A change of venue

For all the latest happenings you can now go here or http://9teen96.blogspot.com/.

Thank you.

Field of Heroes

At a park not too far from our house we found a beautiful Memorial display honoring those who have fought and died for our country.

The kids loved climbing around in this old Army jeep.

There were rows and rows of giant flags honoring fallen soldiers.

We were also able to watch some Boy Scouts as they properly disposed of old American flags.

Of course it was all so beautiful, so Aunt Katie and Uncle Chad wanted in on the photo opportunities as well.

Thank you to all who have served, and who continue to serve our country.

Meeting up with the Johnsons

A week ago we had the opportunity to head up to Kirtland to meet up with a very dear friend and her family. They were driving through on a church history tour and there was no way I was going to miss this opportunity for a little reunion. You see, I haven't seen my friend Marcy in at least 17 years and I have missed her terribly. What's cool is that her husband Jamey is also a good friend of mine as well. I had the great honor of being there the moment these two love birds met at the bell tower of BYU over 20 years ago. It was love at first sight for these two and now, here we are years and years later looking older but feeling like no time at all has gone by.

Here we all are standing in the obligatory photo spot. The Johnsons have three kids ranging in ages that correspond pretty well to the ages of my own kids which meant that each of my kids had an instant buddy to hang out with.

While we waited outside in the beautiful weather for the Johnsons to finish their temple tour, I decided to make my kids sit for a few pictures. This picture captures their moods perfectly. The boys had been at a Father/Son's campout the night before and so they were deliriously tired. This fatigue had left Tiger a little less than thrilled with life, Sparky was pretty slap-happy, and Woo was her usual giggly self.

I couldn't resist the chance to attempt a family picture. The kids weren't thrilled, but they humored me, and that's all that I ask. Although our time together in Kirtland was quite short, we had such a great time and we were so glad that we went. I will definitely not let another 17 years go by before I see these dear friends again. 

I'm trying not to think about it

Yesterday as I was walking up the stairs I noticed a black spider, about the size of a quarter, sitting at the top of the front door frame. This spider was far too big to squish with a tissue, and I was in too much of a hurry to try to catch it, or in all honesty, try to suck it up with the vacuum. So I continued up the stairs and decided not to think about it. I didn't want to think about its creepy little 8-legged self and where it might be going. I wanted to just pretend like I never saw it. So, that's what I did. At least that's what I did until I came back down the stairs a bit later and saw it crawling along the wall on the way to the blinds in the front window. But once again I didn't have time to deal with this icky little pest, I had a boy to get off to school. By the time I was done getting lunch for my boy I noticed that Creepy, for that is what I had decided to name him, was now situated at the top of the blinds and there he sat for quite some time. He was there as I ate my own lunch. He was there an hour later as I was cleaning up the kitchen. However, by the time the kids came home from school, he was no longer on his little perch on top of the blinds. Where did he go? Is he still hiding up there somewhere? Is he somewhere else nearby? Has he gone to get friends which are then going to invade my front room and form a spider crown molding, all the time judging me and threatening to attack at any moment? What is his next move?? These are the things I am trying not to think about.

7 days

1. Only 7 more days of school! We are all ready for summer to start.

2. Monday mornings are always so daunting as I look around at the trashed house from the weekend tornado that is our family. So much to do.

3. This week I must recommit to painting. I have miles of trim that needs to be painted and the thought of it makes me want to run for the hills screaming. Of course the thought of trying to finish it once the kids are home all day is worse, so I am determined to finish it in the next 7 days.

4. These last 7 days of school are going to be insane. I feel like we are jam packed with activities and whatnot as the school year comes to an end. I won't be sad one bit when this month is over.

5. Also in 7 days I will be acting as the photographer at a friend's wedding. This is incredibly nerve racking for me. It is one thing to take pictures for fun, it is quite another to be taking the life-long record of an eternal union. Throw in the fact that I am having issues with one of my lenses, and what you get is a clear case of nerves. But don't tell this to the bride. I know I will pull it off in the end, but if there is one thing that I have learned as I have prepared for this is that I have no desire to do this professionally. The pressure is just too much.

6. My little man starts tee ball this week. He is going to be adorable. I just hope he likes it as much as he thinks he will because the games are many and the season is long and hot.

Mother's Day

I love these little pickles.

