Just Another Day

Another birthday has come and gone. I am now 28 and still going strong. It is amazing to think back ten years at where I was and what I was doing. I was just about to graduate from high school. I was in the beginning of my first relationship and SOO "in love". I was accepted to BYU for the fall and was excited and scared to move away and start something so new. And now, here I am 10 years later. What have I done? A lot, I think. To some maybe not, but to me, I have been busy. I have graduated from BYU with a BA in Elementary Education. I have traveled in 3 countries in Europe. I got married and started my family-and that began a whole new chapter to my life. Since being married and having kids I have learned so many new things and done so many new things. I have experienced joys and trials that only a wife and mother know of. I am so thankful to these past 10 years and all that I have been blessed to accomplish and all of the people I have been blessed to meet.
While at the park yesterday a couple people asked me what I was going to do for my birthday. I told them, "Here I am at the park with my kids." Birthdays aren't as exciting as they used to be. Sure my kids got me my favorite goodies and Greg bought me dinner and an awesome sewing machine (well I went and bought it and opened it a couple weeks ago, but it was all in the spirit of it being for my birthday). My favorite part about birthdays is just being remembered. Whether it is a phone call, an email or a little note, it is just nice to be remembered. Life is busy and it is hard to remember everyone, so don't think I am trying to throw out any guilt to anyone, I am just saying thank you to all those who did remember me and made my day a happier one.

By the way, here is a pic of my fancy new sewing machine (if you remember I was using my mother-in-laws machine and it was at least 25 years old). And the other picture is of my table runner I made so simply with my new machine. I can't take credit for the stipple in the middle, that all goes to Holly, my sewing mentor. I look forward to making more things as presents and projects for myself with my new machine. Happy Birthday to me!

Are You Wii Fit?

I am down to 27!!

Don't worry, I am not either. According to our new Wii Fit I am 43 years old (I am almost 28). Greg and I had fun tonight trying to play some of the games-hula hoops and the ski jump were where I excelled and Greg mastered the yoga moves and most of the balancing games. I really have to admit that I have enjoyed the Wii. I like that one game has so many smaller games thus allowing you to not own as many but still feel like you are not doing the same thing all of the time.
I also enjoy that you have to get up and move. If anyone wants to know their Wii age, I promise I won't look, you are more than welcome to come try. It is a lot of fun!

Trashing the Camp

Nathan's school does something really neat, they do a dance festival every year and every child participates. They dress up and practice a ton (according to Nathan it was very tiring). I was so excited to go and watch him today. He said he was a little nervous but he did great. The Kindergarten did their dance to the song, "Trashing the Camp" from Tarzan. I was so impressed with the other grades, too. It was fun to watch so many of my primary kids letting loose with some fun songs and dance moves.

Stop and Smell the Roses

Wouldn't it be nice if we could erase the word "hurry" from our vocabulary? I think that I am constantly saying this word to my children: "Hurry and get dressed" "Hurry and come sit down for dinner" "hurry and clean up your toys." I could go on and on. I don't know why everything has to be in such a rush. Well, I sort of do. I want things done and done fast so we can move on to the next part of our day. Be it driving to school, eating lunch or getting ready for bed I just want the kids to hurry through each and every step so we can do more and more. Last night I was just pooped after the long day of it all and once the kids were in bed I got my self a big bowl with brownies and ice cream and turned on the TV. Greg asked what I was going to watch (nope, we are not into Idol at our house) and I replied with, "Anything!" We ended up watching Les Miserables thanks to Netflix but it really was just nice to sit and relax.
I wish that I could enjoy each and every moment. My Ryan is so good to help me remember this. He likes to do funny things and then ask me to go and get the camera to capture it. I don't always do it, but sometimes it really helps. Today we went to the library to pick up #3 in the Gemma Doyle trilogy and I jokingly said to Ryan, "Do you think I could read this all today?" (the book is HUGE). He looks at the book and says, "Then you wouldn't have any time to play with us. How about it is just a nighttime book?" What do you say to that? I really appreciate that even though I lose my temper and get angry at my kids, they still love to play with me. It is so nice that they are so forgiving and so loving. My new goal is to slow down and not try to do too much. I really need to relax and enjoy my three little angels while they still WANT to play with me.

