Special Delivery

Nina and Taryn are earning some money for BYU sports camp this summer. For the next few weeks they are baking and selling Family Home Evening treats to friends and family. Last week we had pink lemonade and chocolate mint cupcakes and this week we had some delicious watermelon ones. These girls are so cute and it's really nice having it all done for me!

Emma's Birthday

Emma turned 17 on Thursday, but we celebrated it with the family today after church. We had a delicious Cafe Rio dinner menu. It's so sad that we only have a short time before she's gone for college. Oh how we love this girl!

Women's Broadcast

The stake dinner went splendidly well. There were over 200 women and girls from our stake in attendance. The food was very tasty and the decorations were beautiful. It was nice working with the other stake auxilaries. They are all so talented and hard working. It was fun seeing mothers with their daughters together. Next time Mary will be coming with me. I seriously can't believe that! Conference was amazing, it's interesting to see how the speakers have to adjust to the wide range of ages.

Kitchen sinks...

aren't just helpful for cleaning dishes. They are fantastic for mixing together croissant sandwich filling for 200 plus people. Mollie, Melody, and I got together this morning to get our assignment ready for our Women's broadcast dinner tomorrow. Mollie suggested giving the sink a good scrub and throwing all of our prepared cubed chicken, chopped fruit and veggies, and mayonnaise into it for quick mixing. Melody thought to use gloves for hand mixing and that quickly made it ready to bag and store in zip locks until tomorrow. The smell was amazing...despite complaints from the picky non-onion loving kiddos.

Another Spring Tradition

Megamind was playing at Justin and Tiffany's house today. Rachel and Eliza set up the room and snack bar. Movies at Tiff's are becoming a Spring Break tradition. This year Cameron joined in on the fun which meant I got THREE hours of alone time. Wow!!! I like this tradition!

Final Spring Break Sleep Over

It's looking like today may be our final sleep over during spring break--the boys at Sarah's and the girls here. These kids love each other so much; it's the sweetest thing. Yesterday while recouping from all the fun we cleaned and organized a few things. The sleep over was a great incentive for getting work done.

The Sillies

The kids worked all morning--happily cleaning, reading, writing, playing the piano, etc. It was late morning when we were finished with our to do's. And I know I always question it, but it made me contemplate home school. I think you can get so much more done, educationally speaking, in such a shorter time when you do it one-on-one at home. Plus, you don't have to nag the kids at all to do any of it because they are not exhausted from six hours of school. This is a debate that I often think about.

By the evening, after quietly listening to the message from the missionaries we had over for dinner, the kids had the sillies pretty bad. They were home the entire day and so running around chasing each other wildly was the best option for letting loose. It was a little noisy, a lot silly and loads of fun.

My Little Kitten

Mary's not feeling well. She has been resting on and off today inside this cozy furry blanket while watching episodes of Full House. I just love her tender and gentle spirit. When Mary's not well she'll just quietly come over to you and hope for a little snuggle or a little back rub. You can see it in her eyes. And I have to say that when she curls up next to me. I don't mind it at all!

Brookings has...

the cutest young men, according to Emma who was shamelessly checking out the boys surrounding the sacrament table on our way into church today. Here is the picture she took of the cutest one, vest boy, who gave a beautiful opening prayer I might add.

It was sad to say good-bye to the beautiful beaches and waves. It's been a fantastic get away. I hope the next time we hit the coast it's just as warm and rain-free.

Baptism Pictures

This morning Tiffany took some amazing pictures of Mary in her baptismal dress for me. Just a few weeks now until Mary's eighth birthday. She looked so angelic. The rest of the day was spent enjoying the sand between our toes.

Remember that one time...

when it was so sunny, warm, and perfect on the Oregon coast? Oh ya, that's today!!! Three days of warm spring vacation at the coast with the family. Could it get any better than this?

My Hiding

I've seen it a million times before from lots of different children. But it's always funny when a child thinks you can't see him because his eyes are closed or covered with his hands. I took a few minutes today to find Cameron and Nicole this morning as they were hiding. "I see you!" I told Cameron. "No, my hiding," he replied. "But I see you under the piano bench." "No, you not see my eyes." he answered while chomping on a piece of bread.

Cavity Free

The kids are still cavity free. Wahoo!! I loved all the new improvements Dr. Dixon made to the office. The kids were especially loving the television sets above their heads while they got their teeth cleaned. Only bad part, besides the bill, was that I didn't have wipes in the car. I usually keep diaper and wipes under Cameron's seat. It's really not easy changing a dirty diaper without them. What did people used to do before diapers and dentists for that matter!?

Wishin' I spoke French

Tanta Henri sent me a link to this video about the Basques in California in 1969. My dad is in it around the 18 minute mark, along with my grandparents. There are lots of friends and family throughout the video. What a treasure!

Happy St. Patty's Day!

Love,
This little leprechaun

This is the extent of my holiday hoopla---the kids are wearing something green. In a last ditch effort I put green food coloring into my pasta dinner.  Oh well, there will always be more St. Patrick's Days?

Nick's Mission Call

This morning the kids built a massive fort. It was pretty cozy and warm inside. Church was amazing and after dinner we listened in on Nick reading his mission call....Lyon France. It was so exciting. He's headed to the same mission that Aaron's parents served in (the Switzerland mission had now been incorporated into the Lyon mission). Nick is such a great young man. He was accepted to BYU last week and headed to the Provo MTC on July 9th. We will hopefully be there for his farewell. It's been a good day.

