Update

Yesterday was almost 60 degrees and that makes me very VERY happy. For those of you who live in mild climates I'm just not sure you can fully appreciate how absolutely thrilling and revitalizing the thought of Spring is, let alone its actual arrival. I love Winter in December, but not so much in November, January, February and March; however, it's worth it just so that I can love every minute of Spring after a long cold Winter.

Brennan is anxiously awaiting the snow melting on all his favorite golf courses. He finally went to physical therapy this morning for his shoulders and I'm hoping that that along with warmer weather will allow him normal usage of his shoulders. We love Brennan.

I had my big 20 week ultrasound today and I always get nervous beforehand. Everything appeared to be fine, and we held strong and didn't find out the baby's gender. I can tell you it's very cute though and we're getting so excited. I got to go hold my cousin's and aunt's (two separate people) new babies today and it made me so happy to know I get my very own in July. We love baby!

Anna has really caught a bad case of Spring Fever. She, more than any of my other kids, is so drawn to the outdoors, she wants to eat, do homework and EVERYTHING possible outside. I think she takes after her grandmas that way, she is happiest when she can be in nature and truly appreciates it's subtlest of beauties. Sometimes I feel sad that we can't live on a farm for her, she would thrive there. We love Anna.

Abigail has discovered a love for poetry. She is seriously considering being a poet when she grows up. She definitely has a way with words and it wouldn't surprise me one bit if she does ultimately go that route. Anna created a beautiful booklet the other day and told me she was going to have Abby fill it with poems. I thought it was so cute that Anna genuinely admired Abby's work and has every confidence in her little sister's abilities. We love Abby.

I took the boys to Home Depot yesterday and shortly after that Nate kept making really out of the blue references to Idaho. I couldn't figure out why he was talking about Idaho. Finally he said, "Wait, what's the name of that store we went to?" I then realized he was calling Home Depot, Idaho. It's sad that we bog people like Nate and Brennan down with things like names :) Each night Nate insists that I tell him an interesting animal fact when I tuck him into bed. I'm really pretty much tapped out so I'm afraid I'm going to have to do some research. I love how interested he is though so I guess it won't kill me to broaden my own knowledge. We love Natey.

You know how pretty much since Ben was born I've been talking about how much of a hurry he's in to grow up. Well, now when anyone asks him how old he is he insists he's 5. He will not budge on this, it is not up for discussion so don't even try. His new favorite thing is to ask me to sing the Bob the Builder song, i.e. "Bob, the builder, can we fix it?" to which he used to enthusiastically reply, "Yes, we can!" Now, however, he thinks it is the most hilarious thing in the world to answer, "NO, we can't" and watch my face feign shock and horror. He laughs soooooo hard that after a few rounds of this both of us are in tears and have stomach aches from how hard we laughed. We love Benjamin.

Shower and Puppy Love

Last Wednesday night we had a shower for our future sister-in-law, Melissa. She was a great sport about meeting about 30 relatives from both sides of our family.

Melissa's Mom and Melissa

My Grandma and Davis

But the really big event of the night was meeting Davis and Melissa's new puppy! My kids are now positive they are the MOST deprived children in the world.

She seems to really love Nate. She crawled right up on his lap and went to sleep.

Can't get enough of Lyla

A New Look

Since Nate went to an NBA game with Brennan he's been obsessed with basketball. Ben is always all too eager to adopt any obsession of Nate's so they've both insisted on wearing basketball jerseys all day every day (and night) and they shoot baskets in their little hoop for hours on end. On this particular day Ben decided to add a few winter essentials to his ensemble after sticking his head in the fire place and getting black soot around his mouth. I think they call this look sporty chimney sweep elf?

Happy Valentine's Day!

I love this day, and hope you're all having a happy one. More snow for us, but that's okay Spring will be here someday. Anyway, in honor of this day I thought I'd share with you something I got from Abby's teacher. She passed out a Valentine's questionnaire to Abby's 2nd grade class and then sent home the questions and some of the really great answers. Too good not to share.

What is the best age to get married and why?

• 23, because if you love someone he would be back from his mission.
• 20, because you don't want to kiss someone when you are 14.
• 30, I just think it's a good age.
• 25, because you're pretty old.
• 24, because its is the exact time to get married so you can buy a house.

What do most people do on a date?

• Talk, talk, talk and eat.
• Dance
• Kiss and hug and then eat. (Abby's)
• People eat food and talk and if they are lucky they get a kiss.

When is it okay to kiss someone?

• When it is your wedding
• For me, not until I am 16.
• When no one is looking.
• After school behind the dumpster. (whoa, red flag - I made sure this wasn't Abby's :) )

When you get older, is it better to be married or not married and why?

• Married so you can have fun and dance with a wife.
• Married, because you might need help.
• Married, so you can be in a wedding.
• Married, so you don't end up to be 66 and then get married.
• Married, so you don't get old and lose your chance. (Abby's)
• Not married, in case you can't find someone good.

What do you think it feels like to be in love?

