Summertime

Summertime is always such a busy time of year for me. It seems to get busier every year as my kids get older. This summer Trevor is doing piano and gymnastics. Justin is going to physical therapy 3 times a week until next week (I hope!!!). Natalie goes to dance 2 hours a day 4 days a week. She really needs to have a place where she can interact with other little girls. It has made a huge difference in her attitude... for the better. Drew is the only one not in a structured activity. He keeps us really busy, though. He is doing his best to make us laugh as often as possible. Each week we get together with friends, try to swim at least once a week, and then the normal everyday stuff. I actually think my house is dirtier in the summer since we have friends over more often, and 2 boys who are home more often than during the school year.

Kent had a business trip this week. We started a tradition during one of his business trips a few months ago, and we decided to continue it last night. We got ready for bed, said our nightly prayers, and then sat down to play Hot Potato. I know, it sounds so dorky, but it's really fun. We get everyone involved, and we all have to say something when we pass the ball. We always start with saying "Hot Potato!" and then we move on to other subjects. We did colors, foods, countries in Central America (I had to correct a few mispronunciations) and then cars. I need to brush up on that last one. After we did those subjects we moved on to songs. We just sang kids songs that they learned in either church or preschool. To end it all last night we each took a turn saying something nice about each person. We started with the youngest, and then went in ascending order for comments about each person. The only rules were that it had to be something nice/kind, and it had to be about the person/their character/talents/etc., not their possessions. Everyone said something nice, and it totally brightened each child's face to hear their siblings and mom say something nice about them. Who wouldn't want praise for the things that they do? It helps the other kids learn to appreciate the unique qualities of each individual, and all day today the kids got along better than usual. It was great!

Michelle's Wedding

Kent and I left on Thursday night for San Francisco. We wanted to go to Pier 39 and Fisherman's Wharf on Friday morning since we couldn't get tickets to Alcatraz. We spent a couple of hours there then went to SFO to get Amy and my mom. We went back with them so they could get lunch and we could do some shopping. Amy actually at at the Crab Restaurant. Amy, like a good girl, thinks seafood is disgusting, which it is, so I was shocked when she told me that they were eating there. We were able to see it from those places so that was pretty cool. All of my siblings (Michelle- the bride, Amy, Christine, Allan and Katie) and our parents were there.
We got to go to Michael's parents' house in Berkeley for a dinner on Friday, the night before the wedding, and it was fun to meet his parents, brothers and friends. The next morning the 5 sisters went to breakfast at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, then 3 of us went to get pedicures. The ladies there seemed to like me quite a bit, and they started right away on my manicure. I was mostly done with my mani when they took Amy to the chair to start her pedi, and then about 10 minutes after that they took Katie and put her in her chair. She sat there for 35 minutes before they started on hers. In the meantime I got a manicure, pedicure and my eyebrows waxed. I finished about 5-10 minutes after the other two who only got pedicures. I thought it was pretty funny! Amy and Katie weren't quite as amused, though!
After that we went back to the hotels to change and fix our hair again, then drove out to Sonoma. Michelle was getting ready, and after everyone arrived we went outside for the ceremony.
Michelle looked beautiful, and her fiance Michael looked handsome, and they looked so happy. They had a minister who really got animated and put on quite a show for everyone who was there. We had a delicious dinner afterwards, and Katie was absolutely sure that a piece of lettuce was actually a squished spider. She managed to convince a couple of people that it was a spider, but it was a piece of lettuce! (You know I'm right, Katie!) After the ceremony we drove back to our hotels, and saw a wildfire in the Napa area. We saw it on the news this morning, and it was serious enough that they were starting to evacuate homes, and one building had burned down. I took pictures, but they didn't turn out well.
This morning (Sunday) we went to the Marriott and got my mom and 2 of my sisters and drove to the airport. On the way we finally saw the fog. Apparently they had a heat wave... temperatures were in the whopping upper 90's. (I thought it felt great, though, because it's 20+ degrees hotter here!) I guess that caused the fog to stay away until today when the temperatures dropped.

