Spring Break I

Now that we're finally completely unpacked and all the laundry is washed and put away (and washed and almost put away again), I thought I'd post some photos from our trip to San Diego over spring break. For those who haven't heard the story, we left in a bit of a hurry because our timeshare became available at the last minute. We stayed at an awesome resort near Escondido where there was a lot to do. We spent one day at Carlsbad beach. It was a bit cool for swimming but that didn't stop Tristan and Jolie from going in the water. Gavin also put his feet in but he was rather preoccupied with the sand and his trucks.

The Hunt

Just a few more photos from Easter. We had our annual egg hunt at Grandma and Grandpa D's house on Sunday. Gavin has been gearing up for this for weeks and weeks. I've been telling him an "Emily and Peter" story about an egg hunt at nap time. At the end of the story we eat a few jelly beans and then he goes to sleep beautifully for me.

Lisa labelled the eggs with the kids' initials so that they'd all have a good result. The photo of Tristan says a lot since he was moving so quickly! Trying to get a photo of him was like photographing a sporting event.

Happy Easter!

Dan and I took the kids across the street after church this morning to take some photos. It's taken a few years but we've learned that the Easter "look" doesn't last long around here. By the time we've gotten around to taking photos in the past, the little buggars have either destroyed their clothes or they're angry and impatient because we're getting ready to have our egg hunt. Hey, I'm a girl who learns from her past mistakes! None of that this year.

Jolie had quite a dilemna this morning. She had three Easter dresses to choose from. Grandma I. as well as Grandma D. ended up giving her dresses. She didn't want either Grandma to feel sad about her not wearing their dress, so it was quite a decision. She even mentioned this in our family prayer last night. Like the fashion diva that she is, she decided to go with the one that went best with her gloves.

We're trying to finish unpacking from spring break while Gavin is napping and the other two are having "quiet time". In an hour we'll head to my mom's for Easter dinner and Aunt Lisa's egg hunt.

An Ever-Powerful Word

Gavin has picked up a new favorite word, the ever-powerful word "hate". Dan was out of town last week when he added it to his vocabulary. I spent much of the week explaining acceptable vs. unacceptable uses of the word. For example, it's okay to hate mushrooms or dirt. It's not okay to hate Jolie. Gavin had to sit on the stairs a few times for testing various applications of the word. (To which he replied that he "hates sitting on the stairs").

Well, Dan was home with us Saturday and after doing our chores, I got out the nail polish to paint Jolie's nails. Gavin wanted a piece of the action. Since we were using crimson red nail polish I determined that doing Gavin's nails was probably not a good option. Dan agreed, and when Gavin asked why, he said something about gender roles. Gavin very dramatically replied, "I HATE GENDER ROLES!" Ofcourse he had no idea what the term meant, but he knew that whatever it was, it was preventing him from having brilliant red fingernails.

The best part was seeing Dan's reaction since he hadn't been around to hear Gavin's incessant use of the word "hate". He had to stifle a big burst of laughter.

Ughhhh, Yard Work!

The season is upon us. Yard work season, that is...

When we bought our house three years ago, we knew the yard needed some work. It was obvious that the former owners put the yard in years ago and then let it grow like a tropical rainforest. They did a nice job of watering and keeping the grass mowed, but I'm not sure they did much more than that. It all made for a huge amount of work for us. This time last year (or was it the year before?) we pulled all of the overgrown shrubs out of the front yard and we continued doing demolition throughout the summer.

Well, we've only just begun. We're in the process of securing a landscape architect who will draft a master plan for us. In the meantime, we'll continue with the demolition. We're going to keep all of our big trees and pull out most everything else. We may also change the approach to the front door, but that would involve re-doing a large share of the sprinklers in the front yard. We're not sure how much of that we want to get into.

Here are a few photos of Dan and his trusty jack, pulling stuff out yesterday. He was out there most of the day and cleared maybe 8' of space. The sad thing is that you can hardly tell the difference when looking at the yard, but the trailer is completely full.

It's going to be a long season...

Another Visit From the Toothfairy

The toothfairy paid us a visit last night but this time it was for Jolie! She lost her first tooth at school yesterday. She said a boy talked her into twisting it during class and out it came!

I picked Jolie and her friend, Kayla, up from the bus stop to take them to ballet yesterday afternoon and I heard all the sordid details. The most exciting part of the whole affair was that Jolie got to put her picture on the "toothboard" which is apparently quite an honor in kindergarten. Kayla hasn't lost any teeth but she said she once had a dream that she had. She can't wait until it happens to her!

Jolie put her little tooth in our very special tooth pillow which we only pull out at these special occasions. It was passed down from Grandma Daughtrey and is the same one my sisters and I used back in "the day".

This morning Jolie was up at 6:00 a.m. because Tristan just HAD to know what the toothfairy brought her. He woke her up while groping under her pillow. Ofcourse once she found the $2 there she couldn't go back to sleep.

