Tulip Festival Pictures for Ruth

TULIP FESTIVAL
Friday morning, Nate and I did our cool outside circuit training for my work out together and then headed down to the Tulip Festival.  Nate had given me tickets for Easter and I had lost them (they are in a very safe place... wherever that may be... I hate it when I do that).  Luckily he was able to get some more from Erika Brown.  She not only got us replacement tickets, but she got us VIP treatment complete with free bulbs, and free Tulip Juleps and our own little drawstring bags!  Pretty awesome.  We had wanted to go as a double date with someone, but this was the second to last day that it was going and we didn't have time to plan... this is what happens when I misplace the tickets!  But we had Jack and Molly with us and fully enjoyed ourselves!  We were so surprised with how beautiful and how well done that place is!  So much to see!  I took lots of pictures- lots for Ruth- we both kept thinking about her the whole time and wished we'd thought to pick her up on our way down.  She would love it there. So I took these pictures with her in mind.

 Jack did really well and then I think because of the heat, started begging to go home, but on our way out, we ran into the Light of the world displays.  They had these beautiful statues depicting different events in Christ's life.  It was so fascinating to Jack!  And we were so surprised at how much he knew and was able to tell us about the events!  Pretty cool.  And to top it off- he quit complaining about being there and started to really enjoy it.  He loved dipping his head in the water fountain in the secret garden too- that was probably another thing that helped with his mood :).

I took this picture for me- I LOVE these little flowers!  I need to find out what they're called so I can plant some in my yard.

We're going to have to go to the Tulip Festival again next year- maybe at the beginning of the season.  So beautiful!  Such a fun, relaxing time with Nate and definitely a change of pace :).  5-6-17

Things to Remember 5-14-17

MOTHER'S DAY
I had THE BEST Mother's Day this year!!  Nate and the kids made me breakfast in bed- delicious egg whites (how does Nate make them taste so good?) and turkey bacon, surprisingly the turkey bacon fills the bacon void for me!- then showered me with gifts!  They always walk in singing "Happy Mother's Day" to me :).  Then one at a time, youngest to oldest, present their gift- it's pretty fun.  Molly gave me a bottle of bubbles!  Perfect cuz that's what we love to do together.  Jack gave me a UV filter for my lens!  Pretty awesome.  He was cute when he came home from the store and said, "Mom, we got you a thing for you cwamwa!"  Love that :).  Erika gave me a gift certificate to a spa!  That's going to be awesome. She also gave me a potted flower from school on Friday.  Noah gave me a cute card and flower that he made at school with a sweet little book with all the things he loves about me in it :).  I especially loved the specific "She taught me how to do a rubiks cube" page.  I love that we did that together!  It's our thing.  Luke gave me a coupon book he made at school, along with a shrinky dink necklace- what am I going to do when I don't get cute home made jewelry for Mother's day??  That's going to be a sad day.  He also gave me a cool new smoothie maker for my morning protein.  It's very handy and so much easier to use than Nate's blender.  I think Nate was happy about that too.  Bradley gave me a new hair dryer!!!!  YAY!  Pretty happy about that one.  I've had mine for at least nine years.  Could have been longer, but I'm certain I got a new one either when we got to AK or when we got back... maybe.  It's hard to remember.  Anyway- he was super thoughtful and remembered me saying that I needed a new one.  Kelly gave me a sweet card and also went all out and made me five little jars of sugar scrub!  She found the recipes all by herself and put them together without any help at all!!  Pretty awesome!  She was bummed she hadn't been able to go to the store with everyone, but that was super resourceful!!  And she also gave me a gift card to Bed Bath and Beyond.  Charity gave me an Amazon gift card so that I can get a phone case!  Pretty excited about that!  Cool girl!  It was a very fun morning.  I noticed everyone wore my favorite clothes too- couldn't have been a coincidence :).  I loved it!
Have I mentioned how much I love Mother's Day??  I think it's one of my favorite days.  This year I did find myself feeling a little disappointed with myself and wanting to do better- always a feeling I have on Mother's day, just a little heavier this time.  It's time to step it up.  It wasn't a bad thing, just made me feel a little more unworthy of all their sweet words and thoughtfulness.  But overall- it was such a fun day of being spoiled.  I didn't cook a thing or even look at the clock for that matter!  The entire afternoon and evening was filled with resting, laughing and talking and playing cards with my kids.  They know what I like :).  We topped the evening off with a nice walk around the ward.  I just love this family I've been blessed with.  I don't know what I would do without all of them.  I hope I never find out.  I also hope that I can someday be worthy of the love and friendship they each show me.  They really are amazing kids.  I don't know how I got so lucky.  5-14-17

