ELDER FAMILY JOURNAL

Children are worth it!!!

2011-08-06T16:23:00.000-07:00

10 more weeks and we will have our 4th child:) I am getting so so excited! I enjoy each one of my children in a similar but different way. They all bring just the right joy that I need every single day. Jade is an incredible help in all ways to me, I love having a girl first. She helps from cleaning to watching Tyler for me and well just anything I need at the moment I know that I can count on her. Jordyn brings peace and harmony to everyone. Tyler does not go a day without telling me he loves me and gives me many hugs and kisses. He also makes sure I get my exercise:) My children are just such a joy to me. I feel so blessed to have them in my life and just don't want to have them grow up ever!!!! I love to slow life down and just watch them day to day. Thank goodness for children:)

Back to Blogging:)

2011-05-20T15:38:00.000-07:00

So our computer has had issues and so I have not had one for a long time, I have just been using my ipod to do simple things but it is not a good way to blog!!! So It is working for now,(crossing my fingers) we need to just breakdown and buy a new one haha! So in one of my last post, I talked about seeing Paul Cardall in concert, it was a beautiful night. Justin and I really enjoyed it. He played all of our favoirte songs. okay well there isn't much of his art that I don't like lol!

Alot has changed since I last blogged, I am starting a Day Care in my home, which I am still in the process of getting licenced for.....the Saturday before I started taking a few kids I found out that I was pregnant with our 4th!!!! I couldn't believe it, nor could Justin! So here is the story-I wasn't feeling so well and Jusin was working at Weber Fire on a Saturday and I was out and about with the kids and all of a sudden I thought man the last time I felt like this I was pregnant! But I am not pregnant! So then I went on with the day and it kept coming to me to just go get a test so finally I thoguht well I will just go to family dollar and get one that doesn't cost so much:) So I did and I came home and took it right away, and it came positive ahhhhh! I couldn't believe it. So I had Jade read the test and asked her what she thought it meant and she looked at me and said "You are pregnant?" I couldn't believe it! So I thought well it is a cheap one I will just go to walmart and get a "Good" one! haha well I took it asap and it was positive!!!! So much for trying to save money on the test, right!!! So I then needed to tell Justin ( in the past I have always waited for him to be hear but with this one I was so sure that I wasn't preg. that I thought I would just take the test to rule it out!) so I took a pic of the test and sent it to him on his phone, called him and he said whos is that, is that yours???? I then started laughing so hard that I could hardly speak, I said yup it sure is:) So I have been pregn for 19 weeks now and I am starting to feel a little better, the first part was very difficult, especially starting up day care. I ended up putting the licensing on hold but now I am feeling more up to it. I am totally excited to get everything done, it actually is a very big process. I will feel so good once I am finished:)

Photography Giveaway!

2011-05-20T15:12:00.000-07:00

So our friend Kristin is having a giveaway for her photograpy business! if anyone is interested in signing up for it you should check out her blog: http://kristinwilkersonphotographyblog.blogspot.com/ She really does a beautiful job:)

Our 10th Anniversary!

2011-02-06T21:44:00.000-08:00

So 10 Years ago on Feb.2nd I married my best friend~ Wow has time flown by! I can't believe it has been 10 years an yet in the same thought I can't imagine my life without Justin and my amazing children. I have grown so much threw marriage and raising children, I feel so incredibly blessed. Justin got us tickets to go see Paul Cardall! OH my! I am so excited! He is performing on Valentines Day to make it even better! Justin knows that he is my all time favorite musician....thanks babe! I will definately blog about that! WooHOOoooooo!

Thought this was funny...

2010-12-06T10:20:00.000-08:00

I heard Jordyn downstairs in the famly room talking to chewy (our dog) "Chewy do you want to be a cow when you grow up? huh? do ya? okay.....Mom chewy wants to be a cow when he grows up and I am going to let him k. So I said well where would we keep him?..."In the backyard of coarse!" Love my kiddos:) there is always a laugh.

First Day of School for Jordyn

2010-11-28T11:28:00.000-08:00

Jordyn started Kindergarten. She has been waiting for this day for 3 years!(since Jade has been in school) She gets to go in the afternoon, her teacher is Mrs. Larson and from what I have seen she is truly an incredible teacher, it sure takes a lot of work to be a Kindergarten teacher. Here is a picture of her first day. It is now November when I am getting around to posting this and so she has been going to school for awhile and really likes it. Her best friend is a boy named Kael, he is adorable, Jordyn says that they run around and just play. I have had a chance to help out in her class every Monday and see that Jordyn is always checking up on Kael making sure he is okay, I think that it is so sweet of her. She is a very tender, sweet girl. She is the best reader in her class, and has been and outstanding student so far this year. We are very proud of her.

Jon Schmidt Christmas concert

2010-11-28T10:54:00.000-08:00

From the time I was 12 years old I have made it a tradition to go to Michael McLean's "The Forgotten Carols" Well he used to come and perform for 2 days(a Tuesday night and wed. night), now he just comes one night which is Wed night. So that causes a problem for the Justin Elder family!!!! Justin has drill with North Logan and Weber on Wed. nights so that means no chance for us...so I then noticed that Jon Schmidt was coming to Logan and so we went to that and I bought the DVD performance of The Forgotten Carols to watch at home with the whole family. It was last Saturday that we went to see Jon Schmidt, we like to say he is an ADD,comic musician!!! We laughed and had a great time. We also went with Brad and Holly to dinner at Aggie's and then to the concert. When we got to the concert we ran into Lori and Eric Derr's family and Grandma Dupree so we were able to sit with them and enjoy the concert together with some of our extended family. In fact the first song that I have playing on the blog is Jon and his Cello player, they performed this song that night, let me just tell ya I was loving life!!!:)I could listen to there music all day and never get bored of it.

