Christmas at the Zobe's

My first Christmas with just us. It was quiet,relaxing, nice and non rushed. I pulled the pre-wrapped presents out around 10 on Christmas eve, lovingly placed stuff around the tree and was in bed by 10:45. I liked that. Mason was up a little after 7 and the other 2 were quick to follow. We opened presents and had a great morning.

My intent was to "wrap" the entrance to the living room hoping that they would tear thru it like they do at football games. Not so. They lifted the corners and went inside. Such good behaved children. :) Not wanting to destroy anything that isn't theirs.

Yep, Nat got a Barbie jeep. It was, of course, a big hit.

Don't you absolutely just adore this little pixie horse bike??!!!! Thanks mom and dad! He loves it!

How I love this kid! His own fishing pole with hat and tackle box. Look out lakes here we come!! And I do mean we as in Tyler doesn't care much for fishing and I think it's awesome! Night crawlers? Umm yeah, I might have a hard time with that one.

As for me, I wanted a new pair of slippers.

Thanks Jean and Maren! My new ones are nice and toasty.

And so that was Christmas. I hope you all had a great one. Now, onto a great new year!!!

Yeah, I know...

Yeah, I know it's December 14th. I know I didn't blog in November. I know I'm behind. But I am done with Christmas-shopping, presents, the dinner everything. Still a little unsure where to buy silly bands, but hoping that the other presents will through the boy off the scent. I am excited for Christmas this year. I am excited for the gift from Santa that will hopefully be a tradition for a while to come. We have The Polar Express book on CD and it seems that we listen to that story everytime we get in the car. I decided to buy one silver bell and put it by itself in a box. I'll slip it under the tree towards the back and when the kids find it and open it- there will lay a silver bell from Santa Claus's sleigh. With a note attached "Always believe in the spirit of Christmas." Mr.C

Genius I know!!! Love it! Love the idea. Thanks Chris van Allsburg. You wrote a great book!

I won't recap November really. It came, it went. My parents came for Thanksgiving which was fabulous. I love family so much. My dear sweet friend moved her family to San Diego. That was hard and came with flowing tears. Both from me and the kids.

But now we have a reason to go to sunny CA.

And November saw a new family member. A very cute, small, family member that we have given the name Sam.

Sam is our Elf on the shelf. This cute guy watches my kids behavior and then flies to the North Pole to tell Santa how they were that day. Then he watches from a new spot. Genius! I love Sam. He has saved many a tantrum and fit throwing since coming. Is there a year round elf? Does anyone know? If there is please tell me so I will purchase him right away. And that's us so far. Oh, and we got, what is in my humble opinion, the most perfect Christmas tree ever! Real, smelly, and full. Love it. Love Christmas!.

huh????!!???

I love my sweet Natalie. We are best friends and I hope she wants to be my best friend forever. I also love to hear that girl sing. But, as I heard her singing away the other day I started to question exactly what they're teaching my sweet princess in Kindergarten.

This is what I heard, sung to the tune "This old man"

"This old man, he has crack
in a city on his back
with a la la la la give a dog a bone
this old man is having stones."

I half expected the next line to talk about a magical white powder that makes everyone happy. I know we live in a REALLY liberal city, but come on people. She's only 5!

Halloween-ZoBell style

Actually we don't really have a style, but here's our Halloween experience anyway. I took the kids to Hunters pumpkin patch where Mason and Nat loved getting lost in the hay maze and Dallin and I went down the big chute slide about 50 times. He loved it! We got our pumpkins out i n the field and carved them later that night.

Mason's is scary, Nat's is happy, Dallin's is a dog. The kids had fun. Sadly, they caught the pumpkin disease and the inside's turned green with white fuzz. We had our own science project growing in the window sill for a while. Enter the Family Fun kit with sticky felt faces that you stick on the pumpkin. No carving. The kids were just as excited. We'll remember that one for next year.

The kids did trunk or treat at the church. Mason was Darth Vader with no mask. So he looked like a kid dressed in black. Nat was a pink fairy, and Dallin was an alligator. Except his zipper broke so it didn't really zip.

Good times had by all though. And the chili dinner afterwards was super yummy!

