Look at this cute stuff...

In my web surfing today, I came upon a couple of good sites. Here is the first one:

http://www.everydaychicdesigns.com/store/Default.asp

It has some really cute aprons and bags. Like this apron and tote bag above.

The other fun site I came acrossed had some neat articles to read like the one about the 3 amazing mothers that was in the May issue.

http://wasatchwoman.com/

Two great quotes!

"Let your children be exposed to great minds, great ideas, everlasting truth, and those things which will build and motivate for good."
—President Gordon B. Hinckley

"Though our trials are diverse, there is one thing the Lord expects of us no matter our difficulties and sorrows: He expects us to press on."
—Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin

Where I'm From Poem...

I am from the banks of gurgling Flower Creek, from Rosauers Ice Cream and homemade fudge.

I am from the 2 story white house near Highway 2, whistles from the lumber mill and the sound of Sammy hissing at Freckles and Missy.

I am from a large garden of vegetables and rocks, the blooming lilacs and crabapple blossoms littering the ground.

I am from Brown Frickler nights and teasing laughter, from the Clawson’s, and Grandma and Grandpa Lloyd and siblings who were Carr’s.

I am from sledding on the dirthills in winter, ice skating at Asa Wood, and the Cosby Show on Thursday nights.

I'm from, "Lights out or I'll flip the switch," and "do the dishes or you'll have them again tomorrow night!!

I am from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and “Early Morning” Church (seminary) and a modern prophet and once a month Fast & Testimony Meetings.

I'm from the sweet scent of pine trees in the Big Sky Country, Homemade Pizza and Sunday treats.

From David nailing the duck’s feet to the ground, the Logging Truck Christmas Tree, and Bunad making for Nordicfest.

I am from rugged timber covered mountains, glass green dishes, and camping at Lake Koocanusa. I’m from siblings to play with and TV to watch. I’m from long walks to Jr. High and redneck talk! I’m from mild summers and cold winters. I’m from unique and beautiful Northwestern Montana; a small town place.

2 babies in 1 year? On Christmas each time?

Yeah, I'll admit it. I am a news nut!! I follow the news and read the newspaper. So when I was reading today, I saw this story about a lady in Indianapolis who had a baby last Christmas Day and this Christmas Day. Same lady, same hospital!!

Here is a link to the article:
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/irresistible/10615074/detail.html

Wow, I feel bad for her on the Christmas's in the future! Trying to do Christmas for TWO kids and Birthdays for TWO kids all at once!! That just sounds absolutely EXHAUSTING!!!! Her babies sure are cute though! I'm glad to just look at them and not want another one of my own though!! For me, five is enough!! I hope her little one gets out of the hospital healthy and soon!

We are totally getting dumped on with snow here! Would you believe we have another storm coming in today that is supposed to be here until Saturday or Sunday and it is supposed to dump another 1-2 feet?!!! We got over 2.5 feet just barely a week ago. The (residential) streets are still snowpacked from that!! People are still getting stuck everywhere and now we brace for more!!!


Because of the snow and someone being out of the office at our Lender's, our house closing was delayed until maybe next week. That is a bummer, but we'll deal with it! Laren is quite disappointed!! He is still hoping for us to close tomorrow, but that's if they have all the documents to the Title Company in time and if we can all get there to sign it in the snow!!


My kids are having a good time playing with their Christmas stuff, reading books and playing in the snow. I have a crockpot full of chili cooking. Laren and I have been taking down Christmas and packing. He decided against going into work, since last Wednesday when that blizzard hit it took him 3.5 hours to get home from work!! Kind of a boring way to spend our 13 year anniversary, huh?!!

