Devin's 1st Haircut

In case you haven't noticed in our pictures of Devin, that boy was badly in need of a haircut. He's 13 months old now and hadn't ever had one. We finally decided that today would be the day.
Here are two pictures that show Devin pre-haircut:


He did really well getting it cut. Aside from wanting to see what the lady was doing with those shiny scissors, he sat pretty still. He would have nothing to do with wearing the apron though.


And here is our handsome boy who no longer looks like he was raised in a cave:

What do you think?

Happy Birthday to Robin!

On Friday, Robin turned 31. It was a pretty good day. It started off with Jennifer making cinnamon biscuits for breakfast. Then Robin opened presents (you could tell I was in charge of the wrapping--the presents were either covered in a blanket or placed in a Christmas gift bag). The kids got her 2 bags of M&Ms, a new lamp, and some electrical outlet covers. Jennifer got Robin a new comforter for her bed and a huge bag of M&Ms. I got her Photoshop Elements for her Mac. I also had flowers delivered to her school which came as a complete surprise to her.

While Robin was working, Jennifer drove over to Robin's school and filled her van with birthday decorations. There were streamers, banners, ribbons, and balloons! Another nice surprise.
Jennifer was willing to babysit for us so I took Robin out for a night on the town. First we went to Outback Steakhouse (Thanks Marianne!). Then I surprised Robin by taking her to one of her favorite places: Barnes & Noble. I told her she wasn't allowed to leave until she had chosen at least 3 books. I think she really enjoyed being able to peruse the shelves with all the time in the world and without any kids demanding her attention. We just quietly chuckled as we watched someone else's kids running around the store yelling, "Mom! Mom! Mom!" Robin ended up with about 4 books plus some things for the kids and Jennifer.
After buying all our books, it was only about 8:30--much too early to go home. We picked up some cookies at the Paradise Cafe and then we stopped at the dollar movie theater in American Fork. We were going to watch the Tale of Desperaux since we hadn't seen it yet, but somehow ended up buying tickets to watch Twilight. Now I can finally cross that off my bucket list. We did not expect the theater to be full, but we grossly underestimated Edward's ability to attract teenage girls. And speaking of gross, have you seen that floor? I think if you dropped your wallet in there you would just go and get everything replaced before you would take the risk of picking something up off that icky, sticky, slimy, lumpy floor. The theater was almost packed! It was mildly amusing to her audience members clap when Edward first appeared on screen. And honestly, I didn't actually mind the movie (I think that's what happens when your expectations are so low to begin with).
After the movie, we headed home. Happy Birthday Robin!

Really Funny

I saw this clip on another blog and thought it was really funny.


http://www.9thwardcartoons.com/

If you want a good laugh go and read this blog of funny Mormon cartoons.

A New Era Of Responsibility

Draper Temple Open House

Last night for family home evening we had a lesson on temples and how we believe that families can be forever. So this evening we went to the Draper Temple Open House. They gave you a brochure as you enter that had some pictures of things you would see. Garrett thought it was a map and was really excited when he saw the things in pictures. Olivia was really amazed at how beautiful the temple was. It was really a nice experience. I am glad we took this opportunity to go and let our children have the opportunity to feel and see the the special things about the temple.

In the Fridge

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Devin loves the Fridge. He thinks it should be his personal playground. If you open the fridge and are holding him he will slide out of your arms to get to it. When you move him away from the fridge to close the door he gets very upset. He also feel like he has to take everything out of the fridge. I remember Garrett loving to do this too. I guess there is something about that closed door.

25 Random things about the people I love

1. Jeremy: He is very helpful and will run and get Gatorade for his sick wife
2. Jennifer – She is an awesome massage therapist who will work on her poor sister who keeps falling
3. Olivia – She always does her homework and her chores without complaining She is so willing to learn new things. Her newest interest is the piano.
4. Garrett: He writes love notes that say he loves me and tapes them on my wall in my bedroom.
5. Devin He laughs at the slightest things and puts his head on your chest and suck his fingers when he wants a love.
6. Marianne: She is the most creative person I know and she is always willing to share her talents. She bakes, cooks, sews, scrapbooks, organizes activities, leads music, decorates cakes (the list could on forever,) plus did I mention she has 5 kids.
7. Kindra- She is always trying new recipes and sharing her ideas with me. Plus she started her own business and does a fabulous job.
8. Melanie: She is always willing to help me out and I love just chatting with her. She is so motivated because right now she is working on getting a math endorsement.
9. Emily: She is a great sister who plans fun activities when we come to visit
10. Violet: She cares enough to call every week and just see how things are going
11. Robert: He is a supportive caring dad and an awesome bishop
12. Kristi- another college friend that let me marry her brother. Plus she is an amazing garden grower. I am always in awe of her garden and orchards. One more thing she runs marathons. I think that is so cool.
13. Betsy- She has great photography talents which I think she should start her own business.
14 Heather She is a good friend, who was also a good teaching partner but she had the courage to quit working and stay at home to be a full time mom. I admire her for that. Plus she always makes her own bread.
15. Shanalea- She was my other great teaching partner. She also had the courage to quit working. She left Utah for awhile but I’m so glad she is back now.
16. Gina-a great college friend that I am so glad she came to visit in July.
17. Karin – She is great example and shares her testimony frequently I love reading her blog.
18. Jeremy He is such a great dad, he plays with the kids, helps with livvy’s homework and also is willing to change diapers.
19. Zachary-He is so tough learning karate plus he is a Wii master.
20 Josh- He is the fastest little runner plus he is amazing at finding frogs anywhere.
21. Sariah She is an amazing cook plus she cares for 6 small children every day.
22. Earl He has a generous heart. He has an amazing book collection that he is always willing let me borrow his great books. Plus he teaches Kindergarten and after I only having to deal with Kindergartens once a week, I think anyone who teaches Kindergarten should be sainted.
23. Vickie- She is a school librarian and goes above and beyond teaching regular library skills. She inspires kids to love reading.
24. Jeremy- He is always reading the news and keeping me informed of what is going on.
25. Jeremy-He is a wii master at Mario, he makes the best homemade pizza, he draws great cartoon characters, he is great at helping me with my job, he does all the videos that you see on the blog, he always tries to make holidays special for me,(Yes, I know I but him on here more than once but Hey I love him the most.)

