Happy Valentines Day!!!!

Me and my Sweetheart!

For the "love of MY life"  Jimmy Scratcher.  I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

This is for James!  I can't imagine my life without him!

To my sweet kids who bring so much joy and meaning to my life.  I am the luckiest mommy in the world!  How did that happen?  I know...I was blessed with them so they could teach me how to be a better person.

This is for all of my family!  I am so happy to be part of such fun loving families.  Family is really what life is about here on Earth.  I am so blessed to be part of such awesome families!  I love them soooo much!!!!

And of course I love my friends!  How can I be so lucky to have met and kept so many good friends in my life?  It sure isn't all of the effort I put forth...ask any of them!  I am just lucky to meet the most generous, loving and forgiving people who like me even though they know how weird I am!!!

Kickin' It Into High Gear!

Taylor and I goofing around while the boys were gone camping!  We love our "girl time". 

Averi got some glasses!  I don't know if they help or not, but she is so dang cute wearing them!  She actually likes wearing them too...time will tell. 

*We have had such a BUSY year already!  James and Christian have already had 2 scout overnight camping trips (I wish I had pictures).  I don't know if I mentioned it, but James is now the 2nd Counselor in the Young Men, which means he is over Christian's class.  I love that they are together! 

*I just got put in as the 1st Counselor of Primary.  I love primary, it is kind of like a marathon every Sunday...crazy!  I am excited and since I was recently the Secretary I could jump right in.  Of course, I'm going to miss the Ward Bulletin, it was the BEST calling!  I knew it couldn't last long. 

*My Grandma Empey passed away from cancer on her birthday Jan. 14th, she was 83.  It was sad and good because she was so sick.  

*James and I also got to go on a "business trip" together in January too!  It was for the hospital and patient experience improvement, so I attended for my volunteer position.  We took the kids and they stayed with  their Grandma and Grandpa Williams while we were in our meeting, they had a lot of fun.  It was so nice of them to keep the kids for us!  James had to present in front of a ton of people!  He did so good.  I married one smart fella!  I kinda love him-A LOT!!!

*James and I just got back from Mesa Arizona. We flew from I.F. there for a really quick trip.   Averi's Aide from school- Renae- just got married in the Temple there.  I am so lucky to have been to so many Temple Sealings lately!  Each one was such a unique experience!  I have learned so much.  Renae married a wonderful man who's wife passed away from cancer a few years ago and she has been divorced for a few years too.  I am so happy for them!  We loved getting to go to her wedding!  It was really sweet! I wanted to pick fresh fruit from the trees on the Temple grounds, but James wouldn't let me-I bet those limes and grapefruit were the best ever!!!!  I don't think they would have cared!

We went to the Phoenix Zoo and spent a couple of days just having fun together.  It was an awesome Valentine's Day trip.  I had so much fun just laughing and spending time with him, he is THE BEST husband in the UNIVERSE!! My parents were so kind to once again keep our kids for us.  I think I would be insane if it weren't for our awesome parents and the help they give us with our kids!!!  I LOVE THEM!

*Now it's back to the grind!  I guess we have to pay to play.  James is swamped at work!  Poor guy!  I have to find something meaningful to do for my hospital volunteer job, plan some Sharing Times and one 5th grade Valentine party for Taylor's class, and try to wean myself from diet Dr. Pepper.   Maybe I give off the wrong impression that I am sane or something?  I need to quit that!

*Oh yeah!  I can't forget to mention that in Arizona we went out with our friends the Chattertons after the wedding and we ate Alligator at the Islamorada restaurant in the Bass Pro Shop.  It was good but weird, it had a funky texture like it was chewy and had goosebumps.  I felt like the people on that "Swamp People" show, but with all of my teeth.  I honestly don't know how they chew alligator with their lack of teeth!  YIKES!

Happy 2012!

Happy New Year!  

I cannot believe it is 2012!  Time goes by so fast.!

So...for the first time in the past 20 years my New Year Resolution isn't to lose weight.  Yahoo!  Actually if you saw me today you may question this decision, but don't worry, I know what I am doing!  I stopped dieting about 8 months ago and my life has been so nice.  I lost 15 lbs. and I haven't put it back on-and I don't eat all salad and diet food.  I eat what I want.  So I am sticking with this to see where it takes me.

My new "resolutions" are going to be things like:

1)  Do better at all of my "Churchie" things-scriptures, prayer, FHE...you know....the standard good stuff.

2) Don't try to be an "overachiever"!  I am trying to do the KISS method.  Keep It Simple Stupid!  I tend to overdo things.  I can still do what I like to do without having to go crazy doing it!

3) To do better at my "mommy" duties.  I know I have been bad when my kids can't stop thanking me for making "real" food now.  LOL!  I made breakfast the other morning when I had my nephews and niece spend the night and Christian said "Are you starting to cook breakfast now?"  I laughed and said heck no!  I have Averi's therapists over starting at 7 am every morning.  I used to cook breakfast, but now I am too busy in the mornings.  Sad huh?  I tell my kids they will thank me some day for giving them a chance to learn important life skills like laundry, cooking, cleaning, and yard work.  It works most of the time.

