Shillig 4 Family

are both busy working hard this summer. Brody doing odd jobs of manual labor & Beau working at Pizza Factory. We are excited to get them each a bank account so they can learn to budget their money. Boys, we are very proud of you for all your hard work to make this a very successful summer.

Today the girls had some friends over to play and they brought their way fun sprinkler. We shared our Popsicles and everyone had fun. The kids did say the water was cold. It is definitely fun to have a yard.

Jake took us to Tucano's last night.   (thanks Kayla for the coupon)  I love their beef brisket and mashed potatoes with a nice asiago cheese roll, YUM! After that we came home, put the kids to bed, left the boys here playing the game and went and saw a movie.   It was almost worth going to the movies at 10PM to see all the Twilight campers who had been in line all day to see the movie.  Talk about dedication! Beau went at 3AM with friends and saw Twilight so I'm excited to hear what he says about it. He has work today at noon so hopefully he can function on such little sleep. It was a nice night away, no cooking and a date. Now back to reality, which in my case means more laundry than I've ever let pile up in my life...

Today at 4PM Last night we cleaned up and it is amazing to me just how dirty things can get (especially the walls and doors).  As I scrubbed the doors and walls I thought of this quote from Pres. Monson : "If you are still in the process of raising children, be aware that the tiny fingerprints that show up on almost every newly cleaned surface, the toys scattered about the house, the piles and piles of laundry to be tackled will disappear all too soon and that you will—to your surprise—miss them profoundly." Oh and I painted yesterday after patching wall holes. 1.  I have a new found respect for painters. 2. I think my house will always be white (easier to paint that way) unless I can afford to hire professionals. Thanks to our friend Heidi who cleaned the fridge immaculately, we got out of there WAY earlier than expected. I went back last night and had a moment of nostalgia as I looked at our empty house.  I thought back to when I moved in alone with my Dad, I wa...

I always mean to post on the kid's age marks but I am always a little late. So I wanted to add a few little cute Aimi Lark-isms. She will ask you if you are wearing your "sleeping clothes" or your "daytime clothes" Also she says the word "Yuck-O" these days, cracks me up every time. She and Mali Su always talk about "getting the bugs out" and I have no idea what they are talking about. She also says her "birthday's coming out"  She does her best to say her birthday is in December but I can't quite remember how she says "December" Here is a piece of artwork from Sunbeams this week at church.  Today on the sidewalk I saw more than just her usual circles.  I think the circles might have had eyes and even looked like fish.  We are making progress in the art department. At our summer rental the neighbor has a trampoline, she loves it.  She asks all day long to go to the "jumping thing" Aimi Lark ...

I love this little boy, I know I say that all the time. The other day while moving Aunt Larkie took all my kids AND hers back home with her in my vehicle.  It was just too chaotic trying to move and pack and clean and save the world with 5 little ones running up and down the stairs and in and out of Miss Lisa's and Miss Alana's houses.  When I went to Larkie's to get the kids they were all BATHED and perfectly happy.  Thank-you Aunt Larkie for your help and another shout-out to Uncle Seth for staying the ENTIRE day!  Look how cute Malachi looked when I picked him up!!  Larkie did the "chicken" hair-do as my mom calls it.  And dressed him in a cute sailor suit! My mom did that hair-do on all of us in my family.   Well today my poor little man puked up his lunch.  I guess drinking some of Daddy's chocolate shake and Mommy's coke didn't mix too well in his tiny tummy.  Sorry Son.

On Friday I threw a little "As Seen On TV" gift exchange. It was a really fun girls' night. We had food and lots of fun gifts. Thanks Kelli Joye (my cousin David's wife) for the idea! We started off with a little pass around til the music stops little gift.  Jake did my shopping for me and the gift he picked for this game was a seat cushion that is supposed to help your posture and all that good stuff.  They definitely packaged it well! Larkie made sure and read the directions thoroughly. I had the number 1 which meant I chose first and then got to go last.  I chose Larkie's gift and it was this cool veggie chopper thing that Kayla says is AWESOME. Rachel got a little gadget that will make her phone hands free when plugged into her radio.  She was telling Lisa that her van doesn't even have a radio...oops.  Miss Alana was thrilled to steal this! She couldn't wait to try it out. Marcela was shopping at the same time as Jake and told us beforehand that s...