I love my kids

I love my kids. I am oftentimes reminded at the oddest times just exactly why I love them. Today we were out running errands, and Trevor was the sweetest boy. He is probably my most emotional, sensitive child. Today he was so helpful, and wanted to help me get everything done. Then later in the evening he came up to me and gave me a hug and kiss and said, "Mom, you're the best mom in the world. I love you so much." He went to Kent next and said, "Dad, you're a great dad. I love you so much." So sweet.
Justin is always so willing to help out. He gets his jobs done usually before I even wake up, he helps me get the kids ready when we need to go somewhere, he helps me feed them breakfast, and he's just an all-around great kid. He plays with his younger siblings' friends to make sure that they feel welcome. He's also currently begging me to have "at least 1 or 2 more kids." That's not going to happen, but it's so nice to know that he loves his brothers and sister enough that he would want even more of them!
Natalie... what can I say about my little drama queen? She is my constant shadow. She wants me to hold her all the time. She wants to run all of my errands with me. Recently she has become very aware of her appearance. She wants to make sure her hair is done, and wants me to let her wear makeup every day. She loves makeup so much, in fact, that she has begun to "borrow" my MAC lipstick, my body spray, lip glosses and makeup brushes. They always somehow end up in her room, but "(she) didn't put them there." I think we're going to have to get her some of her own makeup on her birthday.
Drew... so cute. He's upstairs right now tyring to get me to come upstairs to lie down with him. I had to stop doing that 2 years ago because otherwise he wouldn't go to bed. He's very upset that he's done with swimming lessons, and wants me to make phone calls right now, at almost 2 in the morning to sign him up again. Since I won't do that he's upset with me. But he's my little snuggle bug, and I am enjoying it for as long as I can.

Reading

I read all the time. I love it. I read a book a day when I can. I always have. I read the entire Nancy Drew series in 2nd grade, the Hardy Boys series in 3rd grade, and then started branching out from there. I started writing a collection of illustrated short stories in 3rd grade. I started writing my first novel in 5th grade. I still have it somewhere.
Justin has not developed my love of reading. Justin has never enjoyed reading. He does it only because he has to, and he's not happy about doing it. Recently he decided it's time to start to enjoy reading. We found an author that he loved so he read all of the books by this author that he could find. He really started to have fun. Then he finished those books, and was unsure what to read next. He talked to Kent about this, and Kent tried to help him find a book he would enjoy reading. A few days after this talk Justin told me about his desire to enjoy reading, and his discussion with Kent. Come to find out he totally conned Kent into buying him I Am Legend. Now, I'm all for Justin finding a book that he can enjoy reading, but I do not think that this is the book. I wouldn't let him see the movie because I think it would scare him half to death. I can only imagine the book is going to be a thing of nightmares for him. I told him this, but he just turned to me with "the look" and said, "Mom, I'm not a baby. I'm going to be 12 this year. I think I can handle it."
So, I'm going to let him read this book, and hope that he enjoys it and doesn't have nightmares about it. If he learns to love reading great. If not, well, we'll try again. I want to keep the momentum building, and really hope that I can help him learn to love reading.

Women's Conference

I went to Women's Conference for the first time this year. It was a lot of fun. We got to see the prophet, and spend time together as women. I think we all had a lot of fun. I took a TON of pictures while we were up there, but I'm only sharing a few. I have some from when we were all in our PJ's, and most of us had no make-up on, and I do not want to be the one who posts those pictures for fear of retaliation!

When we landed in SLC we stopped at Temple Square for lunch.

We got to go to several classes. Here were a bunch of us on the last day in the Conference Center. We all stuck close to the CC that day as President Monson was going to come speak to us. We all wanted to have good seats to see the prophet.

The prophet came and spoke to us. His wife was with him. Just before they arrived there were 23,000 women in the conference center talking to each other. It was pretty loud. When he and his wife and other companions arrived it was immediately silent. The Spirit was so great. Then we all sang "We Thank Thee Oh God For a Prophet." It was an awesome feeling. He gave us a great talk, and he had a great sense of humor. As he was leaving he gave us all thumbs up. It was hilarious.

Here we are after the last meeting. A few people didn't make it for the first picture so I have their picture under the big group picture.

