Percussion

Here is my very own little drummer boy at his spring concert! All day, every day, non stop drumming is happening at my house. Everything seems to have a beat associated with it and Joshua is determined to play out the rhythm of our lives! In the car the other day it was chopsticks being drummed on the center console to the beat of the radio, but he has also used shishkabob sticks, pencils or even just his hands to constantly keep the beat. I have to admit that it DOES drive me CRAZY at times, but just the same, I still love my little drummer boy!

New York Trip

Earlier this month I was able to chaperone Caleb's orchestra trip to New York. I have never been, so I was excited to check out all the sights! Here is our motley crew in Times Square...This is the New Year's Ball. I don't know what I expected.....I was a bit disappointed! It was so small and somewhat anticlimactic if you ask me!We went to a broadway show one night and then on a dinner cruise the next night. The Statue of Liberty was awe-inspiring to see from the boat and the New York City skyline is gorgeous at night.

Here I am in Times Square.....I have to admit, it was fun for a day, but I did not enjoy the crowds! Too many people crammed together; you can forget about personal space! The funny thing was, I had spent the weekend before revelling in the openness of the Nevada desert, and then to be in a cramped city was crazy!

My favorite stop was Toys R Us in Times Square. What a dream toy store! They even had a life-sized barbie dream house! YES, I totally went in! You have no idea how long I have dreamed about being in the barbie dream house!

This was in the Legoland part of the store. There were lots of cool things made out of legos; I know my boys would have loved it!Then my favorite childhood game, Candyland, had its very own section. Lots of bulk candy and specialty treats....all priced at a premium, of course!There is a full sized ferris wheel right as you enter the store. I had to snap a picture of the My Little Pony car for Savannah. How cool is that?!!

It was a fun trip, but I was glad to come home. I have no desires to ever live in a big city! When we pulled into our neighborhood I was so excited to see wide open streets without cars lining both sides! Oh yeah, and there was an orchestra competition.....they won first place!

Easter

Remember last year when I didn't take any pictures of our Easter celebrations and I was lamenting being a bad mom and vowed to take pictures this year?

Well, I give you Easter 2011 in all its finery..... I am SUCH a photographer! Sadly this is the only picture I took!

A few days before Easter, Savannah said to me "Mom, I haven't ever gotten to make colored eggs." WHAT??? She had to be wrong! I was the mom who always did colored eggs! So I started thinking back and realized that I haven't done them in the 4 1/2 years that we have lived here, so if she did them, it was when she was 2 and there is no way she would remember that! When did life get so hectic that I didn't have time to color Easter eggs?!!

So I boiled some eggs and gathered all the kids who were interested (only the 3 youngest came) and we got to work coloring. I don't think Joshua colored any; he was too interested in his book! But Savannah and Samuel had a great time!

BYU Women's Conference 2011

I am not even really sure what happened to these pictures....I left my camera home, so my sister sent these to me, but I think they are posting like thumbnails. Anyway, here's the story...



Four years ago, my husband sent me to Women's Conference as a Christmas gift. It was the most incredible gift I have ever gotten.....to this day, he hasn't topped it! However, I don't think he realized that once I went, I would have to keep going back! (Sorry honey....)



This is the first year we have been able to convince all of our sisters to go. Usually mom would go with us too, but she was serving my youngest sister by babysitting her kids since she just got divorced and her husband couldn't take them.



It was an incredible trip! Spiritually uplifting, emotionally filling and so much FUN! My sisters ROCK!!! I do not know another family that gets along as well as we do. Maybe it helps that we don't live all in the same town to annoy each other with petty differences, or maybe they are just THAT COOL!!!



One night we went to a concert and then stayed late to get pics with all the "celebrities"! Here are Rachel and Krysten with David Osmond We always have fun doing the evening of service projects. Rachel went with me this time and I picked the crown and wand project. Seriously, we were creatively challenged on this project! Rachel and I both made a wand, but it took us about an hour! We didn't even attempt the crown, but something tells me it was probably alot easier! Next year I will let Rachel pick the craft!Here I am with Shannon, Mandy and Krysten at the Marriott Center. It is so cool for me to be back at BYU since it was my old stomping grounds for 5 years. I LOVED being there!