DIFFERENT
I just had to document this change in our lives.  When our older kids were little and started showing signs of sickness, life would just stop.  Everything!  I cancelled appointments, didn't run errands, we'd basically quarantine ourselves and stay locked up in the house for days.  It usually involved a trip to the Pediatrician and therefore antibiotics, nebulizer, or some other crazy cure.  We'd get all worked up over the slightest fever, double up on motrin and tylenol to keep that fever down, waking up all hours of the night to keep on top of it all.  Our kids got sick a lot too... ear infections especially, like crazy!  So this is what it's like now--- Saturday night Molly didn't sleep well.  Nate got up with her a bunch in the night because I didn't hear her.  Very odd for Molly, but carried on as usual with our Mother's Day morning.  Sunday morning we noticed she was developing a bit of a fever.  Her head was super warm.  She seemed congested and a little sleepy/grumpy.  So definitely something wrong.  I rubbed some Breathe oil on her chest and feet and her sinuses started to drain quite a bit.  She was coughing a little as well.  We decided Nursery was out, but carried on with our plans to go to church.  No meds, we just let the fever run it's course.  It's been so fascinating to me to watch a fever run it's course.  I'm so glad I finally figured out that the fever is the body's way of burning the bacteria (or whatever the problem is) out.  It's doing it's job!  Our bodies are not wimpy!  They have a lot of built in equipment to take care of us!  Within reason of course- I don't know that I would let a fever go too long- but for the past couple years- this is how we've dealt with things and it's been like night and day!  Literally!  Things don't last near as long as they used to!  Coincidence?  Nah.  So we didn't give her a single drop of meds.  Just the oils a couple more times.  She took a few naps, and then on our little walk around the ward we think her fever broke!  The air was just cool enough and such a fresh nice day, I think that really made a difference for her to get out of the house.  When we got home she seemed almost like herself again!  We got her ready for bed and decided some motrin might be nice to help her sleep.  She fell right to sleep and in the morning was back to 100%!!  She had crusted boogers everywhere, but really, she seems almost happier than usual!  Pretty awesome!  And we're not having to deal with DAYS of problems, worrying about wheezing, worrying about doctor appointments and prescriptions.  This was barely a day!  We still went to church (just not Nursery), still carried on all of our plans minus taking her germs up to Grandpa Russ and Grandma Ruthie's house.  Pretty awesome.  I wish I'd known about this 15 years ago!  5-14-17

SIXTEEN YEARS!!
Nate and I have been married for 16 years!!  Holy Moly!  It's funny for that to feel like a long time and not very long at the same time!  I mean, I remember how long it took to get to my sixteen birthday and I couldn't even remember the first four or so.  So that makes it seems long, but when I think about our dating and engagement and our wedding day- it really feels like yesterday!!  So much has changed since then!!  Kinda blows my mind to think about who we were when we got married and who we are now.  I hope it was all for the better.  It's fun to think about all that we've been through together as well.  I don't think I would have survived any of it on my own.  And most of it just made us stronger.  For that I am grateful.  I love Nate more now than I ever thought possible.  And I feel like we've grown closer than we ever thought possible.  It's fun to think that we might grow even more together.  Bring on eternity!  Nate came home with a huge bouquet of red and white roses and a really cool new picture of the Salt Lake temple for us to put in our room.  It will match our room perfectly!  We played out our Monday evening as usual, with all the carting around of Kelly and Charity and then FHE, and then got to go celebrate our day together.  I had thought about doing it a different day, but our week is so full!  If only I'd known how busy May would be, 16 years ago, I might have insisted on a different day.  April 6th would have been a good one--- HA!!  wink wink.  I'm kidding.  So we went out to Sushi Monster and filled ourselves to the brim with sushi :).  It was awesome.  That Pandora roll.... mmmmmmmm.  And the Sweet Potato one was an interesting change!  Very yummy.  We came home and got kids in bed and finished the day off together.  Happy Anniversary to us :).  5-15-17

