I love a night out

I had a great time Saturday night as it was MNO otherwise known as mother's night out. The kids were happy to stay home and have a fun night watching Bolt (thanks Heather for bringing it over) and eating pizza with Alan. This gathering was some local moms from my online mom's group which I've been frequenting since I was expecting Lawrence over nine years ago. I have made some wonderful friends both local and across the country. My friend Barb who was raised Jewish and grew up in New York was really craving some Jewish food with passover being soon. I'd never had Jewish food but am always up for something new so agreed that is what we should do. We met at a Jewish Deli called Chompies. I even got my baby fix while I was there holding Chelsea's daughter Alea who is almost 3 months old and such a cutie. Nursing babies are welcome to mno just the bigger kids get to stay home. We just ordered a bunch of things off the menu and cut and shared it so we could try a variety of things. The waiter was great about bringing some extra bowls and plates to accommodate us. There was so much food, a basket of different breads, sweet pickles, matzo ball soup, and knish. Then the motown sandwich which is pastrami on rye with coleslaw dressing had me a little worried as I don't particularly like rye but is was really delicious. I even tried a new soda called Dr. Browns Black Cherry. We finished off with Cheese and Blueberry Blintzes with yummy sides to top them with. All the while we laughed and talked and just had a nice relaxing time. After wards we walked through the bakery section and thought about taking home a black and white cookie or some other treats but we were all to stuffed. Next time we will have to save more room for Dessert. It is always a great time to renew ourselves and enjoy our friendships.

Having Girls is so much fun

Saturday the girls and I headed out early to pickup Lawrence after his cub scout white tanks hike. We thought we could see if there were any garage sales on the way as you never know what you might find. Both the girls are always up for a garage sale or two and Azaria who loves to sleep will wake up early on Saturdays if she knows I'm going out. Azaria saw some purses at one garage sale and really wanted one. I tried to gear her towards a smaller cute one but she wanted the bigger purse. I figured it was her money she was spending so let her pick the one she wanted. She also got some friendship bracelets that were new in the package for a grand total of $1.25 for both. At another garage sale we found a fisher price kids camera for $1.00 and figured for that price we would give it a shot. Then Alan calls me and oops he forgot to tell me that Christy offered to drop Lawrence off at the house...thanks Christy. We decided we should headed back home so Lawrence wouldn't come home and find no one there. The camera just needed some battery acid cleaned off the connectors and some new batteries and it was ready to go. The kids had a blast taking pictures of each other. Laurel even managed to drop the camera and as the ads claim it didn't hurt it at all. The picture quality isn't the best but since we only paid $1.00 I'm not too picky. These are two shots Lawrence took of his sisters.

















Sunday the girls and I decided to do a fun craft project. We made a safety pin bracelet. We did just a mix of crazy beads and colors on each safety pin. The girls actually did most of the them all by themselves. I was in charge of using the elastic cording to string them together though. It takes quite a few safety pins for each bracelet and I of course only had enough safety pins for once bracelet so the girls have to share until I remember to pick up more this week. The girls had to model the bracelet for photos. Can you tell my girls don't mind having their pictures taken?





































Later Azaria wanted to style my hair. I think there is nothing more relaxing then someone softly brushing and styling your hair. I get the spa treatment for free though of course I wouldn't normally wear these styles out. Once I did forget and wore a special style that had toilet paper flowers bobby pinned into my hair out. I kept wondering why everyone at Albertsons was looking at me when I ran out late to grab some milk. While she did my hair Laurel sat in my lap and I brushed and massaged her head. While Azaria was brushing my hair she asks if I give her new purse to her. She wanted the friendship bracelets out of it since she didn't have rubber bands so those would work just as well. I admit she did get my hair very smooth and my pony tail wasn't going anywhere. I think I had about 5-6 friendship bracelets tied around my hair. Other then the neon colored bracelets my hair looked nice enough to wear out though of course the joy of Sunday nights in spending time home with no where to go.

