My Day

The best part is that when I pulled out my camera he paused, smiled, and said, "Cheese!"

Too Much Fun

Honestly we have been playing too much this week. Hiking with friends for Savannah's birthday day, double playdates, swimming. We've been go, go, go. Then Saturday we out did ourselves.

I got up first thing and went for a bike ride. I've been working on hills and so I rode 3/4th the way up the canyon right by our house. I kicked butt. (Okay, I was probably the slowest rider going up the canyon, but I did it.) I am not athletic or competitive but I was really, really, proud of myself.

Russ met me at the top so I didn't put my life in my hands for a ride down the canyon, and then we decided to take our family kayaking. Since we bought a kayak last year we have loved taking the kids but we haven't had a great location.

Thankfully, that changed Saturday.

We had a blast rowing, and playing in the alpine lake. It was exactly what kayaking should be. We will definitely be coming here again.

 

That is after I have about three days to recover. I was asleep by 10:00 awake at 7:30 and I am still exhausted.

Happy Birthday Savannah!

For Savannah's sixth birthday, I'm going to share six things I love about her.

1. I love that Savannah knows how to work hard. Already at this age she wants to do the difficult things first to get them done so she can truly enjoy the fun things.   She works hard at reading, piano, and her jobs and she accomplishes so much when she does. She even gets frustrated with me if I ask her to put off getting something accomplished because she just wants to get it done. Especially with piano and reading she has also had the opportunity to experience the joy of accomplishment that comes after hard work. When she masters a piano piece or reads especially well, she is so happy at what she has been able to achieve. I feel like this is such an important life skill that Savannah just seems to understand innately.

2. I love how friendly Savannah is. Savannah has so many friends in the neighborhood. She loves playing anything with any of them. She looks out for people to make sure that they are included and helps her friends solve problems as they arise.

3. I love that Savannah loves animals and nature. Every time I turn around she has a new favorite animal or new fun fact about different animals. (Some of this is thanks to PBS Kids.) She is regularly looking at different kinds of bugs and catching those she can. She has a great appreciation for the world around her and its magnificence.

4. I love Savannah's desire to do the right thing. She always wants to be on task at school or in whatever class she takes. She sincerely wants to make good choices and always seeks to do so. She just has a desire for goodness in her.

5. I love Savannah's imagination. This year Savannah decided to make a paper house. She got a thick stack of paper and drew on some to make floor and walls. Each room was designed to match a room in our house. She had the most amazing details on each paper to designate it as the proper wall. The walls and floors were connected with tape. Tape also joined the rooms together. The creation was large and time consuming to build. This is just one of the many things that have come out of her head that were amazing and very impressive. She really knows how to think outside the box in so many ways.

6. I love Savannah's joy. Savannah is just a happy girl. She is content most of the time and is always seeking out a way to have fun or play. In fact her daily prayer is to have a fun time. She just brings joy wherever she goes.

Family Pictures

This year Russ's sister thought it would be a great idea to give his mom a family picture for her birthday. So while (almost) everyone was in town for Abbie's baptism we set it up. The photographer was wonderful and for just a little bit extra, allowed us to get pictures of our individual families as well.  This week we got the pictures back.

I am thrilled!

Birthday and Mountains

This week we have done two big things. The first is that we have celebrated Savannah's 6th birthday. The lucky girl is getting almost a full week of birthday fun. The celebrations began last Sunday when her cousins were still in town and we got to do presents and birthday cake with them.

The party began again on Friday when she got to have her friend birthday party. Savannah really wanted to go glow-in-the-dark miniature golfing. I figured this would be a fantastic activity that had the potential to take hours for five young girls. From start to finish the girls finished nine holes in 20 minutes.

The rules were all a bit fuzzy, you could slide the ball into the hole with your club, you could start it pretty much wherever you saw fit. In fact, if you didn't like where the ball ended up, you could move it to wherever you felt was a good location.

 The objective seemed a little unclear as well. Sometimes, some girls hit the ball into the hole. Sometimes they hit the ball and picked it up and moved on. The whims were constantly changing. As far as I could tell the main focus of the activity was seeing which things glowed in the black lights overhead. Teeth, no. Shirts, yes. Paper, yes.

So we headed over to the arcade for some valuable economics lessons in cost, budgeting, and value.

Lesson One: When you spend money, it is gone. This is true even if your friend just found the game you didn't know you always wanted to play.

Lesson Two: Just because something costs more, doesn't mean you will get more from it. Meaning just because you spent four tokens, doesn't mean you will get tickets from the game.

Lesson Three: Cheap is cheap. Meaning things that cost 20 tickets are going to break in less than 20 minutes.

