Awwww... sweet Jared!

The hardest part of having this little boy as our grandson is that he lives so far away from us!!! He is the sweetest little man, who has stories to tell and loves to tell them! He is the spitting image of his mom and boy is he a mommy's boy! His face lights up just seeing her. It is so fun to watch them together!!!

This weekend I got to sit and hold this little man and see his cute personality coming out so strong. In church I held him and he just stared at me. I would get the cutest, sweetest smiles from him. He is so strong... so big! I can see many road trips in the future to spend time with him. And grandpa and I think we are going to have to steal him away from his parents as often as we can get away with!

Garrett turned 25

Well... Garrett's birthday came and went (February 26th) and he was working. So we finally got to take him out to dinner for his birthday... I am still just amazed at how the days fly by and another year is gone. It was fun to spend some time with him and Tiffany and then we went to Kassi's play. I am truly amazed to see him as a husband and father. He sure loves his baby boys! And I love that he also loves his little brothers and sisters and comes over to spend time with them. I am grateful to see our family growing this way! I love this picture... My youngest son with his oldest brother, and my 2 grandsons!

Happy Birthday Garrett... hope this year brings all kinds of wonderful things your way!

Sister Daphne... Kassi!

I am having a horrible time thinking that this is Kassi's last year of high school... only because I know her big plans will take her away from me and honestly... I have to say that I have the greatest girls in the world and I don't want her to go! :) Well, I do, but I don't! I love watching my kids grow wings and fly. I love watching them take on life and live it the way they choose. But I LIKE hanging out with this silly girl and so all of these experiences are a little bitter sweet. We went to her drama classes play... Chickenheart! Kassi got to play Sister Daphnie! A part we are sure was written especially for her!!!! She is such a character. It was fun to watch and sad to know that we won't be doing this again next year!!!

Kassi and Beth... BFF's forever....

My birthday... 29 again! :)

I had the greatest birthday this year! I am not sure exactly why it was so wonderful, except that my family is amazing and made it a great day. Jace and Cait took us out for dinner. I got fun things... an iTunes card and beautiful roses from Garrett, Tiffany and the boys, flowers and chocolate covered strawberries from Thayne, flowers from the kids, a sound bar for my tv/iPod for our room and the most delicious cake EVER.... Thayne had my friend Rana make me a cake. She came up with my favorite candy, made into a 7 layer cake. Turtles!!! I have to say that it was the richest, most delectable cake I have ever eaten!!! But honestly, it had nothing to do with the 'stuff' I received.... I received the most beautiful, touching cards ever! They made me so happy I felt like my heart would burst. I prefer personal gifts anyway, and each one of the cards were so perfect and the 'coupons' the kids gave me were amazing. I got a little bit of their hearts and that made my heart very happy!!!

Hyrum is buying the '29' thing anymore. They said I was 29 and he said, "Um, mom has been 29 for a long time!" Darn... guess I can't fool him much longer. Although Garrett and I think it is funny that Tiffany will be 'older' than me this year!

Thanks to my amazing family for making my day so terrific!

When Tiffany brought my flowers and cards/gift over, Gabe came running into the house holding the cards over his head and yelled, "Grandma, I have your cards... and tree!" He called the flowers a tree!

Um... has she lost it? Is she going to off me on my birthday??? :) haha Kailee, you are a NUT! She wants the cake for herself!!!

The BEST cake EVER!!!!

Where did we go right?!?!

Sometimes I wonder how I got so lucky to have found a man like Thayne. I wonder how we recognized how perfect we would be for each other and grabbed it... and held on for dear life. We were talking about this the other day and he told me that every time he hears the song 'Where Did We Go Right' he thinks about us and wonders the same thing. I couldn't remember hearing it before but he is right, it seems to fit.
PERFECTLY!

In a world where everybody's fallin' apart
One by one, heart by heart
You and I stay together and we never even try
Side by side in a world turned upside down

Our love keeps spinnin' around
And you know it makes me wonder
As the rest run for their lives
Where did we go right?
Where did we go right?

At a time when all the world is searchin' for truth
His love for you will even prove
And what we have is what everybody's tryin' to find
Peace of mind in a world turned upside down

Our love keeps spinnin' around
And you know it makes me wonder
As the rest run for their lives
Where did we go right?
Where did we go right?

So many wrongs, so many lovers
I wish they all could know
What we've found in one another

In a world turned upside down
Our love keep spinnin' around
And you know it makes me wonder
As the rest run for their for their lives
Where did we go right?
Where did we go right?
Where did we go right?

We ran away the other day,
To spend some time away from the world and recharge.
We stayed at one of my favorite places...
It is so peaceful.
We went down to breakfast and ran into a young couple that had just gotten married the day before. We have known them since they were little kids. You could see the joy and happiness in their faces. They have the world in front of them. We were so happy for them. As we walked back up to our room Thayne said that he wishes he could tell young couples that marriage works, that it is wonderful and that there is nothing better than being married to your best friend. He said he wished that he could tell them to always put each other first, to make sure that you laugh, and have fun, and stay friends.
He said that he loves that he knows that he is safe with me. That he never has to worry about me betraying him... I feel the same way. There is nothing greater in the world than what we have. I cherish nothing more than I cherish my marriage to him.
I don't know how we managed it... and it's not that we are perfect or that we never disagree, it's just that somehow, in this crazy world where everything can go wrong... we managed to get this right!

