Matt and Kami, here we come!

I'll be missing in action for a bit. . . we're celebrating the newest members to our extended Davis family in Idaho with a beautiful wedding ceremony on Wednesday, June 24th. Matt is marrying beautiful Kami and is gaining 4 new munchkins (whom we are dying to meet!), Kaci, Sheldon, Cameron, and Lincon. So, in the process of going to dance classes, softball games and practices, shopping trips to prepare for the trip, laundry desperately needing to get done for packing purposes, and another bazillion errands to run, we'll be out of reach for a while. Think of us fondly, relaxing in the boat on the lake, playing games with cousins, late night chats with the adults (hopefully the kiddos will accomodate by actually sleeping), and hopefully not gaining back any of the weight that we've managed to lose thus far! Till we get back...

Wordless Wednesday, sort of...Our Little Mommas

Oh, the laundry...

I opened up my bills for the month and thought my power and water bill were fantastically low. I gave myself a mental pat on the back for being so wise with our water and power use. . . and then I walked down into the laundry room and realized that those machines hadn't been used for a VERY long time. No wonder the water and heating bills were so low.

Food from the Clouds

Last night Naki taught our Family Home Evening. The Lesson was about having Gratitude in your life. I realized that I needed to vocalize my gratitude for recent blessings from Heavenly Father. Several months ago Naki and I analyzed our budget needs and knew that we would have to have more income to meet our needs. He searched and searched and searched for a second job and nothing seemed to work. We decided that there was a job available, but for me instead. As we worked towards that goal, neither one of us felt peaceful about that decision. We prayed and fasted one Sunday to find the right solution for our family. That same evening Naki received an email from a friend of his asking him if he was in need for a part time job, and that the facility where he worked was looking for some part timers. Not only did he get the job that we needed but they brought him in at the Supervisor pay. What timing! It's interesting to me how Heavenly Father works, because we've been in this same position before, except that the 2nd job never came when we could have really used it. I've learned that He gives and he takes, and that my timing isn't always His timing.

With this tight budget of ours, we are watching our grocery bill very closely. We were a bit frustrated yesterday when Naki's car, (which we just spent a hefty amount of $ to get running smoothly to pass safety and emissions), decided not to start. After a jump he was on his way to work, only to have it not start again later on. With our tight budget, we knew this repair would have to come from the grocery budget. Imagine our shock and gratitude when later that afternoon we discovered 5 HUGE boxes on our front porch, just filled with canned goods, cereal, light bulbs, granola bars, etc. etc. As we were standing there, just overwhelmed, Eli said, "Heavenly Father sent us Food from the Clouds!" We are indeed blessed, Eli.

Oh, My Back!

(Jerry Lewis, anyone? I just love Scared Stiff.) Anyway, I've been struggling with some back pain for what seems like, let's just say, longer than I want to be. It's the worst right when I wake up in the morning. Seriously, I'm like the Hunchback of Notre Dame walking around. And I'm starting to wonder if this might have anything to do with it.

You know you're tired when you don't even realize in the middle of the night that someone extra has crawled into your bed with you.

Did it really look THAT bad before, Line?

So, I have a new do, thanks to mah-vehlous Auntie Candy. I really researched this one. Looked all over the internet for a hairstyle that I thought my hair, my style-challenged hands, and my bottom-line refusal to spend more than 20 minutes max on my hair every day, could do. Candy worked wonders. Bless Naki. He would love love love for me to have long hair some day. So to make him happy we went dark. He loves my hair dark. Well, today is only day two of said new hair, and these are the comments so far that I've heard from Line. It seems she's in shock mode and can't quite figure out a way to express herself.

"Wow, Mom. Your hair, it's like you could even wear your pajamas all day and it wouldn't even matter because your hair is just so .. so ... "

"Mom, it's just like, like, like your hair is so alive now."

I gave the girlies some ice cream cones as a treat tonight after my Primary Presidency meeting. They cleaned up after all the kids that were here without complaint so they were rightly rewarded with some yummy ice cream. While the kids were finishing up, Eva, who finished first, asked me to hold her. I'm pooped out at this point, so I joined her on her stool which was the middle of the three. Line turned to find me sitting there and said, "Wow, Mom. I didn't even notice you sitting there. You just look so young with your new hair."

Apparently, the hair is a hit, Candy. Every where we go the girls tell everyone, and I mean everyone including people we don't know, "My mom has dark hair now". At least Line doesn't keep doing what Lose did the first night after you left. She came up to me and gave my hair a nice hard tug, to which I loudly exclaimed, "What are you doing?!" only to hear her turn around to her sisters and say confidently, "Nope, I told you I was right. It isn't a wig."

Thanks for giving me an in with my kiddos, Candy.

Easter in the Summer

So, I'm a bit late with this post. I'm trying to get caught up. I've just been so enjoying our busy summer schedule that I haven't had any desire to sit at a computer when we can be outside playing! I'm going to split Easter Sunday into a couple of posts. We'll start off with Easter morning with the girls and their Easter Baskets. We started off our day with way more sugar than any child should have in one sitting. Why do I do that to myself? I completely sabotage my entire day and then some because they start it off with major sugar overload. But seriously, could you have Easter without it? I was in charge of Sharing Time that Sunday and I can tell you that those kids were still bouncing around from all that candy. Maybe if we have church earlier in the day next year we'll have them dig into their candy when we get home instead of before church, but I couldn't make them wait until 4:00!

Eva was instantly attracted to the lollipops. At first I couldn't figure out why, and then realized that we really haven't had any of those for some time. And if it's been some time for me, it must have been never for her. She's only 2! Follow this series of pics with me. Here she is unwrapping her first victim.


Somehow, one turned into three. I know you have a big mouth Eva, but I don't think they're going to fit!


She's successfully devoured one, although she doesn't look too thrilled about it. I think she's bummed that it's gone.

Here she is, completely thrilled with herself and her lollipop massacre.


Sadly, the big hit and main event of our morning I had no one to blame for it but myself. Trust me when I tell you that I am working my hardest to raise girls with good manners and a polite demeanor. But we love a good gag around here, thus my inability to resist the purchase of several whoopie cushions.


I knew they would have a blast with them, but it made for an extremely irreverent Sabbath morning atmosphere, that's for sure. Lesson learned. But they loved these things!

Now, we already knew that Malia wins the Blue Ribbon for most powerful Booty in this house. I could break out some baby pictures to prove my point, but I don't want to embarrass Malia. I'll save that for her teenage years. But if there had ever been any doubt about her owning that title, doubt no more. She blew it up for the first time,

set it on her chair, jumped up and then gave it her best landing, which I rated a 10. However, it was just too too much for this little whoopie cushion to handle.

It never knew what hit it. You go, Malia.

Here's a sample of what we got to hear for the rest of the morning. (Don't worry. I eventually reached a point when I made them all put them away for a bit of Easter morning reverence.)




More to come...