I felt like this year's theme for me was learning all I could learn about the principle of agency. It is funny how we tend to take home the things that we needed most from each conference. I felt like all the classes came together to give me a better understanding and I learned oh so much. Now I just have to figure out how to put it all into practice!

Of course, no sisters trip would be complete without some serious shopping! On the way up to BYU, we saw a billboard for the ModBod Outlet Store and decided to stop in. Unfortunately they were closed (they are currently only open 2 days a week, so call ahead if you want to go to be sure they will be there), so we decided to peek in the windows and see what they had. There we were, all five of us, with our hands up shielding our eyes from the sun and our noses pressed to the window, when all of a sudden we see someone inside waving at us and laughing! We begged her to open especially for us, but she couldn't. After Women's Conference on the way home we decided to drop in. Of course she remembered us....how could she forget! We all had a good laugh about the window incident and then proceeded to shop! Lots of great items and I think we spent enough money between the five of us to make it worth there while. They carry alot of the undershirts that I like to wear and put on the girls to make their clothes a bit more modest and the prices were really cheap. Oh, and I have never laughed so much while shopping! The owners were great and we totally enjoyed hanging out with them....as a matter of fact, if you are reading this, owners (I think I forgot to ask your names, which is terrible since you learned all of ours!), I am now granting you the status of honorary sisters and you can come on our next sister's trip!!!

Random Pictures....

About a month ago, I fell victim to a loose stick in the road.... It was not that sturdy of a stick; as a matter of fact, it disintegrated in my hands as I tried to pull it out, but it successfully destroyed my rear tire in a matter of seconds! Fortunately for me, Sam's Club honored their warranty and replaced it free of charge......unfortunately for me, I had to replace another perfectly good tire at my cost so that they would be balanced! :(


Savannah's school held the "Vocabulary Parade" where each student had to dress up like a vocabulary word. Savannah's 1st grade class was supposed to pick compound words, so I smartly suggested "fairytale" thinking we could use her fairy costume and add a tail on the back.....unfortunately, on the night of the vocabulary parade as I was looking up the word "fairytale" in the dictionary, I realized it was NOT a compound word; just two separate words! Goes to show what 5 years of college will do for you! Needless to say, she was still a "fairytale"!

General Conference was the first weekend of April so we had a lot of time on our hands listening to the Prophet and Apostles speak. The messages were uplifting, as always, but I find it difficult to occupy fidgety kids who may not get as much out of it as me. Savannah has been wanting "bumpy hair" so I decided to braid her hair during one of the 2 hour sessions. This is what it looked like the next morning!
Chris' parents celebrated their 50th anniversary, so the kids threw a "pig pickin" in their honor. It was an awful day weather-wise with tornadoes touching down all over the state, but we were oblivious to that until later that night. All 6 of their kids along with all the grandchildren made it for their special day.

Blah, Blah, Blah.....

I do still want to blog, I promise, I really do! There is just nothing quite like the stress of parenting teenagers that can take the wind out of your sails at a moment's notice. Looking at it from the "glass-half-full" side, there is never a dull moment around here. So, while there is lots of picture taking and blog-worthy (aka journal-worthy, since this is my family journal)experiences going on, I just cannot seem to get it together to put up a blog post. I will try to do better....

The school year is whizzing by and we find ourselves at the final quarter of Shelby's high school career. It is strange to think that she will be leaving home for college in just a few short months. Like any mother, I wonder if she is ready. She is still so young (although she would beg to differ, I am sure!) and I worry about how she will do out there in the world. I know there will be inevitable trials and difficulties and learning experiences, and I can only hope that we have instilled in her the tools that she needs to thrive. She is still frantically applying for scholarship applications in the hopes of being able to come up with the $18,000 she needs for this first year. We joined a gym together....me to work out, her to get free tanning....so we are there several nights a week.

Caleb is slowly regaining the use of his wrists. It has been a bit of a struggle for him to not be able to play tennis this year. He is taking advantage of the extra time in his schedule to look for a job, so we are hopeful he will be able to find something before the college kids come home for the summer and take all the jobs!

