Skiing with the fam

Today we went skiing as a family...most of us!  ***(Cole opted to stay home and hang out with Nana)***  The temperature was PERFECT!  And when I say perfect...you KNOW it was warm!  I think the temp was a balmy 38 degrees.  PERFECT for skiing!

So, we ditched this nasty inversion and head up the mountain to Snowbird.

 It was Jaden's first time skiing...and he handled it like a PRO! (He did have the BEST teacher of all helping him though!!)

 Corbin has been asking to snowboard...so Coby arranged for him to have a lesson.

He did PRETTY amazing!!  And by the end was really getting it!  I would have given up long ago since it involves two things I really dislike...COLD and falling down and getting hurt!

 Coby helped Jadesy ski down Chickadee about a hundred times with the a hula hoop.  BRILLIANT!  

 He fell a few times...but always wanted to get back up and kept asking us if he was doing a good job!  I would ask him if he was a professional...and he'd always answer back with a big YES!

 This was how I spent most of my time....alone on the ski lift!  And then I'd meet up with Coby and Jadesy and ski down.  I have to say though, they beat me down more times than I care to say!  BUT...I didn't fall even once...I came pretty close a couple times...but I can honestly say it was my first and only time going that I haven't fallen down!  :)

 After a while, we decided to take a little hot coco break.  Apparently...the sugar didn't take too long to go to our heads!

 Here's a smooch for the man of my dreams!  I certainly LOVE this fuzzy man of mine!!  Maybe he's thinking...."Wow....how ever did I get her to kiss my hairy cheek...IN PUBLIC?!!"  I'm not entirely sure!

And here we are heading back to reality...and back into the nasty disgusting INVERSION!  :)  I hate Winter!

**Thanks to my cute momma who has just gotten back from a visiting my sister and her little family.  She said that Colie kept giving her hugs and kisses.**

Boy's Night of ADVENTURE

For Christmas my Mom and Dad gave Coby and Corbin a gift certificate to the Flo-Rider (indoor surfing), rock climbing and sky diving (simulated).  Corbin was so cute literally BEGGING for Jaden to go..."Mom, PLEASE let my brother come...PLEASE, I'll give you all the money I have...PLEASE!"  Jaden of course REALLY wanted to go...but because he's been so naughty about going to preschool lately...was unfortunately grounded.  But after the pleas of Corbin...I couldn't stick to my guns.  So, I talked Coby into letting Jaden go too.  (I'm sure I'll be regretting it because it seems to backfire EVERY SINGLE TIME!)

But they along with my dad all headed up to Ogden to have an adventure!  My dad was in HEAVEN and so were the boys!  :)  They all had a GREAT time and even came home in one piece!  :)

Is it MONDAY?

I'm not sure why I even got out of bed today!  From start to almost finish today has NOT been what I planned at all!  Love that little baby of mine...LOVE him, but today I questioned why I ever even wanted to be a mom in the first place!  He cried and threw little tantrums for the better part of the day.  For about a week now he's gone down to one nap instead of two.  What does that mean...well, I have ONE GRUMPY baby toddling around here hanging on my legs, wiping his snotty nose all over my pants, taking the remote control top off and LOSING the remote in the process and throwing a fit because he wants hot coco like his brother...only to drink it and SPIT it out all over himself and the kitchen floor.

Then he took a nap, a GREAT nap while I worked on our Family Home Evening lesson.  Jaden was in preschool and I was able to really get a good handle on it.  THANK YOU (looking upward toward heaven)!

Corb came home, got Jaden all riled up and screaming just in time for Cole to wake up and join in the FUN!  It's a nightmare to try to get Corb to do anything...like go to the store with me to get lettuce for our tacos tonight, do HOMEWORK, clean out the dishwasher....But at least he just whined about his math homework and stormed upstairs when he didn't like how I was trying to help him.  Eventually he did come back down and offer to empty the dishwasher...so it wasn't a complete mess.

Poor Coby is working like crazy trying to pull the extra weight from someone leaving his office.  He didn't get home until almost 6:30.  The kids were hungry.  Jaden would only at Doritos for dinner. I'm not sure Cole did much better since he fed most of his dinner to the dog.  And to top it off, I burnt my pan!

