Pre-Thanksgiving Fun

Emily's Thanksgiving Day celebration is happening tomorrow at school and part of it are the 3 sisters. As we drove home from Emily getting her hair cut, this was the discussion the girls were having about the 3 sisters:
Em: Mom I decided which of the 3 sisters I want to bring tomorrow. It's beans!
Me: That's great b/c that's what Grammy asked us to bring. I just bought 2 cans.
Ash: The 3 sisters are corn, beans, and squash
Em: No it's corn, gourds and squash
Ash: No it's beans
Em: Yea I know, because gourds and squash are the same
Ash: Pretend a gourd came by and squashed the squash. Squash the squash. Ha ha ha. Then there was a new squash.
Em: Are gourds and squash the same mom?
Me: I don't know. Let's go home and research.
I enjoyed the separateness of the conversation that was weaving in and out of connectedness.

Ashley has her kindergarten Thanksgiving play tomorrow. She plays the part of a pilgrim girl and has two lines. Her teacher is over the top fantastic and the parents are super at helping out in the class. Ash came home today with a pattern block/ feather headband, a dyed bead necklace, and a pillowcase cut and puffed painted to look like an Indian outfit. She wore that outfit to get smoothies, to Home Depot, while eating lunch, playing pollies, etc. In all, more than six hours of wearing a pillowcase and loving it. Tonight during dinner I got a preview of the 5 turkey songs that the kids will be singing at the show. Later while thinking about her big day Ashley said, "Tomorrow is the best day of my life!" Being 5 1/2 is a pretty good life.

Hit or Miss

Book of Mormon Reading: Hit or Miss

Presently I'm an occasional scripture reader. I feel good about picking up the book more days than not to read a few versus. I glory in where I'm at because the stage I was in before was not reading much at all. I have verses highlighted from a previous read-through so I usually find a couple good ideas I feel inspired about. I usually flip open to a new chapter each time and find God's word for me for the day.

Most days I think, "I could read a couple verses on the toilet while I have a minute to myself." Yea right! Some days it's during that same minute of time that my kids have to come find me, fling the door wide and insist being right by me until I am done. "Seriously you couldn't wait one minute?" I would call those days the Miss on finding God a place in my heart through scripture reading.

Today I was struggling with something mentally. I am still a little sick with a cold so I'm giving myself some slack, but I was grouchy at my day and was stressed about Bryan leaving to Utah to spend lots of time and money on his brothers. I opened the triple and found D&C 25 as my scripture for the day. I even said a small prayer before I read since I figured God knew all things, he could help me figure out my problem. Section 25 was written to Emma Smith, Joseph's wife and it's full of counsel to her to support her husband. Say what you will about Joseph, polygamy, priesthood & women subservience; God spoke to me through those scriptures. I felt like arguing based on aforementioned reasons as well as a whole spreadsheet I typed up of reasons I feel justified in my beliefs and feelings. I decided that I was okay in trusting God and putting aside all the reasons. I would say definite Hit on finding God through scriptures.

My only problem is my feelings and beliefs on the subject didn't go away. And some of my reasons have left me wondering. Other times I feel a great sense of relief that I didn't have to figure out the issues and have a battle before Bryan left on his trip. In any rate, I feel encouraged about God knowing me, the scriptures speaking to people today, reading the word being a worthwhile investment of my time, and finding that trusting God was a lot less stress in my life overall even though he didn't tell me what I wanted to hear.

Grateful that I matter to him

I fell asleep tonight around 9:30pm while laying next to Aaron helping him go to sleep. I didn't intend to stay there asleep b/c I usually wake up after 5 minutes and are able to get up and put myself to bed. Bryan went to the grocery store. I woke up at 10:30pm extremely groggy and had a hard time having the energy to do anything: brush teeth, etc was a big chore. With Bryan's help we were in bed around 10:45.

12:30 I wake to crying Aaron. He fell out of bed the other night and just needed a hug to go back to sleep. I figured it was the same and didn't take my glasses with. (I always take my glasses). I was half way to their room when Emily calls out, "Mom he's throwing up!" Sure enough he was.