2010 Halloween

2010-11-15T13:52:00.000-08:00

This year I helped out in Jade's classroom for their Halloween party, I helped with the donut on a string. They had a great party full of 6 different activities for them to do and a huge buffet of treats...yum yum. Jordyn had a lot of parent help and so I didn't help but I peeked at her and the fun that she had, they made these darling spider hats she looked adorable. Halloween fell on a Sunday and so we took the kids out Saturday night. We had a fun time, we went out to eat as a family at Fredrico's and then we took them to rich homes:) funny I know but they hit Jackpot, they got awesome treats and awesome things that were not candy which I liked lol. Jordyn was the "go getter" man she hauled it to many houses, Jade was a great big sister and helped Tyler. We also took them to their Great Grandpa and Grandma Yates home, they always have a special treat set aside for the kids. They then went to the neighborhood there cause it's a senior citizen area, it turned out awesome most gave out chocolate, which mom and dad liked. It was cute to hear them all 3 yell trick or treat! I loved taking them out trick or treating. We then came home and relaxed and watched Halloween movies! Their cousin Hayden came over and went around our neighborhood together. Jade was what she calls a Hippy chick!, Tyler was a skeleton, and Jordyn was a Pretty Pirate:)

Always something exciting with my Tyty;)

2010-11-15T13:32:00.000-08:00

So it was a nice Sunday morining, we were about to go to church when Tyler pulled down a glass vase and broke part of it, I then put it up on the counter until I could get to it later because I love the flowers in it and needed to try to save them....so anyway I did a stupid thing by leaving it on the counter cause Tyler got it again and when he grabbed it-it cut his thumb! right away I knew he needed stiches so here is one of many injuries to come with this cute kid:)lol

Grandpa and Gradma Yates Home

2010-11-15T13:06:00.000-08:00

My parents live in an amazing area in South Jordyn, we love to go visit them, this night we went and got a Gelato and sat by the fire....good memmories

Girls

2010-11-15T12:58:00.000-08:00

Jade and Jordyn are into to a lot of Primping! They spend a lot of time in the bathroom doing girly stuff already, thank goodness we have more than one bathroom! They actually are really good for their ages I think they do their hair really well. This is them on a Sunday afternoon after a makeover, they also gave me one too! I don't complain at all I LOVE to have someone play with my hair.

2010 Summer Fun

2010-11-15T12:42:00.000-08:00

We had a Dupree family reunion in July this year at Mark and Janet's home in Idaho Falls, they have a huge backyard and so we all brought motor homes and tents and camped out, I really enjoyed being there, the Dupree family is always so fun to be with, I love getting together with all my cousins and their kids. We played games visited, ate great food, Mandy did some amazing face painting, we all watched the fireworks which were the best I have ever seen and the longest!

We got a slip n slide this year, we have a little bit of a decline in our backyard that works great, this was so funny to watch chewy playing with the girls and then of coarse Tyler, well the picture tells it all:)

Our cute family at Lyndee's Blessing

2010-11-15T12:38:00.000-08:00

gotta love Justin's facial hair.....he loves to pull of soooo many different looks:)

Girl time at Grandma Yates home- always a good time:)

2010-11-15T12:32:00.000-08:00

Fall 2010

2010-11-15T12:17:00.001-08:00

So I have alot of catching up to do, lots of pics to post....... We live right next to the Green Canyon corn maze,so one of our favorite fall things to do is take the kids to it, we had alot of fun getting lost in there....although Justin is so dang good we could never really get lost he always knows where we are at lol.

Primary Program 2010

2010-11-15T11:56:00.000-08:00

Sunday we had our Primary program, which was so enjoyable. I am so grateful to be teaching in the Primary especially being able to teach Jade's class. The first song that the primary sang brought tears to my eyes, the spirit was so strong that I was hardly able to sing, I felt so dumb;)....then I looked and every single sister in the primary was crying, so then I felt better lol. I was so touched to hear Jade sing the song:" My Heavenly Father loves me", she sang this song with 3 other girls, her voice is turning into a more mature voice, it wasn't so kid like. Jordyn lucky girl got to say part of the 4the article of faith which she already has memorized so she got it easy:) My dad was able to come and see the girls, I am so glad that he is around to see them, they were sooo excited to sing for him. My mom had to practice with the Tab choir for the christmas program so she wasn't able to make it. Tyler did soooo well, I thought that he would want to come up and sing with us when all of us girls went up but nope he was excited to be with Grandpa Yates and his Dad! He really was so reverent, loved it.

Fun Night

2010-10-13T19:26:00.000-07:00

Jade sang at her school tonight in a choir performance, she did so well. I feel so grateful to have her going to the charter school. I never had a problem with the public schools but now that I have been able to see her go to public school for 2 years and then this Thomas Edison Charter school for 2 years as well, I am way Impressed! They work so well and so creatively with the children. The 3rd grade put on a program on the history of logan, the songs that they sang were so dang cute and creative, they have the children really learning alot even through there singing teacher. So Jade already knows 2 of the Aggie songs which was her favorite part so after it was all over we celebrated by going and getting Aggie ice cream! So proud of her and the awesome student that she is:) Way to go Jade! There is no school tomorrow so we are having a movie night, thanks to netflix:)Jade chose Jack and the beanstock.

Trying to stay strong......

2010-08-16T11:47:00.000-07:00

So in one week, Our dishwasher was recalled for a part starting fires in many homes....I feel blessed that it never did start on fire for us!!! Our fridge/freezer just stopped cooling and freezing, our toilet upstairs broke, a part in our sprinkler system broke, the fuel pump went out in our van right as we were trying to leave to go to Colorado because Justin's brother's baby boy died. None of my worries can be so bad.....we had a memorable experience going to the Funeral for baby Beckett, it was very hard to see Jed and Ashley have to go through something so incredible hard. I really am grateful for the knowledge I have of the plan of salvation to know that they will get to see there son again, I can't even begin to imagine not being apart of this beautiful gospel. We had a nice time with family. On our way home it ended up taking awhile...we got stuck in traffic because of an accident and then my father inlaw got a hole in his tire! We made it home at 1130pm last night after picking up Tyler he stayed with my mom and dad and Holly and Brad...Thanks you guys for watching him, especially Brad and Holly because Tyler ended up having the 24 hour throw up flew for you guys!! Justin was late for work but they were okay with it thank goodness. Soooooooo today is Monday a new week!!!!! I would like to have a better one! The fridge guy came and checked out our frigde, it is really broken ... I felt so dumb because the guy checked it out and then looked at me and said:"this is not good" I then said oh well things just have'nt been good for us just tell me how much and he said well around $700! I was not to happy, he then said well let me just check something and then he called this lady and she said that she would call us back....so we waited and then she called and he got off the phone and said this is your lucky day lady it is still under warranty! I started to get choked up and tears ran down my face I felt so stupid! I just feel like lately I have been on my last straw but yet today I feel so blessed, the fridge guy left and I just knelt down cried and prayed to my father in heaven and thanked him for just this little but big thing for me in my life. Tyler was up all night but is now doing better and is his cheery self.

