HELP!

Can I really be this computer/technology illiterate? I can't figure this blog template thing out! It's driving me crazy!!!!! Here's to a New Year's Resolution of becoming technologically savvy!

Bring on 2009!

Highlights from Houston

Emma had major issues with their sweet dog Jesse. At some point she decided to get brave and this is what I got on camera.

Thinking about it...


Touching the Dog


Getting Closer to the Dog


I did it!



The Gulf of Mexico by Galveston (Can you tell I was trying to somewhat recreate the Alameda Beach Picture minus the basket and white dresses?)




Looking for seashells


Fun at the Houston Zoo






We had a fabulous time! Thanks for hosting us!

Joephis is 2

Yes, I spelled that right...all the little neighbor kids call him that because they can't say Joseph.

Joseph had a birthday, a really low-key birthday. It was a great day and he was thrilled with a couple of balloons, a cute cake, and lots of presents to open.



Here's a little about Joseph:

Favorite shows: Dora, Caillou, Dragon Tales
Favorite Things to Do: Open things, open anything that looks like a present, dance, color, scream, play with Mom's hair or arm with his hand (or foot) while sucking his thumb, playing with Dad's ear with his hand (or foot) while sucking his thumb, stay up late with Mom and Dad, wrestle with his siblings
Favorite Foods: strawberries, cheese, cookies
Favorite toys: trains, cars, shape sorter
Favorite cake: the train cake Mom made him



Favorite Drinks: Orange Juice, Soy milk
Cute sayings lately: "Because", "Cute!", "Scary Santa!", "No, No, No, No" (While shaking his head)
Names we call him: Joe Joe, Caboo Caboo (I don't know why), Chicken Little
Gifts he got for his birthday: a garage with cars, clothes, shape sorter, books, camo shoes, jammies (his favorite)


Favorite Songs: Praise to the Man ( I think that is so appropriate), Wheels on the Bus, I Am a Child of God, You're the Voice (of course)
Things he hates: Going to Nursery, Not being able to go with Dad places




We love our little guy!

It's not too late to be thankful

I like what this author says...

I’m grateful my children demand I talk to them when I don’t feel like talking, feed them when I’m not hungry, and change their diapers even when I’m all dressed up and ready to go somewhere special. I don’t think I’d discover the world outside my own needs without them.

I’m grateful my children haven’t learned how to hold back their tears when they’re sad, laughter when they’re happy, or screams when they’re frightened. They constantly remind me that emotions are for sharing.

I’m grateful my children have broken nearly everything in my home and used a crayon or ink marker on the rest. They’ve taught me that things aren’t important, but people are.

I’m grateful my children start out small and helpless so they don’t become aware of my incompetence until they’re teenagers. By then, we’ve both grown so accustomed to each other, we somehow manage to make it through the rest of life together.

I’m grateful my children get their pants dirty, pick their noses, burp without saying “excuse me,” and quarrel in public so I’ll never be able to get too arrogant, proper, or judgmental of other people’s children.

I’m grateful my children sometimes call me names like “weird” because sometimes I am “weird,” and it helps keep a person humble to be told they’re “weird” when they’re acting weird.

I’m grateful my children occasionally miss the bus at the precise moment I’ve stepped out of the shower, contemplating the well-planned, organized day ahead of me. Experiences like jumping into the car after throwing on whatever’s handy and racing to school have a tendency to loosen rigid plans into something better known as spontaneity.

I’m grateful my children always need new shoes, piano books, prescriptions, haircuts, fieldtrip money, tuition, food, toothpaste, and underwear. That way, I don’t have to waste my time thinking about a new sofa. It’s difficult to get wealthy and think about luxuries when you have to buy toilet paper and milk by the truckload each week.

I’m grateful my children know how to play. My five-year-old asked me to come downstairs so he could “teach me how to play” with his plastic animals. While Jacob demonstrated the subtle techniques for sinking a rhinoceros into couch cushions while pretending it was quicksand, I realized my young son was right. I really do need someone to “teach me how to play.”

I’m grateful my children question my every command and giggle when I get angry. It’s difficult to feel too powerful or self-righteous with kids around to remind you of how funny you look when you’re pointing your finger.

