Toheds...Now and Then

Updated pictures!

2010-10-12T08:11:00.000-07:00

Did you forget to order a girl?

2010-09-27T16:49:00.001-07:00

So I am a couponer. I'm not great at it, I have a lot to learn if I am going to get serious, but I do order 5 Sunday newspapers, just for the coupons. So as I was trying to catch up with 3 weeks worth of coupons, my 5 year old Aidan was clipping out toy coupons (they have some great ones right now!) and when he saw "the Littlest Pet Shop" he decided he would cut them out so when he has a sister, she can use the coupons.

Then, out of the blue he says, "Mom, did you just forget to order a girl when it was your turn?"

Me, "No, that's not how it works"

Aidan, "You don't just tell Jesus what you want and He gives it to you?"

No Aidan, I'm sorry. We are going to have to wait our turn....

So today, I finished up 88 NEW Point Emblems Products to present to Deseret Book! PHEW!

Warning: Cute Puppies Ahead!

2010-09-10T18:05:00.000-07:00

My Girl Bailey

The Girls

I realize that there are people out there who LOVE animals and treat them better than children, in fact-they are their children. I have a dog, I LOVE her, but I'm not going to plaster my walls with pictures of them. But as I was puppy sitting my nieces, they were sleeping together on a little kid sized camping chair. Hazel had her arms around Tuesday, it was the cutest. I grabbed my camera to take a picture, and they instantly lost their "pose". I ended up taking a few of them and they were SO CUTE, I had to play with a few.

Land of the Free...Because of the Brave

2010-09-08T20:38:00.000-07:00

I took this at Christian's last football game against Bear River

Anyone that knows me knows that I am a geek. (A Genealogy Geek) I am very enthusiastic about my family history. I have done a lot of research and am extremely proud of my roots. My most recent ancestor to immigrate to the United States was my great grandfather Axel Mattson in 1910 when he was 18. Before that, his father-in-law Gustaf Broman came in 1882 for Sweden.

My ancestors have been in the United States over a hundred years before it was the United States of America. I have capitans in the Revolutionary War, Cherokee indian blood, Mormon pioneers who had been forced out of their homes again and again. I am so proud of my heritage, and so proud of my country.

The freedoms we have here are incredible. I have five children and have married my best friend, in some countries, a woman is lucky if she can even pick her own spouse, let alone have more than one child. I work from home, I have the gospel of Jesus Christ, for the most part, I can come and go as I please.

As I sit here typing (ranting) I am watching "Guliani's 9/11". There are men and women separated from their families and loved ones literally fighting for our freedom. They fight for and idea, the idea of freedom. The idea that when we go to work or to school, we are safe.

They fight for our right to vote, our right to choose how we live our lives. We vote for our president, mayors, senators, governors, any elected official, we vote. There are other ways to vote...we vote everyday whether we know it or not. We vote for favorite hamburger, fast food restaurant, types of movies, we cast our vote everytime we make a choice.

As a mother of 5 boys...all football lovers, I have voted by signing my children up for full contact football. My oldest has the MOST AMAZING coaching team. They are there to teach the boys, to build them up, to teach them to be better men, not just better football players. They have the most amazing hearts. They love the kids. They are so dedicated to building young men, it is their chosen profession. Because one parent didn't feel comfortable having the young men the coaches work with near our children. That parent voiced the opinion to the coaches' boss. Now we have no coaches.

Every single parent thinks the current situation is a good one. The older kids learn from our kids, and our kids learn that everyone deserves a second chance. Repentance is an amazing thing, it's up to the Lord, not us. It is up to Him, not us to judge. Our kids are/were safe. 24 sets of parents think that these coaches are the best thing to ever happen to our kids. 1 set disagrees....guess who wins? Not the majority.

When did we become a people so afraid of offending the ONE that the entire majority has to go along with what that one person wants? If there are 100 people on a bus, 99 that want a steak and 1 is a Vegan, you aren't going to a steak house, you're going for something vegan. Why? Because no one wants to offend the 1.

I think I"m done with my LONG rant. Normally I edit EVERYTHING i write before I sent, post, whatever. Not today. I am an American. Born and Raised. I love everything this country stands for. I vote. If you don't like how things are around here, leave. This isn't a country for one, but a country for ALL. God bless America and all who fight every day to protect our freedoms....including ranting on a blog that no one will ever read.

Wow...I need to get better.

2010-09-05T10:12:00.000-07:00

So apparently, I need to get A LOT better at updating the old blog. It has been awhile since the last post. I'll try to catch you up for the summer.

