Sitting Up

Our little Jace is sure growing up fast -- Too fast for my comfort. Besides rolling over here and there, Jace can now sit up without assistance (he has to be placed in that position first). He really enjoys sitting for long periods of time and playing with toys.


I didn't see this picture, I don't know who sanctioned one of my boys to play with Barbie dolls! I'll have to have Johnathan teach him about Bionicles or Lego Knights to give that kid some testosterone!

Exercising Naked

Yesterday, we were given a used exercise bike by the neighbors. They purchased it years ago, but never really used it much. It is a nice unit with magnetic resistance and a heart rate monitor built in. There are days when I cannot get to work in time to exercise (eg. when I work from home for Amber to volunteer at the school, etc). This will come in handy for those days so that I can try to keep up with everyone else on their exercise minutes.

Anyway, this morning I told Amber that I was going to go exercise on the bike. I went into our bedroom where the bike is and I started changing my clothing to get ready to exercise.

Just as I had finished stripping down to my birthday suit, little Alayna came walking in. She asked me if I was going to exercise on the machine. I told her I was. I then asked her to go out because I was naked.

She left and I finished getting my exercise clothes on and started my workout. Just as I was getting going, Amber came in. She said that she was prompted by Alayna to come and check me in my workout. I asked why, and Amber replied. She said that Alayna came downstairs and told her, "I know how you do the exercise machine, you get on it naked." Amber responded, "No, you don't do it naked." Alayna, countered with a know-it-all tone, "Uh huh....Daddy's doing it naked!"

I had to explain to Amber what had happened with her coming into my room to see me exercise and my asking her to leave because I was naked. We both got a good laugh out of it.

So, when some people talk about working from home in their underwear, you should see how the Andersen's exercise from home!

Aliece Starts Piano Lessons

Just before her sixth birthday, Aliece started piano lessons with Amber. She has been doing a good job of doing her "Practice Piano" chore every day. That makes three kids in our family that now take piano lessons.

Good job Aliece!

Nature's Way

I was just getting ready to leave for work from lunch today at the house. I was talking to Amber while walking through the entryway to our front door. As we were talking, we noticed Alayna standing in the doorway with the door open.

As we continued our chatting, Alayna exclaimed, "Hey! Please be quiet, the birds are talking to me!"

Aliece

It was fun to see John's picture of Aliece and her teacher Becky Stewart together. :)

Aliece's 6th Birthday

Sorry for the number of pictures on this blog. I am trying to repent for not blogging for a few weeks and for not reporting on Aliece's Amazing Birthday.


This was Aliece waking up on her birthday morning


Opening her first gift of the day



Getting well wishes from Jace



Being excited about her birthday party at Chuck-E-Cheese's



With her friend from school



Aliece and her Kindergarten Teacher - Mrs. Thibault



Aliece with her best friend



Aliece and her cake


Aliece and Grandma Andersen


Aliece with Grandpa Andersen


Aliece and Becky Stewart (former student teacher and resident of Arbon)



Aliece is 6 years old!

Do Unto Others

A couple of weeks ago, we made a simple movie for family home evenings (4 mins). The lesson was on the Golden Rule.

For those who can't see the move below, feel free to click here.

Scarred for Life at the Science Fair

A couple of weeks ago we took the kids to a community science fair. The fair was put on by the Youth Center. It had a lot of cool activities for the kids to participate in.

The kids made sidewalk chalk, ice cream in a bag, watched menthos and diet coke shot up in the air, and many other things that interested them.


One of the stations was a butter-making station. You were given some ingredients for butter and a glass pint jar. You had to shake the jar for about 15 minutes before the butter was made. Once the butter was done, you could spread it on some crackers and eat it.

Well, while it was my turn to shake the butter, Ann called my cell phone. I had Jace in the front pack on my chest. I was shaking the jar of butter and talking on the phone at the same time. For those of you who know me well, know that this is a bad combination - I cannot talk on the phone and do anything else at the same time.

