Mitchellife As We Know It

Crying and Cooking

2012-02-18T13:08:00.000-08:00

Rebecca has this weird habit of watching movies that will make her cry with her friends. She put "Marley and Me" into our Netflix queue just for this purpose. On Wednesday she watched it with her friend Alecia and cried her eyeballs out. But that wasn't enough. She had to watch it with Brooke.

I'm down in the basement last night getting some rice for dinner out of our storage room. This is connected to our theater room and a little window space has been left for sound equipment and cables to go through to the storage room. The sound of wailing was enough to startle me into running in there to see if somebody died, which of course someone had--Marley the dog.

I didn't know whether to try to calm them down, or laugh, or worry, or what, but when I called Brooke's mom to warn her to set aside money for Brooke's future therapy she suggested I get a picture. So I did. Really I should have gotten some video.

What you are seeing here is not dramatized in any way. In fact it really doesn't do it justice. Then they came upstairs and the full blown sobbing continued on for another 20 or 30 minutes.

"Why did they do that to their dog?"

"Why?"

"It's. . . just. . . so . . . sad."

(Sob, sob, sob . . . )

I gave Rebecca an Advil and told them to go find something funny to watch.

Did you do this with your friends? Cause I gotta say I never did!

They kill me.

In other news . . .

This is the apple pancake I made this morning the using the recipe I found here.

I I did double it but this is what it was supposed to look like here below.

Oh well. It still tasted like heaven.

Notes around my house

2012-02-16T08:25:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Rebecca didn't want to spend the three hours before lunch sitting through the spelling bee so I said she could skip it. She left me this note on her door to remind me.

And here is her drawing of Nathaniel & Rebecca's bird's for Valentines Day.

Peter and I went to the temple the other night and she cleaned the kitchen and left me this note. Then Nathaniel went through it to correct all the spelling and add a self-portrait.

This is old now but SO cute! This Christmas John was fixated on knowing whether Santa thought he was naughty or nice and left this out in the mailbox for him. Right above Santa you will note that it says "nice." John claims he has no idea who wrote that. This one makes my heart melt.

Then here is the note Peter taped to the garage door on my birthday reminding me NOT to take the Civic. Couldn't figure that one out. Turns out he was hiding my new computer in the trunk.

It finally happened.

2012-02-13T07:31:00.000-08:00

Nathaniel took the plunge and had his first date on Saturday. It was all pretty last minute so Peter and I were scrambling to buy him a suit hours before the dance. It was the Sweetheart Dance put on by the FFA, an organization his date is heavily involved with.

I can't say I understand it all but there is a big cake contest within the FFA. The girls decorate their cakes before the judges and they are taste-tested and so forth. Then the winners are announced at an assembly the following day and the cakes are auctioned. Some went for more than $600! The girls are all dressed up in formal dresses for this and Autumn won second, which puts her in the royalty line-up for the dance (hence the crown.) This also means Nathaniel didn't have to pay to get in--bonus!

Isn't she the cutest? He got lots of razzing yesterday at church for taking out an "older woman" (she's a Senior) but I don't think either of them was thinking about that. They've been casual friends through the years in our ward and it was just a good experience for him to get. I think he had fun and now at least he knows what these types of things entail. I was wishing his first date wouldn't have been a semi-formal event--Peter and I are down sixty bucks in addition to the suit. Good thing its tax season! Sounds like it's time for Nathaniel to find a job?

I love that he has an orange band on his braces to go along so nicely with the purple. Funny thing is her dad is our orthodontist, so they were understanding:)

I can't say what I think about this sudden change of heart with Nathaniel and girls but I thought he was brave. Course I sat at home and stressed for him all night!

Random February

2012-02-11T08:27:00.000-08:00

Well, as Charlie so beautifully demonstrates, things have been rather lazy around here.

With the kids gone at school all day sometimes I don't know exactly what to do with myself. It isn't that there is nothing. I have quilting projects and crafty what-nots but I find myself at a loss for motivation. I've also found that if I take a short nap in the day I can sometimes avoid the menacing headache that hits me almost nightly. Then I feel both fat and sick so that's no good.

The girls and I have done some minor craftiness. this wreath above for the door was made by Sarah and her friend Leah. We got the idea from NieNie's blog.

Rebecca has taken to making cute little stuffed dolls. She designs them all herself.

This one is my favorite. Very Corpse Bride I'd say.

This is my Valentines Day project from Better Homes and Gardens.

Framed birds and hearts cut out of fabric.

I'm not a big Valentines fan but I like hearts and the kids think it's fun so I stretched myself.

The main thing I do these days is cook. My sister-in-law Amber introduced me to Pinterest and I'm always pulling recipes off the internet anyway so that's been really fun. I've made peanut-butter and chocolate dipped bananas, vegetable stew, zucchini fries, buttermilk chicken, and on and on. Last night I made homemade buffalo wings. A whole slew of them for six bucks-- baked in the oven and they were awesome! A little spicy for some of the kids that were over last night:)

I've tried new recipes for Orange and Sesame chicken and dinner rolls. Tonight is split pea soup. Isn't soup the best? Minestrone, potato, lentil, broccoli cheese, tomato basil, french onion, tortilla--it never ends and always brings me happiness.

Here is my new kitchen accessory. I bought a dutch oven for my birthday. It is blue and really cute but not quite as big as I had imagined. I've made bread in it thought and that went over quite well. I also made pulled pork for the missionaries and of course a cobbler. But I wanted something bigger and so I got this red one here with Christmas/birthday money from my parents.

My family suffers.

As Lily would say,

"False."

37 Years Young

2012-01-26T12:33:00.000-08:00

My birthday this year was quite the event. I got up to get dressed for a special Relief Society meeting where Ardeth Kapp Perry, the General Young Women's President when I a teen, was going to be the guest speaker. The theme was "Better than you think you are." That was something I wasn't going to miss. (Plus they fed us afterwards;)

She was amazing, and her stories were wonderful, and often hilarious. She made us all feel better about what we were trying to do in our lives and reminded us of why we were doing it. She encouraged us to get our priorities straight and then let the rest go. She also reminded us that the Lord needs righteous women. That doesn't mean good-looking, super-smart, or the ones with most canned apricots in their basement. I appreciate that.

I think we can all appreciate that!

Then I came home to flowers from my Grandpa:

And an an awfully large present from Peter waiting for me:

I was almost afraid to open it.

Here is me opening my new 27-inch LED iMac.

(Note Nathaniel in the background already thinking about what he wants to do with it.)

Have I mentioned that Peter buys me really big, expensive things sometimes?

I had two emotions at the same time. One being, holy crap, this is awesome.

And the other, as you see in my face below, is what the heck???

Stunned is a good word.

The boys immediately get busy on setting things up. I'm still in shock.

Note my 16 wk. baby bump-- I bust out so fast when I'm pregnant it's rediculous.

Unfortunately that was the last of my birthday fun for the next several hours as I battled nausea and headache in bed for most of the day. We had all planned on going out for dinner as a family and had even picked out an Italian restaurant we had never been to. Just as I thought I wouldn't be able to do it Peter helped me pull myself together with a hot bath and some mint tea.

We had a fabulous dinner-- thumbs up to Carrabba's in Orem. I was very thankful to be able to enjoy the delicious food and then the headache decided to throb all the way on the drive back home. I got back into the tub and got in bed. (Headaches are something I really battle in pregnancy because there just isn't that much I can take besides Tylenol, and I'm afraid to take too much of it.)

So I haven't been posting much on my blog recently because I've had this new computer we had to move everything onto and maybe I've just been a little lazy too.

Wow-- thirty-seven and expecting a new person. That's the best present of all for us this year:)

(Sarah took all the photos in this post. She is becoming quite the photographer.)

Snow finally

2012-01-14T18:47:00.000-08:00

This winter has been unusually dry here in Utah but we finally got our first decent snow last Saturday. Nathaniel got a snowboard for Christmas and hasn't been able to use it yet. I prodded Peter into taking the kids sledding and we got John and Rebecca all suited up only to get there and find that the place was closed. Peter was not pleased.

However John did get some good snow play in and built a snowman with some friends in the front yard. Our neighbors across the street built three and we have been amusing ourselves over here with watching them lean a little farther every day as they melt.

Took this picture of them on Wednesday. Gotta love the little one in the middle.

Then this one here was Friday. Today that one on the left is leaning so far down the scarf is touching the ground. We have joked about setting up chairs in their front yard to catch the moment one finally goes. (We're hard up for amusement around here.)

And lastly here is a picture Sarah took of the sunset the other night.

Mitchell baby Number Five

2012-01-09T12:24:00.000-08:00

Guess this is as good a time as any to officially announce that we are expecting a baby in July. Very major news I know! This one was a long time in the preparation phase. All the kids are very excited. Sarah was the first to know way back at the beginning of November. Then Nathaniel, who is constantly messing with my computer, found a search history of something I had looked at online and then pregnancy test instructions in my purse, so when I told him he already suspected.

We did a game of hangman for John and Rebecca and it wasn't until the very last letter that they finally got it. The clue was "baby on the way." It took John all of 24 hours to announce it to everyone he knew.

We heard the heartbeat for the first time on December 23rd, when I was almost 12 weeks. The whole family went with me and unexpectedly the doctor did a little ultrasound and we got to see our little person in there! Baby was moving around some and Peter said he/she was already doing P90X situps:)
We had planned to tell family that night but I was beyond ill and we put it off until Christmas Day. Everyone was pretty shocked to say the least.

Ultrasound image from my video camera.

As for myself, I've been sick, sick, sick. I had it in my mind for the last three or four years that we were waiting for a girl but this pregnancy has had boy written all over it. I was only sick for about three weeks with both my girls. The boys dragged on and on forever. I've been feeling like death for two months now.

Just as I felt I was turning a corner the last couple of days I found myself throwing up again this morning. Weird. Still, I've been able to make dinner without shaking and terrible nausea for over a week now. This is improvement.

I have no craving for sweets-- only salt. Not to be stereotypical, but pickles and I are on very good terms right now, which Sarah finds endlessly entertaining. Though ice cream and I are not, and definitely not together. (Who came up with that one?)

Now that I'm feeling myself moving slowly on into the land of the living, the whole thing is becoming much more exciting:) We are going to have a baby!

Santa at Reams

2011-12-19T15:06:00.000-08:00

Went to the grocery store on Saturday and right in the milk section we spotted Santa & two elves sitting all by themselves waiting for kids.
Sarah was with me and he tried to wrangle her in but she was having none of that.
I called Nathaniel and asked him to drive John (and my camera) down to meet us.
John was pretty intimidated and couldn't remember what he wanted for Christmas.
Sarah and I thought it was funny and reminded us of the movie "A Christmas Story" except this Santa was nice and there was no slide or boot in John's face at the end.

We asked John what he thought about it later and he said he liked it but Santa had bad breath.
Oh John!

Temple Square 2011

2011-12-19T14:42:00.000-08:00

Despite the cold we made it to Temple Square again this year. We bribed the kids with Chinese food--which luckily worked:) I also packed hot chocolate and cookies in the van for afterward.

I let Peter handle the photography this year.

It was not warm. You can see no one really is feeling like having our picture taken.
Kind of hard to smile when you can't feel your face!

They had a new display of nativity scenes from around the world. That was fun.
Rebecca thought the angel at the top of this one was particularly strange and we were trying to figure out what kind of an animal that is on the bottom right.
Kind of like a platypus but the beak is pointy.

They also had hundreds of lit-up paper bags that people had punched little holes in with Christmas greetings in many languages and scenes from the life of Christ. Peter took a picture of this one because it was in Hungarian where his sister Sally served her mission.
This means "love."

I always like going to Temple Square because we live so close and it helps me remember the real meaning of Christmas.
The nativity is always beautiful and inspiring and we always stop to listen to the messages and the singing, complete with President Monson's words from a Christmas devotional.

Chess club

2011-12-16T07:06:00.000-08:00

I went into John's room last week to wake him up and this is what I found on the floor. Kinda creepy, no? He recently started attending the chess club and got this t-shirt that he was very excited to wear to his first meeting, which happens before school on Tuesdays. The girls frequently lay out their clothes at night and that is what I think inspired him. Of course they don't stuff them to look like a body complete with shoes. . .

Just to ease your mind here is where the real deal was at the time,
sleeping soundly, whole and complete.

Christmas decorating 2011

2011-12-09T08:42:00.000-08:00

John's Christmas list

Look! My Christmas Cactus bloomed this year! I'm so excited!

We did a second tree in the family room. It was fun but now is starting to dry up a bit even though we keep it watered. I'm wondering how it is going to be faring by Christmas.
The kids and I decorated with bird ornaments we've been collecting.

The tree in front of the window, of course. It always looks the same and I love it.

End of November

2011-12-09T08:24:00.000-08:00

For Grandpa's birthday we made him a hat. So cute!
Wanna guess how old he is?

Love this expression on John's face.

On Thanksgiving the girls and I cook for hours . . .

Sarah sets the table . . .

John gives the toast:)

Family spends next two days playing Mario Cart on the Wii.
You can see here Nathaniel knew I was trying to take a picture.

Driving me crazy

2011-11-28T11:41:00.000-08:00

Nathaniel has been a driver for three weeks now. It's been weird but nice. For the record, all merit badges are finished (yea!) but he still needs to do his Eagle project. At church last Sunday he went to another Eagle Court of Honor. Apparently this boy finished hours before his 18th birthday. Then another boy was passing out information on gathering his Eagle project stuff together and I was unhappy that this wasn't my son. At the DMV they told Nathaniel I could take his license for any reason and could even walk into the DMV and revoke my signature at any time just cause I felt like it. Nathaniel wasn't loving that speech.

Nathaniel finds all sorts of reasons to drive. Need lettuce? Forgot propane? I can get it! He's taken John to the store and Rebecca to her violin lesson. I love that he can drive himself to the stake center for a mutual activity. I haven't worried too much yet because we've only let him go a few blocks away so far.

Sunday was the first day we saw him bless the Sacrament. I say the first time we saw it because the first Sunday he turned 16 he had to bless it twice for people that were home bound. So we weren't there for that obviously, which I think is kind of nice for him since he didn't have a very large audience for the official first time. Now I guess I join the ranks of mother's who worry during the Sacrament prayers.

The idea that Nathaniel is not far from mission age has not escaped me. He reminds me of it from time to time and I can't help but think of a missionary that spoke in church a couple of Sunday's ago. We've got several out in this ward right now--like eight-- and one of the missionary moms just lost it completely for the rest of church and finally went home for Relief Society. I was feeling for her. Peter and Nathaniel think all the mother emotion over missionaries is hilarious and are clearly going to have no empathy for me whatsoever when I get to that point.

