You're Pretty too.

Reincarnation might not be all that far-fetched!

2012-02-12T19:27:00.001-08:00

If I didn't have a firm belief about where we came from and where we are going, I might be persuaded to believe in reincarnation. The reason why is because sometimes my kids do and say things that I have no idea where they got them from. For example when Katie was just a baby and still nursing, she would wake up from her naps and say "nay, nay". I thought this was just the cute, endearing babble of a baby. But then I was telling this story to my friend Julie- who at the time had just come back from living in Taiwan for three years- and she told me "nay, nay" was chinese for boob! So maybe Katie had lived in China during another lifetime and was asking for a feeding in her native tongue!
Then tonight we were sitting down for dinner. We were sitting at our kitchen table, which we haven't sat down at in awhile- we usually just sit at the counter. As we were all gathering at the table, Suzie remarks, "Well we haven't had a proper sit in a long time."
Proper sit?- Really, who says that? Especially a 5 year old! I asked Suzie where she got that from and she said, "From my head!" So maybe Suzie's previous life was across the pond!

Being taken out of context

2012-02-05T16:40:00.000-08:00

Since the campaign season is upon us and being taken out of context seems to be the presidential thing to do- you know how Mitt Romney likes firing people and hates the poor- I thought I would share the latest comment in our house that makes no sense taken out of context. Often I hear myself and others in my house make comments that I think if someone heard them without being in the situation they would wonder what the heck does that mean. One such time was when Eric was loading the girls in the car to go to dance and I overheard him say, "Get in the car and no you don't need a tennis racket." One might think, "Wait, what? I thought they were going to dance, why did he say anything about a tennis racket?" But I, living with those girls, knew exactly what he was talking about. As you walk out of our house into our garage you go down three steps. To the right of those steps is a filing cabinet and in between those steps and that filing cabinet there is a small space where we keep a couple tennis rackets. So I can guarantee as the girls were going down the stairs they picked up those tennis rackets and tried to take them with them for no apparent reason. Hence the need for a "No tennis rackets" rule when going to dance.

Well last night I overheard this comment coming from my bathroom.

"Oh no, my toenails are too long. I can't bite them anymore."

Yea- that wasn't a typo- I said toenail, not fingernail. I don't think I have mentioned this before but Suzie likes to trim her toenails a la her teeth. I have even caught this with my camera once so you can have a visual!

I have no idea where she learned this technique but I also have no idea where she learned to tell me, "No can do, sis" when I ask her to get ready for church. Sometimes its just better not to know.

Anyway- I suppose that last night she went to go do the deed and found that her toenails would require more that just her pearly whites to trim them down. She would need something with a bit more "bite" like fingernail clippers!

Good Deeds Chain

2012-01-08T14:43:00.000-08:00

About a month ago I had had it with all the whining and tattling. Not a uncommon sentiment for a mother of 4 youngish children. So for a FHE we talked about recognizing the good in each other rather than focusing on the bad. To practice this behavior I had cut up some green and red strips of paper and told the kids they were suppose to write on the papers either something good they saw another family member doing or an act of service they would perform for another family member. Then we would staple them in a circle and make a paper chain to decorate a smaller Christmas tree we had downstairs. Well I recently took down the tree and those paper chains. Instead of throwing them away I pulled it apart and read them. I thought that after the first week the kids didn't really do it so I was surprised by the number of things the kids wrote. I'm still going to throw the chain away but I wanted to record the "good deeds" we saw/did during the month of December:
Annie shared her soda cans.
Today my dad helped me eat my dinner.
Dad shared his chocolates.
Tomorrow I am going to read Suzie a bedtime story.
Dad drove Annie home from dance.
Katie waited for Annie to do crossing duty.
Mom shared her perfume.
I'm going to rake leaves.
Finn did the dishes.
Tomorrow I will make my bed when I get up.
Katie shared her gum.
I will help Katie clean her room.
Suzie helped Hannah clean up the pillows.
Dad set up the Wii.
Mom helped me with homework.
Annie shraed her drink.
Katie shared her headband.
Suzie LICKED the blueberries and said she was sorry.- think maybe that one started out as a tattle but then the author remembered the point of the activity!
Mom read to Suzie.
Dad will take the girls to school.
Finn let me use the IPAD.
Suzie helped clean up at pre-school.
Tomorrow I will let Suzie play with me and my friend.
Annie wiped off the counters when she was asked.
Suzie organized my shoes.
Annie and Suzie set the table.
Dad emptied the dishwasher.
Finn farted and said he was sorry! :)
Tomorrow I will not cry or whine when I'm getting ready for school. (All the ones that begin "Tomorrow" were written by a certain 7 year old red-head!)
Suzie took my dishes upstairs.
Katie shared her headband.
Finn picked up Katie.
Suzie helped Hannah clean up diapers.
Finn set up lights in our room.
Annie will help pass out papers in her class.
Annie didn't get mad when Katie made her late for school.
Finn walked Suzie and Hannah home from preschool.
Dad picked up Annie from Sister Brantly's house.
Annie got her coat for Katie.

Merry Christmas, Ugly New Traditions and Happy New Year

2012-01-01T16:00:00.000-08:00

Every year since Eric and I got married we have taken a picture in front of a Christmas tree on Christmas day. Usually it is in front of my mom's Christmas tree but every once in awhile I take it in front of my own. With Christmas being on a Sunday this year I decided since we all had our Christmas Sunday clothes on I would take it at our house after church before everyone changed back into their pjs for the day. I have a self-timer on my camera but it doesn't make a noise so you don't know when the picture is taken. This picture is about our 6th attempt at a picture because some one would look away or start walking away cause they thought the picture had been taken. It still isn't even that great of a picture- Suzie is looking down, Finn is done with all the pictures and Eric is in the middle of saying "cheese." But when Eric inspected this photo he said, "Good enough" and went to go get Christmas morning brunch started. We had 9 am church on Christmas morning and even though we got all our presents opened in time to make it to church we didn't get breakfast eaten and delaying Christmas breakfast to a 37 year old man is just about as painful as delaying opening presents is to his 4 children 12 and under. But choices had to be made and breakfast got postponed therefore our Christmas picture did not turn out as well as I might have liked. But it does tell a story- which I always like!
A new Christmas tradition got started in Eric's family. Our brother in-law, Curtis, suggested we have an ugly sweater contest on Christmas Eve with each person participating putting $5 into a pot for the winner. With a $70 prize on the line the competition was stiff!

Gary, Eric's brother is the usual winner of any contest we have that involves creativity. He and his wife Camille made these sweaters for their whole family. Not seen is a stocking attached to their backs that made a handy spot for my brother-in-law, Scott and I to dispose of our shrimp tails throughout the evening. Sadly they did not win. I'm not sure if the shrimp tails had anything to do with this or not!

Cami, Scott and Tailyn made this a family affair with Cami sporting a poinsetta as big as her head and Scott sporting a lady's sweater with the tag still attached. Pretty sure that made a return trip to Wal-Mart after the holidays!

As much as Jessica deserves to win cause she is wearing moose overalls- the big prize went to her husband Jeff. I personally voted for him. And it wasn't the $4 DI tag still attached to his too short pants that did it for me. It was the Christmas dickey semi-hidden by the Christmas sweater tied in a prep school knot. So regal yet so ugly.

Eric and I donning our own Christmas apparel- matching, handmade Christmas nativity vests. These were lovingly made by my mom and aunt- not just for this occasion but for any chilly Christmas evening really!

Here is Curtis, the creator of all this mayhem as Eddie from Christmas Vacation with Becca as Eddie's wife. Curtis doesn't usually have man-boobs- it is just the pucker in the middle of the sweater that gives that allusion! Don't know if this was intentional or not!

This is Eric's cousin- Mindy with her husband- Matt. If you look closely at her sweater you can tell that it is an actual reenactment of the cat being fried scene in the Christmas Vacation movie. Very clever!

Here we all are in all our glory. You can see how it was a hard decision to decide who won! But again the Christmas dickey over the snowman turtleneck with the white socks and short blue dress pants was just too much for me! Way to go Jeff!

Now onto New Year's Eve. New Year's Eve has always been a hard holiday for me since we've had kids. You can't leave your kids with a babysitter cause all the babysitters have plans and you don't want your little kids staying up past midnight. Eric and I both have no desire whatsoever to go to those downtown parties the city puts on yet I want to do something fun and different for the holiday. Eric came up with this idea two years ago and I think it will be our new New Year's Eve tradition for the time being. We have a Wii tournament that all the family can participate in. We create a bracket system and choose different Wii games from boxing to Just Dance. The games are written on a piece of paper and put into a bowl. Then when two people face off in each bracket they first have to choose a game from the bowl. They play the event 3 times and the winner of 2 out of 3 times moves onto the next round. The loser gets put into the Losers Bracket. So we have the winner of the Winner's bracket and the Winner of the Loser's Bracket. Everyone gets to play about 3 times. It turns out to be a really fun night that everyone enjoys. Here is this year's playoff standings:

We were at the cabin for the holiday and brought our nephew, Michael along with us. Also Steve, Eric's brother and his girlfriend- Chelsea were there too. Steve was the overall winner and Finn was the lower bracket winner.Eric playing golf.

Annie and Suzie dancing it up!

Suzie boxing.

Finn and Katie playing tennis.

Michael and Finn getting jiggy wit' it!

There were even cool prizes like star wars fans/candy dispensers. (This picture may or may not have been a self-photo!:)

HAPPY 2012!

I'll let you connect the dots

2011-12-06T23:35:00.000-08:00

Dot 1- Suzie's aforementioned affinity for choosing a word and then finding all the words she can that rhyme with it.

Dot 2- Suzie finding words to rhyme with one of the words in this sentence she recently heard from Ice Age 2- "Never disagree with Buck."

Dot 3- Suzie having some serious conversations about some serious never to be said again words!

Apparently making sure your 4 year old has good phonemic awareness by encouraging rhyming can have some down sides too!

Another Day in the Life...

2011-11-27T19:30:00.000-08:00

It seems like the only posting I have time for these days is just quick stories about funny things my kids say or do. But it is what it is and here's the latest:
A few weeks ago we had our 2nd annual Grandma Talent Show. My mom's birthday is in November and instead of presents, she requests that all the grandkids perform in a family talent show. We have only done it twice but it is already turning into a tradition that everyone enjoys. I must say that the highlight the past two years has been Finn playing his tuba. What makes is so entertaining is the tuba is not really a solo instrument, but Finn plays it with such pride, gusto and heart that he makes it seem like it should be in the spotlight of any orchestra performance. This year, before the talent show began, Finn was practicing in my sister's living room with some cousins listening in. The rest of us were finishing up dinner in the kitchen. When Finn was done he came into the kitchen and my mom remarked, "Finn, I really enjoyed your practicing." To which he proudly replied with a smile on his face, "I wasn't practicing. I was changing lives!"
Suzie has a little friend in her preschool whose name is Claire McDonough. Claire's mom is a high school friend of my sister, Natalie. We were visiting my mom one day and Suzie started talking about her friend, Claire. My mom, wanting to know if the Claire Suzie was talking about was the same one she knew, asked, "What is Claire's last name?" Suzie replied, "Claire Old McDonald."
Yep! That's the one she knows!

My Favorite picture of...

2011-11-04T20:08:00.001-07:00

Suzie in her "itchy b----y" dress!

The Next Installments of Adventures in Vocabulary

2011-10-30T15:00:00.000-07:00

If you want to read the first installment go here.
But here are the latest:
Each week Suzie has to bring something to preschool that starts with the letter of the week. She was going all around the house one morning looking for something that started with "D". She finally decided on a doll. She proudly held it up to Katie and said,"Katie, I am taking a duh-duh doll (that is Suz emphasizing the D sound, in case you couldn't tell) to preschool today."
Katie's response, "I don't kuh-kuh care!"
Then the other day Suzie wouldn't get dressed for school. I usually let my girls dress themselves so I told Suzie if she didn't choose something to wear, I got to choose it for her. She said I could choose it so I got a sweater out. It was probably the first time she has worn a sweater this season. She let me know this by saying, "Really, mom? You are introducing a sweater?"
Finally yesterday we were getting ready to go to a family Halloween party and Suzie was putting on her Princess Fairy costume. She often will rhyme words as she is talking to herself. Like if I am holding keys she will say "key, tree, flee- hey those words rhyme Mom." Well as she was putting her dress on she was commenting on how itchy the dress was. Then she must have gone into her favorite rhyming game in her head because after a few minutes she told me her dress was "itchy- bitchy."

It wouldn't be our family vacation if...

2011-09-18T19:14:00.000-07:00

Over the part few years many of our family trips have been centered around Utah Football and this year is no different. So to record this most recent Utah football-driven trip to SoCal I thought I would describe some of the things that make our family trips "our" family trip. So here is the non-comprehensive list of "It wouldn't be our family vacation if..."

*There weren't several, varying comments made by the male family members about the tiny size of the female family members' bladders.

*The tiniest of those bladders didn't quite make it to the first bathroom at the very first place we visited. Sorry if you happened to be walking into the bathroom right outside the entrance of the San Diego Zoo around 11am on Labor Day. That wasn't a puddle of water you walked through...

*The owner of that bladder then didn't get a sweet new dress as her not-planned souvenir (We have established a strict "Souvenirs are only purchased on the last day of the trip" and this was the first day) to wear around the San Diego Zoo. (She also almost went commando in the zoo too but Eric insisted on her wearing her rinsed out underwear. But it kinda worked out well for her cause it acted as a sort of swamp cooler.)

*All the owners of the other tiny bladders didn't complain about Suzie getting to break the "Souvenir Rule" and wearing down Mr. Moneybags for a souvenir from the zoo too.

*We didn't force our kids to go on rides they don't want to go on, have their picture taken, buy the picture and then laugh and laugh! For another example of this check here.

*I didn't play MY favorite Disneyland game... "Spot the Mormons." To a trained eye they are so easy to find and Disneyland is crawling with them. Of course there are the telltale signs like a "BYU" hat or a bajillion kids. But a more subtle indicator is we are the only ones who have a white shirt under our tank tops when it is like a 105 degrees! *The Utes didn't lose on a road game we go to. :(

* We weren't spoiled by Dad with a week of fun and entertainment!

Celebrating Pioneer Day the Pioneer Way.

2011-07-31T13:09:00.000-07:00

The alternate title for this post was "The road to h--- is paved with good intentions" but I decided to keep it clean in honor of the pioneers!

It started out innocent enough. Last Monday was the day designated to celebrate Pioneer Day. We didn't have any invitations to or plans for a bbq. Eric called from work, because appraisers don't get the day designated to celebrate pioneer day off from work, at about 5pm saying he has a fun idea for pioneer day. He suggested we go up Emigration canyon and have dinner at Ruth's diner then do a slightly uphill 4 mile round-trip hike along Emigration ridge to a look-out point where we could watch the fireworks go off across the valley. Sounded perfect. I was to get the girls ready to go. Finn was at scout camp. At 5:30 Eric got home and we all had our hiking shoes on, bottles of water, flashlight and the camera ready to go. We were prepared for the hike we thought we were going to take, unfortunately we weren't prepared for the hike we got.

After a yummy dinner at ruth's diner we drove up the canyon a little farther and parked right by the "Little Dell" reservoir. Luckily (and this is about where our luck ran out) there was a pit toilet the girls could use to empty their teeny-tiny bladders one last time before the hike. (They had used the bathroom at the diner at least twice each already- no exagerration!)
And off we went on our hiking adventure to the best pioneer celebration day ever. Cries of "Our dad's the greatest dad" could be heard echoing through the canyon. The air was pleasant, the scenery beautiful and the conversation lively.
Eric even led a discussion about how Brigham Young knew this was the place because of scouts he had sent out before to find the place Jim Bridger had described between two lakes.
About 1/2 way up it started dizzling. But we kept going- our biggest worry being that Annie AGAIN had to go to the bathroom and didn't want to squat behind a tree. The rain started getting a little heavier but at this point we could see Parley's canyon too and it looked like the storm was heading up that canyon. If we could just get over the ridge we would be out of the rain, or so we thought. So on we went with the rain coming down even heavier. Everyone was still in pretty good spirits until Eric almost stepped on a rattlesnake. He, Suzie and Katie were about 20 feet ahead of Annie and I so he turned back to warn us about the snake. This information was meant to be helpful to Annie and I, but it had the exact opposite effect. Annie went into a tailspin after seeing the rattlesnake curled up on the side of the trail. I must admit, it was a bit unnerving but it had turned so cold and rainy that I'm sure the snake had no intention of striking or even moving for that matter. But it should have served as an omen to Eric and I because things only went downhill from there- and I don't mean the terrain. The wind picked up, the rain became steady and hard and the temperature dropped about 10 degrees. But on we went, like our pioneer forefathers, ignoring the whining of our posterity to reach our well-worth it destination.
About a 1/2 mile from the ridge it was still raining hard and the cries had gone from "Our dad's the greatest dad" to "I hate hiking" and "Why did you think this was a good idea?" and "Why didn't you bring an umbrella?" and "I'm never going hiking again." we decided to stop by a bush and let the girls get in under the branches and leaves, hoping they would get a reprieve from the rain and we could get a reprieve from the moaning and complaining. I snapped these two pictures-

One of the beautiful sunset, although you can't really tell how much it is raining.

And one of the misery of our girls. You can only see Katie's face contorted in a cry that says, "My parents are the meanest, most abusive parents ever." But really they all had the same look on their faces. After exchanging sly smiles, Eric and I decided we better turn around. So off we went back down the mountain in the cold, rain and now dark.
It was interesting to see how everyone coped with the situation. Eric tried to be the cheerleader and keep everyone's spirits up. Annie grumbled most the time, except when we passed by the rattlesnake curled up in the same position and she didn't dare talk and had a death grip on my hand. Katie was put in charge of the flashlight by Eric to keep her distracted. Suzie was on Eric's shoulders talking nonstop most of the way down. And I wrote this blog post in my head.
It was a day designated to celebrate the pioneers to remember! And we even got back to the valley to watch the Liberty Park fireworks in time in the comfort of our car. Eric and I agreed that it would be a good hike to try again to watch the sunset when it wasn't raining. And much to the girls chagrin, Eric has vowed to "hike the princess" right out of our girls!

Adventures in Vocabulary

2011-06-15T10:59:00.000-07:00

You can tell I am learning about the importance of building up a young child's oral language and vocabulary when Suzie says to me, "Mom, if you don't read this book to me, I will literally kill you, literally." and I am more excited about the fact that she knows how to properly use the word "literally" than I am disturbed about the fact that she wants to end my existence.
Also another vocabulary highlight is this past weekend I finally learned the meaning of the word "shawty" in current hip-hop songs. I have heard it in many songs recently like "Shawty always burning on the dance floor." Or more often in the Justin Bieber song- "Shawty is an eenie-meenie-minnie-mo-lover." I was concerned it might be a dirty, vulgar or derogartory term (because even Suzie will sing the latter Justin Bieber phrase over and over again). But my young women came to my rescue this weekend at youth conference and informed me that it is just a slang term for "girl." Good to know cause I don't want to be like my mom and misuse it in my testimony by saying something like "I sure do love all my shawties." like my mom did when she was a seminary teacher and a group of boys told her that "bad-a" meant "bad attitude" so she proceeded to say across the pulpit when she was released "I will sure miss all my bad-a students." Then of course there was the "b----in'" incident. But we'll save that story for another installment of Adventures in Vocabulary.

Good thing I wasn't swearing....

2011-06-07T12:00:00.000-07:00

Annie turns the big double digit tomorrow. On Sunday as we were getting ready for church Annie asked if I would make her some toast for breakfast. I was rushing to get ready and said, "Annie, you are almost 10 years old. You are old enough to fix your own breakfast."
Suzie must have overheard this because that evening we were having a friend over for dinner whom Annie told it was her birthday this week. When the friend asked how old she was going to be Suzie quickly replied, "Old enough to fix her own breakfast."

The Dance of our Marriage

2011-05-30T13:30:00.000-07:00

Eric is a little heavy-handed when it comes to bleach. He can't stand it when our whites start getting that moldy smell, so often when he does a load of whites he will add bleach. I appreciate this because it means he is actually doing laundry and I'm not a fan of that smell either. But when I do a load of whites, not everything is completely white. Some things may be off-white or have a little bit of color in them, so I generally don't add bleach.
Last night I put a load of whites in and unbeknownst to me Eric added some bleach after I had started the load. This morning I was getting the whites out of the dryer and could smell and see the results of the bleach. My off-white tank top was now more of a white-gray color and one of Eric's light colored shirts was faded and unwearable. I went to discuss the dos and donts of adding bleach to a load with Eric. Without seeing the laundry, he claimed that the bleach didn't fade anything. But after seeing the clothes he said, "That bleach really did change the color of your tank-top. Sorry."
Me: "That's ok. I can replace it easily. I was more concerned about your shirt."
Eric: "That's alright. I didn't really like that shirt anyway."
Me: "Hey! I gave you that shirt."
Eric: "And I appreciate it."

What Suzie is and isn't a big fan of.

2011-05-22T14:11:00.000-07:00

We live in the same neighborhood as David Archuleta. Recently David and his mom were visiting our across the street neighbor. Eric was in the front yard with Katie and Suzie. He saw David and said to the girls, "Hey girls. David Archuleta is across the street. You should go say hi." Suzie replied, "No thanks Dad. I'm not that big a fan."
Another day Suz and I were going into the mall when she spotted two little baby birds hopping along the parking lot. She grabbed me hand and pointed to the two birds saying, "Mom, look at the cute little birdies!" Without missing a beat she followed this up with, "Oh man! We should've brought Finn's gun so we could shoot 'em and eat 'em!"
So to recap, here is what Suzie is a fan of:
Little, cute baby birdies
Shooting cute baby birdies
And eating cute baby birdies
And here is what she isn't a fan of:
David Archuleta

Introducing...

2011-05-01T14:09:00.000-07:00

Jenessa!

Jenessa is what Suzie named our Schizophrenic Springtime Snow-Woman! We just wish that if Mother Nature decides to give us 6 inches of snow on April 30th, she would at least have the courtesy to kill the weeds (but not our spinach) with the snowfall. Seriously... have you ever seen grass that green under a snowman!?!

Lesson Learned

2011-04-29T11:11:00.000-07:00

I bought some of these :

for the Salt Lake 1/2 Marathon I ran a few weeks ago. My kids love these little individualized Crystal Light packets to add to water. But I wasn't about to let them have any of these babies because drinking one is equivalent to drinking about 4 cokes- which is okay for a race but no so good for already energy-laden children like mine. I attempted to hide them in the back of my cupboard, but my kids can sniff out anything that is off-limits... Annie especially. (Although I have found one food hiding place that no one has yet to find. It's pretty good, so it may take awhile to be discovered.)
Anyway Annie asked several times if she could have one of my Crystal Light Energy packets with no success. So the other night while I was at my class she hit up Mr. "Sure, whatever, have what you want"- aka- Eric. And in Eric's defense he didn't know they had so much caffeine and I can guarantee Annie didn't say anything about that fact. She probably just casually asked, "Dad, can I have one of the crystal light packets in the cupboard?"
Well the minute I walked in from my class I could sense something was amiss. Annie was standing in the front of the TV cheering extremely loudly, "GO, RULON GO!" She was watching "Biggest Loser" and there was some competition with the contestants. She was jumping up and down wildly like it was a horserace. Annie is an excitable child anyway, but this was over the top for her. I sat down with my dinner to watch the show with her and she kept coming up in my face and saying things. I think Eric told her 5 times in 10 minutes some version of "Settle down" or "Quit freakin' out." I wondered what was going on with her when I saw the almost empty bottle of pink tinged water and all the pieces of the puzzle fell into place.
I asked Eric, "Did you let Annie have a Crystal Light?"
Eric: "Yeah, why?"
Me: "Cause that is like drinking 4 Diet Cokes. I bought them for my race, but I tried to hide them in the cupboard."
Eric: "Uhhh... you might want to find a better hiding place."

Things I Don't Want to Forget

2011-04-17T14:37:00.000-07:00

If I weren't in school right now or trying to get my job application ready to be sent or getting Easter baskets ready than I would weave these stories into a great, funny tale. But the truth is I don't have the creative energy to make integrated units for kindergarten and resumes and easter baskets and witty blog entries. So the well-thought out blog entries will just have to be put on hold for now. But my kids' funny sayings never stop so I am getting them written down so I don't forget.
Suzie: I don't know if I have mentioned this before, but Suzie has the most endearing quality of saying "She" in the wrong part of sentences. (I could go into a lengthy discussion here of the different parts of a sentence here- the subject, predicate, prepositional phrases, etc. to give you further understanding of where Suzie uses "She" inappropriately, but I don't want to lose my sister... since she is probably about the only one who reads my blog these days!:) Anyway she says things like "I want a dress like she." or "Katie won't let me play with she." It is so cute and I don't want to correct her because it is such a hallmark of her age and I'm not ready for my baby to not be a baby. There is a little girl, Hannah, almost exactly Suzie's age who comes over to play regularly. She was over the other day and they started having a fight. Suzie came up to me and said, "I want she to go home." Then the other little girl came up to me and said, "Hers being mean." I think these two were made for each other. They may not complete each other's sentences, but together maybe they could properly complete a sentence.
Also this week I was "itching my nose" and Suzie walked into the room. She looked at me and said with disgust, "Oh, you are picking your nose. You're like a child." Nothing like being chastised by your 4 year old.
I took Katie and Suzie over to Wheeler Farm as part of the integrated unit I am creating for my class. Our professor encouraged us to do some of the activities with children so we get a good idea of what works and also so we can get real examples things like qualitative and quanitative assessment- (again not the time for that discussion.) Anyway we were talking about the difference between boy and girl animals. As we were looking at the piglets, I asked them if they could tell if it was a girl or boy. They correctly answered that it was a girl. Then I asked how they could tell she was a girl (Or as Hannah would say-"Hers was a girl"). Suzie replied, "Because she has eyelashes." A much safer, less anatomically correct answer than I was going for.
Katie- On the same above mentioned trip to Wheeler Farm I was asking the kids a lot more questions than I normally would because I was "supposedly" taking them on a kindergarten core curriculum supported field trip. During one of my question and answer periods Katie said, "Mom, could you stop asking so many questions and just let us look at the animals?"
Annie- At the kids' school ,there is a playground aid that goes by the name "Po-po". He is an older, retired gentleman who I assume enjoys being around children because I can't imagine who would want a job that pays approximately $7 an hour and only works 5 hours a week. Anyway I have been hearing stories about "Po-po" for years. He gives out little candies and tells you not to clog up the slide. Katie and Annie were having a discussion about Po-po while we were driving. Katie asked Annie if she had ever gotten in trouble by Po-po. Annie said, "Yeah, once when I was in 1st grade I was giving Finn a hug and he told me to keep my hands to myself." I don't know if you have to have an understanding of Finn and Annie's relationship to truly appreciate this story, but it so tickled my funny bone. I laughed out loud when Annie said it and I laughed as I typed it. And i just reread it and laughed again.

