A fun visit with Peggy and Rhea

We had so much fun visiting with Peggy and Rhea when they came to stay with us.

One highlight was the night Molly and I got to babysit Rhea while Peggy took Paula to see "A Christmas Carol."

We gave her a bath when she got a little sad, missing her mom, but, as you can probably tell by her wide-eyed looks and solemn face, I think she was a little weirded out by the conspicuous substitution of Molly and I for her Mom in this daily ritual. :P

There were lots of other fun things about Peggy's visit...you can read about some of them if you have access to her blog. :)

A Weekend of Firsts

This past General Conference weekend was quite monumental in the lives of my children.

First of all GM's parents sent some tickets to go to 2 sessions of General Conference in the Conference Center. We had 2 tickets per session so we decided to give BR first choice of going to either or both of the sessions since he's never been to conference. He was excited and wanted to go to both! (Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning).


So I took BR to the Saturday afternoon session. We drove there instead of taking the TRAX train because we also had a free parking pass. During the drive BR was counting down the minutes, literally until we were supposed to be in our seats!! Every minute he would recite to me how much time we had left and tell me his assessment of whether we'd make it there on time or not. He is SO his father's son! :) We made it there on time but getting to our seats was another story. It's mass chaos there!!!

BR was very excited to be there and had to check out everything!!! He stood up when everyone stood for the prophet's entrance but he couldn't see anything (being shorter than all the adults around us) and so he was very confused about why we were all standing so quietly until I explained to him afterward. He was also confused that the choir wasn't in their usual highly coordinated attire until, upon closer inspection, we realized that it wasn't the Tabernacle Choir at all but a choir of children; to which BR responded, "no fair!" I guess he thought that would be so cool to be in a children's choir at conference...mostly, for some reason, I think it was the chance to sit in those chairs. :)

Then he wanted to know what the strings hanging down were, if the big screens are projections or just really large TV screens, why there's a red light on the cameras that turns on and off intermittently, where all of the cameras are situated, whether they are remote controlled or just robotic cameras, and where the control station was. He had a fun time except that sitting still for 2 hours got a bit tiresome to him so he started replaying a funny mini-cartoon about aliens in his mind to which he couldn't help giggling uncontrollably (until I started threatening him). :P

In the rain at Conference

After Conference we were going to meet GM and MC downtown (they would be arriving on TRAX) at which point GM would leave MC with us and then he'd head to the Priesthood Session while we left on TRAX and he'd go back home in the car. It was a great plan except that I was in such a hurry when we parked that I had no clue what level we parked on in the parking garage!!! (I really can't use being in a rush as an excuse however because...it's a pretty common occurrence) :) I started to panic when I realized that I couldn't tell GM exactly where to find the car :/ until I asked BR if he knew what level we parked on. Of course my ever observant son saved me again!! (He's so his father's son!!!)

BR and I got to walk around Temple Square for a while after conference while we were waiting for GM to come with MC. We went to the visitor's center and explored that for a while, walked around outside (BR saw a protester with a sign as we were walking and the guy was shouting something to which BR whispered to me, "I think he's drunk") and went to a Deseret Book fair for a little while and bought a brownie to share. Around 5 we met up with the others and took TRAX out of SLC. We went to a "girls' night" party at my parents' house during priesthood with my mom, sisters and their kids (girls' night plus kids that is). The guys arrived later and we stayed partying and chatting till about midnight. (At which point we decided that trying to make it to the morning session of conference wasn't going to happen.)

Instead we sat at home an enjoyed conference all together. We sat up on our bed with our journals and watched conference while MC sat between us with her journal. She alternated between laying on my lap, drawing pictures in her journal and trying to copy what I was writing in my journal. At one point she said, "MOM, you're going way too fast!" :)


After conference the three of us were still lounging on our bed (BR was off playing legos most of the time) :) and MC pointed out her loose tooth. I convinced her to let me push on it and it was so loose that I popped it out. She had a shocked/surprised/alarmed face for two seconds and then she got all excited that she'd lost a tooth. After taking care of that tooth she hopped back up on our bed and proceeded to point out another loose tooth. This time her daddy convinced her to let him fiddle with it. He proceeded to snap a few roots on that tooth and so it was just barely hanging on but MC was alarmed enough that she didn't want him to finish. He told her that he was going to get floss to pop it out with because he didn't want her to choke on it while eating and that she had to pull it herself before he came back with the floss if she didn't want him to pull it. She did it just in the nick of time!! :) She was ecstatic! :) 2 teeth in one day!!! She showed us another loose tooth after that but wouldn't let us near it. :P

