High Jumper

Eliza competed in high jump for the first time at her track meet this weekend and she got first place! We encouraged her to do high jump so at practice on Thursday, she got a crash course from Ray the high jump coach--who was also Brian's high jump coach. There were four girls jumping and she did great! She jumped 1.05m which is 3' 5". She didn't have a miss until she tried to make 1.10m. We were thrilled since she just barely learned. She is really excited to keep practicing. In that meet she also ran the 400 and did well. She didn't get her PR, but she sprinted more at the end, so that was good for her.

I Love...

Homemade soap. I've used it off and on the past couple of years, but I think I am a true convert. I just love that it works so well and doesn't dry out my skin. ...not to mention you can get them in so many amazing scents. Last November I went to a holiday boutique and bought some soap that I loved. Her name is Sarah Lee and you can buy soap from her etsy store or check out her blog. I am using the chocolate orange cream right now and wow! Love it. And Brian is even a handmade soap user. I bought one called "Cool Water" I think--it's a masculine scent. But he really likes it and how it works. She doesn't have that one in her store right now, but maybe she'll restock it.

Also love MAC. I went to one of the counters (is that what they are called?) this past weekend to get something I had run out of. I asked the very made-up employee to help me out and I left with more than I was planning to buy. But I LOVE them all.

Fluidline eyeliner. It's a cream that comes in one of their pots and you apply it with a very thin brush. It goes one so smoothly and you can make it as thin or as thick as you want.

All that Glitters eye shadow--I needed a new all-over color or color for my eye-lid and this is what the lady recommended to me. I have really liked it. It's a subtle, neutral color with just enough shimmer to it. So fun.

Paint in Bare Canvas--My main reason for even going was to restock the painterly paint pot I normally get that I put on before my eyeshadow. I asked the lady if she had anything similar to that product, but maybe one that was a little stronger as I still find my makeup coming off mid-day at least. She recommended their Paint. Again--I am so glad I found this product. It works great. My eye make up looks like I just put it on even hours after I really do. I've never had that.

What are your favorite things that I need to check out?

Aunt Dovetta

This past Thursday, we attended the funeral of my grandpa's wife--Dovetta Mortensen Bowler. It's kind of a long story, but she is my great aunt, turned second grandma. After my grandma passed away over seven years ago, my grandpa married (follow this closely) my grandma's brother's wife. So after my grandma passed away and Dovetta's husband passed away, my grandpa and Dovetta were married. So she was my mom's aunt, turned step-mom. We joke about it--I send his Christmas card to Grandpa Bowler and Aunt Dovetta--my girls call her Aunt Dovetta, etc. Anyway--she passed away last Saturday night and her funeral was Thursday. She was 87 years old and was such a great person. I am always touched at funerals when I hear about the lives people live. Dovetta wore herself out in service all her life.

I also had the chance to be a pall bearer at her funeral. Last week as they were making plans for her funeral, my mom texted me and asked if I would be a pall bearer. I texted back, "I don't think you meant to send this to me." Thinking that maybe she meant to ask Brian or something. She called and said that she did indeed meant to ask me. I guess it's kind of a new thing to have women as some of the pall bearers--my dad said he has seen it at a couple of funerals recently. I told them I think they were saying that to make me feel better, but it was something my grandpa wanted and my cousin Emali and one of Dovetta's granddaugthers was going to be one, too, so I consented. It actually was kind of neat to honor her in that way. The funeral was very nice. Eliza and Ellie came with Brian and I. Libby wanted to, but she had something at school that she had been looking forward to for over a month. I told her I think Aunt Dovetta wouldn't mind, so she felt better about missing. Eliza and Ellie were nervous about going in the Relief Society room where the viewing was--they just looked from very far away and then sat down, which is totally understandable. Ellie had several questions like why her hands were a certain way--they were just together, holding a lace handkerchief. At the luncheon, she asked, "Why did you put Dovetta in that car (hearst)?" It was pretty funny. After we picked Libby up and were on our way somewhere, Libby asked, "Whose funeral is going to be next?" I laughed and told her that it's not something we try to speculate. She said, "Maybe Grandpa Bert because he's the oldest?" It's cute how their minds work.

