HaPpY BiRtHdAy MOM!

The kids and I were fortunate enough to go to Boise, Idaho this year for my sweet momma's birthday. It was so nice to get out of town for a while and spend time with her...since she lives so far away we don't get to spend as much time as we'd like with her. We flew into Boise and rented a car for the weekend and stayed at a hotel with a swimming pool, so the kids enjoyed that. We hung out at mom's and then took her to Outback Steakhouse for her birthday dinner. She doesn't go out to eat often, so this was a real treat for her. We then opened presents, we got her a set of pearl earrings, some Bath and Body works, and a book about "Moms" that I highlighted all the sayings that reminded me of her. (She cried with that one, which was the response I was hoping for.) ;) We went and saw the movie, "Oceans", it's a documentary about oceans, obviously. It was gorgeously filmed! We then just hung out the rest of the weekend, going through old pictures and enjoying each others company. I'm so grateful for my mom, she's had a hard life...but I've always known how much she loves me and works so hard for me. I love her so much and was so happy that we were able to go see her for her "Special Day"!

Mother's Day--I know a month late.

I had a wonderful Mother's Day with my family. I am truly blessed beyond measure! MY special day started off with Todd getting up early and making me breakfast. He's so cute, he always closes the door, so he won't wake me up. I usually wake up from the yummy smell and comotion going on in the kitchen, so I pretend to be asleep when the kids and him come in to wake me up. I love my family for that! My kids know how much I love to pamper myself, so they bought me a home pedicure set and a massage cushion to use on my favorite chair--it feels SO good! We went to church and I was lucky enough to hear Austin speak in sacrament meeting on Mother's. He touched my heart so much--it was so wonderful to hear him in front of everyone tell me how much he loves me and how appreciative he is of the things I do for him. I don't think of alot of things as being out of my way--it's just being a mom--but he sees the sacrifice that it sometimes takes. After church we went to Red Robin (shhh...don't tell!) and I enjoyed my beloved Banzai Burger--so YUMMY! Then we came home and watched a movie together and just relaxed. It was such a peaceful day. I am so grateful to be a Mom and to enjoy my wonderful children. Thank you for making my mommy job so easy.

Easter!

So this weekend was Easter/Conference Weekend. I love conference! Sadly, I can't always say that I have loved it. When the kids were little, it was always so difficult to get them excited about watching people just talk for 2 hours at a time. Luckily now, we have the internet with great sites like http://www.theideadoor.com/ to download conference packets to help keep them entertained. I also do a quiz with the kids at the end of conference where they get a piece of candy if they answer the question correctly. At the end of the weekend, whoever answered the most questions right get to go on a date with Todd and me. You wouldn't think at their ages that this would be that big of a deal, but gratefully it is. We also enjoy a big breakfast of cinnamon rolls on Saturday mornings session and Potato Bacon Breakfast pizza on Sundays session. (Yup, I know the way to their hearts--food!) It was also Easter this weekend and for some reason it always feels like a sacrilege to me that we don't get dressed up and physically go to church (this must come from my pentecostal days). I am so grateful for the atonement in my life and for the sacrifice that Jesus made. I used to think that the atonement was just to wash away my sins, but it is so much more than that--he suffered EVERYTHING that I have suffered--physical and emotional. That is so overwhelming to me that HE did that. On Easter we always have a big ham and "Yummy Potatoes" dinner. Todd and I were able to enjoy watching the kids hunt for their Easter eggs and go through their Easter baskets. We always get the kids a new movie to put in their baskets. Kenz got "Alice in Wonderland", Austin got "Sherlock Holmes" and Cam got "Blide Side". I love that they still love being surprised with the holidays. When I think of how many holidays we have left before kids starting getting married and going on missions it makes me so sad. Even though I am happy for them and for their futures, I really think it's a mean joke to entrust us with our kids only to send them on their way. I don't like it much! Anyways, we hope you all had a wonderful Easter and enjoyed your weekend with those that you love.

Seiko!!!

So lately I have been a horrible blogger...just so much going on that this has been the last thing on my mind. For the last month we have had the opportunity to host another student from Japan. Her name is Seiko Kodama and she has the best smile ever! She will always be near and dear to our hearts. We had so much fun teaching her about our American culture and teaching her more English-especially slang. We found out one day that she had to give a speech in her English class about a new word or phrase that she had learned. The night before we were watching America's Funniest Videos and the comment was made about a "redneck". Sooo, of course we had to explain what that meant and had a very funny conversation about trailer parks and rednecks. She thought it was so funny that that is what she gave her talk on. Yes, us Manning's know how to have great converation! Seiko also wanted to teach us a little about her culture and wanted to make us dinner...we ate squid! It actually was pretty good (or at least some of us thought so). We all had such a great time with her and are all very sad that she had to go home. Hopefully someday we will all get to see her again. Thanks for the memories Seiko!

Thanksgiving and my baby is 20!

