5 little speckled frogs

Temple Week

2012-01-13T11:16:00.000-08:00

This is our Stake temple week. We're encouraged to take our families to the temple. So we did. For FHE. And we had some delicious dinner at Costa Vida, thanks to a generous gift.

President Thomas S. Monson, “As we touch the temple, the temple will touch us.”

Haven gets glasses!

2012-01-13T10:55:00.000-08:00

Haven failed her school vision exam this year.

Haven is pretty farsighted in her left eye. Her right eye doesn't see perfectly either, but if she covers her right eye, her left eye is completely blurry. Why didn't she ever tell us this? It's a big mystery.

So, she gets to wear glasses and do patch therapy for 3-4 hours, 5 days a week to improve the vision in her left eye.

She's been a good sport about it. Haven has such flair - she can pull off anything.

And, she says she can see better now - nice to know! The tops of her ears are sore from the glasses - anything we can do about that?

Upcycling - the mullet dress

2012-01-13T09:00:00.000-08:00

I've seen some really cute projects online of tshirts that have been upcycled into new stuff.

Well, here's my attempt. I saw a really cute dress - the lady called it "party in back". Grove and I laughed at her reference to a mullet - business in front, party in back - but seriously, this is the mullet dress.

I love it. So does Story. Actually, so do Holland and Haven. They want one now too. Garett doesn't. He told on Story because she had too many dresses on.
Here's the link to the tutorial and blog where I got the idea & technique for the back of the dress. I didn't have enough striped fabric for the whole thing so I did my own thing there.
http://creatingbycami.blogspot.com/2011/03/business-in-front-party-in-back.html

By the way, it cost me less than $3. I bought the hot pink fabric because I didn't have any shirts that color that I wanted to use. The top of the dress is a basic pink t-shirt that she already had but didn't need. The other shirts are pieces 4 of my old shirts that I cut up to make the ruffles and skirt of the dress.

I know the necklaces are distracting, but for Story they were a package deal...

I love Pinterest for sparking my creativity!

Story's 3 year old interview

2012-01-05T10:19:00.000-08:00

What is your favorite color? Pink and purple. Pink and purple and blue. And pink.

What is your favorite food to eat? Noodles (pronounced noonoos)

What is your favorite thing to do? play toys, girl toys, pink toys.

What is your favorite movie? Dora.

What is your favorite toy? Pink toys.

What do you want to be when you grow up? Dancer. A big dancer. I'm not big either.

What is your favorite song? Dora ballet song (?), Princesses songs, Twinkle Twinkle little star

What are your favorite books? Dora

What else do you like? Dora clothes, Dora underwear, garbage, pink garbage
"just kidding", sparkly shoes, turkey, my blankets, chocolate milk.

Have you ever tried to interview a 3 year old? There you go! Story in a nutshell.

Story is

independent,
needy,

reserved,

talkative,

stubborn,

eager to please,

sweet,

sassy,

(sugar & spice - lots of both),

a morning person (like 5 or 6am every day),

nurturing,

girly.

Lots of contradictions! :)

December pics from the phone

2012-01-01T16:08:00.000-08:00

Givon got new blankets from Grandma & Grandpa for Christmas - looks like they passed the test!

Do you know how hard it is to get a "normal" pic of Haven? She's so silly!
This is Haven's furry frenzy that Santa brought her. She asked for a puppy for Christmas. Santa was clever.

Haven stampin' it up with her stamps from Grandma & Grandpa

Sami & Holland on New Years Eve

Holland with her legos from Grandma & Grandpa

Chef Story

Story got cupcake legos (Duplos) from her birthday money from Nana & Grandpar. These are a big hit with all of the kids.

Stamper Story

Our Christmas traditions

2012-01-01T15:21:00.000-08:00

New this year: We open a new children's nativity on Christmas Eve.

The kids act out the nativity scene on Christmas Eve while Grove reads the Christmas Story.

We open pj's on Christmas Eve.

Cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning - they didn't rise this year so this was a flop...oh well, there's always next year!

Oven Roasted Pork Tenderloin & potatoes (Grove's mom's recipe) for Christmas dinner. Grove & I aren't big fans of traditional Christmas foods.

Chocolate cake roll for dessert (we didn't get to it this year so Grove made one for New Years Eve instead).

Temple Square

2012-01-01T15:15:00.000-08:00

Temple Square

2012-01-01T15:13:00.000-08:00

We went to Temple Square with the youth. We couldn't really keep up with them and it was so packed with people so we just kind of did our own thing.

Christmas 2011

2012-01-01T15:01:00.000-08:00

Givey got a wooden stacking train from Santa.

The first joke of Christmas
Garett was joking he wanted princess pajamas for Christmas so Holland wrapped up Haven's princess pajamas in a big box. Garett wasn't sure what to think when he opened the box!

Garett got Star Wars vehicles and action figures from Santa.

Givey got a punch balloon from Holland and ran around like a crazy man. He was so excited!

My handsome husband opening a present...

Haven

Holland got snap circuits from Santa

Story got a musical tea party!

Story's birthday! Story is THREE!

2012-01-01T14:52:00.000-08:00

Has there every been a girlier girl?

Happy 3rd birthday, Story!

Birthday interview to come!

December

2012-01-01T14:48:00.000-08:00

"It's been a long December and there's reason to believe maybe this year will be better than the last." Counting Crows

Not that it's been a bad year, but I think we all feel a little like this.

For us, December includes the usual craziness

PLUS

our wedding anniversary (Dec 19)

and

Story's birthday (Dec 21)

and

Grove's 2 work parties (Dec 2 & 16)

Grove is on a committe of 3 people who put on TWO Christmas parties for 1200 employees.

Garett's 5 year old interview

2011-11-17T12:50:00.000-08:00

I've been meaning to post this to remember what Garett was like at 5. These are his interview questions and the answers he gave.

What is your favorite color? Red
What is your favorite food? Candy, also eggplant and (carrots because they rhyme with Garett)
What is your favorite thing to do? Play with friends, ride my bike
What is your favorite movie? Star Wars
What is your favorite toy? Dart guns or any guns and I even like my swords
What do you want to be when you grow up? A ninja
What's your favorite thing to do at preschool? snack time
What is your favorite song? Heavenly Father Loves Me
Who is your favorite person in the scriptures? Nephi. Why? Because he fights.
What are your favorite books? All the Lego Batman books. Llama Llama Red Pajama, Smelly Socks and More Pies, Berenstein Bears Road Race

Garett has a BIG personality and is all boy!

Reflections

2011-11-09T13:11:00.000-08:00

Holland has been wanting to enter Reflections (a fine arts contest at school) since Kindergarten. This is the first year we managed to make the deadline!!
And she was one of the winners. So her entry goes to the state competition, I think.
Holland made a beautiful peacock with different patterns, textures, and colors to represent diversity.

Happy 5th Birthday, Garett!

2011-11-09T13:08:00.000-08:00

We're glad you've made it to the big 5 in one piece!

Garett got lots of legos for his birthday. I think we found something that they all enjoy doing together!

Boba Fett, Garett's favorite Star Wars character

Garett was so excited to get Bumblebee and Bumblebee walkie talkies.

Transformers vs. Star Wars....who will win?

Darth Garett

Happy birthday to you....you live in a zoo...

Garett with his Star Wars buddies

Ewok cake

Halloween

2011-11-09T12:16:00.000-08:00

Haven, the mean old witch who couldn't find her hat...

Holland, rock star baby, love the afro

Storyrella

the whole crew....poor baby Yoda!

Holland making a chart of how many candies of each kind she got...wow...a chart!

Haven, happy with her loot

Edward & Alice made an appearance at the second grade program this year. Can you find them?

Matser Woda (as Story says)
Givon makes a great Yoda, no? I guess he's baby Yoda with the bottle.
My friend Laura made this costume and was so sweet to let us borrow it.

Haven and friends at the 2nd grade program

She's such a ham. I love watching her perform!

The loot from Halloween- it's a little ridiculous, really.

SLAMMED!

2011-10-27T21:23:00.001-07:00

That's been our life lately - like we're getting slammed - good & bad, but mostly just overwhelming...
I think I'm easily overwhelmed.

1. The transmission on our van went out, but not before leaving me stranded (and nearly stranded) with kids a few times. Because it's an old van, we have decided to replace it.
2. Replacing a van is more fun than it sounds. Especially when you're paying cash for a used van (we don't like car payments). Ugh. Lots of research and lots of time.
3. Grove's car is overheating. It's already been to the shop once, but it's not fixed, so really we have zero cars working well. Not to mention that Grove's car doesn't seat 7 so...
4. Enter the rental van. We have it til Saturday. This is a blessing, but we REALLY need to find a new-to-us van before then.
5. Grove got called to the bishopric in our ward. This is a blessing, but Sacrament meeting just went from hard to impossible.
6. Grove just went on a business trip. It was an amazing career opportunity for him and it was a blessing that he got to go, but interesting timing (see 1-5).
7. Givon got sick while Grove was on his business trip. Enter sleepless nights.

But, we're doing great, really. Grove just pointed out that once we find a van, all our troubles will be over. I love his optimism! :)

Garett's close calls...

2011-10-09T20:49:00.000-07:00

About mid-August, when my mom was here helping me with the kids and Grove was at his training in Colorado, Garett fell off a chair while we were visiting my grandma and hit his chin on a wrought-iron bakers rack and split open his chin. (Yes, I know that's a horrible run-on, but I don't feel like fixing it.) No stitches needed, but a decent injury nonetheless.

A few weeks ago, we were at the park and a toddler hit Garett on the head with a rock. Garett said he was fine, and I believed him until the toddler's mom pointed out that Garett's head was bleeding. By the time I got Story & Givon in the stroller and Garett home, the top of his head/hair was covered in blood. It looked like we had died his hair red! I held Garett up in the mirror because he wanted to see. He thought it was cool! In fact, he suggested that maybe I shouldn't wash it out. Yeah...not happening.
Anyway, it ended up just being a small cut, not a big deal, and it stopped bleeding within minutes. 30 minutes later, Garett was back at the park playing. He is so resilient!

