Christmas

We had a great Christmas. All of my family came to our house this year. I am the oldest of 5 kids. So we had a very full house which included, My mom and dad, my brother Kirk and his wife Heather and daughter Hazel, my brother DJ, brother Sam and my sister Bethanie and of course all of us that usually live here. My family trickled in between Tuesday and late Wednesday night. We had dinner then opened the traditional PJ's. This year I made my kid's jammies and I thought they turned out pretty cute. (I think that the picture above captures my kids perfectly, Lillie laughing, Joseph being a know it all and Van with a big mischeiviouse smile on his face!) My mom supplied everyone else's pj's. Then the kids were off to bed and the rest of us stayed up visiting. It was so fun to be with all of my family at one time, it has been a long time since we were all together there is always someone that is missing for one reason or another. So after we were sure the kids were asleep "Santa" paid his visit.

The next morning we were awakened not by our own kids but by my married brother. Our kids slept in until 8:00. What kind of kids sleep in until 8 on Chrismas morning? Awesome kids! So we got up and woke the kids up. Then had the difficult task of getting them from our room to the theature room downstairs without them seeing the living room in between. Once downstairs we read the Christmas story in Luke. Then back upstairs for presents. It was a very laid back day and we didn't have anywhere we had to be until that night when we headed over to my uncles house for Christmas with my Dad's side of the family. That is when the monster of all storms hit and we had to cut our visit short so we could head home before the already aweful storm got worse. We made it home fine and enjoyed the rest of our night.

The next morning the sickness hit and all the fun we had been having came to a screaching halt for half of us. And then for the rest over the next couple of days. So Christmas was great, but the 3 days afterward were not so great. I am very grateful my family could all be together on Christmas and that no one got sick until after Christmas...just a side not my mom was sick the day after Christmas, which happens to ber her birthday and my sister was sick 2 days after Christmas which happens to be her birthday. I felt so bad that they were sick on their birthdays!

We'll call it my Arizona

When I was about 10 years old my family moved to Arizona. We planned to live with my uncle while my parents got jobs and found a place to live. Well two weeks later we were on our way back to Utah. My mom likes to call it "the time we went on vacation with our furniture." I don't remember much about our 2 weeks in Arizona other than it was very hot, I passed out a few times and living with my uncle's family was not so fun. So in my young mind these were the reasons for our move back. Now that I am an adult I realize that there were probably much more adult and substantial reasons for our departure.

Fast forward (almost) 20 years; Ben and I decide to get a puppy. We had high hopes and grand visions of what this puppy would mean to Joseph. Well hopes and visions do not always become reality and sometimes you have to turn back, furniture and all and say, for what ever reason, we just aren't ready for Arizona (or a puppy).

I am sure you can see where this is going...

We have decided that we are not ready for a puppy. Our intentions were good but sometimes rather than forcing something to work that clearly isn't, it is best to say "we made a mistake." This becomes much tougher when emotions are involved and this has been a tough decision for us to make. And I am sure there are people out there who will say that having a puppy or living in Arizona for only 2 weeks is not enough time to make a rational decision. To those people I would say, sometimes you just know when to quit even if your ego is a little bruised.

So today we say so long to shivers. He is going to a loving home with 2 older girls and built in pet friends. I will admit that I shed some tears but I still feel like this is the right decision.

So what have I learned:
1. It's ok to try new things
2. It's ok to make mistakes
3. It's ok to get attached to animals
4. If you change your mind about something you have always thought (I mean a total 180) then it might be in your best interest to think about that change of heart for more than 24 hours before making a decision. Or if you have said for the last 10 years you would never have a pet then one night decide maybe that is an option, do not buy a puppy the next day!
5. If you do decide to do something spontaneous, have fun with it while it lasts...if you never go out on a limb, you will never reach the fruit!
6. Don't take your self so seriously...this is a lesson that I have to relearn way too often, but between 3 kids, my husband and a short stint with a puppy, I will eventually learn this lesson.
7. While our kids may not understand all of the reasons for this decision, hopefully they will understand we did what we thought was best for all of us.

There you have it MY ARIZONA!

Happy Holidays!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

This is how Ben spends his time.
So go ahead laugh at our expense.

Happy Birthday Joseph!

I have been a bit of a slacker with my blogging, there has been a lot going on here, so this is the first of 3 new posts.

