My Family and Christmas

Merry Christmas from the Stoddard's!!

What an amazing year. Madeline started middle school and
is learning to play the violin. Both kids participated in
swim team and excelled.

Jacob is loving cub scouts and just earned his Wolf Award.
Stephen is busy and grateful for a wonderful job
and church service.

I am grateful for healthy family, a warm home,
kind friends, an amazing business, and
chances to serve others.

I am most of all thankful and humbled by
a baby who was born in a stable. Served others through
out His life and taught us how to truly love all mankind.

I am in awe of His Atonement which He gave to me so
that I can be forgiven and strive to live as He did.
May we always have our Savior, Jesus Christ in our
hearts and love as He does.

crazy Christmas photos!!! Which one is your favorite?

n

Is it this one?

this one?

Are we a "normal" family? I hope not ;)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

YaBaDaBaDo!!!

you should be very, very afraid! there is
an armed ninja ready to attack
at a moments notice!

Has it been a month since i've posted, yikes! is it really 1/2 way thru november, yikes!

well, here are the fun halloween costumes i created.

did i mention that i looooove dressing up for a day!

supplies

8 wood beads $2.99

4 yards animal print fabric $16.63

red hair spray $2.47
(went to 7 stores to find it, dang BSU fans)

being a redhead for a day priceless

here is the family

stephen...fred flintstone

tonya... wilma flintstone

madeline... prof mcgonagall

jacob... ninja dude

we love to host a halloween party and this year
madeline took the reins and made an
amazing harry potter party!

she wrote the script, and directed all
of the professors, witches, and wizards.

here is a fun picture of the group

the witches receiving some instructions to
help combat prof snape. nasty fellow!

wingardium leviosa!!! be gone with you!

a little sugar please!

mummies! a favorite tradition

bobbing for apples is always entertaining! fab party!

can't wait for next year!

thoughts about being 100!!!

so i had my birthday last week and turned 38. stephen
bought this HUGE cake from costco. it could seriously feed
an army so i gave some of it away to my neighbors.

it was a good day. plus you get presents so that
usually makes the bigger # worth it.

i found this article in a magazine and found it very interesting
so i added my comments at the end of each one.

does anyone want to live to be 100???

20 signs you might live to
be 100!!!

1. you eat purple food.... do m&m's count?

2. You have been a college freshman... check.

3. you have a drama-free marriage... i think you need a little drama in any relationship

4. you enjoy good friendships... thank you friends!

5. you have strong legs. so that's why i exercise

6. you get goals. yes, sometimes the same goal each year

7. you feel 13 years younger than you are... um that would make me 18!

8. you have a positive outlook on life.... most days

9. you're outgoing.... yes!

10. you've got skinny friends.... but we like to eat yummy food!

11. you don't have a housekeeper... nope, just kids who are my slaves (insert evil laugh).

12..you often walk instead of drive... or ride my cute pink bike.

13. you do aerobic activity 5 days a week... yes i walk to the bus stop.

14. you don't like burgers... sorry i love burgers, fries, and filet mignon.

15. you skip colas... yes i'm not a big pop fan

16. you love tea... herbal tea

17. you limit calories to 1400-2000 per day... um i don't know i can't count that high

18. you don't snore... my sister andrea tells me that i do!

19. you weren't overweight as a teen... most kids who live on a farm don't have time

20. you have a flat belly... when i lay down it is flat!


so i might live to be 86 years old and i am totally okay with that.
in fact, i have given stephen permission to let me die at that age.
i've
lived a good life right?

not a happy camper!

