lazy or inconvenient?

So, I've been spoiled.  I know it and so do you.  Since Jer and I got married 7 years ago there has always been anywhere from 2-7 working computers in the house.  Not all of them were set up.  A lot of them were hand me downs from other people that knew that Jer works with computers.  One by one they have been dying.  My laptop has mostly died a couple of years ago.  It works with careful consideration.  So, I've been using the laptop that Jer got from his job before this one.  They owed us $18,000, could only pay $10,000, so... they gave us a laptop, a monitor and various programs.  Well, it's two years later and some of the hardware has called it quits... Jer says he can fix it, but it brings me to being a "beggar".  I either steal Jer's laptop when he's gone at work or the kids game machine, which never works for long... as soon as I log on I have two kids clamouring around me asking to play games.  It also means that I've gotten so far behind on blogging and reading blogs.  I've tried doing it from my phone.  It's possible, but it's so much harder to write a blog entry on a swipe screen than by typing it.  So I haven't really tried. To catch up, here's a picture dump with a few notes on how we've been doing.  Good luck reading it, but I won't really be mad if you don't. 

Not too long ago, we went to 2 of my neices homeschool production of "Twelth Night".  It was so fun!  I loved every moment of it.  They did a really great job. 

I got to see these cute people.  (My gorgeous cousins, Tiff and Aliesha)

And these ones (my sister Janelle and my Dad)

And these ones too  (my mom, Aunt Darlene, baby Kat, and Aunt Diane)

All because of these two.  (My cousin Daniel and his new wife Sarah.  They are so perfect for each other!  I'm so excited for you!  I love how everyone thought you were polynesian Dano!  Vietnamese... Samoan.  Same diff right?)

Got to hang out with this cute mug...

And watch this cute mug...

And have a picnic at Great-Grandma's house...

These are 5 of the 11 great grandchildren... we're missing Elliot's two boys, Russells two girls, Wendee's boy, and Mitch's new baby boy.... and soon... McKay's new baby boy on the way.

And roll down Great-Grandma's hill

We also got to go to my sister-in-law's baby shower... baby boy almost here.  My soon to be sister-in-law's bridal shower.  Play groups at the park.  Biking with the kids.  Seeing baby Hannah.  Going to "The Avengers" with my brother Seth, and.... last but not least, going to the temple with my in laws. Just a little about that.  We went to the temple with Jer's parents, his oldest brother and wife, his youngest sister and wife, and Jer's Uncle Alan and wife.  We went because it was a fun way to celebrate his Grandparent's 65th wedding anniversary.  We did temple sealings for Grandma Jane's family names.  One in particular felt special to me.  A mother that was sealed to her husband and children for all eternity.  I was acting as mother and Jer as father and Jim was the sons...  When the sealer read the first son's name I felt the mother's love for the son.  The second son's name... again I felt how much the mother loved that son.  The third son's name and I felt how sad it was for the mother when the son decided not to accept the sealing.  I could imagine how I would feel if one of my children decided that they didn't want to be with me after death... or if they decided that it would be too much work to be with me after death.  It makes me want to try that much harder to love and teach my own children. 

Well, I hope that I didn't bore you all too much, but I think I've caught up on most of my life.  My kids are crazy... Evelyn is officially a walker... Sammy can't wait for his birthday... and Ada decided that she wants to learn to "run really fast".  

Wedding

At my cousin's fabulous wedding yesterday our kids ate too many chips, danced until they were hot and tired, played with cousins and distant cousins... But my favorite was their style... We were late getting them to my brother to watch while we went to the temple so they wore scruffy clothes and didn't get their hair done. Sam saw Jer getting into his Sunday clothes and started crying..."tie, I want a tie!" So he wrote his blue clip on tie on a bright yellow tshirt.  Classy.

awesomest supervillians yet

My 4 year old nephew LOVES heroes, super heroes, villains, super villains, and everything in between.  His favorites are Batman, Ironman, Spiderman... and pretty much anyone else.  Sometimes he mishears the names of the villains though...

Two Face (from Batman) = Toothpaste
The Riddler = Rittler
Shredder (from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) = The Sweater

He and Evelyn have quite a bit of fun together... even if he's almost five and she's almost one.  He gets really close to her and she smacks him... then he reels back in slow motion and rolls over.  She giggles.  Then he gets up real close to her again... and on the game goes.

A week

I'm slightly mortified, but not too surprised that a week has gone by.  I feel like I haven't quite recovered from the one before, but I guess time passes whether you try to make it pass or not.  This past week has brought more laundry, more dishes and more cleaning than usual.  Mostly because it's been too nice to be inside.  We've biked to the park where my mom, sister, sister in law, neice, nephew and soon to be nephew joined us for a peanut butter picnic.  We had dinner and games with my friend Elizabeth and her husband Jason... yes Jason, you can be my friend too... just the wording didn't come out quite that way.  (That was fun!  We need to do it again!) Had Family night with our neighbors where we played "the name game" (thank you Brad) and a drawing game for Ada and Sam.  I've been indexing like crazy because of an epiphany that I had.  And we've met two new families in our neighborhood.  But, even though I'm behind in the house... the kids keep learning new things.

