merry & bright

I've stepped out of "The Sweatshop" (more on that later) to finally clean up the breakfast dishes (if that's any indication of how our day went) and reflect for a minute about today. Another Christmas has come and gone, the kids are all asleep and I'm breathing a huge sigh of relief. Relief that I got (almost) everything done and relief that my little ones had a wonderful, magical day. I hope yours was very merry.

a christmas miracle

For the first time in I don't know how long, this year I have managed to send or deliver our Christmas card BEFORE Christmas. This is huge for me! I was determined to be totally prepared and finished with everything waaaaay in advance this year, but once again, as it always does, December 25 has sneaked up on me and I'm in hyper mode to try to get it all done. At least the card is crossed off the list and I can breathe a small sigh of relief there. And I am so happy with how it turned out--not the traditional holiday card look but I totally dig it. I guess I should move on to the wrapping, delivering, cooking, cleaning, etc., etc. and trying to fit a little sleep in somewhere. I hope you're more ready than I am!

thank you, Ron Popeil!

You're probably expecting to read something witty from my very talented wife. Sorry to disappoint, but I'm hijacking this because I don't have a better place to write it.

On several occasions over the years, Elleke has expressed some concern over my lack of hair. It's typically expressed by a look of pity and confusion on her face as she asks me about wearing a hat. She's been very good about being delicate, though, until last night.

I had just finished doing some work in the garage and came in the house to find the girls in their beds. I checked to see if Ella was awake so I could go read to her. As I was situating myself next to her she suggested very politely that "they should make some kind of spray that 'people' can spray on their heads that looks like hair."

I laughed inside just a little and decided to cut to the chase. "Do you feel sorry for me that I'm kind of bald?"

She looked at me, teared up a little, got that look of pity on her face, and admitted "Yes."

I assured her that I don't feel bad about it and that she doesn't need to worry about me. I'm fine. Then I remembered Great Looking Hair from those Ron Popeil infomercials when I was in my teens. I had to share this with her: "Someone actually did make something like what you're talking about. It's like spraypaint, but it goes on your head and colors the little wispy hairs to make them look like real hair. And it makes your scalp hair-colored so people don't see the bald spot as easy. It actually looks a little worse than being bald."

She looked at me with the pity again, this time accompanied by the self assured nod that 'knowing better' provides.

I got the hint. "Do you think I should try some?"

"Yes," was the reply.



"If you really want me to try it, you can buy it for me for Christmas, but I don't really want it."

"Ok," she said.

Phew! It was over. I figured she'd forget about it and now that we had both aired our feelings, maybe she wouldn't feel so sorry for me. I was feeling fairly smug about how deftly I had handled it.

"But," she continued, "I'll have to buy white and black to match your other hair."

Thanks, Ron Popeil! You really know how to make a guy feel old.

After doing a little research to write this up, I discovered that "GLH" is available in a color called "silver-black". Here's a link, Ella. Oh, darn. Looks like you can't buy it there any more. The sham-wow is looking tempting, though.

speaking of mourning

The last few days have been rough for Cougar fans everywhere. The BYU-Utah game on Saturday was ugly. But, we will survive, we will hold our heads high and we will say (as we have said before), "There's always next year". No matter what happens on game day, we are still proud, true-blue Cougar fans. So, on Sunday, Tom bravely (or stupidly--I'm still trying to figure out which) donned his BYU tie, we sang the Cougar Fight Song, loaded up in our BYU license plate-clad car and drove to church where we endured quite a bit of heckling and trash talking (from the bishop, and in his UofU tie, no less--a huge Ute fan and I sustained the guy!). Apparently, we are deep in enemy territory. Our ward is full of red-blooded Ute fans--I had no idea the apostasy ran so rampant around here. I may have to reconsider some of these friendships...My only consolation with it all is the sweet, sweet memory of Beck to Harline with zero on the clock for the game-winning touchdown on the Hill a couple of years ago. So after the slaughter on Saturday, I will say we're all even. And in the spirit of good sportsmanship, I will say congratulations to the Utes. Now go kick some BCS butt!

By the way, I had to have "the talk" with Elleke the other day. You know the one--it's very serious and can take you by surprise. It went something like this:

Me: "I just want you kids to know that if you ever go to the University of Utah, you'll be kicked out of our family."

Elleke: "But mom, what if you pay for us to go there."

Me: "We will never pay for you to attend that school."

Elleke: "OK."

I think it went very well--very clear and concise, just the way they tell you to. As for the other "talk", I'm not sure I'm even close to ready for that one. Frankly, this one concerned me more and I'm glad it's out of the way. Go Cougs!

mourning...

OK, so maybe that term is a little strong. Perhaps "disappointed" would be more appropriate. You know what I'm talking about. I'm not super happy about the outcome of the presidential (and congressional) election but I wasn't all that jazzed about my choices to begin with. No matter what "we the people" decided, it would have been historic--the first African-American president or the first female vice-president. And although I don't agree with most of what President-Elect Obama is proposing for our country, I am keeping an open and optimistic mind to see what happens. Now that the future and fate of the United States is completely in the hands of the Democrats, I'd like to see what they do with it.

I am more in awe of the whole election process this time around than ever before. I've had some things swirling around in my mind that have affected the way I feel about it and reminded me of what a privilege it is to cast my vote. We recently finished watching the seven-part HBO miniseries, "John Adams". Wow--amazing. If you have not seen it, please do. It is enlightening, fascinating and educational. It has truly made me appreciate the sacrifice and struggle that was required to create this great nation. Another thing I've been thinking about lately is the women's suffrage movement. My mom sent me an email a month or so ago about a few of the suffragists and the persecution they endured just for the right to vote. I thought about them today as I dragged my baby and my two-year-old through the sleet and snow to the polling place. And although I live in a very red state where it may seem my vote wouldn't have made a difference, it made a difference to me and maybe to those women and Founding Fathers who came before me. And as I taught my little girl about what we were doing and how to do it, I hope it makes a difference to her.

So here's to the U. S. of A. and to the free Krispy Kreme doughnuts and Starbucks hot chocolate we got for showing off my "I Voted" sticker.

awol

So I've been seriously absent from the blog this month. Wanna know why? I finally gave in to peer pressure and jumped on board the Facebook bandwagon. I know, I know, I'm terribly late to the party. My own mother (who is currently on a mission in Sao Paulo, Brazil with my dad) was on there way before me and has way more friends than I do. Yes, friends, I am seriously behind the times.

