Changes Afoot

A few months ago I decided that it was past time for a change. Since I couldn't waive my magic wand and melt those five pounds from my hips I decided it should be my hair. So on a whim I had almost 11 inches cut from my head. I could have died my hair red but as courageous as I am when it comes to scissors and my hair I am equally as terrified of hair color. So the color remained ever unchanged but the long locks went the way of the trash bin. And I love my new hair! So does Jane; who decided that if I got to cut off my hair then she should be able to do it to.


It took a couple of months for her to convince her mother that I was being controlling and I really had no right to determine the length of her hair. After all, as she reminded me, she wasn't doing anything wrong by cutting it. And she was right. She looks fabulous! A little too grown up, but fabulous none the less!

Poetry in Motion

Snack time can be a little difficult at times in this house. Therefore, negotiations have become somewhat of an art form.

Me:
Grapes are good!
Grapes are great!
We like to eat them on our plate.

Luke:
You know what rhymes with eat?
Treat!
And grapes are definitely NOT what I want to eat while sitting in this seat!

Quite literally negotiation as an art form; poetry in motion to negotiate the terms of the food that will be consumed. And if you look quite closely at the following picture you'll see Luke pushing his grapes across the table. He'll have to create an even better rhyme if thinks he's getting chocolate!

A Doozie of a Day

I should have gotten up early for a run. But I didn't. I was feeling a little tired after our exciting weekend (I'm sure I'll get around to a little excerpt from that adventure soon) so I lay in bed until I knew that I had to get up and force three kids into action. We were supposed to make it out the door in time to get to Target and find two birthday presents and a baby gift and to stop by Walgreens for a prescription. We only made it to Walgreens. Because then we had to head to Mitchell's baseball game where we got him in time to warm up with the team and make sure he was settled so we could run over to Luke's T-ball game which was delayed because of a mix-up with the fields. Thankfully William took a little time off from work and arrived about this time at Mitchell's game so he wouldn't feel abandoned by his family. Once Luke's game got into swing Jane and I made a mad dash for the car and headed to the other side of town for her tennis lesson. At this point I would have felt the need to step on the accelerator just a bit except for the fact that I had a police officer tailgating me and just waiting for me to creep over the speed limit. They take things like speeding 2 mph over the speed limit very seriously in this town! At any rate, we made it to tennis.

With no time to waste I headed back to see the final inning of Luke's game. After grabbing his treat we hoofed it over to Mitchell's game, kissed William goodbye, grabbed Mitchell's treat and started back across town to get Jane. She jumped in the car and off for presents we went. Two stores later with presents in hand we raced back home to get Luke ready for his friend Anna's birthday party. He had been counting the days and hours and was so excited. We got him off and I rushed over for the last bit of the baby shower I had only the day before found I was supposed to be attending. And at last I thought I could take a breath for a minute. Except for the piles of laundry and dirty bathrooms and cabinet door that had mysteriously been pried off its hinges that all lay waiting for attention.

So the respite didn't last. Jane needed to head to her friend's house and Mitchell decided that since we were in the car and we needed to pick up Luke soon anyway we might as well get a treat but that meant he had to endure several errands I was putting off but really needed to get out of the way and which were so much easier only toting one child around. Sipping on our Jamba Juice we set off for Anna's house and the conclusion of the party. After wrangling three party-goers we headed back to our side of town to return two girls to their home. And then for a just a little while there was respite from the busyness. The boys played and I had a few minutes of lovely adult conversation. Then off to grab Jane.

I guess I should never leave my boys sitting in a running car. And I didn't think it would take long to gather Jane but it did and by the time we all piled into the car it was turned off and wouldn't start again. Now, I have a relatively new, very reliable vehicle so I was somewhat in shock and the boys were acting very strangely when questioned about how the car got turned off and just what had been doing. But a wonderful little thing about this town we live in is that it doesn't take William very long to leave work and head home, or to wherever we happened be at the moment. So my prince in shining armor saved the day, got the car started and decided that I deserved to not have to cook dinner.

