So sad to say Goodbye to Aunt Shel, Taylor & Christian

We only had to listen to Ari cry for 10 minutes this time when we dropped them off at the airport. With the promise she'll see them again in a month. We all wish Dave would give up his beloved AZ and move back up here. Taylor had us laughing the whole time with his handfuls of cars (deja vu Dave). We're grateful the fire department could free him from our bedroom without using an axe too. Christian is so sweet and mellow. Cherie said he has a gentleness about him and I thought that was a great description. We are so grateful that Shel was willing to torture herself coming up here - no sleep for her:( We had total confidence that our kids were well taken care of when we are so far away. I owe them big time! I promise I'll return the favor for you guys.

Back to Paris for less than 24 hours - Supposed to be 2 days - Don't ask!

This was our cute hotel that the desk clerks were actually friendly and helpful and directed us to a good french restaurant. Although, B and Aub came away with 2nd degree burns not knowing how to eat "molten lava chocolate filled crepes".

Flat huggly got top priority in the photos. This is on the top of the Eiffel tower. Becca would LOVE to be up there.;) Yeah, I don't like the height thing too much either, but I'm always glad I did it when I get back down on solid ground. When we landed that morning it was cold and rainy so we were glad it cleared up in the afternoon.

The Louvre was closed. Aub and I have been there, but I was bummed that B couldn't see it and I'm sure I could go there 10 times before I felt like I'd seen everything. I got my fill of 'pain au chocolat' but not nearly enough shopping. I don't recommend trying to see too much in 7 days and I do recommend bringing a french dictionary.

On to Germany for the Marathon 25th Anniversary Party

This is the rec hall where the longest part of the party was: this is Aub's host siblings and cousin on the left. Sam, Naemi (pronounced Nah Amy) and Johannes. Miriam is their cousin. They are all very musical and can play trumpet, guitar and piano and they sing too. We were entertained with cake and coffee, choirs, brass bands, tributes, poems, food, food, food, open bar (they were stumped why we only wanted water to drink) and a really good young German band that played for a couple of hours. B and I started failing around 1:00 am and went to go sleep in the car. Thankfully, Naemi took pity on us and drove us home. A 15 1/2 hour party that was very impressive ending at 4:30 am. The German people really know how to celebrate these milestones. We could learn something from them - maybe not THAT long but making it a bigger deal.

This is Anne & Gabriel, at the beginning of the party they had a church service. I couldn't understand much, but Aub translated that it was about their relationship being blessed by God walking through life with them. Amen!

Everyone there was very kind and patient trying to speak English to us. I learned to say "Nice to meet you" but said it so slow that I just shouldn't have attempted it. B learned to ask parents if he could buy their children. When they figured out what he was saying they both laughed and the mom said "no" and the dad said "how much?"

It was really awesome to be there with them. Their family is unbelievably kind and hospitable and we are so lucky to know them. Germany is really beautiful and looks just like "Sound of Music". We even drove down a roads that were canopied with trees and I expected to see Von Trapps hanging from them singing. I mentioned this to the Simons but none of them had seen or even heard of "Sound of Music". There are literally castles on many of the hills. We took the train from Frankfurt and it's like watching an incredibly scenic movie.

This is when my camera battery died. I tried using a disposable camera but none of the photos turned out. When we got to a bigger city the day we left I went hunting for a battery or charger (didn't bring mine - argghh my camera woes!) A very nice saleman couldn't sell me the charger without the camera but charged my battery for me while we did some more sight seeing.

The Beginning of Our Trip - Paris

Aub's favorite at Musee' D'Orsay....can you say creepy?

B and Aub and "Flat Huggly" (Mr. T's Flat Stanley) are the newest Saints inducted into the Notre Dame Cathedral. Check out the headless Saint. Wish I spoke french so I could have asked about that one.

My favorite will always be Monet.

Baseball season with the Bad News Bears, I mean the Reds

Mr. T is playing baseball for the first time this year. This is "my sport", so it is truly painful for me. B just doesn't have the same passion for the game as he does football, so he spends most the game on his "crackberry". I think every kid on the team is playing for the first time. None of them even know how to play the game, let alone catch or throw or hit balls. There are, however, a couple teams that just kill our poor team. One of the moms that I know came over and said "Oh I'll just warn you, our team is going to crush your team, we've been playing with the same coach & kids for 3 years". Well if that didn't get my competitive spirit up and I found myself praying all those other kids would strike out! No such luck, their team, indeed, crushed ours. I also can't help myself yelling a little too much and B has done some coaching from the bleachers too. I'm afraid we haven't made a good impression to our fellow parents. B keeps telling me I need to work with him, since it's my sport - so I took him to the batting cages. where he got worse at hitting the ball. He struck out for two games and then told me he thought his bat might be cursed. He started using a different bat and what a surprise - started hitting again. At the beginning of the season, his coach taught him to bat right handed. I thought he'd hit so much harder left handed, because he is left handed, but he couldn't hit anything again. So, uncursed bat and right handed is the trick because he's got hits every game since. I think I've lost my edge on "my sport".

