Happy Birthday to Me...

This is a little late, but I don't ever want to forget it!

Oh I had the best Birthday ever this year! Jake spoiled me so much.  He kept asking me what I wanted and I really didn't have anything on my wish list but to spend time with him...alone...no kids :)!  I love my kids to death but I love Jake too and we get to see very little of each other the busier our kids get.  I really had no clue how to make things our out for us to get away because of all the things are kids had going on, but Jake made it work! It was so wonderful.  We went to Sun Valley on the weekend of my birthday and the actual day of my birthday was Sunday the day we packed up everything and came home so it wasn't a super awesome day, just a great weekend.  I got a sleeping bag that night and enjoyed some time with our little family and thought that might be it for my birthday this year....but boy was I wrong.  Monday, Jake gave me a Wii game that we could all play with together.  Tuesday, he gave me a list of the many reasons he loves me...cried the whole way through it.  Wednesday he gave me a gift certificate for a 'dinner' out that weekend.  Thursday he had made a plane ticket to go to Alaska and left it on my desk.  I was trying to figure out what that meant.  He gave me a departure time of 4 PM Friday evening but not a return time :).  I was trying to not get my hopes up, but had to get on the internet and research our local Destinations Inn and there was an Alaska room there.  Oh how excited I got!  So, so happy!  We ended up getting to get away on Friday evening, enjoy our little downtown Idaho Falls Mexican food and had a relaxing, wonderful, amazing time together. We had to be back for Anthony's football game Saturday morning, so it was barely 16 hours gone, but it was so wonderful!  I will never forget all the time he took to plan my birthday and how much effort I know it took.  He arranged babysitting, pick-ups, drop-offs, everything. I just showed up!  It was WONDERFUL! 

Thank you, thank you to all who helped make my day/week the best I've had in a long time!!

And then there was snow...

 Not even a week after I took those leave pictures, we got our first snow.  Anthony went out and made this cute little snowman all by himself. He did a great job and even added eyes by himself.  He had a great time and was out there for almost an hour getting it done!

Leaves...

 The only draw back from awesome, big trees in our yard is all of the leaves it brings.  Every fall we have to spend hours raking them up.  Although, it does provide lots of fun times for the kids!  This year they wanted to be completely barred underneath them.  Anthony is "in" the very bottom picture, you just cannot see him :)....he is completely covered with leaves!

Crazy Hair Day...

 Oh the joys of elementary school!  Crazy hair day was fun this year, both kids wanted to participate.  Anthony need a hair cut anyway, so I left the top long and cut the bottom short and mohawked it.  He loved it.  Jenna wanted lots of little braids all over...she thought it was great, plus we even had a cute bumpy hair do the next day too!

Cheeseball Owen...

 This little boy brings so much love, laughter and smiles to our home!  He will do just about anything to get someone to laugh.  We just love his little personality!

Trip to Portland...

 Jake's brother Jon got married up in Portland and we made the long drive over to enjoy the event! It was a long drive, but we had a good time.  We stopped at Multnoma Falls on the way in on Thursday.  That night we ate some wonderful seafood and enjoyed being kid free :).  My very kind parents stayed home with my kids so they didn't have to do the whirlwind trip.  Thank you!!  

Friday was the wedding and it was a beautiful ceremony in a beautiful temple, we enjoyed a fun lunch with all the brother's and wives and ate some more yummy seafood.  After that, we headed to the very wet, rainy reception.  It was beautiful and it was sad that it was so rainy. 

 Saturday we headed downtown on the rail and had lots of fun seeing downtown Portland.  We ate donuts, rode the rail to lots of different places, saw the HUGE book store, the Pearl district, lots of bridges and walked across a few.  It was a very pretty city.  We had a great visit!

Jenna 2012...

Jenna, my Jenna.  She is so much fun, so feisty, so loving and so happy all at the same time. She is such a good big sister.  She loves to paint Lydia's fingernails and help Owen when I need it.  She LOVES to be crafty making cards, drawing pictures, coloring, painting, anything I will let her do basically.  She is always making 'cards' out of scrap paper and glitter glue.  Jenna has a huge desire to be older.  She was pretty excited to turn 5 and when she did and didn't get to go to an older class at church she was pretty upset by that.  She has loved school and loves that she gets to learn to read books.  She just loves to have her hair curly and asks me at least once a week to do her hair curly.  Jenna is always quick to smile and has really started to shine in front of other people.  She used to hate being up in front of people but now she does great when she is.  She did a wonderful job on her part for the primary program and was able to do it without even asking her teacher to help her, she was very proud of that.

Jenna, I love you. I am so glad you came to my family and are my little 'brownie'.  I am so glad when you are home and smile at me and are my little helper.  I pray for you daily that you can shine your happy light for all to feel your happy spirit .  I am thankful every day that you are in my home and that I am your mother.

I asked Jenna a few questions to catch a glimpse of her at age 5...

What is your favorite color?  Pink

 What is your favorite toy? Fingernail polish

 What is your favorite fruit? Banana

 What is your favorite movie?  Tangled

 What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Ham or egg salad sandwich

What is your favorite animal?  Unicorn

What is your favorite thing to wear? Minnie Mouse shirt

  Who is your best friend? Chelsea Hansen

What is your favorite cereal?  Froot Loops

What is your favorite thing to do outside? Play on the toys

What is your favorite holiday? Halloween

What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Waffles

 What do you want to be when you grow up? Repunzel or Ariel