A beautiful thought

You know how sometimes you go to those blogs and they are beautifully written and inspirational and they want you to be better in some way. This isn't one of those blogs. But I have several sisters (okay really they probably read this more than anything else) who often drop their beautiful words of wisdom into their blogs. Here is a link to one of those. Thanks Erin!

http://myfrontporchlookingin.blogspot.com/2009/12/that-kind-of-wife.html

3 weeks later, Happy Birthday to me part 2

I am 30 years old. I am officially middle-aged. Ok not exactly but I may as well be! When you are 20 you are still almost a teenager. At 25 you are in your early 20s which is still almost a teenager. At 27 you are looming closer to 30, but still only in you 20s which is almost a teenager. But at 30 you are, well 30.

I had a good birthday. I honestly didn't think I was going to get anything on my actual birthday (see previous post) but Chad surprised me with some kitchen stuff I have been wanting.

I guess I should be okay with this milestone. I do have 3 fabulous children, with a 4th one the way (I may have failed to mention this before... I'm pregnant. 18 weeks. Don't know the gender yet but OF COURSE we will find out.) I have a house in the suburbs and drive a suburban. My husband has a career. I get to stay home and be a mom. These are all great things. But 30 is such a big number! But at least I'm not 40.

Happy Birthday to me, part 1

So a couple weeks ago I was attempting to tackle my piles of laundry. I was actually making progress. ... I was down to my last batch. I went in to the laundry room to change the batch and realized there was water standing in the bottom of the washer. It had quit in the middle of the cycle. Oh dear. I called my mom... she told me to see if I could at least get it to spin the water out. I could, so I went ahead and dried it. Then I told Chad I had a great idea of what to do for date night... go shopping for a new washer! Yea!! So fun.

I spent the next several hours looking on-line at information on washing machines. I narrowed it down to a GE something-or-other. We dropped the kids at a friend's house for a couple hours, with a bargain that we'd bring pizza back for dinner. Then we went to 2 stores. I didn't get the GE something-or-other. I ended up getting a Samsung something-or-other. I LOVE it! It is faster and cleans better than my old one. And it spins the water out better, cutting down the drying time. We are going to get the dryer in a few months because my old dryer is still functioning.

So this isn't exactly what I was hoping to get for my birthday, but, as it turns out, I love it. Oh, and Claire loves it too. Last night she discovered that she can open it and put her baby's clothes in it, and push all kinds of buttons and it will make all kinds of exciting beeps. So Chad went ahead and turned on the "child lock" feature. (I hope I can figure out how to turn that off when I do my laundry today.)

A new post

This new post will just be an overview of the last 3 months of craziness. Long but with pictures.

--2 soccer games, 2 nights a week for 6 weeks. Good thing they had fun, and Caleb got to be much more aggressive (which is a good thing in soccer).

--First grade is going great--Caleb loves math and recess.

--I'm doing a preschool co-op for Natalie. She loves it, and it gives me time to get some errands taken care of with only one child in tow.

--We all got a stomach bug. On different nights of the same week. I was SO tired by the end of that week!!

--Claire had swine flu, and fortunately it was a really mild case. No one else has gotten it, yet. (Knock on wood...)

--Claire is mostly potty trained. Hooray! The others were well past their 3rd birthday before they were. It is so wonderful, although I do spend more time in public restrooms than I would like to.

--Halloween was fun. Caleb was an indian. Natalie was super-girl. Claire was going to be a clown, but that was the weekend she was sick, so she didn't actually didn't get to go, which was sad for me because I'd made her a really cute costume. Sorry I didn't take pictures.

--Natalie turned 5. She is such a girl. And spoiled, which is mostly my fault. I made her cake, and used fondant for the first time. It was fun.

--Chad and I celebrated our anniversay--8 years! I'm so glad we got married because we are a great team. For our date that weekend we went out to dinner and then to the high school football game. It brought back a lot of high school memories for me. Weird. But we had lots of fun.

--I planted a few things in a garden this Spring. We got a pumpkin, some zucchini (is there anyone in this world that CAN'T grow zucchini?), and some carrots. I'd planted lettuce but none grew, I think because I planted it too late. Anyway. We got some HUGE zucchinis.

