Sept 30, 2013

A week round up
1. Kate's self portrait from art class at school
2.  A cannibal baby- Bethy finds a baby on the ground and tries to eat its face off.
3. Mary is learning to write her name.... at just barely two years old she has the M down and the A
4. I made some photo props for a little class I taught on photography.  The kids had some fun with them before hand
5. The kids playing tea party  Little is better when the kids happily play all together
6. Bethany- she is minutes from crawling.  I have to gaurd the stairs all the time.
7.  Bethany bundled up to go out- in a cute owl hat and smiling.
8.  Sam helping me make a slide show for that same photo class, I thought it was a great picture of him even though it was in my "what not to do" examples

Sept, 30 2013

After getting things in order, organizing their life, selling their beloved farm, dealing with several health issues and waiting for a call for many more months than expected my dear in-laws entered the MTC this morning.

They will be serving a mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for the next 18 months in Iceland- working in the Church Education System there.

We are thrilled to the moon for them.  And will of course miss them dearly.

They left their home in California a little over a week ago.  We picked them up at the airport and lended them one of our cars for the week as they traveled the state visiting their kids and siblings who live here.  And then came to us.  That is what happens when you lend them your car-  they have to spend their very last days with you! So we had them for the last two and a half days and got to drop them off.  Our visit was fantasitc. And dropping them off what a great experience especially for our kids who are just learning what a mission is and all about. I am so proud to have them as in-laws.  I couldn't ask for anyone better.  Truly.  They are dream in-laws.  We can't wait to hear all about their adventures.

A funny note- even though we have dropped them off at the MTC, we get to see them again for General Conference.  They will be excused from the MTC because most senior missionaries are only in the MTC for the week, but because of their special CES assignment they will return to the MTC for part of an additional week- They get the weekend off.   So we didn't have to say our goodbye's today.

Sept 20, 2013

I have a new game .

It is called "What is in my car"

It is a pretty great game.  And it comes with prizes.

It has simple rules too.

The rules: You clean out the car- and you get to pick one item to keep for the strange and broad selection found in that car.

If you had played today you may have won

1.Your choice of blankets
2. A children's training toliet
3. Empty plastic organizers
4. An oven mit
5. A bag of soccer balls which belong to the Rec Center
6. Various stools and chairs
7. A bag full of goodies from the Emergency Preparedness Fair
8. A blue backpack with diapers and toliet paper in it
9. A church bag with several binders for Relief Society
10. A diaper bag mostly empty
11. A selection of circus prints and posters
12. A half eaten pear
13. An "eclectic"  set kitchen glasses and cups

The really sad thing is that Monday night as a family we cleaned out both the cars.  Had you played before Monday I think you may have won

1. Your choice of 6 childrens sweatshirt
2. A collection of Disney and Learning videos
3. 17 pens
4. a beach towel
5. A tripod
6. Several tubes of half used diaper cream
7. 3 bottles of sunscreen and 3 cans of bug spray
8. Two sets of scriptures
9. a cookie sheet
10. a collection of children's dress up jewelry
11. 5 socks
12.  4 shoes
13. Several items of clothing belonging to a scout in the Daniel's Canyon Ward
14. A handful of sprinkler parts
15. REAL Salt Lake vouchers we forgot about
16. Two strollers and a Baby Bjorn
17. one mens plain white baseball cap
18. about $5 in bills and change
19. Three bottles of hand sanitizer
20. Four tubes of chapstick or lip gloss
21. Three pairs of women's sunglases
22. Four handfuls of color crayons
23. About five Sunday's worth of Primary and Nursery crafts made by beautiful smart children
24. A coupon binder complete with coupons

.............and other stuff I can't remember.

How we also have four car seats in there is beyond me.

See it is a pretty fun game right.
If you are interested just give me a call.  You clean the car out and take a fabulous prize home.
I think it could really catch on.
Or maybe I should just open an EBAY store with the misc car treasure as inventory.


I remember my last few years of college I felt like I lived out of my car.  I would go from work to school to internship without returning home all day.  Each required me to have different things and wear different clothing.  And eat something sometime.  And then appear presentable for a date perhaps after all of that, all out of my car.  I even had perfume samples and a mirror.  And usually a lot of v8 juice.  I thought the car was pretty rough then.  But that was when only one person- me- was living out of it.  Now I have four children.

Don't you love it.