Spring Fever

This morning Gavin came downstairs and dumped a plastic bin of Noah's Arc toys onto the carpet in the family room. Instead of it being a random dumping it was an act that seemed to have purpose. That should have been my first clue that something was up. I was busy making Tristan's lunch and getting him off to school, so I ignored Gavin when he carried the bin out of the room and started up the stairs with it (did I mention that the bin is larger than he is?)

Before long, Tristan came in to tell me that Gavin was upstairs getting into mischief. Again, I didn't think much of it because that's par for the course. A few minutes later Jolie reported that there was water involved. I hurried up to see what was going on (water = large clean up for me). Gavin had gotten into the bathroom cupboard where we store the bath toys and he was repeatedly filling a small boat with water from the faucet and dumping it into the huge toy bin which was on the floor. I asked him what he was doing and he said "the sharks need water!" I could tell this was a serious matter for him, so I carried the bin downstairs and filled it with 3 or 4 inches of water. I told him he could play with the sharks and the water as long as he left the bin on the kitchen tile.

Well, after he grew tired of the animals, Gavin removed his pajamas and climbed inside the bin. Jolie disrobed and joined him! I take this as a sign that they're ready for summer. The poor children saw four inches of water as an opportunity to take off their winter fleece and go for a swim!

I caught spring fever myself today. I've been enjoying our loads and loads of new snow from last week but for some reason, I was done with it today. I looked outside and decided I was sick of this nasty weather and I was ready for spring! Let's hope it's not too long before my wish arrives...

Gavin's New Hobby

It's a good thing Dan doesn't look at the blog very often, he's not terribly happy with Gavin's new hobby.

The kids were upstairs playing this morning while I was doing my workout. Gavin came up with this outfit on his own. Isn't he stunning?

Happy Birthday, Joleen!

I took some words
from my heart today
letting the ink fill out
the letters on my card.
Six simple words appeared,

I love you.
I miss you.

I wondered whether to speak
of laughter or of tears,
to speak of hopes or of dreams,
and came to this.

I love you.
I miss you.

And now I send them skyward
attached to a balloon,
lifting effortlessly
to meet the clouds,
and I think of you.

I love you.
I miss you.

Happy Birthday, Joleen!

Happy Valentine's Day

First I have to apologize for neglecting the blog for a few weeks. Dan has been out of town and I haven't had a moment to have a quiet thought, let alone update the blog.

I sequestered the kids yesterday morning to take a few photos. I ended up making Tristan miss the bus, but it was worth it. My little valentines were bright-eyed and excited for the day.

I saw Tristan sneak into my bathroom early in the morning and later found this cute note on my mirror. It melted my heart! Tristan is such a sweet little boy. I hosted book club last week and one of the (off) topics of discussion (there have been more and more of those lately, but that's another story) was the difference between boys and girls. One of my friends insisted that every mother should have a boy because there's nothing more special than a mother-son relationship. Looking at the little note taped to my mirror yesterday morning, with its plain white paper and scribbled, misspelled words, I had to agree.

I found the red and blue hearts in the hall bathroom later yesterday morning, after Jolie had seen Tristan's note. I was in the office and she came in asking to spell all sorts of words such as "love" and "from". She and Gavin then came in asking for scissors and glue dots. After a while Jolie asked where I was going to brush my teeth. Their subtlety was overwhelming!!!

We took my Grandma out for dinner last night. The restaurants were very crowded and busy, but I didn't care. The last thing I wanted to do last night was stay home alone with the kids and cook. After putting our name in, we left Applebee's for a while to do some shopping at Target and when we came back they had our table ready. Grandma bought each of the kids a little toy so they were thrilled. We had a really nice time and I think Grandma did too. She seemed happy to get out. We didn't get home until late but the kids were really good about getting ready for bed.

We had a fun Valentine's Day and we hope you did too!

Buttercup

We had a little Super Bowl party here tonight. Tristan has been getting more interested in sports and a few days ago he asked if we could have a party. Like a good mommy I obliged. In truth, I'm always looking for a reason to have a party, even if I have no interest in football.

I picked up a deli tray of meats and cheeses last night and made rolls and brownies this morning. After looking at all the food and realizing our party would be much more fun with them, I called mom and Dad and invited them to come over. We watched the game for a while and then mom and I took Jolie and Gavin into the living room so the males could be more attentive to the game.

As you can see, tonight Jolie finally got the sister she's always wanted. She took Gavin upstairs and put him in one of her old dresses and put barettes in his hair. We ended up having a dance competition with the two of them ("Kathleen" and "Buttercup") in the living room.

Oh... anyone who knows us well is probably wondering about Dan's reaction to the dress. Do I really need to say?

Random Thoughts

I've thought about updating the blog several times since my last post but haven't come up with anything terribly exciting to write about.