--My mom made this adorable tutu for Claire and she loves it! She puts on the leotard and the ballet slippers... the whole 9 yards. She cracks me up.

--Natalie is taking violin lessons... We've started on the "Twinkles" and she's loving it. Caleb is taking piano lessons and has already had his first recital, where he played "Old McDonald."

Thats all I can think of for now.

P.S. I am horrible at taking pictures. On the rare occassion I remember to get the camera out the pictures just aren't that great. Sorry. But at least you can tell my kids are cute.

Whats up.

It has been such a crazy summer that blogging has fallen thru the cracks. Here's an update. I'm pretty sure I am the world's worst picture taker. Even when I do happen to remember to take my camera, and actually pull it out at opportune moments, the pictures never turn out decent enough to actually share. Sorry.

A couple weeks after the trek Chad and I went up to Girls Camp for one night. It was so much fun. I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE Girls Camp. Always have. Pretty sure I always will. While there, the ward camp leader and I caught three of our young men trying to toilet paper the cabin. Haha. It was really funny.

The end of July and the first of August the kids and I went to Idaho. We hung out with my family for a while. My sister Karianne had baby #4. Yeah!! Baby Emily looks like a Perrenoud and is very sweet. Claire couldn't get enough of that baby, and now she's obsessed. Every child under 2 is a baby, and she exclaims at the top of her lungs "BABY!!" Its pretty cute.

I also got my hair cut and colored. I'll post a picture when I get a decent one on my camera.

The first week of August we met Chad in St. Anthony, ID., for the Comin Reunion. It was lots of fun to see them and get to know some of his cousins and stuff. They are so great. There was a little pond there and a couple canoes, so we went out for a paddle one day. The kids loved it--even Claire--and now Chad wants a canoe even more.

After that we went to Boise to visit with my oldest sister, Kelli. Chad was awesome and helped her husband move his garage to their new house. We also went white-water rafting. We left Claire and Kelli's little one with another sister (Thanks H!!) but took the rest. I admit, I was really nervous. I inherited my mother's fear of water, especially where the kids are involved. But it was a BLAST!! and no one went out the boat unless they had planned to. We really want to go again another time. Thanks, Cole Family for such a fun time.

A couple days later we came home. It was so great to be back in our own house, even though we had a great time. Thats there is a brief update.

June and Trek Update

June started off really great... We had stake conference, and our vising authority was Elder Richard G. Hinckley. He gave some awesome council. He also spent a little time talking about his dad, President Gordon B. Hinckley. That was so neat. Pres. Hinckley underwent Chemotherapy for 2 years. As a consequence he didn't have much of an appetite. His kids would take turns taking dinner to his house and making sure he ate at least a little bit. On one occasion one of his kids asked him if he thought we would have food in heaven, to which he replied, "I don't know, but if we do I sure hope we don't have to do our own dishes." There you have it... if the prophet can hate dishes, I can too.

We also had visiting Elder Seldon. He's an area authority. He is from Ohio, was the president of the Kirtland Stake for many years. He was funny. He said, "My mother raised 5 sons... She ran a frat house. I had an uncle with 7 daughters... He was an alcoholic." As one of 8 girls (and one boy) I could really appreciate this sentiment. When I shared that with my dad, he just nodded his head and said, "Yep!" It was funny.

The kids did 2 weeks of swimming lessons. They loved it! Natalie is so little that she has a hard time getting her feet out behind her to really kick and go anywhere. I think I am going to have them both repeat the class they did this year when I sign them up next time, just to be sure they are really comfortable with things before they move on.

For Chad and me, much of June was spent preparing to go with the youth in our stake on the Pioneer Trek Youth Conference, which was June 30 thru July 3. Talk about an amazing experience. We were a Ma and Pa, which meant we were primarily responsible for 8 youth for the 4 days. We had the best family... we couldn't have picked a group that was more fun, yet they also knew how to turn off the silliness when it was time to be serious. We always had stray kids--the friends of our kids that would come over and visit. One they named Mowgli (like from the Jungle Book) because he was always in our family. But they were fun kids and we had a BLAST!