So later that Sunday we were all kneeling around our bed for family prayer when Peter stretches out over the bed and says, "You know what would really make me sad? If this mattress went away for two years."

It really is unfair.

School Events of the last 24 hours

2011-11-18T08:41:00.000-08:00

John had his Thanksgiving program last night.
They sang lots of songs about unfortunate turkeys. So adorable!

Here is John and his turkey.
Speaking of turkeys, have I ever mentioned Peter's rather extreme feelings on the subject? If not, know this: Peter lives for Thanksgiving dinner. He loves turkey. As in weeks ago he started worrying about whether I had secured our turkey yet. I don't know why this is. Maybe he is afraid they will run out before I buy it. I think more than anything it just makes him feel better knowing his Butterball is safely tucked in the freezer awaiting the big day.

Every year he wants the same menu--no deviation. He has reviewed this menu with me this week, he's afraid I'm liable to I forget something.
And it has to be my turkey dinner. This is key. If we travel I still have to cook.
He's so cute:)

Today was the 5th grade wax museum at Art City Elementary. Rebecca was Mary Edwards Walker, a civil war doctor and spy who is to date the only women to have been awarded the Medal of Honor. (See how educational this blog is?)

She was a big woman's rights advocate too, as you can imagine. She was also very outspoken about the restrictiveness of women's clothing and frequently dressed as a man.
Rebecca was not impressed by this at all.
She did marry (in pants, not a dress) but later divorced, surprise surprise.
She was buried in her suit.

Below you can see the gym filled with all the kids dressed as Amelia Earhart, Babe Ruth, various astronauts, presidents, explorers, inventors, and even Dave Thomas, founder of Wendy's and Gene Roddenberry, creator of Star Trek.

This is a 2 1/2 hr ordeal so Rebecca was very lucky to be set up with her good friend Brooke!

My personal favorites?
These guys . . .

Bonnie and Clyde! Check out that cigar!

And only because we live in Utah--

Joseph Smith!
Love it!

Happy 11th Birthday Rebecca!

2011-11-13T19:39:00.000-08:00

Here is a scene from the low-key party we had for Rebecca last night. After some significant burn-out of late I told her this year I wasn't going to do a craft, or games, or a theme. I'd do pizza, a cake, and that was pretty much it. She could invite friends from the ward only. (We did make one exception to this but that girl didn't end up being able to make it anyway.)

They had plenty of fun as evidenced from the wild screaming in my house that went on for several hours. They were planning to watch a movie but that never came to pass. I think they were having too much fun in the basement playing games like "murder in the dark."

Peter and I gave her a pogo stick, a Jessie Doll, the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie, and not one, but two pair of moccasins. We had bought two different styles with the plan of returning the one she didn't care for but she ended up liking them both. I think it all went great considering how much work I didn't do so mission accomplished.

Today was the primary program (which was really well done by the way!) and also Rebecca's official birthday. She wasn't feeling very well so she went home after Sacrament. I taught in Relief Society so I had to stay and worry about her from a couple of blocks away. For the record John refused to stand up for any of the songs in the program and would only pop his head up occasionally to see if we were still smiling in his direction. He was all the way in the back so we basically didn't see him for much of the meeting. Bugger.

Cold Kitties

2011-11-13T19:18:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago Rebecca kept having hives that wouldn't quit. When she broke out in oozing blister hives on the one side of her face I was determined to get to the bottom of it. I was racking my brain one night trying to think--what has changed? What would be coming in direct contact with her face? And specifically on the right side?

Then if finally came to me. It was one of those few moments in my life of instant clarity--she is allergic to our cats! She had been sleeping in the guest room more than usual and just around that time the cats had been sneaking in a lot more because it was getting cold. Carmel would frequently take up residence on the pillow there, sometimes even sleeping with Rebecca there by her face. And Rebecca always sleeps on her right side. With all the allergies Rebecca struggles with this shouldn't have come as such a surprise to me. It's just that we've had these cats for eight or nine years and so I wasn't really making the connection.

When I broke the news to her the next day she was not pleased and denied that this could possibly be true. But whether she believes me or not was not going to change my mind and as soon as I took control of the situation her hives magically disappeared.

The cats are no longer allowed into the house at all. I feel bad about this but there was only one room they really hung out in and it was the guestroom right off the garage and that is now off limits as it is frequently in use by my insomniac child Rebecca.

Even with the cat beds out in the garage it was obvious to me from the way they flocked to the engine of a recently driven car for warmth that they were still cold.

So I got with it and ordered these heated airbeds for them and set them up in the garage.
Carmel took right to them but I kind of had to direct Jill.

She eventually got it figured out.
Now instead of watching for stolen moments to dart into the house they are pretty happy right here. So far seems to be a win-win.

5 Random things

2011-11-11T08:03:00.000-08:00

1) The other morning Peter was running late for some appointment when I noted that he was ironing a new shirt in the basement. I had to question his judgement on this. "You're late! Why are opening a new shirt when your closet is full of shirts I just ironed for you yesterday?"

His answer? None of them were blue.
Something funny about Peter: he likes blue shirts. A lot. A whole lot.
Maybe this is because they look great with his eyes and I have told him so in the past. Maybe it is because he just likes blue. I'm not exactly sure.
So I called down, "Why don't you just buy all blue shirts then?"
He said he hadn't thought of that but that he thinks it may be a good idea.
He was entirely serious, which made me laugh.
I counted all his shirts this morning that were either blue or good enough for Peter because they had solid blue stripes. There were 10.
Then later this morning I pulled out 2 more out of the dryer.
Twelve blue shirts. Twelve.

2) John drew this last Sunday. It is his depiction of the baptism of Jesus.
The bird is saying "I know the scriptures are true. Tweet tweet."

3) Rebecca's birthday list complete with what she needs for her party:

For the record she wanted a horse ("which I'm not getting") an American Girl hair set, a Jessy Doll (from Toy Story), a "bird suite" (meaning suit) for her bird Rocky (which is actually a harness that can be used to "walk" her bird,) a pogo stick, and she wants her own room. Unfortunately she is right about the horse and I haven't seen any new rooms pop up in our house recently so that probably isn't going to happen just now either.

Also this is her depiction of the kids eating me for dinner thanks to my kitchen sign.

4. I have a pet peeve with short skirts. For the record, I'll never approve of your short skirt.
If you struggle to find modest skirts I do feel your pain. Even at the "modest" stores they are still too short on me. I probably try on 8 or more dresses or skirts for every one that is going to be long enough. So one day I was checking out skirt extenders online and was dismayed to find they were like $40 bucks!

So I found this this website and decided to make my own:

Note that in theirs they only used the tule. I used fabric under the tule for more coverage. They are the greatest thing! It's like I have a whole new wardrobe of options now. This red skirt I hadn't been able to wear in forever after it shrunk slightly in the wash. So far I've made a gold, black, and white one.

The Young Women asked me to come in and demo for them and it was a great opportunity to share my opinions. Such as how your skirt should hit your knee and if it does so barely in the front you should bend over and see what it is doing in the back. That if you can stand outside and see through your skirt you should be wearing a slip and because it was me teaching and I got to say what I wanted I also threw in that I didn't think you should be wearing hoodies to church. Or flip flops. And that goes for their moms too.
Okay I didn't really say anything about their moms:)

5) Lastly, is it bad to brag about my kid's grades?
I say not since this is my blog and she worked her butt off for them:

(Go Sarah! Go Sarah, go!)

Cub Scout news

2011-11-11T07:36:00.000-08:00

Mouth a-l-m-o-s-t to the marshmallow. . .

Nathaniel and volunteer mom rescuing our dying fire.

A few weeks ago we had our most anticipated event of the year--
our Annual Wolf Den Cookout.

It's like Christmas for the Wolf Den. Hot dogs, chips, and smores is all we do. Course I always provide a tray of veggies and dip in case anyone is feeling healthy. Surprisingly some boys take advantage of it. Others just use the dip for their chips. It's all good.

Up to now I've never had an official assistant. For the first year we met with the Bears. Then the numbers began to climb and when we split the Cubmaster Assistant became my temporary substitute assistant. Fast forward many months and on Sunday I got my new assistant.
I'll call her Sister Jane for today.

Sister Jane was the first person I worked with in this ward. She and I co-taught the Sunbeams for a few months. We were a good match. No nonsense kind of people.
During our meeting this week Sis. Jane made her first appearance. She was a good sport because she hadn't been there when she was finally sustained on Sunday and no one (including myself) bothered to mention it to her.
In my defense I did think of calling her several times.
That counts right?
So as I'm sitting in the parking lot with 10 boys running about I called her and apologized for not contacting here this week but could you please come over to the church--like now?
She did. What a sport!
As we settled into our room in the church I was trying to call order to our first activity when Sis. Jane barked out "get over here and sit down! Now!"
It was music to my ears. And for the record, the boys were golden.

Ew.

2011-11-10T04:57:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I was making dinner and John was yelling to me about some spider with a million legs. I told him I was kind of busy right now and really I wasn't all that concerned.
Later John and I were playing Monopoly on the floor when this crawled on by:

We do not know what this thing is. We do not know how it got in the house. The 1 1/2 inch body is almost transparent has an awful lot of really long legs! We made Peter catch it in a jar and one of the antenna came off and was twitching all over our Monopoly board. Nasty doesn't even begin to describe it. It moved completely fluidly, kind of reminding me of John's Hexbug he got recently. So, so creepy.

Rebecca was not impressed when she learned we found it just crawling across our family room floor. This was how I found her later that night:

Because just being on the bed isn't good enough she was taking extra precautions.

I love it.

Nathaniel turns 16

2011-11-05T20:12:00.000-07:00

It's official. I am the mother of a sixteen-year-old. When did this happen?
On his birthday I was utterly exhausted from the prior week, wherein I did waaaaay too much so I wasn't exactly filled with energy and great ideas, but I did my best.

Nathaniel is a lay low kind of kid. Much like his father I'd say. His seminary class consists of all juniors and seniors who are on the student body council, or the football team, or in other ways well known around school. Nathaniel somehow ended up in this class as one of only two sophomores. This information has been kept low because he is so exceedingly tall he looks like he is older and according to Nathaniel some of the kids probably just think he is some new kid moved here at the beginning of the school year.
That is just where he has left things.

So of course I wanted to bring in donuts to this class.

On the morning of his birthday at about 9:30 we had a major power outage here in Springville. All the businesses closed, the traffic lights were out, etc. I couldn't buy donuts at the store and was forbidden by my husband to leave the house until order came back to the streets.
(Utah drivers tend to be bad enough with the traffic signals in full swing.)
So I waited.
And waited.
I knew his seminary class got out somewhere around noon (release-time seminary--how I love thee!) and it was looking like a lost cause when suddenly around 11:30, like a birthday miracle, the power came back on.

I headed on over to the store and bought four boxes of donuts which I precariously balanced on into his seminary class. They were sitting there in the dark, which was funny to me since I'm not sure if they knew it had come back on yet or were just doing that by choice. Nathaniel was not expecting my entrance and it was pretty hilarious seeing the look of trying to remain cool on his face.

The seminary teacher was puzzled. He said that not only had Nathaniel played the piano that day but had given a very nice devotional.
Yet surprisingly, had never mentioned it was his birthday.
Yea, big surprise.

I told the class it was not only Nathaniel's birthday, but that it was his 16th, and then left.
I could hear the class singing as I walked down the hall.
It was truly a moment I'll never forget.

Apparently later the teacher announced that Nathaniel was now eligible and he would be posting his number on the board for after class.
Seminary teacher: I advise you not to hold your breath. The gods of parenting have smiled upon me and my son has yet to show interest in girls.

I made this nice dinner of bread and artichoke dip, lobster bisque, and salad. Nathaniel wanted no part of it. He wanted a meatball sandwich from Subway.
At least he ate cheesecake with us after Mutual that night.
His Teacher's Quorum advisor wanted Nathaniel to teach indexing to the Young Women and so he set up the activity on the only day that was available where Nathaniel would technically still be in the Teacher's Quorum. That would be November 2nd--the big day.

Nathaniel didn't get a car. That isn't in our budget. He can get a job now though, which is just as good, right? He might be lucky and get a license if he finally gets that Eagle Scout project going. His permit is expiring November 8th and I have seen some small, but noticeable movement the last couple of days. I've got my fingers crossed.

Happy Birthday Nathaniel! We love you!

Snow on Autumn leaves

2011-11-05T19:49:00.000-07:00

John's little snowman:)
Note the pattern in the snow of him pushing the ball around.

Poor Yuuki missed out on the snow. I think he would have been into it.
I don't mind the winter but would still prefer to enjoy my fall before the snow horns in.
Driving on slushy roads as the leaves blow just isn't the same.

Peter doesn't like the winter at all. In fact he seems to dread it more every year.
I wonder if we'll be able to stay in this great state of Utah for long with him suffering all winter from cold and lack of sunlight.

I recently bought him this light from Costco that is supposed to to be helpful for this and he turns it on every morning while he reads his scriptures or works at the kitchen table.
It's rather cute, don't you think?

Our Halloween Exchange Student

2011-11-04T19:54:00.000-07:00

Here is Yuuki when we first picked him up from BYU.
He is very nervous here in this picture he tells me later.

It was especially fun because he got to be here for Halloween
which is something not celebrated in Japan, and therefore really fun for everyone!
His English wasn't the greatest. Sometimes I would be talking to him and Nathaniel would be standing there and say, "Mom, he isn't getting a word you are saying" right out loud! Or he'd just shake his head at me. The girls would talk to him like he was a deaf Indian.
"Yuuki! You having fun in A-mer-i-ca?"
John would skip around the house singing, "Yuuki likes to dukey! Yuuki likes to dukey!" I was really glad in moments like this that his English was so limited.

Yuuki's pumpkin came out great even if this picture doesn't do it justice!
This was his first pumpkin carving experience. I think he thought I was a little crazy when I roasted up the seeds and offered him some but he ended up really liking them and I sent some home with him. He said they tasted like peanuts.

Left to right John's, Rebecca's and Nathaniel's.

Sarah was especially impressive because she free-handed it.

I went into John and Rebecca's classrooms to do this Halloween craft with the kids I got out of a Family Fun magazine. I spray painted 60 gourds and cut out twice as many bat wings for this project!

Here is John's class all holding up their bats.

This was followed by the school Halloween parade. What a madhouse!

John's teacher is the cutest isn't she? Love her.