This week, Garett decided he was going to cut his own apple with a butter knife. I didn't think that could be too dangerous so I went upstairs to get ready. He came upstairs a few minutes later with a very sad story.
He stabbed himself in the finger (that's how he put it). Basically, he fileted the skin/flesh off his finger (that's how the doctor put it). It took 7 stitches to reattach the skin. Really. Yuck.
But, he never cried, whimpered, flinched the whole time, even when they were giving him shots in three places on his finger to numb it. They put Cars on for him at the dr so he could watch it and he watched them stitch up his finger instead. I suggested maybe he should be a doctor when he grows up since he thought it was so cool. He said, "No, I'm going to be a police". Well, I think he can handle it. The nurses were shocked at how calm he was. I've never seem him lay so still. I wish he could hold still that well for Sacrament Meeting! Haha!

Can you believe I haven't taken pictures of his injuries? I can still get pictures of his stitches, but I need to get pictures for evidence of his adventures!
Well, that's it. At least I hope that's it for a while!

more UPDATE!

2011-10-09T20:33:00.000-07:00

Danger Boy!

This is little Givey trying to grab the rings at gymnastics. He wants to be a big kid so badly!

Yesterday, two of Haven's friends were baptized.
It makes me think her baptism is getting closer since she has friends who are baptized.
The beginning of a new phase for her and her friends. It makes me excited for them, but also a little sad that they are growing up so fast!

Holland's school has an egg drop where the kids package up a raw egg & it gets dropped off the top of the school. The goal is for their egg to survive the drop. Holland wrapped hers in bubble wrap and then stuffed the box full of fabric and...

Holland getting ready to open her box and see if her egg is intact.

Givey cheering her on..
Her egg did survive, by the way. I just didn't get a good picture of it. Darn.

Update! Update!

2011-10-09T20:10:00.000-07:00

Garett's first day of preschool!
He was so excited (and so was I)!!!

What a handsome profile!

"I think I'll help myself!"
Givey helping himself to a garden snack.

Story and Givon playing in the drawer. No wonder these don't open right anymore!
Look how happy Givon is to be strangled by his sister! What a great kid!

"Can I have that one too?"

"Oh no! Mom noticed what I'm doing!"

The trampoline & a ball...the perfect combo for Givey!

Grove's pumpkin this year is enormous! Not quite orange, but HUGE!
SEVENTY-THREE POUNDS HUGE!

Happy and her beautiful daughter, Teya
Happy, Teya, and Dallin came to visit us!

Pay attention, folks! I'm pretty sure this is the only picture I have of Story smiling this year! These are few & far between! And, the fact that Givon is smiling too makes it even sweeter.

Standing tall...

2011-08-31T10:34:00.000-07:00

I was invited to participate in the girls' camp wrap-up last night. The theme for camp was Stand Tall and Never Doubt. It was a shoe-themed night with shoes to represent different ages and stages of life. I was asked to talk about how toddlers and school-age kids stand tall. This is what I wrote/presented. It wasn't something I had ever thought about so it was fun to think about something new.

I am a toddler. I am learning to walk, run and jump. I am learning to feed myself and dress myself. I am learning to use the toilet. I am learning to play well with others, which includes sharing, something I'm not fond of. I fall a lot, I cry a lot, I make lots of mistakes. Persistence is one of my best qualiites because I'm not afraid to get up and try again. With a bandaid and a kiss, the whole world looks friendlier. At 2 years old, I know about 200 words. By the time I start school, I'll know about 2,000 words.
I'm starting school. I am learning right from wrong. I am learning that my actions have consequences. I am interested in rules and following them. I like it when things are fair. I love my friends, and I love to spend time with them. I learn from them, and they learn from me. I am quick to judge someone or something as good or bad and right or wrong, but I'll also forgive you quicker than you can say "forgive me". Some of my best qualities are an open mind and forgiving heart. I stand tall by choosing the right.

I wrote this in about 10 minutes so there are some things I would add or change if I did it again, but that's what I came up with. Basically, this is what came to mind about what I've observed from my children.

How do your kids stand tall?

Givon's 1 year stats

2011-08-30T20:43:00.000-07:00

29.5" long (40%)
18lbs 3 oz (1%)
47cm head circ (68%)

He's still on the chart! 1% counts, right?

Belated post - 1st day of School!

2011-08-29T20:52:00.000-07:00

I didn't get these posted last week, but the girls had their first day of school on Tuesday. They are both very excited about their teachers and classes.

Haven is in second grade. She has Mrs. Monteath (the same 2nd grade teacher Holland had). There are at least 3 other kids from our ward in her class so she's in good company!

Happy Haven!

Holland is in fourth grade. She has Mrs. Carpenter. She has a few boys in her class that we know, but I'm really hoping she'll make some great girl friends this year!

Happy 1st Day of School!

Garett starts preschool tomorrow. Hooray for structure & schedules (and a little (even if it's a very little) down time for me)!

Happy Birthday to Givon!

2011-08-28T21:37:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Givon's first birthday! We had fun singing to him all day & making him smile. We also attempted to make him a Yoda cake. Well, he liked it & we liked it so it was a success. Yoda is kind of a strange cake for a 1 year old, I know, but Givon loves to sword fight and play swords with Garett. And, he kind of looks like Yoda, in a really adorable way, with his round face and bald head. So, like it or not, Givon had a Yoda cake and Yoda soda (well, really, Givon just had lime sherbert. The Yoda soda was for the big kids). He even wore his Yoda shirt for the occasion.

Givon LOVES his firetruck from Grandma & Grandpa.

Givon, Daddy, & Yoda

Givon & his mommy...I wish he wasn't out of focus!

He's almost there! He takes a few steps at a time, but isn't quite walking yet...

Glacier National Park Trip

2011-08-21T13:00:00.000-07:00

Since this is a family blog, I wanted to share my trip to Glacier Nartional Park that I went on this week with my father and three brothers. We arrived on Monday and did some service for a park ranger that lived up in Montana. We were staying at the Sperry Lodge which is one of a kind in that they provide a lodge and cook you hot food. They use mules to take all the food up and the garbage down the 6 mile ascent (3300 feet up) and descent.

There were plenty of Mountain goats up there. They don't mind you if you leave them alone.

The cool part about this picture is the mountain goats on the right and the bears in the left background:

A Mama grizzly bear and her two cubs were following us on the trail. My dad has his pepper spray ready:

Perhaps they were a little too close:

Doge gone Marmut!:

It was an amazing time and I was in decent enough shape where it was no problem. We escaped the bears eventually even though they followed us to the top of the glacier. As my brother says: "You don't have to be the fastest, just not the slowest." I would suggest this trip to anyone even though you will have to book 6 months early to get a spot at Sperry Lodge. It really was an amazing place.

Pic update

2011-06-26T20:36:00.000-07:00

I was just pulling recent pics off the camera. Here are some fun ones..

Garett & some of his posse. Garett is very lucky to have so many fun friends that live close to us.

Garett's preschool graduation...but wait! he still has another year of preschool left!

Proof that Givon loves avocado. I hadn't ever thought to feed avocado to a baby, but I read somewhere that it could be one of their first foods...good to know!

We went to Boondocks as a family. All the kids loved it. What's not to love, really?
Story & Haven both liked Skee Ball (my favorite too).
Story still talks about Boondocks. It's such a funny word for a 2 year old to say!

Holland, race car driver

Holland's jackpot

Holland hit the jackpot on this game and won 500 tickets. Yowsers!

Anything to be treated like a princess...

Grandma's 94th birthday

2011-06-26T19:35:00.000-07:00

Wednesday was my Grandma's 94th birthday. We all got together at her house for a birthday party. It was a little bittersweet because Grandma is moving to an assisted living home this Thursday.
I have a lot of fun memories of Grandma's house. My family lived in the same town as Grandma til I was 12. We used to go on bike rides with my dad on Sundays to Grandma's house. We also had slumber parties at her house, lots of birthdays and family parties, and Grandma gave me piano lessons in that house. I lived with Grandma & Grandpa one summer while I was in college and I remember doing aerobics with Grandma in the morning. Grandma always used to drink orange juice and exercise in the morning. Grandma was about 80 at the time so I think I get my love for exercise from her. She's really an inspiration!
I also have lots of fun memories of her house in Orem - visiting with my kids and family parties and birthdays.
I'm glad we live relatively close so that my kids have gotten to know their Great Grandma. One of the good things about her move is that Grandma will be even closer to us so I won't have to get on that really awesome I-15 (always under construction) to go see her.

Happy 94th birthday, Grandma! You are an inspiration in so many ways!

Where did the baby go?

2011-06-25T22:03:00.000-07:00

Starting with a Givon update...Givon is no longer a baby, really!
In the past month, Givon has:
stopped nursing
started sleeping through the night (hooray!)
started crawling
started sleeping in a playpen & then a crib
stopped taking a binky
started standing
fallen down the basement stairs when a sibling left the door open
gotten 4 teeth - two bottom middle ones, and two outer top ones (his I teeth?), hence his nickname "Baby Edward"

About the same time, Story decided she didn't like her crib anymore and climbed out and landed on her head. So she slept on her mattress on the floor for a week or two until we got her a toddler bed. Now she sleeps in the same room as Holland & Haven. Givon and Garett are roommates now. 5 kids in 2 rooms. It's getting crowded around here!

Givon likes to eat yogurt, macaroni & cheese, graham crackers, pretzel rods, strawberries, bananas, ice cream, & popsicles. You know, the good stuff!

Givon also likes to be outside. He will sit in his walker for a long time outside as long as he has funny people to watch, a bottle & some snacks on his tray. He also likes to sit on the grass and crawl around and get into things. He's also very happy in the jogging stroller, especially if it's moving, we don't hear a peep from him the whole time!

Here's a little Haven update: Haven has recently lost more teeth and she also learned how to ride a 2 wheeler. She probably could have learned this sooner, but she wasn't interested. Now that she knows how, she's on her bike a lot. And, we got her a new-to-her 20" bike. Holland and Haven have the same size bike now. Haven loves to go fast and she loves the freedom of being able to ride her bike around the block.

Holland update: Holland and her friend, Ellie, learned and played a duet for the ward talent show. I don't think I've ever heard Holland play a song so many times! Usually, we really have to push her to practice, but not this song! They played "Rock Around the Clock". They did great & it gave Holland something fun to do the past few weeks. I think she practiced that song 200 times in the past week!

