Adventures In The Land Of Hahl

tender mercies

2011-09-07T10:04:00.000-07:00

yesterday, i found out that someone i love very much has stage three ovarian cancer. the shock that i felt was tremendous. as she told me it literally felt like someone was sucking the air out of my body. i felt so incredibly helpless as to what to say to try and console her. what does one say to make cancer better??

i consider myself to be a pretty spiritual person who believes that everything happens for a reason. but sometimes that reason is so hard to understand. and i found myself questioning the fairness of this diagnosis. why her?? why?? hasn't she gone through enough already in this life? she has seen more heartache and had more physical challenges in her less than 40 years than most people see in a lifetime. and if recovery is not part of her "plan" how are her two little girls supposed to go on without her??? these are the things that i pondered all afternoon.

later, on my way to work this little voice inside my head said to me "you need to stop and get some candy". there is a little candy store inside the mall that i pass on my way to work and i have been known to stop in occasionally. but yesterday i didn't really feel like candy. so i told the little voice no. then as i was walking in it spoke to me again so i decided to just go ahead and get some because otherwise i would be thinking about it all night.

there was only one lady working and i was the only customer. she asked me how my day was and instantly the voice said "tell her".

"no way" i told the voice. "i am not telling some strange lady my story". i should probably state that i am not crazy. i promise. i do not usually argue with myself or have voices that speak to me on a regular basis. promptly after telling the voice no it spoke even louder "tell her". so i did. i told her how heartbroken i was because of the diagnosis someone close to me had received. she looked at me and said " you go home and tell her that you spoke to someone tonight that had stage 4 ovarian cancer. had surgery, a complete hysterectomy and chemotherapy. twenty nine years later i am cancer free". she then went on to tell me some different herbal teas to recommend that helped her combat the side effects of chemo. i simply looked at her with tears streaming down my face. i was so overwhelmed. seeing the emotion she said simply "he sent you to me today. because you needed to hear my story".

yes!! yes!! i did need to hear her story. i needed the affirmation that my prayers were being heard. i needed to know that my heavenly father is mind full of me and my loved ones. that he knows what we are going through. just when you think that he doesn't hear you he is right there! he reached out to me and i almost missed it. i almost missed it because i tried to ignore, tried to fight the promptings of the still small voice. and i would have never heard the message he was trying to send me. "be still and know that i am god."

i know that this is a very personal story and some of you might be wondering why i would share it in such a public format. the answer is this; we are so quick to share stories of what goes wrong in our lives, the silly things that happen. the things that really won't make a difference in a month or two. why then should we keep the moments that really speak to us private. my hope is that someone else will find some inspiration from this story. maybe they feel that the phone lines have been cutt and that no one is on the other end. but i can promise you, the lines are not down. he is there and he is listening and he knows you. he knows the concerns of your heart. we just have to be willing to hear.

Why I Wish I Was Better At Photo Journalism

2011-03-23T08:04:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, we went skiing/snowboarding together as a family for the first time.

In fact the only person in our family that has ever skied before is Larry.

Somehow, we left with no pictures at all of anyone on a ski or snowboard.

Why you might ask??

Because I am terrible at capturing the moment with a camera.

I take pictures before, but then think that preceding pictures will magically take themselves.

So while there are no pictures at all to prove it, we did in fact ski and snowboard.

We had a great time.

Larry loved getting back on the slopes.

I discovered that snowboarding is not for me. And will be eternally grateful to our friends for letting me borrowing their butt pads. It made my repeated falls bearable.

Brendan insisted on snowboarding rather than skiing. He loved it and wants to try again

Bella is a natural with skies attached to her feet. Her first run down the slope she didn't even wait for our friend that was helping her to get her snowboard clipped.

Brooke liked it as long as she didn't fall without her gloves on. And when she did, well let's just say I'm surprised she didn't cause an avalanche.

Lily really liked it but was not pleased that she couldn't just hop on a lift and go down the big hill.

With that said - enjoy the few pictures that we did manage to take

The kids outside the condo before we started the adventure
Brooke tubing

Lil's was meant to ride in a tube flying down the mountain

Brooke taking a spill but amazingly no tears accompanied it

Bell's spinning down the hill.

And no, there are not any pictures of Brendan tubing due to the level of soreness from his die hard snowboarding attempts the day before.

When You Are Frozen In Your House This Is The Soup You Want!!

2011-02-01T17:35:00.000-08:00

Creamy Chicken And Wild Rice Soup

chicken breasts 2-3
7 c water
1 1/3 cup uncooked wild rice
1 c chopped celery
1 c chopped onion
2 Tbs vegetable oil\or evoo
1 c sliced fresh mushrooms
2 Tbs chicken bouillon granules
3\4 t pepper (white pepper if you have it)
1\2 t salt
1\2 c margarine
3\4 c flour
4 c milk
3\4 c cooking white wine

cook rice according to package directions. place chicken in water and bring to a boil. simmer until chicken is no longer pink. meanwhile in a large pot cook celery, onion and mushrooms until tender. add rice, broth from chicken, bouillon, pepper and salt. simmer uncovered for 15 minutes. melt margarine in medium saucepan. stir in the flour until smooth. whisk in milk and cook till bubbly and thick. add some broth mixture to the milk mixture and continue to whisk. then add all the milk mixture to the broth mixture. add the chicken and white wine. cook for 15 mins.

Heaven in a bowl I promise :)

Crested Butte

2010-06-30T08:30:00.000-07:00

Our friends the Fox's come to Co frequently to vacation in Crested Butte

Usually we manage to squeeze in a dinner or a couple of days hanging out at our place.

This year we were able to go up to C.B. with them.
Knowing that it was going to be a super fast trip we debated about whether or not it was worth going.
It the end we decided that a little time with them was better than none and we packed everyone up and headed out.
And we were SO glad that we did!
We had such a fantastic time.

It was great to hang out with them and catch up.
We have been friends since before there were any little Hahl's and little Fox's running around.
It only takes a few minutes together to remember how much we love being with them.
They are such great people.
I feel honored to be able to call them my friends :)

(Emma and I at the start of the trip)

The main event was a fourwheeling trip up to Tin Cup.
Riding Tin Cup was on Larry's bucket list so he was really excited to be able to check it off.
Personally I had no idea what I was getting into.

( Everyone pretending to be blown off the top. See the elevation sign - I have never ridden to that elevation before)

Usually when we ride we do short little trails and as a family we can't go out all at the same time.
I was expecting a similar ride this time.
I was completely wrong.

(Some random dog decided to pose with us)
Everyone loaded up, I rode with Lily and since Larry's atv is larger and he has mad skills he rode with Bella and Brooke.
And Brendan headed out on the little atv.
We rode, and we rode and we rode some more.
By the time we were done we rode around 32 miles.

(our F.B.F.F.'s Hunter, Emma, Matt and Caleb)
Part of it was on an actual dirt road and the rest was up rocky switchbacks.
And on some of the switchbacks the shoulder was very narrow.
It was a little bit scary.

(one of the mountain top views)
After we reached the top of the mountain we continued on another couple of miles to some property Matt's brother owns.
The trail to it was terrifying.
I was pretty certain I was going to roll the atv and die.
Larry kept telling me that I was going to be fine.
It looked worse than it was yadda yadda yadda.

(the other side of the mountain)
And while it was scary, and I DID almost run off the trail, in the end I made it!
When we got to to the property it was so windy.
Larry actually leaned into the wind trying to fall forward and the wind held him up.
It was crazy!
(The town church in Tin Cup. So quaint)
What a great ride!
The memories the kids are going to have from that trip!

So thanks Fox's for letting us hang.
We are looking forward to next year's vacation with ya all!

my alarm clock is possessed!!

2010-06-14T05:52:00.000-07:00

seriously.

i am not even kidding.

i think it needs an exorcist.

do they have exorcist's for inanimate objects??

here is what is going on.

yesterday morning, the alarm went off and i started getting ready for church.

after being up for an HOUR, i went downstairs and discovered that it was a hour earlier than what the alarm said.

i figured that lily had somehow messed with it and changed the time.

last night, we went to bed.

larry asked me if i changed the time back, which i did.

it went off this morning.

i got ready, came downstairs only to find that once again

IT'S AN HOUR EARLIER THAN WHAT MY ALARM CLOCK SAYS!!

what the heck is going on??

why.... why.....why does it keep changing itself!!

so much for the ultra cool alarm clock that larry was so excited to give me.

i don't care if it tells me what the temperature is outside.

and talks to me in this really cool voice.

it's dead to me.

LOST - the final installment

2010-05-29T22:22:00.000-07:00

The show that has captivated us for the last 6 years has come to an end.
But how do you celebrate the ending of something that you have invested so much time into??
Why throw a little party that's how!

Die Hard LOST fans only!

Once you pass through the hatch the fun begins!

The infamous smoke monster paid us a visit.
I was worried that he didn't get his invitation.

Charlie's last message.
Oh the tears I shed when that message was delivered!

Our Dharma issued beverages

Lots of tropical food!
(some of the food items are missing)

The LOST cake

Beach, Crashed Airplane, Jungle and Temple

It even had a golden center to represent the "light" of the island

You can't have a party without guests.

And I just have to say that we have the best friends ever!

All our favorite LOST characters attended!

Crazy Rousseau

Kate frantically punching in the magic numbers.

Keeping everything in balance

Sawyer

(kendria insisted on being sawyer! i didn't make her!)

I don't think we really settled on an identity

Jack

(I really, really wanted to draw on Jack's tattoos but didn't have time)

Shannon and Jacob

(I think Drew intended to be someone else, but he looks just like Jacob)

Sun was in attendance as well but missed her photo opp.

Thanks so much guys for celebrating the end with us!

And for going along with our crazy themed party.

As for the finale.

I don't think I can even begin to sum up my feelings.

For me, it was extremely emotional.

So much so that days later when I would think of it I would get a little teary.

I didn't love the way it ended.

In fact, at first I was really mad; and sad.

But what I did love about it was that in the end they were all together.

They were all happy.

And the finale reminded me how much I had grown to love all the characters.

If I had to sum it all up I would say that it was about finding yourself, redemption and faith.

I have a lot more to say about the show and my philosophy but let's be honest;

Who is really going to read all that??

So I will sign off with a thanks.

Thanks for 6 years of gripping, soul searching tv.

I shed some serious tears throughout this series.

And I loved every single minute of it!

Except for killing Jin and Sun

That was a sucker punch

lil's new do

2010-05-21T09:10:00.000-07:00

WELL~ Isn't that special!

wonder how long that's going to take to grow

end of the season

2010-05-17T21:25:00.000-07:00

the 2009-2010 Colorado Children's Chorale season is officially over.

when we started this adventure late last summer we really didn't know what to expect.

bella and her school/chorale friend, we carpooled every week

couldn't have done it without these guys!

we knew it would be a huge time commitment

bells and i outside Boettcher Hall
spring concert

we knew Bella would love every second of it

performing Small Miracles at the Colorado Heights University

and we hoped that she would do well
Brendan and Bells
he really was a proud big brother on this day

in the end, all of these things were realized.
and now, we are ready for the summer break!

Happy Birthday Brooke!! (April 8)

2010-05-06T07:14:00.000-07:00

Every year when it's time to celebrate birthday's I am amazed at how fast the kids are growing.
The time between when I was holding them as infants and today is like a whirlwind, yet it seems like only yesterday.
This year Brooke turned 6
Her birthday fell on a Thursday and we were packed with Achievement Days and Scouts.
So on her actual birthday we had a simple family party of pizza and homemade cake.
Then I took her to Target to spend some birthday money

Here is the delicious chocolate cake with cheesecake pudding for filling.
It was heavenly

A couple of weeks after her birthday we had a skating party

It was so much fun

At the beginning many of the kids couldn't skate

But by the end they were all doing really well

The birthday girl with her second birthday cake

It was a little chaotic but I would recommend a skating party to everyone

The kids absolutely had a ball!

Hope your birthday was great Brooke!

We love you so much!

date with daughtry

2010-04-21T07:28:00.000-07:00

Those of you that know me well, know that I haven't watched American Idol in years. Those of you that don't may be asking yourself ~ Why?? How can you not watch AI?

Well I can answer that question for you in a name: Chris Daughtry.

I was a huge, can't miss a single episode full blown AI addict season 5.

And then something crazy happened.

Chris was voted off.

I was so outraged.

He was clearly the most talented singer BY FAR that season.

So I vowed then that I would never again find myself manipulated and let down by that show. And I knew that we hadn't heard the last of Chris.

I knew that fame would find him.

And now, roughly 4 years later, his fame has come.

And what of the winner from season 5? Taylor Hicks?

What exactly is he doing these days?

Apparently he is still making music but has anyone heard it??

That's what I thought.

SO~ being the huge, and I do mean HUGE

Daughtry fan that I am, I have been dying to attend a concert.

He was in Denver a few months ago at the Gothic and I really wanted to go but it was a Sunday so I thought I would be good and not go :)

Have to set a good example for the young women ya know.

Then I heard he was going to be in Broomfield and I really wanted to go but thought it was too far to go in the middle of the week. Totally gives away my age I know.

But then the other day I was in the car and one of the local stations was giving away Daughtry tickets.

