Family Pictures

We just got our family pictures back. Our friend, Michelle Tandy, took them for us, and I am really happy with how they turned out. Here are just a few for your viewing pleasure:). To see how I added the vintage looking frame, click here!

Giving Thanks

I have a beautiful baby girl. After two energetic boys, that I LOVE with my heart and soul, I found myself longing for a little girl. One that I could dress in pretty clothes and do her hair with pretty bows.
When my husband and I talked about getting pregnant for the third time, I knew it was time, and I knew in my heart that I was going to get that baby girl.
Needless to say, I was right (I love it when that happens). I do dress her in pretty clothes, and I do put her hair in pretty bows, and most of the time, she despises them both! Her brothers adore her, and she returns the feelings wholeheartedly. She loves them so completely and unconditionally, and she wants to be just like them. Her first words were "cool car" and "touchdown!" I love it! I love them all.
I love them so deeply and completely that I just can not imagine my life without them in it. The thought scares me.
I came across this blog the other day. The blog is written by a courageous mother and father who have a baby boy and an angel daughter. Their daughter Lucy returned Home when she was nearly two years old. . . .The same age as my beautiful girl. Lucy had bouncy curls and a life full of personality. . . just like my beautiful girl. Lucy choked on an apple the size of a pea. I know. . . unbelievable. Her mother and father did everything they could and more, and ultimately had to watch their princess die. You can read the whole story here. They are courageous. They are survivors.
Sometimes I complain. When my princess spilled an entire box of cereal on the floor, I moaned and groaned, and I complained. When my princess wants me to hold her all day so that I can get NOTHING done, sometimes I complain. But now I think about them. I think about Lucy. I KNOW they wouldn't complain if their princess wanted them to hold her all day. I have that opportunity. They don't. And I complain.
I love all three of my children entirely, I love them all equally. Lucy reminds me of my princess. That is why my mind wandered to the what-ifs. What if that was our story. What if . It broke my heart.
Today, I am giving thanks. Thanks for a loving God who has afforded me the opportunity to be a mother to three wonderful children. Thanks for every breathe they breath and every beat their hearts beat. I'm thankful that I can hold them all day. . .and get nothing done. With all my heart, I'm thankful.

New Project!

Howdy Folks! I know it's been a while, but I wanted to let you know about my new project. I am starting a new blog called "The Quest to Become a Well Rounded Woman." I am hoping that I can get contributors to post tutorials about different subjects and areas. That way, we can get a little taste of a lot of things in one place. I think that I will be able to get more contributors once my readers/followers increase, so if you are interested, please check out the blog, maybe even become a follower. You could even go above and beyond the call of duty and post a little blurb about it on your own blogs. I am also always looking for contributors, so if you have a special interest in anything from scrapbooking to cooking, to home improvement, you name it, please let me know and I would love to feature a post from you.

Thanks so much for your support!!!

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

Somehow I skipped blogging the entire month of September. Needless to say, this post could go on and on, but I decided to post a few pictures of some of my favorite things. For starters, I LOVE fall! I love the weather, the feeling of change, and the sense of anticipation that comes with the preamble to the holiday season, I just LOVE it all. My family has done a few things to welcome this fine fall season.

There are few things in life more enjoyable than our monthly dinner at Grandma and Grandpa Ivers house. This year they planted a big garden out back. No garden would be complete if it didn't have "The Great Pumpkin!"

While the boys tend to spend their time making their own corn mazes in the garden and admiring this year's patch of pumpkins, our little Ellie chooses to spend her time on other endeavors. . . dirt diving.

I just love this picture, sweet little Dylann is posing and smiling so cute, she has been around the same amount of dirt for the same amount of time as my little princess, but she looks squeaky clean while my child can't even stop dumping dirt on herself long enough for a quick picture.

Yes, I may be a little warped, but I LOVE this picture with her filthy face and nice muddy snot lines! Seeing my kids get down and dirty, and just be kids is certainly one of my favorite things!

Last Saturday we spent the day at Cornbelly's. We had to take advantage of the $3.93 tickets!

