Eggs, babies, cavities and winning the battle--Not necessarily in that order

Here are some ancedotes from our life lately:Andrew was a good patient at the dentist, while having FOUR cavities filled (I'd love to know how he ended up w/ such terrible teeth!). I was able to keep him from destroying the inside of his mouth while he was still numb, but he managed to give his chin some big ouchies by writing all over himself with a pen without being able to feel what he was doing. The scabs on his chin lasted for several days, but he no longer carries the marks of his silly drawings.

These guys are exulting in their new slab, our simple version of a sport court. So far it has been used for hopscotch, bike rides, basketball, preschool ball bounce, and running around on. It really was not my first choice for how to use the space in our sideyard, but I hope there will be many moments of concrete fun, in spite of my practical tightwad side. I didn't win this one! :)

These two especially love babies right now, whether they are dolls around our house, or a friend's little one at church. I don't know if they would be quite so thrilled if we were to bring a newborn home tomorrow, but they at least love babies who aren't taking all of their Mom's time!

The kids had a great time dying eggs this year. It seems to get more fun as they get older and figure out more patterns and color combinations, though as they grow up they may also lose interest. To keep their interest piqued, next year we've decided we might buy some supplies to make Ukrainian style Pysanky (sp?). We did a few this year with paraffin wax, making do with items we already had, so it would be exciting to see what we could do with the right materials.

Christopher looks young to me in this picture at his first Pinewood Derby. He was quite grown up about creating his car--he modeled it after a Lego car he had built, drawing on the wood the shape he wanted, while Dad struggled to cut it out to those parameters. He then sanded it and painted it all red, with a couple of black details from Dad. He also had help applying paper decals that he chose and printed off the internet. Dad had a difficult time getting the wheels on right, but the car looked as Chris had pictured, and he had fun at the races!

Happy Easter!

We've been sick this week with a yucky stomach bug. I'm hoping the two youngest will somehow continue to not have stomach aches, since they are both dealing with a cold that has been rotating around for months. My house may not ever get as clean as I'd like now, with the days I've been set back, but I'm grateful for my husband who has helped me stay ahead with the dishes, and for enough energy to plow through and clean two bathrooms.
This is a beautiful Easter thought for this weekend. We hope everyone has a wonderful holiday remembering Jesus Christ's atonement and resurrection. We are grateful for this time to comtemplate the renewal of Spring (for us that included cleansing rain), and our knowledge of the Savior's depth of sacrifice for all of us.

Spring visitors!

Darren's parents traveled to our neck of the cacti recently, and we enjoyed great weather, relaxing days and a few excursions with them. We have loved having them visit us annually since we moved here, though we know it is not easy for them to make the arrangements and to travel our direction. Our kids were happy to entertain and tear apart the house, and while Darren didn't have as much time available as we would have all liked, we were glad to see him too!

We really didn't get our camera out much (it has began to act like it's four year old age, and is quirky), so we don't have fun shots to share, though Grandpa might have gotten a few (please email them to us, if possible). :)


I did take a picture of our Mango Mixed Greens Sesame Salad with a few nasturtium flowers from our garden (the kids were thrilled to eat their spicy, soft petals). Most of us thought it was delish! My Asparagus Sugar Snap Pea Quinoa flopped, though I liked it okay with my Mango salad dressing the next day. The Pork Barbacoa Salad variation was good. The Red, Idaho and Sweet Potato casserole was good too, though I may have overdone the Sweet Balsamic Pork. I was excited for Turkey BLT sandwiches, but I may have been alone on that one too!

It was fun to eat at a school barbeque too, though I felt like we were visiting with neighbors and friends more than our family. Our excursion to a new Riparian Habitat was mostly fun, though it showed to me again how different natural desert plants are from much of the world. The kids enjoyed seeing snakes (in cages), bugs (mounted on boards), and birds and butterflies. We also experienced a loud dinner out with kids who don't always understand the concept of inside voices. I think they enjoyed attending church with us too, though I was absorbed with Primary issues and my own children.

We're so glad that they made the effort to come down here. (Thank you also for the early Easter gifts!) We love having visitors! It's so nice to see family too; we don't get enough of that!

