♥A House of Boys♥

~ BFF's ~

2011-10-24T13:09:00.000-07:00

This is my best friend from high school - Becky Lee. We hadn't seen each other in almost 10 years until two weekends ago! She & I both moved away after graduation (clear back in 1994 - YIKES), got married, had kids, got divorced, got remarried, etc....

After not seeing each other in 10 years, we picked up our conversation as if there had been no time lost between us. It absolutely freaked me out that she & I have been friends for TWENTY ONE YEARS! Being a gypsy child (Air Force brat, whatever) I would have never imagined that I'd have a friend for more than a year or two in my life. But here we are! Nothing is more comforting that being able to talk with someone who has witnessed your life since the 9th grade and STILL talks to you! We'll never go another round of 10 years again without seeing each other!

1/2 Marathon!!!

2011-10-12T09:25:00.001-07:00

Denver Rock N' Roll Series Half Marathon!!!

October 9, 2011

Nine weeks ago, my younger brother Nathan decided that we should do a race together & picked a 1/2 marathon for me and a full marathon for him! Neither of us had ever ran these distances before, so it was defintely a goal to work towards. We signed up & started training for our various distances. I was extremely excited to go back to Denver for a whole weekend by myself & spend some time with Nathan doing this event. In the 9 weeks leading up to the race, I ran a 5K and two 10k's as part of my training. I felt good about the work I'd done to prepare myself for what I'd signed up for.

The race was AWESOME!!! It was definitely the hardest thing I have ever accomplished in my life though. Looking back & having several days to recover & think on the experience, I think I might actually do one of those again someday. I don't know that I'd do a FULL marathon (cause that's just plain crazy!) This particular race was fabulous, because you ran through the streets of Downtown Denver & a gorgeous park in the middle. There were bands every 1 1/2 - 2 1/2 miles throughout the race & the weather dried up (but didn't warm up much)!

It took me 3:12:40 to run/walk the 13.1 miles of the course. When I finally crossed & got my medal, I totally started crying! I called my dear sweet schmoopy-cakes & told him I'd just finished. I think he thought I was hurt or something with all of my bawling! It was very emotional for me to have accomplished something that I would have NEVER believed possible back in May. When I was ready to quit around mile 10, I sent Shane a text telling him I was too sore & too tired... I seriously wanted to stop moving right then. Thankfully, I have the best husband on the face of the EARTH & he continually sent me very encouraging messages & words of support that helped me keep going. I honestly don't think I would have made it if he hadn't pushed me along there at the end!

After I finished, I hung out & waited for Nathan to come through from doing his 26.2 miles. While waiting, I'd asked one of the medal-hander-outter-people if there was any way I could be the one to give Nathan his medal when he finished. THANKFULLY - I found a nice guy who let me! When I saw him come through, I channeled the inner Darla in me & once again started crying when I hung the medal around his neck! I'm so glad he "convinced" me to do this race & supported me through my training.

Weight loss challenge

2011-09-23T20:28:00.000-07:00

A group of people - some CrossFit people (mostly outsiders) all came together via Facebook & started a weight loss challenge today! $20 gets you in - winner takes all. No second place!
I'm super excited for this next 8 weeks of competition to see what it sparks for me! I was having a conversation with a friend who's struggling with weight loss just like the rest of us. In talking with her - I had some clarification I wanted to share.

I just want other people to know that it's a struggle. But it can totally be overcome. It's not easy. Not one bit. And sometimes I fail for a day or two. And sometimes I don't feel like working out at 5:30 in the morning!
But. . .

Then I remember how I felt physically and emotionally at my heaviest. I remember how incapable I felt. I remember how limited I was. How sad I was. Then I get up out of bed - get my butt to the gym & recommit to making the right choice from that moment forward. :-)

Let it begin

2011-09-20T08:52:00.000-07:00

So lets start with life one year ago. This picture isn't from back then, its just one of the only "before pics" I have. When you're 100+ lbs overweight...yes, 100 lbs.... you do NOT have full body shots of yourself on purpose! I have this specific picture from when I wanted to be on Biggest Loser a few years ago with my friend, Liz. As I mentioned in my last post, my world changed a bit when I did the weight loss challenge at the Sports Academy. Doing that challenge gave me the bug - showed me that I could work out & that I could chose to not be overweight. There was about a three month lapse from when that challenge ended, to when I found out about CrossFit through my friend at work. She'd been going the whole time I'd been doing my Sports Academy workouts & every morning we'd sit & talk about our workouts from the day before. So after falling off the wagon a bit, I gave in & went to CrossFit.

Going to CrossFit has been the best thing I've ever done for myself. Its seriously been such a mental & physical game changer for me in losing weight & becoming a strong, able bodied person. My brother Nathan summed it up in his last comment to me on Facebook - I was teasing about not being an athlete at all & he said, " You stopped qualifying for that status when you ran your 10th race of the summer...you are a runner, you're an athlete...get use to it."

This is SO true. I'm doing events & accomplishing things in the last 6 months that you couldn't have convinced me I'd be able to do. I still have a ways to go (45 lbs or so), but now its not so far out of reach. Now I know I can actually get there & I don't have to be on a TV show or be in a competition to be there. I can get up every morning when its still dark outside & go work my BUTT off @ my CrossFit gym - eat healthier rather than not - and I can decide to be a fit, strong person.

Strong is the new skinny.

Oh what a change!

2011-09-16T21:44:00.000-07:00

I've been recently inspired by my "new" friend and her fantastic blogs she posts on! To be honest, I've let Facebok take over blogging for me quite a bit in the last year. All the things I've had to say & stories I've wanted to share, I've condensed into a status update on my page. It's kind of unfortunate in my opinion because you honestly can't get all the guts of a story in 140 characters or less. AND - does anyone really go read through old posts to catch up on someone's life? My personality is such that I'm a very 'immediate gratification' kinda woman and Dear old Facebook caters to that side of me perfectly! Wanna know what's happening in so & so's world?! Don't email, call or text - just go check Facebook & you can find everything you need! Technically speaking - I don't have a friend named 'so & so", but if I did, I'd Facebook stalk them too!
Anyway.
My world has changed a lot since my last post. I started going to CrossFit UAC in March & I've been addicted ever since. I absolutely love going there. I love the workouts (mostly!), I love the trainers, I love the people I workout with & I love what it's done for my physical abilities & weight loss. It's honestly been the single greatest change I've made in my life. Going to CrossFit caters to my competitive and my social personality at the same time. It's the most perfect thing out there for me! I went from not being able to jog 200m back in March - to competing in NINE races since then. NINE!!! one of which was a 10k on my birthday & the other was a 40 mile bike ride! I've loved if all!
I will post pictures and talk more about what's happening in life soon!

Total embarrassment....

2011-01-28T15:49:00.000-08:00

For someone who lives through other people's blogs & Facebooks posts, I sure haven't done a very good job for the last five months in keeping people up to date on MY life! Maybe that's because there are occasions when I view my life as a Groundhogs Day kind of world. Get up, work out, go to work, come home, play ref/mom/wife/police, go to bed. Sleep & repeat.

Nonetheless --- I wanted to tell whoever might still be reading this about my latest battle of the bulge. In October, I joined up temporarily at the Sports Academy here in North Logan & took part in their 12 week weight loss competition. I got up at 5:30 every morning to have an intense one hour workout with a trainer & about 6 other tough ladies. We were a very close group & I absolutely loved working out with them! The competition ended on January 15th, and I placed 10th out of 40 contestants for % of weight loss.

Although I didn't even come close to winning - it really helped me to form the habits that I'll need to continue on. I lost 30 pounds on it and about that many inches total off my body. Working out is something that I get a real "high" from & have found that it suits my addictive personality quite well!

Here is the before picture:

Here is an after picture:

I will pinky swear to make a great big 'ol posting of my world, my kids, my schmoopy --- all in the next ... week or so! Ha!

Oh my....

2010-09-21T15:57:00.000-07:00

I can't believe its already almost the end of September! Having the kids back in school just makes the time FLY by. Well there's that and the fact that the sun is gone behind the mountains by 7:00 each night now :-(
Carter is doing good in 4th grade - clearly the tallest kid in his class & just about an inch shorter than his teacher!
Mason is loving 2nd grade and is always out to do his absolute best while making a million friends along the way!
Jack is trying to get into a preschool program they have here at the elementary school (not the charter school that Carter & Mason go to though). He's gone in a few times for testing and will hopefully get placed in their 4 day per week program! They said he qualifies for it because he has a slight speech impediment. Instead of saying the word "club", he'll say "pwub" ... he has some REAL doozies... like replacing 'k' for 't' and saying - "Mom, do we not wike "(t)ittys at our house?"... You just can't help but giggle sometimes as the mature adults we are.
Charlie has surpassed Jack in weight and almost met up with him in height. People ask if they are twins every so often - which just makes Charlie seem like the giant dummy of the pair! Poor fella! He just turned three in June but most people think he's 4 or 5 years old! Thats what you get for having such midgets as parents kid! Sorry...

Life is moving along just fine at our house --- we have GRASS planted and hopefully it will make its presence known before snow falls on it! I'm not going to lie, I could stand to NOT have winter this year. Our summer was too short & I didn't accomplish ANYTHING I set out to do at the beginning of it!

I'll try to find some photos of our uninteresting life & at least post those so it looks like we are as fabulous as I say!

Cache County Fair

2010-08-16T14:35:00.000-07:00

Shane & I went with the boys to the Cache County Fair & Rodeo this past weekend. I didn't manage to get any pictures of the boys at the Rodeo, but it was the first time we'd all been together & they loved it! I think we will sign them all up for MUTTON BUSTIN' next year (*spit*)
We ended up going to the fairground three times and other than complaining that "It always smells like poopey here", it was pretty fun for all of them! ..... maybe even me a little bit. But just a little.

A better wife...

2010-08-03T11:47:00.000-07:00

There is a fabulous book store here in the valley - Jenson Books. Its on the south end of town & they have a giant warehouse sale once a quarter. We are all book nerds in my family so we LOVE going there. You can fill a "Walmart" bag for $7 and if you bring back a bag to resale, you get $2 off each bag! Its fantastic for kids books, church books, obscure farming books & the random book shopping that I've been doing lately.

I picked up a book at their last sale called "The Proper Care & Feeding of Husbands", by Dr. Laura. I've heard of her as a radio host, but didn't know anything about her or her show prior to picking up this book. Honestly - I kind of did it in mockery. About 10 pages into the book I started thinking - this lady might actually be on to something!

It was mildly defeating to recognize SO many of my bratty behaviors in this book & then to read about how SIMPLE and pleasant my marriage could be with just a few TINY tweeks on my part.

I finished the book in a couple of days (it was a quick read and very interesting) and I honestly feel like I have a completely different perspective of my marriage and my relationship with Shane. I never thought we had a difficult or trying marriage or that our relationship was bad, but this book gave me some amazing insights on the simplicity of having a respectful and 100% loving relationship. Honestly - I would recommend EVERY WOMAN I know should read it - married or not. And include your husband on what you think, get his feedback on some of what you read. I've been sharing it with Shane and he will be the first to swear by this book. I've put a few of the highlights on this post - but seriously --- do your marriage/relationship a favor & go get this book.

Men want THREE things from their wives. If you give them these simple things, there is nothing they won't do for you - usually without asking! Those three things are: ACCEPTANCE, APPROVAL & AFFECTION.

A man needs to feel strong & needed as a protector to his woman

A man wants respect, kindness & love from his woman

A man wants to be put on a pedestal - to show him that he is the most important thing to his woman

A man needs enthusiastic approval and appreciateion from his wife

A man needs his wifes encouragement

If you don't pick your husband as your #1 priority - that favor will, sadly, be returned

Complaining is NOT a virtue - complaining does not lead to anything good

The simple elimination of criticism will naturally lead to increased feelings of love

Mens wives approval is as important as oxygen to them. Surviving their lack of approval is emasculation

The husband who has a wife that supports him & praises him is the envy of all the other men who have to live with criticism, sarcasm & constatnt reminders of their failure

You know what kind of man you marry. You cannot assume that you can nag, lie, cry and manipulate until he becomes someone else. He will only accept that for so long & then he WILL become someone else - your EX husband

Wives need to remind themselves that when their husbands do something differently from how they would do it themselves - it does not constitute a breach of sanity or a display of contempt. It is merely a different way to do something.

The basic male is a decent creature with simple desires. Men live to make their women happy.

