A New Favorite: Cello meets Piano: Love Story Meets Love Story by Jon Schmidt (Taylor Swift Remix) Love It!!!!

Monster Concert

String Instruments Blared through the night...

Violin lessons....carrying an instrument back and forth from school...early mornings...practicing...

Oh, how I thought this might be a short term fetish....but I was wrong.

The day Jaren craddled his new instrument in his hands....a love affair almost instantly began. Jaren came home after his first day of class and said his teacher wanted them to only pluck the strings for a while....but not this boy, he heard his teacher say that soon they would play songs that will become favorites. A mention of Jaws...the shark coming out of water was definately something Jaren couldn't wait to get his hands on, ...so, he came straight home, with bow in hand and started scaring everyone with the Jaws performance he plucked out just like he had been playing the violin for years.

Honestly, I REALLY wanted him to perfect the piano first. But doing both was fun for him. After all, life is short and should be played hard. The hard work to get to this point has been fun to watch. A talented ear, plucks out beautiful music. Keep on playing Jaren. My only fear now, is...he has visions of an electric guitar, and maybe, just maybe the drums. Yikes!

More Cheesie Noodles......Please!

Mac & Cheese is ALWAYS a winner at playgroup.

Ashlyn, Abby, Brooklyn, Klair, & Sienna

Enjoying Mouthfuls of the gooey, yummy cheese laden noodles that fill small tummies. Without fail, it almost seems like they are having their own little noodle party. These girls go CRAZY over macaroni & cheese. So,basically, this has become our staple and almost a tradition every time the girls get together. They are SO darn cute!! YUM-O!!!

Exploring Cache County

This Is The Place

Dressing Up to present San Juan County

Cade and Austin showing off their floats....It was fun to see their eyes light right up when you asked them about their projects. Cool floats, guys! Way to go!

Double Digits

Look Who's 10!

Cade loves to tinker with pinballs and old game machines,so he chose to take a few friends to Nickel Cade...he jokes about the name, and says they named it after him. Cade was taken out of school on his birthday to go to lunch with his Mom and Dad at his choice of Crown Burger...he loves their pastrami burger, and hey, the fry sauce is so worth getting checked out of school for. We enjoyed visiting with him and he loved having an escape from the ordinary.

Ethan & Cade

What would a party be....without cousins?

An all out punching balloon war ensued the moment we got to home base.

Coin cups, racing, and telling quirky jokes while eating tacos made this day worth remembering. Cade is such a sweetheart, I love the life he breathes, the little sparkle that is in his eyes each day. I absolutely love this little boy who is growing up. I will continue to celebrate Cade. What a blessing it is to have him. I am so grateful he is a part of my life. Happy Birthday Cade.

JAZZ rocks the HOUSE!!!

FOUR BOYS & FIVE TICKETS later...

Gearing up for the Big WIN...Purple & White....

Jazz...vs. L.A. Lakers...

A date night with MOM and the boys...

Cade, Corbin, D.J., and Jaren wanted to get there early for the Jazz playoffs. Balloon swords were made, racket clappers were hit so many times, they fell apart. The concession stands had way too many options... We were poking at our rival team that was screaming behind us the entire time with our balloon swords. They laughed and screamed louder.

The boys wanted to see the players, reap from the free handouts and get prime seats. At the end of the game, however, I made a run for it, with a tied score and only one and a half minutes on the clock. A nervous mom....driving among party animals and drunk drivers in an overpopulated city was very scary for me. We raced to the car radio to hear the final score....WE WON!!!! My husband, just about died on the spot in unbelief that I didn't watch the grand finale. Well,....it was an awesome game, but time out with my boys was the highlight in my book. Go, Jazz!!!

Promptings....keeping ME where I need to be...

staying HOME from NYLT...

Jaren Spending OODLES of time with Brooklyn

A heart felt prompting turned a fun packed week with a slew of Jarens friends at camp Bartlett to a halt. Sometimes I want to push Jaren towards the FUN of friends and ample opportunities so he doesn't MISS out. We don't ALWAYS know the reasoning behind things....we just know that we need to FOLLOW our hearts. So instead of camping, merit badge classes, learning skills of becoming a great leader, enjoying a hot and fun week with friends....we unpacked his bags, embraced a big hug and KNEW that our little guy...(that's not SO little, anymore), needed to be HOME with his family.

