the call family

State swim and such

2012-02-11T16:04:00.001-08:00

This past weekend we had to chance to go up and watch Erin swim State at BYU! Yea for the freshman! I wrote about this whole thing on blogger.com and believe me when I say that if you use blogger to update your blog you are insane!! I used to use blogger and switched to Windows Live Writer. Best decision ever. Somehow I just started up blogger and it was a mess! Pictures get put wherever it feels like it and are nearly impossible to move around. So, to prevent any oncoming damage to my computer or nearby surroundings, I just shut er down. Yep, lost the whole blog post on purpose!! So now….two days later…I am ready to let you know how awesome that weekend was!!!

The best sum up ever is found HERE!!! Seriously, best video ever. Thanks Lex! Here are a few more pics to document the weekend!

Do your kids ever plug their noses when they pass a cemetery? And notice that the boys are all squished together, even though the entire back row of seats are empty! Love it!

We drove up early, early Saturday morning and spent a very busy weekend between Provo, Orem, Mapleton and Spanish Fork. We started out at BYU with a game of bowling. Laura and her darling kids, Stevie and Suzie, met us there. What fun we had!

What would we do without you, Lex?? Perfect pic’s every time!!

Grace had some great ways of bowling……this one got her a STRIKE!!!

The glowing couple! It was so great to see them!! This is my darling nephew and niece. They were somewhat perplexed by Spencer. I’m not sure what it was. Maybe his height. Or his smile. Or that all around handsom-ness. Whatever it was, they just weren’t too sure of him. I took this picture (above) as Spencer was just about to bowl….look at their priceless faces! After bowling we went over to the Creamery for ice cream! After a great visit, it was time to say good bye. Grace and Suzie had really hit it off and were great buddies. Everyone was busy giving hugs and such, but cute little Suzie when it was her turn to hug Spencer, she said “no!”. Ha. It was so funny. So she hugged Grace again, and even came over to Jeremy to give him a hug. At that point, Spenc said, “Hey, do I get a hug now?” and she just looked at him and said no! It was so funny. But no worries, Spenc was all good since the amazing Laura baked him his own batch of his most favorite Peanut Butter cookies!! Soooo sweet!!! We had a great visit! After that we were heading out to get a few errands done, when we were randomly driving by the $1 Theater. Ha. We kind of assessed the situation and realized everyone was worn out. So, unlike us, we pulled up and found a movie, well two movies, that would work and off we went. We are the planners and such, so to randomly stop at a movie was so weird! But we enjoyed the relaxing break.

After that we were on sprint mode. Off to Costco for pizza, dropping off the kids to B&A, so Jer and I could head back to BYU to watch this superstar fly through the water. (in the blue swimsuit below). She did amazing! 100 free, knocked 3 seconds off her best time! Way to swim Erin!! While we were cheering on Erin…..with hundreds of other well-wishers, the kids were rocking out with Brians drums, microphone, guitars and such. We had a great visit with Gram and Gramp. We played games that afternoon and I realized I probably shouldn’t sit by Alexa. It’s kind of like sitting by Jill during games growing up.

Last, but not least, we stopped by the Josh Call family household to meet our newest niece. Boo that I don’t have any pictures of that….but I was too busy trying to get as much baby-holding time as possible for myself!! She is darling and beautiful and it was so good to see their family. Hopefully next time we can play longer!!

It was a great weekend. Just one question for you….does the car ride home from any trip always seem longer that it took to get there for you, too??

It's easier being sick when the kids have grown

2012-01-30T08:40:00.000-08:00

I have had this terrible cold, cough, flu all weekend long. It hit me like a ton of bricks while watching Spencer's basketball game Friday night. All at once my throat started hurting so bad and my body was achy from head to toe. Misery quickly set in.

I remember the days of being sick, whether it was stomach flu or a terrible cold, with little ones at home. You still have to nurse your babies, change diapers, fill sippy cups, get snacks, read picture books, get them ready for school, take & pick up, all the things you usually do. You wonder how you are going to be able to do it feeling as sick as you are, but you do.

This weekend was much different. Unfortunately Jeremy had to work all day Saturday, so I really did have to drag myself to Grace's two basketball games. I did survive. I didn't care that anyone saw me unshowered and looking as miserable as I felt. But after coming home from that, it was a date for me with my bed. I took three naps on Saturday and after taking Nyquil that night, slept for another 11 hours. All of the kids were amazing. Spenc helped take kids here and there. They can all make their own meal, Zac's favorite being fried egg and toast which he can make 100% by himself. They were so good. As I dozed in and out between naps I marveled at how lucky I was that I could have this day to sleep and rest. I had survived the raising of small, oh so needy children during sicknesses. What a blessing!

Spencer was asked to speak in church on Sunday about the Savior and the Atonement. I did not want to miss that! I got up early, showered and got ready. Then I curled up in my bed until it was time to go. (you know that feeling when you get all ready to go somewhere on a sick day and it has completely worn you out all ready, so you have to lay back down to get ready to get up?) He did such an amazing job. I love that kid. As soon as he was done, I was off to home for another date with my bed. It was a lazy day filled with kleenex, vicks (mmm, I love that stuff when I'm sick), chapstick and movies.

I am so thankful for the times when I was able to cuddle my little ones, watch extra movies and show after show on PBS when we were sick. But I must say, it is much more relaxing to be sick when the kids are grown.

ps I was oh so happy to wake up and read this fabulous news! I've known for a couple weeks, I've just been waiting for it to be announced!!! Congratulations Brian and Lex!! http://www.alexamariezurcher.com/2012/01/blog-post.html

Junior Prom 2012

2012-01-22T17:26:00.001-08:00

**I just blogged this whole post. And my computer got shut off. Accidently. Without saving. Yikes! So here I go again!!**

Spencer was very creative in asking Madi to Jr Prom. He was working on asking her a couple weeks before the dance, but she was on her way that very day to Mexico for a week with her family. So the day she got back she came home to this: Spencer made four monkeys out of cardboard and painted them. It turned out so good! And he thought of it and did it all by himself! Madi answered the very next day by door-bell ditching a banana cream pie (that was to die for delicious) with the word YES in bananas on it, along with a monkey carrying a sign that said “SPENCER, now you can go BANANAS!” (because his sign said, I’d go bananas if you’d go to Jr Prom with me!) I loved how they asked and answered each other. So cute!A couple weeks before all this, Varsity Basketball Coach Brown called Spencer out of his Physics class into his office. He complimented Spenc on how well he is doing in basketball and how much he appreciated his efforts. Two nights previous, Spenc hit two 3 pointers in two min in the Varsity game to get our team back in the game. Then he proceeded to tell him, “I know you feel very strongly about page 37 of our manual” (the Warrior boys basketball put out a booklet/manual of rules, etc and on page 37 it talks about being kind to team mates and absolutely no swearing. The entire team knows Spenc can’t stand swearing and he’s pretty quick to remind you of page 37) Coach Brown continues, “Well I would like to direct your attention to page 5. Do you know what page 5 says? It talks about respecting your teachers, behaving in class and getting your work done. I have received several emails from your teachers, Mrs Oberhansly and PK, about your being disrespectful in class and mouthing off. (At this point when Spenc is telling me this I am pretty much in freak out mode!) Coach Brown continued to tell him that this is not what they expect from their players and that there would be some repercussions. First, practices were going to be a lot harder. Second, there would be no more strawberry milk after practice. (Every day after practice for years, the team all gets a cho milk, something to do with the protein/carb ratio….Spenc can’t stand cho milk, so they bring one strawberry milk for him this year, haha, spoiled much??) And the third punishment….”You are on Jr Prom Royalty!” Ahhh, he totally had Spenc wondering what he was doing wrong in class and such! And it was all to tell him that he was chosen by the Junior class as one of 6 candidates for Jr Prom King. For the Jr Prom assembly, each young man was paired up with a winning young woman for six couples total. Spenc was paired up with Sydney and they were to be Jay Z and Beyonce. Ha. For all of you who know Spenc, this is SO completely out of character. They had to lip sync part of a Jay Z / Beyonce song in front of the entire high school. For all of you who REALLY know Spencer, you know this is really out of character for him! He was actually fine about doing it and did an awesome job! As soon as I figure out how to edit the video, I’ll post it. It’s pretty awesome! Here he is with Sydney after the assembly. They went from their rapper clothes to fancy smanchy. They both did a great job at the assembly.

The next day was the big day! The planned day date had to be altered due to the first storm of the year. Six couples were planning to go hiking and a picnic. They quickly figured out a new plan of Wallyball at the Rec Center, then they took their dates out to lunch.

It is waaaaay super different having a son on the day of prom than a daughter! With Alexa, as soon as she was dropped off from her day date, she would quickly shower and then while doing hair, make-up, nails and fancy dresses, she would tell me every detail of the day! I went to find Spenc about an hour before he needed to leave to go pick up his date and this is what I found him doing….sound asleep! Ha. Good thing it only takes this kid thirty min from shower to tux!!

Off he went to get his date Madi for the Prom. They picked up their dates and went to dinner first. Dinner and pictures were at Tom Jensens amazing house. They loved it and then headed off into St George to the Bell Tower where the dance was. He told us later that night that they called up the six King and Queen candidates. They were up on this balcony and last year’s King was the one to crown this years King. He walked around passing all of the candidates and came back to crown Spencer the Jr Prom King (did you know his dad was Freshman Prince?? with a Princess on each arm??). He said EVERYONE was congratulating him and high fiving him. How awesome!! He is an amazing young man. He is willing to stand tall and stand for the right, even if he has to stand alone. He is honest, true, valiant, handsome, and apparently very likable! What an honor to be crowned King from the entire Junior Class student body.

The kids ALWAYS come into our room after a date. When Spenc got home at midnight, Erin was all ready in our bed visiting with us, so the four of us talked for over an hour about his date, being crowned the KING, and other random things of life. I love these times to meet with our kids and hear how things are going. And the quote of the night from Mr. Jr Prom King himself is: “I love it when girls eat a lot”!!!

CONGRATULATIONS MR JR PROM KING!!!

We love Sunday!

2012-01-22T06:36:00.000-08:00

We went to church last year from 1pm – 4pm. We enjoyed lazy mornings and sleeping in. This year we switched to 9am – noon. So there’s no sleeping in this year and our mornings are busy! But after church, we have the whole day to spend together. We’ve found some rather fun things to do with all of our time together.

We decided to put the extra frosting to good use after we were done with the sugar cookies. I know, you’re wondering why we left so many of them unfrosted!! Spencer can’t stand frosting, candy, or any sweets…..except for plain, unfrosted cookies. And yes, we save about 15 cookies frosted for the five of us….and nine unfrosted for him. They end up being gone at the same time!Sometimes we get bored, when we’re all tired, but it’s not quite time for bed (ummm, 6pm). So we do such things as light fireworks in the house?? Um, yes. Yikes. And for a little adventure, we let this guy (above) choose the game. He tells us all about this game that he plays at recess called, “Candle Factory”. It’s pretty much like a game of tag. But if you get tagged, the person who is “it” gets to take you to the “candle factory” and pose you into a candle of some sort. You have to slowly start to “melt”, but you are free if someone comes and tags you. He was pretty excited to be able to pose his big bro and dad like ballerinas?? hahaWe love our Sundays together. Although, now that I am thinking about it, this game (above) was played for Family Night Activity (Monday). We love doing silly things with the kids and hanging out together. We are blessed beyond measure. Our house is bursting at the seams, filled with so much love and we wouldn’t have it any other way!!

Elder Tyler Brooks came home!

2012-01-21T18:11:00.001-08:00

Our wonderful friends, Warren and Benita Brooks, welcomed home their son, Tyler Brooks from his mission. He served in Oklahoma from January 2010 – January 2012. On the evening of Tuesday, January 3rd we had the privilege of gathering at the St. George airport to welcome him home.

My most favorite photo is pictured below. My dear friend, Benita Brooks’ reaction to seeing her most amazing son after two years!!! Priceless!!

