SO MUCH HAS HAPPENED THIS MONTH!
SOME VERY SAD THINGS AND SOME VERY HAPPY!!
It's just been amazing to me how hard and challenging life can be but how many blessings seem to pop up and overpower life's challenges. It has made me appreciate a lot more of what I have. It has been so hard to be away from my family at times especially recently. I actually ache to have them close. It has however been very very helpful to have such a good ward that has given us the aide we needed. I have also greatly appreciated my brothers and sisters the ones that have been fairly close to stop by and stay for a while. It also helps a great deal to be closer to Brian's family. We get to see them a lot more often and it has been very fun!
I just want to thank all of you that have done so many things and have strengthened me as a wife and mother. I am so thankful for the listening ears, the phone calls, the letters, and prayers. It has been defiantly a challenging month for me but with all of the support it has been a lot easier.
TOMORROW THE MONTH WILL BE OVER AND I DON'T KNOW WHERE TO EVEN BEGIN. So I apologize for the very LONG blog but here is a synopsis of the month of February.
HANNAH"S BUBBLE HEAD
So I couldn't resist taking this picture when Hannah was taking a bath. She called it her "BUbble Head". She loves bubble baths and especially the STRAWBERRY pretty kind that her Aunt Brindy gave her! She loves that stuff BRINDY!!! THANKS
TASTE and TALK
In our ward we have an every other month taste and talk group. We get together and we have a set theme and we bring an item that goes with the theme and then we taste it and talk about it. It is so much FUN and I get so many recipes and ideas!! This month in February the theme was CHOCOLATE! I was so excited. I had been thinking about what to take and I finally decided to bring my Mom's recipe of Oreo cookies (truffles). I thought for sure nobody would bring this recipe and it would be something different to try. So it was time for me to go and I start on my way to go to the Ladies house who was hosting it in the country and noticed the gas light came on. I knew I would never make it there and back so I back-tracked and went back into town and went to fill up but once I got to the gas station I noticed my wallet was not in my purse so I then back-tracked and went home got my wallet and then back-tracked and got some gas and then back-tracked and went out to the country to the ladies house! So I was pretty late and when I walked in there was another whole cookie sheet full of Oreo cookies! Ah man! It was a lot of fun we had so many fun chocolate recipes:Chocolate Zucchini Bread, Chocolate Mousse Pie, Brownies, German Chocolate Cake. YUMMO!!!
My Oreo cookies
Still celebrating Christmas!
So we went to the Library and Garrett went and asked the Librarian if she could help him find "The Grinch that stole Christmas". He was so proud of himself to ask her all by himself and find it! He was even more excited to read it! We read it so much that he had some of the phrases memorized and wanted to retell it to me. It was so cute I recorded him!
My kids still talk about Christmas and even play Santa Claus. (on a previous blog)
I have another niece!!!
I had a new niece born on Friday February 7th. Congratulations Kevin and Kristin. I can't wait to see her!
Waiting for Aunt Becky
So my sister Becky is coming to visit us! I am so excited! It's been a hard week and I couldn't wait for her to come and just be my sister! She is such a wonderful sister and she is so good to my kids! She is going to baby sit for us while we go on a Valentine's day Date! It meant so much to Brian and I to get an "OUT". My kids couldn't wait for her arrival!
Valentines Day XOXOXOXOXO
That morning Becky and I both got messages that our sister Brindy was in the hospital and was going to have her baby. Yep we had a new niece on Valentines Day. They named her Lydia. She is a beautiful baby. I have only seen pictures but can't wait to see her. Plan to see her in March when they bless her. Congratulations Chris and Brindy! We love you lots!
My little "sweet-tarts"
I sure do love these kids! I truly feel honored to be there mother! I can't imagine life without them!!! They keep me very busy and for the most part I love every minute of it!!
So Becky made it and we had a royal blast! Becky and I stayed up and talked and talked just like sisters do Friday night. On Saturday we cleaned the house up. It went a whole lot faster with Becky's help! Then we made sugar cookies and made a lot of hearts to leave a trail of hearts from the door to Dad's bed so he could follow them and find the kid's valentine cards they made him. Dad came home from work and loved it!! After Brian and I came home we went out and had a blast!!! We went window shopping (all dreaming of coarse). We found some steal of a deal gifts for our kids for Valentine's day and then we went to dinner and a movie!! It was long past overdue to go out and it was so much FUN! We came home to a very clean house and valentines from each of our kids on our beds. They had help from their sweet Aunt Becky but it was straight from our kid's mouth. Each one fit their personality so much!
