Also, a follow up on Christmas

Can’t believe if forgot the obligatory Christmas blog. :  )

We got to do a lot of fun things this season, despite our crazy hectic schedules. Seriously, 2 retail jobs, plus the holiday season equals nutso. But anyway- once we got the van (again, a BIG thank you to the Graham family and to Brent!) we took the kids out to the Festival of Lights here in town. I might be a little biased, but I think we have the best one around. It’s become a bit of a tradition for us to go at least once a year. It’s the same every year, but it’s still fun every time.

We also went to our ward Christmas party- Jake’s choice- and I’m sure glad we went! What a riot! Each auxiliary put on their own number for the entertainment, and I think the clear winner (if it were a contest) would be the Young Men. Holy cow. Those guys are funny. They did a series of lip synching/skits to Inside Out’s Snowman song. The newer, MUCH longer version. Everyone was just rolling in the aisles. My hat is off to them, and their leaders (who also performed). They made the night. Then the Young Women and their leaders lead us all in The Twelve Days Of Christmas. The fun part was that there were 12 tables (we had dinner before the show) and each table had to act out their assigned verse in the song. : ) We had “3 french hens”. It was too good. And the best part was watching the Bishopric act out “a partridge in a pear tree” 13 times.

The Saturday before Christmas we took Jake to the airport and then went to see the lights at Temple Square- which has also become a bit of a tradition. I think that this was the COLDEST visit to Temple Square we’ve EVER “enjoyed”. : ) Because of that, it was also the FASTEST visit ever. : ) I think it went something like this. “OOH, wow! Look at the candles on the reflection pool! And the nativity! Okay, moving on! See the lights! So pretty! Next! Okay, let’s stand here and try not to freeze for a minute while we listen to the Christmas story….. Wow! That was great! Who wants hot chocolate? Okay! Let’s get out of here.” It was COLD, COLD, COLD. Heather came with us, and I always wonder if she’s just a glutton for punishment every time she comes on our family outings. : ) As always, though, it’s great to spend time with her. After Temple Square we all went to Village Inn for some truly terrible hot chocolate and a bite to eat. Ah, memories. : )

Throughout the season we’ve taken a few opportunities to talk to the kids about why we celebrate Christmas and what it really means. These teaching moments apparently didn’t quite sink in, as evidenced by the conversation I had in the car with the kids on Christmas Eve day. It went something like this:

“So, guys, what’s tomorrow?”

(in unison) “CHRISTMAS!!!”

“Yes! It’s Christmas! Why do we have Christmas?”

*crickets*

“Whose birthday are we celebrating?”

Spencer: “Hannah’s!”

“No… not Hannah’s… whose birthday do we celebrate on Christmas?”

Hannah: “Aspen’s!!”

“No. Guys… look at this picture. Who is in it?” (Me holding up a picture of Jesus that Hannah received from her nursery leaders)

Aspen: “Jesus! It’s Jesus’ birthday!”

(huge sigh of relief) “Yes! That’s it. We’re celebrating Jesus’ birth. Isn’t that great?”

Spencer: “Mom… if it’s Jesus’ birthday, when is he coming over??”

I love that kid.

As for Christmas, we had a wonderful day! It was only Part One of Christmas, Part Deux coming when Jake gets home, but we had a kick. It was actually nice to have a quiet-ish Christmas. And I got a nap! Woohoo! Afterward, we all went over to my mom’s and had dinner and played on the Wii for a few hours.

The gifts this year seemed to have themes to them. Hannah got all princess/pretend stuff- the big hits being a tea set and a trunk of dress-up clothes. Spencer got cars, and Iron Man toys. The boy was in HEAVEN. J And Aspen got all art and learning stuff- her faves? A well stocked art tub and an indoor/outdoor microscope. That thing is pretty awesome, too. It’s magnified 40x and comes with a lanyard so she can take it out side. I have to thank the girls at Funfinity for that little gem. I love that place.

Also, I did in fact get fab pumps to go with my fab dress and I think I’m picking up a vacuum tomorrow. Yay!! Duke insisted on not getting any gifts this year, but I did pick up a sweet bowie knife that he’d been wanting.

When Jake gets back we’re going to have a family home evening about giving gifts to the Savior, since we’re celebrating His birthday. Our Home Teachers gave a great lesson about this a couple Sundays ago and I really loved it. We plan on following up on that in June or July to see how we’re doing and remind ourselves of the gifts we choose to give Him, like being nice to our brothers and sisters, or forgiving others, or reading our scriptures more often. I like this idea much more than just plain old New Years Resolutions. I think they mean more when they’re kind of consecrated like that. So, we’ll see how that goes, and we’ll let you all know. : )

I hope you all had great Christmases, and I wish you all very Happy New Years! (again…) : )

Catching Up

WHEW!! It’s crazy around here. I have decided NEVER to work the Christmas season again. LOL There is just SOOO much to catch up on now. Just since Saturday, I’ve cleaned the kids’ room ( a MAJOR undertaking on its own), rearranged all their furniture to make room for the Teepee Megamaze that Santa brought them, and I’m about a 3^rd of the way through what seems like 16 tons of laundry. I’m in a cleaning/organizing fervor. In fact, for the first time in my LIFE I want to put all the Christmas stuff away BEFORE mid-January. I mean, like, NOW. : ) And I haven’t even mentioned the sea of gift wrap that can’t go out to the dumpster, yet, because the darn thing is FULL to overflowing, nor the boxes of superfluous kids’ clothes that need to go to DI, nor the mountain of dishes in the kitchen that, despite running the dishwasher at a fever pitch, I can’t seem to get ahead of. I’m SWAMPED!! Between the dishwasher running and the washing machine running, I’m lucky to get 60 seconds of hot water in the shower to wash my hair with! And yet, in the midst of it all, I am so completely and blissfully happy to be HOME, HOME AT LAST! : ) When I started working again I thought it was going to be no big deal- two months. What’s two months, right? I’ve discovered that I was completely spoiled over those eight months I got to be a SAHM. I love being here with them every day. I have missed Spencer (yes, Spencer!) and Hannah and all the funny things they say and do. I’ve missed lunch time stories and snuggles. I’ve missed actually MAKING breakfast. I’ve missed getting to pick up Jake and Aspen from school and hearing about their days in class. Even though I was home when they were home I’ve had so much to DO that I’ve hardly been able to sit down and breathe, let alone connect with anyone.

