Tribute to Grandma Hurst

Our sweet little grandma passed away yesterday evening at age 89. She lived such a full and happy life. She is now at peace on the other side of the veil with her family and friends. What an exciting reunion as her mother passed away when she was just 12 years old. She will be missed but her memories will always be strong. Some of my favorite memories were just talking with grandma. I'd help her clean and many times we'd end up talking about her life when she was young or her life raising kids. She had many stories she loved to tell that I loved to hear. I am so glad that I know that this is not goodbye forever, but just a fraction of time in the whole scheme of things. I know I will see her again and that just gives me a stronger desire to try and live a good clean life like grandma did.

Wintery Wonderland

We finally got our tree up..... I've been going back and forth between a fresh tree (which usually i prefer by far) and a white fake one. I saw some online and they looked so great with the white tree which offset nice against colored ornaments. Finally we decided we'd get the white one and in the future we could do either or both. I was pretty excited about it. I decided i wanted to change up my tree a bit for something different and went with red this year. I had a hassel getting the lights on but finally we got it all up and glowing. I love the atomosphere that a christmas tree brings to a room. I get alittle feeling of snow down here in AZ with this white tree , i've been missing the snow this year. Merry Christmas!

Happy Halloween

We had our ward Halloween party on Friday night. The kids enjoyed games, cupcakes, cotton candy, hotdogs, dancing and that was all before they even went trick o treating. They were sugared out by the end of the night. I had a blast getting Jet and Finn ready. I found some moccasins that fit Finn and that's how we decided what the boys were going to be this year. This week I did some sewing and crafting and managed to come up with these two costumes. I thought the kids looked adorable... but I'm kinda partial. Jordan looked pretty good himself. I asked him what he was going to tell people he was and he said "cool", do you think he pulled it off? The boys won the BEST family costume and got a Halloween ship that Jet and I spent part of the day yesterday putting together. All in all it's been a great weekend!

Motherly Moments

Today was one of those days.... I decided to go to JoAnn's to get some costume supplies for Halloween. Got there and the kids were behaving well, that didn't last long. Jet had a melt down over this light he wanted. I was waiting in line to get some fabric cut and had about 10 people in front of me. Jet gets mad and kicks me :) (I wasn't laughing at the time) so I grabbed him and put him in the cart, all the while trying to hold Finny. Jet starts screaming. I can tell all these old ladies are looking at me probably going over in their heads what I should be doing with my children. I just tried to make the best of the situation without losing it, finally they call my number, I get my fabric cut as fast as I can with Jet still yelling. At this point Finn is squirming trying to get out of my arms.... I walk away from the JoAnn's counter with Jet screaming and Finn hitting me in the face as I'm trying to dodge his little hand. I survived...... we made it through the line and out the door. Sometimes I wonder why I even try to take the kids anywhere. It seems like this is how it usually turns out. It's funny how your perspective on motherhood changes after you have kids.... now I know what my mom went through. Thanks mom!!

Our conference afternoon

What a great conference today, i don't think there's been a time that i haven't come away from conference uplifted and wanting to try harder to do those things that have been asked of us. We had a good afternoon here, unfortunatly Jordan couldn't join us for conference because of work. I decided that it was a MUST that i make cinnamon rolls. It's been a tradition in the Walbridge family since i can remember that we had cinnamon rolls every conference weekend. So this afternoon as i was making these, www.ourbestbites.com/2010/06/everyday-cinnamon-rolls.html Finny was outside playing in the sand and dirt on our back patio, and Jet was sound asleep. He's been sleeping for almost three hours. WOW!! Couldn't have had a better day!

My latest creation

Got these little shoes free last week at an exchange. Thought my sister Eliza might like them for her newest addition, Mave. Didn't like the white bow that was on them so i pulled that off and this is what i came up with, what do you think? I thought they turned out nice :)

Skating and Biking

Jet got some money for his birthday so last week Jordan took him to walmart

to get a skateboard. He'd been talking about getting one for a days. They

came back with a full size skate board that Jet has been having a blast on. One night he wanted

to go out and ride but didn't want to put any clothes on. I thought "what the heck, it's

dark out". I had to take some pictures because he looked so funny with his little

underware and then his helmet on. Last week on Jordan's day off we took Jet

to a skate park and let him ride his bike around, he LOVED it!! It was kinda hot out

but we managed. Jet was soaked with sweat by the time we left. He's got such great skills,

I can't wait to see him further develop these talents. That's our JET!!

Utah, Idaho, Wyoming and everything in between....

