The unknown...

So all of my time lately has been job hunting - for Sam. All of my thoughts are - get Sam a job. Where is he going to get hired?? When is he going to get hired??

We FINALY successfully sold the business -- which is great and scary. It's such a huge blessing that we were able to sell it - especially in this economy. But that also has stopped our monthly income. Yes we sold it - but we can't touch the money yet because we have to figure out taxes and then split it up between my family members that were a part of the business too. So I don't even know how much we'll even get after all that. Taxes suck!

Anyways....the unknown is killing me. Sam graduates next month!! So we need to have things figured out - like now. When I think too much about it I start to freak myself out. Sam has basically been a student our whole marriage - our 11 year anniversary is a month from today. It doesn't really seem real that he will be done with school. Especially when he says those funny little things like - I think someday I'll go back and get my doctorate.

I wish I could just know the future then I could wrap my brain around it and be prepared - for whatever may come. But for now - I'll just slowly go crazy day by day. ;)

Wish us luck.

Addie's 9th Birthday

Yes I said 9th!! So crazy. She seriously needs to stop growing - they all do. So this years party theme was Minute to Win It. If any of you don't know what that is -- it's a game show where contestants have 1 minute to complete these random little tasks - mostly using household items. Pretty fun. We looked up the shows website and read over all their games and chose which ones would be most appropriate for kid ages - although we made the adults play as well. You'll see video of that below.

For the cake - Addie asked AGAIN for a chocolate gooey cake. Which I love - but cant really decorate too much. So this year I found this cute idea found here and did that. Turned out pretty cute.

First video is my favorite -- it's my mom playing a game with an orange in the bottom of pantyhose - pantyhose on head - swinging it back and forth trying to knock over water bottles. There is video of Addie doing it too - but it's just not as funny as seeing my mom do it :)
This last video is called Cookie Face. They are supposed to place a cookie on their forehead and inch it down their face into their mouths. Everyone just cheated in this one. But it was funny to watch them try.

*** there is tissue all over the floor from a previous game -- they had to pull all of the tissue out of the tissue box in 1 minute using only one hand. We had 4 players with 4 boxes going at the same time -- so it was a little messy :)

Halloween 2011

I mentioned on facebook that these costumes are not original but they sure make my kids happy. Well except for Gwen - these top few photos are the only ones where you will see her in her pirate hat. She decided she looked weird in it and refused to wear it. But we made her put it on for the pics then she got the go ahead to take it off. Little turkey.

Jackson as Thor!! He's so strong and manly. :)
Gwen as Captain Jack Sparrow -- but rubbed off all the makeup I put on her and then wouldn't keep the hat and hair on. So turned more into a girl pirate.
Addie as Cinderella.
We (my family, Keith's family and Misty's family) went out to Corvallis to this big carnival thing that they put on out at the fair grounds. They have lots of games and fun activities to do - including bounce houses. Here we are on a horse drawn wagon ride....
They also give horse rides to the kids - which they think is AWESOME!!


It was a fun year. We met up with Jessica's and Tony's families and went around a neighborhood together. The kids had lots of fun running from house to house together. The hardest person to get to stop trick or treating and go home - was Sam. :)

Hey Batter Batter

While raking the back yard the other day Sam decided he was going to pop one of the kids balls with the rake. Our rake was one of those wood handle ones with the heavy medal prongs -- well the ball must be indestructible because instead of popping the ball - the rake broke.(serves Sam right for trying to pop the kids toys ;)

We had the wood handle laying around - so the other day Sam got the idea of making it into a bat for Jackson. I guess he has some tools for that because he was out in the garage for a while and when he came back in - it looked like a tiny little bat! Then he decided he would burn Jackson's name into the side of it. Then he put about a million coats of clear finish on it. It's been pretty cute to see how excited he has been making this for Jax.

