Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Recommendation

Several months ago I found a fabulous website that I'm sure you've heard of...I'm usually the last to know!
Our Best Bites
I absolutely LOVE it! Usually when you cook at home as opposed to eating out one tends to save money. Well, that has not been the case the past several weeks. I have been cooking and baking like a crazy lady. I don't think our family has ever had so many good meals in a row! No mac & cheese or $5 pizza nights here! At least for a few weeks. Chad has put his foot down and recommitted me to our monthly grocery budget! so I've had to rein myself in a bit. I have their cookbook which is fabulous!
50531914_our_best_bites_detail
It also made a great Mother's Day gift for mine and Chad's mom. The kids really love it too. The pizza on the grill we made a few months back is from there and we all had tons of fun with it. Great recipes that are right up my alley. Who doesn't need some new dinner ideas...and dessert?

Janey's Baptism

We all gathered at the Stake Center a few weeks ago for Janey's Baptism. It was a really special day. I'm so grateful for a worthy husband that can baptize our children! What a blessing that is!! And for all of our family and friends that were able to attend. Janey asked her Aunt Angela to give a talk on Baptism, which she did fabulously! After she got "dunked" we headed over to Chris & Monica's house for some lunch. Delicious BBQ Chicken Salad! Everything went perfectly. I could not have asked for a better day! I'm so proud of my sweet Janey girl. She is so excited to officially be a member of the church. She is such a good girl and brings so much joy to our family.

Friday, April 29, 2011

Russell Family Reunion

My Grammy turned 85 in February and so we decided that was a great reason to
P-A-R-T-Y!
Uncle Cliff, Mom, Grammy, Uncle Terry

I love 'generation' pictures.

~GRANDKIDS NOW~
L to R Back row: Kurt, Brett, Kara, Cory, Jason, Kyle, Leah, Joel, Scott, Brad, Chris
L to R Front row: Trisha, Amy Erin
GRANDKIDS THEN
(1984ish. Kurt & Brett weren't even born yet!)
L to R: Laurel, Amy, Kara, Scott, Erin, Kyle, Chris, Brad, Leah, Jason, Trisha, Joel, Cory
~GREAT GRANDKIDS~

Family came from across the country to celebrate with us. It was a blast!!! We haven't all been together like this since the Christmas of '89, I think. (That's the year Gram got each family a Nintendo for Christmas! Which was the greatest present ever!) Let's just say there was a lot of food, laughing, noise, arm wrestling, basketball, picture taking, talking, chaos...and very little sleep.
I just added this picture because I can!

Media Fast

Every year our ward does a Media Fast in preparation for April General Conference. For us, a Media Fast is where we turn off the electronics and spend more time as a family. That means no TV, video games, blogs, internet surfing...anything that is just basically a waste of time. We still check email and occasionally check the news but other than that we try to be technology free. Monday is usually the hardest day for everyone but by Friday we are all usually surprised that we did, in fact, survive a week without movies, Wii, DS's & Disney Channel. Here are some of the fun things we did.


Parker & I made playdoh and played several rounds of Memory. I also got him set up outside with some wood, nails & a hammer. What boy wouldn't love that? We played soccer, read books, cleaned bedrooms, organized closets, canned chicken & potatoes, went for walks...

We played outside A LOT

We made personal pizza's on the grill. It was so fun and the kids loved it. Not to mention they were DELICIOUS!

I love that our ward does this and am so glad we only do it once a year :-) It's a much needed wake up call to how much time I spend doing things that really don't matter. When I take those distractions away, I do so much better at accomplishing the things that are really important.

Friday, March 4, 2011

Brenna's Blessing

We are so lucky to have so much family live here close by. Chad blessed Brenna on the 6th of February and we are so grateful for all of our family that was able to attend; even Great Grandma Belnap was here visiting from Utah and Aunt Jamie & Uncle Clayton visiting from Montana. Chris & Monica have such a beautiful home and were so kind to let us party there. My tiny house wouldn't hold us all! So, after the blessing we headed over to my brother Chris' for a yummy dinner of soup, bread bowls, spinach salad and cinnamon rolls for dessert!
4 Generations
Grandpa Belnap, Chad, Great Grandma Belnap

4 Generations
Grandma Robyn, Grammy, Me

My gorgeous sister-in-laws Monica & Nicole. And kiddos Deegan & Kinley and Rigdon is hiding behind Deegs.

Of course I had to choose Superbowl Sunday to bless Brenna so all the men made themselves comfortable in front of the TV.

Sunday, January 9, 2011

i'M iN lOvE

with this little girl!! She's 2 months old now.



love that tongue

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Christmas 2010

This year we did things a little bit different for Christmas. With money being tight, like I'm sure it is for just about everyone, each of the kids got 3 gifts. Something they WANT, something they NEED, and something to SHARE. This worked out so well. The kids had a great Christmas and I didn't overspend! My brother Brett stayed the night with us on Christmas Eve so he could play with the kids and they love this! He's such a good sport and so patient with them. He played Lego's with Russell for hours. What a great Uncle. We had a wonderful day relaxing and eating. Grandma & Grandpa came over for a yummy Ham dinner and we finished off the day playing cards with the missionaries.