Anyway, it's been a lot of fun to reconnect with so many people from high school, college, my mission, the old neighborhood, etc. Before I got on, I'd heard stories about all of the lame people who checked their FB Wall several times a day and who friended all of their friendly friends. I thought it sounded like a total waste of time. But now, I've become that person. I'm on several times a day checking out what everyone is doing, reading and posting messages and updating and creating albums. Forget all those other vices you can succumb to in cyberspace--this Facebook thing might be the most dangerous. Hopefully the novelty will wear off soon and I'll rejoin the world of walking, talking, real-life friends.

If you're on there too, give me a holler and pretty please, be my friend.

she's a character

Our little two-year-old, Ava, is going to keep us on our toes for a long time. This little girl is quite a clever little character. To illustrate my point, here are a couple incidents that have happened just in the last couple of days:

1. She was in a bit of a grumpy mood and was sitting in front of me with a little scowl on her face. I said, "That's not my Avie. My Avie smiles and is nice." She replied, "Harry Potter magicked me and made me naughty!"

2. Tonight was Family Home Evening which is something our girls love. We decided to get things going while we were all hanging out in our bedroom (not our usual FHE location). Ava wanted to go downstairs to the family room where we usually have it. Tom said no and that we'd have it upstairs this time. So we got things started and it was Ava's turn to be in charge of the songs. Her first selection was "Go Diego Go" (typical) and her second was "Do as I'm Doing". As we started that one, she got up and started marching in place. So we all got up and started marching along with her. Then she started marching out of the room so we all started following her out of the room. Then she went down the stairs and Ella was the only one following her. Tom and I were still upstairs, not quite sure where she was going with it. Then, still not missing a beat in the song, she continued into the family room and onto the couch. When we realized what she was up to, we had to give her props. That was a pretty ingenious way to lure us all downstairs to her chosen FHE spot. We laughed pretty hard and ended up down where she wanted us after all.

I can't help but think she is honing her clever little skills for when she becomes a teenager and they'll really come in handy.

i heart...

a lot of things. And one of them is my book club! We just celebrated our sixth anniversary as a group and I just want to make it clear that we have actually discussed the book every time we've met. Of course we also get in our share of socializing and eating--I think these ladies know more about me and my life than just about anyone else.

We started out as a neighborhood group when we lived at our last house but after most of the ladies dropped out, we picked up a couple of friends, a sister and some friends of friends which brings us to what we are today--seven diverse, interesting, intelligent, witty women--it's like a perfect cast of Survivor or any other reality TV series. We've got the perfectionist accounting professor, the farm girl from Grace, Idaho, the pithy interior designer, the twice-divorced independently wealthy computer chic, the gourmet state social worker, the opinionated accountant and me (insert your own description here).

We're all mothers and we all love books which are about the only things we have in common. OK, we have a little more than that but we all come from very different backgrounds, political and religious persuasions and we all have different perspectives on life which is why our group is just so darn good. Our gatherings are always packed with lively discussions and hilarious stories and very late nights--there's never a dull moment. I usually don't spend a lot of time other than at book club with these gals so I always look forward to the last Thursday of the month.

Our book for September was These is my Words by Nancy E. Turner and we all gave it a rave review. It's fiction but written in a diary format and is about 20 years in the life of a woman who lived in the Arizona Territories before the turn of the century. It's got history, action, romance, comedy, tragedy--everything you want in a book. Definitely a keeper and one I'll recommend to anyone and everyone. For posterity's sake, I thought I'd record all the books we've read over the last six years--not all of them are winners but they're all pretty good picks. I've highlighted my favorites with an asterisk. So without further ado, they are:

1. Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver
2. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
3. A Girl Named Zippy by Haven Kimmel*
4. Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie
5. The House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III
6. Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris
7. Sister of My Heart by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
8. The Persian Pickle Club by Sandra Dallas
9. Expecting Adam by Martha Beck
10. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
11. Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn*
12. Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand*
13. The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks
14. Skipping Christmas by John Grisham
15. Life of Pi by Yann Martel
16. The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
17. The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown*
18. Follow the River by James Alexander
19. Atonement by Ian McEwan
20. Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton
21. Icy Sparks by Gwyn Hyman Rubio
22. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larsen*
23. Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier
24. Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks*
25. Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
26. Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing
27. The Virgin's Knot by Holly Payne
28. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith*
29. Peace Like a River by Leif Enger
30. The Enchanted April by Von Arnim*
31. The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
32. The Way the Crow Flies by Ann-Marie MacDonald
33. The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint by Brady Udall
34. The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank
35. Push Not the River by James Conroyd Martin
36. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini*
37. My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult
38. An Idiot Girl's Christmas by Laurie Notaro
39. Blood Brothers by Elias Chacour
40. The Myth of You and Me by Leah Stewart
41. The Good Earth by Pearl Buck*
42. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen*
43. Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
44. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
45. East of Eden by John Steinbeck
46. The Glass Castle by Jennette Walls*
47. Honeymoon with my Brother by Franz Wisner*
48. The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards
49. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens*
50. Coming Home by Rosamunde Pilcher*
51. The Librarian by Larry Beinhart
52. Vanishing Acts by Jodi Picoult
53. Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt
54. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
55. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini*
56. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
57. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer*
58. The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
59. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak*
60. The Christmas Wish by Richard Siddoway
61. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert*
62. Stormy Weather by Paulette Jiles
63. The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet*
64. Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin*
65. Escape by Carolyn Jessop
66. Tallgrass by Sandra Dallas
67. 1776 by David McCullough
68. These is My Words by Nancy E. Turner*

Whew! That's a lot of books. Maybe you'll find one that you want to add to your list or recommend for your book club. Feel free to send me any suggestions from your book lists that you've enjoyed. In the meantime, happy reading!

blessing day

On Sunday, we blessed Hudson at church. It was a beautiful, bright, sunny day and Tom gave him a beautiful blessing. We've always been a little nervous about blessing our children as the first experience was rather traumatic. Although she was normally a very even-tempered baby, Elleke screamed throughout her entire blessing making it difficult to hear a word Tom said. So with Avarie, we decided to bless her at home so that we could control the environment and choose the ideal moment for her to be in her best spirits. Everything went smoothly with her so we decided to take a chance and go back to church for Hudson. Despite a few tense seconds of him fussing when they all first got up there, he quickly settled down and was an angel. It was a special day and we were happy to be surrounded by family and friends.

After church, we had a lunch at our house of lasagna, salad, rolls (thanks again, Nat) and fruit. For dessert, I made some baby blue and white popcorn and baby blue frosted cupcakes with blue sprinkles. Ava was so excited that I made cupcakes--they are a huge favorite at our house and she has been begging me to make them for a couple of weeks. Before anyone could eat any and enduring quite a bit of heckling, I made sure to take some pictures of them looking all pretty on the pedestal.