While talking I accidentally smacked Jace on the head with the jar during one of my downward shakes. Our little guy started screaming and hyperventilating (well, it wasn't real hyperventilation, but they where short shrieking cries.


Ever since that experience anytime anything minor scares Jace, he now does the hyperventilation cry. When he is crying in his crib and I sneak up to the crib saying in a playful voice, "Who is crying in their crib?", he starts to hyperventilate. When something minor happens to him when I am holding him, he hyperventilates. Yesterday, I was feeding him with a fork and the tip barely poked his lips and he started hyperventilating.

So far, this only happens with me. The other day, Aylee was holding him and shutting the fridge door. She miscalculated her position with him and the door him Jace in the head -- No cries, no hyperventilating.

Poor boy, I hope our relationship will recover some day!

Novell's Newest Manager

Today I received a promotion at Novell by being invited to join the management team as Manager over Automation Efforts. I will focus on Automation efforts for all of our business unit's products around the globe.

I am pretty excited to be putting my soon-to-be-MBA to work!

Hello Nebraska!

Joe and Amber are the first in the family to exercise their way out of Wyoming and into Nebraska. Joe currently has logged 760 Minute miles, placing him in North Platte, Nebraska. Amber has logged 665 Minute miles, placing her in Sidney, Nebraska.

John, Jen, and Jake are still in desolate Wyoming, and Aylee is still stuck in podunk Arimo.

We still have a crew that have decided to stay by the heater in Mom and Dad's kitchen in Arbon.

Take a look at the latest statistics at: The Disney World Tracker.

Never would happen with a first child!

Tonight, Aliece and Alayna were given free reign for feeding Jace (with some parental supervision of course). They were thrilled to do so (as they are naturally more attentive to Jace than their other siblings).

They had a blast each feeding Jace his pasty cereal. As you can tell from the following video, they were enjoying themselves - although Alayna did not get the feeding time she felt she deserved. As I filmed the video, I thought, there is no way Amber and I would have let a five and three year old child feed our first baby like this!

For those reading the email, you can check out the video here: Girls Feeding Jace

High Chair Novice

Today was Jace's first experience with a high chair. He really seemed to like it. This last week or two, Jace has taken some large strides in the independence department. He is getting to where he has to eat with the rest of us. We are now setting our 7th cup at the table!

Family Friend - March 2008 (Internet Version)

Ironing Lessons

By Amber A. Andersen

Once, when I was about 12, I had just learned how to iron. I wanted to surprise my Mom and do something nice for her, so I spent several hours one afternoon ironing her shirts. She had one especially pretty silky shirt. It was light purple, and so soft and beautiful. I wanted to make sure I did a really good job ironing it, so I saved it for last – after I was good and had a lot of practice! What I didn't know at that young age, is that saving the shirt for last meant that the iron would be extra HOT! As soon as I touched the shirt with the iron, the shirt melted and left a huge hole right in the front of her shirt. I was devastated. I felt so sad to have ruined my Mom's beautiful shirt. I worked up all my courage to tell Mom what I had done. I took a deep breath, then began, “Mom, I wanted to surprise you, so I ironed all your shirts.” Mom said, “ All, my shirts? Well, Amber there must have been more than 20 of them!” I replied, “There were, Mom. And I wanted to make sure I did a good job on your silky purple shirt, so I saved it for last. But, look what I did, I burned a big hole right in the front of it.” Mom acted like she didn't even care about the hole. She just gave me a hug and said, “It is so nice of you to serve me that way. I don't care about the shirt. I'm just grateful for my sweet daughter.”

I learned two lessons that day: First, always iron delicates on a low setting :)! And, two, a 12-year-old girl is a lot more important than a shirt -- even a fancy shirt! I don't know if I'll ever be as wise and patient as my mother. What a kind friend she was to me as a young girl, and what a tremendous example she is to me now as I strive to fill the role of mother. I only hope that when "ironing lessons" present themselves in our home that I will have the strength of character to ensure that my children know that they are my most prized possessions.