About a week or so before this I just so happened to program the stations number into my cell phone cause they are always giving away cool things.

I had a story that fit in with what they were looking for so I started dialing.

It took many, many times to get through but finally I did.

And I WON!

ME! Who never wins anything!

I couldn't believe it was real.

I was sure when I went to pick up the tickets they were going to tell me that there was some mistake. But it was true, they were really mine and last night was the show.

And it was AWESOME!

The first band that played was CAVO. I have nothing to say about them honestly. They were really bad.
And I felt like I had traveled back in time to the late 80's early 90's.
When the drummer ripped off his shirt I was a little worried that we were going to have some Red Hot Chili Pepper's action goin on.
But thankfully it was just him.
And it was just his shirt.
Not his pants replaced with a tube sock.

I want to apologize in advance for the crumy pics.
My camera does not take far away shots well at all.
Next up was Skillet
We had never heard of them but immediately it was obvious that we were one of the few that hadn't.
Everyone started going crazy!
Clearly, they have a fairly large following.
If I had to sum Skillet up in one word that word would be ANGRY
Their music sounds very, very angry.
Even the "Love Ballad" ~ their words not mine, sounded angry. However, I like angry.
And then something crazy happened.
That angry band started talking about Jesus.
In an introduction to a song about suicide, the lead singer starts talking about his hero, Jesus Christ and how he makes it so that we are never alone.
And that we can reach out to him anytime, anywhere and he will hear you.
Well I'll be.
The angry band is really a Christian Rock Band!
Who knew??
Apparently everyone but us.
So in the end, we decided that we really liked Skillet and that on a cd they are probably great and not quite so angry sounding.
Oh!
And Russell Brand moonlights as their soundboard operator. I kid you not!
They could have been twins.

Finally after what seemed like forever Daughtry took the stage.
And rocked the house!
It was an awesome show.
That man has some serious pipes. Even if he couldn't breathe because of the altitude.
And he's pretty easy on the eyes as well. Not that we could really see but ya know.
His hotness is the same whether I can fully appreciate the view or not.

His encore was fabulous.

Why people rush out of the building in hopes to clear out the parking lot before the masses descend and miss the encore is beyond me. You've already invested a couple hours, why not another 20 mins?

So I say adieu to Daughtry.

Until we meet again, I remain your devoted and loyal fan.

Keep on Rockin!!!

This - This is why I can't get anything done

2010-04-08T08:30:00.000-07:00

frequently, at the end of the day i find myself wondering where the day went and why i don't feel like anything was accomplished.

the laundry still needs to be folded.

the floors need to be swept for the fourth time of the day.

dishes waiting to be put in the dishwasher or taken out and put in the cabinets.

you know - the really fun stuff that we love to do. and yet, while all this stuff is left seemingly undone, i am exhausted.

feeling like a ran a marathon, uphill, in the rain and against the wind.

why am i so tired?

and why don't i get anything that i set out to accomplish done?

well, yesterday was the perfect example of why.

while i was doing laundry lily found these and put one on. she looked super cute so of course i had to take a picture. and then i cleaned up the HUGE mess she made trying to get them out of the cabinet.

and contrary to what the commercials claim, these do not prevent snoring

then, in the afternoon while i was helping bella with her math she did this.

some peanut butter handprints

and in between these there were multiple spills, a few tantrums and several changes of clothing

all in a days work

wasted cookies ;(

2010-03-29T20:17:00.000-07:00

the other day i made these awesome cookies.

they were peanut butter sandwich cookies. two moist, chewy cookies with succulent peanut butter creme in the middle.

they really were a little piece of heaven.

this morning, lily was determined to have one. but since it wasn't even 9am i said "No"

after the 3rd time of her getting the container down and carrying it around i told her that if she didn't stay out of them i was going to throw them all away.

wouldn't you know, not even 3 mins later there she is strolling around with the container.

it was one of those moments where i really wanted to over look the problem.

i didn't want to throw away those marvelous cookies that took a serious amount of time to make.

but she left me no choice.

so with her screaming behind me i threw them in the trash

such a waste.... why can't they just listen??

who is cosmo??

2010-03-21T20:41:00.000-07:00

lily had to give the closing prayer in primary today. larry helped her but somehow she said

"we are thankful for cosmo"

which caused many to ponder.... who is cosmo?

did we get a new pet?

is she talking about the magazine?

cosmo from fairly odd parents?

the answer:

she was supposed to say "i'm thankful for the GOSPEL"

gospel, cosmo - they sound pretty similar....

when barbie meets lip

2010-03-17T07:40:00.000-07:00

it's not a pretty picture

thanks bells for chucking one at me

OH - And we lost our first tooth!!!
But not because of the barbie, the tooth fell out first
And then we accidentially swallowed it.
So dad bought her gum intstead of the tooth fairy giving he money.
Because, the tooth fairy doesn't dig through... well ya know

conversations with my tween

2010-03-06T20:59:00.000-08:00

earlier today, larry and i were having a conversation about how adorable one of my friends is. now, i promise you that this is not a normal type of conversation for us to have. i don't even remember what sparked it. BUT as we were talking brendan was sitting at the table doing some homework and i hear his little voice pipe in "I agree with that". larry and i kind of looked at each other, shrugged our shoulders and instantly knew that this was one of those opportunities. you see, brendan doesn't really talk about girls very often. so when he happens to be willing to talk, we JUMP at the opportunity. so we asked him what liked about her and then we ran through a few more of my friends to get his opinion. it sounds a little bizarre, but it was a great way for us to get an idea what he thinks makes someone cute. and it also gave us a chance to talk about the important things when choosing someone to date - which completely terrifies me to think about but i know that the day will be here before i know it. and these are all things that we have talked about with him before. but can you even talk about it too much? and usually when we do we talk about girls his own age and he gets super embarrassed. but this was less intimidating to him. he is at the age where i feel like we are standing on the shore of uncharted waters. which course is he going to take to get across and how much influence are we going to have on those decisions? will he make the choices that we want him to make? there are bound to be hard times and tears, but i HOPE that he continues to talk to us about things. and i hope that i can follow my s.i.l.'s advice and just brave the waters the best we can and love him through whatever happens.

and don't even ask me who he thought was cute because i'll never tell!!

budding artist

2010-03-03T20:58:00.000-08:00

the high school that our neighborhood is assigned to has an annual

Celebration Of The Arts.

for the celebration they invite students from the elementary schools that feed in to the high school to display art work or perform in a choir. last year brendan was invited to participate in the choir but we had a big snow storm that day and the concert was cancelled ;(

this year bella was invited to display her fish sculpture.

now this isn't just any ol fish sculpture. this is a sculpture that she made with the intention of giving it to her dad for his birthday. so it really meant alot to her that it was picked.

as usual the picture isn't very good because my camera is kinda stinky, but in person it's really impressive. she put a lot of detail into it and it looks really good.
way to go bells!

dad can't wait to put it on the wall of his office!

things that make you go hmmmm......

2010-02-26T07:00:00.000-08:00

one of my gifts this year from my m.i.l. was this.

i have to confess that when i opened it i was a bit perplexed.

what is it exactly?

on the surface it looks like a doily.

but it has all these snaps on it.

i talked to my s.i.l. colleen and asked her what it was.

"a really pretty doily. you know what a doily is right?"

well, yes i knew what a doily was but that didn't explain the snaps.

then my m.i.l. called and asked me how i liked the gift.

i told her it was beautiful.

"do you know what it is?"

"why no i do not"

so she explained it to me.

have you already figured it out??

it holds a dozen rolls.

she received one from her s.i.l. a few years ago when they were serving the church in switzerland.

i could have stared at that thing for days and not figured out it's purpose.

i do love the display it creates though.

thanks mom!

valleytines day

2010-02-22T12:00:00.000-08:00

lilies from my sweetie

i love it when valentines day is on the weekend. it just seems like you can enjoy it a little bit more ya know? there's no stress trying to find a sitter on a weeknight or making sure the hubby will be home on time. it's just more peaceful.

this year, larry and i went out to dinner with friends and then hit the stake valentines dance. it was a lot of fun. but i have to say that it would be more fun if i really knew how to dance

*awkward*

so now i have a new goal.

learn some serious dance moves so that next year i don't feel like such a dork.

as with any holiday, the kids made it more enjoyable with their comments:

Brendan: I'm glad i'm not in love with anyone so I don't have to worry about this stuff.

Bella: Someone gave me a little bracelet in my valentine box. I hope it's not (name with held for privacy) cause I don't really like him.

Brooke: This valentine is for (same deal as above), he's SOOOO cute.

Lily: I hope I get some legs for my pillow Lou Lou. She had legs, but they got taken off.

Poor Lou Lou

drama, drama, drama

2010-02-02T06:59:00.000-08:00

for some reason the past 2 weeks the girls have been crazy. and when i say crazy, that really is what i mean. i'm not exaggerating. it's the honest truth. and it's given me serious insight to what a house of teenage girls is going to look like. and let me just tell you, it ain't going to be pretty. the other morning i actually had to stop the girls, bell and brooke, from throwing punches at each other! i thought that only happened with boys! not beautiful little girls. it was like a scene from girls gone wild, not that i have actually seen that show but in my mind that is what it would look like. the plus side is that in all their "drama" they've said some pretty hilarious stuff.

lil's: you are not my mommy. you are only brooke's mommy. i don't like you any more.

brooke: you are the meanest mommy ever! and i'm not going to change my mind about it either!

bella: how come our friends can't come over because we need to clean but mom's friends can come over whenever they want? it's just not fair. she get's to do everything!

ahhh..... my life will be nothing but bliss in about 5 years...... let the good times roll

ringing in 2010

2010-01-25T07:00:00.000-08:00

we love new years eve in this house. totally and completely love it. usually we ring in the new year with friends, but this year we had family in town - Yeah!!

however, we were not as lively a bunch as we could have been because the night before we were up until after 2:30am playing munchkin. does anyone else know how to play that game?? at first i thought it was really, really weird. but once i got the hang of it, i decided it's my new favorite.

we can't celebrate new years without fire works. this years illegal explosive of choice was bottle rockets. yes - i'm sure our neighbors loved us.

this is how many you can fit into a pvc pipe. but then how do you light them all quickly??

with a blowtorch of course!!

happy new year!

a couple of weeks late

the man party

2010-01-18T07:00:00.000-08:00

this weekend was larry's birthday.

in the past we haven't been very good about celebrating each others birthday's.

i'm not really sure why this is. i think it might have something to do with the fact that we tend to be out of town on our birthday's.

or it could be that as a kid my parents didn't really celebrate theirs.

anyway, i decided that it's time for that to change!

so i tried to quickly organize a man party for larry.

and no man party is complete without a "manly" cake.

our friend stacey is such a cake genius!

she only had a couple days notice and this was what she was able to put together

larry loved it of course.

the trophy pose

the entire cake was edible so we couldn't resist

getting some silly shots of the disassembled body parts

the only pictures i got guest wise were the two dans

dan h. enjoying an ear

dan r. chomping on an antler

and even though it was a "man" party, i couldn't leave the kids out

when the cake was so awesome!

bella chowing on.... i'm not even really sure what that is

after cake the men went off to see sherlock holmes and had a good ol time.

all in all, i would consider the first man party a success.

of course without the rocking cake it would have been lacking so thanks stac for taking an idea and bringing it to life! you are the best!!

when family comes to town

2010-01-15T08:00:00.000-08:00

larry's sister colleen and her family came to visit us right after christmas. we had sooooo much fun with them. their older kids stayed with us and it was such a blast. it's been a few years since we have seen them and the kids have grown so much. so much in fact that they aren't even kids anymore. they are totally like little adults now. and if you want to get to know someone; well, just have them spend a week at your house. we were up till all hours of the night watching movies, playing games and just finding out more about them. it was awesome. and during the day we did some cool stuff as well.

they brought some fabulous tubes with them so sledding was way fun. i don't think i have ever gone down a hill so fast in my life.

lily loved it. and the best part was - it wore her out!

ben was a mad man. i'm hanging on for dear life and he's all but standing up. craziness!

brooke and her friend p* enjoying a little break.

brendan's victory shout as he smoked daniel coming down the hill.

just how many people can you fit on those things anyway???

apparently a lot.

the "big cousins" were so good to our kiddos. they played with them endlessly and were always there to lend a helping hand. i tried to kidnap ryan and have her live with us forever. but wouldn't you know, she'd rather go to college than hang with us. talk about having your priorities out of line ;)

our first, and hopefully last, mohawk

2010-01-12T07:25:00.001-08:00

awhile ago, lily cut her hair. and when i say cut, i meant to less than an inch in a couple of spots.

it was more like she scalped herself.

at first, it wasn't too noticeable. i just did the little comb over routine.

but now that it's starting to grow out;

well...... let's just say it's not so easy to hide

any suggestions how to camouflage this??

christmas 09

2010-01-10T19:52:00.000-08:00

we had a great christmas this year.

here is a rundown of the favorite gifts

every three year old needs a giant candybar. even though i told "santa" she didn't need one, it magically appeared in her stocking. i guess "santa" knows best
the girls were dying, crying and sighing for zhu zhu pets. i looked for months. my mom and her friends looked for months. finally i found some three days before christmas. the best part; these things are highly, highly breakable.

so while the joy on their faces made it worth while at the time. i'd like to have a serious conversation with the makers of these fine toys.

brendan desperately wanted a guitar. he starts lessons with mike the guitar guru this week. he is so excited!!

so much to do... so little time.... so let's throw in a little tile job just to add a little bit more stress

2009-12-24T07:34:00.000-08:00

we have been crazy busy trying to get ready for christmas and for the family that's coming the day after. so while i've been busy shopping, cleaning and making christmas treats larry has been busy doing this....

tiling the kids bathroom. when we moved in one of the first items on our must do list was to tile the bathrooms. well 7 years later we finally got it done. and i love the way it turned out. now i am even more excited to get our bathroom done ;)
man am i lucky to be married to such a talented man

just a little sampling......

