Cougars? Are you kidding me?

Okay, anyone who knows me knows that I do not like animals. I am not an outdoors person...I don't camp well, the thought of a thin piece of nylon being the my "protection" from the creatures and wild animals, well, I don't agree. I stress out! I have to feel safe with 4 wall around me. Around our house we have many deer that come down to the orchard next door...they spend alot of time in our yard. It is not uncommon for us to look out the window and see 5-10 deer wandering around our back yard. Well, in the last few weeks I have heard many warnings about cougars coming down from the mountains to find their food, the deer! The thought has totally FREAKED me out! There have been warnings from the Division of Wildlife to be watching for them. Well, while at a YW camp meeting (which I finally have won...we are staying in a cabin this year!!!) some of the girls told me that a cougar was killed in the orchard just across the street from us. HELLO! Way to close for comfort! I had already laid down the line with my children that we weren't to go into the orchard for any reason, and that we needed to stay inside at dusk until dawn. Call me paranoid if you want but I am sorry...cougars are looking for food! No thanks, I will be paranoid. It wasn't so real when the warnings were so general...but hello, across the street! So scary...so we have had to teach the kids what to do if they ever come into contact with a cougar...what they should and shouldn't do. AHHH! Go away cougars...we don't want you here! But really can you honestly imagine what you would do if you came face to face with a cougar.

HOME ALONE!

So what do you do when you are home alone? This weekend Craig and the kids went to the cabin and I couldn't go because I had a Girls Camp meeting this morning and then tonight we are having a mother-daughter dinner for the Young Women before the General YW Broadcast and I had to help prepare the meal. So here I am all alone! I don't do very well being all alone. I had a list of errands that I needed to run, you know the usual, pick up dry cleaning, return library books, make a DI run. Those things only took a few minutes. Last night I watched 3 movies! Hello, I will say, that never happens unless I am home alone. I have a very hard time putting myself to bed in a big house all alone! I watched, Dan in Real Life, Turn Around, & Devil Wears Prada. I ordered pizza and actaully got to choose MY favorite toppings, chicken, spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, & feta cheese is a very good combo! I did do a couple of loads of laundry but really, I have found that when I am alone I tend to waste my time! Not a good thing. Not with the list of things that I should and could be doing. OOOPS! I think that I have heard Trace Atkins new song "You're Gonna Miss This" a million times and it really makes me think of my cute family! I can't believe how fast they are going up and hearing that song made me tear up this morning. I miss them. I love it when they come running in the door and listening to all the stories from their time at the cabin (don't love the aftermath of clothes, supplies and everything all over the front room, where it tends to be dropped!). I feel kind of dumb that I am not more productive without my little shadows around. But the honest truth is I think I sometimes need this time alone, it does wonders for me as a mom! So, even though I struggle so much with it, it is helpful in its own crazy way! But the honest truth is... at 34 years old I don't like to be home alone!

Hippity, Hoppity, Easter's On It's Way!

Check out all these eggs! I love Easter!

Okay, I guess it has really come and gone but that's okay! We had a wonderful Easter weekend. I must admit I think that it is one of my favorite weekends of the whole year. We get to spend time with both sides of the family and enjoy them, yummy food, great treats and usually awesome spring weather! I LOVE IT! We went to Draper for our Peterson Family Easter Egg Hunt. Great fun was had by all! We had a great lunch, and decorated cookies and Easter eggs, and then the HUNT! It was fun! The funnest thing was just hanging out with my brother and sisters & parents. I love to see them. I wish it could happen more often. With children, work and everyone's busy schedule it makes it difficult. It is amazing to me to watch all the cousins grow and how much fun we all have together laughing and chatting. Here are some photos of our fun day with the Peterson Family.

I love this photo...Liberty Susanne is named after her Grammy...they have a great relationship!

This is the hang out for most of the boys whenever we are at Grammy & Papa's house.

Scott, Caleb & Ross waiting to find eggs.