(This is our family)

The first day of the trek we met and got to know each other, and then traveled to Sage Creek campground. The second day we pushed and pulled our handcarts for 14 miles. We crossed Rocky Ridge, which is the highest point on the Mormon train. Its also the point in the trail that was fatal for many members of the Willie Handcart company. It was not as difficult as we had expected, quite honestly. But we had perfect weather, and we were well rested, and we were well fed. It was humbling to imagine doing the same thing on an empty stomach when there was 18 inches of snow on the ground, when you were already completely exhausted. We also crossed 7 mud puddles. And when I say mud puddles I mean, 5 feet wide and 2 feet deep, thick black mud. What an adventure that was. I only went through one, and it was tough. We had to take off our shoes, and when I got done my foot was bleeding, still not sure where from. I lost my balance, and almost sat in the mud, but caught myself just in time. The day was long, but it was also fun to sing songs and laugh and joke, but also feel the Spirit. That night we camped in Rock Creek Hollow, where 13 members of the Willie Company were buried in a mass grave. What a neat Spirit was there. We had a great talk with our group that night, just talking about the whole day and the things we were experiencing. I could tell you about it, but even if I did you still wouldn't get how awesome it was.

(Thru the mud)

(Me, post-mud puddle)

(The Common Grave at Rock Creek Hollow)

The next morning we got up, broke camp, and traveled (in cars) to Martins Cove. We re-loaded our handcarts to hike back into the Cove, and then on to our campground. We went about 5 miles that day. It was really, really hot. After lunch we crossed the Sweetwater. The water was really high this year... it came up to my hip. It was so neat to see fathers carrying daughters across, brothers carrying sisters, husbands carrying wives. There was a kid from our ward who has a prosthetic leg, just below his knee. He took off his prosthesis and hopped across that river, with one had on a rope that was strung across, and the other holding on to the arm of a leader from our ward. It was awesome. Shortly after the river crossing the clouds started moving in and the wind picked up. Just as it started raining we stopped and the men were called out to the Mormon Battalion. The women had to pull their own handcarts up this crazily steep, soft, soft, sandy hill. The men were standing at the top, watching, and they were allowed to help or encourage or talk. All they could do was stand there. And watch. As we struggled up this steep hill. In what was not pelting rain. While thunder and lightning are crashing all around us. If you looked up, you would see these 15 and 16 and 17 year-old guys with tears running down their faces. About half way up, our handcart got stuck. Our tarp, which had been haphazardly thrown over the top of our stuff, was way too big and half of it was dragging on the ground. Then some girls who had already reached the top came down and helped up pull it over the boulder we were stuck on and get back up. It was intense. as I'm sitting here typing this, I can feel the stress of it all over again. Once all the girls were to the top, the boys rejoined us, and we went the 2 miles to our campground. Before we had gone a mile, the rain stopped and the sky cleared. That was the only rain the entire day.

That evening I found a tick in my leg. UGH! Fortunately I have my own personal trained medical professional that was able to extract it for me (that would be my husband, for anyone that doesn't know that). Then we had a campfire and stayed up laughing and talking with our kids. Even after we got inside of our tents, they continued talking and laughing and teasing. Chad and I lay in our own tent just laughing because they were so funny. The next day they said, "We heard you guys laughing" and we just had to tell them it was because they were SO FUNNY!! It was so great.

Friday morning we got up, broke camp--again--and headed back to the Visitors Center and had a testimony meeting. It was awesome to see those kids apply their experiences on the trek to their own lives and see how they were affected. There were a few who, the entire week, kind of had this "I'm too cool for this. I am so not into this" attitude, and by the end of the week, they were playing a different tune. They were touched too. It was incredible. After that we had lunch and came home. I wasn't ready for it to be over, although I was ready to put on jeans instead of pioneer clothes, and take a shower (my fingernails were so dirty!) and see my own babies. But life must go on.

If any of you ever get a chance to participate in something like this, I would encourage you to jump at the opportunity. It was so incredible. While my own testimony was strengthened, the best part for me was seeing how the Spirit influenced those kids.

