Happy Birthday Joseph!!

If turning thirty this year didn't make me feel old then Joseph turning ten certainly did the trick. Last Tuesday was Joseph's birthday. We had a family party and key lime pie in lieu of cake and ice cream.(I have pictures of this party, but can't find the camera...I think Ben took it on his trip, insert eye roll)

On Friday night Joseph had his first friend party. This is a pretty big deal, he tends to be a bit of a loner so we were excited he actually wanted to have friends over. He had two friends over to watch a movie in our theater room and have movie treats. Joseph had fun and I survived. So all-in-all I would say it was a success.






Happy Birthday Joe! We love you and all your corkiness.

Thoughts on Christmas

Every year around this time I start to ponder Christmas. The gifts, the meaning and the legacy and traditions I want my little family to remember. It seems every year I decide to make it a homemade Christmas. I get excited at the lessons I will be teaching my kids. Things like Christmas being about the birth of our Savior and that giving is what brings us joy during this wonderful season. But somewhere along the way I get caught up in the commercialism of it all, and my visions of a homemade meaningful Christmas become lost in the search for store bought gifts. I think as a mother I want to give my kids what ever I can. I don't want to disappoint them, and somehow I give into the mind set that giving them what they want for Christmas will show them just how much I love them. This is of course all subconscious. Typing it out makes it sound beyond ridiculous. But it happens just the same.

I don't know that this post has a point other than I have been thinking about how I can change the focus in our home at Christmas time. We talk to our kids about the true meaning of Christmas and we read the story of the Savior's birth in Luke each Christmas morning, but is this enough? Are we showing them the true meaning?

I hope that this year we can show them and not just tell them. Weather or not this is accomplished by a homemade Christmas or not, I am not sure...but that seems as good a place as any to start.

How about you? How have you kept the focus in your home on the Savior and on giving rather than the latest must have toy?

My new project

I have been feeling like I needed a new project. Because 1 husband, 3 kids house and up coming holiday's aren't enough project for me. Anyway I said to myself "self, what should I do that I would enjoy and that I can share with others?" So I decided to combine two of my favorite things writing and being creative. So Love thy neighbor's crafts was born. It's my take on a craft blog and I think it has a fun new twist. So if you are so inclined please check it out and if you like it pass it on and grab a button!

oh and not that my feelings are hurt or anything but did you see my adorable kids in their Halloween costumes in my last post? Yeah I thought so, so where's the love...not a single comment? I expect better form you...I forgive you this time:)

Halloween Happenings

Halloween was low key for us this year. I love fall and Halloween and like to go all out, but this year it just wasn't happenin'. So here are a few pics from our very predictable Halloween.

First we carved pumpkins...the night before Halloween. Most years Ben is lucky if I agree to wait until the week before.

Yes he is holding a pumpkin carving knife...don't judge. Have you met this kid there was no way in heck he was going to sit idly by while I carved it for him. I was supervising though.

If you look closely you can see Joseph is wearing his Christmas jammies from last year...just a bit of holiday confusion.

Such concentration; I am glad someone is finally taking this holiday serious! I needed an ally.

Cute little pumpkins all in a row


On Halloween we did the usual grandparent rounds followed by trick-or-treating in our neighborhood...here is our adorable and scary crew.

I love this picture!

What can I say he is who he is.


Is it just me or is she looking a bit too grown up?

Around the world in 9 days

...ok so technically we didn't go all the way around the world but pretty close. And after 2 24 hour travel days which each included a 12 hour flight plus four more hours of flights it feels like we went around the world. So without further ado here is the much anticipated "China blog"

We stayed in a very nice hotel that sat right next to the main tourist area of Shanghai called Nanjing road. It was a very long street full of shops, malls, restaurants and lots and lots of people. So lets start with the people. The people are not what I expected. I was expecting a very formal and possibly overly courteous people. I was quite mistaken. It was quite informal and apparently living in a city of 13 million makes you, how do I say this nicely, fend for yourself with little regard for others. That is not to say that people weren't friendly. One on one and in small groups we met some very nice people but in large groups it is defiantly an out for oneself situation. For example we did a lot of walking and shopping. No one opened doors for another, moved to the side to let some one pass or any other basic courtesy one comes to expect in a social situation. They have very little regard for personal space. Now I know I tend to need a bit more personal space than most, but this wasn't just me being too sensitive. They really do get really close when they are talking to you or are in an elevator with you. It was quite uncomfortable at times. I admit I thought about pushing someone a time or two...but I refrained.