Sept 19, 2013 (Aug 16, 2013)

Miss Marianne turned two (a few weeks ago)
I've been meaning to do some two year old pictures for her for weeks.  We finally did it today.  Kate and Sam were at school, Bethany was asleep and her and I needed something to do.  So we  put on a pretty dress, packed up a few blankets, her favorite babies and a tea set and set out for an adventure.  She just thought we were going to have a tea party- in a new location- we drove in the car, she didn't know I had alternative motives- like a photo shoot.  She set up her tea party with delicate little hands, placing each cup precisly where she wanted sure to now let it tip over. She is such a sweet girl.  She helped me pack things in a suitcase I provided for her.  Was great to listen and put the things away when I wanted her too, and spent a lot of the tea party offering me goodies and helping her babies touch the leaves high in the tree.

About Marianne at age 2.
height: 36 inches- 94%
weight: 27.3lbs-56%
head: 49 cm 86%
I already mentioned that she is projected to be 5ft 9in.  Really- she is a big beautiful girl.
She is still missing some teeth and her birthmark on her forehead shows up really well when it is a bit chilly. of course dimples never go out of style either.  Her hair has turned to a very blonde and long and thick.  She is a real beauty.

We call her "Mer, Mari, Marianne, and sometimes my angel or MaryAndy.
She likes babies- which I believe she may think are real people, block, doll houses, cartoons- especially this strange one called "oogiloves" minnie mouse, coloring, playing with kids, helping with the baby, riding her swivel car like a pro and going anywhere in the car and eating fruit. She loves to pretend to and read books, and brush her teeth. She just recently mastered going to nursery with out crying.
She actually seems to like just about anything.  She is always such a sweet happy girl.
She doesn't like eating dinner.And had just barely started to be a classic two year old.  There is an occasional fit from her but it is usually because she want something and we can't understand her.

Her vocabulary is adorable.  She is always saying funny things like "come get me, come get me"  when he wants the kids to play with her, or "uh oh Mommy Bethy babys awake" when she hears her sister cry. She also always says "hi mommy, hi mommy" whenever I might be getting angry at the other kids in an attempt to make me happy and smile. It usually works.  She sings a few songs including some "oogilove" song, Jesus wants me for a sunbeam, and I love you a bushel and a peck, and the abc's too.  She knows all of her letters and all of there sound, but still doesn't know all her colors.  Her gross motor skills are super advanced it seems. She can play soccer, rider her little bike, throw, and even jump with the bigger kids on the trampoline.

It has been such a wonderful year watching her grow and learn.  And even a delightful surprise that her happy baby temperment has mostly followed her into her toddler stage.  It is crazy to think that one year ago she was learning to walk and now she can jump on a trampoline, kick a soccer ball, climb on the counter to make herself a nutella sandwich, put her shoes on by herself, and ride her little bike super fast down the culda sac.  That combined with how smart she is and how tall she is and I feel like sometimes I accidentally skipped a year and she is really 3.

It has been so fun these last couple days with the two older kids at school and Bethy down for a nap, her and I hang out together, go see the pets at the pet store or run an errand and she love every minute.  Marianne just has a love for life, that spreads to each of us in our family.  She is always happy and wants to make other happy too. She has a special concern for babies real or pretend and is always trying to help.
She really is a special girl, who has taught me so much already about how to love and be happy and has brought us so much joy.

Happy TWO YEARS OLD Marianne- a bit late.

Sept 16 2013

This afternoon we had things to do planned  Laundry, work, and maybe even some flu shots.  Jake at lunch said maybe we should go to the zoo when Kate got home- I had mentioned wanting to sometime soon, and that was about as soon as it could get.  It was the best day to go.  The weather was perfect and there was nobody at the whole zoo.  Plus I got some of the last discount tickets at the tire store in town who had them.
Our kids were happy and pleasant and having a blast.  And not only was it the zoo- there was a lego animal exhibit as well.  And you know our kids and LEGOs. sooo it was win win win win win.... win.

We were having a wonderful slow paced afternoon at the zoo, until we got to the Polar Bear tank- which is new.  Then our trip turned from wonderful- to the best zoo trip ever!  The polar bear was super friendly and visited our kids at the glass and swam around like crazy- we stayed at the Polar Bear tank for almost 30 minutes.  It was so much fun!

It was Bethany's first trip to a zoo-  she hardly noticed except that she was missing her nap. Mari roared at the bear- and said "elephant" adorably.  Sam was interested in "legendary snakes"??? and Kate reminded us that she knew all about the zoo because she went on a field trip there in kindergarten.  Also Sam and Kate as always got maps and navigated the entire time- that is one of their favorite parts to figure out the maps and tell us which way to go.

It has been a few years since I have felt like we are able to go and have fun as a family- like since before I got pregnant with Mari three years ago.  It is great to be back to a place where I feel like we can enjoy doing things as a family.
I always say there are hard things about being self employed, I complain about our health insurance on a weekly basis for example- but nothing beats being able to sneak  Jake away from work for hours of family time when ever the weather is perfect and we feeling like going to the zoo.