The big 0-5

I am officially the worst blogger in the world! Jackson's birthday was 2 months ago and I'm just now getting to it. But, better late than never.

So, in the middle of September, the 15th to be exact, Jackson turned 5. It's very strange to think that Jackson will go to Kindergarden next year! Crazy and fun all at the same time!

Jackson actaully got to celebrate his birthday a few times because we celebrated it with just our family on the 15th, Grandma Jennis took him another day for his birthday day with her and then we had another party at the park with my extended family that weekend. Lucky boy. He pretty much had a whole birthday week!

Jackson didn't want a cake this year...he wanted "dupdakes" (aka cupcakes ) like his brother had for his birthday. And, don't worry - we didn't eat them plain like the picture shows! We frosted them as they were eaten cause they were easier to transport to the park that way!

Jackson brings such a fun, loving Spirit into our home and it is truly a blessing to have him as a part of our family! We love you, Jackson! : )

California/Idaho Adventures

So, at the end of the summer, Kaylie got to fly all by herself to California and spend the week with her Aunt Darby and Grandma and Grandpa Harden. Lucky girl! I was a bit nervous to just throw my little girl on an airplane and say, "Well, hope you make it!" But, she was so confident and excited to go that it made it a bit easier.

Here are some pictures from her trip...

The first day that she was there, they took a boat out to Catalina Island. Apparently this was a platform that fishermen clean fish on!

This picture was taken at the LA Temple grounds. Darby has church in a building on the temple grounds.

Of course, you can't go to California without going to the beach! But, Kaylie is a girl after my own heart. She didn't care for the beach much because of all the sand and salt water! In our opinion, a chlorinated pool surrounded by concrete is WAY better! : ) And, there aren't animals that can bite your leg off in one chomp at the local pool!

Kaylie was pretty excited to visit Kermit the Frog's star in Hollywood! She also saw John Wayne and Michael Jackson's stars, along with some others, but Kermit was definitely her favorite.

After spending a few days with Darby in LA, they jumped on a train and rode out to Riverside to go to Grandma Harden's house.

After Kaylie spent a couple of days with Grandma and Grandpa, they jumped in the car and drove to Idaho, where they were meeting us for Penelope's (Dayna and Ben's newest addition) baby blessing. For us, it was a quick weekend trip. We drove up on Friday and came home Sunday. But, it was a fun trip, nonetheless. While we were there, we made sure to visit Drew and I's old stomping ground of Ricks College. YES, RICKS COLLEGE...not BYU Idaho. It will always be RICKS to me! It was fun to see all of the changes that have been made since we were there 12+ years ago. I think that the best addition, of course, is the new temple. It's beautiful! It sits up at the top of the hill and you can see for miles when you're on the grounds.

We made sure to visit Big Jud's, a really yummy hamburger joint where they have a 1 lb. burger challenge. Go Ben! He ate the 1 lb. burger!

We even attempted to take some updated family pictures with everyone. Unfortunately, it was so sunny, that we couldn't get everyone with their eyes open at one shot, but at least it satisfied Diane's needs for updated pictures!

All-in-all, we had a really fun end of the summer trip. We got to see everyone on Drew's side and the kids got to play with their cousins that we don't get to see more than once or twice a year. Thanks, Harden Clan, for the fun time and memories! : )

What a nice surprise!

I know, I know! It's been forever since I've done my blog. Sorry, but life happens. But, since I'm really behind, that means that there will be several posts in a short time to catch me back up, so that will make up for the lost time, right!? : )

So, this first "catch-up" post is all the way back from my birthday (6-18) and my anniversary (6-25). Because they are both so close together, Drew decided to combine them and surprise me with a fun scavenger hunt and a couple of nights without kids! It was such a fun surprise! Mom showed up at the park where the kids and I were playing with a bunch of balloons and a camera! So, here is the scavenger hunt, thanks to mom and her photography skills.

There was a clue in the first balloon that told me to go somewhere where we always go to get snacks for a movie. (and thanks to mom and Mallory for putting each clue into a cute little rhyme! I had all of the clues somewhere, but I can't find them to tell you exactly what they said, but they were clever and cute.)

So, that clue led me to the dollar store! That's where we go to get candy to sneak into the movies!

When I bought the candy, the clerk gave me the next clue, which told me to go to the theater.