FHE
Molly was the lesson, but a few minutes before FHE, Noah came to us and asked if he could teach the lesson in place of Molly.  He had had a really great lesson learning about the Law of Consecration in his Primary class on Sunday, that he wanted to share with everyone.  He did a great job, distributing pieces of torn up bread to provide everyone an even number of pieces.  I especially loved in his testimony that he testified that the Law of Consecration demonstrates that Heavenly Father loves all of His children.  Pretty cool- I don't know that I'd ever looked at it from that angle.  Such a cool kid.  We did two events of our family decathlon for Nate's activity- it was really my idea- we did curl ups and push ups.  I did horrible, but everyone else did really good.  It'll be interesting to score us out for the 10 events.  We had popsicles for my treat- that was really Nate's idea.  We missed Charity and Kelly who were at their second to last dress rehearsal for their Xanadu play.  5-15-17

BUDDY
A few weeks ago I had maxed out with Buddy.  I was sick of his running out the front door, almost biting me when I try to grab him and pull him back in, the poop, the smells, the fact that he never gets to go on walks anymore....etc.  I sat down with Charity and talked with her about how it might be time to find Buddy a new home.  We are not providing him with all that he needs and he might be better off somewhere else.  She surprisingly, but sadly, agreed.  She seemed almost relieved that she wouldn't have to worry about him or feel guilty about him anymore.  I was shocked, but kind of relived.  Since she was on the same page- we could actually get rid of him!  Which sounds horrible of course.  But right as we had reached this conclusion, Nate came in and offered to take over with Buddy.  He offered to be Buddy's new owner.  I knew he was attached to Buddy and loved him a lot, but I didn't know how much until then.  I couldn't make Nate give up the dog too!  So we did it, we just changed ownership.  Which is still even a little bit sad.  He was Charity's dog.  But I think she was mostly relieved.  We'll see how this goes.  5-16-17

LUNCH WITH DAD
My Dad and I have always gone out for lunch for my birthday, but this year, he invited me to go the week after his birthday, so I decided to call it, going out for HIS birthday :).  It's kind of tradition to go to the Cheesecake Factory.  I think my dad likes traditions like that as much as I do.  We both got the same thing we always get :).  It was fun to sit and talk.  I always feel like I talked about myself and my kids too much.  But it was fun to hear a little about his trip to Bali.  It was a nice afternoon.  So glad I get to do this once in a while.  5-16-17

NO FOURTH GRADER
We got to help Jami with the 4th grade Mt. Man Rendezvous this week.  I had shared all the details from last year with her and helped her get the big trough from Oak Hills Elementary, and Nate had wanted to come help gut the fish, along with Bradley being checked out- so we just kind of made it a family event :).  It was weird to not really recognize many of the kids in the 4th grade, since we don't have a kid in that grade.  Then we got yummy sour dough bread from Jami.... mmmmmm.  Dang carbs.  5-16-17

SHOE
Jack had the misfortune of having his shoe fall off during his race this week!  It was such a bummer!  He was so excited and pumped up to run and win and then his shoe fell off!  Dumb velcro.  We hadn't even thought to prep him for something like this, so he just stopped and cried.  I walked him to the finish line, but man, what a bummer!  5-16-17

PRESIDENCY MEETING
We had our usual Tuesday NIGHT meeting.  This time Barbara had four place settings at her bar with VERY fancy dishes, napkins, and the nicest silver.  Even our own little salt and pepper shakers!  It was SO fancy!!  We ate baked potatoes and I prayed the whole time that Heavenly Father would not let it effect my weigh in the next day.  I needed a miracle with that baked potato.  Although, I did go really easy on the toppings.  It was a fun little time together.  Then we headed downstairs in her cozy family room and made a LOT of BIG decisions!  Kinda fun.  5-16-17

NO PLAY GROUP
There was no decision made about where playgroup should be this week, so Emily and I just met up at Chick-fil-a and had lunch together :).  It was perfect!  Emily's pretty much the main reason I go to playgroup so this was just as good.  I could have done without Molly climbing up into the play thing so that I had to go get her, but it's been a while since I had to do that, so I shouldn't complain.  Good times.  5-17-17

