Swim Meet Time!

I cannot believe I never did swim team as a kid! My children have so much fun with it during the summer and it has helped them all to be great swimmers. Last night we had our second meet of the season.

Savannah has been working with her coach in private lessons and she is doing so well! She got 7th in Freestyle and 6th in backstroke. We weren't sure if Samuel would be able to compete because he has been sick for 3 days with a stomach/intestinal reaction to a very strong antibiotic he has been on. But he was able to pull it all together in time for the meet, and boy were his coaches glad! He got 1st place in every event he competed in! He even got some new personal best times.Joshua was so excited to do an IM (individual medley--one lap of each stroke) but he ended up getting disqualified. He got 9th place in freestyle and 8th place in breaststroke. He also improved on his best times! Don't you love this picture of the arm?!!!Caleb had one of his best meets ever and was able to improve his personal best time in backstroke by over 10 seconds! He got 8th in breastroke and 5th in backstroke. After being so sick last summer, it is refreshing to have him healthy and enjoying competition again!Shelby had a personal best time in butterfly and ended up 7th in breaststroke, 8th in butterfly, and 10th in freestyle. This is the coolest picture of her doing butterfly!I was so proud of all my kids and how hard they have worked to improve at swimming. You can't beat the exercise and it is fun to have something that everyone enjoys at the same time and place!

Good Stuff!

I've been collecting my pictures and memories for over a month now and just haven't gotten around to blogging them.......so here's what we've been doing!

Joshua participated in a 5K at his elementary school in May. He finished 109th out of 500 racers of all ages! It was his first ever race, so I was just impressed that he even wanted to do it!

The Raingutter Regatta was held in early June and both Joshua and Samuel made boats to race. Joshua's boat seemed to have technical difficulties in the raingutter.....

but Samuel's performed very well! He ended up with 3rd place overall!
I helped out at Field Day at Samuel's school and it was fun watching him compete with the rest of his class! Here they are trying to pass the hula hoop down the line without breaking hands.

The pool finally opened and we participated in the yearly Memorial Day parade down to the pool. Savannah is getting better on her bike and was so excited to decorate it this year! Dad tried and tried to get her riding without training wheels for a whole week before the parade, but in the end, the training wheels went back on....

Grandma and Aunt Frieda came to visit for a day. We wished we could have spent more time with them, but at least we can still look forward to a trip to Grandma and Grandpa's later this year! Aunt Frieda sat still for Savannah to style her hair.....isn't she lovely?!!!

Spring brings with it all kinds of wildlife and we have been excited to have visitors to watch on our deck. One day I got mad at Chris for emptying out the kids backpacks onto the back deck because I was sure all the crumbs would attract bugs. Instead we ended up with a willing squirrel licking up every last crumb!

The geese on our lake had babies, so Savannah and I made a special trip down to the lake to check them out! We got books about geese from our library and sat on the boardwalk and read them. It was a fun day! The babies were so cute!

A cardinal came to visit our deck and ate the cracker we had set out for the squirrel. My favorite thing about living here is the wildlife!

Sister's Trip (Plus Mom!)

Many years ago, my mom and sisters and I went to St. George for a shopping trip. We ended up at a Mexican Restaurant for lunch and watched a table of five older ladies eating, laughing and having a great time. At one point, something was said about what a great time they were having and one of the ladies explained to us that they were all sisters and they made it a point to get together once a year for a sister's trip to reconnect. I remember hoping that one day I could do that with my sisters (there are five of us also!). Anyway, we are gradually getting to the point in our lives where we can take time away from our families to be together, and it is every bit as much fun as I imagined it would be!!!

Mom, Shannon and I made plans to attend BYU Women's Conference this year, so on the trip up to Provo, we stopped in to see our sister, Krysten.

The conference was incredible (as always)! This is my 2nd year coming and I had to come back! It is a very busy two days, and I learned so much that I hope I can put into practice in my home. This year we took the opportunity to participate in the service project where we made some cute tutus that will be donated to children's organizations. I can think of nothing more fun than making a tutu!

We were able to stay together for some of our classes; we ate fudge, BYU mint brownies, Creamery ice cream and Cafe Rio; we stayed up late talking and laughing; we remembered what it's like to not always be taking care of someone else! It really was a great time!

After our trip to BYU, we came back to Nevada and met up with Krysten and Rachel to go to the Las Vegas Parade of Homes. It was so much fun to see all the new ideas in home building.

Of course, it's Vegas, so I feel like they are always pushing the limits! This house incorporated tons of glass--from the kitchen table positioned over top of the pool.....

To the Master Bedroom over top of the shade garden.....you would have to be very comfortable with yourself in this house because even the bathrooms have floor to ceiling glass windows!

The "wall of water" concept was great because it sounds like a trickling brook in your home and can be incredibly relaxing!

