Completely Random Pics from my phone (not in any order)

 Kaitlyn's last picture before braces...Nov. 18th  2014 

 

 Her newly braced face...

 

  We went to the Phoenix Temple Open House

Cameron is so stinking cute...even when he is messing up his church clothes

 

 Kaitlyn's 12th birthday party at AZ ICE skating rink

 

 Kaitlyn and Cameron swinging on the swing

Butterfly from  Butterfly Wonderland in Scottsdale 
(it landed on the sidewalk in front of us)

 Westy...the butterfly whisperer

 

 Cameron with his new toy before his surgery. You can tell he's scared :'(

 Kaitlyn before church

 Rylyn and Kaitlyn looking swag after the end of their basketball season

 Addie and Kaitlyn having fun at Kohl's

 Cameron lining up his cars. He might be a little OCD ;)

Connor and his mommy 

 The Flake kids naturally waiting for Levi to come home from his mission

 Us hanging with Mickey at Disneyland this summer

 Leah and the kids decided to make a train

 Weston's first day of 2nd grade in Mrs.Johnson's class

 Connor's first day of Kindergarten in Mrs.Lalama's class

 Addie's first day of 4th grade in Mrs. White's class

 Kaitlyn's first day of Junior High

 Connor's fifth birthday.Swim party!!

 Cutie-Pie Cameron at our visit to the Mesa temple

 

 

 Jennifer and Brandon at the Grand Canyon (15 year Anniversary Trip)

 

 The train we took to the Grand Canyon from Williams, AZ

 Addie and Mom after Wicked at the Gamage theater

 

 Weston's 8th birthday at Barros a few weeks ago

 Kaitlyn getting her low-lights 

 Addie looking fabulous at one of the cut-outs in Butterfly Wonderland entrance

 Addie at her 3rd grade awards assembly

  Cameron snuggling  with his Uncle Chris's blanket. He goes everywhere with his "banktey" (blankey in Cameron lingo)

Everyone w/ the knight at Golf land after mini golfing

(Commentary by Kaitlyn Flake)

update

okay. so. just so you peeps know, studio c comes out September 15 . SO BE EXCITED!!!!!!!""";););):):)

reminder:

Bird Story

   I don't know if it's the weather or what but we have TONS of birds visiting our backyard right now. They peck at the ground and fruit, gather twigs and...the other day, one decided to come inside!

I was sitting on the couch reading a book. Cameron was playing in the backyard and had left the back door open. Connor was down in one of the bedrooms. The other kids were at school.

In case you didn't know. I don't really like to do anything but watch birds. Their flappy wings and pointed beaks are menacing to me. It could have something to do with our pet cockatiel we had that would chase me around the house when I was a kid (ok...I was a teenager). Or maybe the one time when I was in the shower and somebody opened the bathroom door and threw the bird into the shower with me. Whatever the reason...bengi up close and personal with a bird scares me.

So there I was...reading a book and this bird flew in and landed on the kitchen counter. He stood there for a second. I called for Connor to come see it/rescue me from it. Before I knew it, the bird flew to our kitchen window and was stuck behind the blinds which were down. Poor thing was flapping and fighting to get out...through the closed window.

Connor finally came and I showed him where bird was. We decided to open the blinds. The bird sat in the window seal....flapping it wings and trying to fly out the window!

I got a broom...and my phone to video tape this.

I gave the broom to Connor....and he tried to gently lead get it off the window seal...and lead it out the back door.

It didn't work.

So, we tried plan B. Which was to get a towel. Connor threw the towel over the bird...but the towel kept falling off and the bird kept flapping!

Meanwhile, I am video taping and talking in a sing songy voice to the bird...as if he/she could understand me.

"It's okay bird...we're just trying to help you."

"Calm down, it'll be okay"

"Come on...we'll give you a ride"

"You think there is only one way out..."

Finally...the towel trick worked! Connor was able to get the towel over the bird. The bird calmed down and just stood there, not moving. I summoned up my courage and picked up the towel+bird, carried it outside and released it. Thinking to myself "that bird just had a traumatic experience!"

Connor and I high fived and then we watched what I had recorded of the incident.

Here is a lesson I learned:

I am like that bird. I tend to think there is only one way out...and I tend to feel like I have to get out by myself. I don't see that I need help...I see where I want to go and just keep trying to get there...but more often than not, I am like that bird, trying to fly out a closed window.

Heavenly Father is there...even though I can't see Him or always feel Him. But He is there saying "Calm down, I am trying to help you. It's going to be okay. There is more than one way out".

Provo, UT Girls - BYU Divine Comedy

OK, I found this while I was looking for Studio C's mailing address. I't all the characters from Studio C, before they started the show. Ladies and gentlemen, Divine Comedy( for more click here

My Mom is 60!

   My mom turned 60 last week. She seriously looks like she might be in her late 40's. I remember when  I was 18-20 years old, she and I would go shopping together and people would ask us if we were sisters. I can only hope I age as gracefully as she has! 

We had a fun party in my back yard this past Saturday to celebrate my awesome mom. One of her best friends from California (Karen) and her daughter (Amy) with her two little boys (Ethan and Ryan) came! We planned for it to be a surprise...and it was...just not like we thought it would be. Karen and Amy were driving to my house and my mom called Karen and was chatting with her and Karen said something like, "Why don't you hang up an go to Jennifer's house. We're here!" It took my mom a second to believe her. :)

My neighbor Rosie is an amazing party planner. I am not. I don't like throwing or going to parties. SO...Rosie was an angel and helped me with planning and setting everything up. Love her! 