The cruelest thing a wife can do to a husband is to never be happy. Being happy is more an attitude than a reality.

All drama aside & all obviousness aside - I really do recommend this book highly to every woman. It WILL make a difference if you apply it!

Time FLIES!!!!

2010-07-20T13:06:00.000-07:00

Its amazing to me that a month has gone by since my last post! AHHHH! How shameful! Its funny to me because I obsessively check my "blog circuit" every single day to see whats happening in the world around me. When people don't update their blog for months & months (no names will be mentioned here...) I think to myself - "Why can't they keep up on their blogging? Don't they have TWO seconds of courtesy to let me know whats going on?!?" Needless to say I can be a tad self centered at times. * NO COMMENTS HERE *

The summer has been flying by and I can't believe school will be starting in a month - Yikes! I love how Wally World is always one step ahead & has had back to school stuff out for weeks. *I say this with heavy sarcasm as my thoughts on the institution of WalMart are not kind ones*

The boys are all doing fabulous - three out of four now ride their bikes like a crazy kid biker gang without training wheels and all over our neighborhood. Jack just learned to ride without his training wheels the other day - if he ever slows down enough, I'll get a picture. Its pretty hysterical! Our street is perfect. Let me tell you why. It is not a through street so the only traffic are the residents (only 5 houses built so far) or people who are lost. And all of the residents have little kids so they know to go 2 MPH with the odds that there will be someone's child barreling down the roadway and NOT paying any attention. We've had more than our share of injuries due to biking - too many scraped knees and skinned elbows - they refuse to wear the protective padding I got them. HMPH. Carter had a literal run in with his handle bars & his lower torso that sent us on a quick trip to the hospital. But all is well & they still go out every morning to ride ragged until they break down & have to come in for water breaks or food. *Darn food & water is always trying to ruin my kids lives it seems*

We've also been up to Bear Lake several times in the last month - which of course resulted in sunburns for at least two members of our family at any given time. God did not bless me or most of my offspring with lovely tan-able skin - but pale, freckly and easily sunburnt skin. So lovely! Its one of our favorite places to go even with the burn potential and makes for a great day trip for us being so close!

Amazing scenery

2010-06-23T11:09:00.000-07:00

Shane & I went for a drive up Logan Canyon this past weekend - a place I hadn't been in YEARS...which is odd because its RIGHT THERE. They've done a lot of work on the roads between Logan & Bear Lake - so we decided that our next trip would be to Bear Lake for sure! The mountains were gorgeous! All of the horrific rain we've been having during our extended, colder than normal spring season, ended up meaning beautiful foliage! I might take back *some* of my whining about the crappy weather because of that.

We went to Texas Roadhouse for a pre-Fathers Day lunch for Shane & our waitress was talking to Jack & Charlie the whole time. She found out it was Charlie's birthday earlier in the week so she had all of the servers come sing to him. He was sitting on their little saddle thing & covered his eyes the whole time!!! It was super cute!

For Charlie's THREE YEAR OLD birthday party, we had all of the "local Reeves" come over & my only God-Given-Sister Karen came down with her kiddos too! It was fantastic & they stayed overnight too!
Its just amazing how fast life gets when you have kids. Amazing and terrifying. I can't believe my "baby" is three. My first "baby" will be TEN in August. Makes me wanna cry! DEFINITELY doesn't make me wanna have another one & start this ALL over again though!!!

Stolen Post

2010-06-18T12:48:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine from High School (yea Overland!!!) had her friends blog linked on her Facebook wall and since I had 2.3 seconds to do so - I went and stalked this lady's blog.

OH.
MY.
GOODNESS.

It was SOOOOO funny! I copied one part from it (below) but you should go read some of her entries about POTTY TRAINING and husband's as co-pilots in the car.
LOVED IT!

Why Having a Toddler is Like Being at a Frat Party

10. There are half-full, brightly-colored plastic cups on the floor in every room. Three are in the bathtub.

9. There's always that one girl, bawling her eyes out in a corner.

8. It's best not to assume that the person closest to you has any control over their digestive function.

7. You sneak off to the bathroom knowing that as soon as you sit down, someone's going to start banging on the door.

6. Probably 80% of the stains on the furniture contain DNA.

5. You've got someone in your face at 3 a.m. looking for a drink.

4. There's definitely going to be a fight.

3. You're not sure whether anything you're doing is right, you just hope it won't get you arrested.

2. There are crumpled-up underpants everywhere.

1. You wake up wondering exactly how and when the person in bed with you got there.

Summer Storms

2010-06-10T11:16:00.001-07:00

We've had the most horrible, cold, rainy, snowy, wet, windy long, terrible spring this year! We haven't gone a single week still without a thunderstorm rolling through & its put a damper on my little spirit! FORTUNATELY ~ there have been some amazing storms with beautiful, multiple rainbows and bright orange, pink and purple skies/sunsets! My super cute little hanging baskets have been flourishing out of control with all the rain too!

I LOVE this picture of the rainstorm - this is looking out from our back patio & the rain was just unbelieveable! Tiny drops pouring straight down ~ no wind ~ just a DOWNPOUR! This was when the sky started turning orange-ish/pink and the rainbows started popping up!

This was the best shot I could get of the full rainbow, but just above this one was another FULL (slightly more faint) rainbow. It was so awesome!
The double rainbow went all the way from the north side of our house to the south side - I couldn't capture the whole thing in one frame from our house though.

Then the sunset! WOW! I could have stood outside the whole night & taken pictures. It was so amazing and so beautiful! Here's a few of them:

More random photos!

2010-05-28T14:23:00.001-07:00

Random Stuff!

2010-05-17T14:36:00.000-07:00

Here's a quick rundown of our latest adventures to some of the parks here in the valley. We went to one over in Millville by our old house and although it was nice looking & functional (as all parks tend to be) - there's just no topping the "Castle Park" ---- we've been to the best park already!

***Good old Jack.... he LOVES the "swinging bars" lately and will attempt them no matter the height! He is a good kid & is very enthusiastic!

Millville Park

*They did have this cool balancing thing that kept the kids busy. This pic shows that Mason weighs the same as Jack & Charlie combined!

Every park we go to - this is where Charlie goes and hangs until someone comes to push him. This kid can swing the ENTIRE time we're at a park!

Mason - with four missing front teeth!

This was the best I could do to get all four boys to look at me while we are in a park setting. This was Lundstrom park I think - up in the hills above USU campus. TONS of room to run around! One of the top 5 so far for sure!

My sweet wonderful Shane E. Pooh.... we went to 1st Dam & fed the ducks last Sunday after church. It was SWELTERING HOT and he got to be the keeper of the bread.

The littles feeding the overfed - over eager ducks at 1st Dam up Logan Canyon. *which also happens to be the same place Shane proposed to me five years ago!

Pinewood Derby!!!

2010-05-06T15:22:00.000-07:00

Carter preparing for the "BIG RACE" --- he's not that revved up yet! He was super excited once the rest of the kids showed up & he saw the other cars. This was his first ever race!

He and Shane worked all week on

sanding, painting,

measuring, weighing,

decals --- such a chore!

Round One --- Carter got 2nd place!

The other boys all were really good about watching their big brother's race!

***Carter with the CYBER RACER car that he & Shane built***

The car won an award for "Most Futuristic"

Watching the rest of the "bracket"

~*~*~*Some of the competition~*~*~*~

~*~*~*~* CELEBRATING AT CASPERS MALT SHOP AFTERWARDS! *~*~*~*~*~*

...yes, I told them to make their toughest champion faces.... won't be making THAT request again....*

Girls Weekend!

2010-05-03T09:57:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I had the fabulous opportunity to have a "Girls Weekend" with my BFF Sarah! Shane was fantastic & supportive (after bribing and promising not to make it a monthly habit!) - he stayed home with the boys and took care of them the whole time! I'm so lucky that he will do that for me!

I had recently given in to the personality disorder I have of needing to change my hair all the time --- sometimes it just involves styling it different everyday of the week (as was this past year). I haven't "DONE" anything to my hair in almost a year other than one or two trims. Well --- I was done with THAT pretty quick! So its back to blonde for me! I feel so much more myself!

Sarah and I got to spend a lot of time fussing over ouselves and doing nonsense things that we never allow ourselves time for!

The only downer of the weekend was the horrendous wind/sleet storm that blew through on Friday ~ BUT I got some fabulous pictures of the sunset that came after!

Fantastic!

2010-04-20T13:33:00.000-07:00

*Three out of four little boys that would hold still*

Our weather this past week or so has been FABULOUS! It seems like winter sticks around for such a long time and it is sooooo refreshing when spring/summer finally arrives here. It reminds me of a phrase I heard when I lived in McCall,ID (love you Crystal) --- There are only two seasons here --- Winter. And August.

Thankfully its improved before August here though. The boys have been out & about a lot - I've decided we are going to be "Park Junkies" this year. There are so many fantastic parks here in Cache Valley and so much to do outside/recreationally. SO I'm going to find all of the parks and we're going to go to ALL of them! I'll personally love having a checklist to get through this summer and it'll help them not be bored!

Here are some pictures from our FAVORITE park --- we call it the "Castle Park". For the locals reading, its by the Whittier Community Center on 300 North and about 300 East I think. Great hidden away park with TONS to do!

*Mason conquering the rock wall*

*Charlie AKA "Grubbis"*

Playing catch-up

2010-04-05T21:09:00.000-07:00

Ahhhh.... Like sands through the hourglass - so are the days of my life! I was thinking about some incidental things a few days ago and remembered back when I would wonder what my world would be like when I was this age. For sure I thought we'd be living like the Jetsons. When you're six years old - 34 seems really really far away! The two things I was most excited about were having a robot maid and a flying car. I genuinely believed we would have that world "by now". However - now that I am 'this age' I can't get passed how incredibly fast life flies past you!

My little teeny-tiny prematurely born wee firstborn baby boy is going to be TEN in august!!! TEN!!! It terrifies me a little bit that I'm old enough to have a ten year old and that I'm supposed to be mature and responsible enough to have three other boys too! You could have never convinced me that I would have four boys all those years ago! That being said - I cannot image my life without my precious sweet boys. They have taught me so much and have really helped me learn about unconditional love.

We were able to have a great Easter weekend with my sister and her family - my two younger brothers AND the greatest time ever with my older brother and his fantastic little clan! Imagine - 12 little Lemon grandkids under the age of 10 - all in one house! It was awesome and the kids absolutely loved playing with each other! I'm really excited that Jeremy and his family live closer and can't wait to get together more often with them! Look out Vegas!!! I will add pictures to this post soon!!!

~ Update on Shane ~

2010-03-16T09:45:00.001-07:00

I thought I would post a quick update on Shane incase anyone hasn't heard the latest on his kidney stones & the timeline they are looking at.
This Friday (3/19) he is going back to see the Urologist and have another Xray done to see if the stone has moved at all since 2 weeks ago when he went in. Of course, the best news would be that is has dropped into his bladder & will pass on its own. That also happens to be thousands of dollars cheaper for us!
If it hasn't dropped, then he is already scheduled for surgery the following Monday. This is the one that Clint had where they put a stint "in there" and go in to retrieve the little buggar. They would leave the stint in for a week to make sure it doesn't close in due to the "trauma" of the surgery.
Sounds lovely - doesn't it? The irony is that he has been relatively pain free for almost 10 days now --- but he's been on this ride for 4 1/2 weeks already & its time for it to end! I'm really hoping and praying that the stone will have already dropped by the time he goes to the DR on Friday so he doesn't have to endure the surgery & so this can be over for him (and maybe a little for me too)!
Keep your fingers crossed --- maybe pray a little too!

Catching up!

2010-03-05T10:32:00.000-08:00

I'm sure those of you who read this blog get tired of the excuse that life is crazy ~ and thats why I haven't updated anything in so long! I know that I like to go check around the blog world & see whats going on in peoples lives...look at new pictures... and pretend like I'm a part of their world JUST because I read something about them!!!

So I will try to do better with keeping our seemingly uninteresting lives in the loop!

The other day it was a BALMY 45 degrees outside & we just had to get out there and play around! The downside of our new construction house is that we do not have a yard yet --- so our current "yard" is either the street or a 1/3 acre of snow melted mud! The boys rode their bikes around and had races up & down the street.

We had a ton of geese flying over the house and they loved watching for them and making the weirdest bird noises back to them.

Life is crazy!!!