Today

1. My little Tiger man is home sick from school today. The poor boy has a yucky cold and a stomach bug. It has been a long 24 hours for this boy and I.
2. I have a cold, which was given to my by my little Tiger man, which is making it much harder for me to be loving and sympathetic in his time of need because all I want to do is sleep and be left alone and all he wants is for me to be right next to him, not sleeping, and not being alone.
3. On the bright side, the pinched nerve in my back is almost gone.
4.We only have 17 days left of school. I have a lot to get done in those 17 days.

Here's a picture of my poor little man as he tried to sleep in my bed last night. He spent the whole night moaning, whining, and rolling around, but in this picture he was peaceful. It is these peaceful sleeping images that make me love these kids again after a hard day.

Reasons for sporadic blogging and a Girl Scout trip

1. Painting, painting, and more painting due to trying to get my house ready to sell. By the way, painting baseboards is the worst!
2. Kid insanity
3. Personal insanity
4. Mental exhaustion due to trying to figure out what I am going to do with all of the stuff in my house so that we can sell it.
5. Pinched nerve in my back, leaving me unable to move for 3 days.
6. Allergies out the wazoo for the kids as well as colds.

However, I was able to go on a little excursion with my Woo and her Girl Scout troop a couple of weekends ago. It was the annual over-nighter and this year we were in a historical museum/village set in the days of the Civil War.

 The Apothecary's office.

 A happy, but cold Woo.

 Another part of the Apothecary's office.

 Since we went through the village at night, everything was lit by lanterns.

 I love this girl to pieces!

 Woo, working on bandages to help with the Women's suffrage movement in the Doctor's house.

 A skeleton in the Doctor's house.

 We slept in various places around the museum. Here is the view at the top of my bed where I had the "pleasure" of "sleeping".

 And here is the view at the foot of my bed. I was so worried that the lights weren't going to go out in the display cases when it was time to go to sleep and that they would keep me up all night. It turns out that I didn't need to worry about that at all. It turns out what I should have been concerned about was whether or not they would turn out any of the overhead lights. They did not. Sleeping in this museum was far from my favorite.

 Early morning soldier roll call.

 Woo, working the spinning wheel. She would have done awesome if she had lived in the 1800's.

 Is there any mail for me?

We couldn't leave without getting a picture with the giant Mastodon. I love going on these trips with my girl. She is so much fun and so adventurous and I can hardly wait until our next one.

The story of Sparky's concussion

Through a comedy of events, our dear Sparky has sustained a mild concussion. This is both sad and very inconvenient, but he should be back to regular life by Monday. Until then, he is stuck sitting around and doing absolutely nothing. No soccer, no TV, no video games, no reading, nothing. I think this will be a great exercise in patience for my boy. It all started Wednesday night. He was playing around in the gym at church after scouts. He and a friend were playing with a big bouncy ball and they were entertaining themselves by ramming into each other and on one of those exchanges Sparky was knocked down and whacked his head pretty hard on the wood floor. As he was trying to be manly about his pain he stood underneath the basketball hoop talking to another friend when a flying basketball air-balled and nailed him right in the head. This head bonk was more than one boy could take and it sent him over the edge for the night and left the kid with a hefty headache so we went home and tucked him right into bed. He woke up the next morning feeling much, much better and was in great spirits, ready to take on a day of standardized testing at school. After school I was asking this boy how his day was and he informed me that he got hit in the head once again at school. He was standing out in the field talking to a friend when a kickball made a line drive to his head and knocked him over. See, a comedy of events. Through further investigation I also found out that Sparky had been feeling a bit dizzy and nauseous all day long. So, off to the doctor we went where it was determined that he now has a mild concussion. So, there you have it, the story of Sparky's concussion and a case of bad luck.

A Dad and His Girl

A couple of weeks ago Woo had a Daddy/Daughter Girl Scout dance and her dad was more than happy to be her date. She was just the cutest and was so excited for a night of dancing with her dad. The evening did not disappoint for they had a great time and danced their hearts out.

A FHE performance

Who needs to learn how to play the piano when there is a recorder around?

A future Buck Commander?

Tiger has been a bit focused on hunting lately. Our love of walking through Cabela's has not helped this much nor has our love for Duck Dynasty. The funny thing is that Tiger really doesn't like to watch Duck Dynasty, but it must still be seeping in a little bit because Tiger has requested to go hunting on several occasions. Last Sunday, while we were enjoying the beauty of nature on a little family walk together Tiger asked once again.

