Amazing Beehives

Here are my adorable 12 and 13 year old Beehives. Aren't they the cutest girls ever ?!!!

I've been in Young Women's for over a year and a half and I absolutely love it. I love, love, love all the young women especially my little Beehives who I'm over. I fell in love with each of them the instant I met them. They're such fun girls, no matter what activity we do each week we have fun!!! I'm constantly amazed at the trials they face daily but I know they're going to be okay and going to get through them because they're strong girls, they have strong testimonies and they have amazing spirits. They are truly amazing girls.

Okay, so none of us are professional skaters but we all had a blast!

We took the Beehives ice skating this past Wednesday. Most of them had only been on skates once or twice, I hadn't been skating for over 10 years so I'm sure if you had been a spectator we would of been quite entertaining but it was fun, no one was seriously hurt and we laughed a lot!!

I love the faces and the poses!!

Breanne, Emily, Kiya and Abby!!

We all tried to do twirls and jumps just like the professionals, I think we came close. LOL!!

Here is Abby and Mariah trying to do twirls. You go girls!!!

In this picture we are missing Kiya. She had just fallen pretty hard (wish I had a picture of her bruised knee, it's pretty bad) and was sitting it out for a few minutes. Almost all of the girls left with some kind of war wound, I was proud how tough they all were. On the ride home they admitted they were looking forward to a hot bath. I don't blame them, especially Abby who some how fell and hit her poor little face on the ice. Ouch!

We all had so much fun!! I feel blessed to have such an amazing calling and to make it even more amazing is to have such amazing, sweet and fun girls in our Beehive Class. I look forward each week to Sunday's and Wednesday's because I love spending time with these amazing girls. They constanly make me laugh with their jokes, stories, boy talk, singing and just them being themselves. Each girl has the most amazing spirit and has helped me and continues to help me be a better person and a better leader. I absolutely love them to death!!!

I love you girls!!! XOXO !!!

Weekly update

Here is an update on our fun week...

Jake's most favorite food in the entire world is Chicken Garlic Pizza from Papa Murphy's. I don't have to explain his love for this pizza as the picture says it all. He is such a crack up!!

My good friend from work had her son's b-day party at a bowling alley. It was so much fun!! Look closely at the picture of Logan bowling.. it makes me laugh everytime I look at it. It's like he's using Jedi mind power to move the ball.
"May the Force be with you Logan".

My 5k race wasn't this past week it was actually a few weeks ago but I found this picture on my friends blog and thought I'd post it on mine as well. I had a blast and I'm already looking forward to my next 5k race.

Here is our new trampoline. YEAH!!! The kids love it but I think I love it even more. Already Jake and Coco have spent more time outside these past few days then they have in the past month. Yeah to trampolines!!!

Jake's First Spring Break

Jake was super excited for his very first Spring Break. He made a list of everything he wanted to do during his time off from school ...

• Make & eat green eggs & ham (long story... don't ask.. Lol!)
• Visit baby Jude
• Eat at the Pizza Factory
• Go to the Zoo
• Swim
• Rent a movie
• Eat at McDonalds

We were able to do almost everything on his list... here are a few highlights of his spring break.

Scott's brother Tommy and his wife, Amber had their second baby, baby Jude. He is adorable!!

The day we planned to go to the Zoo it snowed, so we went to Toads Fun Zone instead and played miniature golf. It was a lot of fun!!

The night before going back to school Jake gave me a big hug and said "thanks Mom for everything". I sum up Jake's first spring break as a total success!!

Now we start the count down until Summer!!! Yeah!!!

Easter

Our fun Easter weekend!!!!

We started early Saturday morning at the annual West Haven Easter Egg hunt. Jake and Coco both scored with candy. (I got in trouble for helping Courtney pick up eggs.. oops!)

Saturday afternoon we headed over to my Mom's house for another fun Easter Egg hunt which included candy, confetti, money and gift cards. Thanks Mom & Dad!

