I'll miss my childhood house!

I think all the girls in our family are very sentimental, this proves it. My dad retired this past January and they are ready to move on to missions and smaller sqft. The house I grew up in was the funnest house for a kid to live in. My parents got it as a bank repo. When they first bought it nobody had lived in it for years. People had climbed the back balcony and graffitied the inside. We did a lot of painting and cutting down trees. My mom has been renovating the house since we moved in. The house is 7300 sqft, it started with 9 bedrooms, 5 baths, secret passageways from closets, dumbwaiter, entercom system and all that great stuff. All of which were removed from the house, except the entercom system. That way we never missed any conference no matter where we were hiding in the house, oh, and we could ask our friends who we knew were coming over if it was really them at the front door. Since we've lived there my parents have changed every part of the house except the living room walls. They have added an apartment upstairs. They have added a big family room where a patio used to be. My brother landscaped and it is now so beautiful. As you can see they are stuccoing the outside and getting ready to sell. It's all very sad. So many safe childhood memories are there and it was the center gathering for when all my siblings were in town. It's the best thing for my parents, they don't need that much space anymore. I guess I always thought my parents would live there forever, like my grandparents did in their houses. Just like the way I thought we'd raise our kids in Utah, but here we are 3000 miles away. Life changes, even when you don't want it to! Thanks for the pictures, Jess.

It's official, my parent are moving!

Bragging moment...

This is why I have a blog...to BRAG! Greg bought me a treadmill for Mother's Day and it has been an awesome tool of motivation for the boys. If any of you know my boys, you know they love to play x-box. We never could figure out a way to let them play without feeling like it was a waste of time. We have now come up with a way! The boys walk on the treadmill and earn x-box minutes. Minute-for-minute. They have to walk a minimum of 30 minutes, but after that they can walk as long as they want. One day Austin called me when I was away from home to tell me how proud of himself he was because he had walked for 50 minutes! He told me the other day that he feels so much faster when he gets off the treadmill. They also value their x-box time now. They don't just ask to play every second of the day. We will sometimes catch them outside walking on the treadmill without reminders from us. They are benefiting from the exercise and we are benefiting from them understanding the value of earning something. I must say this is one parenting technique that Greg and I are very proud of ourselves for doing. Oh, and I am proud of the boys for picking up on it so quickly!!

The last few weeks...

Our future "Rock-band" participants.


The boys taking a spin on thier new 4-wheelers.


Big Aust graduating from kindergarten. They look so happy, but little do they know that they still have TWELVE more years of school until real graduation!


Hunter at scout camp with Greg.


Aust and Hunter on last day of school.

So the last few weeks have been a lot of fun. Greg took the boys to the Father's and Son's outing, Aust graduated from kindergarten. It's a big deal at his school. They get gowns/caps and have a big ceremony. Greg is the Scout leader and took the YM on a campout. Hunter got to go with him. Greg bought the boys little 4-wheelers and they have been having a ball. Hunter has started flag football, Austin starts soccor next week and we are making a trip to Utah in July. It should be a fun summer!

So I have this cute friend, Julie, who was in our primary presidency (until our ward split) and she has just introduced me to a new website that is so great. It has all sorts of great helps and visuals for all church auxilaries. The website address is www.theideadoor.com. It has been a great help for me, as I am the secretary of the primary. I am adding this website to my favorites and adding it onto my blog. Enjoy!

This Tag is for Greg....

What is his name? Gregory William Harr

How long have you been married? Almost 11 years

How long did you date? We were together I think 5 years before we were married

How old is he? 31

Who eats more? Depends on what we are eating

Who said I love you first? I think I waited until he said it

Who is taller? Greg

Who can sing better? Greg, he has a great voice, but he'd never let anyone know this.

Who is smarter? Definitely Greg

Who does the laundry? I do

Who pays the bills? I do, but he provides the cash.

Who sleeps on the right side? Greg

Who mows the lawn? It's a family effort

Who cooks dinner? I do

Who drives? Greg, he told me the other day that I am too cautious so he always has to drive.

Who is more stubborn? Greg :), he might argue that one.

Who kissed who first? Greg kissed me, we were 14, when he hit a homerun at his baseball game

Who asked who out first? He asked me out for our first date when I turned 16.

Who proposed? Greg did. He was very creative and did the six days of Easter. Each day he'd give me a gift that started with whatever letter was that day. Then on Easter (which happened to be my birthday that year) he put rabbits in my car for the letter "r". I thought for sure it was going to be a ring. Then when I went up to his house he had video taped himself doing a skit of how he should ask me to marry him. He showed the ring on the video and all. Then he came out of his parents room where he had been hiding and he asked me to marry him. What a cute husband!