Tiger: Mama, I just want to go hunting!
Me: You do? What do you want to hunt?
Tiger: Deer
Me: Do you know what you do when you hunt?
Tiger: What?
Me: You kill an animal.
Tiger: OK
Me: So, you want to go and kill a deer?
Tiger: Yes.
Me: Do you want to know what you do after you kill a deer?
Tiger: Yes.
Me: First, you kill the deer. Then you have to split it open and scrape out all of the guts and everything. Then you have to drain all of the blood. Then you have to pull the skin off, and then you cut it up and cook it and eat it. Is that what you want to do?
Tiger: Yes!

He is definitely his own person.

Mustaches are fun

Today is my bro-in-law's birthday and to celebrate we all gathered for a festive family birthday lunch.  The best part was that my sister hooked us all up with these sweet mustaches, because nothing says Happy Birthday like a mustache. Plus, they are oh so flattering.

A breath of fresh air

Last weekend I had a little painting party at my house. My room and the boys' room desperately needed to be painted and I had been putting it off because I knew how long it would take me to paint them by myself and I just didn't have it in me. My mom suggested that I invite my beloved family members to help me with this task and I happily took her up on the offer. So, on Saturday my dad, sister, and brother-in-law showed up decked out in painting clothes with a box full of painting supplies and we got to work. My mom was kind enough to entertain the children for the day which was just as helpful as if she were here painting, probably more so because the kids weren't sitting around bored and being ignored. We pounded out the rooms in no time and now every time I walk into the freshly painted rooms I just smile. They are so fresh and bright and I feel like a huge weight has been lifted. I didn't realize how much the previous colors were bringing me down, especially my own room. I despised the last color I chose from the moment it went up, but at the time I was hugely pregnant and didn't want to bother getting another color and so for the past 7 years I have been living in a khaki colored cave of sadness. No more, however. Now my room is fresh and open and bright and I feel like I can breathe again. It's a good thing.

Busy

Life has suddenly taken a very busy turn and I find myself trying to figure out how to fit it all in. Apparently I have been living a very carefree and easy going life because I am realizing that I have completely forgotten how to organize myself or how to handle stress and anxiety. Fortunately, life is teaching me how right now and really, that's a good thing. Life is supposed to be crazy and unpredictable and the only way we truly grow is through change, which is usually uncomfortable. So, knowing that I need to grow and that changes need to be made, I welcome the chaos that has now become my life. At least that's what I'm telling myself. But let me just say that this isn't helping me catch up on all of the shows on my DVR at all.

I know the quality on this video is bad, but it brings me so much happiness. This is possibly the only video we have of Sparky as a little baby. He's never been like other kids and as you can see, his method of "crawling" was truly unique. In fact, he didn't start crawling normally until he was a year old.

She kills me

Yesterday my one and only precious little dream boat of a girl turned 10 years old! Which means that she has gone from this:

 To this:

 To this!

Sheesh, she kills me. Yesterday the birthday girl skipped school and did all kinds of things that she wanted to do and tonight we have her birthday party. So far I think she has had a pretty good birthday.

The influence of advertising

A conversation with Tiger this morning:

Tiger: Mom, when you grow up you can be whatever you want to be.

Me: That's true. Work hard and you can be whatever you want to be. What do you want to be?

Tiger: An Applebee's guy.

Me: Huh? An Applebee's guy? What does an Applebee's guy do?

Tiger: Cooks deliciousness.

Weird kid.

He has to be cute, it's the only thing that saves him

To say that Tiger is not a fan of church is a bit of an understatement. I totally get it. It's hard for an active little boy to sit quietly for so very long when he is just bursting out of his skin the whole time. Some Sundays are definitely better than others, but this past Sunday was not one of them. He actually did really well during the first hour, but when it came time for him to go to Primary, he took a stand. He was done, and he let me know. As you can see he leaned back in the pew, put his hands behind his head and declared that he was all done with church and that he was ready to go home. I felt for him, but if the rest of us had to stay for the next two hours, then he was going to have to stay as well. It took awhile, but in the end he came around and agreed to go to class. After church he claimed that his class was a lot of fun and he was happy to stay. Whew. One more victory.

I wasn't sitting by him during Sacrament meeting and so I wasn't really paying attention to what he was doing. I just knew that he was quietly and nicely drawing in his "journal". Well, after I finally convinced him to go to class I got a little peek at his hands. It turns out that his "journal" wasn't the only thing on which he was drawing. Behold, Bob is on his left hand and Bob Jr. is on his right hand. What a goof.