2009-12-17T13:26:00.001-08:00

a few weeks ago our friend kendria took on the ever so difficult task of family pictures. we knew going into it that lily would probably make the task challenging. she did not disappoint. this picture pretty well sums up her attitude about the whole thing

these boots are made for walking, no make that running, as far away from you as i can
somehow, even when she pouts she is a cutie!

we had so many great pictures to choose from it's been really hard to make a decision. but here are a few of our favorites.

yes, we did get lily to smile - a couple of times

love the boots!

this is probably one of the nicest pictures we have ever had of the two of us together

since this was kind of like tackling lily thought it was great

bells and her daddy

brendan and his tough guy face

my two hunks

so sweet

the king on his throne surrounded by his courtiers

thanks kendria for hanging in there and doing such a great job!!

i still haven't decided which pictures to hang in the house!

they are that good!

christmas tree adventure

2009-12-03T09:47:00.000-08:00

saturday was our annual traipse through the forest to find the perfect christmas tree adventure. and let's just say that the day did not disappoint. it started off with me deciding that i wanted to have a little lesson in pulling the trailer. i was driving up the mountain, concentrating so hard on keeping the trailer in my own lane that i missed a speed limit change sign - right in front of an officer. well, according to him i missed like 3, but i'm sticking to my thought that it had to be just one. nothing like a little traffic ticket to set the mood for the day ;)

the best part is that our friend dana, who was also in pursuit of the perfect tree, was with us. her nephew had just sent flat stanley to her so we had to get a picture of him with the officer to make an accurate documentation of his adventure in colorado.
the kids enjoyed frolicking in the snow
meanwhile larry and i continued the quest

we finally found this one. the bottom was pretty sparse, but the top looked nice and full

carrying it out of the forest proved to be a little bit difficult. lily and brooke were completely done with the whole adventure and were being less than cooperative. so dana and i took the girls back to the car and told larry we would be back to help him and brendan pull it out. thankfully by the time we were ready to go back to help, he already had it on the side of the road. currently it remains undecorated. hopefully by the end of the weekend it will be beautiful.

just a couple of projects

2009-11-24T13:01:00.000-08:00

a little sampling of what i've been up to lately

i LOVE holiday crafts!

weekend of firsts

2009-11-15T20:45:00.000-08:00

so this weekend had a lot of exciting firsts in it. it kicked off on friday when brooke got an award at the school assembly.

she was so surprised and excited and we are so proud. she is working really hard and doing so well in kindergarten.

next brendan got to hunt for the first time. now i know what you're thinking ~ didn't he just go hunting a few weeks ago?? yes he did but he wasn't 12 at the time so he didn't get to carry a rifle and he wouldn't have been able to shoot something if he saw it. so this was his first REAL hunt. but, alas, they did not see anything and he came home empty handed. he also got to attend young mens for the first time this week. i swear i don't know how he's that old! he is also anxious for the other adventures being 12 holds ~ passing the sacrament and getting the priesthood.

bella had her first concert today. i wish that i could tell you all about how marvelous she did etc, etc, etc. but i can't because it was a private concert and the parents were not allowed to attend. now if i am going to be honest i would have to say that this bugs me just a little bit. the practices are closed and now a private concert. so besides the little musical tidbits we get from her occasionally; we have no idea what the chorale is doing! we won't get a peek at it until the christmas concert. i understand why it works the way it does. and that the purpose of the chorale is for the kids to have the opportunity to perform for all kinds of audiences. but as a parent it's driving me nuts that i can't see what they are working on!

and can we just talk for a minute about the uniforms? the day bella brought it home she was so excited.....until she opened it up and saw what it was. can you say boring? yes we want all the kids to blend in with each other and we don't want the uniforms to distract from the performance, but can't we do something just a little bit different? it doesn't help that in order to get her shirt long enough it's about 3 times as wide as she is.

but she loves every single second of being in the chorale and that is all that matters.

the Big T-H-R-E-E (11/2)

2009-11-03T20:28:00.000-08:00

my oh my...... where has the time gone? it's hard to believe that just three years ago we brought this adorable little one home from the hospital. and from the second her daddy saw her adorable big blue eyes she has had him wrapped around her little finger. three years later the blue is not quite so strong, in fact it's all but gone, but her daddy is still wrapped firmly in place. i love to watch the two of them together. they share such a unique bond.

we had a quiet, family celebration to mark this momentous birthday. i called it the pinkalicious party due to the shockingly bright pink cupcakes. and yes i can count - there are 4 candles because it's a hahl tradition to put an extra candle on for good luck.

and to finish off the night we enjoyed a viewing of the newest ice age movie.

just a little side note here ~ this blanket is quite possibly the ugliest blanket i have ever seen in my life. but larry has had this for about as long as he can remember and has no immediate plans to part with it. and it is by far the warmest blanket i have ever seen. just goes to show you that the old school stuff really was of superior craftsmanship.

i asked each of the kids to give me one word that described lily.

brendan - irresistibly cute

bella - sweet

brooke - friendly

as for me; i would say that lily is:
adorable
full of life and energy
beyond mischievous
affectionate cuddlebug
infectious smile and laugh

happy birthday baby girl!

we love you!!

knocked out lily style

2009-10-29T07:20:00.000-07:00

lilster's plays so hard all day everyday. the nice thing about this is that some nights she is sooo ready for bed. last night she ate dinner, walked into the kitchen, aked larry to cut her a piece of cake and promptly laid down on the floor and fell fast asleep. larry turned around to hand her the cake and she was already out.

it seriously took her all of 60 seconds to crash on the floor. in this exact position. what i wouldn't give to sleep that soundly.

the chocolate thief

2009-10-27T07:36:00.001-07:00

a couple weeks ago i was trying to work out some details about our new roof installation with larry on the phone. lily was being a little, shall we say, NOISY so i went upstairs for a little bit of quiet. on my way back down the stairs this is what i found.

and in the family room i found this

i asked lily who got into the kisses and she looked at me with her big ol greyish blue eyes and said

"it's not bliss mom but it's still good chocolate"

she never ceases to put a smile on my face

evolution of a self portrait

2009-10-24T06:42:00.000-07:00

hmmm...... not quite
closer but still lacking

perfect - especially the cheeto smile

larry and brendan spent last weekend hunting. the results of the big hunt.... nadda. but they did have a lot of fabulous father son time and that counts for a lot.

it seemed like a good idea

2009-10-09T13:52:00.000-07:00

earlier in the summer, larry was painting the house of our neighbors\friends and they offered to let us have their basketball hoop. well the summer has come and gone and we didn't do much about collecting said hoop. so last weekend when brendan and a couple of his buddies were standing around outside without much to do i told larry we should go get the hoop. "it'll entertain them for hours" i told him. he was a little reluctant, didn't want to "bug" but made the call anyway and promptly went down to retrieve it. the boys and girls in the neighborhood "gang" were very stoked at the idea and helped larry get it set up. all was well and everyone was having a ton of fun until.......

brendan caught the ball with his mouth knocking out his half fake tooth again for the second time in less than 6 months. this tooth has been SUCH a pain - and i'm not just talking physically. it got knocked out for the first time in 3rd grade before it was even all the way in. his baby tooth had barely been gone. i remember thinking at the time, why couldn't this have happened 2 months ago and then we wouldn't have to even worry about it?? why must we destroy our permanent tooth when it's just barely scratched the surface?? so from that day forward he has had a partial fake tooth. and this is the 3rd time it has gotten knocked out. except for the initial impact, the tooth doesn't hurt when it comes out. until this time. apparently 4 times is the magic number. this time it really hurt and the dentist had to put some special medicine on the nerve to try and "calm it down". which also meant that he couldn't fix the tooth all the way. so poor brendan is stuck with just a little stub until the end of the month when the dentist will build up the tooth to normal size. and he informed us that the earliest he will be eligible for a cap or crown is around 18. so we decided that it would be fun to have a running bet as to how many times the tooth will need to replaced before that time. my personal guess is 12 more for a total of 16 knockouts. and we are getting him a mouthguard for all sports. no sense in tempting the fates where this little puppy is concerned.

the three muskateers

2009-09-29T07:32:00.000-07:00

i'm really behind on my blog posts but am trying to get them caught up. while working on the post of my parent's 50th wedding anniversary last month i found this adorable picture of lily and brooke with their cousin rebecca. the whole weekend those three had so much fun together. you would have thought they had known each other forever rather than just met.

it really touched my heart to watch the girls bond so quickly. i don't think that i could ever put into words what their sweet little smiles did to me. priceless.....

opening a new chapter

2009-09-22T07:33:00.000-07:00

i'm not really sure how it happened. where did the time go? and how on earth am i old enough to have this happen???

brendan started middle school about a month ago. to say that it's been surreal is a complete understatement. i swear to you it seems like just yesterday he was starting elementary. a small little kindergartner. and now we are in middle school. i ran into a friend i haven't seen in forever the other day and she told me her oldest is a junior this year. a junior! no way! and then i realized, that before i even blink that's going to be me. time just flies so fast and i can't seem to keep up with it.

here's brendan on his way to school yesterday. everyday he lugs that huge, weighted down backpack and his trumpet. the trumpet is a new addition. he really, really wanted to try band this year and since electric guitar is out he opted for trumpet. as for his playing skills, well right now it reminds me of a wounded animal bugling others for help. but i'm sure in a few months it will actually sound like music. in general he is loving middle school. i was super nervous and still am but he is taking it all in stride. it's been kind of a tough transition because almost everyone he knew from elementary is in a different pod and his neighbor friend is older so they don't see each other at all. so he is basically starting from scratch in the friend pool. hard times but again, he's a trooper my son is. he has such a positive attitude about the whole thing and i'm sure (praying anyway) that before long he'll fit right in. the other big change middle school has brought is his desire to wrestle. the season doesn't start until winter so he might change his mind by then. but for right now he is super excited about it. i think it would be a great sport for him and am anxious to cheer my little man on!

lil-i-vader

2009-09-10T07:58:00.000-07:00

lily's new favorite form of entertainment

luke - i'm your father

so we did a little camping

2009-08-25T14:54:00.000-07:00

a couple of weekends ago was the annual church campout. for the first time our schedules were such that we could attend. now i have to say that while i am a fan of the camping activities - i do not enjoy sleeping in a tent. part of this might just be because i am not used to it. in all the years that we have been married this was only my 4th time going camping. larry says it's technically the 3rd, but i'm counting the time that we went to moab, slept in char's unfinished house out in the desert with no electricity or running water moments after killing a rattlesnake and a black widow as a camping trip. that's getting up close and personal with nature folks. no way around it. anyway - back to the current camping story. since i decided in the middle of the night to forgo the tent and climbed into the car for a peaceful slumber many of you think that i am not into camping. that simply is not so! i really do enjoy it. i just can't sleep in that stupid tent!! so next time i'm just going to start out in the car, pure and simple! so don't judge me you sleeping bag snugglers and tent lovers. let me be one with nature in my own ridiculous and unconventional way ;)

one of my favorite pictures from the trip is this one of my friend olivia and her hubby packing up their car. how they managed to fit all that stuff plus 2 kids and themselves is still a mystery to me.

before heading home we went fishing with some friends of ours. the creek was cold but the kids loved it. right after this picture was taken brooke slipped and smacked her nose on the big rock over there causing a massive bloody nose. it's not camping unless there's a bleeder.

lily and her daddy hanging out by the creek

some crazy random ladies hanging out on a rock - otherwise known as: dana, jami and me

dan and lilsters playing squishy face

the roberts brought louie which was great for us because he can entertain lily for hours.

all in all it was a great camping trip. hopefully the next one will be sooner rather than later.

sunday art work

2009-08-19T07:25:00.001-07:00

during church on sunday brooke was quietly drawing. as quiet as she ever is during church anyway. i looked down and noticed that she had done this.

me: brooke, you really shouldn't turn jesus into an indian. it's not appropriate.

brooke: but mom, he's not an indian. i was drawing him a crown.

me - a little embarrassed: oh sorry. of course it's a crown. my mistake. it's lovely. great job.

swimming lessons

2009-08-13T21:39:00.000-07:00

our kids are like fish. if they could breathe underwater i am convinced that is where they would live. since they are so comfortable with it, we haven't really spent a lot of time doing swimming lessons. however, i had a little break from watching extra kids and a few of our friends were doing swimming lessons so i said "why not" and enrolled brooke. due to her amphibian skills, we skipped the first few levels. at first i was worried that i had made a mistake. but in the end i picked exactly the class she needed. she learned a lot and actually passed!
she loved going to class almost everyday and has really missed it this week. it was so much fun for both of us. we each got to hang with some of our friends for a couple of hours poolside. what a great way to pass summer days!

our little stingray!

just a SMIDGEY too small

2009-08-10T20:37:00.001-07:00

bella was super petite when she was a baby\toddler. she still is on the small side if you compare her to her friends. when she was about two and a half her favorite pajamas were pink with blues clues characters all over them. now that lily is the same age she loves the pajamas just as much. can't say they fit the same though........

oh well - lily loves them anyway! and in the summer you need some air on your tummy and arms.

slugged

2009-08-09T16:22:00.000-07:00

bella's allergies are out of control. currently she looks like someone has slugged her. which we haven't - i promise.
poor thing. they itch so bad she just can't stop rubbing them.

what's a little mud?