At the theater, there was a gift card waiting for me. The girl in the window was so cute. I went to leave with the envelope and clue and she stopped me and asked me if I would read it in front of her! She was pretty impressed with Drew and thought it was very romantic. The next clue led me to the Safeway floral counter.


At Safeway, there were some daisies waiting for me (my favorite!) and another clue that told me to go to my favorite restaurant for lunch. Well, that's an easy one!


OLIVE GARDEN!!! Love it! And, who was there waiting for me?

What an awesome husband I have!
I love him so much for his thoughtfulness. We had a fun couple of days (and nights...wink, wink!) while mom kept the kids at her house. Thaks everyone for helping Drew pull this one off! He's got big shoes to fill next year...I think that the only thing that could beat this year is a trip somewhere next year! : )

The Hannah Montana Family Singers

So, thanks to Grandma Harden, we've got a fun "toy" at our house! All that I have to say is that Hannah Montana better watch out, 'cause we're coming for her gig! We could be the Hannah Montana Family Singers. And, we'd probably sing as well, if not better than she does! : ) I've even got the stage names ready:

Redneck Montana

Pretty-girl? Montana

(yeah, look closer - that's Jackson!)

"Blondie" Montana
(check out the throwback to the 80's side ponytail!)

Billy-Bob Montana

Look Mom, no hands!

What is going on!? This week, my "baby" learned how to ride his big-boy bike without training wheels! Crazy, huh!? This has been something that we've been trying to do now for about a month, on and off. Before school got out for the summer, Jackson would have me come outside with him to help him try to ride his bike, but then he would wobble and get scared and then not want to do it.

Well, this week we decided that we would try it again. So, he went to the garage with Dad, got his shoes and his bike and something just clicked. He had Drew help him a few times and before we knew it, we had a bike-riding fool on our hands! We pretty much couldn't get him off of his bike after that. So, I've hit another one of those "MAN, I'm getting old!" moments...I've no longer got training wheels at my house! All of my kids can ride two-wheel bikes. Kind of crazy, but fun. Now we can do bike rides that don't involve Drew or I dragging someone behind them in the trailer and adding 50 lbs. to our ride. Yahoo for that! : )

Blake is sooo excited to finally have his brother to ride bikes with!

Relay for Life!

So, this last weekend was our annual Relay for Life "walk-a-thon" in Longmont. Relay for Life is a Nation-wide event that raises Cancer Awareness and helps raise money for the fight against Cancer. It is such an inspiring event and it really makes you realize how many people this terrible disease actually affects.

This year, our Relay team consisted of Nikki, Mallory, Kelsey, Heather, me and our TC was Nikki's sister, Cindi (TC stands for Teacm Captain - but Kelsey nicknamed her TC and it just stuck!) Cindi had some friends come to the event as part of the team, but all of them were party-poopers and none of them stayed overnight. We played, ate and walked. I would like to say that we slept, but can you really consider sleeping in a tent on and off for a couple of hours sleep!? It was sooooo much fun, though. Cindi was awesome for organizing our team again this year and it was good times had by all.

All of the people at the event in purple shirts are Cancer Survivors and they open the event by doing one lap around the park. It's a really cool sight and very inspiring.

Here's Nikki doing her survivor walk! You Go, Girl! Show Cancer who's boss!

Here's our team! (well, at least the "cool ones" who decided to stay the night!)

My new "Do"!

So, after a while of having my hair as long as it's been in years, I decided that it was time for a new hair style. I liked having my hair longer for a change, but I just needed something new. I consulted with my awesome and talented hairstylist (love you, Mal!) and she thought that it would be fun to do a cute long bob. Well, after we got started on the cut, she just couldn't resist cutting it all off and doing a fun short bob. I LOVE it and am soooo glad that we did it. And when I say "we", I really mean "she" because I just sat there and watched it all! : ) So, drumroll..................................TADA! Here's the new me:

Blake's B-day!

Wow! It's been a MONTH since my last post! Where does the time go? Since summer has started, we've had house guests, so now that we've sent them on their way, (SADLY! :( I'll miss them, but we'll do more on that later) it's finally time to update my blog a bit.

So, Blake turned 7 on May 30th. Of course, the day started EARLY because he wanted to do presents right away, so he got up at the crack of dawn and we did presents. The popular gift this year was Bakugan stuff. (thanks to the two Grandmas for that! It's a good thing that they got them for him cause they're pricey little buggers!) And, if you don't know what Bakugan is, then you must not have boys!




