Jake's 6th Birthday

Today is Jake's 6th birthday! He has always been physically and emotionally older than his age. He grew up so fast that I can hardly remember him as a baby. 6 things that you need to know about Jake:

1. Jake's name is an acronym that stands for all of the members of my family.
J - Jana & James
A - Aaron & Allison
K - Kelli & Kyle
E - Elizabeth (my mom)

and his middle name is Bradley after my dad2. Jake is an extremely gifted athlete. He has had a perfect jump shot since he was one. He can mimic the actions of any athlete. So, for example, when he was 3 and had never golfed before, he was given a club and could swing it correctly simply because he watched golfers on tv.
3. Jake's hobbies have only been about sports until recently. He has discovered Pokemon cards and is completely addicted.

4. Jake makes friends easily. He is well-liked by all. For how loud and crazy he is at home, though, it surprises me that he is really reserved when we are in public.
5. Jake likes to dress up according to what is going on. If he's playing football with the kids outside, he absolutely has to have a football uniform on. If the kids decide to then play hunting in the field, Jake has to come in and get his camouflage on. Then if the kids decide to play cowboys, he has to come in and change again. (And people wonder why I have so much laundry to do!)

6. Jake really loves his brothers. He and Max love to talk for hours in their beds before they fall asleep. Before he goes to Kindergarten everyday, he plays with Devin for several hours. Devin absolutely adores Jake. I feel totally comfortable leaving Jake with Mason for a few minutes at a time if I have to run somewhere really fast. He will be a great babysitter. The following is a picture of Jake after I told him that he was in charge of Devin & Mason for 10 minutes. He came out in his combat gear saying, "Jake's in command. Sir, yessir!"

I don't know what we would do without him. He definitely brings a lot of life and excitement into our home.

Happy Birthday, Jake. We all love you!

Valentine's Day

Is it too late to discuss Valentine's Day? In years past, I have thoroughly hated this holiday. My expectations were too high, and I actually wanted a very creative day planned and executed in my behalf. That never happened.

Recently, I have come to enjoy this holiday. I enjoy doing little things for my kids and little things for Nate. We don't go all out on this day, but we all at least think about each other with the little things that we do.

Valentine's morning, I actually woke up early and made breakfast for my family. Now, this may seem like a normal thing -- maybe something that you do every morning at your homes -- but our family is all about cereal for breakfast. So, making breakfast really means that I put forth effort.

I wrote a little Valentine for each of my kids and gave them a little gift. Pokemon cards for Max & Jake, a little football for Devin, and a big bath sponge for Mason.For Nate, I found a copy of his favorite children's book, and I bought him a bathroom Sonic Scrubber.
Sounds like a really dumb gift, right? But it's perfect! Nate likes to sit and meditate in the shower while scrubbing the grout on the Travertine. So, to help him out, I bought him an electronic scrubber. He was actually excited about this. And, my shower doesn't look half bad, either, after he's scrubbed it everyday.

Nate bought me a single red rose. It was beautiful!

He also bought me Heart's greatest hits. I think that Ann Wilson has one of the most powerful, effortless voices. I've enjoyed it.

We then ordered out and watched "The Devil Wears Prada."

Overall, a very relaxed and enjoyable day -- no expectations, which resulted in happiness all around.

Jenn sent me a lovely package in the mail -- which included an adorable hand towel. (I ate the rest.)Michelle sent me a beautiful hand-made card. Once again, her creativity is amazing and definitely from the heart. (And, sadly it's almost 2:00 am and blogger will not let me add the picture of this beautiful card! Ahhh!!!!!) Anyway, thank you Michelle for thinking of me.

Tagged (from Jenn & Claudia)

6 Weird Things About Me

1. I have a real problem with certain sounds. I can't listen to:

• a box being scraped on the concrete
• someone writing with a pencil that is not sharp
• shoes being shuffled on the sidewalk
• birds chirping in the late night or early morning
• someone shoveling snow off of their sidewalk

2. I can eat almost anything except a combination of mint & chocolate

3. Thanksgiving is my least favorite holiday

4. I didn't own a pair of jeans in highschool. Being from Arizona, I wore a lot of shorts and mini skirts.

5. I have an awful habit of picking my lip. My sister has a very prominent point on her lip -- that not one person notices but me -- but that always bugged me growing up. I was afraid that I would develop this pointed lip, so I started picking my upper lip. Sadly, it's become quite a habit to this day. And even more depressing is that I don't even notice this pointy lip on my sister any more.

