{Flashback Friday}

Are you ready for Flashback Friday Easter style? Well, here you go!

I'm not sure how old I was in this picture. I have such good memories of Easters past. Our little town always had an Easter egg hunt, we still do, I was in charge of it this year in fact. We also spent many, many Easters at Grandma and Grandpa Ainges cabin and I remember hunting for eggs there too with the cousins and my grandparents friends grandkids. Grandma Beckstrand always had an Easter Egg hunt for us too. What spoiled kids we were!

Kyle, Lisa, Shad & Monica ~ 1985

This particular year, at the town Easter Egg hunt, they also gave away live bunnies. If I remember right, my mom wasn't all that happy that I won Fluffy the bunny. If you look close you can see Lisa's pink basket. Grandma Ainge crocheted one of these for each of the Grandkids the inside was a cool whip container and I truly loved mine.
Grandma Jeannie took Brock to see the Easter bunny when he was about 14 months old. I can't believe how much he's grown up and how fast the years have gone!

Kaleb, Carlie & Brock ~ 2007
What cute kiddos! This is the same park that the picture of me and my brothers and sisters was taken at, fun traditions!

{This & That... Along With a Bit of Randomness}

Are you ready for a bit of this and that, and some plain old randomness? Well, this post is for you! Lisa and I took a mom's day off yesterday and headed to Provo. Our friend Laina was having a Cents of Style party and that was as good an excuse as any to get out of town, right? I picked up 2 cute pair of earrings and some sassy black patent shoes, all for under $25... SCORE! I also came home with a few much needed articles of clothing. You see, I may, or may not fit into some of my clothing right now (and NO, I will not be soon announcing anything) anyhow, my goal was to get some things to get me by, but not spend much moola. I thought I did pretty good, but I learned that sometimes, a good deal, well, might not have been as good as I was thinking?

I picked up these pants for a whopping $6! Yep, $6, and they actually fit me pretty great, which doesn't happen all that often. How did I not notice that one leg is a whole 3 1/2 inches shorter than the other leg? I even tried them on twice. Yep, true story....Lisa is now calling them the Ca-pants! Mom, can ya do some hemming and fix them for me? That's not just random, it's ridiculous and hilarious too.

We did come home with some cute shirts (that were even sewn correctly), a headboard, foot board, box springs, a mattress and hopefully enough Easter candy and plastic eggs for the whole town, along with all the regular trip up north stuff, crammed in the back of my Tahoe! Fun times!Today between General Conference sessions, we went to dinner at my Ma & Pa's. The whole fam-damily was there, all 18 of us, plus my Grandma and Grandpa. Can you say chaos? After dinner the kids went outside with instructions to "Stay out of the mud", (which they didn't) and somehow ended up in this giant hamster ball. Ok, it was really the frame for a paper mache earth my brother and his wife made for a parade last year, but doesn't it look like a hamster ball? They rolled it, (with them inside) down the side farm drive and down the road to our house and back, silly boys!

Here is another random for you. The other night I went into the kitchen at 10:30 pm, or thereabouts to grab something, and I hear my garage door opening?!? What? Derrick was in the bedroom and the kids were asleep, and I know the cats can't jump that high. Derrick, my manly man, did some checking and nothing..... Hmmm, can we say creepy! Brock got the chance last week to do his first Great Brain project. He decided on the Solar System and I have to say I was thrilled, since that's a subject I know nothing about, but Derrick on the other hand knows a bunch! Brock did such a great job on everything, his display, the report and his presentation, and he really learned a lot, not to mention he loved doing it with his Dad! And last but not least, Brock earned his Wolf badge! It's a good thing he has great Scout leaders who keep him on track, it really is a lot of work....Thanks, Dayla and Alicia and YEA, Brock!

{Flashback Friday}

So, obviously I've been in a bit of a blogging funk..... I haven't had anything spectacular, or even interesting for that matter, to post, and comments have been few and far between, I'm sorry, I really do love you all, truly I do and I will do better, I promise! I was talking to a friend yesterday who said she loved it when I did Flashback Fridays. You know what? I did to! I loved to sort through old pictures, laugh at fun memories of long ago and then share them with you, so why has it been so long since we had a Flashback Friday? Well, wait no more...... This flashback is to Christmas of 1994. Derrick and I had been dating about 6 months, and I was a freshman at good old UVSC, we were married about 8 months later, and yep, we look pretty young! Fun times and good memories, enjoy!

{Birthday Fun}

Kaleb had a fun birthday yesterday! We had cake and ice cream for the family last night. It's always fun to get together and hang out with the family for a bit. We missed having Shad and Julia's family and Grandma and Grandpa Dearden and Sydney here, but they both stopped in a bit earlier. Kaleb was a pretty spoiled boy and made out like a little bandit. He got a new Wii game, a suit, a new shirt and tie, some fun books, Jammies, a playmoblie set, a water cannon, and quite a bit of money (I may have to take a loan from him!). Tonight Derrick, Kaleb and I are going out for his dinner, I think Kaleb has chosen Carl's Jr. Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes, Kaleb is a great kid and I'm proud of him!

Star Wars the Force Unleashed for the Wii~ pretty fun stuff (so I'm told).
Kaleb and Bryson checking out some fun new books.

Grandma Jeannie came down from Bountiful and the kids were excited to see her. She made both Brock and Kaleb jammies for their birthdays.

Kaleb wanted a Lego cake, so I attempted 3 Lego bricks. I think from now on I'll leave the cake making up to Aunt Lisa, but Kaleb liked it and that's all that is important, right?

