Smoothie Fun for F.H.E!

In the past our Family Home Evening lasted
about 2 minutes and we usually felt like the boys were bored and could not wait for it to end so they could play with their toys!! Now that has all changed! About a month ago we started a new FHE routine! TJ and I take turns giving a lesson on a bible or Book of Mormon story complete with props and visuals. The kicker is that they need to really listen to the lesson because after it is done we will ask them questions about what they learned, and for every correct answer they get to put something in the blender to make our smoothie. Now this may not work for some families but there is nothing our boys like more than helping to make (and sometimes eat before it gets in the blender) yummy treats. They love watching the blender and are so proud of themselves after it is done. Even Briggy has his share!! Not only do they get a treat, but they also learn about the gospel. They love it, and ask me almost every night of the week "Is it family home evening time mommy?" One of my favorite things Marshall said about the smoothie is "This is the most coldest fresh drink I've ever had!"

Go away yucky flu, GO AWAY!!!

This is the Briggy we all know and love. He is the guy who just wants to have fun and get crazy with his brothers and kick his legs and wave his arms. This Briggy NEVER cuddles, always wants to be a part of the action and really doesn't like to be held that much. He pulls himself up on everything and gets into everything!! (These were taken on Sunday)



Now the awful flu has struck our normally very active little guy and has left him very lethargic and caused him to reach a temp. of 103 degrees! I HATE seeing him like this, although there are a few perks, like he only wants to cuddle ALL day long!:) He is just the cutest little guy ever (besides his brothers ofcourse:))! It seems like everyone around us has kids with some kind of sickness and this is VERY mild in comparison. This being said, it is still REALLY hard to see my little guy like this!! The motrin seems to be doing the trick, and there is nothing left to do but let it run its course!!

Sleepy Head!!

Kason played hard today and couldn't quite make it to nap time or lunch time, so he took a little rest on his brother!! I thought this was precious!!

Valentines Day Fun!!

Our Valentines Day was full of HEARTS, HEARTS, HEARTS!! It started off with heart shaped pink pancakes for breakfast. They were pink because of beet that I pureed into them! I know you are thinking gross! But you can even ask TJ they were pretty darn good if I do say so myself!! Marshall said they tasted like bananas and chocolate!! It's amazing what good things they will eat if they are tricked!!:) For lunch we had peanut butter and honey sandwiches in the shape of hearts, and for dinner we had heart-shaped pizza.





Ofcourse Babby and Grandpa came over and brought the REAL treats! Marshall had been wanting candy all day and Babby and Grandpa finally delivered!! Marshall liked Babby to read him what every candy heart said, and I mean EVERY one!!! Even Brigham got to enjoy some candy as you can tell by his overly excited expression!!!

The next day TJ surprised me by taking me to a VERY nice dinner at China Grill (highly remommended!) It was a great end to a GREAT Valentines!!!

Tagged Again!! Thanks, Summer!!

10 years ago: Wow, that was a while ago. But if I think about it, that was a really great time of my life. I felt very strongly that I should move to Vancouver after I got my bachelors and pursue a career in Journalism. I was living in Vancouver Canada with my best friend in the world, Janice. We had so much fun that year. I had the best friends and we were always doing something fun. We would go to the "Ham" (Bellingham Washington) on alot of the weekends. I was dating my other best friend at the time and we had alot of fun. I guess he turned out to be better as a friend than a boyfriend thank heavens!! I got sick of the rain and my job and decided to move to greener pastures (the USA). Good thing I did!!!

5 things on today's to-do list
1) Clean my messy house, and be extra patient and have more fun with my kids like we learned on the BYU talk on parenting. Thanks, Michaun!!
2) Call people to invite to Natalie's B-day party tomorrow
3) Make doctor's apts. for Kason and Brigham for their immunization shots
4) Do yoga
5) Make dinner using some pureed vegetable mixed in to trick my kids

If I were made a billionaire:
Like Summer and Jon, we would pay off all of our debt which TJ would thoroughly enjoy! We might upgrade some of our living amenities. Truthfully, I think TJ and I would love to help the less fortunate because now we would have the means to do it!! We would buy more fridges to put frozen dinners to give to people who are having a hard time. We would buy our parents what ever they need to make their lives happier and easier for them. Like the Christiansen family, we would NOT spoil our kids, so we wouldn't tell them about our billions!! That is how I remember my dad being! Even when we all knew he was doing well with his business he never acted like he did. We were still drinking powdered milk and eating borsh. Ofcourse we wouldn't go that far! (No offense dad!!, I love you!!) We would take our kids to restaurants more, get a cleaning lady, and enjoy the little things with our kids more because we would have the time and money to do it!!

Jobs I've had:
I have worked at a health food store packing spices and working as a cashier (when I was in highschool). I did those telephone surveys when I was in college. I was a the graduate advisor's assistant when I was in grad school. I was also an audiologist's assistant when I was in grad school. I was a nanny to a family which I still adore. I was a speech pathologist. And now I am doing my favorite job which is being a mom!! (Cheesy, but true!)

5 things people don't know about me:
1) It bothers me when people say bad things about other people. I am not perfect at this by any means, but I can't stand to hear people talking down about others, do they feel better about themselves when they do? And it's not like you can call them on it! I guess all I can do is try to be better at it myself.
2) I love the ocean more than mountains and definitely more than the desert!
3) I am scared to death of terminal illness and anything that doesn't have a happy ending and don't like talking or hearing about it. I am much happier in my own little world believing everything is going to be all right.
4) I have known I was meant to live in the states ever since I was a little girl and that really bothered some of my elementary education teachers because they thought Canada was the best! I still remember one teacher arguing with me about how much better Canada was. I am glad I didn't listen to her!!
5) My favorite foods are citrus. I love grapefruits, oranges etc.

Hope you guys learned something! I tag Angie, Britney, Michaun and April. Have fun girls!!

Belly Brothers Take a Bath!!

Tonight was the first time we attempted to put all three boys in the bath. Usually Briggy is a shower guy and doesn't really like the bath, but this time he loved it (probably because of his crazy brothers!!) They actually did surprisingly well in there. Those 3 little guys sure make a splash!! TJ's turn to clean it up!!:) P.S., For those of you who don't know "belly brothers" is their nick name given by Grandpa!!

We made it to the snow at last!!

Yes, it is true, there is snow in Nevada about an hour and a half from where we live and I took pictures to prove it!! It took us a while to get here because of that miserable cold that was going around, but it was worth the wait to get to the snow!! We went with our fabulous friends the Corderman family and had a blast!! The boys could not stand all of the layers involved in getting ready for our adventure (I don't know how my parents did it all the time!!), but once they were all bundled up, the games began!! We all took turns sliding down the hill!! They loved sliding down but the climbing back up again was NOT their favorite part. Every time we made it to the bottom of the hill, Kason would say he wanted to keep "driving." They don't quite understand the concept of gravity yet!! Even Briggy liked sliding down the hill!! Marshall took turns going down all by himself!! He is getting so big!! I tried to get an action shot but by the time I got my camera ready everyone had had enough!! We tried to made a snowman but the snow was not wet enough, so we settled for sledding!! Oh, and by the way, Briggy is wearing a pink snow suit because our friends who we borrowed it from only have girls!! We got there early enough to miss all of the crowds and had the hill pretty much to ourselves, but by the time we left we could not believe how many more people showed up!! We definitely came at the right time!!