So proud of my brother Kris!

I am so proud of my little brother! He was a task force hero of the month for all of North Iraq! What a serious accomplishment! Even though we miss him more than words can say and we pray daily for his safety we are SO proud of him and his willingness to serve our country. Way to go little bro!

Happy Anniversary!

Ed and I have been married for 11 years! Time has sure flown by! I feel so lucky to be married to my best friend. He is such an awesome dad and such a good husband! He's been very patient with me during this pregnancy. I'm sure he can't wait until it's all over so I will quit whining to him but at least he never tells me that.

We spent our anniversary day- buying a new car! We got a Yukon XL. I feel like I'm driving a bus so hopefully I'll get used it. Even though it's not much bigger than the Tahoe it sure feels huge. At least we'll be able to comfortably fit all four kids now with room in the back so we can travel or even go grocery shopping. After getting the car we went to dinner and a movie. Ed was so sweet he even let me see a chick flick without complaining once! We saw Dear John. I was disappointed because it didn't follow the book as closely as I hoped but it was still good.

I am so blessed! During the last 11 years we have: moved twice, had 9 cars, 2 trailers, 3... almost 4 kids, and tons of fun times. I love you ED! Can't wait for the rest of our lifetime together!!!

Eviction Notice!

EVICTION NOTICE Date: February 17, 2010

To: Miss Tessa Marie

To the above tenant in possession of below described premises:

I am issuing an 8 day notice for EVICTION. You will have 8 days in which you can either gather your belongings and promptly vacate the premises, or wait until the final day. After which, you will be physically removed from the property.

You are being evicted due to breech of contract and destruction of property. Expansions only to the FRONT of the house, within reasonable limits, were discussed. Not only have these limits been exceeded, but additions to the back of the house were also made!

Remodeling and gutting of the home was never approved, nor was changing the initial layout and base structure. And due to property damage, there are now leaks in both the upper AND lower levels of the home. On top of which, the landlord has received numerous complaints about nightly disturbances.

After 8 days from this day that you don't comply with the notice will result in immediate and forceful removal at my discretion.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Love,
Mommy

** I read this somewhere- and it's exactly how I feel right now! I am SO ready to have this baby. The baby is cooked as my timer (belly button) has popped so let's get this show on the road... 8 more days, just 8 more days. I keep telling myself that!

The Baby's Room.. Before and After...

This was a boy room through and through- It was all decorated in blue and dirt bikes...
I was actually sad to have to paint over it because I loved this room so much...

But now- it looks like this... pink, pink and more PINK! Yikes- it's SO pink. It is definitely growing on me though. I don't know why the pictures didn't turn out very well.

Yes- this baby girl will have more clothes than anyone else! I think I'm addicted... Oops! Ed had fair warning at the ultrasound though when the tech said it was a girl!

This room is actually really cute but you can't really tell what it looks like because the pictures aren't that great. I have one more wall that I'm waiting to do something with. I am waiting for some shutters and then I will post a picture of it when it's complete...

Until then- I thought I would fill everyone in on what's going on with me- and baby. We are super excited that she is going to be born on February 25, 2010. We are going to name her Tessa Marie. I will have my fourth repeat c-section so luckily the doctor has already scheduled it so there won't be any guessing game of when she is coming. I am feeling (other than large) about as well as can be expected at this stage of the game. I'm contracting a lot, not sleeping a wink, peeing endlessly, and hurting quite a bit but loving it since I know this will be my last baby. She moves around a lot and we love to play the "what body part do you think this is?" game. Talen constantly kisses my belly and I have to tell him to leave my shirt down. Nobody wants to see it! He is convinced that she will know him the best when she comes out since he talks to her the most. The boys are getting excited.. I think. They won't have any idea what hit them when she's born though. Things are far too easy around here right now and I have a feeling that this is going to rock our world. We are used to sleeping in, eating when we want, leaving when we want, etc. We will now be starting over with a strict routine, but it will be worth it. I can't wait to meet this precious little baby. It will be here before we know it!