Rebecca and Brooke. Check out those fake lashes I put on Rebecca.

Some of the neighborhood kids. John is front left and Rebecca, who had sprayed her hair black with her friend at some point, on the top left.

We of course made Yuuki get dressed up and trick-or-treat. These are Nathaniel and Sarah's last minute costumes. Sarah is the 80's aerobic instructor and Nathaniel is a leprechaun I guess.

Gettin' ready for some Jane Fonda, baby!

John wasn't feeling so hot and ended up peeling off his costume and parking himself on the porch to hand out candy.

We took Yuuki to Boondocks. We all had a blast.

Laser tag. Love the missing tooth!

There were smaller go carts for the smaller kids.
I was very impressed when John finally agreed to drive one.

There's John waaaay in the back!

The jet lag started in pretty good after Yuuki was here for a few days.
This was on the way home from Boondocks. We all but had to carry him into the house.

It was dark when we left Boondocks and I ended up going past a turn to get to the freeway and drove a few miles down a road that was looking more and more dark and abandoned by the second. The GPS wasn't receiving signal and so Nathaniel filled in by saying in his best GPS voice, "You are now entering serial-killer zone."
Ha Ha!

Took him to Temple Square on Friday night, which ended being a disaster. The road construction was so bad it took us almost 2 hours to get there.
Then I managed to get lost in Salt Lake somehow--good grief. We got to the temple just as they were starting to close gates and such. We missed our show at the planaterium and everyone was exhausted, cold, cranky, and hungry.
No doubt it was a real eye-opener for Yuuki as the night wore on and I began to lose it.
At least we had a good dinner that night on the way home at a BBQ restaurant.

Yuuki ended up being a great kid. We razzed him quite a bit about his picture that was sent in his application. It was obvious he didn't think it was a great portrayal of him either and he laughed. He was a very kind, warm, curious, and polite boy. Just as we've found all of our Japanese exchange students to be really. It was a great experience.

Fall Break to Bryce Canyon (Warning: many pictures!)

2011-11-01T20:13:00.000-07:00

We left on Thursday for our condo in Duck Creek Pond, a little tourist town where the kids have to be bused an hour to school each day. That would not work well for us, but it was absolutely beautiful. The town boasted a grocery store. More like convenience store. We lived on hot dogs, bread, eggs, and cereal I brought from home.

After missing our exit (thanks Peter) followed by some "I told you so" (thanks to me) and some major backseat driving (thank you again Peter) followed by slamming on the breaks to switch drivers (thanks again to me) we finally got to our destination. This is a pattern Peter and I like to follow on many of our trips. The kids do not appreciate it.
Good thing we don't do this often or we wouldn't have lasted this long.

A little later than we had hoped but we arrived at the condo and still managed to get in one quick walk around the lake just as the sun was going down:

We look like a happy couple here don't we?

I made Sarah do a little impromptu photo shoot of me so I knew right off the bat there would be at least one picture of me from this trip!
There ended up being plenty more because I made her take pictures throughout.

The only reason I got this picture of Nathaniel is because he was cracking himself up
after acting like a dork for all the other pictures before it.
Note the bright pink bands on his braces. You may wonder why he chose this color?
Because I was sitting right there in the orthodontist office telling him not to.
That's why.

Peace at last!

The next day we went fishing. Why we keep trying to catch fish as a family I don't know.
When we do break our curse and actually catch one
we don't even particularly like to eat them.
But we did catch six between the six of us and we did cook them up that night like good little fishermen. Tally: 2 Nathaniel 2 Peter 1 Rebecca 1 April
Poor Sarah and John--I don't think they caught any.

But they still had fun.

Rebecca's hair is getting so long!

Here I am, fishing without a license. I was the only one without one. Very bad.
Mostly though I just stuck to setting up poles.

"No pictures mom. I'm fishing."

While Nathaniel and Peter vegetated in front of their tech devices back at the condo I took the kids to this "ice cave." After some pretty hairy dirt roads we get to this:

This picture doesn't do justice to the fact that it was just this drop into the ground. My kids affectionately refered to it as the butt hole of the earth. Nice.
And by the way, where do they hear these things?

That night Peter built a raging fire and Sarah got this picture
with Nathaniel's arm around me. WOW!

Saturday we went to Bryce Canyon on our way home. We did the famous Queen's Garden and Wall Street combo. Fabulous hike. Just beautiful!

John spent our entire trip with his rear looking like this. He couldn't help sliding down the red rock behind the condo. In Bryce he wailed through the first 1/3 or so of the hike that he was going to fall and thus had to slide/crawl down the very slow downhill inclines. He cried that he had to pee, that he didn't feel good, that his eye was burning, and on and on and on.
It was not going well.
None of the other tourist hikers wanted him so I thought of the most brilliant thing. I gave him an Excedrin. Never tried that before, but desperate times and all . . .
It worked like a charm. Whole new kid suddenly full of energy and rarin' up the trail.

We came to this place with all of these stacked rocks where people walking down the trail had just added and added over time. They were even in the trees!
Course John added his:

Nathaniel, needless to say, was a holy pain in my butt to take pictures of.

This is a classic shot right here:

Oh, the threats that were heard through the canyon that day ran the gamut.

John on the other hand, was doing great ramped up on caffeine:

How cute is that?

Peter and I would like to come here together, alone, ie: without the kids.
I'm not holding my breath.

On the way home we stopped in Nephi at the One Man Band Diner to get dinner where I was drinking my water and gleeked a little stream in Nathaniel's direction. He promptly dumps his entire Sprite on me and I spent the rest of the trip home in the car all sticky.
Maybe someday I'll get credit for not losing it.
I'll let you know.

Verdict: Overall great place to visit. For kids we liked it better than the Grand Canyon. So much safer and more manageable. I don't spend the entire time in a panic. (Heights and I are not friendly I guess.) We have lived here almost 5 years and this is our first visit!
But we'll be back for sure.

Meanwhile, back at the funny farm . . .

2011-10-17T20:02:00.000-07:00

This week has been one of those I'd just like to forget. The end of the term is fast approaching and all is in panic over here. Sarah worked on math for probably 14 hours this weekend. I was feeling her pain. I was never good at math. My visiting teacher is tutoring her on demand. I don't know how I'll repay her because she won't take money. I know there is another woman in the ward who pays her with chicken. Maybe I should go with beef?

Rebecca's term book reports were due on Friday. I spend more time working with that child then either of us can really take and she is still drowning. Her resource teacher wants me to spend more time on math. We spend so much time on reading and spelling I just can't think about one more thing. It isn't the time so much as this girl doesn't want to hear any more from me. It has to come from somebody else because we're both ready to cry over here. In fact we do sometimes. My patience is about gone and I'm horrible these days. I'm tearing down my own child. Why? Why? Why can't you get this? "It's part of the disability," says the resource teacher. What does that even mean?

John still won't sleep. The battle to get him to bed every night is ongoing which means I have to steel myself for the mornings. He has a spelling list too now but catches on much more quickly. Blessing of blessings I think this kid is not going to have a learning problem.

Scouts is another story. Nathaniel turns 16 in two weeks and has yet to get his Eagle project going. No Eagle, no license. We are not seeing movement.

He is taking a jogging class this semester. Every other day he runs 4 miles. This morning Nathaniel tells me that his PE clothes, the same PE clothes he's never brought home for me to wash yet this year, smell so bad he brought another set to school. Disgusting doesn't come close. I'm beginning to wonder if it is even worth it for me to continue harassing him to bring them home. Maybe they need to go straight into the trash.

Which brings me to this:

Does this look like the room of a scholar?

Nathaniel is a good student. This term he has pre-calculus, physics and Honors English and is holding just under a 4.0. I'm extremely proud of him. He is also one of the few sophomores taking a concurrent enrollment class (computer programming.) I mention this because I constantly remind myself of this when I open his door to this scene. Those clean clothes on the desk? in the basket? They may never get put away. He wears them and then they go on the floor. That expensive dresser you see to the left? Useless. I certainly don't put the clothes away for him. I washed my hands of that job long ago. I just set them in there and then close the door. I do periodic vacuuming if I can get to the floor and don't even get me thinking about the sheets on that bed.

When the pile gets too large to open his door he hefts it into the laundry basket in the hall. This always coincides nicely with me thinking I've got the laundry done. One minute I breeze past an empty hamper and the next it is vomiting Nathaniel's dirty clothes onto the floor. Just like that.
Magic.

In other news Peter just finished up with the October tax deadline tonight. He also got to have his broken cap removed and his tooth drilled on this morning. I'm not sure which he enjoyed more. Actually he got the nitrous gas for the first time so I'm pretty sure it was the tooth. When I brought dinner to the office tonight he was wishing aloud he could have some more of that gas. I can't say it has ever done that much for me.

This weekend we are going to spend the fall break in Bryce Canyon. We have rented a little condo for a couple of nights and the plan is to feign no responsibility for three days. Then on Monday we pick up our Japanese exchange student at BYU. Our last one you may remember, was Yuuki. Funny thing is the boy we are getting this year is named Yuki. So minus one "u." I'm wondering if they are pronounced the same.

Peter went to the orientation for me and we got to see his picture. Holy nerdy. I know, it's terrible I'm judging him from his picture, but his letter was not much more reassuring. He showed about as much personality as a cantaloupe. If this kid is as painfully shy as he appears on paper my family is about to show him a different side of things for sure.

Cornbelly's 2011

2011-10-17T18:26:00.000-07:00

We did Cornbelly's a couple of weeks ago on a discount my friend Michelle told me about one day when we were on the phone. I thought she called the country station where you had to go to get the discount online "cable" but after some quality time in front of my computer I finally figured out it was KBull.
Apparently I don't listen to enough country music.

We had In-and-Out for dinner on the way in last year so we decided to make it a tradition and went back this year. Thanksgiving Point never fails to impress. They had so many new things this year! We were there for three hours and still never even hit the corn maze.

My favorite part was watching Peter ride the bull.

This year there were a dozen or so new wooden structures for kids to play on. A tractor, a pirate ship, a car--I can't even remember what all.

Rebecca brought her friend Brooke but they got into trouble:)

There were so many pregnant ladies and babies there! We saw one family with a custom design trio stroller. One, two, three babies! They had two older boys and then I guess they got triplets. Two more boys and then one little girl. Oh and was she cute!
I think that family was a show all in itself. When I mentioned to the dad that their lives must be pretty ruled by a schedule he said they have it down to the minute and they rarely deviate. It's the only way they make it work. I was glad not to be going home with them!

Walking

2011-10-17T17:17:00.000-07:00

I walk a lot. I try to run, and I do sometimes, but if nothing else I just walk fast.
Charlie waits for me to walk him every minute of his life so he's a pretty good motivator too.
I never get over how beautiful it is here and I feel so blessed to be able to enjoy the scenery right outside my door. There are fields of sunflowers right now and everything is beginning to change. I finally got my camera out a couple of weeks ago and took these pictures just before the mountains started to turn colors.

Snow already?

2011-10-10T08:04:00.000-07:00

This was the view out my kitchen window on Thursday.

We knew it was supposed to be cold that day,
we just weren't really expecting snow.

My poor plants! I had to yank out all the green tomatoes in my garden.
They are now sitting in the furnace room on their vines.
Can't believe how many I had. So mad they didn't get more sun!
Hopefully they'll ripen up anyway.

Samantha

2011-10-06T20:05:00.000-07:00

Meet Sam

Sam is beautiful.

Sam likes to take pictures.
I am told she is funny, she works hard, and is really, really great with kids.

I also hear she is a no-nonsense girl who will isn't afraid to tell you whats on her mind.
I predict we will get along well.

Sam loves Aaron.

And Aaron loves Sam.

They are getting married on December 29th in Oakland, California.
I need to book my airfare soon.

Garden 2011

2011-10-06T08:02:00.000-07:00

Mitchell Garden 2011
Remember all that grass I dug up along the fence last year and all the work we put into building these garden boxes along that same fence? Well turns out it isn't getting enough sun thanks to it being too close to the fence. Duh. So that coupled with the weirdly elongated spring we had here our garden didn't produce like it should have. Our tomatoes just started getting red about two weeks ago maybe?
And now I'm worrying about frost.

This picture was taken a few weeks ago and if you look at the far end you will see the beach umbrella I had protecting our raspberries that have been repeatedly sent by my dad and then killed by yours truly. Desperate times I guess.

Plan for garden 2012 is to tear out all this grass and just have one big garden area. There are so many more things we want to plant--and actually harvest--that I know it will be great. Peter and I are very excited. (We don't get out much:)

This oddly located island of a box ended up being the only one to get good sun all day and in it my rhubarb I have never harvested was hogging all the space and Peter was none too pleased. So I finally got with it. Many dozen rhubarb muffins, and several cakes later I'm wondering why I've been so intimidated to get started on it when it was ridiculously easy to harvest, use, or freeze. Thanks to my Aunt Sally for enlightening me with her mad rhubarb skills.
This stuff is awesome! I'm still hoping for one more harvest.

After seeing my cousin Allison's frozen zucchini in her mom's freezer it finally dawned on my I could do that too. Peter's dad freezes all his vegetables this way and I don't know why I hadn't thought of it before. I hate buying zucchini from the store when I know that at least part of the year I am overrun.

But here is the big project. All my neighbors have had incredible pear harvests this year and most of them are never going to be used so I have this stash that has been ripening in bunches. I canned 6 quarts on Saturday but that was just the beginning. Now they are all ripe and I need to get cracking.

This is my first time back at canning fruit since we moved from California. I got rid of all my cans when we moved (not exactly something you want to drag state to state.) The ones in the stores are all but gone and the ones left are expensive!

On Saturday I drove around listening to conference in my car to search yard sales and hit the mother load. The lady said she had already had several people ask so her sister was driving to Provo to this shed their mother used to store all her bottles in to bring them over and sell. She took my number and said she'd call when the sister returned but I just poked around at a few more yard sales in the area and came back later where I parked myself there to wait. I got first dibs and paid $15 for 75 bottles of all sizes. Cha ching!

So today while my digital thermometer is reporting the temperature outside at a steady 35 degrees and continues to look bleak and drizzly out there I'll be inside watching Masterpiece Theater's "Little Dorrit" and canning pears.

Man, this blog is super-exciting isn't it?

Dinner

2011-09-30T08:49:00.000-07:00

I'm big on dinnertime. Or at least I try to be. I try new stuff all the time make a lot of different things. I feed my kids and if there is somebody else around I'll feed them too.

