Conner Clan

My Husband is Pretty Cool!

2012-01-27T11:24:00.001-05:00

It’s rare that Darren can get pictures when training. But I’ve been nagging him to and I’m glad he did! Here are some pics of what he does nearly every day either at the shoot house or with the helo. When they go out to sea on the Navy’s helo’s he can’t really take pics, but when they do ground jumps they are able to get some good shots! :)

We are proud of him and his boys think he’s the coolest thing EVER! ;)

Locked up!

2012-01-27T11:03:00.001-05:00

It was a typical Thursday night. I was down stairs trying to get dinner cooked and get the kids out the door to go to scouts. Then I hear a blood curdling scream upstairs. I run up thinking one of my kids is dying. Nope, just Ethan handcuffed to his bed. I just stopped, stared at him and almost started laughing. Mainly laughing at how hard he was crying over something so silly. I told him to chill. I looked for the “toy keys” and then quickly realized Ethan hadn’t used play handcuffs, he found his dad’s real handcuffs from work. Different story.

The keys to these are on Darren’s gun belt. Where? At work with Darren in Chesapeake almost an hour away. So…… Ethan got to sit there and wait! And we didn’t make it to scouts!

The one thing I loved the most about this was his brother Ashton never once left his side. He stayed up there with Ethan. Ate his dinner up there with Ethan and supported him. (I have to admit it was kind of nice having him handcuffed up there!) ;)

Dad finally got home. Came to Ethan’s rescue!

Hopefully he learned his lesson! ???? We shall see.

Chocolate Cake In A Mug! :)

2012-01-09T15:15:00.001-05:00

I just realized that today is Monday. FHE!!!

Sooooo. Mad dash to get a lesson ready and a quick and easy treat! Thought I would share this super fast, easy, yummy, treat!

Chocolate Cake in a Mug

Ingredients:

· Mug

· 4 tablespoons flour - make sure you measure it right!

· 4 tablespoons sugar

· 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa

· 2 tablespoons whisked egg – (1 egg is too much, 1 egg white is too eggy, 1 yolk is too dense, but 2 tbsp. is just right!)

· 3 tablespoons milk

· 3 tablespoons oil

· 3 tablespoons chocolate chips

· splash vanilla or other flavoring - try peppermint or cinnamon

(For a fudgier version, omit egg!)

MIX!

· Add all of the dry ingredients to the mug and mix.

· Add the egg and combine well. It gets pretty pasty at this point.

· Stir in milk and oil.

· Add chocolate chips* and splash of vanilla. Stir well.

*if you don't have chocolate chips, try a broken up candy bar - I can't stress how much this amps the awesomeness of your cake

· Microwave for 3 minutes in a 1000w oven, or 4 minutes in a 700w oven.

It will start to crown over the top of the mug. Don't panic! It will collapse once the heat stops.

This cake is still good half an hour out of the oven. In fact, I think it gets better the longer it sits, but I can't speak to how it does after that, since there's never any left!

Sprinkle with powdered Sugar if desired!

ENJOY!

Dumb Lizards!

2012-01-09T13:33:00.001-05:00

My friend has a son who “won” 3 lizards from his school class. (2 males and 1 female) Well…… They hated them, didn’t like taking care of them and gave them to me, cage and all. I knew my boys would be thrilled….. So I took them. All is fine and dandy. I get to have a container of live hopping crickets in my house that I have to feed to keep alive to feed these ‘beautiful’ lizards…… (cough cough, sense my sarcasm?)

Any way. Today I looked in the cage and this is what I saw. The 2 males biting each other's heads off! Well as a mom who is constantly breaking up fights from my own kids, I instantly reached my hand in to separate these two! It was hard! He had a locked jaw on him! I literally had to flick him to get him off!!!!

I took Mr. Alpha Male out of the cage, not sure what to do with this bad boy. Let them both cool down. Put him back in the cage and he instantly attacked the smaller male again….. So I took him out again and threw him outside in my backyard and away he went! Good-riddens you mean Lizard! Don’t freeze your ugly green tail off!

