Monday's Memory

From the time Seth was 6 months old he has loved this bear. He got it from his Aunt Emily (I think) and has had to have it with him from that time on. When he was little he wouldn't go to sleep unless it was in his arms and he carried it with him constantly. One time when we lived at BYU he accidentally left it outside. We didn't realize it until it was time for bed. We had to go outside and search in the dark until we found it. Unfortunately it had rained that evening so the bear was soaking wet. We didn't have a washer/dryer in our apartment so he had to wait till the next morning, boy was that a long night. Now he just keeps the bear in his bed and it is very worn, but it is also very loved.

Happy Birthday Luke!!!

Since we already had a party with cake the Sunday before we did a small party on the day of Luke's actual birthday. He loves ice cream so we put two candles in an ice cream tub and let him try to blow it out. It was so funny. He kept trying to blow them out, but couldn't so he would laugh and laugh, then he would try again and not do it and laugh and laugh. What a cute boy!



Opening presents. Luke loves to cook so we decided to hold off on his birthday present until we find a kitchen set that we like. Thanks Aunt Maria, Uncle Ben, Aunt Laura and Uncle Greg for the cards and Grandma and Grandpa McIntyre for the money!
Things Luke loves this year:
Toys--trucks and anything to do with a kitchen
Food--Chocolate and Ice cream (aren't they a food group?)
His soft, cowboy blanket
Being outside
Making people laugh
Sleeping (that has been a long time in coming, but man I love it too!)

Tax Return!!!

Okay who doesn't love their tax returns? I do!!! The amount is decreasing every year but...I still love it :) This year we only have one bill to pay off with it and the rest we have been planning to spend in many different ways. We have been talking it over for months (Mr. Beus wanting everything from a gun to a Bose sound system and I wanting to just put it all on the hospital bill and student loans--I know I'm not much fun), but when we saw this table discounted at Costco we made the plunge and got it. The best part is that it has 8 chairs and a leaf that are not in it in this picture, and we have money left over to do many other things with. YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mr. Beus

If you have sensitive eyes, I wouldn't read! (that just makes you want to read more doeasn't it?)
I want to post more about what inspires me, makes me proud and makes me who I am. This first one is about Mr. Beus. What an amazing man he is!!
He loves me. He loves me in the morning with stinky breath. He loves me when I get upset. He loves me enough to do the dishes I didn't want to do all day and then rub my feet because they hurt, without even asking him to. He loves me because he calls just to say "I love you". He loves to kiss me every chance he gets. He loves to give me "that look", you know the one that makes you go all tingling inside. He loves me enough to read books with me on how to improve certain aspects about our life and not be embarrassed by it (it's a good book if any of you are interested in the name, our Bishop let us borrow it, he is a marriage and family therapist and no we don't have major problems we just want it to be better). Mr. Beus finds me sexy! (yes I say that but you women know how important and what an awesome thing that is).
Mr. Beus loves our kids. He loves to dance and be crazy with them. He loves to hear their stories. He loves to be with them. He accepts them for who they are and loves them completely for it. He loves to show them how much he loves me, even if they say "sickey,whickey".
Mr. Beus I love you! Thanks for helping me see what is most important.

Ramblings

I feel like I need to write some things down, journal stuff, so just a warning. Life is weird. That's the only word I can think of right now. I am so happy with lots of my life, with my fabulous husband and my fabulous kids, but there is still something that isn't quite right. I think it's me. Sometimes I just so want to be that mom who is so fun with her kids, doesn't yell at them, makes them feel so special and mostly just takes time to be with them individually so they know that their mom loves them more than anything. I feel like I don't do that. I love them, but how do you let go and show them that? Most of the time it doesn't even come to mind to do those things that would make them feel so special!! Is something wrong with me, I feel like it is. It is so hard to put into words what I mean. I pray every night to just have things come to mind in that moment when they need it and not getting upset over those things that don't matter. Like if your child gets in trouble at school (over something that is not a big deal at all) and they are devasted by it, letting them stay home the next day and doing fun things with them, like making their favorite foods, reading books together and playing games to get their minds off of it, because it wasn't a big deal at all. I instead get upset with them and send them back to school the next day. Things like that don't cross my mind to do. I so want them to have fun memories like that to remember. I want them to remember that their mom played with them instead of doing the dishes all the time. I want them to remember that I loved listening to their stories instead of being distracted. I try to work on it everyday and it seems by the end of the day I have forgotten what I meant to do, to listen, to play. It makes me sad and I try to do better the next day but lately the better isn't happening....why is there always a "but".
This is a post of wanting to be better and trying. A goal isn't a goal until it's written down, so it's written down and please forgive me if any of you think I'm crazy and have major problems, but we all do and now you know it so I am going to try and let my kids know a different side to their mom.

