be inspired.

"The only way to get through life is to laugh your way through it. You either have to laugh or cry. I prefer to laugh. Crying gives me a headache."

-Marjorie Pay Hinckley

on the menu...

Right now I'm sitting here waiting for Ammon to finish a chapter of New Moon so that we can go to bed. I just finished planning this week's meals and making my grocery list for tomorrow. Since I have some time on my hands tonight, I'll share with you this week's menu.

Monday - Hot Hoagies

Tuesday - Mandarin Chicken

Wednesday - Ranch House Crock Pot Pork Chops with Parmesan Mashed Potatoes

Thursday - Chicken Tortellini Bake

Friday - Tex-Mex Beef Barbeques

These are all new recipes to me. I enjoy cooking and trying new things. Hopefully I've found some keepers. If I do, I'll post them on the recipe blog.

Have a good night. And a Happy Monday! : )

to my baby daddy

I love you too much. Watching you be a daddy is how I like to spend my time. It comes so naturally to you. You are always loving, kind, and patient. I've never seen you angry with our boys. You speak to them with love and the sparkle in your face when you play with them is so apparent. I'm so glad I finally gave you the chance to prove what kind of man you really were. I can't imagine a better father for my children than you. You are so dedicated to their happiness and well being. Happy Father's Day, love.

One year older...

It was my 24th birthday yesterday! Yep, I am almost a quarter of a CENTURY old... wow. Birthdays just aren't as fun as you get older but I enjoyed my day. We woke up early and were supposed to go to Lazy5 ranch with some friends. It was going to be so much fun but, Noah got sick and we had to stay home... We were planning on having a yard sale today (saturday) and since we had to stay home yesterday, we put our stuff out and did a yard sale both yesterday and today. We made a whopping total of $143.80. Not bad for a bunch of junk that we have held onto for WAY too long. Ammon hauled the rest of it off to Goodwill so we never have to see it again. Yay for simplifying!

Back to my birthday.

After the yard sale, we went down to Winston Salem to visit with Granny for awhile. She is such a great lady. I really enjoy the time we get to spend with her. She loves watching her great grandkids and I can tell that she enjoys watching Ammon be a daddy. : ) After our visit with Granny, we went to Target and shopped a little. I love that store and we don't have one here in Mayberry... We got a couple little things and then headed over to Chick-fil-a for dinner. Mayberry doesn't have one of those either. : (

My parents always made a BIG deal of my birthday growing up. The whole day was MINE. It started with me being able to sleep in until 10:26 am. Seems like an odd time, right? Well, I was born at 10:26 am so I always woke up to at least my mom, and sometimes others, singing Happy Birthday to me. I was doted on all day and Mom made me my favorite meal for dinner. I always got to blow out candles and open a few presents. I got phonecalls throughout the day from loved ones and my Grandpa Hebdon would always always always call and sing to me. Pretty great birthday, right?

This year was a little different.

I woke up at 6am to get ready for Lazy5 ranch. 6am is a little bit earlier than 10:26 am... I've never had a yard sale on my birthday before. Ammon didn't even say Happy Birthday til after 11am. He tried to make the day special but it's just not the same as when you're a kid. I DID get phonecalls from my family and that was so nice. 3 people sang to me on the phone. (including Grandpa Hebdon) Today my friend, Lisa brought me a delicious cake. Ammon stuck a match in it, sang Happy Birthday to me and I got to blow it out. : ) He took me out to eat and to the movies tonight. We saw the new Pixar movie, Up. It was great. I definitely teared up at the end.

Thanks to everyone who helped make my day special. Even though the excitement isn't the same as when I was younger, I really had a great birthday.

Parade of Parks...

We like parks.  They're free.  We like free stuff.  We like being outside.  Parks are outside.  

We like picnics.  Picnics and parks go hand in hand.

We like soccer.  Parks are a good place to master your skills.

We like watching Daddy's tricks.  Anywhere will do.  But parks make a pretty background.

We like eachother.  Anytime.  Anywhere.

And so do we.

We like milk.  You have to bring your own when going to a park... Parks only have water.  So why not drink water?

Because milk makes us fat & we like baby chubs.

We like being strong.

Parks have cool places to strengthen muscles.

Daddy likes parks.  He can add another random handstand to the pile.

Noah likes to be like his Daddy.

We like wildlife.  Parks sometimes have wildlife.

We like swings.  Any good park has swings.

But what we love most about parks.... It brings us together.

As family.

and i quote...

Me: "Hey Noah, let's tell a story."

Noah: "Ok."

Me: "Once upon a time there was a Big. Blue. Dinosaur. His name was..."

Noah: "Rrrooaarrr!"

Me: "That's what a dinosaur says. What should his name be?"

Noah: "Hmmm.... (puts his finger on his cheek) How about... Noah?"

Me: "Maybe a different name? How about Harry?"

Noah: "Yeah. Harry."

Me: "Ok. So once upon a time there was a big blue dinosaur who's name was Harry. His favorite food was..."

Noah: "Nuts"

Me: "Right. So one day he decided to have a picnic. He got out his plate and put some nuts on it and..."

Noah: "Hot dogs!"

Me: "Yep. And after he ate his hot dog and nuts, he was really thirsty. What did he drink?"

Noah: "A bottle."

Me: "After Harry ate his picnic and drank his bottle, he decided to play with his FAVORITE toy. What's his favorite toy?"

Noah: "A tree."

Me: "So Harry the big blue dinosaur had a wonderful day. He was able to eat his very favorite food, and play with his very favorite toy. The End."

Noah: "I want another story!!"

Oh Razzle...

You must click on this collage. Must.

This is Razzle. Razzle is the Lathen and Kiera's new puppy. (my nephew and niece) Razzle kept walking under Griffin's jumper and this kid thought it was hilarious. He kept moving his feet all around and laughing. Too cute!

Back to our roots

Sorry for the lack of posting... Things have been super crazy for our family lately. Good crazy. We have decided to homeschool our children and last week, there was a LDSEHE homeschool conference being held at SVU. We were able to attend with Gigi, Joni and her 2 kids. Gigi watched all 4 kids while we were in the various classes. We could not have done this without her. I am so grateful for her support. I didn't worry about the kids at all. I knew that they were taken care of and happy. The conference was fantastic! Brad Wilcox was our keynote speaker and he was really wonderful. I enjoyed everything he said. We learned a lot and came away feeling ready to educate our children. Most of you know that SVU is where Ammon and I met and fell in love. It was so fun to walk around campus and reminisce. So many wonderful memories for us there. We were able to see quite a few people that we knew way back when. I can't wait to go back next year!