~Surprises~

Who doesn't love a good surprise? My mom called me earlier in the week and told me she had something for me and that I would like it. I couldn't for the life of me imagine what it might be? So, when she gave me an antique cracker tin that I've really wanted, I was super surprised. Then I found out what she went through to get it and that made me love it even more. My parents stopped at some antique stores as they drove to Yellowstone for our family trip, and at one they saw a Premium cracker tin. Both my Grandma Beckstrand and my mom have this same one, and I've wanted one for my home. While we were in Yellowstone my mom told me she had seen one and I was bummed that she didn't get it. They tried to stop on the way home, but the store was closed on Mondays. My dad found the number on the internet and after many calls my mom finally got a hold of someone. Well they didn't have a credit card machine, so she had to send a check for it. After a long wait it finally got here, and she was right I DO love it! It is sitting on my counter full of crackers and every time I've looked at it this week it's made me happy!

We got another surprise yesterday morning when Derrick went out to check on the chickens....2 eggs! Our little Easter chicks are laying eggs now. The kids were so excited, especially since they lay brown eggs. We got 2 more this morning. They are pretty tiny, as you can see in the picture, the egg in the middle is a medium size egg from the store. I'm not sure if that's just the way they are, or if they'll get bigger? Maybe I better do some research and read up. We haven't cracked one open yet either....maybe we'll get a surprise when we do? I'm all for surprises as long as they are good ones!

Las Vegas and Polaris....ROCK!

We had such a good time on our trip to Las Vegas. We went down with Ted and Sheri to the Polaris Convention. I wasn't sure how all the Polaris stuff would be, I like to ride, but I didn't know if I really wanted to know all the technical details. As it turned out, the only class that I had a REALLY hard time with, was the technical features class.....all the nuts and bolts and wiring, so over my head! The first night they bused us over to an arena where they did the big product reveal, I have to say I was impressed. There is some cool new stuff coming out and my list of "wants" just kept getting longer. We went back and walked through the showroom for the first of many times. Derrick was like a kid in a candy store with all the ATV's, motorcycles, Rangers and RZR's, not to mention the accessories. We had a free night on Thursday and went to see the Cirque de Soleil show O. Amazing, fantastic, unique, breathtaking, mystical, fascinating...I could go on and on! There was so much going on all the time I felt like if I looked at one thing too long I was missing something somewhere else. I do have to say the walk from the Palazzo (where we stayed) to the Bellagio is much longer than it looks on the maps! We also checked out the water show at the Bellagio and the Treasure Island show.
I have to give Ted and Sheri a big thanks for a great trip! Also, Skyler and Kelsey~ thanks for keeping all the kids ("my girls" are the BEST) and thanks to Sheri Kay for sharing those girls! Mom and Dad & Lis and Jer helped out too, you guys are the best and I owe you all!

Flashback Friday!

How young do we look?

In honor of our upcoming trip to Las Vegas, back we go to, I'm thinking, 1997 or so? This picture is from a weekend to Vegas with my sis, Lisa and her hubby Jer. That was 6 kids ago and well, it's not so easy to pack up and take off anymore. We rarely go anywhere as couples now, because we each count on the other for babysitting services. I remember laughing so much that weekend. At one point Lis and I just sat down on the sidewalk because Jer made us laugh so hard! Good times :)

Sweet Boys

I woke up this morning with a pretty bad headache, since the kiddos were still snoozing, I went back to bed to see if more sleep would help. Kaleb was the first one up (he always is) and he just turned on a show to watch. When Carlie woke up he got her out of bed and she watched with him. Brock is like me when morning comes around and will sleep as long as he can, but he even beat me today. The boys came in and told me I needed to come into the kitchen because they had made me breakfast......this is what I found~

Pink Lemonaid, last nights french bread, string cheese, 5 crackers (for some reason they kept telling me there were 5) and cheerios with milk, with a sweet note.

