Tight Tushy

The other day I squeezed Paige's cute little bum. I said, "Paige, you have a tight little tushy." She laughed and said, "That's because I have on tight underwear."

The Project

I've decided that instead of calling my house my home, I'm going to start calling it "the project". But, I'm enjoying the process. I'm grateful for each small thing that is accomplished (thanks to Steve) and I always look forward to the next thing. I don't think our house will ever be "completed", but maybe that's the fun of it.

This is Steve's latest accomplishment. This massive wall is in our family room. The wood used to be a 1980's honey-colored oak (just like our kitchen cabinets still are). At one time we had our TV mounted above the fireplace. My aunt convinced us that that was the wrong look for that room. She was right, as she has been about everything. Steve took out the cabinets, sanded them and re-stained them. He put a new backing on them and painted them green. My father-in-law made most of the picture frame before he passed away. Steve finished it. Needless to say, that frame is extremely important to our family. Now that it's finished I'm afraid to put anything on the shelves. I don't want to mess it up. I guess it's time to give Aunt Kay another call.

Life is Good

I haven't posted for a while and looking at my Halloween background motivated me to do something.

Yesterday my sister-in-law, Heather, took our family pictures. She is very talented and you can see some of her work on her blog - http://heathergunnellphotography.blogspot.com/. We bribed the kids to cooperate by promising them a treat. We took them out to dinner at Tasty Joes (chinese). They didn't like it, and it cost us $40 to take our family. We ate the leftovers for lunch today. They were not happy to see rice on their plates for a second day in a row. But I told them I am not throwing $40 in the garbage. We WILL eat it - we just won't take them there again. We should have just taken them to Wendy's.

Paige has been sick again but is getting better. She is getting her six year molars, has two canker sores in her mouth and a croupy cough. Poor thing. She is a sweety when she is sick, though. There is very little yelling and fighting when Paige is out of the mix. She is feeling much better now and so she is back at peak performance. I said, "It's amazing how there is not fighting when you are sick, Paige." In her very irate voice she says, "WELL, NO ONE IS MEAN TO ME WHEN I AM SICK!"

Steve has been working on our family room this weekend. He sanded and restained the bookshelf and mantle. I love it. We want to get as much done as possible before company comes for Thanksgiving. He works so hard. I feel like a real bum next to him. He works all day at his job, comes home and helps me with the kids, does paperwork, works on our house, goes to church meetings. His list never ends, and he never acts out of sorts with me about it. He is patient and obedient. I am so grateful for him.

I Pledge Allegiance

I wanted to write this down so that I can remember it forever.

Paige: Mom, want to hear me say the Pledge of Allegiance?

Mom: Sure.

Paige: I pledge allegiance to the flag, of the United States of America. And to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all a moment of silence please.

Fall Break

We spent our Fall Break in Pinetop with my mom and dad. We always have a great time there. It's nice to relax in the cool weather, be with family and eat my mom's cooking. These are someof the things we did while we were there:

We picked raspberries from Grandma's raspberry patch. Grandma bought Paige and Jenna some press on nails. Paige had hers on the first hour we were there. She soon discovered it was difficult to do things with them on, especially suck her fingers.

The girls are always working on a craft. They love to get into the craft box. They have quite an imagination.

Taryn loved to be outside. She was a happy little sweetheart.

Taryn sure knows how to make her grandma and grandpa feel loved.

The boys had fun target shooting in the backyard.

We even had fun watching the squirrels. Oh, no, that's not a squirrel - it's Grandpa's hair!!!

Thanks for the great time up at the cabin, Mom and Dad!

Remodel

These are some pictures of what we have been doing to our kitchen and family room. I'm happy with how things are turning out. This is going to be an extremely long process, but then again, our whole house is just one big project. Once I was getting discouraged with my home. I was admiring our newly painted kitchen, and then immediately started thinking about how so many other things needed to be done. I felt overwhelmed and ashamed for being ungrateful. Then, the thought came to me: Enjoy the Process. That's my new motto. It reminds me a bit of President Monson's counsel: Find Joy in the Journey.

Hot Buns

No, not my buns, these. I made hamburger buns for the first time ever. I was proud of how they turned out, and they tasted quite good if I do say so myself. I served my sister-in-law, Heather's, delicious sloppy joe sauce on top of them (go to Downright Delish for her recipe). It's the first sloppy joe my kids didn't whine about.