So. I am happy to be back, and I have a lot to catch up on, but much, much more than just housework. : )

My (mostly impossible) Christmas List

In no particular order, I present to you, my Christmas wishes. : )

 

1)A new shower curtain. The cheap vinyl one I bought when we moved in has popped 4 of the “grommets” and is now basically useless. Modest is hottest and all.

2)A KitchenAid. Oh the cakes I could bake! Oh the cookies I would MAKE! : ) I’m supposed to be making 12 dozen cookies for a cookie exchange this weekend, but I’m putting it off. I keep thinking how much more excited I’d be about it if I had a mixer. I’ve only been wanting one for the last 8 years. At this rate, by the time I get one, I’ll have no kids around to tank up with warm cookies, and I’ll have to turn to fattening up my neighbors instead.

3)Fabulous black Sicily Boots by Duo. Le Sigh. Even when I’m “slim” I have calves that flout any attempt at wearing knee high boots- which are SO in vogue in my ward. Seriously, a cursory glance around the Relief Society room on Sundays reveals that a good 70% of female LDS feet are shod in beautiful, oh-so-vexing knee high boots. Duo Boots are made in the UK and come in custom calf widths, which means I could finally have a pair that fit over my very … muscular calves, but also means that they’re NOT cheap in any way. Well, a girl can dream.

4)If not Duo Boots, then fabulous black pumps to go with the fabulous black dress that I know Duke bought me for Christmas. The last pair I bought came from Wal-Mart, which probably explains why I haven’t worn heels in years. I’m actually quite excited about the idea of being glam-ish.

5)A new vacuum. Oi. Our vacuums last, on average, about 2 years. The latest one bit the dust-bunnies about 3 months ago, and it is SOOOO much fun to borrow my mom’s vacuum when sweeping the carpet has become completely ineffective.

6)A couple Love Sacs. I am so done with traditional furniture. : ) Perhaps, if I could get the kids to stop climbing over, jumping on, and sitting on the arm of the couch (and perhaps if we ever had new ones, rather than the trickle-down sets we end up with after my grandma and then my mom are done with them) couches my last longer around here. As grateful as I am for free furniture, we’re on the third couch of our married life, and I’m ready for it to be the last. At least until the kids are older. Plus, Love Sacs are much more mobile, which fits better with my obsessive need to move the furniture around every few weeks.

6)A tent. We are trying to focus on bulking up our emergency preparedness supplies this year. By “bulk up” I really mean “start from scratch”. : ) We’re truly pathetic, even the flashlights we DO own have dead batteries in them. So we’ve been buying bits and pieces here and there, but we are definitely lacking in the “emergency shelter” category.

7)Lastly, a Disneyland vacation with my funky monkeys. I have such wonderful kids, and they are so wonderfully crazy and fun and sweet and occasionally naughty. As much as I’ve been wanting to take an actual honeymoon with Duke, I desperately want to take the kids on a vacation. Jake and Aspen have been working really, really hard this year at school, and Spencer and Hannah have been so wonderful these last two months that I’ve been working. They all deserve a week of no chores, no homework and Mickey Mouse ears.

 

And that’s it. All my Christmas wishes. Even the impossible/unlikely ones. : ) And I’ll betcha every single thing I get under the tree will outshine every one of these. I’m expecting some awesome handmade gifts from Jake and Aspen. Those are my favorite. : )

 

Oh, wait, I forgot the Chia pet. I’ve been DYING for one of those.

 

A Day In The Life

*Time to get up!

 

*Get up, monkeys!

 

*If you’re not out of bed when I come in here again, I’m getting a cup of water.

 

*Well good morning, Mary Sunshine.

 

*I love you bunches.

 

*Did you sleep in your clothes?!

 

*Come here and let me brush your hair. No, right now.

 

*What do you mean you have nothing to wear? Look, there’s clothes IN your drawers. Amazing, huh?

 

*Darn it, let’s get your hair brushed. I haven’t even started, stop crying.

 

*Please change your shirt.

 

*Yes, we’re having oatmeal AGAIN. It’s good!

 

*No, honey, a CLEAN shirt.

 

*Hussle, hussle, monkeys!

 

*Go brush your teeth.

 

*Wow! Good job helping! (Now let’s clean it up…) J

 

*Five minutes!

 

*Oh for heaven’s sake. Give me that shirt! You can’t wear this for at least 7 more days.

 

*Did you brush your teeth? You’re paying for the dentist visit then.

 

*Ack! We’re late!

 

*WHERE are your shoes?

 

*Coats, coats, coats!

 

*Here we go! Is everyone buckled?

 

*Have a good day! I love you!

 

*Wait! Your backpack!

 

*Okay, you two. What are we going to do today?

 

*You’re my special guy/girl.

 

*Please, don’t touch the tree!

 

*Thank you for “helping”!

 

*Oh, for the love!

 

*Well, go potty then. The light is on, get in there.

 

*What shall we have for lunch today?

 

*Ew. No. Peanut butter and bologna do NOT go well together.

 

*See, I’m SHARING.

 

*What color/shape is this?

 

*Let’s empty the dishwasher. Who wants to help mommy?

