Moms' Work

To our mothers aka grandmothers:

We love you!

We miss you,

We can't wait to see you!

The other side says "I love my mom because she gives me blueberries."

My job is easy:)

Aren't we CUTE?!

One of my favorite motherhood quotes: "Yours is the work of salvation, and therefore you will be magnified, compensated, made more than you are and better than you have ever been as you try to make an honest effort, however feeble you may sometimes feel that to be."

Jeffery R. Holland

Love him!

Today, we leave! For a 14 hour drive and a test for Ben mixed in the middle. Wish us luck!

Tidbits from a Day

A sweet friend here in Oregon is going through an incredible challenge.

She is a gifted writer and shares her struggles, insights, and faith.

I'm sure you will love her as much as I do!

http://toddnjenifermoss.blogspot.com/

Keep her and her family in your prayers.

****
Yesterday

we had the missionaries over for dinner

I love that they're sister missionaries

cause Ben was working, so they could still come

An hour or so before they came, as I started making dinner

Someone told me they had clogged the toilet

It flooded over and they felt terrible

I sent said person outside to play to calm down

Just as the mess was cleaned up

I heard a scream

Cody got bit by a snake

It was a garter

I ran to the computer to make sure it was a garter and called around to see what to do.

No one will give advice unless you sign your life to them

Luckily Ben answered his phone and he said it was fine

We put neosporin on it

We got dinner ready finally!

****

Mackayla calls horses "hees"

Ben called them "sees" at her age.

We're hoping she might love them too:)

****

We're getting ready for a little trip.

Vacation is without kids.

Trip is with kids.

This is most definitely a trip.

But TOTALLY worth it!!!!

This will be the farthest I've ever gone with my kids by myself...wish me luck!
****

Visuals

I seem to be a visual learner. So, I love this site: http://www.mormonvis.com/
Check it out and let me know what you think!

Nine

One year short of a decade.

I had the brilliant idea of getting nine balloons, one for each year. I wrote a different word or idea on each balloon. Love, 5.7.04, etc

The way I pictured it didn't have our sloped ceiling. Or children to wrap them around the fan...

But the kids love them!

With Ben's unpredictable schedule we played it safe

and had dinner at home

with a cute little girl in our ward who entertained our kids outside and in the other rooms.

It was almost like being in a restaurant...kind of.

One of these years we're going to do something really exciting.

But this was perfect for this year.

I wrote out our story of meeting and added pictures from dating and our wedding.

It made it here on the exact day. Perfect.

 Dinner:

Artichoke Chicken over rice

Strawberry Spinach Salad

Homemade French Bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar

Fresh Salsa and Chips

Coconut Cookies

 Our first anniversary was at my sister's wedding. They got married the same day one year later.

Two years ago was graduation.

One of the first couple of years we actually officially celebrated and went to anniversary inn in Logan. I distinctly remember telling Ben I thought it would be more fun if we had kids and it was an actual "get away (from kids)." I think I was exactly right. That sounds wonderful. But what's the rush...we have the rest of our lives and then some!

As for the fresh-ish salsa...

My friend brought some over the other day and told me how she made it. Love it!

Add in a blender, all at the same time: half an onion, a jalapeno, can of diced tomatoes, rotel, s&p and garlic powder.

I blended on speed 1 or 2 real quick and it was done.

Split second salsa!

Some of my favorite quotes that I stuck in our book:

"DECISIONS DETERMINE DESTINY" ~Thomas S. Monson

"Choose a companion carefully and prayerfully; and when you are married, be fiercely loyal to another." ~Pres. Thomas S. Monson

I am so grateful for a husband who is fiercely loyal. We have the same goals and are willing to make the same sacrifices and have fun doing it!

Miss Independent

Miss Mackayla

Fiercely Independent

Also Sweet

all moms know 'terrible twos' start at 18 months

they're not so terrible

just require a lot of patience

and a little more patience

You bring a little flair to your independence with your style

(those are your favorite boots even though they're too big)

We got out your summer clothes yesterday. 

You. were. thrilled.

You pointed at the ones you liked and told me they were "Cute."

And let me know over and over, "Mine."

You are our little ANT POLICE

Whenever I hear "Aaa" urgently yelled over and over I know to grab a kleenex and get an "ANT!!!!"

Every morning is a negotiation over how many animals and blankets you can bring to take Cody to school and whether or not you'll let me carry you so we can hurry (never) and if you'll let me help you out of the huge (to you) van (rarely).

You have almost pottied trained yourself:) I am still waiting to start:).

Go Beavers at OSU!

 I gave my kids the little drawing I made them while I was away.

They loved it and carefully cut it into tiny pieces and chose their favorite pieces:)

These pics were taken Saturday morning...Mackayla had already changed three times. everyone is a little scruffy but if we got ready we wouldn't take pictures. So. They are perfect.

 We started swim lessons and the kids love it because they're with their cute friends this time! 

Little Viewpoints

I finally uploaded pictures from the kids' vtech christmas cameras. 

I Love them. Here's a couple:

MACEY

She mostly just had videos, so I could only choose a couple pictures.

Picking up Cody from school looks like this:

 Some blurry mom pics

 And blurry Mackayla pics

CODY

 Cody had a story for every pictures he took. A long one:)

This is random and must have been winter since we have fifty blankets and an owl.

Macey always made sure if I was sitting down that I was covered in a couple of blankets:) 
She knows me well. I'm so glad winter is over.

 Bay Blades (or however it's written)

 Cody and his dad put this glow in the dark puzzle together

 Dad from a little viewpoint

 The leprechaun trap

 This is Cody's all time favorite tree, just up the hill from our house. We maybe think it's the biggest in the city:)

 Our good friend in the neighborhood

 The bike path

 Cody's favorite field along the bike path

 He loved the way the light looked on the ground here. Like a light saber type of thing.

 This might be my favorite pic. What looks like two toys on the ground is actually a BATTLE.

 Those two are battling two monsters.

And here's one of Macey's thirty videos, with Mackayla. Enjoy.