Heroes and Villains:

All in the Family

By John J. Andersen Sr.

When I was a little boy, there was a popular hero called He-Man. He-Man had a very powerful sword. When there was trouble He-Man would take out his sword and say "By that power of Grayskull, I have the power!" When he would say this, he would change into a very strong superhero.

The arch enemy of He-Man was Skeletor. He was the bad guy.

I remember receiving a dress-up box as a gift. The dress-up box contained plastic weapons and costumes for both He-Man and Skeletor. I would play with my younger sisters and brothers as we dressed up as these characters. It was so much fun to sword fight and try to get each other down.

Now that I have children of my own, it is fun for me to see them dress up together and play different games. It reminds me of the fun times I had with my brothers and sisters when I was a kid. I hope that my children will always enjoy playing with one another. I hope that my children will be best friends with each other.

I am so grateful to Heavenly Father for the wonderful family that I have been blessed with. Each one of my children are a treasure to me. I know that they are a treasure to our Father in Heaven.

It makes me happy inside to think that Heavenly Father has prepared a way that we can be a family for ever. I am grateful for a holy temple wherein we can receive such eternal promises. I am grateful for a loving wife who is mother to these wonderful children. I am so glad that she and I were worthy and willing to be married in the temple for time and all eternity.

Noel's Honesty

By John J. Andersen Jr.

At school I was sitting by my friend Noel. It was after music when Mrs. Arney called back the people who had been naughty during music. When she got finished, she was going somewhere and stoped at me and Noel, because Noel told her that he had been naughty. She was glad that Noel had told her. Thats why I liked that day so much.

A Bad Idea

By Aylee A. Andersen

One day Kristi and Sally were outside playing. They were on their bikes when I came out to join them.

“Melissa's coming! Melissa's coming! Ruuuunnnnnn!!!”

I got so mad that I pushed them off of their brand new bikes.

Kristi's bike got a huge dent. I had to pay for it. Later on, I learned not to get mad at little things.

Barstools of Death

Barstools - they seemed like a good idea at the time. We would use them at the counter so that the kids could eat their breakfast up at the counter in the morning hours before school; when there was company the adults could sit at the table and the kids at the bar. This has worked well for a couple of years.

Now our two youngest girls love to use the barstools as step ladders. Aliece and Alayna love to push them around the house to assist them in doing "grown-up" things.

Today, one of the purposes of the barstool was to follow daddy around the kitchen to "help". I would start doing dishes, or mixing up dough, and it wouldn't be more than 30 seconds that I would turn around to walk away and I would trip over a barstool that was placed just behind me. Everywhere I turned today I would nearly fall to my neck-breaking demise as I would trip over a barstool.

It got so bad that I got up from my chair at dinner time to get Amber some milk. When I came back to sit in my place, my chair was scooted aside and there was an occupied barstool at my plate. I don't know how those girls get so fast with those things!

The Family Friend - March 2008

Today was the first day that we had church at 9AM instead of 2:30PM. It made a world of difference in our Sunday lives.

Aylee took the opportunity to make her own Friend Magazine. She named it the "Family Friend".

Here is the March Issue.

We'll post the actual stories here so that they get recorded in our family history books, but I wanted to post the actual layout for this Family Friend magazine that she made.

Way to go Aylee!

Amazing coincidence

Monday night, Mom and I went to Allen Ray and Bev's for a home evening. While there Patsy related an interesting story that occurred in a home evening they were at for empty-nesters. One of the ladies said that just a little while before President Hinkley died he said, "Wouldn't it be something if everyone would take a challenge to read the Book Of Mormon in 97 days, a day for each year of my life?"
And I thought Jacob thought it up! Must have been inspiration.

