Go Fish! Musical--With Pictures Now

On Tuesday night Libby had her 1st grade musical--Go Fish! This was huge for her. She'd talked about it for a while and she never acted like she wasn't going to perform or go on stage, etc. She did awesome! The musical was so cute and Libby got up on stage and sang all the songs and did all the actions. It just made my heart sing!! We were so proud of her. This is the Libby who won't give a talk in primary or go up and sing for the primary program. Little by little.

The songs were just darling that they sang and I could tell Libby was just having a blast performing. We love her!

I got a lot of cute pictures but for the past two days I can't upload any on here. I'll keep trying!!!

Coming Up For Air

Another week (and a half) has gone by! This past weekend Terri and I photographed a wedding. During the ceremony, I never worked so hard on my camera settings. There were some clouds and the sun kept hiding behind the clouds and then coming out, so I was constantly having to change my settings. It was a lot of work.

I went to the chiropractor on Monday for my leg. He said I have a strained or pulled hamstring. Ugh. It has gotten better though, so hopefully soon it will be back to normal.

The other day I took Ellie and Hattie to the resort for free horse rides. Terri told me about them, so we met up there. Hattie even wore her boots. It was fun.




On Sunday we had a dinner for the laurels who are graduating this year. We made them dinner and then President Wagner spoke for a while about section 84 of the Doctrine & Covenants. Now we just have our leadership training meeting tomorrow night and maybe I can breath a little easier.

Trek & Track

Today started early for Brian and me. Abbie came over at 6:30 to babysit and Brian and I headed off to the church to meet for our trek training. We had to wear our trek/pioneer clothing--we sure looked cute. Ha ha. We drove up to Cherry and were trained in our role as a ma/pa on the trek. We'll be in charge of a family--made up of about 5 boys and 5 girls (ages 14-19)--and we'll reenact the trek the pioneers made across the plains (but only 3.5 days). Today they went over details and equipment we'll need and all that jazz. We also pulled the handcart for a few minutes so we could see what the youth will be doing (on the actual trek, the mas/pas aren't allowed to help push or pull). We also did several activities that we'll be conducting with our family and how we'll process each activity with them. We are excited about our chance to be a ma and pa on this trek. It will be a ton of work but worth it, I'm sure.



Today was also Eliza's big track meet. There were over 2500 athletes in this meet. She ran the 200m and the 100m. There were so many heats of the 200 that it went from about 8:30 till 2 for just that event. Crazy! Eliza did great! She got another PR in the 200 (37.4) and got 2nd in her heat. She got 3rd in her heat in the 100. To pass the time, she and Libby (and my dad) helped sell the programs for the track club and they snacked on yummy snacks provided by Grandma and Grandpa! They had a fun time on the sleepover/track day!

Ouch

Today was much of the same as the rest of the week. I ran the hills and then I came home and complained. I think I pulled muscle or something in the back of my leg. It hurts SO bad. So that has been a big downer for today!

We had a bit of a crazy morning--took Ellie to her class, took Hattie to a birthday party and I went to a camp meeting, then I retraced my steps to pick everyone back up. This afternoon I tried not to walk around too much to see if I could get my leg to feel better. It doesn't. My parents picked Eliza and Libby up from school. They get a little sleepover tonight. Brian and I have trek training all day tomorrow and Eliza has a huge track meet, so they are going to cover for us and take her. THANKS!!!

Tonight we took the little three to Cabelas, then Brian and I grabbed a Which Wich for dinner. SO good!

100 miles an hour

Tonight I told Brian I'd like to have a day when I wasn't going a hundred miles an hour! Today I had a presidency meeting, then we came home for a quick bite to eat, then it was off to the doctor. For me this time. I've had this nagging sore throat for about a week and half which has also caused my ear to hurt! It's so annoying. They swabbed for strep, but he doesn't think it is. He thinks it's just a viral upper respiratory infection that will just have to work its course. Fun!

