Hooked Up & Burned Up

For the 4th this year, we went to some friend's house to barbecue & light some fireworks.

I'm always shocked how expensive fireworks are, so it's always difficult for me to want to spend much on them. However, this year we hit the mother lode when a friend of Taylor's seriously hooked us up with some "leftovers". I had to commemorate this even since this will probably be the first and last time this opportunity comes around. However, this picture doesn't even do it justice.

The guys would line up a bunch at once.

Usually we have to ration them in order to make it last longer.

Look at the size of this thing!

This year, there were so many "illegals" being shot off in the air all around us. There was no need to go to a fireworks show at one of the hotels with these bad boys going off.

The kids had a blast watching all the different lights showering in front of them.

Jordan just enjoyed lighting things on fire.

Hailey isn't too fond of the fireworks. Not the noise but the fear of getting burned.

I love this video. Look closely at Taylor on the left. His reaction cracks me up each time I see it.

He was still a little stunned after he was singed.

All-in-all we had a fun....and generally safe despite a few minor burns.

My Latest Passion

In February, Noah needed to make a cake for his Blue & Gold dinner. We brainstormed until we finally came up with an idea to make one look like a cheeseburger. We got so into it that it ended up looking better than we thought it might.

That being said, it turned me on to making cakes. I'm surprised at how involved it can really be and also how messy it makes my kitchen. However, I am loving learning about all the different ways to make cakes.

My family has asked to see pictures of the cakes I've made, so I decided to stick it all in one post.

The "Cheeseburger" cake

Bumblebee cake

Hailey's 8th birthday cake.

She loves coming up with ideas and seeing if we can make them come to pass.

"Baptism Dress" for Hailey's baptism day

(I was so upset I forgot to take a picture before we cut it)

Cake I made for the cake class Hailey & I took. I loved learning flowers and basketweave.

A "Tie" for my dad for Father's Day

My brother loves golf, so I decided to make him a big golf ball cake for his birthday (front).

(back)

You can see the size better in this picture.

Happy Father's Day!!!

When I was in Young Womens, we were asked to write a list of qualities that we want for the person we marry. I've kept this list in my journal since then.

Qualities I want for my eternal companion:

1) Believe in church
2) Active in gospel
3) Gentleman & treats me well
4) Treats me as equal
5) Compassionate
6) Testimony of gospel
7) Has same goals as me
8) Taller than me!
9) Loves children
10) Will accept me for who I am & loves me for it
11) Gentle
12) Will strive to keep our family together
13) Will take me to the temple
14) Expects me to be worthy and strives to be also
15) Wants to serve a mission
16) Will support me in all decisions I make
17) Loves my family
18) Wants to be with me for eternity
19) Accepts adversity as it comes & strives to use it for good
20) Holds the priesthood

As I look over it, I realize that Taylor has everything I ever wanted in a husband (even #8!). I love how he interacts with kids. I am so grateful that he is the father of my children. Our family is so blessed that he holds the priesthood and strives to always be worthy to use it. I love you Taylor...my big, strong man! Happy Father's Day!!!

Taylor & Jordan - 1996

Taylor & Jordan - 1997

Reading to the boys - 1999

Hailey & Taylor on her blessing day - 2001

Christmas - 2003

Taylor & Benjamin - 2005

I have to also honor the father of my husband. I absolute adore my father in-law. He is always so supportive of us and welcomed me into the family from the very start. We always joke that I'm his favorite daughter in-law (although I'm the only one) but I always feel like he really means it. He's so fun to be around. I can tell he loves being a grandpa.

Bill, thank you for your love of me, my children, and always showing your love for your wife and family. Your example means a lot to me.

Family pictures - 2008

Bill & Marijke had no idea Taylor snuck up behind them.

Bill & my niece Rachel - 2009

Bill & Benjamin - 2005

My relationship with my dad has really evolved over the years. Growing up, he always seemed very serious. I realize now it was probably because he was trying to support 7 children. I am so grateful for his dedication to the gospel and support of my decisions throughout my life. My children love it when he's around. He can act just as goofy as them sometimes.

I love you Dad!!!

