Sundays

Oh how I enjoy my Sundays!  It’s a break from running around.  It’s a rejuvenation to my spirit.  It’s the day of rest that my body needs.

We go to church.  There is always something there for me, that lifts and inspires me.  Sometimes it’s help to an answer or problem that I have been having.  The spiritual uplift I get is energy to my soul.  I don’t know how many times we have been driving home as I’m thinking to myself how much I needed those meetings. 

Treats are always made Sunday afternoons.  Sometimes Stephen bakes cookies and other times the big girls make a treat for us.  Sometimes we take them over to others.  Sometimes we eat every last crumb!

We usually go for a walk in the afternoon or play a game as a family.  The games usually bring laughter.  You would think that Chronology wouldn’t even bring a smile, but when you play with these guys, you can’t help but laugh at their view of history.

The girls write letters and write in their journals.  I love when they share their entries with me and hear what their versions of various events are.

Rebecca’s above letter is SO girl, with each paragraph being a different color with her gel pens. :)

At any rate, we are so thankful to have Sundays mixed into our week!

My Eagle Scout

 

He finished his project last Fall, and then went through the mountains of paper work.  In February they held his court of honor with a huge group of boys from our church.  It was fun to watch the slideshow of all of them together on camp outs when they were younger.  They have grown up together helping and pushing each other along the way.  So proud of all of them!

Grandpa Don flew in for the weekend.  My parents came up as well.  Grateful for all the support they give to my kids.  It always means so much when they are here for these events!

It was a huge court of honor with all of the family and friends there for everyone.

     

One boy down and one to go!

Random March

We went with the Wilcox girls to see Divergent on the ginormous screen.

Rebecca won the Dutch soccer tournament.  It’s like a tournament of everyone against everyone.  She won this fun Colorado t-shirt.

Team party for Rebecca where they made these cute colorful hair ties.

We brought home a big box of lemons from Arizona.  Ashley was our official juicer and freezer of the juice.  We all raved about the lemonade every time we made some with the frozen bags of juice.  It truly was delicious!

Artist Ash made this cute drawing of President Lincoln for our fridge.

Enjoyed snow days and catching flakes on tongues….

Stephen always makes a batch of cookies on Sundays.  IF you help then you get little bits of deliciousness before the rest of the family.  A sweet Sunday tradition that I don’t want to forget!

Recipes

I have tried three new recipes this week and we ALL liked ALL three!

The recipe is found HERE on Kristen Duke’s blog.  I served it over mashed potatoes and then had broiled asparagus and quartered strawberries for the two side dishes to go with the meal.  The flavors and colors were perfect!

We then tried our hand at the Symphony brownies.  SOOOO good!  The recipe for this one is everywhere.  It’s just a store bought brownie mix that you make.  Then you pour half in the pan and then set on symphony candy bars, and then pour the rest of the brownie batter over the top.  SOOO good!

The last recipe is from my cute friend Angie.  Oh how I miss her, and wish she still lived her!  We did a dinner group together that was awesome.

Anyway, this is a crockpot recipe.  After you make the chicken you can then serve it over rice and top with cilantro, tomatoes, olives, cheese, guac, you name it.  Such a simple recipe, but SO good!

HERE is that recipe.  I just noticed that there are over 170 comments on how people love this one.  I should have taken a picture of ours tonight.  We had them piled high with deliciousness!

Any favorite recipes from any of you?

He did it!

Remember my post HERE.

About -

Well, Jacob’s second high school meet this season he swam his personal best and got 59 seconds in the butterfly.

He was stoked.  I was stoked.  His coach was stoked.

He needs a :57  to qualify for State in the 5A division.  He’s SO close!

 

I’m off to hang goal papers all over my house for ME because apparently it works!  :)

100 Day

Jerrica was ecstatic to celebrate her 100th day of school.  She has seen older sisters do the various activities and couldn’t wait to do them herself.  Of course her shirt had to be identical to the one Ashley made.  She glued 100 jewels onto the shirt and counted them about a hundred times!

 

I think it’s cute when they have the kids dress up like they are 100 years old.  They did however have a 100 year old man come visit their class.  Jerrica was telling us at dinner that the man was blind.  She then told us that the class waved to him when he left and wondered why they waved when he couldn’t see them.  We all busted out at her little thought process of waving to a blind man. 

Let the BLOGGING Begin

I told Stephen that there is no way he could kill me without anyone noticing.  I have had SO many sweet emails, phone calls and messages wondering if I was OK.  Each and every one of them made me feel loved and missed.  I guess I haven’t really realized how much time has gone by since I last blogged.

I’m missing all of these memories flying by, AND SO I must get back into my nightly blogging routine before it is all forgotten.

I need to go back to where I left off in my picture folders, and that is our trip to Arizona.  We went last month on a little family getaway filled to the brim with extended family.  There is just something about cousins, sisters, aunts, uncles, grandmas, sister-in-laws …  People that you adore and people that adore YOU!

We had both sides of our families there.  We also had two of our grandmothers, which are greatgrandmas to our kids.

Part of the vacation included a soccer tournament down there.  This is what Kaylee’s morning game looked like …

ALL of these people taking time out of their day to cheer for a little twelve year old. Can you even imagine how much that meant to Kaylee?!?  Who doesn’t want a group of cheerleaders to cheer them on!  Especially a group like this that knows and loves her!

Grandpa Thompson, Lindsey, and her new month old baby were here too.  They are just sitting behind this big group.  SO grateful for each of these special people making my Kaylee feel special.  It only took an hour out of their day but will be remembered forever! 

This reminds me of the quote from Michael J Fox, “Family isn’t just an important thing, it’s Everything!”

Kaylee’s Birthday

My sweet girl turned THIRTEEN!  I can’t believe she is a teenager.

Kaylee is one of the kindest people I know.  Always reaching out to those who look sad or lonely.  Rebecca once said, “I just don’t get how Kaylee can be so nice to everyone!”

LOVE this girl!