The big news around here is Joseph is 9. And he is not letting anyone forget it! He really wanted to go to Asian Star, a Chinese restaurant in town that we had not been to. So we went to dinner and then came home for dessert and presents. It was a fun night and very low key. After all the parties I have thrown this year it was a welcomed change. I should mention that he decided what we did, I didn't give him the shaft because I was partied out. I would have thrown him a big party, but he is too much like his dad to want that. Anyway I digress...

It is hard to believe he is 9. He is growing up so fast. He has taught Ben and I so much about being parents and about how to love unconditionally. He is a great kid with so much to offer. It is fun to see him grow and develop into his (more) grown-up self. He likes to try new things now which has been difficult for him in the past. He is also developing a Ben like sense of humor. It is fun to see him trying to be funny and watching for peoples reactions. He is very smart and very stubborn which can be a difficult mix in a personality but he is also very sweet and has moments of great tenderness. I am grateful to be his mom.





SHIVERS UPDATE
I thought that some of you might enjoy an update on our puppy. It has been an interesting week and a half with plenty of ups and downs. We are all finding our selves getting attached to shivers. In some ways having a puppy is not as bad as I thought it would be, but there are plenty of times when it is as bad and worse than I thought it would be. There have not been any major incidents...but lots of little accidents! I will keep you posted on the puppy front.

And the winner is...

Just over a month ago I wrote about a photograph that Joseph submitted to Reflections. Last week we got a call telling us that Joseph was getting an award for his photo and that we should plan on attending the assembly. I did not know how the awards worked, but was excited to see him get whatever it was. Once I got there I realized there were two types of awards, an honorable mention metal and a trophy for the top 5 in each category. Those top 5 also got a pizza party and they each go on to compete at the district level of Reflections. First they had everyone who participated in each category stand, then they read the honorable mentions then they got to the top 5 from each category and handed out trophy's.

The photography category ended up being more popular than I thought it would be and there we quite a few entries. It turns out that Joseph was one of the top 5 for photography. He was so excited to get his first trophy. I was so proud of him. I know that winning isn't everything, and we try really hard to teach our kids good sportsmanship and how to handle disappointment, but it was so great to see him get recognition for something he was so proud of.

Hello, we are missing one!

Van is a very smart little man. Although he doesn't talk much he has great non-verbal communication. Here is just one example...

A few days ago Joseph and Lillie put up Christmas trees in their bedrooms; a tradition that we started last year. Van was of course fascinated with them. So the next day he grabbed my hand and drug me down to Joseph's room, stood in the doorway and said "Tree." I said something like "Yes, do you like the tree?" Then he grabbed my hand again and took me back upstairs to Lillie's room, stood in the doorway and said "Tree." Then he walked over to his door way and stood there for a second then turned to me and asked "Tree?"

We had neglected to realize that not putting a tree in Van's room would be a problem. Apparently this over site did not go unnoticed. After telling my grandma this story, she very sweetly donated a small table tree to Van's cause. We put it up and decorated it today. He was so excited and wanted to sit right next to it, he even laid down for a nap without complaint because I told him I would leave the Christmas lights on. I love it when they are this easy to please!

Somewhere pigs are flying and Hades just got a little frosty

I did something yesterday that I honestly thought that I would never do. Maybe it was the high from my fun weekend or maybe just the motherly instinct to do whatever we think is best for our kids. Either way it was extremely atypical. We bought Joseph a puppy for his birthday. I have been anti-pet ever since we got married and Ben has agreed. We thought that kids were enough on their own and adding pets was, well, CRAZY. They are stinky and needy and expensive. So why would we want a pet? Until the night before last night we didn't...ever. But we were talking about what Joseph wanted for his Birthday and a dog came up. It was the weirdest thing, Ben and I got kind of into it and started talking about it and looking at dogs online. Then it hit me how good a dog would be for him. For all the normal reasons like teaching responsibility and compassion for other living things, but this went further. Joseph struggles socially, he is likable, but he doesn't always understand social situations and how to get involved. So he places the love that should be given to friends onto stuffed animals. Although there is nothing wrong with this, we really wanted him to have a more reciprocal relationship. I honestly think this experience was largely due to the spirit. Trust me, this is not something Ben or I would have willingly done on our own.

Although I have had moments of "What was I thinking" and "Why did I agree to this" I have to admit that our little Shivers is adorable. And for a puppy quite easy (so far). He hardly makes any sound, he is very calm but still playful and lovable. There have been a few accidents in the house, which I will never be OK with, but I am not freaking out like you might expect me to in that situation.

Most importantly Joseph is loving having a dog. I know that he has only had him for a day and some of this enthusiasm is bound to wear off, but I really think having Shivers is going to do a lot for Joseph.