2010-02-12T20:34:00.000-08:00

Life has been a TAD crazy for us this past week! Monday night while Shane and I were enjoying our quiet evening time (with The Bachelor on TV) - almost out of nowhere he started having horrible pain in his lower left back. Within about twenty minutes he was in horrendous pain and we were on our way to the hospital!!! He ended up being after about six hours in the ER. They did a CT scan and found a 5mm stone just barely passing out his kidney.
Bless his heart during his terrible pain - he was making the worst jokes! When they told him the size of the stone - he looked at me and said "Don't you only have to get to a 10 to have a BABY?!!!" SHEER panic in his eyes .... I leaned in real close and said "10 CENTIMETER Shane. Centimeters. NOT milimeters!!!
Sad to say - he still hasn't passed it almost 100 hours later and it's been quite a ride. The great thing is that we have been so blesse to have Shane's brother in law to watch Jack and Charlie during the day while Shane rests and the older boys are at school. Thank you TYSON!!!
Cross your fingers for Shane to get through this and for me too! Hey I've gone though kidney stones and childbirth. And I would totally rather have four more births "all natural" rather than go through another kidney stone ever again!

Finally some pictures!

2010-02-04T13:30:00.001-08:00

Okay, okay ---- so its been a while....

2010-01-29T11:31:00.000-08:00

So its been QUITE a while since I've posted anything on here --- life has been so crazy! In January - we hired on two new people in my office and so the training has kept me WORKING during work hours. Can you IMAGINE!!??!? Sheesh!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
We were getting ready to make dinner the other night & here's what the boys wanted:
MOM: What do you guys want for dinner?
Jack: My want Shmar-shmellows. The whittle heart ones. Them make my bewwly feel bettuh.
Charlie: Me not want shmar-shmellows. Me want noonles.
Mom: What kind of noodles?
Charlie: Me want Mac and Chonie noonels.
Mom: .... sounds good!
~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

In following tradition - Shane and I are following in the footsteps of my friend Shelly & her husband Shawn. On January 1st - we started working out and eating better. We both have quite a bit of weight to lose & needed to work on improving our sedentary lifestyles.
A new gym had opened up right by our house & coincidentally it is owned by a guy he went to school with - Rulon Gardner. So we started our membership up and have been going about 5 days a week each since then!
It has been AWESOME to feel stronger, more impowered & to have more energy! The weight loss aspect has been a little slower than I'd like - but I'm an instant gratification person so EVERYTHING is slow!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~~*~*~
I just noticed that I haven't posted any pictures since Christmas! How terrible!!! To my millions of followers - I apologize! Hahaha.... I will get some loaded up today too hopefully!

PS ~ I CANNOT WAIT FOR WINTER TO BE OVER!!!!

Visitng Santa!

2009-12-24T09:15:00.000-08:00

It finally feels like Christmas!

2009-12-07T10:01:00.000-08:00

We finally had a teeny-tiny snow storm over this weekend and even though it was kind of a SLOW weekend at the Reeves Homestead - it was nice to have the environment help it feel more like Christmas!

Shane put up our Christmas tree the DAY after Halloween and that might have something to do with the lull in holiday spirit?!?! This picture was taken with my phone so its not that great - then again - getting all four boys to SIT still for anything is considered a Christmas miracle!!!

We spent some time relaxing this weekend at the hotel pool/hot tub. Usually when Shane's parents come down from Afton, they get a poolside room at the Best Western in Logan. We'll generally go over to swim and hang out in the hot tub as we have for almost 5 years now. I've never taken any pictures of the kids swimming --- mostly because WHO wants a camera anywhere near a swimming pool?!?!!?

Shane & Jack & Charlie in "the cold pool"

All of the boys playing in the big pool - I sat the adventure out that day.

Relaxing in the hot tub -- they could LIVE in this thing if we let them!

