From Collages

Cole got an iTouch for Christmas (don't ask) and has found the camera feature of this amazing electronic device. I was charging it and found 59 photos in his photo folder!!! I deleted most of them but had to share the self portrait ones!  My fav - 2nd row 3rd pix!

I haven't posted a coupon deal in quite sometime and so I didn't want to disappoint! Here is the latest deal!

8 8 oz bottles gatorades (2 are currently being drank!)
2 single serving strawberry milks
1 single serving chocolate milk
5 boxes of sausage
4 bags of frosted flakes cereal
3 pillsbury cinnamon rolls (i love these big ol' fattening things!)
3 boxes of sweet moments brownies (and oh they are sweet when they are warmed up!)
4 bottles of vegtable oil

TOTAL $21.16 that is $.70 an item!

realization

i am not a huge fan of birthdays, just another reminder of how fast my kids are growing up, how many wrinkles i have acquired since the last birthday, and how fast my life is passing by.  with the passing of my uh.. umm... 29th birthday (for the 9th time), i have come to some rather real but frightening realization.  i have become a lot of things i would define as "what i didn't want to be".  i don't clean my house every week, i don't read my kids a book everyday, i don't make dinner every night, i don't go to the gym everyday, i don't tell my family i love them enough... i could go on and on.  i don't do a lot of things that i used to do and used to tell myself i was never not going to not do them. i find my self slacking more and more on things that used to be routine or habit for me. maybe it's an age thing, the wiser you are the older you are?  i am beginning to wonder if all of those things that i rushed to do and stressed over to do were really worth all that effort.  my girlfriend said something to me that really struck a chord with me. she said that she used to hate birthdays and that she would get depressed with each passing one and than someone said something to her that changed her outlook on birthdays.  they told her that you should be grateful for your birthday, it was one more year that heavenly father allowed you to be here. to be with your family, to be with your friends, to just be.  i found this quote by president hinckley that also struck a chord with me:

anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he’s been robbed. the fact is that most putts don’t drop. most beef is tough. most children grow up to be just ordinary people. most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration.most jobs are more often dull than otherwise…life is like an old-time rail journey – delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling burst of speed. the trick is to thank the lord for letting you have the ride… gordon b. hinckley

between these 2 profound statements, the realization that i am getting older,  is ok. i need to be ok. i need to just be. i need to be more thankful for the life that heavenly father has let me live and learn to love this life.  and i guess bottom line, love me. they always say change is good, but change is hard.  with another year coming to an end i often reflect on how that year went.  on how i can try and be better and how i can make this coming year better.  this year i am going to try to just be. just be thankful for life as it is. because really, life is good.

SNOW MUCH SNOW!

They say that weather runs its cycle every10 years. Well it has been 10 years since our really big storm! I distinctly remember 10 years ago.  Kyle was 5 months old. We had lived in Boise for just over 2 years and I was still mad about being here. And then the snow came. And it just kept coming. We had about a 4 foot pile along our drive way. All I kept saying was, you said it didn't snow here , you said it wouldn't last. I just cried and cried.  I did stop crying long enough to get Kyle bundled up and take him outside for a little bit!

10 years later and a much different scene has unfolded.  It snowed and it kept snowing.  6 inches in the valley over just a few days.  No tears this time from the momma and 4 kids later we are loving all this snow!Tuesday it hit a stand still which meant - SNOW DAY!  The kids were ecstatic!  Jake played hooky for a bit to play with the kids.  They had so much fun!  They played and played and played until their toes and fingers were frozen! Jake hooked up the sled to the quad and pulled the neighbor kids around and as I sat there filming my kids have so much fun, a flood of emotions overcame me. Tears welled up in my eyes as I distinctly remembered my dad pulling us around on a "snow day"  We had the big black inner tubes (2 of them -HELLO!) hooked to the back of his yellow and black Yamaha motorcycle!  We thought we would die from laughing so hard!  We used to play in the snow for hours.  We had a huge hill by our house that we would walk up about  50 times only for a 10 second ride down.  But we didn't care, we just keep doing it!  Our family used to be big skiers.  My mom and dad would load us up and take us to the ski resort and just let us go all day.  We would ski for a bit, go to lodge, and ski some more. Oh to be young again, to have the world in your hand AND have a snow day!  The snow is still here almost a week later and although it is quite the job to get 4 kids dressed in snow gear, it has been worth every memory they are making.

'Tis the Season!

Jake was in charge of the camera, thus the camera got left home. His cell phone doesn't have all that good of a camera (although it should for the price we paid!)  I have tried and tried to rotate this file and I can't. 

 So just tilt your head to the left and watch!

The Christmas season is upon us and to kick start it, we decided to go  downtown to the Christmas tree lightening ceremony.  10 years and we have never been. I often wonder what in the world we have been doing because there are numerous things right here in Boise that we haven't done.  It was freezing cold and snowing and I really did not want to get everyone bundled up for a 10 second event.  I had told my kids that we would go and I was secretly hoping they would forget. Not Kate, that girl doesn't forget much!  With much resistance we loaded up with all of our snow gear and headed downtown.  There were not many people  there so we had a pretty good view. They counted down from 10 and that was it. I looked at Jake and he looked at me and we just busted up laughing.  It really was a 10 second event!  We let the kids wonder around for a bit, make snow angels in the little piles of snow that was  ON THE GROUND!  Yes my child was on the ground in filthy dirty snow making snow angels and loving every minute of it.  We got a bag of kettle corn and danced around to the holiday music.  It was fun and I am glad that we went.  Maybe next year we get there a little earlier and maybe make it a 30 - 40 second event!

Tilt your head again!