Picture of the week.

I told Haley that she is far too young to be making fun of me already. Who knew that balloons could provide such great entertainment and fun for the whole family?

P.S. Her shirt is totally filthy in this. I promise I do laundry. Just look at my couch in the background that is loaded with it.

Home is where the heart is.

Two years ago today we moved into this house. When I think back on that day I think of how nervous I was. I remember Jake and I cleaning out the last few things in our old house and how sad I was. I literally walked through every room and cried and cried. I loved that house. Jake and I started our life there. We literally got married and I moved in that day. That house was really small but it holds so many wonderful memories. I remember thinking right after we were married that we had a three bedroom house all to ourselves! How exciting! Within five years we had three kids and that house was full!
We brought all three of our girls home to that house. Some of my fondest memories are of my girls learning to roll over, crawl and walk in that house. We put a lot of work into our home and we made it ours. I loved my decorations, the colors of the paint in all of the rooms, etc. My yard had lots of flowerbeds and the maple tree that we planted the very first year that we were married. It was comfortable and we loved it, but we knew it wasn't where we should stay.
It's hard when you've been somewhere for six years and all of the sudden you leave it all behind.

When we found this house it was pretty much a mess. The front and backyard were completely dead, the inside of the house was so old and outdated. I wrote a marathon blog about the first couple of weeks in our house and it was a nightmare. Anything that could go wrong, did go wrong. ( I think it is one of my October posts in '07.) The trials didn't just last two weeks. It seemed like life was really hard for about six months. I remember crying numerous times to Jake and wondering why we moved. I missed our old house so badly. I told my friend that I felt like I broke up with my house. I had that dull ache inside when I thought about it and I found myself driving by it all of the time. I never did doubt our decision to move into this house. I felt complete peace when we found it and looked through it. Jake and I knew this house was meant for our family.

I must say that when we moved in we were welcomed so nicely. We had tons of people bring over treats, bread, apples, etc. We had many people stop by and introduce themselves and welcome us to the neighborhood. I felt one hundred percent comfortable in this house since the day we moved in. With time this house has developed into something that we really love. Obviously we have fixed it up and it feels like home now, but it's more than that. I love the layout of the house, the neighborhood, the view of the valley from my kitchen window. Most of all I love the peace and happiness that I feel here. I am so glad that my sweet husband Jake was inspired to come and look at this house. I know that we were meant to move here and raise our family here. I love this house and I hope that we will stay here forever.

I love my girls.

This past week has been rough. You know how my last post was all cheery and happy because Jake was working less hours? Um yeah, that lasted all of one week. Last week two Foreman's went on the deer hunt so Jake and the other foreman Simon had to cover for them. Guess how many hours Jake worked last week? Not forty, not fifty, not sixty,.... Did you guess seventy two? Ding, ding, ding! You are correct. Yes my friends, seventy two hours in one week! It's been painful and hard but we are almost at the end of it! Ok, I can't complain and cry because 1. He has a job. 2. Our overtime check was AWESOME. 3. I am blessed that I can stay at home so if he has to work tons and tons of hours at least I can be at home with our cute kiddies.

Speaking of our cute kiddies I wanted to share some funny stuff that they have been saying. Last week Haley was complaining that she didn't want to go to school and Karly pipes up and said, "Yeah, me neither!" Then she paused for a second and she goes, "Oh wait, I love school. Never mind." That gave me a good laugh. Funny how Haley was complaining about school but the other morning I woke up to her nudging me and asking me if it was time to go to school. My first indication was that it wasn't because it was still dark outside.. I said, "No Haley, it's still nighttime. Go back to bed. " She then said, "Oh man, we are having PE today and I am soooo excited!" How cute is that? Who knew PE could bring such joy to a 2nd grader?

Ashley has been sick all weekend but surprisingly she has been in good spirits. This little girl melts my heart. She is so lovable and sweet. She came up to me yesterday and gave me a hug and she goes, "Mommy, you're my sweethawt." (She has followed in Karly's footsteps and can't say her 'r''s yet and I love it. I have to add it to her quotes so you can get the full effect. )

Anyways, it made my day. I loved it. Then the other day we were sitting in the recliner just rocking and watching a show and she gives me a big hug and she goes, "Mommy, you are my big girl!" Ha ha! She's dang lucky she is two and not older or I might have my feelings hurt a bit. :)

All I have to say, is that no matter how hard life gets or how picked on I feel at times my kids always make me smile. What would I do without these hilarious little girls?

Happy Days are here again..

Ok, so the title seems misleading. We have always been happy, but now I am exceptionally happy! Jake is now working 5 days a week, 8 hr shifts, with weekends off!!!! People, this is huge. My husband has had the craziest schedule for years. When we first were married he worked eight hour shifts and that lasted for maybe two months. Then he got put on twelve hour shifts. Can I tell you how long a twelve hour day seemed when it was just me with no kids? It was insanely long. He has worked twelve hour shifts for the past 8 years so I am totally use to it. In fact sometimes I feel like the twelve hours just flew by...
Here are the following reasons for my happiness. a) Jake has weekends off now. He use to work two weekends out of the month and I hated the fact that he missed church. b) He does a three week rotation. One week days, one week swings, one week graves. Not bad in my opinion! c) We get to see him a lot more now! This week he is on days and yesterday I picked him up at 3:30 and he had the entire evening with us.
I don't want to get my hopes up because I know they can change their schedule back at anytime, but for now I am going to enjoy having my husband home more! Ü

Oh boy.

