Father's Day Gift

Father's Day is coming and I want to give Tay a really unique and fun gift that will be sentimental but also something he will really like. I found this website call wordle.com and you can type in any words and make a cool graphic print. I typed in words that describe Tay as a Father. I'm going to play with this more and ask the kids to desribe Tay before I finalize it. I think I am going to have it printed on canvas at Costco fo his office.

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Mesa Temple Easter Pageant

Mesa Temple Easter Pageant

We are so lucky to live near such an awesome and historic temple.  Each year the temple puts on a great pageant that depicts the life and death of Jesus Christ.  It is one of our favorite family traditions for the Easter season.  Mel, Judy and I went down 4 hours early to save seats (believe me it is necessary.)  We had a lot of fun laughing, reading, and trying to find ways to keep ourselves out of the sun.  Judy was reading her book with sunglasses on and reading glasses over the top of them.  Finally the guys arrived with all the kids (minus Lucy) and we all sat down to view the presentation.  I love to listen to my kids comments as they watch the life and ministry of Christ acted out in front of them.  They love it and I think come to a greater and more real understanding of all the things that we are teaching them.  There is a huge cast and also a ton of live animals which make it really fun to watch.  This year Taylor’s mission president and his wife were called to serve as the Mesa Temple Visitors Center President and we are so excited to have them here!  They started a new thing where after the show you can go inside the center and take pictures in these photo spots with the cast.  The kids loved the solders (?!) and got to hold there “real” swords.  If you haven’t been to the pageant go.  It is an awesome experience.

Turkey Dinner

Turkey Dinner

Around Thanksgiving last year I got a free turkey for spending over $50 on groceries from the grocery store.  I promptly put it in my freezer and forgot about it.  You see I have always have a fear of the turkey dinner.  Turkey is a tough one to make really yummy and so I simply never tried.  It has been the elephant in my freezer so to speak for too long and so I decided one night to make it for dinner.  I winged (haha) it and even invited some friends over to share in the dinner.  I am proud to announce that I am officially an adult as I have successfully prepared a turkey dinner.  It was pretty darn tasty too I might add. 

Going Private

We have decided to go private with our blog. Leave your email if you would like to be invited to view our blog. I totally don't mind if you are reading as a friend of a friend or whatever we just need to keep ourselves from being google searched. Thanks!

Jameson’s Easter Party

Jameson’s Easter Party

James had an awesome preschool teacher (who just so happens to be a fabulous friend of mine.)  James is an apprehensive kid to say the least but Ms. Jessica has charmed him.  He loves her and loves going to school at her house.  He has learned so much and has been able to do all sorts of fun things.  Jess put on a really fun Easter party for the class and I volunteered to go help out.   We set up these darling IKEA tables she has at the greenbelt across the street from her house and the kids got to dye eggs.  She had them put there egg in and then count to 25 as a group and then remove them and rotate to the the right and then drop there egg in again and count again.  It was a great and educational way to do Easter eggs.  James dyed his hands a lovely brown for about 2 days.  Next they had a spoon and egg race.  All the kids did really well keeping there eggs on there wooden spoons and making it to the finish line.  Finally she had an egg hunt.  First the kids just got to run and find Easter eggs hidden all over.  Then we gathered the kids together and did it a second time only this time we had written letters on the eggs and the kids had to find the eggs that would spell out there names.  It was awesome!  The kids loved it and it kept the egg hunt going for longer than the usual 5 minutes.  Isn’t that the best idea!  I’m going to do it every year for sure.  

Springfest

Springfest 2010

Each year the kids school has a Springfest.  This year each class had to come up with a booth.  Some classes did a dunk tank, one had a bounce house obstacle course, Wes’ class did a face painting booth (which I worked at for most of the afternoon).  Weston also had a martial arts demonstration which he was in to showcase all the things that the kids had learned over the year.  Before the demonstration started we headed over to the bounce house so James could let loose before he had to sit still to watch Wes.  James is growing so fast.  I always feel like I need to help do physical things but he always amazes me  how he can do just about everything Wes can do now.  Isaac and James took some turns through the course.  Check out the air Isaac caught bounding over the course.

Next is was time for Wes’ little show.  He is such a peanut compared to the rest of the kids because he is in Kindergarten a year early.  Everyone always tells me how adorable he is and how good his manners are.  It’s true.  My kids may be crazy but they really do have great manners.   He did a great job and looked adorable doing it.  He loves martial arts and loves his teachers who make the kids call them Nagus and Shifu (like from Kung Fu Panda.) I love that even though i think the teachers tell them to look ahead and be seriuos he always finds a way to give a little wave and smile for his Mama.  He is such a great kid.  Great job Westers!!!

 

 

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

 

Happy Birthday to a great man.  We love Grandpa Ron so much and he is a such a blessing in our lives.  He is such a giving, compassionate and steadfast person.  He is the best Grandpa to my kids and they absolutely adore him.  He always takes time out for each grandkid individually and makes them feel so special.   We love you Ron and hope your day was awesome!

The woes of unsupervised children

It never ceases to amaze me how my children can use 10 minutes of unsupervised time to cause maximum destruction in our house.  I don’t like to leave my kids unsupervised however there are times when it is necessary such when I am taking a shower.  I usually bring Lucy in the bathroom with me to make sure i can keep a visual on her at all times but this one particular day she walked out of the bathroom mid shower into my bedroom.  I assumed that this was because she was watching Nickelodeon or something else harmless.  I was shocked at how smooth this whole process was going and decided to *gasp* shave my legs.  Bad move and I should have known better.  When I came out of the shower (about 90 seconds later) my little Lucy had grabbed a hug tub of Vaseline and proceeded to scoop handfuls of it and put them into my good running shoes.  She also had a fair amount on her clothes and in her hair.  An awful nasty mess. 

Yesterday while I was washing the kitchen floor I barricaded James and Lucy in the family room (again with a kids show on TV).  I thought I would be okay since I could see them but apparently in my excitement over a super good floor washing I must have forgotten to glance over because when I did I found James with a handful of playdoh smashing as much as he could into the vacuum hose.  Upon further inspection I found Lucy with about $10 of her expensive eczema lotion squirted all over the coach, loveseat, end table and coffee table.  It was everywhere!! Let me stress that my kids were only semi- unsupervised and only for less than 10 minutes.  They are crafty little ones.   Well I’m off to clean the playroom since while I put the kids in there so I could fold laundry they dumped out no less than 10 perfectly organized toy bins.  I guess I’ll have a clean house in 4 years when Lucy goes to kindergarten.