XXXV

Today would be Adam's 35th birthday.  I wonder what we would have done for him if he were still alive.  I probably would have made him one of his favorite dinners and a German Chocolate cake.  I know we would have some friends over for games.  The girls probably would have bought him "Toy Story 3" for his present.  He was a big kid at heart.  I would have probably bought him some cool Star Wars toy or something.

He has been dead for 7 1/2 years, but I bet he would still be as skinny as a rail.  He probably would have had some gray hairs that I know I would have teased him about.

In memory of their daddy, the girls wore their cowboy necklaces with his birthstone in it.  I hope today will be easy for them.  We usually go buy balloons, write notes for him and tie them to the balloons, then release them into the sky.  This year we don't have any money so we can't do that.  I don't know what we will do instead.  Maybe I will just sit with the girls and talk to them about their daddy and tell them funny stories about his life. They love hearing about him.  I know they don't remember much because they were so young when he died and I think they feel a bit guilty even though it is not their fault.

I kind of numbed myself for today.  I was planning on sleeping all day, but I know he wouldn't want me to do that.  So instead, I am going to go to the gym so I can try to stay healthy so I can live a long, full life and be here for the girls and my family.

My Baby is Ten!

I cannot believe that my little Lily is ten years old today!  It is funny because when she was a toddler, she seemed so grown up that when I look back on her life, I realize how young she really was when things happened in her life.  She was around 18 months old when she was correctly naming letters of the alphabet.  I remember being at the park with her and we were spinning the squares of the tic-tac-toe game most parks have.  She spun it to "X" and said, "X!"  It actually sounded like "KS" which is how an X sounds.  I looked at her and thought maybe it was some fluke. So I spun it to an "O" and she said, "O."  I was shocked.  Over the next following days, she would grab the alphabet refrigerator magnets and show me the letters and name them.  I got so excited over this that poor Rebekah (who was only 3) would run to the fridge, pull off a magnet and name the letters.  However, Rebekah didn't know her letters and named them wrong.  I couldn't break her heart so I just smiled and said, "Yeah. Good job."  (Thankfully, that never hindered Rebekah when she really learned her letters.)

Lily just seemed so grown up from such a young age.  Even when she as born she seemed older because she had so much hair.  I am not kidding, she was half monkey.

She was a very happy baby.  As she got older, when she was tired, it was bedtime.  She wanted to go to bed early (usually around 7) and would sleep until 5 or 6 in the morning.  I joke she gets this from my dad who is a morning person.  She loved sleeping in her crib and as she got older and could talk, when she wanted to be put down, she would grab her silky (soft piece of fabric she loved) and say, "nite nite."  

Her vocabulary was quite large for such a young thing.  Around the same time she was correctly naming letters, around 18 months old, I was potty training her sister.  Lily didn't want to be left out, so she asked to be put on the toilet.  I was amazed that she actually pooped in the toilet! I thought I was going to be lucky and have two kids potty trained at the same time.  Well, Lily wanted none of it.  After she pooped, she got off the toilet, looked in and saw what she did, looked up and me and said, "Ew! That's disgusting!"  And wanted nothing to do with the toilet.

Lily was a daddy's girl through and through.  I used to joke that she only wanted me for nursing and just waited until daddy got home.  As soon as Adam was home, Lily was connected to him at the hip.  She went everywhere with him.  I truly believed her little spirit was aware that she was not going to have him for very long.  Lily was only 2 1/2 years old when Adam died.  I remember trying to figure out how I was going to explain to a toddler that she couldn't see her daddy anymore.  I don't know how either one of us got through that difficult time in life, but I know prayers got us through most of it.  And I really believe that his spirit was around her to help comfort her in the transition.

When she was 3 1/2 we moved to Cedar City.  She still wasn't potty trained all the way.  I noticed that after Adam's death, she reverted a ton.  Her knowledge of letters, her vocabulary, and just everything went backwards.  I know moving didn't help either.  Thankfully, she adjusted pretty well and was soon potty trained.  What a relief! ☺

I got remarried just before she turned 4.  She immediately fell in love with Bill.  She still loves to sit in his lap and cuddle.  I am so grateful to have found another wonderful man and one who loves children.  

And now, today, Lily turns ten. I watched her and she ran off to catch the school bus this morning and smiled as I thought back through the last ten years and am overjoyed to be her mother.  She has taught me so much.  I never thought I would learn so much from having children. 

Happy Birthday, Lily!!

