Butterfly Kisses

The Amazing Farm by Lauren

2011-08-24T16:50:00.006-06:00

Lauren and her Best friend

The girls have spent all summer playing with Hunter and Halle. One day they came to me and said that they were going to Hunter's grandmas and grandpa's "amazing farm". When they got home they couldn't stop talking about it, so it must be amazing. They got to ride horses and swing on a very cool swing. They had an evening full of fun! The most amazing part about this farm......it had a baby kangaroo that they got to play with and pet!!!! I wish I could have been there! The girls said it hopped right up to them. And the swing was super cool! Thanks fun friends for a good time! Glad they invited Lauren and Micaela, since we didn't go on a summer vacation, at least when school started they could say they got to pet a joey:) Probably the highlight of their summer!!!

S-P-E-L-L-I-N-G B-E-E

2011-01-30T17:50:00.006-07:00

This past week Lauren won her classroom spelling bee (one of the top 5 out of 34 kids). She hadn't even practiced any of the words. She came home so excited and handed me the practice sheet which she'd written on the top, "I made it!!"

2 days later she competed against 25 other children in front of her entire grade, in the grade level spelling bee.

We did practice her words a bit, but nothing to intense. One of the words she kept missing was "abolitionists". The morning of the grade level spelling bee Matt was drilling her on some words, while I did her hair in our bathroom. She again missed the word "abolitionists". She kept wanting to be an "s" in the middle and for some reason added an extra "L". So, as we were heading out the door I told my always-want-to-do-everything-right-never-get-anything-wrong daughter that this was just a fun thing to do; to not stress about it. She said, "What if I get the word 'abolitionists'?" I assured her that with all of the possibilities of words---it wasn't very likely she'd get that word.

I was invited to watch the spelling bee. As I sat in the back of the school library, with all of her peers and students in her grade, I choked back fear, yet was beaming with happiness and excitement for her in this accomplishment. The 25 students competing were lined up on chairs in front of the group, while the other students sat on the floor. Lauren was about number 20 in order. She confidently spelled each word, as it seemed liked the other kids were dropping like flies. About round 9 the words increasingly got harder. As it became her turn again, I listened intently to see what word she'd get next. Then I heard the teacher say into the microphone very clearly, "abolitionists". I saw Lauren hesitate for a second, start the word,quietly sound it out, and then spelled into the microphone, "a-b-o-l-i-t-i-o-n-i-s-t-s". I was so proud. I wanted to stand up and cheer that she spelled it correctly. Honestly, this was probably the hardest word on the their study list. All of her friends were holding up their thumbs like, "good job, Lauren!".

Lauren will not progress to the grade level spelling bee (4th-5th-6th graders competing to go to district). But in my opinion she's still a winner. She finished about 7th overall for her grade. The top 3 move on.

I love watching Lauren grow up and gain confidence. She also decided to try out on her own for the school play. She made one of the lead parts. I can't believe she's going to be double digits next week...the big 10! She's growing up way too fast!

Little Man is growing up!

2011-01-16T12:52:00.006-07:00

Anthon is really growing up all of sudden. He turned 5 in September. He's lost 2 bottom teeth. He's playing organized sports --soccer and basketball. He likes to play with friends more than mom. He's started getting invited to Late-Nights (sleepover w/o the sleepover part), he's starting to read, and oh, the ladies love him (talking about the 5-6 year old variety). Couple of girls want to marry him, and there's a new girl that just moved in that goes to our church. She always goes out of her way on Sunday to get Anthon's attention. She'll wave and then just sit and stare at him with a huge smile. Recently, when church was over, Anthon came to find me in my classroom. This same little girl saw him in the room and came in to say "hi" to Anthon (though they had just parted because they're in the same class). After she left he said, "Okay......that was awkward!!"

He is a man after my own heart. Anyone who knows me well knows that I'm a germa-phob. I carry hand sanitizer in my car and my purse. Yesterday the girls were out of school for the holiday. They and their friends talked me into taking them to DI (thrift store) to look for legos. Apparently our 5 buckets that I've bought them isn't enough. Someone told them you could find them at DI and put them in a bathtub with bleach. Anyway, when we walked in the smell of a thrift store hit them. Anthon wouldn't touch anything. Then as we were walking around he whispered, "Mom, do you have hand sanitizer in your car?" I broke out laughing. But I had similar thoughts, getting to the sanitizer!!!

Though Anthon is growing up he still likes the privileges that come from being the "baby" of the family. And isn't quite ready to relinquish my lap or cuddle time. Hope that doesn't end any time soon. He told Nana that he's my baby until he's at least 18. Yay! So hands off ladies, this boy belongs to me.....and when he gets older, I'm going to remind him that it's until he's at least 18:)

Summer Adventure!!

2010-10-16T09:45:00.000-06:00

I realize this post is a couple of months late.......but thought I'd go ahead and post. We were in the canyon yesterday, and as we drove along the Provo River we re-lived this adventure!
In August I was talking to one of my brothers who mentioned he and a couple other family members were going to be floating the river. So, I graciously invited myself! We went to BYU outdoor Rec department and rented 2 large inflatable canoes. Getting them strapped to our car was an adventure of it's own. Anthon thought it was great.

One of them fit inside the van with the tip coming out the sunroof. The other we tied to the roof. Lauren and Micaela were camping with some friends for the weekend so it was just Matt, Anthon and I. Anthon begged and begged us to let him float the river. We kept telling him that it probably wasn't a good idea.

My parents drove us to the starting point of our river rafting trip.....the dam at Deer Creek, and then drove down to Vivian Park to meet us....the end of our rafting experience. I wish to point out how happy Anthon looks happy here.

We finally gave in after Anthon kept begging us to let him go down the river with us. Matt giving Anthon instruction on what to do IF we tip.

All ready for our adventure. Anthon is smiling here! Little did he know what he was in for. (don't you love how I look like I'm wearing a white t-shirt under my tank-top. Serious farmer sunburn. NICE!)

Unloading the canoes from the car. Anthon is still happy!

Cute Haley and Steve. Glad we get to see Haley more often, since she's going to school close.

All ready to go! We got started kind of late....it was about 7:00 pm. The water was a little quicker than I had anticipated, and the fact that trees grew right into the banks (notice behind us) Neither did I realize how hard it would be to steer a long canoe. Matt and I were not a very good team when it came to the rowing......we kept counteracting each others steering, so not very far down the river we ran into the trees on the side and tipped the canoe. We managed to get back in. Anthon didn't begin crying then, but he started getting cold since he was soaked, and then the possibility that we might tip again started to stress him. He started screaming!! That began stressing me out. When we tipped a 2nd time (yes.....a 2nd time) as we went under a road, hitting the support beams, Anthon was so done! Luckily there was no vegetation on the side of the river where we tipped. I strapped Anthon to my back (he had no shoes), yelled for Matt to keep going down the river (he was still swimming after the canoe), grabbed the row (Matt only had one), and hiked up the hill to the street. It was getting dark then. We must have looked pretty desperate because a guy loaned Anthon an extra shirt from his car, and let me use his cell phone to call my parents, who were waiting down the canyon.

Anthon wearing the dudes large shirt, waiting to be rescued! He had had time to settle down and stop crying at this point. He said he NEVER wanted to do that again!

Matt's scraps from our adventure. His knees were swollen for a couple of weeks, we banged them on some rocks.

My gashes from the embankment. I had huge bruises on my shins from trying to get my grounding after we tipped. The water was deep so I'd put my legs down to try and touch and then I'd hit my shin on a huge boulder.

But it was a fun time. My brother Chris and his girlfriend came too. Delanie had gone the week before. I should have listened to her when she said she wouldn't do it again. She waited at the bottom of the river with my parents. Looking back, that was a good idea. I think Anthon is scarred emotionally for life from this experience. Anything that reminds him of rapids or a river makes him freak. He would not go down rattlesnake rapids at Lagoon, any slides at 7 Peaks water resort. Poor little guy. He should have ridden with Uncle Steve or Uncle Chris. They didn't tip over once!

Thus our Provo River Adventure. It wouldn't have been as much of an adventure if we wouldn't have tipped twice, gotten banged up legs, or had to hike up a long dirt embankment with a 4 year old strapped to us. All of this for a little summer fun!

It's Mario Time....Birthday stye!!!

2010-09-16T10:40:00.005-06:00

Anthon James turned 5 yesterday. I can't believe my baby is five years old!!!!! Last year we tried to talk him into a friends party, but he wanted no part of it. This year when he said he wanted a friends party, I knew just the perfect theme................MARIO!!! Anthon has been obsessed with Super Mario Bros. since he and his sisters combined their own money to purchase it a few months ago. It's a game they play on the wii.

Anthon's favorite Super Mario character is "blue toad"---a little character that looks like a baby with a huge mushroom looking hat with blue polka dots. So he dressed as "blue toad" for the party.

When the boys arrived (8 came to the party, besides our children) they were each given a Mario hat that I made....okay, I did cut out the fabric..........and then my very kind mother sewed all of them for us. Thank you Nana!!! We drew mustaches on their faces to complete the Mario look.

Isn't this the cutest little Mario you've ever seen!!! They were all so dang cute!!! It was fun to see lots of little "Mario's" running around.

These were the "blue toad" cupcakes I made. Don't know if you can see the eyes, but they turned out pretty cute.

First the Mario's (and one "Toad") had to be trained on how to be be Mario's/Toad's. So they played Mario....Mario......Bowser---a version of duck, duck goose, so they could learn how to run away from Bowser. (Bowser is the villain in the game........a giant monster/dinosaur looking guy who steals Princess Peach.......who Micaela dressed up as for the party..........in the video game Mario and Toad have to save her)

Next in their training they had to make friends with the Yoshi's. They had to help Mama Yoshi find all of her eggs she'd lost. They went for a Yoshi egg hunt around the yard (we hid silly putty eggs I bought from the dollar store).

Then they had to learn how to ride the Yoshi's. They had Yoshi races against each other (we had 2 wiggle cars with Yoshi neck and faces added).

Next......if you're going to be a Mario/Toad, you need to learn how to break up bricks. They each took turns hitting the homemade brick pinata with their heads, and then their fists.

Lauren and her friend had fun helping at the party. They actually were extremely helpful and cute with the boys.

We opened presents a little early because one boy had to leave before the end of the party. Of course Anthon loved this part. His cousin Jacob suggested they do "heavy, heavy hang over".....I'd forgotten about this little game to play when opening presents. We played that back in the day when I went to themed birthday parties.

Next we went outside and Bowser (Dad) went and kidnapped Princess Peach (played by Micaela) and put her on a tall swing that hung over hot lava. The Mario's had to use their newly discovered skills they acquired during the training session to rescue her. We made up an obstacle course that was scattered with gold coins they collected along the way. We set this up similar to the levels that you play on the Mario wii game. Their final level----they had to break down Bowser's castle (large toy blocks we have that can be constructed into a castle) and then defeat Bowser by hitting him 10 times with balls (similar to dodge ball). Bowser fell to the ground, and the boys ran over to safely help Princess peach down. They had successfully defeated Bowser and saved the Princess. They each got a gold medal for completing their mission.

Here's Bowser, mean and scary. Matt had no voice for 2 days after this because he was growling so loud.

Little Toad blowing out his candle.

Here's a picture of the crew. It was a fun party, and I had lots of fun throwing a boy party for a change. And I think Anthon enjoyed being in the spotlight. He's made a great group of little friends recently as he just started pre-school, a playgroup, and soccer for the first time. We love our little Toad!

Say Goodbye to Summer!!

2010-08-25T17:11:00.007-06:00

Even though the calendar says that there's still a few more weeks of summer left.....once the kids go back to school, you may as well kiss summer goodbye! But the girls were ready to go back today. They both woke up at 6:40 (a minor miracle for Micaela) and were happy and excited. Yeah, Micaela is a 2nd grader this year!

Lauren, the big 4th grader! She doesn't seem even remotely little anymore.

The girls were excited to ride their bikes to school with their friends.

Micaela has never had Halle in her school class before. They chose desks right next to each other.....lets hope they don't get in trouble for talking:) Micaela LOVES to talk, but she is pretty obedient and studeous in a classroom setting, and so is Halle.

Trying to figure out the new bike-lock.

Micaela has the same 2nd grade teacher that Lauren had. She was SO excited to get this teacher. And Micaela knows all the girls in her class. Micaela said her favorite part of the day was lunchtime when she could see all her friends.

This is Lauren saying, "Mom, seriously, no more pictures!" So .....apparently having your mom hang out with you while standing in the class line before school......and taking your picture...... isn't cool! Who knew....I've never had a 4th grader before. After getting funny looks from the kids in line, I looked around and realized I was the only mom there. (look at the girl in the background...her expression matches Lauren's. :)

Anthon tagged along in the bike trailer, wearing his PJ's still. He gets 2 more weeks before pre-school starts. When we passed by this extremely tall gate that is around the cafeteria area (it is super tall, probably 12'), he looked up at its' height and said, "this is where they put you when you get kicked out of class".....

So it was just me and my boy today. I think Anthon appreciated the extra attention. He's had to share it all summer. The house was quiet most of the day, and Anthon did ask a few times......"Mom, what can I do?!!" So he entertained himself part of the day by snapping pictures with my camera............here's a couple I don't mind sharing (they're not of my backside like most of them)

Goodbye summer........hello school!

AH.......SUMMER!!!!

2010-06-18T22:39:00.005-06:00

Anthon, Lauren, and Micaela swimming at their Aunt's house on Memorial Day...Thanks Aunt Christie and Uncle Keith, we had so much fun!!!

The kids with their friends Halle and Hunter as we fill up our pool. We....I guess I should say "I".......keep upgrading our above ground pool every year. This one is 48" deep and 18' round. It'll have to do until we get our in-ground pool!

Cute Lauren. The girls are on the swimteam this summer, so they're in their swimming suits and goggles every single day.

Anthon ready for a plunge. He was diving perfect dives off the diving board. The kid has no fear....sometimes I wish he did!

Our 3 baby ducks. The kids all wanted ducks, so they used their own money to each buy one. We raised them, and then released them at the park. They were cute, but sure were a stinky mess. Anthon and Micaela chillin' in our garage, watching the little ducklings. You can see Anthon still has on PJ's on. Gotta love summer.

Summer is by far my most favorite time of the year!!!! I love everything about it!!! I love walking past the windows and seeing the flowers in my yard and all the pretty colors outside. I love to wake up hearing the birds chirping outside my window. I love being able to sleep in!! Talking with neighbors late at night on the sidewalk while the kids run and play on the grass barefoot. It's such a happy time of year. So there's a few pictures that show how we've been livin' the happy summer life!

Mother's Day

2010-05-23T21:29:00.003-06:00

I felt very loved on Mother's Day. Matt called my mother without my prodding, and invited her to Sunday dinner. I'm so glad I have such a great mother, and they we were able to spend our day together! We sat down to a yummy meal at this table, with a centerpiece of beautiful flowers that Matt brought home the day before. He made us his yummy steaks, garlic mashed potatoes, watermelon, and chocolate cake. I had to bite my lip when a lady at church said that her husband was going to make pancakes for the kids before church that morning, but she asked him to hold off and make them after church for lunch since it was Mother's Day. She said she'd have to wait and see if he'd follow through. I didn't dare tell her what the menu plan was at our house, or how I was going to be pampered. (Matt actually makes dinner every Sunday, though. It's our best meal of the week. He's a much better cook than I!!!)

