The "Man Cave"

Thank goodness we have a 3 car garage because the third bay has become, what we call, the "Man Cave". It is Adam's own place where he loves to hang out and he can have all of the stuff he loves surrounding him. I snuck in and snapped a shot of him enjoying his time hanging in his cave. If you look at the picture closer you will discover 3 computer screens, 2 televisions, a desk, a printer, file cabinets, bikes, a weight bench and weights, barbells, boxes of wires and computer parts, a stress-relieving punching bag and the all important 2 litre of Diet Coke, etc. I think the only thing that is missing is a mini -fridge---- but the one that I gave him he has in his office at work! This doesn't even show the other part of the garage that is filled with all of his tools and saws and such. It is the one place where he can keep things how he wants them and he doesn't have me picking up after him or making him clean up. If we can't find Dad we know where to look!

Hmmmm....maybe I should think of making a room a "Woman Cave" or better yet a "Woman Retreat"?????

Safe Haven?

There is something about feeling safe in your own home. I enjoy my home and I feel very safe from outside worldly influences. Wherever the day takes me it is always nice to come home to what I refer to as my 'safe haven'.

Until something from outside threatens your peace....until one of these creep (or slither) into your home!!



I have no problem with lizards...when they are outside! I have been noticing a lot more around (not inside) our home this spring and I enjoy watching them do their little push up thing when they are hanging out on the back wall of our yard....OUTSIDE! But the other day one of these creepy, scaly, miniature dinosaur looking creatures decided to surprise me in my laundry room and run across my feet to slither under the washing machine. Talk about FREAK out! I ran out of the room so fast, jumping and waving my hands...grabbing whatever poison I could find (Lysol?) and spraying all that I could under the machine, slamming the door and stuffing a towel under it so that it would be trapped in the room and hopefully die from the bacteria killing spray! To say the least laundry was on hold until the boys came home to take care of it. I even spent the majority of the day upstairs thinking that even if it did get out it would not be able to go up the stairs. Yeah right! I have seen them scale the backyard wall many times.

I could not believe how much it freaked me out having this lizard in my safe haven. I was creeped out even more than the time we had a mouse! It took me by surprise how much this bothered me. I could not function normally all day until I knew it was out. Well when the boys got home they were not much help but as I was talking on the phone Zack noticed it by the stairs......so much for the towel under the door keeping out....and the boys successfully removed it from the home. In the process though it lost a leg, its tail came off (which that always creeps me out because it wriggles around like a snake for many minutes) and it was in misery so they put it gently out of its torture. No problem here, that thing deserved what it got, it tortured me for hours!! OK that is a bit harsh but I was thrilled to have it gone and to feel safe once again in my home:)

Did I mention the lizard was practically a baby one? Probably a teenager, about 3 inches long with a long skinny tail. It didn't matter though...to me it seemed as big as an iguana! Ick!

Cousins

I grew up never really knowing my cousins. Sure we would visit them once in awhile but we didn't see each other enough to really become close. I am so happy that my kids get to experience the relationships that they have with their cousins. Me, being the youngest in the family, makes it where most of their cousins are much older than them. In fact on my side all of their cousins are married (Jeremy will be at the end of the month) and the majority of them have children of their own except for the ones that are pictured here with them. It has been so nice to have these 'older' cousins be such great examples for my boys and set such an example of righteous living. My boys admire them and think that they are all pretty awesome, which they are!
We had a visit from their 'younger' cousins over Spring Break, my brother's kids who are around the same age as them. Matthew and Whitney are less than a month apart and it has been fun watching them change and grow together. I could fill volumes of scrapbooks with all the pictures that we have of the both of them together! It is always a good time when we are all together! It seems like only yesterday that these 'younger' cousins along with my boys were the little kids in the family----now we have a group of teenagers! It is crazy! I sure love this group of kids---they are the BEST in my book:))

PJ's Easter

Easter was very different this year for two reasons
1. We stayed home for Easter with just our little family.
2. We stayed in our pajamas practically the whole day watching General Conference.