A few t memories I have that I wanted to record include:

--Aunt Dovetta always had put together outfits. She always had earrings, shoes and a purse to go with her outfit and sometimes other jewelry.
--She--along with my grandpa--would send us grandkids and their great grandkids a birthday card. This year she gave Eliza a necklace in her birthday card. So that is a super special necklace for Eliza now. After Dovetta passed away, Eliza has worn that necklace several times, including to the funeral.
--She was a great cook! She would always bring the yummiest things to our family dinners. She was famous at our dinners for her broccoli salad, sweet pecans and heavenly layered dessert. We also joked about her chocolate pudding. One time we asked her something--it might have been how she made that layered dessert and she said it had chocolate "pooding" in it. So now pudding at our house is called "pooding."
--She was the mom to seven boys.
--She loved to laugh.

We will miss her!

Aunt Dovetta with Ruby.

Track

This past weekend, Eliza had a track meet. We decided to have Brian stay home with everyone else and I took Eliza. She ran in three events and did great in all of them. I wanted to included her times so I didn't forget! Her first event was the 100m and her time was 17.20. She got a little tired running the 400, but did it in 1:33.32. Her last event was the 200m. She got second in her heat and ran it in 38.36. She was really pleased with how she did. Go Eliza!

Surprise Getaway

On Thursday morning after I got back from Eliza and Libby's parent teacher conference, Brian told me to pack a bag for a little getaway. I thought we might be going somewhere because on Valentine's day Brian said something else was coming, but I was very surprised to be leaving on Thursday. So that was fun. I was sad to miss my hair appointment though that I had set. But I'll get it done soon enough. Brian had arranged everything--the kids were going to stay at Chrystalyn's, he called Jodi and told her I wasn't going to be at my presidency meeting, etc. Ellie did wake up sick Thursday morning, so that was a bummer, but luckily she was able to go to Brian's mom's for the first day until she felt better. Once we had packed and dropped everyone off, we got some breakfast at Paradise Bakery and then we were off to Sedona. That afternoon we hiked. We decided to try a "strenuous" hike according to the hiking guide we found. We were curious what "strenuous" meant. They were right. :) It was about 2.5 miles one way and a lot of it was rocky and uphill. Of course we couldn't turn back early, but it was fun and had great views the entire time.














After hiking we were ready for dinner, so we went to El Rincon--a Mexican food place we go to when we are in Sedona. We stayed at the Ridge at Sedona--like a time-share type place--in Oak Creek. We went back to the room and watched American Idol, then went back out for some Cold Stone. They had chocolate dipped strawberry flavor. Oh my. It was delicious! I mixed in the chocolate shavings to add some crunch. Yum-o! The next morning we got up and ready and I got to have a little pampering at the Hilton spa. I had a facial--which I always love--followed by a "sedona rock pedicure." I didn't want either of them to end! While I was doing that, Brian went mountain biking. He had fun and only crashed once. :) He had a great time though and saw amazing scenery.





After that we had lunch at Wildflower. I forget how fantastic that place is! We both loved what we had. After lunch we strolled around the shops on the main street. That night we drove up to the Enchantment Resort near Boynton Canyon for dinner. We were going to go to the Yavapai restaurant, but I decided I'd rather have a hamburger type food instead of really fancy, small-portioned expensive food. We ate at Tii Gavo, which is another restaurant at that hotel.


On Saturday morning--the weather was 180 degrees different than the day before--it was cold and raining! We got to sleep in a little bit, then had to check out of our room. At the beginning of our stay, the concierge lady wanted us to do a time share presentation. We didn't want to, but then she upped the anty to a $100 Visa card. We were like, "As much as we hate these things, how bad could it be for 90 minutes to get a $100??" So we gave in and did it. So that is what we did Saturday morning. As I was sitting there, I was thinking, "I am not sure this is even worth $100." Haha. I think the lady was a bit frustrated with us because we told her from the beginning we weren't going to buy, but we would hear it. They tried and tried, but didn't get us! Things like that are always an experience and actually very comical how they start out so high and act like they are giving you this miracle, one time deal of a lower price. It was laughable. So after we made our $100 for the day, we had lunch again at Wildflower, then headed home. And it snowed a lot on the way home, even clear past Camp Verde.



We had a great, fun, relaxing time. Thanks, Brian!

