Father's Day and Several Birthdays!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY! Today was a pretty good day. We had amazing lessons in church today and I left just feeling so peaceful and uplifted. I think that it is kinda strange that my Father's Day experience was FAR more spiritually uplifting than my Mother's Day was. Weird. Better late than never I guess....

Hopefully I will get around to blogging about our lessons today, because they were very thought provoking and I really want to blog about the thoughts that I had about them.

For dinner my dad planned a big family get together with all my cousins and aunt's and uncle's that live locally. That made for about 45 of us! It was supposed to be outside, but it was rainy and cold today, so we crammed into my parents house. On top of celebrating Father's Day we were also celebrating some birthday's, five to be exact. Two of those being my mom and my Aunt Debbie, both of them love Disneyland, so my dad asked me to make a cake for them that was Disney themed. Here is what I came up with.... I think that it is one of my new favorites!

 Two of the birthday girls.

 My cute hubby eating his yummy Father's Day dinner.

 Kisses for Daddia!

 The reason he gets to celebrate this holiday.

 Opening his Father's Day gifts.

My sweet dear husband leaned over and said the sweetest thing to me at church today. He told me how much he loved me and how grateful he was for me. He thanked me for making it possible for him to become a father. I looked at him and he had tears in his eyes, which made me get emotional. I love my husband and what a great father and husband he is to our little family. I love you babe.

A moment to brag

The past few weeks we have had a lot of sad and downer things happen in my extended family. Things that have really made us dig down and pull up our shirt sleeves and try to shoulder others pain and trials. I love my family... all of them, from my brothers down to my cousins and my cousin's children. We are such a great support system for each other. I have loved watching the way everyone has really stepped up to the plate to help out family members in need.

So in light of all the icky news that we have received lately I thought that it would be a good thing to share some great news.

My brother Nic is a pilot. He and his sweet wife are such great people and parents to my darling niece and nephew. Nic is such a hard worker. Anyone that has ever gone through what it takes to become a pilot knows how tough it is, especially how hard it is to get jobs for big airlines. Well this week he had a job interview with Sky West Airlines and dum, dum, dum dah

HE GOT THE JOB!!!!

I'm not sure about the specifics of the job or if it will move them closer to home, but we are so excited and proud of him.

My kids have been asking in their prayers that Nic would do well with this interview and what a great teaching moment this was for them.

We love you Nic and are so proud of you!!!
This is Nic and my nephew Logan in his plane at his current job.

Family Gathering

On March 5 we gathered the family for a get together. A few weeks ago we received some scary news regarding my grandpa. We thought for a bit there that he didn't have long left on this earth. The day that I got that news was a pretty dark day for me. I am very close to my grandpa and am just not ready for him to not be here. Luckily other tests were done and things seem to be getting better. I don't think that he is out of the woods yet, but at least we have some more time. After all this happened my dad organized this family party. He rented out a room at the Lehi Legacy Center and arranged for a 'balloon artist' to come and make balloon figures for the kids. Everyone helped contribute to the meal and brought games and swimming suits to go swimming at the pool. Those that didn't want to swim could play basketball or just visit with family. At the end of the evening my grandpa bore his testimony and we watched a family slide show that Chris had put together. It was a great evening. Just about everyone in this picture was able to be there.

When the balloon artist got there he brought in a HUGE golfing grandpa that he made and gave to my grandpa. My grandpa LOVES to golf. It was pretty amazing!
Seriously so cute! I wish that I had taken pictures of the other things he made for the kids, he was amazing.

Here is the slideshow that Chris made....pretty dang cute.

Grandpa Slideshow from Christopher Meek on Vimeo.

And this one is the video footage that Chris took of the evening, that he put to music.

The Gathering from Christopher Meek on Vimeo.

So happy with my knowledge that 'Families are Forever'!

And yet another school project...

Yes, that is right...for your viewing pleasure....it is homework time! Taelynn had to construct a home found in the olden days from ancient civilization and we chose to do a Chickee hut. So last night she and I got our creative juices flowing and this was the result...not too shabby huh? Granted I would hate to live in it...way too drafty for my taste.

This was the picture that we had to try and reproduce.

Building the masterpiece.

The finished hut...what a goofy girl, just gotta love her!

A happy heart day 2009

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!! We had a very nontraditional Valentines day this year. Rather than spending it as a couple we decided to do it as a family. Ana made us this cute Valentine at school

For dinner we did Fondue...which the kids had never done before but absolutely loved! We had steak, chicken and shrimp that they could choose from. I made a few dipping sauces that they could then dip their meat in. It was very tasty.

I bought these DARLING sugar cookies for each of the kiddo's and one GIANT one for Chris. My friend who makes the amazing cupcakes http://cupcakesbyles.blogspot.com made these for me. They were so good!Obviously the kids loved them as well!

For a craft project me and the kids made these cute bags for them to take to school and hold all of their valentines in. They turned out so cute!


You put the valentine in the mouth to drop it into the bag...pretty cute ehhh?!

The art gallery???

Dear Abbie, (they still have Dear Abbie columns in the newspaper-don't they?)

Our son has taken up the art of drawing and might I add that he is an amazing artist for the age of two! Now if only he could find a different form of canvas to create his masterpieces on!!!

SERIOUSLY can I tell you how white trash our home looks right now?! And here is the BEST part...it is all permanent marker! I have tried everything to get it off, even the Magic erasers and it is just taking paint off the wall....but not the marker! QUICK, does anyone out in blogging land have a secret that will take it off? I know the obvious answer, to just paint over it...but what happens the next time Mr. Vangough decides to strike again?

Signed- Helpless is Trashville

I added some pictures for your enjoyment...keep in mind that each picture is a DIFFERENT wall! These pictures just don't do his 'artwork' justice. SIGH.

Merry Christmas!

Merry merry Christmas to all who read this! We had a wonderful day today. We actually got to sleep until 7:30 and then our alarm clock (Faisal) started chanting mommia, mommia, mommia. It was a fun time opening presents...Santa did a good job this year. I took pictures, but can't find the cords to hook up the camera to the computer, so hopefully you will see them soon!
Chris gave me the BEST gift ever...it is actually something that I have wanted FOREVER, he wrote a song for me and went to the recording studio and made a recording of it. It is the best song ever and means so much to me! Gosh I love this man! I am going to try and figure out how to put the song on the blog so that you can all hear it.
This Christmas has meant so much to our family. We have had so many acts of service and love shown to us these past few weeks. It has really put the Christmas season into perspective. I am so grateful for family and friends and especially a Heavenly Father who watches over and protect us, especially in our time(s) of need. We love you all so much and feel so blessed to have you in our lives.