And the Winner Is.....

........... bum bum ti duuuummmmmmm.........

88888888 NUMBER EIGHT!! 88888888 **Enlarge photo and you can see the beak!**

BREA & ANGELINE, YOU ARE THE WINNERS!!!! Please give me 24 hrs to get your gifts to you...I'll be a busy mommy tonight:) Thanks to everyone for sharing in the excitment!! Hey-Somebody call me let me know who's doing Preschool and we can do a surprise visit!!!

Blogger CONTEST!!!!!..but NOT Much Time!!

OK!!! There's A LOT of PECKING and a lot of CHIRPPING going on in some of these EGGS!!!! I know there's definitely ONE, but I'm thinking maybe about three eggs are well on their way to HATCHING!!! So here's the deal:
Leave me a comment guessing which # EGG will hatch FIRST, and you will win yourself a CUSTOMIZED BLOG AWARD!! One that you can put permanently on your blog! One that will show the blogging world what a WINNER you are!! It will be a One-of-a-kind! And if that's not enough, I'll also throw in a Cadbury Egg (local winners only, sorry out-of-Staters, but hey, I will send you a Cadbury Egg to post on your blog, though:)) for the winner(s)!! ..
Rules:
1-Leave a comment with your guess of which # Egg will hatch FIRST
2- you may enter up to THREE guesses
3-each guess must be submitted in a separate comment
4-There can be more than one winner! It will be anyone who, in their three guesses, guesses the correct number!

Seriously, there's probably only a few days ..if that, so get guessing!!! --oh and click on the picture to enlarge it if you want a closer, more detailed look!!

**Tracy, if you are reading this, and have enlarged the photo, the temp. is 10 degrees too cold only because it was open for me to label the eggs:) I'm not trying to freeze the little boogers LOL

Happy Birthday To Me....

Today is my birthday and I just want to say Thank You to all of my friends and family that has made this weekend so fun and special!!! Here are a few pict and comments on the subject!!:

J-LO!!! Yes, we're buds, we got to be good friends back in the day! She loves me so much she went out of her way to send me a special birthday gift in the mail....
...uumm, once I opened it, I realized she was just late sending me a Christmas gift!...what's up with that J-Lo?!

Friday a bunch of my friends surprised me with a Birthday Lunch at Raouls & Theresa's! I totally want to tell every little detail about friends lieing to me off and on all week to get out of doing things with me on Friday, people ignoring b/c they were so afraid they would 'give the surprise away on accident'....Brea & Allyson running low across the parking lot (carrying Brock in his car seat, mind you!) undetected so they could be inside to surprise me! When that happened, Jessica, trying to find anything she could to keep me from seeing them, starts showing me her empty contact solution bottle and goes into depth about how the bubbling action eats away at all the crap on the lens ...and it just works so fabulously...and that she needs to get a new bottle. I won't go into all of that detail...but all of that detail sure made for a fun day!!
Brea, me, Amie & MeKayla

Me, Sarah & Jeni

Mr. Brock, the only guy at the party!!

More desserts? Are you Kidding me?!

Allyson, Jessica, me & Amy

Marty sent me the beautiful flowers on the left and Jessica brought me the beautiful ones on the right!! Cards came from family members and friends.
Denise made ?...gave me an awesome apron!! She knows me well...I LOVE IT!! And Allyson and Brea gave me the Capri Sun bag!! and my favorite, Sweet Pea foam soap!! (Allyson has been wanting to make one for herself for, like, a year--so I was very touched by their gift). I am so blessed with great friends!! Thanks to everyone..including all of my facebook friends who left messages for me there!! I love you all and appreciate you!! Jessica, thanks for putting together the birthday lunch..you sneaky little devil:)--It really means a lot to me that you did all of this for me.
A huge thanks to JENNY for keeping all those kids!! YOU ROCK!!

**Mom & Dad, thanks for your gift too!! You both mean the world to me and I couldn't have ever had greater parents than you!! Love you so much and can't wait to see you in a few months!!

Other people who share my birthday: Tawney, Darby, the cashier at Albertson's, 'Uncle' Jeff, Bro Thrower, Gabe Quiroz, Joseph E.,

Patiently Awaiting...

Chick / Turkey Eggs----Let's face it, Patience is NOT my strongest quality!! It has been 14 days since we welcomed 22 little eggs into our home. There they have sat, in their safe, warm, incubator...growing inside. As the days get closer I grow more anxious inside!! I just can't take it anymore!! I want to hold one and open my arms up to it and say, "hello my little chick! (or Turkey..which ever happens to pop out)...I'm your mommy!". I do, however, feel that the time of pecking is drawing near! Today I came home to find THREE of the eggs flipped out of the holder..again! This is a good sign!! So if we're lucky, maybe at least three will hatch! Two days ago I started nesting...rearranging furniture, repainting and redecorating...organizing...all in preparation for our little friends! It won't be long now, I just know it! Maybe we will have a 'hatching' on my birthday!!
As for the Lady bugs, well, they all have come out of their cocoons! We held a 'Let the Ladybugs Go Free" ceremony the other day. They were so beautiful! I was so proud!! The oldest one of them didn't even want to snack..he just jumped into the wind and flew like a bird...so brave! The others spent time in our rose bush before heading out on their journey.
Our Tadpoles are ALL still alive and thriving! Chubbs (my favorite..he always kisses at me through the glass :), Bean pole, Champ and Cyclone are their names. We're still Patiently awaiting legs to pop out! I will give them all a little photo shoot soon so we can marvel at their growth!