Family History

It was another gorgeous day with a lot of Saturday morning productivity. We got a ton of work done around the house. Last night I snatched this picture of my dad to document this more important work. I should start using a little bit of my Saturdays understanding these hieroglyphics. It all makes sense to him. He carries his sheets and notes with him all the time. I will forever love this image.

Deep Thoughts

I didn't do much this morning. In fact, I didn't get dressed until noon. I didn't have to do any carpooling. I didn't do any play dates for the kids. We had a week of them. I paid some bills and finished some laundry. I spent at least a half hour staring at the entertainment piece Randy installed last night. It's gorgeous! Our master bedroom is looking really beautiful.

Then the rest of the time I thought about the tragic passing of the Vranes' cousins' husband. I kept thinking this morning about how quickly life can change for any of us. Katie Vranes Byrge said goodbye to her husband for the last time on Wednesday morning as he bicycled off to work. I kept imagining how devastating the news was for Katie, especially after she recently lost her amazing mother to cancer. I kept thinking about her sweet children and how heartbreaking it must have been to pull them out of school to deliver the news. And I kept thinking about the next morning waking up and wishing it was all just a terrible awful dream. Katie is an amazing person. And while I never met her husband, I do know that everyone loved him dearly.

Of course, that kind of a tragedy always makes you look inward and contemplate life's bigger questions. I wondered what it would be like to lose Aaron? For me, I'm sure I would never want to remarry. I can't imagine finding a more perfect companion. Maybe I could deal being a widow? As hard and lonely as it would be, I know that the sealing power would give me hope and peace. But the hardest would be navigating through single motherhood. I just couldn't imagine how heartbreaking it would be for the children without a loving father...a father to teach them and love them. Who would take the girls to the daddy-daughter dance and the father-son camp-out? Who would baptize them or give the boys the priesthood? Who would walk through that door at dinnertime each night with hugs and kisses and games? And while friends and family would undoubtedly step in and bless their lives, it would never be the same, it could never be the same.

My heart aches for that beautiful family. And all you can do is hope and pray that God will pour out his blessings upon them and give them patience and peace, always remembering that in the next life it would be right again.

" So, does moms...

walk like this?" Nikki asked me this morning as she swung her hips from side to side. I laughed and made her re-do the walk so I could capture a picture of it (although it's super blurry). I'm not sure what made her think of this. But laughing with Nikki is the best way to start any day.

Another Gorgeous Day

I'm trying not to get my hopes up that Spring is here to stay. Usually we have some kind of taste of warmth mixed into our winters. In the meantime, I'm enjoying all the blossoms and sun without my wretched seasonal allergies.

I got to volunteer in Noah's class today. I love going to the school. Yesterday, Noah woke up not wanting to go to school. He was so upset and emotional that Aaron had to take him out for a hot chocolate to calm him before letting him into the classroom. Thankfully, today he was excited to go. He has the sweetest kids in his class, and reading group. I love watching him in there.

Parent pick-up for kindergarten is a dream compared to the crowded parking lots at the end of the day. I don't go every day, carpooling with Beka and Christine throughout the week. Today, Christine was out of town, so before we grabbed Mary for piano we hit the school playground. The warm sun was so incredible that we decided to go to the park after piano as well.

I love days like this...

We're so glad...

when Daddy comes home!

The weather is spring perfection! The kids have been running outside for most of the day, especially during their play dates. When Aaron walks through the door it's the best part of the day. The kids were ecstatic to join him on the trampoline. I love watching him play with them. Is there anything more attractive?

Mr. Peabody & Sherman

We went to see a cute movie today as the culmination of the long weekend with lots of play dates and fun. The movie was good, maybe a little over the kids heads. The best part was seeing the two rows of kids all happily watching together. I love teacher-in-service days. They are always a nice break from the norm.

Sea of Sleepers

There's no school tomorrow so it's sleep overs with the cousins....the girls here, the boys at Tiff's, although Noah decided to stay with the girls today. We ate yummy tacos that my mom prepared after church and divided them all up. These kids love each other so much. It's just the best!

Old Grey Movies

My mom and dad babysat for us tonight while Aaron and I ran and got a bite to eat. They are so good to watch our kids so we can have a little date night. When we got home the kids were watching an old movie with my mom. It was a Tarzan type movie and the kids we all snuggled up to Grandma listening as she explained what was going on. The kids loved it. She always knows the best old movies to watch and I can completely understand why they were so entertained with her commentary, I love watching them with her too. When it was over and the TV turned back onto a colored cartoon. Noah said, "Oh, I'm not used to those bright colors, We've been watching things in grey." Cute.

Jolly Joggers

Today was our school's jog-a-thon fundraiser. The PTA put on quite an amazing event with a live DJ, bracelets for each lap run (brilliant idea), and t-shirts for all the students. The money raised will go towards purchasing smart boards for the teachers. If the school reaches $20,000 then they will also have a celebration day with jumpy houses for the kids. I'm curious if they'll reach that number. Mary ran 17 laps and Noah ran 14. It was really exciting cheering them on.