Christmas Day 2009

What a beautiful Christmas day we had. We woke early, although the boys woke up at 3:30 anxious to see what Santa brought and we had to send them back to bed. When we woke up again at 6:00 the boys were so excited. My parents came over to watch the boys open up their presents. Each year Santa hides their presents around the house and leaves clues for us to find them. It makes the opening presents part of Christmas last quite a bit longer and the kids really enjoy it. Although I didn't get a lot of great pictures this was the big one! We all got tickets to an Arizona Cardinals football game. Santa brought Fitzgerald jersey's for each of the kids and a ticket to a real NFL game. They were so happy. For everyone who doesn't know how obsessed my kids are with football right now this was big,huge!
Here is a picture of all three of them wearing their jersey's (can't wait until I have to pry them off their dirty little bodies to wash them) and holding up these fun little remote control helicopters that they got.

Also- the Nintendo D.S.'s were a big hit this year. Talen finally got one and the other boys got some new games to play. Not that I want little gamers on my hands all the time but I must admit it's nice to get in a few quiet moments when they are all entranced with their games!

The real reason for the season.... Although we had a fabulous day and got spoiled as usual I hope that we can remember that pricey gifts and trinkets are truly not why we celebrate this holiday. I am thankful to know that we have a Savior who was born thousands of years ago. He came to this earth as a perfect person and made the ultimate sacrifice for each one of us. This Christmas season was a difficult one as I had two grandparents pass away within two weeks of each other. I am grateful to know that their spirits live on in heaven. They are with our Father in Heaven who loved them before they came to this earth and he is welcoming them home with loving arms. They were each spectacular loving people who are now watching over us from heaven. I am thankful that we are allowed to live in a free country to worship and celebrate however we wish. I am so thankful for people like my brother Kris who don't get to be with their families for this wonderful holiday because they are out fighting for our freedoms and rights. I love how everyone remembers to think of others during this season and I hope that we might carry that spirit with us throughout the remainder of the year. I am thankful to be having a new little baby come into our home soon. She will be a perfect little person who we will be solely responsible to take care of and nurture and teach about our Savior. Merry Christmas to all!

A little surprise baby shower...

Every year sometime around Christmas day all of my sisters-in-law and I go to my mother-in-law's house and we all wrap our kids' Christmas presents together. It's always been a fun tradition because after hours of backbreaking wrapping it's way more fun to do it with people you can laugh with! During this year's wrapping party they had a little shower for me and my sister-in-law Cassi who is due a couple of weeks before me. My sister-in-law Jarae makes awesome cakes. She is so talented... seriously... check out her cake blog at frostedtops.blogspot.com She made this tiny cute cake for our new baby! Love it!!!

Under Construction....

What is under construction??? We have decided to add a small addition to our home! The expected completion date is March 3, 2010 and will probably be approximately 6 to 7 pounds. This "construction" has/does/will consist of mood swings, frequent bathroom trips, constant hunger and nauseousness, extreme fatigue, gaining weight and on the up side feeling little kicks, hearing the heart beat, and what else??? Oh yea- the birth of a new precious baby!

We are so excited to have a new little baby in our home. I'm excited, elated, nervous and scared all rolled into one big ball of emotions. The boys are ecstatic to be big brothers again but I must say that I am scared to start all over. After all, my baby will be FIVE when our new little one arrives. I will have a boy who is ready to drive and one who is going to start kindergarten... yikes! I feel like we are good parents (though there's always room for improvement) and we love our children more than anything so what could be better than loving a new baby straight from heaven?

Ahhh.... Now I'm sure my phone will ring- as there are many friends and family who will be surprised by our news!

Mother's Day

Maid... Chauffeur... Cook... Teacher... Nurse... Helper with homework... Friend... And best of all..... MOM!!

I love my job! My kids are without a doubt my hardest struggle and my greatest joy. They are the light of my life and I have no idea what I would do without them. Each one of my three precious boys are so special to me. I feel so blessed and honored to be called their "mom".

I am learning as the years go by that this parenting thing is NOT easy. We have our ups and downs but there are times when I make myself be still for a moment and take a mental picture because I don't want to ever forget that particular moment.

As moms we are never appreciated as we should be because our kids really have NO IDEA all that we truly do for them but that's okay because when you have moments like these it's all worth it: Friday we hung out at home to watch the Lakers and Rockets on t.v. Tray and Talen both cuddled up next to me and fell asleep against my chest with my arms around each one of them. In that moment I felt like my life was absolutely perfect. Moments like those make all that dirty laundry, crying over having to eat broccoli, fighting with brothers, talking back to mom, monumental messes completely 100% worth all the hard work!

