Vivian and Bob Mirabal are friends that I haven't seen in 17 years and because of Facebook I have reconnected with recently. I LOVE FB! She was baptized in Alamogordo, NM on August 16, 1992 while I was serving as a missionary there. They came all the way from San Antonio, Texas to see me for a few days. Lucky me! :-)

This is Vivian and me. Why do I always wait until the day that someone is leaving to take pictures?!?! Hopefully she will send me some of the ones she took while she was here with hers (hint, hint).

At the end of February I flew out for a quick visit to North Carolina. Thanks to my awesome husband and friends (Dave and Susie) for making it possible.

I was pleasantly suprised when I pulled up to Nate and Amy's house to see Connor and Caylyn running toward me with huge smiles and big hugs....it MADE MY DAY. They had a 2 hour delay going to school that morning because of snow...LOL...yeah, right. There was no snow on the ground. NC makes me laugh with it's "snow days".

Rachael and I went to Pilot Mountain for a morning hike. It was pretty cold and the trail we wanted to go on was closed due to clean up that needed to be done after a recent wind storm but we had a nice little hike on "Sassafras" trail....love that name:-).

The trail was actually only .5 miles but I thought it would be more impressive to cover up the "point". It was fun to be with my little sister/best friend again.

The girls all got togther and went to Ruby Tuesday's for lunch. From left to right; Me, Amy, Fletcher (who was starving...poor guy), Rachael, Jocelyn and Jane. I miss not being closer to everyone.

I accidently posted this picture twice and don't know how to erase it...sorry. I guess I just love my neice and nephew.

Looking forward to going back again soon. Love you all!

Sharing the love...

The girls each have their own room but lately Meagan has been sleeping with Jenna and Jenna hasn't minded at all. I love watching them. They have a very sweet relationship. They are truely best friends. I had to snap this photo of them sharing Meagan's i-pod as they fell asleep.

There are many times in my life when I wonder if I am doing anything right as a mom. Then, your kids suprise you with some comment and you know that you must be doing something right. This was one of those times...looking on the dry erase board and seeing this made my day! I have very forgiving kids who teach me as much as I hope I am teaching them.

For Valentine's day I suprised the kids and Dave with a special breakfast and dinner dessert (Dave fixed dinner:-)). On the menu for breakfast; pink, heart-shaped pancakes, honey buns, sausage and chocolate milk. It was so fun for me to put this together. I couldn't wait for them to wake up and see the table and open up their gift bags. They had so much fun. They wouldn't stop saying "thank you". I am blessed to have kids who recognize when I go the extra mile.

This is Berries on a Cloud. This is a tradition that has not happened in our home for about 3 years because every year I have forgotten that it takes 15 hours from start to finish and then it is too late to make (if you wait to the day of). It nearly didn't happen this year but I woke up at 4 am, remembered, jumped out of bed and went to make it so they would have it for dinner that night.

As you can see from the very happy faces...it was well worth it! I love my family!!!!!!!!!!!!

Making blankets, cooking and toothfairy

This is such a cute letter from Jenna to the Toothfairy. It accidently got thrown away when the table was cleared off that night so I told her to write a letter to the toothfairy explaining what happen and that she would understand. I just had to share it on here:-).

Meagan and Jenna LOVE to help out Mom in the kitchen and, most of the time, mom doesn't mind at all. They really enjoy cooking so for Christmas, Santa gave them each this apron and chef's hat in their stockings (gotta love the dollar store;-)).

SO, as some of you know our family theme (if you will) for this year is service. For family night we had Aunt Marge up and we ALL made blankets to give to Primary Childrens Hospital. With all the team work we got 8 made in 2 hours!

Jenna and Mom...

Tyler and Ryan...

Chase, Jenna and Meagan....

Aunt Marge and yes, even Dad:-) They all picked out their own fleece and they really felt accomplished at the end!

We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo. How 'bout you, you, you?

We seem to go downtown alot...I guess whenever visitors come to see us they want to see downtown. Anyway, we went while Mom and Dad Schell were visiting from North Carolina during the Christmas season.

We had fun torturing Gamma while she was here. Here we are putting peanut butter on her face and calling our dog, Bella, over to lick it off. She gave a good fight but she's not as strong as she used to be:-).

We always go to the zoo while Gamma and Poppop come visit. Here are Chase and Tyler standing under the ridge of the roof waiting for the snow to melt down and fall off onto them.

Playing on the snow filled playground.

I can't tell what this was a statue of but the kids love to pose every chance they get.

The kids loved watching the new baby elephant. She was kicking a ball around while we were there.

This big statue was added about 4 or 5 years ago and the kids love to stop and play on it. In the summer it squirts out water and makes noises.

Sledding (and ice skating) in a winter wonderland!

"The Hill"- found a great place to go sledding!

Tyler going down for the first time.

Just before Dave biffed it:-)

Chase-this boy is the most fun to watch. He really enjoys life and sure lights up mine!

Pure joy!

Ryan going down for probably the hundreth time....

Where does he find the energy???

The girls had a frighted look on their faces nearly every time they went down but they would always jump off and scream, "I want to go again!"

Top of the hill...Jenna is stepping outside her comfort zone by going down by herself. Way to go Jenna!

Love the reflection of Jenna in Dave's glasses. We'll call this one "the apple of Dad's eye".

This is the story; girls want to go down with mom one more time, we need help getting start down, Chase so kindly volunteers, right as we get going-Chase decides he wants to join us. Now, if you could see our faces close up you'd be cracking up. Mine is saying, "OH NO!" and Chase's is saying, "OH YEAH!" We all made it down safe and sound though. All's well that ends well:-).

We had so much fun that we are taking the kids again tomorrow since more snow is on the way.

December 29; I take the kids ice skating to a little outdoor rink here in South Jordan. It is so fun to see how much joy my kids get from small and simple things.

Jenna-my little princess.

Chase-unless this boy breaks a bone he never gives up or cries. He is one tough boy with a lot of sweet spirit.

Tyler's skates weren't comfortable so he wore his shoes and did what all big brothers do...terrorized his younger brothers (and sisters).

Meagan- I just want to kiss every little freckle of this girls nose just looking at this picture!

Group picture! Poppop went with us too!

I was very impressed that a 68 year old man woul attempt this. Way to go Dad!

After about 4 falls he decided enough was enough (which I was grateful for seein' how I didn't want to end up in the hospital).

Of coarse we brought penty of hot chocolate and everyone loved it as much as the skating. So did I...maybe that is why I am up at 4 am writing this blog.

The only thing missing from these moments/pictures are all our cousins. We wish that you were here. We hope you are having a great Christmas too and send out love and hugs!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Happy 11th birthday, Ryan!

2 months old...

first time on knee board at Lake Powell; 2 1/2 years old...

4 years old...

first day of school at 5 years old...

My Ry guy at 11 yrs old. Happy birthday! Ryan is a very kind hearted, grounded, full of energy and love boy. He is very tender hearted and has a very strong spirit. Thank you for making my life more enjoyable, Ryan! I love you past the moon and back!