Tagged ...

I am: Jerilyn Downs Hawks
I think: the best sound in the world is the sound of my children laughing
I know: I am blessed far more than I deserve
I want: to organize and keep track of everything (ask me about my spreadsheet sometime)
I have: a wonderful husband and two beautiful children
I wish: my husband was home with us all the time (he's off of school for the summer and we're getting spoiled)
I hate: not having my house clean, especially when we have company
I miss: having time to sit and read
I fear: I won't be good at things I do (especially at being a wife and mother)
I feel: blessed to have everything we do
I hear: Little Einsteins and Barney (my kids like to watch different things)
I smell: Goldfish (which are sitting right next to me as Hailey is snacking)
I crave: cheese and fruit
I search: for easier ways to do things
I wonder: when my kids will quit fighting with each other
I regret: yelling at my kids (I obviously do this a little too often)
I love: spending time with my family, organizing anything, and blogging
I care: about my family
I always: worry about being prepared for the future
I believe: that with a little hard work you can accomplish anything
I dance: never - I hate too left feet!
I sing: only to the kids and when no one else is around
I don't always: clean my oven as often as I should (this is on my mind because I just did it after going forever with it dirty)
I fight: with myself about letting things go (I'm a perfectionist and always want to do everything perfectly, even when it's not physically possible)
I write: on my blog more than anything else
I lose: hardly anything - my motto is everything has a place and everything in it's place
I win: only things I can't use (ask me sometime about the drawing we entered in CT)
I never: leave my house messy, even if I'm just going to the store
I listen: to country music (when I get a chance)
I am scared of: snakes and not living up to my full potential
I need: enough time in the day to get everything done
I am happy about: the fact that my family is healthy and happy
I tag: Holli Downs, Afton Downs, and Kylie Downs (soon to be Cherry)

Home Improvement and Organization

I am usually laughed at by my family (immediate and extended) when I get excited about organizing things. No one can seem to understand it (I don't understand it myself to be honsest). But I love to organize things - whether in the house, out in the garage, outside in the flower beds, or even my sock drawer - I am addicted to organizing. I even jumped at the chance to organize the primary manuals and pictures we have in our ward primary. Now who in their right mind would get excited about doing that??? Sadly, I have to admit it would be me.

Well, the last couple of months I have been making a list of home improvement projects I wanted to tackle this year (hey, at least it wasn't a spreadsheet!). We always try to do some sort of improvement to the house every year. Instead of a big thing, which we have typically done in the past, I decided it would be a good year to do a bunch of little things. Since Jeremiah is home this summer, I thought it would be a good time to get a bunch of them done (I think Jeremiah might have had other thoughts). So we've been working hard getting some of these things checked off our list (yes, I'm a list person too, but that's another story). Anyway, today we decided to hang cupboards in the pantry and put up a pegboard and work surface for Jeremiah's tools in the garage. Thank goodness my Dad, brother Taylor, and soon to be brother-in-law Jedd offered to help us with the pantry cupboards while they were down watching Zachary's t-ball game today. I can only imagine how crazy it would have been for Jeremiah and I trying to do it all ourselves. Thanks to all of you that helped, we really appreciate it! I have to say that both projects turned out great. Here are a few pictures:












For those of you who don't know or might not remember, we only had one wimbly little wire shelf above our washer and dryer - so these cupboards are a definite improvement. Not only do we get more storage, but they look a lot nicer too. And the garage is a bit more finished now with the pegboard and work surface.

I do have to say though, that the best part of both projects was being able to organize everything into the cupboards and on the pegboard. My wonderful husband was just more than happy to let me do it all by myself. I think he's learned that I thrive on organizing and that letting me do it myself is more of a gift to me than trying to help. And he's even smarter than that - he's realized that when I'm all done and pull him over to show him what I've done, he acts very excited and praises me for my good job - even if he could care less and doesn't care how it looks. Is he good to me or what?

"GIRLS ONLY" Special Day with Aunt Kylie

Today was Hailey and Aunt Kylie's special day together. They have been planning it for over a month now. Aunt Kylie came down and just she and Hailey went out for a fun afternoon. They went to lunch and then to Build-a-bear where Hailey got to pick out her very own bear. She was able to see it made - as she likes to explain, she watched them put the fluffy white stuff inside and then sew it up. She also got to pick out an outfit for the bear. Of course the outfit she chose would have something to do with princesses since she is so into that right now. Aunt Kylie helped her find an outfit that had princesses on the shirt and boy was she in heaven. I don't think she put the bear down all day or quit smiling all afternoon and evening. In fact, during dinner, she had to sit the bear on the floor next to her chair so that she could keep an eye on her bear the whole time she was eating. Hailey is such a girl and she loves to spend time with her aunts. Thanks Aunt Kylie for taking her out for a special girly day - she had a blast!

Just like Dad

Our kids look up to their Dad so much, they are always wanting to do what he does, go where he goes, and now wear what he wears. This morning when they got up and came downstairs, Daddy gave them each a piece of his clothing to wear. Even though the clothes drowned them, they were so excited and kept running around saying they were just like Daddy.

Daddy's new look

Lately Hailey has been fascinated in combing the hair on all of her dolls and other toys. This morning she decided to expand her horizons and give human hair a try. Since Mom was already busy doing hers, she decided to work on Dad instead. He was a good sport about the whole thing and we were all laughing in no time. It was definitely a new look for Dad by the time she was done, but she was so proud of herself. Is she all girl or what???

Sleepy????

We had a full day yesterday. After the parade in the morning, errands in the afternoon, Grandma and Grandpa for dinner, then the rodeo in Riverton last night, we were all tired today. We had so much fun all day, but especially at the rodeo. The kids love to go and see Uncle Brian "rope the cows." We thought about coming home right after his turn, but the kids were having so much fun, we decided to stay for the whole thing. Of course that meant we left around 11:00 pm - something we rarely do. Zach, bless his heart, was asleep before we hit the freeway, where as Hailey, our little motor mouth, chatting and giggled all the way home. By the time we got them into their beds, it was after 11:30 pm and I was sure they would sleep in this morning. No such luck. Both were up by 7:30 am and rip-roaring to go for the day. We have church from 11am-2pm, so once we got home, changed, and had a little snack, I sent them in to the family room to watch a movie while I cleaned up the kitchen. When I came into the family room less than 5 minutes later, this is what I saw ...











Poor kids couldn't hold out any longer. They were so cute, I had to take a few pictures.

Lehi Round-Up Parade

Boy do kids love parades or what? At the last minute, we decided to forego all of our planned chores this morning and take the kids to the parade here in Lehi. They had so much fun! There were floats from all over Utah County, but our favorites were the ones of the local wards - including our own. The candy that they all threw was a big hit too and we came home with two big baggies stuffed full. Hailey's favorite part were all the princesses (royalty from all over - there had to be like 15 floats with royalty from one thing or another) and she got a chance to hug Snow White when she was walking down the road. It happened so fast, I didn't get a chance to get my camera out, but she thought it was the neatest thing. Zach's favorite part was the roll of toilet paper that he caught from the Costco float. Apparently it's a tradition for their float to throw toilet paper and he couldn't have been more happy with his treasure. In all, it was a pretty fun couple of hours and the kids had a blast.