 

*Thank you, sir!

 

*Hurry, hurry! Let’s go potty!

 

*Okay- you can’t both snuggle me on the SAME side.

 

*Stop pushing/hitting/kicking.

 

*No- stop it right NOW.

 

*That’s it. Everybody out.

 

*Time to get Jake and Aspen, buckle up!!

 

*Hey, gang!

 

*How was your day, today?

 

*Where’s your homework?

 

*What do you mean you don’t have any? I’m calling your teacher.

 

*Your chore for today is to straighten up your room. Again. Feel free to watch some tv/play outside when it’s done.

 

*These dishes aren’t going to wash themselves. See, I do chores too. You might as well get used to it. It never ends.

 

*Daddy’s home!! *smooch* I missed you.

 

*WHAT are you doing outside? Is your room clean?

 

*You’ve been in here for an hour. Have you done anything?

 

*I at least need your laundry.

 

*Duke! Please talk to Spencer. He’s making me crazy.

 

*Thank you. I love you, giggle-butt.

 

*You’re awesome.

 

*Duke Jones! Get out of the fridge. I’m making dinner right NOW!

 

*Everybody wash your hands! Dinner’s almost ready!

 

*So how was work?

 

*Who wants to set the table?

 

*I love you monkey-face.

 

*Shush. We’re saying the prayer.

 

*Yes, you have to eat the green beans/salad. Well, just TRY it.

 

*That’s enough potatoes. If you’re still hungry you can have seconds.

 

*So, what was the best part of your day?

 

*What did you learn at school today?

 

*What? No. You dished it yourself, you have to finish it.

 

*5 more bites, then you can be excused.

 

*Let’s clear off the table… anyone? Hello?

 

*Okay! Bath time! What? No- you shower.

 

*No- the SHAMPOO is for hair, the SOAP is for bodies.

 

*For goodness sakes.

 

*The couch is NOT for jumping on.

 

*Please stop banging on the piano, I’m TRYING to talk to daddy.

 

*Did you bring your laundry down so I can wash it?

 

*Time for family prayer; who’s being the MOST reverent?

 

*Snug as a bug.

 

*I love you more than peanut butter cups.

 

*Okay, ONE more story. No, not three.

 

*Goodnight, monkeys. Sleep tight.

 

*There’s plenty of light. Just relax.

 

*WHAT is due tomorrow?? Well, you’re just going to have to get up early then.

 

*Hannah, stop touching your sister!

 

*If I have to come in there, I’m NOT going to be happy.

 

*Go to SLEEP!

 

*Hey- it’s pretty quiet in there… do you think they’re sleeping, or causing trouble?

 

*ZZZzzzZZZzzzZZZzzzZZZzzz

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Testing Email Blogging

Just testing out this email blogging to see if it works. I've been having problems with my google sites for some reason, but if I can blog from email, all the better!!

 

I guess I can update while I try this out. Things have been crazy busy, but good. : ) Duke started his new job at Big 5 in October, and he really loves it. He's full time and training for management. The store he works in is losing both their assistant managers in the spring, so he has a really good shot at moving straight to 1^st assistant manager. This job has been a really good fit for him, being in sporting goods and all. : ) It's been great for me, too, being so close. Before it got all snowy, he was able to walk to work most days.

 

I've been working at Deseret Book again for the Christmas season. I LOVE it. It's always been nice to spend the day surrounded by inspirational and faith-building material. I didn't know how much I had missed the people and the atmosphere until I went back, and I'll be kinda sad to leave after Christmas. However, I'm excited to move on to other pursuits. It looks as though I'll be giving college the old college try (har har) in January. I'm really looking forward to working the old grey matter again, and, for now anyway, I can't wait for homework. That will change soon enough, I'm sure. : )

 

The kids are doing great, just growing like weeds. Jake's finally found a book that excites him and keeps him hooked- he practically sleeps with it these days. I was able to go with his class on a field trip to the Planetarium recently and it was so neat to see him get excited about learning. I'm so grateful to be able to go with him on field trips and take part in school activities. Aspen is excelling in all her studies. She's well ahead of her grade level in reading and math, and she LOVES all the supplemental things she gets to learn. The school recently wrapped up a semester long focus on the arts, during which they brought in several specialists that the kids could study from, including a master puppeteer, a professional story-teller and an acclaimed opera singer, among others. We were able to attend Arts Night at the school again, and had a blast. The first one we went to focused on dance alone, and it was a lot of fun. They involved the entire family in creating an interpretive dance number that we performed for the group. This most recent one brought in all the specialists from the semester (puppets, dance, storytelling, visual arts/bookmaking and opera) and we were allowed to pick 2 out of the 5 to see a presentation from. We ended up going to pupeteering and opera. It was a lot of fun. I got put on the spot to perform pupeteering, and I think I did a pretty good job.

 

Spencer and Hannah continue to crack me up on a daily basis. The other day, Spencer was having a disagreement with some neighborhood girls, and after trying to reason with him about it for a few minutes, I finally gave up with a sigh and said "Well, Spence, I guarantee you'll survive." As he ran out the door, Spencer yelled over his shoulder, "But mom, I don't want to survive! I want to LIVE!!" Classic. : ) Hannah has been showing her more creative side lately by giving herself one interesting haircut after another. I'll have to post a picture soon, but suffice it to say that we're going for a pixie look these days. : ) It has been considerably more convenient, to be sure. I think she was sad about it until she got to nursery and the wonderful teachers in there told her how pretty it looked. I love those guys! : )

 

The biggest news of ALL though, is that we finally have a van!!!! A family in our ward was so very generous to give us their old van when they bought a new one, and a friend of mine who is a wonderful mechanic was kind enough to work on it in his spare time. So, after several months of being in the shop, it's done! We've had it for a week now, and it's been so nice to be able to drive around as a family. Not to mention not having to take car seats and boosters in and out of the car all the time! I'm in vehicular heaven right now.  : ) It's been such a blessing.