Tyler is 2!

2010-03-22T19:28:00.000-07:00

So my one and only boy turned 2 yesterday! Time sure has flown by, it feels like it should be his first birthday. He is getting so big and looks like a toddler now. I will have to post pics later, my camera broke and so I had my mother in law take them and so I will post them when I get them, I do have a pic of his cake which turned out cute. He is really into cars lately, you usually will see him with a car in each hand and as many as he can fit into every pocket that he has! Today Justin caught him playing outside with some cars just walking around and then he kissed the car that was in his hand, so ya he really loves cars. He would watch the cars movie 2-3times a day if I would let him. He loves to be outside with chewy, and did I say he loves cars! He is talking alot and is such a joy to our family, I love having him, my baby:)

Grateful

2010-03-12T21:47:00.000-08:00

I am feeling so grateful for my life right now. I feel so blessed to have the jobs that we have, Justin has wonderful jobs right now, we couldn't ask for anything better right now. We are so blessed to have the benefits that come with our jobs. I am still working at the kidsklub, which doesn't feel like work at all! I love the girls I work with and the benefit of the gym...... I love working at Logan nursing and rehab. I meet the neatest people that I get to take care of....I am only there 1 or 2 days a week so I don't ever get burned out, I feel blessed to work there. I am taking care of a Patient who can't speak because of results from a stroke, but we have a special connection together....words literally can't express the experiences I have had with her, she is so special to me and I realize the important things in life just being around her. I have had a lot of other workers tell me that this patient really likes me....they say that they can just tell by her expressions on her face, it has made me feel so good:)
My children are such a joy in my life, I love being a mother, each child brings a different joy to me! I really wish that they just would not grow up! Tonight Justin and I sat and listened to Tyler talk and talk and talk ....to us! He was just so excited and happy about life! He kept showing us a picture of a kitty and saying or I should say more like yelling he was sooo excited..." Mom!, Dad! look kitty, cute, look, cute! " Then he would giggle:)He is starting to talk so much and just grow up awwwwww my baby!
I am so grateful to have Justin home more, he was sooooo busy the months of Jan and Feb, taking his EMT-intermediate class. I just love that Man!!!!!

Soon I hope to have pics, my camera broke and it is driving me crazy not having one:(

2010-03-02T14:58:00.000-08:00

Jade wrote this on February 24th 2010,

Nothing is better than my house.
I feel the warm sun in my house.
I hear lots of screams of joy and laughs.
I smell the blue sweet sky and the sweet smells that my mom's cooking.
I taste the cold air and good smells.
I touch the plastic ball, wet grass cold air.
I love my house.

Random thoughts to journal

2010-02-26T16:50:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we were driving to the store and Jordyn said "Mom I learned that there are taste bugs, and I know that they help you to taste your food!" I love to hear cute things like that.....taste bugs, taste buds, whatever right!! I thought that it was cute. Jade then said "oh sweetie, do you mean taste budddddds, with a d not a b? Jordyn then thinks for a minute and then said is that right mom? I explained it to her and so now she nows they are taste buds:) Jade and I got a kick out of Jordyn, she is learning so much these days that Jade and I are so amazed by her, lots of fun. I hate to think my days are growing short for when she will be in school all day:( On the other hand she is counting every minute!

Ty spends his days outside already him and chewy are just little buddies, very cute to see them just walking around the backyard together, If Ty is out by himself without chewy then chewy is sitting by the back door watching his every move!

Today Jade went to school for 1/2 a day, Jordyn and I cleaned side by side, she told me that she would clean the dishes whenever I wanted her to and she even wanted to help with the toilet and said she loves to clean but Mom, it is not fun cleaning rooms huh! She really loves to clean anything but her room these days, Jade on the other hand will clean their room so for now I guess that works for now:)

I colored my friends hair. Then spent all afternoon coloring with the girls and my sister Holly, we all love to color:) Justin walked into the kitchen and said "so we are having a coloring fest huh!"

Ty is my only child that has put his shoes on the wrong feet, he is obssessed with shoes these days. Usually when he wakes up he wants his shoes on.
Ty also is into cars the movie very much lately he will watch it everyday and I have to usually turn it off! He has a car shirt from his grandma Colette that he LOVES, he has a cars sippy cup ummmmm cars bib, the actual cars ya he's gone car crazy. He love hot dogs and will go knock on the fridge and say "dog mom". He tells people "excuse me" to get through them, funny that he has picked up on that. He went on his first motorcyle ride this year with his dad.

Jade is doing well in school she is very good at memmorizing, she memmorizes a poem every month and loves to write poems. One that she just wrote is: Red and Blue,
The color of red is a color of love. The color of blue is my favorite lolipop. I love the sweet air above. I love the popcorn when it goes pop pop pop! I love colors and I am a girl who is a red an blue fan! Thank goodnes it's not tan!

2010-02-07T08:17:00.000-08:00

Justin and I have the opportunity to teach the CTR 8 class this year, which is great because Jade is in the class. They are a good age to teach because they actually listen and participate! Jordyn is giving a talk today and I am so proud of her because this is the first talk that she can read it herself! She is so excited to do it and stand up there all by herself! This is her talk: " I would like to share a poem with you that talks about the Savior. Jesus is my Savior, for He rescues me from me. I'll try to explain just how to you. It's very clear to see. Heavenly Father sent me here To learn to choose the right. I can't get back to live with him unless I win the fight. Each day I have to make a choice Some days I seem to choose the path that leads away from Christ, and that's the way I lose. But God knew that I'd need some help, so Jesus said he'd come and be my Savior so I can try to be the best I can become. And when I try to change my ways- a better person be- I can succeed because of Christ who gave his life for me. I know that Jesus is my Savior because he died for my sins. I want to do all I can to follow his example and be worthy to live with him again someday.

Not a boring day EVER at our house!