Now of course I had to look and see what else a seven year old would put in her own purse and laughed at all the bag had collected in one day. Here is her new purse with added decorative sticker and list of what was inside

*pair of scissor
*a pen
*some pink paper and a few cut into shape of hearts with love notes written for mom and dad..melts my heart
*webkinz stuffed plush
*big lip smackers lipgloss
*friendship bracelets
*Hello Kitty wallet which I think has more cash then I have right now thanks to her b-day money she is saving for something really good she says
* one sheet of glitter stickers
*about 20 bandaids
*sunglasses
*comb

A year ago we said goodbye

It was last year the evening of March 20th Dallin was born and we said goodbye. The last year seems to have gone so slowly and to be honest has been the hardest year I've had thus far in my life. When January rolled around I told Alan 2009 was going to be a better year for sure. I pulled out my ultrasound pictures last week and the pictures we took after he was born and had a little cry. I admit I still miss him terribly. How excited I was for another child in our home and even a boy so Lawrence would finally have the little brother he always asked for. I never got to nurse you, change your diaper, or hear you cry but even if I had done any of those I would have still wanted even more time with you. As times go on though the pain of losing you will lessen but I will never forget you Dallin or your brother Everett. You are always in my heart and I long for the day I will be reunited with our Savior and all my family that has gone on before me including you. I love you.

You have to love coupons

Okay well sometimes coupons can drive me crazy and I don't want to deal with them but they really are worth it when I take the time. It is helping to build my food storage and I can get some fun treats I normally wouldn't spend the money on. My kids know mom won't buy something if it isn't on sale or better yet on sale plus a coupon. They will pick through the coupons to show me what things they want me to buy. The last few weeks there have been so many things to stock up on. Today I had more fun couponing picking up a few fun things for the freezer on days I don't want to cook . I picked up 2 Kashi pizzas and 6 entrees that after coupons were $9.92. Then for buying $25 worth (before coupons) I got a coupon for $10.00 of my next shopping trip so I basically got paid .08 to take these all home. Alan likes to tease me and calls it my legal stealing since I get to take things out of the store without paying. My favorite coupon site is pinchingyourpennies.com to help match up the coupons to the ads. Plus they have it set up so you get a deal on multiple papers each week. I get six papers each week which I know seems like a lot but it really pays for itself. Plus a few weeks ago when each paper had a bag to bring in for a free Chipotle burrito we were glad to have six for sure that week.

I can't believe Azaria is now Seven!

Azaria had a wonderful birthday. The Friday before her birthday she had her first friend party. We had a lot of fun planning it and getting everything ready. She and nine of her friends had a great time eating pizza, making beaded bracelets and making their own soap. She thought it was the best party ever and loved all the cards her friends made and the gifts they gave her too. She even got to switch her earrings for the first time with a pair she got at her party.

On her birthday she wanted to wear her pants the Grandma Faerber made her. Though you can't see it I also was requested to make her something special for her hair so we turned some Happy Birthday fabric into a scrunchie for her. That night we had her favorite meal beef stroganoff as a family. Then she got to open her gifts from us which she had the hardest time waiting all day to finally get to open. She was surprised by many of her gifts and Lawrence and Laurel wanted to help check them all out. They especially all thought the i-dog dance was really funny.

Our new photo collage wall

Our front room wall was rather bare and in need of something so it didn't look so empty. I had the 3 large pictures of the kids already but didn't want them to look like they were just floating on the wall when I hung them. My mom mentioned that Courtney had a really cute arrangement of photos in her front room and something similar would look nice on my wall. Courtney was nice enough to send me a picture of her wall for inspiration, thanks Courtney! Then my personal shopper otherwise known as mom helped to find a lot of the special elements for the wall. She found the C on clearance at Dillards and the metal vine and a few frames at HomeGoods. She let me have the large photo of me on the left that was hanging at her house. Then we hit Ross together to find many of the smaller frames to fill out the arrangement. Ross by the way has really great prices on frames if you ever need of some. Then this last Thursday mom came out to help me arrange and hang the pictures. Alan also got to help a lot in the hanging pictures department while we directed. I'm really happy with it. I just need 2 small frames or decoration for the bottom row of frames to complete it and of course I need to get pictures printed to fill all my empty frames.

Our Yummy Creations!

When Laurel and I were at the store we lucked out and got some organic whipping cream marked down to 79 cents. I picked some up as I couldn't leave a deal like that behind. At first I was thinking of making some ice cream but decided it would be fun for the kids to make their own butter. I remembered doing it as a kid and thinking it was pretty neat. After finishing planting and watering the trees we came inside and I poured some into a jar and we all took turns shaking while we watched a show. It was funny how Laurel wanted to make sure we took our turns in order. Unfortunately I filled the jar a bit to full so as it started to get thicker there wasn't enough room to shake it very well. I put our almost butter into a dish and finished it with the hand mixer. We poured the buttermilk off and had our very own delicious butter. It really is better then the store bought butter. We needed something to put it on though as butter on it's own isn't so great so we took the buttermilk and cooked waffles for dinner. Of course how better to top off our waffles made with organic buttermilk and organic butter then with high fructose Aunt Jemima syrup of course...lol At least it was the lower sugar version.