I decided to throw a Halloween party for Natalie's kindy class. Just the girls though. I had them all were their costumes, because you can't at school. (Which is a completely different subject that I won't get into.) I had made sandwiches in the shape of pumpkins and bats, string cheese cut in half, and then took a knife and made slits in the cheese to look like fingers. Apples, carrots and dip. And dry ice in my big orange pot. It was truly the hit of the party. And then when I dumped apple juice in and it made the bubbly sound, they all screamed and ran around the kitchen. MOM POINTS, MOM POINTS!!!!

And then we made a craft. I am NOT a crafty person. I will ruin stuff as easy as putting hot glue on a little round eye. When the RS talk about having craft night, I cringe and shudder at the very thought of sitting around a table with "crafty things" all around. But thanks to the family fun website, I found a craft that maybe, maybe, I could do. I stayed up the night before and painted 10 tiny pumpkins black. Traced some bat wings on craft foam along with eyes and ears and TA DAH!!!!

This is Natalie's. I give family fun magazine credit for coming up with this cute idea. I give myself credit plus a gold star for actually doing something that turned out. Yeah me. Yeah Halloween.

The zoo

I think I like zoos. Or maybe I like seeing how excited the kids get when they see each animal. We went to the zoo last Saturday. It turned out to be perfect because it wasn't hot and all the animals were out roaming around. They have a new tiger exhibit and that was pretty cool.

Yep. The kids took a ride on the camal. Then announced when they got off that maybe they could go across the desert. Nat proceeded to tell the other kids in line how much camals drink and why they have humps. "For holding water inside the humps." Gotta love that girl.

The aquarium is so awesome! The kids spent a good chunk of time just watching the fish and then down to the sharks. Don't they look terrified?! The sharks were pretty cool though. And neat to see up close. We'll have to hit the shark feed next time, I'm sure that's a sight to see.

Nice pose miss moo. "Ain't nothin but a shark! Uh. uh , uh." with the finger snap and the head roll.

And how is it possible that my Dilly Dal is old enough to hold onto the carousel horse by himself? Boy these kids get big fast. What a great time at the zoo. Thanks weather man for helping make it a great day.

Another year has come and gone

It was my birthday last Monday, the 20th. It was a great day filled with homemade cards and phone calls and a lemon cake made by my sweet Love and kids. Nat wanted to make me a tinkerbell cake. I guess I know what kind of cake she'll want this summer. I got a new camera from my Love which is totally awesome. It's a Sony xl5v or something but it does the 10 second picture take and panoramic and clearer pictures. I love it! Look out pictures, here I come! Tyler also framed a picture that we got taken while we were in Hawaii. I looove that! My mom sent me the green pitcher. (I know that your laughing right now Ems, and Amy too.) But I remember the green pitcher clear aback to when I was about 8 years old. We made Kool Aid in it, it was the ice water pitcher on the table at Sunday dinners, O.J., punch, you name it. The green pitcher has been around. I told my mom that when she and my dad die, that's all I want. So it was sent loving this way with my mom saying," Why should we be dead? Just have the pitcher now." I was happy and filled it with juice right away. Ahh the sentiment.



Oh does my Dal love dogs!! We'll get one someday but for now he loves to look out windows and watch for "buh buh." I saw this hat at Michaels and couldn't resist.























His own buh buh hat. Hopefully that'll tie him over for a few years.











Mason and Nat started soccer this year. Mason's 3rd year and Nat's 1st. Mason is a good player! He stopped 6 balls from going in the net off the other team. On one he actually dove and fell in the net and brought the whole thing down. That's my boy!!





Nat's team is called the purple transformers. She happened to have a purple tu-tu with sparkles on. Perfect!



She's having fun and running the right way so far, so that's always good.








And Fall, well, you came early. Way to early for me. Please linger thru October with minimal rain. Saturday was gorgeous! I'll take 2 months of that weather please.

Welcome.......

Hello, and welcome back to my blog. My name is Beck and I have been MIA for awhile. It was a fun, crazy, awesome summer and I am sad to see it leave. I am sad to see the sun go. Anyway, the following things are entitled "Welcome".

