The trip . . .

So, I finally figured out the slide show, yeah! Jeff was in town with us the first few days and we spent a lot of time visiting family and attending our old ward (Hi La Pradera Park friends). Then it was all the visiting I could fit in. We went to see Horton Hears a Who with Tiffany and family (thanks for the viewing Danny) on Monday. Then we saw Christa and her kids on Tuesday and Karen and the girls Wednesday. Thursday my mom took us out to lunch (hope the car is doing better mom) and we saw Jeff's mom at work to show off the grandkids. Friday was the park with Jaime and Deirdre and kids, great to see you guys. That night was the Whitmer Easter get together at the park. Tons of fun to see everyone! Saturday was more Easter hunting with the Williams family and then the Reunion for 41st Ward Priest Laurels. Man, has it really been 10 years? Sunday was church at Grandma and Grandpa's ward - the kids had fun with Grandma and Aunt Michelle in primary. Then the next week included playing at the mall with Joe, Amanda, and Amalia, FHE with Westen and LaDawn and kids, hanging out at Tiff's, sewing, doing baptisms at the temple with Tiffany (thanks for the names Leann!), going to the park with sisters, zoo, visiting with friends (hi mary and rachel), and getting Jeff back in town so we could get ready to leave. We ended the trip with an evening at the Turley home. So good to see them and hang out again. In all it was a great two weeks and I'm glad I got the chance to visit before the kids are in school. The weather was also great, another reason to go in March! A big THANK YOU to my in-laws for letting us invade their home for the whole time! It was great to hang out with them and the kids are still asking to go back to grandma's house. It is nice to be home, but what a great trip too! I hope you enjoy the photos, there are over 100 more I could share, but figured this would give you a good feel for the trip.

41st Ward Youth Reunion!

During the youth years we had a really large youth group in our ward.  My last year or so the wards were divided and the youth split up.  It was really sad, but we were all really good friends even with the split.  It was good for me to get to know other great people so it was a good thing in the end.  They decided to do a youth reunion and I got to attend since I was in town :).  Here are some of the friends That were there:

 

Me and Mandy Miller (Mikos)

 

Julie and Jill (Goodsell)

Taffery and Dan Lowery

Me and Bishop Grizzle

Scott Willard, Mandy, Paula, and Christy (Willard)

Sue Grizzle and me

Becky (Larson) and Deirdre (Brown)

The whole group!

The big trip to Arizona!

We spent about 2 weeks in Arizona.  Jeff took us out and stayed a little bit before flying back home to work.  We stayed with his parents and spent lots of time with family.  Jeff then flew back out to drive us home.  It was a fun trip with lots of people to see! 

Here are Sandra and her cousin Amalia!  Too cute!

 
Grandma Whitmer and Mhari

 
Uncle Joe holding Mhari

 
Aunt Amanda holding Mhari and Molly (Amalia)

 
Owen holding Mhari... her pacifier fell out ;(

 
Bree's turn!

 
Mommy and baby girl!

 
Grant hugging Bree!

 
Sandra hugging Owen

 
Visiting Aunt Michelle and her bunny.

 
All of the Whitmer cousins!

 
Grandma Whitmer and Mhari

 
Uncle Nathan and Mhari

 
Kids decorating cookies and Grandma and Grandpa's house!  Yummy cookies!

 
Sandra

 
Sleeping!

 
Clayton, Joy, and Sandra

 
Sandra and Ashlyn

 
Zoo trip with cousins!

 

 
So Cute!

 
How Mhari spent the day

 
Tiffany and me :)

 
Jeff and Nathan!

 

It was a great trip, but it was so nice to get back to life in Texas!

Time Alone

Sharla has the camera and is visiting family, besides I would not just put a picture of me in here, so I don't have a photo. I am going to redo the kitchen cabinets while they are gone so hopefully they look a lot better when they return. I don't have plan B yet in case of disaster but I will figure that out if needs be. Must stay busy! Here are some reminders:

1. Being idle stinks, it is always better to be busy
2. Immediate family is great and a necessity! Extended family is nice and a luxery.
3. Appreciate when your wife is around because you miss her company if she is not.
4. Don't make a mess and you don't have to clean one up. That is my goal concerning dishes and clothes. Kind of hard with clothes. Maybe I can make it work :) . I can always reuse dishes!
5. Friends who willingly give their counsel when I need it are life savers. I would hate to pick colors for the cabinets without better judgement. Thanks
6. In general LIFE IS ALWAYS BETTER WHEN A WOMAN IS AROUND! (some cases may not meet this criteria) Extended "man time" is good in short bursts only. A good woman makes the best man better.
7. Absence does make the heart grow fonder. If you absence yourself to become fonder, do it only as long as necessary. If you are absenced for a reason (11 days), make the most of it (cabinets, garage, yard, garden, caulking bathroom, ...) and anticipate the return :).