Spontaneity at the Zoo

At 2pm today, Amber called to ask me if I would be able to get the rest of the day off. She and several of the kids have been sick this week and I thought someone else must be throwing up. However, she explained that she had just found out that today was Free Zoo Day at Salt Lake City's Hogle Zoo. Luckily my schedule was open, so I hurried home.

The older kids got home from school about the same time that I returned from work. We quickly had the kids go to the bathroom, and grabbed their jackets. We then headed off to the zoo.

The zoo is only open for about an hour while we were there. So all the kids chose an animal that they wanted to make sure that they got to see during our visit. We made sure to visit each and every one of them. Of course, the most favorite part of the zoo visit was our last stop -- -- the zoo playground.



The kids had a great time, and the spontaneity of it all made it even that much more fun. It is not often that John and Amber pull off a spur of the moment activity in their otherwise planned and regimentally organized days!

Don't Buy Stuff You Can't Afford

I thought that this link was blog-worthy. It was mentioned in our Sacrament Meeting today.

http://consumerist.com/consumer/clips/snl-skit-dont-buy-stuff-you-cant-afford-252491.php

Enjoy!

Oh, and one more thing...

In his blog, John forgot to mention that while he was helping the neighbor who had locked his key in the car, I was having my own chaotic moment inside the library with the kids. I turned around after using the "convenient" self-checkout machine, to find that Alayna was not with the other kids. After questioning them and looking in the nearby nooks and crannies, I realized that she was nowhere near. I told the older kids to stay put on a specific spot, while I started searching all over the library. I must have looked a little frantic, because after a few minutes a lady at the reference desk approached me and asked if I was missing a little girl. She said the reference desk on another floor had telephoned down to say that they had a lost girl. Somehow Alayna had loaded herself on the elevator and was now standing scared on the second floor. OHHHH ... If we get all of these children to adulthood, it will be a modern day miracle!

Utter Chaos?

Having five kids cans sometimes be a bit chaotic for two people such as Amber and I. I wonder sometimes if we will ever be able to do as well as our parents have done. Just to provide an example of our chaotic, disarrayed life, let me recount a few events from yesterday...

On Saturday we were heading out for our family activity (Going to the movies). I asked everyone to get in the car. They were in the car for about five minutes before Amber and I had all the things together and were ready to get in the van. As we were heading out to the garage door, Amber turned to me and asked where Jace was. I peeked in the laundry room where we usually keep his carseat - it was there, but it was empty. We looked around for a few seconds before we found where one of the kids had placed him -- propped up on one of the living room chairs. As much as that kid squirms around, it is amazing he said there for those five minutes on his own. (See picture below).



We finally made it to the movie theater with ALL of the kids. We were running late so we hopped out and ran to the ticket office to purchase our passes to get to see the movie. As we sat down in the movie theater, Amber realized that she didn't have her glasses on. Sitting in the third row from the front, I was surprised that she wanted her glasses and was about to protest, but I just kept my mouth shut and let her go get her glasses from the van. When Amber came back she told me that when she had gotten to the van to get her glasses she saw that the kids had left the van door wide open!

The chaos is not just centered around us, however, other people feel it too. After the movie we ran to the library to drop off our nearly overdue books and replenish our stocks with new ones. While we were there, a nearby neighbor saw us and approached us. He was there with his three kids. He had a handful of books and was struggling to keep his three little ones clutching their books and following behind him. He had locked his keys in his car. Sympathizing with his predicament, we piled him and his kids into the van with me and I took them home to get the other set of keys and returned to the library so that he could get his car and I could get my family from the library.

All in a day's work, I guess. The chaos continues, but I know someday, we'll look back on these days with tearful eyes of happy memories.

Tear Down a Bed - Break a Heart

Yesterday, Amber and I tore down the metal futon bunk bed in Aliece and Alayna's room. We hadn't thought to mention this plan to the girls, but thought they would enjoy having a big queen bed to share in their room since they would always share the futon bed together anyway - leaving the top bunk unoccupied.