My baby is all grown up...saving china!

2011-04-10T16:56:00.000-07:00

If you haven't seen "Mulan" the title of this post will make no sense to you. But my first baby is all grown up. Finn turned 12 last month and it has been a whirlwind in our house since he turned 12 so I am finally getting to posting about it. He received the priesthood about a week after his birthday and today was the first day he got to pass the sacrament. And I'm not too proud to admit that I got a little teary-eyed watching him. He also got to sit on the stand, being the bishop's right-hand man and every time I caught his eye, he would give me a sly smile. I can't say it enough, he is such a good kid.

He also went on his first scout camp-out this weekend. He was so excited, despite the snowy, cold weather and the fact that the campout was about 10 minutes from our house. He probably asked me no less than 15 times during the day whether I thought it would be cancelled. He had his stuff all packed a few hours before and was the consummate boy scout being prepared for himself and then some. It reminded me of when he was 8 and became a cub scout. He was so excited to go to his first den meeting that he got his blue shirt on with the yellow scarf and then went and sat on the curb by the mailbox with his Cub Scout handbook in hand waiting for his ride to pick him up. I wish I had taken a picture. I only have the mental picture, but believe me- it is pretty darn cute!

On the night Finn was ordained a deacon we had a special dinner with his grandparents to celebrate him. I'm usually not a fru-fru, centerpiece kind of girl, but I wanted to do something special to recognize him. So I decided to put the lego space shuttle he made as the centerpiece along with a picture of him. Then I put some of his hats that represent his hobbies- like one with a fish on it, a camouflage hunting hat, a red Utes hat, etc. all up and down the table. I was so impressed with myself that I took a picture.

Also in honor of Finn's big day, after dinner we went around the table and each shared something we love about Finn. I wrote down what everyone said so we wouldn't forget:

Grandma Shauna- His sense of humor

Grandpa Mike- his acting skills

Katie- that he shares his car mat

Annie- that he plays with her but doesn't tell his friends about it.

Suzie- that he lets her sleep with him

Grandpa Craig- his thoughfulness and tenacity

Grandma Susan- that he says "I love you" back

Dad- that he loves to do the same things his dad loves to do

Mom- that he has always been so obedient and responsible and he is a protector. I tell him that he will be taking care of me when I am 80. (I like to encourage this line of thinking now so it won't even be a question 40 years down the road.)

And even though Finn's 6th grade teacher wasn't at our dinner she did recently share what she loved about Finn too in an email to me. So in her own words, here is what Ms. Allred loves about Finn too:

"He is such a WONDERFUL kid. He is so kind to the other kids and he works really hard to get his work in. I am just really impressed with the way he treats other and how responsible he is. I love ALL the kids. But there are a few that I could clone and mass produce and have a class full of that would make my job stress free and Finn is one of those kids."

Now that I am done bragging about Finn, I am going to do one last thing. I am posting his VERY favorite meal. So now you can try Finn's "Can we pleeeeeeeease have Shepherd's Pie for dinner?" shepherd's pie.

Slice of life

2011-03-06T21:27:00.000-08:00

I don't have any big story to tell this week, just some cute stories I don't want to forget.
We actually made it to the library this week. A feat I wish I could make happen more often. One of my favorite sounds, or should I say lack of sounds, is the silence during the car ride home from the library when everyone is engrossed in their new books. During that evening I over heard Katie reading a library book to Suzie. One of the characters in the book had a particularly difficult name to pronounce. So Katie asked Suzie what name she wanted the girl character's name to be, to replace the name she couldn't pronounce. I was expecting Suzie to give a suggestion like Makenna or Sally or Jessica- her usual go-to names when naming her dolls. So i was surprised when she came up with "Suck-ha." I couldn't help but smile every time I heard lines like..."Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Suck-ha." Or "Every night, Suck-ha put up a terrible fuss about going to bed."
One evening this week Eric and I were exchanging some PG, maybe mildly PG-13 texts before he came home from work. I have one of those phones that shows the whole text stream between two people like a conversation with those conversation bubbles. I had left the text stream open, set my phone down and turned around to make dinner. After a minute I turned around and saw that Finn had picked up my phone and was reading the texts between Eric and I. I asked Finn what he was doing and swiftly removed the phone from Finn's hands. He just turned red and started giggling, like only an 11 year old boy can giggle. I was afraid I had scarred him, but apparently all I did was jog his memory because a few minutes later he handed me a note about the 6th grade maturation program next week while saying, "I just remembered you have to sign this."
And if you want to know what those texts said, you'll have to ask me personally!
Another night during dinner the kids started having one of those "How come we never....?" conversations. One of my personal favorite whiny conversation starters where they list all the perceived injustices and deprived aspects of their childhood. The list can include such huge grievances such as "How come we never go on a Disney cruise?" to smaller infractions like "How come we never have chocolate milk?" An interesting phenomenon with these conversations is how they feed off each other. All it takes is one "How come we never...?" statement and the whole dinner conversation is ruined. Kind of like when you find that one moldy berry in the container. You know it won't take long before every other berry is ruined. I don't remember any of the other "How come we never...?" statements from this particular night. (I tend to go to my happy place when these conversations start.) But I do remember Suzie's compliant. I'm sure in an effort to keep up with her siblings and because she has been learning about colors in preschool, she came up with "How come we never see any rainbows?" Well that's a "How come we never..?" statement that though I can't do anything about, I certainly can appreciate. Maybe we should spend more time outside when it rains.

To Be or Not to Be

2011-02-27T17:28:00.000-08:00

This past week was the 6th grades' Shakespeare performances at our school. And Finn, being in 6th grade, participated. Now if you had asked me a year ago that Finn would be excited to perform these plays and would even excel at them, I would say (with a Nacho Libre accent) "You're craaazie!" In the past I would never call Finn the dramatic type or the type that likes to draw attention to himself. He can be shy and quiet at times. But Finn has an awesome 6th grade teacher who works all year to help these kids "release their inner dork"- as she calls it. And the Shakespeare plays really highlight all her hard work. These plays are extremely well done. And it isn't a dumbed-down version of Shakespeare- it is the real thing- with costumes, set designs, staging and all. They do shortened versions of four different plays- "Hamlet", "Taming of the Shrew", "Macbeth" and "Mid-Summer's Night Dream" You can tell the teacher and parents who help really work with the kids on expression, dialogue, projection, style and humor. She even encourages them to add their own personality to their parts. Here is Finn as Demetrius in "Mid-Summer's Night Dream". He is fighting with Lysander over Helena. Originally they just fight with swords, but it was Finn's idea to add a light saber.

Soon after this fight, the girls- Helena and Hermia fight and it was Finn's idea to have the boys sit down with a tub of popcorn to watch the "Cat-fight."

And just to prove how much these plays have stretched Finn outside of his comfort zone, here he is begging Helena for a kiss:

Sorry- that would be Pertruchio's hat in the way!

These experiences really help the kids grow. It is awesome to see their humor, personality and confidence blossom right before your eyes.

Earlier last week Finn texted one of his friends who had missed the first day of the performances. This friend was playing Hamlet so Finn was letting him know he really needed to be there. The friend decided to text back right in the middle of scripture reading. I gave Finn "the look" when he got the text. He looked at it quickly and started laughing. I told him since it interrupted scripture study, he needed to share it with all of us. In response to Finn's pleadings for his presence, the friend texted, "I shall come to fulfill my role. Thou needst not worry."

Now you tell me, what other 6th graders would text that and think it is funny if they hadn't been exposed to Shakespeare.

Me thinks I needst not worry about what Finn is doing at school.

Helena, Hermia, Lysander & Demetrius

Heaven Help Us, Not only do we have a persistent cough affecting our house, but we also have a bad case of Bieber Fever!

2011-02-20T21:19:00.000-08:00

So I'll start with the persistent cough. It started with Finn about 2 months ago. He kept complaining about his cough, but since he had no other symptoms, I reassured him that it would go away eventually. It was just lingering. Then Annie , then Katie, then Suzie all got it. When Annie got it she also complained about her stomach & throat hurting and she had a low-grade fever too. Since I have been a mother for coming on 12 years, I have finally figured out that if your stomach hurts and your throat hurts, it could be strep throat. The third component in the strep throat trifecta is a headache. So for a few days when I woke Annie up I would ask her how she was feeling, focusing on if she had a headache too. One morning Finn was in the room when I was inquiring Annie about how she was feeling. He said with disgust, "How come you are so concerned about Annie and her cough? When I had that cough all you did was tell me it would go away. Then last year when I had a sunburn, you didn't do anything. But when Annie got a sunburn you rushed out to get medicine to help her feel better." I reminded him that Annie could rattle off a whole list of times we seemed to favor him over her. I mean how many times have I heard, "Dad, ALWAYS does (fill in the blank) with Finn and he NEVER does anything with me!" Needless to say, "Life isn't fair." is a common refrain in our household.

Which leads me to the next part of this post. Another recent common refrain in our house, also much to Finn's disgust, is "I just love Justin Bieber!" So my girls were too young to catch the Britney Spears craze, Hannah Montana was a glancing blow and the Jonas Brothers were just a flash in the pan compared to the case of Bieber Fever we got going on in our house. It began just a few weeks ago when Annie was watching her favorite show, "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" with Justin as a guest star. Annie's quick rise in emotions and adoration for Justin mirrored the singer's career path itself: fast and furious. The spark ignited by the Makeover show roared to a blaze when she went to school and soon discovered other girls suffering from the same condition.

Pretty soon "Never Say Never" and "Baby, baby, oh" lyrics were filling our house and Annie was begging me to see the new Justin Bieber movie. I adamantly denied this request until I was talking with some girlfriends who told me they had taken their girls to it and said it was actually good. They even admitted they would see it again. So yesterday I gritted my teeth and took my girls to see the "Never Say Never" bio-documentary of a 16 year old who I am old enough to be his mother. Annie was literally on the edge of her seat with her mouth gaping half open during most of the movie. She didn't even eat a single kernel of popcorn. Katie on the other hand was quite bored by it and said all it was was singing and talking. She also admitted that all the girls screaming gave her headache. But she assured us all after that she still loved Justin Bieber. Suzie did pretty good during the movie. She was rockin out with the rest of the theater, but she did fall asleep during the last 20 minutes of the movie. I guess the climax of Justin getting over his sore throat and being able to perform at Madison Square Garden just didn't enthrall her all that much. (Sorry if I just spoiled the movie for you!)

And even though as an adult all this tween crush stuff can at times seem really silly to me, I do know that it is part of growing up. So I find myself biting my tongue when Annie talks about "how beautiful Justin Bieber is" because I too had a preteen crush. And it wasn't on someone cool like Michael Jackson and I was a little too old by the time New Kids on the Block came around. It was Jack Wagner. Ever heard of him? Don't worry... not that many people had either back in the eighties when I was 9. But my sister and I were big General Hospital fans where he played Frisco Jones. He also sang the one-hit wonder "All I Need." We even went to his concert, my first concert ever. I can't imagine what else he sang to fill the two hour concert, but it didn't matter. Because I too thought he was beautiful.

At this point I wanted to provide you with a little eye-candy in the form of a picture of Jack Wagner with his sweet mullet circa 1984, but I couldn't get the picture to load. So I will just direct you here if you really must see a picture of him. And in my search for a Jack Wagner picture I found a book called "Getting Over Jack Wagner: Love is Nothing like an eighties song." So I guess there are more people out there besides my sister and I who had a crush on Jack. I just wish there had been a cute name for our condition like there is for Annie. But having "Wagner Whooping Cough" just isn't as cool as "Bieber Fever!"

My Recurring Nightmare, Come True.

2011-02-06T18:30:00.000-08:00

I believe dreams can be quite powerful. I have had dreams that have conveyed important messages. I have had dreams that have warned me. I have had dreams that have given me comfort. Of course I have also had dreams that have been complete nonsense. But I do have a few recurring dreams and one in particular I consider a nightmare of sorts.

This recurring nightmare goes something like this- I am back in college, it's toward the end of the semester and I still can't remember what my schedule is. I don't remember where my next class is or even what my next class is. Then I realize that I haven't done most of the work for the class and I will probably fail. And if you were me in college, that is a definite nightmare.

I'm not exactly sure what the deeper meaning of this recurring dream is- probably something about not feeling prepared. But I do think it is interesting that I always go back to a previous stage of life. My mom also a recurring nightmare that has varying settings, but she is always having to do something difficult with a bunch of little kids in toe. Which would be a step back in her life too.

Well about a month ago, my step back in time nightmare became my current reality. I am back in college for real. I am taking an Integrated Early Childhood Curriculum course at the U. There are various reasons why I am working on earning my Early Childhood License and renewing my teaching certificate at the same time, but for the main reason I can thank Mr. Obama and how his "generous" healthcare bill affects small business owners like Eric. So I have started on the path toward becoming a part-time kindergarten teacher so we can have reasonable insurance. Which is a reality for a lot of teachers who work for insurance and I'm just grateful I have a degree in a profession where I can get insurance as a part-time employee.

But it has been interesting being back in college as a 30 something way closer to her 40's than her 20's. On the first day I was worried I wouldn't be able to find my class. Where would I park? Where do I buy my books? Should I take just a notebook? If I do, would I look ancient because I don't have a laptop to take notes? But what if take a laptop and I look like a major geek? (In the end I decided it would be better to be "underdressed" rather than "overdressed" and just took a notebook. ) But the point is I found all the "insecurities" I felt in my recurring dream coming out for real before I started the class.

But now that I have been in class for a month now, I have found that being in college at 36 is way different from being in college at 18. It isn't nearly as stressful to me. Granted, I'm only taking one class, but I think I have commented more times in my current class than I did my whole first year of college. I've realized that having 4 children and being a stay-at-home mom for almost 12 years really has been useful when it comes to understanding child development. Obviously my confidence in the class is bolstered from already having my degree in elementary education and having taught for 5 years, but I am honestly enjoying it more than I thought it would.

And good news, since I started my class, I haven't had one nightmare about being in college and not being prepared. But I am a little worried about what recurring dream I could start having now. I'm afraid it may have something to do with being labor!

"I Like Me Too."

2011-01-30T19:14:00.000-08:00

My baby turned four this week, so this whole post is going to be about her. So if you don't like Suzie stories, you might just want to move on.
I just love my Suz! She is such an independent, confident, charming, bossy little bugger. She has the mentality of an oldest child combined with all the spoiling of the youngest child.

So the first Suzie story relates to the title of this post. A few weeks ago I was drying Suzie off after her bath. I gave her a kiss on her cheeks as I was drying her face. She said, "Why did you kiss me?" I said, "Because I love you." Then she asked, "Do you like me?" I responded, "Yes." I fully expected a "I like you too." response. But instead she replies with a, "I like me too." Well who wouldn't?!?

Suzie loves, loves movies. She will even quote them. My favorite one she quotes is Nacho Libre. She will say, "Go away. Read some books." Or when I give her hug when she is going to bed she will grab my neck and say, "I give you da squaa-weeze!"

She is also my best eater. She loves most food. I had made some noodles the other day and gave her a bowl. She saw that there were still noodles in the pan and informed me that she wanted ALL the noodles. I told her they wouldn't all fit in her bowl. She said, "Then get a bigger bowl." Well of course. Why didn't I think of that!

She has discriminating taste in clothes. She has a outfit that she calls her "rockstar clothes". It has a ruffly top and pants with a crazy design. And when I wear a sweatshirt and my camouflage pants she will ask, "Why are you wearing your ugly clothes, mom?"

She is voted the favorite prayer-giver by the kids because her prayers last about 2.5 seconds. They usually go something like this, "Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for the food. Amen." Or "Dear Heavenly Father, Bless that we won't have bad dreams. Amen." One time I suggest she make her prayers longer by thanking Heavenly Father for all the things he has blesses us with. She took this suggestion to heart because her prayer went something like this, "Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for all the things. Amen."

She also knows her place in the family. One night Eric and I were in our room discussing some "criminal mischief" that had taken place in our house that day like a shelf in the pantry being broken from being used as a ladder to the top where the "good food" is. Suzie's room is across the hall from ours and she overheard our discussion from her bed. Without being asked if she was the one who broke the shelf, she offered up, "I didn't do it. I'm too small."

She also knows Eric's place in the family. She was naming everyone in the family and ticking them off on her fingers. Like touching her pointer finger and saying, "There's Finn." then moving to her middle finger and saying, "And Annie." After she finished the whole family she turned to Eric and said, "Daddy, you're the thumb."

Her view of Eric as the thumb might also explain the comment she made to him while lifting up her shirt and proclaiming, "Daddy, our tummies match!" (Eric is another one of my best eaters too!)

One day she was playing house with Katie and her friend Ellie. When I walked past them while they were playing she told me, "I'm the mom and these are my two sweeties."

But my most favorite recent Suzie story is when she was giving me a kiss and said, "Mom when I give you a kiss, it means love." Absolutely.

A big dose of reality

2011-01-12T08:48:00.000-08:00

I usually blog on the weekends, but this story is too good.. it deserved a midweek post.

Let me preface this story with another story. On Christmas Eve, we saw some neighbors who we lived by when I was in my twenties. They have a son who is in his early twenties who was just a kid when we lived by them. Well his mother, my friend, told me that he had told her,"Kari doesn't look like she is getting older at all. In fact she looks like she is getting younger and younger." I mostly attribute this to the fact that I have grown my hair out longer. But this didn't stop me from fully accepting this compliment and proclaiming it as the best Christmas present of the year, if not ever!

Now fast forward to this week. Suzie is in a 3-4 year old dance class and there is a mom of another 3 or 4 year old in that same dance class who has looked so familiar to me. I have tried and tried to figure out how I know this woman. She is kind of quiet and keeps to her self, so I have never spoken with her. I figured maybe she just works at Costco. (See sometimes when I am at Costco, I will look at the people that work there and think. "How do I know you?" and then I remember that I know them because they work at Costco and I am there once a week.) Anyway I gave up trying to figure out how I know her.

Until this week. After dance class, the little girl of this woman passed out birthday party invitations to all the girls in the class. As Suzie and I opened the invitation and I read the mom's name on the R.S.V.P. line, it hit me like a ton of bricks who this "woman" is.

I TAUGHT THIS "WOMAN" IN 6TH GRADE!

To be sure I went home and pulled out my scrapbook to find my class picture from those years and sure enough here she is in overalls on the front row of my first year of teaching.

Now in my defense I am only 10 years older than these kids, but it still stung. And it didn't help that I later went to the pharmacy and dropped of my prescription to a pharmacist who was a former student too. Seriously, I am suppose to only be 25 and how can I be 25 if these former students are 26!

Then to add insult to injury, I had this exchange with Katie recently:

Katie: Mom, you don't look like you are 36.

Mom: How old do I look?

Katie: You look like you are 28.

Mom: Silent, but smiling.

Katie: (Adding after a moment) Except for the wrinkles.

Mom: Silent, but not so much smiling.

More Kitchen Capers

2011-01-02T14:51:00.000-08:00

Ever since I did the Great Chicken Experiment, my kids often ask things like, "Are you doing another experiment on us?" or "Are you trying to give us salad every night until we tell you to stop?" Nothing like causing paranoia in your children.
Well recently Eric conducted a food experiment of his own. Last fall he went deer hunting and came home with two big, black garbage bags full of deer meat. I'm not a big fan of cooking or eating venison, so Eric said we were going to donate it. He put the meat in our deep freezer and I didn't think much about it.
Then one night last week Eric called to see what was for dinner. When I told him spaghetti, I didn't think twice about him saying he would fix it when he got home. See, if I am being perfectly honest here, Eric is probably a better intuit cook than I am. I can follow a recipe with the best of them and I can even change and doctor up a recipe fairly well, but Eric has more of a "kitchen whisperer" sense than I do. I have a bigger repertoire of what I can make than he does but that is just because I have to cook more often, but if all things were equal, he would beat me anyday in the cooking department. But don't tell him I admit this. I like to keep a psychological edge in my kitchen.
All of this is to say I wasn't surprised when Eric offered to make the spaghetti, especially spaghetti. Italian is his forte. If I ever invite you over for dinner, insist that Eric make italian. Anyway, Eric makes dinner and I move from head chef to sous chef. As good a cook as Eric is, he is a bit unrealistic about what he expects from his kitchen. I think he expects the cabinets to magically divine what ingredient he needs and move it to the front of the shelf right where his hand would reach for it. So this is where I come in when he is cooking. My place is not to question his methods or do the actual cooking. My place is to make sure all the ingredients are within quick reach of his hand. I've never been in an OR, but I can imagine that the set-up in our kitchen is very similar to a doctor asking the nurse for a scalpel during surgery, except without the masks. Mine is a supporting role, not a life-saving role.
So after we have conducted this life-saving task of making spaghetti for our family and have enjoyed the fruits of our labor, Eric asks everyone, "So can you guess the secret ingredient in the spaghetti tonight?" I knew immediately what is was not because of the taste of the spaghetti, but because the one ingredient I hadn't divined for Eric was the meat. It was deer meat. I was honestly surprised because I couldn't taste the difference at all. I think if I ate the meat straight, like in a hamburger, I could taste the difference, but because it was in a sauce it tasted just fine. In fact we have been so impressed with this deer meat that we have made sloppy joes and chili with it and they have both been fantastic.
So my cooking club may have to watch out. Last year I fed them fish and this year they may just get deer!

What we have Mastered in 2010

2011-01-02T14:23:00.000-08:00

If you got a Christmas card from me, then you have already read this. So sorry to not give you any new reading material, but I thought it was so clever it deserved to be posted. And if you didn't get a Christmas card from me and would like one, let my know in the comments and I'll put ya on the list for next year! So here is what we have mastered this year:
Finn: The art of eye-rolling and pre-teen sighing, playing tuba solos and making us and his classmates laugh with his wit and humor.
Annie: The art of noticing each and every slight or injustice committed against her with statements like "That's not fair" and "Finn always gets to go and I never do", being an excellent piano player and constantly creating new games and activities for her sisters and friends to do.
Katie: The art of infuriating her brother and sister by taking her own sweet time getting ready for school in the morning, having more friends than a 6 year old needs and being an expert reader.
Suzie: The art of getting whatever she wants through charm or sheer will. (Part of this art may also lie in the fact that she is the baby and her parents are just plain worn out), getting everyone to adore her and she is still working on the art of sharing her Polly Pockets.
Mom: The art of getting dirty while she runs (Dirty Dash and Warrior Run), remembering when each kids' library day is and what the letter of the week is in preschool and when the kids' run out of lunch money and when scouts is and when she is suppose to drive to band... you know just the art of motherhood, although she wouldn't claim to have mastered it yet!
Dad: The art of repairing dings in the walls (Turns out raising girls can be just as hard on a house as raising boys!), keeping his heart rate in check through the ups and downs of this year's Utes football season and getting his girls to squeal with delight when he walks through the door each night.
Can't wait to see what we master in 2011!

Christmas 2010 and classic kid stories

2010-12-26T18:24:00.000-08:00

We had a great Christmas with all the usual memorable parties, nativities, visits from Santa, yummy food and family fun. I wanted to post some of the funny things my kids have said during the course of all this holiday merriment.

Finn- Finn has had several opportunites to share his newly acquired tuba talent this season. The latest was on Christmas Eve with Eric's family. We were having a little cousins talent show as part of our Christmas Eve program. Finn was practicing his tuba downstairs in front of a a few of his girl cousins. These cousins are about Annie's age. When Finn finished his song, they started clapping real slow and saying, "Good job." in a sarcastic tone. Finn turned to them and said, "I've been playing for a month, so shut it!"

Annie- Even with all the good cheerful that abounds during this time of year, I still find the occassional occassion that requires the use of a four-letter word on my part. I am trying to curb this habit, really I am, but Annie took it upon herself this week to create a "Swear Jar" for anyone who swears. If you swear you have to put a dollar in the jar. I asked her where the money went and she said all proceeds go to a charity. I asked her which charity and she said, "The charity of helping me get some jamberry nails." Jamberry nails are about $15 so I figure with all the kids being home next week, she will have reached her goal before she goes back to school!

Katie- As we have been driving back and forth to activities our girls, much to Finn's dismay, have loved singing along with all the fun Christmas songs on the radio. One night they strayed from the tradition Christmas carols and started singing another family favorite..."When Suzie was a Baby, a baby, a baby..." If you haven't heard this song before it a song that builds on itself as "Suzie" grows up. For example the first verse is- "When Suzie was a baby, a baby, a baby she went like this... waah, waah." Then the next verse is "When Suzie was a toddler, a toddler, a toddler she went like this... waah, waah. gimme a sucker." In each verse she gets a little older and another phrase is added to the end. Having a Suzie in our house, you can see why this is a family favorite. The kids like to substitute different family member's names in it and then make up verses that fit that person's personality. Katie decided to make a verse for Eric and I. My verse went like this-"When mommy was a mommy, a mommy, a mommy she went like this...(Katie scream-singing in a shrill, loud voice) Why do I have to clean up this mess all by myself!" Then she made a verse up for Eric that went like this-"When daddy was a daddy, a daddy, a daddy he went like this... (Katie speaking in a tired, slow voice) I don't care, whatever, go ahead." I wish I could say she was exagerrating for dramatic effect, but I can't. Her impersonations were spot-on.

Suzie- Suzie has a blanket she adores, especially the smell. For some reason she has a thing with smells. I could tell a myriad of stories about her obsession with smells, but I won't. I'll stick to the one at hand. Her grandpa likes to tease her by trying to get the blanket away from her or take it and say it is his. This gets Suzie all sorts of riled up. He does it to her almost everytime he sees her. Christmas Eve was no different. Except this time she stopped him in his tracks when she said to him, "For crying out loud Grandpa, quit teasing me!"