Dad always kisses Mom in front of us. He really showed us that it was good to show your children affection.

Easter - 2009

Dad's 60th birthday party at Taco Bell (his favorite "restaurant"). We threw him a surprise party here, and he was able to run the drive through for a bit as well.

Dad playing with Ben & Clara in the kiddie pool - 2008

Finally, I am grateful for my Grandpa Bill. Since Grandma Cherie passed away, my relationship has grown immensely with him. He has the best sense of humor (definitely where our family sarcasm originated). I am so thankful for his love of my husband and children. Even though he's their great-grandpa, my children think of him as "Grandpa". His strength through adversity, not only through my grandmother's health problems as well as his own, has shown me that I need to keep more of an eternal perspective on these physical trials.

I love you so much Grandpa!

YOU are my favorite.....and not because I'm your favorite granddaughter.

My favorite picture of Grandpa & myself

I hope all the men in my life had a relaxing Father's Day. I love you all!

Balance

Taylor asked me the other day if I thought I had balance in my life. Huh?

Oh......okay I get it. He's noticed that I can't seem to get my head out of these books to do anything around the house. I'm trying, but it's like a drug pulling me back to either stay up super late reading, go up to bed earlier than normal to read (thus ignoring my husband), or doing basically the bare minimum around the house in order to have more time to read. I told him he should be thrilled to be telling me to stop reading and not staring at the TV.....because reading's good for you right? No comment......just a stare.

So, I decided that I need to do one of two things. Either I hurry up and get through these stinkin' books, or I can just make sure he doesn't ever see me reading.

Only 800 more pages until I have a "Balanced" life again........

......not that I was anywhere close to being balanced before.

Hypocrite

I've rolled my eyes at the parties, the standing in line for the first copies of the DVD, the constant oohs and ahhs over Edward. I had no idea who Bella, Edward, Jacob, etc. were and didn't care one red cent to find out about them. I figured it was an adult version of Harry Potter, and I can't stand Harry Potter.

So I'm a big old hypocrite. A year later....maybe it's two.....I'm jumping on the bandwagon.

One day, someone offered us a copy of the movie. Fine, I thought, I'll see what all this hype is about. So we watched......Taylor pretended to snore through the first half. I was intrigued pretty much from the start and had to tell him to shut up. Then it started to pick up and suddenly there was no more snoring from the peanut gallery. I LOVED the movie. I'm pretty sure he liked it too. Can't wait for the next one.

Now I've borrowed the book from a friend and I'm glued. Poor Benjamin is getting neglected.....at least till I'm finished with the book.

Ben/Benji/Benjamin

• Ben = What most of us call him.
• Benji = What HE insists we call him.
• Benjamin = What we call him when he's in for it.

On March 31st, Benjamin Richard Caron turned 4 years old. I can't believe how quickly time has flown since he was born. Life is so much more interesting...and much of the time, more entertaining with him in our family.

A few hours old

My little man dressed up for church.

Ben has always loved his daddy. He especially loves working outside with him.

Off to go fishing.

He loves his brothers and sister. He is always so happy when they come home from school.

He's turned into quite a crackup regarding his clothes...especially his shoe choices.

Apparently the right shoes are not too important to him.

Goggles and glasses are his new thing. For his birthday, Dadoo Richard found some cool Spy Goggles. He wears them all the time.

Benjamin is my little stinker man. I absolutely love his enthusiasm, however often it wears me out. His smile and dimples brighten me each time I see them. I'm so blessed to have him for a son.

I love you Ben!!!!

My Mother's Day

(I'm so behind on postings, so I figure better late than never.)

This Mother's Day was wonderful as usual. 

Taylor always lets me sleep in extra long while getting the kids together to make me a fantastic breakfast.  Then they excitedly come in to wake me up.

 

Hailey really got into doing things for me this year.  She spent HOURS in her room putting together this Mother's Day sign.  Each letter is cut out separately, each one has a different design, and then she pieced it all together.  I was absolutely amazed.

Next, she made this sign/card on the art easel to have everyone sign.

Taylor surprised me with some beautiful flowers.  Jordan made an especially sweet card in his computer class at school.