6. I have a very noticeable hand raise -- like you would raise your hand in class. I was an extra in the movie "Singles Ward" in the Family Home Evening scene. After the movie was released, I had a really good friend from Arizona call me to ask if I was in that movie. I had not talked to her for quite a while, and she had no idea that I was even asked to be in it. I couldn't figure out how she would even have noticed me without knowing to look for me. She said that she and her husband were watching the movie in the theater, and she turned to her husband and said that I was definitely in that movie. She recognized me not by my face but by my hand raise.

6 Things That Make Me Happy

1. Watching "24" with Nate at night after the kids have gone to sleep while we both work on our laptops.

2. Being in my craft room upstairs by myself.

3. Spools of ribbon

4. Summer time -- sandals, swimming, tanning, ice cream, the beach

5. My decorating epiphanies. I can't decorate anything in my house until I get what I call a decorating ephipany. So, for example, I have a James Christiansen picture that I framed for myself 2 years ago. I could not hang it up until I found the perfect table to put underneath it. I couldn't hang curtains until I found the perfect fabric. I can't frame a picture for myself until I can see the colors in my head and can picture the arrangement on the wall. I couldn't finish hanging hooks in the mud room until I could envision how it would look. But when these epiphanies come, there is no stopping me. I have to get the project done right away. I'm still waiting for the epiphany for my music room. I want to totally change it, but I haven't received the ephipany about the paint color, the pictures for the wall, the arrangement of the furniture, etc. So, for now, I don't like to look at my music room, but I'm confident that the epiphany will eventually come.

6. Devin waking up in the morning with his hair looking like Dupree from the movie "You, Me, & Dupree" and having him running and giving me a hug and shouting, "Good Morning, Mom!" and then laughing maniacally.

Little Bits of Heaven

Well, judging from the last time that I posted -- 2 months ago!!! -- I would assume that everyone will understand how out of control I've been. This post can easily be several pages long, so this is definitely for my own benefit and documentation.

My last post read that "Hell Has Frozen Over". Well, if it has indeed frozen, then I won't dwell on anything hellish that has happened recently and focus on the little bits of heaven that even adversity can provide. Let me tell you about pieces of heaven that I have experienced since my last post.

Thanksgiving:
My family came up to Utah to spend Thanksgiving here. This was also the first time any of them had met Mason.

(My brother, Kyle, with Mason Kyle Jensen)

There were 19 of us all together. We took advantage of the neighbor's vacant house next door while they are away on a mission and sent half over there to sleep.

(Me with my mom & two sisters)

While everyone was here, my mom told me that there was a time in her life when she felt like she had lost all control and organization of her home and life and it took her a while to pull herself back together. I think that this holiday season was that time for me. I'm pretty put together, but after the stress that has happened over the past year and a half --miscarriages, a funeral, a baby, sickness, etc., I think that I about lost it and that I am just barely starting to recover.

The little bit of heaven that happened during Thanksgiving was Mason's blessing.

(Mason's blessing)

We blessed Mason right after Thanksgiving on a Saturday afternoon in the Relief Society room of our chapel. All of Nate's family was there except for an uncle and a cousin. All of my family was there except for Trudy -- but I know that she was there in spirit. Both Nate & I have been blessed with wonderful families. I put together a little program for the blessing -- my sisters sang and both of our dads spoke. I loved every minute of it.

Another bit of heaven that happened during Thanksgiving was that my sister, Kelli, put together a talent show where everyone in my entire family participated. In my own little family, Nate sang and played a song on the guitar, I played a piano solo that I had arranged, Max played a fabulous song on the piano, Jake played a little song on the guitar (although he hadn't started lessons, yet), Devin played "Star Wars" on the piano (an imitation of Max's piano playing), Mason's talent was just looking cute.