And with that, I'll leave you with "For crying out loud, I hope you all had a Merry Christmas."

Now tell me again, Why do I do this to myself?!?

2010-12-19T19:51:00.000-08:00

Since it was unseasonably warm on Monday night I thought we would go down to Temple Square to see the Christmas lights for FHE. We haven't gone down there to see the lights in a few years, so I thought it would be something everyone would enjoy. Boy, was I wrong.

Conversations had before we went:

Mom: Come on, everyone get your coats. We are going to see the lights on Temple Square for Family Home Evening.

Finn: What? Why are we going all the way down there just to see lights? They're just lights.

Katie:A square? How can we walk around in a square?

Mom: Just get your coats.

Conversations had while looking for a parking space:

Finn (while looking out the window at the the Church Office Building Plaza lights): Is that all? Is that all we came all the way down here for?

Dad: Yep, so soak it all in.

Mom: Holding her tongue and rolling her eyes.

Conversations we had while actually looking at the lights:

Finn: It's just a bunch of lights. What's the big deal?

Katie: This is lame.

Suzie: I WANT TO RIDE THE ESCALATOR! (Suzie had to go to the bathroom as soon as we got there and we made the mistake of going to the North Visitor Center, where they have an escalator, to take her to the bathroom. We told her we would go back at the end to ride the escalator, thinking she would be so mesmerized by the lights that she wouldn't even remember the escalator. But we were dead wrong. She cried the whole time about riding the escalator.)

Finn: I've been here like 3 times.

Mom: Trying to make it a meaningful experience by talking about what we were seeing- the temple, the nativities, the statues, etc. But finding no one is really listening and they are all moving onto the next thing to see without registering a thing she is saying.

Conversations we had in the car on the way home after being there for about 45 minutes:

Annie: We weren't there for very long.

Dad: We were there long enough.

Katie: We didn't even get to see any Jesus sets. ("Jesus sets" was how Katie referred to the nativities.)

Dad: Well if you had been paying attention you would have noticed that we passed by like 6 "Jesus sets."

Mom: Well. thank you for all making your mother happy by coming to see the lights on Temple Square so we can make a memory.

Annie: I loved it!

Katie: I had fun. (I'm not sure what she thought was lame earlier, but she seems to have forgotten it.)

Suzie: I rided the escalator!

So I guess maybe that is why I make myself vulnerable to "unsolicited" comments about what I plan so our family can create tradition and meaning. The "I loved it" and "I had fun" make it all worth it!

Can't you just see the "unsolicited comments" just oozing out of eric and Finn's faces!?! And notice Suzie is turned around, looking longingly back at the escalators I'm sure!

Decorating-Check

2010-12-05T14:59:00.000-08:00

I feel like I have spent the majority of this past week decorating for Christmas. I don't remember it being as long and drawn out as it has been this year. But I think I have finally got it all up. One of the things that makes the process so long is that I first have to clean my house because I am not about to set baby Jesus up among dust bunnies. Also my kids really like being part of the process- the putting decorations up process, not the cleaning the dust bunnies process.

I have found there are some things you do in parenthood that sound and seem a lot more quaint and charming before you actually do them with your kids. One of these things is baking with your 6 & 3 year olds. Another one is decorating with your 6&3 year olds. They go through the boxes all willy-nilly pulling out decorations and scattering them everywhere except where you actually want them to put the decoration. And because I have a 9 & 11 year old, I know this. So in the past I have learned to do the majority of the decorating while they are at school and save a few things for them to put up in their rooms and I do let them decorate the tree . But for some reason, that didn't work out this year. So I spent a lot of my time trying to keep Suzie out of the Christmas boxes or redoing her decorating choices. So this may have added to the lengthy decorating process.

But all this decorating reminded me of about 7 years ago when Finn was about 4 or 5 and we were putting up decorations. We had this little Christmas wreath that had a train that would travel around the wreath in a circle and make noises. He LOVED it and wanted to put it on his bedroom door. He asked if he could put it on his door but I told him I would figure it out later. Later in the day I walked by his room and saw the wreath hanging by a screw on his door. Eric hadn't been home between the time Finn asked me and the time I saw it hanging there. So Finn must have taken matters into his own hands and gotten a screw and hammer out of the toolbox and jimmy-rigged the wreath on the door. I was impressed by the resourcefulness of this little 5 year old. But I was also a bit ticked by the hole he put in the door. I told him I was glad he figured out how to solve his problem but that he had put a hole in the door! He didn't seem to get the permanence of the hole or the fact that I might be upset by the damage done to the door by driving a screw into it. He seemed to think he was doing himself and me a favor by thinking ahead because when I said, "Finn, you put a hole in the door!" he responded, "Yea, now I won't have to do it again next year."

Well, if that isn't a logical little man-in-training, I don't know what is!

Touchdown Jesus and the second closet I've come to having a heart attack.

2010-11-21T21:00:00.001-08:00

Despite what the title of this post might imply, seeing touchdown jesus is not what caused me to come the second closest to having a heart attack. And it wasn't the fact that the utes suffered an embarrassing loss so close to touchdown jesus... I'm not that big of a ute fan. (Although it may have been the closest eric has ever been to having a heart attack when the utes gave up a touchdown within the first 13 seconds of the second half of the game that was so close to touchdown jesus.) I'm sure I have utterly confused you with the post, so I will back up a bit. First of all this is touchdown jesus:

And he is found on the Notre Dame college campus where eric and I went to watch the utes play on one of the most historic football fields in the country. We went for the 123 years of football tradition that is found on this college campus. We went to see the 11 national championships won by a college football team. We went to see the statue of the "Gipper"- the most winning football coach in college football history. We went to see the campus that "Rudy" walked on. What we didn't do was go to watch the utes lose. And to be perfectly honest here, I personally didn't go for any of those reasons at all. I mainly went for the yummy food I would be having in Chicago. But the point is we almost didn't go at all. And that makes for the second closest I've ever come to having a heart attack.

About two months ago eric came home with 4 tickets to the Utah vs. Notre Dame football game. He gave 2 to our friends who would be going with us and he kept the other 2 for us in an envelope which he set on the counter. I have this big, long counter that separates my kitchen from my family room and it is the catch-all for all kinds of things- receipts, backpacks, mail, magazines, notes from school, keys, cell phone chargers, etc. I'm sure you all have a space like it. Well eric put the tickets on the counter and they kept falling on the floor or being lost in a pile of mail or moved around to a different pile of stuff. So one day after I had picked them up off the floor for about the tenth time, I told eric, "You need to put these tickets in a safe place because I don't want to be responsible for losing them." Do you see any foreshadowing here? Anyway by proclaiming this I "washed my hands" of keeping track of them. But apparently what eric heard was "I'm going to put these tickets in a safe place so you don't have to be responsible for them." because on the morning of our flight about 10 minutes before we needed to leave he asked, "So where are the football tickets?" I replied, "I don't know." To which he replied, "Seriously, where are they?" To which I replied, "Seriously, I don't know. The last I saw them was on the counter." To which he then went into the kitchen to look for them and to which I proceeded to finish my hair thinking, "Silly man. Doesn't he remember I absolved myself of all responsibility concerning those tickets." To which after 5 minutes he comes in and tells me they aren't on the counter. To which I then go into the kitchen mumbling under my breath "He's as bad as the kids. He expects the tickets to reach out and grab his hand. Can't he just move a few papers around to look for them?" To which after 5 minutes of me moving papers and going through piles of mail and emptying out drawers I start having heart palpitations.

So after about 20 minutes of frantic searching all our usual and unusual piles, paperstacks, drawers, and crevices they were no where to be found. Eric decided to go check his office and I decided to pray- not to touchdown jesus, but to the real one. As if He cared, but I did receive a text during all this and for a split second thought that maybe the man upstairs had gone high-tech in answering prayers these days. Eric came home empty- handed and started making calls to the Utah chapter of the Notre Dame Association, where he had bought the tickets and the Notre Dame football ticket office. So suffice it to say we were able to get reprints of our tickets that would be waiting for us at will-call. Heart attack averted! We were able to enjoy the game and trip with these lovely, incredibly tall people- our friends Marcy and Andy. (eric and I are standing on bleachers, they are not!)

And coincidentally enough the absolute closest I have ever come to a heart attack involves Andy and his incredible tallness. But that is a story for another day!

"Three dollars downtown at the newspaper"

2010-11-07T08:27:00.000-08:00

The title of this post may make absolutely no sense to you if you haven't seen "Farley Family Reunion." "Farley Family Reunion" is one of my all time favorite movies and is probably the most often quoted one in my family... meaning my siblings and parents. It is a Mormon culture classic. I even had my non-Mormon friends quoting it in high school. It is a one man act by James Farley where he depicts all the stereotypical members of an extended family. The set-up is a program at a family reunion where different members of the family come up and report about their "doings" or perform a talent or give a family history report, etc. He nails every character from the annoyed teenager who has to do her baton twirling routine because her mother is forcing her to the Relief Society lady who tells pioneer stories while wearing her apron that turns into a bonnet to the old grandma who brings her x-rays to show what is wrong with her. The list goes on and on. And if you are a member of a LDS family and have ever been to a family reunion you will relate to at least one if not more of these characters. It is hilarous!

Anyway, what that has to do with this post is in the movie there is a character who has won "three dollars downtown at the newspaper" for a story he has written and the proud parent tells everyone over and over and over how the kid won "three dollars downtown at the newspaper." Well in our family we also have an award winning writer. And even though Finn didn't win "three dollars downtown at the newspaper" he did win a free ticket to the city's Haunted Halloween trail, which is worth less than 3 dollars. But nevertheless he did get to read his Halloween story at the "spooky" storytellers evening at the park.

So in honor of this prestigious award, this proud parent is posting his "free ticket to the Haunted Halloween trail" winning story, complete with pictures and all.

The Three Mutant Alien Pigs

Once upon a time there were three Mutant Alien Pigs. Their names were Mario, Alfonzo and Jerry. They were too old to live with their mother so they got into their spaceship and flew to the Planet Eggplant. But before they left their mother told them to watch out for the Big Bad Mutant Space Wolf. They told her not to worry; then they left.

Mario was looking for a spot for his house when he saw a spot for his house. He saw a big box of Cracker Jacks just sitting there. He had a great idea. A hosue built from Cracker Jacks! So he did.

Alfonzo was doing the same when he saw a Big Orange selling little oranges. He had the same idea. (But with oranges.) So he built his house. Now I know what you are thinking. Houses made from food? Let's just say they aren't very smart.

Now onto the older, smarter Jerry. Jerry saw a metal store so he went inside and bought a 5000 lbs mix of titanium steel, and built his house from that. Then an unknown spaceship landed in Eggplant and out came a bounty hunter named "The Big Bad Mutant Space Wolf." He came to capture the pigs because they were on the F.B.I. most wanted list, and the F.B.I. sent the wolf to capture the pigs!

First he went to Mario's house. He knocked on the door. "Let me in you Mutant Alien Pig!", cried the wolf.

"Not for all the Cracker Jacks in my house!", shouted the pig.

"Then I'll throw a watermelon at your house.", said the wolf. And he did.

So Mario got in his hover craft and flew to Alfonzo's house. He told him everything. Then the wolf came along. The pigs didn't let him in. So he threw another melon and of course it broke the house. So Mario and Alfonzo flew to Jerry's house. They told him everything. Then along came the wolf. He did the whole watermelon thing. But this time it didn't work. So the wolf went down the chimney but Jerry tazed him. He was so scared he left Eggplant. He reported back to the police chief and was slapped across the face and sent to the deserted Planet Grapefruit never to be seen again.

P.S. The pigs are still on the lose.

Too proud of him to speak... but did I mention he won "a free ticket to the Haunted Halloween trail!" :)

When the cats are away the mice will play.

2010-10-31T19:04:00.000-07:00

Eric and Finn have been away on a "luxury" hunt over Halloween weekend, so we girls decided to "live it up" while they were gone... well as much as you can "live it up" with three little girls on Halloween anyway. I know my posts tend to be a little wordy, so this week it will mostly be a photo essay of all the activities we did. Here's what "partying" looks like for us:

Singing witchy songs

Walking in Halloween parades and playing "spooky" games like Halloween Bingo and Halloween musical chairs.

Going to the annual "Spooks" Party where we look like the catering/clean-up crew. And if you don't get our costumes, you have to check out this

Lunch Lady Link. You will be amazed how right we got this costume!

Enjoying the party hosted by this handsome couple More of the spooks Going to see the Witches at Gardner Village with friends Going trick or treating Eating ourselves into a candy stupor Painting our "witchy" fingersHaving a Halloween feast that includes:

a Mummy wrap

Dracula Bites Witch Wands -

incidentally my new culinary nemisis is caramel. Between

trying to make homemade caramel dip for Dracula's mouths and melting caramels for the Witch wands, caramel is getting the best of my cooking skills. I just can't seem to get it the right consistency. I think I am cooking it too long, because it is turning out way too hard. Ohh- that drives me crazy! "Bones" bread

Our "Witches Brew"

Here are some of the "witches" who enjoyed our Halloween feast and helped cap off our weekend of partying!

Sunday Night Snapshot

2010-10-24T18:09:00.000-07:00

Before I begin today's post, a couple of people have asked for the recipe for the sweet rolls I mentioned in this post. And even though they have been officially called "marriage rolls" in my ward, (Yes, they this name was sanctioned by both our bishop and Young Men's President in BYC, no less.) I just don't feel it would be right for me to copy and rename them with a boyfriend's name on the recipe blog I belong to because they are the recipe of such a food blogging icon and pioneer. In fact they come from Pioneer Woman. So I am just providing the link to the recipe index page that has links to all three rolls recipes. She even has another recipe for Chocolate Chip sweet rolls that I think I need to make. So go make any of these rolls for someone you love. They will love you even more!
I really don't have any "stories" to tell this week, so i am unabashedly copying my friend, Kelly's idea of giving a snapshot of what everyone in my family is doing as I type this. So thanks Kelly!
Eric: Cleaning his guns. And that is no metaphor. He is literally cleaning his guns for an upcoming hunt. And with 3 girls, this is really something he will be doing on a regular basis on Friday and Saturday nights in about 5 years.
Kari: Remembering the cookies in the oven I was leaving in for just another minute. Unfortunately that was 5 minutes ago. So they are a little past golden brown. They will be perfect for dipping in milk. I wish I could say they were homemade, but they are from some frozen cookie dough I bought from the school fundraiser over a year ago. And since the next batch of fundraiser cookie dough is scheduled to arrive soon, I decided I better cook them.
Finn: Helping and learning the ways of cleaning a gun. Finn is going hunting with his dad and can barely contain himself about it. He is having trouble sleeping; he is so excited about it. I know some people might "frown upon" an 11 year old learning how to shoot and care for a gun. But the way I see it, I would rather have his own father teaching him the proper care of a gun and helping him develop a healthly respect for its power, than have some video game glorifying and glamourizing it.
Annie: Practicing the piano. Despite her occassional whining about practicing, Annie is doing very well in piano. It is fun to watch her grow up and focus all the crazy energy she had as a toddler into good endeavors like piano and school. She and whatever friend she can convince to come over have started a little school that meets afterschool and on the weekends. It is so cute because she will make nametags and folders with her students's names on them. (Her students are usually Suzie, Katie and whatever friend Katie can convince to come over.) They even have a "talking bear" they pass around during community circle time to distinguish whose turn it is to talk. They ask questions like, "What is your favorite color or food?" I would like to say her mother having been a teacher is what is inspiring this role-play, but I think her young, cute 4th grade teacher is more of the inspiration for this.
Katie: Working on her "Star of the Week" Poster. Usually I dread having to do these "Star of the Week" parent project posters. I have always tried to get my kids involved, but it always seems to be one more thing for me to do. But Katie's teacher has it figured out. She sends home a legal-size piece of paper that has all sorts of headings for the KID to fill out like "Favorite Food" or "Places I've been" or "Pets", etc. Then there are cartoon graphics the KID colors. The only thing I have to do is find a picture of Katie and our family to stick on it. It is so much better than having the pressure of making some cutsy, crafty poster. I'm also suppose to send in Katie's favorite treat to share with the class. i asked her what she wanted me to get and after some time thinking about it she said, "Oreos." Hmm... Did not know that. Especially since I can probably count on one hand how many times I have bought them.
Suzie: Watching "Rugrats" on Netflix. We have basic, basic cable, so we don't get a lot of channels. But we can stream movies and TV shows from Netflix to our TV. My kids have discovered the old episodes of "Rugrats" and they love them. I must admit they make me laugh too. "Those dumb babies!" And now Suzie just found the cooling cookies on the kitchen counter. I think I better go help her enjoy them.

Pumpkin Faces

2010-10-19T19:38:00.000-07:00

This weekend my in-laws had their second annual pumpkin carving contest. It is mostly a chance for the cousins to carve their pumkins all together, but a few of the adults take it a bit more seriously. Eric's brother, Gary, is an incredible self-taught artist and his talent is easily translated into professional-looking carved pumpkins. And despite my lobbying for Gary to be a category unto himself for our pumpkin carving contest, he won 1st place again. His is the first picture on this post, and I have to admit wholeheartedly he deserves it. Here are the pictures of my lil' pumpkins and their award winning pumpkin faces.
Finn won the "Most Original" award for his Sherlock Holmes pumpkin. Please note the top hat and pipe which make it most decidedly a Halloween nod to the famous detective. These days Finn and Eric are so into watching Sherlock Holmes on PBS, that Finn has even started reading the book.

Another thing Finn is into these days is the tuba. He started the before school band last week. Since he is the only kid who is playing the tuba, the band teacher has a tuba he can play at the school and another one he can bring home and practice. That way he doesn't have to lug the instrument back and forth. The morning after he brought his tuba home, Eric and I were still in bed when we heard the melodious honk of this "delicate" horn at 7:30am. I went downstairs and told Finn though I appreciated his enthusiasm for a musical instrument, he couldn't play it that early in the morning. He recounted the circumstance that led to his playing the tuba. He was trying to wake Annie up and she just wouldn't get up. So he resorted to getting his tuba out of its case and going to Annie's room to play it in her face. Who knew the tuba had a dual purpose. Not only does it provide the bass line in a band, it also can be a quite effective wake-up call. Just ask Annie. And speaking of Annie, here is her award-winning pumpkin:

She won 4th place for her Monster-Ghost, which was quite gracious of her to give herself the last place since she was the judge. (You might of noticed that there are varying awards in this contest-not only things like "Most Original" , but also 1st, 2nd, etc. It happens when there are 9 year old judges and so many pumpkins to judge.) I would love to give an update here on Annie, but I have been forbidden from sharing any stories about her on my blog. So for the time being, I'm respecting those wishes. Although I can't guarantee this Annie-story moratorium will last long.

Katie won "Cutest" for her witch pumpkin. This past Sunday Katie was doing a church related word search during sacrament meeting. I was truly amazed when she found words like 'clean' and 'white' written backward in the search. Then I noticed she was finding words like 'covenant' and 'worthy' without checking the spelling of them on the words to find list. "Wow. She is really smart" is what I thought. And then I saw she wasn't crossing any of the words off as she was finding them. I pointed this out to her and she acted surprised that there was even a list of words to find. At this point I got suspicious. Katie is a smart girl, but she is only 6 and words like 'accountable' and 'commandments' aren't in her sight word repetoire yet. I then looked more closely at the words to find list and saw an answer key on the bottom of the page. Katie was looking at the answer key and then finding the words to circle by location rather then by the actual words. I leaned over and told this to Eric. He whispered back, "So you went from 'She's brilliant' to 'She's a cheater.' in a matter of seconds." Yeah, pretty much. But like Eric said, at least the optimism of a mother saw the positive first rather than the realism of the hard truth.Here is Suzie with her rendition of the "Cat in the Hat" pumpkin. (Sorry I can't get the picture to turn the right way.) "Cat in the Hat" is her new favorite PBS cartoon. She wouldn't show her face because she was BEING the cat in the hat. Suzie, as Julie pointed out this week, is such a little mother. We went to the cabin this weekend and when we first got there it was cold. So Eric decided to build a fire instead of turning in the heat. As Eric was getting the fire started, Suzie went upstairs to claim her bed and get into her pjs. She came back downstairs about 10 minutes later and stood in front of the barely burning fire with her hands on her hips and asked, "So is this going well?"

She also told her friend, Quinci, that "She (Quinci) shouldn't talk when she (Suzie) is talking." But she also peed outside by a tree at the cabin because she didn't want to take the time to come back inside. So either she is a resourceful little mother or just a resourceful little 3 year old.

Call me ugly, call me stupid, but don't call me late for dinner

2010-10-11T15:00:00.000-07:00

So I love food. I am entertained watching others prepare food. I am entertained trying new food. I enjoy reading about food. I, at times, enjoy planning out and preparing my food. I will get giddy with excitement anticipating a good meal. My brother use to make fun of me because I would watch cooking shows and infomercials about things like the Ronco Food Dehydrator before the Food Network was born. I believe there is power in food.

A few weeks ago I was teaching the Young Women in my ward how to make sweet rolls. I was showing how you could make 3 kinds of rolls from one dough- Cinnamon Rolls, Caramel Apple Sweet rolls and Orange Marmalade rolls. Each girl got to take home a pan of rolls and the recipes. But I forgot one of the recipes. So when I was passing out the missing recipe on Sunday, I jokingly mentioned that they weren't allowed to make these rolls for boys until they were 21. Because if they did, the boy would immediately propose marriage. One of the girl's eyes got big and she said outloud, "It's true!" She later told me she had given her pan to a boy and that night he talked to her for hours. I smiled knowingly and said, "Now you know the power of these rolls. So don't use that power unless you want the attention it will produce!"

I also think food can communicate love. I can easily turn down a store bought treat in a second. But I if someone takes the time and effort to make a homemade goodie, I consider it a slap in the face to not try one because "I am on a diet" or "I am trying to cut back." People often talk about things being made with love or the secret ingredient in their dishes being love and I believe this is a real thing. Not just something you say to be cute. Often when I make something specific for someone I will try to create something that I know they like or have mentioned it being a favorite. For my brother-in-law, JJ's birthday I made bean burritos that he ate at my house and raved about. They can be frozen and eaten over several meals. I told Eric this and he said, "Did JJ one time offhand say that he liked them and now you are making him a whole batch?" I replied, "No, he didn't 'offhand' mention it. He has told me several times how much he likes them and wishes he had some more."

Which brings me to another point about food. Just like frequently a prophet is not revered in his own land, a cook isn't always appreciated in her own kitchen. I am part of a cooking club and not to toot my own horn, but I have been told by some of my fellow cooking clubbers that they would like me to prepare their last meal. I, mistakenly, mentioned this to Eric and he said, "Well, you're a pretty good cook." WHAT?!? Pretty good?!? I politely told him that in some circles I am revered for my cooking. He just sort of raised his eyebrows at that. And I'm constantly being told by my kids that I make weird things. But honestly there is nothing that breaks my heart more than telling me you don't like my cooking. Although I suppose every Rocky needs his Mickey to tell him where he needs to improve and Eric and my kids are Mickey to my cooking Rocky. I guess my everyday kitchen can be my training boxing ring where I can experiment, make mistakes and have failures. Just as long as I come out fighting to have some winning dishes I can showcase in the championship ring.

So in honor of all this cooking talk I am going to post one of my winning, most requested recipes on the cooking blog I am a part of- Tried and True. It is the spaghetti sauce I can every fall because Eric won't eat store-bought spaghetti sauce. I am naming it "The Spaghetti Sauce that isn't quite as famous as James Dashner but almost" because James Dashner is the most famous person I have ever dated. He was my first date and he wasn't famous then but he is getting to be famous now. He is the author of the book "The Maze Runner" and the sequel to that book- "The Scorch Trials" comes out this week, so it seems especially fitting that a recipe be named after him now. So if you want the recipe just click on the name above. And remember- "Call me ugly, call me stupid, but don't call me a bad cook."

36 and counting

2010-10-04T20:15:00.000-07:00

I had a hard time deciding what I should blog about this weekend. At first I thought I should write about how I feel like a squirrel preparing for winter because of all the case lot sales and canning that has been going around here.

Then I considered writing about the Dirty Dash I ran last weekend with some crazy ladies! Or should I write about the beautiful, yet still hot change of seasons that is going on right now.
But ultimately I am going to write about my birthday- and ironically I don't have any pictures of that... yet! Saturday was my 36th birthday. Birthdays are a funny thing. They are a unique balance of owning your expectations, expressing your expectations and having fulfilled other's birthday expectations. Some years I have planned my own party and other years we have gone on vacation (The picture at the top of my blog was taken last year on my 35th birthday at Arches National Park.) But this year was a little quieter and I was just fine with that.

Last week I was talking to a girl at the gym I go to about her turning 30 recently. She was having a hard time turning 30 and I was explaining to her that I have loved my 30s so much better than my 20s. She wanted to know why because other people have said that to her and she just didn't get it. I told her, "Well, I think I am more confident in my 30s and I don't feel the need to compare myself to or please others as much. I figure if you like me- great, if you don't -I'm not going to worry about it." She replied, "I have always been that way, so I guess I just feel old." And I can understand what she means because I remember when I turned 30 it freaked my out because I can remember my own mother being in her 30s. But I left the conversation feeling like there was more to it, but I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was that made my 30s better. But then something happened on my birthday that helped me put it into words.

We haven't had a family picture taken for two years, so for my birthday I decided I would schedule to have one taken. Then the day of my birthday I told my kids that their birthday present to me was to not complain about having to take pictures, wearing what I want them to wear and letting me do their hair the way I want them to. Incidentally, after I told my kids this, Annie proceeded to tell me that on HER birthday I had to wear what she wanted me to wear and I had to do my hair the way she wanted me to do it. I told her if this made her happy, then I would gladly do it. So if you happen to see me on June 8th next year and I look sort of "special", you'll know why.

