Spring Break and Flagstaff

The first part of our spring break was pretty low key. LOTS of playing outside and inside. No sack lunches to make. No real schedule. I love that about spring break. On Wednesday, Radio Disney was at the shops at Norterra, so we went out there. They had games and music. My girls had fun. We treated ourselves to Dippin' Dots after and window shopping at Charming Charlie. What a fun store that is--I had never been there before. But if you need an accessory in a certain color, that is the place to go!

On Thursday late morning, we headed out for the weekend in Flagstaff. On our way, we stopped at the Out of Africa Wildlife Park in Camp Verde. We had never been there before and it was pretty fun. We found $10 off coupons on-line, so that was nice, but we enjoyed the "shows" and presentations they had. It's a pretty big park and a different set up than a zoo, but even on the little ride they take you on into the park, you have a good view of the animals.


We missed the tiger splash show but made it for the hyena show. That was so interesting and we learned a lot about those animals.

Libby and Eliza petted a snake (eww) and they and Ellie fed a camel.


They have a bus you go on for a safari ride and you can feed carrots to either a camel or a giraffe. They loved that part. The animals get their faces right up in the bus. Crazy!






(It wore Ruby out!)

From there we went to Flagstaff and got to our hotel, then headed out for dinner at Wildflower.

The next morning we had a great continental breakfast at the hotel--not just the toast or cereal breakfasts we've had at other hotels who claim to have a continental breakfast. There were waffles, muffins, English muffins, cereal, bagels, fruit, boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, sausage, etc. They also had oatmeal. I was leary of it just because I am used to the packet kind that is flavored. But I tried some--granted with some brown sugar and cinnamon on it--but it was SO good. I couldn't wait for the next day to have more. I think I will find out what kind they use and how they make it. After breakfast we drove to hike the Red Mountain Trail.





It's a nice little hike into this natural amphitheater type area. When we got there, we did a spontaneous talent show where we had singing and dancing. So funny. On the second part of the hike, Libby and I spent the time looking for branches that looked like letters to spell her name. She didn't do too shabby!


On the way back, we ate at the Galaxy Diner--a mom and pop type diner. From there we stopped at Old Navy to grab some flip flops for Ellie and Hattie whose feet were hurting them. We also found a few other deals while we were there. We walked around the mall before heading back to our room for a little bit and to put Ruby down. We got pizza and ate it at the hotel that night. Then we went to Barnes and Noble, which was actually really fun. The girls just read books and had so much fun looking around. Everyone got to pick out a book, which added up very quickly. Libby has been a voracious reader lately, so we let her get two (which she finished on the trip already) and I snuck an extra one in, too. Both I got are young adult books. I really like the first one I started. It's called Princess Academy. When we got out to the car, I was handing everyone their book and Ruby kept reaching out for hers. We were softies and felt bad, so I ran back in and got her one. She loved it and thought she was so big "reading" her book, too. She was tickled pink to get one. We topped the night of with ice cream at Baskin Robbins. Can I just say again that peanut butter and chocolate is the best ice cream. And I tried their "Lucky Mint" flavor of the month, which was divine.

On our last day, Saturday, we drove around downtown a little bit and went to a couple of shops.


One I always like to go to is called PJ Chilcottage. We all had fun looking around there. They have cute hair things, soaps, aprons, note cards, clothes and on and on. They had a magnet that I would love to get a bit bigger to put in my kitchen somewhere. It's called "In the Chairs." It's by the lady who does the Curly Girl Designs. I love all of her sayings--so cute and witty. From there we went to the Riordan Mansion and actually took a tour this time. Ruby didn't cooperate and was too "chatty" during the tour and only made it into the second room before Brian left with her. But the tour was very interesting and we all enjoyed it. They were a very neat, interesting family. I am glad we toured the house.


After that, we grabbed some lunch and headed home.

Family Home Evening

Up until about six or so weeks ago, Brian and I would take turns doing the lesson and treats and thinking of an activity for family home evening, with Eliza and Libby taking a turn here and there every so often. I kept promising to get a FHE chart where we could rotate. I looked and looked and looked for one that I liked and never really found one. So in desperation, I just decided to type up everyone's assignment for the week and tape it to the wall. And that is how everyone knows his or her assignment and how everyone has an assignment every week. That little change has improved our home evenings ten fold. We rotate between conducting, song, prayer, lesson, activity and treat. Libby has really enjoyed this and takes whatever role she has so seriously. She comes up with the most creative treats, lessons and activities. We've actually done some fun activities lately. One Libby found in a Friend magazine was where you have a bag of dress up items--hats, costumes, belts, masks, etc. Someone has an iPod and you play a song and with the participants in a circle, they pass the bag of items. When the music stops, whoever has the bag pulls an item from the bag and puts it on. At the end you see who has the most items on or the silliest outfit, etc. That one was really fun. Another was fun but a little harder for Hattie to understand and for everyone to play. You have everyone in a circle and one person in the middle of the circle. The person in the middle is blindfolded. The people in the circle walk around until the person in the middle says stop. When he or she says stop, she points at someone and says an animal. Whoever she points to makes the sound of that animal but tries to disguise their voice. The person in the middle tries to guess who it is. It might have worked in a bigger group as everyone in our family was pretty easy to guess. It was still funny to hear all the sounds.