In the Backyard

The kids love to be out in the back yard and on nice days will spend a good portion of the day out there playing. Right now it is pretty much just dirt but at least it is ours so we can do what we want with it when we have the money and time. We did extend the patio and planted what I refer to as our twigs. Along the fence are now 7 small fruit trees but in time they will grow. Alan's uncle Robert send us a Costco card for Christmas and we wanted to pick something with it for the whole family to enjoy and trees seemed like a great idea. Seems you can find anything at Costco. We purchased three fruit trees an apple, pear, and peach which are now referred to as Roberts trees. The orange tree in the first picture is our G&G tree (Grammy and Grampy, Alan's grandparents) as we purchased it with some money they sent us for Christmas. Lawrence has been a big help and even dug the entire hole for our Tangerine tree all by himself. He has also been helping to water them. In about 2 years we will hopefully have some great fruit to enjoy!


Here is a picture of the girls swinging. The only problem with our swingset is it has just 2 swings so it seems as if someone is always left out and can't wait for their turn to swing again. Laurel's hairdo is courtesy of her sister who styled it for her. She though Azaria did a great job on her crazy hair.

A Trip to the Children's Museum

Lawrence and Azaria had gotten some coupons from school called Papa John's circle of rewards. One of the ones included was free admission the Phoenix Children's Museum. My friend Rachel was kind enough to give us their coupon so all the kids could get in for free..yeah. We had planned on going on Saturday before the tickets expired but Lawrence part way there said he didn't feel well so we turned around. Azaria was so sad we couldn't go that day she stayed out in the Van for about 30 minutes crying and pouting (yes I kept an eye on her while she was out there). Then a friend came along and climbed into the open door of the van to talk to her and she decided playing with her friend would be more fun then hanging out in the van.

Since the tickets were going to expire that Wednesday I took the kids out of school early on Tuesday so we could still go and enjoy some time together. They had so many fun things to do we almost didn't know where to start. First we started with the Whoosh, which is lots of tubes connect together with air flowing through them. You can feed scarves into them or light weight plastic balls and you can change their path to send them up different tubes. Then they shoot out at different spots and fall down the the ground. They even have a smaller concept of this with ping pong balls where the kids made their own configurations. It was great to watch all three of the kids work together to make it work. I got the be the official ping pong ball fetcher so they could keep feeding the machine.

Next we moved to the arts and crafts room where they were lots of choices. You could make snowflakes, play with playdough, make a sking penquin picture, play with playdough, paint, or make dream catchers. We didn't even have time to do them all but Lawrence and Azaria made several dream catchers and decided they would be a neat gift for Dad's birthday since they made them. I finally convinced them we should see what else there was to see. Though I think they would have all been content to spent the whole afternoon in the craft room.


Playing with the sand on the lighted table. They made textures, hills, wrote names and more. They even have beach chairs for the parents to relax in while you watch the kids play.






I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for ICE CREAM!!! The kids got busy pretenting to run their own ice cream stand. I got served with all sorts of colorful treats.









This kids watching as they send balls rolling down a obstacle course making things move while they zig zag back and forth to the bottom.











Lawrence seeing how it feels to drive a motorcycle. I'm not sure I'm ready to see my kids driving yet. Glad we have a few years before that all begins though Lawrence already asks how many years until he can start learning to drive.

I would have had to put way to many pictures in to show everything we did. We enjoyed the book corner, the noodle jungle, the grocery store, and microscopes too. Downstairs Lawrence and I bounced balls back and forth to each other while the girls zoomed around on plasma cars. After all that we headed over to Alan's office which was close by so the kids could see where he works. Laurel had been there before but not the other two. The kids can't wait to go to the Museum again, we had a blast!

