Infinite Power of Hope

Infinite Power of Hope

Click on the link above for a message for a great video about Hope. Its my wish that your Christmas season was full of Hope and Joy this year!

Love Val

For your blog enjoyment

My Kids Really Love Santa

Overall, I think compared to last year's pic. This one is much better. Annie still looks confused like why are you making me do this.

ME 2

Last night, we were talking to Clarie about her future ( as you do with your 4 year olds all the time right), and we have been trying to decide if we will send her to Kindergarten next year. She will be techinally old enough but... I had my doubts as to her size and overall ability to function in a school setting. After talking to her preschool teachers, they agreed that being the smallest and the youngest would most likely be a difficult path for my sweet girl. So, all that being said, she will most likely be doing another year of preschool next year. But anways, as Jed and I were getting her feelings on this..... she responded with quite the attitude: " I just want to be a princess and do nothing all day" AMEN Sister! I guess I have done something right.....

Sorry to Skip to Chirstmas

I just wanted to say. No, I'm not listening to The River nor do I have any Christmas things out yet, but I wanted to change my blog. I am also lazy and decided to go ahead and go with Christmas so I don't have to change it for awhile. Also, speaking of Christmas, I need all the true bakers to tell me what kind of mixer I should get this year. All I ever owned is hand mixer so I am excited that Santa thought I should get a good mixer this year. So, I want to hear from you , especially if you have a brand like Bosh or Kitchen-Aid.

November At Glance

After many things preventing our camp out with the George's this year. We finally decided it was a great idea to camp out in their backyard instead. No neighbors complained about our fire in the backyard so camping we went! I think I can all say we all had a good time and slept very little.
Here are the kids in the PJ's having fun in the dark


The next thing we tackled this month was Daddy completing the first part of 4 of the CPA exam. After he got done we spent the day at the Memphis Bontical Gardens. Here are two cute birds we found.
Two cute worms
Two cute swingers and one Smart daddy. We won't find out the results of the first test till Christmas. So guess you'll have to wait till then to hear if he passed. Until then, we will start planning for Thanksgiving and more importantly see NEW MOON. We might even start thinking about the fact that we are having a baby and work on her room.... but that seems too far into the future right now. All right George's and Sparkmans... Can't wait for next years campout!

Reasons I love Having Girls

1. Princess costumes at Halloween. Claire is Alice in Wonderland not Cinderella! Come on people!

2. Barbie Cakes- This was super easy! Annie was super happy about the way it turned out! I may not be the best at this.. but I make the most mess for sure! Annie turned 3 on October 26! Happy Birthday sweet girl!

3. Adorable Ballet poses. In these photos they are showing you a tondu ( to point) and a pile (pronouced plea ah to bend). We love taking lessons with Miss Starla!

Stats 2009

Okay because I know you REALLY wanted to know this:

Claire weight: 27 and 3/4 pounds (3rd percentile)
Height: 3'foot 2

Annie weight: 26 pounds (35th percentile)
Height: 3 feet

Dr. Chris said Claire is the size of an average 3 year old... wow... I guess she'll be in a real carseat forever. The rule is 4 feet tall, age 4, and 40 pounds. At this rate of growth she'll be in carseat goin going the 1st grade!! O well!! Clarie has begun to realize she's smaller than all her friends at school and this is a hard fact. I never remember having to hard of time with it growing up .. I always thought being small is what made me different than everyone. Guess thats hard for a 4 year old to see.. O well, next time you see her tell what a big girl she is!

IT's a...........

GIRL! Yea. I think almost everyone who reads my blog is also my facebook friend but in case you didnt know! Jed is NOT disappointed! How could we be! We are so blessed to get another person in our family! I'm happy to get all the clothes out of the attic and re use it all! Now can someone please tell March to not take too long to get here....

Disney Cruise Part 2

Minnie Mouse ( Pirate)


Our little room

Disney's Private Island

Nassau Bahamas
Inside the Atlantis Hotel on the Bahamas
Okay I would love to explain in detail every little thing but honestly, it seems like I am running out of time (as always). Overall, the cruise was amazing. I was little nervous the first day, feeling a little trapped, but after I let myself relax I ended up having a great time. It always seems like you enjoy things more after they are over doesn't it? Its the very frustrating thing about being a person I think! Anyways, I think when I go on another cruise I will spring for a window in my room. Just so so I can know if its morning or not! We got some better pictures of the characters with the professional camera so don't worry our kids don't have the crazy eyes in all the pictures.