Incase I don't post before Christmas and in case there are any readers of this blog - I hope you have a wonderful Christmas & that you try to keep the true meaning in your heart! We are a truly blessed people who always have our daily needs met which is more than some will ever have in their lives. Its all about your perception of what you have been given.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

~~~~A STOLEN POST ~~~

2009-11-23T09:06:00.001-08:00

I'm stealing a copy of this post from my super wonderful sister in law Kandi's blog. When I got in the office this morning after wrestling with four little boys & a flat tire before nine o'clock - whining about my day already --- I came upon her blog.
It immediately humbled me and put my life into perspective. I could not imagine going through what this family has & ask for your help along with Kandi. I don't know these people personally but I can only imagine their deep heartache and sense of loss right now.
Hold your babies close ~ even when they are too big or too onry to want to be held.
Love to all!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~``
Sober Feelings and Grateful Heart
I know that I have been M.I.A. Please forgive me and let me express a few feelings that I have had today. Today my life came to a stop for a short time. A friend of mine lost her toddler son today. He became very ill last week and has been in the hospital ever since. This sweet, amazing family had to say goodbye to their baby today. They had to let him go and know that he was needed sooner than expected. This friend of mine amazes me. She is genuinely kind and loving towards those she knows and even those she just meets, which brings me to a request if you will. These hospital bills will be enormous. I'm asking if you can, please help this sweet family. They would not even hesitate to help anyone else out if the circumstance were reversed. There is a fund set up at USU Charter Credit Union in Jaron Grover's name. Please help if you can. If your pockets are empty, please pray for this family. They will need a lot of prayers and thoughts to get them through this sad time. Please hold your little babies and let them know you love them. Thank your Heavenly Father for giving you the chance to be mothers in whatever circumstance that may be. I cried today when I came home and saw my sweet Bells. She's healthy and happy and it was a sweet sober moment today when I held her. She must have known I needed a LONG hug today. She melts my heart and I couldn't be more grateful for the gift she is in my life. If you can help, PLEASE do. With enormous hugs and luvs to all my friends and family. K
Posted by Kandi at 12:11 AM

Super Smart Hubby!

2009-11-18T15:57:00.000-08:00

Today Shane got a phone call & I received an email from Utah State University. He graduated from his program in June of this year and he hasn't heard much from the school since.
WELL WELL WELL
We were notified that he would be receiving a provost "A Pin" (USU Aggies) and a certificate for have two semesters of a 4.0 GPA!!!
CONGRATULATIONS BABE!!!

Its good to have at least ONE smart person in our house!

More PICS!

2009-11-04T13:01:00.001-08:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

A few more seasonal pictures....

2009-10-29T11:31:00.001-07:00

Ch...ch...ch...change!

2009-10-29T10:31:00.000-07:00

WOW! So just when you think you have NOTHING interesting to write about - things just start popping up! When I sit at work & think "What in the world am I going to write in my blog that ANYONE is going to find worth reading..." absolutely nothing comes to mind!
Then I go and read the blogs of my friends...of random people who I stalk on occasion...of friends, friends.... and I realize that they are just reporting on the little things in life! And generally speaking, I usually enjoy hearing about other people's wild and crazy kids & other people's daily activities! So here's my world recently:

The biggest news is that Shane got a new JOB!!!! He has been working at the USU Dairy since he started school there last fall. The benefit at that time was that he received school credit for it and that he was able to have the "hands on" experience for future careers. The downside has ALWAYS been - zero benefits, part-time work only and pretty horrible wages. So a couple of weeks ago, he went around to some of the larger dairy connected facilities here in the valley (Gossner's Cheese, Schreibers, West Point Dairy, etc...) and just applied to all of them. THANKFULLY - he got a call just yesterday to be hired on immediately at Gossners! The pay is way more then he's been making for the last year, he'll have family insurance after 60 days and its full time! The other benefit for him is that it still keeps him in the same industry so that when milk prices come back to a more realistic number and it becomes more feesible for him to jump back into that world - he'll have still kept in "the loop" --- if there is such a thing as a dairy loop!

The seasons are changing really fast here in Logan as well. It went from a super warm Indian Summer into rapidly changing fall colors and onto winter storms & freezing temperatures in a matter of a few SHORT weeks! Even though I don't love the temps (a high of 34 degrees today!) I've always thought that Cache Valley was such a beautiful place to live. Fall here is absolutely gorgeous & although it only lasted for three minutes this year ~ the colors are amazing in the canyons that surround us! The other day it snowed about 1/2 inch - just enough to blanket everything in a perfect crystal snow cover. Winter can last clear into May sometimes, but at least its gorgeous!

Carter & Mason had parent teacher conference a couple of weeks ago & they both went really well! Mason's teacher basically said that he's super eager to learn - always pleasant to have in class - loves everything about school and just has to concentrate on NOT TALKING in class so much! (I'm pretty sure I could find you multiple report cards of MINE that say the exact same thing!) Mason just wanted to know if the numbers she was giving him as a grade were the highest in the class & who the other smart kids were! Its such a great thing for him to have that energy & love of school!

Carter's teacher confirmed what I'd been hoping would happen with him. She said that he's become a completely different student from when he first started there! I think a huge contributing factor is that he can tell that she is personally invested in him succeeding & that makes him want to do better. She is a darling young new teacher who honestly believes that she can change lives & she has certainly performed a miracle with Carter. He is anxious to go to school now & never whines about homework at ALL! His scores weren't fabulous but she said that with them being an average of the whole term - she expected that his next round would be significantly better. He goes in for tutoring 2 mornings a week & has really thrived on the individual time.

Jack & Charlie will be leaving their "Daddy Daycare" with Shane's new job & we have found a great place right by our house that is very inexpensive for what we need. I'm really nervous, anxious to see how they do in that environment. Other than being at a center a few days a week when Shane was in school, they have always been tended at home. It'll be interesting to see how they adjust to the environmental & social changes. The lady that watches them has two little boys of her own who are 4 1/2 & 2 1/2 years old which will be great for Jack & Charlie. The hysterical part is that their names are CARTER & MASON!!! What are the odds?!?!?

America West Heritage Center

2009-09-29T14:50:00.000-07:00
Here are some pictures from last weekends SUPER AWESOME trip to the Heritage Center here in the valley with Karen & her kids!
It was a ton of fun & best of all --- it was FREE!!! LOVE IT!

~*~*~*~ A tale of two students~*~*~*~

2009-09-21T09:41:00.000-07:00
We've found ourselves at MID-TERM time for Carter & Mason already this year!!! They are attending a new school that is a Charter School & its much more academically focused and regimented. I'm pretty sure that "back when I was a kid" --- we did NOT have mid-terms! I think its a good idea for the students and parents though to give them an idea of where they are scholastically before it gets too bad or if they need extra time spent on a particular subject. That being said - we received two very different mid term reports from each of the boys & it just further solidified how independent they are from each other!
Mason. First Grade.
Mason loves going to school. He views it entirely as a social project. He loves making friends. He loves doing his homework as soon as he gets home each day. He can't wait for weekends to be over so he can get back to school. He has amazing enthusiasm for learning & growing. Last night at bedtime, he asked me...."Mom, is tomorrow Monday already?" I said, "Yes Mason it is and its back to school!" ... he replied to me "YES! I get to do more math projects!!!" His midterm report followed along those lines fairly close. His teacher (Mrs. Reese) said that even though he came in a little behind (as do most 1st year students) that his enthusiasm has helped him jump leaps & bounds in the last few weeks. Lets hope this sticks around for another 10 years!!!
Carter. Third Grade.
Carter tolerates school. He prefers to miss recess in order to have one on one time in the classroom with the teacher or aide. He's been that way since 1st grade! He would stand and talk to the teacher on duty. He struggles every day to remember what he's supposed to do. He will have one or two friends for a couple of days & then that will change. He would prefer to be around & socialize with grown ups any given day. He has an incredible ability to retain information and he is very very capapble. He's the token "if you'd apply yourself" kid. I'm 100% sure he will do good in school - it will probably always be a little bit of a struggle for him.

Jack & Charlie are enrolled in Daddy Daycare with Shane each day after he comes home from work. He's on the lookout for something different though. The hours that he has been working at the dairy are taking their toll. He goes in around 2:30 or 3:00 AM and is back by 8:00 AM each day. It works for us because we don't have to pay daycare on two toddlers, but the hours are terrible for family life. We'll see what can be changed in the next couple of weeks hopefully!

We are fully 100% in our new house & I love it to DEATH! (which might be literal) It is beautiful and ours and feels like a true home. I love being able to say for the first time in my adult life that I live in MY OWN house. In the past with renting or any other scenario - its always been.... I'm Jennifer ---I live in the so & so's house. But NOW. Now I just get to say that its our home that we built. So twenty years from now when some poverty stricken young newlyweds live in it ---- they'll say "We're the so & so's and we live in the old Reeves house!"

Life just keeps on turning and we're doing our best to keep up with it!

Words for pictures

2009-08-21T10:34:00.000-07:00
Just like everyone else around us lately - our lives have been chaotic & crazy ---- going in 100 different directions at one time it seems! Our beautiful new house is finished with construction --- SIXTY days from the dig date! We are hoping to close by the end of this week and move in over Carter's Bday weekend!
Carter & Mason started class at their new school which is right by the new house! They have a dress code (its a charter school) and their teachers are fantastic! I'm hoping that scholastically this year turns out better then last for the oldest one at least!
Summer went by WAY too fast for me! It seems like "back when I was a kid" that summer would last forever! I'm pretty sure it only lasted a week in our household! Trips to Star Valley, South Carolina for Carter ~ Summer school/summer camp for Carter & Mason ... Charlie turning TWO years old!
I'd imagine there's a reason time goes by so fast ~ so you never have the time to step back & realize how chaotic it can be!
Shane & I saw this perfect phrase back in the house hunting days & I think I'm going to get it put in foofy vinyl lettering in my new house or tattooed on - it said
"Having children is like being pecked to death by chickens"
And the fun just keeps on coming!

Summer is OVER!

2009-08-20T14:39:00.001-07:00

The HOUSE IS DONE!!!

2009-08-20T13:24:00.000-07:00

~*~*~* What a weekend!!! ~*~*~*

2009-08-03T10:26:00.000-07:00

Apparently it just isn't in the cards to have life of smooth sailing & ease. This weekend of "relaxing and unwinding" turned into anything BUT. It started after I got home from work on Friday night when we went out to go check the status of our house thats being built. The flooring guys had been out & put down the wood floor in the kitchen (the bathroom tile was already done) and they had rolled out & cut the carpet. Since the carpet was just put down, we had the boys take their shoes off. So they run upstairs to check their rooms to see if anything has magically appeared as they do everytime we go to the house!
Three seconds later I hear Mason SCREAMING!!! I run up the stairs and see him holding his foot and blood dripping everywhere! Apparently the flooring guys had just put down tack strip and carpet pad. So Mason went bouncing into his room and the doorway only had the tack strip down --- which he stepped on with his whole foot. So he has all of these little poke marks on the sole of his foot & they're all bleeding! Bleeding WAY more then a tiny foot poke mark should bleed!
Anyway - bandage that, reform our "house touring process" for the kids and head back home. BUT WAIT ~~~~ THATS NOT ALL!!!
Then we're at home - eating dinner. Normal crazy psychotic super noisy household.... and Poor Mr. Mason (who is missing his two front teeth) is having a ball showing me how the space is almost big enough to most of his dinner through. He has one of those cheap red & white restaurant mints from who know when that he popped in his mouth & started trying to pass through the humongous whole in the front of his mouth. Well --- it wasn't big enough of course --- but in realizing that, he somehow sucked it down his windpipe & was full on choking!
Immediately his eyes are fully bugged out and he's gripping his neck and reaching for his cup to get a drink. Shane got up and said that it looked like he was not getting any air in & to give Mason the heimlich! Thankfully I was sitting right by Mason and so for the first time EVER EVER EVER in my life - I had to do that! It took about 3 or 4 times and a lot of horrible noises and out flies that stupid little mint all the way across the table!
After calming down - Mason told me that he thought the mint got lost on its way to his stomach because it felt like it was stuck in his heart! Poor kid. He has a tough life!
We spent the weekend up in Star Valley hauling Shane's dads hay out of their fields - I think it was close to 200 large bales he ended up hauling. Every single one of the kids got injured during our time up there -- though none as bad as Mason the night we left. I guess we should have taken his previous injuries as a warning of all the destruction to come!

I LOVE HAVING LITTLE BOYS!!!!!

* oh and Carter learned to ride Grandpa's 4 wheeler all by himself. He thinks he is pretty fantastic now!

The status of our house-building.....

2009-07-10T13:25:00.000-07:00

July in pictures!

2009-07-10T12:00:00.001-07:00

Fancy Fireworks!

Jack & his weekend girlfriend!

Carter

This past weekend we went up to Ammon, ID to go see Karen & her family for wee little Kaleb's baby blessing! It was really great to go up there & be with our family. Gramma Darla flew out from South Carolina for the weekend & took Carter back with her for a one-on-one week!

He couldn't wait to get on that plane! The fireworks show was amazing up in Idaho Falls --- seemed to last forever!

Things have seemed really busy in our lives lately --- but when I sit down to write about it, nothing comes to mind! Sometimes I wonder what it is that occupies so much of my time at the end of each day!

We are mid-way on the construction of our house & my next blog with be all about that!!! Here are a few more pictures of my corny kids during the last festivities!

Playing catch up

2009-07-02T08:45:00.000-07:00
Not a lot of exciting things have been going on lately --- but I thought I should post some pictures to keep the 2 people who read this blog in the LOOP! Mason lost his first FRONT tooth and now has a gigantic HOLE in his mouth where it once was! I'm pretty sure that his tooth wasn't that big when it was in there, but now that the tooth is gone --- LOOK OUT!!!!!

I captured a true "Jackie Schmackie Moment" the other day in our truck. We were coming home from something & Jack started throwing a fit about wanting to go somewhere or do something or get something ---- its all the same after a while..... And I happened to have my camera with me so I just turned around in my seat & started taking a zillion pictures of him. Since he IS my child and loves attention --- you can see how he progresses through being a genuine tantrum thrower to a child that is considering how fabulous it is to have his picture being taken!

Jack & his airplanes

2009-06-15T14:45:00.000-07:00

Jack is completely obsessed with airplanes and helicopters lately - I have no idea where the obsession came from though! Shane has built the boys their own barns, stalls - tractor bunk beds --- everything. And out of nowhere - Jack decides that planes are the most exciting things in his life!

Yesterday during nap time - Jack & I were NOT sleeping and so we went into town to go vaccum my vehicle out. While we were there - an airplane flew over really low & very loud! Jack was so amazed by it - so I told him we'd drive over to the PoDunk Airport & see if we could spot that plane. Having lived in this valley for a total of 10+ years now, I've never been to its lovely small town airport before yesterday.

We drove over & there was a helicopter just getting ready to take off - Jack was so fidgety and jumping all over the place just watching it! We went over to the "pilots lounge" and there was a lady in there that let Jack go into the hanger and look at the planes that were parked in there. She gave him some brochures and said they do little group tours if we wanted to come back again. I asked her if being a mother of four boys qualified as a group tour!
THEN --- she proceeds to tell Jack that if he wants to, he is big enough to go on one of the planes with a pilot and fly around!!!!

AFTERWARDS - she mentions to me that they do allow kids to go with a parent & a pilot for 1/2 hour of flying time around the valley, for the low low cost of $100~?~?~?~?

Really?!!??!

Needless to say - he has NOT stopped talking about it since then. He even woke up at 3:30 this morning asking me if it was time to go see HIS airplane.

Thanks lady!!!

More pictures!

2009-06-10T09:01:00.001-07:00

Death of the Blackberry

2009-06-04T10:20:00.001-07:00

My poor, poor Blackberry met its untimely death last night right as So You Think You Can Dance was finishing up..... I had it on the arm rest of my couch & went to toss the remote control back to Shane.
SOMEHOW - I knocked the phone off and there below it was all of this "safe area" to land on...carpet... but NO. My phone fell right into a glass of water I had just brought in.
Plunked right down to the bottom in 0.3 seconds and apparently Blackberry phones are like sponges. It couldn't have been exposed for more than 2 seconds. Nonetheless --- my phone is ruined...kaput....out of service. And I get to spend some time today looking for a new phone.

PHOTO SHOOT!!!!

2009-06-04T10:00:00.001-07:00
My super fantastic friend MEGAN did our pictures yesterday at a park here in the valley! She's uploaded a few of them to facebook & to her blog so I copied them and placed 'em on mine!!!
They are turning out sooooo cute! It was quite a task to get four boys to all pay attention & it didn't help that there was a park within their vision!