Joshua is back to playing lacrosse and loving it! He is such a little athlete! Last weekend he went on a 25 mile bike ride with the scouts then off to his lacrosse game. I didn't think he had it in him to do it, but he surprised me!

Samuel is still swimming like crazy! He was awarded "most improved swimmer" for his year round swim team and the coach told him that he missed being "most valuable swimmer" by a few points (it is judged on their total points earned for the team at meets throughout the year). That was surprising because Samuel has chosen not to swim on Sundays because he thinks it is important to keep the sabbath day holy, so he typically swims 5 events less than everyone else at each meet. I thought he would be a little sad about finding that out but it actually made him feel good and he said that he knew he was most valuable swimmer but he wants to keep the sabbath day holy, so that's all that matters. What a great kid!

Savannah is in "friend-mania"! It is so funny! Everyday after school she is planning which friend's house she will go to or who will come to our house. She has four good friends that she switches between and at the dinner table one night when we were sharing our "good" and "bad" about the day, she said her "bad" was that she only got to have one friend over that day! Such a little socialite! She is losing teeth like crazy! She has lost one of her top front teeth and the other is hanging on by a thread. It is all cock-eyed and she looks like a snaggle tooth! There is another on the bottom that is about ready to come out soon too.

Chris is still working and scouting and helping me coordinate the kids schedules. It is crazy! We are getting pretty close to when his allergies knock him out for about a month, so he is enjoying spring while he can. Work is going a bit better, but still lots of travelling and still stressful. I really wish he would be assigned a new boss!

I have been hit by allergies for the first time this year and they have hit me hard. After a full week of thinking I was sick, it finally occurred to me that it was allergies, so I am starting the meds a bit late and desperately trying to get it under control. Basically, I am miserable! I know people don't die of allergies, but I find it akin to morning sickness where you wish you would die!

Okay, so that's about it with us. I will try to get it together next week over spring break and post some fun pics!

Parenting with Compassion

Have you ever had one of those "a-ha" moments when you read something that strikes you in such a way that it completely changes your outlook on things? One of those moments when you realize that you've been doing it all wrong.....and you hope that you haven't damaged your children irreversibly in the process! (please say I'm not the only one....)

A friend of mine linked to an article on facebook from Meridian Magazine called "Godly Parenting: Compassion for Humanness" by Wallace Goddard. The title intrigued me enough to click over and check out the link, and I was so glad I did. I quickly skimmed through before leaving to pick up a child from school yesterday and I have re-read it three times since then (with a lot of time spent pondering in between).

It is really SO GOOD!

Apparently it is part of a series of articles on Godly Parenting and Compassion, but I feel like I need to absorb and incorporate this one before I start on something new! Otherwise I will get overwhelmed and not make the changes I need to make.

I am in the midst of the battle right now. Parenting teenagers is quite possibly THE HARDEST THING I have ever done! In my zeal to set boundaries and be the tough guy, I am afraid that I have forgotten compassion.

Unfortunately, it is easy to do.

I feel like I am a much more relaxed parent of 7 yr. old Savannah than I was when Shelby was seven. After trial and error, I know there are so many things that just do not matter. This morning Savannah spilled a cup of orange juice all over the counter and down onto the floor. When Shelby was little, I am afraid I would have yelled at her for making a mess. With Savannah, I said "uh-oh, sometimes that happens. Be more careful next time." and then handed her a towel and helped her clean it up.

So what does this say about me as I parent Shelby through the teenage years?

I am sure there will be oh so many things that I will wish I could change by the time I look back on this era through the eyes of a seasoned mother. I wonder if she has spent her whole life under my much too harsh judgement feeling like she can never measure up to my impossible standards and thus, not even trying.

If anyone needed compassion for humanness, it was Shelby.

When I think about the legacy I want to leave her with as she prepares to head off to college, it is simply this...

She is loved.

I can only hope that in my well-meaning, yet blundering efforts, that message has been able to get through.