2009-08-04T20:33:00.000-07:00

everyone in our family loves to go four wheeling. so why it's been almost a year since the last time we went as a family on a serious all day adventure is a mystery to me. determined to get a fix we loaded everyone up on saturday and headed for central city. not to gamble, but to ride.

lil's loves to ride as much as the rest of us. and even though it looks like they are going really fast in this picture they really weren't. it was a little windy and that's what is blowing her hair. not warp speed. just had to clear that up since the picture is a little deceiving and neither of the kids have helmets on. and we weren't on the trail. brendan was just taking her for a little ride around the parking area. we are very safety conscious when we ride I PROMISE!

our friends the wilson's went with us. joe was nice enough to take bella on a dirt bike ride. her first one ever. she loved it of course. i thought she might be a little bit scared, but no - she's fearless!

for some reason larry and i love to ride the little four wheeler. it's a ton of fun. of course i think part of the fun is just knowing how ridiculous you look on it. but lil's thought it was great that her daddy took her for a little spin.

brooke got to ride the little four wheeler by herself for the first time ever. she thought she was pretty cool. and yes she is actually driving with her feet up like that.

the trails were really muddy from all the rain. this was my favorite puddle.

that's me hitting the puddle at full speed. you could say that i got a little bit wet. but i loved every minute of it! i came back with mud everywhere. it was awesome! i look at it as my own personal mud bath without the cost of an expensive spa.

she's in!

2009-07-29T12:31:00.001-07:00

back in june, bella auditioned for the colorado children's chorale. it's been a long month or so of waiting but we finally found out that she got in! she is extremely excited. the chorale is going to be so much fun. it's a HUGE time commitment but the learning and growth opportunities that it is going to provide her is priceless. she already has a love of music and theatre and the chorale will help nurture that love and cultivate her talent.

bella on the day of her audition. she wasn't nervous at all. they wouldn't let me go back into the audition with her so i was going crazy the whole time wondering what was going on. a few musical notes, dance steps and rhythm pattern claps later she came out with a huge grin on her face. the essence of relaxation and pure joy. "it was so much fun mom!" at that moment, i was pretty confident that she was going to get in. we are so excited and proud of her. i can't wait for the first concert!

swimming moab style

2009-07-17T13:13:00.000-07:00

one of my kids favorite things to do when we go to moab is swim. mostly because we don't swim in a pool but a good ol fashioned swimming hole. carved right out of the gorgeous moab red rocks. it's the bomb! and it has all the amenities of a regular swimming pool - well minus the chlorinated water but we just try and not think about that. earlier i posted pictures of the high dive area. here is the natural water slide.

my girls love to slide down it. and there is another one a few yards down that ends into a deeper pool. my girls just about drowned their cousin taylor at the end of that slide. a little bit of a scary moment but everyone recovered just fine.

the first time we visited this place brooke was about 2 months old. to get down to the swimming hole you basically walk to what appears to be the edge of a cliff and start climbing down. it's not a huge climb, but it's big enough especially when you have kids. when we got to the edge i wasn't sure what the best was was to lower brooke down. in the end i put her in the diaper bag and lowered her down to char. moab is always such an adventure. we do and see things there that i just never would have dreamed of.

fun with louie

2009-07-13T08:19:00.001-07:00

last night our friends the roberts stopped by to return a book they had borrowed and brought their adorable beagle louie with them. now as previously stated, lily LOVES dogs. and louie is no exception. in fact, he's perfect cause he's just her size. they had so much fun playing together.

watching them play makes me feel kinda guilty cause i know that lily would love to have a dog of her own. but i'm just not up to the task.

i told the roberts that we will just have to rent him occasionally from them!

he kept her entertained and out of trouble for a solid hour! and she was exhausted when they left. BONUS!

back to school

2009-07-08T19:33:00.000-07:00

it has been blazin hot here all week. the kind of heat that let's you know it's summertime. which makes it even more bizzaro that my girls started school this week!!

there are a lot of things i LOVE about year round school. starting right after the 4th of july however is not one of them.

bella was very excited to start 4th grade and was missing her friends that don't live in the neighborhood. so in all honesty she was ready to get to school. don't you love how ginormous her backpack is??? when stuffed with her school supplies i bet it weighed almost as much as she does.

brooke has been begging to go to kindergarten since the beginning of last school year. so she was more than ready for the school year to start. it's hard to believe that the time has come for her to embark on her academic career. they just grow up way too fast.

cliff diving

2009-07-06T06:49:00.000-07:00

for the past few years we have spent the 4th of july out of town with family. the original plan for this year was for 3 of my brothers and their families to come explore the beautiful colorado mountains with us. unfortunately we had a lot of scheduling conflicts and that didn't happen. so instead, the kids and i went to moab and visited with char and nancy's kids where i allowed my son to jump off a cliff.

ok - so it's not a HUGE cliff, but when your 11....... it's pretty stinkin cool!
cousin sam striking a pose in mid air cousin austin doing a little air jordan
brendan doing a little free style. the boys had so much fun diving over and over again waiting for me to get the perfect shot. unfortunately my camera doesn't snap fast enough so these are the best pictures i could get.

the biggest thing missing from our vacation was ........ Larry! he is actually in nauvoo this week working with his dad. so for the first time ever i was flying solo on vacation. can't say i liked it to much. but the kids had a lot of fun and we did a lot of cool stuff which hopefully i will post in the next day or so.

** side note **
in case you are concerned about the safety of the boys during this activity please note that the number one rule was you could not under any circumstances jump in head first.

my favorite summer time cake

2009-06-28T20:28:00.000-07:00

i am a cake kind of a gal. i love sweet treats (more than i should of course). and this is my current favorite summertime cake. i got it from the ivy bake shoppe cookbook that my m.i.l gave to me a few years ago. it is full of super yummy recipes. if you are in the nauvoo area a trip across the ft. madison bridge to visit this delightful shop would be a pleasant treat for your taste buds.

mandarin orange cake

1 yellow cake mix (+ 1\2 cup flour for high altitude)
2/3 c vegetable oil
1/2 c sugar
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1 9oz can mandarin oranges with juice

frosting
1 small box instant vanilla pudding
1 c crushed pineapple with juice
1 12oz container cool whip, thawed
i usually make a double batch of frosting b\c my family loves it so much

mix all the cake ingredients together and beat for 2 minutes on high. pour into 2 greased and floured 9" round cake pans. bake at 350 for 25/30 mins. set aside and cool completely

for the frosting, mix the pudding and the crushed pineapple together and beat for 2 minutes on medium speed. fold in whipped topping, stirring carefully. assemble cakes with frosting between layers.

yum!

curse you little mermaid

2009-06-24T22:00:00.000-07:00

for 2 decades this scene
has taught improper table manners

to lots of innocent little girls. shame, shame, shame

who would of thought

2009-06-22T07:00:00.000-07:00

that these things would bring hours of entertainment???

we were in the store. brendan had a friend that was spending the night with him and they spotted these things. instantly the begging started. please oh please oh please. i absolutely hate how they line the checkout isles with all this crazy kid tempting stuff. and by the time you get to the checkout your so worn down from saying no 50 times already, it really isn't even a fair fight. so the kids won that round. i thought for sure that they would play with them for 20 mins at the most and then move onto something else. not true!! they played with those silly things all night and then started up with them first thing in the morning. so - if you are looking for a good, cheap summer entertainment item, may i recommend the squirmies. it's great nonmessy fun. a hit with all ages. true the older kids will understand how to get it to do tricks better than the little ones but the little ones can take it on walks and pet it. just be careful of the eyes, they are easily pulled off by little hands. not that we would know or anything...... lily would never defile a squirmie like that.

growing up

2009-06-20T07:45:00.001-07:00

as a child i always heard my parents and other adults talk about how fast time flies. and how kids grow up so fast that it seems like you blink and one day they are teenagers. i always thought that they were a little bit crazy. but now i totally see what they were talking about. yesterday was brendan's 5th grade continuation. i can't believe it's time for middle school! and as i sat in the crowd yesterday and looked at his class i traveled back in time and remembered with such clarity their faces as little kindergartners. a majority of his class is kids that we have known since the very begining of school. i couldn't believe how much they have all grown and how mature they are starting to look. to be honest it was a little bit scary. the first 6 years went so fast. are the next 6 years going to go as fast or faster?? before i know it we will be attending a real graduation. i can't even begin to wrap my brain around that one. watching your kids mature is such a bizarre yet fascinating part of life. i find myself unsure about certain parts of parenting at this age. and i feel bad because i think that poor brendan is kind of our parenting guinea pig. let's try this and hope it's the right thing. if not we'll do better on the next one. crazy, crazy stuff.

brendan loved his teacher this year. she taught the kids a couple of subjects last year so a good relationship was already established. the ceremony itself was orchestrated well. they sang about 4 songs, one of which was "the wind beneath my wings". the song had barely started when i looked up to see brendan getting teary. he was looking right at me and the tears just started to flow. which of course caused me to get all weepy as well. then, as if it wasn't bad enough, they had the kids bring roses down to one of their parents. that turned the tear level up a notch or two. so basically brendan and i shared tears though the entire song. even now, thinking about it the tears are starting. he is such a special and sweet kid. i know that i am his mother so i'm biased but he really and truly is one of a kind.

at the end of the ceremony larry was going to take a picture of just me and the kids and then this really sweet lady that we didn't know offered to take a picture of us. i didn't realize until we got home that brendan's eye's were closed but that's ok. i'm grateful to her for being kind enough to lend a photography hand.

that is not poo

2009-06-17T07:18:00.000-07:00

i've had a blood blister on my finger for the last several days. lily just noticed it yesterday and is completely obsessed with it. this is our conversation over and over and over again

"mommy there's poo on your finger. you need to go wash it off"

"no lily it's not poo, it's an owie"

"it looks like poo to me. let's go wash it"

twenty minutes later, we start it all over again. kind of reminds me of the movie groundhog day.

way to go!

2009-06-15T08:00:00.000-07:00

several years ago brendan got to know the principal of his school really well. their first meeting occurred after he and a friend decided to turn their yogurts into volcano's at lunch. that was one of those things where you had to stifle the giggles while discussing why that was not an ok thing to do. the next meeting occurred once again after food flew in the lunch room. and we also had our fair share of talks with various teachers about not talking out of turn, that kind of stuff. those were the days..... now he brings home awards for citizenship and as of last friday "best behavior". he's come a long way baby!!

the thing i like the most about this particular award is how he earned it. in the past, after assemblies his teacher was disappointed to hear kids talk about how shocked they were at who won which award because john doe picks on kids at recess or says mean things to so and so. things that the teacher doesn't see or hear about. so she decided that for the last assembly of the year she would let the kids nominate each other and then she would pick the actual winners. and for his award she informed me that he got a majority of the votes. awards were also given out for citizenship and the coveted spirit of the valley. the kids that won those awards are at my house two\three times a week. it's nice to know that my son is running with such good company. it's a blessing that he has such good friends. and not just those two, all of the friends he brings home are kids that i am glad he hangs with. i just hope that when middle school starts and his class triples in size, some of those old friends are around. a friend of mine that already has a son in middle school says that makes all the difference. it's a little bit scary. but hopefully if they aren't around he'll continue to use good judgement when making friends. he is such a good kid and we are so proud of him!

Peek - A - Boo

2009-06-11T11:52:00.000-07:00

Where oh Where is Lily??
There She IS!!!

larry was building a cabinet over the weekend and lily thought it was the coolest thing in the world to play in. for christmas this year we are just going to get her a bunch of boxes and a few cabinets. it will keep her busy for WEEKS!!