• Lovely.
• Really gross.
• Romantic.
• Sweet.
• Disgusting.

What is the best way to make someone fall in love with you?

• Kiss them.
• Act cute and nice. (Abby's)
• Act beautiful.
• Be handsome.
• Play football in high school

What is the best thing to do on a honeymoon?

• Go to Disneyland.
• Play wii.
• Go somewhere the girl wants to go.
• You fly to the moon.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Love Is In the Air

Yesterday Abby was home sick from school. Nate dissapeared for a few minutes yesterday morning and later we discovered this:

He made her bed. As Abby said, "Mom, it's not how I make it, but it was really nice of him!"

He also left a little picture he drew of him and Abby.

What a sweet boy! We love Nate.

Update

We'll kick this right off with Brennan. He's had a few trials lately that while I feel sympathy for him, they are also really funny so of course I'll share. The first one happened yesterday after baptizing Abby he had to change out of his wet jumpsuit thing into his suit and tie. I was in the girls dressing room helping Abby change and we got back to the room before Brennan did. He finally came in and the Bishop kind of even made fun of him for being the first Dad ever who took longer to change than the daughter. Brennan described his torture for us later. A few years ago he injured his left shoulder and then about a year ago he injured his right one. He can't raise either arm above shoulder height which sometimes makes getting dressed tricky. Yesterday in particular he couldn't get his wet jumpsuit to come off, so he sat tugging at the waist until bit by bit by bit he finally got it far enough down he could manage it. For some reason that was the saddest, but funniest scene to picture poor Brennan in his dressing room all alone struggling to get changed.

His next big challenge came late last night. Ben has been sick and sleeping horribly. After struggling with him last night we brought him in our bed and Brennan went to sleep on the couch hoping he'd sleep better out there. At some point in the middle of the night he started hearing a noise. It was a "Boing! Ooooh, ooooh, aaaah, aah!" When it didn't stop after a minute he got up to investigate the nearby toy closet, but then the noise stopped. He got settled back on the couch only for the noise to start up again. This happened over and over for a couple of hours. Finally Abby came up around 3:00 am and woke me up because she wasn't feeling well. I heard the noise and ran to see what was going on. There was Brennan fruitlessly moving things around in that closet. I quickly recognized the noise as the monkey noise from the Little People Zoo (although I still have no idea how the little lever to make the noise was being pushed, I'm thinking the bonehead) and pulled it out of the closet. The noise stopped and Brennan informed me he'd been looking for that for 2 hours and then wearily stumbled back to the couch. Again, so sad and miserable, but so funny. We love Brennan.

After Abby's baptism we had food and treats at our house for those that attended. Anna kept referring to it as the "after party" which cracked me up. She was grounded from playing with her friends for the weekend, but made sure to invite them all to the baptism and "after party". She's about 10 steps ahead of us, but we're trying. We love Anna.

Abby is such a miniature adult sometimes. She was such a gracious little guest of honor as she gratefully thanked our guests for their cards and little gifts. Tonight she sat thinking for a few minutes and then asked, "Mom since Jesus knows everything he's probably never curious is he?" Then she went on to say, "That's one way he's not like Curious George, plus he probably doesn't like to climb". There's no guessing what that child will come up with. We love Abigail.

This morning I was laying in bed and heard Nate asking Brennan about 101 questions about superheros. "Dad, is Superman stronger than Spiderman?" "Dad, who's faster out of Superman and Spiderman?" etc., etc., etc. He tends to kind of get obsessed with things and it was so cute listening to his constant inquiries and Brennan doing his very best to give the right answers. Plus it reminded me of a certain little brother of mine. We love Nathan.

Ben following our family tradition of employing hyperbole has started saying, "Mom, I sooooo stinky." Or, the other day after he got out of the bath, "Mom, I sooooo nakey." It's been so sad to have him sick, he's had a cough that has made sleep virtually impossible and then when we took him to the doctor he discovered and ear infection too. He definitely hasn't been totally himself, but even in his misery he's managed to be for the most part very charming and fun. We love Benjamin.

Abby's Baptsim

Yesterday was a beautiful day for our family. Abby was baptized! I love baptisms, they are so basic and simple but so sweet and powerful. Abby's was no exception. We were so blessed to have so many family members and friends there to support her. Abby asked my Dad to speak and he did a masterful job. It was so short and sweet and totally on Abby's level, but touching to everyone else as well. The three big kids plus their cousins Rex and Lucy did a wonderful job singing a primary song. Rex and Lucy just learned the song that morning! John and Jamie came for the special event and stayed the weekend with us mostly working to help us get everything ready. I couldn't have done it without all their help. Thank you to all of you who contributed by bringing food, helping with the program, coming and supporting us and expressing your thoughts for her journal. Abby was thrilled with her special day. We love Abigail.

Benjamin George

Yesterday Anna and her friends, Chloe and Sadie, were here and couldn't find enough female models to dress up, so they resorted to Nate and Ben. For some reason they didn't get a picture of Nate who was supposed to be a cowboy and dressed in overalls about 3 sizes too small with a belt and a cowboy hat. Good stuff. Anyway, Ben was the baseball player, the girls were cracking up because he totally hit this pose without any coaching.



