The best gift of all ...

The best gift I received this year was to learn how to quilt. I had my good friend Sister Lillie Cooper teach me how to quilt. I made two denim quilts for Zac and Nate's bed. I took all of their jeans that i had saved over the years and I made a quilt with different color of fabric in between. Then I had a red flat sheet on the back and then put red ties on the quilt. From the pictures you can't see the red ties. It was just amazing when I put them on Zac and Nate's bed they looked so beautiful and finally their bed linens matched. The first thing Nate did was take his wallet out of his pocket and put it in the pocket on the quilt and told me thanks now he has a place to put his wallet. I am always glad I can help Nate. Sister Cooper did most of the work but we had so much fun doing it together. I did another project for Christmas in which I made quillows for each of my boys and husband. I will have post them up soon.

On Christmas Morning our tradition is to get up and drink our orange juice before opening presents. On Christmas Eve night as Boyd and I were getting ready we realized that we didn't have any orange juice in the house. I was so sad. I didn't want to break tradition. So Boyd and I drove to the nearest gas station in which was just about to close and we bought some tropicana orange juice. I was so grateful Boyd did that for me. Traditions are a big part of our family and they may be simple but they are important. They boys drank their orange juice in one big gulp and then we opened presents. But Boyd's pictures sums it up best of how we all felt Christmas day. He fell asleep with all this noise around him of the boys playing. Maybe this will be Boyd's new tradition.

Merry Christmas

The traditions of Christmas are my favorite. On Christmas Eve we get to open pajamas and then model them for the camera. Luke was so excited to get spiderman pajamas. He went and got his mask and then put it on with his pajamas. Some people might find it a little strange but I love spiderman so it is just fine with me. The older boys got shirts that had silly sayings on them. Nate's said "Cereal Killer" and then Zachary's said "Procrastinators unite tomorrow". We all laughed and had a good time. I didn't think it was funny that Boyd bought me a T-shirt that said "Drama Queen". I AM NOT A DRAMA QUEEN !! Nate asked me if I was trying to proof my point by screaming that to them. I guess I am the Queen of this castle. I guess it is o.k. that Drama is in front of it.

December brings the semiformal way of life ....

Zachary went to the Christmas Semiformal with Emily. They came back to our house afterwards for ice cream and hot chocolate. It was so great having some girls in my house. I think Zachary had a fun time. Oh, to be young again. Zachary and Emily went with Gantt and Casey. Boyd intorduced them to the trans-siberian DVD and they watched that on TV.


This picture made me laugh so hard. I don't know what Zachary was thinking. But he looks like his Dad.

Alex the wrestling man

Alex is up above in his starter jacket. Not every meet he gets to wear this jacket, he has to wrestle to get the number one spot on his team. Some of the meets this year he has started. He has already been to one state qualifier match and won a spot at state at the end of the season. Every match he learns a lot. This is one sport I am still trying to understand the rules. I just know it is the hardest sport to watch your son play because it just looks like they are in so much pain. The best part about this picture is that Alex got his haircut really short right after this picture. I will post one of those later.

The Littlest Wiseman

This vidoe was so sweet and short but it sure got me in the Christmas spirit really quick.

The Fall Leaves Are All Around Us

Luke had so much fun!We had fun trying to rake up all of the leaves. We still aren't done but we have a really big yard with lots of trees. So every fall we prepare our self for lots of cleanup.
Samuel was a very hard worker! I think about all of my relatives in Utah shoveling snow we don't have snow but we have lots of leaves.
Jeremy loved to run and jump in the leaves. He loved being buried in it too. I don't think Jeremy wants to pick up the rest of the leaves because he comes home from school and just plays in them. When we put Jeremy in the garbage can to push down the leaves Nate was trying to hold on to him but he fell and the whole garbage can fell over. I thought he was hurt but he was laughing so hard. I think he loved it.

TAG-A-RAMA... I am it. 7 things about me !

Thanks to my sister Mariah she tagged me and I took one of your tags. :)

1. I love a good musical. Anything with singing in the movie makes me happy.

2. I am still in love with Donny Osmond. He makes my heart flutter everytime I see him sing.

3. I was on a t.v. commerical when I was a little girl and I said "Hello Utah". Along with all of my other sisters.

4. I love when people say my name. I don't like when someone says "Hi", I love it when they say "Hi Laresa". It makes my day.

5. About once a month I laugh so hard I cry until I get really sick of laughing. It is so bad sometimes that Boyd has to just leave me in the room to let it all out. (I tell him it is better than me crying)

6. I once kissed 12 guys in one night. :) (we will save this story for another post)

7. Deep inside I am a "Guys-Girl", meaning I love to talk to guys and be around the boys. Don't get me wrong I love a good sister or girl talk. But I have to say I favor the guys. I guess that is why the Lord blessed me with 6 wonderful boys.

So there you have it. Seven interesting facts you probably didn't know about me. So now I am going to tag the following people.... Valencia, Cindy, and Erika.

Thanksgiving 2007

 

 

 

We had a wonderful time at the Tilleys in TN. We had 38 people in attendance. It was wonderful. We arrived early morning wednesday and the boys didn't waste any time playing football. It turned out to be mud football. After dinner Grandma played a little game with the grandkids and we got to listen to a live band, a lot of my brother-in-laws play a musical instrument and it was wonderful to hear. They were really good. On Thanksgiving day we went to the church and watched movies, played basketball, and sang with the karoke machine. Then my grandma had a raffle drawing and it was wonderful. Everyone had a ticket and everyone got a prize. The grandkids thought it was the best thing. We had a wonderful host Dave and Breana. Without them this Thanksgiving would not have been possible. It was a wonderful week. I wanted to post all of the pictures but instead decided to make a slide show of the highlights of our trip.

