Happy Birthday,Caston!!

I cannot believe I have a kid who is a decade old!Caston I cannot believe you are 10

today!I remember so clearly when you were born.What a great joy and love we felt when you

where placed in my arms that very first time and every time after that my love and joy as even grown stronger.Caston I am so proud of the person you are becoming.I really appreciate your sweet spirit and your willingness to help me (most of the time =) ) Please always know how much you mean to your father and I .You are such a wonderful part of our family.We feel so blessed that you chose us to be your parents here on Earth and that Heavenly Father has intrusted us with you.We are always here for you ,We love you!! Happy Birthday!!

My Preschool Graduate!!

Is this for real?Maddie how did you grow up so fast?You were my tiny little baby

just yesterday.How did you get so big,that you are now going to elementary school in a

couple of months?I am so proud of you Maddie! I love you!!

Taking the Scouts to Channel 4 news Station!

For an activity with our scouts,Margaret had an awesome idea to take the kids to The Channel 4 news station and attend "Marti's weather school"! It was a blast!We got to talk to two of the Anchors there,1 Sportscaster, and ofcourse weather lady and 1 of the host of "Good Things Utah" Marti Skolds. It was neat to hear of on the techinical things and all the have to do to prepare for the news. There is alot more work put into it then you may realize. I am so glad the boys had a great time.We certainly did as well. We sure love our boyscouts!

Happy 11th Anniversary!!

James, words cannot express how deeply in love I am with you.Ever since our first date I knew something was so special about you and you know my Mom said that first night she had a feeling we were gonna be seeing alot more of you.=) You don't know how badly I hoped that to be true.You have always treated me with great care and love. I have always felt your love. I love you for that.You are an amazing Husband, Friend and Father.I am proud of you and the kind of person you are.You make my world go round.I love how we can laugh so hard with each till we are cryin. I love how I still feel so excited to see you after work or when we have been apart.(And it's not just because I need help with the kids.=) ) I love how we get along so well and how relaxed we are with each other. I feel very blessed to have you as my Forever Eternal Companion.I have enjoyed so much being married to you these last 11 years and I cannot wait to enjoy forever with you.Always know how much I love you!

Yours Forever,

Maryann

Grateful for Trials

I know this is might be weird to say. But I am grateful for trials.I am grateful


because you grow as a person and learn more about the kind of person you are or can be.


Going through the trials James and I have faced this last year has only stregnthened


our relationship.I did not think that was possible.You want ( And I am only speaking for


myself.I realize not everyone has the same experiences.) to do everything possible to make


your spouse feel better about the trials you are going through. I am a type of person


who trys to adjust positively to trials that I go through.Does that mean I don't hurt ,stress,cry.


No. I have done plenty of that lately.I do know people react differently and maybe react differently to different trials.We can not grow spiritually as a person

if we never go through trials.My testimony has stregnthened throught this trial we went through. Heaven Father has blessed us a great deal . I want you all to know,I know our Heavenly Father listens to our prayers and he is aware of our dealings.Some trials are short , some are long , some last the entire time we are here on Earth.Everyone is going through a trial or more than one.I want to always remember that and beaware and try to help out any way I can. I have also felt so much love from family and friends during this time. I want to thank all of you that made us feel so loved.We love you and hope we can always be there for you.So there you have it. I am grateful for trials,atleast what you get out of it.=) But I will enjoy being a little less stressed and hope that it is gonna be a while till my next trial.

Happy birthday my precious girl!

Happy Birthday, Maddie! You are my sweet girl.Words cannot express the happiness I feel to be your Mother. I have always wanted a little girl,since I was a little girl.I love doing girly things with you. I love painting our nails together and having tea parties and all the fun things girls get to do.You are so full of life.I love how motherly you are to Van and your babies.You are such a big helper to Mommy. I know you are going to be a wonderful Mother someday. I can't wait to watch you with your own babies.But for now I want to enjoy the precious time I have with you as my own little girl.You are so loved!You have so many people surrounding you that love you!Always remember how special you are!Mommy and Daddy are so proud of you and the kind of caring person you are.May all your birthday wishes come true! Love,Mommy,Daddy,Caston,Noah and Van

Holiday Happenings continued....

I didn't have a chance to finish are holiday happenings in my last post ,so here's a few more fun things we did.