I’m grateful my children insist I hug, kiss, rock, or put my arms around them often. Otherwise, I think I’d forget how the sense of touch is so healing.

I’m grateful each of my children is unique when the same strange, inexperienced mother raised them. Somehow they don’t seem to let me ruin them much.

And lastly, I’m grateful for the gift of children in my life. God willing, I’d like to fill the rest of my days with those interesting people who call me Mom (yes, and sometimes “weird”) but eventually “weird grandma.”


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From Families Who Laugh . . . Last by Janene Wolsey Baadsgaard

Joseph loves Archie!

When you don't have a DVD player in your van this is what we do. We thought this was kind of funny...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CbkKEb5FFM

Oh, you have to copy and paste the link...I'm still trying to figure all of this out!

Fall Pictures

Sentimental

Emma was watching some old family videos with me today. She watched it for a while and then suddenly realized she wasn't in these particular movies. She kept saying "I want to go in there. Get me in there!" She wanted to be back in time in that particular time of life (when Michael was about Joseph's age). We kind of laughed about it at first but she was dead serious. "Mom, I want to be with THAT Mom (Me, when I was younger and probably nicer)." I kept telling her we can't go there but she didn't get it and finally was in tears...major tears.

I guess it makes me sad to think about those times too. All of these moments are so fleeting. I need to appreciate them more. Like Michael and Thomas not wanting to let go of me at bedtime and me finally having to tickle them so they'll let go... Joseph cuddling with me before bed, rubbing my arm and my hair... Megan asking me all the time what's for dinner... Emma dressing up in her various outfits and getting into my makeup... the kids being excited to be dressed in matching jammies. They are treaured moments...I wish I would look at it like that all the time. Sometimes I do wish you could freeze time.