1. We moved 1/2 block east and 1/2 block south. Same ward, same school, same everything. We have a ton of trees and a FABULOUS back yard with an even more FABULOUS deck. It needs to have a fresh coat of stain and protectant...waiting for football to be over so we can do that.

2. Football started again, Brian is coaching Jaxon's team, Josh is on the same team for the third year in a row (undefeated so far), and Christian is the quarterback for his team.

I've posted a bunch of pictures, I'll see if maybe I can start posting more often, less of an annual thing and hopefully more monthly or perhaps even weekly. As for now, our life revolves around football so expect tons of football pics.

At the Tim McGraw Concert in July

First Day of 3rd

Kindergarten! Holy cow! He is my little buddy, now off to conquer the world!

His first real haircut!

My kid!

First day of 6th Grade

4th grade....and feelin' crazy

Pictures of Kellan

2009-11-11T22:32:00.000-08:00

Kellan got two shots today so he wasn't really in the mood, but this was my last chance to get nice pics before the weather gets crazy cold and I still have a little color....

Family 2009

2009-11-10T22:53:00.000-08:00

Kellan

2009-07-23T11:05:00.001-07:00

It is hard to believe that my Kellan is 8 days old...The boys are IN LOVE with him! Tatoes goes on and on about how cute he is. I can't help but agree with him.

Happy Birthday Tatoes!

2009-05-03T20:37:00.001-07:00

Tatoes wanted to go to "Chuck E Cheese's" for his birthday since the dawn of time, so where did we go? We had fun. And he got tickets and prizes.

looking back

2009-02-10T11:46:00.000-08:00

So Tatoes and I decided to look through old pictures of him. I fell in love with him all over again. This picture makes me that much more excited to have this baby...hopefully it will be wearing pink. Kids are so cute when they are little. It seems that as they get bigger, we spend so much time living life and not enough just looking. Just seeing our children.

A Motoqua Thanksgiving

2008-12-16T09:25:00.000-08:00

Nothing says Motoqua like a golf ball stuck in the ground.

Four crazy boys and Grandpa Bill! I think they are having fun, what do you think?

Josh's Baptism

2008-11-01T18:22:00.001-07:00

Josh turned 8 on October 11. He was scheduled to be baptized that day, but unfortunately, that was the day chosen for Grandpa's funeral...so today was the day. Christian got glasses yesterday and was actually able to see his talk...he gave a real nice talk on baptism and made us all very proud.

I am very proud of Josh and the choice he made to be baptized. Even with all the screaming and crying kids it was very nice. Afterward everyone came over for chips and salsa and rootbeer floats.

Halloween Day...with cousin Emmett and Levi

2008-10-31T19:48:00.000-07:00

Halloween

2008-10-30T11:24:00.000-07:00

Halloween is always fun for kids, and mine are no exception. For reasons beyond my understanding (probably some hunt) the kids don't have school tomorrow (Halloween) so they have their Halloween festivities at school this morning.

Christian thought it would be fun to be a nerd, Josh wanted to be a dead football player and Jaxon went with Air Force Pilot. Since it was seven in the morning, Tatoes was in our bed watching cartoons instead of getting his Spiderman Costume on...pictures to follow tomorrow.

We got makeup for Josh...to help him look more dead...we can't look too realistic for Josh since he is like his mom and gets scared easily.

Then Christian decided that he wanted to look like a geek that had been beaten up, so we dove into my Mary Kay sample collection and made two black eyes-one old and one new, plus a couple of older bruises on his face. He also had very large underwear on that he cut in half to make it look like he got the ultimate wedgy...

Jaxon then decided to get in on the make-up fun and wanted facial hair and he looked a little silly so I had to add the eyebrows to even it all out.

As you can see, I have a few crazy boys...who knows, maybe tomorrow they will score the good candy....and share it!

Wesley Hyrum Atkin: Papa Man

2008-10-20T23:27:00.000-07:00

October 1, 2008 My Papa Man left this earth and joined the rest of his family in Heaven. My grandpa was such an amazing man. He had so many stories to tell and so much fun in life. He had so many trials in his life, but it never got him down. He never looked back and his trials and wished something would've been different. In my entire life, only once did he ever say that he had a regret. Just one regret in 95 years of life: That he didn't raise his family in the church. Anytime we would talk about something the boys had said in church (usually it was embarrassing) he would say that he wished he would've made that choice.

Just after my 12th birthday I moved in with my grandparents. He was quite the character. He was very inventive and as I look back and look at my own talents to "make do" I know now that I learned that from him. He was always creating something. He would take something that worked perfectly and figure out a way to change it up and make it more "efficient". He was a big believer in education and manners. He always made sure that I let a man open the door for me, take his arm while we walked, anything that Grace Kelly would've done in a movie, that was to be my treatment. I laugh every time I think of someone walking into the house and leaving their hat on. That was a HUGE no-no! LOL!

