Tagged!!

Thanks Becca!

Ten Years Ago:
1. I was 19 and had been married for six months.
2. I worked as a Dental Assistant for Dr. Transtrum.
3. We had just purchased our first home that was only about 800 square feet and $400 a month! (wow)
4. I was second counselor in the Primary Presidency in our ward.
5. We were in the thick of firesides with Bro. Glenn Rawson sometimes doing two or three a week.

Today's to do list:
1. Run
2. Register my kids for school.
3. Clean my bathrooms.
4. Get a massage. (I know, can't wait)
5. Pick beans out of our garden. (yummy)

Places I have lived:
1. Blackfoot, ID
2. Mountain Home,ID
3. Rexburg, ID
4. Louisville, KY
5. Rigby, ID

If I were a millionare:
1. I would NOT spoil my children.
2. I would buy land.
3. I would buy a hybrid car that gets super good gas mileage.
4. Pay off loans (UGH)
5. Travel

Snacks I enjoy:
1. yogurt
2. anything with peanut butter
3. Mint chocolate chip ice cream
4. snow cones (we have a really good snow cone shack here that gets them PERFECT.)
5. chips and salsa (preferably homemade)

Pheww! Sorry that took so long Becca! I tag Jenni, Jami, and Deanna and anyone else who wants to answer a few random questions...

Salad Anyone?

Here is my nightly pleasure lately...












and here's where it came from...(minus the tomatoes and crutons...the tomatoes aren't quite ready and crutons don't grow in a garden)













Quinn and I decided to try our hand at gardening this year and I have learned a few things about myself in the process..
**I really don't mind getting my hands dirty
**If there's work to be done outside, the inside stuff waits
**I love picking weeds along side my kids and hearing Layton shout "Mom, look at the root on this one!"
**I love putting a little seed into the ground and watching it grow into something I can eat!
**I have no idea how to can, but I'm going to learn really quickly!

This is definatley something that will become a lasting tradition in our family and something I didn't know I would love as much as I do. Who knows..maybe one day I'll buy myself a pair of overalls and a goofy hat...(if that happens, someone please stop me!) But until then, bring on the salad!

It's about time!! (Julie this one's for you!)

Guess who fell off the turnip truck? No, I really have no excuse for being such a lazy blogger except we've had a really busy 5 months! Here's the rundown...


For our 10th anniversary, Quinn and I took off to New York City for 4 days and had such a great time together! We were able to see Wicked, Phantom, and enjoy the view of Time Square from our 50th floor corner hotel room. It was way cold, but all the more reason to snuggle right? :)

Quinn turned 32 in March and spent the whole day on his snow machine...yes, it is a man's world! :)

Morgan was in the thick of dance competitions until the end of April and loved every minute.


Allie turned 4 in April! She had her first "friend party" and we had 8 little princesses running around our house. It was the princess party of her dreams!

Kate finally decided she could walk at a whopping 22 months old! Way to got Kate! It's nice to finally have 4(somewhat)independant kids!

I finished my first sprint triathlon at the end of May! It was awesome and I think it just may become a tradition! How fun to have my kids running beside me to the finish line!

We have been camping a few times, definately not enough...but whether it is on the mountain trails or making hot laps around our backyard, Layton is LOVING his motorbike!

Our baby turned 2 at the end of June and we can hardly believe it. She is such a doll and we all adore her. If I could freeze-frame her right now, I would do it in a heartbeat.

The day after Kate's birthday I headed out for a week of Girls Camp for our ward. I was the ward camp director and let me tell you I need to write a long overdue thankyou note to each of my young women leaders for all their hard work when I was young! Wow! But this group of girls and leaders couldn't have been better. We had an awesome week. Now I'm down to one calling in the ward (for the moment), and loving life.

Sorry for the trip down memory lane...I just figured I had better catch up on a little blogging. Now that things have slowed considerably, I will try to be better, but I'm not making any promises! For now all I want to do is sit back, enjoy a popcicle with my kids, and breath a big sigh of relief! Whewwwwwww!

10 years and counting!

This day I married my friend.....








Now, 10 years later I would marry him all over again, and here are a few reasons why....









* He truly is my best friend
* He can make me laugh even when I'm steaming mad(which usually makes it worse!)
* He inspires me to be the very best me.
* He's not afraid of a pile of laundry!
* He doesn't mind a good "chick flick" every now and then!
* Not only is he a wonderful father, he is a really good daddy.
* He is very ambitious and a hard worker.
* He has great legs!
* He's not afraid to ask for directions.(or for help when he gets stuck...I've
actually pulled him out 3 times in the past month! LOVE THE SNOW!!) :o)
* He is the man of my dreams and there is no one else in the world I would
rather take this awesome journey with!

I am so grateful for this wonderful man and I look forward to many more great years to come!

Happy Valentine's Day!

At the Mikesell home we celebrate Valentine's Day as a family holiday...our anniversary is in two weeks, so Quinn and I have OUR time then. So as a family we had our annual candle-lit dinner. I first tried this last year and the kids loved it so we went ahead with it again this year. It's amazing the ambiance that a few candles add to a dinner...even with four kids around the table.




After dinner we watched a quick movie and I caught this cute picture of Allie and Kate sharing a love sac. I love my family and it's fun to have a day set aside to show them how much I love them. (Not that I don't every other day of the year, but you know what I mean!) Hope everyone had a great day!

Alive and well!!!

Okay, I'm sure some of you were beginning to wonder if I fell off the face of the earth or something, nope, still here and praying for life to slow down! It's now February and I find myself wondering what happened to January! Here's my excuse....Quinn bought me a digital scrapbooking program for Christmas and I kid you not, I have been on that thing 24/7! It is the most awesome thing in the world! I feel like such a stumbling block has been removed! Since Christmas day I have done about 70 or more pages! I can scrapbook anytime day or night with no mess and no little hands in the middle of my stamps and markers! It has totally saved my life! Anyway, off the scrapbooking soapbox, I am recommitting myself to updating my blog at least ONCE a month! :) So just so everyone knows, I AM alive and well! Here's a sample of what has been taking up all my time lately...well maybe not ALL but lets just say a good portion of it!!

aLL i wAnt fOr ChriStmAs is mY tWo frOnt TeeTh

Layton lost both of his front teeth yesterday (Sunday)! A picture is worth a thousand words, right? So here is the play by play....

Apparently it isn't any easier just because your dad does this for a living! Needless to say, the tooth fairy was very generous, especially when it's both front teeth at Christmas time!