happy birthday alyssa!

my niece, alyssa, turns 10 today!


halle and alyssa

happy birthday alyssa! you are such a beautiful, mature, smart, talented girl! and i am pretty sure that with your new easy bake oven we could add good cook too.

we love ya! hope you have a wonderful day today!

birthday party

as i mentioned before, after dinner we went to jarom and elena's house for a party.



don't you love kevin's wrapping job on that red present?! i accidentally packed away all the scotch tape so he was left with packing tape...sorry honey (packed away you ask?...another post HOPEFULLY soon to come).

kevin got me a HUGE cake from cold stone. he wanted to be sure the manwaring clan had plenty to eat. so thoughtful!



it was pure torture for all the little boys to sit and wait for me to unwrap the big red box (which held to new pillows). i let them help me when it finally came time and this is what they had been waiting to do since they set their eyes on it...



silly boys!

do i look 30 to you?!

i know...not a good picture! but, it's the best one kev got of me and my birthday breakfast.



but, man! i had a great day celebrating 30 years of life! the night before my birthday kevin laid down the agenda for my big day.

sleep in until 8am (THAT IS A BIG DEAL IN OUR HOUSE)
8am birthday breakfast
11:30am kevin brings me lunch (jimmy johns...my favorite)
3:45pm kevin gets off work early so i can receive my first present
4pm my first present...a 50 minute massage at the essence of you
5:30pm dinner at restaurant of my choice (of course i picked outback and their alice springs chicken)
7pm party at jarom and elena's for cake and more presents!

i honestly felt like i ate ALL DAY LONG! and i did. it was fabulous!

thanks for all the bloggy love, phone calls, birthday cards, visits, text messages, emails, facebook messages, gifts, and thoughts! i really had a wonderful day!

here are kevin's little helpers getting down and dirty!

Happy Birthday Becky

I have never put up a post, but with it being Becky's 30th birthday (she looks like she is 21) I figured I better give this a try. I am not much for writing sappy stuff, but Here is to my Best Friend and the Love of My Life. I hope you have a great Birthday. I LOVE YOU. Kevin

brush 'em, brush 'em, brush 'em!

one of the more enjoyable parts of each evening. i love watching these boys "brush" their teeth together (more like eating toothpaste together). it's so funny to see little wes standing on the stool with owen and reaching for the water.

saturday morning

a relaxing, do nothing, pillow fighting, stay in your pj's 'til noon...because all your clothes are dirty and you are doing laundry, kind of saturday! yes...it's been awhile!

hand-made

yesterday was a 2-star day and a 5-star night. let's skip the lousy part and just get to the good stuff.

kevin's sister, staci, and her hubby, kyle, came and enjoyed some pizza with us last night while enjoying the bsu game in the background. then at 7:30 they sharpened their parenting skills by watching our boys while we went and enjoyed a movie (eagle eye...pretty good!). THANKS YOU TWO!

then, as soon as the show was over (10pm...mind you) i dropped by carino's and picked up 5 much needed slices of their turtle cheese cake, dropped kevin off at home and was off to emily's place in shelley, id for an emergency crafting night with (some of) my sisters!



by 2am we were appreciating these beauties! aren't they fun?! i love them. thanks EMILY, NATALIE, and ELENA for all the food, fun, and laughs (and a little deep conversation thrown in here and there)!

what did you have for breakfast this morning?

wesley decided he was in the mood for a sharpie permanent marker.



fine print...blue ink...in case you were wondering.

time to clean up!

winding down

kevin and...mini-kevin (aka owen) winding down at the end of a day!

oktoberfest

this afternoon my family gathered together for the byu football game. but, before the game my mom suggested we have our very own oktoberfest (to honor the german blood in our family)!

so, we each showed up with a german dish and enjoyed some good food (it's what we do best)!

mom made her famous bierocks
elena made frikadelins with sauerkraut
amber brought haagen-dazs ice cream
i brought german hot potato salad
kaylin brought brownies
emily brought german chocolate cupcakes and the beer...rootbeer of course!



cheers!


emily enjoying some german cuisine.

we were all so busy eating we barely noticed mom had disappeared to make a costume change! (: yes, we all died laughing! you gotta love her energy and effort! she makes every event unforgetable! thanks mom!


mom: "it's authentic!"

a friday night at home means...

HORSEY RIDES!

peek-a-boo

wesley playing peek-a-boo with dad behind the desk.

general conference weekend

first weekend in october means road trip, general conference, and family!

friday we went to logan, ut to stay with my sister and her family for the weekend. friday night the boys (my dad, chris, kevin, brandon, ben, and two of chris's buddies) went to the byu vs utah state football game while the ladies (katie, myself, emily, and kaylin) went to a movie and then out for dessert.

saturday morning we watched the first session of general conference (it's a televised broadcast the lds church does semi-annually...click here for more information) and then braved my nieces soccer game in the POURING rain...which her team won 3-0! alex assisted two and made one. good job alex!

then chris and kevin went to the priesthood session (a satelite broadcast the lds church does semi-annually for the men) at chris's stake center. afterwards katie, nat, and i met up with them at chili's for some warm, yummy food (and it was STILL POURING RAIN).

sunday we laid around at katie's and watched the 3rd and 4th sessions of the conference (well, as much as you can with seven kids) and had a yummy breakfast and an even better lunch! in between sessions i went to the hospital to meet my best friends newest addition! elise just happened to have her little baby three weeks early while i was town! LUCKY ME! it was so great to see her and meet her fresh-from-heaven baby...neil christian hansen. PRECIOUS!



and then, we were on our way back home! i can't believe how quickly our weekend passed by. now we are back home and ready to start a new week. hope you all enjoyed a fun weekend!

i only took two pictures this weekend so i should include both. this is how we found wesley when we returned home from our date saturday night! he sure knows how to relax! funny little man!

p.s. sami-thanks for watching our boys while we played hard this weekend! you sure racked in the favorite niece and cousin points!

note to self...

...wesley is not quite old enough to eat a wendy's frosty unsupervised. after i left him unsupervised for about 5 minutes i came back to find he had slung his frosty all over the walls, blinds, table, and floor! wes the mess!

and boy was he proud!

did you watch oprah today?

today oprah had brenda slaby on her show. she is the mother and teacher who lost her 2-year old baby last august after accidentaly leaving her in the car for 8 hrs (during the first day of school)! such a heart-breaking confession from this mother...something that could happen to any of us!

this show hit me HARD and i wanted to share this with everyone! go to oprah.com and watch or read a small portion. i know some of you are VERY busy mommas and i just wanted to remind you all...mothers, we need to slow down!

please slow down. and remember your little ones! this show is the wake-up call every mom needs.

love you all!