4 of my FAVORITE people!!-EVER!!

I am so grateful for the time I got to spend with these 4 kids. Due to a great husband willing to take over for 5 days, I was able to go to Gainesville and see Stacie and her family. I have always enjoyed spending time with them, but it was extra special since I didn't have my own kids with me I could focus on just them. By the time I left Shelbie wanted to move to UT and live with Aunt TT and it took a lot of convincing to get her to stay. Coral warmed up to me and I was even able to help her say the word YES instead of ALWAYS saying NO. LOL!! I will agree with Stacie that it is a good thing she is so cute..b/c she is a handful. Miles and I played blocks and pet shop and I took him and Shelbie to see a movie. Miles was so cute when we left the movie he looked up at me and said "Aunt TT this was a real treat, thanks for taking me" He is so cute!!! I am so proud of Stacie and what a great mom she is, little sis your kids are AWESOME and I am so blessed to be in there life!!!!

Family Night at the Dinosaur Museum

We had a great family night tonight at the Dinosaur Museum. It was not crowded at all, which was GREAT! They were doing a Halloween scavenger hunt for witches hats and cauldrons, Coleman and Evelyn were all over that-they totally worked as a team!! Everyone had so much fun and I am so grateful for time well spent!

The kids made a 3 headed dinosaur, so funny!

The sand and water table, this is every ones FAVORITE!

Claire had sooooo much fun and I am going to have to take her back again soon!

I love this girl!

I feel blessed!!!

Fall Break

This weekend was Fall Break for the kids and we really made a effort to spend a lot of time as a family. A couple of the kids favorites were going to dinner at a Japanese Steak house and going Putt-Putt golfing.

Ruby was so cute and Happy through the whole meal, she did manage to give the cook a dirty look when he tried to talk to her. She is not a big fan of strangers.

Leland loved all the food and loved dipping everything in her sauce, YUM!!

This was Claire's first trip to Japanese Steak House and she wasn't to sure about the fire and all the tricks the cook did, more than once she was had to sit in her Daddy's lap. She did love her chop sticks and all the yummy food.

We all had a BLAST doing putt-putt. Coleman beat Brian and I by 1 point and everyone got 1 hole in one. Claire played by her own rules and we found out that Evelyn is not so good at this game (it was pretty funny). Everyone was happy and kind and cheered each other on, it was one of those good family activities where everyone is happy. I know it doesn't look like Claire is happy in this picture, but that was all for the camera (she is a mess that is for sure).

I am grateful for my family and for all the beautiful weather we had this weekend!!!It made spending time together a lot more enjoyable

A Beautiful Day

Saturday Coleman had a Lacrosse game and we all went to support him. I happened to be a beautiful day outside and his game was at a great park in Salt Lake. The girls don't watch Lacrosse so they immediately got busy coming up with a list of activities. I love watching my girls together, it is the best. They had so much fun playing hide and seek, building a pile of leave to jump in, reading together, and just being girls.

I wasn't joking when I said Dora goes everywhere with us. Here she is drinking Ruby's juice. Claire said she was "very thirsty".

Evelyn reading to Claire.

Ruby was an angel, she sat in her stroller the whole time so I could watch the game. She is such a sweetheart!!

My sweet Leland

I love this picture, they had so much fun building this pile of leaves. I remember doing this same thing as a kid every fall. Here in Ut we don't have as many trees as in the east so my girls have never done this before and they were pretty proud of themselves.

She is getting so big!!