50 Busy Mom’s Tips

1. Assemble your children's outfits when you put clothes away in their drawers. Then you can quickly grab a full outfit without having to waste time scouring the drawers for a matching shirt and pair of pants.
2. When you see a great toy on sale, buy several and sock them away for your child to give to friends at birthday parties throughout the year.
3. Give your grade-schooler a "homework box" with pencils, an eraser, a stapler, a calculator, and a ruler. Ask her to bring it to the table whenever it's time to do homework.
4. Forget about addressing your party invitations by hand. Go to the United States Postal Service website to create party invitations that can be shipped to addresses you upload to the site. Or, have your own photo printed onto a postcard invitation at Snapfish and they'll stamp the cards and mail them for you.
5. Stock your produce drawer or a lower shelf in your refrigerator with snacks like carrot sticks and apple slices that your kids can grab without your help. Set up a similar area in your pantry with baggies full of dried fruit or graham crackers.
6. Skip ironing and get wrinkles out of a shirt or pair of trousers by putting them in the dryer for 15 minutes with a damp hand towel.
7. Stop wasting time looking for things you use often, like scissors, reading glasses, or baby wipes. Stock up and keep duplicates in the rooms where you spend the most time.
8. Designate 30 minutes after dinner for cleaning — and get everyone involved in folding laundry, doing dishes, and clearing away clutter.
9. Store sets of sheets and pillowcases inside unfolded pillowcases to make bed changes fast and easy and minimize clutter in your linen closet.
10. Program the phone numbers for your favorite take-out restaurants into your cell phone so you can call to pick up dinner on the way home and avoid paying for delivery.
11. Create a file for coupons for your favorite restaurants and file them with take-out menus. Put the coupons that expire soonest at the front of the pack.
12. Set up a box for bills that need to be paid and stock it with stamps and envelopes.
13. Organize your favorite articles, parenting information, and recipes so you can find them more quickly. Place pages from online sites, magazines, and newspapers in page protectors and stash them in a three-ring binder.
14. Store your child's outgrown clothes in large plastic bins and affix labels such as "0 to 3 months", "6 to 9 months", "9 to 12 months", and so on. Once your child has grown out of a size, you can easily store the clothes, loan them to a friend, or take them to a consignment shop.
15. Set the table the night before and put items like bowls, utensils, cereal, fruit, toaster, and bread out to avoid a morning rush.
16. Shop for holiday and birthday gifts year-round. Whenever you see a great gift for someone you love, buy it and set it aside for giving later.
17. Start a monthly meal exchange program with five friends and neighbors. Once a month, cook enough for two dinners. Stash one in the freezer and take the other to meet up with the group and swap healthy, freezer-ready main dishes. Then go home with four other meals, and put them in the freezer alongside the extra one you made for your family. Suddenly you're stocked up with a variety of easy, homemade dinners.
18. Limit personal e-mail and computer time to twice a day.
19. Do all of your errands one day a week, working off a list and taking the most efficient route.
20. Hire a babysitter for a couple of hours on the weekend so you can tackle household duties and errands without kids in tow.
21. Chop all your vegetables, fruits, and herbs for the week's meals at one time so everything will be ready for cooking.
22. Add important appointments and activities to a master calendar in your e-mail in-box and set up reminders for up to one week ahead. This calendar can be shared with family members via e-mail. (Google Calendar, a free Web-based system, even sends reminders to cell phones.)
23. Sort belongings into clear, labeled bins that can be stacked and stowed so your child can easily find things like DVDs and toys without your help. Use brightly colored labels and picture labels for toddlers and preschoolers who can't read.
24. Stop by the post office before 3 p.m. on weekdays, when the long lines usually begin to form, so you can get in and out more efficiently.
25. Keep disinfecting and glass wipes in the bathroom for quick cleanups around toilets, sinks, and mirrors. You could even do a speedy wipe-down while you bathe the kids.
26. Keep a phone book in your car to avoid unnecessary calls to 411 and to quickly look up addresses.
27. Set up two folders related to your child's schoolwork — one for school notices and the other for schoolwork you want to keep.
28. Skip folding laundry and instead hang up all clothing except for socks, underwear, linens, and towels.
29. Grocery shop on the weekends or, if you don't want to waste precious weekend time, go to the store after the kids are in bed. You'll whiz through the store with much less frustration because you're not also feeling the pressure to get dinner on the table and everyone into bed on time.
30. Choose meats or other proteins that can be used for several meals during a week. A store-bought rotisserie chicken can be shredded and used for several dishes, like chicken enchiladas, homemade chicken soup, and chicken salad. Slow-cooked pork tenderloin can double as barbecued pork sandwiches with just a bottle of barbecue sauce. Cooked beans can go in salad, tacos, and vegetable soup.
31. Open mail with the trash can nearby so junk mail and catalogs can be thrown out immediately. Even better, sign up with a free service for reducing junk mail like the National Do Not Mail list.
32. Keep cardboard boxes labeled "donate," "trash," or "consign" in the garage or storage closet to routinely rid your house of unused items and clutter.
33. Save time and money on routine shopping trips by buying items like toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo, light bulbs, and batteries in twos when they're on sale.
34. Keep an overnight bag in your car with an extra outfit for each child, including diapers or underwear, nonperishable snacks, and toiletries. In the event of an emergency, messy meal, or whirlwind overnight trip, you're set
35. Stock a binder or folder with a list of emergency contacts and household instructions for things like watering plants, pet care, and mail collection so you won't have to write everything out each time for a house sitter or babysitter.
36. Designate a cabinet in your kitchen for medicine so you'll have easy access to everything from pain reliever to bandages when and where you need them. Make sure it's secured with a child-safe lock.
37. Sort medicine into small, labeled storage bins — one bin for children's medications, one for adult cough and cold remedies, one for first-aid supplies, and so on, and keep them in the locked cabinet.
38. Tape the dosage instructions for common medications like children's acetaminophen to the inside of your medicine cabinet.
39. Splurge on a super fast-drying hair dryer and cut hair-drying time in half.
40. Keep a pack of thank-you cards in the glove box of your car or in your daily planner so you can write notes while sitting in the car or waiting for a doctor to see you.
41. Turn your hangers backward at the beginning of every season. Anything left hanging on a hanger that's still turned backward at the end of the season hasn't been worn — give it away!
42. E-mail your thank-you notes instead of sending a card.
43. Schedule your child's doctor's appointments for first thing in the morning when you're less likely to have a long wait.
44. Get rid of one bag of clothes, toys, and books for every bag that comes into the house. It means less stuff to clean up.
45. Write down or print out all-important phone numbers — for people like your child's doctor, the next-door neighbor, your veterinarian, and so on — and place the list in an inexpensive picture frame that you keep in your master bedroom or the kitchen. This way, you won't need to write out contact information for a sitter or grandparent — just point out the list, and they'll know who to call in case of emergency.
46. Fill a basket with socks and keep it near the front door so kids can quickly grab a pair. Put the shoes they wear most often next to the basket.
47. Order diapers and wipes online — no more lugging big boxes home from the store.
48. Label shelves in the linen closet so family members know where items like beach towels and guest room sheets belong.
49. Keep an assortment of greeting cards on hand, filed by occasion. You'll save time on trips to the store, and you can quickly take care of an unexpected birthday or send off a heartfelt condolence.
50. Forget sorting laundry. Wash everything in cold water.

