Our journey through the years

Hubby surprised me for Valentine's day and got me a new computer. Then he scanned all the pictures from my previous post and made them into a video. I love it! I think he did a great job, especially since this is his very first video! Thanks Hubby! I love you!

Happy Birthday!

On Saturday, my mom had a birthday party at her house to celebrate all the family birthday's in January, February, and March.

We celebrated Tom's (married to Melanie) birthday, Jeph's (married to Venita) birthday, and Becca's (married to Spencer) birthday.

We also celebrated Brogan's (Melanie's son) 3rd Birthday, Klayton's (Brian's son) 4th birthday, and Henry's (My son) 1st birthday.

And February is also Grandma Wilson's birthday and Saturday was Grandma
Lowder's birthday!

Cali and Mom planned all the food and activities, Brian and Cali painted the whole upstairs, and Brian and Joel were in charge of hanging balloons and streamers! We played silly games and opened presents and had cake and ice cream. It was a very fun party!

Not everyone was able to be there though. We missed Jeph and Venita (had already made other plans), Spencer and Becca and their children (had to work), Lynnette and Neal and their children (live in Indiana) and Kami (on a mission) and Grandma Wilson (still vacationing in Las Vegas). The bigger our family gets the harder it is to pick a date and time that everyone can be to. It was fun to be with everyone who came. We can't wait for the next birthday party in May!

Through the Years by Kenny Rogers

I can't remember when you weren't there
When I didn't care for anyone but you
I swear we've been through everything there is

Can't imagine anything we've missed
Can't imagine anything the two of us can't do



Through the years
You've never let me down
You turned my life around



The sweetest days I've found
I've found with you

Through the years
I've never been afraid
I've loved the life we've made


















And I'm so glad I've stayed
Right here with you
Through the years

I can't remember what I used to do
Who I trusted whom, I listened to before
I swear you've taught me everything I know

Can't imagine needing someone so
But through the years it seems to me
I need you more and more

Through the years
Through all the good and bad
I knew how much we had
I've always been so glad
To be with you



Through the years
It's better everyday
You've kissed my tears away



As long as it's okay
I'll stay with you
Through the years

Through the years
When everything went wrong
Together we were strong
I know that I belonged
Right here with you


Through the years
I never had a doubt
We'd always work things out


I've learned what love's about
By loving you
Through the years

Through the years
It's better everyday
You've kissed my tears away

As long as it's okay
I'll stay with you
Through the years











Since this is Valentine's Week, I've been thinking about the people who mean the very most to me and how we got to where we are right now. I've had this song going through my head all week. I am so thankful for the years that I've had with Hubby and the life that we have created together, for all the things that we have been through that have gotten us to this point and for each of the children who have joined our family along the way. As you can tell from the pictures, some years were definately harder than other but through the years, I have been very blessed.

What a ride....

I watch him as he rises before his alarm,
Another day to get ready and prepare for potential harm.

He gets out of the shower, fresh for the day,
He starts his routine, I just stay out of the way.

I watch as he pulls out his uniform of blue,
He pins on his badge, it looks shiny, but not new.

His name tag, he places perfectly straight in a line.
I watch him with pride, I'm so glad that he's mine.

On goes his belt, with necessary tools, every one,
Handcuffs, baton, extra ammo clip and gun.

He kisses me gently, caresses my face ever so sweet,
I watch him walk out the door and right out on the streets.

I pray each day, as he walks out the door
'Please God, bring him back home to me once more!'

I watch as he comes home, after an extra long day,
Weary and tired, with not much to say

Stabbings, shootings, women tormented by abuse,
There's always a bad guy out there on the loose.

He's out there to protect and serve in his town,
Ever ready to be there when a call comes down.

He is ready to give his life, for another,
Leaving behind his kids, wife, father and mother.

I watch as with pride, I'm reminded once more,
Make every moment special, before he walks out the door.

Author Unknown

We started this ride 7 years ago. This month is Hubby's anniversary month for working for his current employer. He loves his work and we know he loves us. Why do we do this each day? We know that this is where God wants his talents to be used. Serving others. "When Ye Are in the Service of Your Fellow Beings Ye Are Only in the Service of Your God" (Mosiah 2:17) Thanks Hubby for going to work each day. I am proud of you! I love you!

I've been tagged and I have some awards to pass on!

Summer tagged me. I get to list six unimportant things/habits/quirks about myself. (And believe me, these are very unimportant things but they are definately about me!)

1. I have extremely dry lips. Always have. Nothing helps. I keep thinking someday I will die from some kind of strange lip cancer because my lips peel so much. I have chapstick hidden everywhere.