Poor smaller male. Look at the bruise below his eye! Ugh. What in the world did I get myself into? The life of a mom with boys! Owell. Maybe him and the female can live in peace now…… We shall see!

Park!

2012-01-08T21:57:00.001-05:00

It has been CHILLY!!!! (Even if for only a couple days!) But when a warm day comes we jump on it and take full advantage! After the kids got off the bus on Friday we immediately went to Mt. Trashmore! We met Kate there with her kiddos. The sun was setting fast, so we had to soak in all that was left of a beautiful day! Kate and I did what we do best…. Talk. The kids did what they do best…. Play. And Darren did what he does best….. Take pictures, chase kids, have an anxiety attack about where all 4 of his kids are at one given moment!

It was fun!

Jake Running non-stop! Cute Paisley and Lily ♥

♥ Love this girl! ♥

Parleigh….. Kate’s baby. She is beautiful!

The kids favorite part of the park? Not the playground! The HILL! :)

☼ Love good weather! ☼

Beat the Ball!

2012-01-05T22:47:00.001-05:00

At 11:35 p.m. on 12/31/2011 Kate, Sherrie, Debi, and Myself started running the “Beat the Ball 5k”! Yep. We ended the year 2011 running and began the new year 2012 running! It was cold, tiring, and FUN!

So after we got our running stuff, we headed back to the car to drop off our stuff, get our cool glow sticks on and goof off before the race! We had time to kill and we were cold! ;)

Debi looks like a Star Trek Character! ha ha! Cute Sherrie

Cute Kate! Silly Stuff!

So thankful these ladies ran with me! They rock!

Always fun costumes! Even “Father Time” Showed up!

Right before the race Started!

Another race down! :)

New Year’s Eve

2012-01-05T22:37:00.001-05:00

Debi invited us and the Burton’s over for a New Year’s Eve Dinner. The men Played PS3, the women talked, the kids played. We wrote our Resolutions/Goals on Helium balloons and set them off into the air before dark!

Going, going…… Gone! :)

Christmas Day!

2012-01-05T22:28:00.001-05:00

Christmas Day finally came! I got a Bamboo Rolling pin, a sobakawa pillow, a watch, and a new sweater to match the exact one Jake and sprayed clorox clean-up on and ruined! Thank you Darren!

Darren got a new razor, helicopter, church stuff, new watch, and some workout stuff.

Ethan got his I-pod touch, Ashton got his 3D DSI, Lily got her American girl Doll, and Jake received his Trash truck! ;)

Playing!

Merry Christmas!

Twas the night before Christmas…..

2012-01-05T22:17:00.001-05:00

Treats for Santa

Santa Came!

Even Rudolph drank the water and turned it red when his nose touched it! :)

Christmas Party

2012-01-05T22:06:00.001-05:00

Yes….. I am WAY behind on my blogging. So here is the first post of many to follow!

Sherrie had a Christmas party at her house. Many of the families in our ward that were staying here for Christmas met at her house for dinner and a fun gift exchange.

Always behind the camera!

Kate Me

Debi rolling out the dough for homemade tortillas! Yumm-o! Julie cooking them!

If you ever want to see your cup again, You must write your name on it! :) ha ha!

Cute hungry kiddo’s grazing in the kitchen!

Kate with Parleigh. Rick with Tyce. Mike Greenstreet.

Don’t ask!

Cute kids!

Gift Exchange! Theme: “As Seen On T.V.” !!! Too funny!

Taylor Darren

Me and my girl. Love her GUTS! ♥

How long can it possibly take to get a good group shot? We aren’t even kids either! ha ha!

Finally!

Happy Birthday!

2011-12-22T08:35:00.001-05:00

Darren turned 33! Wow he’s getting old! Good thing I have stayed the same age since we got married! ;) Poor Darren having a birthday 5 days away from Christmas….. It’s always been a challenge. But we always try to make him feel a little special!

