Happy Birthday Jess!

Today was Jesse's 33rd birthday! I went to Salt Lake and met Jess for a birthday lunch. (the perks of being home and having everyone in school!)
Jess can't stand not knowing what his present is so every year he manages to get it out of one of the kids what I have gotten him! He is so sneaky about it too! He tricks them in to telling him by asking random, seemingly innocent questions! Well this year I prepared the kids for the types of questions he may ask, and we managed to keep it a secret! But he almost got it out of Hunter. He went in to work late today and enjoyed a morning at home with us. He offered to take Hunter and his friend to school for me (I should have know he had ulterior motives!) Well apparently he was asking Hunter those "innocent" questions of his (ie. can I wear it, is it bigger than a notebook, do you have one. etc.) Well Hunter held strong! Then when I went to meet him for lunch he said (so innocently) "Hunter told me what you got me for my birthday, I know it's clothes". (this is his way of getting me to give something away!) Well I knew that Hunter hadn't because if Jess would have really know that I had gotten him a new IPOD he wouldn't have been able to hide his excitement! So I just ignored him. Well when I got home I decided to teach him a lesson! I got the kids in on it and we pulled a sweatshirt out of Jesse's closet and wrapped it up, then we hid his real present! Jesse is like most men in America and doesn't want clothes for his birthday! When he stuck his hand in the bag and felt clothes he just looked at me and said "clothes, really?!?!" We had him going until he pulled one of his old sweatshirts out of the bag! We had a good laugh and gave him his real present! He was SOOOO excited! He has really been needing a new IPod. I also need to mention that Jess is the hardest person to shop for on the planet! I think I have managed to give him a total of two things over the years that he hasn't returned! (And the IPod counts as one of those two!)


Can you see the look of disgust in this picture as he opens his "present"!


And the joy in this picture when he realizes not only did we not give him clothes but he got the IPod he has been wanting for so long!
Jesse's dad came over and we had dinner, and pie. I didn't manage to take anymore pictures of the night.

Happy Birthday Babe! I hope you learned your lesson! :)

Carving Pumpkins

Tonight for Family home evening we carved pumpkins. We do this every year (along with most of the world!) and have a lot of fun doing it. Jesse crowns himself the "winner" every year! Well this year we decided to make it official and called our neighbor's Shawn and Michelle to come over and judge. They were good sports about coming over and going along with our craziness! We are a VERY competitive family, but it really is all in fun.

Jesse carving his masterpiece.

Hunter working very hard on his!

Look, it's Garrett! He didn't even cover his face for the picture!

Jesse, Garrett and Hunter. Hunter is standing by his pumpkin (the skull) Jesse's is on top of the straw (gargoyle), Garrett has his arm around his (headless horseman) and mine is next to Garrett's (witch).

Don't mind this AWFUL picture of me. I am fighting a horrible head cold!

I know your just dying to know who won! Well Hunter took 1st, Jess took 2nd, and Garrett and I were after them! We may be a little nutty but hey we have fun with it!

Happy Halloween!

Scout Auction

Today was our wards Scout Auction. All of the scouts were supposed to make a cake to be auctioned off to help raise money for Friends of Scouting. We had dinner and an auction. It was a lot of fun.

The boys loved frosting the cakes.

Garrett's friends came over to uh... "help".

The finished product. Hunter's was a football.

And Garrett's was a lion.

After dinner and the auction they had a pie eating contest for the boys.

(don't worry they were mini pies!)

Garrett and Hunter eating there pies.

Here is a shot of the group. The boys all loved this!

Garrett took 1st.

Hunter wasn't near as quick as those older boys, but he had fun anyway!

Fun at the Pumpkin Patch

Angie and I took the kids on our yearly trip to the Red Barn here in Santaquin to get pumpkins. We have done this for the last few years. We had a great time trying to get 6 kids to pick the perfect pumpkin!

Josh, Garrett, Brynna, Hunter, Maleah and Jonah


Jonah was REALLY enjoying the wagon ride.


Aren't they cute?!?! Garrett really loves Jonah, actually ALL the kids really love Jonah, but Garrett is so cute with him! Jonah only managed to throw that pumpkin of his oh about 10 times. (he kept calling it a ball!)


I was trying to capture the enthusiasm in these two! They are too cool for everything we do anymore! But they are good sports to go along.



I have great memories of getting together with my cousins, and hope that through all of this that mine and Angie's kids will have good memories of there cousins as well! (even if half the time they drive each other crazy!) :)

Food Storage

So I finally got my food storage organized. I had to buy another shelf to hold all of my goodies! This is the best my food storage has ever looked! I did a good amount of canning this year including: Peaches, Pears, Salsa, Spaghetti Sauce, and Pickles. I am hoping to learn to bottle chicken in the next few months. I love canning just because I feel so productive! It is a ton of work but so worth it in the end. I was actually quite sad that my tomato plants froze! I wasn't ready to be done yet! Oh well, there is always next year!

