Broc's First Piano Recital

So Broc started piano lessons last October. He has been going once a week since then. We only have an electric piano and have been looking for a nice 'actual' piano for sometime now. So with that being said he really doesn't get the chance to practices as much as he should. So my naive thinking, thought he hadn't really learned a whole lot. But boy was I completely surprised when I saw him very respectfully walk up to the big piano, sit down, and begin to play. He did a fantastic job! He said he messed up but I didn't even notice. If he did he just keep going and the song sounded great. Boy is he growing up so big!
*Sidenote-I have a good friend moving to Germany and she doesn't want to take her piano and so she is giving it to us.......How great is that! And Lisa thanks for the closer (better) picture!

11 Years Ago Today

So Billy and I have been married for 11 years. Man that is a long time. I'll be honest the hardest times in our marriage have been when he's not with me. He really is the better half of me. I grow strength from him.

So I want to tell you a little about when we were first married. I burned pretty much everything I cooked. See I was use to cooking for my family of ten kids. So trying to cut the portion sizes down to just two people was very hard. And hey who knew that a small size lasagna cooked in half the time as a large. I also complained about never seeing Billy between classes, work, and the cheer team. Who knew that I would be going years instead of hours without seeing him. I also felt that I was always right and Billy was always wrong (ok, ok, I still think that but Billy's just better at excepting it now).

So now that we have 4 kids, and 12 moves, to 4 states, and one country under our belt I think we're better because of it (Billy's actually moved 2 more times to two other countries). I am defiantly not the same naive girl I was 11 years ago. I've learned a thing or two in these past years. Here's a couple of them:

-I'm stronger than I ever thought possible.
-Once you get married it's NOT Happily Ever After UNLESS you work at it.
-Kids make life so much more EXCITING!
-When life gets hard PRAYER is always the answer.
-And if I could give you a bit more advice.....Always take time to dance barefoot in the kitchen with your Prince Charming, it makes life complete.

Happy 'Married to You' Day Billy
I love you!!! !

I Married the Best Man Ever!

The day Billy and I got married my cousins (who I visited often in Cedar City, Utah) came up from Cedar to come to our reception. But they brought me the best gift EVER.....Alligator Donuts! Billy was a little confused (and maybe worried that he married a nut). He had never tasted these extremely yummy (and very sugary) donuts. So on our Honeymoon I made Billy stop by this very cute donut shop called Chris and Ron's where they made them. He still laughs at me about them. So to get to my point. Billy and I's Anniversary is on Saturday (it will be 11 years.....who knew j/k Billy) I got a package overnighted to me a couple of days ago. Inside was 6 huge Alligator Donuts. After a bunch of phone calls from the middle of no where Afghanistan Billy was able to find out that the little shop had closed down. But after some help from the good people of the Cedar City Police Department (Billy thought the police would totally know where to find donuts LOL!) Billy found that Lin's Grocery sold the donuts as well. So he called them and had them overnight to me.

Did I happen to mention I'm married to the best man in the world. He really is great! I love that he took time (which wasn't as easy as he thought it would be) to find my favorite donuts. I think I'll keep him around for another 11 years or maybe a little longer.

This is Zona helping me eat one of the donuts!

Raising Ireland

Ireland, "Mom today at school Timothy had a birthday and so I made a birthday card for him."

Me, "Oh that was very nice of you sweetheart."

Ireland, "At the bottom of the card I put P.S call me 1457293 (this of course is not our phone number)."

Me, "Ireland what number is that?"

Ireland, "Oh it's my lunch number!"

(Broc and I laughed so hard.....The picture in our minds of this kid trying to call her lunch number was to much!)

* As a sidenote, her Dad didn't think this was to funny when we told him. The fact that she is giving out any number at her age FREAKS him out!

Parker's Hernia Surgery

Parker had to go in yesterday for hernia surgery. He was such a trooper. He is always so happy. So they wheeled him away all happy and excited. About a hour later they came and got me as they took him to recovery. He slept for a couple of hours and woke up. He gave me a half smile and then gave me this look of 'Mom I don't feel so good.' I fed him and I got to hold him for awhile. Then since he kept everything down they let me take him home. Parker's a little clingy today (which I don't mind at all) but feeling really good.


Thank you for all your help and prayers!

I've Gone Green (well kind of)

Okay so both my parents have green thumbs, but some how I repel plants and they run screaming. Or maybe because I have two parents that have green thumbs that means I get cancelled out to be born with that gene. Whatever it is I decided to take advantage of having my Mom and Dad here. So today my Dad and I went to buy 10 bags of Topsoil, 10 bags of Potting Soil, and 5 bags of manure to put into our grow-boxes that we bought last week. For Family Night the kids, my Mom and I dumped all the dirt into the boxes. We then planted tomatoes, peppers, cantaloupe, and cucumbers. It was a lot of fun. And yes Billy I took lots of pictures.

Broc's hit the Big 9

April 3rd 2010
Broc turned 9 on Saturday the 3rd. We were so crazy busy that I didn't get a chance to blog. He didn't want a birthday party so I asked him what he did want. So of course he picks Chuck E Cheese's. The kids (along with my parents) had a great time. They played and ate pizza all afternoon.

After Chuck's we went to a FRG (Family Readiness Group) Easter Egg Hunt. They had the 0-5 year olds in one area and the 6-and above in another area. Zona was bummed because he wanted to be with Broc and Ireland. So when Zona showed his 40 plus eggs to Broc who had almost 10 eggs, Zona was pretty happy he went to his side instead. Zona was so cute too. When he noticed Broc didn't have as many, he just gave him a bunch of his. I love brothers!The kids had a great time.

When we got home Broc fell asleep on the couch. He was so tired from all the craziness of the day. So Happy Happy Birthday my Big little boy!