Age Group Championships

Samuel had the incredible opportunity to participate in State Championships for swimming on Saturday. It is a chance to swim against the best swimmers in the state and with this being his first year competing in USA swim meets, it was an honor for him to even qualify to go. It was a little frustrating that he only qualified in one event, especially considering he was 2/10th's of a second away from qualifying in two other events.....oh well, sometimes that's what happens!

Since his event wasn't until afternoon, Chris drove him up Saturday morning, watched him compete, and then drove home. I wish I could have gone, but someone had to stay home and shuttle the other 4 kids to and from work, lacrosse practice, friend's houses, scout fundraisers, and the grocery store! It was not a stellar meet for Samuel; he swam the 200 IM and came in 45th out of 49 swimmers and did not get his best time, but it was a great opportunity to see what swimming is like at the elite levels. We are proud of Samuel and his efforts on swim team!

On an interesting side note.....swimming has worked wonders for Samuel's asthma this year. Last year he swam at a pool that was not well ventilated, so I didn't see the benefits, but this year is a different story. I have not had him in the doctor's office once this winter. He hasn't even had to use his inhaler or preventative meds at all. Typically I spend at least a thousand dollars on office visits and meds over the course of the winter trying to keep his asthma under control. Our doctor told me that the swimming is strengthening his lungs and helping him to stay healthy. That is worth its weight in gold to me!

Catching up....Again!

I know it seems like all we've been doing around here is breaking bones, but believe me, a lot of noteworthy things have been happening that I haven't taken the time to blog yet! For instance, Samuel participated in our family's final Pinewood Derby. (Chris is so thrilled to be done with this rite of passage!) We attempted to "swirl paint" his car and followed the demo's for swirl painting guitars online and it turned out pretty cool. We didn't quite get the look he was aiming for, but it was cool nonetheless. Caleb participated in All-District Band. This was his first year trying out on the clarinet, so he was excited to make it. In the past he has gone on the bass clarinet and there is a lot less competition.

Grandma and Grandpa came to visit and helped celebrate Caleb's 16th birthday. Unfortunately, this was right after he broke both arms, so it wasn't quite the celebration he had in mind. And he found that turning 16 for a boy is somewhat anti-climatic when all our your friends who are girls who you might consider asking out on a date don't turn 16 till summer! Oh well, there is still time....

We took Grandma and Grandpa on a walk down by the river on President's Day. It was fairly nice weather, so it was fun to get outside after all the cold. Of course I was holding my breath because Caleb was all over those rocks and I was afraid that he would end up falling in the river and ruining his casts!

Chris and I went with Savannah to her "Eight is Great" fireside where she learned all about being baptized. She was so excited to go to the fireside because she has always wanted to go to a fireside, but then found it to be not quite as exciting as she had anticipated because there was no fire and we didn't roast marshmallows. No wonder she has been jealous of her older siblings all these years!

Samuel attended two levels of district championships for swimming. He ended up bringing home a gold medal and a 7th place medal (I don't know what color that is). Sadly, it was not a good measure of what an incredible swimmer he has become because he got sick two weeks before district champs, missed a full week of practice, and lost 7 lbs. and he really wasn't back up to par by champs. He was on the verge of qualifying for State Junior Olympics in 5 events but only ended up qualifying in 1, the 200 IM. He goes next weekend to compete in that, so stay tuned for results!

And then there were two.....

We are cautiously wrapping our last boy (Samuel) in bubble wrap since he has State Swim Championships in a few weeks and a cast would not be a good thing!

Joshua apparently broke his thumb last Thursday playing basketball. He favored it a bit and we just thought it was jammed. He practiced lacrosse for 2 hours on Saturday, playing goalie with no complaints. But once it was all done, he was miserable. I went out a bought a little splint thinking if we just rested it, it would get better, but no luck. By today it was still causing him so much pain that we decided to get it looked at.

The orthopedist did a double take when he walked by the room and saw me there. He said "weren't you just here?!!" Then he saw Josh and said "oh, it's a different kid!" Fortunately for Joshua, the doctor is a former lacrosse player, so he gave Josh permission to keep playing and practicing!