So...if I have it in writing maybe I will feel more compelled to do this stuff, right?

I probably should include "be less crazy, less air-headed, less weird, or more normal, (or stop using so many exclamation marks when I write)"  but that would mean I wouldn't have good stories to tell.  I love to laugh at my crazy life experiences, it's too fun!  And I like using exclamation marks because that is how I think inside of my head!!!  It is really loud in there sometimes!  : D

 P.S.-  I will be so mad if the world ends this year!  We aren't planning any big vacations until 2013 so we can pay off our debt, so the Mayans better be wrong!  I got a Mayan calendar, but I can't read Mayan, so I have no idea what it says.  Who trusts people who played ball with other peoples head anyway? Not me!

Here is where the Mayans made up the future...

This is me standing on their "human head" ball field-Gross!  I won't even tell you what else they did...freaky!

MERRY CHRISTMAS CRAZINESS!

 MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

O.K.-I made it through the shopping season without ending up in prison or the mental hospital...barely!  I am soooo ready for Christmas to be here.  My kids' brains have been taken over by some crazy
hopped-up-on-sugar zombie trance, and I have been baking so much that my hands are literally cracked and bleeding.  That reminds me...

Note to self:  DON'T BAKE NEIGHBOR GIFTS NEXT YEAR!  I know you will forget how you feel right now by the time next Christmas rolls around, but trust me self....you HATED it!  Your feet were sore and swollen and you aren't really that efficient at the whole process either.  Sorry, but it's true.  Besides that, your neighbors probably had gotten so many goodies that they eventually threw yours away because they can't stand to look at one more fancy little decorated edible creation!  Next year, do something easier!   

LOVE, 

Yourself

We attended a few Christmas parties and I found this little creation on Pinterest to copy:  Can you believe I made this?!  I can't!

(I love finding such easy things to copy that make me look smart and creative.  Thank you "pinecone -cheeseball" creator person!)

Isn't this little guy so cute?!

We hope you have all had a "semi-stressless" Christmas experience!  We are so grateful for the many blessings our family has, especially our wonderful friends and family! 

*I need to send a "shout-out" to Amazon.com for having almost everything I needed so I didn't have to go out into the war zones in the stores too much. 

*Also I would love to thank the people who left a bag of canned goods on our front porch on Sunday...we weren't in need of them this year, but it was very thoughtful.

My favorite thing is that James is going CRAZY wondering who left it.  Ha Ha!  It may seem as though I am mocking this, but we have been so poor before that we depended on other people and their kindness-trust me!   I thought it was really sweet and I will pass it on to someone who needs it more than us this year.  We are very blessed at the moment to have steady employment...let's hope it stays that way for a long, long time! 

James is such a hard worker, I appreciate his willingness to work so hard so that I can stay home and take care of our home and children.  I kind of  love him A LOT!

*One of the best parts of this whole year was attending the Sealing of my brother Chris to his wife Diana, their daughter Clara and her sweet daughter Hannah who passed away 3 years ago.  Also, last week we got to attend the Sealing of our new adopted nephew Layton to James' brother Travis, his wife Amanda and their 6 kids.  It was so sweet!  I love the chance to have a glimpse of eternity. These are the moments that truly bring us closer to our brother Jesus Christ and help us know how miraculous and amazing his birth truly was.

TO OUR NEIGHBORS-

Dear Neighbors (Bishop),

First of all...I hope you know how much we love you guys!!!  We love being your neighbors and we love how awesome you are! (yes-I am kissing up)


Secondly...the wreath incident wasn't really an "incident"!  We like to use anything possible as an excuse to be lazy and not decorate our yard.   We know you didn't intentionally buy your wreaths bigger than ours!

Thirdly...I am such a dork sometimes!  Please know that I am sometimes too obnoxious for my own good. 

We really couldn't have hand picked better neighbors!!! We are blessed to know you!
Love,
Amber

THIS IS SOOO LONG!

FIRST OF ALL:
This is what happens when your kids get your camera.
Fun surprises...hmmmm....YIKES!

Here are a couple of pictures from Thanksgiving:

I either forget to bring my camera or bring it and forget to use it.  I snapped a couple of interesting pictures though:

This is my brother sweeping.  I know it seems like a weird picture, but I think this is the first time I have ever seen him sweep anything.  I know he won't look at my blog so I can make fun of him all I want
HA HA HA!

This is another weird one...Christian wanted a picture with Averi and of course SANTA!

This is Averi and her Great Grandma Taylor/Johnson.  Averi doesn't look like she is smiling, but she really is!  We are still trying to teach her how to smile in pictures.  It is sooo cute!  I think that is what Grandma is laughing so hard about. 

My nephew Brody spent the night before Thanksgiving with us.  I bet his parents were surprised when he showed up painted like a clown!  I was laughing my head off!  I didn't want to let him do that but I thought he is only a kid once...who cares?!

Now...here is where my life gets crazy!  Some of you may have to sit down before reading this.  Drum roll please.......I AM DOMESTICATED (well...kind of)!  Yahoo!

See, I wasn't born with the Martha Stewart gene, so this has been a challenge for me for about hmmm...let's see...well, since I moved away to college.  I was lucky enough to have room mates who loved to do laundry and cook all of the time.

