Its Valentine's Day !

Well, almost anyway! I took over the blogging responsibilities from Jake so we would post more often, but I don't think I've done a very good job. Olyvia was sick today so I took the day off from work to stay home with her and thought it might be a good day to give an update on our family! I kinda feel like a slacker because I have a lot I wanted to get done and catch up on, but instead I caught up on reading everyone's blog- It's great to see and read how everyone is doing!

Our big news for the week is that Monday Jake started a new job! Yeah! we were so excited when we found out last week he got this job. He is working for the West Jordan DI as a job trainer/coach. He gets to train associates with some usuable job skills. It is a big pay raise, and so far he is really enjoying it. The best part is we get a 15% discount at the DI- so if anyone needs anything let us know! j/k

Anyway, it's been a pretty good week-busy, but that's how you stay out of trouble, right?
I thought I would post a few pictures as well, hope you enjoy them!



This picture is from my brother Derek's wedding in December- it would have made a great picture for our Christmas card-which we never sent, but Doreen just barely e-mailed it to me.


Christena had to make a valentines box for school, and didn't want to just decorate a shoe box so Sunday we got creative and made this heart shaped box. After we made the box we put paper mache on it- Olyvia and Savannah also helped- believe me we were a mess! I wanted to take pictures but didn't dare touch my camera.

Since she was doing paper mache, Christena also decided she wanted to make it look like a pinata- so we used tissue paper to decorate it.

Saturday I decided it might be fun to decorate cookies for valentines day so we made the dough on Saturday, baked the cookies on Sunday and then decorated them on Monday night for family home evening- the kids had a lot of fun- unfortunately we ran out of frosting before we ran out of cookies, although we ran out of room in the container so maybe it was a good thing we ran out of frosting.

The kids went a little over board with the decorations!

This is the "double decker" Savannah decorated! She gave it to her teacher Tuesday at school.

Juliana loves her new Elmo- it's almost as big as she is!

Savannah and Christena modeling their new shirts

Olyvia was very excited to get her Word Whammer- she loves to learn new letters and sounds. She has even been able to try to sound out words.

The new P.J.'s from grandma and grandpa Smith- Christena was a little grumpy this night.

Happy New Year!

Okay, so we are a little bit late, but better late than never. Jake started up our blog and finally showed me how to add posts, so hopefully we'll remember to post more often.

The kids are now at their new school, Liberty Elementary, and they are loving it! The girls are making new friends and they love their new teachers, although Christena is having a few problems with hers. Her teacher's husband had a heart attack over the Christmas break, so she missed the first day back, and then last weekend she fell and broke her ankle so she missed all of last week and they are not sure when she will be back. I don't think 2008 is treating her very well.

Hopefully your 2008 is treating you better! Ours is starting out alright, we are continually looking for a better job for Jake. He has had a couple of possibilities that we are hoping to hear back from. We'll let you all know when something good happens-we are trying to stay optimistic!

I'm going to try to post some pictures from Christmas-I hope I can figure out how to get it to work.

Have a Merry Christmas

Hello yall,
At this time I wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. I know some of you we probably will not get to see this Christmas season. I hope this Christmas all of you will experience and feel the Saviors love as you seek to draw closer to Him. Too often we get swept up in the day to day commercialization of Christmas and we forget the greatest gift of all. "For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten son..." What greater love is there. I, for one, am very greatful this holiday season as I have felt the love of my savior in my life.

Update on the family:
We are enjoying being in our own place and our new ward is great. They have really made us feel right at home. Christena and Savannah have been enjoying school again this year. After the Christmas break they will be transferring to their new school finally and they are very excited. The first day in the new ward they had already made new friends and are eager to go to school with them. They are both a joy to have in the family and keep us laughing.
Olyvia is still as cute and tiny as ever. She will be five in a few months and is really looking forward to starting Kindergarten.
Juliana just turned two a few months ago and is the epidemy of the terrible twos. She is a terror. Getting into everything laughing all the while. She really keeps us on our toes.
Debra stays busy working. She works at the Elementary school for a couple hours each day and really enjoys it. She also sews hats for Hats with Heart. They manufacture and sell hats to cancer patients. She enjoys it, but with the kids and work she is staying really busy.
I have been selling online advertising for the Deseret News and Salt Lake Tribune websites. This has kept me fairly busy, but is not all that fun or excititng. I am continuously looking for a new job that I will really be able to enjoy. For the time being though it is paying the bills and making ends meet. On down time I am watching alot of Football and love coming home to my family. Yes, I am extremely outnumbered and sometimes the female emotion is almost too much to handle, but I make it through. I really do not look forward to the time all of them are teenagers. Not a fun time.
Again we wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and the happiest of new years in 2008. May the Lord bless all of you.

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Hello all you wonderful people that have come to check out our blog page.