Lots of LOCKS

Miss Natalie has not wanted to cut her hair for over a year. She said she liked it long, but she had a hard time getting all of the tangles out of the back, and has a tender head. For months we have talked about different options and lengths, and she said when she was ready she wanted to donate the hair. On a Saturday night, a couple of weeks ago, she said she was ready and asked if we could please cut it now. I explained that I don't have good hair cutting scissors, but we could cut it the next week. She decided that it was time, and she didn't want to wait. After pestering me and getting scissors out to start doing it herself, I finally agreed to cut it.



She is holding 13 inches of 4 ponytails worth of beautiful thick hair. It was quite difficult to get it all hacked off and I would like to get it professionally evened out when it has grown a bit. She seems to really like it and has gotten several compliments on her new look! Maybe next time the whole "it's time to cut it" experience won't be such an ordeal!


We love our Natalie!

Picacho Peak, AZ

We decided to take a day and get away to somewhere new. Our destination was a camping area at a State Park in the middle of Arizona. Camping in the desert is warmer, less private (there are no big trees), and more urban (there always seem to be plenty of people even on a weekday). It really was the perfect time of year to go because it was not too hot or cold and we enjoyed our time together. Our hike to a little mountain near our campsite seemed like a good alternative to the huge peaks that loomed to our south. We scaled the top, enjoyed a snack with our view in all directions, safely made it to the bottom and sort of repelled an enclosure the kids considered a cave. The weather was excellent, our food tasted great and if certain boys, especially the two year old, would have slept more the night before I would have considered the whole trip dynamo!

Just a heads up for the family members who are camping with us for a big family reunion in the summer, camping with lots of toddlers might make for a really loud night or two, with little sleep, but it's better than being surrounded by a bunch of unappreciative baby booming city slickers! :)

Two new posts in a row--I've been putting it off too long!

Minuet in G

This is not nearly the whole song, (this was during the dress rehearsal), but this was a piece that both Natalie and Christopher have been working on for a couple of months to play for a group performance. (Christopher ended up playing with just his left hand because he sprained his thumb playing football two days before the concert--but he said he played that left hand perfectly. It's a good thing it was an ensemble piece!) They both play it quite well now, and love having a classic, recognizeable piece in their repertoire! I'm sure they'd be thrilled to play it for you! :) I learned it as well, and have enjoyed the experience, which also helped me be able to play the other hand as they learned each hand and keep them on their toes! (Memorization has been more difficult for old Mom, but I think I've got it now!)

Here they are dressed up in concert clothes, squinting in the sun.

And here is Andrew excited to see so many buses. He also drew some pictures and enjoyed much of the music, though he got burned out sitting in the dress rehearsal room for an hour before it started. He just HAD to be with Dad instead of out in the sunshine running around with David and I. I remember Christopher obsessing over being with Dad every possible second too at this age. He would even pound on the bathroom door, Dad, Dad. I'm happy that they adore their Dad, but it can be a pain at times, like when Dad has to leave or can't be there. Oh the trauma!

And this is David at the end of the day after bonking his head. He is a chill kind of kid. Sometimes I'll find him quietly playing with his cars, driving them on the floor with his head on the floor right up near the wheels. He is still a little delayed developmentally on his speech skills and gross motor skills, but the therapists told us to keep doing what we can, he's very bright, and he'll get there when he's ready. We're wondering if he would have gotten more therapy if the whole state hadn't just gotten huge budget cuts for the Early Intervention programs, but we'll keep working with him and loving him for who he is!We are now enjoying the slower pace and leisure of a two-week Spring Break. There have been many hours outside in our yard, pulling some weeds, watering plants, removing some garden plants, finding lots of bugs, and loving the chance to be outside doing whatever! We plan to get some bike rides in and play dates with friends, along with a couple of dental appointments, but it is so nice to have a break from it all at this time of year!

The birds and the bees

We've had many birds who enjoy visiting our yard this time of year. Usually they don't come very near us. However, we had a funny experience today that we tried to capture on camera. I'm not going to share all of the dizzying clips, but we were filming this poor little sparrow for at least ten minutes as we tried to help it figure out a good way to get back outside.

