17 Year Anniversary!

Well we had our anniversay on Monday, there was no school, we went to the kids conferences and registered Austin at Chiawana in Tricities.  It was a very busy day and it took us until Tues. night to have our fancy dinner that the kids serve to us.  We had cornish game hens, cheesy potatoes, sparkling cider, and pudding pie for dessert.  Tiff and Ruben came to eat with us while their kids helped mine.  It was a lot of fun, the kids LOVE to this every year.  I didn't even take a picture!  :(  We are thinking now we should have been better at getting cards or something because the kids were a little disappointed when I wrapped lemon drops for Scott's gift and he had nothing for me.  But I told them with Disneyland and New York we are set for a few years! 

Jobs:  My big three have to unload the dishwasher (taking turns each week) and Joc and Avery rotate at putting away the silverwear.  If the big kids finish they can't leave until Joc or Avery have done the silverwear.  They used to love to do it but now, not so much.  So I told the big kids its their responsibility to make sure they do it when they unload so the loader can then load the dishwasher. 
SO I told them they have to get the girls to do it without using force or raising their voice...... if they can't talk them into it the older kids have to do it, so its done, and I will deal with the little girls later.  (Im teaching them how fun it is to get kids to do their jobs)  I really do enjoy their frustration as they realize how much work it must have been to get the 3 of them to do ANYTHING! 
So the other day I hear Austin:  Jocelyn, when I was little I LOVED to put away the silverwear, I would have a contest between my left and right hand to see which one could do it the fastest.  .......  SO FUNNY! 

Austin was off running errands with Eric and they were gone too long so I called them.  Austin said he had stopped at Aunt MaryLou's (in her 80's) and she made them play skipbo with her.   He said she was spanking them at it and she didn't even feel bad, he said, you should hear her Mom she is making fun of us as she wins!  :)

Avery (6):  Mom, when can I get hair extentions?  ?????  (never???)

Marinda and Ashtyn at the mall with Justin Bieber.

 My nephew's think they are all grown up!  I used to babysit these cute tiny baby boys!  Daiam, Ryan, Britney, & Patrick.  Patrick & Britney are engaged, Jocelyn & Avery are VERY excited to be flower girls this summer in their wedding!  Shirley is going to sing (not really) and my Mom, Sisters, and I are all going to wear matching dresses..... we torture Brit all the time telling her things we are going to do at the wedding.  :)

Moving... Again....and Again.

Well its already been that long!  We decided after Christmas we would start looking for a house and move back to Pasco.  Due to waiting too long to get a loan in order, we are probably going to rent for a while, but there is nothing available to rent!!!  Any houses that have come up go fast and they all want someone Feb. 1st.  So I guess I have to wait until next month and try to snag one fast to be able to move in March 1st. (ish).  Im still having a hard time deciding if we want to be in the old school or new high school.  A house I love is in the Old School boundries.  The stake spliting would be nice, not that it matters (I would love any ward) but it would be nice to know where all the divisions are for my kids with wards and schools.  Sooooo it's a little scary to be homeless and hope we find something to rent so we don't have to squish our family into a 3 bedroom apt.  They don't have 4 bedroom apts. ???  It would be fine since all my kids are in school all day and my older kids are so busy I never see them so small spaces don't scare me.  :)   Yay for everything being up in the air, "its all about the climb" right Miley Cyrus?! 

Memories of New York!

 

In 1986, when I was 11 years old my Mom, Cathy, and I, rode a train to New York for a month!  It was the sweetest summer EVER!  My Grandma lives in Berkshire.  Its a small town, we always tell people we went to "Othello", New York when we went, it's not like New York City.   We got to meet my Mom's brothers and some of their kids.  Most of the time we spent with her sister Marie and her kids (in the picture).  I remember swimming, riding bikes, running up and down the dirt road from Aunt Maries to Grandma's house chasing bunny's, snakes, and fireflies.  They had horses (my uncles rode in the rodeo's and broke horses for a living) so they would all be out working with them and then would come in smelling all gross chasing us girls around trying to give us kisses.  Me and Jessy went to my Great Grandma's house in Ithica and she taught me how to crochet and do some crafts with her, I thought her house was so fancy in town.  It was the best summer EVER!  Me and my cousin Jessica became best friends and had fun being pen pals all through our school years!  FB has been fun to get to keep up with each other like we did when we were little! 