Baby Dora

Claire loves all things Dora, so much so that she often has me call her Baby Dora. ( I know a lot of the reason that she is such a hard child is because she still wants to be the baby, but that is another post all together. ) Anyway her Dora doll is her constant companion she goes on car rides and bed time and has to be feed several times a day. I love watching her play with her baby Dora in her own little world where she is the Mommy and Dora NEEDS her for everything. What is not so wonderful is all the times she is pretending to be a baby and I have to carry her everywhere, because babies can't walk. Or even better when I am talking to her and all she will say is gaga baba mama or spit at me like babies do. I love this child just as much as all my other children, but she does drive me a bit crazy at times. I find myself wanting to hide from her. I know this is so sad, but I am just being honest. The other day I asked her if we would be friends forever and she said to me " No, you spank my bottom to much" and yes I do spank her (and so would you), but I don't do it every week even. The best part is when she tells me I am mean and asks for her Daddy. Oh don't I wish her Daddy were hear all the time to deal with her.

On a good note I will say she is such a fun and happy girl and I do love her very much!!! :):)

Claire and Baby Dora

Getting her all buckled to go for a car ride!!!!

Change is good

Well I finally did it, I dyed my hair red. I was so scared to go through with it, but I am so glad I did. I feel like I look so different and it is going to take some getting used to. I have never been brave when it comes to my hair and now that I have done it I am pretty proud of myself. My kids just stare at me and so does Brian-which I don't mind at all. LOL!!

I would love to hear your comments!

I love that baby!!!

Packed and Ready!!

I got a couple of big boxes in the mail today and as soon as the girls saw them they immediately got in them and then out of no where Evelyn said "Hey ship me to Mama's house" and then Leland and Claire started saying the same thing.

Mama- they love you and miss you!!!

pumpkin pie is 11 months old

I can't believe my little baby is 11 months old today, it is crazy to me! She is growing and changing so fast. She can now say Mama, Dada, bye bye, and large varitity of baby babble. My favorite is when I ask for kisses and she leans in mouth wide open and just giggles..so cute! She is pulling up on everything and has stood alone for a few seconds, its hard to believe she could be walking soon. Ruby is still the best baby and brings a lot of joy into our home. The girls love to get in her crib in the mornings and play with her, and even though Coleman wanted a baby brother he is crazy about Ruby.

Mommy's Pumpkin Pie!!!

The BEST!!!

I know a lot of people believe they have or had the best grandparents, but I can honestly say that My Grandma and Grandpa Ginn were the BEST!!! They have both passed away and there are days when I wish I could just sit with them and hold there hand and ask there advice. I wish my children could have known them, they truly were 2 of the most amazing people I have ever known.

I have so many fond memories of being at their house and especially all the great food my Grandma used to make. I always knew I would get ice cream and a fudge stripe cookie from the freezer, to this day I can't look at one of those cookies without thinking of her. I can remember how my Mom used to tell her to not give us much, but my Grandma would tell her not to worry about it that she had it under control. When I was newly married I tried to make her frozen peaches and it just wasn't the same. The homemade bread was to die for and I can almost taste her Thanksgiving stuffing...YUMMY! She was the one that taught me how to sew and I can still remember the drawer with all her thread. She left a huge impression on my heart. I think what I remember most was the love she shared with my Grandpa. They had a love that will surely last through the eternities. He loved her so much and he showed it, what an incredible man he was. There have been so many times in my life since his death that I wish I could ask him 1 question. I wish he was here to say a prayer with me, when he prayed you felt the spirit. I still remember visiting him in the hospital before he died and Brian was so emotional, I have never seen him cry like that in 12 years. He touched Brian's heart in a powerful way. Before Grandpa died he asked me to sing How Great Thou Art at his funeral, and I am not sure how I managed to do such a thing. I have sung that song many times since and it always bring such emotion. I feel so blessed to have know these 2 people and to be blessed enough to have them as Grandparents. I could write a book on the lessons I learned from them, pay your tithing and pray always would be at the top. I have never know anyone who lived their religion more then these two. I hope to be half the woman my Grandma was, I hope my legacy is as strong. I know it is because of them my mother is so self-less, but that is a post all it's own. I firmly believe she learned from the BEST!

I had a picture I was going to scan into my computer, but I was out of ink and I had to write this today, I miss them and remembering feels good!!!