girls just wanna have fun!

For Activity Days the girls are getting ready for a Mother & Daughter Garden Luncheon we are having. They put together the invites tonight - I had the print done, but they made a flower & wrap for the card & we think they were cute! Added bonus - the girls have a headband for their American Girl dolls :)

We then mod-podged a flower vase using the stain glass technique - I was amazed & impressed that the girls finished & that a huge mess wasn't made!

I forgot to take a picture of the girls - our fingers were rather sticky all night, but these were some of the end results. It's a lot of fun serving in a calling where I get to hang out with Madeleine :)

on my honor

 Little B got his new Cub Scout uniform today & he is SO excited to wear it to scouts tomorrow! We are lucky that he gets to start a few months early with scouting...and of course it involves a story - what part of our life doesn't have a story with it!

A family moved in across the street from us few weeks before we moved in. They are from Omaha and their son is in 3rd grade - a year older than Bryson. They aren't members of the church, and the mom was lamenting to me one day that it has been hard for her son to make friends. I asked her if she'd consider signing him up for scouts and she was very enthusiastic, but asked if Bryson was in a troop. I told her that he wouldn't start until 8 years old, but that maybe they would let him come along with her son just so he could feel easy in a new group.

I shouldn't have worried, as once the leader of scouts found out the situation, they invited Bryson to start at the same time and so he and his friend Christian are the newest Cub Scouts in our neighborhood troop!

They have had such a great time at the last 2 meetings & the best news...the Pinewood Derby is next week! Bryson is super excited about making a car with his dad and trying it out next week!

I thought it was so awesome how excited he was to put on his uniform - he asked me to be sure that the picture showed the wolf on his belt.

We are excited for the road we are on with scouting with Bryson and then Jacob. Let the fun, adventure, and honor of scouting begin!

Deep Thoughts by Jacob

It usually takes Jacob the longest to fall asleep of any of the kiddos. He has to be completely worn out, to fall asleep quickly. Tonight, we tucked him in and he is trying to fall asleep as he says - but every so often he calls out from his room to ask a question. Here are my favorites :)

"Mom, if I don't go to bed will I shrink?"

"Do you remember that I don't have school on Thursday?"

- Me: "Yes"

"Why don't I have school again?"

-Me: "They have a big event at school that day & the moms and dads can't drive up there"

"Oh yeah, some guy is going to be singing really loud and it will hurt our ears!"

{I'll have to ask his teacher how he got that answer...kids walk away hearing the craziest things at times!}

"If I close my eyes, the sun will still come up...right Mom?"

"How does my body when it's asleep, know that it's time to get up?"

I love that boy - he is the cutest, craziest, goofiest and greatest 5 year old around!

looking up

I ran into this poster while looking for an idea on Pinterest -- I haven't been on there lately (which is a good thing!), but when I go I always find little gems...and this was a favorite :)  When Elder Cook gave his talk during the last General Conference (October 2011 - click HERE to read), I loved his story of being in the elevator and having President Monson tell him it's better to Look Up.  True advice for anyone, anywhere.

For myself, I remember hearing that during an extremely hard time we were going through with the PTA.  I sometimes have to laugh because I tend to talk about how crazy and hard everything was - there were great moments as well, and some amazing friends...but it was a trial for sure!  Anyway - the talk, the quote and remembering to LOOK UP really helped me out during that time.

I'm thankful for the words of encouragement and advice we are given in the gospel.  

Here are some of the favorite lines that I keep handy in my mind....what are lines that you remember?
Look Up - Do it NOW - Stop IT! - Lengthen Your Stride - Every Member a Missionary - Come What May and LOVE It! - and on and on and on.

pretty awesome...

Blogger was not being very friendly last night...I posted the pictures, wrote a post and then it was deleted! I realized it immediately - but I didn't want to stay up and write the same post.  I finally bit the bullet and rewrote it...thankfully this time blogger was kind :)

Friday the older kids have early out at 1:05 & Jacob's Kindergarten starts at 1:10 up at the UofU.  The timing doesn't work really well to have everyone where they need to be at the exact time, and since my mom usually has Friday off - I have her pick up the older kids so that Madeleine can have a piano lesson and they get time with Grandma while I take Jacob up to class and either volunteer that afternoon or run errands.

