Draper Temple

Guess what we did today?
It was absolutely gorgeous. I found it interesting that the granite came from...China! No, not our little ole' mountains here, but China! It is so pretty though. I loved the color scheme and the style and the murals on the walls. Seriously gorgeous!

We were originally going to leave Gavin at home with my Mom(Munga) but she wanted to come too, so we all went!
Okay, not my favorite picture of me, but I thought it was so cute of Gavin. Brandon didn't get in any pictures. Usually it is me that doesn't. By the time we were done, and got some cookies, we had forgotten to take a group picture. Oops!
There were some wait times which were a bit hard with kids, but all in all a good experience. Tanner said, "I felt the spirit there, Mom." That made the trip worth it.
Brandon's favorite part: Murals on the walls, and stained glass windows
Jen's favorite part: Murals on the walls, and the granite
Tan's favorite part: Baptistry
Meg's favorite part: Celestial room with the chandelier
Zach's favorite part: The cookies after!
Gavin's favorite part: The bus ride...he sang Wheels on the Bus all the way to the temple.

BYU/UTAH Hoops

Tag of 8

I don't do these tags much or really never! They can be rather time consuming! But I decided to do it because I was officially tagged by cute Molly, and I think it's fun for the kids to read. What the heck, it's fun too! I won't tag anyone although feel free to do it if you so choose! Does anyone read this anymore with FB becoming so popular?
he he he
8 Favorite TV shows:
1. American Idol
2. Dancing with the Stars
3. John and Kate Plus 8 (Some may think Kate is a bit harsh but I think she is amazing, so organized and just real!)
4. Little People, Big World (Who doesn't love the amazing Amy Roloff?)
5. Burn Notice
6. The Office
7. Extreme Makeover, Home Edition
8. Food Network shows…Throwdown, Good Eats, Iron Chef

8 things I did yesterday:
(This won’t be too exciting. I was really sick yesterday!)
1.Helped get the kids off to school-sort of. Brandon went in late to help me. Phew!
2.Took a nap-basically dying on the bed!
3.Went to the Dr. (Anyone heard of “It’s just a virus!” Ug!)
4.Watched the clock for Brandon to come home…tick, tock…tick, tock…
5.Ate dinner.
6.Watched The Bachelor finale. Didn’t watch the entire season…just the finale.
7.Read to/with the kids.
8.Said prayers with Tanner.


8 favorite restaurants:
1. Brick Oven
2. Macaroni Grill
3. Bajio
4. El Azteca (you can’t find better Mexican through a drive-thru!)
5. The Italian Place
6. Chili's
7.Los Hermanos (This never used to be my fave place, but it has really grown on me, and my kids love it!)
8.Chick-fil-A. Yup Chick-fil-A. We never go there because for one there isn’t one close by with a drive-thru, and secondly they fry all their food in peanut oil (two of my kids are allergic) so when I eat it, it’s a real treat!

8 Things I'm looking forward to:
1.The next time I can take the kids to D-Land…they are dying to go again, asking everyday…and let’s face it, ME TOO! Hopefully for sure this year!
2. A.I. tonight
3. Summer!
4. Going back to Hawaii someday…I love that place.
5. Going to New York City. I‘ve been to the Statue of Liberty, and all over this great country, but would like to go into the city, shop and see a show or two.
6. Megan’s dance performance in May. She is adorable, a great little dancer and loves it!
7. Although I’m not one to wish time away, I will say this has been a rough year with the twins coming home at noon for the entire rest of the day! They play…and then fight….and then play…and then fight! Let’s hear it for 1st grade!
8.The Daylight Savings “spring forward”. I love daylight in the evening until way after 9:00! That’s the best!


8 things on my wish list:
(this is strictly a temporal list!)
1. One of those fancy schmancy front loading washer/ dryer sets.
2. A laundry room to use them in that isn’t in the basement of a 5 level home. To say it’s been a thorn in my side would be an understatement!
3. A new van or SUV with a DVD player. We’ve never had one in our van.
4. A big ole’ fancy wide flat screen TV.
5. A nice matching bedroom set.
6. A big garden jetted bathtub.
7. A nice home office.
8. A time-share condo type of a thing where we could travel more and stay in fun places.
A girl can dream!