(Max playing piano solo)

The talent show ended with a several page poem that my dad wrote about our family. He is known for his poetry writing -- usually at Christmas time. It was very touching...I may have to

try to type it into this blog some time.

(Dad reading his poem during the talent show)

Sickness
If you will remember, we all got the flu -- including Mason -- when Mason was only 2 weeks old. Then, we all know that this family can never get through the holidays without some kind of illness. I got mastitis during the Thanksgiving holiday. Soon after, I got the shingles. The little bit of heaven that always comes with any illness in our family is that I have so many absolutely wonderful friends who help me. I am forever indebted to them for their kindness.

Reflections Contest:
Max and Jake were both honored in the Reflections contest a couple of months ago. Max wrote the story: "Why Blockbuster Is My Favorite Place" about how Blockbuster brings our family closer together because we can watch movies together as a family. He won 2nd place in his division and was asked to read his story that night. Jake wrote a story called "Trudy B. Loved". His story was about how Disneyland is his favorite place. We went to Disneyland with Trudy and her kids when we went to Newport Beach on a family trip about 3 years ago. Then after Trudy died, we went to Disneyland with Aaron & his boys for Thanksgiving last year. As you walk up the pathway going into the Haunted Mansion, there is a tombstone that reads "Trudy B. Loved". Jake's story talks about how Trudy loved Disneyland, too. He won Honorable Mention in his division. I was proud of both of them.

(Disneyland - Thanksgiving 2005. This is obviously not the Haunted Mansion, but I didn't take a lot of pictures because I was hurting and just starting a miscarriage that I didn't tell anybody about. But, that's a different story.)

Mason -- my little bit of heaven:
Mason is an absolute angel who has brought so much happiness. He has the cutest bright eyes. All 3 of his brothers love him and are big helpers. Mason has slept for 6 hours during the night since he was one month old. He now sleeps between 7-10 hours at night time and is taking about (3) couple of hour naps. He only cries when he is hungry and only fusses a little when he is tired. I know that I have been absolutely spoiled with all of my children being very good sleepers, but I've needed it.

(Mason 2 month)

(Mason's 1st Day of Church -- December 10th)

Christmas:
After baby, flu, Thanksgiving, mastitis, and shingles, it was time to get ready for Christmas. We thought that after 11 years of traveling over Christmas, we were ready to stay home for the holiday. A bit of persuasion by Nate's family meant that we were going to Vegas for Christmas. This time, however, four kids meant that it was nearly impossible for Santa to travel with us. My kids were totally understanding and knew that Santa would have something for them when we got back home.

A few things made our travel plans a little bit difficult. The first one was that BYU played at the Las Vegas bowl on December 21st & 22nd (definitely not an option to miss in Nate's book). The second was that I had already committed to play the violin with the little orchestra in my ward for the Christmas Eve Sacrament meeting program -- and we all know how I feel about following through on committments. So, Nate went to the Las Vegas bowl on the 21st & 22nd. He drove back home to help me pack up and get ready, and then we drove back to Vegas on Christmas Eve after the Sacrament program. I will honestly admit that I was very unhappy packing, buying presents, and mentally preparing to travel.

(Nate's mom with Isaac and Mason)

The little bit of heaven that happened over Christmas was that this was one of my favorite trips to Vegas. Nate's mother was and always has been a very good hostess. We went to a couple of movies, ate really well, went shopping at the fabulous outlet malls there, played fun games (my favorite was Clue on DVD), and even went to Vegas's version of the Price is Right. (I was very disappointed that I didn't get to be a contestant. I would have rocked!) Now that it is all over, the holidays seem to have been perfect.

(Jake with Nate's dad, Steve)

Mason's 3-Month Birthday
Mason turned 3-months old on January 15th. Time goes so fast. This is my favorite stage -- they can respond, laugh, cuddle. I can't get enough of this baby. Heaven to me is just holding him.

