Time to play catch up!

Sorry about the long post but I need to put a few things on here for my benefit. I'm not sure how I got so far behind, but I did.

December

We really enjoyed Christmas. We stayed home as a family and enjoyed spending time with one another. Ernie got a helicopter for his birthday and Santa brought helicopters for the girls. My house is a war zone right now as they all are learning to fly.
I got a BEAUTIFUL marble statue of Christ. I LOVE it. Ernie got some cologne and tie clips. Audrey and Meagan got cell phone, crazy I know. Nora got a 7" tablet, she is loving it. She is the only one in the family with a tablet. I am jealous.
I made some photo props and we enjoyed taking photos in our home made photo booth.We used some of the pictures for our Christmas cards.

November

I got to spend my birthday in Jamaica. It was amazing. we went to Couples Negril. We went with Chris and Michelle. While we were there Ernie and Chris got their advanced open water certification for scuba diving. I think they dove about 10 times in the 7 days we were there.

I got to use our resort credit at the spa and I had 3 massages while I was there. I had one hour long, 85 minutes and a 4 handed hour long massage. On the night of my birthday at dinner the staff sang Happy Birthday to me and served me a Crème brûlée with candles in it.

For my birthday I got some money and used it to buy some fun kitchen gadgets. I have wanted a Chefs torch for awhile now. I have been making Crème brûlée and meringues. This could be dangerous.

October


Meagan turned 13 this month and that means one thing at out house. Time to get your ears pierced.

We also got to do a fun service project with our ward. We painted a house for a lady and her son. I think it turned out nice. We had a good group of people working on the house. We scraped the old paint and repainted in about 4 hours. The lady was very grateful. The whole stake was involved and I think we painted 9 houses that day. It was a great experience.

August
I can't believe this is happening again.

Ernie started a new job...


...and we MOVED AGAIN. We are back in Texas. I think this is where I am supposed to be, it is my 4th time living in Texas. Ernie was offered a job where he worked before we moved to Utah. He turned it down 3 times but the 4th time we felt like he should at least listen to what they had to say. We had only owned our house in Oklahoma 10 months and we were really nervous to try and sell it, we felt that we should all move together so we bought a house in Texas and hoped for the best. Our house in Oklahoma sold in 3 months. We feel very blessed that it sold so quickly. Ernie has finished his Masters Degree since we have been here and also he was called in to the Bishopric as the second counselor, but most of all he is enjoying his job, and the girls are enjoying school. We have a house on 2.5 acres and we love it. Audrey started Seminary this year and really enjoys going. She gets up at 4:45 every morning with out complaint. She has made some good friends and enjoys hanging out with them. All of the kids take turns hosting a movie night at their house. It is a good bunch of kids and I am thankful for them.

Here is a picture of the girls on the first day of school in front of our house.

July
This was a CRAZY month.

We went to a Johnson family reunion in Florida the week of the 4th of July. We enjoyed seeing Ernie's family and catching up with one another. We spent most of the time at the beach or by the pool and one of the houses we were in. The Johnson's love the water. We ate great food and watched the fireworks on the beach. I love the fireworks out over the ocean, but that is where my love of the ocean ends. I'm not quite sure what happened to me while I was there but I didn't take a single picture. I must be going crazy in my old age. While we were there Ernie's Aunt Karen taught me how to make homemade biscuits. I am still working on making them look pretty, but they are tasting pretty good.


Around the 15th we went to a Bischoff Family Reunion in Colorado and had an awesome time. We started off at The Rocky Mountain National Forest, then some of us went on to Colorado Springs and then onto my mom and dad's land between Colorado Springs and Breckenridge.

While in Colorado I did something I thought I would never, ever do. I went white water rafting with my family. I started out VERY nervous and the guide could see that. He gave me a rope to hang on to and told me I could just hold on or paddle. I did a little of both. There was one time where I thought we were all going overboard. We hit a big rapid. Ernie's leg flew over his head, Nora bounced up into the air, Meagan grabbed her and I grabbed onto Meagan. After that I held on for awhile. I did have a good time but I don't think I will ever do it again.