This was a very full day and I was tired at this point and I thought the day should be over. But William was mowing the lawn and we needed to get a little weeding done. And then the dog got out. This dog loves to run and he runs super fast and he's really quite naughty if he gets out the front door and he doesn't come back home very quickly....if ever, unless he gets caught. I was tired so I thought I'd let him run for a minute and if the Animal Control picked him up then I might pretend he wasn't mine. But Luke apparently had a different plan and he set off to find Ruben, but I didn't know that. So a few minutes later when I couldn't find boy or dog I set off, not too panicky, to scout the neighborhood. But after two loops through the neighborhood and no sign of either my calm demeanor was quickly changing into panic. Eventually we did find Luke and Ruben, who had both crossed many streets, and Ruben went into the kennel for a long time out and Luke went into my arms for a long snuggle, albeit a snuggle with a bit of a lecture. He's promised me he will never run away from home again and I'm really glad he's thinking of it this way and I'm going to hold him to it.....I hope.

So as I sit here the nausea is finally subsiding and I'm really ready for this day to be finished but with my luck I'm not convinced that will happen very soon.

These are a few of my favorite things........

When the winds howl
When the kids scowl
When the temperature is bad
I simply remember some favorite things
And then I don't feel so bad!


So, a few favorite things..........


I love this picture of my dad. It was taken the day before he died and my little Luke just wanted to snuggle with his Grandpa Dave that day and Grandpa Dave was only too happy to oblige. But he had to tease Luke a little because that's what he always did. He poked and he teased and he was such fun and we loved him for it. May will always be a hard month as it reminds me just how much I miss having him around.




Sister Elaine Dalton, the General Young Women's President (in charge of organizing the programs for the teenage girls throughout the entire LDS church) visited our little ward in Idaho. What a great lady! She spent some time with our girls letting them know just how wonderful they are and she was powerful in what she said. I think every girl in that room felt she was important in the eyes of our Heavenly Father and I think they felt very loved. And I can't think of anything more important for girls to know when they are trying to figure out who they are and who they want to be. It was a wonderful day. However, I felt a little guilty. You see, after Sister Dalton was finished speaking to all our girls she was going to stay in the class with the older girls. But we were having Beehive cake in our class and I didn't think it would hurt to invite her to join us for the last few minutes for cake! Well, she decided she'd simply join us for the entire lesson.....that I was teaching. So I felt a little nervous at first thinking I might not be all that prepared with my lesson, and then I felt a little guilty because the older girls weren't so happy I "stole" Sister Dalton from them. But in the end I think we all really had a fantastic experience. Sister Dalton was speaking that evening to a large group of youth and our girls were invited to sit on the front row. However, the younger girls, my Beehives, weren't able to attend her fireside so their one on one time was particularly special. I truly hope the experience was something the girls will always treasure. I know I will.



My cooking club. Truly a favorite thing. I was quite worried when we moved here that I would have a difficult time making new friends. I had heard about these Idahoans. I had heard they were kind of a closed bunch. But I met Wendy right off the bat and she as warm and inviting and fun as can be. And she started a cooking club. There are only eight of us (yes, we're quite exclusive!) and we meet once a month to share our culinary secrets and finest recipes and witty comments and clever conversation. I have come to really love these women! We all come from varied backgrounds with so many different interests and talents and we come together to eat. There is nothing better. Except maybe when we invited our husbands to a potluck dinner at Sheri's renovated barn. I felt like I was stepping out of the pages of Martha Stewart Living. Wendy called me the following day and wondered if I could have imagined something as delicious and grand and fantastic as our evening had been.....and it all happened in our little tundra town!


My little Irish dancer. Jane looks so pretty when she's dancing a jig and so happy.


Before our move to the tundra William never had time to consider participating in sports himself. He sacrificed a lot of time to coach the kids but that never left anytime for himself. But our move certainly has changed things a bit and now he doing things like sacrificing his toenail in the name of the game.


I love that my boys are best buddies and so creative and fun and active. This picture represents the United States in a heated race on the Olympic bobsled track. I'm sure you can see it when you look closely. It's Legos and basketball and baseball and sword fights and soccer and trampoline wars and wrestling matches all day long with these two and sometimes they slow down enough to acknowledge my existence with a "Hey Mom! Love you. I'm starving! What can I eat?"

