a modern prophet like Moses.

"So your telling me you have a prophet today like Moses? what has he said recently?"
In fact we believe in apostles and prophets teachers and evangelists just as it was organized in Christ's church while he was on the earth.
We have the opportunity every 6 months to hear them speak to us. I have been particularly excited to listen to what they have to teach us this conference and apply what I learn into my life.
I am grateful for a loving heavenly Father who still talks to his people through prophets and apostles.

You can also watch and hear what they are saying here.

what is all this white stuff?

Remember THIS.

Well, the next morning we woke up to this...

Yeah... no warning, just four inches of snow. (it doesn't snow here, like ever) AND WE HAD NO CHILDREN. (read why here.)

So Jared told me to get dressed and I was like... "why?" I was fully prepared to stay inside drinking cocoa and letting the outside be.

Yeah... that did not happen...

Darn Self timer....

Then, Karly and my dad texted to tell me that their power was out so they brought the kids back to our house for some snow play and grilled cheese and tomato soup. 

So kem got to wear her new bomber hat. It doesn't snow much here, so snow clothes stay pretty fresh.

She loved it ;) can't you tell. 

She must take after her mama, Why be outside and cold when you can be warm and not outside?

Kroten just wanted to make and throw and eat snow balls. 

Things got interesting.

See he still has a snow ball in his hands...

And then we (and eventually just me) built a snow man.

I was proud of him... he was cute. Ignore the crazy eyes, k man picked them out,  he would not budge.

It was a fun day.

Glad it is over!

Jared's birthday part two...

So I posted about the morning of Jared's birthday but failed to post the rest. 

He went to work.

while he was there, I made him this AWESOME cake...

We went to Red Robin for dinner. Since our new years resolution was to not eat out spontaneously, this was a much anticipated event, and it was soooo goood. 

Then we ate said cake. YUMMY! 

We had to light the candles a second time because "somebody" wanted a turn... 

after...

i have always wanted a tutu basket. And since Kem was born i have been meaning to do it. Finally got around to it. :)

During...

Before...

I am not going to lie. I had a little bit of an anxiety attack this morning. I was not acting like myself. The house is clean the dishes are done the kids rooms are spotless and there was a load of laundry in the washer and the dryer. There was not much left to clean but i felt like it needed to be done. I Felt a little compulsive and manic. so when my sister called at noon and asked if i would Chaperone her and her friends on a day trip to the coast while my dad watched the kids it was a no brainer and a tender mercy from heaven. Now i am sitting on the beach contemplating life with a fire. I love living in Oregon and i love getting away. my life always looks better when sitting on the beach!

happy birthday loverboy...

Yes, I call him lover boy. Yes, he deserves the name. No, he is not ashamed to admit it. Yes, Today was his birthday and he is getting old {shhh, don't tell him I told you.}

I love this man, he is such a good father and husband. He is truly the hardest working human being I have ever known, and has the work ethic of a stallion (not sure if stallions have good work ethic, but you see where I am going with that.) 

I tried to let him sleep in, sadly in this house it is hard to do with the kids screaming in the room adjacent to our bedroom. But alas, at 9:30 he awoke and the kids and I surprised him with breakfast in bed and a jolly and jumbled rendition of "happy birthday."

I know with complete certainty, that he will kill me when he sees that I have posted this picture, but I love love love it especially kroten's lively expression while singing said birthday song. 

And to prove that he is truely the best father in the world, he gobbled his FAVORITE breakfast so that he could wrestle with the kiddies...

Then he went to work :(... told you... he is a stallion, or something like that. 

Happy Birthday babe, I love you!

Hell must have froze over. Eugene is not hell but that is about what it would take for us to get this much snow. and in march! What the heck?

heres to sleeping in.

Found this note when we got back from our date. I love having family close and built in babysitting. Heres to sleeping in in the morning. :)

Ps we do miss jared's fam. Wish you could babysit our kids too. ;)

no artificial green for st. patty's day...

This post started out as a St. Patrick's day post, but now it is taking a turn to something I have wanted to post for a long time...

I feel goofy saying it, but I full heartedly believe that my son has a dye intolerance. In fact, I would not be surprised if most or all kids have a hard time with artificial dyes.

Before you roll your eyes, and say yeah right hippy mom... I was right there with you before I witnessed it first hand. I used to roll my eyes at mom's who would say don't give my kids food coloring or fruit snacks with dye... but now I KNOW!!