So here he is our little eskipoo chihuahua...Shivers

If you are really interested you can see a couple video here.

In a word... AWESOME!

This week end has been so fun and so busy. It started with a Friday night showing of Twilight with some friends. Although the movie was disappointing the company was great and a girls night out is always fun.

But two girls nights out in a row is better. Saturday night was the real event...the much anticipated Coldplay concert. And as my title states it was AWESOME! We had terrible seats. By terrible I mean the only way they could have been worse is if we were in the row behind us, which was the last row in the arena. And there was a weird techno opening band that lasted way too long. Even with these less than perfect circumstances I loved the concert.

The music was, of course, amazing. I was worried that I would be disapointed seeing them live. Some bands just aren't the same live. And I have heard less than stellar things about the accoustics in the ESA. I was not disapointed in anyway. I left loving them even more than I did when I got there, which I didn't think was possible. Chris Martin (singer) was personable, very funny and gracious. I felt like I could have gone up to him and had a real conversation.

At one point they left the stage to play in the middle of the audience. Oh how I wished I had sprung for the better seats! They played right next to the fans, I even saw them shaking hands and giving high fives. How awesome is that.

So basicly I loved it. The friends I went with got into it and although there were a couple that just went for the fun of a concert they left huge fans...I'm glad I could do my part!

But none of this could have happened without my awesome husband who supported me in my girls weekend with very little complaint. He was even left to deal with the kids during the BYU/Utah game, which I know was a bit of a sacrifice to divide his attention. Anyway I have the best husband, thanks Hun.

Sew Cute

For some reason the game marbles is cool in school again. So much so that it is difficult to find any in Sandy. Joseph and Lillie really wanted some marbles so they could learn to play and take them to school to play with friends. After 3 stores we finally found some. I bought a set for each of us (excluding Van) so we could all learn how to play. Of course Ben already new how to play and killed us all, so we had to ban him from playing until Joseph, Lillie and I got better.

Anyway, we could have used the mesh bags they came in or baggies to store them in, but I decided to get out the sewing machine and get a little creative. Here is the result...

I think they turned out pretty cute. And No your eyes are not deceiving you those are drawstrings you see. As you can tell I am pretty proud of these silly little bags. I know I am easily amused and impressed with myself. The buttons are just a creative way to tell who's is who's w/o writing our names on the bags.

A few new additions

We have a few new fun things that I wanted to share. Due to a broken top oven (which we have already fixed once since we moved in) we needed a get a new double wall oven. I was oh so disappointed. We got rid of our circa 1990's white monstrosity, and in true form I did not take a before picture, and replaced in with this...

Of course this trade was not without incident, besides the monstrous cost of a double wall oven, when it was delivered we realized that the new oven was about 8 inches shorter than the old oven. After discussing our options we decided the best option was to add a drawer under the oven to fill in the gap...again bummer! It just so happens that we have 3 drawers in our garage that fit perfectly. We aren't sure why, because they couldn't fit any where else in our Kitchen but the whole where the oven is. We think that the old owners had intended to put drawers here with a single wall oven, then decided on the double oven, but were not sure. Anyway, my handy husband spent the afternoon installing the new drawer and re-installing the new oven. Oh how I love having a handy husband! I love the new oven and the new drawer. Way to go hun!

Our other addition is a new dinning room table and chairs. We have owned our old table for most of our marriage (10 years). It has been a good table and served us well, but it was time to say good bye. The great thing about this table besides the price, thank you IKEA (I know my parents are laughing right now) is that it has two leaves so it can seat 6-12 people...how awesome is that! No more card table extension for big family dinners!


Oh and we got new stools for the counter...It almost feels like a new kitchen. Now if the fridge, microwave, dishwasher and cook top would just break down so we can finish the rest of the kitchen...oh and the counter tops and the floor...

Only a matter of time

It happened, I wasn't sure if it would but it did. It happened with the other two and now it is Van's turn...he likes T.V. and is asking for a certain show. Joseph's favorite was Toy Story (we watched that movie everyday for 2 years). Lillie just loved anything, she still does, I am so glad she is in school so I don't have to say no to T.V. all day long.

Van's favorite? Well it is Mickey Mouse Club House. A twist on a classic. I am so glad it is something that I can actually stand having on. When Joseph was a baby I decided that I would only let him and now the other two watch things that I could watch with them and that was appropriate of course. So that automatically eliminated Barney, Teletubbies and now wonder pets...oh how I hate baby talk. Why, oh why would you make a show for kids that encourages baby talk? Sorry that is something that all of the a fore mentioned shows have in common. Anyway my kids have of course see all of these shows despite my efforts...I have learned it is ok to leave the room, and as annoying as many of these shows are they are better than so much of the crap that is out there for kids.