He's never thrown up before poor guy. He was sad and moving around and got his bed and the girls' bed yucky. Praises be for an echo-y tile house and that Bryan woke up to help. His first task was to get my glasses, and then he moved the girls to our bed, removed all the sheets and remade the girls' bed. I helped the boy get cleaned up and calmed down, started a load of laundry and remade his bed. We moved the girls back and I laid down by Aaron to help him go to sleep while Bry went back to bed. I had sung a lot of songs when I laid down with him the first time. He seemed tired and I knew it wouldn't be long this time. So I hummed You are my Sunshine and then had the idea to hum We Thank Thee O God for a prophet. Church songs I usually hum are I love to see the temple, I am a child of god, I wonder when he comes, and I'm trying to be like Jesus. Every now and then I'll do the prophet song but faith, church, and God for me has been not super great recently. It's a long story but in essence I rebelled against the thought to hum that song b/c of how I feel right now. But actually I had a fantastic church experience last Sunday (another story) and so I said to myself okay I will hum it. (This conversation in my head took less than 3 seconds).

As soon as I started to hum it I felt a strong impression that I needed to go find a general conference talk (that idea came to me Sunday night of conference but I haven't had one thought of conference since then) and it need to be the Pres. Uchtdorf talk that I remember I liked. When he gave it, or what it was about I had no idea. I just knew it needed to happen now, in the middle of the night. So I finished with Aaron, moved clothes to the dryer, and was starting to put the next load in when I felt a sense of urgency to go read. I couldn't even take the time to start a load of laundry? Okay I'm interested and intrigued if this really is you talking God.

The talk? You Matter to Him from Saturday morning. If there ever was a message to get in the night when you have some doubts about God, that's the one I would pick to send to myself.

Plus when I was almost done reading I could hear Aaron up again and I was able to get him out of the girls' bed that he'd climbed into; right before throw up number three. That event could have altered my life in a very negative way. I am imagining throw up on girls' hair which would wake them up, shower them = fighting and screaming kids, no clean pillows for them, etc. Like I said, it could have been a terrible fiasco.

Instead I was reading, heard stirring, pulled him out bed to his own, when his heaving started I grabbed a blanket. Clean up was wiping the yucky out of his mouth and taking the blanket away. When I think of a caring God, that was one. Especially coupled with His message He wanted me to know.

When I read the talk the part that stuck out to me was: "He sees you as the being you are capable of and designed to become." That line doesn't really appeal to me logically or emotionally so I feel it's not from me, but the message He would have me hear. The whole last part of the talk was really good. The parts I like are: "He knows you. He loves you... If you but hold on, believe in Him, and remain faithful... He wants you to know that you matter to Him. May we ever believe, trust..."

This is my happy news so I wanted to share it. And I wanted to remember it for me because it's a really cool story. I am headed to bed with a carefree, in awe, happy attitude thinking, "Huh, I matter!" Kind of like the flower picking game- he likes me!

Home-less

I am currently sitting on my couch in my living room in our house in North Salt Lake. I am also in a rental house with a contract in Oro Valley until the end of November. I am under contract to purchase a different home in Oro Valley that potentially could be mine in less than a month. Three homes and yet I am home-less. The term homeless to me really means a person who doesn't have a physical home (like guys at a shelter) but I am using this term to define how I am feeling.

I discovered I had this feeling yesterday, the second day away from our rental house. Our second day in our house in North Salt Lake.

Back Track: We left Utah for Tucson at the end of August. We packed up our house for it to be used as a furnished vacation rental while we were gone. There were three piles: the stuff to take with us, the stuff to pack in storage because we didn't want to take it with us but didn't want anyone else using, and the stuff we kept out for other people to use/destroy/take. In preparation the house got cleaned and repaired. Mostly it got de-familyized. All the stuff that made it uniquely ours got taken out/down so it would be okay for lots of other people to move in. Now it's a nice house but less home-ish.

We moved into a furnished vacation rental home belonging to Jack and Lynn. Through online pics I found I liked their home but was concerned their house was too nice to move in with kids. Lynn and I then talked and we discussed how my kids only eat on hard floors and don't jump on couches and I felt it would be okay. We signed a four month lease. We now had freedom to decide if we wanted to live in Tucson and buy a home, or call it quits and go back to Utah. Week 1 in their home- great. We loved discovering all their animal decorations and thus our new 'pets'. Pool was great, we damaged 1 or 2 things. Zero interest in house hunting. Week 2- pool great, organizing going good. Week 3- not so much keeping with my toy organization, not so much pool. Damage done to something in garbage disposal. Starting to look at homes. Week 4- toy chaos, no pool time, damage mounting. Gave up doing house hunting alone and hire a realtor. Week 5- I am feeling way done with being in someone else's house with their stuff we are wrecking and not the right stuff I need (garlic press where are you?, no cheese grater either?). This rental house isn't home. Just a nice hotel with a place to put our stuff for a long while until we find a home.