Yet again it's been a while since I did a real post about our family. I truly thought that once my kids were no longer "little" that I would have more time to myself and do the things that I wanted to do. However, I have found that this is not the case. There are days where I feel like I havent even had a chance to breathe. So right now as I sit in the comforts of my warm home, I thought I'd update our family and friends on what's been going on. Todd is still working with the census bureau and finishing up school. He is looking forward to Christmas break, so he doesnt have to meet so many deadlines. I have been working retail this Christmas, and I have to say that I definately hate it, although am very grateful for the opportunity to help out our family. I also received a new calling for church as the Enrichment Counselor. I am very excited for this opportunity to serve, I've had this calling before so it's not too overwhelming...yet. Mackenzie was hired at UVU and will be starting school there this January, she is SO excited to not have to work at the mall anymore and to start "learning" again. Austin loves high school (that's so wierd) and has been excelling at the drums with the bag pipe band. And has quite a few girls that he "chats" with, not quite sure how I feel about that. LOL! Cameron is doing well in school and has started a new interest in cup stacking, he really has enjoyed it.

My dad and step-mom, Trina, came for Thanksgiving. It was SO nice to have our family with us. It was the first time we had family over for the holiday since Todd joined the Army in 2001...definately long overdue. We also had Todd's cousin Rick and his family over. We all ate too much and enjoyed movies, games and each other's company. I was fortunate enough to not have to work on Black Friday, so Trina and I went shopping. We had a great time and picked up Kenz from work and went to lunch at Red Robin. Yummm! The Sunday after Thanksgiving was Mackenzie's 20th birthday, it is so crazy that she is that old...it has hit me really wierd this year, being the mom of a 20 year old, I feel old now...yes, I'll say it "middle aged". *GASP* It's all good though, I'm still young at heart and that's what really matters. Kenz had some friends over for a movie night and they had pizza, cake and all those wonderful kinds of things. They played games and were obnoxiously loud, but we loved hearing the laughter of our "baby girl". I'm so grateful that we have been blessed with such a beautiful, kind and amazing young lady.

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Some Japanese Culture

Man--I didn't realize how long it has been since I've posted last. Life gets so busy so fast and this week was SUPER busy! Our family had the opportunity to host a Japanese exchange student for a week through a company called Selnate and all I can say is that it was amazing! We picked up our exchange student, Hiroyuki on October 22 and while we were waiting in the BYU parking lot we were able to watch the BYU band practice for their Homecoming game--it was pretty exciting. After we met Hiro (is what he wanted us to call him) we took him home for his first American dinner--we went pretty easy on him, just some grilled chicken, rice and a salad, to which he LOVED Ranch dressing! They dont have anything like it in Japan and needless to say he thought it was a real treat! Friday during the day, the group of boys went to a farm where Hiro for the first time ever saw cows, chickens and horses. He said he was definately not a cowboy. Haha! That night we just chilled out with a pizza and he wanted to watch Transformers. He was pretty tired from the time difference (15 hours ahead) and jet lag. Saturday we got up early and took Hiro fishing at Utah Lake and to a picnic at Bridal Veil Falls. He loves the outdoors, so this was definately one of his favorite outings. Sunday we took him to listen to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sing at "Music and the Spoken Word". The choir sounded so beautiful--a little taste of what heaven will sound like. We then toured Temple Square. Hiro thought it was pretty amazing especially since we had a "cute" sister missionary from Japan as a tour guide. LOL! After we were finished, we went to our friend's, the Walker's house. They have been our dear friends for 20 years--and Nathan went on a mission to Japan, so he cooked us up some Gyoza (super yummy) and rice. The kids played and had a great time all night long. Hiro was shocked to see the boys come in with loads of wood to build a fire in the fireplace--we thought it was so funny that he was taking pictures of it. Monday night was family night and so we carved pumpkins--a first for Hiro and he thought it was totally gross that we scoop out pumpkin guts. He really enjoyed the end product though. :o) On Tuesday the YW/YM of our ward hosted a Halloween party for the Primary kids, so we took Hiro to Burger King for a "big American hamburger" that he wanted to try and then to set up for the carnival. Wednesday, the boys attended public school all day at local Jr. High Schools, Hiro said it was very busy and VERY noisy! He loved school lunch--which the boys thought was hilarious. We explained that Austin and Cam refuse to eat school lunches because they think its so bad. That night was a family dinner hosted by Selnate and we all enjoyed a slide show of the boys of pics all the families had sent in of the 274 boys that came. We also enjoyed the BYU Living Legends dancers--they were so fun to watch. Some of the boys danced traditional Japanese dances for us. Thursday was our sad day--we had to drop Hiro off at 6:00 am at BYU for their group to go to Zions National Park and then off to Disneyland. He was really looking forward to going but in a note that we found after he left he wrote, "I don't wanna leave here". (Yeah it made me teary eyed--shocking I know!) I received an email from Hiro's dad, Isao, yesterday stating that Hiro had gotten sick on the way to Disneyland and wasnt able to enjoy it--it made us all so sad for him. I guess he'll just have to come back and visit us again. Our family was so blessed to have such a sweet young man that fit so well with our family. We had such a great experience that we look forward to doing it again next year.