Happy Easter Everyone

Hope all of you had a very peaceful and pleasant Easter weekend. May we all love our families more and be better people and be more like our Savior. I know that my Redeemer lives! I find great joy and peace in this knowledge and simple phrase. May you find the same! Love you all! This is mostly for the pictures. :)

Birthday Cake Bragging Rights?

This is Gabe's Mario and Luigi cake.

Gabe taking a bite out of the Luigi Cupcake that took me forever to make! LOL

Tyler was showered with Mario stuff, of course!

Who needs presents when the bags they come in make me this happy?

My Mario boy! Uncle Adam told him to wear his costume for the party and he thought it was a good idea!

The final product of many hours of work. This is made out of fondant, rolled and molded. I know, I know... I MUST be nuts!

Ok, so I don't proclaim to be a professional by any means and I really don't like braggers, but these cakes/cupcakes took A LOT of time and effort and I have to feel pretty pleased with how they turned out. It seems kind of fruitless as you watch them become devoured 5 minutes after you put the finishing touches on, but I guess I do it for the challenge AND I love to see the excitement on my children's faces. I don't know if I will ever do it again, so I took plenty of pictures to prove that I was a cool Mom for at least one birthday!!! (The boys, Tyler and Gabe, both wanted Mario Brother's parties - so they got two different Mario cakes) Can't believe, as of today, I officially have a 7 and 9 year old!!! That makes me older. Happy Belated Birthday to Gabriel (his was January 31st). He got a new bike! Happy 9th Birthday Tyler!!! He thinks it is pretty cool that he is born the same day as George Washington. I don't blame him. :) I have some pretty great kids - even if they make me crazy some days! P.S. The next time I post I will be bragging about DisneyLand, in a non-bragging way!

Do You Believe?

So, my life has had its ups and downs. Let's face it, who's hasn't right? But I'd like to think I still believed that God has had his hand in it, no matter what. The tragedy that my family suffered by losing my sister Mandy was something I would NEVER wish on anyone. God carried us, FOR SURE, all the way through that week and into the next so we could get through the funeral. Oh sure, there were times when I was angry. I wondered why He didn't "save her," but moreso our family, from this hard thing. I was listening to a song one day, it is on the Women at the Well CD if you know it. It's called "If He Had Been There." It talks of Lazarus who was dead, and his sister's agony as she cries, "If He(meaning Christ) had been there, if He had only been there, my brother would not have died."(that is the rough version of it) As I listened and felt her pain, then her joy as Jesus came and saved him from death I felt hurt, and pain and wondered again WHY He "wasn't there." Why didn't he save MY sister? Then, very powerfully, one day I realized He WAS there. He "had been there." He suffered our loss with us. AND more importantly, because of HIM we will see her again. How quickly I forgot that it could only be Him that had carried us in that dark hour. That made it possible to get through. That, even when I ache to have her here with us, I KNOW we will meet again and that takes the tragedy out of the loss. He allowed Elder Jeffery R. Holland to feel things from her obituary that prompted a call and eventually a personal meeting with our family to help us understand that she is in a beautiful place and that she is happy and it WAS her time to go(no matter how untimely we felt it was), because He knew that would be what it took to help us cope with the loss. He also knew, despite my previous feelings for another, to send Roger in that moment (possibly as a distraction ;) and because of that he was able to experience first hand my loss, so that he would understand what I went through for when he would become my spouse. Wow. I meant to get on here and write something totally different - about tithing and money, something that feels totally worldly now. But, this is what came out. Maybe my spirit needed this. So, I hope you will believe as I do. That HE LIVES. As Easter quickly approaches may you know in your hearts that very principle. The Gospel is our only way to true happiness in this world. My sister lived that! So Christlike in all she did, not perfect, but so close.

"Chippewa Ball"

Tonight my cute husband and I, plus three other couples on our street (hence the "Chippewa" Ball) got together for a trip down memory lane. The guys had all us wives dress up all pretty and they took us to the Lion House for a private, catered dinner - YUM!!! They bought us wrist corsages and we took group and individual pictures. It was creative and fun. Then we had were able to go to the Governor's mansion for a tour then some dancin' and a couple of games. (Shh, that is our secret) It was awesome!!! We all had so much fun, and even though I wasn't brave enough to bust into crazy dance moves I still had a good time. Thanks hunny, you're the best! (even if you couldn't keep it a surprise!)