THANK YOU MEG!!!

My first slide show.....

2009-06-02T11:06:00.000-07:00
This past weekend we had a get together with all of the Reeves Family to celebrate Clint's 30th Birthday!!!!! Here are some of the pictures from that...

I'm a winner at a losing game.....

2009-05-29T08:28:00.000-07:00
Let me first remind anyone reading this about one of my stronger personality "quirks" - I am a show off/attention hog/drama queen/limelight stealer. Generally speaking, I LOVE LOVE LOVE being the center of attention (unless of course its for something negative - then I just cry)!
Well the other day, I dropped Carter & Mason off at school and clicked the radio on. Right when I did that, I heard the DJ say "Caller #5 wins two tickets so call 755-blah blah blah..." I picked up by phone & dialed in the number..... and it RANG!

The DJ picks up the phone and says "Congratulations, you won the tickets!" I was super excited until I realized that I had NO IDEA what the tickets were for!!! I didn't want to seem like an idiot & ask the DJ so I just played it off. He got my information and told me to come down to the station and get the tickets before Friday @ 5pm.

*Here's where my personality flaw comes into play*

I called Shane & told him...told everyone at work about how I won these mysterious tickets and won't it be so exciting to find out what they are for?!?!!? So this morning on my way to work - I went over to the radio station and proudly walked in for my award winning tickets.

Here is what I won......

If you can't read it very clearly --- its a pair of tickets (original cost $6 each) to the Box Elder County Sheriffs Search & Rescue Annual Pancake Breakfast.
I must have the WORST LUCK.

Trial & Error.....In Pictures

2009-05-21T09:27:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I like to pretend that I can take good pictures of my kids.... I'll take like THIRTY and two or three will be okay. This is why I have friends who are fabulous photographers! SARAH & MEGAN!!!

Anyhoopers - here's my lame attempt to be like them~

Picture Party!

2009-05-08T09:17:00.000-07:00

Dad & Charlie ~ so handsome!

Boys at the fountain at Bountiful Temple ~ Mason asked if it was HOLY WATER!?!?!

My sister in law, Brittney got married a couple of weeks ago and my OTHER sister in law, Kiley uploaded a bunch of pictures from it. SOoooo I thought I would highlight all of the ones featuring MY children!

Charlie & Isabella

Jack Cannon

Carter
Mason

~*~*~* SHANE HAS GRADUATED ~*~*~*

2009-05-01T09:05:00.000-07:00

Shane has officially graduated from his program through USU at the Caine Dairy. His certification is as a Dairy Herdman. Basically this just means that he knows what he's been talking about and working with for the last 20 years! Funny how you have to show a piece of paper for something along the lines of working with livestock?!?!!?
After not being in the education world for 18 years - he managed to come back into this and achieve a 4.0 GPA both terms! He has done such an amazing job during this school year & has worked at the school as well for his internship. He will be continuing his employment with them while we see what adventure comes our way next!
CONGRATULATIONS BABE!!!!

~ The house that Shane & Jennifer built ~

2009-04-27T10:23:00.000-07:00

After months & months of looking at houses all over this valley - Shane & I decided to BUILD!!! I swore I would never build a house since the idea of making that many decisions and being forced to compromise at all - just didn't sound that appealing to me! We had originally made an offer on this EXACT house - it was the model home for the contractor to start the subdivision. BUT...the realtor never presented our offer to him and we ended up withdrawing it & moving on. After two other offers and several more weeks of looking at houses, we decided that we still loved the overall plan/design of this first house and called up the contractor.
We've met with him once to modify the interior floor plans & make a few structural adjustments. Our next appointment is the color choice one to pick out all of the details --- so we spent part of this past weekend living it up at Home Depot and getting a more refined idea on what we wanted.
Honestly - I've been amazed at how similar our choices have been!!! You would NEVER think that a farmer from Star Valley & his city working wife would actually enjoy the same elements to their home!!! Guess that means it WAS destiny after all!!!
HERE WE GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO..................

*~*~ Reunion Pictures!!! *~*~

2009-04-17T11:00:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we had the most amazing time with our family - and even a reunion! My Dad's family all got together at my Aunt Lisa's house ... they came from Colorado, California, Oregon, Southern Utah & LOGAN!!! It was the first time my dads siblings have all been together in 14 years!!! Can you believe it?!?!? Its been only 2 years since me and all of my siblings have been together & hopefully we never get to 14 years! Here are some pictures from the event.

We also had a little gathering on my mom's side of the family. She flew out from South Carolina & surprised all of the grandkids with her visit. They LOVE their Gramma Darla time!!! Carter said to me last night ---- "I know Gramma Darla isn't old, but sometimes I get a little worried that she'll just be too crazy and have a heart attack!!!!"

HAHAHAH!!!

It took all of my inner strength to NOT laugh outloud & to show concern along with him.

On Easter Sunday - we had another mini-gathering at my Grandpa's house with the remnants from the party weekend. He's just finished up going through chemotherapy & is doing really really well. He has always been good spirited and I'm sure its helping him get through this latest trial.

I will post my huge long HOUSE SAGA later today probably... OH the drama!!!

Zwani

2009-04-02T13:05:00.001-07:00

Graphics for April Fools Day Comments

GUESS WHAT?!!?!?

2009-04-01T15:34:00.000-07:00

Shane & I found out three days ago that we are expecting another baby!!!

PLEASE cross all fingers & toes that this one will be a girl!!!!

Blonding it up!!!

2009-03-31T10:50:00.000-07:00

After being a dark-cinnamon-ish type color (which quickly faded to a BLAH BROWN) I have gone back to the super fun & super cute look of being a BLONDE!
WOO HOO!!! Its a bit lighter then I've ever had before --- or maybe the powerful grey hairs that stalk my head are just too overwhelming! So far I'm absolutely loving it!

Carter big BREAK

2009-03-24T10:16:00.000-07:00

Poor kid! Last week - on ST. Patricks Day no less ---- I get THE DREADED PHONE CALL FROM SCHOOL. The secretary calls to tell me that Carter tripped up the cement steps on the way back in from recess and has most likely broken his nose!!! So I leave work to head out there & he is sitting in the nurses station laying back with an ice pack on his noggin and I can see blood all over his clothes & face.

NOT GOOD!!!!

He started crying when he saw me of course and I just had to keep reaffirming to him that he would be fine and that I would take care of him. It totally helped that he really likes our Pediatrician - Dr. Armstrong. Honestly --- this guy is fantastic! Older "grandpa" type guy who's probably been a Pediatrician forever.

So the verdict of course is that his nose was broken. The part that was equally as bad (as far as appearance goes) is that he had a huge gash up the whole front of his nose from the concrete. They can't do anything ... cast....cover UP .....for a broken nose. It just heals on its own. I was secretly hoping he could get one of those masks like they give NBA Players to help prevent future injury - but I guess he doesn't qualify!

I'm attaching some pictures of his "progress" so far. I'll post one later today - all of the swelling is gone and most of the gash has healed, scabbed and come off. YUMMY.

And so my crazy life with four little boys begins its medical journey ---- I'm SOOOOO excited!!!

Chubby people at the gym

2009-03-11T08:33:00.000-07:00
Now before anyone gets all bent out of shape ---- I feel 100% justified in making comments about chubby people at the gym .... because I AM ONE OF THEM!!! I've been struggling with this horrible justification I have where I'll mentally think "I went and worked out today...it'll be fine if I accidentally eat this whole handful of M&Ms..." ~ something like that. SO.... yesterday I went to the PF where I work out & I was able to go a little bit later because Shane is on Spring Break from school & work this week! So I dont have to get up as early since there are three less people to have to get ready! Anywhooters - yesterday I went at 6:45ish and its all different people there. Well, I'm on the eliptical -- doing my thing on level 12 --- working up some early morning sweat (Yummmmmmmmmmy....and the visual now is just amazing!) SUDDENLY - I hear this tremendous THUDDING noise on one of the treadmills from the back row. I mean - it was pretty loud.
*Side note* for those of you who don't already know this, I am a very competitive person. This can mean that I always have to win and also that I always have to be right.... keep this in mind.....
I look back as casually as a fat girl on an eliptical can & I see this pretty large "kid" totally running his guts out on the treadmill. Now - I watch Biggest Loser religiously & I've even tried to be on the show! This kid (younger looking guy....) was straight off a scene from that show (the night before). He didn't appear like he should/would/could be able to run at ALL!!!! So I'm huffing & puffing on the eliptical thinking "If THAT guy can run on a treadmill ---- there is NO WAY I'm going to let him show me up and I'm going to HAVE to go show him who's boss" I bypass the "cool down" phase of my workout & head straight to the treadmill row - picking one a few away from him. The downside is that I couldn't what speed he was running at and he WAS quite a bit shorter then me....
Lets just say that 3 heart attacks and a round of emphysema later - I totally had to quit! I could NOT breath and my knees were KILLING ME! When I finally recovered enough to leave the facilities...I looked back --- and there was the chubby guy....still running.
CURSES!!!!!

**** SUSHI ****

2009-03-05T08:29:00.000-08:00
So a couple of weeks ago my fabulous Aunt Lisa calls me and asks if I want tickets to Rascal Flatts down in SLC? I've liked them since they first came out --- maybe even a little bit more back then than I do now ---- so I tell her that I'll take the tickets! My sis-in-law, Kandi & I went last Thursday and it was quite a show! We had really good seats but I kind of felt like an OLD LADY because it was really really really loud & not being drunk or 14 years old - I felt a bit out of place! Anywho - we stayed overnight at Lisa's house after and headed back up to Cache Valley the next morning.

WELL --- sometime after I got ready at her house, my makeup bag mysteriously disappeared from my stuff....which I didn't notice until the NEXT morning when I went to get ready for work! Come to find out that it had been stashed away mischeviously by my neice! :) Anyway - it mad for a good excuse to have to meet up again so that Sunday I drove down and met up with her 1/2 way to get the sacred make-up!

We had already talked about having lunch & she asked if I liked SUSHI.

I tell her that I've never really tried it (not counting some forgein exchange student food in high school). So she takes me to this Sushi place in Layton & kind of walks me through what things are and whats really spicey versus a kinder, starter roll to get. We ended up ordering a bunch of things to try - Carter and Mason were with me and they were game for trying some of it too. They LOVED watching it be prepared and talking to the people there about what things were. Serious fascination! They were a bit less fascinated when they realized that they would be eating these weird looking dishes though!

The presentation was great - to me it looked realy fantastic & I agreed to give everything ONE shot at least! Honestly - I was expecting to hate most of it. I'm really into the textures of food & that often will make me NOT eat something just because of how it feels in my mouth! (yeah - I'm weird ... so what?!?!) SURPRISINGLY --- I thought it was all pretty great! The only thing I wasn't 100% sold on was the raw tuna with wasabi & soy.... not a good texture. But all of the different rolls she had were fantastic! Now - I cannot WAIT to have another reason to go eat some sushi! YUMMMMM!!
THANKS LISA!!!

*~*~* Five Tips for Happy Couples *~*~*

2009-02-11T10:19:00.000-08:00
Since the big BIG day of the year is coming up (that would be Valentine's Day) there are always these little tidbits on Yahoo, or other sites about relationships, etc that pop up to make us all better spouses, girlfriends - whatever. Well - I gave in and read one of them a few days ago & I've since had the chance to relay what I gleamed to several of my friends & my husband. They are seemingly good ideas - this one article talked about the five things that couples should do to maintain/create a close relationship. Some of them are semi-obvious ... others, not so much. So I will recreate what I can remember from this and maybe something from it will strike you as GENIUS and help your relationship in some way.

1. Pray together. This goes for couples who are not of the same religion or if only one is 'religious'. The reason that this works to bring couples closer together is because in having prayer or meditation, most often you are asking for things/blessings for other people. It allows your significant other to see the self-less side of you and helps you focus on the things in life that truly matter. Generally speaking, when your focus is on trying to help others, or at least having other people in mind - it causes you as a person to be better.

2. Be goofy together. The basics of this are that you have to be able to be silly around your significant other. Whether that is having a belching contest or putting make up on your husbands face ---- something to be a stress reliever and that allows you to step back from the mundane tasks of everyday life to relax a little bit. ONE FRIEND --- who shall remain nameless (BGJ) said that she and her husband think its goofy to fart on each other. They REALLY love each other!!!

3. Have independent activity. This one talked alot about how sometimes, people will lose themselves in a relationship. That you become "wife Jennifer", "mom Jennifer", "worker Jennifer" and you lose independance for things you enjoy. This can be a hobby you've always had or a class you want to take ---anything. That allowing your spouse to regain or maintain a sense of themselves shows your love and concern for them and also allows them to have something that is "theirs".

4. Have a wind-down chat every night. One couple called it their igloo time. After putting kids to bed, close down the household, etc., they would meet in their bedroom and have their wind-down, what-happened-to-me-today chat. Sometimes couples think they don't "need" this because they know their spouse and feel as though they are in touch with each others lives (work, home with kids) without having to hear about it. BUT - being able to vent to your spouse is so important for trust and security in your relationship. Let it all out!

5. FLIRT. You have to constantly feed the flame of your relationship or it can die out pretty fast. This can range from subtle hints about them in a sexual manner, to dropping notes, etc. There was one example on there that I LOVED. It was a husband talking about why being flirtatious with his wife improved their sex life so much. He said "Let's put it this way: The way I see it, sex is like chocolate cake. After five days of eating chocolate cake, even chocolate cake doesn't taste that great, but after five days of talking about chocolate cake? That cake tastes damn good."

KANDI SUE!!!!

2009-01-22T13:47:00.000-08:00

I decided to dedicate an entire BLOG ENTRY to my sister in law --- KANDI SUE!!! She felt sad, lonely and a bit like an outsider when I didn't TAG her with my last entry so now she gets her own!
Kandi ---- I am tagging you to follow the ten honest things about yourself blog. Make sure you post SOON & also that you tag at least three people to do it after you have completed it!
GOOD LUCK!
**Hope yours is as funny and insightful as mine!!!! HAHAHA!!!!

~Honesty Tag~

2009-01-15T08:20:00.001-08:00
So I have this friend online (mostly) and she is super super funny ~ I check in on her blog every so often & especially when I need a humor pick me up or I need to sulk in jealousy over her gorgeous little daughter! The other day I'm "working" and "accidentally" find myself reading her blog. WHOOPS! This particular blog was ten honest things about yourself that most people wouldn't otherwise know about you. One of them made me totally laugh out loud - open mouth/dark room. Anyway, so I asked her to 'tag' me so I could steal the idea without seeming so desperate!

THANKS LISA!!!
Here are my ten honesty items:
1. I just got a new Blackberry for my new job and I'm totally addicted to it. I spend WAY too much time downloading applications, pictures, ringtones - completely useless stuff! For example, at 10:00 last night, I downloaded a ringtone of the theme song for Thomas the Tank Engine - which Jack & Charlie love to death. Then this morning I stand where they can't see me & play the ring tone SUPER loud --- they were falling all over to come find the source of the MAGIC MUSIC!!!
ps thanks for the phone Richard!!!
2. This leads us to the next confessional - which most people probably already think/know about me --- I am an attention hog! I love being the center of attention (for something good only of course) and I love things being as grand and amazing as possible. I'm talking surprise parties, huge accomplishments, awards of any kind. Whatever it takes to put me in the spotlight!!! How sad is that?!?!
3. Being the mom of four boys - I love doing girly things all by myself and refuse to think its really that selfish. Unlike Lisa - I dye my hair all of the time. Just recently I went from a blonde with some warm brown tones to a darker auburn with "cinnamon" highlights. I know its insane to spend money on something like your hair and probably just as insane to spend 3 hours in a chair but I LOVE IT! I would get mani/pedis every week if I could! I'd go get massages & facials and whatever other treatments they provide - JUST to go do something feminine! I need my doses of estrogen!
4. My friend Sarah introduced me to a new hobby & honestly before that I didn't really have any hobbies. Once I'm done with a work day - I spend all of my time with hubby & kids and doing things around the house which leaves very little time for hobbying. Thankfully - most nights after 9:00ish, the house is generally quiet and I can sneak in some time for the newest craze in my life - BEADING!!! I love making necklaces, bracelets....earrings! I'm no where NEAR as good as Sarah (blah blah) but I think it is sooooo much fun. I would probably be better at it if God had blessed me with small delicate hands instead of what I've got!
5. I have an incredibly addictive personality. Most things that I have in life - I am borderline obsessed with. Like the beading - once I got into it, I was making something almost every single day. I would be a disaster in Las Vegas!!! Food, Diet Coke, chocolate, sleep, useless downloads --- all have a really easy time becoming extreme.
6. Thankfully I do have some discipline & this leads us to confession #6. I have been totally addicted to Diet Coke for about 8 years now. It all started....... seriously...it all started when I joined Weight Watchers after Carter was born. The leader said that diet drinks were ZERO points & so I began drinking that stuff and probably would have taken it in IV form if it was available. The only times I didn't drink diet Coke is when I was pregnant (sounds like an addict!) But this past December I decided that I need to STOP! The main problem is that I NEVER NEVER NEVER drink water because of all the pop I drink. SO I haven't had a Diet Coke since December 3 2008. I stopped drinking any kind of pop on January 1st as a New Years Resolution. "Hello, my name is Jennifer and I'm an addict. I have been Diet Coke free for 42 days now"
