Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Gavinisms...

"Mom? Does Jesus have a shovel?"

I'm assuming this question has to do with the creation of the earth which he has been asking me about a lot lately. It was so completely out of the blue while we were driving home from New Mexico that I couldn't help but laugh!

Monday, March 28, 2011

Indulge me if you will...Jo Totes Camera Bag Post

There's a little craft blog out there called Tater Tots and Jello...ok, it's not so little, anyone who follows craft blogs knows about this blog! I'm not going to lie...I never enter her giveaways because she has WAY TOO many followers (lol...good for her bad for me!). This giveaway I just CAN'T resist! It's a camera bag made by Jo Totes! I don't know the rules about posting pictures from their site, so you'll just have to look at that link to see how GORGEOUS they are. Also COMPLETELY out of my price range for a camera bag! Anyway...I get an entry for blogging about the giveaway so here it is! I actually have a fairly good track record for winning blog giveaway, but never for something quite so great! I have a sis in law who wins things on the radio all the time (drives me nuts, I never have won and probably haven't tried in 1o years...) so hopefully I get to be her sister in law who wins on blogs :) Cross your fingers everyone!

Nicest Aunt Ever...

That's who I want to be :) I'm going to do everything I can to be that, which means I just HAD to make this princess Castle cake for my niece Kenna. Could there be anything better for a 4 year old birthday? I think not!
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Now I NEVER want to do this cake again.
Unless another cute niece asks... :)

Friday, March 25, 2011

New Mexico

Ahhhh...a vacation! My sister wanted to go somewhere for her Spring Break this year and decided we should go visit my grandparents. I was only too happy to go! I love my grandparents so much and didn't get to grow up near them. I have probably seen them more in the past few years than I did my whole life growing up. They are so amazing and I found that out so much more while we were there visiting.

Since we had 4 kids between the 2 of us we decided driving was probably our best bet. It's about a 10 hour drive, and honestly wasn't all that bad. The babies didn't love it, but they weren't terrible and Gavin and Kenna were good (Gavin just talks a lot!). We did have a minor incident where Gavin bonked his head at McDonalds. It was a the tiniest scratch, but oh the blood! Photobucket

Once there we had such a good time. Visiting was enjoyable, but a little hard with the constant kid chasing! It's hard to be in someone else's home because I feel constantly on guard with the kids. I was AMAZED at the patience of my grandparents. Nothing bothered them and my Paw-Paw loved the commotion :) He was only too happy to play with the kids and give them attention. One morning Gavin was getting restless and said to me, "Mom, I probably just want Gramps to wake up!"

If you noticed I just called my grandpa 2 different names in that last paragraph. We have always called my grandpa "Paw-Paw", I'm guessing it's something southern since they are from Louisiana. My grandma never wanted to be called Maw Maw so we've always just called her Grandma Peggy. Once we grandkids started having children, they decided they needed new names for the great grandkids. So now we have "GG" for Great Grandma and Paw Paw is "Gramps". We even take it a little further and call my mom's youngest brother "Gruncle" Kyle for Great Uncle! (Just a fun fact since my blog is kind of like my journal...my mom is the second oldest of 8 kids. Kyle is the same age as me, only I'm 6 months OLDER! Not everyone can say they have an uncle younger than them!)

One of my very favorite parts of the trip was eating ice cream every night (Paw Paw is an ice cream fanatic) while we watched TV. We like all of the same shows and it was fun to see my grandparents get so into Biggest Loser and American Idol with me! I probably enjoyed this time the most because it was all DVR'd and we would watch it after the kids went to bed!

Gramps and the kids....
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Gruncle Kyle
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Always ready to cheese for the camera!
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Playing out in the "Rock Garden" as Gavin called it. It was like little boy heaven to have a yard full of rocks!
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Gramps loves Subway. I mean LOVES Subway. He goes every day but Sunday. He was so thrilled to have us go there with him! He was so excited to show us his "special treatment" that he gets there. He walks in and all the employees instantly say hi to him. Then when he orders he has his special code and order either a 1, 2 or 3. The employees know what these are and know exactely what he wants on it. The most hilarious part is he will order the $5 footlong but only get the 6in and then he gets to bring his receipt back in the next day for the other half! Talk about special treatment!
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We went to the Albuquerque zoo one day and had a great time! The kids loved it and they were all so exhausted on the way home every single one of them fell asleep! I just love this picture of Gramps and Gavin laughing!
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We were able to visit my Aunt and Uncle while we were there. It was so fun to see them, and they are such enjoyable, kind people. I was most excited to see my cousin Sandy and her little boy Lincoln. We didn't get to grow up near eachother, but I've gotten to know her so well on facebook. She planned to visit at the same time we were so we could see eachother! I wish we could have had more time with her, but I'm just thankful that I got to see them at all! Isn't he seriously the most adorable little boy?
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This is a picture of my Uncle Kevin, his 3 kids, me and my sis and my Uncle Kyle.
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It was a great trip. I'm so glad I had the opportunity to go. I already feel like planning another one!

Friday, March 18, 2011

There were never such devoted sisters...

Anytime I think of "sisters" I think of that song in the movie "White Christmas" where the two women are wearing those fluffy blue dresses and singing a silly song about being sisters. Anyone ever seen that and know what I'm talking about?

I have 4 sisters, all of whom I LOVE more than anything in this world. Lately I have really grown in my relationship with my sister Brittani. We're close in age and growing up I never thought that was so cool. It was hard to have a little sister who wanted to do everything like me, or my mom would constantly tell me to take her with me everywhere I went. She was always the skinnier, prettier one who all of my guy friends thought was so cute. Looking back I feel so amazed that there was someone who thought enough of me to want to be like me. Now she's the one I look up to. She has so much going for her and I don't know how she stays on top of it all. She's a wonderful mother, who has a good job, and goes to school. She's so kind and friendly to everyone and is constantly offering to do things for other people, even when she's so busy. It's so fun for me to see her in this grown up world that is so different from how I saw her in the crazy, hormonal, mixed up teenage world we all live in at one time in our lives.