Now you would think that this would be a fairly easy request for my kids. But it did require some initial tongue-biting, especially from Finn. He absolutely hates getting pictures taken, especially professional ones. He insists that our camera does just as good a job. I knew his opinions and I didn't want to hear them on my birthday and at first he did a good job of keeping them to himself. But then the hour of the photo shoot drew near and a friend called to ask if he could hang out. Eric was with me when Finn approached to ask if he could go. I reminded Finn that we had pictures to get ready for. Finn started grumbling. Eric immediately stopped him and said, "Hey, that's not part of the deal." But Finn continued, "I'm not complaining, I just think..." To which Eric interrupted, "You were complaining and it doesn't matter what you think because we are getting pictures taken." I didn't have to say a thing. This honestly meant so much to me because truth be told, Eric hates getting professional pictures taken too. But he respected me and my birthday request enough to support me and take on the criticism himself. He really could have turned to me and said, "Happy Birthday" without giving me anything and I would have been happy. So I've concluded that another reason why I like my 30s so much better is because it doesn't take near as much to make me content. Things aren't nearly as important to me as people. Now don't get me wrong I'm not ready to give up all my material possessions and live a monk-like life. A gift is always well-received. But relationships and doing the little things that make them work are more meaningful to me than big gestures of monetary value. And that brings a lot of satisfaction to my closer to 40 than 30 year old soul.

Another funny event from my birthday was the presentation of gifts from my children. Eric had taken them to the Dollar Store so they could use their allowances to buy me presents. They came home and Finn walks into my room and hands me his unwrapped present and a card with no envelope and nothing written inside. I thanked him for the present, handed the card back to him and said with a sly smile that he forgot to sign his name and tell me how he feels about me in the card. He took it back with a grin and put his John Hancock and an "I love you." in it. At this point Annie walks in with her present all wrapped and her enveloped card with a signature and a "You are the best mom ever!" written inside. What a difference that extra X chromosome makes!

Sophomoric Pranks

2010-09-26T10:15:00.000-07:00

Ours is a house divided. And there is no other time during the year that that is more evident then during football season. I am a BYU Cougar and Eric is a Utah Man. Although I constantly like to remind him that I am the only one with a degree from the university I cheer for! But I must say that I am not one of those pushy, obnoxious fans who is always antagonizing or referring back to the glory days of the Cougars. For the most part our children are being raised as Utah fans and I feel just fine about that. I like cheering for the U as well, especially over the past few years when their star has been rising so fast and high. But every once in awhile I like to assert where my true loyal lies.

I attended BYU in the early 90's and absolutely loved it. When I look back at my formative years, I can say I had fun in high school now but I'm not sure I could say that while I was going through it. But I can say with assurance that I knew I was having a good time in college while I was going through it. I think even while I was in my "Provo Bubble" I was oblivious to the true, full nature of the BYU-UTAH rivalry. I knew they were a foe but back then BYU was generally the dominant team. So I took pride in being the winning team without losing a lot of sleep of what the U of U students thought of me. Since my years at BYU I have since discovered the at times over-simplified, generic stereotypes that some fans from both sides like to place on each other. I won't go into those now because I don't want to perpetuate groups of people being painted with a broad brush. But needless to say there are a lot of both Ute and Cougar fans whom I love and adore.

But like I said, my children are inundated with a whole lot of Ute propoganda and paraphenalia. We have Ute blankets, t-shirts, sweatshirts, magnets, rugs, Christmas decorations, footballs, foam #1 hands, hats, pencils, banana chairs, flags, stickers, license plates, beads, pajamas, etc. And I am so not exagerrating. We have every single on of those items in our house and not one Y to be found. Well last weekend I decided to remedy that situation. Eric was at a scout camp overnighter with Finn. Friday afternoon a young guy knocked on my door offering to paint my house address on my curb. I had just recently had it done so I wasn't interested, but then a lightning bolt struck my head. I asked him if he painted letters too, like so many Y and U fans have on their curbs. I explained the college rivalry situation in our household and asked if he could paint a royal blue Y next to my house number. He said he could but he would have to come back tomorrow because he didn't have the paint or stencils. He thought it was so funny that he was happy to come back the next day. I warned him that he had to come in the morning because if my husband caught him, he would for sure stop him. So at about 9am Saturday morning he showed up with a buddy to paint this beauty on my curb:

After he was done, he had me come admire his work and told me he would come back in a month to see if it was still there. He even offered to later paint a U on the other side, free of charge, because he thought it was such a great joke.

Now the trick was waiting for Finn and Eric to get home and see how long it took them to notice. I made my girls swear not to tell them. Remember they have been indoctrinated too, so I pretty much had to threaten them with their lives to keep their "Utah Man" song holes shut! But when they did come home the girls kept saying things to them like , "Notice anything different?" or "What has changed around here?" But luckily the men in my home are use to vague, probing questions made by females in a vain attempt to get attention; that it didn't even faze them. So Saturday passed by with no reaction. Then Sunday nothing, and Monday the same. But Tuesday Finn and Eric needed to mow the lawn before the garbage man came on Wednesday. It was during a pass with the lawnmower down the front park strip that Finn noticed the inconspicuous Y on the curb. He immediately called Eric over to take a look at it. After which Eric marched right in to me, while I was in the bathroom no less and demanded, "Was that you or Harold who put that Y on my curb?" Now I must say here that Harold is a neighbor of ours who is a devoted BYU fan and an avid reader of my blog. So, Harold, I want you to know that I exonerated your name and took full responsibility. But I was curious to know why he thought it was you so I asked him. He responded, "Because that seems like the kind of sophomoric prank he would pull." So I'm sorry you got pulled into our household rivalry!

Eric informed me that evening that the Y would be gone by morning, but I am proud to say that it is still there. This probably due to laziness rather than any newly developed sympathetic leanings toward the Y. But I did find this on my front window the next morning as I was driving my kids to school:

I commented to Eric on the subtlety of his U response to my Y. But I think that just speaks to U fans... they are kind of loud, obvious, in your face people whereas Y fans are a bit more refined and soft-spoken. In fact I think the term I'm searching for is "meek." ;) Oh, did I say I was going to stay away from stereotypes? Well I just couldn't help myself. But if you would like to help me continue these sophomoric pranks, I am up to suggestions. I have a few ideas ruminating in my brain, but I could always use more. After all we still have 3 more months of college football to go!

Ahh... School pictures

2010-09-19T15:14:00.001-07:00

This week in honor of having school pictures taken, I am going to share some of my own classic school pictures.

This is first picture was taken in 4th grade. What is so great is I think it was the first time my mom let me do my own hair for my pictures. "Feathering" was all the rage back in 1983. I'm not sure if I didn't use enough hairspray on the right side of my hair or if I played dodgeball extra hard during recess, but somehow only one side of my hair stayed "feathered." Which I was probably mad about when I got my school pictures back, but now I think it tells a story about what I was like when I was that age. I'm glad my mom didn't insist on me getting a retake so my hair could look perfect. That wouldn't be near as interesting. And speaking of retakes, this is another one of my favorite school pictures.This was a year later, in 5th grade. Apparently I got the feathered look down, but not the keeping my eyes open look-because this was a retake. And even though this was my second and last attempt at a good 5th grade picture, I'm once again glad that my mom didn't destroy the picture because it wasn't perfect. Something I just noticed about these pictures is that in both of them I am wearing a button-down shirt with a sweater. I was living in Georgia during this time and I assume they took pictures in the fall back then like they do now. I can imagine I was hotter than hades in my sweater and button-down shirt in the southern heat and humidity. No wonder one side of my hair fell flat!
Needless to say, I have carried on the tradition of not requiring that pictures of my kids look perfect. I absolutely adore pictures of screaming kids on Santa's lap. Not that I enjoy making my kids scream, but what I like is that it accurately reflects the experience they had at that age. Last year I was out of town when my kids had school pictures taken. Before I even saw them, I decided I would keep them no matter what they looked like. I was very interested to see how they would look when their dad got them ready for school and especially on school picture day. And I was pleasantly surprised:

Sure they don't have bows, braids or curls in their hair and it looks like Katie and Annie have some static-y hair goin' on and could have used a quick comb-through but for the most part they look pretty good. I mean this is a more accurate reflection of what they look like day in and day out at school than any other school picture. Now don't get me wrong I did plenty to get them picture ready this year- Finn got a haircut the day before, I blew dry Annie's hair and Katie got braids but I think we should say no to retakes and let our kids' childhood shine through. I mean what says childhood more than big glasses, big-gaped teeth, half down hair and half open eyes!

P.S.- I got a little BYU/Utah rivalry experiment going on in my house right now. I'll let you in on the joke as soon as the intended targets figure it out!

Silly Bands and other Silly Stories

2010-09-12T18:40:00.000-07:00

Really. She hasn't posted in close to two months and she is going to post about silly bands?!? I know that is what you are thinking. And my answer to that is ... "Why, yes. Yes, I am." See over the past two months I have had plenty to post about but nothing has really written itself in my mind. I know this sounds weird but often when I post a story the story has already written itself in my head. Sometimes the telling of the story will take a different turn when I go to write it, but I usually have a general idea of what they story will be like. But I've had a bit of a blogger's block over the past months and nothing has formed itself. Then today I had a lesson on journals in church and it inspired me to blog again even if the story isn't there to begin with. So my new goal is to post every Sunday and it may be a recall of events from the week or it may be my recording a past event or just my musings. Either way I trust that for good or bad some story will present itself. So in the name of recording our family's history of both the significant and the mundane this week's post is about the all important Silly Bands. If you don't have a 1st-6th grader you may not know what these are. So here is a picture of them along with the most Silly Band obsessed member of our family.

They are little jelly/rubbery bands (I like how they are named "bands", not "bracelets" so as to not be gender specific and thus exclude the profits from the allowances of half the elementary age population). Kids wear multiples of them at a time and of course trade them. When they are on their wrists they look like most bands except they are a little more wavy. But then when you take them off they take the shape of all kinds of things... animals, crowns, wands, hearts, stars, lips, looney tunes characters, automobiles, etc.

What really struck me about these things is how quickly they became a pop culture sensation/kid fad. Katie got some for her birthday the first week of school; this being the first time I had seen them. Then within a week Annie was coming home from school begging for me to take her to the store so she can spend her allowance on them. Before i knew it every kid I saw was wearing them. It got me thinking what makes these fads and who decides them. It seems like a few years ago pokemon cards were the big thing. And I remember when i was in elementary school trading stickers on the bus. I even had a photo album I stored them in so I could see all my prized possessions at once. And of course the scratch and sniff stickers were like the Snickers in your Halloween loot, meaning they were the most sought after. Annie has informed me that the Tie-Dye silly bands are the Scratch and Sniff of the silly band world and that the simple ones like an ice cream or a heart are like the Bit O Honey of the Halloween loot, meaning they will take them because they are technically candy but they won't be happy about it. So my purpose in recording all this is maybe one day twenty years from now Annie will read this and say, "Oh, yea! I forgot how much I loved those silly bands."

I also wanted to tell another funny story about Annie. When Annie was little I was chalk full of "Annie" stories. She was such a character and everyone loved hearing about her antics. This was all during the pre-blogging era and I tried to write them down but I don't think I got this one down. When Annie was about 3 or 4 years old we were down in St. George with my family- meaning my parents and siblings. My sister was the only other one with kids and we decided to take them to McDonalds for ice cream. When we got there my nephew, Jeffrey, decided he wanted french fries. So we gave everyone, including Annie, the option of having ice cream or fries. Annie said she wanted ice cream so that is what she got. But then when everyone got their order Annie experienced 3 year old buyer's remorse. She really wanted fries once she saw Jeffrey's. But being the mean mom I am I told her she had to have her ice cream because that is what she told me she wanted. And I wasn't even offering to get her fries if she ate all her ice cream because I am that mean and that cheap! It was eat your ice cream or eat nothing. Well Annie relented and finally started eating her ice cream. But between her pathetic, weak licks at her ice cream she kept casting jealous glances at Jeffrey's fries. It was hilarous to watch because you knew exactly what she was thinking without her saying a word. Her look spoke loud and clear "I don't want this stupid ice cream. I really, really wish I could have those fries." So now when me and my sisters make a decision and then realize we made the wrong choice and start coveting the choice we should have made, we pretend we are licking an ice cream with a frown on our face that says, "I really wish I could have those fries."

Can I get a Witness?

2010-07-26T11:12:00.000-07:00

I have heard it said that what most of us need and want from life is a witness. Someone who we can tell our "stories" to right after they happen. Someone who we can nudge when we see something cool. Someone we can call when we think, "Have a thought, must share." I am very fortunate to have several of these witnesses in my life, and I am grateful for each of them. But one of my main "witnesses" is my older sister, Michelle. And since it is her birthday today I thought it only appropriate that I express how grateful I am that she is my witness.

Michelle and I are two years apart and some people think I am older and some people think she is my mother. (Note: If you don't want to be on Michelle's "list" don't ever ask if either of her younger sisters are her daughters.) And more often then not people are very surprised when they find out we are sisters. We don't look anything alike and our personalities and interests are quite different. Some of the things we do share are the same heritage, similar sense of humor, mannerisms and stage of life. It is the perfect combination to make our relationship work so well. Our differences allow us to strengthen each other and learn from each other and our similarities allow us to relate to and appreciate each other. Michelle is one of my very favorite people to tell a story to. Because our humor is so much the same, I know she will laugh the hardest when I have a funny story to tell. She always has as what we call "the script." She knows what to say to make me feel better or to validate my feelings. I don't think there is a detail about my life she doesn't know and vice versa. And because we are so close, some of our different interests and talents have become the other one's talents and interests just because we are willing to try them because the other one does them.

When we were growing up we weren't all that close. I was the annoying little sister who always wanted to tag along with her and her friends and she was the bossy older sister who never let me borrow her clothes. She may still have the physical scars of my fingernails on her back and I'm pretty sure I still have the emotional scars from being locked in the bathroom multiple times even though I was assured by her everytime that she wouldn't lock me in this time. (Have I mentioned before that I was a gullible kid? and Michelle took full advantage of this!) I'm sure my mother worried about us growing up but we have grown to be each other's biggest supporter and defender.

One of the things I admire the most about Michelle is she knows who she is. She doesn't downplay her strengths and she doesn't make any excuses for her weaknesses. She is who she is and you can take her or leave her. I prefer to take her because I think she is a wonderful sister and person. She is extremely loyal to those she loves and would do anything for them (as long as it doesn't fall between 9:00 and 11:30 am when she is at the gym everyday !:) See the great thing about our relationship is I can tease her like that and she knows I do it in love and fun. It is part of our charm, so we think! So Happy Birthday Missy! Thank you for being my greatest cheerleader and witness. I love you!

The Summer Of . . .

2010-07-19T12:00:00.000-07:00

I realized we are a little over halfway through the summer and i haven't posted anything about what we have been doing. We haven't been on any big vacations this summer since "Tuition" has been rented out for most of the summer. "Tuition" is the name I gave to the motorhome we bought a little over a year ago. I christened the RV "Tuition" because instead of saving for our kids' college tuition we decided to buy an RV. But this year decided it might be a little more financially prudent to actually have some money in the bank when it is time for our kids' higher education, so through a vacation rental business that one of Eric's friends owns we have been renting out "Tuition" and actually saving for tuition at the same time. It is what Stephen Covey would call a "win-win."

Anyway I have noticed that sometimes there are certain events that can define a summer. Things like a certain song (think "Summer of "69) or a movie- like I remember seeing "Back to the Future" in the summer of '89. So in that vein, here are some of the things that have defined the Summer of '10 for our family.

*Car games- In our travels back and forth to the pool or to the store or to friends' houses, my kids have created an amalgamation of several different car games which include "Slugbug", "Bingo", "Mustang, motorcycle, convertible" to name a few. Basically they look for certain cars and try to "call" them before anyone else and then reward themselves points for them. For example if you see a motorcycle you get one point. If you see a "bingo"(yellow) mustang you get two points. And the piece de resistance is a bingo slugbug convertible with the top off. Of course they don't keep track of the points and make the rules up at will and it sometimes causes one of those highly intelligent arguments that my kids are famous for. But it does keep them entertained and it can be highly entertaining for me to listen to. The best is when Katie is talking to me and doesn't even take a breath or miss a beat in her sentence to call out a car she has seen. "Mom, I really want to play with motorcycle! Sarah because I haven't mustang convertible! played with her in a long time." And the only way to end the game is if you see missionaries because they are worth like a million points.

*The Drive-In movie- We have discovered the drive-in movie this summer and we are never going back. It is the only way to see a movie in the summer with young kids. It is much cheaper because kids under 10 are only $1 and we can bring our own treats. Plus when Suzie gets bored about 2/3 into the movie which she almost inevitably does she can move around more without disturbing other people. The only draws backs are the late start time- 9:30pm and getting pulled over at 11:45pm with all your girls in the backseat. But that's a post of a different color!

*My flower-pots actually surviving and thriving. I have grown a garden for years and seem to manage a pretty healthy harvest. But my flower pots are another story altogether. Usually they look like this: And this year they actually look like this:

Although I do have to say that when I started to type this I remembered I hadn't watered them today so I had to stop and go do that. My inability to consistently remember to do this may have something to do with their early demise every year.

*The Norwegian Pancake Pan- My ancestry comes from Norway and so does one of our favorite breakfast foods- Norwegian pancakes. My mom made them, her mom made them, her grandma made them, etc. They are similiar to crepes and my kids love them covered in butter and syrup. A few years ago my mom tried to find authentic Norwegian Pancake pans to give to all her children and couldn't. But she did find this pan:

I think it is suppose to be for making tortillas and it does a good job of making other ethnic fare like Norwegian pancakes too. But this summer it has been our go to pan not only for pancakes but also for grilled cheese, cheese quesadillas, etc. It can't be washed with soap, but almost everyday I am scraping it clean.

I do have a funny story related to this pan. A few weeks ago we had my very honest, very adorable 6 year old nephew, Easton, over for a sleepover. I was making Norwegian pancakes for breakfast. My sister, his mom, also makes these pancakes and Easton was bragging that he could eat 5 Norwegian pancakes. We make them basically the same way but I do one thing different. I use whole wheat flour instead of white flour because it is a way to get whole grains in my kids when they don't know it. I didn't think it made much difference in the taste, but my nephew proved me wrong. After eating just one pancake he proclaimed he was done. I questioned his earlier claim and said, "But I thought you could eat 5?!?" He responded, "Yeah, that's at home where they're good." Oh, I see!

*Lofty Goals- I make lofty goals for my kids in the summer about things like reading, working on math facts, learning a new skill, etc. But like I said, these are goals I make, not them. They make goals like not sleeping in their bed the whole summer. Finn accomplished this last summer and is working on it again this year and so far he is rockin' it. He sleeps on the coach mostly but sometimes he makes a fort or sleeps outside with a cousin. And isn't that one of the secrets to being successful at a goal... make it one that is attainable so you don't get frustrated and give up. Who needs a goal like reading 10 books in the summer when you accomplish another one and not have a bed to make in the morning? Now that is what Finn would call a "win-win!"

What I learned about being a mother by watching my husband be father.

2010-06-19T15:42:00.000-07:00

I'm sure like many parents out there, my husband and I have very different styles of parenting. Being two different genders, this really shouldn't have come as a surprise. But in my less mature days when I was naive and a novice at partnering with my husband to raise our children, I foolishly thought if my husband would just be more like me- it would be better for our kids. I know, extremely "young and dumb" thinking. But in my ever more enlightening condition I have come to realize that it is indeed not detrimental for our children to be raised by two people who view the world in their own way but extremely beneficial and maybe even critical. So here are some of the ways I am so grateful my husband is so very different from me:

*Streamlining- I first noticed this when I watched Eric give the kids a bath. You see Eric considers that when he has rinsed the shampoo from the kids hair, the cascading soap and water has done a good enough job of washing their bodies. To wash their bodies after that would just be redundant. This principle bleeds over into his discipline style. He sends them to their room with very little fanfare or discussion. To him a lecture about what they did wrong or how they need to change their behavior would just be redundant too. But I, on the other hand, am all over the during and post game analysis of what could you do next time to not get in trouble.

*Caretaking- If you are sick or injured in our house, you would much rather have Eric take care of you than me. I'm more of a "fever is our friend... don't give 'em any medicine so the fever can kill the infection... don't come to me unless there is blood...shake it off... if you stay home from school because you are sick than you are in bed sleeping" kind of gal. Eric comes from the "making you as comfortable as possible with your favorite movie to watch while on the couch home from school...let me kiss it better... do you need some ice for your owie or a pillow for your back" school of thought.

*Cash- Flow- I can guarantee that when our kids grow up they will say, "Mom never had money and Dad always did." Eric is extremely generous with his means to just about everyone, but especially where his kids are concerned. This use to frustrate me because I felt like I came off as the tight-wad and Eric was the money-bags. But I've come appreciate this about Eric because it is just part of who he is. To expect him to change would be like asking him not to be Eric. He works very hard and likes to take care of people. And I believe our children can learn something from both of us where money is concerned.

*Souvenir buying- I know this seems like a random quality to mention but it just so accurately depicts another aspect of his "caretaking/taking care of" personality. When we go on trips Eric goes to painstaking lengths to make sure the kids get what souvenir they want. He wants everyone to be happy so he will visit mulitple stores and take souvenirs back if you find a better one. It also part of his whole "make it happen" attitude. When he gets an idea in his mind he doesn't let grass grow under his feet for sure. Whereas my mantra is when we walk into one store where everyone can get one souvenir...."You get what you get and you don't through a fit."

*Salespitch- Eric can talk our kids into just about anything. He has this great way of selling any idea to them. I can't even begin to understand or duplicate it because I just don't posses that skill. For example one night Eric decided Suzie needed to throw away her favorite blankie because it had been loved into dirty shreds. So he proceeded to do just that. Suzie was livid to say the least. You would have thought we had surgically removed her heart or at least just thrown it in the garbage. Eric took the thrashing beast into her room and at first there was a lot of banging, throwing and general chaos. But after a few minutes Suzie came out peacefully holding a new blankie to love, asking to watch a movie and have popcorn. I asked Eric what he had done to calm her down and he vaguely answered, "Oh, we just had a talk." I think he knows this skill can't be taught, you have to be born with it. If I had been the one dealing with her I probably would have just shut her in her room and let her wreak havoc until she fell asleep.

*Inclusion- Eric is very good at making all kids, be they our own, the neighbors or cousins feel included. He has no problem taking all our kids and a few extra cousins places by himself.. like to ward campouts or waterparks. A lot of kids doesn't stress him out which is probably a byproduct of being the oldest of seven children. I don't think that not including or not being able to handle a crowd of kids in necessarily a weakness of mine, but I do think not all fathers can count this as their strength.

*Playfulness- This is probably true with a lot of fathers, but Eric is definitely the more playful one of the two of us. Most pictures we have of our kids in silly positions like with diapers on their heads or rolled up tight in blankets are usually Eric's doing. Here are some examples:

If that previous comment about diapers on heads didn't make any sense, this is what I mean.

All Eric's handiwork!

Guess who was the first to make bandanas out of Grandma Shauna's 4th of July napkins?!?

This is Katie and I know she doesn't look very happy, but look who is the one who has her riding the rooster!

Eric loves letting the kids fill the bathtub to the brim with bubbles.

Now I'm not trying to say that Eric is the perfect father just like I'm not the perfect mother. But together I think we cover a lot of bases. There are areas that he is much stronger than me and there are areas where I am the strong one. But to my kids, Eric is their hero. When he walks through the door at night, it is like a rock star has come in. They absolutely adore their father and there is no one else they would rather be with. So Happy Father's Day to the other half of our parenting team who has taught me so much!

The conversations I had during what was suppose to be my 5 minutes of alone time in the shower and it is only the first day of summer!

2010-06-07T21:13:00.000-07:00

Katie: Mom, can you help me set up the slip n slide?
Mom: I can't right now. I'm in the shower. You'll have to wait or ask Finn or Annie.
Suzie: Mommy, can I go to the potty?
Mom: Yes (because I am the bathroom permission giver)
Katie: Mom, Finn says he won't help me set up the slip n slide.
Mom: Tell him I said he needs to help you.
Annie: Mom, can I have a lemonade stand today?
Mom: No, not today.
Annie: PLLLLLLLEASE!
Mom: Nooooooo.
Annie: Oh-kay.
Katie: Mom, Where is the pump to fill up the squishy part of the slip n slide? I really want it to be squishy.
Mom: In the hall closet. ( Because I am the household supplies clairvoyant.)
Finn: Mom, where is the ibuprofen? I need it for my sunburn.
Mom: In the medicine basket.
Annie: Mom, the phone is for you.
Mom: Take a message and tell them I'll call them back.
Katie: Mom, is the pump in the hall cupboard or the hall drawers?
Mom: The hall cupboard.
Annie: Mom, the music store called and they don't have my recital piece.
Mom: Okay, I'll call them when I get out of the shower.
Katie: Mom, is the pump in the hall cupboard or the hall drawers?
(No, I didn't accidentally type that question twice. She came back and asked it again. I don't know if she didn't hear me or couldn't find it.)
Mom: In the hall cupboard.
No part of these conversations were invented or exaggerated. So much for Calgon takin' me away.

The Great Chicken Experiment

2010-05-23T16:13:00.000-07:00

One "organizational" tool I use is a weekly menu. Each week I "try" to plan out my meals for the week. Sometimes is works, sometimes it doesn't. That's why I write it out in pencil. Last week I was planning out my meals for the week and everything I came up with had chicken in it. I thought, "Wouldn't it be funny to see how long I could go serving chicken to my family before they noticed or complained?" And thus "The Great Chicken Experiment" was born. These were the rules: I would serve chicken every night we were home and I would only stop when someone either 1.- asked why we were having chicken all the time or 2.- complained about having chicken all the time. Either way the word "chicken" had to be in the sentence. I have to have standards when it comes to my experiments or else they are completely useless. I mean what kind of experiment would it be if I just stopped when someone gave a general complaint about what I had fixed for dinner. Then it wouldn't be an experiment; it would just be part of the normal daily pre-dinner conversation.

I was telling a friend about my little experiment and she asked, "Are you doing this because you found a great deal on chicken?"

"No." I responded

Then she asked, "Is it because of the health benefits of chicken over red meat?"

"No." I said,"This is just how I amuse myself."

So in an effort to have accurate documentation of my experiment, here is a list of what we had each night. If there is an online recipe I used with chicken in it, I provided a link.
Day One: Chicken Fried Rice

Day Two: Chicken Parmesan

Day Three: Chicken Tortilla Soup

At this point I did start to get a few complaints, but it was things like "How come we never have Bacon Pasta?"- one of our family's favorites that Eric made up. Or "Why can't we have spaghetti?" But alas the word "chicken" was not included so I treaded on with my experiement.