I feel so blessed to have 3 beautiful, happy, self confident children that teach me so many things about myself everyday......and especially teach me about what is really important in life! I'm glad I get to be with them for eternity, and my awesome husband! The people that mean the most to me in my life! My sweet children were so excited to give me all their cute little presents that they made at grade school and pre-school. And all their sweet little cards. Anthon decorated a white pot-holder at pre-school. When I opened it up and commented how well he drew a flower on the hot-pad, he kind of looked at me funny and said, "It's a little bag". It kind of did look like a small purse or something, kind of funny that all along he thought he'd decorated and wrapped a small, white purse for me. It's fun to see them so excited to give me their little tokens of love and appreciation. I love them!

Grandma and Grandpa are Serving a Mission

2010-04-23T15:47:00.008-06:00

Sometimes it can be a real chore to clean out the kids school backpacks. But then there's times where you can find a real treasure, too. This is something I pulled from Micaela's (1st grade) school bag last week.

(this picture was drawn on the back of the letter)

We do love and miss Grandma and Grandpa (Matt's parents) and pray that they are safe while they are serving the people in Africa. We are very proud of them and grateful for their wonderful examples!

Oh, Boy!!!

2010-04-17T19:31:00.005-06:00

I thoroughly do enjoy our little man of the house. He's now 4 1/2, and full of personality! But he sure is a different type of species compared to the girls.

Recently Anthon had fun playing on the playground with a little neighbor boy. It became time for Anthon to come inside. This is how Anthon said goodbye to his friend: He smacked him on the back and said, "Bye, bye ballerina!" Then the little boy laughed with a deep belly laugh and said, "Bye, bye......and called Anthon some type of 4 year old name. Then Anthon laughed and chased after him and tackled him down and yelled, "Bye, bye poopy pants!" This banter went back and forth a couple of more times. I didn't know whether to correct them or just laugh since they both were getting a kick out of it. Could never imagine my girls doing this... EVER!

Also, he's ADDICTED to the Wii, computer and television. He doesn't like to play with toys, and would much rather be entertained by electronics (again, totally different than the girls).
He HATES to shop! Come on, that's my life....my source of entertainment. I have to bribe him to even go to the grocery store with me. It's getting very expensive for me to take him anywhere:) And places like Hobby Lobby......forget it. Just the idea of the place, he throws himself on the floor in a tizzy(sort of how Matt responds if I ever make him go to a craft store with me...okay not really, but I think he'd rather go to the dentist!)

He asks everyday if we can have In-n-Out for lunch. He loves hamburgers. And steak is his favorite food! He'll eat a whole steak by himself!

He loves to punch, wrestle, put people in headlocks, and hit them with swords and dart guns.

Yes, he is extremely different from the 2 girls......but ya know what, I adore my little guy! He's extremely sweet.He's the cuddliest little kid. Did I mention,I LOVE HIM TOO DEATH!! He still wants me to hold him, and cuddle him, and he tells me I'm his girl. He gave an amazing talk ( for a 4 year old) in Primary last Sunday. It was about Joseph Smith. He told the story in his own words and then bore his own testimony.

Yes, he has me wrapped around his finger!

I hope he turns out....and that he grows up to be a kind, responsible and caring adult!!! Wish us luck...we need all the help we can get!!!

For the Love of Dance

2010-04-16T17:12:00.003-06:00

(Lauren's group-Lauren is left, middle row- with their dance instructor. Jessica is an amazing ballerina, and was the lead in many shows at Ballet West prior to becoming a mother)

Lauren had the opportunity of dancing for a Stake Women's Fireside (8 years plus) last month. It sounds a little strange, and very nontraditional, but it turned out pretty amazing. They had dances, which were coreographed to church music, intermingled with narration and testimony. Lauren was in a ballet group which danced to Consider the Lillies. The Fireside was well attended, and held in the Cultural Hall. It was held 2 evenings.

Before each performance there was a devotional held for the participants and parents. This Fireside was our next door neighbors idea. She was a Ballet major at BYU. At the pre-fireside devotional she talked about how we can serve our Savior and Heavenly Father in everything that we do, even when we're dancing. And that she wanted to use dance in this manner. It was a novel idea and concept, and I'm glad Lauren had the opportunity to experience it.

Moving up a Grade Level

2009-09-18T10:08:00.000-06:00

I get kinda sentimental when school starts. Maybe it's because I have to acknowledge that my babies are growing up. Lauren started 3rd grade. She seems so old.......and it seems official that she's now a "tween". (Lauren standing in line, waiting or the bell to ring on the first day of school. Two of her very best friends are in her school class.)

Micaela started first grade. The girls are so excited that they were on the same schedule.They get to go to school together and walk home together. And the first few days, Lauren thought it was fun to see Micaela in the lunchroom and at the recess. Now she wonders why Micaela and her friends "have to follow her around"? But, luckily all of Lauren's friends love Micaela, and all of Micaela's friends like Lauren. Micaela thinks it's cool to hang with the big 3rd graders.

AJ started a little pre-school in our neighborhood. It's just 6 children. It's 2 days a week. He's getting too big! (He did get a haircut right after this picture :)

Cute Micaela getting situated at her desk the first day of school. I can't believe she's a first grader. She's always been our tiny little girl, so it seems strange she's a "big first grader". She's adjusted so easily to first grade and staying all day. She's made lots of friends and her teacher is amazing.

Micaela in the mudroom at school with one of her best friends who's in her class.

Lauren loves the "bright colors" that all the stores have right now. I think those of us who experienced them in jr. high, it's a little strange to see our children wearing the 80's clothes. Lauren's our little fashion diva. She loves clothes, jewelry and shoes.

My children are growing up way too fast. But I love getting to stay home with them, having the flexibility to volunteer in their classroom, go eat lunch with them in the cafeteria (already done it once) and be there when they come home from school. I love the people they are becoming. They're kind, considerate, thoughtful, and becoming very responsible. Sometimes I wish I could freeze them, and make them quit growing, and keep them little forever. But then I can't do that, so I may as well enjoy the ride as they continue to mature and grow.

4th of July Celebrating!!!

2009-07-11T22:22:00.005-06:00

I LOVE SUMMERTIME!!!! So, of course I love the 4th of July. We love to pack as much celebrating into the day as possible! (Much to Matt's chagrin.) This year was no exception. This is what we did THIS year! We started celebrating July 3rd with a neighborhood party. We made a trip to Partyland and bought all the red/white/blue decorations we could find and found a way to put all of it on their bikes.

Then they were in a bike parade that started at the park north of our house and ended at the park south of our house. Lauren with her friend, Hunter.

Anthon felt like a celebrity. He thought he was the coolest thing ever, riding in his decorated red car. He really cruises in that thing! I think he kept bumping into the back of everyone else. They weren't quite going fast enough for him!

When we got to the park there was yummy food......

And cool treats (Micaela posing with her good friend, Halle)

And giant inflatables. This is Micaela (left) getting ready to go down with Hunter.

Lauren had fun cooling off.

Anthon got to the top of the slide and got scared. He wouldn't go down the slide, but he wouldn't climb back down, either. We made a neighbor boy grab him and take him down the slide so he'd get out the of the way of the other kids trying to come down. This is Anthon pouting because he was mad at the neighbor boy.

Then bright and early on the 4th of July we went to the Provo Freedom Festival Parade. This parade is always gigantic and the kids love it (not Matt though, don't even ask him about this part of the day! He HATES parades!!!!)

Lauren and her BFF, Hunter, had fun using their digital cameras. I think Lauren got about 58 pictures of the firetrucks and police cars alone. 1/4 of the way through the parade her memory card was full.

Candid picture of Lauren being her cute self.

When Anthon saw all of the Mormon missionaries in the parade he jumped up out of his chair so he could give them a high five.

Sweet, cutie-pie Micaela.

Anthon waving at the floats. I had to get this on the camera. I figure by next year he'll be too cool to do this.

We went to the parade with my parents, Uncle Steve, cousin Haley, and the our friends. These are the girls good friends, Hunter and Halle. Cute Anthon is always surrounded by lots of girls.

Next we went to Nana and Papa's for breakfast (my parents). Anthon being goofy!

Micaela LOVES her Nana...........

.........and her Papa!!!! Papa playing a game with Micaela. He's always good to play with the kids. You'd never know he was 72!!!

Lauren enjoying her watermelon. Any type of fruit is her favorite type of food. We're still working on her table manners:)

Anthon and his best bud---Uncle Steve (my brother). He loves to be teased.......and Steve is good at that!

Next we went to see Uncle Nate (Matt's younger brother) who plays in a band (Bearproof) perform at a local city celebration. Nate plays the electric guitar.

Uncle Nate the Rockstar!!! Anthon wanted to wear his "Rock Band" shirt with the electric guitar because it made him think of Uncle Nate.

Next we went swimming and for a BBQ at Aunt Christie's (Matt's sister) backyard pool. Basically it rained all of the month of June. The kids would pray every night "Please make it stop raining so we can swim in Aunt Christie's pool". I guess their prayers were answered:)

Next we changed into our PJ's, and headed to Uncle Ben's (Matt's brother) house to watch the fireworks.

I think Lauren took even more pictures of the fireworks in the sky, than she did of the firetrucks and police cars in the parade.

Uncle Ben had the best seats in the valley for fireworks. We sat on his rooftop. You could see all the fireworks in the valley. And the kids loved being with their cousins.

Anthon was very nervous that he was going to fall off the roof. Once he figured out his Dad had a good grip on him, he fell asleep before the fireworks even started. Goes to show, we did pack as much as we possibly could into one day!

Of course, the girls weren't ready to quit yet. They were wondering what we were going to do next! Lauren, Micaela, Eve, Emma, Aunt Tiffany hanging out on Aunt Tiffany's bed after a long and fun day.

I feel very blessed to be able to live here, and raise my family here. After Matt's parents lived in the Congo of Africa for 18 months serving a LDS mission, I have gained an even deeper appreciation for the luxuries we have........such as clean water, traffic lights, garbage pick up, medical care. I'm glad to be an American!!! :)

LaME, LAmE, LaMe!!!

2009-06-17T21:39:00.002-06:00

I have been the lamest blogger lately. Probably by this point nobody is even checking out my blog any more. But if any of you are.........I will be making a post soon........hopefully tomorrow actually!!!
I can't believe it's been 5 weeks since I posted anything. Lame! Tomorrow....maybe....if anyone is even reading this..........I'll probably post something tomorrow. I'm sure you can hardly wait!!! :)

A Day in my Life!

2009-05-05T22:05:00.002-06:00

So every morning it seems ritual for my husband to ask me, "So what you got going today"? I usually ask, "Why are you wondering?" Even though I know he's not judging how I use my time, I often wonder, 'does he really know what I do?' So here's a glimpse..........a day in the life of Shirlene.

* Got up at 6 a.m. Went for a 2 1/2 mile run (I'm training with Anna to do a 5k in July.) It's beautiful at 6 a.m. this time of year. You hear the birds chirping. The sun is starting to come up so you get to see all the vibrant spring colors. And a deer even ran across the road right in front of us. It was pretty cool!
* Made my 2nd grader breakfast, did her hair, made her lunch (she REFUSES to eat school lunch. Has never eaten it once. Not even the sack lunches they make for field trips. She's scared of it and the lunch ladies, I think). Got her off to 8 a.m. school.
* Got my younger 2 children up, fed, dressed, and hair done.
*Took my Kindergartner and the carpool to 9:15 Kindergarten.
*Came home, showered, got myself ready for the day.
*Headed to Walmart. Picked up supplies for Teacher Appreciation project. 2 things of craft paint and metallic markers, and bought a gift card for a teacher. (I'm a homeroom mother. )
* Went to the elementary school. Hand stamped 28 sets of hands as a border on a black tablecloth. Helped wash 28 sets of hands. Helped 28 kindergartners sign a card for their teacher.
* Picked up my 6 year old from 1/2 day kindergarten.
* Fed us all lunch
* Micaela had two friends over to play. Oversaw their play, along with my 3 year old, who thinks he's suppose to box, kick and wrestle everyone. Thus I was also a referee. Oh, yeah, and cleaned up some 'potty training accidents'.
* Made a oriental pork salad, bread, and cookies. Some to take to our neighbor since their daughter had surgery. Some for our dinner.
* 2nd grader came home from school. She had a friend over. They wanted to 'make something'. They thought since it was cinco de mayo they should make a pinata (wasn't fond of that idea). Instead, I gave them this idea.........
* Helped 5 children make snow cones for 4 different school teachers for Teacher Appreciation (a snow cone machine is the best investment ever!!).
* Delivered 5 children/4 snow cones to the school, before the teachers left for the day.
* Finished my monthly visiting teaching report
* Worked on my RS lesson for Sunday
* Finished the tablecloth for the teacher by having Micaela stamp her hands in the empty spots to fill up the border. Wrote every students name as a border around the outside....with a fabric pen.
* Took my daughter and carpool to dance, and picked them up again.
* Delivered dinner to my neighbors and fed my family.
* Did some laundry
* Got the children in the bath and ready for bed.

There ya go, honey. A day in my life.
I'm tired ............I think I'll go to bed.
Oh, yeah, one more thing I did today. I created a new blog post.

HAPPY EASTER (a week late!)

2009-04-18T13:10:00.000-06:00

AJ leaving pre-school after a fun Easter party!

One day on our way home from dance, we saw a sign on the side of the road that read 'Baby Chicks For Sale'. The kids screamed and I hurried and turned the van to get to where the chicks were. They must have had at least 100 baby ducks and chicks for sale. They were very cute. The kids almost talked me into bringing a couple of home. But after spending less than 10 minutes, the smell was unbearable. And then after I drove away, I began to think"baby chicks turn into big chickens, what would we do with chickens roaming our yard". I'm glad I didn't buy on impulse:)

Dying Easter eggs (we had a couple of friends over, too)

Easter Sunday. This may be the last time I get them to wear matching clothes, but don't they look so cute. They girls aren't really into the princess style dresses anymore, which is a little sad, so we had to settle for Justice outfits. But they're still girly and cute.

Easter egg hunt at our house. Afterwards we went to our friends house for a yummy breakfast!

We hosted Easter dinner. Matt's parents, my parents, and two uncles came for dinner. AJ thought he was in heaven sitting between his two uncles. All day he kept asking, "When's Uncle Steve going to be here!"

Easter is my most favorite season/holiday. I love that the flowers begin to bloom, everything begins to come alive again outside. I love the weather turning warm, new spring clothes, but most of all, I love the spiritual message of Easter. I love our Savior, and I'm grateful that he lives and that he knows and loves me!

