Lynner Lynn's Birthday

My sweet little BABY is 4. She had a birthday this week as well. I feel horrible and gulity. I had to work the night before and was pretty tired and crabby the whole day. We really did not do anything to exciting. We were going to go sledding, but the snow melted a little and it was kind of slushy~or maybe that was just my excuse. I will have to make it up to her in a big way. I realize that she is only 4, but the pressure we as mothers put on ourselves is pretty tough.

I really love this little girl. She always brings a smile to my face and makes me laugh when I need to. She brings me back to what is important in life. I can't believe she is growing up SO fast. I LOVE LYNNER!!!

Marley and Me.........Wow who knew?

My sweetest little daughter turned 8 yesterday. She is going to be baptized this next week and is so excited. So for her birthday, she decided that she wanted to go and see the movie Marley and Me. SPOILER ALERT***** if you intend on seeing this and do not want to know anything about it stop reading**** We took the whole family.....Now just a little FYI, if you have a dog that your kids like I might not recommend this movie...Lets just say her birthday turned out to be a little sad. The movie is about this dog that this family grows up with and loves and the dog ends up dying. My kids went out to the car. They cried and cried. It was a big reality check what would happen if I got rid of good ol' Sharpay. I think I am pretty well stuck with a dog. The thing that really got them going was my PURE stupidity and lack of filter at the mouth. When we got into the car they immediately started to cry and what did I say, "kids you do know Sharpay will die some day~" Wow stupid me... That really got them going. I think I traumatized them and it is a birthday she will never forget~ We should have seen Bedtime Stories.

Crazy Crazy week!

I love Christmas, but I have to admit that I am glad when it is over. The thing is, that during this week I not only have Christmas and new years, but 2 birthdays as well...I know good planning on our part. It is a little crazy and hectic, but GREAT all the same.

One of the things that we have kind of made a tradition is to draw names and exchange slippers on Christmas eve. This is a picture of all of our fun slippers. We decided to do this one year when Jared discovered the "joy" of slippers. He had never owned a pair of slippers and we bought him some. He talked about how great those slippers were every day for a year. When it was about time for some new ones, this is what we decided to do...That way we could all enjoy slippers.

This other picture is of the kids with some of their favorite presents. I know that some people take way to many pictures, I on the other hand never take enough. I took some video, but will just post this and call it good. We had a great time and the kids were so happy. It was fun to see their joy. My husband is so good to me as well. It was great!!

One week and counting..

One week till the big day.. I am so excited for Christmas this year. It is interesting that as you become a parent, you feel the same excitment for your kids as you did about Santa coming when you were a kid. We are giving each of the kids a gift that they are absolutely not expecting. I can't wait to see their faces. It will be GREAT!! I have had to hide the gifts at my sisters this year. I have a particularly curious child who loves to look for gifts. I had a bag of them in the basement under a bunch of other stuff until I could get them to her house....He found them....Little turkey..I have never been able to understand why kids want to ruin their Christmas. Maybe it is a boy thing, my husband says that he did the same thing..Me, well I knew where the presents were kept, but what would be the fun of peeking.. It would spoil my Christmas and not be near as fun. Whatever.


We have gotten a lot of snow the last couple of weeks...I do not love snow. I often wonder why in the world I live where I live because of this. Usually I can tolerate it until at least after Christmas, but I am already SICK and tired of it. This could be because until this point we have been spoiled enjoying beautiful weather.. At least we are guaranteed to have a White Christmas.

Disco Fever...........Watch for a good time!!

San Diego..Summer 2008

I really wish that I had blogged before this point..I feel like I have a lot to make up for that I want to get written down. This summer we went with Jared's family to San Diego to stay in a beach house for a week. It was so much fun!! We went to the beach nearly everyday.. Jared and the kids loved to boogie board. I tried it, it kind of kicked my butt this time, so I didn't do it so much. We also went to the wild animal park. In this last picture the kids are petting---Honestly, I have no idea...Some animal.. Don't know if I would do the Wild Animal Park again. Am I a Debbie Downer or what??

We also went to the San Diego temple and the kids got to see that.. They loved it, it was beautiful. It was such a relaxing trip and we had SO much fun..

Who's daughter is this?

So I go to pick up the Shelbs from Preschool today. As she walks out, she has a look on her face similar to the one above. I am looking at her thinking "what the heck is wrong with her?" As I approach her, her teacher comes over and says "she is mad at me?" and I said.. "Shelby, what did you do?" She wouldn't answer....So her teacher proceeded to tell me that Shelby choose not to help clean up today...She got in a little bit of trouble and was not given a sucker because of this , I told her that was what I would expect her to do..I thanked her and we got in the car. As we drove home I tried to explain that when her teacher asks her to do something...She needs to. The only thing that she said to me was "why...My teacher is mean now...." I don't mean to brag or anything, but honestly, the kids have been pretty good. I really have never had to deal with any dicipline problems. I think this little child may just make up for all of them.. I realize this is not that big of a deal.. But this girl has serious potential.. Please, everyone pray for me..

