TESTIMONIES

There is one thing that I wanted to post that I almost forgot. For the last two months we have gone to a ward where there are a ton of kids. On fast and testimony day a lot of kids get up to bear their testimony. My kids thought that this was really neat and they wanted to do it too. So in December Harley was the most eager so she got up there and did it all by herself. Her testimony went like this: "I would like to bear my testimony and I know this church is true and I love my family and I know my family loves me and I'm thankful to be me because I can run fast" I thought that was the cutest testimony. After standing up and sitting down a million times Tuff finally got the courage to get to the front and bear his testimony. Bee got the courage finally in January. I am so proud of my kids.

GREAT GREAT GRANDMA HOOLEY

It was Grandma Hooley's 90th birthday party about a week ago so we decided to drive down to Lindon to visit her. The last time we seen her I think Harley was just a baby. After the party we decided to go to texas roadhouse for dinner. After waiting in a crowded restaraunt for two hours to be seated we decided to leave. My parents were in their car with Judd, Hannah, Dawnah, and Nicole. They left and right after we were pulling out of the parking stall and something was not right with our suburban. So Jason stopped and got out to see what was wrong but when he got back in something else happened and we were not going anywhere. I have no idea what was the matter, Jason would be very disgusted with me because he told me and I still don't know but at least he knew. So now Jason was not interested in calling my parents to come back for us so he decided to walk to find a parts store. In the mean time me and the kids decided to go into the mall. I forgot to ask Jason for money so with the three dollars of change I had in my pocket I bought one hot dog to split between four kids. I was so tired of all the people that we just sat in the mothers lounge for over an hour until we got kicked out by the cleaning lady. Then Jason was finally done however I could not find a door in JC Penney to get out. I finally found one that said that an alarm would sound if you open the door but I didn't care at this point so we all ran out the door and with the alarm sounding we ran right into a flight of stairs so we are running up the stairs with kids crying because of the alarm and carrying a stroller until we finally made it to Jason. I have never wanted to just go home so bad. Poor Jason walked in the cold for ten blocks only to find that there was no parts store for twenty. Luckily his brother Jeff saved the day and sent some friends to help us. Im so glad jason can fix things so good or we may not have ever got home. But we did finally get some dinner at Carls JR. FINALLY!!!

Happy New Year!!!

I'm finally getting all caught up on my blog. It has been a long time with no internet. I love the new year, I feel like it brings around so many new opportunities to better myself. I have set lots of new goals this year. We have been through many trials and as hard as they have been I am very grateful for all of the things that I have learned. I'm hoping this year doesn't bring hard trials but I know that these times are hard ones so unfortunately they will probably bring more trials. During our hard times I have really learned to focus on the positive things in life, I have so much to be thankful for. This last year has brought a lot of new change, including another big move. We prayed a lot about where to go and what to do, we felt like the move back close to family was the right decision. We lived in a camp trailer for I think only a couple of weeks but it seemed a lot longer, then we moved to a mobile home trailer, and now we are very blessed to be in a really nice house with the best yard. The kids have already been having so much fun out there. I have decided that we can't wait for things to be really good, we have to look past all of our hardships and see the good in everything there is (and believe me it's there). I'm not going to say that I am hoping for a good 2009 but I am planning to make 2009 great....let's hope for no more moves though, sixteen is enough to last a lifetime!!!!

Christmas day

What a great Christmas we had, we are so blessed. The kids got everything they wanted plus lots of snow clothes...hooray for Santa!!! The cheese definately paid off, Santa even got us a wii. We spent the day out and about at my parents house and Craig and Andrea's house. Then we had a great snow storm, perfect for Christmas, only because we didn't have to drive. It is nice to be living back so close to family.