TODAY I WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE

2009-04-17T21:04:00.001-06:00

Today I will make a difference. I will begin by controlling my thoughts. A person is the product of his thoughts. I want to be happy and hopeful. Therefore, I will have thoughts that are happy and hopeful. I refuse to be victimized by my circumstances. I will not let petty inconveniences such as stoplights, long lines, and traffic jams be my masters. I will avoid negativism and gossip. Optimism will be my companion, and victory will be my hallmark.Today I will make a difference.
I will be grateful for the twenty-four hours that are before me. Time is a precious commodity. I refuse to allow what little time I have to be contaminated by self-pity, anxiety, or boredom. I will face this day with the joy of a child and the courage of a giant. I will drink each minute as though it is my last. When tomorrow comes, today will be gone forever. While it is here, I will use it for loving and giving.Today I will make a difference.
I will not let past failures haunt me. Even though my life is scarred with mistakes, I refuse to rummage through my trash heap of failures. I will admit them. I will correct them. I will press on. Victoriously. No failure is fatal. It's OK to stumble...I will get up. It's OK to fail...I will rise again.Today I will make a difference.
I will spend time with those I love. My spouse, my children, my family. A man can own the world but be poor for the lack of love. A man can own nothing and yet be wealthy in relationships. Today I will spend at least five minutes with the significant people in my world. Five quality minutes of talking or hugging or thanking or listening. Five undiluted minutes with my mate, children, and friends.

CRAZY DAYZ!

2009-04-17T12:57:00.003-06:00

About once a month our elementary school has a spirit Friday. Recently it was crazy day (not to be confused with crazy hair day). Basically anything went. When I dropped the kids off for school it was fun to see everyone's creativity. The girls chose their clothes and how crazy they wanted to be. They both chose old dance costumes, nonmatching socks and shoes, nonmatching hair flowers and crazy big earrings. They thought it was kind of fun to have an anything goes day, and wear whatever their little hearts desired that day. (Apparently I don't foster independence because I always choose what their going to wear to school, and set it out the night before. That way they don't wake up and choose some crazy nonmatching outfit, like these, to wear to school. I have issues with my kids looking like little orphans.:)
AJ was very disappointed he didn't get to go to school looking crazy. He wanted a mo hawk.

Silly Boy!

2009-04-03T15:28:00.003-06:00

The other morning I came downstairs to check on AJ after I'd taken my shower. The girls were already at school. This is what I saw.................................

What a little turkey! Apparently I never explained to him that the produce drawers weren't designed to be step stools. I asked what in the world he was doing........."just trying to get some yogurt." (it's kept on the very top shelf). I couldn't get mad at him because it was such a funny sight..... him just standing there, staring into the fridge...... and with his crazy green footie PJ's on. I guess boys will be boys.........I don't think my girls EVER would have thought of this!

Loving the new camera

2009-04-03T09:46:00.017-06:00

Lauren received a digital camera for her 8th birthday a couple months ago. She has LOVED it! And although I don't really appreciate the pictures she takes of my backside (not on purpose, of course), or pictures of me first thing in the morning, she gets some fun pictures. So, here's some random pictures from Lauren, that captures our personalities and happenings in our home!Lauren has become great at self portraits.She's willing to share the self portrait at times. This is of her cousin Emma that she loves. They always have so much fun together. They share the same birthday, but Emma is 2 years older! They love hanging out and having sleepovers together.

Again, sharing the camera (obviously someone else took the picture this time). This is Lauren's favorite friend, Hunter. If neither one of them are at piano or dance, then they're together.

Lauren's favorite Uncle Nate, posing for the camera.

AJ with his LUCKY CHARM hat, or at least that's what we called it. This was St. Patrick's Day, and the hat he made at pre-school. Doesn't he look like the Lucky Charm boy??

Sister Micaela, always dancing. AJ usually tries to get in on the action. He's a great spotter.

Typical, out of control Micaela. (Again, in dance clothes). She went a little crazy with a stamp pad apparently. She's a clown!

The classroom pet gerbil we babysat for the weekend. Not sure we'll do that again!:)

Some of Lauren's friends at her birthday party. This picture was taken at Target during a scavenger hunt. These were the girls in Lauren's group, and some of her best friends. Lauren, London, Haley, Hunter.

Matt Daddy (as the kids call him.......that's his Wii name.........mine is Mamabeauty. The kids named us both, and call us these names all the time) pulling a face. In his usual attire of dress shirt and tie.

The young photographer captured the personality of her brother in this picture perfectly. He's a little goof!

I Love Being a Mom!

2009-03-19T17:41:00.004-06:00

I really do LOVE being a mother. And feel so lucky that I get to be with my kids all day, and they don't have to spend the bulk of their day with someone else. I'm glad that I have and enjoy the opportunity of being at home with them.
Today AJ and I got up, went for a 2 1/2 mile walk and then stopped a the park to play on the way home. We BOTH went down the slide, played on the teeter totter and talked and laughed together.
Later I pushed both he and Micaela on our swing set in our yard.
During this time Micaela informed me........."Mom, when I grow up, I want to be a famous ballerina and a school teacher." I told her I knew that she could be both and would be great at them. And then AJ, stuttering, trying to get his thoughts out said......
"And Mom......when I grow up.........I want to dance with Micaela and be a Grandpa!"
It was too cute.
I cherish my time with my children. They make me so happy!!

2nd Grade is Fun!

2009-03-12T14:34:00.002-06:00

When the girls come home from school I love hearing about their day. It brings back memories of my own elementary school experience. When they're at school, it's totally their own little world that I virtually have no part of (other than volunteering, etc). So I love when they share details and experiences. This is one Lauren shared with me on Friday:

"Mom, ya know Austin at school, he's that boy that has liked me since the beginning of 2nd grade?" I said, "Um, yeah, I remember Austin" (even though I didn't REALLY remember him, or that he liked my daugher). "Well, he now sits at my table. We were just sitting there and he was staring at me.......then he said.........'Lauren, you are really pretty.'" "I said, 'what'? cause ya know...... you don't EVER hear BOYS tell GIRLS that at SCHOOL!". "And then he said, 'you are really pretty'. "Then after I heard him say that I knew that he really did tell me I was pretty. I thought it was a little strange. Boys at school don't usually say those kinds of things to girls"

I then asked Lauren, "So then what did you say back to Austin?". "I just said, ' thank you'."

(I guess at least she's polite.)

I must admit, I prefer a boy telling my daughter that she's 'pretty' instead of the one who liked her last year who'd tell her she was the "hottest" girl in the whole 1st grade. I'm not sure I like someone, even if he is only a 7 year old boy, saying that my daughter is "hot".

Oh, jeez, what to look forward to as these girls get older!

MUNCH MOUTH!!!

2009-03-12T10:27:00.005-06:00

So it's about 10:30 in the morning. AJ has been awake for about 3 hours. In those 3 hours this is what he's consumed thus far:

first sitting for breakfast: bowl of Crispix and a glass of milk

2nd sitting for breakfast: yogurt and a piece of toast

3rd sitting for breakfast: piece of french bread and an apple

in between these sittings, evidence was found that he also consumed 3 small Kit Kat candy bars. (Of course,this was w/o my permission What kind of mom would I be if I allowed him to eat candy for breakfast!?)

Before lunch I'm sure he'll ask for something else to eat.

I can't imagine the kind of food we'd go through if I had several boys. Like how did my mother afford to feed her 4 growing boys, or my mother in law who had 5 sons???!!!

If I had more than one boy..............I'm not sure I could afford to keep them!!!!

(AJ showing off his huge muscles during our Dec. trip to Disney World)

SCARY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-03-10T09:24:00.003-06:00

No, this is not a still frame from a horror movie, and yes..........apparently I have no shame!!!

I had LASIK surgery on Friday. And I must say, I'm loving my new vision!! My eyes were a negative 10. (Apparently that is really bad, because they kept making a big deal about it at the Dr.'s office. This is about the highest prescription they'll fix with custom LASIK.)

Saturday morning was the first time I've been able to wake up and actually see my alarm clock. I'd worn contacts since I was 13 years old.

I have to give a shout out to my husband, for paying for this expensive, elective surgery. In fact, it was his idea for me to get it done. And for taking Friday off to take me to the surgery, and spend the afternoon/evening with the kids, and making them dinner and playing games with them all night, so I could rest my eyes.

They put lots of pressure on your eye during the surgery, so a lot of the blood vessels in your eyes break, that is why I have huge blood spots on my eyes. I'm not sure if that's more scary, or the fact that I can't wear eye make up for a week! But I do love being able to see!!!!

Little Cheerleaders!

2009-03-08T09:32:00.007-06:00

One thing I have noticed about my 3 children; they're each others biggest fans. Even AJ gets excited over the girls accomplishments and the things they're involved in.

I remember last year during dance competitions........Micaela, Lauren and I were all at the dance competition. Lauren had competed 2 dances that day and was on stage awaiting the results, sitting with her team. Micaela had remembered their line-up number. While sitting next to me, in the audience, she kept saying under her breath, "Come on number 54, come on number 54" (okay I don't really remember their line-up number). Then they announced that Lauren's group won first place. Micaela jumped up, totally excited and without pretense.....she ran screaming up on stage and jumped on Lauren. I think she was more excited about the win than Lauren was herself!!

This past week Micaela danced in a competition. Lauren was so into it. She even brought her own camera and video taped and took pictures of her sister. She kept complimenting Micaela on what a good dancer she is. "Micaela, you can even do moves that I can't do, and you're almost 2 years younger than me!"

You might would think that two girls, both into dance (they take at different studios, too) and so close in age that they might be more competitive, or be jealous of one another. But they both seem very confident in who they are, and are genuinely excited for each other.

Even AJ after this competition kept giving Micaela a thumbs up and saying, "Micaela, you did awesome!" He said it so many times she was almost starting to get annoyed. As a parent, it's fun to see siblings supporting each other.

The past couple of weeks Micaela has been working on a school wide story telling festival. Lauren got out of a class to watch Micaela do it for the whole K grade. Micaela's eyes were almost locked on Lauren's the entire time she told her story. She was glad her sister was there.

Then Micaela had the opportunity of being a finalist from K, and perform for the whole school. Lauren was able to watch from the audience with her school class. When they got home from school that day, Lauren complimented her sister many times and said she was brave to get up there and tell a story in front of the school, and kept saying, "After the assembly everyone in my class and my teacher said that you were the best one, Micaela!". It was so sweet. Lauren could have participated in the storytelling festival if she wished, but this did not interest her at all. And even so, she was able to support her sister, since it did interest Micaela.

The girls have also been very helpful in potty training AJ. They're quick to praise him. He always wants to show them his pre-school artwork, and even though things are pasted side-ways, or are scribbled, they tell him that they're very cool, and are excited about the things that take place in his 3 year old life.

I love the fact that our children love each other so much, and can cheer each other on in their little accomplishments in life!

(Micaela showing off her medal after after her dance competition last weekend!)

Dr. Seuss Week

2009-03-08T09:24:00.003-06:00

Probably like most elementary schools, ours celebrated Dr. Seuss' birthday this past week. The kindergarten kids celebrated all week long. They did some really cute things. One day was crazy sock day. Micaela wore one argyle sock and one striped sock with some leggings and a skirt. The next day was hat day. Micaela wore a cat in the hat, tall red and white striped hat. The next day was Who-Hair day. Here's Micaela and her friend Janessa with their crazy Who Hair. (Micaela wanted to do more with her hair, but she also was competing in the school 'Story Telling Festival' that day, and crazy Who Hair didn't quite go with her story.)

Her K teacher and the K teacher next door dressed as Thing 1 and Thing 2 this day. They went to Walmart together and bought wigs, sprayed them blue and ratted them huge. Then they dressed the same and told a story of Cat in the Hat for their combined classes. They are cute teachers, who put in lots of extra time to make Kindergarten fun!

We love Dr. Seuss at our house. It seems like every week when Lauren goes to the media center, she comes home with a different Dr. Seuss book. My favorite one......... probably Yurtle the Turtle.

Lauren's Baptism

2009-03-04T21:19:00.017-07:00

We had such a fantastic day on Saturday. It was Lauren's baptism. The day was absolutely perfect!!!! I worked really hard for weeks to get all the details taken care of, and paced myself, so that the day of the baptism I could enjoy the spiritual aspect of the day. And it paid off. I wasn't stressed about the luncheon afterwards, and was able to go to the church and focus on the spiritual and important aspect of the day.

Lauren was the only one baptized in our ward this day, which is very unusual in a ward of 250 primary aged children (yes, I said 250!). In our ward there's usually 3-4 kids each month that are baptized. It was nice that Lauren was the only baptism this day; we were able to plan the program ( I spoke, at Lauren's request, Uncle Nate, and she sang a duet with her sister and all of her friends and cousins sang the closing song) and everybody who came was there for Lauren, which made her feel extra special.
Afterwards we had a luncheon at our house.

Thanks to everyone who came and supported Lauren and our family. We are lucky to have such wonderful family who live close and great friends, too. Thanks for being apart of this special day in Lauren's life!!!

(Lauren's beautiful baptism french-braided hair. And this pic was taken AFTER she'd gotten wet. Thanks Brandi!!!)

Lauren's (after baptism) dress turned out beautiful, thanks to lots of hard work and a whole week of Nana's life dedicated to getting this made. The top is made of silk dupionni, and the bottom is organza with embroidered flowers with pearl centers. Lauren's main request, "I want a HUGE bow!". It is huge, that's for sure! We all worked hard and conspired to have this designed just perfect for how Lauren wanted it. She loves it!!! I had some beautiful pictures taken by my friend who is a photographer (Becca Nae Photography). When I get the digital images of her shoot, I'll post some of them (the above is one of her shots. I know this is lame, but I took a 'picture' of a 'picture'. I purchased a 20x24 pic, and I don't have the digital image so I took a picture of it:)
The family pic isn't that great, with the sun in our eyes. But it is our family, including me, on Lauren's special day! And it definitely was a special day!

Lauren's Fun Party

2009-03-02T15:14:00.012-07:00

We had such a fun party for Lauren's 8th birthday. In the past we have had as many as 21 children invited to her birthday party, and that year every single one showed up!!! That year Lauren didn't even have any fun, either. There were just too many kids!!! And mass chaos!

This year Lauren said that she just wanted her favorite friends to come, s we invited the 5 girls she plays the most with all the time. She had a blast, and said it was her best party ever. This is what we did:

It was a fashion party. When they first came they got to make a flower clip for their hair. Next we went to the 'beauty salon'. I set our family room up as a salon and called it "Lauren's Beauty Shop". There was a nail station (our 14 year old babysitter came to help with that one), where their nails were painted and were able to choose decals. A hair station (my friend Brandi is awesome with hair and did their hair in up-do's or french braided it). We even had purple highlights if they wanted. She added their flower to their hair after she did it. Then I did their make-up. Eyeshadow, glitter, lipstick and blush. When they were all done they were able to get a pink boa that was there's to keep. While they were waiting for their "salon service" I had a table in the middle of the salon set up with paper dolls with all kinds of accessories and clothes cut out so that they could come up with an outfit for their doll and glue it on.

Afterwards we went downstairs into our basement. I set up a party room down there with a stage, and streamers everywhere. For this part of the party it was a restaurant. I had a fun table set up with balloons as the centerpiece and zebra striped napkins and hotpink tablecloth. Our babysitter acted as a waitress and went downstairs and took their order (I had a menu made up with all of the food choices I'd prepared. So she just circled what they wanted and wrote their name on the top). Then she came upstairs and helped me make their plates up and went and served them down in the basement.

Next we all piled in two cars (Anthon and Micaela came and our babysitter). We went to Target for a "fashion scavenger hunt". We broke into two groups. I was in charge of one and Courtney (aka, best babysitter ever) the other. They had a list of fashion items that they had to find in Target. The rules were they had to stay together as a group. They had to find each item on their list (e.g. pink purse, fashion scarf, pair of boots, long beaded necklace, etc. ), one member of the group had to put on the item, and then pose for a picture (each group had a digital camera). The last item on their list was to find the most fashionable person in the store and ask to have their picture take with them. They thought this one was a blast. Then the first group to get back to the front of the store by the snack shop won a prize. They had fun with this and liked being out in public with their boas on and all done up.

