A little treat for me!

I LOVE CRAB LEGS! Afew nights ago Devin stopped at Albertsons to grab some chicken for dinner and brought me home a pound of King crab legs as a surprise. He doesn't love sea food, but graciously takes me every once in a while for crab legs. (he makes sure when I eat them I don't break the claws and joints cuz he figured out you could pull on this thing inside and make the claw open and shut, so he brings them home in a doggie bag cuz my boys think it's helarious!) So I steamed them in my oven today and had them for lunch. Yumola'! I'm kind of a funny "seafood eater". I grew up loving shrimp (only fried--never cold) and salmon. After I got married my sister in law Tiffany introduced me to crab legs @ Red Lobster and I have been hooked ever since! I HATE imitation crab though--it is seriously gross. Haven't really ventured into other dishes w/crab or other seafood in them, that still scares me a bit. I for sure do not like Lobster; which for most sea food lovers is kind odd, but I don't care for it at all. I guess I'm not a seafood lover, more of a picky seafood eater, but what I do eat I sure do love!

The twins @ 16 months

So, we had a really good enrichment last night with tons of ideas about preserving family memories. One of my friends ideas was to journal about your kids (especially when they are little and changing so fast) when they hit certain ages. So I am going to do that every couple of months for the babies and probably twice a year for the others. (well see if I actually do it!) Sorry its long--haven't really put down on paper what they are doing...gotta catch up! So here are the twins at 16 months:

Brinley (gotsta go 1st cuz shes the oldest)

** Says Daddy about a gazillion times a day

** Says thank you (in her own way)

** Signs please

**Has starting mothering Brigham, which is flippin hilarious! If he falls she will run over and try to help him up; rubs his head when he is sad; finds his bottle and then proceeds to feed it to him as she smacks her lips like she is eating it.

** Learning to give loves after she hits (hey, at least shes not just laughing anymore, that's improvement!)

** LOVES her silky blankets

** Adores her Dad and waves by every morning when he leaves

** Loves her books and will sit and read them for a long time

** The worlds biggest monkey! I can't keep her off anything!!

Brigham:

** Says Daddy, but maybe only a million times a day :)

** Knows the sign for and says please (learning the sign for more)

** Finds a play camera and walks around the house with it held to his face saying "Cheee"

** ADORES his brother Austin!!

** Loves his silky blankets (Brinley still loves them more)

** Unfortunately has learned he can hit back when Brinley is giving him a beating. :(

** Loves to dance with his sisters (oh, they boy is in trouble)

** Helps me pick up things of the floor--even if he put them there

** Will still snuggle for short amounts of time

And the greatest about being 16 months.....2 MORE MONTHS TILL NURSERY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Change isn't always fun

So, you know I use this as my journal so bear with me on this one--not super interesting for you, but I wanted it for my own sake. As many of you already know, Devin was released as 2nd counselor in the bishopric on Sunday. What a whirlwind of emotions it has been. Everyone automatically assumes that I must be elated that he has been released and honestly, that couldn't be further from the truth. For those that are close to us you know, Devin is pretty much the best husband and father anyone could ask for and I was always amazed at how the man didn't go insane trying to balance 7 kids, a grumpy, sick, prego wife (which applies most of the time) 2 self owned businesses AND a calling in the bishopric! AND he always did it with a smile and never complained. Honestly, he is my hero!! I could never handle all the things that he does and still smile about it. We have always felt very blessed for him to be able to serve in the callings he has. Even if I was not always as cheerful about it, trying to get 7 kids looking half way normal and with 2 matching shoes, out the door and on time (haha) for church! Whew--maybe he did have it easier!? JK I just love my hubby so much and am very sad that he has been taken from his calling--maybe that was the only sanity he had? I know that only the Lord knows what is best for us and as hard as it may be, we accept this change and just move forward and onto what ever he has in store for us next. I must say...I'm gonna need a bigger bench on Sunday! :)

Amandas New House

My sister Amanda finally moved in to her new house in Coolidge and we had our first family dinner party there. It is a super cute house and I'm so excited for her to have a place of her own! She has a little room w/the computer and video games for the boys and a perfect little nook where we put the toys and the little ones. Congrats James & Amanda on your super cute new house!!

Hunters Birthday Bash!

