My three angels.

Emilee Rene

Jason Garrit

Zane Ray

I am very blessed to have 3 wonderful, healthy, beautiful children. I feel blessed that the Lord has chosen me to take his children under my wing and allowed me to care for the them and love them. Being a mother I truly understand unconditional love. It also gives me a glimpse of how much my Heavenly Father loves me.

Snow princess.

Today we are finally getting some snow. The kids all headed out to play. Emilee is so beautiful. I love taking pictures of her.

Never, Never...

Let a monkey in the kitchen.

I was making pumpkin rolls today. When I make pumpkin rolls it is a process. I set out all my ingredients on the counter. Well, today I left the kitchen for 3 minutes. I came back to find that Zane had decided to help me make the pumpkin rolls.

The funny thing is, that he added a verity of ingredients; salt, sugar, and cinnamon.

Who could be mad at a face like that.

December 8, 1995...

13 years ago Junior and I had our first date. Junior asked me to the Christmas dance with a bag of M & M's and of course, I can never turn down chocolate.

We went as friends, however, at the dance Junior pulled me close to dance and the rest in history.

Junior and I were good friends before we went to the dance, the only thing that changed is that we became best friends. We have a strong marriage today because of our friendship. No matter how mad we get or obstacles we face, we are still friends and are able to laugh about it.

Who would have ever thought that smart, quiet Symen, and crazy, outgoing Jenny would ever end up together.

I guess we just "believe in the magic".

Go ahead and laugh, Junior and I are very aware of the fact that we were (and still are) both dorks. Click on the picture to get the full affect of the dorkness.

San Diego

The weekend before Thanksgiving, Symen and I went to San Diego with Justin and Miriam. We had a blast. Let me just warn you, there will be a lot of pictures in this post. The kids settled in with my mom, so Symen and I left on Thursday. We had a good flight.

After dinner at El Torrito, the boys were a little slap happy and being silly. Junior got a early birthday kiss from Justin. Sadly, this is not his first kiss from a guy. Aaron you will always be Junior's first.

The reason for the trip was Justin and Junior both turned 30 this year only a week a part.

On Friday, we went to the San Diego Temple for a session. The Temple was absolutely amazing. It was beautiful inside and out. Miriam and I were able to take a peek at the brides room. I see now why brides come from all over to get married here. After our session we walked around the temple grounds and took some pictures. It was wonderful to feel the spirit in the temple that day. Junior and I really need to feel the love the Lord.

On Friday we also went to see TWILIGHT! I loved the books, so I was excited to see the movie. The boys on the other hand were not as excited to see the movie. However, being good hubbies, they went. I loved the movie, I thought it was pretty close to the book, the special effects were kinda lame, but I loved how they made Edward sparkle. All in all it was a good movie, I feel like I need to go see it again, just to relax and watch it, not try to judge it the whole way through.

Saturday morning, we got up and walked to the beach. It was about 4 miles there and back. It was such a nice walk. Junior and I had a chance to talk and enjoy the time together. A older man on a bike stopped us, and said "It's sure nice to see a couple holding hands."

After our morning walk (run for Justin and Miriam), we went to the U.S.S. Midway. The Midway is an aircraft carrier that has been turned into a museum.

Junior had a blast at the Midway. I love the picture of him concentrating on the control panel of a F-18. He was like a 10 year old little boy.

On the other hand, this is what Miriam thought.

Just kidding, we all had a fun.

We had so much fun on this trip. There was laughter and good times. It was great for Junior and I to take the time to re-connect and leave the stresses of life at home. It reminded me that no matter what life brings me, I am thankful that I have my best friend by my side to go through it with me. And I also, have a great family.

Happy Birthday My Love!

The 30 things I love about my husband...

1. He is my best friend.
2. His smile.
3. When he laughs at me when I am being stupid.
4. His hands.
5. The way he plays with kids.
6. He is funny.
7. He already sees the great woman in me that, I want to be.
8. He makes me laugh.
9. He is very handy. I love that he can fix anything.
10. The way he teaches the kids.
11. He always says I love you.
12. He in understanding.
13. He is a goofball. ( A nice way of saying a dork)
14. He is determined.
15. He is honest.
16. He flies.
17. He is a great cook.
18. He is smart. I call him google.
19. He is a great dad.
20. He gave me my kids.
21. His kisses.
22. He communicates with me.
23. He says he is sorry.
24. He was my first love.
25. He is a good friend to all.
26. He knows that his family comes first.
27. He pampers me.
28. He is admits when he is wrong.
29. He laughs at himself.
    The thing I love most about him...
30. He is mine!

For his birthday, the kids and I made him blueberry pancakes and eggs. In the afternoon the kids took Dad to see "Bolt" (kids movie). For dinner we met grandma and grandpa VanderLinden in Park City for dinner. We had a great dinner. The kids behaved well, even Zane. After dinner we went home and had a giant birthday cookie. (I almost burnt down the house)

Happy Birthday My Love!

Family Fun Day!

Last weekend, November 16th, we had a great day. We started out our day by going to the annual PKU breakfast at the children's museum in Salt Lake. They had a lot of information on new foods, formula, and a new drug. This new drug is helping people with PKU to have a more liberal diet. We are working on signing Emilee up for a trial to see if it will work for her. They are finding that the results are different in each patient. Anyways, the kids had a blast playing in the museum. Of course, the boys went strait for the water and Emilee went shopping.

I really not sure what dad was doing.

