Thirty, flirty and thriving.

I had one of the best birthdays in a long time. Let me tell you why my birthday week was so great, which by the way everyone should celebrate the entire week like I do:

• I achieved my first small weight loss goal. I set it for myself to get to by my 30th birthday.


• Some of my girlfriends kidnapped me and took me out to dinner at The Olive Garden (one of my favorites) and then shopping at Ross. (So much fun.)


• I had a fun lunch at Old Grist Mill with friends the day before my b-day.


• I got to celebrate the entire weekend with my hubby, kid-free thanks to our parents, in Las Vegas with a bunch of friends. Shopping, German food, and lots of good times.


• I got an awesome Bissell steam mop from my in-laws, it cleans my tile faster and better than being on my knees scrubbing by hand. (Which by the way, was the best way to clean my tile.)


• My parents took Colby and I to dinner at Paradise Cafe & Bakery and added some spending cash to my card. Thanks!

So, it turns out that this age is not so intimidating. Thank you to all who made it so great; the surprises, gifts, cards, well wishes and time spent with me. I love you all.

I have to give myself some credit for all the things I have accomplished by 30:

• Married my best friend.
• Lived out of Utah for 6 years and loved it.
• Given birth to 3 beautiful boys.
• Bought a condo, sold a condo.
• Have no car payments.
• Bought a home, maintaining a home. (Phew!)
• Finally got my ears pierced.

If you are finally at the end of this post, I apologize for the self-congratulations. I had a bad Wednesday and needed to post something positive. Kind of my gratitude journal.

January Stamping Class

It's a new year and we are going to get started on some fun projects. My next class is this coming Saturday, January 9th 8pm-midnight. For a $15 fee you get to make 6 cards. I provide the paper already cut, all embellishments, envelopes, adhesive and the ideas. You just come and enjoy your girl's night out. I am not selling anything, so there is no pressure. We will be working on birthday cards and Valentine's cards.

Here is who I have attending so far:

Rachel L.
Ashley L.
Laura W.
Stacie S.
Ila Rae M.

If your name should be on this list, email me. I will be cutting paper on Thursday(so, I need a head count), and have limited seating, so reserve your spot today!

Our December...in a nutshell...

So...December is usually crazy for us: Christmas and a birthday. But, this year we added more for some reason. Here's what we've been up to:

Colby, Gabe and Tristan made a lot of Mac n Cheese; since they all like to eat it so much.

We did our fair share of shoveling the driveway, though I'm sure there's more to come.

Found more moments of Skitterz napping on napping boys.

Visited Christmas Village for the first time, and last. It was boring!

But, had fun playing on the playground there.

We all drank a lot of hot chocolate.

And made sure we had clean teeth, since December brings so many wonderful treats from neighbors and friends.

Gabe's preschool class celebrated his 1/2 birthday, since he's out for summer break during his actual birthday.

Tristan wore jingle antlers that he insisted on owning from Shopko all the way to the Koch side family Christmas party. He jingled the whole way down to Bountiful.

(He called them his "ho-ho-ho"s)

Most of us got new fancy holiday clothing to wear to church the Sunday before Christmas.

Braxton turned 8 years old on the 21st.

RaeAnne actually cooked breakfast for Christmas. This usually only happens on Christmas, and only because we eat at about 10am.

For Christmas Tristan got a much coveted Wall-E toy.

(He has watched the movie daily for the last 6 weeks; I don't know why, but he loves it!)

Colby helped the boys put together Lego sets from Santa.

Colby received a miter saw to continue home projects he has in mind.

Colby, his brother Ty, and her boys all got RaeAnne new earrings.

(My escapade in June paid off big time at Christmas.)

She also got the amazing BodyBugg to help in the never ending goal to lose weight, yeah!

It was a year for Nerf guns.

It was also the year to give the Snuggie as a gag gift. Here is my sister, Heidi, modeling hers. All of my siblings and I got one. I gave Colby one as a joke. And Colby's nephew received one as well.

