Elementary Sluff Days

Thursday morning I woke up and thought "I don't want to be home alone today" Who better to spend the day with than Nikki and Conner. When they woke up I asked them if they wanted to have a sluff day with me! :) We called Scotty and he came home too. We all went to Sundance for the day. It was a blast! We really shouldn't have so much fun out of school because we are sending them the wrong message! :O Scotty even called in to the school and told the secretary the kids were sick, sick of school that is! We all got a huge laugh attack out of that. It was a great day and I'm going to let the little ones have a few more "sluff" days before it becomes too hard. Once they hit Jr High it's really hard to miss school. So sorry Sid and Austin!

Hard Emotional Week but THANKFUL

This week for personal reasons was one of the hardest weeks I've faced. A few days this week I just wanted to hide away in my room, with my covers over my head and cry. I proved to myself I'm stronger than that. I have a great husband, family, friends and soooooo much to be thankful for. We have been living a life I used to dream of as a girl and I am so blessed and lucky to have the family I have. We had adult Stake Conference last night and I really am so happy we went. I love President Facer and President Hughes. The messages they gave last night were things I really needed to hear. Thank You for the gospel and my Father in Heaven who know how much we can endure and let's us endure it to show us WE ARE STRONG!

Back to School for Mom

Now that my baby Conner is in school all day I decided I would try out school again. I was in nursing school when I got pregnant with Jess and we decided we would work hard to get Scott through school first. I always thought I would go back to school earlier but got busy being a SAHM. I LOVE being a stay at home Mom and wouldn't change a thing. Now that my kids don't need me as much physically I decided to take two classes online and try it out. I also started a BOM class on campus. I keep missing it though. I don't think at this time in life I am ready to be on campus but the online classes are really fun.

Sidney Can Dance

Sidney just competed in Canyon View Jr. High "So you think we can dance" competition. She won the whole competition. It was so fun to see her perform in front of a filled auditorium of her peers and rock it! She showed so much confidence on stage. I was so proud and happy for her. Sidney has a sparkle about her that makes everyone happy around her and I love it! We celebrated the win with our favorite treat...."McDonalds hot fudge sundaes."

Jacuzzi Sundays

Almost every winter Sunday night our family gets in the Jacuzzi together. We talk and laugh and relax from a week of activities. It is becoming one of my favorite times of the week. When we have fresh snow we play truth or dare. Which I want no part of because it involves getting out of the Jacuzzi and running around in the snow or making a snow angel in your swim suit....Brrrrrr! I always say truth. A few weeks ago Sidney asked me my truth question " Mom, have you ever cheated on Dad?" Only my Sidney in the Jacuzzi with the whole family would ask such an inappropriate question. We all died laughing and luckily I could truthfully answer. "NO"

Our family night services

One of our New Years goals is to do more acts of service this next year for family night. I feel now that my kids are older we are really able to help and get a lot accomplished. This week we made blankets for project Linus. They were the same blankets we made last year for Austins Eagle project so it was pretty simple. We are also going to earn our free day at Disneyland for finishing them so it was actually a service with a great reward.

We are making Humanitarian Kits tonight for the people in Haiti. I was just going to donate some money but realized buying the supplies and having my children put these together would mean so much more to them. I spent $60 to make 10 humantarian kits.

Smart Shopping

I have been coupon shopping for years now but this year we really need the savings. My shopping trip a few days ago for 21.32 was one of my best. The kids were even excited when I showed them all the food.
4 gallons of milk
2 half gallons chocolate milk
5 capri suns
4 loaves wheat bread
2 jars of tostita salsa
2 bags of tostidos
1 jar rasberry jam
8 bags of nabisco cookies
1 gallon orange juice
2 50 count Dixie plates
2 toaster pastries
5 easy mac
2 pringles

You can see why my kids were so excited. It is all high processed bad for you food but heck I feed a million teenager at my home and they love this stuff! I don't recieve the newspaper this is all done with rebates, online coupons and shopping the sales.

Temple Time

Last night we took Austin and Sidney to the temple with us to babtize their great grandparents and Scott grandparents Andy and Velma. It was really neat! We had to wait a long time but the kids said they didn't mind. We all loved grandpa and greandpa.

Austin's Birthday and Sadie's

Austin turned 17 this past month and he was not happy about it! Austin is involved in soooo many different things it is hard to keep up with this boy. He is the most chill never in a hurry kid you will ever meet yet seems to get more done than almost anyone I know. This past year he has taken up piano and guitar lessons again. He also plays the Bass and electric guitars. He plays basketball with the priests and his Jr. Jazz team, he snowboards with his buddies, gets great grades and still finds time to play with his little brothers and sisters. He took Nikki and Sidney snowboarding yesterday and they loved it! He has the same group of 10 friends he has had since he was little and it is so fun to see them grow up. He also had fun at his Sadie Hawkins dance the Friday night before his birthday. On his birthday the boys all sluffed the second half of school and went snowboarding again. We tagged along with the Wilkeys!