Grandma's T-shirts

Grandma Julie, Kent's mom, comes to visit us all the time. She and her husband, Lenny, own Kona Landscape. A while ago my kids saw the vinyl on her trucks and saw the screen printed t-shirts that they wore and really thought it would be cool to own the shirts. Grandma decided to make them their very own shirts. The kids wear them ALL THE TIME! So after looking at them they immediately put the shirts on and had me take their pictures. I think the pictures speak for themselves!

BTW... Natalie's hat did not fall on its own, Drew didn't really have to cough, Trevor gave himself rug burn on his forehead- on purpose!, but at least Justin and Grandma smiled nicely for the picture!

Trevor's birthday

Way back in mid-March Kent and I were discussing Trevor's birthday party. He didn't seem to think it took much time and/or effort to put one together, so I let him be in charge of planning and executing a birthday party.

It took a while for us to figure out a time that we could pull off a party. When we finally did, Kent and Trevor decided to have his party the day before the last day of school. I went to the store and bought the treats for the treat bags, and ordered the party sub and birthday cake. Several of his friends came, and after eating all the sub, chips and cake they could eat we took them to see The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. Although it took almost 2 months he was so happy that his dad came through for him...

...However, he wants me to be in charge of the rest of his parties!

Natalie's Busy Month

Natalie has had such a blast growing up. She's turning 5 next week, and she has had some fun things happen lately. First off, she graduated from preschool. She gets to start kindergarten in the fall. She is excited, and since she has developed the diva attitude lately, Kent and I might be even more excited! But she had a great time. She got to go to the preschool graduation. Her teacher, Miss Sarah, had little caps and gowns for all the girls to wear. Here is Natalie in hers...

The following week she had her cheer graduation and although I wouldn't buy her the cheer uniform she still looked darling up there. They performed a few routines, and she had so much fun. She was quite happy with me because I let her use some of my glitter lotion and some light makeup. (I just realized that I didn't take a picture of her up close! Naughty mom!)

Drew loved watching everything, and was trying to duplicate all the cheerleaders' moves. He stood in the aisle next to me and danced and cheered. He didn't understand much of what they said so he just made up his own words. It was hilarious!

Last day with the Brandons

Here we are on our last day with the Brandons before they moved to CT. We were really sad to see them go, so we'll have to make sure that we update our blog more often! We all met at Elephant Bar (minus our husbands) for a meal. There was an older couple sitting behind us, and they were kind enough to take a picture of our little group.

Stress!

You know the saying "When it rains it pours." That's how my life feels right now. Kent had to go to Vegas for NEC's yearly kick-off (their fiscal year begins April 1), and this has just been such a busy week. Tuesday is the day he left. That night I had to help Justin finish his HUGE state project for school (which ended up taking even longer than I originally planned- 12 hours total I think), drive the carpool for Trevor's flag football, and I had to also somehow figure out how to get Natalie to cheer. I ended up not being able to make dinner because things were too crazy- so we ate pizza. The kids were just needy with the attention, so it was nearly impossible to help Justin work on his project. Amy was able to take both Natalie and Drew to her house so I could drive carpool and help Justin work. That was a tremendous help, Amy!


Well, that night Trevor helped out with the kids and tried to keep them up as much as they could. Then Justin and I worked and worked until we got his essay done, his quiz for the class done, and the treats ready. After that we assembled the mobile, and got the kids to bed... except Drew. He would not stay in his room because I wouldn't let him have all the lights on. Oh! That boy! So he came downstairs, screaming, crying, carrying on to the point that he had a coughing fit. He finally calmed down and stayed here with me while I was working. He eventually fell asleep and then started another coughing fit. This time he coughed until he he couldn't breathe, and then threw up! Yuck! He was really mad then, and it took almost an hour to get him calmed down. He fell asleep and finally let me take him to bed- at 3 a.m. I was so tired!


