Happy Birthday Brian

It's tough to celebrate a birthday with cake when we are not eating sugar. Instead Brian opted for homemade crepes. That way everyone could eat and enjoy them. The whipped cream was made with stevia instead of sugar and everyone thought it was the best whipped cream we had ever had.

Happy 43rd Birthday Brian!

The New Car...

It was time. Brian's car wouldn't pass the safety inspection required to reregister it so rather than pour money into it he's been shopping for a new car. He found a great deal in Vegas and picked it up today. Here it is, his new to us 2000 Toyota Avalon.

Happy Birthday Brian

Yesterday was Brian's 42nd birthday. We started the day with crepes for breakfast, he & I went out to lunch and then we had comforting chicken for dinner.

Cake & ice cream & some computer game playing rounded out the evening.

Kylie gave Brian a Mr. Potato head. She thought he needed it.

He bought most of his own gifts this year. New clothes & shoes. And the I got him and audio book he wanted.

Happy Birthday Brian. I love you!

Happy Father's Day

Kimberly had the idea to go to Brushfire and paint something for Brian for Father's Day. Well actually for his birthday but we didn't make it there in time to get the items back for his birthday so we decided to do it for Father's Day. Brett & Bryce painted plates, Bradley a Chinese bowl, Kim a dragon and Kylie a small plate. Since it was way cheaper to paint 6 piece of pottery because you then got a party discount we did a cup too. The kids have been really excited to give Brian his gifts. Kylie kept trying to tell him what we gave him. "It's a present like a new cup" she said quite a few times.

Thanks to Brian for being such a wonderful father to our children. He works hard to provide for our family and we love him.

And Happy Father's Day to my own father. The best dad I could have. I love you dad!

41 Years Old Today!

Happy Birthday Brian!
This looks like some disgusting slop but it is so good. Brian's favorite Comforting Chicken made to order with tender vegetables & thick gravy.

We got Brian lots of fun presents but Kylie in the bag has to be the most fun of all. Brian wanted something his mom used to make but Glenda couldn't remember the recipe. Graham crackers, chocolate pudding, whip cream and he wasn't sure what else so I did my best to make something yummy.

What great kids we have! They were so excited to celebrate Brian's birthday.

We found this hat at Wal-mart. We thought it would be a great boating hat. It says Whose in Your Boat? And has the #41 on it. Since he spent his 41st birthday working on his boat it seemed appropriate.

The best gifts of all - the love children.

On a great note Brian got the boat working! We're ready to take it on a test run in the next few days. Seriously his ability to fix things is amazing. He spent $350 for a part to get it running which was way cheaper than what the shop was going to charge us. It was going to be a minimum of $1000 for them to fix it. Hopefully all will go well when we get on the water!

Last week one of Brian's clients gave him GPS and a $500 tip to use towards toys for his boat! What a blessing! He's been shopping craigslist and has been able to get great deals on some used skis & a tube so we should be able to be out having fun soon.

Happy Birthday Brian

Today is Brian's Birthday! Happy Birthday Sweetheart!
Last month he found a great deal on a boat in Vegas and went down and picked it up. It has some repairs that need to be done and he's had no free time to work on it so today for his birthday he's spent the day trying to get it ready to use. Brian is handy and good at fixing things so here's hoping he can get everything working on it.

Picnic In The Park

When the weather is nice our ward has a picnic in the park once a month. As a ward missionary Brian got put in charge of a large portion of picnic in the park. He was in charge of making and delivering the flyer and buying the hamburgers & hot dogs. Wednesday night I came home from Enrichment to find that he had rounded up the neighborhood kids to help him deliver flyers. Amazing what they'll do for a candy bar!
Thursday morning he went into work a little late so he could figure out how to get our BBQ that didn't have wheels over to the park.


Being the king of Jimmy-rigging things he strapped the BBQ on to our dolly and used himself as a cart horse to pull the BBQ over to the park. Quite ingenious.

When Brian got put in charge of getting the food I thought great that means I'm going to have to take care of it because grocery shopping is usually not Brian's thing. This was so not the case this time. Brian went to Costco and took care of everything. There was a great turn out at the park and so much good food to eat. Kimberly Innes makes some awesome sugar cookies! And Bishop Cooper cooked up some great potatoes & chicken chili. I ate lots of other good stuff to but I have no idea who brought it! So much for eating healthy but boy it sure did taste good!

I brought the camera but then set it down and forgot about it for most of the night. The kids all have so much fun playing with their friends at the park. One day I will remember to get some shots of all the fun.

Yes My Husband Reads My Blog...

How I get my husband to read my blog...
I've been asked by several people how I get my husband to read my blog. For me it's easy because Brian wants to read it. It helps him keep in touch with what is going on at home while he's off working hard to provide for us each day.
To make it easy on him I have it set up to automatically email him every time I make a post. One time I turned off automatic emails and he was sad that he was missing out on getting those updates. I'm lucky to have such a great husband who is interested in the day to day mundane things I do.
To set up automatic emails:
Click on Customize and then click on Settings. Click on email and then type in your husband's email address. Then every time you post anything it will automatically email a copy of the post to him.