That night we were telling Caleb and Natalie about what we'd been doing. They soaked it in. So we decided to take them back out there the next day. It was neat to try to help them understand what the pioneers went thru. As we were walking, the kids were starting to wear down. So we tried to help them understand how tired the pioneer children must have been. I said, "Imagine having to walk all the way to Granny's house. What would that be like?" There wasn't as much complaining after that.

(This is the family--minus Claire who was sleeping in the stoller--sitting at one of the statues depicting the Sweetwater Crossing rescuers)

Craziness update thru May

Seriously, it has been a very long time since I last posted. We've been busy, and I just haven't taken the time to write my own post. But I have still been checking other people's, so I know what you've been up to even if you don't know what I've been up to. So I'll fill you in on a few highlights.

In March we were at Chad's parents for dinner, and Chad's cousin Tiff brought her family down to say hi. Her girls and our girls were wearing matching dresses. Cute pictures!

In April I got my wisdom teeth out. I layed around for a day, mostly because I had an excuse to, but really I was fine. Not as bad as I had anticipated. And no swelling.

One day toward the end of April we got a call from the stake executive secretary. The Stake President wanted to meet with Chad, and I could come along as well. At first we thought, "Oh, well this is just so that Chad can be released as executive secretary." He's had that calling for 2 years, but in March was called as ward mission leader, which was a complete surprise, so he had been doing double duty for a few weeks. Then we started thinking but the stake president doesn't usually release executive secretaries. So we spent an anxious day, although I was pretty certain what it was for. He was called to serve as the first counselor in our new bishopric. He was sustained, ordained to be a high priest, and set apart on May 3rd. And since then he's been doing TRIPLE duty. About 3 weeks ago he was conducting sacrament meeting and actually released himself as ward mission leader before sustaining the new one. And the following week he was released as executive secretary. So FINALLY he is down to only one calling. PHEW! Its been awesome to see him grow into the calling, even in such a short time. Oh, and thanks Mom and Dad for coming over for the quick trip and taking part in the day with us.

May was busy. Caleb had track day. He ran in the first race of the day and won! It was so funny! They blew the whistle and he flew down the track. He was so pleased. Sadly, I had forgotten my camera. His second race he came in 4th (out of 4), but thats okay. It was fun.

Natalie had a "dance recital." I put that in "quotes" because it was kinda ridiculous. The teacher liked dancing a whole lot more than she like pre-schoolers. She didn't really know how to handle some of the live-wires in the class. Chad made it to one day of the practice, and his comment was that it was like "herding cats." But she had fun and she looked really cute in her costume. She is kindof a diva. Several parents had taking flowers for their girls, and she was devastated she didn't get any so I took her to the store afterwards and she insisted on getting a whole dozen, and they had to be pink because "thats whats in weddings."

Mother's day was awesome. Chad got me some of those Willow Tree figurines. They have a newer line that is little kids, so he got me one for each of the kids and one of a couple. I love them. Thanks to all the moms, sisters, friends and other great examples of Womanhood in my life.

Natalie had a program for the end of preschool. It was fun, but kinda lame. When I did the preschool co-op for Caleb I didn't really enjoy it. Probably because we were moving and then I was pregnant, but I just never really got into the groove. But I did enjoy this group with Natalie a little more. Here is a picture of her "graduation."

Over Memorial Day weekend we went to Cheyenne and participated in the Comin Memorial Day Festivities. This entails driving to about 6 different cemetaries, visiting I-don't-know-how-many graves, and creating great memories with extended family. It also means a family reunion picnic and Ft. Collins City Park. Which means a train ride for the kids. This time Chad got to ride and I got to take pictures. Fun times. On our way down there was this incredible rainbow... very vibrant and it was full--double--all the way across the sky.

There was a big huge fun picnic at the end of the school year at Caleb's school. Their principal resigned, effective the end of the year, and the new principal was at the picnic. They had a dunk booth, and at the end of the day they dunked the old principal and the new principal. It was great. For any Casper-ites, the new principal is Coach Larsen fro CY Jr. High and NCHS.

Thats an update for May. I've got to go get laundry started. I'll try to be on top of things and get fully updated this week.