Ellie's game tonight was fun, too. It was called Scribbles. Each person has a blank sheet of paper, a pencil and a book. You put the book (for a hard surface) with the paper on your head and you make scribbles until someone says stop. Then you hand your paper to the person to your left who then draws a picture from the scribbles on your paper. Tonight we had two snowmen, two flowers and one van. They all had fun with that. Then we turned the paper over and had everyone put the paper back on their heads and draw a face. That was funny, too. Can't wait to see what next week will bring.

Elder Ballard

A couple of weeks ago, we had our stake conference. Elder Ballard was our general authority who came along with Elder LeSueur. It was a great conference, especially the Saturday night adult meeting. After it was over, we were out in the hall waiting to leave and Elder Ballard came out that way, so we got to shake his hand. It was very, very soft. I took a ton of notes at the adult session and not so many on Sunday because we had the kids with us. On Sunday we decided at the last minute to go to the stake center instead of to our building to watch it broadcasted. I wanted our kids to have the chance to see an apostle in person since that opportunity doesn't come around every day. Now granted, they saw him from far, far away, but it was the effort that counted, right?!

Like I said, I loved the Saturday night session and here are some highlights from my notes:

President Richardson
• What is in the way of this being the most spiritual time of your life?
• We need this time to be the most spiritual time in our life.
• When was the best time of your marriage? Right now should be the best time.
• Do all you can to strengthen your marriage.

• Are you the kind of parent you envisioned? If there are any regrets, change now.
• See our kids’ potential.
• Ask their Heavenly Father for help.
o What to do & what to say to reach that child
o Same with our spouse. Ask Heavenly Father what you can do to help him
o Heavenly Father loves them and knows them and wants to help you with them.
• Teach and re-teach principles to our children.
• If we aren’t as close to our children as we should, then get there.

President Beck
• Don’t feel guilty about what you haven’t done as far as missionary work…start now and do something

President Gilliland
• The temple isn’t an extra credit activity—it should be central to our lives.

Sister Gilliland
• The more time we spend with and close to and learning about our Heavenly Father, we start becoming like Him. (Like a couple who start to resemble one another after years of marriage.)



Elder LeSueur
• The role of parents isn’t to raise children to adulthood. The role of parents is to raise children to righteous parenthood.
• Read Sister Beck’s March 2011 Ensign article
• If you want to see what kind of parent you were, look at your grandchildren.
• OBSERVATIONS:
o It’s the parents’ role to introduce their children to the Holy Ghost
o The Holy Ghost will lead them to the Savior and the Savior will lead them to their Heavenly Father.
o Create environments where the spirit can be welcome and be invited.
• Effective Parenting
o Work 10x harder to catch them doing something right instead of something wrong and celebrate it!!!
o Let your kids know how important they are to you
o We you read scriptures as a family, SLOW DOWN!
 We aren’t reading for mileage or scholarship but for discipleship.
 Ask your kids about the verses…what did that mean to our family? Etc.
o Make more sacrifice to get to the temple more frequently
• Marriage Advice
o Always remember…you can be right or you can be happy
o Don’t make a 50cent issue into a million dollar issue
o When two elephants fight, the grass always loses.
o Unity in marriage is critical
 Read Ephesians chapter 4—unity in the church, but it applies in our homes
o As long as you are focused on your needs, they’ll never be met. Focus on your spouse’s needs.
o Abandon your needs or you’ll implode.

Elder M. Russell Ballard
• Children teach parents more than parents teach their children.
• Recognize and know promptings of the Spirit
o Story of him serving as a Bishop and receiving the prompting to visit an older lady in the ward. He didn’t and she passed away during that night.
o Listen to heaven’s promptings
• Let your spirit radiate—it’s not what your body looks like but rather your spirit is important.
• Pull up a chair at the spiritual table three times a day like you come to the kitchen table to eat.
• Funny: Said his great grandchildren are growing like popcorn. Can’t keep track of them, so he was going to put missionary badges on all of them.
• Story of feeling like they should visit “the old ward.” They did and the institute of disable members did the program and sang “In This Very Room.”
• He blessed us in the name of the Lord to have the power to overcome anything we are struggling with…kids, etc.

Hattie's 4!

Hattie turned four a few weeks ago. Her morning started out with some pop tarts, then she got to open some of her gifts. She got an Olivia purse, some Olivia figurines to go with her house, a Tiana Barbie and a camping set to go with the Loving Family house...all of which she has had fun playing with. After dinner we had pink cake per her request and ice cream. She had a pretty low key birthday, but she loved every minute.

A couple of weeks ago, she had her sleepover with my parents. She ate up having all the attention on her. She got to go to Build-a-Bear for her activity and made a cute pink bear that she named Alli. Then she picked out two new princess Barbies--one of which she gave to Ellie--some dress up dresses and new PJs. She had a blast.

Some things about Hattie at age four:
--she LOVES to wear dresses--either for real or dressing up. She loves twirling around in said dress up dresses.
--she loves to talk and talk and talk and commentate everything.
--does not like going to bed
--loves to be outside, riding her bike
--is very cuddly and affectionate (loves to give hugs and kisses)
--is very carefree and we say is kind of in her own little world at times
--gives her parents many opportunities to practice patience...many, many opportunities
--loves watching Olivia and Max & Ruby
--surprises us with the things she says and wording she uses.

Happy birthday, Hattie!

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!