2. I love home made french fries!!! With Fry Guys fry sauce. I could eat this every day! Yummy! (Wait, I do eat this every day! My family would like some variety with our meals but hey, french fries go with everything. Sometimes I forget to make the everything part though. That's when my french fries obsession gets me into trouble.)

3. I always have cold toes, feet, hands, bum! Hubby is always so warm and he loves to climb into bed before me and be almost asleep and then have me climb into bed next to him and steal all his heat....NOT!

4. I always wear shoes! I don't like bare feet, I don't like stocking feet, only shoes! All the time! Even when I climb into bed for a nap. I only take them off at night right before I climb into bed. Then I always take off my shoes and huck 'em across the room. (Hubby reminds me each night how much he hates this habit also!)

5. At night, I become very noisy and kind of clutzy! After I finally get all the kids asleep, I'll go into the kitchen to get a drink and all of the cups will fall on the floor, or I'll trip over the chair, or I'll knock something off the counter. I don't have a problem being very quiet in the daytime, but it's impossible for me to be quite at night. I make myself crazy!

6. I am a sucker! (Those are my husband's exact words.) I buy magazines from the poor college kids so that they can go on a cruise, I buy Living Scriptures or Encyclopedia's from the kind returned missionaries, I buy amazing green cleaner from a scarey man at the door, I love to have my carpets cleaned by the kirby salesperson. I have a really hard time saying no. So, please don't knock on my door!

Okay, I tag my sister in-law Julie, Hubby's cousin Heather, and Ally, Ashley, Cindy, and Nicole

Here are the rules:
* Link to the person that tagged you.
* Post the rules on your blog.
* Share 6 non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.
* Tag 6 random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
* Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.


Now on for some blog awards:

I recieved this award from Summer.

This award is from Ashley.

And this award is from Ashley, Cindy, and Holly.

Okay, each of these awards was passed onto all of their regular readers and I love this idea, because it is so hard for me to choose who to give awards to, so I am now going to pass this award on to all of my regular readers. I love the friendships that I have made through blogging. I love getting to know each of you and sharing your happy moments and moments of discouragement with you. (Okay, you have the happy moments and I have the discouraging moments) I feel like we are all working through this life together and I am thankful that I get to share these experiences with you! So, if you are reading this post, then these awards are for you! Take them! This also includes those friends who gave them to me!

I also recieved this award from Ashley!

"The rules for being A Roar For Powerful Words recipient are that I share 3 writing tips and pass the award on to 3 more bloggers worthy of recognition and esteem..."

I really liked Ashely's writing tips so I'll just pass her's on.

1. Write what you know.
2.Write what you love.
3.Give people a little insight to who you are.

I pass this award to Jenna at Cranberry Corner because I have cried more times reading her blog and I really love the spirit that she gives out in her posts, Magirk at Laughadaisy because her Gratitude Sunday posts always help me put the important things of my life into proper perspective, and Holly? at Confessions of a Not so Holly Homemaker because even though I have no idea what her name really is, her confessions are like therapy for me!

Now it's getting late and my 5 minutes were up a while ago so have a great Sunday Night!

Bathroom rules and teenagers

My sweet angel grandma stopped by today to invite my children to her FREE Beanie Baby Sell! The kids cannot wait. We were visiting for just a minute and my house was a disaster and she commented on how having children is way too much work. She always tells me funny stories about raising her kids. I'm not sure how the conversation got to this point but she was telling me about when her boys were teenagers and they would have their friends come over and they would all make a mess in the bathroom and then she would have to clean it afterwards. She said that she warned her boys over and over again to remind their friends and themselves to keep the bathroom clean. Finally she hung up a sign above the toilet that said:

Bathroom Rules
1. Stand Direct
2. Aim Carefully
3. If you miss, you clean it up!

She said her boys were so embarrassed that they started to clean the bathroom up themselves after their friends left rather than have their friends ever see that sign.

Years later, while on his mission, her son Gary, sent her a plaque like this that she still has in her bathroom today:

Ha! Ha! Ha!

She then told me how Heavenly Father created this wonderful plan of families being together forever and that we all loved it. She said that one day Heavenly Father looked down on earth and saw all of these happy families living together and loving each other and following his plan perfectly. But he noticed that no one was really spreading their wings and life seemed way too easy. So, he zapped all the kids ages 12-19 and called them teenagers. After that, the kids couldn't wait to leave home and the parents couldn't wait for them to go.