June

I got to go to Girls Camp this year and I had a blast. I wasn't in a cabin with either of my girls, but it was a joy to be able to see them throughout the day. This was Meagan's first year going. It was fun to be able to sit with them during lunch and at the devotionals. I was with the 4th year girls. I had some great girls.We had a good time and I learned a lot. Camp is definitely different then when I went. I hope I get the chance to go again someday.

Week in Review

Happy Anniversary....

Yesterday Ernie and I celebrated our 16 year anniversary. I am thankful for a man who is able to put up with all of my craziness, I know it is not an easy job. I am so grateful to Ernie for his patience with me. He is the sweetest man. He is a hard worker and a great dad. I look forward to spending eternity with him. I love you Ernie.
I normally make the girls beds after they go to school, but yesterday was a little crazy (the girls missed the bus, Audrey came home sick for 1/2 a day, Ernie went to work late) and I figured I would take the day off because it was my anniversary. When Audrey got home she said "mom you didn't make my bed" at first I was a little irritated thinking she expected me to make her bed, but after she said it again I realized there must be something up there for me. I went upstairs and on her bed was the sweetest letter to me. I am so lucky to have her as a daughter. She is very thoughtful and sweet.
Nora set the table for Ernie and I last night and kept telling us we were going to eat by our self. She folded our napkins, made our plates (jerk chicken, cabbage with roasted red peppers, and patties) and opened our drinks (ting). It took a little convincing but finally got her to think it was OK for them all to eat with us. I love how they want our day to be special.
I made Decadent Chocolate Cheesecake for dessert and it was delicious but very rich. I had a great day.

It's a girl thing.....

We love flip flops and this time of year it is about the only shoe you will find in our house. We usually keep our toe nails painted so this time I thought we would try something a little different. I bought some glitter and when the girls got home I asked them if I could paint their toe nails. I think they turned out cute. We love our glitter toes.

It's that time of year....

My little sister Nadia graduated from college. She went to school for elementary education. She even had a job offer before she graduated. I am very proud of her and I wish her the best second grade class ever. She will be a great!

We finished up soccer for the season and the girls only have 5 days of school left. We have so much planned for this summer. I am excited to have them home.

Bathroom mirror

Recently I started writing little quotes on the mirrors of the girls bathroom. It didn't take very long at all before they were doing the same on my mirror. Most of the time I am looking through sweet saying from my daughters while I do my make-up.
Ernie has gotten involved as well. I think I have the sweetest husband on earth. Some of the things he comes up with are very thoughtful. I was sitting in the tub when I looked up and saw this....

Easter Weekend.

Easter weekend we went home for a wedding and some camping. My sister Katya got married. And Ernie,the girls and I camped with my brother Chris and his family. The wedding was really nice. Katya looked beautiful in her dress. Angelika(my niece), Nadia, Tanya and I were bridesmaids. We arrived Friday evening for the rehearsal and dinner. The guy that married her was an army Chaplin so it went a little differently than other rehearsals that I have been to. After the dinner we headed to the campground. We stayed in Chris' trailer due to the weather. I woke up a couple of time during the night wondering if we were going to float away. The next morning we moved the trailer to a different(higher) spot in the campground, the river was rising and we were worried the trailer might float away while we were a the wedding. We all arrived early to the church so we could help prepare the meal. Chris made some really tasty scalloped potatoes, Ernie made a fruit bowl. Everyone helped pitch in and I think it was a great success. Katya had a cupcake tower instead of a cake and it was super cute. Nora caught the bouquet, she was really excited. I had a great time visiting with my family. There were 8 out of the 10 kids there.

Doesn't he look excited!


My girls have been playing soccer so most of our weekends right now are busy with that. Ernie was able to go with Audrey to a band competition last weekend in OKC. Our band took first place overall. After the competition they went to Frontier City, I think they both had a good time. I took the other 2 girls out to eat and then later we went to Cherry Berry for a treat. I had a fun weekend. I love spending time with my family.