The first hug went to Ty’s brother Chris. Those two boys hadn’t seen each other in three and a half years! Chris left on his mission to Montana, and a year and a half later Ty left for Oklahoma. Oh I love these boys!!Second hug…..mom!! She’s waited a long time for this hug!Ty giving his baby sister Mikelle, (aka Grace’s best friend) a BIG hug! His comment to Mikelle was, “Look how big you are! You’re almost taller than Chris!” :)There were many other hugs, but last, but surely not least was a big hug for dad. Oh how I love this family. The spirit that was there was amazing. Everyone was so excited to be reunited with Ty. I can only imagine that this is how our reunions in heaven will be when we meet again with loved ones who have passed away. Warren and Benita loving every second of this night! Finally, the Brooks boys are back together again. I pretty much can envision them as the Three Muskateers. Mike (left) is married, Tyler is holding his son Dayton. When Ty left on his mission Dayton had just turned one. They got acquainted pretty quick that night!! Chris is in the middle. Can’t you just see the happiness in these boys? I loved this night and was so happy to be a part of it!

WELCOME HOME TY BROOKS!!!

Christmas 2011

2011-12-26T13:54:00.001-08:00

We had a lot of fun this Christmas. The kids weren’t up too early….6:45am, but let us sleep until 7am. Lucky us. :) I love Christmas morning simply because of the kids. It is sooo fun to see their excitement, love for each other and anticipation. It was a great day! Zac got a remote controlled helicopter, Grace got a cake decorating kit (which was the ONLY thing she wanted!) along with cake mixes, frosting, decorations, cupcake liners, and cupcake pans, Erin the swimmer girl got a waterproof ipod for the many miles of laps she swims each day, and Spenc got the Adobe Flash program he really wanted. Tradition is that the kids open their stocking first and then take turns opening their Santa present. After that, Jeremy hands out gifts in any random order while we take turns oooooing and awwwwing at everyone!

This year Erin made me “eco-friendly” bowl covers. So instead of using saran wrap over leftovers and such, you can use these eco friendly covers that can easily be washed. Erin, you are sooo creative! We just decided to use them as shower caps for a few minutes. Ha.

The boys taking a practice flight of the new helicopter. . . . not sure which one loved it most??

That afternoon we all went to church for our hour service. Maybe the kids were up earlier than I previously mentioned?? Because one by one they each fell asleep at church! Ha, this has never happened before. Grace was out first (which she had good reason, for later in the night she was the one with the fever), followed by Erin, then Spencer and finally Zac. They were all sound asleep. Geez. Hopefully they were feeling the spirit, since they were sitting so still and quiet ;)

Grace had to for sure try out her cake decorating kit and she did a great job! That was followed by a four square game with Zac’s new ball…yes with everyone still in their new pjs playing outside!

Christmas is not complete without excellent chocolate and a good movie! Thank you family for such a great day! We also got to talk to Lex and Brian, who had a most fabulous Christmas celebrating their FIRST of MANY Christmas’s together! We are so very blessed. Although it is fun to receive new toys and such, the true blessings are our health, happiness, family, friends, loved ones, and the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We are RICH indeed!!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve 2011

2011-12-26T13:23:00.001-08:00

I think the best part of Christmas Eve is that Jeremy takes the day off. What a treat for the kids, and me! Zac pretty much kept him occupied all day long. He loved spending time with his daddy! That night our most fabulous neighbors decided to start a new Christmas Eve tradition by taking us all out to Olive Garden. Mmmmmm. “Uncle Rick” and “Aunt Lisa” are the best! We had a great time at dinner and then went to the temple to walk around (umm, walk off some of those breadsticks!) and see the lights and the nativity. A most amazing place to be on the Eve of celebration of the Saviors birth.

When we got home it was Christmas Eve PJ time! Everyone always loves getting new jammies! We also finished the last chapter of the scriptures together. It was an awesome experience! The excitement was waaaayyy high, so off they went to pour oatmeal outside and leave carrots in random places for Santa’s reindeer. No one wants to be hungry on Christmas!

The rest of the night we kept busy updating the Santa Tracker on the computer, making lots of silly faces, playing a game of Risk, making a breakfast casserole for morning…thank you Erin for eating the crusts of the bread that I didn’t need…and finishing out the night with none other than:

ROCKY! (a jeremy call tradtion)

WE LOVE CHRISTMAS EVE!!!

We love Christmas Traditions!

2011-12-24T14:16:00.001-08:00

Every year we set out our wooden nativity. Next to it we put a little baggie of hay, or if we are missing our bag of hay, we put out a bag or bowl of small pieces of soft yarn. During the month of December, whenever we do an act of service to someone we add a piece of hay or yarn to the baby Jesus’ bed…in hopes that on Christmas Day, He will have a soft spot to lay on His birthday from the good deeds we have done. It is a favorite tradition that we have had for many years.

This year we added another tradition, for we will continue this one for years to come. We made a paper Christmas tree and put it up on the door. Grace made a bunch of blank paper ornaments. We all had the opportunity to write on the ornaments things about the Savior. I loved reading what everyone wrote. It is one of my most favorite decorations this year! Keep on reading below to see up close some of the ornaments.

**The one you may need a little translating is the green ornament on the top row. The little girl I watch, Ashlynn, wrote that one. It reads, “Jesus helps everyone whenever sad” I love every single ornament on the tree and this will be a yearly tradition!! Thanks Gracie for making this happen!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Merry Christmas!!

2011-12-22T16:54:00.001-08:00

We had a fabulous Thanksgiving, and Alexa documented it perfectly on her blog HERE!! While they were here that weekend, she had SO MANY photoshoots, that the only time she had to squeeze us in lasted 15 minutes….and then the sun was gone! But we managed to get some great pictures. We can never have a photoshoot without a goofy shot and a kissing shot (Jeremy LOVES this one!) It was a fabulous Thanksgiving weekend, one of my most favorite ever! As we celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas, I am most grateful for my family, our health, the love and closeness we feel and how we always manage to help each other out – in word and deed – when one of us is feeling low, sad, or having a tough day. We have our fair share of trials. We have our fair share of disagreements. But mostly we have more than our share of love, which is the best!

Earlier this fall our Bishop challenged us to finish the Book of Mormon as a family by the end of the year. We had all ready been reading as a family, so we were about half way done then. We have had the awesome privilege of reading together around the breakfast table every morning at 7am for about fifteen minutes. We wanted to finish it by Christmas as our gift to the Savior. We love the scriptures! We love the Bible and we love the Book of Mormon. We love how they testify of the Saviors life, ministry, pure love, sacrifice, and infinite love. We love the spirit that is in our home. We love the closeness we feel. We love the promised blessings of peace and love that envelop us as we strive to live as the Savior has taught us to do. We love the Savior. We love this time of year that we get to celebrate His birth, His life and the amazing sacrifice He made for each of us.

MERRY CHRISTMAS! Love, the Call family

Grace’s big day!

2011-11-22T14:17:00.001-08:00

Grace was quick to come home one day and excitedly tell me that she was signing up for the Geckothon (Lava Ridge Intermediate’s Triathlon). This was made available to the first 40 girls and the first 40 boys from the school (consisting of 6th and 7th graders) to sign up. With her competitive nature, she was excited to start training and get ready for the big day! The race consisted of a 12 lap swim, following by a 4 mile bike ride and ending with a 2 mile run. Here is Grace on the right, with her dear friend Alivia. These two trained and worked hard for the big day! Here they are ready to start.Jeremy and I were able to cheer her on at the pool. Then came the bike ride, which I missed seeing her at because I was helping a couple of the swim girls in the locker room. She was too fast! I did make it to the school to see her run. Below she is coming around for her second mile of the race. She was a trooper!Ah! She made it to the finish line in 45 minutes!! She was 7th overall for the girls. She was so happy and LOVED the triathlon. Her birthday buddy Mikelle was the first to congratulate her. Happy 12th birthday Mikelle! After the race, Grace, Alivia and Georgia planned to go to Menchies…the serve your own yogurt place. Yum. They deserved it! These three are all on the same competitive soccer team, Bombers Crush, AND have the exact same birthday, August 28, 2000. Alivia was born in the morning, Georgia was born around noon, and Grace was born last at 9pm. I think it’s pretty rare to find someone so close, so amazing and so fun that shares a birthday with you…let alone TWO!!

They were sooo thrilled with their great finish, that they had to deck out the chalk board at Menchies. “Finishers of the Geckothon….Georgia Dickson, Alivia Hinton & Grace Call…Swim 12 laps, Bike 4 miles, Run 2 miles” Look at those priceless (proud!) faces! We couldn’t be proud of you Grace, Alivia and Georgia. Way to accomplish your goal, finish and love it! We love you!!

A great day, and then came the day after…

2011-11-10T12:36:00.001-08:00

Erin had a great birthday! We had a family dinner her choice: fettuccini alfredo, english cucumbers and pretty please…breadsticks from pizza/pasta factory. Yummm! It was delicious and we enjoyed being together. Spencer had just arrived home from his last day of basketball try outs, so we were awaiting the results….

Pizza Factory breadsticks are the best!

Zac and his cucumber face! After dinner was present time! She got many fun things, among them…. Ms. Food Face plate. Ha. You can put your food strategically on the plate to make her face decorated. So Erin!!

Erin also requested cheesecake with raspberries for her “cake”! It was so delicious. Then it was off to youth night for a canned food drive! Happy Birthday Miss Erin!! Then came the day after…. the “please, please mom can we go get my permit? please?” We went out and she only had to take the permit test once! See how thrilled she was (below)?? We quick ran an errand and went to lunch (no she did not drive) and then we stopped by an empty church parking lot on the way back to school so she could have her first time driving (well, other than the sneaky driving that she and her cousins did this summer at Gramma’s farm!). Let’s just say that she did just about how Alexa did her first time driving. I’ll leave that for you to imagine…. Such a beautiful 15 year old! Love you Miss Erin. We should have plenty of bonding time together cruising the church parking lot together as you practice before you hit the roads! xoxoxoxoxoxo mama

ps Spencer made the high school basketball team. Yea for him!

Happy 15th Birthday Erin!

2011-11-09T06:00:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Erin!! Although your big sister prayed and prayed for you to be born on her 5th birthday (so she could have a real live doll to play with), you wanted your own day and arrived two days later, November 9th, 1996. You were born on a sunny Saturday morning. We were all soooo excited for your arrival. From day one you were your own YOU! You were born with fair skin, light fuzzy blonde hair, and looong legs, arms and fingers. I called you my little bird baby. I was so in love with you. You were an amazing baby. Maybe because you knew you were third and just had to be good. Or maybe you were being good before your spunky personality came to life! You were calm, happy, sweet, and beautiful. I loved holding you all hours of the night, cuddling with you and smiling back at you. You melted the hearts of all those who saw you. Spencer, Alexa and Dad were also three of your favorites. Just look at those gorgeous eyes and that beautiful face! You were a doll! Your cute little personality came to life as you became mobile. You thought it was the funniest thing to unroll the toilet paper any time you could! How could I ever get mad at such a darling little happy face like that?? Mmm, snow! We lived in Bountiful from the time you were 5 months old until you were 31/2. You loved the snow, especially eating it! Look at that darling face!One winter we were all really sick, but you just didn’t get better. You ended up in the emergency room and spent the week in the hospital. You were pretty miserable with the worst case of pneumonia your doctor had ever seen. Boo. It was so sad, but I spent the entire time at the hospital with you, I never went home. It looks like you have a broken arm, but they just had to tape down the iv so you wouldn’t pull it out. Spencer brought you the balloon and Alexa brought you your favorite baby doll. Under the blue package of wipes is a board book about Kitties, that we must have read a thousand times. It was your favorite book and you just wanted me to read it again and again. We were so thankful when you were finally well enough to go home! This is you shouting out “Santa is coming to my house!” Your chocolate face is from eating treats off of your Gingerbread house! Christmas time is one of your favorite times of the year. Your big sister had put curlers in her hair and after seeing her, you wanted them too! Don’t let that gorgeous smile deceive you….you are a sneaky little one! You are spunky, funny, smart (very smart!), confident, full of energy and always ready for fun!You loved helping with baby Grace. Here you are all ready for swim lessons. Look at that face, so full of confidence! Little did we know then that you would swim junior olympics as a 11 year old and swim on the high school team! Ballerina for a year. You were the spunky ballerina always off twirling on your own or making up some dance that was much faster and full of life than typical ballet music. Such a fun kid! Scuba diving at Monterey Bay, Ca. One of your dreams has always been to swim with the dolphins!Helping with baby Zac. You LOVED holding him! Look at that gorgeous smile. You are such a beautiful girl Miss Erin! Spunky, beautiful and ALL YOU! Gorgeous, happy and such a great sister!! I am blessed beyond measure (see the tape measure above, ha) to be your mama! You have taught me patience, love, how to be confident and not worry about what others may think. You are amazingly creative, kind, caring, and considerate. I love how you have a love of the elderly, just like I do. You are a great friend to others and so fun to be around. You have a sense of humor that cracks us up daily. I love your contagious laugh and your spunky smile. You know how to light up a room and are the life of the party with your party-it-up personality! I love you sooo much and hope you have a wonderful 15th birthday. I am forever thankful that you were born into our family. You are amazing and I love, love, love you! HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY 15th BIRTHDAY MISS ERIN!

