Happy Birthday Sam!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAM!!!

I can't believe my baby is ten! Ten years ago I had my first baby and began a whole new life. Sam's birth marked the end of a "ME" life and changed me and my thinking to outside of myself. It's amazing to know that someone so small and fragile has grown and developed into a wonderful, strong, and intelligent boy.
So here are a few pictures of Sam as he's grown.



Sam at age ten:
Sam LOVES playing video games. Especially HALO. He will do all his chores in record time, or extra chores in order to earn more playing time.
Sam likes to hang out with his friends.
Sam is a great reader and has read many series including the Percy Jackson books, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and the Narnia books.
Sam is tenderhearted and feels things deeply.
Sam's favorite color is Red.
Sam's favorite food is pizza.
Sam's favorite song is "Had a Bad Day" by Daniel Powter.
Happy Birthday Sam!

Flowers

Some of my favorite flowers are Lilacs. I am so glad that we have a bush in our back yard, so I can have as many bouquets as I want while they are blooming!

Zac's Baptism

Zac turned Eight a while back,and got BAPTIZED! Yay! What an exciting day for him. He was able to have his Grandma and Papa Gillett, Aunt Becky and Cousin Sierra and MaShayla, Aunt Lisa, Uncle Kirk, Talon and Natalyn, and his BFF Alex and his family, all were able to attend and watch him as he was baptized.

So far,as I have been able to watch Zac and his brother Sam be baptized, I am amazed at the understanding and the beauty of a child making the choice to be baptized. Way to Go ZAC! I am so proud of you!

Watch out Girls!

Today after our Easter Sunday Feast we decided to take a long walk with the boys. It was a little slow going but not for the obvious reason. The boys were all on their bikes/big wheel, we were doing fine but had to make many frequent stops frequent stops for Jojo to Woo me. Yes he is starting early. Every time he saw a Dandylion he had to stop pick it and make sure that it was in my hand, each time saying, "I just want to spoil you mom!"

This continued for awhile, till my hands were full and a few fell to the ground, he didn't know what to do and was starting to get worried so the Shane stepped in to the rescue, and put them in my hair. Jojo stood there, looked at me and then said, "You just looks so beautiful now mom!" Sweet Boy! As we were headed home he was a little way ahead of me and when he stopped turned around and blew me a kiss. So watch out girls he's just practicing with me, and he's only five, just imagine 10 years from now!

Zac turnsEight!

Zac turned Eight on April 9th. We were at Shane's sisters house helping finish their basement and unfortunately I forgot my camera. They took a few pictures but I don't have any from that day. But I do have some from the the week after. He got to have a birthday party. Lucky Boy! He had so much fun with his friends from school and from church. They played a few minute to win it games,

ate pizza,

cupcakes and ice cream,

and were as wild and crazy as a bunch of eight year old boys can be. I think they had a great time.


Zac at age eight:
Zac is a sweet boy who loves arts and crafts, he always wants to help his mom with her projects and is interested in making things.
Zac likes to ride his bike really fast and after school most days is out riding around the neighborhood.
Zac has a really good close friend Alex, they are BEST Friends!
Zac likes 2nd grade and his teacher Mrs. Draper.
He is a bit of a worrier, and is concerned about everyone and everything!
Zac's favorite color is Blue.
Zac loves Cheese Pizza.
Zac loves to watch transformers (the cartoon)!
Zac loves legos, the small ones especially!
Zac's favorite song is "Free Fallin" by Tom Petty
Zac is excited to turn eight this year and can't wait till he's baptized!
Happy Birthday My Sweet Boy!

Spring Break

This year for spring break we were able to go to the Boise Zoo,

and to hagerman to do a little fishing,

a little swimming at the hot spring pool, and then spend a day at Grandma and Papa Gilletts. We had such a fun time and I was even able to work on my bookcases, (that I started in December). They are sanded and stained and ready to have the finishing coats put on them. Soon.

Pinewood Derby Time

This last Tuesday was our ward and the 11th wards Pinewood Derby. Last year Sam's car did great, coming in 1st place. Shane warned him that this year he probably not do as well this year, cuz he did not have as much time to spend with him working on it. So they spent Saturday afternoon, designing it, cutting, sanding, painting and detailing. The detailing was my job (thank you Cricut). So Tuesday night they did the races in a great way.