7. I love to talk. This stems from my need to be the center of attention & my belief that I have something worth saying. I embellish stories like there is no tomorrow & YES I know that embellish means LIE!
8. I am a spell check/grammar fanatic. I cannot stand things being spelled incorrectly or people speaking incorrectly. Living in Utah is a challenge for both of those. Most people here just speak lazily --- for example.... very few people say mountain. They say mounun. Slurred. No emphasis on the 't'. There is a town in this valley called Newton. NO ONE says the 't'. It becomes an "uh" sound --- New-uhn. LAZY!!! I even typed correct grammar, punctuation & spelling on text and instant messengers!!!
9. I have a God Complex in my job. About a year after I started working for Farmers Insurance, I won a customer service award that was only given out to about 5 people in the state of Utah & this was a national campaign. It was for superior customer service & they actually called it the SUPERSTAR award. I received a nice (slightly dangerous) glass award with a big star on it & became known throughout the insurance world...or at least in my district boundaries - as a SUPERSTAR. This has perpetuated quite an ego for me professionally and is often the source of jokes, and probably a lot of talk when I leave the office!
10. Okay this one is stupid --- I'm going to confess that now ---- in my addictive personality, I am obsessed with cutting my kids fingernails and cleaning their ears out ALL OF THE TIME. I give all the credit for this to my mother - who would ALWAYS pick at us. During church - you'd just be sitting there & all of the sudden my mothers finger was in your ear or up your nose. I'm NOT LYING!!! My siblings will all verify this. She was always always picking on us!!!!
I am tagging: CRYSTAL, DANICA (thats two now!!!), KAREN & MY MOMMA!

JACKIE SCHMACKIE

2009-01-14T13:54:00.000-08:00

I know its weird - but thats what we call our little three year old angel/demon boy Jack. Seems that Mason started calling him that a while ago & now we all do for some reason?!?! We each have variations on the name....I call him Jackie Schmackie...or Schmack-a-saurus. SO random!

He started sunbeams a few weeks ago & really struggled with not being able to play for two full hours but once he saw that there were craft projects & snacks still involved - he was ALL IN!

Last Sunday when he came home from church he was talking about being in "big boy class" and decided that he wanted to make a peanut butter (plain, nothing else. BLAH) sandwich and so I got out the bread and PB for him. We have these little dainty butter knives & they are perfect for this kind of chore so I let him at it.

I went into the living room (right next door) and suddenly Jack lets out this immediate and horrible wailing cry noise - like he had just stabbed his eye out or something!!! So I step back in & he's sitting there looking at his sandwich on the counter. He had tried to fold it in half & the bread BROKE --- UNEVENLY insted of folding over nicely & perfectly in half. THAT is what he was upset about. He was sobbing --- my breads bwoken!

It was soooo funny & since I am sometimes a mean mom --- I totally grabbed my camera off the shelf & shot these pictures:

Life & its updates

2009-01-14T13:05:00.000-08:00

We are having a bunch of changes going in on in our lives right now and sometimes I forget about the purpose of a blog --- to let people know whats going on in them!!! DUH.

Shane finished up the winter semester at USU with a 4.0 GPA!!!! *show off* He has started up the spring semester and is still working mornings out at the dairy where he goes to school.

I was offered an amazing job opportunity with the same company I've work for the last 5 years - Farmers Insurance. I've been licensed for the last two yrs. and was offered to open and manage a new agent office here in Cache Valley (Logan) that will be just amazing! It was a two month process to get everything up & running but it will start on the 20th of this month and I am WAY anxious to start. ***WOOO HOOOOOO!!!!!

For those of you who EMAIL ME (hint hint) I am losing my AOL account and will go with my existing yahoo as a primary address so UPDATE UPDATE!!!

I'm tacking on pictures just for the halibut!

Picture party!!!

2008-12-31T10:03:00.000-08:00
Here are some random pictures to brighten the day of anyone looking at my super cute poser kids!!! ***Jammies from Gramma Darla***

My favorites are the "Jack in the box"

and Charlie's mohawk!!!

****SUPER CUTE COUSIN PARTY!!!!!****

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

Santa Pictures

2008-12-23T14:14:00.000-08:00

So we took the boys to go see Santa. What a treat!!! Jack & Mason both did really well and told Santa all their hopes and wishes!!! Charlie would NOT have anything to do with him though.I had to sit up there by him & he still wouldn't get close! Carter had to sit next to Santa because he was taller and probably weighed more!!! It was a little comical! Here are the pictures from that & I will try and get more on top of this blog in the meantime!!!

OLD school!!!!

2008-12-02T09:38:00.000-08:00

I LOVE finding old pictures..... I have NO idea where this one came from --- but its a DOOZIE!!!! This is my & my siblings ....I'm guessing around 1984 ish judging by the glasses & the fact that Nathan's cosume is already a hand me down. I'm pretty sure karen's dress is just one of MY precious princess dresses.... Poor Jeremy isn't even wearing a costume. POOR POOR kids.... :) Aren't we just the greatest?!?!?
LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!

THANKFUL FOR.....

2008-11-24T14:51:00.000-08:00

Okay - I'm trying to play "catch up" for being so bad about things I am thankful for. Recent events in our circle (family,friends...) has brought an awareness to me that I need to be more thankful for my good health & for Shane's good health. We might both be old and onry sometimes, but all things considered we are in good health and are able to take care of our children.

Some of you may know that I have been doing Weight Watchers since March when those people from BIGGEST LOSER decided not to put me on their show.... :( I could have been a SUPERSTAR!!!! That being said - I've travelled down the "I-don't-want-to-be-fat-anymore" road once again and thought it was worth reviewing my success so far. I find that sometimes when you have a really, really, really, really, really LONG way to go - that its helpful to notice the min-milestones as they occur. So here's a picture I took as part of my application to Biggest Loser and then a picture I took in my office on Friday. Helps me think that I am not so far away. I'm over half way to where I need to be and have lost SIXTY POUNDS! So a little pat on my slightly smaller back is definitely justified!

What are YOU thankful for????

Faces from the past!

2008-11-24T14:25:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd share with you lucky, lucky people this hillarious picture I found this week. Going along with my POORLY maintained "thankfulness" idea --- lets say on this that I am thankful for the fact that my mom kept SOMETHING from my childhood so I can show it to my kids. I asked my oldest three who they thought it was ---- Jack said a princess.... and he was CORRECT. How insightful at three years old to know that mommy was a princess WAY back in Kindergarten! Mason thought it was me --- but much much longer ago. And Carter thought it looked like my super cute neice LACEY!!! Awe.... Love the full line of ear to ear bangs that I had back then! I do miss the gorgeous princess hair that I had back then and the jealousy it continues to cause in memories of our childhood for SOME people ;) *wink wink*

Month of Thanks!

2008-11-10T09:34:00.000-08:00
So I'm stealing the idea from my sister in law - Kandi SUE - to blog each day and say something that you are thankful for. :) In all honesty, I think its a great idea becuase there are many many times in my life where I need to take a moment and remember all of the things that I am blessed with and should be grateful for. Often I get so caught up in the crazy & hectic routines of my life with work and the boys and Shane's school & his work ---- that I rarely take the time to notice the positive things in my life.
Today - I am thankful for the good health that my family (husband & kids) have always been blessed with. Neither Shane or I have never had severe health problems and have been able to remedy or at least decrease any health issues that we have faced. All four of my sons have always been healthy and have never suffered medically for any reason. In our little hill-billy newspaper over the last few months, there hasn't been a single week thats gone by without there being an infant's obituary. Several have been stillbirths or only surviving a few days of tremendous medical difficulty. It made me realize how lucky/fortunate/blessed I am to have healthy children and to have all of them with me.
I cannot imagine what these parents have had to go through and I am so thankful that I have not had to endure that. Even having the knowledge and faith that I do about what happens to us when we die - I still think it would be one of the most difficult things for a parent to go through in life.

Bragging about Shane

2008-10-27T09:27:00.000-07:00
For those of you who don't know - Shane has been going to school since the end of August for a dairy herdsman program through Utah State University. He graduated high school in 1989/90 - and this is his first attempt back at school. Personally - I would be terrified after such a lapse --- and don't get me wrong, he was very nervous the first couple of weeks. "Would all the other kids like him", "would anyone play with him at recess", "Would he get picked last for dodgeball"....these are the questions that plagued him. So sad....
ANYWAY - he has a bunch of classes that I think are tremendously hard - Genetics.... MATH (which I've always hated) and of course the majority of them focus on dairy production or cows in one way or another. He is doing really well & found out at the end of last week that he's getting at least a B+ average overall in the program. His mid term grades were phenomenal & he has already taken & aced one of his finals! CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

I know he will be able to continue next semester just as successfully as he has done so far this year. He is getting more and more anxious to find the perfect job out there for what he has always wanted to do. We are all really proud of him & can't wait to see where life takes us next!!!

Picture Party!

2008-10-08T08:15:00.000-07:00

So I've been nagged lately by my favorite sister in law KANDI ;) that I need to update my blog more often ---- so although my life is seemingly routine to me, I will give it a go! HAPPY NOW?!?!

Its finally turning to fall around here & I'm so glad that its not 90 degrees at the end of every day anymore. My office doesn't have air conditioning (can you imagine???) We also don't have a window within our office so whatever air we circulate is stagnant pre-used office air..... YUMMY! To TOP THAT, our office is located in a commercial building with several other businesses - one of which is a BEAUTY COLLEGE. So every other day we are lucky to have the smell of acrylic nails and old lady perms seep through the walls. It just keeps getting better....

The boys are all doing well in school/pre-school. We got their pictures taken at JCPenny & I'm trying to figure out how to post their pictures on here. In the meantime though, I took some pictures of them last weekend when it was overcast & raining - we had to get outside for a little while or else someone was going to end up in a padded/locked room!!!! So we went out during a break in the rain, and they climbed the pear trees in our back yard that drop at least 50 pears a day on the yard. They think its great to shake all the branches & knock even more off. The greater fun comes in walking around the tree and making mashed pears. YUM. Boys are gross. Thats what I've figured out being a mom of four of them --- they don't mind being gross and doing icky things that don't make any sense! Why shouldn't you pour sand from the sandbox in your hair? Why shouldn't you try to 'gut' a pear and take the mashed parts to make a huge pear patty? These are seeming normal, messy boy things.

I suppose I will just have to get used to it - because despite what my favorite sister in law Kandi says---- we are DONE!!!!

TAKE 5 - (stolen from Karen! )

2008-09-23T08:01:00.000-07:00

5 years ago I was:

1. Working at an ironworks company

2. Pregnant with Mason

3. Living in Idaho

4. Driving a small car instead of a big 'ol SUV :)

5. Thinking I was poor

5 things on my list today:

1. Make it to work

2. Figure out lunch

3. Rush home to cook dinner for BUNKO!!!

4. Clean house for BUNKO@!!!

5. Have BUNKO at my house!!! :)

5 snacks I enjoy:

1. Diet Coke

2. Ice Cream

3. Fun size candy bars

4. White Cheddar Popcorn

5. Cashews

5 things I would do if I were a millionaire: ---sorry Karen - I had to steal everything on your list!

1. Build my dream home

2. Buy new cars

3. Save money for the kids for college, missions

4. Go on several cool vacations

5. Pay someone to clean, cook, and decorate my house ---and be my personal beautician (manicures, pedicures, hair stylist)

5 places I have lived:

1. Utah

2. Colorado

3. Idaho

4. New Mexico

5. North Carolina

5 jobs I have had:

1. Walmart Toy Department Manager

2. Subway Sandwich Artist

3. Daycare Provider

4. Insurance Goddess

5. Orange Julius Maker

I tag anyone who wants to play!!

Carter's baptism

2008-09-09T11:58:00.000-07:00

So - this past weekend we had a lot of family visiting for Carter's baptism and it was a lot of noise and kids and drama... Several family members came quite a way to share in his day and we are incredibly grateful. Gramma Darla (my mom) - flew out from South Carolina and stayed until Monday afternoon. Its always good to have Gramma around for an extra set of hands and someone who actually feels compelled to clean. ***that will NEVER be me!!!

The baptism went really well and we had a good gathering at our house afterwards when everyone came over. It was insane! But fun as well ---- Carter had a couple of his great grandparents come up too and it was really fantastic to see them!

Here are some pictures from the big day!!!

Jack @ preschool & fabulous potty training world

2008-09-02T08:43:00.000-07:00

So Jack is going to preschool in the morning while Shane goes to school & Charlie is in their daycare facility. Of course Jack has to have a back pack and all the 'big things' that his older brothers have. So we took some pictures of him on h is big day too!

He is doing perfect w/ his potty training *knock on wood* The other day we had an interesting discussion while he was onthe throne - he is insistant on certain steps of the toiletting process. For example - he has to say "bye bye wittle poopies" everytime he flushes the toilet. Even if there are no wittle poopies in there. Another 'hang up' (so to speak) is that he has to push certain things down and often times, he gets a little piddle on his hand. So I'm sitting there across from him, trying to tell him not touch it because it'll get yucky. He suddenly and VERY insistantly smacks his hands down and YELLS to me - "MY WANN TOUCH MY PEEEEE PEEEEEE OTAY?" Whats a mom to do? So I just tell him to talk nice and to try not to get his fingers all wet. SERIOUSLY. Then as he gets dressed afterwards - he pulls his arms inside his shirt and in this perfected mocking voice tells me "Mommmmmmm, my touching my pee pee 'gain" So the battle begins. I only have one more boy to go through this with - I will survive!!!

Second grade :(

2008-08-22T11:20:00.000-07:00

So here are pictures from yesterday----when I took Carter to his first day of second grade. His teacher is Mrs. Rugg & came highly recommended from his teacher last year (who we just LOVED) Mason has an assesment next week and starts his KINDERGARTEN on Sept. 2nd ---YIKES!!! He is way excited and can't wait until he can go to school just like Carter

On a fantastic toddler note (which rarely happens!!!) Jack has been TOTALLY potty trained for a week now. I told him that he was going to a preschool when Daddy went to school next week and that they wouldn't let him have diapers there. So he immediately puts on a pair of underwear we'd bought him months ago and has not had any problems w/ going to the bathroom (both reasons) ever since---- its a total miracle. I've gone through potty training three boys now and there is something of a HUGE SIGH OF RELIEF the moment the decide to do it and you don't have to beg or bribe or coerce or anything---its almost MAGICAL! I am SOOOO glad to only have one baby in diapers now! HAHA!

Here are some pics of Carters big day & regular life for the rest of us.

Virgo with Vertigo

2008-08-12T11:18:00.000-07:00
There's a little game in life that I play called "TOP THAT". Its when you have something to say, or you've done something amazing or experienced an event and upon relaying that information to another person - you say TOP THAT. The object is to see who comes out on top and who gets the last word in. So now I am playing online blog version of TOP THAT.
Yesterday I was at work - doing my thing - being a superstar.... and I was on the phone w/ a lady making some changes to her insurance policy and I started feeling really 'out of it'. My head was very pressurized and I was experiencing some 'tracking'.... where your eyes move from point A to point B - but it takes your brain a bit longer to follow what your eyes have done. So this gets immediately and progressively worse in the next few minutes. I get up from my desk - ALWAYS a smart thing to do when you are feeling dizzy - and I decide to go sit in the back by the filing cabinets and the ONLY AC vent in the office. On my way back - I full on run into two walls. Yes --- yes I am special.
So I get back to the chair and am sitting there with my eyes closed and being as still as I can -but thing are not stopping. The spinning and pressure and wooziness were just getting worse. I sat for about 30 minutes I think - and my super nice co-worker and boss were continuously asking me about having Shane come get me and take me to the ER or something. But I kept saying "no - just let me sit here a minute". Finally they call Shane & tell him they are taking me to the ER and to meet us there. So he had to wake the kids from their naps and haul them to the ER. SUPER exciting for them though.
Anywho - the moral of the story is A. . . don't get old. B. . . get to the hospital when weird things start happening. They decided that its most likely I have vertigo, which is just dizzy spells - sometimes accompanied by nausea, etc. They gave me pills to take and said that when I've experienced an "EPISODE" to take the pills and get rest immediately. They are having me go to an Ear, Nose & Throat guy on thursday to rule out anything else aside from Vertigo. SO exciting. I mean really --- I am a special, special person...... right?!?

TOP THAT.

THIRTY FIVE :)

2008-08-08T14:47:00.000-07:00
POUNDS.... NOT years old! (Ha! I'm only barely approaching 32) I am way excited about hitting my 35 pounds lost goal. It hasn't always been easy - but it has been AWESOME to do this! Today - I decided to change things up a bit... you seeee.... for the last 2 months I have been walking about 3 to 4 miles a day each morning and thats been wonderful and great and I've really enjoyed it ***aside from the fact that I go at 6:00 AM!!! Yikes! So today I got a BIKE. I haven't been on a bike in YEARS, so hopefully the old saying is true... Its like riding a bike - you never forget.... you just might look like a complete idiot for the first week or so.