I had a hard time fitting all of the shelves in one picture because of the walls. There really is only 3 sets of shelves, all these pictures make it seem like there is a lot more than that.

Kid Tag

I saw this on a couple of my friends blogs and thought it was cute.

Garrett Says:
1.What is something mom always says to you? "pick up your laundry"
2. What makes mom happy? "when we are at school"
3. What makes mom sad? "when we are home from school"
4. How does your mom make you laugh? "she doesn't ever make me laugh"
5. What was your mom like as a child? "spoiled"
6. How old is your mom? "29"
7. How tall is your mom? "4 ft. 6 inches"
8. What is her favorite thing to do? "watch tv"
9. What does your mom do when you're not around? "party"
10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for? "watching tv"
11. What is your mom really good at? "canning"
12. What is your mom not very good at? "thinking of bedtimes" (apparently he doesn't like what time I send him to bed!!!)
13. What does your mom do for her job? "work on the computer"
14. What is your mom's favorite food? "pretzels"
15. What makes you proud of your mom? "she pays for my sports"
16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be? "Darth Vader"
17. What do you and your mom do together? "go to church"
18. How are you and your mom the same? "we like the Utes"
19. How are you and your mom different? "She likes the dumb Giants"
20. How do you know your mom loves you? "comes to my football games" (Yes EVERYTHING is about sports with this kid!)

Hunter says:
1.What is something mom always says to you? "be quiet"
2. What makes mom happy? "when we do chores"
3. What makes mom sad? "when we don't do chores or our homework"
4. How does your mom make you laugh? "nothing"
5. What was your mom like as a child? "mean"
6. How old is your mom? "26" (Good Answer!)
7. How tall is your mom? "8 inches"
8. What is her favorite thing to do? "clean"
9. What does your mom do when you're not around? "go to the gas station"
10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for? "super model" (Another good answer!)
11. What is your mom really good at? "driving"
12. What is your mom not very good at? "yelling at us"
13. What does your mom do for her job? "play on the computer"
14. What is your mom's favorite food? "pizza"
15. What makes you proud of your mom? "when she gives me Sprite"
16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be? "Bugs Bunny"
17. What do you and your mom do together? "watch tv"
18. How are you and your mom the same? "we both like Sprite"
19. How are you and your mom different? "she types faster"
20. How do you know your mom loves you? "she hugs me"

After doing this with my kids (and laughing my head off) I have learned a few things about how my boys think.
1. They do NOT find me funny (which is interesting because I think I'm HILARIOUS!)
2. They think all I do is play on the computer and watch tv all day!
3. It is actually paying off going to boring sporting events! Garrett FINALLY appreciates it!
4. I need to give Hunter Sprite more often!

I was a little scared doing this because I was afraid of what my boys would say, well Garrett thinks he's pretty funny (I wonder were he gets that!) because every time he would answer he would laugh! I have really been seeing lately that I need to do more fun things with my kids and stop trying to be so serious ALL the time! (yes I really can be a serious person!) I guess I just need to have more fun with them occasionally!

Tagged

8 Things I did today...

1. Woke up FREEZING to death! It is soooo cold and my furnace is on the fritz again! It was 65 in my house ALL day! (sorry you all have to listen to this but I'm a real baby about the cold!)

2. Homework!

3. Laundry!!!

4. Took Garrett to the orthodontist.

5. Got blood work done! (Lucky Me!)

6. Made white chicken chili for dinner (because it's FREEZING outside)

7. Watched my friend Michelle's kids.

8. Pulled out the old thermal underwear!

8 Shows I love (in no particular order)
1. ER

2. Survivor

3. 48 Hours Mysteries

4. Gary Unmarried

5. Biggest Loser

6. Amazing Race

7. Dancing with the Stars

8. Jon and Kate Plus 8

8 Restaurants I love
1. Ruby River

2. Pizza Factory

3. Mi Rancherito

4. Ruby Tuesdays

5. Brick Oven

6. Chic-fil-a

7. Sizzler

8. Pizza Hut


8 Things I am looking forward to.......
1. SPRING! (I know it's only fall!)

2. Trying my pickle's that I canned! (only about a month left until they are ready!)

3. Finishing school

4. Jesse and I going to the temple (someday)

5. Building a fire in my fireplace again

6. Day after Thanksgiving shopping with my mom and sister and sister-in-law

7. Taking a nice hot shower in a few minutes to get warm!

8. My cute sister Angie sending invitations to all of our cousins for her blog! (Angie: notice all of the comments on my blog from our cousins!) :) He He He


8 things I am wishing for.......