Garett update: Garett is doing gymnastics again this summer. He's really a natural at it. We went to his first class this past week and the teacher wants to put him in the advanced class for his age. He was on the bars and rings for the first time this week (his previous class was just tumbling) and he was doing so great! He could "skin the cat" (pull his legs through his arms) backwards and forwards on his first try. His teacher is amazing with the kids. It was so much fun that Story (who is super shy and usually won't even look at a stranger) wanted to join in so the teacher let her. The bad thing about Garett going to the advanced class is that Story can't be in that class with him.

A little more Story update: Story is obsessed with wearing swimsuits, and with fancy dresses and tutus. She's also obsessed with makeup "makeups", chocolate milk, Dora the Explorer, and with me. No, really. She is. She has to be sitting on me or near me a lot of the time. She insists on dressing herself and buckling herself in her carseat, even though it takes her 20 minutes. But she doesn't really feed herself very often. She prefers to sit on my lap and have me feed her. Which is difficult because I can't see her mouth to put the food in (she sits with her back to me). Dinner time is a fun time!

My update is: a new Stake Primary Presidency was called, but I'm still the secretary so that's still busy and fun. It's a very fun calling - I really enjoy it. But, I'm going to miss the old presidency. They are AWESOME ladies and I have learned so much from serving with them! Between us, the ladies in the new presidency have 26 kids! But the president (9 kids) and 2nd counselor (8 kids) are grandmas so they don't have that many at home.

Grove's update: He'll be gone a lot this summer with various things - 10 day training for work in Colorado, hiking with his dad & brothers, Camp Helaman....it'll be interesting. He's going to owe me a trip to the spa or something after all his fun adventures, but I'm glad he gets to go!

I'm sure there's more to catch up on, but you've probably already stopped reading by now because this is SO LONG! I'll post some pics when I get them off the camera.

To the father of our home...

2011-06-19T20:24:00.000-07:00

Grove is a great dad & a great patriarch to our family. My parents sent Grove a card for Father's Day that I think describes him exactly. This is what it said:

Good guys make things happen,
good guys get things done,
make the work look easy,
make the job seem fun,
try a little harder, show the world their pride,
celebrate the good stuff, take the rest in stride...
Good guys make a difference in their quiet way,
seldom seem like heroes till they save the day,
plan a little smarter, wisely wait to see
what's the best direction for their family...
Good guys do the right thing,
care and pray a lot,
never sweat the small stuff,
give life their best shot,
always go the distance, see their loved ones through.
Good guys make great fathers...
good guys just like you!

And I'm grateful that my dad and Grove's dad both fit this description too! We're so blessed to have these great examples to follow!

Do you have a LEGO lover at your house?

2011-05-26T14:04:00.000-07:00

We do, and this looks awesome!

http://www.brickofmormon.com/Stories.html

Fun ideas - reverence and scripture study

2011-05-22T19:20:00.000-07:00

I heard this story on reverence and it's so cute for little kids! Here's a link with pictures you can print out to go with the story. I can tell you we have at least one of each of the animals mentioned in our family so we really need the help! This is going to be part of FHE!!!
http://www.sugardoodle.net/Reverence/Children%20Like%20Animals.shtml

This is another cute reverence story that goes well with the "Precious in His Sight" painting by Greg Olson.
http://library.lds.org/nxt/gateway.dll/Magazines/Friend/2001.htm/friend%20may%202001.htm/fiction%20%20to%20catch%20a%20butterfly.htm?fn=document-frame.htm$f=templates$3.0

Some of the wards in our stake are using this Greg Olson painting to teach the children what reverence feels like because you would have to be very still and very quiet to catch a butterfly.

I went to our stake's Women's Conference on Saturday and got some fun ideas for family scripture study and getting the kids engaged and paying attention.

*fill in the blank for common phrases so you say, "And it came to...." and the kids say "pass".

*when the reader pauses, everyone repeats the last word the reader says

In our family, we've chosen a word that appears frequently in the chapter for each child and pointed to that child when the word appears.

Scripture Power!

2011-05-16T08:05:00.000-07:00

We love this radio program on the Mormon channel. It follows the scripture stories books but it's a moderator and a group of children discussing the scripture stories with songs that go with each story mixed in. We listen to it during breakfast and it gives our home a sweet spirit as the kids are getting ready for school. At the beginning of each episode they sing "Scripture Power" so my kids know to come to the table for breakfast when they hear that song.

Click on Scripture Stories link below to listen. We've been listening to the New Testament ones since that's the course of study this year, but they have Book of Mormon episodes too.
Scripture Stories

A tribute to my guardian angel...my mom!

2011-05-07T23:01:00.000-07:00

Look at what she started!

I can't even put into words the influence my mom has had on my life, but this song does a pretty good job.

Mom, I'm so grateful for your love and sacrifices. I think I really do realize more and more each year the sacrifices it took to raise four hooligans (I mean angels), but I'm glad you did it because it gives me courage and hope in raising my own.

Thank you! I love you!

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T21:52:00.000-07:00

A friend posted this on Facebook and I really love it.

Joseph B. Wirthlin speaking on the events of that first Easter weekend: "Each of us will have our own Fridays—those days when the universe itself seems shattered and the shards of our world lie littered about us in pieces... But I testify to you in the name of the One who conquered death—Sunday will come... No matter our desperation, no matter our grief, in this life or the next, Sunday will come."

So lately things have seemed at times catastrophic....okay, I'm being a little dramatic, but the chaos has seemed unreal lately. The van has broken down twice in the past few weeks leaving me stranded with 3 little kids and the fridge went out...twice also. In all cases, things worked out ok. And Natalie pulled off a daring rescue the 2nd time the van broke down (thank you, thank you, thank you), but all the drama plus the "normal" stuff with life and 4 birthdays in a month, and Easter, and oh my! Nevermind what the house looks like right now. Overwhelmed...and that's not a great place to be.

But, we had stake conference this weekend, and we heard some really great messages and I really am motivated to try to get back to where I need to be (spiritually, mentally, emotionally), so that when all these wonderful (and not) things happen that are part of life, I can smile through them and be a little tougher.

So I really feel like Sunday came in the form of stake conference, and I'm hoping that even if there are more Fridays ahead, I can keep looking forward to the hope of Sunday.

I'm so grateful for the mercy of the atonement and the hope of the resurrection.

Pictures of our Easter celebration are below!

More Easter

2011-04-24T21:39:00.000-07:00

Easter pics

2011-04-24T21:34:00.000-07:00

My kids were being weird...that's the best we could do for all of them together. Garett was scowling and giving me death looks so I'm not even going to post any of him....too scary! :)

Museum of Art attempt

2011-04-17T20:41:00.000-07:00

The Church Museum of Art has a children's section on the second floor with hands on stuff centered around the Book of Mormon (this year for the Primary scriptures theme). I've heard good things about it so I took the kids Thursday to go see for ourselves.

Getting into the museum proved to be a challenge. Holland, Haven, & Garett wanted to take the escalator so Story, Givon & I tried to get into the elevator with the double stroller. Story walked into the elevator and as I was trying to hold the door & push the stroller through at the same time, the door closed so I was frantically pushing the button & trying to re-open the doors while Story was in there by herself screaming. The elevator finally opened, but she wasn't in it so I took it up to the second floor where Holland, Haven, & Garett were waiting without Story. So I sent Holland & Haven back down to look for Story and also asked one of the poor elderly sisters to help me find her too (since I wasn't too mobile with Garett & Givon in the double stroller).
Anyway, Holland found her and went to tell the sister who was looking for her that we found her, but she went the wrong way on the escalator (she went up the down escalator), and ended up falling & skinning her knees. She limped around the rest of the day.
So picture lots of older missionary couples talking in whispers and me & my 5 kids with our comedy of errors. Yep, I was feeling really awesome.

So, once we got into the children's part of the museum, the kids really had a great time. Until Garett needed to go to the bathroom. Again, I couldn't just leave Givon & Story so I sent Holland with him, and he decided to stop & play somewhere & didn't tell her so Holland came back to tell me she lost him...he had stopped to fish off the side of Nephi's boat. Not that I blame him, but really?

After about an hour, we walked across Temple Square to meet Nana & GrandPar at the yummy Nauvoo Cafe. That was fun & yummy & the kids loved seeing Nana & GrandPar.

The kids wanted to go back to the museum for a little while so I got brave and took them back. I was a little afraid they wouldn't let us back in (haha), but they were very kind to pretend they didn't notice us coming back.
So, part two of our comedy of errors....Story was getting a little cranky & ready for a nap, but I was hoping to give the kids about a half hour to play before we had to head back. She wanted to dress up again in the Mexican dresses. They had a Mexican hat dancing tutorial with costumes & everything. Pretty cool. So, Holland humored her & got dressed up with her. I look over & notice she's not wearing her skirt under her costume. And, there's a little boy dancing around with her skirt on. You know, the regular one that she was really wearing that day. Granted, it was one of those tutu skirts, but come on! So I asked for her skirt back...

As we were getting ready to leave, Story didn't want to give the costume back so she threw herself on the floor and threw the hugest 2 year old tantrum. Complete with kicking feet and a scream that made my ears ring....it was a great day, what can I say? I'm sure if we ever go back, they really will think twice about letting us in.
Oh well! It's free & fun and because of that, it was pretty crowded, but it was also Spring Break so maybe during a school day, it wouldn't be so bad with the little ones.

Story actually got her huge skirt moving pretty well.

Holland's 9th birthday

2011-04-11T21:16:00.000-07:00

Holland got a birthday weekend since her birthday was today. Her birthday request was to go to Aladdin Jr at her elementary school with her cousin, Anders. So that's what we did. Holland, Haven, Anders & I went and it was fun. We had a birthday dinner for her (she requested salad - what 9 year old wants salad for her birthday dinner?). I jazzed it up by making a salad bar so everyone could add their own toppings. Then we went to Aladdin and came back & had ice cream sundaes, also Holland's request. Today, we went to Discovery Gateway (children's museum) since it's Spring Break and the kids are out of school. The kids had a great time as you'll be able to tell from the pictures, but I don't think I would take them again by myself. It was hard for me to keep track of them all....there are lots of different areas for them to play in and of course, they all wanted to go off in different directions. I mainly followed Story & carried Givon....Holland stayed pretty close, but Garett & Haven were all over the place. Eeks....I'm glad I made it home with all 5 kids! I don't think I've ever seen Story have so much fun anywhere! Holland had fun, but she probably would have had more fun with a big kid friend up on the top level (they have more advanced activities up there but not so fun by yourself). Haven & Garett had a blast in the market area. The outside pics are in a helicopter (I wish I had gotten a pic further out so you can see it - it's a real helicopter).