Off to Bath and Body Works

Now, it's off to Bath and Body Works (one of my most favorite stores) for their Semi-Annual Sale!! It's an Anniversary tradition for us! Usually Laren takes me there on our Anniversary Date, but this year, because of the move he took me out last night and he got me a new vacuum and some flowers. And he told me to get what I want from Bath and Body and a new sweater from Sears that I want. He got a couple of new tools from Sears last night.
If you have never been to Bath and Body Works Semi-Annual Sale, check it out here. You will not be sorry! This week they have their Wallflowers on special, and I need some more spiced cider, it's a great scent for fall (yes, I stock up when it's cheap!) and I love SweetPea and Black Raspberry Vanilla and Brown Fig and Sugar!! Plus, I love their Body Cream, their Room Sprays and so much more!!

Happy Anniversary!!

Happy Anniversary to Laren, the love of my life and my best friend!! It's been a great 13 years!! Tomorrow is the actual day (December 28th), but because of the move, I will post a little about it today!
We got married in Washington state in the Seattle Temple. In our 13 years of married life we have moved 11 (almost 12) times. We have gotten 2 Bachelors Degree's (one for each of us: His in Civil Engineering, Mine in Elementary Education), and added 5 kids to our family. We had a slow start to our child bearing, were unable to get pregnant for a year and a half. It was quite a trial, especially after we moved to Utah and everyone we knew was expecting!! In our married years, we have suffered the deaths of Laren's Grandma and Grandpa, my Grandpa, and my Dad. We started our early married years poor as church mice and it took us a few years of "working life" to come out of that.
Laren's career has since taken off and we are blessed by being much more prosperous now!! We have had work heartaches. Laren has had 3 different jobs, professionally and countless jobs while still in college. His first college job was throwing pizza balls for Rizzutu's Pizza and then Working on Professor Bell's Ranch (a psychology professor of mine at EWU, in Cheney, WA where we started married life). His best paying part-time job was unloading trucks for UPS, we even had great medical benefits at that job. Because of the great insurance, I was able to have my wisdom teeth removed for only $33! (Of course I thought I would die as I put in a miserable night of throwing up every 5 minutes for hours and hours afterward!)
My job was working at Farm Credit Services in Spokane, a lending company for farmers and ranchers. I worked a few odd jobs since then, mainly through temp agencies in Provo. After 2.5 years, we were blessed to finally welcome our first child into the family: Kayla Lynn! The timing couldn't have been more perfect, I had just finished up my student teaching the week before she was born. (She came 5 days early.) I was able to take my last class, a health and nutrition class independent study and graduated in August of '96 from BYU. Laren graduated in April of '97. We moved to Arizona where he took his first job in Phoenix with ADOT, the Arizona Dept. of Transportation. We lived in Glendale to start with, then Tucson for 6 monts until settling in Mesa.
While in Arizona, we added Alyssa Suzanne, then suffered a difficult loss of a baby through miscarriage and we named that baby Jared Laren. I have ultrasound pictures of his hands. He had all 5 fingers already, I was 17.5 weeks along. They don't know what happened, why we lost him. But they did know it was a "him". In the process of extracting him from my body, my uterus was perforated (cut) and I lost too much blood. I ended up back in the hospital and at home with an IV and a home health care nurse. It was tough times, healing physically and emotionally.
Then we welcomed Kyle Laren into our family, miraculously a year later! He was born at 34 weeks. Amazingly he needed no oxygen or anything at birth. Later he would need physical therapy to learn to walk (he finally walked at 17 months), but now he is 6 and doing just fine! Rilyn Nichole was born a month after we moved to Colorado at 36 weeks. I had placenta abruptia and the bleeding wouldn't stop, so we had to induce. Again she was born healthy without any problems. It was such a blessing to have her in a somewhat tumultous time as we were in between moves then, similar to how we are now.
And we had our little caboose, Tyler Talmage almost 2 years ago in January of 2005. He came just 11 minutes after arriving to the hospital! No time for an epidural or even a doctor. He was delivered by a very young nurse (I'll bet she was only 22, if that! She certainly looked a lot younger but I know nursing school takes a good 4 years so that is why I'm guessing her age to be 22.)
So we have spent the past years of our marriage life raising our families, serving in our church and growing Laren's career. I am fortunate enough to be a stay at home Mom, though on some days it feels "unfortunate".
Through the hard times, Laren has always been my best friend, my confidante, my greatest supporter, our provider, my level head and logical thinker and protector. He is a great Dad who feels remiss if he doesn't get time, often, to play with our kids. He gives them piggy back rides up the stairs to bed and brings them, one at a time, home with him on Sundays from church. (We drive separate because of his calling, he goes early and stays late.) The kids love all of the attention they get from him and I love him for being such a great Dad and Husband.
Thanks for the 13 great years, Laren! Here's hoping for another 50 or more years together!!!! I love you!!

