It's My Life

Swissmas and Temple Square

2010-12-06T16:56:00.004-07:00

We don't get up to Temple Square to see the lights very often but this year I vowed to make it happen. We met Craig and Eve in Midway to see the 700 nativities they have on display from all over the world(awesome) and the gingerbread house competition (sweet). We decided to keep up with tradition and eat dinner at the Spaghetti Factory at Trolley Square. We go to the Orem restaurant every now and then but it's just not the same. The place was packed as usual so we waited almost an hour and during the wait this little girl was walking toward one of the benches outside of the restaurant. She tripped in just the right spot and went headfirst into the sharp iron leg of the bench. I was standing right there so I helped her up. It took a few seconds but by the time I got her over to her mom blood was squirting out of her head, running down her face and all over her sweater. I felt so bad!!! It took about ten minutes to get it to stop bleeding and she had a huge goose-egg and a star shaped cut on her forehead. And probably a really bad headache to go along with it. Poor girl.

Santa was there so the girls got to sit on his lap but this is as close as Josie would get to him. Maybe next year.

We finally made it out of SF and went to Temple Square that was just packed with people!!! Downtown has changed so much that we didn't know where to park. It took about 30 more minutes to find a parking place and when we got out of the car it was close to 8:00 at night. Now, if we lived in SLC it wouldn't have been a big deal but having to drive 2 hours to get home it becomes a concern. We took a brief stroll through the crowds around Temple Square and headed back to the car because it had started to rain and the kids gloves were all wet from sticking them in the fountains. Lindsey said she had to test it to see if it was real water. Oh,it was real...and cold! We got home really late that night but had a good time and got to feel some Christmas cheer.

Thanksgiving

2010-12-06T16:46:00.003-07:00

As you can tell, I'm trying to catch up on recent events from the past two weeks. Three days after Josie's birthday was Thanksgiving so the family got together again to eat lots of food. It was a pretty quiet Thanksgiving. We couldn't go outside for our annual rabbit hunt/target practice because it was about 5 degrees outside...okay, that's an exaggeration, it was 15. So we just hung out at home, played some games, watched movies, went to grandma's house. Kind of like a typical Sunday but without the church thing. Dinner consisted of us, gma and gpa and Dave and his kids although they showed up just as we were finishing dinner and the kids had already eaten.

After dinner we played a couple rousing games of Battleship. Emily and I beat Jaxton and Gpa (without cheating) and then I beat Gpa! That was probably the highlight of Thanksgiving. Wait, I just remembered what the real highlight of Thanksgiving was. I made my own pie crust for the first time ever and it turned out great. However, the process was nerve-racking and I was anxious the rest of the day. At the dinner table everyone was saying how much they were looking forward to eating the pies but I was dreading it. I didn't know if they were going to taste good, if they had cooked all the way through or if the crust was going to be soggy on the bottom. I waited for pops and Davy to take the first bites and they were a hit! Success!! The hardest part though, was trying to get the dough off the counter. Any tips from you pie makers out there?

Josie's Birthday

2010-12-06T16:37:00.004-07:00

A few days after Emily's crazy friend party, we celebrated Josie's 3rd birthday. It was a more subdued event but fun just the same. She got little princess dolls, a Dora guitar, some clothes and a book. She hasn't put those dolls down in two weeks! It makes me feel so good to give a gift that gets used a lot. That doesn't seem to happen very often with toys but these are a big success! Yeah!

Emily's 9th Birthday

2010-11-30T11:43:00.002-07:00

I haven't posted in awhile because nothing really blog-worthy has happened...until Emily's birthday hit. From then until Valentine's Day our lives will be one celebration after another. So I'm trying to take things one day at a time and not stress out too much. Emily turned nine and what I thought would be a small, simple birthday turned into a weeklong party. It started out with Emily and grandma going out to lunch and a shopping trip on Saturday. Em received a Webkins from her Nana Karen on Tues so her Webkins account wouldn't expire. She was so happy. I can't tell you how many tears were shed in the previous weeks because she was afraid her account (and her pets) would die. Wed. was her actual birthday so we went to dinner and then she got to open her "big" present...Emily the American Girl Doll!

Finally, on Friday, we had a friends party and invited 8 crazy, screaming girls over to celebrate by making pizza's, decorating cupcakes, playing games and watching Toy Story 3. I'm pretty used to the screaming and laughing with three girls and their friends but I have never heard that much high-pitched screaming and complete chaos in my life! Emily thought it was great. Next year...I'm shooting for low-key.

Love Note

2010-11-03T15:22:00.002-06:00

Lindsey got this letter from a boy in her class yesterday. Her first Love Note!

Dear Lindsey,

I thenck you are beautiful and I Love you and i thick you are vere vere ckeut.

From,

J.(name withheld)

Are you serious?

2010-10-23T20:03:00.006-06:00

Okay. I know it's been awhile since I last updated my blog but almost two months have gone by? Seriously, I thought it had been just a couple of weeks, maybe three. I'm a bag blogger! Well, here's a little of what's been going on since Aug. 31.

Mark's bro and sis came from SLC and Phoenix, respectfully, with their daughter and son, respectfully, and met us at Lake Powell over Labor Day weekend. It was just like summer...hot during the days but it cooled off so nicely at night we could actually sleep. We had a really good time waterskiing, wakeboarding, kneeboarding, riding waverunners, tubing, cliff jumping and swimming. And of course we hit the marina for ice cream and carp feeding.

A couple weeks after that we headed north for a trip to Lagoon during Frightmares. It's always been fun to take the kids there even when they were really little but this time was especially fun because Emily is tall enough to ride every ride. I was amazed when she got on The Rocket rides, Blast Off and Re-entry. This is a 217 ft tall tower that shoots you up in the air at 4.5G's. The re-entry is a 200 ft free fall. The last time I rode that ride I thought my entire stomach was going to come up my throat and I screamed so loud my voice was gone the rest ofthe day. Then she rode Wicked which again, shoots you straight up in the air only to drop you straight down the other side. She's a thrill-seeker! Yeah!

Josie had so much fun riding the kiddie rides and Lindsey was able to ride most of the rides. In a couple of years she will be able to ride all of them. That's going to be really fun. I miss my kids being little but it's sure fun to do big kid things with them.

This is a picture of Lindsey picking out her pumpkin at the local pumpkin patch.

That brings us to last weekend when we headed back to Lake Powell for one last trip of the year. It was Fall Break so we got a long weekend and the weather was beautiful. The water has started to cool down but it was still swimmable, the water was smooth and the sky was a deep blue that you'll only find in the fall.

We took a couple of friends this time and had a blast. Emily and Lindsey both got up on the kneeboard behind the boat for the first time. It was really funny because they were both pretty nervous about starting in water but as soon as we put the boat in gear, they popped up and got onto the board. It was the funniest thing to watch...the boat was barely moving but I guess it was just enough to get them up.

This picture is of a tarantula we found crossing the stream in Moki Canyon. I've never come across one of those in Lake Powell.

A couple days later was my dad's 71st bday and now it's time for Halloween. The fun never stops!

The Last Hoorah!

2010-08-30T21:28:00.002-06:00

The last hoorah before school starts back up began on Friday with a trip to the pool with a bunch of moms and kids from our ward. It was a ton of fun as the mom's showed off their long-suppressed tricks on the diving board. I wish I would have taken my camera for proof but trust me, it was hilarious and the winners of the competition were:

Longest Dive goes to Marni (her facial expressions won this event for her).
Best Cannonball goes to Teresa and her sychronized diving partner, Dallin.
Best Back Dive goes to Amber...what form!
Best Toe Touch goes to Jana...STRETCH!
Highest Butt in the air goes to me...the pike will do it every time.
Best Flip...can't remember.
And Rebecca won the award for holding out the longest...15 years!!! Hopefully,it won't be another 15 years before she goes off the diving board again.

