Christmas time!

So the holiday madness is nearing and and all the shoppers are going crazy, the snow is ruining all the decorations and what do we have to show for it? a ton of happy smiling faces around my house! MAN I can not wait for Christmas! I have had most the week off although we have all had the flu we are still super excited! Parker wakes up every morning upset that Santa has not come and i have to tell him how many more days left he is the most excited of all, yet he HATES going to the store with me for any quick last things i need!(such a typical boy/man!) and aubrey is wonderful about wanting to be on the nice list this year so if she is doing something naughty i ask her naughty or nice aubs? and she says nice and instantly shapes up LOL!! Sammsooo excited that school is out and that i have been home she has missed me the most and wants to of course have SLEEPOVERS! she is crazy:) well i have to ask everyone if you have seen I AM LEGEND? if you haven't you need to go see it! i think we are gonna go see it again tonight! it is seriously the best show, i wanted to throw up the whole time and was scared but yet it was very intriguing! Will smith did such an awesome job! well let me know what ya thought if you saw it..maybe will have to go watch it again as a BIG group!! well hope everyone gets some GOOD last minute shopping done today! and here are some of fun pics and also pics of matts work party.

Tagged!

TAGGED!! DAGNABIT!
So I have never done one of these but here goes....

Where was I 10 years ago...Wow that is a looong time to think, but I was actually at a HUGE turning point in my life, MAN just thinking about it actually made me start crying again which I have not done in years but, I had just decided to to place my baby for adoption and was in the process of finding the right family for him. I was such a mess but pulled through with the help of the most AWESOME people in the world, my parents. They were my rock in life and are the reason I am who I am today!( even though they might not want to claim that:) ) I had just gotten my drivers license as well and was enjoying driving EVERYWHERE! I was working at a movie theater and loved to watch the sneek peaks at midnight with my older sister and her friends, those were GOOD TIMES!

Where was I 5 years ago....Well Samm had just turned one and we had gotten our first christmas tree which was OH about 2ft tall:) ya cant really get into christmas with a 1 year old people:) I had recently started working for good old Discover Card too! Man they have me stuck! and we had just found out the previous month that we were expecting again! wahoo i was soo excited!

Where was I 1 year ago...lets see baby # 4 was a couple months old and I was still on the good old maternity leave! My sister in law was about to move from Oregon to come live by us!! I cant believe it has only been a year!

Where was i yesterday..well that is a real bummer answer cause I was at work talking to cranky people that did not want to pay there bills! but I did go to Crown Burger for the first time in my life and can you say HEAVEN!!! it was sooo good, I am not into burgers so i have never gone but i heard they had other things so i got this chicken uro thingy anyway yummy!..then i came home to haven and sammy with the flu, TONS OF FUN!

5 snacks I enjoy...I totally LOVE chips i can eat a whole can of pringles in like 2 hours if ya let me!! and BROWNIES man what an evil thing to create! i can snack on those all day too!..I also LOVE red grapes they are the best straight from the fridge..lets see i also enjoy eggs sounds weird but i can whip an egg up anytime just to snack:) and last i would have to say cheese and crackers, I mean who does not like to slice your own cheese get some good ritz and veg in front of the T.V?

5 things I'd do with a million bucks...Buy a house for all my siblings on the same street ( i think that would take all my money, I have 3 sisters and 4 brothers) lets see I would go on a HUGE clothes shopping spree!...I would go to paris... I would help out in Africa..and then just maybe put some away for retirement:)

5 places to run away to .. MY MOMS HOUSE where it would be like the good old days where she was the mom and took care of everything! then San Fransisco! I LOVE it there, although i would have to take my sister cause my hubby hates crowds. I would spend a lifetime in Hawaii. Paris for maybe a couple of weeks..and then if it ment no more working MY home would be the best place to run to FOREVER!

5 T.V shows...I am sorry I don't watch much tv so i am going to say 5 favorite movies cause I love going to the movies! lets see...#1 The Fugitive..I would marry harrison ford anyday:) #2 The little mermaid..I always envied her! #3 Fried Green Tomatoes .. need I say more! #4 The Notebook I hope my marriage stays that way !!! #5 Mr.& Mrs. Smith that show is pretty much what every marriage at some point wanted to do to each other..LOL

5 Things I hate doing...1. I hate doing the dishes, so that is matts only chore. 2. I hate filling the gas tank in the car, i let it run soo low i am surprised i have never ran out of gas. 3- I hate trying to lose weight in my world i could eat whatever i wanted when i wanted and NEVER work out, but that was just not in my gene pool! 4- i hate cleaning bathrooms every last inch of them i can not stand to think about having to clean them so sorry if you come to my house it will probably not be cleaned but once every 2 months...maybe...5- I hate doing homework even though i am not in school i now have to do my childrens for the next 18 years!! YUCK!

5 Joys... of course my hubby-matt- he is such a character he is fun to be with, as long as we are not disciplining the kids:) and he is such an amazing fixer of everything that guy knows something about everything! 2- my kids! what can i say more.. they are awesome they give me UPS and DOWNS! they are what life is all about..even though i HATE homework:) 3- Family, without them I would be pretty bored cause who else is gonna hang out with someone with 4 kids???? 4- my van, i could not do anything without it! 5- a camera , how can you not enjoy capturing life?!

6 interesting things about me? well this is gonna be a hard one......I love to wake up early in the morning and start cleaning...2- My kids all have there name starting with a letter out of my name( matt thinks that is sooo weird and he hates it, that is why we have to have 9 kids!)3-I favor my left side over my right side...i always thought i would grow out of that? 4-I love to talk and be around people and crowds but yet when you ask me to talk in front of everyone i want to cry! that is why being in the primary presidency will be good for me.5-I have been a nanny and have always enjoyed children so my dream is to become a elementary teacher.6- I enjoy making people mad while i am driving..ya know like going slow when they are trying to cut through everyone, cutting people off.. it is a REALLY bad habit, not many people know that!hehe!

well there is my some what interesting life..I tag

Jen, Jenn & Jennifer you're it!!

Annual Gingerbread/grahm cracker houses

So every year I get together with my hubbys family and we make the BEST grahm cracker houses that you have evr seen! it is sooo much fun and thanks to my sister in law i got some pics cause i forgot my camera! thanks jen! anyway life is also really good i am working m-f 6am-8:30pm every night so hope noone needs to get a hold of me cause you will get my bro! anyway spencer said my kids have been great, they are really teaching him to be a patient dad! he has taken them to the park everyday it is niceoutside and makes huts every day too! spence you are AWESOME!! well hope everyone has a happy thanksgiving!!

still alive

Can I just say that I give soooo much thanks to all that run the church! I can not believe how much people have to do in callings! this new calling is seriously the biggest one I have had,and i got a HUGE reality check that how awesome our church is! if it was not for all the members we would be nothing..Becky you are sooo awesome for all that you do and I am sooo willing to help out in all that I can for you ...i took all my other callings for granted i guess cause they were cake compared to this, someone must be preparing me for a great life up there! anyway i had my first meeting last night with my presidency and it was so much fun to just hang out with REAL women, not children!, it was a bit intimidating but they were super nice. I was really excited to get to know all the names in the primary too! i can not believe how many kids there are! It is going to be really exciting....my LoooooonG days at the good old Discover Card are not too bad thanks to my baby brother that is taking care of my kids! they love him soo much and he plays with them i think more than i do!! he takes them to the park, on walks, makes up games, and CLEANS my house! he is amazing the women that marries him will be soooo LUCKY! anyway i joined the gym at my work so i can work out still and i tell you what it is NOT, I repeat NOT like Golds! how i miss the big screen i get to watch! now i just stare at the wall as i am running on one of three treadmills:) YES it is extremely small..but it will do for the next 2 months. they have really nice showers and provide towels soap, lotion, shampoo, conditioner..and blow dryers,curling irons..so i am set !!! anyway life is great at the Ballard home getting excited for the holidays..missing my sisters and hoping my sweet Sammantha will not get sent to Kindergarten in her jammies:) have a good week!

Fun weekend

yto



This has been a great weekend! I spent the whole day with my 4 beautiful children! we watched rataooie I think that is how you spell it? anyway and we went shopping together and went on a walk...then saturday night i babysat my cute little nephew, Payton..he is such a doll ..he reminds me of my brother Spencer when he was a baby cause he is really tall and his little hands and feet are pretty sweaty so they are kinda sticky! he absolutely LOVES sammy he could not stop grabbing at her and watching her,,it was really cute...then this morning i was making popeye pancakes that i make every sunday and we were OUT of syrup..my kids were devastated soooo i called my mom to ask how to make homemade and she said just add some flavor to some karosyrup cause i did not have any maple ...so i added some strawberry extract and BOY did my kids LOVE it! they had to lick every last drop off their plates.it was sooo stinkin funny!
I also had a wonderful day at church today cause i was called to the primary presidency! WAY fun! i am extremely nervous but sooo excited at the same time..it has not been that long since i have been out of primary so i am still really familiar with the kids. I hear that the ladies i will be with are awesome so i am excited to make some new friendships in the ward and to be with the children again!
well hope every one has a fantastic week!

The poop basket!

OKAY! so what I love about everyone getting SO excited about the holidays is all the yummy CHOCOLATE! I love it! I can not get enough of it.....over at the good old wal-mart they had these small packages of Mrs.Fields dark chocolate orange cream sticks!! can you say HEAVEN!!!! they are so good...me and matt ate them right up in like 5 minutes...he thinks it is pretty funny how much I like chocolate since I hated so bad when we were dating and up until I was prego with parker...That kid did some weird things to my body..my ears are now allergic to most metals so they get really irritated and puffy when i have them in so long...i love chocolate when i use to HATE it...my feet grew 1/2 an inch...and i think some other things i can not think about...has any of your children done some weird things to you or even fixed some crazy problem you used to have? ...anyway the holidays are exciting and i can not wait to put up decorations, it is sooo tempting to put them up now since there are some radio stations playing the good old tunes! but I will withhold:) ...So our renters have moved in and are actually really quite! they are hardly ever home so i do not have to stress too much at keeping the kids quite..I had to go get another garbage can today so that we could still have our 2( why do we need 2? i don't know we just throw alot of stuff away?) anyway so that will be nice for them and the touch ups on the cabinets were done today and our other water heater was put in yesterday by my bro in law..and matt is putting there heater back together so they will have I guess some much needed heat...we keep our house at 65 during the day and 61 at night so i did not think it was a big deal that their heater was not on yet cause it stays between 69 and 72 down there..well i guess cause they are from california they want it at at least 75! I thought that was crazy so they are pretty darn lucky we put 2 systems in or i guess they would be freezing all winter long! I used to need my house at like 74 before i married matt and he quickly got me used to having the temp low cause his parents leave there house at like 50! it is so cold when we go there we have to make sure we bundle up, it is really interesting how your body adjusts to your surrounding temp cause they are used to it and my kids are used to the temp in our house which as a BONUS my heating bills are really low:) anyway it is not as bad as i thought it would be having people in my home and the extra money is REALLY nice....
So my work is offering over time and they need some help around this time of year and give out some awesome incentives to attract us to work them..so i have decided to work four 14 hour daysfor the next 2 months ....yuck...yuck..and yuck! but the money will be nice for the holidays and I am really trying to win a bike and the new kitchen aid! so i will have to let ya all know what i get from all those mad hours...anyhow i wanted to post a picture of haven in her new found basket toilet, but blogger would not let me ..she has to poop in this thing! it is the funniest thing, I have this basket by my front door for shoes and she crawls in it and does her business then gets out and plays! it is really cute..what are some funny places your kids had to go?.. anyway good night! oh i guess now blogger is being nice so you get to see her!

Halloween Party

HAVEN DID NOT LIKE HER COSTUME TOO MUCH!
Here is my beautiful older sister Michelle!
Here is the other father of my kids(he watches my kids for me!)my little brother spencer
I had to throw this one in here cause this is what happens when I try to get on my computer and the aubs is ALONE!
Here is my cute baby sister,Jessica
my two little cinderellas, aubrey and my niece jo-jo( whom were born exactly 2 months apart!)
my beautiful ariel! sammy
My web throwin Parker pants!
had to get at least one cute one of haven
this is great my bro in law (whom did all the plumbing in my basement!)Brandon
my too cute nephew briggs!
oops looks like the old man fell asleep! this outfit I think was the best of all night he had oxygen tubes and a walker and the PANTS! it was awesome
my dear old pirate DAD! ARRRH
BLOOD THIRSTY LITTLE BRO ,JOEL...SOO CUTE!
sam hoffman took these pics I LOVE THEM SOO MUCH! and this cute pose of us all doing funny faces is going right in my living room!

here is sammys tooth that had to be pulled..OUCH
once again the Goddess of the night ..my little bro with my mom as a....MAN!
Hope you have enjoyed these halloween pictures that are a little late to be posted! here is a great big SMOOCH!!!!

The final thing..

Here is some pictures and the video of my basement. It is finally done! Matthew did such a great job! I can not wait till we are able to use it..sorry that it is a bit long but I have never takin video with this camera i just got:)

pics

here is sammy at school and the kids eating chilli and then matt getting ready to take the kids out trick or treating..sorry about the sideways one of aubs i could not figure out how to delete it!