Hannah said she loved giving Dad hugs when he came home.
Garrett said he loved Mom doing his wash.
Natalie said I Mom was soo cute!
This simple appreciation really meant a lot to us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Me and my Honey!
It was a great Valentine's Day. Becky even let me barrow her clothes which was lot's of fun! I felt so young and CUTE! Thanks Becky!!!! When I got all ready for my date with Brian Natalie came in and said "Cute mommy! Cute! " . I was so tickled to get such a compliment from an adorable 2 year old!
So the next morning we had a HUGE Valentine (late) breakfast. We wanted to wait so Brian could enjoy it with us. We had heart shaped pancakes, heart shaped baked eggs, hash browns, bacon, juice and fresh strawberries! The kids were so excited and it was so YUMMY!
We have really late church which I personally love! I love all the time we can spend and don't have to rush and then when we come home it's dinner and bed! LOVE IT! So I don't remember all what we did but we just enjoyed Becky so much chilling with us.
Natalie got a bag of teddy grahams and a little Valentine note from her Nursery teachers. She was so HAPPY and felt like she was on top of the world with her very own treat and note.
Disgusting!!
So Brian cut Garrett's hair and he told Garrett to go see what I thought of it. My response was disgusting! They thought they were so hilarious though and had so much fun making stripes. Garrett wants dad to next time make a G for Garrett. I don't know dad I think next time I will cut it!
Just so you know Brian did not leave it like that. They just wanted to get me riled and they were just being GOOFY! Brian buzzed it, it was a little shorter than I like but hey I guess they had some fun son and dad time.
One thing I do not miss about MV
So I do miss a lot of things about MV but I was cleaning our little picnic table we had outside to bring in and use in our house. I realized that I do not miss the SAND! I remember all the time cleaning the bath tub from the kids and this is what was left. Man I am grateful for dirt and not SAND! I know it's disgusting but I just had to take it for memory sakes.
Dress up!
Sir Natalie! She was so cute with all of that stuff on her she was charging with the sword and fighting and everything. I tried to get her action fighting on camera but she shied up and would not perform! It was so darn cute though!
Okay so for weeks Garrett and I had been working on an airplane out of recyclables. We finally finished it and we found some cool gear for him to wear. It was so much FUN! I still have yet to complete Hannah's train and Natalie's car. They were not so persistent as Garrett was.
So even the next day Garrett awoke and came upstairs with all of his gear ready to play pilot again today. I thought it was even more cute with his HULK Jammie's and his bear slippers!
GREEN BEANS
So we sat down to eat dinner and Brian dumped the whole bowl of green beans on Garrett's plate and just waited for Garrett's reaction. He didn't notice for awhile but then he got a weird look and said "hey, I can't have all of those". It was funny and we all laughed but it brought back memories of me and my days with green beans. I HATED green beans with a passion when I was little and often times my dad would pile more on my plate for the more I complained. When I was much older I later found out that my brother and sisters didn't care for them much either but they would get away with not taking very much or sometimes no green beans at all because all the attention was on me! How dumb on my part. But today it is now one of my favorite vegetables! Especially fresh ones roasted.
Peace and Beauty!
We got the privilege of having some of Brian's family come to Idaho and have a great day with them. Brian's sister is going on a mission and we got to go to the Temple with her. It was so much fun to enjoy the peace of the temple and have the inner beauty dwell deep inside! It was much needed! We love you so much Sabrina and know you will be a GREAT missionary!
Thanks to our niece Eva for baby sitting our kids! They had so much fun with you and still talk about it! After attending the temple Grandpa and Grandma took us to dinner. We had so much FUN! Grandpa wanted to make sure all the grand kids had all they wanted to drink and whatever they wanted to drink. Natalie chose juice. And boy did she have lots of it! A little too much! She peed on the way home and this was after going three times at the restaurant and later that night peed in her bed and after I cleaned her and her bed up she awoke again and came upstairs and crawled in our bed and peed again! Wow I didn't even know that much pee could come out of a two year old!
It was a lot of FUN!