That night we took off for the mountains and the cool, crisp air. We rode horses, Mark went on a mountain bike ride and the kids just played and played.

This is me riding "Roy" on top of the world. What a view!

Josie and I went for a short ride. She loved it.

Today was the first day of school and here are Em and Linds in their first day outfits. The drop off went well...no tears...much better than last year. Both girls really like their teachers and they're willing to go back tomorrow. Phew!

Mountains vs. Desert

2010-08-18T21:24:00.002-06:00

Last week Mark and I took separate vacations. He went with a bunch of guys from our ward on what they called a "Scout backpacking trip" to the Uintahs. What they don't want everyone to know is there were 11 men and only 3 scouts. If they hadn't recruited those 3 scouts (and one of them was from a different stake) they would had to have called it a "Men's Only Trip" and none of their wives would have let them go. Mark is so lucky to have such a cool wife who encouraged him to go. he he he

He had a great time hiking, fishing and riding horses. The girls and I went to Lake Powell with my family for a few days and we had a blast. Mark had the camera so I don't have any pics of our trip but here are some from his trip.

My kids belong in the zoo!!!

2010-08-09T14:56:00.003-06:00

So, I read all these mom-blogs where the authors sing the praises of their little angel children who are just the cutest kids in the universe and never do anything wrong. There is never a cross word spoken, kids just play all day while their mother's complete incredibly cute projects, and never, ever mess up the house that was just cleaned.

Let me tell you about a recent day I spent with my children at the zoo. To give you a little background, when I have to get up for some event in the morning, I will not sleep the night before. I'm going over lists in my head, what snacks to take, don't forget the stroller, things like that. And to make sure I don't sleep through the alarm, I won't sleep at all. So the day starts out really bad anyway and put on top of that 4 hours of driving, walking around a stinky zoo in 97 degrees, feeling like I'm melting, trying to keep wandering-Lindsey with the group. It just makes for a really long day. But I pride myself on being a pretty fun mom taking my kids to do all kinds of fun things most days of the week. Despite it all, we had a good day at the zoo and Josie was fascinated with all the new creatures she got to see up close. However, the kids favorite part of the zoo was this giant carved elephant that sneezed and spit water and air out of its trunk. The kids couldn't get enough!

We left the zoo around dinner time and headed for an old favorite restaurant of ours...Robintino's. This kids were pretty wound up but didn't make too much of a scene. Only one guy kept staring at them as they giggled and played with their food. We left the restaurant and drove to the mall where I wanted to get a shirt for my class reunion which was the next night. I don't normally go shopping with all three kids...let me rephrase that...I don't normally go shopping, period. But since it was a special occasion I had to stop while I was in the big city.

We got to the mall and as soon as we entered the only store I wanted to go to Josie said she needed to go potty. Arrggghhh! I figured she could hold it for a minutes while I looked around since she went less than an hour ago. Within two minutes of entering the packed store I had to get after the girls for messing around and being too noisy. I picked out some shirts and headed to the dressing room with the three girls in tow. I tried some things on and had to go back out into the store to get something else. All of sudden I hear glass-shattering squealing and Lindsey yelling at Emily in the dressing room. I went back in and scolded the kids, telling them to be quiet. Josie reminded me she needed to go potty. I said, "Ok. In just a minute." She said, "Ok, mommy."

Tried some more shirts on going as fast as I could, back out into the store, more squealing, yelling, crying and laughing coming from the dressing room. Hurrying as fast as I can, trying to pretend like they were someone else's kids. Went back to the dressing room and hear Josie say, "Mommy, peepee!" Looked down at her to see her peeing all over herself and the brand new stroller I had just bought that morning! Oh my gosh! What do I do? Got some paper towels from the store employee who offered to clean up the mess until I told her that my child had just peed all over the dressing floor. She said, "Oh" and handed me the paper towels. Good thing it was a concrete floor.

By the time I was done cleaning up the mess I was so angry with my kids I thought I was seriously going to hurt them. I was shaking and it took every ounce of my being not to lose control in the store. I decided I would save it for the car. I couldn't believe how selfish and inconsiderate they had been and how poorly they behaved in a public place after I had just spent an entire day with them at the zoo in the heat, spent a ton of money on them, bought them lunch and dinner and they couldn't give me 30 minutes to shop for a shirt without making complete fools out of all of us! I was sooo mad. I think I even let a few choice swear words fly as I was cleaning up the puddle on the floor. Did I feel bad after swearing at them and giving them a complete tongue lashing in the car? Heck no. They needed to understand the consequences of their behavior. What are the consequences? No more fun mommy. No more fun activities. At least not for a few days anyway.

So to all you mommy-bloggers who tell everyone in cyberspace how wonderful your kids are, I have one word for you...LIAR!!!!

Pres Uchdorf Rocks!!

2010-08-09T13:06:00.002-06:00

Last week we had a great experience at Young Women's. We attended the Castle Valley Pageant in Emery County. We got a tip from one of the girl's friends who was in the cast that Pres. Uchdorf was going to be there so we were really excited that we might get to see him and get a picture. Apparently everyone in Carbon and Emery Counties had heard the same thing because the place was packed! We got off the bus and immediately started looking for a tall, white haired man with a crowd of people following close behind.

We didn't see him right off the bat so we decided to walk around the pioneer village when we heard an announcement that the cast meeting was starting. Being the wannabe groupie that I am, I figured the cast meeting would be the place where Pres. Uchdorf was hiding out and I was right! We decided to wait just outside the tent and be the first ones to get at him. My counselor thought I was crazy but it's not everyday that girls from small town Utah get to meet a general authority. So we waited and waited and he finally came out. You could tell he was trying to avoid the crowd of people who had gathered but we snagged him anyway and him and his wife were somewhat happy to take a picture with us.

As we walked away he said, "Goodbye, Princesses!" That was so cool because we had gone to the General YW Meeting where he had given his famous "Happily Ever After" talk so the girls knew what he was referring to. Yeah! It was better than meeting a rock star.

International Days!

2010-08-01T08:58:00.001-06:00

Karen says I need to update my blog but for the first time this summer we've had about a 10 days where nothing has been going on. It's been kind of nice to lounge around the house, go swimming, do some chores here and there but have no real obligations. The girls have been attending a science camp through 4H and have had a really good time. Luka came down and went to the Slimy, Gooey, Gross camp with Lindsey. They had a great time making snot, mold, gloop, glow in the dark bats and exploding Diet Coke using Mentos.

International Days finally came around again and the kids had a great time watching the parade and collecting candy.

Josie didn't like the sirens on the firetrucks so much.

Lindsey got to ride in the Dance Technica float during the parade. After the parade we headed up the park so I kids could ride the carnival rides and I could get my annual Funnel Cake fix. Yummy!

Huntington Triathlon

2010-07-10T22:26:00.001-06:00

Mark and Emily ran the San Rafael Classic Triathlon at the Huntington State Park today. This was Mark's second time running this triathlon and he finished 9th overall and third in his age group. Last year was quite an interesting experience. He finished second in his age group...right behind my ex-boyfriend from high school (Mike from Emery County for those of you who might remember) and the guy I broke up with probably 4 different times! Boy, was that awkward. I was really hoping he would be there today because Mark has gotten much faster but he wasn't. Oh well, maybe next time.

Emily did great finishing 10th in the girls division. It was a blast watching her. She got right in on the swim and Mark helped her with the transition to the bike where she got passed up by quite a few racers because she was on a Huffy bike from WalMart with no gears. She did really good on the run and after she finished I asked her how she felt. She said, "I feel GREAT! That was so fun!" Oh, to be young again. Mark is hurting pretty bad tonight but Emily went throughout the day completely unphased.

Emily is the in middle of the picture in the black life jacket.