GOODBYE TO 2010!

Goodbye and Good Riddins.... I know you have to go through struggles to make the good times great but I am really ready to be rid of 2009! I am usually a pretty positive person but looking back it is really hard to see too many things to love about the 2009's! It should be easy for the 2010's to be better than ever! New Years day I felt a huge feeling of relief and joy. It is funny how just knowing it was a new year has made a huge difference in my attitude. I am feeling good. I am so thankful to my friends. family and especially my Heavenly Father who have helped lift me up many times when I have been down this past year! I am so grateful for new days, weeks, months and years. Always a fresh start and I feel Heavenly Father planned it that way so we could always know that no matter what we go through we can start again fresh and move on. So here's to new beginnings and a better than ever new year!!

Vegas at Christmas Time

Grandma Snowden was so sweet and booked us a few nights in her condo in Vegas with her Worldmard points. We had so much fun. We swam, played games, wathched movies and just spent a lot of quality time together as a family. I will say that Vegas in the winter is not as warm as I thought. The pools were super heated but I only swam once. Conner was an animal though...he loved the pools.

Christmas Day!

Christmas this year was really a hard day for me but so fun for all the kids as usual. We have been really struggling with the economy and construction. Not a lot of money but we still made Christmas great for the kids. Scott and I gave each other a picture of a mountain bike ( we hope to buy sometime after we pay for Jessi's wedding)! The hard part for me was being without Jess and not really having her a part of our family anymore. She only came down for 2 hours on Christmas morning to open her presents and then left. In fact that is all we saw of her all of Christmas Break. We all miss her but she is spreading her wings and doesn't need her family right now. Her Mommy just needs to come to better terms with it. It has been a really hard year for me dealing with the fact that we have lost her for awhile. After Jess left the entire Snowden clan showed up two hours early for dinner and that was a little stressful for me too. I like to have everything ready and clean when we have guest over and we were in a mess with dinner barely started. It turned out to be really fun though. Everyone pitched in and we all had a blast just hanging out!

The Days before Christmas

We were so busy the week of Christmas. All of it was a blast! Monday night we went to see the lights at Thanksgiving Point. We usually go to the Festival of Lights in Mapleton with the Schramm family but Nikki and Conner had the stomach flu so we just drove through as a family. I must say the Mapleton ones are far better. We had the Stalker family Christmas party on Wed. and then on Christmas Eve we stayed home as a family. Us girls cooked all night and the boys played video games. We opened our secret people presents and then Santa ( aka grandpa Ron) came over for a visit. This year we all piled into our bed and watched "The Nativity" It was about an hour long but my kids really liked it. It really helped bring the true meaning of the day to our family. Scott and I have this Santa thing figured out. We were actually in bed by 1:00 am this year! :)

Volunteering in school!

I have been a member of Windsor PTA for the past 14 years. 3 of them as the PTA president. All the other years I have done various jobs. This year I am treasurer for Windsor PTA and Timpanogos High School PTA. I love it and love getting to know the people who work and serve my kids every day. This past Christmas I had a party with Conner from 8:30- 10:30, Conner wanted me to wear my p.js's because we were going on the polar express. I was then helping at Nikkis party from 10:45-11:45 but Nikki told me I could not wear my pajamas to her party! I had to run home and make a quick change. These are my before and after photos!

Festival of Trees

Every year since Jess was a baby we have attended the Primary Childrens Festival of Trees! I love this event! It is at the start of the Christmas season and all the proceeds go to Primary Childrens! This year we met my awesome sister in law Tiffany and her kids there. My kids really had fun with all their little cousins and took great care of them. Here are a few of our favorite pics.

Christmas Service

I love the feeling of love and giving we get at the Holiday Season! I am big on service but really want my family to grow a deep love for helping others and to know how important it is to give of ourselves. Every year we pick Angels off the angel tree and the kids donate their own hard earned money to give Christmas to others. This Christmas we also went and wrapped presents for Habitat for Humanity on Christmas Eve. One of my big mothering goals is for more of our family nights to be centered around service. We are starting out January with making blankets for Primary Childrens and then we are helping to build a home with Habitat for Humanity later this month. If you go to the Disneyland website you can sign up for a day of service and receive a free day at Disneyland.