By the numbers

Numbers tag, you're it. . .

1 Thing I'm looking forward to:
Starting our gym membership to Apple Athletic

2 Things on my wish list:
ipod
trip to Disneyland

3 Favorite restaurants:
Red Lobster
El Herradero
Texas Roadhouse

4 Things that happened yesterday:
Had Luke's Birthday Party
made some bows
made Dinner in a Pumpkin
weighed in (it was not pretty)

5 TV shows I love to watch:
My Name is Earl
Chuck (He's such a cute geek!)(I agree with Shelley)
Grey's Anatomy
Pushing Daisies
America's Next Top Model

6 people I'm tagging:
Jill
Amy
Natalie
Andrea
Mary Anne
Briettney

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LUKE!

LUKE IS 4! We had blueberry muffins for breakfast, hamburgers and purple french fries for lunch, and TONIGHT, dinner in a pumpkin. All delicious! He also went to Toys yes (Toys R Us) and Barnes and Noble with dad.

Here are a few of the fun gifts he got!





We love you buddy! Hope you had a great day!

CRAZY Hair Day

The girls have been having Red Ribbon Spirit Week at school to promote the D.A.R.E. program. Tuesday was "Use your head, don't do drugs" crazy hair day.

Here are the styles they designed for themselves.

Ally went for the bizarre while Emma stayed on the non traditional hair style by adding a third ponytail.

10 for Tuesday--Hubby Love

Ryan will be home soon--like less then 3 hours soon. So I thought after the missing him, I would tell you 10 reasons why I love him.

1- He loves me for who I am. I am everything to him, as he is to me, but I love that he lets me know that. He is always telling me how "hot" I am, especially on those days when I really need to hear it. He seems to just know. He gets home sick for us. I think leaving is harder on him than it is on us. He is my best friend and will call me in the middle of the day to tell me about something funny he just did. I love it!

2- Ryan is an awesome dad! The kids look forward to the time when he gets home each day. Most of the time he tries to never have meetings at night because once he is home, he doesn't want to have to leave. Having him on the same schedule as the kids is a major blessing. I wish everyone could have the time off that he gets. We get to do a lot more as a family then most people because of it. We are super lucky to have him around as much as we do. All the kids have a special name from daddy that makes them special to him.




3- He enjoys cleaning and finds a lot of pride and satisfaction in making the house look great. And I do have to admit, he is better at it then me in a lot of ways. He also loves to take care of the yard and the garden.

4- He is 100% committed to anything he does. If he doesn't want to be part of something, he won't. But when he commits you can bet he will see it through and make it amazing and way more than anyone expected.


5- He LOVES, LOVES, LOVES to teach. He has a real passion for his work. He is the kind of teacher we all want our kids to have. Moving had been the best decision we have ever made. The district here respects him for who he is and utilizes his talents. They recognize his fire and have put him to good use in the system. In CO he was under appreciated and looked at as bump that needed to be fixed.

6- He loves to be a kid. Sports don't mean much to him, but Saturday morning cartoons, oh yeah! The kids love that he knows as much or more about them then they do. He has been teaching them to appreciate all the "old school" stuff from when we were kids. It is all on the Internet just waiting to be watched. You Tube resurrects it all for us. Oh and the Star Wars Lego collection is out of control.

7- He is sensitive and sweet in the way that everyone wants their husband to be. He sends me flowers and writes sweet notes for me to find. He knows it is important to spend time together just the 2 of us, and tries to create opportunities for that. Date Night, but other things too. Let's be realistic, it doesn't happen every day, but he is great about making me feel special. He gave me the best gift after Clark was born. A massage! See he knows whats up. There are a lot of occasions when he lets me leave and have time for myself. A rarity with 4 kids, but he knows I need it and makes sure I have it. He helps out around the house without having to be nagged. I hate nagging and try not to do it so it is nice that he doesn't make me do it.

8- He honors the role of father and husband. He honors his priesthood authority. He is the head of our household and I appreciate it. He can get action from the children in ways I cannot. I have a lot of respect for his opinion when it comes to our family. I have learned on more than one occasion that he knows what is the best for our family, as it should be. It gives me such a feeling of strength to know I can rely on his judgement.

9- He sacrifices a lot for our family. Ryan likes his toys and he loves new technology. (yes he is a little bit of a geek) Things like that cost a lot of money which we don't have. (refer to #5) I know he wants new things and to be up on the latest, but he knows what is more important and gives up having what he wants so the kids can have things they want. This has been a hard thing for him, but he never complains.

10- He is an eternal optimist! He says I am pessimistic, but I say realistic. He loves to dream and talks about our future and the limitless possibilities it holds for us. It is my natural reaction to bust out the realism and tell him why it would never happen, but I think I am getting better at dreaming with him. Who cares if we never own our own Leer Jet, we can still think it could happen someday right?

Purple Flurp

First off, do you know where the title is from?

Ok so check this out. Do you know what this is?
They are probably not what you think.

They are POTATOS! Honest. And they are not colored.
They grew in the ground this way.
From the outside they look like a normal potato
but when you peel them.

and cut them up they look a little different.

When I boiled them for mashed potatos the water was all kinds of colors.

Amazing enough to share. I had never heard of them until last week. My moms next door neighbor grew them in her garden and was kind enough to share.

And I thought eggplant and blueberries were bright.

If you know the reference, leave me a comment. I might send you a purple potato!

8 weeks

Clark is 8 weeks old. This past week he slept through the night 2 nights in a row! He is smiling at people and he is talking to us. I had to share this pic because I can't seem to capture the smile yet, it is too quick, but the crazy stare I can get.

Best Meeting Ever

Music is inspiring. I love it. Nothing can bring the spirit to a meeting better than the hymns. Our bishop decided to have a musical sacrament meeting yesterday. They asked people from the congregation to share with us a significant hymn and why it was special to them. Then we sang the hymn. It was amazing. A few people were called ahead of time, but I found out from a few that they were not given any advanced notice. The spirit was strong, people were singing (which is rare in our ward) and the kids were engaged. I am so happy I decided to venture out with all 4 kids alone and go to church. I would have been very sad to have missed it. I have not stopped thinking about it since yesterday and I wanted to share. It was a great idea you could pass along to your ward if you feel so inclined.