How cute and sweet is that? The only thing is I very seldom eat breakfast, and if I do, I rarely put milk on my cereal....soggy cereal just turns my stomach. I did my best to eat a few bites and said thank you about 50 times. I love the thought that they put into it, I really do have some pretty great kids!

Gratitude Post....with a Twist

I realized it's been awhile since I did a gratitude post. This one is going to be a bit different than my previous ones. I was thinking this last week about all the times our family has moved over the years. I can't say that I've loved moving and starting over, but I realized I am TRULY grateful for each move and I can see that each one had it's purpose. So I'm going to tell you a bit about each place we've lived and why I'm grateful we were there.
~ Our first apartment...the four-plex in Bountiful. We lived there the first year we were married. We were close to Derrick's mom and we got to know her better. It was a great place for me to adjust to being in the city and away from my family.
~ The basement apartment in Sugarhouse (aka~The Murder House, different story for a different day). We lived here for a little over 2 years. While we were there I got to spend lots of time with my best friend Ann. I also had the best visiting teacher, who was an example of unconditional love and support.

I can't even tell you how long ago it seems since we lived here?

~ Next we bought a trailer in Woods Cross, we lived here longer than we have at any other place. This poor trailer needed a lot of work and to be honest, I really didn't want to buy it. Derrick did so much work to it, and to my amazement it became pretty cozy. We bought it cheep, and paid it off quick. This made it possible for Derrick to get through school with no student loans. While we were there Brock and Kaleb were both born. Derrick's mom was close and helped us quite a bit with Brock when he was a baby. Good memories, I can't believe we were here for over 4 years!

~ From there we spent a few months at a 1 bedroom apartment in Bountiful (yes, we had 2 kids and 2 adults in that one bedroom). I wouldn't mention this one, but my Great Uncle happened to be the Stake President there. It had been a lot of years since I had been active in the Church, and well, I didn't really want him to know that, so we started going to Church. That was the push I needed to make some changes in my life.
~Santaquin, where so I even start? When Derrick got a job in Springville I told him I really didn't want to go farther south than Spanish Fork. Our realtor found somethings in Santaquin that he wanted to show us, and we decided to at least look. We ended up buying a house that had been re-poed and needed some work. I KNOW we were supposed to live there. I made friends that I will forever cherish, they were both the examples I needed and a great support system. They cheered me on when I went to the Temple and cried with me when we decided to move. I doubt any of the people there really know the impact they had on my life, but they truly made a difference. I am also thankful that during that time I got to spend time with my Grandma and now that she is gone I am glad I got that chance.

Our first REAL house (I'm not sure why this picture scanned this way?)

~ From there we were off to Mona and honestly, I was not happy about it. I didn't want to leave Santaquin and even a spankin' new house didn't make it much better. We learned so much while we were building our house there (I was grateful for that down the road a bit). Kaleb was also able to get into the most awesome early intervention speech program. Now you would never realize that he struggled with his speech, and I think that program made the difference. Mona~ I have to look close to tell if it's the Mona house or our house now... We built the same one TWICE!

~ Derrick got a job in Fillmore just 18 months after we moved to Mona. Our house had an offer the first day we put a sign up so we knew this was the right thing for us, so off went to Fillmore. Derrick's dad and Sheri were generous and let us live in her mom's house while we were building, again!
~ That brings us to our last (hopefully for the rest of our lives) move. HOME! We both always knew we wanted to end up here and, well, it was a long road, but we're here. The things we learned building in Mona came in so handy when we were building our second house in two years, and it was much easier this time around. Most of our family is here and our roots are here. What good memories we have of each of the places we've lived and I can say, I am GRATEFUL to have moved 10 times in the almost 13 years that we've been married. Really the most important thing to me is that my little family is there and that's all that really matters in the end!

Home Sweet Home!

****Edited to add~ We also lived with Derrick's mom for a few weeks after all the drama at the murder house, and rented an apartment in Santaquin while we were waiting for our house to be done. That makes up the entire 10 moves that I mentioned earlier!