I love you forever! Enjoy your special day!

love always, mama

ps watch out drivers….she’s going in to get her permit next week! yikes!

Happy Birthday Alexa Marie!

2011-11-07T10:37:00.001-08:00

From the minute we found out we were expecting you, we were in love! From the day you were born, your gorgeous, big brown eyes and beautiful smile captured our hearts and lit up any room you were in. We will ever be thankful for you in our family! Thank you for being the sweet, spiritual, beautiful, Christ-like daughter of God that you are. We are forever blessed to have you in our family. Happy 20th birthday sweetheart!Once a dessert lover, always a dessert lover! 1st BirthdayYou learned to control the remote at a young age….sorry Brian!The band-aid on your forehead is from your fall at the hotel onto the window sill, resulting in a few stitches. That would be one of the first of many falls you took in your life :) Mmm, you’ll take dessert, dough, frosting, anytime!You and your brother starred as sheep, with Dad as your shepherd, for the church Christmas play. Everyone thought you two were sooo cute! You with your new baby “Spencer”. When your little brother was born you got your very own baby. Whenever I was done bathing your brother, you would bath your own baby. You loved babies, always have, always will! 3 years oldThose big brown beautiful eyes can melt hearts!! You with your new baby sister Erin, and all of your other favorite babies. You’ve ALWAYS loved to play in the rain! You & Spencer…Bountiful, Utah.

Kindergarten! You LOVE school and everyone at school loves you! Several of your report cards read “I love having Alexa in our class” and “Alexa is a shining star in the classroom – 1st grade teacher” Guess you learned the art of sucking up to your teachers early?? ;) Or maybe it was just those gorgeous brown eyes and beautiful smile at work!!One of your favorite shows to watch is “Arthur” on PBS. You are also an excellent artist as you can tell from the picture above!Happy 8th Birthday! A new umbrella for the rain-loving kid!Lovin your baby sister Gracie!Lucky you and Spencer got to go to Hawaii over Spring Break, 6th grade. Fun times! So many fun Christmas traditions…pajamas, gingerbread houses, all the kids sleeping in one room, reindeer food, Gilmore Girl marathons, (ohhh we need to do that again!), sleeping in, staying up all night, and loving being together! Miss Lex and her buddy Zac. He cried for weeks every night after you left for college. Good thing you guys come visit often!! You couldn’t have found a better best friend! You and Brian are two of the luckiest people I know to have each other.

I could write a novel about the great fun we’ve had…our Hawaii trip, decorating cars, late night talks, secret missions in the neighborhood, making posters and more posters, chalking, laughing, snap-snap, Gilmore Girls, cupcakes, mother daughter lunches, becoming pro wedding coordinators, not to mention caterers, florists, decorators, etc., killing people with kindness, smiling when we’re just about ready to loose it, singing in our off key voices at the top of our lungs with the sunroof open, finding way good deals and re-doing my bedroom the week dad was at Scout camp, becoming lovers of spray paint, thrift shop hopping all day long and scoring some treasures of a lifetime, laughing together, crying together, and always being there for each other. I’d say we have it pretty good!

Although we aren’t with you on your birthday this year, you are in our hearts and thoughts! We love you and hope that you have the most amazing day! Thank you for the love, happiness, laughter, and great joy you bring into our lives! You will always be my first born, precious little girl. Once a princess, always a princess.

HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALEXA MARIE ZURCHER!!!

Love always, your most favorite mama! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Just a little Karate and telling Gram good bye

2011-11-06T07:00:00.000-08:00

One night, Zac got out the duck tape and made himself a karate belt. Then of course, it’s a must that you practice karate. By jumping off of the kitchen bench and table onto the floor. Hiiiiiii-ya! Mr. Silver Belt in Karate. Watch out!

Friday morning it was time to say Good Bye to Gram! Grace is the first to head out the door at 7:25am. Followed by Miss Erin and Spencer at 8am. Bye Gramma! Don’t worry, you’re not shrinking…..we’re growing!!

The elementary school kids leave at 8:45am. Zac really, really didn’t want Gramma to leave!

Thank you my beautiful mama for coming out to visit us. Thank you for the lunch dates we had, the funny moments (“here, let me get that hair off you”…while I am trying to get out of a tight parking spot in my big car, “you’ve got mail in the playroom” “what? you got the mail again?” “nooo, we’re watching you’ve got mail (the movie) in the playroom” and “while you were sleeping in the living room”….), enjoying the sunshine while we took walks and just visited in the chairs outside. You were always one step ahead of me….well, maybe more like ten steps ahead of me, when it came to starting (or re-spinning the washer machine a million times), emptying the dishwasher, cleaning up something, walking the dog, and everything else you did! You are a pro! Thank you for your smiling beauty, your kind words, your sweet spirit and the amazing love that you share with us. It has been a blessed ten days having you here. Miss you all ready!! Come back sooooooon! Love you always sweet mom of mine. xoxoxooxoxoxoxox Aim

Date Night

2011-11-05T14:20:00.000-07:00

Kind of a fuzzy picture! Jeremy and I went out on a date night while Gram was here one night. We had a great night kid free. Thanks Gram for kicking us out of the house for the night!

xoxoxoxoxooxoxoxox

ps The injury on Jeremy’s nose is from playing tag with Zac and diving under a table many times. Only one time his nose skimmed the floor and pulled the skin on his nose and made a tear at the top of his nose. Yuck. Only boys would be so crazy playing tag and diving under tables. Silly guys!

Sunday’s church day!

2011-11-04T20:12:00.000-07:00

Happy Sunday! We love the opportunity to go to church, hang together as a family, play games, watch movies, and make treats (we made yummy Halloween rice krispy treats with Gram that day!) It’s even more fun when Gramma is around to have fun with us. Look at those gorgeous smiles!

Miss Gracie, Erin, Gram and Zac

All cute and innocent looking………. and then they show their true personalities!!

Gram and Spencer; funny, loving, cute, and crazy!!

Halloween!

2011-11-04T11:30:00.001-07:00

Erin found the “Home Depot Pro” in Jeremy’s closet and made up her own, most amazing costume. She also brought along a few non-threatening tools with her, one of them being Jeremy’s “stud finder”. You rub it across the wall and it lights up green and beeps really fast when it runs over a stud in the wall. So she took it to school to find “studs” of a different kind. Ha, perfect tool for her!!!

Spencer went to school as a bum. He wore socks, no shoes, and carried an empty, dented tin can. He actually collected some money and cookies and other odds and ends. He carried some binder paper and a pencil in his knap-sack, didn’t bring a single book or anything else to classes!

Miss Grace (center) was an 80’s girl. She had fun poofin’ that hair! She went trick or treating with her two good friends Alivia (left as a BYU fan) and Mikelle (right as an 80’s girl)

Zac and Ashlynn went trick or treating together. Miss Ash dressed up as Dorothy and Zac was a Star Wars guy, Bobo Fet. I even had the chance to dress up for Zac’s class Halloween party. Yea for nice witches!

The best part of Halloween? Dumping everything out on the kitchen table to see what you got!

Yummmmmm! Happy Halloween!

Gram’s here!

2011-10-30T08:53:00.001-07:00

Gram arrived for a ten day visit! Here are some of the fun things we’ve been doing to keep busy. Cuddling up with Gram in my bed to read books together. A new tradition Gram and Zac started was to cuddle up and watch “Who wants to be a Millionarie?” Gram and Zac try to answer the questions right, and if they do they decide right then what they are going to spend their hard earned money on. So far they have won a two month trip to Lagoon, a trip to Disneyland for everyone for two weeks, a new car for mom, dad and Spencer and they are working on paying off the house. Oh ya, and Zac has ordered Nickelodeon for the tv. That one’s pretty important! It is pretty cute to watch them!!Gram and I had a delicious picnic out front while enjoying some sunshine!

Grace and Gram doing each others nails. Grace is sporting quite the hair do….getting ready to dress up in her 80’s costume! She needs frizzy hair!Pumpkin carving time! We were genius and decided to carve pumpkins outside on the sunny Saturday afternoon. While they scooped out the pumpkin guts, Gram and I layed back on the trampoline admiring the blue, blue sky. Ahh it was relaxing. Grace with her finished pumpkin. Zac making the face the same as his pumpkin. Errrrr!

Dusti and Erin with their creations. Yes those are elephants on Erin’s pumpkin!! The finished products! Erin, Zac, Dusti, Spencer, and Gracies pumpkins!

Of course, what boy after lighting all the candles in the pumpkins doesn’t want to make his own mini fire? Look at that smile! Jeremy and I sat outside and got warmed up by that amazing mini campfire!

After a loooong day, Zac fell asleep in our bed while watching the BYU basketball with Jeremy that night. It was a busy Saturday. Grace played in her soccer game. While we were at her game, the other kids and Jeremy participated in the Santa Clara day of service by cleaning up our neighborhood, we carved pumpkins, cleaned up the house, went to the Halloween party at church, Gram and I went on a nice long walk…enjoying the sun setting as we made it home, movie night watching Beezus and Ramona, with the boys watching basketball, and then finally some much needed sleep. Yes, Spencer carved pumpkins with us….not sure why I didn’t get him in pictures! Happy Saturday before Halloween! :)

May or may not have….

2011-10-29T21:18:00.001-07:00

Spencer may or may not have ordered a book on Amazon, paid for it himself and read the book in practically one day!

(For those of you who know Spenc and his love of reading (ha), you’ll understand why this was such a surprise!)

Zac may or may not be asking for his two front teeth for Christmas!

Erin and I may or may not have been making funny faces at each other throughout this entirely too long National Junior Honor Society induction meeting. ps she is also wearing the amazing skirt that she made the week before, sooo cute!

Erin may or may not have trimmed her own bangs one hour before our family photo shoot. She decided to go in disguise. Jeremy may or may not have came home for lunch with me to enjoy some sunshine and a few kisses xoxoxo

I may or may not have made PIZZA for the FIRST time since I burned pizza on New Years Eve…. oh about 7 years ago. And it was a huge success (thank you Our Best Bites cookbook!)

And miss Grace may or may not have missed this week in pictures!!

Happy October :)

Zac’s baptism day

2011-10-11T15:28:00.001-07:00

Thanks to Miss Lex, eh I should say Mrs. Zurcher, Zac has some amazing pictures of his special baptism day. In an effort to not out-do her amazing post (ha on the fact that I could ever out-do her!), please go HERE to see pictures of such a fabulous weekend. Thanks for taking care of this post for me Lex.

Love your mama who will be seeing you soon. soon. soon. soon.

Homecoming

2011-10-09T17:08:00.001-07:00

First stop: Car Wash! Erin and I took my car out for a little vacuum and clean up so Spencer and Kimball could take their dates out in a clean car! The boys, Spencer and Kimball, polishing their shoes and below, all ready to go. They wanted a picture with their “serious” faces.Tammy Truman, Brenden’s mom, and I hosted dinner for the 6 gorgeous couples. We had it at the Trumans house and served salads, rolls, this most amazing delicious bbq steak, baked potatoes and steamed carrots. We also had delicious drinks of Sprite and Lime Sherbet ice cream. Following was chocolate covered strawberries, mints and chocolates. Then they headed off to the dance. They all came over after the dance for hot fudge sundaes, or plain vanilla ice cream as Spencer would choose! It was a beautiful night. A lot of hard work, but worth it! If you’re the one ever doing a dinner for prom, etc… the easiest way to do it is to figure out about how much you will spend to feed everyone and then charge a certain amount for each couple. We had each couple pay $15. That included all of dinner, dessert and drinks. It’s nice to be able to help the boys save money! They all had a great time and I was very lucky to be able to work together with Tammy. She’s darling and so easy to work with. We compliment each other very well!

Spencer with his beautiful date Rebecca (Becky) and Brenden with his gorgeous date Ashley.