There are no smoking laws in China. They are still allowed to smoke wherever they would like. So that was a bit of a culture shock. Especially since it seemed like every man in china smokes. No so great on the ol' asthma.

The thing that sticks out the most as far as differences however is their driving. Street lights and lanes are treated more like suggestions than actual laws. You feel like you are taking your life in your hands each time you crossed a street or rode in a cab. Drivers honk and swerve and maneuver until they get where they need to be. I am amazed we didn't see a major accident while we were there. We did see one minor accident and a scooter incident that was quite humorous. Which brings me to my next observation there are just as many if not more bikes and motorized scooters as there are cars. You would see women in dresses riding a bike or a scooter. Couples, friends, kids and even dogs rode on scooters or bikes. It was a very interesting sight. I think we talked more about the traffic and the scooter/bike/car situation more than anything else while we were there.

Some of the smells were awful. I just leave it at that.

People would just spit or maybe more appropriately "hock a loogie" in the middle of the street or side walk where ever they happened to be. It was a bit disturbing to see old women do this. I guess because the air is so polluted this is not considered rude...pollution or no I still thought it was nasty.

Almost every time you saw a pair of women walking together, which was often, they had their arms linked or were holding hands. Again with the personal space infringement.

This brings me to fashion, how I am not sure but just go with it. The men were, well, men and mostly dressed like any man you know...predictable. Not so with the women. They had a fairly American based fashion but with their own twist. For the most part I really liked what I saw. There was very little jeans and a t-shirt sort of outfits. Which made me feel under dressed most days since jeans and a t-shirt is my usual uniform. They seemed to dress up and accessorize more. I think because it is a major metropolitan area people just dressed up a bit more. And boy do they love their shoes. I think I saw 2 pairs of sneakers the whole time. Most of the time they wore nice shoes, even they crossing guard we thought was a man was wearing hills. So either she was a bit masculine or he was a bit feminine. Either way cute shoes. What was really weird though is there relationship with socks. Here are just a few of the weird ways they wore their socks: nylons (not tights) with short shorts, so short in fact that you can see the line at the top of the pantyhose leg; knee high nylons with bottoms that do not cover the top of the knee highs, again we are not talking tights here we are talking 'no one is supposed to know you are wearing knee high nylons' nylons; another favorite of mine was the ankle nylon(which I did not realize existed) with pants that do not cover the top of the socks...there is a severe misunderstanding about nylons and their proper usage. Then there wwere the people we saw in pajamas.

A big part of shopping in China is bartering. Ben and I really enjoyed this part. There are regular department stores where the prices are set like here, but there are also touristy areas where you bartered for goods, we got quite good at it. The secret is to be willing to walk away. There were very few times when we didn't get the price we wanted.

Space is limited in Shanghai. There is no single family housing, it is all apartments and condos. Many buildings have a very small footprint but are many stories high. This includes malls. It was very typical for a mall to have many small levels. And the stores are set up differently too. Depending on the place they are either tiny little cramped shops or they all kind of blend together. And you can't just pick something out and take it to a register. You have to show them what you want, then they write it down, you take the piece of paper and your money to a cashier who gives you another slip of paper to take back to the person you started with, who will then give you what you bought...figure that one out.

The food was for the most part really good. But there were some things that were just yucky. For example our first dinner included what can only be described as tomato jello, complete with seeds. Anyone who knows me well knows I don't do jello, veggie flavored jello took that dislike to a whole new level. Just in case you are wondering, yes I did try it and I threw up a little in my mouth! Don't worry it was totally sly.

So if you made it this far I am impressed you are either really bored, avoiding something more productive or you just really love me...my bet is on the first two.

Now for some pics...