Family Night Re-Vamped!

Thanks to a great Enrichment last week I was able to incorporate some new ideas into our weekly Family Home Evening. We even invited our neighbors over to kick off the new ideas (this picture is a re-enactment since I didn't think about it last night). The rugs were a great hit (free at a local carpet store) and hopefully will keep the kids in one spot the whole time. Next were the white boards. I had a little adventure trying to get them at Home Depot, but now I have more than enough small ones plus a huge piece left over to either cut up or use somewhere else in the house. The kids loved coloring pictures and erasing them, my only fear is if they are washable?
I was blessed years ago to have a home teacher with 2 young kids who challenged us to start having FHE and set the precedent for the years to come. I am so glad that we did because our children love it. They are always excited to find out what they are in charge of and look forward to leading music, assigning prayers, planning or helping with a lesson, reading scriptures or preparing the dessert. We have tried to keep it as simple as possible over the years and I think that has helped it carry through the week to week. I hope that we will always be able to hold Family Night and that as my children grow we will be able to be more serious and talk about important things. I know that if we do this it will benefit my life and my children's throughout their lives.

Erase 1 Image?

Sorry there are no pictures of our wonderful morning at the park. Nathan was looking at my camera as we drove home and deleted each and every one. Why? I have no idea. I was pretty angry and sad and confused at why he would do such a thing. He told me through tears later that he thought they were going to the computer or something. I way overreacted and got really mad (yes, I did yell). I kept trying to tell myself that they were just pictures and I still have all the mental images of the great morning that we had, but it is still hard to believe that all 30+ pictures are gone forever.
We did have a wonderful morning though. Greg had a volleyball tournament and was up and gone before the boys even woke up (they slept until 8:30!!). Once awake we all cleaned up and ate breakfast and packed our picnic-things were going great and happy. As I pulled out of our street I realized that I had forgotten the camera and headed back to get it (too bad I just didn't forget it). Once at the park we found Greg and cheered for a little before heading to the playground. The kids were great! They kept doing funny things and asking me to take pictures. I got them upside down, crawling through tunnels, dangling their legs on a bridge, under some big trees, rolling down hills (even Annie attempted it and it was so funny to watch), and much more. They were just so willing and eager to pose and smile for me. We ate our picnic and watched Greg for awhile, which was a little tough for the kids so we played tag, I Spy, and Paper-Rock-Scissors. It seriously was one of the best outings with them in a LONG time. Even the boys took some picture of me and the kids, and a funny one of me doing a cartwheel (I am kind of glad that one is gone forever).
After writing this I think I am feeling better, still sad that there are none of the cute and funny pictures to attach with it, but I am not mad anymore (Nathan's sincere tears earlier helped a lot, too). I just needed to at least record what we did have, which was a great morning at the park.

Another Room Painted

I never really thought I would paint my bathroom, but now that I did I am so happy with it. It was all Greg's idea as he bought me the massive white towels for Mother's Day. Since the walls were white they looked really bad, but Greg insists that it was on purpose so that part of my gift was the liberty to paint the bathroom. I think I surprised him when he came home for work on Monday to walls primed with two coats of gray paint. I figured that if I put it off too long it wouldn't happen. Now it is Thursday and the final accessories are in place (except there is no picture in the frame, I am still thinking on that one). The color of the walls is called Spanish Raisin and I was so lucky that the lady at Home Depot spent so much time with me to try to figure out what color would go with the shower curtain. It is a deep purply-brown and I love it. Oh, and that weird shading on the shower curtain is the shadow of the flowers-it made me worried until I figured that out.

Happy Mother's Day!