And these are a few of my latest favorite things.

Luke!

I love Lukie, he loves me
He turned four years-old, yes sirree
He thinks he's super grown-up and so you see
He so happy he's no longer three!

Just after Luke turned four he informed me that he no longer needed anyone to take him to the bathroom while we are at church. He is perfectly able to leave Sacrament meeting and head to the bathroom, and wherever else he chooses, on his own. I informed him that he may be four and quite grown up but that he would still be accompanied on that little walk to make sure it didn't turn into a loud and long adventure. He was quite displeased.

The day he turned four he also wondered why he would not start attending "Mitchell's school" immediately. I told him that he needed to be five and it needed to be that start of the school year, not the middle to end of the school year, before he could go to "Mitchell's school." He was quite displeased.

Luke also wondered why on his birthday he didn't receive his own iPod touch like his dad had gotten as a gift. I told him that when he was in his late thirties maybe he would have presents like that, until then he would have to make do with a Wii game and lots of other fun toys. He likes his toys, but was quite displeased that he doesn't have his own iPod. He is, after all, very grown up because he's four.


Luke is such a joy. He is such a fun buddy and I will never tire of his hair snuggles. I've decided that as long as he will give me hair snuggles I will make sure I have long hair. There is no reason to cut it off and give him an excuse to stop the snuggles!

On his first day of t-ball he put his mitt on an hour before his practice and told me that he really needed me to help him put his shoes on because he didn't want to take the mitt off in case he wasn't prepared. I mean, you never know if a ball is going to drop from the kitchen ceiling while you're shoes are being tied so you had better be ready for anything. He is so interested in life and notices everything. And he is so excited to be fully living each day.....especially if he's living it while doing things with his older brother who he idolizes. There is some interior clock in Luke and he knows just when that school bell is ringing. He spends the next fifteen minutes waiting and watching for the bus to arrive so he can get down to the really great part of the day: playing with Mitchell. Legos are never as fun as when Mitchell is around. And I'm so glad that Mitchell loves his kid brother and treats him like his best friend in the whole world.


I realize I'm a little behind in posting anything about Luke's birthday, but suffice it to say it was a grand party. In the great tradition of the year the friend party was a pool party, indoor of course because we live in the tundra and it doesn't get warm enough for an outside pool until the end of June at the very earliest. We splashed, we ate, we played we celebrated and I mourned just a little because my baby is growing up.


Love you Luke!

Poem of the Day

Today's poetry comes courtesy of Luke. It was thoroughly perfected and oft repeated during long minutes enjoyed soaking in the tub.

Fe Fi Fo Fum
I smell the buns
of me my own.

Were we to dissect this great masterpiece of his mind, what would we discover about the mind of this brilliant poet?

Red Velvet

We were lucky enough to have Grandmum visit very close to her birthday and since everyone could use a little gushing over when its their birthday we went to town for her! This year was the year of the red velvet cake and while I think I can make mean cake I'm not sure that this is actually my favorite cake. Don't get me wrong, it was quite delicious, just maybe not my favorite. So next year I'll probably make her a tres leche cake which is fast becoming a favorite (and staple) in this household. But we're hoping this was a fabulous beginning to a great year for Grandmum.

2009: The Year In Review

I realize it is March, but here it is:

2009 A Year In Review

January
A Good Month for:

Real Estate! I know, the economy was tanking and the real estate market was in decline but thanks to William's company we sold our house! So as we prepared to bid adieu to our abode in Utah and our temporary digs in the tundra we started the hunt for the shelter that we would call home as we dug our feet in for our new adventure. And we found a great deal! Which was really a good thing considering we didn't make out so well on the old place.

The new house

A Bad Month for:

Sibling Bonding. We ended our homeschooling adventures and enrolled the kids in school. That was a great day! Sort of. We found out that if a class is full in your boundary school the school district in our tundra home will choose a different school somewhere in the district to send your kid. Mitchell got the raw end of the stick and went to a different school. I say the raw end only because it kept him from meeting kids in our new neighborhood (people are kind of shut-in here during the winter so you don't really get to know your neighbors and since we hadn't actually moved in yet we really weren't in a position to meet them anyway). But really Mitchell had it great because he had probably the best teacher any of our kids have ever had. So in the end, I guess it worked out alright.