He wanted a German Chocolate Cake. Always in my mind it comes out beautiful. Well… When you see the cake, don’t laugh too hard. But it did taste good! That’s what counts right?

One sad looking cake, but oh so tasty! ;)

Homemade hamburgers and oven wedges!

Dig in! Ethan is clearly STUFFED from eating cake FIRST! ;)

Darren and I attempted to make divinity this year and it WORKED! Super yummy! Darren loves this candy. It reminds him of his father. :)

♥Happy Birthday Darren! ♥

Chop Chop!

2011-12-18T23:11:00.001-05:00

Jake HATES hair cuts. It’s ALWAYS a battle to get him to sit still and tolerate the loud noise of the clippers….. He watched me take the boys one day to great clips to get their hair cut cause I was in a hurry and didn’t want to cut it myself for once. Well Jakes hair was getting long and I asked if he would go to this place that the boys went to and he said he would as long as the lady gave him a sucker like they did to Ethan and Ashton. I snuck a sucker in my purse just in case the lady didn’t follow through. He was a big boy and sat still and got his handsome hair cut! Yay!

Yay for suckers! and Haircuts where I don’t have to clean up the mess!

Date night!

2011-12-18T22:41:00.001-05:00

For the FIRST TIME EVER…… Darren set up a surprise date with me. Arranged the babysitter, Made reservations way in advance, and told me I had to dress nice! I was super nervous and WAY out of my “control comfort zone”!!! But it was still fun and I was anxious all week waiting to see where we were going!

So the day comes and we get to go to; drumroll ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Steinhilber’s!

This is a super, duper, fancy, shmancy, yummy-in-my-tummy, Really FANCY restaurant with really good seafood! Did I say Fancy? Um….. I was slightly nervous and out of my comfort zone. I literally felt like a hillbilly thrown into a super ritzy place! Darren kept laughing at me, and watching as I was “trying” to keep proper etiquette. All in all it was great. Food was great. company with the hubby was great and we also knocked out a bunch of Christmas shopping after! Score! Thanks honey! Love your guts! ♥

Lily’s Performance

2011-12-18T21:11:00.001-05:00

It’s fun having a child in Kindergarten because they always get the Christmas performance night! It’s been fun seeing my oldest 3 kids do this! Lily was so excited to get in her Christmas dress and go sing at her school! She was brave too and not “too shy!” :)

Love this pretty little girl!

Lily looking for us! :)

Just a little nervous!

Twinkle

2011-12-16T23:08:00.001-05:00

Our family likes to drive through the Botanical Gardens during Christmas time to see the lights. We did that this Monday for F.H.E!

The pictures aren’t that great because I was using my cell phone. But it’s the best I got! ;)

Kids hanging out the windows!

As Jake would say: “pretty sparkles!”

Gingerbread Houses

2011-12-16T22:58:00.001-05:00

All of us were without husbands this night/week (Except Debi)….. Call us crazy, but we decided to choose a night without husbands to have 13 children decorate gingerbread houses! Fun! ;)

Kate, Sherrie, and I met the day before to “glue” the houses together and pipe green frosting on the “trees”! So cute! Thank you Kate for the frosting, and thank you Sherrie for letting us “park” the houses at your house! :) And…… There was no shortage on candy!

What Ashton does best! What Sherrie does best!

So after taco salads, we cleaned up and started the let the kids decorate! Little kids got to go first! They really enjoyed it!

Little did I know, but Darren “snuck” into Sherries house after returning home from his week in Florida! He surprised me at Sherries! Nice Surprise!

Coming, coming, coming, I still don’t know he’s there……….

Awwwww, So cute!

Jakes mouth is STUFFED with candy! :) Cute Lily and her house!

Love these girls!

Here’s 11 of the 13 kids!

Seriously soooo cute!