2010-01-16T18:12:00.001-08:00

So I really should blog everyday since I want our blog to be our family journal. Tonight I ran upstairs to set out the girls clothes for Sunday and so I was not gone long....I came downstairs to find that the stairs are wet..?...so I start asking the girls why are the stairs wet, they don't know and then I look at Ty who's shirt and sleeves are dripping and so is his stuffed animal dog, come to find out he was in the bathroom stuffing animals in the toilet and then running all around the family room with them while our dog, chewy chases him....ummm not such a fun game for mom! Gross!!!!!

So....on the 7th day of December 2009...

2009-12-31T08:30:00.000-08:00

On the 7th day it read: "Let's watch the Polar Express Movie! We're going to have a great time together, we are going to start at 6:00pm...meet in the family room...don't be late, I can't wait!!!!! We watched this with grandma and grandpa Elder and Joey we had a good time.

On the 8th day it read: "Believe" Sign! I love this word and want to make sure that we have this reminder in our home. We do believe, don't we? How blessed we are as a family to know how crucial it is to believe in the really important things in life. Look around the house...do we have a Believe sign?

On the 9th day it read: A Christmas bell of Service! Do an act of service in secret for a neighbor or friend and leave this little bell on their doorstep along with a message,” From The Polar Express.” Maybe some homemade treats would bring a big smile to their faces. The girls chose some friends of theirs down the street, Erin and Olivia.

On the 10th day it read: Lets gather together tonight and start our Santa Clause book.. each night before we all go to bed we will read this book, it tells us all about Santa and where he lives...

On the 11th day it read: Pack your bags all the kids get to have a sleepover with Grandma and Grandpa Elder and Joey! Yeah you get to go to their ward Christmas party with them you will have a fabulous time! Mom and Dad pack your bags you are going to get to go to the Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert! Then spend time with Mike and Colette and stay at their home. We had a great time, Ryan and Kelsey got to come and Brad and Holly, we had a fun time together and enjoyed the concert...of coarse!:)

On the 12 the day... the kids were not home but still got to do what was planned they went and saw Santa at the fire station and had a fun lunch with their Grandma and Grandpa Elder and Joey. Jade asked Santa to surprise her, Jordyn asked him for a DS and a Violin and Ty of coarse just stared! Justin and I had a day without kids!!! We went to brunch and ate and ate and ate!! We went to Condies Candies which is a tradition for our family to do and picked out fresh chocolates for the holidays. We came home and thanks to Josh and Veronica they watched the kids and chewi...so that we could go to the North Logan Fire Department Christmas party, which is always a good time!

On the 13th day.. it was the start of the 12 days of Christmas. This year I wanted to focus on the Manger since our kids are so little. This night it read: Open your 12 Prayers of Christmas book and read about Mary. This night we focused just on Mary.

On the 14th it read: Open your 12 prayers of Christmas book and read about the donkey. We also watched a part of last years Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert there is a part where Brian Stokes Mitchell sings his version of the Friendly Beasts, soo good Jordyn really loved it, she is really into musical things. Jade then read the book "The Friendly Beast" to us. Good times:)

On the 15th day it read: Open your 12 prayers of Christmas book and read about the Innkeeper. Justin and I have fond memories of going to the Forgotten Carols and love it so much that we listened to the song about the Innkeeper from that.

On the 16th day it read: Open your 12 prayers of Christmas book and read about Joseph, we also listened to a song about Joseph

On the 17th day it read: Open your 12 prayers of Christmas book and read about The Star. We have a little toddler book about the star that Jade read to Ty.

On the 18th day it read: Open your 12 prayers of Christmas book and read about The First Wise Man.

On the 19th day it read: Open your 12 prayers of Christmas book and read about The Second Wise Man.

On the 20th day it read: Open your 12 prayers of Christmas book and read about The Third Wise Man.

On the 21st day it read: Open your 12 prayers of Christmas book and read about the Angel, Jade and Jordyn remembered being Angels in the ward Christmas Party.

On the 22nd day it read: Open your 12 prayers of Christmas book and read about the Shepard.

On the 23rd day it read: Open your 12 prayers of Christmas book and read about the Lamb. Oh....and go pack your bags Jade and Jordyn Grandpa Yates is picking you up in the morning and bringing you to his house to spend the day with him and Grandma and have a sleep over. Jade said: "We had a very fun time we went to the Zoo lights and Christmas shopping they gave us some presents, the presents were lip sticks and a stuffed moose,Carmel apples and chocolates and a light up toy from the Zoo lights and we went to California Pizza. We got to sleep in the big bed and when we woke up we got to have some oatmeal and then we came home to have a Christmas
Eve party. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for the fun memories you are making with the kids. Also thanks grandma for supplying loads of clothes for the kiddos! They look so nice cause of you...lol

On the 24th day Christmas EVE!!! it read: Open up your 12 prayers of Christmas book and read about the Christ Child. My parents wanted to sleepover so that they could see the kids open their presents. The kids went to bed early....6:45 so that Santa would come fast! Jordyn took a little bit longer but it was fast.

Merry Christmas! We had a good Christmas we focused a lot on getting family gifts. The Kids got a gift from Santa and 3 from mom and dad. It was nice to not go over board this year! Our big family gift was a wii and boy have we had fun. We can play games altogether and we just love it. We got a fun game from my brother called Quelff which we played with all the adults...so funny. We got the movie Up and watched that it is a cute movie, the old man reminds me of a resident that I take care of named Russell! The girls got money to buy instruments...Jade a keyboard and Jordyn a violin, we will go pick them out together. They got a big dolls that are the size of Tyler and he apparently things they are his! He is so cute with the dolls. Jordyn got some books to read and Jade got some hair stuff. All kids got a kid digital camera from grandma and pa Yates....they so love it and it is fun to see them take pics. The elders gave the girls tutus and Ty a shirt. Ty was so much fun to watch this year, I guess I didn't expect to have the reaction he gave us! He opened is first present which was a pack of hot wheels and he gasped and yelled and shook his arms he was soo excited, then the second gift was the movie cars...well lets just say he had asked to watch it everyday since! They all got a v tech video learning game thing to play. Justin got a home theater system and I got a Vita Mix wooohooo I am in health heaven now!!! I have wanted one for sooo long! We have had a green smoothie everyday haha! I made fresh tortilla soup in it the other night and it only took 7 minutes and it was steaming hot! Good time I have enjoyed being home and spending time with family and our puppy chewi!