DISCOVERY MUSEUM
Sarah, Savannah, Nate, Jack, Molly and I all went to the Discovery Museum on Thursday!  What a blast to the past that ended up being!  It's so strange to think back to 7 years ago when we had a membership there.  I was pregnant with Erika.  We went there a lot just so that I could sit down and relax :).  This was much like then- we had good odds- one adult per kid- so not too hard to keep them all entertained and supervised.  They loved all the same things their older sibs enjoyed :).  It was a lot of fun.  I think Jack said his favorite parts were fixing the car and building towers :).  I loved hanging out with Sarah as well.  You can never do enough of that.  Especially with them leaving soon.  So much fun.  5-18-17

RUTH AND RUSS
We finally got up to Nate's parents' house this week.  We went as soon as we had finished running all the kids' errands!  Charity was trying out for the High School Musical that afternoon and needed a CD and a picture of herself, print off of her grades... lots of crazy stuff :).  Bradley needed to get to school for his Math and Science Olympiad practice and then checked out and to the Maughan's to go to Lagoon for Dare Lagoon day!  So it was a busy morning.  But we made it up to Day Break- got Ruth to get her hair cut and some salad at Harmons while Nate, Jack and Molly entertained Grandpa Russ.  Or maybe it was the other way around.  He let Nate read some stories from his childhood he had typed up.  Which I got to read when I got back and LOVED!  How fun!  I"m glad he's getting some things down for all of us to have once he's gone.  The kids enjoyed hearing Nate's description of his stories later in the day.  We were all fascinated by the fact that he had an out house growing up and that they didn't have running water!  Also loved the samurai sword story!  How crazy!!  It was a fun morning with them- we need to do that more often.  5-19-17

DARE LAGOON DAY
Since we have passes we took full advantage of Brad's DARE Lagoon day!  Nate, Noah, Erika, Jack, Molly and I all met up with him there after school got out.  He was just starting to have fun :).  He said it wasn't really fun until 1:00.  After that he had a lot of fun though :).  It was fun to see him with his friends and in that setting.  I took off with the littles and Jack braved a bunch of the bigger kiddie rides- so that was exciting!  We headed home for dinner, grabbed Luke who had been playing with Clint, dropped off the girls off for their play, left Noah home to get himself to Josh's party and went back for some more Lagoon :).  SO much fun!!  I got to go with the big kids this time while Nate took the two littles to Kiddie Land.  We went on Spider, Wild Mouse, Sky Ride (all three of those broke down while we were in line, so we had to wait way longer than we should have- actually Sky Ride stopped WHILE we were on it!  TOtally freaked me out!), the Air Race ride- that is insane! The Bat, Bombora, Tidal Wave, and Swings!  I had to pass on the Tidal Wave and Swings- I was feeling really nauseous for some reason.  But it was so much fun!  We got home just in time for the girls to need rides home from their partying.  Good stuff.  5-19-17

PARK CITY WHITE
Nate, Brad, Kelly and I got up at the bumb crack of dawn to go to Kelly's last Lacrosse game.  We had to leave at 7:30 to get to Park City by 8:30 for her game at 9:00.  It was a pretty fun game!  Kind of a bummer because Park City girls always play dirty and make it somewhat less enjoyable that way, but it was cool to see our girls hold them at 9-2.  Their lowest scoring game this season was 15, so we really put up a fight!  Which says a LOT about our defense for which I think Kelly gets at least 60% of the credit!  She is really amazing this year!  It's been a lot of fun to watch her play this year.  Her whole team- it was so fun to see them improve together and grow and develop as a team.  So cool!  I wish these seasons weren't so short!  After the game we all went over to Kneaders for some breakfast.  We got to meet a few of the parents and found out more about JV Lacrosse for next year.  I think Kelly is going to keep going with it!  That makes me happy :).  5-20-17

GARDEN SPOT
Nate spent a good part of the afternoon digging out our new spot for our garden.  Hopefully this will take.  We didn't get all the way done, but made some SERIOUS progress!  I'm getting anxious to plant!  5-20-17

