Surprise!

Paige is turning 16!  Amy asked if we could have a surprise party for her at our house.  Of course I said yes.  She came over a little early to help decorate and Sam was in charge of music selection.

She had no idea.  It was a few days before her actual birthday, so Amy thought it would be a good night.  She thought she was picking something up at our house, and since it was Wednesday night, she thought that Sam was having a YM activity at our house, with all the cars out front and everything.

They played games, played some foose ball and had a blast.  There was no school the next day, so it was a late one. :)

Happy sweet 16 Paige.

Birthdays

Once again, Jackson and I have a birthday dinner together.  Mom was still in town from my surgery, and we had the usual family members over for some lasagna and cake.  Sam gave me this beautiful scarf.  

Jackson a big 15 year old, and me.... well forty something. :)

Maren Turns 10!

Maren got an early birthday present.  A Betta fish.  She was so excited.  We got the fish bowl, rocks, and decorations at Wal Mart, then got her pretty pink fish at Pet Smart.

Sunday Dana came up with her kids and we had a yummy dinner.  It wasn't what Maren asked for, she wanted french toast, but I didn't really want to make that many french toasts.  It would have been around for 22 people.  Instead, I made lasagna for the adults and Mac and Cheese for the kids. (that's Marens second favorite)  We sang Happy Birthday, opened presents and talked for a while.  

I can't believe Maren is 10 years old!  All of my children are in the double digits now. I'm amazed.  

Happy Birthday Maren!  I love you!

Of course we had to get her traditional Build A Bear.....

Aliza- A True Teenager

Well, Monday, February 4th was the date.  My daughter Aliza became a true teenager.  13 years old! 

Sunday, the 3rd, we had Clint, Amy, and kids over, along with Kenny and Jodi and Kids, and the missionaries.   We had her favorite dinner, spaghetti and a cake that she asked me to make.  A volleyball. I wasn't sure how I was going to do it, but it did end up looking pretty good.

Monday, Maren and I woke up a little early and made Aliza a birthday breakfast.  She went to school and at 2:28 p.m., in 8th period class (English), she announced to everyone that she was born.  It was a busy night with Jackson's basketball game, and Maren having dance class, but we did sneak in her favorite dinner..... Subway.  

I am so thankful to have Aliza in my life and feel very blessed to be her mother.  Aliza is a smart and energetic girl and I love her very much!

Happy Birthday Sweetie!

Birthday Questions/Answers:

Favorite Color:                     Green

Favorite Food:                      Spaghetti

Favorite Dessert:                   Ice Cream

Favorite Subject in School:   Gym

Favorite sport to play:           Volleyball

Best Friends:                        Megan, Morgan, Britnee, Rylee, Dyllin, Kyla, Karissa, Maddie, Callin,                           

                                              and of course Abby.

Who is your Hero?               President Monson

Favorite Game:                     Sorry

Talents:                                 Volleyball, Flute, Piano, Basketball, Singing......

Jackson is 14!

Today my boy turned 14.  We went to Applebees for dinner.  He wasn't the happiest while I was trying to get a picture, so I had to talk baby talk to get him to smile.  It worked.

Love you Jacks.

Sammy Turns 18!

I'm such a lame mom, these are the only pictures I got of my 18 year old.  This is big, he is supposably an adult now.  But, Sammy chose AGAIN, to go to Geyser Park with his friends.  I told him fine, if I don't have to go the whole time.  So I met him there.  He had already gotten pizza and drinks and they were sweaty from playing a couple of rounds of laser tag.  They had fun.

 Ashton, Sammy, ?, and Jackson

Some of Sammy's other friends came to the house later for some cake and games.  A few even spent the night.

How can this be?  He is grown up and ready to leave the nest.  I'm not sure I'm so ready.

Love you Sammy.  Happy Birthday!

Maren's Birthday & Cooper's Blessing

We had a wonderful weekend in Burlington, WY.  We went down on Saturday, pulled our camper, and set up in front of Dana and Tony's house for the night.  It was a very comfy night.  

We went down to attend Cooper's blessing.  Sunday also happen to be Maren's 9th birthday.  

After their church, Kelli had our family and Mike's family over for a dinner.  She let me bring dessert, Maren's b-day cake.  

We all sang happy birthday to her and she blew out the candles.

I love how the kids gather around to watch.

After having the cake and ice-cream, Maren opened her presents.  She got a Webkins, American Girl Doll clothes and an MP3 (which wouldn't work, so Sam went the next day and got her an ipod touch)

Sunday night, when we got home, Maren felt like she didn't get the birthday she was hoping for..... breakfast in bed, playing with her American Girl and her new clothes and curlers, so she begged me to let her stay home from school on Monday so she could relax.  I'm a sucker and let her.  I made her breakfast in bed and she played all day. 