2009-12-06T20:52:00.000-08:00

Oh ya, did I mention our new baby in our family!!! Justin yelled,"Heidi grab the camera and come up stairs!" I did and this is what I found....he is so cute! We just love him. Looks like someone will get some use out of our pacifiers, my kids don't!

2009-12-06T20:47:00.000-08:00

Jade and Jordyn were Angels in our ward Christmas party this year they looked "Angelic" and sang so good!

Holidays Season for 2009

2009-12-06T20:12:00.000-08:00

So this year I got everything done for Christmas in November so that we could really enjoy the whole month of December. I had so much fun making our family an advent calendar. I had gone to a craft boutique one day and saw that someone had made an advent calendar out of a mini muffin tin and I thought hey I can do that and I did! So many ideas came flowing in my mind as I was making it. I am BIG into traditions and wanted to start this one for our family. Each day the kids take a turn picking a day. So far this is what we have done......the first day (DEC 1st) I had them wait to do it until after dinner.....they opened it up and read: "Go look under your pillow,and you will find something that will keep you warm and cozy on these cold, snowy nights. Oh, You'll look adorable!" They ran up and were so excited to see that they each had PJ's even Justin was surprised I had some for him! We used to get PJ's the night before Christmas but I thought that it would be fun to have them wear them all through the season, so we will do this every year! The 2ND day it read: " Holiday Music! I know we all love to have Christmas music playing in our home so lets pick our favorite songs and sing and dance and have a happy day!" On the 3rd day it read:" The Savior gave comfort; one of the things we tend to think of when we think of comfort is a warm blanket. Wrap your self in your favorite blanket and remember how much the Savior loves you. He loves to bring us comfort in times of need. I hope we will always find comfort in his love. On the 4th day it read: Let's make a treat brew up some wassail and start the season off with watching one of our favorite Christmas movies! (The kids love to watch the Grinch and so that's what we did!) Tonight we have our ward Christmas party and Jade and Jordyn are Angels in the program...can't wait to see you sweet Angels and hear your heavenly voices! On the 5th day it read: " Hurry and get ready for the day you guys get to go to the movie theaters today with a bunch of your friends! We are going to go see Alien 51. When we get home lets put on our aprons we are going to make cookies together, I can't wait we will have such a wonderful time together! Yum! Yum! P.S thanks for all the good work you do, the house is clean chores are done so we get to have fun all day...Luv ya. On the 6th day it read: We get to go to the Eldredges Home and decorate the cookies we made yesterday and play games.

I will have to keep posted each day what we do, it has been alot of fun for the kids and of coarse...me!!!!

Fabulous Fall 2009

2009-11-29T16:37:00.000-08:00

We have had a fabulous fall! It all started out with getting a new home the first of September! We feel so blessed to get the home we are in. We love every bit of it. The yard it beautiful, we fell in love with the back yard, it has beautiful landscaping and we didn't have to do it! There are 2 big trees in the back that gave us alot of leaves to rake! We had a fun family night doing it and sounds funny but had so much fun doing it.

Jordyn celebrated her 5th birthday! She is growing up so much, I will be sad to see her go to school next year, she is my buddy all day, she likes to clean and cook with me and so I will miss her not being with me all day...can't I just freeze life right now! I really love where my life is! Jordyn wants every birthday to be at the fun park! So we went there again this year with her cousins. She is still into Hanna Montana so she got a doll with a horse, she wanted a hat this year and so we went shopping for that, she got some snow white dishes and one of her favorite traditions is her grandma Colette takes her for the weekend and they spend all weekend together, this year they went shopping and got a doll with a bottle and a red dress for the doll and one for her that matches, They baked cupcakes, ate pizza and colored and read books, and watched cartoons, they went to Santaquin and got Ice cream and cotton candy and lolipops to bring home to her family! Wow she had a lot of fun with grandma! Love our Jordy girl!

For Halloween we had a party at my friend Chelsea's house the Sunday before Halloween, they did such a great job with everything we had dinner in a pumpkin, witch's brew and enjoyed everyone's company, I have kept in touch with Chelsea since middle school! Love ya Chels
My mom and Dad and Brad and Holly came over for Halloween and we had our traditional dinner: Dinner in a pumpkin, graveyard desseret and of coarse our witch's brew, this year Jordyn got freaked out and would not drink it! So funny. Ty was a little monster which is so fitting for him these days! HE was adorable!

New member to our family!

2009-11-29T16:12:00.001-08:00

So thanks to our friends,Rob and Anjalee we have a new member in our family! They gave us a free shitzu! He is the most adorable puppy! We got him last night and have had so much fun with him. He is a little fluff ball. We named him chewy. There is such a special feeling in a home when you have a family animal I think. We love him and are so thankful to Rob and Anjalle for the best christmas present ever!!!! Thanks you guys. Here's some pic but he is so cute in real life.

The Latest Update

2009-08-23T10:14:00.001-07:00

Tyler has said his first sentence! "Here you go!" For the past few days he keeps bringing things to people and saying "here you go" it is so cute. He is growing up so much, I just love him so much. Jade just started 2nd grade at North Park Elementary. She loves school and does so well. Her teacher is Mrs. Christensen. She has been wanting me to make her a lunch each day and so that has been fun to do. Her aunt Veronica got her a cute sandwhich thing that puts a design on her bread. Jordyn and I get another year together. I am soo excited. I love having her around and hope the year doesn't go too fast. Justin is very close to getting a job with South Salt Lake fire department. They just came up last week and talked to his Chief and his Chief said that they sound very interested in him. Two days ago Idaho Falls called and wants him to come for a chiefs interview and so he is also close with them!! We are just around the corner to starting a new and exciting chapter in our little family's life!

2009-07-14T20:25:00.001-07:00

It has been a crazy week. I have hardly seen Justin, he has been helping with the mudslide and working at his full time job! I have no idea as to how much sleep he has gotten since sat. and it is tues. There was a mudslide down on the island, a canal broke and the mountain came down on a house and totally barried it! So sad there were 3 people inside and they just recovered them today. Life is so fragile. I need to count my blessings everyday.

Jade turned 7!!!!