So after everyone left, I went up to rest while Hudson was napping. When I came back down to clean up the kitchen, I found the remaining seven cupcakes with the frosting licked and bitten off. Hmmmm, wonder who did that...I got out my giggles before I called Ava over to give her a stern little lecture.

I couldn't be too harsh--if I had been left alone with them, I would have eaten them all too.

mystery solved

Sticking to her typical routine, this morning Ava wandered groggily into our room at around 7:30, squinted and rubbed her eyes, climbed into our bed and politely requested some chocolate milk and Max & Ruby. So Tom cued up the TiVO and we began suffering through one of the episodes we've all watched about 563 times (did I mention that this is Ava's all-time favorite and most-requested TV program?). I was half listening to the one entitled "Max's Birthday" when my ears immediately perked up at the mention of an Aunt Claire and Uncle Nate that Max needed to write a thank you note to for the birthday gift they sent him. Sound familiar? Yes, this is the mysterious Aunt Carol and Uncle Nate that Ava introduced us to a few weeks ago. We have now discovered their origins and are relieved that they weren't a complete fabrication after all.

And one more thing, having your two-year-old drop a half gallon of milk all over your kitchen floor really sucks.

ahhh, fall...

I have a confession--I love fall. This may come as a shock to those of you who know me (especially my husband who is a die-hard fallophile) because I have stood by summer my entire life as the best season of the year. In truth, as I'm getting older and life is about more than working on my tan by the pool, I'm finding myself appreciating the changes and natural wonders each new season brings. I'm lucky enough to live in a place where I can experience four distinct and beautiful seasons every year and as the weather is cooling down, I'm getting excited about celebrating autumn holidays, breaking out my sweaters and jeans and gathering around the fireplace.

I've also been excited about something else fall brings--soccer! I played tons of soccer in my youth and loved it. And I'm loving watching Elleke develop into a talented, agressive little player whose specialty is stealing the ball from other girls (sometimes on her own team) at all costs. She did a week-long soccer camp this summer where she improved her skills and increased her knowledge of the basics of the game. And she moved up a notch this year which means she's playing on a bigger field with five players at a time and with actual, uniformed referees. Big changes from last year. Tom is co-coaching her team (officially known as "The Cheetah Girls") and the girls are all having a blast.

Except for the first game of the year. Two Saturdays ago our cute little Cheetahs played against a team that looked like they played on the high school varsity football team in their spare time. These girls were big, fast and they ran all over us. It was hard to take for the girls and even harder for the parents. It was a total shutout. This was clearly not a game being played for fun.

During the carnage on the field, one of Ella's teammates, Tiana, who was sitting out for the quarter, came over to her mom with a sad, defeated look on her face and said, "Mom, I heard the girls on the other team talking and they said they didn't like our uniforms. That the colors were ugly." I couldn't help but laugh. The Cheetahs were getting destroyed out there. The other team could have said they were beating the tar out of our girls or that they didn't know how to play very well and they would have just shrugged their shoulders and walked away. But insulting their fashion? That was a dagger to the heart. Totally inexcusable and unforgiveable. It was a bad day all around. But last Saturday was much better (Cheetahs won 4-1, not that anyone was keeping score or anything...) and I don't care what those Dragons (or whatever they were) say, our girls are the most stylish ones on the field.

Oh, and one more thing I love about fall--BYU football! BYU-59 UCLA-0. Ranked #11. Need I say more? Lots of Cougar Fight Song singing around our house.

P.S. Did you see the new header. It's my first attempt and I have a feeling it's going to get better so stay tuned...

routines

As much as I love summer, I'm starting to love the routine of starting school again almost as much. Ella started second grade a couple of weeks ago (and looked pretty cute in her new clothes on the first day as you can see here) and comes home excited about something everyday--it might be her teacher, a project she's working on or the books she's gotten from the library. I, like most parents, am always a little nervous at the beginning of the school year, hoping she'll have friends to play with, she'll enjoy what she's learning and she'll like her teacher. So far so good.

The only thing I don't really love about the school year is packing a lunch everyday. When Ella started going to public school last year, I was thrilled that she'd be able to eat school lunch so I wouldn't have to do it anymore. When she came home after the first week reporting that she wanted to go back to packing a lunch, I didn't get it. All my memories of school lunch are pretty good--legions of hair-netted lunch ladies scurrying about, preparing a well-balanced, delicious meal for me. Well, Ava and I ate lunch with Ella last year and, right away, I completely understood the boycott. It was pretty disgusting (except for the chocolate milk). Things in the school lunch arena have definitely changed in the last 20 years. Now everything is made at a central facility and brought in. There are a couple of ladies who just take it all out of boxes and slap it onto your tray. Disappointing is all I can say. Anyway, I can clearly see that packing a lunch will be part of my motherly duties for a long time.

I have started back on some routines of my own as well. I'm back to the gym in full force, doing everything possible to get rid of this baby weight. I've given myself a deadline for achieving my goal--when my parents return from their mission to Sao Paulo, Brazil in January, I will (hopefully) be at my ideal size/weight. I'm taking it very seriously and am feeling highly motivated to make it happen this time. I've always used the excuse that I'm in the childbearing years and why should I kill myself to get in shape if I'm just going to gain 60-70 pounds everytime I get pregnant (yes, you read those numbers right)? Well, since I'm pretty sure I'm done, I no longer have that excuse and I need to just go for it. I will be giving myself some rewards as I achieve each weight-loss milestone and I've already bought some blingy designer jeans that I've hung in the front of my closet as my daily motivation. I want to wear them so badly that I literally think of them everytime I'm at the gym feeling precariously close to death. I've been trying to think of something major as my reward once I achieve my goal--so far I've come up with a Diane von Furstenberg dress or a trip somewhere. Any other ideas, send them my way. Now that I've put this all up here for the world to see, I guess I really need to do it. Crap.

lackluster

Man, there are some seriously pimped out blogs out there! As I'm immersing myself deeper and deeper into this new hobby and, therefore, peeking in on more and more people's blogs, I'm seeing some serious design work, photography, links, music playing, etc., etc. Wow. I sincerely apologize. All you've got on my blog is my random thoughts, an occasional photo or two and a whole lot of white space. Unfortunately, decorating my blog happens to fall pretty low on my list of priorities right now. Somehow, taking care of my baby, packing lunch for school, finishing homework, doing laundry, cleaning my house (well, kind of), entertaining a two-year-old and feeding my family rank a little higher right now. Maybe someday when blogs are totally out of style, I'll finally catch up and put something fancy or sparkly on mine.