Scout Newbies

Tanner and I are Scout newbies! I have been completely clueless about Scouting my entire life up until one month ago when I made my first trip to the Scouting office to get him outfitted! He has wanted to be a Cub Scout for a long time, and he had his first Blue and Gold Banquet last night where he received his Bobcat. He also made a cake(the theme was Scouts and/or America). His was a tent with a little campfire. That's a Cub Scout symbol and American flag on top. He got the "Most Outdoorsy Cake" award. We'll take it! :)

Tanner getting "branded" with a cornstarch W!

He pulled the string and...POP!

Tanner has had this tooth loose for...well...FOREVER! Let's just say I was hoping it would come out before Christmas so we could sing...yup...you guessed it..."All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth". It came to the point tonight where we could almost turn it sideways and we knew we couldn't send him to school with such a snaggle-tooth! After trying to coax him into different ways to try to get it out and a few tears, we did the ever famous string around the tooth and voila! Tanner is giving the credit to Gavin since I was actually trying to give Gavin the string when the tooth popped out. Great job Gavin!

All You Need Is Love

 

It was a great couple of Valentine days. Yesterday was of course the kids' class parties which included the ever famous exchanging of the Valentine's. When did it all become so fancy schmancy? When I was little we pretty much just exchanged store bought Valentines with the occasional conversation heart or two. I like it though. I like seeing what the kids get and there were some really cute ones...more ideas for next year! Megan's teacher liked her outfit so much she had her stand up and show the whole class! She is pretty shy in class, but I could tell she was pretty happy about that! The kids' got Webkins, with the exception of Gavin who got a non-Webkin stuffed horse...sorry Gav but you kind of need to be able to use the internet to get a Webkin! We pretty much exchanged gifts yesterday, with the exception of going out to Macaroni Grill for an early dinner today. We thought we were pretty slick to go over at 3:45. Let me tell you, I'm sure they were busy the whole day! We only had to wait about 25 minutes and the food and ambiance was just lovely. It was very nice. We were grateful to my Mom(our kids call her Munga) for coming over and letting us escape. When we go out, it kind of feels like that scene from Ferris Beuller's Day Off when the car valets took Cameron's dad's car for a joy ride! Yee haw!
Hope everyone had a nice day!

Thank Heaven For Little Girls!

Megan loves to help with Gavin. I could of used her when I first had the twins...too bad she was 1/2 of "the twins"!
Oh well, I'll take what I can get!

Thanks Meg for being so sweet and wanting to help with your sweet little bro. He sure loves you!

White Shirts

Could somebody please tell me how we went from this:

To this:

In the blink of an eye? I mean really...not to be cliche, but where does the time go?

One of the gifts we got Tanner for his birthday/baptism was a book called "White Shirts". It is a book about events so special and sacred that a white shirt or outfit is worn. Just a side note: If you are a baby from the 70's like me, you may have had a different color blessing outfit...mine was pink and my sister in law's was green! Mine was still cute though and nothing says you HAVE to have white for a blessing that I'm aware of!
ha ha Anyway, it is written to a son from a dad about the most memorable events in a family's life. From baby blessing to baptism to receiving the Aaronic Priesthood and lots in between and after. When I saw the illustration of the baby in its blessing outfit and then the boy getting baptized, it really hit home. Yesterday when I saw Tanner sitting there in that cute little white jumpsuit, it really didn't seem like too long ago that I dressed him in that little blessing outfit and took him over to our church to be blessed. It really brought it all into perspective for me that they REALLY do grow up fast.

It was a really nice day. Sunny and beautiful! Tanner is a great boy and we are really proud of his choice!

Another side note: From now on, I am going to assign someone a job to take pictures. I just CAN'T do it all! Cleaning the house, getting kids ready, preparing food and assigning food...etc. Somehow, I didn't get out my camera and snap many pictures...imagine that! So next time, just like someone bringing the brownies, someone will be OFFICIALLY snapping pictures. I learn more and more as time goes on!

Getting ready for a baptism

 

I just finished Tanner's birthday week...phew, that was exhausting! I have been sick for days now, but am finally on the mend. Can I just say, winter...blah! How could I possibly avoid it after 3 out of 4 kids were sick and I am probably not taking very good care of myself! I love it when today the doctor said, "Don't do anything for a week." Um, let's see...how is this possible? The kids do like to eat! I think I am just so exhausted, but I'm gearing up for my boy's baptism next week! Here are some shots from his photo shoot last week. Thanks Andrea!

A Tribute to our 8-year-old Birthday Boy! January 13, 2009

SEE ALL ABOUT TAN IN POST BELOW: