I'm Here!!

So I made it to California today at 2:45 California time. I went to bed at 3am and got up at 5am and then drove all the way. I am tired! We are on our way now to my brother Danny's graduation. He is getting his Bachelors in Biology. My mom arranged for a babysitter so I don't have to take my children. Sooo nice after a long car ride.

Wednesday, I went and had my hair done. I added a lot of dark to it. Here is a Pic.



Its not that good cuz it was taken in the car just now by my laptop, but at least you can see the brown in it. I really like it and plan on going darker after the summer.

My 3oth Birthday!!

Well at the request of Mel Proudfit, I will blog about my 3oth Birthday. Really it was like any other day in the life of Mary. I got up and went to work early so I could get off early and come home to clean because my Mom was coming into town that evening. I spent the rest of the day doing laundry, cleaning, mowing and weed wacking the lawn, and feeding children. I then jumped in the shower and when I got out, it was 7:30 and my mom had arrived. Pat had work and then had school til 8pm. He did take a break in the day to bring me a present at lunch time.

I have wanted a beautiful planter for so long!! I could not believe he remembered and now I can plant it every year!!

I took him earlier on in the season to look at planters but they were more than I wanted to spend. I love it as a gift though! I love flowers, especially ones that will last all season!! That night I was downstairs talking to my mom and when I went upstairs these were on the table for me.

Pam and Mel got them for me and worte me a nice birthday note to go with it. They also got me some earings and my favorite M&M's which are peanut.

It is probably how I would have preferred the day to go by. Not much hoopla and lots of family around. I leave for California on Sat morning for two weeks and I am sooo excited for a vacation. I have really needed one. Beach, baby, here I come!!

Life at the Easters

I have been wanting to post, but not really knowing what about. So here is another one of my run downs of what has been going on here at the Easters.

-Amanda tried out and made a club soccer team. I then received a call asking if I would coach it because the other coach could not, which I accepted. I am a little nervous but it will be fun, I think.

-My sisters Pam and Melody are staying with me right now, which I absolutely love.

-Pat is super busy taking a block Microbiology class. He has no free time from studying.

-My Mom and Dad came up to this weekend to visit my ailing Grandma and they stayed with us.

-My Dad dug up and fixed our broken pipe that flooded our basement last month.

-Amanda had a daddy daughter dance night at the school, which Pat was unable to go to, so I went and was the only woman there. We learned lots of dances and had tons of fun.

-Amanda and Jaida had their birthdays. Amanda is now 10 and Jaida is now 2. Time sure flies.

-I have been working full time still and I still feel like I have no time for anything (who knows how I am going to coach soccer?).

-The weather has been so nice here except for a few rainy days.

-I am going to be going to California in June for a few weeks to take care of my Mom after she has surgery.

-The kids have 4 more days of school until summer break.

I keep waiting for things to slow down, but as long as I am working I think its going to continue to fly by. I love my kids and am so happy that they are mine. They bring so much happiness to my life and give me a reason to do all that I do. I purchased a laptop so I will be able to work from home, while they are out of school.

Photo Tag

This is one of Pat's many fish pictures. I am not surprised at all that this is what was in the 6th folder, 6th picture. The date says Jan 1st 2004, so he was starting off the new year in his favorite way. He would fish all day, every day if he could. It looks like he caught this on a spin rod, but he now rarely uses one, he usually only uses his fly rod now.

I tag Jenni, Denise, Becca, Jennie, Celisa, and Melody.

1. Go to the photo folder in your computer
2. Go to the 6th folder of photos.
3. Go to the sixth picture.
4. Put the picture on your blog and description of it.
5. Invite six friends to join the challenge.

"The Best Spring Break Ever!!"

Usually for spring break, if we don't go anywhere, we don't do anything but hang out around the house. But since I have been working lots and feeling like I don't have much quality time with the kids, I decided to do some fun things with them.

Thursday we worked on the house alot- cleaning that is- and then we went to Chucky Cheese. (They were happy to help clean knowing we were going there later.) They loved it!! Pat did too, he had to get the high score at the basketball shooting game of course. Jaida was afraid to ride anything that moved, but if it was just sitting there she climbed all over the rides, and sat in them for long periods of time. By the time it was all said and done we had 450 tickets and 4 tired but happy girls.


Paige in her Monster Truck


Jaida pretending to ride the dragon with Marin- she would not let us turn it on to move.

Friday we went shopping for Amanda. She is growing too fast. She has grown out of all her school clothes for this year and was in desperate need of new stuff. I am tired of her wearing sweats everyday. She loves sweats and would choose them over anything. Its my own fault, she is just like I was. Anyways we went and got her 2 pair of jeans and a couple shirts and then we went to Grandma Pati's house and hung out for a few hours. We went home that evening and the girls had a sleep over with eachother in our basement. They watched Charlottes Web, had ice cream sundaes, and then slept in a bed I made on the floor. I laid on the bean bag next to them until the fell asleep so they weren't scared, and then headed up to my bed. I need my bed at night. I have a hard time sleeping anywhere else.

Today we woke up, made a yummy pancake breakfast, and then headed out for more shopping for Amanda. JcPenney was having a great sale on shirts, and she really needed more. I also got all 4 of the girls a new swimsuit. We had decided that we were going to the Legacy Center in Lehi to swim later on today. After shopping we headed home and had lunch, let Jaida get a nap in, and then headed for the pool. Adam, Denise and Eliana came with us and we had a blast. The girls really loved it. It is a really nice indoor pool with activities for the kids and slides, lazy river etc..... Amanda's friend Whitney came too, so they ran off together and checked in every so often.