Christmas Eve

Every Christmas Eve we have a party at Grandma Bonnie's house. It is my favorite!! Santa Clause always comes and brings a present for each of the kids. The girls got jewelry and Tuff got a remote control car. The kids all sat on Santa's lap, Olive wouldn't go near him at the mall. Before Santa was at the mall Olive had seen the set up where Santa was going to be and she knew that you ask Santa for EVERYTHING that you want. So she picks things up and tells me "I have to ask Santa." and I tell her yes. So then she added "I have to ask Santa with a big hug and a kiss?" and I tell her yes. Well then I am trying to get her to tell that to Jason and she tells me that Santa is in his kennel. I thougt that it was so funny that she thought that the big gate around the Santa Clause scene was a kennel.

Then we came home and made cookies for santa and wrote him letters.






We know the secret to lots of presents from Santa, he LOVES cheese and we have to leave him some bubbly and carrots for the reindeer. So far this has worked every year. But it's not time for bed yet....














We have to watch the Polar Express first. We made a train out of pillows and drank hot chocolate and ate cookies. Then off to bed, too bad Jason had so much "paper work" to do the night before Christmas. He got home at midnight and Tuff was up at two. But he woke us up so we could hear the reindeer hooves on the roof and man you could hear them really good in the trailer.

Harley and Olive nap time

It is really rare for naps in my house, usually we only get an hour of quiet time so when they fall asleep it is so great!!! I thought they were so cute all snuggled up together.

Aunt Tiff's goats

Tiffany moved to a new house and got a couple of goats. We went to visit her and her new goats. I thought they needed a little dressing up so we added a bow. The goat didn't really love it though. They are such funny goats, we had a fun time.

Snow Days

One of the first snow days me and the girls all got into our snow clothes and went out to have some fun. We decided to try to walk to grandma Bonnie's house but we got half way there (which took a long time to walk the 2 blocks) and Olive was freezing and I figured we were all too snowy anyway so we turned around and came back home but it was a fun walk.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Tuff and Olive

Bee, Tandra, and Olive in the wheelbarrow. Tuff's back to us.

Dawnah, Harley, Tandra, and Olive

Thanksgiving turned out to be really great. Cole made this great vegetable tray for all of the kids, and of course the food was all really good. The kids played in the wheelbarrow after dinner. I thought they were so cute out there. Harley loves grandma and papa's new kitty's. After dinner the boys went shooting clay pigeons and we stayed home and did some crafts.

After eating Thanksgiving dinner we went to see Jason's parents in their hotel (since their house burned down). We got to go swimming and we only had Olive the other kids went to Aunt Tiffany's house. Olive had a fun time playing with Cole throwing the balls in the pool.

Harley's 4th Birthday Party

Harley has wanted a surprise birthday party for a long time. So I went ahead and planned a big surprise party for her. We told her that our house was just too small to have a birthday party and so we wouldn't be able to have a party this year. Harley was so sweet and was fine with that, however the night before her birthday I told her she needed to go to bed and when she woke up in the morning it would be her birthday. She started crying and I asked her what was wrong. She said that she just wished that she could have just one friend come. I felt so bad and mean to play such a terrible trick but I stuck to the plan. The next day Harley spent a lot of the day working with Jason so that I could get ready for the party. We had the party at my parents house. The room was filled with almost all of her Aunt's, Uncle's, Cousins, Grandparents, even Grandma Bonnie came. Just before Harley arrived we turned off of the lights and everyone ducked into a little ball (just as Harley wanted) and when she came in we jumped up and shouted SURPRISE!!! I can't describe to you the feeling in the room but it was amazing. I was blinking back my tears and Bee was crying. Harley has the sweetest heart and was very deserving of the greatest birthday party ever. We had one more big surprise for Harley, a new bike. All she told us she wanted was curlers for her hair. We got her those in the morning and saved the bike for her party. Thank you to all who came and made her day extra special and thank you to Nicole who sacrificed her beautiful appearance to dress up as a clown for all of the kids and make them balloon animals.

Historical Election

Tuff and Bee were really interested in the election this year. I thought that this was a good picture to mark the historical moment.