Is it just me??

What the heck!!! Please tell me this kind of stuff happens to other people besides me. Jared has a work party tonight. I have literally been looking for something to wear for the last week. Today I finally found something. I dragged Shelby into the 500th store...Tada..I found something..I went to the check out; pround of myself it had only taken 2 hours (today)... I had went home and did the final try on with skirt and all. As I put on the shirt I had bought, I found this!!!!!!!-----------

What???? It so figures!!! It SO figures. Heaven forbid it be easy.. If you call easy spending about 10 hours shopping in the last week....I am a little mad.. I guess I should have been more aware, but I was just so excited to be done, or so I thought. I live 35 min. from this store. Its not that easy to just jump in the car and take care of this.. What will I be wearing to Jared's work party tonight? Who knows? Back to square one.

Just a little side note.. This is not the only time this has happened to me. It has happened a few times. I wrote a post a little while ago titled "always a step behind" along with the kids, things like this cause that!! Wow ...Lame...

Heaven forbid, Can't forget Pay Pay, aka Sharpay

Here she is, our dog..Yes we have a dog.. Never in my life would I have thought I would say that.. We got her in June.. Jared plotted the kids against me, what choice did I have. One night while I was working Jared and the kids got on the subject of dogs and how fun it would be to have one...To play fetch with, to take on walks, the list went on and on. After that, the kids absolutely HAD to have one. A subject I had to hear about 15,000 times a day. For me to say no, I would have been the worst mom in the world. I even offered to have another baby instead of the dog and I was serious. They chose the dog. I gave up the fight. One deal I made...I will not...will not...have to feed her, give her water, or pick up the crap. It will get done, not by me, of course, or she is gone. I must give the fam props, they have done well. Truly she has been fun for the family. We like her, she will never be in a family picture- I HAD to put my foot down on that one- believe me, they tried.. She is a good pup. Her name is Sharpay, after the girl in high school musical. I did come up with that, I guess they gave me that cause I let them get her.. As for the baby I promised I would have instead of the dog..They want to take me up on that offer now, YEA RIGHT!!!! Sorry Fools!!!

Shelber Lyn Lyn Lyn Lyn Lyn Lyn Lyn

Last, but not least, my sweet little Lynner. This girl is my buddy. She hangs out with me all day. Just me and her. She always says, "It's just you and me mom"

I was so excited that Shelby was going to be a girl, I felt like I could be done having kids. Two boys and two girls, doesn't get much better than that.. The doctor started me with her as well. I went in, they started me, and she was born 4 hours later.. Shelby was HUGE when she was born 9 lbs 5 oz. I will never forget the look on Jared's face when she was being born... As she came out and he could see her head, he got this look of terror on his face. I looked at him and said, "what, is she ugly?" and he said "No, She is HUGE" He was right. The kids loved her right away. They all wanted to hold her constantly.

Shelby is our little comedian. A day does not go by that she doesn't ask me, "how are you doin little fella?" or some other random thing. She has a thing about headbands. She loves to hold them and play with them. Weirdo.. Can't go to bed without her headband. Whatever makes her happy is a ok with me. Maybe I should try it.

The title of this post, this is a nick name I gave this very lucky little lady. Who would'nt want to be called that on a daily basis? You know you would.. I love Shelber!!!!

Trev the Bev

Clearly there is only one word to describe this little guy...INTENSE....Everything that he does, he puts his whole heart into it.

When I was pregnant with him we lived in a different state away from our families. My doctor told me he would start me. However, they did it THE worst possible way in history. They said that when they had an opening at the hospital, they would call. This could occur ANYTIME. So, needless to say we waited around all day. When they didn't call we decided to take the other kids over to Jared's cousins house in case they called during the night. Needless to say I did not sleep a wink!! I layed right by the phone waiting for it to ring. My dad kept calling me to see if I had heard anything as they were going to come as soon as I went in the hospital. My dad finally took the bull by the horns and called the hospital. They called me 10 minutes later and had a bed for me.. My dad has a great way of getting things done. Nine hours of labor and #3 was here..

Trevor is my little bud.. He is the only one of my kids that will still "snuggle" with me. I LOVE IT! I can always count on him to give me some love.. He loves sports, but hates to lose..I have to admit I hate it when he loses too....This is when all heck breaks lose and the world comes to a complete end...here comes the intensity. There is none more caring than this one.. I love you Trev!!

Kelly Bell

I love this girl...Wow, were we blessed with her. She is so sweet and is so obedient. Joquelle was born 2 days after Christmas. Mel and Brad were getting married on the 28th and lets just say I didn't make it to the wedding. I went to the doctor on the 27th and after that visit the doctor sent me over to the hospital to have here. I was in labor for 4 hours and she was here. My mom and dad were waiting for her to come so that they could get to Mel and Brad's wedding dinner. They were nervous because they had to leave at 4:30 and wouldn't you know it, she was born at 4:21.. She was so obedient even in the womb... Joquelle was the smallest baby (however, she was a week early) As a toddler though, she took the cake.. She was huge and I loved it.. You would never know it now..skinny little thing.

