Birthday, Track

I feel like I am so far behind, but then feel like I don't have anything to update!Brian had his birthday on the 2nd. He spent it at Eliaz's track meet. We gave him presents that evening and now I can't even remember what we gave him! I think we got him some dress pants, a belt and some books. It's pretty uneventful when you turn 32.

Eliza has had a few track meets lately. She's been doing high jump at all of them and has been doing great. Her PR is 1.10m. She also got her PR on the 100 (16.86) and 200 (36.90) at the big Phoenix Invitation she had at the beginning of the month. At that meet, she medaled in high jump, getting third place. The two girls in front of her were from California and Texas. We are excited for her to compete in state next month.

Lemon Cake

A couple weeks ago for our family home evening treat, Eliza chose lemon cake. I found a recipe on Tasty Kitchen and it turned out really yummy. It's called Extreme Lemon Cake. It reminded me a lot of the super duper yummy lemon cake they have at Costco.

p.s. I am WAY behind on posting. I have been SO busy lately with young women stuff, track, life, etc. etc. I hope to get caught up soon on things like Brian's birthday, General Conference, etc.

Kite Day

A couple of weeks ago, Libby's class had kite day at school. Her class flew kites one afternoon and parents were invited to come help. Well, I gave her the option of me coming and my dad watching the three little girls or she could have Grandpa come fly kites with her. Almost immediately she said she wanted him to go fly kites with her. So that afternoon, my mom came over and hung out with me and my dad went and flew kites with Libby. Surprisingly only my dad and Chrystalyn were the only parents to show up. But Libby had a blast (I think my dad had fun, too) and they got the kite up really high!




When my dad got back to my house, Ellie, Hattie and Ruby joined in on the kite flying fun.

Field Day

The Friday before spring break Eliza and Libby had field day at school. They just participate in a series of games/activities. It was very warm that day, but Ellie, Hattie and I braved the weather and watched them have fun! (It was twin day at school, hence Eliza's crazy socks!)

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?