Odds and Ends

I don't feel like I have much to post about to be honest with ya. I guess since the last post we did have Christmas, which was awesome, and my birthday, which was so fun as well. Nothing really out of the ordinary to say though. However since this is somewhat of a family journal for me, humor me while I throw some pics up to record the memories.
Every year I think about it but never do it. This year we did it. We finally made homemade ginger bread houses. Did any really turn out as houses? No. But the kids sure had fun making their own creations.
We had the Jolley family Christmas party at our house this year. Complete with Santa and presents. Really had a fun night!
Some of you asked how we got onto the ESA court for our family pics this year. Well Rob and I are season ticket holders with 3 other families and every year this is one of the perks. We spent about 10 minutes on the court messing around and taking pics. It was really a fun night!
This night was in between snows. We had a bunch of wood and garbage to burn so we had a BIG bonfire. I was standing up on our deck and I could still feel the heat. The kids, and Rob of course, had so much fun with this one.
I wish this guy could go fishing more often. He and his brother went up for the day and brought home some tasty morsels. I love that my kids love trout too.
And lastly, this is something else I've wanted to do for a long time. Abby is 7 and has never been to Temple Square before. Yes, I'm a horrible parent. But this year we fixed that and took them all down. They loved it!
So that's it. Sorry it's a boring one. Life is just, well, life right now. We are loving our new house, but it takes most of our free time. We are hoping to get a yard in this spring. I would also like to get shelves built in out storage rooms so I can actually put them to use. Plus Rob bought a new trailer and has been spending all his extra time building up the inside of that. Anybody else feel like you wake up in the morning, blink, and the day is over, then do it all over the next day? Then you wake up one day and have 4 kids, a mortgage, and a retirement plan. Seriously, things are crazy right now. But, on the good side, I'm loving every minute!

Is it too late to update?

So I'm a little embarrassed that I'm actually updating this after so long. The last update was seriously in May, and since then things have been busy, but not so busy that I can't take five minutes to write on here. My whole purpose in having this was to somewhat keep a weekly journal about our family happenings, and this past year I have failed miserably. However, reading May's post has revitalized me and I'm going to try and update more often, even if I have no readers left:)
First the kiddos: Abby is loving 2nd grade out here and has made some new friends. We have a big ward with a huge primary (100+ kids). So there are lots of kids to chose from. Plus we have new family moving in just 2 doors down with girls my girls' ages, so that will be handy. She is so getting into the preteen age, though I think she was born into that age. She is my best shopping buddy and loves to go to the mall. Coops is still stuck in his world of yucky girls in this house. He definitely has a love/hate relationship with his sisters. He loves to play with them, but sure gets tired of their kind of imagination games. Luckily there are a TON of boys in this neighborhood, so he has lots of options of kids to play with. Shelby is still very much 3 years old! In my opinion, there is no such thing as terrible twos. The twos are for pansies. 3's on the other hand are ridiculous! She is very strong willed and opinionated and even as we speak, taking a nap up in the bonus room (her idea) after refusing to eat dinner. She hates most meats and veggies, but will eat most any fruit or yogurt on the planet. She has also made lots of new friends out here. Whit is still so funny. She is getting so big. She started nursery not too long ago, which is one of my favorite milestones in their young lives:) She wants to do everything she can to keep up with the other 3. Just yesterday she decided she needed to go sledding with them. So as I was helping get them all bundled, she went and grabbed her coat and was trying to put it on. She has no snow pants or boots, but with did our best with what we had and she went out with the big kids and loved it. She only made one trip down the hill and was done, but still she had so much fun with them.
As for the house we are finally in. YAY! We moved in on Aug 14, which happened to be our 9 year anniversary. What a way to celebrate. Things went really smooth and we got everything out here in a couple trips. Now we are for the most part settled in, though there are still some boxes in Rob's office, and downstairs is a DISASTER. But what would without Saturday projects right? Now if we can get the motivation to do those projects, that is the question. We are loving our new neighbors. Everybody out here has either 4-wheelers or horses. It is crazy, but we love it. Such good people. Hopefully some day we will join in on the 4-wheeler club. Those are just fun!
Well that is about it for now. I will try to get back on track with updates from here on out:)

I'm still here

Yep, that's right, it hasn't been too long and already I'm updating. I have just taken some alone time and read up on some of your blogs and wanted to give you all a shout out of how much I love doing that. I didn't realize how much I've missed it until I just started reading and realized how much reading about all of your craziness makes me realized that my life is totally normal:) Whether it be surprise pregnancies (there are a few of you out there),to pregnancies with a first boy or first girl (baby penises aren't all that scary) to kids graduating from preschool and kindergarten, to fun vacations that I will some day look forward to. Thank you for making me feel normal and sane again.
So for the quick update. I have officially lost my camera. Yeah, really not sure where it is. I've looked everywhere I can think, so if any of you have it, I would love to get it back. It is for this reason that I have updated pictures to give of my kids, or the house. However both are doing wonderfully.
Abby is so pumped for summer. Her birthday is on Thursday and she for some reason thinks that half of her class are bringing her presents. Yeah, that will be a kick in the teeth when she doesn't get any, but she just doesn't believe me that she is only getting presents from us. What do ya do? She thinks she is Whitney's mom and tries to take over when she gets home from school, which some days is welcomed. She loves to help me cook dinner and I love that she is tall enough to see everything so we don't need to bring a stool in. Ellen gave her a pedicure for her birthday, which she was so excited for, so we are looking forward to going to get those done.
Coops is finishing up his second year of preschool, and since I am holding him back a year, he gets to start another in the fall. There are a lot of buddies out in the new neighborhood though that he will get to go to kindergarten with, so he is pumped for that. We signed him up for soccer in the fall so he is already on the countdown to that. Totally bummed I didn't have him play baseball this spring but I thought he was too young to sign him up, however there were some kids even younger than him. Now I know.
Shelby thinks she is some hot stuff. She is SO 3. She is totally into princesses, babies, and playing house. She loves to do homework with the other 2, though I really am running out of things to give her to do cause she really doesn't do anything but color. Oh, well, we'll keep working on that one. She is pretty pumped to start preschool in the fall too.
Then there is Whit. She is so funny! She is soooo much happier now that she doesn't have ear infections every other week. She is all over the place and hates it when the other kids get to go outside and she has to stay in with me. She sits out at the window and just yells at them until I let her go out and play for a bit. Still, we love her and she makes us laugh every day.
As for the house, sheet rock starts tomorrow, the stucco gets painted this week, and soon I will lose my husband again and become a single mom while he goes out to put on the trim and do the wood floor. Things are going awesome still, and thanks to Ellen, we picked out our wood floor today, along with our molding and door casing. I have really enjoyed the whole process so far, though the waiting game isn't all that much fun. Soon enough we'll be moved in and it will all be a happy memory I'm sure. I'll try to get pics on here for next time, until then...