Blessing #12 My Baby.........Maren

MAREN is such a BLESSING in my life. She turned 6 years old this week. 6!!! She is growing up so fast....She's my BABY!!!! Although, she says she's not a baby any more. I don't know what I would do without her. She is very polite, and a big helper for me and any child younger than her, and always has a smile on her face. Anny interviewed Blake for his 4th Birthday, I liked the idea, so I'm using her questions to interview MAREN.

What is your Favorite Color? BLUE

What is your favorite food? HOT DOGS

What is your favorite t.v. show? i Carley

Who are your best friends? KAIYA, ERIN, KEATON, ANAYA, AND RANDON

What do you love best about school? RECESS

What do you want to be when you grow up? A MOM AND A DR. THAT GETS BABIES OUT.

What is your favorite thing to do? PLAY WITH FRIENDS

What is your favorite thing to do with your family? PLAY THE WATER GAME

What is your favorite book? MY BEDTIME BOOK

What is our favorite song? MY TURN ON EARTH

I am very THANKFUL to my Heavenly Father for allowing Maren
to come to our Family. We love you!!!!! Happy Birthday!

Maren's Friend Party

If anyone really knows me, I'm not a big party giver. I love parties....but the thought of putting it all together doesn't excite me much. Therefore, my kids haven't had a whole lot of friend parties. However, Maren begged, begged and begged to have a party. My sister Jenna was in town for a day and I was telling her my dilemma, she said..."You don't have to do anything big....just let some kids come over and play." So.....I said she could invite 5 friends. I sent some invitations to school with her on Tuesday, and called some other parents for the party.
Aliza and Jackson were HUGE helpers. They took care of the games and getting them all set up. Aliza drew a Princess head.....and they played "Pin the face on the Princess". How did they do?
There's a crown, two eyes, a nose, mouth and two ears.

Jackson was our muscle man and held up the stick and pinata that he put together.

I attempted to make a ladybug cake, that is what she asked for....since most of the decorations we had were pink.....We made a pink one. They really liked it. Not too bad I guess.

She enjoyed blowing out the candles and......

everyone waited for her to take the first bight.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAREN!!

Blessing #11 Our Van

Can you say road trip? I think we say this every other week. NOT KIDDING. We are very blessed to have a van that is comfortable for our family, has enough luggage space, and has enough cup holders for every one. Our van doesn't look this new.....it does have a dent or two, some scratches (thanks to Sam and Tropic), and a very cracked windshield....but it gets us to where we need to go without any trouble. (I hope I didn't just jinx us Ü)

Busy Weekends

What busy weekends we have had. Here are a few things we've been doing.......

The first weekend of March we had the privilege to drive to Salt Lake and see my nephew J.J. after returning from his mission to the West Indies, off the coast of Brazil.

Before we had a chance to see him, the kids and I did a little skiing with Anny and her kids. The boys...Sammy, Zack, Jackson and Max had a great time on the slopes. Jackson is a snowboarder, but since Alta doesn't allow snowboarders, he had to learn real fast to ski. He did a great job.




Maren, Brynn, and Aliza

We also were lucky to be in town for Abby's (Kass's daughter) birthday party. She turned 8! Abby decided she wanted a Salon party. So....Kass, Anny, and I got to do hair and Kass's friend Tina, and our three nieces, in town from Boise, did nails for 8 girls. It was a lot of fun. I think my salon name was "Trixie" . I don't know how I got that name.
They also made some pizza out of Rhodes rolls, and had cake and opened presents. What a fun time we all had!

We finally got to see J.J! He gave the best talk on missionary work and on the Preach my Gospel book. I lived with my sister, Rhonda, when J.J. was 2 years old. He was always on the go and had lots of energy. When Sam and I were dating, we took a trip to Steamboat Springs, CO, to see my sister Jenna. We had to have some chaperons, so we took my niece, Camille and J.J. They were about 8 years old. On our way out of town, we stopped at McDonald's and J.J. got a 20 piece chicken nugget meal. I asked if he could eat that much, and he said sure....his mom gets him that all the time. Well, about an hour out of town, he throws up all over the car. I'm driving and J.J. was right behind me and it got EVERY WHERE! We were amazed how much came out of him.