House hunting in Tucson. Bryan wants a, b, c and I want d, e, f. Having different goals make it challenging to find a house. But if you look closely the letters do have some things in common, like a and e (they are round, short vowels). He wants biggish house, big land with a pool. I want smallish house, fruit trees, good neighborhood, We (read Bryan) starting looking casually in January. We hired realtors in March and did serious house hunting for a while. We drove out in June to see a place. Bryan went out in July to finalize and he walked away in the last stages. September we fired our realtors, went it alone and then hired someone else. The house we have under contract is a good house and a good house for us. We are not in love with it. House hunting is getting old, let's just find a house and move on with life. We were in love with our home in North Salt Lake from the moment we stepped foot inside of it. Is buying a house kind of like marriages- none as good as the first?

And yet I still held out that my Utah house was home. Six weeks away and we were coming back to see how we felt. For the first half of the first day it was home. The maids were cleaning the inside of it, so we first all ran around outside. "Hooray, the strawberries were growing! There's one that's ripe- Emily got it." Then to the backyard where we sat on rainy wet swings and slides and ran around the grass. We mourned no trampoline, checked out all the flowers. Then to the inside where we ran all around seeing and touching our house. The girls headed downstairs to check the toy room and then upstairs to check their beds. Aaron goes upstairs to find toys and was happy until he realized he is now far away from mom whereas in our rental he was always close by.

Kids get home from school and all the world is fun. Friends everywhere! "Can _____ play at my house? Yes!" Our friends, our family. Then I go inside to our freshly cleaned house and realize that we are very messy. Suitcases, dishes from lunch, drinks, shoes. It all has to be spotless again in a week's time. Don't get too comfy, we aren't living here anymore. And that's the home-less. Where is home? Definitely not the rental. Not our new home. Not our old home either.

But I think I found it today. The feeling of home. It started in church when all my friends were there. They hugged me and said welcome home. My community who cares about me and loves that we was there. It was good: noticing, saying hi, caring, love.

But the real home feeling came in my garage after church today. Em and Ash, Maddie, Jeni, Kole, Jonathan, David, Aaron, Nathan were all around. Making fairy stews and a fire pit, and playing monster high and babies and mom. In my garage around my card table and getting out at infenitum all the things they get out which I hate cleaning up all summer long. Croquet set, bikes, toys, buckets, rocks in piles, leaf/flower petal piles, leftover snack crumbs, folding chairs, etc. And I went out there to eat my lunch b/c I wanted to see Aaron. And there it was. Home. All those kids whom I love so much sharing, playing, talking and laughing. And it was home. I even shared my Vietnamese pork bowl (which Bryan bought for me the night before) with Kole. Even when David was hogging all the toys because he was mad b/c the kids weren't playing his game. Home. I felt understanding for their struggles because I knew them so well, happy they all had each other as friends, proud of where they'd come and how they'd grown, hopeful for their futures. Plus nice weather and yummy food were going on. Lovin' it.

Home is not a building, an address or a mortgage payment. Home is a feeling, a sense of comfort, belonging, acceptance.

So now what?

Love

Today our hometeacher came and shared this month's message from Pres. Monson entitled Love At Home. During the lesson B.J. asked what love at home includes. Ashley answered, "A fridge." Yes. Love with family is eating together. Emily answered, "A house." Yes. A home to keep us safe; to play in. I answered, "Love for God and for each other." To me that would look like praying and praising together. Showing respect and courtesy to each other.

I just read an entry on my friend (who I've never met) Michelle Perry's blog about love. Michelle is a single woman from the midwest who gave her heart to God to be his missionary. She currently lives in Sudan Africa where she lives in an orphanage with 120+ kids helping share God's love in that part of the world. I was introduced to her through her book Love Has a Face. She wrote a post about the same topic.

I am feeling the love of God more in the last week than I have. It feels good.

"Love looks like...

safe boundaries.

not being left to cry alone.

bandaging open wounds until they heal.

someone to color with.

seeing beyond what is visible to what is true.

being willing to be chalk covered and so tired you mix three languages and speak nonsense.

making time and space for each others special needs (we ALL have them).

grace for those who fear what they do not understand.

rainbows on paper and cement and us.

patience in the waiting.

taking time to guard a gate to a world that might bring harm.

hugs and smiles when you feel more like a good cry.

like laying aside the necessary and the pressing for the eternal that outweighs them all.

trusting Jesus really does have a plan for getting done that which needs getting done. He really, really does.

those who have been forgiven much, rescued from life's deepest pits coming tenderly to the rescue of this one still struggling to find the light.

sitting on a mat on a hot July afternoon with some of heaven's greatest treasures.