The girls had a great time playing the water while we waited for Emily's race to start. I think next year Lindsey will do it too.

Girls Camp

2010-07-10T19:49:00.006-06:00

I've been at Girl's Camp all week where I had the great pleasure of celebrating my 29th birthday...again. I've been 29 for a few years now and maybe next year I'll turn 30...depends on how I feel. I would post some pics of my cute young women but I don't think their parents would appreciate that. We had a great time up at Flaming Gorge where we ran the river twice and went on a beautiful hike along the rim trail overlooking the lake.

The day we got there was hot and sunny so we decided to run the river the next day in the afternoon instead of in the morning as we had planned. We hung out all morning and headed down to the river after lunch.

The minute we got on the water, the clouds came in and the temperature dropped 10 degrees. The water in the river is 55 degrees but that didn't stop us from jumping/falling in and having water fights with the other boats. Our ward had brought very few "weapons" so I decided to jump from our boat to another and steal some weapons because we were getting killed (soaked). I made it to the other boat but on my way back with their water cannon in hand, they pushed me overboard and I fell into the freezing cold water. I got back into the boat barely able to breathe because of the shock of the cold water and then it started raining...hard...and it rained pretty much the rest of the 2 1/2 hour trip.

We had a blast despite our feet being numb and our bodies shivering the whole trip. We turned the oars over the young women and proceeded down the river in circles, going down rapids backwards and hitting every rock in the river. It was hilarious. We laughed so hard our sides hurt. When we finally reached the take out, the clouds parted and the sun came out. We all laid out on the concrete and warmed up. It felt so good. When I tried to get out of the boat, though, I almost fell on my face. My body had stiffened into a sitting position from being so cold and shivering for so long. I had to lay down to stretch out and I was chilled to the bone the rest of the day.

The next day we ran the river in the morning and had sun most of the time. Sure enough, when we pulled the boats out just after noon the clouds rolled in and the second we got back to camp it started hailing and then rained for the next four hours.

This is the view from our hike. The weather was perfect for the hike but again, just after noon and at the end of our hike, another storm rolled in. The clouds were dark and the wind blew and blew but it didn't rain that time.

This is me hiding from the freezing cold wind trying to eat my sandwich after the hike. We had a great time and it was nice to get away for a few days and not have to wipe anyone's nose or bum or cut anybody's food for them and nobody got in a fight...at least not in our ward. Good times!

Summertime...and the livin's easy!

2010-06-29T08:11:00.003-06:00

I thought that once summer hit, I would have all kinds of time to update my blog, clean the house, and work on unfinished projects that I didn't have time to do during the school year. I thought that with Em and Linds home, they would be able to entertain Josie so I could get some things done. But, no, that isn't the case at all. In fact, it's quite the opposite. Between holding Josie because the girls hurt her feelings by not letting her play with them, or breaking up fights between EmiLinds or making sure they aren't hiding downstairs watching TV all day, I have hardly had a free moment. Until this morning...when I decided I wasn't going to sleep in. That I would get up and work on the computer before the kids woke up. So, literally two minutes after I sat down at the computer in my nice, quiet house, I heard coughing from downstairs, then mumblings and rumblings..oh, no..the kids are waking up! I'm still not going to get anything done! And now, Emily is beside me complaining that her sister and her cousin woke her up. Is that Josie I hear waking up? Now they want breakfast. When does school start?

We made it to Lake Powell last week for an overnighter. Had to make sure the lake hadn't forgotten us. And it hadn't. It welcomed us with 100 degree temperatures and nice refreshing water. We packed up the boat and tried to head down river to find a nice secluded, shady canyon to camp in but the boat was giving us trouble so we turned around and camped closer to the marina in Hall's Creek Bay which was overloaded with houseboats. But it was all good.

I like these two pictures of the Queen Cleopatras on their river barges.

The nearly-full moon rising between two sandstone bluffs behind our camp. We left Lake Powell at 4pm, stopped at Stans, got home at 8pm and unpacked. Mark took a shower to freshen up and headed downtown to run Price's 1st annual Lunatic Triathlon that he has been training for for months. I thought he was insane but he did it and did quite well finishing 18th out of 150 people/teams. Go Mark!

2010-05-30T08:17:00.003-06:00

This is one of the songs from Emily and Lindsey's last singing performance. As you will note, Emily found her groove on this one. Maybe next year she will take break dancing. :) Sorry if the camera is a little shaky, we couldn't stop laughing.

School's out for summer...

2010-05-28T21:46:00.008-06:00

I haven't written in the last couple of weeks because things have been incredibly busy with the end of school but here's a brief update of what we've been doing along with some pictures.

Because of budget cuts the field trips at our school are pretty lame so we skipped school one day and went to the aquarium in SLC. The kids had a great time and Josie was just flabbergasted at all the colorful fish. And I only lost her two times!!! I really need to get a leash for that girl.

We headed to Goblin Valley for a couple of days and about got blown off the face of the earth. I've been in a lot of storms in southern Utah but this one took the cake. Sustained winds of 30 mph with gusts of 50-60 mph ALL NIGHT LONG!!! It was just fine until we left our awesome camp (Angie, you know the one) to go to The Valley of the Goblins. When we got out of the car the wind was blowing pretty hard so we only spent about 15 minutes there and decided to head to Little Wild Horse Canyon to seek shelter.

We had a great time in this beautiful slot canyon. The kids did great and although we didn't make it to the end we figured we hiked about 7 miles round trip!

This picture was taken inside our trailer the morning we left and the winds were probably blowing 25 mph. Our trailer was shaking so bad I couldn't even steady the camera to take this picture.

Lindsey, the explorer, looking for goblins.

The girls got all done up for Crazy Hair Day at school. It was the easiest hair do's we've done all year. No combing, no screaming, no crying. They just got out of bed and I put a bunch of loops in their hair. Both girls had a great year and came home with excellent report cards. Lindsey had a goal of passing off 1000 sight words and she reached it just a couple of days before school got out. She was so excited! We're glad school is out so we can all sleep in...now it just needs to warm up so we can go swimming and hit Lake Powell.

The girls finished up their dance and singing seasons. Lindsey is so cute on stage and really seems to have a knack for dancing. She catches on to the routine quickly and knows just what to do without relying on her teacher the whole time. Both of the girls had a final singing performance at the civic auditorium and Emily wowed the crowd with some unchoreographed breakdancing during one of her solos!!! Our friend who was sitting across the aisle from me asked, "Is she breakdancing?" It was the funniest thing I have ever seen. I was laughing so hard I couldn't hold the camera still. I thought it was hilarious but I made her apologize to her teacher after the show. The teacher's daughter was also on one and had some antics of her own. It was the best show ever...and the singing was good, too! I might have to enroll Emily in a hip-hop dance class so she can perfect her moves.

Day Trip to Provo

2010-04-30T22:31:00.004-06:00

All my friends take frequent trips to Provo and when I say frequent, I mean almost weekly. They go for various reasons: need to pick up something they can't get in small town Utah, want to go somewhere different for lunch, change of scenery, need to do some shopping, visit relatives, etc. Our week was going to be pretty slow and I needed a new swimsuit. I didn't want to buy one here or every time we go the pool someone else will have my same swimsuit...it's a small town thing.

So we took a trip up to Provo the other day and hit the Kohl's store for some great swimsuit shopping. Within 20 minutes I remembered why I try to avoid shopping with kids as much as I can and why I never buy anything for myself. As I was trying to pick out swimsuits off the rack Josie climbed out of the stroller and wandered into the endless sea of clothing racks. I called her name but she prefers not to answer. It's a little game she likes to play. I found her not too far off just walking around or looking at some boy, scolded her and put her back in the stroller. She continued to do this 5 more times but I was determined to get a swimsuit that day. I did not drive all that way for nothing.