Day Four: Italian Crock-Pot Chicken

To be honest in all my dealings, I do have to admit that on Day Five Eric and Finn were at a Father and Son's Campout so I had no control over what they had to eat and desiring a day off I took the girls out to eat. So day five was an unforeseen sabbatical in my "Chicken Experiment."

Day Six: Amber's Training BBQ Chicken Salad- There isn't a link for this one but I do think Amber should post it on Tried and True. It is an awesome salad for the summer that even my kids will eat.

Day Seven: JJ Loves my Rosemary Chicken

Day Eight: BBQ Chicken Pizza

Day Nine: Coconut Chicken Strips- The only thing I did different with this recipe is I dipped my chicken strips in coconut milk before I dipped them in flour and the rest of the steps shown in the recipe. These was the first time we had tried them and they were very good.
So as I was pulling the Coconut Chicken Strips out of the oven, Finn said to me "Why can't we just have spaghetti? I'm tired of all this fish and chicken." Oh, no! Does that count? I mean he did say "chicken" in his complaint but he included "fish" too. I decided to ignore it for the moment and decide what to do later. But Finn didn't disappoint. About 10 minutes into dinner he said, "We've had chicken for like 3 days. I'm tired of chicken." Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner! I smiled and at him and said, "Finn you won my game. We've actually had chicken for about 10 days." Annie said, "No we haven't" and Eric looked skeptical. I listed everything we had eaten over the past week and a half. He said, "I didn't even notice!" This was a surprise to both of us because I thought for sure Eric would be the first to protest. He is usually quite particular about what we eat and how often we eat it. I think the genius of my experiment was the fact that I mixed up the flavors and styles of chicken dishes... bbq, grilled, salads, italian, chinese, coconut, etc.
And honestly making dinner has been a bit boring since my experiment ended. Does anyone have a new ingredient I can try to serve my family everyday without them noticing? The only one I've come up with so far is zucchini, but that will have to wait until mid-July. At least I have something to look forward to...

Not in the Job Description

2010-05-07T22:00:00.000-07:00

This morning as I was struggling with my daughters to try and do some sort of hair-do... not a fancy one mind you just something basic like a side ponytail... my girls DO NOT like getting their hair done... I was thinking how being a "hair-wrangler" was not one of the jobs I imagined I would have as a mother. Before I was a mother there were certain responsibilities I expected to have like cooking, laundry, cleaning, taxi-driving, helping with homework, shopping and the list goes on with countless duties that I saw my own mother perform. But there are certain jobs or more accurately certain nuances to these jobs that I can only suppose are in the fine print of the motherhood description. So in honor of Mother's Day this weekend, here are some of the other "not in the job description" jobs we mothers perform often:

Bathroom permission giver- Anyone who has ever had a 3 or 4 year old has had this job. At first I thought it was just my own children who would come up to me holding their pants pleading "I have to go to the bathroom."- like I was the one blocking the toilet from them. But I have witnessed other children seeking approval from me to use the bathroom. So it must be universal.

Public Bathroom Locator- This job is closely related to the above job. Again anyone who has ever had a 3 or 4 year old knows the location of most public bathrooms... whether it is in Wal-Mart or at the park or in Jiffy Lube.

Garbage Disposal- When I was a kid I remember my Dad having this job, but somehow it has fallen to me in our family to finish up half eaten chicken nuggets, already bitten bananas and crusts of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I think this is my job because I don't have the heart to throw food away and I do have the stomach for it.

Grocery Whisperer-I do not take this solemn responsibility lightly. I have to have a highly developed 5th sense of knowing exactly what groceries are in the house at all times... which ones are running low... which ones I can wait another week to buy ... and which ones we have plenty of. Heaven help me if we have spaghetti without Parmesan cheese or hamburgers without ketchup. Believe me it has happened before and it wasn't pretty.

Household Supplies Clairvoyant- Again closely related to Grocery Whisperer is the Household Supplies Clairvoyant. I don't think very many dads could tell you when the toothpaste is running low or if you are out of tape. And not only do we moms have to know the inventory of all the household supplies we also need to know the exact location of all these items. Even for the Dads, "No, Eric I don't know where you put the studfinder or last year's taxes or the remote control."

Nail Inspector &Trimmer- Before I had kids I honestly never thought of having to check the length of my kids' finger and toenails. Apparently this is not something kids take the initiative to do on their own. Now I am inspecting 50 toenails and 50 fingernails.

Underwear Monitor- I really wish this wasn't a job I have, but after doing laundry for some of my kids and only finding one pair of underwear in a week's worth of laundry I decided this situation merited a discussion about how often one changes ones underwear.

Barbie/Polly Pocket dress fastener and changer- If you don't have girls this one may not apply to you. But with 3 girls, I for one have changed many a Polly Pocket dress and fastened several Barbie dresses in my day.

Speller- "Mom, how do you spell puppies?" "Mom, how do you spell Halloween?" "Mom, how do you spell supercalifragilisticexpialidocious?"

Lunch money Allocator- It is a tricky business trying to keep track of how much money each kid has in their lunch money account. Especially when they find it mortifying to be told their mom needs to send more money or when the school sends home over a dozen notes reminding parents that students absolutely CANNOT charge a meal after May 1st. "Methinks thou dost protest too much" lunchladies!

Negotiate like a mexican flea market vendor- Case in point- Suzie wanted a drink after she had brushed her teeth and was in bed. This is how the negiotiations went while Suzie was in her bed and I was across the hall laying down on my bed because I had just "clocked out":
Suz: I want a drink of root beer in my sippy cup.
Mom: No, you just brushed your teeth.
Suz: Can I have some apple juice in a sippy cup?
Mom: No, Suz. Go to sleep.
Suz: Can I have some milk in a sippy cup?
Mom: No, go to bed.
Suz: Can I have a drink of water in my sippy cup?
Mom: No, mommy is tired and doesn't want to get off her bed.
Suz: Can I come get a drink in your bathroom?
Mom: Alright... as long as you get up on the sink by yourself.

X-ray vision to see dirt on the floor, smudges on the windows, weeds that need to be pulled- I am truly like Superman in this respect because I am the ONLY one in my house that has this super-power.

Quality Control- I am the supreme authority on the state of all things in my house-from how close the milk is to going bad to whether an item can be fixed, saved for a sibling or sent to DI.

Phone Directory - I must have an accurate, current knowledge of all home phone and cell phone numbers of all friends and their parents, family members, doctors, piano teachers, schools, gymnastic centers and poison control.

I know this list could go on and on. And I don't meant to sound like I am complaining about all the extra duties. Motherhood is the hardest, most rewarding job on the planet. And one of my biggest prayers is there is a mother of one daughter and three mothers of sons out there who don't mind doing all the thankless, invisible jobs that allow a child to be a child so they can one day grow up to be the kind of parent who will do all these jobs for my grandchildren. My only intention is to bring a little humor to the daily-ness of motherhood. One of my favorite quotes about motherhood was said by my Aunt Kathryn. She was a bit older when she had children and had had a successful career before becoming a mother. My mom once asked her what she thought of being a mom. She replied with exhaustion, "Its just so daily!"
So Happy Mother's Day to all my favorite moms out there- mom, mom-in-law, aunts, sisters, sisters-in-law, grandmoms, friends, neighbors, soon to be moms- and thanks for daily doing all the "Not in the job description" jobs!

Hiking, S'mores & Shut your pie holes

2010-04-06T14:33:00.000-07:00

For spring break our family made a trip down to Zion National Park for some good hiking, playing in the mud, roasting hot dogs and marshmellow fun. Despite twisting my ankle the first day of our vacation and not on a hike mind you... just walking to the bathroom with my girls... we did a few good hikes as a family. We went on the "Canyon Overlook" hike with all the kids which Eric and I tried to do about 6 years ago with my parents when Finn and Annie were 4 and 2. We ended up turning around because I kept freaking out about the drop-offs and I do remember envisioning my two children plummeting to their deaths off the narrow trails and into the canyon crevices. Here is a picture of us at about the point we turned around last time.

So needless to say I was a bit hesitant to try it again with 2 additional children that were about the same age. But this time we made it to the end of the hike. When we got to the actual "Canyon Overlook" I decided that the hike wasn't nearly as bad as I had remembered it. Plus the view at the end was definitely worth it. I was remarking about this to Eric and off-handedly said, "I must have mellowed over the past few years." He said, without hesitation, "Uh... yea!" He also offered this theory as to why I wasn't as worried about my kids this time. He said it was because the first time I only had 2 children and they were both precious to me. But now that I have 4, a few are dispensible. That makes sense too!:) Either way it was a hike we all enjoyed. I also noted to Eric that the supposed "scary" drop-offs I experienced the first time basically stopped at just about the point where we had turned around. Oh well, live and learn! Here we are at the end of "Canyon Overlook" where if you go just a few feet past where this picture was taken you would plummet to your death into the canyon!Another fun part of our trip was roasting marshmallows for s'mores. While watching my family enjoy this time-honored camping tradition, I couldn't help notice that there are two schools of thought when it comes to the actual roasting of the marshmallow. The first is to haphazardly stick your marshmallow into the flame and either expectantly hope it will catch on fire or ignore it until it bursts into flames and someone has to tell you that your marshmallow is on fire. This produces a "blackened" still chewy marshmallow that lends a charred flavor to the entire s'more once the flames are blown out. Not surprisingly it is the under 12 set that enjoy or embrace this method of marshmallow roasting. I also witnessed a peculiar subset of this school of marshmallow roasting thought that strangely only occurs to boys ages 9-12. It is to completely abandon any pretense of using a marshmallow for the purpose of a s'more and just throw it into the middle of the fire. And of course what follows is a barrage of "Wow"s and "cool"s and "Did you see that"s by all the "blackened" marshmallow devotees as they watch the marshmallow burn then expand then burn and expand over and over until it shrivels to its non-s'more fire ash death. Although its fire dance performance was enjoyed by all those under 12, I'm not sure it felt it meet the measure of its creation, not being in a s'more and all.

Of course the more mature s'more consumer adheres to the second school of thought when it comes to roasting a marshmallow. This thing of beauty consists of gently placing the marshmallow just above the flames reach and slowly rotating. You could also place the marshmallow in the sweet spot of the fire where the wood has stopped producing flames but is still smoldering a bright red. But this spot only comes after the fire has been burning for awhile. This method requires patience as the marshmallow slowly roasts turning a golden brown but the end result is a gooey, smooth lava flow of sugary goodness that compliments the chocolate and graham cracker much like a fine red wine compliments a steak... not that I know, but from what I've heard. You know the marshmallow is ready when it droops down from the roasting stick. Then you know your patience is just moments away from paying off. Of course once the 1st school of roasting participants taste the sweet nectar that results from the 2nd school of roasting they are easily converted.

And if you took the time to read a post mostly devoted to s'mores then you are worthy of receiving the following recipe. This recipe, courtesy of the previous post's subject, kicks a s'more up to a whole new level that they can't even be called s'mores anymore. These are deservedly called "Shut Your Pie Holes" and once you taste them you won't go back to a plain old s'more again! The trick is after you put a marshmallow on your stick to roast it, you then slide it down a little further and add a caramel. Roast the two together, preferably using the above-mentioned second method, then when you slide the droopy, golden brown marshmallow off it envelopes the caramel. Proceed to make a s'more like you normally would and then savor this sweet little campfire ambrosia.

Happy "Shut Your Pie Hole" season!

"A good friend will bail you out of jail, but a best friend will join you in jail and then talk about what a good time you had in there."

2010-03-26T08:00:00.000-07:00

Have you ever had a friend who "gets" you? Have you ever had a friend who you can say just about anything to and you know they won't judge you or take it the wrong way? Have you ever had a friend who you can completely be yourself around? Have you ever had a friend who can bring out the silly, fun, ridiculous side of you? Well if you haven't I hope you do someday and if you do I hope you realize what a precious gift it is. My friend, Julie, is one of those people for me. We have only known each other about 5 years but our connection was so instantly strong that I'm pretty sure when we met it was just a reacquaintance from a previous relationship. (If you are LDS read: pre-existence; If you are Hindu or Buddist read: previous life.) I am not being glib or trite when I say that I truly believe our relationship was divinely guided. She came into my life at just the time when I needed a best friend like her. She has a gift to make people feel instantly comfortable and loved. I am always amazed to see how people transform in her presence.

She has truly become like another sister to me. In fact my younger kids think she is my sister. Just yesterday Katie was listing my sisters. She said, "There's Michelle and Natalie and Julie." I told that actually Julie wasn't my sister. She looked at me shocked and said, "She isn't?!?" But I do feel like she is a sister and
I have been accepted into her extended family as another sister too. (Even though only about half of her brothers and sisters recognize this!) It is a terrific arrangment because I get the benefits of another family... love, interest in me, including me in events, etc. and none of the responsibilities... if I don't want to go to said events I don't have to and I don't have to help anyone move. And speaking of moving that brings up the only problem with being a member of the family is they all love me and leave me. Julie's sister, Amber and sister-in-law Jen have both become good friends and then moved out of the state. And now even Julie is going to love me and leave me. She isn't moving out of state just probably about 20 minutes away. But that is really going to limit our leftover lunches, GNOs, hanging out at each other's houses and wasting time, and being able to drop everything and go to lunch. But I know 20 minutes won't change the great love and respect we have for each other.

So happy birthday to my sister from another mister! Thanks for joining me in my "jail" for awhile and then telling me what an awesome, amazing peron I was for making it through. And for making it sooooo much fun. I love you!

My Favorite March Arrival Arrived 11 years ago today!

2010-03-22T13:40:00.000-07:00

So my all time favorite March arrival came 11 years ago today at about 3:15pm. My favorite son, Finn, was born and heralded in not only the spring season but also a new season in my life. So to commerate this occassion here are 11 things I love about Finn:

1. Unlike Charlie, see previous post and disclaimer, he WAS a pretty baby and 11 years later he is still a handsome devil.

2. He is so much like his father it is scary. A few weeks ago he was questioning me about why I was taking Suzie to have professional pictures taken of her. He was sure that our digital camera would do just as good a job as the photographer's camera and said that we should just take pictures of her at home. I informed him that on this subject he gets no opinion- a practice I have had to perfect with his father!;)

3. He is the consummate boy scout. He was born with the boy scout motto of "be prepared" running through his veins. Once when he was about 5 we were getting ready to go to a cabin for the weekend. He wanted to pack everything but the kitchen sink in his backpack. I weeded out several useless items but he insisted that he bring his flashlight. I tried to assure him we wouldn't need a flashlight because he were staying in a cabin with electricity. But he wouldn't part with it. And wouldn't you know it the power went out at the cabin just when we were getting ready for bed and whose flashlight do you think we used... yep, Finn's crayola one!

4. Not only is he prepared he is also extremely responsible. This past weekend I was running a race in Moab and he overheard that I had to get up at 6:30 am to get ready. At 6:35am he came into my room and woke me up saying, "Mom, its 6:35- you need to get up for your race."

5. He has worked really hard this year to keep his grades up.

6. Despite some standard brotherly teasing, he is a terrific older brother to his 3 crazy sisters.

7. He has a quick wit and a great sense of humor. (Warning: 11 year old potty humor coming up!) We were at a restaurant with Finn's cousins- Michael and Jeffrey and Eric asked the boys if they wanted refills on their drinks. Finn said he didn't need a drink refill but that he needed to go give the toilet a "refill."

8. He is so much like his father in several good ways that it just has to be mentioned again. He is Eric's "mini-me."

9. Even though he has started to be more reluctant about it, he is almost always obedient.

10. He is a great example to his family and friends.

11. He has a tender, kind heart that he can't hide from his mom... just like his Dad can't hide either as much as they both might try!

Love you Finn!

March Arrivals

2010-03-06T15:51:00.000-08:00

There are a few things that are making their appearance in March that need mentioning.

First-place arrival- I am an aunt for the 18th time! Here is a picture of my sisters's 6TH BOY!

Charlie Paulsen Wood
Does she and her husband ever produce some manly babies or what? He looks very much like all his brothers and he is very cute, but not a very pretty baby! Don't worry- my sister was the first to say this. And all her boys are extremely handsome. I'm feeling so guilty about saying he is not a pretty baby that I have to include a picture of all her boys in case you don't know her.

When my sister found out she was having another boy, I think I was more shocked than she was. She had had a very distinct dream about a little, blonde girl in a pink sleeper even before she was pregnant with Charlie. I also have had a distinct dream about a little dark-haired girl who looks like Eric when I was pregnant with Katie. So since all my girls have very-red hair and all Michelle's children have very manly parts and faces, we have decided that her blonde-haired pink adorned little girl and my dark-haired female Eric are off playing together in the clouds. Just don't expect any appearances any time soon. They must be grand-daughters or something!

Tied for first place arrival in March:

These people are coming home this month! We are excited to have them back. And I think they are ready to come home. My Dad fell a few weeks ago hurting his foot and my mom worked herself into a week-long headache last week. So they are ready to come home and relax and of course resume baby-sitting duties!;)

A close second place arrival in March:

These are a close second to the birth of a nephew and the return of my parents because although I haven't seen my parents in 18 months, it has been a full year since I have seen these beauties! It always brightens my day when my cute neighbor shows up on my porch with a bag full of these. And I almost always forget that I have ordered them. And don't worry I ordered even more from another friend's daughter and they will be making their arrival around the middle of March. Of course I have to hide them from my children not because I don't intend to share them but because they come in like a swarm of termites and do this to a full box in 5 minutes flat!

I already have a special stash of Samoas in my bedroom for just Eric and I.

Isn't March grand?!?

The psychosis of my daughters

2010-02-08T21:35:00.000-08:00

I absolutely love my sassy, creative, full of life daughters. Every single one of them. But at times even though we share the same chromosome structure and half the same DNA, I just don't get them. I don't mean to make light of psychological problems and disorders because I know they are real, but it is the only way to underscore how irrational they can be at times.

We, like most families with mutiple children, have had our fair share of ridiculous arguments in our house. Things like who has the most juice or whose turn it is to set the table or who knows the most Isaacs- (yes, this was a real discussion in our house because we know several Isaacs between friends, family and brothers of friends). Our latest ridiculous argument was between Annie and Katie the other night about this:

Yes, a chair and not about what you would think- not whose turn it was to sit in it. I had put the girls to bed. In the time it took me to go upstairs WW III had broken out. I heard wails, screams and gnashing of teeth that would have made the "Wild Things" jealous. By the time I got back downstairs Eric was desperately trying to figure out what was causing such a ruckus. This is how the conversation went:
Eric: "So you want the chair like this?"

Katie:"Yes, that is how I like it."

Annie:"NOOOOO! I don't like it like that!"

Eric to Annie: "So, you want to look like this?" (Eric turns chair.)

Annie (between sobs): "YES! That's the way I want it."

Katie:"No! She always has it that way and I want it the other way." (Eric turns the chair again and the conversation pretty much repeats itself.)

At this point Eric looks at me with a "They're your daughters" look. To which I just turn away and let him handle it because I have a strict clause in my motherhood contract that says I punch out at 9 pm. Unless someone needs a drink of water or is throwing up or having a bad dream or is sleep-walking- which Annie did a few nights ago- or I have tooth-fairy duty or someone suddenly remembers homework they didn't do or several other possibilities. BUT I do NOT deal with arguing over the position of a chair when I have been on duty for over 14 hours. So just to recap here is how Annie wanted the chair:

And here is how Katie wanted the chair:

Can you see the difference? Yeah... me or Eric either! When Eric came upstairs I asked him how he handled it. He said he put it the way Annie wanted it and told Katie to get over it and go to sleep. Sounds like perfectly reasonable parenting to me at 9:30 at night!

This Rag-a-Muffin's 3rd Happy to You

2010-01-27T22:10:00.000-08:00

I can't believe my baby is 3 years old! This child is the most pleasant, friendliest, loving little munchkins you'll ever meet. And that's saying something coming off the "supposed" terrible twos. But in my experience three year olds are a lot harder than two year olds. So consider this- tap, tap- my virtual knock on wood. But in honor of Suzie's 3rd "Happy to You" I wanted to write down a few things about her.

* She gives the best hugs and sloppy kisses while saying, "I love you SOOO much mommy!"

* She is a food lover. She will eat just about anything and has very adult tastes eating things like fresh tomatoes and avocadoes straight from the skin. I am often guilty of cleaning up her food before she is done and she calls me on it almost every time. She will go off playing and I will clear it off or eat it myself! and she will come back asking, "Where's my food mommy?" She is very aware of what she has left. She also asks me everyday what's for dinner. Like her mom, she likes to have her mouth all set for what is in store.

*She is everyone's favorite- hands down. But being the baby may have something to do with this.

*She is really fun to give gifts to. You could give her a half used/chewed up eraser and she would think it was the greatest thing in the world. When she got the above pictured Princess teapot from her Aunt Jessica, she said, "OH, a Drinkpot!" with such enthusiasm and excitement.

*She says the funniest things. This morning I ran out of time before I had to go run errands, so I didn't get a chance to do her hair. (Me not doing my girls' hair...shocking- I know!) We were driving in the car and she said in frustration, "Mom, my hair is looking at me." I glanced back at her not understanding at all what she was talking about and saw her hair in her eyes. I said, "Oh, is your hair in your eyes?" She said, "Yeah, my hair keeps looking at me and I don't like it." Man I hate it when my hair looks at me!

So this picture is a 3 year old Suzie with her hair looking at her while holding her "drinkpot."

Happy Birthday!

New Year's Resolutions

2010-01-12T20:22:00.000-08:00

I've decided that the key to being successful with New Year's Resolutions is to set really simple, attainable goals for yourself. For example my sister's new year's resolution last year was to floss every day. And even though she didn't accomplish it and I had to remind her that was her goal halfway through the year, it was a simple goal for a mother of 5+ children to have. I overheard another mom of 5 children say her goal this year was to moisturize everyday. Now that is a woman who understands her limits.
So in this spirit I am setting 2 New Year's Resolutions for myself. I allowed myself 2 because I only have 4 children and no one in diapers, so I have a bit more disposable time.
1. Use coupons more. I use to be extremely frugal and very careful about what I spent. I have gotten out of this habit, but I want to start it up again. I'm hoping to finally make back the 20 bucks I spend on Happenings books every single year!
2. Use my kids more. It has come to my attention that I do things for my children that they are perfectly capable of doing for themselves, but continue to allow me to do them because I will. Case in point- Last night I was serving up dinner for my kids and Finn asked me to pour him a glass of milk. I said, "Finn you are almost 11 years old. Back in the olden days, kids your age were traveling for days on horseback by themselves... having to find food for themselves and sleeping alone under the stars. I think you are old enough to pour your own glass of milk." Eric pointed out that also back in the olden days the life span was 30 years old so Finn would practically be middle-aged. True, but if the average life span is now 76 I still think Finn is at the point where he can pour his own milk. I just won't expect him to be traveling by horseback, scavenging for food and sleeping under the stars until at least his mid-thirties.
So my new mantra to ask myself when I am doing something is, "Is this something my kids can do?" If yes, then I will stop doing it and give them the opportunity to do it.
Also I know I haven't posted any new "boyfriend" recipes lately. But I am working on a few. It is my turn to host Cooking Club this month and I've got some good ones.

Merry Christmas 2009

2009-12-30T15:23:00.000-08:00

Just a few Christmas memories I didn't want to forget:
1. Katie and Suzie singing their little hearts out to several of the Christmas carols being constantly played on the radio. The only carol that got a negative reaction was "Feliz Navidad." It utterly confused Suzie. Whenever it would come on she would say, "What's that song, Mommy? I don't like that song."
2. And the best rendition of a Christmas Carol sung by my girls was hands down "Angels We Have Heard on High." We were driving to a Christmas party and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir was singing it on the radio. They were at the "Gloooooooooria" part and all three of my girls decided to sing along. The only problem was none of them were on tune with the choir or with each other. It sounded like a chorus of cats. And there was no one else to enjoy this stirring 3 part "harmony" with me. Eric was at home and Finn was listening to his MP3 player, but I REALLY wish I could have recorded it.
3. On December 23rd I was going to run some errands. I was leaving Finn at home so I was going through the list of where I was going... ending with a trip to the post office. When I told him this he said, "Hey can you wait a minute? I need to write my letter to Santa." Now keep in mind Finn is almost 11 years old. But I love that he still believes. I think he keeps it on the DL because I'm pretty sure several of his friends don't. But in my mind I thought this was naive on several levels. Besides the obvious naivety, the fact that he thinks he can send his letter to Santa 2 days before Christmas and he will be able to get it and fill it in time. I mean I don't buy for every kid in the world and even I was done by December 23rd! But I took his letter anyway.
4. I always love going to look at Christmas lights, but the only other one in my family who shares this affinity with me is Katie. Everyone else just humors me. One night I was driving my kids around and after about 15 minutes even Suzie expressed her disgust with an exasperated, "I don't like Christmas lights. Mommy. I want to go home."
5. Another night even Eric was humoring me about looking at Christmas lights and we drove past Wheeler Farm. Eric said, "How about on Monday night we go see the light display they have there? Didn't we do that a few years ago and we went on a hayride and had hot chocolate? That was fun." To this I could only nod my head because I was speechless that he would even bring this up. Because according to my memory, he did not like doing this a few years ago and complained the whole time. It just goes to show that sometimes you just have to do what you think is important and not worry about everyone's reaction. Because the memory may be sweeter than the actual experience.
6. On Christmas Eve we always go to my uncle and aunt's house and we get to watch Santa bring a present to every kid. We are sitting in the dark when he comes and he supposedly doesn't see the 30 or so people in the room as he delivers presents. This may be a contributing factor as to why Finn still believes. But we can't make any noise or else it will scare Santa off. This year "Santa" was quite a thespian. He tip-toed very dramatically and would whip his head around at every little sound. He also either had a head-cold or was going through puberty because when he yelled "Merry Christmas" as he "drove out of sight" his voice cracked a little bit. Even still we loved our JJ Santa because there were presents for all!
7. When we were driving home from our visit with Santa the topic of conversation turned to coal and under what conditions one might receive coal. I was informed by my chidlren that I could very well be in danger of getting coal because I swear and I talk on the phone too much. No respect!
8. Apparently the previous night's conversation about coal must have resonated with Katie because on Christmas morning when she saw that there were presents for her she confided to Eric, "Dad, I got presents. I was so afraid Santa would bring me coal." (The guilty take the truth to be hard.:)
We all had a very Merry Christmas and hope you all did as well!