Ahh, domesticity, how I love thee! There is nothing that floats my boat more than having a bunch of kids at my house and being able to ask if anyone wants some homemade just-out-of-the-oven cookies or watching my children eat something that they are enjoying and I know is good for them. (With John this is not often. As in pretty close to never. He won't eat anything I make and it makes me crazy.)

I try to remember that people get hungry after a long day of work/school and we are not just feeding their bodies but their spirits and we are connecting as a family and kids who eat dinner with their families are 432% less likely to do drugs--or something like that. But really for me it just means, hey April, don't just make dinner, turn off the TV and give your kids your attention. So I had this saying that I really like made for the kitchen.

My kids like to tell me it is cannibalistic, but I actually went to a class titled "What your kids really want for dinner is You" at Women's Conference so I know I'm not the only one who gets it. It's like my personal kitchen mantra, which is good to have because I spend a lot of time in there.

Does this mean we never eat dinner in shifts parked in front of the TV? I keep working on it but unfortunately not. Gathering all the kids together from the four corners of the earth for dinner at six is not easy--even when they have been told repeatedly to BE HOME BY SIX. I have seriously considered making the younger kids wear watches with an alarm that goes off at 5:55 because you can bet that even if I've seen them for the past 3 hours when 6pm comes they are no where to be found. If only I could figure out how to set a watch . . .

I also recently decided I was weary of the constant "what's for dinner" coming from six different hungry people everyday. You would think that someone maybe possibly would overhear me telling someone else--but that never happens. And I don't always have to desire to explain what kind of chicken I'm making over and over. Just chicken okay?

So I bought a little magnetic white board to write down the dinner plan and posted it on the fridge. It has worked out great. The kids have really liked it and if I forget somebody will frequently write it in for me.

Then sometimes I start with something like "roast and baked potatoes"
and end up with this:

But seriously, I'm going to be so sad when they are past this age
:(

September update

2011-09-19T16:01:00.000-07:00

School started almost a month ago. I've had lots to blog about but haven't had the motivation to take action. So here's the update.

1st day of school.

Rebecca was set on wearing her cowgirl skirt, boots, and earrings, but I gently nixed that idea. Nathaniel is in tenth grade, Sarah is in eighth, Rebecca is in fifth, and John is in first.

The whole idea of my kids being in school all day always causes me worry but things have really gone a lot better than I had expected. Not that John is popping out of bed in the morning, let me tell you. Lily came to visit that week, which kids weren't happy about because they had to be at school all day. I took Sarah and Lily to see 'The Help' because I loved it so much the first time I wanted to go see it again with them. We were lazy and didn't get any pictures of Lily. She is frolicking about the beaches at BYU Hawaii now.

Sarah pretty well hates junior high, which makes me feel bad, but she is taking a photography class and seems to like it, so here are a couple of her pictures:

Our dear friends the Gambles married off their last daughter Brianna
in the Manti Temple . . .

where Nathaniel got to meet up with Cameron. I hope Cameron knows just how much he means to Nathaniel. He never would have driven to Manti to attend a wedding unless there was some prospective long-boarding with his old pal ahead of him. That's some dedication.

The Manti Temple was beautiful. It was my first time going inside and it brought sentimental feelings because my parents were married there over 38 years ago.

Sarah got to take home the bouquet because by the time Brianna got around to throwing it she was the only single gal around.

Here is Rebecca's reminder to herself I found on the fridge on fast Sunday.
I thought it was funny.

Peter's sister Megan came to visit and we all loved on Daniel.

Here they are dancing with the "Nightmare Before Christmas" soundtrack
in the background. So cute! We all started getting sick with bad colds while they were here.

The big news around our house has been that Nathaniel's friend Mason is on the mend. Just as things were settling down around their house Mason's dad had an accident on his ATV just turning it around in the backyard. He ended up being taken to the hospital with broken ribs and a punctured lung. It was a complete shock to everyone as their family has already been through about as much as one could handle this month. Due to complications he was 10 days in intensive care--longer than Mason! He finally came home yesterday.

In the meantime Nathaniel and Mason have been hanging out. Nathaniel pushes him around when Mason goes to school (every other day) and they have their own funny ways of getting in and out of the house or getting into the basement. Mason hung out here quite a bit while his mom was visiting his dad in the hospital. I think he got pretty sick of it.

One day I decided he'd had enough of sitting around in the house and it was time for him to go outside to get some fresh air and a change of scenery. So we got him situated outside in the backyard but the sun was in his eyes so I added the umbrella. Then I drug the folding table out and we played a game while he waited for Nathaniel to get home. He was my captive victim since I usually can't get anyone to play Sequence with me.

He comes over and plays his guitar and Nathaniel plays piano. The options are limited.I think Mason has had his fill of video games and TV for quite some time.

On Saturday we had different neighbor kids around (see Jarom Dunn sitting next to Mason) and Nathaniel had to get up to get something for Mason. When Nathaniel rolled his eyes Mason reminded him that he would love to be walking into the house himself right now instead of being dependent on someone else and Nathaniel teased Mason about being a complainer.
"That's all I ever hear. Waa waa. My legs are broken. Waa waa. I can't walk."
I'm still laughing about it.

Everyone in the ward has wonderful things to say about Nathaniel and how great he's been for Mason which is funny because to me he is often your typically self-absorbed, sarcastic, and rather lazy teenager.

I'm a fan of the comic Zits and this one was so true I had to put it on

my fridge the other day.

Peter just got back from another trip to Tehachapi. He worries enough for the both of us these days, so I just try not to do much of that myself. I just enjoy doing my thing over here. On Tuesday last week I had Nathaniel, Mason & their other friend Dillon over. Rebecca and John both had friends from school . Sarah was taking care of Mason's younger sister Maddie, who is three, and we had a couple of kids from the neighborhood to play with her. That is a total of eleven children of various ages at my house.

John's friend was a boy from his class named Harvey. First grade is his first public school experience and John is his first play date. I could see the mother's eyes widen as she dropped him off into the chaos that is my house, boy in a wheelchair and giant black poodle included, and I assured her that all would be well, and no, I wouldn't let him ride on the bike unsupervised.

What I'm really thinking to myself this must look crazy, which I know it does, but at the same time I'm thinking how blessed am I? Everyone is happy and healthy under one roof. How many people get to spend their lives doing what they want to do with the people they want to be doing it with? Though I do get weary of the constant feeding, feeding, feeding! When the kitchen is clean, which happens in brief moments in the day right before another meal begins, I just want to stand and look at it.
I do a lot of dishes, but at least the view from my window is this:

The pergola plants are thriving and we have really loved our new outdoor space.

I'm trying to take time to smell the flowers these days.
Did you know this is the first time I've had kids in school all day? Last year it was John home in the morning and then Rebecca home in the afternoon. I've gone from that to NOTHING. Silence. I feel guilty for every minute I spend doing something unproductive but it is glorious. With all the visitors and sickness the first few weeks of school I had a constant parade of people in the house either visiting or home sick.

Then Peter came down with the nasty cold we've had and was hanging around the house all day. I finally had to tell him to get better or find somewhere to be sick out of my personal space because he is a major disruption to my sacred time. Course I didn't really say that, I just tentatively suggested that maybe it would be a good day to get back down to the office. It could be just the thing he needed to start feeling better! He caught on real quick and accused me of trying to get rid of him.

I finally finished touch-ups on the paint in the kitchen. Note the leftovers of Brianna's bouquet in the green vase to the left and on the right is my raspberry rhubarb jam. It came out great.

I spent the last two Saturdays at the Provo Farmer's Market, which I haven't gone to at all this year up to now. I eat peaches until I get sores on my lip and with the abundance of pears right now here in Utah I just served up my last two pieces of our favorite pear pie to Nathaniel's friends yesterday. One of them asked me to pass along the recipe to his mom so I thought I'd post it on my blog too.

This recipe was given to me by my very good friend Melissa Dolan, who has known me since Nathaniel was just a newborn.

Melissa's French Pear Pie
crust:
2 c flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 T sugar
(You are supposed to sift these ingredients but I never do.)
Cut in 3/4 c shortening 'til evenly crumbl. Mix in 1 egg with 1 tsp vinegar and add to flour mixture. Add 3-4 T water go get dough to form ball & right consistency.
Yield: 9" double crust pie shells or 9x13 pear pie base.
Press pie crust onto bottom and up sides of a 9x13 pan.
Put in 8 cups sliced & peeled pears
Mix together:
2/3 c sugar
1/4 tsp ginger
2 c sour cream
2 eggs
Pour mixture over pears.
Topping:
1 1/2 c flour
1 tsp cinamon
1 c brown sugar
1/2 c soft/melty butter
Cut together 'til crumbly and sprinkle on top.
Bake at 350 degrees for 35 min.
Then prepare yourself for bliss.
Oh, and you might want some vanilla ice cream with that:)

Letter to Nathaniel

2011-08-19T23:25:00.000-07:00

Nathaniel--
My son, you drive me crazy. Like when you texted me during my nap yesterday while my phone was off to tell me you were at Sophomore Orientation you said wasn't until today and would I like to go? By the time I received this text you were already at Mason's house and not interested in going back, to say, talk to a counselor about the rest of your life because "there were too many people there and I don't like people." But you reassured me I was free to go ahead and waste my time if I clearly felt the need to do something stupid and useless.
How touching.

As drivers ed came to a close this week there was clearly some signs of panic. Why is that? Oh I see. You just needed to print 25 articles off about car related accidents, cut them out, and then write a paragraph on them. Oh, and that big last exam you have tomorrow to study for. Funny because I remember you playing video games and hanging with Mason every second you haven't been in class. When exactly did you receive this assignment? Last week? You realize this is procrastinating right?
STOP DOING THAT. IT MAKES ME CRAZY.
"Mom. Stress now, or stress later. Duh. Still going to be stress. Doesn't make a difference."
What are you talking about? The point of doing things early is to never have stress at all!
Plan ahead, spread out the work over several days= no stress and lifelong happiness:)
"Nobody does that mom. "
I did. And what about that high achiever Anderson boy?"
"He's crazy mom. Doesn't count. And you're weird."

Hmmm.

Last night before prayer I tickled Nathaniel's foot. He was not pleased.
"No one loves you mom. You're going to die alone."
Let's not sugar coat it there son.
I read in between the lines: "I love you mom. You're the best. Thanks for all you do. Your cooking is the bomb. I'm going to cry when I leave home and don't worry-- I'll make danged sure you never die alone."

Good thing I have that to comfort and reassure me that what I do really makes a difference and will all be worth it in the end.

Love you too Nathaniel.
xXxoOxxOooX
Mom

Goodbye Summer

2011-08-17T16:46:00.000-07:00

I didn't think I'd be ready for this summer to end but I guess I've finally decided I am. You know that feeling when you realize that every time you walk back into a room you just cleaned five minutes ago and it already looks like someone picked it up, turned it upside down, and then shook it? I'm tired of that.

We tried all summer to get Nathaniel to do his Eagle Scout Project. He never even got the paperwork printed out. He was too busy with EFY . . .

and Scout Camp . . .

and laying around playing video games while thinking about how great
he is to do anything productive.

Just yesterday Sarah went on her last summer excursion with her season pass to Lagoon.

But she has fond memories of her awesome trip to Zion's National Park
with three of her friends.
We spent all our money on her back-to-school clothes
and I finally bought her polka dotted rain boots today she's been bugging me about.
Never mind that she won't need them until it starts to snow.

Rebecca had her second year of horse camp this year
and already is eagerly looking forward to next year.

She's going to have to put a hold on her routine of getting up late everyday and waking up slowly in front of the TV. (Until I force her to read her mandatory 27 pages. Weird number, I know, but that was the one I came up with when I divided up all the books I wanted her to get through into the number of days we had left.)

Then of course she spent the rest of each day playing with friends as late as she could get us to let her, because for Rebecca, friends are the most important part of life.
(With horses and Harry Potter taking a close second.)

But I can't help but worry about how John is going to do with a full day of school
as he enters first grade on Monday.

No more getting up at 10am to sit in his undies
eating Corn Pops out of the box & watching Sponge Bob.

Or telling me he hasn't been into the ice cream.

Or using up all my pipe cleaners to "play" with his toys.

Or dropping subtle hints about what movie he wants me to take him to today.

My heart is breaking.

Tracy Family 2011

2011-08-15T10:04:00.000-07:00

Catching up on the blog here.
Never had a chance to finally post pictures of Jay's annual visit.
They came for the last week in July and we got a chance to catch up a little.

Love this picture of Jarom. He writes all the time.
Very intelligent, and also on the autism spectrum.
Jay and Mel insist he gives them a run for their money,
but I never see it. I just love him because he reminds me of Jay so much.

Caleb.
Don't you just want to eat him up?
It's the freckles I think.

Hiking Timpanogos Caves

I think this one might have been when we hiked Stewart Falls. We did a lot of hiking.

Peter's self-portrait

Oh the enthusiasm.

John about sums it up with this beet-red look.

Stewart Falls was cooler:)

I mock Jay a fair amount about this bonnet style hat. Doesn't seem to faze him.

You can see John's missing tooth here. He finally just lost his first one last month. I heard nothing about anything except that tooth until it finally came out.

Peter's hair looks feathered here--heh heh!
Good thing the 80's is coming back in.

Guess I'm the only one still in full Sunday dress.
By default that makes me the most righteous.

Emily is the cutest, sweetest thing. Perfect child if you ask me.
I want to keep her but Jay is selfish and says no.

Caleb likes bugs. A lot.
As in Jay a lot.
I was saving jars for him, but he kept needing more.
Not sure if that is because he was losing them or just didn't want to mix bugs.

Sariah takes after her aunt and tears through book after book.
I had to peel one away from her to take this picture.

I always cry when they leave. I drop not-so-subtle hints to them all the time about moving closer. They always say they'll go "where the Lord wants us." Hmmm. Last night I called Jay and told him I'd received revelation they should relocate somewhere more this direction. He didn't seem swayed. One thing about Jay. He's very stubborn.
Course I'm very persistent.

thoughts of a recovering woman-hater at 3:30am

2011-08-12T01:23:00.000-07:00

Lately I feel tired. More than normal tired.
Dinner tired, mom tired, please stop calling to ask me to do things tired.
Monday I found myself flipping through the channels to the TV by my sewing machine just in time to see Sally Field have her meltdown funeral scene in Steel Magnolias. I cried a little. Then Fried Green Tomatoes came on (it was some country station showing good southern women movies or something).
Now I gotta say Fried Green Tomatoes is probably my favorite movie. Ever maybe.
I may go years without seeing it and then I do and I bawl like I've never seen it before in my life. But then if I see it again the next day nothing changes. Every time I see Idgie's mother read to her from Ruth's letter containing her mother's obituary and the passage from Ruth where it says "Whither thou goest I will go..." let the waterworks begin.
Then when Ruth dies I'm fully into the term made famous by Oprah known as the "ugly cry."
Why do I do this? Do I think they're my friends? Do I just need a good cry?