 

And that's about it! : ) If this email blogging thing works, I'll probably start blogging more often again. I wish you all a very Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!!

That Fall Feeling

I. LOVE. FALL. Seriously, Autumn is my most favorite season ever. It's finally been fall-ish around here. The temps are dropping and the leaves are turning yellow and orange. :) Bliss.

I turned on some Christmas music last night. Duke was cleaning up the back yard with Jake and we had the kitchen window open so that we could still talk. I was in the middle of making dinner and the cold air was coming in and the music was playing all jazzy. *sigh* Heaven.

I'm not one of those people that thinks that Christmas music can ONLY be played the two weeks before Christmas. I don't listen to it year round or anything, but once the temp drops I'll put on some instrumental stuff. So, fall = cold = sweaters = Christmas music = hot Tang/cocoa.

We're going to carve up some pumpkins this weekend! I'm so excited! If I can ever get my batteries recharged for the camera, I'll get some pics up, and a picture of the rockin' awesome Christmas cards I made for my friend Erin (to give to her clients this year). I stamped them, and came up with the idea/design all by myself. I'm totally proud of them.

And since it's fall, finally, and we're going to be carving pumpkins, I think I'll whip up this recipe for Easy Pumpkin Spice Cookies:

Easy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 Spice Cake Mix (or white/yellow cake mix plus cinnamon & pumpkin pie spice)

1 (15 oz) can pumpkin

1 cup chocolate chips (or more if you like :)

Mix & bake at 350 for 13-15 minutes.

This recipe has been spreading like FIRE on the blogs of the women in my ward, and I had some at our ward's game night. They are so good, and, as if you couldn't tell from just LOOKING at the recipe, super easy.

Today is Jake's 9th Birthday!! I can't believe that my little guy is NINE! Time is flying too fast. I was folding laundry last night, and I've been washing up some baby things to send over to my friend Rachel and her brand new baby boy and I had Jake's big ol' size 10 jeans in the same basket with a cute little baby bunting. It was just one of those moments when you look at the different sizes and your heart does a little skip. He's such a strong, wonderful, loving child. Of course, part of me wants to keep him small forever and misses the baby days, but I'm so excited to see what a great man he will grow up to be. So here's to you, kid. Happy Birthday!!

Slacker

Oh my goodness, I am such a slacker. Okay- September was a little nutty. So please forgive me for not posting more. We had a lot going on, and I have no pictures to share! Still waiting on some from friends and family. So let's get updating!

My birthday was at the end of August and to celebrate we went to Lagoon on Labor Day! Some good friends of ours were able to get us tickets at a super low rate because they were having a company party that day. What a blast!! I had never been before. I rode ALL the coasters (except the Samurai, which was down for maintenance) and even rode Wicked TWICE! Yes. But I'm not that brave. I screamed the WHOLE TIME! :) And of course, we rode the rapids ride and the log ride (which, by the way, we figured we had about 1,000 pounds in that log and WHOO-BOY! talk about your HUGE splash! lol) so we went around the second half of the day soaking wet and shivering. The day had started out raining, so we weren't even sure if we were going to be able to get into the park, and even after it had cleared up the air was still cool. Good times. :)

Duke and I celebrated the anniversary of our sealing on the 9th. It's been a crazy 2 years since then! I'd post a picture of it, but I've recently reformatted the old lappy, and all of the pics are in storage. We got to go on a nice fun date to celebrate- Panda Express, a walk around the mall, and a movie. :) My favorite. Yes, I'm easy. Leave me alone about it. :)

After that, we had the State Fair to go to. Duke's mom and step-dad came up and rented us a really nice van so that we could go. It was so awesome to see them, since it's been almost a year! The kids had way too much fun at the fair. We saw ALL the animals and rode a bunch of rides and even had funnel cake! Then Nanna Vi and Papa Shane took us all to Chuck-A-Rama. I think that Spencer has found his new favorite place in the whole wide world. ALL of the kids ate mac and cheese and went back for Jello about 15 times. :) They'd never been to a buffet before, so it was fun to watch them get all excited. The next day we went to a baby blessing for Duke's step-brother's baby and then got to go to ANOTHER buffet- this time the Golden Corral. Duke had steak for dessert. LOL It's sure fun to get spoiled every now and then! I LOVE visiting with Vi and Shane and his family. They are SO much fun, and such wonderful people.

Next up was Duke's birthday! The only thing he wanted this year was books! So we decided to go to the midnight release of Brisingr- the newest book in the Inheritance Cycle (Eragon). It was fun. Duke wanted to share the night with Jake and Aspen, so we took them to the dollar theatre to see KungFu Panda (which Jake hadn't seen yet), and then out to... you guessed it, Panda Express. LOL We are such Panda Express NUTS! :) Then we went down to our local Borders (the same place I went for the Breaking Dawn release) and hung out until midnight. They had a pretty fun set-up there. They were playing the movie in the kids' section, had a treasure hunt, a dragon ring toss, a trivia challenge and a drawing for a free book. We didn't win anything (other than Tootsie Rolls at the ring toss) but it was so much fun! It was a kick to have Jacob and Aspen there to participate in the silliness. I have to say, though, that Twilight Moms are a MUCH cooler and livlier bunch! :)

I think that's it for our September. I went to the General Women's Broadcast on the 27th with my mom and grandma. It was really great! Deiter Uchtdorf is so amazing. And while we were there we bumped into my neighbor-across-the-street, Trista, whose son plays with Spencer EVERY DAY, and HER mom and grandma, who it turns out is actually related to me! Her grandma's dad is my grandma's grandpa. What a small world, huh?

