Good Kids Books

Cade just finished reading "Leven Thumps" for school. It is the first book in the series of 4 or more. He thought it was great and wanted me to read it so I did. It was actually pretty good. In fact, I will most likely read the next one too.

Ashley and I just finished reading "The Little Princess" book together. I loved it! It was fun taking turns reading each page at night before bed. It was something we both looked forward to doing each night. Very cute story that inspires you to be grateful and want to do better.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIKAYLA!

Mikayla turns 6 today. I can't believe how fast she has grown up. She can't wait to go see her cousins this weekend and celebrate her birthday.

Six years ago -surrounded with lots of love!

Cute as ever!

TAGGED AGAIN!

WHAT IS HIS NAME: David Shirley
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN MARRIED: 15 years and still smokin hot!
HOW LONG DID WE DATE: 1 year including a 2month engagement
WHO SAID I LOVE YOU FIRST: I am a little foggy on that minor detail. Probably me. I know I had to bring up marriage first but I didn't have the guts to say it. I had my family relationships book in my hands (didn't everybody take this college class at Ricks?) and I pointed to the word "marriage" and told Dave that is what I want to talk about. Heck, we had been dating almost the whole school year and had never even discussed the matter.
WHO IS TALLER: Depends - shoes off it is Dave, shoes on usually me because I like to wear heels. Our kids think I am taller all the time.
WHO SINGS BETTER: Dave, I am not a singer although I do enjoy it in the car. If I don't know the words I gladly make them up as I go along.
WHO'S SMARTER: Depends again. Dave wins in the logic area. I win in the direction area. He can find an address if it is written but can't remember landmarks - so that is where I come in. I guess we compliment each other in this area.
WHO PAYS THE BILLS: Steph with Dave's money. (unless there are other bills I don't know about) Why are their so many bills? I want to buy fun stuff.
WHO SLEEPS ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE BED: That would be me of course, Dave sleeps on the wrong side. Ha Ha. I sleep on the right side and Dave sleeps on the left if we are in bed looking up at the ceiling. I like to snuggle though so I am usually in the middle. The kids always go to Dave's side of the bed in the middle of the night. He is nicer at night than I am.
WHO MOWS THE LAWN: Cade has started mowing the lawn and I am so ever grateful seems how it used to be me. He is getting better now so we don't have as many funky designs in our lawn.
WHO COOKS DINNER: I don't love to cook but I usually make dinner during the week. Dave helps out doing the dishes in the evenings and does his fair share of cooking. In the summer Dave makes dinner quite a lot out on the grill. Sundays is usually Dave's day to cook and mom's day to relax. I love it!
WHO DRIVES: Dave because he can stay awake. I am definitely the navigator though.
WHO'S MORE STUBBORN: That one is hard. I can be and on certain subjects Dave sure won't bend.
WHO KISSED WHO FIRST: I would say Dave and he would say me.
WHO ASKED OUT WHO FIRST: Dave asked me out after we kissed and I was too scared to talk to him the next day. After all, the kiss was kind of accidental so I didn't know what to expect.
WHO PROPOSED: Dave (twice) The first time was when I was on break from Discovery (yes, I was a granola women who camped out along the oregon coast in a tent for 5 weeks taking college courses). Of course, I said yes and then when I came home for good 2 1/2 weeks later he proposed for real by our bridge by the river. He had written a poem about treasures and the treasures he would give me. It was incredible and brought me to tears. He is such an awesome guy.
WHO HAS MORE SIBLINGS: Dave, he has 8 and I have 5.
WHO WEARS THE PANTS: I like to think of us as a team. Most often we come up with decisions together. It definitely helps having the same values and beliefs.
I TAG: Jenn, Erin, Amber

The love of my life!

More weekend Fun!

Who doesn't love dressing up and putting on make up and coloring their hair? And then of course Ashley and Kearra had to perform a made up dance for me!


Cade and Skylar thought they could take down some of Dave's HOT WINGS without any trouble. They were wrong. Dave even offered them money if they could lick the plate the hot wings were sitting on. They both tried and lasted only one lick!

Long weekend brings lots of FUN!!!

Did you know that baby lambs (2 weeks old) can run really, really fast? Cade and Skylar figured that out after chasing them all over the pasture. It wasn't until a dog got in the fence and chased the poor little lambs until they were tuckered out that they were able to catch them and protect them. All of the kids loved petting them. I told them to live it up because this is the closest we will ever get to living on a farm.