At first I thought that I would be miss being surrounded by alot of family and I would miss getting all dressed up in new clothes for church and therefore it would be a disappointing Easter. But we made the best out of it and actually ended up having a very relaxing, spiritual and fun Easter:) First of all, lounging in my comfortable pj's, listening to inspiring talks and being surrounded by my family.......come on---what could be better! Oh I know----eating Rice Krispy treats for breakfast:) Yeah we did, don't judge me...Easter is only celebrated once a year.
Now I thought that my boys were getting just a bit too old for an easter egg hunt, I would still fill their easter baskets but I thought an end had come to the traditional hunt. But when I asked them if they still wanted one of course the answer was yes! So not having plastic eggs on hand because I had thrown them out last year and I was not purchasing anymore....I came up with making up a puzzle for each of them and hiding the pieces all over the house and they had to find the pieces and put the puzzle together to see what they would be getting.

Every year in their basket they have gotten candy and for some reason I also gave them a new T-shirt of some sort in their basket, it has become a tradition, so this year the puzzle was a coupon good for one whole, new oufit....shirt and pants/shorts. I know it seems lame but they like it:)

After enjoying a wonderful conference and eating a delicious tri-tip dinner with all the fixin's we then enjoyed the night by playing our version of "Minute to Win It". Some stunts included emptying a tissue box in one minute with only using one hand, getting an oreo from your forehead and into your mouth without using your hands, ping pong fun, etc.

All in all, it is not who you spend Easter with or where you spend it or what you are wearing. Easter is a great day to remember how blessed we are to have such a loving Savior:))

"Thought"ful Weekend

Today is my Dad's birthday and I cannot help but have my thoughts on him today. This is a picture of his last birthday with us last year. My Mom threw a party for him and don't ask me about the hat.....my Dad will do anything for my Mom:)) What a great way to spend my weekend...enjoying conference talks and being spiritually uplifted, thinking about my wonderful father and how much he blessed my life and pondering on the Savior and the great gift of the atonement that he has given me. I am blessed:)

Christmas Recap

I love the Christmas season and this Christmas was full of family, parties and baking! The boys and I made a quick trip up to Utah, when they got out of school, to visit family and also to pick up my Mom to come back with us for the holidays. We were excited to have her come out and spend Christmas with us! In Utah we gathered with family and I especially enjoyed playing with the new little additions!

They are so cute...I just love babies! These are my, I guess you would call them my Great Neice and Great Nephew! Whatever, all I know is that I am their Great Aunt and I think that they are just adorable! It is hard to believe that my Mom and Dad have 17 great grandchildren now! Wow! While in Utah we also visited my Dad's grave, the holidays are much different without him here.

He will forever be in our thoughts and our hearts. What an amazing man!

Then back home we traveled to spend the holidays with Mom at our home. We had such a great time having her here and were able to go and do alot. My sister and her husband also joined us on Christmas day. No better way to spend Christmas than to be with family:)

The boys were spoiled, again this year.Matthew with his new bass

Zack with his IPod Touch

After Christmas my brother and his family came for a day which was fun, for the cousins love being together. We went ice skating and they all enjoyed the time that they had with Grandma while she was here. Then Zack and I took my Mom back home to Utah and returned in the same day so that we would be back for New Years Eve. And we partied the New Year in with friends and hope that 2010 is a great year! It was a great holiday season!!

Mess!

And this is why I have not scrapbook'ed for a long time! I am a very messy scrapbooker and I believe that I have lost any bit of creativity that I had ever had! My dining room table has looked like this for over a week now (except for the one night the missionaries came to dinner, then the mess was moved to the laundry room temporarily) and all that I am working on is scrapbooking our Alaska vacation that we took in 2008! I am happy to say that I am finally finished with it but I was hoping to get much more done than just that weeks worth of pictures. Oh well!! Note to self: In order to get caught up with my scrapbooking I must have a scrapbook room...that is all there is to it:)