Well, I hope that you all are doing well! Thanks for reading!

Upcoming events:
*UEA/Fall Break
*Jacob's Birthday
*Halloween

Our Wonderful Principal

This article is from the Daily Herald about the Principal of our school!! He really is fantastic! I'm so happy to have ended up living within the boundaries for this school. It's our 4th year at Rees, and, if I have anything to say about it, we'll be here for another 8 or so! Another (former) teacher from Rees was recently honored with a different prestigious award- one that only goes out to ONE teacher from each state. I'll have to see if I can find a link for that, too. For now, here's just one of MANY reasons we have such an awesome school:

Sp. Fork principal is an 'Innovator'

Janice Peterson - Daily herald

A local principal's drive to help students succeed through a variety of new programs was rewarded recently with the Innovator of the Year Award from the Utah Association of Elementary School Principals. Mike Larsen, principal of Rees Elementary School in Spanish Fork, was nominated for the award by principals within the school district. Luana Searle, executive director of the association, said the award is one of several that honors principals statewide throughout the year. Larsen was chosen because he is the leader of the pack for change, she said. "It's pretty prestigious. He's well-deserving of it," she said. "He's kind of an up-and-coming guy." District spokeswoman Lana Hiskey said Larsen stands out as a principal because he cares about students and tries hard to help them achieve. After his nomination, Hiskey said principals around the state then voted in favor of the five-year principal to receive the prestigious award. "It's kind of a neat award because it's other principals saying, 'Hey, you're the best at this,' " she said. Larsen said there are a number of programs he and others at the school have put together for students. Several are focused around reading, including the school's book store and the "Eagle Reader -- It Pays to Read" program. During morning announcements, Larsen asks students "Did you read last night?" and selected children tell the school over the intercom what they read and why they liked it. The "Re-teach & Enrichment" and "Circle of Support" programs the school has started are geared specifically toward helping students excel in their studies, he said. If students are not understanding certain materials, teachers pair off with smaller groups of students to reteach the information. Students who have learned the material are grouped with other teachers who help to reinforce what they have learned. "If the student hasn't learned it, we're providing specific help immediately," he said. Larsen said he is especially proud of the "Circle of Support" program, which involves the entire staff. Every member of the staff, including those who are not teachers, pitch in to offer free tutoring in their spare time. Larsen said that over time he has seen a remarkable improvement in students because of the support they receive from the entire community. "We are in this together," he said. "It's not just the principal, it's a community of individuals coming together." Larsen said he firmly believes that the success of the programs cannot be solely attributed to him, but to everyone at the school. The award belongs to everyone, as everyone has worked together to help students. "We do whatever it takes to help all students learn," he said. Assistant Superintendent Rick Nielsen, who was principal at Rees before Larsen, said a quality that stands out about the principal is his desire to fine-tune principles that are already in place. He does not come up with new ideas that are just flashes in the pan, but instead focuses on what the programs can do for students. "Mike is somebody who really understands how to blend best practices and new innovative practices with tradition," he said. Nebo school board member Debbie Swenson said one of the best programs the school has come up with is the book store. Families and community members can donate books or money, and school children are able to buy a book for only a quarter. "It's a team effort at that school," she said. "A real team effort, led by Mike."

Shorn

Well, I've been talking about it for ages now, and I finally did it. :) I broke down and had my hair cut! My fantastic visiting teacher, Brenda, cut it for me, despite the fact that she's about to have a baby any day now. :) I definitely owe her some cinnamon rolls or something. And now for the big reveal!



What do you think?

First day of school!

Our first day of school was on Wednesday! The kids and I were so excited!! Jake and Aspen both have great teachers who, though they're both new to our school this year, have lots of experience teaching. I'm really looking forward to watching them learn tons. We have some great goals we've set and plenty of improvements we're working on; it's going to be a GREAT year!



Jake thinks he's so GQ. :)



Aspen is so sweet! :)



Jake and his buddy Zach.



Aspen and her friend Aubrey.

We decided, along with a couple other families in the neighborhood, that the kids are getting big enough to walk to school every day- with some parental supervision of course. So every morning we walk the kids down to "the drop off" where they meet up with a a bunch of other kids who walk to school- about 3 blocks or so from the school. Once they get to that point, there are crossing guards the whole way to the school. And then in the afternoon, we meet them at the same point and walk the rest of the way home. It's been hot, but fun! And with the up- and downhill parts, I'm getting plenty of exercise! :)

After we took the kids to school on Wednesday (we walked the WHOLE way to school on the first day! Whew.) Duke and I took the younger two to the library park. Spencer was so devastated that we had to leave the kids at school, and that he couldn't STAY there, that we thought an activity would help him get through the day. Here's a picture of him feeling better, and Hannah doing her best Sleeping Beauty impression:






AND! The dragonfly we saw on the way to school:



Isn't that neat?

BREAKING DAWN!

*insert hysterical fan-squeals here* And now a moment to regain some sanity. :)

I've been SOOOOO looking forward to Breaking Dawn. For those of you who have NO idea what I'm talking about, it's the 4th (and presumably last) in the INTENSELY popular Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer. Yes. It's a book. Feel free to mock me now. :) Anyway- I've been looking forward to the release for a year now. I recently discovered TwilightMoms.com, and I'm sure glad I did. What a blast! They had a ton of stuff planned out for it!