Me and my Grandma making brownies. 

Then in 1997 when I was 22 and had Austin and Marinda.  My Sisters, Mom, and I went back for my cousin Christy's wedding!  We were there for a week and had great time, a lot of family came from Florida and all over for the wedding, it was SO nice to get to see them and meet many more!  Wow Gina, even meeting family for the first time you wore your PJ's, that was nice of you to put jeans on!  :) 

January!

 Bobby Boy's 22nd birthday!  We are so excited to go out and drive him crazy in New York!  Happy Birthday Bob!

 Hotty Scotty's bday!  This year for his bday he went snowmobiling and then camping with the scouts.  Perfect way to turn 35!

 

Beautiful Suzy turned a year older than me!  :)  We went out to dinner with Nicki and all of our husbands!  We were so nice to take them!  Good times!  

 

We took the Activity Day Girls ice skating!  It was so much fun as usual!  Jocelyn is VERY happy to be 8!

 

 

The ridiculous girls and their ridiculous eye masks and ridiculous pillow pets!  

 This is what it looks like when Im home from Costco, Joc wearing her bathing suit she had to try on.  Eric dirtying all the dixie cups while he is supposed to be unloading the car! 

This took Jocelyn a long time, it kept falling over and she would just start again.... anything is better than homework!

My Grandma!

Holy Gageebers Im so excited!  I get to go see my Grandma!  Almost all of my Mom's family lives in New York!  I have only seen my Grandma 3 times in my life and I get to see her in five weeks!!!!  This was the last time I saw her, 2001.  Ten years ago!  That is too long to not see your Grandmother!  I have a lot of cousins and Aunts and Uncles I will get to see and IM SO EXCITED!  Over the river and through the woods, to Grandmothers house we go!  Im sad Jocelyn and Avery won't get to meet her,  maybe one day.....

Catch up on Christmas pics!

 

 Monday after Christmas we went up to the cabin.  We took HJ up and he and Austin got to go on a snowmobile ride with Scott way up a huge mountain.  Eric got to go snowboarding for the first time and he hasn't stopped smiling since.  Everyone but Bob & Ann and Stacy's family came up.  Here is a pic of some of the kids.  One of the nights the electricity went off and we ate by candle light and Dena read stories to the kids by the fire until bedtime.  It was great!

We came back for New Years Eve so Austin could go on a date with Keri who was in town visiting her Dad.

 

 We got to watch Aunt MaryLou's poodle while she was out of town.  The kids were in heaven.  She smells better than the kids and is better trained!  :)  What a spoiled puppy!

 Callie came to town for a few days! 

 

I was in town getting vinyl lettering at a girls house that I don't even know that well, and Santa and Mrs. Clause were there!  They let me get the girls out of the car to go meet them!  

 I have to say how amazed I am at my sister Gina and her ex-husband Lawrence.  Divorce stinks and I am a big baby about my sister's divorce.  She forgot to check with me before she did this to me!  (I know everything is about me) but they are so good to their kids!  Lawrence came from Boise and stayed the week at Gina's and they did all the normal holiday stuff with the boys, he came to my parents Christmas Eve party with the whole family and made Christmas as fabulous as it could be for their kids!  I think they are amazing! 

Scott took the girls to some Daddy night at school and they went to the fun game rooms and then when it was time for dinner the line was huge so they took off and went out to eat!  Stinkers!

Christmas!

 

New York!  The big 3 got tickets to go to New York City with Scott & Me in February!  Thanks Grandma Ann & Bobby Boy!  They are looking forward to visiting our missionaries!  

  

 Joc and Avery couldn't have been happier with their zoobles!

                                                                     Ward party!

                                                        An army of snowmen! 

 

Christmas Eve with the Dye family!

                                       My besties, Shirl, G, Mom, Cathy, and me!

The teenagers at Dena's for Christmas Day dinner.  Checking out everyone's new electronics!

Snow Days!

Finished!!!

I am finally done scrapbooking/blogging our trip to CA!  Our last stop was SanFrancisco.  Happy happy days!  Scott is my favorite person in the whole wide world for taking us!  The whole trip we did not step foot into ONE store!  California shopping and we drove right past it!  That is why I am Scott's favorite person in the whole wide world!