Me, Jenna, Sam, J.J. and Camille

He now plays football for the University of Utah. He played for a year before his mission, and the day after he got back he started back with school and football practice. His Bishop, while introducing him to the ward, said that he was glad to have him back to play for the Utes, but that he needed to beef up a bit. I guess he needs to get back to McDonald's and get a couple of 20 piece nuggets :).


Welcome Back J.J. Thanks for being a great example for my kids and being an awesome missionary. We love you!

Last weekend we were in Missoula for a gymnastics meet for Jackson. He did an AWESOME job! Out of six events, Jackson took first in three of them. Floor, Pommel Horse, and High Bar, 2nd in two, and 4th in another. He also took 1st All Around. It is so fun to watch him!!! Congratulations Jacks!!!!!


Parallel bars



High Bar



Pommel horse

1st All Around

This weekend is STATE in Great Falls, then in two weeks REGIONALS in Bozeman. If anyone is interested in attending, let me know I'll give more info.

The Sunday after we got back from Mexico, we were able to go to Burlington (about an hour and a half away) and go to Maddie's Baptism. What a great family Tony and Dana (Sam's sister) have. We love visiting them and enjoy when they come to Billings.

Blessing #10 Antibiotics

It's amazing how Maren can have a fever of 102.6 for three days... take her to the Dr....find out she has strep throat...put her on an antibiotic...the next day...good as new.

What a BLESSING it is to have these medicines to help us recover from sicknesses.

Happy Birthday Sam!!!

Globe reads....Hair today, gone tomorrow. (shake the globe and get hair floaties) YUCK!

Thanks Amy:) :)

Sam is in his last year of his 30's. What an amazing life he has had thus far:

Regional Pinewood Derby Champ

Life Scout

Pulled off wearing a maroon tux, pink cumber bun at a prom as a sophomore

Maintained hair for senior pictures

He's in the pocketknife club (my Uncle LaGrande's club)

17th place in a 5k run

Threw up for the first time in our 15 1/2 years of marriage in Mexico last month

Plus lots of other great stuff

After asking Sam for some of his accomplishments, he quickly spouted the above out.

This is why I married this man. He makes me laugh.... ALWAYS!

Have a great 39, it only lasts about a year.

Blessing #9 Temples

One of Sam's callings is being a temple worker every other Friday. He has to be there dressed and ready for an opening meeting by 7:00 a.m. (if any of you know Sam, this is hard for him:) ).

It has been hard for us to get to the temple together lately. So I decided, when he is there, I will go and do a session. He may not always be in the room with me, but I know he is in the temple somewhere.

Last Friday he happen to be in the session with me. What a blessing it was to be there with my wonderful husband. What a blessing to have a husband, worthy to be there with me.

Temples have many purposes, and the three that I have posted, are the three that have been special in my life.

The Boise Temple....I received my endowments. The Salt Lake Temple....I was married for time and all eternity. And, the Billings Temple.....I happily attend to help those on the other side of the veil.

WHAT A BLESSING IT IS TO HAVE TEMPLES CLOSE TO US.

Blessing # 8 CAMERAS

I was looking through my many photos on my computer the other day, and came across some that I haven't seen in a while. I started reminiscing, that then led to looking back at older pictures from when I was young, to when my parents were young.

What a BLESSING it is to have a camera, and capture those precious moments, places and people.

Blessing #7 The Best Sister In-Laws

Christine-------------------------------------------------- Diane ---------------------------------------Amy

-------------------------------------------------Megan

Dana

Jodi -----------------------------------Kelli

--------------------------------------------Hayley---------------------------------------------- Brock

While Sam and I were out of town the other week, we had three, of my 9, sister in-laws WILLING to watch the kids for us at different times throughout the week. It worked out so well, there were still others who were willing to watch our kids if they couldn't. Not only this time, but numerous times throughout our marriage, and even before, with my brother's wives, my sister in-laws have been there for me. Not just watching kids, but for numerous others things.

I'm pretty sure I am more BLESSED than anyone on this earth with the best SISTER IN LAWS!!!!

A special thank you, to all of you, for being a great example to me.