Mom's 50th Birthday Party

Last weekend we went to Burley to help celebrate my Mom's 50th birthday. We had a big party planned Saturday evening at Dad & Mom's house and promised we would come early enough to help prepare everything. It was fun being there with all my sisters and their families and preparing for the party together.

We spent all day Saturday helping clean the house (my mom's house is always clean, but we just helped with what mom felt still "needed" to be done), cleaning up the yard, setting up tables and chairs, and decorating. We decorated in Black (of course for over the hill) and added some red and orange in there to spice it up. We also decorated with pumpkins since it is that time of year. Our theme was "50 and Fabulous" which definitely defines my mother. Here are a few pictures of the decorations.




We also had shirts made for all six of the grand kids that said on the front: My Grandma is 50... and on the back: and fabulous! They looked so cute and the kids were so proud to wear them. I also made black and white hair bows for the three girls to wear with their shirts. They looked so cute!!



We had a great turn out and had so much fun. Dad made a big bonfire in the middle of the yard and everyone mingled, ate a huge array of finger foods, enjoyed the fire, and danced the night away. Here are a few more pictures of our evening.



































Sunday morning all us girls and our husbands woke up and cleaned everything up and let mom and dad sleep in. Then the three son-in-laws headed to town and bought everthing needed to make breakfast. They got back and we made biscuits and gravy, eggs, sausage, hasbrowns, and bacon for everyone. We also invited all of mom's siblings and their families and Grandpa and Grandma Knopp down to enjoy breakfast with us. Then we hung out and watched football and played games all day. It was a very enjoyable weekend and mom's birthday party turned out PERFECT! Thanks for everyone who attended and everyone who helped. We love you!!

Happy Birthday Mom!

First of all I would like to wish my amazing mother HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! 50 AND FABULOUS!!! I hope you have an amazing day and I can't wait to see you this weekend.

We have been staying really busy the last couple of days! We cleaned our garage out and built some shelving in it to store all the odds and ends. Until Modern's shop is finished our garage tends to be a "catch all" for some of the miscellaneous stuff that isn't needed in one of the four trailers. It got so bad you couldn't even walk through our garage. So the whole family worked together to get it cleaned out and organized.


Then we cleaned up the rest of our yard and put hoses away and did all the little miscellaneous stuff before it gets any colder.

Yesterday we made a HUGE double batch of Halloween sugar cookies with cream cheese frosting. I love love love these cookies and try to make them three times a year....Halloween, Christmas, and Valentine's Day. We always make a big batch so we can share them. We took a plate to our neighbors on both sides, Grandpa & Grandma Jensen, Gary & Amber, Kayden's teacher, Kayden's scout group, all three of Troy's crews, Ori's best friend from preschool, and saved enough to take with us this weekend to share with the Burley group.




I received my study material to start studying for my Life and Disability portion of my insurance license. I am eager to get these tests over with also, so I can really get going on this. I am excited to try something new.

We are headed to Burley tomorrow after the boys get out of school to go and help celebrate my Mom's birthday. Excited to go and see family and friends and I will have some pictures to share when I return!

These are a few of my favorite things.....

So whenever I find something I love I like to share. Here are a few of my latest favorite things.

First I am in love with Haagen Dazs Sticky Toffee Pudding

Hummer's New Haircut

Hummer went in for her booster shots and grooming today. I was surprised when I went and picked her up and saw her new haircut. She looks so different. They even tied a little Halloween hanker chief around her neck. Here is what she looked like before:

And After:

Lots to Share!

Some of you may already know this, but I have been studying really hard to get my insurance license and Thursday I drove to Boise to take my test. I dropped my two younger kids off at Jessica's in Glenns Ferry and Kayden was in school. Thanks Jess for helping me out, the kids had a GREAT time!!

And...........I PASSED!!! WOO HOO!!! I was so excited and drove straight to the Department of Insurance main office (also in Boise) and turned in my application for my license. They said it would take two weeks to get and guess what I found in the mail on Saturday......

WOO HOO...it is here already!! I was so excited! I am OFFICIAL!! My husband has been so supportive and has helped with the kids a ton while I have been studying and preparing for this test. On Friday he came home with a special gift for me as a "Congratulations!" It was two massages, eyebrow wax, Two tans, a express facial, and a spa manicure. I was so surprised. Thanks baby, that was so sweet of you!

I still have to study to take my life and health tests (the second part) but I am officially licensed to start selling property and casualty.

The kids had such a fun time at Aunt Jessica's while I was taking my test. Here are some pics of their day...

Four wheeling

Playing playdoh


Cleaning up playdoh
In Aunt Jessica's hot tub



After taking my test I stopped by JoAnn's in Boise to get some ribbon for some new hair bows. Then I drove back to Glenns Ferry to pick up the kids. They were having such a good time and didn't want to leave and Jess was wanting me to stick around for a bit so I stayed for awhile. Jess and I made dinner for the kids and then worked on making some new hair bows for Kaylie and Jaycee. The kids painted pumpkins and then played for awhile longer. It was a ton of fun to hang out with my big sis. We just don't get to do it often enough and the kids always love spending time with their cousins!

Here are the bows we did that night together. At three layered green and purple bow and a two layered halloween bow. Mine are on the left Jessica's on the right. We thought it was funny how we both made the same bows but how they still turned out so different.

These two (Ori & Ty) played football together for the longest time. It was the cutest and most hillarious thing to watch. They were very serious and took score. They each had their end zone on separate ends of the hall and took turns trying to get a touchdown while the other tried to tackle them. I loved watching.
We woke up to snow every day this weekend. The kids LOVED it! They begged and begged to go Saturday morning but I tried to hold them off as long as possible because we all have been fighting colds off and on for the last several weeks. We did puzzles and I sent Jaycee to the "store" with a shopping list several times. Eventually the two youngest had begged long enough that we got them all bundled up and sent them out to play. It took them no time at all to lay down in the snow and make snow angels. They had a fun time.




Then Saturday night we decided that it would be a perfect night just to hang out at home. We invited the Cederbergs over and order Thai food (thanks Troy for thinking outside of the box and trying something new) and worked on a big puzzle together and watched college football. The Thai food was SOOOOOOOOO good and is totally a favorite of both Amber and Me lately. We are totally addicted to the Phat Thai. IT IS MMMMM MMMMM GOOD!!



On Sunday Troy had to work out at NWSG again because they are wanting to start moving everything in on Monday and there is still a few little things left to do. The kids and I attended church at Lighthouse which was so good today. Then the boys got to go help their dad for awhile and brought Jaycee home for a nap. This evening the Cederbergs came back over to help work on the puzzle some more and enjoy roast and mashed potatoes and gravy that I had made and to watch my team lose in overtime :(. It is fun to have family close by. Thanks Cederbergs for spending the weekend with us!

Where Did Fall Go?

This is what we woke up to this morning! And if you can't tell in the pictures it is still going STRONG! Fall just started and now it is snowing? I love the snow, but Fall wasn't here long enough.