So Tuesday comes around and I'm getting dressed in my bedroom (with the door locked-- mini-vacation!!) and I turn on the TV and guess who's there? Sally Field is there, bent over Julia Roberts, watching her slip away. As the funeral comes around I'm glued to the screen as she screams that she doesn't think she can take it and I grab the nearest thing to muffle my weeping and cry into my sports bra like my heart will break.

I suspect other women do this. I've never tried to understand why until I became one of them. A pragmatically-minded, even sometimes cool-hearted girl I suppose, until I became pregnant with my first child and boy did I eat my words of ridicule for those pansy girls the first time someone said something "mean" to me. I just need a good tear-jerker chick flick once in a while. Not just any sad movie--those just make me depressed. A good one makes me feel emotional, a little irrational--"Laughter through tears is my favorite emotion," (Dolly Parton in Steele Magnolias) and kind of . . . pathetically womanish.

I've spent a fair amount of my life denying my softer side because in a strange contradiction it turns out that showing that raw side of ourselves takes more guts than to shrink in your chair as you listen to your date cry through a movie when you don't shed a tear.

Why I've done that I don't know. It's exhausting and stupid and now I think my kids are programmed to freak out and freeze up when I try to express emotional things to them, like how much I love them and how I get teary when I think about them growing up and leaving even though I want them to move on and be successful, confident adults. Or how I may even take it harder than they do when I see them teased, disappointed, or fail, or have a fall-out with a friend. It may not even have anything to do with them. Sometimes I just cry because I feel the spirit, or because I'm remembering that time . . . or how that must have felt for so-and-so when . . .

I'm also, maybe not so shocking to you, coming off a medication. Just one. Not both. Side effect of this one being debilitating fatigue. As in I think I'll just lie here on the couch when I'm not in bed so I'll feel productive. And the emotions are all over the map.

But for every accentuated emotion I have right now, whether it be happy, or sad, or anxious, and am then able to take a breath, return to rational thought and more or less get on with my life, is a major step in the right direction. It brings me to terms with that sensitive girl inside me I can never seem to get along with.
Again, I'm like Bob in What about Bob?
Baby steps to emotion . . . baby steps to feelings . . .

Don't think this changes my opinions for even one second on those lets-mock-woman-fantasy-movies like Twilight. Sorry ladies, I know. I still don't get it.
(But if I did, just for the record, I'd pick Edward every time)

Trials and Blessings

2011-08-06T22:28:00.000-07:00

Nathaniel's best friend Mason lost his footing and fell off a cliff on Thursday while hiking with his brother at Lake Powell. He was life-flighted to a hospital in Arizona with very serious compound fractures in both legs just above the ankle but he's alive and without serious injury to the rest of his body. I saw a picture a few hours ago that his dad posted of him texting Nathaniel and it made me cry! He's so beat up and swollen looking with tubes and monitors all over. I'm so sad and horrified and thankful all at the same time.

He was supposed to be starting driver's ed with Nathaniel on Monday but instead he'll having his 3rd surgery in almost as many days. Hopefully that means he gets to come home sooner than later. What really matters to us is that he's coming home. He'll have to be in a wheelchair for a while and the healing process is going to be long but his mom tells me the doctors are expecting him to make a full recovery. Mason is the greatest kid you could ever know. I'm so grateful for the example he is to Nathaniel, especially since Nathaniel spends so much time over there we often joke with the Barnes family about their extra son.

Just another reminder that we never know what is coming around the corner in our lives.

Nathaniel's vacation

2011-07-22T09:31:00.000-07:00

We finally found a good time to ship Nathaniel out to my parent's house in Sebastopol, CA.
On day one Dad took him sightseeing in San Francisco.

Here is where Nathaniel tries to look relaxed in a borrowed sweatshirt from Aaron when he is actually freezing his butt off. The first text he sends me when he found his bus stop in Oakland was that it was, "umm, kind of cold." Which is why I told him to bring a sweatshirt. But he argued with me and I felt sure he was old enough to learn this one on his own.

There are apparently a lot of things you cannot do at Golden Gate Park.
I'm not sure I can identify them all.

Sarah was unhappy he didn't buy her one of these hats.
Maybe we can find her one online.

These were some type of botanical gardens where there were a bunch of bug and even man-eating plants! Cool!

The story behind this is interesting I think. Constructed for an exposition in 1915 it wasn't built to last and was supposed to be demolished after the event was over. But the people of San Francisco protested and so it stayed. But by 1950 the temporary plaster structure was crumbling apart so they had to tear almost all of it down to replace it with concrete and steel. I've been going here since I was very young. It really is incredible.

The last day Dad took Nathaniel kayaking. Nathaniel said it was "really pretty" which in teen translation means, gorgeous scenery.

Here is a cute picture of dad. The best part for me in all this was the description of things through the eyes of Nathaniel. He said everyone went to bed at pretty much the same time, except for my Dad, who instead would "just wander all around the house." See I get what my Dad is doing because I know how he is, but it is so funny coming from Nathaniel.

"Then it would be all dark outside and suddenly there would be this bright light that would scare the heck out of me." That would be Dad with his floodlight-style headlamp on, wandering around the yard checking on his plants in middle of the night.

These things are pretty foreign to outsiders, but to me there is reason behind the madness. I get it. Night is the most efficient time for brains in our family. No distractions. Everybody does this once in a while.

But for a person with serious attention-deficit problems this is much more than that. There is not enough time in a day filled with distractions to get important things done and so we do it when others are sleeping and our brains don't have to filter out all of these other static and noise of the day. While others are slowing down, we are just getting into our groove.

I rarely do this anymore. Like almost never. Kids get up too early and demand too much for me to have been up until 4am.

The beer shack built by some local surfers.*
*all pictures courtesy of John Tracy:)

My favorite story is of when they were kayaking. Nathaniel says they were just floating along when all the sudden my dad pulls out some corn on the cob and begins to eat it with fervor. At which point he turns to Nathaniel and asks, "Want some corn?"
Even if he did happen to have a hankering for some corn on the cob just then
I think he was too confused to say yes.

The conclusion to this is that Nathaniel had a really great time. A blast really. He ate some fabulous food, including a salmon salad made by gourmet cook Linda with real flowers in it, that he thought was surprisingly good. He got to go to Great America with Aaron, his girlfriend Sam, Lily, and her friend-who-is-actually-not-just-a-friend-but-I'll-call-him-that-just-to-humor-her-named-Peter.
Lily has always been jealous of my man so she keeps finding other guys with
the same name to date. It's really sad.

(That one was for you sis, my love biscuit;)

He got to learn about important things like listening to his mother when she tells him there will not just be a chill in the air but he will actually feel cold to his bones if he doesn't bring a jacket, how to totally pimp out his PSP and many other computer ninja moves from Aaron, about conversing with strangers without grunting one word answers (social skills) and saying thank you (more social skills).

So kudos to you Mom and Dad.
He had a great time and if we're lucky he may have even come back with some new life skills.

Musing on a blissful day

2011-07-14T10:26:00.000-07:00

Peter is in California with the girls and yesterday I took Nathaniel to the airport to visit my dad. After watching him go through security I spent the rest of the day texting and calling him to make sure he was getting on the right transit from Oakland to Santa Rosa, then switching from bus to bus, and finally being picked up by Aaron.
My dad sent me this text, "the package has arrived. it is eating."
That leaves John and I. Just John and I.
And though John is a most labor intensive child I am still very much enjoying this.
Today after kicking the tooth-grinding John out of my bed at 7:30 this morning, I got up, took 2 Advil for my sore legs, got back in bed and slept until ten. Then I spent the next hour on my computer reading the news and then proceeded onto celebrity gossip. Yesterday was Hugh Grant and today was Meg Ryan. Strange lives these people lead. Moved onto some PB&J toast while watching another episode I DDR of the new digitally-remastered WWII series of never before seen film. So good. I'm still in my pajamas and would really like these three parentally neglected neighborhood kids to leave my house. In fact I think I'll throw them out now.
OK, so they're out.

I keep thinking there are things I should be doing. Like going through my giant pile of to-be-filed. But I haven't. I know this is optimal time to work on my quilt I started last January, which I want to do, but I just like sitting here. The house is in pretty good shape. I've cleaned bathrooms, done dishes, laundry, etc. But everything is so much easier when you take four people out of the equation! I have so much free time!
I could go and paint my kitchen right now and John could care less. No one will be asking me why I am doing it (again), why I chose that color for it, or when I am making dinner. This is why I start these projects when I'm alone. No one to question me.

As moms I think this is one of the most exhausting things we deal with--the constant barrage of questioning. If you're a mom, you know exactly what I mean.
"Who was that on the phone?"
"Why are you wearing that? Are you going somewhere?"
"Can Lea come over?"
"When are we going to order those jeans?"
"Why can't I stay out later?"
"Did you call the piano teacher?"
"When is dad coming home?"
"When are you going to be back?"
"How long is this going to take?"

You know how this is. There is basically no end to it. It is like someone is always there expecting you to give a play by play of every movement you make, the reasons behind it, and what your next movement is going to be. Except that they have opinions and criticisms on it all.
Throw on top of this the questions we get for no reason.
"Do you think I should get a Ferrari or a plane when I grow up? How much are planes? About a million dollars? More? Less? Do you think they take a lot of gas?"
Like I know?

On Sunday I had already been pelted with different questions/demands/new updates in just the few moments after we sat down and was trying to will myself into a place of peace before Sacrament Meeting started and Peter turns to me to ask, "What is that big red spot behind your ear?"
I know the family sitting behind us probably overheard me turning to everyone and saying, "Will you all please just shut up?"
I really try not to say shut up. I almost never do. Except that it felt right just then. In the chapel.
I'll do better next time.

So instead of doing something productive I thought I'd just blog about how wonderful it is that I am sitting here in my pajamas at 12:30 in the afternoon thinking about what I could be doing but am not. Things are so wonderfully unscheduled and peaceful around here
I can't help but think,
this summer is going by
way too fast.

I am not a carpenter

2011-07-01T19:11:00.001-07:00

Peter and I celebrated our 17th anniversary on Friday. We went for our annual trip to Cedar City to stay at the bed and breakfast our friends and tax clients own. It is very, very nice. While we were there we saw Midsummer's Night Dream, which is actually the play the bed and breakfast is named after. I didn't know the play very well and reading the summary of the plot was even more confusing. The whole fairy thing wasn't doing anything for me and I just wasn't sure I even wanted to see it. But it was playing while we were going to be there and so we bought tickets.

It was fabulous. The best play we've seen I feel. The Shakespeare Festival plays are so well done-- they have all been very good. But this one absolutely took our breath away. It was that good. Go if you get the chance!!

In our married life we have never bought bedroom furniture. I've always wanted an actual bed but it just never was a priority I guess. At first I thought I'd buy a used headboard and just paint it, but I wasn't finding one I liked so I wondered if I could just make my own and started looking online for ideas and came across one where they used old cabinets. It was exactly the look I wanted so I decided to go for it.

Picked up these cabinets free in some stuff a couple was getting ready to throw away in a move. Took off the handles and made a frame. Attached cabinets, added msf boards and molding, then painted.
This project wasn't the funnest thing for me. I don't suspect I'll want to do it again soon.

There was a lot of noise coming out of my garage for a couple of days with all the pounding of nails and cutting of wood.

I'll say this much--there is a great amount of caulking to cover up all the poor craftsmanship in this!

After it was painted Nathaniel came out to the garage and I asked him what he thought.

"Since when can you build stuff?"
Then he walked back in the house.
Guess that means he liked it!

I love this painting Rebecca did a few years ago. I've had it framed for some time and thought it would be very appropriate to finally hang it up by some raindrops I bought back in April and am finally getting around to hanging. No cute pillows or anything on the bed yet.
The blue was the first color I painted in this house and I love it just as much today as I did then.

Friday night fun

2011-07-01T18:54:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I noticed John was rubbing his eyes and moaning. This isn't necessarily cause for alarm with John--he's a dramatic guy after all. But when I took a closer look I saw that the whites of his eyes were very swollen and filled with fluid to the point where it was actually pushing his eyelids out.

I was definitely alarmed. It was (of course) 6:15 on Friday night when I discover this. I immediately drove him over to Peter's office to tell him I want him to go with me to urgent care. The waiting room was filled with sick people. Poor John is utterly miserable. I think maybe this is pink eye but I've never seen pink eye do this before. After two hours we are seen and doctor takes one look and immediately knows it is some kind of severe allergic reaction. He prescribes Benadryl at night and two allergy pills in the morning. John seems immediately relieved and is back to his normal self in a couple of days.

I have never heard of this before and was talking to my nurse friend who works in pediatric and she said she's only seen it once and it was on an adult. The above picture of Mr. Messy Face just doesn't hardly do it justice. I think by this point the Benadryl was already taking effect.

Determined to go to the temple

2011-06-14T19:33:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to get these baptism names my parents sent me done and after making arrangements for John we agreed last night that Sarah, Nathaniel, Peter and I would leave this morning at 7:15 am for the Provo temple. Busy place over there and the earlier the better. Nathaniel isn't so hip on the idea because he finds the baptisms awkward (due to his height maybe?) so we sweeten the deal by agreeing to take him to breakfast afterward.

As you know good intentions are always thwarted by detours and last night about 10:30 Nathaniel discovers that his recommend is expired. I told him we'd deal with it in the morning and went to bed.

It just so happened that the woman who volunteered to babysit John is married to a member of the bishopric, so this morning I called him at 7am and he agreed to run over to the church to interview Nathaniel. I love living here.

But just as we think we're back on track Nathaniel finds that his church pants are in the washer and throws them in the dryer and I am following him around while he's in his boxers telling him to get on his jeans and run up to the church.

The pants dried pretty fast I guess because they were ready to go by 7:30 when we left. Nathaniel, who said he must have put his pants on "inferno setting" has to wait a minute for them to cool before he could put them on because they are burning hot. Of course I think this is funny.

I was feeling pretty good as we were running only 15 minutes behind. We had not driven more than 1/2 a mile from the house when Sarah announces that she just threw up. Nathaniel is in the back seat desperately trying to visualize himself away from the scene as we turn around to take her home.

