little ladies

"Although I'm not their mother

I care for them each day,
I cuddle, sing and read to them
And watch them as they play.

I see each new accomplishment,
I help them grow and learn.
I understand their language,
I listen with concern.

They come to me for comfort,
And I kiss away their tears.
They proudly show their work to me,
I give the loudest cheers!

I laugh when they do funny things,

And I smile from ear to ear.

I remember them when on my knees,

and know that God will hear.

No, I 'm not their mother,
But my role is just as strong.
I nurture them and keep them safe,
Though maybe not for long.

I know someday the time will come,
When we will have to part.
But I know each of them will always be,
forever in my heart!"

~ Author unknown

Growing up brings more responsibility,

and lots of change.

 Because of that,

today was my last day with the little ladies. 

It's hard to think about.

I'm so grateful they've all allowed me to be a part of their life

for the last two years.

I still remember the first day I started like it was yesterday.
Jacob had just left on his mission the day before.

Malia and Summer were getting ready for school,
I walked in and got right down on the floor,
and played play-doh with 1 year old Taya,
and 4 year old Ember.

I fell in love with them instantly!

Even though I know it's not the end,

 it will be hard not to see them every day.
I will miss their cute smiles!

This job has been such a blessing in my life.

It seems wrong to even call it a job.

This family came into my life right when I needed them.

Sounds cliche, but it's true.

I can't even begin to tell you how much I love them.

But now I must grow up. 

Although I don't entirely want to,

It's what we need to do.

I'll see you soon,

 my little ladies!

Always remember...

you are very, very, loved.

xoxo 

-O

"You is smart, you is kind, you is important."

Our First Humble Abode

THE KITCHEN

our fish and frog. no the tank is not THAT dirty. it's the counter behind it that makes it that color through the lens.

window sill decorations

I'm going to miss having this shelf, I may have to put one up in our next kitchen. I have loved it.

THE FAMILY ROOM

disregard the valentines decorations that are still up.

our 10 dollar rocking chair, awesome pillow we got from a sister in my ward, and the BEAUTIFUL afghan my Granny MADE for us!

I'm also going to miss having a mantel to decorate. 

and our red couch...

I made this try, and the chevron pillows (pictured above) to add a little more color.

THE BATHROOM

i love love LOVE our shower curtain!

THE BEDROOM

the mirror was my grandmother's.

gotta find a place for all those reception pictures somewhere! have you spotted them all? There were also 4 un-pictured.

I love decorating and cannot wait to decorate our new apartment. There will definitely be some things that I will miss about how I decorated it here, but considering we will be living there a LOT longer than we have been living here, I'm going to find plenty to do!

xoxo

-O

eight.four.zero.FIVE.seven.

That's right! We're changing zip codes. 
     But don't worry, we aren't going TOO far!

Come May 1, 2013,

We'll be out on our own.

So excuse me if I don't make an appearance for a while... 

I'll be 
     painting, 
          garage sale-ing, 
               Ikea-ing, 
                    painting, 
                         Packing, 
                              Cleaning, 
                                   Shoping,
                                        painting, 
                                             crafting, 
                                                  decorating, 
                                                       starting another job,
                                                       painting, 
                                                            and 
                                                       moving. 

Whew! Here's to a busy, new, hectic, changing, exciting month!

Just thirty six days, until we'll be all nestled in on Monterey Drive.

Pictures to come :)

xoxo

-O

ps I just realized I never posted any pictures of our place right now. 

I'll make sure to do that. I have loved the way we set it up! :)

"Parent Camp 101" part uno

So this week we have been taking part of this...

When we pulled up at 5 am Saturday morning so Jason and Karen could go to the airport, we saw this sign on the door that Summer made for us. "Welcome 2 Parent Camp! 101" "May the force be with you, and the pranks be little!" "This better go on Insta". Right then and there we knew it would be a great week! And it sure has been!

This week has been full of....

1)Winning 1000 tickets, and many Merry-Go-Round rides at nickel city. 

(We won the jackpot 4 times on separate games)

2) Jacob and the girls making a HUGE fort that all of us could fit under 

to watch a movie before bed.

(it looked super cool with the lights off and the TV on)

3) Yummy treats.

(NOT pictured: mini doughnuts, red velvet cake cookies, and scotcheroo's)

4) LOTS of dishes, laundry, and bath time. 

Which surprisingly I have really enjoyed doing.

5)Easter crafts, Summer came up with the Bunny made out of eggs, 

I came up with the decorated Egg idea.

6) Grocery Shopping with the 2 little ones.

 (I let them get in the "car" cart, which was kinda hard to push around)

While we were at the store this really cute old man walked by and asked if I could help. He needed to use his cell phone to call home, and couldn't figure out how to call someone from his contacts. 

 It was pretty cute.

7) LOTS of Dora, and playing outside. (It's been beautiful weather this week!)

8) Yummy lunches and dinners.

9) Lots of fun, pretty hairstyles. (I love their hair, it is so long and pretty!)

I wish I had taken more pictures of the styles we've done. It's been so fun!

10) Tumbling, Soccer Practice, and Soccer games.

This is Taya and the cutest little boy she found to play with while we were at the other three's 

tumbling lesson.

11) And lots and lots of laughs from this little one, and the rest of the girls.

There have been so many funny moments that we have had, but most of them you kind of had to be there. Like Taya singing "Girl on Fire" at the top of her lungs, or mostly anything Taya's done. 

But this week especially I have seen my husband in a whole different way. He LOVES kids! It is so cute to watch. There was a day that he watched them for me while I went to BYU Nationals, and I came back to find him cuddling with them watching Tangled/listening to Taya quote the entire show, instead of doing homework. He also played twister with them, and had them tidy up the house a bit. What a good boy!