My cousin Katie and I went ALL out! Borders, our book purveyor of choice for this shindig, opted to give out wristbands the morning before the release. The number on the wristband dictated in what order people could buy their books. So, what does any self-respecting, completely obsessed Twilight Mom do? Well, I don't know about you, but we camped out all night at Borders to get our wristbands! :) It was so much fun! There were a few other Twilight Moms there, as well as some awesome FanFic authors. We had such a blast hanging out all night, meeting new people, eating peanut butter M&M's, watching Brian Regan and Jane Eyre on the laptop and talking about TWILIGHT! :) I managed to get about 2 hours of sleep on the concrete in front of the store. And as a sweet reward, I got the 10th wristband! Out of about 1200! :) Here's a picture of Katie and I the next morning and the line behind us:


After going back to Katie's for a few hours of much needed snoozing, we hightailed it over to my Grandma's house to get all dolled up for the release party. TwilightMoms planned a group dinner at Tucano's (our local Brazilian Grill- all you can eat MEAT and grilled pineapple! Can life get any better? I submit that it cannot!). We snagged Maleena on our way and the three of us had so much fun eating great food and teasing the waiters. Just for our benefit, a couple of the staff chose to wear name tags that read Jacob and Edward. Again, for those who've never read the books, these are the two guys in the love triangle that makes up the story of the series. A lot of the fans have chosen to side with either Team Edward or Team Jacob. Not so surprisingly, I have chosen the Switzerland route, and stayed neutral. So here's a picture of me with the guys (they are CUTE! And holding skewers full of meat! I'll take two, please!):



At the release party, amidst other fun activities- live bands, trivia contests, raffles, a blood drive, etc. , they held an Ugliest Bridesmaid Dress contest, in honor of the anticipated nuptials in the last book. Katie and I, ever the adventurers, decided to enter. I have to say that we put much time and effort into our costumes, scouring the local second-hand stores for the perfectly hideous dress, plowing through our mother's boxes of scrap fabrics and notions to make them even more unbecoming, and even HAND STITCHING the (in)appropriate accessories to our get-up. Well, Katie hand stitched. I just pestered my mom while she risked several fingers' well-being wielding a hot glue-gun on my behalf. Here's a picture (or two) of the finished product:


By the way, I made that corsage that's sprouting from my décolletage. Pretty spiffy, no? Since this is my blog, I'll brag for a bit. I did Katie's hair, with my fantastic flat-iron, and her make-up- which I think turned out perfectly Vampire-ish. She looked so awesome that I kinda feel guilty that I WON the contest! Yes!! I WON FIRST PLACE!! I couldn't believe it! :) I swear, I never win anything! Here's the prize for first place and a full length shot of the horror that won it for me:


After that it was a bit of a whirlwind! We got changed back into our street clothes (and not a moment too soon! All that polyester was making me HOT!) and got in line for our books. Once we picked those up, of course we wanted to get reading right away! TwilightMoms came through again and had a sleepover planned just a few blocks from the bookstore. After a quick but thoroughly fantastic chair massage (while we waited for directions to the sleepover), we headed to Charise's house. She had everything decked out for the party- cupcakes with strawberries, all KINDS of snack foods, and a chocolate fountain! What a kick! It was so much fun! Her mom even made us breakfast in the morning. Thank you, thank you, Charise! I'd still be reading if it wasn't for you. :)

I stayed up ALL NIGHT and read, read, read. I gotta tell you, this book was a real page turner! There were so many twists and turns, I didn't DARE put it down! I honestly looked up from reading about 12 times that night with my eyes as big as saucers and said, "WHAT!?!?! Oh my gosh! What page are you on?? Who's on page ___??" LOL Some major shockers, but I won't spoil it for anyone who's still reading. In the end, I'd say that it wasn't my FAVORITE book out of the four, but I was happy with the way it ended. There were definitely some parts that I wish were a little different, but I was so glad that she tied up every single loose end. I mean, you don't really go away wondering what happened to anyone. So that was really satisfying. I finished all 700+ pages in less than 18 hours- not my personal best, but once I got home from the sleepover it took me a little longer to finish. :)

Amazingly enough, after I finished up all of that, it got even crazier around here! My best friend since high school, Heidi, was in town to visit us the day I returned to Earth from Twilight Land. :) It is always so awesome to visit with her- now that we're all grown up we only get to see each other about once a year. We had our yearly reunion with the other member of our high school trio, Erin. Her poor husband had probably had enough of us by the end of the weekend. We tend to revert to our high school selves when we get together. I think I've giggled myself out for the next 11 months. Maybe someday we can convince her to move up here so we can get silly more often in shorter bursts.

And then, before Heidi even left, all the kids came down with strep throat. Of course, shortly following, Duke and I caught it, too. So we're all on antibiotics, and have quarantined the house from outsiders. I think we'll be able to lift the ban tomorrow, though. Everyone seems to be recovered completely, except poor Duke, who always gets hit so hard.

So! What a way to spend the last few days before school starts, huh? Yes, it's true. There are only 10 (9 by the time anyone reads this) days left until the first day of school!! The kids are SO excited! Jacob will be in the third grade this year, and Aspen will be in first. Time flies so fast! In two more years all of my kids will be in school! Can you believe it? As soon as we get new school pictures, they'll be up on here.

Well, that's it for now! I'm off to bed. Just a quick "hooray!" for the US Mens Relay Swim team! Way to go for the gold!! I'm so glad that they won today, especially after getting so much smack-talk from the French. GO TEAM USA!!

Upcoming Events:
*First Day of School
*My birthday! Woohoo!
*The 2nd Anniversary of our Sealing
*Duke's birthday!

I'm not dead

:) Just recovering from Breaking Dawn Mania and strep throat back-to-back. I promise to post about my adventures in Meyer-Land ASAP. :)

Real Quick

A picture of the YUMMY cinnamon rolls I made on Sunday! I pulled half of them off the pan before I thought to take a picture of them.