Thanks for your comments from my last post. I'm tellin ya, I don't know why it's so hard for me to figure this computer stuff out. Steve is the one who got this fall template up for me. I tried and tried and could not figure it out. Thanks for not giving up on me. I'll keep trying. I know I'll get it one day. O.K., Allison, go pick on Stephanie for a while :)

I'm Back...maybe

Allison suggested that I not look at anyone's blog until I update my own. I'm taking her suggestion. I have to admit, I'd much rather spend a 1/2 hour looking at all of your blogs than spend 5 minutes writing about my own life.

Since my last post a lot has happened. Most significantly, my father-in-law passed away while we were on vacation with him at the beach. Most of you know the circumstances of this event, so I won't talk about it too much. We miss him terribly, but we know that he is happy and lived up to every expectation our Heavenly Father had of him. What an amazing example he was and still is to our families.

We are redecorating our kitchen and family room. I shouldn't say RE-decorating because we are actually just decorating it for the first time. My Aunt Kay has been helping me a lot. She has been very generous with her time and advice. Basically, she tells me what I need to do and we do it. As long as I follow her advice, I know it will look great. It already is starting to take shape. I'll post some pictures another time.

I love being home with Taryn while my kids are at school. It's a peaceful time, especially while she's napping. I have a bit more freedom and lots more discretionary time.

O.K., that's enough for now. I bore myself reading this :) Why does everyone else's life seem so much more interesting than my own. Don't get me wrong, I am very happy and love my life; but really, it's boring.

Can You Say...Cryptosporidium?

Last Wednesday I took my kids to the Tempe Town Beach Park for a few hours of fun in the water. We had a great time and Taryn was so cute playing in the water. I even thought it was so cute when she tried to drink the water that was spouting out of a little whale's head. Little did we know that the water was contaminated with a feces-born parasite called cryptosporidium!!!

Friday evening on the news it was reported that the park was shut down because of the parasite. Great, I thought, I hope none of us get sick.

Saturday around 5:00 a.m. it hit me. I was running to the toilet and it's been my closest friend even up until today.

I called the City of Tempe and they were very kind, sympathetic and apologetic about what had happened. Apparently, I was the first one to call and report an illness. My kids have been o.k., thank heaven! Taryn has a bit of diarrhea but seems to be acting just fine.

We're supposed to leave on a vacation this Saturday. I've lost two days of preparation and I still don't know how much longer it will be until I feel like myself again. I get a little stressed when I think about everything that needs to be done before we go. Steve is a huge help, though, and I know he'll do everything he can to help us get ready.

Lesson: expect the unexpected when you go to public recreational swimming venues, make sure kids have clean swimming diapers, don't drink the water, maybe just don't go at all :(

Holiday Weekend

We had a great weekend that began with a ward breakfast party. We sang patriotic songs, said the pledge of alliegance, listened to a patriotic story, had a bike parade and enjoyed a pancake breakfast. It was a great way to begin the 4th of July weekend. Whenever I say the pledge I get a little choked up. As a child, you just said the pledge out of habit at school. As an adult, I think about its meaning and I am filled with gratitude for our great country.

I stayed up late the night before the parade in order to decorate the girls' bikes. I thought they turned out pretty good. Although, our tissue paper flowers remind me more of a Mexican Fiesta than an Independence Day Parade. Oh well, the girls and I had fun making them.

After our ward party we headed up to my Mom and Dad's cabin in Pinetop. I must say, though, this is more of a home than a cabin. Instead of quading we watched cable. Oh well, the kids were happy. We enjoyed the beautiful weather, tooks lots of walks, ate way too many sweets (I did at least), enjoyed a contentious game of Settler's (at least there was no cussing this time) and enjoyed my mom's delicious cooking. What is it about being up north that makes me so hungry. I'm always snacking up there. It was a little hard to come back down to the heat, but at least we can look forward to other get-aways.

Fun Over-Nighter

This last Friday we took the kids to stay at the Pointe at Squaw Peak. We stayed overnight in the Hilton resort hotel in Phoenix and enjoyed the water park Friday and Saturday. It was a fun get-a-way even though we weren't far away. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures out at the pool. It was too hard to hold onto Taryn and take pictures of the kids. I was worried about getting the camera wet. This is TT in the room wearing her "googles". She know the older kids put them on their heads and so she likes to do that too. She is so proud of herself when she gets them to stay on her head without falling off.

Summer Fun!!!

Summer has definitely begun and I'm having a good time with the kids being home. Boredom has not set in yet. The kids stay busy all morning with swim team. Paige and Jenna take a P.E. class and jump roping class, respectively, each morning. The girls also do a cooking class with a friend once a week. Finally, we have play dates set up with friends during the week as well. I keep them busy with plenty of chores and piano lessons. I take them swimming during the day. Taryn has really taken to the water. I definitely have to keep my hands and eyes on her at all times.