Welcome to year 7 of your life pal! Yes, my Mason turned 7 in August and he is such a great kid. We went to Utah for our usual summer trip around his birthday so that he could go fishing with grandpa. That's what he wanted for his birthday. Sweet, yes I know. He went with both grandpas one morning and caught 2 fish. Then ate them for dinner. What a great time he had. And grandpas too. And he also used his state skills to earn a little "green" on the side. Remember a few posts ago I mentioned that he was really into the states? Well he can name all 50 starting in one corner of the country and moving his way across to the other corner. So at seperate times, he went up to his grandpas and said," Grandpa, will you give me a quarter for each state I can name?" Both of them are probably thinking,' sure o.k. so he know 3 or 4 states.' Tyler and I were holding back laughs as he ripped off all 50 and earned a combined 25 bucks! Way to Go!!!!! He's learned the capitals for all of them now and we are proud as puddin of that boy!!

Welcome to Mount Rushmore! As part of our Utah trip, Tyler went with his dad to Sturgis, South Dakota (capital Pierre) for the annual Harley Davidson bike riders get together. He loved seeing all the bikes and had fun riding his. Nothing like riding a Fat Boy on the open road with your dad to see motorcycles. He detoured one afternoon and rode up to see Mount Rushmore. O.k. this is awesome to me.

People totally carved President's faces in a mountain. So cool! Notice the scruff on my Love's face. He let the old facial hair grow out to blend in better with the Harley riders. Man Love, you are one hot, good lookin Love. And in front of a National Monument no less. Anyway, I'm glad he got to see that. Awesome!

Welcome back to school!!!!!!!! We started school on the 8th of September and, nothing personal Amy Grant, but it truly is the most wonderful time of the year!!! Mason is in 2nd grade now and my sweet Nat started Kindergarten. AAhhh, another child leaves to take advantage of the wonderful educational system that we call Kindy.

Our regular picture in front of the school sign. Doesn't he look like a smart little 2nd grader?

I can't believe my Nat is old enough to be a kindergartner.

Oh man do I love these kids! And I am getting so much done around the house! And my Dilly Dal Pal is reaping some serious mom time. I love it. Natalie is in morning Kindy so she comes home for lunch and then she reaps the mom time while Dal takes his nap. Everyone wins!!! I love school!!! Teachers are underpaid. The end.

The bus ride home. Her favorite part of school. Hey, it's a big deal when your 5!

And that's the end of our welcomes. Hopefully I won't get so far behind again that I have to reintroduce myself. I'm Beck. Thanks again for stopping by.

Bear with

I'm behind,yes I know. But, in the words of my loving husband, "Bear with, just bear with." I need to prioritize life before I can justify sitting down and typing away, ignoring housework, children, and all the little things that need doing around here. Today's task? Blinds and windows. That is all.

Things that are funny....

Something funny last night happened, along with a few other things, so I thought I'd share a few things that I think are funny.


Last night we went to feed the ducks down at Capitol Lake. It's sort of our after church, after dinner, ritual. The duck feeding wasn't going so great. Mostly it was seagulls. I started to chase a runaway Dal Pal when something green caught my eye floating in the water. About 5 feet from the cement wall that seperates the water from the path. Upon further inspection I realize that it's money. And upon further inspection realized that it was NOT a dollar bill. But one of higher currency. I yell for Mason to come over. He's the one always looking on the ground at stores for loose change. Like mother like son. :) I tell him," See that money floating in the water? Go get it." Tyler comes over to see what we're up to. Upon seeing the green, he starts removing Mason's shoes and shirt. Luckily for us he had his swim suit on for some reason. Tyler lowered him down onto the steps that are hooked onto the wall. The water was waist high on Mason. He was drawing a crowd now. A few people stopped to see what he was grabbing. MY heart started beating faster. Was it ten bucks? Maybe a hundred???!!! Mason waded out into the water, picked up the money...opened it up and yelled "A MILLION DOLLARS!!! MOM IT'S A MILLION DOLLARS!" And it took me just a quick second to think 'o.k. now do they really make a million dollar bill?' No. But boy wasn't it fun?