It is not a physical reaction, he does not break out in hives, he has an emotional or I guess a behavioral reaction. He cannot focus, he throws TERRIBLE fits. He is disobedient etc etc. And some of you may say "well... he IS 3." And yes, 3 year olds do this. But when you can tell a distinct difference between his behavior when he has had dyes and when he has not, it is something more than a bad case of toddlerness.

I have read studies (again I know they are not always accurate) that say that children were tested before given dyes and they got considerably higher scores than when they were given food dyes. They are more able to focus on a task and are less cranky. Even adults have dye intolerance's, but are better able to  control their emotions, but it has been proven that they focus better without all that artificial dye in their system.  

I know... I know... it sounds crazy, but when you see a perfectly sweet 3 year old who is normally very well balanced throw a screaming tantrum over absolutely NOTHING after he has had a blue icee, you will believe me.  

{now back to our regularly scheduled program}

I like to have themed food. I like cookies shaped in holiday decor and food that is color coded with the holiday at hand... So I wanted to do green food for st. patty's day. No dye for us, so I had to get creative. 

SPINACH macaroni and cheese... and they ate it... and they liked it. 

Maybe green food is not just for st. patricks day. 

All I did was puree some spinach with a little milk and add it to our mac and cheese (which by the way has dye, so I buy annies mac and cheese.... IT IS SOOO GOOD.)

I know I sound crazy with all the dye stuff, but really if you could see the difference... you would totally do it too. 

And I am adding some spinich to some cupcakes for later... shhh don't tell the kids what it is... its just green for st patty's day ;) I will let you know how that goes over.  

green all the way.

Its st. Patricks day at pre-school today. Green all the way down to his shoes. However I think he should be exempt from the green rule because of his red hair. Not because he looks bad in green, but because he is sporting his irish naturally. :)

Food storage to the rescue.

In the middle of making cookies I realized we had no eggs and no joke it was snowing outside so there was no way i was running to the store or to the neighbors house. Then i remembered the powdered eggs we bought in an attempt to be self relient. They saved the day.

One food storage book i read awhile back said something about how we need food storage not only for big emergencies such as storms or disasters but for the everyday emergencies like running out of eggs. So true. So true.

its just one of those kinds of days.

Went to my sisters Mary Kay party. It was fun getting a facial and a make over but not fun being twisted into buying stuff. I did not buy much but i did gain a small resolve to be make myself a little prettier each day.

that is good i guess. :*

Shoe lover.

Kem is a shoe girl! She loves mommy's shoes. She goes into my closet and gets out the pair she wants. She is a girl after my own heart. Love love love her!

success finally.

Finally a successful healthy dinner experiment. If you cannot tell I have a habit of failing at experimental cooking.

Tonight I made up this concoction of chicken and sausage and stewed tomatoes and served it over rice.  Brown rice! It was a little spicy and sooo yummy. And to top it off I actually made kale chips. I put too much salt and cooked them too long and they were still good. The kids even ate them. I wonder what they are like when you do them right?

And this morning I made breakfast cookies (Thanks tina) I will most def post that recipe. We loved them. Great for a daylight savings Sunday. Glad I made them last night. :/

this is jared's favorite part of the new house because he finally has a place to work on projects and use big tools. Its my favorite part because he works on stuff i want like my coffe table. :) and the very very best part about it is that the kids get to play outside while daddy works and my house is quiet while i make dinner.
we love our big porch.

like mommy.

K man is getting his first photoshop lesson. Actually he just wanted to do what mommy was doing. That is how cool my work is. And they wonder why I spend so much time on the computer. :)

My Wonderful husband bought me this antique door for my birthday. :) its going to be legendary. Just wait for the before and after pics.

And now i am laying in my warm Comfy bed next to my wonderful husband getting ready to go to sleep to start a new day that is not my birthday. :( but today was truly wonderful. best birthday ever. I am very very blessed. Very happy.

Its my birthday.

I got new lamps with the money i got from my awesome in laws. Thankyou thankyou thankyou. We needed those and i love all the light.

Yep. I am eating another piece. Don't judge me.

my birthday cake. :) thanks Kaka.

And jared made Mongolian grill. :) he did really good. Yum.

And a little party???

Its my birthday.

Getting gas. Not the highlight of my day but...:)

yep... I got a massage! :)