Hard at work homeschooling!

February
A Good Month for:

Hard work and calorie burn! I put in a lot of hours scrubbing and cleaning and patching and painting as we departed the old house. Thankfully I didn't have to pack any boxes. But I did have to unpack them.....only after I had scrubbed and cleaned the company condo and scrubbed and cleaned and patched and painted our new house. In the end, hard work turned into not just a new house but a new home.

A Bad Month for:

Playing at McDonalds. I guess it wasn't really McDonalds fault but during the move we spent an afternoon with friends at McD's and we witnessed another of Mitchell's seizures. The bad thing was that seizures are really scary to see and cope with as a mother and it confirmed my fear that he was still suffering from these episodes. To top it off we had a lot of kids and moms around who all had to see it too. The good thing was that although we had suspected Mitchell was having a lot of seizures we hadn't witnessed (or so we thought) a seizure for almost a year, so finally seeing another put us on the fast track in the neurology department at Primary Children's Hospital. And thus began our almost weekly trips back and forth to Utah for the next couple of months.


March
A Good Month for:

Being tough. Mitchell had to undergo another EEG, which is exhausting and miserable because the patient can only have a few hours of sleep before the test (which means this mom could only have a few hours of sleep) and then they get lights flashed at them and they are hooked up to computers with all sort of probes and really its no fun at all. But Mitch was awesome during all of that. And a week later he had to return to Primary Children's for an MRI which he thought would be even worse. I'm not really sure what Mitchell thought was going to happen but I think he thought he was being shipped to space or some such thing. His neurologist thought it might be a good idea for him to be sedated for this so as we headed down to Utah for the test Luke and I were able to lunch and Mitch toughed it out with only a little jello. In the end it was decided that maybe we could try the MRI without sedation and see if Mitchell could hold still. He was amazing.....and terrified! He held on so tight to his "Pirate Bear" (isn't it great that Grandma's seem to know just what a kid might need in a time like this?) that he started wearing out the stitching on an ear! And I don't think he even blinked. Well actually, I don't think he opened his eyes, I mean, who wants to see outer space if you don't want to be shipped there.

Dinosaur Park, on the way to the MRI

A Bad Month for:

Settling in. I think we had lived in our house for about two weeks and I we might have attended church about three times, certainly we hardly knew anyone, but it didn't take too long before the ward (the Lord, rather) put us to work. I was called to the Young Women's presidency as the second counselor and William was called as the Ward Mission Leader. That's one way to get to know your neighbors!

I make a "Beehive Cake" for every Beehive girl (ages 12 &13) birthday

April
A Good Month for:

Luke! Luke turned three and had a great birthday....although for some reason he thought he was going to have three birthday parties. Unfortunately he had to be disappointed and only have one. But he had a spectacular cake, a yellow cake with chocolate frosting as requested, made by his mother. So a quick recap of Luke at age three: he loved puzzles and coloring and could sit for long periods of time quite occupied with these activities. He loved hair snuggles. He would give me a big hug and stroke and twirl my hair (I will miss this when he decides he's too old to snuggle his mommy!) and if he didn't get enough of my hair he would twirl his own which was leaving quite a little bald spot on his head for a while. Luckily he has tons of hair. Luke always has to be in the middle of everything, especially if his older bro and sis are involved. And his non-stop chatter is just that, non-stop, but it's quite cute and very funny. Truly, he is a joy.

Isn't he adorable? Luke turning 3!

A Bad Month for:

Local culture. Actually, I'm not sure there is really a good month local culture, but maybe that's a little harsh. But the point is that I left town and headed down to Salt Lake to hang out with my good friends, Brenda and Megan, and to go see WICKED! I love "Wicked" and it was even better seeing it a second time! It was a fabulous excursion with some fabulous gals!

Not actually from the Wicked excursion, but a photo of the gals regardless!