We worked on the Family Life merit badge, scoured places to do service work and MOSTLY enjoyed each other. Brooklyn, however, couldn't LEAVE her brother to himself. PLEASE show me how to put this dress on my Polly Pocket...Can we play tic tac toe, J-A-R-E-N...I NEED YOU to help me ride a TWO WHEELER, A STORY, the park, and come play DRESS ups with me and my friends....(I had to laugh at this one....he actually put on a BELLE dress and wig in a girl size 4....hilarious!!! Now that's dedication....or just something to pass time. Aren't Big brothers Great!?

Sickness did set in for a few days for Jaren..and who knows what COULD have been if he had NOT stayed home. Whatever was MISSED was BEYOND made up for in the Relationship that was built upon while we ENJOYED each other on the home front. (The Most Important work we can do...is...listen to our hearts,... and then follow them).

I'll SAVE a seat JUST for YOU mom...

Ring, RIng, RING...

Cade & Corbin scoped out the SEATs with the BEST access to school LUNCH
Then...Cade CONVINCED his Mom that this was the best deal in town, and of course there would be a SPOT reserved RIGHT NEXT to HIM.

Brooklyn wants to know if she can have School Lunch EVERY day...

The phone rang off the hook as I was attempting to get Brooklyn down for a nap. Cade was on the other end trying to convince me how much better school lunch would be today if I would just come join him...with an awesome seat right where I would have easy access to endless amounts of school lunch. Visions of Mystery meat and airline food in vacuum sealed containers clouded my mind, as Cade continued chattering on how good a deal I was getting, to be able to sit by him and his friend...and Mom, you could also get a JUICE box if you don't want milk, and hey, there is a whole jug of RANCH that you can pretty much drown anything in...just in case you need a BETTER flavor!!! How enticing my little ten year old is!!! How could I resist. The lunch was only half as bad as I expected and the company was definitely an A+.
As the day went on I became aware that my little boy will soon begin another chapter in his life. I was so grateful that I didn't embarrass him YET...and that he was actually EXCITED to spend time with his mom over lunch. I am so thrilled that Cade thinks that his mom is still kind of cool to hang out with. I love my little guy.

All I need to know I LEARNED in Primary

The Primary Quarterly Activity was held at the Ogden Temple

Mounds of Gorgeous bulbs of every color burst everywhere
Brooklyn, Abby, and Ashyln taking in the new SMELLS of spring

Touring the Grounds, and imagining where we can go with our families...


Learning the basic principals of kindness, love, charity, and service. The peaceful spirit could be felt on the temple grounds. A snapshot was taken of each of the children at the temple as a reminder. All the good that is obtained through the experiences in Primary builds character and teaches us the simple values that builds upon who we are and what we can become.

GROWING uP with Primary prepares us and gets us ready for the Life that is laid before us...Here WE COME...

Sleepless Money Makers

Hand delivering Newspapers...Before the Roosters First CROW...

These faces of Jaren & Cade say it ALL

Chad had a great IDEA of putting our boys to work teaching them the IMPORTANCE of a hard earned dollar. Of course, a newspaper route was implemented in his childhood early on and he values those teaching years. We tried to get a route close to home...and it was snatched up quick by one of our neighbors, however our neighbors who do our route and another went on a TWO week vacation and gave our boys the opportunity to do their routes....all 123 houses, with papers stuffed, folded, bound and delivered by 6 a.m. The four o'clock morning call was definitely a struggle. I have to say I LOVE MY SLEEP...and after the novelty of the IDEA wore off, I was hit hard knowing that REALLY this is Mom's job TOO...

The bonding time between the conversations we HAD in the car early mornings will not be replaced,however, the laughter we shared over people peeking through their blinds at 4:30 a.m., just waiting to get their paper. The dog that barked so ferociously that we named their home the LION home, the flashlights we packed to make SURE we hit the right address, the fear of EARTHWORMS that Cade had to get over as they were strewn all over the sidewalks on the days that it rained, a lady that practically caught her paper in midair at 5 a.m. one morning, a phone call we got because someone wanted to know what time a certain show started that was listed in the paper, papers that had special requests....on the door, ALWAYS wrapped, in the mailbox holder...oh, and could you be such a dear and put it by right where I pull out of my garage?...racing to see if we could beat the clock from the prior day...

All in a Days work...even with the sleepless moments and the short lived job that seemed like eternity. I had to remember: (If you shoot for the stars...and hit the moon, that's okay, at least you are shooting for something).--William Townsend