Heart Walk 2012

Today I was able to participate in the Children's Heart Foundation 9th annual "Walk With the Heart of a Child" in support of my friend Lara and her sweet baby girl Mylah who was born with a congenital heart defect. The walk itself was an indoor 3k around the entire mall and was fun. There were activities for the kids and mascots walking around that you could get your picture taken with. I didn't bring my kids this year because I didn't know what to expect, but next year I think I'll bring them.

Here I am with Lara and her kids, Mylah, Rylee, and Dallin...

Here's TEAM MYLAH...(Me, Steve, Margaret Ann, Christopher, Travis, Kim, Burton, MaryAnn, Mylah, Lara, Jonathan, Anella, Dallin, and Rylee)

I really enjoyed the walk. I chatted with everyone while watching the other families walking for their heart babies. There was a team in front of us that made me sad. They, unfortunately, had lost their heart baby, but it was so nice to see that they still walked for her and for all the other children that suffer with heart problems.

After the walk was over, there were prizes given out and a musical performance by a Tim McGraw look a like. I remember seeing him as we were walking and I was wondering if that was really him. Sadly it wasn't, but this guy was REALLY good at singing just like the real Tim.

I'm so happy that I was able to join in this heart walk this year and support Lara and her family. I hope to be able to do this every year to help out all the families that suffer from this medical condition.

My Gun Loving Boys...

This afternoon Josh took Jaron up to the lake bed to shoot some guns. My dad just gave Josh all of his hunting guns and Jaron has been so excited to try them out. Josh made a target for them to shoot at while they were up there and he took some pictures of the two of them having fun for me...They are mostly of Jaron...

Here's a picture of Josh shooting his hand gun...can you see the bullet shell flying? (In case you're wondering, Josh is wearing his GoPro camera on his head)

And, here's a couple pictures of my gun loving boys. They're trying to act tough here...

...and a bit cheesy here...

Jaron told me he had a blast shooting guns with his dad. He said that the "22" is his new favorite gun. I'm glad they could have some quality father/son time doing something they both enjoy.

Reading is so Exhausting!

I love it that Jaedyn likes to read, but sometimes it really wears her out...especially since she doesn't like to take her naps anymore. This is just more proof that she still needs a nap everyday!


Doesn't she look so sweet?!?!

Dirty, Tired Kids...

Today we took the kids to the lake bed to ride bikes with some of our friends. Unfortunately I forgot to get out my camera while they were riding and playing (I know, that's so not like me!), so I didn't get any pictures of them playing on the little four wheeler and in the dirt.

The kids all had so much fun taking turns on the bikes, running around, and getting dirty. I enjoyed relaxing in the sun and chatting with my friends while Josh rode his bike. I didn't realized how dirty my kids were until we got in the car to come home, they were filthy!! Jaedyn had the dirtiest face, but she's still so cute!

Here's my attempt at getting a picture of her dirty face...

She's such a playful little girl.

Right before we got home I looked back, since it was really quiet in our car, and saw that all three kids were asleep, they really wore themselves out today. They are such sweet little angels when they're all asleep!

I really hated having to wake them all up!

Happy Love Day!!

I decided to do more this year for Valentine's Day than I normally do. I usually just get the kids a little something and call it good, but I wanted to change things up a bit this time and I'm glad I did, so are my kids.

Josh and I did get each other something. He bought me roses (after I told him not to) because he said Jaedyn wanted them, a card that's for my eyes only, a bag of my favorite jelly beans, and these super cute boots (yes, I picked them out)...

I didn't get him any flowers, but I did get him a camera bag for his GoPro camera and inside I put a bag of his favorite Valentine's candy...Brach's conversation hearts...

As soon as Jaedyn saw the roses she got a big smile on her face, so I told her we could share them since pink is her favorite color.

For breakfast I made pink heart shaped pancakes (I cheated and used a cookie cutter) and I cut strawberries into hearts (the best I could)...

Jaron decided to just have a stack of heart pancakes with syrup, no strawberries (sorry for the blurry picture)...

My kids all enjoyed their Valentine's Day breakfast, especially Jantzen. He loves to play with his food!

While Jaron and Jantzen were at school I set out their Valentines. Jaedyn had a hard time leaving them alone until the boys got home.

After lunch, Jaedyn and I headed over to the school for Jantzen's class Valentine's party. Jaedyn was so excited to go hang out with her brother and Jantzen was so excited that we came. We helped him pass out his Valentine's and chocolate dipped pretzels that he asked me to make for his class, then they enjoyed all the yummy treats they got. I remember when it was Jantzen I was taking to Jaron's class parties...Oh how time flies! Jaron's teacher is a bit of a grinch when it comes to Valentines Day, so his class didn't really do anything and he didn't want to pass out any Valentines.

For Jantzen's class I stamped each one of the kids' names on a bag to hold all of their Valentines easier...

After school the kids got to see what they got for Valentines Day. They were all very happy with what they got. Jaron got a set of two "BeyBlades", a "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" bobble head bookmark, and a chocolate bar. Jantzen got a "Mario" and "Toy Story" notebooks; a monkey pencil, pad, ruler, and pencil sharpener set; a "Mario" stuffed "Toad"; and some "Cars" chocolates. Jaedyn got a new "Strawberry Shortcake" DVD, some ladybug socks (we call them her "Jaedybug" socks), "Minnie Mouse" chapstick, pink flower sunglasses, a pink heart basket that they all came in, and some "Hello Kitty" chocolates.