May
A Good Month for:

Getting out of dodge! Our little family headed to San Diego for a great vacation! We left the cold and wind of our tundra home for the chilly beach, but that didn't matter at all, we had a great time! William had a conference for a couple of days nicely situated at the Hotel Del Coronado so we spent three lovely days there and visited the beach and the San Diego Zoo and Sea World....which was a little bit of a bust because an hour and a half into our Shamu excursion Luke hit his face on a table and severed an artery in his mouth and we spent the next six hours or so in the emergency room. But that would not slow him down the next day when we visited the mecca of all theme parks (in my boys minds): Legoland! To this day I'm not sure the boys think that anywhere on earth is a wonderful and fantastic as Legoland. And really, is there a greater place? Certainly not for little boys who spend every moment they can making lego "creations." So even when we ventured back to Sea World, and yes we ventured back, they were asking all day if we couldn't just see Shamu and then go back to Legoland. Some day boys, some day.

A few images from our grand adventure

A Bad Month for:

Reflection. Not so much a bad month, but more of a sad month. May 19th marked the one-year anniversary of my dad's passing. May also would have been his 72nd birthday and in June my parents would have celebrated 50 years of marriage. Would have. I have a hard time reflecting even now, and my eyes fill with tears writing this. Dave Anderson was a great man and I miss him so dearly. Not a day goes by that I don't think of him and how grateful I am that he is my father.

May was also not a good month for William because, although we celebrated in style, he still had another birthday and crept ever closer to the big bad middle age mark!

William just finishing his birthday treasure hunt

June
A Good Month for:

Jane! Jane turned 9 in June and we had a splendid birthday surprise in store for her! Grandmum (i.e. my mom, Robin, or the myriad of other names her grandchildren call her) came for a fun visit and birthday celebration. We sent Jane on a treasure hunt around the yard and house scavenging for her gifts. Her final gift was a trip that evening to the Playmill Theater in West Yellowstone to see the Secret Garden, her favorite soundtrack and now her favorite play! A few things about Jane this last year: She still never puts a book down, which is great, unless you're trying to get her do some work! Jane played softball this year, she started Irish dance, she sings in a performing group, she's working on her Faith in God award for church, she gets almost entirely straight A's, she is quite a good little artist, she is a great big sister and she loves that she can generally sucker her mom into buying her LOTS of clothes because she is my only daughter! What a great girl!

Jane is 9!

A Bad Month for:

Swine flu. Okay, maybe that's dramatic, I don't really know if it was the swine flu because although I should have gone to see the doctor because I was so sick, I didn't.....because I hate going to the doctor, so I didn't get tested. But I did have all the symptoms. And I was very, very sick.


July
A Good Month for:

Being kids! The kids were very busy this month! Jane and Mitch had softball and baseball. Grandmum came to visit with cousins Morgan and Ty. Mitchell had soccer camp. Gramma Sarah came to visit. We had the Fourth of July celebrations not only on the fourth but also the day before! We went to Yellowstone.....and it hailed and looked like three inches of snow. And it was finally warm enough to go to the pool!

The 4th of July....go figure! Yellowstone

A Bad Month for:

Hygiene. I spent five days with the girls in our ward at Girls' Camp. We were in tents. We only had an outhouse for a toilet. And we had no showers; although we did have a very cold lake not too far away! And other than really cold (it dipped into the 30s a couple of nights), wet weather we had a really good time, particularly since we didn't have to build our own latrines like my first year at girls' camp! We did a high ropes course, we hiked, we canoed, we water skied and we were exhausted when we got home.

Girls' Camp

August
A Good Month for:

Road trip adventures. We headed out to Oregon for an Athay family reunion on the coast, all set for a great, relaxing time. Unfortunately, William threw his back out just as we were getting ready to leave town which left me doing all the driving. Now that is fine, because I am a very good driver, but William does not like have to navigate. No, he likes to leave that to me but it became his job because of where he was sitting in the car. So, he left things to his GPS. And we found out that the GPS does not always have the best sense of direction. But it can make for very interesting places to visit while you're driving on a tiny mountain road that is so narrow and windy its a wonder it actually made it onto a map of any sort in the first place. But after a fantastical visit the lava flows on Mckenzie Summit we somehow made it to Florence, Oregon where we really had a great time sand surfing, dune buggy riding, lighthouse seeing and hanging out with our great family.