Seriously, who let their kid wear a ninja costume to the museum? Sheesh...

We thought this was funny. Holland got the same birthday card from her Great Grandma & her Great Nana. What are the odds?!?

The pics are obviously completely in random order...

Holland's big present from us was a pottery wheel and supplies for it. She said it was the best birthday ever!

Conference weekend

2011-04-03T18:26:00.000-07:00

Grove had Thursday & Friday off this week. He took Thursday off so I could go to the General Primary Meeting in Salt Lake. That was really cool to go with the presidency & listen to the awesome ladies from the General Primary Presidency speak. There are some really awesome perks to living in Utah!
Grove also got part of the first floor painted, something we've been wanting to do for a while. You can see his work in some of the pictures from Haven's birthday. The new walls are gray and I love it! He got the kitchen and living room painted, which is a huge job with the vaulted ceilings, but he worked very hard & got it done. I helped a little, but just a very little...since one of us had to take care of Givon & Story & everyone else.
Friday afternoon, I got to get my hair done. I went to a new stylist & she's awesome. She got the red out of my hair (totally didn't think that was possible), and my hair is not any funky shade of orange or yellow. Hooray...I was starting to think it wasn't possible.
For Saturday morning conference, I wanted to make the bunny buns that were in the April friend. I got started and realized I didn't have enough flour so I ran to the store. Then as I was waiting for the dough to rise, I realized I hadn't put the yeast in - I had it in a separate container to proof it. So I added the yeast, and then they had to rise for 2 hours, then the kids & I shaped the dough, let that rise for 45 minutes, then baked them & glazed them. Anyway, sometime between the first session & the second, they were finally ready for eating. Even though they have pretty much everything in them I'm not supposed to eat, I did try them & they were delish. This is a fun family tradition. I just wish it were faster to make them so we could eat them for breakfast instead of lunch! (it's still at least a 3 hour thing even if you don't have to go to the store, forget the yeast, etc.)

For Sunday morning, we made Brigham Young donuts. I found the recipe online and thought it would be fun to eat them while watching the prophets. Those were pretty fun too, although you can see by the picture that we had a hard time regulating the oil temperature so the results were inconsistent. Oh well! That's my first time ever making donuts & even if they don't look great, they actually were great!
So after all this disgustingly yummy food and lots of sitting & watching the prophets, I think I need to go running a lot this week, but we had a fun & inspiring weekend!
I don't have a talk that stands out as my favorite quite yet, but I'm sure I will after I read through them again.
There were lots of good ones!

Happy 7th Birthday Haven!

2011-04-03T18:10:00.000-07:00

Haven's birthday is March 31st, but we celebrated Haven's birthday on April 1st this year (no joke). The Monday night before her birthday, she said she wanted a dress like Irridessa's (Tinker Bell's friend) for her birthday. So we went to the fabric store on Tuesday night and it was ready for Thursday morning for her to wear to school. Yikes...but it was a fun challenge for me.

Here are some pics of her celebration. We had Nils & his family over. Haven loves her cousins & had a great time.

Happy Birthday Grove!

2011-03-17T22:41:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, March 15th, was the birthday of my favorite person!

The kids & I had fun trying to make it a special day for him. He wanted potstickers for dinner (that's his new favorite food), so I made them for the first time and they were really good. Usually we buy the frozen ones from Costco, but they're really not hard to make & kind of fun. I also made artichokes and sweet & sour cole slaw. I was going to take a picture of his birthday dinner, but I couldn't find the camera. Holland found it before dessert though!

Also, he really wanted a chocolate cake roll, so I made one of those too.

I'm so glad that Grove was born 36 (yikes!) years ago & that I'm the lucky girl who gets to be his wife. He's a great husband & dad, and I'm so grateful for him.

A fun week

2011-03-17T22:32:00.000-07:00

Last week, Grove took us to Disney on Ice. All of the kids liked it, but Story was the most amazed by it. Minnie, Mickey, and all the princesses, what could be better?!? I think she said Minnie Mouse about 200 times during the show. She kept pointing and saying it over & over. It was fun to watch her reactions. Garett loved the Toy Story part when Buzz, Woody, and the toy army guy came out. He was basically waiting just for that part during the whole show. It was really fun.

Story with her mound of cotton candy. She was putting the whole thing up to her mouth and taking bites out of it, which is what I was trying to capture, but then she decided to be a little more delicate about it.

March pics & sickies!!!

2011-03-09T15:07:00.000-08:00

Well, I guess it was our turn because we sure got it all (ok, not all) the past few weeks.
Me - cold & sinus infection (antibiotics)
Story - RSV and 2 ear infections (antibiotics)
Garett - cold & 1 ear infection, maybe a sinus infection, but the anitibiotics took care of it
Givon - RSV that went into his lungs, 1 ear infection (antibiotics)
Holland - cold & allergies
Haven - cold or maybe the flu for a few days

I won't mention the member of the family that has escaped unscathed. I don't want to jinx him. He has been our lifesaver the past few weeks.

It's been fun.

Can't even take their eyes off the tv to smile for me...

Handsome Garett (and a great big brother)

He can't roll over yet, but he's sitting up pretty well (for a very short period of time).

We love the Givey smiles.

Believe it or not, he's actually sprouting some hair, but he's still obviously bald. What a cute boy!

He's finally starting to feel better. Thank heavens!!!

Garett pics

2011-02-13T21:20:00.000-08:00

About the time Garett turned 4, a miracle occurred!

We got our sweet little boy back.

Garett's 3 year old year is one I'd like to forget - I'm sad that we probably had more bad moments than good.

BUT, he's back and better than ever! This little boy wants to be good and is always trying to earn "gold stars" for helping me with things around the house and with Givon.

I'm so glad my sweet boy is back. I have hope for surviving til kindergarten now.

Garett loves Star Wars, Lego Star Wars, Spiderman, and anything boy, basically.

He has recently discovered Signing Time & loves that too. He likes to sign colors to me and of course, I have no idea, so I think I'll be learning some sign language too.

It's signing time with Garett & Story, come and play!

Garett actually really likes to sing and he's been reading to me too. Until he turned 4, I'm pretty sure he never sat still long enough for me to read a book to him (even a board book), but now he really likes reading time. I'm not so great at reading his Star Wars books (huh? they're just over my head), but I love to read pretty much everything else to him.

He loves the Dora the Explorer rebus (the books with pictures that replace some of the words). He likes to say funny words instead of the words he is supposed to say.

Garett doesn't like to be called silly, or cute or handsome.

But he'll admit that he's pretty awesome! :)

More Haven...

2011-02-13T21:08:00.000-08:00

Haven pics

2011-02-13T21:03:00.000-08:00

Presenting: Haven!

I love her eyes in these pictures!

Haven's baby teeth are on their way out & her big teeth are on their way in!

Haven is a free spirit who just loves being happy & being herself. She loves to draw, act, sing, and make people smile, especially little Givon.

Haven is very compassionate and loves animals.

Our week

2011-02-06T20:26:00.000-08:00

This week was a busy one with some unexpected craziness. Last Sunday, the crown on my back molar fell off and I didn't get that fixed til Wednesday. By then, I was pretty miserable. I have a root canal on that tooth so it didn't hurt, but the exposed edge of my other molar was scraping my tongue and I was being a baby about it. It didn't help that I also came down with a cold about that time. Not that big of a deal, except that it was such a busy week. Givon got the cold too. Garett & Story had it the week before. Holland has it now too. Luckily, it's just a mild cold, no coughing or anything, just a lot of congestion. Lovely. I think this might be the first time ever that Holland has caught a cold without setting off her asthma. Thank goodness for small miracles.
I was going to post some more pics from our photo shoot, but the battery on my computer ran out about 30 seconds after the cord broke. Grove already ordered a new one (thank goodness) and I could just post from his laptop, but I'll just wait since all my files are on mine.
Story cut her own hair this week. Holland & Haven were doing craft projects at the table, Story was left alone with scissors, and the rest is pretty easy to guess. She cut a chunk out of her hair that is now an inch long. It was toward the front, but not the very front part of her hair so I cut bangs (we were growing them out) to cover the shorties and now she has thin bangs (because of the missing hair). I also bobbed her hair so that it looked better with her short bangs. She did cut one side of her bangs so I tried to blend the length of her bangs with the hair she had cut. Holland cut Haven's bangs a few weeks ago so now they both have messed up hair. Oh well! It will grow. Scissors are dangerous!
On Thursday, Garett went to a friend's bday party at Monkey Island Fun Center. We went with him and Story had a great time too. I couldn't believe how good she was doing at climbing all the slides. She can be a little timid sometimes, but she just jumped right in and tried to keep up with the big kids, which was great since I had Givon too.
Our nephew Anders got baptized yesterday. Holland is so excited to have a cousin now who is baptized. She totally adores Anders. He's such a good kid & I could see his eyes sparkle after he got the Holy Ghost. That sounds funny, but his whole face was lit up with joy. I'm glad we got to be there to see it! Great choice, Anders!!!
Grove & I went on a date last night to an amazing restaurant. We loved it! We left Givon for the first time and he did great with our favorite babysitter. We went to Sean's Smokehouse in Saratoga Springs and it was so yummy. They smoke & grill all their meats there & everything is made from scratch including all their dipping sauces. It's just pure yumminess. I'm not a big meat lover - I would definitely still be a vegetarian (vegan, actually, since I don't eat eggs & very little dairy) if it weren't for all the other things I'm not supposed to eat - but the bbq chicken was the best part of the bbq chicken salad. So delish. Grove says we're definitely going back. I agree.
Those are just a few things we did this week!

Givon's first bites

2011-01-31T20:00:00.000-08:00

I decided to try giving Givon some rice cereal tonight. He didn't really know what to do with it but I think he swallowed a little. He was sitting on my lap and Holland was feeding him. Then he took a swipe at the spoon and got Holland on the nose. I wish I had gotten a picture.
Givon has good aim!

Holland

2011-01-30T21:31:00.000-08:00

As promised, here are the big pics. I'll post one kid at a time.