Jaedyn loves her new sunglasses...

For dinner the kids wanted pizza, so I made them each their own homemade heart shaped pizzas complete with heart shaped pepperoni. I also made heart shaped rolls with ranch to dip them in...they were both yummy!

Jaedyn decided at the last minute that she just wanted macaroni, which she enjoyed, but the boys ate their pizzas and loved them. (Jaron had scouts, that's why he's wearing his scout shirt).

After dinner, Jaron had to leave for Cub Scouts and Josh had to go to YM's, so we didn't get to do anything else...maybe next year.

It was a crazy busy Valentines Day, but I really enjoyed doing these fun things for my kids. I love seeing the smiles on their faces!

Valentine's Cookies!

Yesterday I made some Valentine sugar cookies for the kids to frost. I only make sugar cookies three times a year because they are a little time consuming and because I eat too many of them...they are my favorite kind of cookie!

Jaedyn was so excited because I made two little hearts for her to frost. Unfortunately for those two cookies, they never got to enjoy being frosted, she ate them as I was getting the frosting ready (yes, it's store bought frosting because I haven't perfected the art of making frosting yet) .

I got everything ready for the kids and they went to town frosting big hearts. Last time the kids frosted cookies Jaedyn didn't participate, but this time she was into it as much as Jaron and Jantzen were...

My boys really enjoy frosting cookies, just look at the excitement on Jaron's face...

Did you notice the pink frosting mustache on Jaron? He thought it was funny!

Jantzen was very focused on the way he was frosting his cookies. He's quite the little perfectionist, but he doesn't miss the chance to sneak a sprinkle before the cookie's all the way done...

I was happy that Jaedyn decided to frost some cookies this time. It was so cute watching her and she did a really good job. She didn't make a huge mess, but she did try to put a whole bottle of sprinkles on one cookie. I put a quick stop to that, despite her objections.

Then came the fun part...eating the cookies! Jaron and Jaedyn were the only ones that ate cookies, Jantzen was too focused on frosting more cookies.

Fun was had by all, yay for sugared up kids!!

"Breaking Dawn" Release...

Last night I headed to Walmart with a couple of my friends for the midnight release of "Breaking Dawn Part 1". I've been to all the midnight releases for the Twilight movies and I've had fun every time. This time the store didn't do as much as they did for the last movie release, but I still had fun hanging out and chatting with my friends.

There was a contest for whoever dressed up the best (wedding attire from the movie), a trivia game (I only missed one question), and we got to enjoy some Edward and Jacob cupcakes (they were yummy!).

Here I am with Kaysea and Mary, enjoying our cupcakes (Mary's the good one that can resist this yummy sugar...me, not so much)...

Midnight arrived and we all bought our movies...I'm so excited to watch it again! I missed a lot of the movie in the theater because I had the pleasure of sitting by some obnoxious girls...lucky me!...so now I get to see what I missed.

Here's what I came home with...

My "Breaking Dawn" DVD...yay!!, a "Breaking Dawn" cloth for iPads (I don't have one, so I'll use it on my laptop), and my Edward ring from my yummy cupcake...

I also found these valentines at Target and I'm really tempted to get them for my friends (I'm not too old to hand out valentines, am I?)...

It's so nice to have great friends to share Twilight fun with. Thanks Mary and Kaysea for hanging out with me past midnight, I had a fun time.

My Little Pirates!

Jaedyn likes to call people different names other than what they are really named. For example...she's been calling Jaron "honey" for a very long time and I'm still trying to figure out where she came up with that one, and she calls one of her cousins "Elmo". She has, however, come up with new names for her and her brothers. Last week she started calling them by the "Jake and the Neverland Pirates" characters. So, here's my little pirates...Izzy (Jaedyn), Jake (Jaron), and Cubby (Jantzen)...can you see the resemblance with all of them?


I think it's really cute that Jaedyn calls her brothers different names (as long as they are nice ones). It's really cute to listen to her call for Jake (Jaron) and Cubby (Jantzen) whenever she needs them, wakes them up for school, wants to play, or when they come home from school. What makes it even cuter is the fact that her brothers secretly love her calling them by these names. My kids are the cutest!!

No More Naptime...

This is what happens when you think you're too old for nap time anymore...(her head did fall into the food on her plate at one point)

Jaedyn thinks her daily naps are no longer necessary, but I beg to differ! It does make it nice to not have to wake her up when I have a ton of errands to run or if I have to go pick up Jaron and Jantzen from school (we all know how much fun it isn't waking up a sleeping baby/child), but by dinnertime she's exhausted and sometimes very moody....not fun! Here's an example...Tonight at dinner Jaedyn was sticking her fork in the lid of her sippy cup trying to make the holes bigger. Josh took the fork out and told her "No!". She didn't like like that, so she stuck her fingers at him like they were a gun and started making "BANG, BANG" noises at him all the while sporting an ornery look on her face (that's the tiredness acting out!). I will admit, I did laugh a little and so did he.

I've tried having her do quiet time in her room, but that hasn't been very successful either, so I guess my two hours of peace and quiet all to myself everyday is just history!