Blake was really nice to let his brother and sister help him open his presents. He's nice that way...he just wanted to let everyone share in the fun! What kid does that?! : )

After we did presents and had puff pancakes, we met up with family and went bowling and then to lunch. I'm SO mad that I didn't get any pictures from bowling! I totally forgot to take my camera into the alley - apparently I'm not a die-hard blogger yet. But, all-in-all, it was a really fun day!

The next day was Sunday and we had a b-day celebration with all my family and did his "cake". Blake's very favorite cake is "Skor Cake", so I decided to do it in cupcake form so that it would be easier. Drew was in charge of taking the cake pictures and obviously isn't as skilled as I am at "capturing" things, cause he totally missed him blowing out the candles, but we've all seen a kid blowing out candles, so just picture it in your head, K?

Blake is such a light in our family. He is sensetive to others and is my tender-hearted one in the family. I hope that as he grows up he remembers to continue to love others and be kind to everyone. I consider myself extremely blessed to have Blake as a part of our family.

Happy Birthday, Blake! We love you!

Utah or Bust!

At the end of April, our family had the chance to travel to Utah to finally meet our new nephew/cousin, Ethan and attend his baby blessing. He is sooo adorable (if I DO say so myself!) I was bummed when we got home and realized that we only took one picture of him. But, between all of the chaos on Saturday and the rush of Sunday with the blessing and a quick visit at Darren and Erin's house, we just didn't think about it. Man, some blogger I am! So, we promise to get more pictures the next time that we see him.

Here is the one picture that we did get - and, I'm sure that it's no surprise to any of you that it's with Kaylie, my mini-mommy! She LOVES babies and wants to hold them any chance she gets, so I'm glad that I snapped this one at least.

The other reason that we were excited to go to Utah was because it gave us a chance to visit Brandon and Cami and the boys. The kids were sooooooo excited to finally see their cousins again. In fact, for about 2 weeks before we even left, every night the boys would ask us if it was tomorrow that we were going to see their cousins! Needless to say, it was time to see them again. We have missed them so much and had a really fun time with them. But, with us clogging the toilet a few times and a few mishaps here and there, I hope that we're invited back! : ) Here's some pictures from our trip...

I wanted to get a better shot of the kids and then I realized that if I did that, then it wouldn't truly be the kids! So, this is them, goofy faces and all!

One of our (and the kids') favorite Missionaries from Colorado was Brandon (Elder) Morrell. We just love him and were so excited to hear that he's living in Utah right now. So, he came down and stayed with us for the weekend and we had a really fun time being able to visit with him and stuff. With both the Brandon's around, it did get a bit confusing, though!

I thought that this was so funny. You can't see it, but the Brandon's and Drew were sitting at the table doing stuff on their laptops and then Clay, Jackson and Spencer are sitting on the step playing the Ipod Touches! And I'm pretty sure that Blake and Koby were right behind me in the living room, playing the Wii. What did we ever do without modern technology? Boys and their toys!

One of the other things that we wanted to do while we were there was visit Temple Square. My kids have never really done that and so we didn't want to pass up the opportunity. I'm so glad that we decided to go because they soaked it up. It was neat to see all of the changes that they've made since we've been there. We probably spent a good 2 hours in the visitor's center because the kids wanted to stay and check everything out. If you haven't been lately or haven't been at all, take the opportunity to go next time you are in the area. We found it to be a big highlight of our trip!

This was one of my favorite pictures from our visit! As cheesy as it sounds, these are my "warriors"!

These are a few of my favorite things...

So, I've committed to post a blog about once a week, give or take. So for this post, I decided to make a list of some of my favorite things, in no particular order. Now, let me make one thing clear. This is a list of things that you wouldn't necessarily already know about me. I'm not listing the obvious ones like my family, church, friends etc. because those are the duh ones! (of course, if you know me at all, some of these will be DUH ones, too! So, without further adieu........

* Musical Theather
I like musical theater in ANY form . Dinner theaters are one of my favorites, but I also love actually going to the Buell in Denver and seeing the big Broadway stuff like Phantom and Wicked (my favorite Broadway show). I'm even a sucker for movie musicals like The Sound of Music, Moulin Rouge, Newsies, and yes, even the HSM movies! : )

* Anything Cheese-Flavored
I LOVE cheese, in any variety. I love cheese sliced right off of the cheese block, cheese flavored chips, cheese crackers, pretzels dipped in cheese, cheese curds. If cheese is involved, I'm a fan!