But I think the coolest thing was the indoor outdoor living concept where entire walls of glass can be pulled back to open your home up to the outside. The picture doesn't do it justice....it was way more stunning in person! I have to wonder though, if I would really like my living spaces open to the outside. I don't think it would go over well here because we have WAY too many bugs! Oh yeah, and what about my snake???? This would make it too easy for him to invade my home!

I took the red-eye flight home from Vegas, so we had to stop off for one last treat at the Cheesecake Factory before I left. It's amazing that I didn't gain 5 lbs. on my trip! I guess all that walking at BYU helped to work off the indulgences! The only sister I didn't get to see of this trip was Mandy.....hopefully she can come next year!

Crazy Life

Yep, that's what it's been around here for the past two weeks! I have been cleaning out the house, top to bottom, and preparing for a yard sale! We finally did that yesterday and made $125 to go towards our pool membership this summer. I have decided I am DONE with yard sales! I will be donating and taking the tax write-off from here on out! But at least my spring cleaning is done and it feels so much better around my house!

In other fun news....

Joshua got his cast off!

Savannah took her biggest step yet towards growing up by registering for Kindergarten! It was a "red letter fashion day" for Savannah as she made sure that she carried her Alligator Purse (thanks Uncle Mitch and Aunt Shannon) and she got LOTS of compliments on it from all the Kindergarten teachers!

And Shelby and Caleb both had exciting news!

Caleb has been accepted to the Governor's School for the Arts!!! He is starting high school next year and in our state the kids have the opportunity to apply to attend regional Governor's Schools. They are very prestigious schools here in our state and are difficult to get in to. He had to interview, audition and present an application showing all of his qualifications. This particular school takes applicants from 14 school districts and Caleb was one of only 15 students accepted this year for the instrumental major. I think Caleb will benefit most from the small size of the school since it has less than 350 students while most high schools in our district have 1500-2000 students!

Shelby was accepted to the Summer Governor's School program where she can live at a college campus for a month this summer and be part of a dynamic learning community. There are lots of fun classes and experiences that she can have and it is entirely paid for by the state. She has an extremely busy summer planned and is still debating whether or not she should go because it would interfere with girl's camp, but I think it would be an incredible opportunity! She also just got her first job working at an ice cream shop here in town and is looking forward to making LOTS of money! (I am afraid she may find that it is not as much as she is hoping it will be by the time they take out taxes and she spends like a maniac......but hey, who isn't excited about their first job?!!!)

The most exciting news, though, is I leave for Women's Conference on Tuesday! I am so excited for the chance to spend time with my mom and my sisters and be spiritually uplifted! The last thing I need to do before I go is make my husband a spreadsheet (I gotta speak his language!) of where all the kids need to be and when! Life tends to be a bit crazy around here, so he needs me to keep him organized! Say an extra little prayer for him this week while he plays "Mr. Mom"!

Snake update: The weather cooled off for five days and I thought the snake was gone for good, but he showed up again sunning on my porch as soon as it warmed back up. I am currently living at peace with the snake and I am not bothering him if he doesn't bother me! I think I might get one of those stuffed owls or hawks to sit on my porch railing.....do you think that would scare him off?

Our Pet

Sometimes you choose to become a pet owner and sometimes pets adopt you. I am not what you would call an animal lover (not that I don't like animals....I just feel like I have enough things to take care of already!). Up till this point, we have only had sea monkeys, fish, and a random cat that lived on the doorstep of the new home that we bought.

About a week ago, this little guy showed up on our porch......

Not exactly the kind of pet I would choose for myself, mind you! I figured if we left him alone, he would go away, so we did. I watched him slither INTO THE VENT UNDER MY PORCH!!! I immediately ran down to the basement to see if there was a way he could get into my house from under the porch and I am now completely freaked out!

So here we are, a week later, and he has been back, lounging on my porch, 3 times since then. When he is finished lounging, he heads right back down underneath the porch. So far I have not found him in my house, but I am not really liking this! I want Chris to relocate him to the stream in our neighborhood, but Chris thinks he will keep mice away. (Not that I have ever had a problem with mice here, mind you......)

My kids have started checking for him at all hours of the day and then announcing to the family "The snake is back!!!" when they find him. Anyone want a pet snake?!!! I will gladly give him away!

Hiking the Mountain

Sometimes it takes a little prodding to remember you can still do fun things even though you have five kids! Chris and I both used to enjoy hiking, and over the years, we have even taken our family on numerous hikes. We always kept them fairly tame and short; usually less than two miles, because inevitably someone was carrying a baby! Last week on facebook, I noticed one of my friends had listed in her status that she was doing a 17 mile hike over Spring Break. I was intrigued and told Chris about it. We started talking about hiking and how far we could realistically make it with our kids. We settled in on a 7.5 mile hike that Chris had taken the scouts on last year. There was a lot of bouldering at the top (and everyone knows that kids LOVE to climb on rocks), so we felt like it would provide excitement and fun for everyone!

