New Years Eve Nachos

The plan had been to make homemade pizza tonight. The kids vetoed that idea. Bryce asked "With whole wheat crust?" I said "of course" and he said "NO WAY"!

So we wandered the aisles of Costco looking for a good idea that everyone could agree on. We decided on Nachos. Definitely not on the lists of approved foods for me but heck it is New Years Eve and I'll be good again tomorrow! So Nachos for dinner and gummy bears & Doritos for late night snacks while we watch movies together until midnight.

Happy New Year!

Top 8 of 2008

It's hard to narrow it down to just 8 things but here's an attempt:

• Going on a Cruise with Brian
• Having breakfast with Stephenie Meyer
• Brian had his best year in real estate ever
• Losing 25+ lbs.
• Traveling to Forks, WA with fellow Twilight fans
• Going to Disneyland & California Adventure
• Having a snow day in St. George
• Getting to take 2 trips as a family to N. Utah

So what are your Top 8 of 2008?

Wash It Wednesday

I always get a kick out of the fact that cleaning the inside of the toilets is Bradley's favorite job!
Today is Wash It Wednesday but I need to call it Work It Wednesday or Workout Wednesday or just plain Weird Wednesday or something because most of what I have to do does not involve washing...

• Take Brett to Game Stop
• Return books to the Library
• Workout
• Pay Bills
• Get movies for New Years Eve
• Finish the Laundry
• Wash Sheets
• Returns at Costco

Pride & Prejudice meets Twilight

Jane Austen is one of my favorite authors so of course I loved this Pride & Prejudice meets Twilight Trailer!

Tackle It Tuesday

Lots that needs tackling today! The clutter seems to be taking over my house again. It's been a crazy couple weeks and I'm falling behind. I'm going to start with working out and then see what I can get done on the rest of my list.

• Workout
  
• Type Up Family Goals for 2009


• Finish off Personal Goals for 2009


• Clean the Kitchen


• Laundry Done


• Clean My Bedroom

There is a lot more on the list but I'm going to start with this list!


ETA: Goals for 2009 are all typed up and my workout is done!
I did Start It Up plus Slim & 6 pack... I could barely get through the 12 minute 6 pack workout, I had to pause a couple times to rest!

Bedroom is also done now. I'll get the kitchen done after dinner. I've got some laundry to fold but it won't all get washed today. Brian pulled the dryer out today and cleaned out the dryer vent so I couldn't do laundry at all this morning. My dryer is drying so much faster now. Yipppeeee! Thanks Brian!

Menu Plan Monday

Monday
B - Pancakes
D - Wendy's - Thanks Shaun & Callie for the gift cards

Tuesday
B - Waffles
D - Left Over Ham & Potatoes

Wednesday
B - Omelets
D - Pizza

Thursday
B - Aebleskievers
D - Turkey

Friday
B - French Toast
D - Left Over Turkey

Saturday
B - Cereal
D - Hawaiian Haystacks

Sunday
B - Fast Sunday
D - Potato Bar

Maintain It Monday

Can you say Jello? My legs are now j-e-l-l-0 after just one 25 minute workout. I'm starting the Slim in 6 workout program next Monday with a friend. Since she's been doing it for a long time I figured I'd at least try it out this week. The first video is 25 minutes and you are supposed to work your way up to the hour long video. The 25 minute video was one heck of a good workout!
Usually my Maintain it Monday focuses on my house... I got the kids to clean up this morning and decided to focus on maintaining me by keeping the weight I have lost off....especially after a week of eating way too much junk!

Savor It Sunday

Today I savored our last day of sleeping in on Sunday. Next year church will start at 9:30 instead of 1:00. It's a whole different thing to get 5 kids to church on time when we start in the morning. I'm just grateful we are starting at 9:30 instead of 9:00. Those 30 extra minutes will help a lot! I've loved sleeping in on Sunday and just staying in bed once I do wake up.

Brett got ordained to be a Teacher today at church. It really hit me that he won't be around for much longer. We have less than 5 years with him at home.

I rarely capture a cute smile on Bryce but I just love this smile of his!
We don't allow video games on Sunday but since grandpa was here and had given me the Wii Fit we were showing him how it works.
I love my dad! It was so nice to have him spend a night with us on his way back to CA.
Kylie in her favorite spot. Watching Nickjr on the computer. She'd spend most of the day sitting her if I let her.