Did you get through them all? I like 2,3,6,8,9,18,19,39,41,and 44.

Sugar Addict

I found the following on a blog I stalk. When I read this I thought, "I want to do this. How DO I do this?" I figured that if I posted this on my blog than I would have someone to answer to. BUT...I haven't totally committed yet (the Holidays and all) but I will do this. I WILL do this. Because I am a sugar addict (the first step is admission, right?).

From http://www.lazyorganizer.com/blog/:

I know steering clear of sugar is a difficult thing for most people. If you are really serious about going cold turkey I want to tell you how to do it. First I’ll tell you how and then I’ll tell you why.

Have a REASON to do it and then DECIDE to do it. Really. Stop saying you’re going to start tomorrow. Start right now! Stop eating sugary foods, soda, juice, everything. Cut it all out of your diet and get it all out of your house. Tell your family what you’re doing and ask them to please not bring any sweets into the house or to eat them in front of you. When we went to a Chinese buffet my family moved to a different table to eat their desserts!

The first week will be difficult. All you will think about is dessert. All you can do is just suffer through it. To make it through the first week, make a meal plan. That way you will know what you are going to eat for every meal. Don’t skip meals or you will get overly hungry and vulnerable to falling off the wagon.

Next, buy every kind of snack food that you could possibly want that’s not sweet. Chips, crackers, nuts, popcorn etc. You’re not trying to eat healthy the first week. You’re just not eating sugar. If you have other snacks available then it won’t be such a hardship. Buy lots of fruit. I know it’s sweet and it has lots of sugar in it but it’s good for you and for some reason I can eat all the fruit I want and it doesn’t make me crave sugar. It just doesn’t. Buy a box of strawberries and tell your family that this is dessert. They might complain at first but they will secretly like it and get used to it. I go to Sam’s club and buy watermelons, cantaloupe, bananas, boxes of kiwi, strawberries and plums. So, fruit juice, no. Fruit, yes. If someone offers you a brownie say, “No, thank you.” A soda, “no”. A candy bar; “no”. A jelly bean, “NO!!!” “But thanks for asking”.

The second week on will be easier. You will have that sweet taste out of your mouth and you will stop craving sugar. You will start yearning for healthier foods. You will stop thinking about eating junk food. If you do eat junk food, it won’t taste as good to you. Go with the flow. If you want to eat salad for three meals a day, do it. Don’t start eating sugar again. Remember how hard it was this time? It will be even harder the next time you try to stop. When you tell your brain you are going to stop eating sugar again it will say, “Ya, I’ve heard this before. I’ll believe it when I see it.” And then you will have visions of sugar plums dancing in your head until you give in and eat one. What is a sugar plum anyway? They sure sound tasty.

Stop eating sugar for all the obvious reasons. It rots your teeth, it’s bad for you, it will make you fat, etc., etc.. Here is a reason you might not have known about because I sure didn’t. I only found out from my own experience. Once you stop eating sugar your food cravings will stop. Seriously, you will eat less of everything. Even foods that I normally love, I have to force myself to eat. I don’t think about food like I used to. Sometimes I even forget to eat or I have to make myself stop and prepare something to eat when I’m busying doing something. Does this sound depressing? It’s not. It’s liberating. When you’re not eating all the time or thinking about food you are freed for so many other things in life. Ok. This is getting too preachy for me, especially since I’ve eaten a plate full of brownies in the last two days! But all is not lost. I’m still on the wagon. I just plucked a couple sugar plums from an overhanging tree that came a little too close. I’ll do better to steer my wagon away from the sugar plum trees in the future.

