So this week is the girls' spring break and we were suppost to be going to Calgary but JD changed firms and is so busy he couldn't take the time off. So I told the girls we would try to do somethings that were extra fun. So today was the zoo. It was fun and much better than I remember the Hogle Zoo being. J had a great time he was so cute and loved the moneys the best. It was a beautiful day and I think the girls had a good time. It was really nice to get out of the house.

Jenna turned 6 last Thursday. I know I am a bit late at the post. She got a new camera which she has been asking for for a very very long time. She has really enjoyed it; she has taken it in the car, over to a friends house and I think she has taken a picture of every mountain and flag in a 20 mile radius of our house. She is so cute and has grown up so much what a fun person she is and we are so happy to have her in our family!! So a little back ground on the pictures this is her taking a picture on of me taking a picture of her. She was so excited about it. What a funny girl!

Our Easter weekend was fun and very busy. Friday night we went to the Wray's for pizza and egg dying. 3 1/2 dozen eggs and 6 kids the egg dying didn't last long they were all done in about 10 min.
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The easter bunny came to our house on Friday night bring a trampoline. The kids have loved it. So have I they are very entertained all day!


Saturday we went to Thanksgiving Point for easter activities and easter egg hunt. They had fun but it was cold. Rachel was so funny at the egg hunt. She was all excited to go get her eggs and when she got out there she picked up one and decided she was done and wanted me to collect the rest. What a stinker.




Sunday church was at 9 so I tried to get a picture of the kids before we ran out the door. As you can see J wanted nothing to do with that. He was just giving us an I idea of how he was going to act in church. AGHHHH

I finished book 2 and 3. I loved them and can't wait till August when the 4th one comes out. If anyone is interested you can pre order from Amazon. JD said I was a bit obsessed when I finished both books in 3 days. I was very intrigued I couldn't put them down.

I heard through the grapevine that Twilight by Stephanie Meyer was a good book. So the other day when I was at Deseret Book I picked it up (thanks Shantel). What a great book I loved it. Poor JD I finally finish physical therapy and now I get lost in a book series. I think he wonders if anything will ever get done again.

Today we went to Logan for our nephew's birthday and baptism. And then after we went snow shoeing with JD's family. It was so much fun! It was beautiful the had just started snowing just as we got there. Our guide, Jessica, was great and she had some fun games to play. I suggest it to everyone it was easy and inexpensive. We just had Sydney and Jenna they had a great time I was so proud of them for making it the whole way all by them selves.

Yes, it is a miracle I (J. D.) have actually made a post to our blog, but everyone once in awhile something comes around that strikes me as important. As many of you know I am a major movie trailer junkie. This is a link to a movie called "EXPELLED No Intelligence Allowed". Click on the play button. It is a long trailer but this may be one of the most important movies to be produced in a long time. It will make you think. It is a wake up call to our society and especially to all who those who still have hope and faith.

The past 2 weeks have been busy with pajama days, trips to Logan, homework, piano lessons, stressing about work, and the last few trips to Physical Therapy. We are itching for spring every sunny day we have the girls are dying to get their bikes down. Its still a bit to cold to play outside just yet. As you can see from the clip we are still getting snow. These snow flakes were the biggest flakes I have seen in a really long time; the girls loved them. I also added a very small clip of J trying to walk that funny kid he really hates walking if we try to make him he gets really mad. What a stinker!

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So yesterday I went to physical therapy and was talk to my PT who is from New Orleans and hates the snow that we were pretty much past the yucky snow stuff now when it snows it will just melt. 'O' how wrong I was!! The snow and wind started about 3:00 and our power went out at 4 and didn't come on until after midnight. And of course J.D. is in California for the rest of the week which was probably a good thing because all of the roads were closed around our house I guess people were stuck on the roads for hours. Even some of the kids at our school didn't make it home they had to camp out at the school for the night.

