A Trip Back in Time...

Eric Cutter, who works with Jim at Knight Refrigerated, had a birthday party and it was 80's themed. We had such fun dressing up and especially trying to put our costumes together. I am so glad that we do not have to dress like this every day. Jim and Jared were true sports dressing up. They both have NEVER put on a costume of any sort! The mullet and rock wigs were priceless. Megan and I both won gift bags because she was voted best dressed kid and I took home the best dressed adult woman. There was 80's music playing and 80's decor everywhere. They even had an air guitar contest for the different age groups for the kids inflatable guitars. Luke loved this part! It was a great way to celebrate a birthday and spend time together as families.

Gracey's 8th Birthday Party

We decided to go camping for Gracey's birthday at our new favorite camp site. It is only 15 miles away and such a great find! We took a long rhino ride in the morning and then served everyone lunch. She did not want a cake and insisted on me making sugar cookies for her friends to decorate. I made lots of heart shaped cookies, gave the kids frosting and sprinkles and they went to town.

I love that one my kids favorite things are my sugar cookies. I actually did a demonstration on how to make the dough and bake them for the Laurels in our ward in the beginning of February and my girls were so worried about them not being my special cookies anymore since others could make them. We had to have a talk about how we share things that are special to us so others can enjoy them too. They were still very concerned. So sweet!

Karate Kid

Last weekend we went to the State Karate Tournament with Megan so she could try to win and go to the National Competition in New Mexico. You have to place 1st, 2nd, or 3rd in any event to be eligible to make it to the Nationals. She of course went in claiming she would place in State, place in Nationals, then she could go to the World Competition. I told her that if she made it to the World Tournament I would take her to New Orleans! I then told her one step at a time.

Well, she performed her "Kata" (which is forms, sort of like a dance they do if they were to be attacked). Keep in mind that she does not like this as much as fighting, but I tell her that she has to do it to practice. I tell her that the only reason I sing in front of people is because Nana always made me perform, whether I wanted to or not. So, her Kata went well, she did all she was supposed to but did not place. She was not interested in that anyway so it did not matter.

Then, it was time to spar (Kumite, sounds like ku-me-tay). She loves fighting and is shockingly good! She got in there and her first competitor was her height but rather large in stature. Keep in mind that Megan fights boys every time she goes to class and beats a lot of them, but for some reason she was hesitant to get in there and get it done with the girls she does not practice with. After a couple bouts, she finally realized that she was strong enough to take the opponent. She won her first round and waited to fight the next girl.

The second bout was for 1st and 2nd place. This time the liitle girl she was up against was a lot shorter and smaller in stature than Megan. Megan was very hesitant again and I could tell she did not want to hurt her. In the Dojo if a younger kid or less advanced student is sparring with a more advanced belt, they take it easy and let them learn techniques and how to get around blocks, etc. Well, Megan was acting as if this girl was not an orange belt! We kept telling her to go for it and finally it clicked. Megan won and was so excited!

On the way home, we asked her about the competition rounds and she said she was afraid she would hurt the little one. Jim told her that it was doing the little girl a huge disservice by going easy on her. I told her that if she was an orange belt and in the sparring area, she had to earn it to get there, so to attack no matter what. It is Megan's job to do that no matter the size. Megan thought the little one was younger in age. We had to explain that Megan is very tall for her age and that although she was smaller, she was not younger. The first competitor Megan thought was older because she was bigger. We told her that no matter the size, they were orange belts just like her and to fight hard.

We have booked our rooms in New Mexico and look forward to our family trip there on March 27. Megan has a goal to practice her Kata really hard so she can place in that too. She will also continue to fight and practice blocks. We will let you know how it goes in New Mexico!

Megan about ready to fight. They must bow to the judge and each other before assuming fighting stance.
Megan and Sensei Jasmin right after the fight and awarding of her trophy.
Proud dad and Megan.

A Day in the Life of Sarah...

What a day today was! Jameson, Luke and I went to Target, purchased items for Valentines sugar cookies and came home. Upon arriving home, I put the car in park and proceeded to push the button that automatically opens my trunk of the suburban. I always use this feature, but only when I am in the back of the vehicle to "catch" anything that has fallen in transit. Many a time, I have had to catch falling items. So, the one time I do not get back there and open it just happened to be today.

After pushing the button, I heard a crash in the back of the car and knew something had fallen. I was hoping it was not the 2 cartons of 18 eggs I had just gotten. I walked to the back of the car and saw eggs splattered across my garage floor. I cleaned it up salvaging about only a dozen, made my dough so that I could use four of the broken eggs with out wasting them and went on with my day.

Fast forward three hours...Luke was not asleep yet and Gracey gets home from school. I am typing on the computer and talking to Rachie and ask her to get Luke up. I loose track of time talking with Rachie and suddenly there is a loud, blood curdling scream from Gracey (my dramatic one). I panic, thinking there is a scorpion or a snake in the house. I ask her, "what?", she says, "Luke just dumped over the Superbowl cupcakes that look like a football". I calmly walk into the kitchen and this is what I see...

HE'S THE ONLY ONE THAT THOUGHT IT WAS FUNNY!!!

Helmet Boy...