12 Rooms/12 Favorites....Tagged by Ann

12 Rooms, 12 favorites, one from each room.....sounds pretty easy, right? Well it wasn't. I never realized how many things I have in my house that I love. It was originally supposed to be 10 rooms/favorites, but I had to make mine 12. Enjoy...oh, I tag any of you that want to do this. This quilt hangs on the wall in Carlie's room. My mom made it for her to match the bed skirt, bumper and curtains that I made for her room. I can't bear to put it on her bed... I know how many hours went into it!
This clock is on the wall in the boys toy room. You can't see it very well, but it has Kaleb's name and birthday on it just below the train. Each of the kids have one. Grandma Jeannie made them for Christmas this last year and they are darling!
This window is over our bed in the master bedroom. It was a window taken out of my Grandparents house many years ago and stashed in the old milk barn. We salvaged it and had a girls day adding the flowers and backing.
I love the tile in my master shower, and I like my shower curtain almost as much!
My stamp/craft closet. Derrick built the shelves so I had storage for all my stuff. I need to organize it better, but I love that everything is all in one place!
The curtains in my boys room, yes, they are my old jeans. I really wanted curtains one day and the idea just came to me in a stroke of genius (probably the one and only that I have EVER had).
One of my storage shelves. I know they look a bit bare, not like the mini grocery store that I would like, heck.....not even close to a gas station quickie mart, but there is more there than there was a month ago, and that makes me happy!

This is on the wall in my dining room. I have old gadgets hanging from the shelf and tins, bottles with buttons and a family picture on it. Plus it's my favorite red color.
My pantry door in the kitchen. We had this same door in Mona and when we built here, I wanted it again. Derrick and the guy at the store went through many catalogs and browsed many web-sites to find me this exact door. Unfortunately the picture isn't the best.
My entertainment hutch in my upstairs family room. One of the first "real" pieces of furniture we bought. It was unfinished and Derrick put it together and spent hours painting it for me...I love it! Puls, I can shut it to hide my clutter, what a bonus.
My Grandma Ainge's piano in my living room. You can see the bench is worn & there are many nicks and scratches, but I love each one. One of my Aunts told me it would re-finish beautifully, but I can't do it, I love it just the way it is. I have so many memories of standing around the piano to sing or just listening to my Grandma play, she played beautifully and I miss that so much! I'm going to sneak in another favorite, the tatted doily hanging over my piano was made by my Great Grandma Beckstrand when she was in her 80's and had horrible arthritis in her hands. There are very few of the great-grandchildren that have these and I cherish it!

The washboard in my upstairs laundry. Ann gave me this for my birthday this year because she knew I've been wanting one. This even has a dark blue wash board part that matches great!

Vacation Pic's

Yellowstone (Finally, I know)

I'm finally getting around to writing about our family trip to Yellowstone....better late than never, right? We just drove as far as Bountiful, and spent out first night with Derrick's mom. She was sweet and took me to Michaels and had me pick out some super cute scrapbooking paper for my birthday. Now I just need to get on the ball and use it. We met Lisa's family the next morning and spent the day at Lagoon. Derrick and I hadn't been since I was pregnant with Brock, so yea, that means our kids had NEVER been. The boys loved it....Carlie, not so much! We made the mistake of taking her on a ride that was probably too much for her first and then she didn't want to try anything else. Kaleb wanted to go on EVERY ride, but was just a bit to short for a bunch of them. We've been trying to use that to get him to eat better (so he'll grow), but it isn't working too well? We spent most of the next day in the truck, but we did stop at Bear World. The kids liked the bears, but the petting zoo was the highlight for them. They had two sets of new baby deer, twins and triplets, both were less than a week old...so cute and soft! There was a funny goat that started to push away a stroller with a baby in it. I about lost it when my kids picked up the chickens, I felt all crawly and icky after that, but my kids were happy. We made it to West Yellowstone that evening. We stayed at the KOA in little one room cabins. Derrick and I went to sleep laughing at Carlie every night. At home we just put her in bed and shut the door. We learned that she either talks or sings herself to sleep. One night she was singing "Rock a Bye, Daddy, Rock a Bye Mommy", over and over...so cute! The next day we went into the park and met up with most the family at Old Faithfull. We saw eagles, elk, buffalo, deer... I'm sure I'm not remembering something. We drove the entire loop, but the last 20 miles took FOREVER, really, as long as the first 100 took. There were buffalo on the road and everyone kept stopping. We were stopped for over two hours. If I never see another buffalo, it will be too soon! We were late for dinner with the whole fam. When I say the whole fam, I mean it. My mom's 3 sisters, my cousins and their kids...we counted 58, and were sad that we had 10 missing. The next day we took it easy and went mini golfing at the worst course ever, it was concrete, and well, BAD! From there we took the kids to the pool. I really think we could take the kids anywhere and if they had a pool, it would be the best trip ever! We took a detour on the way home and stopped at Mesa Falls....beautiful! The only other stop we made was at my BFF, Ann's. She wasn't home, so we hung out with Chad until she got there. She was sweet as always and loaded my kids up with snacks for the rest of the ride home. I have to give a big thanks to my Mom and Dad....what a great vacation!