(Mason's 3 month)

My Heaven:
I have been extremely blessed in my life. No matter the trials and hardships, I can never doubt that the Lord has given me an abundance. I am grateful for all those who make my life a little more like heaven everyday.

Hell has frozen over

When we first got married, Nate swore that we would never be a mini-van family. Newly married and no kids, we were driving a hot red Toyota Celica. Then as kids started coming, we progressed into the SUV stage and have been there for the past 7 years. Now with baby #4, Nate decided that it was time to get a mini van. I started laughing, but he was serious. He said that it was time that we had easier access for the kids. Totally makes sense, but still was not the Nate that I know. I only had two criteria:

1. It had to have a powerful engine because I am a lead-foot.
   
2. Both doors had to open automatically with the push of a button
   for the ease of carpooling.
   

Well, our fabulous car salesman neighbor found us one. It's a good thing, because our registration on the Explorer has been expired for one year. (I did get pulled over right before the baby was born and was somehow let off with a smile. I don't know if I would be as lucky next time.) So, as of this evening, our garage now houses a mercury-colored mini van.

In other fabulous news, Jill gave me this absolutely adorable monogrammed towel for Mason. So cute! I love the ribbon, too. Thank you so much, Jill!

Somewhat normal again

As of today, we are somewhat normal people again. My poor 2-week old baby got the stomach flu on Wednesday night that lasted through Friday. On top of the flu, he had a croup-sounding cough that was kind of scary. I almost took him to the emergency room on Thursday night, but thought that I would wait until Friday. Luckily, he felt better on Friday. He has slept on my stomach for the past 3 nights so that he wouldn't choke if he threw up or coughed.


Wednesday night, my fabulous book club friends gave me a little baby shower with the 6 of us. They are the most giving and thoughtful people. I received some adorable clothes, the softest blankets ever, and a photo session with Jill (I am sooooo excited!). And, of course, a great assortment of yummy food. Naturally, I just took for granted that Jill would document the event with pictures; so, sadly you'll have to look at her site for pictures of the fun occasion.

With this crazy flu that has been storming through this house, I still have not written about Halloween. The kids picked out their outfits this year (thank goodness for costumes that you can buy for under $20!). Max was batman, Jake was a black Ninja, Devin was a "BIOOO" (BYU) football player, and Mason was a giraffe. Now this sounds great; however, I believe that there is always trauma that comes with Halloween. It happens every year. Let's see if I can document this correctly.

• Max's batman costume was a button-in-the-back costume. He wore the costume to school, so we were just praying that he didn't have to go to the bathroom, because it would be very embarrassing to have to ask the girl teacher to button him back up. (He didn't have to go, thank goodness.) But, the batman costume has flashing lights that you can turn on and off. The wire to turn the lights on and off was hooked up to the back, so we had to rig the costume to have the wire run down his arm -- heaven forbid that he couldn't turn the batman light on by himself during the Halloween parade!

• Jake's costume was supposed to be a white ninja. Of course, he opened the package before Halloween and has been wearing it around the house. Well, the morning of the Halloween parade at school, he couldn't find the white ninja mask. He couldn't possibly wear the costume without the mask! So, 10 minutes before his ride was coming and very upset about the mask, he decided to go as a karate person with his somewhat dirty karate outfit. But, for trick-or-treating, he didn't want to be the karate person, he wanted to find the ninja mask. It was not to be found. So, I let him open the black ninja costume that I was going to return because Max decided to be batman. Unfortunately, now the white shoes that he was going to wear didn't match the black ninja outfit. And, he was furious with Max for wearing the black shoes to go with his black batman costume. 15 minutes late for trunk-or-treating, we finally got him to wear the black cowboy boots. What a tragedy to have to wear cowboy boots when you're a ninja!!!
  

• Devin, for some reason, decided that he was not going to wear any of the many costumes that we have in the Halloween bucket. (Although, he has been wearing them around the house perfectly happy for the past how many days!) So, once again, late for trunk-or-treating, we asked him what he wanted to be. "BIOOOOO" (BYU) football, he said. Great! We could pull together a costume like that in this house full of BYU fans. But, unfortunately we couldn't find our BYU jersey. So, we put any shirt on with a number and gave him the BYU helmet that is broken to wear. He was pleased as can be.