I am also so thankful for all the moms in my life. My mom is one of the kindest most giving women I've ever met. She is always giving and making sure that no one goes with out. My mother-in-law raised the best son ever! I don't know how she ever raised 9 kids who turned out so awesome! My step mom is so much fun to be around and my kids adore her! My Aunt Judy is like a second mom to me and I'm so thankful to have her in my life. I look up to her SO much.

I hope you all had a fabulous Mother's Day!

Conference

I realize that I'm a little late in posting this seeing as how conference was 3-4 days ago but I guess it's better late than never. I so look forward to conference every October and April. I think that as I'm getting older I am finally realizing how important conference is and just how lucky we as members of our church are to be able to hear these great men and women speak to us. I feel so uplifted and inspired to be a better person and make better choices after listening to all of the great talks! I wish that I had the words to express how I really feel; unfortunately, (and those of you who regularly read my blog know this) I am not eloquent nor do I have a great gift with words and expressing my feelings. I really hope that everyone who was able to watch it felt as inspired as me and for those of you who didn't but would like to hear more about what we believe you can go here.

The one thing I always find stressful as my family and I sit down to watch conference is how wiggly and loud my kids can be. They move and wiggle and talk and giggle and play (or try to anyway). And really, who can blame them? It's like 4 hours of church! I always try very hard to find things to entertain them but it never fails... they get BORED... every time. I have tried coloring pages, the conference packets, word searches- basically anything that should be able to hold their attention for awhile but this time I found something that ACTUALLY worked for us! I was so amazed that I thought I would pass this along for any of you who struggle with the same thing. I typed out a couple of lists of random words that are likely to come up during talks: Jesus, temple, prophet, scriptures, missionary work, etc. I did about 20-25 words and then set out 4 or 5 bowls of different kinds of treats. Each time they would hear one of the speakers use one of those words they got ONE small treat from the bowl. They seriously hung on every word those speakers were saying. I cannot believe how well they paid attention. Even my four year old listened. He even got some of the words before the older boys a couple of times. I think that next time I will do some small pictures for Talen since the older two can read and he can't. He picked up really well on it though and I was thoroughly impressed with how well they did! They sat still for almost the entire thing except for about the last 10 minutes which was a serious accomplishment for our houseful of crazy, wiggly and at times exceptionally loud little boys.

I loved feeling the spirit last weekend and hope to carry that feeling with me as Easter comes this Sunday. I hope to teach my boys about the real meaning of Easter and pray that we can focus more on Christ our Savior and the Atonement and less on Easter bunnies and candy. Happy Easter everybody!!!!

Nothing Much Happenin' Here....

Well- I thought that spring was finally here but then it snowed- go figure! We haven't been doing anything too exciting lately. I feel like we do the same stuff just on different days! I got this email that I really liked so I thought I would post it:

A young couple moves into a new neighborhood.
The next morning while they are eating breakfast,
the young woman sees her neighbor hanging the washing outside.
"That laundry is not very clean", she said."She doesn't know how to wash correctly.
Perhaps she needs better laundry soap."Her husband looked on, but remained silent.
Every time her neighbor would hang her washing to dry,the young woman would make the same comments.About one month later, the woman was surprised to see nice clean washing on the line and said to her husband:"Look, she has learned how to wash correctly. I wonder who taught her this."The husband said, "I got up early this morning and cleaned our windows."

And so it is with life. What we see when watching others depends on the purity of the window through which we look.

I truly have been trying to be less judgemental about others lately. I know that I am FAR from perfect and I need to be more understanding of others and their imperfections also. I know I have a long way to go.... but I'm trying! And maybe this world would be a much happier place if we all loved one another and forget about everyone else's imperfections!

SpRiNg FoRwArD!

Spring Forward....

Kids... sleeping... messed up schedules.....

Need I say more????

Three Kids For Sale... Any Takers????

Okay- I won't actually sell them but you can definitely borrow them for a little while. I know... You look at these cute little innocent faces and think what could they ever do wrong... right? Well... With Christmas just around the corner you'd think that they'd be a little more conscientious about their behavior. They fight and fight and fight some more... AHHHH!!! I can't take it anymore. I never thought I'd have to pull out the old "Santa is watching you!" bit, but believe me it's been a life saver a couple of times this week. By life saver- I mean THEIR lives. Maybe they'll get a lump of coal in their stockings. Okay, now that that's out of my system... they sure are cute, but I have decided that school is a good thing. It's keeps us ALL occupied!