Anyway- I am hoping to come close to the 50 pounds down by my 32nd birthday - SEPTEMBER SIXTH - I can email reminders to those who need them too.... :) Thats when I will see a lot of my family for Carter's baptism --- WOO HOOO!!!

LOVE THIS PICTURE!

2008-07-22T11:40:00.000-07:00

Shane's sister, Brandy took this picture of us about a week ago----at first we were being SUPER CHEESY and posing for fake engagement pics. . . you know the kind where the fiance's ring is manifest in some unnatural gesture by the guys face? Anywho - she sent them to me and I really, really, really liked it - so NOW all you lucky people get to see how cute we are too....awe... We will have our three year anniversary on the 30th of the month - I can't believe it! Honestly it seems like Shane and I have been together for 20 years. . . all of it good of course! ;)

My mug

2008-07-16T10:02:00.001-07:00
So for work, they're having us take 'mug shots' to put on our new webpage....which I'm SURE you will ALL go visit......No one, and I mean NO ONE likes to have their picture taken as often as it seems I have to for my employer. We are constantly updating pictures for the various phone books, the newspaper .... its never ending!!!! I guess there are a few people who like their pictures taken --- models, celebrities... and I'm basically becoming one of those people I think. JUST KIDDING! Anywho - I thought I'd post my mug with my ever changing chameleon hair and some newer pics of the kidlits.

Oh yeah....I'm famous baby!

2008-07-07T09:26:00.000-07:00
So this girl I used to work with here at the 'ol Farmers Insurance is now working for our local paper...reporting all the tornados in trailer parks and cows having multiple births....ALL the excitement. WELL ---- apparently she thinks I am very smart and useful and funny because she has used me for several stories now and I think my autograph might start being worth something.
Here's the link to the latest report of fame:
http://hjnews.townnews.com/articles/2008/07/07/news/news04.txt

Personally, I enjoyed the part about "rolling" with those kind of people. I totally said it as a joke, mocking the wealthy people who look down on me from their mansions on the hillside..... but yeah - she published it. THANKS A LOT BRITNEY!

PICTURES PICTURES!!!!

2008-06-16T13:25:00.001-07:00

I just decided to post some random pictures from this weekend. Charlie turned ONE YEAR OLD on Sunday.... and I will get pics from that posted soon!

Mason's Graduation! ~ yea its late

2008-06-11T12:11:00.000-07:00

Here's one of the videos of Mason's graduation - I will try to get a few more on. My batteries were DYING and so I only got little snippets of the BIG day! I can't believe he will be in Kindergarten! If it was up to him - he'd start tomorrow!

FRIDAY& Weight Goals!

2008-05-30T15:20:00.000-07:00

So I kind of "cheated" a bit today and did my Weight Watchers thing at 9am instead of 1pm like I usually do. Two reasons - #1 --- I knew it would be a crazy day and I might not leave the office EVER. #2 ---- I didn't want to starve (because I'm crazy/paranoid) and won't eat before I go weigh in! I'm special - I know.

GOOD NEWS though ---- I got my 25 lbs. lost hoopla thing from weight Watchers --- its a little washer thing that goes on a keychain you get when you've lost 10% of your starting body weight. My goal is to have crept over the 30lb lost mark by next weeks weigh in.

I have had several increment goals that I've been able to reach this week ----some of which are just weird, I know. First of all - I like to notice/celebrate each time I move into a different 10 lb. weight bracket (the 80's, 70's, 60's, etc.) So today I hit a bracket that I don't even REMEMBER the last time I weighed that... WOOO HOOO!

My second goal was that I was able to put my pants on while they remained zipped up and buttoned!!! HAHAH!!! Told you I'm weird!

I'm very hopeful that I can keep going on this fabulous weight loss journey. Those BIGGEST LOSER people will be so sad they didn't pick me for their show!

School is ALMOST out!!!

2008-05-27T13:59:00.000-07:00
So my kids are almost out of school this week ---- Mason is graduating on Thursday from Preschool and would love nothing more then to have school all year round! Remember THOSE days?!?! HAHA! Carter is done with the first grade on Friday & I think he would love nothing more then to be done with school for a LONG time. Of course both of them still haven't mastered the concept of time and maybe by the end of summer they will be BEGGING to get back to school!
It just makes me feel REALLY REALLY old that I will have a kindergarten kid, a second grade kid----and maybe even get Jack into pre-school?!?!?! YIKES! What happened to me still thinking I was a "YOUNG MOM"?!?! SERIOUSLY.
Thankfully, my maturing brings my actual age down to about 21 I think.....

Famous SUPERSTAR!!!

2008-04-25T14:08:00.000-07:00

For those of you innocent people who aren't aware yet, I am what some might call a GLORY HOG. This implies that I enjoy constant validation and feeling like I am accomplishing great & marvelous things on a daily basis. I enjoy having a happy spotlight on me when I have done something noteworthy & in STARK contrast, I absolutely hate having any attention drawn to me when I have made a mistake of any caliber.

That being said ---- this past Wednesday was definitely a glory day for me and Carter and his school. We were finally able to do the presentation for the community grant that Farmers Insurance had awarded his middle school. Within moments and in front of a crowd of over
SIX HUNDRED KIDS...we presented his school with the $2500 for new media systems. It was great to hear all the kids hollar - so excited to have new TV's in their classroom that actually work! Carter was very proud of what "he" had done and went on about how he was going to have SO many friends because of this. Well.....

fast forward 3-4 hours when all the hooplah (thats what they call it out here) has died down - Carter is realizing his 15 minutes is over & he became very distraught. He asked me - "Mom, could you get my school more money because all my popular time is already over". DANG> He is a glory hog too!!!

Anyway - its been a great thing for the school and a lot of recognition for me and the agent I work for.

On the opposite end of life - I have been doing weight watchers for 8 weeks now and am almost at the 20 lb. down mark! WOO HOO! My dream #1 is to be on Biggest Loser. My dream #2 is to be too skinny to qualify to be on Biggest Loser!

WISH ME LUCK!!!

Baby Animal Days Pictures!

2008-04-17T11:41:00.001-07:00

Baby Animal Days!!!

2008-04-17T10:08:00.000-07:00
This past weekend we went to the annual Baby Animal Days here in Cache Valley. It was actually nice weather - but just for the ONE day. I'm not loving this "not quite spring weather" we've bene experiencing. It has snowed THREE times in the last week - not cool.

Anyway - I thought I'd post more pictures of the events and let everyone see what we did.

Mason did mutton bustin' again and loved it. He is very adventurous & likes to try everything. You can basically talk him into doing anything if he thinks it'll make someone else happy!

Carter wasn't so keen on the sheep after his misadenture during the Mendon Days last fall... we went on a wagon ride, made some great beaded necklaces at the mountain man retreat...did ax throwing, ate over priced hot dogs, got sun burnt and had a BLAST at the petting zoo!

The guy at the mountain man booth was thoroughly impressed with Jacks ability to string the necklace & how meticulous he was with the whole beading process. I suppose having a mild form of OCD can be good!

We are moving at the end of May - somewhere in Cache Valley still I'm sure. Life is ever changing and we just try out best to stay on top of things as they come barreling at us!

Check out my NEW Slide Show!

2008-04-02T12:10:00.001-07:00

Proud mama

2008-03-13T09:51:00.000-07:00

So here is my dorky son Carter. He is 7 1/2 years old and in first grade. His teacher is the best in the entire world & I wish she could just move with us to every school and every grade he's in! Anyway - yesterday was parent teacher conference and he did tremendous OF COURSE! She wanted him to work on a couple of things that he is doing 'okay' in but she believes he can do better in...like handwriting. Big deal right?
We're talking about all of these different areas that they test them in to prepare results. Then she points out that he received an excellent score in one area and he was the ONLY boy to get that. She said that he received a perfect score in the social skills area because he one of only a handful of kids that gets along with everyone else in his class. His teacher is in her 3rd year & said that he has got to be one of the NICEST boys she has ever had in 1st grade. AWE>>>> How precious is that?

Black Death, Bubonic Plague and all other illness...

2008-03-07T09:03:00.001-08:00
So this last week has been horrible in the health arena for me. I was feeling cruddy on Saturday and it just kept getting progressively worse for me. Worse day was Wednesday when it came to its boiling point - I was totally wiped out and tired of being sick. "Sick and tired....tired and sick"
Its so difficult to be sick when you have kids --- they just don't allow you to mope around and sleep for 16 hours a day like you want! Thankfully Shane took the kids into town for a while during the day while I stayed home from work and took my Tylenol PM and SLEPT! Naps are so priceless!
I'm finally feeling better and am back to work today with almost my whole voice back! Hopefully its a slow day so I can catch up on all of the things that are waiting for me at my desk! I am all about decontamination in my office right now. Last Thursday a lady came in and sat here for about 20 minutes - then tells me "We've had influenza type A & B at our house this week"
SERIOUSLY?!?!?
Isn't this where you stay home and keep your COOTIES to yourself?!?!? Anywho - now I just have to cross my fingers and hope that none of my children get it or Shane. Quite honestly I couldn't deal with anyone else being sick yet. I'm still not at 100% and I'm afraid I wouldn't have the energy to deal with that! *Knock on wood*

NO more cows...

2008-03-03T10:22:00.000-08:00
As of this past Saturday - Shane no longer owns any livestock of
any kind.... Sad & very weird. He's owned farm animals for decades and decades! He has decided that the farm life and livestock that he used to have are just not a perfect match for our lifestyle right now. Believe it or not - I didn't even make him sell them!
We have a lot of things on the horizon in our lives right now and not being tied down to the cows will make it a lot easier for us to adjust to everything that comes our way... or at least thats MY opinion!
For anyone who knows Shane - him not having any animals is a big thing. Its weird to drive by our place and not see anything out in the corrals or barn. I'm sure we will make it - I for one will be glad that we don't have hay and manure tracked in the house! Maybe we'll become city people now???

MY FEET!

2008-02-29T15:45:00.000-08:00

These are my feet. I would like to be able to see them a little bit better... Shane says I have nice feet. Of COURSE he says that. Don't husbands HAVE to say their wives have nice feet...even if they don't? Who cares that it looks like I'm a corpse missing a toe tag because my skin is SO WHITE! YIKES.
SO in my quest for the easy way out of being fat - I have joined Weight Watchers with my friend Liz today. This is incase we don't get picked to be on biggest loser... in which case the casting people are BIG LOSERS. *your heads a shell*
OH ---- and I also put some newer pictures of my super gorgeous children on here too --- so let the comments BEGIN!!!

CALLING ALL FATTIES!!!

2008-02-21T13:30:00.000-08:00

SO....... my friend Liz & I decided that we wanted to apply for the show "Biggest Loser: Couples" --- WOOO HOO!!!! Because I think I'm very very very very funny...I thought I'd upload a portion of my audition video.
Now everyone else in the world can know how funny and fat I am. Isn't that fantastic!!! WISH ME LUCK!!!

Five thousand dollars!!!

2008-02-19T08:37:00.000-08:00
Congratulations! We have approved your submissions for our Community Education Awards and will be delighted to present $2500 to River Heights Elementary for the projects you submitted.
WOOO HOOOO!!!!! I was so excited to get this announcement for the school project I've been doing through work! We were hoping to get at least $500 and have the PTA contribute another $500 so this is phenomenal! They are going to be doing a lot of publicity locally to get the word out about the donation from Farmers to this school. Of course its a big PR thing for them as well as a positive thing for the school at the same time!
Ironically, we probably won't have any kids at River Heights next fall because they are building a new elementary school in our town----and we don't even know if we'll be living there still! But what matters is that the school now gets FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS towards updating their multimedia world. Finally!

My work project

2008-02-13T08:35:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd take a second to tell the millions and millions of people who read my blog on a daily basis about a little project I'm working on through my office. I've worked at Farmers Insurance for a little over four years now & every once in a while - a great project comes along! We have the opportunity to get a grant from the home office folks to help out in a community need that we feel could benefit from some CASH! Well of course they wouldn't take my checking account as a consideration - SOOOOO instead we are working with River Heights Elementary School (where Carter is a 1st grader in Ms. Smith's class). They have some super old school TV systems in their classrooms. Seriously - the kind that don't have the ability to have a DVD player hooked into them at all. I think the principal said they were about 30 years old! Anywho - so we are getting a grant from Farmers Insurance and the Elementary school's PTA is set to match the funds they get and hopefully we can get some new TV/DVD systems in the classrooms for these kids. They're set to do a big presentation, with an assembly and the local paper and everything. I will - of course - keep you all informed about the progress so you can watch for us on the Today Show or something on a lower level perhaps!
*this picture is of Carters class - he is in the back right corner pocket hiding*

Curly vs. Straight

2008-01-29T08:32:00.000-08:00

Okay - so I got my hair CHOPPED off last week.... best success I've had w/ a weight loss program in years! !0 pounds GONE like that!!! So I'm taking a vote to see what you think looks better--- curly or straight?!!? Let me know what you think in the comment section!

A side of beef

2008-01-18T09:08:00.000-08:00

Ironically I was just reading on Jeremy & Mandi's page about their drs appt and the info they found out - we just did the same thing! Jack had his 2 yr. old well child check and Charlie had his 6 month (a month late though!) I don't have all of their measurements with me - but the one that is funny to me is their weight. Jack is in the 25th percentile for his age, and Charlie is in the 85th! Jack weighed in at 26 1/2 pounds. Charlie.... big, beefy Charlie - weighed in at 20 1/2 pounds! He is definitely the biggest, chunky legged baby I've ever had! So round... SO happy!

New Year...new goals & dreams

2008-01-03T08:50:00.000-08:00
With the New Year always comes the hope of setting new goals - some we know we might not achieve... but still we feel better at LEAST setting the goals. Its better to say to tried and not achieve it, then to never even try right?
Here's what I'm thinking for the New Year... We know we'll be moving in June - somewhere within Cache Valley still most likely. Although the Gypsy blood that the Lemon kids carry is always boiling & ready to move somewhere. Shane & I were talking about it the last few days & I said "Lets just move wherever in June... somewhere neither of us has ever lived and never been to" I'd almost just throw a dart at a map! But I'm afraid it'll hit somewhere I couldn't stand like the heat in Arizona or the humidity back east! Then again, when its 5 degrees for the HIGH temperature outside - I wonder why we live HERE!!!
I'd like to become healthy, AKA skinnier this year. I'd like Shane to be healthier. I'd like to have our finances in order - and never have to worry about 'making' it to a certain day in the month. I'd like to go on a family vacation (No Disneyland Gramma....sorry!) I'd like to go on a fantastic 2nd honeymoon. I'd love to get sealed to Shane and have Jack & Charlie sealed to us.
I hope to be a kinder person. I hope to teach my children to be kind to others and to be respectful and to realize their potential. I hope to be a good wife and best friend to my husband.

Guns & kids dont mix

2007-12-28T09:51:00.000-08:00

His problems started out at an early age.... he was once young & innocent until his Gramma gave him a toy machine gun for Christmas one year.....

JUST KIDDING. I HOPE. So we had a great Christmas. Shane's parents and younger brother came down on Christmas day and witnessed the chaos of little boys opening presents.
Each time Mason opened a present up - he'd go on & on about how it was "totally awesome" and "just what he always wanted". Then 3 seconds later he had tossed the present aside and was asking about what to open next!
Carter was irritated with anything that didn't rattle. He would get a present & if it was soft and quiet...he would just put it back under the tree! TURD! So I had to talk with him about the spirit of Christmas and changing his attitude quickly before Santa changed his mind...
Jack had the best time - he got all of the cars from the Disney Movie CARS and a little race track. He is currently COMPLETELY obsessed with CARS and Thomas the Tank Engine. So he loved getting all of the cars. His OCD is helpful because he always has to have them cleaned up and make sure he's got them all in their not-so-little bag.
Charlie was the easiest by far because he got little simple toys that make noise and crinkle...and some pajamas! SO nice!
We hope that everyone else enjoyed their Christmas as well. This next year we are looking forward to: Mason turning FIVE years old on January 6th; potty training Jack????; Going to McCall in April for Crystals BABY BLESSING... Lacey getting baptized in April...Carter getting baptized....the list goes on & on & on & on & on...

Bring it ON!

2007-12-18T11:44:00.000-08:00

So this little midget that my brother is married to thinks she is better then me at posting BLOGS. Just because you bought your husband a 700 foot flat screen or whatever size...doesn't make you better! ;) AND...I don't have 24 hours a day to write, because MY tonsils are still intact, thank you very much!
Just kidding - I love that little midget like she was one of my own kids... mostly because she's barely taller then my 7 1/2 year old! I know, I know - little people have feelings too. Little teenie tiny feelings - but feelings none the less. Moving on....Christmas is coming up here pretty quick and for the first time in a while I'm feeling good about being done in time. Now I just have to wrap all of it! Any volunteers to help!?!? We are getting our family pictures back on Friday and I am WAY excited to see how cute we are on a big 8X10 picture!! WOO HOO!!!

Pictures uploaded

2007-12-13T09:37:00.001-08:00

So I uploaded a TON of pictures on our flickr. account --- all you have to do is go to flickr. com and search for jnfreeves (thats ME!) Of course, if you go there, you have to give positive comments on every single picture that is worthy of it!
Remember people...I LOVE validation!!!!

♥A House of Boys♥