I guess I could take a photo of the inversion or an icecicle. Last weekend we made news by having the dirtiest air in the country. What an honor! We need a big strong storm to blow the stagnant air out of here. I hear one is coming tomorrow night so I guess we have something to look forward to. I hear we may also break 40 degrees next week, the first time since the first of the year. It will feel like July.

Oh, here's some exciting news: I was recently made the wolf den leader for cub scouts. It's just been a few weeks but I think it will be a lot of fun. Tristan is stoked about being a scout, it will be fun for us to do it together. He asked me the other day if he could wear his uniform (shirt) to school which shows how cool scouting is to an 8 year old boy. A couple of the boys have waved at me in the hall at school so I'm getting the feeling that Den Mother is near celebrity for them. I'm in charge of our den meeting on Friday, we're making bird houses. Dan has been a good sport, he stopped at Lowe's on his way home from work to get all the stuff we'll need. He and Tristan spent the evening cutting wood and drilling holes.

We've also started down the exciting road of potty training with Gavin. It was going quite well but I'm afraid he started regressing this week. He does well as long as we're home all day and I remind him to go every hour. If we leave the house or I get busy with other things it doesn't go so well. You should see the excitement when he does produce, though. There's singing and dancing, high fives and "whooo hooo!"s. One time I forgot to say "whooo hooo!" and he reminded me. He also has a sticker chart and he gets to take a trip to Target to pick out a Thomas engine when a row is filled. What more motivation does a little boy need????

There, I guess there were some exciting things to write about. ..

Cabin Fever!

Did you know that adding jacuzzi jets to a bubble bath makes an enormous amount of bubbles? So many, in fact, that you have to turn off the jets? We found that out today!

We feel like a family of home-bodies. We haven't been out of the house much this weekend as our arctic temperatures are hanging around. It was sub-zero last night. I knew we were going to be home all day, so I divided the day into several activities. The kids watched a movie this morning, then we made Play-Doh, had a pizza-making contest (with the Play-Doh), we had reading hour, a puppet show, nap/play with your toys in your room hour, and now bubble baths!

We even had an unexpected visit from Ruth, our neighbor who has Alzheimer's. She surprised us by walking right though the front door.

And the day is young, it's only 4:00!

Welcome to Antarctica!

Holy Moley, it's COLD! We got another 6 inches of snow here yesterday, lots more in the mountains. The storm ALMOST prevented me from going to book club last night, but our trusty Utah snowplow crews came through. I was amazed that the roads were as clear as they were because it was snowing when I woke up and literally didn't stop until 3:00 or so in the afternoon. I heard that a 20 minute commute took 1 1/2 hours yesterday morning because there were vehicles off the road everywhere.

Today the news story is the COLD! I was at the market before dinner and the air was absolutely frigid. The thermometer in my car said 12 degrees but I guess it's more like -3 with the wind chill. Brrrrr! I'd love to post a photo of the wintry scene but I think I'll stay inside where it's cozy.

I know what you're thinking... It must be pretty bad outside for ME to decline the opportunity for a photo! That really says something, doesn't it?

Tristan's Baptism

Tristan's baptism was yesterday afternoon. It was a very special day for him and for our family. Dan baptised Tristan and Grandpa D. confirmed him. There were two other children who were part of the baptism, so it was very special.

Jolie and a couple other children sang a song during the program called "When I Am Baptised." These are the lyrics to the song:

I like to look for rainbows whenever there is rain
And ponder on the beauty of an earth made clean again.

I want my life to be as clean as earth right after rain.
I want to be the best I can and live with God again.

I know when I am baptized my wrongs are washed away,
And I can be forgiven and improve myself each day.

I want my life to be as clean as earth right after rain.
I want to be the best I can and live with God again.

Tristan's primary teacher gave him a beautiful journal to record his thoughts about the day. He made his first entry in the car on the way to dinner. When I was tucking him into bed last night he showed me what he'd written. Among other things, he said that he felt very special after his baptism. I know this is a day that we'll all remember for a very long time.

Scrapbook

I promised Robin that I'd post some photos of the scrapbook I made for all of the grandparents for Christmas. It was quite a project. I started just after Halloween and finished just in time for Christmas. Each scrapbook includes 25 of my favorite photos of the kids (taken during 2006). I looked everywhere for a nice embellishment for the cover but finally covered the front and back with this patterned paper and I cut my own monogram letters out of chipboard and then I painted and inked them. Oh, and thank goodness for Ben Franklin where they sell ribbon by the yard (yards and yards and yards of ribbon!)

The Lights on Temple Square

This week we took the kids to see the lights on Temple Square. It was amazing! There were nativities representing all areas of the world, beautiful luminaries, music, and ofcourse the gorgeous lights. It was quite cold and wet, but we had a great time.

Do We Have Mice?

I couldn't resist posting some photos of what we found under the tree on Christas Eve. Dan and I stayed up late wrapping gifts on the 23rd and we put some of the gifts under the tree. Less than 24 hours later, this is what we found.