So back to the point Van asked for something this morning. At first I thought he was asking me to sing "bringing home a baby bumble bee" his favorite song. But no that was not it, so after some clever mommy detective work (asking everything I could think of and then waiting for a clue, in this case a point to the T.V.) I figured out that he wanted to watch Mickey Mouse Club House. As much as I hate just sitting him down in front of the T.V. it is nice to know that it is an option for entertainment when needed. Like all new moms I promised myself never to use T.V. as a babysitter...oh how naive I was. Sometimes T.V. is a great babysitter...plus it gave me time for this awesome post!

Too much of a good thing...

Well maybe not too much but just enough for sure. October was a crazy busy and fun month. We had something Halloween related at least once a week. Here is the run down of how our month went:

• It started with a traditional Halloween dinner party and movie night with old high school/college friends.
• Gardner Village to see the Witches
  
• Our big adult Halloween party
• FHE w/ friends to carve pumpkins
  
• Trunk or treat with the grandparents
• The kids Halloween party
• The school Halloween festival
• And finally the big event Halloween itself

Not to mention dentist appointments, photo shoots, volunteering at the school, art classes for the kids, doctors appointments birthday parties etc. I love Halloween and all that comes with it, but by the time Halloween actually got here I was ready to be finished with Halloween for the year. Here are a few picture highlights...

Just in case you need a hint, Joseph was a bear, Lillie was a witch and Van was a dragon.

Finally!

We had our first appointment with Joseph's new psychiatrist today. We were really struggling to see eye-to-eye with his previous psychiatrist. Every time we questioned something he was doing or recommending he would hold up a medical journal and tell us that he has "read all of these." I guess that is impressive and supposed to mean something to us. Well it was neither impressive nor reassuring. If he did not hold up his reading material, he would ignore us or get defensive. Not the best atmosphere for healing as you can imagine. Anyway we have been trying to get a new psychiatrists for months. This has been a frustrating and fruitless process. Apparently psychiatrists specializing in adolescence is rare and therefore hard to find and of course our insurance only covers a handful. Anyway to make a very long story short we were finally able to find a child psychiatrist that accepted our insurance and that was able to see us in a reasonable amount of time. Enter new psychiatrist...

From the time we walked into the building I felt the difference in this office. The decor was nice, the staff was friendly and there was no weird art on the walls for sale created by the psychiatrists wife/receptionist (I am not kidding). After filling out the necessary paper work we were off tho see the doctor.

We walked into his office and were greeted with a smile, a hand shake and eye-contact, all at the same time. We are off to a wonderful start. He then asked if we used email...oh I am really starting to like this man, and gave us his email address! The eye-contact lasts throughout the whole visit. His manner is pleasant and attentive. He talks to all of us and interacts in a normal humanly fashion. Now the best part, I know I didn't think it could get better either; he actually listened to what we had to say about our own son and what we were concerned about! He agreed with most of what were saying and also wanted to simplify Joseph's meds which we felt were getting out of hand. Then he did the most amazing thing, he actually typed up what we talked about, what we needed to be doing, and the med changes we talked about....and gave us a copy! When we left he was again pleasant and told us we could email him anytime with questions or concerns. WOW!

Ben and I left in a bit of shock and disbelief. The many months of frustration with our old doctor left us sad and upset with Josephs care. The many months of searching for a new doctor left us mad and cynical. In one visit our new psychiatrist erased many of those feelings (don't get me wrong I still think that our old doctor is a quack and probably shouldn't be seeing patients). I am so grateful that we found a new doctor and that he is all the things that our old doctor was not. I think this is someone we can trust as well as someone who can really help Joseph! It is so nice to come away from an appointment feeling hope rather than despair!

Just a bit of "WOW" to brighten your day

I had to show off my budding photographer. Lately Joseph has taken quite a liking to photography. So he decide that for Reflections he would do photography. Reflections is a program that showcases the art of school aged kids centered on a specific theme. This year the theme is "WOW." There are lots of categories to choose from but Joseph wanted to do photography. I did not influence his decision...I promise. Anyway we went looking for "WOW" tonight. He used our point and shoot camera and I just made suggestions. I have been very careful not to tell him what to do or how to do it, but I have given suggestions. So when we got home we were both really excited to get the pictures on the computer to see how they turned out. There were quite a few that were good. But this is a "WOW" photograph. Honestly I was fighting back tears! Now I know that I am a biased judge but this image is amazing. I told Joseph I wished I had taken it, and I was being totally honest. I hope I haven't built it up too much and I hope that it shows well on blogger. So here it is...