What would I do without Holland? She is my extra set of hands and arms. She was a big help during the photo shoot too, helping Mikki with her equipment and trying to keep the kids happy even though she was freezing.

She loves to read and has read 10+ hours this weekend for Jazz reading.

Holland is such a patient kid. Many times, what she wants gets put off for a more immediate need of one of her younger siblings.

She is very loving and forgiving, and she wants to be like Jesus.

We are VERY blessed to have Holland as our oldest child.

Proof that Story smiles, kind of

2011-01-29T22:29:00.000-08:00

I was trying to get pics of Story smiling this week and was only kind of successful. I went through last years' pictures and couldn't find a single one of her smiling a genuine smile. She definitely does smile and laugh, but only when she wants to.

So, here are my efforts. She was playing with my old, well-loved frog outside and I thought I could get her to smile. Well, not really. She was laughing and playing and being kind of hysterical on the stairs with Garett in his white ninja costume, but they were being so crazy, it was hard to get a good picture - too blurry.

New family pics

2011-01-28T15:21:00.000-08:00

We had family pics taken by Mikki. She is awesome! You can see some of them on the right side of the blog. I'll be posting bigger pics as I get a chance.
I love that the pictures are so crisp and the kids' blue eyes pop. I love that she captured their personalities too.

If you're local & want family or kid pics, go to her blog and check it out. You'll love her!

http://mikkigrimleyphotography.blogspot.com/

Which ones are your favorites???

Yummy recipe

2011-01-25T20:16:00.000-08:00

5 stars from Grove on this new recipe I found. Be prepared to cook it in the oven longer than it says, but other than that, it's pretty awesome!

http://southernfood.about.com/od/porktenderloin/r/r91204a.htm

Big helper

2011-01-23T18:38:00.000-08:00

Story loves to help with Givon. She always wants to hold him and for him to sit on her "wap". Really, her lap isn't big enough for him. I think his head is actually bigger than hers. It's pretty hard for her to see to get the binky in the right spot so he gets to be tortured while she finds the right spot. :)

These two are going to be best friends when they grow up, I'm sure of it.

Luckily, Givon won't remember any of this.

Memories...

2011-01-13T09:32:00.000-08:00

This will bring back some fun memories for people who know me well, especially my 101 roommates. I ordered the dvd to finally replace the old vhs that had probably been used 1,000 times.

My favorite workout video ever....it's comical and ridiculous but it's a great workout...

I felt a little validated to know it's that Bodies in Motion is the #1 fitness show ever...

Check ups

2011-01-11T11:29:00.000-08:00

Story had her 2 year checkup today & Givon had his 4 month checkup.

Story's stats are:
Length: 34.5" or 64%
Weight: 20.6lbs or 3%

Givon's stats:
Length: 25.75" or 67%
Weight: 13 lbs 6oz or 11%

The reason Story is on the charts now is because they got new charts. The dr. said it allows for children to be skinnier and still be on the chart. He showed me the old chart though and she's still in the negative 25% on that one but following her own curve.

Givon didn't gain as much as I thought, but I guess he's proving he's a Rasmusson. He still has some chub on his legs and around his belly so that makes me feel a little better. :)

Story Girl

2011-01-03T21:57:00.000-08:00

Just to make a record of Story's favorite things and achievements at 2years old...
Story loves Mickey and Minnie Mouse. She also loves Elmo and the walking, talking baby from Toy Story 3 (creepy). She loves babies, all babies - real, plastic, fabric, it doesn't matter! Her favorite color is probably purple. It's the color that she loves to say and the color that gets pulled out of her drawers many times each day. Story loves being pretty - she loves to dress up in princess dresses, church dresses, tights, and pretty sparkly shoes. She loves jewelry and hair things - she calls them "pretties" and expects them to be handed over at her request. She doesn't like to have her hair done - YET! Story loves lotion, soap, toothpaste, and potions of all kinds. She would rub lotion into her hands all day long if given the chance.
Story has pink blankets that she calls "Ellie" that she drags around and sleeps with. She's also partial to sippy cups with handles. I don't know how many words she says (a lot), but she can certainly get her point across. I'm pretty sure she answered "probably" the other day when I asked her a question.
Story is very independent and does pretty much everything by herself. She only likes to be carried if she's feeling insecure or is tired. The rest of the time, she has a pretty busy agenda that we don't dare mess with too much!
Story is a picky eater. Her favorite foods are noodles, chicken nuggets (esp. the mickey mouse ones), bbq sauce, ranch dressing, cheese, yogurt, pears, apples, and oranges, and anything sweet (candy, chocolate, etc). But even with the foods she loves, she takes about 3 bites and is done. Story loves Enfagrow toddler formula ("shake"), chocolate milk, and juice. As with all our toddlers (and actually Grove fits in this category too, haha), she'd rather drink her calories than eat them. Her favorite place to eat is on my lap. Daddy's lap will also do, and occasionally she'll share a chair at dinner with Holland and Haven. I guess you could call her a social eater.
Story is a very good listener and would rather not get in trouble if given the choice. Sometimes I just give her a look and she'll stop what she's doing. Other times, if I make a sad face because she's being naughty, she'll say "sorry Mommy" and give me a hug. She's very perceptive and sensitive.
Story doesn't like to be wet or stinky. Sometimes she will get a diaper and wipes and lay down on the ground until I change her! She will tell me if she pees and wants me to change her. I think she will be potty trained pretty soon.
Story is my first child that loves to play with toys. My other kids just liked to get into stuff. Story does that too. She also loves to draw and color and at one point, every room in our house had Story's artwork on it, until we replenished our Magic Eraser supply. We're working on coloring only on paper. Story also loves to play with PlayDoh and Playfoam.
Story is a mama's girl, but Daddy is a close second. She also loves to be babied by her older siblings as long as they don't make her do anything she doesn't want to do. She's always ok with being treated like a princess!
I'm so glad Story is part of our family. She is a sweet girl and I love watching her be her own person with so many opinions! She's probably a little spoiled, but also tremendously loved and adored by all of us!

Birthday collage

2011-01-03T21:26:00.000-08:00

I can't get the pictures to load right, so I made a collage. I love the sequence of Story deciding whether or not to blow out the candles. She really wasn't sure about that, but she was very proud of herself once she blew them out.

Story's 2nd birthday

2011-01-03T15:14:00.000-08:00

Story had a really fun birthday this year. We tried to make it a really special day for her. And, I think we succeeded because she keeps asking for more mouse presents. We started out by going to Walmart and getting lots of Mickey & Minnie Mouse presents and decorations. We already had a few presents for her, but we needed a few more, and with all the Christmas shopping for 5 kids, we were a little short on birthday stuff. Holland's friend came over and helped wrap all the presents and decorate the house with balloons and ribbons. While they were doing that, I made the cupcake tower and the kids helped frost and decorate the cupcakes. It was really nice having the kids out of school for Christmas break so I could have some help!

We had a fun time spoiling Story for the day. This first picture, to the right, is of Story eating the cupcake she stole from the tower. She also opened the Minnie plates & napkins and set out a nice snack for herself pre-birthday party. As you can see, she was having a great time. The next few pictures I took of her (but won't post) are of her laughing hysterically with a mouthful of cake. She thought she was so clever (and she is!).

Story & Garett wishing it was party time!

Story and her new boots.
Now the story of the red shoes: The red shoes pictured here are the shoes that Story wore for 2 months straight prior to her birthday. She even wore them to bed over her footie jammies. She wore them EVERYWHERE.

Story cautiously blowing.

Story and her new Minnie Mouse. Story also got Violet the LeapFrog puppy. Story, Minnie, and Violet have been together a lot since her birthday.

Story's Minnie Mouse pjs. She put them on right after she opened them as you can see in some of the pictures.

We were waiting for her to blow out her candles, but Holland forgot to give her this present. You can see which one she's most interested in.

Still waiting for Story to blow the candles...

13 years ago...

2010-12-20T00:07:00.000-08:00

I married the perfect man...

in the perfect place.

I love you, Grovey.

Thank you for 13 blissful years and 5 beautiful children together.

Haven's First Grade Christmas Program

2010-12-19T21:15:00.000-08:00

So cute! The first graders performed their Christmas program in their jammies. Haven's friends wanted to get in on the photo action. They performed lots of cute songs. My personal fave was watching Haven perforn Nuttin for Christmas gangster style with a beenie and sunglasses. She's pretty good at pulling off the attitude. I'm glad that in real life she's sweet as sugar though (most of the time).

Givon's blessing - the main event! :)

2010-11-28T22:02:00.000-08:00

Givon was such an angel for his blessing. He's a great baby - very good natured and he's really great when we need him to be. Love that! Here are some pics of his big day.

Thank you to our families that came from far & near to support us. We appreciate you!

Temple Square

2010-11-28T19:55:00.000-08:00

On Friday evening, Holland, Haven, Garett & I met my parents & Jeff & fam at Temple Square to see the lights. This is something I've been wanting to do for a few years, but just haven't been able to manage it. Grove stayed home with Story & Givon.
Tavia was meeting up with some friends there who happened to have kids the same ages & genders as mine so the kids had other kids to hang out with. They had a 6 year old girl named Holland so that was a pretty cool coincidence. Holland & their 8 year old, Raleigh, really hit it off. It was cute seeing them be friends. The grandpa also had keys to go through the tunnels which was awesome to go underground from Temple Square to the Conference Center.

Garett loved this fountain in the Conference Center. He thought it was a volcano.

Haven's favorite Book of Mormon painting? Lehi & his family on the boat.

Haven in the conference center

Haven hugging a giant ornament. Who knows why...

Holland's favorite painting - Captain Moroni

Holland and Raleigh

Holland & Raleigh

Holland & Haven in the tabernacle

My little bro, Jeff, and his daughter

The kids in front of the Christus - Holland is holding Jeff's daughter, M

Garett's favorite painting was also Captain Moroni

Thanksgiving Fun

2010-11-28T19:24:00.000-08:00

Chocolate cake roll, squared

Grove & Givon in Grandma's basement on Thanksgiving

Holland & Story's favorite thing to do? Draw

Chaos

More chaos

Grandma had us over for Thanksgiving Dinner. Mom made the yumminess - we just made a dessert and showed up! It was so fun to be with everyone.

November pics

2010-11-28T19:19:00.000-08:00

Holland at her 3rd grade program - her school has a patriotic program on Veterans Day. They teach the kids about citizenship and honoring veterans. I LOVE Pony Express Elementary!