We've also had many bees who've decided our yard is the place to visit. It's mostly because I let a few of our plants go to seed and they have flourished in the sun. We have to be more careful in that area of our yard, but I think it's great that we're helping out a little bee colony, since I'm sure they will help us out with some pollination soon too!

This picture is to show what can happen when you enjoy great deals so much that you just can't say no. Obviously, I'm not a very organized person, especially when I'm stuffing as much food as possible into a fridge quickly. I have to rave once again about the food co-op in our valley because it has been so helpful and healthy for our family. We've been a part of this volunteer organization for a little over a year now, and we feel like it's Christmas every weekend when I bring home our produce. We began just going every other Sat. to a farm near our churchhouse, but we now consume enough of this delightful fresh food, that I now pick up organic produce at a different site too on the rotating weekends usually too (I have been surprised by the exceptional taste and quality of the organic food). I noticed that they have opened up a couple of sites in Brigham City and Clearfield, so some of you Utah people can now enjoy Bountiful Baskets too! $15 (approx.) is the price here for a laundry basket size quantity of produce; it has been worth it for our family, so you may want to give it a try. You just need to sign up at the website!

My babies are all growing up...

We had a birthday event in our house this week, and we are now living with a two year old!

I have often assumed that tiny babies create the ultimate time-consuming, energy-sapping moments in life, but at least you have an excuse to sit down, and you get to hold them (and smell them) frequently. I wonder if I will have the abilities to once again enjoy that side of life, seeing the frenzied direction my growing-up family is headed. I feel like I have spent every single day this week treading water to stay afloat of the mess that should be my home, cooking, cleaning, baking, and laundry, and I have nothing to show for it! What am I doing wrong?! Does anyone think the earth really could be spinning faster, because my days never seem long enough.

I think we could call it David week because we ended up making two different birthday cakes, though neither of them were devoured on the actual birthday and there was plenty of sweet-stuff and new toys around to enjoy (I guess it's good that he has a holiday near his birthday too, so that we can also go overboard for him!) Our littlest guy was pretty oblivious to the fact that this was a special day for him, but enjoyed playing, singing and reading with his siblings, who helped him enjoy his presents, etc.

He got to visit the doctor where we learned that he still is larger than his siblings were, but he's a shrimp compared to the overall population. It was nice to not have him falling off the percentage charts though! We also learned that he was growing a lovely ear infection which explained some of the clingy, tantrum behavior of late. He was also referred to Early Intervention specialists by both my brother and our pediatrician, though we have yet to hear from these specialists.

I've noticed that while David still doesn't speak that well, he gets his message across in various ways. Tonight, I was doing laundry, and he came in with his frustration voice, pulling at me, and screeching to get me to come with him. I assumed he probably wanted something to eat, but instead, he was leading me to his bedroom, where he climbed on Andrew's bed and pointed to a car had fallen between the bed and wall. He was thrilled when I pulled it out!

He is also enjoys singing songs now. If you say anything about cleaning up (which is said often around here), he will do his little sing-song-y "ee UP, ee UP" and start picking something up. He associates "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" with diaper changing time and will point to his eyes and ears saying "ayhhhs, uhhhs" while I sing it. He also initiated "Popcorn Popping" and "Five Little Ducks" recently, which I could recognize by his two hand actions.

He adores being outside, and has twice opened the front door when it wasn't deadbolted to start heading down the street to our neighbor's "grass"! He and Andrew could likely spend all day in our backyard, if hunger didn't distract them.

Andrew is at that preschooler age--he goes to a semi-structured preschool co-op once a week, which he enjoys because he gets to be with friends. He loves to color, create, build, read, sing, write words, and count all while leaping, dashing and crashing throughout. Mess is his middle name, while hold still and sit down are quite meaningless to him.

Christopher still seems to be my child that I have to remind and push to get what I want accomplished. He has been called "The Absent-minded Professor" by a fellow classroom parent. He can be very helpful, but more often, there is something that will distract him from completing a task. He does seem to enjoy the nudge from a new direction with a job chart Cub Scout requirement. I was also amazed by a reading assessment recently that says he is at an almost seventh grade reading level.

