Blogging? ...What's that?

    I know...I know, it has been a long time since I have had the time to blog.  Thank goodness for a GREAT and WONDERFUL husband who took time to post some of the fun things that have happened to us during the summer months. 
     Time really does fly!  I think of all the marvelous and wonderful memories we have made this past summer and it just reminds me of how fast my kiddos are growing.  I realize that once that moment is gone, you can never get it back.  It has made me think that maybe, just maybe I need to stop what I'm doing and just enjoy the moment.  It seems that I get caught up in all the mundane chores of my daily life and forget what is most important to me.  And that is my FAMILY.  So this is a post for my kids.
      Brianna.(Beenana)
         You truly have blossomed over night!

This year you turned 12 and I can honestly say I swear you were just a baby a couple years ago.  Now your talking about boys, wearing make-up, wanting a pair of high heels, into the latest fashion, starting Young Womens, babysitting, hanging out with your friends, talking on your cell phone into the wee hours of the morning, and asking questions I'm not yet prepared for.  You truly have become a BEAUTIFUL young lady.  I am so PROUD of the choices you are making and your setting a WONDERFUL example for your brother and sisters.  I could do with out all the DRAMA, and the COMPLAINING, but that is what makes you, YOU!  I know I'm going to look back on this time in your life and SMILE.  Because, this is the BEGINNING for you.  You're going to look back on you life and remember ALL your firsts.  Your first CRUSH ( Ethan ), your first kiss (which by the way, your WAY TO YOUNG, wait 5 years or so), your first dance, your first date, the first time you drive a car (heaven help the other poor souls on the road) the first day of college,etc...
I LOVE you Brianna!  For the person you are and the person you are becoming.  Stay TRUE to yourself and close to the Gospel.  I'm now going to quote Grandpa Hernandez (something I promised myself I would never do)  Remember WHO you are and WHERE you came from.  He used to say that to me every time I went out somewhere. And now it will be something you will hear from me every time you go somewhere.

Kaden (Buddy).
    To my ONLY son.  You too have grown up to fast!

You are my BIGGEST helper.   You are the GO GETTER for the whole family.  And NEVER once do you complain.  You make me so HAPPY!   I love how you tell me, you never want to leave me when you get older.  When I asked you what your were going to do when you go on your mission.  Your reply was " Mom, I want to go on my mission, but I just DON'T want to MISS you too much!"  I then asked what you were going to do when you go to college and then find a wife.  You looked right at me and said " Mom, I'm not going far for college and didn't you know when I get married, we are all going to live with you?" ( Maybe you should wait and ask your wife where she would like to live.  I can guarantee, she will not say with her In-laws. )  You amaze me with your creativity, and your mad Lego skills. I have seen you build the most amazing cars, airplanes, towers, houses, and space ships. I remember one night I was already in bed and I heard this loud noise coming from your bedroom.  I went to investigate, and I found you in the middle of your room with thousands, and thousands of Lego's all around you. My first reaction was to get mad and ask you what were you thinking playing with Lego's at 12:30 in the morning.  But the look of pure excitement that came from your eyes, prompted me to ask you what you were building, instead.  You couldn't wait to show me everything you had built.  I took a picture of you surrounded by all those tiny Lego's(knowing I would have to pick them up in the morning), and shook my head as I walked back to my room.  I LOVE you Buddy!

To my SoSo, my Sofa loaf.  I waited 5 long years for you, and you were my wish come TRUE!

 You my child, are my lover.  I love how you love to cuddle with me.  You always ask me to save YOUR spot next to me.  You absolutely love to give hugs! That is just one of my favorite things about you.   
You are my little sponge!  You thoroughly love to learn.  You SOAK up everything and are so eager to know everything.  You are always asking questions and sometimes when I ask you something, your responses are so grown up.
 I LOVE to watch you and Emmy together.  You are so PATIENT  with her.  I can see how much you love her, no matter how mad she makes you.I am AMAZED that you taught Emmy how to ride her bike(without training wheels).  You had just learned yourself, and next thing I know your calling me outside to watch Emmy go down our drive-way on her Dora bike.  You were so proud of her and I was so proud of you!
 You are always thinking of others.  Just today, we went to McDonalds and everyone got something to eat except for Kaden. (he was at home)  Everyone was enjoying their food, and you weren't eating.  Then you said "Mom, I'm gonna wait to eat at home so I can share with Kaden."  Today, you were my example and everyday I am reminded of what a special spirit you are!
You are an unmovable mountain!  Stubborn to the core. (I think you get it from Dad's side of the family. But shh...don't tell anyone!)  But, nonetheless we love you! My little SoSo, you are my little ray of sunshine, and I LOVE you more than the stars in the sky!

To my little Emawee! My little surprise package!