I am so blessed to have this little girl in my life.  I love her so much!

Happy Birthday Maren.

Aliza Turns 12

The time has come..... Aliza has been waiting for 12 years to get this done! Her ears got pierced. I had to be 18 years old to get mine done, but ended up waiting until I was 20 or so. Aliza couldn't wait that long, especially since every cousin on the Pollock side had theirs done. We weren't going to have time on her actual birthday, so the night before, we went to the mall and got them done. She said it hurt a little, but not too bad.

Maren begged and begged to get hers done too, but I held strong and told her she had to wait until she was 12 as well.

The next day, Saturday, was her birthday. She wanted to get a limo and ride around in it, but they couldn't do it on that day, so I was the limo (van) driver and took her and her party to get their hair and nails done. She ended up inviting all her cousins in the Wyoming/Montana area that were age appropriate.

Madison, Aliza, Paige, Maren, Kyla, Callin, and Karissa

I think their hair all turned out beautiful!

Aliza, Paige, Kyla, Karissa,

Maddie, Maren, Callin

We went to Cold Stone afterwards (dessert first), then went to pick up some pizza to take home to eat before opening her gifts.

My beautiful girl....

She enjoyed her Miche cover, make-up, pierced earrings, and a cookie mix to bake.

It was a wonderful party and I think the girls all had fun. Thanks Dana for bringing up Callin and Maddie

Aliza (top pink polish), Karissa, Callin, Maddie, Maren, Paige, and Kyla

Sammy Turns 17... YIKES

Can't believe this boy is 17 years old!!!!!!  Love the finger over the eye thing....

This poor guys doesn't get the best cakes, but I try and I think he at least is glad he gets a cake.

This is the picture of the temple I took for his birthday that is now hanging in his room.

Happy birthday son, can't believe you have one more year and you'll be an adult.

Maren Turns Eight

Unfathomable!  Maren turned 8!

She has been waiting for this day for a very, very long time.  She is excited to start going to Activities Days, get baptized with her cousin Randon, and get a blog!

Friday was her birthday, but we were going to be out of town for Jackson's state meet, so I told her she and I could take a day off of school and go skiing.  Wednesday was the day, and what a perfect day it was.  It had snowed a lot the day before, it was very sunny, and oh so warm. 

She likes going down the easier run, Miami Beach, and does very well, but she did go down two or three harder green runs.  She did fabulous, especially with the amount of snow that wasn't groomed (video at the bottom of post).

Just as we were leaving, the clouds started coming in and started to cool down, so this picture looks a little foggy.  I love this picture of her walking down the steep stairs to the car with a hot chocolate and the cooler.

Friday morning, before we left for Missoula, Maren opened her presents.  She loved her temple picture, along with her new quad scriptures, a swimming suit that she had tried on and loved, so I went back to get it, and some fun spring and summer clothes.  Oh, ya, can't forget the bike that she opened the night before because she couldn't wait to ride it before she went to bed...

Sunday evening, Amy and the kids came over for a little dinner and cake.  Sam, Clint and Randon went to Tropic for the week, so they weren't there.   We had grilled cheese sandwiches, chips, curly fries, canned peaches and pears, and a relish tray.  Maren's choice.  It was quite yummy and not too hard to make :)

Kyla, Maren, Karissa, Paige, Sammy, Jackson, Patrick, Aliza

The kids called each other to wear black.  They played Ninjas and Spies

It was fun to watch.  They were so cute.

Kenny and Sedley came over for a little bit too, it was fun to see and talk with them for a few minutes.  

Maren is a smart, happy, and caring girl.  I'm so blessed to have her as a daughter. 

 I love you!!!

Aliza is 11

The last two years,  Sam and I have been gone on Aliza's birthday.  When she found out that we were going to be gone again this year because of Jackson's gymnastics meet in Las Vegas, she was very sad.  So, we decided to take her with us for her birthday.

The only thing she talked about before we left and while we were there was going to M&M World.  Jackson's meet was Friday morning, which was her birthday, so after the meet, we went to M&M World.  She made personalized M&Ms so we could use them at her family b-day dinner on Sunday.  She picked out green (her favorite color) and purple and yellow (our school colors).  She was able to put two pictures and two sentences on the M&Ms.  She picked a cake, balloons, and wrote, Aliza is 11 and Happy Birthday.  We spent a lot of time there.  There were four floors of everything you could think of and all M&M themes.  They even had a 10 min. 3-D movie about how the red M&M lost his M in Vegas.  It was cute.