*Spring
Spring means that Summer is right around the corner! : )

* Movies
I'm a big movie nut. If I've got an evening planned with my husband or friends, it usually involves going to the movie. I love getting swept away in a really good story and escaping the real world for 120 minutes of pure entertainment. I think that if I weren't Mormon and actually watched the rated R stuff, I would seriously consider becoming a movie critic. I mean, what better job is there then to sit and watch movies and get paid to tell people your opinions!? : ) Those are two things that I can do really well!!!

* Jigsaw Puzzles
I have a thing for puzzles! I love them and am a pretty fast puzzle-puter-togetherer. (I think that I just made that word up!) My puzzle of choice is a 550-piece puzzle. Any more than that and it is too much for me. I'm not a fan of the 1000-piece jobs. That's too much puzzle for one sitting and I like to sit down, put a puzzle together and then put it away. I don't do it for the finished product, I do it for the challenge of finding where everything goes.

* The smell of fresh-cut grass and the look of a freshly-mowed lawn

* The look of a wet, just washed-down deck and patio
Thank you, Dad for that obsession!

* Listening to a baby laugh

* My DVR on my tv!
I don't know how I ever lived without it!

* My computer
Ditto from DVR!

* Google and Snopes.com

* Watching Drew (and Dad and Josh) play Softball
LOVE that! It's so fun to go to the ball fields and watch them compete, even if they don't win every time. Just one question, though...why have Thursdays been the worst weather days of the week since the season started!? Chalk it up to Murphy's Law, I guess.

* Games in any form
Board, computer, video, cards - you name it, I like to play it.

* Banana Cream Pie and Rootbeer Floats

* Kohl's

* Mexican Food

* A "just cleaned" house (for the 10 minutes that it lasts!)

* Letting my hair down, being silly, and having a really good laugh

So, I'm sure that when I post this, I'll think of a thousand other things that I should have included, but here's what I could come up with for now. Do any of these things make your list?

A bucket of paint, some willing helpers and one painted baby later!

So, if anyone keeps tabs on my sisters and their blogs, you'll see that we've been doing some remodeling to our homes recently.

About a month ago, I got a wild hair to re-do some rooms in my house. The whole thing actually started because I wanted to re-do my living room and kitchen. But, because it was going to be alot easier to re-do my bedroom, that's where we started! So, Mom, Kelsey, Mal and I made a deal. We would get together once a week at someone else's house and help them paint and re-do whichever room they wanted to do. I was the lucky one that got to go first. So, they came up and we painted my room and bathroom. It's actually been getting done in stages, so that's why it took me so long to post this. But, I'm sooo happy with the way it turned out!

So, check out my new room! It was so fun to do. I wanted a calm color in my room this time around. I loved my red from before, but it was time for a change. I was able to take a lot of the elements that I already had and just give them a makeover! The shelves above the bed just needed a coat of brown paint and then I painted the candle holders blue and bought some white candles. The ties around the candles are done with the same fabric that I used for the canvas wall hangings that are on each side of the window. The vinyl on the blue stripe are dandelions and little "whispys" that I actually created on my vinyls software.

Mallory and I did these canvas wall hangings with some fabric, ribbon and buttons. I love them! They add a really nice touch.

No pictures in these frames yet, but at least you get the idea!

Here is another item from my room that just needed a makeover. Originally, it was red with some french script on it. So, I stripped it down and just painted it brown with a white wash and then put corner vinyl scrolls on it.

This clock was originally red with french style script as well. I painted the face the same blue as my wall stripe with a brown wash and a washed brown edge and then did the numbers in a brown vinyl. To tie it into the room, I did a big dandelion in white down the center and a few "whispys" at the top.

This is the shelf above my computer. I decided to put the same corner scrolls on this frame that are on the brown mirror so that they could help tie eachother in to the room. I'm still working on getting pictures into the frames...

So, this is what happens when you aren’t watching out for the wandering kid in the room! : ) I don’t know why we didn’t think that Cade would try to taste the paint! We were laughing about him having it all over his hand and before we got it cleaned up from his hand, he stuck his hand in his mouth! Duh!

Here's the new bathroom. Picutres just don't do it justice, but you get the idea! I wanted to carry in the same colors from the bedroom but with a different twist. I put polka dots around the whole bathroom and I LOVE it!

This rug was actually the whole inspiration for the polka dots!