We went camping the last weekend of January and Luke found Gracey's motorcycle helmet. He would not take it off! He always put it on backwards and it had to be fixed quite often. However, once it was on right, he just walked around camp tapping it and saying "emet". Then when it was time for naps or bed, we would remove it and he would scream,"emet, emet, emet"! Boys are such boys!

Christmas In Colorado

Our family had such a great Christmas! Jim's parents let us use their cabin in Colorado to have the holiday with the Brinton Clan. We all arrived on the Friday night before Christmas Day and enjoyed our relaxing vacation immensely. I am happy to say that it was the first time EVER that my mom relaxed! She and my dad (as well as most of us) took naps every day, watched a lot of football, read books, sat and visited and did not much more. That is why we love Colorado so much. You can go up there and for a week and never leave the property.

We had Jim's uncle that lives there get us a tree and we were able to decorate it with all of Valeries fun Gingerbread themed decorations. Reb and Jared did all the shopping before we arrived so there was no reason to leave the house. We sat in the hot tub, the kids sledded and the snowmobiles were used!

The house was full of helpers, big and little and it showed me how great a family I really have. Everyone helps each other our so much with our children and all are always taken care of. This Christmas will forever be remembered!
































The kids played in the snow, watched the snow fall and even made a snow fort. Jim and Luke cleared the driveway for hours. We thought Luke was freezing and tried getting him off Jim's lap a couple of times. He wanted none of it and screamed to stay on the tractor. Little boys and big boys are just alike. Mom, Dad, Kurt, Jim, Rachie, and Tyson went on a Rhino ride up the mountain. They had a blast and my dad got a little crazy and daring! Needless to say, my mom was very nervous with him fishtailing everywhere!

Halloween with Three Girls and One Boy

Halloween was a treat this year as expected. It amazes me how excited kids get when they dress up and get so much candy they do not know what to do with. Needless to say, I feel sorry for teachers the day after Halloween. My Thursday after Halloween was horrendous. The kids were out of control. I can only imagine having 36 bouncing off the walls. We went to our old neighborhood for pizza and visiting doors, then to the church for "trunk-or-treat".


Our first girl Megan loves the Nancy Drew series of books and has immersed herself in them since last April when she got her first 6 book set from her Uncle Steve. Aunt Rachael has collected them through out the years so she graciously let Megan borrow all the other volumes for her reading. When I asked her what she was going to be for Halloween months ago, she did not hesitate and said, "Nancy Drew". Her costume was so easy! We found a "preppy" outfit (like the ones the actress wears in the new movie out last summer) and I got a magnifying glass. She has so much fun!










Our second girl Gracey...Can you say ELIZA look-a-like? This picture takes me back to the days when we would dress Lou up in white dresses and walk her down mom and dads stair case in our house. Reb and I called her "Eliza" all night. Gracey loves to dress up and pretend all sorts of things. She reminds me so much of Rebecca and myself. We loved to play and pretend and it scares me how much she is like me. She also was very quick to choose her costume this year. All we needed was a veil and flowers to complete her costume as we had this white dress already. She let me know the morning of Halloween that she wanted her hair "just like Nana did it for your wedding". I told her I did my own hair for my wedding, but I would be happy to help her out. We ended up pulling it up for the veil we got and it was beautiful. I told her that she was so lucky that her hair would not be an issue on her wedding day. Along with Rebecca's invitations, my flower and hair skills, Nana's cooking, Rachael's photography and all the other Aunts decorations abilities, our weddings for the three girls should be pretty low maintenance. I then told her to remember that she had to be 25 or through college to get married, she said, "okay". I am sure that okay will change to arguments someday so I will take it while I can get it.










Our third girl Jameson was a whole other story with her costume decision or I should say decisions (plural). She changed her mind so much. I did not even buy her a costume as she could not make up her mind from day to day. The morning of Halloween, she wore her "Genevieve" costume from Barbie movie The Twelve Dancing Princesses. It itched an hour into preschool so we threw on her Sleeping Beauty costume. It itched an hour later so we tried the Little Mermaid costume. It itched by the end of preschool so I took off everything, put on a ballet skirt and told her to put of her ballet shoes (Megan's really old ones). She loved being a ballerina. She wears this often at home so she was excited and I know it would be comfortable. She was hesitant to wear her ballet shoes outside but I told her we would wipe them down when she was done so they wouldn't get our floor in the house dirty. I have trained them young.








Our one boy Luke was so much fun to dress! I thought hard for awhile about his costume and came up with a Karate boy outfit and he was going to wear Megan's Karate sparring gear on his head since he loves to wear it. Well, I ordered his costume online, it was a 2-4 but upon dressing him discovered it was for a 2 year old who was only in a size 1. It was small and he cried with it being so tight. A friend of mine went to Party City and got some Harley tattoos for me and Reb made him a "live to ride" shirt and he fit the part of a Harley Rider so well. He was digging it! He kept on the bandanna all night and everyone thought it was the coolest costume. I was so happy that people were around to help me out! Luke did not trick-or-treat. He sat on this four wheeler all night (after we unplugged the battery) and at the trunk or treat, he sat in the trunk and played. It was great! I must say that dressing boys will be easier than girls each year. There is no hair to do and so much less fuss over the outfits. I was happy to not have another "princess" to dress this year.