Natalie maintains the estrogen levels in the home with her sweet, helpful actions and words most days, then suddenly plummeting to rage or despair over something that isn't how she had planned. She is tenacious and strong, and thus seems to be accomplishing some new feats, such as fifth and sixth place in multi-school running club races, and memorizing both hands of Minuet in G for a performance in a few weeks.

25 things about me

Darren here. I've been tagged by my dear sister to say 25 things about myself. I mocked hers, so I deserve it. Anyway, here they are.

1. I like digging under my sister's bed to unearth stuff not seen in a while. Must be the archeologist in me.

2. I love biographies. Not the type about 24-year old superstar athletes. I mean the type about people who've done interesting things and made good decisions.

3. I'm generally not picky about food.

4. I don't enjoy traveling, but enjoy being there.

5. I am addicted to Chess Titans. I can't beat it beyond the easy level and don't want to put the effort in, but I like winning at the easy level.

6. New.familysearch.com is awesome! When I'm tuckered out at night and have a half hour free, I like to go to join some geneological records. Must be the historian in me.

7. I don't watch TV much at all. No favorite shows.

8. I think I'm slipping towards being a vegetarian. It's not conscious; meat doesn't appeal to me as much as it used to and it's expensive. Don't worry, we do eat it occasionally.

9. I like to play basketball on Saturday mornings.

10. My hair is really long. It's one and a half inches long except in the back (no mullet). I need a haircut.

11. My wife likes my hair long. She thinks of me as Braveheart.

12. I'm sort of ambidextrous. I can bowl just as badly left-handed as right-handed. I write left-handed and shoot the basketball with either hand.

13. My natural tendency is to be too judgmental. I have to consciously hold back so I don't stick my foot in my mouth.

14. People think I'm smarter than I am. I don't know why this is. It's something about the way I say things, but I'm not sure.

15. I like stupid jokes. Like this one: What do you get if you drop a piano down a mine shaft? A flat minor.

16. I've always been very introspective. I am always wondering why I'm like that.

17. I hated washing dishes as a kid. I was awful. I don't mind so much anymore. We now have a dishwasher.

18. I've been called as scoutmaster 4 times. I'm really not very good at it, especially the "outdoor skills" piece of it. I will someday "get it" and will move on to another calling.

19. I like Wikipedia. I'm lazy, so it is a good way to find out about anything without too much effort.

20. I like geography. And physics. And etymology. And mnemonics. And fractals. Like this one. What is it?

21. I really love going to church and have a strong testimony, but I have a hard time sitting through any class over half an hour. I am so fidgity.

22. I like to sing. I'm not the best, but I was in choir from when I was 5 until I was 24, not counting my mission.

23. I love to play Legos. I'm glad I have four kids so I have an excuse to buy myself Legos from time to time.

24. I'm nonsequitur.

25. It drives me nuts when anyone says 25 things in a row all about themself. Narcissistic.

Now I tag my dad, Mark, Heidi, and Dale.

The usual

Our excitement lately has consisted of

sickness (no more of that, thanks),

sharing times (now I get a few months off),

scouts camping (someday, we'll be the ones to camp and hike with our MAN),

running (the eight-year olds both did their BEST in a recent race, the rest of us just dash all over the place for fun!),

awards (Student of the Month--Natalie, Bobcat badge--Christopher, Mr. Energy--Andrew, Mr. Tantrums--David),

looming layoffs (we'll keep you posted on that lovely topic),

music (we love it so much Andrew will even get to start a class soon--busy, busy),

gardening (we had to give away broccoli we had so much, tangy tomatoes, tall peas, arugula--think rocket--and lettuce, and now we're adding more for the coming season, whatever season it is can be hard to tell),

school (it's fun, we're all learning and it keeps us social!)

food (it consumes much of our time and thoughts--think Pork Barbacoa Salad Cafe Rio-ish--for our FHE Bemarlyes who brought chocolate cookies--and homemade Rocky Road Ice Cream last time (let us know if food can be the way to your heart;), Cranberry Muffins, Roasted Ratatouille, Vegetarian Chili, Monster Chip Cookies, Corn on the Cob, Tamales, Fruit Salad, --come eat with us! :)

It's mostly just the typical good stuff going on here! We hope it's the same with those who read this!