PS - don't you like the striped shirt and plaid shorts? she has taken to dressing herself lately. at least the color schemes are the same

storm chasers

2009-06-07T13:36:00.001-07:00

i have always wanted to be a storm chaser. you know, those crazy people that drive towards a tornado instead of away like a smart person. well - today we had a crash course in storm chasing and i gotta say that if i could do it without my kids - IT WOULD TOTALLY ROCK!

so here's the deal. due to a little drama we were running a little bit late to church. right as we put everyone in the car the tornado sirens start going off. larry steps out to the street to check things out and says that he doesn't see anything but the sky looks really ominous. we decide to go ahead and head towards church. as soon as we hit hampden, which for those of you that don't live around here the road is less than 2 miles from our house, we see a funnel cloud. it was so awesome! we could see it from dip down from the clouds and slowly extend it's slender finger towards the ground. we pulled off to the side of the road and just watched it form and change shape. it would get closer to the ground and then pull up and then stretch back out again getting closer and closer to touching down. then we actually saw a little debris cloud for a couple of seconds before it pulled back up. while larry and i are thinking this is one of the coolest things we have ever seen all three girls are crying hysterically begging larry to drive as fast as he can away from it. so we decided to head back toward the house and get everyone under cover in the basement.

these are the shots of the funnel cloud from our back yard. the storm did move on further down the road where it touched down and caused some damage. which of course is not so cool. i wish that we would have had our camera with us in the car because the view we had was AMAZING! i think my next career choice will be a storm chaser ;)

milestones and awards

2009-06-02T07:30:00.000-07:00

last week was super busy for us and full of exciting things. first, bella was awarded the citizenship award for her class. she was so excited! her teacher nominated her because she is always kind and sweet to others and in general is a friend to everyone. she also displays a positive attitude in the classroom. it was a great way for bella to end her school year. brendan also received the same award a couple of years ago (before bloggland). this recognition means so much to the kids. and as a parent it's nice to get some positive feedback.

next was brooke's preschool graduation! it doesn't seem possible that it's time already to send her off to school. but she's ready. i can't believe how much she has grown and matured over the last year. she is going to love kindergarten.
the only sad part is that all her little friends are either on a different track than she is or they are on the same track but in the afternoon. so she is going to be a lonely little fish in the big K pond. BUT i am confident that she will make new friends and that it will all be ok. and if not, well then it could prove to be a long year. really though i am not worried. she has a lot of charisma that one does.

brooke and ms tara. i know brooke is going to miss seeing you twice a week. thanks for everything!

to grandmother's house we go....

2009-05-26T12:13:00.000-07:00

larry was on a much earned vacation last week. as a representation of larry's character and drive he spent the first part of the week painting our neighbors house. it can never be said that larry is afraid of good, honest hard work. he worked so hard in fact that he got the house done in 2 days, half the time we were expecting. so what to do with the rest of the time?? that was the question. the answer - a trip to grandma and grandpa's house!! we packed up the car and headed to nw missouri where my folks live. living so far away from our parents we don't see them as much as we would like and as they get older, sometimes we are shocked at how much they have aged since the last time we saw them. i was so nervous when we pulled into their house late weds night. last year they seemed to have aged alot since the last visit and not feeling so chipper. but we were delighted to find exactly the opposite scenario this time.
they were anxiously awaiting our arrival and ready to play!!

we frolicked in a park where a large missouri spider fell from the tree and landed in my lap. did you know i am slightly arachnophobic?? and an angry swing grabbed onto brendan's shirt and ripped it to shreds.

it was really warm and muggy there and the kids were dying to get wet. but none of the pools were open so they had some backyard fun of bubbles and sprinklers. can you see the HUGE bubble on it's way up the stairs??

pictures from this cool park that has bison, long horned steers and tons of ducks and geese. some of the geese were as big or bigger than brooke. she could not however be coerced into a photo opp with them.

we went to a wildlife refugee that has all kinds of birds. however most of them seem to have flown the coup for the summer so the big sightings of the day were herons, turtles, muskrats and lots of water snakes. glad we didn't get out of the car at all.....

my brother and his family had already made plans to be camping all weekend with her folks not too far away. so we headed up there one afternoon for fishing and bbq. brendan caught his first fish ever!! it was not the fish pictured above but one like it and on a much smaller scale. that has to be the ugliest fish i have ever seen.

my sis in law is going to kill me for posting this picture of her after she had been camping for 3 days but it's the only picture i had. this is my brother bruce, his wife jami and their 2 kiddos morgan and aaron.

we had a great, but short little vacation. we forget how beautiful that part of the country can be. how hot, how humid and how buggy. the mosquito's were so big they reminded me of small dragon flies. but the culture there is so different from here. everyone is so friendly. i am not kidding you. everyone had a smile on their face whether they knew you or not. my mom and i had many conversations with total strangers in the stores or restaurants. it's such a nice place to live. if you don't mind bugs and creepy crawly things of course. i know it sounds like i'm harping on the bugs, and i am, but they are everywhere! they were even in our car. we were driving somewhere and brendan says in all sincerity "mom, what is the deal with all the ants. two have crawled over me in the 5 minutes we've been in the car." it was unreal. and i know that i grew up with bugs and snakes and all that marvelous nature but living away for 10 years i have forgotten. the only part of nature we didn't get to see were fire flies. apparently they aren't out yet and my kids were really disappointed. next time we well have to go a little later in the summer. then it will be REALLY hot and buggy. but spending time with my folks makes it worth while. thanks for a great visit. you spoiled us well as always!

rockies game and camping

2009-05-18T08:16:00.000-07:00

awesome time enjoying the game together.

last week brendan and larry were able to get in a lot of "manly" time. first brendan's 5th grade class went on a field trip to the rockies game and larry went along and chaperoned. they had an awesome time enjoying the game together.

the field trip started with watching bating practice which brendan said was "way cool mom". larry even caught a ball as a memento of the day.

i'm not really sure what this pose is all about but it's cute - i mean it's very tough looking so i wanted to post it. (cute is for babies and girls according to my son)

some of the kids from his class with their teacher. sadly larry didn't get any pictures of him and brendan together.

to finish off the week they went to the father\son campout together and had yet another great time. brendan looks forward to the campout every year and always comes home with some wild stories. i'm glad that he and larry share a love of camping and the outdoors.

as for me and the girls, never fear we kept ourselves entertained. i worked on some projects that i've been wanting to do for awhile. and friday night we had some girl friends over for dessert and movie time. the girls are always begging for sleepovers so their friends wore pajamas over and watched movies in their room. all the stuff you do at a sleepover, except at bedtime their friends went home. they had a great time and the "big" girls (big as in age not as in weight ;) ) had fun too! all in all it was a great weekend.

for your viewing pleasure...

2009-05-10T16:32:00.000-07:00

our new table and refurbished chairs!!

yes, these are our old chairs painted black and reupholstered. don't they look fabulous?? (you do have to see them in person to fully appreciate the look. once again my camera skills are lacking)

the original plan was to refinish the table as well. but shortly into the project larry discovered that it just wasn't going to work. so we set off with a really small budget to see what we could find. i didn't think we would be able to find anything for the amount of money we were willing to spend but then surprise! someone was having a sale and there was our beautiful table for the exact amount we had agreed on.

i absolutely love it! and it's already broken in. two days after we got it, the boys had their rifles out. larry walked away to grab something, brendan picked his up scratching the table in the process. at first i was very sad. but then remembered the time i scratched the middle c ivory on the piano because i didn't want to practice. now everytime i play i see that scratch. it's become part of the piano's character. so now my table has character courtesy of my son ;)

mother's day 09

2009-05-10T15:55:00.000-07:00

i have to confess, that in the past i have not been a big fan of mothers day as it pertains to me. i'm all about giving thanks to my mom and mother in law for all the hard work and love that they have put into me over the years. but when it came to mother's day being about me, i sorta checked out of the situation. mostly because it seemed like i had too high of expectations. the kids were going to be perfect and i wouldn't have to do anything but sit back and relax all day. well in the real world that's just not how life is sometimes. BUT i found out today that the answer to the mother's day problem is that my kids just weren't old enough. this year has been perfect. when brooke woke up and realized it was mother's day she went and woke everyone else up and they got started on breakfast. they wanted to wake me up but larry informed them that mother's day is not like christmas and you let mom sleep as long as she wants. then at breakfast they all gave me the presents they had made. so sweet!! and now larry is making one of my all time favorite meals; chicken kabobs with grilled pineapple. YUM! and for dessert a big ice cream bar with all kinds of goodies. as for my present from larry, he made me drawers yesterday for my bathroom vanity instead of those fake little drawer fronts. why do they take the time to make the drawer fronts but not an actual drawer??

so thanks to my family for making this the best mother's day. and honestly most of the thanks goes to my kids because they have wanted nothing but the best for me today and it has really been touching and sweet. even lily has been a good little girl all day. we only had to take her out of church once today instead of the usual 5 times. yes, i do believe this is the best mother's day ever......

mother's day project

2009-05-08T06:00:00.000-07:00

this year for mother's day i wanted to do something a little extra special for my daycare mom's. i've been doing this long enough to appreciate good mom's when i have them. they make my job so much easier. after some thought, i decided these might put a little smile on their face. the pictures don't really do them justice. in real life they are tons cuter. especially this first one because the green heart (made with hands of course) shows up a lot better and you can also see the green poking out here and there through the black. and of course if i were a little bit of a better photographer that wouldn't hurt either. without the flash too dark, with the flash there's a glare. maybe someday i'll figure out how to take better pictures ;)

and these are just about the cutest kids i know.

the java club

2009-05-01T22:25:00.000-07:00

for the last 6 years, brendan has been fortunate enough to work with the g/t teacher at his school. i have a deep admiration and enormous gratitude for all the teachers that have worked with my kids. well except for bella's 1st grade teacher that was completely worthless but that's a different story. Anyway the g/t teacher is completely amazing. she is one of those teachers that i know brendan will look back later in life and remember her as a teacher that greatly influenced his academic career. she has taught him so many things over the years. and she is the teacher that he wants to please. her opinion means so much to him because he has so much respect for her. one of the things she does with her 5th grade students is "java club". she started it a few years ago. the kids work on a poetry unit and then she binds all the poems neatly in a cool binder and then the kids perform their work infront of their peers and parents. she transforms one of the corners of the library into a little coffee shop, complete with mood lighting, bongo drums and a coffee barista. it makes for a delightful morning (thanks to jami for watching lil's so that i could attend) each student reads a total of 4 poems. below i am posting my favorite and the brendan's favorite. he did such a good job!

MAP OF MAPS

maps

directions

places to be

it's something to point the way

an adventure behind every page

it's the space between spaces

relaxing but intimidating

always seen but yet unseen

nothing hides better

it's an unsolvable puzzle

no way in, no way out

always in, but never out

two exceptions pre-born and dead is someplace else

out where you wait for a portal

completely unveiled

you do or you don't

it never comes back

so be certain of your choice

to follow the path of all things

a map

CRAB

i am a crab

fear me!

my shield defends

fear me!

i grow to the size of a volleyball

fear me!

i pinch with my claws

fear me!

a guy in a hawaiian shirt comes

fear me!

AHH! no leave me alone

don't put me in there

fear me!

NOOOO

my current addiction

2009-04-30T21:38:00.000-07:00

troy dunn - the locator

i am completely in love with this show! every week troy reunites mothers with sons, brothers with sisters. people that for one reason or another fell out of contact with each other leaving a void that just can't be filled until they find that person. the missing part of their life. his work is amazing. i love the compassion that he shows to each individual. the genuine concern that he feels for them and their unique situation.

so far i have 2 favorite episodes.

1. a truly great guy didn't know that he had a son until some 25 years after a brief relationship ended troy called with the news. the son had served in iraq, was almost killed in battle and if he had died the guy would have gone to his grave not knowing he had a long lost son. once he found out he had nothing but open arms and love. so touching!!

2. five sisters were separated when they were quite young. 2 of them were placed in the same foster home and later they found 2 of their lost sisters. the youngest one was just a baby and they had no record of what happened to her. 20 some years later troy found her; reunited them helping to close a wound that they had carried for 2 decades.

his famous quote is "you can't have peace until you find all the pieces."

i believe in that message. i find understanding in that message.

i have such respect for the work that this man does. if you get a chance, check out an episode or two. it is guaranteed to leave you feeling better than it found you. and if you make it through without shedding some tears you are a stronger soul than i. seriously moving stuff

on mornings like this.....