Laundry

Have you ever wondered what would happen if a sock snuck under the lint trap in the dryer? Well, I never did until it happened to me. I tried to grab it out, but couldn't reach it. I tried to reach it with two knives (like a grabber), but that helped it fall farther down. I wondered what would happen if I started the dryer, maybe it wasn't a big deal to have a sock in the lint trap. Well, needless to say that wasn't a good idea. I smelled burning and the dryer wouldn't work really fast. Humm, what to do. I thought about waiting for Jeff to get home and let him deal with the lost sock, but I really needed to finish the laundry so I can pack. After trying to go through the back of the dryer up the lint hose to reach it I decided I needed something long to reach it. My last option was a wire coat hanger that I bent to help pull out the stuck sock. After working a few minutes and pulling quite hard with it the sock came out. I was grateful the the only casualty was the sock and not the dryer (which is working on drying another load of laundry as I type)! It was pretty stressful, but I was happy I got it figured out in time to finish up the laundry. I think Jeff should be proud of me too :).

Biggest Baby Ever

So I thought that Grant was my biggest baby. . . he didn't start so huge, only 8 lbs 12 oz, but man did he grow fast! He was 20 lbs by 4 months. Well, I was concerned for Sandra, but she slowed down and didn't pass Grant.

 Now there's Mhari. She definately started out huge at 10 lbs, but I figured she'd slow down, right? Well at 2 months she was already 15 lbs 10 oz (bigger than Grant or any of my other babies)! She's off the charts for her weight and height so I'm just waiting for her to hit that magic 20 lbs. She sure is cute for being so huge :). I honestly forget how big she is, until I go to pick her up. I have wondered why she eats so often, but when she weighed in at 15 lbs at 2 months I guess that's why. Can you enter babies into eating competitions? I think she would have a good shot!

Baby Love!

Our kids have never been very aggressive with a new baby, but they were more than happy to cuddle around her and show us how much they love her. Mhari didn't even complain about all of the extra attention. It is sweet to see the sweet way children love each other!

Snow!

It snowed! Its about time. We decided to play and make a hick snowman (no teeth or eyes) and some snow angels. Talmage got cold but he rolled up the head all by himself and did a good job until it tipped over and daddy had to put it back together. He was a little tramatized by that. Grant just hopped like a bunny and loved seeing his footprints. You can also see that Sandra refused to give up our snowman's nose. I think she was scared of the new creature in the yard. Snow is great when it only comes a couple inches at a time. What was Mhari doing...she sleepeth.

Little Cinderella

Sandra is such a girly girl. She loves dresses, dancing, pink, and her hair done. She makes her brothers dance with her. They don't mind too much and it's so cute to watch. She usually holds one hand on her skirt to hold it out while she dances. It is too cute. How long will the innocence last :)?

Welcome to the Blog

This is our first time doing a blog... and it will be an adventure as we keep track of what our family is doing over many years :)
This is our family in 2008!  We live in Fort Worth, Texas and have 4 kids.  Talmage is 5, Grant is 4, Sandra is 2 and Mhari is our new little baby!  Mhari joined us in December 2007 and has been such a joy to our family!  Everyone loves the baby and she is so good too!

Here are some of the fun photos of what has been happing here in January:

Cute little baby cuddled on the couch.

Talmage taught Sandra to put stickers all over her door... yes it's fun, but won't come off now ;/

Cute Chica in the dress I made for her!

So tired..

Sleeping baby!

While cleaning out a closet I found these garment bags.  The boys sure had fun with them!

 The kids decorated the kitchen.

Tummy Time!  Look how good she holds her head up!  Just over a month old!

Grant loves to take care of his baby too. 

 

 Sandra and Grant like to sit by me and feed their babies while I feed mine ;)

Grant and Chica fixing the bathtub :)

Daddy with his little Punkin!

Couldn't resist sharing a sad photo... so cute still!

 Grant hanging out not feeling well... poor guy.

Cute Baby!!

So pretty

She likes the swing!

She spends lots of time sleeping!