Memorial Day 2010

We were busy, busy on memorial day! We woke up at 6:00am and headed for Idaho Falls. We went to the Veteran Memorial and then to Rose Hill Cemetery to see the 21 Gun salute and see as they raised the flags and place the Memorial wreath. It was a really touching experience.

 This was such a cute picture of Emily. She was so good all day and really enjoyed spending time with us.....I think...hahaha

 

After the memorial we went to Tauphus Park. It was bright and early in the morning, all the animals were wide awake and wanting food. The weather cooperated and I snapped some fun photos. I wanted to share them, so warning this may be boring to some....

I really didn't care for the look this Lion was giving me...I am sure his thought bubble was something like......"Food, must eat....she looks nice and plump!!"

The famous "Lion's Mouth" fountain....

This Tiger kept growling and growling. The more we told him to the more he growled, my kids loved it. In the picture below as we were turning the corner we saw the statue and told Emily the Tiget had gotten out, I wished I would have captured the look on her face. We are mean I know!

Look at the size of those paws!

 

The camels are hideous!! BUT I had to have a picture.....

Not that we compare to the camels....Well hopefully not........I think the parents had as much fun as the kids.

While looking at the Tiger Ben's Aunt Shiela came around the corner, it was a nice surprise.

WE LOVED THE OTTERS!!! They are so funny, Caleb laughed every time they came by the window. It was cute!

After the zoo we went and put flowers on headstones. It is fun to hear stories about my relatives and get to know a little about them. Sometimes thinking about someone who was born in the 1800's isn't realistic, but seeing their place of burial makes me realize they were someone special and they were very real. I have an Grandma named Ann Zoolie Taylor and she died middle aged of hard work. How sad is that??

After that we went to Lucy's Pizzeria with my family--it was pretty good. After that we went to Sam's Club and bought our kids a trampoline. WE LOVE IT, it has become a permanent babysitter. We all have so much fun on it. We play on it every night for about and hour.

Sweet face of sheer joy!

So I am a dork....

It was my birthday on the 10th and I celebrated and celebrated and celebrated (And I didn't even take 1 single picture....)!!! On Friday night we dropped my kids off at my sisters house (I was really worried about Caleb-he has never stayed with her before) and Ben and I went and saw Iron Man 2, went to dinner at Red Robin and then went to Sundaes and had a YUMMY sundae! We had such a blast!!! Then on Saturday we went through the temple with Ben's little sister Stephanie. We were really excited for her, this will be a big step in her life.

Then on Sunday after church we went to Ben's families house and had lunch for Mother's Day. His grandparents were here from Mississippi and it was so much fun to see them. The luncheon was wonderful and YUMMY!!! THEN....Yes it continues, we went to My parents house from yet another luncheon. Again it was Delish! We got to spend it with my brother and his soon-to-be wife, Diana and her son Brody. They are getting married this Friday and we are SO EXCITED for them. 

By the way I just want to say how much I LOVE MY MOMS!! I have the BEST Mom and the BEST Mother-in-law! They do so much for me and give me the best advise! I love them more than words can describe!!

On Monday my Mom came down and took me shopping and to lunch. It was also YUMMY!!! Later that night Ben's family came over and had cake (Ben's Mom made my cake...Thank you)) and ice cream with us. Thank you EVERYONE for celebrating with me and wishing me birthday wishes!!!!

 And as for the being a dork part of my blog I have to brag about the GREAT deals I got today (at Albertsons and Wal-Mart). I got ALL of the below for $25.76 and I saved $92.99. I was thrilled!!!!!!

 I got:

5 Glade Sense and Sprays (2 of them were on clearance at Walmart for $1 and I had $4/1 coupons)

5 boxes of ice cream drumsticks

1 Mac and Cheese Homestyle dinner

1 Bottle of Olive Oil Mayo

2 bags of baked Tostitos

3 packages of cookies

1 bottle of Cheese dip

2 Large Dove Bars

2 boxes of Del Monte Fruit Chillers

 So that is my month in a nutshell....congrats if you made it through all that blibber blabber.....here is the best things of this post, my 2 little couponing buddies!

It is ALREADY May???

It really has been forever since I last updated my blog! I need to do better. So I will do a little backtracking. I took some Easter pictures of my kids, as a little girl my Mom always bought us new Easter dresses and Christmas dresses. I have hung on to this tradition because I loved getting new dresses. I wanted to find gloves for Emily but I never did, maybe next year. Here are some of the pictures I took:

Aren't they the cutest things???? Well I think so!!!

Also a few Fridays ago I decided to take Emily on a girl's day out. It is fun to spend time with just her and have a little Mommy-Daughter bonding. 

 

We went to the Pine Ridge Mall to do a little shopping...first we stopped at the pizza place and got some pizza, she loves pepperoni pizza, but the slices were HUGE!! We took most of it home.

After we did some shopping we went to the little play area. I think this was more fun for Emily than anything. There were funny little toys she liked to climb on and I think she even made a couple friends.

A few days ago we decided to go on a little drive. We went up past Arco and went to a little place to eat named Pickles, it was different...we'll leave it at that! :)

We then went past all the beautiful mountain ranges. Here are some of them:

Mt. McCaleb--my new favorite mountain!!

Mt. Borah--Ben climbed this last summer. I was freaked out when I imagined him at the top of this peak!!! AHHHH!

