Joe says Sam is now a true hispanic

Sam had is first jalapeno, tamale, and spanish rice the other day. He loved the rice and tamale but was a bit upset about the jalapeno. The pepper was a mistake, but he finds everything!
He also loves ice cream!! Joe gives me a hard time about the ice cream, but I catch him every once in a while giving him some root beer. There's something about his boys and giving them root beer, the nectar of the Gods.

The boys

Yesterday after dinner the boys had fun playing and eating popsicles. Anytime Sam sees someone with ice cream or a popsicle he hurries over so he can get a nibble or two. Luckily his brothers were nice enough to go over and share with him after he had eaten his dinner.

My Table

My Table

So for Christmas I got a table. Abby and I had gone to Goodwill to find some jeans for Cheyenne and we always like to walk around before we leave. I saw this table and went over to check it out, it had been chewed on by a dog on two of the corners and the tops of the chairs. It was an easy repair. I looked at the price tag and called Joe immediately! He slowly said yes to the buy and the next day he picked it up for me. We sanded the corners and chairs and painted them. (my friend let us borrow the stain and paint)
So, the reason I was so excited about a table is so our family could sit down as a family and eat our meals. I remember growing up and sitting around the table and talking. I despirately wanted those same memories for the kids.
I'm happy to say we have been eating our meals at the table and the kids enjoy setting the table. Clearing the table, not so enjoyable.
Okay, so my bargain find was $30. Yeah, I was super excited about that. It didn't come with all the chairs, but we already had some folding chairs that we use and later we'll add some chairs from IKEA.
I love shopping at second hand stores!!

Enjoying Motherhood

I have a lot of time to think as I drive Doug to and from gymnastics and lately my mind has been on over drive. If I could remember them all I would definitely right a book and be on Oprah, Joe's favorite person. With today's thoughts fresh on my mind I thought I would share them with everyone.
Lately I've been extremely stressed with motherhood. No one told me how I would struggle daily with the challenges each child would bring to the day. Why do I ever get upset with them? Why are there days when I would like to ship them back to Texas? Why are they so moody? Can't they just be quiet and know that I need a break? You may ask, if you're so stressed then why did you have a lot of kids? My answer is because of the huge blessings and examples they are to me and others. Today as I drove and Sam slept, I could hear giggling behind me. A calmness came over me, now it could of been my Enya cd I was listening to, or the spirit testifying once again that motherhood is wonderful.
As I drove I thought how wonderful it was that my children knew how to laugh together. They are enjoying life! Then I realized that I'm the one who makes motherhood hard, my kids are kids, plain and simple.

They aren't miniture grown-ups who know exactly how they should act at every given moment. Not only are they kids, but they are kids with emotions just like mine. They have moments of joy, sadness, anger, disappointment.
Then I thought of the time I have left to hear the giggling behind me and realized that I probably have a good 5 years and I'll have at least 2 teenagers on my hands.
So I guess what I'm trying to say is enjoy your kids and the simplicity they bring. Stop making them grow up faster than they need to. Enjoy the simply questions and problem solving because in a few short years the questions will get harder and the problems will become difficult.

Love your babies and hug them tight. When days seem long just remember that they're kids and you used to be one too.

Sam and Zach

Our friend came over last nite and brought her son, who is Sam's age. They were so cute just sitting there and playing! Joe started laughing when they both stopped and stared at the fan going around and around.

Sick day

Doug stayed home on Monday with a fever and cough. He and Abby watched movies and veggied all day!

Sunday morning

Here are some shots of Joe shoveling the snow. He had shoveled friday, but it decided to snow again Saturday night through Sunday early afternoon. Most of the churches canceled services because the roads were so bad. Our bishop didn't get the memo. My friends son asked why we couldn't get a "Snow Day" from church. I thought that was cute. Oh! The kids had there 1st snow day this past Wednesday. They had fun playing outside with their friends.

Gem State Meet

Doug had his 2nd meet on Feb 2. He's struggling a little, but he's having fun. I didn't get any action shots because I was entering scores at the vault and Joe was entertaining Sam. I'll try to get some next time.

Our 1st Snowman of 2008

Thursday, Cheyenne wanted to finally build a snowman. We've had so much snow the past couple of weeks, so we worked together and through a lot of teamwork we did it. Man, snow is heavy all balled up!