Speaking of decorating things, I have started a methodical, room-by-room project completion blitz around my house. I am taking one area or room each week and hanging pictures, painting furniture, sewing curtains, buying accessories or whatever else I need to be doing to finish it up. I get as much done as I can and when the week is up, I move on to the next area. Apparently, according to my geeky husband (and I say that lovingly), I'm following some sort of software development methodology called Scrum. The guy who came up with it travels the country and charges tens of thousands of dollars for three days of training so I must be doing something right. Last week I did the kids' bathroom and got almost everything done. This week it's the dining room which needs some major surgery to make it look good. We'll see how I do. Hey, maybe I should put my blog in the rotation as one of my areas to be decorated. Hmmm, now I'm thinking (which is surprising because it's almost midnight). Anyway, stay tuned--for now, I've included some paper from one of the digital scrapbooking kits that I've downloaded in my lame attempt to spiff this place up. So enjoy.

Oh, by the way, dropping a half gallon bottle of milk all over your kitchen floor really sucks.

who?

Recently, our family suddenly and unexpectedly increased in size with the addition of the mysterious and elusive Aunt Carol and Uncle Nate. I don't know where they came from or what they look like but they are quite involved in our lives. They call us on the phone, we send mail to them and we talk frequently of what they're doing and where they are. The only person who seems to know much about them is Avarie. She's the one who introduced us to these long-lost relatives and she is quick to correct us if we confuse or omit any details pertaining to Aunt Carol and Uncle Nate. Seriously, I have no idea where or how these people came to be but she talks about them like they've been around forever. I would love to be able to get into the mind of my little imaginative, creative two-year-old to see how they came to be. I'm not sure how long Aunt Carol and Uncle Nate will be a part of our family but they're welcome to stay as long as they'd like (or at least as long as she'll let them).

sheer madness

Every year, I swear I will never go again. And every Labor Day weekend, I collect my wallet and, unfortunately, gather up at least one of my children and follow the herds of glassy-eyed, frenzied Utah women making their way to the sheer madness that is known as Swiss Days. Now, if you're not familiar with this annual event, it is basically a bunch of vendors selling handicrafts like beaded jewelry, nightgowns, wrapping paper, hair accessories, magnet boards and carved wooden critters. At least I think that's what they're selling--it's impossible to see or get into most of the booths due to the swarms of people jamming them inside and spilling out into the walkways. You practically need military black ops training to get in and get out of those things. Seriously--it's ridiculous. But I can't help myself--and apparently, the entire female population of the Wasatch Front can't either. So I made the pilgrimage on Friday, fought the crowds, commented several times on how crazy it was and came home wondering again why I bothered to go.

In all reality, I don't want to go, but I don't want to stay away. I'm always afraid I'll miss the perfect centerpiece for my holiday tablescape or the best hair bow deal ever. So I'm sure I will continue the tradition of going to Swiss Days--I will just never take my husband (his worst nightmare) or a stroller (my worst nightmare). Stop me if you ever see me and point me toward the merch that'll make it all worthwhile.

bear lake

Today, it's a travelogue from our relaxing, three-day getaway to Bear Lake last week. Tom was at scout camp up there so my friend, Crystal, invited us to stay at her family's "cabin" (otherwise known as a big, gorgeous house in a gated community overlooking the lake). I never turn that offer down so I packed up the kids and we headed up.

We spent Sunday hanging out at the house and going on a 4-wheeler ride. Monday was adventurous--as we were loading up Crystal's car to go down to the beach we noticed that one of the tires was totally flat. So we moved everything to my little Civic (I had Tom's commuter car because he needed my Sequoia to tow the scout trailer and take all the boys to camp) and one of the wheelers and made our way down to the beach. Everything was fine until I decided to try to drive my little car out onto the sand and promptly got stuck. After several pathetic attempts to remove it--and getting it further lodged into the sand in the process--three men finally took pity on us and came and pushed me out. Meanwhile, all the kids were down playing in the water totally unsupervised (oops!). We quickly shuttled everything from the car to the beach, set up our station and enjoyed several relaxing hours chatting, playing, swimming and picnicking. It was heavenly. After dinner in town at LaBeau's, we were ready to call it a day.

On Tuesday, we hung around the house in the morning and then took the kids to Minnetonka Cave in the afternoon. Cool, interesting, different experience for them--and for us. I was just impressed that we were able to do it with one 8-year-old, two 6-year-olds, two 2-year-olds and 2 infants. What were we thinking?!? To go through the whole thing, we had to go up and down 440 stairs on the way in and then do them all in reverse on the way out. It was a pretty good workout--especially because I was carrying Hudson and helping Ava through the entire way. Anyway, we all had a good time but we definitely ready to go have some pizza when we got out.

After dinner we packed up all our stuff and started for home--on the way we stopped at camp to visit Tom. We sat around the fire for a bit, the girls told their dad about all of our adventures and then it was time to bid the scouts farewell (and Tom good luck) and go home. It was our one vacation this whole summer, but it was a good one--low-key and no schedules which was just what we needed. Can't wait to go back!

mad skills

One of my goals for this year was to learn how to use Photoshop. I've wanted to be able to enhance and correct my photos and start digital scrapbooking. So, I took a class a few months ago and have dabbled a little ever since whenever I have the chance.

Just before Hudson was born, I decided to take on a serious Photoshop challenge--to create his announcement from scratch. So Tom and I had another hot date night--this time technology-centered. We sat next to each other and I did some Photoshopping while he edited our video from Disney World on the iMac. I got everything ready except for the photo. All I had to do then was wait until he was born and I felt good enough to take some pictures, Photoshop the money shot and drop it in. I finally did it and here is the finished product. Not bad, eh? I'm not saying I'm awesome (yet), but I think it's a pretty good start.

olympics fever

Are you watching them?

I have taken a break from the John Adams miniseries to watch anytime I can, day or night. And since Tom has been at scout camp all week and I'm somewhat housebound with the new babe, I've been able to watch a lot. The Olympics have been awesome, entertaining and so exciting! I've been especially obsessed with Michael Phelps (along with everyone else in the country)--loved him during the games in Athens, love him even more in Beijing--and just watched him win gold medal #8 tonight. All I can say is wow. He's super-human. I especially loved the race last night (100m butterfly)--what an incredible finish. Amazing.

So, as I've been watching some of the more obscure events--paddling and badminton to name a couple--I've decided that I could make it to the Olympics. I'm not talking in one of the high-profile sports like swimming or beach volleyball. I figure that all I have to do is find a sport that's not really popular here in the States (like the aforementioned two), practice and train for a couple of years, make the team (because no one else is really trying to) and go. I'm not saying I'm going to win a medal, but it would be pretty cool to tell the grandkids that I was an Olympian.