Mckenzy Summit......or somewhere on Mars

The family reunion. Florence, Oregon area.

A Bad Month for:

Feeling secure in my relationship. William had to go to Florida for "Convention," the big production his company puts on every year. And while he was there "the lawyer man" had a number of ladies who thought he was something special. Now I think he's something special too, so I didn't really like the report he gave of these gals hitting on my hubby....no matter how unattractive he claims they were!


September
A Good Month for:

New Beginnings. School was back in session and this year Mitchell was able to be enrolled in our local school. So September found Jane heading into fourth grade and Mitchell into first and Luke.....well, not into preschool. I just couldn't do it. I didn't find a preschool I was thrilled with and.....Okay the truth is that he's my baby, my last one and although I was very happy to send my older two to two years of preschool I just wanted to hang onto him being little a little bit longer. Nothing wrong with that, right? Nothing until now that we're midway through the school year and he is BORED with me and some days I'm regretting that decision. But many days, when we're snuggled up looking at "I Spy" books (the latest obsession), I'm really very glad.

First day of school.....and first of many long days with mom!

A Bad Month for:

Relaxing. With school came homework, soccer, dance, singing, school events, church events, tennis and, not to be forgotten, BYU football. Okay, okay, I know William will think that BYU football is very relaxing....for him, but for me I get to host football parties which means lots of clam dip and lots of other food (always the clam dip, though) and lots of people. Very fun, not relaxing. And the one game we actually attended this month was a miserable end for the Cougars. Again, not relaxing. Especially when you have to drive four hours home with a grumpy husband.

The fall soccer team, I think....its hard to keep track.

Labor Day in the Tetons

Jane's first Irish dance performance at the commUNITY Fest.

October
A Good Month for:

A Good, Good Night! Living where we live is really great especially because William is home so much more and a lot less stressed but sometimes we REALLY need to get out of this town. (Like right now, as I'm writing this and thinking that I might go crazy if I don't get out soon!) So in October we had some friends who offered us tickets to go see U2 in Las Vegas. Well, there was no way we could pass that up! Not only would we see U2 and The Black Eyed Peas, but we would get to go with friends and see good friends while we were there. And its my birthday month so William didn't have to work to hard on figuring out birthday gifts; just set me free with friends in the land of good shopping and I'm quite a happy birthday girl! So we took off for a weekend of sun, fun, shopping and good food.....and no kids. Ahh, bliss! For everyone, even the kids because they stayed with Aunt Cindy and Grandmum and got to go to Pirate Island and that is a very cool place. Not as cool as Legoland, but very cool. They tell me all the time.

A little night music.....with U2

Shopping! In a mall that seemed larger than our entire town!

On my actual birthday

A Bad Month for:

Not having a costume. So its a good thing we did have Halloween costumes, or almost because we had so many Halloween parties this year! We had parties with friends, at school, with friends again and for the first party the glitter glue on the boys bat wings was still drying as they put the wings on and it "somehow" ended up being flapped all over my walls so I'm still to this day finding traces in places I never imagined. But it was the year of the homemade costume so I suppose its only natural that in my chaotic state I would still be cleaning up after myself. This year the boys decided that they wanted to match each other. They finally decided on being bats probably because Jane, at the last minute, decided to be a witch (instead of a "garden girl") and that way they could flap around her and annoy her until she she screamed, which made them quite gleeful. I guess its not always easy being the only girl after all, at least not when the boys are ganging up. But to top it all off her witch shoes started bothering her after she and Mitch had only made it through half the neighborhood Trick-or-Treating. I told her to get used to it; after all, its just what we girls have to do in the name of fashion! All in all, it was a busy (basketball for both boys started this month) but very fun month.