More than anything I know she loves me. And I am just about positive she loves my boys more than anyone else in this world, second to me and Keith. I wish everyone had the chance to know her and the joy she brings into my life. I love you, Britt.

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I know that all you can think of in this picture is how tan I am (ok...that's all I'm thinking anyway, so I'll share a couple more!)
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Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Celebrate!

I had such a wonderful birthday this year! I never really feel older...I think I'm still waiting to feel mature, but I'm never quite there. I guess I'll take that because I am getting closer and closer to 30 and that just has such an "older" sounding ring to it.

I was so spoiled this year. The day started off with a text message saying I'd better be up, because my cute friend Mistie needed to drop something off. This is what she brought:
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WOW...YUM! How sweet was that to bring me breakfast?!?!?! It was DIVINE
I spent the rest of the morning lounging and playing with the boys. Then my dearest BPF (Best Pal Forever) Nancy brought over lunch for me and the boys and we visited. She brought me the most DARLING purse and jewelry and totally spoiled me. I need to take a picture of this purse because it is seriously my favorite! She knows me so well.
Max went down for a nap and I just relaxed and didn't worry about doing anything. Next thing I know, I look outside and my front door has been decorated not once, but TWICE! This giant sign was from my cute neighbor boys I posted about in the last post. Photobucket
And then my young women and Mistie (she's our Beehive advisor) Decorated my other door!Photobucket
I got numerous other calls and gifts, but I thought it would be tacky to post a picture of my loot...even though I seriously appreciated all of it! My dad called me from St. George and Amy called from Cove Fort :) We have a joke between us where someone will call from somewhere are say, "Have you ever had a call from such and such place?" I can't remember if it started when I was calling from Spain or if it was when Keith would call them on our cruise? Suffice it to say, I have never had a brithday call from either of those places and was pleased as punch!

Then for the evening my mom and sister came to visit and brought Cafe Rio (that's right...people brought me food all day long...they REALLY know what I like!) And I got to spend the evening with these cute kidsPhotobucket Photobucket Photobucket
We had Gavin take a picture of me and my sister, but neither one of us looked super cute in the pictures so I'll keep those to myself :)

The following day we had a baby shower for Mistie (can you see what a big part of my life this girl is?) and I was spoiled again by our sweet YW's presidency. Photobucket
Then Keith and I went out that evening to my favorite-TUCANOS! And despite the 1 hour wait and it being Prom Night...I really enjoyed my night out! It's always so refreshing to get a night out alone with Keith. It doesn't happen often at all and I need to make it more of a priority. Then on Monday I was treated to lunch with my old Primary gals where we gabbed and gabbed and caught up. I love these woman and meant to have someone take a picture for me while we were there but forgot.

I've never really done a birthday post because I don't want it to seem like I'm bragging about how cool I am or everything I was spoiled with, but I just wanted to make sure that everyone who called, texted, sent me a fb message, visited knew HOW MUCH I LOVED and appreciated every moment of it. Thank you ALL for making my day so special!

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Won't you be my neighbor?

We have THE BEST neighbors. Hands down. No one could ask for better neighbors than the Proulx family. If you know them, you know I speak the truth. If you don't know them, I'm sad for you!

Jeri has been teasing me for a week or so saying that "everyone needs a Janelle". I'm not kidding when I say everyone needs a Jeri. Really, she makes me happy and can make anyone's day better. She's one of the most fun-spirited people I know and I envy her discipline. That might sound silly, but I wish I could be as disciplined about things as she can. She loves my kids and they love her. She has been dying to poof up Max's hair and tried it the other night...it wasn't really doing what we thought it would but it was fun.Photobucket
For awhile now, Cory has been telling Gavin that he has a dragon in his garage. He says that if you listen really closely, every once in awhile you can hear it growl. Knowing Gavin, I'm sure you can imagine how into this he is! He constantly asks me about it and needs to know everything about the dragon. Unfortunately, the dragon is invisible. We were over at their house the other night and happened upon a "dragon egg" (that slightly resembled a medicine ball) and for the rest of the night and into the next day it was all Gavin could talk about. He really wanted to make a nest for the baby dragon when it hatches. We did our best with some twigs, grass and hot glue and we now have a blue dragon egg resting in the nest. I know Gavin talks a lot and seriously just DOESN'T STOP, but it's so cute to watch Cory just listen to him and talk about the dragon with him. Photobucket
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Cory and Jeri have 2 darling boys who I just love. They are so kind and fun and great examples to my boys. I'm so lucky that my kids have great role models right here to look up to. If my boys could be half as cute and good as the Proulx boys, I will be very pleased.
Thank you guys for being so great to us. I hope we are at least half as good neighbors as you guys!

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Snips, Snails and....Puppy Dog Tails

My boys are AMAZING. I'm certain they are the most wonderful boys in the world. And definitely the most creative.

Awhile ago, Gavin decided he needed a tail. I can't remember for sure but I think it was a piggy tail. We made him one (not a real one, you'll see later) and laughed about it for a few days. He then promptly forgot about it and never brought it up again...until today. He whined and whined about needing a tail and finally he found the proper tail making equipment. Brother needed one too. So did mom, but I fought that one because I was pretty sure I was ok without one.


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Aren't they silly? They spent the entire afternoon and evening wearing their "tails". I think it's so cute how something so simple can bring that much joy to them. Maybe I should have tried it out...