Truth in 5 year old Promises

2009-12-23T21:04:00.000-08:00

I'm sure you've heard of truth in advertising. This is where companies must have proof that their products can do what they claim they can. My sister and I have joked about requiring Truth in Christmas Letter writing, where instead of hearing about vacations taken and glowing achievements of children you would read about how many hours of TV kids really watch and annoying habits of spouses. Well this week Katie taught me about Truth in 5 year old Promises. We were having one of those mornings where both Katie and Suzie where paying more attention to "Curious George" then their mother and complaining about everything from having to wear a coat when it is 20 degrees outside to wearing socks with their boots. I was trying to get out the door and had had it. So I shamelessly pulled out the Santa card and said, "I can't believe you guys are acting this way the week Santa is coming." My guilt-laced arrow must have hit its malleable mark because quite a bit later and out of the blue Katie said to me, "Mom, I might not whine when I have to make my bed today." I replied, dubiously, "You won't?" To which she honestly said, "Well, I probably won't."

Katie's Christmastime Prayer

2009-12-13T12:04:00.001-08:00

This prayer is in the same vein as Shel Silverstein's "Prayer of the Selfish Child" which if you are not familiar with goes like this:
Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep,
And if I die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my toys to break.
So none of the other kids can use 'em...
Amen.

Here's Katie's extended version:
"Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank thee for our family. Please bless us to love each other. Please bless us to be nice to each other. Please bless grandpa and grandma on a mission. Please bless that I will like Finn's present. Please bless that Annie will like my present. Please bless that Suzie will like Annie's present. Please bless that Finn will like Suzie's present. Please bless that Suzie will like Annie's second present. Please bless that Mom will like Finn's present. Please bless that Dad will like Finn's present. Please bless that Mom will like Annie's present. Please bless that Dad will like Annie's present. Please bless that I will like all my presents. In the name of... Oh wait- Please bless that we will be watched over and b-tected (protected). Please bless that we won't have any scary nightmares.
Amen."

Last week our school had a "Santa Shop" they could buy presents from for their friends and families. So we discussed who was giving to who in our family this week multiple times. In case you didn't catch it from her altruistic prayer:
Finn is giving to Katie
Annie is giving to Suzie
Katie is giving to Annie
Suzie is giving to Finn.

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall... I am my mother after all.

2009-12-03T13:00:00.000-08:00

Just the fact that I titled this post that proves my point. My mother has a saying, song or ditty for every occassion, including the title of this post. For example, when we were young and would whine, "I'm thirsty", she would respond back without missing a beat, "Nice to meet you thirsty. I'm Friday. Why don't you come over Saturday and we can have a Sunday." Or if we were trying to find a space to sit on the couch she would sing, "Move over and make room for Kari. She doesn't take very much space..." And don't get me started on the vast repertoire of songs she had for all holidays. We heard endless songs about Peter Cottontail, witches flying through the air, what turkeys did the night before thanksgiving, snowflakes named Suzy and the like. Often my siblings and I catch ourselves doing the same thing. Even my brothers will bust out little sayings. However theirs usually have to do with passing gas- things like "the smellers the feller" or "Whoever did the first rhyme did the mischief." (That one is more of an inside joke.)

But it is funny the ideas we have about our parents when we are little. They seem to be larger than life and were the best at everything. I loved to color when I was little and my mom would color with me. I was always amazed at how well she colored. She would do fancy things like stay in the lines and add shading. In fact I think she still colors better than me. Not that we have had any coloring contests lately, but she does have a psychological edge on me being my mother and all. And my Dad owned a standard four-door sedan when we wear young, but we all thought it was a sports car because it had a stick-shift. And my Dad never corrected us. He would feed into our illusion even more by telling us that the car would sprout wings and fly if it went over 60 mph. So when we would reach 55 mph we would encourage him to go faster so we could reach 60. He would push the gas down until 59 mph and then come up with some excuse as to why it couldn't go up to 60 mph. I can imagine my dad was proud of his tall-tale telling abilites although I'm not sure he should be. I also believed my older sister when she told me that Santa travels by limo with his reindeers sticking out of the sunroof when I expressed my concern about not having any snow because we lived in Florida. Apparently I was a naive child.

Anyway to say my mother is creative and artsy is an understatement. Even my childhood friend, Lisa, who I still keep in contact with-can remember the personalized smiley face chore charts we had or the Robbins nest banner we had in our family room or the pillow cases with each of our hand-drawn faces on them-all of which she made. During Christmas she hung stockings she made that had a child on them that looked like each of us. My older sister and I have continued this tradition. Although we have only made them under the careful tutelage of our mother. She would design them, tell us what to do and we would do it. So using mostly my mothers creative abilites I have made the following 3 stockings:

Finn the fisherman

Christmas Annie holding a gingergread cookie

Katie the ballerina
And that is as far as I got with my mother's help. Suzie's first Christmas I didn't make her one because I subscribe to the theory that they won't remember they didn't have a Christmas stocking when they are young so I have a few more years to come up with another one. (This fact alone says so much about my mothering style.) Then Suzie's 2nd Christmas my mom was one her mission so that was reason enough for me not to make it. But this Christmas is Suzie's 3rd one and I'm pretty sure she will notice if she doesn't have one. But here's the rub- my mom is still out of the country. So what is a creative-dependent daughter to do? She bucks up and realizes she has enough know-how do to it herself. So with some inspiration from my sister, Michelle- she gave me the idea- this is what I made for Susie's stocking.

Drum roll please.....

Taa-Dah!

An adorable- if I do say so myself- cheerleader with rosy cheeks and heart lips just like mom use to make. Please note the small details- like the shoelaces, bobby socks with a pom-pom, the multi-colored skirt, the "C" for either Christmas or Christensen and the pom-poms in her ponytail.
All I have to say for myself is "Who is up for coloring contest now?!?"

Sometimes I think I am so funny.

2009-11-24T14:10:00.001-08:00

Even though our household bleeds "UTAH RED" most of the year, this Saturday is the one time I have to go against the "party line" and cheer for the BYU Cougs. This is much to my husband's chagrin, but I'm pretty sure it is in the fine print of my degree from BYU. Incidentally it is also a clause in the Honor Code-right next to the paragraph about how long your shorts can be.

Last year I got invited to the BYU- Utah tailgate party and it caused quite a fashion dilemma for me. The game was at the U of U and we were smack dab in the middle of campus. I didn't want to wear red because I wasn't cheering for the Utes. But I didn't want to wear blue either because let's face it -Ute fans can be mean. I didn't want the "3rd quarter crazy lady" to get me. For those who aren't familiar with Ute football cheering practices... there is a 50 something "crazy lady" who gets up at the end of the 3rd quarter and shakes her thang in time with the band. The "Muss"- the student section of the Utes stadium- goes wild when she does this. Although fun and a bit gimmicky, I have found that a lady who is willing to do this would have no problem kicking my trash if she saw me wearing BYU blue while tapping my toes to "I am a Utah man, sir, and I live across the green" during the pre-game pep rally. So I wimped out and just wore green with a denim jacket over it. I felt like a traitor to my alma mater and felt I had to do something. So being a bit gimmicky myself this is what I came up with to wear while I am sitting in the Utes section of the Lavell Edwards Stadium at the BYU-UTAH game on Saturday afternoon.

FRONT:

BACK:

I think it shows an appropriate amount of support for both UTAH and BYU. I have a fine line to walk, you know. I do have to remember where my bread is buttered... from a HUGE Ute fan's bank account!

I Love Saturdays When....

2009-11-07T14:06:00.000-08:00

...the TV never goes on! I wish we had more Saturdays like this!

Also I know several of my current friends know I also post recipes on a recipe blog, but many of my older friends from high school and college many not know that when I do I always name them after guys I've dated. (Thanks to my cousin, Keith who shared the idea with me. He has no idea the beast he unleashed with this idea!) I also include a little story about why I name the recipe after a certain guy. So I thought many of my old friends, seeing as they knew many of these guys, would get a kick out of recipes such as:

Mike I Dare You to eat these Turkey Burgers or

Juan wasn't white but he was Chocolate Peppermint Cheesecake or

"Robert Hales was Such a Turkey" Meatloaf
So you can click on these links and read these previous posted ones, but I am also going to add a little gadget to sidebar with my latest recipe and dish-naming victim. The blog is called Tried and True and they really are good recipes from several friends that are as the name suggests tried and true. It is a great recipe site if you are interested!

Some pretty spooky pictures

2009-11-04T13:57:00.000-08:00

We have some pretty spooky pictures to share from Halloween. This year all of our costumes we homemade and I'm not really sure if making the costumes costs any less than if you buy them all ready to go, unless of course you just use stuff you already have but that would be too easy.
Finn is a nerd, complete with taped glasses and a pocket protector. Suzie is a fairy skunk or a fairy princess or Cinderella- depending on what day you asked her. She is more or less what I could round up from around the house because by the time I got to her I was tired of putting together costumes. Annie is an old lady with a baby on her back- her being the baby. This was definitely the most original costume she has ever requested. She saw it in a Halloween book and it was surprisingly easy to put together after I rounded up all the parts which wasn't easy at all. And finally, Katie is a bumble bee. We had the sparkly, striped leotard giving to us as a hand-me -down and I was able to make a tutu skirt and antennae. Unfortunately I forgot the wings until it was too late, but Katie didn't seem to notice.

The night of Halloween Finn went trick or treating with his cousin, Michael, who was a cereal killer. Now there's a smart, low cost costume. I guess that is what happens when you, like my sister Michelle, have 6 boys. You learn to streamline.

And Annie, Katie, Suzie and I all went trick or treating with Annie's friends Gwen and Lauren and Gwen's mom, Lori. The best was when we went to the older girls' piano teacher who promises a big candy bar for all her students if they come trick or treating to her house. Their teacher thought Suzie was so cute so she just kept sticking candy bars in her bag and Suzie kept taking them from me and Lori. All told, Suzie ended up with 5 big Snickers bars in her bag! She wasn't born yesterday you know.
Now the next pictures weren't taken on Halloween but they are incredibly spooky. I felt bad that I didn't really do a whole post on my Texas trip and if you are really all that interested Julie's blog has a good summary. And I can't record my memories in a normal way, so I chose to show you what 6 mothers with a combined total of 30 children do when they are away from said 30 children. They play the "Shaky-Face"game. So let me introduce you to some of my favorite people via the "Shaky-Face" game.

Julie

# of children: 5 of her own and 2 she has "adopted"

Color-code: Yellow

Bringer of the "Shaky-Face"game and any other crazy thing we do. This girl knows how to have a good time and you can't help but have a good time too when she is around. She is one of the most genuine, inclusive, big-hearted people I know. I am amazed at how she gets people to come of out their shell. My life and many others would be very different without her.

Katrina

#of children: 6

Color Code: White

Despite looking a bit stoned in this picture, Katrina is one of the happiest, upbeat people you'll ever meet. She is always looking out for others and can talk to just about anyone. You just can't be in a bad mood around her. We are also working on making it to the Varsity soccer team together. So you know we got each other's back.

Kjirsten

#of children: 5

Color Code: White

Kjirsten is honestly so strikingly beautiful- inside and out . I mean look, she can't even take a bad shaky-face picture. She looks like she is doing a Pantene commercial instead of looking like she is drunk like you are suppose to look in this game. I would hate her if I didn't adore her so much! I have know her for 17 years, but I haven't seen her in 8. But we picked up right where we left off and friends like that are rare.

Mandy

# of children: 4

Color Code: Blue

Before this trip I would say Mandy was an acquaintance. We knew a lot of the same people, but never really hung out. But I can now officially say she is friend and a great one at that. We are very similar so if I say how awesome she is am I really just complimenting myself?!? Seriously she is a lot of fun and seems like she can handle just about anything that is thrown at her. Plus she can put Julie in her place and I respect that!

Kelly

# of children:6

Color code: yellow

I so love this girl. She has a fantastic laugh and can make anything you do fun. Before I really knew her I thought she was one way- read: sweet and innocent. But man does this girl have depth. She can be very mischievious and she isn't afraid to be who she is. Plus she makes you feel like you the most incredible person she has ever met and who wouldn't want to be around a person like that!

Yours truly

# of children: 4

Color Code: Blue

I have posted plenty of embarassing pictures of myself on my blog so this shouldn't come as a big surprise. I just hope my Texas buddies will forgive me for posting theirs. I think they are all beautiful and I'm proud to call them my friends.

Way too much information.

2009-10-19T13:00:00.000-07:00

There are several things I could post about. Since my last post I have celebrated my 35th birthday and my friend, Lara, tells me that according to astrology our life cycles every 7 years. So I am at the beginning of my 5th cycle and all I have to say about that is, "Thank goodness" by the stars I should be starting something new and different! But I celebrated in Moab with my family and it was so fun.

Isn't this picture so cute? Don't be surprised if you see it on a Christmas card sometime soon. And I do have one quick story to tell from that trip. On my birthday morning, Eric said to Annie, "We should go out to eat for mom's birthday. What does she like to eat?" After contemplating this for a minute, she responded, "She likes lettuce and water." Finn overheard this and quickly concurred, "Yeah, that is what she eats." So even though my kids think I am a rabbit, we enjoyed a fabulous, meat-filled meal at "Pasta Jay's" in Moab. But that isn't what I wanted to post about.I could also post about another incredibly fun trip I took to Texas with these ladies to visit some dear friends- one being my college roommate, Kj- the one to the left of me, who I haven't seen for 8 years. We of course ate way too much, laughed way too much and stayed up way too late. But isn't that the definition of a fun trip?!? But that isn't what inspired this post either. This is what inspired this post:
Pumpkin Pie. I absolutely love pumpkin pie, even more than I love lettuce and water. It is hands down my favorite dessert. I would take pumpkin pie over cake on my birthday anytime. (In fact I bought some and took it down to Moab with us just in case we couldn't find any in Moab.) I hope they serve pumpkin pie at my funeral. And because of this people tend to think that I love all things pumpkin. But that is far from the truth. I am a pumpkin pie purist. I don't like pumpkin rolls or pumpkin bread and don't get me started on pumpkin cookies. I mean I will eat all these things if they are in front of me because kind-hearted, thoughtful people will make then for me thinking I must love them because I love pumpkin pie. But to my tastes, they just don't compete.

All this came to mind tonight when I was making and tasting a pumpkin pie bar recipe I found online. And sometimes I even forget my love for pure, unadulterated pumpkin pie when I see a recipe like this and try it thinking it will fulfill my pumpkin pie need. But after I made it and tasted it, I was again disappointed. I can't put my finger on it. It was just lacking something. In fact after I tasted it I went back and checked the recipe to make sure I hadn't left anything out. The only thing I left out was the bourbon it called for and since it was Sunday and I didn't want to break the sabbath and the Word of Wisdom together, I didn't go out and get it. Although I have broken both these commandments separately. Which reminds me I don't think I have posted the story about when I bought beer and it was discovered by my kids in my downstairs fridge. Now that is a good story, but it will have to wait for another post!

I don't know why I feel so passionate about sharing my thoughts about pumpkin pie in a post, but it just felt like the right time and sometimes timing is everything. So as I continued to dwell on my love of pumpkin pie, I came to a few more conclusions. I am a pumpkin pie snob. I don't like just any pumpkin pie. It generally has to be homemade, with a homemade crust and fresh whipped cream. ABSOLUTELY NO COOL WHIP! I know that was a bit harsh, but this point cannot be over-emphasized. You might as well put a dollup of cow manure on it if you're going to put Cool Whip on it. There are a few stores/restaurants I will accept pumpkin pie from. Marie Callendars and Costco make the grade, but very few others do. And those $4.99 pies you see on tables at grocery stores... well I wouldn't feed those to my worst enemy or to the dogs. And if you're my daughter, Annie, that is one and the same! And I can somewhat handle when someone tries to doctor up a basic pumpkin pie recipe like having a gingersnap crust or adding a layer of chocolate to the pie. (Truth be told I ate a whole pumpkin cheesecake from Costco when I was pregnant with Suzie so I guess I can "handle" some slight alterations better than others!) But honestly my very favorite pumpkin pie is the one my mom makes and it has been way too long since I have had one of her pies. So maybe this whole post was just a round-about way to say I really miss my mom. I think I just had a break-through because I'm getting a little misty-eyed as I type this. So mom, when you read this- know I miss you and love you. (You too, dad. And when I want to pontificate about the virtues of Wheat Chex I'll be sure to give you a shout-out.) I think I just discovered the missing ingredient, besides bourbon, in those pumpkin bars-love. (Collective "Awwwwww.")

I know I have expressed some pretty harsh opinions about pumpkin pie and I apologize in advance for anyone who plans on serving me something pumpkin this season. I've probably scared the kind-hearted, thoughtfulness right out of you. But know it is more of a manifestation of a need for my mother rather than a reflection of your pumpkin -making abilities. And the more I think about it I do think pumpkin waffles with cinnamon syrup are amazing and Pumkpin spice cremes from Starbucks are definitely worth the risk of someone thinking you are breaking the Word of Wisdom by coming out of their coffee shop with those cool cups.

Did I really just do a whole post on pumpkin pie? I know Julie, I know. I'm a nerd and I didn't even have any notes for this post.

Suzie the Hamster Killer

2009-09-27T15:00:00.000-07:00

I mentioned in my last post that Eric is putty in his girls' hands and even though I'm sure he doesn't want me sharing this with the whole world, he really is. A few months ago he thought Suzie's hair was long enough for sponge curlers, so he embarked on a Saturday night sponge curler session with her. (Raise your hand if you had these sessions on Saturday nights and got to watch "The Love Boat" and "Fantasy Island" during them like me.) Anyway here is physical proof that despite the hard, crunchy shell, Eric is nothing but soft nougat and caramel inside. (Please excuse the candy references. I'm on a no candy diet for a year and it is starting to mess with me especially with all the Halloween candy in stores since August when I started this blasted bet.)
I had told my parents about this and they didn't believe that Suzie's hair was long enough to be curled. So here is the big reveal:

I know its no "Mufasa" like we use to call my sister's mane of curly hair, but it is leaps and bounds for our Suzie who didn't have any hair to shake a stick at when she turned 2.

Our Suzie has numerous nicknames- Suzie-Q, Suz, Suz-a-phone, Snooz, strawberry,etc. But don't let this sweet, innocent face fool you. Her newest nickname is Suzie the Hamster Killer. The incident wherein she earned this name occured a few months ago but I felt the need to "be accurate. It's for posterity- you know." (Name that movie-one of my favorites) and get it written down. We have to go back to June when Annie had her 8th birthday. She got a good chunk of change from her Grandpa and Grandma Christensen and instead of put it in her college account like I'm sure they wanted her to, she decided to flex her "responsibility" muscles in a different way. She took the first step toward child pet ownership and got a hamster. Finn, already having this charge of pet propriety with a hamster of his own, helped her research online the best kind of cage to get. Then Eric took her to Petsmart and got her a Winter White Dwarf hamster with all the gear- cage, ball, food, bedding, toys and water bottle. I tell ya- pet ownership is no small thing which is why you need the wisdom of 8 years and the funds from the celebration of so many years to even think of taking on this kind of obligation. Annie, along with several "helping hands" in Dad, Finn, Katie, Suzie, Kalian- the neighbor and Summer- the friend, got "Chocolate" all settled in its new home. It was given the name Chocolate because Finn's hamster's name is Chip and they thought the two names went well together and I must say I agree. I won't go into the naming process and the conversations that ensued between Finn, Annie and Katie concerning what to name Annie's hamster. But let's just say Eric and I didn't have as hard a time or as heated a discussion in naming our children as those three had in coming up with a name for a rodent.
So fast forward about 6 weeks, Chocolate is acclimatized to its new environment and Annie finds her new responsiblity is like taking candy from a baby. (Sorry- did I mention it is Fast Sunday AND i'm on a no candy diet.) In her fastidious zeal to take care of her pet she put Chocolate in its ball, blocked off the stairs so it won't fall down them, closed all the doors to all the bedrooms upstairs and starts to clean out its cage. And in my apparent not so fastidious zeal in being a parent at that moment, I pay no attention to the hamster or Suzie during this process. I'm more concerned with Annie not getting bedding all over the counter and floor so I tell her to clean it outside and then I go about doing something else. About ten minutes later Annie comes back in and asks where Chocolate is. I tell her I have no idea. She goes around looking for it. A few minutes later she yells out, "Mom, there's something wrong with Chocolate." Now my girls have been known to be a tinsy bit dramatic so the first yell usually doesn't send me running. She senses my apathy and thrusts the yellow hamster ball in my face. I look inside and what I see is kind of disturbing. Chocolate is flat on its back, little paws and feet sprawled out and breathing quite shallow. Now I'm no doctor or veterinarian but I'm pretty sure Chocolate has suffered some kind of violent event and in the throes of death. I think the poor thing has broken its back and no matter how I try to revive it, it won't move. But it is still alive and breathing which is even more disturbing to me and Annie. She starts to get very emotional. Finn was over at a neighbor's house, but Annie seems to think he can do something so I call him and ask him to come home to check out the hamster. Finn comes in and Annie starts wailing, "Chocolate is going to die!" Now Finn has been a brother to his 3 sisters for 8 years and the first wail doesn't send him running either and he responds quite glibly, "Oh he is not." But then like me, his response changes when he sees Chocolate to "Oh, maybe he is." Since Finn couldn't really do anything we call the other man in our life- Dad. Eric says just to put it back in its cage and he will "take care of it" when he gets home. And what he meant by "take care of it" we are not really sure, but we have all agreed to a "don't ask; don't tell" policy when it comes to the euthanasia of an animal.

In the midst of all this Annie and I are trying to figure out what has happened to cause such trauma to a hamster. It hadn't fallen down the stairs since Annie had blocked them off and Katie assured us that she never picked the ball up. As I'm holding the ball with the lifeless, limp form of Chocolate in it, Suzie come up and innocently says, "I kick it." She tries to take the ball from me and again says, "I kick it." And all the puzzle pieces fall into place. Suzie thought the hamster ball was a soccer ball and had been kicking it around while Annie was cleaning the cage and I was "otherwise engaged." Poor Chocolate was no match to the fastidious zeal of a two year old playing with a ball. Chocolate, may he rest in peace, has been replaced by another Dwarf hamster named "Gus-Gus." And now not only does Annie have fastidious zeal when cleaning out its cage, so does her mother by keeping Suzie the Hamster Killer away from that enticing yellow ball that can move on its own until you kick it as hard as you can against the wall.

Happy Birthday, Conquering fears and Sufficiently Amused

2009-09-08T22:00:00.000-07:00

This is our "Katie-bug" and she turned 5 recently. About 6 weeks before her birthday, Eric asked her what she wanted for her birthday. She responded, like any 4 and 3/4 year old (this is the age she gave herself up until the day she turned five) would, that she wanted to go to Disneyland. And Eric, despite the tough-guy exterior, is complete putty in his girls' hands and made it happen. So we took the kids out of school during the first week of school-no less- and spent 2 and 1/2 days in sunny Southern CA with several other hundreds of people celebrating birthdays in Disneyland. This year Disney has a "Celebrate" theme and they are encouraging their patrons to come celebrate whatever occassion with them. And of course Disney celebrates right.. for a price! :) But Katie had an unforgettable birthday and I've decided that having a handful of fingers to hold up when someone asks you how old you are matches a five year old's personality perfectly. It was so cute to watch Katie proudly hold out her hand with all five fingers spread wide whenever someone asked her how old she was turning on her birthday. But Eric may just have to be careful, for her 6th birthday Katie may just ask for a pony!

Besides celebrating birthdays in Disneyland, we also worked on some pretty significant fears. Katie is terrified of fireworks and Disney does a firework show every night. We were dog-tired every night we were there so we never made it to the 9:30pm showing of the fireworks in the park. But we could see them from the RV parking lot we were staying at. The first night Katie refused to come out because as she explained it, "Fireworks are made of fire and they burn people and they burn houses." Well I couldn't really argue with that logic, so she just stayed inside while we enjoyed the show. The second night her curiousity got the best of her and she poked her head out of the RV for a few minutes and then decided she could watch them from the safety of Dad's arms. On the last night I was cleaning up the dinner dishes about a half hour before the show and I overheard Annie say to Katie while they were taking a shower, "I bet everyone is already watching the fireworks." And Katie responded, "Well we need to hurry so we don't miss the fireworks." What a difference 2 days makes!

Another fear we worked on is Finn's fear of roller-coasters. He really hates them. Annie, on the other hand, can't get enough of them and this really speaks to the difference in their personalities. When Finn was about 4 and Annie was 2, I took them to the aquarium. There were crabs you could touch there. Finn wouldn't get near them, but Annie kept putting her pudgy two year old fingers right up to them. This freaked Finn out and he kept telling me to not let Annie touch them because of their "pinchers." Anyway, luckily for Finn most of the roller coasters in Disneyland are pretty benign. They go fast, but tend to not have a lot of steep drops or chances to be upside down which is what he doesn't like about them. We started with Matterhorn which even Suzie can ride and worked our way up. The best was when Eric took Finn on Splash Mountain. I don't know if this next picture can be blown up, but if you want a good laugh- try to make it bigger and look at Finn's face. It is pure terror. There is absolutely no joy in his face whatsoever. And Eric and I, being the sympathetic, sensitive parents that we are have laughed and laughed about this picture every time we look at it. When Eric saw it he just couldn't pass up having hard evidence of why Finn doesn't like roller coasters. And what's even better is before they saw this picture, Finn said to Eric, "I wasn't expecting that drop at the end." Really?!?

One final note about "amusement parks." As fun as they are I can't help but wonder if the "amuse" in "amusement" means for parents having to tell your kids "No, we are not buying souvenirs until the last day" 100 times or feeling violated by having to pay $4.00 for a 12 oz soda or trying to keep both a 2 year old and a 10 year old happy at all times or dealing with mid-day meltdowns because we are all hot, hungry and have stayed up too late and gotten up to earlier. Well if it does- then yes, we have been sufficiently "amused!"

100th post

2009-08-23T22:00:00.000-07:00

Yes, this is my 100th post and I know that is kind of sad given I have had this blog for nearly 2 years. But in honor of this momentous albeit long-time coming post I have written a "life list" with 100 things I want to do before I die. I started this list a few months ago when I saw I was getting close to the 100 milestone and have realized it is harder than I thought to come up with 100 things, therefore some of them I have already done. So if you want to know what I want to accomplish with my life- read on. But please be kind with your comments. Some of these are very personal. But I figure the universe will help them happen if I release them to the world.