Hey, if Dara Torres can do it at 41, I figure I've got five or six years left to make it happen...

exhausted...

The other day I remembered a funny incident from my teenage years.

We had just returned from a long road trip to Expo '86 in Vancouver. Our cousins from California had also driven up, spent the week with us there and then driven back to Utah to vacation and visit family here. They were staying at our house and late one night, we girls (my sister, me and our cousins, Stephanie and Kristin) decided to transform ourselves into mid-century debutantes by dressing up in some of my mom's clothes from the 50's and making ourselves up. We got all gussied up, and, unsatisfied with just hanging around the house, we got the idea that we should go get doughnuts. By this time, my mom, completely exhausted from the trip and having a house full of guests, was fast asleep in bed. We tiptoed into her room, woke her up and asked if we could take the car to go out. She told us no because we didn't know where the doughnut place was. We did a little begging but she didn't budge. So, we sat around for a few more minutes in our fancy outfits and then went to bed. The next morning we asked her why she wouldn't let us go and she had no recollection of our conversation but probably told us no because she thought we were still in Vancouver and that we didn't know our way around.

I found her confusion hard to believe as a young, energetic teenager. But I really understand how it could happen as a worn out, tired, exhausted mother myself. Just the other day Ella asked me why I hadn't gotten her a Band-Aid for the cut on her finger that she had shown me--when she woke me up from my afternoon nap. Like my mom, I had no recollection of our conversation.

I've known for several weeks now that I'm not getting enough sleep (who does when they have a newborn, right?) but forgetting conversations is taking to an entirely new level. I just keep telling myself that this won't last forever and that I will eventually get a good night's sleep. For now, I'm just taking it one day at a time and getting a little shut-eye whenever possible. I've found that I can actually nap in some pretty strange places and positions. Speaking of sleep, it's bedtime for me (yea!) so until next time, zzzzzzzzzz...

he doesn't bring me flowers

There are some husbands who give their wives flowers. Mine isn't--and has never been--one of them. My husband doesn't bring me flowers. He brings me gadgets.

He gave me an iPod Nano when I had Ava and a Roomba for this past Mother's Day but for having Hudson, he really outdid himself. Last week he came home and presented me with my belated "Congrats and good job having our baby boy" gift--an iPhone 3G. Yes, I am now the proud owner of one of the most coveted and coolest gadgets on the planet, thanks to my hubby. Not only did he get me one, he waited in line at the Apple store for two hours during the work day (for the second time--the first time he tried, he had to leave before he could get one to go to a meeting), got the last one in stock that day, went immediately to the mall kiosk to buy the protective skin and then spent another tedious hour or so meticulously putting it on.

It gets even better. He's spent tons of time during the past week transferring my contacts to it, setting it up, finding and watching tutorials with me and helping me figure everything out (mostly by playing around with it himself and then showing me). The most impressive thing is that he got me one first--without getting one for himself. If you know my gadget-loving husband, you too are impressed by that. Someone at work told him to wait for a week or so while they negotiated an arrangement with AT&T so he's waiting patiently until he can get his own. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to have a conversation with him after he gets his--maybe we could just text each other. And we'll both have really cool phones to do it with.

So I know I've told you, honey, but a million thanks--you know how to spoil me. I'd rather have my new phone/camera/GPS/iPod/etc. than flowers any day.

small successes

Today we're all about celebrating a few small but significant milestones that have happened around our house. Without further ado, here they are:

1. Our garden actually produced vegetables.
What? This is amazing to me. Just a couple of months ago, I buried some tiny seeds in the ground, added a little water and sun and look what's happened! You can see from the picture that the plants have taken on a life of their own and are overtaking their space. We have seen some tomatoes growing, the carrots and beans seem to be going well and I saw for the first time today something that looked like a squash. But it will require some serious investigative work and some major greenery organization to determine what's really going on--that is on our list to do tomorrow. But today, we picked our first yield--two HUGE zucchinis. I'm not sure they'll taste any good but we don't care--it was thrilling just to find them. The girls were so excited and thought it was funny that the big one was about the same size as their baby brother. I predict that we will be eating a lot of veggies in the next couple of months.

2. Ava wore panties all day!
Yes, it's true. We have suddenly--and unexpectedly--made some serious strides on the potty training front in the past couple of days. Yesterday, about halfway through the day, she decided on her own that she wanted to wear panties. Then, this morning, right after she woke up, she wanted to change from her Pull-Up to her underwear. She wore them all day and despite having a couple of accidents, she did the major business (you know what I'm talking about) in the toilet. Hooray! There were a lot of high fives, loud cheering and even a special trip to the store to let her pick out any toy she wanted (despite lots of urging from her big sister to choose a Yasmin Bratz doll, she decided on a Dora outside games set instead). We're hoping this trend continues--just goes to show that if you wait long enough, your children will potty train themselves.

3. I made it through my first post-partum exercise routine.
This morning the girls and I did a short Pilates and yoga workout. Not sure if my body was quite ready for it yet (I was feeling it in places I never thought possible) but I'm glad to be getting back into it. I'm not very patient about getting back into shape this time around--I'm really tired of wearing the baggy sweats and maternity clothes. I just want to be back to normal again. I will have to make it through many more exercise routines if I ever want that to happen.

So those are the small but big things in our lives. Now if we could just get that baby to sleep through the night...

the first two weeks

Today Hudson turned two weeks old. We have all made it through the immediate aftermath--and chaos--of bringing home a new baby. Although we're still not getting a good night's sleep (well, I'm not--everyone else seems to be doing OK), we're sure loving this little guy. He's got two very attentive, involved and helpful big sisters who love to feed him, talk to him, hold him and tell him how gosh darn cute he is. Here are a few things we've learned--or remembered--during the past couple of weeks:

1. "Belly cords" (as Ella calls them) are not welcome in our home.
2. It is possible to nurse a baby and hold a two-year-old on your lap at the same time.
3. Babies can scream pretty loud.
4. Bowel movements, burping and breast pumping are appropriate dinnertime conversation topics.
5. When diapering a baby boy, it's best to point everything downward (thanks to my sister for that one).
6. It's OK to eat at McDonald's every other day.
7. The "charm" of waking up for middle-of-the-night feedings wears off very quickly.
8. Losing 30 pounds in two weeks isn't so hard--sign me up for some kind of contest!
9. Help from family and friends is so appreciated!
10. I have the cutest, funniest, sweetest kids in the world.