Memorial Day

I love America, and I love holidays that make us reflect on what a great nation we live in and those who have given so much to protect it. My brother took this picture last year on Memorial Day. I really like it because the Washington Monument in the background reminds us of who and what founded this nation. The headstones at Arlington Cemetary remind us of those who protect us.

My dream car

My sister and I were talking about our dream cars today. Its a toss-up. I can't decide between an Aston Martin V8 Vantage Roadster and an Aston Marton DBS Volante. They are amazingly beautiful. Which ever I decide to get, it'll be red. Of course one thing to consider is price: the V8 base price is $132,500, whereas the DBS base price is unknown to me, as it is new for 2010. The base price for the 2009 DBS (not convertible) is $269,000. Maybe I can get a deal if I pay cash.

Denver

The Friday and Saturday before Easter we left the kids with Grandma and Grandpa Sundquist and drove to Denver. We had been wanting to go down to the temple. Our bro-in-law was able to acquire some free tickets to a Colorado Avalanche game, so we killed two birds with one stone. We went down Friday night and wandered around the 16th Street Mall. This is no ordinary shopping mall where you enter thru one door, visit several stores, and then exit the same door. No, no. This is a 16-block pedestrian stripmall. The road is closed off to allow for the bus-train-thing, and there are chess tables in the center where people actually play chess. Pretty cool. Anyway, we wandered around for a while. Then we met Chad's brother and his wife at The Cheesecake Factory for dinner. YUM. MY. Highly recommend it.

We stayed the night (at a hotel, not at the Cheesecake Factory), and the next morning we went to the temple. That is always such a boost. That afternoon we went to the hockey game. It was the last game of the season, and the Avs are pretty much the worst team in the NHL right now, so the game wasn't very exciting; there wasn't a single good fight! Whats a hockey game without a couple decent fights. But it was still fun. I learned a few things: 1. Hockey is a very aggressive, in-your-face kind of game. 2. I don't think my kids would want to play it because they aren't very aggressive. 3. Even if they did want to play, I think I'd encourage something else because I'm not an aggressive person. 4. Hockey players are NUTS!! My sister thinks that baseball is the most difficult sport to play because you have to hit that tiny ball that is going 90+mph with that not-very-big stick. I beg to differ... Hit an even smaller puck with a skinnier stick while speeding down the ICE, with 5 guys coming at you at equal speeds, and try not to fall down. Sounds tougher to me.

It was a fun weekend. Spending time with just Chad and me is always so nice because it helps me remember that I am more than just mom and housekeeper. Thanks to everyone we spent time with, and thanks to everyone who made the trip possible.

Easter

I know, I know. Easter was over a month ago. But at least I'm doing something now, right?

For the first time, I actually colored eggs. The kids had lots of fun. We did less sugar in the baskets this year and gave a little present to each of the kids instead.

This year I decided to go all Martha Stewart and make dresses for the girls. This actually wasn't too difficult because Natalie's was half made already. (I had started making it a year ago but ran in to problems, got frustrated, threw it in the bag in a drawer, you know how it goes, right?) My mom helped me work thru the trouble, and a couple weeks later I sewed on the sleeves and was done. Claire's was a relatively simple pattern. I even made the matching bloomers--they were SUPER EASY! The fabric of their dresses isn't the same since Natalie's was bought over a year ago, but they are both pinkish flowersSo here are some pictures.

P.S. For the record: it is practically impossible to get all 3 of these kids smiling nicely and holding still at the same time. Even one at a time!

Lot of new posts.

I did a marathon posting session. So if you want to you can read/see them. You don't have to read them. I kinda use the blog like a journal for myself, because I don't do very well with writing in a journal. So if you want you can just skim thru the wordiness. Thats probably what I do with yours. Anyway, have fun.

Crazy pictures

Here are a couple of random pictures from recently.

This one is Natalie sleeping on the floor. In her pillow case. I don't know.

This is Claire. She wanted some Marshemellow Mateys and I wouldn't get them for her. At first she was reaching her arm into the container to pick out the marshmellows. That wasn't yielding results quickly enough so she just dumped them onto the table to get what she wanted.

