We're finished!!!!!

So we finished the series and although I loved the entire book, the ending, all of it I am very sad since I know we will not be reading anymore of them. We have been reading these books since they came out waiting and waiting for each one to be published. At least we have a few more movies to look forward to watching although none of them will ever be as good as the books. The other night at young women's we were talking to the girls and I asked if anyone else was reading it. To my complete and utter shock no one else had read any of the books or seen any of the movies. I am not sure why I thought everyone was as big a Harry Potter fan as we are but I just thought everyone read the books, I mean why wouldn't you. So for those of you who have not read the books read read read. For those of you who have read the books and finished the last one let me know what you thought. Personally I loved loved loved it. We can't wait to read them all to our kids. Jared has already started. Ethan loves the books but the movies (he has only seen the first one) make him a little bit nervous he says, and Landon likes the movies, I think he is still a little to young to really understand the book.

This book is partly why it has been so long since a post has been made. We were on vacation, Jared couldn't put the book down, I listened to most of the book on CD's but the drive wasn't long enough so I had to finish it by reading, blah blah blah, I am sure you get the picture.

4th of July Fun (sort of)

So pretty much we did what everyone does on the 4th. We barbecued, swam, and then watched the fireworks show over by my parents house. Except for the few mishaps of the day. My sister my dad and I took all the kids to see Ratatouille in the morning. The kids were horrible, tanner my sisters little boy drank so much that he leaked through his diaper and peed all over my sister while sitting on her lap, I spent most of the time carting my kids up and down for bathroom trips and because they were crying or starting to throw themselves on the floor, we also had my sister's in law with us so my kids decided to play musical chairs and laps between them and the rest of us, and finally all of my kids for some reason took off their shoes. I have no idea why but the last few bathroom trips were made without shoes so I had to carry them and then have them stand on my feet since we are not Britney Spears and I personally find public restrooms disgusting and I can't stand to have my kids touching anything. Then when the movie was finally over we lined the kids up along the wall, waited for everyone to leave, and then my sister and I went looking for the shoes underneath seats, which was again disgusting. After the movie we went home and thought we will put the kids down for a nap, some of them didn't sleep. All this time Jared and my sister's husband Marc were looking at cars for us, they came home with nothing just in time to go see the transformer movie. That left my sister, my mom who was sick, and I to cook dinner and take care of the kids. So we start the BBQ at around 5 and come to find out we have no propane. So we wait 15 min. for my dad to come home and send him to get some ( he was not happy about that). Then we decided to start our homemade ice cream, and find my sister had forgotten to bring her rock salt, and my mom had no vanilla in her house anywhere. My mom usually keeps very little food in her house but we figured she would at least have a staple like vanilla. So time for someone else to make another trip which ended up being Marc ( I don't think he was happy about having to go either). So after all of that we had a good dinner, good swimming and fun with the fireworks. Pretty much every holiday we have together with my family ends up something like this. I guess we will always have some good stories right? Here are some pictures of the day!

A Wedding and Some Friends

So here are some pictures from one of the weddings we had in the last few weeks. My brother dustin got married June 28 in Phoenix. Yes I did say phoenix and yes it was very very hot. I know you are looking at this picture saying who took this picture and why in the world would I post it. Well since we stood outside the temple after the wedding while the temp was at least 114 we didn't take a lot of time to make sure everyones camera got the shot. Anyway, the person using my camera for the picture was not too quick. I have 3 picture like this. One where we first started walking up there to get ready, one while someone was pointing, and the other when we were all done and leaving which happens to be this one. Anyway here are a few other pics from it. Don't have to many since dustin and Rachel took a lot of pictures a week before the wedding at the crack of dawn when it is only about 100 degrees there. I also forgot to actually take pictures during the reception although I did remember to take a picture of the cake. Other than that the wedding was beautiful Rachel and Dustin are really happy and I am sure all of us are really glad the whole thing is over with.

My Parents w/Dustin and Rachel




















While we were in Phoenix we got to see some good friends of ours the Moores. We went to Cheesecake Factory one night and they had us try the Fried Macaroni and Cheese Balls. I know some of you are thinking the What? Let me just tell you that anyone visiting the Cheesecake Factory anytime soon needs to try them. They are so so good. Not very low in fat but well worth every single calorie. I am also mad at myself because I took my camera with me then and it sat in my purse the whole time. Not one picture of us with the moores. So here are pictures of the moores when we met up with them at disneyland this last feb. just so you can put a face with the name for those who don't them. Thanks again guys we had a great time!!