We had so many eggs to color! It's a good thing this a favorite for everyone!
Liberty & Jack & Max busy at work!

Zach showing his finds from the Egg Hunt.

Here are some photos of Caleb, Zach & Liberty right after we got home from church on Easter Sunday! They looked so cute. I was lucky to find the ties for the boys to match Liberty's dress. They all got tons of compliments.

After church we went over to Grandma & Grandpa's house for the Veenker Egg Hunt and Easter Dinner. We had alot of fun with them too. We ate, played games and of course had a hunt. So fun! More photos of the kids hunting for eggs.

Caleb was really funny this year...he is getting older and really didn't get into the egg hunt so much...in fact he got to help hide the eggs this year. He thought he was hot stuff!

Zach in a mad dash to pick up just the right egg! He was so funny!

Liberty with Haylie climbing up onto the swing set to check for eggs.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter! We sure did! Happy Spring!

Ooops! They Did It Again!

Okay, I must say that there is nothing I like more than having all my children play together. This evening while I was cooking dinner, the kids were in the family room playing and laughing and having a great time together. Well, just like most other times this occurs, something happens and turns everything upside down. Don't ask me what happened...but as they were playing they were taking turns swinging around a string of beads...don't ask me why. Well, the beads were in Libby's hand and she swung them around and wacked Zach right across the forehead. The nice fun playing, quickly changed to a sibling brawl! It absolutely amazes me how fast things can change around here. Well, after Zach got hit by the beads, everyone turned from being friendly to each other to going after each other. YUCK that is one of my least favorite things ever! When all was said and done everyone was sent to their rooms to cool down. Zach was really crying, and I am sure it hurt but sometimes he gets dramatic! Well, after dinner I looked over at him and saw that he has a stripe of circles going across his forehead! All, I could do was laugh...when I showed him in the mirror he laughed too. Check out these photos...

A bit blurry, but you get the idea!

I starts on his cheek and wraps up onto his forehead.

The pictures don't do much justice...the dots are very red. This had to have hurt!

(By the way he had just drank some purple gatorade, nice mustache!)


poor Zach. Caleb told him if they were still there tomorrow when he goes to school and people ask what happened happened, he should say...

"You should see the other guy!"

Leave it to Caleb to come up with something like that. Caleb, Zach & Liberty are all back to being friends. Which makes me happy! But wow what a night!

Happy St. Patty's Day!!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful GREEN DAY! We all had a great day at school...no one got pinched! We came home and had dinner and then got out the St. Pat's day hats and made our Shamrock Shakes. Fun was had by all. I had to laugh because for some reason, the hats weren't good enough the way they came...no we all had to add our own flair. Mostly looks like scribbles, but hey what every makes them happy. Shakes were yummy! Another fun holiday has come and we had a great time.! Best of Luck to all of you ... even if you aren't Irish! Here are some photos of our party!!!

Super Mom Strengths

Cricket, you've got the power of Playful Enthusiasm

(This is another one of those fun quizzes I found on tickle.com, kind of funny!)

Sounds to us like you are a funny, easygoing mom who loves to lighten the mood with a laugh. It doesn't matter if you're trading jokes with your kids, practicing your wrestling moves on them, or just kicking back with the family for a night of silly sitcoms, you've got an addictive, childlike energy that makes you a blast to be around. And here's a bonus: Mellow mamas who know how to laugh at themselves can really help their kids unwind and put their own problems in perspective.Of course, you know that sometimes you've got to play the stern mom role (like when your kids break your basic rules), but you're likely to feel much more like yourself when you're sitting next to your kids, riding roller coasters, pigging out on junk food — or giving them their goodnight noogies.

Blast From The Past!

Today I was driving home from work and Libby asked if she could listen to Radio Disney...no problem. Libby can sing most of the songs they play (sad to say, so can I!) We were just about home when a total blast from the past started to play...New Kids On The Block-Hangin' Tough! I will admit in back in the day, I loved this boy band. I am pretty sure that they were one of the original "boy bands". I had all of their cassette tapes, and knew every word to every song. The highlight was going to their concert. I still cannot believe that my parents let me go to a concert. I still remember how much fun it was...Tiffany opened for them! (I know that I am aging myself.) My best friend at the time Jennifer Sirago invited me to come and we had a blast! I even had a poster and a t-shirt with them on it. Man was I cool!