Then we had FHE.  It went ok.  Jaden whined most of time time.  Corbin noticed Jaden's foul mood and took full advantage and decided to POKE the bear.  Which went over fabulously!  After about 20 minutes I LOST them...we had to wrap it up and hope that our lesson on Prayer sunk in and headed to Mcdonalds for some ice cream.  Cole was the best treat!  He wanted the ice cream and then he DIDN'T want it...then he screamed...then Corbin breathed wrong near Jaden so Jaden showed his "appreciation"...OHHHHHH......

I'm so ready for this day to be OVER!  I can't wait to go to sleep and stop thinking about everything that went completely WRONG today!  Tomorrow is Tuesday...so it's GOT to be better right??!!!

On a good note though...Corb woke up early, read for 20 minutes, made himself and Jaden some breakfast.  Jaden gave me a million kisses today and kept telling me that he Liked me.  He watched Frozen with me and let me sing while I made homemade salsa.  Cole woke up happy and stayed that way for a couple hours.  Coby synced my computer with the new printer...so I can print things now!!  (it's really been about 2 years since I've had a printer) AND he bathed the kids, read them a chapter from Harry Potter and tucked them all into their beds and turned on the Goldbergs for me!  I sure love this man!!  LOVE him!

I am blessed...I need to remember that my life is good...oh so good...even when it's bad!  

Is that chocolate....

Is that CHOCOLATE....

Or is it POO?

Thank goodness it was NOT the latter!  This poor little boy along with most of his brothers struggles to be "regular" for the first few months after getting on Cow's milk.  He's been pretty plugged up, so today I sadly had to give him a little baby fleet enema.  Poor little guy!  He hates it almost as much as I do!  

But...it definitely did the trick!!  It released the "flood" gates if you will!  I went to get him up from his nap and he was pretty stinky.  I went downstairs to change him and very quickly realized that a bath was in order...STAT!  I had given him a dark chocolate pomegranate and forgot all about it...until I put him in the tub and he touched the water and then then his face!  :)

Phewww....thank goodness for CHOCOLATE!!! 

FHE 2014 Goals/Blessings

Tonite we had our first Family Home Evening for 2014!

Coby and I gave a lesson on setting goals/blessings that we want to work on for the upcoming year.  We all wrote out our lists.  

 Here's Corb's:

 Jaden's:  

And Mine.

We wrote out our goals and sealed them up.  (I am actually planning to type them up and print them out and then post them where we can see them...so they will be on our minds frequently).  Next New Years Eve, we are planning to open up our sealed envelopes and see how well we did.  I obviously have a LOT to work on...so I hope this new tradition doesn't bite me in the butt!!! 

Cole didn't know what to do...so since he was SUPER tired and didn't take his naps for very long today, he decided that the best way to bring the spirit was to SCREAM Him into our home!   I could be wrong, but I don't think He stuck around for long!

I am so excited for this new year.  The thing I want most is to make Christ the center of our home.  I want our home to be a safe haven for our family.  I want the feeling I get in church to LAST longer than the end of the closing prayer!  It feels like lately that the second church is over...we just go back to doing whatever we feel like on Sundays.  Usually that means, I am playing on the computer, Jaden is on his phone, Corb is either on his phone or playing the Wii, Cole is sleeping and Coby is watching football.  How's that for Sunday FAMILY fun?!!!  Well, that is something I'm hoping to remedy this year!  I know it won't be easy and it will be FAR from perfect, but we've got to start somewhere!  

Sunday night LOSER

Losing is NOT pretty!!

OBVIOUSLY!!!

Tonight we decided to turn off all the electronics and spend time together playing games.  I was GREAT for everyone except ME!!  Seriously, have you EVER seen a game where someone doesn't even get their little men out of START???!!!  Well, that someone would be ME!  Go figure!   It's funny because that smiley little boy next to me had the HARDEST time even getting started!  I kept getting out of start only to be put right back in.  I think these boys planned it!  If Cole could have played I'm sure he would have helped me!!  But, he was being a good baby and staying in his highchair eating some mini vanilla wafers.