This is what happens when Haley and Karly are suppose to be watching Ashley in the backyard.

Why, oh why, did I think this was a good idea?

Why in the world did I think it would be a good idea to take 3 kids school shopping with me? UGH!! First off, being the thrifty gal that I am I decided to go and check out the DI before I go to the normal stores and shell out more money. So... we start the morning with all of us up at six thirty to take Jake to work. My girls are so messed up on their sleep schedule so they are going to bed late and sleeping in late. Last night they weren't asleep until after ten. We need to get that turned around quick because school is starting soon.

Anyways, so everyone had been up since early this morning. I managed to get everyone bathed and ready, and we went up and had lunch with Jake and all was well. I was feeling good. The girls were happy and I was happy. What could go wrong? Little did I know...

We get to the store and we are looking through the shirts for Ashley and Karly and Ashley starts being grumpy. She is letting out ear-piercing screams every time anybody even looks at her the wrong way. This was not good. So I realize that I have gummy worms in my purse from the movies last night. YES! This will work. She powered down the majority of the worms in less than five minutes and then the rest were strewn around the floor. After picking those up I get a great idea to tell Karly to push the cart around so Ashley will be entertained. That didn't work. Ashley is now throwing items out of my cart and off the racks and laughing hysterically. I am losing it. You know when you lower your voice and whisper to your child and people think you are being calm but in all actually you are whispering threatening words to your child? Yes, that was me.

I couldn't leave just yet because I haven't found anything for Haley and she would be so upset if we left without looking for clothes for her. I start scanning through the clothes as fast as I can and Ashley is now rebelling in any way she can. Ok Emily, put the clothes down. Walk away.
As I was walking up to check out I noticed that I had found quite a few cute things for my girls so that was good. I also found a really cute wreath for my house too so that added to my joy. Sadly, that joy was short lived. We still have the checkout counter. I tell Haley and Karly to go and stand by the doors and I give Ashley my phone to play with. This usually works. She takes my phone and plays with it for a minute and then throws it down. I pick it up and tell her not to throw it again and she says so sweetly, "Otay, Mommy." The next thing I know she's thrown the phone down and the battery has flown out and there's pieces lying around. Now I am flustered because I'm trying to fix my phone, trying to pay, and did I mention that one of the cashiers was getting after my girls for hanging on the doors? That just added to the fun. I was pretty embarrassed. I was just getting ready to tell Haley to quit hanging on the door and the cashier beat me to it.

The cashier that I was with was so sweet. She was telling me that she has girls the same age and they are so hard in the store. I wanted to give her a big hug and tell here thanks for being so nice. As for the other cashier, I have no kind words for her. I know she was doing her job, but sheez lady, not a good time.

I then lectured Ashley all the way to the car and all she had to say was, "We go to DI?!" I said, "We already went there and you were horrible." She gave me this look like she had no idea what I was talking about. Forgive and forget, right? I have forgiven my wild children, but I will not forget this!

Ahhhh, relaxation is so nice.

I can't believe it's already August! Where has the time gone? Wow, I feel like this summer has been a whirlwind of craziness. It's been really fun, but pretty busy! I've gone to Girls Camp, two family reunions, Youth Conference, and lots of fun BBQ's. I've had a really fun summer but I'm left thinking, "What happened to the relaxation?"
The past two weeks Jake has had work off and he went back to work last night and I couldn't help but think that I didn't get lots of good quality time with him. I know, you're wondering how he had two weeks and we didn't get much time together. Let's just say that the week before was preparing for Youth Conference and going to Youth Conference, and this past week has just been crazy with normal day to day things.
Jake was so sweet and didn't mind using a few days of vacation so I could get all of my stuff ready and put together for Youth Conference. We went camping overnight and then the next two days were busy with activities, service projects, etc. The hardest part was cooking for 50. Planning the menu, buying the food, preparing the food, it was exhausting. My counselors and I were talking and we mentioned that it felt like we cooked, cleaned up, repeat. for three days. Everything went really well and we had SO much fun, but I was beyond exhausted when it was over.
After Youth Conference was all done and I was laying on the couch in a daze I asked Jake how it was spending three days with the girls by himself? His answer was, "Exhausting. It's so much work. You have to bathe them, dress them, feed them, and then you clean up a room and it's dirty an hour later. Not to mention the dishes. I get them all done and by the end of the day there's another huge pile waiting. " That gave me a good laugh. Welcome to my world! I don't mean that rudely to Jake because he is more than helpful, but it is funny that he gets a little taste of what it's like to be a stay at home Mom. It's not easy. It definitely has it perks, but it's not a piece of cake.
Anyways, now that all of the summer activities are over I can finally relax!!! I am going to hopefully enjoy the last couple of weeks of summer with my girls. We went to the Library yesterday and got lots of books and DVD's. I have been reading a few books by Robert Smith and they are so hilarious. I've read Bitten and now I'm reading Love's Labors Tossed. This tells you how funny they are. I will be down in my room with the door closed and the cooler on and Jake can still hear me laughing hysterically. Ok, that wasn't a good example. Those of you that know me are thinking, "Your laugh could be heard across a busy highway. " That is true, my friends. Anyways, all I have to say is that these books are dang funny and I'm loving them. So, here's to the next two weeks. Hopefully it will involve lots of reading, watching movies, and enjoying time with my kids before the busy school year starts again!