Happy "Love" Day

Definition of love is spelled: TIME

I can't remember the General Authority that stated that, but it has always stuck with me. I have always loved Valentines Day. Not only for expressing my love towards my wonderful husband, but for my children as well. They love this holiday and so do I! They are so excited to wake up to heart pancakes. Elle claims Santa is bringing her a gift. Nope.... just a little something from mom and dad! I love that my kids are excited for J and I to exchange our gifts and have our family candle light dinner. Watching Ava this past week as she made her mailbox for all her valentines to enter and watching the joy on her face as she writes each one of her valentines, brings me joy. She is so excited to give them to all her friends at school.

I have always looked forward to Emmies school party, on this particular day. Mrs. Stephanie and Grandma always did such a wonderful job making these sweet kiddos feel so special and loved. I have always taken Ava out of school to go to Emmies class and participate in her fun parties. They are always the BEST. This year is going to be different and I am sad about it. We always spent so much TIME with Emmie. I never once got frustrated or angry towards her and maybe thats one of the reasons she's so special to me. You could feel her love when she was in the room. It would radiate. I want her to know how much I love and miss her on this LOVE day! She is our families one "true love."

Em being gone has put life in more perspective for me. I need to do better with my kiddos that are here and spend more TIME with them. We get so caught up with extra curricular activities, work, church callings, spending time with friends and extended family that sometimes we forget that the people that live within the walls of our home need more time with mom and dad. Life passes by too fast and it's easy to let the small things slip away. I learned from Emmie that I didn't need to buy her one thing. All she wanted from us was time. I'm so grateful I gave her that. You can never get yesterday back, so today I'm going to tell my family how much I love them and hug them a little longer.... Hope everyone has a great love day and gets to spend time with their loved ones! XOXO

These two are best buddies. It's so fun to watch how close they have become. There is nothing like a sister! Ava is so giving.. she wants to give Elle her old ipod for Valentines! I don't think Elsie is quite responsible yet! Ava would die if she knew Elle was getting ready to give Ava's new ipod touch a bath in the sink, while she was at school the other day!!

Elle of course would not cooperate after church today. She has been a little pill for me! Thanks goodness she is so cute!!

I love this girl... she is so good to me!

We watched a movie and popped popcorn tonight. While I was cleaning up my hubby decided to give our 12 week old son popcorn and claims he loved it. Nice!!

Have I mentioned how much I love this little guy?!

♥ XOXO ♥

I love Valentines Day and I'm so lucky to be able to share it with my best friend. He doesn't love Valentines day(he claims it's a marketing scam) but he sure does a good job! He remembered on his own to send the girls flowers to their school on Friday and also sent me beautiful roses. We went out on sat. night to Mastro's city hall.... It was so yummy. Thanks hon... your the best!

Since I was a little girl, I can always remember my dad sending me these candy bouquets to school. It has always been a tradition of his. I loved getting them every year. I have the best dad ever. Jason has taken on this tradition and he loves it as well. This is Avas first year receiving them at school, she was in Kindergarten last year. When I picked her up, she came out and said, "why did dad send these to school, we are suppose to get them at home?" She might have been embarrassed. Maybe I liked this tradition a little better than she does. She better get used to it!!

Emmie loves receiving her flowers every year!

My dad has continued the tradition every year. It is always different. This year, he sent us yummy chocolate covered strawberries that were scrumptious.... thanks dad! (woops... I couldn't help but eat one before the camera came out.. typical)

Jason is always good about sending me roses. At the beginning of our marriage, my dad stood him up a couple of times. I don't think he will ever forget again!!

So pretty

That's right... he's finally admitting he was in love with me when he first met me with my clear/yellow braces. I fell in love too when I layed my eyes on his curly mullet while wearing his muscle shirts in music class. Nothing like elementary school.... love at first sight!

As a little girl, I loved coming home from school with a table decorated and baked goods on the table. We loved opening our little Valentine gift. I do the same for my kids. They loved their cute jammies I got them and their jewelry. Girls are so much fun!!

Here's Ava before church. She was insistent on wearing these Valentine heart tights. I told her it was going to be hot out. She didn't care.

Our little Annie before church. I stayed home with Em. She didn't feel well. She is doing a little better today.

I hope everyone had a great Valentines! I am sad to take all my decorations down. I truly love this day. It's such a fun day to share our extra love to our spouses and kids! xoxo

Goodbye 09.....

......... hello 2010. We are anxious to see what you have to bring.

We wanted to start the New Years off with a BANG this year. We are hoping that 2010 is a great year?!? Anyone that knows my husband is aware that 10 is "his" number. He claims he owns it. That being said, we are hoping and praying for a great year! JASON decided to throw a New Years eve party for our family and extended family. It was all his idea and it was pretty nice because for the first time, he took care of everything!! I was a little skeptical at first at what he had up his sleeve but I must say, he did a great job. He hired a company to come in and play card games, "vegas style"! It was all play money but there were some prizes and activities that made it very exciting! We had a blast and want to do it again next year. These pictures aren't great because they were the companies pictures. I was having too much fun to lift my camera!

One of the blackjack tables... my favorite!

Tracey, Steph and Cooper chatting

This dealer was a hoot! I couldn't stop laughing when she came out of the bathroom and changed into her costume!

If you ran out of money, you had to find a piece of gum in a pie pan full of whip cream or karaoke. It was so fun to watch those that ran out quickly!

Another blackjack table

The craps table was a BIG hit!

Megan and I losing our chips way too fast!

The poker table that was very lucky! Ira was one of the big winners of the night!

The Lundell gang!

My sisters and nephew got in on the action

How about this dealer? She is pretty hot!!