It was a nice Sabbath day. Since I am no longer in nursery I actually get to go to Sunday School and Relief Society and enjoy it. I haven't always been able to say that. There have been many times in the past I've enjoyed hanging out in the hall.

Happy Birthday Bradley - 7 Years Old

Bradley wanted vanilla cake with vanilla frosting.

Thinking really hard on what he wants to wish for.

We are so thankful to have such a wonderful boy as our son!

McDonald's For Dinner

McDonald's Happy Meals for dinner & time playing on the playland. Sounds like something any 7 year old would love. We even got some great pictures with Ronald McDonald.

Bradley's New Bike

After a trip to GameCrazy to buy Yoshi's Island for the DS we headed to Wal-Mart to buy Bradley a new bike for his birthday. He found the perfect bike. Thanks Grandpa for sending money for the bike!

Take a Snap

Brian & I took Bradley shopping for his birthday today. He had the camera and was taking pictures as we drove. He loved Pine Valley Mountain and we had to wait for a while while he "Took a Snap" of it. He also took one of the trees and showed it to me. "Wanna know how I took the picture upside down?" "I turned the camera over!" Such a silly boy!

Pickles & Cream of Mushroom Soup???

It's a tradition in our house that on your birthday you get to pick the meals. So Bradley's choice for lunch today..... Pickles & Cream of Mushroom soup?!? Not sure where he came up with that combination but he enjoyed it!

Breakfast in Bed for Bradley

Today is Bradley's 7th Birthday. He is such a sweet boy. He finds joy in the smallest things. Last night I asked him what he wanted for breakfast on his birthday. He said he wanted breakfast in bed. I asked him what he wanted me to fix and he said just surprise me but not french toast or pancakes. So this morning I served him fried eggs in bed (which happened to be the couch since he fell asleep upstairs last night). Happy Birthday Bradley!

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2008

Most of our Christmas cards are sitting in a box on the dryer, copies of our family picture are sitting above my desk and the stamps are in my purse. But that is as far as I am going to get this year. I had good intentions to get Christmas Cards mailed this year but I'm giving up!
2008 has been a good year for us. We've been through a lot of ups and downs but that is how life is supposed to be. As the title of this blog says... It may not be easy but it sure is worth it. Much of the good of our year is captured in the pages of this blog so I won't attempt to summarize it. We have been truly blessed and are grateful for good friends and a loving family. We are blessed to be members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We pause today to remember the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ, how lucky we are to have such a loving elder brother who was willing to come to earth and die for us. We are truly blessed and have so much to be grateful for!
Merry Christmas.

Christmas Morning

The economy being what is it I've been a little worried that Santa might not find us this year. The kids have been prepped that times are tough and it's even effecting Santa so not to expect much this year. Fortunately we were blessed. My dad as always was extremely generous and is still the best Santa around. We were also blessed by our dentist. Each month he has a drawing and Brian won this month. The prize - a Nintendo DS which happened to be on a couple of our kids' wish list. So we are incredibly thankful this year that our kids were happy.

Blogger is cutting of the edges so you can click on the slideshow to view it in another screen...

Christmas Eve Gifts

Traditionally we let the kids open a gift on Christmas Eve. Since the kids wanted big ticket items this year I wasn't sure what they were going to have to open on Christmas Eve. Fortunately we were given some blankets and pajamas by a neighbor and so they were able to open those on Christmas Eve.

It's nearly impossible to get a picture of all 5 of them where they are all smiling.

This is the differnce between girls & boys. The girls are sitting and cuddling, the boys are wrestling!

Christmas Eve at Uncle Philips

Kylie with Uncle Philip

Shannon always keeps the kids entertained while we are visiting.

Aunt Marva had a huge buffet of food for everyone.

Brian & Bradley loading up their plates.

Cute Kimberly

Kylie showing us her great table manners.

Kylie was getting away with it so Bradley had to try too.

Enjoying a great dinner.

Kylie was thrilled to be told she could take this Tinkerbell balloon home.

With Uncle Philip

We were trying to get Bryce to smile and Shannon said she'd get him to smile.

Brett spent a lot of time playing the organ.

Shannon had the perfect solution to take care of the noise level.

Maybe we should have bought a roll of duct tape for Christmas.

The kids all got a ride on Uncle Philip's Wild Ride. Even Kylie insisted she have a turn alone.

We had a great evening. Thanks to Uncle Philip and Aunt Marva for inviting us over.