A very Special Day

Last week was a very special time for our family. Nora recently turned 8 years old and was baptized. We were able to go to my parents for the weekend and have her baptized in Missouri. She is 9 days older than Amilia, one of her cousins and they were blessed on the same day, so we thought it would be cool to have them baptized on the same day. Most of my family was able to be there. It was a very special day. Amilia was able to choose someone to give a talk and prayer and so was Nora. Amilia asked her sister Elisabeth to give the talk on the Holy Ghost and Her Aunt Karen gave the opening prayer. Nora asked her Aunt Katya to give the talk on Baptism and her Aunt Nadia to give the closing prayer. Audrey played the song, When I am Baptized on her guitar and sang. Everyone did a wonderful job. A friend of my mom decorated cakes for the girls. They each had their own cake with a picture that looked like them getting baptized on it made out of fondant. They turned out awesome. I am thankful for all of the support shown to the girls. I felt the spirit so strongly. I am grateful for the gospel in my life. I know that families can be together forever. I am grateful for the knowledge of eternal families I proud of Nora and for the decision she had made to be baptized.

We had a great time visiting with our family and I am so happy that we are able to spend time with them. I am grateful to all of my family who was able to attend. It was a great weekend and I can't wait until the next event that will bring us
together again.

Valentine's Day

I truly have the sweetest girls on earth. Ernie has never been a huge fan of Valentine's Day. We don't usually do anything special. This year was full of surprises. Ernie brought home 6 roses for each of the girls, myself included. The girls prepared and served us dinner. It was delicious. They all wore aprons and would check on us to see if we needed anything. They cut up lemons and put it in our water. They even made a menu to show us what we were having. I was very proud of the dinner they made for us. They stood in the kitchen the whole time to see if we needed refills on our food or water. The funny thing was that we weren't supposed to be able to see them, so if we would ask them a question they would say " you know we are in the other room". I had a great day. It will be a Valentine's Day I remember FOREVER. Thank you girls for making it so special. And thank you Ernie for giving me the greatest gift ever, our 3 BEAUTIFUL daughters.

WILD and CRAZY!

The weather has been crazy here. We had the BLIZZARD of 2011 and then we had some of the coldest days on record here. I went out Monday morning to get some necessities, milk, bread, eggs and some snack food. I even bought Oreos in case it got bad. The girls went to school on Monday January 31 and then didn't go back until February 14. They had 9 snow days. School was canceled before the snow even started to fall. By 11 at night we were having a snow thunder storm. It was CRAZY. I have never experienced thunder like that before. We ended up with about 20 inches of snow. A couple of days later we got 3 more inches and then 8 more inches. By this time everything was shutting down. Ernie's office has closed for 3 days (he was in Houston working)and we were completely snowed in. The girls built 3 igloos and it took me almost 3 hours to shovel our driveway.

Ernie was able to make it home before the 2nd round of snow. We went sledding

and we even went to the zoo, Crazy, I know. The zoo had to close for a couple of days after the storm and then they offered free admission for the week after to help with cabin fever. It was cold but we had a really good time. The best part of the day was the chimpanzees. there were 2 little chimps and they were torturing an older chimp. At on point the older chimp was going after one of the little ones and as he ventured out onto the rope the little chimp started shaking it to try and knock him off, next thing you know both little chimps are shaking the rope. The older chimp jumped off the rope and then grabbed it and pulled it tight so they could shake it any more. It was really fun to watch them play.

Nora turned 8 years old. We were going to go to incredible pizza for her birthday but they closed due to the snow so we ended up going to Red Robin. We told her that if she waited one day we would take her to incredible pizza, but there is no waiting with that girl. She was able to open one present at Red Robin and the other 2 at home. She got some jewelry and jewelry box. I also made her an apron. She has already been putting it to good use. She wanted to decorate her own cake and I think she did a great job. She also made no-bake cookies with her dad and they were very tasty.

The girls went to see Gnomeo and Juliet and we went to an art museum while they were out of school. I really enjoyed the time we had together and it was nice that most days were spent at home, but I will admit that after 10 days at home I was ready to get out. I think only in Oklahoma can you experience the weather we have had lately. The past 2 weeks we had the blizzard and temperatures of -10 and this week it has reached 60 degrees. Gotta love it.

We got Milly some new toys and I think she thinks they are her babies.

Oh the pictures the girls take with my camera when I am not looking. Here are just a few.