We always enjoy having family celebrate our special days with us! We really missed Uncle Mike and Uncle James who both had to work --at least it got Mike out of a talk :). I can't believe Hunter is 8, what a handsome little man! Quick funny--in our group photo @ the church, there is one little girl in the front who doesn't quite belong to our family. Our friend Riley was more than happy to stand in on all of our family pictures--she is such a HOOT!! (I caught her doing the same to a Dad & Daughter later on. HAHA)

Girls night @ Grandmas!

My Mom had a "girls only" slumber party at her house the night before Hunters baptism (which was my saving grace!!) As you can see, they didn't have very much fun! :) Seriously--I love seeing the 3 of them getting along and smiling. They aren't always the best for friends but when they do get along, they sure have fun. They went to an ice cream social at my moms ward and then back to Grandmas to have plenty of balloon fun! Thanks Grandma & Grandpa!!!

Happy Birthday Hunter (a day early)

I'm sure I won't be posting tomorrow so I just thought I would blog today about my sweet Hunter turning 8 tomorrow! (he is excited that he is getting baptised on his Birthday) He is such an amazing kid and our whole family is blessed for having him here! He is such a cutie, he loves to work with Devin doing anything--when we were in full swing with the remodel Devin would have to MAKE him stop helping him at 10:30 at night and go to bed. He loves being a big brother too! Through my super sick days is wasn't uncommon for Hunter to get the babies out of bed, feed them breakfast, give them a bath and dress them--all while I am sleeping away! What kid does that?? He has always been a sweetheart. When he was little we couldn't play like mommy was being attacked or chased or anything because if he heard me "play" scream he would freak out and start bawling! It was way cute. Now he's 8 and super excited about scouts and he will be Mr. Super Scouter I'm sure! I couldn't ask for a better kid!

My new favorite show

So I watched this for the 1st time last night. It is on Wednesday nights on the Style Network. It ROCKS!! Last night he helped this mom of 7 make this awesome dinner for her family and only used things that she already had in her kitchen. It was cool b/c it was simple, easy, fast and good. Right up my ally! Then you can log on to stylenetwork.com and get the recipes! Check it out, you won't be disappointed!

Discovery Science Center

One of our fun filled days in Cali was spent at the Discovery Science Center. They have them all over the country and if you buy a one year family pass then you and your kids get in for free for one year at ANY location in the country. So I bought it in Cali (cuz after paying to get everyone in it only cost an extra $23 to get the annual pass) because they have one here in Phx., one in Flagg and 2 in Tuscon. They do different exhibits during the year as well as their regular stuff. Like the one we went to had their Pirate exhibit. The kids could dig for buried treasure, pan for gold and learn all kinds of cool stuff. There literally was something for every one of my kids to do, even down to the twins. All of the kids had a blast and the adults even enjoyed a lot of the stuff that was there. From top to bottom....MaKenna is pouting on the pully seat thingys, Devin and the babies are flying an airplane, the red thing was a giant wall you could leave your impression in, Emmy is laying on a bed of nails, Hunter is on the rock wall, and Devin, Brigg and Libbs are in a wind tunnel. I realize that there is no picture of Austin...for some reason he is on my sisters camera and I am waiting to get those from her. I know, another bad mom moment. Anyways, it was a ton of fun and I would highly recommend going there!

Day one in Cali!

So we are home from our fun filled week in California. Since I use this as my journal---I am going to post all of it in detail over the next few days so I don't miss anything. Driving w/7 kids for 7 hours is always an adventure! Thank goodness Devin got the DVD player fixed before we left so it was like a new thing all over again for the kids and they were so happy to be watching movies in the car again! They were actually really good except for the every 5 min. check to see if we were there yet.....and I'm not exaggerating!! We saw a pretty bad accident on the way there--we could hear the screeching of someones tires and both Devin & I were bracing ourselves in case it was us that was going to be hit--we couldn't see where it was. Then this old pick up sped past us at about 65 mph (while traffic was going about 45) and slammed right into this beautiful new Chevy extended cab who had just barely pulled into that lane. It was really sad and we were floored to see the driver of the old pickup get out of his car, I thought for sure he would be badly injured, especially not having air bags. It made my kids do a seatbelt check though, so thats a plus! Thank goodness it wasn't us! Even more so because we pulled a small enclosed trailer and the damage would have been horrible! Yes, I said we pulled a trailer. That's how much junk you have to take with you to go stay somewhere for a week when you have this many kiddos! It was nice though because we could take whatever we wanted. So that was the 1st day of our adventure!