We headed to the dressing room with a whole bunch of swimsuits to try on and Josie was intrigued by the new surroundings for about 30 seconds. Just as I had finished trying on the first swimsuit, she took off out the door. Oh yeah, here I go, out of the dressing room in a swimsuit that's a little too tight on top to chase Josie around this huge store. The dressing room is smack dab in the middle of the store so when you walk out you can go left or right and which way did Josie go? Who knows! I'm in this swimsuit, hunched over walking through racks and calling my little girls name and people are looking at me like I'm crazy! I was so embarrassed. I finally found her on the opposite side of the store from where the swimsuits are and hauled her back to the dressing room. She thought it was pretty funny and she did it several more times. So, a shopping trip that would have taken me 30 minutes if I had been by myself ended up taking almost an hour and a half with Josie in tow.

I made sure we went to the bathroom each time we entered and left a store to prevent any accidents with my potty-training toddler. She had done really well so far so we headed to Bajio for lunch before heading home. The place was nearly deserted so we picked a table by the windows and sat down to eat our lunch that I had been looking forward to for the last four days. I started into my lunch and she had a couple bites of rice when all of a sudden she opens the flood gates and pees all over the chair! Even better, there are slats on the seat of the chair so all the pee immediately runs all over the floor! FOR THE LOVE! I had prepared for just such as incident so I cleaned up the mess and grabbed the extra outfit I had brought. We headed into the bathroom and cleaned up as fast as we could and when we walked back out they had cleared our lunch from our table! Over $10 worth of food was now sitting in the garbage. I had had enough, time to go home. It's going to be a long time before we go to Provo for a day trip again.

Daddy!!!!

2010-04-16T10:30:00.003-06:00

I really shouldn't post this but it's too funny not to. One of those parenting moments that you just have to write down.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about Josie potty training. She's doing so well with the #1 aspect but having a little trouble with #2. She's been holding it for a couple of days but a bath last night helped loosen things up. I was at a Relief Society thing so Mark had the girls for the night. He put Josie to bed in a pull-up and her favorite footie pajamas. A few minutes later Josie was screaming "Daddy! Daddy!" He went to see what she needed and saw that she was buck-naked and holding something in her hand. She said, "Daddy...poop...here" and held out a nice little brown package for him to dispose of!!! OMG(osh)!!! I laughed till I cried when I got home and he told me what happened. I'm still laughing! There was no sign of the poop landing on her blankets, sheet, pajamas or pull-up. I think she caught it! Ahhhhhhhhhhh!

Spring break in Phoenix

2010-04-12T21:40:00.005-06:00

For the last 2 years Karen has been hounding us to come visit her in Phoenix. We told her that when we had successfully turned Josie into a movie-watching zombie we would tackle the 12 hour drive and come visit. Josie finally hit that milestone so we took a road trip to Phoenix for Spring Break. What a drive! Holy cow, next time we'll fly.

The second we got out of the car we headed for the backyard pool. The girls stripped down and jumped in and were quite shocked to find out the water was only 68 degrees! They immediately jumped out...and got their swimsuits. The water was cold but they didn't care. They had waited for this moment for months and they weren't going to let the cold water ruin their long-anticipated swim. They didn't brave the pool again until a few days later when their beloved Nana Karen drug them out of the house and threw them in!! You wait Karen, it won't be long until they are bigger than you and revenge will be theirs! Wah-ah-ah-ah.

After such a long, cold winter and a spring that hasn't been much better, it was so nice to sit by the pool and soak up the sun. The flowers were blooming and the air smelled so sweet.

We checked out a huge park in Anthem which "is a planned community developed by Dell Webb in 1989..." Karen told us after Googling "Anthem, AZ" on her iPhone. It was hilarious. Anytime we had a question about the area whether it was size or population or history Karen was all over it on her iPhone. I think she may have given Apple it's "There's an app for that." tagline.

We hiked the Thunderbird trail. I think that was the first time Karen had done this since living there and her house is about two blocks away.

Interactive art in downtown Mesa.

The girls got cooking lessons from Nana Karen. They made homemade OREO cookies, Jello jelly beans and eggs, chocolate eggs and Chex white chocolate snack mix to name just a few. One of my favorite parts of the trip was all the fresh squeezed lemonade, OJ and grapefruit juice that we enjoyed everyday. Some of it even came from Karen's own backyard and it was soooo good.

On our way home, we braved the wind and made a detour to the Grand Canyon. That was the first time Mark and I had been there and it was pretty spectacular.

The picture below cracks me up. Emily and I were checking out the view from the guard rail and I turned around and saw a group of Japanese tourists snapping pictures of Lindsey and Josie. Those two thought they were in a magazine photo shoot. The group couldn't get enough of them and Josie and Lindsey hammed it up pretty good for the camera. Forget the huge hole in the ground. Look at these cute American girls! Click, click, click.

Josie Goes on the Potty!

2010-03-26T10:04:00.003-06:00

Several times last week when Mark went to check on Josie before he went to bed, he found her buck naked. She had even taken her diaper off and was laying in her crib sound asleep without a stitch of clothing on. And she was dry! So on Monday I decided to try a little bit of potty training, not really thinking that she would actually catch on because she hadn't shown any interest in wearing panties or sitting on the potty.

She peed through two pair of panties within 10 minutes so we decided to go bare-bum and see what happened. I parked the potty next to her while she watched some cartoons and it worked! That day she peed on the potty 6 times! The next day she pooped on the potty 14 times! Seriously. Each day she has done so well except for a couple of accidents but that is to be expected. I am so happy for her but also kind of sad because my little baby is growing up and I don't want that to happen so quickly.

This is Josie flushing the potty after a successful attempt! Go Jo!

He's Everywhere!

2010-03-16T14:28:00.004-06:00

I've told you before about Emily's nemisis JB. Well, she had her final basketball game on Saturday and guess who we played. That's right. JB's team! And guess who scored the first basket. That's right. JB!! What is up with this kid? So I sicked my fastest and best defender on him and shut him down for awhile. He did score one or two more times throughout the game but we actually kept up with them and the score went back and forth the whole game.

At one of the time-outs, I had to sub players so I picked a particular boy to guard JB. I told him that he needs to stick to him like white on rice or like stink on poop and you know what he said to me? "I know JB. He is the smartest kid in the school. He won the spelling bee...twice!" I thought, "What the heck? Is that spelling bee going to haunt me for the rest of my days? What is up with this kid? How can one kid be so smart and play soccer and basketball so well?" Super smart kids don't play sports! And athletic kids aren't super smart! Oh my heck...what am I saying? You get the picture.

Anyway, my team did so well. They had improved 100% throughout the season and some of them can even do layups now. I don't know what the score was. We may have won by a basket, we may have lost by a basket. I think we may have tied. I wasn't keeping score. (I know you don't believe me, but it's true.) But it was actually a really fun game and it was so exciting to see the kids doing things that I had taught them. Go Team 5!!

Oh yeah. Emily scored right at the end of the game. That was her first basket all season. She was so excited!

Snowboarding Trip

2010-03-16T13:56:00.003-06:00

My friend and I were talking about her kids' piano lessons and their teacher last week and she told me that this particular teacher is so good that some parents take their kids out of school for their lesson because she can't fit everyone in after school. I thought that was a very interesting idea and since Friday was going to be a beautiful day and Mark had the day off we decided to take our kids out of school for their snowboarding "lessons". he he he

It was one of those perfect days that is great for spring skiing. When we were on the lift it was almost too hot so we took gloves and hats off but had to put them back on for the ride down the mtn. The kids did great again and Emily is really getting the hang of it. She even tried out the half-pipe a couple of times before she fell and hit her head on the snow. It was the end of the day anyway so we decided to call it quits. We're are renting helmets next time. I guess it takes kids a long time before they figure out how to ride "toe-side" so all of their weight and pressure is put on their heals which really tires out the legs. Lindsey's legs were really tired by lunch and she only lasted a couple more hours after that. It probably didn't help that she went to bed late because she was sleeping over with her good buddy Luka the night before.

