Easter

our little community holds an annual Easter breakfast and egg hunt. they find candy, toys and little trinkets. i can't begin to explain how excited tucker was to go hunt for his eggs. he was crawling out of his skin. i tried getting pictures of my girls, but they were not ok with it as it was very early in the morning. they are getting to that age....ugg

this was tucker trying to be patient as we waited for them to say GO

off to the races......

tucker and the Easter bunny

that night as families we colored easter eggs. this is a tradition we have really enjoyed.

the Easter bunny visited our house and brought candy, clothes and yep...she brought tucker a little basketball hoop.

we are so grateful for our savior at this time of year. for HIS sacrifice and love for us. i can't fathom the sacrifice our HEAVENLY FATHER had to feel as he watched his son hang and die on that cross for us. i am so thankful for the atonement of Christ. i know HE lives. this is my testimony. 

Madee and Anna's baptism song

madee and anna sang this song on their baptism day. i cried. it was so beautiful. we couldn't record them singing at the baptism so we did it at home. madee is really mad that i posted this on youtube when she messed up. i am sure there will be plenty more singing opportunities for her and anna that i will record more without her messing up. but, just wanted to share their special song with the rest of you.

Madee's Baptism

today was a special day. madee became a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. her daddy baptized her and confirmed her a member of the church. it was very exciting. a testimony via email that she received from her grandpa said that angels would attend her baptism and one did. i know without a shadow of a doubt aunt becky was very present. after her baptism, her and anna sang the most beautiful song. i come to the waters by janice knapp perry. i think the most exciting part was to see her and her best friend baptized on the same day. a memory they will have for the rest of their lives. 

daddy & madee just before the baptism was performed

best friends forever. madee and anna jane

daddy & madee

julia (anna's mommy) was so kind to snap a few shots of the girls sunday after church

love these silly girls

this is one of my favorites. shows madee in her rarest form. lol

Happy 8th Birthday Madee Moo!

8 years old

• you are my sunshine.
• you're either very happy or very mad. hence the great name you were given...
• you look just like your mother and act like her too
• you love to play with your friends and at times choose them over us! 
• we love to listen to you sing and watch you make up your own groovy dance moves
• your favorite color is purple
• your best friend is anna jane
• i love to wake you up in the morning, but most times i find that you beat me to it and are awake around 6am!
• i love you more then words can say, but you seem to always tell me you love me more. NOT TRUE! 
• but.....madee....i love you to the stars and back

madee, anna and i went to the mall for her b'day. she wanted to get her ears pierced and buy special earrings for her and anna. who thought you could spend almost $100 @ a little earrings store? NOT ME.

end result. yes she was very scared and almost cried even though this was her 3rd try at getting her ears pierced. every other time they got infected. so far, so good.

being themselves in front of a store. we sure had a fun time.

this is madee's adopted grandma. uncle warren's mom. she is wonderful to all my kids and loves them like her own grandchildren. she was so wonderful and got madee her favorite american girl doll rebecca

opening cards from the cousins

a necklace from mom & dad

some clothes

madee doesn't like cake so we made homemade ice-cream cookies and a cake for those who wanted cake. we aren't much of a cake eating family. lol. madee just being herself! silly girl.

i am so thankful you are in our family and thank my Heavenly Father everyday for you. you are a very special spirit that brings so much light to our family. we love you.

SpRiNg BrEaK!!!

SpRiNg BrEaK!!!

Surprise, Surprise! that is what it was. we had been planning this vacation for months and kept it a secret. we were so excited to get the kids out of town, not just for them, but us too. so here is how it went down.........

the week before we left, i had been hiding clothes from the kids in our closet so that i could pack and they wouldn't have a clue. friday i started the packing while they were in school and packed the car full because we took the car.....yes the little jetta. trunk packed and no sign of the kids knowing, we planned on a soccer game the next morning. 

off we went to soccer early saturday morning. once the game was finished, we piled in full jetta and headed toward las vegas. the kids asked us where we were going and we just said "it's spring break.....where do you guys want to go?" to follow the question were funny answers....

jenna. hawaii

madee. laguna beach

tucker. out cold.....(nice!)

we proceeded to tell them we are going on a road trip. all your clothes are packed and we will be moving from place to place. they were so excited. my excitement almost got the best of me several times.

we got to long beach, ca. and found the hotel. tracy and warren's family was at dinner and they had no clue we were there and my kids had no clue they were there! so fun. i text tracy to tell her we had made it. once they got back we went down to the pool area and as we started back up to our rooms........

the elevator opened....and BOO. the gray's!

i was so freakin' excited. jenna's mouth was on the floor. screams were heard throughout the hotel as our kids danced and laughed and screamed with excitement. it was so worth all the hard work on my part. 

the next morning we packed up the car and tooled around long beach. we found a cute little pier and walked around til we were able to go to the boat (of which they still had no idea!) we started driving and once we got to the royal caribbean loading area i could hear screams from the gray's car. my kids.....still didn't get it. 

jenna. what are we doing dad?

dad. we are going to try to see if they will let us go walk on that boat to see what it is like?

jenna. i'm not going on that ship

mom. lets get the luggage out.........we're going on a cruise!!!!!

jenna. (crying) I AM NOT GETTING ON THAT SHIP!!!!!!!!!

brandon and i laughed so hard. we did end up sympathizing with her and consoling her to the best we could. after we finally boarded the boat. she finally calmed down. we ask her now if she would do it again and apparently she has our next vacation planned to the caribbean. LOL

the royal caribbean mariner of the seas

swimming.swimming.and more swimming

jenna couldn't get enough frozen yogurt and madee couldn't get enough sun

cabo san lucas lover's beach. we really loved the sun and water here.

mazzatlan. the girls were excited for this moment.