The Blizzard

Last Monday we had a blizzard. At 8:00 when Caleb and Chad left for school there was maybe an inch of snow on the ground, and it wasn't really doing much. By noon it was snowing heavily, and blowing crazily, and visibility was down to about 10 ft. They did something they've never done before (at least thats what I've heard) and they closed school early. They said elementary schools would officially close at 1:30, but parents could pick students up at their convenience. So I decided to just pick up Caleb right then. And then I was going to pick up Chad from work. (His Toyota Corolla does great for gas mileage and summer driving, but not as well when there is nearly a foot of snow. And by this time there was a foot). They'd cancelled their patients for the afternoon. I took the girls to a friend's house while I ran into town, knowing that if I got in a wreck it'd be a whole lot easier by myself, or with only Caleb, than it would be if I had to deal with them, too. So I left my friend's house at 12:10. Normally it takes 17 to 20 minutes to get from the neighborhood to the school. I got there at 1:00. It had taken me 50 minutes to get there. By the time Caleb and I got out to the car it was 1:15. I got to Chad's office at 2:00. In that 45 minutes, I spun a 180 on CY (a really busy street here in town) in my Suburban when it was in 4-wheel-drive. That was scarey. Then I got stuck and had to dig myself out. Thankfully we keep a small snow shovel in the back. We got home at 2:40. What should have taken me an hour--at the most--actually took me 2 1/2 hours. And this was in March... Not the middle of December! It was crazy. But the kids had a great time playing in the snow. Here are some pictures.

New glasses and new purse

I have realized the last several months that I can't read street signs from far away. I used to be able to. So after several weeks of deliberation, I decided to go to the eye doctor. And I learned that I needed glasses. So I got glasses. They've taken some getting used to, but I sure like having them. Here's a picture of what I look like with them.

Yesterday I was wasting time at the mall, and I found myself a new purse. Now I have been looking for a new purse for a while, but haven't been able to find one thats the right size and cute and has 3 pockets... I know I'm picky. But yesterday I found one and I love it. Here it is.

You may not like it. Thats fine with me. But I love it, and thats what matters.

March (okay, half of February too) update

I am a terrible blogger. I know. I don't need you to tell me. I do check other people's blogs, although I rarely comment on them, but I never take the time to compose things for ours. So I will write a few posts and add a few pictures. We went to Pocatello for spring break. It was GREAT!! We hung out with Granny and Gramps, went swimming, played with cousins, went to the temple, and of course played Mexican Train dominoes. It was so fun and a great vacation. I think sometimes when we take "vacations" we are so busy getting to certain places at certain times that we never really take time to relax. But we did this time. Of course, I forgot to take pictures because I always forget to take pictures. But I promise we had fun.

Chad got a new church calling. He has been the executive secretary for a little less than 2 years, and now he's the ward mission leader. He's really excited about it, because missionary work has kinda been stale in our ward, so he's going to do some stuff to hopefully get people more excited about it. He's going to do a GREAT job.

While we were in Pocatello, Claire decided that she wanted to start walking. So she's walking everywhere now. She can't run, but she sure walks fast. She has also decided to take over Natalie's toddler-sized bed. That would be fine, except that means Natalie has to sleep on the floor because we don't have a big bed for her yet. And she actually prefers the floor. I think she's been feeling crowded in the little bed.... Maybe one of these days we'll break down and get something comfortable for her to sleep in.

Natalie is starting to read. Even when I'm reading to her, she wants me to point to the words. My kids have inherited my love of books. She's so smart. I think she gets a little bored staying home with me during the day. She could start Kindergarten this fall, but because of her birthday she has to wait another year. But I'm going to put her in a preschool that I think she'll enjoy.

Caleb is doing great in school. He has a goal to read the whole Book of Mormon before the end of the summer. He's already somewhere in Mosiah. I think he's more dililgent than I am. I don't know how much he's actually get out of it, but I think establishing the pattern of reading regularly is as important as learning from it. Plus he's feeling the spirit of it. One day I asked him what he was reading about. "I'm not really sure. Its kind of hard to understand," he told me. So I asked him where he was reading. Jacob 5. The Parable of the Olive Tree. "Well, Buddy, that is really hard to understand for me too. Its okay." He's great.

