The MacDonald's

Jaidyn finally lost her first tooth today! She has been working on the bottom middle tooth, wiggling and wiggling it for weeks now and it finally came out! Tonight she has had a lot of fun trying to pronounce words and they're just not coming out the same. We went to Target tonight and she was sure to let everyone know that she lost her tooth, and tonight she put it under her pillow hoping that the Tooth Fairy will bring her something really good!

We really do have Christmas in July at our home this year! Jaidyn's birthday was on the 17th, Luis' was on the 22nd, and Luhanie's was on the 29th. So we decided to celebrate their birthday's all in one day. We had a water party in our backyard 24 kids were invited. We started out with having them make picture frames adding sand, sea shells, glitter, flowers, whatever they wanted. They got quite creative and made a huge mess with the glitter, but had fun and that's all that mattered. After making their picture frames we went outside for some Wet, Wet, Dry, it's a game basically played like Duck Duck Goose, but a person holds a bucket of water over your head and says "dry, dry, wet (and then pours the water on the person and takes off running for a spot to sit down before that person tags him) They really loved this game and even the little ones knew how to play it. After that we played musical water, we had two sprinklers set up and when the music was on...

So here it is, my families favorite Watermelon Salad. It sounds really weird (I know) but it is sooooo yummy!! Oh, and by the way, this lettuce came straight from our garden! Watermelon and Goat Cheese Salad Prep time: 10 minutes 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar or Balsamic or white balsamic vinegar 2 tablespoons olive oil coarse salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste 4 ounces mixed greens 1/2 red onion(s), thinly sliced 1/2 watermelon, seeded and cut into cubes 1/4 cup crumbled goat cheese [1] In a small bowl, whisk together vinegar and oil and season with salt and pepper. [2] In a large bowl, combine greens and onion and toss with dressing to taste. Gently toss with watermelon and goat cheese and serve.

Elder Ballard has spoken on the importance of sharing your beliefs on blogs also.

Today is Oni's 1 year birthday! You're still such a little thing and we love you so much. It seemed like you would never outgrow those 3-6 months clothes. You're such a smart little girl with so much spunk, making sure that you're never left out with the big kids. Some words you learned this year: mommy daddy grandma jaidyn hi hum? juice and I especially love it when you say the words "go" and "thank you" because your little lips make a cute circle in order to get that "oh" sound out, it's the cutest thing ever! You've learned to crawl this year and have become really fast getting around and keeping up with Jaidyn and Luis. You like to crawl over to the couch and pull yourself up to a standing position, so very soon you will be walking. You're laugh is contagious and you love it when you're tickled right underneath your chin. We know when you're tired because you start sucking your right pointer and middle fingers. Ea...

Today started out just like normal, wake up at 7:30 get dressed, try to drag Jaidyn out of bed, check 10 minutes later and try to drag Jaidyn out of bed, check 5 minutes later and decided to assist Jaidyn with getting out of bed by puppet walking her to the bathroom (that would be by standing behind her, her feet on top of mine, my arms around her chest and together as I walk, she walks). (I know it's pretty ridiculous). We picked up the Riley's kids for school and dropped everyone off just in time for the 1st bell to ring. At 10 a.m. Luis and Luhanie had their visit, it was really odd to see how their mom was reacting, after Thursday's court date. The real weird thing to me is that she wasn't acting any way at all, it was like nothing ever happened at court. (Did the Judge really authorize termination of parental rights?) I know that if that was me, I would not only be upset, crying etc.., but I definitely would not shorten my visit, seeing how they were going to ...

Louis Raymond Chambers' birthday is today! I thought I'd take this time to write a little bit about him. Mom and Lou were married on July 16, 1988, so last week they celebrated their 19th anniversary. It took some time for them to find each other again. In high school they dated but then went their separate ways, Lou married and had 2 kids (Dusty and Brian) and mom married and had me. After 17 years of being apart and living separate lives, they found each other again! I remember when I first met Lou, I was on my way to prom and he arrived at our home with long hair and a long scruffy beard. I also remember he was wearing white pants! (yikes! white pants who wears those? Thank goodness mom, stylized him) Anyway, I was very Leary seeing how in my very teenage eyes he looked like Grizzly Adams, but nonetheless he was very nice. After that mom and Lou were inseparable, he went back to Oregon where he lived and so as you can imagine the phone was constantly busy. That sure...