Box Chair
So I had this box sitting by the door to take out to the garage and Natalie found it and decided t use it as a chair and eat her snack. It was so fun so I got the camera out. As soon as I put the camera away, she tipped over and it was so funny! I wish I had the camera but then she would not get back in it!
EWE
Natalie has had this infatuation with bad smells! She can't stand them! When ever she thinks in her little mind there is a bad odor she gets out the bathroom spray! I just think it's so darn funny!!! One day she came upstairs after waking up to snuggle with me before I got up and then all of a sudden she got down off of my bed and came back with the spray. EWE she said and I soon realized she was smelling my morning breath I said oh Natalie that won't work I need to brush my teeth she very soon got down off my bed and went and got my tooth brush!! SoOOOOO FUNNY!
Fedish with shoes
Natalie has always LOVED shoes! Shoes was even one of her fisrt words! She loves Hannah's and my shoes. She thinks they are so CUTE! She just dances and just loves to wear them!
I am 29 Today or 7 1/4
29 random things about ME Marcella
1. Proud to be the daughter of Carol and Randal and wife of Brian
2.Have always loved my Italian name my dad named me after the first lady he baptized on his mission!!!
3. Love My blue eyes and brown hair!
4. Love that I am a MOM!
5. I still love to bust a move
6. Love to blast my favorite songs and listen to them over and over!
7. Very emotional when it comes to music! It makes me laugh, cry and dance!
8. I love to sing in the shower and sing to my kids
9. I am adventurous and love to visit new places
10. I love the Mountains and love to go camping
11. I still love to play my oboe and am so greatful my Dad encouraged that I play the oboe!!
12. I love love airplanes! They amaze me! I love to watch them fly and love to fly in them!!
13. I love my sense of style. I think I have always had my own sense of style.
14. I love to cook and bake! ( I thank my mom for her influence on that one)
15. I love that I have four younger sisters and one fun loving brother!
16. I love my in-laws and consider myself so dran lucky to ahve them be apart as my family!
17. I love teaching preschool!!!
18. I think my favorite sound is laughter!
19. I love watching MOVIES!
20. My favorite TV show is Psych and MONK! and American idol.
21. I love to READ good books
22. I love to scrapbook and make cards. It is so fun to create!
23. I dream of publishing my own children's book!!
24. I really want to be able to play the guitar and have been working on that one.
25. I love driving around in my mini van and doing errands ( call it crazy but I do)
26. My favorite smell is baby lotion or fresh baked bread!
27. I finally took the advice from my dad and husband to grow my hair long and love it!
28. I love playing games and my favorite is boggle and the online train game!
29. I am Marcella Ann rich and love that I have had the priviledge of being born to a good family and have had many many blessings in my life!!!!
I almost never get my picture taken any more and I figured I could at least get my picture taken on my birthday so my four year old took these and I do have to say she did a pretty good job!
I can't believe I am 29! Wow!!!!! Time flies. Somedays I just want to fly back into time!
I could see the days I was two and play with my dolls.
Or play on the haystacks of my Grandpa Stoker's farm, or help him irrigate! Or enjoy being with my Grandma and see her beautiful flowers surrounding the farm house or Grandma giving us a sugar bowl and rubarb from her garden.
Or maybe even go to the days of visiting G&G Anderson and the BIG family get-togethers and all the cousins in the basment playing and eating!! Remembering my silly uncles and My Aunt Lori's movie nights and getting candy and pop from my Uncle's store. Or even the get-togethers with My G&G Hukse and the horse rides my Grandpa would give us and the FAMILY Reunions at Bear lake!!
I would even like to visit the days when I was 8 and felt so free being surrounded by the beautiful feilds that surrounded our house. We would ride our bikes and play and play outsied. I loved the adventures me and my brother and the neighbor boy would go on!
I could go back to the days when I was 11 and loved teatherball!! My dad built it for me and would wait for anyone to challenge me! I remember the beauitful MTS. that we escaped to for family camping trips. My dear freinds I made and still have to this day!!
I could go to the Utah days when I was 13 and we enjoyed my dad's college days! Go AGGIES! Sledding on Aggies Hill, Getting Ice Cream on campus, swimming with family on dad's activity pass. The camping trips to Toni's Grove and the funnest NEW YEARS I think I ever had with all teh SToker FAM!!!