I love running away to the Castle with him...but honesty... just being with him, through the crazy that gets thrown at us, sometimes daily, is the greatest thing. When we first met he always joked that no girl was worth fighting for. I told him he would fight for me. He always teased that he wouldn't... and yet, I have watched him for 26 years now... willing to give me, and our kids his whole heart and soul. Everything he does for us shows us that what we have is worth fighting for. It amazes me sometimes that 26 years later he still takes my breath away, and that there still is nobody that I would rather spend my life with. Forever isn't long enough to spend with him!

I am so very grateful that somehow we managed to go right!

Good or Bad Parenting

Recently a Facebook video of a dad shooting his daughter's computer was all the rage. Everyone was talking about it... every where. I was honestly shocked at the number of people raving about how wonderful it was that the dad did something to punish this girl for writing a horrible post about her parents on Facebook. They said it was great that he punished her for it. They talked about how kids these days just don't get punished enough and yay for the dad. He was a hero, or something.

So, I watched it. For about 2 seconds. And then I turned it off. Only to hear more about how great this guy was. So I gave it one more shot. I managed to watch it through to the end. But I didn't think he was wonderful... and definitely NOT a hero. In fact it was hard to hide my disgust! What I thought was that I understand EXACTLY why that daughter behaved the way she did. She behaved EXACTLY like her father. It wasn't bad enough that the man had a cigarette in his hand... yeah, I get, he's an adult. Although I do not understand how anyone can smoke in this day and age, knowing what we know... I get that people do. (Cigarette smoke gives me and several of my kids HORRIBLE migraines which is probably part of my disdain for smoking!) But the father was throwing a tantrum, or what we call in this house, a baby fit, about his daughter's language, and how she disrespected him. Only then... he proceeded to use the EXACT SAME language his daughter used. He must be a do as I say, not as I do kind of parent.

I know several parents who give their kids a cell phone, buy them clothes, take them on fancy vacations, and then complain how they dress, and that they refuse to do any chores and are mad that their kids are sending text messages or FB messages ABOUT them. Do you know there are kids that don't even know how to do simple chores around the house??? Not LITTLE kids, but teens, who have never been taught to clean a bathroom or mop the floors. And we wonder why they behave badly? In this video the dad was mad that he had just spent $130 to upgrade her laptop... even after she had behaved badly weeks before. So, a question? WHY??? Why did the father give her a laptop, upgrade it after bad behavior and then demand she figure out how to repay him. I especially loved how he said at her age (I think 15) he was living on his own, working full time, and listed off a number of other accomplishments. Now, I am going to take the man at his word.... maybe he did. But then, at 15 if he had really accomplished all of that, he certainly missed a parenting class or two. Or, it could be a case of, "I walked barefoot in a foot of snow, uphill both ways to school when I was your age" kind of thing. I don't know. It just made me mad to hear him rant about his daughter yet he was so angry that she ranted about him, using the exact same language she likely learned from her father!!!

I suppose what got me the most was the fact that people were cheering that he shot the laptop over and over. Because really? Would we be cheering if a kid had done the same thing for justifiable reasons? We wonder why kids shoot up their classmates when they do something that hurts their feelings?!?! When an ADULT demands ADULT behavior from his child, yet acts like the child himself... yeah, I don't see that as a parenting win!

I wonder how his show of authority is working for him! I wonder if his daughter suddenly gained respect for him and is acting like the perfect daughter he was hoping for? Because I cannot imagine that publicly humiliating her actually brought about the results he was hoping to achieve. I have yet to see great results when I lose my temper. I can't imagine my kids learning to work any other way than us working beside them. They learn to change the oil in the car because they are right there under the car with their dad doing it. They learned how to fold clothes because they were folding clothes WITH me... they learn how to clean their rooms when we clean with them. It never seems to work with the 9 year old to just TELL him to go clean his room. He learns how to do it when we go with him and work beside him! I cannot imagine my teen daughters writing ANYTHING close to that about me on the Internet... it just boggles my mind to even imagine it. Because disrespecting them does not bring about good behavior. Treating them like they are of worth, that I value them seems to bring about much better results than humiliating them in front of their friends. And guess what... he probably didn't impress her friends much. More than likely she now has more allies as proof that her father is exactly what she said he was!

I am glad so many people found his parenting impressive. Yay him! But in my eyes, it was a huge parenting fail. In fact it made me cringe! I felt sorry for him. Because he is missing out on some really great opportunities as the father of a daughter. Teenagers are amazing creatures! Yeah, sorry but I wasn't impressed! I think if he had spent a little more time BEFORE the fact, parenting his child... he may not have had to resort to such drastic behavior!

Ever wonder?