My 33rd Birthday

Last Friday I turned 33.  I am older than the age I still picture my Aunt Marianne being from when I was a child.  Why is it that when you get older, people you know that you don't see day-to-day stay the same age?  Aunt Marianne is now in her 50's but she will always be in her 30's to me. :)

Aunt Marianne's daughter, Sarah, one of my most favorite people on the planet, brought her family down here to Cedar to spend time with my family.  She made me this adorable cake:

Why yes, it is on Tupperware.  :)  I love me some Tupperware.  This is actually a relatively small cake.  Except the height.  It was 3 layers!  Last month when I was visiting family in SLC, Sarah and I talked about possibly making a smaller cake for me to eat like I was turning one but I couldn't use my hands to eat it.  Thus, the cake you see here.

She is finding enough spots for 33 candles.  Yup, she is awesome.

Flaming birthday cake!  Seriously, this thing was HOT!  Just check out my face in the next picture!!

I really should have put my hair back before this point, but luckily, no hairs were harmed in the extinguishing of this cake.

 That flame ball cake was so warm that it started to melt the frosting.  I am just testing it out first; no use in burning my taste buds!

 After my tongue gave me the all clear, I tackled that cake!

 Mmmmm, yummy carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and what appears to look like a snotsicle.  Rest assured, it is only frosting!

 I am having a hard time eating that cake.... I think I bit of more than I can chew! (pun intended!)

Working on the side.... I LOVE cream cheese frosting!!

 I wish I would have had a picture of the moment my head was SHOVED into the cake by Gabe and Nate, but Gabe was the photographer as well, and he knows how my camera is like my 5th child, so he opted to just shove my head and forgo the picture.  But who cares? Check out my face! AH!  If you really want to see the video of my head getting shoved:

 I could seriously not breath!  After all was said and done, I was cleaning out my EYES as well!!  Bet you didn't know that eyes can eat cake, too!

This is my only revenge: SEE FOOD!!

 

 This is the cake for everyone else.  Sarah did a GREAT job getting all those sprinkles on only the sides of the cake.  It was DELISH!  (so was my cake, considering my nose and eyes were eating it, too.)

We spent Saturday watching General Conference together. We had a huge breakfast of french toast (two different kinds, cuz I am awesome that way), chocolate chip pancakes, sausage, homemade hashbrowns, scrambled eggs, and orange juice.

 

During conference, we played conference bingo, doodled, ate, and pretty much had a blast.  Can I just say how much I LOVE having an HDTV??  It was like the Prophet and General Authorities were IN my house talking just to our family!!

While the boys men went to the Priesthood session, Sarah and I played the Wii together.  After every Priesthood session, the guys go out for ice cream after. Every family must have the same ritual because Bill says that all the ice cream joints in town are packed like a fat kid in a pair of stretchy pants three sizes too small.  Ok, Bill never described it that way, but that is how I imagine it.  So they went Cedar Nut and Candy because they have milkshakes there as well.  They also sell Anderson Dairy ice cream by the half-gallon.  It only cost $3.50 a half gallon!  They brought us some so us ladies (and little Christian) didn't feel left out.  They got us two kinds:  Pistachio Almond and Cookies & Cream.  Ohhhhh, it is sooooo creamy.  So creamy and tasty that right now as I type, I started to salivate.  Makailah (who is 5) wanted some green ice cream (the Pistachio kind) and so we gave her some.  A few moments after tasting it, she tells her mom, "I don't like this ice cream.  It tastes like, um..... butt."  It is a good thing I used the bathroom earlier or I surely would have had an accident!

That night, before we ate the ice cream, Gabe, with the help of Nate and Justin, made some hot wings! They were killer!  I don't have any pictures of it because no one wants to see ANY of us chowing down on chicken wings.  You may think you do, but trust me, you don't.  It was like a murder scene with a side of bleu cheese.

 

We watched X-Files whilst licking our Frank Red's Hot fingers.  Then us adults busted out our awesome Wii Bowling moves.  I am proud to say that I dominated and annihilated the whole bunch.  I feel it is God's way of making me feel better about the fact that it is always the opposite when we bowl at the bowling alley; it is a good day when I bowl in real life anything over 99 - even with bumpers!

Sunday morning, I made Cream of Wheat and banana muffins.  Conference was extremely good.  Both sessions were very filling to my soul.  Between the sessions, we played "Don't Eat Pete!" that Bill's mom made for Nate when he was a little boy.  

 

 "Hmmmm, which one should I choose?"

 The look on Makailah's face makes me giggle.  She just picked up Pete and we all loudly whispered (didn't want to make her cry by the yelling), "Don't eat Pete!!"  And she wasn't sure what to do, so in a panic, she ate Pete!!  Our hearts go out the the surviving members of Pete's family.

 Gabe deciding which one to eat, hoping it isn't Pete.

 After a few choices, he just picked up the whole sheet and dumped them in to his mouth.

 However, the Pete in this game was not going to give up, so it stuck behind.  (Look close at the pumpkin face - click on picture if you need to - you will see a yellow Pete.)