Hailey wrote this in her school class. 

In Primary, the kids got to write different things that they "know" about us.  I'm always entertained by these.  It makes me realize how little they know AND really how much they know about me.  When it comes to little things, like where and when I'm born, I realize it took me a long time to remember those things about my mom as well.  However, when it comes to the things my kids say I do during the day, and what I do for them, I realize how keen they are to this info. 

Uhhh, my favorite thing to do is to cook?  HAHAHAHA!!!!  Best joke I've heard all day!

My favorite line is that I cut myself and burn myself.  Ahhh, he knows me too well.

I am so grateful to be a mother to these four wonderful children.  What I especially love about Mother's Day is that I know that behind the day-to-day grind, the thoughts my children express to me are how they feel.

I know I need to work on being much, much, much, much more patient with each of them.  I thank my Heavenly Father each day for the blessings they each bring.  

Lied Museum (a.k.a. - The Petri Dish)

At the height of the Swine Flu panic, we decided to take all the kids to the Lied Discovery Children's Museum downtown. As with all hands-on museums, especially this being mainly for children, we all felt like we needed a shower when we left. However, we all had a ton of fun there. 

Ben & Rachel playing basketball in a square hoop.

My three beautiful boys.....ahem, I mean handsome.

(I just noticed the bottom of Noah's crutch is on his face.  Yuck!!!)

Way too cool for this stuff.

Hailey and Ashley changing the direction the water flows for the rubber ducky.

(Notice the crystal clear water they were playing with?  The girl who worked there said it's always clean in the morning, but ends up looking this way by the end of the day.)

You can make huge bubbles like this at the different stations.

Ben playing in the bubbles with Momoo Mike.

There was a demonstration of liquid nitrogen and how it affects different objects.  Benjamin was completely fascinated with this.

Showing off the hard marshmallows given out for samples.

(Taylor kept commenting on how gross this was with all the dirty hands grabbing marshmallows off the cookie sheet.  Funny how he ended up going back a few times.)

Hailey trying to pull her body weight up in the air.

This spinning wheel that demonstrates the centrifugal force could have entertained everyone for hours.

Jared, Nicole's husband, is always cracking us up.  Having three girls, they're no stranger to Hannah Montana.  Again, this being "swine flu season", he came up with a song to dedicate to our outing.

Happy Mother's Day

I've watched this video over and over, but it still seems to get me teary-eyed.  I just can't even imagine what the moms of these teens are feeling seeing them in this video talking about them.  These kind of moments, especially on Mother's Day, are those that wash away all memory of the bad days. 

 

Happy Mother's Day to my wonderful mother and mother in-law. You both have attributes that I admire and am always striving to perfect as a mother myself.  I love you both!

V.I.P.

I got this email the other day, and it's still cracking me up. I remember seeing this years ago, only with President Hinckley involved.  I just wanted to share this joke with my multitude of blog admirers.....

President Thomas Monson was returning to Salt Lake City after a speaking engagement and when his plane arrived there was a limousine there to transport him to his home.

As he prepared to get into the limo, he stopped and spoke to the driver.  “You know” he said, “I am getting pretty old and I have never driven a limousine. Would you mind if I drove it for a while?”

The driver said, “No problem. Have at it.”

President Monson gets into the driver's seat and they head off down the highway. A short distance away sat a rookie Highway Patrolman operating his first speed trap.

The long black limo went by him doing 70 mph in a 55 mph zone.

The trooper pulled out and easily caught the limo and he got out of his patrol car to begin the procedure. The young trooper walked up to the driver's door and when the glass was rolled down, he was surprised to see who was driving.  He immediately excused himself and went back to his car and called his supervisor.

He told the supervisor, “I know we are supposed to enforce the law. But I also know that important people are given certain courtesies. I need to know what I should do because I have stopped a very important person.”

The supervisor asked, “Is it the governor?”

The young trooper said, “No, he's more important than that.”

The supervisor said, “Oh, so it's the president.....

The young trooper said, “No, he's even more important than that.”

The supervisor finally asked, “Well then, who is it?”

The young trooper said, “I think it's Jesus, because he's got President Monson for a chauffeur!”