1. Visit every state in the United States. (Already been to- Georgia, Florida, North & South Carolina, Montana, Utah, California, Neveda, Arizona, Illinois, Idaho, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Washington D.C., New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Virginia, Tennesee)
2. Go on a cruise.
3. Watch my children get married.
4. Watch my grandchildren get married.
5. Learn to snowboard.
6. Learn to slalom in water-skiing.
7. Become fluent in another language.
8. Visit Italy.
9. Experience natural childbirth- Done June 2001
10. Hike to the bottom of the Grand Canyon.
11. Do a triathlon.
12. Watch a sunrise from a mountain top.
13. Go snorkeling- Done May 2008.
14. Go parasailing- Done May 2008.
15. Learn to scuba-dive.
16. Pick my son up from his mission.
17. Travel by train.
18. Watch a Broadway play in New York.
19. Watch a Broadway play in New York with my daughters.
20. Have a couples' massage with my husband.
21. Donate my hair to "Locks of Love."
22. Learn the names of constellations and be able to pick them out.
23. Publish a book.
24. Hike Mt. Timpanogos.
25. Hike to the "Y". I, unfortunately, never did this as a student at BYU, but still think I need to.
26. Learn to make a pie crust. Done
27. Attend a "Messiah" sing-a-long.
28. Make my Wii fit age younger than my real age.
29. Visit Norway- one of the lands of my ancestors.
30. See a Cirque-du-Soilel performance.
31. Be in a soccer league- Done summers of 2007, 2008, 2009.
32. Be on TV.
33. Read Charles Dickens.
34. Read Jane Austen.
35. Read all the Newbery Award books.
36. Sleep in a yurt. Done August 2009.
37. Change a tire.
38. Ride in a gondola.
39. Learn to knit.
40. Knit something recognizable.
41. Read C.S. Lewis.
42. Waterski at Lake Powell.
43. See edelweiss in person.
44. Attend a session in every temple in Utah.
45. Be an answer to someone's prayer.
46. Visit all the National Parks in Utah.
47. Run a 1/2 marathon in under 2 hours.
48. Have a caricature drawn of me.
49. Have my friend, Lara, do a "soul" painting of me.
50. Scrapbook my whole life.
51. Scrapbook my kids' lives.
52. Learn how to use a compass.
53. Go geocaching.
54. Go without candy for a year- Working on right now.
55. Yell, scream and go crazy at a sporting event or concert. I always want to but feel self-conscious, but I want to get over that.
56. Try a pilates class.
57. Try a yoga class. Done March 2009. And I love it so much that I have some new goals that relate to yoga.
58. Do and hold a headstand in yoga.
59. Do and hold the "crow" position in yoga without falling over.
60. Manage to not kill houseplants and actually have some real plants in my house.
61. Teach my daughters homemaking skills like cooking, sewing, cleaning, etc.
62. Have a fun sock collection.
63. Go ice-fishing. (IF my husband ever reads this-this one will shock him.)
64. See a Sundance film festival film in Park City during the festival.
65. Go on a mission with my husband.
66. Take my kids to Washington D.C.
67. Break 100 in bowling.- I really stink in bowling.
68. Do the Wasatch Back.
69. Beat Julie in some sort of athletic event.
70. See the Northern Lights.
71. Visit Yellowstone in the winter.
72. Learn the names of and recognize wildflowers in Utah.
73. Try oysters.
74. Try Rocky Mountain oysters.
75. Buy real art and hang it in my house.
76. Learn to shoot a gun.
77. Learn to drive Eula May.
78. Swim with dolphins.
79. Be the kind of mom who will stop what she is doing to have fun with her kids- like make a snowman when it is snowing or fly a kite when it is windy.
80. Get a good quality camera and take a photography class to learn how to use it properly.
81. Take a cake decorating class.
82. Do a pull-up and not the wimpy kind.
83. Own a convertible.
84. Sleep on the beach overnight.
85. Sleep in a hammock overnight.
86. Buy a Jon Schmidt piano book and learn to play his pieces.
87. Go to an airshow.
88. See 4th of July fireworks at a really cool place like Washington D.C. or Boston.
89. Learn to play chess.
90. Learn to cook ribs.
91. Do more country dancing.
92. Attend the Shakespearan Festival in Utah.
93. Learn to garden during the off-season or extended season- like knowing what vegetables I can plant in cool weather.
94. Learn to compost.
95. Be the first to say hello, give a hug, express gratitude, give a compliment, etc.
96. Help my kids discover who they were meant to be.
97. Let my kids know they are enough already.
98. Learn how to do family history.
99. Know that I am enough.
100. Turn this blog into a book one day that my family can read and know a bit more about their mother.

The ingenuity of Summer

2009-08-09T21:00:00.000-07:00

I just love the ingenuity of summer. It almost makes me sad that it is just about over. Almost.

Classic Finn

2009-07-31T09:00:00.000-07:00

I have some stories that are so classically Finn that I had to write about them. Finn is 10 and about 6 months ago he started to hit his stride as a "tweener"- with attitude , eye rolling and full blown sarcasm. This has kind of taken me by surprise because he was such an easy baby, toddler and kid. He has always been obedient and sweet- rarely giving me any trouble. Don't get me wrong, he still is a sweet, good boy- but he has gotten more vocal and opinionated about our family, his role in it and the way I run it. I know this is all normal for his age and it will probably get worse before it gets better. But it is also fun to watch his personality develop as he becomes his own person. So on to the stories.

Last week we went to the Oquirrih Mountain Temple Open house. I was taking my 4 kids alone and didn't want to chance swearing in the temple so I had arranged a babysitter for Suzie. My brother and his wife live just minutes from the new temple, so I called and asked my sister-in-law, Amber to watch Suzie. They have a little girl, Emma, who Annie and Katie love to play with. So when my kids asked who was watching Suzie and I told them she was going to Emma's house, Annie said, "I want to go to Emma's house." I said, "No, Annie you are going to the temple." To which she complained, "But I don't want to go to the temple." Finn, overhearing this, piped in (and I'm pretty sure with an eye-roll thrown in for good measure) ,"None of us do, Annie."

After going through the temple, we were walking out and surprise, surprise my girls had to go to the bathroom. There were some port-a-potties outside that we used. As we were coming out there was a boy about 8 years old crying on the sidewalk. I went up to him and asked him what was wrong. He replied that he couldn't find his mom. So I told him I would help find her. We were walking back to find someone official to help us and I asked him, "What does your mom look like?" He paused for a second then desperately said, "I don't know. I can see her in my mind but I can't tell you." We found a security officer who helped him find his mom. As we were driving home I was smiling about how that little boy knew what his mom looked like but couldn't describe her. So I asked my kids, "If someone asked you what your mom looked like, what would you say?" I got answers like, "She's tall." "She has brown short, hair." and "She has blue eyes." Then I, fishing for compliments, said, "Would you say she's pretty?" Finn looked at me slyly and said, "Maybe." Then egging him on said, "Would you say she's skinny?" Then Finn looking at me sideways said again, "Maybe." Then laying it on even thicker I asked, "Would you say she has a smile that lights up a room?" Then Finn, without missing a beat and with a gleam in his eye said, "Maybe if she brushed her teeth every once in awhile." Ahh that's my boy!

Annie's Happy to You

2009-07-18T10:00:00.000-07:00

This post is brought to you by my awesome friend Kamille- who is a computer genius- and showed me that you can actually just put your camera card into one of those tiny slots in your hard drive and you can download your pictures from there. I must say that I felt a wee-bit retarded when she showed me this, since I consider myself one of the more computer savvy woman in my family- which doesn't say so much about me, but rather it speaks volumes about how much my mom and older sister know about the computer. (Love you guys:) Anyway I started this post back in June and never finished it because that is when I discovered I had a missing camera cord. So get ready for an onslaught of posts from the summer! (Really- who are we kidding here- maybe like one or two...if I'm lucky!)

Annie turned 8 this month and when Suzie woke up the morning of her birthday and saw the balloons and sign hanging up, she said, "Annie's Happy to you!" with such excitement and endearing innocence that I hereby proclaim birthdays in our family referred to as "Happy to Yous" henceforth and forever. So let it written, so let it be said. Note: You can only wield this kind of birthday changing power if you are the mother. In relation to birthdays, dad has the slightly less powerful task of paying for all the festivities. And festivities we had. Here is a recap:

Annie getting ready to eat her "8" pancake.

For her party we rented a bounce house and snow cone machine and I am under a sister-contractual agreement to mention here that I copied my older sister- Michelle's- idea for a birthday party. She had this exact same birthday for her boys back in May.

All the party girls!

We also had a pinata- again just like my sister. I included this picture because it makes me laugh. Suzie is really showing that pinata whose boss with those broom bristles. It s a good thing she is blindfolded or that pinata might be swept to death.

And of course the pinnacle of Annie's 8th Birthday- her baptism.

We are so proud of her and her decision to be baptized. She is a beautiful girl inside and out. Our family wouldn't be the same without our Annie-bananie!

A quick camera cord update

2009-07-07T21:57:00.000-07:00

So we got home from our Yellowstone trip tonight and Eric was looking at the pictures we took on our trip. He was sitting at the computer less than an hour after we walked in the door and asked, "Hey, Kari - have you found the cord to the camera yet?" I paused for dramatic effect- pretending like I really had to think about whether I had found it or not- then responded disappointedly, "Oh no- not yet." He just nodded his head, but I'm pretty sure a seed has been planted in fertile soil. We just have to wait and see what I can reap. Do I know my husband or what!?!

Summertime Dinner Conversation

2009-06-29T18:35:00.000-07:00

I know I haven't blogged in awhile and its not because we haven't done anything. Its because I can't find the cord that hooks my camera up to my computer and it just isn't as fun to read about our summertime festivities without the accompanying photos. I figure this problem will be remedied when one of two things happens- either I randomly find the cord in a place like the meat and cheese drawer in my fridge where most likely Suzie has put it- OR- I can somehow make this Eric's problem so he will see the urgency of the situation. When I presented my dilemma to him his response was, "Well, it has to be there somewhere." Besides stating the obvious he hasn't been too helpful. But when we get home from our Yellowstone trip next week and he wants to download the pictures he took of elk and moose, he may just have a bit more motivation to help me. It has taken me 12 years, but I am slowly but surely learning how to "turn my head." (See "My Big, Fat, Greek Wedding" where the mom says, "The man is the head of the household, but the woman is the neck and she can turn the head any way she wants.")
Anyway in the meantime I thought I would give you a little slice of the type of dinner conversation we have at our house. Tonight I made breakfast for dinner. I made up a plate for Suzie with a waffle, eggs and a little curled up piece of bacon.
Annie looked at it and said, "Look, Suzie's bacon is in a spiral."
To which Finn responded, "Annie, you don't have to use those brainy words. It's summer you know."
Man, it is so annoying when you are trying to dumb down your brain for the summer and someone keeps trying to make you think by using big, brainy words like "spiral."

A Boring Sunday Afternoon

2009-06-12T19:21:00.000-07:00

On Sundays I try to not let my kids watch TV. I do this because I like Sunday to have a different feel than any other day during the week. I'm not a sabbath-day nazi or anything- but I just like a day without having the noise and distraction of TV. Consequently Sundays are the days my kids are the most creative. They make forts or pull each other around on blankets all over our wood floor or play board games. This past Sunday I was downstairs wrapping a present for a family birthday party when Annie came down and said, "We are playing hide n' seek and Finn wants you to come find him." So after I finished the present I went upstairs. I immediately noticed that all the appliances and bread were taken out of my "appliance hutch" or "bread box." In case you don't know what that is- here is a picture of it on my counter. I wondered why everything was taken out, so I opened it to find this:

Yes, that is my 80 lb ,nearing 5'2" son scrunched inside the bread box with his church clothes still on. I asked him what made him decide to get inside it. He said he was getting out some bread to make a sandwich and got curious about what was inside so he pulled it all out. Then when he saw it empty he wondered if he could fit inside. And low and behold he could. Finn has a very sublime goal of not sleeping in his bed the whole summer. So far he has slept on the floor, on the couch, in the guest bed, outside in our playhouse and at his cousin's house. I told him if he runs out of places to sleep, now the bread box can be a choice. Or maybe we can use it as a form of punishment like the "chokey" in Matilda. Either way once my other kids saw Finn do this, they all wanted a turn getting in the bread box.

I even gave it a try, but because I have the flexibility of a tree branch I couldn't quite get my legs in with my body. Finn took a picture but because of the angle he took it from it looks a little like I'm giving birth so I decided against sharing it with everyone.

But oh the joys of Sunday afternoons. Maybe next week we'll see if we can fit in the dryer!

Maryland is very lucky.

2009-05-29T15:52:00.000-07:00

This is my friend Amber. Most people would probably be upset at me for posting a picture like this of them on their public blog. But not Amber, because that is the type of person and friend she is. We all have different friends and acquaintances that we have varying levels of comfort with. In just three short years Amber has become one of my closest and most comfortable friends. And since she is moving all the way to Maryland in less than 3 days, I wanted to proclaim to the world the kind of friend she is:

She's the kind of friend who...

*I can pick my wedgie out in front of.

*knows my daily/weekly schedule, so she knows when she can call to chat or to babysit!:)

*knows all my secrets and loves me not only in spite of them but maybe because of them too.

*knows exactly how much she can tease or make fun of me.

*can match my wit text for text.

*loves my children.

*will defend me to the end... even to 80 year old VTing supervisors.

*I can talk to about anything.

*will force me to have a Snickers ice cream bar to keep myself from buying a bikini.

*shares her treats with me almost ever time she makes them.

*always has the ingredient I am looking for when I need to borrow one.

*will be goofy/dorky with me and then make fun of me for it.

*will drop everything to have lunch together.

*will let me swear in church and tell me I must be right because I didn't get struck down.

*allow me to become another sister in her family without having to marry any of her brothers.

*makes me laugh when I am crying.

*lets me cry.

*toilet papers my house.

*shares recipes with me.

*lets me rummage through her cupboards looking for treats.

Basically Amber has become like another sister to me and I feel like a little piece of my heart will be broken when she leaves on Monday. But my one saving grace is- like I said before- I feel like I have become a member of her family and when she comes to visit or they go to visit her- I had better be included! I have all the benefits of the family without all the obligation! Its great! I really do love you Amber and am so grateful for all you've done and brought to my life. I truly believe that the Lord moves us in and out of each other's lives just when we need them. And I don't doubt for a minute why you have been part of my life the past three years. The Lord knew I needed you. Now my only question is this: If the Lord feels like you are suppose to be in Maryland, what does that mean for my life?!?:) Because you know it really is all about me and my needs. Seriously, sisters/friends like you are rare to find and I will have a hard time finding someone to fill your shoes. But in case anyone wants to know Julie and I are accepting Sister/BFF applications for anyone who wants to apply.

I love you Amber! Maryland is indeed very lucky.

May Tinkling of the Ivories

2009-05-27T11:55:00.000-07:00

For as long as I have been involved with piano, May has always been the month for recitals. And this May was no different, except Finn was one the doing the playing. So here is Finn's stunning rendition of "Willie the Whale." This really is for Grandpa and Grandma in Prague who couldn't come to the recital, but if you ask me, this is the best way to support a recital. Only one song to listen to played by one of your favorite people. Oh and sorry about the shaky camera- work. I must have been having some sort of caffeine- withdrawals or something like that!

The best compliment I've gotten all week

2009-05-17T15:34:00.000-07:00

I was outside playing basketball with Finn and my 9 year old nephew, Michael. I wasn't asked to play by any means, but joined their game anyway. After a few minutes of showing them by ball stealing and lay-up skills, I heard Michael ask Finn, "Has your mom played basketball before?"
Finn: "I don't know. Why?"
Michael: "Because it seems like she played in high school or something."
Does playing church-ball for 3 years and scoring a total of 2 points all three years count as "playing" in high school? Either way- thanks for recognizing Michael.

Michael, the one who knows talent when he sees it, is the one on the far left.

Partied like I was having a mid-life crisis!

2009-05-10T20:44:00.001-07:00

Yep! That's what I did last night and this is who I did it with:
In case you can't tell who this is- its Eagles-early 70s rock band who each band member went on to have fairly successful solo careers until they reunited in 1994. Thank you Wikipedia.

And I must say there are a few things that surprised me about this whole event. First of all these guys didn't look nearly as cool and suave last night as they do in this picture. They looked like they had just finished a day of working in the yard and then decided they would go put on a concert for thousands of people. They looked seriously old. At one point one guitar player, Joe Walsh, looked extremely confused like he was either low on oxygen or high on something else. But I have learned- again Wikipedia- that he is a teetotaller. Which means he practices the practice and promotion of abstinence from alcohol. And guess what- same-same! I am a teetotaller too. But I didn't realize it had such a cool name and I'm pretty sure Joe Walsh hasn't been one his whole life- like myself. Which is one of the reasons why I could only party like I was having a mid-life crisis as opposed to partying like an early, twenty-something who doesn't know who she is! Anyway- once I got past the fact that they looked like they had current subscriptions to AARP and that they dressed like my Dad- I realized they still put on a good show. Not that I have ever been to their concert before- I mean c'mon I was in diapers during the height of their popularity- but I was amazed at the number of their songs I knew very well. It was interesting to see the range in ages of the people there- people I could have taught in elementary school, people who could be my parents or grandparents and people who teach my daughter in preschool-(That's a little shout-out to Katie's preschool teacher-Ms. Lorie who we saw on the FRONT ROW with her husband! I'm pretty sure she had been to one of their concerts before.) Anyway it was a fun and entertaining concert to attend and thanks to Amber who helped me release my inner fifty year old!

Birth Order Revised

2009-05-01T21:00:00.000-07:00

I'm sure many of you have read the email titled "Birth Order" that describes the progressive declining behavior/anal-ness of parents as they have more children. I think this email is hilarious because like most things that are funny- it rings very true- especially for me. I have posted it here for your reading pleasure. I have also added a few more that I have discovered as the number of my offspring has increased and the expectations I have for them and myself has decreased.
BIRTH ORDER OF CHILDREN

1st baby: You begin wearing maternity clothes as soon as your OB/GYN confirms your pregnancy.

2nd baby: You wear your regular clothes for as long as possible.

3rd baby: Your maternity clothes ARE your regular clothes.

Preparing for the Birth:

1st baby: You practice your breathing religiously.

2nd baby: You don't bother because you remember that last time, breathing didn't do a thing.

3rd baby: You ask for an epidural in your eighth month.

The Layette:

1st baby: You pre-wash newborn's clothes, color-coordinate them, and fold them neatly in the baby's little bureau.

2nd baby: You check to make sure that the clothes are clean and discard only the ones with the darkest stains.

3rd baby: Boys can wear pink, can't they?

Worries:

1st baby: At the first sign of distress--a whimper, a frown--you pick up the baby.

2nd baby: You pick the baby up when her wails threaten to wake your firstborn.

3rd baby: You teach your three-year-old how to rewind the mechanical swing.

Pacifier:

1st baby: If the pacifier falls on the floor, you put it away until you can go home and wash and boil it.

2nd baby: When the pacifier falls on the floor, you squirt it off with some juice from the baby's bottle.

3rd baby: You wipe it off on your shirt and pop it back in.

Diapering:

1st baby: You change your baby's diapers every hour, whether they need it or not.

2nd baby: You change their diaper every two to three hours, if needed.

3rd baby: You try to change their diaper before others start to complain about the smell or you see it sagging to their knees.

Activities:

1st baby: You take your infant to Baby Gymnastics, Baby Swing, and Baby Story Hour.

2nd baby: You take your infant to Baby Gymnastics.

3 rd baby: You take your infant to the supermarket and the dry cleaner.

Going Out:

1st baby: The first time you leave your baby with a sitter, you call home five times.

2nd baby : Just before you walk out the door, you remember to leave a number where you can be reached.

3rd baby: You leave instructions for the sitter to call only if she sees blood.

At Home:

1st baby: You spend a good bit of every day just gazing at the baby.

2nd baby: You spend a bit of everyday watching to be sure your older child isn't squeezing, poking, or hitting the baby

3rd baby: You spend a little bit of every day hiding from the children.

Swallowing Coins:

1st child: When first child swallows a coin, you rush the child to the hospital and demand x-rays.

2nd child: When second child swallows a coin, you carefully watch for the coin to pass.

3rd child: When third child swallows a coin, you deduct it from his allowance!______________________________________________________
Here is where my own begin:
Bath time:
1st child: Bath time is a special daily bonding time with all kinds of toys and extreme monitoring of temperature.
2nd child: Baths are an every other day occurence with whatever toys haven't been lost yet.
3rd child: 3 times a week is plenty for baths and the temperature is only checked when someone yells, "Its too hot, Mom!"
4th child: Saturday night baths for sure and the 4th child knows how start their own bath, undress themselves and find their own toys to put in.

Dealing with owwies:
1st child: Lots of hugs, anti-septic wipes, band-aids with characters and kissing of the owwie.
2nd child: A hug, a character band-aid and a kiss.
3rd child: A plain band-aid (You've wised up to the fact that if you buy band-aids with characters, they are used for everything but their intended purpose.) and a kiss
4th child: Kisses their own owwie better.

TV viewing
1st child: Very strict control and no more than the recommended 2 hours a day.
2nd child: Allowed to earn more TV time by playing outside and can watch the occassional movie.
3rd child: Can watch as much as they want as long as it is on PBS.
4th child: Can work the DVD player at 2.

Potty-training:
1st child: Consult everyone, read all the books and have all sorts of incentives and motivators. Purchasing the "big boy pants" or "big girl panties" is a day that is heralded as a monumental benchmark in childhood- right up there with the first lost tooth or even graduation.
2nd child: "I know I read a book about potty-training- what was it again?" Throw some underwear in the cart next time you're at Target.
3rd child: By now you know the signs of the child being ready to potty-train and only start when you see them. Oh wait, you forgot to buy new underwear. Guess it'll have to wait until next week.
4th child: Hold out a used pair of holey underwear and tell/threaten your toddler that they can wear these if they promise the training won't take more than a day.

Learning:
1st child: Great lengths are taken to teach the ABCs taking into account the potential learning modalities of the child- tactical tracing, songs, computer games, books,art activites all about each letter.
2nd child: "I know I bought some books about each letter- Where are they?"
3rd child: It counts as being read to if the 1st child reads to the 3rd child- right?!?
4th child: Can sing this without you being able to recall ever teaching it to them:

Lullabies:
1st child: Vast repertoire of lullabies sung to the child at bedtime or anytime.
2nd child: Sing a song or two at bedtime.
3rd child: Sing themselves to sleep.
4th child: Sings this instead of lullabies:

In case you can't make this out- that is our two year old singing the chorus to "We Will Rock You" by Queen- complete with the sound effect of the percussions-"bump, bump, pish". We're so proud!

Teaching Moments

2009-04-13T15:00:00.000-07:00

There is an infamous story in my family about when my Dad gave my brother THE TALK. We were living in Georgia, the month was May, the year was when my brother was 12- conditions were perfect for my Dad to give my brother the big talk. I'm sure my Dad had prepared a well-researched, age appropriate talk with properly timed analogies and pauses- allowing for the inevitable questions that such a sublime talk would illict. Thus my Dad proceeds to give his oldest son the talk on a sunny, southern (read:humid) May afternoon upstairs in the boy's bedroom- where of course he feels comfortable- part of the genius of the well-planned talk. After my Dad finishes his speech he lovingly and knowingly asks, "Now son, do you have any questions?"- being fully prepared for any follow-up inquires about such a sensitive matter. My brother says, "Yea." Now I wasn't there, but I can imagine- because I am a parent myself now and I know my Dad pretty well, that my Dad sat up a little straighter thinking that his primed arrow had reached its target because the boy now has a question. My brother then says, "When can we turn on the air conditioning?" Again I wasn't there, but if I was and I had super-sonic hearing, I think I would have heard a little "pwoooo" as the air went out of my Dad's ego.
I tell this story because I had a similar experience yesterday with Annie. I didn't give her THE talk and my teaching moment wasn't so well-planned. Rather it was quite spontaneous- but that only added to the pleasure I originally took in it because all the "experts" say you should turn regular, everyday moments into teaching moments. So the equation for this situation was suppose to look like this:
Everyday occurance + imparting my pearls' of wisdom on my children = the fabulous mother that I am.
We were driving home from Easter dinner at my aunt's house when at a stop sign an older lady approached my window. I could tell she was trying to ask me something so I rolled down my window. With a thick accent she asked in broken English if the road was 39th South. I said yes and she continued to ask something else but I couldn't understand her. She sensed this and finally said, "You give me ride?" I asked where she needed a ride to and she said "39th and Highland." I told her yes and she climbed in the front seat. From our limited conversation I got that she had called her daughter several times but was unable to reach her and she had waited and waited for the bus which never came. I told her it was probably because of the Easter holiday- although this was mostly likely lost on her because I'm pretty sure she had no idea what Easter was. After we dropped her off at her destination, my kids had all kinds of questions: "Who was she?", "What was her name?", "Why couldn't we understand her when she talked?", "Why didn't her daughter pick her up?", "What's her daughter's name?", "Why did you pick up a stranger when you tell us not to talk to strangers?" This last question caused a big discussion about why it was okay for me to pick her up. I talked about things like the fact that I am an adult and she was an old woman who mostly likely wouldn't hurt me. Plus she also seemed like she really needed help. Now I know that all these things could have been a ruse and she could have really hurt me if she wanted to, but I felt fine about helping her and never had any sense of danger. I decided to turn this discussion into a gospel-centered one. So I said, "I also have one thing that can help me in dangerous situations. Do you know what that is?"
Annie answers, "Pepper spray?"
Although a smart item to carry with me, this was not the answer I was looking for.
"No, the Holy Ghost." And from there I launch into a mini-impromptu sermon about how the Holy Ghost can give you a feel of peace about a decision or it can warn you if there is danger. And of course in my Grandma Sarah style, I throw in a "how grateful I am for this blessing." At the conclusion of my little oration I have the inevitable pregnant pause- where I am waiting for the follow-up gospel-centered questions to pour forth from my children. Things like "How else has the Holy Ghost helped you?", "What does it feel like when the Holy Ghost speaks to you?", "Can the Holy Ghost help us?" Unfortunately all I got was, "Mom, can you drive faster? I really have to go to the bathroom!"
"Pwoooooo." Did anyone else hear that?