Spencer got his date home by midnight and then we were able to hear all of the dance details and such. Sounds like this handsome guy had a great night! Thanks for being such a well mannered, handsome son! We love you. xoxoxoxo

Seriously…

2011-10-08T22:00:00.000-07:00

Eight posts in two days?

Thinkin’ I have some time on my hands? Ha. Tricked you. It’s Friday morning as I type this, actually as I typed all previous EIGHT posts. That’s just how I work. The pictures kind of pile up on the camera waiting for me to have an hour or two. Well, I found that hour or two this morning. And I did an “Alexa”, set a publish date / time for each blog post. So it kind of looks like I’ve blogged a few times Friday and a few times Saturday, but really, I did it all Friday morning. Just thought I’d try it out.

Cause finding time to regularly blog just doesn’t happen around here. Yet. Maybe one day.

Happy weekend to you. Happy Sunday tomorrow!

PS I found this darling Christmas craft. It’s just rolled up paper and a few buttons. Pretty cute, huh? Hoping one of these decorates my house this year! I’ll keep you posted!

Do you have any idea how excited I am???

2011-10-08T14:00:00.000-07:00

These two are coming in one week and five days! Yeah! I am so excited to see them both. Brian is going to hit up a little golf, while Lex and I catch up on a little shopping and goofin’ around town. Thanks for choosing to spend your fall break partying it up with us.

A couple weeks ago Alexa had a big mis-hap with her blog of over two years. She signed up for Google+. On her profile page for Google+ she noticed all of her photos, hundreds of them. Thinking that she didn’t want them on her profile page she deleted them. No warning or anything….but apparently when you upload pictures to your blog they are automatically saved to Picassa. And they are also put on your Google+ account. Sooo, when she deleted them off her Google+ profile, they automatically deleted them off of Picassa (go figure?) which pulled off and deleted every picture off her blog for the past two years. Absolute heartbreak. At Google headquarters they say, “there’s nothing we can do”. Seriously? The largest on-line company does not have back up? Gimme a break. But Lex is like my other kids…. always making lemonade out of lemons.

She started a complete new blog, and thanks to her amazing husband, has a new domain name all her own. It’s perfect and her blog is incredible. Just scroll down and look at the post of their apartment. Talk about crazy cute, amazingly talented, and makes you just want to move in!! Want to see it?? Go here! You won’t be disappointed, I promise!

See you two soon for a little go-cart racing, ear holding (ha), sleeping bag using (ha from Spencer), golfing, eating, shopping, laughing, game playing with a little competition, staying up late, movie nights, and fun times. Love you both!! xoxoxoxox

Spencer is going to Homecoming….today!

2011-10-08T10:10:00.000-07:00

Spencer is actually on his day date for homecoming as this gets posted! So, you wonder how I have pictures of him all ready dressed up for tonight? Well, first you have to know something about this kid. He HATES it when we spend money on him. He doesn’t like spending full price for anything (sound like me??) and if he can make do with what he has, he will. So he told me that he did not want to spend $50 to rent a tux for one night. No way. He said he was going to wear his suit from Alexa's wedding instead. Deal. I bought him two different bow ties (he told me when he saw them on his bed in the bag that I bought them in that he was mad that I spent $$ on him. I convinced him that it was a good purchase, we could use them many times and save them for Zac!) Geez! He had some black Sunday shoes, but they weren’t like the fancy “plastic shiny Barbie shoes” (as Spencer calls them) that you get when you rent a tux. Yesterday I just happened to stop by the DI (our amazing thrift store), just poking around for nothing inparticular, when I ran into these beauties…look on his feet! Shiny, black, size 13, barely used “barbie” shoes, ha, for a whopping $4. Yeah. I told Spenc that day that I got him some shoes to go with his suit and he gave me the “if you spent too much, just take them back” look. He was pleased when I told them they were four dollars. Yeah for me and yeah for being blessed to find good deals!!

So, back to the question…. why do I all ready have fancy pictures of the kid? I asked him ever-so-politely to try on the whole sha-bang so I could make sure we were covered for Saturday. And being the good kid he is, he did! He looks amazing and quite handsome like his father, wouldn’t you say?

I will post real homecoming pictures with his date soooooon!

Love you handsome son of mine!

Family Night!

2011-10-08T09:27:00.000-07:00

One of the most favorite nights of the week is Monday. Family Night. We LOVE family night. From the time our kids were little they would say, “Is tonight Monday? Is it Family Night?” We’ve had family night since we were married. Going on twenty one years this tradition. Yep. Best night ever.

Two years ago Erin made me this crafty delight for family home evening. It gives you an idea of what we do. Someone “conducts”, welcoming us all out to family night. (we usually all meet in the living room). We sing an opening song (yikes!) and say a prayer. Then someone shares a scripture. Next is the lesson. We all take turns and have had lessons on character principles (honesty, being a good friend, talents, etc), scripture stories, baptism, the Savior, the list is endless. You get to choose and present your very own lesson. (we have lots of “helps” around to look through!) We sing a closing song and have a closing prayer. Then we have an ACTIVITY and TREAT. Yummy!

**Yes, Alexa, you are still on our family night chart! Don’t worry, we cover for you when it’s your turn for something. In fact, I think when we all wrote you and B those fun letters was when it was YOU on activity!**

Last week, Grace got to choose the activity and she picked to ride the newly acquired go-cart. The kids were out with Jeremy when they saw this fancy toy at a yard sale that they just couldn’t do without. It came with a fiberglass shell on it that makes it really look like a mini-indy! (although they took it off for now for some reason, not sure!) We drove it down the street to the church parking lot and had at it. (only I didn’t because I was still in recovery mode from the flu) Boo.

Ha, I love this pic of Erin. Look at her face! We all had a great time. We all love family night. No worries, we do things together on other nights as well, but Monday night is 100% ours. No meetings or working late. It’s 100% FAMILY time, and we LOVE it!

Just another update

2011-10-08T07:00:00.000-07:00

Picture day! Zac and Ashlynn were all ready to go! Ashlynn choose a darling pick dress and wanted her hair done like a princess. She did great sitting still for so long to get those curls done. Zac was thrilled to choose whatever outfit he wanted for picture day. Alexa will be taking our family photos later this month, so I wasn’t purchasing the ones from the school (I finally learned that I do not have to purchase un-centered photos from the school….it took me long enough!)

For some reason, they just can’t take pictures without being S I L L Y ! Early morning Gracie girl riding her bike to school. Spencer’s car next to her, affectionately named Lulu (by Alexa), still carries that name. Awww.

Zac lost his tooth. He was reading with his dad while wiggling and twisting his loose tooth. He was so surprised and excited when it came out! Miracle of all miracles, the tooth fairy came on the FIRST night! ;)

Ashlynn and Erin, both being a little crazy. It was 80’s dress up day for Miss Erin. Although she looks kind of like Rainbow Child from the 60’s, but she can pull off anything! Love your spirit Erin! The NEW haircut! Erin decided just this week that she wanted something new. I think it looks amazing on her! She can pull off any haircut, but I really love this one. Not to mention her most darling outfit. Below are Spenc and Erin both trying to out do each other in height by standing on their tippy toes. Love you two!

We’ve had a bit of a cold front move through, can you tell? Erin trying to keep warm with her ear muffs. Love you my spunky, beautiful, talented, oh-so-crafty, amazing daughter. xoxoxoxoxo love, your favorite mama

ps If you want to see some of her amazing, crafty talent then go here.

Viva Las Vegas….again

2011-10-07T20:00:00.000-07:00

(Above: Grace, the amazing Coach Brent and Addie (aka Bob) waiting to sub in to game #2)

It seems like we are in Vegas a lot with our kids different teams, playing in different tournaments. This time it was Grace’s turn. It was a HOT day in Vegas, 105, and we about melted! The girls played two games, both on the same horrible field. Yikes! We played two U12 teams (we are U11). We played amazing the first game, but not as hot the second game. We were pretty worn out. I didn’t get any pictures of the first game, silly me.

Between games we all went to the food court of the mall with our picnic lunches that we packed with us. We were all happy to have a spot to cool off and relax until game two. Here are Alivia, Grace and Georgia enjoying their Dairy Queen. These three girls are on the same team, go to the same school, in the same grade, AND share the exact same birthday! August 28th, 2000 was a great day for us three moms! Look at those beauties!

Grace and Alivia as Referees! Having some fun in the sporting goods store.

For some reason, I really like this picture. Grace waiting to sub in with her coach. Blue sky, green grass, playing soccer. It was a great (albeit long and hot) day! Go Bombers Crush!!

Just a little Swiss Days

2011-10-07T15:00:00.000-07:00

We arrived at Swiss Days a little earlier than we had wanted to, so we filled the hour we had watching the Bell Ringing Swiss Ladies perform (pretty cool I must admit). Zac found refuge in my i-touch, and Ashlynn decided to take pictures of us. It was a great time. They especially enjoyed the extra large cotton candy they got! Yummm!

Ride em cowboy and cowgirl! Ash and Zac had a great time at the hands-on Swiss days activities. They got to make candles, a ring made out of nail, bead necklaces and brand wood. It is always a great event and a tradition for us to attend. We are so thankful for our pioneer ancestors and for all they did to settle the various parts of the country that we are so blessed to live in today.

Reading before bed….zzzzz

2011-10-07T10:00:00.000-07:00

Zac and Miss Grace share a room. At night we like to get them settled so they can read, study a little and just relax. I love it when they are entertaining themselves, especially enjoying a good book. I love to read and am so thankful that they do, too! Miss Grace is now in 6th grade at Lava Ridge Intermediate school. She’s the first kid to be up and going in the morning at 6:45am. She’s out the door by 7:25am. It takes me two hours (6:45am – 8:45am) every morning of making breakfast, packing lunches, reading scriptures (7:10am every morning at the table together), and cleaning up to get them all out the door. It’s a job that I wouldn’t trade for anything. I’m a lucky mama.

So the kid had a great day!

2011-10-07T08:14:00.001-07:00

Spencer had a great birthday. He was spoiled with love from family far and near. Birthday traditions were carried out (choose your own breakfast and dinner, birthday cake, decorated spot at the table, no chores for the day and such). We had a great day celebrating his 17th birthday with him. Can’t believe he is a Junior in High School and so talented! His gifts this year focused around his talents, two of which are animating and basketball! He is artistic, sporty, handsome and such a gentlemen. Thanks for being so awesome Spencer!

So thankful for you and so proud to be called your mom!

Love you SMC!

xoxoxoxoxo

Mmmmm

2011-09-26T11:52:00.000-07:00

Except I'd change out the ice cream for chocolate. Really good chocolate. Mmmmm.

Happy 17th Birthday Spencer!

2011-09-21T15:07:00.001-07:00

We were all sooo happy when you arrived on the morning of September 21, 1994. You were a pretty happy baby…..as long as you were eating!! Alexa was so happy that she finally had here very own, live baby doll to play with!

You were a super happy little guy. I guess I should say big guy. By the time you were two, you and your big sister (she was 5 years old) weighed the same!!

Erin came along and she was your little shadow, following you where ever you ventured off to!

You were a Toy Story lover from the start! Loved Woody, Buzz and the whole gang!

You loved welcoming in new little sisters and brother into the family. When Gracie was born, you wanted a BOY SOOOOO BAD! The night she was born we called home to tell you all that you had a new little sister. You were not happy at all, running into the bathroom. When you all came to the hospital to meet her for the first time, we made sure to let you hold her first. It was love at first sight, wouldn’t you say??

And then F I N A L L Y you got what you had always been asking for…a brother! The sonogram I had when I was pregnant with Zac was during the school day. Dad and Grace were the lucky ones who got to go with me. The radiologist asked what we thought it was going to be. And Grace promptly answered, “It’s a boy. I’ve played with him before!” And she was right. It was all boy on that sono picture. On the way home from the doctor, Grace and I stopped by the party store and stocked up on baby boy decorations, streamers and balloons. We came home and decorated the entire living room and entry way with IT’S A BOY signs and such. You came home from school and before you opened the front door I stepped out on the front porch to ask you what you thought we were going to have….boy or girl?? You had a big smile on your face and came in the front door and as you saw all of the boy decorations you said “YES!!!” and then you turned around and asked, “Mom did you really see his weiner?” (sorry for the extra details…but it was SO cute!!) (Besides you were smarter than Alexa was. When I was pregnant with you I asked her how we would know if you were a boy or a girl. She answered, “If it comes out with a hair bow on, it’s a girl!” haha) You are all such fun siblings, making up fabulous Christmas traditions and memories.