We came home and I made dinner while the girls played, then Eliza and Libby got home. I nagged...er...encouraged them to get their chores done, then we had dinner right when Brian got home. I helped get everyone out the door to track--Brian took them tonight so I could go to Relief Society. It was about food storage and three-month supply. I have used most of my three month supply, so I need to restock and think of a good rotation system so I am consistently restocking. I don't know why food storage is so stressful to me, but it is!!! I probably think about it too much and make it harder than it's supposed to be. Ackkk!!

Whoa

Wow. I can't believe my last post was on the 6th. Time slipped away! Unfortunately I can't remember what we did each day.

I do know that this week started out clear as far as my calendar, but it really filled up. On Monday, I cleaned up the house from the weekend. I made a yummy salad for dinner--thanks to Karolyn for the recipe--and we had our neighbors over last minute to eat with us. Tuesday we did a few errands in the morning, then we went to my mom's and she made my apron for the pioneer trek. We also taste-tested some scones that she made for an upcoming book group night. She made one from Our Best Bites and one from The Pioneer Woman. Both were so good--different in their own respects but very good. That night Brian and I went to the Suns game. One of the young women in our ward was dancing with her dance company in the pregame show. So we went with the rest of the bishopric to the game. Tyson happened to have tickets from work, so we were able to use those. They were really good seats and 2 were on the floor at the scorer's table, so we rotated those seats during the game. Brian was in heaven! You couldn't get the smile off his face. He's always wanted to sit on the floor at a game. It was a fun experience to be down there. The players are huge. We were two seats over from Al McCoy. He is so little! And right behind us Brian was SO excited to see Mike Wilbon from the ESPN show PTI. He chatted with him for a minute, which was fun for him.



Today turned out to be so busy, too. Chrystalyn called to see if we wanted to plant a row in my father-in-law's garden. Somehow everyone had heard about it but us, so I was totally unprepared but we got seeds and planted a little space in his garden that we'll care for and hopefully get a vegetable or two from it. We went straight from there to track and then home. I am enjoy sitting down right now for a little rest.


I thought this was cute. On Sunday we did our Sunday Stations--thanks to my creative friend Rachel for the idea--but we have different stations that they rotate through. One of them was to build a temple from the blocks. Here is Eliza and Libby's creation. I loved how they made a little lake out front like the one in Mesa.

Track Meet

On Saturday, Eliza had a track meet. She ran the 100m and 200m. She wanted to do the 400, but they don't have that event for her age. She ran well--getting her PR in both events. She placed 12 overall in both events. 12th out of 61 in the 100 and 12th out of 49 in the 200. But better her previous time by one and two seconds was awesome!

Maybe my mom will update her blog and post some pictures. Wink, wink!

Easter

This year for Easter, the Easter bunny sent the girls on a little scavenger hunt to find their baskets which ended up being out back on the BBQ. They always have fun hunting for their baskets. Inside they found some chocolates and a swimming suit. Of course, Hattie had to wear hers around all day and hasn't taken it off much since she got it. We ended up exchanging Libby's, Ellie's and Ruby's to get a different size or fit, but everyone is set now. The rest of the day we watched General Conference. For me, there was a obvious theme about motherhood and the importance of mothers. I have such a huge responsibility as do all mothers!
(watching conference in the tent)

For dinner, we went over to Brian's parents' house for dinner. We had turkey, ham and the fixings. I made a Chocolate Mousse Crunch Cake for Brian's birthday. Yum!!

Rice Cereal

I always start my babies on rice cereal probably later than most. The doctor always suggests it around 4 months, but I don't start until about 6 months. For me it's like once you start, you can't stop! Ruby has liked it pretty well but is just trying to get used to getting it in the back of her mouth to swallow properly. My other girls love watching her eat and helping to feed her.
(excuse the red-eye)

Field Trip

I forgot to mention Eliza's field trip. Last Monday I got to go with Eliza and the rest of her grade to the Desert Botanical Garden. We had a fun time. It was nice because they have guides there that take you around and teach you things. I thought it would be like the zoo where you have a small group and you just wander around. I did have a small group, but we were with a couple other small groups and a person from the garden who showed us around. It was much better that way, I thought! We also were able to go in the butterfly pavilion. I did well this time. I don't like things flying around my head--even butterflies--but it wasn't bad this time and nothing came too close. We did see some very pretty ones, too.