Disney Cruise

Our amazing trip started with a two day drive to Orlando. We left on Friday at 12 and got to Atlanta around 10. I started to get a little worried when our first stop was Desoto Co. but things seemed to get better after we hit Tupelo. People who live around here will now about 3 weeks ago it rained everday for like a week and it did not let up to get us to our hotel. The next day, we left Atl around 9 and arrived in sunny Orlando about 5. Thanks to Catherine we found a great deal on a hotel across the street from Downtown Disney. Here's a pictures of us enjoying Downtwon Disney.


Sunday morning we reached the ship terminal. Now, going on during this time Annie had been expierencing some diaherra. She had been fine all day Saturday but got sick minutes before we go on the boat. But I said forget it. We made it this far, we aren't stopping now. Later that night when she started running a fever I thought maybe we had a made a mistake. Needless to say many prayers were said that day. None the less, Here is us with Mickey Mouse. As you can see Claire (or can't see) she really likes when strangers take her picture. So , most of our family photos with characters involve the back of her head. There are more pictures to come. I just didnt feel like uploading them all. So stay tuned for part two....

A Party, a Goodbye, and Some Bump-its

NOTE: You might want to start at the bottom and read up. I always forget to load my photos in backwards of the way I want them to appear. Even Mommy got in on the bump-it action! You know you want one too!
Annie attemping to wear the mini bump-it.
Claire saw the commerical for a Bumpit one day and asked me now and again if we could get one... and then one day I saw one at walgreens and Well, when your four year old asks you for a bump-it. You just go with it right?
This is my Goodbye. Devree Hambiln came into my life in Jan of this year. She is a 15 year old girl with a type of cancer that I can't spell something like medoblasma... The cancer was in part of her brain and some of her spine. After being at St. Jude for 9 months she has shown no signs of cancer and gets to return home to the rest of her family. Talk about amazing. Shana , her mother, was an incrediable source of postive thinking and I can't imganine the things they went through together! I love them and will be glad to see them on their check ups but hopefully won't be being seeing them for any other reasons!
She might be really happy in this photo.
Claire getting a pedi. French no less!!
For Claire's birthday she had a combined Glamour Party with Callie. Based on the smiles I think she had a great time! I wish someone would pamper me like that! (HINT HUSBAND). I love having so many friends and family close to make my lil girl feel special !

Visitors From Utah

My lovely Anut Shannon came to visit for my cousin Katie's Wedding! This is her with my dad (on the left) and my Uncle Tracy.
This our kids at the zoo. We had a blast. Her oldest son Ethan is 12 and proably thought he was too cool to be in this silly picture!
Here we are feeding the birds. It was really fun because the birds would land on your sticks and just peck away at that food. Great entertainment for a dollar!

Cheese girls! I love that Shannon came to visit. We only get to see her about every 4 years so it was super exciting!

Pictures from Trek

That us pulling our handcart down the first of many hills.
This is what they call the girl's pull. During the migration of Saints out west many men died along the trail from fatigue and others were sent to serve in the Mormon Battallions. (which was basically the mormon troops because we were being forced out of the United States) Thus it was not uncommon for the women to pull all alone. It might be hard to tell from the picture but it took about 4 extra girls per cart as compared to when the boys were helping. We had to push all 12 handcarts up this giant hill. The men were not allowed to help or talk during this period. It was humbling to know that the women had the faith to continue.
That is me in the blue bonnet leading the girls in my family up the hill.
This is our family. I'm in the pink. Jed is the super tall guy in the hat.
Our family eating lunch on the first day! Bread, apples, and warm cheese.

Guess what though! I'll do it again in 4 years!:)

Mom,Where does the baby grow?

Now some people might think we are crazy for wanting another baby but I mean take a look at Annie, she's got ice cream on her face, she is wearing both a glove and a fire hat, and she's got a toy. If that doesn't make you smile then I just can't help you!

So yes, its true we are expecting Mini Wheat 3 in March. Now, the kids are fascinated about how the baby grows and how it comes out, etc... WOW... when I had Annie Claire was one so she didn't care at all. Today, Claire asked to feed me goldfish so that the baby could have some. She's pretty smart. Also, they really seem to understand where the baby grow as you can see below. Pray for our family as we prepare for the Trifecta!

When Good Ideas Go Bad

Claire Turned 4 on August 7! Hip Hip Hooray! I love my sweet girl!
This is my good idea gone bad. So ya know when your watching an infomercial and your like I need that. Well this is not the BIG TOP Cupcake but something I bought off ebay for half the the price. I think I need some practice on filling the to pans. Obviously, it was a little off.
Claire was still happy about it but sadly this cake doesn't travel well so it ended up upside down on my feet. Needless to say, she had a pink round cake instead by the end of the day. O well!