2009-04-27T07:11:00.000-07:00

i really wish we used our garage for the purpose it was intended rather than a storage for tools, trailer and other miscellaneous stuff. the picture is deceiving, there was at least 4 inches of snow on top of the car. the really heavy wet stuff. and then when i got the windshield cleaned off and we started down the road everything from the top of the car fell onto the windshield and we had to stop and clean it off again. but the kids thought it was hysterical and got a good laugh so i guess that is all that really matters!

take your child to work day

2009-04-23T20:32:00.001-07:00

in the past, larry's work has not participated in take you child to work day. the main reason for their lack of participation is the number of large power tools located in the shop. in order for kids to be allowed into the building the shop would have to be closed. so this year they made a compromise and closed the shop down for about an hour so that kids over the age of 6 could come in. since larry and brendan do a lot of "manly bonding" he decided to only take bella. she had so much fun and came home looking like this.

they decked them all out in shirts, hats, safety glasses, masks and poly wog frogs. bella of course had to wear all of these to school! DUH!! after a tour of the shop the owner of the company took them all out for breakfast. it was a great morning for the two of them and one that i am sure bella will remember for a long time. i love it when we can make lasting memories like that for the kids. especially for the girls and their dad. i think it's so important.

first crush

2009-04-19T21:23:00.000-07:00

so - brooke got her first little "love letter" the other day from the boy next door. its super innocent BUT if this keeps up, we will definitely have to move before they are teenagers! the translation of it is as follows:

dear brooke - you are so sweet and kind. you are nice to me and you are invited to my transformers party. you love me. from michael p.s. you are sweet and beautiful. michael

happy birthday brookie

2009-04-12T21:41:00.000-07:00

last week brooke turned 5. five is such a big birthday. it marks the beginning of the academic career. and once they get into school the time flys so fast! it still seems like yesterday to me that brendan started school and he's in fifth grade this year. so in many ways i was dreading this birthday. i don't like that my kids are growing up so fast.

to keep the blog birthday tradition going, here's our little birth story (minuses all the gory details)brooke was a little bit of a surprise. i got a new promotion at work and found out i was expecting all in the same month. it was crazy! i was sure that i wouldn't be able to work after i had her but the thought of giving up the career that i had worked so hard at was a big decision. and working while pregnant is just not a fun thing to do. running to the bathroom to puke, hoping that whoever was in the stall next to me wouldn't recognize my shoes, trying not to fall asleep at my desk fifty times a day, trying not to take my raging hormones out on everyone in fits that would have resembled a two year old tantrum. and of course there's the whole "i'm pregnant so my brain is on vacation" issue. it was a great time those last few months. i have to say that i prefer being at home, having kids running around and screaming to working in the office while pregnant any day ;) but we made it through and she was so precious!

as far as labors go, her's was the easiest out of all the kids. the only complication we had was that the epidural would only take on one side for awhile. i learned during that time that natural birth is not something i am interested in. bring on the drugs baby!! the funniest part of her delivery is that in the packing bags for the other two kids in the middle of the night i forgot shoes. so brendan had to wear a pair of cowboy boots that belonged to my friend amy's girl. i felt so silly when she told me what happened. how could i forget the shoes?!? he of course didn't care one bit.

for the first several months brooke's hair stood up all the time. one of my friends dubbed her the fraggle rock baby. and it was so fitting. her hair was insanely crazy. and we totally stole her name from my friend michelle. larry and i just couldn't agree on anything and she told me she had always loved the name brookelyn. i immediately fell in love with it and asked her permission to use it since they were not going to have anymore kids. her full name is brookelyn paige and my brother in law teased us stating that she was the only baby he knew of that all three names were a noun. so true. i didn't even think of it. but even if i had, i wouldn't have changed it. i love her name.

she was a very happy and content baby. but when she did get mad - look out! i guess that was a prelude of things to come. but we love brooke so much. she brings joy to our lives everyday and we are so grateful to have her in our family.

we need a puppy

2009-04-09T21:53:00.000-07:00

lily loves, loves, LOVES dogs. big dogs, little dogs, yippy dogs, calm dogs ~ she loves them all. and everytime we go to the park there is at least one dog there. which means lily spends most of her park time trying to pet the dog. usually i try to run interference because strange dogs make me nervous. but the other day we were at the park and this sweet little retriever was there. i even got a few pets in myself. what a sweetie she was. she even smiled for the picture!

silly sentiment

2009-04-03T07:56:00.000-07:00

i love hand me downs. when it's time to break into a new bin the excitement hits almost like it's christmas. so many treasures to behold! outfits that i loved but had forgotten existed until my hands pull them out of their hibernation place. each article overflowing with fond memories, anxious to make new ones. one of my favorite hand me downs is this outfit that my mom bought for bella when she was just a wee little one.

i don't know what it is about this particular outfit, but i love it so much. i think i appreciate the sporty\casual look. the comfort it provides to the little one wearing it. the snappy blue, yellow color combination. it's charm is a mystery but i have to say that i shed a little tear the other day when i realized that it's time to pack it away forever because it's just a smidgy too small. so goodbye to you, you have served us well and provided us with many wonderful memories.

look what i found

2009-03-30T08:05:00.000-07:00

on my counter.

hmmmm..... i wonder which girl this belongs too?? after interrogation it turns out that brooke snipped a little bit of lily's hair. thankfully she had a little pony in at the time so this piece of hair came from underneath. when her hair is down you can't even tell it's been cut. i think that brooke has a future in hair design though because she is very fascinated with cutting hair. after cleaning up the infamous hair i stepped on this little guy.
he is very squishy so when i stepped on him i jumped and screamed providing everyone with some entertainment. it's good to start your day out with a laugh.

snow day part 2

2009-03-27T07:11:00.000-07:00

the snow is done falling and this is the accumulation we received. not as much as i would have liked, but still enough to slow things down for a day or so. although i did feel really bad for larry who was in the springs yesterday and had to battle traffic for over 4 hours to get home. not a fun trip for him. since the sun is shinning this morning the kids are dying to go out and play in the snow, but it's bitter cold so i'm not sure that is going to work out so well for them! at the moment i am content to just bundle up inside. but i'm sure by later this morning cabin fever will hit and i'll be forging out into the snow.

snow day

2009-03-26T06:45:00.000-07:00

apparently we are under a blizzard warning today so the schools are closed. wish i would have known it was a snow day BEFORE i woke brendan up for school. the funny part is that at the moment it's not snowing at all and it's just a light dusting on the ground. so i thought it would be fun to take a picture now and then one at the same angle later today to see how much we actually get. i have to say that i'm a little sad the schools are closed. brendan was invited to sing in a special choir and the concert was scheduled for tonight. we have all been really excited. oh well, they will reschedule it. maybe it will be while larry's parents are here next week. that would be really cool. anyway, stay tuned for a blizzard update!!

a trip back in time....

2009-03-24T22:15:00.000-07:00

today brooke's preschool went on a field trip to the transportation museum and for once i was able to go (thanks angie and jami for helping me out). we had such a good time. it's amazing to look around and really ponder how much transportation has evolved in the last 100 years. i don't think that i would have enjoyed some of the earlier forms. such as the wooden train cars and the stage coach's that just looked so unbearably lacking in comfort and hot. the saddest thing we saw was a little white horse drawn hearse with small windows meant to carry children. i think the scariest was an early school bus fashioned much like an old milk truck. i can't even imagine sending my kiddos off to school in that thing!! i took a few pictures, but the lighting was pretty bad so only a few are really worth posting.

the kids enjoyed the museum so much! they couldn't climb\touch everything but they were able to climb onto a lot of it and push buttons without anyone telling them to stop!! every kids dream!! this was a model t and they had period clothing that the kids could put on and pretend to drive.
i love this picture because brooke and her friend torri are smiling at each other under the brims of their hats.

this old fire truck was amazing to me. i can't even imagine trying to fight a fire effectively with it. especially when you compare it to the modern day ones. huge difference!

and this sheriff's car was great!! it reminded me so much of the andy griffith show which i loved as a kid!

brooke and i standing by the wheel of a train. it's amazing how big and tall they are.

classic

2009-03-20T14:37:00.000-07:00

sometimes i think i am losing my mind. this morning i had everyone ready to head out the door for a little errand but couldn't find my keys anywhere. i retraced my steps from coming home yesterday, looked in all the usual places but no luck. i grilled lily, the most likely key thief, but she insisted that she hadn't seen them. i was on the phone with a friend during this frantic search and she suggested i check the car. i was pretty sure that i locked it but hey, you never know. i went outside, opened the drivers door - ding, ding, ding. sure enough, there were my keys still in the ignition!!!! guess it's a good thing the car thieves weren't out looking for a new ride last night!

it's been awhile since i've downloaded pictures from the camera onto my pc. look what i found on the camera!!
BUSTED!!! climb on the counter much bella???

lesson learned

2009-03-15T08:57:00.001-07:00

yesterday was not my day. and i'm still to upset from the day to say what happened. but i will say that an event occured that made me ponder my abilities as a parent and my overall abilities as a functioning adult. the situation itself was bad enough. it was one of those situations where as a mother you are instantly physically sick and your heart begins to bleed. and then i was met with anger, judgement and contempt from a renegade jury of my peers. who i must say i am still grateful to for the service they provided for my family. but, a situation that was already bad was made 100 times worse. i can't remember the last time i have felt so low about myself. and as the shock started to wear off it made me start to wonder. how many times have i jumped to judgement when i've seen or heard about a less than perfect situation that has occurred?? have i shown people love in their hour of need or have i looked upon them with judging eyes?? i hope that if i am in a similar situation again (on the other side next time please lord) that i will offer a supportive and comforting arm to the one in need. that i will help them to understand that no one is perfect and sometimes unfortunate things happen. that i will look upon them with eyes that show love and compassion rather than hate and anger. i hope i leave them in a better place than the one i found them in. that is my dearest and sincerest prayer on this sabbath day. and i am so eternally grateful to my heavenly father for the love and protection that i know he provides to me and my family.

date with the phantom

2009-03-13T21:54:00.000-07:00

i truly love the theatre. if i had unlimited resources i would attend every show with seats in the front row. but since i don't have unlimited resources i have a "must see" list, purchase seats in the first balcony and bring my binoculars for an occasional up close and personal view. "the phantom of the opera" ranks high up on the must see list. i have been in love with the music of "tpoto" since i was a teenager. i wanted the soundtrack forever and one saturday afternoon i had saved up enough babysitting money (back in those days babysitting wasn't as profitable as it is now so it took a little while) to purchase it. on the way home from said purchase i convinced my parents to put the tape in and my dad's prompt response was "that is what you couldn't wait to buy??" he just didn't appreciate the genius of the music the way i did. my dad is a pretty traditional kind of guy. not a fan of loud music and the minor tones just didn't appeal to him. but for me, it was the beginning of an obsession. the music for "tpoto" captures the intrigue, complexity and passion of the story so well. it courses through your veins and makes your blood sing. but to completely appreciate it you have to attend the theatre. there is nothing like experiencing the excitement, energy and total captivation that a live touring company performance creates. it's sheer magic. i can't wait for the next opportunity to see a show. i have seen "wicked' once, but once simply is not enough. so, come this fall, i am so there! and i know that once again i will be mesmerized and transformed to a different time and place for a few marvelous hours.

we are trading in our four wheelers for ....

2009-03-12T07:00:00.000-07:00

this smokin new ride in 30 - 40 years.
a couple of things i love about this picture. first of all i think it shows total devotion for one another. i can imagine him gingerly helping his sweetie onto the trailer. assisting her as she gets herself situated into not any ol chair, but a comfy, padded one. he's careful to watch his speed and not hit too many bumps since the shocks on the trailer are not as good as his. SO sweet!! i also love her springy hat and the blanket that thwarts off any windchill factor. the picture also tells me that this lovely couple is not content to sit by and watch the world go by. they are out there enjoying life!!

m.u.s.t. have s.l.e.e.p.

2009-03-11T07:35:00.000-07:00

for some reason, when lily finished potty training, she also stopped sleeping through the night. at first it was a couple times a week. now it's a regular occurrence. a few nights she has gotten up at 1 and decided it was time to be up for the day. the nice part for me is that she is attached at the hip to her dad. so in the middle of the night the only person she wants is him. larry of course is wishing that they weren't quite so bonded ;) last night was especially bad because we stayed up late, then lily came in a hour after we went to bed. it took about two hours or so to get her settled back in; which just means that she was asleep in our bed - bad parenting i know. we are getting soft in our old age. then a couple hours after that brooke gets up because she had a bad dream and won't go back to her bed. so larry moves one sleeping girl out only to be replaced by another one. so needless to say today i'm feeling like i haven't slept at all. i might need to get a caffeine iv just to make it through the day. and i am seriously at a loss as to how to solve the lily problem. believe it or not we didn't really have this problem with the rest of our kids. we don't want her to wake the rest of the kids with a screaming fit in the middle of the night so we appease her which just makes it worse but what to do!!! it's very frustrating and exhausting.

the two l's one afternoon after a long night together

be afraid - be very afraid!!