Azaria gets her ears pierced

Azaria had asked a while back to get her ears pierced but then didn't bring it up for a while. Then this Christmas she really wanted to get her ears pierced. She asked if I could talk with Daddy and decide if she could get them pierced. She is very responsible and we figured she was ready to help take care of her ears. If she really wanted them pierced we figured she was old enough to make that choice and we would get them done. I of course wanted to make sure it was done right so I did some research on where to get her ears pierced. I didn't want them done with a piercing gun but with a hollow piercing needle. We found a body piercing place not to far from our house that someone recommended. Azaria wanted it to be her special date with just mommy but then decided daddy could come along too. Lawrence and Laurel got to go hang out with some friends which they thought sounded more fun anyways.When we got the the piercing shop Azari got to pick out her new earrings. I liked the small hoops but she wanted some bling so she picked a pair of small sparkly jewel titanium studs. She saw pictures on the wall with belly piercings and we asked if she wanted one of those too...lol She said no way I only want one earring in each ear. Glad I won't have to worry about her wanting more piercings in the near future :) Then they took us back to the piercing room where they explained to us what they were going to do. They measured and marked each ear so the piercings would be accurate. Then removed the sterile needles from the package. Azaria at this point was pretty excited but that quickly changed.






This is right after her ears were pierced and she was not happy that it hurt even though we tried to warn her. After the first side was done she wasn't sure about doing the other but we told her at that point she needed to get them both done.









Don't worry the tears didn't last to long because then we moved on to some fun time just with Mommy and Daddy! We told her she could pick where we went next and she thought Cabela's for some yummy fudge sounded good. We picked raspberry/chocolate, cookies and creme, strawberry, and pecan praline fudge after trying a few free samples.

Azaria also wanted to try the shooting range while we were there and had fun shooting at the targets to make things happen. She even got the teapot to spray a bystander. Here is Alan giving her a little help. After Cabela's it was time for a dinner break at Wendy's. By this time she was quite proud of her new earrings but told Laurel she really should wait a while because it hurts!

New member of our Family

This last weekend Amber and Laurel went to some garage sales when Laurel found a fish tank that she really wanted. It is small and was only $10 ready to go. Laurel talked Amber into the tank and they brought it home. I went to do some work for a friend and Amber took the girls to PetSmart to get some drops to clean the water for the tank and while at PetSmart there was a dog rescue group with some dogs. Well there was one that was is a Golden Retreiver / Shar Pei mix and and they pet him a few times thinking he was cute. Later that day the tank was ready so we took the kids back to PetSmart to get some fish and the first thing I saw when we walked in was 'Red' and said to Amber that is a really good looking dog. Well we looked at him and talked with the people that had him. He is three years old and his previous owner is dying so he had to give him up. Very mellow, good tempered dog and very good with kids. Well we got two fish and frog for the fish tank and on the drive home we all agreed that we wanted 'Red' so when we got home we called the rescue people and arranged to meet them the following morning to pick him up. We were at Petsmart right at 10am to get him and they did not show up. We ended up walking around the store for 30min and the still did not show. We ended up going home and getting the card for the rescue lady and called her. She was picking up more dogs at the pound and it took a lot longer than they thought to get out of there and they were almost to PetSmart. So we turned around and headed back to PetSmart to pick him up. Well he is with us now and he is a really good dog. He is hard to get pictures of but here are a few that I was able to get. The other two kids keep telling Laurel thanks for finding a fish tank.





Red really likes to take car rides. I went out to test something in my car and he jumped in and was ready to go.

Ward Campout

We went on the ward camp out last weekend. We have never been camping as a family before so I was a little worried how the kids would do. They did great except for the "STINKY" bathroom, that Zari refused to use. Below are some of the pictures that we took when we walked down to the river. No we don't have more kids we had some friends with us on this walk. The kids are very excited to go again. Next month there is a ward Daddy Daughter camp out that the girls are looking forward to.

New Car

Now that I have a job where I have to use my own car we purchased a 2005 Scion xB. The xB gets good mileage and is fun to drive. I know some people don't like them but I do!

The best part is that Amber can drive it so she does not always have to drive the Mazda. Also if I need the van for a scout outing she is not stuck at home with no car.

WATER FIGHT!!!

