Awards

Kaelyn received a note home saying that she was going to get an award at school on friday. She had no clue about it and I think that made it all the better. When they called her up to the stage she had a smile that was defiantly contagious. Thank goodness for my friend Nikki, baby Jake was a pill and I was not able to get photos but she was able to snap a few. Jessica even got a little award, such a proud mama here.

Not a hairstylist

Had to add this one, Jake had to fix my boys hair lol

In my defense he needed a haircut and the buzzer lied to me. I feel so bad that it's this short, I really had no clue. Baby Jake is traumatized and is still touching his head wondering what the heck did mom do to me. When Jake saw it he said "Fran, what did you do to my boy?" Oh boy! I really do love the feel of his hair now....hahaha

Sad News

As I get older I find it more and more important to note family events and take more pictures. Pictures are a way to look back at happy times and remember all the people we grew up with or just met for a moment in life. I've been married to Jake for almost 10 years now and have had the pleasure of meeting a lot of his family who has welcomed me with open arms. The picture above is of Conway Bevans and his daughter Misty which is Jakes uncle and cousin. A few years ago Misty lost her battle with stomach cancer on April 2nd and yesterday we got a unexpected phone call that Jake's Uncle Conway was killed. I can't even imagine the hurt the family is going through loosing people that are in my book to young to go. I just tear up thinking about them; everyone touches someones life in one way or another.

Trip to see the horses

Jake was working late and I had to run some last minute errands, while at the store the kids were full of energy. Fun times for me! So we bought some carrots and headed to Grandma's house to feed the horses. The kids get a kick out of walking to each horse and explaining who the horses is and feeding the carrot to which ever one gets it first. Baby Jake loved it and was very willing to hold the carrot up for the horse to eat. We've been feeding the horses since Jess was a baby and even now she loves to go. My nephew Clayton was with us and it was fun to watch him and that spunky boy have no fear with getting right next to those horses.

Laurel's babyshower

Saturday was my friend Laurels baby shower and I have to say it was really fun. Rachel did an amazing job putting it all together and it was nice to see everyone get together for a special time. It was funny during the week Laurel told me that as long as it was not a lot of center of attention she was good. I proceeded to tell her that I was helping out with the shower and I got a concerned look and these words "Never mind, I don't trust you. I've seen what you do to Jake." hahaha I only do stuff for the ones I love. I was able to do one of the games at the shower so I decided to get Cory to do a video for me, I had 23 questions we asked him and at the shower I asked Laurel the same questions. The game was to see how many they could get correct together. I loved it and I hoped others did too!

I think the highlight of my day was Cole and me bonding over a cake pop.

Friends

I've noticed how many great friends I have come in contact with, and I'm very grateful for them. I know I can depend on the ones I have and they can always depend on me. I got a knock at the door and it was my friend Becky with a plate in hand. I was so happy to see her but then went "Hey, we are on the 8 week challenge, no goodies," I gave her a hard time. After getting to chat for a few minutes I brought the plate in the house and opened it. She is amazing and has a great heart. So glad to have met her and the many other ladies that I have the pleasure of calling my friend.

Thoughts in my head

I was just riding home from my parents house and I started to think about the past and the memories just came rushing in. Since Jessica will be baptized soon I started to think about my baptismal day (2-2-02), I remember getting the missionary lessons from Elder Gray and Elder Armstrong and it felt right. I think the CC2 ward, Bishop Snow and Jake's family had a really good influence on me and I felt happy. When I got home I found my journal that I kept and read some of the things that I was going through at the time and the people I wrote about. It is so crazy to me how much people and life has changed since then. Since my baptism I feel I'm not as strong as I once was, life has changed, the influences I had are no longer the same and with kids it's a different ball park. I'm grateful for Jake and his push to continue to do what is right and my children who have the passion to go to church and have a happy heart about it.

I also found the talk that Jake gave about the Holy Ghost and I started to cry. I think I forget a lot about what I've learned and need that reminder every once in a while.

My favorite scripture Helaman 5:12!

Happy St. Patricks Day 2012

Last night I was tossing and turning and couldn't figure out what was wrong. HELLO, mom forgot to set out the St. Patricks day goodies for the kids. I've turned into a corny mom who tosses and turns at night, how did this happen? It was 11pm and I printed out the pictures, note and set out the goodies for the kids. Jake called me in the morning and said I he had to rearrange everything because I put it too close to the door and he couldn't get out the door for work.