It's all dry now and we tried it out this morning. Jackson loves it! (of course)

I swear - we really need to get this kid into some kind of sport - he is so good at everything he tries. As you can tell the bat is super skinny - then we used a tennis ball which is not the biggest target - and the boy could still hit it!! Plus he LOVES it!! He could throw a ball all day long. He'll even just throw a ball (or a rock, or a stick, or a piece of garbage) in the air and catch it by himself over and over and over and over. Never seems to get sick of it. Sam and I just watch and laugh because of how long it keeps him happy.

I love him! :)

Fun at the Pumpkin Patch

We didn't get pumpkins - it wasn't even Oct. yet when we went. But we bought a groupon so we made a trip out - and I would say it was worth the drive. (Which is maybe 45 min.)

Our groupon also let us have 4 kids - so we brought my nephew Dallin with us - making the trip that much more fun because Dallin is VERY excited about everything!! It's fun to be around.

So this place was huge. They gave us a map because it was so big. And we went on a weekday - so all of the attractions weren't going - but still there was lots to do. But I think it would be fun to go on a weekend to try the other stuff AND to eat. They had apple donuts and apple cider slushies - but they only sell them on the weekends.

Sam the Goat Whisperer
Obstacle Course. In this picture it looks like they are successfully climbing up that. But I don't think they ever made it all the way to the top. It was super slippery. I tried to help Jackson up and gave up because I kept slipping.
They had a 9 hole golf course with these over sized balls and mallets.
This is one attraction that only runs on the weekends -- but Jackson was happy just to sit in it without it moving. :)
These slides were everyones favorites. They were fast and a lot of fun.

Summer Wrap Up

We had a pretty busy summer - as you might be able to tell since I have not updated this in a while. We drove down to California for a little Ward Family reunion. Sam's sister Kaydell lives in Georgia and we haven't seen her in a few years - but she was coming to visit - so Rich's family and Raeleen's family drove down from Washington and we drove down from Oregon. It was a fun week. Here are some highlights...

Our first day we went to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom (aka Marine World). This was a very fun day - we got to ride on rides (well Sam got to - I was stuck with the kids on the kid rides) - and we got to see lots of fun animal shows

We sat in the "splash zone" for the whale show -- Addie and Faith got the worst of it. :)
Our next day we went to the Oakland Temple. It was fun to take the kids to the place where Sam and I got married.
After the temple we spent the day at the beach. It was a perfect day out and we had lots of fun. At the end of our day we went to check out the light house.
With the rest of our time we spent our days doing this......... Just hanging out visiting in the Ward's backyard. And this was actually one of my favorite things to do.
As we sat there we watched this...........
The kids loved the "country" entertainment. :) Finally we took some family pictures. We are missing a brother and some brother in laws - but here is most of us.
Before we left California we got to stay a night with Amber's family up in El Dorado Hills. We went to a drive in movie and saw The Smurf movie. The kids spoke "smuf" for weeks after that. It was smurfing great!!
From California we drove over to Utah. We went for my cousins wedding but we went early so we could spend a couple of days with one of my very best friends - Christie. It's always a good time with Christie. Even when I get a kid sick in bed all day when we were suppose to go play at the lake. Anyways......... here we are at their local baseball teams game - Go Blue Sox!! (or something like that?!?!)
Then onto the wedding of my cousin Kiersten. It was so fun to see all the family and spend time together. It was a great trip and I'm so glad we were able to go.

Here are the kids dancing their hearts out with the bride and groom. They pretty much danced all night.
A week after we returned from our 2 week trip to Cali/Utah - we tried that camping thing yet again. No rain this time ( well not really - it did rain for a minute here and there on our last night - but NOTHING like what we experienced the last time. We went to Silver Falls. Sam had camped there a few times with his family when he was young (yes - they drove all the way from Cali for a camping trip!!) Well we got my sister Amber and her family to drive all the way up from Cali for a camping trip too!! :) AND she was 8 months pregnant. She must really love us - because I call that - crazy!! It was a great time - a memorable time. And Amber's little boy has the proof......

