Amanda's 5th grade program

Our girl in green!

Last week, Amanda and the 5th grade put on their annual program. I have to say that I really enjoyed this program! The songs were great and the performances were really cute. Amanda told me that I would cry during a certain part. They sang a patriotic song and then asked anyone who served in the military or had any family members who have served or are serving stand. I was excited to be able to stand on behalf of my brother, Evan, who is currently in the Air Force. As the audience was applauding, the waterworks started. Luckily, I was standing next to my friend, Melanie, who's father served in Vietnam and she was crying, too!

Amanda had two speaking parts.

Amanda did a few of the props. She made this poster which they used during a song about the Underground Railroad.

Amanda with some of her friends, Maddy, Allison and Liz

With Daddy and Bubba

The rest of the group....Liz, Susie, Maddy and Hanalee
Great job, Amanda!

We are proud of you!

Happy Birthday, Max!

Max turned one on Friday!

The kids were so excited!

We fed him tuna for breakfast for his special treat!

Happy Birthday, boy!

Nuturing Update

It's getting harder!

I think our whole household is PMSing.

However, I am keeping my goal in mind about nuturing our children more.

But, today I am working on nuturing myself.

Something I hadn't thought about before.

I woke up in a funk....bad mood.....luckily, Mike is on a golf trip with his buddies to St. George. He won't have to deal with me.

The kids are not lucky to be stuck with me and so I am trying extra hard to be kind.

So far, so good.

Earlier, as I was drying Amanda's hair and she was missing the bus, I was thinking to myself, I missed my 5:30am weight class...what am I going to do for me today? As I was driving Amanda to school (she was mad because I made her miss the bus by doing her hair and finishing her jobs), I was vacillating between doing no exercise, doing weights on my own, going for a walk later tonight (putting it off), doing a exercise dvd or getting on my treadmill, I was about to give up. Doing nothing was sounding so good!

This whole week in my constant battle with my weight, I have been working out really hard. Running, stair machine, weight class, spin class....it's what has gotten me through this week!

Thank goodness

I talked myself into getting on the treadmill! (This is not me, don't be confused-ha, ha:)

I think it may have saved my day! I struggled so hard getting through the first 2 miles, but once I found a groove, I went 5!

A new personal record!

Running and spinning

have become more of a mental savior for me

I have had a lot of stress in the past year

Really, who hasn't

But finally I am doing better at making sure I am

Happy

and mentally sound

I decided to blog about this today to remind me....on those days like today....what I can do to nuture myself. Everyone wins in the end when Mommy does this first. I do have a goal to get outside and run. I know it's harder than my treadmill.

But, we'll just take one goal at a time!

Personal progress?

I am earning my Young Womanhood Recognition Award again.

Our YW President challenged us to work on it and inspire the girls.

Luckily, the requirements are shortened a bit for leaders and mothers (did you know you could earn it again with your daughter?). I'm sure it's because as wives and mothers we already do a lot of what is required for the young women.

So, I was working on this last night.
One of the value experiences in Divine Nature talks about discussing with your mother or leader some attributes that would be useful as a mother.
Also, reading "The Family Proclamation" and read 2 conference talks that were geared to women. After doing all these things,
then you pick an attribute to work on for two weeks.

After thinking awhile, I decided to work on nuturing. Being so busy, especially right when my girls get home from school (teaching piano lessons), I felt I could make an extra effort on strengthening their spirits through love.

Seriously....


Today, is President's Day. The girls are home from school.
I think that Heavenly Father decided to really put me to the test.
There have been tears since 9am from one or all of the kids.

In an effort to get piano done earlier, I tried to schedule my students in the morning. But, due to some crazy schedules, I ended up teaching
all day long
here and there.
The laundry is piled up to the ceiling, as well as the ironing. Breakfast dishes are still in the sink and my bed is not made (because I haven't cleaned up the dog hair yet-see my last post).

In the midst of the housework and children fighting chaos,
I tried to teach Sydney on the piano and remembering that I'm working on nurturing, had to really work at encouraging her even though she wanted to give up and was flinging her body around as she was having a fit (I'm sure in an attempt to have me let her leave the piano).

Then, my sweet daughter, Amanda,
was trying to get me to help her with charging her iPod.
When I couldn't quickly solve the problem, I was tempted to have her wait until the all-knowing Daddy got home to save the day.
But, remembering my goal, I left all my chores behind and 'googled' many a website trying to fix her iPod.
Mission accomplished.
But, when she went to find her new cd's that she got for Christmas so I could download them to her iPod, our next moment came roaring full steam ahead.

Friend problems.
A certain friend who broke the cd cases and misplaced the cd's. I went downstairs to 'nurture' my daughter through this problem and she was so upset her nose started bleeding.....really, really bleeding.....

And, then phone calls with the insurance people, repair shop and car rental place trying to get my car fixed.

I needed to take a five minute break.....which is what brought me here.

I really wanted to document my first day of increased nurturing...and even as I do so, Brandon is begging me to come see what he did on the game he's playing on the Wii....

Ok, I went and looked.
He turned a stormtrooper from the Star Wars game red instead of white.
Cool!

I am so grateful for these amazing spirits that have come to
Michael and me.
I realize I can do so much more for them. I really thought that my nurturing experiment would have consisted of reading books together, maybe doing some crafts or teaching the girls piano, or having some nice one-on-one chats with each child. Maybe it will be more of me patiently helping them through the hard stuff.

Stay tuned!

Love the dog...don't love the hair...