Love looks like lessons in Mercy."

Lagoon Fun

July 19th Tuesday we went to Lagoon for Emily's family birthday celebration. The kids loved all the kiddie land rides.

Our favorite part was Lagoona beach. The giant water park in the middle of all the roller coaster stuff. The girls really got into the fast dark tube water slide rides with daddy. Aaron and I mostly hung out in the toddler area.

We finished up our day with Emily and Bryan on a fast zoom skyward and fall down fast ride. We all went home tired and happy. Aaron fell asleep in the car in less than 2 minutes.

We had planned to do this trip on Emily's actual birthday but Bryan was leaving town the next day for a house hunting trip to Tucson.

Happy 7th Emily

Emily turned 7 on July 20th and we celebrated! Birthday morning we did breakfast waffles in bed with pink milk. After that, she and her dad went to the store and picked out her birthday cake: patriotic with her name inscribed in pink.

We did cake and singing mid-morning before Bryan left for Tucson. The rest of the day Emily spent enjoying family phone calls (and one from Geoffrey the Giraffe who lives at Toys R Us), opening some presents (including a new pizza baker barbie from Ashley), and jumping on the trampoline.

The only sad part on her birthday was dad accidentally took our only mail key and so we couldn't get to the birthday cards and packages in the mailbox until a couple days later.

Pioneer Days

The girls ran a 1K in the Handcart Days Race on Saturday, July 23rd. Bryan was in Tucson looking at homes. I woke up at 5:45 a.m. to get myself and 3 kids out the door by 6:55 for a 7:45 a.m. start time. I was feeling very pioneerish in my endeavors to get to my destination. I also persevered as I stayed after the race in the long line for breakfast and then an hour wait time until the carnival rides started. Shout out to the real pioneers!

Pioneer Pete's 1K: Ashley Hanks got 1st place in her age group! Start time- 7:45:00 Finish- 7:51:14. Total running time- 6:14.

So obviously it was a short race. Emily's bib didn't register but she came in around 7 or 7.5 minutes.

Ashley's Talk for Primary on June 24th-

I have been asked to give a talk about pioneers. The pioneers worked hard and sacrificed to build the temples.

Pioneers were people who walked a long ways to come to Salt Lake City. They lived in a time before cars and TVs.

The pioneers worked hard to build the Salt Lake temple. Sacrifice means to give up things to other people who might need them. Some pioneers sacrificed their beautiful china dishes. They built the temple walls by using smashed up plates to make it sparkly and shimmery.

I am going to tell a story about a little boy who didn’t play while he sacrificed to build the temple. He helped bringing lunches to the dads who worked at the temple. His name was Brigham Thomas but his nickname was B.T. He lived close to the temple and he was nine-years-old.

We want to keep temples holy and God had the idea to build them. People can sometimes get married in them. No running inside temples. God wants us to have temples so we could have a place to be reverent in.

I like the statue of Moroni on the top of the temple. I feel that I will get to go inside someday. In Jesus Christ name, amen.

Mueller Park

Our family campout on July 14th. It was decided the sleeping outdoors part takes a lot of work and that the other parts of camping are way more fun. So we went to the state park by our house (~15 minute drive) and did our "camping."

We brought blankets, steaks, lighter, carrots, apples, firewood, drinks and frisbees. And that's it! No tent, pillows, undies, toothbrush, etc. It was beautiful. I only forgot the charcoal which was easily remedied as we drove by Dicks supermarket. The bug spray I didn't remember at all until we needed some, but luckily there were other friendly "campers" who shared.

The kids had a blast throwing rocks in the river. There is something entertaining about finding a rock and choosing carefully how you are going to reach it without falling in the water (which was freezing!) and then watching it make a splash.

Aaron especially loved running around everywhere. Nothing like open spaces, rocks, and dirt to get a guy excited. He is a tricky kid because he doesn't have a sense of how far is too far to run ahead and likes to keep us all on our toes.

Ashley loved wandering around. She liked using the handkerchief as a hat style and trying soccer. She is the one who makes sure Aaron didn't get into too much trouble.

Emily loved looking at a small snake (found by another group) and collecting river rocks. Also, she and Bryan bravely crossed the river via fallen log.

Bryan was an excellent fire starter, protector of Aaron falling in the river, steak cooker, and kid helper.

I caught the photography bug that night and loved watching my family do their things. We watched a squirrel for a little bit, ate a yummy dinner, built a bonfire for desserts-smores and banana smores. We had lots of crying for falling down, sand/water in shoes, or sister being a pest; but that is nothing new.

