Adda-Wyn Bef

The girls and I left the boys at home and traveled to St. George to meet our newest family member - Addilyn Beth Thomas, or as Halle calls her 'Adda-wyn Bef Thomas'. She is as cute as a bug and the girls really enjoyed holding her and as always, entertaining Miss Halle. We even tried to convince Halle to let us take Addi home with us, but she seems to like her baby sister and wanted to keep her around. We enjoyed the baby, the 2 year old, the visit with Brenna, and especially the SUN! (We've had an especially rainy and damp spring!)

A Post A Day

I must confess that I have no really good excuses for my lack of blogging, so I will provide only a few that might gather some sympathy:
1. I am busy.
2. I lost my camera USB cord, therefore I have been unable to upload pics from the camera.
3. I am busy.
4. I was too lazy to take my camera SD card to Costco and make a CD, therefore allowing me to post any new pictures.
5. I am busy.
6. My computer hard drive is nearly full and I am afraid to upload any more pictures to the hard drive.
7. I am busy.
8. We are doing the same things that we do every summer and it seems a bit boring to repeatedly post about all the baseball, swimming, and kids fighting.
9. I am busy.
10. I am too lazy.

Yes, the last excuse is probably the best one and the most accurate. However, the others still hold some truth to them. I finally took my SD card into Costco today and uploaded over 800 pictures and video clips onto a CD - I still can't find my stupid USB cord to my camera. So, I will be playing catch up...going backwards. It will begin tomorrow with a post that belongs back in May. Hopefully, this will alleviate the guilt that I feel from taking a 3 month hiatus and my mom will stop asking me 'When are you going to update the blog?'...so, mom, here you go!!

Whining, Whining, and More Whining

Life is crazy around here - still babysitting all day, M-F. Still going to school M-Th. Still RS President. Still chauffeuring 3 kids around to practices, games and concerts. Dare I say that I am looking forward to school being out so I can eliminate a few trips to the school and a few hours a week on projects, homework and packing lunches???

I have not snapped a picture in a couple of months, in fact, Natalie had her Mom's Day Kindergarten program last week and I almost burst into tears because I forgot the camera! I was having one of those "my baby is growing up" weeks and forgetting to document that she had actually attended Kindergarten just about sent me over the edge. It was just the night before that Nat had told me she was too big to sleep with a "B" (blanket) anymore (she has literally slept with a certain type of blanket EVERY night since she was an infant!) - I was exhausted and I nearly cried myself to sleep because she made that proclamation....It could have been hormones, or it could have been the exhaustion. Never the less, this growing up business has been stressful on me.

I'm certain that everyone is tired of hearing how stressed out I am, how my house is falling apart, and my life is crazy. So instead of rattling on about it some more, enjoy this tid-bit of truthfulness:

The Difference Between Men and Women...

NICKNAMES

� If Laura, Kate and Sarah go out for lunch,

they will call each other Laura, Kate and Sarah.

� If Mike, Dave and John go out, they will affectionately

refer to each other as Fat Boy, Bubba and Wildman .

EATING OUT

� When the bill arrives, Mike, Dave and John will each

throw in $20, even though it's only for $32.50.

None of them will have anything smaller and none will

actually admit they want change back.

� When the girls get their bill, out come the pocket calculators.

MONEY

� A man will pay $2 for a $1 item he needs.

� A woman will pay $1 for a $2 item that she doesn't

need but it's on sale.

BATHROOMS

� A man has six items in his bathroom: toothbrush and toothpaste,

shaving cream, razor, a bar of soap, and a towel.

� The average number of items in the typical woman's bathroom is 337.

A man would not be able to identify more than 20 of these items.

ARGUMENTS

� A woman has the last word in any argument.

� Anything a man says after that is the beginning of a new argument.

FUTURE

� A woman worries about the future until she gets a husband.

� A man never worries about the future until he gets a wife.

SUCCESS

� A successful man is one who makes more money than his wife can spend.

� A successful woman is one who can find such a man.

MARRIAGE

� A woman marries a man expecting he will change, but he doesn't.

� A man marries a woman expecting that she won't change, but she does.

DRESSING UP

� A woman will dress up to go shopping, water the plants, empty the trash,

answer the phone, read a book, and get the mail.

� A man will dress up for weddings and funerals.

NATURAL

� Men wake up as good-looking as they went to bed.

� Women somehow deteriorate during the night.

OFFSPRING

� Ah, children. A woman knows all about her children.

She knows about dentist appointments and romances,

best friends, favorite foods, secret fears and hopes and dreams.

� A man is vaguely aware of some short people living in the house.

15 and counting...

Fifteen years ago, you and I were married in the Las Vegas LDS temple. I wasn't the least bit nervous or worried...I knew that you and I were meant to be together for eternity. Today, I'm just as sure. You've given me 15 years of a life full of happy memories, four great kids, with a few heartaches and tears along the way. It's been an exciting ride and I look forward to many, many more years. Happy Anniversary!

We're Not Dead...Just Busy.

We haven't disappeared - I promise. We've been busy. Really busy. I've not even taken that many pictures, so if you want to back out from reading now, here's your chance...