Evelyn has learned to climb the stairs without me at the top calling to her.  I've been practicing with her but she had no interest in doing it on her own... until she realized that Ada and Sam were upstairs playing on the Wii and she was down in the kitchen.  Sure surprised Jeremy! She also has a new tooth in, and likes to conduct and sometimes sing along with any music that she hears.  My favorite is when I was rocking her and singing her to sleep yesterday she started trying to sing along... and did a pretty good job of it too I might add. 

Ada learned why we don't leave our shoes by the trampoline after we're done playing outside... Lucy likes to chew things up... but she won't touch anything as long as you're out there too... but as soon as you're done playing and go inside she will go after anything that you leave out.  Free game right?

Sam has figured out that we don't just eat any time that we want.  But he hasn't figured out that we eat at meal times either.  He usually asks for food just as we go to bed.  I say no.  He asks, "Can I be hungry when I wake up?"  Yes Sam, I believe you can.

Thankful post

Lunch and naps were unusually hard to do today... so, to forget about it... here are a few things that I'm grateful for!  (I have some pictures to share... but they'll wait)

-Ada calls marshmallows... "smushmallows"
-Sammy has a giggle that can make you happy right away
-Evelyn took 4 steps in a row yesterday
-Evelyn almost has her 6th tooth in
-We got to go to Beethoven's 3rd done by the Utah Symphony on Friday
-My mom and sister Janelle came to visit yesterday
-For wonderful Kennady that has been helping clean my house for the last year... I'll sure miss her help when it's time for her to move on
-I'm grateful that my in laws are wonderful. I've heard so many people fight with or complain about theirs. I'm glad that I don't have that stress in my life
-My friend Mary had her baby Hannah on Friday morning (I have to tell you, she's been my friend since we met in Jr High... but while we were in the same ward she was so fun to hang out with.)... which, by the way, I had Lizzie when James was born... so it was fun to have Lizzie and James over for when Hannah was born.  It was a very busy day though... I host a neighborhood playgroup every Friday... so, we had playgroup kids... 13 of them... then 2 more came to play near the end.... then I had my three, Lizzie, James, Allen and of course... because all his friends are at my house... Keaton.  So from 9am-4:30 I had at least 7 kids.  Fun but different.  I found that I could physically take care of them all but I'm not sure I'd be able to mentally and spiritually take care of that many kids.  Who knows?  But I don't think my body will let me have that many anyways.
-Our neighbor, Taylor, got baptized yesterday and we were able to take the kids to see.  Ada, Lizzie, Alan and Sammy really liked watching him go down in the water... especially since Taylor is one of their 4 friends in the neighborhood.  But they had a harder time sitting still for the talks. 
-I'm grateful that Jeremy bore his testimony in church today.  I want our kids to have that example and to hear that we believe in Jesus Christ, but I haven't done it in so long that I forget that I can. 
-I love watching Jer at the Symphony... I don't know how many of you know this, but when he started at BYU Jer had to decide between Computer Science and Conducting.  He chose computers because he wanted to be able to support a family.  But watching him light up every time he hears an orchestra is amazing.  I could so easily see Jer in Theirry Fishers shoes... including the dancing and the "Parkinsons" moments.  He just radiates joy and makes others appreciate it more by being around him.  I can see that he'll want to create worlds while conducting to the music of Beethoven.
-I'm grateful that our kids have friends in the neighborhood to play with.  Sometimes I wish there were more girls that were Ada's age that are available to play... but I can say that they definitely love to play with the friends that they have.
-I'm looking forward to seeing an 80 year old Jeremy in a tux and a bow tie... I made him promise me that he'd wear one for me.

And, if anyone is interested... the two houses on our left are up for sale.  One is very large (probably about 6 rooms) listed at REMAX and the other is smaller (probably 4 rooms) for sale by owner.  We would love to have some fun new neighbors!

Yay!

Sammy's sleeping in underwear!  Never thought I'd be excited about that one did ya!  Ada hasn't had an accident during the day in ages, but still wears pull ups at night... but that means that we're only buying one set of diapers and one set of pullups instead of three.  And I'm hoping that while Ada watches Sammy wear underwear to bed that she'll want to try a little harder too. 

And... I was going to write about something funny that happened... but I can't for the life of me remember what it was... it was only an hour ago.  Does that mean I'm getting old?  Darn.

Too many pictures

We got to spend Easter with both our families again this year.  We had a blast watching the kids play.  And, since we did all the candy and Easter egg hunts on Saturday, we had Sunday to just play and be together.  Being me...we had to take pictures in our Easter outfits... so here are some favorite pre-photoshop pictures...  Love ya all

Easter

HAPPY EASTER!

We've seen so many blessings because of our belief in Jesus Christ.  I'm so grateful to be able to have a time to remember Him and His death and Resurrection.  I'm grateful that we are all given the chance to live with our Heavenly Father again.  I'm grateful that we get chance after chance to learn to live like Christ.  I'm especially grateful for the family that I've been given.  It gives be a greater motivation to be Christlike to know that I'll be able to be with my parents, grandparents, husband, and children if I can learn to do it right.