I decided to teach the kids piano myself since I wanted Paige to start taking as well. It gets a little pricey with 3 kids in lessons. Kyle and Jenna are a sinch to teach (thanks, Meredith for doing all the hard work). Paige is difficult because she doesn't seem to grasp the concepts as well. At least I've been consistent. I think that will be the key to success.

On June 3rd Taryn went into PCH to have her little pyogenic granuloma removed from below her eye. She looks so fantastic. It's going to be unoticeable very soon. I'm so glad we did that. I was a little worried about her going under anesthesia, but I had nothing to worry about. The entire event was smooth and simple. The staff at PCH are terrific! The above picture is in the PCH preop waiting area. Taryn had so much fun playing with all of the toys.

Mind Your Manners

My family (children) desperately needed a lesson in manners. Any bodily function at the table is a-go, complaining about a gross dinner is fine, screaming at each other is a normal way to communicate, and if screaming doesn't work then hitting should get the message across.

I finally decided that a FHE lesson on manners was overdue. We spent a wonderful weekend at my parent's cabin and when my kids complained about Grandma's chicken noodle soup, I was very embarrased.

The next Monday night I prepared a lesson on manners. It went very well and the kids were enthusiastic about participating. We have a jar on the table, and when someone is caught showing good manners we put some glass rocks into the jar. We hope to fill it by the end of the week and then do something fun as a family. It's only been two days and the jar is half full. It's fun to watch the kids be so kind to each other, say please and thank you, and then run to put some rocks into the jar. They are very proud of themselves and I am proud of them, too.

Tractor Time

What an amazing day yesterday was. It was a ward service day. Many people - mostly men and boys -spent the morning helping neighbors with any work that was needed. Even Kyle was working. He has always begged us to let him help paint. Well, yesterday he got to help paint a widow's trailer and found out that it really isn't that fun.

Around lunch time the service day was finished and we were about to head over to the park for a ward picnic. But, there was a lady raking rock in her front yard across the street. She was trying to scrape an entire yard clear of rock. She really had no where to put it anyway. So, Steve, the bishop, Orson Wilkins (driving the tractor), another neighbor and his wife, and many children went to help her. Brother Wilkins scraped the rock and everyone else shoveled it into the tractor. Then they would drive the rock over to a dumpster in the church parking lot.

For two hours they worked in the yard. The kids had a blast riding in the tractor. They got to ride the entire time and they never got tired of it. They got to help drive the tractor and Brother Wilkins would dump them out of the lift when they got to where they were going. Kyle and some other boys would hang onto the shovel as Brother Wilkins lifted it off the ground. They would drop off when the couldn't hang on any longer. They had such a fun time.

When everyone finally finished the work, the picnic was over. The extra food was brought to our front yard and we all sat down on the sidewalk and had lunch together. I was touched to see so many neighbors coming together to help someone else. I feel blessed to live around such good people.

Bike Ride

Paige, Taryn and I went for a little bike ride to Sprout's this morning. This was Taryn's first time in the trailer. She was happy the whole time. It was good that she had her big sister to snuggle into and keep her from bouncing around too much. Thankfully all of our groceries fit into the back of the trailer on the way home. I almost went a little overboard.

Ultimate Multi-tasking

Paige was cracking us up! She was talking to her friend from school for the 3rd time that afternoon. Do I have a 5 year old or a 15 year old? I think I'm in trouble when she actually is a teenager.

Updated!!!

I know, I know, I'm pathetic. I just now read the comments from last year and January. I saw Heather last night and got motivated to put something down. Shelby, I read your comment. How do I see your blog or respond to you? I'm just learning this stuff.Near Valentine's Day we decorated cookies with some of our friends. Kyle layered 4 cookies together, but decided it didn't taste very good. It was a lot of fun.

We've had a lot of sickness running through our family lately. It started with Paige getting Croup. Then Taryn got a fever - I think relating to teething. Then Kyle got sick this last weekend. Now Taryn has a fever again. Will it ever end?! Thankfully, I am well and can take care of all the sick-os. But I sure could use a nap today.

Taryn has had a hemangioma on her left eye for quite some time. It all started with a tiny scratch from her fingernail back in December. So, when you see her pictures you will no doubt notice a huge red growth under her eye. It is improving, thankfully, but I don't know how long it will take for it to completely go away.

Kyle had his Pinewood Derby last week. He came in 3rd. His car was shaped like a waveboard. I thought it was pretty cool. His Grandpa Montierth made the stand.

o.k., this took me FOREVER. I don't know when I'll do it again. How does any mom have time to do this stuff. Taryn is crying on my lap while I peck at the keys with one finger. DONE, for now...