one last thing

We were at the mall yesterday and had some fun in a photo booth! It was a little different than the old days with 8 kids and waiting for Jappy to stop the screaming so we could do it... only to have 2 more kids cry as soon as he stopped. But they still turned out pretty amusing. Please love that I look like Shrek in a couple of these..not my best angle. (holy nostril!). I'm gonna miss these girls. (and their cute kids!)

i survived

I get to see this hOT person sitting with my babies, my baby daddy...in less than 2 days! It's been almost 4 weeks and I'm dying for some Steven!

Bastien, you're my favorite..shhh dont tell anyone.

(Steven always says this to Bastien...and Embry & Jasper)

My friend Nicole caught this cute picture of Bastien being a little scared of some tubes in a playplace we were at. I love his face. Bastien & I have had sort of a challenging year with behavior. This is my first time dealing with my own 4 year old and you know what..lately I'm realizing just that. He is four. I need to have 4 year old expectations from him & not any more. I was talking to a friend the other day about needing to step outside of yourself alot to realize what you have. And I've been feeling like, intense love spurts for Bastien lately. How lucky am I that Heavenly Father trusted me with him? Sometimes he does this thing where he walks around talking in a really sarcastic tone (where on earth would he have picked that up, i know)and one time I asked him to speak nicely to his brothers and he said "But I thought you love it when I'm funny?" It was so cute and I thought of how much this kid loves to be loved. And that is the main thing I want Bastien to always know throughout his life, is that I love him SO much! He's such a fun kid & I'm so thankful I get to be his mommy. (obviously I feel this way about my other 2 but this one's just for Bastien:)

Lana's 5th birthday

Leilana & Bastien are 6 weeks apart. I cant believe they're already 5 (& almost 5)

I loved the rainbow cake Mary made.

Embry giving baby Zaac some snuggles

Mary really outdid herself with the inside of the cake!

steven is 27

It was Steven's 27th birthday on April 26th and I am a little late with this, obviously. It's so weird that we've been together since he was 17. When I see pictures of him at that age, he is a different person. He's "youth conference/i had a crushon/dating" Steven. I'm so glad I married Steven. Sure, by marrying my high school sweetheart a year after high school graduation I know I missed out on the whole fun college experience (and so did he!), but everytime I think about it. I choose the same path. I would never change a thing. Steven is the best. I think I got a little TOO lucky, actually. He always makes me feel funnier than I am and never fails with the compliments. I love his ability to say the most absurd thing with a straight face. I love that he doesnt mind that I tune out alot of his nonsense talk, I miss that background noise Steven! I need it. (except for when I'm watching LOST!:) I miss hearing him rap Eminem from the shower. I miss his loud, body jolting laugh. I think I take him for granted alot of the time, and I'm realizing this more being away from him.(Its only been a week?!) I love you suumpp! It'll be weird when you're 37 & i'm still 26.

rediscovered book

When I was packing I found my (really) worn out copy of this book that I read back in 2002. I remember carrying it around with me everywhere at New Vision (where I worked) and people teasing me that I was reading the Bible. (It's like 800 pages and it was a hardbound copy) As I was remembering parts in this book today,I looked down at my arms and I had major goosebumps. That must mean its a pretty dang amazing book, right? Instead of packing it, I took it out of the box it's been in for years and I want to read it again. I never really felt connected to our Pioneers until reading this. You will love the characters so much and cry through most of it..its one of those books that needs to be read.