Maybe it is the leaves, or even perhaps it's the weather, but there is definitely a feeling of change in the air. My living room has been in desperate need of some style lately. Luckily this was a money MAKING makeover. We sold our sectional on KSL of $800 bucks, paid $100 for the sofa/love seat set, and I spent $50 bucks on my accessories.

I refinished our old coffee table, I really kinda like how it turned out.

This is just a little sneak peak of what we've been up to lately, more to come shortly. . . .

Extreme Brilliance!!

In my last post, I mentioned my desire to post something brilliant, well. . .here it is! My friend Morgan has introducted me to a whole new world. A world where people pay you to buy food, and full prices are simply not an option. It is the wonderful world of coupon shopping. I have only gone twice, and with Morgan's expert guidance and direction (I owe her my fourth born child), I have already saved over $200. I am super excited about the trip we took to Albertson's this morning. I rolled out of bed at 4:45 this morning and we were the first ones to the store at 5:30. Little did we know, we were the first ones there because the store didn't actuall open until 6. Lucky for us, we got a good jump on all the other couponers.

Now on to my list, I bought:

2- CPK frozen pizzas

8- Boxes of Cereal (2 Honey Bunches of Oats, 2 Grape Nuts, 2 Kix, and 2 Cocoa Puffs)

15- 32 oz Powerades

2-16 oz Chocolate Milks

2-Gallons of Milk

4-Easy Mac Cups

3-Boxes of Mac and Cheese

4-Boxes of Ronzoni Healthy Pasta

2-Boxes of Capri Suns

6-Haagen Das Ice Cream Cups

8-Dannon Light and Fit Yogurts

2-10 oz Bottles of A1 BBQ Sauce

2-Boxes of Jello Pudding

For all that I spent $33.58, Plus I got a $20.00 Mail In Rebate to make the entire purchase a whopping $13.58! I saved a total of $127! I know, BRILLIANT!!

Spectacularly Un-Brilliant!

So, I don't know why, but I have been waiting and waiting for something brilliant to blog about. I really wanted to write some type of literary masterpiece available for the world exclusively here at IversPartyof 5.

I have been waiting. . . and waiting. . . and waiting.

Finally I have decided that brilliant pieces of literature come to the minds of the brilliant. So, here is my mediocre post about some of our above average adventures which all took place nearly a month ago! (I have been waiting a LONG time for inspiration)

For starters, here are a few snapshots of our extraordinary pioneer day (I think it was the 24th). We were lucky enough to spend the day at Deer Creek Reservoir with the Ivers side of the family. The kids LOVED the boat, and Brielle seemed to be completely enamored with her giant blue twinkie suit.

We are so lucky that the kids have so many cousins close to their age on the Ivers side of the family, they do happen to be all girls (except baby Kyle) but none of them seem to mind their gender differences. Here they are playing on the "beach."

For some reason the boys were totally uncooperative when it came to photo-shoots. These were the best shots I got of them the whole day.

Brielle even got to be captain for a few minutes, she is crazy about 1st mate Grandpa Ivers!

This is Launey riding the wakes on the tube thingy. This picture was taken as his mother was yelling to him from the shore, "take your white shirt off, you'll ruin it!" Later he informed her that the white shirt happened to be his pasty white skin.

Here is a small glimpse of one of the many reasons that I love that man, regardless of his white shirt-like tan.

(after further review of this picture, I am undecided of whether or not the purpose of this photo is clear, just to clarify, he is preparing to change our baby girl's diaper full of toxic waste.)

Later that month my parents were kind enough to sponsor a weekend getaway to Park City. We stayed in a beautiful condo and had a blast riding the alpine slide, coaster, and zip-line. Unfortunately, I must have been so caught up in the fun and excitement that I only managed to get a couple pictures.

Luckily they are high quality pictures featuring the famous, Launey leaning on the stair rail with the "I am so excited that I can hardly contain my emotions" look on his face, Followed by the ever-so-popular Brielle throwing a fit that she wasn't hooked up to the giant human slingshot photo, and finally The Boys with their fresh morning faces and stylish bed heads over two bowls of cereal shot. I am just so happy that these pictures accurately portrayed all of the fun and excitement we enjoyed over the weekend.

So until next time. . .ciao!