Flat Sammy visits Florida

I know I am very behind, but we've been busy and I'm just plain tired.

B and I took a very quick trip to Florida. The twins class did a "Flat Stanley" project and I knew we were taking some trips, so we just took them along. Ari named hers Sammy and here he is as a lifeguard and laying out in the sand. If your children ever do a project like this, just a quick suggestion: do not let them decorate it with marshmellows and then take it to a hot humid climate. I did find out though that marshmellows can go from rock hard to gooey no matter how much time has passed, depending on your climate. Put some of those in your food storage!

Life Is Good: Mother's Day 2009

B and D got me flowers and a cool feminine bike helmet to go with my new bicycle! Now we can go on family bike rides without me struggling on B's old bike (he's 6'2", I'm 5'3" you get the picture) Okay, so I did pick out the helmet, but it was presented very nicely with breakfast. I am very blessed and sometimes spoiled. Thank you for making my day so special! Lelu made me the cute vase too at activity days!

Aub came up and went to church with us - which was awesome, esp since it was her idea. She brought me sugar-free jello in cute heart shapes and lingon berries for pancakes. Very thoughtful since I was off sugar for 13 days (but then I took a 24 hour hiatus for Mother's day, back on the wagon tomorrow) Love you Aub! Life is especially great when I have my whole family sitting together in church - I feel as if everything in the world is okay.

This one is from sweet Mr. T - he was right. It WAS The Best Mother's day!

Ari nailed our likenesses, don't you think? Translation: eny wan coad had = anyone could have! I love my mini-me!

Saturday night we went over to mom & dad's for a Mom's day BBQ and Becca's birthday. It was fun to see everyone, Roma, Becca & fam, Sherisse & fam. Thanks so much for hosting & grilling, M & D! I took my camera with me in my purse, but somehow totally spaced pulling it out and snapping some photos. I swear 39 years of failing to take photos is a hard habit to break, but I'm determined to overcome it! I'm asking for help in reminding me, please!!! Happy Mother's day to all the amazing Mom's in mine and my kids lives!

Fun Fotos Friday

How Did Aub Get So Old So Fast???

We rushed home from St. George on Sunday so that we could get ready for Gma's & Aub's birthday celebration. Aub missed Gma's birthday by 6 hours. She was due on Gma's birthday too. I won't say how old Gma is, but Aub is 21! What??? That just can't be possible. I'm sure she's quite happy about it, even if I'm not. We wanted to BBQ, but UT decided to snow again, so I opted for the burrito/taco bar & strawberry shortcake. It was Paige's b-day too - Happy Birthday Paige! Is it 14?? Thank heavens for birthdays and holidays or I swear life gets too busy, we'd never see anyone. I vow to do better at that. We'll really celebrate with Aub heading back to Germany this month to see The Simons. I can't wait!

Our Quick Trip to Sunshine!

This is my friend Stacy's yard in St. George. Her husband is a landscaper and it's an acre with over 200 trees. Wow! Six women from my old ward planned a trip to go down there with the kids for the weekend and without sounding too pathetic, I discussed with Cherie how much I feel like I'm in "no-man's land". All these women are young and have babies, toddlers and preschoolers. Cherie is now back in that season of life with her baby and preschooler. Where are all the women with their kids all in school that aren't grandma's yet? I think working or going to school. Anyway, Cherie passed on tidbits of our conversation to Sharon, who has her last preschooler until the fall, that I felt bad not being invited. Not true! I must defend myself. Honestly, it kind of sounded like a headache. I like the mom trips without kids. Sharon's kids are my kids ages and she thought it may be a little crowded staying at Staci's and invited us to go & get our own condo. We did and still went over and hung out at Staci's pool. 7 women & 21 kids hanging out together leaving husbands at home. I have to eat my words. It was quite fun and wasn't a headache at all for us, except for being bossed around by Ari but that goes without saying no matter where I am. Sharon and I missed out on the barfing fun in the middle of the night at Staci's house. Sorry for them! These women are all excellent moms and I came home inspired.