The Big Move

I say Big Move for two reasons. It is the second move for us in a little over a month and we are expecting to get over a foot of snow in the next two days for the second time within a week here in Denver. Last time our neighborhood got over 2.5 feet (some places got more, some less). The neighborhood roads are still in recovery mode from the first storm! You still have to keep your car moving or you will get stuck! Thankfully we live at the edge of the neighborhood so that makes it easier. Most of the main arterials are clear, but many of them still just have one lane open in each direction because of all the snow!
So, we are supposed to close on our new house tomorrow. We are contemplating getting a truck today and loading this afternoon and then unloading tomorrow around noon so we can hopefully beat the storm. We will then have to move the rest of our stuff after the storm and after they get the roads cleared!! Who knows when that will be? Thankfully, we have this rental house until January 4th. Laren has lined up a few guys to help on Saturday, but if it is anything like last week everyone will still be snowed in and not be able to get out of their neighborhoods to help!!
Today is a day of packing! I need to get in there and take down Christmas and put together some boxes so the kids can get their clothes and toys packed. We are thinking of using Vonage for our new phone service. Does anyone have any experience with them?

Merry Christmas!!!!!

Merry Christmas! I can't believe Christmas is here, and now almost over!! We had a great day today. We got to bed last night around 11pm, I think that is the earliest EVER!! Our girls kept trying to sneak a peak last night before we went to bed. (They are ages 8 and 10). Laren told them not to get up again before 6am. So they got up right at 6:00am!! Then they woke up Kyle and then waited until 7 to wake up Rilyn and Tyler. We really wanted Tyler to sleep as long as possible since he has not been napping well lately resulting in a tired, grumpy baby!!
Laren and I were awakened at 6, thanks to Kayla and Alyssa but we laid in bed for as long as possible!! After getting dressed, we ate our 60 second Rhodes Cinnamon Rolls and Orange Juice. Yes, we make our kids get dressed and eat breakfast before opening presents. With little ones, if they don't do it beforehand, they will go without and will be grumpy the rest of the day!!
Then we read from Luke 2. Of course our kids wanted to get right to the unwrapping but we missed the chance to read from Luke 2, as we always do, the account of our Savior's Birth, so we seized the opportunity on Christmas Morning - this morning!!
Finally we got down to business and started opening gifts!! It was a good Christmas, but I could not help but think that we over did it. Next year, I really would like to stick to 3 gifts per person!! Problem is, I always start out with good intentions and then I find a good deal or something we need, etc...
Some highlights of what we got:
Laren got a laptop, bluetooth headset for his Blackberry, some new clothes, a new clamp/tool, etc...
I got an under the counter tv/dvd/cd player for the kitchen (I like to watch Oprah or the news but that is during the time I make dinner, so hopefully I will now be able to do both simultaneously!) I also got some new clothes, dvd's, bath and body stuff, jewelry, a weather station (to tell the weather in my own backyard), perfume, etc...
Kayla got an I-Dog, new clothes, jewelry, craft kits, some tall black boots, a Dance Mat, games, etc...
Alyssa got an I-Dog, Gameboy game, clothes, jewelry, Digi-Makeover, an interactive plush dog, games, etc...
Kyle got a Rokenbok set, a Dart Tag set, a Remote Control Hovercraft, Gameboy game, paint set, Spin Toy, a scooter, etc...
Rilyn got a Spark Art Easel, some My Little Ponies, a Cabbage Patch baby, some clothes, Pet Shop Amusement Park set, etc...
Tyler got Bristle Blocks, Playskool Triple Track Race Car Set, a toy cell phone, cars, book, clothes, etc...
The family got a new computer, a new game table, a new 8" portable DVD player and case, and some new games (board games).
***Incidentally, the Rokenbok has been the most played with toy, so far (by all the kids!!! It was the number 1 rated educational toy for boys ages 6-8 on msnbc. And that is proving to be a popular choice in our family as well!!