When I was 16, my grandparents bought a little Bronco II that was for me to drive. It's funny how little things can really annoy people. He made me write up a contract and sign it that I would squeeze the toothpaste from the bottom - or I couldn't drive the car. I think that was the only thing I did that really seemed to get under his skin. Everything else he let slide, or began to love because that was a part of me.

It has been really fun to be able to listen to Grandpa's voice and hear the stories that I grew up with. Since I moved north, I haven't been able to see him or Grandma much, but my love for them never diminished, nor did theirs for me. I have been really worried about Grandma. I couldn't imagine loosing Brian now, or ever for that matter, but She and Grandpa were married for over 62 years. Now I worry about her because she is all alone, I don't want her to be lonely. If I could have things my way, She'd come live with me and my family, but she is very independent and healthy and home in St. George. I love my grandparents. My grandfather was one of my heroes and Grandma is truly one of my best friends and one of the few people who truly knows me and loves me because of my quarks and imperfections not despite them. I have been truly blessed to have had Papa Man in my life.

Creating...

2008-10-20T18:25:00.000-07:00

I found this quote a few weeks ago, and it just really hit me...this is me:

Life isn't about FINDING yourself, It's about CREATING yourself.

As I have had time to think today, I can't help but get that itch. I look at all of my different craft supplies, my camera, my lights, and I just get that itch...the itch to create something amazing...maybe in a few weeks when life calms down, I'll do just that. For now, I'll wash more jars and can more tomatoes! :)

Tomorrow...that's another story.

This is a bracelet that I designed and created for the Young Women Program...Hopefully it will take off...It really makes me proud...I have them from ID, to CT, and now I even have one in Germany! It is my hope that it will become the latest thing that the girls work for...I know I would have!

My first blog...

2008-10-19T20:14:00.000-07:00

So...here I am feeling a little old starting my very first blog. I figured with all our friends and family being all over the place this would be a good way to keep everybody posted on what's going on in our crazy lives. When I look at my boys, or introduce them to anyone-we always hear: "all toe-heads, huh?" So about 8 years ago, our "toheds" journey began. It is my hope that through my little blog entries that I can not only share with others, but also that I can have something to have for my own memories...I don't get to my journal as often as I would like. My computer on the other hand...that seems to be with me always.

Ever since I can remember I have wanted to be a photographer...I had a pretty good go of it for a while, now I am just trying to decide if I'm ready to jump back into it. In the mean time, it is our family tradition to go into the hills and I'll run back and forth with my timer for our annual famliy picture. This was our fourth year doing it in the fall. Before that we did them Memorial Day, but the fall is our favorite time of year...I'm all about the leaves!

Brian and I have been married for almost 11 years...in March. They have been the best years of my life. My husband is the most amazing man I know. He is the best dad, we have somehow managed to add four boys to our family and anytime he isn't in the house, I know I will find him out in the yard throwing the football with the boys.

Brian and I had been married less than a year when Christian joined us...He is all about football. He played in the junior league for the North Ogden Warriors. Now that football is over he is starting basketball. Once that's over we'll have another break until football starts again. This kid is absolutely the funniest person I have ever known! The other day he was teasing me about my age and how old I was. I told him that if he didn't stop I was going to elbow him in the teeth (totally kidding) and he said, "Mom, you can elbow me all you want, it won't change your age!"

Josh joined us the next year which also happened the same week that we moved from St. George to Northern Utah. He just turned 8. He also played football for the Warriors, this was his first year. He decided not to play basketball this year, probably better that way. He didn't really stand much of a chance on a team last year. He never passed the ball because no one else could even dribble, let alone make a basket. He was the tallest one on the team and even him against an entire team, the other team didn't have a prayer.
(He's the one w/his hand on the ball)

Jaxon is six and a half, and is our little cowboy. He hasn't really decided what he's into. He likes cars, horses, guns, cowboys, everything and nothing all at the same time. He gets very excited about everything.

Aidan (Tatoes-3) is our movie buff. He hangs out at home with me while I work and he'll watch a movie. I really like watching the same movie 3 times in a row. He is very energetic and very funny. He is so loving and is always giving me hugs and kisses. While I am working during the day, he'll climb up on my lap and say "Mommy you be-tifough and I wuv you!" And then give me a kiss and a hug. Then he's back off to his movie.

This is from last year...shows the boy's personalities
Tatoes and Josh...best pic of Josh. He and Christian were too into shooting guns to have their pictures taken.