Can't wait to see what we learn in the next two weeks--and beyond!

the things we put up with

Late last night, after a long day of playing with friends and visiting Grandma Sue and Papa Kent, Ella and Ava came home. I was excited to see them since I'd hardly seen them all day and they were excited to show me all the treasures they had brought home with them. We were all hanging out on our bed and just as they were about to go get their jammies on, Ava (our potty-training challenged daughter) told us she went potty on our bed. Sure enough, there were a couple of wet spots on our duvet cover. While I applaud her for her honesty, I'm not very impressed with her timing. Or her lack of going in any of the various potties in our house. Anyway, I stood and studied the two wet spots, bleary-eyed and exhausted from middle-of-the-night feedings, debating about how I could resolve the situation. In the end, I decided it was one of those things that I could let go. Sleeping with potty at the bottom of my duvet cover for one night wasn't going to kill me. So, I climbed in bed, pulled up the covers and settled in for another terrible night's sleep.

Just another day in the life of a parent.

one word...amazing

The Police. Live. In concert. Yes, I gave birth a week ago but that did not stop me from seeing one of the greatest bands ever in concert. Tom and I saw them last night and I was on my feet screaming and singing along the entire time. For three old guys, they can really rock it out. It was such a good show--amazing that it takes just three instruments to create all that legendary music. Even though we got home late and I was up most of the night, I have no regrets. Enjoy the little snippet from the show ("Every Little Thing She Does is Magic", my favorite Police song)--if you didn't make it, you can feel like you were there.



This is one show that was definitely worth the price of admission.

and baby makes five!

He made it! And I made it through the whole nine months! Our beautiful baby boy, Hudson Oliver Kofford, made his debut on Friday, July 11 at 4:04 p.m. weighing in at a petite 9 pounds 6 ounces and measuring a mere 21.5 inches. Despite sustaining a broken clavicle on the way out, he has been an absolute joy and we are all in love with him already. He passed his hearing test with flying colors which means he won't be needing a cochlear implant which means we won't be going to cochlear camp which means, much to her disappointment, Ella won't be able to go horseback riding (refer to May 9, 2008 post if you're a little lost).

We are now all home and taking it easy. Hudson has had to be in a billibed the past couple of days because he has a touch of jaundice but we're hoping to get rid of that tomorrow. Ella and Ava are loving their new baby brother and Ava is especially proud to finally be a big sister. They are adorable with him--he's going to be very well taken care of. Tom has taken a few days off work (kind of) and my sister is flying in from Oklahoma tomorrow for a few days to help me out. I don't know what I'd do without them--I've really needed some help this time around. Also, my sisters-in-law, Lisa and Natalie watched the girls while I was in the hospital which I am so grateful for so a huge shout-out to them.

Today, I was bringing the baby into our room and Ella was in our bed watching TV and we had a very interesting conversation. It went a little like this:

Ella: "Mom, maybe the baby really is a girl and the machine was wrong."

Me: "You mean the ultrasound machine that showed us he was a boy a few months ago."

Ella: "Yeah, maybe it was wrong and it really is a girl. How do we know he' s a boy?"

Me: "He's for sure a boy because he has boy parts. Like we can tell from his privates that he's a boy."

Ella (like she's finally getting it): "Oooooohhhhh."

How's that for some sex education? Anyway, that's about all I can do tonight--I've got to get some sleep or this post is going to get very incoherent very fast. I've also just taken a dose of Lortab and Ibuprofen so that could make it all very ugly. Anyway, more to come soon.

Isn't a new baby the best thing ever?

the night before

Well, here it is. My last night before baby number three joins our family. Hopefully, that is. I've been having a lingering fear that I'll get there at 7:00 a.m. tomorrow and they'll say I'm not ready and send me home. I'm preparing myself for that to happen so I'll be pleasantly surprised if they actually hook me up, get me going and place a baby in my arms anytime tomorrow.

I'm actually feeling quite calm about everything and feel like I'm as ready as I'll ever be--I've got the nursery semi-finished, blankets made, some diapers and wipes on hand and a good supply of binkies, bottles and outfits. What more do I need, right? I've been thinking today about the births of my girls and recall feeling more anxiety about knowing what to do with a baby and wondering how I would feel about this new little person. But my feelings about this one are a little different. I haven't worried too much because I know, based on past experience, that it'll be love at first sight and that all those mothering instincts that have been passed through female DNA since the beginning of time will immediately kick in once this little guy makes his debut. I'm mostly just feeling excited to meet him and curious to see if he'll look like my Grammie Raat (like both my girls did--and still do sometimes).

To celebrate the impending arrival of our little guy (yet to be named, by the way...) we followed our little Kofford family tradition of eating the night before meal at the Union Grill in Ogden. I ate the same meal I've eaten every night before I've had a baby--onion rings, French onion soup and a Crockett sandwich. Yum. Had to fuel up for the long day of ice chips tomorrow.

Anyway, I've got to be up in a few hours to get to the hospital so I'm off to bed. Pictures and all relevant info will be posted as soon as possible!

happy fourth of july!

We had both a relaxing and exciting Independence Day celebration. The first part of the day was sleeping in, hanging out at home and not doing much. Then, at about 4:00pm, we took off for Provo where we had dinner at a couple of our favorite haunts from our college days--Tom ate at El Azteca and the girls and I ate at The Brick Oven (known during my mom's day as Heaps of Pizza). Then, along with 50,000 or so of our closest friends, we crammed into Lavell Edwards Stadium at BYU for Stadium of Fire.

We were all riveted by the sky divers who jumped and landed in the stadium--we were amazed at how fast they came in! It was impressive. Glenn Beck was inspiring, patriotic and fun to listen to (as always). Ava loved the "Blue Guys" a.k.a. The Blue Man Group. She especially thought the part where they painted themselves while playing the drums was funny. Ella danced and rocked out to Miley Cyrus and loved every minute. I loved seeing her have so much fun--man, she's growing up fast. Then, ending it all was the amazingly extensive fireworks extravaganza. It went on and on--Ella kept asking if it was the finale. The only downside of being in the stadium for the fireworks was the constant rain of ash falling on us. But it was a small price to pay for being up close to all the action. I thought the funniest part of it all was that we were watching fireworks made in China while listening to "God Bless America" sung by a French Canadian (Celine Dion). Apparently, it's a holiday that can bring us all together.

After getting back to the car, fighting traffic to get on our way home, stopping for drinks and a bathroom break and driving home, we finally all fell into bed a little after 1:00am. Needless to say, we took it easy today and I really should be sleeping right now. Hope you all had (and are probably still having, if you're like everyone else) an excellent Fourth of July. Despite all the problems and challenges we're facing today, we still live in a pretty amazing country. Happy birthday, America!

power to the people

Tonight, Tom and I went on a date to a city council meeting. Hot, right? Actually, we had a very good reason for being there.