Little Turd, At It Again!

So, yesterday I was baking neighbor gifts and I took a little time out to do some other things. In the mean time Max got into the flour and was eating it! (yuck) It was all over the front of his shirt before Haleigh gave me the heads up! He has also been into my tree from day 1 of having it up. I kind of gave up on keeping it nice, but last Friday I had this desire to make it look better so I tore it apart and actually took time to WIRE almost every ornament to it in hopes of it lasting longer. Max didn't bother it at all over the weekend, and I thought I was in the clear - UNTIL yesterday. He must've been on one because he totally tore off all the bottom ornaments. ARGH... Oh well. this last picture illustrating my point is just to show you the misheivious look on his face and his little personality "shining" through. It's almost like his eyes are saying, "Watch out Mom there's plenty more where that came from." Little Turd!

Mommy, WOW! -I'm a big girl now-

SOOOOOO excited to announce that Haleigh is 100% potty trained! Remember that Pull-ups commercial? It is what inspired my title. I did get pull-ups but only had to use them for a week and now just for nights, just in case. It has been a week and 2 days of bliss! Only one left in diapers, HOORAY! (Sorry Gentrey) I don't even have to help her anymore with potty, she just goes upstairs and goes, although I insist on wiping when it is - to be less crass - #2. Just in time for Christmas and DisneyLand and now I can send her to dance and preschool. Ahhh. My hard work paid off. It was 2 weeks of wanting to give up, but pushing through. So, for you that are having struggles, keep going. It is SO worth it! (I actually almost gave up the Sunday before it all clicked and I am so grateful I kept going) Yeah! Go Haleigh!!! What a big girl you are.

SCORE!

Ok, I feel like I am the awesomest Christmas shopper/Mom in the world today after my fabulous find - so I have to share. :) But I do have to tell you about all my other deals too!

#1 find - A few weeks ago Toys R Us had a buy 2 get one free Barbie sale. I stocked up on the 3 Musketeer Barbies and got 3 of them for approx. $45 (including tax)... Not too bad ... THEN a couple of weeks later I noticed they were giving a $15 gift card for spending $40 on Barbies with the "pink tag" which mine had. SO, I took my Barbies back and she let me "return" and then re-buy them and I got the $15 back!!! - Which leads us to our next find.

#2 find - Leapster 2 games. There were a few select games on sale at Target and one of them happened to be the one Gabe asked for so I went on over. (Keep in mind these games usually range between $19.99 (for older games) and $25.99 (for new releases). So, I found the Star Wars one on sale for $15 (which was a new release!) and a Dinosaur one on sale for $19.99, so pretty good. THEN, I scored two $4 off coupons found on Hip2Sav and tada! TWO leapster games for only $27!!!

#3 find - This one is the coolest in my opinion. (my find of the day) Out of the blue my son Tyler has become enthralled with Buzz Lightyear. We were at Toys R Us and he found THE Buzz that he wants - comes with the box that looks just like the one from the original movie - talks, moves, lights up, the works. He is regularly $50! OUCH. SOOOO, I worked my magic today! I went into Toys R Us and I got THE Buzz Lightyear, which is on sale for $40, THEN I used my $15 card (from the Barbie deal) and it was only $25 - which doesn't hurt nearly as much. AND I scored a free backpack which they are giving away for any Toy Story purchase of $30 or more. :) I feel so cool!

#4 find - Snow White on DVD for $10! (For family gifts) *thanks to Hip2Sav again*


#5 find - This one isn't THE coolest, but I got 2 Hungry Hippos travel games for $.99 each! Good gift, OR good use for our DisneyLand trip coming up in February! (regular $4.99 had 2 $4.00 off coupons)


#6 find - TinkerBell on Blueray for Haleigh for Christmas $11.99! (plus taxes)


I am feeling good! Tyler only needs one more gift and he is set. Gabe needs a couple more, but the things he is getting aren't expensive. Haleigh won't care once she gets her Barbies and Max is going to be the hardest because I have NO ideas what to get him - and again he doesn't care! Ahh, I can do this holiday shopping thing. Just get all the deals you can in October/November and then you have ALL December to focus on what the holidays are all about!!! That is my kind of holiday. Oh and if you happen to be a recipient of these happy deals this holiday, please don't think me cheap! (LOL) Happy deal hunting!