One more reason to love cranberries

Have the cranberries ever caught your eye as you wondered through the produce isle? Have you wondered what one might so with fresh cranberries besides cranberry sauce at thanksgiving and garland at Christmas? Well my friends I took the leap and bought fresh cranberries, honestly having no idea what I was going to do with them once I got home. Through the miracle that is the internet I found that there are a lot of things you can make with fresh cranberries that do not involve a major holiday. I actually wanted my family to eat what I made so I decided on cookies. Now I understand many people do not like cranberries, to those people I say first come on give it a try and second you will after you try these cookies. I am not going to lie I love cranberries so I was pretty sure I would love anything made from cranberries, but these are amazing. They are a great combination of tart and sweet.

I did change a couple of things from the original recipe...nothing crazy but a few things.
First I used the food processor to chop the cranberries, I knew big chunks wouldn't fly at my house (that sounded way grosser than I intended).

Second I only dipped about 1/3 of the cookies into nuts, my family also not into nuts.

Third I decided I didn't love the look or the taste of the cookies dipped half in chocolate...the chocolate was over powering and detracted from the cookie (I never thought I would hear myself say that chocolate detracted from anything). So I piped chocolate over the cookies in small lines which I liked much better.

Oh and just for the record I used milk chocolate instead of semi-sweet.

Next time I make these I think I will add some orange zest and maybe try dark chocolate.

I know what you are thinking "But Terrie shouldn't you be getting ready for your trip to China and not spending all morning making cookies, photographing said cookies and then blogging about the cookies." To answer your puzzled looks ABSOLUTELY, I should be getting ready for China. But this was way more fun. And I might have gotten a new lens that I wanted to try out...maybe.

How you too can have your very own $100 enema

Start with one very uncomfortable and cranky two year old. Add a whole day of no eating, no drinking and no dirty diapers (that last part isn't as good as it sounds). Next take your concoction to the urgent care, here they will tell you to add a sprinkle of "it might be an appendicitis" and send you to Primary Children's Hospital where they will be able to tell you for sure and possibly do a little surgery for good measure. Once at hospital put sweet two year old boy through tests, IV's, catheters and Xrays. Rule out hernia with more than one exam. All the while having your heart break every time said two year old whimpers "thank you" to the very nurses and doctors who do invasive and uncomfortable tests/procedures on him. Only to find out in the end he is so "backed up" that it has blocked his bladder. Proceed with enema. Let enema do it's business (sorry couldn't help that one). Head home with a much happier two year old. So 2 co-pays later that is how you too can get your own $100 enema.

It was a very long night. As miserable as he was Van was quite the trooper. He cooperated with just about everything the doctors and nurses asked him to do. When he didn't like something he tried to reason with them. He really was amazing. In the end (no pun intended) this was the best possible outcome. I am so glad we are not at the hospital with a post-op toddler. While I hope $100 enemas do not become common place, I am glad things turned out the way they did. Thanks everyone for your concern and prayers. We are all a bit tired but overall we are doing fine. And for the most part Van is back to his normal two year old self.

The President's speech Part 2

I feel like I need to clarify a few things. I hope that my last post did not sound like I was myself, or encouraging my kids to follow blindly. Of course I think that we need to be informed before making a decision in any aspect of our lives politics included. I also believe that no matter what situation you are in, parents are responsible for educating their kids. They may choose to send their kids to public or private school or they may choose to home school, no matter which vehicle is chosen it is the parents responsibility to make sure what is being taught is in harmony with what they believe and what they feel comfortable with. I think that the parents who decided they did not want their children to watch the President's speech had every right to do so. I just wonder if they chose that for reasons other than political. My last post had less to do with politics and more to do with not letting preconceived notions interfere with an opportunity. I think this was an amazing opportunity for our children. To have the President take a specific interest in the youth of this country and address them directly is incredible in my opinion.

I think that the speech was great. He didn't talk down to our children nor did he talk over their heads. His message was clear. Take responsibility for your education not matter what your situation. I think this is a message that many kids need to hear. They can blame no one and nothing for their failure and deserve credit for their achievements. They are capable of so much if they put forth the effort that is required for success. One of the things I especially liked about the speech was the fact that he encouraged kids to make their own goal for the school year; however big or small and be accountable for that goal. I also loved his take on failure. Failure breeds successful people. Those who fail the most are trying the most and will eventually succeed. He encouraged them not to let failure define them. This is a lesson that I think we can all learn from. Even if he did use the tired and over used "Micheal Jordan didn't make the Jr. High basket ball team" example. The President counseled our kids to ask for help when they need it reminding them there is no shame in asking for help. Asking for help does not make you weak.