Shopping, Skiing and Sledding!

One of the best things about this snowy weather we've had is all the fun we can have in it! Despite the messy roads (messy with snow AND cars), Laren, Tyler, Alyssa and I had an enjoyable time shopping with the beautiful, sparkly snow that glistens in the sunlight and the bells of Christmas ringing the rhythm of Christmas on the radio! Somehow it just made the day more pleasant to have the atmosphere more festive in that way! Of course being surrounded by family definitely made the day more enjoyable too! (Even though 3 of our kids opted to stay home.)

After taking a lunch break and talking to my brother, David, on the phone we took off for some winter fun! We intended on going sledding but Laren threw our cross-country skis in the van as well. When we got to the sledding hill just a couple blocks away near a local elementary school he suggested I get out and ski while he took care of Tyler (our 23 month old) and helped him sled while watching the other kids too. You bet I took him right up on that offer!! It had been awhile since I have skiied, and I had forgotten how fun it was!!

Thank goodness for that great deal at Sniagrab (bargains spelled backwards) that we got on those ski's and boots the first year we moved here to Denver!! If you've never tried Cross-Country Skiing, you should. It is very enjoyable. I would have loved it more if Laren and I could have skiied together! The kids had a great time sledding and so did Laren. I even ventured down the sledding hill a couple of times. It brought back so many childhood memories of all the sledding my siblings and I did! It was such great blustery winter fun in Montana, where I grew up.

While skiing and sledding we saw the most beautiful sunset I think I have ever seen! It was mostly pink with a bit of orange and red. The colors were streaked diagonally descending from the left with the gorgeous Rocky Mountains in the foreground. I called to Laren so he could see it too. He came over and gave me a kiss so we could both "enjoy" the sunset together! Whenever either of us see's something beautiful in the sky, particularly sunsets we always share it with the other. It's a fun thing we do together.

After skiing and sledding we made it home on the deep, sloppy, snowy neighborhood streets. The snow is still so deep that if you stop you will get stuck. So the rule is (at least for us) look quick at intersections (on the backroads) and if no one is coming then just keep going so you don't lose your momentum and get stuck!! We fishtailed our van into the driveway and came into the house to warm up and get some dinner! I had made taco's while Laren went out for his turn at skiing.

The kids played Uno Attack while they waited for dinner. They are loving that game. My kids are big time game players though. Last night we let them unwrap one family gift (to give them something to do since we are in between moves and most of our stuff is still packed away) and it was Uno Attack.

Laren and I have the last of our wrapping to do tonight. It is still more than I would like, but we're further along, I think, than we are most Christmases. Oh, I must add today while shopping at Costco I finally got Laren a bluetooth headset for his Blackberry!! I was so excited to find that so easily!!

The Blizzard of 2006

It started snowing and blowing yesterday (Wednesday) morning about 6 am and didn't stop until today around 1pm. We got about 30+ inches (2 1/2 feet) of snow!! A commute that usually takes my husband 20-30 minutes to get home from work, took him 3.5 hours yesterday!!! There were abandoned cars everywhere. People stuck and spinning out on hills. The snow plows could not keep on top of the snow coming down!!