Here's our money. Our million dollars. We'll try to not spend it all in one place.















































Funny how I always dreaded girls camp. DREAD!!! I have vivid memories of being a beehive and finding bologna floating in our cooler on the last day of camp. Back in those days, you brought up your own food as a tent. Yikes! I have vivid memories of being a four year laurel where we had to hike into camp with all our junk on our backs. NOT FUN! And yet, here I am VOLUNTEERING to go up to girls camp to help my friend cook food for the girls. For the whole stake actually. It could be fun! I'm with fun people, I get to sleep on a cot, I get to shower, I get to have a break from my kids, and I'm sure it's come a long way from when I was a mere beehive. I wonder if there'll be Smores????





We have Sister Missionaries in our ward. This is not so much funny as it is wickedly AWESOME! And with Tyler being the ward mission leader, they get to come over a lot. I have had the sweet opportunity to go on splits twice now. It was fantastic! I don't want to hog them all to ourselves, but I would have them over to eat every night if I could. They are good, they are hard working, and it makes me want to put my name tag back on and join them in a 3-some. Except that I have to be home by 8:30 to put the kids to bed. But I feel that this is my chance to give to them what people gave to me and my companions. Rides, splits, dinner, etc... I love it! Elders are good....but Sisters are AWESOME!!















I stopped by a garage sale a few weeks ago and picked up a puzzle of the United States for Mason. This kid has really learned his States. He wants to know all about them. Which States have tornados. Earthquakes, quicksand. He has informed us that his mission will be to Maine. The history channel did a special on all the states and he took notes. But what is the most awesome? He came across a picture of the U.S. where the states were not labeled. He proceeded to name the states for us. He did fantastic. He knows where Nebraska is. He pointed out Louisiana. Texas as the biggest state. Tyler and I had a super proud parent moment. Perhaps we have a geography buff on our hands.

And lastly, with all the things going on in my life as a wife and mother... I have decided to take on one more task. That being piano teacher. Some of you are thinking,"Umm Beck, you are the most nervous person at the piano I know." True, true. But teaching and playing in front of people are sooo different. And I love teaching. It is fun to me. I like counting outloud with my students, like my teacher did. I like teaching them what forte and piano mean. I love to see the improvement they have each week. I only have two students right now. And one coming after her arm gets out of the sling. So, if you know someone who wants to learn, send 'em this way.

And these are my funnies for the week!

The long awaited trip

Yep, I know we've been home for a little over a week now. But here I am, thrown back into mom mode. And it'll be o.k. as long as I plan summer activities. But about our trip! It was fabulous of course. I have a few stories, so go grab a beverage and settle in.

Our plane left from Portland actually and so we were extra careful about getting to the airport on time. We were flying to LA and then meeting up with my parents, brother, sister, and their spouses to fly to Paradise together. And then we missed the plane. Now if you're like me, when you hear that someone missed the plane you think "Moron! Don't you know that you have to be at the airport at least an hour early to check in." Well, we were at the airport 2, let me repeat, 2 hours early and we still missed our flight. Story- There we are riding the car shuttle to the airport. Happy, excited, heading to Maui with my awesome family. Then we walked through the doors to find ALL of Portland flying on United. No big deal. Our plane leaves at 6 and it's 4 A.M.. We get in line and wait. And wait and wait. Then Tyler sees a sign that says, 'All gates close 45 minutes prior to take off.' Translation to us- get the heck on the plane!!! Tyler goes up to this lady and explains that we have a 6 a.m.. flight to LA that we have to be on. She hurries us up to another line where we wait some more. Finally it's our turn and we run to the counter. The ticket lady says," You've missed you flight. There's no way we can get you to your gate now." Ummm WHAT!!!? Yeah instant feeling sick. Tyler explains how long we've been in line and how we are catching a plane to Maui at 1 p.m.. She clicks around on her computer and says," The next flight going to LA is tonight at 7." Well no that won't work. Tyler runs, and I mean runs, to all the other airlines. Southwest, Delta, Alaskan, Virgin, Jet Blue etc... only to find out that all their flights to LA are booked out.

Enter now 2 panicky, sweating bullets like crazy, on the verge of tears (me) ZoBells. We are at the mercy of United. She tells us that we can get on the 7 p.m. flight to LA tonight and then on to Maui the next day at 8 a.m.. What else could we do? We accepted and then went and sat down in some chairs to survey our situation. The time? 6:15 in the morning. We wished that maybe the lady helping us would have said," O.k. listen you two. Grab what you absolutley need as a carry on and then run to your gate." We wished that all day, but we found out that night that the security line was longer than the check in line. So either way we would have missed our flight. Whewww.