Car Buying Fiasco

So while I have lots of pictures and events that have happened in the last few weeks, I am choosing to make this post since if I don't make it here I will be making it to the editor of our newspaper. I am venting here instead of there so that I get anyone in serious trouble even though right now I think they deserve it. We have been looking to get a new car for a while now (8 mos or so). It takes Jared a significant amount of time to decided on these types of things as those of you who know him well know. We finally made our decision yesterday and after spending around 4 hours at the Ford dealer here going through all the numbers multiple times and them giving us numerous print outs of what payments and costs would be. We call ford told them we wanted the car and they said just give a us a 15 min heads up before you leave to come down and we can make this quick. So we loaded all the kids and took them down to the dealer. My first thought is that this is seeming too easy but since we spent the entire day before doing all the negotiating I figured that maybe this was the bonus. We were at the dealer for about 30 mins. Before they told us that they couldn't do the financing the way they told us they could the day before. We showed them the computer print out we had gotten from them, we called the salesperson who had gone through all the numbers with us. Since she was out of town she sent us to someone else but assured us they had all the info and would be able to take care of everything. Well the only thing they took care of was making me so mad I started crying and swearing I would never buy a ford from them ever in this lifetime. I know, I know like they care but saying it somehow makes me feel better. Anyway, now we start all over again and maybe when we are finally done with buying a car and dealing with the sub humans I call car dealers I may just have to take a nice vacation to avoid being committed to an institution.

a boy & his pillow, our ladies man, and other random things....

So I think I am going for a record here. I am posting this and my last post was on Sun. I guess that is what staying at home with pink eye will do for ya. Anyway, we have some new pictures of pretty much nothing exciting but I figured why not post them, I know at least the family will think they are something special.

So here is our sweet but ever so moody Landon and his beloved pillow. When he was almost a year old he started ripping the entire crib sheet off. It made me so so nervous so I took the sheet cut off a square and then let him have that. He called it is la la and continued to carry it with him and suck his fingers for a little while longer.

Then we decided that he needed to stop sucking his fingers so we took the la la away and put some nasty tasting stuff on his fingers. To no avail this did not work he just attached himself to any pillow he slept on. Here we are almost a year and a half later and as you can see he still loves his pillow (although instead of using any pillow near him, he now has to have this one) and he is still sucking his fingers. We have tried finger guards and taking away the pillow. He somehow finds a way to get the finger guards off leaving a sore on his hand where he would pry it off (which makes me feel bad) and he then finds some other pillow to take along with him. I have pretty much just decided that I am now just being lazy with it, hopefully he will out grow it since I don't think they allow pillows in kindergarten.

At one point or another this school year I think Ethan had said he would marry every girl in his class. I used to think he was just saying it to tease them, but after working in his class and seeing it for myself the girls liked him as much as he liked them. The following statement from Ethan was just one of the problems he encountered in his quest of marriage

" Mom do we have a map?"

Yes

"Well I need to look at it because I told Madison the only way I could marry her is if I could find her house on the map of California."

Well good luck on that quest Ethan. At least I know it would keep him busy for longer than 5 minutes.

I only put this picture in to remind myself that every once in awhile my kids really do like each other.

Landon and Mackenzie

Well, this is how jared found landon in our bedroom one day.

I am pretty sure it would take more postage than this to mail him somewhere.

Happy Fathers' Day!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!!!

So today is father's day and since I have not made a post in awhile, I figured today should give me a really good reason to. Since I didn't get jared a gift (we have all had pink eye) I thought I would just post some of the things we love about him.

I Love Jared because....

-he is the father of my children

-he is a hard worker

-after a long day of work and then helping with the kids and dinner, he will still rub my feet because he says my day was probably longer and harder than his

-he inspires me to do all the things I should do just by doing them

-he encourages me in everything I do

-he tells me I am a good cook even though we may have eaten nothing but cereal for the last three nights

-he truly helps me with the kids more than I give him credit for

-all the little things that sometimes frustrate me (contantly checking gas prices, taking forever to decide on a pair of shoes, researching prices then buying something then researching it again just to make sure he got the best deal ect, ect) really do make me laugh when I step back and think about them

-he will watch all of my chick shows (america's next top model, the bachelor, grey's anatomy) with me with few if any complaints

-he can make up bedtime stories for the kids as he is telling them

-he has taught me many many sometimes hard to swallow things about myself

-he is my best friend

-he has seen me at my worst(which can be pretty bad) and still loves me

-he loves the Lord, the gospel, and serves in all of his callings to the fullest extent

-he almost always lets me do things my way even if he would rather do it a different way

-he is the best father and husband the kids and I could have ever asked for

We LOVE DAD because......

ETHAN

-he takes me golfing

-he plays dun dun dudun dun with us

-he reads to me

LANDON

-he helps me look for my pillow

-he helps me get my pillow out of the washer

-he makes me lunch

(landon has a serious attachment issue with his pillow)

MACKENZIE (i couldn't totally understand what she was saying, but I know she love these things)

-singing with daddy

-helping him outside

-swimming with daddy

WE LOVE YOU! HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!