Over the past few months, we have been watching helplessly as the ugliest storage shed complex possible has been being built adjacent to our neighborhood. Its main access is on a major city road, Antelope Drive, but it goes all the way back and borders one of the smaller roads that leads into our neighborhood and borders residential property along its west side. We knew when we bought this lot that one day storage sheds would be built there. What we didn't know was that the property would change hands and end up with some developers who would not only build the tackiest storage sheds in the city but also that they would not stick to the building ordinances required by the city. Thus, our dilemma.

As they have been being built, we have had many conversations with neighbors about what an eyesore they are and how terrible they look. But nobody was doing anything about it, perhaps because we felt that the situation was a foregone conclusion and that the chance for us to voice our opinions had long past. Well, a couple of weeks ago, my husband had an nagging, uneasy feeling about everything so he paid a little visit to the city planning commission. He found out several disturbing things, the biggest being that the builder had been granted an exception to the fence requirement and could put up a vinyl-coated chain link fence with vinyl slats and--prepare yourselves--barbed wire across the top. What?!? Yeah, we didn't know we were going to live next to a prison either. It was a shocking discovery and only the first of many things we (mostly he) found out after a little digging and crack investigative work. Tom immediately set to work informing neighbors, building a website, starting a blog and putting together a petition to get people up to speed on what was literally happening in our backyard.

Needless to say, once the neighborhood heard about the shenanigans, everyone was pretty outraged. As if it couldn't get worse than it already was. We all have some pretty major concerns about aesthetics (obviously), safety, increased traffic, property values, integrity of the neighborhood and consistency of enforcing standards in the city. So, about 50 or so of us gathered up our pitchforks and torches (well, almost) and headed down to the meeting to present our findings and list our demands. Some of the city leaders seemed as shocked as we were that this has been allowed to happen--they are hearing us loud and clear and have assured us that the problem will be rectified. We're crossing our fingers and are determined to keep making noise until the builders are held to the standard that everyone else is and that is required by the city.

So, I guess my point to all of this is that if you see something happening in your neighborhood or community that you're not happy about, speak up! It really is true that little people can make a difference and neighborhoods will rally around a cause that they're passionate about. I'm so proud of Tom. When he addressed the city council, he was well-prepared, articulate and impressive. He's worked so hard and spent a lot of time over the past couple of weeks on this project and what he's accomplished is making a real difference. Check out the website and link to the blog at www.LetsKeepItNice.com.

What can I say? My husband rocks.

for the children

From the title of this post, you may think I'm going to wax eloquent about the plight of the poor, underprivileged, starving children of the world. But I am not. This post is about me. In a swimsuit. A maternity swimsuit.

On Friday, I swallowed my pride, struggled into the one swimsuit that fit me--"fit" being a relative term here--and spent the day waddling around the Roy Aquatic Center with my girls and some of our friends. It's one of our favorite summer destinations and I figured it'd be easier to do it before I had the baby than after. Well, it was easier for me but unfortunate for the hundreds of other people who had to see me. Trying to get full coverage with the sunscreen was a spectacle in and of itself. Further adding to my humiliation was that I was there with my girlfriends, Linda and Casey. Linda is a mom of three and model and looks amazing all the time--and, of course, in a swimsuit looks like she's on a photo shoot. Then there's Casey who just gave birth to her fifth child a couple of months ago and is already a tiny little thing. I just kept telling myself that at least I had a good excuse for looking the way I do. And I tried to make it as fun of a day as possible. It was a perfect summer day, I got to relax and chat with my BFFs and the girls played like crazy which was everything I could ask for.

When we were getting in the car, Ella said, "This has been one of the best days of my life." I'm learning that a big part of being a parent is doing things that we may not necessarily want to do or ever choose to do. But we sacrifice our time or our pride to do them because we know it'll make our kids happy. I may even put on that swimsuit one last time to go back to the pool in the next couple of weeks--you know, for the children.

how's this for gross?

My husband and I have had on ongoing debate during our almost 12 years of marriage. Is it necessary to rinse the dishes off before putting them in the dishwasher? He says no, I say yes. And I say not just rinse them, but completely clean them with a brush--and, often, dish soap--until all traces of food, gunk and debris have been removed. I practically load the dishwasher with sparkling clean dishes. What can I say? I'm a clean-freak germ-a-phobe. I'm sure that anyone who has had the pleasure of scraping baked-on macaroni cheese off a plate or peanut butter off a utensil post-wash-cycle will definitely side with me on this one.

Well, I think my dishwashing zeal may have led to tonight's unfortunate situation. It was my night to cook for Supper Club (more on this fabulous setup in another post) so I was focusing on getting the food done, packed and delivered on time. In between, I was setting the table for my own little family to eat. Can you see what's coming? I opened the dishwasher to get out some plates and paused for a minute, trying to recall if I had run it this morning. They looked clean enough so I took them out and put them on the table. It wasn't until after we ate that I opened the dishwasher again only to realize in shock and horror that the dishes were, in fact, still dirty. Ewwww. I had fed my family on soiled, germy, disgusting dishes.

I spent the majority of the evening trying to remember just how well I had pre-washed the plates before loading them--oh, and also keeping myself from being sick. I figured they must have been alright if I had followed my usual MO. Then I just tried to erase the whole ugly incident from my mind.

My only consolation was that I got the double-cleaned, very sanitary utensils out of the drawer.

no picture today

I've been thinking a lot about my college days lately. I studied the arts, humanities and literature quite a bit during my time at BYU and loved it. I even went on a Studio Arts Study Abroad program with my sister for a spring term one year where we traveled to NYC, Egypt, Greece, Italy, Switzerland, Holland, France and England visiting the great museums and architectural wonders of Europe. We studied art ranging from the very ancient to the shockingly modern but mostly doodled in our sketchbooks and attempted to watercolor anything close to aesthetically pleasing. Perhaps it was during those travels that I encountered an image that I have been conjuring up on a daily basis during the past few weeks.

What I've been thinking of is those little stone fertility statues that seemed to be extremely popular with ancient civilizations. You know the ones--the squat female figures with exaggerated bellies and breasts. Well, guess what, folks. Those weren't exaggerated. It seems that I am looking at an ancient fertility statue every time I look in the mirror. Yes, it depressing and a little humiliating that I have to go out in public everyday looking the way I do and trying desperately to find something--anything--that'll fit me. But, I keep telling my squat little exaggerated self (and I continue to remind my husband, just in case he fears that this body is here to stay) that this is a temporary situation, that it will be over before I know it (and probably before I'm ready for it to be) and that I am so blessed to be able to conceive, carry and deliver this precious little baby boy. So here's to my huge pregnant body--I'm going to live it up for these last three weeks.