However, as we began tearing down the metal bunk bed, Aliece freaked out. She was jumping up and down screaming hysterically that she did NOT want us throwing her bed away. She screamed and cried that she loved this bed and didn't want any other.

We tried to comfort her and finally sent her off down stairs so that she wouldn't be tortured by the site of her bed being disassembled. With every nut and bolt we removed, however, we could hear the sobbing voice downstairs.

It reminded me starkly of the time that Mom and Dad talked about selling the old 1972 Chevy Nova that we had had for years. I was about 8 or 9 and the thoughts of them selling the car were unbelievable for me at that age. I cried and cried. I then went to the garbage and got a can or a jar and started going around the house collecting money to save the Nova. Mom and Dad had a heart and never did sell the Nova until just a couple of years ago.

I must be a cold, heartless man because I still took Aliece's bed apart and gave it away all in the same day. The good news to the story is that once we moved the queen bed in from the orange room, she and Alayna were excited about their "new" bed.

THE EARTH QUAKE

I forgot to tell you that Lynn felt the earth quake also. He said that he felt room move, something like that,He didn't really elaborate on it. But he did feel it also.
I forgot to tell that part and I didn't want you thinking, Now this is mom talking. :(
NO, NO , NOT ANY OF YOU> :(

Where were you when the earth quake hit?

I woke up from a dead sleep feeling my bed shaking and the headboard hitting against the wall.
I was so scared.
I'm embarrassed to say that my first thought was "is there an evil spirit in my room" (I have never felt an earthquake of that magnitude before) then I thought "maybe it's a sign that I need to wake up and go check on Lynn, maybe something is wrong with him."
I ran into the kitchen & Lynn was sitting up to the table where he had been reading and he had this funny look on his face. I told him the bed had been shaking & and he calmly said yes, it was an earthquake. I just stood there amazed that I had felt one, and then stupid for the things I had thought.
Oh well. Other than being scared to death, it was neat.
Let's hear from all of you.
WHERE WERE YOU WHEN THE EARTH QUAKE HIT, AND WHAT DID YOU FEEL.

Bumps no bumps

I

had

a
bump

upon
my knee,
till
one
day,
did
it
flee,

how
should
I

know.

IT
WAS
ON MY KNEE!!!!!!!!!!!

Tubben Moven

WHOOOSH!!!!!!
Boy did we have a "Tubben Moven" fun time at Grandma Joe and Grandpa house!!!!!!!!

Love Ya All!!!!!!!!
A's

A girl that should be on stage (without a mic.)

"AN OREO!!!!!!!!!!! A OREO!!!!!!!!!!"
You should here Aliece sing!
On the bus, at school, at chior, at play, and at home!
Not quiet, LOUD!!!!

So don't be nere when Aliece sings! I'm worning you!!!!!

Please bear with me !

WHAT A CUTIE
Aliece's project
Great job.

Go for it Aylee.
Wish I had that much fun on the treadmill.
Way to HOOF IT Johnny.

For Pete's Sake

Every time I published the post it said Error. So I would take a picture off and try again and it still said error, and I took another picture off etc.

The Birthday Boy

I just had to take a picture of the birthday boy yesterday.
And I don't think another year older hurt him any.
He looks pretty good to me.
It must be because of seeing & being with all of his children and grandchildren & getting all of the wonderful birthday wishes that he got. We love you.

I also want to add some pictures of my own of the weekend.

Double Trouble

This morning I making breakfast when Aliece asked me when our next daddy-date would be. I explained to her that we had had ours for the month and that her next daddy-date would be in March. Trying to make it sound more exciting, I said, "Oh, yeah, our next daddy date will be in your birthday-month!"

You responded just as excitedly, "Yeah, it will be my birthday in March and then I will be DOUBLE TROUBLE!"