Aren’t these cute? Guess who made them? I’ll give you 5 guesses and the first 4 don’t count! :)

The Santa Claus Shuffle!

2011-12-10T20:05:00.001-05:00

Another race down.

It was COLD! And by far not one of my best races….. but we did it! And I’m thankful Sherrie did it with me. (Let’s not forget to add that this girl just had stitches put in the back of her heel 48-hours prior and she still ran!)

All the people! Some Funny Costumes!

And the winner goes to……..

This by far is my FAVORITE Picture! The race was about to start and Sherrie and I took one last picture. We didn’t realize till we looked at it later…. But the lady in the back looks like she is praying! We laughed sooo hard! Granted, she’s probably rubbing her hands together cause it is so stinkin’ cold, but still funny!

Done! We are so tired, and so cold!!! Seriously there were times during this race that the wind was blowing so hard, and I was so cold I had to look at the ground to see if I was still moving! :) But needless to say, we made it through and we are glad it’s over! Until the next race! Adios!

Magical

2011-12-07T23:19:00.001-05:00

Ward Party

2011-12-07T22:46:00.001-05:00

The annual “Ward Party”. Always a fun time with good food, people, and of course Santa!

Sherrie and Brooke

Kate and Parleigh!

Beautiful eyes! Darren digging into the yummy food!

I brought these cuties to the party! Yummo!

Jakey sitting on Santa! He was happy when he got a candy cane!

His request: A Tonka Trash Truck!

Lily sitting on Santa! Her request: American Girl Doll

Ashton sitting on Santa! His request: A new bike!

Ethan sitting on Santa! His request: I-touch! Ugh they get expensive the older they get! ;)

Jakey watching his siblings sit on Santa! Getting tuckered out!

♥ Awwww, Love this pic of us! ♥

Turkey Bowl

2011-12-01T21:36:00.001-05:00

I almost forgot to post this!!! The Turkey Bowl! I think it’s tradition that men have to either watch, play, or do both when it comes to football and Thanksgiving!

Sherrie and I doing what we always do! Take pictures!

The kids had fun playing on their bikes, scooters, and hanging out on the bleachers! The moms walked the track, talked, tended to babies. Ya know…. The normal mom stuff!

Emma Andrew Scott

Loni Easton MacKay

Let the playing begin!!!

Good Times!

Turkey Time!

2011-11-28T16:58:00.001-05:00

After the race we all gathered at Sherrie’s house for Thanksgiving dinner! It was great! The kids could play while we all cooked! And the best part? I didn’t have to cook and entire dinner by my self!

What do guys do best on Thanksgiving? Watch football!

Dessert? Yes Please!!!

Don’t ask! :)

Poor Debi!

Greenstreet’s Came for Dessert!!!

Happy Thanksgiving! We had a wonderful day!!!

Not only did we run in a race in the morning, then cook dinner, we then did the black Friday pre-sales that night!!! CRAZY!!!!! Here is a short video I took with my phone of that madness!

Wal-Mart Madness! All for a bath-mat! Amazing!

Turkey Derby!

2011-11-28T16:34:00.001-05:00

What were you doing Thanksgiving morning?

I was running with my girls!

This is a funny story. The line to the ‘potty’ was HUGE!!! We really wanted to go before we ran, but this line was daunting! Then….. We see this port-a-potty with a door broke off. So….. We grab the door and hold it up for each-other! In and out darlin! That’s what I’m talking about! :) We got some “looks” from others. But you know they were just jealous they didn’t think to do it! ha ha!

And we are OFF! See you at the finish line!

Darren came to this race to support me! He took pics as he would see me!I’m looking a little tired here! Almost done!

The end! My best time yet. 28 min. 3 miles. Next race I want to get 25 min!

This was my friend Sherrie’s first race and she killed it!!! Debi and I ran through the finish line with her! Look at the determination in this girls eyes! She motivates me SOOOOO much!!!! She did amazing! And Debi is amazing too! She ran this in like under 24 minutes!