Here are all of my parents' grandchildren on Christmas: Tristan, Gabe, Caitlin, Shaila, Grant, Taryn, Gracee, Braxton, Carson, Jed, Wyatt and baby Blakely in the carrier.

Braxton was baptized on December 27th.

The boys had fun playing outside and sledding down the deck stairs.

All he wants for Christmas...

All he wants for Christmas is his two front teeth! Braxton is trying to catch up with all his friends, within in the past month the tooth fairy has been super busy. He only lost 2 last school year, and already 3 this school year. He looks super cute right now with his "spacey" grin. He was trying to sing the song this morning just the way the Chipmunks do, but he doesn't have as hard a time saying certain words as they do.

December Class

Okay, I know it hasn't been very long, but I wanted to make sure everyone could get their Christmas cards made and get them sent out in time. So, the next classes are:

Saturday, December 5th 7pm - midnight (that's this weekend!)
or
Wednesday, December 9th 7pm - midnight.

Again, you get to make 10 Christmas cards for only $15. Take advantage of this now, the price could very well be going up to $20 in January. Bring a black ink pad if you own one, and your favorite adhesive. These cards take a bit of time, but that's all depending on the quality you want them to be. So, plan on being here for awhile.

We always have treats, and a great time. Reserve your seat today!

November Creations.

Here's what we made this month:

Two of these. Snowflakes are embossed in white. Snowflake punch window to view the saying on the inside corner.

We made two of these. Tag punch window to view the image on the inside. The city here is stamped in navy, but we found it looked better in black.

We made two of these. The ornaments have crystal effects applied to make them look glossy and give them dimension.

We made one of these. This is a small note card you can use with a gift bag. The buckle was made with a punch and threaded with white ribbon.

We made one of these. The buckle and all other Santa coat details were created with punches.

We made two of these. The base of the card was made with clear acetate, and stamped on with StazOn ink. Brushed gold and copper cardstocks.

We attached the gold cardstock on the inside, someplace to write along with a background color for the outside.

November stamping classes

Okay ladies, so this is who I have coming to make 8 Christmas cards and 2 Thanksgiving/Thank You cards (Only $15? What a deal!):

Wednesday, November 18th 7pm-midnight

• Rachel L.
• Connie S.
• Ila Rae M.
• Stacie S.
• Monica C.

Saturday, November 21st 7pm-midnight

• Heidi M.
• Ashley L.

If you are not on one of the above lists, but should be, let me know ASAP. I am cutting paper tonight and tomorrow morning.

A little late, but better than never.

I just read this on a friend's blog, and had to post it here(It made me so emotional!). This is to all of my friends and relatives, as well as those I know not, who serve/served for our country: Happy late Veteran's Day, I salute you and your families! And especially... to my brother.

THE FINAL INSPECTION

The Army Soldier stood and faced God, Which must always come to pass. He hoped his shoes were shining, Just as brightly as his brass. 'Step forward now, Soldier, How shall I deal with you? Have you always turned the other cheek? To My Church have you been true?'
The soldier squared his shoulders and said, 'No, Lord, I guess I ain't. Because those of us who carry guns, Can't always be a saint.
I've had to work most Sundays, And at times my talk was tough. And sometimes I've been violent, Because the world is awfully rough. But, I never took a penny, That wasn't mine to keep... Though I worked a lot of overtime, When the bills got just too steep.
And I never passed a cry for help, Though at times I shook with fear. And sometimes, God, forgive me, I've wept unmanly tears. I know I don't deserve a place, Among the people here. They never wanted me around, Except to calm their fears. If you've a place for me here, Lord, It needn't be so grand. I never expected or had too much, But if you don't, I'll understand. There was a silence all around the throne, Where the saints had often trod. As the Soldier waited quietly, For the judgment of his God. 'Step forward now, you Soldier, You've borne your burdens well.
Walk peacefully on Heaven's streets, You've done your time in Hell.'
~Author Unknown~

Sick, sick, sick.....