Next we came back and we had a huge box of all dance costumes. They were able to get dressed up, and use the stage to do a dance or we borrowed a really nice karaoke machine. Most of them did songs from High School Musical. We had a strobe light and disco ball for a fun effect.

Then we had cupcakes and ice cream, and watched the pictures we took of them at Target as a slideshow on our TV. Then we opened presents. It was a really fun party. I wasn't stressed, everyone had fun, and everybody were friends and knew each other which made it nice. Everbody got along.

I must admit, I kinda like planning parties. Hum.....what to do for the next one????

CRAZY SISTER!!!!!!!
Cupcakes I made. The top was a fruit by the foot that I twisted and rolled up to look like a rose. It looked better than it does in this picture. I was kinda proud of my creation, actually :)

Oh, and in the top pic where all the girls are posing. We didn't place them in this pose, they did this all on their own. This party totally fit their personalities!

Is it Spring Yet?

2009-02-24T18:47:00.003-07:00

Today my cute girl Micaela came inside with the tiniest purple flower she found out in the yard. She said, "Here Mom, the first flower of Spring for my beautiful Mama." Of course my heart melted. But it also skipped a beat to think that maybe it actually is going to be Spring soon......could it be? Spring is my favorite time of the year. (And what a sweet girl I have.)

The kids had so much fun swinging in our yard today, riding their bikes, and collecting rocks. It was as if we were reacquainting ourselves with our yard again. It was great. We can hardly wait for spring at our house!

Cute Boy

2009-02-21T20:21:00.002-07:00

AJ is 3 years old. I love this age, for one reason they say the cutest things.
Today we were in the car, AJ, Micaela and I. Out of the blue AJ says, "Mom, I know.......since Micaela and I both have yellow hair....we should get married, huh, Mom? .......that's a good idea, huh? Cuz we both have yellow hair!"

You have to picture him saying this in his cute deep, gruff, 3 year old voice.

He's my little boyfriend. I love this little man!

Happy Birthday to our Girl!

2009-02-13T16:43:00.012-07:00

Lauren recently turned 8 years old. It seems like she has all of a sudden really grown up. The way she acts, it seems like the teenage years are just around the corner. (Oh, help me!)The things she wanted for her birthday: make-up and a real digital camera. She did get both, but she was told the make-up is only for play, not for wearing outside the house.

Lauren's birthday was on a Sunday, so we celebrated it on Saturday. We went to Jump On It---a big warehouse full of trampolines, as a family, and then we made her favorite dinner.....cheese fondue and jello. (Then last weekend we have 5 of her best friends over for a "Fashion" latenight. I'll put those pics in a different post)

Lauren is so special to our family. She is a great big sister. It was almost 7 years of marriage before she joined our family. She helped us to learn patience, faith, and a deeper respect and appreciation for parenthood. She was a beautiful little baby. Lots of curly dark red hair in the front, and long dark brown hair in the back. I was horrifed when it all fell out at a month. But she quickly grew back lots of curly brown hair, and long dark brown eyelashes. She got lots of attention everywhere we went. She always had matching shoes, bracelet, bow, burpcloth and blanket. And she always had a quick smile. Her Dad said she screamed until she was 2 yrs old. I don't know if that's quite right, but she was very colicy from 2 months until about 5 months. I didn't know any better, so we got through it just fine! I was so in love with her, it didn't matter.

Lauren has grown into a beautiful, fun, happy and very obedient little girl. She is an excellent student, and very conscientious at making sure she is on task and completes all of her assignments and homework. She wakes up at 6:30 AM, gets all of her "jobs" done before school. All of this with no proding. She wakes up by herself with an alarm clock.

Each time a child celebrates a birthday in her school class, every child in the class makes the birthday kid a card. So recently she brought home a collection of cards from her classmates that they had made for her for her birthday. I read each of them. One comment that was consistent in each card was, "you are very nice". This is really true of Lauren. She is a very kind, thoughtful child, and would never purposely hurt anyone's feelings. Because of this she has many friends. She also has a very strong personality, and is a leader among her peers.

Lauren LOVES to play with friends. It's something she wants to do everyday. She loves to be outside, to be spontaneous, to have fun! She likes to be creative and make crafts. Lauren would never come home from school and just veg in front of the TV. She's always going, and always involved in something.

She does 4 hours of dance a week, and will begin competition season next month. She's done "Company" dance for 3 years. She loves to perform and be on stage.....and get dressed up in the dance costumes and make-up.

She recently started piano and has picked it up easily. I think piano will be one of her talents. She also likes to sing, and make up stories, poems, and songs.

Here's a few pics of Lauren.......................

(Newborn Lauren with a little squishy face)

(4 months old) (Lauren's school picture from last year)

Happy Birthday Lauren! We love you, and are so glad we get to be your parents! Lauren is so excited that she is 8 and gets to be baptized and go to Activity Days. She has worked hard, and has had a desire to truly understand about the baptismal coventant. We've been having FHE about Baptism for about a year. We love our girl! She is precious to us!!!

My Newest Accessory

2009-02-11T15:12:00.003-07:00

Okay, so in my '25 Random Things' about myself I mentioned that I LOVE accessories of all kinds, and have ever since I was little. I remember when I was in 1st grade I saved my own money to buy a pair of clogs (it was the 70's remember!). My mother probably didn't think they were practical for school and didn't buy them, but I SOOOO wanted them. So I saved my own money and bought them and absolutely LOVED them.

So here's a picture of me with my newest accessory. I can't say that I LOVE these 'girls', but they're necessary. I think the frames are cute....they're made by 'Candies' , but.............I'm just so stinkin' blind! When you're as blind as I am, it's so much harder to see well with glasses compared to contacts, which I've worn constantly since I was 12. I have no depth perception, and very little peripheral vision. The other day I pulled into a parking stall at JoAnn's crafts. I thought I did a great job parking, but when I got out of my car, I soon realized the lady next to me had about 4 inches to open her car door to squeeze her baby out. I decided to jump back in my car and try again........didn't do much better the second time! (Normally I'm a pro at parking:)

Anyway, you may wonder why I'm choosing to wear glasses. It's because I'm getting ready to have Lasik surgery done. I am SOOOO excited. I have dreamt about it ever since it has become popular. But it was always a matter of money, and more recently a matter of inconvenience. But I'm doing it this time, and I can hardly wait. For any of you who have never seen Lasik done, I'll post the surgery on my blog. I guess they take a video for you as a keepsake! Yeah. I do feel very lucky that I get to have this done! If there was a house fire, or some other type of emergency, and I didn't have glasses or contacts, I'd be out of luck. There's no way I could see to help me or my family!

So if you live close, and see my van on the street, you may just want to watch out or pull to the side of the road................at least until I get my surgery done!

(This isn't the best pic, our 8 year old is the newest photographer in the family. She got a camera for her birthday, and there's more shots of me taken than I really care for. Me in bed, me first thing in the morning cleaning the kitchen, and lots of my backside. It's tons of fun!)

25, I mean 30 things about Shirlene

2009-01-29T13:32:00.002-07:00

I posted this on FACEBOOK. Since I’ve been a lame blogger, I thought I’d add this to my blog so I’d actually post something new. So here goes……25 (actually 30) random things about Shirlene:
1) My favorite vacation spot is San Diego, California. Growing up we went to San Diego every summer, and I’ve been there aseveral times since being married.
2) I’ve never been outside of the United States, except for Canadian side of Niagara, and Tiajuana, Mexico. (Maybe if this weren’t the case I’d have a different favorite vacation spot listed as #1)
3) I don’t like to be away from my kids overnight. In our 8 years of being parents, the longest we’ve ever left our kids is 2 nights (and that was only once).
4) I’ve been pulled over several times for a DUI, even though I wasn’t intoxicated :) This was in my younger, and single days. I blame it on being out extremely late, and having a car full of people to distract me!
5) In the 90’s when I had long curly red hair, I used to get told a lot I looked like Nicole Kidman.
6) One day, when I’m older and my kids are big I want to sing in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir (don’t laugh!) I suppose it would be good to get started on voice/music lessons now!
7) Spring is by far my most favorite time of the year! I love seeing tulips bloom, hearing birds chirp outside my window, and buying Easter dresses for my girls!
8) I used to go to every BYU home-game with my husband. Now I can’t stand to go. I have too many other things to do, I can’t sit still and enjoy the game. I’ve never fully understood football……maybe that partially explains it too.
9) I’ve been approached by several people over the years and asked if they could pay me to decorate their homes. (Never done it! I only like to decorate my own house. I know what I like)
10) I like to do yard work---but it drives me crazy if I don’t have the time to keep up on my yard.
11) I like a clean and organized home.
12) I’ve only been in one car accident in my life. I was by myself, and was 19. It wasn’t a bad one.
13) I once ran out of gas at the ‘point of the mountain’ at 2 A.M. This was back before cell phones were popular. A van with no windows stopped to help. I lived to tell about it.
14) I don’t like confrontation (yet I don’t let people push me around)
15) I try to always be a kind person---I like doing nice things for others.
16) I like doing fun things with my kids. I’m always coming up with creative ideas to entertain them (and me)
17) I LOVED High School Muscial 3, and felt like getting up and dancing in the aisles. I probably liked it more than my girls.
18) I have 4 brothers, and no sisters. I always wanted a sister. I get envious when friends talk about hangin’ with their sisters—I wish I had one to hang out with.
19) I don’t have a lot of patience for crafts. Especially tedious ones like sewing, quilting, knitting. I NEVER do these. Lately I have made jewelry for my girls, and hair flowers, however. These are fast and easy!
20) I love to hike.
21) I don’t enjoy camping (unless it involves clean sheets and a hot shower….like a Marriott)
22) I like catching up with old friends.
23) I have lots of decorative birds around my house (pictures, wood carved birds, rod iron, etc). And so do my parents.
24) Someday I want to be able to run a marathon.
25) I like myself! (I don’t know if I could have said that in my younger days :)

HERE’S A FEW BONUS
26) My favorite sound is my children laughing when they’re together
27) My best friend is my husband. I’d rather be with him than any other person.
28) I LOVE accessories, and have since I was little. I love purses, scarves, shoes, jewelry, hats, etc. These make an outfit, in my opinion. Check out my newest accessory! I’ll post something soon.
29) I love all my Phelps cousins who live all around the country. We have a close, and fun ‘extended’ family.
30) I love my parents, and have always been close to them! I was never good at lying to them or deceiving them in any way!

Merry Christmas to All!!!

2008-12-21T21:29:00.014-07:00

Warmest Christmas wishes to all of you!!! This picture was taken last week while on our vacation in Georgia. It was taken in the town square. Perfect props for a picture. After church I told the fam we were headed there for a photo shoot (thanks to Matt's Mom and Dad for being our photographer). If I get ambitious and have time, I'll add our family Christmas letter to this post. If it doesn't get done, we wish all of you a very merry Christmas and hope you enjoy this wonderful holiday season as we celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. We know that He lives, and are most grateful for him not only at this time of the year, but always! Love, all the Barlow family

Christmas Dance Recital

2008-12-21T21:28:00.006-07:00

LITTLE MISSY MICAELA----DANCER GIRL!!!

Micaela absolutely loves dance. She dances everywhere she goes. I wish I could see what she dreams at night. She oftens recites a dream of being a famous ballerina on stage! And I hate to brag, but she's pretty darned good! She's been doing 4 hours of dance this year. She had a Christmas recital this past week. She strutted her stuff and some great dance technique. She was grinning from ear to ear and is quite the little performer.

Micaela is so lucky to have the cutest teacher this year at school. She came to Micaela's dance recital. Micaela had told her about it earlier at school, then Miss Robbins called to get the details, and then showed up. It was so sweet and completely made Micaela's night. She threw her arms around her and said, "I love you, Miss Robbins!" (This teacher is seriously awesome! She totally goes the extra mile to do so many cute things. She used to teach in St. George. When they were doing their seasons unit, she'd drive to Cedar City and put snow in an ice chest and bring it to school so the kids could see what snow is like, because many of them had never seen real snow. Who does that??!!!) Thank you to Grandma, Grandpa, Grandma Mildred, Nana and Papa and Miss Robbins for coming to see Micaela. Thank you to everyone who supports and loves our children!!!

When the dance recital was over (Micaela did 2 dance numbers and then showed off her technique) she wanted to do it all over again!

And here's what AJ thought of the whole thing...........................................

And he kept asking every 5 minutes if we could go home yet!! Not sure dance is quite his thing!

Much to be Grateful For!

2008-11-27T12:27:00.001-07:00

Happy Thanksgiving from our little Indians, and Pilgrim to you! We hope that you have a wonderful day with family and friends and reflecting and all that we have to be grateful for. (These three little ones and my wonderful husband top my list! I'm glad I get to spend the day with them!)

Try These Turkey Recipes

2008-11-25T16:08:00.004-07:00

Micaela came home from Kindergarten today with a whole book of "recipes". This book comprised 28 Thanksgiving "Recipes" that came out of the heads of kids from Micaela's class. Remember, these chidren are 5 and 6 years old. Here's a couple that cracked me up:

Recipe for Turkey
"You get a turkey by killing it. You catch it first.....probably with a blanket. Then you kill it. You cut off it's head, and you take out the bones. You take the feathers off. I don't know if you put anything on it....maybe catchup. You cook it by putting it on the grill."

Another Turkey Recipe
"You shoot one. You cut the head off and the wings. Um......you take the feathers off. You cook it. You don't add anything. You cook it in the oven for 50 seconds. You eat it!!!!"
_______
Aren't these so funny!? Micaela has the cutest, most creative K teacher. (She works so hard. Last night we drove by the school at 7 p.m. and she was still there at work.) Micaela said her teacher "interviewed" each one of them individually, asking them what their favorite thing to eat at Thanksgiving dinner was. Then asked them how to make it. She then recorded what they said word for word and made a book out of it. Each student were given a copy of the book to bring home. It's adorable.
So if you're needing a recipe for turkey dinner.........try one of these, if you dare!

(these pics were taken a few days ago at our house. All of these children are friends/neighbors who are in Micaela's K class. We're in a carpool group. Each mom takes a week to drive. On the Friday of her week to drive, she brings all the kids home with her after school, feeds them lunch, and keeps them for a playgroup. Last week it was at our house. We made kool-aid play dough. They had fun getting messy, and it kept them busy for a whole hour! Kindergarten kids crack me up. They have their own little sense of humor and tell little jokes that they all think are funny, but you don't really quite get. It's like they're in their own little world. Aaaahh, to be a child again! This particular day at their school, it was the day before the big Utah/BYU game, who are huge rival teams. The children were suppose to wear something to school that represented which team they'd be cheering for. Micaela chose to wear a BYU cheerleading outfit. In the top pick she's doing some type of cheer she made up, thus why her hands are in the air. The poor little girl in the Ute sweatshirt got shamed too death. She was outnumbered by all the BYU fans. By the end of playgroup she finally collapsed under peer pressure and said she really cheered for BYU, but her mom made her wear the Ute sweatshirt. Poor little girl. Luckily she has a strong personality, so she still went home happy, even though she was harassed the whole two hours about her shirt.)