That’s it until next time!

Wordless Wednesday….

2011-11-23T09:00:00.001-05:00

R.I.P. Ole’ Reliable!

2011-11-22T21:02:00.001-05:00

When I was 18 I purchased my first car. It was a brand new 1997 Forrest Green Toyota Corolla. It was my baby. My beauty! My pride and joy! This car is now almost 15 years old! To say it’s been a good car would be an UNDERSTATMENT!

Let’s see…. let’s first start with the battle wounds this little car has been through:

This car has hit a full size ELK…..

This car has hit several small rodents like: rabbits, squirrels, maybe a cat or two.

This car has been rear-ended 4 times.

This car was in a severe head on collision.

There are many more “things” ole reliable has been through like multiple cracked windshields, scrapes, dents, kicks to the side of the door by a random person walking by. But I’ll leave her wounds alone now.

Places she has been:

Utah to Nevada multiple times. Utah to California. Utah to Georgia. Georgia to Texas. Texas to Virginia. And then all the normal every day driving in between.

Since we’ve been in Virginia, Darren has drove this car to Chesapeake every day to work averaging 70 miles per day. We drove this car OUT! The A.C. stopped working 3 years ago. We never forked over the money to repair it. Every summer, Darren would arrive home from work soaking wet with sweat from driving an hour in the Virginia heat and humidity without tinted windows or a.c. Well, after many many many times in the shop, many repairs here and there, money put into ole reliable over and over. I promised him the next time it needed “fixed” we would go ahead and retire ole Betsy and he could finally get a new vehicle. Well…..his day has come! (Darren’s that is….) The clutch went out again, resulting in Darren almost getting killed a couple times is all! :)

So….. We are bidding Ole’ Reliable farewell. We are soooo grateful for the dependability this car gave us over the years! It truly was an amazing car that NEVER stopped working!

Drumroll Please…….. Here is Ole’ Reliable’s Replacement

Toyota Tundra

The best part? Well…. One of the best parts. It fits our entire family of 6!

I will miss my Corolla, but her time is up. She was awesome. But I’m excited for Darren to finally have a car to call his own for the first time in his life! :)

Breaking Dawn

2011-11-20T22:08:00.001-05:00

As tradition has it….. Kate throws a “Twilight Party” the night the newest twilight movie comes out! They are always so fun! She decorates so cute and the food is the best!!!! Her rule is not to eat at least 3 days before one of her parties!! :)

Food: Make your own Irish Cream Sodas, cream stuffed Strawberries, Fruit, Veggies and Hummus, Chips and dip, Gingerbread chips with pumpkin dip, Red and Black sweets like m&m’s, licorice, peanut butter cups, red and black Oreos, hot tamales, and lets not forget the star of the show: drumroll please…… Red Velvet cupcakes with cream cheese butter cream frosting and chocolate ganache drizzled on top! They were to die for….. literally! :)

Me! Debi! Kate!

Sherrie and Brooke! Heather and Carrie

Kelli Carrie Caroline

Amanda Sherrie and Debi

Linley with her sweet grandbaby! Cute Kate and Heather

Yay! At the Theater!! Caroline, Sherrie, Robin, Kate

I may or may not have a tongue problem! ;)

Look how tired Debi is! Soooo funny! I ♥ Sherrie!

Cheers to another fun Twilight night with the girls! ♥

Williamsburg…….(yet again)

2011-11-19T15:48:00.001-05:00

We drove to Williamsburg again because we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see the beautiful fall leaves! We drove up with the Burton’s! Also met with the Greenstreets for lunch! It was a great day! (Sherrie and I were even able to do some outlet shopping!)

Our car behind their car,..,. Their car in front of ours! :)

Lily and Ashton rode in the Burton’s car, and Easton rode in ours!

LUNCH!