One quick story that I thought was so funny, a bit irreverent, but funny! Talen brought me a picture of the Idaho Falls temple and we were asking him who was on top and he said Angel Moroni. We said good job then asked what Moroni is holding and he thought about it really hard for a minute and said "Hmmm.. A shotgun?" Well- guess that's one we've got to work on. He now knows it is a trumpet :)

Merry Christmas to you all!!! I hope you all enjoy the holidays!

Oh Christmas Tree... Oh Christmas Tree....

Well- Hallelujah! We got our camera back from being worked on. They fixed it fast and shipped it back. I am happy once again! Before the camera was broken we were decorating our tree. Here are a few pictures of us decorating...

The finished product.... Of course it didn't stay like this for long. The ornaments are re-arranged on average 2 to 3 times a day courtesy of Mr. Talen. We used to have a kid tree downstairs, but it has been a couple of years since we put it up. The last time we did one the boys took all of the ball ornaments off the tree and "batted" them all over the basement with their baseball bats where they shattered all over the floor. Also, I had spent hours upon hours hand making a bunch of cute kid ornaments and they took them off the tree and snapped off all the pieces one by one; thus, we have NO kid tree this year. Maybe in a couple of years after I have forgotten that nightmare we'll do another once, but for now THIS is our beautiful tree. We love decorating it together every year. I love the holidays and the fun family traditions. I hope that we are creating memories that will last a lifetime!

I feel like I've been on blogging vacation! We haven't done much so there hasn't been a whole lot to post about. We put up our Christmas tree and we took a few pictures, but then Tegen knocked our new camera off the counter and broke it :( I was so sad I almost cried. I guess that's what we get for buying a $600 camera and leaving it out on the counter. Thankfully it's under warranty and we should hopefully get it back in time for Christmas. I am keeping my fingers crossed anyway!

Ed and I went to West Yellowstone for the weekend. It was so fun. Our company pays for our hotel room and they have a big dinner with a comedian and a live band/dancing and a fun drawing with some great prizes. Ed and I BOTH won this year. It was awesome! I won a garage/deck heater which Ed will love once we finish our shop and Ed won a backup camera that you put on your car/truck. He's excited because it will help when he's backing up to our fifth wheel. Ed's sister Triska and her husband Lance watched our kids for the weekend. Thanks guys! We appreciate it- and yes we will be returning the favor because they get to go to California in a couple of weeks.

That about wraps up our last couple of weeks!

I Am Thankful....

In honor of Thanksgiving I want to say what I am thankful for:

1. My husband- the love of my life!
2. My kids- even when they are naughty
3. Our extended families
4. Our good friends
5. The gospel
6. To have a warm roof over our heads
7. Yummy food to eat
8. Our jobs
9. The freedom we enjoy living in this great country
10. Nice cars to get us where we need to go- glad I don't have to walk everywhere!

The list could go on and on, but I really am thankful and grateful for the many blessings that I have. I probably take it all for granted too often, but I do know how blessed I am.

Happy Turkey day everyone!

Honoring our Veterans....

I have done a couple of different posts on our military now, but what better day to do another one than Veterans Day? As most of you know my brother Kris is in the Army. I just wanted to take a moment today to urge each of us to stop for a minute and remember what our military personnel has done for us. Whether they are veterans from the past, present or future these men and women give up so much to serve our country. I am so grateful that they are willing to serve for us. They do not have easy lives and what they do is scary hard work!
Doesn't my brother look awesome? This is when he was serving in Iraq....

We get so busy and stressed out every day with all the crazy things we have going on, but for just a minute let's stop and say thanks to all the veterans. And don't forget to keep them in our prayers!

The Things Kids Say...

My kids say the funniest things every day and I always think I will remember them, but I never do. So here are a few of the most recent funny sayings:

Tray was playing a game on the computer the other day and Ed and I were watching him. When he won we said "Good Job Tray!" and he looked over at us all calmly and said "Yea, that's just how I roll." It was SO funny!

Talen: He has had allergies lately and keeps telling me that his eyes are "drooling"

He wants to hug and kiss me all the time! I actually want to count one day because it's probably like 40 times a day or something. He calls hugs- huggies (yea, like the diaper) and he tells me "Mom, you're my best buddy." He is so sweet. He is definitely my most cuddly child.