And now I will step down from my soap box.

Have you heard?

I am not going to lie to you. I am not a huge political junkie. But I like to be informed and I do*wait for it* have opinions. So this is one of those times when I just have to speak up. As I blog hopped this afternoon, you know the usual fluffy craft and food blogs, I stumbled upon a blog post about President Obama's speech in the schools on Sept.8. Apparently there is an uproar by some that has lead to -get this- a boycott of school that day. Seriously? SERIOUSLY?!? I know that we do not all have the same political opinions but when did it become a) optional to attend school b)Ok to be so disrespectful of our elected leaders and c) just plain paranoid?

What could the president possibly say, in a mere 20 minutes, that would be so damaging? Are people that insecure in their parenting that a speech from the president would undermine all of their efforts to teach their children what ever it is they teach them (in this case I would guess intolerance, Maybe?) This type of reaction does teach our children some lessons; sadly I am afraid it will be the wrong lessons.

The Presidents speech is supposed to focus on the importance of staying in school, working hard and making goals...OH THE HORROR OF IT ALL!!!

Lest this sound like a democratic rant I think this type of behavior on either side is ridiculous. I have no doubt that some on the left would be acting just as unsavory if the tables were turned. No matter what our political affiliation we should respect each other. Whether a republican president or a democratic president he, or hopefully at some point she (a post all it's own), has every right to talk to the citizens of this nation. Last time I checked that included kids.

Hopefully no one reading this blog is actually considering taking their kids out of school for that day, but if you are please rethink the message you will be sending. It is one of intolerance and paranoia...not lessons I would want my children to learn.

So how do you feel about it? Leave me a comment, I really want to know.

First day of School

Yesterday was the first day of school. YAY! We are always in such a hurry that pictures tend to be rushed so don't expect too much in the way of creativity. They(the kids) are cute just the same...

I love this one with Van following all smiley not knowing he is coming home with out his "Lolliejoe" He actually tried to follow Lillie into the building more than once.

This is my favorite...they look so grown up!

Joe and his friend Paige

Lillie and Sophie

Oh how I love the first day of school, and not just because the kids are at school and back into a routine...although I do love that part. I have always loved the first day of school, summer is winding down and fall is just around the corner. Fall is my favorite! I loved school when I was a kid and was always so excited to be back...so far my kids are not as enthusiastic as I was but what can I say I was a big nerd. We did get to meet their teachers the day before school started so that help the enthusiasm a bit. I hope this is a great school year for us all!

Deep thoughts

...said in my best SNL announcer voice.

As I pruned away in my very humble little flower garden this afternoon I couldn't help but reflect on a conversation Ben and I had earlier this week. Ambition is good and contentment equally so; but where do we draw the line with either? Ambition drives us to do good things and accomplish things that would otherwise go unrealized. Contentment gives a sense of peace and calm. But can you have both? How do we move forward and become successful without ambition? Can too much ambition cause an unbalanced and possibly counterproductive life? How do you find peace without contentment? Can contentment lead to laziness and complacency? At what point do you transition from being ambitious and slip into contentment?

I am still working on the answer, an answer that is very individual to my own circumstances. I certainly do not claim to have the definitive answer to this conundrum. So far this is what I have come up with; without at least some amount of ambition our progress becomes stagnant. Ambition can take many different forms and mean something different for every person, but without something to reach for and strive towards there is arrested development on some level. But that doesn't mean that there can not be contentment in other areas of our lives. Just because we are trying to improve our station in one area of our lives does not mean that we can not be completely content in another. It is possible to find balance. What is a bit trickier is in which area do we assign ambition and which contentment?

So why would gardening bring on this thoughtful reflection? I had to do some brutal pruning in hopes of producing a better product in the end. A refining if you will. Sometimes it is impossible to grow to our full potential without some pruning. But in the end what we become is so much more than if we had not gone through the refining, as painful as it may be.

For now, in my own life, assignments have been made. Assignments that will surely change with time. But for now my ambition and my contentment know where they belong. Ok at least they have a general idea.

And just because post are so much better with pictures, here are a few from my garden...

The saga continues...

