Kids say the darnedest things

The other night I was a little frazzled at the end of the day when I was putting the kids to bed. So my sweet little Sunshine decided to give me her opinion of my attitude. She said,"Mom, you are acting kind of bwatty (bratty) tonight." It cracked me up and put a smile on my face that she thought I was acting bwatty! Guess I will have to work harder at not being bwatty!

Dream Big

Mike was talking to our kids yesterday about dreams and how it is important to choose dreams that love them back, and don't beat you up all the time for living them, because when you choose a dream, you also choose the work that goes with that dream. Then he turned to me and told me, "I chose my dream when I was 18, and it was you. And I gave up everything else to follow that dream, because nothing else was as important as that dream, and it was a lot of long hard years of sacrifice and school and work and church to allow me to live my dream, but I was lucky because I chose a dream that loved me back. My dream gave me a lot in return for that sacrifice, it made me better and gave me more than I sacrificed. When I chose my dream, I also chose the work that went with that dream. I used to think that I lived a very practical life and never had any big dreams, always choosing work, church, and school over dreaming big, but it was a great realization for me to realize that I did have a big dream, and it was you. I have never second guessed my dream, never gone back and regretted my decision." Wow, I had to write this down, because it just melted my heart and I didn't want to forget it. You see why I love my husband like I do?

More Pics from Boise...

Saturday night Mike started to get sick and he has been battling pneumonia since we got back , but it was so much fun and we hope to do it again soon!

Date Night!

One of the things that we miss the most about Boise is going out every Saturday night with our best friends, so we made sure we did that while we were visiting! During the day Jo got to go see Lightening Thief with her friends and Sassy got to stay at her friends house, except for coming over on Saturday night to watch the kids while we went out. Courtney, Sunshine, and their friends watched a movie on Netflix while the big kids were at the movies. That night we ordered a pizza for the kids and we went to Tucano's. It was great, they ended the evening with chocolate covered strawberries and roses, which was so nice for Valentine's day! Then we went to Lightening Thief, and finished off the evening with a trip to walmart and the Cheesecake Factory. Perfect!

My Birthday and Valentine's Weekend Trip!

This year I turned the big 34! Mike likes to tease me that I get to celebrate my birthday all month long because it comes right before Valentine's, so I get two major celebrations in the same week! This year I told Mike that all I wanted for my birthday and Valentine's was to go up to Boise and see our old friends. This was a good deal for him because he got to combine the 2 celebrations into 1! So we went up for a great weekend with our BFF's the Kahuhu's. They were great hosts, Jennece had made me my favorite lasagna and cinnamon rolls for my birthday and had a balloon and candy waiting for me in my room! We got right to work playing games(our favorite thing to do!) We played Ticket to Ride, which was hard on Mike because he is colorblind, but the rest of us loved the game. Sunshine was so tired she fell asleep in this weird position on the ottoman!

Valentine's Treats

The girls really got spoiled by their aunts and uncles and grandma and grandpa for Valentine's day! They got tons of candy, homemade cookies, lipgloss, socks, and handmade valentine's. What lucky girls!

Infatuation vs. Love...

Mike took me to lunch at his Kiwanis Club yesterday because it was their sweethearts day for spouses and they had a special speaker coming. The speaker was the head of the counseling department at the university here and he gave an excellent talk on love, it's meaning, and how to be a great spouse. My favorite quote from him is,"Maintain your standards, lower your expectations!" He said he defines love as: The will to do what's best for the other person, and then ultimately the will to do what is best for the relationship. Mike and I both loved that definition because that is part of what has made for such a great marriage for us. The other is just luck!!! The doctor also said that anytime you are falling in love it is infatuation(which is news to me), and that true love grows over time. So afterwards I went up to him and asked how you can tell the difference between infatuation and love because I have 5 daughters and don't want them to marry someone when they are just infatuated! He said he recommends 5 different experiences for couples to have together before they get married to see how their partner handles different situations and how compatible they are. So the 5 things he recommends are: 1)Babysit together-to see how your sweetie responds to kids and if you have similar parenting styles 2)Balance a checkbook together- see if your money philosophies are similar 3)Talk about chores- who does what? 4)Talk about Religion- will you go to church every Sunday, and how often do you want FHE, prayers, scriptures, visits to the temple, etc 5)The Bedroom... after you are engaged but before you send out the announcements, take the time to talk(and not in the bedroom!)about what your expectations are for your sexual relationship. If you have a partner who will just tolerate sex, it would be great to find that out before you are married! Anyhow, Mike and I had a great time and loved getting some expert advice that will hopefully benefit our girls!
Ps The cutie in the pic above is my nephew Wyatt!

The best husband in the world!

