Good Grapes!

Cute Jaylee was thoroughly enjoying a bowl of grapes. She popped one in her mouth, started chewing and said,

"These grapes are going to heaven!"
"Why" I replied.
"Because they are soooo good!"

I love the funny things kids say!

Valentine's Day Gifts...GUNS!

Oh my sweet husband! It was Valentine's Day, and being the slacker that I am, I still did not have gifts for my kids at 3:00 that afternoon. I asked Luke if he could take all of the kids to Oliver's karate class while I ran to the store and bought them gifts and got dinner ready. He was just about to runs some errands so he offered to get some gifts and run to Papa Murphy's to pick up a heart shaped pizza. AWESOME! One less thing I had to do. Besides, I had no idea what I was going to get the kids. I didn't want to buy any junk food or stuffed animals and that really limits what you can get a kid for Valentine's Day. Anyway, I took the kids and called Luke on our way home so he could be ready for us. I asked him, "What did you get for the kids?". He answered, "I bought them each a balloon and I got each of them a Nerf gun. I thought they would have a fun time fighting each other with the guns after dinner." I'm waiting for him to laugh or something so I would know that he's joking...since when is the holiday of LOVE all about FIGHTING??? No laugh!!! He was completely serious! Then I just have to laugh at the way the a guy thinks! Luke is so cute! And yes, the kids did run around the house screaming and laughing after dinner with their guns! They do love each other!There they are, the balloons, pizza...and GUNS!

Have I mentioned how much I love Hobby Lobby?! I feel so blessed to live so close to one! I found this heart wreath there and I have loved it! I think it's really unique and it was only about $15. Sounds funny but I love wreaths so I think it's fun when I can find a cute one!

Our little fish!

Sabree had her first Logan swimming meet on Saturday. She has been swimming for the Sports Academy Barracuda swimming team since November. She swims 3 days a week and is loving it! She has really improved over the past several months. When we got to her meet she was quite nervous. We were definately not in Fillmore anymore! There were so many people there. When she was on the Fillmore swimming team she would swim against 8 year old's and under, swimming 25's and would compete against 3 or 4 other girls. At this meet she had to swim against 10 year old's and under, 50 meters and she competed against 20+ girls. It was a little intimidating in the beginning.

This is Sabree during warm-ups. I could tell she was nervous just by the way she was standing. She looked so small standing around with all of the other swimmers!

She's on the block, ready to dive in her first event. She's so cute!Grandma and Grandpa Adams drove up to see her swim. They stayed the night on Friday and stayed the entire day Saturday for her meet. It was so helpful to have them there and Sabree really appreciated it! It sure made her feel special. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!
Luke, Sabree and Grandpa!

This is a picture from Friday night! The kids had just gotten a valentine from Grandma and Grandpa with tons of candy in it. Jaylee's lips are really red from the candy and you can see the "wired" expression on Sabree's and Oliver's face from all of the candy! We love Grandparents...that's what they are for...love 'em, spoil 'em, feed 'em candy!

Here are Sabree's final numbers from the meet...
50 Breaststroke - 56.6 seconds (she came in 6th place, she beat all the other 8 year old's but was behind some of the 9 and 10 year old's)
50 Freestyle - 41.07 seconds (she came in 8th but again beat all the other 8 year old's)
50 Backstroke - 51.45 seconds (she came in 4th place, and beat all the other 8 year old's)

Juanito Bandito!!!

The Davis' in the ward run Pickleville Playhouse. They have plays in Bear Lake all summer long. But, during the year T.J. has a Christmas show (that we went to in December...it was awesome), and on Monday we went to his other show Juanito Bandito. It was so stinkin' funny! Talk about talent! We had so much fun taking Oliver and Sabree to this show.

This is T.J. aka Juanito Bandito with the kids
Me and my friend Erin. I am her visiting teacher also, it's awesome! She's great!

Me and my cute little Sabree!

Oliver, Sabree and Luke...good times!

We got to watch T.J. and Erin's baby during a matinee. He was such a doll. The kids had the best time with him. At one point Oliver said, "I wish we could have one of these!" I thought it was funny to refer to the baby as "one of these".

Of course, Jaylee turned all motherly on us. She LOVED him.