Things to Remember 5-7-17

STAKE CONFERENCE
Stake Conference was awesome, and I was totally geared up after the awesome meeting the night before, but I really didn't get to hear much of Elder Costa's talk.  Which sort of bummed me out.  I did enjoy the other talks- I think two of them were the Temple President and his wife.  I loved her talk and the reminder that I need to make time for the temple.  I was going to commit to going every week, but I've already screwed that up.  But the girls want me to take them every other week, so we will be doing that- I can go do initiatory then... should be awesome.  My kids keep me in line in so many areas.  I really loved President Taylor's talk as well, and loved that the kids enjoyed his so much too- that is what they all talked about that evening when we were discussing what we'd learned.  I thought that was cool.  We did have a nice Sunday afternoon and evening as well.  That doesn't happen every week.  5-7-17

LUNCH WITH EMILY
We finally got to go to lunch on Monday.  We decided we needed the littles to be busy, so we went to Carl's Jr.  I hope Emily wasn't mad that at the last minute I decided to just go with a Costa Vida salad instead of the Carl's Jr. food.  I was totally craving it and the calories and stuff weren't even that bad, but I just couldn't get myself to do it.  It's probably good too because my weight didn't move at all that week.  Kind of a bummer, but I'm always glad when it doesn't go up.  It's always fun to hang out with Emily.  Three hours later Jack dragged me out of there :).  Good times.  5-8-17

FHE
For FHE Nate was the lesson and he talked a lot about faith and then a little about forgiveness.  His lesson was very meaningful to me and helped me make a few changes in my life.  We were out of time to do our cool "Random Acts of Kindness" celebration activity that we had planned after finishing the Book of Mormon a couple nights earlier, but we will do it one of these Mondays.  It's been pretty hectic with the girls and their Musical Theater class- can't wait til the extra rehearsals are over.  We got some DQ for the treat.  5-8-17

BEES GAME WITH LUKEY
This was my third time going to the Bee's game field trip.  Nate got to go with Bradley.  I drove separately and found Luke a little after he was seated.  Luckily he saved me a seat :).  We had a lot of fun.  I really enjoyed sitting next to the Luke and Clint comedy show.  They are hilarious.  And it seems to me that most of their humor happens accidentally :).  They had me laughing the whole time.  Fun boys.  It was somewhat unfortunate that we had to sit in the sun the entire time, with the heat of no breeze, but we had a lot of fun.  Luke got a mini pizza and some cotton candy :).  5-9-17

GRANDPA HATCH'S BIRTHDAY
We had our races at 4:30, Erika's game at 6:15, and then hurried as fast as we could to get up to Grandpa's by 7:30!  It was a crazy busy afternoon.  We had so much fun at Grandpa's though.  He passed out souvenirs from his trip to everyone first- always like grandpa to give everyone else gifts on HIS birthday.  We gave him our gifts and then the pizza, cake and ice cream followed.  It was fun to have the Hatches there.  And fun to see Steve again.  Feels like the kids haven't seen him in forever!  It was especially fun to watch grandpa shooting blow darts at his couch... and Steve! Hilarious.  I got to show my dad our new car finally too.  He liked the smell and was very complimentary on the ride to Rocket Park, but the rest of the evening he teased me about my delivery van.  Typical :).  I think he's just jealous.  Fun times though.  Need to get together more often.  5-9-17

PTA LUNCHEON
I didn't realize the luncheon was just that.  For some reason I thought it was going to be a little bit of a meeting too.  I don't know if I would have gone otherwise... but it was a really nice break and a good chance to visit with people.  I need more practice with that.  Natalie did a great job on the food and everything was really cute and fun.  It made me a little nervous for our year to start, being handed the binder and stuff.  All I can say is- we'll see how it goes.  5-10-17

WEDNESDAY NIGHT
The four littles and I have Wednesday nights to ourselves right now.  And for the past couple weeks, I've tried to take advantage of that time with them.  This week we spent part of our time taking Luke to scouts- we'd gotten the time mixed up- but the rest of the time we spent practicing batting in the front yard.  It was so much fun!  They all took turns and helped with catching and fielding the ball.  I loved it!  It's funny to go back to the younger four stage once in a while and remember what it was like with the first four- which in everyone's defense, they were much younger and closer in age- so of course it's different, but there really is an entirely different feel.  Let's see, Charity was 5 when Luke was 1 1/2, so.... not the same as having two older than that.  Anyway.  They were super cute- I loved watching them help each other with batting technique.  They're such good kids and listen so well when it's time to come in... just lots of fun.  5-10-17