I could visit the Missouri days and hanging out at the Jensen's house! Oh what fun! The cliff jumping, the band trips and making state with my oboe! My first singing solo ever in choir!
I could go to the HOT days of Arizona when I was 16! I remember the beauitful sunsets and swimmping in our pool! All the fun nights of dancing with my freinds JOY, Lindy, Somer, Amy and Jenny. The crushes on boys and the Hotel jumping to go hot tubbing. Jump fences to the hotels to go to tehir hot tubs. Mom and Dad did you know about that one?
I could go back to the college days when I got my ear pirced high on my ear. My parents were not thrilled with that one. It came to get me later though! My ear got infected and swelled and I ahd to take it out and I wasited all my money! My first kiss and all the dates I went on! My roomates KRISTIN and COURTNEY, CHERI, EMILY AND EMMA. We had the time of our LIFE!! All the late nights and laughter. The BIG bonfires at Beaver dick Park and meeting the love of my LIFE BRIAN!!! We had so much FUn together!!!
I could go back to the days of first married life in Rexburg! Meeting friends that will last a lifetime! Our days of custodians for the school district to put us through college. Me completing my bachelors degree in Elementary education! When we had our first child and new experiences being a MOM!
I could visit the MV days! Where I experienced a whole different culture! Where we would go to the football games and cheer Brian as an assistant football coach. Where I ahd two beautiufl daughters. I remebered the beauitful Monuments at sunset and the friends that always had an open door!
Now at 29 I am here in the town I was born. I have a handsome fun loving dedicated husband and three BEAUTIFUL, fun, crazy childern! WOW it just seems like time flies!!!!!
Birthday Breakfast
So I think it's funny how your sense of taste changes. But now it doesn't always depend all in taste it depends on how fast and easy can it be. So one of my most favorite breakfasts right now is orange juice and pop tarts. I think maybe three or four years ago I would have made a BIG breakfast on my Birthday to treat myself but now OJ and pop tarts suits just FINE! Orange Juice is a very rare thing and we usually only get it when comapany comes. So we were all excited for OJ!
Birthday Lunch
So I wanted to do something fun with the kids. So we had a very kid freindly FUN lunch. Cheetos, Peanut butter and Jam sandwhiches, pudding, apples and carmels and capri suns. My kids were so excited to share this fun lunch with me. The whole lunch they would stop eating and say I love it when it is your birthday mom!
The best gift the kids could give!!!
So Very rarley do I get all three kids to sleep at nap time. We still have quiet time but it certainly is not as quiet when they are all sleeping. Plus it was a big BONUS to go and peek on them and see how cute they were sleeping.
Garrett fell asleep just seconds after me taking his picture.
It was so fun to get cards in the mail, have visiting teachers come over with a fun present and all the phone calls!!
BIRTHDAY DINNER
Brian got a babysitter and took me out to dinner! It was a lot of fun! HOT FOOD, Quiet Atmosphere, a chance to talk, no cooking and no clean up, what can get better than that! Brian also bought me a belgian waffle maker. I ahve wanted one of these for a long time. I love waffles with yougurt and whipped cream beat togther on top! YUMMY! I love Brian and I am glad he still takes me on dates and treats me like a QUEEN! Love you HONEY!
Some funny Videos
Natalie totaly rock'n out to a computer game.
Some Funny Stories
Garrett: The leaves are off the trees. Mom, it's fall can I got to kindergarten now?" He is so excited to go to Kindergarten and just can't wait!!
I needed to barrow something from Garrett for preschool and he was having a hard time wanting to let me use it so I told him I would rent it from him. His eyes got real big when I said that and then he wanted to rent all of his toys! Boy did he catch on to that VERY quickly!
Our family scripture study has been trying to memorize the articles of Faith. Hannah the other night was reciting the fourth one all be herself. We all ahd to laugh really hard when she improvsied with the phrase: "Baptism by emergency!"
Hannah: DGBLN, what does that spell?
Garrett woke up because of a night mare and he came upsatirs to see mom and dad watching a movie. I paused it to hold Garrett for a few minutes and then he said Mom the movie is waiting for you ( like he wanted to try watching it with us). I responded with Garrett your bed is waiting for you. Then Garrett said "But mom, my bed doesn't want me". Too CUTE!