It wouldn't be so bad having "one of these" if you didn't have to be pregnant with one, deliver one, if he came sleeping through the night already...

Fasting

I am so proud of my little ones! A couple of weeks ago we had a family home evening on fasting. We decided as a family that we would start a new tradition. Saturday night, before fast Sunday, we would eat out at an all-you-can-eat resteraunt. This would be a good reminder that we are fasting after the meal until Sunday evening. So Saturday came and the kids could not wait to go out to eat and start fasting...it was magical! Sabree is the only one that we really wanted to fast since she is now 8. During dinner we talked about things that we could fast for. We also told them that every time their tummy growls, it would be a good reminder to say a prayer in their head. Then when we got home we all began our fasts with prayers. The next morning, I was surprised to see that Oliver was fasting also. He had said a prayer and started the night before. It was a great Fast Sunday. Sabree said, "I have said so many prayers 'cause my tummy keeps growling!" I'm so proud of the kids for taking that step of obedience. They are good kids!

Cooking with mom, karate, Harry Potter, Friends and getting past hard stages!!!

Cooking with MomThe kids were helping me make dinner for another family the other night. They were really excited about serving others. Anyway, we had to chop onions...they each took a turn and it ended up like this. It was so funny! All of our eyes were watering like crazy! The dinner turned out great!

Karate

Oliver has been in karate the last couple of months. It's actually a mixed martial art (I forgot the name of it) but we call it karate. Oliver LOVES it and he is really good at it. His instructor gave him this karate uniform to wear to class because he wants to start filming him during class so others can take the video and practice at home, also to use as samples. He's a tough little kid. Every class they do a lot of conditioning. He's getting really good at push ups and sit ups.

Harry Potter
Sabree has really gotten into reading lately. We started reading Harry Potter in December. We read the first one together. She has gotten so into them now. She's on book #4. I've been surprised how quickly she reads them and how much she comprehends. I'm really proud of our little reader! Good job Sabs!

Friends
My friend Becky and her kids live in Boise, Idaho and they were driving home from a funeral in Orem. We haven't seen them in a long time so we met them in Brigham City and had lunch with them. It was really fun. Sabree and Sam were together almost everyday from 6 months of age to 3. We've gotten together with them frequently since then. They have always been great friends. Every time they get together it is like they were never apart! It's really cute. Here are some photos from our lunch.

Sabree, Paige, Ethan, Sam, Oliver, Jaylee

Oliver and Ethan (only 4 months apart)

Sabree and Sam (only 4 months apart)

Getting Past Hard Stages!!!
Many have seen how difficult Jaylee can be. For the last year she has had issues with her clothes being tight so she'll only wear certain outfits (stretchy pants, soft shirts with no weird seams, only slip on shoes that are 1-2 sizes too big). It has been really strange and VERY challenging. She also hasn't let me do her hair. Everything in her hair has been too tight also. She throws the biggest fits all day long if you fight her on her clothes or hair. It's not even worth it. Anyway, it has been really hard thing for me to deal with. I know it sounds weird but you'd have to hear the whole situation. Anyway, just over the last month or so we have seen some HUGE progress. She finally started wearing some different clothes. Most of them are still comfortable, stretchy clothes but she was quite opinionated in the past, even with those. For those of you who know that situation, you will see the huge progress in the pictures below.

The fact that she's wearing pink and a jacket is huge!!! She got to the point where she was very limited on the clothes she would wear...1 pair of black leggings, 1 pair of brown leggings, and 2 white shirts that were exactly the same. I was washing those clothes almost daily!

This is a new outfit and a new headband...huge progress!!! She threw a fit in the beginning but now she loves them!

What is that...her hair has a tie in it? I know its not much but it is awesome for us. Plus she has on a tight leotard.

2 hair ties...I haven't done this in her hair for over a year!

She let Luke put piggy tails in her hair...now we're on a roll!

Yes, that is a pony tail! She's also wearing her Christmas p.j's...she wouldn't even wear them on Christmas. It took her a month to wear these.

Who knew that a 3 year old could be so difficult...at least we are on the upside. She's really been cute and sweet lately. She is finally getting easier! I don't have pictures to prove it yet but she has even worn Levi's twice, she also has worn tennis shoes that actually fit her over the last week. It's AMAZING!