The Outback birthday party

Make a Smilebox slideshow

In our house, we don't do a friend party every year. It's usually enough of a party with the six of us. However, the twins have had ideas forming for a birthday party for months; unfortunately, they were born in an extremely busy month for our family. In order to fulfill their birthday imaginings properly, we had the party on a calm Saturday when we didn't have the usual busy-ness and friends who were in town could come play. They wanted to do something together out in our backyard; a feat that could be accomplished "Down Under" where it's summer right now, and thus our Outback party came to be.

I worried that they would have so much excitement planning everything, and the actual day would be disappointing. It seemed that it all lived up to their expectations, and most everyone seemed to be having a blast. I didn't post pics of the thirteen party guests (I don't have their parents' permission and it's not worth the trouble), but just picture the mayhem and sillyness for two full hours with cute kiddos of differing attention spans. Some of the kids were still telling their parents every detail today, one of my friends said. I am just glad it's another thing I can check off my list.

Christmas glimpses and video clips during the month

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

A beautiful, busy, full day

We've had an exciting weekend starting with no one at school or work on Friday (which should have meant I got tons of things accomplished--I did get lots done thanks to helpers, but not everything, of course). We helped Ben and Emilie move their whole life into storage that evening, and had an unexpected semi-crisis when the gates of the storage place refused to let us out (we had to basically force our way out after many adventurous and memorable attempts to escape--all of which were captured on their lovely and obviously so useful security camera).

This morning after my favorite bi-monthly gathering of produce , we all got fancy and arrived at the church for Natalie and Christopher to get baptized. Everything went so nicely and I feel so grateful for all of the good people who helped us, like Ben who gave a heartfelt, doctrinal and simple talk about the Holy Ghost, perfect for the twinners, their friends and those who had never before attended a baptism. Darren, the hero dad smoothly baptized each child by immersion without a single foot or hair getting missed, and then proceeded to confirm each child with the Gift of the Holy Ghost, while also being inspired to give them personal blessings to help them in their lives. He had been nervous, but was fine when it came time to perform these ordinances for our oldest children.

After a yummy, quick lunch of beef tortellini soup (Charlie loves zucchini, David loves white tortellini and Andrew loves beef chunks), we then met up with more family (Scott and Abra joined us after her cute new haircut) and went to a Christmas party at the twins' music class. Pure chaos reined with the many children attending, but each of our older two played their piano pieces well and then we just had fun.

When we got back home, we watched the much-antipated-by-Natalie movie "Chariots of Fire." She loves the music and surprisingly she loves to run (when we run together, she always ends up far ahead, though Chris stays right with me). We all enjoyed the movie, except David who was sleeping. We said goodbye to my cousin and his book-sharing wife who needed to find Charlie Brown's Christmas tree. Then we ate chicken fajitas, and some neighbor-bestowed fudge while building castles, blogging and listening to BYU keeping it real.

I love my two oldest kids and want them to feel special if they read this post. I'm so happy about the choices they've been making in their lives. Natalie is helpful and enjoys cleaning, she is considerate of others, happy and playful, she has a pretty voice and loves to practice her music in speed mode many times, she is striving to please others and has an internal goodness to go with her outer beauty, she is intelligent and athletic, and a joy to be around. Christopher is eager and energetic, he is curious and grasps big concepts quickly, he is confident and willing to contribute to intellectual conversations, he has a gifted musical ear and creative abilities, he has a strong concept of right and wrong, he loves learning new things like moving from soccer to football now, and he is so handsome and tender-hearted. I have the best kids!

Bright sunshine, beautiful kids, enjoyable family and friends, and highly antipated events made for a glorious day. Oh, and only a few more days until Christmas. This is a month of much work and then much play--what is there not to love?

And to top it all off, check it out this garden...

Just a little bit of southern joy! :)

Birthday bits

Some birthday pictures

We didn't get tons of pictures because we were busy making, doing and having fun, but here are a few silly ones.