We just returned home yesterday from our long awaited trip to Utah. Jordan was able to take a little over two weeks off to go home and play. We had such a nice vacation. We celebrated Jet's birthday with family, Jordan went backpacking to the Wind Rivers in Wyoming, I ran a marathon in Idaho, cousin's wedding, Park City .... and everything in between. We had a BLAST to say the least, there's nothing like visiting family. It's nice to get back to the grind again though. We had a crazy trip home.....I don't know how we got everything in our car, it was packed to the brim. Could barely move :) Stopped on Monday night in Cedar and stayed with Jordan's uncle. It was a nice break because Finn had had enough by that point. He's not the easiest to travel with. Jordan was also feeling quite sick with cold/sinus issues, we needed to stop. We woke up the next morning and headed out about 8am. Finn cried most of the way to Page which was about 3 hours, can I just say "living hell". He's got the LOUDEST cry and poor Jordan didn't feel good as it was. We left Page with ring pops, chocolate milk and benedryl. It all worked wonders on little Finn. He had a few nice naps the rest of the way home. But about forty-five minutes from home I began to smell something, checked little Finn and sure enough he'd pooped... not just any poop... it had managed to come out all over his car seat onto the actual seat and then up his little back. Wonderful!! We raced home as fast as we could in Phoenix traffic with Finn beginning to scream again. Got home, bath, unpacked, tried to go clean out the poop in the car...... just as I was walking in from outside I see Jet and Finn building a four foot tall tower consisting of a bag from our trip, a wooden box and then right on top my glass measuring cups and my large glass bowl.... I didn't make it and the whole thing came crashing down onto the tile floor and glass flew EVERYWHERE. By this time I was VERY frustrated and yelled as I picked the kids up. Jordan and I cleaned as fast as we could. Walked in to check on the screaming boys and poor Jet had gotten cut and spread blood all over the carpet. Ended the night on my hands and knees cleaning blood up. Finally, at about 8pm we were all in bed. We'd had ENOUGH!! :)

Boys at Play!!

The boys are such good friends, instead of parallel play, they play together. We do have an occasional hitting match, but most of the time they play well. Jet is very protective of Finn and will often tell us "don't touch my brother." Finn loves to follow Jet around the house to see what adventures they can discover. These are our two favorite boys!!!

Happenings....

FINN'S B-DAY AT HOME!

FINN'S B-DAY IN UTAH!

We have had an eventful month here at the ZoBell home. The kids and I headed up to Utah mid-June to visit family and so I could run in the Ragnar Relay. The relay turned out to be a success. I had a blast being in a van filled with sisters and close friends. It was some good times, HARD, but worth it. It was so nice to head back to Cache Valley where it was SOO green and lush, we just don't get that down here in Arizona. We visited family and friends while we were up there, had a birthday party for Finn (1 year old), shopped with sisters, and also brought two extra kids back to the Arizona heat with us (it's been up to about 112 degrees). Lily and Gracey, my two nieces came down and stayed with us for a week. The drive home was brutal, we left Logan at 5am and didn't pull into home until 9pm. Longest drive of my life! I'm thinking that with the long drive down and the HOT weather, who know's if Lily and Gracey will ever want to come back. We sure enjoyed their company. It's always nice to get back to rountine, which we are now in. Here are just a few pic's of the last month. ENJOY!!

This past month...

This past month has been filled with lots of summer fun. Jordan's mom came and visited for a little over a week. It's always nice to have her come. She watched the kids for us while we took a little road trip to San Diego. It was a blast! First time I've left Finn for that many days. We spent time at the beach of course and visited a few sites. We also celebrated Jordan's birthday, the big 28 and have tried to get in as much swimming as possible. This is our first summer down here in Arizona.... the water is a sure way to deal with the 105+ degree weather.

Mother's Day Breakfast!

Jordan had to work this weekend so i knew that i would be on my own for most of mother's day. I decided to treat myself to a decadent dessert and this is what i came up with. It was a chocolate cake (www.hersheys.com/recipes/recipes/detail.asp?id=184 ) with two layers of blackberry filling (I just thickened some fresh blackberries into a compote) and one layer of cream filling (www.evilshenanigans.com/2009/02/cream-filling-for-cupcake/ ), then i covered the whole thing in a chocolate ganache (www.ourbestbites.com/2010/03/super-easy-chocolate-ganache.html ). It turned out pretty dang tasty! Now i'm just wondering what to do with the whole thing. I'd like to have it every morning for breakfast this week, but i'm thinking that 's probably not a good idea. I wonder how many weight watchers points one slice is? My day ended with Jordan coming home from work with flowers and chocolates in his hands. It was a wonderful day!

Spring Top Completed

About a month ago I noticed a Spring Top competition on http://www.madebyrae.blogspot.com/ and decided that I was going to enter. Of course I left it for the very last day to complete it, but i finished..... so here it is. I used simplicity 2599 pattern and then just added the tie and the gathered accents. Fabric was Heather Bailey, Nicey Jane, Hopdot in cream and the tie and gathered front were Amy Butler, Love, Sunspots, tangerine and mint. I managed to get a few shots of if by myself and entered. I'm happy with it but was so impressed by how many well made tops were entered. Don't look too closely at mine :)