After the arcade pizza, ice cream and movies filled in any emotional gaps left by the harsh financial realities that rule arcade purchases.

Savannah had such a wonderful time playing with her friends. She has such great friends that really get her and that she really loves. She is one lucky girl.



The second activity of our week was playing in the mountains. It has been hot around here so in order to escape the heat we have spent several days (or evenings)  increasing our altitude.

Thursday night after dinner we ran up the canyon to a lake just to walk around. At our house the temperature was near 100 degrees, but at the lake it was closer to 70 thanks to an incoming storm. Thankful we made it around the lake without incident. But whether due to the change in temperature, or the beautiful surroundings or just the time as a family, we all ended the evening in better moods than we began it.

Saturday we decided to try the same trick. Only this time we went hiking in a different canyon. The results were the same. Even when some members of the family start with bad attitudes they never seem to stick in the mountains.  The fresh air helps, the exercise, the view. We had a great time playing together.
 

Happy Fourth of July!

This week my nieces flew down from Oregon for a visit. When that happens, even though we don't go anywhere, we are on vacation. My youngest niece Ellie is Abbie's age and her two older sisters are 11 and 13. So my girls pretty much idolize everything the three of them do. After all, they are older, and when they come it is pretty much a non-stop party.

The vacation started with pranks on and from Grandma and Grandpa. This has been going on for years. Every time the girls came down pranking ensued. Abbie has joined a little bit, but this year they both really went to town. It all started with my dad (because of course it did.) and toothpaste filled Oreo cookies. Later the girls sprayed him with the hose.

Savannah is just getting the hang of pranking and so the following conversation took place.

Savannah: "Grandpa, eat this apple. It is poisoned."
Grandpa: (playing along) "Okay"
Grandpa takes a bite of the apple.
Savannah: "Ha! I got you. It really isn't poisoned!"

After a day of pulling pranks on one another we headed up the canyon where it wasn't 100 degrees. The kids all had a blast climbing on the rocks, having grandpa find a fake snake,  reading in the tent during a cloudburst, playing in the dirt and, as is tradition in my family, going on a hike to the lollipop tree.

That evening we roasted marshmallows and hot dogs and sang songs around the campfire. This was my favorite part. The girls sang for hours learning new songs and being as silly as only a group of girls knows how to be before we all crashed in our tents for the night.

The next day was the fourth and the canyon was crowded. This nixed the original hike we had planned and instead we made an impromptu trip around the ski resort and called it good.

That evening we got to have a special good-bye dinner for the kids and their Grandpa Gray and Grandma Petra. Grandma and Grandpa are headed off on a mission to the Czech Republic for two years and we really wanted to give them some more individual time with them before they did.


Fireworks....does anything more need to be said. Yes, it does because Nathan was so amazed and impressed with every. single. firework. He LOVED it. I'm afraid he'll turn into quite the pyromaniac when he gets older.

Saturday the fun just kept on coming. We went out to breakfast with my parents and then off to a local theater to watch the Broadway show Mary Poppins. My favorite part was watching the girls' reactions throughout the show. It was magic.

The fun didn't stop there! (I know it just keeps on coming doesn't it?) After the show my parents took all the grandkids and Russ and I got to go out on a real actual date. We spent a few hours shopping and then we met up with his siblings and dad and step-mom for an adults only good bye dinner. We had a wonderful time but will miss Lee and Petra while they are gone.

The fun continues to role on! I'll post more when I get the chance!

Summer Running

This summer I feel like I'm just running from one thing to the next. I'm trying to balance all of the fun activities that are available for my kids to do, and the all important skill of learning how to entertain yourself. Some days go better than others.

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This morning on the way to Savannah's tennis class, Savannah and her friend were trying to tell one another funny stories. It is possible that the stories were funny when told to them, but so much is in how a story is told and five-almost-six-year-olds are still learning this concept.

Savannah began by telling a story about Nathan. Nathan had thought he heard a siren and become very excited. When it was determined that he hadn't. He, very sadly, went, "Wa-oo, wa-oo (the current construction of siren noises)."

No laughs were heard in the car.

Kate, Savannah's BFF, said, "I'm not trying to brag but I have a really, really funny story. Your story was funny, but this is really funny."

Here, Savannah interrupted and said, "If my story was funny, why didn't you laugh?"

Kate, "Savannah, my heart was laughing."

Savannah, "But your brain wasn't."

