 2 days.
Number 35.
Is that officially considered middle age?
Bring it!
Friday the 13th!!
My brother-in-law says I'm going to turn into a werewolf.
That could be fun.
My mom did a haunted house one year for me and my friends when my birthday was on
Friday the 13th.
I still look forward to my birthdays.
I am blessed with an amazing hubby, family, and friends
that make my day
FUN!
An added bonus,
my hubs will actually be home!
He's been traveling for work. Blah.
***

Ok, ok OK!

It's time to shush my kitchen floor.

Blossoms lighting up the night...

What?

Don't you put your Christmas lights on your fruit trees too?

I read online how to protect my lovely

peach and pear tree
from the frosty nights we have been having.


Christmas lights it is!

Ali was determined to brave the cold with me.

"Moooom!"

"Moooooooooom!"

Please cold!

Go AWAY!