Our kids thought it was fun though the ate dinner, read books and played games by candlelight. J was so funny he would just crawl around in the dark and when I would go looking for him he would just be standing there.

So I went out to shovel this morning to open the garage to find a 2 foot drift. AGHHH now I wish JD was home luckily our neighbor with the snow blower came to my rescue! Here are some pictures but I don't think they do the snow justice.


This is a picture from our back yard see how the houses are plastered with snow.

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Sydney turned 8 on Friday and was baptized on Saturday. I was a great day. I am so happy she made this choice. I can't believe she is 8! She is such a wonderful girl she is so helpful, kind, smart, a great big sister and is so beautiful inside and out. I can't wait to see what the next 8 years will bring.

Jenna lost her first tooth on Sunday. She was so excited and brave. I can't believe she is old enough to loose teeth!

Just a quick note. I looks as though the surgery worked. I am a bit sore but I can now touch my face with my hand and put the phone up to my ear! I know it sounds silly but its the simple things you miss when you can't do it. I have hope that it will just go up hill from here. Thanks to everyone for your help and for all your prayers.

Please please tell me the third time is the charm. Most of you know I had surgery on my elbow again in December that surgery was to help with the mobility I couldn't get back. It helped with my extension and getting my palm up but I lost a lot of my ability to flex. So I saw the surgeon again today and he recommended surgery to get more flextion in my arm so I go in on Monday for this. So I hope and pray the third time is a charm.

I know its crazy 2 posts in 2 days. I am going to try to be a better blogger. Jenna had her VIP at school today. She was very very excited she has asked me everyday when it was going to be and today finally came. She talked about the poster we made, we told about her likes and dislikes. They asked for her favorite book which is 'Giraffe's Can't Dance' and then donate it to the class which I thought was a great idea. Then we played a game she liked and she choose button button who's got the button. It was fun! She is so cute I love when she gets excited she can barely hold in her excitement. Its hard to not be excited with her!

J had his first birthday back on the 18th. I can't believe he is one already. He was such a cute baby and has been so much fun. It is so different having a boy, he pushes everything around like its a car the phone, the Wii remotes a shoe anything he can find. He is my little man and I can't wait to see what the next year will bring!

O.K. I am not the best blogger. I always have good intentions though.

This morning the girls woke up to our first real snow storm and were very ready to go outside and play. They had a good time (we have a slope in our back yard that makes for a good little sled hill) they had fun with the sled and making snow angels. And J got to watch from the window!

We decided this year we would spend more time together doing activities and less money on presents and toys for Christmas. So today we went to the movies; we saw Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium. I loved this movie is was so good, very cute! I highly recommend it. Rachel was a bit bored but Sydney and Jenna loved it. It was a great feel good movie.

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Its about time I sit down and do this. It's not that we haven't had anything going on its that we have had too much going on. I will give a brief overview.

I spent the end of September and half of October canning and I surly don't feel like an armature anymore! Physical therapy is going. I haven't had much improvement since the first 2 weeks I went. So now I am wearing a brace at night the stretches my arm to a straight position and yes it is as much fun as it sounds. I will find out if it is working on Monday when I go back but another surgery looks to be in my future.

The kids and I caravaned with my sister Andrea to Arizona to visit our other sister Cheri. We had lots of fun, it was hot. We went to a splash park, a kids amusement park, and we spent a lot of time talking and the kids spent a lot of time playing. We had a really good time. Thanks Cheri or should I say thanks for putting up with us Cory.

JD's work is still plugging along as he is studying for the LARE the test to become licensed as a landscape architect.

Sydney is loving school and she is inseparable with her best friend Annie.

Jenna has absorbed school! She has learned so much and is doing great with her beginning reading. She had her tonsils out on the 23rd and has been a trooper. I didn't realize what a big deal having your tonsils out was. We did have a scary episode on Thursday morning at 3:00 am one of the scabs came off and she was bleeding quite badly so JD took her to the ER. Jenna was so brave when the doctor came in and cauterized it. The doctor said Jenna was the first 5 year old she has ever been able to cauterize without going into surgery. JD was so proud of her, WHAT A BRAVE GIRL!!!