Magical Cream

The following conversation took place a couple weeks ago when I picked Caleb up from school. He had eaten the school lunch that day.

Caleb: Today I had a chicken sandwich for lunch. Aspen (a classmate) told me to try that white stuff on it... What's that white stuff thats kinda like mayonaise? Magical Cream?

Mom: Um, Miracle Whip?

Caleb: Yes! Thats it. I tried it on my sandwich and it was SO good.

So I guess we have a Miracle Whip fan... although I do like his name for it.

Free Audiobooks

To find free audiobooks I just googled "free audiobooks." The site I've used is librivox.org. They have a 10 second thing at the beginning of each chapter, but its only 10 seconds, and you get the book for free. So go find some free listening!

The Influenza

This weekend I had the Influenza. I didn't go to the doctor and have the test done or anything, but I had all the symptoms. It was miserable. Caleb and I both had it, and all I wanted to do was lay on the couch and sleep. My entire body ached. I had a fever, a cough, and head congestion. I alternated between shivering and sweating for 5 days. It was horrible. Chad said he'd never seen me so sick. Today I am feeling about a million times better, although I have some lingering congestion. But today Natalie and Claire have started with the fever. Ugh. 5 more days of going nowhere. I am not exaggerating when I say that there have only been 2 Sundays since the beginning of 2009 when my entire family has been at church together. I feel like I'm going inactive. I am SO tired of being sick and having sick kids. Yesterday I started wiping all of our toys with Lysol Disinfecting Wipes. I'm washing all the sheets. Chad is cleaning the bathrooms. I've washed the door handles. What else can you do to eliminate household germs?

Loose teeth

Caleb lost his first tooth last week. Thus begins the first akward-looking phase of a child's life. But it begs the question--how much does the tooth fairy give per tooth? What does the tooth fairy do with the teeth once she collects them? Caleb was expecting a Thomas Train. I hope he wasn't too disappointed.

We've been busy

Things have been busy but pretty normal at our house lately, but I wanted to add some pictures so you can see some of the fun things we are doing.

Caleb's birthday was good. I wanted to do a birthday party, but I didn't want to have too many kids, and I didn't want to go to a lot of work. So Caleb chose 3 friends to come over, we made pizzas, they watched "The Little Rascals", and ate cake and ice cream. Then the kids just played for a little while before I took them home. (As a side note, that movie is so funny. I don't know if the kids liked it or not, but Chad and I sure got a kick out of it.) Since we had pizzas to eat, I made a pizza cake. It was really fun.

Chad's birthday came and went. We went out to dinner to On the Border, a sort-of Tex-Mex restaurant. Pretty good. Chad had the fajitas and they were quite tasty. Then we went to the mall and got Chad a new pair of hiking shoes. They are quite comfortable for him, which is good. Last night we were asked to go on the Trek with the stake youth this summer. We will be a "Ma and Pa" to a group of 8 kids, and we'll push/pull a handcart for 15 miles before hiking back into the cove. We'll be gone 3 nights, but, Chad's parents are going to watch the kids for us. We are really excited to be going. I can see how this experience can have a really important influence on the kids, and I don't understand how some parents can just not make their kids participate in this. I am so glad that youth activities weren't an option for us. I see so many of these kids choosing not to participate in these type of things, and they are really just missing opportunities to have their testimonies strengthened. So anyway, we are really excited to be going. I am going to make myself a pioneer dress with matching bonnet and apron. But I'm trying to decide if I want to make a dress or a skirt, and then buy a blouse, although I need to decide soon because its probably going to take me the next 6 months to get it made.

Chad and I went to a stake activity last weekend... It was a "Regency Ball." We learned several dances (think Pride and Prejudice type) and then went to the dance where people were all dressed up. Many of the men were wearing tuxedos, but Chad just wore a suit. I borrowed one of Erin's formals and dressed up. We had a fun time. (That makes 2 dates in one month!)

Chad and Caleb are taking tae kwon-do together. Its great for them to have that time together, and get some excercise. Caleb is really getting the hang of things--he doesn't have perfect technique, but he's doing great. He can even count to 10 in Korean. Last night they got their uniforms. We got Caleb's a little big so that he can wear it for a few years. But he is very proud of it.