You are an amazing example to your little brother and to your entire family!

You have great friends and you always think of fun, adventurous things to do.By far, your best buddy is Brenden. Here you two are showing your total displeasure in having to dress up for the Honors Night at the High School. Buddies, partners in crime, Taco Bell lovers. For 17 years we’ve been sooooo blessed to have you in our lives! You got a big birthday hug from Zac this morning….first thing he did when he got up. You’ve made a huge footprint on our hearts that will always be there. Thank you for being happy, fun, adventurous, spiritual, funny, kind, polite, hard working, honest, and a great example to all of us!

I would have tried to get a picture with me, too, but I had all ready made you two late for school, so I figured I better not! HAPPY 17th BIRTHDAY SON! Hope you enjoyed the traditional cinnamon rolls (without frosting for you!) for breakfast, Taco Bell lunch and that you will soon enjoy your most favorite home made chicken pot pie for dinner….I’ve been in the kitchen all day!!

Must be a special guy, huh?? WE LOVE YOU!!!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo mama

Monday?

2011-09-16T11:35:00.001-07:00

Today started out…. not so great. I guess every day cannot be as good as every other, so we can learn to really appreciate those great days. It started out with me going in to wake up Grace for school and instead stepping in a pile of wet carpet, from none other than the lovely inherited dog, Gigi. If it is cold, wet, or even too hot outside she thinks she cannot possibly go outside. She and I have had several “chats” regarding her behavior and I am very surprised that she hasn’t caught the drift yet. So, she got sent outside (she hates being outside…she is a people person and to separate her from everyone is close to death for her). She spent the good part of a couple hours outside while I cleaned up the mess, scrubbed the carpet and used the most wonderful product ever designed entitled: Natures Miracle. In case you haven’t heard of it, it IS a miracle. It cleans up all those messy accidents from doggies to kids throw up. It takes the smell away and is amazing. So back to the morning.

A friend of mine drops off her little girl in the morning to get ready for school, have breakfast and scriptures with us so her mom can get to work on time. They arrived and as they were walking up the front lawn to the house, the mom proceeded to step in a giant, fresh pile of dog poop. Ewww! (It was not our dogs, she is always out in the fenced backyard!) I felt so bad for her as she tried to wipe it off and then use clorox wipes to get the rest, so she could get to work. Needless to say the emotion I was feeling at this point was:

Anger is an automatic response to ill treatment. It is the way a person indicates he or she will not tolerate certain types of behaviour. It is a feedback mechanism in which an unpleasant stimulus is met with an unpleasant response. (dictionary)

Seriously people. I do not let my kids run wild and poop on your lawn!! I am tired of doggies who get to run free and poop wherever they please while their owners sit home enjoying their morning coffee. I texted Jeremy to let him know of my frustrations and said something like, “Some neighborhood dog is going to go home one day with a bb in his butt (yes, I was angry!) as soon as I learn how to shoot that thing (the boys have bb guns).” and then I wrote “ps you can borrow it for your non-paying clients”.

Second point of anger. He has worked over 65 hours this week and it is only mid-day Friday. We have 5, yes FIVE, un-paid invoices (not to mention the 6 invoices that NEVER got paid within the past several years…) that are due and payable, and late!! Come on people. He cannot work for free!! So yesterday he let client #1 know that his contract was now suspended (aka, your project will not be worked on at all, sorry if that messes up your construction) until your invoice is PAID IN FULL! It is sooo frustrating that we have to constantly ask to be paid on invoices that are way, way overdue. Please, if you have hired someone to do work for you, pay them! They have families to feed!!

So what good is anger to us? Particularly me? Well in some ways it’s good. It causes my blood to flow a lot faster and makes me be ultra-productive to blow off some steam. (Yes the entire lawn got mowed this morning, laundry done, sheets washed, kitchen clean, etc..). But really it’s not so good. It’s not a good frame of mind to be in. It is a human response and not necessarily a heavenly one.

Which brings in this little quote, "Gratitude is a Spirit‑filled principle. It opens our minds to a universe permeated with the richness of a living God. Through it, we become spiritually aware of the wonder of the smallest things, which gladden our hearts with their messages of God's love. This grateful awareness heightens our sensitivity to divine direction. When we communicate gratitude, we can be filled with the Spirit and connected to those around us and the Lord. Gratitude inspires happiness and carries divine influence." "Gratitude: A Path to Happiness," Ensign, May 2007, 35, Bonnie D. Parkin

After a deep breath (or two), here it goes…. This morning I am very thankful for: a lawn mower that started on the second try, a beautiful green lawn that I could actually mow, a working washing machine (kind of working that is) and a dryer, that although it takes double long to dry, still drys, the sunshine and blue skies, the fluffy blue clouds floating by, the chance I have to re-direct my thoughts, laundry soap, a home to clean, kids to get ready in the morning, the chance we have to read scriptures together every morning, kids who try hard at their school work, family who I can contact at any time, a husband who works and works and works and still comes home ready to play his guts out with us, a married daughter with a fabulous son in law who keep us laughing all the time, diet coke (yes I had one at 9am today), text messaging, the fresh air I am breathing as I type with the windows wide open, the fact that there was just enough White Chicken Chili leftovers for me to have for lunch mmmmm (recipe found here), for a loving Heavenly Father who loves me despite my sometime angry moments and the fact that despite CRAPPY days (ha, ha get it? the dog poop kind) IT IS A GREAT DAY TO BE ALIVE.

Happy Friday! :)

Don’t forget to say thank you!

2011-09-14T12:16:00.001-07:00

What if you woke up today

with only the things

you thanked Heavenly Father

for yesterday?

We have SO MUCH to be thankful for every day! This was a great reminder for me.

I am so very thankful for my loving family. I love my dear husband so much. He works incredibly looonng hours every week to keep his business going and to keep us fed. He makes sure we have a weekly date, of which I love. He is kind, considerate, honest, helpful, always goes the extra mile and is always there for us. He is truly amazing and I am so blessed. I am also so thankful for: loving children, a new & fabulous son-in-law, children who make good decisions regarding their lives, wonderful sisters who I couldn’t live without, my mom who without a doubt is my hero, my dad who taught me to eat chocolate cake for breakfast, our lovely home, functioning vehicles, all of our extended family, neighbors and friends who are like family to us, sunshine, warm weather, the perfect smell of fresh air, a pantry that we can live off of when the checks haven’t come in yet from his business, new recipes, starry nights, daydreaming, scriptures, kind words from others, the gospel of Jesus Christ in my life, the opportunity I am given daily to serve others, the blessing of being a woman, wife, sister, daughter and mother, the temple, chocolate, diet coke, bike rides, beaches, long walks, cell phones, lunch dates, loving Heavenly parents and my Savior Jesus Christ, which without Him I would have nothing!

What are you thankful for?

Service

2011-09-12T22:10:00.001-07:00

An atheist professor was teaching a college class and he told the class that he was going to prove that there is no God.

He said, "God, if you are real, then I want you to knock me off this platform. I'll give you 15 minutes!"
Ten minutes went by. He kept taunting God, saying, "Here I am, God. I'm still waiting."

He got down to the last couple of minutes and a Marine newly registered in the class walked up
to the professor, hit him full force in the face, and sent him flying from his platform.

The professor struggled up, obviously shaken and yelled, "What's the matter with you? Why did you do that?"
The Marine replied, "God was busy, so He sent me.” :)

Spencer and I got a good laugh out of the above story. Reading it reminded me of one of my most favorite quotes:

“God does notice us, and he watches over us. But it is usually through another person that he meets our needs. Therefore, it is vital that we serve each other in the kingdom. So often, our acts of service consist of simple encouragement or of giving mundane help with mundane tasks, but what glorious consequences can flow from mundane acts and from small but deliberate deeds!” –Spencer W. Kimball

We are often times, without even knowing it, the answer to someone else’s prayer as we serve, love and look for the needs that others have. It can come from something as simple as smiling, saying hello, giving someone a compliment, opening a door, bringing a neighbor a treat, spending a few extra minutes with a child at bedtime, turning off the tv and focusing our whole attention on a loved one. There are many things we can do daily that can lighten the loads of others while being the answers to their prayers. I hope that I will be in tune with the needs of others so I can be an instrument in the Lords hands.

So very true

2011-09-12T08:15:00.001-07:00

Often the answer to our prayer does not come while we’re on our knees but while we’re on our feet serving the Lord and serving those around us. Selfless acts of service and consecration refine our spirits, remove the scales from our spiritual eyes and open the windows of heaven. By becoming the answer to someone’s prayer we often find the answer to our own."
— Dieter F. Uchtdorf

". . . the number of prayers we say may contribute to our happiness, but the number of prayers we answer may be of greater importance. Let us open our eyes and see the heavy hearts, notice the loneliness and despair; let us feel the silent prayers of others around us; and let us be an instrument in the hands of the Lord to answer those prayers."
— Dieter F. Uchtdorf (The Remarkable Soul of a Woman)

happy monday one and all. xoxoxoxo amy

Stories from a second grader

2011-09-07T15:41:00.001-07:00

I love stories my kids make up. I love the hand-writing, the sounding out of the words, and the things they think of! By Zachary Davis Call September 2011 8 years old

Happy Birthday Gracie girl and Zac attack!

2011-08-30T21:40:00.001-07:00

August 28th, 2011: Grace turned 11 and Zac turned 8. It was a fabulous day, lots of partying, cake, ice cream, and such. Those fun Call family traditions must be followed on birthdays!

Cinnamon rolls for breakfast are a must! Although the birthday child gets to choose their breakfast, it’s always been cinnamon rolls…with a candle, or two or more! The “birthday chair” is another tradition. The birthday child gets to sit in the newly decorated birthday chair for every meal and be served and well taken care of!

Presents are opened and always so much fun. Every year Grace and Zac “make a plan” how they will open their presents. Usually they open the gift that they give to each other first, then the gifts from someone (let’s say Spencer), then Erins, etc… They are so cute how they plan it out and stick to their plan. They both received lots of fun gifts, toys, books, clothes, but my all time fav had to be the framed 8 x 10 drawing Alexa made for Grace (above) to go with the book she gave her. She is sooo incredibly talented. I told her she could make a "Mary Englebreit” calendar with drawing like those. She is amazing. Thank you Aunt Lara, Aunt Lisa, Gramma Cindy, Brian & Lex, Spencer, Erin, Gram and Papa Call, Lisa & Rick, and Jean for helping make their birthdays sooooo much fun!

They couldn’t let the day go by without trying their new Nerf water guns from …. ya, you guessed it, Spencer! As you can see Zac is still in his Sunday clothes while Grace opted for her swim suit. It’s a little tough changing shirts for Zac so we just told him to get soaked, then we would help him change to dry clothes. He LOVED that!!

Birthday dinner was Navajo Tacos or scones, whatever you call them! They are delicious. We use frozen Rhodes roll dough, let it rise then squish them flat and fry them in oil….I know, not so healthy, but sooo delicious. In the mean time, heat up your favorite chili (we love Nally Vegetarian chili), grate some cheese, slice some lettuce and tomatoes. Now make your flat fry bread taco. Mmmmmm!

For dessert they each chose their own cake. Gracie wanted a double layer heart shaped cake, which Miss Erin so graciously decorated. Zac wanted a single layer cake to decorate himself. He did a fine job. The favorite part of the night is lighting candles and re-lighting them and blowing them out. Zac is pretty much in love with the lighter we have to light those up!

It was a great day! I can’t believe those little kids of mine are now 8 years old and 11 years old. Time flies. We have a very exciting weekend coming up as Zac is getting baptized. He has made the choice to follow the Savior and be baptized as he was. We are proud of him and looking forward to a wonderful weekend with the fam, including B & A. Love you Gracie girl and Zacky! You two light up my life!! Love you sooooo much, xoxoxoxoxoxo mama

Party weekend!

2011-08-30T21:17:00.001-07:00

Yea for the BIG WATER SLIDE!!