Final Days of Nice Weather

2008-11-25T15:53:00.004-07:00

I love that we live somewhere that has 4 seasons, because it makes me appreciate my two favorite seasons........Spring and Summer. Even though it's Fall, the weather has been unseasonably warm lately. The kids have been able to ride bikes, play in the yard, and go to the park. I know we have to enjoy it, because soon it'll be windy, snowy and cold. Uuuug! I know winter is looming. It's kinda depressing, actually:)

These pics are from a couple of days ago. When Micaela and Anthon got home from school I packed a picnic lunch and we headed to the park to enjoy the nice weather. We have to soak all the sun in that we can, so that we can make it to April.

Spider Man Sighting

2008-11-25T15:43:00.002-07:00

Today I looked outside in the yard and this is what I saw!

The girls had friends over and went outside to play. AJ followed them wearing his spiderman costume. It cracks me up, he's so into superheroes right now. Spiderman and Ironman being his favorite. No matter what the girls are playing (American Girl dolls, Barbie, house, etc), Spiderman somehow has to be worked into their play, because that's AJ's favorite thing right now.

When We're Helping We're Happy!

2008-11-15T20:06:00.007-07:00

Today was Saturday. I woke up more ambitious than usual in hopes of a sparkling, organized, cleaner than normal home. My attitude seemed to rub off on the children, and even Matt. Micaela was the first to ask what she could do to help. Everyone had jobs they were doing, separate from their usual chores.

Lauren and Micaela took kitchen duty, and had fun working together. Next they tackled the baseboards, all the bathroom countertops, the playroom, and dusted hard to reach places.

The men of the house replaced all the lightbulbs and cleaned the fixtures as they went.

Hubby even tackled his own closet. Love the look on his face when this pic was taken. It's his "what the 'H' are you doing' look. Little did he know it'd wind up on my blog:) I really enjoyed our time together as a family cleaning. Unfortunately it doesn't happen enough that we're all together on a Saturday. (It seems that Matt is often gone.) It was nice to all be together and working towards one goal. Making our home beautiful.

It was nice to sit back after it was all done and admire all the sparkling glass, metal, walls, and floors. OOOOOh, there's nothing better than having a clean house. What a great way to spend a Saturday with my little family.....all of us working together. When we're all helping and working together, it really does bring happiness.

Hum.......now that I know they're all capable, even the littlest one........I'll have to rethink my children's chore charts. Maybe add a few additional items!

I've Been Tagged!

2008-11-05T13:53:00.002-07:00

Okay, so my cousin tagged me the other day, to add 6 random things about myself to my blog. Since it's just random things, it's easy, right? Here goes.........

1) I like my children to be clean. They have a bath/shower every day. And they always have their hair done.
2) I like a clean and organized house. (not saying it's always that way!)
3) One day when my children are older I want to sing in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir (don't laugh......I'm serious. So I guess I should start taking voice lessons now:) I need all the help I can get, so I better start now!)
4) One of my biggest pet peeves is when things go flying off the seat/dashboard/or go rolling around the floor of a car. It doesn't matter if it's my car and I'm driving, or if I'm in somebody elses car. I feel like I need to start gathering everything up and worry something important got lost under the seat. (I know, a little weird. But it really is one of my biggest pet peeves)
5) When I was little my brothers had a nickname for me; it was Leneybug. Some of my aunts, uncles and cousins still call me Leney or Shirleney.
6) I'm a bit of a control freak and perfectionist. But I'm getting better!:)
7) I love to do kind things for others.

(I know I only had to write 6, but hey, there's a bonus one in there!)
And I guess I'm suppose to tag someone, so I tag everyone who reads this. There ya go. Maybe you learned something new about me.......maybe not!

A Lesson On Charity from a 7 Year Old

2008-11-01T14:10:00.003-06:00

Today I took Lauren to one of her favorite friends baptisms. Afterwards I had to run a couple of quick errands, so I took Lauren with me. While we were driving through a large parking lot, there was a man on the corner holding a sign that read, ' Ran Out of Gas, Please Help'. I had noticed the man, but didn't say anything. When Lauren saw him she said, "how sad, that man needs help!" Then a minute later as we got closer to him she said, "I can't believe nobody is helping him. None of the cars that have passed him has given him any money." I ran inside the store to get what I needed. While I there I asked for change from a large bill I had. I then gave Lauren some money and said, "Should we help that guy on the corner?" As we drove out of the parking lot Lauren rolled down the window and handed the man some cash. I then praised Lauren for being kind enough to be concerned about the man, and told her how proud I am of the girl she is. Her kind and charitable heart made any doubts about what the man might use the money for escape my mind. I realized that my sweet daughter was teaching me how to love others unconditionally and giving me a lesson on how to truly be charitable.

Happy Halloween!!

2008-10-31T22:56:00.005-06:00

THE FASHION WITCH

THE QUEEN OF HALLOWEEN

THE NOBLE KNIGHT

This year Lauren was a witch. She saw her fun hat at the party store and new instantly that she had to be a witch. Micaela was a Queen. She acted like she truly thought she was royalty. And AJ was a knight. He finally realized that knights don't beat up the queen/princess, but they protect them. He felt like he had a special job as Micaela's very tough knight . They had a very fun day. I hope these memories last forever. It was a very busy day for me. Making sure everyone has every part of their costume, hair, make-up done. Plus Halloween school parade, and I'm Micaela's homeroom mother, so was in charge of her class party, and then helped with Lauren's class party afterwards. AJ came with me. So I was all day at the school. But I wouldn't change it for the world. These are the things the children will remember for a lifetime. And I'm glad I get to be their mother and spend this type of time with them.
Her royal highness during the halloween costume parade.
Lauren's classroom party. Of course little sis/best friend was there. Lauren with one of her favorite friends, Haley.

Micaela's Kindergarten party. The BYU cheerleader is one of her best friends, Janessa. Another friend, Hannah, and her teacher, Richelle, who is so fun and cute.

Trick or treating with friends Hunter and Halle

Life Can Change in an Instant!

2008-10-27T08:31:00.007-06:00

On Friday night I was enjoying a girls night out. Two friends and I took our girls to see High School Musical 3. Little did I know that while we were enjoying the end of the movie, a tragedy was occurring just a few miles down the road on I-15.

Shortly after arriving home, I heard on the news that there had been a "fatal" car accident involving a Honda and a Semi. The news detailed the back-up on I-15 and the freeway being shutdown so that life-flight could take a victim to the hospital. Little did we realize that we would soon find out that we knew the two girls in the Honda.

The next morning my husband received a phone call from our bishop that gave details of the accident. It was such a shock as reality of this tragic accident from the night before that we heard on the news suddenly hit close to home. In fact, very close to our 'home'. The victims were two teenage sisters ..... our neighbors. Unfortunately the younger of the two sisters was killed on impact (the cute little blonde wearing red in the above pic). The other sister was flown to U of U. She is doing alright, and considering the accident, it's a miracle that she only has minor injuries.

This family is an awesome, fun, neat, family. The ones whose home is always the gathering place for fun summer/neighborhood parties. The neighbors who are always so kind, fun, and very thoughtful. Our family has been the recipient of many of their acts of kindness. I remember a couple of years ago that on a Sunday morning AJ burned his hand badly. Later that afternoon one of the girls was thoughtful enough to make cookies for us and deliver them. Both sisters are very kind. They have so many friends in this ward. Not only the youth of this ward, but also adults, and young children. My girls really look up to these two girls. They loved seeing them wear their formal dresses to church the day after a formal dance at their school. My girls would always comment how pretty they looked, and noticed that they were modest. They're both girls that you are happy for your young children to look up to and exemplify.

As we worshiped at church yesterday, I think everybody just felt numb. We all love this family. We can't imagine what they are going through. My cute Lauren said, "Mom, L must have been so special and Heavenly Father must have missed her so much, that he needed her to go home to heaven."

I know our Bishop told all of us to go home and hug our children. And hug them often. You never know what life will bring. It's important to cherish each moment with our loved ones.

(We love you....'S' family!)

Sunday Dinners at Our House

2008-10-20T15:57:00.007-06:00

Sunday dinner is one of my most favorite times of the week. Probably because this is the only day of the week where all 5 of us can sit down for a meal together. Matt isn't home at all during the weekdays to eat with us. And also, Matt cooks every Sunday. It's the best, and he's become really good at it. The kids will easily admit they enjoy Matt's cooking to mine. So every Sunday there is always great aromas in our kitchen from Matt's yummy cooking.
I also enjoy the conversation between all of us. Even Anthon gets in on it. Yesterday we were sitting at the table enjoying steaks, baked potatoes with all the fixings, and salad (later Matt made homemade soft pretzels) when Anthon announced that he learned a new song in his Nursery/Primary class. Before we could ask him what it was he broke into song: "The rains came down and the frogs came up....the rains came down and the frogs came up!" The rest of us instantly burst out laughing, especially Lauren. (For those of you who don't know the song it goes.....The Rains Came down and the floods came up.) I believe it was on a Sunday we heard his other version of a famous Primary Song. "Jesus Wants Me for a Sun-BEEP!) (instead of Sunbeam). One time during dinner too, there was a lull in conversation and so Anthon asked, "So, what do you want to talk about next.........Heavenly Father or Monsters,Inc." Don't know where that one came from. Gotta love a 3 year old's mind.
We have fun at our house. There's nothing greater than sitting down with all the ones you love and having great conversation, some laughs and great food made my someone who loves you.

Happy 6th Birthday to our Cutie!

2008-10-14T13:34:00.007-06:00

(sleeping little newborn Micaela)
(first Christmas. Getting kisses from Nana)
(Sisters. Lauren 20 months. Micaela one week)

(Pre-school Halloween party. 4 years old)Micaela celebrated her 6th birthday a couple of weeks ago. We love our Micaela girl so much, and feel so blessed to have her in our home.

I had a couple very special experiences when pregnant with her and with her arrival. When it comes to spiritual matters, she seems wise beyond her years.

I realized I was pregnant with her the weekend of Lauren's first birthday. So they are 20 months apart. There was instantly a close bond between them, and they're still best friends. (Some days when Lauren gets home from school, she's disappointed that Micaela is off at a friends house, because she wants to play with her sister.)

THINGS WE LOVE ABOUT OUR MICAELA:

* Her funny, carefree personality

* That she doesn't let anyone boss her around

* Her intelligence and love for books (As soon as she could crawl, she's crawl up the stairs to her bookcase and begin pulling out books one at a time and use baby-talk as if she were reading, and then turn the page. She'd do that for an hour.)

* That she remembers almost everything she reads and hears. This can make for some good comedic moments, when she throws out a line of a movie, or something she heard on a TV commercial. At lunch the other day I had prepared her lunch on a paper plate. She got excited, "Yeah, we're making it a Dixie day!!"

* Her blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and long eyelashes. Her cousins are convinced she's a Fairy. "Because she has fairy hair, and a fairy voice."

* The way she freely expresses her emotion and love to those around her.

* She gets so excited about everything in life.

* Her love for dance and her innate ability. That she loves to stand on 'pointe' without ballet shoes on. (Don't know how she does that one).

We love our Micaela with all of our hearts. We're glad she arrived 6 years ago!

Birthday Celebrating!

2008-10-14T13:11:00.005-06:00

QUEEN OF THE PARTY!

For Micaela's Birthday we had a "Boo Birthday Bash", a Halloween costume party. We did a couple crafts, games, had a Scavenger Hunt with all the lights turned off and they all had their own flashlight. We made witches brew complete with bats blood (fruit punch concentrate), swamp water (limeade concentrate) toad hearts (strawberries), and some other interesting stuff. They liked all the smoke from the dry ice, and I had an ingredient for each child to put in the witches cauldron. Then we had a costume fashion show down our back staircase with a strobe light. Micaela had so much fun and said, "Thank you mom, this was the best birthday ever". We're so glad Micaela is surrounded by so many great and fun friends.

Then the next day (her actual birthday) we went bowling as a family, and then had my parents to lunch. Micaela wanted an American Girl doll, which she got, but I warned that would be all that she'd get (cause they're so dang expensive). So she got the Elizabeth Am. Girl Doll (her fave because she read in the catalog that she was learning how to be a proper lady) and an extra outfit and accessories. Oh, and yes, I bought another rodent (we had a guinea pig already)! She got a baby teddy bear hamster the week prior. She's large, with orange/brown fur and very sweet. She named her "Cupcake". I bought her from an individual a couple weeks before her birthday. AJ spilled the secret, so it wond up being an early present.

Thank you to everyone for the cards, gifts, and especially for loving Micaela and being apart of her life.

Gotta Love Fall Weather!!!!!

2008-10-14T11:44:00.005-06:00

So this is what we were doing just a couple of week ago.........

One day after school, I packed up my three children and a couple extra friends, and took them to a nearby park. There's a really fun playground, but who can resist wading in the irrigation ditch that runs through the park.

And this is two days ago......................

Yep, it snowed!!! In October. I guess not totally unusual for where we live. But it's always a shock when you go from warm weather, to freezing winter weather. These pics were taken after church. I had been out the day before to buy warm coats (everyone had outgrown theirs). They don't quite go with church clothes, but they liked them so much they wanted to wear them. There's was a lot more snow when we woke up. Part of it had melted when we got out of church. The kids were bummed because they wanted to go make snow angels. After we took these pictures Micaela spyed snow on the trampoline and thought it's be a great idea to make snow angels there. I told her not in her church dress!

Candid Self Portrait!!!

2008-10-13T17:35:00.005-06:00

So I was sitting at a stop light on my way to taking Micaela to dance, and had the other 2 in the car with me. I looked over and saw the camera sitting in the middle console (there from taking pictures at a school event a couple of days earlier) and thought........what the heck. And I snapped a picture of myself. I'm sure the cars next to me thought I was a little strange. But heck, it seems like I am never in any pictures. And I never post anything on by blog just about ME. It's always about someone else in my family. So here is Shirlene, doing her thing. What I look like most days. You can see AJ in the back seat chillin' watching Shrek2. Even if it seems a little wierd, hey, I'm glad I included myself on my own blog!

Sweet!!

2008-09-30T08:12:00.003-06:00

Click on this link to see this fun and cute candy/dessert tables. Ya know I have a major sweet tooth, and I love to be creative, so these look so fun to me! (Thanks to my cuz Hilarie, who had this on her blog). I can't wait for an occasion to do this at--and put my own personal spin on it. Maybe Christmas, or for sure I'm thinking my daughters baptism that'll be coming up soon! (Thanks Hilarie! I love your blog!!!) Here's the candy table link. http://amyatlas.com/index.php/main/portfolio/

Happy Birthday to our Little Man!!!

2008-09-18T12:47:00.020-06:00

On Monday we celebrated Anthon's 3rd birthday.

It's hard to believe that 3 years ago we were at the hospital having Anthon. Our first little boy. He was the cutest little bug, and such a good baby. He has brought us so much happiness and changed the dynamic of our family.

I get very sentimental about my children growing up. And he'll probably always be the baby---so it's crazy to think of my baby as being 3 years old. He always reassures me though...."Don't worry, Mommy, I'll stay little."

To celebrate his third we went miniature golfing as a family. That evening Nana and Papa and Uncle Steve came over for dinner, cake and ice-cream and a pinata. Anthon was royally spoiled with presents(I don't know how else to do it!) and loved all the attention and playing with his new things.

