We are a happy family...

Back in March we had our family pictures done. I know, I'm a little late. Better late than never!

This was actually a really fun day. We had a blast being all together. It was the first time we have been together in over a year. I felt bad for our poor photographer. We were very unruly. You would think the patriarch of the family might try to bring a little order to the chaos! Oh no, not MY father. HE IS THE CHAOS!!! I love it though. My dad makes us all laugh until we cry or pee our pants. And then he teases about that. It never ends with him. I would also like to thank little Emma for keeping us entertained. If we could have some how caputered the going ons behind the scenes you would have seen Emma dancing around like a super model. Holy cow she was on one. We are all trying our very hardest NOT to pay attention to her. I was laughing sooooo hard.

By the time we got to the grandkids picture with grandma and grandpa the kids were done. They didn't have anything left in them. Especially poor Maggie. It is very apparent that she DID NOT want one more picture taken. Rebekah just gave up and feel asleep in Grandma's arms while Isa threw crusty's to anyone looking at, around, or near her. And where are all the parents of these children? Umm, playing in the other room. Hey, mom and dad raised eight of us. They can handle twelve grandkids right? Luckily the photographer got one good shot of the kids out of about twenty shots. All we needed was one though. So good job Mr. Photographer!

I love my family. We have so much fun together, sometimes too much, but I have to say I have the best family ever. It's still hard to see a family picture without Jared. Some how one person missing makes our family look so small. I am just very grateful that the Eternal picture has us all in it.

I love my family!!!

The past few weeks I have been thinking a lot about my family and how I sometimes take them for granted. It's so easy to put my family on the back shelf and tell myself that I will deal with it later. I am afraid that if I continue down that path I will miss out my kids lives. I don't want to miss any part of my family growing up, so I have made it my daily goal to take a few moments each day to reflect on the importance of my family, and write a few things everyday about each of my kids and Grant that I am thankful for. I hope that by doing this I will be able to always remember how lucky I am that they are mine, and that we can be together as a family for eternity. That is the best treasure I could ever hope for.

Without my little family I would be nothing. Everyday is an adventure. Some adventures are easier than others, but I am grateful that I have the opportunity to experince them all. Good or bad!

I am starting of my daily goal with this video that I put together today. Each picture brought back wonderful memories that I will tresure my whole life. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

I did it, I bottled butter...

I am trying this out. I have been told by so many people that you can bottle butter and then leave it on your shelf for up to 5 years. How perfect is that?

It is super mega easy. It took me about 30 minutes. I encourage you to try it especially since Wal-mart has butter on sale this month.

I have made it a goal this year to be more self sufficient. I have learned how to make bread, I planted a FULL garden (last year I only planted a salsa garden), and I canned homemade salsa, jams, and fruits. My next two projects are pickles and canned chicken. Hopefully they turn out for me.

If any of you have fun ideas for food storage please pass them on. I love seeing my shelves in the pantry stocked full. I am a food storage freak. I really would like to have a three year supply in my pantry. But until I have a bigger pantry I am content with what I have. I can sleep at night knowing that I can feed my family if there is ever an emergency.

To be healthy, or not to be...

We are NOT paranoid health fanatics. However, with the recent Swine Flu (H1N1) scare we thought we would take some extra precautions to stay healthy. I took a trip to the local health food store and stocked up on Echinacea, Golden root, vitamin C, multi-vitamins, and a few other things to help us stay healthy.

The kids think it's great to take a regiment of daily vitamins and remind me when I forget. I was worried at first that they would fight me, but they have been champs. They understand the need to be healthy and want to be healthy, so they take their daily dose without complaining. Of course everything is orange flavored, so who would complain? Not me!!!

"Rain drops keep falling on my head..."
So, we had big plans last weekend to go to Lagoon with some friends. We got everything arranged, got our parking passes and tickets, then drove out to Salt Lake Friday evening. We were so excited. This was going to be the best Lagoon trip ever.
Saturday morning we got up and we were getting excited to go on all the rides. We were planning who was going to ride what ride with who and doing all the fun stuff you do before a big day at Lagoon. Then we noticed the weather. RAIN!!! Not just a little rain, but buckets of rain pouring from the sky. Hmm...now what? We had driven 3 hours and I wasn't about to NOT do SOMETHING.

Then it hit me. Classic!!! Our friends had never been there and my kids still love the place. So we spent the day roller skating, playing laser tag, jumping on the blow up's, getting lost in the jungle gym and enjoying much desrved time with good friends.

To my surprise we had a blast. (I was only surprised because I have been hanging out at Classic for 20 plus years. I forgot it can be such a fun place) The kids were wiped out. After dinner we drove home. I think it was the most quiet my car has ever been The kids were asleep almost immediatley.

Girls night out...

Sadly I had to say goodbye to a good friend and my first counselor in the primary presidency. I will miss her more than she knows! Her time in Vernal was short but meaningful. She taught me so many new things and how to be a better person. Thank you Elizabeth for being such an amazing person and example to me.

Before Elizabeth moved she really wanted to have a night out with the girls, and she really wanted to try the dessert at Stockmans Restaurant. First of all let me just warn you that dessert at Stockmans is not for the faint of heart, and should not be taken lightly. I would suggest NOT eating before you go, in fact I would suggest not eating AT ALL that day!

Our eyes were definitely bigger than our stomachs. We ordered the Swains Revenge. Take a look at this sucker! It is ginormous! When the waitress told us it was big we didn't believe her so we ordered two. When she brought them out we were stunned. BIG is an understatement. It was gigantic. But very delicious!!! We also ordered two other desserts in fear that we wouldn't have enough to go around. Do not make the same mistake we did. Trust your waitress, she knows what she is talking about.
I am very thankful to report, however, that we DID NOT finish ANY of the desserts. Though we had to be fork lifted out.
We had a blast. It was nice to laugh and just be girls.

We will miss you Elizabeth!

The Vernal 2ND Ward Primary Presidency. Me (president) next to me is Elizabeth (1st counselor) across from her is Laurie (2ND counselor) and next to Laurie is our Secretary Brynne. We seriously have so much fun together. I can't imagine my life without any of them!