Here is my family along with my Aunt Bev, Uncle Richard, cousin Camellia and her new hubby Doug. They came down from Canada for General Conference and a visit. (NO, Scott and I weren't mad at each other, we didn't realize we weren't standing next to each other until after the picture was taken). Too funny!

(My Aunt Sharon & Uncle Jim were also there but they were taking the picture.)

During the Priesthood session, the girls and our kids made bunny cookies. I saw these bunny cookies on one of my friends blogs and I have to say hers were way cuter, most of our cookies looked like mice or cats. LOL! But they were still fun to make and they tasted delicious.

Courtney doing Aunt Bev's hair.

It was a blast having the Smith family come for a visit. Thank you for the fun talks and the Canadian Corn Pops!!

Easter morning Court and Jake woke up with a piece of string tied to each of their bedroom doors. They followed the string throughout the house to find their Easter Baskets. Courtney found her Easter basket in the dryer and Jake found his in the oven. Our Easter Bunny is so clever and fun. LOL!!!

Our Easter Bunny refused to give more candy to Jake and Coco and instead put toys in their Easter Baskets. Again, our Easter Bunny is so smart. LOL!!

Coco and Jake looked so cute watching Conference. They had a lot of fun with their conference coloring books and their conference Bingo. Jake thought it was fun watching "church" in his pajamas.

I couldn't find Courtney's shoes and was in a huge rush so this is what she ended up wearing all day Sunday. So pretty!!

My cute family.

We had another fun Easter Egg hunt at Scott's parents home on Easter Sunday.

(Don't tell my kids this... but Scott's Mom asked us to bring candy for the Cole Easter Egg hunt... Instead of buying more candy, I stole some of Jake and Court's candy from their Easter baskets when they were sleeping. The following day, they got back all of their stolen candy at the Easter Egg hunt. It was a win, win situation for everyone. I saved money on candy, my kids didn't get more candy and in the end, Jake and Court didn't even notice the "missing candy". I know... I'm awful!!)

Scott with his brothers and nephew. Me with my 12 year old niece, Abby.

I'm so thankful that we were able to spend time with both our families this Easter weekend and I feel blessed for the opportunity to listen and be taught by our Prophet and Apostles at this special time of year. I'm grateful for the sacrifice and love our Savior has given me and still gives me. It's truly the greatest gift knowing that I can be with my family forever.

Happy Easter!!

April Fools !!

Ok, I am officially the meanest Mom in the world but I just had to do it... Today is Jake's first day of spring break and like all kids, he is soooooo excited. So, me being the mean Mom.... I woke him up at his regular time and told him the school had called and they made a mistake and all the kids have to go to school today.

The picture says it all !!!!

Instantly he got super sad and as soon as a few tears came to his eyes, I snapped the picture and yelled April Fools!!!

In my defense, I only let him believe it for 45 seconds but it was a priceless 45 seconds!

Jake was a good sport and started laughing. Thankfully he's not mad at me as he is just so relieved about not going to school today. Lol!!!

Happy April Fools Day to Everyone!!!

Cousins

Courtney adores her three Dunyon girl cousins; Jacque (7), Jaycee (5) and Jane (3). They also adore Courtney and love playing with her. Here are some fun pictures of the Dunyon girls and Coco jumping on Grandma's trampoline.

It was Sunday and the girls were still wearing their new Easter dresses. They looked so adorable jumping and playing in their frilly dresses.

Jaycee was more then willing to share her makeup with Courtney, as you can see in the picture, Jaycee was in full concentration mode while applying the makeup. She took it very seriously. Court of course loved every second of it as she loves, loves, loves makeup (I can not count how many times I have found Courtney playing in my makeup, grrrr!).

The end result was fabulous as Jaycee made Courtney look so pretty. (Ok, not really but they had fun and that's what matters. Lol!)