Being in the woods was a wonderful experience and we were very glad we got to go. We collected river rocks to put in a vase displayed in our kitchen as a memory for the day. Check it out next time you are around.

Why Tri?

Race day sat June 25th. South Davis Rec. Center. Me in my swimsuit and goggles with my 4 cuties cheering me on.

start time 8:52 a.m.

swim 150m 4:16 mins

transition 1:39 mins

bike 2.4 miles 10:13 mins

transition 13 secs

run 1.5 miles 11:44 mins

total time 28:05 mins

I did better than my first tri i did last year. (See blog on Sept 6, 2010)

Since I hadn't trained for my race last year and yet got first place, I had nowhere to go except down from there as Bryan so thoughtfully pointed out. Last year I did the same race in 31:06 mins so I improved in my time by 3 minutes overall and came in second place.

Ragnar Relay 2011

The Storybookers, team 198. Total time 30 hrs, 58 minutes.

Starting Line in Logan at the university track. 4:05 a.m. alarm went off, check-in 4:45, start time 6:15 a.m. Temps were low 40's. Frost was on the roof of the car- brrr.

Van 1: Allie, John, Mike, Brent, Maegan, Garrett

Sleeping attempted in high school gymnasiums along the course. Allie snuck this picture- men and women sprawled every which way, snoring surround sound, everybody hyped up since we're in the middle of a race yet too tired to care much, showers and happy eating sounds in the background, with occasional cell phone wake up calls.

Finishing my second leg ready to pass headphones to Garrett. At this exchange a fellow runner caught up to me for the last half mile and we battled it out to the end. I beat him. Check the calf muscles. And with bells on my toes I had music wherever I goes.

VAN 2: Elasha, Cameron, Bill, Bryan, Cherry, Chris

Cherry rocking the downhill. Yes that's snow on the side of the road. I heard later that Cherry had a major side stitch while doing this leg, and the downhill running was making it worse. Yet instead of walking or slowing, Cherry instead runs uphill for a while until her stomach pain subsides and then turns around and runs back downhill towards the finish. That is hardcore. That is Ragnar.

A pleasant surprise of natural hot springs along the way. Chris and Cherry enjoying a soak.

There was big contrast between the green lush farmlands all around us and the white mountains in the background. It made for some beautiful scenery and some crazy running stories.

Bryan was Mr. Ragnar on our team. He stepped into the challenge to complete the hardest hill the day before the race and he did amazing. He trained hard and did great. I am so proud of him. I only wish I could have been there to see it. Instead, our van 1 was at an all you could eat breakfast buffet having our own pre-finish line party.

Yes we are crazy for doing this and yes we signed up to do it again in 2012. Bryan has taken the team captain reins and I gladly handed them over.

Santa Claus Melon

While sitting around the dinner table we had this discussion.

Me: Why is this called a Santa Claus melon? Make some good guesses.

Emily: Santa grows it

David: It grows on Christmas Eve. Santa was the first one to grow it. Bubblegum is inside it.

Jonathan: The nickname of the man who first ate it was Santa and it was Christmas time. It grows where it's really cold and reindeer eat it.

Ashley: It grows on Christmas trees at Santa's house.

Wickipedia says: Grown in California and Arizona, this melon was named in recognition of its long keeping qualities...until Christmas. Even though it is a very good keeper, this holiday melon was actually named because its peak season is in December.

I like the kids' ideas better.

Birthday Boy

My baby boy turned two on Sunday June 5th. Hard to believe time has gone by so fast.

We celebrated the day with a birthday banner hung up and a blue balloon on the back of his chair.

He was kind of sick with goop in his eyes so he stayed home from church with Bry.

His cake was made by my friend Nicole who brought it over around noon.

We took some pics and then Aaron took the trains off to play with. Bryan made crepes for lunch. Aaron had a birthday nap which was good for everyone since he was being a crabby boy.

We went to the park for his birthday party around 4 or 5. We invited Cam and Spence to join us and we went to Liberty Park (1300 South, 700 East) to party.

We brought sandwiches and watermelon for dinner and stayed until 7:30ish. We played on slides and swings. It brought back memories from Emily's first b-day which we celebrated at a park. The weather was great and there were tons of people outside enjoying the day.

His present this year was a train set from Toys R Us. The whole fam went on Friday to buy it. We opted not to get the Thomas brand set since it was pricey but got generic and I drew on faces. Bryan, Aaron and I set up the train table on his birthday eve. On his birthday the girls helped assemble the rest of the parts and thus began trainfest. It hasn't stopped. He loves trains! He knows their names and loves to make the noises and make them crash.