Instead of narrowing it down to the winners, each kid's car got to race seven times, placed in random order and sequenced randomly. Then at the end the average time was taken of each car and placed in order. Sam's car had done well, and I figured he would end up in second or third place. They had a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd for each ward. The 11th wards winners were named, with their times. Then came our ward. When the 3rd place was announced I was disappointed because it was a kid that I thought had beaten Sam's car. Drama. Then 2nd. Then they announced the 1st place, saying that there was only a .5 sec difference in average speed between the 1st place in 11th ward and our ward. Then Congratulations Sam Gillett! He took first place. Yay! Shane and I were so excited and proud! Our son however is a very humble winner and a great example to us. What did he have to say about winning? "It's pretty cool. Next year, when Zac gets to race dad can help him build the best car, I want him to win too." The kid makes me proud. So congratulations buddy! I love you!

Spare Time

So I have had a lot of spare time lately.

Time I didn't quite know what I was going to do with.
And then my sweet sis-in-law Laurie, a most crafty girl, reintroduced me to crocheting. I had done it before making blankets mostly and found that over the years I just didn't want to put the time into one that was required. But Laurie introduced me to small projects.
What? There's such a thing as a small project?
Why yes, yes there is! So I have been crocheting. I have made a dragon, a horse (almost done), slippers, and a tote bag.


Then finding that I couldn't just crochet all the time, I took up a hobby that I have been doing on an off for a while now, but now I had lots of time to devote to it.
Jewerly making.
I have really enjoyed making it. Problem, though. I don't always like to wear jewelry. Hmmm!
And finally, thanks to my friend Ruthanne, I have made some LOVE blocks.
Truthfully all I did was modgepodge she did all the other work towards making them cute and fun.
But aren't they cute? I love them.
So between all of these projects I still have managed to apply for MANY jobs, and got a few interviews, but no job so far.
So spare time has been nice, so far, but I am running out of project ideas.
Any ideas???

Turning 5!

Jojo turned 5 years old in January. He is such an amazing kid, and I cannot imagine our life without him.

Jojo at 5:

He has a great sense of humor, he likes to make people laugh.

He likes to play video games....a lot.
He likes preschool, and his preschool buddies.
He likes to tell his mom that her loves her as much as sugar is sweet.
He enjoys working in his preschool workbook.
His favorite color is orange.
His favorite food is big crackers.
He loves the Backyardigans, and watches them over and over again on netflix.
He's a take charge kind of child, except when it comes to his brother Zac, it makes him happy.
Josephs quote is "My lifes good!"
Happy Birthday Buddy!

Pretending

Jojo and Shane pretending to be asleep to trick me. Jojo couldn't quite hold in his smile.
I have to say, I hadn't really seen it before, but Jojo is a little carbon copy of his dad.

Christmas

Christmas this year was spent at Grandma and Papa Gilletts home. It seems that we are always going somewhere for Christmas, I am hoping that one of these years will be spent at home establishing our own traditions. Someday. But needless to say every year we have a great time where ever we go, and this year was no exception. We spent a few days there just with our family, and then Becky and Seirra came on Christmas Eve, making it a party. (It's always a party when Becky's around, what can I say she just lights up a room, and makes everyone feel happy.) Then on Christmas day aside from all of the presents and eating (lots of eating), more families came and by the day after Christmas all of Shanes sisters and their families were at G & G Gillett's house. The house was a rockin'! We had a lot of fun, and by the time we had left to go home, I think we were all exhausted. I think a few pictures from our drive home say's it all.

Time for Peace,

and Quiet....

Graduation

So I finally graduated on December 17, 2010. I had many mixed emotions about this. I didn't want to attend the ceremony but after a long talk with my Dad he convinced me that a good way to conclude and put a period to that part of my life. Thanks Dad. I am very glad I did walk. The ceremony about 2 hours long, with an amazing student speaker. Instead of a Valedictorian, they find students who are unique and have a story, to be the speaker. I got to graduate with Kellen Moore (for those who are BSU fans or college football fans you know he was a Heisman Trophy contender). I was able to have my three boys, Shane, and his parents attend. I even got emotional during the ceremony, realizing for the first time that I was finally done. I have to say that though I took a semester off at one point and wanted to do it again many times after that, I am very glad that I stuck through it and finished. So I can now check this item off my bucket list! YAY!!