Where's Holland???

Smiley Givon

Story taking care of her baby

Story with the twins (dolls)

Givon's Blessing

2010-11-21T15:52:00.000-08:00

Hey friends and family!
Givon will be blessed next Sunday, Nov. 28th, at our church. Our Sacrament Meeting starts at 11am.
Just wanted to make sure everyone knows!
Family members are invited over after church (2pm) for lunch.

Givon the HUGE!!!

2010-11-11T20:14:00.000-08:00

HaHa just kidding! Givon went to his 2 month checkup today. He's a little more than 2 months, but Grove was off for Veteran's Day so it was a good day to go.
Here are his stats:
Weight: 11lbs 2.5oz (above the 25%) 6lbs 14oz at birth so he has gained 4+ pounds.
Height: 24" (75%) 19" at birth so he has grown 5".
Head 50%

So he's not huge, but for the first time ever the dr said "He's definitely getting plenty to eat" instead of "Is he eating?". That was a nice change.

Garett through the years....

2010-11-07T22:10:00.000-08:00

Thanks Happy for the tip. I put the pics in the right order now! :) It's funny because I didn't think Givon looked like Garett until I looked at these pics again. Now I can see the resemblance.

Garett 4 months

Garett 9 months

Garett 1 year

Garett 16 months

Garett 2 years

Garett 3 years

Happy 4th Birthday Garett!

2010-11-07T21:44:00.000-08:00

Garett is 4! Where has the time gone? Since Garett was born 10 days after we moved to Eagle Mountain, his birthday also reminds me of how long we've been here.

Garett made a yellow & black bee from him birthday foam.

Notice Haven in the background - what a ham!

Garett blowing out his candle

Taking the dinosaurs off the cake

Grove's creation - he loves making birthday cakes for the kids.

Halloween

2010-10-31T21:55:00.000-07:00

I'm a party pooper when it comes to Halloween. Why? It adds a lot of things to my already overwhelming to-do list. And, it's not a holiday that I'm in love with personally. However, I really tried to make it fun for the kids. They were happy with their costumes, they had a fun time. I guess that means it was a success. I'm glad it's over for a year. The most helpful thing we did this year to eliminate stress and last minute stuff was to find Haven & Garett's costumes at garage sales during the summer. It was so nice to have those done and taken care of in advance. Unfortunately, we didn't find one for Holland because she had something very specific in mind. Story's costume was Haven's from several years ago. I'm glad I saved it because she loved wearing it.

Garett wearing Grove's scary Elvis mask. The yellow part is supposed to be his forehead, but it matches Garett's shirt sleeves. Eewwww...gross (as Story would say).

Grove wore this mask to the school parade and all the kids were doing double takes and pointing and saying, "look, there's Elvis". He & I were both a little surprised they knew who Elvis was. Especially the little kids...

Garett, showing off his moves

Garett, the new Karate kid

Givon, 8 weeks, at the school Halloween parade

I just can't wait til Haven's a teenager...nuf said.

Haven's Elvis impersonation

Haven at the school parade

Holland & Story before the ward Halloween party

Pretty Holland, flower fairy

Holland at the school parade

the top of Holland's Halloween costume. I ended up finding the skirt at a store, but I couldn't find anything for her to wear on top so I bought a camisole and decorated it with these flowers that I made. The stem on the middle flower should have been longer, but other than that I was pretty happy with it. The extra flowers went in her hair. She picked the colors and had very specific ideas about what she wanted so I was glad we were able to find the exact colors she wanted.

Garett & Story at the school parade - Garett is wearing his Buzz costume from last year. Story looks happy, doesn't she? Actually, she sat in the stroller for an hour staring at the kids parading the halls.

Angelic Story
(there are times when this is a very accurate description of her)

I had a pea pod costume for Givon, but he didn't end up wearing it because it was FREEZING cold on Saturday night when the kids went trick or treating so I kept him home. At the ward party, he was in the sling the whole time so I could cart Story around on the opposite hip while Grove did his magic show. I think I dislocated my shoulder that night. It was nuts.

Altogether, the kids dressed up 3 times - Wednesday night ward party, Friday @ school, and Saturday for trick or treating. That was enough makeup and updos for me! Halloween with boys is so much easier (or at least with Garett it is!)

I actually made a Halloween dinner on Saturday night (like I said, I was trying to be a good sport this year). The kids loved it. We had witch hair (spaghetti squash), bloody eyeballs (meatballs with spaghetti sauce), and goblin blood (lime koolaid).

Gluten challenge and...

2010-10-24T20:51:00.000-07:00

This past week, I decided to do a gluten challenge. I'm still having problems with dairy, eggs, and beef (actually, I seem to be more sensitive to these than ever), but I haven't had a gluten reaction in a long time so I decided to see what would happen. So far, I've had a few headaches but no tummy aches except when I ate whole wheat bread - that might have been too much for my system. Nice to have a few more choices of foods. My favorite change - getting to eat yummy cereal!!! I could nearly live off cereal - especially after not eating my favorites for approx 5 years - yes, it has been that long. Bread doesn't taste as good to me as I thought it would. Also, my friend Talesha told me that Oreos don't have eggs or dairy so I've eaten a few (well, maybe a lot more than a few) of those this week. Yum!

Also, I just wanted to record this to embarrass Story in a few years...For family prayer, we all kneel around the round table in our front room. Last week, Story walked around the table during prayer and tapped everyone on the head and said duck duck goose. Funny girl! Grove & I were trying not to laugh but the other kids either didn't catch on or were surprisingly able to contain themselves.

Givon, 7 weeks

Givon, looking very calm even though he's about to be tackled by his sweet big sister

I can't wait for Givon's two month appointment. I took pictures of him one day last week because I thought he was starting to look like a little butterball. Well, for my kids anyway....he's definitely put on some chub! He doesn't look like a butterball in the pictures, but I thought he did in person....ok laugh at me...

Our first road trip in a long time...

2010-10-17T17:05:00.000-07:00

Grove wanted to try gold panning so we went to Marysvale on Thursday. He and the kids dug up a lot of dirt and ran it through the machine, but no gold. Oh well. I found out that sagebrush is very prickly.

Then we continued driving down to Grove's parents' house. The kids have been looking forward to this forever. The trip down was not fun - Givon wanted to eat about 5 times, the DVD player kept cutting out so we had to keep restarting the movies, Story was crying and screaming to get out of her seat every few minutes, etc. The van is pretty crowded now - all of the seats are occupied so it's not so easy to just sit with the kids and fix the problems.

Well, we got there eventually.

On Friday we went to the Las Vegas Zoo. Most of the pictures are from our adventures there. I really loved the chimp. The kids were knocking on the window of his bedroom (complete with bunk bed and air conditioning) and he got off his bunk bed and came and sat at the window an knocked back at them with a lot of spunk and attitude. I'm pretty sure I haven't seen a chimp that close before and I thought he was very intelligent and funny. We didn't get any pictures because there was too much glare on the glass.

Saturday, we drove back to Utah and Givon and the other kids cooperated better and we only stopped and all got out of the car twice. We went to Park Discovery in Cedar City. That was fun for the kids.

the (BYU?) cougar

I always thought flamingos were a tacky pink, but this one was actually very pretty

Garett with the coolest pheasant

Garett chasing pigeons

GrandPar (Grove's dad) and Givon

Haven and her goat

Haven & the Raven

Holland's boa

Not sure what Holland was doing here, but I think she was picking on the goat. He did butt her so maybe he deserved it?

Holland and the giant turtle

the kids & the super tall ostrich. You can't tell from this picture, but with his neck extended it was above the fence. I didn't realize ostriches were so tall!

Grove liked taking pictures of the birds.

Me, Givon, Story, & the elephant

Story thought it was fun to steal Holland's silly glasses

Lord of the Gourd

2010-10-09T19:59:00.000-07:00

Grove's not-so-secret dream is to grow giant pumpkins. This is his first year trying, and I think this pumpkin is pretty amazing. 54 pounds worth of amazing. It was grown from the seed of a 500 pound pumpkin so it may be puny compared to its daddy, but amazing for us & for our garden!

Funny frogs

2010-10-08T15:03:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to learn how to make fabric flowers, but I wasn't having any luck finding instructions and haven't had the time to figure it out. My friend Laura sent me a link to a tutorial and voila! so easy!

Givon - 6 weeks

Pretty Holland

Holland & Givon - Holland is such a great helper with all of the kids.

Holland and her bridesmaid bouquet of broccoli (it's from our garden & was the most delicious broccoli EVER)

Story Girl

Hmm...can I eat this?

Story, the reluctant bridesmaid

Story thought it would be fun to take a swing in Givon's swing.

"I'm pretty sure I'm not supposed to be in here, but it sure is fun!"

I want to take family pics next week while Grove is off so hopefully I'll have some nice pics to post next week.

Brotherly love

2010-09-20T13:30:00.000-07:00

Such sweet brothers

Garett wants to play Star Wars with Givon. He wants Givon to be Yoda (well, he does kinda look like an old man) and he will be Darth Vader.

Givon 3 weeks old

Givon's looking a little worried. I'm not sure he's ready to face Darth Vader quite yet.

Pics and doctor appts

2010-09-19T21:17:00.000-07:00

Just some fun pics taken recently...

Story & Givon had doctors appts on Friday. Givon is up to a whopping 7 lbs 3 oz and 21". They said he was 19" when he was born. Is it possible to grow 2" in 3 weeks?

I did a double take when Story stood on the scale. Really, I didn't think it could be right. Story is still 18 pounds - we put her on the scale again to be sure & it is correct. What?

But, she's had a major height growth spurt - she's 33" now, which puts her in the 50% I think. I just don't know how she can be 18 lbs & 33". Also, at 1 year, they measured her & she was 28" so she really grew 5" in 9 months? But she didn't gain any weight? Ugh. Maybe that's why 6-12m shorts still fit her.

So Story's on the weight gain plan. Can we get her to 20 lbs before she turns 2? Stay tuned...

Grove's sister, Saren, came out with her 9 week old son, Red, and there are some pictures above taken with her. Par took the first one, which is a really cool shot, and Nils took the one of us sitting on a bench. It's not all the girls, but a lot of us!