31

Today is Brian's birthday. It didn't turn out as expected in that he had to stay home from work to watch the girls while I was in bed with a migraine. I guess it was good that he got to stay home, but it would have been more fun if we could have done something fun. Last night at track, my parents came for a minute and gave him his gift from them--a gift card to Cabelas. He wants a hat for the trek, so I think he'll use it for that. This morning Eliza helped me get his gift wrapped. I got him a pair of slippers that he's been wanting. Exciting, huh? He looks at them every time we go to Ross or Marshalls, so I knew he wanted them. He likes them because he can wear them out if he wants to. They are kind of like the ones here but his are brown. I also ordered him a couple of USA World Cup items but they are on back order so he'll get them in a week or so. I got him a shirt and a hat.

So for Brian's 31st birthday, I want to write down 31 fun things about him and things things that I love about him:

1. calmness--when I get stressed out or frazzled, he helps me calm down and put things in perspective
2. loves soccer--watching it mostly and playing when he can. His goal is to go to the World Cup sometime in his life.
3. is a great dad--loves to play with the girls. He can be found out back playing soccer with them or playing catch with the football or running races with them. Today Hattie said they played dress up while I was out of it in bed. I asked if Daddy dressed up and she said no.
4. is a great husband--at night he can very often be found doing the dishes or folding laundry.
5. enjoys watching Phineas and Ferb
6. can still play basketball with the best of them. He has a reputaion for his nice three pointer.
7. loves having things organized and efficient...hard to explain. It's not to an obsession but he loves tying up loose ends...loves finishing off the last of a cereal box so he can throw it away and loves having things complete and working properly.
8. is a hard worker to provide for our family. A couple months ago he made it to "segment 5" at work. When you first start at Edward Jones you start at segment 1 and then you have different levels of production that get you to the various
segments.
9. enjoys quoting movie lines
10. wants to own a VW bus sometime in his life
11. has to have the fan on at night when he sleeps
12. still records Suns games or soccer games on a VCR--one day we'll get TiVo!
13. knows the scriptures really well
14. loves peanut butter and chocolate ice cream
15. would love to live in Manhattan one day
16. would love to live on the beach
17. is honest
18. is concerned about his kids--it frustrates me when dads don't know who their kids' school teachers are or what grade they are in even. Brian knows and cares about those things.
19. is not a handy man but is man enough to admit it and will ask for help when needed.
20. is real...what you see is what you get.
21. supports me in my church callings
22. always fulfills his church callings
23. gets up with the kids if they wake up in the night
24. enjoys reading--always has a book he is reading
25. would eat El Pollo Loco every day if he could
26. he is always telling me that I look great even when I know I look frumpy!
27. can always make me laugh
28. loves late night snacks about as much as I do
29. doesn't complain when I complain to him.
30. stays up late with me
31. If I ask him if the doors are all locked, he'll get up out of bed without complaining and check.

Happy birthday, Brian. We love you!!!!!!!!!

Cleaning

The past two days I've spent cleaning all day. On Wednesday I spent the morning cleaning Eliza and Libby's room. It's easier if they are not there to go through their things and kindly discard some of their treasures. Bye bye to the Valentines that they haven't looked at since they got them. ...things like that that just needed to go. I think I was done with their room around noon, then we had lunch and then I was able to work on the rest of the house. It felt so good when it was over. Yesterday I did laundry all morning then I cleaned out my closet and the linen closet in my bedroom. It looks so much better!

Today my hard work was rewarded with a migraine. Boo hoo!!! When I woke up this morning to go running, I thought I might be getting one but hoped I was just dreaming. I was getting into the car when I thought twice and figured I'd better not risk it. So I went back to bed. Luckily Brian was able to stay home today, so I stayed in bed most of the day and slept it off.