I tried my hand at many homemaking skills but I get bored easily and I can only do so much.  James and I have a team work system worked out at our house, but lately I have been thinking I need to step it up a little.  Also...I am heading into hibernation season when I get "winter blues".   I decided that the busier I am the less time my body has to think it needs to sleep, and eat.

Now, some of you may be thinking what James was thinking, and worry that I may burn myself out by taking on too much at once.  Well, I have had that worry myself, but I think I better do as much as I can while it still seems fun.  : )

These are some of the projects I have been trying out:

1) Make a menu and actually use it!  I have the pickiest kids and they have driven me to frozen pizza, macaroni, and chicken strips for far too long.  I have taken back the kitchen and I have made stuff like stuffed shells and chicken, orange chicken and rice, meatloaf, and all sorts of yummy casseroles.  It has been a challenge for my kids, but I think they are learning that flavor can be good in food.

2) I decorated some of our yard for Christmas.  This may not seem like a big deal to most people, but after the big wreath incident of 2006, we had banned all outdoor decorations...until now.  (the incident is that we had bought these cute big wreaths to hang at the peaks of our house and we thought we were doing something really special when soon after our neighbor-who is our bishop and we totally like him don't get me wrong-well...he came home one day with the same wreaths, only 10 times bigger and with lights on them and hung them up on the peaks of his house.  Our wreaths looked like little baby wreaths compared to his and we lived in the shadow of his wreaths that whole winter!)

O.K., that was a little dramatic, but it was real to us!  I decided that our yard has been barren too long and I don't care how small our wreaths are, I displayed them proudly.  However,  I did scare my other neighbor guy while he watched me carry around a HUGE ladder and climb to the top all by myself.  He kept asking me if he could help but I am very stubborn and kept turning down his help.  I think he was mostly scared that if I fell he may have to give me CPR or mouth-to-mouth.

3)  Being frugal.  I used to be frugal, but I lost my desire to compare prices and coupon years ago!  It just wasn't for me I guess.  However I thought of my sweet husband working so hard and wondered if there were ways I could help save money around the house without giving up some of the finer things in life.

I had all of these super cool decorating ideas in my head for Christmas but had a very, very small budget.  I decided to re-purpose and get creative.  I was at Fred Meyer and saw some scraps of trimmed Christmas Tress that were waiting to be thrown out and I asked them if I could have them.  They gladly let me take them off of their hands.  Then I needed some filler for my project and decided that I could cut down my way overgrown sage bushes and spray paint them red to go in the middle.  I created a my own decoration.

Now...you have to just trust me when I say it was way cuter a couple of weeks ago before the branches started dying and the wind has blown them to pieces.  TA-DA:

Imagine it lush and green...that how it started out.  Nothing lasts forever I guess.  : )

Averi with me shopping.  It was very stressful.  I ended up coming home and debating for too long and lost interest in the whole project...so this is what got thrown on a wreath and hung on our door.  This is my "I'm too tired to make this look any better" wreath. 

5)  For James' work, every department gets to choose a wreath to decorate and then auction off for charity every year.  This year he waited and waited until a couple of days before it was due and had no takers.  So...I had one night to come up with something.  I was still sick of wreaths, and I felt like I had used up all of my creative juices, so I was a little stressed out.  I threw this together and put TONS of glitter on it hoping that the sparkly effect would attract someone to it.  I don't know how much it sold for or if it won any of the showmanship awards, and I don't care either!  I just sent it and hoped for the best.  It could have looked a lot worse...

 6) Lastly, I decided to make my own cleaning products.  This made me feel sooo smart!  It took a little effort, but I think it saved a TON of money.  I made dishwasher soap, hand soap, febreeze, furniture polish, and general cleaner.  So far, so good.

I also found a lot of cute clothing items I would love to have, especially scarves.  I am really into them right now.  I found a lot of cute ones I liked, but they were so expensive!  So...I made my own!   Without sewing or any "making" skills at all.  I took yarn and tied it together in a pattern and it only cost about $2.00.  I also taught Taylor how to do it too.  We are so proud of ourselves.  We love them too.  Here is a picture of mine being worn by my lovely banister. 

 So...don't be surprised if I do overdo it and burn out.  I will have fun for now and at least have dinner on the table for my family most nights...that saves a lot of money too.

I guess I should start my Christmas shopping now...it is already December 12th.  OOPS! 

HAPPY (late) THANKSGIVING!!!!

I love these cartoons!

I know this isn't a very inspirational post on Thankfulnesses...sorry!  I thought this better portrayed my real self!

 

I hope all ya'll had a very "fulfilling" (ha ha) Thanksgiving day!  We ate soooo much!!!  I made funeral potatoes with bacon, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes with marshmallows on top and cranberry/apple sausage stuffing.  YUMMY!!!!  My mom made the turkey, ham, rolls and salads and Chris and Diana brought pies and green bean casserole. We had enough for 50 people and only 7 adults and 5 kids.  WOW!  I am still full.  It was ALL yum-yum-yum-yum-yum-yum-yum...delicioso!!!