On Thursday, I went to Women's conference with my good friend Connie (also a fabulous mom). The weather was amazing! My favorite talk was about how much power Mom's have in setting the tone and mood in the home. Our example and leadership affects our children more than anything else. And that we have "Veto Power" and we need to use it. I like to tell my kids that B is the President and I am Congress. B tells me he wants "line item veto". Which lines? It's been an insightful week for me.

FREAKS! FRIDAY

TULIP TUESDAY!

Post Easter Egg Hunt Portrait

Do like Ari's choice of hat? How 'bout all 3 dogs inserting themselves into the photo? This year The EB counted all the eggs and knew exactly how many each kid could find to make the hunting fair. Lelu was the best hunter and helped the little kids fill their quota. Poor D was not on his game and was actually the last one to finish. They all had eggs in their Easter baskets when they woke up, but one of Ari's was empty - leading B to believe "it must be full of luck" because it couldn't mean that The EB was tired and watching BladeRunner at midnight while filling them. There was a "golden egg" hidden on the hunt with a $10 bill in it and sure enough that empty egg WAS full of luck because Ari found the golden one. They all have really darling new Easter clothes that we were running late for church and didn't have time to snap a photo. Then D came home early and went to bed. The little kids changed really quickly after church to head out to dinner before WICKED. I soothed myself not having that photo because I've scheduled our first real family photo this summer and the girls are wearing those dresses, so when I send out a REAL family picture for my Christmas card this year, you won't have already seen their dresses. I know I have issues........

I bought tickets to Wicked back in December, everything sold out in a couple hours and I could only get 5. The plan was for B & the 4 little kids to go. D was way too miserable to go (that was his worst day), and he "wanted me to be home with him" pulling on my mommy heartstrings (I've seen it twice but I would see it every year if I could!) Aub just "had other plans" What?????- so Michelle T. must have had an Easter egg full of luck because she took D's ticket and enjoyed Wicked with B, Lelu & twins! They did not snap any photos of themselves for me, even though I begged them to and handed them the camera. I still haven't got over it:(

Happy in the Initial Post Wisdom Teeth Removal!

2 weeks ago, we had D scheduled to get his wisdom teeth removed, but I failed to remind him not to eat when he left for school - I erroneously figured that I was checking him out at 11:30, he wouldn't have eaten lunch yet. Nor did I ask him, but I wouldn't let him get a drink from the drinking fountain as we came in. You might have thought he would volunteer that he'd just ate. At least he told them as they were hooking him up. His lunch is at 10:50 - I should probably know that, but I didn't. He had proper teenage humiliation and quickly texted all friends to not bring him any get well treats. The following Thursday we returned with an empty tummy. They dug out his teeth and he was feeling realllly good on the way home, calling Emilie stammering out how great and easy it was "Oh and my mom thinks I might be really embarrassed about this phone call, do you think I'll be really embarrassed, I mean you could probably ask me anything right now" I could hear a lot of giggling. He had numerous friends bring him icees, ice cream, ice cream and more ice cream. It took him a couple days to be really miserable with B's stories of "I drove myself home. I went water skiing the next day. What's wrong with you?" He did manage to make it to an audition on Saturday, belt out 16 bars of "Go the Distance" and get a main part in the next Draper Theatre Production. It's all good.

Zach, Hanna and her Entourage!

These photos go with the post below!

I should be cleaning but I'd rather be blogging!

I am hosting my ward's book club tonight, so I really should be cleaning my house because I have a busy afternoon today. I just don't feel like it. I'll do a mad rush this evening. This week is spirit week at the kids school, which just means they can wear something other than their uniforms. Monday was pajamas, Tues was favorite sports team and today is superhero or celebrity day. I think Mr. T may need therapy when he gets older. We don't have any superhero costumes and Ari is Hannah Montana. She doesn't even need the wig (sparkly shirt, big earrings). Lelu is Gwyneth Paltrow wearing a Coldplay shirt, skinny jeans and big hoop earrings. While Mr. T was in the shower, I thought, he could be Zack Efron from HS Musical. I drew Wildcats on the front of a white t-shirt and Efron on the back with basketball shorts, his hair is kind of long too. When he got out of the shower, he informed me he hates Zack Efron with tears in his eyes. But Ari really wanted him to dress up and in her cute manipulative way kind of forced him to wear it. I told him he could just wear his uniform, but when Ari wants something from him - she has her ways of getting it. It may be a twin thing. He has assured me that his friends are going to laugh at him. I hope not. I have to go over to the school for yet ANOTHER project presentation! Can I complain enough about projects? I've resorted to paying Lelu to help them. In my defense, she loves doing project posters and is always asking to earn money. Mr. T reports on a whale shark and Ari a loggerhead turtle. I just hope Mr. T is distracted enough by his report presentation to forget about the humiliation of being a 7 yr old dressed like Zack Efron. I guess he's just popular with the girls not the boys? Who knew?

