Lily and Landon

My sister gave us a surprise visit with her 6 mth old twins last week....
My kids fell in love with them...especially Miles. Sorry for all the pics...they are for my mom!

Alien Invasion meets Murder Mystery

We went to an Alien Invasion party....to figure out why the circles are showing up in the town crops. We had lots of fun and laughs throughout the night. Ladd was the town drunk and I was the county sheriff. The mayor called a town meeting to order over the concern of the circles and to figure out if we were being invaded by aliens.

Thanks Matt and Alisha for a great night of fun....

I know when you think of Kansas....

the first thoughts that come to mind are flat, brown wheat fields....

But before you laugh, or give me a hard time....Dont. Because I already have....when Ladd told me he accepted a job offer there this weekend. (And cried and cried and cried)

But I am making the best of it. We told the kids tonight, Lauren cried and cried and cried and screamed and said NO!

But she is now ok with it and making the best of it.

So where in Kansas? Actually right on the border of Missouri, in the suburbs of Kansas City, Missouri. Ladd said he felt like he was at home when he got there this past Friday. He fell in love with the place and says I will too. It is green with lots of trees. He said downtown is covered in fountains galore and it is the most fun downtown he has been in.

Their is tons of stuff to do with the kids. We will actually be living in Overland Park, KS...a place that has some of the #1 schools in the country and is repeatedly named by CNN money one of the top places to raise a family in the country.

The church is strong there with lots of members. I am excited to be around a lot of the church history sites...including Nauvoo being 3 hrs away.

Lots of shopping. Housing is CHEAP compared to Issaquah.

I am going to make the best of it, but am soooo sad at the same time. We have been in Issaquah in the best ward ever for almost 6 years. I have many good friends in our ward and am grateful for the blessing my bishop gave me a few weeks ago that said that I will have lifelong friendships from this ward. What comfort that brings to me right now!

This is a dream job for Ladd and I am excited for him to be home more often and not worn out from running a business. We will have much more quality family time together. He is beaming right now at this opportunity and I am grateful that we can make this happen.

We feel very blessed right now and feel the Lords hand in our lives and I am grateful for His guidance and assurance that this is the right thing for our family right now.

So when? School starts early there...Aug 14. I am having a hard time seeing us there by then, but hopefully be the end of August. We will see!

Tagged by my Cousin Jessamyn.....

A new tag from my cousin.....

8 things I'm passionate about:
1. Ladd(that one is easy)
2. Lauren
3. Miles
4. Isabelle
5. My family
6. Church
7. Feeding my kids healthy food
8. Good Food

8 books I have read recently:
1. Twilight - Stephenie Meyer
2. New Moon - Stephenie Meyer
3. Eclipse - Stephenie Meyer
4. The Host- Stephenie Meyer
5. .........
6. .........
7. .........
8. I need to find some other books to read...

8 things I often say:
1. "We dont do that in our family"
2. "Do you think that was a good choice to make"
3. "What do you think you could have done differently that is a better choice"
4. "Can you see that I am on the phone, is it an emergency? Then it can wait"
5. "Did Heavenly Father give you hands so you can hit? What did he give you your hands for, or feet, or mouth, or teeth, or......."
6. "What are you going to do differently next time"
7. "When is your last patient? or when are you going to be done/home?"
8. "I Love you so much"


8 things that annoy me:
1. People eating with their mouths open
2. Eating noises
3. People driving like crazy or too slow and then when you pass them and they are talking on their cell phone
4. When my kids leave their dishes on the table
5. When my kids fight
6. Drunk Drivers
7. lying
8. I dont know

8 things I look forward to each day:
1. My kids getting in bed with me every morning and snuggling
2. Taking a nap
3. Miles doing his "hip hop" dancing (it is pure joy and laughs)
4. Isabelle waking up from her nap happy and bright eyed
5. Being together as a family when Ladd is home
6. Watching Lauren dance and sing to Hannah Montana(yes everyday, I think I know the words to all her songs)
7. My quiet time after the kids go to bed
8. Talking with Ladd at night and catching up on the day

8 things I look for in a friend:
1. Can be myself around them
2. Outgoing
3. Can laugh together
4. Easy to talk to
5. Down to earth
6. Forgiving
7. Loving
8. Is a good person

8 things I want to do before I die:
1. my kids have their own testimony
2. Go to Norway
3. Write a book
4. Open a dance club for married LDS couples
5. Raise a happy family who loves eachother
6. Share the Gospel with others......Go on a mission
7. Travel with my kiddos
8. Have complete patience

8 things I have learned this past year:
1. You are not in control of your life no matter what you think
2. Complete Faith is not easy
3. No matter how hard Life is or how alone you feel, God is right by your side
4. Kids just get better and better and more amazing every day!
5. To not count on the first receptionist you hire will stick around, or the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th
6. Kids are quick to forgive and forget and I need to be more like them
7. A mothers love just grows stronger and stronger
8. Rain does stop...eventually

8...10 people I tag: (only if you want to)
1. Jill H
2. Melynda C
3. Rachael H
4. Shelly H
5. Merideth A
6. Lisel
7. Melanie
8. Erika G
9. Jodee C
10. Crystal L

Or anyone who feels the need to ;)

Memories....

I got this from my friends Melanie and Lisels blogs....

I know a lot of people are doing this right now, but I've had fun thinking about things I haven't remembered forever and posting memories.

Now I want to see what other people remember, here are the instructions:

1. Add a comment on my blog, leaving one memory that you and I (or Ladd, or both of us) had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you.I can't wait to read your memories!!

4th of July Weekend....

I think its about time to post about our 4th of July weekend happenings....

My sister and her husband and son River decided to come up and spend the weekend with us. We went camping at a ranch our Church owns about an hour up Snoqualmie Pass. We had a great time on the HUGE slip N slide, canoeing, playing in the river, swinging on a cool rope swing and they even had a firework show for us that was quite impressive for a ranch! We had a great surprise when we first showed up. Ladd saw one of my nephews running through a field....it turns out my X-brother-in-law was there (I still consider him part of the fam) with my 5 nieces and nephews and his wifes 4 kids. Their campsite they originally reserved didnt work out and our campsite we originally reserved didnt work out and they ended up putting us right next to eachother without us even knowing. So it was like a mini family reunion. My kids had a great time with them.

Here are some pics from our wonderful weekend....

Isabelle didnt like the slip-n-slide

Miles "break dancing" for us when we did skits with everyone

All the cousins (and step cousins)

Isabelle kept asking us to turn the fire off....

Miles focusing on making a fire

hmmm...

So how many other "Ladds" have you met in your lifetime? Me? NONE! And of those Ladds you met, how many of them are married to a "Sarah"?

Ladd came across this blog today.....

http://www.sarahandladd.blogspot.com/

Um....yeah, What in the world?

So I was on the computer this morning im'ing my sister in law and guess I was really into what we were talking about. Miles and Isabelle were playing in the back yard and I heard lots of water and laughing. NOT GOOD!!! I went outside to find this......