I LOVE you, I LOVE you, I LOVE you!  You are the baby of the family, and you know it!  You get whatever, whenever, however you want it.  Yes, you are spoiled to the CORE!  And not just by me.  By everyone!  How could we  ever deny you anything?  One look from those big brown eyes and we turn into MUSH! 
You are so sweet! And I love how, all you want when you get older is to lose a tooth.  You talk about it almost everyday.  I personally think you just want  the tooth fairy to visit.  But according to you, losing a tooth means you will get older, turn five, and get to go to Kindergarten.  Why you would want to get older, I don't know. I want you to stay just the way you are. SWEET!
I have never seen a more smiley person in my life, until you came along.  You smile 24/7!  I love waking up to your cute BIG smile.  It makes my day everyday!  And your sense of humor is like no other.  You are constantly doing and saying the cutest things.  I wish I could walk around with a video camera to catch all of you silliness, and HAPPINESS. You ARE my favorite Emawee in the whole wide world. I love you!

I could probably go on and on, but there is truly not enough time.  Just know I love you with all my heart.
One of my all time favorite quotes says it perfectly.  "I never said it would be easy, I only said it would be worth it."  And YOU ( my little ones) are definitely WORTH IT!
Love you more than you KNOW!
                Mom

A plethura of stories.

You'll have to forgive in advance the mish mash of stuff I'm gonna post. Just a bunch of quick hitters, some kinda fun, some not so much.

The other day, I was getting ready to go somewhere and Emily asked where I was going. I said that I was "Going Far Far Away on Judea's Plains". She immediately jumps up and says, "Oh Oh, can I go Daddy". (slight pause), then she says,"Lucky". With a J-Lo type sass. It was cute.

Kaden came to me a few days ago after I had asked him to load the dish washer. He proceeded to tell me that he did his very best, but he could not fit all of the dishes. With out uttering a word, I unleashed "the look". You know, the one where you drop your chin, rais your eye brows and stair directly into his eyes. He first sputtered a bit and tried to say he tried really hard. The look was reiterated by reversing the angle of the face and causing one eyebrow to raise above the other. He slumped down a bit and said," Um, maybe I should go down stairs and just try to rearrange it and fit them all in". Then he just quietly turned and reloaded the dish washer. Me and Susi must have laughed for 5 minutes.

Last night we hear a loud BANG and a high pitched scream (one you would expect from a leetler geril) I went upstairs to find Kaden on the floor crying and Brianna trying to convince him he was over reacting and that having the door slammed on his forehead really should not hurt. After all, he'd done the same thing to her and it didn't hurt at all. It's amazing how early kids begin to employ (or at least try) to employ the power of suggestion.

I pulled Sophies first tooth out the other day. The thing was hanging by a no more than 3 gum cells. That little girl put up a battle that would have made Rocky Balboa proud. She absolutely did not want her tooth pulled out. It took at least 20 minutes of convincing wrangling and a touch of brazilian jujitsu to finally get that kids tooth out. I was sweating profusely by the time I got the little sucker out. She is one stubborn little girl.

Me and Susi got to go to California for our 15th anniversary. It was a blast. We got to meet our friends Mark and Lisa and go eat at the Cheese Cake factory. It was great. We then spent an entire day at Disney Land and another day at Magic Mountain. We got the Platinum Flash Pass which allowed us to go to the front of the line and ride each ride twice. I had a few choice words directed my way from people who waited 2 hrs while I happily butted in front of them. On our way out, we stopped right before LAX to gas up. Not a great idea. Just FYI, those people who look like gas station attendants and pump your gas are not gas station attendants.... Very weird.

The day at magic mountain had some negative effects on Susi. Her back went out a week ago today. As it turned out, she pinched her siatic nerve and was pretty much resigned to crawling all week. The only other time I've seen her that uncomfortable was when she had Kaden. And that was only becuase her spinal block wore out.. She was in major pain. She was very lucky to have a great friend who came over and made in home Chiropractic calls for her. Our fam also took care of us by making food.

I went down to Provo a couple of weeks ago and got to play 54 holes of golf with my brothers. We also went to the BYU - UW game. It was awesome. There's nothing like going to Lavell Edwards Stadium with a sold out crowd and competetive game.

That's it for now.

SHADE SALE!

TriCities,WA: SHADE Sale & She-Market!

If you are in the Tri-Cities area you DO NOT want to miss this event!!!  There is going to be another Shade sale and bazaar…however this time its BIGGER…MUCH BIGGER. In fact Shade is going to be sending a 24-ft Uhual packed to the brim with clothes.  These are all NEW seconds and irregular Shade clothing items that our hostess Jen can sell to us all at a super cheap price!!  Some are discontinued colors and styles including camis, tanks, layer tees, long-sleeved shirts, skirts and Maternity. Prices will be $3-$15.
Important: This could be the LAST shade sale we will be having here because sadly I read that Shade will not be offering a new fall line, and they will be selling off their intire inventory, closing their stores and going for a dark period.  This sounds to me like Shade is closing down for a while so this is it, the inventory that we are getting is about the last that the company will have and there will be no more.  So you might want to stock up!

She-Market {featuring Shade clothing}

Credit Cards + cash accepted

When:

August 24-25 from 3pm -8pm

 Where:  2908 Road 61  Pasco, WA

What:  Thousands of NEW Shade clothing, sizes are girly: 4-6, 7-9 .Womens: xs, sm, med, lg, xlg, and xxlg.  There is Maternity clothes also! Items include skirts, specialty tops and regular Shade shirts. 

