I'm in LOVE!!!

I know your thinking cheesy right? Yeah, yeah we know you love your husband. That is most definitely true but that is not the source of my new found love. I got me a Shark!!

Last month when I was in Texas my sister-in-law whips out this handy dandy machine and I knew I was destined to have it.



Mopping is my least favorite of ALL chores! Give me a toilet any day but hand me a mop and ugh! I have tried lots of things over the years to try and simplify my life and nothing has really stuck. I usually resort to hands and knee and a rag. It's just easier but not easier on my knees. I have a big table and it is no fun to crawl around under it. With 7 kids there is always a mess to be cleaned!

Most recently I had tried the Swiffer wet-jet. It showed promise until it left streaks all across my floor and the cost can get expensive. We easily go through a $5 bottle of cleaner in two moppings. My husband, the resourceful man he is, even poked a hole in the top and filled it with our own homemade cleaner but then when we didn't use the entire bottle in one mopping it left a puddle when the kids inevitably knocked the mop over. Oops!

Anyway I can't say enough good things about this little machine. Lightweight, easy to use, only had to use a scraper to 1 spot on the floor, cut my job time in half! What more can I say? I had even thought I could get an affiliate agreement (they pay me to sell their product) and start a website with me mopping up a new spill everyday like an infomercial. It wouldn't be hard to find a mess in my house. We have many a cup of spilled milk around here!

Carthage

I LOVE Carthage. There is definitely a Spirit here. The kids can all feel it too. I love the Prophet Joseph Smith and have a strong testimony of him as a Prophet and of the truthfulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ that was restored to the Earth through him.

The door to the room. Hyrum was killed through these shots.


This is in the room where the martyr happened. This is not the window that Joseph fell from.


Jacob & Caleb


Caleb had his own tour. We stayed away from the tour group b/c he was a little noisy and we didn't want to take away from any one's experience. I actually loved wandering around alone with Caleb. He enjoyed it too as you can tell!


LOVE this picture. This is out in the hall but the imagery is still powerful.


Jacob, Caleb and Christina outside of the jail.


Group shot in the upstairs cell. It was in here where Willard Richards hid John Taylor, who was shot, which saved his life.


Hailey Grace


Christina and Caleb

First Day of School

Amber and Danny are out the door before anybody else is up.

Danny starting 8th grade

Amber 7th Grade

Jacob 5th Grade

2nd group of kids off for the day.

Hailey 3rd Grade

Savannah 1st grade

Nauvoo

I don't have any great pictures of all of us together but we tried!

The kids loved the oxen ride. They take you in a circle and then let you pet the oxen.


I love that the Nauvoo Temple is re-built.



I took this picture of Christina with the kids....


and then we switched places ;) Great family shot! But wait, , , where's Jake?


Savannah & Katie w/ Oxen

The girls loved the pioneer village and dressing up!



My boys!


Nanny and Papa joined us on our trip!


We loved having Christina join us on our trip!


and David and Maren's family!



During the pageant they have the actors put on vignettes throughout town. It was so fun to imagine seeing Joseph and Emma walking around town. We just wished they would have no parking in front of the mansion house for the picture.


Danny really loves his brother! I have a lot of pictures with these two.


I was writing a big long explanation of our trip and it was getting too long with too many words. I still might post it later but it was getting long. We had a great trip but I won't lie and say it wasn't hard w/o Dan there. He really is something special and helps sooo much! Thanks for letting us leave you home working. We love you! We missed you and Amber.

I've started working on my profile. I love this new concept!

Hill Cumorah Pageant

A few months ago a member of our Bishopric mentioned that our family should consider applying to be in the Hill Cumorah Pageant. I told him they don't want families like mine with all these little kids. He assured me that we were exactly what they were looking for. At the time I thought there is no way my family, especially Dan, would ever go for that but I brought it up that night at Family Night. To my surprise everyone said yes and were excited about it!

I looked it up and found out that you apply August 15th through mid-October. It has been interesting throughout the summer... It seems like I run into people everywhere who have been in the pageant and tell me what a great experience it is. Before this year the only person I had met who had been in the pageant was the member of our Bishopric.

August 15th came and I got on that day and applied for our family to be in the pageant. That day I got an automated response stating that I should receive a signature page to take to our Bishop within 24 hours. Well 24, 48, and 73 hours went by without receiving this signature page. I was beginning to wonder if we were just out of the picture or if our application was lost in cyberspace.

I looked up a number on the website and called. I was able to talk with the director David Broadbent who made me even more excited for this experience. We talked about Zion's Camp (which is where most but not all of the families stay while there) He told me they can only fit 56 families in so the other families have to look for other alternatives. I told him how big my family is and he said that is good news because it moves us up on the priority list. Great News.

Also, he told me they are having a lot of technical issues so the application procedure is being delayed. I asked if there was anything we could do to enhance our chances of making it. I told him that I didn't put down any talents because we sing in church but aren't professionals or anything.

He said that because we have a large family it increases our chances. Also, he said being a leader and being willing to be a leader are the main thing that they look at. He said the mere fact that we said we'd be willing to be over a cast group was a strong positive for us. He said to write an email gushing about us and listing our leadership experience.

We are excited! If we get in we hope some of our family will come watch!

Happy Birthday Caleb!!

Caleb had a lot of fun yesterday on his 1st birthday. He wasn't shy at all about diggin' in and getting dirty.

And he's walking! Well at least taking steps.

Father's Day

The kids and I made this video for Dan for Father's Day! This is the condensed video b/c the other one was too large to upload. We had fun but making movies is a lot of work!! I don't know how my sister can make so many but maybe they'll get easier the more I make.

Face paint

Caleb's Crawling!!!

It's official! We have a crawler in the house.



Today Caleb woke up with a fever. It is so sad when babies don't feel well & at 10 months I think this may be his first, but not sure... I guess I take that back. He had RSV at the beginning of the year but has been healthy since so I almost forgot about that 3 week sick period.

Anyway, here are some recent pictures because he is growing up so quickly and we just think he is a doll!