I'm so glad that Courtney has girl cousins to play with and do girly things with. It's a nice break from sword fighting and playing Batman with her brother. Lol!!

Cupcakes

My sister in-law Elise and her two little girls came over to our house and we made cupcakes. It took us over four hours mixing the colors, baking them and decorating them but we had a blast!

The kids also had a blast decorating and eating the cupcakes. I'm pretty sure they got more icing on their faces then in their tummies.

This is my beautiful three month old little niece. (Do you love Coco's hair? Poor little thing looks like a neglected orphan. Lol!!)

This is a picture of the cupcake Jake made. He was so proud of it and asked me to take a picture of it so I could post it on our blog. And I quote Jake... "if kids look at our blog, they are going to say.. wow, Jake makes good cupcakes, I wish I could make good cup cakes like him, maybe he will teach me". So random right?!! He is constantly cracking me up!! LOL!!!

St. Patricks Day!!

St. Patrick's day pictures!!!

(I apologize for my pictures, my camera is acting weird and some of them look fuzzy and unfocused. So weird??)

Jake made this awesome hat & beard at school. Love it!!

The highlight of the day was when the leprechaun visited us. He left a trail of green foot prints that led us to a treasure box full of green candy. Jake and Coco loved it!

I love GREEN day!!!

Welcome Armoire

For the past nine years... my quest in life has been to find an armoire at a garage sale. I've wanted an armoire forever!!! I love the idea of hiding your tv and not making it the center of your room. I've seen a few armoires I really liked at stores but my gosh the prices were ridiculous.

To make a long story short... nine years later, still no luck. If I ever came across an armoire at a gargage sale it was either broken, I didn't like it or it was sold. Usually always the later. So when my brother in-law called to ask me if I wanted his friends armoire, my first questions was; how much? Free. Second question; Can you send me a picture? Loved it. Answer; Yes!

When the armoire arrived it was love at first sight. My next concern was whether it would fit the kind of tv that Scott wanted. You see, we have the ugliest tv in the world (see older post) and I've wanted to get rid of it for a very long time. After measuring the armoire I estimated that it could fit a 41 inch flat screen tv. My fingers were crossed that this was finally the opportunity and dream all in one. I could get rid of our ugly tv, finally have my dream armoire and Scott could get his new HD tv we have been saving for. Again, my fingers were crossed!

To make another long story short. The next day we headed to Best Buy, we measured their t.v.'s. and bought a tv. Yeah! We went to Walmart to buy paint supplies and 24 hours later we had a newly stained armoire with a new tv sitting in our family room.

See... Dreams do come true. LOL!!!

This is what the armoire looked like when it was delivered.

This is the inside.

It took me about 7 hours of sanding & staining. I love refinishing furniture, I'm definitely not a pro, but I enjoy trying to figure it out. I've taught myself through experimenting, many mistakes, talking to Lowes and Micheal's people, researching the internet and watching demonstrations on You Tube.

READY FOR IT.....

Finished Product!!! Do you love it?? I do, I'm so proud of how well it turned out. I tried doing the antique look, the picture doesn't show all the details so who ever wants to come see it in person is more than welcome to. LOL!!!

This is the inside of the armoir. Scott took apart the top to fit the t.v. It was orginaly a computer armoire.

This is how it looks inside my house.

And this is how it looks with the new t.v. in it. Scott enjoys watching his new t.v. and I enjoy staring at my armoire. Lol!!!

Farewell Ugly TV

Farewell To My UGLY T.V.

Words can not describe how truly ugly you are,

you're tacky, you're bulky and you're the size of my car.

I've wanted you gone since the first day you came,

but Scott loved you and said I was being lame.

Today is the day I finally get to say goodbye...

all 62 inches of you, I'm definitely celebrating with a pie.

So farewell to my big and really ugly t.v.

I welcome the new one which is smaller but more pleasant to see.

So goodbye ugly tv, I will not miss you.

My only regret is for the next wife who gets you.