Things we love about our boy: he loves to be in the middle of all the action, he likes to laugh and have fun, he still loves to cuddle, he's a tease, he gives great hugs and kisses, his curly hair and long dark eyelashes(I'm envious!), he's mommy's little shopping buddy, he loves BYU sports and even remembers some of the players by name in his prayers (something Matt appreciates), that his favorite people in the whole world are his family.

We love Anthon so much and can't imagine life without our little man!

First Day of School for Everyone!

2008-09-18T12:47:00.016-06:00

Okay, obviously I'm behind on my blogging if I'm barely posting first day of school pics. School has been in for about a month for us. So life has been crazy busy! I feel like I have a second to breathe, so I thought I'd share some pics.

All three of our children are loving school!!! And I am too, I even get 2 and 1/2 hours all to myself, twice a week. (The only funny thing though, is I usually spend those two hours running errands for my kids....like getting birthday party presents, stuff they needs for school, etc. )!

Anthon is even taking a two day a week little 3 year old school in our neighborhood.

Micaela is in Kindergarten this year. She barely missed the deadline, so she's one of the oldest in her grades, and is already reading chapter books. She always comes home so wound up and crazy. The minute the carpool hits our culdesac you can hear them. They have the windows down and are totally screaming and yelling. The first time I heard the noise it kind of scared me, I thought for sure someone was dying or just got ran over.

Lauren is in second grade and is such an excellent student. We love the little girl she is turning into. She is so confident, is liked by everyone, very easy to get along with (but she also has a strong personality and does not let people push her around---we're glad for that!) and is very conscientious when it comes to her school work.

Poor Uncle Nate!

2008-09-18T12:47:00.014-06:00

Micaela in many ways seems so much older than she actually is. She will be turning 6 in a couple of weeks. But she says some of the funniest things, a lot of it is just representative of her age.

Micaela absolutely loves her Kindergarten teacher. We definitely scored getting her this year. She just barely moved here from St. George and this is her 6th year teaching. She has dark brown hair to her waist, is tall and thin, is young, and is always very happy and smiling. Micaela is continually asking if she can move and live with her teacher.

So we were having the conversation the other day that she can't move in with her because that would make us miss her, so then she wondered if Uncle Nate could marry her so she could be her aunt. We talked about how they would make a great couple and maybe we could set them up on a date (sorry Nate!).

Uncle Nate is Matt's single brother. Poor Uncle Nate is always getting teased about not being married. At Christmas time we draw names as sibling for gift exchange. Nate got pots and pans. Everyone tries to set Nate up. Probably because we all know that he's a find.

Anyway, after the conversation about her teacher and Uncle Nate going on a date, Micaela kept telling me what she'd say to her teacher the next day at school.

"I'll just tell her that I have a really fun uncle who plays the guitar and does temple work and that maybe they could get married." So I coached her on the appropriate thing to say....not anything about getting married. Again, later she came to me and practiced what she'd say, "I'll just tell her that my uncle Nate is a lot of fun, and he always plays with me and that he liked one girl but that didn't really work out too good and so we'll see if you work out!" It was so funny.

Anyway, I guess a couple of days ago she said something to her teacher about Uncle Nate. I'm not sure how the conversation went, but she said she waited until everyone had gone outside for recess, and she was waiting for her friend to leave her side, then she talked to her teacher. She said her teacher laughed(not sure how Micaela's words came out).....and then said, "that would be very cool, I'd love to meet your uncle Nate."

So, poor Uncle Nate, is so loved and everyone thinks he's so great, that even his 5 year old niece is trying to set him up. So what do you say, Nate?? Do you want to go on date with another niece/nephews school teacher???? She is very cute!!!!

A Life of Service

2008-09-02T14:51:00.006-06:00

Matt's grandmother (and I adopted her long ago as mine......since both of my Grandmothers passed away years ago) of 92 very peacefully passed away this morning at about 3:00 a.m. She has lived such a full, active, and wonderful live. As an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and much because of her personality, her life, at least what I knew of her, was dedicated to serving others. She was a quiet, tender, and shy individual and didn't like a lot of attention. But if you did give her a compliment or recognition should would always beam. She was a hard worker! She always had a beautiful yard and a huge garden. Just last year, when she was still living at her own residence, I brought lunch and the kids to her home to spend some time with her. I pulled up, knocked, no one answered, walked in.....called for her. Still no answer. I started to get worried. Just as I was headed next door to the neighbors house, who is also her grandson's home.......of course, I should have known. Little tiny, bent over Grandmother was pruning her corner planter of rose bushes. Her arms were scratched from working, and she apologized about the way she might look. She was excited to see my children, and very graciously welcomed us inside her home.

She was a beautiful quilter, and would stitch every quilt by hand. I can't imagine how many quilts she has made in her lifetime. Each grandchild as they were married was given a hand stitched large quilt for their bed, and each great-grandchild received a baby blanket, also hand stitched with love by their Great-Grandmother. These blankets are treasures, and my children's favorites, and they know they were a gift from their Grandma Anne.

We admire and love Grandma so much, we named Micaela after her.........Micaela Ann.

About a year ago Grandma moved to an assisted care home. This was hard on her. And then this last week her health deteriorated rapidly, after a fall at the home. After a couple of days in a hospital, she was moved to Matt's brothers home with the care of a hospice nurse. She was there just two days before she passed away.
It was very special to be apart of Grandma's passing. It was special to see big strong men hug and express their love to their dying mother and grandmother. To see granddaughters treat her so tenderly and with such respect and love.

I believe the hardest part of seeing her go, was that Matt's mother, her only daughter, is currently serving a mission in Africa. We had hoped she could be here. But through wonderful technology (skype/webcams) she was able to be with her mother in her final hours. We're grateful for Marilyn's faith and example, and her strength in being willing to continue to serve her mission. We realize her strength is because of her faith in a loving Heavenly Father and knowledge of a greater plan.

I am so glad for eternal families. To know that life doesn't end at our last breath on earth.

Being apart of this experience also puts things in perspective. That what really is important in live is loving those around us, and expressing that love often. To treat each other with kindness. I'm grateful for Matt's grandmothers example of a life well lived.

School Pride or Brainwashing??

2008-08-31T21:27:00.004-06:00

Hanging with Uncles John and Nate
Flexing his muscles for the camera
trying to roar like a cougar

So my husband is a huge sports junkie....especially when it comes to college football. My husband is a true-blue BYU fan. He's watched every game since he was little, and most of them more than once (because he records them or watches them when they show old games on BYU TV). It's not really something I completely understand. But our children know the words to the Cougar fight song from about the time they first start to talk. My husband hates the color red (rivalry color---U of U) and absolutely owns NOTHING even remotely red...not even a stripe of red in it. He's trained our children red is bad, too. Once at Halloween they had dumped all of their candy on the floor to admire it and compare their stash, and Lauren said, yuck, I don't want a RED sucker, it's a Utes color so it's bad, and she threw it aside. (are you starting to feel like I, they're BRAINWASHED?)

Matt took our son to his first BYU home game yesterday. It was a proud day for Daddy. They left two hours early so they could see the team warm up. My boy was at the stadium from 2:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. Matt said our boy would stand up and sing every word of the fight song when they scored. The ladies sitting behind them were amazed that he'd know it at such a young age. Matt said "Yeah, you have to train your kids right. We sing the cougar fight song every night at bed time (a true story)............the ladies said, "Oh, that's too cute". Then Matt said, "Yeah, and we read the media guide every night as his bedtime story." The ladies said...."Okay, that's weird............... and probably taking it a little too far."

I'll have to vote for BRAINWASHED!

Kids Say the Darndest Things

2008-08-31T16:48:00.005-06:00

I wish I was better at writing down all the cute and funny things that my children say. I always have good intentions. There's been a couple things I've heard lately that I thought I'd share.
It seems that with the start of a new school year that I've been using a marker to write names on everything that my kids take to school. Backpacks, lunch boxes, pencil boxes, etc. I guess Anthon has taken notice to this. This morning we had him use our bathroom toilet before going to church. He opened the lid to the toilet and got all excited and started screaming, "Look, it says my name! Its says Anthon right here. Mommy wrote my name on the toilet!" I didn't want to spoil it for him and tell him it really said, "American Standard".
Micaela has become familiar with garage sales. Not because she's ever really been to one, but as we have driven by them she has asked why everything from inside a house is out on the grass. So I explained to her that a garage sale is a bunch of different things that people no longer want and then they put them outside and see if anybody wants to pay money for them. The other night we were going for a walk in our neighborhood. There's a house that back ups to a park. They have all kinds of various plastic toys, play structures, etc. that are all mismatched and there yard looks rather cluttered. As we walked on the trail behind their backyard Micaela said,"Look, Mom, they're having a garage sale at their house today."
Today in church the family who was sitting behind us has very cute and rather loud children. The one little girl was lying down on her fathers lap. Then she said really loud....."Dad...how come there's hair in your nose??!!"
You gotta love the honesty of children.

My Thoughtful Girl!

2008-08-10T21:58:00.003-06:00

(MY POSTS ARE OUT OF ORDER.....I meant for this post to be after the hiking post. I'm still figuring this whole blog thing out! So if you read this post after the "A Hike, Some Laughs, and a Couple of Donuts, it makes a little more sense)

Micaela really wanted to go on the hike with Lauren and I on Saturday morning. Having taken her with me on my 2 1/2 mile exercise route (and she's on her bike) I knew she would not be able to make it, and I knew I couldn't carry her up the mountain. So she stayed home to have a Wii competition with Daddy, though she would have preferred to come.

When I returned home I realized Micaela had been doing small acts of kindness around our house....including making our bed. We left so early Matt was still in bed, so it didn't get made before I left. I am really particular about how my bed is made, and which pillows go where. Every time I passed my bed on Saturday I thought of my sweet, darling, thoughtful girl. She is such a treasure in our home, and such a peacemaker. Quite often when there's a dispute, or conflict, she'll be the one to give up something, just so there can be peace. And she has quite a strong personality, so it's not that she's a pushover. She's just a very thoughtful, kind, girl. Though my bed had lumps, and some pillow tags sticking up, every time I walked by my bed it was a reminder that my daughter loved me, and this was her way of serving me and that she had thought about me while I was gone half the day. And I think she did a great job making that enormous california king bed all by her five-year old self!!!! I just had to take a picture of it!

A Hike, Some Laughs, and a Couple Donuts

2008-08-10T21:37:00.008-06:00

Last year Lauren and I had a mother daughter day and hiked to Timpanogas Cave together. We had a blast, so she asked if we could go again this summer. This year she wanted to invite Papa and Uncle Steve (my dad and brother).
So…. bright and early Saturday morning the four of us headed up American Fork Canyon. We had a lot of fun. The trail is a mile and a half up. I believe it’s the perfect hike. It’s not an easy nature walk, it’s definitely a hike, and the cave at the end makes it well worth it.
We had a lot of fun together. Steve and my father have a great sense of humor. I was laughing all the way up and back down the trail. Here was how some of the conversation went:
Shirlene: (on the way up the trail) After all of this exercise we better stop and get donuts on the way home..
Lauren: Yeah, I want a big jelly donut…..wouldn’t it be cool if jelly donuts grew on trees and we could just pick one right now.
Steve: Yeah, maybe we could arm--wrestle a bear for a jelly donut.
Lauren: There’s bears up here?!!?
Shirlene: We’ll just put some bear repellant on….they won’t bother us.
Steve: Yeah, Lauren, you put your beef jerky cologne on this morning, didn’t you??!
Steve: Maybe we should open up a donut stand somewhere along this trail. We could make lots of money.

Dad: So who discovered Timpanogas Cave anyway?
Steve: I believe it was Walt Disney. I’m pretty sure this is a Walt Disney attraction. Be on the look out for Snow White and the Seven Dwarf’s, Lauren.

(taking a break to share some fish crackers
and granola bars)
(Uncle Steve got a little too comfortable on a
bench)

On our way down the trail, Dad and Steve were so encouraging of all the hikers. Several people had kids on their backs, and dragging others up the mountain (one girl about Lauren’s age was crying uncontrollably, for no apparent reason, other than she probably was sick of hiking). Some of these people my Dad would say, “Only twenty miles more to go”…..Steve would start laughing in his contagious laugh and say “another few miles up and you’ll have to abandon your wife and children…..it’s survival of the fittest.”
My Dad made friends with everyone along the trail. Then he’d stop on the bench and hold his chest and say, “hook me up to the oxygen”.
Lauren was a great little hiker. She never once complained. The last two switchbacks are a little steep and she was skipping up them.
I think Lauren is my hiker. She loves it and could go forever. Yeah, a hiking buddy!

(proof I was there!!!)

(You thought I was kidding about
the donuts. Nope! And oooooh, were
they good!!!!)

When I grow up I want to be.......

2008-08-07T17:57:00.005-06:00

Micaela absolutely loves dance and especially ballet. She's always dancing around the house, and it's amazing how she can stand on her toes and dance, without pointe shoes on. I've never seen anything like it before!!!! Watching her makes my feet hurt. When she grows up she wants to dance on stage as a lead in a ballet. She can't wait until she's old enough to take a pointe class.

When we were at the dance studio for Lauren's pictures, Micaela was with us. The photographer and studio owners asked if they could borrow Micaela and her friend Halle (who also takes dance at the same studio) for a photo shoot with one of the older ballet students in her Swan Lake costume. This is how they turned out. I just got a disk from the photographer. I can't wait to get them enlarged for Micaela's room. I just bought a used pair of pointe shoes yesterday to hang off the corner of the frame. What do you think??? I love them!

Can you believe it---I went Camping!!

2008-08-03T19:22:00.006-06:00

Anyone who knows me well enough knows I hate camping. If I'm not going to sleep in my own bed, then it better be at a Marriott..... or nicer.

But this last Thursday my father called me and said he'd reserved a campground in American Fork canyon at the base of Mnt. Timpanogas and requested that our family come and stay with him, my two single brothers, and he talked my mother into it. (Matt didn't go because of work)

I must admit I was hesitant at first. But I thought, what the heck, and my children really wanted to go.....so we did. I did not sleep at all. But it was so relaxing and I was truly amazed at the majestic beauty of the mountains. I don't know how you can be in nature and not feel a connection to a greater and higher being. The scenery really was breathtaking. And despite lack of sleep and whiny kids the next day, I was really glad that we went.

It was fun to have dinner around the campfire and make s'mores. To stay up late talking. And to take a hike the next day. Anthon really enjoyed getting dirty....not something I usually let him do (I can't stand dirty kids. My children get a bath every day of their lives). And Micaela hates tennis shoes, so she opted to wear 'ballet flats' , and thought they'd work as her ballerina shoes so that she could dance in the mountains. She found a flat spot which was an area for a tent and it became her stage and she danced for us all night.

My children had so much fun with their Uncle Steve and Uncle Chris. They adore their uncles on both sides. (I so appreciate the time that their uncles take to spend with them and play with them and love them and be apart of their lives. If you ask AJ who loves him, with hesitation he'll say, "Uncle Ben!" I'm glad they get to see their uncles often so that they know them so well.) While on our little hike, as the kids got tired Steve hoisted AJ on his shoulders, and next Chris followed by carrying Micaela down the mountain.

I'm not sure I'll go camping anytime soon. But I am grateful for the opportunity of spending time with my family....and making memories with them.