Turns out she took a medication this morning that you are supposed to eat with food and all she had was a couple of pieces Canadian bacon. This strikes me as ironic because Nathaniel had just informed me the other day that he doesn't like ham anymore and all I'm thinking is, great, one more thing one of my kids won't eat, and having Sarah vomit ham next to him is not going to help me change his mind.

I'm happy to report that we got all 40 of my names, as well as 5 of Peter's done and all went great once we arrived at the temple.

As we walked into Einstein's Bagels for breakfast I suggested that Nathaniel might want to try the bagel with cheese and ham.
I just kill myself!

Popsicles and the 8th Commandment

2011-06-09T16:41:00.000-07:00

I put up a sign by each of my freezers in the garage to try to prick the conscience of these neighborhood kids who are always on the prowl for our popsicles. I caught a group of 5 or 6 yesterday. One even threw his shoe under the sensor when Rebecca tried to shut the garage door. (I still have the shoe.) We ordered a lock for the chest freezer last year and most of the time it is locked, but of course on occasion it doesn't get relocked and we will catch them actually just stealing popsicles.

I've talked with parents but these particular kids seem to have little to no supervision and my frustrations seem to fall on deaf ears anyway. It is a hassle for me to have to lock my freezer and the whole situation makes me mad!!

Nathaniel making me laugh

2011-06-08T19:19:00.000-07:00

Nathaniel texted me right after I got home from dropping him off at a soccer game at 7am on Saturday morning "I forgot my water."
Then he sends another, "But its fine. Ill just sit here and dehydrate."
Of course I drove back. Meh.

He is at EFY this week and right after he left I went to straighten up his bathroom and found his electric toothbrush still plugged in. I texted him telling him to please tell me he brought one. (He did)
These are a few of our texts the last couple of days:
Nathaniel: We have 38 ppl in our group. We ended up with 2 girl groups. That means 2 girls per guy!
Mom: Only 1 for each arm? Sounds rough!
Just so ya know, Nathaniel still won't talk to girls (which I say a prayer of thanks for every day) and hates dances so much he would probably rather go to the dentist, which is saying a lot, so I think EFY is good for him.

Nathaniel: I got up at 5:45 this morning. Then i got to sit through a morningside followed by a class about the abrahamic covenant by this guy who kept yelling a ton.
Mom: Sounds great!
Nathaniel: Were flippen tired! We are trying to not fall asleep. Weve both been drinking a ton of sprite and eating skittles and junk
Mom: Sounds like yr trying to make yrself sick alright. Go to bed early boy
(Later)
Nathaniel: The showers get way busy by like 6:30. We can't go to bed til 10:30. I felt sick during the dumb dance from massive amounts of captain crunch, skittles and sprite
Mom: Just hope you didn't throw up

But the best one was the text I got this morning:
Nathaniel: This kid in our group said this during the prayer: "and thank you for your daughters and their soft eyes and luscious lips."
Mom: Oh dear.

Almost. Done.

2011-06-06T14:51:00.000-07:00

The tile is in!

Old kitchen . . .

New kitchen.

The sun is hidden so I couldn't get a good shot today. It really is so much brighter and open feeling.

So how's your summer vacation going?

2011-06-02T19:00:00.000-07:00

As John is pushing my buttons and I try to create order in the house I keep reminding myself it is so great to be finally done with school and have some freedom from the schedule that rules my life. I have a whole list of things I want to do. Finishing sewing projects, organizing, digging out a path from our pergola to the gate, building a headboard for my bed (out of recycled kitchen cabinet doors!) And books! So many books, so little time! I've also been I've been scouring the internet for things to do with the kids in our area. We are going to be visiting some local museums (Pioneer, Hutchings, etc) and I am hosting a three day art class for the kids in the neighborhood. Mostly Rebecca's friends.

We are currently overhauling our transmission to the tune of over three grand. So that means Peter has to work a lot and I get to figure out what to do with the kids all day.
Summer vacation = thumbs down. Cheap/free/local entertainment = thumbs up.
But right now I just want my van back. Apparently Honda sent the wrong drum 3x before they finally got it right. It has been gone a week now.
"It should be done by Tuesday. Wednesday at the latest."
"Thursday afternoon."
"Looks like it'll be Friday."
I think I should post the phone number to this shop just so you can hear this lady answer the phone. You'll wonder, as I did, if she is just messing around.
But here's the thing--she isn't.

I took John to the park to catch minnows today. I only do it because he loves it. It was gross. The water stinks. He's in heaven. When he finally caught some the jar gets knocked over so he has to start all over again. I'm long past ready to go so I decide to help to speed up the situation. My foot slides into the stagnant water and I'm looking around at all the nicely dressed moms sitting prettily on their blankets with their cherubic children and wonder, why? Why can't I be more like them?
I bring John home, strip him, and put him in the shower.
An hour later he comes running up to me tugging on his cowboy kerchief.
"Take it off! Take it off! Hurry! I gotta go!"
I'm confused. "What do you want me to take off?"
"This!"
"Your kerchief?"
"Yes! Hurry!"
"What? Why?"
"I gotta poop!"
But he is hopping up and down and I can't get the knot out and I still don't understand why he has to have this thing off to poop.

As I'm making dinner Nathaniel wants to know what the heck I'm shredding vegetables for.
Then he demands to know what it is I'm making and I'm trying to put it off because I know he hates meatloaf. I only make it about once or twice a year but I found a new recipe that has shredded squash, zuchinni, onion & carrots. It does not go over well. It won't set up and so I just keep cooking it until it looks like this:

I know. It's bad.

And it still didn't set up.
But I thought it tasted pretty good for being the consistency of chunky barf.
Who am I kidding? Who can really expect their family to eat this? I just sat at the table and laughed and wondered aloud about the things we could do with this burnt loaf of meat besides eat it. And by the time I put all the ingredients in it was kind of a lot so there is two more pans of it in the kitchen.

Peter, who can usually find something good to say asked me why I don't just stick to the recipe that we like.
I tell him its because I get bored with the meatloaf recipe I make once a year.
It is hard to cook something every day of your life for dinner. It gets old. I get bored.

I know I'm not the only one who feels this way. I remember a friend of mine with six young kids once told me the hardest part of her life at that time was trying to figure out what to make for dinner every day. As I'm listening to her I was wondering why with six kids dinner could be the hardest part of her life.

5 funny things (mostly John) has said recently:

2011-05-24T12:00:00.001-07:00

1) Last night John said the prayer and Peter reminded him beforehand to bless the people in Missouri. Instead he said, "Bless the people in misery." We were all struggling to get to the "amen" so we could laugh out loud!

2) Peter asked John if he wanted to have him or Nathaniel baptize him when he turned eight next year. John said dad because Nathaniel would just hold him under.

3) Rebecca saw an update on the Macaulay septuplets the other day and made an observation.
"Baby + baby + baby + baby + baby + baby + baby= Rebecca."
Isn't that the truth!

4) On Sunday John always complains that he doesn't want to go to church. A couple of weeks ago as he was launching into his fit he shouted, "All we do is sit there while people keep talking talking and talking!"

5) We were watching some birth story on TV where this woman was shouting something about now wanting to do this and John says, "Why don't they just put it back in?"

The boys

2011-05-24T11:39:00.000-07:00

Silly husband.
Peter has been religiously working out with P90X for the last 8 months and is now size skinny.
It's a very sad story.

This little guy just learned to ride his bike he got for his birthday last April.

So now he rides it all day long.
He made me go outside today to watch him ride with one hand.

Our hairdresser has been gone on maternity leave and I didn't like the other one so I haven't had the motivation to make an appointment to get the boys' hair cut. Nathaniel's hair doesn't really get long, it curls at the ends and gets puffy on the top. So yesterday to be funny he combed it back and put on these sunglasses. Totally reminded me of the 80's!
Then he threatened me by saying that he wouldn't wash it until I got on the ball and made the appointments. Gross. They are going in today right after school.
Well played Nathaniel.

Positive thinking

2011-05-24T11:16:00.000-07:00

In Relief Society on Sunday the teacher said, "Sisters, it is time to stop with the Pollyanna attitude. Summer is not coming. We need to face the fact that it is going to be a second winter."
Ha!
The rain is getting old. It was so dark all day yesterday, which I think it is kind of making Peter and I depressed. But it does make everything very green. Nathaniel can hardly keep up with our ridiculously over-sized lawn.

The flowers are growing, so I guess they don't mind the weather.

Plus I get to put out my vases again.

At least it is always spring on the wall in my family room!

Kitchen demolition

2011-05-20T21:27:00.000-07:00

Wednesday Peter & our counter top man, Marvin, tore out the old counter tops.
I knocked out backsplash.

Only the backspash tile didn't all come off nice and clean.
Some of it was so glued on it took the drywall with it, especially along one wall.
There is something about peering down into the skeletal remains of your cabinets and realizing just how much of construction is just a facade that really pushes your panic button. In other words, are we really going to be able to put this back together?

It was about this point I really began to wonder just why I was doing this at all. The meltdown started that night right after Peter left for a two day seminar in Park City. As I studied the gaping holes in my wall I couldn't help thinking, there had really been nothing wrong with the kitchen before! What the heck was I doing? But as the counter people left and I was able to stand back and really see it I knew it was going to look great when we were done.

So here they are. That big section there was in two pieces and it was brutal just watching the five guys strain to manhandle them in. They are absolutely gorgeous.

Here is the sink before:

with special attention on the stained caulking:

I had only seen the new sink as a small picture in a catalog and was shocked at how big it was when they brought it in. I absolutely love it. It almost makes me excited to do the dishes.
OK, who am I kidding. You know it does.

And here is the sink now. Isn't my faucet pretty?

Here is my old tile, complete with sixteen year old grout:

And here is the new counters.
I can't believe how much color is in the quartz!
I think it looks beautiful against the white cabinets.

I spent the entire day yesterday and most of today remounting the cabinets and drawers with new hinges, rollers, and knobs for the cabinets. My friend Shawn, who is an angel from above, came to help me for a couple of hours yesterday, but I still ended up spending hours and hours more of agonizing and redrilling and scrutinizing.
For the record, I'm never doing that again.

We still have the backspash, the bead board around the island and the bar, and the drawer pulls but I think it already looks amazing. So much brighter and cleaner!
Maybe I'm shallow, but I really do get a lot of enjoyment out of these home improvements and the kitchen is where I spend so much of my time. I couldn't be more pleased. I think all my backbreaking work has been well worth it!
For a budget renovation I think we've really added value too.
But who cares? I never want to move now anyway.

Charlie's tail

2011-05-14T13:42:00.000-07:00

After I got home from picking Charlie up from the groomers last week I noticed his tail. Not quite sure of why exactly the groomer did this because it looks pretty silly. I don't know if you can tell from the picture but it is shaved close at the top and then just a big sausage thing at the end. Peter and the kids asked me to shave it all the same so it wouldn't look so ridiculous, but that would require me to do something else and so I declined.
Charlie doesn't seem to care.

Patience is a virtue. I'm working on it.

2011-05-14T12:53:00.000-07:00

I want my skin back.

I want my cupboards back on.

I want my drawers back.

Not that this surprises anyone but the counters are still not here and no firm indication of when they will be. But more importantly still waiting on hinges for cabinets and sliders for drawers.
I know this is only a micro-fraction of what I'd be facing if I was doing a real renovation and so far I've been calmly taking it as it comes. Only now I'm starting to feel done.
Here is to hoping the cabinets and counters can be finished this week.

By the way, this is the color I picked for the counters:

Laundry room makeover

2011-05-13T13:24:00.000-07:00

So here is the before. Not an actual "laundry room" per say,
but more of a laundry breezeway.
I wanted to photograph my very first cabinet take-down operation.

And after. Shiny olive green cabinets. Oh green! How I love thee!
My knobs have an "AM" and "PM" for April & Peter Mitchell:)

Something was bugging me about it and so today I switched the clock
and the sign and now all is right with the world.

Happy Mother's Day!

2011-05-08T16:58:00.000-07:00

Sarah's Mother's Day Present

Last remaining tulips not yet eaten by the deer.

It was 85 degrees yesterday and is supposed to be a low of 30 degrees tomorrow.
So much for being able to plant right after Mother's Day.

Peter asked me a few days ago if the counter tops could count as my Mother's Day gift.
I told him I supposed that would be acceptable.
Just this once:)

Surprise kitchen renovation

2011-05-08T16:08:00.000-07:00

Peter recently did 10 years of taxes for a man going through a divorce and low on cash. Turns out he does counter tops for a living. So I subtly suggested to Peter as he was drifting off to sleep one night (think hypnosis) that maybe we could do a trade. Long story short, I'm getting new counter tops. Beautiful, sand-colored, quartz. At cost. How much? I'd tell you but you'd want to kill me.

How I decided on that color is another story. A long, agonizing one. Decisions and I don't get along. I'm a fretter in the worst sense. I must have time to ponder, and badger people, and ask questions, and look online, and change my mind 50 times. Lily was witness to some of this and no longer questions whether I'm insane, she knows for sure now. I'm begging Peter to call the guy at 9:30 at night to tell him I've changed my mind.
"Please honey! Call him before it's too late! I promise I won't change my mind again! I'm 100% this time! I just know it!"
Peter is rolling his eyes and patiently resisting the urge to strangle me. He's been through this routine with me many times before.
As I was instructing Rebecca not to write with permanent marker on a piece of paper unless it was on a pad so it wouldn't bleed on the counter it struck me that in a few days it would be getting smashed out anyway. I painted Sarah's fingernails over newspaper today. Every time I give it a good wipe down I think, hmmm, this is silly. This is going to be in the garbage in a couple of days. But just in case . . . at least it will be pretty when they come to demolish it.

The back splash is going to be this slate with very occasional pieces of the blue glass below mixed in. I want blue, but I don't want to commit to too much. I'm going for a cottage/clean/beachy colors look. When you seal the slate it brings out the color even more, but doesn't make it shiny. We have a lot of back splash area and I think it is going to make everything really pop.

Along with these new beautiful counter tops we thought, since we were considering doing it anyway, we'd redo the cabinets in that white I've been wanting. So here is the before picture.

When I took off the first cupboard door I felt like I was doing something wrong. Lots of feelings of inadequacy and concern about the daunting task ahead of me! As in I don't want to screw it up and I've only heard horror stories about oil-based paint.

(My cupboards are showing! How embarrassing!)