Yesterday was much easier in comparison. We slept in a while (to try to catch up on sleep). We came downstairs, ate breakfast, played a little and then got ready to to a friend's house. When we were getting ready we got a call from the school saying that Justin wasn't there. I knew he had gone so she double-checked, and he was there. She apologized, and I made a quick look around the house to verify that the two older kids were not here. I didn't see anyone, so I got Natalie and Drew in the car, dropped them off at their friend's house, and I went to the gym. After I was done working out, I took my shower and then checked my phone messages. The school had called again, but this time said that it was Trevor who was not there. She had checked his classroom first, and then called Justin to the office to ask about it, and he said that Trevor wouldn't get up for school so he just left him. So this freaked me out, and I called home to see if Trevor would answer the phone. No such luck... The 3 mile drive back home from the gym seemed to take forever. I came inside, and found Trevor asleep in his bed. He has so many blankets and stuffed animals on there that I must have missed him when I checked things earlier. I woke him up to have a little chat with him.


With that straightened out I got Natalie and Drew and went to run a few errands. We came home, and Drew started being cranky. I thought he was just tired from being out all day. It wasn't that, though. A few minutes later he was eating a snack and threw it up. He started freaking out about that, but he was totally fine a few minutes later. He even ate dinner. I don't know why he threw up. He was eating string cheese (all at once, of course) so I am guessing that he put it too far back and gagged himself. He ate his dinner, and seemed fine so I don't think he was sick... I hope I'm right!


I don't want to jinx myself, but things have been a lot smoother since then. We played hot potato and duck,duck, goose last night. Everyone seemed to be in a great mood when they went to bed so I hope that things stay that way!

Re-post I'm back!

I have been insanely busy the last several weeks. It seems that every time I sit down at the computer to update the blog someone or something needs my immediate attention. I guess that's how it goes for us moms! Quick update on everyone: Justin- Started flag football in March. He loved it. It was so much fun for him. Unfortunately his feet started causing problems again. He has plantar fasciitis ( see this website for a description- http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/plantar-fasciitis-treatment-overview) in both feet, and it's becoming much worse. It started last August when he was in tackle football 5 nights a week, plus games on Saturdays. He thought he was better, but he's not. In order to prevent permanent damage he had to drop out of football and other activities for 6-8 weeks in order to heal. He's totally bummed about it, but he's doing his best to follow doctor's orders. Trevor- Turned 9 last month. (Holy cow!) He also started flag football in March, and he is actually really enjoying it. This is our child who loves to stay inside and either be on the computer, play video games, watch TV and read non-fiction historical or scientific books. So we are very encouraged that he gets social interaction with kids his age, and he gets physical exercise outside. He also earned his Bear, but because he was sick tonight he won't actually receive the award until next month. Natalie- She and Maryann just got to go on a girls' night out with while the boys were at the Father's and Son's camp out over the weekend. She had a BLAST, and can hardly wait to go again. She is just about done with preschool, and we just went to the kindergarten round-up at school last week. She really is excited to go to the boys' school. She has also been singing. She loves to sing, and she has a really good voice. I think that with some training she could be excellent. Drew-Dog is getting bigger and bigger every day. He cracks us up. We can almost always count on him to do or say something funny several times a day. Some of his favorite lines lately are: "Mom, you my best friend." "Mom, I wub (love) you." "Guys, I gonna beat you up." (Can you tell he has older brothers?!) And he has become quite the ladies' man wherever we go. He flirts ALL THE TIME! It's hilarious. He always says "Mom, I gonna talk to (fill in the blank) at the gym/church/etc." "Dad, I gonna crush you like a grape." Kent is still busy working. He has been traveling a lot more lately... just day trips to Flagstaff and Tucson, but he's not gone overnight for those. He has spent a lot of time with the boys getting them ready to go on their various activities, and not to be outdone, Natalie has managed to wrap him around her little finger. Now he says (in jest, but she thinks he's serious), "Natalie, anything for you." Now whenever I tell her she can't have something she says, "But, Mom, Dad says 'Anything for you, Natalie.' So you have to do it." Ha! Kent has created his own little monster, and he gets to deal with that! Maryann just got released from the primary presidency, and she doesn't have a new calling yet. Until some of the positions that were just freed up for the new presidencies are filled she will be nervous about where they will put her! On Sunday she subbed in primary on the piano, and will play for sacrament meeting on Sunday. Maybe she'll get to attend Relief Society before she gets put somewhere else! Anyway, those are the highlights of what's been going on with us. Maybe I'll even upload the pictures from my camera to the computer so I can post some of them here. Will wonders never cease?! Ciao!