You may remember this:



Well let me tell you part two. Van recently graduated to a big boy bed. A few nights ago we were playing games with Ben's parents and of course Van was not going to bed as well as we would have liked. But he was staying in his room so we just kind of ignored it and let him play in there. As Ben's parents were leaving they decided to say good night to Van. Well this is what we found upon arrival:


He had meticulously smeared Desitin all over his body. He didn't just half heartedly smear some here and there. Oh No, he made sure ever inch of exposed skin was covered...and evenly so. I think if we would have come in just a few minutes later he would have had his whole face covered. Notice how the Desitin goes right up to his lips but not actually on them, now that is commitment. I was oddly proud of him for doing such a thorough job. If you are going to do something do it right, right. Well, needless to say the clean up was a nightmare. Not only had he covered his body and his hair he also shared the love with the carpet, his blanket, a hat and some toys. All of which still carry a very distict Desitin odor...including the kid! The weirdest part is we don't even use Desitin, my brother left it here when he was visiting...thanks Kirk. I will get you back! I have heard Vaseline is a pain to clean up.

Road Trip

For vacation this year we decided to take a road trip to Mt. Rushmore. We figured we were in the car for over 36 hours over 4 days. It went amazingly well. The kids did great. It was not without hiccups but no major incidents or meltdowns. The kids all slept great in the motels we stayed at and even the one night we camped. Which you know, if you have ever traveled with kids, is a feat all it's own. Here are a few pics of the trip...

This is Devils Tower...Just a big rock formation.

Van in a coon skin cap...this picture was very difficult he did not want to wear the hat, so worth it though. When am I ever going to get another chance to get a picture of him in a coon skin cap?


This is the place where we camped, the kids don't even know who the Flintstones are, but Ben and I thought it was funny. And they took the Flintstones theme very serious...everything was Flintstones. This was Lillie and Van's first time camping and we were very nervous. We went once when Joe was a baby. And haven't been since. Our families both camped a lot when we were growing up and we have wanted to take our kids but have been too scared...it was awesome. We had so much fun.
Ben and the kids setting up the tents.
Notice Joe's job was interpreting the directions.

Joe and Lillie had their own tent and actually slept in it the whole night.

This is the tent that we moved 3 times before we finally liked where it ended up. The people around us probably thought we were crazy. This is also the tent we shared with Van. BTW "two rooms" translates into one big tent with a very flimsy piece of nylon that you can attach to the center, but provides no real separation. It was at least big enough to set up the pack and play and house all of the luggage on one side and a full sized air mattress on the other.
Cooking dinner
Everyone pitched in

Roasting marshmallows...the best part of camping.

Cheap mans view of Crazy horse, it was more expensive to get into Crazy horse than it was to get into Mt. Rushmore...this view was just fine for us.

Finally at Mt. Rushmore


I loved the way the flags looked all together...had to throw in an artistic pic for good measure.



The last part of our trip I do not have pictures of. We decided to end with a drive-in movie after we got home. Yet another thing that we have wanted to try but have been to scared to do. And again it went very well. I have very fond memories of going to the drive-in movies as a kid and have wanted to share it with my kids for a while. Ben had never been either so we decided it was time to give it a try. We had already conquered the trip to Mt. Rushmore and camping this week why not add another notch to our belt.

We had a great time this week trying new things together. I hope this is one of those trips that the kids will remember fondly for a long time.

Happy Birthday Lillie

Lillie turned 7 last Thursday. I can't believe she is getting so grown up. She is such a sweet girl and a great sister for her 2 rambunctious brothers. She really wanted a big friend party but we (Ben) decided that we weren't gong to have big friend parties every year. She has had one for the last 2 years so we kept it slightly lower key. We took her and her brothers to Chuck E Cheese and then had family over for cake and ice cream later. Here are a few pics from the festivities.

She got lots of fun stuff, like always but her big gift this year was a bigger bike. I was a little nervous about how she would handle a bigger bike but she did great. Here she is waiting for the big reveal.

All she wanted for her cake was "pink with toys on top" so here it is in all of it's pink and toy glory. Boring I know but there you have it.


In a totally unrelated story Friday night there was yet another storm. This one ended with an amazing double rainbow. Here is one of the pics we took. Sorry we live in the suburbs so there was no shooting around the neighbors houses. But you get the idea.