:)
That light on the ceiling so needs to go doesn't it?
I'll think about recessed lighting later . . .

first coat
(I'm painting the cupboard frames by hand)
I have to wait on the island because we first have to install the bead board.
The great thing is that everything is still usable and I didn't even have to empty out all the cupboards. I have a stove, microwave, fridge, gas, electricity, and running water during this small renovation. Plus, we've taken notice of how much easier it is to get to things when you don't keep having to open and shut the cupboards! Much respect for my friends who have done whole kitchen overhauls that can take weeks or even months, leaving them to wash dishes in their bathtub.

Using a paint sprayer--another 1st for me. The paint has to dry for at least 5 hours before you can flip the doors to paint the other side. Then the 2nd coat can't be applied until the next day.

I have paint all over my feet, hands, legs, arms, and in my hair. I went to church like that today because why go to the trouble of getting it off with paint thinner when I'm going to be getting it all over me again tomorrow?
My whole body hurts from sanding, painting, bending, squatting, reaching, kneeling on hard surfaces but on the whole I think things have gone very smoothly. It is a lot of work of course, but not so bad as I feared. I may be done with the painting tomorrow, but I'm doubtful with the paint taking so long to dry. Counter-tops are supposed to be coming in on Monday or Tuesday so I'm trying to work fast.
Oh and also, Peter leaves for California in the morning.
This is not good timing, but it never really is, is it?

Peter turns 40

2011-05-08T15:47:00.000-07:00

The big 4-0 has come for Peter, which must mean that I am next
so I guess I better have good things to say about it!

This man is the best decision I've made and the person I want to be with the most
(until he makes me mad:)

He's my confidant and my friend.
A hard worker and family man (even when we drive him crazy.)
Ambitious, generous, goofy.
He isn't perfect, but neither am I, so he's perfect for me.

An accounting of our visit with the Holmes Family

2011-05-08T10:35:00.000-07:00

Women's Conference 2011.
There is a picture of Amber and I that my friend TracCee took but we it isn't our best
and Amber would not appreciate me posting it:)
We love Women's Conference and look forward to it every year, and every year my favorite speaker is Julie Beck. I don't even know what to say about her except--Wow.
Amber and I had a week long shop-a-thon wherein we discovered the wonders of Hobby Lobby.
I'm thinking we may have opened Pandora's Box.

Good pictures of Connor are not easy to get so I'm proud of this one.

Their new dog Sparkle--she came with the name. We like to tease the Holmes about it and call her things like glitter, bling-bling, spark plug, etc.

Heidi always looks at you like this--over her glasses. It is very cute.

I just missed getting a picture of Charlie lying his head on this doll. It was really cute. Charlie and Sparkle got along after some initial terror on the part of Sparkle.
Lots of people are scared of our dog at first but he really is just a big 'ol teddy bear.

We spent Wednesday taking advantage of the Salt Lake Connect Pass. We visited Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake, got a lunch at Lion House Restaurant, caught a movie at the Planetarium, went to the Aquarium of the Pacific, and went to the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point.

Holmes Family!

Flowers on Temple Square

3-D movie at the Planetarium

Lion House

Petting the sting rays at the aquarium.

Riding the train at the zoo.

We are sad to see them go! Sparkle favors Amber to an annoying degree
and so she rides the whole way home on her lap.

goodbye hugs!

John's 7th Birthday and reminicing about mom

2011-05-05T18:20:00.000-07:00

Ever since John went to a friend's birthday party last year at Pirate Island in Orem he has been talking about doing it for his birthday. I tried to keep the birthday list short but then it just kept growing. For one thing John couldn't keep his mouth shut, and it seems Pirate Island is the most coveted invitation around.
Then we ended up with two sets of siblings because, obviously, you can't invite one without the other. So long story short, and 13 boys later, we set off.

When one eye patch isn't enough.

The whole thing was way more than I expected after they tacked on a a bunch of unexpected stuff at the end, but Peter says oh well, the boys had a lot of fun. John certainly did. He couldn't sleep for a week before the big day and then couldn't sleep with excitement that the Holmes family was coming!

John shares his birthday with my mom, which always makes me think about her at this time of the year. I never forget her birthday and I never forget the day she died because it was tax day, April 15, 2002. Exactly 5 days before her 50th birthday.

I find myself conflicted about my mom these days. Sometimes I feel understanding and compassion and sometimes I feel angry with her that she didn't try harder to like me when I was growing up. I know we had some good times, but I have moments when I can only remember the bad ones and over time things probably amplify in my mind. We had a strange and rather strained relationship. So different but maybe also the same. Affection wasn't something my mom really showed to many people in her life. It was awkward and uncomfortable for her, and I know that even though I'm leaps and bounds ahead of her with my own children, I still have a hard time telling various people I love them. I try really hard with the kids though.

We never got on until after I had been married for a bit. I spent a fair amount of more concentrated time with her the last years of her life and I think it was a good time for healing. She was very childlike. I was the mother and she was the daughter. When she was rude I told her so and she felt bad. I made meals and cleaned house and helped her in and out of the bath. We got along and grew closer.

The last three weeks of her life were a really horrible, horrible thing to watch. I had driven up to Santa Rosa at the beginning of that time to see her and she perked up for just that one night. Dad said he he thinks she was waiting for me. She sat up and talked. Then I slept the night there in her room because she was scared she was going to die alone. It was a long night. I kept thinking, is this going to be it? Is she still breathing? Things only went downhill from there. She didn't want me to leave, even to use the bathroom or eat. I still had a nursing child that Peter's sister came to help me with so I could sit with mom. She couldn't be touched without screaming in pain. I don't know why. The body does weird things when it is dying I guess.I couldn't understand what she was saying sometimes. She sounded like she was drowning, which in essence she was.
So the last day I was there she told me she loved me. I didn't want her exciting herself any more than she already was so I tried to be reassuring. "I know mom."
But she was very urgent and I'll never forget what she said then. "No. I love you forever." I knew what she was trying to tell me. I think those may have been the last words we exchanged. I can't remember if I told her I loved her or not.
I hope I did.

Back to the grind...

2011-05-01T11:25:00.000-07:00

My house right after the Holmes family left.
1 week, 4 adults, 8 kids, and 2 dogs.
Oy, we had fun.

We already miss them.

Spring Break 2011

2011-04-18T20:38:00.000-07:00

Made the annual trek down to Tehachapi for Spring Break. We went to Newport again and again poor Peter didn't get to go due to it being the last week of the tax season.
The weather was not as warm as last year but still so great coming from Utah where it snowed almost all the way to St George on the way to California.

All the cousins

At the beach . . .

Peter's sister Megan went with us to Newport at my request.
It was Daniel's first trip to the beach and he took to it almost instantly.
Giant sandbox? Bring it on!

Rebecca's hair looks lovely in the wind.
That never happens to me.

Rare moment in which Daniel lets his Auntie April hold him.

Grandpa is not so used to having so many kiddies around.
Course John has that special gift of being able to wear just about anyone out.

2nd Annual Easter Egg Hunt on Grandma & Grandpa's large property

This year there was $25 to be found. I hid the $10 one in a bush and watched as kid after kid looked through it without seeing it. It was driving me crazy!

I don't think there are many businesses out there like a tax business.
It is so predictable and condensed.
One day everyone is frantic and the phone is ringing off the hook--
and then all the sudden it is over and we are all reeling.
Here we all are at our celebratory dinner. Two of our office staff were able to make it, but only one was able to bring her family. We had 21 people seated at the table!

Peter's mom and our most fantastic office manager Anna.
We'd pretty much die without her.

Peter's dad Nat, (side of John's head) Peter's brother Charles, Peter and Nathaniel.

John and Heidi were so cute.

Anna and John celebrate with a little boogy-down.
Woo-hoo! Another tax season down!

Ya learn somethin' new every day

2011-04-08T19:42:00.000-07:00

I see a psychiatrist once a year in the hopes of averting another mental crisis like I endured in 2006. (Really hope to never, never do that again.)
So I'm forking out my $160 in the office on Wednesday. They don't have debit so I have the secretary run the card as a credit. When she prints out the receipt for me to sign I am taken to see there is a line for a tip.
A tip?
Okay, I know to tip the dog groomer, my hairdresser, the waiter, the pizza guy, and the doorman, but am I the only one who didn't know you were supposed to tip your psychiatrist?

For the record I didn't take advantage of this subtle and very discrete way of asking for even more of my hard earned and carefully budgeted money. But if compliments for Dr. P's fine skill in his area of expertise, attentive bedside manner, thorough knowledge of nutrition and medications, as well as his agreeable personality and maybe even some boyish good looks could be translated into money then I would be happy to cast in my coins to the proverbial psychiatrist tip jar on high.
Accolades to Dr. P.
Hope you get my tip.

Cub Scouts

2011-04-05T08:04:00.000-07:00

My Wolves and I at Home Depot Saturday morning. I have 5 but one was missing that day. By October I have 10 and then in December the numbers will start going down. Waiting on an assistant and been relying on parents and primary leaders lately.

Nathaniel is my most regular assistant. He is the den chief (or whatever you call it.) He is teaching the boys to tie a square knot before he teaches them to properly knot a tie.

Daddy Grandpa Nite

2011-04-02T08:54:00.000-07:00

Rebecca & "Daddy" Grandpa
So cute.

The annual Daddy Daughter Achievement Day came and this is the first time they have held it this early I think. Peter missed it by a day. Rebecca was all excited to give him her invitation and then threw it away and went all drama-mama when she found out he wouldn't be there. I kept level headed and told her many kids don't have any daddy or worse a daddy that doesn't care about their kids and that she was very lucky because there are plenty of people who would be happy to step in for Peter. I knew Grandpa would be the perfect one and told her we would bring the invitation over that night. She perked right up.

They had a great time. It was a progressive dinner where they did the main dish, then the appetizers, then the salad, just to shake things up a bit I guess. The dads were supposed to share some things about the girls at the end when they met up at the church for dessert and Grandpa wasn't sure what to share so I gave him a story and here it is:

When Rebecca was three she was more than just a handful. No need to delve into that one though, suffice it to say we didn't think we'd ever survive it. One day our neighbors, the Gambles, were having a welcome home missionary party across the street. We went, socialized a little, then went back home and went to bed. The next morning I found a plate of food by Rebecca's door in the hallway. Thought that was weird since I didn't remember anyone bringing home any food, but I forgot about it quickly.
Later that week Brother Gamble was talking about Rebecca being at the party when they were playing a game. I assured him she wasn't there for that. We were all in bed by then. He was sure she was there. After the game he watched her walk her back across the street to our house.
"Was there any lights on?" I asked, "Did anyone come to the door?"
Come to think of it, he said, he didn't think so. She just walked into the house.
Turned out Rebecca had a busy social life after we all went to bed.
We installed a latch at the top of the front door and started locking Rebecca in her room at night. I was more afraid what she might do if she got out then of a fire. Sometimes I'd get up in the middle of the night and unlatch her door just to ease my conscience, but then I couldn't sleep for worry she might get up before I was up.

I have yet to look back on these days with fondness.

Deer me...

2011-04-01T18:43:00.000-07:00

We planted hundreds of bulbs last year and I've been very excited to see them start coming up but the bleepin' deer keep eating my tulips--chewing them down to the nub and sometimes even pulling out the bulb. Everybody around here has a different take on how to deter the deer from eating your plants. Grandpa says he heard you can pee on your tulips. Sadly I've actually contemplated collecting my pee to pour it around the tulips but my dad assures me it won't work. So here is my brilliant device for keeping them out of at least the front bed:

So far it seems to be working. Dad also suggested I could rig some kind of an electrical wire and put it on a timer. Easy for him to say since he's an electrical engineer.

Pictures of the family room, finally.

2011-04-01T16:38:00.000-07:00

Before pic of the family room:

And after...

We finally got a new TV and stand after all these years. We knew if we waited long enough the prices would just keep dropping and the timing was right, still I was vacillating on buying a luxury item like this when our other one was still working. Then in February our old one suddenly up and died so then of course I was happy:)

We went a few weeks with this little tiny TV we drug down from upstairs and it was very annoying. So one day I picked Peter up from the airport and said we were going shopping for a new one right then. I pondered a great deal over the selection at Costco. I was worried about going too big. I don't like it when you walk into a house and the TV is the main focal point.
At least make it appear like we don't watch it that much, right?
The one we bought turned out just right. We are finally in the age of HDTV folks. Let me tell you--it is so nice.

Peter and I both love this quote and I found it on Etsy.

I am very happy with how everything turned out. I think it looks so much more open and I finally dared to go with cool colors. I've always loved them in magazines but just hadn't made that leap yet. I painted the kitchen 3 times trying to get a color I liked with the blue in the family room. When I decided I didn't like the 2nd color the kids were just shaking their heads.
"Again mom? Are you serious?"
I don't like to change things around all the time so I want to get it right. I ended up doing something I never thought I'd do--I went white. Surprisingly happy with it.

We bought the shelving at IKEA and yours truly assembled all but one piece. Their instructions are the best I've seen and they don't even have any words! I'm all about picture instructions. Don't you hate it when you are given 3 instructions and one picture? That is why I don't make clothes. I truly can't follow the patterns.

And this here is why I don't do electronics:

Just looking at this picture makes me feel stress. How can a man, who is supposed to be the more rationally minded of the genders, make any sense of this?
I mean, come on.
Turns out not only my husband but my son can.
I feel very dependent on them because I'd never figure this out on my own.

Piano

2011-03-26T12:25:00.001-07:00

Kids had their first piano recital with their new teacher. He has a PhD in piano. It is a good thing we don't have a car payment anymore or we couldn't afford him. Actually, I still don't know if we can. The kids practice a lot and Nathaniel is starting to play in seminary. Sarah played her recital piece for her choir class yesterday.
I asked her if they were impressed and she said, "Mom, I am in junior high."
Well, that is true.
The recital took place in a large narrow room of a basement. It was so loud my ears hurt for a long time after we left.
That piano was taking a beating!
I kept thinking, "Why so loud? We're right here! A crescendo! I get it!"
I'm wearing cotton or something in my ears next time.
There was this one woman who played incredibly and I told Nathaniel as soon as he could play her song we would let him quit. He said she has been self-teaching for the last 13 years or something and that she only recently starting taking lessons with his piano teacher because she was "stuck." Wow. I'd get stuck after 13 days--maybe 13 minutes?