He vocabulary is awesome and makes us laugh every day from what he says. He is not sleeping in his crib anymore and every nap and bedtime is a game of will. His best friends are our next door neighbors David and Jonathan and their parents Rob and Kaylynn. Whenever our front door is open, his first move is to head over and knock on their door. They love to have him come over and play with their oodles of fun boy toys. He has learned some exceptional yelling and pouting skills from his big sisters, which includes the word 'stupid.' Not my fav. He is a great snuggler and loves to suck his fingers on one hand while holding hair from the top of his head with his other hand.

We love you Aaron boy!

End of School= Start of Summer

The girls had a piano recital on May 31st. Ashley started playing in Oct. 2010, Emily in Jan. 2011. Both have worked hard and have come a long ways. Their teacher is Kristi Lee, our friend and neighbor.

Ashley played Wish I Were a Fish as a duet with me. It was fun to practice with her and we finally got it memorized. We tried to remember our dynamics and our song turned out great at the recital. I used the petal and it sounded underwaterish. Emily performed Little Rabbit Hopping, a song she made up herself. The song has four different sounds, each of which is a different part in a corresponding story. 1st- a bunny hopping to the garden, 2nd- bunny pulling carrot out of ground, 3rd- bunny hopping away with carrot, 4th- angry people come out of the house. She also played Lightly Row, a song she's played for a while. It sounded good for the recital, but she played it better in April.

The girls also did a duet of Frere Jacques, also called Are You Sleeping? When the idea was presented to me I loved the idea of seeing my girls playing a duet, yet I was a little concerned for the process. Them learning the music wasn't hard. It was the practicing it together that about drove us all nuts. I will be brief in retelling one of a hundred conversations that took place at the piano:

Emily: One, two, ready go. (starts playing)

Ash: (starts playing)

E: Ashley! You don't start playing yet.

A: Oh.

E: Start again. One two, ready go (starts playing)

A: (waiting until her turn. Em messes up and then starts again)

A: (starts playing)

E: Ashley! You don't start playing yet!

A: How am I supposed to know where to start if you keep messing up? (elbows Emily)

E: Start at measure 5, one, two, ready, go (starts playing)

A: (starts playing, knows her part well so she stares at the ceiling while playing)

E: (messes up) You have to look at your hands!

A: No I don't. You keep messing up on purpose.

E: (Feelings hurt) No I don't! (shove Ashley)

Battle ensues. It ends with Ashley crying and calling for me b/c she's hurt. Or Emily running away with Ashley in close pursuit while screaming "Stupid!"

The sweetness and happy tears I envisioned at the recital while watching their duet, was actually more like a prayer that it wouldn't end in blood or tears in front of the audience.

I think I am glad we had a duet. The performance itself was excellent. They each know how to change their part to accommodate for the others' mistake which was very cool to watch.

I think this duet may reflect on how they live their lives as sisters. They know when each other

so well and can either exploit and get mad at their differences. Or they can recognize the weaknesses and be so sweet to each other.

We bought a new bike for Ashley.

She loves it because she can go fast without having to worry about the falling down part. It hooks to a grown-ups bike, and she can pedal or not as desired. Very fun and exciting for a family biking summer.

We also bought a bike seat for Aaron that attaches at the handlebars. He loves it and looks adorable in his helmet while cruising around going "super fast."

Hottie Hubby

Bryan is the man. My manly man. He has been working hard on some stuff around the house and I am taking this opportunity to show him off.

He got inspired about trees. In April we went and picked out a dwarf cherry tree and a gala apple. Recently he added a red maple. Here you see our new cherry on the left side, the new red maple right by the driveway, the apple is in the back.

Next he got inspired about planting. He took out a stick-ish, purple flower bush by our front door. Replanted it with an azalea and lots of new flowers. Also planted a blueberry and a blackberry bush. Then he covered the area with a dark bark. Our front area is looking the best it's ever looked.

Last but not least is our new entertainment center he's built. He began by using a software program to design the whole thing. He went to several lumber yards to find the wood he wanted (poplar) and then started buying the tools: router, leveler, miter saw. He leveled all the boards (which was a lot of work) and then cut them each to the right size. Our new entertainment center comes apart in the middle for easy mobility. The molding across the top was the last addition and it's looking good. Still to do: paint it black, build shelves for the bottom and add three glass doors to the bottom.

We got rid of our old entertainment center hutch and TV in prep for this to be done. I think it's been 3 weeks without a TV, which I missed for the first week, now I like it gone.