Ready for bed. New jammies from the Pajama Elf. Brenna's not impressed!

Nice and warm by the fire. It really wasn't cold enough for a fire...but it's tradition.




Brett & Russell playing Lego's

Russell's 11th Birthday Party

Somehow Russell convinced Chad to throw a birthday party for him. They played kickball and of course shot some paintballs. Chad got some helium balloons and the boys had to try to shoot them.
Russell shot one of the balloons and the paintball got stuck inside! Pretty funny!

Chad, Russell, Brett, Parker & Blake.

The Crew

That evening the Elder's stopped by to help us sing Happy Birthday and have some cake & ice cream. They are a hoot and the kids LOVE them.
Cooper, Elder Dursteller, Russell, Janey, Elder Harall & Parker

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Merry Christmas

Here is the Christmas letter Chad did this year for those of you who didn't get one in the mail.

Happy Holidays to All,

This has been a remarkable year for the Belnaps and Pure Flooring. We have had some great things happen for us. First and foremost, we have a beautiful little girl – Brenna. Secondly we hired our first employee and he is doing great things to help our business grow.

My wife endured well her pregnancy with our new addition. This pregnancy was a rough one for her. She was really sick for most of the beginning, put on bed rest for much of the latter part and then, as most women, was really uncomfortable at the end. This was her hardest pregnancy and so I am grateful to her for all that she did while it was going on. It is hard for me, as a man, to understand the displeasures of pregnancy, but I can tell you that I don’t want her to ever have to do that again. So we will be complete with four amazing children.

My children are doing wonderful. My oldest, Russell, is almost 11 yrs old and continues to do well in school. He has been really blessed with great teachers to help him improve in his abilities. He continues to read at an elevated level and he really enjoys it. He is currently loving video games – don’t worry we monitor the amount. He wants to attempt to play any musical instrument that he can including the drums, violin, guitar, and piano. He and I played a lot of paint ball at the beginning of the year, but after I broke my leg, we haven’t been able to play. Janey, my 7 year old daughter is still as sweet as can be. She loves to be a part of a music program called “Let’s Play Music.” She gets to go to a class weekly to learn music. She is doing great in school and loves to play with friends and neighbors. Parker is 4 years old and is a sport maniac. He wants to go outside at every opportunity to play basketball, football, soccer, ride scooters, and bicycles, anything to get out of the house and be active. He “graduated” from his preschool class this year too. He also enjoys having his older sister read to him. Brenna is now six weeks old and is starting to smile back at us and look around and be more “awake” when she is awake. She is a sweet and good baby for us. We think that it is because she gave Trisha so much grief during the pregnancy. I cannot tell you why she is so good, but I know that she really is and we are so grateful.

My big news for the year was that I broke my leg in June. I had to have surgery to repair the bones. I had to get a plate and 8 screws on the tibia bone and 2 screws on the fibula bone. I became utterly worthless for six or seven weeks. I have recovered to about 90% but still can’t jump or run, but I didn't do much of that before so it’s OK. When I broke my leg, I was actually able to hire Brett Anderson. He has worked with me before and knew our systems and expectations. He has been with us for 6 months now and is doing great. He has a great work ethic, quick to learn and we have a lot of fun working together.

We are still doing great in the business. We are actually going to be expanding into water damage restoration this next year as well as carpet cleaning. This next year we are going to be doing more advertising via email, so if you want to get some great specials - sign up, just go to our website at pureflooring.com and enter your email address. I respect privacy and will keep all emails secure.

We wish everybody a happy and safe holiday season. There is much to be grateful for and we want you to know that we are grateful for you and all you have done for our family and business.

Here is my shameful plug. We would love to help clean your carpets, furniture, or tile for Christmas. We have been busy and are excited to help in any way we can.

Chad, Trisha, Russell, Janey, Parker, & Brenna Belnap

Pure Flooring 480 275 7658

Sunday, November 28, 2010

One Month

On one hand I can't believe it's already been a month...on the other I feel like I remember every single day of the past month. I am enjoying my sweet baby so much. Maybe it's because I know this is my last or maybe I'm just so glad to not be pregnant anymore but I am relishing in the time I get to spend holding her and watching her sleep. She has such an amazing spirit and I'm so glad she's mine.






Saturday, November 13, 2010

Brenna Evelyn Belnap

We are so excited that our sweet Brenna is finally here. She is such a good baby, which I am so grateful for! The kids are loving her. No one has asked if we could send her back yet. I am finding that with #4 the hard times don't come from #4, they come from #'s 1-3. I've really had to work on my patience. They all love to hold her and burp her and help bathe her. Sometimes it seems like there isn't enough of her to go around. She eats about every 3 hours and is a good sleeper the majority of the time. I'm getting use to sleeping in 2 hour increments. It really helps that she goes right back to sleep after she eats during the night. I am feeling so much better since having her. My family is so glad to have me back, and I am too.
Arriving at the hospital.