• Mason was a giraffe. The outfit was 12-months, but I just couldn't fathom buying a new outfit when I wasn't even going to take him out trick-or-treating. So, I let him curl up in the costume just for pictures. So cute!

Yeah! Halloween is over. It's definitely not my favorite holiday. Bah humbug to me!

Thank You!

We have sadly had a horrible case of the flu here this past week. Devin had it last Wednesday, Nate had it Friday & Saturday, and I got it last night. My laundry room is out of control. Because we have been dealing with so much sickness, the mailbox was left unopened this past week. I had to laugh at Nate as he finally went to the mailbox and stumbled in with his arms full. He said that he almost had to make two trips.

I was so pleasantly surprised with the many thoughtful things in that mailbox for me and for my family.

Jill sent me such a sweet card welcoming Mason into the world. Thanks, Jill!

Amy Hanks sent me the most unbelievable package. She made this adorable, pink, girlie, purse just for me. Amy is one of the most talented people that I know. She also included a mystery book for me to read. I love to read mystery and suspense novels. Thank you so much, Amy!!!


Jenn sent a cute Halloween package for the boys. They absolutely love to get mail. She sent Mason some adorable Halloween pjs, and there was even a little goodie bag for me! Thank you so much, Jenn!

Jenny Clouse also sent me the sweetest package. A Sudoku puzzle book -- those puzzles really relax me, a note pad and stickers, and the cutest outfits for Mason. I absolutely adore little velour outfits. Thank you so much for thinking of me, Jenny!!!

I really appreciate everything that everyone has done for us -- the meals, the calls, the notes, the packages. Thank you.

He's Here!!!

First of all, thank you so much for all of your sweet comments on your blogs. Thank you for thinking of me.

Mason Kyle Jensen
Born: October 15, 2006
Time: 8:02 am
Weight: 9 lbs. 12 oz.
Length: 21 inches

Yes, my plan worked somehow. I had this baby on the 15th. I am very stubborn and strong-willed, but we all know that. The irony is that my induction was scheduled for 7 am on the 15th, but my water broke at 2:06 am. I went into labor on my own for the very first time -- on the day that I wanted! The other ironic thing is that I was talking to my neighbor a couple of days before telling her that she might be getting a call at 2 am on that day because my body just might be listening to me. And then my water broke at about 2 am!


So, after my water broke, we really didn't have a plan because we had a bunch of helpers scheduled in shifts for the next day. Although I did tell my neighbor that I would call, she has a nursing baby and her husband is the bishop. Sunday is not exactly the best day for the bishop's wife to not have any sleep and to have to get 5 kids ready for church on her own the next day. So, we ended up calling Nate's cousin and wife who don't have any kids to come and sleep over with the kids. We left and called them while en route to the hospital hoping that they would answer and would get to our house quickly. It all worked great.


After I was checked in and set up in a room, I was officially checked into the hospital at about 3:30 am. Because I wasn't progressing very quickly, they started the Petocin to get things moving a bit faster. My contractions at that time weren't too bad because they were all in my stomach, not my back. As the time got closer to about 5:45 am, my contractions were about 5 minutes apart and moving quite strongly to my back. I asked for my epidural, but I still had about 15 minutes left of the Petocin to work through my body. Then, it took the anesthetist about 10 more minutes to get to my room. By the time he got there, my contractions were about 1 1/2 minutes apart -- all in my back -- and I was in intense pain. I had a fabulous nurse, though, who talked me through every contraction. It took about 20 minutes to get the epidural in my back and working. I was in so much pain that my back kept arching and it was hard for him to get the needle in place. They had me sit up and hold onto Nate's arms and neck. He had bright red scratch marks on him after those excruciating 20 minutes. As a matter of fact, after the epidural was finally in my back, I heard the nurse say, "You don't look so good. You better lie down." I was about to lie down when I realized that everyone in the room was not looking at me, but at Nate! It was like a scene from a movie when everyone forgets about the woman in intense labor pain and instead all their attention is on the poor husband who doesn't look so good. Nate had his head bent down with my nails clawing at him and his knees locked. He was pale and sickly green when I let go and he almost passed out. Although at the time I had absolutely no sympathy and actually said, "YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!"