Surprisingly, we had very little complaining from the little ones. We realized early on that I had made a critical error in choosing Savannah's hiking boots instead of her tennis shoes.....they were about half a size too small and her heels were being rubbed. Chris carried her a little as we climbed the mountain, but she gained her second wind and didn't complain again till right at the end. She ended up with two big blisters; one on each heel. Shelby wasn't too happy about spending her Easter Break hiking, so she went on ahead of us and we don't have any pics of her, but rest assured, she completed the hike.....in record time!

It took us just under 6 hrs. to complete our hike and the views from the top were stunning!

We are all a bit sore now, but I am proud to say, we are a hiking family! The kids can't wait till the next one!

Easter Fun

We started out the Easter season with an egg hunt down at our neighborhood pool.
I believe this is the first year Savannah hasn't been scared of large fuzzy costumes, so she danced with the Easter Bunny!

Shelby worked on the face-painting crew making sure all the kiddies were well made up for Easter.

Now that's my favorite little bunny!

True to tradition, the bunny visited our house Friday night before Easter, helping make Sunday a more relaxed day for our family to worship and remember the reason we celebrate Easter.

The boys all got tennis rackets and balls so they can play down at our neighborhood courts this summer.

Upon finding her new bag and nail polish stash, Savannah said

"How romantic!"

She can be so melodramatic!

Learning to Write

It's been an exciting month for Savannah as she has really started to recognize her letters and attempt to write them in earnest! I must admit, I have been a little concerned because she seems to have taken longer than all my other kids to get to this point. I am quite relieved that she has figured it all out prior to our upcoming kindergarten registration day!

I first realized she was progressing when I received a note slipped under my door that read "MOMCOMEOUT" (spacing and punctuation always seem to lag a bit). Samuel had apparently helped her by telling her what letters to write.

Shortly thereafter she asked me to help her compose this note to her dad.....

It says "I saw a beak and guts"

We had been out in the yard that morning and she noticed the remains of a cat's encounter with a very unlucky bird. She was so excited about what she had seen that she wanted to write it in a note and pass it under the bathroom door to her dad while he was taking a shower.

Then there was the note that lovingly spelled out my name in giant letters laid across my bedroom floor one day. Hey, I like being MOMY! (Or was that YMOM?)

But I have to say, the true test of my motherhood came when I stumbled across this carving in my nice living room end table.......

Notice the sideways S; it totally gives away its penman. You see, I have a little girl whose name starts with an S. Try as she might, she cannot seem to get it to go upright! She will yell at it and get mad, but no amount of ranting can make her S go the right way!

I realized I have evolved as a mother when I caught myself getting misty-eyed and thinking "This is my last sideways S.....this is the last time I will have a child carving in my furniture." After watching five kids learn to write, I am just now realizing there are certain stages kids go through as they develop in the writing process. One of those stages seems to be that they write on EVERYTHING! And inevitably, the word that they write first is THEIR OWN NAME! I have names scribbled in marker on walls and books, carved into wooden furniture and stair railings, and written in pen on clothing. I really tried, but I couldn't conjure up even a little bit of anger with my little one. I called Chris in and we laughed about it together, then tried to put on our stern faces so we could properly reprimand her. After a stern reminder that we write on paper, Savannah settled herself down at the table with a supply of paper and crayons. We can't wait to see what she comes up with next!

Homemaker By Choice

I get phone calls periodically from a local market research company that hires people to participate in focus group studies. They usually go through a series of screening questions to determine if you qualify and then they choose people to participate. I signed up about a year ago, but I haven't had a chance yet to participate in a focus group. Yesterday they called again and went through the questions for the latest study......

Researcher: "Do you work full or part time?"
Me: "I don't work."
Researcher: "So you are a homemaker then?"
Me: "Yes"
Researcher: "Are you a homemaker by choice?"

I paused and a smile played across my lips. A homemaker by choice?
What else would I be?!!!

You see, it's been a rough couple of weeks around my house.....ones that I don't care to repeat any time soon; or ever again, for that matter. Things have gone from bad to worse.....and worse.....and yet again worse. I have spent many sleepless nights and more time on my knees in prayer than I ever thought possible. Homemaking and motherhood are not for the faint of heart. It's a thankless job and I don't think there is any way I could do it if I wasn't in it wholeheartedly!

Fifteen and a half years ago, with the encouragement of my husband, I made my choice.....to walk away from a career and be a mother and a homemaker. It has not been easy; it has been the hardest thing I have ever done. But it has been worth the sacrifice. I have laid a foundation of faith for my children that they cannot deny. (Not that they won't try, mind you; I do believe in agency!) I have devoted my life to my family and they are everything to me.

Yes, I am a homemaker by choice.

Thank you to the researcher who reminded me.....I needed to hear that this week.

Look Out Michael Phelps......Here Comes Your Competition!

It was YMCA Swim Champs this weekend and Samuel walked away with personal best times in all his events. He got two gold medals, a silver medal, and a bronze medal. He also took 7th place with his relay team. Chris and Caleb were camping with the boy scouts, but they were able to make it for the last 2 races. Way to go Samuel, we are so proud of you!