Remembering what matters most

I started posting all of this stuff quite a few days ago--welcome to my December. I LOVE this month, but it is always so busy and quite frantic. How do I decide what is really the most important stuff and what I should just let go of--twin birthdays: we're celebrating, definitely, but putting off the LONG awaited friend party for a couple of weeks; cards: begun, but finding addresses and getting stamps are lower on the priority list; cookies and treat plates for friends and neighbors: begun, with some cookies waiting in the freezer, but on the backburner for a day; presents: mostly found and purchased, with a few wrapped; baptisms for two eight year olds: who should speak about that precious gift they will be receiving (the HOLY GHOST), and is anyone going to let us know about the main talk someone in the stake will be giving?; travel: are we going anywhere or staying home and relaxing this year?; primary thank-yous, a teacher appreciation lesson, a quarterly activity, plans for next year and teaching sharing time for the Stake again; nightly Christmas countdown traditions; a music recital that doesn't feel worth it though the kids have been working hard; neighbor Christmas parties on the same night; whoops, N & I were going to have a girls night of the Nutcracker; any more house decorating since our house looks unfestive outside?; buying a cub scout shirt for our boy to become a part of the pack; does our littlest guy have 5ths disease or what is that rash?; please don't undecorate everything again boys; uggh, no more mud please kiddos; honey, we'll have to postpone that date night or temple night until there's a night that's empty; A, you're always hungry :); a baby shower for a friend; several school events; etc, etc, etc. (I'm sure I missed a few items taking space in my brain).

Even as I'm sitting here typing up this silly list of things to do, woe is me, I'm so busy, I know I'm grappling with how to reconcile the way I really want my family to feel during this month. I want our activities each day to feel different, special, not just another task on our list. I want us to have family memories of serving someone, of making a difference, of helping more people feel the love of that special baby whose birth the celebration is supposed to be about. I want others to know that the Savior loves them and I want it confirmed to my children as we're giving and making and sharing. It is too easy to be materialistic and caught up in all of the politically correct "holidays." How can I really focus our life to center around what I know matters more than parties, presents, glitz, weather, friends and even family fun?



We thoroughly enjoyed our Thanksgiving days and say thank you to anyone who shared even a quick hello with us during a beloved holiday and family birthdays. Family and friends are what make life enjoyable and we feel very blessed!

Here are the few pics that we got, though I'm sure there are better ones out there; I'm sad that certain sisters, etc were avoiding the camera, but I had some vanity too.

Costa Rica

Here are a few pictures from my man's latest work adventure. While the pics are beautiful, there aren't many since he was working 15 hour days for 11 of those days. He did get to see the temple since it was just down the street, and he took some pics of the spectacular hotel that was difficult to enjoy alone.

This last one was a walk down the street looking into someone's yard. There were some expansive properties in this area with varying degrees of home size and age.

Costa Rica is a beautiful country with very friendly people, stable government ("No army since 1948!" the locals proudly proclaim), and a fairly good economy. It was not built on slave labor in the colonial period, so the populace is much more equal than other Latin American countries. The people there are very big into eco-tourism, with 25% of the country as national parks. We're sure we weren't getting the full story from the unhappy citizens who weren't spouting the party line, but it did seem beautiful from the pictures and Darren says the country is very nice compared to other ones he's visited.

__________________

Darren here. I have to add to this post an interesting occurance from the trip. One day as I exited the warehouse I choked over one of the most horrible smells I'd ever smelled. I asked what it was and my host casually mentioned that it's a slaughterhouse on the other side of the industrial park and when the wind blows from that direction occasionally we get the smell. Then he told me to cheer up because "on the other side of our factory is a Jelly Belly factory, so we get to smell popcorn or fruit just as often." (Quote possibly paraphrased or mistranslated!)

A family project

This project began with an idea from an ingenious guy

who then carried it out with a few supplies, powerful tools, ....playful kids,

excited helpers,
and learners,
to become our own little rotation system for some food!

Dressing up

For Halloween, someone decided this would be a cute costume--maybe he's a pumpkin? We had a fairy fashioned straight from ideas in her head and favorite dress-up items (it worked well enough)

We had a youthful Obi Wan jedi in our midst (such interesting boots and light saber)Super Why arrived with his power to read (certain books, at least) And this clown had a difficult time not eating his nose (once we let go of his hands, he grabbed the nose again) This unusual couple claimed to be Malysian artifacts (someday they will embarrass their kids)

We all had fun with a few festivities, and we love our friendly neighborhood and the great weather to walk around and spend time with friends.