The kids and I hibernated in the house until Laren called and said he was stuck on the street behind our house and that he needed help shoveling himself out. By the time we got out there he had gotten unstuck from that spot but was stuck again as he rounded the corner to get onto our street! The neighbors came to help too (we have such great neighbors here!) and we got the job done!!

The kids have had a great time playing in the snow. I was feeling bad for them for missing their last 2 days at Thimmig (the school they have went to for 4.5 years), but their sadness was short-lived and they are loving the snow! I guess Christmas Break started 2 days early for them this year!!

Two of my daughters, ages 8 and 4, made snow caves and did a great job at it!! My oldest daughter, 10, has helped 5 people shovel their cars out when they got stuck. Kyle, my 6 year old son, keeps trying to get the girls with snowballs!!

But all of this snow has paralyzed Denver! Even the stores are closed (4 days before Christmas)!!!! I wish I could find my camera docking station so I could charge up my camera and take some pictures of all this snow! It is so deep, picturesque and beautiful!!! But since I can't find it, I guess you'll just have to take my word for it!!

My attempt at Church today...

But this little guy wasn't going for it!! We all got to bed late last night and then up early for 8:30 am Church.

Tyler was tired, he usually gets right up with the rest of the kids but this morning he really wanted to sleep in! I noticed his runny nose and opted to keep him out of nursery.

He was a real busy body at Church during Sacrament (which I should have left after that was over). Anyway, Laren is the Ward Clerk and so he is always busy in the Clerk's Office. He tells me if he doesn't get the work done on Sunday he will be back to do it later in the week. So I opt to take Tyler to Gospel Doctrine with me. He wants to get everything out of my bag, including dumping the bag of crayons. Then he wants his own chair. I got him his own chair.

Then he wants to roam the room (the Cultural Hall) where we hold Sunday School. At first it is okay then he keeps going up to the front and standing right behind the instructor giving the lesson. After going up to get him 3 times, and after the instructor (who is thankfully a very kind and wonderful father of 5) tripped over him (stepped back and didn't see him there), I took him out!!

I took him to Laren. Well that was short lived because right after Relief Society started Laren brought him into me saying he couldn't get anything done. So I took him and we waited in the lobby. After he started running all over in the lobby and fussying over everything (no matter how I tried to care for him he would cry!), I decided to gather the other 4 kids from their classes and go home. So I let Laren know. He would have let the older kids stay and come home with him but he was going straight to his home teaching appointments after church.

So I got the older kids from their classes and home we went! Rilyn (age 4) had a complete meltdown because she had just started coloring a picture in her class when I came to get her. We practically had to carry her out of class. Then she ran across to the other side of the building in a screaming fit where the clerk's office is. Laren and Alyssa (our 8 year old) got her out to the van for me, thankfully!

So we attempted Church today, not sure how much I got out of it but we tried!! My little guy is under the weather, feels a little warm, small appetite and mild diarrhea. Poor little man!! So we took it easy this afternoon. Laren didn't get home until around 3 pm. I finished reading the article in this months Ensign about the Martin and Willie Handcart companies. It is a real heart-rending article. I highly recommend it!! It truly illustrates the strength and determination of the pioneers!

We had Chicken Pot Pies for dinner, we drove around and looked at Christmas lights (saw the $853,000 house of our Dentist who is also a Bishop for another ward in our Stake and lives near us where we live right now in our rental house), and read scriptures and had prayer and put the kids to bed early. Kayla, our oldest (age 10) had a complete sassy fit on us that we would not let her stay up and let her finish composing her piano song for her math homework. Sounds a little suspicious to me. But we both held our ground, bedtime is bedtime and she could have started before Sunday night if it was that important!