Today is Luis' 2nd birthday! He has grown so much since he's been with us. Some things you've learned this year: * learned to walk * learned to say "mama and daddy". As well as "sissy, Jaidyn, juice", and many, many more. * learned to like animals, when you first came to our home you weren't sure about the cat or the dogs and now you can't seem to get enough of them. *to skip and run Some things that we love about you: There are so many things that we love about you but these are just a few of them.. *we love how you try to make everyone laugh, you really are a little comedian. *We love it when you laugh. *We love it when you say cheese and give us that silly little cheesy smile. *We love it when you give luvs, which is very often, you are a little love bug. *We love it when you hear the garage door open or close and you go running yelling "daddy! daddy!" you're always so happy when daddy comes home. *We love it that every time wh...

These were all taken by Jaidyn and her new digital camera. Jaidyn Grandma Sharon Grandpa Jim & Me. Grandma Sharon & Me Grandma Ronda & Grandpa Louie Daddy O Today we celebrated Jaidyn's birthday with the grandparents. She is the only grandchild on both John's side and my side, so needless to say she's very spoiled. Grandpa Jim, Grandma Sharon, Grandma Ronda, Grandpa Louie and all of us all went to Jaidyn's favorite place MACARONI GRILL, for dinner and of course, more presents! Here is what she got: A very good, very large cheese pizza for dinner with lemonade (her favorite) A build a Bear make it yourself kit Some birthday money to spend (she always likes money) Some very cool butterfly glasses! and a date to go to the water park with Grandpa Jim and Grandma Sharon! She had a great t...

Today was Jaidyn's 7th birthday! It's really amazing how fast the time goes by. This is how we started our day: This morning at 2 am. I was woken up, like usual, by a little voice in the other room yelling “mom, I’m scared”, so in order to not wake dad up I got up and went into Jaidyn’s room. There she was wide awake laying in bed. I decided to lay down next to her and I said “hey, you know what your 7 now.” She said “I am?” I said “yep, and I think I see a little tiny 7 year old wrinkle, oh my gosh you even look older!” She said “so what”. I said “how come you’ve got to grow up so fast” She said “I don’t know but I don’t want to, I want to be in preschool still” I said “yeah, your growing too fast, and then one day you’ll be married with kids of your own” She said “how come everybody says that? I don’t like boys” Then she said the funniest thing she said “well, besides I don’t think I look older, because that won’t happen until I’m 8” I said “it won’t?” She said “n...

I spent the weekend clearing, cleaning and redecorating our kitchen. Every spring I usually go through and reorganize and clean. However, with so much going on this year I never got around to it until now. I decided to repaint the baseboards and finally finish those curtains in the kitchen. I was tired of seeing only one panel hanging in the window for 4 years and figured it was time to finish them all. A few months ago I bought these great wooden spoons from Pottery Barn, I saw them and just couldn't pass them up, once I got them though, I couldn't figure out where to put them and they sat in the corner of the dining room for 4 months. So today I finally finished the Kitchen! I love having organization again! With 3 kids, and 4 adults living in our house, we'll see how long it actually lasts. Now, on to my remaining to do list.

Yesterday, I spent the ENTIRE day, doing our TAXES! What taxes? You say. I know you probably had yours done last April, but every single year we are forced to file an extension because the Accountant for John's company is very slooooow (turtle slow) and we never get our tax paperwork on time! Can I tell you how relieved I am to have them done! No more dreaded box filled to the brim with 2007 papers sitting in our bedroom to remind me daily that I need to do the taxes. I really despise doing our taxes, it always turns out to be an all day activity and every year I say, I'm going to get our own tax man next year, and every year I end up doing them. Hurray! 2007 is done! Now I can tackle the rest of my to very large do list. 1 down about 5 more to go.