This year was not friend party year (for birthdays), but these girls found a way to party it up together! Alivia Hinton and Grace share the exact same birthday (August 28, along with Zac!). They are on the same soccer team, Bombers Crush, and Georgia on their team shares their birthday as well! Grace, Alivia and Mikelle enjoyed a late night together at our house on Friday night. They had a picnic dinner, played on the big slide, laughed, giggled, and made delicious milkshakes. They had a fabulous night and were soooo fun to have around! Happy 11th birthday Grace and Livvy! Love you two girlies! :)

The boring life of a 2nd grader with a broken collarbone…

2011-08-30T21:09:00.001-07:00

The first two days were ok around here. Zac was showered with plenty of attention by his brother and sisters. But he soon found out how utterly boring it is to simply not be able to do anything! No big water slide in the backyard, no recess, swings, bike, scooters, soccer, football, swimming, nothing! He has not been too happy wearing his sling every day. He does look forward to taking it off at night to sleep. He has to sleep on his back, with a pillow over his arm to remind him to keep it close by his side. He took his little froggy and put it on his pillow to keep watch over him all night. Although it has felt like weeks, he has only had it for 8 days…..roughly 3 weeks left to entertain a very bored 8 year old!

Love you Zac!! xoxooxo mama

Hey Mom!

2011-08-26T09:21:00.001-07:00

Zac has had a couple of really B O R I N G days at school, due to the fact that there's not much to do at recess with an arm in a sling. It would be sooo different if he broke his arm and it was in a cast. If it was casted, then he could still play ball, swing, run around and be crazy. But since his arm is in a sling, his collar bone area is still totally exposed and subject to injury at any second!

But yesterday he came home from school and happily said, "Hey Mom! I found something fun to do at recess today so it wasn't so boring!" I was pretty excited to hear that he actually found something he could do to keep him busy. He then said, "I figured out that with my sling, I can still go on the slide and on the swing!!" Ahhhhhhhhhhh! (and he added, “I only almost fell off the swing backwards once!” like that is an accomplishment??)

Needless to say, we had a little chat about what he can do at recess until his broken bone has healed….and unfortunately for him, it didn’t include anything to do with the picture above. :(

ps If you have any great ideas you’d like to share about some fun recess activities for him, I’d love to hear them!!

Lunch Recess = Broken bone

2011-08-22T13:46:00.001-07:00

Today was a typical Monday……lots to do cleaning up the aftermath of the weekend. After getting everyone out the door to school, with lunches in hand I had some time to do my morning work out (best part of the day) and then pay the bills (worst part of the day…so I thought, anyway). I was accomplishing much, laundry and cleaning in between everything else. The day was starting out successful!

My car was filled to the brim with donations for the DI that came from our clean-the-garage-session this weekend. I made my list of errands: Drop off something at a friends house, pay a bill at the bank, drop off at DI and while I was out in that area of town pick up a few items at WalMart (not my favorite store) and Costco. Then head home by the time Grace got home just after 2pm.

I accomplished errands one and two and was half way to errand three when my phone rang. I immediately recognized the phone number to be that of the elementary school. I don’t have every one of their numbers in my phone, but after having children at the same school for 12 years, these numbers become familiar. It was Anne, one of my favorite school receptionists telling me that Zac hurt his shoulder at recess and seems to be in a lot of pain and that I should come take a look. So, mid-way through town I turned around to head that direction. I decided not to worry, whatever it was we could take care of it. And who knows, it could be a bruise, or a hurt ego or something else.

I walked into the school, into the office, right back to the Nurses room. And there was my buddy, being brave and tough, clenching his teeth, with tears running down his face. He looked up at me and with tears that seemed to burst out at full speed, he said, “Mom, it’s reeeallllly killing me.” Anne brought me his backpack and I helped him, and his ice packed shoulder out to the car. I could tell within a minute that we would not be going home to rest, but would be heading straight to the Instacare office.

Luck (and blessings!) were on our side today, because the parking lot to InstaCare was virtually empty! I seriously was thinking that everyone must be out to lunch. He was in some serious pain at this point and the receptionist there was very sympathetic and kind. They got us back in record time and the dr. pointed out his broken collar bone immediately. The nurse, Tracie, was super kind, getting his x ray and letting him check out the results on the big screen.

A dose of Motrin (that will likely cost me the amount of two whole bottles!), a sling, a fancy ice pack, and a photo of the broken bone and we were out the door. A trip to McDonalds for a vanilla shake and home for movie afternoon. We are enjoying Rio together and chilling.

This is the first broken bone he’s ever had. At the school, Anne said, “He is being extremely brave” and she was so right! He cried out several times as the pain was pretty intense, but he was so brave! He was a great patient and is happy to be home. The motrin has kicked in, so the pain has subsided some. You can see the broken collar bone below: crack/snap!

He is most worried that he won’t be able to open birthday presents on Sunday (as it’s his 8th birthday and Grace’s 11th birthday on the 28th!). I assured him that he would be able to open them and that we would wrap them easy peasy lemon squeezy just for him!

It’s not easy watching your kids in pain. I imagine this is what our Heavenly Father feels like as we, his children, make decisions that wrench at his heart. It was hard to have my little buddy sitting with me hurting so much, but I was so thankful for a quick visit with amazing staff to help us and make us feel so comfortable. We are very blessed.

Love you Zac! Thanks for being so brave. Love always, mama

New House Rule

2011-08-16T10:20:00.000-07:00

Zac put this up on his bunk bed. And now it's the new house rule.

It's a beautiful thing to be taught by our children.

The first day of school 2011

2011-08-15T19:00:00.000-07:00

Grace is the first one to get up and get going these days. She is a big time 6th grader at Lave Ridge Intermediate. She leaves at 7:25am (choke, choke…..soooo early!). By that time Spenc and Erin are getting up to get ready so they can leave at 8am. And at that time, Zac is getting up so he can leave at 8:45am. It takes about two hours to get all these guys out of the house!

The first day went smooth. Breakfast is always a big hit. Did you guess right? Cinnamon rolls! Yummy, gooey, sugary, home made bites of heaven. Always good to send them back to school on a sugar high right?? ha. Add frosting on a warm cinnamon roll, mmmmmmm!

Miss Gracie all ready for her first day of 6th grade, along with her best friend Mikelle.

The boys are all set for their big day. Spencer is a Junior and Zac is starting 2nd grade. Spenc refused to have new shoes for back to school. Zac was thrilled with his new Nikes.

Erin is a Freshman! She has the most amazing, cute outfits ever. She puts things together so well and is so talented and creative that she makes a matching belt or backpack or something to go with almost every outfit she puts together. For more of her amazing-ness, go to her blogspot here: http://www.erinestellacall.blogspot.com I can’t believe she is a freshman in high school. Wasn’t I just in high school not too long ago??

Zac was the only one that I could officially walk into the classroom with this year. He was sooo excited (with a little nervousness mixed in) to start 2nd grade. His teacher is Mrs. Thomas and she seems amazing. They are all going to have a great year!

As for me, the house is quiet. But there are dishes to be done, laundry, bathrooms, bedrooms to clean up and some big time party music to be played, as I clean and dance and sing out loud!

HAPPY FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!!!

the last of the summer fun

2011-08-14T14:54:00.001-07:00

Jeremy you were not alone on your phone……I caught many dads catching up on their work, emails, etc… just like you!! :)

Pictures say a thousand words, and until I can figure out how to use Windows Live Writer to do my blog and actually add words and sentences throughout my blog, you’ll have to get it like this! We had a great trip up to Lagoon. We went up on a Wednesday and partied hard all day long! I told the big kids that we would be sticking together for at least the first couple hours and then they could go do all of the big rides. But wouldn’t you know it, we never split up even once! Zac and Grace were dare devils, doing all of the rides….the Rocket, Wicked, the Spider, everything! They had a great time. We had a fun day as a family and I was enjoying the fact that we didn’t have to have a stroller, diaper bag, nap time (although I wanted one!), juice cups, wipes, etc. It was amazing! We decided to save a little (er, a lot) of money and campout at the Lagoon campsite. It was really convenient, you could walk out of the park right into the campsite. It was convenient until the next morning when Jeremy had to leave for work meetings at 9:30am and the kids and I got to hang out at our now-empty campsite playing cards. . . we played the game “spoons” using sticks instead, until Lagoon opened up at 11am. It was actually very fun!

We “bounced back” to Lagoon for $10 and decided to be “smart” (ha) and beat the lines by going to Rattlesnake Rapids first, before the big afternoon crowd. Suffice it to say the pictures below depict us dry….the only time we were dry the entire day. We got SOAKED!!! Erin and I tried to use my sweatshirt to keep our hair dry….but we failed. Miserably.

We had a blast at Lagoon and spending time together having fun! Then we were off to Park City for a three day soccer tournament for Miss Grace. Their Bombers Crush team made it to the semi-finals where they lost. It was a great long weekend of fancy hotels, late night swims and work outs, yummy breakfasts, shopping at the outlet malls, eating out lunch and dinner (yea for Costco one night!), meeting up with Lex and Brian at Gracies game and then to Cafe Rio, and watching Grace play 4 intense games of soccer. It was fun, but when we got home I was exhausted!!

(Spencer just might have actually asked for a cute girls name and number while up at Lagoon….and just possibly might be texting her here, with a smile on his face)

On our way back from Park City we made a quick stop to say good bye to Lex and Brian. We found them painting a thrift store find, something Lex does quite well. I was actually surprised that the two of them weren’t more covered in paint!!

Yea for summer trips and summer fun! It’s back at it tomorrow…..school starts! For those of you who have made it to the end of this post (congratulations!) and question of the day: What is the Back To School Breakfast served every year on the first day of school at the Call household? No fair answering if you are any of my children!!!! Come on, take a guess. It’s been a life long tradition here……what’s YOUR guess???

Just a little bit of inspiration

2011-07-26T17:52:00.001-07:00

I try to remember or copy or jot down the tid bits of inspiration I run into in various places. Here are a few good ones to remember....

Sometimes it's hard to be couragous and stand up for what is right. But we know what we should do and when we should do it. It's how we were made and designed.How true is this? When things are going smoothly, it is easy to sail along in life. It's when the storm comes to shake things up that our true character is tested and challenged. It's our chance to be refined, polished, and strengthened. Not always easy, but definitely true.
I LOVE this one, because I am a "glass half full" kind of girl. I think I pretty much learned this from her. She is always so positive, friendly, and happy. She's had her share of tough, but has weathered through it, just like the rest of us. Now we can remember, that technically....the glass is ALWAYS full. Because it usually is, we just have to look for it!
And last but not least, here is a quote that has floated around our house the past few years. It speaks for itself.

Very lastly, we can remember the great addage...
When life gets too hard to stand.....kneel.
With love,
me

Viva Las Vegas

2011-07-26T17:29:00.001-07:00

I spent two days in Vegas with Spencer and his best buddy Brenden. The boys played in a basketball tournament Friday, Saturday and Monday. So, while we were there I decided to show them the town. We had a great drive down the strip and saw plenty of interesting people, signs and such. (with the occasional comment from me...."close your eyes!")
I taught them my amazing gambling skills and they won this sportscar! They are going to share it for when they each have dates to take out.

Lady Liberty...made of Jelly Belly's.

This picture was taken for Zac. The boys by the Statue of Liberty at the New York, New York Hotel. Zac loves the part in the movie "Despicible Me" when he says "I stole the Statue of Liberty!! ....the small one from las vegas". "Also, the Eiffle Tower......also from Vegas". ha. He laughs at that part every time!

Spencer and his mama

16 going on 17, and just plain old 41.

Spencer was dying to ride the roller coaster at the NY NY.

Spenc was all for it (the roller coaster above them), but Brenden said no thanks!! I'm pretty sure there is no one who likes roller coasters as much as Spenc does!

"Soon I will be here...."
"....... riding this!!!!"

While we were waiting and watching Spenc ride, Brenden and I saw Spencers dream car. What is it about teenage boys and cars?? I have yet to figure that one out!!

We had a great day, although very HOT, in Vegas. I'm not a Vegas lover, but everyone has to experience it sometime!! Thanks boys for putting up with me!

Summer 2011

2011-07-26T17:15:00.000-07:00

It was family yard work night (aren't you glad you were still at Gramma's Erin?). Our lawn mower had died the previous week and the lawn was growing like crazy! Jeremy invested in a new one and the kids were excited to help. I started things out by mowing a "Z" in the lawn for Zac. He thought that was pretty cool!

Grace and Zac found it pretty easy to start up the mower. (something Spencer will be thrilled about!)

Zac 7 1/2 years old

My freckle girl Grace. I tell her that every day I have to re-count her freckles because she new ones appear every night!!