So why do i go camping?

i don't sleep because they have bear signs warning
you that a bear could attack you during the night
and carry of your children.

there is no cell phone service or
wi fi connection.

i am stuck in a piece of flannel
that is way too small for
me to be "comfortable".

i cook, clean up, cook, clean up repeat.

chime in with a comment
telling me i'm not alone in this!!!

and yet the kids love it
and i get to spend some time look at
nature and enjoying God's creations.

oh ya that's why i go camping!

a very happy birthday party

my nephew, Matthew, celebrated his 4th birthday. he loves
lightning mcqueen and was decked out in a costume.

rosa and breelle spent many, many hours making
this amazing "lightning mcqueen race track".
i would love to be a spectator sitting by
the delicious edible track!

what would you wish for if you were 4 years old again?

would you wish for this amazing balloon hat that
mom is wearing. there was a clown named petunia who entertained
the kids for an hour.

unfortunately, matthew was
scared to death of her and didn't want to
be near her!

i forgot that madeline and jacob would not
get near a clown, mascot, or santa claus for many
years. i think we're over that now!
such balloon

Ocean Front

2 posts in 1 week.

Some additional photos from our Oregon Coast trip.

i heart the ocean! I would love to
live in a little cottage by the sea.

and throw in a red convertible ;)

1 of my favorite things at the lake house... a happy boy in a kayak.

beautiful on the outside, a little crusty on the inside

after much searching, we finally found
what was it called

blue lake,
no
fish lake
no
crater lake
no
oh, clear lake. ya it was beautiful

the kids were excited to row, row, row the boat

thanks mom and dad for a great trip. happy 41st anniversary
we love you!

Beach Balls

Wow what a fun summer!

We loved our trip to the Oregon Coast.

The whole family stayed at a hotel and made the most of our $69.74!

We dominated the swimming pool. I would see hotel guests walk by and
look in but none dared to enter..... the splash zone.
So amazing canon balls were on display!

My beAutIfUl sisters in their new swimsuits.
I know what you are thinking... are they models?

Canon Ball!!!

Speaking of balls.... I went and spent a couple days with my parents at the farm. Don't ya just love getting back to your roots!

Mom and Dad treated us to Chinese food and bowling.
We happened to get the Tuesday bowling special of $1.50. AWESOME!!

Madeline got a strike, yes!
But Mom is the one who took the cake.
She scored a whopping 127. Maybe her best score ever!

We are headed tomorrow to register Madeline for middle school, sniff.

how can my cute girl be that old? Don't you remember these days?

Pieces of Summertime

I know what you are thinking... this looks
like the picture from Iwo Jima.

Actually, he is on an adventure to dig up some dinosaur bones.
Where would this amazing dig take place?
In our back yard, of course!
He has a map and is trying to find a little bit
of fossil history.

Let's hope it doesn't look like a
sprinkler pipe and we have a geyser in our back yard.

Summertime always means yummy strawberries
and we sure had a bumper crop this year!

We had so many we had to freeze some.

Nothing beats sweet strawberries with whipped cream!

We had a swim meet today and the kids are
celebrating and showing us those impressive muscles.

They belong to our local YMCA swim team and practice
everyday for an hour.

It helps with the summer bored and wear them out ;)

Jacob is having a moment of silence
before he slices through the water doing his backstroke.

He also did the butterfly, 2 relays, and the 50 yd freestyle.

Madeline loves the breast stroke and butterfly stroke.
She also competed in 2 relays and the backstroke.

It's fun to get the ribbons as well.
In fact, if you want to come visit Jacob
will pull out his swim ribbons,
4 baseball trophies, and his medals
from the PTA art program.

What are you doing to keep your kids busy this summer?

good bye elementary school

Madeline had her 5th grade BBQ last week.

I helped with the field day crab soccer game. It was a lot of fun watching kids get in the "crab walk" and try to kick a ginormous soccer ball.
It was overcast most of the day and the sun came
about about the time of the water balloon fight, perfect!

Mr A was giving the 5th graders a big long boring speech and then he said the code word "summertime" and all the parents launched the water balloons!

It was awesome!
We had a great time running around and getting wet. I saved 3 water balloons and used them after all the right were gone. That's the best, when you are the only one with ammunition.

I got Mr A, Madeline, and another kid from her class.