After conference I was stir-crazy and convinced my family to walk down to the lake with me. GM decided it would be a good time to also work on MC's bike riding skills so we brought her bike with us. She rode for several little segments on her own!! She could do it but she just doesn't trust herself or the bike yet, especially stopping. Instead of stopping with her brakes she just jumps off!!!! We were terrible parents and bribed bravery out of her by promising ice cream for dessert. :) Somehow she suddenly got a lot more brave though. :P

When we got back from our walk/bike ride/bribing spree MC started talking about that other loose tooth. Her terrible parents used bribery again and got her to let us pop the last tooth out!! :P So all in all MC lost 3 teeth in one day!! I told her it was a record. :) She's still quite proud of her puzzle mouth. *There are 4 holes in her smile, but only 3 are recent

Park City Weekend Getaway

My older sister and her husband invited us to go to a weekend getaway in Park City the last weekend of July and it was simply FANTASTIC!!! GM and I had so much fun we've decided we need to get ourselves a fancy schmancy condo with it's own hot tub on the balcony! (Simple pleasures!) :)

The first night we wandered around downtown Park City enjoying the atmosphere and looking for a place to eat. We couldn't decide on just one restaurant so we decided to restaurant hop. We ate an appetizer at a Mexican place, I think it was called Tia Rosa's (but it slips my mind). The appetizer was SUPER and it was tempting to stay and have more of their yummy food but we decided to stick with our original plan. So we moved on to a bistro place where GM and I shared a Miso trout with yummy mashed potatoes on the side and some delicious green beans.

GM had to check out the cool Ferrari! :)


At the bistro we chose because of it's menu as well as atmosphere




Then we were pretty full so we decided to fore go a sit-down restaurant for dessert (the bistro had great bread with exceptionally good oil and balsamic vinegar) but we really wanted some fudge from their local fudge shop so we headed over to see what they had. It turned out that the girls were the only ones really craving fudge so GM and my BIL headed into the bookstore that was connected to the fudge shop. We got some fudge to-go and then perused the bookstore. After a while, since our husbands were very engrossed in their selections, my sis and I sat down to talk about our dreams and aspirations. One of which turns out to be that we'd both REALLY LOVE to have a book/antique store (two of my favorite things). So we started dreaming together and talking about all the details that would make it so great.

After dinner in town we grabbed some groceries so we could cook ourselves a fabulous breakfast in the morning in the condo and then we all went out to the hot tub on the back patio. We just couldn't get over how cool it was to have our own hot tub! :)

The next morning we used the lovely kitchen to cook some yummy omelets (but we were all quite perplexed that this nice "fully stocked" kitchen had such a glaring lack of any knives let alone nice knives like the four of us are used to. We got over it, thanks to my always prepared husband who happened to have two great knives we could use). :)

We spent most of the rest of the day enjoying the sunshine, playing in the pool and talking about the power of positive thinking. We enjoy having good discussions with like minded people.



The pool had a slide that was really meant for smaller people than GM and my BIL but they loved it despite the cramped conditions and crazy way it spewed them out the end :)




After the pool we met up with my youngest sister and her hubbie. We all went to dinner at a place called "Bandits" that does great ribs and such (most of us got the ribs, that's how we know). :)


For our evening entertainment we headed over to Kamas to see what being a true red-neck was all about. We went to a "Demolition Derby". It was a new experience for GM and me, and it was pretty entertaining, but I'm not sure I could ever convince GM to go back up on those tiny, overcrowded bleachers....he felt quite claustrophobic up there. It started to rain just as we got there so GM grabbed a big denim quilt that we keep in our car and some of us huddled under it while watching the derby. In the end my sisters and I were so cold that we had the quilt wrapped clear down over our heads like a little tent and we couldn't see a thing. GM convinced the other guys that we should leave after that. :)