Our dear neighbors, whom we refer to Uncle Rick and Aunt Lisa, let the kids come over anytime to swim and cool off. Such wonderful neighbors! Ashlynn, Zac & Grace having some fun.

Nothing like relaxing in the pool on a hot, summer, sun-shining day!

I think I'll keep you.

2011-07-16T10:16:00.000-07:00

Saturday is a special day, it's the day we get ready for Sunday.

Yes, today the kids woke up to a job list. Nothing too bad. Just the regular chores of cleaning up their rooms, yard work for a little bit and a couple extra jobs around the house. One of Spencer's jobs was washing windows inside and out. I'm not the kind of mom who thinks just the boys should do outside jobs and girls should be cleaning inside. I think they can all work both inside and out. Clean bathrooms? Yep. Pull weeds, mow lawns? Yep. Wash dishes, laundry, etc? Yep. I walked by Spencer washing the windows and was amazed by how much they shined (eh, the windows that is) AND how he could wash with such ease. He is so tall, that he didn't need a ladder or a chair outside to get the tippy top of the windows like I do. So, I said to him, "Wow, Spencer, I'm going to keep you!" And he smiled and said, "Thanks mom." So I replied, "Ya, it was questionable this morning if I was keeping you or not (ha), but you've sealed the deal. You're a keeper!" Anyway, it was just a funny moment between the two of us. He is an amazing son and I am so thankful for him. We were just talking that after this summer, he only has two more summers before he leaves on his mission. Time flies! He is a wonderful, handsome, helpful, friendly, honest young man. And I am proud to be called his mom. some girl is going to thank me BIG time one day!!

Just a little summa fun

2011-07-15T22:32:00.001-07:00

With the weight of the wedding planning lifted from my shoulders, we are enjoying a little summer fun. Erin went home with Gram and Gramp George to Washington state, along with cousins-in-crime, Paris & Scarlett Mijatovich. See her many adventures here. Spencer is keeping busy working at the pool as a lifeguard. And Mr. & Mrs. Zurcher are keeping themselves busy, which you can read about here. In the mean time, I am chilling with Grace and Zac, and our little buddy Ashlynn who comes over to play most days. Here are some of our adventures! Miss Grace all ready for 7am soccer practice.

You have to start early around here before it gets too H O T !
Most afternoons it's too hot to do too much outside,
so the kids enjoy creating and crafting.

Zac and his alien guy.

Ashlynn and Grace with their creations.

Ashlynn and Grace enjoying the fresh-out-of-the-oven brownies that they made at "cooking class". Grace was the teacher, Ash was the student. They were also enjoying playing on the big blow up slide in the backyard (not pictured).

Swimming afternoon at the Brooks pool.

Nothing like Oreos and Doritos for a post swimming snack! :)

One fine afternoon, somehow Grace and Zac got me to take them to Fiesta Fun. They brought in their report cards and for such good grades they each received 30 tokens free. Yea for doing good in school. They enjoyed playing the games and winning tickets!

A string of winning tickets longer than he is!

Then we used our three free miniature golf coupons, nevermind that it was 100 degrees outside!

Grace beat both of us, but we weren't too far behind!

They let you choose your golf ball color. Grace = pink. Zac = orange. Always.

Bumper Boats!

If you know me well enough, you know I just don't pay for these kinds of things. It kills me to 'waste' money! We had 2 free coupons for Bumper Boats, so I stepped up and forfeited my chance to go and let Grace and Zac go :) They had a blast and ended up SO WET!!! Notice the dripping water coming from each of them! They were soaked.

*to see Gracies darling blog go here

All in all, 30 free tokens each, 3 rounds of mini golf and 2 Bumper Boat rides = $45

But for us and our good deals and coupons = $0

I didn't spend a penny!!

Yea for summa fun!!!

This one's for you Miss Erin

2011-07-08T10:59:00.001-07:00

MISS ERIN....I MISS YOU!!!! I miss seeing your smiling face every day and hearing your contagious laugh. No worries, the wedding is over so we don't have to sweep or clean or do anything around here anymore...hahahahhaha. I know you are having the time of your life with Gram, Gramp and your two cousins / partners in crime.

(for some of her fabulous adventures go here) We have been keeping a diligent eye on these two little guys.

They are growing so much! I bet they will be flying away soon!!

Enjoy your weeks on the farm, laugh a lot, blog some more, make lots of memories and take lots of pictures! Love you sosososososososoooooo much!!
xoxoxoxoxoxo love, mama

Post wedding partying!

2011-07-08T10:51:00.001-07:00

The day after the wedding we decided to play at Gram and Gramps for a bit. The cousins played on the waterslide in the backyard and the big kids played their version of poker, eh I mean go-fish in the basement. We were all happy to chill out for awhile.

That night we met up with those handsome Spencer boys to go see Soul Surfer (those who were lucky enough anyway....Lynda and I took the two littlest boys to Rango....please please please do not go see it!!). The dollar theater is the place to go with this many!! Lettin' the love and the craziness show through.
Afterwards, these crazy kids convinced us to stop at WalMart. While I was just taking my time wandering around, look who I ran into!! The happy Mr & Mrs. Take a look at their shirts....gotta love them!! They were busy getting a few last minute items for their trip to the Bahamas that they were leaving for that night! Yea for honeymoons!

I told them to shop with care, because somewhere in this store was the group of crazy cousins/friends. They showed up to check out, and look who showed up with them...the whole gang! I couldn't resist taking a picture of them, even though it was a quick one since the WalMart lady said, "NO pictures in Walmart!" Ooops.

Happy Honeymooning to you two!!

Wedding Preparations and Celebrations!

2011-07-08T10:14:00.000-07:00

Pictures are worth a thousand words....enjoy these! Some of the wedding flowers buckled in my front seat, ready to deliver to Alexa so she could make coursages and boutineers. She did an amazing job and it saved us tons of $$. Having someone make your coursages and boutineers is soo overrated! Alexa was pro!!
The fam in the car. The girls are eating Jimmy Johns for dinner while the boys chow down on Taco Bell. Here we are heading up to the hotel in Salt Lake, the night before the wedding! The car was jammed packed!!

Chillin at the hotel pool and hot tub.

Scarlett, Grace, Lex, Erin, Paris,

with a little Zac poppin out!

My high school best friend drove out all the way from Oregon with her husband and five boys. Boy were our girls every HAPPY those boys came!! :)

Colson, Ryan, Jace, Spencer, Josh, Justin, Erin, Scarlett

Grace, Lex & Paris

The Spencer boys with the Call & Mijatovich girls

Oh ya, and one Call boy...sorry Spencer.

The girls looking at pictures together the night before the BIG day!

Scarlett, Grace, Lex, Erin, & Paris

Zac in his big brothers jacket.

Three generations!

Amy, Alexa, and Gramma Cindy

Grace, me, Alexa, Gramma Cindy and Scarlett

Jeremy with his baby girl!!

Lucky dad with two of his gorgeous girls!

Lex and Grace

Brian and Alexa, all ready for their big day.

Brian, you're starting to look like Jeremy here...on the phone!! :)

Lara and her man Wayne made the long drive from California!

My gorgeous mother! I hope I'm as gorgeous as her when I grow up!!

Gracie, Gram, Erin and Grampa George

The boys hanging out.

Ryan, Spencer, Jace, Steve and Brayden Morgan

The married beauty and her little brother Zac.

Our next door neighbors and dear friends, Aunt Lisa and Uncle Rick!

Kenz, Lex and Kiana.

The three mustakeers.

Gorgeous sister and cousins.

Grace, Scarlett, Lex, Erin and Paris

One of my ALL TIME FAVORITE PICTURES:

ALEXA and BRIAN showing their true colors!!

Beautiful sisters!

The taller, younger brother!

Grace and myself at Olive Garden for the family luncheon.

Thanks to Brians parents for a delicious meal!

The gorgeous bride in the Bridal Room at Wadley Farms.

Paris was an amazing helper setting up at Wadley Farms for the reception.

I didn't take too many pictures at the reception or the temple. I figured I had paid the amazing photographer to do that job! We should have professional pictures soon.

Zac loved climbing the trees at Wadley Farms

which may or may not have got him into a little bit of trouble ;)

The guys and their cool matching socks.

Spencer, Jeremy, Brian, Travis, Dan and Werner.

Now those are some handsome men!!

Seriously gorgeous and happy!

The wedding day was beautiful, a day we will never forget. The reception was amazing. We had so many people who helped set up, keep food platters filled and clean up. We couldn't have done it without our amazing friends and family. We danced, hugged, ate, watched Brian and Lex squish cake into each others faces, laughed and loved every minute of it.

HAPPY HAPPY REST OF ETERNITY BRIAN AND ALEXA!!!

xoxoxoxooxoxoxoxo

A beautiful day

2011-07-08T10:07:00.000-07:00

It was a most beautiful day attending the St. George Temple with Lex and Brian. The weather couldn't have been more gorgeous. The opportunity to be with your children in the temple is incredible and I wouldn't have missed this day for anything!!

See how excited they are?? :) After the temple, we enjoyed a delicious lunch together at the Pasta Factory in Ancestor Square. That night we had the Open House for Lex and Brian at our house. It was amazing to have so many friends that are just like family to us there. It was a beautiful night. Sadly, I don't have many pictures to share, but I'm sure Erin and Alexa do on their blogs!

alexacall.com and erinestellacall.blogspot.com

Best Dad Ever!

2011-07-08T10:03:00.000-07:00

Technically he does live here. Although that could be questionable since he spends a lot of time here.............

But no matter where he is, he is THE BEST DAD EVER! He always puts our best interests first and does amazing work as an Architect. He is kind, sweet, patient, loving, never puts himself first, hard working, honest, playful, funny and amazing!! JC, we love YOU!!!

Bombers Crush

2011-07-08T09:50:00.001-07:00

Grace is on an amazing competetive soccer team, the Bombers Crush! She is lucky to be coached by "three bad dads"(see video below!), Brent Brindely, Brian Brough and Coach Kimball. They played in Cedar City in the Utah Summer games and their team took the SILVER. They played hard and had fun. Alivia Hinton and Grace. Not only do they play on the same team and live around the corner from each other, but they also share the same birthday, August 28th. Livy is about 12 hours older than Grace!
Grace proudly displaying her silver medal.

The team!

Grace, Abby and former teammate Delaney. Before we went up to play in the championship game, I let Alivia and Grace decorate our car. Then they went and did Livy's car and then we were somewhat sneaky and we did Coach Brindleys car. It was pretty fun!

Below is the video of the girls, post game song. It is super cute. They made it up, hopefully it turns out and you can hear it :) Go Bombers Crush!!

Some summer fun

2011-07-08T09:37:00.001-07:00

It's been a busy start to the summer here preparing for the wedding, Open House, and Reception for Lex and Brian. In between planning, preparing, baking, shopping, spending, saving, and starting to go a little crazy, we did fit in some fun.

Spenncer's Varsity basketball team took the Bronze at the Utah Summer Games.

That week, between Spenc playing basketball and Grace playing soccer, I drove to Cedar City nine times that week! It was fun filled and everytime someone asked me if my list was long of things to get done for the wedding, I had to reply, "Oh, I'm not thinking about wedding this week (the week before the wedding!! ah!!), I'm busy with these summer games" It was truly all I could do was focus on the event at hand. No need to worry about something you couldn't control or work on! We love Utah Summer Games!! Grace's soccer team got a little more coverage with my camera...see the following post!

Erin and Spencer had the opportunity to go on the Pioneer Trek with about 400 other high school age kids for three days. They had a great time. They had to work hard. One thing Spencer said when he got home was...."Brenden and I decided that one of the top five qualities we want in a wife is a hard worker!" The kids who didn't do much on the trek really bugged him! He is a hard worker just like his dad!

Miss Ashlynn gets to spend fun summer days with us!

Mikelle, Zac, and Grace playing it up on the tramp with the sprinklers and water balloons on a HOT summer day!!

the dog has my disease

2011-05-18T12:29:00.000-07:00

We have this darling little dog named Gigi.....whom we inherited a few years back.

