Happy Birthday Derrick!

In honor of Derrick's birthday today, I thought I would share with you thirty-something reasons why I love him!

~ Derrick makes me laugh, usually at him!
~ He works hard so I can stay home with our kids. Right now Derrick is working 3 jobs, and he does his best at everything he does.
~ My man grows pretty grass. Really, I don't know what he does, but our grass always looks really good.
~ He's honest.
~ Derrick loves to travel and because of that we've been some pretty cool places. We sure do miss Skywest!
~ He's not scared of things, such as....bats on my house, giant spiders with babies on their back, snakes, my "look".
~ He will always be able to help our kids with Math homework!
~ He loves me for me.
~ and he loves me even if I can't load a boat or back a trailer.
~ He supports me in the things that are important to me.
~ Derrick worked really hard to get through school and he did it with no debt!
~ He is a good explainer of things, to both me and the kids.
~ Derrick likes to have fun.

~ We have very clean cars, inside and out. (and it isn't because of me)
~ Derrick makes me want to be a better person.

~ When he decides he is going to do something, he does it and he always does it well.
~ Derrick has built our family two beautiful homes and I must say, he did a spectacular job!
~ He not only built me a nice house, he put two laundry rooms in, just for me... and he doesn't complain when I don't use them as much as I should.
~ He built our current (and hopefully) last house in my favorite little town ever, one house away from his in-laws!
~ From him I have learned MUCH about cars, trucks ,rims, tires, boats and ATV's.

~ We have the best talks as we are driving late at night after the kids fall asleep.
~ He is super good with money and helps me to be good with money too!
~ Derrick is a FANTASTIC Dad!
~ He sent me to Bermuda with my sister for a week, and did a great job with our kids. Then 2 months later did it all over again while I went to Girls camp!
~ While I was at camp, he and a friend built a beautiful fireplace and chimney.
~ Derrick gets me to try new things and makes me be more spontaneous.
~ He chose a profession not because of the money he would make, but because he wanted to make a difference.
~ He knows I need "girl time" every so often.
~ Derrick isn't afraid to get his hands dirty, or his face, or well, he's just not afraid to get dirty!

~ Derrick is the first one to pitch in and help when something needs done.
~ He can fix pretty much anything, and if he can't he "rigs" it. That's the Dearden in him :)
~ He makes the yummiest omelets.
~ HE'S MY BEST FRIEND! He has been for the last 14 years and I'm looking forward to many more great years and memories with him!

Happy Birthday Babe, I hope you have the bestest of days, because you deserve it!

We all love you!

Scrap Time!

I'm not sure what's gotten into me , but I'm on a scrapin' kick. I'm sure it, like everything else I do, won't last long, so I better get a lot done while I really want to, right? Derrick's mom got me the cutest paper stacks for my birthday (in JUNE). I set them on my table so they would call my name every time I came in the room, well, they hadn't been yelling very loud, until yesterday when that darling paper screamed and demanded my attention. I had just cleaned up the office/craft room and maybe that's part of it, I can actually find the things I need? Anyway in the past 24 hours I've completed 9 pages! Nothing else has been done in my house, wait, I guess I did throw in one batch of laundry, but hey, 9 pages! I had to go into the school this morning to be the bookmobile mom, but I'm really wanting to get back to it. Maybe I'll sort some laundry and then paper, pictures and stamps, here I come! Anyone want to flake on your responsibilities and join me? Come on over!

This is some of the paper Jeannie gave me. You can't see it too well in the picture but it has glitter on it. Super Cute!

I really like how this layout turned out. I had TONS of pictures from a day of sledding last winter, and I had a hard time coming up with a plan for all of them. Luckily they all cropped really well and I could fit them on 2 pages.

Four, Four, Four, Four!

A) Four places I go over and over: 1~ Lisa's house 2~ The Chevron for drinks (with Lisa) 3~ The Post office (with Lisa) 4~My laundry rooms......Pretty exciting life I lead!

B) Four People I admire: 1~My Ancestors, we have some great examples to learn from! 2~ My Sister and her Hubby, this last year was hard for both of them with him in Iraq, but they made it and are both stronger people because of it! 3~ Derrick, he works so hard for our family and is just an all around pretty great guy! 4~ Teachers, I think they deserve so much credit for what they do!