2009-06-13T09:43:00.000-07:00

I can hardly believe that my oldest is 7! I am sure I have not had a child for 7 years, really!!! Jade is my Sunshine, almost every night I sing to her "you are my sunshine...." she brightens my day everyday. She is such a good helper and friend to me. She is always making sure that I am ok. I am so grateful to have her. She just finished 1st grade and has loved every minute of it. She loves school. She is such a good friend to so many kids, I can't believe how many friends she has!!!! She is growing up so much. She has lost 5 teeth including her 2 front teeth. She loves to read and is into reading Judy B. books. She likes to read to Jordyn at night as well, I tend to get pushed out of the way so she can read to her brother or sister! She loves to swim and is taking private swim lessons this summer. Jade loves to fix hair and usually does her own (by her choice) each day. Each year for her birthday her grandma Colette and her go have a special day together, shopping usually is what they both LOVE to do together. So she spent time with her and I think that they were gone for 4 hours!!!! Fun. She had a family birthday party this year and a friend party at the sports academy where they swam, had a treasure hunt and had cake and Ice cream. For the family party we had a cinco de mayo dinner party since her bday lands on May 5th. I made a tres leche cake for my first time and we loved it we will have to make it a tradition. For her friend party we did a butterfly cupcake cake. Jade's favorite color is blue and she loves to sing to music while driving places in the car. She loves music from Paul Cardall and then of few songs off the radio. Happy Birthday Jade!!!

For My moms mother's day and birthday Brad and Holly and us went and stayed at mom and dad's for the weekend. It was so nice. We went to Famous Daves for dinner and went garage saleing, played at many parks around day break, we played at the lake and ate good food and watched movies, it was good times. Justin took my mom for a motorcyle ride, she loved it! The girls had fun with grandma and grandpa and they also played hard with their friends that live next door to them. Thanks for the fun weekend mom and dad!! Happy Birthday Mom!

Mother's Day 2009

2009-06-13T09:23:00.000-07:00

I had a beautiful mother's day. I enjoyed every minute of it. I am so lucky to have my husband and children. They made my meals and treated me so kindly! The girls picked out a cute musical card for me beacause they know me sooo well! The weather was beautiful we spent most of the day relaxing outside. I got to see my mom wich was a surprise because we were planning on going and seeing her for her birthday and mother's day the coming up weekend but she ended up coming to cache valley to see her mother and mother in law. So Justin took me for a motorcyle ride into Logan to visit with her and my grandma Yates for awhile. I love my mom and the older I get the more I appreciate her. She is such a good grandma to my kids, they love her so so much and always want to go see Grandma Colette. Mom you are such a beautiful example of how to be a mother and grandmother I am grateful to have such a good example of a mother to follow. I am proud to be your daughter! Thanks for all you have done for me my whole life and now my children's lives we love you!!!!

2009-06-13T06:57:00.000-07:00

Tyler learned to walk when he turned 11 months old back in Feb. it is now June and he has been running all over the place and climbing on anything and everything he can get his little body up on. I have loved having a boy but man I can't believe how active a little boy can be, he keeps me on my toes that is for sure. Hey I look at it as a workout, I don't need to go to the gym I have Tyler to keep up with haha! I need to get a video of him climbing up on any table, it is funny because he hurries and climbs and then once he is up there he does a little victory dance!!! He loves to dance whenever he heres music he starts to dance it is very cute and funny! Another thing about Ty is he has never been into baby food very much. He always wants to feed himself and so I try to let him and here is some pics of him trying to feed or in other words make a huge mess for me!!!!

2009-06-13T06:46:00.000-07:00

So this is how some of our days are..... I walk into the girls room and well ya they are playing dress up with their brother!!!! Tyler you are soooo cute!!!! I love my kids so much! They are such a joy to me.

2009-04-16T18:12:00.000-07:00

Life has been full of craziness in our little family.... I am still trying to do better at blogging but have not yet achieved it?? I can't really say all that has gone on other than I am trying to get over having mono...yes it is that crazy kissing disease haha before I knew that I had it I was just trying to keep up with life wondering why I was so tired and hoping that it just wasn't old age!!! I was actually happy to hear the doctor say you have mono just because that ment I had hope!!!! He also said to get plenty of rest and take care of yourself....well I am a mom of 3 and we happened to be litterally moving when the doctor called to tell me! So anyway we moved in with my inlaws and we are pondering on the thought of building a home in Hyde Park. So anyway I am finally able to catch up on life and actually get on the computer. I need to post some pics of the kids from easter. We had a wonderful easter, I love to see the girls all dressed up and the best part is going to church and remembering and thinking of Christ. My friend Heather made the girls darling little tutu's they loved them...thanks Heather! I of coarse ate way too much chocolate and should hit the gym, well like yesterday! Justin today just went to test for a full time firefighter in Idaho Falls and they called him today and asked him to come up tomarrow @ 10am for and interview and the physical test. He got a 93 on his written test...way to go Love you are working so hard and we are so proud of you!!!!! Tyler is growing up sooooo much I also need to post pic of his 1st birthday. We gave him his first hair cut...ya the curls are all gone! He started walking a little before 11 months old and now he is practically running circles around all of us! He is starting to talk more and is so fun. Yesterday the kids and I were driving home and the girls both had some bubble gum and they were in the back chewing....chewing pretty loud actually not really noticing it I happened to turn around and Tyler was chewing too but did not have gum he was watching his sisters chew and he was making the same sounds and chewing just like them I just laughed so hard because whether we pay attention or not he is really always watching whomever he is around!!!! Kids are just so precious and I feel so blessed to have all three!!!!!!!!!

2009-02-22T18:11:00.001-08:00

So yes, I need to do a lot better at this blog thing! I think that if you have a blog you need to at least work on it weekly or monthly! I have not done either!!!! I will work on this!! So a new year has come and is already quickly going, we celebrated our 8th anniversary on Feb.2nd wow 8 years already! Justin has not always given me a card, usually it is just a gift and occasionally a card but this year he wrote me a letter and it was soooo long and full of everything that I so needed to here from my one and only love!!!! I told him that was all that I needed! We went to the gym for fun! My boss, Heather was so sweet she watched our kids and gave us a gift card to the Olive Garden! I could not thank her enough! We each had a massage and then ran off to eat, it was a well needed night!!!! Thanks to Heather!