home again home again

Well, I packed & moved my little self (wishitweretrue) out of my apartment in 4 days. I did it all by myself, too! "I'm a strong independant woman" (well not really. my mom watched my kids and my dad's workers moved all the big stuff) But it was weird not being able to rely on Steven for things I usually leave to him. Like taking the bed apart. I dont ever pay attention to those things because Steven gets them done. So instead of realizing there are metal slots the boards can just slide out of, I thought everything had to be unscrewed and sat there for an hour trying to unscrew them resulting in stripping the screws, I drove back to my moms to get a drill to get those stubborn things out. Only to drive up and have my dad's employee tell me he just slid it out of the brackety thing. What would I do without Steven? Well, things like that I guess. It was almost empowering.My friend told me a quote "5 minutes of organization saves you an hour of frustration" well it can be applied to me like this "5 minutes of using your brain can save you an hour of ..whatever!" Anyways, I am here at my parents house for only 3 weeks before I go join Steven (who left a week ago) in Oklahoma City. I have mixed feelings right now. I think any other time in my life I would be so insanely excited to get the h out of AZ for the summer. But I've made amazing friends here these past few months. And Amy leaves for Hawaii in July and I wont see her for 3 years! Paka will be 7, Averie will be almost 5? and there will be many other baby Owan geniuses out there I wont know yet! Nicole has come up with a way cool idea for us to stay connected during the summer and so on. It's the biggest idea since lightbulbs really, just you wait and see. I am sad to not stay until Amy & Nicole leave in July. I hope your pool days are lame when I leave, okay?.. and girls nights are empty. just kidding. (...and it's contaaaaaaaaagious! wow, i really gotta go to bed) can you tell this is late night blogging?

lets hear it for the boy

We did an 80's dance party for the kids, which was really just an excuse for us to dress up. It was fun to think of ideas for the boys, ( although bastien looks like he's in pain here) I thrift shopped all week. Ana and Roy made me a sweet 80's mix which made the party! (if anyone know good 80's music, it's Roy)

My themes I went off of were the jets, breakfast club, with Bastien all I needed was penny loafers with no socks and it would've completed my yuppie-type look. I dont know.. I was only ages 0-7 in the 80's so I was trying to remember the right looks.

Jasper is John Bender from Breakfast Club! (missing the black glove, trenchcoat, scarf and diamond earring of course)

I found this shirt for a dollar.

(It's mesh! just like my ken doll's shirt when I was little. It might just become apart of his regular wardrobe)

Averie was too cute as an 80's baby with her holey tights.

nicole used her crimper that she still has from when she was 12. and gunnar is wearing his dad's jersey from when he was little.

a whole lotta

For Mary's baby blessing we managed to finally get a decent family picture!

...this was 17 years ago!

We walked around the fair at the mall and the boys mostly just did this:

Jasper climbed on a Tonka truck and slipped off and cut his lip wide open. This is after the sutures, it looks way smaller after being sewn up. It was sad seeing his little feet squirming and that scared little face when they had to strap him down,but the doctor was so gentle with how much he was screaming and moving his head. It was also amazing how happy Jasper became as soon as the doc gave him a sucker!

Embry was a good sport about Japs only having a sucker.

I took this picture a while ago, but the babies are funny how they bring their pillow and blanket everywhere I am. Right here I was cooking dinner with Jasper and his bed at my feet.

Back in January we took the kids to Jeepers and they played there all day, like literally. We wanted our moneys worth, I guess... cause we were there from 10am-4pm.

Embry was being hilarious on the spinny ride and was adding another head spin on top of the other 2 spins that were happening, then a few others started copying him. Here's a little video, you can kindof see.

Every Wednesday we get together with friends in our apartment/ward and BBQ.

It's almost been a year since we've started going to them. (except for hot summer months)Another couple that has moved out because of Med School invited us to these last April. I remember seeing people at the park every Wednesday after getting invited and kind've avoiding it! It's funny because if I didnt start going to them, I dont think I would've made such good friends here...so thank you Wed night BBQ's!

top o' the mornin to ya

Last Thursday we had a St. Patrick's Day party for the kids. We had them follow a leprachaun's tracks to a pot of gold. And had a pinata made out of a box of lucky charms. (when I told this to Amy she thought the actual cereal was going to be in the box. Wouldnt that be so messed up?

So, yes. There was candy in it!)

Leprachauns like gold, to play tricks..and have paint on the bottom of their tiny little green feet.

enjoying Amy's hard work

my sneaky little leprachauns

embry and his betrothed (well, if she's interested:)

so cute in all their green