Wow, I wish February wasn't such a short month!

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Click HERE if you don't see the video on your screen.

The kids recorded this birthday greeting for Dad the other day and we wanted to post it here on his birthday.

It was fun to be able to celebrate Dad's birthday over the weekend in Arbon. We sure had a great time.

Married to a Plummer

Since we moved into this apartment in September of 2007 (6 months ago), our garbage disposal has sounded pretty loud and sick. We just assumed it was old and had seen better days. It still worked just fine so we didn't think much of it.

However, about a week ago, I was cleaning up the kitchen and the sink started to back up and fill with water. So I turned on the garbage disposal to see if it would help, but it was having issues and I figured it was either jammed or had finally given up the ghost. A couple hours later, I had started the dishwasher. I came into the kitchen and noticed the sink was full with water from the dishwasher. So I stopped it and once again turned on the garbage disposal hoping somehow this would help. It slowly started to go down and so I turned on the dishwasher again and this old chewed blob came flying out of the garbage disposal. It kind of scared me and wasn't sure what it was a first. After careful examination, I realized it was an old dishrag . . .but not one we had ever had. It had been stuck in there for who knows how long! When we turned on the disposal, it sounded so quiet and smooth that we thought it must have broken, but it works even better now!

Dave was a bit embarrassed and thought being a plumber and all, that he should have examined it a long time ago. That's the nice part of being in an apartment, you shouldn't have to do things like that. Oh well, kind of funny but gross!

Hunting for Houses!

Dave and I began the adventure of hunting for houses to buy. It's exciting, frustrating and scary all in the same. We're going to look first at foreclosures and auctions and see what we find. It would be fun to get into a good deal even if we had to put a bit of money into it. Right now, we're looking anywhere from North Blackfoot to Rigby.

We found one house in our neighborhood that is up for auction but not until June. We would like to get into something sooner but I guess we'll see.

Workin with the Youth

Dave got a new calling this week to be the Deacon's Quorum advisor. He will be teaching lessons on Sunday's and going to our joint YM/YW activity once a month. However, he won't be doing much with scouting. He's excited to work with the youth and I'm excited to be able to serve together a bit as we meet for joint activities and any other big youth event. We have great youth in our ward!

Chloe's Birthday Pictures

Ok, so I'm a little late but I said I would post a couple of pictures from Chloe's birthday. The first picture is of Chloe on her actual birthday and the green one is from her party in Arbon. That is her frosting from her cake that she dug in to. She wasn't shy and loved smearing it all over her body.

It was a lot of fun to celebrate her first birthday!

Greedy Dice Game

During our Valentine's party at our house last week, we were taught how to play a fun dice game. The game can be played by any number of players. I liked it so much I wanted to include it in our blog - since I can never remember how to play these games when I want to play them again.

General Info
Greed is a dice game for two or more players, using six six-sided dice. The object of the game is to be the first to achieve a score of 10,000 points or more.

How to Play
Each player takes a turn. A turn involves one or more throws of the dice.
When a player begins a turn, he throws all six dice. He then scores points as per scoring below.
If he fails to score any points on his first throw, then his turn ends and the play pass to the person on his left.
In order to enter the game, the player must achieve 1,000 points in one turn; not throw.
After a player's first throw in a turn, he may decide to set aside those dice that scored points and throw the rest of the dice or to end his turn.
Each throw at least one die must be kept in order to continue rolling.
If the player scores no points from the second throw, his turn is ended and he scores NO POINTS. Otherwise, the player may continue to throw all remaining non-scoring dice over and over again until:

1. he decides to throw no more this turn; or
2. he has scored with all of his six dice (over the course of his throws during the turn); or
3. he fails to score on the throw of the dice; or
4. he can’t keep more dice.
If #1, the player then calculates his score and records it.
If #2, the player calculates his score and then gets to start another turn immediately.
If #3, the player loses all points for that turn.
If #4, same as #1

If a player scores with all six dice, and then, while taking his bonus turn, he fails to score, he does not lose the score from his previous turn.

