Hyrum turns ONE!

Hyrum turned one on Wednesday! What a sweet little bugger he is. As part of family tradition, the first cake the kids get is chocolate, and they sit it in the middle of the table to devour it. Hyrum was our most enthusiastic cake eater; he is pretty enthusiastic about everything, so that really isn't too surprising. He didn't get too into unwrapping the gifts, but he really liked eating the ribbon. Forutnately, Joy, Paul, and Brigham were willing to help with the unwrapping of the gifts, so they all got opened!

More Blueberries

I have been trying to settle on an evening to go pick so that those who are unavailable during the day can attend, and I have finally found it. Friday evening at 5:15 we will meet here and head over. The blueberries are just north of Dugwalla. Wear long sleeves and closed-toed shoes. Bring your own buckets. We will be leaving half of what we pick as payment. And, should it happen to rain, we won't go. Blueberries and water just don't mix. If you are planning on coming, please leave a comment so we know who to wait for!

Blueberry Thursday

So, after much searching, I found blueberries. I know this is horrible timing, but if you want to go pick blueberries tomorrow morning, be at my house at 11am. The berries are FREE, but you have to leave half of what you pick with the owners of the bushes. And, I would strongly recommend against bringing kids. The patch is FULL of massive thistle bushes growing around and through the berries. Wear long pants and closed-toed shoes. I know that not bringing kids knocks out a lot of potential pickers, but maybe one or two people could watch kids and then the berries could be split among everyone? I would volunteer to be the watcher, but I have to go. Anyway, if you have questions, call!

Random Thoughts on Life

Today was a day from Arizona. As I drove to Applebee's (where I dropped my cell last night) I thought, 'You know, I can't imagine any of my friends yelling at their kids. I am sure they must do it occasionally (please say you do!), but I can't actually imagine them doing it.' And, I went to playgroup, and sure enough, my thoughts were right, I am sure my friends don't yell at their wonderful kids who seem to have none of the perpetual motion issues my little ones do. Did I sin horribly in a previous life? Is the Lord just pushing to see how much I can really handle? Really, things are pretty iffy around here. I still have yesterday's lunch dishes unwashed in my dishwasher, the house looks like a tornado ran through it, and I am sure that my children will be scarred for life by the amount of Dora they watched today. I begin to feel the crushing weight of it all (no, that isn't all, they are just the things that are publishable), and I wonder if I am the only one. NO, I CAN'T BE THE ONLY ONE! And I realize, other people have bad days (weeks, months, years...) too. Life does go on. Tomorrow is a brand new fresh day, with no mistakes in it. (Thank you Anne.) Why am I sharing this with you? So you don't feel alone. So that you will know that other people yell at their kids and don't do dishes for days at a time too.

Judgement

This evening Joy made a very interesting observation. We were reading in Mosiah about Abinadi teaching king Noah and his priests. After the reading, Joy told me about the places you could go after you died - there was one where you could be with Heavenly Father, one where you could just see him, and one where you couldn't be with him at all because you were with Satan. She said, "I hope I will be in the first one. But, I think I will actually be in the middle one. I still pick my nose." WHAT? I hope that things as minor as nose picking won't keep you out, or I and my far more serious problems haven't a chance! So, we had a little talk about kids under eight, and how now is a great time to practice doing things correctly so that when it counts, you will already be ready. And, we talked about the atonement and repentance. They say that you need to be willing to listen when they want to talk, but it doesn't always go the way you expect.

Friday

As I came out of my room this morning, I was greeted by one very happy boy. He was so excited and proud to show me his accomplishment. Yes, that's it, the yellow stuff in the ziplock bag. When I asked Joy for the story, she said that she had gone to the bathroom, and when she came back, Paul had this bag. She sealed it for him. What a great big sister, and I have to say that I am grateful for the help.

Did I mention that Paul LOVES Hyrum? He is always trying to squeeze and love him. Fortunately, Hyrum is very good humored about it all.

And, Brigham has given new meaning to the term "climbing the walls." If you click on the picture and get closer, you can see how proud he is of this new skill. Obviously, our house doesn't lack for fun!

Confessions of a fair to middlin' cook

Have you ever looked at your life and said, "What is the one thing I could do that would make the most difference?" I don't usually do it, but at this point, it is hitting me over the head. I know that if I could really immerse myself in cooking, it would really improve my family life. But, I just don't do it. It isn't that I don't want to (okay, maybe it is) but mostly it is that I don't know how. I would love to spend a month or so at a good cooking school (alright, just about anywhere but doing dishes would be good) but, like most of the rest of the world, I just can't. So, I continue to plod away, making the same kinds of things, day in and day out, and not really enjoying it. It isn't that I can't follow a recipe, I can! I am actually pretty good at following a recipe. I just don't have enough recipes I really like, and I am horrible at recognizing good ones! And there are very few things I detest more than putting a bunch of work into something and then having it turn out like slop! So my question is, how do you identify good recipes? Really, I would love to just request everyone's favorite recipe. I figure, if I could get one GREAT recipe from everyone I know, I could toss out the ones that just don't match my taste and still have a good stockpile of tried-and-true recipes. So, who wants to share? I know, I wouldn't really take the time to do it either, but here's hoping!

Brigham

Okay, I have to brag. Brigham is just the cutest little bugger around! He is totally obsessed with letters right now. He can correctly identify ALL his letters. He can recognize 75% of their signs. He can DO some of their signs (signing isn't as easy as it seems when your hands are that small.) AND he knows what sounds ALL the letters make! I have not worked on this with him much at all, he has just picked up on what Paul and Joy have been doing. He is so dang cute about it. He finds letters all over the place and has to name them and tell you what they say. He is also doing a bunch of other cute stuff right now.

• He loves to say, "Mom, I have a question for you."
• He tore his pillow open and pulled the guts out the other day. When I went in, he asked where the sticky tape was so we could stick it back together. (He is a bit obsessed with Dora, and he has been watching a sticky tape episode recently.)
• When he goes potty in the seat (which he does quite well now) he gets an M&M. He knows it, so as soon as he is done, he hops of the seat and says, "M&M for the addigator?" Yes, he seems to think potty on the seat turns him into an alligator.
• He doesn't like sitting on his chair, ever, so when he feels like falling off he says, "Mom, I'm falling off my chair!" and plops off.

Dang, none of these things sound as cute as they are in real life. Oh well. Come visit and partake of the cuteness yourself.

1st Grade

School starts late here, so today was Joy's first day of 1st grade. Do you think she was excited? We met her teacher at a ice-cream social on Tuesday, and she seems great. Joy was ecstatic! When we took her pictures this morning, we decided, instead of making her take normal pictures, to just let her be herself. Actually, John tried to tone down the poses, she was much more enthusiastic. What a ham!

I have been worried for a while that I wasn't really feeling the way I should be about Joy going back to school. I was almost as excited as she was a the prospect of the work I would be able to get done while she (and Paul soon) were at school. But, somehow, last night it hit me that she would be gone ALL DAY, like 8:30am to 3:30pm. I cried several times last night when it finally sunk in. Half-day wasn't so bad, but all day is a bigger adjustment. Anyway, she loved it. And, I must say that it was quite gratifying when she came home this evening and said how much she missed me. What a love.

Did I mention that Joy's skirts is one of my creations? I have a skirt I just love, and I took the idea and adapted it to this. Joy actually helped make it, she ran the pedal and I guided the fabric.