Wait, how old did I say he was???

Derrick and I got Kaleb this suit and Gram & Papa got him the shirt and tie. What a handsome boy he is all dressed up and without ice cream on his face!

{Lucky 7}

Our little man Kaleb turns SEVEN today, so I'm going to share seven fun facts about him along with some of my favorite pictures!

Kaleb is a good natured kid. Most days he comes right home and gets started on his homework, without being told!

Kaleb loves babies, if there are little ones around, he's always trying to play with them, make them smile or lovin' them. He is a great big brother to Carlie and he and Brock and best buds, most of the time!
Kaleb is always pulling silly faces. I can't seem to get a picture of him lately without him crossing his eyes or sticking out his tounge.....oh, well, he's dang cute still!
Kaleb is our little daredevil. He loves to ride his four-wheeler, but doesn't always pay attention as well as he should. I think every time we've ridden out at White Mountain he's wrecked!?!? Luckily, he hasn't been hurt (I guess I better keep saying a quick prayer before we go). He also loves to ride his bike and is always trying to go faster or try some new trick.

Kaleb is our little MONKEY! He seriously climbs everything......cupboards, trees, swing-sets, the walls, even on top of the slides (no going down the inside for him). Kaleb is also a good little tumbler. He's been going to tumbling class for three years now, and is getting pretty good....most likely because he practices all the time. If he's not climbing, he's doing round-off's or cartwheels. We were walking throught Wal-Mart a few weeks ago and he was cartwheeling down the isles, then he tried to practice at Home Depot too, but those slick polished concrete floors aren't weren't the best and he landed pretty hard on his behind. It hasn't stopped him, just a few days ago he was tumbling along the dirt path that leads back to the cow corrals while the rest of us walked. Kaleb loves LEGOS and he's really creative and always building something new and cool! The boys toy room is slowly being taken over by legos, but I'm not complaining, because they keep them occupied for hours! Ok, I lied, I do complain, LOUDLY when I step on one of those evil little toys!Last but not least, Kaleb has the most adorrable, contagious little smile and when he teases, he has a little mischevious twinkle in his eyes! He's such a fun boy and I love being his mom!

Happy 7th Birthday, K-B!

I just had to add in a few more pictures, they are so Kaleb and two of my favorites!
I know I said Kaleb is a mellow kid, but when he snaps, he snaps. Obvioulsy he wasn't happy when I took this picture, but I love it still!
This is Kaleb in his favorite spot......the old dead tree in the back field. I can always find him there, usually at the very top freaking out his poor mom!

{Who are those CUTE kids?}

I am so bad at keeping up on haircuts for my kids, poor things, they have been looking like little ragamuffins for much to long. I finally called Aunt Katy to come to their rescue and they look a 150 times better, I must say. Katy just opened her own shop in Fillmore and I have to tell you she does a great job. She's been cutting my hair since before she and my brother Kyle got married and I've always been super happy with it! Hip Hip Hooray for clean cut kiddos! Hopefully Aunt Katy will let us come back....the kids were pretty wild!

Carlie, before.......
& after! I love it when her hair is trimmed and shaped up!

Brock, before......

& after. That was a pretty handsome kid hiding under all that scruffy hair!

Kaleb, before and of course he's pulling a silly face.......
& after. Wow! That is one good looking boy!

{I'm Thankful For....}

It's been too long since I've done a GRATITUDE post. I've been in a bit of a funk this week, I'm not sure exactly why, but I'm hoping that focusing on some of the things I've been blessed with will help me snap out of it! So in no particular order, I'm thankful for.......

• Our Extended Families~ This is the theme for the sharing time I've been working on for Primary tomorrow. We're going to sing a little song that goes like this;

I have a family tree with branches by the dozens. I have Grandpas. I have Grandmas. I have Uncles, Aunts and Cousins. When it's reunion time, No matter what the weather, It is such a happy day, When the fam'ly gets together.

I'm thankful for all our great family members, for their love and support. None of us get together often enough, but is a happy day when we do. Since we don't seem to get together very often, I'm also thankful for family blogs. I have loved getting to know more about some of our cousins through blogging. I know I've learned many knew things and love reading about their lives and hope they have learned new things about me!

• The Great Weather we've had~ I love the changing seasons, especially SPRING, it's my favorite! It's been so nice to sit and read a book and watch the kids play outside or break out the four-wheelers and go on a ride as a family! Yea for spring!
• Jordan Almonds & Dr. Pepper~ Yep, these yummys have made me happy this week!
• I am thankful to live where I do~ Not only do I live in a great little town where I'm surrounded by family & friends, but I feel like I live in a great country. Nothing makes you appreciate home, wherever it may be, as much as being away for a bit.
• Modern Technology~ What would I do without, phone, email, blogs, XM radio, the list could go on and on? All of these wonderful little gems can cheer me up when I'm having a yucky day!
• Primary Teachers~ Our ward made some changes recently that have thrown our little Primary way off balance (mostly a new Relief Society presidency that came entirely from our Primary)! I've spent countless hours thinking and praying about who we should ask to teach these classes and it's made me appreciate so much those who are not only willing to serve, but want to serve and teach the children in our ward!
• The Chevron~ Yep, I'm truly thankful for our towns one and only little store, mostly the fountain drinks, but also all the other little things that I tend to forget, that they usually have!
• Lastly today I'm thankful that Lisa brought me........this little gem from her quick shopping run to Provo today! I'm a lucky girl, and I have a great sister!