Laren and I have been taking care of a few little details around the house. I put some laundry in (not the greatest thing to do on Sunday, but when you are desperate you're desperate)!! Laren tested out the new microwave we bought yesterday for the new house. It is a Kenmore Elite Microwave/Convection Oven. I wrapped a book for Rilyn's preschool book exchange and then Laren colored my hair. I used a different color this time it is one shade lighter than what I usually use because the stores quit stocking my color! (L'Oreal Coleur Experte 8.1 Tiramisu) So we tried out 8.2 instead. I hope it turns out okay because right now it looks Strawberry Blonde!!

Company Christmas Party

Tomorrow is Laren's company Christmas Party. This year the format will be the same as last year (and it was better than the other years where we've just gone and eaten at a sit down, upscale restaurant). It will be at Coors Field (baseball stadium restaurant) where all the seating is on different levels and the food too. We will all be given raffle tickets at the beginning and they will be raffling off different prizes through the night.

They will also give "funny" money where you can earn more by gambing all night and then trade the extra funny money earned from gambling for more raffle tickets. Laren and I don't participate in the gambling, we just wander around and visit and sit and eat and talk.

I usually don't love the Company Christmas Party, but I'm a people person and I'm pretty good at small talk so I fair all right. I get tired of all the WOW! I can't believe you have 5 kids comments because I know that is code for: We think you're crazy!!

(I need to find some way to post some pictures from the web to make this more interesting...anyone know?)

Ahhhh, Exercise!!

After a long and stressful day, there is nothing like exercise to relieve the tensions!! It loosens the muscles and helps them to relax when you're through. It gives oxygen to the brain. It lifts the mood. It gives much needed energy. It builds muscle. It was just what the doctor ordered!!

Who'd thought that buying a house would be more stressful than selling? (You wouldn't know that this is the third time we've been through this! You would think we've never been through it before based on the amount of stress it has caused!!)

We spent the day working with a new mortgage broker (better rate, much better rate!) and going to Lowe's, walking through the model of the house we are buying (The David, by Richmond American). Measuring cabinets. Taking phone calls from the Realtor, the new mortgage broker, and the "old" mortgage broker. Taxiing my kids around to and from school and preschool, calling cabinet companies. Calling Qwest to fix our phone that has not worked since they connected it at our "new" place (rental). Making Homemade Pizza for Dinner. Prodding kids to do homework and do their chores.

Did I mention the house we are buying is a foreclosure. It was built in May of 2005, so it is not too old but they stole 2/3 of the kitchen cabinets, all of the appliances, the blinds, and scratched the hardwood floors, put a couple of small holes in the walls and played paintball in the basement and family room. So all of that stuff has kept us busier than usual on the buying end!

Here's hoping for a much less stressful day tomorrow and the rest of the week! I want to feel the holiday spirit more. I want to feel like wrapping gifts and making and eating good food. I want to sing along with all the good seasonal songs on the radio. I want to do kind things for others. I want to think about something other than these past two real estate transactions of ours (selling and now buying).

In all of our recent hustles and bustles, we have managed to do most of our Christmas Shopping, take our kids to Chuck E. Cheese's (a reward for helping us keep the house clean to sell it for all of those nearly 12 months!), take the kids sledding and to a movie (Flushed Away). We also went to the Ward Christmas Party and Tithing Settlement.

And we just had our two daughters (Kayla and Alyssa) Christmas Piano Recital. Alyssa played We Three Kings and then Silent Night while we all sang along (their teacher is a big believer in getting the kids used to accompanying). Kayla played A Pachabel Christmas (this song is SO BEAUTIFUL!) and accompanied us on Hark the Herald Angels Sing from the Hymn Book. ...So we have done some "seasonal" stuff, I just want to enjoy it more!!

Monday Morning Madness

Today has been Monday Morning Madness! I got up, got ready, got 5 kids ready and out the door by 7:55 (minus my second oldest daughter who is sick with a sore throat). Dropped off 2 of the older ones at their school in our "old" neighborhood. Dropped off my 4 year old at her preschool. Ran to Target to get the Spark Art Easel (ranked as the best 'Educational Toy' for kids my preschoolers age) that was on sale for $59.99. It was a much better price than the $80 I had spent on one at Toys 'R Us. Went Visit Teaching.