This is us enjoying our chili lunch in the lodge.

We probably won't make it skiing again this season but at least we have something to look forward to when the temperatures drop at the end of year.

Josie's Latest Obsession

2010-03-10T09:04:00.004-07:00

Josie likes to dress up in Lindsey's old dance costumes. But lately the costumes have become part of her normal attire. The second she is done with her breakfast she goes downstairs and comes back up with a costume and healed dress up shoes. She wears these all day long everyday! We go to the grocery store, out to lunch, to the school, to daddy's work...everywhere, with the tutu on. She gets quite a reaction from people who see her. "Oh! She is soooo cute!" "Is she in dance?" "What a beautiful tutu!" And Josie just eats it up. She is one funny girl.

Yesterday, she took a nap in her favorite tutu and when she woke up there was pee all over it from a leaky diaper. I thought she would be done with the costume since her fave was in the wash but no, this morning she went downstairs and found a new one. Doesn't she look lovely?

New Calling

2010-03-07T20:26:00.002-07:00

About a month ago, Mark and I got called into the bishop's office and I knew it was something serious since they wanted both of us there. I had my fingers crossed that I was to be the girls camp director again but no, it was bigger than that...YW President!! My stomach dropped to my feet, I started feeling sick and dizzy. But of course, I said yes...maybe a little reluctantly but I did say yes. My councilors and I were officially set apart today and five minutes after walking in the door, I got a phone call from the Daughters of Utah Pioneers asking if I had any young women who could help them out on Sat. I couldn't believe it! They don't waste any time at all. I wonder how she got my name and phone number so quickly...probably the outgoing pres. So, the next few years are going to be really busy and really stressful but I hope we are able to have a really good time. We've got a good group of girls and hopefully there won't be much drama. Life as I know it is about to get a lot more complicated. If any of you have any great ideas or advice for me please let me know. I'm open to anything.

Spring Has Sprung!!!

2010-03-03T11:03:00.003-07:00

We FINALLY had a warm day! And by warm I mean over 50 degrees. You all might think I'm exaggerating but I am absolutely not. We have not been over 35 deg. since the end of November then all of a sudden on Monday it shot up to 50 or more and the sun was even out. The picture is of the kids attacking a small iceberg that hadn't melted yet. Notice none of them have coats on. But don't get too excited for us because Tues it dropped back down to mid-30's and was overcast all day long. Today isn't much different. I'm excited to have finally turned the corner but I really hate those teaser days of Spring. Only three more months until Lake Powell!

Living Vicariously?

2010-02-28T14:04:00.002-07:00

Emily had another gymnastics meet yesterday and because of the location she didn't have any space or time to warm up. She ended up taking 5th place which was kind of a bummer but I guess that happens when you don't practice. She was really disappointed because she felt she had done better than the other girls but after looking at the video we saw some places where she had messed up. Even though she was bummed she wants to compete again and try to do better so we were happy with that decision.

Just an hour before that she had a basketball game in which I am her coach. We hadn't won a game yet and have only scored 2 or 3 baskets the whole season but we ended up winning that game 12-2!! Emily only took one shot and just barely missed.

Lindsey is working on passing off her next three sets of sight words which will put her at 325 so far. They are required to pass off 100 to move on to 1st grade. Lindsey wants to be like her big sister and pass off 1000 words before the end of the year.

We've been watching the Olympics every night for the last two weeks and I'm feeling this very competitive feeling taking over in me. I want my kids to be champions sooooo bad. I don't want to be "one of those parents" but I think it's starting to overtake me and I have to remember to take some deep breaths, they are just little kids. Is it just me or does anybody else out there have those same feelings?

Spelling Bee

2010-02-25T15:53:00.002-07:00

Last Friday, the qualifying 2nd and 3rd graders had a practice spelling bee to get ready for the
spelling bees they hold in 4th, 5th and 6th grade. Em qualified along with 30 other kids so grandma, Josie and I went to watch. It was held in one of the classrooms and the room was packed wall-to-wall with teachers, kids and parents. Because it was a practice they had double elimination so it took awhile to whittle it down the contestants. After about an hour there were about 6 kids left and Emily was one of them along with her long time rival J.B. Emily had gotten all her words right up to that point and then missed "chemical". That was one of the words we hadn't practiced. At that point, they had run out of words from the list we had studied so they brought in the 7th grade word list. Em's next word was "postmortem". She had no idea what that even meant but she did her best but missed it. She was eliminated along with a 3rd grade boy.

There were only two boys left...a 3rd grader and "JB". These two were in a spell off for about 30 minutes and the kids, who had been sitting on the floor in a hot, crowded classroom for over an hour, were going nuts but these two kept going and going. Finally, the 3rd grader cracked and JB won the spelling bee. We thought we were done and could go home but they called Emily back in to have a spell-off for 3rd and 4th place with the boy who had been eliminated in the same round. I was really nervous! They let everyone go so there were just the teachers, Emily and her competition, and gma and I. They went back and forth for several minutes both misspelling their words so then the other person gets a chance to spell the word and then their own word and so on. Finally, the boy misspelled "mildew" and Emily got a big grin on her face. She nailed it and had to spell "celebration". That was a word that we had practiced and Emily nailed it to take 3rd place!!! Yeah Emily! We are so proud of her.

If she ever gets her certificate, I'll post a picture.

Boarder Chicks

2010-02-13T22:00:00.004-07:00

The girls have a long weekend so we decided to take them snowboarding at Brighton Friday. No other schools were out except for theirs so it wasn't crowded at all. The whole weekend was supposed to be sunny and clear so we thought it would be a perfect day. I haven't skied in probably 5 or 6 years and Mark only snowboards once a year so I was a little nervous that I wouldn't remember how or I would hurt myself...fall on my knee or something.

Down in the valley the skies were clear but looking up at the mountains we noticed this huge dark snow cloud stuck right on top. I thought, "Oh great, here we go. It's going to be cold and snowing at the girls are going to last 20 minutes and be done." When we got to the resort, the snowplow flags were whipping in the wind. The sun was completely obscured and snow was blowing off the cabins and lodge in huge swirls.

We went up to the rental shop and got our gear. How cute are those snowboards!!! How cute are those boarder babes! By the time we got out on the slopes the wind had mellowed a bit and the temp wasn't too bad. The plan was to have Mark teach them how to board. Now, when Mark and I were dating I attempted to snowboard. Mark said he would "teach" me and it went something like this: When we got off the lift for the first run of the morning he said, "Okay, see you at the bottom." We must have already been married because I would have dumped him then and there if we had just been dating. After an entire day of falling on my butt and knees over and over and over again, I was in so much pain I could hardly walk. And it didn't go away after a good nights sleep. I have never been so sore in all of my life and it lasted the entire week. Needless to say, I haven't been on a snowboard since. When the pain/fun ratio is too high, there is no point in doing it.

So, I reminded Mark that he actually had to teach them how to snowboard. We made our way down to the ski lift and there was an instructor off to the side teaching a 5 year old how to board before she got on the lift. I told Mark, "Do what she's doing. Just copy what she is telling that kid." So, that is how we taught them how to board. We copied what the instructors were doing with their students.

THEY DID SO AWESOME!!! I don't even know how to snowboard but I have to say that Mark and I did a pretty good job teaching them. We spent the morning on the bunny hill. After a yummy lunch in the lodge, we headed back out and joined up with Craig and Luka. We did a couple more runs and then headed to the Majestic lift to take the girls to a more challenging run. They did sooooo good! The first part of the run was a blue and they pushed their way down that part. The rest of the run was green but wide and long and they both went the whole rest of the way without falling. They got into their rhythm and just cruised, switching from right foot to left foot smoothly. We did that run two more times and then it was time to go. We are definitely going again before the season is over.