Halloween Pictures Overkill

Not too happy about being dressed in a cow costume



Until realizing it came with candy (it's in his spiderman pouch).






Happy Cowboys and Cowgirls and Cow



Oh so serious Cowboys and Cowgirls and Cow



I made them pose so dramatically











Really getting into character



Fun memories!

No Regrets

Scott's birth father passed away earlier this month. He had a stroke a couple of years ago and his health has slowly declined. We have had little contact with him over the years and when we went on our family vacation over the summer, we had the chance to go visit him since we were so close by. In all honesty,I had no desire to do so. Scott has a great dad, Jack, that raised him and I had no reason to see this other man who had made so many mistakes with the children that he fathered.

Thanks to my husband, who always helps me understand things in the bigger picture, he insisted that we go see him and begrudgingly I went. And now I'm so grateful that we did. Although we didn't stay long, it had a lasting impression on me. When meeting him I felt so much compassion for him. It almost felt like, in a sense, perhaps what the Savior feels for each of us. I'm glad that we could see him and that we could mourn with him briefly over the situation he was in. I'm grateful that we could show our children a glimpse of what forgiveness is and how holding grudges does no good whatsoever. When Thomas found out that he died, he cried. He said "I know he was a bad man but I still loved him".

Charity is the pure love of Christ. It is something I want to have and I'm thankful to my husband for bringing me a step closer. I'm so grateful that I didn't miss this opportunity to do good, and have I no regrets. It's a good feeling to have.

Random

I can't sleep. Why else would I be awake at 6 am on a Saturday morning? So... I feel like I take advantage of other people's blogs by reading them but don't post on my own blog. Am I a hypocrite or what?

So T said something funny last night that I'm sure he will hate that I am posting about... but we thought it was hilarious. So Emma was wearing a nightgown and fiddling with it (taking her arms in and out of it and twisting it and such). She exposed her "cheastal area" briefly and Thomas whispered "She just showed her nibbles". Scott asked who taught him that word. He said "Nobody. I just remember that Joseph used to "nibble" on Mommy there when he was nursing." We laughed. Funny how kids put things together.

PS. Don't mention to T that I wrote this or I'll get in big trouble. One day he'll laugh about it... but not now!

Emma too is saying so many fun and cute things. When I dropped T off at school the other day she watched him go in and said "Thomas is so lucky." I asked "why?" She said, "Because he's so beautiful. I want to give him a kiss when he gets home from preschool." And sure enough...she did.

Something different

Since I often make pancakes, crepes, waffles, french toast, and german pancakes we have gotten kind of sick of the same old syrup. My friend Wendy shared this recipe with me and we love it (and it shows...I've probably gained 5 pounds from eating it).

Crepe Sauce

2 sticks of butter
2 cups of sugar
1 cup cream
splash of vanilla
Melt the butter and combine remaining ingredients. Don't let it boil. Serve over the items above or just eat plain.

A nice change from the same old same old.

Birthday Girls

September is a busy birthday month for us. Megan turned 10 and Emma turned 4. Hard to believe I have a 10 year old. I remember when I turned 10 myself. I am really grateful to have these beautiful daughters in our family.



I am grateful for Megan because...

she likes to keep things neat and orderly.
she likes to get rid of things...she is not a hoarder.
she likes to help me clean the house...
AND she actually puts things back where they belong.
Do you notice that all these so far have to do with cleanliness? Anyway...



she likes to be active (which is helpful for her mom who doesn't always like to be).
she is nice to her little sister, who she knows absolutely idolizes her right now.
she puts up with her brothers teasing fairly well and likes to help them with their schoolwork, piano, and sports.
she is on top of her own schoolwork...rarely do I need to remind her to finish her responsibilities.
she is nice to people and a good friend.
she likes to be social (also a good thing for mom who is sometimes anti).
she sets a good example (she has been great at keeping a journal lately).
she is funny and fun to watch perform whether it be singing and dancing or playing soccer.
she never asks me to buy something for her when we go to the store although she does ask me what's for dinner at breakfast time.
she has self-control (no peeking at presents and no eating all her candy in one sitting).
she checks my blog regularly to see if I have posted anything and gets on me when I don't, which is all the time.
she is quick to apologize when she does something wrong.
she is determined and ambitous (she mows the lawn better than any 10 year old I know).
she loves me despite my sometimes faulty mothering style!

