One nice week

(This is an actual bill board along I-94 just west of Steele. I knew Jason would enjoy some ND humor.)

This past week I flew to North Dakota with Sam and Livia to go to my Aunt Donna's wedding. I was a little worried about getting two kids there without Jason's help, but they did pretty good. Fortunately it was a direct flight from Salt Lake to Bismarck.

Waiting to board the plane. (They are in PJs because we arrived at 11 pm.)



Sam got pretty restless on the plane so he buddied up with the flight attendant. She was so sweet and patient with him. She gave him a personal tour of the plane. Right before we got off she showed him where the pilot was... but he didn't stay long enough for me to get the picture on time.


Looks like seasoned travelers...



We spent the first night at my parents' apartment in Mandan, so we got to see Nancy, a very close family friend. The kids played on the pony until my dad finished his half day working.


As always, we had to stop by the local cafe, Carol's Kitchen.




Jason finds it funny that Carol is the owner, the chef, the waitress, and the cashier. This is Carol: (yes, she is sitting at the table with us)


And this is Carol eating our fries:

She gave us extra because she forgot who I was. And then ate some.

The hours board made me laugh. (Look at the closing time for Mon-Sat.)

At least Carol was willing to let me take pictures... even though she told me what she thought I could do with my camera.... (I won't tell you since this is a family friendly blog.)


Another usual.... stopping by the bank. The bank ladies always love the company of the kids. If you're wondering... yes, the kids are behind the counter. They're pretty chill there.


Sam and Preston were just wild and crazy.


Our next adventure took us to the Tuttle Store.


Just to give you an idea of the size of this store... this is the entire produce section.


This was new since my last visit. I laughed out loud.


The left side of this formerly-refrigerated section is now a lil' bookstore. You can read the books and then bring them back. The right side is a lil' craft store. I love Tuttle. (Go ahead all you North Dakota knockers.... let the jokes begin!)


A major highlight for Sam was my Uncle Duane's 4 wheeler. He spent a lot of time at the farm with us, most of the time giving rides to the kids. Sam loved it!



Now for the main reason I went... My Aunt Donna got married! She married a great guy, my new Uncle Mike. Welcome to the craziness, Mike!


The happy couple:



Congratulations Donna! We're so happy for you!

My little cutie:


Sam had a lot of fun with Jill's little boy, Preston. I was worried they would fight, but they didn't all that much. They were pretty much inseparable... and I now know what the term "double trouble" means....


Livia with her Papa:


And her Nana:

This is at the airport when we arrived in Bismarck, Sammy was so excited to see both Papa and Nana.




Just a little glimpse at their week long fun together:

pink lady livi

A couple of days ago, I got a surprise package in the mail. I opened the box to find this beautiful quilt.

It was a gift for Livia from a good friend of mine, Lisa Giles. Lisa moved to Arizona a while ago, but is still so thoughtful and sweet to use her amazing talent to send my baby girl a quilt. Lisa is one of the best quilters that I know... I am so lucky to have such great and talented friends!

When I showed Livia, she gave me a huge smile! I think she likes it.

Thanks Lisa! It's beautiful! We love it!

June highlights thus far

Since the computer had a little issue last week (ok it was a big one... but almost taken care of,) I have been a little behind on my busy blogging world... sorry this one will be long.

At the beginning of June, as noted in an earlier post, we had our baseboards put on. In order to get the entire main level, we had to pull the washer and dryer out. So I decided it was the best time to get the 1/2 bath/laundry room painted.

Before:
After:

I finally got around to sewing curtains for the kids' rooms. Hopefully they'll sleep in later now that it's a lot darker in there!

Sam's room: (obviously since Lightning McQueen is his latest hero)
Livia's room: (aren't little girls all about sunshine and rainbows?)
Jason made a swing for Sam....

which he loves!

And so do his little friends.

Another project we have been avoiding the tackling of.... removing the strange, and very large chunks of concrete in our yard... this picture does not do justice of the amount that is in there...

We rented a jack hammer from Home Depot and Jason worked on breaking it all up for about 3 hours. (I helped a little too.)

Fun broken up chunks, ready for removal:


On Sunday, June 7, we went to my sister, Ronda's house for dinner. Another sister, Jill had just arrived in Utah the night before.

All the Danielsons were there too. The Danielsons are basically our family... yet there is no actual relation. I won't go into all the similarities now, but most people in our lives have always gotten us confused with each other.

The four of us girls on the couch are me and my sisters. The four on the floor are the Danielson girls, and the two Danielson boys are on the ends.


And then, we have all the kids....
not as cooperative as the adults. Apparently Sam likes to show off his bare side more than his face. Little stinker. The rest of the kids did pretty good though!

Serena was helping Sam hide his cake and ice cream.
A random shot of the party:


We also celebrated some birthdays. Ok, so there were a lot either recent or soon to come, so we just sang Happy Birthday dear Everyone. (But Jason's birthday was the next day, and Alycia's a few days later, so that's where the whole idea started.)

Jason, being a goof, and not letting me get a decent picture of him, like usual.