In addition, if a player scores with all six dice over the course of his bonus turn, he gets another bonus turn, and so on for as long as he keeps scoring with all six dice.

Scoring
The following Sets are given for scoring. You cannot put sets together, as you are expected to in Yahtzee.
If you set aside a triple of 5's, then rolled a single 5, you could not claim a four-of-a-kind. You could merely claim one triple of 5's, and one single 5. Your score would be 500 + 50 = 550.
When rolling 4 or greater of a kind, each additional kind that is matched doubles your score. So if you rolled five 4's, your score would be 400 for the first 3.
Then double that for the fourth, making it 800, then double again to make it 1600 points. 400x2x2 = 1600.

Possible Scores:
a single 1 : 100
a single 5 : 50
triple of 1's (1,1,1) : 1,000
triple of 2's (2,2,2): 200
triple of 3's (3,3,3): 300
triple of 4's (4,4,4): 400
triple of 5's (5,5,5): 500
triple of 6's (6,6,6): 600
four-of-a-kind (2,2,2,2): Multiply triple score by 2
five-of-a-kind (3,3,3,3,3): Multiply four-of-a-kind score by 2
six-of-a-kind (4,4,4,4,4,4): Multiply five-of-a-kind score by 2
six of 1's (1,1,1,1,1,1): 8,000
three pairs (2,2,3,3,4,4) : 800
straight (1,2,3,4,5,6) : 1,200

Winning the Game
When a player wins (by achieving a score of 10,000 and staying), each other player has one last chance to then beat this score. If the winner's score is beat, then the winner and all players who haven't gotten a chance to beat the winner's score, then get one more last chance, until no player is able to beat the new score.

Oh, the Winter Memories!

As we were driving out of the valley today, we took a quick snapshot of the plowed roads in the south end. The one-lane sections of the road reminded me of 1984 when all the roads up and down the valley seemed to be so narrow with the high banks of plowed show that the car would seem to barely fit as it drove down the road.


These banks were surely taller than the van and it would have been fun to get out and stand next to them to get a full perspective of their height.

Oh, the memories!

Grandma - Being a Grandma

It was fun to be out to Arbon and let our kids see their grandparents. This was a shot at Mom taking advantage of a "grandma moment" with Jace.

A Busy Mother

Alayna definitely has the "mother" bug in her. We snapped this picture of her in Arbon taking care of her "brood". Besides the ones you can see, I believe she is also nursing another one under the blanket!

Tubing in Arbon

One of the first activities (besides lunch) that we got involved in during our Arbon visit this weekend was tubing down the Rocky Ridge on our CRP ground. Jake and Dad patched up three old tubes for the adventure.

Jake and Joe shuttled everyone up to the mountain from the house and then we began tubing down the hill. We had Jake, Shan, Joe, Nae, Amber, myself, Aylee, Johnathan, Aliece and Alayna all involved in the sport.

The run was nice and long and allowed us to get up some good speed. On the first run, Johnathan got his hand caught underneath the tube and when he extracted it he had a silver dollar sized snow burn that left his wrist bright red and bloody. However, the cold snow numbed it enough that it didn't stop him from tubing the rest of the time.

Jake and Shan had their snowmobiles going. Jake, Joe, and I all took turns taxing the tubers from the bottom of the long hill to the top on the two snowmobiles. We had the system working pretty good.

There were some pretty good crashes that everyone was able to laugh about later that evening. Needless to say, however, by the next day we were all pretty stiff and sore from the speedy topples and flips.

Hmm....Vanilla!

We have been spending part of President's Day Weekend here in Arbon. At the branch today, I had Aliece sitting with me during Sacrament meeting. I think someone in the branch has special dietary needs because there were two types of bread on the tray for the sacrament - a wheat variety and a white variety.