November
A Good Month for:

Being a dutiful mother. Did I mention that I'm room mom for both Jane and Mitchell's classes? I'm not really sure how that happened. Oh wait, I know how it happened. Mitchell's teacher wanted me to come in for two hours every week to help in class and that just didn't work out because a) I have a little kid at home and I was having trouble figuring out a "trade" and b) I didn't want to go in for two hours every week so I didn't really work too hard at figuring out a "trade." But when she mentioned no one had volunteered to be room mom I was more than happy to take that on. I mean really, three parties and I get credit in Mitchell's book for being a loving and caring parent who helps out at school. Great! Then I got an email from Jane's teacher thanking me for being the room mom and I should get started planning the first party. Wait. I didn't sign up for that. I did say I would help with the FAME program but room mom...... At any rate, I wasn't sure how I was going to handle two parties presumably on the same day until I found that in the 4th grade they don't "do" typical parties. So November was our first party. Veteran's Day. And I had to work with the room mom from the other 4th grade class and I only had one volunteer and I was supposed to have 2 hours worth of party with three stations, a craft, a snack and veteran to speak to the kids, and an outdoor "game." Our game: Broom Hockey with potatoes (I do live in potato country after all). 4th graders can be vicious with brooms and potatoes and I was very tired after this party. But my daughter was very happy that her mom was the cool broom lady.

Unfortunately there are no photos from the great broom hockey games....
so William and his dad being serious hunters will have to suffice.

A Bad Month for:

Being left behind. Sometimes William's company will grab you at the last minute and say "Hey, we've got tickets for you to (fill in the event)." And quite often its for Utah Jazz games or BYU games, which, of course, makes William quite happy when its him who is pulled aside and asked if he would like to go. Unfortunately, there is rarely more than a few hours notice. So when William called in November and said he had been offered tickets to sit on the front row of the Jazz game right next to Jerry Sloan and the team of course I would have wanted to go! But leaving for the game in about two hours with kids who I would have had to shuttle to who knows who, and with those kids not even home from school, just wasn't an option. I have done this once before (you know, frantically arrange for the kids and then taking of for a fabulous evening) and it was great.....but our seats were on the second row for that game. This time I had an evening out planned and I didn't want to bail on the girls and the kids had activities after school and it just didn't work. But it did work out William to go. And he had a fabulous time.


December
A Good Month for:

Mitchell! Mitchell turned 7 this month and had a great birthday bash! We usually have friend birthday parties at home but when we joined our gym/club this year they gave us a three parties included with our membership. So Mitchell's swimming party was our first foray into parties at a place and it was so great! (Why have I been stressing out and working so hard doing parties at home?) I didn't even have to make a cake because my sister Cindy had sent a leftover cake from my nephew David's wedding reception home with us the week before! We defrosted the cake, met kids at the pool, picked up pizza's and voila! Everyone was happy! I'm doing this again! So a few things about Mitchell at age 7: Mitchell played a lot of sports this year, basketball, baseball, soccer and more soccer. He loves legos. Did I mention that he LOVES legos? He has a really sweet nature and he likes to get up really early in the morning and wake everyone else up in the process. He's a lot like my dad that way; its great to be alive every morning! Its just that no one else in this house really feels the same way. Mitchell is a really good student. Math is so easy for him and he is a great reader. Mitchell has had a lot to come to terms with this year and I am so proud of how he has handled this trial. His hope and ours is that in 2010 we can finally get his seizures under control.


A Bad Month for:

Slowing down. This month Jane had a fantastic performance with her singing group, we had church functions, school functions, sports that went on forever, Christmas party after Christmas party, New Years Eve festivities to look forward to, we were dogsitting for Grandmum's Chummy and then finally school got out, Grandmum came and we could enjoy time as a family. I had planned, like Thanksgiving, for a fabulous Christmas Eve dinner and an even more fabulous Christmas day dinner. But Grandmum arrived a little later than we thought and we really wanted her to go the movies with us on Christmas Eve but by the time the movie was out everyone was starving and most of the restaurants in our town had closed before 6pm so we had a fabulous dinner at......Taco Bell. Mom thought this was really funny but my inner Martha Stewart was somewhat mortified. At least I made a great feast on Christmas on day. And we had a wonderful Christmas. It was so great to have my mom join us and it was so wonderful to remember our Savior and just how blessed we are.

Jane all dressed up and ready for her TaVaci Singers performance.

Christmas party at our neighbors house....and Santa showed up!

Christmas Eve 2010



What a great year!