See this little boy below -- the one sticking his tongue out. That is Tomasi - and he made it extra memorable for all of us. See that hammock all the kids are on?? Well later that night tomasi was hanging from this hammock - and his sister was swinging it. I heard a loud thud. Then crying. I ran over and picked him up. It was dark out so I couldn't totally tell what I was looking at - but I could tell that his front tooth was half the size it should be. I ran him over to my sister and said - he either broke it off - or - it is shoved up into his gums. Turns out - it was jammed way up into his gums. Nasty!!! Poor guy. They took him to a hospital but they really couldn't do anything for him. So now Tomasi is sporting a front tooth that is half the size of all the others. But he's SO tough. He was eating with it the next day -- chips even!! Made me cringe watching him. He's one tough kid.

The very next night -- again - dark outside. I was walking back from the bathroom and I hear screaming. I hear my sister screaming. "Tomasi! NO!! Dad - get him!! OH MY GOSH OH MY GOSH!" Well my stomach dropped and I ran to see what was happening. Tomasi had been running - somehow did not see the firepit WITH fire in it and fell right in. On hands and knees. Luckily my dad was right there and pulled him out immediately. It was so scary. He came away with only a few small blisters on his legs and arms. Poor kid tho - you know how burns continue to burn forever. But still - the kid is tough and didn't take too long to calm down.

I couldn't take anymore and I KNOW my sister would not be able to handle anything else. So lucky for us that was the end of Tomasi's adventures. No more terror was stuck in our hearts for the rest of the trip. :)
The over night campers were my family, Ambers family and my parents. But the cool thing was that we were close enough that almost everyone else was able to come up for day trips.
And camping isn't too boring when you have a bunch of cool waterfalls to check out.
That's it for our trips. Other summer happenings (and still continuing to happen even with school starting) is fishing with Sam. Sam likes to take the kids out fishing whenever he can. Sam likes the fishing part - the kids like the throwing rocking into the water part.

Here's Jackson with a fish. I always feel bad for these poor fish getting tortured by my kids and my husband. Sam actually caught a fish by the eyeball the other day. When he tried to get the hook out - the whole eyeball came out and was just sitting there on his hook. So gross! Poor fish is now swimming around with one eye. Probably just swimming in circles. :)

Another fun adventure was golf. I'd never been before - besides miniature golf. This day of fun that we had weeks ago is still reminding me that my body can't do everything. Lame back has been all out of wack for weeks. We really need Sam's brother Rich to live closer (he's a chiropractor).
Good summer!! It seemed incredibly short -- especially because the stupid weather stayed stupid for so much of it. But I sure do love the sun when I get it.

My new Venture

So if any of you have seen me the last couple of months - you may have noticed my toes.....

I put these on my toes 10 weeks ago!! And they are still holding on! They have a little out growth - but they still don't look too shabby - and like I said - it's been 10 weeks! I bought these on the internet - after I did, the company contacted me and said that they would be switching over from just selling online to launching a consultant program to sell them. I put my name on the list to be notified when it actually launched and I'd think about it. Well in the mean time I was wearing my Jamberry Nails on my toes - and I swear - at least once a day someone would complement them and ask me where I got them. This happened enough times that I started getting really anxious for the consultant program to launch - so the next time someone asked me where to get them - I could just hand them my card and make a little money off of it. They finally contacted me and said I could sign up - so I did - that day!

I actually have never been a fan of the whole "sales party" thing -- but this one sounds so fun, so it's not so bad. Plus I think it is a great product and the price is great too. You get a sheet - which gets at least 2-3 full sets for either your toenails or fingernails - for only $15. If you think about it - going in once a month for a pedicure would cost way more - plus nail polish chips. This stuff doesn't. I've had these on for 10 weeks - and have no problems with them -- I even trained for and ran a half marathon with them on - still in great shape.

I just did my fingernails and I did the girls toenails last week. Here's some pics.....


jackson wanted in on the pictures too.... :)

So I'm excited!! If you live close and want to host a party -- let me know!! I already have 2 people that have said they want to host - so that's great. Or if you just would like to go to my site and buy straight from there (doesn't matter where you live) - you can do that by going towww.april.jamberrynails.net. There is even a special sale going on right now -- Buy 3, get 1 Free!!

