hooray for derek! (seriously)

so i'm not one to get all mushy and cheesy (on my blog anyways!!!), but today i have to. derek is taking a final right now, and i'm so proud of him. he's worked so hard and he's been very successful and i'm just so proud of him, and thankful. i haven't done a very good job of showing it. i've been feeling sorry for myself the past couple of days....or weeks!! i've just been being very pessimistic. so this morning i woke up and decided to have a new attitude. i've been kinda ornery with derek too...how mean is that when it's finals time?! anyways...when derek first started school he decided he wasn't going to study on sundays. so even though he had a final this morning he didn't study at all yesterday. instead we went to church, he went home teaching, and then to a priesthood training meeting. i know he will get the grades he wants, because every time we've sacrificed just the tiniest little bit we always get blessed SO MUCH. so anyway, i just wanted to public praise derek for doing so well in school, and thank him for sticking to his goal of not studying on sundays. i also need to thank Heavenly Father for always taking such good care of us. He's never failed us...even when we didn't necessarily deserve His help.

Thanksgiving 2008 pictures

top: mom, dad, kristina, angie bottom: katelyn, elea, derek, annie, alexis, jeff, samantha, duke (we miss thomas!) (not too shabby for setting the camera timer and making a run for it!!)

pictures say more than words...

the past couple of days have been very trying. i really don't want my blog to become a way for me to talk trash about my kids (it may be too late for that!!!) so i'm posting this picture and i'll let you try to figure out what happened. i'll give you a hint...SAMANTHA! oh, and i'm pretty sure the words "DON'T TOUCH THAT" have been spoken, yelled, and screamed 1,000,000,000 times. oh, and the things that weren't broken are now back in their safe little boxes in my storage room. and they won't be coming out again until alexis is 4 years old.
just so you know...this is just one of the things my sweet samantha has done. picture the worst kid you've ever seen...now picture me dragging that child through walmart. and then picture me making her a fruit smoothie...her taking one sip and saying, "i don't want it," while dropping the whole cup on the floor. ya, fruit smoothie bomb EXPLODING all over my kitchen. up the blinds, all over the wall, under the table, ON THE CEILING. ok, so much for not ranting and raving. oh well...some how i feel a little bit better. maybe it's because i know alot of you are laughing your heads off at me!!! i'm glad i could bring a smile to your face.