Natalie is the brand new Hannah Montana!

She sure wishes that was true. We had never seen an episode of Hannah Montana until about a month ago. We got a call from a friend in the ward, and she invited us to go with a group of girls from the ward to see the Hannah Montana movie. I admit I wasn't exactly thrilled at the prospect, but I thought it would be fun for Natalie so I agreed to go. Well Natalie was just so excited for her first official girls' night out so we had to do it right. We left about 1 1/2 hours early, went to eat at Someburros, and then went to stand in line at the theater. We got there about 55 minutes early, and within minutes the lines were totally full. Natalie thought it was so cool that we got to wear the 3D glasses, and she still has them. The movie was actually pretty cute, and the music was pretty upbeat so we had a fun time.
Our good friend, Jennifer DeTemple, was kind enough to give us a Hannah Montana CD because they already had that one. Natalie was thrilled. I put it in the car so we could listen to it while we drove to and from preschool and the gym. Now she's singing the songs all around the house, and in the car. I'm almost embarrassed to say that I'm doing it too! Yikes! All my kids now love watching the show, and all want to see the movie. I think it has something to do with the fact that they think she's cute, like the music, and want to get new 3D glasses. (Probably in that order too.)
Natalie really likes that Hannah has long blond hair like her, and when she's Miley she has dark hair like me. She thinks that's the greatest thing ever. She had me do her hair and some pale makeup last week so she could look like Hannah. I forgot to take a picture so we'll re-do that this weekend and post pictures. It's so cute. If I can get her to do it I'll have her sing, and I'll record and post it here. If she plays shy it might not happen, but I'll try.

Drew's latest haircut

Does this look like a boy with a guilty conscience? Notice the strange bald-like part in the center of his head? I missed it the first time.

Drew came into my office yesterday morning and looked a little different to me. I couldn't quite pinpoint it, but a few minutes later it struck me, and I called him back in. He had some hair missing- from the front middle.

Natalie had a friend over, and came up with a very amusing story trying to convince everyone that her friend did it. Drew said Trevor did it (while he was at school- he must be very talented!), then Justin did it, then Natalie did it, and now Dad did it. He had a fun time blaming everyone and seeing the reaction he'd get. Although we aren't positive we really believe Natalie did it. Here's a before and after. There is a spot where there was almost no hair left in the middle, and now he has a very short buzz cut.

Now that I think about it... One of Kent's dreams is to shave our boys' hair, so maybe it really was him.

Drew seems to like the new haircut. He still is a little bare right there in the center because whoever cut it really cut it close, but it's much less noticeable now.

Things about me...

One thing I won’t let my husband buy me… clothes.
One thing I would love to have, but I probably will never have… a house that stays clean longer than 10 minutes when my kids are home and awake.
One thing you will never find in my closet… anything with feathers!
One thing I would choose if I were having elective surgery... reconstruction and tummy tuck.
One thing I love about my face… my lips.
One thing that I love to do… scrapbook.
One thing I would like to change if I could… my children’s propensity to make and leave messes.
One thing I would change as a mom… I would love to be able to get to sleep earlier so I could get up earlier and spend quality time with them before they start the day.
One thing I would do if I had unlimited money… upgrade!
One thing I that I will not do again… give birth.
One thing that I would like to do… travel Europe.
One thing I could do without… pain!
One thing I love to smell… chocolate.
One thing I would do if I won the lottery… pay off our mortgage.
One thing that infuriates me... disrespect.
One thing that I love about winter… the cooler weather!
One thing I love about scrapbooking… being able to look at the pictures with my kids and relive the memories with them.
One thing I am addicted to… Cherry Dr. Pepper with half Diet Dr. Pepper and extra ice from Sonic.
One thing I pray for… the ability to endure my trials well.
One thing I wish I had… a smaller size.
One thing I would do again, regardless of the pain… have my kids and have back surgery.
One thing that I absolutely hate to do… iron, especially men’s shirts.
One thing that is weird about me… I love doing laundry.
One thing that I need help on… lifting heavy objects (see previous answer).
One thing I find most relaxing... getting a massage.
One thing that could get me in trouble… I’ll never tell!
One thing that annoys me… people who pull out in front of me, and then drive under the speed limit.
One thing I dread; therefore, don’t do very often… snorkel!
One thing that I have learned, but still sometimes forget…. I love my kids, even though they can be naughty. They truly are gifts from our Father in Heaven, and it is my duty and responsibility as a mother to nurture and teach them what they need to know.
Seek the wisdom of the ages, but look at the world through the eyes of a child.