"This is Halloween"

I know it's early but I had to share some pictures from our Halloween Party. We had a bunch of friends over for a party last weekend and it was so much fun. Anyone who knows me well knows how much I love fall and Halloween. So this year I decided to turn that love into a party.

OH MY HECK...I might have gone a little over board (Shocker). I had been planning this party for over a month. Then the night before we changed everything but the food and the decorations. We decided to make the games a little more interesting and split people up. We put two couples together in rooms throughout our house. Then after 20 minutes we switched rooms/games and were with a different couple. So of course that meant that I had to try to decorate the new rooms that we would be using. Anyway I think that it turned out pretty good. Because we decided the night before to do things this way there were some snags of course, but nothing monumental, overall I think the games went well. The biggest disappointment of the night was the fondue. Apparently fondue does not work well over a long period of time. I think that it was fine at the beginning of the night but by the end it wasn't so great. Oh well lesson learned. It was still tons of fun and so fun to see how creative our friends were with their costumes. Here are some pics...

Some of these pictures do not do the costumes justice!

The Pendletons were pirates, actually Vanessa was a pregnant pirate. Apparently Vanessa had made Matt grow out the beard just for the party. These guys won first prize in our game competition.

The Rushtons were bikers and actually came on a motocycle! Way to own it guys!

The Weights were "Home improvement gone wrong." It was hilarious they had wounds that included blood, wood protuding from toes and nails stuck through fingers...very clever. Crystal won our best costume of the night. I wish I had a better picture!

The Greenwoods were superheroes. These guys may end up being related to us one day; Aaron's brother is dating Ben's sister...small world.

The Burrups were sports fans. Josh had a Y shirt on with a noose around his neck to symbolize the Cougars horrible loose the night before. (Which almost ruined my party because Ben was so upset that they lost...DUH)

The James' were the Milk man and the housewife. So funny. You can't see it but he has lipstick on his shirt.

The Cleggs were Siegfried and Roy, we all got a kick out of the mullet wigs. I thought it was a good look for the cleggs!

And finally we were a gothic prom couple. You can't see them very well but we are both wearing black corsages that I made. Earlier in the evening Ben had a lip ring on and he is wearing an earing that you can't see in the picture. I had on some awesome eyelashes that of course you can't see well in the picture. For those wondering that is my actual senior prom dress. I was so excited that it fit again after 3 babies, I didn't care what I was as long as I wore the dress!

Like I said the pictures don't so the costumes justice. Maybe everyone will get dressed up again and come over so I can get some better pictures...what do you think guys:)

Overheard

Joseph: "Do you want to hear something really bad that pirates do?"
Lillie: "Yes"
Joseph: "They sneak into movies and video tape them, when they are not supposed to"
Ben and I: Silent laughter
Joseph: "Then they try to sell them to Prophets!"
Lillie: Confused
Ben and I: Hysterical muffled laughter

The vacuum chronicles

My new vacuum sucks...and I couldn't be happier! Finally a vacuum that sucks for all the right reasons. Now my carpets are finally clean...for real this time.

Seriously?

Yesterday in the spirit of getting things done I wanted to get as much of my house clean between the time the kids left for school and the time I go for a walk with friends. This is about an hour and 20 minutes; if spent well, quite a lot can be accomplished. So I set off, cleaning up breakfast, sweeping and mopping the kitchen, dusting, general cleaning up and finally vacuuming. I finished just in time to get ready to go for my walk. I had just a few minutes left and decided to vacuum the stairs so I had one less thing to do when I got home. So I pull out the attachment to do the stairs and instinctively check the suction with my hand...NO Suction. I had just spent the morning vacuuming with a vacuum that sucks, but in all the wrong ways! Ugh, sometimes I wonder why I even bother.

My blood runs purple

I have a cute Joseph story I have to share. Last night we were at the store and decided to get Ben and the kids some BYU hats. While we were checking out the checker asked Joseph if he was a BYU fan, he paused and then said "Well my blood is kind of purple, I cheer for BYU and Utah." If you don't get that you probably don't live in Utah; blue (BYU) and red (Utah) makes purple. I thought it was pretty clever that he made that up himself...such a funny kid. And Lillie, whose hat is actually pink with a big white Y on it, just wanted to show papa her new hat so she could tease him. Papa is a Utah alum, and thus the red component of Joseph's purple blood. Kids are so cute!