My Children's Greatest Heroes

2008-08-03T19:04:00.004-06:00

We had a wonderful opportunity this last week to have the local LDS missionaries in our home for dinner. From what I understand, this is a rare opportunity in Utah. Their area includes so many different Stakes and wards, that each ward only gets to feed them twice a year. This was our first time.

We also had two of Matt's 16 year old Priests from his youth group over as well.

My children were eagerly awaiting their arrival and looking out of our glass sidelights to our front door until they could get a glimpse of them. When I saw the missionaries they looked so young to me. I'm sure that's not because I've gotten old and have 17 years on them. But in reality, they are young...19 or 20 years old.

Despite them being young in age they were so mannerly, polite, and carried with them such a great spirit. When they prayed you really felt that they were connecting to our Heavenly Father and communicating with Him. And they asked if they could leave us with a thought. The Elder from South American gave the thought, and talked about Faith. The spirit was so strong. You could tell that they really believed in what they were speaking, and what they were doing with their lives in serving a mission and teaching others to come unto Christ. I was very impressed with them.

While they were finishing dinner, my girls and Anthon drew them pictures, and then asked to have their pictures taken with them......as if they were celebrities. But this is because the missionaries are heroes in our mind.

While we were taking the pictures the two 16 year olds from our neighborhood said...."It's like the missionaries are characters from Disneyland or something and you stopped to take pictures with them!" We admire the missionaries service and dedication in spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm glad that my children admire and look up to the missionaries.....they possess so many more quality attributes than any celebrity probably ever could.

Uncle Nate's Garden Party

2008-08-03T17:56:00.007-06:00

Matt's parents are currently serving a mission for the Church in the Congo of Africa. It's been a pretty interesting experience to read their blogs and hear their stories and experiences they've had there. I'm sure we'll have a greater understanding of all the service they rendered once they get back. They are serving a Welfare mission and are "Country Directors'. From what I understand some of the projects they have oversaw was clean water (most people have to walk miles several times a day in order to get water...and then it's not even clean), wheel chairs for disabled individuals (see the video at the end of this post if you want to be touched and get a good cry for the day). They've also done clean beds for hospitals, and lots of different hospital training, including eye surgery for cataract, and newborn resuscitation. They are due home the end of September, and we're praying there is someone to replace them so they can come home. (Strangely it's one of the most expensive missions for couples.)

Matt's brother Nate who is a swingin' bachelor has been living in their house while they've been gone. He's done a great job taking care of their place but we decided we'd all get together for a "garden party" and try to spruce up the yard and do some cleaning up in preparation of their return. All the grand kids, children and spouses came to help. The younger kids played in water, while the rest of us worked, then we had lunch together.

Matt, I, nor the kids have been in their home since they left. My children were a little confused and couldn't find where the bathroom was when they needed to use it. They vaguely remembered it was Grandma and Grandpa's house, but couldn't quite remember the layout. They had a 'playroom' upstairs in one of the extra bedrooms before they left. While we were there on Saturday Micaela wanted to go and see the playroom. I told her to go upstairs by herself because I didn't want to be wandering around "Nate's" house. So she ran upstairs to see the playroom and I waited at the bottom of the stairs. After a minute she came running to the top of the stairs to report in an alarmed voice, "Mom! I can't believe it...someone changed the playroom into a bathroom!" Don't be scared Marilyn' and Farrell, Nate has not done any remodeling to your home.....Micaela just felt a little lost in your house. I'm sure once your back home and after a couple of visits she'll feel right at home again. We can't wait for you to get home!!!

(Matt his brother Ben...our boy Anthon and Ben's new baby Mari.......taking a break)

(Lauren and her cousin Eve)

Some of the gang...

oldest granddaughter, Jennie

Grandparent's Wheelchair Project in Africa
(This is a project that they were intimately involved in. This footage was taken by my mother in law.)

Addendum to 'K-I-S-S-I-N-G'

2008-08-03T15:48:00.002-06:00

I posted a few days ago that Micaela and her good friend MacKay (a boy) have been caught kissing each other.

Well yesterday, we were driving home from the mall together as a family. Matt was informed of this show of affection through my blog, apparently. So he brought it up in the car ride home. He asked Micaela what was this stuff he was hearing that she and MacKay had been kissing. And then they had a conversation about it, and how it's okay to hold hands and to love MacKay, and that he's a good kid and we really like him, but that we don't kiss him. After Matt's council, this is how Micaela responded: (exact words---and remember how expressive and enthusiastic she talks)

"Yuck, kissing is so gross. I think it's the most disgusting thing in all the land. I can't believe I used to think it was so romantic!!!"

So case closed. Her Dad talked to her about it, and luckily she now apparently thinks that it's gross. Hopefully she'll continue to think it's gross for many, many more years! I'm scared to have teenagers--YIKES!

Take Me Out To the Ballgame!

2008-07-27T14:40:00.000-06:00

On Friday Night we took the three kids to the Bees baseball game. I must admit, I wasn't that excited about going, but Matt was excited about it so I thought I'd be a good sport. AJ's favorite song is "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" and his room is decorated in old fashioned baseball stuff so I thought we should take him so he could find out exactly what 'peanuts and crackerjacks' are.

We actually had a great time. Matt asked if I'd want to go again and take the kids. They did really well and sat there the whole time. Since it was the weekend of July 24th (our states Pioneer Day holiday) there were fireworks afters. And at the end of the game and fireworks all kids were welcomed to go down on the field and run the bases. They also got to meet the Bee mascot. And to top it off..... AJ caught (okay it was really Matt) a foul ball. Matt believes that since this was AJ's first real baseball game, and because he got a ball, that he's destined to be a great baseball player someday. The funny thing was, Matt was just sitting there holding Anthon, the ball bounced around and then basically landed right in Matt's hand. He immediately gave the prize to AJ, who without hesitation hucked that baby down several rows. Everyone got a few laughs, and luckily the guy who caught it a few rows down let us retrieve it (after Anthon's mom yelled at him that he better give it back to her two year old:) So hopefully Katie, a secretary at Matt's work who is a Bee's girl will take it to the ballfield and get all the players to sign it. It was a fun night. AJ can't wait to go again. He loved singing 'Take Me out to the Ballgame' during the 7th inning, and seemed surprised to think that so many other people knew the song too.

Summertime Fun!

2008-07-26T22:54:00.000-06:00

Our neighbors had the best neighborhood party tonight. They had inflatable slides larger than I've ever seen, and a couple bounce houses. They had Lon's BBQ cater the hamburgers and hotdogs. They had cottoncandy machines, popcorn machines, and snowcones. My kids thought they were in heaven. And they had a 70's band come and play. And what's even more spectacular, they invited the whole ward and neighbors and their own family and friends to come. They had a great turnout. The only bad thing, though, it started to rain, and continued raining, and then it started to blow and rain even harder. Many took off running. Some others ran to the barn for cover. All the bands equipments had to be disassembled or covered. But while it lasted....it was awesome. Thanks Coombs!

MacKay and Micaela Sitting in a Tree.......

2008-07-26T22:42:00.000-06:00

K-I-S-S-I-N-G! Okay, they weren't sitting in a tree, but they have been caught kissing before. Anyone have any advice? This boy is actually so dang cute! He and Micaela love each other too death. They met at a neighborhood pre-school and really hit it off. He lives just down the street from us but he's a grade ahead of her and a Primary group ahead as well. He is like the male version of Micaela. They play together a ton and they have never ever gotten in a disagreement or argument.

MacKay's parens invited Micaela to go to see Wall-E with MacKay and them. They said they felt like they were chaperoning them on a date. They went into the theater holding hands and left holding hands. MacKay's father said maybe he should go ahead and invest in some type of 529 savings plan and start saving now for their future wedding. That kind of talk scares Matt, as well as any talk from Lauren and friends that they've seen them kissing before.

I realize it's just a childhood thing. It's kind of cute (or should I be worried?) When Lauren or friends tease them about being in love or start the "MacKay and Micaela sitting in a tree" chant, Micaela just says, "I know....I love MacKay!" And she says it in kind of a dreamy voice. Okay, should I be scared?

My Baby No Longer Sleeps in a Crib!!

2008-07-26T22:33:00.001-06:00

So we finally broke down and decided to get little man a twin bed. We found an Ashley line that matched his dresser and rocking chair and looked good with his room. He was so excited to go shopping for sheets and a comforter. We need to get the old fashion baseball quilt to go on it. When his room is all finished I'll add a pic on how it turned out.

He was so excited when the bed was delivered and being assembled in his room. He kept yelling his sisters names to have them come and admire.

They actually were also excited.

These pics were taken his first night when he was being put to bed. Of course, the girls wanted in on the pics too.

We were worried he'd take advantage of his freedom of not being caged in his crib, but third night in bed, and he still has not gotten out of bed. At least not on purpose. The first night everytime we checked on him he was in a fetal position on the floor shivering. He didn't seem to mind so we wondered why we were so concerned about getting him a bed. We could have saved the money and bought him a sleeping bag:)

I felt bad he kept falling out so I went and got two bedrails for him. I was a little reluctant for him to move out of his crib. It's a reminder that he's no longer a baby! .

Little Man at the Parade

2008-07-26T22:16:00.000-06:00

We have been quite the parade going family this summer (much to Matt's demise). We've been to the Lindon parade that the girls danced in.....the Lehi Parade, the Provo Freedom Festival Parade, and the AF Steel Days Parade. This Saturday will probably be our last, because we need to support our city and go the the Highland parade.

These pics of AJ are too cute. AJ was being a little gentleman and took off his hat and showed his patriotism as the United States flags passed by during the parade.

And AJ was getting quite the attention from the ladies during the parade. Every time royalty passed he'd start blowing them kisses. They were all gushing over him and he was getting lots of flirts and special attention from the pretty girls. Too cute! I know next year he'll be too old to do this so I thought I better get it on camera.

HELP!

2008-07-13T21:23:00.000-06:00

Okay---So today, I was sustained for a new calling in our ward. I was called into the Bishop's office, as is customary to getting a new calling, about two weeks ago. I thought he called me to be a Visiting Teaching Supervisor, which only requires making phone calls once a month to make sure a small group of women did their visiting teaching for the month. We discussed at the time I was in his office whether I should be released from my other two callings (ward newsletter editor, and 12 year old Primary Teacher). I told him Supervisor is a cinch, and I felt I could manage all 3 assignments fine, and was happy to serve however I was needed.
Well, I was never sustained, because the Bishop said he needed to talk to the person that I was replacing before doing so in Sacrament Meeting. Since my conversation with the bishop two weeks ago, I'd pretty much forgotten about the new calling, because I didn't think it required much and wasn't too concerned about it.
So today in Sacrament Meeting the Visiting Teaching COORDINATOR for our ward was released, and myself was sustained as the new VISITING TEACHING COORDINATOR. While I was standing in front of the congregation, my mind was thinking "Is this for real.....or did the Bishop make a mistake?" So after the meeting I talked to a member of the RS presidency and she said, "Oh no, honey, you're in charge of the whole deal.....you're over all of VT for the ward." So now I have 3 callings....including a new one I know nothing about. To make it even better.....Matt serves in YM's, so while he was at Ward Council today, they were discussing Enrichment Nights coming up. The same RS presidency member apparently mentioned in the meeting that we are not having an Enrichment Night for July, and August's is all about visiting teaching, which will be a good thing because then Shirlene can lay out her whole program to all of the sisters. Holy cow! What's my program!??!?!? I'm wondering if August Enrichment is our Visiting Teaching Conference. I guess I need to make some phone calls before I panic and freak out!
I'm actually excited about my calling. It's always good to be stretched and learn new things from different opportunities through serving. And luckily, I have a husband who has taught me you never turn down an assignment and calling. So my answer to the Bishop of accepting a new call would not have been different......except I may have been more willing to let him release me from my other callings since that's what he was wanting to do.
So if any of you have any input, or have had this calling before.....post some info for me. I need to feel some sisterly support!

A Father Who Taught Me to Work

2008-07-13T21:10:00.000-06:00

I grew up in a home with a father that we called the Energizer Bunny. He never slowed down. His favorite hobby was doing projects around the house and yard. We always had a beautiful, well manicured yard. He was always in the yard in the nice weather months. We'd hear him outside our windows at 3 or 4 a.m. It seemed like he never required much sleep, and I suppose he'd get up this early so he could get his yardwork done, and then get into the office. But I appreciate the fact that he taught me how to work! I remember having certain areas of the yard to weed, and mow the grass. He'd also give me other various projects such as painting the fence, or cleaning out an area. I may have complained at the time, I don't know. But it's such a good feeling to be able to look back and admire what you've created, and what you've accomplished by all of your hardwork.

The other morning I was thinking of this as I was watering my newly planted flowers, and the flowers on my porch. Proud of myself and what our front yard looks like. It's taken some work and some time for the plants to grow, but it's looking beautiful this year.

(Now, as far as our back yard, that's another story. Lets just say, if morning glory wasn't a weed, our backyard would be the garden of eden. Any ideas on how to get rid of it. We weed, and the planters are completely filled again in two weeks!)

I'm glad for my Dad, and his example of hardwork. Even though I'm a girl, I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty, and I actually enjoy yardwork. I'm glad for a father who taught me how to work, and take pride in your accomplishments. Thanks for letting me show off my yard.

It Must Be A Boy Thing!

2008-07-13T20:59:00.000-06:00

So today we did our usual morning, summer routine. I got the children breakfast, and then started cleaning up the kitchen and main floor of our house. I was busy doing my thing, and then the next thing I know, Anthon had climbed onto the island and was drinking milk right from the milk jug. I couldn't believe him, little turkey! I guess he must have really wanted a drink and felt like I was too busy to ask, or was curious just to see what it was like to drink from the big bottle. Luckily I had another thing of milk, so we didn't have to use the rest of this one. I must say, I don't believe my girls have ever tried to drink right from the milk bottle. It must be a boy thing, I don't know! All I know, is it seems like he is always starving! He usually eats two beakfasts. He eats one when he firsts wakes up, and is ready for more around 10 a.m. I'm glad I only have one boy.......I can't imagine what my Mothers food bill must have been rasing four growing boys!

Sometimes you just have to laugh at yourself!

2008-07-02T19:58:00.000-06:00

Today I took the kids and two friends to a park in Pleasant Grove. This is a really fun 'discovery' park with all kinds of places for the kids to explore. We all brought sack lunches. There's a nice place for picnics, kind of hidden by trees with several picnic tables. I had my eye on one particular picnic table because it was mostly in the shade. Since it was a great table, of course it was taken. Also in the area were several picnicking groups, including a young couple who were being affectionate on a park bench. I got comfortable on a different park bench, keeping one eye on the coveted table, and another eye on the children.

Suddenly the family vacated the table that I was wanting. I quickly went over to save it for us for when the kids were ready to eat.

Before leaving for the park I had asked Lauren to choose a blanket from our hall linen closet to take with us. She chose Matt's BYU football blanket that had been nicely folded on the shelf, recently washed and clean.

So to lay claim to the picnic table I took the folded blanket, holding one side of it, and fanned it up towards the sky in order to lay it out over the table. As the blanket billowed upward, I noticed something white on the underneath side. It was barely clinging on due to static electricity. I figured it was a dryer sheet so I shook the blanket one more time and then the white article broke free. Then, while in mid-air I realized it was a very intimate piece of clothing. Then, as if in slow motion, gently floating to the ground was a PAIR OF MY GARMENT bottoms. Right there, on the park ground, in the middle of all the picnicking families..............they just plopped down for the world to see (at least it felt like for the whole world to see). I'm not sure if anyone really noticed what they were, but nonetheless I was a little embarrassed, and quickly bawled them up and walked to the car.