The girls are doing okay. Natalie is really good about wearing her glasses. She loves preschool, singing, reading books, and dancing in her ballet class. Claire has been sick, it seems like forever. The other night her fever reached 104.4. The fever seems to be gone now, but she has a runny nose and lingering grumpiness. She might be getting her molars, but I'm not sure. She's becoming a picky eater, and she won't drink milk or formula. But she's so cute and makes us laugh with her busy-ness.

I'm keeping busy with preschool, YWs, spending time at Caleb's school, and all the other stuff. And of course reading... I have started downloading (free) audiobooks to listen to on the IPOD while I'm cleaning house. My dishes are usually mostly done now that I have something to occupy my mind while I do it. I listened to Jane Eyre last week. I love that book. This week I am attempting to get thru Emma, but I'm surprised to say its tougher to listen to because there is more dialogue. I get lost. But its still a fun thing to do.

Well I've gone on a long time. Just thought I'd share.

The Mom

I copied this directly off of my friend's blog because I loved it.

Mom is the one who . . .
. . . opens the windows to let in the light.
. . . eats the broken graham crackers.
. . . makes a sandwich for herself out of the heels of the bread.
. . . has a coat for every child, but forgets one for herself.
. . . knows where the clean socks are.
. . . runs towards a sick child, not away from the sick child.
. . . hears you cough in the middle of the night.

My Christmas Projects

We had a really tough time coming up with an idea for what to give the doctors at Chad's work. Finally 6 days before Christmas I came up with the idea to make them wreaths. Now this wasn't an entirely brilliant plan because I'd never made a wreath before. But several hours at the craft store (I Heart Hobby Lobby) and a couple hours at home, and VOILA!! this is what I came up with.

This one has two little mittens with snowflakes on them, so the big white snowflake really does fit in.

You can't see it, but there is a little bird (not a real one) in a nest on the lower right side. It was really cute.

Christmas, New Years, and Sledding

Christmas was great. We all shared some kind of stomach bug that week, so we weren't sure how things were going to go, but by Christmas we were doing okay. We did the Nativity story with the kids on Christmas Eve. Caleb and Natalie were Joseph and Mary. Claire was a shepherd. The Wise Men were played by the kids' dolls. The gifts were gold (a penny), frankincense (a tip to a nasal aspirator), and myrrh (and Italian bud vase). It was so fun.

For New Years we had some of Chad's family over to eat good food and play fun games. We played Uno Attack (or whatever its called) and that was really fun. We also played Yahtzee Free-for-All. Now Yahtzee is one of my most favorite games to play (probably because its one of the few games that I can beat Chad at every once in a while). Yahtzee Free-for-All wasn't at all what I expected it to be.... I expected everyone has their own set of dice and everyone plays at the same time and the first person done gets extra points and then the person with the hightest score wins. Thats not it at all, but it was fun. Chad thinks he likes it better than the original, but I think he just said that because he beat me.

The Saturday after New Years we got about 6 inches of snow. It was very exciting. We decided to take the kids sledding. Claire wasn't really into it, mostly because it was interrupting her nap time, but Caleb and Natalie had a great time. They want to go again this weekend, but that probably won't happen unless we get more snow. But maybe!

Claire's Birthday

On Dec. 21st Claire turned 1. I can't believe how quickly the year has gone. She has been so much fun. Here are a few things about her. She loves to smile for a camera. If you hold a camera up, she'll smile. She loves to laugh at her big brother and sometimes her big sister. Claire is quite the dare-devil. Her favorite place to play is the stairs, which really makes me nervous much of the time, but she hasn't taken a spill yet. She copies sounds and motions made by her older siblings. She loves to eat, and she will eat almost anything. She has decided lately to throw fits when she doesn't get what she wants, and boy can she throw a fit! She isn't walking yet but is getting more confident every day, so it won't be long. She's tall (97th percentile for height) and skinny (10th percentile for weight), and I suspect she will pass both of her older siblings in height eventually. And she's absolutely adorable, but I'm probably biased. Her first word was "kitty!"

Her cake was really fun to make. Its the Baby Einstein caterpillar.

She loved the cupcake we gave her.