Too much cake for Livi?
For Jason's birthday, on June 8th, I wanted to surprise him by picking him up from work and taking him out to Lunch on the Lake. But due to the awesome rain.... we ended up going to a movie instead. We'll do lunch another day. I'm sure we can find something else to celebrate!

I thought my flowers all died. But I am again seeing some sign of life in the rose bush!


On Monday night, my sister, Jill and her family came down to stay with us for a couple of days. There is an excessive amount of snails around here, so Braden and Kari found about 150 snails and put them in a bucket.
Then Sam saw it. In his head, the only reason you'd put something in a bucket, is to dump it out again. Hence, the next picture. Preston agreed with Sam.
Yeah! A sandbox playmate!
Kari and Braden loved the swing.


Another long day for Livia. (I honestly do give this kid naps in her bed!)

For Jason's birthday we got him a new bike. I convinced him to use the toddler seat, and Sam was happy with the results!

And so was Maggie.
And so was Mommy. :)


Livia has been helping me blog today.


She's getting a little bored now.

Ok, cranky Hank says it's time for Mommy to be done.


Happy June!

he must love me

Jason truly loves me. He is so patient and willing to do things for me to make me happy. We moved here 1 year and 3 months ago.

Our laundry room is very small. The two machines barely fit in the space provided.

Aren't they lovely machines? Gotta love the gold.
(Hey they work, and they were free. Thanks again Ronda!)


If you notice, the hookups in the back are opposite of what you see here. When we moved in, we put them where they are 'supposed' to be according to the water faucets and plug-ins. But the dryer door could only open halfway because of the sink/counter. It was very annoying.

On Monday, we had to move them out of the room to put on the baseboards. So on Tuesday I decided to paint the room as well. Since they were already out and unhooked, I asked Jason if we could switch them so I could open the dryer door all the way. We bought a longer dryer vent hose thing, and moved the washing machine into place.

Then came the dryer. Since there is no room for a person on either side, we had to hook up the tube and then push it back. That was so not easy!

I could tell he was about ready to throw everything out the window, if there was a window in that room, luckily, there is not. So it all remained intact. After breaking a serious sweat with it all, it was done!

He is so sweet, it would have been much easier to put it back the way it had been. I love you Jason! You're so great and sweet and thoughtful and good-looking and funny and strong and kind and patient and great and sweet and stuff. Yeah, I really love you.

rockin' robin

My MTC companion, Robin, was in town yesterday. So I finally got to meet her darling little Eliza. Livia and Eliza are only 3 weeks apart. We're hoping they get to be MTC companions too.

Robin lives in DC with her husband, so we don't get to see each other very often, so it was a nice treat to see her last night. Too bad Sam turned into a little boy-beast right at the end.

Robin has always been such a good and positive example to me. I am blessed to have served with her on the mission. We were companions the 9 weeks in the MTC, and then we were also companions for our last week in Argentina. We were happy to start and end our missions together. She was a fantastic missionary, and remains a true friend to me since we met 7 years ago. It was also nice to talk with her husband, Charlie, a little more. It's always fun to chat with a fellow Brian Regan fan. They are a great couple, and I can see what great parents they are too.
The visit was brief, but it was still great to see her and her awesome family. I just love those Jolleys and Manns!

to-do list... check, check.

Every time my pantry gets a little messy, I think I need to completely re-organize it. So I do. (Plus, Sam has been waking up before us and getting into the cereal which can create a huge mess when he sneaks the box up to his room and dumps it out.)

Before:
After:

Also...
Before:
After:

Can you tell me what is different about those two pictures?

the life of a trike

Once upon a time, there was a handsome little prince named Sam.

He loved his green and yellow bike that Aunt Queen Ronda gave him.


Prince Sam loved to ride his bike.



Then one tragic day, an accident did befall the beloved bike.

Sam desperately wanted to help his dear bike. But he could not.

Thus, the sad day came.

Goodbye little friend. You have served us well.

up for a great read?

I am not much of a reader. And I am not much of a book-buyer.
But I loved these books.

The series includes five books. They tell the story of an Amish family beginning around the time of World War II or so. Beverly Lewis (the author) is a Christian writer, so the books are very clean and uplifting.

I won't give away the story, but they are seriously really good. I've been watching for a good deal on Ebay... very strange for me to be wanting to buy books! But that's how good they are and how much I enjoyed them! I strongly recommend them... even for people who aren't big into reading, like myself. I also learned a lot about the Amish life-style... so they're educational too!

Just know, they come highly recommended by a person who does not normally pick out a book first in her spare time. (But did with these books!)

the makings of our memorial day

Babies grow so fast. As of yesterday, Livia is 8 months old.


After Jason completed about 47 little projects around the house and yard, he played with Sam in the sandbox for about 30-45 minutes. Sam loves it when his daddy plays with him, especially in the sandbox, since daddy gets out the hose and adds an extra fun element to the whole sandbox play idea.


This is Sammy's birthday gift from Uncle Ron and Aunt Ronda.



Nothing like a good game of cow bowling!
Thanks Ronda! He loves it!