november.  2011

Oh, Thanksgiving was tremendously amazing.  Probably different than most people expect.  With Jarom traveling Mon-Fri., and us getting two days to spend time together, get family things done, and do our church callings/meetings on Sundays, we don’t have a lot of relax time together.

So our Thanksgiving was stress-free.  It was just our little family.  We had the best Thanksgiving feast for as far back as I can remember.  Everything turned out amazing, and best of all, I didn’t even make a dessert.  We bought the large gigantic chocolate cake from Costco, and a pumpkin pie from there too.  Only two pieces of the pumpkin pie were eaten, but as you can tell, the chocolate cake had been munched on for days, and we still had so much left. 

I am very grateful for so many things, but especially for the gospel in my life, a husband who works hard for us, but at the same time, wants to spend all his time when not at work with us.  I love these sweet and amazing children we have been given.  They teach me so much everyday, mostly how I need to be a better person through their example.  I’m grateful for the choices I have made, and hope to continue to make good choices.  Life is great!

 How the kids were before I made them pose for a picture…

 Then our posed Thanksgiving pic…

 The most heavenly, decadent, chocolate cake on earth!!!

Cute pic’s of the girls…

september. 2011

We have a Yukon XL. If you don’t know what that is, it’s one of the largest roadside vehicles that you can purchase in America. Has a large steel frame, can run over Geo Metro’s like their rocks.

So in September, on highway 285 in Georgia, 4 car lane, we are in the farthest to the left, and morning traffic starts to come to a sudden halt. We brake suddenly also, and then the next thing I know, we are hit from behind, and are sliding down the cement block separator. We got hit so hard, we had to have been pushed probably 100 ft. I remember gripping the steering wheel, and hollering to the kids, “It’s ok, hang on, we’re in an accident!” We were nailed up against the wall, the whole left side cheek to cheek. I can figure, the woman behind me in the Ford Explorer didn’t realize everyone was breaking, and hit us full force.

Luckily, no one died or was injured in the four car pile-up that she created. Unfortunately for me, after the cop asked what happened to the woman at the back who started this whole nightmare, he came to me, blamed me, said it was my fault, and gave me a ticket, and ONLY me. Hmmmmm. About 99% of car accidents are caused from the back car, and he walks up without looking at any evidence, and tickets me.

So we hired a lawyer, went to court, and got my license cleared of any points. But at the same time, I question the justice? Where are my tax dollars going? Well, none of us probably really want to know that, but this cop said he had been doing this so long, he could just tell what happened. Obviously, his senilility should require him to retire early, and even the judge said, “Oh, Doraville County, that explains it.”  Blimey, the cop didn’t even write down the right make and models of the vehicle, and his accident report was as though a 1st grader wrote the sentence explaining what happened. 

I’m most grateful that we were in our giant beast, and that none of my children were injured. So our morning prayers we say together before we drive anywhere were answered.

This is how our car looked right after the accident.  Nothing was touched or changed.

We were pushed so hard and so far into the cement wall, there were multiple holes in the side of our gigantic tires.

Uhhh,  pretty self explanatory.  Everything is hanging by a thread at this point at the rear of the car.

 

october. 2011

Alex and I had so much fun at Spark. Jarom and I decided if we can afford to bring children, when they are 12 and older, they can come with mom if it still keeps going on that long.

Alex was one of two young women at the whole event. So many moms came up to us and told us they want to bring their daughters next year. Alex is very creative, artistic, and unfortunately for me, independent. Did I mention this is hard letting go as your child gets older? She didn’t need my help at all, in fact, I needed her help with all the artsy stuff.