As for Jade she is still loving 1st grade and makes friends so easily. She is still into playing and playing, everyday she comes home from school the first thing she usually says is "Mom can I go play?...Please they really need to play with me! I promise I will hurry and do my homework! This child never stops! She usually wakes up before me and if I don't get up right away she will have gotten herself dressed and done her hair and fed herself! She is sooo independent, I like it but at times I feel so sad because I feel like I am still supposed to help her! She still is in gymnastics and loves it. She is thinking about really getting into swimming,but I told her she could only do one or the other so we will see which one she likes better. She is such a wonderful helper to me. She is always making sure that I am ok, so sweet. I have to be careful what my mood is around her because she can always pick it up!

Jordyn is growing so big and is my little pal these days. She on the other hand wants me to do everything for her! All of a sudden she can't do anything! haha I think she is in a stage of just needing more of my attention. She loves to play pbskids on the computer, I have to limit it for her. She has started reading and loves it. She still does the dress up thing and gets on a kick of wearing the same dress for the whole day where Jade would change her clothes every hour Jordyn wants to where a dress all day everywhere! I love having two girls and seeing the difference in them!

Tyler is getting so big!! He turned 11 months yesterday and is now walking! He has been taking steps for a month or so but would then hurry and crawl since it was faster. He just yesterday started walking and today walked all over the halls at church. I can't believe he is walking, I don't want my baby to grow up! I have just loved having a little one and once they walk man it is all over!!!! He is into everything, and loves to bang on everything he can. He is into every drawer pulling everything out and throwing it and then moving to the next one. He has also discovered the toilet! Gross!!!!! I hate having to catch him splashing around! So needless to say our bathroom door is usually shut and everyone is on watch for Tyler heading to the bathroom! He loves taking baths and for a while he would flip onto his stomach and put his head under the faucet of running water and close his eyes! One day he really wanted to go to sleep! Every time I would move him he would start crying unless I put him right back under the running water! It was the funniest thing! His first word was mama and then dada! Sorry Justin! He now says night night, and waves goodbye! One thing that Ty does and if you no him then you would have had this done to you... he loves to grab your ears, hair, neck whatever and give you kisses and kisses over and over! He also loves to just pinch, not so fun but it seems to be a comfort to him, weird I know. He is such a flirt to some of the girls that I work with! Tyler has never been a good baby food eater. He does not like anyone to feed him, he is all about doing it himself and making the biggest mess for me to clean up! I have not enjoyed the food thing! The girls did a great job in fact you could not feed them fast enough. Ty loves to watch baby Einstein's, in fact if he is not feeling well I can put one on and he always falls asleep to it! He has 4 teeth 2 on top and 2 on the bottom. The top ones were miserable for him and me!

Justin is still testing for full time firefighter jobs and we are at the moment waiting to hear back from South Salt Lake! It has been such a long process and I am so proud of him and all that he accomplishes everyday! He is such a hard worker. He has his final this Tuesday for his EMT intermediate. I am not sure if I have already blogged this but Justin received the award for firefighter of the year for 2008 @ north Logan fire! He has really enjoyed firefighting and has been a fireman for the past 2 1/2 years already.

I am still working at the sports academy in their kidsklub and love it so much. I love living in Logan and one of the reasons is the sports academy. I have such a wonderful boss and so many wonderful friends. I love that my kids love it there. I love being a mother and housewife! I enjoy taking care of the house and kids. Well except the laundry.... it seems to never end!!!

Christmas 2008

2008-12-28T23:05:00.001-08:00

This year we went to my parents home for christmas eve and spent the night there. My sister Holly and her husband Brad came and spent the night also. It was so nice to be "home" for christmas! I loved having my kids see what it was like for me growing up. My parents did alot of the traditions for them and us. The girls were so excited this year for Santa. They are at a good age! They kept asking all night from like 4pm on when they could go to bed! When it was time for them to go, they went with out any stalling! Wow! I wish Santa came more often! Before they went to bed Justin took them outside to see if they could see Santa in the sky--- they came running in with worried looks on their faces saying that they heard his bells and that they needed to go to bed! We spent the night watching Home alone and eating all of our christmas eve traditional foods. We listened to christmas music and enjoyed each others company. We then went to bed and I was so excited that I could hardly sleep! I think that I woke up a dozen times wondering when the girls were going to wake up! All the adults were awake before Jade and Jordyn were! We had them sleep in our room so that we could know when they were awake. I heard Jade all of a sudden say "Jordyn wake up! wake up! it's christmas!" They both jumped up and we then have a chrismas tradition to eat "grandma elder's danish" before we open presents. Santa truely came this year and surprised Justin and I with soooo Much! We were truely blessed this year! I am so thankful for this time of year to be able to spend time with my family and reflect on the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. We asked the girls what there favorite part of christmas was and they said the birth of Jesus but I really liked christmas mornig! We did not think that Santa was going to bring us so many presents! Justin and I said " ya we didn't either!

2008-12-28T23:02:00.000-08:00

Jordyn's 1st christmas dance recital

2008-12-28T21:02:00.001-08:00

Jordyn has been taking dancing lessons for her first time this year. Can I just tell you she loves it! The first day she was just so excited! I took her to her class and the parents could stay and watch for the first time and so I did. She went right in and just started dancing all over the room and visiting with all the girls acting all giddy! I had never really seen this side of her, it was so funny to me. Well here is her first recital, I thought she was adorable of coarse!

Thanksgiving @ Bear Lake

2008-12-25T18:04:00.000-08:00

This year was our year to spend thanksgiving with the Elder side. We invited everyone to our condo @ Bear Lake. We invited our cousin's Chris and Jamie and their family also. We had a wonderful time. I loved being there for a few days instead of just being with everyone for thanksgiving, we were together for wed-sunday. My favorite part was playing "signs" with all the adults once the kids were in bed! I also loved eating good food the whole time! We made gingerbread houses and some snowflake ornaments. As I grow older I love thanksgiving more and more. I have a lot more to be grateful for. I used to not care for thanksgiving food, but now I just love it. This year my in laws brought a smoked turkey and wow was it delicious! Our family has so much to be grateful for. I am so thankful to be a wife and mother. Right now in my life that is what everything is about! Having 3 kids has really been challenging but rewarding at the same time. I love each one of my children so so much. They each bring so much happiness into our homes. I am so thankful for my husband and for the father he is. Right now he is working so much on his firefighter career and also so that we can have a beautiful life. I feel so blessed to be living where we live. I no that sounds crazy because we live in an apt. but this apt. has been so nice! We have plenty of room which is one thing that I am so thankful for! I am thankful for my job at the sports academy. My favorite part of work is that I get to have my children with me. I don't want to ever loose my job! I am so grateful to be apart of the Bridger Pointe Branch. I have served as Primary Pres. for over 2 years now and just got released and put into the Young women's. It was a bitter sweet time for me. I will miss being in primary with my girls but at the same time I will be glad to serve in young womens. I love being in a branch! We are so close to everyone! I will be sad when the time comes to have to move. We are so blessed to have the gospel in our lives. I am not sure what we would do without the knowledge of the gospel. I love having family nights together I think that Monday is my favorite day of the week which seems funny to me because it used to always be Friday night! Funny how things change as you get older.

