Close Call

Chris luckily stumbled upon this scene before John started "helping" us paint. note the step stool and spoon that he pryed the lid off with. He had watched me pry them off with a butter knife all week and I guess a spoon handle works just as well. A word to the wise....NEVER underestimate the power of John.

Little Boys

Having two little boys so close in age can be dangerous to the mother's health ( mental health, that is)....even 5 yrs after giving birth.
As you can see they are doing electronic repairs on a boom box, pretending to be Rocky Balboa,and sharpening their home improvement skills. So helpful.....what would I do without them?

Big Brother

Hair brushing time. I couldn't resist taking a photo of this sweet scene.

Kitchen

Chris surprised me by hanging up the mirror when I was at my Young Women's Presidency meeting last night. Yeah!!

Here is a day and a night shot.

Older Pictures Just Discovered

I found some older pictures from the apartment when we first moved to Texas. This is a pillowfight that ended up with John ripping his church pants.

Enjoy!

Kitchen

Here is the start of the kitchen paint! What do ya think? It reminds me of pumpkin pie filling. Warm and spicy.

Painting the House

Here are the paint samples. Scary, huh?

Waiting for Paint

Blaaahhh! White walls! I have been putting off hanging up anything on the walls until we paint. I finally got some color advice today and my friend and I went to buy paint. I am scared of the colors, but she claims they'll look great after my mirrors and pictures are hung up. We shall see........

Our House

These pictures are for my brother, Jay.

Little Guys

I love these little guys.

Playing

Daddy still playing with the big kids.

Family Home Evening

Monday was so fun! For Family Home Evening Alex gave a lesson on using nice language. He saw a story in The New Era ( a religious teen magazine) about a boy who started a No Cussing Club in a Pasadena, CA middle school. He decided to start one in our family and had us all sign the document. I thought it was pretty creative of him. So now we are all trying not to say things like shut up, idiot, stupid etc etc. and H,E double hockey stick! (:

Adam had the treat and wanted to make old fashioned donuts. It was actually a recipe from Brigham Young's family that was printed in the newspaper. We thought that was pretty interesting. So we bought buttermilk for the first time in our lives and mixed them up.

Our favorite neighbors, the Williams, in Utah had a family tradition of making donuts annually on the Sunday before Christmas and then delivering them to their neighbors. YUM. I think we might start that tradition here in Texas. We did bring some donuts to our next door neighbors. Next time we will double the recipe and spread the sweetness a little further. (:

Free Lunch

Thanks to Gramma Betsy for the free lunch at The Flying Fish. We got another Billy Bass last week at a thrift store and Chris got another free $9.00 meal. I love a bargain. (:

Missing the Snow

The kids are missing the snow. I am missing it just a little bit. I don't think Chris misses that snow blower much.

Two Teeth

Guess who lost his second tooth! This time it was NOT a "natural" tooth losing. I was running errands and almost home when Steven called me and told me that John had kicked Adam's tooth out when they were "wrestling"! Boys....Boys....Boys....

Peanut Car

Gramma Betsy, Here is the "peanut" pinewood derby car, finally.

Needles

Ryan finished his soccer stitchery and Kathryn taught John and Adam how to sew. We all stayed cozy by the fire that Steven and Ryan built together.

Valentine's Day

I love flowers! Alex picked out the colorful bunch for me and Chris brought me the yellow Texas Roses.We had a great weekend just relaxing with the kids. We had a special breakfast together, Chris grilled steak for dinner, we made Valentine's cookies, Chris took Kathryn on a surprise date to the mall, the Valentine's "Easter Bunny"(as John calls it) came and left the kids a treat on their beds, I built my FIRST Bionicle with Ryan, and Chris surprised me with a Heath Bar/ Coffee ice cream cake from Cold Stone Creamery.

Roodles

Look who lost his first tooth. Adam was so proud.........and excited when the tooth fairy left him a quarter. (so easy to please)

Our Break

It was so wonderful to get away for a few days! The Bed and Breakfast was so relaxing. It was right by the lake and very beautiful. The chocolate covered strawberries were to die for. Being alone with Chris was by far the best........no kids, no phones,no computers, no schedule. I LOVE not knowing what time it is and NOT caring.

Latest News and Drumming as a Career or Profession

I was asked by Betsy for the update on Ryan's pinewood derby. The peanut car was entirely Ryan's design, and he guided me through every step even as I used the power tools, belt sander, and broke at least one band saw in the process. He painted and designed the last part of the peanut as well. So what can I say? Since I didn't put the car in Lockheed's wind tunnel to make sure it was faster than the other 10 year olds', I guess Ryan placed right in the middle. Not bad for a 10 year old kid who fully designed and built his own car!

I was also asked about how last Friday's drum playing went. Let's just say that I'm not going to be quitting my day job anytime soon. I was asked a few weeks back to help a guy at my church with an upcoming show. This guy wrote an EP around the Twilight book, and wanted to spice up a live show with drums and bass guitar. The downloads have netted him about $3000 so far so I thought it might be an interesting gig. Well, after 12 hours' worth of setup, rehearsal, tear down, set up, wait, and play, we ended up playing to a crowd of four people. That's right FOUR.

But it was a good show.

--Chris

We had a great weekend with Grandpa John and Grandma Dana visiting us from Kansas. They came to celebrate Alex's bday and see Ryan race his Pinewood Derby car. We had a crepe breakfast on Saturday , walked to the park,played games,and then went to a German restaurant before the race.German food is NOT for me.!!I am a true Mexican food fan! The Fear Family are true taco/tostada fans and my own flesh and blood, Alex, hates tacos! Actually, none of my kids would list tacos as a favorite meal. I can't believe that I gave birth to these kids! There is nothing quite like a fried corn tortilla tostada and some cold tropical punch!!!
Anyway, we had so much fun. Grandma played a game of Pay Day with the boys and was sure they were swindling her out of money while she was talking to Chris. (: (hi Dana) The kids also had a little tether ball tournament with G&G down at the school playground.
Chris and I actually watched the Super Bowl start to finish for the first time in our entire marriage.... exciting game..... Our kids could not believe we were really watching it since we have NEVER watched a sports game together on a t.v. in our almost 16 year marriage. SERIOUSLY. They went in the other room and watched a black and white Little Rascals video. (:
It all starts over again in the morning. 5 am will be here too soon. Goodnight.
John, Adam, and Ryan all start soccer tomorrow..........I need an extra driver.........and a cook

p.s. I am so excited that Chris called and asked a single lady we know to stay with our kids this weekend on our anniversary so we can go away to a Bed and Breakfast for 2 days. Thursday cannot come soon enough!