Thanks to all our family who rang in the New Years with us. I am so glad all my family was in town and we got to share the night with each other. We had such a great time and are excited to reach and obtain all our goals. They will be reviewed this monday for family night. I am excited for this year to come and I know it's going to be a great one!

Happy Easter

Finally! Life has been a bit crazy and I know that I have more than neglected my blog.I don't want to be sorry one day when I didn't document all the little things my kids did or said. So, I am repenting and going to try again. I am sure people don't even come to my blog anymore, but I am documenting for my own blog book. Let's just say, I have ALOT of catching up to do! Anyways... Happy Easter!

 Let just say that taking a picture of my family is NOT the easiest. I always feel so sorry for the photographer and warn them that they should book an extra hour! This is the best one I got. Oh well....

We had such a great Easter this year. It is truly one my favorite holidays. I love to reflect on our Savior and the gift that he has given me. I KNOW that he lives and he LOVES me. I am eternally grateful for him in my life and for his constant companionship. 

My girls are at such fun ages and are really starting to enjoy each holiday. We had a great morning at church and then came home for lunch. Jasons family joined us and then we were off to my sisters house for dinner. My kids love getting together with their cousins and playing. We are so fortunate to have so much family around but missed some of my family that are still living in Laguna. Can't wait to have them back! Here are a few photos from the day.....

Ava and Elle. I love my girlies!

Miss Em bug. I got a little smile out of her! She wasn't having the best day but the Easter bunny brought her some fun stuff!!! She is such a sweetheart and brightens my day!

Elsie had fun tearing into her basket! I didn't take a picture of the baskets but got it all on video. As you can tell... I was having problems with my camera.

We went over to my moms and colored eggs the night before. Ava had such a fun time. This year has by far been the most fun with this girl. I let her do it all and she really did do a great job! She helped Emmie and Elsie do theirs too. She is such a great sister, not sure what I would do without her.

My 3 little princesses. By this point, my girls were a mess. Atleast I got a picture even though it's not the best! 

My sister brought out her camera late afternoon as we discovered Elles LOVE for this little toy in their backyard. She kept making this face and the kids put her on this thing probably 50 times. She was loving every minute of it!!! We were cracking up. She has such a cute personality. Doesn't this make you want to squeeze her?

Thanks Trace! I stole these from your blog.

TURKEY TIME!!!!

Holidays are always interesting at our home. Jason and I each have 2 sets of parents, so we have the opportunity to have LOTS of dinners and parties! Jason feels at the age of 32 that he still has the need to go down to Picacho and visit his grandma and cousins. Not real sure how many more years this tradition is going to continue but  let's just say I wasn't the happiest camper Thursday morning!!!

Therefore, Emmie, Ava, Elsie and I enjoyed the morning cooking and getting ready for the day. We met dad at Grandma Cindys house around 1:00 for a great Thanksgiving feast. It was a little difficult for me because it was the first time I had been there since Jasons dad had passed. Jason takes the girls quite often but I realized that it had been a while for myself. We had a great time and enjoyed each others company. We went around the table and shared what we were most grateful for at this time. I often feel emotional when I ponder and talk about being a mother. I've been thinking this past week how fortunate I am to have the opportunity to teach and nurture my girls. I couldn't imagine life without them or life without out the amazing experience of motherhood. I am very grateful for it! As bothered as I was this day with my husband, I am also grateful for him and his ability to be such a great dad. He LOVES his girls and makes sure they are aware of how much he loves them! He has this amazing ability to work hard and provide for us during these tough construction times. I am married to a great man who honors his priesthood and fulfills his calling to the best of his ability. I guess it could be a lot worse. I will quite griping on his behalf! I am very grateful for him and our marriage.

Later in the afternoon we drove back to Gilbert and met my family at my parents house. It has been awhile since they have been in town on Thanksgiving so it was very enjoyable to be there. It makes me realize how much I miss them here. We had such a great dinner and laughed at the silliest things. Why is it when you get around your siblings you can look at each other and just laugh? We had a great time!!! Ava sure did enjoy herself. I think I might have seen her a couple times the entire night. There are 21 grandchildren and they have a ball together. We always miss the Simas'. They head to California every Thanksgiving! It was a beautiful day and I look forward to this day each year. It is so relaxing!

Grandma McCleve getting all the yummies ready for the "feast"


I had to get a picture of all these rolls Carrie spent hours on. She made 160 rolls and they were YUMMY! Nothing better than these things. My aunt made these every holiday and they remind me of my childhood. They are a lot of work and Thanksgiving wouldn't be the same without them!!! Thanks Carrie!

Miss little Elle (or may I say big?)

Some of the peanut gallery enjoying the football game

Elsie and Claire. They are 2 months apart and my daughter towers over her! Claire is so cute, she feels like a baby doll when you carry her.

Happy dad and Elle


Lacey and my newest niece, Miley. She is so sweet and smells so fresh. Nothing better than a baby straight from heaven! 

Let's just say I didn't get many pictures of my little Em. She was upstairs watching the newest Strawberry Shortcake that just came out. Grandma Bella picked one up for her and couldn't wait till Christmas! She was in her heaven and I let her! I wanted to make sure she was happy since she doesn't get to enjoy devouring food like all of us on this holiday!

Grandma Bella came over!

These two were very busy. I only saw them a couple times. There is so much to do at Grandma and Grandpas house. So nice!!!

Grandpa McCleve with Elsie and Claire

Tim enjoying the game! He is the party animal in the family. Sometimes we can just look at each other and laugh! Once we start laughing we can't stop!!!! It's awful.

Grandma Debbie cleaning up. It's so much more fun to cook than to clean. Thanks for all the hard work Deb! You are so good at making everything so memorable!