Jared has been a father now for 4 years

Jared is a great daddy. I just wanted to take a minute and record some of Jared's wonderful qualities as a father, Jared is a good father because:

- he always comes home with a smile, a hug, and a kiss for Kendal and Talen
- he sets time aside out of his busy days to sit down on their level and just play with them, even if it's only for a few minutes
- he takes them in the bike trailer about once a week for a long special bike ride with just daddy (which gives me a much needed break)
- he cooks healthy dinners pretty much every single night to fill their hungry tummies
- he reads to them with enthusiasm and personality
- he sets a great example of prayer, takes part in teaching them gospel principles during our family home evenings and throughout the week, and instills a love for church in them.
- he will often sing songs to them while they are lying in bed struggling to fall asleep
- he plans one on one time with them and follows through
-he's quick to apologize when he's lost patience with them, and he is very forgiving.
-he snuggles them and kisses and tells them he loves them ALL the time
- he wrestles them, tickles them, plays hide and seek with them, duck duck goose, and even does the hokie pokie with them
- he laughs with them
- he loves them and they know it.

Happy Father's Day!






I made homemade cinnamon rolls for the morning, and I never knew how long it took to make them, they were pretty good for my first time. The recipe I used was Paula Deen's from the food network that can be found here. I substituted brown sugar for the white sugar, and I rolled the dough out thinner than called for to make the rolls less bread-y.



And just as a side note I wanted to proudly share with everyone (drum roll) that I for the first time used a pattern to make a dress for Kendal and I even put in a zipper... all my own just in time for father's day (finished it the night before) and I feel very accomplished (I know for some people this is nothing special but for me it is huge). I've always been anti patterns because I feel they are just way too complex and difficult to read (and I probably read the instructions 20 times trying to figure out all the language, and I did make a few mistakes along the way) But now I have opened a door to wanting to make many more items of clothing and of course, with matching bows. Stay tuned for future projects. Ta Da!


p.s. I did get a little rebellious and I put the zipper in my own way, which worked AWESOME! The point is -- it's okay to deviate from the instructions. My way was actually much more simpler, I turned the dress inside out, unzipped the zipper pinned the right side of the zipper to the the right seam allowance positioning the coil just outside of the fold, sewed it down right alongside the coil (without using a zipper foot), zipped the zipper up, pinned the left side of the now closed zipper to the left seam allowance, turned the dress right side up, and top stitched the right side right along the coil (sewing over pins, which I know is a no, no, but my needle is not damaged and it totally worked, reinforced ends with back stitching, and done, took five minutes.

Father's Day photo shoot

For Father's Day this year finances were tight so I decided to do a photo shoot of the kids, print off some favorites and give them to Jared for his desk at work. Below are the pics, and yes I do have a set ready for each set of grandparents that you will be receiving during your visit, so get some frames ready because these are definitely wall worthy.

Talen is 4 years old!

I honestly can't believe my little baby boy is 4 now. I know I sound like a broken record, but holy bejiggles, TIME FLIES. 3 and 4 have actually been a really fun age and I'm enjoying every second of it. We had an awesome party for him, and for only living here for 3 months I have to say that we had an amazing turn out, everyone came that we invited, and everyone thought the party was great.

I scheduled a fire station tour, and of course knowing our luck when we all arrived at the station, the fire chief came out to greet us and said, "Well I have some bad news, we have no fire trucks here right now, because they just called out on an emergency, I can give the kids a tour of the facility, but there isn't much to see." Well needless to say my heart was broken as were all of these parents and children who had been informed that they would be seeing firetrucks. I didn't know what to do. Well then one of the parents had a stroke of genius and called another fire station in a neighboring city and very convincingly told them that if they did not give us a fire truck demonstration then we would start a fire if we had to get one, ha ha ha. Well the lady on the phone was very nice and agreed to a last minute fire truck demonstration for 16 children anxiously waiting.
So we all hopped in our cars again and caravaned to Rochester Hills and we got our fire truck demonstration. The fireman that did it for us was extremely nice and patient, and great with the kids. He let all of them sit in the front seat of the truck and turn the steering wheel. He turned on the sirens and the lights for the kids, and he even let every child shoot water out of the hose. It was GREAT!