Happy Birthday my double digit girl! I love that you are in our family!



I am grateful for Emma because...

she has taught me patience (I'm still working on this though).
she has taught me to look at things in a more positive light and present them in a more positive fashion.
when she isn't grumpy, she is so excited and happy about everything.
she has a unique style in everything from her words to her fashion sense.
she is just so darn cute, especially when she gets to get up in Primary and be spotlighted in front of everyone.
she makes me laugh, I can make her laugh (something I can't get from the older kids), and she has a great laugh.
she is quick to defend her siblings even when they have just done something to make her mad.
she can spend a long time entertaining herself by drawing, coloring, pretending, and looking at books.



she has a great imagination.
she eats most everything I make for dinner and especially likes the vegetables.
she can be great at cleaning up her room and doing any other chores but she likes to do it "all by myself".
she is a great runner, even in flip-flops.
she can wrestle you like she is in the WWF and then dance like a dainty little princess (hence her saying when she grows up she wants to be a princess and a power ranger).

Thank heaven for little girls. I sure love mine! Happy Birthday!

What I have learned

We are almost done with our kitchen remodel. The countertops should be in soon and with that, a kitchen sink. The baseboards and carpet will be fixed today or tomorrow and furniture can start being moved back into place. Things should be put back in their proper place and things put in order. It will finally be a house of order.

A house of order...what is that? Definitely not what we have had here. I now really understand why the scriptures say that you should have a house of order. Life has been chaotic, dirty, disorganized, havoc at times. Does this bring a good spirit into our home? Not particularly. I am anxious to get back to a feeling of normalcy with a renewed conviction to keep things in order. I will be happier. Scott will be happier. The kids will be happier. Life will be pleasant once again.

The other thing I have learned is that "things" don't make you happy. Not to say that our new kitchen isn't nice and will make the household easier to run...but I don't think that I have felt an overwhelming sense of happiness from it. Happy is knowing that your husband wasn't more seriously injured when he fell off his bike last week (or even killed). Happy is when you see your kids get along with each other and even choose to want to play with each other and not their friends. Happy is when you see your son try new foods (and like them) without begging and pleading with him. Happy is when your daughter decides to fold her brother's clothes without being asked. Happiness is when your baby finally sleeps through the night. Happiness is knowing you are loved when an accident happens and calls and meals come pouring in. Happiness is hearing your child say he had a bad dream last night and it was about his mom turning into a pirate. Happiness is your three year old bringing you flowers (dandelions) that she picked outside. Happiness is a loaf of banana bread from a kind neighbor. "Things" bring you a temporary, fleeting happiness but the other things truly bring me joy.

Quotes

I have always kept a little book with a collection of quotes. These are some great quotes I have stumbled upon lately that have given me some new perspective. Now if I could only take that perspective and make some changes!

"Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on: you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of-throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace." CS Lewis


“…the biggest mistake I made is the one that most of us make…I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of the three of [my children] sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages 6, 4, and 1. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less.”
--Anna Quindlen

Valentine's Day Coincidence

Last Valentine's day Megan and I looked out the window and saw this after Scott got done shoveling the snow. We thought "How cute, he shoveled out little hearts for Valentine's Day!" When we approached him about it he was completely baffled. Apparently it was just the car tracks from the paper delivery person and complete coincidence. We sent the picture to the paper and today we noticed that they put it on their website (4 months later). This is the picture:

It's who you know

It's nice to have a friend who is a photographer. Isn't she good? And these are just snapshots.

Got cheese?

I guess I didn't move fast enough when Emma asked me to get her some cheese. She decided to take matters into her own hands.

Spring Break

Our trip down to St. George over Spring Break.

It didn't feel like Spring when we stopped at Cove Fort! It was freezing. But the kids had a good time and Emma did well with the strict sister missionary who took her under her wing.






Visiting the St.George temple with the Longsons...



and going boating with the Longsons at Lake Mead. All the kids loved it except for Emma. She was petrified! Now all she talks about is how she wants to go back on the boat again. Funny girl. Can you say Jeckyl and Hyde?