He told me yesterday that he can't wait to grow up and be a daddy. He said that he will be a daddy when whiskers grow out of his face and his nose just like his daddy. Then he said he will be a daddy when he grows a big body with a big bum bum and nuts. Okay- please don't judge me. I have no idea where he got that. I certainly don't walk around saying that word, but with two older brothers I'm sure I have some idea where he heard it. You gotta love the things boys say!

I just love to laugh at all the funny things my kids say everyday. I'm sure as parents we could put together a pretty hilarious book chock full of funny kid sayings!

I saw this on my friend SueAnn's blog. I thought this was fun. There are less than 1,527 Amberlee's in the U.S. and there are less than 27,487 Murdock's. Give this a try and see how many there are of you....

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 1 or fewer people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

New Survivor Series...

This made me laugh out loud. I would love to see this happen! Enjoy....

Six married men will be dropped on an island with one car and 3 kids each for six weeks.

Each kid will play two sports and either take music or dance classes.

There is no fast food. Each man must take care of his 3 kids; keep his assigned house clean, correct all homework , and complete science projects, cook , do laundry , and pay a list of 'pretend' bills with not enough money.

In addition, each man will have to budget in money for groceries each week.

Each man must remember the birthdays of all their friends and relatives, and send cards out on time--no emailing.

Each man must also take each child to a doctor's appointment, a dentist appointment and a haircut appointment .

He must make one unscheduled and inconvenient visit per child to the Urgent Care.

He must also make cookies or cupcakes for a social function.

Each man will be responsible for decorating his own assigned house, planting flowers outside and keeping it presentable at all times.

The men will only have access to television when the kids are asleep and all chores are done.

The men must shave their legs, wear makeup daily, adorn himself with jewelry, wear uncomfortable yet stylish shoes, keep fingernails polished and eyebrows groomed.

During one of the six weeks, the men will have to endure severe abdominal cramps, back aches, and have extreme, unexplained mood swings but never once complain or slow down from other duties.

They must attend weekly school meetings, church, and find time at least once to spend the afternoon at the park or a similar setting.

They will need to read a book to the kids each night and in the morning, feed them, dress them , brush their teeth and comb their hair by 7:00 am.

A test will be given at the end of the six weeks, and each father will be required to know all of the following information: each child's birthday, height, weight, shoe size, clothes size and doctor's name. Also the child's weight at birth, length, time of birth, and length of labor, each child's favorite color, middle name, favorite snack, favorite song, favorite drink, favorite toy, biggest fear and what they want to be when they grow up.

The kids vote them off the island based on performance. The last man wins only if...he still has enough energy to be intimate with his spouse at a moment's notice .

If the last man does win, he can play the game over and over and over again for the next 18-25 years eventually earning the right To be called Mother!

Well ladies- now we all know why we are so exhausted at the end of each day. What I wouldn't give to have husbands actually do this for 6 weeks (and I have a husband who is really helpful).

Randomness...

I ordered this custom frame/picture and I love how it turned out! I went into the new home decorating store here in town called Rod and Vinyl. They had a lot of really fun things, but I have been searching for something for my bedroom for months and when I saw this I fell in love with it. You can't really see what the middle of the picture is here (I had a hard time getting a good one) but it is a picture of the Idaho Falls temple etched into the wood with the words Together Forever on one side and Ed and Amberlee est. 1999 on the other. I just love this because it is so personal and it was a pretty good deal too! Yea- I love good finds like this!

I found two of my boys laying on the couch together this afternoon while watching a cartoon. See... brotherly moments of love do happen! It's a miracle! Sometimes I feel as if all they do is argue and bicker with each other, but I was so happy to see that they truly do love each other. Also, before this picture was taken Talen and Tray were sitting on the floor and Talen reached his arms around Tray and said "Brother, I love you". I thought it was so adorable. Talen mostly calls his older brothers his "boys" or his "kids". It is so funny. He'll say "Mom, where are my boys at?" or "are my kids at school today?"

I feel like my kids are always doing or saying funny things and I think that I will always remember it, but I always forget! So I figured I better write this one down.. or type it.. you know what I mean. Yesterday Talen and I were sitting on the stools at the kitchen counter and I had just received an invitation to enrichment that was taped to my door. Talen asked who brought it and I said the church did. He got a strange look on his face and said "but mom, churches don't have arms". I guess he took me literally when I said the church brought it. I think kids say the funniest things. I love my kids~ most days. Ha ha! I really do love and appreciate them though they are a great blessing to us.