Who has more friends? Depends on the day

Who is more sensitive? Again, depends on the day

Who has more siblings? There are 10 kids in my family and 6 in Greg's

Who puts the kids to bed? We both do.

Who wears the pants? I do in the day and he does at night.

I am curious to know about some of your husbands so I now TAG: Jill B, Marquita R, Susan K, Lindsay J, and Bobbi M

Happy Mother's Day!

I must say that I love Mother's Day. I love that my boys have such a great dad who teaches them to love and respect their mom. My day started off great. Greg got up with the babies so I could sleep in until 8:30! Then he had them back down for naps and was making breakfast by the time I got up. He had dishes done and had cleaned up from the night before. You would think that being together since the 8th grade would make us tired of each other, but I think that I find a new reason to love him everyday. He is such a great provider for our family. He loves the boys more than anything and can't wait to spend time with them everyday. He has a compliment for me everytime he sees me and he's very supportive in whatever I decisions I am trying to make. I think the best gifts I got for mother's day were the letters that Greg and the boys wrote to me. They each took time and let me know how much I am appreciated. That is invaluable. Greg teaches the boys that what I do at home, taking care of the house, is just as important as him going to work everyday. I am thankful I am a Mother and that I have such a great support team here at home! I hope you all had just as wonderful a day!!

I was picking up around the house, which seems to be an endless job since the twins have realized how fun it is to get into everything, when I had such a strong desire to tell all my friends and sisters how much they inspire me. I am inspired daily by such great women! Either by showing me new ways to be a better mom, better friend, better sister or to just "think outside of the box". I can't say how valuable that is to me. One thing that I was reminded of was how fast our kids grow. My sister sent me a great email. I definetly had tears by the end of it. It just said how we need to put things aside and spend time with our kids (I am adding in husband, since when the kids are gone we will just have each other). There is something that I've learned from you whether you are near or far, and I just wanted to say thank you!

This Tag is For Austin...

Austin has been tagged by his cousin Isaac. Here are 8 things about our "big Aust".

1. Austin's hands are almost as big as mine. I think he might be tall, like his uncle's.

2. We saw some skater's outside the grocery store last night and I asked Austin if that's what he wanted to be when he grow's up. He said "I have lot's of other things that I want to be. Besides they don't make any money."

3. He loves Hunter. They do their fare share of fighting, but when it comes down to it Hunter is his best friend. He will sit next to Hunter and draw if Hunter's drawing. Or Hunter will sit Austin down next to him while he's doing his homework and "teach" him. Austin is always so proud when he understands Hunter's homework.

4. He still tries his hardest to put on all his super-hero costumes. The other day he asked if I would zip up his red spiderman costume. I went to zip it and there was no zipper. Infact the whole back had been ripped apart so he could fit into it.

5. Austin is an awesome big brother. I caught him playing with the twins. They were on each side of him and he was going to hide for them to find him. I told him he was going to be a great babysitter one day, he beamed and became even cuter with the babies.

6. Our primary put out a CD with all the songs they should be learning this year. I try and play it in the car often. When I do, this cute 5 year old voice booms out every word of every song from the back of the car. I can't help but get all teary eyed...you all know what I mean when you hear a child sing.

7. Along with those primary songs are all of the Articles of Faith songs. Our primary felt that the kids were not learning the AoF so we have them focus on one AoF song each month. I had the first one playing and Austin seemed to know it (when I see him in primary he is usually undoing his tie or shoelace, so I was actually surprised when he knew these). I asked if he knew the rest and he very loudly told me #2 and most of #3. This is all learning from the songs at primary. I am impressed and must say proud of Aust.

8. Austin is usually a very determined kid. I say usually because he still won't learn to tie his shoes. Greg took him hiking up Flat Top last year, when he was 4. Most of it is kid friendly, until you get to the top. Greg is not too keen on quitters, so he and Austin kept going and they made it all the way to the top. I haven't even gotten that far yet. He gets something in his head and until he has accomplished it, he won't quit.

We love having Austin in our family. He tags: Carter Rhodehouse, Hailey Ramsden, Luke Carlston, Kaleb Skinner, Audrey Sanders and Carter Newell.

Is it spring yet?

Last Saturday the boys were hot and wanted to be cooled off with the hose. So they are running through the sprinklers. Even though there is a little bit of snow across the street, it was really warm at or above 50 degrees.


Then on this past Friday the weather people say it's going to snow. Sure we think. First thing in the morning we see very few snowflakes. Austin even wears his hoody to school. By the time I pick them up for school we have more snow in that short period of time then we had all winter. Will we ever have a real spring?


By the way...thanks so much Jessi helping me with my blog. I love it!