House Stuff

We finally had our front room painted. I've been wavering back and forth between colors and shades of color for a long time, but I finally decided. I went with "Ashes" in the entry area and into the kitchen and did "Fashion Gray" in the actual front room. I am happy with how it turned out. So now I am on the hunt for chairs and a couch. I think I found what I want but in my true fashion, and much to Brian's chagrin, I have to wait a while before I will actually decide for sure. I have tried my hand at a couple of spray paint projects, too. I had these metal wall things up before we painted and was going to sell them, but then one day I had the thought, "I wonder how those would work if i just painted them." So I tried one and liked it and decided to do the other. They will go on either side of the window. I also painted a couple of candle sticks. So little by little I'll get it done.
Before:

After:


We also painted the bathroom. I found a fun shower curtain, so I tried to go off that. Just need a shelf in there now!

Hazardous

I didn't realize that playing the piano could be a potentially hazardous hobby. I came into the front room the other day and found this:

Ponytail Jackpot

Whenever I clean up around the house, I am always collecting ponytails and clips. Here is what I found just this morning.


We either have a lot of girls or those said girls need to learn where to put the ponytails when they take them out. Or both. At the end of the day, it's not uncommon for me to have four or five clips in my hair. As I find them around the house, I stick them in my hair to put away when I go into the bathroom. I figured I need to document this fact of life for us!

The Healing Magic of Cookies

The other morning, I found Hattie in the pantry slyly eating a Chips Ahoy cookie. I asked her what she as doing and she said, "I'm having a cookie. My eye hurts so I am eating a cookie for it to feel better." Smart girl!

Speaking of cookies...for my young women's calling, I've been attending all the ward conferences in the stake. In one of the wards this week one of the girls did an object lesson about the commandments as our recipe in life and how we need to follow it and not do our own version or interpretation. She had made one batch of cookies and said she didn't have sugar so she used salt, she didn't have baking soda so she added baking powder, she didn't have vanilla so she used corn syrup, etc. etc. Then she asked if anyone wanted to try one. A few girls did and they could hardly bite into it because it was so gross. Then she made that connection to following the commandments, then had cookies where she followed the recipe exactly and she gave everyone one of the good cookies. Long story short to say that those cookies were SO, so good! They were just so soft and delicious. I e-mailed this girl's mom to get the recipe and I've already made a batch. In the recipe, she said she puts a piece of bread in the container where she stores the cookies to keep them soft...the cookies pull the moisture out of the bread to keep it soft. I had heard that before but just thought it was a wives's tale or whatnot...but I tried it and it totally worked! I am probably the last person to try it, but I will be doing that from now on. They kept their same softness and today is two days from when I made them. Usually by now other cookies I make start to get crunchy. So there is your tip for the day...eat cookies when your eye hurts and put bread in the container to keep them soft.

Miscellaneous

Do your cereal boxes look like this? (a.k.a. what happens when the kids open the cereal)



I am loving being able to use our fireplace again. Last year and until a week or so ago, we didn't use it because we thought it was broken. So we had someone come out and basically the pilot light just wasn't on, so he taught me how to do that and turn it off and on. So now we get to use it! Good thing since it's going to be freezing the next couple of days.



One of my girls' (Ellie and Libby especially) favorite things to do is set up their Barbies like they are having a photo shoot. They'll pose all the people and get the camera and take picture after picture. It's so funny to see what I find on the camera.

Zoo

Yesterday I went to the zoo with Ellie's preschool. I was afraid it was going to rain, but luckily it turned out to be a beautiful day. I took Hattie and Ruby, too, and they did great. I was worried to take Ruby, but she seemed to enjoy herself. We only looked at probably 1/3 of the animals. We went to the aquarium buildings, then saw some of the animals and fed (read: threw food at) the giraffes. Ellie went in to do the Lory bird feeding, but every time one got close to landing on her to eat the apple, she shook her hand so it flew away. Haha. That is exactly why I didn't go in. I don't like birds flying around or on me. I must be related to my brother...we had a bird growing up and it was so funny to watch him when we let the bird out. We got a kick out of it actually. I wasn't that bad, but I didn't go in to feed the birds. We also watched an animal show. One of the animals was a loud parrot. One time he squawked and all three of my girls jumped out of their skin and then Ruby cried and cried! I had to hold her ears until they took the bird away. After the show we had lunch, rode the train, played on the playground and watched the log ride go over and over without anyone on it. They loved watching that for some reason. I told my girls no one was riding it because it was too expensive. Later Hattie said, "No one is on it because it's not on sale." Very true! Overall, we had a great time!

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!