My doctor arrived at about 7:30 am dressed in his suit -- he had to leave his Bishopric meeting. He said that when the nurse called him at 3:30 am and told him that I had been admitted, he just started laughing. I think that my doctor was the only person who realized that I was serious about this baby coming on the 15th. At least someone had faith in me!

I think that the anesthetist felt bad about all of the pain I had and gave me an extra dose of something, because I could not feel my legs until about 4 hours after I gave birth. I felt pretty stupid when people had to literally pick me up to move me to different beds, or to put my feet in the stirrups.

Mason was born at 8:02 am and was 9 lbs. 12 oz. -- my biggest baby! We named him Mason Kyle Jensen. (Mason just because I like it, and Kyle after my brother) I absolutely love his name, although it sounds a lot like Nathan, so people think that we named him after Nate. I hope that it's not a huge problem as he is growing up.


I spent every minute that I could in the hospital. I had such kinds nurses taking care of me. Although with the epidural, I didn't feel the pain of giving birth to such a large baby, I sure did feel the pain afterwards. In fact, they kept giving me Percocet to help lessen the pain; but, my body isn't used to so much pain medication, so one night, I just threw it all up.

Nate and Jake came to pick us up from the hospital on Tuesday morning. I found out that Nate brought Jake to the emergency room at the same hospital the night before because he had asthma and croup so badly that he couldn't breathe. They were kind enough not to call me knowing that I would just freak out and feel that I had to be with him. Poor Jake.

Mason is an absolute angel. He rarely cries and sleeps so well during the day, and as of last night, during the night as well. I have the best 4 little boys in the world!

Almost Ready

I can't even begin to tell you how much I have been able to accomplish the last couple of weeks.

1. The crib is ready
2. All the baby clothes are washed & ironed & hung
3. I finished (7)of the pictures that I still had to do. Now I only have (4) left.
4. The dishwasher is fixed -- thanks to (3) gallons of vinegar and (1) fabulous bottle of Dishwasher Magic (it really does do wonders!)
5. We found the most fabulous plumber who didn't charge us a thing to fix the sink in the bathroom, the plug in the tub, he tightened and fixed valves on the water heater, and gave me advise on the dishwasher. Does anybody need to know his name? He's definitely going to be my plumber of choice when we finish our basement.
6. I got a pedicure -- thanks to my fabulous book club friends. I kept one last pedicure to use right before this baby. Nobody should have a baby without cute toes!!!
7. I finally packed my bag
8. The kids have outfits washed and ironed for a few days
9. The kids' homework is organized and ready to go

I went to the doctor on Monday for my last check. I haven't even started to dialate, yet. Ironically, my Cabbage Patch feet went away and now my feet only swell if I sit for hours at a time in one spot -- like I did at church and at Young Womens when we made jewelry. I still have fluffy Scarlett Johansson lips, though. Tuesday (the 10th) was my due date. The doctor will induce me whenever I want. I honestly almost asked to just get it over with on the 10th (just to make sure that I have a date with a multiple of 5); however, I decided to gamble and try to hold out until the 15th. And, yes...the doctor does know that the 15th is a Sunday. He told me that after what I went through last year with the two miscarriages, he will do whatever I ask. So, the induction is scheduled for Sunday the 15th. Now, let's just hope that I don't go into labor on Friday the 13th. Wouldn't that be a slap in the face!!! I'll keep you posted

Company for Conference Weekend

We have had a rush of company again this Conference weekend, which is nothing abnormal, but why is it that so many crazy things seem to happen to us before company arrives?