C) Four Favorite places to eat out: 1~The Italian Place, a Steak & Everything sandwich sounds really good. 2~ Cluffs Carhop Cafe 3~ Spaghetti Factory (I love their bread) 4~ Big Rock Candy Mountain

D) Four places I rather be right now: 1~Disneyland, my kids REALLY want to go. 2~ Somewhere tropical with Derrick. 3~ Camping in the mountains. 4~ The Lake

E) My four favorite CD's right now: 1~Viva La Vida (Coldplay) 2~The 2008 Primary Program songs, we've been playing them over and over so hopefully we all know the words. 3~ National Geographic destination Ireland (maybe that's somewhere I'd rather be too, I would like to go back someday). 4~ Young and the Hopeless (Good Charlotte).

Thanks for the tag Ann. I hope you don't mind that I skipped 2 of the questions. I don't have any favorite movies and I rarely watch TV. I'd love to hear FOUR'S from all of you! Isn't four just an odd word, for some reason it just looks weird to me?

Back to School~ HORRAY!!!

The count down has ended......today is the first day of school! I bet ya can't tell I'm a tad bit excited about this. I really do love my kids, and I love having them home.....but, well, maybe in smaller doses? Actually I am most excited about having a regular schedule, I do much better when I know what to expect from one day to the next.
Of course no first day of school is complete without pictures, so here they are.

Mr. 3rd Grader Brock (can I really be old enough to have a 3rd grader) is excited about his first day back. He is in Mrs. Allen's class, and his Aunt Sydney is in his class for the third year in a row.

Here is our darling 1st grade boy, Kaleb. His teacher is Mr. Johnson, who just happened to be my 1st grade teacher. I can't really tell if he is more excited or nervous about this whole day of school stuff.

Little Miss Carlie couldn't be left out of the picture taking, so here is the lone child at home. She is really going to miss Kaleb. She waited and waited for him to get home from Kindergarten last year and he played cute with her and kept her entertained.

No picture session is complete at out house without a silly one!

Best Buddies!

This year instead of back to school night we just came on the first day and met the teachers, and we could have eaten breakfast with the kids (my kids choose to have pop tarts in the car instead). The biggest plus I saw with this change......we didn't have to get up as early as a regular day. I'm going to have a hard time getting them up and ready to leave for the bus by 7:10 tomorrow morning!

Swimming Lessons

Is it just me or has this summer FLOWN by? Where has it gone, really? The last few summers the boys have taken 2 sessions of swimming lessons (since they seem to take after me when it comes to their swimming abilities). Well, this year we were lucky to get in one session, and it happened to be the very last session they offered. Brock, Kaleb and their cousin Bryson ended up in the same class.... and, well, I felt very bad for the poor teachers, Bobbette, Terry and Aubrey. They were so good with the boys and I really did see improvement. I just wish we could pass this level they seem to have been stuck at for 2 years? I'm sure if I would have been on the ball and got them in two sessions, back to back, they could have passed, but once again, I was a slacker mom! They really do like the water, but they like it much more with their life jackets on? Maybe next year will be the magic year? They had fun, that's all that's important, right?

Brock and Bobbette

Kaleb and his DARLING grin

Best Buddies

Wahoooo Kaleb!

No life jacket~ GO BROCK!

More Surprises......

This last week brought a few more surprises for all of us. Mostly they were great, but one....well not so much! Derrick had to go to Delta on Friday and sit at the Dearden Equipment booth at the trade show that goes along with the county fair. He came home with the coolest rolling/sliding racks for our food storage. He got one for veggies, one for soups and one for mac n' cheese. I was glad he got a brochure for the guy who makes them, because I definitely want some more. He also brought me a box of Girls Scout Thin Mints....AWWW, what a sweetie! I am savoring each and every cookie.