 While I was waiting in the other room for them to reset the board and choose a new Pete, I decided to go all out.  I am one sexy mama!

 Before I decided to take on the game, I thought Justin was just looking like he really needed a kiss from my REALLY DARK lipstick.  His eyes said yes, but his arms said no.

 

 I got his forehead, after much wrestling, then went in for the kill: his stomach!

 He wiped most of the kiss left over his right eyebrow, but this time, his eyes are not saying anything nice at all!!  Also, I would just like to apologize to all you who are checking out my messy house.  What do you expect when you have one room emptied into other rooms in the house (I am painting a room) and then you add two younger kids into the mix??  Not to mention the older kids that I truly think were messier than normal because they were hoping I wouldn't notice and blame it on the younger ones..... who knows. But, like I mentioned earlier, I love Tupperware, thus the cool Thatsa Bowl!!  Then you have a smattering of papers, a cup, a box to mail my cousin Summer a care package, play dishes, white board markers, and many other fun items.... I know, you are totally jealous, you wish your house was this messy right now.

 I am not sure if this is Pete or one of his many loved ones.  But it sure was tasty!!

 Christian wanted a turn.

 I think his face says it all.

 

 

 

Now time for some male bonding.....

 

 Dontcha just feel the love between Gabe and Justin??

 What do you get when you mix two supposedly grown up men and a fifteen year old pubescent boy??  An atomic wedgie!!!

 They really went in for the kill!!

You know the phrase, "there are no words"?  Well, that doesn't apply here, I get, "there are SO many words."  The first word that comes to mind is effeminate.  Not only does it look like Gabe is whispering sweet nothings into Bill's ear, Bill is wearing his oh-so-"manly" Strawberry Shortcake band-aid.  All the while, you can see poor Nate writhing in the background from that fallout after that atomic wedgie.

 

During this wartime of atomic wedgies and gender confusion, Makailah and Lily played dress up.  (I am so glad Gabe and Bill did not play dress up.)

 She wanted to wear the same thing I was earlier.  I think she looks a million times better than me.

 Here we have Lily in a costume from 2 or 3 Halloweens ago!  And we explained that just because she can still fit it, it doesn't mean she should wear it.  Now if only some people out there in the world would just learn that lesson, all of our eyes could be spared... but then again, there wouldn't be much on that website: People of Walmart. 

 There we go, this is what it is supposed to look like on a little girl.  Plus Makailah had to add the pom poms.  No matter how some people like it or not, some little girls are just going to be extra girly.

 And I shall call her, "Lilliana Jones!"

Lily wanted to show off her weird feet!

Aw, for cute!  Christian really likes Bill.

After we put the kids to bed on Sunday night, we did something that the kids would freak out if they knew what we did..... we played the Wii on Sunday!! We NEVER play video games on Sunday, but we did anyway.  We played Raving Rabbids TV Party.  I LOVE any Raving Rabbid's game and I was laughing so hard that I started coughing.  And as I mentioned before in this entry (and here) I have a problem when it comes to the dangerous mixture of laughing and bladder control.  When you throw coughing (or throwing up or sneezing) into the mix, you better run for cover or at least for some galoshes.  Thankfully, disaster was averted since I run fast.

The next day, we all went out to eat while the kids were in school.  Being an adult has many drawbacks, but there are some fun perks!

I had a fantastic birthday weekend.  Thank you Sarah and Gabe for coming to visit!!

Justin Turned 12!

Wow, Justin is 12! He was a good sport and let us throw him a sleepover birthday party AFTER the ward party. He had two cakes.

This one Molly made for the ward party as a birthday cake for Jesus. They forgot to serve it, so she gave it to me to use since the cake I got for Justin was smaller than I anticipated (see below). So I just used the only frosting I had, which happened to be blue, and wrote on it for him. The kids were excited to get "Jesus' cake!"


Here is the tiny ice cream cake. It was cookie dough. Justin LOVED it. He liked both his cakes.


Here is Justin while we are singing "Happy Birthday" to him.


Justin is trying to decide what to wish for....


Justin finally blowing out his candles. He really put thought into his wish.


He got this from a friend. I almost bought it for him; so glad I didn't. It would have been like the birthday when two of his friends gave him the same thing.


The boy that gave this balloon sword to Justin put money in it. His parents do balloon animals and such. Justin debated on whether he should pop the balloon or not.


We got this shirt for Justin. It says, "Life of a gamer" and has all sorts of funny pictures on it.


Justin with Tekken 6 for the PS3.


Justin and two of his friends.



Now for the AFTERMATH!

Nathan sitting among all the blankets littering the living room.


The entrance to the boys' room.


And their room.... Hey look, I think I spy some carpet! Shock!!

Even though the house took a beating, it was worth it. All the boys had fun.