Today, I'm so sore and my knee hurts but the fun factor was much higher than the pain factor this time.

Gymnastics

2010-02-01T22:00:00.006-07:00

Emily is in gymnastics and went to her first competition in tumbling late last month. She did really well. She placed 4th out of ten girls and she's not even in tumbling! Apparently gymnastics and tumbling are two different things. I'm just learning this. I have video but it's not uploading. I'll try to post it again later.

We spent the weekend at our friend's cabin in Scofield and had a really good time. This is Josie and I heading down the hill on a toboggan. There were 12 adults and 18 kids under the age of 11. It was a little crazy at times but we all fit. We went snowmobiling, sledding, tubing, snowboarding and played games inside the cabin when we were cold and wet from being outside.

Okay, it finally downloaded. This is her first pass. Each girl had to do the same routine and the judges scored them on how well they did. Check it out, she's so cute!!

This is Em's second pass. It cracks me up when she bounces at the end.

Radon Tests

2010-01-11T16:55:00.003-07:00

In the Deseret News yesterday there was an article regarding radon in basements in Utah homes. Here's a link http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705356649/Utahns-urged-to-get-homes-tested-for-radon-gas.html. Radon has been found to cause lung cancer which is virtually undectible until it's in its late stages. My parents found radon in their basement when they bought their house in Wellington and immediately put in a machine that takes it out of the house. We have bedrooms and all our kids toys are in our basement. I'm ordering the $6 kit and sending it in to get tested. To get the kit, click on this link to the state's website.
http://www.radon.utah.gov/

Recovery

2010-01-08T22:39:00.002-07:00

Update on ice skating injuries...Ryan had surgery on his elbow recently but Jenny says he's recovering nicely although the first 24 hours were really rough. Go Ryan! My knee is still a bit swollen and sore. Went to the doc yesterday and he said I need to have my knee scoped. I think I'll wait on that...see if my knee will heal on it's own.

Afternoon on the ice

2009-12-26T21:22:00.003-07:00

Jenny and Ryan are in town for Christmas so we decided to do something fun with the kids today. We rented skates for everyone and went out to the fairgrounds for a little ice skating party. The kids caught on quickly and Jenny showed a surprisingly natural ability for ice skating. I was minding my own business skating down the bumpy rink when my toe caught and I pitched forward slamming my knee directly on the ice. The pain didn't go away and it was getting stiffer by the minute so I went to sit down. In the meantime, everyone was having a good time. Ryan and Jenny were doing all kinds of funny tricks, Ryan was filming, pops was helping the kids out.

We were just winding down, enjoying some hot chocolate when Ryan hit the ice catching himself with his hands. He heard a pop and was in instant pain. He and Jenny headed to the emergency room where they spent the next 5 hours. Turns out his elbow is fractured so they are heading home a couple days early to get that taken care of asap.

Not long before we left, Luka was scooting around on the ice in her snow boots, doing just fine when she fell hard and hit her nose resulting in a bloody, boogery mess. What a day! We should have done something safe...like sledding.

And darker...

2009-12-19T22:53:00.002-07:00

The day after my last post I was sitting on the couch and out of the corner of my eye noticed that some of the lights on the tree were burning really bright. You know what that means. Five minutes later...POP!...another strand went out. At the rate we're going, there will be only three strands lit on our tree and those are the ones we put on the night we put it up. So sad.

The tree is getting darker

2009-12-15T21:35:00.002-07:00

Another string of lights went out on our tree. We knew they would go out because they burn REALLY bright just before they die. That's what each strand has done. So be warned. If you see your lights burning brighter than normal...it's about to go out.

Oh, Christmas Tree

2009-12-10T14:25:00.002-07:00

Our tree has been up for a little over a week now and today another strand of lights went out. See the dark spot just above the middle of the tree? I hope this tree makes it to Christmas. How pathetic.

Deep Freeze!!

2009-12-10T13:45:00.004-07:00

I heard Al Gore yesterday talking about global warming and the polar ice caps melting. Since we have been in a deep freeze all week with temps about 15-20 degrees below normal, go ahead and send those polar ice caps down this way. They will freeze in an instant! And winter hasn't even officially started. Last night at 9pm it was a whopping zero degrees outside. This global warming is kicking my butt!

Baptism

2009-12-06T22:47:00.004-07:00

This has been another busy week. After last weeks birthday and Thanksgiving celebrations we were ready to put up the Christmas tree. What a disaster that turned out to be. The kids were so excited as we got out all the boxes and Mark started putting our tree together. It's a pre-lit tree we bought when Em was a baby and it has served us well all these years. However, last year a couple of the stands of lights started acting up but with a little shake they came back on and stayed on. Phew...another year we avoided buying a new tree.

Mark had set up the whole tree and then decided to plug it all in. We weren't so lucky this year as half the lights would not turn on. By this point, the girls had put out all the other decorations they could and were ready to move on to the tree. It was getting late, they were getting tired and Mark's frustration was growing. He tried everything we could think of to get the lights to work but to no avail. We were about to throw the whole thing out and just buy a new tree when my neighbor suggested we just string new lights on top of the old lights. Yeah! It worked and we turned the tree so the dark spots are in the back where you can't see them anyway. We did have to wait until the next night to put the decorations on but it looks good enough for now.

Just the other night, another string of lights went out. Fortunately, it was in the back and you can't really tell.

I love this picture because it shows Josie's true character. She won't hold still for even two seconds while I take a picture. She was moving on purpose. She's such a teaser.

On Saturday, Emily got baptized. It was a really nice program and Mark's brother (and his family) and aunt and uncle were able to come down. We had a really nice luncheon afterward and were able to visit with family and friends. We had a packed house and as soon as everyone left, we headed to Lindsey's dance performance at a holiday craft fair. When that was done we went back home, gathered up Emily and went back to the fair for their singing performance. It was really cute. They did so well. They are both a couple of performers and didn't seem phased at all to get up and sing in front of a bunch of strangers.

Thanksgiving Week

2009-11-29T22:01:00.004-07:00

It's been a really busy week. Last Sunday, we celebrated Josie's 2nd bday (I need to find the pics. Hopefully they're on the other camera.) On Wednesday, we started swimming lessons again. On Thursday, we celebrated Thanksgiving with a traditional rifle outing. The younger kids weren't too interested so they went hiking but Emily and Jaxton turned out to be sharp-shooters with the pink Cricket gun. Emily hit some pretty good targets. We found out that pumpkins make really good targets. We had a mostly-empty spray paint can sitting on a log with a pumpkin. Emily shot the can and spray paint sprayed out of the hole and painted the pumpkin. It was hilarious. She was so excited we had to take a picture of it.

You'll never guess what we did. We are having so much fun with Dash that we decided to get another puppy! Just kidding. Because we stayed in town while all of our friends left town, we ended up dog-sitting, chicken-sitting and rabbit-sitting. This pic is the two puppies snuggly during nap time. So cute! They had so much fun together it did make us think about adopting one of Dash's bro's from the pound.

On Friday, we played with the dogs all day and the girls had a sleep-over at our house that night. On Saturday, Mark and I went with Craig and Eve to the Utah/BYU game. It was a really fun game to see but we were disappointed with the outcome. GO UTES!!!

New Puppy!!

2009-11-22T21:26:00.005-07:00

So, we finally gave in. After Lindsey asked for a doggy EVERY DAY for two or three years, it just sort of happened. We weren't planning on it. We didn't seek it out. It just found us...at WalMart. We got him two weeks ago when he was two months old. The first night was more horrible than the worst night we've had with any of the girls. We put him in the bathroom and he whined and cried and cried and whined. After an hour of this we couldn't take it anymore so Mark played the role of momma and slept on the couch with the dog in his cardboard box on the floor. Most of the night Mark had a hand on the dog to make it feel like it was cuddled up to his brothers. He had to take him out to "piddle" four times and by the time morning came, we had made up our minds to take him back. Emily was heartbroken, Lindsey took the news like a trooper, which completely shocked me because she was the one who wanted a dog so bad in the first place and Em had been indifferent about it.