When I got home I noticed my neck was a little red, so i put some aloe on it and ran off to Jacob's last baseball game. When I got home it was very red.
Well, I have had my share of sunburns thru the years being blonde and blue eyes it comes with the territory, but this is the MOTHER of all sunburns.
My kids and husband are NOT allowed to touch me unless it is below the knees. It has been 5 days and it is skill red but not RED!!! Yikes, I should have listened to that little voice that said "put some sunscreen on!!!"

We live and learn! Madeline will be off to middle school next year, ready or not!

I'm not, but she is... sniff.

Disney World here we come!

1. give a day get a disney day ticket

2. flight to florida

3. 4 pairs of tennis shoes

5. 2 back packs filled with food

6. Disney World!

the beautiful castle. i took some pictures
of the night parade with the
fireworks high above the castle, magic!

i love the jungle cruise. it usually has a 30 min
wait but the fast passes helped us
breeze by. i love fast passes.

it was florida's spring break so it was a little busy
but the longest line was 45 minutes. not bad.

we only stood in a couple lines, and had
fast passes for all the rest.

you use your disney ticket
at the fast pass machine but only 1 of the 4
disney tickets would work, bummer!

well, being the strategic person i am...
i used this to our advantage.

i would ask the employee at the
fast pass machine for help and they would
print out fast passes or give us
a "fast pass ticket" to use all over the magic kingdom.

well, we had 16 fast passes at a time!

hey if it's broken, try to make it better.

the last comic standing....

so i shared with you a few weeks ago about jacob's sweet testimony.

well, we had fast and testimony meeting last sunday
and jacob wanted to bear his testimony.

stephen mentions to him to focus on Christ.

jacob walks up and grabs and microphone and says

"by the raise of hands, how many of you
have a dog as a pet?"

i look at stephen and say "where is he going this this???"

so people laugh and raise their hands to acknowledge
if they have a dog, did have a dog, or ever
in the future... plan to have a dog.

then he goes on to tell

about his dad who served a mission in africa

south africa to be exact. and tells

about a game that the missionaries would

play called "kick the pigeon". because there were

so many pigeons walking leisurely on the grass

the missionaries thought it was great fun

to try to chase and kick them. of course

the church members are laughing at all of this and it

motivates jacob to tell more stories!!!



then jacob talks about stephen

getting kissed by a monkey!!

it was a slow, agonizing death!

the bishop sees are look of horror and steps

up to jacob and says

"go ahead and bear

your testimony".

so he does, thankfully!



well, now jacob is a huge hit with all the deacons at church.

as stephen and i walk down the hall way to class we are getting

high-fives and getting comments like

"that was the best testimony ever"

"jacob rocks"

"so, you kicked pigeons???"

needless to say, our family home evening

lesson on monday was about sharing our testimonies

about Jesus Christ, and helping others feel the spirit.



but, he was asked, by our friend, to give a baptism talk this evening

at her baptism. pray that it goes well.

at least this time

the walk up to jacob will be a little shorter distance.

Amen!

jacob's baptism story

Baptism Day

sorry it has taken me so long to get these posted. i have
one word for my excuse TAXES!!

but they are done and we should get
our $$$$ next week, yes!

here is our cute boy

jacob finished the book of mormon friday evening

before all the family arrived.

it was a sweet experience to read

with him. he went into his room and prayed to know

if it was true and he said "i had a warm feeling in my heart

and i know the book of mormon is true!"

our family after the baptism.

did you notice that the gangly tooth is gone, yes!

here is the big group picture. thank you
all for coming. we had a great time!

don't ya love jacob's enthusiastic expression.

that's my boy!

this was the swim party at the hotel.
the kids
loved time with their cousins.

sizzler will never be the same! it was
a little crazy with all the kiddos
at the salad bar.

my apologies to all the patrons
who got to wait behind our group.

ya... we were a little loud, but it was a "happy loud!" ;)

jacob has been waiting to bear his testimony
until his baptism.

he was so cute at the pulpit.

he said "i'd like to tell you a little

bit about my baptism."

then he talked about reading the

book of mormon and praying to know if it

is true! the spirit was so strong and

bore witness of the truthfullness

of this sweet 8 year old.


i'll always remember that moment.

love, mom