We had a wonderful Christmas . You gotta love the matching P.j.s , a gift from Unckie Brent!=)
We had a blast sledding the day after Christmas up in Sandy with Family!


We also last minute decided to go to California for New years! Unfortunately we were having to much fun and I didnt take any good pictures.=( The holidays were fun but I am glad to be back on a normal routine again with the kids.Hope everyone had a great holiday!

Well needless to say,the holidays have kept me busy and I havent had a chance to post in a while. So here is a few happenings in december.=) As a family we attended Madelyn's Preschool Christmas Program at the Riverton Civic Center.Here she is with her good friend Cooper. Grandpa Peterson was able to attend with us and thought Maddie did a wonderful job.Maddie loves to sing and does a really good job at it!=)On Christmas Eve we went over to Grandma and Grandpa Peterson's for a traditional Christmas Eve dinner and Christmas Program. We only had less than half the Peterson Clan there this year.We missed those who were not there,but understand they couldn't make it this year and hopefully we can all be together sometime soon.We had a wonderful Christmas! We love watching the kids get excited about there gifts,its funner than getting gifts ourselves. We had a wonderful special gift this Christmas-Grandma Dastrup spent Christmas with us and we loved every minute of it!

Merry Christmas Everyone...

I just wanted to wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year! I have so much to be thankful for.First and for most I am so grateful for my testimony of the true church here on the earth today...The Church of Jesus Christ and Latter Day Saints.I would be completely lost if it weren't for my testimony. I have a true testament of the blessings of the gospel.I am so grateful to my brother Jesus Christ for his sacrifice, so that we are able to repent for our sins and live with our families and Heavenly Father in Celestrial Glory,Forever. I am so grateful for my good husband and best friend James. He is a wonderful husband,father,friend and person.I am so greatful to have these four beautiful spirits Father in Heaven has entrusted to me and James. They are such wonderful blessings and I love them dearly and would do anything for them. I am grateful for trials so that I can grow as a person.I am grateful to be surrounded by Family and Friends who love me.I am grateful for our family's health,happiness and safety.May you all find happiness being surrounded by your loving family and friends,not just for the holidays, but for always.Peace be with you till we meet again.

My Baby is Potty-trained!

I have been meaning to blog about this for a while,since Van has been going on the potty for a few months.But I think I can officially say it.We just drove to California and he did not wet his pants at all ! He would go when we made our stops! I am so excited for him being such a big boy! Part of me though is also saddened.Van is probably our last baby. I am so grateful to be blessed with 4 healthy children.Heavenly Father has richly blessed me.I love and appreciate each one of my children and their different special personalities.They are sweet spirits.I look forward to the next chapter in my life and watching them grow and experience life. I am so proud of you Van!Mommy loves you very much!

Happy Birthday Noah!!

Happy Birthday,Noah!! I hope you have a wonderful 7th Birthday!!I can't believe you are already 7!You are such a sweet boy.You always help Mommy when she needs you.You make me laugh as well as everyone around you. I will never forget when you came and joined our family here on Earth. It was Thanksgiving night 2001.Daddy,Caston and I had just gotten home from Grandma Peterson's house.We had Thanksgiving dinner with the Peterson's and the Dastrup Family.All of us were anticipating your birth the next morning.See it was 2 weeks over the estimated due date and the doctors were going to induce Mommy the next morning so we could meet you. Anyway Mommy got ready for bed and I sat down on the bed(it was midnight by that time) to go to sleep when my water broke! You were on your way!Right away, Mommy and Daddy called Grandma Dastrup to come over to watch Caston while we went to the hospital to have you.3 1/2 hours on November 23,2001 at 3:26am you were finally in my arms! You came so fast Mommy didn't get any pain medication!But as soon as you were in my arms ,all I could feel was happiness!You make us so proud Noah. You are an amazing person. When you want to learn something you learn quickly.You potty trained the fastest (1 week and you were trained completely).When you were 3 1/2 and wanted to ride on a two wheeler bike like all the other kids you did it right away like it was effortless. You are my best cleaner.Your organization skills are amazing! I can't wait to continue to watch you grow and learn.You are SPECIAL! You are so LOVED by so many,Noah.I love you,Noah! Happy birthday my sweet boy.

New Kids on The Block Concert!!