Some other fun pictures

Our attempt to take a portrait of ourselves....hahaha

So here is to a ~HAPPY MAY~!!!!!

Hope the weather warms up so I can get my garden planted.

Eggstra Special Day

Emily's Birthday

I did blog on Emily's birthday but I didn't add any actual birthday pictures so here are some special pictures from her big birthday.We love this girl!!

It is hard to take a picture break when there is so much going on. Believe me, this picture was taken several times in order to get a clear picture...the joys of being 4 years old!

Emily wanted a Cinderella cake, so I did my best and this was the result. It turned out cute and I think she enjoyed it! I had blue fingers afterward I told Emily I was turning into a smurf...sadly she had no idea what a smurf was so she believed me. When I was little my brother and sister made blue kool-aid and told me it was smurf pee, I freaked out! So turning into a smurf is much better than drinking their pee-right?

Dying Eggs

During conference we decided to dye eggs. Last year Caleb didn't help (I was reminded why this year) so I had both of my kids help dye a dozen eggs. It seems like a dozen eggs went fast between Emily Caleb and Mommy. We had egg dye flying everywhere as the eggs were thrown into the water and not only did the eggs get colored, our fingers, shirts, tablecloth and anything surrounding did too. In the end we ended up with quite the array of different colored eggs-some were pastel, some were bright and vibrant, some were brown and quite a few of them were cracked. What fun memories this gives me though. I loved dying eggs when I was little and needless to say I still do.

So on www.foodstoragemadeeasy.net I saw how to make your own Easter grass. I thought the idea was so cute that I decided to do it. My kids, husband and myself really enjoyed doing this and watching it grow. And it made a cute little grass home for one of my cute little dyed eggs. For instructions go here.

So I know this post is long but the last thing I wanted to share is one of my favorites...EGG SALAD SANDWICHES!!! What a perfect time to make these, with all of those hard boiled eggs! My husband HATES them as may many of you (I hate the egg burps I get afterward..haha) but I love them. Here is how I make them, it is totally a recipe off of taste nothing exact, but I will try:

2 Hard boiled eggs

1-2 Tablespoons Mayonaise

1 teaspoon mustard (I like to use Dijon)

Dash of Papricka

Salt and Pepper to taste

2 slices of HOMEMADE whole wheat bread

In a large bowl, combine the egg, mayonnaise, mustard, paprika, and salt and pepper. Mash well with a fork or wooden spoon. Serve on homemade bread as a sandwich or over crisp lettuce as a salad. Enjoy!

HAPPY EASTER!!!!!

The Savior Lives

This Easter season has been special to us because Emily is at just the right age to learn about Christ and gain a testimony of Him. Children have such strong faith and absorb everything we teach them. I want my kids to think of Easter and think about why we honor this day. I want them to know it is not because of candy, or a tall bunny that sneaks into our homes and yards and leaves candy--I want them to know that we honor this day because Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world died for each of us and that he lives and loves each of us. I cannot fully comprehend what he did for us and I cannot fully understand the pain he went through, but I can do all that I can to be like him at all times and in all things. I try, not that I succeed every minute of everyday, but the fact is I try and I give it all I have got. I try to teach my children about Christ and show them how much I love him. This video touches my heart and I was able to watch it with Emily, even at 4 years old of age she gasped when they drove nails through His hands and wanted to know why they did that. It is not why they did that, but THAT he did it. My answer was simply "HE DID that because he loves you and wants to live with you again." 

May we all know that he loves us and will be forever at our side if we will just let him in.

Happy Birthday Emily!

Today is Emily Kay's Birthday! She is 4 years old and full of so much spunk! We are so lucky to have her in our family! Emily is such a joyous little girl and such a pleasure to be around. She has her moments, but who doesn't right?? She is funny and giggly and always keeps us laughing! She is a wonderful big sister and is always trying to make her brother do what she wants! She sometimes thinks she is THE mommy and we gently remind her that she is not but will be a mommy someday. Emily knows she is a princess. She is always pretending to be a princess and Caleb is usually her prince. She loves to sing and can memorize songs very easy. Emily is so smart and observant, we have to be careful what we say around her. :) She knows she is a Child of God and that she is loved very much!!

Here are some favorite pictures of Emily:

One day old

She is always smiling

So sweet and precious

So silly and cute

Such a wonderful little girl and daughter!!!

Happy Birthday Emily Kay Loo Hoo Stinky Poo!!! We love you!!!

My New Best Friend

Spring Cleaning once again, this time just happens to be 11 pm...whoops! I think it is really the best time to clean because I don't have kids following me around the house making the messes that I just spent all day cleaning up. I think this is true with all Moms. 

A few days ago Ben's Grandma introduced me to these "magical" cleaning cloths. She said she heard about them and had been using them to clean EVERYTHING. Tonight she gave me one, which was super sweet of her because they are kinda pricey! 

I decided to put it to good use and I cleaned my whole kitchen. I cleaned the sink, faucet, Kitchen Aid, refrigerator, table, chairs, cupboard doors, couter tops, microwave, stove, dishwasher, window and even a couple streak marks on my floor. THEY ARE AMAZING. On glass they don't leave streaks and on my sink it shined it up to look brand new. LOVED IT! So I had to share because I am so impressed!! And hey every girl needs something to make her job a little easier. I love easy, especially when it comes to cleaning! So now that I feel like I have just been in some kind of infomercial here are my pictures.

So all you women out there, buy yours today.....you won't regret it!