The kids woke up and that was it, I heard "Mom mom mom look at what we got." I'm still working on keeping a straight face so they don't catch me. Baby jake got ahold of the "gold" (reeses) and I swear I don't think he chewed them, just inhaled them. It's been pretty low key here today, it's rainy and cold so we are watching a Harry Potter marathon, corn beef in the crock pot and cupcakes for a snack later.

She can write her name

I'm learning more and more that Talia will do it at her own given pace. She is stubborn, no clue where she got it from (HAHA). She was very excited to bring me her paper to show me what she did, when the kids do something good they get a star on their chart so that they can win rewards. I love seeing my kiddos progress and learn!

Career Day

Jessica came home today and told me that career day was tomorrow and she wanted to dress up. Okay, so what did you want to be Jess? Mom I want to be a nurse! She brought a smile to my face, I felt so excited about it. I know that she's still young but it was neat to hear her say that is what she would like to be.

Questions I asked;

What made you want to be a nurse tomorrow for career day?

- I want to play with the babies

How do you know what nurses do?

- You told me mom, you said that nurses can play with the babies and take blood.

How much school do you think you will need to do to become a nurse?

- A lot more school than I'm doing now.

LOVE HER! And I truly hope that what ever she chooses she is successful in it.

Murl E. Craven "Speed"

There are so many reasons I love Jake's Grandfather, he always tells the best stories of his life and he always has us in hooked. Jake took the girls today for ice cream with his parents and grandfather, Cindy gave Jake this article that was on the front page of the Signal news paper. The title "Vet is one of the 'Frozen Chosin'". I've heard a lot of his stories from the war but this article showed more than I knew.

I'm grateful for this information because my children will be able to look back on this and know what a great man Grandpa Speed is. All that he did for our country will always be appreciated and should be appreciated by many.

Article: March 13, 2012

By Ray Bowden

A Canyon Country octogenarian is among the U.S. military's more exclusive clubs: survivors of the so-called "Frozen Chosin," who survived the Balle of the Chosin Reservoir in Korea.

Murl E. Craven, 86, served as a cook while en route to North Korea, but he traded in his ladle for an a.50-caliber machine gun as soon as he set foot on Korean soil.

Craven was one of 8,000 Marines surrounded by what some historians estimated to be about 100,000 chinese soliders vying for the frozen piece of land surrounding the man made lake in the northeast Korean peninsula.

"I wouldn't make book on that if my life depending on it, but there was supposed to be 100,000 of them," he said. "There wasn't that many of us, and we were killing them like they were flies.

"It was so cold at the reservoir that while we were up there talking, all our words froze up," Craven said with a chuckle. "They froze solid." The 17-day battle in late 1950 followed an invasion of North Korea by Chinese troops who outnumbered United Nations troops by more than two to one.

Despite the numbers, UN troops inflicted crippling losses on Chinese troops before pulling out of North Korea for good. Craven and his fellow Marines and soldiers made a three-day march through a narrow valley to leave enemy territory. "once we got started, we didn't stop," he said.

Craven recalls Air Force planes swooping from the sky to strafe the valley's ridges with volleys of gunfire. "You could see (the Chinese solders) falling off the ridges up there while they tried setting their machine guns up," he said. Craven joined the service at age 17 after growing up on an Iowa cattle ranch and then kicking around the West Coast looking for steady work.

"I had a hard time finding a job and making a living," he said, "I was all over the West Coast. I'd been driving a truck in Portland, Ore., at 16, but my license said I was 18." After working at "anything to make enough to get a place to sleep at night," he joined the Marines in 1943. He traveled the South Pacific when Japan was trying to claim the region for its own.

"I went to Saipan, Tinian and Okinawa, Japan," he said. Craven left active duty in 1946 to serve in Marine Reserves. He was called back to service in the summer of 1950. Whether it be the Frozen Chosin or service members fighting current battles, the sacrifices of any veteran should be remembered, Craven said.

"There are a lot of people who put their lives on the line so everyone else could have a better country to live in," he said. "How many millions of service members gave their lives so everybody else could live the kind of life they wanted to live?" Following the Korea War, Craven left the service after nearly a decade in uniform. "Our family is very proud that he would do that for his country," said Jennifer Milhoan, one of Craven's grandchildren. "I named my first son after him."