Swimming over Spring Break

The Christensens were over one day during Spring Break and after a while, the kids were getting a little bored so I told them to go jump in the pool...so they did! The water is still a little cold, but that didn't stop them!! Jacob pulled out the body suits for he and Brian.

Tyler preferred the 'sink in slowly' method!...

Brant decided that 'float on the crab' was the best method...

Brian was the first brave soul in. He chose the 'cannonball method'! He was also the first to start grabbing rocks off the bottom of the pool! These would the bazillion rocks that little Ms. Pris, Marissa Lynae Joyner, has thrown in the pool over the past month or so!!

She's so badly wanting to throw the whole pile back in there...while she watches all of her hard work come unraveled!!

So here's the "Rissa did it" pile! Golf balls, scoop, several dog bones, a couple of Thomas trains were in there....and believe it or not, there's STILL MORE IN THE POOL!! Not too much more, but there is some in the deep in that was a little harder for the kids to get b/c of the cold water. Thanks to all you kids, YOU ROCK!!!! (pun intended :)

That's One BIG Lemon you got there.....

Rissa wouldn't touch them...

Jacob had to compare them to his Head....

And Brant had to wear them!


so Yesterday after church, Marty gets in the car with two HUGE Lemons!! He had gotten them from our friends, the Chou's!! (Thanks for producing such big citrus, and sharing, Chou Family!!) I must say, I wonder what the heck Kent is feeding his tree!!! I think Miracle Grow is an understatement! Maybe he has some secret Asian herbal concoction that he has not shared with anyone..hhmmmmm. A/W I haven't cut into either of them yet b/c, frankly, I'm not only amazed at the size of them, but I'm not super sure what to do with them...we're talking about a lot of Lemony goodness there!! I think I will probably do what I always do with fresh lemons (that I don't know what to do with)...freeze them in ice cubes so we can eat them and add them to sugar free cool-aid!! Any other ideas people, let me know :)

Parker Pooh, We Love YOu!!

Mon-Weds of this week, we had the joy of having Parker come stay with us. One day, in the store with them both, a lady commented how cute my twins were!! I LOVED having twins for three days!! We're glad you're back home, Jeni, but Parker, WE MISS YOU!!

Additions to Our Family!!

We went over to my Awesome Blogger friend, Tracy's, house last Friday to visit all of her farm animals.......and to bring some home!! Her sister, and my good friend, Dawn and I took all the kids and had a great time! Here's Tracy and her big ol Turkey!


Dawn and "Rissy"...that's what Dawn calls her:)


Tracy let us bring home her incubator!! Here is Jacob picking some of the eggs to bring home. He was sooso excited about having baby chick....and turkey...eggs!! I could write a book about all the "Jacob & the Egg" stories! Jacob running off at the zoo to go back to get that egg that was laying in the bushes.......or even last year when we were in Utah at Marty's cousin, Wally's ranch. Wally's wife gave him an egg to bring home (not fertilized). He brought it back to Aunt Janell's house and carried that thing around everywhere. At one point, he accidentally pushed his thumb right through it. That was so traumatic for him to think he had crushed his baby chick And then the million times, when he was younger, that he'd take our eggs out of the frig! You can imagine how closely he's been keeping an eye on these eggs!! He checks on them several times a day and makes sure to include them in our family prayers.


Thank you Turkey's for letting us take your eggs!


They have animals everywhere, I tell you!! I think Rissa's favorite was the bunny, but then again, it was a little hard to tell b/c she was so excited about everything she saw!!


Here's the incubator and our 22 'hopefuls'!!


While I was waiting for the incubator to warm up to the right temp.



We fell in love with Tracy's boys! They are fun kids and were bringing their beloved pets out from everywhere to share them with us! Brant esp loved playing with them and had such a great time! They sent this Rolly-Polly Playground home with us. The big 'bugs' in there are Ladybugs...b/f w/o their hard shell. This was taken when we first got them, 4 days ago, but now they are all in their cocoons! They'll get a little photo shoot when they awaken with their new, shiny Red tops!!


We also brought four, plump little tadpoles home!! They are all still alive and thriving...and I think one winked at me after feeding it yesterday:) We are excited and anticipating their legs popping out!