I like moving. I even like unpacking at my new place. But this move I have absolutely no energy/desire to pack. zip, zero, zilch I think the fact that DITY (do it yourself moves) with the Army made us some money for our labor and expenses and the fact that I could choose for movers to come get everything if I wanted to instead of packing myself has spoiled me just a little bit. I'm tired and we haven't even moved yet. Another factor in all this is that I will technically be moving twice.   Once to our new rental and then a month and a half later to law school. I think I would be more excited if I was packing this week to be at my new place this weekend, the anticipation of all things to come would keep me motivated an excited. OK I'm going to stop whining now and go pack,  Jake just got me about 25 boxes from a member of our Bishopric,  Thanks Honey, now I can't use not having enough boxes as my excuse... OK that last sentence sounded sarcastic, I guess it kinda wa...

Tonight we had our friends the Alonsos over for dinner.   He is from Brazil and she is of Chilean (Jake served his 2 year LDS mission in Chile) decent.  I recently learned (thanks to Facebook) that she served her mission with a girl from my hometown, and the older sister of my college roommate Sabrina Packard.  Once again, small world. The kids had so much fun playing.  Lucas their son speaks both Spanish and Portuguese so Jake thoroughly enjoyed speaking to him in Spanish.  Mali Su called him "Uncle Luke" and Jake asked her if Uncle Luke had been reincarnated into the body of a half Chilean half Brazilian boy.  Aimi Lark then chimed in saying his name was Uncle LUCAS.     Today I tried my hand at a Chilean dessert.  I love the Internet, I searched and I found what I needed.  I made... Chilean Aflajores Recipe Ingredients : 1/4 cup plus 3 Tbsp. butter 1/4 cup plus 3 Tbsp. sugar 1 x egg, beaten 3/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp. flour 1 can ...

Well at least renter/tenant proof, hopefully.   We have been fixing things over the past week that needed some tweaking if we are to have renters in here. 1. The faucet in the hall bathroom shower kept leaking, well dripping and then the other day just didn't turn off no matter how hard we turned it.  We called Jake's Uncle Rich who is the owner of Snappy Plumbing ((801) 420-3003) out of Payson, UT.  He came by the next day and got us all taken care of.  He installed a new facet/shower head set-up in that bathroom.  I am so glad he came by.  It was an unexpected expense and a HUGE project (we just thought he'd make the faucet stop dripping) but I feel better knowing my money went to an honest plumber who did the job right the first time.  Thanks Uncle Rich! 2.   My amazingly awesome neighbor is always doing DIY home projects so I asked her if she could come by and help me grout my bathroom tile that was cracked.  She came over and it ...

"But I will be sad" "But I will cry" usually said when you tell her to do something she doesn't want to do or need her to give you something she shouldn't have "Aimi Lark, Why do you have that boppy?" response, "Well, because I love it" "You are so much nice." sometimes said as she smiles at you and is holding your face in her hands Yesterday she had to have some little bumps frozen off and Jake kept telling her that the doctor was  "so much nice"  Most sentences these days start with  "Well," She likes to say,  "Well, he has to share"   or "Well, she can share" usually said when she is playing with some one's something and they want it back/want a turn It is so fun to talk to her. I love the age of 3 She will be 3 and a half on the 26th of this month

Well I'm preparing to go couponing in the morning. There is this BIG sale at Smith's in the morning and I plan on being there.  I am printing lists, clipping coupons, and all around making myself sick. My stomach is just a turning.  You would think I'm running a marathon (or in my case a 5K) in the morning.  I am majorly stressing out, these Provo Moms can get CRAZY.  I want to use all, well most of, these coupons I have been hoarding at the rate of 3 Sunday paper coupon inserts/week since NOVEMBER!  I want to get my money's worth out of these papers.  I'll tell y'all how it goes when I get back.  I'm planning on going at 6AM.  Yep, I'm that determined/crazy. So I'm back now.  I think I was less stressed shopping that early and having slept since clipping the coupons.  It was surprising that there were so many ladies already there bright and early and some things like jugs of Sunny D that would have been FREE with my coupons were ...