Kim is still really liking his job with ValPak. He's feeling like things are improving for him (and his clients and the economy) and we're hoping and praying for a better year than last. He's been umpiring at night and coaching a couple of Jake's baseball teams. He'd like to fit in golf, but if he wants to stay married, he's advised to work, coach, and help his wife keep her brain intact.
Abby is busy at school - she's had quite the struggle with math this year (can't say I blame her...) and so we're constantly checking on her work, making her re-do tests and assignments and nagging her about keeping her grades up. She's got lots of friends and assures me on a weekly basis that SHE IS THE ONLY ONE IN THE WORLD WITHOUT A CELL PHONE! Not sure about that one...
Jake has finished up basketball and is into baseball - I mean he EATS, DRINKS, AND BREATHES baseball. He had a tournament in St. George last month and my parents came to a few games. They saw him hit his first home run of the year! Since then, he's had games, practices, and more games. This last week, during spring break, he played in 16 games!! The girls and I went to SG to see my sister and I came home to a laundry room full of STINKY boy socks and filthy baseball pants! He hit two more home runs during the week (and I missed them both!)
Emily is busy at school and with friends. She finished up her basketball season and is awaiting her softball season to start. We ?think? she's a tomboy one day, and the next she's bawling over clothes and hair. Not sure what to think about this girl....
Natalie is busy at school (for at least half the day) and still keeping me on my toes. She recently told me she has a crush on a boy named Carson in her class....and that she's in love with Justin Beiber. Ugh! The result of having a 13 year old older sister, I'm sure. She is really picking up on reading and is always writing me notes - just this morning she wrote out a menu for breakfast: crel (cereal) and otmel (oatmeal).
I am perhaps the busiest of them all: My day starts at 6:30 sharp (okay, I do usually hit the snooze button a couple of times). Make lunches, rouse the kids, read scriptures (we're almost done with the BOM!), breakfast, rides to school. Home for 1/2 an hour, then two neighbor kids arrive. I'm babysitting them until the end of May - they are good kids and the pay has been nice to have. Then soon it's off to take one to preschool, pick up Nat, pick up the pre-schooler, lunch, homework, and soon thereafter the other 3 rugrats get home. Then it's off to games or practice, homework, dinner, and then comes my favorite time of day...BEDTIME! Squeeze in housework, church calling, scrubbing of dirty baseball pants (I swear, I'll be doing it for the next 6 years, at least) and several projects that should have been done WAY before now (painting the bathroom, quilting projects that are half done and yard projects). Add into all of this mess that I am starting a CNA course this next week in the evenings - it's M-TH from 5-9 pm. Hopefully, it will allow me to get a part-time job and at least be able to have decent benefits for our family.
We're (I) am busy, exhausted, and all around ornery. I don't expect it to change anytime soon. We're just trying to enjoy the short moments in the day when there's a little peace and quiet and hope that at some point, life will slow down a little.

A First

What is the deal with men and their need to kill something?? As a woman, I just don't get it. Recently, Kim's brother Roy was here visiting. They wanted to shoot something. They left early in the morning. They came home late at night. They were covered in mud. They were partially frozen. They shot 12 pheasants. They knew better than to bring home the dead birds. So, here on our family blog, we are documenting Jake's first kill. Doesn't he look proud??

Me, Ree, Februa-ree.

Hiatus. I've been on one. I've not had much to blog about and frankly, just haven't been in the mood to be all cheery and happy about the month of January. Let's face it...January is boring and depressing. Gray skies, smog, ice, and snow. No more holiday cheer, all the organizing, starting taxes, the bills from Christmas arrive. And, to top it all off, it's so cold outside that all I've wanted to do is curl up in a warm blanket and read. Ahhhh, lovely dream....
February has begun a little better than last month. We've had slightly warmer weather (today is 60 degrees!) with a few actual sun-shiny days. The smog has cleared out and we've had plenty of Jimmer to watch on TV. I've had a few people talk me into an attitude adjustment, making me remember that I am blessed in so many ways.
A few days ago, I was perusing The Pioneer Woman's blog...If you remember, I am slightly obsessed with her blog and have cooked just about everything in her cookbook. I noticed on the blog that she is currently on a book tour and was making a stop in SLC! I was thrilled to snag tickets to the signing and my friend Vickie and I drove up to see her. We, along with a few hundred other obsessers, waited in line for our turn for a chat with Ree and an autograph in our well used cookbooks. Ree was all I imagined...sweet, kind, friendly and amazingly skinny. How is this possible? I mean the woman cooks with pounds of butter! My friend Vickie asked her what her secret was and we were relieved to learn that it's Spanx. Made me feel a little better...We posed for a picture for our posterity and made our merry way back to real life.

Me and My Gal Pal, Ree

Today is Valentines Day. I am thankful for all the Valentines in my life...especially this guy. A little over 16 years ago, we'd just had our first and second dates. I wondered if he might be my Valentine forever? Not too long after, I managed to talk him into it. Best thing I ever did.

Doesn't he look thrilled to Be My Valentine??