COLUMBIA ELEMENTARY PTA 2017-2018
We had our first non-official meeting with our new board.  It was necessary, but kind of disorganized.  Jami and I still just don't know enough yet, but are required to make all these decisions already. so anyway.  I think we're going to have a great board though- I loved everyone sharing their opinions.  It was funny when Karen threw out my Movie Night idea :).  Kinda funny.  Should be an interesting year.  5-11-17

CHARITY'S AP TEST
Charity took her last AP test for the year.  She got a little nervous the night before, but seemed pretty satisfied after.  I'm so proud of all the work and time she's put into her AP classes this year.  It took way more time and sacrifice than I ever imagined, but she did it!  She's just so awesome.  I'm so proud of her.  I can't wait to see what this girl does with her life.  She's really on a roll.  5-12-17

PONDS PARK FIELD TRIP WITH NOAH
Noah's class has been pen pal-ing with kids in a Windridge Elementary class all year.  So this Friday they got to go meet those pen pals!  I got to walk to the park with Noah and Nate brought the popsicles to the park while we were there.  It was fun to see Noah so excited to meet someone new. It's so cool that kids can be so welcoming of new people and feel like best buds after some letters.  What a cool activity- Mrs. Turnbow is the best!  Bradley was on his bike riding field trip from the sewer and stopped by for lunch at the park- so that was fun for all of us to be there together :).  It's crazy to think that this school year is almost over.  Time is going too fast.  5-12-17

HALF-BAKED PRIMARY PARTY
I loved how Barbara put it when she called our planning of this party "half-baked".  Things had really not gone according to plan- we never really advertised to the kids and hadn't gotten our flyers out when we'd planned, then the date had to be changed, so things were different there too... anyway- it was totally "half-baked", but we decided to carry on anyway.  I really think it would have gone more smoothly if we'd had a beginning.  And had more adults there.  We decided to give the teachers a break and not make them come, but I think we really could have used some of them.  The Wards were there, which was a HUGE blessing.  I had planned on having Charity, Kelly and Bradley to help, but with all the confusion of schedules, Kelly's Lagoon day and Charity's meeting with her counselor- we just had Bradley.  He was super helpful, but we were just lacking in the supervision department.  It ended up working out just fine and I think the kids had a blast.  We had them make little cards with questions about their moms and then put a hand print on a hot pad and then played some kickball outside and some played musical chairs inside and then we practiced our Mother's Day songs... it was nuts, but I think it was a success.  The kids had fun.  5-12-17

MUSICAL THEATER
Charity and Kelly's Musical Theater class has taken over our lives.  Or at least our schedule.  You know you rely on your teens too much when you feel stifled because they have to be gone extra evenings.  I've really missed my girls!  It's been annoying!  Lots of evening rehearsals, Saturday!  Kelly had TWO of her EIGHT games this Saturday and had to miss the first one because of her 7 hour rehearsal!  Luckily the teacher let her play her second one and they actually got done two hours early so Charity even saw the last little bit of her game, but UGH!!  It was a total bummer.  We are getting really excited for their play though!  I can't wait to see it!  5-13-17

Things to Remember Week of 4-30-17

I DID IT!
I finally did it! Every fast Sunday for the past 3 months-ish (I really can't remember how long), I've felt that burning, shaking, nervous feeling that I needed to bear my testimony and ignored it or tried to rationalize myself out of it.  I used all the obvious excuses and felt horrible for the rest of the day.  But today! I did it!  We were almost to the end of the meeting, 5 minutes left, and I'd already talked myself out of it by then, but it got quiet and nobody was going up there and the Spirit just jerked at me!  Molly had even woken up and no longer needed me, and Erika's leg wasn't bugging her right then.  It was unavoidable!!!  The feeling was just too strong.  Which I'm actually really grateful for because I've felt so guilty each month with not getting up there.  I am grateful that The Spirit kept at it for me and that I didn't just miss my chance.  It was a good thing.  Even though I don't love going up there in front of everyone and rambling on.  I felt more in control this time and knew what I needed to say.  That's never really happened to me before.  It felt good.  I still have all the regrets about things I didn't say right, but I am so relieved.  I finally shared the story about getting the flat tire on the way back from the church one Sunday and how I learned that I don't need to rely on my phone.  I was able to rely on prayer and Heavenly Father's help.  It was awesome to have so much help and SO quickly when Heavenly Father was involved when even if I'd had a phone, I don't think I could have got those kind of results so quickly.  (one of the things I wish I'd said)  I hope I didn't offend my kids when I said that I don't go up because they do, what I meant to say is I'm a wuss and too scared to get up there.  4-30-17