I'd never be able to make these babies without my breadmaker! I've made them twice now, and it's hard to not want to make them every week! :)

Also, I promised some of the ladies in the ward my potato salad recipe, so here it is:

Hidden Valley Ranch Potato Salad

6 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 cup chopped celery
1/2 c chopped onion
1 package Hidden Valley Ranch mix (NOT the buttermilk kind, and NOT the dip)
1/2 c mayo (I use Best Foods)
1/4 water

Boil the potatoes until soft. Drain and cool completely in the refrigerator. Meanwhile, chop your veggies and, in a small bowl mix the Ranch packet, mayo and water until smooth. When the potatoes are nice and cold, toss them with the veggies and the ranch mixture. Serves 6-8

That's it, easy peasy. This one is so popular that I never get asked to bring anything else to BBQ's. Ever.

Upcoming events:
*Pioneer Day!
*Twilight Moms Breaking Dawn release party at BORDERS
*First day of School! (Yes, it's true. There's only about a month left of summer!!)
*My Birthday
*Our temple sealing anniversary

LLAMA Fest!

We went to the 14th annual Llama Fest this weekend at the Krishna Temple here in town. Usually we go later in the day, and hang out until the sun starts setting. They have live bands and snow cones and stuff. But since we had a ward BBQ that night, we went in the afternoon instead. I think we'll stick to the evening from now on. :) It was HOT!


We got to feed some VERY friendly llamas.


Hannah and Spencer sure enjoyed their blue snow cones!

The whole family! :) Many, many thanks to Heather for coming with us and taking pictures. I hope is wasn't too boring. :) We had fun, but, like I said, I think we'll go much later next year.

Fourth of July Pics

FINALLY! Some pictures from our Independence Day BBQ at Uncle Scott's house. Enjoy!

Aspen- dramatic and windblown, as usual.

Spencer is wondering why we're bugging him about pictures when there's FIRE nearby.

Duke and me- we're so cute. :)


And Hannah on the Slip N Slide. She had a hard time getting the hang of it. About as hard a time as I had making the dang camera work. lol

Twilight Moms Zoo Trip

I can't believe I forgot to make a blog entry for the zoo trip we had in June! We went with the Utah Twilight Moms group from TwilightMoms.com. It was a BLAST!! Here's a few pictures: Spencer
Hannah
Aspen

The Bald Eagle at the bird show. That was the coolest thing, too. We've been to the zoo before, but never caught the bird show. It was fantastic! They had all these owls and hawks and doves come swooping RIGHT over our heads. And then to see a real live bald eagle. Well, it was just awesome!

Spencer, Hannah, Aspen and Matthew on the Rhino

The Ghost of the Bayou- a WHITE alligator. Not albino, white. He has blue eyes. That thing is MASSIVE!
Aspen thinks she's the Croc Hunter. :) Sassy.



Spencer inside the Snake Slide. Scary.

And lastly, Hannah, inside the Turtle Shell. Cute. :)

Independence Day Weekend

Oh my! What a fun weekend we've had!
Friday we went over to my Uncle Scott's house for our (now) annual 4th of July BBQ. It was such a blast! They have a trampoline in the backyard, and Scott bought a slip-n-slide for the kids. They ran around for hours with squirt guns and buckets of water, soaking anything that would move. :) I have to confess that I spent a fair amount of time on the trampoline myself and, whooo-boy!, it sure was easy to work up a sweat. :) I was almost grateful when I got doused. My cousin's fiance' did all the grilling. I've never had a better burger (except for In-N-Out, but who can really compare?). Then we played this game that was so fun, called Virus. I'll have to explain it another time if you've never heard of it. I hadn't. But suffice it to say that it was worth a great number of laughs. I love getting together with my extended family so much! They are crazy fun. After several rounds of Virus we set off our little fireworks on the street, and by the time we were done it was about time for the BIG ones. Scott and Paula have the greatest view of the fireworks from the Stadium of Fire from their backyard. Some of my good friends came over to watch them with us, and it was really good to see them. I've got to find my camera, but when I do I'll post a cute video of Hannah on the slip-n-slide.
Saturday we spent mostly recovering from Friday and picking up around the house. Even that. though, can be a kick. We unpacked and organized some toys that the kids haven't seen in a few months, so they enjoyed it immensely. :) Aspen got to go see Wall-e with my mom and my grandma. She's given it a GLOWING review, so we're really anxious to see it. Later, Aspen read several Dr. Suess books to the kids. It was such a cute scene; I wish I'd taken some pictures of it!
And the big news! Jake is HOME!!! Yay!! He got here at 3:30 this morning. lol But what a wonderful thing to wake up to. That's one middle-of-the-night-mommy-moment that I don't mind at all. We have all missed Jacob so much, especially Aspen. It's great to have him back here.

Just another quick post; no pictures this time. Sorry!

So I just have to brag for a moment. :) I made BBQ Chicken pizza today, (almost) just like Pier 49's, FROM SCRATCH! :) It was sooooo yummy. I even made the dough myself. I baked it on one of those Pizzazz pizza bakers and it turned out perfect. Totally loving this stay-at-home mom thing. I'm learning so much new stuff. I started baking bread (which I've never done before) and rolls from scratch. I've even tried my hand at lasagna from scratch- turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself. And next week I'm making curtains!! :) I know, it's so silly. But these are things I've always wanted to do, but never had the time. Next up, cinnamon rolls and a quilt or two!! I'm on a ROLL! :)

I'm so thankful to Duke for helping me to come home and be here with the kids all the time. They sure make me crazy some days, but there's also so much joy to be found with them. The other day I was upset about something that had gone wrong around the house (I can't remember what) and I said "Well, what am I going to do now?" And Hannah, cute as can be, just looked at me and said, "Just be happy!" Those kids come up with some of the most profound wisdom sometimes. I love to just listen to them- especially Aspen; she says the funniest things. I love them all so much, and I've been so blessed to be granted stewardship over them. I am grateful that I'm around to watch them grow up and blossom into the people they were meant to be.