We had a blast!!My sister Carol and I went to Nkotb Concert last night. What fun!! Better than I even expected. We thought it would be fun to go see them since 19years ago we saw them when I was in 6th grade. It was my 1st concert! This weekend was also my sister Carol's Birthday. We weren't gonna go at first because we didn't want to spend alot of money on tickets,since we are both on a tight budget at the moment. Then I thought..hmmm. I wonder if anyone is selling them for cheap on Ksl. Sure enough,this lady had bought some during the presale,but then later won some more on a radio station! What a steal,she was selling them only for $25 each ticket! These were not bad seats either.So we bought them from her and had a blast at the concert.Natasha Bedingfield opened for them and she was awesome as well! What an amazing voice she has! The New Kids were AWESOME and definately still got it!! I love you Joey!!=)

Winter has arrived!!!

I am so excited!! I love the Winter! I love having everything look like a winter wonderland! I love comfy clothes, comfort foods and hot drinks to warm up to! The only thing I don't love is driving on unplowed roads. I hate it! Here's a few pictures I took this morning of what I woke up to! Happy Winter all!

Scared

So......It looks like we have a new President. I will be honest I am not happy at all.Not that we had awesome choices to begin with.But I definately felt more comfortable with John MCcain being President than Obama.I just feel the Adversary is winning lately.There is so much corruption and sadness in the world.Specially with people trying to make gay marriage legal.That breaks my heart that people are trying to corrupt the sanctity of marriage. I am scared for my kids and what they are going to have to deal with.If the World is like this when they are little what is it gonna be like when they are older.My only comfort is we always have the Lord to turn to. I am so grateful to have my beliefs and my testimony.

Pumpkin Carving

Thought I would share a few pictures of our "pumpkin carving night" for Family home evening!I sure love this time of year.We had gone to Wheeler Farm to the Scarecrow festival,and the kids got to pick out their own pumpkin!The kids had a blast picking out what their pumpkin should look like and then creating their pumpkin. Happy Halloween!!

Twilight...the movie!!!

I am soooooooooooooo excited for this movie.(I'm sure I am not the only one!) I saw a preview for this movie last night for the first time(I don't watch many commercials so I don't know how long the t.v. has being showing previews for this movie)but what I want to know is who is going to the midnight showing and who is waiting till the next day or later to see it? For me I don't want to be exhausted when I see this movie so I will most likely be going the first showing of the first day! Sooooooo excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mini James....

I found a small laptop in James's office the other day and asked him what it was being used for.He said it wasn't being used for anything. I thought great can we let Caston use it,since I have to fight Caston to use my computer. He said sure and thought he could start teaching Caston how to program computers and teach him other computer skills as well. In the past,whenever I have asked Caston what he would like to be when he grows up he always says he wants to work on computers like daddy. You should have seen the great big smile Caston had on his face when James told him he would let this laptop be his and to start teaching him how to use it.So every night they have been working on his laptop to get it up and running. It is so great to see the special bond they are forming through this opportunity that has come into light.

Great New Blog I found...

Its called Thrifty Decor Chick. She just started recently,but has a ton of cute ideas to decorate your house for cheaper.On her front page right now,she has a ton of cute Halloween craft and decorating ideas! Check it out at www.thriftydecorchick.blogspot.com

Maddie and her baby.....

So we got this kitten back in July when it was only 6 weeks old. Ever since then Maddie has loved and babied this kitty. She carries the kitten around all the time. She dresses the kitty in her baby doll clothes and has even pretended to feed it with a doll baby bottle. The kitten just puts up with all the torture Maddie has inflicted on this poor cat. But what is so funny is the kitten adores Maddie. She always wants to sleep on Maddies bed with her. She will fall asleep in Maddie's arms. It's hilarious! I just love it and thought I would share some pictures of Maddie and her"baby". I am just wondering what happens when the kitty gets to big for Maddie to hold.=)

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies!!

I thought Mindy had a great idea about posting favorite recipes and ideas for these fun upcoming months.I wanted to share a recipe of Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies that I make this time a year alot! They are delicious and so easy to make!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 spice cake mix
1 can of pumpkin
3/4 cinnamon chips ( you can usually find them at walmart this time of year)
3/4 semi sweet chocolate chips


Blend cake mix and pumpkin. Stir in chips. Scoop on cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 10min.Enjoy!

*if you can't find cinnamon chips or don't want to use them just use 1 1/2 cups of chocolate chips.