We decided to baptize Zoe in CA so all her family could be there. It was a great decision. We had many special friends a there too. Thank you to everyone who came and made the night so special. Marci and my Mom gave awesome talks. Thanks guys. And a big thank you to my family and friends for helping bring, set up and clean up the desserts. You all are the best! I love ya!

Zoe was so nervous about the amount of people there. She hates to get her face wet and the idea of going completely under the water with so many people watching was very nerve racking. Before it started she was counting people and she sat down looking sick.

But she loved it. She came out of the water smiling and didn’t stop all night. She screamed with joy as she went into the dressing room to change. I am so proud of the decision she made to get baptized. I know it was the right choice. I love you Zoe!

Blowing kisses you way,
On this Valentine’s Day!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Our trip to CA was well… Kalixta spent most of the time crying, Britain didn’t want to smile for any pictures, and Ariana always wanted her Mommy! But it was great and I am so very glad we went.

My brother, Joe, got married to Sujin. It was a wonderful occasion. Everything was beautiful, especially Sujin and the weather. Oh my heck! You can’t beat that So Cal sun. Here are some pictures of the day!

Welcome to the family Sujin! 

This was us 9 years ago!

WOW! How times flies and goes slowly at the same time!

I love you more now than ever.

Yours FOREVER!

Sick! Our family has been so sick. It started when Adam went ice fishing with the young men last Saturday.  He wasn’t feeling great, but took some medicine and went. The only thing he caught was pneumonia. Yep that is right. Sunday he thought he was going to die. Monday I took him to the doctor and was shocked by the diagnoses of pneumonia. The doc said he should put him in the hospital but decided to give him a shot, load him with medicine and sent him home.

Two days later he was feeling better, still weak, but better and who gets sick. ME! And I thought I was indestructible! (Moms should be I think!) Friday I felt better only to work too much and relapse. Saturday I felt awful. I watched Pres. Hinckley’s funeral but spent the rest of the day in bed. I can’t remember the last time I had a fever. Man fevers suck!

Thank goodness Sunday I felt better, Adam is feeling better still, but you guessed it now all the kids are sick. Ammon and Britain had fevers yesterday. Kalixta and Nik are coughing today and have had fevers. Ariana has a cough and lots of snot. Zoe so far is feeling good, until you tell her she has to go back to school tomorrow!

So that is our sob story. Hopefully we are now on the road to recovery. We have to be, because we are going to CA on Thursday! I have laundry, packing and cleaning to do! No more time for sickness! Wish me luck! 

Basua Bucks are my latest attempt at positive reinforcement, discipline, and trying to teach my kids hard work. Let’s not forget doing a job right and learning responsibility. I got the idea from Nik’s school. His teacher gives Camo Cash for good work and behavior in class. Nik loved the idea and would do anything to get and keep Camo Cash. Well, I thought it might work at home too. So now we have Basua Bucks! The kids can earn coins and dollars for doing work around the house, helping me, being good at the store, and just being good really. There are consequences for poor behavior as well. They can lose bucks the minute bad behavior creaps in. I have boxes taped to the pantry door to collect the money. It looks like this…

Then every other day or so I open the Basua store.
 

This store has candy, toys and other treats like getting to rent a movie or going to McDonald’s with Dad. Everything has a price. They kids love to buy what they want. They work hard to earn Basua Bucks. When I ask for the jackets to go in the closet, the jackets actually go in the closet (we are still working on hangers!). We’ve been doing it for a couple weeks and it is working really well. Tears stop at the mention of losing bucks!   

It snowed yesterday and as always Nikolas and Ammon were out playing. Adam left to do a few errands so Nik decided it would be a good time to snow-blow the driveway. Usually, Adam and our neighbor (Dennis) rush to see who gets to use the snowblower. They are like little kids fighting over a toy. Nik likes to do it because he says it’s fun and he gets Basua Bucks.

The snow blower sprays snow way high. Ammon loves to stand in it and get pounded with snow. After Nik finished our driveway he did the neighbor across the street (Dennis), then the neighbor right next door and then the next! Ammon had enough so he came in looking like this…

Nik? He just kept on going. He went 10 more houses down the street until he ran out of gas. He called me and I brought him gas. He then did two more neighbors across the street and finally came home. His arms must have been aching! But I am so proud of my son who thinks of others.

Tonight I was changing Kalixta into her jammies. As I pulled her shorts off her panties came down a little. Britain comes over and pulls them up and tell her, "Kalixta your butt was cracking!"

Oh, how I love these moments!

My sister, Marie, plays basketball for BYU. Saturday night I took the kids to the game. It wasn’t such a good game, we lost a lot to Utah, but it was fun to go to a game and see Marie. Ariana was great! She liked all the noise and action. She would dance when the band played. All the kids had a good time, it did help that I had lots of treats!

Rah-Rah Ra-Ra-Ra!
    Rah-Rah Ra-Ra-Ra! 

GO-OOO COUGARS!

Today is Kalixta and Britain’s birthday. WOW! I can’t believe they are four! I wanted to do something super fun so we went to Jumpin Jacks. This place has tons of huge inflatables to play on. We had so much fun! Ariana DID NOT like the slides, but we took her down anyway. Kalixta loved everything! She went everywhere non stop. Britain had fun, but she would rather pose for photos. She would even pose while going down the slide!