So here we are at 6:15. We had our emotions go from totally up, to total dispair, to not so bad. We took advantage of the day and went to Multnomah Falls. It's the most gorgeous waterfall! We decided to hike to the top. It was a little over a mile straight up. But once we hit the top it was so pretty.

We were pretty tired when we got back down. We had been up since 2 in the morning! We found a shady spot and took a nap in the car. Then we decided to go to church. Why not? It was Sunday after all. We weren't really dressed in Sunday attire and it only took 3 minutes for someone to introduce themselves to us. Hahaha. We must have looked silly dressed in jeans and t shirts, but knowing the words to all the hymns. Then we hit the movies, had dinner, and made it back to the airport in PLENTY of time. Flew to LA, slept in a Super 8, made sure we were up and in the shuttle bus with time to spare. I was actually glad to spend the day with Tyler. It was great. We flew to Maui, and was very glad that our luggage made it there as well. We didn't waste much time either. After landing we went to the snorkel shop, got some gear, drove to our condo, and were in the ocean within an hour of landing. Snorkeling was awesome! Especially when this huge sea turtle swam right under me!! My dad made a jam sandwich that he had put in a plastic baggie. He poked a small hole in the end and spread bread crumbs in the water. Fish came out of nowhere and they were swimming so close to us. Talk about reach out and touch someone! It was so awesome.

This is what your face looks like after burning it and the top of your head too. Here's me watching my awesome Love surf.

Surfing, and hot!! What a combo! We didn't really have an agenda. It was so nice to relax on the beach, or by the pool. Cooked out on the grill, strolled along the beach front, ate really great food, played games with the family I love most, shopped, saw a magic show (not really Hawaiian but I haven't laughed that hard in a long time), Got our pictures taken for my parents living room wall, snorkeled, Tyler scuba dived, body surfed, spud busters (family name for big waves) Olympics on the sand, and overall just can't even believe what an awesome time I had.

I had such a great time and it was wonderful seeing my family again. And it was more wonderful to have Tyler all to myself with no kids!! A big huge Thank you to my fabulous mother in law for watching the kids for that week. And so for now Aloha in the goodbye sense. I've all ready started saving for the next trip.

Aloha!!

I'm off to Hawaii in the morning with my favorite Love. We'll meet up with my parents, brother, and sister and their other halfs in LA, and then off to the sunny beaches of Maui! I'll have pictures and stories to share when we get back I'm sure. Aloha!

Sad

This is a sad post. Well, I guess it depends on how you look at it. To some it's sad, to some scary, and to some anger and bewilderment. I was supposed to fold clothes, but instead I found myself flipping through the channels. The 5 o clock news came on with a breaking story of a boy in Portland who is lost. He is 7 years old, and after he and his mom went to school, she watched him walk inside, and no one has seen him since. HE WAS TAKEN FROM THE SCHOOL! From inside the school. His mom watched him walk in, and he never made it to his classroom. So in the minutes it took to get from the front door to his classroom, he vanished. I am sick! I told Tyler when he came home from work, and we both are stunned. Our FHE lesson quickly changed to safety tonight and talking about strangers. We even roll played with both kids and Tyler was a stranger and he said to Mason" Are you Mason? Your little brother is stuck in a tree. Come with me, he needs help." And pulled him out of the living room. Then we told him that if a stranger does that he needs to scream his head off and run. We couldn't push the point enough that following strangers was the worst thing they could ever do. We talked about who it was safe to get a ride home from school with. And to top it off with we made child identification pamphlets. They were giving them out at the school carnival for free. We have their information, fingerprints, and pictures. Tyler had already planned for weeks to do this tonight, but I've never really thought about filling one of those out until today. I mean, this kid vanished from inside his own school. What next? I would strongly encourage everyone to get one. Just to be safe. Sorry for the downer blog, but in life...... well...I don't know. It's just part of life.