Nate's parents and sister and her family came into town and stayed with Nate's other sister. My sister Alli and her husband and new little baby came as well and stayed with us. The night before they arrived, the pilot light on our hot water heater decided to stop working causing a leak in the basement and no hot water upstairs. I could not do dishes, and I could not do laundry. And, I had to give everybody a sponge bath because we could not take showers. With that, the problems with our house now also included:

1. Broken dishwasher
2. Plugged pipes in the laundry room
3. Clogged sink and tub in master
4. A/C still broken
5. Our nice big screen tv decided to blow some of the color tubes that we will have to fix because the picture is kind of fuzzy

It was unbelievable. Our house is only 4 years old!!! While we were trying to deal with this, the bunk beds finally arrived. Actually, I shouldn't say that they arrived, because they didn't on their own. I was told that they would be here last Saturday, so we took all the beds apart and moved the crib only for Bassett not to show up last Saturday because some of the parts had not arrived. Then I was told that they would come on Monday -- nope, not Monday either. I called again on Wednesday and was finally told that the part had arrived, but that they didn't have enough delivery men there to deliver it. I told the supervisor that I did not care how it got here, but the beds would be delivered to my house that day and that he would have to figure out how to get it here. The supervisor delivered it himself. Cute bunk bed, but I'm done with Bassett.

The great news is that Devin absolutely loves his new big boy bed. It was a brilliant plan on my part to buy him the train bed comforter. He stayed in his new bed from night #1. Yeah!!!

Although we had company this weekend, Nate and the boys had already planned on going to the Boise State vs. Utah State game with some friends in the neighborhood. I've always thought that Nate was an intense BYU fan, but he is nothing compared to this neighbor who is a Boise State fan. He bought about 50 tickets to the game and had shirts made for everybody who went. Then he created his own tailgate party and painted all the boys with orange/blue hair and painted their faces. My boys had a blast.

By the way, we did figure out the hot water problem. My fabulous neighbor who is the wife of a heating/plumbing specialist gave us a few tips. They worked. She saved us a lot of money. We were all able to take showers this weekend. (Although there is still a slow leak in the basement and the dishwasher still doesn't work!!!)

And...I do have pictures taken of most of the above but I don't know how to get them off of my camera because somehow I didn't put the memory card back in from the last time that I used it. So, once again, I've messed up with the camera. At the end of the day, it's just nice to know that we had a good time with our company and we're still trying to piece our house back together and to get ready for this baby.

Brotherly Love and Craziness As Usual

Today found Devin in time out -- once again. This time for writing on the kitchen table with a marker. (He's lucky that it was washable marker, but it is still unacceptable.) Devin usually sits in his time out chair quietly until I go in and talk to him; but today, he just screamed. When the screaming stopped, I went in to talk to him, only to find Jake holding him and quieting him down. It was so cute. Those two are really good friends.

Jake was invited to a boy/girl birthday party today. Since entering Kindergarten, he suddenly thinks that girls have cooties. Once he found out that this was a cowboy birthday party, though, he couldn't stop talking about it and was so excited to go. It was a very cute party and looked like it took a lot of preparation. They had the little girls grandfather bring his shetland horses to the party and he gave all of the kids a ride in a buggy. It was so cute. They even let Devin and Max ride in the buggy, which really made everyone happy. It brought back memories for me. I had a little shetland pony named Spunky when I was little and we had a buggy that our horses would pull. I love horses.

(Jake with Mindy the shetland pony)

This weekend was pretty full, as usual. But, it was also fun. This was our Saturday schedule:
9:00 -- Jake's last soccer game
1:00 -- Max's last soccer game
1:00 -- BYU game (Nate went with some friends)
5:00 -- Max's 1st basketball game
6:30 -- I went to dinner with some friends
9:00 -- Nate watches a football game with some friends
The rest of the evening: I plan my Young Women's lesson. I was definitely not prepared.


We were almost late for Jake's 9:00 soccer game on Saturday because we couldn't find Devin's soccer shirt. Even though he is only 2, he thinks that he is also on the team, and he won't go to the game without his soccer shirt.

(Devin thinks that he was the star player of the soccer team.)

(Devin)

(Max)

(Jake with 2 of his good friends)

By the way, whatever rule changes they have made to football is fabulous. The BYU game started at 1:00, and Nate was home and ready to go to Max's basketball game with us at 5:00. It's great!