Flying Kites

We received the neatest kites for Christmas from Vi and Shane, and though we've flown them before, we finally took some pictures. They never actually got airborne today, but it was fun to get outside with the kids and run around. Aspen was still at Nanna's house having a special sleep-over, so it's just Duke and Spencer and Hannah and me. We've got a pretty butterfly with really LOOOOONG green streamers, and a BLACK PEARL!!! :) I'll have to get some pictures of them in the air to put on here, too. They both fly well, though you'd never know from looking at that pirate ship. At least, I didn't expect it to fly at all. :)


























Upcoming Events :
+Family 4th of July BBQ

+Hannah's 3rd Birthday

+Jake comes home!

+Llama Fest

+Pioneer Day Carnival and Fireworks

Cutest Thing Ever

It has been kinda quiet around here lately. Jake's in Alaska, and Aspen has been spending a lot of time out with my mom and my grandma running errands and SHOPPING (lucky). Granted, Spencer makes enough noise and craziness and fun to make up for 5 kids, but it's still much quieter without the older two.
So, Spencer and Hannah and I were sitting down for lunch together the other day (quesadillas and apples! YUM!) and I was kinda lost in my own thoughts for a bit. When I started paying attention to their chatter, here's how it went down:
Hannah (who was pretending to be a monkey): "One more time?"
Spencer: "Okaaaaaaaaaay. Once upon a time there was a bee-yooooooooo-tiful princess, named Monkey. And there was a DRAGON! and a coooooool prince, named Spencer! The end."
Hannah: "One more time, Spencer?"
Spencer: "Okaaaay. Once upon a time there was a GIANT! A forte giant. And his name was Spencer. The end."
Hannah: "One more time? With ghost-es."
Spencer: "Okay, with ghost-es. Once upon a time, there was a GHOST! and he was a little boy named Spencer. The end."
Hannah: "I love you, Spencer."
Spencer: "I love you, too, Monkey."
Obviously I missed several stories before that. But it was just the cutest thing ever. This is why I love being a mom! These kids are such a blessing. When they're not eating PlayDoh... or flushing my make-up down the toilet. :) I can say one thing, it's constantly interesting. :)

A quick hello

Just a quick "hi" to all my friends in RS who are checking out my blog for the first time. :) I had a BLAST today! You ladies are all awesome.

Updates

So we passed Spencer's 4th birthday without mishap. Woohoo! :) He got a brand spankin' new 16 inch bike. He was soooo excited, until he realized that all the other 4 year-olds in the neighborhood have smaller bikes. Now he wants to ride theirs, and ignores his. Psh. Kids. Of course it doesn't matter that he begged for the bigger bike- it fits him just fine, too. lol At least it will last him a few years.

It's now summer break! Jacob is in Alaska having a blast, and, though we miss him bunches, we're having a pretty good time, too. :) The kids have SO MANY friends in the neighborhood- they're busy ALL DAY LONG! :) We just leave the front door open all day (thank goodness it hasn't been too hot yet!) and about 10 or 12 kids will just come and go, come and go. Between all their houses, these kids are probably getting more than their fill of Popsicles.

Duke and I have officially decided to go to college this fall. He'll hopefully be starting this month for the second half of summer semester, and then I'll start in August when the kids go back to school. I'm excited and nervous at the same time. It's so silly, but I'm most thrilled about HOMEWORK! lol and taking the assessment test. The idea of getting to work my grey matter again is getting me amped. :)

Hannah's birthday is coming up in July- along with Independence Day (party!!) and Pioneer Day (more party!!) and the Llama Fest! (SNOOOOOOW CONES!) July is always my favorite month during the summer, and it'll be even better because Jake will be here for all the fun this year. I can't wait.

Now that we've got everything out of storage finally, I can't find anything! But I think after the yard sale this weekend I'll be able to track down that USB cord and get some pictures up on here. I know I keep promising, but I'll get to it one of these days. Here's a few from earlier this year (and Christmas time):

Anniversary

Just another quick post. Today is our 5th wedding anniversary. It's insane how time flies. No one ever imagines getting divorced when they're newlyweds, but it's still hard to imagine 5 years. It simultaneously feels like we've been together forever, and for no time at all. So, here's a current picture, and a picture from the beginning. And here's to another forever. :)

MOVED!

Yay! We got moved, finally! It's so nice to be in our own place. Most of our furniture is still in storage, but it's kinda cool to have a slow move. It's been much easier to get settled that way. Here's a picture of the new place (you'll just have to guess which one we're in!):


We're also finally getting a handle on potty training Spence and Hannah! What a relief! No pun intended. :) Those two have been so stubborn about it, but I think they've got the idea now. It helped that Hannah started doing it first, I think. A little more motivation for Spencer.

Jake and Aspen are doing GREAT in school. I'm always so proud of them. They're both above their grade levels in reading and math. I was recently able to go on field trips with both of them to the Monte L. Bean Museum of Life Sciences at BYU. It was so much fun!

It's been snowing here the last couple of days. Talk about crazy. Apparently mother nature can't make up her mind about what season it is. Just last week the kids were running around with the neighbors in shorts and t-shirts. I can't wait for spring. That's one thing about all the snow we get all winter- I've finally come to appreciate the summer in a way that I never was able to in Vegas. I still love the winter and fall, but I'm happy for sunshine when it gets here. :)

Well, I think that's everything! When I get the camera and the usb cable unpacked I'll add some new pictures of the kids. Until then!

Heidi

New Fish!

Here we go; our first blog! Just a quick "hello" and a promise to update soon. We'll get some pictures up, too.

Upcoming events:
moving to our own house!
Duke and Heidi's wedding anniversary
Spencer's 4th birthday
SUMMER BREAK! YAY!