I'll ask Grove to do a post on what he's been up to lately. All of it has to do with food in one way or another. We've gotten a lot of huge peppers from our garden, some delicious tomatoes, and some other fun things. Also, Grove bought a smoker and has been learning how to smoke meat.

I'm learning that it's pretty impossible to balance the needs/wants of 5 young children! Holland needs help with her piano practicing, Haven needs help with her homework, Garett runs away to the neighbors' houses but I can't chase after him because I'm nursing Givon, Story is hysterical because she wants to be held, etc. ALL AT THE SAME TIME!!!! I'm sure we'll figure this out, but for now, it's complete insanity when the kids get home from school and it's just a matter of keeping everyone alive until Grove gets home!

It's just a phase, right??? :)

the 5th little speckled frog

2010-09-06T20:26:00.000-07:00

Givon, just born

Givon 1 week old

Givon made his appearance on Friday morning, August 27th. For those of you who want the story, I woke up at 2am with contractions, and we made it to the hosptial around 4am. I was at a 5+ at that point. I got an epidural, sat back & relaxed and waited and waited and waited. They didn't want to break my water b/c my doctor was coming in at 7am so they were hoping I could wait til then. Well, turns out, my doctor wasn't the one coming in so they made me wait for nothing! Anyway, around 7:30, they informed me that he wasn't coming. At that point I was at 9 1/2 cm. They still didn't break my water. Grove thought the baby would be born in the bag at that point. They broke my water around 8:30 and Givon was out a few minutes later. I pushed once and his head was out, and then they told me to stop pushing b/c the rest of him was out. How's that for easy?

My only complaint is the 7 hour labor seemed ridicuously long after only 4 hours with Garett and Story. If I had to do it again, I probably wouldn't have gotten the epidural so that wanted me to deliver ASAP :) so they could be rid of me. But, you just never know how these are going to go. Grove definitely appreciates epidurals after seeing me deliver naturally so I figure I'm doing us all a favor by getting one! :)

Givon was born at 9:01am, 6lbs 14oz, and 19". Definitely our smallest baby. He was having trouble breathing at first so they took him to the nursery. Grove says that by the time they got there, he was fine. Hooray for that!

He was pretty jaundiced so we got a bili blanket on Tuesday and we had to take him in for daily blood draws from Monday to Saturday. It didn't help that he refused to poop for 40 hours. A trip to the dr and a suppository fixed that. Poor us & poor him! 13 poopy diaper changes in 24 hours on 1 kid has to be some sort of record! On Saturday afternoon, we got the call saying we could take him off the blanket. I think it was because there weren't any more places to prick him on his foot. Poor baby.

I'm recovering quickly. As usual, the worst part has been the nursing PAIN but even that is getting better much faster than with Story.

Have you ever seen a baby vomit through his mouth and nose? This kid has talent! Actually, it's really disturbing and sad. We had to supplement with formula for a few days b/c the jaundice wasn't flushing out of his system fast enough and we found out that Givon doesn't do well with milk formula. Further proof that there are still new experiences even with #5!

So far, Givon likes to sleep a lot and he's also consuming a lot so I think he's going to grow fast! He's a really sweet baby and we're glad he's here.

We've had a lot of help from friends and family and we really appreciate their sacrifices. Thank you!

1st day of school

2010-08-25T17:20:00.000-07:00

I can hardly believe the kids started school today. I'm glad that Givon waited to make his appearance until after today! The baby on the first day of school scenario wasn't sounding so appealing.

Holland is starting 3rd grade and has an awesome teacher, Mrs. O'Toole.

Haven was so excited to find out that she got the teacher she's been talking about all summer, Mrs. Lamb. I think they're going to get along great!

Now that they've started school, Givon has permission to be born, and as far as I'm concerned, the sooner the better. Carrying Givon has been the easiest of all the kids up to this point but the past few days have been very painful and uncomfortable and all of a sudden, I'm ready to be done with this! How's that for long-suffering??? :)

I was at 3cm & 80% effaced last Thursday. I go in for an appt tomorrow so we'll see what happens!

RaRaRa family reunion

2010-08-25T17:09:00.000-07:00

Grove's family has a family reunion every other year & we were very fortunate that this year it was held in Heber - fortunate because at 37 weeks pregnant, I probably wouldn't have been able to go otherwise.
We all stayed in a big house and had lots of good times, including a fabulous game of PIP. I loved that it wasn't a physically strenuous vacation! :)
On Monday, we went to Park City and Grove's aunts and uncles spoiled our kids with some fun entertainment.
On Tuesday, Grove & his brothers surprised their wives (Katrina, Luly & me) & Harmony with a spa day which was really fun. They get extra brownie points for cleaning up the house so we could check out while watching 14 kids. I still have no idea how they accomplished that one. I got my first ever massage, a facial and a pedicure.
Here are a few pictures of the kids enjoying Park City.

Holland flying

Holland & Holland (the operator's name was Holland - how often will Holland meet another Holland in her life?)

Haven flying

Haven & Addie - I'm so glad they had each other!

Haven getting buckled in

Grove, York & the kids

Garett and Samya Rose on the airplane

Getting a 2nd opinion

2010-08-02T11:37:00.000-07:00

About a month ago, I took Haven to Hart Dental for a cleaning. They said she had 13 cavities and that it would cost over $600 for those to be done in 4 visits. 4 visits? 13 cavities?
I also took Holland to Hart Dental for a cleaning on a different day. They said she had 6 cavities that would need to be filled in 3 visits for about $250.
I was in shock. I made a 2nd opinion appointment at Lehi Pediatric Dentistry. They are the ones that did Garett's extensive dental work that he had to have. Even though it was traumatic for me, I think they did a great job & I trust them.
They said Haven has 6 cavities, but 4 of the teeth will come out in the next 6 months and the teeth are already loose so a filling wouldn't take very well. Their recommendation: 2 fillings for about $45 out of pocket.
They agreed that Holland has 5 or 6 cavities (they're between her teeth so it depends on how you're counting), but her teeth will also be coming out in the next 6 months so the dentist wants to put a watch on them and fill them if they worsen or if the teeth don't come out as he's expecting. He wants to put sealants on her permanent teeth to prevent her from getting cavities in those. Total out of pocket: $0 for now.
Are you kidding me? I feel like we won the lottery.
Grove has actually been really happy with Hart Dental for his dental work, but I have to say I don't recommend them for kids. The hygenists were really yappy and hyper with my kids which made them nervous and made me annoyed. They didn't have kid-sized xray pieces (or at least they weren't small enough for Haven's mouth) so Haven was gagging and crying while they were trying to get xrays and the hygenist was getting upset with her. When Holland got her cleaning, I had the other 3 kids with me & there wasn't room for us to all go back so I stayed out in the lobby and hoped for the best. When they came out with her, they said, you can make arrangements in the business office. I was like, why? does she have cavities? The hygenist said, yes, you can schedule those in the business office. No explanation. No conversation. Nothing. She's only 8. Can I get some info on my kid please????
This is just my 2 cents, but don't take your kids to Hart Dental, and get a 2nd opinion if your dentist recommends a lot of dental work on your kids' teeth, especially the baby teeth that will come out anyway! I think we saved about $800 today.
Phew.

Givon update

2010-07-29T12:24:00.000-07:00

Givon had a dr appt today. He did great - he always moves around a lot when try to listen to his heart. The dr was surprised that I'm already dilated - 1.5cm - whooppe..., but I thought I probably was so I wasn't shocked...
I'm anemic so my main complaint is fatigue - sometimes extreme fatigue. The nurse gave me some prenatals that are supposed to be easy on the stomach so I'll try those. The iron pills they gave me didn't go over so well.
Honestly, I can't complain for being at the beginning of the end. Let's just say it could be, and has been, worse.
I'm hoping Givon cooks for a few more weeks because he doesn't feel very big to me yet.
That's the Givon update.

Story's words

2010-07-14T22:09:00.000-07:00

Even though we're still mainly at the point and grunt phase, Story is rapidly adding more words to her vocab...

This week's words are:
yeah (meaning yes)
no
bubbles
ball

Making dahlias

2010-07-08T08:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday a friend had a really beautiful fabric flower in her hair so I went online to figure out how to make them. I really think it's fun to make hair accessories and it's something that I can make in a short amount of time, which is really all I have.

I didn't find a template for the fabric flower (bummer) but I think I saw enough of them online to figure out how it's done so I'm going to try some of those and see if it works the way I think it does.

What I did find was a dahlia template from Martha Stewart (she really has great templates). I had some purple satin left over from another project and decided to try it. Satin is really hard to cut on and shifts a lot as I'm cutting so it's kind of shabby and uneven looking if you look closely, but I think the overall effect is cute. Also, I didn't seal the edges and I'm wondering if I'm going to like the frayed look as it ages a bit. I'm going to experiment a little more, but this is the first attempt.

This took less than 10 minutes though so no complaints on the time factor.

Can you believe Story's hair goes into a ponytail? I wasn't sure if it would!

Like the forehead bruise? Story was getting up on the dining room chair and bonked her head on the table. I didn't realize she had hit it so hard until I saw the goose egg...nice...that's why she was screaming!

Story's 1st pigtails

2010-07-06T14:46:00.001-07:00

Not for lack of trying nor for lack of hair, this was the first time I won the battle and was able to get Story's hair in pigtails. Yep, they lasted about 10 minutes, just long enough for me to take pictures. But then I fixed the bows so they have barrettes on the back instead of alligator clips (in other words, she won't be able to pull them out)! Next time!

4th of July (really the 2nd)

2010-07-06T14:40:00.000-07:00

We had a family bbq on the 2nd of July with our family. We're glad so many could join us. Thanks to Harmony for taking the pictures! These were taken while Grove & Nils were providing us with some fireworks entertainment.

Fun times...

2010-06-25T22:10:00.000-07:00

We had a reunion at the park with Julia and her sweet kids this week.

We have been looking forward to seeing Julia & her kids pretty much since the day they left. Sometimes it's been a daily thing with Haven - Mommy, how long til I can play with Sammy again? and sometimes even tears and needing to call Sammy to talk to her dear sweet friend. Well, summer is finally here and so are they! We're so glad they came to visit! We went to the park with our neighborhood friends and had a great time. Hooray for summer vacation!

Story is 18 months!

2010-06-21T14:38:00.000-07:00

Happy half birthday to our little Story girl.