The name of this post is Kelly Bell because that is one of her many nicknames. Don't ask me why.. Kind of a random name, but it is her. Joquelle will do about anything she is asked without complaining. She loves her little sister and her little sister loves her. She takes such good care of her. I appreciate her so much.. I love you Joquelle!!!

reminiscing about old times...

Since I just started blogging and I have been horrible about keeping a journal, I thought I would write down some memories while I can still somewhat remember...

My first baby... Brett. We were young, just 22 when he was born. We were so excited to have him. He was three days late, my water broke. I was in labor for 9 hours and life has never been the same. When my water broke I was home alone watching the Jazz game. Jared was to be home any time. When it happened I called him and he answered the phone in Spanish.--take note he doesn't really speak Spanish. I was not in the mood. I told him what had happened he said he would be there in a few minutes. When he got home he had to jump in the shower, he was mowing lawns at the time. He was so excited and could not stop smiling. I was scared to death and wanted to throw up. The labor went perfectly and he was SO CUTE!! I couldn't believe it.

Ever since Brett has been able to talk, he has never stopped asking questions. This kid loves to learn... He wants to know how every thing works and why... He is fascinated of the workings of anything and everything. When he was younger he loved garages and would watch them open and close for hours, wondering how they worked. Even now, he loves sprinklers. Different I know, but he loves to watch them. He knows all the different types and how they work.

He also loves to worry..Oh oh... Don't know where he got this certainly not from his mother... He worries about way to grown up things such as the price of gas and whether or not the car's oil got changed. In that way, we are way to much alike..Someone following me around reminding me of the things that I need to worry about...

I absolutly love this kid.. He is sweet and cares about people so much.. I love you Brett!!

Always a step behind!

I had quite the eye opening experience today.. I am not really sure why it was so eye opening, but it was. I have always been one that is on time to everything.. In fact, early to everything. I always had everything that needed to be done, done early, with a bow on top and a casserole in the oven. Yes, I may have been named woman of the year. However, It seems lately that no matter how hard I try, I am just a step behind.. Running like a chicken with its head cut off! The sad thing is there is nothing that makes me more crazy and more stressed then being late, just ask my husband. If we are running late for something,I turn into a monster. Well lets be honest, this is no different than any other day. What has happened to me? Oh yea....four kids!!!

Living oddly similar lives...

I guess this is the life of a blogger. Laying in bed at 12:30 at night, not being able to sleep, with thoughts running through your mind and having this uncontrollable urge to run and type it all down.... My uncontrollable thoughts...stupid really. I was thinking about the blog posts I have seen in the last couple of weeks.. Many of them, and I mean many, seem to have a common theme. This would include a vampire and shopping. First the vampire, it seems every woman on this planet has a secret love affair with a make believe vampire named Edward..So much so, that many of them stayed up in the wee hours of the night to go and see him on the big screen. Don't lie and say you didn't scream when he came on. Now, I have to admit I was there as well. I am being honest when I say that I don't have a love affair with Edward, in fact, I was more of a Jacob fan...People from work were going and I was invited so I went.. It was good..Didn't get any pictures of me at the theatre. This is a whole other issue.. The camera. IF and that is a big IF I remember it, the batteries are dead 90% of the time, so what is the point anyway?

The next, shopping, BLACK FRIDAY!! I love this as well. It has become quite the family affair. This year 6 of my 8 siblings went. We finally convinced my older sister to go..I think she is hooked. Me and my younger sister went about 4 years ago for the first time and after seeing a woman deck another woman for a remote control hummer, we were hooked. What more can I say, It has taken convincing, but little by little, the other siblings are seeing the light..Oh the fun of grand traditions. The whole point of this post? We are all living oddly similar lives!

Me blog, I'll try..

You know, I can't figure it out. I really really want to become a great blogger. I would love to have the blog that has a million hits and thousands of followers because it is just that good. Problem is, I am not. In fact, lets be honest... I flat out suck. Jared keeps telling me, "Jody, you need to blog. You would be good"..Really? Thats funny because I can't think of things to blog. We went and even bought a lap top so I could blog in the wee hours of the night when it is slow at work. The only thing that came from that....I like to look at other people's blogs in the wee hours of the night when it is slow at work. It is not that things don't happen in our family. It seems life is pure chaos. Wouldn't it be good to write the chaos down.. I think so.. Maybe I will try..

A couple of weeks ago we went and had family pictures taken. I was very happy with how they turned out.

Ok.. I think I maybe figured this out a little bit. Here is a cute little picture of the kidos.

Our Family

It has truly been my goal to figure out how to work this blog. We just got new family pics and I wanted to post them. We will give this a whirl and see if I can make this work. Everyone please cross your fingers!!!