Yesterday was a fun day for me! Mike jokes that I like to celebrate my birthday all month because it comes right before Valentine's Day, so I started the celebrating yesterday! Nikki took me to get my nails done while mom watched the girls and then last night Mike and I got to go behind the scenes at the Opera and see how it all works: the sets, costumes, hiring actors, etc with Michael Ballam. Mike knows Michael Ballam from working with him in Rotary club, but it was my first time to meet him. He even performed some wonderful singing for us! It was so fun and we learned a lot about the time it takes to put on the opera and we got to eat yummy refreshments afterward. It was a highlight for both of us because we both love the opera! Afterwards we came home and after we put the kids to bed I went into our bathroom and there was a beautiful early Valentine's present waiting for me! It was the best surprise, I was totally not expecting it and I just loved it! It was a bottle of Estee Lauder perfume and the awesome makeup set that came with it! I was so excited, it has been a long time since I have gotten a set like that because we have 5 girls to spend all our money on!!! We topped off the day by snuggling in bed and watching The Express, which was a great movie :)

Katie and her favorite toy!

Katie's new favorite toy is a stool! She carries it all around the house even though it is half the size of her. She even learned to say "tool" so she can tell us she wants it when she can't find it! The bad part is she uses it to get into the computer, turn off the tv, and get into all kinds of precarious balancing positions!

Snuggling in Mom and Dad's Bed

The family all decided that the first Sunday of every month we will do a big dinner together and we hosted the first one yesterday. Mike made his famous brisket and BBQ sauce and everyone else brought the side dishes. We had a great time and played ping pong and ImagineIFF(boardgame), at least those of us that could still move after the dinner did! Wyatt loves babies and I couldn't resist taking this cute pic of him and one of the girl's dolls! So after a fabulous day of having family over and Mike's yummy brisket, all of the kids piled into our bed to snuggle and watch old episodes of Perfect Strangers. Some of Mike's best memories are of all the kids piling into his mom and dad's bed and so he loved it!

Girls night out to see Dear John!!

What a great night! The girls(my sister, both sisters-in-law, mom, and a friend of sassy's) came over for a fun Valentine's craft and then to go see the new Nicholas Sparks movie with Channing Tatum!! Mom didn't come because she hates romance movies but she came over beforehand for the chocolate covered strawberries and then she took the kids up to her house until Mike got home. A funny Weight Watcher's thing happened to him, he went out to lunch with a buddy and when he got home we checked to see how many points the burger he ate was and it was 51 points (almost 2 days worth of points)!!! We both just about fainted, because it is the highest thing we have ever seen points wise. Anyhow, the kids watched Ice Age 3 with Wyatt and Grandma and Grandpa and Daddy and we went and got them after the movie got out. We had a wonderful time with all the girls and the movie (lets be honest we really went just for Channing Tatum!) was pretty good too!

New looks for Mom and Dad

Today was a brush up on our decade old looks for Mike and I! Mike got contacts, and Melissa came over and dyed my hair to cover the gray!! Now to take these new looks out on the town to get diaper wipes for the baby...

Love from Apple

While we were reading scriptures tonight Apple just jumped on Courtney and was loving all over her! The funny thing was at the end (the top picture)when Apple threw up all over Courtney's hair, and Courtney just laughed and laughed!

New Beginnings With Sassy

Tonight Mike and I went to Sassy's young women's church group where they were doing a special once a year program called New Beginnings. They introduce the new girls and give parents an overview of the Young Women's program and how the girls can earn their Young Woman's Medallion. They have to complete goals in faith, divine nature, individual worth, knowledge, choice and accountability, good works, integrity and the new one they just added is virtue. It was a great program and they invited the moms to complete the program with their daughters. I am really looking forward to that and Sassy and I are going to have a contest to see who can finish theirs first! They invited to girls to dress as princesses and that is why Sassy and her friend are wearing fancy dresses! They sent the girls home with little glass slippers as a reminder to keep their characters pure and unspotted, and they were so cute! I am really grateful for such an inspired program for young girls to help them develop their talents and true potential.

Weight Watcher's Update

The results are in...So, Mike and I are on a one year Weight Watcher's challenge to support a loved one and improve our health and we just completed our first month! We love WW because it fits into our crazy lifestyle and really doesn't feel like a diet. Our kids don't complain because they don't even notice that we are on a diet. I found a great website http://weight-watchers-points-recipes.blogspot.com/ and it has the most delicious recipes that my family has just loved and it has made a huge difference in us being successful! Doing WW together is also another thing that helps us to stick with the program. So at the end of one month, Mike has lost 11.8 lbs. and I have lost 6.2 lbs.! Wish us luck on our continued success!