Randon Picture from un-Prom

These are some of the random photos I took of Zach and his girlfriend Katelin - 

Super cute couple and very photogenic.

Sam and his date, Megan.  Yes Megan has been featured before on this blog - she was his Preference Date.

This was just a fun picture while I was trying to get them to think of ideas oh what they wanted in pictures.

These are the results of playing around while I was kneeling in the grass and using Picasa to edit picture.

Dinner was Dutch Oven Chicken with potatoes and carrots, salad, and french rolls.  We left the kids to have dinner and enjoy the evening while we ran home to set up the next activity of the evening.

Here are the fabulous four . . . while waiting for dinner to finish up they asked that I take some pictures of them around the park.  And I LOVED it! 

un-Prom Date Dinner

Oh my heck . . . I never thought the weather would warm up or that the wind would stop blowing!!  This has been one of the longest days of my life by far.  Everything came together and looks pretty darn good considering it was thrown together here and there and everywhere.

Just waiting for the kids to arrive now.

un-Prom Day Date

The first order of business was to set up the day date at Layton City Park - the boys had picked a nice spot along the water that gave them some space to hang out without being interrupted by everyone.

I packed a nice picnic lunch; some deli sandwiches with all the goodies, chips, cookies and drinks.  Once lunch was over they each received a text message that would send them on a savager hunt to find a basket of goodies.  The boys had wanted to spend the afternoon in the park so I made a basket with bubbles, kites, coloring books, bread to feed to the ducks and some other silly things to keep them busy.

Goofing off with Gray

The Start of the Very Merry un-Prom Date . . .

This morning started out with a B - A - N - G!!  These boys were so set on a Very Merry un-Prom date, however, neither of them had been eager to help with the planning or commit to a plan so I awoke to not only set up, prepare, cook and be the 'white rabbit', but also come up with the game plan.  It's a good thing I like these two.

First stop of the morning . . . Layton City Park.

The morning had started out looking pretty decent, however, by the time I arrived at the park it was SNOWING. 

Happy 16th Birthday, Albert!

Happy Easter

You have Been Egged . . . .

This morning Micah came into the bedroom to tell me that we had been 'egged' - OK so I have to be honesty when he said that I honestly thought what the Sam Heck has Sam done to get my house egged!!!!  

Little did I know when I walked out the front door that I would see a sight I had seen recently on the blog I had been told about by my friend . . . And I LOVED IT so I had planned to get a few neighbors myself. http://eighteen25.blogspot.com/2010/03/youve-been-egged-free-download.html

As I was saying before I saw something shiny . . . it was such a wonderful surprise and there was an extra special treat inside that was personalized for each member in the house.  There were five eggs; one with an A, G, S, M and T with messages as to how our secret egg-er described us.    I LOVE IT and I LOVED KNOWING that someone was thinking of us and it made for a great surprise after having a horrible week where nothing seemed to go right.  So thank you secret egg-er.

Sam's Bedroom Build

We have started yet another room in our basement - this room however has been requested NOT to be completed per Sam.  He wants to have that unfinished industrial look - I think it is so he doesn't have to worry about keeping it as clean.  Thanks to his buddy Zach we were able to get the framing and drywall up.

A Farewell to Preston

Prom 2011 . . .

This idea was tragically just a moment in time . . . Sam had wanted to ask a girl to Prom and we kept telling him he needed to ASK right away, but he assured us that asking in March was not necessary.  The week he had planned to ask her we traveled to California to say good bye to a family friend and support the family who had recently lost their husband, father, and grandfather.

The evening we arrived to California Sam received a text message from said girl saying that her ex-boyfriend had asked her to prom.  Sam was crushed, but I told him that if he really wanted to ask her that he should and let her make the decision as to who she would want to go with.

As soon as we returned home the planning progress went into action . . . Sam LOVES Ring Pops and I have been trying to think of someway to use them.  Behold this is what we came up with and the rest is history shall we say.

Be on the lookout though . . Sam and his friend Zach are looking for something fun to do instead of prom to make up for it.

Preston's Birthday

Preston has been counting down his birthday since he arrived last summer . . .  we gave him the choice of having a BIG Party or celebrating with the family and he choice a family activity!  When I asked him what kind of cake he wanted he was quick to tell me German Chocolate and when I informed him that no store makes a good German Chocolate cake he still insisted that was what he wanted . . So I made one!!  That's right folks I made him a three tier German Chocolate cake and it was WONDERFUL!

After school he was able to open all his gifts . . .  I had him call Oma so she was able to hear him open the gift!!  I knew he was going to be pretty excited about the new fire truck Oma, Opa and Daniel had gotten him. (Lower left corner pictures) Preston got some great gifts - Sam got him a Nerf Flag Football game, Breckin and his family got him some cool Lego set, Kaylab got him some fighter jets and Micah and I found a great WWII documentary that he wanted, another Lego set to add to his collection and a Paper Jam Amp for his guitar.