1. Kids that get along and NEVER fight!

2. The day when my kids grow up and realize I'm not so bad! :)

3. Warm weather! (can you tell I hate living in Utah when it is cold!)

4. A maid to keep my house clean!

5. An electric fence to keep our dang dog from getting out!

6. My fence to stain itself before the snow falls!

7. More tomatoes to can! My garden froze this weekend and I am SOOOO sad!

8. World Peace! :)


8 People I Tag
1. Jennifer

2. Kirstin

3. Kelli

4. Jenny

5. LaRae

6. Deana

7. Kristy

8. Janae

Las Vegas

I just got back from Las Vegas were Angie and I went with our kids to my Grandpa Zobrist's funeral. It was a LONG trip with 6 kids! But we had a good time. We were able to relax by the pool one day, and visit with all of our family the next. My Grandparents have 6 kids who were all able to make it for the funeral, as well as all 34 grand kids from various states! Some of who had to travel a pretty long distance to be there. It was great to see all of my cousins.

It was a great funeral filled with fun memories, all of the great grand kids sang a song, and my mom volunteered her and my sister Angie and I to sing!(much to my dismay) But all in all it wasn't that bad! (considering it was a song I had never heard, and we practiced it once the night before the funeral!) It was so nice to hear memories of my grandpa from my mom and her brothers and sister.


Grandpa in 2007


I love this picture of grandma and grandpa because this is how I remember them! I LOVE Grandma's HUGE earrings!


Driving to Vegas. (are we ready for Vegas or what!)


Doesn't he look innocent?


Josh, Garrett, Grandma and Hunter at the cemetery.


Aunt Anne (my mom's sister), Grandma and Mom.


My brother's and sister. From L to R: Angie, Me, Spencer, Nate, Dan. We are missing Chris. He was sick and left early.


Mom, Grandma, me, Hunter, and Garrett.


Mom, Grandma, Dan and his daughter Danielle.

My Grandma was such a good sport and just kept posing for pictures with everyone. She was SOOO tired after all that and nicely asked my mom if we were done taking pictures yet! She was ready to go home.


Dan teasing Miles (Spencer's little boy)


My cousins and sister. Jenny, Melanie, Janae and Angie.


Uncle Bob and Jason.




Angie and I went one night to sit in the hot tub and Don was nice enough to take a shift with the kids! Well this is what we returned to at 9:45. Don asleep in bed and the kids all watching TV! Exactly how it would have been if Jess had been there!

It was great to go and visit with family but as usual great to be home! Thanks Angie and Don for letting me and the kids crash at the time share with you (as usual!)

The end of Football! (At least for this season)

Garrett played his last tackle football game of the season today (in the rain!) It was a lot of fun and the boys loved playing in the rain! Garrett scored the only 2 touchdowns for his team in this game! Though football has taken over our lives, it is sad to see the season end. I love to watch my kids play sports, especially when they LOVE the sport they are playing. But hey, flag football starts next week for Hunter and Jess is coaching him.

This is the only video I took of Garrett playing football. I realized partway through the game that I had not taken any video, so I started recording and Garrett was nice enough to score while I was recording! Nice timing huh!

Goodbye Grandpa Zobrist

My Grandpa Zobrist died this week at the young age of 88. He and Grandma have 6 kids, 34 grandchildren and over 100 great and great-great grandchildren. Grandpa lived a full and exciting life but for me it still is hard to see him go. I have been thinking about why it is so hard for me and I think part of the reason is because I feel so guilty for not being better at visiting him. He and Grandma live in Las Vegas and I don't get down very often to visit either of them. The last time I saw Grandpa was at the Zobrist family reunion in the summer of 2007. Though the reunion was hard on him physically, it was so great to get to see him and the rest of my mom's family. I just hope that Grandpa can forgive me for not being better at visiting.

Grandpa lived a life full of travel. He and Grandma served a mission together, he was a successful business man. He also worked as a sealer in the Las Vegas temple. He was able to seal many of my cousins in various temples. I wish that Jess and I had been able to go to the temple years ago and have Grandpa seal us, but I know that when the day comes for Jess and I to go through that Grandpa will be there with us!

I don't have the best memory in the world but I do have a few memories of Grandpa. I was always so excited to go to Vegas as a kid to visit Grandma and Grandpa. They had a great indoor pool for us to swim in and it was a lot of fun. I remember getting to Vegas, walking in and seeing Grandpa (half dressed) on the couch watching t.v. (usually cartoons!) He would hug us all and ask my mom how long we were staying! Can you imagine though the noise 6 kids can make in one house, especially with a pool! Then when it was time to leave he would always kiss us goodbye and in his nicest voice tell mom it was great seeing us and how next time he wished we could stay longer! I remember sitting on the couch watching "Duck Tales with him and one day I was clipping my toe nails. I was probably 9 and so of course I was just clipping them right onto the floor and Grandpa started yelling at me because he said Grandma gets so mad at him when he does that, and I was going to get him in trouble! Looking back I just giggle because no matter if I would get in trouble or not, who wants toe nail clippings on the floor!

Grandpa was know to be grumpy when we were young, but I look back on that with fond memories. I know that he loved all of us!

Goodbye Grandpa! I love you!


This picture was taken in 2006 of Grandpa, Grandma, Garrett and Hunter. Grandma had just finished giving the grandkids rides on her Jazzy. I think she and Grandpa enjoyed doing this almost as much as the grandkids!