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Abbie has turned into my questioner. She wants to know everything about everything. What parts of a car use electricity, what parts use gas? Why was my inside joke to Russ, funny? Why do you have to pick up toys that were played with on Sunday if Sunday is a day of rest? What are we buying at the store? Did I know in which chapter Book 5 of Harry Potter finally got interesting? (The name of the chapter, please.) What does baking soda do? What does baking powder do? Where is the Czech Republic? What is the most interesting animal in Australia?

And on.

 I want to love it. I want to love the burning desire to know, to understand, to explore the world around her.

 I'm working on it.

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This was a snapshot that was taken during our family picture taking session a few weeks ago. I'm really excited to get all of the rest of the pictures. Everyone looks so good!

**Please note Nathan's expression of complete disgust. This was one of the happier pictures taken of him that day.

Random Thoughts Sunday

I am just starting to be able to recover from getting ready for Abbie's baptism, house guests, and Girls Camp all with in the last 10 days. I laid down to take a 40 minute nap this afternoon, and woke up an hour and a half later.

I feel like now summer with my family can officially begin, where I can focus on fun and my kids. I'm really looking forward to it.

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy got quoted in church today. Twice. It was pretty awesome.

Being at girls camp made me realize I'm not ready to be a parent of teenagers. Mostly because I value sleep.

Savannah was drawing a maze during sacrament meeting today. One path led to Jesus the other to "Satin" along the path to "Satin" were "smokg" and "alcohl." We have had very few discussions about the word of wisdom but it is interesting to me how she interpreted the few that we have had. I wish I had a way of understanding what my girls actually took out of all discussions we have.

Savannah has finally found a book that she enjoys reading. I'm thrilled. She so badly wanted to enjoy reading Junie B, but it is way above her level. Thankfully, The Biggest Bear fits the bill.

Nathan did not miss me at all while I was away. He is such a little daddy's boy. If anything we are needing to create situations where he can be around me and not think that my sole purpose is to destroy his life by keeping him away from Russ. It is not working so well.

It is always good to have times when you miss your kids.

Happy Birthday Abbie!

For Abbie's eighth birthday I am going to share eight things I love about her.

1. I love Abbie's integrity. She received an award at school earlier this year about being trustworthy, but it is only a reflection of what I already know about her. Abbie will always do what she says, and do what she should be doing. She is very aware of right and wrong and has a deep desire to choose the right. This characteristic is not something I have taught her, it is something she came with. Abbie chose to be baptized, and she was lucky enough to get to be baptized on her birthday. I have been praying that the spirit would be poured out during the baptism and my prayers were answered. Despite a mishap with the font, (I went over early to fill it up, and forgot to put the plug in. When Russ showed up 40 minutes before to set up chairs there was no water in the font.) I felt a powerful spirit throughout the meeting and confirmation. I know the Lord knows Abbie and loves her for the integrity of her heart as well.

2. I love Abbie's courage. Abbie has worked so hard this year at facing her fears. She has had to deal with her worries and not let them stop her from doing the things that she loves, even when things become difficult. Abbie had her piano recital today. (It was a busy day.) She has never gone up in front of so  many people alone and played, but she did it, and played all three of her songs beautifully. I was so very proud of her. Abbie is very honest about the things that worry her but she stands up to them and goes forward, which to me is the definition of courage.

3. I love how much Abbie loves music. Abbie has been in the school choir as well as her piano lessons. Abbie hums, sings or whistles almost all the time.  I had to be forced to practice as I grew up but Abbie honestly loves it, and she has a wonderful natural ear. For her recital she played Night Music by Mozart, Computer, and Fur Elise by Beethoven, all memorized. Memorization comes easily to Abbie, she almost always has it as she is learning the song. Music for Abbie is a wonderful gift that I love to see her develop.

4. I love Abbie's creativity.  Creativity has poured out of Abbie from the time she was small. Whether she expresses it artistically or when she problem solves she is always looking at the world and seeing the color, light and the beauty, seeing things in a different way. She has been taking art this year and has developed this talent so very well.

5. I love how sensitive Abbie is. Things have been a little crazy lately and Abbie can always pick up when I'm stressed. Lately she'll say things like, "Its okay mom," or "How can I help?" She is really in tune to the emotions of others and it is such a blessing that she lifts them to another plane.

6. I love how much Abbie likes to have fun. Abbie likes creating riddles. She likes jumping out and scaring people. She likes being silly and goofy. Abbie brings joy and passion to whatever project she is involved in and makes everyone around her happy.

7. I love Abbie's sense of adventure. She has developed I love for hiking. She loves to be fast and crazy. She is learning to rollarblade and loves it. She told me she wants to try soccer. Abbie wants to explore all things new and it is fun to see her experience the world.

8. I love Abbie's smile.