The classes were great, the designers and people who have very successful businesses came and taught us some great projects!   We got hundreds of dollars of goody bag stuff to bring home, gift after gift after gift…but the only let-down was the snack room. Last year, it was stocked, and we could grab snacks anytime. This year, they would have an apple or cupcake or a small chocolate or something small. When you are there all day, 8am-9pm, ya need some snacks! But everything else was top-notch! Margie and the other women did a great job! I can’t wait for next year!

august 2011

One of our favorite snacks, is dehydrated fruit.  It takes 8 hours to get it dehydrated, and we usually eat it in about 10 minutes, but it’s soooo worth it!  And healthy of course, which I love!

august 2011

The kids, well, the younger ones, had some friends over, and they ate junk, played, and watched a movie together.  We have been very blessed with such great friends.

july 2011

Jarom is slowly edging up to 40…how is that possible…how are we getting to this age already?  I guess we have an almost 13 year old, but still…doesn’t seem possible.  And yet, Jarom still plays and exercises and travels like a 20 year old!

july  2011

Cody, my little brother, came to visit us for a week in July, and we introduced him to 100% humidity!  He loved it, much more than the drier Arizona weather, and I guess we’ve just adjusted to it, trying to hide our slight discomfort there and again.  Cody just finished serving a 2 year mission in California, for our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 

We had a lot of fun showing him around parts of Atlanta.  We visited the aquarium(world’s largest tank), the zoo(great zoo!), Fernbank Science Museum(that was ok), and I’m not really sure if we did anything else…Fro-yo.  Can’t forget that!  Oh ya, we went to Piedmont Park in the center of the city, when it was really hot, and thought we would have a picnic, but didn’t, and watched Jarom fly his helicopter contraption.  It was fun:)  Then we would end our busy day with a movie and some yummy fresh popped popcorn with olive oil…if you haven’t tried it yet, let’s just say it’s so good, you wouldn’t want to go back to microwave popcorn! 

Here it is…1/3 cup olive oil, 1/2 cup popcorn kernals…put into a pan with a lid(or we have a whirly pop from target that you just spin the handle and it spins the kernals evenly in the oil inside the pan), and shake until you hear it stop popping…pour into a bowl, salt, and enjoy.  It’s THE BEST!

july 4th weekend- 2011

Leticia, Nadia’s birth mom, came to visit for a few days.  Leticia brought Zoe, her daughter, and a friend to keep her company on her driving trip from Texas to Georgia.  Even though Nadia doesn’t understand what’s going on, (she is three…), she still will look at pictures and say, “that’s my birth mom!”  I asked her what birth mom meant, and she said she didn’t know. 

We want to be open about the wonderful blessing and occurrence that happened of how Nadia came to join our family, and that she is sealed to us for all eternity, and has always been apart of our family, she just came to earth through someone else.  We are grateful for the adoption experience we went through with Leticia, and are glad we get to visit every now and then.

june  2011

Because we live near Emory University, Madison was able to participate in the one week camps for kids who have had health issues and have been in the hospital…they have a week for heart kids, a week for cancer kids, and other medical needs kids. 

So Madison was able to go, all expenses are paid for each child, and she went to a heart camp where all the kids have had heart surgery.  I thought for sure I would hear from Madison sometime throughout the week.  They are allowed to call or text using the camp leaders phone if they get homesick, but no, not a word.  I guess she was having too much fun kayaking, horseback riding, swimming, crafting, eating, and whatever else they did.  This being Madison’s first time away without any family nearby, she did a great job, and showed us that she is secure in herself and knew we would be here for her when she got back.  We missed her so much, but were so glad she had this opportunity!

 madison returning…hair braided, nails painted, bag full of goodies…

 had to get a little fro-yo…so hot in June…and had to celebrate our madison coming home…

cool shot alex took using the mirror…a great little photographer!

june 2011

It seems like yesterday we had just had our little alex, now she is already going to girl’s camp.  I love this girl so much!  She had a blast, and as yw president now, I went up for the day, and she managed to say “hi” to me in passing, she was having so much fun. 

We were just talking in the car how she only has six years left before college.  Really, less than that, more like 5 1/2.  I feel like I still have so much to teach her, and not enough time!

Mothering is never done I know, but it is the most rewarding for sure!  I love being a mother, being home all day with these girls, teaching them, and spending what precious time I have with them before they leave home.  It’s going by so fast, I can’t believe it, nor can I believe I’m old enough to have an almost teenager!  Holy Cow!