While we were waiting for our bus to go back to our Hotel, we got a picture of Aliza by a Limo.  It was so funny, there are a lot of Limo's in Las Vegas, and every time she saw one she would say, "OHHHH a Limo".   I think she wants to ride in a Limo one day. :)  We met some of Jackson's teammates at the Stratosphere, rode to the top, and Sam and the kids rode the Big Shot (shoots up fast).  Later that evening we went to Serendipity for dinner, it was a good meal, but too full for ice-cream or cake, so we saved it for when we got home.

We got home Sunday morning and had Clint and Amy's family and the missionaries over for dinner (spaghetti), cake and ice-cream.  

I hope Aliza had a wonderful birthday and will always remember her birthday in Las Vegas.

Sammy and Jackson's B-day's and Ordinations

I know these pictures were put on my picture a day blog, but these are what I have and I can't pass these two great events up on this blog.

In July, Sammy turned 16 years old.  It has been a blessing to have this young man as my son.  He is responsible,  knowledgeable, and when I ask him to do something, it's done.  He had some friends over, went to Geyser Park (laser tag, miniature golf, games, go carts etc), then stayed up late playing x-box.

We were gone so much during August, that he wasn't ordained a Priest until August 29th.  Sam ordained him along with Bishop Graves and Brother Foote, the young men's president.  Why we didn't think to have Clint, his uncle, in there, I don't know.  I feel sad about that, I wish he could have been in there.

Jackson turned 12 the end of August.  We had a family party the Sunday after.  Jackson is an amazing young man who is also very responsible, knowledgeable, and will help any way he can.

Jackson was ordained a Deacon on September 5th in his Deacon's quorum.  Sam ordained him, and those who stood in the circle were Brothers Egland, Atkinson, Wiscomb,  and Sammy.  Yes, Sammy stood in the circle.  He was able to do so since he was ordained a Priest.  It was a happy moment for me.

The next week I was able to witness both my sons doing their duty.  Sammy was up at the Sacrament table and Jackson was passing the Sacrament.  I'm so happy my sons have chosen to take this path and hope they continue to do so.

A Surprise 75th Get-A-Way!

April 28 - May 2, 2010

We had it planned for months, Anny and Kass put it together.  Joy flew up on Jenna's buddy pass from Texas, and I drove down from Montana. 

Mom thought she was going to go down to St. George for one of Abby's gymnastics meets.

She kept telling me this on the phone when I would talk to her and it was hard not to say... "well, I'll see you next week"

Anny just "happen" to have to go up to Kass's on Thursday night and told mom she would just take her up there to stay the night so Kass didn't have to pick her up early in the morning.  Anny just had to pack a few warm things for her, because it was going to snow in Park City where we were going to be.

Joy and I were at Kass's  on Thursday, we drove up to Park City around 4:00.  Jenna and Rhonda met us up there.  Anny and Mom were on there way to Ogden, when Jim called Anny and told her he desperately needed her to go to Park City to pick up a document from a client.  Mom didn't think much of it.  Anny left mom in the car, came into the lobby and met the rest of us.  She then called mom and told her to come inside, it was going to be a while.  She fell for it.

I'm so mad this picture is blurry, but I had to put it in to show how surprised mom was.  She didn't know what to think.  

She was in shock for so long, it took her an hour to really realize that she wasn't going to St. George.

That evening, we made some white bean chili, it was a little peppery, (due to me putting in 3 tsp, rather than 1 1/2 tsp. of pepper)  but still tasty.  Rhonda made a scrumptious three layer raspberry cake and we sat up till two talking.

Anny, Joy, Mom, Rhonda, Jenna, Becca, Kass

Jenna had to leave for work early in the morning, so couldn't stay, but we were glad we had her for an evening.

We went out to some great restaurants, Los Hermonos (if you wear their t-shirts, you get a free specialty drink, Kass used to work there, so she had plenty of shirts to go around) and Happy Sumo (Sushi).  Yes, I actually ate some, and it was good.

Some of us even had a chance to play Settlers. (I won :)

We got a great scalp treatment and hair doo at Bon Losee in Provo, which felt fantastic.

We were all happy with the results.

We were even able to fit some exercise in Friday and Saturday.

I am so glad we were able to do this with our mom.  We had such a wonderful time all together.

Thanks to our cousin Trina, we were able to stay at a beautiful place.

Happy Birthday Mom!  Have a wonderful 75th year!!!