Celebrating 19 years together !!

Boyd and Laresa in 1988 On November 19th, 1988 Boyd and I were married in the Salt Lake City Temple. What a day that was for us. It was so exciting. I was the oldest and the first one to get married out of my family. All of my sisters and one brother met me at the temple after I got married and that meant the world to me. It was a cold winter day in Salt Lake City. The Santa Claus parade had just ended right there at Temple Square when he got out of the temple. We got married at 9:10 and I will never forget that time. It was the Saturday before Thanksgiving. Then we had a luncheon with our family and friends at Boyd's church and then we went to our reception at our stake center from 7-9. We went to a cabin in Ogden for our honeymoon and then we joined my family for Thanksgiving in Zarahelma in another cabin.

The life of the youngest Luke

Oh to be young again! I thought it would fun to post some pictures of what life is like for Luke. First of all he loves using his brothers stuff. Samuel made this helmet at cub scout camp this summer and I don't think Samuel ever even wore it. But as you can see Luke loves it.

If Mom won't fix dinner, fix it yourself. I found him one day with his bicycle helmet on, had himself some peaches, pulled the chair out of the office and had Daddy's shirt on. It didn't matter what else was going on around here. This day was actually a very busy Saturday and we were all running around.

It doesn't matter where you sleep when you are young as long as you're comfortable. The house was quiet one afternoon and that is never a good sign. I found him on my laundry pile with his fake glasses on sound asleep.

Luke always has a red mustache from all of the punch he loves to drink. He is always saying "Juice, Mama. I did finally decide to swtich to suger-free.

So basically if I had a day like Luke's I would drink juice all day long, fall asleep wherever I wanted too, eat anything, anytime, and wear other peoples things. Oh to be young again....

The Joys of Being a Mother

One of the joys of being a Mother is taking care of your children. That means whether they are sick or healthly. Last night I was really put to the test on finding the joy in my boys being sick. This has been a great week. We had just got home from scouts when my son Sameul threw-up outside just as we got out of the car. He said it came so sudden. He seemed fine when we went to scouts. I layed him down and Jeremy was already asleep. Then about 10:30 we heard Samuel get sick again. This time Boyd and I had just gone to bed. It was Samuel and he made a mess all over his covers. We spent lots of time cleaning that up and getting him a throw-up bucket. (that is what we do around here). Then I started the laundry and was off to bed. I couldn't sleep because the adrenalin was keeping me up. Boyd said he kept hearing Samuel throw-up. Sure enough he did it again. We cleaned up his bucket this time and went to bed. Then just as we were about to sleep I heard someone in the bathroom. I thought maybe Samuel had made it to the toilet this time. I was wrong it was Alex. But he didn't make it to the toilet. It was all over his bedroom (different room than Samuel's). We spent time gathering covers, getting him a throw-up bucket and cleaning the carpet. We went to bed again. Boyd mentioned to me that he felt a little queasy. I thought no please not you Boyd. Then I finally feel asleep I think it was about 12:30. Then at about 1:44 I felt someone trying to shake me awake. I thought this can't be happening. I was hoping it was a dream. But it wasn't it was Nate. He told me that he had just threw-up in his bedroom. I was so tired I just said to him go sleep on the couch and I will clean it up in the morning. Zachary usually wakes up about 5:30 to get ready for seminary I heard him in the shower and thought this is good atleast he isn't sick. Then I heard someone throw-up again. I thought this really can't be happening. It seemed like it was a chorus of that sound all night long. I thought maybe it was Zachary and it turned out it was Jeremy. This sickness is bad. And I have done nothing today except try to make them feel better. They have all been home from school except Zachary and they pretty much have slept most of the day. Boyd did go to work. But Jeremy did cry the whole day for him. I finally asked him why he wants Daddy so much. He said I think I need a blessing Mom. With tears in my eyes (mostly because I was so tired) I said we would call Daddy. Now that is the Joy of being a Mom seeing that your boys know where they can go for help.. our Heavenly Father.

Something to brag about

I am so proud of Samuel two days in a row he has got second place in the math facts. His 5th grade teacher does anything from multiplication to addition. But you have to know it quick to keep up with Samuel. He is my little math brain. He loves math. He told me both days it has been a different person who has got first place so now he wants that first place ribbon. Good luck Samuel.

My Trick or Treaters

Jeremy my little skeleton









Samuel my wizard or some people called him Gandolf








Alex is always something to do with Texas. He is Mack Brown the Texas Longhorns Coach, if only he made the salary of the coach we would love it.




Zachary dressed up as a tourist. I guess your never to old to dress up. Zachary reminded me that next Halloween he will not be here.
We had a fun time Halloween Night. We went to our church for trunk or treat and had a little carnival with games and hot dogs. Then we all gathered for some fun outside as all the kids went trick or treating trunk to trunk. I am so sad I didn't get a picture of myself but I went as "smarties pants". I had smarties all over my pants. The slide show is just a highlight of all of the great costumes I saw that evening. Some of them I totally missed. But there is always next year.

Halloween Highlights

My Fourth Son

Samuel and Mom
It is amazing when you have four boys they are all so different. Samuel is so quiet but has so much knowledge going on inside his brain. If I were describe Samuel in a few words it would be loving, kind, considerate of others. He always is worried about others and what they are doing. Samuel has had a lot happen to him over his short lifespan but it is amazing that he is more worried about others then himself. Everyday I learn something from Samuel.