Camp, cows, and sweatin

Sometimes when I get behind I think, well, I have nothing to say . But then when I look at pictures I guess I have more than I thought. Start with Father and sons. Tyler took the boys to overnight camping- father and sons. And they had a medium good time I think. It poured rain on them starting at around 10:30p.m. until sometime in the early morning. For those who are unaware of what it means to "pour" in WA, it means rain so hard that even our gutters can't keep up. Despite that, they stayed dry and had a good time.

And Nat and I had a good time eating pizza and finding the dress up your Disney princess website. She was in heaven for that one. Then we watched Sleeping Beauty and she slept with me. Everyone wins when the boys go camping!

Next cows. Nat's preschool class took a field trip to a hands on pioneer farm. It was actually really neat. They had log cabins that were built by the pioneers back in the late 1880's. They told the kids about all the chores they had to do. When the guide then asked,"Who would like to milk the cow?" And my sweet girl pipes up that she will. And she was the only one! She grabbed those udders and away she went. A couple drops of milk actually came out! Oh my little farm girl. After we left she informed me that when she's 17, she'll be a pioneer. You go girl!!!

And now for the moment you've all been waiting for. How is level 3 going with your BFF Jillian? Well, I'll tell you. I have lost 8 honest to goodness pounds with Jillian. Level 3 makes me sweat. Period. I don't remember sweating that much since pushing out the kids. I find myself in a little bit of a discouragement. I thought I'd have lost more by now, but chin up Beck. 8 pounds is 8 pounds and I'm still doing Jillian everyday.

Now, let's see if we can work on your tan. Your ghostly white. No really.

Happy Birthday to my squishy princess!!!

Yesterday the 18th, was my girl's birthday. I know she turned 5, and that calling her a squishy princess may be a little kids name, but she IS still my princess for the rest of her life. And Squish is her nickname. And can you believe that this girl is 5!!!! We're talking Kindergarten in the fall! Tyler and I always comment on how we wish we could freeze her right now, just the way she is. And on super great days, I wish she were triplets. :) Well, she had her first all girls party and was it pink! She had 5 friends over and she wore her Cinderella costume.

We had presents and games and pizza etc.... and she was in heaven. And she got some nice presents too. We played Plinko with the Plinko board that Tyler made. And at the bottom I had different prizes. Sparkling lip gloss, sidewalk chalk, princess jump rope, princess figurines, glow in the dark bracelets,candy. These girls were having so much fun! Then we went cow bowling. The pins look like milk bottles and the ball looks like the head of a cow, and as you roll the ball it moos. It's pretty awesome.

And then the cake. AAhhh the coveted Barbie cake. Go back in time with me for just a minute. Now, when the squish turned 3 she wanted said Barbie cake. I had just had Dallin and was home from the hospital for my first day when her birthday came. I didn't want to disappoint her, but I was also exhausted and still water filled. (Boo for water filled bodies. Seriously I could have filled up some lakes. Anyway.) Step in my super massive awesome husband who took on the job. After showing him a picture, he went straight to work.

This was the front.

This was the back.

I gave him 5 stars for making the best princess cake ever! Who would have thought to make her do the backwards splits??!! Your awesome Love!

And now we have the cake done this year.

I can't believe that I forgot to take a picture when I was done. Well, here's a side view. And here's what it looks like in the front. Just imagine the cake a little fuller. Hurray!!!

I'd say all in all it was a very successful birthday. I am happy to report that I had a very happy 5 year old by bed time. What a girl. I love you Nat!!! Happy birthday to my squishy missy moo miss princess face.

My sweet little Dilly Dal Pal

Oh my sweet babe! Today you turned 2!!! 2 years old and now you are a toddler. But you will always be my sweet moopty moo, schmoopin schmaps, biddiest bid, Mr. Schmee. I love everything about you, and secretly I like when you come in our room around 1:30 every morning to crawl in by mom. :) We started the day early. 1 A.M. to be exact, when the Dal started to come in our room, saw the balloons I had blown up and put on the floor, and stopped to play. Normally I would say,"Aawww how cute." and take a picture. Not so this time. I scopped him up and we waved goodbye to the balloons until morning, and back in his bed we went. And he stayed there until 7:45. Tyler did the traditional carrying of the birthday boy/girl to our bed for presents.