PATANES
After last week's awkwardness with the Patane's stopping by and my being asleep, I decided not to take a nap this week.  Lucky I did too because they came again :).  We stood out there and talked to them for quite a while- lots of fun.  The kids think Jeff is the funniest person ever and Kelly thinks he is like Wreck-It-Ralph :).  I like having them for friends.  4-30-17

AP TEST
Charity's first AP test was Monday.  This was a much anticipated, very nerve-racking event!  She was not allowed to do any studying all weekend and had to go to bed early the night before (as per teacher's orders- Huggins and Holbrook take their jobs very seriously), even ditched the visiting with the Patanes to go to bed!  Pretty dedicated!  I know that took a lot of discipline for Charity.  She got up early Monday morning to get showered and we did her cute braids- she seemed very ready for things and not too nervous at all.  Her awesome teachers provided breakfast for them before the test and then walked them over to the church.  She said it was a lot easier than she thought it would be and had a lot of good feelings about it.  I thought that was cool.  We weren't sure when she was going to be done, but she knew she didn't want to go back to school for the day.  They went back to the school, had Subway sandwiches and lots of other food, and then I picked her up to avoid thinking for the rest of the day :).  It was actually a lot of fun to have that afternoon with her.  We talked for a while, went on a little walk over to the park, talked some more and then she got to watch her Jazz game that she missed the night before.  It was nice and relaxing time that I haven't been able to have with my Cherry in a long time.  I really loved it.  I'm so proud of all her hard work this year and that she is learning such good time management and able to stay focused on her schoolwork.  She's on her way.  She's got one more AP test in a couple weeks, so we're gearing up for that one- but now that she's crossed the "first time" bridge, should be fairly simple for her.  5-1-17

FHE
For FHE we went up to the DATC's frisbee golf course.  This ended up being a really fun activity!  Everyone had a great time!  Even Jack stayed pretty focused and played the whole time.  He got a 2 :).  I think we were smart to not keep score- that would have taken much longer, but everyone kept track of their own scores.  I did horribly.  Nate was probably the winner and he even had Molly hanging on him the whole time.  It was a fun new activity for us though, glad Nate thought of it.  We came home, had my lesson on communication, watched Kelly's cool video, and then ate messy no-roast S'mores from Claire.  Good times.  5-2-17

BANANAS
The coolest thing happened on Tuesday.  Monday morning I had a strawberry smoothie for my protein shake and didn't love it.  I was missing my bananas.  We were all out of bananas and I wasn't going to be able to get more until the next Monday.  I said a little prayer that Heavenly Father would help me get some bananas (same thing I prayed for a few weeks ago when he helped me find a hidden bag of them in the freezer).  Well, sure enough, the produce guys gave us two huge boxes of bananas this week!!  Such a cool answer to my prayer!!  I took a whole box and then took the leftovers after everyone else had helped themselves.  I have enough bananas to last me at least a couple months now :).  Such a cool little blessing.  I love putting my trust in Heavenly Father.  Cool things happen when I don't try to do everything myself.  5-3-17

HEALTHY KIDS RUNNING SERIES
We had our first races on Tuesday.  I was a little frustrated because when I asked the kids if they wanted to do the races again, they all said yes, so I signed them up, but then on Tuesday when it came time to go- I had nothing but grumbly complaints!  I was a little bugged.  Once we got there though, and they had their free shirts and bibs on- we were good to go- everyone pushed themselves really hard!  I was super impressed!  Jack got second place, Erika got first place by about 20 seconds! Noah got second place.  Luke second, and Bradley second as well.  Pretty good!  And this was after Noah had already run a mile for PE, Luke had had a gnarly, huge tooth pulled and was still a little woosey from the gas, and Bradley had a hurt leg!  So pretty impressive.  I think this was a great base time to be setting.  It was lots of fun.  I really love doing this with the kids- I hope they keep doing it.  5-3-17

