Kia! (The yell you make doing karate moves)

Another update, Natalie tested last night and is now an orange belt! Luckily we didn't have mutual last night and I got to pick up Natalie from class where they informed me she was testing. So I got to watch her spar and everything. She was awesome! She first sparred with a younger girl and she really took it easy on her. Then she went up against her former friend who is now really not a friend and she kicked her butt! It was awesome. You could tell she was letting out some pent up aggression towards her. :) The poor girl could hardly hit Natalie because Natalie was so good at blocking her. Then Natalie went against an adult. She did pretty good, although I could tell she was getting a little frustrated. The guy kept hitting her head and she said he was blocking all her moves, but she had a smile through it all. Next up is her green belt!

Here's another picture of the progress that is slowly coming along on our house. We're down to hopefully a few more days and everything will be finished.

My Little Boy is 6!

How did this sweet little baby get to be my big, rough and tough, 6 year old boy? I can still remember very vividly the night Billy was born, watching the Jazz get beat in the playoffs. Bill eating Taco Bell in front of me, me having a cold so at least I couldn't smell it. The doctor being a dork and the nurse being absolutely wonderful. Even having a nap before they told me it was time to push - ahhh, an epidural was fantastic!

Now fast forward six years later and Billy's still just as sweet. Now don't get me wrong, this child has tried my patience more than all five others put together. But he's still my little buddy and I miss having him go to school now. His younger brother and sisters adore him. He loves to annoy his older sisters. He loves to help/hang out with his dad. He's a tease. He's a great reader now and his favorite things are transformers and legos - he has built all of his new lego models all by himself, no small feat. Now we'll see if he can master his new bike just as fast.Because of his love for legos, we had a lego birthday party for him. We played pin the door on the lego house, drop the legos into a jar, and each boy built their own lego cars and we raced them outside. The party actually went pretty smoothly thanks to Cheyenne and Natalie's help.
Now if only Billy would just stop growing. I love the age he's at now, right between a little kid and a big boy. I love that he still wants to sleep with his blanket each night (we have it folded up and hidden in his pillow so his dad won't see it) and a little sad to see him so excited to leave me and run off to the bus each day. I love you, Billy!

Hammer Time!

We've had an exciting week. We started the improvements on our house. We're adding a 4' bay onto our dining room (who knew we'd ever need more room around our table) and a wrap around porch into a deck on the back. So the first picture is Bill and Billy taking off the back steps and then what our house looks like now as of Friday. What you can't see is the BIG ruts that the cement truck, backhoe and others left in our lawn since it was snowing or raining most of the time they were here. So on Saturday we cut up all the sod over those places and then shoveled that whole pile of dirt into the tracks they left and put the sod back on. It was a LONG, HARD process and since it was a lovely day, not too hot, I never even thought of sunscreen. Now, I look like a lobster with a true farmers tan - nice shirt sleeve lines and matching glove lines. Natalie and Cheyenne were great helps and worked with us from about 11-6. Hopefully it will all fill in and look decent soon. We can't wait for it all to be done! Oh and one other funny thing, when Cheyenne and Natalie came home from school on the day the cement was poured, I was explaining to them that it was the foundation for the new extension. As I'm talking to them, Billy starts singing "How Firm a Foundation." I stopped mid-sentence, started laughing and asked him how he knew that song. He replied, "I learned it in Primary." Then Jon started singing it with him. At least I know they're listening and learning. :)

Easter by the Numbers

6 kids -- 9 colors of dye -- 18 eggs -- A quick 5, maybe 10 minutes of fun!

6 kids -- 4 beautiful new dresses -- 1 beautiful sunny spring day

6 Easter baskets -- 6 hiding spots (Dad's were harder than Mom's) -- 6 happy kids on a sugar rush

House Tag

Okay Leslie tagged me, so here's mine:

Grab your camera and take at least 5 random pictures around your house. No cleaning up first, this is your house as is. Here are some categories you could use: Room that stays the cleanest. Work in progress. What someone else is doing right now. Favorite decor or display. Something that represents your current life. Favorite relaxing spot. Something hand-me-down. etc.

Favorite Room and Decor: Our Kitchen
I love and loved making the sign over the door. I love the hutch that Bill bought for me. I love that we had to get a matching table when our family grew so big. I love the farm picture that Grandma Hegsted made me when I was in high school. I love all the fun eating, playing games, and so much more we do around this table.


Current Life (okay I guess Messiest room, too):
The Bonus Room aka play room, craft room, exercise room, guest room, storage room

This is my craft area. I know not much, but I got kicked out of my "craft room". That's what happens when you have 6 kids. So I was going to say that this area usually isn't this messy, that I was in between/finishing up about 4 different projects at this time. But then I swallowed my pride and am admitting to myself that yah, this area looks like this most of the time - maybe just different things sitting out. That's why I'm dubbing it the messiest spot in the house, too. This is where everything that needs to be put away, mended, looked at, prepared for YW, stored gets set - along with my scrapbooking/card making/sewing stuff, too. What I love - my scrapbooking storage cubes, my history of Rexburg photo book (so cool!), my buckets and tins of different colors and shapes.

What others are doing:

My little kiddos playing legos and watching "Horton Hears a Who." I love having them by me while I'm exercising, crafting or whatever out here (in the bonus room) - well, most of the time.


Work in Progress:

Well, I guess this will be the first remodel project thanks to the wonderful Idaho spring winds last week - actually after today, it's a lot worse. Then soon we'll start on a "wrap around porch/deck" off the left hand side of the house around to the back. I'm hopefully, finally getting my picket railing on the front porch. Yeah! We're also taking the roof over the porch all the way around, too, probably. Besides the fun of just having a deck out back and a shady porch to sit on in the afternoons, I'll get rid of the side flower bed that I hate the most and is more of a weed patch than anything else; and there will be less lawn to mow. Double bonus!


Okay, so that's it. I tag anyone else who'll play along with me. :)

Look what I made!

I just had to share what I made - all by myself. Yup, not even one phone call to my mom, that's a first for me and sewing projects. It was actually kind of fun, too.

Today marks 16 years!

Yes today is the anniversary of Bill and my's first date. I know it's a silly thing to celebrate or remember, but my dad always did it for my mom and so I always do, too. Yup, this is the night that changed my life FOREVER! We went to a concert (Sawyer Brown, Chris Ledoux and Mark Chesnut) in Pocatello. I remember sitting at work that afternoon and making my mom (I worked in her office) listen to the country station promoting the concert. Everytime they'd say something about the concert or play a song I'd get so excited. I don't think I did much work that day. I was so excited, but at the same time terrified of having to talk to him the whole hour long drive there and back. To say I was shy is an understatment. So when I had no trouble talking to him the entire way down and back, I knew he was something special. I guess he thought I was too. We had a great time together that night, and we've been together ever since. Bill's my best friend and I can't imagine life without him. I love you, Bill!

(The playlist is now playing songs from that most wonderful night, with the first one being "our song".)