Emma's Baptism

My niece was baptized earlier this month, so it was fun to go down there for that. I got to lead the music. After her baptism, they had a nice dinner for family.

Back at It

This week we started back into "extracurricular" activities. We took last fall off, so it's been a nice break. Eliza started track on Tuesday and Libby, Ellie and Hattie started gymnastics. It worked out great that they could take their classes on the same day. Way easier on me for sure!



Tonight after track, we went over to my parents' house for dinner. Last weekend they took a dutch oven cooking class, so they practiced for us. It was delicious! It was a pineapple/ham casserole dish. Tasty!

PI Field Trip

Today Eliza had a field trip for PI to the Mesa Southwest Museum. She wanted Brian to go with her, which he did. She told me, "Mom, sorry about you not going on my field trip. But you know, Dad was in PI and everything." I guess I wasn't smart enough to go with her. Haha! They seemed to have a fun time, looking at dinosaurs and rocks and such and then having lunch at a park.

More

I feel so off track with documenting what we've been up to--I got so behind over the holidays. So here is a quick little catch up to what we've been up to. And maybe I can keep up better.

New Year: It always comes with resolutions. I wrote a few down that I want to work on this year--I won't mention them all here so you can't nag me if I am not doing well on them! But some include getting to bed by 11 each night (haven't been too great on that), reading a book a month, improved scripture study, finding more joy in life and thinking more positive thoughts. There are more, but I can't think of them right now.

Moving Up--Hattie graduated from nursery to sunbeams. Chrystalyn is her teacher, so that is fun. Hattie gave the prayer last week in sharing time--it was hard to understand her, but at least she did it. I am told she is doing well and being reverent. She is the only girl in her class, so she likes to keep the boys in line.

Decorating: We've been in our house for over 5 years and it's still not decorated. I have some rooms done more than others, but I feel like it's always at a standstill. So I am trying to get some things done. We started in Eliza and Libby's room. I am trying to decide on a paint color in there. And I have squares of samples painted in the front room and a bathroom, so I just need to decide. I FINALLY bought a new shower curtain for the bathroom by Ruby's room, so I want to get that room done. Now if I can just find new kitchen rugs. It's become a joke between Brian and I because I've been looking for a while but can't find any I like!

Holy Cow: Over Christmas break, me, along with some sisters-in-law, a brother-in-law and parents-in-law, butchered a cow. Yes. I never thought I would be part of something like that. And I hope I am not part of it again for a LONG, long time. Brian's dad had a cow that needed butchering, so for some reason, it was decided we would all take part and do it. We started around 10:30--his neighbor came over and helped him start the butchering. They brought in hunks of meat to be cut. At one time, there were two huge hind quarters on the kitchen counter and we just went at it. We canned some of it but ground most of it into hamburger. I cut so much that my hand was numb and stayed that way for a few days. My thumb still feels weak because of it. It was quite an experience that was good to have I suppose but not something I am dying to do again! I got home that night around 11:45. Holy cow is right! I was going to post a couple of photos, but I decided it was best to spare any weak-stomached readers.

9

Yesterday was Eliza's 9th birthday. She started the day getting breakfast in bed of toaster strudels and milk. I took ice cream sundae cones into her classroom during the day.

I made one of her favorite dinners--garlic chicken pasta--and we had cake and ice cream for our FHE treat. In the morning she opened some of her gifts--shampoo and conditioner, mesh shorts and a t-shirt, earrings, bracelets and some Red Vines.

After school, she got a couple pairs of jeans and some more art supplies.

Over Christmas break, she had her sleepover with my parents. My mom documented it on her blog if you want to read about it. They had fun. And she'll get to sleepover at Brian's parents' in the next couple of weeks. Can't believe I have a 9 year old!

At age 9, Eliza...
--is in 3rd grade
--loves, LOVES art--she draws the cutest people
--is a good student, but doesn't love homework
--loves to have fun
--loves track
--loves to set things up and create but doesn't love to clean it up!
--has a darling smile
--is very friendly and outgoing
--loves to pick out outfits and do hair


We love our 9 year old! Happy birthday, Eliza!

Art

A while back, the Friend magazine put out a call for artwork that would be displayed in an exhibit at the Church History Museum in Salt Lake. Eliza drew a picture and we found out that it was chosen to be part of the exhibit. You can also see her art on-line on the Friend website. It's on the fifth page, third one on the last row. It's funny to see it now because she drew it several months ago--she's improved so much since then!

New Year's

I feel asleep watching Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs on New Year's. We let the three oldest girls stay up this year. We played X-Box--lots of track and field and a driving game--they did sparklers, ate and watched a movie. We even failed to turn the TV at midnight and let them see the ball drop. We heard firecrackers around, so they ran outside and yelled. We must be getting old!