Usually Story insists on eating with a spoon in each hand, but in honor of turning 18 mos, she abandoned the spoon and went for the spaghettios with gusto.
They wouldn't come out so she got creative...and messy.

Story went to nursery for the first time yesterday. I was told she had a great time. I'm sure she'll keep them on their toes! :)

Here's what Story has been up to: Story goes up and down the stairs on her feet like a "big person". That's pretty much how she prefers to do everything - sit at the big table, eat with utensils, drink from a cup (with ice please), pick out her own clothes, get her own diapers and throw them away when I'm done. She's just a little big person.

And she is little. 18 pounds 6 oz at her last check 2 weeks ago. Impressive, huh? People always ask how much she weighs/how old she is because as much as she doesn't look like she's 18 mos, she sure does act like it.

Story says please and thank you, puppy for any animal, baba (for a sippy cup), mommy, daddy, gg (Garett), sissies (for Holland or Haven), shoes, socks. She babbles constantly and I'm sure she has a lot of words that I haven't figured out yet.

She loves to be outside and is always looking for any door left open to escape from. Sigh.

Story has been blowing kisses for many months, but last week, she started giving kisses on the mouth. She insists that's where they go and she likes to climb up on my lap and wait for me to turn my mouth to her so she can plant one on me. She likes to try this with Garett too. Haha! :)

We're so glad this fun little person is part of our family!

It's oFISHal! We have the best daddy.

2010-06-20T16:55:00.000-07:00

This is why we love our daddy.

story said,me food.
garett,he loves me.

haven,daddy gose to work.

holland said,he is so nice to us.

Written by Holland

The Potty Train

2010-05-29T20:40:00.000-07:00

Garett got on the potty train today. We are so excited for him! We hope that he will continue being excited for himself & keep using the potty. This is big news, people! We've been trying to get him to use the potty for about a year now....
If Grove or I suggests he should use the potty, he ignores us or tells us he doesn't need to, but when the computer reminds him to go potty, he goes into the bathroom without comment and sits on the potty. It's amazing. I wonder what else we can program the computer to tell him to do!!!! :)

Changes

2010-05-23T18:22:00.000-07:00

Our stake split a few weeks ago and every organization in our ward has had changes that are in one way or another related to that.
Grove & I got new callings a week apart so we're adjusting to those. Grove's new calling is Cubmaster and mine is Stake Primary Secretary. So technically we're both in Primary. Grove gets to have the kids by himself in church for several weeks (6 actually) while we go around and introduce ourselves to the wards and do ward conferences. Story isn't in nursery yet so you can maybe understand why I'm sorry for him. We have 11-2 church - right during Story's usual naptime. Sigh...

Grove is also starting a new semester (his last for his MBA) this week. He rocked his classes last semester (after a lot of hard work and some worrying), and he thinks this semester will be easier as far as subject matter even though it's very concentrated into an 8 week summer term.

The kids get out of school for the Summer this week too (is it possible?) and I'm looking forward to some freedom in our schedule after a school year broken into 2 1/2-3 hour segments due to half (except it's not really half) day kindergarten. I'm sure that I will eventually be glad to get them back to school, but I'm looking forward to spending time with them this summer.

Story is starting to talk - she says please, thank you, juice, sauce (applesauce I think), shoes, socks, and probably a few more that I'm forgetting. She can also completely undress herself (in certain outfits) and thinks it's funny to be naked in her crib when I get her in the morning or after a nap. If I ask her if she's stinky, she'll get me the diaper and wipes and lay down on the floor. If she wants a drink, she gets herself a cup and holds it up to anyone she thinks might fill it. If she wants to go outside, she brings me her shoes and/or jacket and bangs on the door. For everything else, she pretty much grunts or squeaks and points until she gets her way. She's a pretty effective communicator! Only about a month til nursery and I think she's going to love it! We will too! It will be so peaceful in church for about 2 months until baby #5 comes.

The kids and I call the baby Givon. Most likely that will be his name unless we change our minds when he comes. Garett bought Givon a stuffed alligator to play with when he comes. It was his idea and I loved so much that he wanted his brother to have a present that I bought it. Grove likes the name Givon but isn't committing quite yet. Procrastinator! Just kidding...

I'm done with PTA after running the Trading Post (the reading incentive program at our school) for 3 years straight. I have officially retired and left it in very capable (and thankfully, not mine) hands.

That's pretty much it for now.

Haven's kindergarten program

2010-05-19T15:14:00.001-07:00

I put the pictures in reverse order (oops) but here are some pictures of our day. I love the kindergarten program at the kids' school. They do such a great job with about a million kindergarten kids. Really, they're amazing.

Story with Haven's top hat

Spidey

Haven had a little speaking part in the program. When asked what she loves about America, she said "I love America because it's the promised land" and that became her part for the program. Must be Utah! :) I love that they let her say it!

Haven and her little buddy. They were having an arm wrestling match before the program, but it was too blurry on my camera b/c I had to zoom in all the way...this was as good as I could get.

Haven's kindergarten class after the program with Miss Sorensen, the awesomest teacher EVER (I'm pretty sure).

Haven before the program - so pretty!

Introducing Smurfette!

2010-05-13T11:57:00.000-07:00

This is what happened when Garett got a stamp prize from the dentist and left it on the kitchen table. Apparently it's fairly washable because it came off with a bath and it even came off the couch. I haven't washed her clothes yet so we'll see.

She must have been sucking on the stamp or something because I can now say that I've seen blue poop. Apparently, it's nontoxic as well!

Baptism pictures

2010-05-08T19:38:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe Holland is baptized! She got a rainy baptism day, which was ok for her since she was getting wet anyway! We had lots of family come for the baptism and really appreicate their support and love!

4 generations - Great Grandma, Grandma Moline, Andrea, Holland
Holland, Natalie & Baby Sam (so tiny!)

Grandpa, Holland, Grandma

Andrea & Holland

Great Grandma & Holland

Holland & Grove at the church just before the baptism

Holland in the dress she designed

Sweet 8 year old girl!

Haven

Garett

I don't know where Story was when Haven & Garett were claiming their camera moments, but I'll post some new pics of her later...

Holland's baptism

2010-04-28T19:15:00.000-07:00

Holland's baptism is this Saturday, May 1, 2010 at 9am. If you want an address or any other info, just email me! Thanks!

Garett gets a brother!

2010-04-16T12:04:00.000-07:00

We found out today that baby #5 is a boy. We're all very excited, but Garett is especially excited to have a brother.
Due date is Sept 5, so probably end of August.

Batman!

2010-04-06T10:10:00.000-07:00

I've been feeling like a lame mom lately - just being so tired all the time. Today I decided to step up and make Garett a batman costume that he's been wanting. He's very excited to wear this to the superhero class he's going to today.

Save the date!

2010-04-04T22:05:00.001-07:00

Holland's baptism is scheduled for May 1st at 9am so please save the date if you'd like to come! We're so excited for her!

This was such an awesome experience!

2010-04-01T15:36:00.000-07:00

Last night, I got to go to the RS Training with the General Presidency in the tabernacle in SLC. I was really looking forward to going even though I wished it wasn't on Haven's birthday, but that's ok. I'm so glad I went. Our presidency carpooled with a presidency from our neighbor ward. It was so much fun.
I shook hands with Sister Beck and Sister Allred and talked with Sister Thompson. We got pictures as a group with Sister Allred and Sister Thompson.
They are all amazing speakers. I took pages of notes. Usually I just listen, but there was a lot of really great advice they gave us - as RS leaders and moms, and women in the church and there were a lot of specifics that I didn't want to forget. I was especially impressed by Sister Thompson. She is such a great teacher and she has a wonderful sense of humor. She also finished each of comments/talks with her testimony of the Savior and that really impressed me too.
If you ever have a chance to go to one of these, GO!!! You won't be sorry!

Happy 6th Birthday Haven!

2010-04-01T15:26:00.000-07:00

Haven turned 6 yesterday! It's hard to believe she's 6. Haven has grown up so much in the past year including a big growth spurt!

Haven really wanted a monkey cake, and I have to say that Grove outdid himself this time! He said he'd take care of it and I'm glad that he did! By the way, this is a girl monkey because she has strawberry cake inside at Haven's request.

Haven was pretty excited about her monkey cake!

And many more...

Haven chose to go to Kangaroo Zoo for her party. We had pizza (her favorite food) and cake and ice cream. Haven had a great birthday!
Haven's favorite color is green.
She loves to color, draw, and write. She also loves to act and sing.
When Haven grows up, she wants to be a ballet teacher.

and another ear infection/cold and a sinus infection and fun pics

2010-03-23T21:11:00.000-07:00

for Holland & I. And that better be the end of sickness...

Now for a few fun pics that I've gotten lately.

This is Haven on St Patrick's Day. She really got into it this year....green hair & all. She went to school like that....completely her idea. She draped a green blanket over my bed for this photo so that it could be all green.

Whose hair does that remind you of?

Well, that's Story straight out of the bath - no product or scrunching necessary. The back is dry - the front is still partly wet, but she has curls for sure. Usually we just brush her hair straight since it's easier...and we don't end up with post-nap rats nest.

....and pneumonia and another ear infection

2010-03-18T12:26:00.001-07:00

Garett had a cough/cold last week and just a lingering occasional cough until yesterday. We went outside for about 10 minutes yesterday to take Haven to the corner for school and he started coughing so hard he actually gagged and threw up before we got in the house....and he kept coughing and throwing up in the house. I called the nurse and she suggested benadryl -had to be something in the air right? The bendadryl worked for a few hours and then it stopped so I called the nurse back and she said no more benadryl (6 hours between doses) so we listened to Garett cough for and hour and a half and gave him ice chips, ice cream, honey, everything I could think of to get him to stop. At some point he stopped, and then he started again. When it had been 6 hours, I gave him more benadryl, which didn't help this time so he coughed the rest of the night til he fell asleep.
This morning, Garett started coughing as soon as he woke up and throwing up soon after so I took him to the dr. The doctor says that Garett has pneumonia and an ear infection. I was surprised by this since I really thought it was allergy related. The dr said it could be both but definitely pneumonia.
So back to the pharmacy for another prescription...poor Garett!

....and a double ear infection and a sinus infection

2010-03-16T10:29:00.000-07:00

for Haven. Poor baby. That explains her on again/off again sickness this past week. Well, at least we know!