Yesterday we FINALLY ran to Provo to get our school shopping done (that was an event in and of itself, lets just say, it was stressful). I stopped in at the post office on the way out of town and my new 2008~Winter/Fall Collection Stampin' Up! Catalog was here! YIPPEE! YAHOO! Can you tell I was excited about that? I couldn't wait to check it out, but for some reason Derrick wanted me to drive, so I waited in suspense till Payson and then couldn't take it anymore and made him take over. Of course I have a list now of more things I want. There are some really cute things, and I'm loving the In Colors for this year. You should peek at the catalog online at http://www.stampinup.com/ or I can get you a book if you want to buy one or just look at one, there are so many cute ideas in it! Look how cute the scallop edge is, I just love it. When I got home last night there was a box on my porch with the new Breaking Dawn book. I really should have just ordered it, but I kept putting it off? Well Sheri beat me to it and got it for me! Thank you, Thank you! Yea for Vampires and some quiet reading time!

Speaking of vampires....(here comes the surprise I was NOT so excited about). The kids were playing outside Thursday night and Kaleb came in and told us he thought he found a bat. Ok, whatever buddy, are you sure it isn't a bird? (I think those may have been Derrick's exact words). So we follow him out and sure enough on the sawtooth border of our brick on my front porch is a BAT! The border is only about 1-2 inches off the porch and we had 5 kids out there playing. As I'm telling the kids to get away, Derrick is sending one of them for a jar??? Of course he would have to get a stick and get close to it, to get it in a jar. Crazy man! All of us had to take turns checking it out, including me.....creepy yet fascinating creatures, I have to say. I just knew one of the kids were going to drop that jar and we would be off for rabies shots in the stomach. After an hour or so, he let it go and after sitting on the sidewalk for a bit it just flew away. Thanks for the visit, Mr. Bat, but please don't return or send your friends!

Sorry the picture isn't so great, but well, I wasn't getting any closer!

A Very Happy Birthday to a Very Special Lady!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

(I think I'm going to count this picture as my FLASHBACK FRIDAY, what do you think?)

Since today is my mom's birthday, and it just happens to be 08*08*08, I want to share 8 things that make my mom truly special!

1. She is a hard worker. In everything she does, she does her BEST! She went back to college to get her teaching certificate when I was in high school. She had to travel to do this and spent many late nights on the road or studying. She also worked full time and still had time for all of us! She is a great teacher and truly loves her students.
2. She loves my kids, ok, all her grand kids. Just last night she was saying she missed them, it's only been a few days since she saw them? She loves my hubby, and all the in-laws, for who they are. Actually she just TRULY loves family!
3. She is compassionate and caring and had taught me to serve. I see this everyday, but I really saw this when she was the Relief Society President and also, when she served in the Young Women's.
4. My mom has a strong Testimony of the Gospel, and has taught me this by example throughout my life.
5. She is a good listener. She just listens, and sometimes she gives advice, but only if she knows we want it. She lets us do things our way, even if she doesn't agree, she never makes us feel guilty or pressures us to do it her way.
6. We have so much fun on girls trips. It's a lot of work to get all of our schedules to match so we can do this, but once we do IT'S WORTH IT!
7. By example, my mom taught me to be a good wife and mother. She and my dad are a team, and a pretty good one I must add!
8. My mom is TRULY one of my very best friends~ I'm not just saying that....I really mean it! Happy Birthday Mom!

Beautiful Girl

Saturday night Lisa, my Mom, Dad and I went over to Delta to the Miss Millard Pageant to watch my little miss Skyler (who isn't so little anymore) compete. I can't believe she is all grown up. It was so fun to watch her and there were a few, ok quite a few, moments when I had tears. She is such a beautiful girl, and the best part is she's just as beautiful inside as out!
Lisa and I got silly like we sometimes do when we get together and everything seemed to be so funny. We laughed so hard (we were both crying and Lis even snorted once, he he) and had such a good time! Thanks mom and dad for putting up with us!

For her talent Sky played the most beautiful piano piece. Listening to her made me wish I would have put more effort into piano lessons when I had the chance.
This is the interview portion. There is NO way I could just answer a question off the top of my head like that.
Isn't that the most GORGEOUS dress....and modest too!
Sky ended up winning 2nd attendant.....WAHOOO~You go girl!