Time for "Diaper Rides" on the Trampoline

Does that sound odd to anyone else?
Brian is a great dad. He and the kids have all these odd named things they do together. Back when Brett was little he started something called "de-de" where he would have Brett walk on the ceiling and then drop on to the couch. The kids all love it!
One of the newer ones is diaper rides?
Last night at dinner in the cutest voice ever Kylie asked Brian if he wanted to go on the trampoline with her. Despite needing to head to Young Men's Brian took a few mintues on the tramp with Kylie and gave her a diaper ride.




Can you tell by her smile how much she loves this!

Answers to Prayer & Time With Dad

Bradley's teacher had given him a Christmas gift on the last day of school. It was a kit to build a bulldozer. He had been patiently waiting for 2 days for someone to put it together with him. Somewhere along the way he lost the directions to it. He came to me with a big smile and said, I lost my directions and I prayed really hard to find them. He had come into the office looked under a towel and there were the directions. He was beaming as he told me about it.

Brian took time to help Bradley build his bulldozer. The spent a long time gluing all the pieces together.

Husband Tag

Husband TAG
1. Where did you meet your husband? We were in the same ward at BYU and our apartment was assigned to go to his for dessert one Sunday evening. No one in his apartment had made dessert so he whipped up some brownies and brought them to our apartment.
2. How long did you date? 8 months
3. How long have you been married? 15 years
4. What does he do that surprises you? Makes the kids clean the house whenever he is watching them
5. What is your favorite feature of his? He muscular arms
6. What is his best quality? He is a hard worker and is loyal
7. Does he have a nick name for you? Not one specifically. He knows what not to call me though...Lovey- don't like that one.
8. What is his favorite food? Comforting Chicken
9. What is his favorite sport? Football
10. When and where was your first kiss? On my couch in Raintree apartments
11. What is your favorite thing to do as a couple? Anything alone. We like to play games, do puzzles, go out to eat, watch movies...
12. Do you have children? Yep 5 of them.
13. Does he have hidden talents? Brian is a jack of all trades, he can jimmy-rig almost anything, fix just about everything and thinks about and knows about a lot.
14. How old is he? 40
15. Who said I love you first? No idea to be honest. I'd guess it was me but maybe he remembers?
16. His favorite music? Stuff he grew up with like Enya
17. What do you admire most about him? He is a hard worker and helps others. He befriends people that others overlook. He is a great father and loves me.
18. What is his favorite color? Blue
19. Will he read this? Yes, I have blogger set up to automatically send him an email whenever I post.

Visiting Dad at Work

We went up to Brian's office today. Something we don't do very often because the kids aren't exactly quiet while we are there. Thanks for all your hard work Brian. We love you and appreciate all the hours you dedicate to providing for us.

Keep Up the Good Work Brian!

So obviously it's not the best time to be a Realtor but Brian is actually having a pretty good year this year. I'm so grateful to be married to a hard working Man! Keep up your good work Brian!

Mirror Mirror On The Wall

Mirror, Mirror

Shrek, Hallie Berry and Denzel Washington were all having lunch
together.
Shrek said, 'I have always thought that I'm the strongest man in
the world, but how can I be sure?'

Hallie Berry agreed. 'I'm told I'm the most gorgeous of them all,
but sometimes I wonder.'

Denzel Washington said, 'I'm pretty sure I'm the sexiest man alive
but I've never had it confirmed.'

They all decided that the best way to find out if their beliefs were true was to ask the famed talking 'mirror, mirror on the wall' to confirm for them whether Shrek was the strongest, Hallie Berry was the most gorgeous and Denzel Washington was the sexiest. They agreed to meet again the next day for lunch to discuss their findings.

The next day Shrek walked up with a smile. 'Well, it's true. The mirror told me that I am the strongest man in the world.'

Hallie Berry perked up and said: 'And I know for sure that I'm the most gorgeous woman of all'

Denzel Washington lifted his sad, face and said ...




Who in the world is Brian Habel???

Kudos to the Dads - Especially My Kid's Dad!

Brian shared this with me tonight. I thought it was so cute! Brian is a great dad who takes lots of time with our kids. Thanks Brian! Although I've never seen him do a cheerleading routine!

I once was lost but now I'm found....

So the good news for the day is Brian found my cell phone! It's been missing for almost a week and of course by the time I realized it was missing it was dead so there was no way to call it to find it. It was in my suburban. I've looked in my suburban twice including once with a flashlight. I was about to go buy a new phone. Brian felt inspired that it was in the suburban so we started cleaning it out. It was there - just camouflaged by the side of the seat. Thanks Brian!

Court of Honor

Brian earned his Heart of Scouting Award and Brett advanced in scouting and received 4 merit badges! Way to go Scouters!

I married a crazy man!

OK maybe he's not really crazy but I'm too chicken to do this. Near where we went tubing there is an old bridge that crosses the Snake River. Brian and my brothers went bridge jumping. The river is actually quite deep under the bridge so they assure me it is safe. The only thing crazier than this is my brother Tim went back the next week and jumped off the very top of the bridge.