Do you ever wonder why things happen they way they do? Do you believe in coincidence? Do you wonder if someone is watching over you and things happen to prevent you from being somewhere that you shouldn't be? Or should be? I always think there are some questions I can't wait to get the answers to... because I don't really think there are coincidences. I heard a quote that says, "A coincidence is a small miracle in which God chooses to remain anonymous." I think I tend to believe that more than to believe that we just go blissfully through life without any heavenly intervention.

I thought about it not long ago when Kailee was driving to see Kimi. She had been so excited to get out of town that she didn't fill up the gas tank. Knowing that she had plenty to get her to the station where we always stop, half way there. However, that exit is hard to recognize if you aren't paying close attention and even worse when it is dark, and she started to panic when she realized she had missed it and was getting a little too close to empty. So she started praying that she would not run out of gas before she got to the truck stop several miles ahead. As she got closer she got more and more nervous. Nervous as in, do not stop at the gas stop nervous! And even more nervous that she was going to run out of gas on a freeway in the dark. She continued praying... and got closer to the exit for the truck stop. Only the car wouldn't stop. She said the only way she could explain it was that the car had a mind of it's own, and that the brakes were not working at all. She was scared... she tried to slow down and turn off at the exit and she just could not. I suppose people would think she was crazy and that there is no way something like that could happen. But I know Kailee. She is quite level headed and was in no way driving recklessly. The nervous feeling about the truck stop went away, but now she is afraid of running completely out of gas in the middle of nowhere. She said she prayed that if she ran out of gas, that someone nice, and safe would stop. But to please just let her make it to the next town and get gas there. She literally pulled into the gas station as the car ran out of gas. She called Kimi to tell her what happened and where she was. Matt then told her that at the time she would have been pulling into the truck stop... it was being robbed, at gunpoint!

Coincidence? Well... I suppose some would say it is. I, for one, choose to believe it was one of those little miracles.

So tonight, Thayne and I were going to a concert. I was SO excited to go. I have been waiting to go and looking forward to it and Thayne surprised me with the tickets for Valentines day. We took off early so we could have dinner and not have to rush. We got about half way there, just ready to head over the big mountain pass when the check engine light came on. We lost power in the car, it wouldn't go over 60 mph and wouldn't shift down. We turned around, got back to the town we were close to, Thayne checked under the hood, and we went inside to get a sandwich and drink. Decided to just start home and see what happened. We got on the freeway... the light went off, the car drove perfectly and there was absolutely no sign of problems the rest of the way home!!!

What did that mean? Coincidence? Did it keep us from possible disaster? Was it nothing? We had plenty of time to turn around, but neither one of us felt good about doing it, despite wanting to desperately! I don't know... maybe nothing would have happened. But I have seen enough miracles in my life to make me believe that there is no such thing as a coincidence!

Too busy for pictures...

The worst part of having a crazy big family is when we have something special, like a baby blessing, it is SO hard to get everyone together for a group shot. I mean, the kids KNOW that I am going to insist on a family picture at least once a year for Christmas cards... but when it comes to special events where we are at church or other places, it is nearly impossible to get everyone gathered together. And after it was all over, I looked at the camera and realized I didn't even get one of kids seperately... this is it... sorry to the rest of you! ;) As if you all care... hahaha!

Wyatt scooped Jared away from Kimi... Miss Kami... because she stayed at the hotel with us, and she was showing off her pretty new dress and bow!

Gabe... because where grandma is, Gabe usually is too! He's my little buddy!

Isaac... and he isn't even happy about getting his picture taken!

Noah....

Kassi, making a face because Wyatt told her her feather makes her look like a hippie! :)

Kami again....

The Ferris Wheel

Willie felt quite special for his birthday this year. We spent the whole day celebrating him! After going to Lake Tahoe, we spent the day shopping and playing in Reno. Willie wanted to go to Scheels and once the little kids found out that there was an indoor ferris wheel they wanted to go too!!! It was a fun day just hanging out and not really having anywhere to go. After playing, we worked up our appetites and off we went to Applebees where we ate, laughed and had them sing Happy Birthday to the birthday boy!!! Hope your day was wonderful Willie and hope that this year is everything you want it to be!!!

Tanner made Jared REALLY mad!!!

The girls are waiting their turn for the ferris wheel....

HA!!! I was teasing Tanner that he gets curls like his dad used to have, except his dad had blonder hair when he was younger!

Tanner and Jared (Tanner just refuses to smile for the camera which is why I have to sneak them and then they are blurry!)

Nate was so excited to ride the big ferris wheel. I asked him if he was too little but he insisted he was big enough to ride!

Ready to ride....

My birthday boy! Willie and Naters!!!

I LOVE this face... he makes my heart melt!

My two Rubies... Thayne and Noah!

Here we go! Nate and Willie!

2 of my favorite girls! Kailee and Kimi

Buddies! Hayden and Hyrum...

Nate is ready to go!

Hey pretty girls....

Hayden and Hyrum.... are you having fun?

I told Kailee to say cheese.... so she grabbed her phone and told me to say cheese!

Kami, Kassi and Kalli... 3 of my favorite girls!

Grrrrrr..... (hey Kinzee!)

Nate liked watching the fish...

My Nascar Drivers.... and this is the reason I have given the responsibility of teaching the children how to drive over to Thayne!!!