Last Thursday I was feeling achy. But, I thought it was from my first attendance at a BodyPump class at the gym. Little did I know, I was sick.

It hit me hard and very fast while I was at my mom's house. I grabbed my boys' and hurried home to get straight in bed for the next 2 1/2 days. I don't even remember Friday, thanks Colby for picking up the kids from school on Thursday and Friday. I can't remember being so exhausted in my whole life.

Then Saturday morning it hit Tristan. So, Colby took Braxton and Gabe to hang out at his parent's house to keep them all safe from it. T and I were left at home to fend for ourselves. Colby came home around 10pm, claiming Gabe had thrown up there and now had it. Sunday morning, Colby awoke with the awfulness.

I was "sick and tired" of being sick and tired. So, while everyone was napping I broke out the Lysol spray and Clorox wipes and cleaned every surface in our entire house that I could think of any of us touching. It took me the whole day. Then, I Cloroxed the kitchen floor and fell asleep on the couch feeling a lot better. I was determined to get those germs out of my house, and quarantine all of us sick people in. I didn't want to be responsible for this spreading to any other household. I kept urging Braxton to drink Airborne and stay away from us, and the whole family got attacked by me and the Purell hand pump about every other hour for random hand cleaning sessions.

My sweet in-laws snagged Braxton away from the house Sunday and brought him back that evening with homemade chicken noodle soup. At this point, I was in survival mode. Still sick and exhausted, but having to take care of everyone because Colby was in the state that I was in Thurs-Sat.

Today, all that lingers with T, G and I are congestion and a cough. Colby is finally feeling coherent today, and Braxton has still stayed free and clear of the bug. Thank goodness, because I don't know how I would have kept sane with 4 boys at home feeling crappy, bored and fighting. Gabe is dying to go back to school, but I am keeping his germs home with us for awhile.

So, Colby did a lot of research last night, and talked to a friend who had been diagnosed by a doctor as having swine flu. It looks like that is what our family had this last week. The aches were unimaginable, and came a lot of the time with no fever, by themselves lasting 3 days. The illness has taken 7 days so far, but it looks like we are all almost done with it. Thanks to all of you for checking up on us. And thank you even more for staying away, we are not taking it personal. We don't want anyone to have to go through this.

Now it's off to the shower for me, and then to start getting this illness out of massive amounts of laundry.

My latest project...

So, last week our neighbor asked if we wanted a set of bunk beds. Oh yeah, I jumped all over that one. We have been considering buying some for awhile now. Whether we had a friend's dad make us a set and sell them to us, or drive down to Ikea. But we got these for free. Woot! Tristan has been wanting to sleep in Gabe's race car bed forever, so I took down his crib and he graduated to a toddler bed. That means that Gabe's graduates from a toddler bed to Braxton's old bed. And Braxton is the lucky winner of a set of bunk beds. Wahoo! I still would like to paint the little boys' room (along with several other rooms in my "white-walled" house) but I will save that for after Christmas. So here are the finished rooms. I was very excited to shop for some new/matching bedding. Two sets of the same, but it is all reversible. Love it! Also, we had the ladder at the other end of the bed, but until I move B's planets hanging from his ceiling it will have to stay where it it. The kids kept bumping into them every time they climbed up and down. I was afraid they were going to get mutilated. We keep find our huge cat Skitterz asleep on the top bunk. Can't wait to see him maneuver himself up there. Braxton's room already came painted the way we liked it.
I'm proud to say that I moved Braxton's old bed/Gabe's new bed from room to room all by myself. I was determined to get my project done on my time scale and not have to wait for help.
And I need to remove or adjust the younger boys' names on their walls.The boys were excited that they had no school today. So, I let Gabe and Braxton sleep in the same room (something I never do) and have a semi-late nighter. I moved the TV and DVD player onto B's dresser, and they both laid up there and watched a movie together. Then, they decided that they both wanted to sleep on the top bunk, so I let them. This was a rare night that they got along for such a long stretch of hours. So, why fight it. Here are some pics of the all our boys enjoying there new beds.