Today he had his one year check-up (a month and 3 days late) at the doctor.   He got a couple of his immunizations and checked out with a clean bill of health.   He seems to be fight a little fever at the moment but nothing a little extra TLC won't fix. His stats were still impressive to me. Weight:  28.6 lbs 100%ile Height:  31 inches 95 %ile  Head Circumference:  48cm 100%ile I think my "short" genetics are sneaking in a bit because he is not off the charts for height anymore. Malachi, our boy, we love you. Right now Jake is holding him & rocking him.   Jake is so good with holding our babies when they don't feel good.

Today Jake and Kenny went golfing. Jake shot par on three of the nine holes!

Brody left for scout camp yesterday (Monday) morning bright and early. He will be there all week earning lots of merit badges and having a grand ol' time. I hear this camp is new and nice. I cannot wait to hear how it goes for him! We love you Brody.

Well we have had our condo listed for months now online to try and rent it.  We recently added it to KSL.com and had many calls and people come look.  Each telling us the same thing, they needed to move in sooner than Aug. 14th.  They were ALL hoping for around July 1.  I had the thought last week and presented the idea to Jake.  I told him I thought we should maybe change the date available on our Condo to July 1st and if it rented I would move in with his parents.  Well it worked.  Our condo was almost immediately seen by many and rented for a 1 year lease.  During the entire process I was so grateful it was all working out so well.  I was so glad that we wouldn't be without renters and we would not have to pay for 2 mortgages (UT & TX) and a rental in CA.  It was great.  The renters had paid their deposit, signed some paperwork, and Jake had talked to his parents about me and the kids staying there.  We were good to go....

"Some blessings come soon, some come late, and some don’t come until heaven; but for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, they come." -Jeffrey R. Holland

Aimi Lark came from primary with the sweetest picture she had made for her Daddy.  It made me laugh hysterically and start to cry all at the same time.  She was so excited to show it to Jake.  She ran into the chapel for sacrament meeting and asked "WHERE'S SOLDIER JAKE!?" She went up to him and said "HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!" and gave him his picture from her. The questions read as follows (Aimi Lark's answers in bold written by her teacher). My Dad's name is Jacob . He is big years old. He is "not tall enough" tall. He grew up in ______________. His favorite food is carrot . His favorite thing to do is shot bad guys in games. He is really good at being my dad. His favorite TV show is cartoons. If he had a $100 he would buy a flower for me. Our favorite thing to do together is Candyland. Then below she was supposed to draw what he looks like but she just told us that it wasn't Daddy it was colors. Aimi Lark loves her Jake (yes she calls...

Today I went with Jake to the commissioning of a few of our ROTC friends.   It was a perfectly lovely day outside the Hinckley center at BYU. The words that were shared about the duties of a new Jr. officer were great to hear.  I loved the sight of the stadium behind the podium.  BYU campus is truly beautiful. The cadets then had their new 2LT rank pinned on.  The most touching for me was when Davis Wallentine (our friend since DLI) had his wife (and my friend) Rebecca and his Grandfather pin on his rank.  I am always touched by those grandparents who have served before us.  Now I don't know that his grandfather ever served in the military but I always assume so with that generation.  What an honor. Another cadet's father administered his oath and he was a Captain in the Navy.  Now I hear that is equivalent to a full bird colonel in the Army.  This guy would have commanded his own ship.  I love the military (all branches) more and m...

Last night we went to the Manti Pageant as a family.  I forgot how long the drive out there was   but thanks to our handy DVD player in our mini-van the kids watched a REDBOX ($1 DVD rental from a RED box) .  This kept them pretty well entertained.   Going to the Manti Pageant was something I had wanted to do since June 2003 when my now sister-in-law and then roommate Ashley and I tried to drive out there and ended up getting lost and going home.   It was a perfect outing.  We got there, set-up our blankets in the "blanket section" and then walked around the little town around the Temple to find food.  We tried to go to the turkey dinner at the stake center down the road but when we were almost there Jake remembered he read a sign that they only served the dinner til 8 and it was 7:57PM.   We stopped off at a little diner instead and had burgers, fries, and shakes.    It was yummy and cheap!   Malach...