Written by Sarah Cole

Dedicated To: Her ugly T.V. .

LOL!!!!

Aunts

"A niece is a little girl who grows up to be your friend"

My sister Heather and daughter Courtney have a special aunt & niece bond. Heather is the sweetest and the most loving Aunt to Courtney, she adores her and treats her like her own daughter. Courtney loves & adores Heather, she constantly asks for Heather and everytime she sees her, her face lights up and she gets so excited. There have been some nights when Coco will wake up in the middle of the night and will call out for Heather, we have to reassure her that Heather is at her house sleeping. How cute is that???

I, myself, grew up with amazing aunts who were a big part of my life and still are. I always knew they loved me, cared about me and were there for me. Growing up I just figured that everyone had amazing Aunts who were part of their lives. It wasn't until I got older that I realized this isn't true and that my Aunts were extra special. My life has been blessed and still being blessed by their love, their teachings, their advice, their testimonies, their prayers and their examples.

It's special and means so much to me to now see my daughters life being blessed even more than mine. Courtney has double the blessings. She has her Aunts who love her AND her Great Aunts who love her.

To all my Aunts and Courtney's Aunts... Thank you and I love you XOXOXO

The Egg Story

Funny story about Courtney..... The other day, Coco & I were grocery shopping at Walmart. She was sitting in the shopping cart with all the food. I wasn't paying attention to her as I was doing the usual shopping thing, but seriously what kind of trouble could she really get into right? WRONG!

I glanced down and saw that Courtney had slime all over her hands. I stopped, looked closer and saw that she had opened the carton of 18 eggs and had crushed at least half of them. There was raw eggs all over the groceries, all over Coco and a trail of egg yolk down the food isle. What the???

I was so embarrased. I quickly grabbed the last few items I needed and headed to the check out. The check out girl looked at me really weird when she was scanning the slimy food but interestingly didn't ask or say anything about it. But this is Walmart, what do you expect. LOL!!

It wasn't until I told Courtney I wasn't taking her to McDonalds that she knew she was in Big Big Trouble. And, can I empathise she was in Big Big Big TROUBLE!!

In the end, after I cleaned the groceries and calmed down I was able to find the humor in the whole situation and now it makes me laugh. Definitely a memory I will never forget.

My First Phone Call From Jakes School

A few weeks ago (a little slow on getting this posted), Scott called and told me to get to Jakes school right away. The school had called and told him that Jake had fallen and cut his knee pretty bad. They thought he may need stitches.

It took me a record 20 seconds to get Court and myself in the van. I threw my coat on over my pajamas, grabbed my hat, and grabbed Coco who was wearing only her pajama top and diaper. We were quite the sight. LOL!!!

I found Jake sitting in the big school office. He looked so small and scared but I could tell he was trying so hard to be brave. I am so proud of how well he handled everthing.

From what Jake tells me... he was playing on an ice hill at recess, slipped and fell on his knee. When he stood up he saw that his knee was "gushing with blood". Exact quote from Jake. LOL!

Instead of heading to the ER I headed straight to my neighbor who is an ER nurse (saved me a $75 co-pay). My neighbor cleaned Jakes knee and came to the conclusion that he would be fine without stitches. She did more of her nurse magic, gave Jake some movies to watch, instructions for me and we were done. Thank you Megan you're awesome!!

Here's a close up of his knee. Sorry, kind of gross. The picture actually doesn't do it justice as it looked much worse in person.

The next day we kept Jake home from school. Not so much for the knee injury but for his worrying. He started getting really stressed thinking about how he wouldn't be able to play at recess. The following day when he returned to school, he was ready and everthing was back to normal.

Courtney, like all younger sibblings, has to do everything her big brother does. When we got home she stated that her knee had an owee and she couldn't walk. She insisted on a pillow to elevate her knee as well. Jake got a little bugged by her coppying him but I thought it was hilarious. The rest of the day I nursed both my children back to health. Oh the memories!!!