Red Butte Gardens

The Red Butte Gardens are by the University of Utah. We went as a whole family on May 25- first time for everyone (my second time). The day was sunny but windy so we were a bit cold. We brought a picnic lunch and bread to feed the ducks. We stayed 2 hours-ish. The gardens were gorgeous. I think my mom needs to retire there.

Favorite parts include: up-close with a monarch butterfly, smelling all the plants in the herb garden, Bryan laying out by duck pond, the kid garden with water-spitting snakes and running through a snake maze, up close with lots of goldfish, and all the pretty flowers.

Homeschool Art

I am not a natural artist. I used to think I was terrible at it. I have taken some art classes and realize I am pretty decent if I have someone teach me. Usually for me art is messy (Em with paints), tedious (coloring with Ash), and/or frustrating [I'm doing something fun and have to stop because A) kids need something or B) kids tell me I am doing it wrong]. I do have occasion to draw during church to keep kids quiet and it's good. But because art is messy I tend to steer clear of it. As a homeschool teacher, I never really went back after spring break. I'm still on it. Thus pushing me towards creative homeschooling. Tuesday May 24th it's time- art morning with kidlets in the kitchen.

Part one was painting- girls had tempra paints and boy had very watery watercolors. They first painted egg shells (scrambled eggs for breakfast and then rinsed the shells). Then we moved onto egg cartons. Ash painted hers purple, Ems multi-colored. Then we mixed paint into sand to change the color. That proved the trickiest task. Emily made a dark, dark green and Ash had 3 colors- orange, yellow and purple.

Part two we made egg cartons into monsters. We glued on pipe cleaners and poms-poms.

The egg shells we were going to use to crush and then glue on paper as texture. Instead they sat around until Aaron destroyed them. We thought about putting them as fertilizer for flowers. I was unsure if the paint would be a bad idea for the plants, so opted not to.

The sand we let dry and then poured glue on paper and sprinkled the sand on. When we tipped the paper to get the excess sand off, the glue shapes changed but they turned out cute.

It's too bad I threw all the finished projects away before I took pictures. When I'm ready to throw their projects away, it's because I am really ready to my counter space back.

Dressing Up

If I don't have a future diva, I will be very surprised.

Here she has on the lovely purple cowgirl hat purchased while shopping with Aunt Amy, a new blue shirt with her pink shirt underneath, white swimmy jacket on the top, gold beads, white sunglasses that belonged to Carlie, khaki pants, with her new pink ruffly skirt from her birthday and a pink polka dot skirt on the top of that.

Finishing her outfit later was a light blue dog cape, and a green flower purse.

Preschool Graduation

Ashley finished her last day of preschool on Friday May 13th. Her teacher was Beth Peterson, who lives across the street from us. Beth taught the preschool class in a back room at the Buddy Bin daycare. Two neighbor kids, Brooke Lee and David Zobell also attended the same class and it was a carpool dream come true.

Preschool went for 3 days a week and there were 11-12 kids in the class. Each week they they learned about a new letter of the alphabet. They would practice writing it, learn the sign for it, have a show-and-tell object, and also color on a large cut-out letter and glue something on it (B- buttons, K-keys, Q- q-tips, W-wheat, etc) which we have all hung up in the homeschool room. Beth's main focus was to love kids and laugh with the 'wonderment' of learning. Ashley would come home come excited to share what she did. Beth is a great lady and a fun teacher and we were glad we got to have this preschool experience for Ashley.

For graduation the kids sang several fun songs and then put on a play of the 3 big, bad wolves and the 8 little pigs. Bryan, Aaron and I got to come watch her perform. Aaron really wanted to sit in the chairs and be a big boy too.

Cali trip in May

California trip commenced as we left our house Tuesday afternoon May 3rd; car packed and kids' loaded. First stop was a nice campground 20 miles west of Zions National Park in southern Utah. We had a good first day of driving (=no rain, minimal crying) and made it to the campground early enough to set up, check out the local caterpillar scene (it was intense), make a fire and cook smores. For the first time in his life Aaron slept well while camping. I am giving all thanks to Bryan's good ideas to get a noise maker and use his propane heater. I was skeptical of both but it worked out good. Wed morning we hiked for a couple hours in Zions, came back for swimming in the campground pool and were on the road again at 3pm headed to Grandma Judy's house in Los Angeles area.