Our Snow Adventure!

D must always prove his manliness or craziness or teenageness or ??????

2 winters ago we snow shooed up to our shack dragging our sleds of stuff with the twins bawling and being carried most the way. I'm no martyr and swore never again! "If you want to go up in the winter - get us snowmobiles" So B reserved some for conference weekend. He told me to pray for at least 3 new storms and we got more than that. I now say be careful what you pray for! We ventured up on Saturday with me & Mr T trying to heal from sinus infections and bronchitis. According to B, "mountain air cures everything", but I'm inclined to think antibiotics take the credit.

See the snowmobiles? The are parked out on the road. That's because, snowmobiles aren't made for 5 feet of new snow. Neither of us knew that. They should be called trailmobiles because if you aren't on a previously packed down trail - you get stuck! 4 men digging out for 15 minutes is the fun you have. So then we hiked the stuff in from the road without snowshoes (okay so D hiked the stuff in). Then the toilet pipes froze & we had to use a bucket. Fun Stuff! (There's a reason I call it a shack!)I'm sure for B and the kids it was quite an adventure. I finished another book, built a one shouldered or pregnant snowman (depending on the angle) with Ari. There was plenty of snow but not the greatest for sledding because it was deep powder. A great workout for hiking back up in. We watched Sunday conference for the last time up there with rabbit ears, since June will make it so you have to have a digital box. Was it just me or did you think the theme was "Yeah, it's hard right now. But be of good cheer because it could be worse."? Tons of sad stories!

Now we have beautiful spring weather! Popcorn is popping on all the trees. I love it!

Famous Last Words "Don't try this at home, Landon"

Sad ending to our fun weekend with the Jeff family. B & Jeff took the five little kids skiing on Monday. On the last run, Ari located a "cool jump" that she pointed out to the King of Daredevils Wyatt (they are two peas in a pod). He wiped out the first try - so B told him "he got the best wipe out of the day" but "it's time to go." He decided to try it again and headed up the lift with Landon, as he went to take the jump again he says to Landon "Don't try this at home" and from the single eye witness report he tried to do some kind of twist flip but his board stuck into the snow and his leg kept going. He has a PAINFUL spiral fracture in his right femur bone, had surgery up at Primary Children's later that night ending up with a plate in his leg that will need to come out in a year. He's a tough little guy taking it all pretty well, considering. Bummer of an ending to a great visit. Although I have no doubt, he'll be up and running quicker than you can say "Football Season".

Where's Waldo?

On Sunday we headed into Arches and let the kids run wild around the rocks while being blown to and fro with gusts of dust filling our eyes, ears, noses and cars! We had this great plan to eat a picnic but by lunch time a storm blew in and I mean BLEW in! So we just ate in the car. Not nearly as fun! Can you find Jeff, Michelle, D, Ari, Mr. T, Lelu & Landon?

A Beautiful Running Day in Moab

Lelu took 1st place for her age group again, beating her time by a minute and a half. She ran 5 miles in 40:07! B thinks she would have been faster but she was waiting for him and he was struggling to keep up. He hasn't been running as much as he used to. D finished in 39:00, limping in at the end with a hurt foot, still making a great time in 9th place for the 16 to 19 yr olds. He hardly trained at all this year starting only 2 weeks ago. Think what he could do with more training! This year the weather was perfect 75 degrees. We usually freeze, so I was thrilled with the warmth. Also we had a bunch of supporters come watch! Mom & Dad happened to be coming back from Blanding Saturday morning and timed it to come watch. Michelle T. came with us and Jeff & Christina and the boys came over from CA. It was so much fun to have them with us. We've been going down there for 5 years and this year was my favorite year. Maybe next year Jeff, Christina, Landon, Michelle and I will run?? If I can heal my foot........(plantar fascitis) I will register to run too, maybe..........