Off we went to Layton Classic Fun Center - that's what he wanted!  He and Kaylab LOVE LOVE playing Laser Tag while Breckin was bounce happy.as you can see from the pictures to follow we had a great time.  Happy Birthday Preston we hope it was a GREAT ONE!

Yup that's Tanya!  What fun is it to have kids if you can't act like one of them from time to time.

Breckin wanted a turn to go with Micah - and Sam got some pictures of them. . .

This is Micah having his own turn. 

Silly Breckin Faces . . .

And such a CUTE little face too . . .  Since Breckin was only going to be a 'short-term' placement I knew that we would never get a chance to take family pictures so I used my front room to take a few pictures of him. 

Congratulations Erika and Steven

I never have ENOUGH to do . . . Yea Right!  When Erika called to tell me she was getting married I offered to help and it is something that I love to do.  So has luck would have it I had some wedding invitations and some ideas and I offered to gift her her wedding invitations.

Sam says . . . .

Sam says to me one day after dinner . . "Tanya I don't feel so good!" My response is . . "well duh Sam! You came home from school and stood in the kitchen eating for 30 minutes non-stop and just ate everything in sight at dinner! How about we go shopping that will make you feel better??"

On the way to Old Navy Sam begin to question me as to what it is like to have menstrual cramps and he believes taking Midol will cure his aching stomach ache!  OK whatever Sam .  . . he now believes he is suffering from Man-Cramps and has begun to feel sorry for every girl who has ever had to endure this pain.

We go to Old Navy he picks out two of the ugliest shirts EVER and I tell him that I hope in the morning he feels better enough to realize those are some ugly shirts! Less then 30 minutes later he has thrown up a dozen times and is complaining about his side aching. He goes to bed with instructions if it gets worse come get me. I even had to CONVINCE him that he had to stay home from school no if - ands - or butts about it.

Next morning he is still in bed and when I check on me he says it got worse during the night, but he didn't want to get out of bed. Dr says bring him in at 11am and I will take a look. By 11:45 we are off to get the fluids for him to drink for the next two hours to have an MRI.

By 5:30pm he is prepped for surgery for an appendectomy to have his appendix removed.  at 6:30 the doctor comes out to tell me that he did great and is in recovery.  Sam stayed the night in the hospital to get some extra attention and came home the next morning.

Valentine's 2011

Wanted to do something fun for Valentine's Day so I made some rasberry filled cupcakes with pink frosting, we had a ham dinner with sprakling cider. 

Afterwards the boys had cute little treat buckets with mircowave popcorn, candy, fruit snacks and a box of See's Candy for each boy - THANKS OMA!!!

Family Night Out

Tonight we took the family to the Layton Classic fun Center for an Unlimited Package deal I found in the Value Coupons; it was unlimited bounce, Pirates Cove, Laser Tag, and Skating  ($1.00 to rent skates) with a Jumbo Pizza and a pitcher of Soda for $30.00 for a family of five.

It was our FIRST time and the place seemed rather run down, but the boys had a BLAST being able to play laser tag for four hours and even enjoyed the pizza.  Preston liked it so much in fact that he asked that we go there for his birthday rather than Chuck E Cheese.

The Grand Finale of the evening was the six of us playing laser tag with another family we knew from the ward. . . .  3 teams of three.  Kaylab, Breckin and Micah were the Green Team  and Preston, Sam and I were the Yellow Team and of course we all lost to the Blue Team.

SHS Preference 2011

Here is a few photos of Sam and his date, Megan
shortly before they left to go have dinner and go to the dance.

Preference Response 2011

Not to sure how many raffle tickets there were, but 60 balloons later and an entire
Wal-Mart bags of raffle tickets Sam said yes to the girl who asked him to Preference 2011.

 Megan's mom took this photo when Megan got home and found her bedroom.

Preference Request 2011

There is nothing like sitting at the dinner table enjoying your dinner when you hear a loud knock repeated but several rings of the door bell - only to find that your front porch looks like someone was unable to control the mess they made . . .  OH WAIT it's the girls asks guys semi-formal dance!!!

Lucky Number Seven . . . Breckin

Breckin - Age 7

• Birth Date: December 5th
• Age: 7 years old
• 1st grader at Lakeside Elementary
• Hometown: Clinton, Utah
• Favorite Sport: Soccer
• Favorite Color: Red
• Favorite Movie:Toy Story 3
• Hobbies: Building stuff, and playing with cars and pretending to be a Secret Spy Agent
• Favorite Food: Cheese Pizza with Alfredo sauce (he has acid reflux)
• Favorite Holiday:Halloween and Christmas
• Least Favorite Food:Stir Fry

Work in Progress . . .

I had HUGE plans for the younger boys bedroom during Christmas break!!!  However, did I mention that I was nearly on my death bed those two weeks the boys were out of school.  So Micah prepped, taped and painted the boys bedroom.