~~~ BFF's ~~~

1/2 Marathon!!!

Weight loss challenge

Let it begin

Oh what a change!

Total embarrassment....

Oh my....

Cache County Fair

A better wife...

Time FLIES!!!!

Amazing scenery

Stolen Post

Summer Storms

More random photos!

Random Stuff!

Pinewood Derby!!!

Girls Weekend!

Fantastic!

Playing catch-up

~ Update on Shane ~

Catching up!

Life is crazy!!!

Finally some pictures!

Okay, okay ---- so its been a while....

Visitng Santa!

It finally feels like Christmas!

~*~*~*~A STOLEN POST *~*~*~

Super Smart Hubby!

More PICS!

A few more seasonal pictures....

Ch...ch...ch...change!

America West Heritage Center

~*~*~*~ A tale of two students~*~*~*~

Words for pictures

Summer is OVER!

The HOUSE IS DONE!!!

~*~*~* What a weekend!!! ~*~*~*

The status of our house-building.....

July in pictures!

Playing catch up

Jack & his airplanes

More pictures!

Death of the Blackberry

PHOTO SHOOT!!!!

My first slide show.....

I'm a winner at a losing game.....

Trial & Error.....In Pictures

Picture Party!

~*~*~* SHANE HAS GRADUATED ~*~*~*

~ The house that Shane & Jennifer built ~

*~*~ Reunion Pictures!!! *~*~

Zwani

GUESS WHAT?!!?!?

Blonding it up!!!

Carter big BREAK

Chubby people at the gym

**** SUSHI ****

*~*~* Five Tips for Happy Couples *~*~*

KANDI SUE!!!!

~Honesty Tag~

JACKIE SCHMACKIE

Life & its updates

Picture party!!!

Santa Pictures

OLD school!!!!

THANKFUL FOR.....

Faces from the past!

Month of Thanks!

Bragging about Shane

Picture Party!

TAKE 5 - (stolen from Karen! )

Carter's baptism

Jack @ preschool & fabulous potty training world

Second grade :(

Virgo with Vertigo

THIRTY FIVE :)

LOVE THIS PICTURE!

My mug

Oh yeah....I'm famous baby!

~ BFF's ~

~~~~A STOLEN POST ~~~

~~~~ A tale of two students~~~~

~~~* What a weekend!!! ~~~*

~~~* SHANE HAS GRADUATED ~~~*

~~ Reunion Pictures!!! ~~

SUSHI

~~* Five Tips for Happy Couples ~~*