2009-03-08T21:15:00.000-07:00

it's official. brendan can now legally carry a gun in the woods and hunt four legged creatures. he spent 12 hours last week in a hunter safety class and took his exam on saturday which he passed with flying colors. i still am not really sure how i am feeling about the whole thing. it's great that he has an interest in something that he and his dad can do together. however, those of you that know brendan have to agree that he still seems a little bit young to carry a gun and hunt prey. when i try to picture it in my head, all i can see is him at about the age of four, traipsing through the woods carrying a gun that is about 4 times his size. kind of like in "father of the bride" when the daughter tells her dad she is getting married and he visualizes her as a child the whole time. it's just really hard for me to believe that he is growing up so fast! the best part of this adventure is that when larry went to sign him up he asked me if I wanted to sign up as well! like i have any intention of hunting ever in this lifetime! that's an even funnier picture in my head. i am sure it would play out like the hunting scene from "new in town" - which is actually a pretty funny movie once you get past renee zellwegers plastic face that is no longer capable of moving. i should have larry watch that movie and then i'll bet he won't ever suggest that i go hunting with him again. besides, it will be a great father\ son - and i'm willing to bet someday a couple of girls will tag along as well - experiance.

the great debate

2009-03-01T21:01:00.000-08:00

so larry and i are in the middle of a debate and i'm having a hard time being objective. part of me says that i am just being a sentimental old fool but the other part says i have a right to be that way. i'm not sure what to do so i'm looking for some objective input. here's the situation.

our neighbors are having a baby. they thought they were done (their youngest is in kindergarten). so they got rid of all their baby stuff. awhile ago they had told larry that they were interested in any baby stuff that we had. the other day, the dad asked larry about our crib. now on the surface our crib is nothing spectacular. but the emotional attachment i have to it makes it more precious than if it was made of gold. growing up, my parents had these friends that were like second parents to me. when larry and i found out we were expecting, they gave us the crib they had purchased for when their grandchildren came to visit. all four of our kids have used that crib. lily still uses that crib, even though she is far to big for it. i just can't seem to take it down because i know that when we do it will be put away forever. and while i don't foresee us having any more children the thought of taking it down makes me a little weepy. larry's side is that it needs to come down because lily needs to sleep on a regular bed; for the record i agree with this part. but he also thinks that since we won't be using it again we should give it to someone that will. our kids are not going to want it for their children so why should it sit in storage forever? again, i see where he is coming from but i just can't seem to give it up. am i being a silly sentimental pack rat?? maybe we should take a vote. yes means silly sentimental packrat - it needs to move on to another baby and no means keeping it is my prerogative even though it will set in storage for years to come. which ever way you vote won't hurt my feelers i promise. i just need some objectivity.

yummy sesame chicken recipe

2009-02-23T08:32:00.000-08:00

i love to cook and try different things. but chinese cuisine always eludes me. it never tastes authentic. since i am always on the prowl for another attempt at redemption i found the following recipe. tried it this weekend and it is heavenly!! finally a winner!

sesame chicken

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon dry sherry
2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 dash sesame oil
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast meat - cubed

1 cup chicken broth
1 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1 teaspoon chile paste
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup water

1 quart olive oil for frying
2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
1. Sift flour, 2 tablespoons cornstarch, baking soda, and baking powder into a bowl. Pour in low-sodium soy sauce, sherry, 2 tablespoons water, vegetable oil, and a dash of sesame oil; stir until smooth. Stir in chicken until coated with the batter, then cover, and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, bring chicken broth, sugar, vinegar, dark soy sauce, sesame oil, chile paste, and garlic to a boil in a saucepan over high heat. Dissolve 1/4 cup cornstarch into 1/2 cup of water, and stir into boiling sauce. Simmer until the sauce thickens and turns clear, about 2 minutes. Reduce heat to low, and keep sauce warm.
3. Heat olive oil in a deep fryer or large saucepan to a temperature of 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
4. Drop in the battered chicken pieces, a few at a time, and fry until they turn golden brown and float to the top of the oil, 3 to 4 minutes. Drain on a paper towel lined plate. To serve, place fried chicken pieces onto a serving platter, and pour the hot sauce overtop. Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds to garnish

the only change i made was instead of 1 cup white sugar i did 3\4 cup brown (a suggestion from the reviews). it was fabulous! even brendan who is a notoriously picky eater loved it. one side note is that according to larry it does not warm up well so make sure your quantity is for one meal only. and don't be discouraged by the length of the recipe. it takes a little bit of work, but the end reward is worth the blood, sweat and tears!! just kidding - it's really not that bad at all. you just have to have a little patience.

you know it's windy when....

2009-02-21T07:34:00.001-08:00

your grill takes a spill.

it's been windy here all week. have a mentioned before how much i hate wind?? yesterday the wind was out of control. i had to do some grocery shopping late in the afternoon and the wind was so strong that it pulled some of the lighter bags out of the trunk, carried them for a couple of feet and then dumped the contents into the parking lot. complete craziness! then our poor grill got knocked over by it. i kept looking around for the twister. it felt very dorothy right before she gets carried out of kansas - ish. the best though was the other day when a giant piece of cardboard came flying at me while we were driving down the road. but that actually was a little bit more "twister" with the cow flying across the road now that i think of it.

peaceful

2009-02-17T20:27:00.001-08:00

lately, the only way we can get lily to take a nap is to load up in the car and go for a little ride. but today, she climbed up onto the ottoman and promptly crashed.

i could watch that sleeping, serene face for hours.

we got ourselves a bleeder over here

2009-02-09T21:35:00.000-08:00

taking into consideration that the female to male ratio in our house is 2 to 1 you would think that accidents would be few and far between. however, for some reason it seems like every day someone in the house is bleeding. now the quantity of blood varies and usually it's nothing more than a minor scrape. but occasionally we have what i like to call "bleeders". last night, while watching the grammy's, brooke decided to show us her mad dancing skills. about 10 seconds into her phenomenal routine her head made an unfortunate connection with the wood feet of our couch. the end result was this lovely flesh wound.

now i have to say that brooke is one tough cookie. she hardly cried. although maybe that's because she was in shock?? and today she didn't complain about it at all. but she has decided to put her dance career on hold for a little while longer. to keep the tally of a bleeder a day running, while playing with the butterfly tunnel this morning lily ran smack into another kiddo. promptly producing a bloody nose and lip. i have to say that she was not as calm as brooke. she kept screaming "i'm bleeding" and became very disgruntled when i told her that i couldn't put a band-aid on her nose. "but how will it stop mom?" thankfully it didn't last very long. but i am seriously amazed at how often these kind of things happen in our house. is this normal?? are we just a house full of klutz's or do the kids just play too hard?? i really don't get it. if it were a house full of boys i would expect these kinds of things. i would have cases and cases of band-aids and polysporin. anyway, i'm hoping that tomorrow will be less eventful.

mission accomplished!

2009-02-06T07:25:00.000-08:00

well, i might be jinxing myself my doing this post BUT i'm so excited i can hardly stand it! lily is potty trained!!! there were a couple of hairy, chaotic days where i wanted to throw in the towel and break out the diapers again. but i held my ground, ate a lot of chocolate to soothe my shot nerves and we made it! she is doing such a great job. accidents are practically non existent. since the weather has been so awesome we have wasted the last two afternoons soaking up the sun at the park and yesterday she didn't have to go the entire time we were there. so fare thee well diapers. may i never have to spend another cent on you again!!

ps - one of my daycare mom's is planning on potty training her little girl while she is on vacation. so with any luck soon i will only have one little ones diaper to change compared to the four little ones i was changing a few weeks ago. ahhh - bliss is mine!!

new love

2009-02-02T20:48:00.000-08:00

(to the tune of the christmas waltz)

it's that time of year.... clearance treasures you find...... so much joy to buy something cheap...

i.am.in.love with my target clearance find. i love these stylin converse that i picked up for a mere 6 singles. the only problem is that they are at least half a size too big. i was in a hurry at the store and didn't have time to try them on so i grabbed the size that should fit. converse fit a little weird anyway. but of course i love them so much that i will wear them regardless. the last time i had shoes that were to big was in the 7th grade. and i still have a scar with a gorgeous dent on my shin where running up the metal stairs at the state junior high basketball game the tip of my empty shoes slide right off. let me set the stage for you - i was a cheerleader and we all had to match. so we went as a group to get our shoes. i had really small feet at the time and they didn't make my size in the shoe that everyone wanted. i didn't want to make any waves so i bought the too big shoes insisting that they would be fine. and the whole season they were. but on that day, running up those stairs, right before the big game where i had to cheer, i was cursing those shoes. bleeding, in pain and feeling like a major fool. don't you love junior high memories?? i know i do ;)
i've been busy around the house doing some vinyl work. i promise that this will be my last vinyl post; for awhile anyway. i really like how this tile turned out. prayerful could be a little bit more centered but for someone who can't tell that something is off or crooked unless it's majorly off - it's actually pretty good.

i put this one in the girls room of course. growing up i always wanted a sister. i craved that sisterly bond. so i am forever telling my girls how important it is that they are not only sisters but friends as well.

on this one i was trying to figure out how to make a phrase curve. it didn't turn out exactly how i wanted, but i know why and next time i'll get it right. i hope anyway!

front side.....

back side

the big voice

2009-01-27T12:30:00.000-08:00

bella loves, loves, loves to sing. so when we found out that they were having a recognition night for achievement days at church and she got to display a talent, the talent choice was a no brainer. i picked out a song for her, because i have to accompany her and that is a scary thing (stay tuned for more info) and we started working. she already knew most of the song so we were making huge progress when she just stopped singing. i looked at her to see what the problem was and there were huge tears in her eyes.

me - what's wrong? your doing great

bella - i don't want to sing this song because i can't use my big voice.

me - your big voice? what are you talking about?

bella - you know - the one like this

HUGE operatic voice starts singing about an octave above the notes we were on

me - wow. that is very nice. BUT - it's not really the best voice for this song. and your regular voice sounds so great on it. can we just do this one?

bella - ok, if that's what you really think.

i am so curious to see what her singing voice is going to be like in a few years.

now as for me accompanying her - this is huge for me. i have never enjoyed playing the piano in front of others. i am quite certain that this fear stems from numerous recital disasters. playing the piano has never come naturally to me. this fact displayed itself every year, in the spring at st. john's church in keokuk, iowa. this is where my piano teacher, mrs. goeke held the annual piano recital. from my perspective, everyone played so effortlessly and perfect. like they were one with the piano. then it would be my turn and i would stumble and have imperfect tempo through the entire piece. my fingers were never light and airy on the keys. instead they were heavy. i didn't float, i pounded on the keys like a little hammer. it was horrible!! one year, i believe it was my sophomore year, i got so confused and turned around that she actually had to place the music in front of me because i could not pull the piece back together. i wanted the floor to open up and swallow me i was so embarrassed. i didn't dare look at anyone as i walked the aisle that seemed to go on forever back to my seat. if i made eye contact the tears that were there, sitting on the edge, would break through adding to my humiliation. determined not to have back to back disasters, the next year on the day of recital i racked my brain to try and come up with an out. i knew that if i just told my parents i didn't want to go they would make me. i was pretty sure that i wouldn't be able to fake a deathly illness convincingly so what other choice did i have?? the only one i could think of was injury. but what kind of injury? a sprained ankle wouldn't do the job. i'd have to actually hurt one of my hands somehow. i was too much of a wuss to slam it in a door. so somehow, i thought that if i could fall on it and sprain it that would hurt less. so i tried to throw myself down the stairs. now you might be thinking, what a ridiculous plan?? what on earth was she thinking?? but i was just so desperate! i cannot begin to convey to you the depths of my desperation at that point. so besides the obvious, there was another major flaw with this plan. it's really hard to purposely fall down stairs. i tried and tried but everytime i would catch myself. so the only injury i sustained was a couple of bruises on my legs. the time at which my dad would get home from school grew closer and closer and finally i realized that i had no out. the show would have to go on. and while it was better than the year before, it still was so imperfect! and that is how i have always viewed my piano playing skills. forced and imperfect in every way. but, i vowed that this year i would dust off the ivories. and if we are going to be our own little version of the von trapp family, someone has to be able to play the accompaniment so i'm getting out of my comfort zone and playing my heart out for my little girl. let's just hope that i don't embarrass myself too much. or get her so confused with my less than marvelous playing that she can't sing the song. i did that at state the one time i took a piano solo to contest. part of the scoring was that you had to accompany someone and i did such a horrid job that i messed them up big time. they were totally embarrassed, not to mention mad at me, and i just wanted to block the entire thing out of my mind. which i have done quite well actually. i don't remember who i played for or what i played. i just remember that it happened and it was a train wreck. so let's just pray that a repeat does not occur.

there is vinyl all around

2009-01-23T17:27:00.000-08:00

i have to say that i am totally loving my cricut! once i got the hang of it that is. we tried a lot of different stuff at char's house and a few things we had to take down and start again. but here are the projects i worked on while we were there.

the house has a rustic feel to it and these lonely beams were begging for some words. the whole phrase is: a house is built with boards and beams a home is built with love and dreams. we ran out of the lighter vinyl so i did darker on the back which looks good but doesn't show up well in pictures.
the first wall you see when you walk into the house.

not sure why this pic is so blurry but this is over the dining area.

this vinyl i did not cut. i had jandi cut it before i knew i was getting a machine. it's char's mantra.

savannah's door - she really wanted: i like my men cold, hard and sparkling (twilight addict) but her mom and i did not agree. so instead she got flowers, which she does not like, and i am going to make her a twilight sign that she can hang wherever she wants INSIDE her room.

spencer's room

i should have made pride larger on this one. something that i will fix on our next trip. basically i used her house as a playground so nothing is really perfect but i had a lot of fun and learned a lot!

making fudge is like riding a bike......