Laurel pouring water on Josh

Lawrence about to get mom

Last Friday Azaria had a friend over and they found a package of water balloons we had never gotten around to using. They nicely begged for me to start filling them up as they had tried themselves and had very little luck. I found some buckets and sat down by the spicket and began to fill about a hundred water balloons which my fingers got very tired of tying. A few escaped my buckets early as the kids had to see just how well they would pop and a few got overfilled so I was wet before the balloons even started flying...lol

The neighbor kids saw what we were up to and quickly joined in on the water fight. I think the balloons lasted about 5 minutes tops before they were all gone. A few kids didn't even get to throw any as they didn't get over to our house soon enough. That didn't stop the kids though, they just took to filling up the buckets and soda bottles with water to pour on each other. The wagon was used to transport the water buckets to the next person to be doused. All the kids had a blast and I enjoyed watching it. We love our new neighborhood and all the friends on the block. We've already bought a few more packages of balloons from the dollar store and are going to get some other moms to help fill the balloons so this time all the kids will have some to throw and be able to have fun keeping cool in the heat.

Back to School!

The kids were excited to head back to school. Lawrence is now in 3rd grade and Azaria is now in 1st grade. They were so enthusiastic to get going the first day they were up by 6 am when school doesn't even start till 9 am. Lots of kids from their old school moved to this school when it opened last year so Lawrence now has two of his best from first grade in his class this year again. Azaria has a few girls from church in her class so she already knew some people. Their teachers have both told us how well behaved in class they are. I'm glad they save any bad behavior for me at home :)

Azaria had such a great day last week the that the stuffed monkey in their class named Marley came home to tell us all about it. If Marley comes home with your child though he likes to be read a bed time story and you have to do something fun with him also and write about it in his journal. Zari decided since he is a monkey he would like to play at the park so off we went to monkey around with Marley.

Alan's New Job

I started my new job this week with Perkinson Reprographics in Phoenix. I will be still working wth KIP, HP and Canon printers. Now I will also be working with OCE printers and a few new software packages for job tracking and billing. Also I will be taking the roll of Manager in the future. I am very excited to be working for a larger company that is growing. The very best part of this job is that I will not be driving all over Arizona to support customers. There are only three customers out of the Phoenix Metro area. Closer to home is always good.

Back into his Arms

Three weeks ago at my appointment with my midwife she was unable to pick up any fetal heart tones. We were sent in for an ultrasound the next day and found out that at 20 weeks our baby Dallin was gone and no longer had a heartbeat. The news was devastating as we really thought he was a keeper once we had passed 16 weeks which is when we lost our little Everett last year. We decided we wanted to wait and let things happen on there own. He was born at home last night at 22 weeks. We found he had gotten tangled in his umbilical cord which was wrapped tightly around his neck three times. Though small he was so perfect and I was amazed by his tiny features. While we are so sad that we won't get to keep him here with us I'm thankful for the short time I got to have him. I can't wait for the day when I will see him again and wrap my arms around him. Till then I will take comfort in the fact that he is home again.

"He never takes away except to give us back something better. It means we must be brave enough and determined enough to wait...because it often takes Him time to turn a painful situation to good. We can embrace our pain and not resent it because blessing is coming." ~~Ann Anderson

The Girls Love to Dance!





Alan and Azaria are all dressed up for the Daddy Daughter Dance that the school holds every year near Valentines day. She was so excited to go to a dance all by herself with Daddy. She told Alan he needed to wear his handsome clothes that he wears to church. Kids sure can boost your ego :) Of course once they got there Alan said Zari didn't really want to dance though he managed to get her to dance once with him. She still had fun though and wants to go again next year. Alan enjoyed talking with all the other Dad's who's daughters weren't so interested in dancing either.

To the left Laurel and Azaria enjoyed spinning around and dancing together. Though I think Laurel did more tumbling to the ground then dancing as she gets a bit crazy. Azaria was having fun making her twirly dress spin around.

Lawrence Loves to Build


Lawrence keeps busy to with one of favorite pastimes Lego! Here he is with his friend Matthew working on more Lego creations. He loved all the new Indiana Jones Legos and since he doesn't have any of those sets he took to creating his own. He now has a whole Indian Jones creation. There is a jungle, temple, air planes, and more. I love to see all creative things he comes up with.

Larels New hairstyle

Not sure if everyone has heard yet but Laurel decided to give herself a hair cut last week. Amber took her to a hair stylist and the pictures below are the aftermath of the hair cut. Atleast she is young and the hair will grow back. And she is so cute it will make up for the mullet!!!!





















She is sad that she cannot have a pony tail anymore but we are sure she will not cut her own hair again.