madee's cute braids

jenna's turn for torture

cute huh!

cousins

tuck and boyboy. yep. that is what he calls him

my cute family in mexico. it was beyond windy!

if you have never taken a taxi ride in mexico...i must say....it is a must. this was our taxi

jenna in front of a beautiful catholic church in the center of town

madee chasing the birds

the end of an amazing vacation 

34th B'day Celebration

                                     yep, i finally hit the big 20!
                       what?

all that matters is how you feel right? and i feel.........20. lol brandon & i took a much needed quick trip to park city utah for some fun in the snow. yep, i said fun in the snow. i love to snowboard and that was my present from brandon. i was treated to p.f. changs..yummy and some cheese cake from the best place on earth. no, he didn't sing happy birthday like he told me we would, but it all made up for him leaving the morning of my birthday without even saying goodbye, let alone....happy birthday. not a good start to my day.
after some seriously fun snowboarding @ the canyons and dinner @ p.f. changs, we had some time to spend with eachother on temple square. we went to watch the movie @ the joseph smith memorial building....joseph smith- the prophet of the restoration. before entering the theater we sat next to this large statue of joseph and hyrum smith. i have a small hand carved statue of the same on my piano. as we waited...i felt bad because we had the giggles...but we were having fun taking totally random pictures of ourselves! so funny. see i told you i was only 20.

well i really enjoyed the movie and especially spending it with the love of my life. i learned alot about the prophet joseph. i cried. i felt the spirit testify of the truthfulness of the events depicted in the movie. i can't phathom living in those days. the pursecutions, trials, temptations to give it all up. but he didn't. what a testimony builder for me. look at all he went through and he never faultered.  


the next day we went to brighton and did more boarding there and that was so fun. i even got the guts to jump. and i landed it. maybe not a professional jump. but hey, who thought a 34...i mean 20 year old mom could do that. not me. so, all in all it was a fab 3 days with a fabulous man! thanks baby! 

I know that my Savior Loves ME!

so, back in june i was called to be the ward primary chorister. i knew i was going to be called to this through much prayer on my part. not only did i want to do this again, but i needed a change as i was the 12-13yr old sunday school teacher for 2.5 yrs. fun, but over it! i just want to share my random thoughts as i am preparing my music for this next sunday. the song we are learning is "i know that my savior loves me" and it is from the friend. i love original music as the primary childrens songbook is pretty outdated to me. i am always looking for fun, spiritual music to teach these kids. i am quite the emotional primary leader...lol. maybe just an emotional person in general, but music does something to me. i just get it. the message that is. i understand things so much clearer through music. i always feel a spirit about good music. christian, lds, pop. as long as it has a great message....i love it. ok...back to my thoughts.
the song says..i did not touch him or sit on his knee, yet JESUS is real to me. i know he lives, i will follow faithfully, my heart i give to him. I KNOW THAT MY SAVIOR LOVES ME.
i am so very thankful for my knowledge that he is real. that he loves each of us reguardless of any faults, that he never leaves us, that he loves us. i really am excited to meet with him one day and with so much excitement embrace him. i am excited to introduce my family to my sister. my kids always say 'it isn't fair, i didn't get to meet becky' i say....your right it isn't fair but the Lord needed her more then us. i can't wait....k...maybe i can, but you know what i mean.
the reason why i thought of becky was on a blog i follow for primary choristors the activity was so cute and it brought back some funny memories of becky. have a person with a cell phone stand in the hall and call your cell phone as you are getting ready to sing the first song. i am supposed to act surpised when the other person asks specifically for a primary child. they will tell them they are so proud of who they are and tell them to ask me to sing 'I feel my Savior's love' i will then continue that and again the cell phone will ring to ask for another primary child and so on. i will tell them this is just like speaking to Heavenly Father & Jesus. they are our friends. so the memory of becky comes into play. most of you never met her, but she definetly had a mind of her own, you couldn't tell her she was wrong either. so, the one year she attended seminary, lol, the lesson was on prayer. her instructor likend it to talking to the Lord on the phone. like we talk to our friends, we should have that kind of relationship with him, to pick up the phone and he is there.....she wasn't havin' it. she ran her mouth for a few minutes about how stupid that analogy was and low and behold the phone in the church hallway rang. the instructor looked at becky and said...becky, it's for you. she didn't think he was funny. he told her it was the Lord calling her to talk. it was funny when it happened, probably not so much now, but i just thought of this moment of becky.

day two of xtreme workouts

day two
500rep workout:

prisoner squat-50 reps. hands behind head and go as low as you can*pictured*

sit ups- 50 reps. regular sit ups with arms above head at finish
forward/backward lung- 50reps. go into a front lunge, back to standing postions, into backward lunge.
reptile- 50reps. plank position bringing one knee to elbow at a time(pictured)

turkish get-ups- 50reps. holding a bottle of water or low weights, start in standing position with arm above head, go to lay on back *like a sit-up*, and the get back up to standing position again. (pictured)

side V-crunch- 50reps. exactly what it says!
split pushups- 50reps. one regular/one tricep repeat
jump forward squat w/ 2 jumps back- 50reps. like a long jump then hop backward 2x. harder then it seems.
reversed plank knee tucks- 50reps. pictured

finished in 43:12. harder then it seems!

weights
arm:
cable handled single curl-ss/3x  5pds/15reps
close grip bar culs- ts/3x  20pds/10reps
burpees- 10reps
rest- repeat 3x
kickbacks- ss/4x  7.5pds/12reps
skull crushers-ts/4x 15pds/12reps
rest-repeat 4x
single cable push downs- ss/4x  10pds/10reps
wide grip bar curls-ts/4x  20pds/15reps
triceps pushups-4x 10reps

done!