Max's 1st basketball game went well. Basketball is currently his favorite sport. I'm glad that he has so many good friends in the neighborhood because it is fun to be on the same sports teams with them.

(Devin eating a cinnamon roll during the basketball game.)

After Max's basketball game, I went out to dinner with a few friends. (The boys gave us time off so that they could get together later that evening to watch another football game.) We went to Macaroni Grill -- it was yummy.

I hope that you all had a fun weekend, too.

Good Mail, Good Friends, Good Family

This past Saturday began with an unusually freezing day of soccer games. Unfortunately, we all woke up at 8:30 to get to Jake's 9:00 soccer game and didn't even step outside until after we were all dressed in shorts and sandals. It was freezing!!!!!! The other spectators were dressed in winter coats, and my poor kids were frozen. Max spent the game buried under two blankets. Devin just curled up in a fetal position with Nate holding him. I felt like a horrible mother. I did dress the kids a little warmer for Max's 12:00 soccer game, and we were just fine until it decided to rain/hail on us. Of course, we didn't have umbrellas or hoods, so we were drenched.

My Saturday ended up on a much happier note when we got home from the games and got the mail. I got good mail on Saturday!!!!!!!! Talk about a happy day. The first package was from Michelle. Inside was a cute little journal (I love to write!), Reese's Pieces (my favorite), and ribbon (blissfully beautiful).

The next package was from Jill. Inside were 6 spools of ribbon. (Have I ever mentioned that I would love to have a whole wall of just ribbon? I don't know what it is about it, but ribbon just makes me smile.) There was also a CD of mellow music. Oh......happy, happy day.


THANK YOU, MICHELLE AND JILL!!! What fabulous friends you are. Thank you for thinking of me.

Saturday was also Nate's birthday. Of course, birthday boys get to do whatever they want to on their birthdays. And, in this house, a fun birthday includes sports. So, we all sat and watched the BYU game on tv. (Well, let me clarify. I sat for 5 minutes here and there until the 4th quarter and then I watched the last 7 minutes.) This would have been a perfect way for Nate to spend his birthday had BYU won.

I decided to make Nate's favorite cake -- Red Velvet -- from scratch. I had never made this cake before, and I'm not one for making a cake from scratch when the mix tastes just as good. But, I decided to do something a little different. It took me an hour to make this cake -- I followed every direction. (Surprise, surprise.) My plan was to have a little birthday cake and then to take our little family to the Mayan for dinner. The kids have always wanted to watch the cliff divers there. Now, you will remember that whenever I plan something to do and/or make something that takes a long time, someone always calls and invites us to do something. It happens every time. Well...this time was no different. Just as I finished frosting the cake, Nate's aunt called to see if we wanted to have a little birthday party for Nate, Nate's great aunt, and Nate's grandfather (who was in town from Idaho.) Of course, the answer was "that would be great!" They had reserved a club house, which meant that I didn't have to do anything at my house and didn't have to clean (woo-hoo!!!).

So...the Red Velvet cake went uneaten, we'll go to the Mayan next week, and the little party at the club house was a success. Nate's aunts prepared all the food -- we had yummy tacos, carne asada, and salad, store-bought birthday cake, and just talked. It was fun and I'm glad that we went.

(Picture of Nate with his grandfather and great aunt, LeAnn)

Overall, this was a great weekend. It ended on Sunday when Nate told me that he and the boys would do the dishes and that I needed a nap. I didn't need much persuading. I went right to sleep and slept for 3 hours, uninteruppted!!! It was a good thing that I got the nap, too, because last night I could not sleep at all. The baby's head felt like it was stuck in my pelvis and it gave me the worst cramp. So...I had to try to sleep sitting up. Then, every time I turned, some part of his body hit my bladder and I had to go to the bathroom. From 3:00-3:30 am, I went to the bathroom 4 times!!!!!! Overall last night, I probably went to the bathroom about 10 times. I haven't gotten a good sleep in a long time. But...I guess that last night was technically the start of this week. So, that means that this weekend was just blissfully happy.