Speaking of goofy, yesterday as Tiger was getting ready for school I looked over to find him hugging the refrigerator. "Look mom, you can't see me because I'm gray and white, the same colors as the fridge."

He's a big kid now

The other day I was talking to Tiger about what a big boy he is now, and how tall he has gotten, and that he isn't a little kid anymore. I also asked him, now that he is a big boy, what do big boys do?

His responses:

I know things now so I can teach people who know nothing.

They tell the truth.

I can learn about Oceanology.

They work on their writing.

Now I'm officially a teacher, a pirate teacher. I can teach anyone how to be a pirate.

Goofy Boy

A budding graphic novelist

My little Tiger has been quite interested lately in drawing his own comics and cartoons. It is so fun to watch him concentrate so hard as his draws, with his tongue sticking out of the side of his mouth, and to watch his abilities improve with each attempt. Tiger loves Lego Ninjago and on our day off of school last week due to an ice storm, was inspired to draw his own story about the Hypnobride (I think that's how you spell it, but I really have no idea). In the end the book was about 15 pages long, but here are the first two. The swirly eyes and fangs are by far my favorite.

The last week

For the past week I have been knocked down with a cold and have been a big wussy baby who has done absolutely nothing. I wasn't alone though, Tiger was knocked down with a cold as well. The cold has been miserable, but the fact that I was able to take the time to rest and do nothing has been absolutely wonderful and much needed. Now it is back to business as usual with a busy week ahead of me. Bring it on.

Just for fun, here's an adorable picture of me on my first day of Kindergarten.

 

"Hampster" Day

Did you know yesterday was "Hampster" Day? I didn't. But when I looked at my calendar yesterday, there it was. I wonder how once celebrates this day? What is an appropriate "Hampster" gift? We may never know, although if celebrating this day involves crashing on the couch for a couple of hours while chaos ensues all around, then I knocked this one out of the park.

We've got some sweet moves

Last night the kids' school had a fundraiser skating party, so after a lot of debate (on my part) we dusted off the roller blades and headed out for a little school night fun. I was really kind of dreading the evening because I knew that Tiger would need a lot of help and that it would be loud and crowded, but lucky for me my Love knew that it would be a great time and so he made sure that he could come along and help out.

Here's Tiger as he gets his skates on. The excitement was still fresh.

Doug headed out first with Tiger. Doug is a fantastic skater and so he was the perfect person to take Tiger out on his maiden skating voyage. It was very slow going. There was some falling, a lot of frustration, and a few tears.

Then Tiger discovered that skating on carpet was much easier than skating on a hard surface. Woo was a very sweet sister and indulged her little brother for a bit. She has never been a very strong skater either, but over the course of the night she really improved.

The skating rink had these awesome skating helpers. They are genius. As soon as Tiger started using one he was finally able to move himself forward and his confidence soared. The helper was great because it made Tiger lean forward and actually skate in a much more natural way.

Here's my Woo showing off her skating skills.

Sparky has some pretty sweet skating skills as well. I loved watching him go around and around the rink. Sometimes he was surrounded by friends, sometimes he was just on his own and singing along to the music. It totally took me back to the skating parties of my youth when my mom would just drop us off at the skating rink and we would spend hours skating our hearts out. I love that I can still picture the rink and my own sweet moves, because in my head I was totally awesome.

By the time we were done, our heads were pounding from the noise, and our feet hurt from the skates, but we had a great time and I am so glad that my Love coerced me into going.

Laziness

I have a cousin who recently posted on Facebook that her problems were First World problems and I agree, my problems are most definitely First World problems. The problem is, they are still problems and these insignificant (in the great scheme of things) problems are shutting me down and causing me to become very, very lazy, plus it is winter which isn't helping anything. I don't know about you, but when faced with a bunch of tasks that seem overwhelming, I tend to do nothing, hoping that they will just fade away.  Sadly, they never just fade away. Instead, I just end up looking like a lazy flake. Really, I should be jumping in and attacking those problems and showing those problems who is boss. But who are we kidding? That's not going to happen. So, for today I will just enjoy the fact that the sun in out and attempt to at least do some laundry.

P.S. Mom, yes I have made a list. I just don't like what my list is telling me.

 Just for fun, here are a few pictures of my girl from 6 years ago. She kills me!