Thursday was our beach day. We had a chill morning hanging out with Grandma and got to Sunset Beach around 12ish. We stayed a couple hours and had a great time. The wind was a little chilly but the sun was warm. Family activities included: lots of sunscreen, Aaron throwing sand all over the blanket, Ash crying because sand got on her legs mixed with sunscreen, Emily and Bry heading to the ocean to try it out for a while, Ashley crying from a lady bug on her shoulder, Aaron trying the water and deciding it was a little too cold, surfer watching, Ash and Em sea shell collecting, Bry and Em building a huge sand castle, me passing out snacks and hunting for shells with girls, Aaron deciding he loved the 4 ladybugs we found so he and I let them crawl around our arms, burying Bryan in the sand, and Aaron laying out full body on the sand for warmth.

Friday the 6th we said hello to lots of family and people arriving for the wedding weekend fun. Bryan and I enjoyed a run on flat roads and balmy weather. My mom drove in.

Saturday my uncles Bill and Jason and Bryan took a long intense bike ride. Some injuries sustained. 2:30 p.m. was my cousin Aaron Cassaro's wedding to Kelly. The couple and ceremony were both lovely. The reception dinner and party afterwards was a fun night with Bry and my fam. The kids enjoyed playing with their second cousins the Muldunes.

Sunday was church and Mother's Day. I got to sleep in, Bry bought me beautiful roses and made a yummy breakfast, picture frames and cards from my girls, and I got chocolate. Dinner that night was 30+ family members from my mom's side eating a really nice BBQ dinner together. Fun to see everyone and get to chat.

Monday was Disneyland with us, my mom, and Amy, Bill, Tiffany and Hannah Foster.

We started off the day with Emily tap dancing with Alice in Wonderland and the Mad Hatter. Followed by a chat with Mary Poppins and Bert. Ash wasn't so sure.

Where all your dreams come true. Notice Emily's big smile in all the pics. The weather was kind of chilly in the morning and evening, but warmed up nicely during the day.

All of us cuties. We spent most of the day all together.

Hannah, Tiffany, Ashley and Emily all got their faces painted and were very lovely.

Aaron and Holly spent a lot of time together so the rest of the gang could do some bigger rides. The little rascal with tons of energy and fun followed by his adoring Grammy. Thanks mom!

We had a great Disney day. We didn't lose anyone- hooray! Pouting was done by Emily after Space Mountain b/c it was too scary and by Ashley who didn't know she was too short for Indiana Jones until she got to the front of the line. Some favorite rides were: Small World, Buzz Light Year, Space Mountain (which was Ashley's first big roller coaster ever and she did great), Tikki Room, Dumbo Elephants, Winnie the Pooh and Indiana Jones Adventure. We all finished the night by grabbing some pizza.

We left California on Tuesday afternoon and stayed in Las Vegas. We went swimming that night and all had fun going between the hot tub and warmish pool. I tripped on the escalators and hurt my ankle. Wednesday morning Bry, Aaron and Ems took another turn in the pool while Ash cartooned and I packed. We got home safely Wednesday night around 8 p.m.

Driving Home

Yesterday on our way home from our trip to Cali Aaron was hungry. I took a few bites of a pear and then handed it to him. It kept him happy and busy for a while (also very messy). I later hear "eyeballs." He had eaten down to the seeds in the middle and had found the pears' eyeballs. Made me smile.

Ashley is 5

My baby girl turned 5 on Wednesday, March 30th. The day started off with breakfast in bed of waffles with regular syrup and pink milk.

After that it was off to preschool where she got to bring marshmallow treats and wear a purple crown.

For lunch I made her Dora chicken noodle soup. And then she got changed into her blue sparkly dress for her party. We got ready for the party by setting the table with her princess tablecloth, plates, cups and napkins. Her purple cupcakes were store-bought with Tangled princess ring for a top.

I went to volunteer at Emily's school while she watched a movie. The friend birthday party was to start at 4:30 when Emily got home from piano lessons.

For her party we played a hide-and-seek game called Sardines. Emily is showing Aaron her hurt knee from Sardines.

Then we played Duck, Duck Goose. Aaron decided he really liked touching heads and saying 'duck' so the game was mostly laughing at Aaron.

From left to right: Emily, Sarah, Ashley, Maddie, Jeni, Aaron, Cami, and Brookie. Five friends since she was five. Then we did the limbo, opened presents, and ate cupcakes and ice cream cones. Then the kids got to work coloring on our cardboard house; which they loved.

The party was a success- kids went home happy and we'd only had outbursts of tears by Emily and Cami. Ashley felt celebrated and yet it wasn't too much in one day.

The birthday fun continued by going to the swimming pool later that week, packages, phone calls, and a whole other party with the Fosters.