And last - if you would like to be a consultant yourself - then I'd love for you to sign up under me and be your sponsor. Again - you would just go to my website and click on the Join Us button.

Let me know what you think!!! :)

**Uhh - don't know why it posted all the pics twice -- sorry about that. Deja-vu?!?!? :)

Happy Camper

This tent is where we stayed the entire time we were camping - because it was raining down on the outside and everything was soaking wet - including all our shoes. But the kids still loved just being in the tent.

For me it was like my own little personal hell. I already am not a huge fan of camping - but I do it for my kids. I do usually end up enjoying it somewhat because the kids love it so much, it makes it fun. This trip however was pure misery. We set up in the rain - thinking - it wont last. Our camp was primitive - meaning no running water and no electricity. So - how do we blow up our big ol' mattress?? We drive down the road to the next campground and use there electricity - tie the mattress to the roof and drive it back. We thought since the mattress is plastic it wouldn't get that wet. But turns out that blue felt stuff on the top - holds A TON of water. As the night went on I started to not feel very good. So I went to bed with a stomach ache around 9pm. I had a hard time sleeping because my stomach just wouldn't stop hurting. Then around 1:30am I threw up for the first time. Then continued to throw up 5 more times thru out the night. Plus I had to go to the nasty, dark, vault toilet, bathroom twice in the middle of the night -- which I hate doing - even when there is electricity. I was scared to death - but too sick to let it stop me. Morning finally came and it was STILL raining. And it wasn't a soothing sound like you would think it'd be. Since we were under trees - it would drip from the trees - so there was no consistency with the sounds. We still tried to stick it out a bit just hoping (well Sam was hoping) that it would stop raining and we could stay. But Jackson's bed was soaked, everyones shoes were soaked and everything else was damp. So around noon we finally called it and packed up camp -- which was another challenge - everything was wet and muddy and I was completely exhausted from being so sick. But we did it and we made it home. I took a bath and went to bed. Sam unloaded the car and set everything out in our garage to dry.

Then he busted out our bbq and made s'mores with the kids to make up for what we couldn't do while we were camping.

Glad that trip is over. We have another camping trip planned next month - so we'll see if the weather will cooperate that time. If there is ANY chance of rain - we are not going!! :)

Here's good old Jim Gaffigan - wrapping up how I feel about camping.....

swimming lessons

We changed things up a little this year. In the past we have gone out to some friends from chrurch house. They have a great backyard and a pool and a teacher comes and teaches classes there, along with their daughter. It's a great atmosphere and the kids loved it and loved the teachers. However, this year, it is scheduled the same time we will be on a stupid camping trip. (by stupid - I mean my husband booked us at a "primitive" camp site for 4 days!! That means no running water :P)

Anyways.... while chatting with some friends about swim lessons a couple of them suggested that I try the Tennis Club. They had great things to say about it and after looking them up I found a schedule that would fit mine and the price was about the same as what we usually pay.

We just finished up our two weeks yesterday (to the kids dismay) - and it was great. I felt the kids got a ton out of it. It was nice because they all had class at the same time. 3 teachers in the pool in different parts of the pool - so it was quick and easy. Another bonus was the class sizes are kept very small, which I like. A bummer that actually turned out not so bad was the weather. The stinkin weather. Our second week of lessons, it was rainy. But this made the class sizes even smaller - both Jax and Gwen had only one other kids show up in their class. And they cranked the heat in the pool - so the kids really didn't even mind at all - just sucked to be me sitting out in the rain. :)

Addie loving the pool!!

Gwenny loved her teacher!! (they all did actually - they were all great)
Addie swimming in the deep end all by herself. She technically could do this before - but I'd always be too nervous to let her do it much. But she has a lot more confidence now and so do I. AND she now knows how to tread water!!
Learning techniques....
look at that form ;)
Jackson put all his heart into it - very cute to watch....
And they all have no fear of jumping in...........

Before - notice the teacher below...
After - those poor teachers..... :)