This week she had the kiddos earlier in the week, so I picked up the older kids from school and then we cruised to get Jacob to his class...he was late, but thankfully his class is laid back about this :) We then drove down to Gateway and had plans to go shopping at Gymboree (Gymbucks time!) and head to the Children's Museum.

Two strikes were that 1) Gymboree is no longer in the Gateway. I should have double-checked! and 2) the children's museum was insanely busy as part of the Salt Lake area must have been on Spring Break. Every foot of the museum was packed with kids and it was not fun - so we left after 20 minutes...we signed up for the 6 month pass back in March so coming and going will be much easier and I won't feel guilty at how long we stay :)

We tried to find a park while I drove through the avenues back towards the U. I saw a big grassy area up a few blocks and drove towards it --- only to realize that we had come upon the Salt Lake Cemetery. This may seem weird to many people - for me, it's natural. My father was a Funeral Director when I was growing up - I wouldn't say I'm at home around death and the things related...but it doesn't bother me. I also love this specific cemetery as my Grandma Miller is buried there, and it has one incredible view of the Salt Lake Valley...oh, and it has many of the Prophets buried there as well :) We drove by George Albert Smith's family plot on the way out and saw his headstone. The older kids and I were amazed & I want to go back and see if we can find the other Prophets plots at a later time.

Anyway, we were able to find my Grandma's headstone after I drove up and down those narrow little "streets" and could feel that I was getting close, but couldn't remember the exact location. I'm so thankful that Grandpa Miller decided to get a headstone that is prominent to read from the street...that it is VERY close to the road also really helps.

The kiddos and I got out and we viewed her headstone and talked about how long she had lived, and then also viewed the headstone of her parents which are buried in the neighboring plot, as well as her sister who died at 2 years of age. It was a brief visit as it was chilly & windy - however it was sweet. There is a very special spirit, one of reverence and remembering, at cemeteries and I'm looking forward to Memorial Day when we will do a tour of a few cemeteries to go and visit ancestors that have passed on.

On the way out, we passed by this amazing flowering tree and I was just in awe at how intense the blooms were. I asked Madeleine to take a picture for me & she snapped one on the phone from the car (1st photo). Then she looked at it, and told me she needed to go closer to get a better shot. She hopped out, and took the 2nd photo - which really was better! I'm so proud of her little photographer eye!

Photo 1

Photo 2 (I made it larger - but look how much better it is!)

When we got home, the kiddos and I worked together to make Zuppa Toscana soup for dinner. This is THE meal that we all love and could have on a very regular basis....oh, it's so yummy! The great part as well is that everyone loves to help make it, which I love as it's not a complicated soup - it just takes time.

The boys got to work peeling potatoes & in the middle of their work Bryson Jr. asked me if we could open a family restaurant so we could work together. I love the idea & would love to be able to do that...

Hopefully it can be sooner than later - I love working together and it's especially nice when we are all working on a project and everyone is getting along. Ahhhh...I'll take a 1/2 hour of {almost} bliss :)

Madeleine was trying her hand out (literally) in cutting the slice of potato --- however she still needs some tutoring and I was worried a finger would be chopped off in the process of trying to finish dinner. Then I had a brilliant thought - the slicer I had purchased after a demo at the local grocery store (yes, I fell for one of those sales marketing little demo shows!) - so I pulled it out and she whipped through slicing the potatoes on the new little kitchen gadget - she was happy to get to stay on this important task & I was happy we didn't lose any fingers in the process!