As silly as that story is, it makes me sad to think that this is the phase that I am headed into with my children. Teenage years were very hard for me and I am so afraid of making the same mistakes with my children. I don't want to go through this and I don't want them to hate these years like I did. Is there a way to make it stop or just skip it?

I'm curious how your teenage years went and what your parents did that helped you or didn't help you during those hard times.

Little (or BIG) Surprises

I was playing on my blog and probably on your blog also, working through my huge pile of laundry when the phone rang. It was my neighbor, whom I don't know very well but my sons play with her's. I like their family and they seem to like us okay so it's all good. I am a little confused as to why she is calling me though. She begins to tell me about how her boys (8 year old twins) got in trouble at school that day and how she had been recieving phone calls from other parents in her boys class. I'm thinking, "I'm sorry. What does this have to do with me? My kids go to a different school than yours do." She tells me that her boys are in trouble because of a story that they have been repeating to their friends at school. She tells me the story and I am shocked! With Hubby's line of work, I hear alot of things that shock me but this was probably the filthiest story I had ever heard a child tell. I'm still confused as to why we are having this conversation though. She tells me that she called her boys in and asked them where they had heard this story from. They told her from J. I gasped. Excuse me? Did you just say your boys heard that story from MY J? I was so embarrassed. I apologized repeatedly and thanked her for bringing this to my attention. I told her that I would get to the bottom of this and that J would be down later with an apology and an explanation. She was very kind. She said that she was also shocked when they told her it was J whom they had heard it from and even though she knows very little about our family, she was sure that I had no idea he was a part of this and that he probably didn't understand at all what he was saying. I appreciated her coming straight to me to discuss this and I'm thankful that we have a pretty decent reputation amongst our neighbors, at least for now!

I remember when I was pregnant with K and we found out she was going to be a girl. J asked, "How can they tell that our baby is a girl?" S, who was 4 at the time, jumped in to the conversation and explained that girls have privates that are squished and boys don't. Life seemed pretty simple back then.

I decided to pack up the little kids and go to school to have lunch with my J. We needed to talk! He said that he had heard it from a 5th grade girl on the bus and that he just thought it was a funny story. After a few more things he told me she had said, I went to fill the principal in on this problem and to find out if she wanted to deal with this or if she would like me to. She said that she would. After school, Hubby and I called our older children in to have a serious talk. If they are going to tell those kinds of stories, they had better know exactly what they are talking about. Since it was my idea, Hubby suggested that I do the talking. So I did! My boys were close to vomiting all over the floor and Hubby almost had to be asked to leave because his covering his face and falling out of his chair from laughing so hard was very distracting. He said he was shocked that I knew as much as I did. I proudly told him that I, too, have a school bus education. As we talked about different things, I would use "correct" words and they had no clue what I was talking about. So, I would try to use words that maybe they were more familiar with, then we were speaking the same language. It's amazing how that is one area that hasn't changed much since I was a teenager. When we were finished and they had no more questions, J headed down to the neighbors house, sick to his stomach but much wiser, and apologized for what he had said. He told them that he did not know earlier what that story was about at all but that his mother had explained it to him and now he knew everything. He was so sorry! When he got back he told me that alot of things in life were very different now. He was understanding alot of things for the first time. I think he is a changed boy!


That same day, the kids brought their report cards home. S has straight A's. J has A's and high B's. A has exceeds grade level in everything, and Z has A's in PE, Music, and Art, B's in Language/History, D in Science and F in Math! I grounded him from the PS2 until those two grades are raised. He has been an emotional disaster ever since. His life is so awful it's not worth living, he's going to flunk out of school, he has no friends, he has no talent, he's a loser, etc. He refuses to go to Mutual on Wednesdays, he wants to be released from his calling at church so he can just stay home, he begs everyday to let him just drop out of school. Yesterday, their school declared it a "snow day" and took all the kids up to the ski resort to go skiing, snowboarding and tubing. He had so much fun, until it was time to come back to reality. I spent all night in his room with him yesterday, cleaning it and talking to him and just trying to get a feel for where the real problems are. I really have no clue! (But he has a very clean room!)

Today I woke up feeling sick. My throat hurts and I have a really bad headache. When A threw her little fit about not wanting to go to school again today, I gave in and let her stay home!

So, do you know any good secret magical mommy formula's for dealing with teenagers and tweenagers? These are just my first two and they are boys. What will I do when I have all of them in this stage? I need a good book to read. I was thinking about The 5 Love Languages of Teenagers. Have you heard of anything you would recommend? I'm open for suggestions.....