Jordyn celebrated her birthday again @ her grandparents house

2008-12-12T16:50:00.000-08:00

Singing happy birthday to Jordyn

2008-12-12T16:25:00.000-08:00

Jordyn's 4th Birthday

2008-12-07T21:01:00.000-08:00

Jordyn turned 4 on October 26th! She had a great birthday, we had a party at home with her friends. She wanted a ladybug party so I have to say I was soooo excited because I love ladybugs too. I had a lot of fun planning the party, my favorite part was making the cupcakes, I think that they turned out so cute. Jordyn is funny, she has more boy friends than girls!

2008-12-05T21:01:00.000-08:00

I'm out of my 20's!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:(

2008-12-05T20:39:00.000-08:00

So I had a fabulous birthday other than I am 30!!!!!! It really hit me hard this year, the age thing. The last few years have been just ya know birthdays and then this year I didn't really think much about how old I am untill I realized I was turning 30. Justin actually tested for Park city's fire station on my birthday so we decided to go stay at my parents house in South Jordan for the weekend. It ended up being so nice. I relaxed with my family, and Justin and I went to see Night at Rodanthe, yes a Nicholas Sparks movie. I am such a fan of his books that when I found out that the movie was coming out on my birthday there was no question as to what Justin and I were doing. I spent the day with Justin and the kids going for a walk and playing at the park we ate tomatoe sandwhiches(one of my favorite things to eat, believe it or not!) and we put candles on a pumpkin pie with lots of whipping cream of coarse! That night Justin went to take his test and I watched chick flicks with my parents. The next day Justin and my parents took me out to eat at one of my favorite places, Jonny Carinos and then Justin and I went to the movie and let grandma and gandpa watch the kids.

2008-12-05T16:04:00.001-08:00

Ok, Sorry to all of you about my blog being private, I was messing around with it one day and put it on private without realizing what I was doing, ya I know I am not that computer smart! It has been such a long time since I have had a day to sit down and blog, for some reason I feel like I have to make it a special time to blog!!!,instead of hurrying and blogging something! Hopefully I will get the hang of this blogging thing down! I really would like to keep up my blog, so that it can be our family journal. Well a lot has gone on since Sept. Tyler started crawling at the end of Sept. which made him crawling at 6 months. He definately is my most active child! I love having a boy! He is such a mammas boy lately and I LOVE it! I wish I could freeze him for awhile he is just so loveable!

The girls doing what they do best!! Silly swimmers!

2008-09-22T11:06:00.000-07:00

Our family getaway

2008-09-22T11:03:00.000-07:00

Every Fall we like to go to our condo and spend time together. We went to wolf creek this time and just loved it. Here is a couple of pics

The girls hair is gone!

2008-09-22T10:55:00.000-07:00

Jade and Jordyn have been asking me to cut their hair and so I finally did it and I am so glad I did. It is SO much quicker to do and of course they are so cute!

Tyler's first time eating rice cereal!!

2008-09-20T07:33:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pics of Ty eating solids for the first time. I love these first experiences with my kids. He so muched loved the cereal!

Labor Day Weekend

2008-09-04T09:33:00.000-07:00

We had such a great weekend. I was in charge of a primary activity so we started off with that on Saturday morning. We had a lot of water relay games for the kids and a home made water slide that I have to say was a hit! The kids loved it but the Best part of it all was when Justin and Ben went and brought their new engine over and surprised the kids. They drove up sounding the engine and then on the front of the truck is their hose which they can control from the inside of the engine. So they sprayed everyone untill it was all gone! We, including the teachers were all wet! Gota love those firemen!!! After that I took the girls to Bear Lake with my neighbor and the girls just loved it! I did too! It was so nice and relaxing. The wind was blowing for part of the time but that just made it so it was not so hot. We stayed there all day came home and passed out! Sunday we spent the day with grandma and pa Elder and Reed and Kara's family. I spent most of the day Eating all of Kara's good food! Monday it rained and so I stayed at Grandma and Pa's house while Justin and the girls went to founders day parade! Later on all the girls went and looked at the booths and crafts for founders day. We had a barbecue and ate some more!! We really had a great time with family.

This is where we spend most of our summer days!

2008-08-15T22:41:00.000-07:00

Heidi, Jade, Jordyn, Jaysha and Brynliegh

2008-08-15T21:33:00.000-07:00

What a big boy! I just love to see him sitting in his bumbo!

Dupree Family Reunion @ Hyrum Dam July 28th,2008

2008-08-15T21:25:00.000-07:00

Jade and Jordyn got to ride on uncle Eric's boat and just loved it! They had their first experience riding the water rocket, I should have got a picture of them doing that but I was so worried that they might fall or something that I never got a pic!

Tyler @ Primary Children's Hospital

2008-08-15T21:10:00.000-07:00

On July 3rd Tyler gave us a scare. We were at my parents house in South Jordan and I had a feeling to go and get him while he was sleeping -so I did and layed him down in front of me and he acted like he was having a hard time breathing ! Like really struggling and so we took him into the hospital and they thought that is sounded like he was having a seizure! I was so shocked because he has been so healthy. Anyway they wanted us to take him to primary's to be checked at their neurology clinic. We took him and they did a few test and he passed them very well. They said that he was growing normal. He may have had a seizure they said because many infants do and then never have a problem thereafter. They did an eeg and this is the picture of him getting that done. It was so traumatizing to him and Me! I did not like to see him go through this. We got the results and they came back normal. I feel so blessed it made me really realize how precious life can be. I love him so so much and I am so thankful all is well with him. He has been such a joy to Justin , I and the girls.