Sunday night as we were going to bed he said. "I won't be here to tuck the girls in this week." (He works until about 10 or later every night) Thinking he was saying that as a relief, I said, "You're probably happy about that". Then in the saddest voice he said, "No, I love telling them stories and acting like a Dad". 

Melted my heart. These girls LOVE his stories. (He makes them up, he's awesome like that) The last two days he's been home just after nine and been able to go in and tell Ember and Summer a story before they fall asleep. Last night he came home exhausted because they just switched him to the busiest trailer. He loaded more packages than he ever has, even more than Christmas time. When he walked in Malia and I could just see how burnt out he was. BUT without fail, he walked right into Summer and Ember's room and told them a story. It's been so cute to see him interact with these girls. I think they even like him more than me. Ha ha.

One night as I was tucking Taya in, she said, "Where's Jacob?" "He's at work." "Oh, when will he be home?" "Later tonight, I'll have him come say good night if you're still awake when he gets back". "Okay, cause I need him to come home and tickle me, and then I will be SOOOO happy."

It has been SUCH a fun week, and it's not over yet! We've still got 2 more days! We have absolutely LOVED watching and taking care of them this week. It has been a blast.

We love these super silly girls.

xoxo

-O & a little bit from J

Oh, and of course I've been driving this. 

And... maybe I've secretly been loving it. 

Shhh... it's a secret. 

Don't tell, Okay?

Thanks.

only one-twelfth

I have the most amazing visiting teachers. They never miss a month. In November, the lesson was on M. Russell Ballards talk from October 2012 General Conference. 

It one of those eye opening talks, give it a 

read, 

you won't be disappointed.

Anyway, after the reminder I decided to create a printable to hang up in our home so I can constantly be reminded to do my own one- twelfth of a teaspoon each day.

If you find this talk as wonderful as I did and you feel that you need a constant reminder as well, go ahead and download my printable. I won't be mad. :)

xoxo
-O

Busy, Stressful, Grateful, Wonderful, 3 Day Weekend.

WHERE DID IT GO?!

This was one of the most craziest weekends of our lives. But it was oh so wonderful.

It started out on a bit of a wrong foot with one of my arch enemies Mr. Migraine, but luckily I got control of it before Saturday afternoon.

J and I have been called to help with Youth Conference in our ward and it is on the 3rd of February. So  on Saturday's we usually have tasks that we need to do for that, plus clean the entire house because we hate doing dishes and Saturday is just national cleaning day for everyone, I swear.

But it was particularly busy because, both of our parents spoiled us and we got to see a play AND a musical! It started with a matinee at the Hale Center Theater with my parents, to see "Lend Me a Tenor" which was hilarious. Then we went down to cougar town and saw "Phantom of the Opera" courtesy of J's parents. It. was. a. mazing. (We both love the music and story of this show and have never seen it on stage) Spectacular. -THANK YOU PARENTS!-

Waiting for Phantom to start, we were a lot early

By the time all of that was over, we realized how much we hadn't done in the morning and still had to do before the next day, i.e.. plan a primary lesson, actually learn the song we were singing in sacrament meeting, create posters for YC, copy music for YC, etc.

So needless to say, we had a late/semi stressful night.

Then on Sunday we woke up early, got ready, went to a YC meeting, and headed to the church to practice with our pianist. Can I just tell you how WONDERFUL it is to be married to a man who sings so well? After we sang I realized once again, how much I LOVE being able to sing and do duets with J. He makes singing in church so much easier, and it's so much fun to be able to do that together. :) I just love it. Then after helping the YM/YW learn the theme song, and teaching primary, we went home and were finally able to relax.

THEN! Right as I settled in to the couch, J told me to pack an over night bag because we were going somewhere. On Friday he hinted at us going some where for the night because of MLK day, so I kind of had a hunch this was coming. So while he did some last minute homework I quickly got a bag together and by 4pm we were out the door and I had NO idea where we were going, just a map and directions.

Look at my handsome spontaneous man focusing on the road

As we pulled up I saw this.

CRACKA' WHAT!? Who knew there was a Castle in Sandy?! Not I! I was SO excited!

Castle Creek Inn. Such a Dream. It was SO cozy, and had complimentary drinks, warm goodies, a huge movie/games selection, and it felt so homey. I was in love with it from the minute we checked in.

Then when I didn't think it possible to fall more in love with this place, I saw the room.

I mean rose petals? The bath tub? The fire place? Martinelle's? Hershey's Kisses? The way too comfortable bed? I mean, COME ON! A girl can only take so much!

Boy did my hubby spoil me. 

We had a wonderful night. Full of 5 crowns, Phase 10, Blink, sneaking to the lobby for free food and bevies, Once Upon a Time, WAY too many Castle episodes, and the best cuddling session ever. We were in heaven. It was wonderful to just be with J and have no interruptions or stress. Even if just for one night. We made it a goal to stay there once a year and stay at least once in every room.
They're themed.
It's awesome.

Then this morning we went to "Da Vinci the Genius" up in SLC and it was so cool to learn more about him and see how incredible his brain really was. He seriously was a genius, I had no clue. Sorry 'bout it!

Jacob's awesome attempt at recycle book art

And just when we thought the weekend couldn't get any better, we got the best surprise in the world.

OUR WEDDING VIDEO!!!!!!!!!!! 
WOOHOO!!! 
Wanna see? 

Click 

HERE 

I've already watched it 3 times. It's a little on the longer side, but I absolutely love it.

Hope you all had a weekend as wonderful as ours! I wish I could do it all over again.

xoxo
-O