My Testimony

In my last post I went on and on about a band I love. Later I wondered do people know I have a testimony and that I love the Gospel. I never go on and on about things of the spirit. So although I do tend to rant about nothing and everything on my blog I am not without perspective. So here is my testimony, it is not meant to be preachy and I hope that this does not offend anyone. I just feel like it is something I should share.

I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints is the true church. I know that Joseph Smith saw God and his son, Jesus Christ and restored the church to the earth. I know that Joseph Smith is a Prophet as is Pres. Thomas S. Monson. I know that my Savior lives and that he atoned for my sins as well as the sins of everyone else. I know that I am a child of God and that he loves me and knows me personally. I know that the work that is done in the Temple is important and that the covenants made there are sacred. The Gospel is true and it is meant to be a joy and a blessing to each of us. I have been blessed beyond measure by my Heavenly Father and for this I am truly grateful. I hope that I can live my life in such a way so that others know that I love my Savior and am trying to live the teachings of the Gospel.

And since I fell for that spell I am living it as well

What is it about British rock stars? Why are they so amazing at what they do? And why am I so drawn to their music?

Obviously those are all rhetorical and that is not why we are all here today. We are here because I can't stand it any longer I have to give my opinion and review of the new Coldplay album. I have been resisting the urge to scream it's praises since I first heard it in it's entirety. I can hold it in no longer. Their new album Viva la Vida or Death and all his friends is, well, ingenious. Strong wordage I know but I am nothing if not honest. So what is my reasoning for such intense feelings. I could go on and on but I will give you just a few.

1. First of all it is, I think, a big departure from their previous albums. It is still immediately recognizable as Coldplay, but the music is different. To be able to produce songs so different than anything you have ever done and still keep your signature sound, ingenious!

2. Second is about the album it's self. There are probably not many of you who have listened to the album from first song to last and started it again right away (I know I am obsessed), but if you had you would have noticed that it comes full circle. What I mean by that is that the end of the last song leads directly into the beginning of the first song. AMAZING! Whoever thought of that...my guess is Chris Martin (lead singer and song writer), is for lack of a better word a genius. Seriously think of what a good song writer you have to be to pull that off and make both songs work on their own!

3. Lyrics, Lyrics, Lyrics. As a want to be writer let me just say lyrics matter. Chris Martin's passionate lyrics are poetry. The songs are deep, beautiful and powerful without being in your face.

4. Last (well last of this short list) the instrumentals in this album shine. The first song is all instrumental. And it holds it own. I thought that was a very gutsy move. The decision to put an instrumental piece as the first track even though many will be judging the album based on the first track and some might lose interest quickly when faced with an instrumental track, risky. This song is SO good anyone losing interest would have to be...I better not finish that sentence just in case there is some out there that I might offend. There are other amazing instrumentals throughout the album. Instrumentals of this caliber are a throw back to the seventies. Classic rock songs, especially from the seventies are famous for long instrumental intros and bridges. Think Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven, Iron Butterfly's In the Garden of Eden and Pink Floyd's Wish you were here (By the way if you have never heard these songs please find them and listen to them they are a piece of Americana).

So if you haven't heard the album you should. If you have and you thought that it was just ok, revisit it, and if you love it as much as I do, then let me know why you love it!

Ok so I was also going to talk about the new Death Cab for Cutie album, but I will have to do that another time.

FYI the title is one of my favorite lines in the 4th track 42.

First (and second) Day of School

So today was the first day of school for Lillie and the second for Joseph. They both seem to be liking their teachers and school in general. Somehow they both got put into classes with only a couple of people they already know. For Lillie this is not a big deal, she has already told me about some of the new friends that she made today. I was more sad than her when I found out that her 2 best friends were in another class together. But in true Lillie form she shrugged it off and headed to school with a smile on her face. Our biggest concern for Lillie was how she would handle being at school for the whole day. When I asked her about it she said "It wasn't that bad, you said all day, I was not there all day" apparently there was some miscommunication about the definition of all day. Anyway she loved it and is excited to go back tomorrow. Joseph although he his liking school has a slightly harder time making friends. He spends his lunch recess visiting with the recess aid who happens to be our neighbor. I hope that he will be comfortable enough to branch out and play with the other kids but I guess time will tell.