When Spring break lasts 4 days too long...

2009-04-03T20:36:00.001-07:00

...drastic measures must be taken!

Reasons Why I Love March

2009-03-27T19:39:00.000-07:00

Now that March is almost over I thought I would expound upon why I love the month of March. These aren't listed in order of importance or significance to me, but rather in chronological order.

1. Girl scout cookies. They arrive at the beginning of the March just when you have forgotten that you have ordered them. Nothing makes your day more than getting a boatload of Girl Scout cookies you ordered back in January. I am fortunate to have a Girl Scout live across the street from me. The year I moved into this house my neighbor brought a welcome basket that contained among other things a box of thin mints. I asked her where she got the thin mints and she told me her daughter was a girl scout. I must have had a very visceral reaction to this information because every year since then, I am the first person she comes to sell to.

2."My annual proving to myself that I am physically stronger than I thought" or the Moab Canyonlands Half Marathon. I have done this three times with my family and each year I surprise myself that I can in fact run 13.1 miles and not die. I have even improved my time every year. I do not consider myself very athletic or sporty and one of my biggest regrets from high school is that I quit the cross-country team after about 2 weeks. I wonder if I had been more self- disciplined in the physical department when I was young, I could be more athletically inclined now. But that is water under the bridge and I am hear to tell all you non-runners, if I can do it ANYONE can! There really is something fulfilling about training and finishing a race like this. There really are many life lessons you can learn from running. One I learned about myself is that I am not the fastest or most competitive runner out there. But I am consistent. I don't start out really fast or really sprint at the end or run for while then walk. I begin at a good even pace and I can keep it up the entire race. I believe that this is reflected in my personality and character. I'm not flashy or an all or nothing person. But I am dependable and I can keep my head down and finish the race. I think this trait is very much needed in my life right now.

Anyway it was a fun weekend and one I needed. There is no one I laugh more with than my family. We collectively found out that running loosens up several parts of your body- from your mouth on down!

3. Celebration of the day I became a mother. Finn made me a mother 10 years ago on March 22nd. It blows me away that I have a 10 year old son. I have very vivid memories of being 10 so I better be careful about what I say and do! It is so rewarding and fun to watch Finn turn into a young man. He has always been responsible and he is incredibly helpful. But recently his sense of humor has really been developing and he is coming out if his shell. It is also fun to watch him forming his own opinions and making connections. For example last week we were watching Biggest Loser and it was weigh-in time. Finn and Annie were talking about who the contestants reminded them of- family or friends. It was Filipe's turn to weigh-in and they were asking him how he felt. He said something about being grateful for his blessings. Then after his weigh-in when he hadn't lost very much weight the host again asked him how he felt about it. He responded that he has to look for the sunshine where he can find it. After this I told Finn and Annie that Filipe and Sion were members of the same church as us. Finn exclaimed, "I knew it!" I said, "How did you know it?" He said, "Because he was talking about sunshine and blessings and being grateful, stuff you hear in church talks." Then later in the show Filipe again was talking about following your heart. After this comment, Finn again piped up, "See Mormons are always talking about their hearts!" Very true.

4. Besides my firstborn, there are many people who are near and dear to me that celebrate their birthdays in March. So Happy Birthday to Susan, Amber, Jessica and Julie. I hope you love the month of March as much as I do.

5. Julie's sister-in-law, Jackie, changed my cell phone so I have predictive text... it has literally changed my life and made my texting response time a notch above slower than molasses!

It's a Journal-Worthy Day when...

2009-03-22T17:51:00.000-07:00

. . .Suzie can finally wear a tinnie-tiny ponytail in her hair!
I have several more important things to blog about but they will have to wait. This is all I had time for today!

Pay it Forward

2009-03-15T20:28:00.000-07:00

So I know I just finished saying I wasn't in a blogging place right now, but I saw this idea on my friend Kelly's blog and I love this kind of thing- so thanks Kelly and Lindsay for helping me to blog twice in just as many hours. Maybe you have pulled me out of my slump... we'll see.
But here's the deal...The first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive, at some point during the year, a handmade gift/treat from me. What it will be and when it will arrive is a total surprise! The catch is that you must participate as well. Before you leave your comment, write up a pay it forward post on your blog to keep the fun going (or be lazy and copy and paste like I did). Then come back, let me know you're going to play and sit back and anticipate the arrival of your gift!
Yeah, for homemade things!

I just have one thing to say...

2009-03-15T19:24:00.000-07:00

I just finished playing Monopoly with Finn for 2 hours and I pretty much schooled him. I attribute this to 2 things-

1.) This is the first time Finn has ever played Monopoly

2.) Buying all the railroads as soon as I can. There is a railroad on every side-increasing the potential to be landed on and if you own all 4, the rent is $200 which gives you a lot of quick capital to buy property and houses.

This is my bit of wisdom for the day. Sorry I haven't blogged much lately. I'm not really in a blogging place right now, but I'm sure I'll get my groove back one day.

The Making of a Big Sister

2009-02-28T15:58:00.000-08:00

This post is going to be very therapeutic for me to write about because I have a very serious condition referred to as "Second Child Syndrome." I am the second child and even more scarring than that- I am the second daughter and my older sister was not what you would call the nurturing, "take you under my wing" kind of big sister. She was the lock you in the bathroom and laugh about it kind of big sister. Or put your gerbil in that little ball and roll it down the stairs just to watch your reaction and laugh about it kind of sister. Or sit on the couch and order you around and laugh about it kind of sister. The following is an actual limerick I wrote in 5th grade that my family still quotes to this day:

I think my sister is crazy.

I think my sister is lazy.

She sits on the couch,

And acts like a grouch.

I think my sister is crazy and lazy!

(Insert illustration of the back of a couch with a conversation bubble above it saying, "Kari, go get me a glass of water." implying my sister is laying on the couch as she orders me around.)

I should mention here that now my older sister, Michelle,is one of my best friends and favorite people to be around. I couldn't imagine life without her, but when we were growing up I was Tom to her Jerry. So being exposed to such behavior, I became an expert at spotting big sister manipulation.

Fast forward 25 years to my own oldest daughter, Annie and her younger sister, Katie. Annie's best friend is Lauren who we use to live next door to. Their family is often so kind and generous to let Katie come over and play too when Annie goes there. But sometimes Annie wants to have some alone time with Lauren and I can respect that. Unfortunately Katie cannot. She usually throws a fit if she knows Annie is going to Lauren's without her. So the other day Annie got a ride home from school with Lauren. She came in smiling and said she had to whisper something in my ear. I leaned down and she asked if she could go over to Lauren's. I nodded and she started for the door. Katie had witnessed this exchange and said, "I want to know the secret too." Without batting an eye Annie went over, whispered something in her ear and then bounded out the door. I was very interested to know what Annie had said to Katie that had allowed her to leave so freely without any more questioning by Katie. But I didn't have to wait long because Katie immediately came skipping over and while giggling said, "I'm the best sister ever."

Well played Annie, well played. Are you sure you're not Michelle's daughter?

How to Train a Man before the age of 10 or Finn's take on Valentine's Day or the Monkey Puzzle.

2009-02-17T15:56:00.000-08:00

Last Thursday night Finn and Annie were getting their Valentines all ready for their class parties the next day. Annie was cheerfully, carefully picking out which ones to give to which boys and girls- because we all know that the message we send to each person must clearly reflect our feelings or intentions regarding them- especially when you are in 2nd grade. Finn was hastily and grumpily putting his together when he said, "I hate Valentine's Day." I was a little surprised by this outburst and asked him what the problem was.

He said, "Everyone makes such a big deal about it."

Mom: "But you get to have a party and get candy. What's wrong with that?"

Finn: "Everyone keeps asking me who I like and I'm sick of it."

Mom has quick flashback to 5th grade and remembers her "boyfriend"- Andrew Hicks- and the Valentine's monkey puzzle he gave me that revealed his feelings for me- which I still own by the way-and suddenly all the dots connect. This is the age that all girls are interested in boys and a few of the boys start to reciprocate but not all of them- Finn being in the latter category.

Finn ends with: "I just want it all to be over."

Ahhh- poor boy has no idea that it is just beginning and I didn't have the heart to tell him.

Ok- so I went and found my monkey puzzle. And the only reason I still have it is because my mom saved it and put it in my childhood scrapbook.

Although after looking at it I decided that it doesn't really reveal any feelings, but sometimes a 10 year old girl's womanly intuition just can't be disputed. I mean what else could receiving a monkey puzzle when everyone else just got a paper valentine mean except "I Love You." Hmmmm- I think that was my best Valentines ever!

Who wore it best?

2009-02-06T11:59:00.000-08:00

I have never been a big reader of magazines like "People" or "US Weekly" or "Star." I consider them the literary equivalent of junk food- they sound fun before you read them but they leave you less than satisfied and even a little bit sick when done. But I have been stuck in a hair dryer at the salon with nothing else to pass the time, but those silly magazines. So I have indulged once or twice. I have noticed that one of them has a feature called "Who wore it best?" They have pictures of two or three celebrities who are wearing the same thing to different events, then they have a poll asking about who wore it best. So this is my own version of that. A few years ago for Halloween Eric and I dressed up as Napoleon Dynamite and Deb. I bought a beautiful, vintage pink, shimmery dress circa 1986 that I wore. I even had my hair pulled to the side in what my 7 year old refers to as a "Deb-do." And as thrilling as that night was, I found another occasion to wear it. For a girls' night out, we thought it would be fun to dress up ugly and got laser-tagging. THE dress was the obvious choice.This picture doesn't highlight the dress the best- I'm not sure what I was doing, some sort of German curtsy?!? And I don't know why it is so small? But it was better than the alternate picture of me in this dress that was taken that same night. I was doing a Marilyn Monroe impression and instead of coming off as sexy and sultry, it was just silly and a little bit sickening. So this picture will have to do.
Now I am not the only one who has worn this dress. Julie wore it as well this year when she and Trent dressed up as Napoleon and Deb for Halloween.

And finally, my sister-in-law, Jessica wore it recently for a YW 80s skate night- btw-that's another great Girls' Night Out idea!

So after perusing all this eye- candy, I need you to tell me "Who wore it best?" Now to be fair, Julie was 4 months pregnant when she wore the dress, but she also is the photographer of my nasty Marilyn Monroe picture and she has not been shy about posting it on Facebook so I feel no remorse whatsoever for including her in this poll- even if she is pregnant. My personal pick is Jessica. She kicked it up a notch with her saucy, hot pink high heels.

And for you final viewing pleasure here is a picture of me seriously wearing a very similarly styled dress back in 1988. My mom made it for me and I am not ashamed to say I LOVED IT- big bow in the back and all. (The pink one also has a big bow on the butt too but it didn't make it into any of the pictures.) This was taken at a Youth conference before the big dance. My cousin, Chandra, is with me. Don't we look hot! Jared Fish eat your heart out!:) Jared was my obsession when I was 14!

Well, tune in next time for "Whose behind is the best?"

Week of January 26th- February 1st

2009-02-01T12:42:00.000-08:00

I'm in a bit of a writing funk and can think of no clever ways to describe the events of the past week, but I feel they must be documented and recorded so sorry if you came looking for a funny or witty story- it just ain't gonna happen this time. Unfortunately this post is all about obligation and my motherly instinct /guilt to get my family's events recorded. I just reread that and it is a pretty pathetic introduction to the first event- so sorry Suzie if you are reading this 20 years from now and feel like your 2nd birthday wasn't inspiration enough for me. You are my favorite 2 year old ever and have the most kissable cheeks imaginable. So Happy 2nd Birthday Suzie.

We celebrated by having beignets- French donuts we got introduced to in New Orleans and bought some mix while there- for breakfast. Suzie and I got to go to McDonalds for lunch with some friends- well really they are my friends and just happen to have kids Suzie's age so it worked out well. There are no pictures to document this event because my other kids don't know about it and would have been livid to think they missed a celebratory trip to McDonalds. So there is no evidence. Plus they were all in school and what they don't know won't hurt them.

That night we went bowling per everyone but Suzie's request. But I think she had a good time. Although I don't think she quite caught on to the concept of the game. She thought it was great fun to put the ball up on the little stand and push it. But then she would turn around and say, "I did it." without bothering to see if she knocked any pins down. Finn kept trying to get her to actually watch the ball go down the lane. I was very impressed with her ability to to lift the ball herself and put it on the stand. I mean, really, you try bowling with a ball that is a 1/3 of your weight.

We came home and admidst the crys of protest by my other children for not having a full-on birthday party with family over, enjoyed a Snickers cake again chosen by everyone but Suzie. So Suzie, I hope you enjoyed your day that wasn't really about you!But that is the great thing about being young and dumb- you don't know any different and really every day is about you!

We also had another signifcant event this week- Finn's first time actually participating in the Pinewood Derby. Technically it is the second time he has entered, but the first time he got to go. If you would like to read about what that really means-click here. He found the Pinewood Derby like putting on a pair of well-worn slippers- it was made just for him. It was right up his alley and he loved every minute of it. His car was named "Dollar Short" because when they weighted it in it was too light and they had to glue 4 quarters to the bottom of it to make it legit and anyone who has been to a Pinewood Derby knows the importance of being legit!

It had a "U" theme and was going to have a leftover "U" tattoo from the Sugar bowl put on the side, but "someone" threw it away in an effort to declutter the countertop before she knew it was intended for this purpose. But luckily Eric doesn't read my blog so he doesn't know "someone" did this and when he was looking for it, "someone" even pretended to look for it too-knowing full-well it was securely in the city dump. Ooops! Look what happens when I try to organize my house! Anyway even without the "U" emblem- it was a winning ride.

He won 2nd place for the 2nd year in a row. He only has one more year to try for the "big enchilada." And I must say, Eric looks real "sezzy" in his scout uniform!;)

And on a final note for the week, I was downloading my pictures and found a whole assortment of pictures like this one on my camera.

My kids love Aunt Nanny and I love "Happy Tuesdays" when Natalie comes over and watches my kids for a couple of hours so I can run errands by myself. Between my sister, Michelle and I Natalie won't have to raise her firstborn with all the babysitting hours she will have accumulated with us.

Who are the Mormons?

2009-01-23T20:00:00.000-08:00

My previous post about our road trip inspired me to write about another road trip we took a few years ago. This isn't the first time we have followed the Utes to a bowl game. (And I've been told it won't be the last either!) Back in December 2005 we followed the Utes to San Francisco (Franciscoooo- that's fun to say!) to play in the Emerald bowl. But this time we went in a PT Cruiser- (We had a rental car because Eric had been in an accident the week before Christmas and we decided to put the miles on our rental car instead of our own. And if you know our history with car troubles, this was no surprise. I really should do a post about all the car trouble we have had over the years.) Anyway we loaded our 3 kids into the PT Cruiser and road tripped it over the Sierra Nevadas to the Bay Area. Only having to travel for 12 hours seems like child's play now! And besides me getting the worst stomach flu ever and unintentionally detoxing myself in the hotel bathroom and Eric losing Annie in a museum for 30 minutes, it was a fun and incident-free trip. Until. . . we were traveling home. Apparently the Donner Party was not exaggerating about the dangerous combination of snow and the Sierra Nevadas. During our return trip we found that the highway crossing over the mountains had been closed due to a landslide. So we had to turn around and find another way home. We decided to take some of the scenic, more winding roads to make our way over to Carson City. One of these roads took us past Sutter's Mill where gold was discovered and thus caused the Gold Rush of 1840- that sounded a bit Cliff Clavinish, but I had to do it- it is essential to the story! We decided to stop and look around because when we would ever get back to Sutter's Mill?!?

While we were exploring, Eric found a small cabin and plaque that was dedicated to the Mormon presence when gold was found at Sutter's Mill. So he called everyone over and proceeded to tell the kids all about the Mormons being there when gold was discovered. He read the plaque to the kids, had me take a picture in front of the cabin and went on and on about how cool it was that the Mormons were there. As we were walking away Finn turned to me and said, "Who are the Mormons?" So apparently the Church's campaign to be known as "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints" rather than the "Mormons" had worked on Finn. I did inform him that he in fact was a Mormon. He seemed to take the news fairly well.

When I was looking for pictures to put in this post, I found this one. Eric had even taken a picture of the plaque too.

"Pour Some Suga' on Me" or as Eric put it, "The Vacation by which all other Vacations will be measured against."

2009-01-14T17:00:00.000-08:00

Now that I have been home from our RV Road trip for over a week, I decided it was finally time to post about it. For those who don't know, we loaded up our four kids and Eric's brother- Steve, into a RV and traveled for a total of 7 days to go watch the Utah Utes play in the Sugar bowl in New Orleans. You may be wondering why a decorated BYU alumni like myself would go to such lengths for her alumni's arch enemy. Let's just say it is a testament to how much I love my husband. Also if you are looking for this to be a breakdown of the actual Sugar Bowl, you have come to the wrong blog. The recollection of the events from our road trip will be brought to you Kari- style. So I present to you:
Lessons Learned from 7 days in an RV and 2 days in New Orleans

or
7 days in an RV does not make the Utes 'weak'.

(Me on the other hand - it makes a bit tired.)

1. Do not use generic brand diapers when traveling all day in an RV. Between only stopping when absolutely necessary and basically giving suzie an IV of juice to keep her content in her carseat, they just can't handle the job. We found Huggies worked much better.

2. It isn't called "Old Maid" when you play it with Jazz Player face cards. Annie and Katie were trying to find an Old Maid in some Jazz cards we had. Finally Annie said, "I guess we will have to play 'Old Man' cause there are no ladies in this deck."

3. You don't have to pay sales tax on Reservations. I did not know this.

4. In the flatlands of New Mexico and Texas there are 3 prevalent, well-advertised pastimes. I will leave it to your imagination to guess what those might be.

5. There are surprisingly a lot of nice RV parks all across the country.

6. I could never be flight attendant and if you give your 2 year old a peanut butter and jelly sandwich to eat while barreling down the highway at 70 mph in a RV, she will most likely end up looking like this:
7.Suzie is the life of the Canton, TX RV park children's New Year's Eve party.

8. It is pronounced "Suga' Bowal" not "Sugar Bowl."

9. People might look at you a little hesitantly when you walk through the French Quarter at night with a stroller- especially while passing Bourbon Street.

10. We don't talk to people who wear hats. The first night we were in New Orleans we were leaving the French Quarter and witnessed two "sketchy" hat-wearing people arguing in a parking lot. Annie made some movement toward them and Uncle Steve pulled her away saying, "Annie, we don't talk to people like that." Annie couldn't figure out what "like that" meant so she came up with- "We don't talk to people who wear hats?!?" Here are some pictures of us in the French Quarter during less controversial hours.

11. Whether a boy is raised in the south or is just there for an afternoon- playing in the heat and humidity will always do this to him. (My siblings will recognize this face. We all got it a lot growing up in Georgia.)

12. Alabama fans are very gracious (define as-indulgent or beneficent in a pleasantly condescending way, esp. to inferiors) in their pregame cockiness and they are very gracious (define as-pleasantly kind, benevolent and courteous) in their post-game tail between their legginess.

13. Tom Kirkland will pick up a Utes pom-pom that your daughter drops over the edge of the seats- if you ask him.

14. There is nothing more endearing or fun than to watch someone you love get all crazy and excited about something they are passionate about.

Christmas Pics

2009-01-08T09:00:00.000-08:00

Since we have been on an extended road trip for over a week (I'll post more on that later), I am just now getting my Christmas pictures posted. But here are some various pictures of my little ankle-biters on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning.

Christmas Eve when my kids have their "June Cleaver"pajamas on.

Suzie in a new outfit from great-grandma Lois. Yea, she had that headband on for about as long as it took to take the picture.

Katie receiving her personal "piece de resistance" present- Polly Pockets!

This is the second year Annie has received a guitar for Christmas. So far she has been a lot more careful where she stores it so annoying little sisters can't get a hold of it and break it.

"U" blanket I made for Finn and Eric to keep them warm at next year's home games.
Football Finn received to have signed during the aforementioned road trip.

As you can tell, it was a "U" Christmas. Do you think "someone" might be projecting their obsession onto their kids?!?

And this final video is mainly for my parents benefit. This is one of our favorite Christmas Eve traditions. We go to my Uncle David's house with several of my aunts, uncles, cousins and their kids. We sing and dance for awhile and then we turn off all the lights and Santa comes and brings all the kids a present. But you have to be quiet or else you could scare Santa away and Suzie came pretty darn close to doing just that. The video is of the pre-Santa merriment that I know my parents missed.

I don't know if I should let anyone into this part of my brain ...but here it goes

2008-12-28T23:00:00.000-08:00

I'm sure there are several people out there who share this same after Christmas pattern with me- cleaning out old toys to make room for new toys. I'm sure this is a very smart, efficient idea that is in several books with titles like, "Organize your house and everything in it." "Clear your home, Clear you mind." or "Peace in the soul begins with peace in the playroom closets." (I don't know these are actual books but I believe they could be with all the self-help, organizational info out there. Hasn't Oprah done a show about something like this?!?) And I do agree that this is a good, solid yearly practice. But my problem with this practices lies in the innerworkings of my mind and somewhat from my nurturing environment- you know the nature vs. nurture debate. I have mentioned this several times before but I was raised by a financially careful father and a clutter careful mother. Please know that there are several more facets to both of my parents personalities but these are the two parts that have strongly been endued in me and are often battling it out in my mind. Therefore they are great fodder for posts. (I'm trying to get my sister to have to use an online dictionary by using words like fodder and endued- because that is part of my personality- although I don't think that is a nurture trait. I believe that is just me.)
But back to my inner dilemma- I want to have clean, organized closets like my mom taught me, but in order to do this I have to throw stuff away, which goes against my father's mantra of "Use it up, wear it out, make it due or do without." So when I go to throw away the one of seven baby dolls we have that has an eye missing and a marker-decorated head, I find myself creating a scenario where I would need this mutilated doll and if I don't save it, I will have to go out and buy a new one. What this scenario really is I couldn't tell you, but it causes me to have a playroom filled with semi-useful, semi-fun toys that don't really get played with but are there just in case.
And another factor that complicates this in my mind is (and shhh!- don't tell Eric this part.) ,but I don't know if I am done having children, so I should keep that Bob the Builder Memory Game just in case I have another child and just in case it is a boy! AHHHH! I really need help. Plus my mom who attacks unuseful clutter the same way one should attack a stuck on band-aid- just rip it right off- is halfway across the world so she can't tell me to finally throw away that Chinese checkers game that I bought from DI 13 years ago when I started teaching school but I have never played with my kids. But really who knows when the mood might strike me to play a game of Chinese checkers-which truth be told I don't even know how to play. And so the cycle plays through in my head. And if anyone has any suggestions on how to break this cycle- please let me know! But for now I will just sleep peacefully knowing that if anyone gets the urge to play with a talking barbeque whose lid falls off every time it gets opened- I'm their woman!

My nomination for "Mother of the Year" should be arriving anyday...

2008-12-18T21:07:00.000-08:00

I have observed a certain phenomenon in motherhood. I am not sure what its title might be, but some possibilities include: "ying/yang," "opposition in all things," "even stephen," or "one up/one down." Whatever you call it- it is this: As a mother everything/everyone around you is not allowed to be at peace with you at the same time. Case in point- Let's say you are cleaning a part of your house- the bathrooms for instance. You spend hours making them look spotless and you are quite proud of them. Then you walk out into the Family Room and it is a disaster because you banished your kids out of the bathrooms so you could clean them in peace. See according to this phenomenon the family room is not allowed to stay clean when you are cleaning the bathrooms. The universe just won't allow it. I imagine they are several more for instances in a mother's life that would demonstrate this phenomenon, but the one I am choosing to focus on for this post relates to how my daughters see me. It has already been established that my second daughter thinks I am mean as Matilda's mom. So just when I work to become like Ms. Honey to her, my oldest daughter thinks I have become like Ms. Trunchbull. (This is the second reference to "Matilda" in just as many posts, so if you haven't seen or read this delightful story, stop reading my blog and go do so!)

But I am getting ahead of myself. This past Monday night was Katie's highly anticipated "Christmas Dance Recital" on the big stage. I felt like I had truly out done myself in getting her ready and being prepared.

Sewing her dress so the heart stays still- check.

Taking her to get her hair done at the salon- check.

Putting her make-up on and bringing it with me to reapply between shows- check.

Bringing her a sandwich and drink to have between shows- check.

Taking crayons and a coloring book to keep her occupied between shows- check.

(Her dance does two shows in one night- long story and not worth the time to explain.)

Inviting grandparents- check.

Bringing a treat for her to share with the class- check.

Buying her flowers and asking her dad to bring them when he came to the show- check.

Little did I know the last one was my Achilles Heel. Here is a picture of her looking quite adorable in her Peacock dress.

Who wouldn't be proud of this little munchkin?!? And I was feeling quite proud of my mothering abilities as well up until Eric and Annie got to the auditorium with the flowers for Katie and THE note! As they were sitting down Annie hands me a note folded up in a homemade envelope. Here is verbatim what was on the envelope and the contents inside:

Envelope

To: Kari (No "mom"-very significant!)

From: Sad Annie (drawing of frowny face and the back is covered with frowny faces.)

Note:

Front-Very Sad (Big frowny face)

Inside: Dear Mom, I am very sad that you got Katie flowers and not me. You never got me flowers when I was in dance. I will never talk to you again Mom. P.S. Don't be mean. (Another big frowny face) Very, very, very, very, very sad.

Back: (Huge frowny face) Very, very, very,very,very,very, very, very, very sad!

Now some punctuation and spelling was changed in the transposing of this note, but no frowny faces or verys were added. It is all authentic. So my basic feeling after reading this note was, "All those who think they are a good mother, please step forward. Not so fast, Kari." And in Annie's defense when she was in dance she asked for flowers at every recital and I always forgot. I wasn't really playing favorites. I think I just remembered to get them this time because Annie had asked me so many times before to get them for her and it finally stuck. Unfortunately it stuck after Annie stopped wanting to do dance. So now there is an $8.99 Albertsons flower bouquet to be bought for Annie next time she passes a level in gymnastics because she has informed me that her flowers have to cost the same as Katie's. But by then I am sure I will want to lock Katie up in the "chokey"- I'm telling ya- "Matilda" is a great show.