1/3 OF THE WAY!
On wednesday I hit my one third mark :).  I've lost a third of what I would like to lose.  Way back when Brad was a baby, I was going to the gym regularly and had my two free sessions with the personal trainer, he told me I could get down to a certain weight and that is what I have my sights on.  I don't know if it's still the same, my body has changed quite a bit over the last 12 years.  My uterus alone must weigh more than it used to.  But anyway.  That is my goal and I'm closer to my goal than I was two months ago :).  It's been so awesome to be making this progress.  I never would have imagined this going so well.  I've consistently lost 1-3 pounds each week, never going back up, which is a huge blessing.  I can't wait to get down to my pre-Jack weight- well, not just down to it, but down below it- that was a big struggle 5 years ago when I was trying to lose weight and going to the gym regularly.  I would just bounce around that number 1 or 2 lbs above or below- that will be cool to go below that.  This is just a really fun thing for me lately.  I hope I can keep it up.  I know I have had help, and I'm so grateful for that.  It's been a fun little miracle for me.  Reminds me that my Heavenly Father loves me and wants what's best for me and now that I finally have the discipline and self-control for it- he's making it happen.  It's just awesome.  5-4-17

KELLY'S BRACES
Kelly got her braces on Wednesday!  8:00 in the morning!  We were both relieved when the doc realized he'd been wrong about some of her issues and that she could in fact put on the wires and not just the brackets on that first visit.  She seems almost happy with them!  Surprisingly.  And they are not as painful as she had anticipated, so win/win.  She has had a lot of trouble eating, which stinks, but she's made lots of smoothies.  5-4-17

LUNCH WITH STEVE
On Wednesday, after Kelly's ortho appointment and a little bit of playgroup- we met up with Steve at Costa Vida for some lunch.  It has been SO LONG since we hung out!  This was much needed.  Plus, we got to celebrate Steve's awesome promotion!  He got to see our new car finally (even though he didn't let me take him for a ride in it- something about being to embarrassed to be seen in it... jk....), and then he also stopped at the WB park with us with Sarah and Savannah a little later- pretty fun.  I need to see Steve more often.  5-4-17

WB PARK WITH THE THREE S's
Sarah, Savannah, and Steve at the park- it was so warm and such a beautiful day- it was fun we got to spend so much time outside!  Jack and Molly are a little small for that playground still, on their own, but they had a good time.  It was fun to visit with Sarah a little too.  I keep feeling like we need to hang out more, but it's just not happening!!  It's so crazy!  They'll be gone before we know it and then we'll regret not doing more.  This was fun though.  5-4-17

JAZZ PLAYOFFS
The Jazz have been in the playoffs these last couple weeks- it's been so much fun to have everyone all excited about this.  Nate is raising a bunch of Jazz fans.  I love seeing them get all into it.  5-5-17

ADULT SESSION STAKE CONFERENCE
I miraculously remembered the adult session this time!  I'm not even sure how it happened, I had gone up to my closet to change for the evening, get in my comfy pjs, and somehow ended up in a skirt!  I gave the kids some last minute instructions for the evening and left!  I wasn't sure why I was going, I really hadn't given it too much thought, but by the end, I was well aware of why I needed to go.  It was SUCH A GREAT MEETING!!  I really loved it.  We had Elder Joaquin E. Costa from the 70 there.  He and his wife gave really great talks.  Hers was about keeping the Sabbath day Holy and how we need to stop teaching our children the do's and don'ts of the Sabbath day and start teaching them the WHY's and the What we want to become because of it.  This really rang true to me.  I loved the things that were said about strengthening our marriages and family relationships.  I really want to do more in this area.  More of the little things that tie people together.  Elder Costa also talked about teaching in the Savior's way.  He said some things that I would like to use and apply to how I teach Sharing Time.  Engaging the kids, teaching with the Spirit and sticking to the doctrine.  He was hilarious, looking at his phone while he was standing at the pulpit because it was vibrating... very funny guy.  5-6-17