While waiting for the derby to start we hid behind a random car seeking shelter from the rain




My sis her husband and her BIL (whom we met up with there) watching the derby


Thanks to the rain there was a beautiful backdrop to the derby


I took several videos of the derby because I knew that BR would just LOVE to watch them (BTW: I was right) :)

I'll spare you the rest, unlike BR, I doubt you'd dig soaking in every second of every video. ;)

We spent the rest of the evening watching movies in the condo...after some shuffling about, it ended up being the three girls in one bedroom watching "A League of Their Own" and the three boys out in the living room watching an old Die Hard movie. In the morning our little sis and her husband left to go fishing and the rest of us went to get brunch and then headed home. It was such a perfect, fun, relaxing vacation!! Thanks A&A for letting us tag along!

A Trip to the Splash Pool

Our neighborhood didn't open it's swimming pool till early July this year, so before that we could only go to their splash pool (which is unfortunate for BR because the age limit is 7 and under....and he's such a little fishie that he was over-joyed when the regular pool finally opened!!)

My sister and I took our kids (minus BR plus an extra neice) one day for the kids to cool off from the infernal heat. I am continually amazed how my kids just can't get enough water/pool time!!

Fun Friday #2

This week was our second "Fun Friday" so my sisters and I and all of our kids all went to the zoo together. There was tons of chaos with so many kids, but it was tons of fun! And the thing that made it the most fun was that we all got to be together! We (BR, MC an I) rode with my sister Amber and her kids. We met up with April, Julie, Grace and my mom showed up at the zoo. They've got a new carousel and so everybody had to take a ride on that, we also got to see a bird show (which is always a highlight), and take an *amazing* train ride (well, at least the kids always think it's amazing). :)



It's always fun for me to see which animals my kids will want to ride on...



This was a bowl that you rub and it makes a surprisingly loud ringing noise.




This cute little baby is my "big Buddha" Big HAPPY Buddha! :)


These boys sat there forever staring at this frog with its tongue hanging out. :)



It's my kin about as far back as the eye can see! And that's not everybody!!














After the zoo Amber's kids played at our house for a while (BR played wii with her oldest son while MC played with the baby and her middle son played with GM's "Matryoshka" doll. There's something fascinating to kids about that doll!! It doesn't matter how many times they've played with it before, they still want to play with it again the next time they come!


As we drove home from dropping off Amber's kids, my kids, GM and I were discussing what we could do that would be fun and different, but cheap. :P And as we were listing off the possibilities we came to kayaking on the Daybreak lake (which is conveniently free) and everybody was game so we rushed over there ASAP. (We got there at 7:15 and had to be back by 8:00). They have 2 man kayaks, 1 man kayaks and also row boats. We opted for the 2 man kayaks into which BR and I were a team and MC and GM were a team. It was tons of fun, in fact it was so much fun the kids were both begging to go again the next day!! (Which we had to decline due to blisters that we both got from the oars, GM's were much worse than mine). :( BR was quite a good little rower!! He and I could just keep up with GM's rowing by working together (our hardest). :P


















Once we were done we decided it was high time for dinner. We grabbed some sandwiches from Chick-fil-a and supplemented those with some left over salad from our fridge. :)

Starting Off Our Summer With A *Bang*

Wow! Our first official week of summer vacation was action packed!!

Monday: Wii, Swimming and parks with cousins
Tuesday: Wii, Swimming, Water-guns and Slip-n-slide with cousins
Wednesday: Wii, Swimming, Water-guns and Slip-n-slide with cousins
Thursday: Picnic in the mountains, playing at the park, watching the Manti pageant and camping (all with cousins)
Friday: Hiking to a waterfall, picnicing and playing at/in the waterfall, Wii, decorating bikes and riding/walking in the Bluffdale City Parade (my sister's city), park,
movie and sleep-over with cousins
Saturday: Wii, playing at park, building big sand projects, dinner and a movie at cousins while watching their city *fireworks* from their backyard!! And the moment we've all been looking forward to all week....Daddy came home!!!
Sunday: Church/primary with cousins and watching their family speak in sacrament meeting, playing games as a family, mom and dad taking a long needed nap (actually early bedtime...7 pm!!) while BR and MC play until they finally just put themselves to bed because their parents slept right through bedtime!! :O Ooops!