Primary Calling Update!

A few of you have asked how my Primary job as music director has been going, and well, I know I kind of skirted around the question, but it's been complicated, I guess you could say. I was called on Mother's Day, and the next day the Primary President asked me if I was ready for a change......ummm, I hadn't even started yet? Since then I've been on hold and just hanging out in Primary not really doing much of anything. I asked about going to Relief Society, but they didn't want people to ask questions....like me, I definitely had some questions. Well, today I was called as the 2nd counselor in the Primary Presidency. I have to be honest, I pretty much knew that was coming, and I can't say I was too disappointed to not be doing the music. I'm excited and overwhelmed. I get to be over baptisms, and my first one will be my nephew Carson. I'm also over scouts, which I go to anyway with Brock, and my Dad just happens to be the Scoutmaster, that should be fun! I love the Primary~ really that's the only place I've ever been, so I'm excited.

Fourth of July Festivities

I know the weekend isn't technically over, but well, I'm ready to share now, because it was a fun one. Derrick's mom came to stay with us and his brother Nick, his wife Amber and their baby Kanyon were here from Oklahoma, but they stayed at Derrick's dads house. Thursday night they came over and brought Sydney and we did some fireworks in the backyard. It was fun to watch Kanyon see the fireworks for the first time. Derrick, Sydney, Carlie, Grandma Jeannie, Kanyon, Amber, Kaleb & Brock

(Nick must have been lighting the fireworks)
Brock was in the parade in Fillmore on the 4th. They asked all the Primary kids in the Stake, eight and older to wear yellow shirts and carry a yellow balloon that they released in front of the soldiers who have served in Iraq this last year as a tribute to them. My brother-in-law, Jeremy was one of those soldiers....Thanks Jer! The rest of us watched the parade, which seemed longer this year, from our usual spot in front of Dearden Equipment. We went over to the park, but the lines for food were long and it was hot, so we didn't stay and ended up going to Carl's Jr. to eat before heading home to have a nap! But, before we left the park Kaleb pulled out his first tooth!

Brock was excited to get to walk in the parade, and he looked pretty cute doing it too!

Carlie loved her flag!

Kaleb showing off that new hole in his mouth!
Jeannie and our family met up with my parents and sibs at the fireworks and then the whole clan ended up coming back here to do some more fireworks. All the boys got a little too into helping and I was being the paranoid mom as usual. We took Derrick's mom on a four-wheeler ride up the canyon today thinking we would get out of the heat, but it wasn't much cooler there. It was nice to have a few days off from the normal routine to enjoy some family time!

Who doesn't love fireworks? I have to say for a small town, Fillmore puts on a GREAT fireworks show!

I think this was my favorite picture of the entire day!

Or maybe this one of the Four Amigos!
(Bryson, Kaleb, Brock & Carson)