Boring!

"Boring" as in nothing exciting to report. We are just bumping along and enjoying some simple life. Have been fighting a few ear infections/fevers with the younger two, keeping the older two reading a lot for school, joined a small (and I mean SMALL) symphony down in Roosevelt, and snuggling with the hubby at night with Jack and Jack. (24 and Lost, our fav's!). I did find this funny little note that made me laugh. It is in Tyler's handwriting and signed by Hailey. Wierdo's.

Question: What does a 9 year-old and a 10-month old have in common?

They both like to "play" the piano.

(....and then they goof around because Mom has the camera.)

Thoughts in my head:

a) Clearplay is our family's favorite Christmas present. Check it out at clearplay.com. It is a DVD player that edits ANYTHING YOU WANT out of any movie. So beneficial and uplifting. Tyler wants to watch Braveheart now.

b) Lunges really hurt the next day. I mean really hurt.

c) Nathan got accepted to UNLV law school. That was fun. He has also been accepted to George Mason (Virginia), University of Denver and Santa Clara, with  scholarships at half. We are still waiting for BYU, University of Utah, George Washington and some other George. And something else. Can't remember.

Now that was good.

Fat Boy FHE treat.

 Mason felt gypped because he had to have a rice baby cookie instead.

Hailey taught a great lesson about gossip and the potential

dangers of it. For our activity Nathan had us play the "Telephone Game". (Whispering a sentence in one person's ear and repeating it around the circle until it gets back to the first person. You then compare the first sentence with the last one.)

Here's Tyler's sentence: "I like red bed and Harry Potter books". 

It ended up to be, "I like woman with harry bottoms". 

Oh the fun. Oh the laughter. It is now our family's favorite sentence to say. Especially Tyler's.

grrrrr

I am a patient woman. I know I am because I get through most of my days quite sanely and still smiling. But there is one time where I admit I almost lose it. The REC CENTER. Indoor pools with 7 kids might be the bane of my existence. There is nothing quite like wading in a semi-cool pool in bum-hugging spandex, feeling half-naked with blaring music "claustrophobic -ing" me, (not a word), trying to watch my 3 oldest plus their three friends, AND keep Mason from slipping out of my arms because he keeps throwing his head back trying to get to the water. Oh wait, can't forget going to the bathroom while holding that same baby and trying to peel off  a too-small suctioned-on bathing suit while two 3 year-olds bang on the stall. It ain't fun. I refuse to be positive about it and  "enjoy the moment". So there.

1st days

   The first day of school was awesome. I go to the Utah State extension 5 minutes from my house, and my teacher is in Logan teaching 7 different cities throughout Utah using an interactive video conference. We can see and hear each other, and when he asked where we specifically were from, I yelled "Vernal" really loud. A boy in my class picked up the intercom, pressed the button, and informed me that, "We have to speak in this." EMBARRASSING. While I am the only girl, I am not the oldest. (See, 30 year-old's are still young). I felt bad for the Price classroom because there was only one lonely girl there. But it was a cool feeling to have a bond with 50-60 students all throughout Utah. (Also, my teacher was funny, organized and efficient, so I have a feeling I will get a better grade than the last time I tried to do this at CCSN in Vegas. Can we say F MINUS!? Ouch)

  The first day at the gym was awesome as well. I was on the bike and an elderly little lady got on next to me. I noticed she was somewhat lost and confused, so I walked her through the "start-up". She admitted she was scared because this was her first day and I told her I think she was doing great. Her husband came over later and said thank-you for talking to her because she was nervous. My point: almost everyone is scared the first time of anything. And some of us do stupid things like yell "Vernal" really loud and ugly. (And slightly nasal-y.) Oh well.

   Nathan had a first day of work on Monday because he has left Wells Fargo bank after 8 years and is at Zion's bank. We are still a tiny bit unsure about the path for our future, (back to school for Nathan or stay at the bank?), but for now we feel right about what we are doing. He won't admit it, but I bet he was a little nervous, too.  I am sure he will be fabulous.