Amanda and Marin getting ready to swim


All tired and worn out after swimming


Amanda, Whitney, and Paige being silly on the way home

All in all it was a great few days with the girls. We all got along for the most part, and really enjoyed spending time together. Earlier today I asked the girls if they were enjoying their Spring Break and Paige said "Mom, this has been the best Spring Break ever!" It made me happy.

Pat wasn't able to join us much because he was studying for 2 huge exams in Chemistry and Biology which he took today and did really good on both! YAY for my honey!! :)

More of Amanda's Baking

Amanda made cookies the other day, at a friends house, and she said that she could make them at home all by herself. So I challenged her too, mostly because I really wanted homemade Oreos, but also because I didn't believe she could do it all without my help. Well, I went and laid in bed and rested, while she worked in the kitchen. Not too long later I was eating a most delicious, scrumptious cookie. Mmmmm they were so yummy. I was so proud!!!

As you can tell she was so happy too!!


Smelling the fruits of her labor


Such a proud moment of triumph over her unbelieving mother!!

We all ate them really fast, so the next day I had her make a double batch for our Family Home Evening treat, which she did without my help. We ate most of those, but shared some too with friends.

This was our treat tonight, per her father's request. White cookie with Chocolate frosting. She just loves to cook and I love to reap the benefits!!!

She's getting too big!!

Amanda is growing up so fast!! I have been trying to teach her more about responsibility as you get older. Hygiene- for example- she hates showering, but we together we wrote up a daily schedule with showering and brushing teeth etc.. etc.. It has been working good so far. I also have been trying to include her more in the kitchen, and she loves it and does so well. She loves cooking.

She is so much fun to have as my oldest daughter. I sure love her.

Fly Fishing

Pat and I have been wanting to go have a little weekend together and we arranged with my sister Pam, to go this last weekend. We had a hard time coming up with what we were going to do, but we decided on going fly fishing. Friday we spent getting ready and getting all the gear I needed- Pat already has his gear- and Saturday, Pat took me and taught me to fly fish.


We went up to Schofield Dam and fished the Price river. It had a great place for me to practice my cast. Don't you just love the waders--not really.

I was so excited when I caught my first one- just a baby- and then my second-they were all babies. We always let them go too.

Anyways, I ended up catching 9 fish. It was so fun! I love getting into the outdoors and spending time with my hubby. I think we will try to teach Amanda soon.

My Eyes

So I went to the eye doctor today, ready to hear that my eyes were getting worse (prescription wise). As it turns out, they are better than they have been in 4 years. I have never heard of eyes getting better, but they are a little. He double checked a couple times, just to make sure he was right. Its funny, but I am so excited about it. I called Pat on the way home to tell him and he was half asleep and didn't really care. So I called my Mom hoping for a better reaction, which I got. She sounded way excited, although I think she knew I just wanted a big reaction, but she gave it to me anyways and it made me happy, so I don't care if it was fake. :) I am thinking about getting eye surgery, to correct my vision, but I am still unsure if I want to. Anyways, I hope my kids got Pat's eyesight because he can see so well. It would be great if they didn't have to wear glasses or contacts as they get older.

Lots to catch up on

So lets see, we have had a lot going on here for a while so I will play catch up.

-Lyn went in to the hospital in December for his heart- It was 90% blocked- It was very scary-and he was there for 2 weeks and ended up with a pacemaker. They could not do surgery because most of his heart muscle had died because of mini heart attacks, that he did not know he was having.

-My mom went in for preventative surgery the same day Lyn went in.

-My biological father passed away the following weekend. I tried to find a way to get to his funeral but I don't have a passport and they held it in Canada. Plus the weather was really bad to drive all the way in.

-I had family come in that weekend for Christmas, and stay until the end of December. I was really fun to have them here.

-Business was slow so Pat had quite a few days in a row off, so we watched the season 6 dvd's of 24 in 4 days.

-Pat's birthday was the 8th of January and we spent the whole thing in the hospital with his family.

-On the ninth, his oldest brother James passed away. The funeral was the following Monday, the 12th. It was very sad.

- Life has slowly resumed after all that has gone on. I feel that we have grown closer to Pat's family through all the hardship that we have experienced together.

As for now we just are living day to day. I am working almost everyday. With Pat in school and the limited work force that we have, I am needed a lot more at the shop. I am able to take the kids with me if I need to. Sometimes when she is able, my sister Pam is very kind and watches them at home. I have turned one of our offices into a playroom, so they have things to do while I am there, and it has worked out really well so far. Lots of things at home have been put on hold for now, but I think as I get used to doing all this, home stuff will fall into place. I get home right when the kids do from school and then its homework and dinner and errands and then bedtime. Its been pretty crazy busy lately but, that's ok. I am very happy that Pat is in school and doing well. He gets all A's. It takes up lots of his time, but is for a good purpose and I don't mind so much when it is helping him improve himself.

Here are a few pics from Christmas Break.

Pat took our older girls on a winter camp out with my brother Allen and his 2 oldest, Gaven and Lily. They all loved it.

Chirstmas Morning- Opening gifts
Our cute little elf Jaida