Happy Birtday To Chris!!

Christmas day in our home is always a very special day because it is Chris' birthday too! Chris is always so gracious to make the day more about Christmas for the children than about his birthday. I try very hard to make it a special day all around, but I know that I seem to fall short on the birthday celebration part. Sorry sweet heart!

This year, the kids all helped decorate the house in a Spider Man party. Rather than the traditional birthday cake, Chris prefers a nice pecan pie. I have to say, I like his taste!

This is always such a fun way to end Christmas day. We love Chris and appreciate the hard work and attention he gives our family. This year was extra special and we defiantly appreciated the opportunity to be together as a family. We all love and adore Chris. At this time of hardship and turmoil for so many, we are grateful every day for the Lord's hand in our lives and the rich blessings he sends our way.
Love you Chris! Happy Birthday!

Merry Christmas!

We enjoyed a very nice Christmas at home, just the family. We like to stay home and keep Christmas simple. We enjoy just going at our own pace and spending time together with the children.
This year, to get Christmas eve started, the children got a surprise visit from Santa! The look of surprise on their faces when they opened the door to the big red guy standing outside was priceless! Santa delivered their Christmas pajamas and a very sweet book about the nativity to remind the children of the true meaning of Christmas. We read the book for family home evening that night.

We always act out the nativity with the children. And because we have so many children, we almost have all the parts covered! ;)

The boys, of course, are the wise men bearing gifts. They also subed in for the shepards.

Ethan was our naked Shepard dressed in pink. :) Both of the girls insisted on being Mary. I know that at some point Sarah will have to relinquish the role of the beautiful and kind Mary every once in a while to dear Addie Grace, but for now, peace was better kept just letting Sarah and Addison share the role. (But both of them were absolutely positive that there was only one Mary, we had to get kind of creative to pull that off...)

OUR CHRISTMAS DAY SCHEDULE:

Christmas Eve:

Midnight: Mom and Dad still feverishly putting the last stitches into the final home made gifts for the girls while the children slept with visions of sugar plums.

Christmas Day:

4:30 am: Mom and Dad are awakened to the excited giggles and eager voices of small children. (Our children are notoriously early risers, and this was no exception. How can we send them back to bed when they are so excited?)

6:00 am: Presents have all been opened.

6:30 am: The family sits down for breakfast.

7:00 am: Exhausted, mom and dad head back to bed while the children watch a movie.

9:00 am: The day is much better now that sane amounts of sleep have now been obtained. Ahhh, much better.

We were so tired on Christmas morning, this is the only picture that got taken. (I know, we are horrible) Ethan was so excited to see his gift from Santa, and I was SOOOO excited to see his reaction when he saw it, I knew it was going to be a good one!

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

Happy Birthday Ethan!!!

Our little Ethan is getting bigger! He turned 2 years old on Dec. 10. He is such a fun boy, he keeps us laughing all the time. We are so happy to have him with us. Our family would certainly be missing out without our Effers! Ethan is continually reminding us that making the decision to have a big family was absolutly one of the best decisions we have ever made. Thanks for being with us sweet boy!!! We love you!

It's Been A While...

It has been a while since we have posted, so just a quick catch up. We have been busy getting through school and getting ready for the holidays. Thanksgiving was wonderful. We spent the day with the Horton family in Idaho Falls, and had a great weekend to follow filled with more family parties and great times.
Recently, the kids were all invited to a Birthday party at a great tumbling gym here in Pocatello. They all had a great time and it was fun to watch all of them play.
Ryan pretty much spent the whole time up on this ledge that dropped off into a sponge pit. It was a pretty big jump, and Ryan could never quite get up the guts to take the leap. He was pretty sad when it was time to go and he realized he had wasted all of his play time. Poor guy. :) In Ryan's defense, Chirs got up there to help talk Ryan into jumping, and even Chris admitted that it was actually scarier to jump off that ledge than it looked.

All the kids had a great time. However, because Ethan had the cast on his arm removed only a week before the party, I was super watchful of Ethan and his still fragile forearm. The boy rarely shows any fear, and in a room full of trampolines, jumping toys, and a plethera of other rumble and tumble toys - this day was certainly no exception. I think he was a little irritated by me by the time the party was over. ;)

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween Everybody!! Hope you all had a great time! We did! Every year the kids get to pick out their own fabric for a pillow case to use for trick or treating. It had become a fun family tradition, and the kids love it! It is always fun to see what they pick.

Ethan is a bat - it is kind of hard to tell. And Jonathan was the Grim Reaper taking Ryan away. Sarah was Tinker Bell and Addison was Snow White.

We were so busy this year that we didn't even buy pumpkins to carve. Luckily, Ryan got this tiny pumpkin from school, so we had a great time carving that one.

Calling All Toddlers!!

So, what is a sure-fire way to escape the imprisonment of your crib and have it turned into a toddler bed?

ETHAN HAS AN ANSWER!

Breaking both of the bones in your forearm while attempting to "Gently Fall" from the railing while trying to teach yourself how to get out of the crib and a trip to the ER will yeild optimal results.

ANY TAKERS?

She Did It!!!

Addie Grace is potty trained!!!!!

She doesn't even wear diapers through the night!

Good Job Addie!!!

