104 things of summer

so, as summer approached I was pinning ideas like crazy. After reading a ton of other people's ideas and bucket lists and such I was having a hard time deciding what we were gonna do. But the more I thought of it, the more I thought we just needed to keep it simple and have fun this summer. Then one day while we were watching our super favorite show, Phineas and Ferb, and idea struck: Not the 104 days of summer vacation (because I'm not even sure we have 50) but we can do 104 things this summer. I had the kids write lists of what they wanted to do this summer and also explained that we could not do everything that they wanted (jared's number 1 was disney world lol). I also made a list and then wrote down all the things we were going to do anyway like, movies in laughlin and visit Chino Valley. Anyway, here's what we came up with: It's an ambitious list if I'm being honest, but it's been fun so far. The kids get up in the morning and say, "Mom, I know what we're going to do today." Then I usually have to steer them to what we are actually doing :) We are not doing the list in order- just whenever I feel like it. I don't know if we will finish, but we are sure gonna try! And I'm sure gonna try to post about all that we do.

Canning cuties- Making Jam

So, Strawberries were at bountiful baskets and some friends and I had been talking about canning, so we decided to make some jam. I love canning- no that's not entirely true- I love canning with friends :) Canning by yourself is super boring! I'm still not entirely convinced that it saves any money to can things yourself, but I love knowing that I know how- ya know just incase ;) Anyway, so my cute friends Sandy and Kim came over and we made a ton of jam! And had so much fun laughing and chatting whilst making said jam :) We followed the recipe on the pectin pack: 5 cups crushed strawberries 7 cups sugar 1 pkg pectin Then I decided to try another recipe without pectin. It was interesting trying to figure out the math on that one b/c I didn't have enough honey for the full recipe. Let's just say math doesn't seem to be any of our strong suits! But it actually turned out fine- really runny but tasty. It was good times- as it always is with my sweet friends- I'm lucky to be surrounded by such awesome women! Can't wait till we can something else. These kiddos were so good while we were canning! My big helper wanted to be right in the middle of the action Here's a great tip from sandy: Spread the foam on a silpat and let dry. I was a bit skeptical at first, but it makes some amazing fruit leather type stuff- yummy! I've chosen not to address the fact that I really need to get my eyebrows waxed ;) hee hee but I'm so thankful for these times and memories that are made. Thanks canning cuties! We rock!!! Now we just need to make our matching aprons lol :)

Sometimes it's fun to be spontaneous

So, last weekend Kerry was at the California Dental Convention in Anaheim. He called Thursday night and told me how cheap the tickets were for what they call twilight tickets. For $45 a person you get admission to Disneyland from 4pm-midnight and $25 in food vouchers per ticket. Well, I couldn't pass that up! So I picked the kids up early from school Friday and didn't tell them where we were going until we got there! It was such a fun surprise- they were trying to guess all the way there. Anyways, b/c it was such a quick trip I didn't get many pics but we made forever memories and I truly had a good time with my babies (and Kerry of course) I even convinced Zach to go on splash mtn and he had a blast! I firmly believe that memories and time together are worth a little extra money and energy. on the tram going to Mickey's house (as Becca called it)

happiest place on earth

where to go first?

teacups always a favorite

Best ride of the day!!!! So fun with my boy conquering his fear

Hannah and I literally went all over the park to find a churro while the boys went on Star Wars. She was so happy when we finally found some :

sweet Hannah

So I was reading my scriptures at the kitchen table the other day and Hannah walked by and asked if she could read her scriptures, too. OF course I said ok! SO she sat next to me and read quietly, I just had to snap a couple pics! We had a precious conversation about the scriptures and testimonies.

I love this sweet girl so much! She as dramatic as all get out- but is so caring and I have chances to be proud of her each day. She is growing up far too fast for my taste! But it is so fun to watch her, and I can't wait to see what a fantastic woman she is going to become.

Book of Jared- rock star mom

So, Jared has been particularly witty lately and I have forgotten to keep up with the book of Jared so here are a couple:

Jared: (peeking around the corner of the laundry room) "Phew! I heard a noise and thought it was a vampire- but it's just you mom."
I love that he thought it was a vampire and still wanted to check it out! No fear :)

then later while I was putting clean sheets on his bed:
Jared: "Mom, how do you put the sheets on my bed so fast?"
Me: "Cuz I'm a rock star!"
Jared: "Mom, I don't think that you should say you are a rock star...because you are cooler than a rock star!"
Made my year!!!

Also, Jared got into a fight at school this week. While we do not condone violence as the answer and Jared was punished for making a bad choice, I have to share his logic.
Me: "You hit someone?!" "Why would you hit someone?"
Jared: "Well, the kid said 'I guess we're gonna have to do this the hard way' so I punched him."
How wrong is it that I am secretly proud of him for ending the fight with one hit? hee hee

I'm gonna go check facebook, cuz I'm pretty sure I have posted a couple of good book of Jared moments and they need to be here. I sure love that little boy of mine!!

I love this crazy tragic, sometimes almost magic, awful, beautiful life!

Have you heard that song? I love it! Anyways, over the past probably year it has become so much easier to just post a pic on fb rather than blog. BUT as I was going through the hundreds of pictures we just moved over to a hard drive I realized that we live a lot of life! And way more goes into a trip or picture than just a few words in a fb status. And, let's face it- I'm probably never going to scrapbook like I want to, and journaling has not been happening so my blog is my best option to preseve memories :) And its an easy way to let my family (which has decided to spread out all over the stinkin' country this year boo!!) know what's going on in our little neck of the woods errr desert :)

SO i will try to post about the last 6 months or so of my life- but it will probably be slow going. SO here a some randoms from the last few weeks.


we had an FHE about faith and planted a seed to watch it grow


The girls and I went to IHOP for breakfast


Kerry and I went on a cruise with some fabulous friends!


Thanks to a super good friend, I realized the kids can fold their own laundry- best day of my life! ;)


The seed sprouted and actually grew!!


Someone finally bought a new car!


I made some bows (but it really wasn't the same without my sisters *sniff)


Zach made a candyland cake for the cub scout blue and gold banquet


a cute little someone really likes hiding lately

So hopefully I will post more regularly. There is still so much to catch up on!

Jingle's back!

I know I have some major catching up to do, but I just wanted to post my favorite thing that our elf on the shelf has done so far. The day before he built a marshmallow fort and had a marshmallow snowball fight with some marshmallow snowman that he made.


Well, Mom was not happy and all the kids knew that I was mad a Jingle for wasting an entire bag of marshmallows hee hee! So the next morning the kids came running into my room and said that they knew Jingle was sorry about the mess he made. I came into the kitchen to find this:



Sigh...can't be mad at that little guy for long lol
I'm going attempt to catch up on posting soon :)