Vendors coming:

• Scentsy
• Jewelry
• Baked Goods
• Pampered Chef
• In Bloom Birth Support
• The Breadman’s Wife
• Mary Kay
• Tupperware
• Me..Stop in and say hello. 
• + more. If you are interested in being a vendor email Jen (vwbabe3148@hotmail.com)

Brilliant Brianna!

That's right, you heard it here first folks. Brianna is brilliant. She's my 4.0 future doctor/ lawyer/ dentist/ orthodontist. My retirement is now set.... (you have to click on the picture to see the grades...)

The Heist!

Parents beware, 4 and 5 year olds are capable of more than you think... AND NOT IN A GOOD WAY!!
So it's my Friday off and I go with Susi to pick Sophia up from Pre-school. We get home and almost as soon as we walk in the door, Sophia starts to ask me if I want to go upstairs and rest with mommy. Normally, I would think she was just wanting me to spend some quality time with Susi, but my gut (which is much larger than is should be) told me there was a bit more going on. So after she insists and practically pushes me upstairs, I relent and go up stairs. I waited about 10 minutes and did my best stealth mode descent down the stairs to find.... The little girls had been running a clandestine smuggling operation right under our noses!!












Well, you can see the picture. I found both Sophia and Emily with one each. Then I did a little more investigation only to find that they had stashed a fair number underneath the couch. I wish I knew how to photo shop the pictures of them into mug shots, it would have been entirely appropriate! You have to love those little girls. Me and Susi had fun playing bad cop - bad cop interrogating them. Aren't the crocodile tears convincing?

Director, Producer, and Camera Man.

This has been Spencer for the past month or two.

I think he has an obsession. 

I've been contemplating and intervention.

But when I watch all the wonderful memories that he is capturing of the kids and our family.  I realize I don't mind having a video camera in my face  24/7.  I don't mind when he tells every one to freeze and not move, so he can get his camera.  And, it doesn't bother me when we get to where we are going and he realizes he forgot the camera and runs home to get it.  That the first thing  he says when the kids do or say something funny is "Wait! Let me get my camera."  And, "Do it again."  All the while the kids are hum and hawing about "it's not the same," and "do we have to? " The endless complaining and video taping is worth it. Especially when, the kiddos are older and we have all these great video tapes of them doing and saying the cutest things.

Gotta love our family Director, Producer and Camera Man!

The beautiful, complicated, simple, wonderful Susi

I've been contemplating a post about Susi for a while. But there is such a range of things to write about that I would get hung up in one area. I could write an entire novel on all the funny things she's done, but that doesn't quite tell the tale. So I guess I'll just try to make a bit of a cross section of her through the years.

I still remember like yesterday dancing with her for the first time 15 years ago. Then after I danced with her twice in a row (both slow songs baby... oh yeah), I spent the rest of the night trying to chase her down in vain. I was quite convinced that she was trying to run away from me.

I had only known this girl for about a week when she started trying to win my heart via my stomach. To this day, she doesn't have an equal when it comes to cooking.

I'll never quite forget the time we went to the park in Rexburg to read scriptures. It was supposed to be a transcending moment where we bonded spiritually. Not quite wanting to cooperate, Susi uncerimoniously (accidentally of course) blew a monster booger right onto 2 Nephi. She was mortified, but I just flicked it off and laughed for a bit.

She proved very adept at holding up gumballs with her nose, very cool.

There are more funny stories about Susi than I could shake stick at, but they'll have to wait till later.

If there were no Susi:

Who would pack my bags for me when I traveled? (I know, I'm pathetic huh)

Who would put their icy cold feet on me before we go to sleep?

Who would shake there head at every one of my attempts at humor?

Who would constantly complain that I drive like a maniac? (Early years)

Who would constantly complain that I drive like an old man? (More recentl) Funny how time changes things.

Who would be the cleaning Nazi who hunts down every speck of dust with vim and vigor?

Susi get's into what I like to call "the zone" when she'd cleanging. The zone is a very unhappy place. The zone is a place that we like to help Susi get out of as soon a possible. The zone can cause serious emotional and physical damage if overexposure has occured. Just look at me, I'm a prime example. But seriously, I LOVE how wonderful of a housekeeper she is.

Who would be so worried about how they looked for me that they made sure to put on make up every day before I got home?

She has an uncanny sense of smell. Last night, we stayed at a hotel in Bellevue. It was supposed to be a non-smoking room and it smelled like an ash tray. I was able to block it out for the most part, but she was up most the night gagging because of the nasty smell.

All my friends in college loved her. We had a whole list of rules to live by. One of the rules was that Susi had to bring goodies if she wanted to come over. The other was that they all had to get permission from me if they wanted to squish her. She was called the Woogie in college, thanks Mark. So the rule was that you couldn't squish the woogie. The all loved her.

Heck, who doesn't? I am seriously the weak link in this partnership.

I'll add pictures later.