To finish the evening, Bryson and I left the kiddos with Nana & Papa Lord at our house and we enjoyed a date night to the Jordan River Temple. We are so blessed (and now spoiled - we haven't had this many dates in years) with family around to watch the kiddos! I love how it allows time for the kiddos to develop a relationship with their grandparents - how awesome to have a pick-up soccer game in the backyard with Papa Lord?  Attention from Nana for whatever it is a child needs at the time.  And to have piano lessons from Grandma Joy and play in her backyard each week?  

It is certainly true that the little things make life pretty awesome indeed.

spicy life

I had hopes to write a comment about motherhood and a little bit of my own feelings after the huge debate taking place after Hillary Rosen's comments.  Wow - the media world was abuzz today!  However, this mom is tired.  It was a hard night working with Bryson Jr. - we have up days and then the down days are intense.  His moods are such I don't even know completely how to describe - only that they are really hard to work through, keep patience with him and remember that 'this too shall pass'.  It mostly started after dinner & the height of his outbursts came during scripture time.  I'm emotionally exhausted from dealing with him most days.  Some days there is just more spice in that boy than I can handle...and I like spicy things!

Madeleine who is usually on track and one that I don't have to worry about monitoring is still up and still hasn't finished her homework!  She loves to write and draw, and subsequently has spent way too long on her homework assignment of writing a book.  She is upset that she isn't done and super tired...and now she needs to wake up very early tomorrow to finish before school starts.  We need to teach her how to pace out her homework and not to do the 150% and beyond on the assignments that she loves...but that she needs to get ALL homework completed.  Life lesson to learn - better start now to see that she understands how to meet multiple deadlines in life :)

So, that is the gist of the night....I think I have a little heart burn (or just a hurt heart) from all the flavor and spiciness that has been dealt out.  These are the times I just want to take a break - even though I know you can't take a break as mom...but it's easy to start to wonder if what you are doing matters at all.  Anyway - on to a happy memory about good spicy :)

Here is a memory from about 3 weeks ago when my sisters and their families was here for a little mini-reunion.  We had Indian food tonight and it reminded me of the night that we went out as married couples.  My mom told us that she'd have dinner with all the grandkids at her house & play games while we all went out to eat.  We hurried out of the house that Wednesday night (3/21/12) and went up the street to a new Indian restaurant that opened 'Spice Bistro' --- we all agree the name is lousy & when the manager asked us for feedback we told him honestly that the restaurant is much more than the name lends one to believe...the name should be changed, but he wasn't really wanting honest feedback in all areas it appeared :)  Here is the restaurant & it's interesting (silly?) name....hopefully it will stay in business despite the name & if you are in the area and like Indian definitely try it!  

We sat through a relaxed meal where we didn't have to serve children, make sure vegetables were eaten, and remind children to use good manners...we just enjoyed the company of adults!  This is the first time we've all gone out to eat together, and it was a favorite part of the week!  We sat around talking about our families, life & anything big or little that came up.  We filled our plates and then our tummies with the delicious food and then we wandered out to the parking lot....and looked across the way and saw Wendy's.  We weren't really hungry, but we wanted something sweet - so we ended up sitting in Wendy's having a Frosty :)

We seemed to talk a little more in-depth about life at our stretch of tables at Wendy's.  We think this might be because the place was empty (except for the two guys that came in when we were done and we asked them to take our picture!)....it was funny how the entire night was enjoyable, but it truly was the dessert/sweetest part of the night just talking it out at Wendy's.  Here are to future nights out with the couples & whether we always end with a Frosty, that little simple dessert will always hold great memories for me!  

 Brooke & Scott, Dan & Celeste, and Bryson & Me 

Raindrops

There is something so simple & sweet about a child and an umbrella!

Our fabulous sunny & very warm weather took a dip this evening & as I left for a Relief Society activity Jacob followed me outside to play with the raindrops for a few minutes.

He told me he was singing in the rain...which they watched last week - Madeleine grew up on that show, especially between 18 months & 2 years when she took an umbrella with her almost everywhere! The boys don't remember the show & they thought Cosmo was hilarious...which he is!

It's fun to take a moment to dance, splash, stomp & kick away in the rain!