Please pardon my dirty house, the apron falling down, my shaky voice, and my children not being perfectly still. I did want to tell my mom, and all the other moms I know, Happy Mother's Day. Being a mother is one of the hardest things ever. I heard that before I became a mom and always thought I would be the one to master it, but it hasn't come yet and now I am in the thick of it.
I appreciate all that my mother has done, and continues to do for me and my family. She has always amazed me with all that she does and accomplishes. I love to watch other moms with the same hardships as me and love it when we can help each other get through the crazy days. I love being a mom. I love making my children laugh and playing with them. I love that the Lord has entrusted these three little spirits to me. I know that I am only just beginning but I look forward to many years of laughter and fun. I hope that someday my children will look back at my time with them and smile. Happy Mother's Day!

Happy 7 Years!

Cinco de Mayo in our home is celebrated a little differently than most since it is our anniversary. It is amazing how time flies when you are in love. These last seven years have been filled with so much. College graduation for both of us, three children, a great job and lots of vacations and fun. This year we were able to have a really fun evening thanks to Greg's dad watching our kids. We went to The Roof restaurant and filled our tummies with lots of fancy and decadent foods. Isn't that an amazing and beautiful view!

After dinner we walked around and found these beautiful tulips (my favorite) and a nice couple took our picture after we took theirs. Then Greg took me shopping-the best gift. He walked around with me, holding clothes that I would pick out and patiently watching me try things on (I think that was his favorite part). It was a great night, just the two of us. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful man as my husband.

Kindergarten Field Trip

Today was my first time on a school bus for many years. I was able to go on Nathan's field trip to the "Bean" Museum. I was only assigned these three kids and we had a lot of fun together. On the drive up and back we played the alphabet game and I was impressed at how quickly the kids found the letters. We had a good time doing a scavenger hunt for different animals. During our little snack break we all played freeze tag and I even joined in for red light green light. This next picture is in the little theater room where the museum put on a show with a millipede and a

blue-tongued skink. It was fun to be around about 80 kindergarteners, but noisy. Since I am in the primary I knew at least 20 of the kids and it was fun to catch their eyes and say hi, they would either say hi back or shyly smile and wave.

What is This World Coming to?

#1 A couple weeks ago I was at the mall and saw this shirt in a store. I am getting older and didn't really know what it meant. I tried looking at urbandictionary.com and this was the definition: "Wiggety Whack!: Something, or someone that is so out of the normal that a regular word/phrase just doesn't do justice to the situation". I still can't decide if the shirt is saying drugs are cool or not cool. Either way, why would a parent allow their child to wear a shirt talking about drugs in such a way?
#2 Tonight Greg and I went to see the movie Iron Man. It was a fun movie and we enjoyed it. However, I was shocked at all of the kids there. There were kids on either side of us, between the ages of 3 and 7. There were bedroom scenes, guns to the head, mass murders, etc. Maybe I just protect my boys too much, but I believe that there is no reason a four year old (PG13 means what?) should be watching such violence. This one little boy was cheering every time the Iron Man came on and started fighting, which only happened for about 20 minutes throughout the whole 2 hour movie. Why do we think our children need to see these shows?

Patent Pending

I just wanted to share a bit of cool news. Greg is a computer engineer for those of you who do not know, and he gets to create things at work for his company to use in their programs. Well, a couple of his programs were accepted to be on the patent review board (or something like that) and he was paid a nice bonus because of it. Go Greg! I am so lucky that my hubby works so hard, and is so awesome and what he does, for our little family.

Out with a Bang!

This was sadly my last week in charge of preschool. I can't believe it, the year has flown by. At the very beginning I was relieved when the week was over-it was all a little harder than I thought. But as the year progressed and the kids got used to all of us teachers, things ran more smoothly and I looked forward to my week to teach, and was sad when it was past. This week I only got to teach once since today we went on a field trip. Being who I am, I wanted my last teaching experience with these 6 kids to be special and fun. I decided that we would cook lunch for all the moms. We made cookies, fruit salad and 2 pizzas! It was a lot of work and don't worry, we took breaks in between for stories and music and play. At the end of it all, when the moms came it was a bit overwhelming, but the food tasted great and the kids were proud of what they had done. What a great finish to this year (for me).

And of course Nathan and our neighbors wanted to make the hats, too. And what is a chef hat without baking cookies??