We made arrangements to take him back to the owners after we ate dinner at gma and gpa's house but after spending a couple of hours talking about the virtues of having a dog, my dad had us talked into giving him a couple of more days to work out his loneliness. The second night was much better...he slept in the garage with a hot water bottle to keep him warm. The third night was even better and then we finally got him a crate to sleep in. He loved it. We put him on the back patio with his new home and some blankets and he stayed warm and toasty.

Two weeks later, we still have him. I guess he's part of the family now. He's a pretty silly puppy. He's a border collie/red heeler mix but he looks like a fluffy black lab. At two months, he's already got the instincts of both breeds. When we walk him, he stays right at my heel and when the kids run, he tries so hard to stay with them and herd them like their little cows or sheep. This is Dash.

One Year Later

2009-11-17T21:35:00.007-07:00

I don't know if anyone checks this blog anymore...I don't. Anyway, I was just scanning Darren's favorite blog list and saw mine and noticed the date. So, one year later, it's Emily's birthday again! I can't believe it. She is now 8 years old! Oh, my little girl is all grown up. She had a really good birthday this year. No illnesses. We took a bunch of her friends bowling and played several crazy games to keep it interesting and different. We had a contest and everyone got a prize. Some of the categories were fastest ball, slowest ball, the gutter ball prize, high score, low score, etc. It was really fun. The pics are of Em blowing out her candles and a little tunnel bowling the kids did. That was part of the frame-by-frame game we played. That was the kids favorite part.

On Sunday we had dinner with gma and gpa, Davey and his kids and had a little family celebration. So, today is her actual birthday and we're kind of celebrated out so it was an anti-climactic day. Now we're getting ready for Josie's 2nd birthday which is Sunday.

Happy Freaking Birthday!!

2008-11-17T15:26:00.002-07:00

Emily turns seven years old today. She started off the day at 6am with a fever and throwing up. She threw up again at 8am but has managed to keep some food down the rest of the day. I guess we'll go ahead and have cake and ice cream tonight.

She's sitting next to me right now completely bored out of her mind!! We've looked at everyone's blogs that we know of. What I am going to do with her next? I think I'll take a nap. I know she really missed going to school today and I will have to remind her of this day the next time she tells me she doesn't want to go to school.

New president

2008-11-05T11:18:00.005-07:00

Well, we have a new president and although I didn't vote for him I really, really, really wish him the best of luck and I hope and pray, for all of us, that he can have a productive, successful presidency. You know what this means, don't you? This means that no longer can the black man use the white man oppressing him as an excuse for not stepping up to the plate. The white man has just elected a black man as president. There are no longer any limitations for this race. It will be interesting to see what they do with it over the next four years.

Did I just say that out loud? Sure did.

Nurture vs. Nature

2008-10-15T21:25:00.004-06:00

Emily played soccer for the first time 18 months ago and I swore I wouldn't put her in it again because it was just so mind-numbingly boring watching a pack of kids run around the soccer field in a big clump trying to kick the ball. Well, I gave in and put her in it this fall because her best friend was playing and Emily wanted to try again. Mark is their coach and the first couple of games were just hilarious...kids standing around looking at the sky while the ball goes right through their legs, doing cartwheels, jumping on each other's backs, kicking each other shins to test out their shin guards...I think most of you know what I'm talking about. Well, after a couple of these kinds of games and getting killed by the other teams I decided to urge Emily to try a little harder, pay more attention and actually follow the ball after she kicks it.

A few games into the season, things were looking up. The team was improving a little, the kids were having fun, parents were commenting on how much better they were all doing, however, the team was still getting killed and the other teams scored more goals for us than we scored for ourselves. Mark was doing a fine job coaching but last week he was in Provo and didn't make it back in time so I reluctantly stepped in. The second I stepped onto the field my competitive side fired up and the game was on!!! I quickly figured out how to get the kids to run a "fast break" and Emily scored for the first time in her life!!! It was so exciting!!! So we did it over and over again and ended up winning the game! Everyone was so happy and it felt good. I think everyone had fun...because winning is fun. Right?

Mark was out of town again tonight and I was happy to sub. We were playing the best team in the league and their coach is a jerk. I have to admit, I spent a little bit of time today scheming about how to beat this team or at least score on them. To make a long story short, we scored a couple of times, all the kids got to kick and throw the ball in, they were completely exhausted by the end of the game, one of my parents took their kid out of the game and left, I got on the ref and the other coach for standing in the goalie box while my team was trying to score, and I nearly lost my voice. I am not meant to coach 5 and 6 year olds. So I'm super competitive...is there something wrong with that? If so, I blame my parents.

Catching up...

2008-09-22T21:06:00.010-06:00

Emily and Lindsey on their first days of school. Josie hanging out at home, posing for the camera. Her name has evolved from Josie to Posie to Pose Pie to Podey and Poders which Lindsey made up. She's so cute. Who does she look like more...Emily or Lindsey. I think she looks so much like Lindsey, in fact, I should post some side-by-side pictures of both of them at this age.

Enough!!!!

2008-09-20T16:41:00.003-06:00

The next person who walks up to me and says, "Oh, look, my two month old baby is bigger than your 10 month old!" will get their head ripped off. After three kids who are on the bottom of the growth charts I am so tired of hearing that. I can't take it anymore. I'm going to scream!!! No, I think I will just point out that "yes, my kids may be smaller BUT THEY'RE A LOT CUTER!!"

On another note, Emily wants to be Pippy Long Stockings for Halloween. Anyone know where I can get the braided pigtails or how to make them?

Kids Say The Darndest Things

2008-08-18T20:44:00.002-06:00

When I took Em to school today I stopped in and said Hi to her kindergarten teacher from last year. She reminded me of some funny things Em had said in class:

Emily would sometimes get her b's and d's mixed up. One day they filled out a worksheet and the last statement said, "When I grow up I want to ....", Emily filled it in with "go to Harverb". I'm going to send that in with her Harvard application.

One time they were learning political correctness and that you should call Indians Native Americans. Later on that week they were learning about oceans and the teacher pointed to and named the Indian Ocean. Emily raised her hand and said, "Don't you mean the Native American Ocean?"

Another time, they were playing with some huge, soft die and the kids started bending it. Emily showed Miss Tawna and said, "Look! A bendy die!" Miss Tawna thought she was talking about Abinidi from the Book of Mormon and it took her a good couple of minutes to figure it out. She thought that was soooo funny!

A couple of weeks ago Emily went to basketball camp. She came home one day and told me, "I learned how to trespass and bounce pass!!!" I thought that was so funny we have now renamed the chest pass a trespass.

What a Day

2008-08-17T19:18:00.002-06:00

We made a trip to SLC this weekend to attend Grandma J's funeral. The trip started out pretty rough as I forgot to bring the Jello blocks I was supposed to bring for the luncheon (actually I didn't even remember to make them), a slip for Emily's see-through dress (she wore shorts underneath instead), dress shoes for both girls (they wore their dirty, ragged flip-flops) and a swimsuit for myself (I baked in the sun instead of swam). However, we didn't forget to bring any of the kids...that's always a good thing.

The funeral was a very nice celebration of Lily's life and we enjoyed the rest of the weekend with friends and family who had come from all over the country to be there. After getting past all the things we forgot, it turned out to be a nice trip.

For anyone who may have been offended by Josie's rejections, please understand that that is the stage she's in right now and she will be over it in about 5 years. I think she was also feeling out of her element because she seems to be so happy to be home and able to crawl all over the house getting her toys.