He got hot wheels, and fruit snacks, goldfish, new suit for church (yeah it's a snappy one) magnet board, fire truck remote control..... But I have to say that I was most impressed with Mason's gift. Dallin loves dogs. Just loves them. So every morning for the past 2 weeks after Mason gets up, he has been drawing a picture of a dog for Dallin. He drew a Dalmashan, Golden Retrever, and a Beagle. (Spelling done by Mason) Tyler got a frame from Michaels and we framed his pictures really nice and Dallin pointed to them and kept sayin,"Buh buh. Buh buh." (puppy) It was great. We played outside because it was gorgeous!!! And then I made us a picnic and we headed to the park. Good times! We came home and had a couple families with kids from the Nursery over for cake and ice cream.

O.k. so here's my dog cake. I know, it looks like a bear, but who cares it was super tasty! Yum yum!

We had a tricky time with the candles but only because he knows they are hot. Enter mom stage right to help with the blowing out of the candles. And now, after cake and ice cream and presents, after a scrub in the tub, he is in bed. Oh how I love that boy! Happy birthday pal! I love you more than ever!!

Last night was a Father/Daughter dance at the high school. It was a princess ball actually and so Tyler took Nat. We put on her Cinderella costume and away they went. Tyler said they had a great time, and Nat danced the night away! He got some video of her dancing and then of the two of them dancing together. It is so priceless! What a great dad! Thanks Love, the Squish had a great time! Man I love this family!! Thanks family, for making it a great, great day.

Well...rats!

Rats because I have nothing really to say, but I feel bad without blogging when so much time goes by. I sit here, waiting for the Dal to fall asleep so I can mop the floor. And that's about it. I did however, have a fabulous Mother's Day. Breakfast in bed with chopped up strawberries and bananas to go along with my pancake that spelled M O M. The kids didn't fight all day, the sun came out, and we grilled on the grill. I LOVE the grill. (Thanks Ems!) I love the smell of cooking food thats on the BBQ. I love that it was turkey burgers and my kids gobbled (no pun intended, haha) it down thinking it was hamburgers. I loved my homemade card. I'll save it forever. Thanks family for a great day!

I know your all dying to know how level 2 is going with my BFF Jillian. It took me 3 days to finish level 2 to the end. It was so stinkin hard, and I was really discouraged at myself for pooping out and watching the rest on the floor. But finally, I am now able to finish. I overheard Mason ask Tyler, "How come mom makes screaming sounds and the girls on t.v. don't?" Hahahaha- well son, mom is not as flexible and in shape as the girls on t.v.. But I didn't scream last night, so I guess that means it's getting better. I think I'll finish out level 2 this week and start level 3 on Monday. We have a weekend full of cakes with it being Dallin's birthday on Saturday and Natalie's on Tuesday. Hurray!! I actually have an idea for a dog cake. In my head it looks awesome. Hopefully I can transform it. I'll let you all know. Time to mop I guess. O.k. just do it already!!

Friday at our house

From Tyler, taken from our family website:

Yesterday was an exciting day. On my way home from work I stopped and talked to a pavement crew working near my home and I asked them to pave over a low spot in my driveway. So they came over and paved about a 30 sq. ft patch and told me not to drive on it for about an hour. Beck was at the optometrist at the time and I had a bunch of chopped up tree trunks lying next to the driveway. I blocked off the driveway with this firewood and presumed Beck would stop the van prior to the obstruction and the fresh asphalt. Minutes later she comes barreling in, monster trucks over my "speed bumps", over the new hot mix, and on towards the house. I'm beside myself in frustration and as nicely as I could, open the van door and ask her if she's blind. Immediately I notice her wearing disposable sun glasses that could only come from a doctor's office. She takes them off and shows off her massive beady black eyes and says,"Yes!" We laughed hard about that and then I realized that those wood stumps could have just as easily been our kids greeting her in the driveway- "Mommy's home! Mommy's home! Mommy? MOMMY?!" thump, thump, thump.