Playing the game was a success!  It really put everyone in cheerful moods.  The boys happily put their jams on, brushed their teeth, we read scriptures together and said our family prayers.  I put Colie to bed. Then Coby pulled out the first Harry Potter and started reading to Corb and Jadesy.  Within 20 minutes both boys were OUT and Cobe and I had the rest of the night to ourselves!  :)  It was a GREAT Sunday!!

Sickies

I sure love this little monkey!  

Today Corb and I are feeling the after effects of what I am guessing is food poisoning or the flu from someone at Burger King.  WHAT WERE WE THINKING...BURGER KING??!!!  I guess we were thinking that it was close by, we were hungry and Joanne was treating!  :)  At any rate a handful of the Jim/Joanne Rich's got sick a few days later.  Jaden puked his guts out last night...all over the carpet.  YAAAY!  Coby was a champ and cleaned it up for me!  Thanks babe!  I owe ya!  I got hit around 2am... NO BEUNO!  Guess I won't be eating BBQ chicken chop salad for a while!  (Which is sad because I don't think I've made it for Coby for like 4 years...and it's his favorite!)  Corb crawled into our bed around 6am.  

Jaden apparently got it all out of his system and was EXCEPTIONALLY sweet during the entire ordeal.  Why is that??!!  Why can't they be sweet like that ALL the time.  I think it has something to do with the fact that they are gross and puking and if they acted like their "usual" self we wouldn't be able to stand being too close to them.  But I do find that I enjoy being right next to them when they are so sick...Maybe it's because I actually feel like they like me and appreciate me!  :)  Luckily Cole, Corb and Cobe didn't get the puking bug!  Thank heavens for me!  :)

Cole made me laugh today.  I gave him an oreo cookie after lunch and this is what he ended up looking like!  Gotta Love that little Hitler Baby of mine!  It definitely lightened the mood!

Later Coby came home, gave us blessings, relieved me from the boys, made dinner and rented Mary Poppins.  I forgot how much I love that movie!  Thanks babe!

Happy 2014!!!

 Good Bye 2013!! 

HELLO 2014!!

Last night we welcomed the New Year in with Coby's family at Joanne's house.  We had lots of good food, TONS of fun and happily said goodbye to 2013! 

 We play lots of games...

 Ate WAY too much yummy junk...

 The kids played bowling on the Wii.

 Took a dip in the hot tub and watched a few fireworks by Coby.

And then rocked in the New Year just a little earlier....  Isn't Honey fun!  She got all the fixin's for the kids!  And they were LOVING blowing their horns!  It sounded like a bunch of loud geese were set free in the kitchen.

Gave this lammie a New Years Hat (which he actually wanted to wear) and a horn....he didn't quite figure it out...but it was so cute to listen to him "whoooo-ing" into the little horn!  He was SUCH a big kid!

 I think these little firecrackers were coming down from their sugar high...

Our little family decided to spend the night.  We turned on the movie Snowball Express and couldn't help laughing at Joanne laughing!  We stayed up long enough to see the clocks turn midnight, gave each other a little smooch and off to bed we went.  We weren't in bed too long before Cole decided to let us know that he was ready to get out of that crib at 6am!!

 I went to check on him and our poor little baby had thrown up all over himself.  SAD!  Coby and I gave him a bath and tried to snuggle him back to sleep.  It took a little while with a few more "clean ups", but eventually we all fall back to sleep.  And then Jaden was awake!!  YAY!!  (NOT YAY!!)  I think a nap is in order later today!

Later, everyone met back at the Joanne's for homemade scones and then got talked into going bowling.

 Here's Ben and Chance giving us the old thumbs up!

 Joanne sporting that GREAT smile and ever cheerful attitude!

There's my Coby...showing us his ever perfect FORM!

Me and Whit holding the babies.  Cole decided that a power nap would be best today (since he couldn't miss even ONE second of the "Rich" fun and was busy eating sweedish fish, and walking and drooling and crawling all over the "always" clean bowling alley floor!  ***If he contracts leprosy....you'll know where it came from***

Honey and the 3 Amigos taking a little break

This was a GREAT New Years Day!  I am looking forward to 2014, however!!  2013 had quite a few sad days.  We miss our Poppy!  

Here's to 2014!  May this year bring happiness and joy, a more Christ-centered home, an up-to-date blog and last but not least...hopefully a little girl too!***

***I'm not preggers....but we want to start trying this summer sometime.***