I want to attempt to record some of the things Ben has been saying lately. Some of my favorites are instead of saying the word "don't" he says "can't." For instance, "Ben, what do you want for lunch?" "I can't want lunch right now." Love it. I know I've mentioned this one before, but it's one of my very favorites thanks to a slight lisp and that is "yeth" (yes.) I also can't get enough of when I do something for him and he yells "Sanks, (thanks) Mom!"

The other night he was running around repeating some silly rhyme he picked up from the kids. I believe the real thing goes something like, "Oops, I'm sorry" and then at some point, "I know karate." But for one entire evening he happily went around singing, "Sanks and sorry, I know karate!"

Also his new favorite thing is to come up to me with both hands behind his back and say, "MOM, close your eyes I hab (have) a prise (surprise) for you!" So I close my eyes and then he tells me to open them and then he gets super excited as he reveals something like a sticky note or some other terribly exciting thing. Cracks me up.

A Real Day in the Real Life

Anna is practicing the piano for the first time all week before she needs to go to her lesson in 20 minutes. She is not loving the fact that she is not able to sight-read the songs and play them perfectly. She wants me to stand by her and I guess offer moral support while she practices. Brennan comes home and I need to talk to him. Anna yells for me the entire time I'm talking to Brennan. I finish with Brennan and go back to Anna to tell her it's time to go to her lesson. She says she refuses to go and locks herself in my room. In the meantime Brennan calls me into examine some weird wart thing on his arm and to ask me what he should do since he's sure I gave it to him because I had something similar on my neck a few years ago.

I leave him to ponder his problems to go and tell Anna about all the privileges she's going to lose and the money she owes me if she doesn't hightail it down to piano that second. Our exchange is accompanied by Nate who is now "playing" the piano and loudly protesting the addition of Benjamin attempting to make it a duet. Anna is yelling (through the door) that her 16 year old darling sweet girl down the street piano teacher is going to be so mad at her saying, "Fine, I'll go, but I might not come back because she is going to KILL me!" I refrained from yelling, but couldn't hold back the sarcasm (I know, I know, it's equally if not more damaging) and said, "Yeah, she totally seems like the murderous type, have fun!"

I just got back from picking her up. She happily bounded down to the car. I resisted saying "You're alive!" (baby steps) and instead said, "So, how did it go?" She shrugged her shoulders and and smiled as she said, "Fine, she wasn't that mad." Oh, the drama.

We Ate, We Laughed, We Cried.

I returned from my adventure yesterday afternoon and Brennan and the kids not only survived, but had a really nice time. Brennan cleaned and entertained and cared for the kids and house like a pro. I was missed though and that's always nice.

As for me, well I had a fabulous time. It was our 2nd annual Women's Conference with my Grandma, aunts and adult female cousins (and cousin in-laws) on my Dad's side of the family. I think there were about 17 of us. This group of women consists of amazing women who are incredible examples of womanhood and motherhood, and just plain fun. I made sure I took my camera, and then managed to leave it in my bag without taking one picture.

We met Friday morning in the Temple and enjoyed a beautiful session there. Afterwards we reconvened for a nice lunch downtown and then headed to our Church's Humanitarian Center where we had a tour. I had never been there before and was blown away. For a church consisting of 13 million members to be able to render such significant service to billions of people all over the world just blew me away and inspired me to contribute more to the cause. This organization through the millions of volunteers and donations is sending clothes, food, school supplies, hygiene kits, newborn kits, wheelchairs, quilts, preventative eye care programs, training for midwives to be able to increase survival rates of newborns, etc., etc. It was so inspiring and if you haven't been to your local LDS Humanitarian Center, I highly recommend it. I can't wait to take my kids and start working with them for the cause.

After our tour we went to my Mom's house who was kind enough to host us. We made dinner and chatted and then ate, of course. After dinner some worked on tying a quilt for the Humanitarian Center while we all chatted. I think we wrapped up the chatting somewhere between 4 and 5 am. This is always my favorite part. We laughed hard and even cried as we shared our struggles and talked about the things that make women cry especially in the wee hours of the morning.

Fortunately most of us slept in until about 10 am and then woke to a yummy breakfast. After that we gathered to listen to my aunt's sister-in-law who led an inspiring discussion on how we can find joy in suffering through our Savior. Again there were tears as many opened up and uplifted us by their strength through their trials.

It was a perfect blend of uplifting, spiritual, meaningful and fun. Thanks so much to Liane who organized the whole thing so wonderfully, to my Mom for being the perfect hostess, and Melanie and Brynn who travelled some serious distances to be with us. Also, my cousin, Mandolin, even managed to join us for a little bit after having a beautiful baby girl and an appendectomy. Those who couldn't be there were GREATLY missed! Thank you Brennan for making it possible for me to go! As much fun as I had, it's always nice to come home and be hugged and loved by my own dear family whom I really missed.