Family Time

Getting family together all at the same time is just not that easy.

We are at the stage where even sitting down for dinner with all of us at the same time rarely happens. What usually happens is I cook dinner for whomever is home and then I leave it sitting out for those that come home after so they can still eat but have to be okay with heating it up. Yet some of my favorite moments is when everyone is together.

When Greg and I married we agreed to try to make family time with ALL our kids a priority. We recognize that this time in our kids lives is going by quickly. As it stands we hate missing any moments. We also knew this would be an extra challenge with his kids living in Arizona and my kids crazy schedules.

With that said, we have been super happy because we have been seeing Natalie, Andy and Steve almost every month. It has been awesome. But even when they are here it still has been a challenge to coordinate my kids schedule. It seems like someone is always missing from a dinner or a movie or whatever excursion has been decided on to take due to a game, work, school function or a previous committed too social event.

It does happen though...we have moments. And I LOVE those moments. And usually I try to capture those moments by taking pictures. The kids love it so much when I pull my camera out. Okay not really...maybe just Kendall...but kudos to them for being good sports. (I did give them all a break in the month of March. See I'm thoughtful like that.)

This past weekend we had a moment when everyone was around at the same time. Natalie, her boyfriend Nick, Andy and Steve came for a quick visit. Greg went to Arizona Friday to watch Steve in his final play of his junior year and then drove back with them. Sandon became an official Teacher on Sunday. That Sunday afternoon after work for one and church for the rest we were all together. And of course the camera came out. Thanks guys for letting me capture the moment. Love to all of you.

*****For the record, there is another side to having everyone together, especially for a Sunday dinner. There is a huge amount of food that is consumed. This past Sunday, just for dinner for example...10 pounds of mashed potatoes and 4 marinated flank steaks cut into strips was not quite enough for those who like seconds and thirds...

Happy Birthday Sandon!

Sandon turned 14 years old today...

What? Seriously...my kids are getting older so quickly. Whats up with that?

Sandon was my trickiest birthing experience. He was my only c-section, make that emergency c-section. Certain things happened the few weeks leading up to his birth that at the time seemed confusing. We were living in a different country. I had planned to have Sandon in Madrid, Spain. But unexpected job changes and easy re-location back to the states that should have been complicated all fell into place. We did not think much of it until the day Sandon was born. I was where I needed to be to birth him... at the right place and the right time, with an English speaking doctor who could communicate with me. If I had been any where else Sandon and I might not be here today...

And I would have never known what a great guy Sandon is turning out to be...the easiest going boy...who loves steak...tells us how great we are looking almost everyday...he can make all of us laugh with his funny personality...who is addicted to XBOX live (grrr)...a natural athlete...smart...loves staying up late...is learning to work the system...:)

We would have also missed out on good friends dropping off birthday cake to him...thanks Tess and Cassie!

Cassie and Tess and their version of a birthday cake! Yum!

Love you Sandon. :)

Spring Break

Last week was spring break...

I love spring break...I love no schedules...I love not driving to early morning seminary...I love not having to rush home from work to take a kid to a practice or game...

What made this spring break even more fun for me was that I had Friday off to spend with the kids...the last two years I had to work the whole week...Kendall and I with one of her best buddies Krista and her mom and aunt went to see Hannah Montana the movie...very cute...for some reason the boys turned us down when we invited them to come...:)

The day before Easter presented us with a very unusual Saturday...only one kid had a game...and it was in the morning hours...yep awesome...with a Saturday afternoon without a set schedule Kendall and I decided to be creative and make some Easter cake pops that I had seen on Bakerella's website...we learned a lot and discovered that it is much harder than one might think...but we had a lot of fun trying...It turns out that Kendall can be very creative when trying to solve a challenge...now I just need some of her energy...please.

The object was to make some chicks and Easter eggs...


We decided to make the chicks first...


We were feeling pretty good with ourselves after making the chick pops...we thought we were experts...so we started making the Easter egg pops...

Mmmm...I could not get them to look like Easter eggs and our cake pops were having trouble staying on the stick...Kendall decided that maybe using two sticks would be better...and she definitely ended up with the most awesome cake pop...

I did not have as much patience as Kendall did so I started making "cake balls" instead of "cake pops"...


In the mean time Greg was enjoying his book and watching the Masters...


That is until Kendall discovered that if you dip a strawberry into the melted candies it tastes pretty darn good...of course Greg had to come check it out too...:)


In the end, after creating a mess, we had fun trying something new...they turned out tasty and rich and it was fun doing something different with Kendall...it was a good way to spend an afternoon with no set schedule...thanks Kendall for helping end spring break on a high note!