Happy Valentines Day!

Make a free ecard - it's easy!

Have a great day! We want to thank all of our fans and supporters. We love you all! Ashley has been so excited for this day. She has spent the last week making valentines for everybody in the family. She has been begging Dave to take her to the store for a week. This morning she handed out each of us our home made valentine with a special treat she had bought with her own money. She got me some silver hoop earrings and Dave a dark chocolate candybar all on her own. What a little sweetheart!

The next American Idol?

Josiah Leming (who lives in his car) did an awesome job in Hollywood on his 1st song. He is in my top 10 for sure! He sang Grace Kelly by Mika. Catch the link for the song and video by the orignal artist. The kids and I have been jammin all night long! This one is going on my ipod for working out!
YouTube - Mika - Grace Kelly

It's a Date!

Every so often Dave and I trade off taking our kids out on dates individually. They love it and so do we. It was Hailey's turn today. She was so excited. Of course she chose to go to Dairy Queen. That seems to be their favorite place and they can order whatever they want. Cade will occasionally choose Chinese food but most often you can bet on DQ. A trip to the dollar store came next. She came out with a puzzle. This was no surprise since she is doing puzzles all day long and getting really good.

I've been Tagged!

A: The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.
B: Each player answers the questions about themselves.
C: At the end of the post, the player then tags 3 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

10 Years Ago:
Dave was in his last year of law school. Cade just turned one. I was working in the ICU as an RN around Dave's class schedule. I was dreaming of having my own washer and dryer so I would not have to walk across the parking lot carrying Cade and the clothes. I was rollerblading like a crazy woman pushing Cade in the jogger stroller from Moscow to Pullman and back (round trip 13 miles) We were eating at Rancho Viejo often with Lance and Laura!

Things on my to-do list today:
1. Clean house, make beds, maid work
2. Hopefully get the kids off to school, without another snow day
3. Work out at the gym
4. Get oil changed
5. Spend time with 2 little ones while others are at school
6. Help kids with piano practice x2, violin x1
7. Transport kids to gymnastics & basketball
8. Try and figure out something clever for Valentine's Day
9. Go to my city league volleyball game - aghhh
10. Say hello to Dave before it is time for bed

What I would do if I were suddenly made a billionaire:
Pay off our house/bills/student loans. Help out family members in need. Take family and friends on a fun vacation. Hire a maid once a week. Buy 50 yard sideline season tickets for Dave and friends interested in BYU football games. He could even attend the away games. Help out missionaries.

3 of my bad habits:
1. I make this loud noise in my throat when I have an itch between my throat and my ears. It is the only way to take care of the itch! I sometimes wake up in the night making the noise especially during allergy season. Dave just loves awaking to that noise!
2. Yelling - enough said.
3. Eating too much sugar in place of food.

3 places I have lived:
1. Amman, JORDAN (4 months only but hey I was a newlywed and separated at the same time-I'll explain more later).
2. Provo, UT
3. Moscow, ID

5 jobs that I have had:
1. Picking out the Barley from Rye (or maybe it was the other way around) out of a farmers field. Needless to say I didn't last that long on the job. It was hot and hard to tell which one was which.
2. Waitress at Pizza Hut
3. Western Wats
4. Watching over a girl who was Autistic and had seizures.
5. RN

5 Things people don't know about me:
1. My front tooth is fake do to a golf club accident when I was young. I wasn't even golfing.
2. I like to wash my counter clean and then I have to dry it. I don't like water marks dried on the counter.
3. I went to Amman, Jordan with 13 other girls for study abroad after I had been married a couple or years. At the same time, Dave started law school at a new school and lived with roomates who were DATING!
4. I am scared to death of heights!
5. I am a very bad liar

I tag:
1. Marilyn
2. Cindy
3. Amber

Ice Skating!

We had a fun Saturday afternoon. Sarah and I took all of our kids ice skating. This was a first time for us. They loved it, especially Ashley. I must say I was rather hot by the time I got everybody dressed and their skates laced up. Hailey tried it for a little bit but preferred standing by the warm fire. Next time, I am going to try!

It is Tuesday and we are back in school. We have been out 3 days this last week. I am ready to clean house today!!

The Morning After!

We put Cade to work since there was no school today. He cleared us a narrow path to our front door. The driveway still needs to be tackled. I can break through the drifts in the Tahoe but for now Dave is parking by the sidewalk. I did get to sleep in until 8:15 this morning. That is better than I thought.