I am sure you are on pins and needles wondering what Van and I did with our first full day alone together. Well I did not stay home and clean like you are all thinking. We went with a friend to the Thanksgiving point gardens. It was a lot of fun. We even stopped at one of my favorite restaurants, Rumbi and had lunch on the way. Of course I took my camera but just as we were getting to the good stuff my battery died. I was pretty disappointed because there were a lot of opportunities for pictures. But I did get a few cute ones of Van and a couple fun ones of the gardens. Overall I think it was a good day for all of us.

I love the look on Van's face in this picture. He is looking so grown up these days.

Here is one of the only interesting pictures I got before my camera battery died.

This isn't Coldplay!

There are a lot of proud moments one experiences as a parent. Some of them you expect; firsts of all sorts, walking, talking, school and so forth. But there are a few that catch you off guard. A few that may mean nothing to anyone else but to you is amazing. Here is just one of those moments I experienced with Joseph the other day. I am loving the new Coldplay CD and have been listening to every chance I get, as a bonus Joseph also loves it. We were in the van when the CD ended and I thought it might be time for something different. So I put in the new Death cab for cutie CD (also awesome!) As soon as the first cord of the first song spilled from the speakers Joseph yelled "This isn't coldplay" in a very how dare you voice. It was a very proud moment, I swelled with, dare I say, pride. I love the fact that Joseph loves music and that we have a lot of the same tastes and can share that bond. It doesn't hurt that this shared love makes me "cooler than dad" according to Joseph.

We are music people in our home. We all love music, and there is a very eclectic mix of tastes and genres that one might hear at any moment in our home, but there is almost always music playing (even if it is in headphones). We all have some very strong opinions about music...we all try to appriciate and be accepting about each others music, we are not always successful however. Joseph also likes some music that I do not care for (his dad's influence) such as The beach boys and Neil Diamond. But this too is fun because it creates a chance to tease...although there have been some pretty heated musical discussions that have included Joseph and Lillie...we might care about all of this a bit too much.


Since I am bragging about Joseph's amazing ear for music I will tell you just a few more interesting Joseph music facts, he can name almost any classical composer by their songs, he can recognize and usually name any Police song before the singing starts and he loves the Beatles and can recognize and name most of their songs as well. He can also play the piano by ear.

Just as a footnote I am going to the Coldplay concert in November and can hardly wait, but Joseph doesn't know I am going...at least I have a few months to break it to him that he is not invited.

An ode to Mr.Destructo and his side kick Captain Mischeif

Who is this Mr. Destructo and and his side kick Captain Mischief? Well he is actually the same person as well as a visitor that is living in our home. We are not sure how long his stay will last, but he will not let his presence be over looked. He is very short and says only a few words. He mostly communicates in grunts, points and the occasional emotional outburst of screams. He gets into everything that is not locked and climbs on top of everything that is climbable. He rips paper and chews on anything he can fit in his mouth. He is messy when he eats and never cleans up after he is finished. He leaves a trail of match box cars wherever he goes. Why would we let such a visitor remain, well he also adorable. He is sweet and intelligent. He is a great snuggler (when he stops moving). He has the greatest laugh and the most interesting facial expressions, you can always tell just what he is thinking even though his words are few. And although his extended visit was a surprise he seems to have us all wrapped around is tiny destructo finger. When he is not going by his super hero name he is more commonly known as Van. And we wouldn't have him any other way. We love our Mr. Destructo!

You know you are getting old when...

Recently I have noticed a few things that are making me feel, well OLD. Here is my list of how you know you are getting old:

1. Although you are not a morning person you wake up early and can't get back into a real sleep even though you used to be able to sleep at any time, in anyplace with out any problems.

2. You go to Lagoon and all you can think about while you are on the rides is all the things that could go wrong. And once you get off the rides all you can think about is what new part of your body is sore.

3. Every time you talk to your kids you swear you hear your mother.

4. Your third kid gets away with way more than your first two ever did. And surprisingly the world didn't come crashing down around you.

5. You finally get to the point when having a clean house isn't the most important thing on your to-do-list. And you realize that a few toys on the ground doesn't make you a bad person or a bad mother...imagine that.