I had stayed up late last night wrapping the Visit Teaching gifts. The gifts were supposed to be Sweet Pea scented Wallflowers (my favorite!) from Bath and Body Works. But in the midst of our move, the Wallflowers have disappeared and so it was Christmas Kitchen Hand Towels (some cute ones) I had gotten a couple of years ago at after Christmas sales for cheap. (Maybe that's an idea for somebody for those they VT for next year?)

So we got done later than we had hoped with our Visit Teaching. It was a huge distance to travel (our ward has huge boundaries, not to mention we just moved out of our ward boundaries which makes traveling there further). We got home and my one year old had fallen asleep. I carried him to his bed. When I went to get lunch for my sick daughter and my 4 year old, the phone started ringing. I answered the phone. Then my one year old starts screaming, I realize my four year old had went in and woken him up! My eight year old is trying to eavesdrop on my phone conversation and then my cell phone starts ringing! My husband was calling with some news of a discouraging setback on this house we are trying to get.

I set the odometer on my car at zero when I left home this morning. It now reads 68.8 miles driven. I have already driven that far today! And it will probably read over 100 miles before the day is done since I have to go and pick my kids up from school, bring them home feed them and take them to my daughters Christmas Piano recital tonight.

My ordinarily thoughtful husband told me this morning that he would just meet us at the Piano Recital tonight...what? So I mentioned how it would be nice to have him home first (read: I need help getting 5 kids dressed up and ready to go out). So, thankfully, he has agreed to come home!! YAY!!!!

So in the midst of my trials today, I got a Pearl of Great Price from my Mother in Law in email. She got this great quote from a friend who heard it at her Stake Conference. It says:

"The trials of our lives are tailored to our needs and will bring blessings we can't comprehend."

I am totally going to frame this! I love it! I just need to find out who to attribute it to!!

Rilyn!

This is US!! I'll bet you can't tell anything about my kids' personalities from this picture!! I bust a gut every time I look at this picture. Rilyn is our little 4 year old at the top. Every mother must have one child who is bound to give her gray hairs! She has already ran away from home (when she was 2.5, I had to actually call the police to help find her...I was on the phone when she disappeared and she was found at the school behind our house underneath the slide playing in the woodchips!).

I have also had to call poison control on her behalf 2 times, once for eating too many children's chewable vitamins and the other time for eating a little of the dishwasher detergent. We have had to have a "code Adam" called out for her in the store while Christmas Shopping last year. We weren't shopping in the section that she was interested in, so she took off to go and look at what she wanted to!!

But she is the best in our family with sharing. She gives hugs freely! She is smart as a whip. And she is one of my biggest helpers!! She wants EVERYTHING for Christmas. She actually looks around the room and wants everything she sees! I have helped her to make out her Christmas Wish List at least 3 times now! She even wants, "that white square thing hanging on the wall." (The thermostat!) I honestly couldn't imagine life without her!! She is truly one of our greatest blessings!!

Hi I'm Kari and I live in a suburb of Denver, Colorado.
I'm a SAHM to the five best children on the planet Earth!
We have 3 girls and 2 boys. My husband is wonderful man
and a hard worker.

We are active members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I like to associate with other people who inspire and motivate me. I love to read, but haven't been able to find the time as much the past few years. I like to do crafts, but I have a very real practical side to me too. So I have to be practible in my creating!!

I'm interested in diet and fitness. Since having my last baby in January of 2005, I have worked on getting my body back. So I am always looking for a great new lowfat, fairly easy recipe using real ingredients (none of those ingredients that are so specialized you can't find them).

I have my degree from BYU in Elementary Education. One day I hope to be able to do some teaching, professionally. We love living in Colorado with it's beauty and seasons.