 It's all about the cake

 

 Chris and Mom

 Charlee and Mom

 Mom and Uncle Stevie (he always has to have his Pepsi)

 

 Me and my Momma!

 Ryker, "Aunt Lynette", Jamie

 Mom, Daniel, Connor and Talyn

 Rocking Weston and his Grandma

  

 Karen, Ethan and mom

 

 Mom with Aunt Pat

 Mom with Jenny

Brandon and I looking cool

I love Brandon's expression...

 Tallie and Grandma

 Tallie holding the necklace charm of my dad's fingerprint

 Mom's favorite flowers

 

 Father and daughter

 Tiff and mom

 

 Chris and Charlee get mom her favorite gift!

(she's needed a new rolling pin for a while!)

Love you MOM!!!

an update...

Well folks. (whoever might read this)...the year is just about over! I have not done a good job at blogging this year. I have taken pictures....but not as many as I usually do. I have journaled...but not as often as I would have liked to. Life is good, bad, fun, sad and just all over the place lately.

So, I will try to do a recap of the past little while...

August 21st, Weston broke his leg for the second time this year. He spent a couple weeks in a wheel chair and then got around on crutches for another 6 weeks...then spent another month after getting is cast(s) off wearing an orthopedic boot to protect his leg. I told him that he is NOT allowed to break his leg(s) again! If he's going to break something, it needs to be an arm or something that doesn't inhibit his ability to be mobile!

I last posted on August 13th....exactly 17 days before my dad passed away. If I had only known. Ugh. My dad passing away...him not being here for the past almost 4 months has been a big part of my life. I don't cry everyday or regret anything about the time I spent with him while he was alive and I am so grateful for the many hours I got to spent with him and my family the 4 days he was in the hospital. I haven't blogged about those days. I don't know if I can yet. I get choked up just typing that. I don't replay every minute of those 4 days over and over in my mind all day long anymore. I did that for a good two weeks after he passed away. I have a good dad...and I miss him. His funeral was nice and people have reached out to my mom in so many kind and generous ways. Having people say and show they care really does make going through something like this easier. My mom is a trooper. She only took a week off of work. During that week, she went to grandparents day at my kids school...by herself. I am so glad to have her.

Brandon started a new job on Sept. 1st. He is CFO for Novo Power Bio Mass. He has been busy cleaning up their accounting department. They've asked him to oversee two of their other companies as well. He's got a LOT going on at work. He loves his job though. This job pretty much fell into our laps. Novo Power had approached him in the fall of 2013 (we were in Utah for my grandpa Barrett funeral actually) and offered him a controller position. They were wanting us to relocate asap to the White Mountain area. We fasted, prayed, went to the Temple and ultimately felt like accepting the job wasn't the right thing to do at that time. Well, Novo Power approached Brandon again the end of this past June. This time after going through the same decision making process, we felt good about him taking the job. We've committed to relocate to the White Mountain area (which basically for us means Snowflake) by March of 2016. House prices are going down here though so putting our house on the market and moving looks like it might need to happen sooner rather than later. I am having a hard time with the idea of selling our home. I am not in love with this house or emotionally attached to it...I just worry about having to have it ready for people to walk through at a moments notice. (ugh!)

We also had Halloween. Not my favorite holiday. I have a hard time with the pounds of candy consumed by my children. Over all...we could skip Halloween and I'd be just fine....but I loved it as a kid and I want my kids to at least have fun that day too.

November came and along with that, Kaitlyn turned 12! We had a party for her at the ice skating rink. I am so glad I did that and didn't try to plan something on my own! The girls all had a blast. We did that the Saturday before her birthday. On the 3rd (hers and my dad's b-day) we met my family at the cemetery and the grand kids released balloons with messages to grandpa tied to them. We were able to take Kaitlyn to the Temple to do baptism for the dead that week. Kaitlyn, Brandon and I, my mom, grandpa, Aunt Marlene and Kayla (Jamie's daughter) all went and did baptisms and confirmations. There were 4 generations of Newbold's in the Temple together that evening. We forgot to take a picture together afterwards. We need to do it again so we can get a picture! In November we also had Thanksgiving which we celebrated with my side of the family at my moms house. Then that Sunday, we celebrated my parents 40th wedding anniversary. We had everyone over to our house and had dinner and dessert. We had the grand kids and my mom play a version of the "Newlywed" game. The kids gave their best answer to questions about my parents (how they met, how old they were, things like that)...the kids all read their answers and then my mom told us her answers. I learned a lot, like that my parents actually first met when my mom was 16! It was fun to hear the kids answers too. Then we gave my mom a necklace. It is a pendant with my dad's thumb print engraved in it. I love to see my mom wearing it. Oh. Kaitlyn also got braces in November! (they're not as fun as she thought they'd be)

December has been busy with different Christmas things. I feel like there are too many different Christmas celebrations going on. In everyone's effort to celebrate, it is making me run around like a chicken with my head cut-off! How many Christmas parties do we need to have, really? So, I am trying to breathe deep and work towards my desire to have the things I do to celebrate be about bringing myself or others closer to Christ.

So, there's a little idea of what's been going on in our famly. Now you can see why I haven't taken time to sit down and blog...and if you could see what Connor and Cameron have done to the house while I have sat here at the computer....you'd understand even more!

Merry Christmas! :)