This is the first time we have ever had just one child in diapers. It's simply amazing!

Ladies Night Yoga!

I have FINALLY finished my yoga instructor certification! It took a lot longer than I had anticipated, but it was so worth it. I feel like I learned far more than I would have if I had been rushed through it, and now I have a much deeper appreciation and acceptance for yoga as a life style choice, rather than just merely a work out. My instructor was amazing. I really learned a ton from her.
So now the moment of truth has come - I actually have my own class to teach! My certification instructor is letting me use her yoga studio once a week for my own class. I feel so lucky to be able to do this!
The class I have come up with is "Ladies Night Yoga"! I will be teaching here in Old Town Pocatello on Wednesday nights from 8:15 pm - 9:15 pm. This is a class completely catering to busy women who just need a break to get an awesome work out while hanging out with some other great women.
More information can be found here http://www.ladiesnightyoga.blogspot.com/ Anyone interested is absolutely welcome to come, I would love to see you there!

First Grade!

Hurray! The boys are mighty first graders today!! Now they are the cool kids who get to eat lunch at school! Man, they are moving up in the world these days. :)

TIMBER!!

So, there are two trees in our back yard that tragically taken over by some vine that seems to just SUCK THE LIFE out of anything it can get it's grubby little vines on.

These two crabapple trees were absolutly bone dry, so they had to just come down. There was no hope of reviving them.

This week my dad and Debbi's husband Justin and their children Trever, Danny, and Preston, along with Joanna's husband Deryk came to the rescue.

They guys all headed into the back yard and pulled out their toys (chainsaws) and got down to business. :)

They all made quick work of the two trees. And it was great for my mom and dad who now have some of their winter fire wood to take back to their home. I am glad they could use it. Actually watching them all back there reminded us all so much of when we were all younger and had to go out to the mountains with our dad to cut fire wood for the winter. A joyouse occasion we all looked forward to every year. (but not really) :)

All the kids got in on the action. It was fun to watch all of them.

Our boys are getting so big!

This was darling to see all the samll boys pulling their weight out there.

And while all the other boys were outside doing "Manly Work", look who was hangin' out inside the house cooking and cleaning with all the ladies!

Ethan has been really big into wearing the girl's stuff lately. I think it a novelty for him, but it is funny. :)

And heaven forbid Sarah should try to get her dress-up outfit back. :)

Ryan and Jonathan Are 6!!

Happy birthday Ryan and Jonathan!

Today they turned 6! WOW! They are getting so old. They are absolutely excited to start first grade. They are especially looking forward to having to eat lunch at school and not coming home until it is almost dinner time. They think they are so big now.

I am excited for them to move into this new part of their life as well. Kindergarten brought so much change and maturity for them, I am eager to see how much they love first grade and all the new things they will learn.



We are so grateful to have them with us. They are the best big brothers Sarah, Addison, and Ethan could ever ask for, and they certainly help me out tremendously! I know all parents must say this about their children, but Ryan and Jonathan are such very good kids (for the most part, as long as they are not too excited and feeding off of one another). :) They are such a blessing! I appreciate the example they set for the other children, and I know they will continue to be two fine examples.

Love you boys! Happy birthday! Thanks for all you do!

Caught Red-Handed

Look what I found when I walked in to the kitchen this morning...

Ethan had pushed a chair up to the counter, climbed up on the counter, and was then able to reach the treats that had been up on the fridge.

He was pretty proud of himself.

Elvis Lives!!!

To get the Fourth of July kicked off right, we enjoyed the day with the Simper family, and what better way to do it, right?

First we enjoyed a great day over at Jensen's Grove. The weather was amazing. The kids all had a great time hangin' out in the water and eating. I have never been there before and have now decided that it is a GREAT place to take the kids on a warm day. We are certainly going to have to visit more often.

Next it was off to the Fort Hall Reservation for an AWESOME Elvis impersonation concert. It was a great show! This was the kid's first concert, and what a blast! The reservation put the show on all for free along with free hot dogs and soda for dinner and followed up by a fantastic firework show. I have never been a die-hard Elvis fan, but I was suprised by how many Elvis songs I really did know. We had a great time, and ALL FREE - who can beat that? Waiting for the show to start. Totally diggin' the trailer in the background - AKA Elvis' back stage / dressing room.

And while we were waiting for the late "King of Rock And Roll", we had a blast jammin' out to the late "King of Pop"! Seriously, who can resist gettin' down when they hear a Micheal Jackson song!?!

The first half of the show featured young pre-war Elvis. Not too shabby, eh?

Second half of the show brought the young war-time Elvis out. Still lookin' good. ;)

Sarah getting into it with the crowd as she waved her glowing fan durring "Love Me Tender" How funny!

Ok, and this totally rocked! We had such a great time during the show that we jumped at the chance to get a picture with the guy - who wouldn't want a picture with Elvis, right? So as soon as we saw Elvis come out of his "dressing room", we chased him down. Debbi did an awesome job of getting us in to be one of the first ones in line for a picture. (You totally ROCK Debbi!!)

What a fun day! We missed those that couldn't be there, it would have been even more fun with you all there! Thanks for the great last minute ideas Debbi and Miriam, we couldn't have planned it any better!