Craven has 25 grandchildren. There will be a 36th great-grandchild born soon, he said. "Pretty soon I'll have to set them all down and start counting them again," he joked. Craven doesn't dwell on his service, he said, but he'll never forget the experience of serving his country as a Marine. "It's not just being a Marine- its part of being in an outfit where you know you're never going to be last for left behind,"he said. "You might just about kill yourself doing something , but you're going to do it, and that's it."

8 week challenge

Oh life is going to suck for the next 8 weeks! No sugar, no diet coke! My friend Becky introduced a group of friends to this 8 week challenge for weight loss and I've decided to do it. Summer is around the corner and I want to tone this body. I know what my problem is and what I need to give up to get to where I want to so I'm going to try this challenge. I Had my last diet coke today and it tasted so freaking good, I think I even shed a tear when it was all gone. I will be going to the gym everyday or at least getting a 45min work out and going to Cardio Barre every Saturday morning. I weighed myself and I'm at 136, I also had Jake take pictures of me so I can see a before and after. I would post the pictures but it's like a scene from a horror movie "SCARY". Here's to determination and motivation!

Pinterest experiments

I'm addicted to the website Pinterest, they are going to have to make a Pinterest anonymous group one day the way I'm addicted to it. I noticed for a while I would pin certain things and never try them. The other night I was up and had energy, I bought a bunch of supplies and recruited my minion aka Jessica to help me. We made breakfast burritos that you can freeze and apple pie baked in a cored out apple. It was fun and easy!

The outcome:

Burritos came out perfect but the apple exploded, I forgot to put water at the bottom of the pan. It still tasted good! lol

Jake is crazy!

The other day I came home to Jake pulling the baby around the house in a laundry basket with a shoe string rope to pull it. He told me that he was trying to clean and it kept baby Jake out of the way. This morning my husband decided to get into the laundry basket and asked baby Jake to pull him...My son was not having it, he tried to climb in with his daddy. Needless to say I could not stop laughing at them and quickly grabbed my camera. Love my boys!

2012 Father/Daughter dance

The father/daughter dance was a hit! This year was really fun, Jessica and Kaelyn got to go with their daddy. I loved watching them get excited to put their dresses on and want me to do their hair and paint their nails. Jake and a couple of the dads took their girls for a little dinner at Chilli's then headed to the dance. My mom and sister watched the younger two and I was able to help out.

Before I forget, the picture of Talia was because she was our test subject for hair. We were calling her the Toddler and Tiara child due to the big hair.

When Jake got to the dance he said that Kaelyn was bopping up and down and started dancing in line, as soon as they got into the dance he said she was jumping up and down headed to the stage to dance with the other kids. Jessica clung to Jake's leg and would not let go. After a while I got Jessica to dance with some friends and she was happy. What a fun night and it was fun to see all the kids having fun with their dads.

Bevans came to town

Another week of out of town visitors, the fun was not over. Alan Bevans and his family came into town to visit Grandpa Craven. They were concerned about grandpa's health and wanted to come see him before they moved to Georgia. It was a full house and a lot of noise but it was good visiting and watching the kids bond. During their visit we went to the Science Center and it was a hit. The kids loved running from exhibit to exhibit touching and playing with everything. It was a rainy cold day and what a great day to spend indoors with the kids. While Alan was here we got to hear about their plans for the future and meet their cute kids. We did glow stick dancing, and ate a bunch....hence I need to go to the gym!

Out of town family

Rachel and her kids came in from Modesto to visit and hang for the weekend. In a way I feel like it was a blessing they were here. Jake was hospitalized at the end of their stay and they were an amazing help with my kids.

While they were in town we all went to the Gene Autry museum because Grandpa Craven wanted to go. It was really interesting and I wish I had more time to read everything and explore but with the two youngest kids it was not a kid friendly place and I was more worried about loosing them or them touching something they were not suppose to. They did have one section where the kids could pan for gold and get on a fake horse that was pretty neat. The two older girls were with my parents at their lake house where they went to a parade and pretty much got spoiled for the weekend. I need to buy them a camera to get them to take pictures for me.

I love when the Vincents are in town and Rachels kids are hilarious to be around. Hopefully them come in town again soon so we can have some more fun!