Tracy, Thanks So MUch!!! The boys are so excited about all of the new additions to our family!! We are so grateful for these opportunities to watch nature in action!! You rock and we love ya! We'll let you know when things start cracking the shells:)

********************************

This weekend, I caught this awesome Lizard---single handed!!
Brant was sooo stoked and excited (and I think a little bit proud:) that his mom caught this for him.


Jacob thought I should have caught an Iguana or Gila Monster!

Brant had fun letting him climb all over him...entertaining Rissa! She laughed and laughed as she watched it run around everywhere!

.....up the shirt....

.....and then right in the shirt!! Brant and I laughed and laughed b/c the lizard took off down his shirt and I was trying to get a picture looking down into it as he was bent over holding his shirt out. So I'm yelling, "Leave your shirt on! One more sec! I gotta get a picture!!" He's yelling, "I can't! He's going to go down my pants! ahh! Get him out! aahhhh!". It was so funny...here's the picture I got..the after shot:) Brant picked him up and put him in a bush after the adrenaline rush. They've been trying to find Mr. lizard ever since.

We found Jacob face down in the grass

A couple of weeks ago I went to get Jacob from school. Brant was in Honor Choir, so he wasn't waiting for me...however, neither was Jacob, for that matter! I eventually parked, got Rissa out of the car and started walking all around the school. I looked everywhere. I COULDN'T FIND HIM! At this point, I went up to the front office and talked to the ladies and asked them if they had seen Jacob. NO one had seen him!! He was then called over the intercom, "Jacob Joyner, if you are still on campus, please come to the front office where your mother is waiting for you!". (uummm...he better still be on campus!!) Just after that, Ms. Jenny, the school nurse, yells, "Tiff, come here! come here!!". I take off running out the back of the office shortly behind she and another lady. We get just outside to find Jacob laying face-down in the grass. When we first found him, one shoe was off and over on the sidewalk and he still had his backpack on! (the picture above was taken with my cell phone after Jenny put his shoe on and we got his back pack off of him...even after that, he's still limp as a noodle!) I immediately start nudging his cheeks and shoulders and Jenny was looking for a pulse. Jenny found his pulse, but it took a sec or two before he showed any sign of life. I think Jenny was just about to dial 911 when I said, "Jacob, what happened? What happened? Are you playing?!" (Jacob has a VERY good imagination! He loves to reenact movies and make believe stuff...hence the, "Are you playing" question!:) Just then, he lifts his head and says, "ugh...ugh..I..I've ...I've been Shot!!". His head then plunders back to the ground face first. I sighed, smiled and shook my head...and I looked up at Jenny and said, "...Brant bought a new BB Gun this weekend! ". We both started laughing hysterically in relief!! Jenny, over the years, has really gotten to know Jacob pretty well, so she immediately understood that Brant getting a new BB Gun meant that Jacob has played out the 'cops and robbers', type roll a time or two. Jenny then introduced the new substitute lady to Jacob. She says, "You haven't met Jacob Joyner yet, have you?!". She told Jenny that it was her first day subbing at our school so with that Jenny, says, "Well, welcome to our school, meet Jacob Joyner!!". Jacob was perfectly fine. He was just "pretending". We have since had many talks about things we can (and things we shouldn't) pretend about!!
Substitute Ladies Side of the Story: She was getting in her car and as she turned to sit down in it, she looks across the way and sees this child laying face down in the grass! She jumps out of her car and runs over to him and while she's lightly shaking him on the arm and back, says, "Little boy! Little boy! Are you OK? Are you OK?!" With no response, she runs into the Nurses office. She tells Jenny that she's not even sure if the child's breathing!! That's when Jenny yelled for me.
Jacob's Side of the Story: "I was walking along the side walk to come find you and someone shot me from a bush! Right in the Heart! I'm so happy!...I thought I wouldn't see you again for a long, long time!! You and Ms. Jenny saved my life!!!"

Two Saturdays ago, we woke up to this in our backyard!! Our dog, Max, was FREAKING OUT!! For all we knew, he probably thought it was some huge alien coming to invade the planet!! Every time the technician would blow more air in it, it would be kinda loud and Max's muscles would start twitching uncontrollably!! Marissa was running around crazy, pointing and laughing and screaming, "Ball! ball!". Then when she realized there were actual people in the ball, she would stretch both arms out and scream, "UP! UP!". Marty went and got Jacob out of bed to see it. Jacob runs outside and then says, "oh. It's just a Hot Air Balloon." ...Well, to me, It was so fun!!! (Brant was at Scout Camp that day) They were so close that we yelled and waved back and forth to each other a few times!! I LOVE it when all the Hot Air balloons come out and you can see them all across the valley!! Maybe one day we'll actually go ride in one!

Time for Dress UP!

Friday Cara and Cate came over to play with Rissa. WE had so much fun! Cara and Rissa wanted to play dress up, so we pulled out the hats, tutu's, shoes & jewelry!! Unfortunately, and much to my surprise, Rissa was not wanting her picture taken, but I got some really cute ones of Cate and Cara!