Nathaniel was telling me the other day how he gets through his week-- Monday is Monday. Tuesday is the day before, the day before, the day before Friday. Wednesday is the day before the day before Friday. Thursday is the day before Friday and Friday is freedom.
Do you know what else Friday is? The only afternoon our teacher teaches piano in Springville. Also the only days for recitals and "performance classes"--where students practice playing in front of other students.
Nathaniel and Sarah are not impressed with this schedule and they frequently try to get me to agree not to make them go. It never works. I mean gosh, what else do teens have to do on Friday nights anyway, right?
What they don't get is that we hope we are making an investment in their future. Why else would I want to pay more money than I like to think about, only to listen to the complaining about the lessons, then get someone to watch John so I can sit at a recital where I think I can actually feel my eardrums vibrating? Not to mention the times I get to listen to the same song over and over and over and over as they practice for the recital. Do they think I do this for my own sick pleasure? Come on! Really?!
Don't get me wrong, we love to hear them play the piano. There are always hymns playing in the background in this house and we are really hoping they will be able to take that talent they've developed and use it in their lives in church, or as a missionary, or just in their homes for whatever.
Do you think our kids will ever really appreciate the things we try to do for them?
Let's just say I'm not feeling the love right now.

Carpet

2011-03-23T08:02:00.001-07:00

There is no place to eat in this house that isn't over carpet. Unless you stand in the kitchen and eat at the counter I guess, which I frequently do. Not because I'm trying to keep the carpet clean but just because that's what moms do way too often.
So last year the plan was to get wood flooring. Our next door neighbor, who is strangely unfriendly, does this for a living and I had him come over to take the measurements and give me a bid. Then the pergola and the piano happened and the cost of flooring went out the window. So the grand plan was for us to do it in March of this year. As you can imagine, this has been a highly anticipated event for me. I have been keeping one eye closed to the carpets thinking, "(x many more months, days, etc) and it will be gone." But this lurking guilt was nagging at the back of my mind, as is always there. Should I really spend this much on floors? The bid was one thing, but after putting in the pergola I learned all about bids and how they can double on you in the blink of an eye. Even if the bid was on target did I really want to spend this much?
I am Bob in What About Bob--"I need! I need! I need!"
Except it isn't a need. I knew that. I am praying, "I know it's selfish, but I just really want this wood flooring..." knowing full well it is a ridiculous thing to be praying about. But all around me people are really struggling in this economy. Especially our self-employed friends. Oh the joys of being self-employed--the seasons of feast and famine. I knew that if I got these floors, even with Peter's blessing, I could be walking around on what he may need to make payroll in January.
Not to forget those student loans for that master's degree that we've never used but maybe someday we will . . .
Once I made the decision I felt a whole lot better. I knew I could live without wood. So I went carpet. The most indestructible, multi-colored, no vacuum marks, lots o' brown, bordering on commercial grade carpet I could find.

Here is the installers on Thursday ripping out the old stuff.
I went outside as my friend and the carpet installers looked on with wide eyes and proceeded to pour bleach straight onto a piece of remnant. Not a mark. Came back an hour later? Not a spot. Overnight? No color change--nothing but the faint scent of bleach.
Kid proof?

We'll see about that.

This will give me a good five years to save for wood.
Or pay off student loans.
Or my house. I'd take that too.
Psshaw--who am I kidding?

Checking in again

2011-03-21T16:40:00.000-07:00

So here I am again finally. I haven't really had much to blog about. When people ask me how I'm doing I just tell them its the tax season and that pretty much sums it up. Its all good though and I'm grateful for the work we have. We are hugely blessed.

The situation in Japan has had me thinking about just how blessed we are. Among our little group of exchange students we've had over the years there have been three Japanese students. Two girls, Mineko & Eri, and one boy, Yuuki. I wonder how they are doing. I've been so impressed with how the people there are working through this. I love Japanese people. They are respectful, humble, curious, hardworking, and the way they honor their elders is such an example to me. In the aftermath of this horrific tragedy they are orderly and calm. So inspirational. Just good people going about their lives and within an hour their town is gone. I looked over the list of individual names and unless Yuuki Matsumoto is the name of more than one in Japan, someone has confirmed that he is alive.
I wondered how long it was between when the earthquake hit and when the tsunami rolled in. One hour. Can you believe it?

I'm still here

2011-02-13T08:29:00.000-08:00

I have no picture to give me inspiration in this post. I haven't picked up my camera in too long! Why is this? I'm guessing because it is February--the busiest month of the tax season and I'm doing taxes for hours everyday. The kids haven't caught onto this quite yet and so the other day I had to have a little sit-down chat with them to let them know that when I'm on the basement computers I'm working. Like people in offices, except that I'm home to take care of them. You'd think when they hear me getting up every 5 min to deal with a screaming John it might cross their minds that I could use a little cooperation.
As in pacify him, don't antagonize him.
Course John's so easy to work with and all.
"Noooo!!! I want Mom to get the milk! Don't touch the glass! Your germs!"
It seems my germs are less germy to John.
But sometimes, if I happened to have touched the rim . . .
It doesn't help that he won't drink out of the same cup twice. Or that they have to be blue.
I've thought about buying more blue cups, but then I'd just be washing more blue cups.
So I haven't.

I'm also homeschooling Rebecca for the last 2 hours of school now. I drop John off around 12:10 and then pick her up at 12:25 when she gets out of Resource. We then have 2 semi-uninterrupted hours to do work one on one. I think she is doing better, but who knows what the school really thinks. I know I'm the dreaded figure lurking in the halls all the time. I should have my own office there some days. I don't feel like I've been accusatory, or rude (this school year anyway) but I do need information. Like on the curriculum--for this week. What are you doing in science this week? They may not hate me, but I think they really don't like me.
They referred me to the "reading specialist" last week. They benchmark their reading by the alphabet--and as they progress through the grades they want them to be further and further along the alphabet markers. Like in 4th grade they want them to be somewhere between "M" and "R." So I want to know exactly what letter she is on.
"Well, we don't really like to tell parents that because it is really more of a marker for the teachers . . . "
Bla bla bla, just give it to me. And then tell me what it means.
Turns out they have her on a reading level with books like "Arthur Goes to School" and "Amelia Bedelia." Very discouraging. I know her vocal reading is terrible. But she can read and understand books at much higher levels. For her book report I had her read "Winn Dixie" and now she is reading "Felicity, an American Girl." But she reads lots of things in between. Mostly fact type books.
I hate that she hates reading. So I tell her stories about how Einstein didn't do well in school and how Walt Disney was told he wasn't creative and how lots of kids that struggle at her age go on to be doctors. I keep telling her she is going to love it when she finds what she likes to read and can read it without struggling. She is getting tired of me telling her these things. She just wants to go play with her friends.
We've been considering a program called "Learning Techniques." See website here. It's not just that its time consuming--I mean really time consuming, but I have to drive her to Orem once a week to meet with a specialist for 6 months or more.
Oh, and it is $3300.
With the discount if I pay up front.
Course if we could be sure it would help her. But I'm very disappointed they don't have more current data and reviews. And that they don't seem to keep running stats on the kids. I'm a skeptic. I need to see numbers.

In other news I got all the kids new Vans yesterday. Lily works at the Vans store in Orem and can get me her sisterly-discount, which is the bomb. This is the 1st time we have done this since she got a job there. I got 6 pair yesterday for $130 bucks! John and Sarah got 2 pair and Nathaniel and Rebecca got 1--soon to be 2 when they finish going through the boxes in the latest shipment. Vans for the price of Payless. So great.
We had to go on a Saturday night because that was the only time I could take all the kids in when she was working there. It took me no less than 25 min to get out of the parking lot. I'm not super fond of shopping at the mall, but on Saturday night? A lot of things I'd rather be doing. Nathaniel kept telling me how if I let him drive it would have been faster.
Yea, faster to our deaths.

Turning 36

2011-01-22T11:03:00.000-08:00

Guess by the title of this post you can tell I don't have a problem revealing my age, huh?
All this week I was prepping the kids. What day is it on Friday? They weren't catching on I guess because on Thursday I said, "What day is it tomorrow?"
"Friday."
Ya bunch of losers.
When I came down yesterday I said to John, "What day is it today?"
He sighs. "Your birthday." (who-hoo!)
So then I ask him for a birthday kiss, which he refuses.
"Go talk to dad about it. He'll probably give you one."
John is always good for a laugh!

Peter gave me the "day off" which meant I didn't have to get up or pick kids up from school or do dishes or make sure Rebecca's hair looked decent (which of course it didn't because I wasn't there.) Isn't this the greatest thing? It was just what I wanted. Good job Peter.
Lily took me out to lunch (yum) and then we went and saw the only non rated-R chick flick we could find, "The Tourist." Didn't have good reviews and deservingly so. But it was fun and though Lily and I both enjoyed looking at Johnny Depp we couldn't help wanting to take a little pair of scissors and clip off those super-annoying wispy parts of his mustache that were hanging over parts of his lip making us cringe at the kissing scenes. No chemistry whatsoever between Jolie and Depp. And it annoyed me that a natural beauty like Jolie should look like a raccoon through the whole movie. So there is my movie review.
Then we ate frozen yogurt until we felt sick. Perfect sister birthday outing.

My parents gave me this bag from their trip to Mexico earlier this month. I love it.

Then dad sent me this picture of the lady they bought it from. Very cool.

Lastly, here are two of the cards I received for my birthday that Peter was so kind as to pin up by my computer. Have I somehow communicated to family that I like pictures of naked/partly naked old men? If so let me clarify.
Eww.

Wii Dance 2

2011-01-22T09:20:00.000-08:00

For Christmas I got Sarah a game for the Wii where you mimic the dance moves of the silhouette person on screen. Peter likes to play with her, which kills me, and does some serious gloating when he wins.
Here they are dancing to, of all things, "It's Raining Men."

Rebecca's lists

2011-01-17T19:23:00.000-08:00

I will often find lists in Rebecca's room, which is not only cute but makes me glad to see her writing something on her own.

"How to scare Sarah"

"My day"

This is the kind of stuff I find in John's room. Cute in it's own way I guess.

Meet Rocky

2011-01-10T07:39:00.000-08:00

This is the bird Rebecca earned during the summer by reading and having a (semi) positive attitude about going to her reading tutor. We've had him about 5 months.
She loves animals and has been very happy with Rocky.
Rocky is a Conure, which is basically a small breed of parrot, about the size of a cockatiel.
(We call Rocky a "him," but really don't know for sure as these birds have to be DNA tested.)
Before I got Rocky I was under the impression they lived to a max of 15 years.
Apparently they can live as long as 25.

Rocky and his alter-ego. They fight a lot.

We have been fairly happy bird owners. They are not terribly difficult to take care of and are generally well liked by all. Nathaniel has a yellow cockatiel that only likes him. I have an immortal blue parakeet that doesn't like anyone. I call it the immortal parakeet because I blew dried it back to life after Rebecca saturated it with Spray and Wash. Twice. That was around 6 years ago. The only complaint I have about birds is that they are messy. I haven't really found a good solution to this yet. I vacuum quite a bit.

The only thing Rebecca, or any of us for that matter, has been able to teach Rocky to say is his name, which he will only say for Rebecca, so if we want to hear it we have to hide within hearing range while she coaxes him. He is a friendly bird and bows his head or lifts his wings for you to scratch him. He likes people and the biggest thing is making sure he gets enough attention. Sometimes during the day I'll put Charlie out and carry Rocky around while I clean. He likes to be on your shoulder and if you don't pick him up while you're in Rebecca's room he'll follow you around on the floor until he can get a hold of your pant leg and climb on up. Did I mention his little sharp claws? Ouch.

Bird Killer

One thing we didn't know when we bought Charlie is that Standard Poodles were bred for hunting birds. It wasn't too long after Charlie arrived that he killed our chicken.
Rocky is actually the second Conure Rebecca has had. The first lasted less than 48 hours. She had let it out of the cage and John walked in and left the door open when he walked out. Major miscommunication here. I guess I didn't make it clear to her she couldn't do that. We hadn't mounted the cage yet. It was really, really awful and I missed the attack by less than 5 seconds. It was so sad and we could hardly believe it had happened. I had a hard time sleeping because I just kept running through it in my mind. Rebecca didn't take to Rocky right away because she was so devastated about her little lost bird. It is not a happy memory. Her door is now able to be locked from both the inside and the outside and the cage is mounted up high.

How I spent my time in the days following Christmas

2011-01-10T07:24:00.000-08:00

Legos was the theme of John's Christmas presents this year and I finally took the plunge and organized his old ones into this plastic compartment thingy. The kids took turns coming in and telling me how I was wasting my fool time doing something John was just going to ruin.

John says they are married:)

(Lego Star Wars/Prince of Persia combo)

Course now John thinks he has nothing to do . . .

Toy Story alive and well around here

2010-12-30T21:21:00.000-08:00

So are they all ganging up on that one guy? John is highly anticipating getting our wood floors so he can play with his soldiers in more places than the spot in front of the fireplace.

Peter was very careful to preserve the box as he opened the new Buzz.
Good thing because that is where John keeps him all the time.

Christmas Day

2010-12-30T20:54:00.000-08:00

"It's a pillow. It's a pet. It's a pillow pet . . ."

Kind of blurry, but you get the idea. She was eyeballing this present with the sure knowledge that American Girl doll Felicity was in it.

Course she was right:)

Sarah's Itouch
I gotta go back and watch her reaction to this on video again.
She was not thinking she was getting this.

Nathaniel's first cell phone.
I caved, I know. But seriously what do you buy for a 15-yr-old boy?
I for one, had no idea and he wasn't that helpful.

What Christmas would be complete for John without Buzz?
He's interactive and so he talks to you and before I figured out how to turn him off he talked to me all the way home in the trunk of the van.
"Are you still there?"
"I'm not sure I caught that, did you say Star Command?"
All the way home from Orem Target. It was very annoying.

Peter got a wool coat (not the pea coat kind, he looked totally gay in in when we tried it on), a Canon Powershot, and a new electric razor. All somewhat expected I'm afraid. No big surprises.

Santa brought me a very cute brown suede coat and 'Lovely' perfume.
Peter gave me a Kindle, which I expected (and I LOVE LOVE LOVE) and a new flash for my Canon Rebel, which I did not expect at all, and was very excited about! Peter is the man.
I have got to take a photography class.

It was a really, really fun Christmas.

Christmas bake-a-thon 2010

2010-12-30T20:47:00.000-08:00

17 plates this year.
That is down by at least 8 from last year but I think the cookies last year were less complex. And larger so they took up more space on the plate. I'll keep this in mind next year.
Bigger cookies, smaller plates.

blanket for Daniel

2010-12-30T20:41:00.000-08:00

Cutest baby blanket ever!! This was my first time using wool and I absolutely loved it.
Can I just say that I'll never forget Daniel has 23 letters in his name?