When the tray came to us, Aliece paused for a minute trying to decide which one to take. She grabbed a white piece of bread and popped it into her mouth. I passed the tray on down the row. A moment later, Aliece exclaimed, "Oh! That vanilla one was Delicious!"

Valentine's Party

Amber and I have been looking forward to the ward valentine's activity scheduled for Friday night. For the past two and a half years my MBA classes have always been on Ward Activity nights which are always on Fridays. We were excited when he had the weekend off from school - it was going to be his first ward activity in a very long time. We also decided to celebrate valentine's day with the kids and then celebrate the occasion together as a couple at the Friday night party.

As luck would have it a scheduling conflict moved the ward activity to Saturday night, and we were heading to Idaho today (Saturday) - all this was happened on Wednesday.

With it being our valentine's date, we hated to just do without a party and thought it would be fun to have a get-together on our own at our place. Amber sent out an email through the Relief Society network and invited any people in the ward that were planning on the Friday event and wouldn't be able to attend the Saturday party

Well, we got a response from some nine or ten couples. We cleaned the house on Wednesday and then the plan was to clean on Friday during my lunch break and when I got home.

When I got home for lunch, I expected Amber to be doing what any normal housewife would be before a party, doing dishes, vacuuming floors, etc. No, not my wife. I walked into the door to find an opened paint can on the counter. Amber was going through the kitchen and family room touching up spots where the kids had knocked things into the walls and scratched the paint! Man that girl is thorough (not to mention deadly with a paint brush!)

We worked on the house during lunch. When I got home we enlisted the kids in clean up chores also. The kids were amazing.

We ate a yummy corn dog dinner in Aliece and Alayna's room and then we set the kids up for a movie party in Aylee and Johnny's room. They had a movie, blankets, and of course - popcorn.

The party went off great. We had about six couples actually come. We had finger food, games, karaoke, etc.

The thing that amazed me the most is that during the party hours of 7pm - 11pm, we did not have a single child come down stairs. Aylee put the kids to bed at 8:15 for reading buddies (Aylee and John read books to the girls). Jace slept the entire evening. It was just a picture perfect Valentines day party.

After everyone left and we cleaned up the house, Amber and I sat and sipped sparkling cider that Mom and Dad gave us for Christmas - it was a perfect night.

Ready for Spring!

While I was home for lunch yesterday, Amber and Aliece were in the kitchen. Aliece saw a small patch of sunlight coming through the window and resting itself in front of our fridge. She went and got her pink sunglasses and a red sucker from valentines day and "laid out" in the sun.

This girl is READY for spring!

Happy Valentine's Day - 2008

We had a great Valentine's day this week. Amber and I decided to just spend it with the kids and party the night away. We then were celebrating together on Friday night.

Amber and the younger girls made us a heart shaped pizza for dinner. John, Aylee and I make smiley faced, red chocolate suckers.



At dinner we opened the different valentines notes/treats that were mailed to us this year. The kids were really excited as you can see from this picture!

Preparing for Valentines Day

How do two people who have been married for over ten years prepare for Valentine's Day...




Amber and I were excited to be going to a Valentine's activity at the church this Friday. However, there was a conflict with the building schedule and they had to move the party to Saturday.

We're heading up to Idaho and Saturday and are now scheduled to miss the ward Valentine's party.

Amber and I had a stupid (oh wait, stupendous) idea to go ahead and host a Valentine's party at our house on Friday for those who were planning on the Friday date and would be unable to attend the Saturday one.

What I didn't realize is that this would spin Amber and I into a cleaning frenzy. What originally was going to be mopping, vacuuming, and picking up here and there turned into a floor scrubbing, cabinet washing, oven/stove cleaning venture that has taken us well into the night.

If Amber and I aren't cleaning throughout the romantic holiday tomorrow, we'll be fast asleep from exhaustion!