Valentine's Day

Hope you all had a wonderful valentines day. Of course I forgot to take any pictures!! Man my mind is leaving me. We woke up Saturday eagerly awaiting my sister Jessica's arrival. While we waited for her we made our traditional Valentines breakfast, which is crepes with a cream cheese filling, fresh raspberries and whipping cream. It was so yummy. We made the kids homemade Valentines and got them a little gift to open at breakfast.
As soon as Jessica got here, Sam and I left with our good friends, Tara and Josh. Tara and I had a planned a fun day for our husbands. We headed up to Magic Mountain where we went tubing for several hours. We had a great time especially because you didn't even have to hike back up the mountain, just hook up to the tow rope and away you go. By the way, nice one piece Sam!! :) Afterwards we went to lunch at Johnny Carinos where we were starving so we spent way too much money but had a great time talking and laughing. Thanks guys for a fun afternoon.
After that we hung out with the kids for awhile. We made Valentine Pasta from Grandma and Grandpa McIntyre for the kids for dinner. Sam and I went to a Valentine's Dinner fundraiser put on by our young women. It was decorated beautifully and they put up old dance pictures from people in the ward. I gave them our one from out first date (which was Cabaret at Ricks). It was so funny because people kept asking me who the guy was in the picture. Sam sure has changed since we got married, but I didn't realize it was enough that people couldn't recognize him. Afterwards, we came back and put the kids in bed and watched "Master and Commander" with Jessica. We had a wonderful day and thanks a ton Jessica. We appreciate it so much!!!

Luke's Party

Yesterday we had a party with Gage, one of Luke's bestest friends. His birthday is Valentine's Day so we just celebrated them both yesterday. Here is the crew.

There were candles on one side of the cake for Gage and some on the other side for Luke. Luke thought it was more funny to try and watch Gage blow out both sides than to do his. Luke just laughed and laughed.

The boys before we lit the candles.

Lighting the candles. By the way, it is suppose to be a racetrack cake. Both of these boys love cars, so I made it and I would have to say that it was much better than previous years!!

Monday's Memory

So I don't know how much you know about my journal skills but I kept a journal almost everyday since I was about 8 or 9. I have probably ( I should count them, but I don't)10 journals filled. It is so fun to go back and read them. The funniest ones are one that I kept when I was in love with "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman". Did anyone else love this show? I would watch it every week and the best part is that after I watched it I would go and write it down in my journal. How lame is that!! I have pages filled with episodes of that show. Oh my!!!!! Hope my posterity likes it :)

Busy Boy!!!

Man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is about the only positive thing I can think of right now to call Luke. Boy has he had a "busy morning". Everything you could possibly think of he did this morning: pulling all the tape out, coloring all over his body with markers--and I mean everywhere, coloring with permanent makers, pulling a brand new sack of flour off a table and splitting it open, dumping toys out, dumping crayons out, dumping the trash out and the list goes on. Man, thank heavens for naps. Where would we be with out them!

Retreat

Sam and I got back yesterday from a wonderful weekend spent together. His firm treated everybody to a night in a really nice hotel and dinner Saturday night for their annual retreat, which means that they had a meeting on Saturday from 10-5, to go over goals for this year, and then on to the fun part. I dropped Sam off at his meetings Saturday morning and then went out to my parents and dropped them off with them. They were awesome and kept them overnight for us. The kids had a blast playing at the park, swimming and being spoiled, except Kathryn who came down with a virus right after I left. I then went and got my hair cut and went back to hotel where I read a book for 3 hours all by myself. It was great!!!! For dinner they took us out to a really nice steakhouse (you know the kind that it costs $35 for your piece of meat and that doesn't include anything else, like your salad or sides or drinks) in downtown Boise. Boy was it good. Sam and I never go to places that nice so it was fun to dress up a little bit. We got to try tons of new food. For appetizers we tried mussels, oysters, lobster tail, crab legs, escargot (I left that one to Sam), shrimp and a tuna tower. For dinner we had Kobe beef and sea bass (which was incredible) and for dessert we had creme brulee, chocolate soufle, flourless chocolate tarts, key lime pie, cobblers, and a cheese plate that Sam was in love with. We had such a fun time talking with everyone, especially because the dinner took about 3 1/2 hours.
The next day we met my parents out at their church and hung out with all my brothers at my parents afterwards. It was a great weekend and we had such a good time. Thanks Wright Brothers (not that they will see this, but we sure are thankful that they paid for us to do all this)!

Monday's Memory

The other day we were doing some spring cleaning (yes I know it's not spring yet, but...anyway) and Luke saw this in one of the closets and begged and begged to get back in it. He spent many hours and hours in this thing. It was the only way to get anything done when he was a baby. He was so fussy and hated to go to sleep that I would stick him in this and do what I needed to do, make dinner, mow the lawn, vacuum, etc. It was an absolute lifesaver.

Hop2It

So I've been meaning to post about this, but keep forgetting to take my camera so I can. Every week we go to Hop2It and spend atleast 3 hours playing there. The kids have an absolute blast, especially since we always go with friends. Above is Kathryn with her friend Brytten. Below is Sarah playing with Abbie in the ball pit. The best part about that is that you get to slide into it and climb the wall on the other side to get out of it.

Luke playing in one of the bounce houses.

Sam and Sarah getting ready to joust.

One of the other fun parts is that parents can get right in there with the kids. Here Sam and I decided we should fight each other, but I couldn't stop laughing long enough to do it. It was a lot of fun.

More Family Picures

Sam and I (obviously :)

There was a huge tree that had fallen ages ago and Luke thought it was so cool to sit up on the roots.

All the kids on the same roots.

Monday's Memory

Today's memory is about Kathryn. She was a very content baby especially because she would suck her thumb constantly (and still does--any help on that one?). I have several pages in her scrapbook and in every one she is sucking her thumb. It has been her best friend from the time she was born. I remember almost as soon as she was born that thumb was in her mouth. I also remember thinking at the time, oh it's so cute, I'll just let her do it (boy was that a mistake)!!! The one positive is that she always slept well as a baby and still does to this day.