(pictured above behind the blue ball...only pic I could currently find)

She is about 7 years old. She is pretty obedient, happy, friendly, and well-mannered. Usually. That is until a cloudy, windy, and/or rainy day shows up. That's when SAD kicks in. You know, "seasonal affective disorder"? Ya, when the clouds show up, the rain starts up....she just can't quite handle leaving the house. This poses a BIG problem. You see, she has a nice little doggie door to make her way outside any time she wants. But on these SAD days, she goes to her door, looks outside and just decides, "Hmmm, looks too cold/too cloudy/too wet to head out today". Then she backs up about six inches and PEES right there on the carpet. This happened yesterday and lets just say this: she is very, very lucky to be alive right now. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't really kill her, but believe me, I sure wanted to.

I'm right there with her, don't particularly like those dreary, cloudy, cold, wet days. Not so much fun for my mood, and cheerfulness level. But seriously. You've got to make it outside Gigi. Cause if you don't then Aunt Lisa is really going to find out that BOGO really does mean :

Buy One Get One Free. And yes, you'll be the free one.

Love ya sis!! xoxoxox

Wedding planning marathon

2011-05-17T12:50:00.000-07:00

I was able to go up to Lex's last Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday for some BIG time wedding planning, shopping, and non-stop organizing. And boy did we ever find deals!!

Poor poor girl got lost one day. Good thing I found her. ha.

Can you read our hats?? BRIDE and MOTHER OF THE BRIDE.

Ha. Looks like we were in the wedding construction business or something!

(no, we didn't buy those beauties!)

So the week went about like this:

making lists to accomplish each day, the mall, buy things and return them when we found something different, buy cute dresses, buy matching shoes, return both, Michaels with coupons...twice, Hobby Lobby with coupons, Zurchers (the party store, not the family gathering) :), BYU to try the various sweets that they cater out to weddings, DI for frames, antique suitcases and such, Flower shop on State street that has since moved to Springville, Wadley Farms, Kneaders to view cakes and eat the most delicious brownies in the history of our lives, Costa Vida and free chips & salsa coupons, with fizzy water, making Lex get out and walk to work (ha), shopping for the grooms suit, (which by the way he looks like a GQ model! I couldn't spoil the surprise and post the picture quite yet!) searching on-line for coupons and deals and such, the mall again (times four I'm pretty sure), Olive Garden soup and salad (and extra mints from a somewhat grouchy waitress), Springville Flower shop, Macy's, Dillards, and Nordstrom for fancy dresses, gelatto at Costco, Brady not Jared, having wedding dress altered, P90x and the treadmill, fixing bent glasses, shopping for ties, ten yummy cakes, Delvina, NO! die!, hot tamales and popcorn, laughing like crazy, realizing one of us in not a morning person (ha), making playlists all the way home, Jimmy Johns, singing out loud and overall having an amazing time while accomplishing MUCH-O!

Only to get home and for the next two days: painting frames and various other wedding items, buy shoes at Christensens, try on wedding clothing, frost 8 dozen cupcakes for the other wedding, set the tables as if it was wedding day, figure out all of our platters, tiers and such, play games, shop, laugh, get a little more sleep than we did up north, and enjoy the fam!

**we ALWAYS have the camera to document our adventures. but on this trip, we were SOOO busy that we didn't get too many pictures. here we are on Saturday night after FIVE long TWELVE hour days working on nothing but WEDDING**

Love you Lex! Can't wait for the BIG day!!

44 days and counting!!

Love these guys!

2011-05-17T12:32:00.000-07:00

Here's a few of us all ready for church. Boy am I ever in love with my family! Brian and Lex, thanks for being such a good example! Thank you for your kindness and helpfulness. We love it when you get to visit. What fun we have playing, laughing, losing at Uno and talking like we have a NY accent. ha.

Erin, thank you for spicin' up our lives! You say the funniest things and I love your quick humor and wit. You are gorgeous and your blue eyes sparkle like the blue sky on a summer day. No wonder those boys keep on hanging out around here!! They know beauty when they see it! You are beautiful inside and out! Although you have proclaimed yourself "not a morning person" ;) I love you so much and am so very thankful for you! You are talented beyond measure and I'd love it if you'd share some of it with ME!!

Spencer, good job following your father. Thank you for being honest, true, trustworthy and hard working! It's fun watching you use those talents on the basketball court. Keep up the good work, only two more years of high school left!! Oh how time flies!!

Grace, our innocent, yet competitive girlie girl! You are an amazing soccer player. You are dedicated and tough. You are also a good friend to others. You are loving and caring and considerate. Thank you for all that you do to help me out around here. Keep that big smile of yours on that gorgeous face of yours! Your mama loves you!

**and for those of you who really know us, you would know that Zac tries to get out of any and every family picture that he possibly can. And you would know that as we are all ready to head out the door for church, Jeremy is most likely still getting ready for the day!**

A little dining room make-over

2011-05-17T12:19:00.000-07:00

Sometimes it takes me awhile to fully complete a project.

I painted the dining room wall a light blue and finally made the bird curtains I had been planning to make. Then last Friday afternoon I ran into this beauty at a yard sale for $10. With some wonderful Goop Off to take off the many stickers that was stuck to it and a very handsome helper (mr. Zac), I set off to work. Zac was very helpful in taking off all of the drawer knobs. Spencer was highly skeptical that I could make this into something that could look good in our house. With a couple cans of spray paint and some sandpaper (for that roughed up look) that dresser now sits in the dining room off to the side to hold all of the "piles" that USE to stack up around here.

Zac, hard at work.

My lovely bird curtains with awesome "balls" at the bottom.

The finished dresser, that looks really cute in person!

Zac asked if he could have a drawer for his art things. I was happy to share one with him. One drawer holds bills, one holds wedding papers, another holds blank paper. When Zac was telling Jeremy that he got his own drawer, Jeremy asked him, "Do I get a drawer, too?" I replied, "Oh yes, you get a drawer! The top left one!" (it's filled with the bills!) :)

*I really wanted to buy clear, crystal like knobs for the dresser,

but being that they were $3.99 each (=$24 total), I said no way! *

Two handsome men

2011-05-17T12:18:00.001-07:00

Lucky me with my two handsome guys!

So very thankful for these two men in my life.

They are righteous, honest, hard-working and handsome.

Thank you Jeremy and Spencer for the examples you are in our home.

I LOVE YOU BOTH SO MUCH!!!

xoxoxoxoxoxo

Field Day

2011-05-17T12:06:00.000-07:00

I was one of those kids growing up who just didn't love Field Day. Pretty sure Lex got that gene from me.

Grace and Zac on the other hand, LOVE field day! They are athletic, competitive and fast!

(which equals lots of ribbons won, something I never experienced!)

Zac with his Field Day buddies. Stockton, Josh, Preston & Zac.

Grace, Teagan, Mikelle and Hannah all ready for their relay race!

Grace after running her first 400 and placing 1st. Way to go hot shot!

Grace, Teagan and Mikelle staying cool!

*Even more important than field day are the friends that your kids choose. I have found that you can teach them all you can as they are growing up in your home. But about high school (even as you continue to teach and guide them) a BIG part of their lives are their friends. Choosing good friends is one of the biggest decisions your kids can make! Keep snacks and treats around for when they "drop" in. Always make your home available for them to play games, watch movies and such. It makes such a huge difference. Of all of my childrens friends, including Alexa's, our house is probably the smallest of all of them. But do you know who's house they almost always ended up at to hang out? Yep, the smallest one . . . . ours.

I LOVE having them over and welcome them, hungry boys and all!!*

Love being a mama!

2011-05-17T12:01:00.000-07:00

“Motherhood …is near to divinity.

It is the highest, holiest service to be assumed by mankind.

It places her who honors its holy calling and service next to the angels.”

Special thanks to my angels for this delicious breakfast in bed!

I love being a mother and am so very thankful for my own mother.

For the many sacrifices she made for me, for teaching me how to have fun on a tight budget, for letting me be me, and for loving me unconditionally.

I love you mom!!

just a thought for the day

2011-03-22T10:40:00.000-07:00

"I've learned that people will forget what you said,

people will forget what you did,

but people will never forget how you made them feel."

Maya Angelou

So very, very true!

Talent Show

2011-02-22T10:33:00.001-08:00

(the first night cousins arrived! excited?? i think YES!)

Just thought I'd share a fun, impromptu, Talent Show we had Sunday night. Ha. It was a crack up! We all had about 10 or 15 minutes to come up with the "talent" we were going to perform. Grace was our announcer and we each took a turn.

The first were the 4 girls...Lex, Paris, Erin & Scarlett lip syncing to Justin Bieber. I'm pretty sure they had the Bieber fever. You can see a clip of their amazing performance here, my niece's amazing blog. Turn down the music at the bottom of her blog first so you can hear the video. THEN, go back and turn the music to her blog up and listen to the first song....it's THE SONG OF THE WEEKEND!! The song we sang again and again......and again. Everybody, everybody wants to be loved!!

Paris followed by playing her guitar. Talk about talent! We loved hearing her! She is very musically talented, with such poise and confidence!

Spencer was next....his talent? Putting two cupcakes into his mouth at once. He only likes plain, unfrosted cupcakes. We are all pretty sure he "practiced" his talent a few times...many cupcakes were missing. :)

Zac amazed us all with his juggling abilities! He was able to juggle not one, but TWO, balls without dropping either of them. It was pure talent by an incredible 7 year old!

Grace, along with her handy assistant, Zac, was able to get her dad's cell phone completely into a balloon. It was so cool!! Talk about talent...and magic!!

I randomly said I would perform some poetry that I quickly made up...It went like this...

The sheets were all clean, the floors mopped with care. In hopes that the cousins soon would be there.

Much to our delight, they arrived with a clatter. Nothing we were doing really seemed to matter.

Hugs and kisses, squeals of delight. My this is going to be such a long night.

Oooooing and Ahhhing over a beautiful ring, So excited for what the summer will bring.

"I'm going to be an Uncle soon"...and choking on our food. To chocolate eating dogs lightening up the mood.

"Wow! 5 gallons of milk, we'll never drink that all!" (ha) Just a day in the life at the Crazy Call's.

Late night movies, laughter and fun. Talent shows and fugitive games, always on the run.

The time we love best - our favorite time of the year, Is when we're blessed to have our amazing family near. :)

Brian performed next by borrowing Paris' guitar and playing amazingly for us. Oh how we love home-made music!!

Lara decided to team up with Gigi and show off her amazing dog-training skills. Gigi was performing the tricks before Lara could even get the treat out of her pocket...they were an incredible team! Lara continued the next day showing off her amazing talents by making Erin her very own pin cushion. It was darling!!

Jeremy ended up the Talent Show by showing us all how to tie a Rescue Knot. Zac was his handy-dandy assistant. Jeremy tied a cool rope seat that could be lowered down a cliff to rescue a fallen hiker. Zac loved being the fallen hiker....and the said "rescue / rope seat" is currently tied over the archway in the living room for all to swing on.

It was a wonderful night. I loved the opportunity we all had to perform, laugh, and be together.

There is nothing like family!!! Love you all soooo much!!!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo Amy

ps fun pictures coming soon. to family blogs everywhere and facebook, I'm sure!

family blogs are here (scarlett) and here (paris) and here (erin) and here (lara) and here (alexa)

ENGAGED!!

2011-02-16T09:57:00.001-08:00

Yes, it's true! Alexa is engaged!

You can officially meet Mr. Brian Zurcher here

and see their beautiful smiles here.

We first met Brian Zurcher when he came for a visit in October. What an amazing first impression! But over the visit at Thanksgiving, we knew it was l o v e. How you may ask?? He was here over the rival BYU UTAH game day and didn't even ask to watch it (not only do we not have cable, but we're not big into football around here!!) When I asked him about the game...he said, "Ya, pretty much this is the first game I have missed!" Awww.

Then, he was brave enough to stay with us for four days over New Years. You can't really fake it with a visitor for four days. Our true colors were shining bright, complete with meltdowns (thank you tired 7 year olds) dirty clothes left in the bathrooms, and late night game wars. ha.

But sure enough, he was back in February. This time for a fine visit with my man.

Little did they know we may or may not have been peeking...a little.

We actually caught both of them smiling during their little chat. :)

And now it is official. After seeing our craziness, he's actually officially going to join us. . . .

and we couldn't be happier!

Congrats Lex and Brian!

You couldn't have found a more beautiful, amazing, spiritual, talented, loving girl and she couldn't have found

a more handsome, loving, incredible, sweet, kind, worthy man to spend the rest of eternity with.

Welcome to the family, Brian.

Love,

Lex, Erin, Jeremy, Amy, Zac, Spenc, and Grace