I know I didn't name everyone that I love so if you aren't on here. Sorry.
I tag anyone who wants to play.

Devin's Words

Devin is so cute. He is starting to say a few words that we recognize.
He says
ba-Ball (he absolutely loves all types of balls)
Mama - Mom and Olivia
dada - Dad and all other boys
ack- Jack (our dog)
bye,bye bye (he will wave to you as you are leaving a room or the house.

He jabbers all the time. I wish we could catch him on tape saying all these words.

Happy President's Day!

Since we had the day off we decided to take the kids bowling. We went bowling while my van was in the shop getting repairs done to the brakes. We all had a lot of fun. Everyone got a strike but me but Devin got his strike on my turn so that counts, right? Garrett ended up winning the game with 119. I think we are ready for the big leagues.
: ) It was a fun family activity.

Happy Love Day!

Our Valentine's Day started with treasure hunts. Last night, we hid clues around the house for Olivia and Garrett. They each had their own little hunt (We made sure to send them up and down the stairs multiple times). Garrett found his prize in the dishwasher and Olivia found hers and Devin's in the van.
Each child got bag full of Valentine goodies: pencils, straws, M&Ms, and stickers. Devin got a big blue ball.
We were surprised to find that Olivia had made one for each of us! We went to bed around 11 last night so she must have gotten up around midnight to hide our clues. She left us love notes with poems. Robin's read: Roses are red, violets are blue, sugar is sweet, and so are you. Mine read: Toys are fun, dogs are handsome and so are you.
We had angelfood cake and Cool Whip (normally we have strawberry shortcake as our traditional Valentine's Day breakfast, but Walmart and Smiths were both out).
For a fun surprise we took the kids to Lowe's to build a heart jewelry box. They had fun and the boxes turned out great!
We hit Cafe Rio for lunch, did some shopping at Walmart (got more food storage), and came back home.
For dinner we had a romantic, candle-lit meal consisting of heart shaped peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with applesauce (Robin and I weren't hungry since we ate so much at Cafe Rio and hey, easy clean-up!).

Grind my wheat to make my bread

I decided that since we had made had bought some wheat that maybe I should learn to what to do with it. I bought a "Cooking with Food Storage Cookbook". Then I opened up a can of wheat and used my wheat grinder that I got for Christmas a couple years ago. I found a recipe that called for half wheat and half all purpose white flour. The loaves of bread took me 3 and 1/2 hours to make. They were really good except, they were a little doughy in the middle. I'll have to try again to get a more perfect loaf.

Devin

Devin is only one year old, but he thinks he's a big kid like the other two.

Watch WalkingBoy.mov.

One of the Many reasons I don't teach kindergarten

I had parent teacher conferences this week. Since I am the specialty teacher no one came to see me. So I decide to use that time to clean my lab. I cleaned all the monitors, disinfected all the keyboards and mouses, I wiped down the the table tops. And I dusted all the computers. They were really gross. The monitors had a lot of hand prints on them. It was nice to have clean computers for a day.

Anyway I taught Kindergarten the next day. I reminded them not to touch the screens. As I was saying this. I look back at a kindergarten girl and see her lick her hand and then place it on the monitor so she could see her hand print. EW!!!!!!!!

I was not very happy with her at all. I really don't like teaching kindergarten.

Here is a picture of my tiny lab with 35 computers in it that has little room for anything else. I had to beg to get the bookcase and filing cabinet.

Silly Boy

I came home from parent teacher conferences and Jeremy said look at this picture he took. Apparently he asked Garrett to put on socks. Garrett came out of his room wearing socks on his hands and underwear on his head. He thought that he was so clever.