Unfortunately GM took my camera to NY with him and I didn't think of using my camera on my phone until SATURDAY! :(

So here was their sand project on Saturday. It was at the Bluffdale City Fair and the kids got this idea to build viaducts and rivers down the "mountain" of sand with a dam at the bottom. They were yelling at each other with important voices like "more water" or "build up the walls, they're caving in". Lots of kids were attracted to the project and came to ask if they could help. To which my kids/neices/nephew would respond in important voices "yes! go get water!" :) It was quite entertaining to sit in the middle of it all watching, taking pictures, and getting sunburned (as usual). :P

Happy Birthday MC!

I promised I would post pictures from MC's Birthday Party. Unfortunately in the heat of the moment, trying to direct all of my "help" (GM, 5 sisters and my mom) I forgot to ask somebody to be photographer the entire time. My one sis with her nice camera was on jewelry making and dress ups duty before she began the Glam Picture Photo Shoot. Close to the end I finally remembered to snap few. :P

The girls had so much fun!! At the hair station (there were two) the got to pick some sparkly hair clippies to add to their hair and take home. They also got to choose straight, curly, up, down, etc.

At the nails stop they got to keep a little polish from a little bowl of nail polishes. (They all had a little princess crown for the handle of the polish). :) (This sister was also in charge of making the cake for me. She made it purse shaped and MC got to help decorate the cupcakes, she was very proud of her cupcakes.) :)

At the makeup station (Which didn't quite turn out like I'd hoped, most of the time it was me doing the makeup because I forgot to tell my sis that I'd wanted for the makeup that the party was at my mom's instead of at my house :/ ...so she got there pretty late and could only do one girl. Which happens to be the only girl you can tell has any makeup on...can you pick out which one she is?? :P Oh well, the girls felt all excited and special to have their makeup done.) they got to pick a lip gloss/key chain to keep and wear along with getting all made-up.

At the jewelry spot one of my sisters helped them create a choker to wear from a pile of beads they got to pick from. Then that same sister helped them pick out dress-up outfits AND did the photo shoot. :)

Besides eating, and MC opening her presents, the girls did their own thing the rest of the time. They danced and posed in front of a huge mirror I had set up for them. (It was big enough to be full length (for them) and for two or three girls to stand in front of at the same time). They also ran and played in the 'gym', swinging on the rope or turning off the lights and running into each other. :P I had thought about several other activities I could have them do (like designing fashion clothes on paper, decorating a frame for their pictures, decorating a purse...etc) but in the end I opted to keep it more simple which I think turned out well because the girls had so much fun just playing....go figure. :)

Feeling impatient

My sister had her baby this weekend. Another cute little redhead that they named Paxton. I got to watch her oldest for 2 nights and we had a blast. We visited the hospital (waiting the whole time while his mommy had a c-section) and he was so cute with his little brother. The next day our whole family (ML, BR, MC and I) went to the hospital to drop off my nephew and see my sis and her baby again. The kids washed their hands right when we got there so that they could hold the baby. I got a turn, and then ML wanted to hold him. I love seeing ML with a baby. He really is a natural. As we left the hospital he expressed emotions that I'd been trying to suppress, "Why is every other family we know given babies right and left?" We try not to ask the proverbial "Why us...or rather, why not us??" but sometimes its tough to not question the reasons for our trials.

Before pictures: my sister and my darling little nephews





I called our case worker, wanting her to read our "Birth Parent Letter" and look at our "Adoption Collage" so that we can get them approved or fix anything she thinks we need to change. She told me that she'll look at those when she comes to our house for our "home visit". She told me she'd call to schedule that. It's been a week. No big deal, I know, especially when we've taken months to do our part of things. But now that the ball is in her court, I wish I could just press the fast forward button. :)

Simple Pleasures for Simple People

A few of my sisters and I were in Venice last month with our husbands and our parents. In the main square of Venice, millions of pigeons congregate and wait for tourists to buy seed and feed them. Most of the tourists are mild mannered, proper and respectable...well not us. We had to go and make a scene and terrorize those poor pigeons. It was great fun. :D