Helping Mom With the Coupons!

Cutting coupons is a weekly event in our household. . . sometimes even twice a week. It has actually been a great activity for the kids too. Ethan is happy as long as I am on the floor, Kate tries to sit in my lap and have me read books while I'm cutting, and McKenna has increased her cutting skills tremendously with her excitement to help!

McKenna cutting a Viva paper towels coupon.

Great job!

Kate loves to play clean-up!

And Ethan eats it all up! :)

Good Family Fun!

Halloween Princesses. . . oh, and jock!

While Halloween remains to be my least favortie major holiday. . . I have to admit, it is fun to see how cute my kids are all dressed up! We attended a Halloween party friday night at a friends, way fun! Then on saturday we went trunk-or-treating. . . or in our case stroller-or-treating. We put the stroller, with Ethan inside, in a parking spot next to our friends car and passed out candy from there. Anywho, Kate is the beautiful "Snow Wipe" and McKenna the dainty Princess Fairy.
And the E-Man went as a basketball jock. The plan was to get him a sweatband to wear, but I never made it out to the store to get one.

So, I feel I must explain WHY I don't like Halloween. I DO NOT LIKE TO BE SCARED. I do enjoy the cutesy part, dressing up my kids all fun. . . but there is always the dark side to Halloween. . . . I do not like how it makes me feel. So, there ya go. . . on to better holidays! :O)

Seven Year Anniversary

Seven years. . . wow! It's been great! We've had a lot of great times. It's funny, I know we have our troubles (usually caused by me), but I don't remember them. When I look back I see the positive. Must be a sign of a good life together. Thanks for making me happy babe!

Tyler and I were married October 12, 2002 in the Seattle, WA temple. Why the temple? Because in the temple we are given the opportunity to be married for time AND ALL ETERNITY. We are sealed together, and any children we bring into the world are sealed to us also. A forever family! Isn't it an amazing gift?!?!

Tyler and I met at BYU. He lived around the corner from me. Actually, he was my home teacher! :) We first met at a home teaching visit. . . he was so new off his mission, the constant smile, everything was wonderful. . . my roommates and I would laugh. After Christmas that school year I started my crush.

There is a saying - and I don't remember it word for word - coincidences are a gift from God. I truly believe that. It turns out our fondness of each other started to grow at the same time. Our first unofficial date we went skiing - neither of us had ever been before! That evening he put his arm around me, soon after he held my hand, then we kissed. And one day I decided I didn't want to live without him by my side. Tyler was such a sport for playing along! :) jk

Primary strengthens my testimony!

I wrote this blog entry last September and never got around to sending it. . . so here ya go!

So, I missed my 10 year reunion this weekend. . . . totally bummed. There were a few reasons we couldn't make it to the saturday night party, but there was a family option for a potluck on sunday aftnoon. I kept going back and forth about whether I felt it was appropriate to take my family on sunday. It was also McKenna's first primary program was this sunday (a primary program is where the children are the ones teaching us at church, they sing songs and give mini talks - for the case of McKenna it was a one-liner.)


I was resigning to the fact that I most likely would NOT be going to the reunion, when I decided to take a look at the phrase McKenna would be repeating for the primary program that sunday. . . .


"Keeping the Sabbath Day holy strengthens my family."


My resignation instantly turned into a peaceful understanding. Am I bummed that I missed the reunion, of course. But I know I made the right decision for me and my famiy.


As it turns out, McKenna got sick and we sent her to my parents during the program. I did get to watch her the day before at the practice, so cute!!!

A time to boast

The only point of this post is to brag about how incredibly cute my children are. Just warms my heart looking at their bright faces.

Wow. . . . my baby actually eats!

Eating was never a strong point for McKenna until the past year. Kate did so-so. I know I have only fed Ethan rice cereal, but he's got it down already! Today he ate his entire bowl without pushing any out of his mouth. May not seem like a big feat for some, but after McKenna just getting the food in the baby's mouth is something to cheer about! :)

Oh. . . . and thanks to Kate H. for the great baby seat, works great for feedings!

Don't You Wish YOU Could Wake Up To THIS Face?

I wish I could fully capture the greeting I get when I go in to see Ethan for the first time. Every morning he gives me the biggest grin, there is so much love in his face.