6. You let your husband go golfing without complaint...ok minimal complaint I'm not that old, I still have kids at home!

7. You can forgive yourself and others more easily.

8. You realize when you are being a brat or unfair and you try to fix it.

9. You try to give people the benefit of the doubt.

10. You recognize your blessings and know that you truly do have a wonderful life.

A call for help

Most of you probably already know this about me but I am not the best cook. Not that I am inept just lazy. With everything I do obsess about somehow cooking and nutrition slipped through. The point? I am starting to feel bad about it. I feel like I should be better for the sake of my kids. I realized recently that we are still eating like students. Now we are not "rolling in it" by any means but we can definitely afford to eat better than starving students. But it is so much easier to open up a can or a box and and call it good (before you think me too horrid, I do cook real meals occasionally) . So why am I telling all of you this knowing full well that most of you are great cooks and do give thought to the nutritional value of the meals you are serving? Well that is kind of the point, I need help. I need ideas and recipes that are easy, nutritional and that picky kids will actually eat. Keep in mind that if the ingredients list is more than 5 ingredients long I tend to glass over. If you have anything that might help bring it on!

Meet Hazel

We are so excited to have another new niece, Hazel May Case. It's official I am no longer the soul baby maker for The Neiswenders or The Cases! You don't know how exciting this is for me. Anyway back to baby Hazel. She is adorable and tiny. She only weighed 6 lbs 11 oz and was 18 1/2 inches long. She still has that newborn smell and was so sweet and quiet I think I heard her cry once in 2 days and that is with my, very loud, family around. I only wish they lived closer. Now we have 2 nieces and they are both in different states. Apparently our siblings missed the memo that said once you have kids you have to move back to Utah. Oh well. Here are a few, ok a lot of (unedited) pics from our trip.

I think this is my favorite picture of Hazel. Isn't she adorable!
The next one is pretty cute too.

You know me I love baby feet.

This is Kirk, Heather and Hazel in front of the Rexberg, Idaho Temple, which is actually right behind their beautiful new church building.

This is just a funny picture of Van...it is so him, I love it!

This is my parents with all of their grand kids, they were so happy to have everyone together. And no Van is not floating behind everyone, Ben is crouched down holding him up because he wouldn't let anyone else hold him.

This is my cousin Jason and his cute pregnant wife, Deanna.

This is just cute I love this pic.

My parents.

So there is this really cool place in Idaho called Yellowstone Bear World. You drive through an actual bear habitat. It was so awesome, and if you know our kids at all you know that they all love Bears so this was a pretty amazing experience for them.

This bear tore of the front license plate of this car. It was coming toward ours but one of the workers shooed it away. We found out later this car was a rental.

After you drive though you can go into the petting zoo and amusement park areas. They had a big area fenced off that was full of bear cubs. They were so cute.

One of the rides.

If you made it through all of those pictures just be grateful I didn't post all 356 pictures (I am serious). It was a great trip and I am glad that we made it.

Too many good things

How can that be a problem? Well let me tell you. We have been so busy this summer that we have hardly had a chance to breath. And this weekend is no different except that this weekend we had to choose between 2 good things. One was the obvious priority, but we were really looking forward to the other option as well.

My brother and his wife had their first baby a week and a half ago and they are blessing her this Sunday. The other was a trip with friends we have had planned for quite awhile. Originally we thought that we could fit both trips into one weekend but it just doesn't work. I hope this does not sound like I am complaining about the blessing because I am not. We are so excited for this baby and to have a chance to visit with my brother and sister-in-law. My point is I hate it when there are 2 (or more) good things to choose from and you can only pick one.

So to everyone we bailed on we are sorry, I know you all understand and we love you for that. And to Kirk, Heather and Baby Hazel, we can't wait to see you! By the way for those wondering I will post pics of her as soon as I get back! I can't wait to get my hands on that little girl and take tons of cute pictures.

Happy Birthday Lillie

For Lillie's birthday this year we had a Luau. It was tons of fun and tons of work. I know it has been over a week now, but here are the highlights.

It was so much fun planning and decorating for this party. I may have gone a bit overboard but it was totally worth it. Now I have all this great Luau stuff so I can do it again!

The kids had lots of fun playing on the tramp, doing a beach relay race, hula hooping, doing the limbo and of course hitting the pinata...
However the pinata was less than co-operative so we had to ask some of the big boys to join in the fun. Well uncle Sam got a bit overzealous and as you can see broke the pinata off of it's hanger. Not to worry we got the fish hung again and the pinata fun resumed.

This cake was so fun to make. Although I had my share of panic moments throughout the process, I think it worked out well in the end.

I am so grateful to have Lillie as a daughter. She is kind, thoughtful and compassionate. She has an amazing imagination and can turn anything into a toy to keep herself busy. She is feisty and passionate and we love having her in our family. There is rarely a dull moment when she is around. I love you Lillie I hope you had a great birthday...and have a wonderful year to come.