Since the weather turned chilly, big Max gets to sleep inside. He has a specified spot...on an old towel next to the chaise on Mike's side of the bed. He does really well and we can tell he appreciates and prefers the nice, warm bed as opposed to the freezing patio. The dog has a dog house...he's scared to go inside.

Can you imagine? This big, scary, intimidating doggy is scared of the dark?

So, now I have a hair removal routine every morning. These are my tools of the trade. First I take the old towel outside and give it a shaky, shaky, shake. Then, it goes into the garage where it will wait until all the old towels are ready to go in the wash. Then, I do a quick wash with them, fold them, and leave them on the laundry floor until they are ready for use.

Next, I use the vacuum without the power head to remove all stray hair from the chaise, blankets, bedspread, pillows, and bedskirt. Then, I use the lint roller on the kids. See, they LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the dog and HUG and HUG and HUG the dog. BLAHHHHHHHHH. Then, I vacuum our entire bedroom and hall. Only then, do I feel like I can make the bed. It gets a little old, but it's worth it because we love the dog.....

C.R.U.N.C.H.

Mike & I love our cars. However, we haven't had the best of luck, lately. Last year, they each were both in the shop multiple times for leaks, etc. This year, it seems we are going to be in the shop for body repairs!

Crunch #1 happened to Mike's car at church. A newbie driver backed into his car. (about $1000 to repair!) I'm going to sound old now, but 'gotta love those teen-agers.' A whole slew of 16 year old whippersnappers in our ward will be getting their coveted drivers licenses this year.
Be on the look-out!

Crunch #2 happened to me today. While sitting in the left-hand turn lane waiting to get on the freeway, a gal in a Ford F350 with a lift-rear-ended me! Nice. (Estimated $2800 to repair!)It doesn't look that bad unless I point a few things out. The hatch won't open. The right side of the bumper is jammed in against the car. There are some slight puncture wounds in the hatch and in the bumper. The truck who hit me lost her front license plate! Not a fun way to start the day. I was just glad that none of the kids were with me. Now the dealing with the awful insurance company begins.

Anyone have a spare rabbit's foot or two?

Smarty Pants!

Congratulations to our darling daughters!

Both received straight A's this term!

We are proud of our smarty pants kids!!!!

Do you like movie popcorn?

Brandon, Spencer Harwood, and Matthew Butler

Brandon's preschool took a field trip to Tinsel Town movie theater this week! It was great fun as they took us behind the scenes at the movies! We saw the projectors, how they load the film, looked into the theater from above (fun perspective) and shown the very powerful light bulbs that 'project' the movies onto those giant screens.

Then, we went behind the snack counter. You know how you think they are always trying to make you buy more? Well, they are. Posted above the door which leads to 'behind the counter', was Upsell, Suggest and Thank......

Also, during the popcorn demonstration, our young, but qualified, guide told the kids the reason they put the yellow salt on the popcorn is so that you really like it and want to buy more (addiction?)! Then, she gave them all a sample of freshly popped corn and told the 4 year olds that if they liked it to have their parents bring them to the movies and buy them some popcorn! I guess since it was a free tour, they were free to brainwash!

Next we went into a theater to watch 3 or 4 short cartoons and each kid was given popcorn, Sprite, a poster, pencil and ruler! Brandon thought he'd hit the jackpot!

Brandon...the amazing disappearing Spence (he doesn't like pictures) and Matthew

Emily, Angie and I let the boys sit down front by themselves so they could feel big. We could hear them laughing and talking to each other loudly the whole time! Priceless!

The older I get, the more I realize how SLOW I am!

So, sometimes it takes me awhile to get something....like truly 'get something' Maybe it's because I'm maturing slowly....I still feel 25 years old. That's ok, right?

Anyway, my latest epiphany is that my sweet hubby really likes to have 'thoughtful' gifts. He doesn't like to just get something for the sake of getting something.

He usually puts a great deal of thought into gifts he gives.

We have been discussing a few gifts lately.

It's been a little fiesty.

My word for the year is determined, right?

So, this year I'm determined to give Mikey good and hopefully GREAT gifts!

I feel like I want him to know through these gifts (because it's important to him) that

I truly love him

more than anything!

I have some things in mind.

I'm already thinking about Christmas.

Already have an Anniversary gift in mind.

I have his BIG 40th BIRTHDAY that I'm working on.

We aren't into giving gifts for mini-holidays, really. I consider Valentine's Day a mini. I'm having a hard time figuring out something to do.

So, give me some suggestions if you've got them...

Mike is going to hate this post.....just fyi!

Loves!

Saturdays are for Skiing!!!

Mike & the girls have been skiing every Saturday in January. The girls took some ski lessons at Snowbasin resort. This resort is kind of a neighborhood hang-out as they run into half the neighborhood every week! There was even a 'tailgating' party set for this Saturday with everyone from the neighborhood, but then the weather turned crazy. Brandon and I were going to come up and join everyone for lunch, but we'll have to do it when it gets rescheduled. Mike wants Brandon to start skiing and we need him to see what it's all about. Utah has a great program for 5th and 6th graders which gives them 3 free passes to each resort in the state! Now that lessons are over, Mike is going to take Amanda to check out some of the other great resorts.
Mike got a couple of pictures of Sydney one week.....cute little Syd-Syd!


Amanda has been doing great and loves, loves, loves skiing. Sydney has been doing great, too, but she doesn't really love staying all day...can you say lodge? Mike has been able to ski while they are in lessons and then spend the rest of the day with the girls. This week he was loving the new powder! I told him last week, that the girls are going to remember skiing with their Dad and it will be one of their favorite memories of childhood.