So, like the title says, there will be no picture today. For obvious reasons.

check them off the list

Hogle Zoo and Lagoon. Check. Check. We have done them both for the year and we don't have to go back again (at least until next summer). I took the girls last week as part of our Summer School "field trip" program and it couldn't have been better. The weather was perfect for walking around, watching animals, standing in line, riding rides and all the other fun stuff you do with the hundreds of strangers who happen to be at these places on the same day you are.

First, the zoo. We went on Monday--low 70's and sunny. Highlights for us all were the white alligator (a.k.a. The Ghost of the Bayou), monkeys, snakes (yes, even for me, as long as they're behind glass), giraffes and cougars. We also almost saw a kid get zapped by the electrified fence at the camels and we were entertained by a little girl who stood next to our table while we ate lunch saying "chip, chip, chip" for about 15 minutes. I have to say, that was a little weird and Ella and I had a hard time not laughing out loud. We saw everything in about 3 hours and had a great time.

Next, Lagoon. Usually kind of a nightmare but not too bad this time. We went on Thursday with our neighbors, the Worcotts. It was Crystal's parents' stake day which is the only day to go (discount ride passes and free entrance passes). It was mid-to-high 60's, sunny and perfect. Ava loved the Dinosaur Drop ride but hated Puff (the roller coaster). She has reminded me several times each day that she did not like that ride but that next year when she's big she will. Ella went on almost all of the big roller coasters and loved Wicked, The Spider and the Fly, The Wild Mouse, The Bat and the white roller coaster. She says that pretty soon they'll have to call it the brown roller coaster since all the paint is flaking off. She also begged to go on the Ferris Wheel before we left so we had to do that (also not really popular with Ava).

The good news of the day was that we only got accused one time of cutting in line in Kiddieland which, for the record, we did not--kids behind were OK and understood the situation. Large, tatooed, irate mother did not and was not very nice. I told her that our kids didn't cut, that her kids should go in front of ours if she felt they were wronged but that it wasn't right for our kids to have to go clear to the back of the huge line that had formed after they arrived. I didn't get much of a response and the conversation abruptly ended. In the end, our kids and hers all ended up on the ride together so all the drama and trauma was completely unnecessary. I could step up onto my soapbox and go on and on about all the unsavory characters you run into at Lagoon (where do these people come from? I do not encounter these types in my regular, normal life. It's like everyone who lives under a rock climbs out and goes there on the days I go. It's so bizarre.) but I will refrain. We had a fun day, the girls loved it and are already asking to go back and we'll just leave it at that.

Oh, the other highlight of last week was that Tom took Ella backpacking on an overnighter with the scouts. They hiked up Adams Canyon here in Layton, pitched their tents, camped and hiked out the next morning. Ella did great and had a lot of fun--especially playing in the fire. This week, we're all about soccer camp, arts in the park camp and t-ball (it goes on and on). Poor Ava is stuck home with me while I either clean, read or take naps. That's about all I can do these days which is just fine with me.

By the way, countdown to baby day is now 24 days!

no offense taken

Sunday dinners are a little hit and miss around here. One week, I may be on the ball enough to have a roast in the crock pot and rolls out rising before I go to church. And the next week, I may be pulling leftovers out of the refrigerator, trying to get anything on the table before the girls need to go to bed. This past Sunday was somewhere in between. I threw together a quick meal of pasta, watermelon and Texas Toast (one of our family's favorites).

Elleke was the last to eat and as she was finishing and as I was cleaning up the dishes and kitchen, she said, "No offense, Mom, but that was the baddest piece of Texas Toast I've ever eaten."

Sadly, I had to agree with her. It tasted pretty gross to me too. How is it possible to mess up Texas Toast, you ask? Well, all you have to do is let some meat juice boil over into the bottom of the oven and then cook the Texas Toast in the smoky mess a few days later. It's that simple. And I guarantee it will ruin the taste of everything you bake, including Texas Toast. Let's just say that despite being a world-class, five-star chef in my own mind, I won't be getting my own cooking show anytime soon.

what a week

Like most weeks, the first week of summer has had its ups and downs. The highlights for the girls have definitely been our "Summer School" program and swimming lessons. And for Tom and me, it was not having to spend all day today in the yard!

I've been so surprised at how much the girls are loving planning the week, being involved with errands and shopping, working in their workbooks and having reading time. In fact, they are begging me almost everyday to be able to do their workbooks (we'll see how long that lasts...). It's nice to have something for them to look forward to, to keep them busy and to work on together. We also did our first scrapbook layouts in their summer memory books and they turned out so cute! We printed a picture that highlighted their favorite thing from the week, Ella wrote about it, I wrote Ava's and they decorated them with stickers. Such a fun activity--might as well start them early in my favorite hobby!

So, what, are you asking, did they do their layouts about? Swimming lessons, of course! They both loved going to their daily lessons at North Davis Gymnastics. Ella's teacher was Natalie and Ava's was Sarah. They both were little fish in the water, jumping right in without any hesitation and being game for whatever their teachers told them to do. Even though it was cold and rainy all week, they didn't seem to be bothered and just wanted to get there everyday. I have a feeling we'll be spending lots of time in the water this summer.

One more highlight of the week was my visit to the doctor. I'm now almost 35 weeks and am at that point where I'm pretty ready to be done. This has not been an easy pregnancy for me--I'm definitely feeling all of my 35 years--and although I don't have everything ready for the baby, I'm seeing the light at the end of a long tunnel and can see that this will all be over soon. In fact, my doctor said she would schedule my induction for July 11th as long as there is room that day and I'm ready. Hooray! Now I've got a day on my calendar to look forward to and prepare for. So mark your calendars, one and all, because I'm getting this baby out as soon as I can!

So, we had a lot of ups this week, but we ended the week on a down. Tonight while we were eating dinner, Ava was climbing up to get into her stool, slipped, hit her chin on the corner of the countertop and split it open. She is definitely our little accident-prone child. Any freaky or weird thing that can happen will happen to her. We haven't had to go to the emergency room until now, though. All the clinics were closed so we headed to the ER for a nice family outing. Luckily, it didn't bleed much, she wasn't crying or upset and she was amazing while they were doing everything. We couldn't believe it! I definitely expected a horrible, screaming, thrashing situation, but she was calm, happy, singing, cooperative and, believe it or not, actually fell asleep while she was being stitched up! Amazing. What a cutie. One funny thing about it all was that the ER doctor who was there was Matt Pollard, a friend that I've known since elementary school. So, all in all, it wasn't how we would have chosen to spend our Saturday night, but it turned out the best it could have. Oh, and Tom even got another tree in the ground after we got back (a darling little weeping cherry for the front)--only 4 left to plant! I guess we ended on a high note after all!