After the museum, we met up with the cousins in down town Salt Lake for lunch. We went to Muchies Meatballs. They have philly steak and meatball sandwiches. This restaurant was on the Salt Lake episode of Diners, Dives, and Drive-ins. Junior and I are fans of the show and were really excited to go. We both got the philly and it was YUMMY! However, in true Philadelphia form they put american cheese slices on the sandwich. I think you have to be from Philly to really appreciate it.

After lunch we head up the hill to go home. Junior and I were still full from lunch when dinner rolled around so for dinner I made the kids breakfast. They had chocolate chip pancakes, eggs, and bacon. The kids loved it. After dinner we played our new game that we got at the PKU breakfast. Scrabble Junior, I am not a fan of scrabble but I liked scrabble junior because the words were already on the board.

We had so much fun playing this game. Dad and Garrit tried to cheat, but Emilee would not let them get away with it. I don't know how it worked but we all tied. We were all winners!

And to finish off our great day we had movie night. We popped popcorn, had candy, and root beer. We watched Collage Roadtrip, the kids loved it. It had silly humor in it so the kids laughed through the whole movie.

I had so much fun hanging out with my family. I am so blessed with such a wonderful family.

Good morning...

We woke up this morning to a beautiful white blanket drapped over everything. To the sound of snow blowers and people shoveling their driveways.

As the sun came out this morning I thought that we would have a beautiful day with sun and snow. However, here in Utah things change fast and it is snowing again.

Happy Birthday Sis

Sorry, that I am late on this birthday blog, but hey better late then never.

Janette is my sister and truly one of my best friends. With a 10 year gap between us growing up we never had that much in common. However, the older I got and the more experiences that we shared the closer we became. She has been there for me every step of my life. When I was a baby she took care of me, she was there 9 months pregnant in the heat when I graduated, when I got married she was standing next to me, when I had all of my babies she was there. I love that we have become so close. I always knew I was close to my sister, however, after I moved I realized how much apart of my daily life she is. I miss her more than I could have ever imagined. (I am very thankful for cell phones with unlimited minutes.)

Happy Birthday to my friend, role model, and the best big sister ever.

Adult Halloween Party...

On the 25th, me and a few of my girlfriends here put together a adult only halloween party. I was a BLAST! We had dancing, good food, and even had Ghostbuster playing for the guys. It was a little like a junior high dance, all the girls dance and the guys just watch.

Happy Halloween!!

What a fun and crazy day we had. I got up early to make the kids a fun Halloween breakfast. We had scarecrow pumpkin waffles and witches brew (apple juice and dry ice). It really set the day up for fun. Garrit was not quite awake yet.

Garrit had a halloween party at school and got to wear his costume to class, he was very excited. He had a blast at school.

Emilee also had a Halloween party at school. I am in charge of all the class parties in her room this year. So, this was my first party and I was stressing. It is stressful trying to come up with ideas that will keep 23, 6 years entertained for 2 hours. Anyways, it turned out great. The kids made slime with Symen (thanks for helping babe), they did games, made carmel apples, and did a cute bat craft with their hand prints.

After all the fun the kids at school. It was time for the main event. This year Emilee was a witch.

Garrit was a Jedi.

And Zane was a fighter pilot.

We live in such a fun neighborhood. At the park the HOA set up hot coco, root beer and carmel apples for the kids. We also had one neighbor that handed out hot dogs and chips. Zane was all about the food. One family had a party, with chili and other food. I will know for next year not to worry about feeding the kids before they go out.

The kids had a great time. Emilee went trick-or-treating with her friend for about an hour. I am not sure if I am ready to admit, that she is at the age when would rather do things with her friends then her family. I took Garrit and Zane out while Symen handed out candy.

The first house Zane was a little scared. However, if his brother and sister are doing it so will he. He went to the door with the kids and just stood there. After he got the candy he was excited. The next house and every house after that he would say "tric tret" and "thank you".

After taking the boys out for an hour, I took the boys home and Symen took Emilee and Garrit to the haunted house and to do some more trick-or-treating. Emilee was all jazzed about the haunted house. According to her "Its not going to be scary because I remember it from last year." Well, to her surprise they changed it. She went through with her hat over her eyes. She even ran into a wall. Garrit on the other hand was going to go, as long as dad carried him. He did fine through the whole thing except at the end. Garrit told me "there was a guy in jail, and I was scared that he would take my candy."

Happy Halloween!

Hey you good looking, wat'ch you got cookin...

Zane!

I canned some applesauce last week and have been to lazy to take my pot down to the basement. Well, Zane once again has found a place to hangout.

Carvin pumpkins...

On Sunday night the kids got to carve thier pumpkins. It is nice that we can do it a week before Halloween and not worry about the pumpkins going bad. Symen helped Garrit pick out a face and carve it. I helped (ok, did) Zane with his. The kids had fun digging out the middle and saying "Yuck!". Even though Zane would not touch it, he still had fun saying "Yuck" with the other kids.

I love Halloween and carving pumpkins. It reminds of being a little girl. It was always a big deal to go to the pumpkin lot and pick out your pumpkin. I remember going to 2 maybe even 3 lots looking for the perfect pumpkin. Then coming home and getting out the newspaper and start digging out the junk. My dad was and still is the master of jack-o-lanterns, we had so much fun coming up with face and carving them out. And of course, the best part was lighting them in the dark. I can not carve a pumpkin without thinking of my dad. Last year was the first year I did not carve a pumpkin with my dad. I miss you Dad.

Emilee drew her own face and carved it out all by herself this year. She was very excited about it.

After many failed attempts to get a picture with the kids smiling, I gave up and had the just be silly.