(This was the poster I had of them!!! I know that you are totally jealous of me!)

This is my t-shirt! Yes, I did wear this out in public! And yes, I thought I was cool! YIKES!

As I drove this afternoon, I turned up the song so loud, had the windows down and was singing at the top of my lungs. Liberty was looking at me funny, and then asked, "Mom, how do you know all the words?" I told her this was "my music". She just sort of laughed. Here is the funniest part, after the song was over, the DJ on Radio Disney made a comment that totally hit home...he said,

"I bet all the mom's out there loved that one!"

I must say that I got a great laugh off of that one! Almost like he was watching me and laughing out loud. But, I got a kick out of it. I haven't heard one of their songs FOREVER! I guess I better brush off the old cassette tapes and see if I can find the box where the "vintage" New Kids On The Block tee is hiding...who knows maybe it could be worth something! Just kidding!

Listen up everybody if you want to take a chance...

Just get on board and do the NEW KIDS DANCE!!!

I told you I know all the lyrics still! You gotta love it!

I'm The Mom!

Okay, I just got home from work and got this email from Craig's uncle, and I know that most people have already seen this but the more times I see it the better it gets. All I have to say is ...AMEN! This is very creative I love it!

For a good laugh...check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W95Y8hNQiH8

For all those mom's out there! This one's for you!

Cabin Fun!

So Craig has been trying to get me to the cabin forever! I am not ashamed to say that the cabin is not my favorite place to be in the winter...don't really like the snow. Well, Craig came home a few weekends ago with the boys and told me that the SNOWCAT would change the way I feel about the winter months at the cabin. We invited the Chidester's to come with us which I knew we would have fun together...but still I was aprehensive about going because of the snow situation. Well, Craig was right. The SNOWCAT is my favorite thing ever! It made going in and out of the cabin so nice. I didn't have to snowmobile unless I wanted to. GREAT! Check this puppy out! It is a monster, it grooms trails and moves snow and makes getting into the cabin a great experience and we didn't have to wrestle each other to try and get our snow gear on inside the car...we just put the gear in and drove in.

I tried to get the full shot but the trees got in the way! It is a monster! But I like it!

We had a great time being up there with the Chidester family. They are awesome friends. The kids had a great time riding the snowmobiles around in the meadow. The girls went sledding and we just hung out and had a lot of fun! Here are some photos of our weekend.

Caleb and McKay playing around outside.

Caleb and Zach waiting for the snow cat to go by so they could ride.

Zach, Maggie & Liberty hanging out in the loft!

Craig filling up the Snowcat with gas!

It was a great weekend, with great friends. Fun Stuff!!!

What Do You Do On Saturday Night?

Well, I must say that our Saturday night was very fun...we all just hung out and played all day long.

We had a few errands to run but for the most part we just played. So, I am not sure what your family does for fun...but check out what we do!

I don't really know how this all started but it sure was fun. Watching the kids do it wasn't good enough for Craig and I, so of course we had to get in on the fun!

So you ask...what do we do on Saturday Night?

Check this out. We run and jump on our huge luv sac.

These photos are priceless!

We all decided that Craig's jump was the best. What do you think?

Everyone thought this was a sad excuse for a jump! I must say this isn't my best photo ever taken! But I have never claimed to be a high jumper!

Liberty, I am not sure if she is trying to do a cart wheel or what...she is her mothers daughter!

Caleb has had a lot of practice at this...he and Zach do this a lot. Looks good, huh!

Zach, I think he forgot to try and grab the ball but it looks good!

I highly recommend doing something crazy like this one night. We had a blast!
Can't wait until next Saturday night! Who knows what we will come up with.