Piano Recital

I can't believe I forgot to post this! Back in December Justin and Trevor participated in their very first piano recital. It was all Christmas music. They both did a terrific job, and I don't think either one of them made even one mistake. We had a lot of fun listening to them, and are so proud of them for developing their talents.

The Boys Weekend at the Dunes

A few weeks ago Kent took Justin and Trevor to the dunes. They met some of our friends there. (Hi Gary and Sharon!) It was a quick trip. They left Friday afternoon and were home Saturday afternoon, but they seem to have had a great time. Here are some pictures of them their trip.

This is Justin getting stuck at the top of the hill. He said that his bike wouldn't go into 2nd so he kept getting stuck.

Here are Justin and Trevor riding back in. Safety first!

Here's Trevor revving up to go on a wild ride.

Here is what it looked like as they arrived at the dunes.

Here they are at the camp getting ready to go riding.

Decorating Valentine's Cookies

While Amy was in the hospital recovering from delivering Soren I had Mikaya and Taylor. I made sugar cookies, some hearts and some circles, and then made some frosting. We had sprinkles and candy to decorate with. Then we also made little foam heart Valentines to give to the parents. (In theory, that is.)

Here they are with a picture of their plate of cookies/Valentine and a picture of the child who made it afterwards.

Drew's 3rd birthday

It seems like just last month I was posting pictures from Drew's 2nd birthday, and now he's gone and turned 3! He had a birthday party with his friends, and then we had the Jacobsons and Noordas over too. (Between mine and Kent's families there are more than 15 birthdays in December and January.) Here are a few pictures from Drew's party.

My newest nephew

Here is my newest nephew. His name is Soren Jacob, and he is so cute. Amy, my sister and his mom, has had a heck of a time since he was born. But when babies are so cute you have a hard time holding anything against them!

Can you tell that he already has a ton of girls around him to play with and love him?! Natalie was so excited to hold him, and Taylor and Mikaya just wanted to have their pictures taken with him!

Breaking Dawn

I cannot wait for this book to be released!!! In case you're not familiar with this book....
I had heard about the Twilight series of books for a couple of years, read about the parties at Changing Hands Bookstore, and then heard from a few people that they absolutely loved it. We went to Rocky Point in September, and my friend, who was reading the book while we were there, told me that someone had given her the first book, and that she loved the books. When we got home I went to the library to reserve a copy. I was number 65 on the waiting list. That just bothered me so I went to 3 stores, and finally found a copy. I started reading it on Friday night, and LOVED it. I couldn't put it down. I HAD to go buy the second book in the series before Sunday so I could continue reading. I finished the second book on Sunday night, and HAD to go find the 3rd book first thing Monday morning before I could do anything else. I finished the third book on Tuesday afternoon. Then I felt like dying because I knew that there just HAD to be more books in the series. I had just spent the last few days reading almost 1500 pages of this series, and the story had just started.
I went to the author's website http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/index.html to see when the next book was going to be released, and there was nothing noted. But she did have another book (not from this series) that was going to be released in the spring so I went to amazon.com and pre-ordered that book.
I hadn't checked her website in a while so I decided to look at it a couple of days ago. There was some very exciting news. The fourth book in the Twilight series will be released in August! Yippee!! As you can guess that book is now pre-ordered. I am counting the days until it's released. I also found out that they are casting for the movies that will be based on the Twilight series. I hope that they can come close in their adaptation of these books. If they do I'm sure that I will own the set of movies on DVD.