2009-01-20T20:23:00.001-08:00

no matter how long it's been since you did it last you still remember how.

several years ago, larry's parents owned the fudge shop in nauvoo. larry spent countless hours there making fudge and caramels. it's been atleast 10 years since he's made either. a few years ago, larry's sister char bought a marble slab from a company here in denver and said slab sat in our garage, untouched, longing to be used. with the completion of char's house on the horizon she decided that she was ready for the slab but it was too large to fit in her house. so, we had it cut and kept half of the slab here and the rest of the slab went to moab. larry designed a portable stand for the slab and presto! let the fudge making begin!

once the fudge is poured onto the slab it needs to cool a little bit before you start to work it. our nephew spencer has never made fudge this way and has been dying to learn so he got a hands on lesson.

it's finally cool enough - now the real work begins.

i'm not sure how many laps larry made around the table creaming the fudge, but it was alot. watching him work the fudge was like deja vue. i spent a lot of time in the fudge shop watching this process unfold when we were dating.

it's getting close to being done.

and there is the finished product. we also used the slab to make ice cream creations like coldstone. simply scrumptious. made me very anxious to get our marble slab up and running.

larry wanted me to point out that the base is unfinished. it was done that way so char could paint it the color she wanted and not because he's a slacker that doesn't finish his projects. at least projects for other people that is!

fun with the cricut

2009-01-11T21:17:00.000-08:00

right before christmas a lovely package was delivered to my door. within it was one of the most exciting gifts i have received in a long time. a cricut machine!! my sister in law char, who is waaayyy too sweet and generous for her own good, thought that i might like one. because of the holiday's i haven't been able to play with it much. i've wanted to, but things were just really nutty. so yesterday larry was out hunting - again - the big kids were off playing with friends and it seemed like the perfect time to tackle a little project. so i took my normal, boring star and turned it into a work of art. okay, so maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration but it's definately cooler than it was before!

i went with black because i wanted the lettering to be subtle. unfortunately i'm afraid that i might have made it too subtle. it was good practice though. the biggest problem i had was that after the vinyl was cut and i was trying to seperate the scrap vinyl from the cut vinyl, the letters kept coming off to. does anyone know how to prevent that? anyway, i have so many cool ideas of things to make and transform i can hardly stand it! starting with the walls in char's house. larry has been building stuff for her new house and we are going there this weekend to deliver them and play. so check in next week to see what creations we come up with. and a huge thank you to char. you are better to me than i deserve.

my list for 2009

2009-01-07T20:30:00.000-08:00

at the start of each new year i make a few resolutions, which i never keep. so this year instead of making resolutions i'm making a to do list and i'm documenting it for all to see so that i will be more inclined to check them off my list. a little peer pressure sometimes is a good thing.

get in shape - this one has many subcategories

spiritually; i want to earnestly strive to deepen my relationship with our lord and savior jesus christ

my life; there are a few areas of my life that are currently in a state of transition or free floating. i need to figure out what i really want and how i'm going to get there.

my house; as the kids get bigger and the house doesn't we have less and less space. i need to organize starting from the top and working my way down to declutter and reorganize.

my physical being; on the list every year what can i say??

my talents; i will never have my singing voice back the way it used to be. but i need to improve it's current state as much as i can. it hurts me that it's gotten the way it is. i don't think it's even half of what it used to be. i also really want to sharpen my piano playing abilities. playing never came naturally to me so when i stopped playing in regular intervals my ability declined rapidly. i'm sure that i will never be able to play as well as i did before, but anything will be an improvement from where i am at now.

i also need to work on priorities. a lot of times i find myself worrying about the stuff that just isn't going to matter six months from now.

and now for one of my biggest, and most personal goal. i miss my brothers terribly. it has been a really long time since i have seen most of them. there are five still living and two of them i haven't seen for.... brace yourselves..... 8 years this spring. can you believe that?? it's unreal to think it's been that long. and i just can't really understand how we've allowed it to happen. i mean sure everyone is busy with life but seriously. i have two kids that they haven't even met and i have a niece that i haven't met. it's just sad. the only brother i see on a yearly basis is the one that lives by my parents. the last two i haven't seen for about 4 years each. it's gotten to the point that i feel guilty when we see larry's sisters because we see them all the time in comparison to my brothers. but they do live closer to us ( 3 in utah) than any of my brothers do so that is a factor. my brothers are fairly spread out, texas, georgia, california, missouri and illinois. but it weighs heavy on me that we haven't seen each other and if anything were to happen to one of them right now i just don't think i could ever forgive myself. so someway, somehow i am going to see them all this year. it is going to happen!

so that's it. that's my list. i have put alot of thought into it and i hope that i am able to accomplish all of it. i wish all of you a blessed new year!

i know - this post is a little bit late since new year's was last week, but things are a little crazy around here!

riding in the car with lil's

2008-12-29T21:05:00.001-08:00

i love the conversations we have with our kids in the car. they are always so random. the other day larry and i were running errands and somehow, miraculously, only had lily with us. here is a sample of our conversations.

lil - knock knock
me - who's there
lil - banana
me - banana who
lil - banana giggle giggle giggle

lil - look out we're going to crash
me - we are not going to crash
lil - yes we are. here we go! (insert high pitch squeal here) giggle giggle giggle

christmas 2008

2008-12-27T07:37:00.000-08:00

about a week or so ago i was rushing around, going from store to store in a desperate push to get the christmas shopping done and get christmas cards finished and placed in the mail. and then this song came on the radio while the snow was gently falling covering everything in a fresh blanket of snow. at that moment i had an epiphany. or at least a gentle reminder that my christmas priorities were a little out of whack. so after listening, i tried to take a step back and not worry so much about whether or not every loose end got tied up. christmas was so much more peaceful this year!

i need a silent night (click on the title to play)

we started the festivities by having our friends the hendricks over for christmas eve dinner. we have known dan since before brendan was born so when he's around it's like spending time with family. after a yummy dinner, we visited a little bit and they headed out to get baby mason to bed. we had our traditional reading of luke 2 and this year we added songs to each passage. it was very sweet and spiritual. then the kids got to open 1 present which is always pajama related and larry and i got things ready for santa's big stop!

here are some of my favorite pictures from the day.

the kids waiting anxiously at the top of the stairs. everyone has to come down at the same time!

brookes face when she realized the princess bike was for her.

bella has been waiting one of these e pet things forever

brendan anxious to see how fast his nerf gun really shoots.

lily mothering her new baby

bella taking lily for a ride on brookes bike. christmas is the one day a year where riding a bike in the house is completely acceptable.

every year there are a few toys that become the "coveted" toys. here are this years winners

lily's veterinarian pet carrier. i don't even think the poor girl realized this toy belonged to her. someone snatched it away practically the minute she opened it.

bella's barbie mp3 player. i should have known that this would cause problems. i got it for bella because brendan got an mp3 player and i knew she would be jealous. had i only had the foresight to know that all the kids would want one! i have to say that the kids love these. they were worth every penny. but, the kids can't listen to music without singing and they all sing really loud - i have absolutely no clue where these traits come from... wink wink. so when they are both in the same room with them on - it's simply delightful.

i hope that all of you had a wonderful christmas full of the joy and love that the season represents. i hope that you felt the saviours love for you and your family. christmas is such a magical time of year. starting with the miracle that occured back in a tiny stable in bethlehem.

pheasant - the new chicken!!

2008-12-22T08:23:00.000-08:00

larry went pheasant hunting on saturday. to be honest with you i just thought he was going to have a good time and relieve a little stress. i didn't actually think we were expected to eat what he brought home! so imagine my surprise when he walked in with a beautiful pheasant, they are truly pretty birds, and announced that he was going to go and remove the breasts so we could eat them. seriously?!? we are going to eat it?? i questioned in my best supportive yet alarmed tone. you betcha was his reply - and off we went with kids in tow to clean it. one of the most surprising parts to me is that the kids watched the whole process and thought it was cool. when the tail feathers are dry bella wants to hang them in her room. one word comes to mind here - Gross!! but i have to wonder - are the girls going to be into hunting as well?? a whole little family of hunters? minus me of course

so last night we had said bird in one of our favorite family meals (mixed with chicken because we needed more meat) and it was really good. taste wise there was almost no difference between the two. maybe this wild game eating thing won't be so bad after all.....

here is the recipe i used. i got it years ago from my friend emma and it has become a family staple in the winter. it's really simple and yummy.

chicken and rice

3-4 chicken breasts (can be frozen)
1 1\2 c instant rice
1 can cream of chicken, cream of celery and cheddar cheese soup
2 c water + 1 1\2 soup cans water
salt and pepper to taste

place chicken in 9x13 pan. pour rice and 2 c water over top. in a medium sized bowl mix the soups and 1 1\2 soup cans water together until blended. pour over chicken and stir a little bit to mix. cover with foil and bake for 2 hours at 350. it will look a little soupy when you take it out but as you stir it will thicken.

a tree grows in the forest.....

2008-12-18T09:46:00.000-08:00

beautiful and majestic it grows for centuries. then the hahl's come and chop it down ending it's life for the noble cause of a christmas tree.

we love going into the forest to find and cut down our own christmas tree. it's a pretty new tradition for us, but the kids love it! when you are in the forest, it's really hard to tell how the tree is going to look when it's isolated away from the others. the other trick is figuring out how monstrous it's going to be in your living room! our's ended up being a lot wider at the bottom than i thought it was going to be (that's after cutting at least 5 feet off) and getting it into the house was pretty entertaining. thankfully the elders showed up at just the right time and helped larry pull it through the door and lift it up.

i was hoping that we wouldn't have to do the platform again this year but after lily took about half the ornaments off a friend of ours tree we figured it would be a pretty good idea. maybe next year we can put it on the floor like normal people. but until then, the platform actually has some positive attributes. first, the space underneath provides an excellent hiding spot for those secret christmas items. second, it makes the tree easier to water. thirdly, we don't have to worry about little fingers pulling the tree over on themselves. and i think i actually kind of like how it keeps the tree out of the way a little bit.

the best night evah!!!

2008-12-13T20:49:00.000-08:00

my girls, like so many other girls i know, love high school musical. they know a majority of the songs and love to dance and sing along. so, the other night when my very sweet and generous friend christy won free tickets to high school musical the ice tour and took us instead of her boys it was like the most exciting night of their young little lives!! seriously - so much fun! i didn't tell the girls where we were going, mostly because i didn't want to listen to them squeal all day long and partly because i wanted to make it as exciting as possible. when we drove by the venue and bella saw the signs she was practically speechless; a major first for her.

the skaters were amazing. i can't even imagine being in that kind of shape. what a work out! the picture above is the only halfway decent one i got with my limited photograpy skills. they just wouldn't stop moving long enough for a good shot and my camera is just too slow!
i told the girls that they could have one thing to share. of course they picked the cotton candy with the big shiny ryan hat.

the girls striking a pose with christy after the show.

the excitement of the night exerted so much energy out of them that this is what they looked like when we pulled into the driveway. since that night, the first words out of bella's mouth to everyone that she sees is about going to HSM on ice and how it was the best night of her life. so thanks christy for sharing your tickets with us! the girls will never forget it!

pickle holder

2008-12-09T06:59:00.001-08:00

do you love eating pickles but hate the dreadful pickle smell your fingers get after holding them?? if so, your going to love this new product (patent pending) created by our own budding inventor whom the product is named after. the lily pickle holder allows you to enjoy your pickle without getting any of the juice or pickle smell on your personage. the classic, yet fun design, is so easy to use that even a two year old can master it in no time.

to order your pickle holder call 1 - 800 - mychildistoocuteforwords. call now as supplies are very limited!

complete and total randomness

2008-12-07T21:09:00.000-08:00

we were driving in the car the other day and the kids begged me to listen to mamma mia. over the summer we almost wore the cd out so i had put it away for awhile. i forgot how much fun that music is! everyone was singing and dancing in the car. even lily knew some of the words to the song "mamma mia". but whenever i hear "lay all your love on me" all i can think of is the men in speedos wearing flippers doing the penguin walk. makes me smile every time.

i am so excited that batman dark knight is on dvd this week. i loved that movie and have been anxiously waiting to see it again. that is one i will need to add to the dvd library for frequent viewing. yes the movie is very dark, but heath's performance is so amazing! i completely loved it.

lily's new phrase is "no thanks". she says it all the time. my favorite is when i tell her it's time for bed and she looks at me in all seriousness and says no thanks. like it's an option! but at least she is being polite.

i love it when it snows before all the foliage is off the trees.

such beauty!

lately i've been submerged in organizing musical numbers. there's music for sacrament meeting and enrichment activity. i love doing it, but it can really be stressful. however, in the end, when everything comes together beautifully, it's worth every stressful second.

i really enjoyed the christmas devotional tonight. presidents uchtdorf's message about his childhood christmas's in germany really touched my heart. with all the bling and hype it can be hard to keep the kids thinking about the true spirit of christmas. just the other day larry was telling brendan about christmas's he spent as a child visiting people in the hospital. memories that he will never forget. but can he remember the toys he got that year?

larry got our christmas lights put up on the house this weekend and i am so thankful to him for that. i love having lights on the house. it just makes me feel so festive and ready for the season.

new loves

2008-12-01T07:00:00.000-08:00

pickles - brooke and lily are addicted to pickles. they can't get enough! lily can eat 3 to 4 pickles in one setting.

turkey pepperoni - besides pickles, all lily wants to eat these days is turkey pepperoni. over the weekend she ate an entire package. turkey pepperoni has less fat than regular but it has a lot more spice in it so i'm kind of surprised at how much she likes it.

fashion - bella is totally into fashion these days. she loves to try and put her own combinations together. most of the time she does well. but - she loves to wear magenta colored sweatpants with this little brown skirt. that one i'm not feeling so much.

abstract art - brendan has discovered abstract art and has been trying to create his own masterpieces. it's a fine line between abstract and scribbles and he's working hard to differentiate between the two.