Rachel what can I say about her. I swear a devil and an angel live in that girl. Or maybe its just being a 3 year old. I do have so much fun with her though; it has been nice to have one on one time with her while Syd and Jenna are at school and J is asleep.

J is such a cute boy! He is starting to look like a boy and not so much like a baby. He took to crawling soon after my last blog and loves his new freedom! I would feed him and put him on the floor and he was happy for hours. He is a human vacuum. He can find the tiniest piece of anything and into the mouth it goes. He is now pulling himself up to everything. When he want you to pick him up he will shake your pant legs or in JD's case pull himself up with JD's leg hairs. His new thing now is too point at everything he wants; it is too cute!!!

Halloween was crazy but I think it is for everyone. We had a family Halloween party and Sydney's school program. I am a very lame mom and didn't get any pictures of my kids in their costumes I take that back I did get one of Jenna but she was crying because she didn't want to go to school. (it was her first day back since her surgery). Sydney was a renaissance princess, Jenna was a butterfly, Rachel was a pink ballerina, and J was a terribly cute frog. J, Rachel and I made it up to the school for the parade. I did have the camera but J was so helpful I didn't get to take any pictures. We came home and made caramel apples and went to share them at JD's office and then back home to carve pumpkins. We let the kids draw their own faces on them. They all turned out great but I have to admit I think Rachel's was my favorite (she is the age where she is drawing people without the body; you know the head with the arms and legs).

I hope our November is slow and uneventful. We are excited for Thanksgiving. This holiday is one that I really missed while we were away.

O yea in the mist of our crazy 6 weeks we had our family pictures taken. I hope the pictures don't bore you, there are a lot.

It has been a very very busy 2 weeks. I started physical therapy can I just say OUCH!!!! No pain no gain right? I have to go 3 times a week and it is becoming a bit inconvient I feel like I cant get anything done. Its a 30 min drive there an hour at therapy and a 30 min drive back. JD has been taking his lunch break and going in a bit early so he can watch the kids. Which has been really nice to not have to find sitters all of the time. But his has been a big sacrifice on his part and I think he is getting bit tired of it. But I have made a bit of progress 40 degrees in a week. I am still really stiff and sore but hopefully it will all be worth it. The kids still love school and J is so funny I have never seen a baby try so hard to crawl and not be able to do it. We keep trying to help him but he just needs to figure it out on his own. O yea and hip hip horray Sydney learned how to ride her bike this week she is so happy and proud of herself. She loves her new freedom.

Last week we went the Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband concert with JD's sisters and their husbands. We had so much fun it was a great concert and fun entertainers! Something we plan on doing again next year.

Last Sunday we went to Temple Square here are a few pictures of our time there.

Congrats to JD's sister Lisa and her husband Greg they had baby number 4 today, Boston Gregory Jolley, 6 lbs 12 oz and 22 inches long. He is cute and has great chicken legs. His 3 sisters will just love him to pieces.

What a cute boy! I left him playing with his toys and went to put the girls in bed and when I came downstairs this is how I found him. What a crazy kid.

We went to Pocatello for the long weekend for my Dads side of the family's reunion. I was nice to see everyone a lot of the kids had grown up so much. I have something like 60 cousins on that side of the family what a posterity for my Grandma!

We met up with some friends, Nate and MyrLynn Hill. Its been a long time since we have seen them and their kids. It has been nice to be with people we haven't seen for a long time.

I have spent the week canning peaches and have decide I am a amachure. Maybe some day I will get the hang of it. I also started physical therapy and she said I am very very tight and have to go see her 3 times a week agh!

The girls are doing well in school and JD's work is same old same old. He has been working hard getting the garage cleaned and putting up shelves it looks so nice. His next project is getting the storage room finished in the basement.