Lily and Emma Andrew and Easton

The BOYZ Table

Sherrie, Hillary, Brooke, & Robin

After lunch we parked in downtown Colonial Williamsburg and set off on foot to capture some great pictures!

Our Family The Cute Burton Family

Cute Mac and Lily

When ya gotta go, you gotta go! (yep, I took pictures of the boys going!)

Here are the BEAUTIFUL LEAVES!!!! ENJOY!

We had an amazing time. It was chilly but the view was breath taking! Thank you for a great day Burtons!

Did I mention it was chilly? This guy looked pretty cold! :)

Ghosts and Goblins!

2011-11-12T22:57:00.001-05:00

I promise this is my last post involving anything October or Halloween! But the pics and events were too fun not to blog!

A couple families from our ward gathered at the Burton’s house for some yummy soup in bread bowls before the trick or treating began! Thank you Burton’s for always opening your home! We had such a great time! Nothing better than good food, friends and fun!

Beef Stew! Chicken Veggie! Baked Potato Soup!

Seriously? Is there anything better than a hot bowl of homemade soup in a bread bowl? I think not!

Cute Brooke! Princess Toad! Lily and Emma! Rick and Tyce!

Dig in!

Parker and Easton. Ethan. MacKay and Easton.

Lily and Paisley! Brooke with her sister Hillary!

“Quit taking my picture!” Okay, I’ll take my own!!! ;)

My kiddos! In different costumes than the night before!

(This year I vowed not to waste money on costumes because we have a tote jammed packed with costumes! So they got to dig through and come up with whatever this year! It worked just fine!)

Preston! Loni!

Getting ready to go trick or treating!!! They were all so excited!!!

(After the group picture the kids took off running! I don’t know if Jacob was confused or felt defeated and left behind, but he ran and started to hide under the van.?.?.?. Before I pulled him out I had to snap a pic! Silly boy!)

Kate, Debi, Sherrie, and Brooke! The firemen handed out whole candy bars!

SCORE!

Pumpkins!

2011-11-12T16:50:00.001-05:00

When you have 4 kids and each one wants their own pumpkin to carve….. That equals a TON of carving and scooping! Sorry for the dark pics!

Here they are!

And 6 pumpkins equal a TON of pumpkin seeds! Yummy!!!

Trunk or Treat!

2011-11-12T16:26:00.001-05:00

Oops! I forgot to post about Halloween! Better late than never…So here it is!

Cute Debi!

Debi’s Kids: Loni, Ada, and Tyce with hubby Rick above!

Darren in his “decorate the trunk” efforts. He went ALL out! He had webs, skeletons, spiders, strobe lights, and even Fog! He L♥ves Halloween! :)

Friends and Costumes! Fun!

The Primary!

Cute Sherrie and Taylor

Hunt Club

2011-11-01T14:38:00.001-04:00

Another October “thing” we do. Go to Hunt Club, to pet the stinky…. I mean cute, adorable animals, ride the hay ride, and then pick out our pumpkins!

Hay Ride

Chickens

When Jake asks me for a chicken, I’m gonna get him a chicken!

Darren’s face is classic! You know he’s thinking: “You better not poop on me!”

The Three Little pigs houses really were made of straw, stick, and brick!

Pumpkin Time!

♥ I love these 4 Kids! ♥

♥ Mums and Pumpkins make me happy! ♥

Another Year Down!

CORN MAZE

2011-11-01T08:57:00.001-04:00

The last 2 years we have gone to Bergey’s Farm to ride their tractor hayride and do the corn maze! We went as a play group this time. I can’t believe I have 3 kids in school now and only Jacob! It’s kind-of nice! :)

Jake set his eyes on this goat! I didn’t catch it but the goat literally got sick of Jake and head-butted him in the stomach! Pretty funny!

You can see Jacob running from this goat!

Cute Kate and her daughter Parleigh!

Kelli and her daughter Serine

My friend Debi with her daughter Ada and son Tyce!

Jessica Bruning Preston Ada