What the??

a) -7. As in negative seven. DEGREES. Here. Yesterday. What the?!

b) Hailey has been begging to not sleep with Emma for awhile now. Emma talks too much at night while Hailey likes to immediately go to sleep. She asked if she could have her own room and I said we have only three bedrooms and we have to share. (I didn't even consider the bedrooms downstairs, which there are two.) After weeks of begging I finally said okay. If she can sleep down in the basement for a week than we will let her move down there for good. (Trying to be positive, while secretly knowing she will never do it.) WRONG. She ran downstairs all alone last night, hopped into bed, and slept in the freezing, dark, silent, dungeon-bedroom in the basement without a care. What the?! That wasn't supposed to happen. She is already planning out the colors and where everything will go. And of course now Emma is scared being alone and slept in our room last night. So now we have an empty room upstairs.

c) What do I do? When I take Mason into any store he screams like a happy crazy banshee for about 20 minutes straight. I was stopped SIX times by people cracking up and commenting on him. Of course he grins and loves all the attention. The janitor even stopped us and said Mason gets to be the Wal-mart baby. What the?! I really need to record it while at the same time trying to shush him, (I am sure it is annoying to some people,) so you can see I am not exaggerating. He is SO loud. Do all babies-of-the-family react this way because they are surrounded by noise? Is it nature or nurture?

Monday Morning

Ahhhhhhh. What a good feeling. So I think I am one of those rare beings that love Monday mornings. Especially the Monday morning after Christmas break. I sit, take a big breathe, and enjoy some silence. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy kids around me ALL THE TIME, but we all need a little break. And some real bedtimes. This feeling is second only to Sunday afternoons. This last Sunday was a good one. I was the proud mother of two Big 13 Club members. Tyler and Hailey have been working hard and have memorized all the Articles of Faith. Also, Tyler got up in sacrament meeting for the first time and bore his testimony without any prodding, hinting or nudging from Mom. What a wonderful feeling. All this along with my sweet new church time of 11:00 am makes me a very happy woman.

Here's a little 5 seconds of cuteness for you. She learned the, "Oh no you di-n't" saying from Hailey and won't stop saying it. I wish the beginning wasn't cut off, but this is all she would give me. What a prima donna.

Utah the Beehive State

I know that after the holidays it is a natural time to be discouraged, tired and down. I feel the exact opposite. I feel invigorated and full of energy. I have learned a long time ago that being a stay-at-home mom in the winter can be loooong so I have to stay busy. Minus the daily work of making tons of food and cleaning up tons of toys, I am going to start my yearly spring cleaning now in order to be done by actual springtime. (I need to be outside when the world is beautiful and green, not cleaning dust bunnies under the beds.) I take a room, completely empty it, clean from top to bottom, and do all the little stuff like organizing closets, painting over Emma's scribbles, fixing broken stuff, etc. Last year I did not do this and it is so desperately needed.
I also am taking one class at a time at the Utah State distance college here. It is only one night a week after Nathan gets home, but I am excited for some history. (It'll take me about 8 years but I will get that teaching degree.) Lastly, my violin teacher here in Vernal actually lives in Salt Lake and has decided the weekly drives are too hard, so she has asked me to be her assistant teacher and I will be taking on 4 beginner students. Daily workouts, a Primary calling with lots of scout activities, 4 kids and one slightly-needy husband should round it out to give me lots of to-do's.
Yea for busy bees.

(But in all honesty it ain't starting until next Monday. So where is my Ben & Jerry's and DVR?)
:)

New Years 2008

We have never told our kids about staying up until midnight on New Years because we would rather have them sleep.The neighbors took the opportunity to enlighten them this year. They are BAREFOOT in the snow yelling and cheering.










Yes that is Emma on the right. (This is when the ball dropped). They decorated with strings and homemade posters.

I was so stinkin tired. But Nate was proud that I stayed up.