Despite being blind with pupils dilated like basketballs, I let her run my new backpack blower that I also bought yesterday. I'm such a nice husband. I love my new toy. Now I know how I'm gonna clean the inside of the house the next time Beck is away.

from Beck- I'm pretty sure I would have seen the kids. :)

Meet my new BFF

I'd like to introduce you all to my new BFF....her name is Jillian Michael's. And between her 30 day shred video and me upping the veggies for munching....I am happy to announce a 4 pound loss last week!!!! GO ME, GO ME!! I am ready to take it to level 2 today. I won't lie...it's been super hard. But I have a little 6 year old motivator that comes home from school and says," Are you ready to do your video mom?" Sometimes I need a little push. So there you go. Level 2 here I come! Please don't be more than 2 minutes of jumping jacks. I've decided that those aren't my favorite.



On to other news...or just stuff that happens in the Zobe household. Nat and I had a tea party the other day for her special time with mom. She was the perfect hostess. We all had silverware and cups. But the donut holes were the best. Her bunny got full from too much water, so Nat had to eat her donut. Hey, a girl has to sacrifice sometimes. We had a great time!



I guess that's all. We have a couple birthdays coming this month. Dal will be 2! He wants a puppy cake, or so I've been told. Nat will be 5! She wants a Tinkerbell cake. I'm too cheap to go to Michaels though,and spend $12.99 on a Tinkerbell cake pan that will only get used 1 time. Maybe I'll have to get creative. May those juices start flowing. I have 17 days to figure it out!!!

The Biggest Loser-ZoBell style

My good friend let me borrow her Jillian Michael's 30 day shred work out video. Guaranteed to work if you faithfully do it everyday. I did day one tonight. Tyler did it with me and the kids joined in after dessert. There the 5 of us were. Doing jumping jacks, leg kicks, and fake jump rope. Then down to the floor for ab crunches. And now I will see if I can make it to the bathroom for a tub. I shouldn't have sat down.

oohh I feel a long one coming on....

I feel a long post about to come blurting out of my brain and onto the screen. I can't help it though, because I have some things to share. I guess the main name for this entry is choices. We had our home teachers over a couple nights ago, and the message they shared was on making good choices. I was sending the vibe to the kids via brain waves, that the BEST choice they can make is listening to their mother! After they went down to bed I was thinking more about choices that I want them to make. Good ones of course, but it boils down to me. Explaination- and I'm going to keep it simple.

My lovely sister has introduced me to Jamie Olivers Food Revolution. This guy from England is on a mission to redo the school lunch system. He is in West Virginia right now in a town whose name I am sorry to say I forgot. But the town has the highest number of death rates, obesity, and diabeties. And the kids are eating pizza for breakfast and corn dogs and chicken nuggets for lunch almost everyday. Blah, blah, blah, I don't want to go on and on, but after watching a few episodes, and listening to home teachers, here's what I had it all come down to. If I want my kids to eat healthy, avoid obesity, and really avoid becoming diabetic (which runs in my family), then the choice is mine to serve healthy foods. They can choose not to eat it. And they will go to bed hungry. I am not a restaurant people, and what I make for dinner and lunch is it. Oh Beck you sound so harsh!?! Well, listen to this.

The choice is mine what I put in front of my kids to eat. Me, Beck, it's up to me. And last night I chose a nice fillet of fish, steamed broccoli and cauliflower, and whole grain brown rice mixed with a little olice oil for taste. And I thought, well here goes nothin. I couldn't have been more pleased to watch ALL of my kids eat it up. Mason had 2 fish fillets, Dallin ate a good share of rice, and even though Nat took a few minutes, she ate her broccoli. Proud mom moment. Does this mean we will never go to McDonalds again? No, don't be silly. Pizza? You bet! But moderatly my friends, moderatly. Enough! I'm preached long enough!!!

After dinner, Mason and I went out for special time with mom. He chose mini gold and Tyler found a place that is outside. I was happy because yesterday was gorgeous! We went to the mini golf place and we were the only ones there. This place was so awesome!!!! Waterfalls, and rocks, and just the perfect place. We had so much fun!!!

It's so great to spend time alone with each one of the kids.

Afterwards, we hit Coldstone for a chocolate ice cream with M&Ms. What a great way to end the day. Thanks pal for the fun date!! I sure love you!

Nat did some wonderful spring painting at her preschool. So wonderful in fact that she thought she would share it with those passing on the road.

Man oh man how I love that girl! And that is the end of my saga. Whewww, I told you this was a long one!!!