When I gathered the kids for lunch I told about what happened. We got a good laugh. Micaela thought it was sick that'd I'd bring underwear to our picnic (I assured her they were clean and unintentional), and Lauren said, "Oh no....I must have chosen the wrong blanket!"

Happy 14th

2008-07-01T16:27:00.001-06:00

We've come a long way, baby!

2008-07-01T16:16:00.000-06:00

Yesterday Matt and I celebrated our 14 year wedding anniversary. It’s hard to believe we’ve been married so long. Sometimes I forget how many years we’ve been married and have to stop and do the math (I used to make fun of my parents when they’d do this!) Don’t you love these pictures from ‘back in the day’? Matt believes he looks exactly the same as these pics, that he hasn’t aged a day! HA! Me, too, then. And what was up with us brides from the early 90’s. How come we thought it was acceptable to do our hair the same way we did it every other day of our lives. I did pull the sides up, which I guess I didn’t regularly do…………but how come it didn’t occur to me to go to the salon and have someone actually fix my hair!
I remember Matt and I only had one car when we first got married, and no washer and dryer. I remember going a whole year with virtually buying no new clothes or jewelry. Luckily our poverty didn’t last too long. A year after living in an apartment, Matt’s pay dramatically increased and we began construction on our first home. We lived there until we sold it to build this house.
We’ve been blessed greatly the last 14 years. We’ve gained a lot more than just 40 pounds (that would be each!), some gray hair, and 3 children.
We’ve gained a lot of maturity, that’s for sure. A much deeper faith and deeper commitment to our religion. We’ve learned that through trials and difficult times we can rely on each other and that these times actually have made us stronger people. We’ve become more humble and realize our total dependence on a higher being. We have a much deeper respect and admiration for our parents. We’ve learned to love both sides of our families.
So who woulda thunk it….that Matt and I would actually grow up to be responsible adults one day(at least most of the time).So here’s to 14 more years……and many many more after that!
Oh, yeah! Matt's memory of our wedding day was me showing up about 15 minutes before our sealing time (so long after the guests had arrived. The bride is suppose to be there about an hour and 1/2 early), and his friends giving him a hard time and making him paranoid that I'd changed my mind!
My memory. Getting up at 3:30 a.m. because our sealing time was at 7:00 a.m. (not my idea, by the way). And my Dad not being in any type of hurry at all! (For the record I was ready on time!!!) I don't think my Dad was any too anxious for his little girl to get married! And the best part was being sealed so early that we had the whole celestial room to ourselves before we were escorted into the sealing room where our guests were waiting. It was like a little glimpse of eternity!

Swimming Pool Nightmare!

2008-06-27T16:00:00.001-06:00

A prior post talked all about how much I love summer and mentioned swimming as one of my favorite activities. Well, after an experience at a public swimming pool yesterday, I think we've all been scarred for life, and may never go to a public swimming pool again!
As soon as we got there we all jumped into the lazy river, which is particularly my favorite (have I ever mentioned I'm figuring out a way to put one of those around the perimeter of our yard:) After a couple times around the circle I started thinking, 'Wow, this place is extremely crowded today'. So next we went to the kiddie pool. Again, "Wow, this place is busy today!" So we jumped out to go get in the main pool. Then we realized it was completely vacated and the lifeguards were not allowing anyone into the pool. I figured they were just doing a pool check, but when a half an hour had passed I thought maybe I should ask what was up, but was afraid what the lifeguard might say. My worst suspicion was validated...."Someone pooped in the pool!" Yikes!! The main pool would be closed until 5 pm until the Health Department could come out and check the water. We jumped back into the lazy river, though my anxiety level was too high to really enjoy myself. But I didn't want to be a party pooper (excuse the pun) since we had just gotten there. So we went around the lazy river a few more times when my friend announces that she just saw a mom carrying a baby who had diarrhea that was oozing out of the swimming diaper and was dripping right into the water of the lazy river.
At this point we decided the party was over. We gathered our things and went to the admissions desk to see if we could get reimbursed since the main pool was closed and we'd only been there about 45 minutes. They were kind enough to reimburse us, and while I was standing at the window my friend said, "Be careful, there's throw up behind you....don't step in it!" I couldn't believe my ears. Poop, and now throw-up, are you kidding me!! As I peddled backwards and tried to catch my balance, I realized a kid had just thrown up about a foot behind me. I'm sure I got the over spray. Again, I was glad I didn't have to witness it like my friend did. I'm sure after that and the runny poop, her eyes are scarred for life! So we took our refunds, stepped over the throw up and went home. I lysoled the bottom of our shoes, washed our swimming suits on the 'sanitize' cycle, and we immediately all took hot showers.
Later that night I mentioned to the girls we could go swimming at the public pool again (because I assumed they were disappointed that we left so soon). Lauren yelled, "I never want to go to that place again in my whole entire life!" That's my girl!!!
So the moral of the story.......put plastic swimming cover-ups over your child's swim diaper (a new Utah health department rule). I'll be purchasing AJ one as soon as I figure out who sales them. And don't go to public swimming pools.
I wonder if the Lever's (Matt's sister) won't mind if we hang out at their poolside the rest of the summer. Or maybe I can talk Matt into putting a RUSH on our own backyard swimming pool project.
p.s. sorry if I completely grossed you out!

Two Men Fighting Over Me

2008-06-27T15:34:00.000-06:00

This morning my two favorite men woke up before me and were in our bathroom together when I got out of bed. Anthon was hanging out on our tub step while Matt was getting ready for work. When I walked in the bathroom to brush my teeth, Anthon said, "Mom, I love you....you my girl!" Matt said, "NO, she's my girl!" AJ yelled, "NO she my girl!" This went on and on. It made me feel so loved and special:)

AJ is my little man. I really have enjoyed having a son! He actually is always telling me that I'm his girl. And out of the blue he's constantly telling me that he loves me.....and that I'm "beautyful" ( as he pronounces it). He's getting so big in so many ways, and yet he's still my baby is lots of ways. He'll say, "Mom, hold you, hold you" which means he wants me to hold him. He's getting his grammar more correct, and the girls and Matt tell him to say it properly, it's "hold me", but I'll be sad the day that he's always saying it correctly.

Matt announced the other day that we're going to buy him a twin bed this weekend (he's still in a crib. He'll be three in September). It made me really sad, actually. I'm always asking Anthon if he'll stay little forever. Usually he'll say, "No... see... I'm getting bigger?!" The other day I must have sounded desperate because when I aked if he'd stay little he sighed and said, "Okay....fine!"

But it's been just AJ and I alot this summer. It seems the girls are off doing something with friends so AJ does and goes everywhere with me. When I shop he becomes my fashion consultant (the other day I was trying on sunglasses in Target. It's kind of sad I relied on a two year olds opinion to help me decide on what to get. I got the ones that made me look "rock and roll"), he's my little baking assistant, and my favorite LITTLE man!

Parade Fun

2008-06-22T23:30:00.000-06:00

Yesterday the girls were in the Pleasant Grove Strawberry Days parade with their Dance Company. They were so excited to be in the parade. Shirlene was excited because this meant she didn't have to come up with her own entry. You see, last year I asked them towards the end of summer if there was anything they hadn't done yet during the summer that we should try to do before school started. Both girls said they wanted to be in a parade. It seemed impossible at first (their dance group didn't do any parades last summer), but my creative juices instantly started flowing and myself and the girls began brainstorming. Then I put our plan into action, called Highland City whose parade wasn't until August, and we made our own entry for the parade. It was called "Fairy tales Really Do Come True", and they were wedding princesses (which was completely their idea). We talked their awesome cousins (Kade and Jaron Lever) into being in it as their princes. We decorated our convertible and I drove them in the parade. We bought huge things of candy at Costco to throw to the crowd and they had a blast! (Not sure it'll ever happen again!) So, thank you to the Pointe Academy, I am very glad that they had reason to be in a parade this year. These are pics of Saturday. And then of last years entry!

Summer-The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

2008-06-22T23:00:00.001-06:00

I absolutely love spring and summer. One of my most favorite sounds is waking up to birds chirping outside the window. That's when you know it's warming up outside.

We are absolutely enjoying our summer. We've had 3 summer kids parties at our house to celebrate this time of year.

In February we asked the children if they wanted to take a family vacation this year or put a play area in the yard. Lauren and Micaela had to think for a little bit and then announced they'd go with the play area, even though it was a hard decision for them. We bought a "spring free" trampoline, a sandbox, and play structure. We've already had lots of fun on the new equipment. AJ and I enjoyed an outing together to go haul the sand. The sandbox is only 7' hexagon, but it took almost 2 yards of sand. I rented a Home Depot pick up truck, switched AJ's car seat out, and headed for a trip out West to a quarry to pick up some play sand for our new sandbox. After I made it back to the house and started shoveling out the back of the truck, I realized how much sand 2 yards really is. We did all of this while the girls played at a friends house. I'm kind of crazy and very independent and extremely impatient when it comes to projects....in case none of you knew that about me. My mother thought I was insane to put AJ in a Home Depot truck and go get sand by myself. It all worked and was a fun little project. He and I had fun playing while we shoveled the sand.

I also bought a 12', 30" pool from Target. The kids have had so much fun in this. It's enough water they can really swim and have been out there everyday. It has made me excited for when we get our in-ground pool. Dream on......one day!?

Summertime is the best time of the year......swimming, snowcones, running on the grass barefoot, BBQ's, picnic lunches, parades, fireworks, beautiful flowers. We love it at our house!!!

Father's Day

2008-06-22T22:42:00.000-06:00

I don't know how you all feel, but summer seems to be flying by!

It's hard to believe Father's Day is already come and gone! We enjoyed the Saturday before Father's Day with my Dad. We had him and my mother over for Saturday brunch and then went and saw the Kung Fu Panda movie. Sunday was a quiet day at home with Matt and the kids. The kids each presented Matt with a gift they created. The girls gave framed artwork. We put a frame together of pics of AJ and Matt at the spring BYU football game. I was pretty darn proud of myself since I"m not really that crafty. It seems extra difficult with children, and then I never like what I make. This gift, however, came together pretty well. It seems that when I'm shopping for craft materials while dragging 3 children through several stores, and after many bribes and meltdowns, I give up and usually wind up improvising because I can't finish my shopping for just the right stuff for the project. This "BYU" gift came together with only one trip to Walmart, and one trip to Roberts.........a cheap picture frame, pictures of AJ and Matt, BYU scrapbook paper, and stickers! Matt loved it and AJ was very proud of his gift.

While wrapping the gifts the girls found this enormous gift bag that was stored with all of our wrapping stuff. They thought it'd be hilarious to have AJ hide in the gift bag as one of Matt's Father's Day presents. He jumped out and said, "Happy Father's Day", in his two year old way that completely melts your heart!

I hope Matt had a wonderful day! He is such a wonderful husband and father. I honestly could not ask for anything better. He treats me with such love and the kids absolutely adore their father. We are lucky to have a man who leads our family and strives to make us better as a family unit!

Dance, Dance, Dance

2008-06-16T19:32:00.000-06:00

It seems that my girls love dance. Especially Micaela! All day long they are continually making up little dances, often to a song that they also make up. So I sit on the couch and they put on a little show for me. Because Micaela is such a little ham, they are usually quite funny, and Lauren usually winds up laughing so hard she can hardly breathe.

We switched dance studios last year to the 'The Pointe' (if you've watched Fox 13 lately, they've done little spots on them because two guys from 'So you Think You Can Dance' perform with Odyssey Dance, a professional dance group, who rehearse at the same location as "The Pointe")

They tried out again and are both on "company" this coming year. Lauren will be doing 3 hours of dance a week, and Micaela 2 hours. They love "company" because they like to learn dances and perform, and especially love the costumes. In this picture the girls were flamingos for their ballet dance, during their end of year recital which happened last month. They were in the same ballet class together this past dance year. It's fun having two girls who are so close in age and are best friends, too!

Matt Couldn't Have Been More Proud of His Boy!!

2008-06-15T15:14:00.000-06:00

Matt was taught as a young boy that it's not appropriate to be the aggressor, but if someone is giving you a hard time or hurting you, then it's okay to take care of business. So the story goes that when Matt was a child, an older neighborhood bully liked to pick on him as he walked home from school. Matt's father's council regarding this problem was, "Son, punch him square in the nose....and he'll never bother you again." The next time the kid tried to harass Matthew, he must have taken care of business adequately because the bully never bothered him again. It seems Matt would like to pass this same philosophy on to our son.
It's as if Matt already has Anthon in training. He is already teaching him wrestling moves, they both box on a heavy punching bag, and then put their moves into more practice while playing the Wii. Matt loves having a boy!! But up until now, all of AJ's aggression has always been at inappropriate times. For example, punching Matt in the eye and kicking his stomach during scripture study, or tackling the neighborhood girl down and pinning her in a wrestling move because he was mad that she was eating a meal with us, and worried she might eat all our pizza (the poor little girl couldn't move at all and was just in the fetal position crying, while AJ kept punching her in the head). That is until today...................
Our backyard neighbor was substituting in Anthon's nursery today. She said that AJ had built a tall tower of blocks with Matt at the beginning of nursery. After Matt left, AJ was very protective of his tower. The bully of the group came up and knocked AJ's tower down on purpose. The neighbor said she was not exactly sure who threw the first punch, but AJ was definitely in their swinging and it was a full-on first fight during nursery class. . She said she was proud of AJ for taking care of the situation, and wished he could show her first grader a couple moves so that he could also defend himself when it was necessary.
When I told this story to Matt, he couldn't stop laughing, and yet he was beaming with happiness and extremely proud of his son. He asked AJ specific questions as if wanting the play-by-play, and then began coaching him on how to improve for next time.

Okay, I finally gave in and decided to make a blog!!

2008-06-14T19:57:00.000-06:00

I must admit, I do enjoy reading other peoples blogs. That is when I get to time to. Just when I think that all of my children are very involved in some type of activity that will keep them occupied for awhile, I try to quietly sneak into our office for some quiet time by myself. But usually just a few minutes into my personal computer time, it seems that I get discovered. Then the next thing I know all three of my monkey are hanging off me and our one office chair, very interested and curious as to what I am doing. The endless questions and AJ pushing random buttons and reorganizing our desktop usually causes me to quickly end my computer time.
So, you may ask why I am admitting that I 'gave in' to creating a blog. What's the big deal, right? .... Everyone has a blog these days. Well, that has been my issue. You see, I married into a family with 7 siblings, all of them, as well as my mother and father in law, have had a blog. I was interested in doing it, but didn't want to seem like I was just a follower, and doing it because it was the 'family' thing to do. I didn't want it to seem that I was succumbing to any type of family pressure. So I held out for my own time frame. And now seems like as good time. (Also, I started to set one up months ago and got stuck on what I wanted to call my blog spot---so don't expect anything too creative out of me) Also, since I have a bit of a competitive nature, I decided to think of it in terms that I beat Angela in creating a blog. You see, now she is the last and only one that does not have a family blog. I'll let you know how it goes Angie, and tell you if it really is as fulfilling as everyone pretends.:)