More pictures

2008-08-07T19:57:00.003-06:00

More pictures of Lake Powell.

Emily knee boarding and cliff diving.

Lindsey doing a twist cliff jump.

Josie having fun (pre-crawling stage).

End of Summer

2008-08-07T10:01:00.002-06:00

Well, summer is winding down. Emily starts 1st grade on the 18th, full day and full week, which is something that is unheard of in the Carbon School District. We survived Mark being gone last week and we're so glad he's home. We all missed him but Lindsey especially was longing for her daddy by Wed. and insisted on calling him several times a day. He's leaving us again next week to do his dream hike with the scouts in our ward into the Uintah's and to King's Peak. They are taking horses this time and will be able to pack in all kinds of good food which will be a new experience for Mark. He usually has to eat the packaged dehydrated food for every meal because it weighs nothing. He is so excited he started packing before he went to Las Vegas.

I think I have mentioned before how super-coordinated and strong Lindsey is. Well, last week at International Days she climbed to the top of the rock wall which is about 30 feet high. She may be the only 4 year old to have done that. I haven't seen any kids younger than her climb to the top and ring the bell. Emily and Addy did it when they were 5. She's so awesome. And it wasn't a fluke because she did it again the next day. I really didn't think she could do it but she never ceases to amaze me with the things she can just do all of sudden. You go girl!!!

We just got word that Mark's grandma Jespersen may be about to pass away. She's been in an assisted living center for 6 years and has really been out of it for the last 4. She didn't wake up yesterday and hasn't eaten anything in two days.

Las Vegas

2008-07-28T10:41:00.002-06:00

Well, I'm all alone this week as everyone (Mark, mom, dad, Craig and Eve) all went to Las Vegas for furniture market. I thought about taking the girls and going down there too but since Vegas' motto has been "what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" over the last few years, it's become less and less family friendly. Plus it's just way too hot right now and packing three kids around in 115 degree heat all day is not at all appealing to me. So, we are hanging back in Price this week. Darren and his family left to go home on Tues. We had a crazy dinner at Grogg's on Monday night with everyone who was in town. The place was packed-I guess dinner at Grogg's is a pretty popular Family Home Evening activity-and there was one waitress. It took over an hour to get our food and the kids, all of them, were going absolutely nutso.

Emily is in basketball camp this week and next and is really enjoying it. She has such a hard time taking instruction from Mark and I that we have to have other people teach her things that we could very well teach her for free! We went swimming at the Helper pool yesterday and everyone had a blast. Even Josie loves to be in the water. Lindsey is just an amazing little swimmer. She has no fear and will go off the diving board often showing up many kids twice her age. I think she actually thinks she's a dolphin sometimes.

Lake Powell - July

2008-07-23T21:53:00.003-06:00

With my brother & his families annual migration back to Utah, we had to go to Lake Powell to celebrate. We enjoyed some great weather (except Saturday nights wind storm), good water and typical Lake Powell fun.

We camped at Stanton Creek, went on boat rides upriver, explored canyon fingers, went on a hike to the sand hill, swam, swam and swam. Emily entered a new stage - knee boarding and cliff jumping. She did awesome! Lindsey caught a catfish at camp and Josie floated in her tube. Can anyone ask for more?

Hospital Visit

2008-06-18T14:52:00.002-06:00

I just got back from the hospital visiting with mother. They moved her out of ICU to the regular ward so the girls were able to go with me. Mother seemed to love having them there even though they were bouncing off the walls. She looks good, has color in her cheeks, etc., but when she talks it's like she's aged 15 years. I'm hoping it's just because she's groggy from the pain meds and the tube they had down her throat a few days ago.

She's still experiencing pain and there's still bile drainage which means the bile duct hasn't closed up yet. I had to tell the nurse to speak up when she talks to her because of her hearing. Even though mother nods as if she understands the directions she was just given, she actually didn't hear anything the nurse said.

In other news, Emily has been going to a summer camp at her school with her best friends and is having a blast. They have a theme every week and this weeks is Fairytales and Imagination. Yesterday, they made sock and sack puppets and today each group put on a puppet show.

Lindsey went to a summer camp at her preschool and had a great time too. She has this week off and asks everyday when she's going back to school. She loves it. We've been doing a preschool workbook at home and she cruised through it. She's so ready for preschool.

Josie is almost 7 months old now and is getting to be so cute and fun. She's proving to have just as much energy as her sisters. The girl won't hold still! She's got the biggest smile and she's not afraid to use it!

Father's Day

2008-06-17T17:20:00.002-06:00

We had a really nice Father's Day at my house on Sunday with Craig, Eve and girls, Davey and kids, and daddy. Mother was at home recovering from her gall bladder surgery and septic shock that started to show itself a couple of days after the surgery. Eve and I joined forces to make a really good dinner, although Eve's cooking force is much stronger than mine, and we all had to be rolled out the door at the end of the evening. I think all the father's liked the gifts they got, especially daddy who loved the flower pot we gave him with all the grandkids handprints.

The day ended kind of badly when daddy had to take mother back to the hospital because of the extreme pain she was experiencing. The ER was packed so they sent her home and she ended up going back at 4am. They admitted her to the ICU so they can keep a really close eye on the pain and she is still there today.

She did have a really good night and morning because she didn't need any pain medication but this afternoon was feeling quite uncomfortable so they gave her more Demorral (sp). I really hope this passes soon. It is just heartbreaking to see her in so much pain especially after a surgery that is so routine most doctors do it with their eyes closed. Maybe that's the problem. She did have a bath today and the nurse changed her bed sheets. She felt so good, like a new person. And then the pain hit right after she had a popsicle for lunch. She is so frustrated. I'm gong back this evening and I hope she is feeling better.

Do you know this man?

2008-06-03T12:47:00.003-06:00

Who knew that Marion cleaned up so nicely?

Or that he had such a pretty granddaughter?

Sisters, sisters...

2008-06-03T11:40:00.006-06:00

For the last few months, everyone has been asking for updated pics of the girls. Here are some of my favorites. For Mother's Day, Mark and the girls gave me a hammock stand so I can use the hammock we have been storing for the last 5 years. Unfortunately, everytime I touch it, the girls hop on with me.

Here is Lindsey on her 4th birthday with Hannah next to her. Yes, I made that beautiful, lopsided cake! Lindsey loved it. She had her first friend party with 7 girls from her dance class, church and Hannah and Jaxton. Jaxy stayed outside most of the time. Too many girl cooties floating around.

This is Emily on the last day of school with her awesome teacher, Miss Tawna. She's really going to miss her. Emily had a great year in kindergarten...she is doing upper 1st grade math and reading at a 3rd or 4th grade level. Pretty good for a girl who could only read 3 words going into Kindergarten. Kids are required to pass off 100 sight words (most commonly used words) before going to 1st grade and Emily passed off 1000! She was competing with a boy from her class and one from the class next door. Everytime they passed off another set, Emily would jump up and tell her teacher that she wanted to pass off some more even though she hadn't practiced them and most of the time she did it! I wonder where she got her competitiveness? Grandma and Grandpa?

We are so proud of her and Lindsey might turn out to be just as smart. Emily is teaching her things she learned in Kindergarten so she'll probably start Preschool out way ahead of kids who have been in it for an extra year. We'll see.

Rookie

2008-05-28T16:43:00.002-06:00

Okay, so the blog is up and running and I'm feeling quite inadequate. So, this is like a journal but online so everyone can see? Who's brilliant idea was that? I don't keep a journal for just such a reason...I don't want anyone to read it! I'm putting myself out there with this so please bear with me. This is mostly to keep my long lost friends and family updated on my family.

We're online...

2008-05-03T22:39:00.002-06:00

I've finally got around to setting up the blog. Now I need to spend some time uploading photos and other interesting stuff...stay tuned.