Then we came home, had hot dogs, opened presents, played a quick game of pin the fire hat on the dalmation, and had fire truck cake. It was a birthday I hope he'll never forget and I honestly think that he really needed it. We've been through so much this past year, we've lived in 5 states, and Talen hasn't had any good friends, I think he needed this to feel special and to feel secure, and to feel like he has friends. Jared really wanted Talen to have just a family party this year (and I understand why, it's cheaper and less work), but I truly think he needed this, and I think he felt on top the world that day. He cares so much about having friends.

So at a glance Talen at the age of 4 is:

-becoming extremely helpful, he'll help unload the dishwasher, he'll help cook anything because he loves to cook, he'll help Kendal get a drink of water, he'll help Kendal get her tooth brush ready, he'll help her put shoes on, he likes to put his own clothes away and he is awesome at making his own bed.
-he's very much a people person and never wants to be left out of anything
-he is still very snuggly and kissy, and values physical affection tremendously
-he is very sensitive when being spoken to and needs to be heard.
-he is becoming more independent, he can put on his own shoes, get himself dressed, ride a big boy bike (with training wheels), clean up his plate after meals, pour himself a drink, brush his own teeth, wash his hair, go under water at the pool, turn on a DVD (I'm not sure I like this one), etc.
-He is becoming more cooperative and easily persuaded by kind words and logic
-He can write his name, write all the letters of the alphabet, he knows all of his numbers and can also do some basic math. He knows the 7 continents and the 4 oceans, and loves to do preschool at home with mommy. His favorite part of doing school is reading words, and playing the money game.
-He has found great value in money due to a recent experience where he happened to have 2 quarters in his pocket when the ice cream truck drove by our house, and I said, "I'm sorry buddy I don't have any money on me, and he said, as he pulled out the 2 quarters, "I do", and sure enough he did and how could I not let him get something. So now he collects any kind of money he can find and saves it up for those special moments.
-His probably absolute most favorite thing to do is ride his bike.

Talen is a great kid, he's very silly and full of energy, but we wouldn't have it any other way. We are so grateful for him and we can't wait to see what year 4 will bring. He is a very special kid.

Below are some pics of the party:

Joshua, Josh, Nathan, Spencer, Lexi, Sylvia, Karina, Morgan, Talen, Kendal, Bronson

Addison, Cooper, Josh, Nathan, Spencer, Sylvia, Karina, Talen, Kendal, Bronson

When I passed the camera off to my friend to take pictures during presents a setting go switched so all the pictures came out really blurry, so I artisized this one up for fun.

The cake

What a cute birthday boy!

Memorial Day

Unfortunately Jared had to work for most of Memorial Day but me and the kids had a full fun day, we began the day with a parade, followed by the park, swimming, and a little bbq with our new best friends and neighbor. Thank goodness for friends.

Talen's Birthday is right around the corner

Here is Talen's birthday party invitation, I was so proud of how cute it turned out that I thought I would share it with you all. We're hoping for it be WONDERFUL because after this past year of of moving every two months, and having no friends for the kids, Talen could really use a special day with lots of friends. We'll be touring a fire station, and then coming back to our house, doing a fire truck craft, grilling up some HOT dogs and having some RED strawberries, we'll then do presents and eat his firetruck shaped birthday cake. I'm excited! I think it will be a lot of fun. It's all he can talk about everyday, "is it my birthday today mom?"

I sent it as an 8x8 photo to costco, they were $1.50 a piece, I printed 5, cut them in half making them 4x8's, stuffed them in a standard business envelope, and passed them out, simple and affordable.

Talen started SOCCER!

We enrolled Talen in a beginner's soccer class that lasts 4 weeks and occurs twice a week. We have been looking for a league for him to join, but everything we found was for ages 5 and up, so this class will have to do.

He loves it. Besides needing water ever 3 minutes, and being a little ADD he does a great job. We had to buy him some shin guards and some shorts, and my neighbor and new best friend, Kim, found some cleats at a yard sale for $1. There are a few kids from the ward in the same class and our neighbor's son, Spencer, Talen's new best friend is also in the class, so it's going to be a lot of fun. Below are some pics of his first class.